Coordinates	33°55′31″N18°25′26″N
Name	Drama Desk Award
Description	Excellence in theatre
Presenter	Drama Desk
Country	United States
Year	1955
Website	http://www.dramadesk.com/

The Drama Desk Award, presented since 1955, is the only award that recognizes excellence in shows produced in all sectors of New York theatre, including Broadway, off-Broadway, off-off-Broadway and legitimate not-for-profit theaters. It is considered one of the important American theatre awards. The award complements the Tony Awards, which focus solely on Broadway shows.

History

Originally called the Vernon Rice Awards in honor of theater critic Vernon Rice of the New York Post, the name was changed in 1963. In its earliest years, a small number of prizes were awarded, but there now are as many categories as there are for the Tonys. In the first fifteen years of the award, Broadway shows were not eligible. In 1968, Broadway shows began to compete with other New York productions head-to-head in each category. Only winners were announced in the early years, but in 1975, the Drama Desk began to announce nominees in advance.

The Drama Desk is composed of theatre critics, reporters and editors, more than 140 of whom vote on the awards. The Drama Desk chairperson of the Nominating Committee is Barbara Siegel, and its president is Isa Goldberg. The awards' executive producer is Robert R. Blume.

The Drama Desk Awards have been the first step towards stardom for numerous theatrical luminaries, including Andrew Lloyd Webber, Edward Albee, Wendy Wasserstein, George C. Scott, Stacy Keach, Sada Thompson, and Dustin Hoffman. The next awards ceremony will be held on May 22, 2011.

The winners were: Red, Outstanding Play, Memphis, Outstanding Musical, Fences and A View from the Bridge, Outstanding Revival of a Play, and La Cage aux Folles , Outstanding Revival of a Musical. Special Awards were given for the cast, creative team and producers of The Orphans' Home Cycle by Horton Foote; Jerry Herman; Godlight Theatre Company; and Ma-Yi Theater Company.

Categories

Play

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival of a Play

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Foreign Play

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Play

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music in a Play

Musical

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival of a Musical

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Musical

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Orchestrations

Play and musical

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Choreography

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Costume Design

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lighting Design

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Sound Design

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Special Effects

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Projection and Video Design

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival

Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One-Person Show

Drama Desk Special Award

Drama Desk Most Promising Awards

See also

Tony Award

Laurence Olivier Award

Obie Awards

New York Drama Critics' Circle

Theatre World Award

Broadway theatre

Off-Broadway

Off-off-Broadway

References

External links

Drama Desk Awards official website

John Kenrick's Dean's List Awards

ABC news report on 2009 awards

"As usual, non-Broadway shows get stomped at the Drama Desk Awards", 2009 LA Times article critical of the Drama Desk Awards

Category:Culture of New York City Category:Off-Broadway Category:Off-Off Broadway Category:American theater awards Category:Theatre in New York City

Coordinates	33°55′31″N18°25′26″N
Name	Kristin Chenoweth
Caption	Chenoweth at the 2008 Primetime Emmy Awards
Birthname	Kristi Dawn Chenoweth
Birth date	July 24, 1968
Birth place	Broken Arrow, Oklahoma,United States
Occupation	Actress, singer, author
Yearsactive	1991 – present
Website	http://www.kristin-chenoweth.com/

Kristin Chenoweth (born July 24, 1968) is an American singer and actress, with credits in musical theatre, film and television. She is best known on Broadway for her performance as Sally Brown in You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown (1999), for which she won a Tony Award, and for originating the role of Glinda in the musical Wicked (2003). Her best-known television role is Annabeth Schott in NBC's The West Wing. As Olive Snook on the ABC comedy-drama Pushing Daisies, she won a 2009 Emmy Award.

An Oklahoma native, Chenoweth sang gospel music as a child and studied opera before deciding to pursue a career in musical theatre. In 1997, she made her Broadway debut in Steel Pier. Besides You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown and Wicked, Chenoweth's stage work includes five City Center Encores! productions, Broadway's The Apple Tree in 2006 and Promises, Promises in 2010, as well as Off-Broadway and regional theatre productions.

On television, aside from The West Wing and Pushing Daisies, Chenoweth had her own TV series Kristin in 2001 and has guest starred on many shows, including Sesame Street and Glee, for which she has been nominated for a 2010 Emmy Award. In films, she has played mostly character roles, such as in Bewitched (2005), The Pink Panther (2006) and RV (2006). She has also played roles in made-for-TV movies, done voice work in animated films and the animated TV series Sit Down, Shut Up, hosted several award shows and released several albums of songs, including A Lovely Way to Spend Christmas (2008). Chenoweth also penned a memoir, A Little Bit Wicked: Life, Love, and Faith in Stages.

Early life

Adopted at birth, Kristi Dawn Chenoweth was born and grew up in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, a suburb of Tulsa. She has said that she is one-quarter Cherokee. At an early age, she performed gospel songs for local churches. A performing highlight of her childhood was a solo appearance at the Southern Baptist Convention national conference at the age of 12, where she performed the song "I'm Four Foot Eleven and I'm Going to Heaven" (Chenoweth is in height).

After graduating from Broken Arrow Senior High, where she participated in school plays, Chenoweth attended Oklahoma City University, where she was a member of Gamma Phi Beta (Beta Omicron) sorority. She earned a BFA degree in musical theatre and a master's degree in opera performance, studying under voice instructor Florence Birdwell, who also trained Miss America 1981, Susan Powell, and three-time Tony nominee Kelli O'Hara. While at OCU, Chenoweth competed in beauty pageants, winning the title of "Miss OCU" and was the first runner-up in the Miss Oklahoma pageant in 1991.

Chenoweth participated in a number of vocal competitions and was named "most promising up-and-coming singer" in the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions, which came with a full scholarship to Philadelphia's Academy of Vocal Arts. Two weeks before school started, however, she went to New York City to help a friend move. While there, she auditioned for the 1993 Paper Mill Playhouse production of the musical Animal Crackers and got the role of Arabella Rittenhouse. She turned down the scholarship and moved to New York to do the show and pursue a career in musical theatre.

Theatre

and celebrity models to raise awareness of heart disease in the Red Dress Collection Celebrity Fashion Show]]

After Animal Crackers, Chenoweth continued to appear in regional theatre productions, such as Babes in Arms and Phantom (as Christine; also touring in Germany in this role), also taking roles in Off-Broadway productions like Louisa in The Fantasticks, She made her Broadway debut in the spring of 1997 as Precious McGuire in the musical Steel Pier by Kander and Ebb, for which she won a Theatre World award. She then starred on Broadway in the short-lived comic play Epic Proportions in 1999, followed by starring in the leading role of Daisy Gamble in the Encores! production of On a Clear Day You Can See Forever in .

After this, Chenoweth split her time between stage and TV or film roles and released her first solo album, Let Yourself Go (2001). In 2002, Chenoweth performed in the City Center Encores! 10th Anniversary Bash. In October  2003, she returned to Broadway (after the San Francisco tryout) in Wicked, the musical about the early years of the witches of Oz, in the joint-leading role of Glinda, the Good Witch of the North. She was nominated for a 2004 Tony Award as Best Leading Actress in a Musical for her performance, losing to her co-star Idina Menzel (who played Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West). Chenoweth was also nominated for the Drama Desk Award and the Drama League Award for this role. After playing Glinda for nine months, Chenoweth left Wicked, on , 2004, soon joining the cast of The West Wing in Los Angeles.

Chenoweth played Cunegonde in the New York Philharmonic revival of Candide, directed by Lonny Price, in . The production was also broadcast on PBS's Great Performances. A performance of the rarely sung duet "We Are Women", between Cunegonde and the Old Lady (played by Patti Lupone), was included in the production.

From December 2006 to March 2007, Chenoweth starred on Broadway as Eve in a revival of The Apple Tree, receiving nominations for the Drama Desk Award and the Drama League Award. Her co-stars included Brian d'Arcy James and former fiancé Marc Kudisch. Chenoweth additionally hosted that year's Drama Desk Awards ceremony. Chenoweth played Elizabeth in the pre-Broadway workshop of Mel Brooks's musical theatre adaptation of his film Young Frankenstein, however, due to other commitments, she was unable to appear in the Broadway production. Similarly, in 2008 she had been scheduled to reprise her role as Cunegonde in an English National Opera production of Candide, but she had to pull out.

She appeared in the Encores! semi-staged production of Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II's Music in the Air from to 8, 2009. Chenoweth had been scheduled to return to The Metropolitan Opera in 2010 to play Samira in John Corigliano's opera The Ghosts of Versailles after being invited by general manager Peter Gelb to perform. The Metropolitan Opera cancelled the production in 2008 as the economy in the U.S. weakened, because of the need to cut costs, with Gelb stating "It's a much more expensive revival than most."

Chenoweth starred as Fran Kubelik in the 2010 Broadway revival of the musical Promises, Promises, opposite Sean Hayes, which opened on , 2010. The songs "I Say a Little Prayer" and "A House Is Not a Home" were added for Chenoweth to sing. Chenoweth continued in the role until the show closed on January 2, 2011.

Television work

After a guest appearance on LateLine, a role in the short-lived Paramour (1999) and several roles in television films such as Annie (as Lily St. Regis), Chenoweth starred in her own NBC sitcom, the semi-autobiographical Kristin in 2001. It was short-lived, with thirteen episodes filmed, but only six episodes aired. She also guest-starred on such shows as Frasier (2001), Sesame Street (2004) and Ugly Betty (2007). Throughout the mid-2000s, Chenoweth appeared on several television programs and several television movies, in particular the leading role of Marian in the television film The Music Man opposite Matthew Broderick. The series was cancelled after two seasons. A review in USA Today observed, "Her presence may not make much sense, but [if] it means hearing Chenoweth sing, we can put up with any explanation the show cares to offer." She received a Satellite Award for Outstanding Guest Star. In , Chenoweth returned to Glee as April Rhodes, singing more songs. The Los Angeles Times review commented, "the best part about 'Home' was undoubtedly the return of Kristin Chenoweth as April. ... From her spunky duet of 'Fire' with Schue, to the heart-achingly lonely coo of 'One Less Bell to Answer' which segued into a fantastic reprise of 'A House Is Not a Home' and of course her bone-chilling take on 'Home' ... I fell in love with her again." She was nominated for a 2010 Emmy Award for her performances on Glee. Chenoweth is scheduled to return to Glee for more episodes in 2011.

Films

Chenoweth made her film debut in the film Topa Topa Buffs in 2002 playing the role of Patty. After several years away from film she returned to the big screen in the 2005 film version of Bewitched, directed by Nora Ephron. The film's star, Nicole Kidman, had attended a performance of Wicked and was so impressed with Chenoweth that Kidman asked Ephron to cast Chenoweth in the film. Chenoweth played the part of Maria Kelly, the Kidman character's neighbor. In 2006, Chenoweth played supporting roles in five films, The Pink Panther, RV, Running with Scissors, Deck the Halls, and Stranger Than Fiction.

On February 24, 2008, Chenoweth sang "That's How You Know" from the film Enchanted at the 80th Academy Awards in the Kodak Theater. She also voiced Rosetta, the garden fairy in the 2008 animated film Tinker Bell. Also in 2009, Chenoweth reprised her voice role of Rosetta in Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure and filmed the Disney comedy You Again.

Chenoweth hosted the 15th Annual Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards which aired , 2010, on VH1.

Radio and Internet

Chenoweth often appears on Prairie Home Companion.

On August 27, 2008, Chenoweth released a video with Funny or Die titled Intervention with Kristin Chenoweth. The video parodied A&E;'s show Intervention, with Chenoweth starring as a singing, dancing interventionist. The song was composed by Andrew Lippa, Chenoweth's frequent musical director and composer for her concert songs as well as the composer of "My New Philosophy", which she sang in the revival of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown. The lyrics are by Amy Rhodes, who also wrote the clip. Chenoweth admitted that she was hesitant about performing the lyrics.

Recordings and concerts

Chenoweth has a distinctive speaking voice, one she has compared to that of Betty Boop. She is a classically trained coloratura soprano, able to sing the note "F6" (1396.913 Hz), also known as "F above High C".

Among other early recordings, Chenoweth participated in a studio cast recording of The Most Happy Fella in 1992. She was also in the cast recordings of A New Brain (1998) and You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown (1999) and a studio cast recording of 110 in the Shade (1999). In 2000, she was featured on the album Grateful: The Songs of John Bucchino. The next year, with Mandy Patinkin, she was featured on the album entitled "Kidults". The same year, she appeared as Fanny Brice in the Actor's Fund Benefit Concert of the musical Funny Girl in New York City. In 2003 in London, she performed a solo concert as part of the Divas at Donmar series for director Sam Mendes. Later that year, she sang Glinda in the cast recording of Wicked and the soundrack recording of Disney's The Music Man. In 2004, she released her second album As I Am, which was a Christian music album containing various spiritual songs. The album peaked at number 31 on the U.S. Christian Albums Chart. The same year, Chenoweth gave a concert at Carnegie Hall. The same year, she was featured in songs with Nathan Gunn on an album entitled Just Before Sunrise. The next year, she released her third solo studio album, entitled A Lovely Way to Spend Christmas. The album was much anticipated by both her fans and Chenoweth herself; she had expressed her desire in the past to produce a Christmas album. The album included a duet with John Pizzarelli and there are several modern holiday tunes, but many traditional carols as well including The Lord's Prayer. This album has been her best seller, reaching number 77 on the U.S. Billboard Albums Chart, climbing to number 7 on the U.S. Holiday Albums chart and to number 1 on the U.S. Heatseekers Chart. Among many other solo concerts around the U.S., Chenoweth performed her own concert in 2009 with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, at the Fox Theatre.

Starting in August 2010, during her nights off from Promises, Promises, she talked of flying to Nashville to record songs for her upcoming fourth recording. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times in December 2010, she revealed her next studio album would be a country pop collaboration with songwriter Diane Warren that would also contain self-written songs. Speaking about the new tracks, the remainder of which are planned to be recorded in Nashville in 2011, Chenoweth plans to address more serious themes of men and relationships.

Special events and appearances

Chenoweth and the cast of the Broadway musical Wicked performed the song "One Short Day" in the 2003 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

In the 2005 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Chenoweth performed the song "Oklahoma" while riding aboard the "Oklahoma Rising" float. The float was making the first of three annual appearances commemorating the state of Oklahoma's statehood centennial in 2007.

She was the star performer of the opening ceremony of the 2007 Tournament of Roses Parade. She sang "Our Good Nature," an original composition written to coincide with the Oklahoma centennial celebration and the theme of the parade.

In the 2008 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, she performed the song "The Christmas Waltz" from her "A Lovely Way to Spend Christmas" album while riding aboard the "The Care Bears Winter Fun-Derland" float.

She sang with Il Divo as part of Il Divo's Christmas Tour 2009 on , 16 and 17 in New York City and in Boston.

Personal life

In 2009, Chenoweth wrote a memoir entitled A Little Bit Wicked: Life, Love, and Faith in Stages, describing her adoption, her turn in Wicked and her time in Hollywood. She has stated that the book is not a "tell all", and instead focuses on "how I got where I am so far". The book was released on , 2009. The book spent two weeks on The New York Times Best Seller List.

She has spoken publicly about her religious faith; she describes herself as a "non-judgmental, liberal Christian". Raised as a Southern Baptist, she later chose to have a personal connection to a faith that is not based in any one denomination. When in California, she attends a non-denominational church in Malibu; in New York, she attends a United Methodist Church.

Chenoweth has a large gay fanbase, and was disinvited from a Women of Faith conference in . According to The New York Times, "when she assured her theater fans that she supports gay rights her Christian base was outraged." Chenoweth released an album in called As I Am, a mixture of hymns and contemporary Christian music, with adult contemporary arrangements. To promote the album, she made an appearance on The 700 Club that upset some of her gay fans. She later said she thought that the "Pat Robertsons and Jerry Falwells of the world are scary" and that she regretted appearing on the show.

She dated producer/writer Aaron Sorkin. In Sorkin's Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, the character of Harriet Hayes bears significant resemblances to Chenoweth, and the relationship between the Christian Hayes and "East coast liberal Jewish atheist" (her description) Matt Albie is modeled after that of Chenoweth and Sorkin. For example, Chenoweth's decision to appear on The 700 Club and her falling out with Women of Faith were depicted with the Hayes character.

Chenoweth has Ménière's disease, an inner-ear disorder that can cause vertigo, headaches and nausea, among other symptoms. She has said that, during some performances, she has had to lean on her co-stars to keep her balance and that it has caused her to miss performances. Chenoweth called the article "horrendously homophobic" and criticized Setoodeh's view as rationalizing "the same kind of bullying" that gay youths face in high school. Chenoweth argued that audiences "come to the theater to go on a journey" and do not care about an actor's sexual orientation. The story was picked up approvingly by major media including The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times.

Credits

Broadway

{|class="wikitable" style="font-size: 90%;" border="2" cellpadding="4" background: #f9f9f9; |- align="center" ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Year ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Title ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Role ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Venue ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Notes |- | 1997 | Steel Pier | Precious McGuire | Richard Rodgers Theatre | Theatre World Award |- | rowspan="2" | 1999 | You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown | Sally Brown | Ambassador Theatre | Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a MusicalDrama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a MusicalOuter Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical |- | Epic Proportions | Louise Goldman | Helen Hayes Theatre | |- | 2003–2004 | Wicked | Glinda | George Gershwin Theatre | Broadway.com Audience Award for Best Onstage Pair (shared with Idina Menzel)Nominated—Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a MusicalNominated—Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical |- | 2006–2007 | The Apple Tree | EvePrincess BarbáraElla / Passionella | Studio 54 | Broadway.com Audience Award for Best Diva PerformanceNominated—Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a MusicalNominated—Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Actress in a MusicalNominated—Broadway.com Audience Award for Best Leading Actress in a Broadway Musical |- | 2010–2011 | Promises, Promises | Fran Kubelik | The Broadway Theatre | Broadway.com Star of the Year AwardBroadway.com Audience Award for Best Leading Actress in a Broadway MusicalBroadway.com Audience Award for Best Diva PerformanceNominated—Broadway.com Audience Award for Best Onstage Pair (shared with Sean Hayes) |- |}

Other theatre

{|class="wikitable" style="font-size: 90%;" border="2" cellpadding="4" background: #f9f9f9; |- align="center" ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Year ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Title ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Role ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Venue |- | 1994 | The Fantasticks | Luisa | Sullivan Street Playhouse |- | 1994 | Box Office of the Damned | Kristy | CSC Theatre |- | 1997 | Scapin | Hyacinth | Laura Pels Theatre |- | 1998 | A New Brain | Nancy D / Waitress | Mitzi E. Newhouse Theatre |- |}

New York City Center Encores

{|class="wikitable" style="font-size: 90%;" border="2" cellpadding="4" background: #f9f9f9; |- align="center" ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Year ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Title ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Role |- | 1998 | Strike up the Band | Anne Draper |- | 2000 | On a Clear Day You Can See Forever | Daisy Gamble / Melinda |- | 2005 | The Apple Tree | EvePrincess BarbáraElla / Passionella |- | 2007 | Stairway to Paradise | Female Star |- | 2009 | Music in the Air | Frieda Hatzfeld |}

Filmography

Discography

Studio albums

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" |+List of albums, with selected chart positions ! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:3em;" | Year ! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:8em;" | Title ! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:16em;"| Album details ! scope="col" colspan="10" | Peak positions |- ! scope="col" style="width:3.8em;font-size:90%;"| US ! scope="col" style="width:3.8em;font-size:90%;"| USChristian ! scope="col" style="width:3.8em;font-size:90%;"| USHeat ! scope="col" style="width:3.8em;font-size:90%;"| USHoliday |- |2001 ! scope="row" | Let Yourself Go |

Released: May 29, 2001

Label: Sony Music Entertainment (#89384)

Format: CD, digital download

|— |— |— |— |- |2005 ! scope="row" | As I Am |

Released: April 5, 2005

Label: Sony Music Entertainment (#94384)

Format: CD, digital download

|— | 31 |— |— |- |2008 ! scope="row" | A Lovely Way to Spend Christmas |

Released: October 14, 2008

Label: Sony Masterworks (#8869734256)

Format: CD, digital download

| 77 |— | 1 | 7 |- | colspan="6" style="font-size:8pt;" | "—" denotes releases that did not chart. |}

Singles

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" |+ List of singles, with selected chart positions, showing year released and album name ! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:24em;"| Title ! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Year ! scope="col" colspan="5"| Peak chart positions ! scope="col" rowspan="2" | Album |- ! scope="col" style="width:2.2em;font-size:90%;"|AUS

! scope="col" style="width:2.2em;font-size:90%;"|CAN

! scope="col" style="width:2.2em;font-size:90%;"|IRL

! scope="col" style="width:2.2em;font-size:90%;"|UK

! scope="col" style="width:2.2em;font-size:90%;"|US |- ! scope="row" |"Maybe This Time"(Glee Cast featuring Kristin Chenoweth) |rowspan="3"|2009 |100 |— |— |87 |88 |rowspan="2"| |- ! scope="row" |"Alone"(Glee Cast featuring Kristin Chenoweth) |94 |58 |25 |47 |51 |- ! scope="row" |"Last Name"(Glee Cast featuring Kristin Chenoweth) |— |— |44 |83 |— |rowspan="2"|Glee: The Music,The Complete Season One |- ! scope="row" |"Fire"(Glee Cast featuring Kristin Chenoweth) |rowspan="3"|2010 |— |52 |— |93 |64 |- ! scope="row" |"One Less Bell to Answer / A House Is Not a Home"(Glee Cast featuring Kristin Chenoweth) |— |63 |— |77 |53 |rowspan="2"| |- ! scope="row" |"Home"(Glee Cast featuring Kristin Chenoweth) |— |92 |— |116 |90 |- |colspan="8" style="font-size:90%"|"—" denotes a release that did not chart. |}

Awards and nominations

References

External links

FHM interview

TonyAwards.com Interview

Excerpt from A Little Bit Wicked

Category:1968 births Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:Living people Category:Actors from Oklahoma Category:American adoptees Category:American Christians Category:American female singers Category:American film actors Category:American musical theatre actors Category:American people of Cherokee descent Category:American performers of Christian music Category:American sopranos Category:American television actors Category:American voice actors Category:Clarence Derwent Award winners Category:Drama Desk Award winners Category:Emmy Award winners Category:Native American singers Category:Oklahoma City University alumni Category:People from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma Category:Tony Award winners

Coordinates	33°55′31″N18°25′26″N
Name	Linda Lavin
Birthdate	October 15, 1937
Birthplace	Portland, Maine, United States
Occupation	Actress/Singer
Yearsactive	1967–present
Spouse	Ron Leibman (1969-1981)Kip Niven (1982-1991)Steve Bakunas (2005-present)

Linda Lavin (born October 15, 1937) is an American singer and actress. She is best known for playing the title character in the sitcom Alice and for her Broadway performances.

After acting as a child, Lavin joined the Compass Players in the late 1950s. She began acting on Broadway in the 1960s, earning notice by 1966 in It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman 1966 and receiving her first Tony Award nomination in Last of the Red Hot Lovers in 1970. She moved to Hollywood in 1973 and began to work in television, making recurring appearances on Barney Miller before getting the title role in Alice, which ran from 1976 to 1985. She appeared in many telefilms and later in other TV work. She has also had roles in several feature films.

In 1987, she returned to Broadway, starring in Broadway Bound (winning a Tony Award), Gypsy (1990), The Sisters Rosensweig (1993), The Diary of Anne Frank (1997–1998) and The Tale of the Allergist's Wife (2000–2001), among others. In 2010, she appeared as Ruth Steiner in Collected Stories, garnering her fifth Tony nomination. Thrice married, Lavin spends time at her North Carolina home on charitable activities.

Early life and career

Lavin was born in Portland, Maine, the daughter of Lucille (née Potter), an opera singer, and David J. Lavin, a businessman. Her family was musically talented, and Lavin has been onstage since the age of five. Upon her graduation from the College of William and Mary, she had already received her Actors' Equity Association card. She was a member of the Compass Players in the late 1950s. By the early 1960s, Lavin had appeared in several Broadway shows and appeared on the 1966 cast recordings of The Mad Show performing Stephen Sondheim's "The Boy From...". From It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman, one of her numbers, "You've Got Possibilities," was the album's best-received song and was called "The one memorable song...flirty, syncopated" by the Dallas Observer.

Career

Television and Film

In 1967, Lavin made an appearance as Gloria Thorpe in a television version of the musical Damn Yankees with Phil Silvers. In 1969, Lavin married actor Ron Leibman, and by 1973 the couple had arrived in Hollywood, California. After various guest appearances on episodic television series such as The Nurses, Rhoda, Harry O and Kaz, Lavin landed a recurring role on Barney Miller during the first and second seasons.

She left Barney Miller to star in the lead role in Alice. The show was a popular hit for CBS and ran from 1976 to 1985. The series was based on the Martin Scorsese-directed Ellen Burstyn film Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. Lavin portrayed Alice Hyatt, a waitress and singer, the character that Burstyn had played. Lavin performed the series' theme song, "There's a New Girl in Town," which was written by David Shire and Alan and Marilyn Bergman and was updated for each of the first six seasons. During the series' nine-season run, Lavin earned two Golden Globe awards and an Emmy nomination, and gained a great deal of experience directing, especially during the later seasons. Lavin also played Debbie Walden in the series, the wizened and former landlady of the character Vera Louise Gorman-Novak. Debbie eventually moved into Vera's house, along with Vera's husband, Elliot Novak, and the pastor who married them.

Lavin also made numerous television appearances outside of Alice, including hosting her own holiday special, Linda in Wonderland. She acted in two sitcoms (1992's Room for Two and 1998's Conrad Bloom) and made numerous television guest appearances (including roles on , The O.C., Touched by an Angel and HBO's The Sopranos). She also appeared in many telefilms between 1967 and 1998, including: Damn Yankees!, Sadbird, The Morning After, Jerry, Like Mom, Like Me, The $5.20 an Hour Dream, A Matter of Life and Death, Another Woman's Child, Maricela, Lena: My 100 Children, Whitewash, A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes: The Annette Funicello Story, Stolen Memories: Secrets from the Rose Garden, For the Future: The Irvine Fertility Scandal, The Ring, and Best Friends for Life. She directed the 1990 telefilm Flour Babies.

Lavin made her feature film debut in The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984). Her other feature film appearances include See You in the Morning, starring Jeff Bridges, and Alain Resnais' I Want to Go Home, opposite Gerard Depardieu (both 1989) and The Back-Up Plan (2010).

Theatre

Lavin began her career with Broadway appearances in the musicals A Family Affair (1962) and On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1966), and plays such as The Riot Act (1963), Something Different (1967) and Cop Out (1969). She "arrived at showbiz stardom with a featured role" in the musical It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman (1966). Her first Tony Award nomination was for her role in the Neil Simon play, Last of the Red Hot Lovers in 1970. Lavin's last Broadway credit before she moved to Hollywood was in Paul Sills' Story Theatre in 1971. In her early years, Lavin also appeared in numerous Off-Broadway productions, including Wet Paint (1965), the musical The Mad Show (1966) and Little Murders (1969). Lavin won the Theatre World Award for Wet Paint and a Drama Desk Award for Little Murders.

After more than a decade away, during her years on television, Lavin returned to the Broadway stage in 1987, winning a Tony Award and her second Drama Desk Award for her role as Kate in Simon's play Broadway Bound. Frank Rich, in his New York Times review, wrote: "One only wishes that Ms. Lavin, whose touching performance is of the same high integrity as the writing, could stay in the role forever." Her scene where she describes her chance meeting with movie star George Raft, with whom she dances, was called memorable. She then starred on Broadway in Gypsy as Mama Rose Hovick (1990). June Havoc saw Lavin's performance in Gypsy and sent Lavin a photo of Havoc's mother, the real Rose Hovick, with a note of appreciation for Lavin's particular portrayal of the character.

Subsequent Broadway roles included Gorgeous Teitelbaum in The Sisters Rosensweig (1993) and Mrs. Van Daan in The Diary of Anne Frank (1997–1998), opposite Natalie Portman, for which she garnered another Tony nomination. In the new century, she played Marjorie in The Tale of the Allergist's Wife (2000–2001), co-starring Tony Roberts and Michele Lee, for which she was nominated for another Tony and Drama Desk Award, and the nanny in Hollywood Arms. Off-Broadway, she was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for her performance in Death-Defying Acts, a play for which she also won a Best Actress Obie Award and the Lucille Lortel Award. She also directed theater during this period and performs in cabaret.

In 2010, Lavin appeared as Ruth Steiner in a Broadway revival of the play Collected Stories, reprising her role for a PBS production of the work, and received a fifth Tony nomination for the role. She is scheduled to appear in the new play by Jon Robin Baitz, Other Desert Cities, Off-Broadway at Mitzi Newhouse Theater (Lincoln Center) beginning in previews in December 2010. Lavin then is slated to appear in the Kennedy Center production of Follies in May 2011, as Hattie Walker.

Personal life

Lavin has been married three times. Her first marriage to Ron Leibman ended in divorce in 1980. Her second marriage to Kip Niven, who played the boyfriend of Beth Howland's character, Vera Louise Gorman-Novak, ended in divorce in 1992. While Lavin has no biological children, she is the stepmother to Niven's children Jim and Kate Niven and the grandmother to Jim's sons Grayson and Talen. The couple resides in Wilmington, North Carolina ;Tony Awards

1987 Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play - "Broadway Bound"

Nominations

1970 Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play - "Last of the Red Hot Lovers"

1998 Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play - "The Diary of Anne Frank"

2001 Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play - "The Tale of the Allergist's Wife

2010 Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play - "Collected Stories"

;Emmy Awards

Nominations

1979 Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series - "Alice"

;Golden Globes

1979 Best TV Actress Musical or Comedy -"Alice"

1980 Best TV Actress Musical or Comedy -"Alice"

Nominations

1981 Best TV Actress Musical or Comedy -"Alice"

Work

Filmography

The Back-Up Plan, 2010

The O.C., 2004, 2005 as "The Nana"

The Sopranos: "No Show" 2002

Collected Stories, 2002 (filmed play)

Best Friends for Life, 1998

Conrad Bloom, 1998 (sitcom)

For the Future, 1996

The Ring, 1996

Secrets from the Rose Garden, 1996

A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes

Whitewash, 1994

Room for Two, 1992 (sitcom)

See You in the Morning, 1989

I Want to Go Home, 1989

A Place to Call Home, 1987

Maricella, 1986

The Muppets Take Manhattan, 1984

Another Woman's Child, 1983

My 100 Children, 1983

A Matter of Life and Death, 1981

The $5.20 an Hour Dream, 1980

Like Mom, Like Me, 1978

Alice, 1976 (sitcom)

Barney Miller, 1975 (dramedy)

Jerry, 1974

The Morning After, 1974

Damn Yankees, 1967

Stage

Collected Stories by Donald Margulies, 2010

The New Century by Paul Rudnick, 2008

Finishing the Picture by Arthur Miller, 2004

Hollywood Arms by Carol Burnett, 2002

The Tale of the Allergist's Wife by Charles Busch, 2000–2001

The Diary of Anne Frank

Cakewalk, 1996 (off-Broadway)

Death Defying Acts, 1995

The Sisters Rosensweig, 1993

Gypsy, 1990

Broadway Bound, 1986–1987

The Enemy is Dead, 1973

Paul Sills' Story Theater, 1970

The Last of the Red Hot Lovers, 1969–1970

Cop-Out, 1969

Little Murders

Something Different, 1967

On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, 1967

The Mad Show, 1966 (off-Broadway)

"It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman" 1966

Wet Paint, 1964–1965

The Riot Act, 1963

A Family Affair

References

External links

Linda Lavin biography, as "Alice" cast member

Category:1937 births Category:Actors from Maine Category:American female singers Category:American film actors Category:American musical theatre actors Category:American stage actors Category:American television actors Category:Best Musical or Comedy Actress Golden Globe (television) winners Category:College of William & Mary alumni Category:Drama Desk Award winners Category:Living people Category:People from Portland, Maine Category:People from Wilmington, North Carolina Category:Second City alumni Category:Tony Award winners

Coordinates	33°55′31″N18°25′26″N
Name	Allison Janney
Caption	Janney at The Heart Truth Fashion Show, 2008
Birth date	November 19, 1959
Birth place	Dayton, Ohio, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1989–present
Birth name	Allison Brooks Janney
In a relationship	Andrew Karl (unknown-present)

Allison Brooks Janney (born November 19, 1959) is an American actress, best known for her role as C. J. Cregg on the television series The West Wing.

Personal life

Janney was born in Dayton, Ohio, the daughter of Macy (née Putnam), a former actress and homemaker, and Jervis Spencer Janney, Jr., a real estate developer and jazz musician. She has two older brothers, Jay and Hal. She attended The Miami Valley School in Dayton, where she was named a distinguished alumna in 2004, and the Hotchkiss School in Connecticut. She then attended Kenyon College. At Kenyon, Janney studied under another Kenyon alum, Paul Newman. She went on to study drama at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. She attended The Neighborhood Playhouse the same years as actor Dylan McDermott.

Career

Janney's first roles on television were as comedic foils on soap operas: she first played Vi Kaminski for a short time on As the World Turns, following up with a two-year stint as one of the Spaulding maids, Ginger on Guiding Light. In the spring of 1994, she appeared in the season finale of Law & Order, as a reluctant witness against a member of the Russian mob.

Janney has appeared in a number of films with roles of various sizes, including the 1990s films American Beauty, The Object of My Affection, Big Night, The Impostors, Drop Dead Gorgeous, The Ice Storm, Primary Colors, 10 Things I Hate About You, and Private Parts, and the 2000s films Nurse Betty, The Hours, The Chumscrubber, How to Deal, Winter Solstice and a considerable role in the animated movie, Finding Nemo, voicing Peach, the starfish. In 2006, Janney carried notable roles in the movies, Margaret and Over the Hedge, an animated comedy.

In 1999, she was cast in the role of presidential press secretary C.J. Cregg on the television drama The West Wing, for which she eventually won four Emmy Awards. Two of the Emmys were for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress - Drama Series in 2000 and 2001, and two were for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress - Drama Series in the years 2002 and 2004. She was also nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in the 2003 and 2006 Primetime Emmys. She is one of six cast members from The West Wing to have won an Emmy for their work - however, Janney is the only one who has won more than once. Janney also won two Screen Actor's Guild awards for Best Actress in a dramatic series, in 2001 and 2002, for her portrayal of C.J Cregg. The cast of "The West Wing" won the Screen Actor's Guild award for Best Ensemble in a dramatic series the same two years. Additional accolades for Janney's work in "The West Wing" include four Golden Globe award nominations, and a nomination in 2002 for American Film Institute's Actor of the Year.

Weekend trips to Washington, D.C. were frequently a part of Janney's schedule, and for the rest of the cast as well, as many outdoor scenes on The West Wing were actually filmed in the nation's capital. Janney also met several times with former White House Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers who served in the Clinton Administration from 1993–1994. Janney met with Myers in New York City to help portray her character more authentically.

The West Wing concluded in January 2006, and the last episode aired in May of that year. Even though the latter seasons were plagued by declining ratings, the overall rating of Janney remained a relatively positive one, touted by Entertainment Weekly as "one to watch", "uncommonly beautiful and infinitely expressive". In January 2006, West Wing's cast was also nominated by the Screen Actors Guild for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble Cast. Janney, Martin Sheen, Bradley Whitford, Janel Moloney, and other members of the cast appeared at the SAG Awards to honor their late cast mate and friend, John Spencer.

In 2006, she was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for her performance in the film Our Very Own. Many of Janney's long time friends were involved with Our Very Own including its producer Shannon McMahon Lichte and cast member Allison Mackie. All three were in the same class at the Neighborhood Playhouse. The writer/director Cameron Watson, also a longtime friend, wrote the role of Joan for her.

In 2007, Janney appeared in the Academy-Award-nominated film, Juno playing the part of Bren MacGuff, the title character's stepmother, for which she won Best Supporting Actress in the Austin Film Critics Association Awards 2007. In the same year, Janney appeared in the Golden-Globe-nominated film, Hairspray, as Prudy Pingleton, Penny's (Amanda Bynes) strict and religious mother.

Janney has also appeared in Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, also created by Aaron Sorkin. She made a guest appearance as herself in The Disaster Show, as the guest host of the week's episode of Studio 60. Many of the characters made references to her part in The West Wing, even those played by fellow West Wing actors.

Janney has remained active in theater. In 1998, she was nominated for a Tony Award for her role in Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge. Her first Broadway role was in Present Laughter opposite Frank Langella. In 2007, she participated in a workshop for a new musical of the film 9 to 5. In late 2008, Janney joined Broadway stars Stephanie J. Block, Megan Hilty and Marc Kudisch in the new musical, 9 to 5. Based on the film of the same name, Janney is starring as Violet Newstead, the super efficient office manager played by Lily Tomlin (a former cast mate from The West Wing) in the original film. Janney has signed on for a one-year contract with the 9 to 5 production. She has since been nominated for a Tony Award for her work in 9 to 5. In May 2009, she won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical for the role of Violet Newstead. She also appeared alongside Jack Black and John C. Reilly in Prop 8 (The Musical), a satirical musical protesting the passing of California Proposition 8.

In 2004, Janney began lending her voice to television and radio spots created by Kaiser Permanente in the health maintenance organization's broad "Thrive" media campaign, and in a radio campaign for the American Institute of Architects.

In 2010, she also appeared as Allison Pearson in In Plain Sight.

In May 2010, Janney appeared in the episode of the ABC television series Lost as the adoptive mother of the show's two mythological opponents, Jacob and the Man in Black.

Janney will star in the upcoming ABC network comedy Mr. Sunshine. The series, which was created by Matthew Perry, is scheduled as a midseason replacement for the 2010-11 television season.

In September 2010, it was announced that Janney would be the voice of the Aly San San spokesdroid in the upcoming Disney attraction, .

Filmography

{| border="2" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaa solid; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 90%;" |- bgcolor="#CCCCCC" align="center" ! colspan="4" style="background: LightSteelBlue;" | Film |- style="background:#ccc; text-align:center;" ! Year ! Film ! Role ! Notes |- | 1989 | Who Shot Patakango? | Miss Penny | |- | rowspan="4"| 1994 | Dead Funny | Jennifer | |- | The Cowboy Way | NYPD computer operator | |- | Wolf | Party guest | |- | Miracle on 34th Street | Christmas shop woman | |- | 1995 | Heading Home | Unknown role | |- | rowspan="6"| 1996 | Flux | Heather | |- | Rescuing Desire | Betsy | |- | Walking and Talking | Gum Puller | |- | Big Night | Ann |Nominated — Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actress |- | Faithful | Saleswoman | |- | The Associate | Sandy | |- | rowspan="4"| 1997 | Anita Liberty | Gynecologist | |- | Private Parts | Dee Dee | |- | The Ice Storm | Dot Halford | |- | Julian Pro | Lilah Leech | |- | rowspan="5"| 1998 | Primary Colors (film) | Miss Walsh | |- | The Object of My Affection | Constance Miller | |- | The Impostors | Maxine | |- | Six Days Seven Nights | Marjorie, Robin's boss | |- | Celebrity | Evelyn Isaacs | |- | rowspan="4"| 1999 | 10 Things I Hate About You | Ms. Perky | |- | Drop Dead Gorgeous | Loretta | |- | American Beauty | Barbara Fitts | |- | The Debtors | | |- | rowspan="3"| 2000 | Leaving Drew | Paula | |- | Auto Motives | Gretchen | |- | Nurse Betty | Lyla Branch | |- | rowspan="2"| 2002 | Rooftop Kisses | Melissa | |- | The Hours | Sally Lester | |- | rowspan="3"| 2003 | Finding Nemo | Peach | Voice |- | How to Deal | Lydia Martin | |- | Chicken Party | Barbara Strasser | |- | rowspan="2"| 2004 | Piccadilly Jim | Eugenia Crocker | |- | Winter Solstice | Molly Ripkin | |- | rowspan="3"| 2005 | Strangers with Candy | Alice | |- | The Chumscrubber | Allie Stiffle | |- | Our Very Own | Joan Whitfield |Nominated — Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female |- | 2006 | Over the Hedge | Gladys | Voice |- | rowspan="2"| 2007 | Hairspray | Prudy Pingleton | |- | Juno | Brenda 'Bren' MacGuff |Austin Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting ActressNominated — Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actress |- | rowspan="2"| 2008 | Pretty Ugly People | Suzanna | |- | | Prop 8 leader's wife | |- | rowspan="2"| 2009 | Away We Go | Lily | |- | Life During Wartime | Trish |Nominated — Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female |- | rowspan="4"| 2011 | Margaret | Wounded woman | Waiting release |- | A Thousand Words | Unknown role | |- | The Oranges | Carol Ostroff | |- | The Help | Charlotte Phelan | |}

Television

{| |- style="background:#ccc; text-align:center;" ! colspan="4" style="background: LightSteelBlue;" | Television |- style="background:#ccc; text-align:center;" ! Year !! Title !! Role !! Notes |- | 1991 | Morton & Hayes | Beatrice Caldicott | Episode: "Society Saps" Episode: "Homes Buddies" |- | 1993 | Blind Spot | Doreen | TV movie |- | 1993–1995 | The Guiding Light | Ginger | Recurring role |- | 1992–1994 | Law & Order | Ann Madsen/Nora | Episode: "Star Truck" Episode: "Old Friends" |- | rowspan="2"| 1995 | The Wright Verdicts | | Episode: "Sins of the Father" |- | New York Undercover | Vivian | Episode: "Digital Underground" |- | rowspan="2"| 1996 | Aliens in the Family | Principal Sherman | Episode: "A Very Brody Tweeznax" |- | Cosby | Podiatric Nurse | Episode: "Happily Ever Hilton" |- | rowspan="2"| 1997 | ...First Do No Harm | Dr. Melanie Abbasac | TV movie |- | | Assistant District Attorney | TV movie |- | 1998 | David and Lisa | Alix | TV movie |- | 1999 | LateLine | Helen Marschant | Episode: "The Minister of Television" |- | 2000 | A Girl Thing | Kathy McCormack | TV movie |- | 2001–2002 | Frasier | Phyllis | Episode: "The Two Hundredth Episode: Three Blind Dates" |- | 2003 | King of the Hill | Laura | Episode: Full Metal Dust Jacket |- | 2005 | Weeds | Ms. Greenstein - Attorney | Episode: "Lude Awakening" |- | 1999–2006 | The West Wing | Claudia Jean "C.J." Cregg | 154 episodes |- | rowspan="2"| 2007 | Two and a Half Men | Beverly | Episode: "My Damn Stalker" |- | Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip | Herself | Episode: "The Disaster Show" |- | 2008–2009 | Phineas and Ferb | Charlene Doofenshmirtz | Episodes: "I Scream, You Scream", "Hail Doofania!", "Thaddeus and Thor" and "Finding Mary McGuffin" |- | rowspan="4"| 2010 | Shameless (U.S. TV series) | Sheila | Episode: "Pilot" |- | Family Guy | Teen People Editor | Episode: "Dial Meg for Murder" |- | Lost | "Mother" | Episode: "Across the Sea" |- | In Plain Sight | Allison Pearson | Episode: "When Mary Met Marshall"Episode: "Coma Chameleon" |- | 2011 | Mr. Sunshine | Crystal Cohen | Main cast |- |}

References

Samuels, Joshua- Allison Janney Interview: http://kenyontalk.blogspot.com/2010/05/from-west-wing-to-great-white-way.html

External links

Photos from Wireimage

Airline Safety Announcement for Independence Air.wax format

Category:1959 births Category:Living people Category:People from Dayton, Ohio Category:Actors from Ohio Category:Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art Category:American film actors Category:American soap opera actors Category:American stage actors Category:American television actors Category:American voice actors Category:Drama Desk Award winners Category:Emmy Award winners Category:Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Screen Actors Guild Award winners Category:Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series Screen Actors Guild Award winners Category:Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series Screen Actors Guild Award winners Category:Kenyon College alumni Category:Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre alumni

Coordinates	33°55′31″N18°25′26″N
Name	Mitzi Gaynor
Caption	from the trailer forThere's No Business Like Show Business (1954)
Birthname	Francesca Marlene de Czanyi von Gerber
Birthname	Francesca Marlene de Czanyi von Gerber
Birth date	September 04, 1931
Birth place	Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Spouse	(his death)
Occupation	Actress, dancer, entertainer
Website	http://www.missmitzigaynor.com
Yearsactive	1949–Present

Mitzi Gaynor (born September 4, 1931) is an American actress, singer and dancer.

Life and career

Gaynor was born as Francesca Marlene de Czanyi von Gerber in Chicago, Illinois. She trained as a ballerina as a child and began her career as a chorus dancer. She sang, acted and danced in a number of film musicals, often paired with some of the biggest male musical stars of the day.

Notable early roles included There's No Business Like Show Business (1954) which featured Irving Berlin's music and also starred Ethel Merman, Dan Dailey, Marilyn Monroe, Donald O'Connor, and Johnnie Ray.

She also appeared in Les Girls (1957, directed by George Cukor) with Gene Kelly and Kay Kendall, and the remake of Anything Goes (1956), co-starring Bing Crosby, Donald O'Connor, and Zizi Jeanmaire, loosely based on the musical by Cole Porter, P.G. Wodehouse and Guy Bolton.

Gaynor's biggest international fame came from her starring role as Ensign Nellie Forbush in the film version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific, one of the most financially successful musicals of all time, although it was largely panned by critics. For her performance, she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for best actress.

She made films with many other well-known stars, including Ginger Rogers, Frank Sinatra, David Niven, Dan Dailey, Betty Grable and Oscar Levant. She made her last film to date in the early 1960s. One of her last films was the United Kingdom production Surprise Package (1960), a musical comedy thriller directed by Stanley Donen. Her co-stars were Yul Brynner and Noel Coward. The film had a theme song by Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn.

Following her film work, Gaynor remained a popular favorite. She often performed songs at Academy Awards ceremonies. At the 1967 Oscar telecast, she sang the theme from the film Georgy Girl. Gaynor later added the number to her concert repertoire. Throughout the 1960s and '70s Gaynor starred in nine acclaimed television specials that garnered 16 Emmy nominations. As an interesting historical footnote, Gaynor appeared between two sets by The Beatles when they made their second appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show of February 16, 1964. She performed for an unprecedented nine-minute segment from the stage of the Deauville Hotel in Miami Beach, separated with one commercial break. She sang "Too Darn Hot" and a blues medley.

Gaynor also recorded for albums for the Verve label, one called Mitzi and the second called Mitzi Gaynor Sings the Lyrics of Ira Gershwin. It is estimated that she earned more from the record royalties on the South Pacific soundtrack album than her salary for the movie. She also recorded the title song from her film, Happy Anniversary for the Top Rank label as well as 2 albums with Mario Giamei and Same.As.Never.

For several decades, Mitzi Gaynor was a top attraction in Las Vegas and at nightclub and concert venues throughout the United States and Canada. During the 1990s, Gaynor also became a featured columnist for the influential newsmagazine The Hollywood Reporter. During her nightclub years, Gaynor rehearsed and broke in her night club routines at The Cave, a popular night club in Vancouver. She developed an affinity for the city and was much appreciated by both the local media and the viewing public, frequently making guest appearances on local television for interviews. "Mitzi's back in town" became an annual slogan when Gaynor would come to the city for a number of weeks each year to break in her Las Vegas routines.

On December 4, 2006, Jack Bean, Gaynor's husband of 52 years, died of pneumonia in the couple's Beverly Hills home, aged 84. A producer and personal manager, Bean guided Gaynor's career, most notably securing her the lead role in South Pacific, even over the character's creator on Broadway, Mary Martin.

On July 30, 2008, Mitzi, along with Kenny Ortega, Elizabeth Berkley, Shirley MacLaine and cast members from High School Musical, So You Think You Can Dance, Dancing with the Stars and a host of others, participated in the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences TV Moves Live, a celebration of 60 years of dance on television. Gaynor appeared performing the final few bars of Poor Papa (with her original dancers Alton Ruff and Randy Doney), a song-and-dance number from her 1969 TV spectacular, Mitzi's 2nd Special.

On November 18, 2008, City Lights Pictures in Association with Green Isle Inc. released Mitzi Gaynor Razzle Dazzle: The Special Years, a new documentary celebrating Miss Gaynor's annual television specials of the 1960s and '70s. The film, which was broadcast on public television and released on DVD, includes showstopping moments from the original specials (digitally remastered in 5.1 stereo) along with newly taped interviews with Gaynor colleagues, friends, and admirers including Bob Mackie, Carl Reiner, Kristin Chenoweth, Rex Reed, Tony Charmoli, Alton Ruff, Randy Doney, and Kelli O'Hara.

Gaynor's one-woman show, Razzle Dazzle: My Life Behind the Sequins, toured the United States throughout 2009 and 2010 (including an acclaimed 2 week engagement in NYC) Her tour resumes in 2011.

Honors

On April 18, 2010, Gaynor won the 2010 NATAS Emmy Award for Outstanding Entertainment Program/Special for her public television musical documentary "Mitzi Gaynor: Razzle Dazzle! The Special Years."

On April 13, 2010, Gaynor was honored with the Bob Harrington Lifetime Achievement Award at The 25th annual Bistro Awards in New York City.

On November 7, 2009, Mitzi was honored with Chapman University’s Lifetime Achievement in the Arts Award during the 28th Annual American Celebration Gala Night at Chapman University in Orange, Calif.

On July 10, 2009, Mitzi was honored with the Tremaine 2009 Entertainer of the Year Award from the Joe Tremaine Dance Competition Nationals Final Gala in Orlando, FL.

On March 8, 2009, Gaynor was honored with the 2009 Boston Youth Moves Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by Chita Rivera at Swellegance, the Boston Youth Moves annual fundraiser in Boston, MA.

On April 10, 2007, Mitzi Gaynor was honored by the Museum of Television & Radio in Los Angeles with a special evening celebrating her television specials of the 1960s and '70s. The sold-out event, Mitzi Gaynor Razzle-Dazzle!: The Special Years, featured a screening followed by a panel discussion with Gaynor, designer Bob Mackie and director/choreographer Tony Charmoli. In conjunction with the event, the museum also featured a month-long gallery exhibit, Mitzi by Mackie, featuring Bob Mackie's Emmy-winning costumes from her specials along with a selection of costumes from Gaynor's legendary stage shows and concert appearances.

On October 14, 2006, the NY Alumni "adopted" Gaynor as an official "New Yorker" at Beverly Hills High School in California. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg issued a proclamation paying tribute to her distinguished career as a singer, dancer, actress and writer.

The television specials

On October 14, 1968, Mitzi Gaynor starred in her first television special, Mitzi. In specials including Mitzi - The First Time and Mitzi...Zings into Spring she showcased the talents she had first used as a theatrical performer, then in films like There's No Business Like Show Business, Les Girls, and South Pacific, and finally as a cabaret performer.

Each special was a blend of song, dance and comedy with guest stars drawn from the top ranks of the business including Bob Hope, Carl Reiner, Michael Landon, Bill Bixby, Suzanne Pleshette, Ken Berry and George Hamilton. The 80 member USC Marching Band marching band joined her for a musical medley.

List of television specials

The Kraft Music Hall:The Mitzi Gaynor Christmas Show (1967) (NBC)

Mitzi (1968) (NBC)

Mitzi's 2nd Special (1969) (NBC)

Mitzi: The First Time (1973) (CBS)

Mitzi: A Tribute to the American Housewife (1974) (CBS)

Mitzi...and a Hundred Guys (1975) (CBS)

Mitzi...Roarin' In the 20's (1976) (CBS)

Mitzi...Zings Into Spring (1977) (CBS)

Mitzi...What's Hot, What's Not (1978) (CBS)

Mitzi Gaynor: Razzle Dazzle! The Special Years (2008) (PBS)

Filmography

It's Your Health (1949) (short subject)

My Blue Heaven (1950)

Take Care of My Little Girl (1951)

Golden Girl (1951)

We're Not Married! (1952)

Bloodhounds of Broadway (1952)

The I Don't Care Girl (1953)

Down Among the Sheltering Palms (1953)

Three Young Texans (1954)

There's No Business Like Show Business (1954)

The Birds and the Bees (1956)

Anything Goes (1956)

The Joker Is Wild (1957)

Les Girls (1957)

South Pacific (1958)

Happy Anniversary (1959)

Surprise Package (1960)

For Love or Money (1963)

References

External links

Mitzi Gaynor: Official Website

Category:1931 births Category:Actors from Chicago, Illinois Category:American dancers Category:American film actors Category:American female singers Category:Living people

Lloyd Young (born December 26, 1985) is a Scottish professional association football player who currently plays for East Fife.

External links

Category:Scottish footballers Category:Association football midfielders Category:Raith Rovers F.C. players Category:East Fife F.C. players Category:Scottish Football League players Category:1985 births Category:Living people

Coordinates	33°55′31″N18°25′26″N
Birth date	January 22, 1971
Birth place	Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Spouse	Darren Goldstein (22 Aug 2010 -)

Katie Finneran (born January 22, 1971) is an American actress of film, stage, and television noted for her award winning performances in Noises Off in 2002, and Promises, Promises in 2010.

Personal life

She was raised in Miami, Florida where she attended the acclaimed New World School of the Arts for high school. Finneran is of Irish descent and was raised Roman Catholic. For college, Finneran attended Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh for one year before moving to New York City at age 19 to study acting with Uta Hagen. Outside of acting, Finneran has had many "day jobs" to augment her income, including a ringside girl at a boxing ring, waitress, and perfume spray girl at Bloomingdale's. Finneran married Actor, Daren Goldstein on 22 August 2010 and is pregnant with their first child due in early 2011.

Film

Finneran's biggest film role was a leading role in the remake of George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead. Her film credits include You've Got Mail, Chicken Little, Liberty Heights, Bewitched, , and Death to Smoochy.

Television

Finneran is perhaps best known for her role of Sharon Tyler on the critically acclaimed, short-lived Fox television series Wonderfalls. She was also featured as a part of the cast on the Fox show The Inside, in the short-lived CBS sitcom Bram and Alice, and in many guest roles in shows like Frasier, Sex and the City and Oz. In 2007 Finneran was featured in the new series Drive. She plays the sister of the main character, Alex Tully, played by Nathan Fillion.

Finneran has often been championed by writers and creative teams at shows. Joe Keenan and Christopher Lloyd remembered Finneran's guest role as Poppy on Frasier (in a script they wrote). This led to them creating a role for her in Bram and Alice. Tim Minear worked with Finneran on Wonderfalls and subsequently cast her in other shows of his, including a contract role in The Inside, and the role she was featured in on Drive.

In the DVD for the full series of Wonderfalls, Finneran said that when she was asked if she felt nervous about playing lesbian immigration attorney Sharon Tyler on Wonderfalls that "I'd rather have people think that I'm a lesbian than a lawyer." She also said that to express her confidence that Wonderfalls would be picked up for a second season, Finneran left all of her stuff in Toronto in unmarked boxes. She challenged Wonderfalls co-creator Todd Holland to do the same, but he didn't.

Theatre

Finneran has an extensive roster of theatre roles. She has often been cast as a seductress in comedic and dramatic roles, including a pin-up girl in Neil Simon's Proposals, Sally Bowles in the Tony Award-winning revival of Cabaret, and call girl Cora in The Iceman Cometh opposite Kevin Spacey. She also has appeared in My Favorite Year with Tim Curry and John Guare's Bosoms and Neglect and Smell of the Kill with Kristen Johnson.

She won a Best Featured Actress Tony Award in 2002 for her role (Brooke Ashton) in the revival of Noises Off as well as a Drama Desk award also for best featured actress in that play.

In the summer of 2006, Finneran appeared on stage in New York in a production called Pig Farm. She also filled in for Kristin Chenoweth in the play Love, Loss and What I Wore

Finneran is featured in the first Broadway revival of Promises, Promises, opened March 27, 2010, for which she won a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. She left the show, due to her pregnancy, on October 10, 2010.

References

External links

Interview with Playboy

Category:1971 births Category:Living people Category:American film actors Category:American stage actors Category:American people of Irish descent Category:American Roman Catholics Category:Drama Desk Award winners Category:Tony Award winners Category:Actors from Chicago, Illinois

Coordinates	33°55′31″N18°25′26″N
Name	Janet McTeer
Birthdate	May 08, 1961 is a British actress.
Title	Awards for Janet McTeer

Category:1961 births Category:Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art Category:Audio book narrators Category:Best Musical or Comedy Actress Golden Globe (film) winners Category:Drama Desk Award winners Category:English film actors Category:English radio actors Category:English stage actors Category:English television actors Category:English voice actors Category:Living people Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire Category:Olivier Award winners Category:People from Newcastle upon Tyne Category:People from York Category:Royal National Theatre Company members Category:Royal Shakespeare Company members Category:Shakespearean actors

Coordinates	33°55′31″N18°25′26″N
Caption	At the 2007 Cannes Film Festival
Birth date	December 21, 1937
Birth name	Lady Jayne Seymour Fonda
Birth place	New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Actress, writer, activist
Years active	1959–present
Spouse	Roger Vadim (1965–1973) (divorced) 1 childTom Hayden (1973–1989) (divorced) 1 childTed Turner (1991–2001) (divorced)

Jane Fonda (born Lady Jayne Seymour Fonda, December 21, 1937) is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model, and fitness guru . She rose to fame in the 1960s with films such as Barbarella and Cat Ballou. She has won two Academy Awards and received several other awards and nominations. After 15 years of retirement, she returned to film in 2005 with Monster in Law followed by Georgia Rule two years later. She also produced and starred in over 20 exercise videos released between 1982 and 1995, and once again in 2010.

Fonda has been an activist for many political causes, one of the most notable and controversial of which was her opposition to the Vietnam War. She has also protested the Iraq War and violence against women. She describes herself as a liberal and a feminist. In 2005, Fonda worked alongside Robin Morgan and Gloria Steinem to co-found the Women's Media Center, an organization that works to amplify the voices of women in the media through advocacy, media and leadership trainining, and the creation of original content. Fonda currently serves on the board of the organization. Since 2001, Fonda has been a Christian. She published an autobiography in 2005.

Family background

Lady Jayne Seymour Fonda was born in New York City, the daughter of actor Henry Fonda and socialite Frances Ford Seymour Brokaw. The Fondas had distant Dutch ancestry. She was named after the third wife of English king Henry VIII, Lady Jane Seymour, to whom she is distantly related on her mother's side. Her brother Peter Fonda (born 1940), and his daughter Bridget Fonda, are also actors. Fonda had a half sister, Frances, who died in 2008.

In 1950, when Jane was 12, her mother committed suicide, while under treatment at a psychiatric hospital. Her father subsequently married Susan Blanchard, but this marriage ended in divorce.

At 15, Fonda taught dance at Fire Island Pines, New York. She attended The Emma Willard School in Troy, New York, and Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, but dropped out to become a fashion model, appearing twice on the cover of Vogue.

Acting career

Fonda became interested in acting in 1954, while appearing with her father in a charity performance of The Country Girl, at the Omaha Community Playhouse.

1960s

Her stage work in the late 1950s laid the foundation for her film career in the 1960s. She averaged almost two movies a year throughout the decade, starting in 1960 with Tall Story, in which she recreated one of her Broadway roles as a college cheerleader pursuing a basketball star, played by Anthony Perkins. Period of Adjustment and Walk on the Wild Side followed in 1962. In Walk on the Wild Side, Fonda played a prostitute, and earned a Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer.

In 1963, she appeared in Sunday in New York. Newsday called her "the loveliest and most gifted of all our new young actresses". However, she also had her detractors—in the same year, the Harvard Lampoon named her the "Year's Worst Actress". Fonda's career breakthrough came with Cat Ballou (1965), in which she played a schoolmarm turned outlaw. This comedy Western received five Oscar nominations and was one of the year's top ten films at the box office. It was considered by many to have been the film that brought Fonda to stardom at the age of twenty-eight. After this came the comedies Any Wednesday (1966) and Barefoot in the Park (1967), the latter co-starring Robert Redford.

In 1968, she played the lead role in the science fiction spoof Barbarella, directed by her French film director husband Roger Vadim, which established her status as a sex symbol. In contrast, the tragedy They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969) won her critical acclaim, and she earned her first Oscar nomination for the role. Fonda was very selective by the end of the 1960s, turning down lead roles in Rosemary's Baby and Bonnie and Clyde.

1970s

Fonda won her first Academy Award for Best Actress in 1971, again playing a prostitute, the gamine Bree Daniels, in the murder mystery Klute. She won her second Oscar in 1978 for Coming Home, the story of a disabled Vietnam War veteran's difficulty in re-entering civilian life.

Between Klute in 1971 and Fun With Dick and Jane in 1977, Fonda did not have a major film success, even though she appeared in films such as A Doll's House (1973), Steelyard Blues and The Blue Bird (1976). From comments ascribed to her in interviews, some have inferred that she personally blamed the situation on anger at her outspoken political views – "I can't say I was blacklisted, but I was greylisted." However, in her 2005 autobiography, My Life So Far, she categorically rejected such simplification. "The suggestion is that because of my actions against the war my career had been destroyed ... But the truth is that my career, far from being destroyed after the war, flourished with a vigor it had not previously enjoyed." From her own point of view, her absence from the silver screen was related more to the fact that her political activism provided a new focus in her life. By the same token her return to acting with a series of 'issue-driven' films was a reflection of this new focus. "When I hear admonitions ... warning outspoken actors to remember 'what happened to Jane Fonda back in the seventies', this has me scratching my head: And what would that be...?"

In 1972, Fonda starred as a reporter alongside Yves Montand in Jean-Luc Godard's and Jean-Pierre Gorin's film Tout va bien. The film's directors then made Letter to Jane, in which the two spent nearly an hour discussing a news photograph of Fonda.

Through her production company, IPC Films, she produced films that helped return her to star status. The 1977 comedy film Fun With Dick and Jane is generally considered her "comeback" picture. She also received positive reviews, BAFTA and Golden Globe Awards for Best Actress, and an Oscar nomination for her portrayal of playwright Lillian Hellman in the 1977 film Julia. On Golden Pond, which also starred Katharine Hepburn, brought Henry Fonda his only Academy Award for Best Actor, which Jane accepted on his behalf, as he was ill and home bound. He died five months later.

Retirement and return

In 1991, after three decades in film, Fonda announced her retirement from the film industry. In May 2005, she returned to the screen with the box office success Monster-in-Law. Fonda appeared in the 2007 Garry Marshall-directed Georgia Rule, starring along with Felicity Huffman and Lindsay Lohan.

In 2009, Fonda returned to theater with her first Broadway performance since the 1963 play, Strange Interlude, playing Katherine Brandt in Moises Kaufman's 33 Variations. The role earned her a Tony nomination for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play.

She will star alongside Catherine Keener in the upcoming indie film, Peace, Love, and Misunderstanding. The film is expected to be released in 2011. She will also make a return to French cinema, shooting Et Si On Vivait Tous Ensemble mid-2010.

Political activism

During the 1960s, Fonda engaged in political activism in support of the Civil Rights Movement and in opposition to the Vietnam War.

She likewise supported Huey Newton and the Black Panthers in the early 1970s, stating "Revolution is an act of love; we are the children of revolution, born to be rebels. It runs in our blood." She called the Black Panthers "our revolutionary vanguard", and said "we must support them with love, money, propaganda and risk."

Fonda has also been involved in the feminist movement since the 1970s, which dovetails with her activism in support of civil rights.

Opposition to Vietnam War

In April 1970, Fred Gardner, Fonda and Donald Sutherland formed the FTA tour ("Free The Army", a play on the troop expression "Fuck The Army"), an anti-war road show designed as an answer to Bob Hope's USO tour. The tour, referred to as "political vaudeville" by Fonda, visited military towns along the West Coast, with the goal of establishing a dialogue with soldiers about their upcoming deployments to Vietnam. The dialogue was made into a movie (F.T.A.) that contained strong, frank criticism of the war by service men and women. It was released in 1972.

In the same year, Fonda spoke out against the war at a rally organized by Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. She offered to help raise funds for VVAW, and, for her efforts, was rewarded with the title of Honorary National Coordinator. On November 3, 1970, Fonda started a tour of college campuses on which she raised funds for the organization. As noted by the New York Times, Fonda was a "major patron" of the VVAW. In a 1970 address at Michigan State University Fonda gave a speech saying; "I would think that if you understood what Communism was, you would hope, you would pray on your knees, that we would someday become communists."

"Hanoi Jane" Controversy

Fonda visited Hanoi in July 1972. Among other statements, she repeated the North Vietnamese claim that the United States had been deliberately targeting the dike system along the Red River stating that “I believe in my heart, profoundly, that the dikes are being bombed on purpose”. Columnist Joseph Kraft, who was also touring North Vietnam, believed that the damage to the dikes was incidental and was being used as propaganda by Hanoi, and that if the U.S. Air Force were "truly going after the dikes, it would do so in a methodical, not a harum-scarum way."

In North Vietnam, Fonda was photographed seated on an anti-aircraft battery. In her 2005 autobiography, she writes that she was manipulated into sitting on the battery. Later she claimed to have been horrified at the implications of the pictures and stated that she regretted the pictures. During her trip, Fonda also made ten propagandistic radio broadcasts in which she denounced American political and military leaders as "war criminals". Fonda has defended her decision to travel to North Vietnam and has defended her radio broadcasts.

During this visit, she also visited American prisoners of war (POWs), and brought back messages from them to their families. When cases of torture began to emerge among POWs returning to the United States, Fonda called the returning POWs "hypocrites and liars." She added, "These were not men who had been tortured. These were not men who had been starved. These were not men who had been brainwashed." On the subject of torture in general, Fonda told The New York Times in 1973, "I'm quite sure that there were incidents of torture... but the pilots who were saying it was the policy of the Vietnamese and that it was systematic, I believe that's a lie." Fonda further stated that the POWs were "military careerists and professional killers" who are "trying to make themselves look self-righteous, but they are war criminals according to the law."

The POW camp visits also led to persistent stories—decades later circulated widely on the Internet and via email—that the POWs she met had spat on her, or attempted to sneak notes to her which she had then reported to the North Vietnamese, leading to further abuse. However, interviews with two of the alleged victims specifically named in the emails, found these allegations to be false as they had never met Fonda. It continued to mobilize antiwar activists across the nation after the 1973 Paris Peace Agreement, through 1975, when the United States withdrew from Vietnam.

Regrets

In a 1988 interview with Barbara Walters, Fonda expressed regret for some of her comments and actions, stating:

"I would like to say something, not just to Vietnam veterans in New England, but to men who were in Vietnam, who I hurt, or whose pain I caused to deepen because of things that I said or did. I was trying to help end the killing and the war, but there were times when I was thoughtless and careless about it and I'm very sorry that I hurt them. And I want to apologize to them and their families. [...] I will go to my grave regretting the photograph of me in an anti-aircraft gun, which looks like I was trying to shoot at American planes. It hurt so many soldiers. It galvanized such hostility. It was the most horrible thing I could possibly have done. It was just thoughtless..."

However, critics pointed out that her apology came at a time when a group of New England Veterans had launched a campaign to disrupt a film project she was working on, leading to the charge that her apology was motivated at least partially by self-interest.

In a 60 Minutes interview on March 31, 2005, Fonda reiterated that she had no regrets about her trip to North Vietnam in 1972, with the exception of the anti-aircraft gun photo. She stated that the incident was a "betrayal" of American forces and of the "country that gave me privilege". Fonda said, "The image of Jane Fonda, Barbarella, Henry Fonda's daughter ... sitting on an enemy aircraft gun was a betrayal ... the largest lapse of judgment that I can even imagine." She later distinguished between regret over the use of her image as propaganda and pride for her anti-war activism: "There are hundreds of American delegations that had met with the POWs. Both sides were using the POWs for propaganda... It's not something that I will apologize for." Fonda said she had no regrets about the broadcasts she made on Radio Hanoi, something she asked the North Vietnamese to do: "Our government was lying to us and men were dying because of it, and I felt I had to do anything that I could to expose the lies and help end the war."

Feminist causes

Fonda has been a longtime supporter of feminist causes, including V-Day, a movement to stop violence against women, inspired by the off-Broadway hit The Vagina Monologues, of which she is an honorary chairperson. She was present at their first summit in 2002, bringing together founder Eve Ensler, Afghan women oppressed by the Taliban, and a Kenyan activist campaigning to save girls from genital mutilation. of the 62nd Academy Awards (Ted Turner is holding Jane's arm), March 26, 1990]]

In 2001, Fonda established the Jane Fonda Center for Adolescent Reproductive Health at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia; the goal of the center is to prevent adolescent pregnancy through training and program development.

On February 16, 2004, Fonda led a march through Ciudad Juárez, with Sally Field, Eve Ensler, and other women, urging Mexico to provide sufficient resources to newly appointed officials helping investigate the murders of hundreds of women in the rough border city.

Fonda strongly feels that many gender stereotypes are damaging to individuals of both genders and thus, in 2004, she served as a mentor to the first ever all-transsexual cast of The Vagina Monologues.

In the days before the Swedish election on September 17, 2006, Fonda went to Sweden to support the new political party Feministiskt initiativ in their election campaign.

In My Life So Far, Fonda says that she considers patriarchy to be harmful to men as well as women. She also states that for many years, she feared to call herself a feminist, because she believed that all feminists were "anti-male". But now, with her increased understanding of patriarchy, she feels that feminism is beneficial to both men and women, and states that she "still loves men". She states that when she divorced Ted Turner, she felt like she had also divorced the world of patriarchy, and was very happy to have done so.

Native Americans

Fonda went to Seattle, Washington in 1970 to support a group of Native Americans who were led by Bernie Whitebear. The group had occupied part of the grounds of Fort Lawton, which was in the process of being surplussed by the United States Army and turned into a park. The group was attempting to secure a land base where they could establish services for the sizable local Urban Indian population. Fonda went to help the endeavor because she felt "Indians had a right to part of the land that was originally all theirs." The endeavor succeeded and the Daybreak Star Cultural Center was constructed in the city's Discovery Park.

Israeli–Palestinian conflict

In December 2002 Fonda visited Israel and the West Bank as part of a tour focusing on stopping violence against women. She demonstrated with Women in Black against Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip outside the residence of Israel's Prime Minister. She later visited Jewish and Arab doctors and patients at a Jerusalem hospital, followed by visits to Ramallah to see a physical rehabilitation center, and a Palestinian refugee camp. Fonda was criticized by right-wing Israelis, and was heckled by members of Women for Israel's Tomorrow as she arrived for a meeting with leading Israeli feminists.

In September 2009, Fonda was one of over fifty signatories to a letter protesting the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival's presentation of ten films about the Israeli city Tel Aviv. The protest letter said that the spotlight on Tel Aviv was part of "the Israeli propaganda machine" because it was supported in part by funding from the Israeli government and had been described by the Israeli Consul General Amir Gissin as being part of a Brand Israel campaign intended to draw attention away from Israel's conflict with the Palestinians. Other signers included actor Danny Glover, musician David Byrne, journalist John Pilger, and authors Alice Walker, Naomi Klein, and Howard Zinn.

Rabbi Marvin Hier of the Simon Wiesenthal Center stated that "People who support letters like this are people who do not support a two-state solution. By calling into question the legitimacy of Tel Aviv, they are supporting a one-state solution, which means the destruction of the State of Israel." Hier continued, saying that "it is clear that the script [the protesters] are reading from might as well have been written by Hamas."

Fonda, in a posting on The Huffington Post, said that she regretted some of the language used in the original protest letter and how it "was perhaps too easily misunderstood. It certainly has been wildly distorted. Contrary to the lies that have been circulated, the protest letter was not demonizing Israeli films and filmmakers." She continued, writing "the greatest 're-branding' of Israel would be to celebrate that country's long standing, courageous and robust peace movement by helping to end the blockade of Gaza through negotiations with all parties to the conflict, and by stopping the expansion of West Bank settlements. That's the way to show Israel's commitment to peace, not a PR campaign. There will be no two-state solution unless this happens." Fonda emphasized that she, "in no way, support[s] the destruction of Israel. I am for the two-state solution. I have been to Israel many times and love the country and its people."

Opposition to the Iraq War

Fonda has argued that the military campaign in Iraq will turn people all over the world against America, and has asserted that a global hatred of America will result in more terrorist attacks in the aftermath of the war. In July 2005, Fonda said that some of the war veterans she had met while on her book tour had urged her to speak out against the Iraq War.

In September 2005, Fonda and George Galloway postponed their anti-war bus tour due to the relief operations in the Gulf Coast, which had been devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Fonda then planned to take a bus tour in March 2006 with her daughter and several families of military veterans but later scrapped her plans, mostly because she felt like she would distract attention from Cindy Sheehan's activism.

On January 27, 2007, Fonda participated in an anti-war rally held on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., declaring that "silence is no longer an option." Members of the conservative organization Free Republic staged a counter-protest.

Fonda and Kerry

In the 2004 presidential election, her name was used as a disparaging epithet against John Kerry, the former VVAW leader, who was then the Democratic Party presidential candidate. Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie called Kerry a "Jane Fonda Democrat". In addition, Kerry's opponents circulated a photograph showing Fonda and Kerry in the same large crowd at a 1970 anti-war rally, although they were sitting several rows apart. A faked composite photograph, which gave the false impression that the two had shared a speaker's platform, was also circulated.

Religion

In 2001, Fonda publicly announced that she had become a Christian. She stated that she strongly opposed bigotry, discrimination and dogma, which she believes are promoted by a small minority of Christians. Her announcement came shortly after her divorce from Ted Turner. Fonda stated publicly on Charlie Rose in April 2006 that her Christianity may have played a part in the divorce, as Turner was known to be critical of religion.

Fonda has in the past practiced Transcendental Meditation with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and more recently has engaged in meditation at the Upaya Institute and Zen Center.

Writing

On April 5, 2005, Random House released Fonda's autobiography My Life So Far. The book describes her life as a series of three acts, each thirty years long, and declares that her third "act" will be her most significant, due in part to her commitment to the Christian religion, and that it will determine the things for which she will be remembered.

Fonda's autobiography was well received by book critics, and was noted to be "as beguiling and as maddening as Jane Fonda herself" in its Washington Post review, pronouncing her a "a beautiful bundle of contradictions". The New York Times called the book "achingly poignant".

In January 2009, Fonda started chronicling her Broadway return in a blog, ranging with posts on her Pilates class, to her fears and excitement of her new play. She also uses Twitter and has a Facebook page.

Honors

In 1994, the United Nations Population Fund made Fonda a Goodwill Ambassador.

In 2004, Fonda was awarded the Women's eNews 21 Leaders for the 21st Century award as one of Seven Who Change Their Worlds

In 2007, Fonda was awarded an Honorary Palme d'Or by Cannes Film Festival President Gilles Jacob for career achievement. Only three others had received such an award - Jeanne Moreau, Alain Resnais, and Gerard Oury.

In December 2008, Fonda was inducted into the California Hall of Fame, located at The California Museum for History, Women and the Arts.

In December 2009, Fonda was given the New York Women's Agenda Lifetime Achievement Award.

at the 1992 Emmy Awards, photo by Alan Light]]

Personal life

Fonda married first husband Roger Vadim in 1965.

In 1973, shortly after her divorce from Vadim, Fonda married activist Tom Hayden. Their son, Troy O'Donovan Garity (born 1973) was given his paternal grandmother's surname, Garity, since the names "Fonda and Hayden carried too much baggage" who was the daughter of members of the Black Panthers. Fonda and Hayden divorced in 1989.

Fonda married third husband, cable-television tycoon and CNN founder Ted Turner, in 1991. The pair divorced in 2001.

Filmography

Exercise videos in chronological order:

1982: Jane Fonda's Workout (aka Workout Starring Jane Fonda)

1983: Jane Fonda's Pregnancy, Birth and Recovery Workout

1983: Jane Fonda's Workout Challenge

1984: Jane Fonda's Prime Time Workout (re-released as Jane Fonda's Easy Going Workout)

1985: Jane Fonda's New Workout

1986: Jane Fonda's Low Impact Aerobic Workout

1987: Jane Fonda's Start Up (aka Start Up with Jane Fonda)

1987: Jane Fonda's Sports Aid

1987: Jane Fonda's Workout with Weights (re-released as Jane Fonda's Toning and Shaping)

1988: Jane Fonda's Complete Workout

1989: Jane Fonda's Light Aerobics and Stress Reduction Program (re-released as Jane Fonda's Stress Reduction Program)

1990: Jane Fonda's Lean Routine Workout

1990: Jane Fonda's Workout Presents Fun House Fitness: The Swamp Stomp

1990: Jane Fonda's Workout Presents Fun House Fitness: The Fun House Funk

1991: Jane Fonda's Lower Body Solution

1992: Jane Fonda's Step Aerobic and Abdominal Workout

1993: Jane Fonda's Favorite Fat Burners

1993: Jane Fonda's Yoga Exercise Workout

1994: Jane Fonda's Step and Stretch Workout

1995: Jane Fonda's Personal Trainer Series: Low Impact Aerobics & Stretch

1995: Jane Fonda's Personal Trainer Series: Total Body Sculpting

1995: Jane Fonda's Personal Trainer Series: Abs, Buns & Thighs

2010: Jane Fonda's Prime Time: Fit and Strong

2010: Jane Fonda's Prime Time: Walkout

References

Bibliography

Andersen, Christopher. Citizen Jane. 1990: Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 0-8050-0959-0.

Davidson, Bill. Jane Fonda: An Intimate Biography. 1991: New American Library. ISBN 0-451-17028-8.

Fine, Carla and Jane Fonda. Strong, Smart, and Bold: Empowering Girls for Life. 2001: Collins. ISBN 0-06-019771-4.

Fonda, Jane. My Life So Far. 2005: Random House. ISBN 0-375-50710-8.

Fonda, Jane. Jane Fonda's Workout Book. 1986: Random House Value Publishing. ISBN 0-517-40908-9.

Fonda, Jane, with Mignon McCarthy. Women Coming of Age. 1987: Random House Value Publishing. ISBN 5-550-36643-6.

Fox, Mary Virginia and Mary Molina. Jane Fonda: Something to Fight for. 1980: Dillon Press. ISBN 0-87518-189-9.

Freedland, Michael. Jane Fonda: The Many Lives of One of Hollywood's Greatest Stars. 1989: HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN 0-00-637390-9.

French, Sean. Jane Fonda: A Biography. 1998: Trafalgar Square Publishing. ISBN 1-85793-658-2.

Gilmore, John. Laid Bare: A Memoir of Wrecked Lives and the Hollywood Death Trip. Amok Books, 1997. ISBN 1-878923-08-0.

Hershberger, Mary. Peace work, war myths: Jane Fonda and the antiwar movement. Peace & Change, Vol. 29, No. 3&4, July 2004.

Hershberger, Mary. Jane Fonda's War: A Political Biography of an Antiwar Icon. 2005: New Press. ISBN 1-56584-988-4.

Kiernan, Thomas. Jane: an intimate biography of Jane Fonda. 1973: Putnam. ISBN 0-399-11207-3.

External links

Official Web Site

Jane Fonda Profile at Turner Classic Movies

Spotlight on Jane Fonda

About.com article about Fonda's Vietnam era activities

Jane Fonda and Gloria Steinem discuss The Women’s Media Center, their non-profit media organization. (video)

Fonda Family Genealogy

Text of Jane Fonda Hanoi Radio Broadcast

Category:Actors from New York Category:Actors Studio alumni Category:American anti-Iraq War activists Category:American anti-Vietnam War activists Category:American Christians Category:American exercise instructors Category:American film actors Category:American female models Category:American people of Dutch descent Category:Art Students League of New York alumni Category:BAFTA winners (people) Category:Best Actress Academy Award winners Category:Best Drama Actress Golden Globe (film) winners Category:Converts to Christianity from atheism or agnosticism Category:California Democrats Category:Emma Willard School alumni Category:Emmy Award winners Category:Feminist artists Category:People from Atlanta, Georgia Category:Spouses of California politicians Category:Transcendental Meditation practitioners Category:Vassar College alumni Category:Women in war Category:1937 births Category:Living people Category:20th-century actors Category:21st-century actors

Haydn Gwynne (born 1960) is an English actress.

Biography

Personal life

Born in Hurstpierpoint, Sussex to father Guy Thomas Hayden-Gwynne, she played county level tennis before studying Modern Languages at the University of Nottingham, and is fluent in French and Italian. She then took a five year lectureship in Italy at the University of Rome La Sapienza, where she taught English.

Gwynne lives in London with her partner, Jungian psychotherapist Jason Phipps, and their two sons, Orlando (born 1997) and Harrison (born 2000). She also undertakes voluntary work for the charity Sightsavers International, a group committed to combating blindness in developing countries.

Career

Gwynne became an actress in her mid-twenties, with her past reflected in her first prominent television role as feminist lecturer Dr Robyn Penrose in the BBC dramatisation of David Lodge's Nice Work in 1989.

Her first high profile comedy role was in Drop the Dead Donkey in 1990. She later became a regular in Peak Practice, first appearing at the start of Series 7 (Episode 1) in 1999 as Dr Joanna Graham. The character of Dr Joanna Graham was written out of the show at the end of Series 9 (Episode 13) when she was fatally shot whilst intervening in a conflict between a man and his daughter. After Peak Practice Gwynne went on to star in Merseybeat in 2001.

In 2002 she starred in the TV Drama for the BBC The Secret playing the character of Emma Faraday.

Her theatre work has included a variety of regional and London based appearances, from Bolton Octagon in Hedda Gabler, to Richard Cheshire's Way of the World appearing in London's West End productions of Ziegfeld and Billy Elliot the Musical at the Victoria Palace Theatre, for which she was nominated for an Olivier Award. Haydn has been awarded the Outer Critics Circle Award, Theatre World Award, and Drama Desk Award for her performance in Billy Elliot. She was also nominated for a 2009 Tony Award. Gwynne has also performed in numerous productions for the Royal Shakespeare Company. Her television appearances are now more focused on shorter dramas, such as the role of Julius Caesar's wife, Calpurnia, in the TV series Rome. She also appeared in the first Christmas special episode of Midsomer Murders.

She has most recently starred in an episode of Lewis in the first of a new series (2008). She appeared in the first episode of Series 2, "And the Moonbeams Kiss the Sea", playing the character of Sandra Walters.

Gwynne is due to perform at the Almeida Theatre in Islington, London in a performance of Becky Shaw which runs from January 20 until March 5, 2011. She is also appearing in a second episode of the Midsomer Murders series 14 called "Dark Secrets" which is due to be aired in the UK in either January or February 2011.

In 2010 she was also filming a film called Hunky Dory which also stars Minnie Driver and was filmed around Swansea, Wales.

References

External links

Haydn Gwynne Fan Site

Peak Practice fan site

Category:1960 births Category:Living people Category:People from Hurstpierpoint Category:Alumni of the University of Nottingham Category:Drama Desk Award winners Category:English television actors Category:English film actors Category:English stage actors Category:English radio actors

Coordinates	33°55′31″N18°25′26″N
Caption	Rush at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival
Birth name	Geoffrey Roy Rush
Birth date	July 06, 1951
Birth place	Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1981–present
Spouse

Geoffrey Roy Rush (born 6 July 1951) is an Australian actor. As of November 2009, he is one of 21 people to have won the "Triple Crown of Acting": an Academy Award, a Tony Award and an Emmy Award. He has also won the Golden Globe, the BAFTA, the Screen Actors Guild and the Australian Film Institute awards.

Early life

Rush was born in Toowoomba, Queensland, the son of Merle (née Kiehne), a department store sales assistant, and Roy Baden Rush, an accountant for the Royal Australian Air Force. His parents divorced when he was five and his mother subsequently took him to live with her parents in suburban Brisbane. Before he began his acting career, Rush attended Everton Park State High School. He also has an arts degree from the University of Queensland. While at university he was talent-spotted by Queensland Theatre Company (QTC) in Brisbane. Rush began his career in with QTC in 1971, appearing in 17 productions.

In 1975, Rush went to Paris for a couple of years and studied mime and pantomime at the famous L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq School of Mime, before returning to Australia to resume his stage career with QTC.

Personal life

Since 1988, Rush has been married to actress Jane Menelaus, with whom he has a daughter, Angelica (born 1992), and a son, James (born 1995).

Filmography

{|class="wikitable" style="font-size: 90%;" border="2" cellpadding="4" background: #f9f9f9; |- align="center" ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Year ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Film ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Role ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Notes |- |rowspan=2|1981 |Hoodwink |Detective 1 | |- |Menotti | |TV Series |- |1982 |Starstruck |Floor Manager | |- |1987 |Twelfth Night |Sir Andrew Aguecheek | |- |rowspan=3|1996 |Shine |David Helfgott (adult) |Academy Award for Best ActorAustralian Film Institute Award for Best Actor in a Leading RoleBAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading RoleBoston Society of Film Critics Award for Best ActorBroadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best ActorFilm Critics Circle of Australia Awards for Best Actor - MaleFlorida Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActorGolden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture DramaLondon Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActorLos Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best ActorNew York Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActorSatellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture DramaScreen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading RoleSociety of Texas Film Critics Awards for Best ActorNominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture |- |Mercury |Bill Wyatt |TV series |- |Children of the Revolution |Zachary Welch | |- |rowspan=2|1997 |Frontier |Soldier Administrator David Collins |TV mini-series |- |Oscar and Lucinda |Narrator |(voice) |- |rowspan=4|1998 |A Little Bit of Soul |Godfrey Usher |Nominated — Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role |- |Elizabeth |Sir Francis Walsingham |BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting RoleNominated — Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actor also for Shakespeare in Love |- |Les Misérables |Inspector Javert | |- |Shakespeare in Love |Philip Henslowe |Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion PictureNominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting ActorNominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting RoleNominated — Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Supporting Actor - Comedy/RomanceNominated — Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actor also for ElizabethNominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion PictureNominated — Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion PictureNominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role |- |rowspan=2|1999 |Mystery Men |Casanova Frankenstein | |- |House on Haunted Hill |Stephen H. Price | |- |rowspan=2|2000 |Quills |Marquis de Sade |Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActorKansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActorLas Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best ActorPhoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best ActorSatellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture DramaNominated — Academy Award for Best ActorNominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading RoleNominated — Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best ActorNominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture DramaNominated — Online Film Critics Society Award for Best ActorNominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role |- |The Magic Pudding |Bunyip Bluegum |(voice) |- |rowspan=2|2001 |The Tailor of Panama |Harold 'Harry' Pendel | |- |Lantana |John Knox | |- |rowspan=2|2002 |Frida |Leon Trotsky | |- |The Banger Sisters |Harry Plummer | |- |rowspan=6|2003 |Swimming Upstream |Harold Fingleton |Nominated — Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actor in a Leading RoleNominated — Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards for Best Actor - MaleNominated — Inside Film Awards for Best Actor |- |Ned Kelly |Superintendent Francis Hare | |- |Finding Nemo |Nigel |(voice) |- | |Captain Hector Barbossa |Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best VillainNominated — Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion PictureNominated — Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor |- |Intolerable Cruelty |Donovan Donaly | |- |Harvie Krumpet |Narrator |(voice) |- |2004 |The Life and Death of Peter Sellers |Peter Sellers |Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a MovieGolden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television FilmScreen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television MovieNominated — British Independent Film Award for Best ActorNominated — London Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActorNominated — Satellite Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film |- |2005 |Munich |Mossad case officer Ephraim |Nominated — Washington DC Area Film Critics Association for Best Supporting Actor |- |rowspan=2|2006 | |Captain Hector Barbossa |Cameo |- |Candy |Casper |Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards for Best Actor in a Supporting RoleNominated — Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role |- |rowspan=2|2007 | |Captain Hector Barbossa | |- | |Sir Francis Walsingham | |- |2008 |$9.99 |Angel |(voice) |- |rowspan=1|2009 |Bran Nue Dae | Father Benedictus | |- |rowspan=5|2010 |The Eye of the Storm |Basil Hunter | |- | |Ezylryb (voice only) | (voice)Nominated - Annie Award for Best Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production |- |The King's Speech |Lionel Logue |British Independent Film Award for Best Supporting Actor Central Ohio Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting ActorNational Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting ActorSoutheastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting ActorNominated — Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting ActorNominated — Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting ActorNominated — Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting ActorNominated — Detroit Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting ActorNominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion PictureNominated — Houston Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting ActorNominated — Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting ActorNominated — Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting ActorNominated — San Diego Film Critics Society Awards for Best Supporting ActorNominated — Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion PictureNominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting RoleNominated — St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting ActorNominated — Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting ActorNominated — Utah Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting ActorNominated — Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting ActorNominated — Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor |- |Lowdown |Narrator | (voice) |- |The Warrior's Way |Ron | |- |rowspan=1|2011 | |Captain Hector Barbossa | |}

Other awards

Awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters by the University of Queensland, in Australia.

Awarded the Australian Centenary Medal in the 2001 Queen's New Year's Honours List for his services to the arts especially through a distinguished acting career.

2009 — Australian Film Institute Longford Life Achievement Award

2003 — Australian Film Institute Awards - Global Achievement Award

2004 — Brisbane International Film Festival - Chauvel Award

2003 — Hollywood Film Festival for Supporting Actor of the Year

1994 — Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards

References

External links

Geoffrey Rush — Australian Film Commission

Geoffrey Rush — Stage acting credits

The Cinematic Hats of Geoffrey Rush

Professional photographs of Geoffrey Rush — National Library of Australia

Category:1951 births Category:Living people Category:Actors from Melbourne Category:Australian film actors Category:Australian stage actors Category:Australian voice actors Category:BAFTA winners (people) Category:Best Actor Academy Award winners Category:Best Actor BAFTA Award winners Category:Best Drama Actor Golden Globe (film) winners Category:Best Miniseries or Television Movie Actor Golden Globe winners Category:Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Screen Actors Guild Award winners Category:Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie Screen Actors Guild Award winners Category:Emmy Award winners Category:Recipients of the Centenary Medal Category:People from Toowoomba Category:Shakespearean actors Category:Tony Award winners

Coordinates	33°55′31″N18°25′26″N
Name	Douglas Hodge
Birth date	1960
Birth place	Plymouth, Devon, England, UK
Yearsactive	1985–present
Domesticpartner	Tessa Peake-Jones
Website	http://www.doughodge.com

Douglas Hodge (born 1960) is a British actor, director, and musician who trained for the stage at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

Hodge is a council member of the National Youth Theatre for whom, in 1989, he co-wrote Pacha Mama's Blessing about the Amazon rain forests staged at the Almeida Theatre.

Personal background and family life

Douglas Hodge was born in 1960, in Plymouth, Devon, UK. and is a regular reader of BBC Radio 4's Book at Bedtime.

He has an older brother who "manages a construction firm."

As his directorial debut at the Oxford Playhouse in 2004 Hodge chose a double bill of The Dumb Waiter and Other Pieces (the 1957 one-act play plus six of Pinter's sketches).

;Other work For the National Theatre in May 1994 Hodge played the title role in Phyllida Lloyd's Olivier Theatre staging of Shakespeare's Pericles; and Al' in Stephen Poliakoff's Blinded by the Sun directed by Ron Daniels at the Cottesloe Theatre in May 1997.

He played Leontes in an RSC revival of The Winter's Tale at the Roundhouse in April 2002. Directed by Matthew Warchus, it was relocated in a world of 'film noir' and Country music, a version of the Shakespeare play originally planned for American production. "Shaven-headed Hodge, a tyrannical Leontes chopping up the verse into tiny spiteful pieces, is a dead-ringer for Orson Welles, bald and fuming, in the penultimate reel of Citizen Kane — even when he comes on in flat cap and plus-fours as a Chicago heavy, dressed for a round of golf."

In April 2003 he portrayed Andrei in Michael Blakemore's revival of Chekhov's Three Sisters at the Playhouse Theatre. The following year he made his Royal Court debut as Barry in Joe Penhall's study of entrapment journalism Dumb Show, directed by Terry Johnson, which opened in September 2004 to positive reviews, particularly for Hodge's performance as a television comedian whose career is on the skids.

Hodge appeared in the 2005 revival of Guys and Dolls at the Piccadilly Theatre playing Nathan Detroit opposite Ewan McGregor's Sky Masterson.

During the summer of 2006, he took the title role in a bloodstained revival of Titus Andronicus, at Shakespeare's Globe. Simultaneously he was also making his West End directorial debut with See How They Run, a 1940's wartime farce by Philip King, preceded by a successful UK tour. When his production opened In the West End Nancy Carroll took over from Hattie Morahan in the role of the vicar’s young wife.

In May 2007 he revealed a fine lyric tenor voice as Frank, the neurosurgeon in A Matter of Life and Death with the Kneehigh Theatre company at the National Theatre, a spectacular production with music, based on events in the movie of the same name. Also in 2007 he guest starred in the Doctor Who audio dramas Urban Myths and Son of the Dragon.

In 2008, Hodge starred as Albin in the hugely acclaimed London revival of La Cage aux Folles which played originally at the Menier Chocolate Factory. He later reprised this role at the Playhouse Theatre in the West End to great critical acclaim and won the 2009 Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical.

As Maddy Costa noted in her Guardian profile of Hodge:

The London production transferred to Broadway, opening on April 18, 2010 at the Longacre Theatre, with Hodge and Kelsey Grammer as Albin and Georges, respectively. Hodge won the 2010 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical for his performance.

;Original musical Hodge revealed on his website that he finished writing a musical with Aschlin Ditta, temporarily called Meantime. Josefina Gabrielle, Denis Lawson and several others participated in a cast recording, and actors including Rory Kinnear, Indira Varma and Cillian Murphy participated in a reading of the book.

Television

With Peter Searles he co-wrote Pacha Mama's Blessing and Forest People, about the Amazon Rainforest, performed by the National Youth Theatre on BBC Television in 1989.

Hodge received critical and popular acclaim in 1994 as Dr. Tertius Lydgate in the BBC's award-winning production Middlemarch, adapted by Andrew Davies from the novel by George Eliot and directed by Anthony Page. In the US it aired on Masterpiece Theatre in 1994.

His other TV appearances include leading roles in Behaving Badly (1989); Capital City (1989–1990); Bliss (1995); The Uninvited (1997); The Scold's Bridle (1998); Shockers: Dance (1999); The Law (2000); the BBC serial adaptation of Trollope's The Way We Live Now (2001), as Roger Carbury; The Russian Bride (2001); Red Cap (2003–2004); Spooks (2005); ITV's 2007 adaptation of Mansfield Park, as Sir Thomas Bertram; and the made-for-TV film Lift, directed by James Hawes, a 2007 Hartswood Films production for BBC Four, as Paul Sykes, "a constantly exasperated, highly-strung middle-aged businessman with commitments.". In 2010, he appeared in the fifth episode of the third series of the BBC sitcom Outnumbered.

Selected filmography

Feature films in which he has acted include:

1987 – Ken Russell's Salome's Last Dance, in which he plays Lord Alfred Douglas;

1989 – Dealers;

1989 – Diamond Skulls;

1990 – Buddy's Song;

1993 – The Trial, directed by David Jones

1995 – Saigon Baby;

1996 – Hollow Reed;

2005 – Vanity Fair;

2006 – Scenes of a Sexual Nature.

2010 - Robin Hood - Sir Robert Loxley

He made his cinematic directorial debut with a short film of Harold Pinter's dramatic sketch Victoria Station.

Music

As Doug Hodge, he recorded a debut music album Cowley Road Songs in 2006.

"I've been writing songs all my life but — apart from the occasional girlfriend late at night — I'd never sung them to anyone. Then last year 2006 I finally started playing at various venues in and around Oxford. Each time I wrote a new song I'd go down the Ex [on Cowley Road] and sing it… Then rightback records asked me to record them. We went into the Blue Moon Studios in Banbury for just four days. This [Cowley Road Songs] is what we came out with…" — Douglas Hodge

References

External links

Douglas Hodge – Work Résumé at United Agents: The Literary & Talent Agency at unitedagents.co.uk.

Category:1960 births Category:Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art Category:Drama Desk Award winners Category:English dramatists and playwrights Category:English film actors Category:English film directors Category:English musical theatre actors Category:English singer-songwriters Category:English stage actors Category:English television actors Category:English theatre directors Category:Living people Category:Olivier Award winners Category:People from Plymouth Category:Royal National Theatre Company members Category:Royal Shakespeare Company members Category:Shakespearean actors Category:Tony Award winners

Sir Douglas Julian Carter (1908–1988) was a New Zealand politician of the National Party.

He represented the Raglan electorate from 1957 to 1975, when he retired. He was a cabinet minister.

From 1976 to 1979 he was the High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.

References

New Zealand Parliamentary Record 1840-1984 by J. O. Wilson (1985, Government Printer, Wellington)

The First 50 Years: A History of the New Zealand National Party by Barry Gustafson (1986, Reed Methuen, Auckland; has biographical appendix of National MPs) ISBN 0474001776

Hon. Sir Douglas Julian Carter - archway.archives.govt.nz

Category:1908 births Category:1988 deaths Category:New Zealand National Party MPs Category:Members of the Cabinet of New Zealand Category:New Zealand diplomats

Coordinates	33°55′31″N18°25′26″N
Name	Dolly Rebecca Parton
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Dolly Rebecca Parton
Born	January 19, 1946
Birth place	Sevierville, Tennessee
Genre	Country, country pop, bluegrass
Voice type	Soprano) is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best-known for her work in country music.
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Further reading

. . .

External links

dollypartonmusic.net, (official music website)

dollyparton.com, (official website - not fully launched as of December 23, 2009 and requires Adobe Flash)

(UK Website run by Uberfan Joe Skelly)

"Dolly Parton", inductee page at countrymusichalloffame.com Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum's official website

"Dolly Parton" biography at legacyrecordings.com, Legacy Recordings's official website

"Dolly Parton – Interview", posted November 18, 2008, at countrymusicpride.com

"A Conversation with Singer and Actress Dolly Parton", a June 5, 2009, video interview (requires Adobe Flash) from the Charlie Rose (talk show), a PBS television program, at charlierose.com, Rose's official website

Dolly Parton video interview from the talk show 'Parkinson' at BBC

Category:American buskers Category:American entertainment industry businesspeople Category:American country singers Category:American country singer-songwriters Category:American female singers Category:American female guitarists Category:American film actors Category:American television actors Category:American memoirists Category:Appalachian culture Category:American Pentecostals Category:American philanthropists Category:Country Music Hall of Fame inductees Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Grand Ole Opry members Category:Kennedy Center honorees Category:Musicians from Tennessee Category:People from Sevier County, Tennessee Category:American people of Scotch-Irish descent Category:Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees Category:United States National Medal of Arts recipients Category:1946 births Category:American television personalities Category:American sopranos Category:Living people Category:American musical theatre composers Category:American musical theatre lyricists