soundtrack as an image of a digital signal. Between the perforations is the Dolby Digital soundtrack (note the tiny Dolby "Double D" logo in the center of each area between the perforations). Just inside the perforations, on the left side of the image, is the analog optical soundtrack, with two channels encoded using Dolby SR noise reduction that can be dematrixed into four channels using Dolby Stereo Aka Dolby Analog. The consumer equivalent of this cinema audio decoding system is known as Dolby ProLogic. The optical timecode used to synchronize a DTS soundtrack, which sits between the optical soundtrack and the image, is not pictured. Finally, the image here is an anamorphic image used to create a 2.39:1 aspect ratio when projected through an anamorphic lens. Note the thin frame lines of anamorphic prints.]]

35 mm film is the basic film gauge most commonly used for chemical still photography (see 135 film) and motion pictures, and remains relatively unchanged since its introduction in 1892 by William Dickson and Thomas Edison, using film stock supplied by George Eastman. The photographic film is cut into strips 35 millimeters (about 1 3/8 inches) wide—hence the name. The standard negative pulldown for movies ("single-frame" format) is four perforations per frame along both edges, which makes for exactly 16 frames per foot (for stills, the standard frame is eight perforations).

A wide variety of largely proprietary gauges were used by the numerous camera and projection systems invented independently in the late 19th century and early 20th century, ranging from 13 mm to 75 mm (0.51–2.95 in). 35 mm was eventually recognized as the international standard gauge in 1909, and has remained by far the dominant film gauge for image origination and projection despite challenges from smaller and larger gauges, and from novel formats, because its size allows for a relatively good tradeoff between the cost of the film stock and the quality of the images captured. The ubiquity of 35 mm movie projectors in commercial movie theaters makes it the only motion picture format, film or video, that can be played in almost any cinema in the world.

The gauge is remarkably versatile in application. In the past one hundred years, it has been modified to include sound, redesigned to create a safer film base, formulated to capture color, has accommodated a bevy of widescreen formats, and has incorporated digital sound data into nearly all of its non-frame areas. Since the mid-1990s, Eastman Kodak and Fujifilm have held a duopoly in the manufacture of 35 mm motion picture negative film. However print film continues to be offered for sale by Agfa-Gevaert (a maker of Aerial films split off from Agfa Photo before the latter's insolvency), as well as Lucky Films in China.

Early history

In 1880, George Eastman began to manufacture gelatin dry photographic plates in Rochester, New York. Along with W. H. Walker, Eastman invented a holder for a roll of picture-carrying gelatin layer coated paper. Hannibal Goodwin's invention of nitrocellulose film base in 1887 was the first transparent, flexible film; the following year, Emile Reynaud developed the first perforated film stock. Eastman was the first major company, however, to mass-produce these components, when in 1889 Eastman realized that the dry-gelatino-bromide emulsion could be coated onto this clear base, eliminating the paper.

With the advent of flexible film, Thomas Alva Edison quickly set out on his invention, the Kinetoscope, which was first shown at the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences on May 9, 1893. The Kinetoscope was a film loop system intended for one-person viewing. Edison, along with assistant W. K. L. Dickson, followed that up with the Kinetophone, which combined the Kinetoscope with Edison's cylinder phonograph. Beginning in March 1892, Eastman and then, from April 1893 into 1896, New York's Blair Camera Co. supplied Edison with 1 9/16–inch (40 mm) filmstock that would be trimmed and perforated at the Edison lab to create 35 mm gauge filmstrips (at some point in 1894 or 1895, Blair began sending stock to Edison that was cut exactly to specification). Edison's aperture defined a single frame of film at 4 perforations high. Edison claimed exclusive patent rights to his design of 35 mm motion picture film, with four sprocket holes per frame, forcing his only major filmmaking competitor, American Mutoscope & Biograph, to use a 68 mm film that used friction feed, not sprocket holes, to move the film through the camera. A court judgment in March 1902 invalidated Edison's claim, allowing any producer or distributor to use the Edison 35 mm film design without license. Filmmakers were already doing so in Britain and Europe, where Edison had failed to file patents. A variation developed by the Lumière Brothers used a single circular perforation on each side of the frame towards the middle of the horizontal axis. It was Edison's format, however, that became first the de facto standard and then, in 1909, the "official" standard of the newly formed Motion Picture Patents Company, a trust established by Edison. Scholar Paul C. Spehr describes the importance of these developments:

The film format was introduced into still photography as early as 1913 (the Tourist Multiple) but first became popular with the launch of the Leica camera, created by Oskar Barnack in 1925.

Amateur interest

The petrochemical and silver compounds necessary for the creation of film stock meant from the start that 35 mm filmmaking was to be an expensive hobby with a high barrier to entry for the public at large. Furthermore, the nitrocellulose film base of all early film stock was dangerous and highly flammable, creating considerable risk for those not accustomed to the precautions necessary in its handling. Birt Acres was the first to attempt an amateur format, creating Birtac in 1898 by slitting the film into 17.5 mm widths. By the early 1920s, several formats had successfully split the amateur market away from 35 mm: 28 mm (1.1 in) (1912), 9.5 mm (0.37 in) (1922), 16 mm (0.63 in) (1923), and Pathe Rural, a 17.5 mm format designed for safety film (1926). Eastman Kodak's 16 mm format won the amateur market and is still widely in use today, mainly in the Super 16 variation, which remains popular with professional filmmakers. The 16 mm size was specifically chosen to prevent third-party slitting, as it was easy to create 17.5 mm stock from slitting 35 mm stock in two. It also was the first major format to be released with only fireproof cellulose diacetate (and later cellulose triacetate) "safety film" base. This amateur market would be further diversified by the introduction of 8 mm film (0.31 in) in 1932, intended for amateur filmmaking and "home movies". By law, 16 mm and 8 mm gauge stock (and 35 mm films intended for non-theatrical use) had to be manufactured on safety stock. The effect of these gauges was to essentially make the 35 mm gauge almost the exclusive province of professional filmmakers, a divide which mostly remains to this day.

Still cameras

Just as the format was recognized as a standard in 1909, still film cameras were developed that took advantage of the 35 mm format and allowed a large number of exposures for each length of film loaded into the camera. The frame size was increased to 24×36 mm. Although the first design was patented as early as 1908, the first commercial 35 mm camera was the 1913 Tourist Multiple, for movie and still photography, soon followed by the Simplex providing selection between full and half frame format. Oskar Barnack built his prototype Ur-Leica in 1913 and had it patented, but Ernst Leitz did not decide to produce it before 1924. The first Leica camera to be fully standardised was the Leica Standard of 1932.

How film works

Inside the photographic emulsion are millions of light-sensitive silver halide crystals. Each crystal is a compound of silver plus a halogen (such as bromine, iodine or chlorine) held together in a cubical arrangement by electrical attraction. When the crystal is struck with light, free-moving silver ions build up a small collection of uncharged atoms. These small bits of silver, too small to even be visible under a microscope, are the beginning of a latent image. Developing chemicals use the latent image specks to build up density, an accumulation of enough metallic silver to create a visible image.

The emulsion is attached to the film base with a transparent adhesive called the subbing layer. Below the base is an undercoat called the antihalation backing, which usually contains absorber dyes or a thin layer of silver or carbon (called rem-jet on color negative stocks). Without this coating, bright points of light would penetrate the emulsion, reflect off the inner surface of the base, and reexpose the emulsion, creating a halo around these bright areas. The antihalation backing can also serve to reduce static buildup, which was a significant problem with old black-and-white films. The film, which runs through the camera at per second, could build up enough static electricity to cause a spark bright enough to expose the film; antihalation backing solved this problem. Color films have three layers [note] of silver halide emulsions to separately record the red, green, and blue information (except for the Kodachrome process - see below). For every silver halide grain there is a matching color coupler grain. The top layer contains blue-sensitive emulsion, followed by a yellow filter to cancel out blue light; after this comes a green sensitive layer followed by a red sensitive layer.

Just as in black-and-white, the first step in color development converts exposed silver halide grains into metallic silver – except that an equal amount of color dye will be formed as well. The color couplers in the blue-sensitive layer will form yellow dye during processing, the green layer will form magenta dye and the red layer will form cyan dye. A bleach step will convert the metallic silver back into silver halide, which is then removed along with the unexposed silver halide in the fixer and wash steps, leaving only color dyes.

In the 1980s Eastman Kodak invented the T-Grain, a synthetically manufactured silver halide grain that had a larger, flat surface area and allowed for greater light sensitivity in a smaller, thinner grain. Thus Kodak could solve the problem of higher speed (greater light sensitivity—see film speed) which required larger grain and therefore more "grainy" images. With T-Grain technology, Kodak refined the grain structure of all their "EXR" line of motion picture film stocks (which was eventually incorporated into their "MAX" still stocks). Fuji films followed suit with their own grain innovation, the tabular grain in their SUFG (Super Unified Fine Grain) SuperF negative stocks, which are made up of thin hexagonal tabular grains.

Other common types of photographic films

Besides black & white and color negative films, there are black & white and color reversal films, which when developed create a positive ("natural") image that is projectable. There are also films sensitive to non-visible wavelengths of light, such as infrared.

Attributes

Color

Originally, film was a strip of cellulose nitrate coated with black-and-white photographic emulsion. The first successful natural color process was Britain's Kinemacolor (1908–1914), a two-color additive process that used a rotating disk with red and green filters in front of the camera lens and the projector lens. But any process that photographed and projected the colors sequentially was subject to color "fringing" around moving objects, and a general color flickering.

In 1916, William Van Doren Kelley produced the first commercially successful American color system using 35 mm film called Prizma. Initially a system that used frame sequential photography and projected through additive synthesis, Prizma was refined to bi-pack photography, with two strips of film (one sensitized for red and one for blue) threaded as one through the camera. The method of projection was also changed: each record was printed and processed on duplitized stock, creating a successful subtractive color process. This basic principle behind color photography set the standard for many later successful color formats, such as Multicolor, Brewster Color, and Cinecolor.

Although it had been available previously, color in Hollywood feature films became popular with Technicolor, whose main advantage was quality prints in shorter time than its competitors. In its earliest conception, Technicolor was a two-color system, recording red and green. Toll of the Sea, released in 1922, was the first film printed in their subtractive color system. Unlike Kinemacolor, which recorded color frame-sequentially, Technicolor's camera recorded red and green frames simultaneously through a beam splitting prism onto one strip of film. Two prints on half-width stock were processed from this negative, and one was toned red, and the other toned green. The two strips were then cemented together, forming a single strip similar to duplitized film.

In 1928, Technicolor introduced imbibition printing (similar to lithography) that streamlined the process. Using two matrices coated with hardened gelatin in a relief image, thicker where the image was darker, aniline color dyes were transferred onto a third, blank strip of film.

In 1934, William T. Crispinel and Alan M. Gundelfinger revived the Multicolor process under the company name Cinecolor. Cinecolor enjoyed large success in animation and low-budget pictures, largely due to its inexpense and good image results. While Cinecolor used the same duplitized stock method as Prizma and Multicolor, its main advantage was inventing processing machines that could do larger quantities of film in a shorter time.

Technicolor re-emerged with a three-color process for cartoons in 1932, and live action in 1934. Using a beam-splitter prism behind the lens, this camera incorporated three individual strips of black-and-white film, each one behind a filter of one of the primary colors (red, green and blue), allowing the full color spectrum to be recorded. A printing matrix with a hardened gelatin relief image was made from each negative, and the three matrices transferred color dye onto a blank film to create the print.

In 1950 Kodak announced the first Eastman color 35 mm negative film (along with a complementary positive film) that could record all three primary colors on the same strip of film. An improved version in 1952 was quickly adopted by Hollywood, making the use of tri-strip Technicolor cameras and bi-pack cameras (used in two-color systems such as Cinecolor) obsolete in color cinematography. This "monopack" structure is made up of three separate emulsion layers, one sensitive to red light, one to green and one to blue.

Safety film

Although Eastman Kodak had first introduced acetate-based film, it was far too brittle and prone to shrinkage, so the dangerously flammable nitrate-based cellulose films were generally used for motion picture camera and print films. In 1949 Kodak began replacing all the nitrate-based films with the safer, more robust cellulose triacetate-based "Safety" films. In 1950 the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded Kodak with a Scientific and Technical Academy Award (Oscar) for the safer triacetate stock. By 1952, all camera and projector films were triacetate-based. The first sound features were released in 1926–27, and while Warner Bros. was using synchronized phonograph discs (sound-on-disc), Fox placed the soundtrack in an optical record directly on the film (sound-on-film) on a strip between the sprocket holes and the image frame. "Sound-on-film" was soon adopted by the other Hollywood studios, resulting in an almost square image ratio of 0.860 in by 0.820 in.

By 1929, most movie studios had revamped this format using their own house aperture plate size to try to recreate the older screen ratio of 1.33:1. Furthermore, every theater chain had their own house aperture plate size in which the picture was projected. These sizes often did not match up even between theaters and studios owned by the same company, and therefore, uneven projection practices occurred.

In 1932, in refining this ratio, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences expanded upon this 1930 standard. The camera aperture became 22 mm by 16 mm (0.866 in by 0.630 in), and the projected image would use an aperture plate size of 0.825 by 0.600 in (21 by 15 mm), yielding an aspect ratio of 1.37:1. This became known as the "Academy" ratio, named so after them. Since the 1950s the aspect ratio of some theatrically released motion picture films has been 1.85:1 (1.66:1 in Europe) or 2.35:1 (2.40:1 after 1970). The image area for "TV transmission" is slightly smaller than the full "Academy" ratio at 21 mm by 16 mm (0.816 in by 0.612 in), an aspect ratio of 1.33:1. Hence when the "Academy" ratio is referred to as having an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, it is done so mistakenly. The image, as recorded on the negative and print, is horizontally compressed (squeezed) by a factor of 2.

The unexpected success of the Cinerama widescreen process in 1952 led to a boom in film format innovations to compete with the growing audiences of television and the dwindling audiences in movie theaters. These processes could give theatergoers an experience that television couldn't—color, stereophonic sound and panoramic vision. Before the end of the year, 20th Century Fox had narrowly "won" a race to obtain an anamorphic optical system invented by Henri Chrétien, and soon began promoting the Cinemascope technology as early as the production phase.

Looking for a similar alternative, other major studios hit upon a simpler, less expensive solution by April 1953: using a removable aperture plate in the film projector gate, the top and bottom of the frame could be cropped to create a wider aspect ratio. Paramount Studios began this trend with their aspect ratio of 1.66:1, first used in Shane, which was originally shot for Academy ratio. It was Universal Studios, however, with their May release of Thunder Bay that introduced the now standard 1.85:1 format to American audiences and brought attention to the industry the capability and low cost of equipping theaters for this transition.

Other studios followed suit with aspect ratios of 1.75:1 up to 2:1. For a time, these various ratios were used by different studios in different productions, but by 1956, the aspect ratio of 1.85:1 became the "standard" US format. These flat films are photographed with the full Academy frame, but are matted (most often with a mask in the theater projector, not in the camera) to obtain the "wide" aspect ratio. This standard, in some European nations, became 1.66:1 instead of 1.85:1, although some productions with pre-determined American distributors compose for the latter to appeal to US markets.

In September 1953, 20th Century Fox debuted CinemaScope with their production of The Robe to great success. CinemaScope became the first marketable usage of an anamorphic widescreen process and became the basis for a host of "formats," usually suffixed with -scope, that were otherwise identical in specification, although sometimes inferior in optical quality. (Some developments, such as SuperScope and Techniscope, however, were truly entirely different formats.) By the early 1960s, however, Panavision would eventually solve many of the Cinemascope lenses' technical limitations with their own lenses,

The 1950s and 1960s saw many other novel processes using 35 mm, such as VistaVision, SuperScope, Technirama, and Techniscope, most of which ultimately became obsolete. VistaVision, however, would be revived decades later by Lucasfilm and other studios for special effects work, while a SuperScope variant became the predecessor to the modern Super 35 format that is popular today.

Super 35

The concept behind Super 35 originated with the Tushinsky Brothers' SuperScope format, particularly the SuperScope 235 specification from 1956. In 1982, Joe Dunton revived the format. for Dance Craze, and Technicolor soon marketed it under the name "Super Techniscope" before the industry settled on the name Super 35. The central driving idea behind the process is to return to shooting in the original silent "Edison" 1.33:1 full 4-perf negative area (24.89 mm by 18.67 mm or 0.980 in by 0.735 in), and then crop the frame either from the bottom or the center (like 1.85:1) to create a 2.40:1 aspect ratio (matching that of anamorphic lenses) with an area of 24 mm by 10 mm (0.945 in by 0.394 in). Although this cropping may seem extreme, by expanding the negative area out perf-to-perf, Super 35 creates a 2.40:1 aspect ratio with an overall negative area of 240 square millimetres (0.372 sq in), only 9 mm² (0.014 sq in) less than the 1.85:1 crop of the Academy frame (248.81 mm² or 0.386 sq in). The cropped frame is then converted at the intermediate stage to a 4-perf anamorphically squeezed print compatible with the anamorphic projection standard. This allows an "anamorphic" frame to be captured with non-anamorphic lenses, which are much more common. Up to 2000, once the film was photographed in Super 35, an optical printer was used to anamorphose (squeeze) the image. This optical step reduced the overall quality of the image and made Super 35 a controversial subject among cinematographers, many who preferred the higher image quality and frame negative area of anamorphic photography (especially with regard to granularity). All 3-perf negatives require optical or digital conversion to standard 4-perf if a film print is desired, though 3-perf can easily be transferred to video with little to no difficulty by modern telecine or film scanners. With digital intermediate increasingly becoming a standard process for post-production, 3-perf has become more popular with productions which would otherwise be averse to an optical conversion stage.

VistaVision

format, affectionately dubbed "Lazy 8" because it is eight perforations long and runs horizontally (lying down)]] The VistaVision motion picture format was created in 1954 by Paramount Pictures to create a finer-grained negative and print for flat widescreen films. Similar to still photography, the format uses a camera running 35 mm film horizontally instead of vertically through the camera, with frames that are eight perforations long, resulting in a wider aspect ratio of 1.5:1 and greater detail, as more of the negative area is used per frame.

While the format was dormant by the early 1960s, the camera system was revived for visual effects by John Dykstra at Industrial Light and Magic, starting with , as a way of reducing granularity in the optical printer by having increased original camera negative area at the point of image origination. Its usage has again declined since the dominance of computer-based visual effects, although it still sees limited utilization.

Perforations

;BH perfs: Film perforations were originally round holes cut into the side of the film, but as these perforations were subject to wear and deformation, the shape was changed to what is now called the Bell & Howell (BH) perforation, which has straight top and bottom edges and outward curving sides. The BH perforation's dimensions are 0.110 inches (2.79 mm) from the middle of the side curve to opposite top corner by 0.073 inches (1.85 mm) in height. The BH1866 perforation, or BH perforation with a pitch of , is the modern standard for negative and internegative films.

;KS perfs: Because BH perfs have sharp corners, the repeated use of the film through intermittent movement projectors creates strain that can easily tear the perforations. Furthermore, they tended to shrink as the print slowly decayed. Therefore, larger perforations with a rectangular base and rounded corners were introduced by Kodak in 1924 to improve steadiness, registration, durability, and longevity. Known as "Kodak Standard" (KS), they are 0.0780 inches (1.981 mm) high by 0.1100 inches (2.794 mm) wide. The KS1870 perforation, or KS perforation with a pitch of , is the modern standard for release prints.

These two perforations have remained by far the most commonly used ones. BH perforations are also known as N (negative) and KS as P (positive). The Bell & Howell perf remains the standard for camera negative films because of its perforation dimensions in comparison to most printers, thus it can keep a steady image compared to other perforations.

;DH perfs: The Dubray Howell (DH) perforation was first suggested in 1931 to replace the two perfs with a single hybrid. The proposed standard was, like KS, rectangular with rounded corners and a width of 0.1100 inches (2.79 mm), and, like BH, was 0.073 inches (1.85 mm) tall.

;CS perfs: In 1953, the introduction of CinemaScope required the creation of a different shape of perforation which was nearly square and smaller to provide space for four magnetic sound stripes for stereophonic and surround sound. Due to the size difference, CS perfed film cannot be run through a projector with standard KS sprocket teeth, but KS prints can be run on sprockets with CS teeth. Shrunken film with KS prints that would normally be damaged in a projector with KS sprockets may sometimes be run far more gently through a projector with CS sprockets because of the smaller size of the teeth. Though CS perfs have not been widely used since the late 1950s, Kodak still retains CS perfs as a special-order option on at least one type of print stock.

During continuous contact printing, the raw stock and the negative are placed next to one another around the sprocket wheel of the printer. The negative, which is the closer of the two to the sprocket wheel (thus creating a slightly shorter path), must have a marginally shorter pitch between perforations (0.1866 in pitch); the raw stock has a long pitch (0.1870 in). While cellulose nitrate and cellulose diacetate stocks used to shrink during processing slightly enough to have this difference naturally occur, modern safety stocks do not shrink at the same rate, and therefore negative (and some intermediate) stocks are perforated at a pitch of 0.2% shorter than print stock. Because these soundtrack systems appear on different parts of the film, one movie can contain all of them, allowing broad distribution without regard for the sound system installed at individual theatres.

The optical track technology has also changed: distributors and theaters are changing to cyan dye optical soundtracks instead of applicated tracks, which use environmentally unfriendly chemicals to retain a silver (black-and-white) soundtrack. Because traditional incandescent exciter lamps produce copious amounts of infra-red light, and cyan tracks do not absorb infra-red light, this change has required theaters to replace the incandescent exciter lamp with a complementary colored red LED or laser. These LED or laser exciters are backwards-compatible with older tracks. ( The film Anything Else (2003) was the first to be released with only cyan tracks.

Modern 3D systems for Theatrical 35mm Presentation

The recent success of digitally projected 3D movies has lead to a demand from some theater owners to be able to show these movies in 3D without incurring the high capital cost of installing digital projection equipment. To satisfy that demand, a number of new systems have recently been proposed for 3D systems based on 35mm film by Technicolor, Panavision and others. These systems are the latest version of the "over-under" stereo 3D prints first introduced in the 1960s.

To be attractive to exhibitors these schemes need to offer 3D films that can be projected by a standard 35mm cinema projector with minimal modification, and so they are based on the use of "over-under" film prints. In these prints a left/right pair of 2.39:1 non-anamorphic images are substituted for the one 2.39:1 anamorphic image of a 2D "scope" print. The frame dimensions are based on those of the Techniscope 2-perf camera format used in the 1960s and '70s. However when used for 3D the left and right frames are pulled down together, thus the standard 4-perf pulldown is retained minimising the need for modifications to the projector or to long-play systems. The linear speed of film through the projector and sound playback both remain exactly the same as in normal 2D operation.

The Technicolor system uses the polarisation of light to separate the left & right eye images and for this they rent to exhibitors a combination splitter/polarizer/lens assembly which can be fitted to a lens turret in the same manner as an anamorphic lens. In contrast the Panavision system uses a spectral comb filter system, but their combination splitter/filter/lens is physically similar to the Technicolor assembly and can be used in the same way. No other modifications are required to the projector for either system, though for the Technicolor system a silver screen is necessary, as it would be with polarised-light digital 3D. Thus a programme can readily include both 2D and 3D segments with only the lens needing to be changed between them.

Recent proposed innovations in pull-down specifications

Due to extremely high cost of modern digital projection installations, a new projection system option, based on the proven 6 perf pull-down, first used in 3 strip Cinerama is now being offered for low cost film based 3D stereoscopic presentations. It is also a means to provide a dramatic improvement in 2D (flat) 35mm brightness and resolution, approaching the look of 70mm, while still using automated 35mm projection technology. It is mainly intended for use in developing counties, and small, or isolated "first world" theater installations. Cost of prints, are less than 25% of similar running time in conventional 70mm Large Format, and only about 10% of the cost of 3D of flat IMAX. Image is roughly 50% brighter and more detailed than 4 perf 35mm 3D or flat projection. As of mid 2010, only about 40 theaters in a huge film market, such as India, are able to show either digital 3D or 3D IMAX.As the duplication and film stock is compliant with SMPTE standards, there should be no impediment to its use, other than market forces, in the concerned countries and regions.

Technical specifications

[[File:35mmareas.svg|thumb|450px|Areas on an Academy-width 35 mm spherical film print: 1. Camera aperture 2. Academy ratio, 1.37-1 3. 1.85-1 Ratio 4. 1.66-1 Ratio 5. Television scanned area 6. Television "action safe" area 7. Television "title safe" area ]]

Technical specifications for 35 mm film are standardized by SMPTE.

16 frames per foot (0.748 in (19 mm) per frame (long pitch))

24 frames per second (frame/s); per minute. is about 11 minutes at 24 frame/s.

vertical pulldown

4 perforations per frame (all projection and most origination excepting 3-perf)

35 mm spherical

aspect ratio: 1.37:1 on camera aperture; 1.85:1 and 1.66:1 are hard or soft matted over this

camera aperture: 0.866 by 0.630 in (22 by 16 mm)

projector aperture (full 1.37:1): 0.825 by 0.602 in (21 by 15 mm)

projector aperture (1.66:1): 0.825 by 0.497 in (21 by 13 mm)

projector aperture (1.85:1): 0.825 by 0.446 in (21 by 11 mm)

TV station aperture: 0.816 by 0.612 in (21 by 16 mm)

TV transmission: 0.792 by 0.594 in (20 by 15 mm)

TV safe action: 0.713 by 0.535 in (18 by 14 mm); corner radii: 0.143 in (3.6 mm)

TV safe titles: 0.630 by 0.475 in (16 by 12 mm); corner radii: 0.125 in (3.2 mm)

Super 35 mm film

aspect ratio: 1.33:1 on 4-perf camera aperture

camera aperture (4-perf): 0.980" by 0.735"

picture used (35 mm anamorphic): 0.945 in (24.00 mm) by 0.394 in (10.00 mm)

picture used (70 mm blowup): 0.945 in (24.00 mm) by 0.430 in (10.92 mm)

picture used (35 mm flat 1.85): 0.945 in (24.00 mm) by 0.511 in (12.97 mm)

35 mm anamorphic

aspect ratio: 2.39:1, in a 1.19:1 frame with a 2× horizontal anamorphosis

camera aperture: 0.866 in (22.00 mm) by 0.732 in (18.59 mm)

projector aperture: 0.825 in (20.96 mm) by 0.690 in (17.53 mm)

See also

16 mm film

35 mm still photography film (135 film)

70 mm film

Color film (motion picture)

Digital video

Film perforations

Filmstock

History of the art and technique of making films

Movie projector

Original camera negative

Still photography film formats

Lists

List of film formats

List of motion picture film stocks

References

External links

American Widescreen Museum

Fujifilm Motion Picture Films

Kodak: Cinematography

Motion Picture Stock Timeline

Category:Film and video technology Category:Movie film formats Category:Film formats

Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Diana Ernestine Earle Ross
Born	March 26, 1944
Origin	Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Genre	R&B;, soul, disco, jazz, pop
Occupation	Singer, record producer, actress
Years active	1959–present
Label	Lu Pine, Motown, RCA, EMI
Associated acts	The Supremes, Lionel Richie, Marvin Gaye, The Jackson 5, Michael Jackson, CHIC, The Temptations, Ashford & Simpson
Url	www.dianaross.com

Diana Ernestine Ross (born March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. Ross was lead singer of the Motown group The Supremes during the 1960s. After leaving the group in 1970, Ross began a solo career that included successful ventures into film and Broadway. She received a Best Actress Academy Award nomination for her role as Billie Holiday in Lady Sings the Blues (1972), for which she won a Golden Globe award. She won 8 American Music Awards, garnered twelve Grammy Award nominations, and won a Tony Award for her one-woman show, An Evening with Diana Ross, in 1977.

In 1976, Billboard magazine named her the "Female Entertainer of the Century." In 1993, the Guinness Book of World Records declared Diana Ross the most successful female music artist in history due to her success in the United States and United Kingdom for having more hits than any female artist in the charts with a career total of 18 number one records in the United States. Diana Ross has sold more than 100 million records worldwide.

Ross is one of the few recording artists to have two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame—one as a solo artist and the other as a member of The Supremes. In December 2007, she received a John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Honors Award.

Early life

Diana Ross, the daughter of Ernestine (née Moten) (January 27, 1916October 9, 1984), a schoolteacher, and Fred Ross, Sr. (July 4, 1920November 21, 2007), a former United States Army soldier, was born at Hutzel Women's Hospital in Detroit, Michigan. Ross said she didn't see her father until he returned from serving in World War II. Much has been made of whether her first name ends in an "a" or an "e". According to Ross, her mother actually named her "Diane" but a clerical error resulted in her name being recorded as "Diana" on her birth certificate. She always went by "Diane" at home and at school. Her high school yearbook listed her as "Diana" and as early as 1963, when The Supremes released their first album, she was listed in the liner notes as "Diana". At The Supremes' first Copacabana engagement in 1965, she introduced herself to the audience as "Diane", but later that year she started introducing herself as "Diana". Her intimates still call her "Diane".

After living at 635 Belmont Avenue in Detroit's North End for several years, Ross's family settled on St. Antoine Street in the Brewster-Douglass housing projects on Diana's fourteenth birthday in 1958. Ross aspired to be a fashion designer, and studied design, millinery, pattern-making and seamstress skills while attending Cass Technical High School, a four-year college preparatory magnet school, in downtown Detroit. In her late teens, Ross worked at Hudson's Department Store where, it was claimed in biographies, that she was the first black employee "allowed outside the kitchen". Ross graduated in January 1962, one semester earlier than her classmates. Ross' parents had a difficult marriage and separated when Ross was still in her teens.

Career

The Supremes: 1959–1970

In 1959, Ross was brought to the attention of Milton Jenkins, the manager of the local doo-wop group The Primes, by Mary Wilson. Primes member Paul Williams convinced Jenkins to enlist Ross in the sister group The Primettes, which included Wilson, Florence Ballard and Betty McGlown. Ross, Wilson and Ballard each sang lead during live performances. In 1960, Lu Pine Records signed the group and issued the Ross-led single "Tears of Sorrow" backed with the Wilson-led "Pretty Baby".Soon after winning a singing contest in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Ross approached former neighbor William "Smokey" Robinson, Jr. for an audition at the label with which he recorded, Motown Records. The group garnered the audition and impressed Motown's CEO, Berry Gordy, Jr. (who arrived at the audition during the group's performance), but declined to work with the group due to them being underaged. Undeterred, the group would stand outside the label's Hitsville USA studios hoping to grab attention, eventually providing backing vocals & hand claps for many of Motown's more established artists. Meanwhile during the group's struggling early years Ross earned pay in the day as Berry Gordy's secretary. She also served at the group's main hair stylist, make-up artist, seamstress & costume designer during this period.

in 1965. Left to right: Florence Ballard, Mary Wilson and Diana Ross.]] In 1961, having already replaced McGlown with Barbara Martin, the quartet signed with Motown Records under their new moniker, The Supremes, chosen by Florence Ballard, who was the only member to be present when the group was offered a name change. Both Ross and Wilson initially disliked the name, afraid they would be mistaken for a men's group (Ruby & The Romantics' original name was The Supremes) but the name stuck regardless.

Following Martin's exit in 1962, the group remained a trio. In 1963, Ross became the group's lead singer, as Berry Gordy felt the group could "cross over" to the pop charts with Ross' unique vocal quality, and the Ross-led "When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes" became the group's first Billboard Top 20 Pop single. The Supremes hit number one with "Where Did Our Love Go", a song rejected by The Marvelettes, and then achieved unprecedented success: between August 1964 and May 1967, Ross, Wilson and Ballard sang on ten number-one hit singles, all of which also made the United Kingdom Top 40.

Gordy removed Florence Ballard from the group in July 1967 and chose Cindy Birdsong, a member of Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles, as her replacement. Shortly thereafter, he changed the group's name to Diana Ross & the Supremes.

Motown initially conceived of a solo career for Diana Ross in 1966, but did not act on it until 1968. Television specials such as TCB (1968) and G.I.T. on Broadway (1969) were designed to spotlight her as a star in her own right, and much of the later Ross-led Supremes material was recorded by Ross with session singers The Andantes, not Wilson and Birdsong, on backing vocals. By the summer of 1969, Ross began her first solo recordings. In November of the same year, three years after it was first rumored, Billboard magazine confirmed Ross's departure from the group to begin her solo career. That same year, Ross introduced Motown's newest act, The Jackson 5, to national audiences on the Hollywood Palace television variety program.

Ross recorded her initial solo sessions with a number of producers, including Bones Howe and Johnny Bristol. Her first track with Bristol, "Someday We'll Be Together", was tagged as a potential solo single, but it instead was issued as the final Diana Ross & the Supremes release. "Someday We'll Be Together" was the 12th and final number-one hit for the Supremes and the last American number-one hit of the 1960s. Ross made her final appearance with the Supremes at the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas on January 14, 1970.

Early solo career: 1970–1981

, featured her first solo number-one hit, "Ain't No Mountain High Enough".]] After a half-year of recording material with various producers, Ross settled with the production team of Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson, the creative force behind Marvin Gaye's and Tammi Terrell's hit duets and Diana Ross & the Supremes' "Some Things You Never Get Used To". Ashford and Simpson helmed most of Ross's first album, Diana Ross, and continued to write and produce for her for the next decade.

In May 1970, Diana Ross was released on Motown. The first single, the gospel-influenced waltz, "Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)", peaked at number 20 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album's second single, a fully rearranged cover of Gaye's and Terrell's 1967 hit, and another Ashford and Simpson composition, "Ain't No Mountain High Enough", was an international hit, and gave Ross her first #1 pop single and gold record award as a solo artist. "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" received a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female. In 1971, Motown released Ross's second album Everything Is Everything, which produced Ross's first UK number-one solo single, "I'm Still Waiting". Several months later, Ross released Surrender, which included the top-20 pop hit, "Remember Me". That year, she hosted her first solo television special, Diana!, featuring guest appearances by The Jackson 5, Bill Cosby and Danny Thomas.

In 1973 Ross returned to number-one with the single "Touch Me in the Morning". The album of the same name became her first top five charted pop release. Later that same year, Ross and fellow Motown star Marvin Gaye released a duet album, Diana & Marvin. The duo scored an international hit with their cover of The Stylistics' "You Are Everything". Ross' 1974 follow-up album, Last Time I Saw Him, wasn't as successful despite the success of its country-tinged title track. Two years later Ross ventured into disco with "Love Hangover", which returned her to number-one. The self-titled parent album became another top five hit and included her previous number-one, the movie theme, "Do You Know Where You're Going To (Theme from Mahogany)". Ross' subsequent follow-ups, including Baby It's Me (1977) and Ross (1978) fell off the charts soon after they appeared. Ross did have success with her first Broadway one-woman show, An Evening with Diana Ross. Her performance later won her a Tony. She was featured in TV special with the same name.

, was her final LP for Motown before leaving for RCA the following year.]] In 1979 Ross hired former collaborators Ashford & Simpson, who had left Motown in 1973 due to contractual issues with Berry Gordy, to overlook the production of her next album, The Boss. That album produced the hit title track and the modestly successful "It's My House". Ross' working relationship with Berry Gordy had deteriorated at that point as Gordy refused to be an executive producer of the project. In 1980, Ross hired Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards of the group CHIC to overlook production of her final contractual Motown album, diana. That album led to major success with "Upside Down" returning Ross to number-one on the pop charts for the first time since "Love Hangover". Its follow-up, "I'm Coming Out", was as successful and both songs found major success overseas. When Upside Down hit #1 in 1980, Diana Ross became the first woman in music history to chart 6 #1 records. Combining her 12 as lead singer of The Supremes, Diana Ross' career total of number one records is 18, the most for any female recording artist in music history. Mariah Carey tied Ross' record in 2007.

In 1981, Ross decided not to renew her Motown contract only to discover that everything she thought she had owned was only leased to her by Berry Gordy. Ross accepted a $20 million deal with RCA in 1981, then the most lucrative contract in music. To complete contractual obligations to Motown, Ross recorded several songs with Lionel Richie, one of which, "Endless Love", led to the duo having an international number-one hit. The song was the theme song of the movie of the same name. Motown issued a compilation album, To Love Again, to compete with Ross' RCA debut.

Film career: 1972–1999

Though Ross had previously appeared in two films while a member of The Supremes, it wasn't until the early 1970s when Berry Gordy began to focus on making Ross an actress. In late 1971, Motown announced that Diana Ross was going to portray jazz icon Billie Holiday in a Motown-produced film loosely based on Holiday's autobiography Lady Sings the Blues (1956) written by Holiday and William Dufty. The movie co-starred Billy Dee Williams as Holiday's lover, Louis McKay. The cast also included comedian Richard Pryor as the "Piano Man".

Some critics ridiculed Ross's casting in the role. Ross and Holiday were considered to be "miles apart" in vocal styling and appearance. Undeterred, Ross immersed herself in Holiday's music and life story. She went to drug clinics and talked with doctors as research for the role. Ross made a crucial decision when it came to interpreting Holiday's music. Instead of imitating Billie Holiday's voice, Ross focused on Holiday's inimitable vocal phrasing.

Opening in October 1972, Lady Sings the Blues was a major success, and Ross's performance was lauded and well received. Jazz critic Leonard Feather, a friend of Billie Holiday, praised Ross for "expertly capturing the essence of Lady Day." In 1973, Ross was nominated for both a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award for "Best Actress". Ross along with fellow nominee that year Cicely Tyson, were the second African American actresses to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress after Dorothy Dandridge. Ross won the Golden Globe for Best Newcomer, but lost the Best Actress Oscar to her friend Liza Minnelli for her role in Cabaret. The soundtrack album for Lady Sings the Blues reached number one on the Billboard 200 for two weeks and broke then industry records by shipping 300,000 copies during its first eight days of release. The double-pocket custom label record is one of Ross's best-selling albums of all time, with total sales to date of nearly two million copies.

In 1975, Ross again co-starred with Billy Dee Williams in the Motown film Mahogany. The story of an aspiring fashion designer who becomes a runway model and the toast of the industry, Mahogany was a troubled production from its inception. The film's original director, Tony Richardson, was fired during production and Berry Gordy assumed the director's chair himself. In addition, Gordy and Ross clashed during filming, with Ross leaving the production before shooting was completed, forcing Gordy to use secretary Edna Anderson as a body double for Ross. While a box office success, the film was not well received by the critics: Time magazine's review of the film chastised Gordy for "squandering one of America's most natural resources: Diana Ross".

In 1977, Motown acquired the film rights to the Broadway play The Wiz, an African-American reinterpretation of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Although teenage Stephanie Mills, a veteran of the play, was originally cast as Dorothy, Ross convinced Universal Pictures producer Rob Cohen to have Ross cast as Dorothy. Because of Ross' age, the script was modified to make the protagonist a school teacher rather than a schoolgirl. Among Ross's costars were Lena Horne, Michael Jackson, Richard Pryor, Nipsey Russell and Ted Ross. Upon its October 1978 release, the film adaptation of The Wiz, a $24 million production, earned $13.6 million at the box office. Though pre-release television broadcast rights had been sold to CBS for over $10 million, the film produced a net loss of $10.4 million for Motown and Universal. The film's failure ended Ross' short career on the big screen and contributed to the Hollywood studios' reluctance to produce the all-black film projects which had become popular during the blaxploitation era of the early-to-mid 1970s for several years. The Wiz was Ross' final film for Motown.

Ross had success with movie-themed songs. While her version of Holiday's "Good Morning Heartache" only performed modestly well in early 1973, her recording of "Do You Know Where You're Going To (Theme from Mahogany)" gave Ross her fourth number-one hit in late 1975. Three years later, Ross and Michael Jackson had a modest dance hit with their recording of "Ease on Down the Road". Their second duet, actually as part of the ensemble of The Wiz, "Brand New Day", found some success overseas. Ross scored a Top 10 hit in late 1980 with the theme song to the 1980 film It's My Turn. The following year, she collaborated with former Commodores singer-songwriter Lionel Richie on the theme song for the film Endless Love. The Academy Award-nominated "Endless Love" single became her final hit on Motown Records, and the number one record of the year. Several years later, in 1988, Ross recorded the theme song to The Land Before Time. "If We Hold On Together" became an international hit reaching number-one in Japan.

Ross would be given movie offers over the years but reportedly turned them down because of either contractual obligations or fears of being typecasted. Ross had campaigned to portray pioneering entertainer Josephine Baker in a feature film even during her later years in Motown. However, in 1991, the feature film turned into a TV film with Lynn Whitfield playing Baker instead of Ross. Ross was also offered a role in an early adaptation of The Bodyguard with Ryan O'Neal. However, plans of this adaptation fell through. Years later, Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner assumed the roles of Ross and O'Neal in the 1992 film. In 1993, Ross returned to making movies with a dramatic role in the TV film, Out of Darkness. Ross won acclaim for her role in the film and a well earned third Golden Globe nomination. In 1999, she and Brandy co-starred in the film, Double Platinum, which was released prior to the release of Ross' album, Every Day Is a New Day.

Later solo career: 1981–1999

was Ross's debut LP for Ross Records distributed by RCA Records.]] Diana Ross's RCA Records debut, Why Do Fools Fall in Love, was issued in October 1981. The album yielded three Top 10 hits including the title track "Why Do Fools Fall in Love", a remake of the 1956 Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers classic of the same name, and the single "Mirror Mirror". A third single, "Work That Body", hit the Top Ten in the UK. That success was repeated if only more modestly with the 1982 album, Silk Electric. Ross' recording of Michael Jackson's "Muscles" gave Ross another top ten hit. Ross' 1983 album, Ross, failed to produce any success.

On July 21, 1983, Ross performed a concert in Central Park for a taped Showtime special. Proceeds of the concert would be donated to build a playground in the singer's name. Midway through the beginning of the show, a torrential downpour occurred. Ross tried to keep on performing, but the severe weather required that the show be stopped. Ross urged the large crowd to exit the venue safely, promising to perform the next day. The second concert held the very next day was without rain. The funds for the playground were to be derived from sales of different items at the concert; however, all profits earned from the first concert were spent on the second. When the mainstream media discovered the exorbitant costs of the two concerts, Diana Ross faced criticism and poor publicity. Although representatives of Diana Ross originally refused to pay anything for the proposed playground, Ross later paid the $250,000 required to build the park. The Diana Ross Playground was finally built three years later.

In 1984, Ross' career was revived modestly again with the release of Swept Away. The title track became an international hit as did the ballad, "Missing You", which was a tribute to Marvin Gaye, who had died earlier that year. Her 1985 album, Eaten Alive, found success overseas with the title track and "Chain Reaction", while neither of the songs found success in America. Ross' 1987 follow-up, Red Hot Rhythm & Blues, performed worse. In 1988, Ross chose to not renew her RCA contract.

Motown Records was being sold by Berry Gordy for $60 million. Ross advised Gordy not to make the move. Before leaving Motown, Gordy offered Ross a contract back to Motown. Ross was at first hesitant to return to the label but agreed after Gordy offered her part-ownership of the label. Despite initial promotion, Ross' next album, Workin' Overtime, bombed. Subsequent follow-ups including The Force Behind the Power (1991), Take Me Higher (1995) and Every Day is a New Day (1999) produced similarly disappointing sales. Ross had more success overseas with the albums than she did in America. In 1994, Ross performed at the opening ceremony of the FIFA World Cup, hosted in the USA. Her performance has become a running joke in football circles due to her obvious miming and for missing the goal from close range. In 1999, she was named the most successful female singer in the history of the United Kingdom charts, based upon a tally of her career hits. Madonna would eventually succeed Ross as the most successful female artist in the UK.

Later that year, Ross presented at the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards in September of the year and shocked the audience by touching rapper Lil' Kim's exposed, pasty-covered breast, amazed at the young rapper's brashness.

Supremes reunions and Return to Love

In 1983, Ross reunited with former Supremes Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong for the television special . The three performed their 1969 number-one hit "Someday We'll Be Together", although alleged onstage altercations between Ross and Wilson became an issue during and after the taping of the special. A four-song Supremes set was planned but Ross, suffering from influenza, declined to rehearse with "The Girls" and stated that they would have to be happy just doing "Someday We'll Be Together". Before the special was taped later that evening, Wilson allegedly planned with Birdsong to take a step forward every time Ross did the same. This appeared to frustrate Ross, causing her to push Wilson's shoulder. Later, Wilson was not aware of the script set by producer Suzanne DePasse, in which Ross was to introduce Berry Gordy. Wilson took it upon herself to do so, at which point Ross pushed down Wilson's hand-held microphone, stating "It's been taken care of." Ross, then, introduced Gordy. These incidents were excised from the final edit of the taped special, but still made their way into the news media; People magazine reported that "Ross [did] some elbowing to get Wilson out of the spotlight."

The original Supremes were inducted to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1988. Original member Florence Ballard had died twelve years earlier. Ross was performing around the time of the induction ceremony and was unable to attend; Mary Wilson accepted the award. In 1999, Ross, Wilson and Cindy Birdsong held discussions about a possible Supremes reunion tour. These negotiations failed, and Ross hired late-era Supremes members Lynda Laurence and Scherrie Payne, who were touring as the Former Ladies of the Supremes, to participate. The Return to Love tour was launched in June 2000. The tour did well in large markets, but, struggled in medium markets due to controversial press stories. Despite selling out the final evening at Madison Square Garden in New York, the tour ended abruptly after just fourteen dates.

Current work

Following successful European and American tours in 2004, Diana Ross returned to the Billboard music charts with two duets in 2005. "I've Got a Crush on You", recorded with Rod Stewart for his album The Great American Songbook, reached number 19 on the Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary chart. The second, recorded with Westlife, was a remake of Ross's 1991 number-2 UK single, "When You Tell Me You Love Me", and reached number 2 in the UK, just as the original had, and number 1 in Ireland. In January, 2005, M.A.C. Cosmetics named Diana Ross its beauty icon for 2005. In June 2006, Motown released the shelved Blue album, which peaked at number 2 on Billboard's Jazz Albums chart. Ross' new studio album, I Love You, was released worldwide on October 2, 2006 and January 16, 2007, in North America, on the Manhattan Records/EMI label. Since its release in 2007, EMI Inside reports that I Love You has sold more than 622,000 copies worldwide.

honorees as she is recognized for her career achievements by President George W. Bush in the East Room of the White House Sunday, Dec. 2, 2007, during the Kennedy Center Gala Reception. From left are singer-songwriter Brian Wilson; filmmaker Martin Scorsese; Ross; comedian, actor and author Steve Martin and pianist Leon Fleisher.]] In January 2007, Ross appeared on a number of television shows across the U.S. to promote her new album and began touring in the spring. She appeared on American Idol as a mentor to the contestants Ross's United States "I Love You" tour garnered positive reviews, as did her European tour of the same year.

At the 2007 BET Awards, Ross was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by her five children and singer Alicia Keys. Stevie Wonder, Erykah Badu and Chaka Khan performed musical tributes to Ross, covering several of her most popular recordings. During her acceptance speech, Ross lambasted the declining level of professional standards among the younger generation's musicians, as well as their overabundant use of vulgarity and profanity to garner press attention and record sales. Later that year, the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors committee, which recognizes career excellence, cultural influence and contributions to American culture, named Diana Ross as one of its honorees. Past honoree and fellow Motown alumni Smokey Robinson and actor Terrence Howard spoke on her behalf at the official ceremony that December, and singers Ciara, Vanessa L. Williams, Yolanda Adams and American Idol winner Jordin Sparks performed musical tributes. In February 2008, Ross was guest speaker at the Houston-based Brilliant Lecture series at The Hobby Center, Houston.

The lectures are designed to present prolific and influential characters to speak about their life and inspirations. During her lecture Ross stated that it is "unlikely" that she would undertake any further movie projects.

In May 2008, Ross headlined at New York City's Radio City Music Hall's 'Divas with Heart' concert event, which also featured fellow performers Gladys Knight, Chaka Khan and Patti LaBelle. The following month she was a headliner at the City Stages music festival in Birmingham, AL, next to The Flaming Lips. The New York Times said about the duo, "the most incongruous headliners at an outdoor urban concert series, with the once-in-a-lifetime-at-most combination of Diana Ross and the Flaming Lips. Something for everyone, surely." She performed at two major events in the UK in July 2008: the famous Liverpool Pops Festival and the National Trust Summer Festival at Petworth House, West Sussex. On October 16–17, 2009, Diana Ross headlined the annual Dutch concert event, Symphonica in Rosso, in the 34,000-seat Gelredome Stadium, in Arnhem, The Netherlands. She was accompanied by a 40-piece orchestra. Each of the two concerts was sold-out.

Ross performed a cross-country tour in the summer of 2010. The featured an all-new set list, stage design, and costumes galore, and was dedicated to her friend Michael Jackson who died in June 2009. The tour, which commenced on May 15, 2010, in Boston, Massachusetts, earned Ross excellent reviews in every city in which she performed, and concluded in Saratoga, California. An extended American leg of the tour began in September, 2010, and is scheduled to continue until March 2011, in Stamford, Connecticut, after which, another American leg of her tour will begin on September 11, 2011, at Temecula, CA's Pechanga Resort and Casino, & continuing throughout autumn, 2011. It is rumored that Ross will mount European & Asian legs of the tour.

Personal life

Ross' parents separated when Ross was 17. After 12 years of estrangement, the couple divorced in 1973. Ernestine Ross later married John Jordan in 1977. Fred Ross remained divorced, never remarrying. While Ross' mother was supportive of her career, her father was disappointed in her choice to be an entertainer rather than attend college like her other siblings. Biographies later stated Ross' drive was inspired by a lack of a support she felt from her father. Ross and her father's relationship repaired over the years until Fred Ross died in 2007. Ross' mother died in 1984.

Ross' elder sister Barbara found success as a doctor and in 1993, was appointed as dean of the Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine, becoming the first black American woman to administer a medical school in the states. Rita Ross, Diana's younger sister, became a teacher. Brothers Arthur and Wilbert "Chico" Ross followed their sister into the recording industry and entertainment business, respectively, Arthur composing the hit songsI Want You, recorded by Marvin Gaye, and I Wanna Be Where You Are with Leon Ware; eldest brother Fred Ross, Jr., a Vietnam veteran, was murdered by a convenience store clerk. Brother Arthur and his wife, Patricia Robinson, were murdered in 1996 in Detroit. Their bodies were found bound and gagged in their basement. As of this writing, no one has been convicted of the murders. A state's witness reportedly disappeared before the case's primary suspect could be tried.

Ross married twice. Her first husband was music business manager Robert Ellis Silberstein, whom she married in January 1971. They divorced in March 1977. In January 1986, after a romantic courtship, Ross married Norwegian shipping magnate Arne Næss, Jr.. After several years of legal separation, the couple were officially divorced in 2000. Næss was later killed in a mountain climbing accident in 2004. Ross attended the funeral.

Ross is the mother of five children. Daughter Rhonda Suzanne Silberstein was born on August 13, 1971, Rhonda's biological father is Berry Gordy. She is now married; her married name is Rhonda Ross Kendrick. Ross and Silberstein had two daughters: Tracee Joy Silberstein, born October 29, 1972 (now known as Tracee Ellis Ross) and Chudney Lane Silberstein, born November 4, 1975 (now known as Chudney Ross). Ross had two sons with Næss. Their sons are Ross Arne Næss (born October 7, 1987) and Evan Olav Næss (born August 26, 1988), now known as Evan Ross). In the summer of 2009, Ross became a grandmother when her daughter, Rhonda Ross-Kendrick, gave birth to a boy.

Rhonda and Tracee graduated from Brown University, and Chudney from Georgetown University. All have followed their mother to show business. Rhonda gained success as an actress in television movies and daytime soap operas. Tracee was a co-star of the UPN sitcom Girlfriends. Chudney is active in behind-the-scenes work and is also a model. Son Ross currently attends New York's Marist College, where he is a ski club member, and has not followed his siblings into show business. Youngest son Evan Ross is a successful actor, who starred in the films ATL and Pride (co-starring Terrance Howard) and the HBO film, "Life Support", co-starring Dana Owens (Queen Latifah) and his older sister, Tracee Ellis-Ross. He currently is starring in The CW's hit show "90210" playing the character named Charlie.

A month after the Lil Kim incident, authorities at London's Heathrow Airport detained Ross for "assaulting" a female security guard. The singer claimed that she had felt "violated as a woman" by the full-body search to which she was subjected while wearing a skintight bodysuit. Ross complained to airport staff, but, was ignored. In retaliation, she was alleged to have touched the female airport security guard in a similar manner. The singer was detained but later released. In December 2002, Ross was arrested in Tucson, Arizona for drunk driving. She pleaded "no contest", and later served a two-day jail sentence near her home in Greenwich, Connecticut. Following the arrest and jail sentence, Ross stayed out of the American public eye during much of the following year. She performed a well-received set at Britain's Prince Charles' Prince's Trust concert, held in London's Hyde Park, in 2002, but would not return to touring until 2004.

Ross was a close friend and longtime mentor of Michael Jackson, with whom she co-starred in the 1978 film version of the Broadway musical, The Wiz (a remake of The Wizard of Oz). After Jackson's sudden death on June 25, 2009, Ross was named in his will as the custodian of his children in the event of the death of his mother, Katherine Jackson. Ross was invited to speak at the memorial held in Los Angeles on Tuesday July 7, 2009, but declined in a letter read by Smokey Robinson at the ceremony. Like Jackson's other close friends, Macaulay Culkin, Elizabeth Taylor, Quincy Jones, Liza Minnelli, and his ex-wife Lisa Marie Presley, Ross stated that she wanted to grieve in private. Ross dedicated her 2010–11 "More Today Than Yesterday-Greatest Hits" tour to Michael Jackson.

In popular culture

Ross was portrayed by actress Samantha Kaine in the 2004 VH1 film , a biographical film about Michael Jackson.

Actress Holly Robinson Peete portrayed Ross in the 1992 television mini-series .

In the 1996 film Phenomenon, Forest Whitaker's character, Nate Pope, is obsessed with Ross.

In the 2001 comedy film Get Over It, the Dr Desmond Forrest-Oates character once claimed he made a song for Ross, which even included a flashback of the event, however Ross is not actually seen, only her leg passing (she did not, however, actually star in the film).

Ross contributed her voice to the fictionalized version of herself in the debut episode of popular 1970s classic cartoon by ABC entitled, The Jackson 5ive.

New Zealand band Diana Rozz take their name from Ross.

In the 2007 comedy "Juno", the main character, Juno MacGuff says about her name, "Zeus had tons of lays, but I'm pretty sure Juno was his only wife. She was supposed to be really beautiful, but really mean, like Diana Ross."

In 2010, Keri Hilson portrayed Ross and The Supremes in the music video for her song, "Pretty Girl Rock".

Her voice can be heard introducing The Jackson 5 at the beginning of the Jackson 5 medley in the film Michael Jackson's This Is It.

Solo discography

Filmography

1964: T.A.M.I. Show (with The Supremes)

1965: Beach Ball (with The Supremes)

1972: Lady Sings the Blues

1975: Mahogany

1978: The Wiz

1994: Out of Darkness

1999: Double Platinum

2002: The Making and Meaning of We Are Family (documentary)

2010: Met With Sandra Ellison and Tamia Holmes

Television

1968: Tarzan (with The Supremes)

1968: T.C.B. (with The Supremes)

1969: G.I.T. on Broadway (with The Supremes)

1971: Diana!

1977: The Big Event: An Evening with Diana Ross

1979: Diana Ross in Concert!

1981: diana

1981: Standing Room Only: Diana Ross

1983:

1983: For One And For All – Diana Ross Live! in Central Park

1987: Diana Ross: Red Hot Rhythm and Blues

1989: Diana Ross: Workin' Overtime

1992:

1994: Out of Darkness

1996: Super Bowl XXX

1999: Double Platinum

2000: VH1 Divas 2000: A Tribute to Diana Ross

2005: Tsunami Aid

2007: BET Awards 2007

2007: Kennedy Center Honors

2008: Nobel Peace Prize Concert

Autobiographies

(A scrapbook-style collection of photographs)

See also

List of awards and nominations received by Diana Ross

List of best-selling music artists

List of number-one hits (United States)

List of artists who reached number one in the United States

List of number-one dance hits (United States)

List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. dance chart

References

http://sixmillionsteps.com/drupal/node/1085 – 80 minute audio mix of Diana Ross songs/interviews

Further reading

External links

Barbara Walters interviews Diana Ross about "Return To Love" Tour

International Diana Ross website

International Diana Ross Fanclub website

DIANA ROSS SUPERSTAR website

Diana Ross discography at MusicBrainz

Carlo's Supremes website

Mark's Diana Ross website

unofficial biography page

Supremes 9.0 — fansite

Diana Ross interview recorded 10.13.1968 on the Pop Chronicles

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