Company name	Sears, Roebuck and Co.
Company logo
Company type	Subsidiary
Parent	Sears Holdings Corporation
Foundation	Chicago, U.S. (1886)
Location	Hoffman Estates, Illinois, U.S.
Slogan	Life. Well Spent.
Revenue	$43.6 Billion|industry=Retail
Products	Clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, appliances, housewares, tools, and electronics.
Homepage	sears.com}}

certificate of Sears, Roebuck and Co. from 1976]]

Sears, officially named Sears, Roebuck and Co., is an American chain of Department stores which was founded by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck in the late 19th century. Formerly a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Sears merged with Kmart in early 2005, creating the Sears Holdings Corporation.

From its mail order beginnings, the company grew to become the largest retailer in the United States by the mid-20th century, and its catalogs became famous. Competition and changes in the demographics of its customer base challenged the company after World War II as its rural and inner city strongholds shrank and the suburban markets grew. Eventually its catalog program was largely discontinued.

History

Richard Warren Sears was a railroad station agent in North Redwood, Minnesota when he received an impressive shipment of watches from a Chicago jeweler which were unwanted by a local jeweler. Sears purchased them himself, sold the watches for a tidy profit to other station agents up and down the line, and then ordered more for resale. Soon he started a business selling watches through mail order catalogs. The next year, he moved to Chicago, Illinois where he met Alvah C. Roebuck, who joined him in the business. In 1893, the corporate business name became Sears, Roebuck and Co.

Mail order catalog

Richard Sears knew that farmers often brought their crops to town, where they could be sold and shipped. Before the Sears catalog, farmers typically bought supplies (often at very high prices) from local general stores. Sears took advantage of this by publishing his catalog with clearly stated prices, so that consumers could know what he was selling and at what price, and order and obtain them conveniently. The catalog business grew quickly.

The first Sears catalog was published in 1888. By 1894, the Sears catalog had grown to 322 pages, featuring sewing machines, bicycles, sporting goods, automobiles (produced from 1905–1915 by Lincoln Motor Car Works of Chicago, not related to the current Ford Motor Company brand of the same name) and a host of other new items.

Organizing the company so it could handle orders on an economical and efficient basis, Chicago clothing manufacturer Julius Rosenwald became a part-owner in 1895. Alvah Roebuck had to resign soon after due to ill health, but the company still retained his name. By the following year, dolls, refrigerators, stoves and groceries had been added to the catalog.

Sears, Roebuck and Co. soon developed a reputation for both quality products and customer satisfaction. By 1895, the company was producing a 532-page catalog with the largest variety of items that anybody back then could have thought of. “In 1893, the sales topped 400,000 dollars. Two years later they exceeded 750,000 dollars.�

In 1906 Sears opened its catalog plant and the Sears Merchandise Building Tower. And by that time, the Sears catalog had become known in the industry as "the Consumers' Bible". In 1933, Sears, Roebuck and Co. produced the first of its famous Christmas catalogs known as the "Sears Wishbook", a catalog featuring toys and gifts and separate from the annual Christmas Catalog. The catalog also entered the language, particularly of rural dwellers, as a euphemism for toilet paper. In the days of outhouses and no readily available toilet paper, the pages of the mass-mailed catalog were used as toilet paper.

Alvah Roebuck returned to the organization during the Great Depression, and worked as a spokesperson until his death in 1948. Part of the reason Roebuck left Sears in 1895 was due to the stress the business placed upon him, and he later took some delight in pointing out his longevity versus the much shorter life of Richard Sears. In the 1970s, the name "Roebuck" was dropped from the trade name of the stores, though not from the official corporate name.

Retail stores

The first Sears retail store opened in Chicago on February 2, 1925 in the Merchandise building (in a portion of the company's headquarters at Homan Avenue and Arthington Street). This store included an optical shop and a soda fountain. The first freestanding retail store opened October 5, 1925 in Evansville, Indiana. During the summer of 1928 three more Chicago department stores opened, one on the north side at Lawrence and Winchester, a second on the south side at 79th and Kenwood, and the third at 62nd and Western. In 1929 Sears took over the department store business of Becker-Ryan Company. In 1933 Sears tore down the old Becker-Ryan Company store in Englewood, and built the first windowless department store, inspired by the 1932 Chicago World's Fair.

From the 1920s-1950s, Sears built many urban department stores. Starting in the 1950s, the company expanded into suburban markets, and malls in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1959, it had formed the Homart Development Company for developing malls. Many of the company's stores have undergone major renovations or replacement since the 1980s. The company was the largest retailer in the United States until the early 1980s but had dropped significantly in rankings by the time it merged with Kmart.

Shop Your Way Rewards

Shop Your Way Rewards is the rewards program of all the Sears Holding Brands. It was started by Kmart as Kmart Smart Rewards as a pilot program. One year after the Smart Rewards Program was started the name and program was changed to Shop Your Way Rewards. During the test part of the program it was limited to certain Sears and Kmart stores. After the test of the program was considered a success by Sears marketing team, it was introduced to all Sears Holding Brands including Sears, The Great Indoors, Sears Grand, Kmart, Lands End, and My Gofer. The program has four tiers. The tiers are Member, VIP Silver, VIP Gold, VIP Platinum, and VIP Executive. To reach the VIP levels of the program customers must meet a certain spending qualification criteria. Potential members may enroll in the rewards program at any Sears Holdings run outlet or online. Shopyourway Rewards has since replaced the former Craftsman Club Rewards program.

Diversification

Sears began to diversify in the 1930s, adding Allstate Insurance Company in 1931 and placing Allstate representatives in its stores in 1934. Over the decades it established major national brands, such as Kenmore, Craftsman, DieHard, Silvertone, and Toughskins. The company became a conglomerate during the mid-20th century, adding Dean Witter and Coldwell Banker real estate in 1981, starting Prodigy as a joint venture with IBM in 1984, and introducing the Discover credit card in 1985. In March 2009, Sears purchased the social search engine Delver.

Divestiture and Sears Grand

.]]

In the 1990s the company began divesting itself of many non-retail entities, which were creating a burden on the company's bottom line. Sears spun off its financial services arm which included brokerage business Dean Witter Reynolds and Discover Card. It sold its mall building subsidiary Homart to General Growth Properties in 1995. Sears later acquired hardware chain Orchard Supply Hardware in 1996 and started home improvement store The Great Indoors in 1997.

In 1993, Sears stopped production of its general merchandise catalog because of sinking sales and profits. However, Sears Holdings does continue to produce specialty catalogs and reintroduced a smaller version of the Holiday Wish Book in 2007.

In 2003, Sears sold its retail credit card operation to Citibank. The remaining card operations were sold to JPMorgan Chase in August 2005.

In 2003, Sears opened a new concept store branded Sears Grand. Sears Grand stores carry everything that a regular Sears carries, plus health and beauty, toys, baby care, cleaning supplies, home decor, pet food, cards and party supplies, books, magazines, electronics, music, movies, and an edited assortment of groceries. Sears Grand stores are about 175,000 to 225,000 square feet (16,300 to 19,500 m²). The first Sears Grand store (and still the largest at 225,000 sq ft) opened at Jordan Landing in West Jordan, Utah in 2003.

Merger with Kmart

, Florida]]

On November 17, 2004, Kmart announced its intentions to purchase Sears. As a part of the merger, the Kmart Holdings Corporation would change its name to Sears Holdings Corporation. The new corporation announced that it would continue to operate stores under both the Sears and Kmart brands.

In 2005, the company began renovating some Kmart stores and converting them to the Sears Essentials format, only to change them later to Sears Grands.

Sears as a hedge fund

It has been speculated that Sears management is interested in more purchases beyond the Kmart takeover of Sears and that investor Edward Lampert is interested in the company becoming an investment company more than a retailer. Some of many possible targets are other companies that the management believes have low stock prices relative to company value. Some mentioned are Safeway, The Home Depot, and Anheuser–Busch. The Washington Post, in an article dated March 11, 2007, described the current Sears as a hedge fund with money being diverted from the maintenance and improvement of stores to non-retail financial investments. A former executive is quoted as saying the company faces an "uncertain future". A third of pre-tax income in the third quarter of 2006 was generated by financial trades, followed by a poor fourth quarter in same.

Subsidiaries (before merger with Kmart)

Current

Sears Department Store is a chain of department stores that are located in shopping malls; they carry clothing, jewelry, home appliances, hardware, lawn and garden supplies, lawn mowers, paint, sporting goods, automobile repair, office supplies, electronics and school supplies. Sears stores are usually multi-level. There are 926 full-size Sears stores in the United States. There are also 301 Sears locations in Canada and 66 in Mexico. The largest Sears Department Store is located at the Toronto Eaton Centre in Canada.

Sears Hardware Stores are chains of small hardware stores usually located in small towns that are far away from a larger Sears department store. They carry Sears' complete line of Craftsman tools. Sears Hardware Stores also carry other items one would find in hardware stores (such as paint, electrical wiring, water heaters, and tractor-mowers), but under Sears branding. Many of these "Hardware" stores have been changed over to Sears Appliance & Hardware Stores, but there are still many of the original ones left, usually in smaller markets.

Sears Grand is a chain of hypermarket department stores typically located away from shopping malls (with the exception of Gurnee Mills, Gurnee, Illinois). Many Sears Grand locations are retrofit remodels of existing Kmart supercenter stores. They carry everything a Sears Full-Line store carries, plus health and beauty products, a pharmacy, toys, baby care, cleaning supplies, home décor, pet food, cards and party supplies, books, magazines, music, Little Caesars Pizza Station, movies, and a selection of groceries which is limited mostly to dry goods. Sears Grand stores range from 165,000 to 210,000 square feet (15,300 to 19,500 m²). The first Sears Grand opened at Jordan Landing in West Jordan, Utah in 2003. At , the Jordan Landing store is currently the largest in the chain.

Sears Essentials is a chain of department stores that are common retrofit remodels of existing Kmart stores. Their product lines are similar to that of Sears Grand stores. Current locations include: Elmhurst, IL, East Ridge, TN (now closed from a recent flood), Bethlehem, PA, Lakeland, FL, West Palm Beach, FL and San Clemente, CA.

Sears Appliance & Hardware, formerly Sears Hardware, is a chain of hardware stores that carry the whole line of Sears hardware and are usually free-standing. More than 110 Sears Appliance & Hardware stores averaging serve customers nationwide. Stores were expanded to include Sears' full line of appliances in 2005.

Sears Optical is a chain of off-mall optical shops which carries all the same products and services as the optical department at regular Sears stores.

Sears Hometown Stores, LLC, (formerly known as Sears Authorized Dealer Stores) is part of the retail operation of Sears Holdings Corporation and is a small store version of Sears full-line department stores. Sears Hometown Stores provides a bricks-and-mortar, standalone store front through two owner operated formats. Sears Traditional Hometown Store established in 1993 is the locally owned and operated store and Sears Home Appliance Showroom established in 2007 is the leader in home appliance shopping. The stores are located away from shopping malls and meet customers’ needs in local communities across the United States and Puerto Rico. Both formats carry the national power of Sears’ brands, products, and services combined with an entrepreneurial spirit to serve customers in predominantly rural and some metro communities and the new name was adopted in 2009.

Sears Outlet is an outlet version of Sears department stores located in various retail locations across the United States. The stores carry new, one-of-a-kind, out of carton, discontinued, used, scratched and dented merchandise at 20–60% off regular retail price. While a wide variety of products are available, appliances make up a large majority of available merchandise. Sears Outlet stores were once known as Sears Surplus.

Sears Parts & Repair Center, also known as Sears Service Center and Sears Home Central, is a chain of service centers that typically sell parts for lawn & garden equipment and appliances and also feature a carry-in point for customers to bring-in merchandise which needs to be repaired, either in or out of warranty. Sears has started closing many of these as more of its service and repair business is home-based.

The Great Indoors is a chain of free-standing home decor stores that carry high end home appliances, bedding, and kitchen and bath fixtures. The Great Indoors also offers custom kitchen and bathroom design services. The Great Indoors stores are 130,000 square feet (12,000 m²) on average.

Lands' End, aside from supplying its clothing line to Sears stores, also has 16 stores operated by Sears Holdings that carry only Lands' End clothing. These stores are located in outlet malls and regular malls.

Orchard Supply Hardware is a chain of free-standing hardware stores that carry home repair, hardware products and lawn and garden supplies. Orchard Supply Hardware stores are 40,000 square feet (4,000 m²). There are currently 88 stores, all of them in California. Sears now owns 80.1% of the chain, and revealed intentions in May 2005 to spin it off. Richard Karn of Home Improvement fame was a spokesman for the chain.

A&E; Factory Service is the newest name for Sears' longstanding on-site repair service, servicing larger items such as home appliances, electronics, and garden equipment. The A&E; brand name was purchased from Montgomery Ward, which used it for their home service unit, and is a joint venture held by Whirlpool and Sears Holdings. A&E; Factory Service is a network of mobile service vans with a long history of performing appliance repairs.

Former

National Tire and Battery & National Tire Warehouse' (NTW) (NTB) is an American brand of auto service centers. It was formerly owned by Sears until it was spun off in 2003. Sears created the brand in 1997 by consolidating the Tire America (TA) and National Tire Warehouse (NTW) brands, adding the "B" to include its DieHard brand of batteries. Sears sold the brand, which consisted mostly of stores set apart from its name brand stores, in 2003 to TBC Corporation. A Sears spokesman said "Because of the separate branding and the lack of proximity to our retail operations, we weren't able to drive growth like a TBC could". The chain of 226 stores was reported to have brought in $425 million in revenue and $60 million in profit in 2002. Sears sold the stores to Citicorp Venture in 1999, who changed the chain's name to just "HomeLife". They opened many locations inside large Sears stores or near the store depending on space available. HomeLife closed its last stores in 2001. In Puerto Rico, a few HomeLife locations are still present. Sears Neighborhood was a chain similar to Sears Hometown stores, except that Neighborhood stores were located in urban markets. These stores were also independently owned and operated. The concept was introduced in Atlanta in 1998, and another similar store was located in Cincinnati. The Neighborhood stores closed in the early 2000s.

Past and present store brands

.]]

Allstate – Automobile parts and insurance

Celestial Star – Diamond Jewelry

Cheryl Tiegs – Clothing Coldspot – Appliances, refrigerators

Companion – Tools

Conqueror Records

'''Covington - Clothing

Craftsman – Tools

Craftsman Professional – Top of the line Sears tools

Dashmate Automobile Radios & Tape players

David Bradley – Farm Machinery

Dean Witter Reynolds - financial service, brokerage

Diehard – Batteries

Discover – Credit card

Dunlap – Economy line of tools

Easy Living – Interior paint, primers, and painting accessories.

Economy – iceboxes, fountain pens, sewing machine cabinets, gasoline engines, portable saw rigs, variety of farm equipment, cream separator Evolv – A do it yourself line of tools marketed with eco friendly green packaging

Gold Bond – Mens & Boys footwear

Goolagong - clothing

Harmony House – Interior Decorating Products

Hearthside – Rug looms & quilting frames

Hercules – work clothing, appliances, insurance (Hercules Life Insurance Company, owned by Sears), sewage systems, letterman's jackets, fire extinguishers, heavy-duty coveralls, and home heating systems.

Homart – Heating and Cooling systems, plumbing supplies, electrical supplies, kitchen cabinets, building supplies

J. C. Higgins – Sporting Goods, camping Kenmore – Appliances

Kromedge – Sawblades, Dadoes, Moldering Heads, Router Bits

Penske – Automotive testing tools

Permanex – Blow-molded Polyethylene Tool Storage Cases, gas cans

Pilgrim – Clothing Roebucks – Clothing

Sears Brand – Various items from all departments

Sears Video Arcade - Sears's own version of Atari in the early 1980's; discontinued in favor of the actual Atari systems

Silvertone – Stereos, Televisions, Musical Instruments

Silvertone Records

Supertone Records

Ted Williams Brand – Sporting Goods

Toughskins – Clothing

Tower – Cameras, photo supplies, office equipment

Weatherbeater – Exterior paint, primers, and accessories.

Employee relations

.]] Sears has struggled with employee relations. One notable example being the shift in 1992 from an hourly wage based on longevity, to a base wage (usually anywhere from $3.50 to $6 per hour) and commissions ranging from 1% to 11%. This new base wage, often constituting a substantial (up to 40%) cut in pay, was done "to be successful in this highly competitive environment."

In early October 2007 Sears cut commission rates for employees in select departments to anywhere from 1% to 4% but equalized the base wage across all Home Improvement and Electronics departments. This cut was furthered in late 2009 to a 1% commission rate on selected "base items" in the electronics departments of Stores. Appliances, vacuums, and mattresses are the only departments left where wages are based solely on commission sales. The jewelry department associates receive a low base salary with 1% commission on their sales. This model does not apply to all stores. Many stores now simply pay an hourly wage in the fine jewelry department, with no sales-based commission. In early 2008 Sears also converted Lands' End from commission to a straight hourly wage. Stores that feature a 'Lands' End Shop' are based on an hourly wage and a 3% commission on all catalog/internet sales placed from within their store. Associates receive an associate discount. 20% off on clothing, shoes, and jewelry. They also receive 10% off on everything else in the store, including Great Price items. Any associate orders done through the Lands' End Internal site receive 30% off with the associates paying a $6 fee for shipping and handling of any size order. The domain sears.com attracted at least 115 million visitors annually by 2008 according to a Compete.com survey.

Properties

Sears Tower

Sears made history in 1974 when it completed the 110-story Sears Tower in Chicago. The tower became the world's tallest building upon its completion, a title it held until the completion of the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur in 1996. It remains the tallest building in the United States.

Seeking to spread its operations out in a business park, Sears left in 1993 and subsequently sold the tower, moving to Hoffman Estates, Illinois. Even though its naming rights to the building expired in 2003 it remained the Sears Tower through early 2009. In March 2009 London-based insurer Willis Group Holdings, Ltd., purchased the building's naming rights and announced plans to make a switch later that year. The official name change took place on Thursday, July 16, 2009, during a public renaming ceremony hosted by Willis Group Holdings.

New headquarters

Sears saw a modern suburban office campus as a more efficient location than the Sears Tower in downtown Chicago, so they began the move to the new Prairie Stone Business Park in Hoffman Estates, Illinois between 1993 and 1995. The office park has a focus on technology and sustainability, featuring an extensive landscaping plan that uses native prairie plants wherever possible, and a system of several express bus routes coordinated with Pace to encourage public transportation use with a future stop on the Metra STAR Line.

Sears Centre Arena

Recently opened is the 25% Sears owned Sears Centre Arena. Ryan Companies owns the remaining 75%, and other offices and hotels are being developed on the Prairie Stone campus.

See also

Sears Canada

Sears Mexico

Sears plc, former U.K. company

References

External links

Avenue Queue: One long wait inspired career shift MIT News February 6, 2008

Information about Sears, Roebuck and Co.

Official website of the Original Sears Tower

Sears, Roebuck and Co. Official Website

Sears2go - official mobile site

The Official History of Sears, Roebuck and Co.

Category:Companies based in Cook County, Illinois Category:Hoffman Estates, Illinois Category:Companies established in 1886 Category:Department stores of the United States Category:Mail-order retailers Category:Sears Holdings Corporation Category:Former components of the DJIA

Name	Vanessa Hudgens
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Vanessa Anne Hudgens
Alias
Born	December 14, 1988Salinas, California, United States
Genre	Pop, dance
Occupation	Actress, singer, dancer
Years active	2002–present
Label	Hollywood (2006-2009)
Associated acts	Corbin Bleu, Drew Seeley, Lil Mama, Rock Mafia, Windy Wagner
Url	www.vanessahudgens.com

Vanessa Anne Hudgens (born December 14, 1988) is an American actress and singer, who is best known for her portrayal of the character Gabriella Montez in the High School Musical series. She also earned critical acclaim for her role in the 2009 film Bandslam.

As an actress, Hudgens has appeared in several television programs including Quintuplets, Still Standing, The Brothers García, Drake & Josh, and The Suite Life of Zack & Cody. She made her screen debut in the 2003 drama film Thirteen as Noel. She got her first starring role in the 2004 science-fiction-adventure film Thunderbirds as Tintin.

Hudgens' debut album V was released on September 26, 2006. The album entered the Billboard 200 at number twenty four, and was later certified Gold. Hudgens released her second album, Identified, on July 1, 2008 in the U.S.

Hudgens' fame has also been marked by scandal caused by the release of private, self-taken nude photographs of herself on the Internet without her permission, first in 2007, and then in again in 2009.

Early life

Hudgens was born in Salinas, California, and lived all over the West Coast – from Oregon to Southern California – with her parents, Gina (née Guangco), who held a succession of office jobs, and Gregory Hudgens, a firefighter. and has a younger sister, Stella Hudgens, who is also an actress. Hudgens is of mixed cultural background, as her father is of Irish and Native American descent, and her mother, a native of Manila, is of Chinese-Filipino descent. Hudgens is also of distant Spanish descent and all of her grandparents were musicians. Two years after her career in stage plays and musicals, she started auditioning for commercials and television shows, and her family moved to Los Angeles after she won a role in a television commercial. Her acting career started at the age of 15, and she briefly attended Orange County High School of the Arts, followed by homeschooling with tutors.

Acting career

at the tour.]] In 2003, Hudgens played a minor role in the independent drama film Thirteen, where she plays Noel, a friend of a lead character (Tracy, played by Evan Rachel Wood). The film was critically successful, receiving generally favorable reviews, and its receipts surpassed its $4 million budget. Hudgens subsequently landed a role in the 2004 science fiction-adventure film Thunderbirds as Tintin. Unfortunately, the film was commercially and critically unsuccessful, and received heavy criticism through the Internet prior to its release.

In late 2005 Hudgens appeared in television shows such as Quintuplets, Still Standing, The Brothers García, Drake & Josh, and The Suite Life of Zack & Cody.

, which was both critically and commercially successful]] In late 2005 she landed her breakout role of shy and meek Gabriella Montez in High School Musical, opposite to Zac Efron. Her performance received numerous nominations and awards.

In 2007, Hudgens reprised her role as Gabriella Montez in the sequel of High School Musical, High School Musical 2. Virginia Heffernan of TV Review described Hudgens in her performance in the movie as "matte" as she "glows like a proper ingénue".

Hudgens reprised her role as Gabriella Montez in . Her performance in the film made her win favorite movie actress in the 2009 Kids Choice Awards.

. Her portrayal of Sa5m garnered her critical acclaim.]] Post-High School Musical, Hudgens remarked that she will focus in her acting and films, while "taking a break" from her music career as a solo artist. She played a supporting role in a musical comedy Bandslam, which was released theatrically on August 14, 2009. Hudgens plays "Sa5m", a 15-year-old awkward freshman with untapped talents. Although Bandslam was commercially unsuccessful, Hudgens's performance received praise from critics. David Waddington of the North Wales Pioneer noted that Hudgens "outshines the rest of the cast, failing to fit in with the outcast narrative and making the inevitable climactic ending all the more expected," and Philip French of The Guardian compared her acting to Thandie Newton and Dorothy Parker.

Hudgens performed a musical number with other artists during the 81st Academy Awards. Hudgens later provided voice roles in an episode of Robot Chicken. Hudgens' involvement in Beastly, a film based on Alex Flinn's novel of the same name was announced in early 2009. She will be playing one of the main characters in the film as Linda Taylor, described by Hudgens as the "beauty" of the story but not the stereotypical beauty everyone thinks of. Along with Beastly co-star, Alex Pettyfer, Hudgens was recognized as ShoWest stars of Tomorrow. Hudgens was later cast in an action film directed by Zack Snyder, Sucker Punch, playing Blondie, an institutionalized girl in the asylum, which will release in March 2011.

After so many years, Hudgens returned to theater productions wherein she starred in the musical Rent as Mimi. The stage production ran from August 6–8, 2010 at the Hollywood Bowl. Her involvement in the production drew negative comments, but director Neil Patrick Harris defended his decision with casting Hudgens by saying, “Vanessa [Hudgens] is awesome. She’s a friend. I asked her to come in and sing to make sure she had the chops for it. And she was very committed and seemed great.�"

In October 2010, it was announced that Hudgens will be joining the to the 2008 film Journey to the Center of the Earth alongside Dwayne Johnson and Josh Hutcherson, playing Hutcherson's love interest. The film is set to release in 2011.

Music career

Hudgens received a recording contract with Hollywood Records. On September 2006 her debut album entitled V was released. It charted on the Billboard 200 at number twenty-four, Her first single, "Come Back to Me" became her highest-charting single. Her second single was "Say OK". Billboard readers chose "V" as the seventh best album of the year. Hudgens was named Female Breakout Singer of the year at the 2007 Teen Choice Awards.

Hudgens also participated in the nationwide tour in fall 2006, performing the songs from the soundtrack album as well as the three songs from her debut album. She sang the duet "Still There For Me" with Corbin Bleu for his debut album.

In December 2007, she sang to George Bush, who was then the president of the U.S., and his family, at The National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. with other singers at a Christmas event.

Her second album, Identified, which received generally favorable reviews, was released on July 1, 2008, debuting at #23 on the Billboard 200. The album's lead single was "Sneakernight", which was a moderate commercial success, peaking at #88 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #94 on the Australian Singles Chart. Hudgens's Identified Summer Tour began on August 1, 2008 and ended on September 9 of the same year.

Image and personal life

at the 81st Academy Awards]] Her height is . Us magazine said Hudgens and her High School Musical series co-star Zac Efron "met in 2005 while making the first High School Musical flick, and became a romantic item about two years later." The two were paired together during the audition process and got the part because of their chemistry. The two broke up in December 2010. Hudgens was included in Forbes richest list in early 2007, it was posted in Forbes website, that Hudgens was included in Young Hollywood's Top Earning-Stars. On December 12, 2008, Hudgens was ranked #20 in the list of Forbes "High Earners Under 30", having reported to have an estimated earnings of $3 million in 2008. She was number 62 at FHMs Sexiest Women in the World of 2008 and number 42 in the 2009 list. Hudgens is also featured in Maxims lists. She was included in People's annual "100 Most Beautiful People" 2008 and 2009 lists.

Hudgens is represented by William Morris Agency. Hudgens also promotes Neutrogena and was the 2008 featured celebrity for Sears' back-to school campaign. She was a spokesperson for Mark Ecko products. But in late 2009, she ended the 2-year contract with Ecko products. Hudgens regularly volunteers for charitable activities, including those for Best Buddies International, Lollipop Theater Network, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and the VH1 Save The Music Foundation. Hudgens is also featured in A Very Special Christmas Vol.7 disc which benefits the Special Olympics. Hudgens is also part of the "Stand Up to Cancer (SU2C): Change The Odds" along with other Hollywood stars including Zac Efron, Dakota Fanning, Kristen Bell, and others.

On September 6, 2007, photos of Hudgens appeared online, one showing her posing in lingerie and another showing her nude. A statement from her publicist claims that the photo was taken privately and it was unfortunate that they were released on the Internet. Hudgens later apologized, saying that she was "embarrassed over the situation" and regretted having "taken [those] photos." Hudgens subsequently released a statement indicating that she declined to comment further on the scandal. OK! magazine speculated that Hudgens would be dropped from High School Musical 3 when naked photos of Hudgens surfaced the Internet in late 2007. The Walt Disney Company denied the reports, saying, "Vanessa has apologized for what was obviously a lapse in judgment. We hope she's learned a valuable lesson."

In August 2009, a new set of pictures showing Hudgens topless emerged on the Internet. Hudgens's representatives did not comment, though her lawyers requested the removal of the pictures from the Internet. In late 2009, Hudgens sued "www.moejackson.com" for posting Hudgens's nude 'self-portrait photographs' taken on a mobile phone in a private home. Hudgens later commented on the photos' impact on her career in the October issue of Allure with, "Whenever anybody asks me, would I do nudity in a film, if I say that it's something I'm not comfortable with, they're like, 'Bullshit, you've already done it.' If anything, it makes it more embarrassing, because that was a private thing. It's screwed up that someone screwed me over like that. At least some people are learning from my mistake."

Brian Schall sued Hudgens last 2007 for an alleged "breach of contract"; according to the suit, Schall claims he advanced costs and expenses on Hudgens’s behalf for her songwriting and recording career. Schall claims Hudgens owes him $150,000 after helping her earn more than $5 million for her music career. Hudgens argues that she was underage to sign her contract on October 2005 as she was just 16 then. Hudgens subsequently disaffirmed it on October 9, 2008. Papers filed in court by her lawyer say California's Family Code "provides that the contract of a minor is voidable and may be disaffirmed before (age 18) or within a reasonable time afterward." In 2008, Hudgens was sued by Johnny Vieira, who claims he is owed a share of Hudgens' advances, royalties and merchandising revenue in exchange for his management services. Vieira accuses Hudgens of abandoning her talent team as soon as she became a commercial name in the High School Musical era. In early May 2009, the case was settled.

Filmography

, August 2009.]] {| class="wikitable sortable" |+ Theatrical films ! Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |- | 2003 | Thirteen | Noel | |- | 2004 | Thunderbirds | Tintin | Main character |- | 2008 | | Gabriella Montez | |- | 2009 | Bandslam | Sa5m | |- | 2011 | Beastly | Lindy Taylor | completed |- | 2011 | Sucker Punch | Blondie | post-production |- | 2012 | | Kailani | filming |} {| class="wikitable sortable" |+ Television films ! Year ! Title ! Role ! Channel |- | 2006 | High School Musical | Gabriella Montez | Disney Channel |- | 2007 | High School Musical 2 | Gabriella Montez | Disney Channel |} {| class="wikitable sortable" |+ Television ! Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |- | 2002 | Still Standing | Tiffany | "Still Rocking" (Season 1, Episode 4) |- | 2002 | Robbery Homicide Division | Nicole | "Had" (Season 1, Episode 10) |- | 2003 | The Brothers Garcia | Lindsay | "New Tunes" (Season 4, Episode 37) |- | 2005 | Quintuplets | Carmen | "The Coconut Kapow" (Season 1, Episode 22) |- | 2006 | Drake & Josh | Rebecca | "Little Sibling" (Season 3, Episode 13) |- | 2006 | The Suite Life of Zack and Cody | Corrie | Season 2, Recurring role |- | 2009 | Robot Chicken | Lara Lor-Van / Butterbear / Erin Esurance | "Especially the Animal Keith Crofford" (Season 4, Episode 19) |}

Discography

V (2006)

Identified (2008)

Theatre

Rent - Mimi Marquez (Hollywood Bowl, 2010)

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Vanessa Hudgens Official Website Category:1988 births Category:Actors from California Category:American actors of Asian descent Category:American child actors Category:American child singers Category:American dance musicians Category:American female singers Category:American film actors Category:American musicians of Asian descent Category:American musicians of Chinese descent Category:American musicians of Filipino descent Category:American musicians of Irish descent Category:American people of Chinese descent Category:American people of Filipino descent Category:American people of Irish descent Category:American people of Native American descent Category:American people of Spanish descent Category:American pop singers Category:American television actors Category:English-language singers Category:Hollywood Records artists Category:Musicians from California Category:Native American actors Category:Native American musicians Category:Native American singers Category:Living people Category:People from Salinas, California

Caption	Stan Lee in 2007
Birth name	Stanley Martin Lieber
Birth place	New York City, New York, U.S.
Nationality	American
Area	Writer, editor, publisher, producer, actor, reality show host
Write	y
Edit	y
Publish	y
Signature	Stan Lee sig.jpg|90px
Notable works	Spider-ManFantastic FourX-MenAvengersHulkIron ManThorDaredevilDoctor Strange
Awards	Jack Kirby Hall of Fame
Sortkey	Lee, Stan
Subcat	American
Yob	1922
Mob	12
Dob	28

Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber; December 28, 1922) is an American comic book writer, editor, actor, producer, publisher, television personality, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics.

In collaboration with several artists, most notably Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, he co-created Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, the Avengers, Iron Man, the Hulk, Thor, Daredevil, Doctor Strange, and many other fictional characters, introducing complex, naturalistic characters and a thoroughly shared universe into superhero comic books. In addition, he headed the first major successful challenge to the industry's censorship organization, the Comics Code Authority, and forced it to reform its policies. Lee subsequently led the expansion of Marvel Comics from a small division of a publishing house to a large multimedia corporation.

He was inducted into the comic book industry's Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1994 and the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1995.

Biography

Early life and career

Lee was born in New York City, New York, in the apartment of his Romanian-born Jewish immigrant parents, Celia (née Solomon) and Jack Lieber, at the corner of West 98th Street and West End Avenue in Manhattan. in Washington Heights, Manhattan. When Lee was nearly 9, his only sibling, brother Larry Lieber, was born. By the time Lee was in his teens, the family was living in a one-bedroom apartment at 1720 University Avenue in The Bronx. Lee described it as "a third-floor apartment facing out back", with him and his brother sharing a bedroom and his parents using a foldout couch.

Lee attended DeWitt Clinton High School in The Bronx, where his family had moved next. A voracious reader who enjoyed writing as a teen, he has said that as a youth he worked such part-time jobs as writing obituaries for a news service and press releases for the National Tuberculosis Center; delivering sandwiches for the Jack May pharmacy to offices in Rockefeller Center; working as an office boy for a trouser manufacturer; ushering at the Rivoli Theater on Broadway; and selling subscriptions to the New York Herald Tribune newspaper. He graduated high school early, at age 16½ in 1939, and joined the WPA Federal Theatre Project. .]] With the help of his uncle, Robbie Solomon, was Goodman's wife, was formally hired by Timely editor Joe Simon.

His duties were prosaic at first. "In those days [the artists] dipped the pen in ink, [so] I had to make sure the inkwells were filled", Lee recalled in 2009. "I went down and got them their lunch, I did proofreading, I erased the pencils from the finished pages for them". Marshaling his childhood ambition to be a writer, young Stanley Lieber made his comic-book debut with the text filler "Captain America Foils the Traitor's Revenge" in Captain America Comics #3 (May 1941), using the pseudonym "Stan Lee", which years later he would adopt as his legal name. Lee later explained in his autobiography and numerous other sources that he had intended to save his given name for more literary work. This initial story also introduced Captain America's trademark ricocheting shield-toss, which immediately became one of the character's signatures.

He graduated from writing filler to actual comics with a backup feature, "'Headline' Hunter, Foreign Correspondent", two issues later. Lee's first superhero co-creation was the Destroyer, in Mystic Comics #6 (August 1941). Other characters he created during this period fans and historians call the Golden Age of comics include Jack Frost, debuting in USA Comics #1 (August 1941), and Father Time, debuting in Captain America Comics #6 (August 1941).

When Simon and his creative partner Jack Kirby left late in 1941, following a dispute with Goodman, the 30-year-old publisher installed Lee, just under 19 years old, as interim editor. The youngster showed a knack for the business that led him to remain as the comic-book division's editor-in-chief, as well as art director for much of that time, until 1972, when he would succeed Goodman as publisher.

Lee entered the United States Army in early 1942 and served stateside in the Signal Corps, writing manuals, training films, and slogans, and occasionally cartooning. His military classification, he says, was "playwright"; he adds that only nine men in the U.S. Army were given that title. Vincent Fago, editor of Timely's "animation comics" section, which put out humor and funny animal comics, filled in until Lee returned from his World War II military service in 1945 and rented the top floor of a brownstone in the East 90s in Manhattan.

He married Joan Clayton Boocock on December 5, 1947, By this time, the couple had daughter Joan Celia "J.C." Lee, born in 1950; another child, Jan Lee, died three days after delivery in 1953. including the 1960s period when Lee and his artist collaborators would revolutionize comic books.

In the mid-1950s, by which time the company was now generally known as Atlas Comics, Lee wrote stories in a variety of genres including romance, Westerns, humor, science fiction, medieval adventure, horror and suspense. By the end of the decade, Lee had become dissatisfied with his career and considered quitting the field. #1 (November 1961). Cover art by Jack Kirby (penciller) and an unconfirmed inker.]]

Marvel revolution

In the late 1950s, DC Comics editor Julius Schwartz revived the superhero archetype and experienced a significant success with its updated version of the Flash, and later with super-team the Justice League of America. In response, publisher Martin Goodman assigned Lee to create a new superhero team. Lee's wife urged him to experiment with stories he preferred, since he was planning on changing careers and had nothing to lose.

The first superhero group Lee and artist Jack Kirby created was the Fantastic Four. The team's immediate popularity led Lee and Marvel's illustrators to produce a cavalcade of new titles. With Kirby primarily, Lee created the Hulk, Iron Man, Thor and the X-Men; with Bill Everett, Daredevil; and with Steve Ditko, Doctor Strange and Marvel's most successful character, Spider-Man.

Comics historian Peter Sanderson wrote that in the 1960s:

Stan Lee's Marvel revolution extended beyond the characters and storylines to the way in which comic books engaged the readership and built a sense of community between fans and creators. Lee introduced the practice of including a credit panel on the splash page of each story, naming not just the writer and penciller but also the inker and letterer. Regular news about Marvel staff members and upcoming storylines was presented on the Bullpen Bulletins page, which (like the letter columns that appeared in each title) was written in a friendly, chatty style. (inker).]] Throughout the 1960s, Lee scripted, art-directed, and edited most of Marvel's series, moderated the letters pages, wrote a monthly column called "Stan's Soapbox," and wrote endless promotional copy, often signing off with his trademark phrase "Excelsior!" (which is also the New York state motto). To maintain his taxing workload, yet still meet deadlines, he used a system that was used previously by various comic-book studios, but due to Lee's success with it, became known as the "Marvel Method" or "Marvel style" of comic-book creation. Typically, Lee would brainstorm a story with the artist and then prepare a brief synopsis rather than a full script. Based on the synopsis, the artist would fill the allotted number of pages by determining and drawing the panel-to-panel storytelling. After the artist turned in penciled pages, Lee would write the word balloons and captions, and then oversee the lettering and coloring. In effect, the artists were co-plotters, whose collaborative first drafts Lee built upon.

Because of this system, the exact division of creative credits on Lee's comics has been disputed, especially in cases of comics drawn by Kirby and Ditko. Similarly, Lee shares co-creator credit with Kirby on the two Fantastic Four films, while also sharing the same credit with Ditko with the Spider-Man feature film series.

In 1971, Lee indirectly reformed the Comics Code. The US Department of Health, Education and Welfare asked Lee to write a story about the dangers of drugs and Lee wrote a story in which Spider-Man's best friend becomes addicted to pills. The three-part story was slated to be published in Amazing Spider-Man #96-98, but the Comics Code Authority refused it because it depicted drug use; the story context was considered irrelevant. With his publisher's approval, Lee published the comics without the CCA seal. The comics sold well and Marvel won praise for its socially conscious efforts. The CCA subsequently loosened the Code to permit negative depictions of drugs, among other new freedoms.

Lee also supported using comic books to provide some measure of social commentary about the real world, often dealing with racism and bigotry. "Stan's Soapbox", besides promoting an upcoming comic book project, also addressed issues of discrimination, intolerance, or prejudice. In addition, Lee took to using sophisticated vocabulary for the stories' dialogue to encourage readers to learn new words. Lee has justified this by saying: "If a kid has to go to a dictionary, that's not the worst thing that could happen." and, from 1975 to 1980, a two-bedroom condominium on the 14th floor of 220 East 63rd Street in Manhattan. He moved to California in 1981 to develop Marvel's TV and movie properties. He has been an executive producer for, and has made cameo appearances in Marvel film adaptations and other movies. He and his wife bought a home in West Hollywood, California previously owned by comedian Jack Benny's radio announcer, Don Wilson. Lee was briefly president of the entire company, but soon stepped down to become publisher instead, finding that being president was too much about numbers and finance and not enough about the creative process he enjoyed. Stan Lee Media filed for bankruptcy in February 2001, and Paul fled to São Paulo, Brazil. Paul was extradited back to the U.S., and pleaded guilty to violating SEC Rule 10b-5 in connection with trading of his stock in Stan Lee Media. Lee was never implicated in the scheme.

Some of the Stan Lee Media projects included the animated Web series The 7th Portal where he voiced the character Izayus; The Drifter; and The Accuser. The 7th Portal characters were licensed to an interactive 3-D film attraction in four Paramount theme parks.

In the 2000s, Lee did his first work for DC Comics, launching the Just Imagine... series, in which Lee reimagined the DC superheroes Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and the Flash.

Lee created the risqué animated superhero series Stripperella for Spike TV. In 2004 he announced a superhero program that would feature Ringo Starr, the former Beatle, as the lead character. Additionally, in August of that year, Lee announced the launch of Stan Lee's Sunday Comics, hosted by Komikwerks.com, where monthly subscribers could read a new, updated comic and "Stan's Soapbox" every Sunday. The column has not been updated since February 15, 2005.

In 2005, Lee, Gill Champion and Arthur Lieberman formed POW! (Purveyors of Wonder) Entertainment to develop film, television and video game properties. POW! president and CEO Champion said in 2005 that Lee was creating a new superhero, Foreverman, for a Paramount Pictures movie, in tandem with producer Robert Evans and Idiom Films, with Peter Briggs hired to collaborate with Lee on the screenplay.

In 2006, Marvel commemorated Lee's 65 years with the company by publishing a series of one-shot comics starring Lee himself meeting and interacting with many of his co-creations, including Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, the Thing, Silver Surfer and Doctor Doom. These comics also featured short pieces by such comics creators as Joss Whedon and Fred Hembeck, as well as reprints of classic Lee-written adventures.

In 2007, POW! started a series of direct-to-DVD animated films under the Stan Lee Presents banner. Each film focuses on a new superhero, created by Stan Lee for the series. The first two releases were Mosaic and The Condor. In June of that year, Walt Disney Studios entered into an exclusive multi-year first-look deal with POW! Entertainment.

in July 2010.]] On March 15, 2007, Stan Lee Media's new president, Jim Nesfield, filed a lawsuit against Marvel Entertainment for $5 billion, claiming that the company is co-owner of the characters that Lee created for Marvel. On June 9, 2007, Stan Lee Media sued Lee; his newer company, POW! Entertainment; POW! subsidiary QED Entertainment; and other former Stan Lee Media staff at POW!

In 2008, Lee wrote humorous captions for the political fumetti book Stan Lee Presents Election Daze: What Are They Really Saying?. In April of that year, at the New York Comic Con, Viz Media announced that Lee and Hiroyuki Takei were collaborating on the manga Karakuridôji Ultimo, from parent company Shueisha. That same month, Brighton Partners and Rainmaker Animation announced a partnership POW! to produce a CGI film series, "Legion of 5". That same month, Virgin Comics announced Lee would create a line of superhero comics for that company. He is also working on a TV adaptation of the novel Hero. He wrote the foreword to the 2010 non-fiction e-book memoir Skyscraperman by skyscraper fire-safety advocate Dan Goodwin, who had climbed skyscrapers dressed as Spider-Man.

In 2009, he and the Japanese company Bones produced their first manga feature, "Heroman", serialized in Square Enix's Monthly ShÅ?nen Gangan; the feature was adapted to anime in April 2010.

Lee is set to guest-star in season five of Eureka. He said he has a guest appearance in season seven of Entourage.

He is currently writing a "new live-action musical as well as a comic-book adaptation of Romeo and Juliet". Romeo and Juliet: The War in Mid-2011 is a potential film project and The Yin and Yang Battle of Tao may premiere in China. Battle of Tao is described as "more extravagant than the Cirque du Soleil spectacles". He also likes movies starring Bruce Lee.

Legacy

Awards and honors

Lee has received several awards for his work, including being inducted into the Harvey Awards' Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1995.

On November 17, 2008, Stan Lee was awarded the National Medal of Arts. The County of Los Angeles declared October 2, 2009 Stan Lee Day. The City of Long Beach declared October 2, 2009 Stan Lee Day.

Lee received the 2,428th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on January 4, 2011.

Stan Lee Foundation

The Stan Lee Foundation was founded in 2010 to focus on literacy, education and the arts. Its stated goals include supporting programs and ideas that improve access to literacy resources, as well as promoting diversity, national literacy, culture and the arts.

Action figure

At the 2007 Comic-Con International, Marvel Legends introduced a Stan Lee action figure. The body beneath the figure's removable cloth wardrobe is a re-used mold of a previously released Spider-Man action figure, with only minor changes.

Fictional portrayals

#10 (Jan. 1963). Art by Kirby & Dick Ayers.]] Stan Lee and his collaborator Jack Kirby appear as themselves in The Fantastic Four #10 (January 1963), the first of several appearances within the fictional Marvel Universe. The two are depicted as similar to their real-world counterparts, creating comic books based on the "real" adventures of the Fantastic Four.

Kirby, during his years of working for DC Comics in the 1970s, created the character Funky Flashman. With his hyperbolic speech pattern, gaudy toupee, and hip '70s-Manhattan style beard (as Lee sported at the time) this ne'er-do-well charlatan first appeared in the pages of Mister Miracle.

Kirby later portrayed himself, Lee, production executive Sol Brodsky, and Lee's secretary Flo Steinberg as superheroes in What If #11, "What If the Marvel Bullpen Had Become the Fantastic Four?", in which Lee played the part of Mister Fantastic. Lee has also made numerous cameo appearances in many Marvel titles, appearing in audiences and crowds at many characters' ceremonies and parties, and hosting an old-soldiers reunion in Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #100 (July 1972). Lee appeared, unnamed, as the priest at Luke Cage and Jessica Jones' wedding in New Avengers Annual #1. He pays his respects to Karen Page at her funeral in the Daredevil "Guardian Devil" story arc, and appears in The Amazing Spider-Man (June 1977).

The "Young Dan Pussey" stories by Daniel Clowes, collected in Pussey!, feature an exploitative publisher who relies on Lee's gung-ho style and "Bullpen" mythology to motivate his stable of naive and underpaid creators; the stories mainly satirize the state of mainstream comics in the 1990s, but also the subculture of young superhero fans that Lee helped to create.

In Marvel's 1991 comic book adaptation of game Double Dragon, a character modeled after Stan Lee was specifically created for the comic and is introduced as the father of the protagonists, Billy and Jimmy Lee. The character is only referred by his first name, Stan, although the play on his name is obvious when one considers the Lee brothers' surname.

In X-Play on the cable network G4, the character "Roger, the Stan Lee Experience" - dubbed "the fifth-best-thing next to Stan Lee" - is a foul-mouthed, perverted stand-up comic parody of Lee. Roger's segments normally consist of him describing details of numerous unspeakable adult encounters, usually involving the wife of another Marvel veteran, Jack Kirby, with each encounter somehow leading to the creation of a well-known Marvel character.

In Marvel's July 1997 "Flashback" event, a top-hatted caricature of Lee as a ringmaster introduced stories which detailed events in Marvel characters' lives before they became superheroes, in special "-1" editions of many Marvel titles. The "ringmaster" depiction of Lee was originally from Generation X #17 (July 1996), where the character narrated a story set primarily in an abandoned circus. Though the story itself was written by Scott Lobdell, the narration by "Ringmaster Stan" was written by Lee himself, and the character was drawn in that issue by Chris Bachalo. Bachalo's depiction of "Ringmaster Stan" was later used in the heading of a short-lived revival of the "Stan's Soapbox" column, which evolved into a question & answer format.

In his given name of Stanley Lieber, Stan Lee appears briefly in Paul Malmont's 2006 novel The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril.

Lee and other comics creators are mentioned in Michael Chabon's 2000 novel about the comics industry The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay.

On one of the last pages of , Lee appears in a real photograph among other celebrities on a wall of the Bradley home.

In Ultimate X-Men #20, a caricature of Lee appears as a photograph next to the letter Xavier leaves for his students.

In Stan Lee Meets Superheroes, Stan Lee comes in to contact with some of his favorite creations. The series was written by Lee himself.

In Karakuridôji Ultimo a caricature of Lee in 12th century Japan as the creator of both Ultimo and Vice, named Dr. Dunstan.

Film and television appearances

Marvel film properties

in Fantastic Four, 2005]]

Stan Lee appeared in cameos as one-scene characters in many (but not all) movies based on Marvel Comic characters he helped create.

In the TV-movie The Trial of the Incredible Hulk (1989), Lee's first appearance in a Marvel movie or TV project is as jury foreman in the trial of Dr. Bruce Banner.

In X-Men (2000), Lee appears as a vendor of a hotdog stand on the beach when Senator Kelly emerges naked onshore after escaping from Magneto.

In Spider-Man (2002), he appeared during Spider-Man's first battle with the Green Goblin, pulling a little girl away from falling debris.

In Daredevil (2003), as a child, Matt Murdock stops Lee from crossing the street and getting hit by a bus.

In Hulk (2003), he appears walking alongside former TV-series Hulk Lou Ferrigno in an early scene, both as security guards at Bruce Banner's lab. It was his first speaking role in a film based on one of his characters.

In Spider-Man 2 (2004), Lee again pulls an innocent person away from danger during Spider-Man's first battle with Doctor Octopus. He is later seen a second time, walking through the background when Peter is heading to class after giving up being Spider-Man.

In Fantastic Four (2005), Lee appears for the first time as a character from the comics, in a role credited as Willie Lumpkin, the mail carrier who greets the Fantastic Four as they enter the Baxter Building.

In (2006), Lee and Chris Claremont appear as two of Jean Grey's neighbors in the opening scenes set 20 years ago. Lee, credited as "Waterhose man," is watering the lawn when Jean telekinetically redirects the water from the hose into the air.

In Spider-Man 3 (2007), Lee appears in a credited role as "Man in Times Square". He stands next to Peter Parker, both of them reading a news bulletin, and commenting to Peter that, "You know, I guess one person can make a difference". He then says his catch phrase, "'Nuff said."

In (2007), Lee appears as himself at Reed Richards' and Susan Storm's first wedding, being turned away by a security guard for not being on the guest list. In Fantastic Four Annual #3 (1965), in which the couple married, Lee and Jack Kirby are similarly turned away.

In Iron Man (2008), Lee (credited as "Himself") appears at a gala cavorting with three blond women, where Tony Stark mistakes him for Hugh Hefner. In the theatrical release of the film, Stark simply greets Lee as "Hef" and moves on without seeing Lee's face; another version of the scene was filmed where Stark realizes his mistake, but Lee graciously responds, "That's okay, I get this all the time."

In The Incredible Hulk (2008), Lee appears as a hapless citizen who accidentally ingests a soft drink mixed with Bruce Banner's blood, leading to the discovery of Dr. Banner's location in a bottling plant in Brazil.

In Iron Man 2 (2010), during the Stark Expo, Lee, wearing suspenders and a red shirt and black and purple tie, is greeted by Tony Stark as "Larry King".

Lee said he has met with Kenneth Branagh, director of the planned film Thor about his possible cameo in that movie and at Fan Expo 2010 Lee admitted to playing a truck driver in the film. In Spider-Man (2012), Lee will have a cameo in an action scene.

Warner/DC properties

"" In the original broadcast airing of the episode "Apokolips... Now! Part 2", an animated Stan Lee was visible mourning the death of Daniel "Terrible" Turpin, a character based on Marvel Comics Universe co-creator and Marvel main artist Jack Kirby. The scene also included such Marvel characters as the Ben Grimm, Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Nick Fury, Johnny Storm, Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, and Peter Parker, Jack Kirby DC characters as Big Barda, Scott Free, Orion, Kamandi, comics artists Bruce Timm, Alex Ross and his father Norman Ross, and TV producers and writers Glen Murakami, Dan Riba, Paul Dini, Alan Burnett and Mark Evanier. This shot appeared in the completed episode and was aired on February 7, 1998 in WB Kids, but was later modified to remove the likeness of Marvel characters in the Superman: The Animated Volume 3 DVD box set.

Other film, TV, and video

He is the host of the 2010 History Channel documentary series Stan Lee's Superhumans.

Lee makes a cameo appearance as the "Three Stooges Wedding Guest" in the 2004 Disney film .

Lee hosted and judged contestants in the SyFy series Who Wants to Be a Superhero?

Lee appears with director Kevin Smith and 2000s Marvel editor-in-chief Joe Quesada in the DVD program "Marvel Then & Now: An Evening with Stan Lee and Joe Quesada, hosted by Kevin Smith".

One of Lee's earliest contributions to animation based on Marvel properties was narrating the 1980s Incredible Hulk animated series, always beginning his narration with a self-introduction and ending with "This is Stan Lee saying, Excelsior!" Lee had previously narrated the "Seven Little Superheroes" episode of Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, which the Hulk series was paired with for broadcast.

Lee did the narration for the original 1989 X-Men animated series pilot titled .

Lee was interviewed on the History Channel Show Superhuman by Daniel Browning Smith, who held several Guiness Records for extreme flexibility due to having Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a genetic condition affecting collagen formation. Smith had created his own comic book to display his own struggles as an outcast for his flexibility, and legitimately surprised Lee with a quick demonstration of his talent.

In the animated series Jim Henson's Muppet Babies, Lee plays himself in a live-action scene of the "Comic Capers" episode.

Lee was an executive producer of the 1990s animated TV series Spider-Man. He appeared as himself in animated form in the series finale episode titled "". Spider-Man is transported by Madame Web into the "real" world where he is a fictional character. He meets Lee and the two swing around until Spider-Man drops him off on top of a building; Madame Web appears and brings Spider-Man back to his homeworld. Realizing he is stuck on a roof, Lee muses, hoping the Fantastic Four will show up and lend a hand.

He also voices the character "Frank Elson" in an episode of series broadcast by MTV in 2003, and titled "Mind Games" (Parts 1 & 2, originally aired on August 15 & 22, 2003).

He voiced a loading dock worker named Stan on The Spectacular Spider-Man in the episode "Blueprints".

Lee has an extensive cameo in the Kevin Smith film Mallrats. He once again plays himself, this time visiting "the" mall to sign books at a comic store. Later, he takes on the role of a sage-like character, giving Jason Lee's character, Brodie Bruce (a longtime fan of Lee's), advice on his love life. He also recorded interviews with Smith for the non-fiction video Stan Lee's Mutants, Monsters, and Marvels (2002).

Lee appeared as himself in an extended self-parodying sketch on the episode "Tapping a Hero" of Robot Chicken.

Lee appears as himself in writer-director Larry Cohen's The Ambulance (1990), in which Eric Roberts plays an aspiring comics artist.

In The Simpsons episode "I Am Furious Yellow" (April 28, 2002), Lee voices the animated Stan Lee, who is a prolonged visitor to Comic Book Guy's store. He asks if Comic Book Guy is the stalker of Lynda Carter - the star of the 1970s show Wonder Woman - and shows signs of dementia, such as breaking a customer's toy Batmobile by trying to cram a Thing action figure into it (claiming that he "made it better"), hiding DC comics behind Marvel comics, and believing that he is the Hulk (and fails trying to become the Hulk, while Comic Book Guy comments he couldn't even change into Bill Bixby). In a later Simpsons episode, Worst Episode Ever, Lee's picture is seen next to several others on the wall behind the register, under the heading "Banned for life".

Lee also appears as himself in the Mark Hamill-directed (2004), a direct-to-video mockumentary primarily filmed at the 2002 San Diego Comic-Con.

Lee also made an appearance on December 21, 2006, on the NBC game show Identity.

Lee appeared as himself in episode 3.16 of The Big Bang Theory. Lee appears in the manga and anime series of Heroman as a regular at a diner. He is voiced by Atsushi Ii in the Japanese anime. Lee voices the Mayor of Superhero City in the Super Hero Squad Show. He plays a bus driver in the 16th episode of the first season of Heroes. Lee appeared as himself in the 5th episode of the seventh season of the HBO series Entourage. Lee is scheduled to appear on X Japan's music video "Born to be Free". Lee appears in the Nikita episode "The Guardian" as a witness to a bank robbery named Hank Excelsior. Original airdate Oct 7, 2010

Video games

Lee narrates the 2000 video game Spider-Man, the 2001 sequel , and 2010's .

He makes his first onscreen video-game cameo in , lending his likeness and voice to New York senator Stanley M. Lieber (a reference to Lee's birth name), who is taken hostage late in the game's first act by Titanium Man. Lieber has unique dialogue with each of the characters upon rescue, and both his dialogue and in-game dossier make various references to both Lee and Marvel Comics (such as referring to his constituents as "True Believers" and citing "Excelsior!" as the New York state motto).

Radio

Lee recorded a public service announcement for Deejay Ra's "Hip-Hop Literacy" campaign.

He narrated the Fantastic Four Radio show.

Bibliography

Lee's comics work includes:

DC

Just Imagine Stan Lee creating:

*Aquaman (with Scott McDaniel) (2002)

*Batman (with Joe Kubert) (2001)

*Catwoman (with Chris Bachalo) (2002)

*Crisis (with John Cassaday) (2002)

*Flash (with Kevin Maguire) (2002)

*Green Lantern (with Dave Gibbons) (2001)

*JLA (with Jerry Ordway) (2002)

*Robin (with John Byrne) (2001)

*Sandman (with Walt Simonson) (2002)

*Secret Files and Origins (2002)

*Shazam! (with Gary Frank) (2001)

*Superman (with John Buscema) (2001)

*Wonder Woman (with Jim Lee) (2001)

Marvel

Amazing Spider-Man #1-100, 105-110, 116-118 (1963-73)

Avengers #1-35 (1963-66)

Captain America #100-109, 112, 114-141 (1968-71)

Daredevil #1-9, 11-49, 53 (1964-69)

Daredevil, vol. 2, #20 (backup story) (2001)

Fantastic Four #1-114, 120-125 (1961-72); #296 (1986)

Journey into Mystery (Thor) #83-125 (1962-66)

Ravage 2099 #1-7 (1992-93)

Sgt. Fury #1-28 (1963-66)

Silver Surfer #1–18 (1968-70)

Solarman #1–2 (1989-90)

Strange Tales (diverse stories): #9, 11, 74, 89, 90-100 (1951-62); (Human Torch): #101-109, 112-133; (Human Torch and Dr. Strange): #110-111, 115-134 (1962-65); (Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Dr. Strange features): #135-147, 150-157 (1965-67)

Tales to Astonish (diverse stories): #1, 6, 12–13, 15–17, 24–33 (1956-62); (Ant-Man, Incredible Hulk, and Sub-Mariner): #35–101 (1962-68)

Tales of Suspense (diverse stories): #7, 9, 16, 22, 27, 29–30 (1959-62); (Iron Man and Captain America): #39-99 (1963-68)

Thor #126–192, 200 (1966-72), 385 (1987)

X-Men #1–19 (1963-66)

What If (Fantastic Four) #200 (2011)

See also

Characters created by Stan Lee

List of American comics creators

List of American Jews

List of Eisner Award winners

List of Harvey Award winners

List of Jewish American authors

List of Marvel Comics people

List of science fiction authors

List of pseudonyms

Further reading

Lee, Stan, Origins of Marvel Comics (Simon and Schuster, 1974; Marvel Entertainment Group, 1997 reissue, ISBN 0-7851-0551-4)

Lee, Stan, and Mair, George. Excelsior!: The Amazing Life of Stan Lee (Fireside, 2002) ISBN 0-684-87305-2

McLaughlin, Jeff, ed. Stan Lee: Conversations (University Press of Mississippi, 2007), ISBN 978-1578069859

Ro, Ronin. Tales to Astonish: Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, and the American Comic Book Revolution (Bloomsbury USA, 2005 reissue) ISBN 1-58234-566-X

Raphael, Jordan, and Spurgeon, Tom. Stan Lee and the Rise and Fall of the American Comic Book (Chicago Review Press, 2003) ISBN 1-55652-506-0

Simon, Joe, with Jim Simon. The Comic Book Makers (Crestwood/II, 1990) ISBN 1-887591-35-4; reissued (Vanguard Productions, 2003) ISBN 1-887591-35-4

References

External links

POW! Entertainment (official site)

Stan Lee's Fan Site

McCave, Joseph. "SDCC 2009: Stan Lee Talks 'Time Jumper'!" FearNet.com, July 27, 2009

Framingham, Mass. "Myth and the Hero's Journey: Big Screen Blockbusters - Star Wars, Spider-Man Tell Timeless Tales", Daily News (May 5, 2002), by Chris Bergeron

Archive of "Fast Chat: Stan Lee". Newsday, April 1, 2007. Online version March 31, 2007.

Stan Lee at ComiCon in Seattle

Stan Lee at the Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators

Audio/video

Audio of Merry Marvel Marching Society record, including voice of Stan Lee

(autobiographical)

Comic Geek Speak: Episode 83 - Stan Lee interview podcast, December 12, 2005

Mahalo Daily with Veronica Belmont: "MD044 - Stan Lee Interview", January 28, 2008

Stan Lee receives 1st New York comics legend award April 17, 2008

"Authors@Google: Stan Lee", Authors@Google, "AtGoogleTalks", YouTube, July 18, 2008. (Video podcast)

(Radio broadcast)

Category:American film actors Category:American Jews Category:American military personnel of World War II Category:American voice actors Category:American people of Romanian-Jewish descent Category:Golden Age comics creators Category:Jewish American writers Category:Living people Category:People from Washington Heights, Manhattan Category:United States Army soldiers Category:United States National Medal of Arts recipients Category:American people of Romanian descent Category:Web animation authors Category:Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame inductees Category:Jack Kirby Hall of Fame inductees

Name	Ron White
Caption	Comedian Ron White
Birth name	Ronald White
Nickname	Tater Salad
Birth date	December 19, 1956
Birth place	Fritch, Texas, U.S.
Height	6 ft 2 in
Active	1987-present
Medium	stand-up
Nationality	American
Genre	Country Comedy, Observational Comedy, satire
Influences	Jeff Foxworthy, George Carlin, Bill Hicks, Sam Kinison
Notable work	Ron White: You Can't Fix StupidRon White: They Call Me Tater SaladRon White: Behavioral ProblemsBlue Collar Comedy Tour
Website	http://www.tatersalad.com
Spouse	Lori Brice (1991-1999) 1 childBarbara Dobbs (2004-2008)Margo Rey (?-present)

}}

Ronald "Ron" White (born December 19, 1956) is an American stand up comedian who has had two Grammy Award-nominations, and is RIAA certified 10x Platinum for CD and DVD sales of over 10 million units. He is a charter member of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour and has written the book "I Had the Right to Remain Silent But I Didn't Have the Ability" which appeared on the New York Times Best Seller List. White is well-known for his famous punchline, "...You can't fix stupid."

Biography

Ron White was born in Fritch, Texas. He served in the United States Navy where he was given the nickname "Tater Salad" by fellow sailors who teased White for his love of potato salad. White is an avid fisherman and has always loved fishing as a hobby, but from an early age his dream was to become a comedian. When he returned from the Navy, White struggled financially for years as he pursued this dream, going from gig to gig in a beat-up truck and selling windows to help make ends meet. White included stories from his youth in his book I Had the Right to Remain Silent But I Didn't Have the Ability (Dutton 2006, ISBN 978-0525949619). White's comedy revolves around observations and personal experiences retold in his smoking, drinking, Southern United States persona.

Ron White found success during January 2000 through March 2003, when he performed with Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall, and Larry the Cable Guy as part of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour – a show that sold out across the United States in over 90 cities and grossed over $15 million dollars. White is the only member of the Blue Collar crew who did not go on to star in the Blue Collar TV series because he did not want to be typecast as "blue collar," although he jokes in his performances that he simply does not have "the work ethic for a television show". He did, however, make seven guest appearances on the show. In 2005, The WB Television Network aired the pilot for The Ron White Show, a variety show that combined a number of celebrity cameos, cartoons, and sketches. He recently taped several episodes of The Gong Show with Dave Attell as one of the celebrity judges. White has had appearances in the TV shows Kath & Kim, Reno 911!, 12 Miles of Bad Road, and the film Sex and the City 2.

White is best known for smoking cigars and drinking Scotch as part of his act. He stated during his You Can't Fix Stupid show, "Somebody asked what I was drinking. If the company that made the stuff I was drinking was paying me, I'd have it in their bottle and not mine. But it's the kind of scotch that people drink that are going to die penniless. It's good though!"

Personal Life

White has been married three times. He married his first wife, Lori Brice in 1991. They divorced in 1999. They have a son, Marshall, born July 19, 1998. In June 2004, he married Barbara Dobbs; they divorced in 2008. He is currently married to singer-songwriter Margo Rey.

Currently, Ron White has partnered with producer Michael Blakey to form Organica Music Group (distributed by Universal Music Group), a label that will promote both emerging and established musicians and comedians. He will be releasing all his future DVDs and CDs through Organica Music Group.

Marijuana arrest

On September 10, 2008, White was arrested on charges of possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia after an anonymous tip informed Vero Beach, Florida police that White’s private plane would be carrying narcotics. This tip likely came from a disgruntled pilot who had been recently fired by White. White had allegedly been involved in an altercation with his flight crew on his private plane involving his use of marijuana on board during flights. White was found to be in possession of 7/8 of a gram of marijuana. He was reportedly very cooperative with Florida police. Ron White has a valid medicinal marijuana license from California.

Awards/Recognition

April 27, 2009 was designated as "Ron White Day" in the State of Texas by Texas legislative officials. White received the Armed Forces Foundation's "Patriot Award" in March 2009 for his work in raising money to help wounded soldiers. White also held benefit shows for Hurricane Katrina relief.

Comedy releases

Besides the Blue Collar Comedy Tour CDs and movies, White has released five solo projects to date:

Tater Salad aka. Busted in Des Moines: 1990 audio CD, recording of an early stand-up gig.

Drunk in Public: 2003 audio CD, solo stand-up.

They Call Me "Tater Salad"

You Can't Fix Stupid

Ron White: Behavioral Problems: Worldwide release date on television: April 19, 2009

He has appeared on the following compilation albums:

Redneck Comedy Roundup: 2005 release on DVD, also starring Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall, and Blake Clark.

Comedy Central Presents Southern Gents of Comedy: 2006 release on DVD, also starring Otis Lee Crenshaw, Vic Henley, and Steve McGrew.

Ron White, Jeff Foxworthy & Bill Engvall: Live from Las Vegas: 2004 release on DVD.

Redneck Kings of Comedy: 2005 Release of DVD, also starring Jeff Foxworthy, and Larry the Cable Guy.

Discography

References

External links

Ron White's official site

Category:1956 births Category:Living people Category:American stand-up comedians Category:People from Hutchinson County, Texas Category:Capitol Records artists

Colour	#ffaa44
Name	Hank Hill
Caption	Hank Hill
Birthdate	March 19, 1961
Portrayer	Mike Judge
Creator	Mike Judge
Gender	Male
First	Pilot
Last	To Sirloin With Love
Location of birth	The Bronx, New York (Yankee Stadium)
Occupation	Asst. Manager at Strickland Propane, Mega lo Mart Propane salesman, back to Asst. Manager at Strickland Propane, former Jeans West salesman, former tractor salesman
Fullname	Henry Rutherford Hill
Family	Cotton Hill (deceased father)Tilly Hill (mother)Didi Hill (stepmother)Hank Hill (GH or "Good Hank") (half-brother)Junichiro (half-brother)Dusty Hill (cousin)Rita (cousin)
Spouse	Peggy Hill
Children	Bobby Hill (son)
Religion	Methodist

Hank Rutherford Hill is a fictional character in the animated series King of the Hill. Hank lives in Arlen, Texas and works at the fictional Strickland Propane selling propane and propane accessories. Hank's voice is provided by series creator Mike Judge. The Economist named Hank Hill as one of the wisest people on television.

Description

Hank suffers from a fictional genetic disorder called Diminished Gluteal Syndrome (DGS). His essentially non-existent buttocks fail to provide him enough cushioning when seated, causing stress on his spine and forcing him to wear an "orthogluteal" prosthesis in at least one of the episodes. In addition, Hank broke his nose playing High School football and it set slightly askew (Bill pronounced this as his "one flaw") -- he broke it again playing as an adult and, falling prey to vanity, had it repaired and perfected by a plastic surgeon, but shortly had him restore it to its prior imperfect shape.

Hank sells propane and propane accessories as an assistant manager at Strickland Propane. One of his catch phrases is: "I'm assistant manager at Strickland Propane, where I sell propane and propane accessories" which he uses in nearly every episode. Sometimes he uses different versions of this catch phrase, (example: at Luanne's first Puppet show he helped Luanne when she needed help saying: I'm assistant manager of this movie theatre where I sell popcorn and popcorn accessories). He approaches his job with such dedication that when the phone rings in the middle of the night, he often starts into the Strickland slogan, "Strickland Propane, taste the meat, not the heat," before catching himself. He was briefly promoted to manager when Buck Strickland's wife/ex-wife ("Miz Liz") temporarily took over Strickland Propane. Hank was also briefly promoted to manager by Buck Strickland while helping Buck rebuild a house for Habitat for Humanity as part of Buck's community service after a drunk driving conviction. He was then demoted after blurting out "I love you" to Strickland. Unlike Strickland's business enemy, M. F. Thatherton (and Strickland himself), Hank believes that selling propane through honesty and hard work is what life is all about. Hank won the Propane Salesman of the Year Award for three years. Hank idolizes Buck, who calls Hank "Ol' Top," and keeps a somewhat idyllic picture of him, even though he recognizes his boss's many shortcomings (excessive gambling, alcoholism, womanizing, and a general lack of principles). Hank must frequently clean up his boss's unsavory "situations": bailing him out of jail, facilitating his vices, and performing suspicious errands. In one episode he went as far as covering up Strickland's illegal price fixing agreement with the other local propane providers to keep him from being arrested. While Hank has a decidedly chauvinistic attachment to Buck Strickland, in the Season 5 episode "The Buck Stops Here" after rescuing Bobby and Buck from the grasp of violent gamblers in Arkansas, he slows his truck down just long enough to let one of the gamblers punch Buck in the face, and a smirk on his face implies he enjoyed this small catharsis against his boss.

He only has one child, Bobby Hill, but would have had more if not for his "narrow urethra," a running joke throughout the series. Early in the series he often says of Bobby, "That boy ain't right." And in one episode Peggy says "Bobby isn't a girl," to which Hank responds "No Peggy, I don't think we have to worry about that anymore." Although Hank is often perplexed and irritated by Bobby's eccentricities, he clearly loves his son, even though he's reluctant and uncomfortable to say it to his face. He even feigns an interest in Bobby's passions such as comedy and theatre. Hank is relieved when Kahn tells him that he caught Bobby and Connie taking their clothes off since, up until that time, Hank was unsure of Bobby's interest in girls. In the first episode of the series, Peggy prompts inexpressive Hank to tell his son that he loves him—after he finally manages to do so, Bobby says that he thought he was just a "big disappointment," which Hank immediately rejects, earnestly (if, to the viewer, implausibly) declaring that Bobby is the one thing in town that's never disappointed him.

According to the episode "Yankee Hankie," Hank proudly believed he was born in Texas to Tillie Mae Hill and Cotton Lyndal Hill but finds (to his disgust) that he was actually born in New York City. His mother told him she gave birth to Hank in the women's restroom at Yankee Stadium during Cotton's failed attempt to assassinate Fidel Castro during a rare American visit. Hank was sad to learn of his true birthplace after having thought of himself as a native Texan for over forty years but eventually came to accept his heritage when he realized that many of the Alamo heroes were not from Texas either. Hank, who previously thought he was an only child, finds out he has a Japanese half brother named Junichiro in the episode "Returning Japanese". This is due to an affair his father had with his Japanese nurse while recovering from leg injuries in post-World War II Japan. Also, in the episode "Hank Gets Dusted", Hank is shown to be the cousin of ZZ Top bassist and vocalist Dusty Hill.

Hank was on the high school football team (as were Bill, Boomhauer, and team towel manager Dale). He was a running back and led the league in rushing (his record remains unbroken). He had a promising career until he snapped his ankle in the state championship (although this cost Arlen the game, he is still celebrated for "taking them to State"). This incident exacerbated Hank's already-restrained emotionality, as he regarded it as punishment from God for hot-dogging (doing a celebratory dance) after earlier scoring a touchdown, thus explaining his fear of showing joy. After graduating from high school, he went on to work as a salesman at Jeans West, a clothing retailer, until Buck Strickland found that he was a good salesman and hired him at Strickland Propane, where Buck taught him everything about propane and propane accessories. According to his neighbor, Dale, he also had a brief stint as a tractor salesman.

Hank drives a red Ford Super Duty, which replaced his original truck, a red Ford Ranger after it was destroyed by a train (although on its "last legs," Hank was determined to keep his beloved vehicle as long as mechanically possible). He gives great love and affection to his lawn and his Bloodhound, Ladybird. In several episodes it is implied that Hank spends more time with his dog and lawn than Peggy and Bobby. When Hank mourns over the fact that his lawn is sub-par compared to his neighbor's, he remarks, "I put so much work into this, my sweat, blood, tears, all the tender feelings I should have given my family." In another episode, Peggy is bitter at Hank for forgetting her birthday but throwing a special one for Ladybird. Hank's idol is Outlaw Country singer Willie Nelson, and he also plays an acoustic guitar named Betsy in his Bluegrass band. Hank is a fan of Country and Bluegrass music. Occasionally, he will listen to Southern Rock music and in one episode, remarks that he likes this "zamfir fellow," a joke towards Gheorghe Zamfir.

Hank is an Eagle Scout. Hank is sometimes naive and closed-minded, but generally a good person. Although he dislikes change and novel situations, he can adapt to them quite well, quickly mastering unfamiliar social milieus. He can be pushed too far on occasion, usually by his neighbor Dale. A running joke throughout the series is an angry Hank yelling "I'm gonna kick your ass," a threat which, when he makes good on it, he acts out quite literally. Hank's honesty and naivete often get him in unpredictable and troublesome situations. Ultimately, Hank cares for the people around him, particularly his family and friends and is always out to do what is right. Whenever Hank has to lie or speak reluctantly about something he turns his head or looks around the room.

Personality

Hank is often regarded as the wise, hard-working, traditional American and loyal to his family. (In a 2005 article for the New York Times Magazine, North Carolina Governor Mike Easley, a moderate Democrat, said that Hank Hill is the type of voter he hoped would support his policies.) Everybody looks to Hank when they have any seemingly useless, or dull work that needs to be done. When his dog Ladybird attacked a black repairman (voiced by Bernie Mac) working on their heating system, he was accused of being racist, but it was later proven that Ladybird is only prejudiced towards repairmen in general, as she knows Hank is usually the one to make household repairs. Hank has briefly worked at Mega Lo Mart as a propane salesman trainee when he lost his job at Strickland Propane. Hank's reserved nature probably resulted from years of verbal abuse from his father Cotton Hill. However, if sufficiently provoked, Hank has proven not to be a pushover often ending disputes with his self popularized quote "I'm going to kick your ass". He is also staunchly pro Texas. In the episode "Texas City Twister" where a tornado has torn off all his clothes he is given the choice of covering himself with the Texas flag or a potted cactus. With barely a thought he chooses the cactus, thereby sparing the flag.

He is for the most part a staunch conservative (he once said dreamily that he missed voting for Ronald Reagan.) He was initially a huge fan of George W. Bush, but had second thoughts about voting for him because of his weak handshake, and when asked if he would vote for "the other guy," presumably Al Gore, he said "I don't know." He is a Republican, but admires some old school Democrats such as fellow Texan Lyndon B. Johnson. His purebred Georgia Bloodhound Ladybird is named after Lady Bird Johnson, the wife of Lyndon B. Johnson, and Hank has made mention that the Bloodhound's mom helped track down James Earl Ray, assassin of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. after an attempted prison escape. In one episode, Bobby chose to do a school report on his favorite president, Josiah Bartlet of the dramatic TV series The West Wing. When Hank discovered this, seemingly going against his admiration of people despite their political persuasions, he scolded Bobby, not because Bartlet is a fictional character but because Bartlet is a liberal. He then had Bobby do his report on Ronald Reagan. Hank also has a great amount of respect for former Democratic Governor Ann Richards (although he displays great respect for, and deference to, all authority figures, but the respect was most likely the result of Hank's great liking of Texas culture and history as mentioned throughout the show).

In nearly every episode, Hank and his friends Dale, Bill and Boomhauer, will stand about in the alley behind Hank's house, drinking Alamo beer and discussing the events of the day. When consensus is reached, and at breaks in the conversation, they will give short words of agreement, such as "yup" or "mm-hmm." He considers his wife his best friend, and feels that physically punishing children is wrong; he is verbally strict, but not directly abusive. In the episode "Sleight of Hank", It was revealed that Hank has a huge dislike for Magicians after seeing David Copperfield make the Statue of Liberty disappear as mentioned by Bill in which Hanks responds "Shame on him!" in an angry tone. He has shown to have chiroptophobia, the fear of bats. When surprised, he reacts with a "BWAAAAAH!". This was used in the title of the episode "Mutual of Omabwah", and "Bwah My Nose".

Political parties aside, he is very conservative and old-fashioned, naturally thinking everyone shares his sense of right and wrong and being largely ignorant of new trends and view points; several episodes involve him dealing with things like yoga, boy bands, etc. Hank is portrayed as having traditional family values, and he is shown to be uncomfortable with hiring a woman to work at Strickland because she was believed to be too attractive, even though she was overly qualified; instead, he hired a man for shallowly expressing a fondness for the Dallas Cowboys and a blatantly fraudulent adoration for propane. The man was later revealed to be a completely unreliable drug addict. His old-fashioned ways extend to a suspicion of new technology. He does however, eventually get a cell phone, and briefly becomes addicted to a computer game whose main character is modeled on him. In the episode Jumpin' Crack Bass, Hank made the comment, "Not my president! I voted for Dole!", referencing the 1996 election.

Still, he does share a few liberal values. One of them is his discovery of organic meat in the episode "Raise the Steaks". He even goes as far as to defend the hippies, something he seemed somewhat ashamed to do but nevertheless found himself agreeing with them when it comes to natural food. He has also been shown to have fairly moderate views on issues like gay rights and other religions. Hank has some environmental leanings (though he distances himself from the movement at large), once lamenting about air pollution in Houston, opposing the building of McMansions, and running for city council on a platform of removing low-flow toilets because they waste more water than they save. Despite his apparent naivety to general things, he has been shown to be very clever in various scenarios. These include tricking a crooked lawyer attempting to sue Strickland into making it appear as though he is the one that injured his plaintiff; forcing a veterinarian who was shaking him down on costly and unnecessary treatments for a soldier's cat to approve the cat's file, or Hank would tell the vet's customers about a completely inefficient imaging machine the vet couldn't afford; and getting the see-no-evil parents of a youngster who was bullying him to exert discipline by having Bobby behave exactly like their son towards them.

Hank can be rather gullible, as for the past twenty-five years, he was buying cars at sticker price from Tom Hammond's used cars. He has also been tricked because of his relative ignorance concerning drugs or subcultures. Hence he once mistakenly bought vials of crack believing they were fishing bait and in a time of stress took a hit of marijuana because he thought it was a cigarette. He once introduced a woman named Tammy Duvall (voiced by Renee Zellweger), who later turned out to be a prostitute, to several business associates. This led her former pimp, Alabaster Jones (voiced by Snoop Dogg), to believe he was her new pimp, a role he was forced to act out to rid her of him.

In "Be True to Your Fool", a flashback reveals that shortly after Hank graduated from high school with his three best friends, Dale Gribble, Bill Dauterive, and Jeff Boomhauer, Bill enlisted in the United States Army -- a night of celebratory drinking led them to a punk bar, where the then-formidable Bill saved a drunken Hank from a beating. In gratitude, Hank stumbled off to a tattoo parlor and paid to have Bill's name inked onto his chest before passing out. Only Boomhauer was with Hank, and, unable to persuade the proprietor to ignore Hank's purchase, convinced him to put the tattoo in a less conspicuous place, the back of Hank's head; Hank had completely forgotten that night, but was reminded of it while undergoing treatment for head lice in the present (an affliction caused by an absurd scheme of Bill's). He had the name removed out of disgust, but eventually had a jailhouse tattoo of it put on to show Bill that the two were still friends.

See also

Peggy Hill

Bobby Hill

Propane (and propane accessories)

References

External links

Category:King of the Hill characters Category:Fictional characters introduced in 1997 Category:Fictional salespeople Category:Fictional sportspeople Category:Fictional Republicans (United States) Category:Fictional players of American football Category:Fictional characters from Texas Category:Fictional characters from New York City

Name	David Tutera
Birth date	April 23, 1966
Occupation	Reality TV star, wedding planner, fashion designer

David Tutera, (born April 23, 1966) is a celebrity wedding planner, bridal fashion designer, author and professional speaker. David is the author of four books, and is the host of WE tv’s show, My Fair Wedding with David Tutera. He has launched David Tutera By Faviana, a line of luxurious wedding gowns inspired by celebrity red carpet fashions and has been awarded “Best Celebrity Wedding Planner� by Life & Style Magazine.

Television Work

My Fair Wedding with David Tutera (2008-current)

The Bonnie Hunt Show (2008–2009)

The Apprentice (2009) (Guest Event Planner)

Disney's Dream Weddings (2009)

Barbie wedding 2010

Bibliography

A Passion for Parties : Your Guide to Elegant Entertaining (2001)

America Entertains: A Year of Imaginative Parties (2003)

The Party Planner (2005)

Big Birthdays (2006)

The Big White Book of Weddings (2010)

Disney's Fairy Tale Weddings (2010)

Personal Life

David Tutera is in a committed relationship with his life partner Ryan Jurica. David wears a ring to signify this commitment. David's family runs a funeral home.

References

External links

David Tutera by Faviana

Category:Living people Category:LGBT people from the United States Category:LGBT television personalities Category:American television personalities Category:1966 births Category:American fashion designers

Caption	Favre with the Vikings in October 2009
Width	200
Currentteam	Minnesota Vikings
Currentnumber	4
Currentpositionplain	Quarterback
Birthdate	October 10, 1969
Birthplace	Gulfport, Mississippi
Heightft	6
Heightin	2
Weight	222
College	Southern Mississippi
Draftyear	1991
Draftround	2
Draftpick	33
Debutyear	1991
Debutteam	Atlanta Falcons
Pastteams
Status	Active
Highlights
Statweek	17
Statseason	2010
Statlabel1	Pass attempts
Statvalue1	10,169
Statlabel2	Pass completions
Statvalue2	6,300
Statlabel3	Percentage
Statvalue3	62.0
Statlabel4	TD-INT
Statvalue4	508–336
Statlabel5	Yards
Statvalue5	71,838
Statlabel6	QB Rating
Statvalue6	86.0
Nfl	FAV540222

Brett Lorenzo Favre (; born October 10, 1969) is an American football quarterback. He is a 20-year veteran of the NFL, having played quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons (1991), Green Bay Packers (1992–2007), New York Jets (2008) and Minnesota Vikings (2009–2010). Favre is the only quarterback in NFL history to throw for over 70,000 yards, the only quarterback to throw over 500 touchdowns, the only quarterback to throw over 300 interceptions, and the only quarterback to have over 10,000 pass attempts.

Favre started at the quarterback position for the University of Southern Mississippi for four years before being selected in the second round of the 1991 NFL Draft by Atlanta (33rd overall). He was traded to Green Bay on February 10, 1992, for the 19th pick in the 1992 NFL Draft.

Favre became the Packers' starting quarterback in the fourth game of the 1992 season, and started every game through the 2007 season. He was traded to the New York Jets and started at quarterback for the 2008 season before signing with the Vikings on August 18, 2009 as their starting quarterback. He made an NFL record 297 consecutive starts (321 including playoffs).

He is the only player to win the AP Most Valuable Player three consecutive times (1995–97). He has led teams to eight division championships (1995, 1996, 1997, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2009), five NFC Championship Games (1995, 1996, 1997, 2007, 2009), and two Super Bowl appearances (Super Bowl XXXI, Super Bowl XXXII), winning one (Super Bowl XXXI).

He holds many NFL records, including most career touchdown passes, most career passing yards, most career pass completions, most career pass attempts, most career interceptions thrown, most starts, most consecutive starts, most consecutive starts by a QB, most career victories as a starting quarterback, most sacked, and most fumbles.

Early years

Favre was born in Gulfport, Mississippi to Irvin (b. January 5, 1945 in Pass Christian, Mississippi – d. December 21, 2003 in Kiln, Mississippi) and Bonita (b. September 27, 1944 in Pass Christian, Mississippi) Favre, and raised in the small town of Kiln. Both his parents were schoolteachers in the Hancock County School District. He is of French and Choctaw ancestry; one of his paternal grandparents was a Native American affiliated with the Choctaw. He was the second of four children and attended Hancock North Central High School where he played baseball and football. Favre started for the Hancock North Central baseball team as an eighth-grader and earned five varsity letters. He played quarterback, lineman, strong safety, placekicker and punter in a primarily option, run-oriented offense coached by his father, Irvin Favre, who was the head coach of the team.

Irvin Favre said he knew his son had a great arm but also knew that the school was blessed with good running backs. As a result, in the three years Brett was on the team, his father ran the wishbone, a run-oriented offense. Favre rarely threw more than five passes in a game.

College career

After high school, Southern Mississippi offered Favre a scholarship (the only one he received). Southern Miss wanted him to play defensive back, but Favre wanted to play quarterback instead. Favre began his freshman year as the seventh-string quarterback and took over the starting position in the second half of the third game of the year against Tulane on September 19, 1987. Favre, despite suffering a hangover from the night before and vomiting during warm-ups, led the Golden Eagles to a come-from-behind victory with two touchdown passes.

On July 14, 1990, before the start of Favre's senior year at Southern Miss, he was involved in a near-fatal car accident. When going around a bend a few tenths of a mile from his parents' house, Favre lost control of his car, which flipped three times and came to rest against a tree. It was only after one of his brothers smashed a car window with a golf club that Favre could be evacuated to the hospital. In the ambulance, his mother was sitting with him. "All I kept asking [her] was 'Will I be able to play football again?'" Favre recalled later. Doctors would later remove of Favre's small intestine. Six weeks after this incident, on September 8, Favre led Southern Miss to a comeback victory over Alabama. Alabama coach Gene Stallings said, "You can call it a miracle or a legend or whatever you want to. I just know that on that day, Brett Favre was larger than life."

Favre continues to hold various Southern Miss football records. As of the end of the 2009 season, he held the career individual record in the following categories: most plays, most total yards gained, most passing yards gained, most completions made, and most passing attempts made. He had held the record for the most touchdowns scored (52), but it was later tied by quarterback Lee Roberts, who played for the school from 1995–98. Favre had 15 games over his career where he compiled more than 200 passing yards, making him the fourth all–time school leader in that category. Of those 15 games, five were 300-yard games, the most compiled by any of the school's quarterbacks. Additionally, he was the seasonal leader in total passing and total offense in all four of his seasons at Southern Miss.

Favre earned a teaching degree with an emphasis in special education from the University of Southern Mississippi.

Professional career

Atlanta Falcons (1991)

Favre was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons in the second round, 33rd overall in the 1991 NFL Draft. On July 19, 1991, Favre agreed to a three-year, $1.4 million contract with a reported signing bonus of $350,000. Atlanta coach Jerry Glanville did not approve of the drafting of Favre, saying it would take a plane crash for him to put Favre into the game. Favre's first pass in an NFL regular season game resulted in an interception returned for a touchdown. He only attempted four passes in his career at Atlanta, was intercepted twice, and completed none of them. Brett took one other snap, which resulted in a sack for an eleven yard loss.

Green Bay Packers (1992–2007)

Brett Favre played 16 seasons in Green Bay. During his time in Green Bay, Favre was the first NFL player to win three consecutive AP MVP awards. The only player to win four AP MVP Awards is Peyton Manning.

Beginnings (1992–1994)

In the second game of the 1992 season, the Packers played the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Buccaneers were leading 17–0 at halftime when head coach Mike Holmgren benched starting quarterback Don Majkowski and Favre played the second half. On his first regular season play as a Packer, Favre threw a pass that was deflected and caught by himself. Favre was tackled and the completion went for −7 yards. The Packers lost the game 31–3, chalking up only 106 yards passing.

In the third game of the 1992 season, Majkowski injured a ligament in his ankle against the Cincinnati Bengals, an injury severe enough that he would be out for four weeks. Favre replaced Majkowski for the remainder of the contest. Favre fumbled four times during the course of the game, However, down 23–17 with 1:07 left in the game, the Packers started an offensive series on their own 8 yard line. Still at the quarterback position, Favre completed a 42 yard pass to Sterling Sharpe. Three plays later, Favre threw the game–winning touchdown pass to Kitrick Taylor with 13 seconds remaining.

The following season Favre helped the Packers to their first playoff berth since 1982 and was named to his second Pro Bowl. After the season Favre became a free agent. General manager Ron Wolf negotiated Favre into a five-year, $19 million contract.

The Packers finished the 1994 season 9–7, advancing them to the playoffs in back to back years, a feat they had not accomplished since the Vince Lombardi era.

MVPs and Super Bowl seasons (1995–1997)

In 1995, Favre won the first of his three AP MVP awards. Favre led the Packers to an 11–5 record, Green Bay's best record in nearly thirty years. Favre passed for a career high of 4,413 yards, 38 touchdowns, and recorded a quarterback rating of 99.5, which was the highest of his career until he recorded a rating of 107.2 during the 2009 season. The Packers advanced to the NFC Championship Game after upsetting the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Divisional Game. The Packers lost the NFC Championship game to the Dallas Cowboys, marking the third year in a row the Packers season was ended by the Cowboys in the playoffs. Favre helped the Packers advance farther in the playoffs than any other Packer team since 1967, the season the Packers won Super Bowl II.

While being treated for various injuries, Brett Favre developed an addiction to vicodin, which became publicly known when he suffered a seizure during a hospital visit. Amid an NFL investigation, he went public to avoid any rumors about his condition. In May 1996, he went into treatment and remained in rehabilitation for 46 days. Had he chosen not to go, the NFL would have imposed a $900,000 fine. Favre led the Packers to their best season in 30 years in the 1996 season, winning his second consecutive MVP award in the process. The Packers led the NFL in points scored as well as fewest points scored against. Green Bay tied the Denver Broncos for the NFL's best regular season record, 13–3, defeated the San Francisco 49ers and Carolina Panthers at Lambeau Field in the playoffs. The Packers advanced to Super Bowl XXXI at the Louisiana Superdome, a short drive from Favre's hometown.

In Super Bowl XXXI, Favre completed 14 of 27 passes for 246 yards and 2 touchdowns. On the second play of the game, Favre threw a 54-yard touchdown pass to receiver Andre Rison. Favre also completed an 81-yard touchdown pass to Antonio Freeman in the second quarter (then a Super Bowl record). Favre rushed for 12 yards and another touchdown, as the Packers won Super Bowl XXXI over the New England Patriots, 35–21. In their 19 games of the season, the Packers had a turnover ratio of plus 24, and outscored their opponents 100–48 in the playoffs.

Mid-career (1998–2002)

defense during the 2004 season.]] The Packers dominance in the NFC ended when they lost to the San Francisco 49ers in a wild card playoff game in 1998. Favre had rallied the team with a touchdown pass to Antonio Freeman with 1:56 remaining in the game to put the Packers up 27–23. However, Steve Young responded with a touchdown of his own to Terrell Owens with three seconds remaining to end the Packers season. Favre and the Packers failed for the first time since 1994 to at least reach the NFC championship game.

In the regular season finale of 2001, Favre was the target of minor controversy when, in a game against the New York Giants at Giants Stadium, he was sacked by the Giants defensive end Michael Strahan. It was Strahan's lone sack of the game and gave him the NFL's single–season sack record of 22.5, which topped Mark Gastineau's record of 22 set in 1984. Some analysts, such as Mike Freeman of The New York Times, expressed the opinion that Favre allowed himself to be sacked in order to allow Strahan to set the record.

On March 1, 2001, Favre signed a "lifetime" contract extension, which technically was a 10-year contract extension worth around $100 million.

Favre and the Packers continued posting positive results through the next few seasons. Through the 2004 season, the Packers had the longest streak of non-losing seasons (13) in the NFL, despite an 8–8 record under coach Ray Rhodes, a 9–7 season under coach Mike Sherman, and no playoff berths in either 1999 or 2000. The streak ended in 2005, with the Packers finishing 4–12 overall.

Later career & personal tragedies (2003–2006)

One day after his father died of a heart attack or stroke, Favre decided to play in a December 22, 2003, Monday Night Football game against the Oakland Raiders. The Packers traveled to Oakland where Favre passed for four touchdowns in the first half and 399 total yards in a 41–7 victory over the Raiders on international television (even receiving applause from "Raider Nation"). He completed 73.3% of his passes and finished the game with a passer rating of 154.9 – the highest of Favre's career and just 3.4 points shy of perfect. Afterwards, Favre said, "I knew that my dad would have wanted me to play. I love him so much and I love this game. It's meant a great deal to me, to my dad, to my family, and I didn't expect this kind of performance. But I know he was watching tonight." He was named NFC Offensive Player of the Week for his performance. He then went to his father's funeral in Pass Christian, Mississippi. Favre won an ESPY Award for his Monday Night Football performance.

A notable game in the 2004 season in which Favre and the Packers finished 10–6 was against the New York Giants. During the game, Favre suffered a concussion. He did not receive medical clearance to re-enter the game. Despite the concussion, Favre threw a 28-yard touchdown to Javon Walker on a fourth down play. Afterwards it was reported that Favre did not remember throwing the touchdown pass.

After the death of his father, a series of events related to Favre's family were reported in the media. In October 2004, ten months after the death of Favre's father, his brother-in-law, Casey Tynes, was killed in an all-terrain vehicle accident on Favre's Mississippi property.

Soon after in 2004, Favre's wife, Deanna Favre, was diagnosed with breast cancer. Following aggressive treatment through 2004, she recovered. She created The Deanna Favre Hope Foundation which supports breast cancer education and women's breast imaging and diagnosis services for all women, including those who are medically underserved. Brett and Deanna's property in Hattiesburg, Mississippi was also extensively damaged by the storm. Favre elected to continue to play in the 2005 season.

For the 2005 season, the Packers, despite throwing for over 3,000 yards for a record 14th consecutive time, Favre had a below average season with only 20 touchdown passes and a league-leading 29 interceptions. The loss of guards Marco Rivera and Mike Wahle to free agency along with key injuries to Javon Walker, Ahman Green, Bubba Franks, among others, hampered Favre and the team. His passer rating was 70.9, 31st in the NFL and the worst single season rating of his career. After the disappointing season, many speculated that Favre would retire. However, on April 26, 2006, Favre announced that he would remain with the team for the 2006 season. Despite earlier comments that the 2006 season would be his last, Favre announced in a press conference on May 6, 2006, that he had not ruled out the possibility of returning beyond the 2006 season.

In the 2006 season, Favre suffered his first career shutout against the Chicago Bears. Later in the season, the New England Patriots shut out the Packers in a game where he was injured before halftime and could not complete the game. On September 24, 2006, he became just the second quarterback in NFL history to record 400 touchdown passes (Dan Marino being the first). He connected with rookie wide receiver Greg Jennings on a 5-yard pass that Jennings turned into a 75-yard touchdown play during a win against the Detroit Lions. He also became the first player ever to complete 5,000 passes in his career. On December 31, 2006, the Packers played their last game of the season, winning 26–7 against the Chicago Bears. It was his 22nd career win versus the Bears, moving him to an all-time record of 22–8.

Milestone season (2007)

On February 26, 2007, Brett Favre underwent minor arthroscopic ankle surgery in Green Bay, Wisconsin to remove a buildup of bone spurs in his left ankle.

's touchdown pass record on September 30, 2007, at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome]] Favre began the 2007 season trailing in a number of career NFL passing records. On September 16, 2007, Favre and the Packers defeated the New York Giants to give Favre his record setting 149th win, passing John Elway. On September 30, Favre threw a 16 yard touchdown pass to Greg Jennings in a game against the Vikings. This was his 421st NFL touchdown pass, and set a new all time record, surpassing Dan Marino's 420.

On November 4, 2007, after the Packers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 33–22, Favre became only the 3rd quarterback to have defeated all thirty-one other current NFL teams. He joined Peyton Manning and Tom Brady as the only quarterbacks in NFL history to do this, just the week after the two of them achieved the accomplishment. On Thanksgiving 2007, Favre led the Packers to a 37–26 win over the Lions, and brought the Packers to a 10–1 record. He won the Galloping Gobbler award, given by the broadcasters at Fox to the game MVP. Favre threw three touchdown passes for his 63rd career game with at least three touchdowns, surpassing Marino's former record of 62.

Favre led the Packers to a 13–3 regular season record, the NFC North championship, and the second seed in the NFC playoffs. Prior to the Packers' playoff game against the Seattle Seahawks, Favre stated his desire to continue playing football for another season. In the Divisional Playoffs, Favre threw three touchdowns as the Packers cruised to a 42–20 victory over the Seahawks at a snowy Lambeau Field. The Packers' season ended the following week when they suffered a 23–20 overtime loss in the NFC Championship Game to the eventual Super Bowl Champion New York Giants. Negotiating sub-zero temperatures, Favre amassed 236 passing yards and two touchdowns, but also threw an interception in overtime that set up the Giants' game-winning field goal. Favre's 90-yard touchdown pass to Donald Driver in the second quarter was the longest pass in Packers playoff history, and it extended Favre's NFL record for consecutive postseason games with a touchdown pass to 18. Favre stated after the game that he would make a decision more quickly than he has in the past regarding whether he would return for another season.

Favre's milestone 2007 season culminated with his selection to the 2008 Pro Bowl as the starting quarterback for the NFC, but an ankle injury forced him to withdraw.

Retirements and returns (2008)

Beginning near the end of the 2006 season, word began to surface that Favre was considering retirement. In fact, playing in Soldier Field against the arch-rival Bears in the season finale, Favre was given a standing ovation in the closing seconds of the Packer victory as a show of respect from Chicago fans to their longtime nemesis. Moments later at the postgame interview, he gave a tearful interview with an NBC Sports correspondent, where he admitted his future was still questionable. However, after much debate, he returned for 2007, during which his future was once again in doubt and an oft-discussed topic, with many in the media speculating that if the Packers made the Super Bowl, Favre would indeed retire and hand the reins to the unproven but talented Aaron Rodgers, who was drafted two years earlier as Favre's heir-apparent. Ultimately, the Packers fell in the NFC Championship to the New York Giants (who in turn upset the heavily favored New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII).

Finally, On March 4, 2008, Favre formally announced his retirement. Although Favre stated that he had been willing to play another year, he felt that another season would only be successful if he led his team to another Super Bowl victory. He added the chances for a Super Bowl win were small, and that he wasn't up for the challenge. At his press conference, Favre openly wept about leaving the NFL. He stated that his decision, regardless of what was being said in the media, had nothing to do with what the Packers did or didn't do. He said, seemingly contradictory to Cook's statements, that his decision to retire was based on the fact that he didn't want to play anymore. He said during the conference, "I know I can play, but I don't think I want to. And that's really what it comes down to." On July 11, 2008, Favre sent a letter to the Packers asking for his unconditional release to allow him to play for another NFL team. Packers general manager Ted Thompson announced he would not grant Favre an unconditional release and reaffirmed the organization's commitment to Aaron Rodgers as its new quarterback. Complicating matters was Favre's unique contract giving him the leverage to void any potential trade by not reporting to the camp of the team he might be traded to if the Packers elect to go that route.

Favre spoke publicly for the first time about his potential comeback in a July 14, 2008, interview with Greta Van Susteren on the Fox News Channel's On the Record with Greta Van Susteren. In the interview, Favre said he was "guilty of retiring early," that he was "never fully committed" to retirement, and that he was pressured by the Packers to make a decision before the NFL Draft and the start of the free agent signing period. Favre disputed the notion that he doesn't want to play for Green Bay and said that while he understands the organization has decided to move on, they should now allow him to do the same. He made clear that he would not return to the Packers as a backup and reiterated his desire to be released rather than traded, which would allow him the freedom to play for a competitive team. Favre also accused the Packers of being dishonest, wishing the team would have been straightforward with him and the public.

In the second part of the interview, which aired on July 15, Favre expressed his frustration with Packer management, spoke of his sympathy for successor Aaron Rodgers' predicament, and affirmed he is 100 percent committed to playing football in 2008.

FOXSports.com's Jay Glazer reported on July 16, 2008, that the Packers filed tampering charges against the Minnesota Vikings with the league office, alleging improper communication between Vikings offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell and Favre, although one source suggested that Favre may have been in contact with Vikings head coach Brad Childress. After an investigation, Commissioner Roger Goodell ruled there had been no violation of tampering rules.

Favre formally filed for reinstatement with the NFL on July 29, 2008, and his petition was granted by Commissioner Goodell, effective August 4, 2008. Favre then flew to Green Bay to report to Packers training camp. After a lengthy meeting with head coach Mike McCarthy and general manager Ted Thompson, however, both sides agreed it was time for Favre and the organization to part ways. McCarthy sensed Favre was not in "the right mind-set" to resume playing for the Packers, while Favre felt that his relationship with Packer management had deteriorated to the point that a return to the team would be untenable. the Packers traded Favre to the Jets on August 7, 2008, in exchange for a conditional fourth-round pick in the 2009 draft with performance escalation. Favre's season with the Jets started well; in week four of the 2008 season, he threw six touchdowns against the Arizona Cardinals, a personal best and one fewer than the NFL record. This performance led to him being selected as the FedEx Air Player of the Week. By Week 12, the Jets had compiled an 8–3 record, including a win over the previously undefeated Tennessee Titans. However, the Jets lost four of the last five games of the season, including the final game against the Miami Dolphins, who had acquired Chad Pennington after he was released from the Jets to make room for Favre. In those five games, Favre threw eight interceptions and only two touchdown passes, bringing his season total to twenty-two of each. Favre had complained of shoulder pain and had an MRI performed on December 29, 2008, which revealed a torn biceps tendon in his right shoulder. After the 2008 season had ended, in mid January 2009, Favre told Jets General Manager Mike Tannenbaum, "it may be time to look in a different direction" regarding the quarterback position. On February 11, 2009, Favre informed the Jets that he was retiring after 18 seasons. He remained property of the New York Jets organization, until April 28, 2009, when the Jets released Favre from his contract, thus allowing him to sign anywhere he wanted. By May 2009, he was officially cut from the Jets Reserve/Retired list. In September 2009, Favre again made Jets news, as the NFL learned that the Jets were aware that Favre injured his arm in the eleventh game of the 2008 season, and fined the Jets $125,000 for not reporting the injury in any of the Jets' five final games.

Minnesota Vikings (2009–2010)

during the 2009 season.]]

Amid speculation that Favre would once again attempt a comeback, it was reported in May 2009, that Favre had undergone arthroscopic surgery to complete a tear in his proximal biceps tendon. (Because the biceps muscle has two attachments, the muscle remains functional and is often less painful when an injured tendon is cut.) On June 15, 2009, Favre stated he was considering playing again, most likely with the Minnesota Vikings. On July 28, Brett Favre informed Vikings officials that he would remain retired. On the morning of August 18, 2009, WCCO-TV, a CBS affiliate in Minneapolis, Minnesota reported that Favre would sign with the Minnesota Vikings later in the day. ESPN.com later reported the same news, as Favre would sign a contract with the Vikings pending a physical. Favre officially signed with the Minnesota Vikings on August 18, 2009.

During Week 2, on September 20, Favre surpassed former Vikings defensive end Jim Marshall for consecutive starts at one position, with 291.

On September 27, in the Vikings' Week 3 game against the San Francisco 49ers, Favre threw a Hail Mary pass that was caught for a 32-yard touchdown by wide receiver Greg Lewis with 2 seconds left, resulting in a 27–24 come from behind victory. The play later won the 2010 ESPY award for Best Play.

On October 5, with a 30–23 victory over his former team the Green Bay Packers, which he was with for 16 seasons, Favre became the first quarterback in NFL history to defeat every one of the league's 32 franchises since the NFL first expanded to 32 franchises in 2002. This Monday night game between Minnesota and Green Bay was the most-viewed television program, sports or otherwise, in the history of cable television. The game drew a 15.3 rating and had 21.8 million viewers.

With week five's win against the St. Louis Rams, Favre started the 2009 season 5–0, which was a personal best in his career. That same game, he also recorded the second reception of his career. His first catch was in 1992, his first NFL completion. Then, he outdid himself by going to 6–0 after defeating the Baltimore Ravens.

On November 1, Favre returned to Green Bay to play his former team. After receiving boos from fans in the stadium he called home for 16 years, Favre went on to complete 17 of 28 passes for 244 yards. His four touchdown passes in this game tied Dan Marino's career record of 21 four-touchdown games. Favre and the Vikings claimed a 38–26 victory to improve to 7–1. The game drew a 17.4 rating and 29.8 million viewers, higher than Game 4 of the World Series between the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies.

On November 22, Favre threw four touchdowns in the 35–9 victory over the Seattle Seahawks, taking the Vikings to 9–1. Brett's four touchdown passes in this game surpassed Dan Marino's previous record, taking it to 22 four-touchdown games. Favre completed 22 of his 25 throws for a career-high 88 percent. His previous career high was 85.2 percent against Detroit on Sept. 20.

On November 29, Favre threw three TD passes and posted a passer rating of 112.5 in a 36–10 home win against the Chicago Bears. It was his 282nd consecutive regular-season game, tying Jim Marshall's record for most consecutive games played by a position player.

After starting 10–1, the Vikings lost three of their next four games, with losses to the Arizona Cardinals, Chicago Bears, and Carolina Panthers and a win against the Cincinnati Bengals. During the Carolina game, Minnesota head coach Brad Childress told Favre that he was considering benching Favre to protect him and Favre disagreed.

On December 29, 2009, Favre was named to his 11th Pro Bowl behind Drew Brees (New Orleans Saints). He racked the third most votes behind Peyton Manning and Drew Brees.

Favre led the Vikings to a 34–3 win in their first playoff game against the Dallas Cowboys, throwing four touchdown passes and no interceptions. It was his first-ever playoff win against the Cowboys, following three playoff losses when he was the quarterback of the Packers. Favre also became the first quarterback to win a playoff game at the age of 40. In celebration, Favre rallied his teammates in the locker room to sing "Pants on the Ground", a humorous song first performed during an American Idol audition.

Favre and the Vikings subsequently lost in the NFC Championship game in overtime against the New Orleans Saints. Favre's final throw against the Saints resulted in an interception which effectively ended any chance of a Vikings victory in regulation. Despite the loss, Favre set playoff records for pass completions and passing yards previously held by Joe Montana.

On April 30, 2010, Favre informed ESPN's Ed Werder that he was informed by renowned orthopedist Dr. James Andrews that his ankle injury that he suffered in the 2009 NFC Championship Game had not healed and would require surgery to repair it if he wanted to play for a twentieth season in the league and will now face the prospect of having surgery or retire. He issued this statement, saying: "This decision would be easy if not for my teammates and the fans and the entire Vikings staff. One year truly felt like 10 – much like Green Bay for many years. That's what I was missing in my heart I suppose, a sense of belonging."

On Tuesday, August 3, 2010, NBC Sports reported the confirmation of Brett Favre returning to the Minnesota Vikings. An announcement was given on August 17, 2010 confirming his return to the team. Favre started the Vikings' second preseason game at San Francisco on August 22.

On October 11, 2010, Brett Favre achieved two milestones. He threw for his 500th touchdown and 70,000th yard against the New York Jets. Despite his two milestones, Brett Favre had three turnovers and his Vikings lost 20–29.

On November 7, 2010, in a game against the Arizona Cardinals, Favre threw for a career high 446 yards while rallying the Vikings from a 14-point 4th quarter deficit. The Vikings eventually won in overtime, 27–24.

On December 2nd, 2010, in a game against the Buffalo Bills, Favre was hit by Bills Linebacker Arthur Moats while making a throw, causing him to sustain a sprain of his AC Joint in his shoulder. Favre missed the rest of the game and was replaced by Tarvaris Jackson who led the Vikings to victory despite throwing 3 interceptions.

On December 13, 2010, due to his sprained shoulder, Brett Favre was marked inactive for the game against the New York Giants ending his consecutive regular season start streak at 297. Favre started a total of 321 games including post-season appearances.

On December 20th, 2010 while playing the Chicago Bears outside at TCF Bank Stadium due to the collapse of the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, Favre sustained a concussion after being sacked by Bears defensive end Corey Wootton.

On January 2, 2011, Favre was unable to play due to his inability to pass NFL mandated post concussion tests. Favre announced after the game that he intends to retire from professional football.

Career achievements

Honors and awards

3× Associated Press Most Valuable Player (MVP) (1995, 1996, and 1997; the last shared with Barry Sanders). 11× Pro Bowl selection. 6× First- or Second-team All-Pro selection. Named to the NFL 1990s All-Decade Team.

Records and milestones

Favre owns a number of NFL records. Favre also owns a number of team records, having printed his name into almost every passing category in the annals of Green Bay Packers history.

Favre is the only quarterback to have led a team to victory over all thirty-two teams in the league since the NFL expanded to 32 franchises in 2002.

Favre is one of four quarterbacks to lead the league in touchdown passes four times. The others are Johnny Unitas, Len Dawson, and Steve Young.

Consecutive starts streak

Since first being named the starter of the Green Bay Packers before playing the Pittsburgh Steelers on September 27, 1992, Brett Favre had never missed a game spanning over eighteen and one half consecutive seasons. He is currently in first place for the most consecutive starts by a quarterback in the NFL and one of only six quarterbacks to have started over 100 consecutive games in NFL history. He failed to finish a game due to injury on only eight occasions since taking control of the Packers as quarterback. Since the beginning of Favre's consecutive start streak, 238 other quarterbacks have started in the NFL, 12 of them being back-ups to Favre at one point.

In 2009, Favre surpassed Jim Marshall for starts at any position with his record-breaking 271st start as a quarterback as the Vikings played the Lions. His streak ended at 297, with the last start in the streak coming on December 5, 2010. Favre was unable to start the Vikings' December 13 game against the New York Giants due to a shoulder injury, despite the game being delayed for a day because of the collapse of the Metrodome roof.

Statistics

Brett Favre's professional statistics: {|class="wikitable" |- !colspan="4" style="background:#e7e3e7;"|Regular Season !colspan="18" style="background:#e7e3e7;"|Passing !colspan="6" style="background:#e7e3e7;"|Rushing |- !YEAR !TEAM !GP !GS !CMP !ATT !CMP% !YDS !TD !INT !LNG !20+ !40+ !SK !SKY !YPA !YPG !TD% !INT% !RATE !W !L !ATT !YDS !AVG !TD !LNG !1ST |- |1991||ATL||2||0||0||4||0.0||0||0||2||—||0||0||1||11||0.0||0.0||0.0||50.0||0.0||0||0||0||0||0.0||0||0||0 |- |1992||GB||15||13||302||471||64.1||3,227||18||13||76T||30||9||34||208||6.9||215.1||3.8||2.8||85.3||8||5||47||198||4.2||1||19||11 |- |1993||GB||16||16||318||522||60.9||3,303||19||24||66T||37||5||30||199||6.3||206.4||3.6||4.6||72.2||9||7||58||216||3.7||1||27||13 |- |1994||GB||16||16||363||582||62.4||3,882||33||14||49||44||4||31||188||6.7||242.6||5.7||2.4||90.7||9||7||42||202||4.8||2||36T||14 |- |1995||GB||16||16||359||570||63.0||4,413||38||13||99T||59||5||33||217||7.7||275.8||6.7||2.3||99.5||11||5||39||181||4.6||3||40||17 |- |1996||GB||16||16||325||543||59.9||3,899||39||13||80T||49||11||40||241||7.2||243.7||7.2||2.4||95.8||13||3||49||136||2.8||2||23||18 |- |1997||GB||16||16||304||513||59.3||3,867||35||16||74||61||9||25||176||7.5||241.7||6.8||3.1||92.6||13||3||58||187||3.2||1||16||16 |- |1998||GB||16||16||347||551||63.0||4,212||31||23||84T||47||9||38||223||7.6||263.2||5.6||4.2||87.8||11||5||40||133||3.3||1||35||13 |- |1999||GB||16||16||341||595||57.3||4,091||22||23||74T||52||11||35||223||6.9||255.7||3.7||3.9||74.7||8||8||28||142||5.1||0||20||11 |- |2000||GB||16||16||338||580||58.3||3,812||20||16||67T||41||7||33||236||6.6||238.2||3.4||2.8||78.0||9||7||27||108||4.0||0||18||7 |- |2001||GB||16||16||314||510||61.6||3,921||32||15||67T||53||13||22||151||7.7||245.1||6.3||2.9||94.1||12||4||38||56||1.5||1||14||5 |- |2002||GB||16||16||341||551||61.9||3,658||27||16||85T||39||7||26||188||6.6||228.6||4.9||2.9||85.6||12||4||25||73||2.9||0||17||6 |- |2003||GB||16||16||308||471||65.4||3,361||32||21||66T||42||7||19||137||7.1||210.1||6.8||4.5||90.4||10||6||18||15||0.8||0||7||3 |- |2004||GB||16||16||346||540||64.1||4,088||30||17||79T||50||12||12||93||7.6||255.5||5.6||3.1||92.4||10||6||16||36||2.3||0||17||2 |- |2005||GB||16||16||372||607||61.3||3,881||20||29||59||40||7||24||170||6.4||242.6||3.3||4.8||70.9||4||12||18||62||3.4||0||20||4 |- |2006||GB||16||16||343||613||56.0||3,885||18||18||82T||49||8||21||134||6.3||242.8||2.9||2.9||72.7||8||8||23||29||1.3||1||14||4 |- |2007||GB||16||16||356||535||66.5||4,155||28||15||82T||49||16||15||93||7.8||259.7||5.2||2.8||95.7||13||3||29||12||0.4||0||21||3 |- |2008||NYJ||16||16||343||522||65.7||3,472||22||22||56T||40||7||30||213||6.7||217.0||4.2||4.2||81.0||9||7||21||43||2.0||1||27||4 |- |2009||MIN||16||16||363||531||68.4||4,202||33||7||63||48||11||34||247||7.9||259.1||5.8||1.4||107.2||12||4||9||7||0.8||0||4||1 |- |2010||MIN||13||13||217||358||60.6||2,509||11||19||53T||38||1||22||139||7.0||193.0||3.1||5.3||69.9||5||8||17||8||0.5||0||10||1 |- !colspan="2"|20 Seasons||302||298||6,300||10,169||62.0||71,838||508||336||99||872||161||525||3,487||7.1||237.9||5.0||3.3||86.0||186||112||602||1,844||3.1||14||40||153 |}

Personal life

Favre married Deanna Tynes on July 14, 1996. They are members of the Roman Catholic Church. Together, they have two daughters, Brittany (born 1989) and Breleigh (born 1999). A grandson, Parker Brett, was born to Brittany on April 2, 2010. The NFL has stated that it knew of no other grandfathers among current NFL players.

Favre's mother, Bonita, helps manage his holdings in agriculture and real estate, handle his endorsements and appearances and oversee his charity work. Brett and Bonita Favre released a book in 2004 titled Favre (ISBN 978-1-59071-036-4) which discusses their personal family and Green Bay Packers family, including the Monday Night Football game that followed the death of Brett's father Irvin Favre.

Favre established the Brett Favre Fourward Foundation in 1996. In conjunction with his annual golf tournament, celebrity softball game and fundraising dinners, the foundation has donated more than $2 million to charities in his home state of Mississippi as well as to those in his adopted state of Wisconsin.

The Favre family also owns and operates the Brett Favre's Steakhouse, located in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Favre made a cameo appearance in the 1998 romantic comedy film There's Something About Mary as Cameron Diaz's character's love interest.

Favre is a spokesperson for many products, including Snapper Inc., Wrangler Jeans and Sears. In the Sears ads, Favre pokes fun at himself for his constant waffling between retirement and continuing his playing career by debating whether or not to buy a plasma screen TV, saying "I'll take it... Nah, I don't know". In another ad he has a conversation with a Blue Crew associate who says of the TV, "some guys just can't make up their minds" to which Favre replies "Yeah, I hate those guys." In a Hyundai commercial with a similar theme, he accepts the 2020 NFL MVP award, with fully gray hair, saying "When you're playing at 50, and you're older than the fans, coaches, and owners, well... I should probably retire after this... But I don't know."

Allegations of misconduct

On October 8, 2010, the NFL began investigating Favre for allegedly sexting and leaving inappropriate voice messages for Jets "Gameday host" Jenn Sterger during the 2008 season. The investigation was in response to the voicemail recordings and photos posted by the website Deadspin the day before. In late October 2010, Favre was rumored to have admitted to NFL officials investigating the allegations that he indeed left the voicemail messages on Jenn Sterger's phone, but denied sending photos. On December 29, 2010, Favre was found not to be in violation of the NFL's personal conduct policy, but was fined $50,000 for failing to cooperate with the investigation.

Favre was temporarily banned by the NFL from drinking alcohol after he admitted he was addicted to Vicodin and spent 46 days at a drug rehab clinic before the 1996 season.

Notes and references

External links

Minnesota Vikings bio

Brett Favre Video on NFL.com

Brett Favre Video on ESPN Video Archive

Brett Favre Video & Audio on Boston.com

Brett Favre Video on FoxSports Video Archive

Brett Favre: The NFL's Greatest Gunslinger – slideshow by Life magazine

Category:1969 births Category:Living people Category:American Conference Pro Bowl players Category:American Roman Catholics Category:American people of French descent Category:American people of Choctaw descent Category:Atlanta Falcons players Category:Green Bay Packers players Category:Minnesota Vikings players Category:National Conference Pro Bowl players Category:American football quarterbacks Category:Native American sportspeople Category:New York Jets players Category:People from Gulfport, Mississippi Category:People from Hancock County, Mississippi Category:People from Hattiesburg, Mississippi Category:Players of American football from Mississippi Category:Southern Miss Golden Eagles football players