Primal Zodiac Sign - Axolotl
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Utilitarian character actor Richard Herd was one of those stern familiar faces you saw countless times on film and TV but couldn't quite place the name. The stage-trained actor, who shared a striking resemblance to actor Karl Malden, never found the one role that would make him a household name, but did make up for it with a number of rich and rewarding stage, film and TV assignments bolstered by his trademark authoritarian look and stance.
Born on September 26, 1932 in Boston, Massachusetts, he was the son of Katherine (Lydon) and Richard Herd, a railroad engineer and WWII vet, who died when the boy was quite young. The younger Herd suffered from bone marrow cancer which affected the growth of his legs as a child. As a result, he was educated at the Industrial School for Crippled Children during his formative years. Luckily, loving care and several operations saved his legs from deformity.
It was his mother Katherine's love of music that ignited Richard's initial desire to perform. Trained on the drums, he received early acting training on radio and in summer stock (Liberty Mutual Theatre in Boston) during his high school years and, in the late 1940s, studied Shakespeare under veteran Claude Rains at one point. Other plays such as "Our Town" and "Sing Out Sweet Land," and the children's theatre productions of "Penrod" and "Robin Hood" helped to beef up his early resume.
Richard enlisted in the Army during the Korean War but injured a knee in basic training, which led to an honorable discharge within 90 days of his enlistment. He did, however, go on to work for the Army Signal Corps in a host of training films.
Richard continued to gather experience in such classical plays as "The Miser" and "A Month in the Country". With several summer stock runs, Shakespearean bus-and-truck tours and industrial films under his belt, he finally made his New York debut in the minor role of an usher in The Dress Circle" at Carnegie Hall. He also became a member of the Player's Club.
Making a highly inauspicious film debut in the minor role of a coach in the film, Hercules in New York (1970), which was the showcase debut for the massively-muscled Arnold Schwarzenegger, Richard didn't settle in Hollywood, until the mid 1970s, after replacing actor Richard Long (who died before filming began) in the role of Watergate figure James McCord in All the President's Men (1976). Although Richard made a handful of other movies throughout the rest of the decade (I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (1977), F.I.S.T. (1978), The China Syndrome (1979), The Onion Field (1979)), he appeared with much more frequency on TV, playing stern, authoritarian types on episodes of Kojak (1973), The Rockford Files (1974), The Streets of San Francisco (1972) (starring the similar-looking Karl Malden), Rafferty (1977), Eight Is Enough (1977) and Starsky and Hutch (1975), as well as in the TV movies Pueblo (1973), Captains and the Kings (1976), The Hunted Lady (1977), Dr. Scorpion (1978), Kate Bliss and the Ticker Tape Kid (1978), Terror Out of the Sky (1978), Marciano (1979) and, most notably, Ike: The War Years (1979), in which he portrayed General Omar Bradley.
Never finding the one support role that might have made him a character star, Richard nevertheless was featured impressively on all three mediums for over four decades. On stage, he appeared in a pre-Broadway tryout of "On the Waterfront" and played, to great applause, in productions of "Other People's Money" and "The Big Knife". His finest hour on stage, however, would come with his portrayal of the epic film producer in the one-man show "Cecil B. DeMille Presents", which he has toured throughout the country. On TV, Richard has guested on most of the popular TV programs of late, including Desperate Housewives (2004) and CSI: Miami (2002) and is probably best remembered for his recurring roles as "Admiral Noyce" on SeaQuest 2032 (1993), as Jason Alexander's boss "Wilhelm" in the sitcom classic, Seinfeld (1989), and as "Admiral Owen Paris" in Star Trek: Voyager (1995). A few of his lightweight cinematic crowd-pleasers include Private Benjamin (1980), Deal of the Century (1983), Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987) and Sgt. Bilko (1996). More recently, he also had a memorable bit in the Oscar-winning horror film Get Out (2017).
On occasion, Richard moved into the director/producer/writer's chair. He directed the play, "Idle Wheels", for the Road Theatre Company in North Hollywood, was a producer of the N.Y. play, "Agamemnon", and co-producer (and performer) of the play, "The Couch with the Six Insides", and, as a playwright, had a presentation of his play, "Prisoner of the Crown", produced at Dublin's Abbey Theatre.
Married briefly at the age of 19, Richard remarried and had two children (Richard Jr. and Erica) by his second wife. That marriage also ended in divorce, but his third (in 1980), to actress Patricia Herd (Patricia Crowder Ruskin), lasted. Patricia has a daughter from an earlier marriage. Making his final film appearances in the Clint Eastwood vehicle The Mule (2018) and the baseball biopic The Silent Natural (2019), Richard was diagnosed with cancer and died on May 26, 2020, at age 87.- Of Russian/Romanian and Jewish ancestry, sultry, amber-eyed Olive Felicia Dines grew up in Westchester County, New York. She was the daughter of Max Dines and his wife Sylvia Schwartz. According to differing sources, Max may have been a journalist or an attorney.
Felicia began in movies after first working as a teenage lingerie model in order to afford her dancing lessons. She then studied sociology at Pennsylvania State University (graduating with a B.A. in 1954), acted in college plays, attended drama school and eventually appeared in live TV commercials. As to her modeling bathing suits, negligees, bras and girdles, she later remarked "There is nothing very sexy or exciting about standing around in undergarments under hot lights" and "Modeling was hard work for me. I never liked it very much because I kept thinking I was in a rut".
Felicia's situation improved after a talent agent spotted her playing the female lead in William Inge's play Picnic at The Players Ring Theater in 1955 (Kim Novak starred in the film version that year). Columbia executives were impressed and signed the budding starlet to a seven-year contract. Initially billed as Randy Farr, Felicia found her niche as an intelligent and sexy western leading lady, first showcased in a trio of classics directed by the veteran Delmer Daves: Jubal (1956), 3:10 to Yuma (1957) and (in her best role yet) The Last Wagon (1956), opposite Richard Widmark. For the next two decades, she essayed a wide variety of characters, ranging from religious types to barmaids, from party girls to the occasional femme fatale.
Sandwiched in between frequent TV guest spots, Felicia excelled in just a handful of comedies and action films, notably in Billy Wilder's Kiss Me, Stupid (1964) (as an unfaithful wife), in the poignant, idiosyncratic Jack Lemmon-directed comedy-drama Kotch (1971) (as Walter Matthau's daughter-in-law) and in the slick heist thriller Charley Varrick (1973) (this time as Matthau's love interest). A talented, much underused actress, she left show biz in 1992 but made a brief comeback 22 years later to co-star in a little known comedy drama, Loser's Crown (2014).
Felicia divorced her first husband, the actor Lee Farr, in 1955. Her second marriage was to Jack Lemmon, whom she had first met while he was filming Cowboy (1958). They married in 1962 in Paris during his work on Irma la Douce (1963). A daughter, Courtney, was born in 1966. Latterly known as Felicia F. Lemmon, she has resided in Los Angeles, devoting time and money to various philanthropic endeavours and to her much loved feline pets. - Actress
- Soundtrack
Raised in a staunchly Catholic home by her Irish mum, the former Kathleen Parke, Anna Quayle had an immediate experience of elements used for her character as 'Reverend Mother Joseph' in Father Charlie (1982). Her acting work also includes many other fine performances in a variety of roles in theatre, cinema and television.- Actor
- Director
- Soundtrack
Robert Reed was an American actor, mostly known for television roles. His most famous role was that of pater familias Michael Paul "Mike" Brady in the popular sitcom "The Brady Bunch" (1969-1979). He returned to this role in several of the sitcom's sequels and spin-offs.
Reed was born under the name "John Robert Rietz Jr. " in 1932. His birthplace was Highland Park, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. His parents were government worker John Robert Rietz Sr. and homemaker Helen Teaverbaugh. The couple were childhood sweethearts and married each other at age 18. Reed was their only child.
Due to his father's career transfers, Reed moved often as a child. He spend part of his childhood in Navasota, Texas and Shawnee, Oklahoma. The senior Reitz eventually retired from his government positions, and started a new life as a cattle farmer in Muskogee, Oklahoma. The Reitz family moved to a farm there.
As a youth, Reed joined the 4-H agricultural club, and demonstrated calves in agricultural shows. He was already fascinated with acting and music, and started performing as a theatrical and singer before he graduated high school. He had a side career as a radio announcer for local radio stations, and also helped produce radio dramas.
Reed graduated from Muskogeee's Central High School in 1950. He soon enrolled at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, where he studied drama. His mentor was acting coach Alvina Krause (1893-1981). During his university years, Reed played the leading role in 8 different plays. Following his graduation, Reed studied abroad at Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.
With the completion of his studies, Reed started a career as a theatrical actor. He appeared in summer stock productions in Pennsylvania, and joined the off-Broadway theatre group "The Shakespearewrights" which (as their name suggested) specialized in Shakespearean plays. Reed had leading roles in the group's productions of "Romeo and Juliet" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream". He left the group to join the Chicago-based Studebaker Theatre company.
By the late 1950s, Reed remained a relatively obscure theatrical actor. He moved to Los Angeles in hope of finding higher-profile roles in film or television. In 1959, Reed made his television debut in a guest star role in the sitcom "Father Knows Best". He next had guest star roles in the science fiction series "Men into Space" (1959-1960), and the Western series "Lawman" (1958-1962). His film debut was the horror film "Bloodlust!" (1961), playing the human prey of a sadistic hunter. The film was a loose adaptation of the short story "The Most Dangerous Game" (1924) by Richard Connell (1893-1949).
Reed had his first major role in television as lawyer Kenneth Preston in the courtroom drama series "The Defenders" (1961-1965). Reed played the son and junior partner of lawyer Lawrence Preston (played by E. G. Marshall), in a series featuring a father-son legal team. The series lasted for 132 episodes, and was a ratings hit. The series earned a total of 22 Primetime Emmy Award nominations during its run.
Following the cancellation of "The Defenders", Reed was mostly reduced to supporting roles in television. He appeared in (among others) "Family Affair"," Ironside", "The Mod Squad", and "Bob Hope Presents The Chrysler Theatre". In 1968, Reed signed a contract to play a lead role in the television adaptation of the play "Barefoot in the Park" (1963) by Neil Simon. When it was decided that the television adaptation would feature a mostly African-American cast, Reed was offered a leading role in "The Brady Bunch" as a consolation prize.
"The Brady Bunch" lasted for 117 episodes, though it never was among the highest-rated shows on television. It found a larger audience in syndication after its cancellation, and has remained a cult favorite. Reed was not happy with the often silly scripts of the sitcom, and had regular arguments about suggested re-writes with the show's producer Sherwood Schwartz (1916-2011). On the other hand, Reed formed long-lasting friendships with most members of the series' main cast.
Reed refused to appear in the fifth season finale of "The Brady Bunch", because he felt its script was unacceptable. He was fired from the series, and the production team considered replacing him with a new actor for the series' sixth season. However, the fifth season turned out to be the final one, with network ABC deciding to cancel the series.
While "The Brady Bunch" was still ongoing, Reed had the recurring role of Lt. Adam Tobias in the detective series "Mannix". He played the role for 22 episodes, running from 1968 to 1975. With the series' cancellation in 1975, Reed was left with no regular roles for the first time since the late 1960s.
Reed's next notable role was that of transgender Dr. Pat Caddison in the two-part episode "The Fourth Sex" (1975) of the medical drama Medical Center". The role was critically well-received, and Reed was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award, the "Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series". The award was instead won by rival actor Ed Asner (1929-).
Reed had a regular role as Teddy Boylan in the dramatic miniseries "Rich Man, Poor Man" (1976), and a prominent guest appearance as Dr. William Reynolds in the miniseries "Roots" (1977). For the first role, Reed was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. The Award was instead won by rival actor Anthony Zerbe (1936-). For the second role, Reed was nominated again for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series. The award was instead again won by rival actor Ed Asner.
Reed reunited with his friends from the Brady Bunch in the sequel series "The Brady Bunch Hour" (1976-1977), which only lasted for 9 episodes. He next played Mike Brady in the television film "The Brady Girls Get Married" (1981), the television film "A Very Brady Christmas" (1988), and the short-lived sequel series "The Bradys" (1990). The attempts to turn the popular sitcom into a dramatic series were not met with success.
Reed had another lead role in television as Dr. Adam Rose on the medical drama "Nurse" (1981-1982). The series only lasted for 25 episodes. Otherwise, Reed was reduced to mostly playing guest star roles again. His last guest star role appeared in 1992 episode of the crime drama "Jake and the Fatman".
In November 1991, Reed was diagnosed with colon cancer. As his health deteriorated, Reed increasingly isolated himself. He only allowed visits from his daughter Karen Rietz and close friend Anne Haney (1934-2001). In May 1992, he died at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, California. He was 59-years-old. He was buried at Memorial Park Cemetery in Skokie, Illinois.
Following his death, his death certificate revealed that Reed was HIV positive. While he was not suffering from AIDS, doctors were unable to determine whether HIV contributed to the deterioration of his health and his eventual death. How and when Reed contracted HIV remains unknown. Reed had managed to avoid having information about his personal life leaking to the press during his career, and also avoided sharing details about it even with his friends.
Reed is still fondly remembered for his television work, while his theatrical career has largely faded from memory.- Actor
- Soundtrack
William Christopher was born on 20 October 1932 in Evanston, Illinois, USA. He was an actor, known for M*A*S*H (1972), The Fortune Cookie (1966) and Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (1993). He was married to Barbara Christopher. He died on 31 December 2016 in Pasadena, California, USA.- Actor
- Producer
- Director
A legendary actor with 50 celebrated years of film, television and producing experience, Michael Douglas is known for his era-defining roles and enduring cultural impact.
In addition to his career accomplishments, Douglas has remained a steadfast public servant, activist and philanthropist dedicated to peace and human welfare, democracy, gun control advocacy, support of the arts and support of nuclear disarmament. In 1998, former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed Douglas as a Messenger of Peace for his commitment on disarmament issues, including nuclear non-proliferation and halting the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons.
Since his earliest acting work on Hail, Hero! (1969) and The Streets of San Francisco (1972) Douglas has played some of the most memorable and enigmatic American anti-heroes of the last half century. He is most known for his iconic screen roles, like his Academy Award-winning turn as Gordon Gekko Wall Street (1987) as well as the critically and commercially acclaimed films Fatal Attraction (1987), The American President (1995), Basic Instinct (1992), Traffic (2000) and Romancing the Stone (1984). He is also a prolific producer with credits on politically relevant and socially influential motion pictures like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), The China Syndrome (1979), Traffic (2000) the television series: The Kominsky Method (2018) and an upcoming limited series where Douglas portrays Benjamin Franklin (2024) during his nine years in France lobbying for French aid for the American Revolution.
With a passion for complex protagonists and darkly humorous undercurrents, Douglas has received numerous accolades for his work, including two Academy Awards, five Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, AFI Life Achievement Award, two French César Awards for Career Achievement and, most recently, the Palme d'or d'honneur for lifetime achievement at the 76th Annual Festival de Cannes as well as the Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Cinema at the Goa Film Festival in India.
Michael Douglas was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, to actors Diana Douglas (Diana Love Dill) and Kirk Douglas (born Issur Danielovitch). His paternal grandparents were Belarusian Jewish immigrants, while his mother was born in Bermuda, the daughter of a local Attorney General, Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Melville Dill; Diana's family had long been established in both Bermuda and the United States. Douglas's parents divorced when he was six, and he went to live with his mother and her new husband. Only seeing Kirk on holidays, Michael attended Eaglebrook School in Deerfield, Massachusetts, where he was about a year younger than all of his classmates.
Douglas attended the elite preparatory Choate School and spent his summers with his father on movie sets. Although accepted at Yale, Douglas attended the University of California, Santa Barbara. Deciding he wanted to be an actor in his teenage years, Michael often asked his father about getting a "foot in the door" Kirk was strongly opposed to Michael pursuing an acting career, saying that it was an industry with many downs and few ups, and that he wanted all four of his sons to stay out of it. Michael, however, was persistent, and made his film debut in his father's film Cast a Giant Shadow (1966).
After receiving his B.A. degree in 1968, Douglas moved to New York City to continue his dramatic training, studying at the American Place Theatre with Wynn Handman, and at the Neighborhood Playhouse, where he appeared in workshop productions of Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author (1976) and Thornton Wilder's Happy Journey (1963). A few months after he arrived in New York, Douglas got his first big break, when he was cast in the pivotal role of the free-spirited scientist who compromises his liberal views to accept a lucrative job with a high-tech chemical corporation in the CBS Playhouse production of Ellen M. Violett's drama, The Experiment, which was televised nationwide on February 25, 1969.
Douglas' convincing portrayal won him the leading role in the adaptation of John Weston's controversial novel, Hail, Hero! (1969), which was the initial project of CBS's newly organized theatrical film production company, Cinema Center Films. Douglas starred as a well-meaning, almost saintly young pacifist determined not only to justify his beliefs to his conservative parents but also to test them under fire in the jungles of Indochina. His second feature, Adam at Six A.M. (1970) concerned a young man's search for his roots. Douglas next appeared in the film version of Ron Cowen's play Summertree (1971), produced by 'Kirk Douglas'' Bryna Company, and then Napoleon and Samantha (1972), a sentimental children's melodrama from the Walt Disney studio.
In between film assignments, he worked in summer stock and off-Broadway productions, among them "City Scenes," Frank Gagliano's surrealistic vignettes of contemporary life in New York, John Patrick Shanley's short-lived romance "Love is a Time of Day" and George Tabori's "Pinkville," in which he played a young innocent brutalized by his military training. He also appeared in the made-for-television thriller, "When Michael Calls," broadcast by ABC-TV on February 5, 1972 and in episodes of the popular series "Medical Center" and "The F.B.I."
Impressed by Douglas' performance in a segment of The F.B.I. (1965), producer 'Quinn Martin' signed the actor for the part of Karl Malden's sidekick in the police series "The Streets of San Francisco", which premiered in September 1972 and became one of ABC's highest-rated prime-time programs in the mid-1970s. Douglas earned three successive Emmy Award nominations for his performance and he directed two episodes of the series.
During the annual breaks in the shooting schedule for The Streets of San Francisco (1972), Douglas devoted most of his time to his film production company, Big Stick Productions, Ltd., which produced several short subjects in the early 1970s. Long interested in producing a film version of Ken Kesey's grimly humorous novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), Douglas purchased the movie rights from his father and began looking for financial backing. After a number of major motion picture studios turned him down, Douglas formed a partnership with Saul Zaentz, a record industry executive, and the two set about recruiting the cast and crew. Douglas still had a year to go on his contract for "The Streets of San Francisco," but the producers agreed to write his character out of the story so that he could concentrate on filming "Cuckoo's Nest."
A critical and commercial success, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor and Best Actress, and went on to gross more than $180 million at the box office. Douglas suddenly found himself in demand as an independent producer. One of the many scripts submitted to him for consideration was Mike Gray's chilling account of the attempted cover-up of an accident at a nuclear power plant. Attracted by the combination of social relevance and suspense, Douglas immediately bought the property. Deemed not commercial by most investors, Douglas teamed up with Jane Fonda and her own motion picture production company, IPC Films.
A Michael Douglas-IPC Films co-production, The China Syndrome (1979) starred Jack Lemmon, Jane Fonda, and Michael Douglas and received Academy Award nominations for Lemmon and Fonda, as well as for Best Screenplay. The National Board of Review named the film one of the best films of the year.
Despite his success as a producer, Douglas resumed his acting career in the late 1970s, starring in Michael Crichton's medical thriller Coma (1978) with Genevieve Bujold, Claudia Weill's feminist comedy It's My Turn (1980) starring Jill Clayburgh, and Peter Hyams' gripping tale of modern-day vigilante justice, "The Star Chamber" (1983). Douglas also starred in Running (1979), as a compulsive quitter who sacrifices everything to take one last shot at the Olympics, and as Zach the dictatorial director/choreographer in Richard Attenborough's screen version of the Broadway's longest running musical A Chorus Line (1985).
Douglas' career as an actor/producer came together again in 1984 with the release of the tongue-in-cheek romantic fantasy "Romancing the Stone." Douglas had begun developing the project several years earlier, and with Kathleen Turner as Joan Wilder, the dowdy writer of gothic romances, Danny DeVito as the feisty comic foil Ralphie and Douglas as Jack Colton, the reluctant soldier of fortune. "Romancing the Stone" was a resounding hit and grossed more than $100 million at the box office. Douglas was named Producer of the Year in 1984 by the National Association of Theater Owners. Douglas, Turner and DeVito teamed up in 1985 for the successful sequel The Jewel of the Nile (1985).
It took Douglas nearly two years to convince Columbia Pictures executives to approve the production of Starman (1984), an unlikely tale of romance between an extraterrestrial, played by Jeff Bridges, and a young widow, played by Karen Allen. Starman (1984) was the sleeper hit of the 1984 Christmas season and earned an Oscar nomination for Best Actor for Jeff Bridges. In 1986 Douglas created a television series based on the film for ABC which starred Robert Hays.
After a lengthy break from acting, Douglas returned to the screen in 1987 appearing in two of the year's biggest hits. He starred opposite Glenn Close in the phenomenally successful psychological thriller, "Fatal Attraction," which was followed by his performance as ruthless corporate raider Gordon Gekko in Oliver Stone's Wall Street (1987), earning him the Academy Award for Best Actor.
Douglas next starred in Ridley Scott's thriller Black Rain (1989) and then teamed up again with Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito in the black comedy The War of the Roses (1989).
In 1988, Douglas formed Stonebridge Entertainment, Inc., which produced Flatliners (1990), directed by Joel Schumacher and starred Kiefer Sutherland, Julia Roberts, Kevin Bacon and William Baldwin and Radio Flyer (1992) starring Lorraine Bracco and directed by Richard Donner. Douglas followed with David Seltzer's adaptation of Susan Isaacs' best-selling novel, "Shining Through," opposite Melanie Griffith. In 1992 he starred with Sharon Stone in the erotic thriller from Paul Verhoeven Basic Instinct (1992), one of the year's top grossing films.
Douglas gave one of his most powerful performances opposite Robert Duvall in Joel Schumacher's controversial drama Falling Down (1993). That year he also produced the hit comedy "Made in America" starring Whoopi Goldberg, Ted Danson and Will Smith. In 1994-95 he starred with Demi Moore in Barry Levinson's "Disclosure," based on the best seller by Michael Crichton. In 1995, Douglas portrayed the title role in Rob Reiner's romantic comedy The American President (1995) opposite Annette Bening, and in 1997, starred in The Game (1997) directed by David Fincher and co-starring Sean Penn.
Douglas formed Douglas/Reuther Productions with partner Steven Reuther in May 1994. The company, under the banner of Constellation Films, produced The Ghost and the Darkness (1996), starring Douglas and Val Kilmer, and John Grisham's The Rainmaker (1997), based on John Grisham's best selling novel, directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Matt Damon,Claire Danes, Danny DeVito, Jon Voight, Mickey Rourke, Mary Kay Place, Virginia Madsen, Andrew Shue, Teresa Wright, Johnny Whitworth and Randy Travis.
Michael Douglas and Steve Reuther also produced John Woo's action thriller Face/Off (1997) starring John Travolta and Nicolas Cage, which proved to be one of '97's major hits.
In 1998, Michael Douglas starred with Gwyneth Paltrow and Viggo Mortensen in the mystery thriller A Perfect Murder (1998), and formed a new production company, Furthur Films. 2000 was a milestone year for Douglas. "Wonder Boys" opened in February 2000 to much critical acclaim. Directed by Curtis Hanson and co-starring Tobey Maguire, Frances McDormand, Robert Downey Jr. and Katie Holmes, Douglas starred in the film as troubled college professor Grady Tripp. Michael was nominated for a Golden Globe and a BAFTA Film Award for his performance.
"Traffic" was released by USA Films on December 22, 2000 in New York and Los Angeles and went nationwide in January 2001. Douglas played the role of Robert Wakefield, a newly appointed drug czar confronted by the drug war both at home and abroad. Directed by Steven Soderbergh and co-starring Don Cheadle, Benicio del Toro, Amy Irving, Dennis Quaid and Catherine Zeta-Jones, "Traffic" was named Best Picture by New York Film Critics, won Best Ensemble Cast at the SAG Awards, won four Academy Awards (Best Screenplay, Best Editing, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actor for Benicio del Toro) and has been recognized on more than 175 top ten lists.
In 2001, Douglas produced and played a small role in USA Films' outrageous comedy "One Night at McCool's" starring Liv Tyler, Matt Dillon, John Goodman and Paul Reiser and directed by Harald Zwart. "McCool's" was the first film by Douglas' company Furthur Films. Also in 2001, Douglas starred in "Don't Say A Word" for 20th Century Fox. The psychological thriller, directed by Gary Fleder, also starred Sean Bean, Famke Janseen and Brittany Murphy.
In 2002, Douglas appeared in a guest role on the hit NBC comedy "Will & Grace," and received an Emmy Nomination for his performance.
Douglas starred in two films in 2003. MGM/BVI released the family drama "It Runs in the Family," which Douglas produced and starred with his father Kirk Douglas, his mother Diana Douglas his son Cameron Douglas, Rory Culkin and Bernadette Peters. He also starred in the Warner Bros. comedy "The-In Laws," with Albert Brooks, Candice Bergen and Ryan Reynolds.
In 2004, Douglas, along with his father Kirk, filmed the intimate HBO documentary "A Father, A Son... Once Upon a Time in Hollywood". Directed by award-winning filmmaker Lee Grant, the documentary examines the professional and personal lives of both men, and the impacts they each made on the motion picture industry.
In 2005, Douglas produced and starred in "The Sentinel", which was released by 20th Century Fox in April 2006. Based on the Gerald Petievich novel and directed by Clark Johnson, "The Sentinel" is a political thriller set in the intriguing world of the Secret Service. Douglas stars with Keifer Sutherland, Eva Longoria and Kim Bassinger. Douglas then filmed "You, Me & Dupree," starring with Owen Wilson, Kate Hudson and Matt Dillon. The comedy, directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, was released by Universal Pictures during the summer of 2006. In 2007 Douglas made "King of California," co-starring Evan Rachel Wood and is written and directed by Michael Cahill, and produced by Alexander Payne and Michael London.
Michael had two films released in early 2009, "Beyond A Reasonable Doubt" directed by Peter Hyams and "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" starring Matthew McConaughey and Jennifer Garner and directed by Mark Waters. He followed with the drama "Solitary Man" directed by Brian Koppelman and David Levien, co-starring Susan Sarandon, Danny DeVito, Mary Louise-Parker, and Jenna Fischer, produced by Paul Schiff and Steven Soderbergh. In 2010, Douglas reprised his Oscar-winning role as Gordon Gekko in "Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps," earning a Golden Globe for his performance. Again directed by Oliver Stone, he co-starred with Shia Labeouf, Cary Mulligan, Josh Brolin, Frank Langella and Susan Sarandon.
In 2011, Douglas had a cameo role in Steven Soderbergh's action thriller "Haywire."
"Behind the Candelabra," based on the life of '70's/80's musical icon Liberace and his partner Scott Thorson, directed by Steven Soderbergh and costarring Matt Damon, premiered on HBO in May 2013. Douglas won an Emmy, Golden Globe and SAG Award for Best Actor in a television movie or mini series for his performance as the famed entertainer. He followed with the buddy comedy "Last Vegas," directed by John Turtletaub co-starring Robert DeNiro, Morgan Freeman and Kevin Kline and the romantic comedy "And So It Goes," co-starring Diane Keaton directed by Rob Reiner.
Douglas recently starred in and produced the thriller "Beyond The Reach," directed by Jean-Baptiste Leonetti and costarring Jeremy Irvine. He and portrayed Dr. Hank Pym in Marvel's Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023) opposite Paul Rudd. The franchise was his first venture into the realm of comic book action adventure.
In 2017, he starred in the spy thriller "Unlocked" starring with Noomi Rapace, Orlando Bloom, John Malkovich and directed by Michael Apted.
In 1998 Douglas was made a United Nations Messenger of Peace by Kofi Annan. His main concentrations are nuclear non-proliferation and the control of small arms. He is on the Board of Ploughshares Foundation and The Nuclear Threat Initiative.
Michael Douglas was recipient of the 2009 AFI Lifetime Achievement as well as the Producers Guild Award that year. In Spring '10 he received the New York Film Society's Charlie Chaplin Award.
Douglas has hosted 11 years of "Michael Douglas and Friends" Celebrity Golf Event which has raised over $6 million for the Motion Picture and Television Fund. Douglas is very passionate about the organization, and each year he asks his fellow actors and to come out and show that "we are an industry that takes care of own".
Douglas is married to Catherine Zeta-Jones. The couple has one son, Dylan, and one daughter, Carys. Douglas also has one son, Cameron, from a previous marriage.- Actress
- Additional Crew
Kate McGregor-Stewart was born on 4 October 1944 in New York City, New York, USA. She is an actress, known for In & Out (1997), School of Rock (2003) and Scrooged (1988).- Actor
- Music Department
- Composer
John Entwistle was born on 9 October 1944 in Chiswick, London, England, UK. He was an actor and composer, known for Tommy (1975), Quadrophenia (1979) and Sister Midnight (1974). He was married to Maxene Harlow and Alison Wise. He died on 27 June 2002 in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.- Actress
- Composer
- Music Department
Nona Hendryx was born on 9 October 1944 in Trenton, New Jersey, USA. She is an actress and composer, known for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978), The Paperboy (2012) and Coming to America (1988).- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Beginning his life with the same flair for the dramatic that would come to define his career, Udo Kier was born in Köln, Germany near the end of the 2nd world war. The hospital was bombed and buried Kier and his mother in the rubble. Both survived, and Kier would later move to London as a young adult to study English. Kier was discovered in London by Michael Sarne, who cast him in his first role as a gigolo in "Road To Saint Tropez". Kier then starred in Michael Armstrong's extremely controversial "Mark Of The Devil". He would go on to work with Paul Morrissey in Andy Warhol's "Flesh For Frankenstein" and "Blood For Dracula", Dario Argento in "Suspiria", and Rainer Werner Fassbinder in "The Third Generation", "Lili Marllen", and "Lola".
Kier entered the American independent cinema scene many years later after meeting Gus Van Sant at the Berlin Film Festival. Van Sant offered Kier the role of Hans, the lamp-singing john in "My Own Private Idaho" with Keanu Reeves and River Phoenix. He would later have roles in Gus Van Sant's "Even Cowgirls Get The Blues" and "Don't Worry He Won't Get Far On Foot" as well as such 90s Hollywood hits as "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective", "Johnny Mnemonic", "Barb Wire", "End Of Violence", "For Love Or Money", "Armagedden", "Blade", and "End Of Days". Kier is probably best known for his collaboration with Lars von Trier, appearing in most of his films including "Medea", "Europa", "Breaking The Waves", "Dancer In TheE Dark", "Dogville", "Manderlay", "Melancholia", "Nymphomaniac (Vol. II)" and "The Kingdom" (Danish TV). Kier's recent renaissance has seen him play memorable roles in the Activision game "Call Of Duty", numerous television roles in North America and Europe, and in the films "Iron Sky", "Brawl In Cell Block 99", "Downsizing", "American Animals", "Bacurau", "The Painted Bird", "The Blazing World" and "Swan Song", among many others.- Actress
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Kelly Jo Minter was born on 24 September 1966 in North Trenton, New Jersey, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Summer School (1987), A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Child (1989) and The People Under the Stairs (1991).- Actor
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- Director
Jason Flemyng was born on 25 September 1966 in Putney, London, England, UK. He is an actor and producer, known for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) and Deep Rising (1998). He has been married to Elly Fairman since 6 June 2008.- Jillian Barberie is a former TV news anchor for Good Day L.A. She was born on September 26, 1966 in Burlington, Ontario, Canada as Jillian Marie Warry. Since her being let go from the FOX network, she has branched out as an actress, more notably in Project X (2012), V.I.P. (1998) and Volcano (1997). She was previously married to Grant Reynolds and Bret Barberie.
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Jill Whelan was born on 29 September 1966 in Oakland, California, USA. She is an actress and writer, known for The Love Boat (1977), Airplane! (1980) and CBS Schoolbreak Special (1984). She has been married to Jeff Knapple since 30 September 2017. She was previously married to Michael Chaykowsky and Brad St. John.- Born in Dayton, Ohio, Teri Clark was bitten by the acting bug after performing in her first play in Middle School. She continued taking theatre classes and acting in plays and musicals at Troy High School in Michigan, and then attended Roosevelt University in Chicago on the Maria Tallchief theatre scholarship where she graduated with honors with a BA. In Chicago, Teri was seen on stage at Bailiwick, Piven Theatre Workshop & the Court theaters, among others, and signed by Cunningham, Escott, Dipene for representation. She toured a year with the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival's Educational Outreach program, as well as appeared on stages in the Midwest including the Human Race Theatre in Dayton, Ohio as C in Edward Albee's Three Tall Women, before she eventually landed at Jeff Daniels Purple Rose Theatre where she appeared in several plays, including originating roles in the new plays Leaving Iowa and Hope For Corky. In Detroit, Teri also appeared with Laverne & Shirley's Cindy Williams and Eddie Mekka in Kong's Night Out at Meadowbrook Theatre. It was in Detroit that Teri began being heavily sought after for voice-over roles, performing in a multitude of radio and television commercials and corporate industrial narratives, including ads for Blue Cross Blue Shield, which she was the Announcer for 5 years, On-Star and the Detroit Tigers. It was through volunteer narrating for Assistive Media, a website for the blind, she garnered her first audio book work, which soon lead to recording on site for Brilliance Audio, the largest audio book publisher in North America. Teri continued honing her skills training with top talent/teacher Pat Fraley in LA, and saw a need for training in Detroit, so she created TCVO, where she brought in Pat, as well as top talent/teacher's Pamela Lewis and Sherri Berger for voice-over training events, as well as began coaching beginning students. Teri had been cast in Indie Films Mooz-lum, Nevermore and Ocean of Pearls, and seen in smaller, non-speaking roles on screen, notably with screen legend Ernest Borgnine in Frozen Stupid, before Edward Zwick directed her in her first studio feature Love and Other Drugs, where she played an ER nurse who assisted Jake Gylenhaal with his little "problem." She frequently gets recognized though from her work with David Oyelowo in the Tom Cruise film Jack Reacher, directed by Christopher McQuarrie, and as Mrs. Babbit, the lady who believes the Russians are invading, in the J. J. Abrams directed film Super 8. Teri is very proud to have worked with Viola Davis in the Daniel Barnz directed film Won't Back Down, and also to have worked and spent time on set with screen icon Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Elliot Lester directed film Aftermath. In 2019, Teri was seen on stage at Dayton Ohio's Victoria Theatre Association's A Christmas Story as Mother, on the WGN Network's Gone, starring Chris Noth and Danny Pino, and in I See You as Mrs. Braun, starring Helen Hunt. Currently, Teri volunteers time co-chairing the DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) Mentorship Committee for The Audiobook Publisher's Association, and one of several Juror's for The Society of Voice Arts and Sciences Voice Arts Awards. Teri had been married since 2002 to David Linden and they have one child. They reside in Yellow Springs, Ohio, home to Antioch College and comedian Dave Chappelle. She has a home recording studio from where she continues narrating audio books, and mainly splitting her time between home, Pittsburgh and New York, where she's represented by Stewart Talent. Teri can be seen in the new Netflix series Archive 81, directed by Rebecca Thomas of Stranger Things, and heard as one of 80 voices on Seth Rogen's memoir Yearbook, as well as Earlonne Woods This is Ear Hustle, both produced by Penguin Random House.
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Bai Ling is recognized for unbridled freedom and creativity, Bai Ling has become undoubtedly one of the world's most diverse and captivating actresses! Born in the city of Cheng Du in southern China, Bai Ling began her career at age of 14. She enlisted In the Chinese People's Liberation Army, where she spent three years in a performance troupe entertaining soldiers stationed in Tibet. She first gained the attention of audiences and critics alike when she won the coveted lead role opposite Richard Gere in Jon Avnet's Red Corner (1997). She received numerous accolades including the prestigious Breakthrough Performance Award from the National Board of Review. She also garnered the Discovery Star awarded by the Hollywood Women's Press Club for their Golden Apple Awards. While developing her remarkable facility with the English language, she has worked with such prestigious filmmakers as Oliver Stone in Nixon (1995), George Lucas in Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005), Barry Sonnenfeld in Wild Wild West (1999), Spike Lee in She Hate Me (2004), Andy Tennant in Anna and the King (1999), Ang Lee in The Wedding Banquet (1993), Alex Proyas in The Crow (1994) and Luc Besson' in )Taxi 3 (2003)_, in which she spoke French. She also starred in Terrence Malick's Broadway production of "Sansho the Bailiff". She dazzled audiences with her portrayal of the sexy, mysterious Achara in the hit TV series Lost (2004), and intrigued viewers with her seductive yet exhilarating role in HBO's Entourage (2004).
Bai Ling was awarded the Asian Oscar for her brilliant performance in her first Hong Kong film Three... Extremes (2004). It also earned her an additional three major awards in the Far East. She received the Spirit Diversity Award by The Hollywood Motion Picture Association. Her film Southland Tales (2006), directed by Richard Kelly was in competition at the Cannes Film Festival.
Bai starred in and executive-produced Shanghai Baby (2007). She has worked with Taylor Hackford in Love Ranch (2010), co-starring with Helen Mirren and Joe Pesci, and had a leading role in the Jason Statham action comedy Crank: High Voltage (2009) with costar with Jason Statham.- Actor
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Eric Benét was born on 15 October 1966 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for The Brothers (2001), A Thin Line Between Love and Hate (1996) and Snap (2022). He has been married to Manuela Testolini since 31 July 2011. They have two children. He was previously married to Halle Berry.- Amy Linker was born on 19 October 1966 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. She is an actress, known for Square Pegs (1982), D.A.R.Y.L. (1985) and Fantasy Island (1977).
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Initially an indie film favorite, actor Jon Favreau has progressed to strong mainstream visibility into the millennium and, after nearly two decades in the business, is still enjoying character stardom as well as earning notice as a writer/producer/director.
The amiable, husky-framed actor with the tight, crinkly hair was born in Queens, New York on October 19, 1966, the only child of Madeleine (Balkoff), an elementary school teacher, and Charles Favreau, a special education teacher. His father has French-Canadian, German, and Italian ancestry, and his mother was from a Russian Jewish family. He attended the Bronx High School of Science before furthering his studies at Queens College in 1984. Dropping out just credits away from receiving his degree, Jon moved to Chicago where he focused on comedy and performed at several Chicago improvisational theaters, including the ImprovOlympic and the Improv Institute. He also found a couple of bit parts in films.
While there, he earned another bit role in the film, Rudy (1993), and met fellow cast mate Vince Vaughn. Their enduring personal friendship would play an instrumental role in furthering both their professional careers within just a few years. Jon broke into TV with a role on the classic series, Seinfeld (1989) (as "Eric the Clown"). After filming rudimentary roles in the movies Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994), Notes from Underground (1995) and Batman Forever (1995), he decided to do some risk taking by writing himself and friend Vaughn into what would become their breakthrough film. Swingers (1996), which he also co-produced, centers on Jon as a luckless, struggling actor type who is emotionally shattered after losing his girlfriend, but is pushed back into the L.A. social scene via the help of cool, worldly, outgoing actor/buddy Vaughn. These two blueprint roles went on to define the character types of both actors on film.
In 1997, Jon appeared favorably on several episodes of the popular TV sitcom, Friends (1994), as "Pete Becker", the humdrum but extremely wealthy suitor for Courteney Cox's "Monica" character, and also appeared to fine advantage on the Tracey Takes On... (1996) comedy series. He later took on the biopic mini-movie, Rocky Marciano (1999), portraying the prizefighter himself in a highly challenging dramatic role and received excellent reviews. Other engagingly offbeat "everyman" films roles came Jon's way -- the ex-athlete in the working class film, Dogtown (1997); a soon-to-be groom whose bachelor party goes horribly awry in the comedy thriller Very Bad Things (1998); a newlywed opposite Famke Janssen in Love & Sex (2000); a wild and crazy linebacker in The Replacements (2000); as Ben Affleck's legal partner in Daredevil (2003); and another down-and-out actor in The Big Empty (2003). He wrote and directed himself and Vaughn as two fellow boxers who involve themselves in criminal activity in Made (2001). Both he and Vaughn produced. He also directed the highly popular Will Ferrell comedy Elf (2003), in which he had a small part.
Jon went on to re-team favorably with his friend, Vince Vaughn, who enjoyed a meteoric rise into the comedy star ranks, in such light-weight features as The Break-Up (2006), Four Christmases (2008) and Couples Retreat (2009), the last of which he co-wrote with Vaughn.
Jon has made even greater strides as a writer, producer and/or director in recent years with the exciting mega-box office action-packed Iron Man (2008), starring Robert Downey Jr., and its sequels, Iron Man 2 (2010) and Iron Man 3 (2013). Jon's character of "Happy Hogan" would be featured in a number of Marvel Comic adventures. Other offerings behind the scenes have included the adventure dramedy Chef (2014), in which he also starred in the title role; the revamped film version of The Avengers (2012) also starring Downey Jr., and it's sequels Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019); and the animated Disney features The Jungle Book (2016) and The Lion King (2019) and the TV series The Chef Show (2019).
Favreau's marriage to Joya Tillem on November 24, 2000, produced son Max and two daughters, Madeleine and Brighton Rose. Joya is the niece of KGO (AM) lawyer and talk show host, Len Tillem. On the sly, the actor/writer/producer/director enjoys playing on the World Poker Tour.- Keri Lynn Pratt was born on 23 September 1978 in Concord, New Hampshire, USA. She is an actress, known for A Single Man (2009), America's Sweethearts (2001) and Drive Me Crazy (1999). She has been married to John Barneson since October 2011.
- Jodie Kidd was born on 25 September 1978 in Canterbury, Kent, England, UK. She is an actress, known for Mad Cows (1999), The Fast Show (1994) and Full Throttle Famous (2005). She was previously married to David Blakeley and Aidan Butler.
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Shannyn Sossamon is an American actress and director. She is of Irish, French, Dutch, Hawaiian-Filipino, German and English ancestry. Growing up in Reno, Nevada, Sossamon spent most of her youth at a local dance studio. After graduating high school at age 17, she moved to Los Angeles, California, to pursue a life in the creative arts. Sossamon began acting in films at age 21 after being approached by casting director Francine Maisler, who was casting the starring role in Brian Helgeland's A KNIGHTS TALE opposite Heath Ledger. Additionally, she can be seen with Matt Dillon and Carla Gugino in the event series WAYWARD PINES, from M. Night Shyamalan, opposite Nicole Beharie and Tom Mison in Fox's SLEEPY HOLLOW, and as the lead of Blumhouse feature SINISTER 2, opposite James Ransone. Other credits include THE END OF LOVE starring Michael Cera and Mark Webber; OUR FAMILY WEDDING starring Oscar winner Forest Whitaker, WRISTCUTTERS: A LOVE STORY starring opposite Patrick Fugit; THE RULES OF ATTRACTION starring opposite James Van Der Beek; 40 DAYS AND 40 NIGHTS starring opposite Josh Hartnett, and as the lead in Monte Hellman's ROAD TO NOWHERE. Recent credits include the feature films THERE ARE NO SAINTS and BACKSPOT, opposite Devery Jacobs. Sossamon spends her free time creating short videos for her project, THE MAUDE ROOM: A VARIETY SHOW, a short-form video project made especially for phone viewing.- Actress
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Alesha Dixon was born on 7 October 1978 in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, England, UK. She is an actress and writer, known for Catwoman (2004), Alesha Dixon: Drummer Boy (2010) and Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie (2016). She has been married to Azuka Ononye since 2017. They have two children. She was previously married to MC Harvey.- Actor
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Omar Benson Miller was born on 7 October 1978 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Ballers (2015), 8 Mile (2002) and Miracle at St. Anna (2008).- Actor
- Producer
Randy Spelling is son of legendary late Hollywood producer Aaron Spelling and his wife, Candy Spelling. He and his sister, actress Tori Spelling, grew up in Beverly Hills, CA where he attended Montclair College Prep.
Randy made his television debut in 1992 on the Fox prime time series Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990) and later held a recurring role on the popular program. Randy went on to star in the NBC series Malibu Shores (1996) and NBC's hit soap opera Sunset Beach (1997). He also guest-starred on the WB series 7th Heaven (1996).
After starring for three and a half years on Sunset Beach (1997), Randy transitioned into the record business and formed his own record label called Spellbound/Vocab Records. As CEO, he oversaw operations of A&R as well as the production, promotion, marketing and distribution departments. Spellbound/Vocab Records released albums for a number of platinum artists.
While continuing his work in the music business, Randy made his feature film debut in the thriller Held for Ransom (2000) (Emmet/Furla Films) opposite Dennis Hopper and Zachery Ty Bryan. He went on to co-star in the indie cult hit Dorm Daze (2003) and also held a co-starring role in Pledge This! (2006) opposite Paris Hilton, Simon Rex, Paula Garcés, Sarah Carter and Carmen Electra.
Randy next played a role in the soon-to-be released indie horror flick Dimples (2008) opposite Ashley Peldon and Madeline Zima and co-starred in the gritty indie horror Hoboken Hollow (2006) opposite C. Thomas Howell, Michael Madsen, Dennis Hopper, Lin Shaye and Jason Connery. Randy also starred in Michael Damian's critically-acclaimed directorial debut Hot Tamale (2006) co-starring Carmen Electra, Diora Baird, [error], Harland Williams and Jason Priestley, which won the Indie Spirit Best Picture Award at the 2006 Boston International Film Festival.
Randy recently wrapped production on the environmentally-friendly independent feature Cosmic Radio (2007), due out in 2007, in which he co-stars with Michael Madsen, Rider Strong and Wes Studi.
Following in his father's footsteps, Randy wrote a pilot for Paramount Television last year and is currently in development on a number of film and television projects that he will produce in 2007 and beyond. Randy is a producer on A&E's forthcoming (April) real-life series Sons of Hollywood (2006).- Nicky was born Nicholas Bernard James Adam Byrne on October 9th, 1978, to proud parents Yvonne and Nicky. His Irish name is Nucal O'Byrne. He was born in Dublin as the middle child, having an older sister, Gillian, and a younger brother, Adam. From the age of 7, he played for local, successful Dublin side Home Farm Football Club. He played as a goalkeeper and, when he was in his early teens, he won the Young European Keeper of the Year. He met Georgina Ahern at high school. They got together after three years of shying away from each other and staring across classrooms into each other's eyes. Nicky's best friend, Colm 'Cos' Costello, got the two together, and they've been together ever since. That was 1995!
At age 15, he was signed up by Leeds United as a goalkeeper. He grew homesick, and missed his family and girlfriend. His then-manager, George Graham, decided two years later, that Nicky was too short and, unless he grew a few inches, he would terminate his contract. Unfortunately for Nicky, he didn't grow, and his contract with Leeds was terminated after 2 years.
When he returned home, he retook his Leaving Certificate (GCSEs) at Plunkett College. He then set up a karaoke business with his father called "Father and Son", and they toured local pubs doing Boyzone songs. The Westlife audition came to Nicky's attention through his Aunty, but he was pessimistic about the idea. His girlfriend persuaded him to go, telling him she had confidence in him. He decided to go, but didn't tell anyone he was going. It was only when his face was seen in the paper that people found out. He was in the paper because he was up against another blonde for the only place in the band left, that other blonde was Brian McFadden. Eventually, the pair of them got into the band, and Westlife was born.
Westlife's debut single was released in May 1999, "Swear It Again", and started off a string of 7 consecutive number ones, ending with "My Love" in 2001. All four of their albums reached the top spot, and they have the Guinness World Record for the first boy-band in history to have five consecutive number ones from their debut. - Actor
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Trevor (born/formerly credited as Timothy Eyster) joined the industry at the tender age of 7, and was quickly whisked off to film a Disney movie in Nepal, with Milla Jovovich. From 1985-1993 he amassed over 60 TV commercial credits, including 6 McDonald's spots, Minute Maid OJ, Eggo Waffles and others. He landed guest star and recurring roles on: Dallas, Matlock, Family Ties, Married... with Children, Santa Barbara all before he turned 12. Today, he is best known and loved by TV audiences for his geek archetype-defining role of "Sponge" on 90's Nickelodeon's summer camp sitcom "Salute Your Shorts". Trevor left the industry to pursue other life interests, shortly after a guest star appearance on the 5th Season Premiere of "Babylon 5", in 2000. Now, he's back: older, wiser and full of spit & grit.- Actress
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Mya Marie Harrison was born on October 10, 1979 in Washington D.C. She's an American R&B/pop singer, entertainer, philanthropist & actress known professionally as Mýa. She started taking ballet lessons at 2, adding jazz & tap dancing lessons 2 years later. As a teen, she began to shift her focus to music. Gifted & musically-inclined, she put together a demo tape at 15 w/ the help of her parents, garnering the interest of a record label. At 16, she began recording her first solo album, which was later released on Interscope Records in spring April 1998. It sold over 1 million copies in the U.S. & produced the gold-certified top 10 single It's All About Me featuring Sisqó.- Jodi Lyn O'Keefe was born in Cliffwood Beach, New Jersey, to Noreen and Jack O'Keefe, a director of labor relations for Merck. She began modeling at the age of 8 after seeing her eldest sister Heather modelling. She modeled for various companies such as Gitano Jeans and DreamPhone. When she reached her teen years she attended Saint John Vianney High School in Holmdel, New Jersey. After her sophomore year Jodi left school to star on the soap Another World (1964), where she played Marguerite Cory. After she left Another World she immediately landed the role of Cassidy Bridges on the hit CBS cop action/drama Nash Bridges (1996). She played Cassidy for all 6 seasons. While she was filming Nash Bridges she made her big screen debut in the 1998 Halloween sequel Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998). Jodi then hit the spotlight when she portrayed the snobby, popular and rich Taylor Vaughan in the 1999 hit teen flick She's All That (1999). She then starred in three more movies before she began to keep a lower profile.
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Trevor Donovan, born and raised in Mammoth Lakes, California, is a multifaceted artist, philanthropist, and author. As a teenager, he was a member of the US teen ski team and later earned a bachelor's degree in graphic design before transitioning into a successful career in entertainment, where he is best known for his work as Teddy Montgomery, the first and only LGBT character who was a series regular on the global pop culture phenomenon, 90210.
Beyond his on-screen success, Trevor is a passionate advocate for various causes, including canine rights and anti-bullying. He is an active ambassador for Habitat for Humanity and the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights. Additionally, he founded the nationwide anti-bullying program, Team Upstanders, and has made it his mission to spread awareness about bullying in all forms, along with other issues he cares deeply about.
Known for his charismatic and engaging performances, Trevor has emerged as a sought-after leading man in romantic comedies, starring in a plethora of titles. Among the films he's starred in are "Easy Heart," "USS Christmas," "Love Finds You in Charm," among many others.
Trevor recently appeared on Season 31 of Dancing with the Stars on Disney+ and quickly became a fan favorite, making it to the semi-finals despite having no dance experience. He has also starred in various popular TV shows, including 90210, Sun Records, The Client List, Melissa & Joey, Awkward, NCIS, and Lucifer. His upcoming projects include the movie Reagan with Dennis Quaid and Wolfhound.
Apart from his successful acting career, Trevor is also an accomplished author, having written three children's books in his "Love Always" series, featuring Dogbert the German Shepherd, Tito the English Bulldog, Shadow the Golden Retriever, and Chance the Labrador. These heartwarming stories are inspired by real-life everyday experiences and showcase Trevor's love for animals and his unwavering optimism.
Trevor's positive outlook on life and dedication to making a difference make him a beloved figure in both the entertainment industry and the wider community. He is an avid user of social media, where he has a global fan base known as #DonoFans, who eagerly support all his endeavors and make sure his projects trend online.
Trevor resides in both Mammoth and Los Angeles. Trevor has a younger brother Jake who is a fireman.- Music Artist
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Usher Raymond IV was born in Dallas, Texas, to Jonetta Patton (née O'Neal) and Usher Raymond III. He began singing when he was six years old, joining the local church choir at the behest of his mother who acted as choir director. Jonetta, a single mom, raised Usher and his younger brother, James, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, before moving the family to Atlanta, Georgia, when Usher was 12 years old. Cited by the singer as his best friend, Usher's mother continues to guide the teen star's career as his manager, a duty she assumed after quitting her full-time office job several years ago. Upon moving to Atlanta, Usher began participating in various local talent shows. It was at one such exhibition, in 1992, that he was spotted by Bryant Reid, brother of L.A. Reid, the famed R&B producer and co-president (with 'Kenneth Babyface' Edmonds') of LaFace Records. Bryant arranged for Usher to audition for his brother, and the popular producer was immediately taken with the young singer's precocious talent--legend has it that Reid offered Usher a contract on the spot. Usher recorded and released his debut album on LaFace in 1994. The record, which was co-executive-produced by Reid and Sean 'P. Diddy' Combs, generated the minor hit "Think of You". Usher was only 14 when he worked on the album, and puberty proved somewhat of an impediment to the process. As a result, the producers brought in several vocal coaches in order to help him complete the record. Their efforts were not in vain, as the album captured Usher's youthful exuberance and native singing prowess, not to mention the interest of many listeners. After graduating from high school, he entered the studio to record his sophomore effort, "My Way", which was produced by Jermaine Dupri of So So Def Records, and was released in October of 1997, around the time of Usher's 19th birthday. The record was already highly anticipated based on the success of its first hit single, "You Make Me Wanna", an impassioned love song in the classic R&B tradition. The song was an instant juggernaut, hovering at or near the top of Billboard's R&B singles chart from the moment of its release, and it eventually spent considerable time in the # 2 position on the pop singles chart, second only to Elton John's wildly popular "Candle in the Wind '97." The success of "My Way" proved that the teenage crooner had won over the hearts of legions of listeners. It also illustrated the artistic maturation he had undergone since his debut recording. This time around, Usher wrote his own songs, penning five of the album's nine tracks. The remaining four songs were contributed by such R&B heavyweights as Babyface, Teddy Riley and producer Dupri. Usher spent six months living at Dupri's house while recording the album; the time together, he says, helped them understand each other, and helped Dupri realize the genuine growth Usher was experiencing in his life. "My Way" yielded a second smash, "Nice & Slow", that also put a chokehold on the singles charts upon its release, and the video for the song garnered a fair share of critical acclaim. Shot by famed hip-hop director Hype Williams, the video, which was filmed in Paris, features a dramatic romantic storyline that almost rivals the song itself. Usher was recognized for the strength of his recent work when he won the 1997 Soul Train Award for Best R&B Single by a Male, for "You Make Me Wanna" He also earned a Grammy nomination, though one of the few blemishes on his young career came during the awards telecast when he inadvertently introduced Album of the Year award winner Bob Dylan as "Bill" before an international television audience. For the most part, though, TV has been kind to the kid. In addition to numerous appearances on programs like The Oprah Winfrey Show (1986), Usher has also been a recurring character on the syndicated TV show Moesha (1996), which stars pop songstress Brandy Norwood. Usher appeared on several episodes as Jeremy Davis, a boarding-school student romantically involved with the show's title character. For the foreseeable future, however, Usher is concentrating on taking his musical abilities to the next level by perfecting his skills as a live performer. He's had plenty of practice, touring on P. Diddy's No Way Out spectacular, and with Mary J. Blige on her national tour.- Actress
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Kirsten Prout was born in Vancouver, Canada. Meeting with success at an early age, she worked locally in Vancouver, guest-starring on shows such as First Wave (1998), Stargate SG-1 (1997), Cold Squad (1998) and The Dead Zone (2002). Her first sizable break in film came in 2005, when she landed the part of "Abby Miller", a young martial arts prodigy, alongside Jennifer Garner, in Elektra (2005). Kirsten performed her own stunts and utilized her martial arts training for the film, then went on to play the demure "Amanda Bloom" on the ABC Family television series, Kyle XY (2006). After the show finished its successful three seasons, Kirsten attended McGill University as an English Literature major. She was then immediately cast in Summit's The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010), becoming a part of the hugely successful Twilight Saga. Shortly thereafter, she starred as the troubled "Alex Bell" in parts two and three of MTV's horror trilogy, My Super Psycho Sweet 16: Part 2 (2010) and My Super Psycho Sweet 16: Part 3 (2012), and portrayed the lovable "Char Chamberlin" on ABC Family's teen drama, The Lying Game (2011). Kirsten has both a solid history in the industry as well as a promising future in both film and television.- Actress
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Amber Watson was born on 30 September 1990 in Maryland, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Broken (2013).- Actress
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Atlanta actress, singer and model. Originally from Mississippi, Chrissy moved to Atlanta to pursue acting full time in 2008. She has done film, commercials, stage, and television, and also sings.
She has been riding horses for 19 years and is experienced in all riding styles as well as training. Chrissy has trained in stunts, and has extensive Civil War weapons training.
You can see Chrissy on t.v. in commercials as the body wash girl for Proactiv Facewash as well as for Flicks (Cartoon Network). This summer she filmed the feature, +1 (2013) directed by Dennis Iliadis (The Last House on the Left (2009)), this is her first principal role in a major feature film. Chrissy is currently working on a musical/activism duo with girlfriend and singer Bria Kam. They are preparing for upcoming fall projects and the release of their first album next spring.- Actor
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Wesley first enjoyed an international spotlight as a model for the famous photographer Bruce Weber. Wesley has been a feature model for both Abercrombie and Fitch and Hollister stores. Wesley can be seen in national print campaigns for many Canadian retailers. Wesley's passion for acting came in high school where he auditioned and won the lead in his first stage play. He decided that he wanted to study acting privately and began lessons and scene studies with the finest of teachers. Wesley brings the same work ethic to his acting that he does to his physical endeavors. As an elite athlete, he maintains a strict training regime. Wesley has been surrounded by music, as his mother is a coloratura soprano and composer. His father is a highly decorated police officer that has lobbied the government for many important justice issues. He has an older sister, Brittany and loves to spend time with his collie dog.- Actress
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At a young age, Ayla Kell studied ballet and danced with the American Ballet Theater as the character Greta in "The Nutcracker".
Ayla Kell is most known for her role in ABC Family's "Make It or Break It" alongside Chelsea Hobbs, Cassie Scerbo, and Josie Loren. Make It or Break It is Kell's first lead role. However, she has made several guest appearances in shows such as CSI: Miami and Without a Trace.- Ryan Wilson was born on 16 October 1990 in Lubbock, Texas, USA. He is an actor, known for Cold Creek Manor (2003), ER (1994) and The Guardian (2001).
- Bristol Palin was born on 18 October 1990 in Wasilla, Alaska, USA. She was previously married to Dakota Meyer.
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Carly Brook Schroeder is an actress, animal rights activist, environmentalist, and nutritional advocate, known for Gracie (2007), the Disney Channel's Lizzie McGuire (2001), and General Hospital (1963).
Schroeder was born on October 18, 1990, in Valparaiso, Indiana. She began doing print work at the age of three and commercials at the age of six.
In 1997, Schroeder was cast as Serena Baldwin in Port Charles (1997), a spin-off of General Hospital. She performed in 480 episodes during a six-year period, being nominated twice in 1999 and 2000 for a Young Artist Award. In 1999, Schroeder was also nominated for a Young Star Award; Best Performance by a Young Actress in a Daytime TV Program.
Schroeder has also been featured in several television shows and television movies. In 2002, Schroder won the role of the manipulative, yet lovable Melina Bianco in The Disney Channel's Lizzie McGuire (2001). She also appeared in The Lizzie McGuire Movie (2003).
Her first feature film, Mean Creek (2004), received wide critical acclaim, winning the Humanitas Prize at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival, and also being awarded the 2005 Independent Spirit Festival Special Distinction Award for best ensemble cast. Schroeder also appeared in Firewall (2006), with 'Harrison Ford', and Eye of the Dolphin (2006),
An avid soccer player since the age of five, Schroeder finally had the chance to combine two of her passions in a single project called Gracie (2007). Knowing she had to fight for the part, she began an intense three-month workout that included training in advanced soccer skills with professional athletes and trainers. Her exposure to an athletic lifestyle influenced her later decision to choose a health-conscious lifestyle.
While Gracie was in theaters Schroeder's other movie, Eye of the Dolphin (2006) received two awards from the 2007 International Family Film Festival; a Best Child Actor win for Schroeder and a Drama Feature win for the movie. Her most recent projects include Prep School (2015), and One of Us (2017). Schroeder was awarded best actress for her role as Kyra in Prep School at the 2016 Studio City Film Festival.
Her earlier work for the Humane Society and Meals on Wheels in 2004 opened her eyes to her other passion, traveling. By the time she entered college, Schroeder had been to 20 states, 11 countries. As of 2018, Carly has 16 movie titles on her resume. Her appearances for 2018 include Ouija House (2018) and Deadly Shores. Carly has also received weapons training in small arms.
Schroeder graduated from California Lutheran University in 2013, then went on to further her education in nutrition and holistic care. In a move towards a more health-focused lifestyle, Schroeder has given up meat, dairy, gluten, and refined sugars in exchange for a plant-strong diet. Accompanied by her dog Jax, she has embraced her wanderlust by climbing, backpacking, running marathons, snowboarding, surfing, and many more outdoor activities.
In January 2019, Carly raised her right hand and chose to go to officer candidates school for her commission in the US Army.- Art Department
Christopher Wren was born on 20 October 1632 in East Knoyle, Wiltshire, where his father was rector. His father later moved to Windsor and Wren was educated at Westminster School and then Oxford University. He showed an early talent for mathematics and enjoyed inventing things, including an instrument for writing in the dark and a pneumatic machine.
Wren was one of Britain's most distinguished architects, best known for the design of many London churches, including St Paul's Cathedral. In 1665, Wren visited Paris, where he was strongly influenced by French and Italian baroque styles. Wren did design 51 new city churches, as well as the new St Paul's Cathedral.
In 1669, he was appointed surveyor of the royal works which effectively gave him control of all government building in the country. He was knighted in 1673.
Christopher Wren died on 25 February 1723. His gravestone in St Paul's Cathedral features the Latin inscription which translates as: 'If you seek his memorial, look about you.'- Writer
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Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She served as the first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four terms in office, making her the longest-serving first lady of the United States. Roosevelt served as United States Delegate to the United Nations General Assembly from 1945 to 1952. President Harry S. Truman later called her the "First Lady of the World" in tribute to her human rights achievements.- "There are no second acts in American lives," wrote F. Scott Fitzgerald, who himself went from being the high priest of the Jazz Age to a down-and-out alcoholic within the space of 20 years, but not before giving the world several literary masterpieces, the most famous of which is "The Great Gatsby" (1924).
He was born in 1896 to a mother who spoiled him shamelessly, leading him to grow up an especially self-possessed young man. While he was obsessed by the image of Princeton University, he flunked out, less interested in Latin and trigonometry than bathtub gin and "bright young things". The brightest was an unconventional young lady from Montgomery, Alabama named Zelda Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald invoked the jealousy of numerous local boys, some of whom had even begun a fraternity in Zelda's honor, by snagging her shortly before the publication of his first novel, "This Side of Paradise". The novel was a huge success, and Fitzgerald suddenly found himself the most highly-paid writer in America.
During the mid-to-late '20s the Fitzgeralds lived in Europe among many American expatriates including Gertrude Stein, Cole Porter, Ernest Hemingway and Thornton Wilder. He wrote what is considered his greatest masterpiece, "The Great Gatsby", while living in Paris. It was at the end of this period (1924-30) that his marriage to the highly strung, demanding and mentally unstable Zelda began to unravel. She was diagnosed with schizophrenia and spent much of the rest of her life in a variety of mental institutions. Fitzgerald turned more and more to alcohol. In 1930 a major crisis came when Zelda had a series of psychotic attacks, beginning a descent into madness and schizophrenia from which she would never recover. Much of Fitzgerald's income would now be dedicated to keeping his wife in mental hospitals. Emotionally and creatively wrung out, he wrote "Tender is The Night" (1934), the story of Dick Diver and his schizophrenic wife Nicole, that shows the pain that he felt himself. In the mid-30s Fitzgerald had a breakdown of his own. He had become a clinical alcoholic, something he would detail in his famous "The Crack-Up" series of essays.
With Zelda institutionalized on the East Coast, it was Hollywood that proved to be Fitzgerald's salvation. Although he had little success in writing for films, which he had attempted several times previously, he was paid well and gained a new professional standing. His experiences there inspired "The Last Tycoon", his last--and unfinished--novel which some believe might have been his greatest of all. Fitzgerald died at the home of his mistress, writer Sheilah Graham, of a heart attack in 1940, believing himself to be a failed and broken man. He never knew that he would one day be considered one of the finest writers of the 20th century. - Actress
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Carole Lombard was born Jane Alice Peters in Fort Wayne, Indiana, on October 6, 1908. Her parents divorced in 1916 and her mother took the family on a trip out West. While there they decided to settle down in the Los Angeles area. After being spotted playing baseball in the street with the neighborhood boys by a film director, Carole was signed to a one-picture contract in 1921 when she was 12. The film in question was A Perfect Crime (1921). Although she tried for other acting jobs, she would not be seen onscreen again for four years. She returned to a normal life, going to school and participating in athletics, excelling in track and field. By age 15 she had had enough of school, though, and quit. She joined a theater troupe and played in several stage shows, which were for the most part nothing to write home about. In 1925 she passed a screen test and was signed to a contract with Fox Films. Her first role as a Fox player was Hearts and Spurs (1925), in which she had the lead. Right after that film she appeared in a western called Durand of the Bad Lands (1925). She rounded out 1925 in the comedy Marriage in Transit (1925) (she also appeared in a number of two-reel shorts). In 1926 Carole was seriously injured in an automobile accident that resulted in the left side of her face being scarred. Once she had recovered, Fox canceled her contract. She did find work in a number of shorts during 1928 (13 of them, many for slapstick comedy director Mack Sennett), but did go back for a one-time shot with Fox called Me, Gangster (1928). By now the film industry was moving from the silent era to "talkies". While some stars' careers ended because of heavy accents, poor diction or a voice unsuitable to sound, Carole's light, breezy, sexy voice enabled her to transition smoothly during this period. Her first sound film was High Voltage (1929) at Pathe (her new studio) in 1929. In 1931 she was teamed with William Powell in Man of the World (1931). She and Powell hit it off and soon married, but the marriage didn't work out and they divorced in 1933. No Man of Her Own (1932) put Carole opposite Clark Gable for the first and only time (they married seven years later in 1939). By now she was with Paramount Pictures and was one of its top stars. However, it was Twentieth Century (1934) that showed her true comedic talents and proved to the world what a fine actress she really was. In 1936 Carole received her only Oscar nomination for Best Actress for My Man Godfrey (1936). She was superb as ditzy heiress Irene Bullock. Unfortunately, the coveted award went to Luise Rainer in The Great Ziegfeld (1936), which also won for Best Picture. Carole was now putting out about one film a year of her own choosing, because she wanted whatever role she picked to be a good one. She was adept at picking just the right part, which wasn't surprising as she was smart enough to see through the good-ol'-boy syndrome of the studio moguls. She commanded and received what was one of the top salaries in the business - at one time it was reported she was making $35,000 a week. She made but one film in 1941, Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941). Her last film was in 1942, when she played Maria Tura opposite Jack Benny in To Be or Not to Be (1942). Tragically, she didn't live to see its release. The film was completed in 1941 just at the time the US entered World War II, and was subsequently held back for release until 1942. Meanwhile, Carole went home to Indiana for a war bond rally. On January 16, 1942, Carole, her mother, and 20 other people were flying back to California when the plane went down outside of Las Vegas, Nevada. All aboard perished. The highly acclaimed actress was dead at the age of 33 and few have been able to match her talents since.- John Kenneth Galbraith was born on 15 October 1908 in Dunwich Township, Ontario, Canada. He was a writer, known for Festival (1960), Cold War (1998) and Prologue (1970). He was married to Catherine Merriam Atwater. He died on 29 April 2006 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
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Mickey Rooney was born Joe Yule Jr. on September 23, 1920 in Brooklyn, New York. He first took the stage as a toddler in his parents vaudeville act at 17 months old. He made his first film appearance in 1926. The following year, he played the lead character in the first Mickey McGuire short film. It was in this popular film series that he took the stage name Mickey Rooney. Rooney reached new heights in 1937 with A Family Affair, the film that introduced the country to Andy Hardy, the popular all-American teenager. This beloved character appeared in nearly 20 films and helped make Rooney the top star at the box office in 1939, 1940 and 1941. Rooney also proved himself an excellent dramatic actor as a delinquent in Boys Town (1938) starring Spencer Tracy. In 1938, he was awarded a Juvenile Academy Award.
Teaming up with Judy Garland, Rooney also appeared in a string of musicals, including Babes in Arms (1939) the first teenager to be nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor in a leading role, Strike Up the Band (1940), Babes on Broadway (1941), and Girl Crazy (1943). He and Garland immediately became best of friends. "We weren't just a team, we were magic," Rooney once said. During that time he also appeared with Elizabeth Taylor in the now classic National Velvet (1944). Rooney joined the service that same year, where he helped to entertain the troops and worked on the American Armed Forces Network. He returned to Hollywood after 21 months in Love Laughs at Andy Hardy (1946), did a remake of a Robert Taylor film, The Crowd Roars (1932) called Killer McCoy (1947) and portrayed composer Lorenz Hart in Words and Music (1948). He also appeared in Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), starring Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard. Rooney played Hepburn's Japanese neighbor, Mr. Yunioshi. A sign of the times, Rooney played the part for comic relief which he later regretted feeling the role was offensive. He once again showed his incredible range in the dramatic role of a boxing trainer with Anthony Quinn and Jackie Gleason in Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962). In the late 1960s and 1970s Rooney showed audiences and critics alike why he was one of Hollywood's most enduring stars. He gave an impressive performance in Francis Ford Coppola's 1979 film The Black Stallion (1979), which brought him an Academy Award nomination as Best Actor in a Supporting Role. He also turned to the stage in 1979 in Sugar Babies with Ann Miller, and was nominated for a Tony Award. During that time he also portrayed the Wizard in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz with Eartha Kitt at New York's Madison Square Garden, which also had a successful run nationally.
Rooney appeared in four television series': The Mickey Rooney Show (1954) (1954-1955), a comedy sit-com in 1964 with Sammee Tong called Mickey, One of the Boys in 1982 with Dana Carvey and Nathan Lane, and The New Adventures of the Black Stallion (1990) from 1990-1993. In 1981, Rooney won an Emmy Award for his portrayal of a mentally challenged man in Bill (1981). The critical acclaim continued to flow for the veteran performer, with Rooney receiving an honorary Academy Award "in recognition of his 60 years of versatility in a variety of memorable film performances". More recently he has appeared in such films as Night at the Museum (2006) with Ben Stiller and The Muppets (2011) with Amy Adams and Jason Segel.
Rooney's personal life, including his frequent trips to the altar, has proved to be just as epic as his on-screen performances. His first wife was one of the most beautiful women in Hollywood, actress Ava Gardner. Mickey permanently separated from his eighth wife Jan in June of 2012. In 2011 Rooney filed elder abuse and fraud charges against stepson Christopher Aber and Aber's wife. At Rooney's request, the Superior Court issued a restraining order against the Aber's demanding they stay 100 yards from Rooney, as well as Mickey's other son Mark Rooney and Mark's wife Charlene. Just prior, Rooney mustered the strength to break his silence and appeared before the Senate in Washington D.C. telling of his own heartbreaking story of abuse in an effort to live a peaceful, full life and help others who may be similarly suffering in silence.
Rooney requested through the Superior Court to permanently reside with his son Mark Rooney, who is a musician and Marks wife Charlene, an artist, in the Hollywood Hills. He legally separated from his eighth wife in June of 2012. Ironically, after eight failed marriages he never looked or felt better and finally found happiness and peace in the single life. Mickey, Mark and Charlene focused on health, happiness and creative endeavors and it showed. Mickey Rooney had once again landed on his feet reminding us that he was a survivor. Rooney died on April 6th 2014. He was taking his afternoon nap and never woke. One week before his death Mark and Charlene surprised him by reunited him with a long lost love, the racetrack. He was ecstatic to be back after decades and ran into his old friends Mel Brooks and Dick Van Patten.- Actor
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William Conrad became a television star relatively late in his career. In fact, the former Army Air Corps World War II fighter pilot began his screen career playing heavies. He was Max, one of The Killers (1946) hired to finish off Burt Lancaster in his dingy lodgings. He was the corrupt state inspector Turck working for the syndicate in The Racket (1951). He was a mobster in Sorry, Wrong Number (1948), the murderous gunslinger Tallman in Johnny Concho (1956) and sleazy nightclub owner Louie Castro who claimed to be 60% legitimate in Cry Danger (1951).
When not essaying outright villainy, Bill played characters like the tough fight promoter Quinn in Body and Soul (1947) or the doom-laden province commissioner in The Naked Jungle (1954). The portly, balding, crumple-faced, self-confessed gourmand had an ever-present weight problem (at one time 260 lbs.) which proved to be a natural obstacle to progressing to more substantial leading film roles. That, however, didn't hinder a very successful career in radio. In fact, Bill himself estimated that he had played in excess of 7,000 radio parts. Even if that was an exaggeration, his gravelly, resonant voice was certainly heard on countless broadcasts from "Buck Rogers" to "The Bullwinkle Show," from portraying Marshall Matt Dillon in "Gunsmoke" on the radio (before James Arness got the part on screen) to narrating the adventures of Richard Kimball in the television program The Fugitive (1963). In "The Wax Works," an episode of the anthology series Suspense (1949) in 1956, he voiced each and every part.
Since his corpulence effectively precluded playing strapping characters like Matt Dillon, Bill began to concentrate on directing and producing by the early 1960's. This, ironically, included episodes of Gunsmoke (1955). In 1963, he contributed to saving 77 Sunset Strip (1958) for yet another season. Later in the decade, he produced and directed several films for Warner Brothers, including the thriller Brainstorm (1965) with Jeffrey Hunter and Anne Francis. He returned to acting in 1971 to become the unlikely star of the Quinn Martin production Cannon (1971), for which he is chiefly remembered. Bill imbued the tough-talking, no-nonsense character of Frank Cannon with enough humanity and wit to make the series compelling but, despite the show's popularity, he made his views clear in a 1976 Times interview that he found himself poorly served by the scripts he had been given. A planned sequel, The Return of Frank Cannon (1980) failed to get beyond the movie-length pilot, but the actor's popularity resulted in another starring role in Jake and the Fatman (1987) as District Attorney McCabe, co-starring with Joe Penny) and a brief run as eccentric detective Nero Wolfe (1981). A self-effacing man with a good sense of humor and never afraid to speak his mind, Bill Conrad died of heart failure in February 1994. He was elected to the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame and (posthumously) to the Radio Hall of Fame in 1997.- Actress
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One of four children (two older brothers, one younger sister) born to American missionaries, Jayne Meadows (née Jane Cotter) was born September 27, 1919, in China. The family returned to the US in the early 1930s wherein Jayne was forced to learn the English language, speaking Chinese and other foreign languages at the time before learning English. She settled in Sharon, Connecticut with her parents, Rev. Francis James Meadows Cotter (who was appointed rector of the town's Christ Church), and Ida Miller (Taylor) Cotter.
She developed an early interest in acting and studied at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting. She made her Broadway debut with the comedy "Spring Again" (1941), followed by "Another Love Story" (1943), "The Odds on Mrs. Oakley" (1944), "Many Happy Returns" and "Kiss Them for Me" (1945). This led to a post-WWII, MGM contract in which her icy glare and imposing stance frequently made her the perfect manipulating "other woman" in such "B" heavy drama as Undercurrent (1946), Lady in the Lake (1946), Dark Delusion (1947), Enchantment (1948), The Fat Man (1951) and as Michal in the biblical film David and Bathsheba (1951). She occasionally was featured in lighter feature film fare as well, including Song of the Thin Man (1947) and The Luck of the Irish (1948).
Not satisfactorily moving up the credits ladder in films as she hoped, she sought work elsewhere in the early 1950's, especially in the new medium of TV. She became one of Hollywood's more glittery personalities on TV and variety programs, and a sparkling guest panelist on such popular TV game shows as "The Name's the Same, "Masquerade Party, "What's My Line," "To Tell the Truth" and "Password." At one point, she was a regular member of the celebrity panel on I've Got a Secret (1952).
Divorced from film and TV writer Milton Krims after six years, Jayne met her witty match when she married actor/comedian Steve Allen in 1954. They formed an extremely strong personal and professional relationship which would encompass stage ("Love Letters", in which they co-starred on and off for 11 years), film (College Confidential (1960), and especially TV (Meeting of Minds (1977)). Jayne supported Steve as a regular/guest on many of his comedy series ventures, including The Steve Allen Plymouth Show (1956), The New Steve Allen Show (1961), The Steve Allen Playhouse (1962) and The Steve Allen Comedy Hour (1967). They appeared as themselves in the film The Player (1992) they did not appear as themselves in the amusing TV movie Now You See It, Now You Don't (1968) and the all-star TV version of Alice in Wonderland (1985).
Jayne's solo work took a deliberate back seat. Usually playing elegant sophisticates, she cameoed in such films as the ribald comedy Norman... Is That You? (1976); the crime thriller Murder by Numbers (1989); as Billy Crystal's mother in the comedies City Slickers (1991) and City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold (1994); and made an appearance in what would become her last feature film The Story of Us (1999).
Over a three-decade period, Jayne appeared in a number of TV movies, including James Dean (1976), Sex and the Married Woman (1977), Miss All-American Beauty (1982), A Masterpiece of Murder (1986) and Parent Trap: Hawaiian Honeymoon (1989). She also guested on numerous established programs as well -- "Here Comes the Bride," "Here's Lucy," "Adam-12," "Switch," "Hawaii 5-O," "Matt Houston," "Fantasy Island," "Murder, She Wrote," "The Love Boat," "St. Elsewhere," "The Bold and the Beautiful," "The Nanny" and "Diagnosis Murder." Steady roles on prime-time TV series would include a recurring part as Nurse Chambers on the medical program Medical Center (1969), as well as regular roles on the sitcoms It's Not Easy (1982) and High Society (1995), the latter for which she earned an Emmy nomination for "Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy."
Known for her infectious laugh and joie de vivre, Jayne's confidence grew to include writing stage plays, teleplays, books, and columns. For the most part, however, she was Allen's creative and dedicated business partner for 46 years until his death in 2000. Younger sister Audrey Meadows, of The Honeymooners (1955) TV fame, died in 1996.
Jayne Meadows Allen lived the rest of her life quietly, occasionally granting interviews, until her death on April 26, 2015 in Los Angeles, aged 95.- Actor
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Walter Matthau was best known for starring in many films which included Charade (1963), The Odd Couple (1968), Grumpy Old Men (1993), and Dennis the Menace (1993). He often worked with Jack Lemmon and the two were Hollywood's craziest stars.
He was born Walter Jake Matthow in New York City, New York on October 1, 1920. His mother was an immigrant from Lithuania and his father was a Russian Jewish peddler and electrician from Kiev, Ukraine. As a young boy, Matthau attended a Jewish non-profit sleep-away camp. He also attended Surprise Lake Camp. His high school was Seward Park High School.
During World War II, Matthau served in the U.S. Army Air Forces with the Eighth Air Force in Britain as a Consolidated B-24 Liberator radioman-gunner, in the same 453rd Bombardment Group as James Stewart. He was based at RAF Old Buckenham, Norfolk during this time. He reached the rank of staff sergeant and became interested in acting.
Matthau appeared in the pilot of Mister Peepers (1952) alongside Wally Cox. He later appeared in the Elia Kazan classic, A Face in the Crowd (1957), opposite Patricia Neal and Andy Griffith, and then appeared in Lonely Are the Brave (1962), with Kirk Douglas, a film Douglas has often described as his personal favorite. Matthau then appeared in Charade (1963) with Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant. In 1968, Matthau made his big screen appearance as Oscar Madison in The Odd Couple (1968) alongside Jack Lemmon. The two were also in the sequel (The Odd Couple II (1998)) as well as Grumpy Old Men (1993) and Grumpier Old Men (1995). Matthau was in Dennis the Menace (1993), alongside Mason Gamble. On July 1, 2000, Matthau died of a heart attack in Los Angeles, California. He was 79 years old.- Mario Puzo was born October 15, 1920, in "Hell's Kitchen" on Manhattan's (NY) West Side and, following military service in World War II, attended New York's New School for Social Research and Columbia University. His best-known novel, "The Godfather," was preceded by two critically acclaimed novels, "The Dark Arena" and "The Fortunate Pilgrim." In 1978, he published "Fools Die," followed by "The Sicilian" (1984) and "The Fourth K" (1991). Mario Puzo has also written several screenplays, including Earthquake (1974), Superman (1978), and all three "Godfather" movies, for which he received two Academy Awards. Mario's latest novel, 1996's "The Last Don," was made into a CBS television miniseries in May 1997, starring Danny Aiello, Kirstie Alley and Joe Mantegna. In 1997, Part II was aired. Also in 1997, Mario's "The Fortunate Pilgrim" was re-released by Random House. Mario passed away July 2, 1999, at his home in Bay Shore, Long Island. His last novel, "Omerta," will be published July, 2000. He is survived by his companion of 20 years, Carol Gino, and five children.
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Edward Montgomery Clift (nicknamed 'Monty' his entire life) was born on October 17, 1920 in Omaha, Nebraska, just after his twin sister Roberta (1920-2014) and eighteen months after his brother Brooks Clift. He was the son of Ethel "Sunny" Anderson (Fogg; 1888-1988) and William Brooks Clift (1886-1964). His father made a lot of money in banking but was quite poor during the depression. His mother was born out of wedlock and spent much of her life and the family fortune finding her illustrious southern lineage and raising her children as aristocrats.
At age 13, Monty appeared on Broadway ("Fly Away Home"), and chose to remain in the New York theater for over ten years before finally succumbing to Hollywood. He gained excellent theatrical notices and soon piqued the interests of numerous lovelorn actresses; their advances met with awkward conflict. While working in New York in the early 1940s, he met wealthy former Broadway star Libby Holman. She developed an intense decade-plus obsession over the young actor, even financing an experimental play, "Mexican Mural" for him. It was ironic his relationship with the bisexual middle-aged Holman would be the principal (and likely the last) heterosexual relationship of his life and only cause him further anguish over his sexuality. She would wield considerable influence over the early part of his film career, advising him in decisions to decline lead roles in Sunset Boulevard (1950), (originally written specifically for him; the story perhaps hitting a little too close to home) and High Noon (1952).
His long apprenticeship on stage made him a thoroughly accomplished actor, notable for the intensity with which he researched and approached his roles. By the early 1950s he was exclusively homosexual, though he continued to hide his homosexuality and maintained a number of close friendships with theater women (heavily promoted by studio publicists).
His film debut was Red River (1948) with John Wayne quickly followed by his early personal success The Search (1948) (Oscar nominations for this, A Place in the Sun (1951), From Here to Eternity (1953) and Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)). By 1950, he was troubled with allergies and colitis (the U.S. Army had rejected him for military service in World War II for chronic diarrhea) and, along with pill problems, he was alcoholic. He spent a great deal of time and money on psychiatry.
In 1956, during filming of Raintree County (1957), he ran his Chevrolet into a tree after leaving a party at Elizabeth Taylor's; it was she who saved him from choking by pulling out two teeth lodged in his throat. His smashed face was rebuilt, he reconciled with his estranged father, but he continued bedeviled by dependency on drugs and his unrelenting guilt over his homosexuality.
With his Hollywood career in an irreversible slide despite giving an occasional riveting performance, such as in Stanley Kramer's Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), Monty returned to New York and tried to slowly develop a somewhat more sensible lifestyle in his brownstone row house on East 61st Street in Manhattan. He was set to play in Taylor's Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967), when he died in the early morning hours of July 23, 1966, at his home at age 45. His body was found by his live-in personal secretary/companion Lorenzo James, who found Clift lying nude on top of his bed, dead from what the autopsy called "occlusive coronary artery disease." Clift's last 10 years prior to his death from his 1956 car accident were called the "longest suicide in history" by famed acting teacher Robert Lewis.- Actor
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His mother was a teacher and his father a dentist. He attended West Point, joined the Army, and earned an undergraduate psychology degree at the University of Alabama while in service. Next he earned a master's degree from Washington State University and a doctorate in psychology from the University of California at Berkeley. In 1959, Leary joined the faculty of Harvard University. There, he met professor Richard Alpert and began a series of controlled experiments with psychedelic drugs. Four years later they were fired for using undergraduate students in the tests. They retired to Millbrook Estate, a 63-room mansion in upstate New York. People like William Burroughs, Abbie Hoffman, Jack Kerouac, Aldous Huxley and Allen Ginsberg came and went, all united by a desire to experience better living through chemistry. In 1970, he escaped from the California Men's Colony at San Luis Obispo, where he was serving a 10-year sentence for possession of two marijuana joints. His bust-out was aided by the Weather Underground and his third wife, Rosemary. He and she roamed from country to country. In Algeria, they took stayed with Eldridge Cleaver, who ultimately kidnapped his guests after a political disagreement. They escaped and fled to Switzerland. In 1973, at the Kabul airport in Afghanistan, Leary was arrested by agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Extradited to the United States, he was sent to Folsom prison near Sacramento. He was paroled in 1976. Leary's life turned to lecture tours, stand-up comedy, writing books, cyberspace and the Hollywood party scene. He launched a much-ridiculed lecture tour in 1982 with Watergate villain G. Gordon Liddy. He learned of his prostate cancer in January 1995 and celebrated his remaining lifetime through his own website.- Music Artist
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Glenn Herbert Gould was born Glen Gold on September 25, 1932, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. His mother was a great-grand niece of Edvard Grieg. Young Gould was playing with piano from the age of 3, and started regular lessons with his mother from the age of 4. At the age of 10 Gould was admitted to the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, where his piano teacher was Alberto Guerrero. In 1946 Gould, then only 13 years old, successfully performed Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. He made his first recording with the CBC in 1950, and gradually came to liking the studio environment better that a live performance to an audience.
Glenn Gould was touring with concert performances until the age of 31. He was the first performer from North America to play in the Soviet Union since the Second World War. His 1957 tour became possible because Nikita Khrushchev initiated the "Thaw" amidst the Cold War. Gould's concerts featured Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven. He was also allowed to perform the music of Arnold Schönberg, and Alban Berg which was previously under the ban by Soviet censorship. Gould reciprocated by popularizing the music of Dmitri Shostakovich in the West. In April 1964, Gould gave his last public performance in Los Angeles, California.
For the rest of his life Gould devoted his career to recording, writing, and broadcasting. His Grammy awarded 1981 studio recording of 'Goldberg Variations', as well, as his other recordings of music by Johann Sebastian Bach, are widely considered as definitive. Gould was posthumously awarded another Grammy for his recording of Piano sonatas Nos. 12 and 13 by Ludwig van Beethoven. His unusual and inspirational interpretations of classical repertoire were criticized by some and acclaimed by many. He died of a stroke on October 4, 1982, and was laid to rest in Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Gould was especially known for his eccentric, but strong and convincing performances. Although he could be sometimes heard saying a word or quietly singing along with his playing, Gould was doing that instinctively to achieve the final result, which was outstanding.
Gould played only his own piano. His Steinway piano was technically adjusted to his touch. This adjustments enabled Gould to play piano with superior control of the sound, which allowed him to make recordings of very fine quality. He also said about his piano: "it is the best vehicle to express my ideas."- Actor
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Dick Gregory was born on 12 October 1932 in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for The Hot Chick (2002), The Leisure Seeker (2017) and Reno 911! (2003). He was married to Lillian Gregory. He died on 19 August 2017 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA.- Producer
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He grew up in broken circumstances. The father was a drug addict and he ran away from his parents' home when he was still a child. Attracted by big cats, he found a job at the zoo, where he became particularly friendly with a cheetah named "Chico." Here Roy found his talent for dressage, which he was able to combine with magical tricks. In 1959 he was hired as an entertainer and steward on the German luxury liner TS-Bremen. He dropped out of school early because of this. Here he met Siegfried Fischbacher, who also worked as a steward. Inspired by their shared passion for the art of magic, they decided to perform together in the future. Roy's cheetah "Chico" became part of the first shows. In 1964, Siegfried & Roy celebrated their stage debut at the Astoria Theater. They then toured with "Chico" and their tricks on small variety stages through Germany and Switzerland. A close relationship developed from the professional collaboration.
The combination of magic and big cats proved to be so spectacular that they were able to start their first European tour in 1965. Shortly afterwards, Siegfried & Roy also performed in Puerto Rico and Las Vegas. In particular, the Americans, who were used to shows, were so impressed by their performances that they were awarded the prize for "Best Stage Show of the Year" in the same year, 1972. Siegfried & Roy received an exclusive, lifetime contract from the Mirage Hotel. The performances of the two became more and more spectacular due to their high income. Later, not only cheetahs were trained for their tricks, but also tigers. During their long career, however, critical voices were also raised, accusing Siegfried & Roy of exploiting and degenerating the noble big cats.
Siegfried & Roy, however, made it their mission to breed the white Bengal tigers in particular with great effort and to protect them from extinction with financial support. The white Bengal tiger also became a central part of their shows. In 1976, Siegfried & Roy were voted the best magicians of the year. In the years that followed, both became the highest-paid show artists in the world. During the 1980s they increased their popularity to Asia. Their career together was filmed in IMAX format. Since the beginning of the 1990s, Siegfried & Roy have performed under the show title SARMOTI, which is made up of the acronym "Siegfried and Roy, Masters of the Impossible". This also became the most successful show program in the United States. In 1997, Siegfried & Roy opened the "Secret Garden" within the Mirage hotel complex in Las Vegas. Tigers, lions, cheetahs and panthers from all continents of the world lived in these exotic outdoor enclosures in the middle of the city. In 2000, Siegfried & Roy were voted the best magicians of the decade with their SARMOTI program, ahead of David Copperfield.
The dramatic accident occurred during the stage show on October 3, 2003. On Roy Horn's 59th birthday, he was critically injured by the white tiger named Montecore, which he had bottle-raised himself. He had a faint attack on stage and fell; doctors later said it could have been a first stroke. The tiger Montecore then pulled Roy off the stage with the usual cat bite on his neck. A fang injured the main artery, which led to significant blood loss. Doctors fought for his life for days. During the course of treatment, the entertainer suffered several strokes. Roy Horn would not recover from this accident. After worldwide sympathy, the two entertainers were awarded the "World Entertainment Award" by Mikhail Gorbachev on October 23, 2003. Siegfried accepted the award with emotion in Hamburg. Both artists stayed in Las Vegas, but withdrew from the public except for a few interviews. In February 2009, the two ended their stage careers with a ten-minute show in which Montecore also took part.- Actress
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Born in Salisbury, Maryland, USA, following high school Linda studied for two years at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland, before moving on to acting studies in New York. In New York she attended acting workshops given by Lee Strasberg. Her first parts were small parts in TV series, with her biggest break coming with her role in The Terminator (1984). Most known to public at large from her part in the TV series Beauty and the Beast (1987) (before Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), at least).- Leslie Hamilton Gearren was born on 26 September 1956 in Salisbury, Maryland, USA. She was an actress, known for Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). She died on 22 August 2020 in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, USA.
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Born in Manhattan and raised in Los Angeles, Stephanie grew up swimming, riding, playing tennis, dancing, diving, clowning around, doing chores, and living the normal life of a tomboy in the great expanse of the San Fernando Valley. As a very young amateur theatrical entrepreneur, she produced, wrote, and directed pieces in her little bedroom hallway, in the stable, and on neighbors' fireplace hearths, earning her the title, "the boss".
But Stephanie's abiding love of theater was kindled at Brown Ledge Camp in Mallett's Bay, Vermont, where she acted, sang, and was nurtured in theater craft for six summers. Friends she made there count among her friends today.
Eager to get on with it, she created her own independent project in her senior year at Foxcroft School in Middleburg, Virginia: she returned to Los Angeles to study acting, movement, voice, tap and ballet. After graduating cum laude from high school, Stephanie's ambitions led her to choose a professional drama school over university, and she spent a challenging time in New York "getting a dose of it".
Returning to Los Angeles once again, she worked for her brother and sister-in-law's company, "Correia Art Glass", while she made the audition rounds. In time, she gave up packing glass to star in television movies, among them the Emmy Award-winning The Gathering (1977), Centennial (1978), The Golden Moment: An Olympic Love Story (1980) and Tomorrow's Child (1982), along with the occasional guest series role. After several such projects and two feature films - The Magic of Lassie (1978), with James Stewart, and The Awakening (1980), with Charlton Heston - Stephanie was offered the role of "Laura Holt" in the MTM series, Remington Steele (1982), which she played for five years with Pierce Brosnan and Doris Roberts on NBC. She appeared as Caroline? (1990) for Hallmark on CBS, which won three Emmys and earned her a Golden Globe nomination. Subsequently, Stephanie starred in The Story Lady (1991) with Jessica Tandy, Incident in a Small Town (1994) for CBS with Walter Matthau and Harry Morgan, and Stop the World, I Want to Get Off (1996), the musical, on A&E, to name a few of her more than thirty television movie appearances.
Stephanie starred in Lifetime Television's 50th movie, Prison of Secrets (1997), followed by an episode of Touched by an Angel (1994), their highest-rated show to that date. She was happy to be back in the saddle, in Ventura and Ojai, no less, filming an independent movie with Dennis Hopper called The Prophet's Game (2000), followed by Borderline Normal (2001) in Saskatchewan, Malpractice (2001) in New Orleans, and another Touched by an Angel (1994). More recently, she spent a happy time guesting on Crossing Jordan (2001).
Striving for excellence has always been very important to Stephanie, partly due to the standards set by her illustrious family. Alma Gluck, her grandmother, was one of the great sopranos of her day. Efrem Zimbalist Sr., her beloved grandfather, was a celebrated violinist, composer, and gifted teacher and director of the Curtis Institute of Music. Her aunt, Marcia Davenport, was a brilliant historical writer and novelist. Her wonderful father, Efrem Zimbalist Jr., is a prize-winning Broadway producer (Gian Carlo Menotti's "The Consul", "The Medium" and "The Telephone"), gifted composer, and celebrated actor (77 Sunset Strip (1958), The F.B.I. (1965), and many movies). His stunning "Violin Sonata" has been performed at several summer concert series. Her brother Efrem ("Skip") and his company, "Active Interest Media", publish several magazines.
After debuting on stage in the musical "Festival" in 1979 at the Las Palmas Theater in Los Angeles with Gregory Harrison and Brian Stokes Mitchell, Stephanie appeared as "Miranda" in "The Tempest" with Anthony Hopkins and Brent Carver at the Mark Taper Forum. Other theater includes "The Cherry Orchard" at the Long Wharf Theater, "Summer and Smoke" and "Barbarians" at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, and the national tour of "My One And Only" with Tommy Tune. In 1989, she initiated a play to be written for her and Linda Purl, and directed by Jenny Sullivan - "The Baby Dance" by Jane Anderson - which they produced and starred in at the Pasadena Playhouse. The production moved to Williamstown and Long Wharf, and culminated in a critically-acclaimed run at the Lucille Lortel Theatre in New York City. She played "Polly Peacham" in "The Threepenny Opera" with Betty Buckley at Williamstown, and had a wonderful time with "Tracy Lord" in "The Philadelphia Story" at the Cleveland PlayHouse. In 1994, Stephanie took on the double roles of an Irish peasant and a New Bedford fisherman's wife in the original production of "The Crimson Thread" in Connecticut (which she co-produced), and the Pasadena Playhouse. A second tread on the L.A. boards under Jenny Sullivan's direction was the hilarious, tour de force turn as a nail-spitting media barracuda in the West Coast premiere of "AdWars" with the wonderful David Dukes (R.I.P.).
At L.A.'s Coronet Theater for many months, Stephanie kicked up a lot of sand as the lovable dog in A.R. Gurney's "Sylvia". In 1998, she starred in the world premiere of Jane Martin's "Mr. Bundy" at the Humana Festival of Actors Theatre of Louisville, and happily played opposite Lucie Arnaz in "Wonderful Town" for the Reprise! series in L.A. Stephanie was thrilled to be reunited with her dear "Baby Dance" friends, John Bennett Perry and Jenny Sullivan for the Rubicon Theatre's award-winning, double run of "The Rainmaker". A dream came true, tackling the towering role of "Terry" in Warren Leight's knockout "Side Man" at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, followed by a tour of "Accomplice" on the east coast (after a month's holiday in London, St. Petersberg, Moscow, Rostov [birthplace of her grandfather, Efrem Zimbalist Sr.], Istanbul, Athens, and sailing the Dodecanes!). For several springs now, Stephanie has opened the Tennessee Williams New Orleans Literary Festival with a reading of one of his plays at their Gala event - she's happily shared those boards with Alec Baldwin, Elizabeth Ashley, John Goodman, Patricia Neal, Linda Hart, and the charming Rex Reed. Having worked in New Orleans with the Festival and in Malpractice (2001) and made friends in Nola, the recent tragedies there hit especially hard.
Stephanie had another dream come true, to play "Varya" in "The Cherry Orchard", with the added thrill of playing opposite one of her acting heroes, the amazing and delightful Alfred Molina. Recently, she played "Ursula" in Nicholas Wright's wonderful play, "Vincent in Brixton", at the Pasadena Playhouse. Also at the Rubicon Theatre, she's played in Brian Friel's "Dancing at Lughnasa", Jane Anderson's "Defying Gravity", and trod the boards with her father, Efrem Zimbalist Jr., for the first time, in Tennessee Williams's "The Night of the Iguana".- Actress
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Martina Navratilova is a Czechoslovak-born American former professional tennis player and coach.
When Navratilova was four, she was hitting a tennis ball off a concrete wall and started to play tennis regularly at age seven. In 1972, at the age of 15, Navratilova won the Czechoslovakia national tennis championship. In 1973, aged 16, she made her debut on the United States Lawn Tennis Association professional tour but did not turn professional until 1975. Although perhaps most renowned for her mastery of fast low-bouncing grass, her best early showing at majors was on the red clay at the French Open, where she would go on to reach the final six times.
Navratilova won her first professional singles title in Orlando, Florida in 1974, at the age of 17.
Navratilova won her first major singles title at Wimbledon in 1978, where she defeated Chris Evert in three sets in the final and captured the world No. 1 ranking for the first time on the WTA computer, a position she held until Evert took it back in January 1979. Navratilova successfully defended her Wimbledon title in 1979, again beating Evert in the final in straight sets, and earned the World No. 1 ranking at the end of the year for the first time. In 1981, Navratilova won her third major singles title by defeating Chris Evert in the final of the Australian Open. Navratilova also defeated Evert to reach the final of the US Open, where she lost a third set tiebreak to Tracy Austin. Navratilova won both Wimbledon and the French Open in 1982.
From 1982 through 1990, she reached the Wimbledon final nine consecutive times. She reached the US Open final five consecutive times from 1983 through 1987 and appeared in the French Open final five out of six years from 1982 through 1987.
She was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2000.- Director
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Daniel Francis Boyle is a British filmmaker, producer and writer from Radcliffe, Greater Manchester. He is known for directing 28 Days Later, 127 Hours, Trainspotting, T2 Trainspotting, Slumdog Millionaire, Millions, Shallow Grave, The Beach, Yesterday, and Steve Jobs. He won many awards for Slumdog Millionaire. He was in a relationship with Gail Stevens and had three children.- Actress
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Carrie Frances Fisher was born on October 21, 1956 in Burbank, California, to singers/actors Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds. She was an actress and writer known for Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977), Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983). Fisher is also known for her book, "Postcards from the Edge", and she wrote the screenplay for the movie based on her novel. Carrie Fisher and talent agent Bryan Lourd have a daughter, Billie Lourd (Billie Catherine Lourd), born on July 17, 1992.- Producer
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Willard Carroll "Will" Smith II (born September 25, 1968) is an American actor, comedian, producer, rapper, and songwriter. He has enjoyed success in television, film, and music. In April 2007, Newsweek called him "the most powerful actor in Hollywood". Smith has been nominated for five Golden Globe Awards, two Academy Awards, and has won four Grammy Awards.
In the late 1980s, Smith achieved modest fame as a rapper under the name The Fresh Prince. In 1990, his popularity increased dramatically when he starred in the popular television series The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. The show ran for six seasons (1990-96) on NBC and has been syndicated consistently on various networks since then. After the series ended, Smith moved from television to film, and ultimately starred in numerous blockbuster films. He is the only actor to have eight consecutive films gross over $100 million in the domestic box office, eleven consecutive films gross over $150 million internationally, and eight consecutive films in which he starred open at the number one spot in the domestic box office tally.
Smith is ranked as the most bankable star worldwide by Forbes. As of 2014, 17 of the 21 films in which he has had leading roles have accumulated worldwide gross earnings of over $100 million each, five taking in over $500 million each in global box office receipts. As of 2014, his films have grossed $6.6 billion at the global box office. He has received Best Actor Oscar nominations for Ali and The Pursuit of Happyness.
Smith was born in West Philadelphia, the son of Caroline (Bright), a Philadelphia school board administrator, and Willard Carroll Smith, Sr., a refrigeration engineer. He grew up in West Philadelphia's Wynnefield neighborhood, and was raised Baptist. He has three siblings, sister Pamela, who is four years older, and twins Harry and Ellen, who are three years younger. Smith attended Our Lady of Lourdes, a private Catholic elementary school in Philadelphia. His parents separated when he was 13, but did not actually divorce until around 2000.
Smith attended Overbrook High School. Though widely reported, it is untrue that Smith turned down a scholarship to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); he never applied to college because he "wanted to rap." Smith says he was admitted to a "pre-engineering [summer] program" at MIT for high school students, but he did not attend. According to Smith, "My mother, who worked for the School Board of Philadelphia, had a friend who was the admissions officer at MIT. I had pretty high SAT scores and they needed black kids, so I probably could have gotten in. But I had no intention of going to college."
Smith started as the MC of the hip-hop duo DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, with his childhood friend Jeffrey "DJ Jazzy Jeff" Townes as producer, as well as Ready Rock C (Clarence Holmes) as the human beat box. The trio was known for performing humorous, radio-friendly songs, most notably "Parents Just Don't Understand" and "Summertime". They gained critical acclaim and won the first Grammy awarded in the Rap category (1988).
Smith spent money freely around 1988 and 1989 and underpaid his income taxes. The Internal Revenue Service eventually assessed a $2.8 million tax debt against Smith, took many of his possessions, and garnished his income. Smith was nearly bankrupt in 1990, when the NBC television network signed him to a contract and built a sitcom, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, around him.
The show was successful and began his acting career. Smith set for himself the goal of becoming "the biggest movie star in the world", studying box office successes' common characteristics.
Smith's first major roles were in the drama Six Degrees of Separation (1993) and the action film Bad Boys (1995) in which he starred opposite Martin Lawrence.
In 1996, Smith starred as part of an ensemble cast in Roland Emmerich's Independence Day. The film was a massive blockbuster, becoming the second highest grossing film in history at the time and establishing Smith as a prime box office draw. He later struck gold again in the summer of 1997 alongside Tommy Lee Jones in the summer hit Men in Black playing Agent J. In 1998, Smith starred with Gene Hackman in Enemy of the State.
He turned down the role of Neo in The Matrix in favor of Wild Wild West (1999). Despite the disappointment of Wild Wild West, Smith has said that he harbors no regrets about his decision, asserting that Keanu Reeves's performance as Neo was superior to what Smith himself would have achieved, although in interviews subsequent to the release of Wild Wild West he stated that he "made a mistake on Wild Wild West. That could have been better."
In 2005, Smith was entered into the Guinness Book of World Records for attending three premieres in a 24-hour time span.
He has planned to star in a feature film remake of the television series It Takes a Thief.
On December 10, 2007, Smith was honored at Grauman's Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. Smith left an imprint of his hands and feet outside the world-renowned theater in front of many fans. Later that month, Smith starred in the film I Am Legend, released December 14, 2007. Despite marginally positive reviews, its opening was the largest ever for a film released in the United States during December. Smith himself has said that he considers the film to be "aggressively unique". A reviewer said that the film's commercial success "cemented [Smith's] standing as the number one box office draw in Hollywood." On December 1, 2008, TV Guide reported that Smith was selected as one of America's top ten most fascinating people of 2008 for a Barbara Walters ABC special that aired on December 4, 2008.
In 2008 Smith was reported to be developing a film entitled The Last Pharaoh, in which he would be starring as Taharqa. It was in 2008 that Smith starred in the superhero movie Hancock.
Men in Black III opened on May 25, 2012 with Smith again reprising his role as Agent J. This was his first major starring role in four years.
On August 19, 2011, it was announced that Smith had returned to the studio with producer La Mar Edwards to work on his fifth studio album. Edwards has worked with artists such as T.I., Chris Brown, and Game. Smith's most recent studio album, Lost and Found, was released in 2005.
Smith and his son Jaden played father and son in two productions: the 2006 biographical drama The Pursuit of Happyness, and the science fiction film After Earth, which was released on May 31, 2013.
Smith starred opposite Margot Robbie in the romance drama Focus. He played Nicky Spurgeon, a veteran con artist who takes a young, attractive woman under his wing. Focus was released on February 27, 2015. Smith was set to star in the Sci-Fic thriller Brilliance, an adaptation of Marcus Sakey's novel of the same name scripted by Jurassic Park writer David Koepp. But he left the project.
Smith played Dr. Bennet Omalu of the Brain Injury Research Institute in the sports-drama Concussion, who became the first person to discover chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in a football player's brain. CTE is a degenerative disease caused by severe trauma to the head that can be discovered only after death. Smith's involvement is mostly due to his last-minute exit from the Sci-Fi thriller-drama Brilliance. Concussion was directed by Peter Landesman and-bead filmed in Pittsburgh, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. It received $14.4 million in film tax credits from Pennsylvania. Principal photography started on October 27, 2014. Actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw played his wife. Omalu served as a consultant.
As of November 2015, Smith is set to star in the independent drama Collateral Beauty, which will be directed by David Frankel. Smith will play a New York advertising executive who succumbs to an deep depression after a personal tragedy.
Nobel Peace Prize Concert December 11, 2009, in Oslo, Norway: Smith with wife Jada and children Jaden and Willow Smith married Sheree Zampino in 1992. They had one son, Trey Smith, born on November 11, 1992, and divorced in 1995. Trey appeared in his father's music video for the 1998 single "Just the Two of Us". He also acted in two episodes of the sitcom All of Us, and has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show and on the David Blaine: Real or Magic TV special.
Smith married actress Jada Koren Pinkett in 1997. Together they have two children: Jaden Christopher Syre Smith (born 1998), his co-star in The Pursuit of Happyness and After Earth, and Willow Camille Reign Smith (born 2000), who appeared as his daughter in I Am Legend. Smith and his brother Harry own Treyball Development Inc., a Beverly Hills-based company named after Trey. Smith and his family reside in Los Angeles, California.
Smith was consistently listed in Fortune Magazine's "Richest 40" list of the forty wealthiest Americans under the age of 40.- Actor
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James Patrick Caviezel was born on September 26, 1968 in Mount Vernon, Washington. He was one of five children born to Margaret (Lavery), a former stage actress, and James Caviezel, a chiropractor. The Caviezels are a closely knit Catholic family. He is of Irish (mother) and Swiss-Romansh and Slovak (father) descent; the surname, "Caviezel", is Romansh. As a boy, Jim was described as being "very intense." His two main interests growing up were sports and religion. He was athletically gifted on the basketball court and dreamed of someday playing in the N.B.A. He was also instilled with Christianity at a very young age, attending Church regularly with his family. In 1984, he went to Mount Vernon High School but transferred to O'Dea High School after two years. The following spring, he transferred again to Burien Kennedy High School in Burien, Washington where he was a star on the basketball team and graduated in 1987. While at O'Dea and Kennedy, he stayed with family friends. Following high school Jim enrolled at Bellevue Community College where he again played on the basketball team. A foot injury in his sophomore season put an end to Jim's basketball career and his dreams of playing in the N.B.A. Shortly after this, he turned his focus toward acting. In 1990, he auditioned for a part in the independent film My Own Private Idaho (1991). He won a very small role as a foreign airline clerk after he told casting agents that he was a recent Italian immigrant. The following year, Jim moved to Los Angeles where he worked as a waiter between auditions. He landed small roles in Diggstown (1992) and Wyatt Earp (1994) and guest starring roles on The Wonder Years (1988) and Murder, She Wrote (1984). He continued to go relatively unnoticed in small roles and even thought about quitting acting until 1998 when he received critical recognition for his role as idealist Private Witt in The Thin Red Line (1998). The following year, he gained further recognition with roles in Ride with the Devil (1999) and Frequency (2000). In 2001, his role as Jennifer Lopez's love interest in Angel Eyes (2001) helped to establish him as a versatile actor and leading man. It wasn't until 2002 that Jim made his strong religious beliefs known. While filming High Crimes (2002), he refused to do any love scenes with on-screen wife Ashley Judd because it conflicted with his strong Catholic faith. It was also around this time when he was chosen by Mel Gibson to star as Jesus Christ in The Passion of the Christ (2004). The movie made headlines and broke box-office records around the world, becoming one of the highest grossing films of all time. Although the movie dealt with controversial matters, Caviezel's performance was acclaimed by both critics and viewers. Jim's next big role would be on the small screen. In 2011, he landed the lead role in the CBS crime drama Person of Interest (2011). The show instantly clicked with audiences, becoming one of the highest rated shows on television. From an outcast actor to a respected film star to a television star, James Caviezel is continuing to give his best to play challenging roles. Off screen, Jim lives with his wife, Kerri, a school teacher whom he met on a blind date in 1993 and married in 1996, and their adopted children.- Actress
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Naomi Ellen Watts was born on September 28, 1968 in Shoreham, England to Myfanwy Edwards "Miv" (Roberts), an antiques dealer and costume/set designer, and Peter Watts (Peter Anthony Watts), Pink Floyd's road manager. Her maternal grandfather was Welsh. Her father died when she was seven and she followed her mother and brother around England until she was 14 and they finally settled in Australia, homeland of her maternal grandmother. When they arrived, she coaxed her mother to let her take acting classes. After bit parts in commercials, she landed her first role in For Love Alone (1986). Naomi met her best friend Nicole Kidman when they both auditioned for a bikini commercial and shared a taxi ride home. In 1991, Naomi starred with Kidman in the sleeper hit Flirting (1991), directed by John Duigan. Naomi continued her career by starring in the Australian Brides of Christ (1991) co-starring Oscar-winners Russell Crowe and Brenda Fricker.
In 1993, she worked with John Duigan again in Wide Sargasso Sea (1993) and director George Miller in Gross Misconduct (1993). Tank Girl (1995), in 1995, an adaptation of the comic book was a cult hit, starred Naomi as "Jet Girl", but it didn't do at the box-office or do much for her career. Watts continued to take insignificant parts in movies including the much forgotten film Children of the Corn: The Gathering (1996). It wasn't until David Lynch cast her in the critically acclaimed film Mulholland Drive (2001) that she began to become noticed. Her part as an aspiring actress showed her strong acting ability and wide range and earned her much respect, as much as to say by some that she was overlooked for a Oscar nomination that year. Stardom finally came to Naomi in the surprise hit The Ring (2002), which grossed over $100,000,000 at the box-office and starred Watts as an investigative reporter hunting down the truth behind several mysterious deaths seemingly caused by a video tape. While the movie did not fare well with the critics, it launched her into the spotlight. In 2003, she starred in Alejandro González Iñárritu's 21 Grams (2003) which earned her - what some say is a much overdue Oscar nomination and brought others to call her one of the best in her generation of actors. The same year, she was nominated for 21 Grams (2003), Naomi was chosen to play "Ann Darrow" in director Peter Jackson's King Kong (2005) which took her to New Zealand for a five month shoot. Watts completed her first comedy in I Heart Huckabees (2004) for director David O. Russell, playing a superficial spokes model - a break from her usual intense and dramatic roles she is known for.
In 2005, she reprized her role as the protective-mother-reporter "Rachel Keller" in The Ring Two (2005). The movie, released in March, opened to $35,000,000 at the box office in the first weekend and established her as a box-office draw. Also in 2005, it was decided that her independent movie Ellie Parker (2001) would be re-released in late 2005 after its success at resurfacing at the Sundance Film Festival. The movie, which Naomi also produced, features her in the title role and is a bit biographical, but yet exaggerated take of the life of a struggling actress as she comes to Hollywood and encounters nightmares of the profession (it also features Watts' own beat-up Honda which she travels around in). In 2006, she starred with Edward Norton in The Painted Veil (2006). In July of 2007, Naomi gave birth to a boy, Alexander Pete (Sasha Schreiber) in Los Angeles with Liev Schreiber. Since then her career choices have gathered even more critical acclaim with starring roles roles in German director Michael Haneke's American remake of his thriller Funny Games (2007), David Cronenberg's Eastern Promises (2007), and the action-thriller, The International (2009), released in February 2009. In mid-2008, Watts announced she was expecting her second child with Schreiber and gave birth to second son Samuel Kai Schreiber, in New York on December 13.- From his breakout role in "The Boy Who Could Fly to 'Sonny Bono' in "The Sonny and Cher Story" to appearances at the Sundance Film Festival, Jay Underwood has enjoyed a career of much diversity both in the parts he's played and the mediums he's played in.
Underwood began his theatrical pursuits while growing up in the San Francisco Bay area and then went to a performing arts high school in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was there that Underwood received his "big break" into the movie business when he was chosen from a national casting search to play opposite Annabeth Gish, and Jon Voight in executive producer Robert Redford's "Desert Bloom." From there he moved to 'tinseltown' where, for over 20 years, he made his living as a working actor.
Underwood's film credits include three Sundance Film Festival participants "Dancing in September", "Valerie Flake", and "Possums." Other highlights are Billy Graham's "Road to Redemption", Alan Rudolph's "Afterglow", the Roger Corman cult classic "The Fantastic Four" (as Johnny Storm, The Human Torch), 'Bug' in "Uncle Buck," with John Candy, and Underwood's personal favorite, the title character in "The Boy Who Could Fly."
On the small screen Underwood had the incredible opportunity of portraying 'Sonny Bono' in "The Sonny and Cher Story" for ABC. He also is remembered for that lovable android 'Chip' in the Disney Channel trilogy "Not Quite Human". Other favorites would include young 'Ernest Hemingway' in "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles," the mini-series "Blind Faith" with Robert Urich and "Wyatt Earp: Return to Tombstone" with the original marshal himself, Hugh O'Brien. Notable guest appearances include "Miracles", "X-Files," "E.R.," "The West Wing," "Star Trek Voyager" and "Millennium." And finally, (but certainly not least), the voice of 'Chester' the Goat in the classic animated Christmas special "The Legend of the Candy Cane."
His theater highlights include studying and performing at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco as well as the Minneapolis Children's Theater Company. In Los Angeles he was seen in "Grand Junction" and "Fortune in Men's Eyes" both at the Coast Playhouse and had a devilish good time playing 'Geoffrey' in the Pasadena Playhouse production of "The Lion in Winter."
More recently, Underwood felt God's call on his life to pursue full time Christian ministry. After starting seminary in 2003, he became a youth pastor and then after graduation in 2007, a full time pastor in a small northern California mountain town. He now lives in "God's country" with his wife, six children and a menagerie of pets. Says Underwood, "I imagine someday standing before the Lord and if He were to ask me what I did with the life that He gave me, I don't want to merely list off my acting credits which are things that really don't have a lot of eternal value, but I want to hear those words from Jesus, "Well done good and faithful servant" because I used the gifts that He gave me to serve Him." That being said, Underwood was convinced to come out of "retirement" to participate in the Christian movie "No Greater Love," produced by Coram Deo Studios, of which he is particularly proud to be a part of. To God be the glory! - Composer
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Thom Yorke was born on 7 October 1968 in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, England, UK. He is a composer and actor, known for Suspiria (2018), Children of Men (2006) and Motherless Brooklyn (2019). He was previously married to Rachel Owen.- Actor
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Hugh Michael Jackman is an Australian actor, singer, multi-instrumentalist, dancer and producer. Jackman has won international recognition for his roles in major films, notably as superhero, period, and romance characters. He is best known for his long-running role as Wolverine in the X-Men film series, as well as for his lead roles in the romantic-comedy fantasy Kate & Leopold (2001), the action-horror film Van Helsing (2004), the drama The Prestige and The Fountain (2006), the epic historical romantic drama Australia (2008), the film version of Les Misérables (2012), and the thriller Prisoners (2013). His work in Les Misérables earned him his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor and his first Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy in 2013. In Broadway theatre, Jackman won a Tony Award for his role in The Boy from Oz. A four-time host of the Tony Awards themselves, he won an Emmy Award for one of these appearances. Jackman also hosted the 81st Academy Awards on 22 February 2009.
Jackman was born in Sydney, New South Wales, to Grace McNeil (Greenwood) and Christopher John Jackman, an accountant. He is the youngest of five children. His parents, both English, moved to Australia shortly before his birth. He also has Greek (from a great-grandfather) and Scottish (from a grandmother) ancestry.
Jackman has a communications degree with a journalism major from the University of Technology Sydney. After graduating, he pursued drama at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, immediately after which he was offered a starring role in the ABC-TV prison drama Correlli (1995), opposite his future wife Deborra-Lee Furness. Several TV guest roles followed, as an actor and variety compere. An accomplished singer, Jackman has starred as Gaston in the Australian production of "Beauty and the Beast." He appeared as Joe Gillis in the Australian production of "Sunset Boulevard." In 1998, he was cast as Curly in the Royal National Theatre's production of Trevor Nunn's Oklahoma. Jackman has made two feature films, the second of which, Erskineville Kings (1999), garnered him an Australian Film Institute nomination for Best Actor in 1999. Recently, he won the part of Logan/Wolverine in the Bryan Singer- directed comic-book movie X-Men (2000). In his spare time, Jackman plays piano, golf, and guitar, and likes to windsurf.- Music Artist
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Shaggy was born on 22 October 1968 in Kingston, Jamaica. He is a music artist and actor, known for Money Train (1995), No Time to Die (2021) and Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997). He has been married to Rebecca Parker since 2014. They have three children.- Actor
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Dallas Green was born on 29 September 1980 in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. He is an actor and composer, known for Cedar Cove (2013), Motive (2013) and So You Think You Can Dance Canada (2008). He has been married to Leah Miller since 31 December 2008.- The passion for the white sport ran in the family, as her father was also a tennis player who reached number 19 in his country's rankings. Martina Hingis herself learned to play tennis from early childhood. She was trained by her mother. She was already playing in tournaments at the age of five. In 1987 her parents divorced. The following year, in 1988, Hingis moved with her mother to Switzerland to Trübbach, municipality of Wartau, canton of St. Gallen. There she took on Swiss nationality. In 1993, Martina Hingis, just twelve years old, won her first Grand Slam title in the junior division at the French Open. She was the youngest player in tennis history to win a Junior Grand Slam.
At Wimbledon in 1993, he made it to the semi-finals in the junior singles and doubles. In 1994, fourteen-year-old Hingis was the most successful player in Switzerland. She documented her class with a victory at the OTF tournament in Langenthal. During this time, she played her first tournament as a professional tennis player in Zurich. She made it to the round of 16 and was stopped by Mary Pierce. In the same year she was ranked 399th in the world. Hingis was able to improve further and the following year she was already among the 20 best tennis players in the world. At the age of 15, she reached the semi-finals of the US Open and was ranked 13th in the world. In 1995 she won her first WTA title in Filderstadt. In the same year, Martina Hingis triumphed against top player Monica Seles in Oakland, California.
With this victory, she was crowned the youngest prize money millionaire in tennis history. In the 1995 New York tournament at Madison Square Garden she made it to the semifinals. There she met the strong German Steffi Graf, who won the match. The following year, Martina Hingis started the Sydney International tournament in Australia. In the final game she faced the American Jennifer Capriati, who she was able to defeat and thus collect another tournament success. Her greatest success in 1997 was winning the Australian Open against Mary Pierce in the final. She became the youngest player in tennis history to ever win a Grand Slam tournament.
The Swiss continued to improve her performance. The success was finally recorded in the world rankings, in which she was listed as number one in 1997. After interruptions, she took the place of world number one again on February 8, 1999, after replacing her competitor, the American player Lindsay Davenport. Then the following year he was once again at the top of the world rankings, which lasted a total of 73 weeks. It was only in the second half of 2002 that she was replaced by the American player Jennifer Capriati. Her sporting track record includes winning the Australian Open three times in 1997, 1998 and 1999. In 1997 she won the US Open and the traditional Wimbledon tournament, which is considered the unofficial world championship.
She won the Masters in 1998 and 2000. She has a total of 43 individual victories on the WTA tour. In the meantime, Martina Hingis had left Switzerland and moved to the USA. She lives and trains there in Saddlebrook, Florida. In 2002, Martina Hingis was plagued by injuries. The year before, she tore a triple ligament at the tournament in Filderstadt, which she was still struggling with the following year. The former world number one had to cancel her participation in the US Open tournament after an ankle operation. In February 2003, at the age of 22, Martina Hingis announced her retirement.
In January 2006, Hingis made her comeback at the Brisbane tournament. After which she reached number 6 in the world rankings. At the Australian Open, Hingis reached the quarterfinals in singles and in Tokyo, Hingis reached the final of a WTA tournament. On September 24, Hingis won the Hansol Korea Open Tennis Championships in Seoul, Korea. In January 2007, Hingis again reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open. On November 1, 2007, Hingis announced her retirement from professional tennis at a media conference in Glattbrugg. In her career she remained at the top of the world number one list for 209 weeks (for the first time on March 31, 1997). She won 43 tournaments in singles and 37 in doubles. The career prize money won totaled around $20 million. Her singles career match record included 548 wins and 133 losses. - Producer
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Nicholas Scott Cannon is an American television host, rapper, actor, and comedian. Cannon began in television as a teenager on "All That" before going on to host "The Nick Cannon Show", 'Wild 'n Out", 'America's Got Talent", 'Lip Sync Battle Shorties", and "The Masked Singer." He acted in the films "Drumline", "Love Don't Cost a Thing", and "Roll Bounce."
As a rapper he released his debut self-titled album in 2003 with the single "Gigolo", a collaboration with singer R. Kelly. In 2007 he played the role of the fictional footballer TJ Harper in the film Goal II: Living the Dream. In 2006, Cannon recorded the singles "Dime Piece" and "My Wife" for the planned album "Stages", which was never released.- Music Artist
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- Producer
Ashanti Shequoiya Douglas is an African-American R&B singer and actress from Glen Cove, New York. She acted in films and shows such as The Muppets' Wizard of Oz, Resident Evil: Extinction, Coach Carter, John Tucker Must Die, Bride and Prejudice, Malcolm X and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She has released six albums.- Producer
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- Writer
TV star, entrepreneur, fashion designer, and author (New York Times best-seller - "Kardashian Konfidential"), Kim Kardashian was born in Los Angeles, California, to Kris Jenner (née Kristen Mary Houghton) and attorney Robert Kardashian. Her father was of Armenian descent and her mother is of mostly English and Scots-Irish ancestry. Kim first burst onto the scene in 2007, after the premiere of her hit E! Entertainment reality series, Keeping Up with the Kardashians (2007). The show follows the exploits of the Kardashian/Jenner family, which includes her stepfather Caitlyn Jenner, her mother, Kim, her siblings Kourtney Kardashian, Khloé Kardashian, Rob Kardashian, and younger half-sisters Kendall Jenner and Kylie Jenner. The show was the highest-rated program on the E! Network. She also stars alongside her sister Kourtney in Kourtney & Kim Take New York (2011), which premiered its second season in November of this year. Most recently, Kardashian shared her wedding with the world in a two-part special, Kim's Fairytale Wedding: A Kardashian Event - Part 1 (2011) and Kim's Fairytale Wedding: A Kardashian Event - Part 2 (2011). The special ranks as E!'s most-watched event, ever, bringing in 10.5 million viewers. In addition to starring in her own reality shows for E!, she has appeared as an actress in a number of other projects, including the feature, Disaster Movie (2008) (Lionsgate), CW's hit show, 90210 (2008) and TV's How I Met Your Mother (2005) and Brothers (2009), among others. In 2010, she produced The Spin Crowd (2010), her first TV show for E!, which premiered to 2.46 million households. Additionally, in September 2008, Kardashian competed on the ABC hit series, Dancing with the Stars (2005), where she was paired with defending Champion Mark Ballas.
In recent years, Kardashian has become a highly-sought-after name and face for a number of high profile brands. She is the face of "Sketchers Shape-ups", the sneaker designed to get you fit while you walk, work, shop, and more. She was featured in a Sketchers commercial during Super Bowl XLV. Also, she (along with her sisters), has her own line of "Nicole by OPI" nail polish, "Kardashian Kolors", which will be available on holiday 2011. She has created a line of contemporary jewelry line, "Belle Noel", with famed jewelry designer Pascal Mouawad. Kardashian also serves as the official spokesperson for "Midori Melon Liqueur" and its new "Stand-Out" marketing campaign.
Employing her entrepreneurial business skills, Kim began her fashion career as a stylist and became an immediate sought-after wardrobe stylist for infomercials, television shows, music videos and photo shoots. But it was her organizational, orderly arrangement and construction of high-fashion closets that led her into a unique line of work, overhauling and designing closets for celebrities.
In 2006, together with her sisters Kourtney and Khloe, Kardashian opened the designer clothing store, "Dash", in Calabasas, California; a must-shop-at store for those with discriminating, yet fashionable taste. Because of high consumer demands, other stores in Miami and New York opened in 2009 and 2010, respectively. In 2010, Kim co-designed a fashion line with her sisters, Kourtney and Khloe, in conjunction with the Bebe fashion brand. This collaboration led to a partnership between the three sisters and Bruno Schiavi on a complete brand launch, "Kardashian Kollection", encompassing apparel, shoes, lingerie, home, jewelry and accessories. "Kardashian Kollection" is sold at over 500 Sears, nationwide. Sears has created a store within a store concept, specifically for "Kardashian Kollection". It is also sold in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and Germany.
In 2009, Kim launched her own perfume, "Kim Kardashian", which is available worldwide. Her second perfume, "Kim Kardashian Gold", was launched in 2010. A limited edition scent, "Kim Kardashian Gold", launched in August 2011. Her online shoe company, "ShoeDazzle.com", was launched in March 2009 and provides affordable, fashionable shoes to its members.
Kim has graced the covers of numerous publications around the world, including Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Allure, Harper's Bazaar, Prestige (Hong Kong), and Self, among others. Additionally, she has appeared, as a guest, on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (1992), Late Show with David Letterman (1993), Larry King Live (1985), among others.
Kardashian's official website gets 6 million page views a month, making it the fastest growing celebrity blog on the web. She also has over 10 million followers on Twitter.
When not working, Kim gives her time to charitable causes. She is a Dream Foundation ambassador which grants last wishes to terminally ill adults and does regular sales on Ebay to generate donations for the charity. She enjoys spending time with children at Children's Hospital of Los Angeles and is passionate about cancer foundations since her father, the late Robert Kardashian, passed away from esophageal cancer. Kardashian recently gave a heart-felt speech about her father at Gabrielle's Angel Foundations' Angel Ball which supports cancer research.- Actress
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Skye McCole Bartusiak was an American child actress and child model. She appeared in The Patriot (2000), Don't Say a Word (2001), as Rose Wilder in Beyond the Prairie: The True Story of Laura Ingalls Wilder (2002), 24 (2002-03), Boogeyman (2005), and Kill Your Darlings (2006). Bartusiak died at the age of 21 in her apartment behind her parents' home. While her mother, shortly after Bartusiak's death, stated she believed that her daughter's history of epileptic seizures may have had a role in her death, the coroner ruled the death resulted from an accidental drug overdose.- Actor
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Joshua Ryan Hutcherson was born on October 12, 1992 in Union, Kentucky to Michelle Fightmaster, who worked for Delta Air Lines, and Chris Hutcherson, an EPA analyst. He has one younger brother, Connor Hutcherson. From the age of four, Josh knew that he wanted to be an actor. In order to pursue his goal, Josh and his family moved to Los Angeles when he was nine-years-old.
In 2002, Josh landed his first acting role in the TV film, House Blend (2002), with Amy Yasbeck, Dan Cortese and Sean Faris. The same year, Josh was cast in the pilot, Becoming Glen (2002), but Fox did not order it to series (though, several years later, it was reconfigured as the short-lived series, The Winner (2007), starring Rob Corddry, and co-written/produced by Seth MacFarlane). Toward the end of 2002, Josh appeared on an episode of ER (1994).
Josh made his big-screen debut, in 2003, with a bit part in the Oscar-nominated American Splendor (2003). His career began its measured ascent in 2005 with a supporting slot as one of Will Ferrell's kids in Kicking & Screaming (2005), a co-starring role in the indie hit Little Manhattan (2005), and another co-starring role in Zathura: A Space Adventure (2005), which was originally conceived as a sequel to Jumanji (1995). Despite underperforming at the box office, "Zathura" helped earned for Josh his first Young Artist Award for "Leading Young Actor".
2006 saw bigger returns for Josh's burgeoning film career with a role as one of Robin Williams' sons in the modest hit, RV (2006). The following year, he landed his first breakthrough role in Bridge to Terabithia (2007), the kid-approved adaptation of Katherine Paterson's novel that co-starred AnnaSophia Robb, whose career was also taking off at this time.
Josh starred as Brendan Fraser's nephew in another family-film hit, Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008), and he had a smaller role in the Crash-like drama, Fragments (2008), though by now his face and name were being used in movie-marketing materials. Though it wasn't a hit, Josh's character in Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant (2009) served as a major plot device early in the story.
In 2010, Josh co-starred in the critically-acclaimed film, The Kids Are All Right (2010), alongside Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, and Mia Wasikowska. The film received several awards and four Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture. Josh's performance as the youngest child in a family, led by two mothers, earned him acclaim from audiences and the industry, alike. Josh followed up with an expanded role in Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012), which saw Dwayne Johnson take over as the main character from Brendan Fraser. Between the star power and the allure of 3D, the sequel was a worldwide hit and a third installment is in development.
With the announcement that he would portray the beloved "Peeta Mellark" in The Hunger Games (2012), the film adaptation of the best-selling novel written by Suzanne Collins, Josh became an instant celebrity. In the wake of the movie's massive worldwide success, Detention (2011), a horror/comedy that Josh made before "The Hunger Games", was released. Josh was also an executive producer on that feature.
Before Josh reprises his role as "Peeta" in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013), we will see him in the long-delayed remake of Red Dawn (2012); the omnibus 7 Days in Havana (2011) (aka "7 Days in Havana") (Josh's segment was directed by Benicio Del Toro); The Forger (2012) opposite Lauren Bacall, Alfred Molina, and Hayden Panettiere; and the animated Epic (2013) from Ice Age (2002) co-director (and voice of "Scrat"), Chris Wedge.- Actress
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Sofia Vassilieva was born on 22 October 1992 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. She is an actress, known for The Little Things (2021), Looking for Alaska (2019) and My Sister's Keeper (2009).