Events

533 – Byzantine general Belisarius defeats the Vandals, commanded by King Gelimer, at the Battle of Ticameron.

1167 – Sicilian chancellor Stephen du Perche moves the royal court to Messina to prevent a rebellion.

1256 – Hulagu Khan captures and destroys the Hashshashin stronghold at Alamut in present-day Iran as part of the Mongol offensive on Islamic southwest Asia.

1467 – Stephen III of Moldavia defeats Matthias Corvinus of Hungary, with the latter being injured thrice, at the ''Battle of Baia''.

1791 – The United States Bill of Rights becomes law when ratified by the Virginia General Assembly.

1863 – In Romania the mountain railway from Anina to Oravita is used for the first time.

1864 – In the Battle of Nashville, Union forces under George H. Thomas almost completely destroy the Army of Tennessee under John B. Hood.

1868 – Shogunate rebels found Ezo Republic in Hokkaidō.

1905 – The Pushkin House is established in St. Petersburg to preserve the cultural heritage of Alexander Pushkin

1906 – The London Underground's Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway opens.

1913 – Nicaragua becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires Convention.

1914 – World War I: The Serbian Army recaptures Belgrade from the invading Austro-Hungarian Army.

1914 – A gas explosion at Mitsubishi Hojyo coal mine, Kyūshū, Japan, kills 687.

1917 – World War I: An armistice is reached between the new Bolshevik government and the Central Powers.

1933 – The Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution officially becomes effective, repealing the Eighteenth Amendment that prohibited the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol.

1939 – ''Gone with the Wind'' receives its première at Loew's Grand Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

1941 – Holocaust: German troops murder over 15,000 Jews at Drobitsky Yar, a ravine southeast of the city of Kharkiv, Ukraine.

1941 – The American Federation of Labor adopts a no-strike policy in war industries.

1942 – The Battle of Mount Austen, the Galloping Horse, and the Sea Horse begins during the Guadalcanal campaign.

1945 – Occupation of Japan: General Douglas MacArthur orders that Shinto be abolished as the state religion of Japan.

1954 – The Charter for the Kingdom of the Netherlands is signed.

1955 – Jens Olsen's World Clock is started by Danish King Frederick IX and Jens Olsen's youngest grandchild Birgit.

1960 – Richard Paul Pavlick is arrested for attempting to blow up and assassinate the U.S. President-Elect, John F. Kennedy only four days earlier.

1961 – In Jerusalem, Adolph Eichmann is sentenced to death after being found guilty of 15 criminal charges, including charges of crimes against humanity, crimes against the Jewish people and membership of an outlawed organization.

1965 – Gemini program: Gemini 6A, crewed by Wally Schirra and Thomas Stafford, is launched from Cape Kennedy, Florida. Four orbits later, it achieves the first space rendezvous, with Gemini 7.

1967 – The Silver Bridge collapses, killing 46 people.

1970 – Soviet spacecraft Venera 7 successfully land on Venus. It is the first successful soft landing on another planet

1970 – South Korean ferry ''Namyong Ho'' capsizes off Korean Strait killing 308.

1973 – John Paul Getty III, grandson of American billionaire J. Paul Getty, is found alive near Naples, Italy, after being kidnapped by an Italian gang on July 10, 1973.

1973 – The American Psychiatric Association votes 13–0 to remove homosexuality from its official list of psychiatric disorders, the DSM-II.

1976 – Samoa becomes a member of the United Nations.

1978 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter announces that the United States will recognize the People's Republic of China and cut off all relations with Taiwan

1993 – History of Northern Ireland: The Downing Street Declaration is issued by British Prime Minister John Major and Irish Taoiseach Albert Reynolds.

1994 – Palau becomes a member of the United Nations.

1997 – A chartered Tupolev TU-154 from Tajikistan crashes in the desert near Sharja, United Arab Emirates airport killing 85.

1997 – The Treaty of Bangkok is signed allowing the transformation of Southeast Asia into a Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone.

2000 – The 3rd reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant is shut down.

2001 – The Leaning Tower of Pisa reopens after 11 years and $27,000,000 to fortify it, without fixing its famous lean.

2002 – The Capital Center (formerly US Airways Arena) is demolished.

2005 – Latvia amends its constitution to eliminate possibility of same-sex couples being entitled to marry.

2005 – Argentina's president Néstor Kirchner announces the early repayment of its external debt to the IMF.

2005 – Introduction of the F-22 Raptor into USAF active service.

2006 – First flight of the F-35 Lightning II.

2009 – Boeing's new Boeing 787 Dreamliner makes its maiden flight from Seattle, Washington.

Births

37 – Nero, Roman emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty (d. 68)

130 – Lucius Verus, Roman co-emperor (d. 169)

1832 – Gustave Eiffel, French engineer and architect (Eiffel tower) (d. 1923)

1852 – Henri Becquerel, French physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 1908)

1859 – L. L. Zamenhof, Polish initiator of Esperanto (d. 1917)

1860 – Niels Ryberg Finsen, Danish physician, Nobel laureate (d. 1904)

1860 – Abner Powell, American baseball player (d. 1953)

1861 – Charles Duryea, American automobile pioneer (d. 1938)

1861 – Pehr Evind Svinhufvud, Finnish politician (d. 1944)

1863 – Arthur Dehon Little, American chemist and chemical engineer (d. 1935)

1869 – Leon Marchlewski, Polish chemist (d. 1946)

1875 – Emilio Jacinto, Filipino poet and revolutionary (d. 1899)

1878 – Hans Carossa, German writer (d. 1956)

1885 – Leonid Pitamic, Slovenian philosopher (d. 1971)

1888 – Maxwell Anderson, American writer (d. 1959)

1892 – J. Paul Getty, American oil tycoon (d. 1976)

1896 – Betty Smith, American author (d. 1972)

1899 – Harold Abrahams, English sprinter (d. 1978)

1902 – Robert F. Bradford, 57th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1983)

1903 – Tamanishiki San'emon, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 32^nd Yokozuna (d. 1938)

1907 – Oscar Niemeyer, Brazilian architect

1910 – John H. Hammond, American musician (d. 1987)

1911 – Nicholas P. Dallis, American psychiatrist and comic strip writer (d. 1991)

1911 – Stan Kenton, American musician (d. 1979)

1912 – Ray Eames, American designer (d. 1988)

1913 – Roger Gaudry, French Canadian chemist, businessman and corporate director (d. 2001)

1913 – Muriel Rukeyser, American poet (d. 1980)

1916 – Buddy Cole, American pianist (d. 1964)

1916 – Maurice Wilkins, New Zealand-born physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 2004)

1917 – Shan-ul-Haq Haqqee, linguist and writer of Pakistan (d. 2005)

1918 – Jeff Chandler, American actor (d. 1961)

1919 – Max Yasgur, owner of the Woodstock Festival site (d. 1973)

1920 – Kurt Schaffenberger, American comics artist (d. 2002)

1921 – Alan Freed, American disc jockey (d. 1965)

1921 – Bob Todd, British comedian (d. 1992)

1923 – Freeman Dyson, English-born American physicist

1923 – Uziel Gal, Israeli firearm designer (d. 2002)

1923 – Valentin Varennikov, Russian general and statesman (d. 2009)

1925 – Sam Pollock, Canadian ice hockey general manager (d. 2007)

1925 – Kasey Rogers, American actress (d. 2006)

1928 – Friedensreich Hundertwasser, Austrian artist (d. 2000)

1928 – Jerry Wallace, American singer (d. 2008)

1929 – Barry Harris, American bebop jazz pianist

1930 – Edna O'Brien, Irish novelist and short story writer

1932 – Jesse Belvin, American musician (d. 1960)

1933 – Bapu, Indian cartoonist, designer and film director

1933 – Tim Conway, American actor and comedian

1933 – Donald Woods, South African journalist and anti-apartheid activist (d. 2001)

1936 – Joe D'Amato, Italian director (d. 1999)

1938 – Billy Shaw, American football player

1939 – Cindy Birdsong, American singer (The Supremes)

1940 – Nick Buoniconti, American football player

1942 – Dave Clark, English musician (The Dave Clark Five)

1943 – Kathleen Blanco, American politician

1943 – Lucien den Arend, Dutch artist

1944 – Jim Leyland, American baseball manager

1944 – Chico Mendes, Brazilian campaigner (d. 1988)

1945 – Thaao Penghlis, Australian actor

1946 – Art Howe, American baseball player and manager

1946 – Carmine Appice, American musician (Vanilla Fudge)

1947 – Rodney Bingenheimer, American radio personality

1948 – Melanie Chartoff, American actress

1948 – Cassandra Harris, Australian actress (d. 1991)

1949 – Don Johnson, American actor

1952 – Allan Simonsen, Danish footballer

1952 – Rudi Protrudi, American musician (The Fuzztones)

1952 – Julie Taymor, American director

1953 – J. M. DeMatteis, American comic book writer

1954 – Mark Warner, American politician, United States Senator from Virginia and 69th Governor of Virginia

1955 – Paul Simonon, English bassist (The Clash)

1956 – William Orbit, English producer, mixer and musician

1957 – Mario Marois, Canadian ice hockey player

1957 – Mike McAlary, American journalist (d. 1998)

1957 – Yuuichi Nagashima, Japanese voice actor

1957 – Laura Molina, American artist, musician and actress

1958 – Eddy Annys, Belgian high jumper

1960 – Walter Werzowa, Austrian composer

1961 – Karin Resetarits, Austrian journalist

1963 – Andrew Luster, American rapist

1963 – Helen Slater, American actress

1963 – David Wingate, American basketball player

1963 – Norman J. Grossfeld, American television producer and screenwriter

1966 – Manos Papayiannis, Greek fashion model and actor

1966 – Molly Price, American actress

1966 – Carl Hooper, former West Indian cricket player and captain

1967 – David Howells, English footballer

1967 – Mo Vaughn, American baseball player

1967 – Elix Skipper, American professional wrestler

1968 – Osama Ali Maher, Swedish politician

1968 – Garrett Wang, American actor

1969 – Chantal Petitclerc, Canadian wheelchair athlete

1970 – Frankie Dettori, Italian jockey

1970 – Lawrence Funderburke, American basketball player

1970 – Michael Shanks, Canadian actor

1971 – Arne Quinze, Belgian conceptual artist

1971 – Clint Lowery, American guitarist (Sevendust)

1972 – Rodney Harrison, American football player

1972 – Stuart Townsend, Irish actor

1973 – Surya Bonaly, French-born American figure skater

1973 – Ryu Seung-wan, South Korean actor and director

1976 – Baichung Bhutia, Indian footballer

1976 – Aaron Miles, American baseball player

1976 – Todd Tichenor, American baseball umpire

1977 – Dave Mackintosh, Scottish drummer (Dragonforce)

1977 – Geoff Stults, American actor

1977 – Eba, Mongolian entertainer

1978 – Mark Jansen, Dutch guitarist (Epica)

1978 – Jerome McDougle, American football player

1979 – Adam Brody, American actor

1979 – Eric Young, Canadian professional wrestler

1980 – Sergio Pizzorno, English guitarist (Kasabian)

1980 – Manuel Wilhelm, German rugby player

1981 – Najoua Belyzel, French singer

1981 – Firman Utina, Indonesian footballer

1981 – Michelle Dockery, British actress

1981 – Brendan Fletcher, Canadian actor

1981 – Andy González, Puerto Rican baseball player

1981 – Thomas Herrion, American football player (d. 2005)

1981 – Creighton Lovelace, American Baptist minister

1981 – Roman Pavlyuchenko, Russian footballer

1982 – Borja García, Spanish racing driver

1982 – George O. Gore II, American actor

1983 – Delon Armitage, Trindadian/English rugby player

1983 – René Goguen, Canadian professional wrestler

1983 – Wang Hao, Chinese table tennis player

1984 – Kirsty Lee Allan, Australian actress

1984 – Martin Škrtel Slovakian footballer

1985 – Diogo Fernandes Brazilian footballer

1986 – Snejana Onopka, Ukrainian model

1986 – Xiah, South Korean singer (TVXQ)

1994 – Emma Lockhart, American actress

Deaths

1025 – Basil II, Byzantine Emperor (b. 958)

1072 – Alp Arslan, Turkish sultan (b. 1029)

1230 – King Otakar I of Bohemia (b. 1155)

1263 – King Haakon IV of Norway (b. 1204)

1598 – Philips van Marnix, lord of Sint-Aldegonde, Dutch writer and statesman (b. 1538)

1621 – Charles d'Albert, Constable of France (b. 1578)

1673 – Margaret Cavendish, English writer (b. 1623)

1675 – Johannes Vermeer, Dutch painter (b. 1632)

1683 – Izaak Walton, English writer (b. 1593)

1688 – Gaspar Fagel, Dutch statesman (b. 1634)

1715 – George Hickes, English minister and scholar (b. 1642)

1753 – Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, English architect (b. 1694)

1792 – Joseph Martin Kraus, Swedish composer (b. 1756)

1855 – Jacques Charles François Sturm, French mathematician (b. 1803)

1878 – Alfred Bird, chemist (b. 1811)

1890 – Sitting Bull, American Indian tribal chief (b. c. 1831)

1943 – Fats Waller, American musician (b. 1904)

1944 – Glenn Miller, American musician (presumed date of death) (b. 1904)

1947 – Arthur Machen, Welsh author (b. 1863)

1950 – Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Indian politician (b. 1875)

1958 – Wolfgang Ernst Pauli, Austrian-born American physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1900)

1962 – Charles Laughton, English actor (b. 1899)

1966 – Walt Disney, American animator (b. 1901)

1968 – Antonio Barrette, Canadian politician (b. 1899)

1968 – Jess Willard, American boxer (b. 1881)

1969 – Karl Theodor Bleek, German politician (b. 1898)

1971 – Paul Pierre Lévy, French mathematician (b. 1886)

1974 – Anatole Litvak, Ukrainian screenwriter and film producer (b. 1902)

1977 – Wilfred Kitching, American General of The Salvation Army (b. 1893)

1978 – Chill Wills, American actor (b. 1903)

1980 – Kostas Biris, Greek architect, city planner and folklorist (b. 1899)

1980 – Dimitrios Partsalidis, Greek politician (b. 1905)

1980 – Komninos Pyromaglou, Greek educator and politician (b. 1899)

1984 – Lennard Pearce, English actor (b. 1915)

1984 – Jan Peerce, American tenor (b. 1904)

1985 – Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, Mauritian politician (b. 1900)

1989 – Arnold Moss, American actor (b. 1910)

1989 – Edward Underdown, English actor (b. 1908)

1991 – Vasily Grigoryevich Zaitsev, Soviet sniper (b. 1915)

1993 – William Dale Phillips, American chemist (b. 1925)

2000 – Haris Brkić, Bosnian basketball player (b. 1974)

2001 – Russ Haas, American professional wrestler (b. 1974)

2001 – Rufus Thomas, American musician (b. 1917)

2003 – George Fisher, American political cartoonist (b. 1923)

2003 – Keith Magnuson, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1947)

2004 – Pauline Gore, mother of Al Gore (b. 1912)

2004 – Vassal Gadoengin, Nauruan politician (b. 1943)

2005 – Heinrich Gross, Austrian physician (b. 1914)

2005 – Stan Leonard, Canadian golfer (b. 1915)

2005 – William Proxmire, American politician (b. 1915)

2005 – Darrell Russell, American football player (b. 1976)

2006 – Clay Regazzoni, Swiss Formula One driver (b. 1939)

2007 – John Berg, American actor (b. 1949)

2007 – Julia Carson, American politician (b. 1938)

2008 – León Febres Cordero, Ecuadorian politician (b. 1931)

2009 – Oral Roberts, American television evangelist and author (b. 1918)

2010 – Blake Edwards, American film director (b. 1922)

2010 – Bob Feller, American baseball player (b. 1918)

2010 – Eugene Victor Wolfenstein, American political scientist (b. 1940)

Holidays and observances

Bill of Rights Day, honors the United States Bill of Rights on the anniversary of its ratification. (United States)

Christian Feast Day:

*Drostan (Aberdeen Breviary)

*Maria Crocifissa di Rosa

*Mesmin

*Nino

*Valerian of Abbenza

*Virginia Centurione Bracelli

Consualia, in honor of Consus. (Roman Empire)

Homecoming Day, celebrates the return of evacuated citizens to Alderney after World War II. (Alderney)

Kingdom Day or ''Koninkrijksdag'', commemorates the signing of the Charter for the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1954. (Netherlands)

Zamenhof Day (International Esperanto Community)

External links

BBC: On This Day

On This Day in Canada

----

Category:Days of the year Category:December

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Name	Charles Bell
Birth date	November 1774
Birth place	Edinburgh
Death date	April 28, 1842
Death place	Hallow Park, Worcestershire
Nationality	Scottish
Field	Anatomy
Work institutions	Surgeon, Edinburgh Royal Infirmary (1799-)Practicing surgeon, London (1804-)Principal Lecturer, Great Windmill Street School of Anatomy (1812-25)Lectured at Middlesex Hospital etc (1812-36)Professor of Surgery, Edinburgh University (1836-42)
Alma mater	Edinburgh University
Known for	Authority on the human nervous system
Author abbrev bot	|author_abbrev_zoo
Footnotes	Author of "Treatise on Animal Mechanics", "An Essay on the Hand, its Mechanism and Vital Endowments as Evincing Design"
Signature	}}

Sir Charles Bell (1774–1842) was a Scottish surgeon, anatomist, neurologist and philosophical theologian.

His three older brothers included John Bell (1763–1820), also a noted surgeon and writer; and the advocate George Joseph Bell (1770–1843).

Life

Charles Bell was born in Edinburgh in November 1774, a son of the Rev William Bell, a clergyman of the Episcopal Church of Scotland, who died in 1779 when Bell was a small child. Bell grew up in Edinburgh, attending the High School (1784-8) and Edinburgh University, where he took his medical degree in 1798. He conducted his surgical training as assistant to his elder brother John Bell.

He and his brother had remarkable artistic gifts, and together they taught anatomy and illustrated and published two volumes of ''A System of Dissection Explaining the Anatomy of the Human Body''. Bell's career was characterized by the accumulation of quite extraordinary honours and achievements - and by acrimonious disputes unusual even by the standards of medicine during the Regency.

Shortly after his graduation Bell was admitted to the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh, where he operated and taught anatomy. He and his brother published two additional volumes of their anatomical treatise in 1802 and 1804. Some aspects of his success, however, led to the jealous opposition of local physicians, and he was barred from practice at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. He then moved to London in 1804, where he set up a private surgery and school of anatomy. From 1812 to 1825, together with his brother, Bell ran the Great Windmill Street School of Anatomy, which had been founded by the anatomist William Hunter (1718–1783). He also served as a military surgeon, making elaborate recordings of neurological injuries at the Royal Hospital Haslar and famously documenting his experiences at Waterloo in 1815, where the anatomist Robert Knox commented very negatively on Bell's surgical abilities; (the mortality rate of amputations carried out by Bell ran at about 90%). Bell was instrumental in the creation of the Middlesex Hospital Medical School, and became, in 1824, the first professor of Anatomy and Surgery of the College of Surgeons in London. In 1829, the Windmill Street School of Anatomy was incorporated into the new King's College London. Bell was invited to be its first professor of physiology, but resigned shortly afterwards. Wishing to return to Scotland, he accepted in 1836 the position of Professor of Surgery at the University of Edinburgh.

Bell died in the Midlands, travelling to London, in 1842.

Honours and Awards

Bell was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh on 8 June 1807, on the nomination of Robert Jameson, William Wright and Thomas Macknight. He served as a Councillor of the RSE from 1836-9.

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London on 16 November 1826, was knighted in 1831 and, like Sir Richard Owen, was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Works

Charles Bell was a prolific author. Shortly after arriving in London, he set his sights on the Chair of Anatomy at the Royal Academy, and, in furtherance of this career goal, he published ''Essays on The Anatomy of Expression in Painting'' (1806), later re-published as ''Essays on The Anatomy and Philosophy of Expression'' in 1824. In this work, Bell followed the principles of natural theology, asserting the existence of a uniquely human system of facial muscles in the service of a human species with a unique relationship to the Creator. After the failure of his application, (Sir Thomas Lawrence, later President of the Royal Academy, described Bell as "lacking in temper, modesty and judgement"), Bell turned his attentions to the nervous system.

Bell published his detailed studies of the nervous system in 1811, in his privately circulated book ''An Idea of a New Anatomy of the Brain''. He described his experiments with animals and later emphasised how he was the first to distinguish between sensory and motor nerves. This essay is considered by many to be the founding stone of clinical neurology. However, Bell's ''original'' essay of 1811 did not actually contain a clear description of motor and sensory nerve roots as Bell later claimed, and Bell seems to have issued subsequent incorrectly dated revisions with subtle textual alterations. Charles Darwin (and others) found in Bell's published views more evidence of his personal ambitions than of proper scientific enquiry. Bell's studies on emotional expression, flawed though they were, played a catalytic role in the development of Darwin's considerations of the origins of human emotional life; and Darwin very much agreed with Bell's emphasis on the expressive role of the muscles of respiration. Darwin detailed these opinions in his The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872), written with the active collaboration of the psychiatrist James Crichton-Browne.

Nevertheless, Bell was one of the first physicians to combine the scientific study of neuroanatomy with clinical practice. In 1821, he described in the trajectory of the facial nerve and a disease, Bell's Palsy which led to the unilateral paralysis of facial muscles, in one of the classics of neurology, a paper to the Royal Society entitled ''On the Nerves: Giving an Account of some Experiments on Their Structure an Functions, Which Lead to a New Arrangement of the System.''

He also combined his many artistic, scientific, literary and teaching talents in a number of wax preparations and detailed anatomical and surgical illustrations, paintings and engravings in his several books on these subjects, such as in his book ''Illustrations of the Great Operations of Surgery: Trepan, Hernia, Amputation, Aneurism, and Lithotomy'' (1821). He wrote also the first treatise on notions of anatomy and physiology of facial expression for painters and illustrators, titled ''Essays on the Anatomy of Expression in Painting'' (1806). In 1833 he published the fourth Bridgewater Treatise, ''The Hand: Its Mechanism and Vital Endowments as Evincing Design''.

A number of discoveries received his name:

Bell's (external respiratory) nerve: The long thoracic nerve.

Bell's palsy: a unilateral idiopathic paralysis of facial muscles due to a lesion of the facial nerve.

Bell's phenomenon: An upward movement of the eye and the eyelid which occurs when a person affected with Bell's paralysis tries to close the eye.

Bell's spasm: Involuntary twitching of the facial muscles.

Bell-Magendie law or Bell's Law: States that the anterior branch of spinal nerve roots contain only motor fibers and the posterior roots contain only sensory fibers.

References

Further reading

Bell, C., ''The Hand. Its Mechanism and Vital Endowments as Evincing Design''; Bridgewater Treatises, W. Pickering, 1833 (reissued by Cambridge University Press, 2009; ISBN 9781108000888)

Category:1774 births Category:1842 deaths Category:19th-century Scottish people Category:People from Edinburgh Category:People educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Category:Fellows of the Royal Society Category:History of mental health in the United Kingdom Category:Knights of the Royal Guelphic Order Category:Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Category:Philosophers of religion Category:British neurologists Category:Scottish anatomists Category:Scottish knights Category:Scottish medical doctors Category:Scottish physiologists Category:Scottish surgeons Category:Scottish theologians Category:Scottish writers Category:Academics of the University of Edinburgh Category:Scottish medical writers

cs:Charles Bell de:Charles Bell es:Charles Bell fr:Charles Bell gl:Charles Bell ht:Charles Bell nl:Charles Bell pl:Charles Bell pt:Charles Bell ro:Charles Bell ru:Белл, Чарлз (физиолог) sv:Charles Bell tl:Charles Bell

name	David Letterman
pseudonym	Earl Hofert
birth date	April 12, 1947
birth place	Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.
medium	Stand-up, talk show
nationality	American
genre	Observational comedy, surreal humor, deadpan
subject	Self-deprecation, everyday life
influences	Steve Allen, Johnny Carson, Jack Paar, Paul Dixon
influenced
website	CBS.com/latenight/lateshow
active	1974–present
domesticpartner	Regina Lasko (1986-2009)
spouse	Michelle Cook (1969–1977)Regina Lasko (2009–present)
Religion	Lutheran
notable work	Host of ''Late Night with David Letterman'' (NBC)Host of ''Late Show with David Letterman'' (CBS)
signature	David Letterman Autograph.svg

}} David Michael Letterman (born April 12, 1947) is an American television host and comedian. He hosts the late night television talk show, ''Late Show with David Letterman'', broadcast on CBS. Letterman has been a fixture on late night television since the 1982 debut of ''Late Night with David Letterman'' on NBC. Only Letterman's friend and mentor Johnny Carson had a longer late-night hosting career in the United States.

Letterman is also a television and film producer. His company Worldwide Pants produces his show as well as its network follow-up ''The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson''. Worldwide Pants has also produced several prime-time comedies, the most successful of which was ''Everybody Loves Raymond'', currently in syndication.

In 1996, David Letterman was ranked #45 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time.

Early life and career

Letterman was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. His father, Harry Joseph Letterman (April 1915 – February 1973), was a florist of British descent; his mother Dorothy Letterman (''née'' Hofert, now Dorothy Mengering), a Presbyterian church secretary of German descent, is an occasional figure on the show, usually at holidays and birthdays.

Letterman lived on the north side of Indianapolis (Broad Ripple area), not far from Speedway, IN, and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and he enjoyed collecting model cars, including racers. In 2000, he told an interviewer for ''Esquire'' that, while growing up, he admired his father's ability to tell jokes and be the life of the party. Harry Joseph Letterman survived a heart attack at age 36, when David was a young boy. The fear of losing his father was constantly with Letterman as he grew up. The elder Letterman died of a second heart attack at age 57.

Letterman attended his hometown's Broad Ripple High School at the same time as Marilyn Tucker Quayle (wife of the former Vice President) and worked as a stock boy at the local Atlas supermarket. According to the ''Ball State Daily News'', he originally had wanted to attend Indiana University, but his grades weren't good enough, so he decided to attend Ball State University, in Muncie, Indiana. He is a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity, and he graduated from what was then the Department of Radio and Television, in 1969. A self-described average student, Letterman endowed a scholarship for what he called "C students" at Ball State.

Though he registered for the draft and passed his physical after graduating from college, he was not drafted for service in Vietnam due to receiving a draft lottery number of 352 (out of 365).

Letterman began his broadcasting career as an announcer and newscaster at the college's student-run radio station—WBST—a 10-watt campus station which now is part of Indiana Public Radio. He was fired for treating classical music with irreverence.

Letterman then became involved with the founding of another campus station—WAGO-AM 570 (now WWHI, 91.3).

Letterman credits Paul Dixon—host of the ''Paul Dixon Show'', a Cincinnati-based talk show also shown in Indianapolis while Letterman was growing up—for inspiring his choice of career: :"I was just out of college [in 1969], and I really didn't know what I wanted to do. And then all of a sudden I saw him doing it [on TV]. And I thought: That's really what I want to do!"

Weatherman

Letterman began his career as a radio talk show host on WNTS (AM), and on Indianapolis television station WLWI (now called WTHR) as a local anchor and weatherman. He received some attention for his unpredictable on-air behavior, which included congratulating a tropical storm for being upgraded to a hurricane and predicting hail stones "the size of canned hams." He would also occasionally report the weather and the day's very high and low temps for fictitious cities ("Eight inches of snow in Bingree and surrounding areas.") while on another occasion saying that a state border had been erased. ("From space you can see the border between Indiana and Ohio has been erased. I'm not in favor of this.") He also starred in a local kiddie show, made wisecracks as host of a late night TV show called "Freeze-Dried Movies" (he once acted out a scene from "Godzilla" using plastic dinosaurs), and hosted a talk show that aired early on Saturday mornings called "Clover Power," in which he interviewed 4-H members about their projects.

In 1971, Letterman appeared as a pit road reporter for ABC Sports' tape-delayed coverage of the Indianapolis 500. David is initially introduced as Chris Economaki in his job as a corner reporter. He interviews Mario Andretti who has just crashed out of the race and asks him a question about traffic on the course.

Move to Los Angeles

In 1975, encouraged by his then-wife Michelle and several of his Sigma Chi fraternity brothers, Letterman moved to Los Angeles, California, with hope of becoming a comedy writer. He started off by writing material for comedian Jimmie Walker. He also began performing stand-up comedy at The Comedy Store, a proving ground for unknown comics.

Letterman appeared in the summer of 1977 on the short-lived ''Starland Vocal Band Show''. He has since joked about how fortunate he was that nobody would ever see his performance on the program (due to its low ratings).

Letterman had a stint as a cast member on Mary Tyler Moore's variety show, ''Mary''; a guest appearance on ''Mork & Mindy'' (as a parody of EST leader Werner Erhard); and appearances on game shows such as ''The $20,000 Pyramid'', ''The Gong Show'', ''Password Plus'' and ''Liar's Club''. He also hosted a 1977 pilot for a game show entitled ''The Riddlers'' that was never picked up. He was also screen tested for the lead role in ''Airplane!'', a role that eventually went to Robert Hays.

His dry, sarcastic humor caught the attention of scouts for ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'', and Letterman was soon a regular guest on the show. Letterman became a favorite of Carson's and was a regular guest host for the show beginning in 1978. Letterman credits Carson as the person who influenced his career the most.

NBC

Morning show

On June 23, 1980, Letterman was given his own morning comedy show on NBC, ''The David Letterman Show''. It was originally 90 minutes long, but was shortened to 60 minutes in August 1980. The show was a critical success, winning two Emmy Awards, but was a ratings disappointment and was canceled in October 1980.

''Late Night with David Letterman''

NBC kept Letterman under contract to try him in a different time slot. ''Late Night with David Letterman'' debuted February 1, 1982; the first guest on the first show was Bill Murray. The show ran Monday through Thursday at 12:30 a.m. Eastern Time, immediately following ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' (a Friday night broadcast was added in June 1987. It was seen as being edgy and unpredictable, and soon developed a cult following (particularly among college students). Letterman's reputation as an acerbic interviewer was borne out in verbal sparring matches with Cher (who even called him an asshole on the show), Shirley MacLaine, Charles Grodin, and Madonna. The show also featured comedy segments and running characters, in a style heavily influenced by the 1950s and '60s programs of Steve Allen. Although Ernie Kovacs is often cited as an influence on the show, Letterman has denied this.

The show often featured quirky, genre-mocking regular features, including "Stupid Pet Tricks", dropping various objects off the roof of a five-story building, demonstrations of unorthodox clothing (such as suits made of Alka-Seltzer, Velcro and suet), a recurring Top 10 list, the Monkey-Cam (and the Audience Cam), and a facetious letter-answering segment. The Top 10 list, several "Film[s] by My Dog Bob" in which a camera was mounted on Letterman's own dog (often with comic results), Stupid Human Tricks, Small Town News, and Stupid Pet Tricks (which had its origins on Letterman's morning show) all eventually moved with Letterman to CBS.

Other memorable moments included Letterman using a bullhorn to interrupt a live interview on ''The Today Show'', announcing that he was the NBC president while not wearing any pants; interrupting Al Roker on WNBC-TV's broadcast of ''Live at Five'' by walking into their studio (which occupied the same floor of 30 Rockefeller Plaza as Letterman's studio); and staging "elevator races", complete with commentary by NBC Sports' Bob Costas. In one infamous appearance, in 1982, Andy Kaufman (who was already wearing a neck brace) appeared to be slapped and knocked to the ground by professional wrestler Jerry Lawler (though Lawler and Kaufman's friend Bob Zmuda later revealed that the event was staged.) In another memorable exchange, sex expert Dr. Ruth Westheimer included cucumbers in a list of handy sex objects that women could find at home. The following night, guest Ted Koppel asked Letterman "May I insert something here?" and Dave responded "OK, as long as it's not a cucumber."

''Late Show with David Letterman''

In 1992, Johnny Carson retired, and many fans believed that Letterman would become host of ''The Tonight Show''. When NBC instead gave the job to Jay Leno, Letterman departed NBC to host his own late-night show on CBS, opposite ''The Tonight Show'' at 11:30 p.m., called the ''Late Show with David Letterman''. The new show debuted on August 30, 1993 and was taped at the historic Ed Sullivan Theater, where Ed Sullivan taped his eponymous variety series from 1948 to 1971. For Letterman's arrival, CBS spent $8 million in renovations. In addition to that cost, CBS also signed Letterman to a lucrative three-year, $14 million/year contract, doubling his ''Late Night'' salary. The total cost for everything (renovations, negotiation right paid to NBC, signing Letterman, announcer Bill Wendell, Shaffer, the writers and the band) was over $140 million.

But while the expectation was that Letterman would retain his unique style and sense of humor with the move, ''Late Show'' was not an exact replica of his old NBC program. Recognizing the more formal mood (and wider audience) of his new time slot and studio, Letterman eschewed his trademark blazer with khaki pants and white sneakers wardrobe combination in favor of expensive shoes and tailored suits. The monologue was lengthened and Paul Shaffer and the "World's Most Dangerous Band" followed Letterman to CBS, but they added a brass section and were rebranded the "CBS Orchestra" as a short monologue and a small band were mandated by Carson while Letterman occupied the 12:30 slot. Additionally, because of intellectual property disagreements, Letterman was unable to import many of his ''Late Night'' segments verbatim, but he sidestepped this problem by simply renaming them (the "Top Ten List" became the "Late Show Top Ten", "Viewer Mail" became the "CBS Mailbag", etc.)

Popularity

The main competitor of ''The Late Show'' is NBC's ''The Tonight Show'', which was hosted by Jay Leno for nearly 16 years, but from June 1, 2009, to January 22, 2010, was hosted by Conan O'Brien. In 1993 and 1994, ''The Late Show'' consistently gained higher ratings than ''Tonight''. But in 1995, ratings dipped and Leno's show consistently beat Letterman's in the ratings; Leno typically attracted about 5 million nightly viewers between 1999 and 2009. ''The Late Show'' lost nearly half its audience during its competition with Leno, attracting 7.1 million viewers nightly in its 1993–94 season and about 3.8 million per night as of Leno's departure in 2009. In the final months of his first stint as host of ''The Tonight Show'', Leno beat Letterman in the ratings by a 1.3 million viewer margin (5.2 million to 3.9 million), and ''Nightline'' and ''The Late Show'' were virtually tied. Once O'Brien took over ''Tonight'', however, Letterman closed the gap in the ratings. O'Brien initially drove the median age of ''Tonight Show'' viewers from 55 to 45, with most older viewers opting to watch ''The Late Show'' instead.

Following Leno's return to ''The Tonight Show'', however, Leno has regained his lead.

Letterman's shows have garnered both critical and industry praise, receiving 67 Emmy Award nominations, winning 12 times in his first 20 years in late night television. From 1993–2009, Letterman ranked higher than Leno in the annual Harris Poll of ''Nation's Favorite TV Personality'' 12 times. For example, in 2003 and 2004 Letterman ranked second in that poll, behind only Oprah Winfrey, a year that Leno was ranked fifth. Leno was higher than Letterman on that poll three times during the same period, in 1998, 2007, and 2008.

Hosting the Academy Awards

On March 27, 1995, Letterman acted as the host for the 67th Academy Awards ceremony. Critics blasted Letterman for what they deemed a poor hosting of the Oscars, noting that his irreverent style undermined the traditional importance and glamor of the event. In a joke about their unusual names (inspired by a similar joke by Woody Allen), he started off by introducing Uma Thurman to Oprah Winfrey, and then the both of them to Keanu Reeves: "Oprah...Uma. Uma...Oprah," "Have you kids met Keanu?" This and many of his other jokes fell flat. Although Letterman attracted the highest ratings to the annual telecast since 1983, many felt that the bad publicity garnered by Letterman's hosting caused a decline in the ''Late Show'''s ratings.

Letterman recycled the apparent debacle into a long-running gag. On his first show after the Oscars, he joked, "Looking back, I had no idea that thing was being televised." He lampooned his stint two years later, during Billy Crystal's opening Oscar skit, which also parodied the plane-crashing scenes from that year's chief nominated film, ''The English Patient''.

For years afterward, Letterman recounted his hosting the Oscars, although the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences continued to hold Letterman in high regard and they had invited him to host the Oscars again. On September 7, 2010, he made an appearance on the premiere of the 14th season of ''The View'', and confirmed that he had been considered for hosting again.

Heart surgery hiatus

On January 14, 2000, a routine check-up revealed that an artery in Letterman's heart was severely obstructed. He was rushed to emergency surgery for a quintuple bypass.

During the initial weeks of his recovery, reruns of the ''Late Show'' were shown and introduced by friends of Letterman including Drew Barrymore, including Dr. O. Wayne Isom and physician Louis Aronne, who frequently appears on the show. In a show of emotion, Letterman was nearly in tears as he thanked the health care team with the words "These are the people who saved my life!" The episode earned an Emmy nomination. For a number of episodes, Letterman continued to crack jokes about his bypass, including saying, "Bypass surgery: it's when doctors surgically create new blood flow to your heart. A bypass is what happened to me when I didn't get ''The Tonight Show!'' It's a whole different thing." In a later running gag he lobbied his home state of Indiana to rename the freeway circling Indianapolis (I-465) "The David Letterman Bypass." He also featured a montage of faux news coverage of his bypass surgery, which included a clip of Dave's heart for sale on the Home Shopping Network. Letterman became friends with his doctors and nurses. In 2008, a ''Rolling Stone'' interview stated "he hosted a doctor and nurse who'd helped perform the emergency quintuple-bypass heart surgery that saved his life in 2000. 'These are people who were complete strangers when they opened my chest,' he says. 'And now, eight years later, they're among my best friends.' "

Additionally, Letterman invited the band Foo Fighters to play "Everlong", introducing them as "my favorite band, playing my favorite song." During a later Foo Fighters appearance, Letterman said that Foo Fighters had been in the middle of a South American tour which they canceled to come play on his comeback episode.

Letterman again handed over the reins of the show to several guest hosts (including Bill Cosby, Brad Garrett, Elvis Costello, John McEnroe, Vince Vaughn, Will Ferrell, Bonnie Hunt, Luke Wilson and bandleader Paul Shaffer) in February 2003, when he was diagnosed with a severe case of shingles. Later that year, Letterman made regular use of guest hosts—including Tom Arnold and Kelsey Grammer—for new shows broadcast on Fridays. In March 2007, Adam Sandler—who had been scheduled to be the lead guest—served as a guest host while Letterman was ill with a stomach virus.

Re-signing with CBS

In March 2002, as Letterman's contract with CBS neared expiration, ABC offered him the time slot for long-running news program ''Nightline'' with Ted Koppel. Letterman was interested as he believed he could never match Leno's ratings at CBS due to Letterman's complaint of weaker lead-ins from the network's late local news programs, but was reluctant to replace Koppel. Letterman addressed his decision to re-sign on the air, stating that he was content at CBS and that he had great respect for Koppel.

On December 4, 2006, CBS revealed that Letterman signed a new contract to host ''The Late Show with David Letterman'' through the fall of 2010. "I'm thrilled to be continuing on at CBS," said Letterman. "At my age you really don't want to have to learn a new commute." Letterman further joked about the subject by pulling up his right pants leg, revealing a tattoo, presumably temporary, of the ABC logo.

"Thirteen years ago, David Letterman put CBS late night on the map and in the process became one of the defining icons of our network," said Leslie Moonves, president and CEO of CBS Corporation. "His presence on our air is an ongoing source of pride, and the creativity and imagination that the ''Late Show'' puts forth every night is an ongoing display of the highest quality entertainment. We are truly honored that one of the most revered and talented entertainers of our time will continue to call CBS 'home.'"

According to a 2007 article in ''Forbes'' magazine, Letterman earned $40 million a year. A 2009 article in ''The New York Times'', however, said his salary was estimated at $32 million per year. In June 2009, Letterman's Worldwide Pants and CBS reached agreement to continue the ''Late Show'' until at least August 2012. The previous contract had been set to expire in 2010, and the two-year extension is shorter than the typical three-year contract period negotiated in the past. Worldwide Pants agreed to lower its fee for the show, though it had remained a "solid moneymaker for CBS" under the previous contract.

On the February 3, 2011 edition of the ''Late Show'', during an interview with Howard Stern, Letterman said he would continue to do his talk show for "maybe two years, I think."

2007–2008 writers' strike

The Late Show went off air for eight weeks during the months of November and December because of the Writers Guild of America strike. Letterman's production company—Worldwide Pants—was the first company to make an individual agreement with the WGA, thus allowing his show to come back on air on January 2, 2008. On his first episode since being off air, he surprised the viewing audience with his newly grown beard, which signified solidarity with the strike. His beard was shaved off during the show on January 7, 2008.

Letterman and Carson

NBC's decision to select Jay Leno and not Letterman to succeed Johnny Carson as host of ''The Tonight Show'' was an embarrassment to Carson, who had all but promised the succession to Letterman. Letterman maintained a close relationship with Carson through his break with NBC. Three years after he left for CBS, HBO produced a made-for-television movie called ''The Late Shift'', based on a book by ''New York Times'' reporter Bill Carter, chronicling the battle between Letterman and Leno for the coveted ''Tonight Show'' hosting spot. Letterman would mock the film for months afterward, specifically on how the actor playing him, John Michael Higgins, did not resemble him in the least. ("They took a guy who looked nothing like me and with make-up and special camera angles, turned him into a guy who looked nothing like me, with red hair.")

Carson later made a few cameo appearances as a guest on Letterman's show. Carson's final television appearance came May 13, 1994 on a ''Late Show'' episode taped in Los Angeles, when he made a surprise appearance during a 'Top 10 list' segment. The audience went wild as Letterman stood up and proudly invited Carson to sit at his desk. The applause was so protracted that Carson was unable to say anything, and he finally returned backstage as the applause continued (it was later explained that Carson had laryngitis, though Carson can be heard talking to Letterman during his appearance).

In early 2005, it was revealed that Carson still kept up with current events and late-night TV right up to his death that year, and that he occasionally sent jokes to Letterman, who used these jokes in his monologue; according to CBS senior vice president Peter Lassally (a onetime producer for both men), Carson got "a big kick out of it." Letterman would do a characteristic Johnny Carson golf swing after delivering one of Carson's jokes. In a tribute to Carson, all of the opening monologue jokes during the first show following Carson's death were written by Carson.

Lassally also claimed that Carson had always believed Letterman, not Leno, to be his "rightful successor." Letterman also frequently employs some of Carson's trademark bits on his show, including "Carnac the Magnificent" (with Paul Shaffer as Carnac), "Stump the Band" and the "Week in Review."

Letterman and Oprah Winfrey

On September 10, 2007, Letterman made his first appearance on ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'' at Madison Square Garden in New York City. He shared pictures of his son and live-in girlfriend. The so-called feud between Letterman and Winfrey apparently ended in 2005 when Winfrey appeared on CBS's ''Late Show with David Letterman'' on December 2, in an event Letterman jokingly referred to as "the Super Bowl of Love". Winfrey had previously appeared on Letterman's show when he was hosting NBC's ''Late Night'' on May 2, 1989.

Winfrey and Letterman also appeared together in a Late Show promo that aired during CBS's coverage of Super Bowl XLI in February 2007, with the two sitting next to each other on the couch watching the game. Since the game was played between the Indianapolis Colts and Chicago Bears, the Indianapolis-born Letterman wears a Peyton Manning jersey, while Winfrey—who tapes her show in Chicago—is in a Brian Urlacher jersey. Three years later, during CBS's coverage of Super Bowl XLIV, the two appeared again, this time with Winfrey sitting on a couch between Letterman and Jay Leno. The appearance was Letterman's idea: Leno flew to New York City in an NBC corporate jet, sneaking into the Ed Sullivan Theater during the ''Late Show'''s February 4 taping wearing a disguise, meeting Winfrey and Letterman at a living room set created in the theater's balcony where they taped their promo.

Response to Internet death threat

On August 17, 2011 it was reported that a Muslim militant had posted a death threat against Letterman on a website frequented by Al-Qaeda supporters, calling on American Muslims to kill Letterman for making a joke about the death of an Al-Qaeda leader killed in a drone strike in Pakistan in June 2011. In his show on August 22, Letterman joked about the threat, saying "State Department authorities are looking into this. They're not taking this lightly. They’re looking into it. They're questioning, they're interrogating, there's an electronic trail — but everybody knows it's Leno."

Appearances in other media

Letterman appeared in issue 239 of the Marvel comic book ''The Avengers'', in which the title characters are guests on ''Late Night''. A parody of Letterman, named "David Endochrine," is gassed to death along with his bandleader named "Paul" and their audience in Frank Miller's ''The Dark Knight Returns''.

Letterman appeared in the pilot episode of the short-lived 1986 series "Coach Toast", and he appears with a bag over his head as a guest on Bonnie Hunt's ca. 1993 sitcom ''The Building''. He also appears in The Simpsons, as himself in a couch gag when The Simpsons find themselves (and the couch) in "Late Night with David Letterman." He had a cameo in the feature film ''Cabin Boy'', with Chris Elliott, who worked as a writer on Letterman's show. In this and other appearances, Letterman is listed in the credits as "Earl Hofert", the name of Letterman's maternal grandfather. He also appeared as himself in the Howard Stern biopic Private Parts as well as the 1999 Andy Kaufman biopic ''Man on the Moon'', in a few episodes of Garry Shandling's 1990s TV series ''The Larry Sanders Show'' and in "The Abstinence", a 1996 episode of the sitcom ''Seinfeld''. Letterman also made an uncredited appearance in the first episode of the third season of the sitcom The Nanny.

Letterman provided vocals for the Warren Zevon song "Hit Somebody" from ''My Ride's Here'', and provided the voice for Butt-head's father in the 1996 animated film ''Beavis and Butt-head Do America''.

In 2010, a documentary ''Dying to Do Letterman'' was released directed by Joke Fincioen and Biagio Messina featuring Steve Mazan, a stand up comic, who has cancer and wants to appear on the Letterman Show. The film won Best Documentary and Jury Awards at the Cinequest Film Festival. Steve Mazan published a same-titled book (full title, ''Dying to Do Letterman: Turning Someday into Today'' about his own saga.

Other projects

Worldwide Pants

Letterman started his own production company—Worldwide Pants Incorporated—which produced his show and several others, including ''Everybody Loves Raymond'', ''The Late Late Show'', and several critically acclaimed, but short-lived television series for Bonnie Hunt. Worldwide Pants also produced the dramedy program ''Ed'', which aired on NBC from 2000–2004. It was Letterman's first association with NBC since he left the network in 1993. During ''Ed's'' run, the star, Tom Cavanagh, appeared as a guest on ''The Late Show'' several times.

In 2005, Worldwide Pants produced its first feature film, ''Strangers with Candy'', which was a prequel to the Comedy Central TV series of the same title. In 2007, Worldwide Pants produced the ABC comedy series, ''Knights of Prosperity''.

Worldwide Pants made significant news in December 2007 when it was announced that Letterman's company had independently negotiated its own contract with the Writers Guild of America, East, thus allowing Letterman, Craig Ferguson, and their writers to return to work, while the union continued its strike against production companies, networks and studios who had not reached an agreement.

Record company

In late April 2010, several music industry websites reported that Letterman started a record label named Clear Entertainment/C.E. Music and signed his first artist, Runner Runner. Lucy Walsh announced on her MySpace page that she has been signed by Letterman and Clear Entertainment/C.E. Music and is working on her album.

Rahal Letterman Racing

Rahal Letterman Racing (RLR) is an auto racing team that currently races in the American Le Mans Series, and part-time in the Indy Racing League. It is co-owned by 1986 Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Rahal and Letterman himself, and is based in Hilliard, Ohio. The team won the 2004 Indianapolis 500 with driver Buddy Rice. Letterman was a pit reporter for ABC in the 1971 Indianapolis 500.

American Foundation for Courtesy and Grooming

American Foundation for Courtesy and Grooming is Letterman's private foundation. Through it, Letterman has donated millions of dollars to charities and other non-profits in Indiana and Montana, celebrity-affiliated organizations such as Paul Newman's Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, universities such as Ball State, and other organizations such as the American Cancer Society, Salvation Army, and Doctors Without Borders.

Personal life

Marriages and long-term relationships

In 1969, Letterman married Michelle Cook; the marriage ended by divorce in 1977. He also had a long-term relationship with former head writer and producer on ''Late Night'', Merrill Markoe. In fact, Markoe was the mind behind several ''Late Night'' staples, such as "Stupid Pet/Human Tricks".

Letterman has a son, Harry Joseph Letterman (born on November 3, 2003), with Regina Lasko. Harry is named after Letterman's father. In 2005, police discovered a plot to kidnap Harry Letterman and ransom him for $5 million. Kelly Frank, a house painter who had worked for Letterman, was charged in the conspiracy.

Letterman and Lasko, who had been together since 1986, wed on March 19, 2009, during a quiet courthouse civil ceremony in Choteau, Montana, where he purchased a ranch in 1999. Letterman announced the marriage during the taping of his March 23 show, shortly after congratulating Bruce Willis for getting married the previous week. Letterman told the audience he nearly missed the ceremony because his truck became stuck in mud two miles from their house. The family resides in North Salem, New York, on a estate.

Stalking incidents

Beginning in May 1988, Letterman was stalked by Margaret Mary Ray, a woman suffering from schizophrenia. She once stole his Porsche, repeatedly broke into his house, and camped out on his tennis court. Her exploits drew national attention, and Letterman occasionally joked about her behavior in his show, although never mentioning her name. After she committed suicide in 1998, Letterman told the ''New York Times'' that he had had great compassion for her, and publicly expressed sympathy.

Extortion attempt and revelation of affairs

On his October 1, 2009 show, Letterman announced that he had been the victim of an extortion attempt by someone threatening to reveal that he had had sex with several of his female employees, confirming the relationships. He stated that three weeks earlier (on September 9, 2009) someone had left a package in his car with material he said he would write into a screenplay and a book if Letterman did not pay him $2 million. Letterman said that he contacted the Manhattan District Attorney's office, ultimately cooperating with them to conduct a sting operation involving giving the man a phony check. Subsequently, Robert J. "Joe" Halderman, a producer of the CBS true crime journalism series ''48 Hours'', was arrested after trying to deposit the check. He was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury and pleaded not guilty to a charge of attempted grand larceny on October 2, 2009. Eventually, on March 9, 2010, he pleaded guilty to this same felony and served a 6-month jail sentence, followed by probation and community service.

A central figure in the case and one of the women Letterman had had a sexual relationship with was his longtime personal assistant Stephanie Birkitt who often appeared with him in his show. She had also worked for ''48 Hours''. Until a month prior to the revelations she had shared a residence with Halderman, who allegedly had copied her personal diary and used it, along with private emails, in the blackmail package.

On October 3, 2009, a former CBS employee, Holly Hester, announced that she and Letterman had engaged in a year-long "secret" affair in the early 1990s while she was his intern and a student at New York University.

In the days following the initial announcement of the affairs and the arrest, several prominent women, including Kathie Lee Gifford, co-host of NBC's ''Today Show'', and NBC news anchor Ann Curry questioned whether Letterman's affairs with subordinates created an unfair working environment. A spokesman for Worldwide Pants said that the company's sexual harassment policy did not prohibit sexual relationships between managers and employees. According to business news reporter Eve Tahmincioglu, "CBS suppliers are supposed to follow the company's business conduct policies" and the CBS 2008 Business Conduct Statement states that "If a consenting romantic or sexual relationship between a supervisor and a direct or indirect subordinate should develop, CBS requires the supervisor to disclose this information to his or her Company's Human Resources Department..."

On October 5, 2009, Letterman devoted a segment of his show to a public apology to his wife and staff. Three days later, Worldwide Pants announced that Birkitt had been placed on a "paid leave of absence" from the ''Late Show''. On October 15, CBS News announced that the company's Chief Investigative Correspondent, Armen Keteyian, had been assigned to conduct an "in-depth investigation" into Halderman's blackmail of Letterman.

Awards and honors

Awards

In his capacities as either a writer, producer, performer, or as part of a writing team, Letterman is among the most nominated people in Emmy Award history with 52 nominations, winning two Daytime Emmys and five Primetime Emmys since 1981. His nomination record is second only to producer Jac Venza, who holds the record for the most Emmy nominations for an individual (57). Letterman has been nominated every year since 1984, when he first appeared on late night television as the host of ''Late Night with David Letterman.'' Additionally, he has won four American Comedy Awards. Letterman was the first recipient of the Johnny Carson Award for Comedic Excellence at The Comedy Awards in 2011.

David Letterman Communication and Media Building

On September 7, 2007, Letterman visited his alma mater, Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, for the dedication of a communications facility named in his honor for his dedication to the university throughout his career as a comedian. The $21 million, David Letterman Communication and Media Building opened for the 2007 Fall semester. It features state-of-the-art recording equipment and facilities. Thousands of Ball State students, faculty, and local residents welcomed Letterman back to Indiana. Letterman's emotional speech touched on his struggles as a college student and his late father, and also included the "top ten good things about having your name on a building", finishing with, "if reasonable people can put my name on a $21 million building, anything is possible."

At the same time, Letterman also received a Sagamore of the Wabash award given by Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, which recognizes distinguished service to the state of Indiana.

References

External links

David Letterman's Feb. 24, 1978 appearance on ''90 Minutes Live''

Official ''Late Show'' biography

1999 article on Letterman from Salon.com

Tape of Letterman announcing affairs/extortion attempt on Late Show

Category:1947 births Category:Living people Category:American entertainment industry businesspeople Category:American people of German descent Category:American television talk show hosts Category:Ball State University alumni Category:Daytime Emmy Award winners Category:Emmy Award winners Category:Indianapolis, Indiana television anchors Category:Indy Racing League owners Category:People from Indianapolis, Indiana Category:Weather presenters

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birth name	Thomas Jeffrey Hanks
birth date	July 09, 1956
birth place	Concord, California, U.S.
years active	1979–present
occupation	Actor, producer, director, voice over artist, writer, speaker
spouse	Samantha Lewes(m. 1978–1987; divorced)Rita Wilson (m. 1988–present)
children	Colin, Elizabeth, Chester, Truman }}

Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies, gaining wide notice in 1988's ''Big'', before achieving success as a dramatic actor in several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in ''Philadelphia'', the title role in ''Forrest Gump'', Commander Jim Lovell in ''Apollo 13'', Captain John H. Miller in ''Saving Private Ryan'', Joe Fox in ''You've Got Mail'', Chuck Noland in ''Cast Away'', and voicing the character Woody in the ''Toy Story series''. Hanks won consecutive Best Actor Academy Awards, in 1993 for ''Philadelphia'' and in 1994 for ''Forrest Gump''. U.S. domestic box office totals for his films exceed US$4.0 billion. He is the father of actor Colin Hanks.

Early life

Hanks was born in Concord, California. His father, Amos Mefford Hanks (born in Glenn County, California, on March 9, 1924 – died in Alameda, California, on January 31, 1992), was a distant relative of President Abraham Lincoln, through Lincoln's mother, Nancy Hanks. His mother, Janet Marylyn (née Frager; born in Alameda County, California, on January 18, 1932), was a hospital worker; she is of Portuguese ancestry. Hanks's parents divorced in 1960. The family's three oldest children, Sandra (now Sandra Hanks Benoiton, a writer), Larry (now Lawrence M. Hanks, PhD, an entomology professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) and Tom, went with their father, while the youngest, Jim, now an actor and film maker, remained with his mother in Red Bluff, California. Afterwards, both parents remarried. Hanks's first stepmother came to the marriage with five children of her own. Hanks once told ''Rolling Stone'': "Everybody in my family likes each other. But there were always about 50 people at the house. I didn't exactly feel like an outsider, but I was sort of outside it." That marriage ended in divorce after two years.

Amos Hanks became a single parent, working long hours and often leaving the children to fend for themselves, an exercise in self-reliance that served the siblings well. In addition to having a family history of Catholicism and Mormonism, Hanks was a "Bible-toting evangelical teenager" for several years. In school, Hanks was unpopular with students and teachers alike, later telling ''Rolling Stone'' magazine: "I was a geek, a spaz. I was horribly, painfully, terribly shy. At the same time, I was the guy who'd yell out funny captions during filmstrips. But I didn't get into trouble. I was always a real good kid and pretty responsible." In 1965, Amos Hanks married Frances Wong, a San Francisco native of Chinese descent. Frances had three children, two of whom lived with Tom during his high school years. Tom acted in school plays, including ''South Pacific'', while attending Skyline High School in Oakland, California.

Hanks studied theater at Chabot College in Hayward, California, and after two years, transferred to California State University, Sacramento. Hanks told ''The New York Times'': "Acting classes looked like the best place for a guy who liked to make a lot of noise and be rather flamboyant. I spent a lot of time going to plays. I wouldn't take dates with me. I'd just drive to a theater, buy myself a ticket, sit in the seat, and read the program, and then get into the play completely. I spent a lot of time like that, seeing Bertolt Brecht, Tennessee Williams, Henrik Ibsen, and all that, and now look at me, acting is my job. I wouldn't have it any other way."

During his years studying theater, Hanks met Vincent Dowling, head of the Great Lakes Theater Festival in Cleveland, Ohio. At Dowling's suggestion, Hanks became an intern at the Festival. His internship stretched into a three-year experience that covered most aspects of theater production, including lighting, set design, and stage management, all of which caused Hanks to drop out of college. During the same time, Hanks won the Cleveland Critics Circle Award for Best Actor for his 1978 performance as Proteus in Shakespeare's ''The Two Gentlemen of Verona'', one of the few times he played a villain.

Career

Early career

In 1979, Hanks moved to New York City, where he made his film debut in the low-budget slasher film ''He Knows You're Alone'' and got a part in the television movie ''Mazes and Monsters''. Early in 1979, Hanks was cast in the lead role of Callimaco in the Riverside Shakespeare Company's production of Niccolò Machiavelli's ''The Mandrake'', directed by Daniel Southern. This remains Hanks's only New York stage performance to date; as a high profile Off Off Broadway showcase, the production helped Tom land an agent, Joe Ohla with the J. Michael Bloom Agency. The next year Hanks landed a lead role on the ABC television pilot of ''Bosom Buddies'', playing the role of Kip Wilson. Hanks moved to Los Angeles, where he and Peter Scolari played a pair of young advertising men forced to dress as women so they could live in an inexpensive all-female hotel. Hanks had previously partnered with Scolari in the 1970s game show ''Make Me Laugh''. ''Bosom Buddies'' ran for two seasons, and, although the ratings were never strong, television critics gave the program high marks. "The first day I saw him on the set," co-producer Ian Praiser told ''Rolling Stone'', "I thought, 'Too bad he won't be in television for long.' I knew he'd be a movie star in two years." But if Praiser knew it, he was not able to convince Hanks. "The television show had come out of nowhere," best friend Tom Lizzio told ''Rolling Stone''. "Then out of nowhere it got canceled. He figured he'd be back to pulling ropes and hanging lights in a theater."

''Bosom Buddies'' and a guest appearance on a 1982 episode of ''Happy Days'' ("A Case of Revenge," where he played a disgruntled former classmate of The Fonz) prompted director Ron Howard to contact Hanks. Howard was working on ''Splash'' (1984), a romantic comedy fantasy about a mermaid who falls in love with a human. At first, Howard considered Hanks for the role of the main character's wisecracking brother, a role that eventually went to John Candy. Instead, Hanks got the lead role and a career boost from ''Splash'', which went on to become a box office hit, grossing more than US$69 million. He also had a sizable hit with the sex comedy ''Bachelor Party'', also in 1984.

In 1983–84, Hanks made three guest appearances on ''Family Ties'' as Elyse Keaton's alcoholic brother, Ned Donnelly.

Period of successes and failures

With ''Nothing in Common'' (1986) – about a young man alienated from his parents who must re-establish a relationship with his father, played by Jackie Gleason – Hanks began to establish the credentials of not only a comic actor but of someone who could carry a serious role. "It changed my desires about working in movies," Hanks told ''Rolling Stone''. "Part of it was the nature of the material, what we were trying to say. But besides that, it focused on people's relationships. The story was about a guy and his father, unlike, say, ''The Money Pit'', where the story is really about a guy and his house."

After a few more flops and a moderate success with ''Dragnet'', Hanks succeeded with the film ''Big'' (1988), both at the box office and within the industry. The film established Hanks as a major Hollywood talent. It was followed later that year by ''Punchline'', in which he and Sally Field co-star as struggling comedians. Hanks's character, Steven Gold, a failing medical student trying to break into stand-up, was somewhat edgy and complex. Hanks' portrayal of Gold offered a glimpse of the far more dramatic roles Hanks would master in films to come. Hanks then suffered a pile of box-office failures: ''The 'Burbs'' (1989), ''Joe Versus the Volcano'' (1990), and ''The Bonfire of the Vanities'' (1990), as a greedy Wall Street type who gets enmeshed in a hit-and-run accident. Only the 1989 movie ''Turner & Hooch'' brought success for Hanks during this time. In a 1993 issue of ''Disney Adventures'', Hanks said, "I saw ''Turner & Hooch'' the other day in the SAC store and couldn't help but be reminiscent. I cried like a baby." He did admit to making a couple of "bum tickers," however, and blamed his "...deductive reasoning and decision making skills."

Progression into dramatic roles

Hanks climbed back to the top again with his portrayal of a washed-up baseball star turned manager in ''A League of Their Own'' (1992). Hanks admits that his acting in earlier roles was not great and that he has improved. In an interview with ''Vanity Fair'', Hanks noted his ''"modern era of moviemaking ... because enough self-discovery has gone on.... My work has become less pretentiously fake and over the top"''. This "modern era" began in 1993 for Hanks, first with ''Sleepless in Seattle'' and then with ''Philadelphia''. The former was a blockbuster success about a widower who finds true love over the airwaves. Richard Schickel of ''TIME'' called his performance "charming," and most critics agreed that Hanks' portrayal ensured him a place among the premier romantic-comedy stars of his generation.

In ''Philadelphia'', he played a gay lawyer with AIDS who sues his firm for discrimination. Hanks lost thirty-five pounds and thinned his hair in order to appear sickly for the role. In a review for ''People'', Leah Rozen stated "Above all, credit for ''Philadelphia'''s success belongs to Hanks, who makes sure that he plays a character, not a saint. He is flat-out terrific, giving a deeply felt, carefully nuanced performance that deserves an Oscar." Hanks won the 1993 Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in ''Philadelphia''. During his acceptance speech he revealed that his high school drama teacher Rawley Farnsworth and former classmate John Gilkerson, two people with whom he was close, were gay. The revelation inspired the 1997 film ''In & Out'', starring Kevin Kline as an English Literature teacher who is outed by a former student in a similar way.

Hanks followed ''Philadelphia'' with the 1994 summer hit ''Forrest Gump''. Of the film, Hanks has remarked: "When I read the script for ''Gump'', I saw it as one of those kind of grand, hopeful movies that the audience can go to and feel ... some hope for their lot and their position in life... I got that from the movies a hundred million times when I was a kid. I still do." Hanks won his second Best Actor Academy Award for his role in ''Forrest Gump'', becoming only the second actor to have accomplished the feat of winning consecutive Best Actor Oscars. (Spencer Tracy was the first, winning in 1937–38. Hanks and Tracy were the same age at the time they received their Academy Awards: 37 for the first and 38 for the second.)

Hanks' next role—astronaut and commander Jim Lovell, in the 1995 movie ''Apollo 13''--reunited him with Ron Howard. Critics generally applauded the film and the performances of the entire cast, which included actors Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton, Gary Sinise, Ed Harris, and Kathleen Quinlan. The movie also earned nine Academy Award nominations, winning two. The same year, Hanks starred in the animated blockbuster ''Toy Story'' as the voice of the toy Sheriff Woody.

1996 – present: Directing, producing and acting

Hanks turned to directing with his 1996 film ''That Thing You Do!'' about a 1960s pop group, also playing the role of a music producer. Hanks and producer Gary Goetzman went on to create Playtone, a record and film production company named for the record company in the film.

Hanks executive produced, co-wrote, and co-directed the HBO docudrama ''From the Earth to the Moon''. The twelve-part series chronicles the space program from its inception, through the familiar flights of Neil Armstrong and Jim Lovell, to the personal feelings surrounding the reality of moon landings. The Emmy Award-winning project was, at US$68 million, one of the most expensive ventures taken for television.

Hanks's next project was no less expensive. For ''Saving Private Ryan'' he teamed up with Steven Spielberg to make a film about a search through war-torn France after D-Day to bring back a soldier who has a ticket home. It earned the praise and respect of the film community, critics, and the general public. It was labeled one of the finest war films ever made and earned Spielberg his second Academy Award for direction, and Hanks another Best Actor nomination. Later in 1998, Hanks re-teamed with his ''Sleepless in Seattle'' co-star Meg Ryan for ''You've Got Mail'', a remake of 1940's ''The Shop Around the Corner''.

In 1999, Hanks starred in an adaptation of the Stephen King novel ''The Green Mile''. He also returned as the voice of Woody in ''Toy Story 2.'' The following year he won a Golden Globe for Best Actor and an Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of a marooned FedEx systems analyst in Robert Zemeckis's ''Cast Away''. In 2001, Hanks helped direct and produce the acclaimed HBO mini-series ''Band of Brothers''. He also appeared in the September 11 television special ''America: A Tribute to Heroes'' and the documentary ''Rescued From the Closet''.

Next he teamed up with ''American Beauty'' director Sam Mendes for the adaptation of Max Allan Collins's and Richard Piers Rayner's graphic novel ''Road to Perdition'', in which he played an anti-hero role as a hitman on the run with his son. That same year, Hanks collaborated with director Spielberg again, starring opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in the hit crime comedy ''Catch Me if You Can'', based on the true story of Frank Abagnale, Jr. The same year, Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson produced the hit movie ''My Big Fat Greek Wedding''. In August 2007, he along with co-producers Rita Wilson and Gary Goetzman, and writer and star Nia Vardalos, initiated a legal action against the production company Gold Circle Films for their share of profits from the movie. At the age of 45, he became the youngest ever recipient of the American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award on June 12, 2002.

In 2004, he appeared in three films: The Coen Brothers' ''The Ladykillers'', another Spielberg film, ''The Terminal'', and ''The Polar Express'', a family film from Robert Zemeckis. In a ''USA Weekend'' interview, Hanks talked about how he chooses projects: "[Since] ''A League of Their Own'', it can't be just another movie for me. It has to get me going somehow.... There has to be some all-encompassing desire or feeling about wanting to do that particular movie. I'd like to assume that I'm willing to go down any avenue in order to do it right". In August 2005, Hanks was voted in as vice president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Hanks next starred in the highly anticipated film ''The Da Vinci Code'', based on the bestselling novel by Dan Brown. The film was released May 19, 2006 in the US and grossed over US$750 million worldwide. He followed the film with Ken Burns's 2007 documentary ''The War''. For the documentary, Hanks did voice work, reading excerpts from World War II-era columns by Al McIntosh. In 2006, Hanks topped a 1,500-strong list of 'most trusted celebrities' compiled by ''Forbes'' magazine. Hanks next appeared in a cameo role as himself in ''The Simpsons Movie'', in which he appeared in an advertisement claiming that the US government has lost its credibility and is hence buying some of his. He also made an appearance in the credits, expressing a desire to be left alone when he is out in public. Later in 2006, Hanks produced the British film ''Starter for Ten'', a comedy based on working class students attempting to win ''University Challenge''.

In 2007, Hanks starred in Mike Nichols's film ''Charlie Wilson's War'' (written by screenwriter Aaron Sorkin) in which he plays Democratic Texas Congressman Charles Wilson. The film opened on December 21, 2007 and Hanks received a Golden Globe nomination.

In 2008's ''The Great Buck Howard'', Hanks played the on-screen father of a young man (Hanks' real-life son, Colin Hanks) who chooses to follow in the footsteps of a fading magician (John Malkovich). Tom Hanks's character was less than thrilled about his son's career decision.

Hanks's next endeavor, released on May 15, 2009, was a film adaptation of ''Angels & Demons'', based on the novel of the same name by Dan Brown. Its April 11, 2007 announcement revealed that Hanks would reprise his role as Robert Langdon, and that he would reportedly receive the highest salary ever for an actor. The following day he made his 10th appearance on NBC's ''Saturday Night Live'', impersonating himself for the ''Celebrity Jeopardy'' sketch.

Hanks is producer of the Spike Jonze film ''Where The Wild Things Are'', based on the children's book by Maurice Sendak.

In 2010, Hanks reprised his role as Sheriff Woody in the third film in the Toy Story franchise, ''Toy Story 3'', after he, Tim Allen, and John Ratzenberger were invited to a movie theater to see a complete story reel of the movie.

In 2011, he directed and starred opposite Julia Roberts in the title role in the romantic comedy ''Larry Crowne''. The movie has received generally bad reviews with only 35% of the 175 Rotten Tomatoes reviews giving it high ratings.

Hanks is ranked the highest all time box office star with over $3.639 billion total box office gross, an average of $107 million per film. He has been involved with seventeen films that grossed over $100 million at the worldwide box office, the highest grossing of which was 2010's ''Toy Story 3''.

Personal life

Hanks was married to American actress Samantha Lewes (née Susan Jane Dillingham) from 1978 to 1987. The couple had two children, son Colin Hanks (also an actor) and daughter Elizabeth Ann.

In 1988, Hanks married actress Rita Wilson. The two first met on the set of Hanks's television show ''Bosom Buddies'' but later developed a romantic interest while working on the film ''Volunteers''. They have two sons: Chester, or "Chet" (who has a small part as a student in ''Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull'' and released a rap single in 2011), and Truman.

Hanks became a grandfather when his son Colin and daughter-in-law Samantha gave birth to granddaughter Olivia Jane Hanks on February 1, 2011.

Regarding his religious views, Hanks has said, "I must say that when I go to church – and I do go to church – I ponder the mystery. I meditate on the 'why?' of 'Why people are as they are' and 'Why bad things happen to good people,' and 'Why good things happen to bad people'... The mystery is what I think it is, almost, the grand unifying theory of mankind."

Politics

Hanks has made donations to many Democratic politicians and has been open about his support for same-sex marriage, environmental causes and alternative fuels. Hanks made public his presidential candidate choice in the 2008 election when he uploaded a video to his MySpace account in which he announced his endorsement of Barack Obama.

A proponent of environmentalism, Hanks is an investor in electric vehicles and owns both a Toyota RAV4 EV and the first production AC Propulsion eBox. Hanks was a lessee of an EV1 before it was recalled, as chronicled in the documentary ''Who Killed the Electric Car?'' He is on the waiting list for an Aptera 2 Series.

Hanks was extremely outspoken about his opposition to Proposition 8, an amendment to the California constitution that defined marriage as a union only between a man and a woman. Hanks and others who were in opposition to the proposition raised over US$44 million in contrast to the supporters' $39 million, but Proposition 8 passed with 52% of the vote.

While premiering a TV series in January 2009, Hanks called supporters of Proposition 8 "un-American" and attacked the LDS (Mormon) church members, who were major proponents of the bill, for their views on marriage and their role in supporting the bill. About a week later, Hanks apologized for the remark, saying that nothing is more American than voting one's conscience.

Other activities

A supporter of NASA's manned space program, Hanks has said that he originally wanted to be an astronaut but "didn't have the math." Hanks is a member of the National Space Society, serving on the Board of Governors of the nonprofit educational space advocacy organization founded by Dr. Wernher Von Braun. He also produced the HBO miniseries ''From the Earth to the Moon'' about the Apollo program to send astronauts to the moon. In addition, Hanks co-wrote and co-produced ''Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon 3D'', an IMAX film about the moon landings. Hanks also provided the voice over for the premiere of the show ''Passport to the Universe'' at the Rose Center for Earth and Space in the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

In 2006, the Space Foundation awarded Hanks the Douglas S. Morrow Public Outreach Award. The award is given annually to an individual or organization that has made significant contributions to public awareness of space programs.

In June 2006 Hanks was inducted as an honorary member of the United States Army Rangers Hall of Fame for his accurate portrayal of a Captain in the movie ''Saving Private Ryan''; Hanks, who was unable to attend the induction ceremony, was the first actor to receive such an honor. In addition to his role in ''Saving Private Ryan'', Hanks was cited for serving as the national spokesperson for the World War II Memorial Campaign, for being the honorary chairperson of the D-Day Museum Capital Campaign, and for his role in writing and helping to produce the Emmy Award-winning miniseries, ''Band of Brothers''.

Hanks is one of several celebrities who frequently participates in planned comedy bits on Conan O'Brien's talk shows, including ''Late Night'', ''The Tonight Show'', and ''Conan'' while a guest. On one visit, Hanks asked Conan to join his run for president on the "Bad Haircut Party" ticket, with confetti and balloons and a hand held sign with the slogan "You'd be stupid to vote for us". On another episode, O'Brien, noting that Hanks was missing Christmas on his promotional tour, brought the season to him, including a gift (the skeleton of Hooch), and a mass of snow burying them both. On yet another episode, Conan gave Hanks a painting he had commissioned reflecting two of his interests: Astronauts landing on the beach at Normandy. On March 10, 2008, Hanks was on hand at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame to induct sixties band The Dave Clark Five. Asteroid 12818 Tomhanks is named for him.

Filmography

+ List of film credits
! Year	! Title	! Role	Notes
1980	''He Knows You're Alone''	Elliot
1982	''Mazes and Monsters''	Robbie Wheeling	Made for television
1984		Allen Bauer
1984		Rick Gassko
1985	''''	Richard Harlan Drew
1985		Lawrence Whatley Bourne III
1986	''''	Walter Fielding, Jr.
1986	''Nothing in Common''	David Basner
1986		David Bradley
1987		Pep Streebeck
1988	''Big''	Adult Josh Baskin
1988		Steven Gold
1989	''Turner & Hooch''	Detective Scott Turner
1989	''''	Ray Peterson
1990	''Joe Versus the Volcano''	Joe Banks
1990	''''	Sherman McCoy
1992	''''	Jimmy Dugan
1992		Older Mike	(uncredited)
1993	''Sleepless in Seattle''	Sam Baldwin
1993		Andrew Beckett
1994
1995		Jim Lovell
1995	''Toy Story''		(voice)
1996	''That Thing You Do!''	Mr. White	(writer and director)
1998	''Saving Private Ryan''	Captain John H. Miller
1998	''You've Got Mail''	Joe Fox
1999	''Toy Story 2''	Woody	(voice)
1999	''''	Paul Edgecomb
2000	''Cast Away''	Chuck Noland
2002	''Road to Perdition''	Michael Sullivan, Sr.
2002	''Catch Me If You Can''	FBI Agent Carl Hanratty
2004	''''	Viktor Navorski
2004	''''	Professor G.H. Dorr
2004		Mailbox Elvis	(cameo)
2004	''''
2006	''''
2006		Woody Car	(voice)
2007	''''	Himself	(voice)
2007	''Charlie Wilson's War''		Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
2008	''''	Mr. Gable
2008			(producer)
2009		Professor Robert Langdon
2009	''''	Various historical figures	(voice)
2009			(producer)
2010	''Toy Story 3''	Woody
2011	''Larry Crowne''	Larry Crowne	(director, producer, writer)
2011	''Hawaiian Vacation''	Woody	(voice)
2012			Filming

+ List of television credits
! Year	! Title	! Role	Notes
1980	''''	Rick Martin	TV series, episode: "Friends and Lovers/Sergeant Bull/Miss Mother"
1980–1982	''Bosom Buddies''	Kip Wilson
1982		Gordon
1982	''Mazes and Monsters''	Robbie Wheeling
1982	''Happy Days''	Dr. Dwayne Twitchell	TV series, episode: "A Case of Revenge"
1983	''Family Ties''	Ned	Elyse Keaton's brother
1994	''Vault of Horror I''	Director
1998		Narrator (also executive producer/director/writer)	Miniseries
2001		Producer, director, writer	Miniseries
2002	''''	Interviewee
2006–2011	''Big Love''	Executive producer	TV series
2008		Executive producer	Miniseries
2010	''''	Executive producer/Narrator	Miniseries
2011	''Saturday Night Live''	Guest cast member

Other accolades

+ List of accolades and awards won
! Organization	! Year	! Award
Hollywood Women's Press Club	1988	Golden Apple Award
Hasty Pudding Theatricals	1995
American Film Institute	2002	AFI Life Achievement Award
Hollywood Film Festival	2002	Actor of the Year
	2004	Britannia Award for Excellence in Film
	2004	Bambi for Film – International
Film Society of Lincoln Center	2009	Gala Tribute

References

Further reading

Gardner, David, ''Tom Hanks: The Unauthorized Biography'', London, England 1999

Gardner, David, ''Tom Hanks: Enigma'' 2007

Pfeiffer, Lee, ''The Films of Tom Hanks'', Secaucus, New Jersey, 1996

Salamon, Julie, ''The Devil's Candy: The Bonfire of the Vanities Goes to Hollywood'', Boston, 1991

Trakin, Roy, ''Tom Hanks: Journey to Stardom'', 1987; rev. ed.1995

Wallner, Rosemary, ''Tom Hanks: Academy Award-Winning Actor'', Edina, Minnesota, 1994

External links

Tom Hanks' Facebook Page

Tom Hanks's thoughts on Earth Day 2006

Interview from 1989 issue of ''Film Comment''

Tom Hanks's films of the 1980s

Category:Actors from California Category:American film actors Category:American film directors Category:American people of Portuguese descent Category:American television actors Category:American voice actors Category:Best Actor Academy Award winners Category:Best Drama Actor Golden Globe (film) winners Category:Best Musical or Comedy Actor Golden Globe (film) winners Category:California Democrats Category:California State University, Sacramento alumni Category:Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Screen Actors Guild Award winners Category:People from Concord, California Category:People from Oakland, California Category:Space advocacy Category:1956 births Category:Living people

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name	Petter Solberg
birth date	November 18, 1974
nationality	Norwegian
years	1998–present
teams	Ford, Subaru, Petter Solberg World Rally Team
races	164
championships	1 (2003)
wins	13
podiums	45
stagewins	400
points	641
first race	1998 Swedish Rally
first win	2002 Rally GB }}

Petter "Hollywood" Solberg (born 18 November 1974 in Askim), from Spydeberg in Østfold, Norway, is a professional rally driver. He debuted in the World Rally Championship in 1998 and was signed by the Ford factory team in 1999. The following year, Solberg started his successful partnership with the Subaru World Rally Team.

With the Subaru works team, Solberg finished runner-up to Marcus Grönholm in 2002 and then became the first Norwegian to win the drivers' world title in 2003. In the following two seasons, he finished runner-up to Sébastien Loeb. Following Subaru's withdrawal from the WRC at the end of the 2008 season, Solberg secured private backing to start the Petter Solberg World Rally Team and competed with a 2006-spec Citroën Xsara WRC for the majority of the 2009 season, before switching to a 2008-spec Citroën C4 WRC for Rally Catalunya and Rally GB.

Career

Early career

Solberg won a nationwide RC car championship at the age of 13 as he inherited his interest of motorsport through his parents, mother Tove and father Terje, who were keen ''bilcross'' (an "inexpensive version" of Norwegian rallycross, similar to Swedish folkrace and Finnish ''jokamiehenluokka'') competitors and rallycross enthusiasts. He used to help out around the home farm rebuilding competition cars, as he was not yet old enough to drive. Solberg entered his first ''bilcross'' in 1992, three days after his 18th birthday and only one day after he got his driving license. He went on to become Norwegian champion in rallycross as well as hillclimb in both 1995 (winning 19 out of 21 events) and 1996 (winning 15 out of 19 events). In 1995 he took part in his maiden rally, the Norwegian Rally Bjørkelangen, by driving a Volvo 240 in the ''Volvo Original'' class. His female navigator by then was Maude from Sweden, nowadays spouse of his older brother Henning. In 1998 Petter became the Norwegian Rally Champion, his brother Henning won this title five times in a row between 1999 and 2003.

WRC career

By this time and with the aid of his compatriot John "Mr Škoda" Haugland, who helped him on events in the late 1990s, the World Rally Championship team bosses were starting to recognize Solberg's potential and by the end of 1998, after winning a comparative test drive, he agreed to drive for three years as a junior pilot for the Ford Motor Company. Initially expected by Malcolm Wilson to maintain a somewhat lower profile, Solberg actually became a nominated points-scorer for Ford on, of all events, the gruelling test that was the Safari Rally in early 1999, after usual understudy to the team's star driver Colin McRae, Thomas Rådström, suffered an injury and was subsequently ruled out from taking part.

2000-04

In 2000, however, Solberg was able to leave Ford's M-Sport outfit prematurely, due to an insufficient contract, to sign with the Prodrive Subaru World Rally Team (SWRT), then led by a driving staff of Richard Burns and Juha Kankkunen. His first podium had to wait until the Acropolis Rally, Greece the following year, as an altruistic Solberg forsook as many of his own points as possible, as he did in dropping voluntarily from 4th to 5th in Sanremo, to assist his senior team-mate Burns in sneaking to the title.

In 2002, with four-time champion Tommi Mäkinen installed as his new team-mate in the light of Burns' departure to Peugeot, Solberg won his first ever WRC event in Wales (Wales Rally GB) after a consistent display of driving prowess and an unlikely accident by Marcus Grönholm. In 2003, Solberg beat fellow WRC young-gun, Citroen-mounted Sébastien Loeb at the Wales Rally GB, launching him to his second win in Wales and his first (and to date, only) World Rally Championship title.

In his title defence, however, Solberg's winning of five of a possible sixteen events, including the hat-trick making Wales Rally GB, proved insufficient to deny the title to a now increasingly efficient Loeb. On Solberg's part, a perhaps unfortunate string of bad luck was encapsulated by three DNFs (retirements) in mid-season.

2005

Welcoming a new team-mate for the year in Australian Chris Atkinson, who replaced the disappointing Finn who had been the former Champion's SWRT team-mate throughout 2004, Mikko Hirvonen, Solberg started his 2005 season brightly as he sought an immediate answer to Loeb, the Norwegian winning two of the first three events, in Sweden and Mexico. These successes coincided with the early seizing of a championship lead. He was, however, soon overtaken by a rampant Loeb, and was left to score 71 points for the year, pipping Peugeot's Marcus Grönholm to the championship runner-up spot on a tie break.

He added an unwanted Wales Rally GB win after the death in a day three crash of fellow competitor Markko Märtin's co-driver, Michael Park, with Loeb sacrificing his victory on the road in order to avoid having to simultaneously celebrate the title. Solberg won three rallies in all, though was severely affected by bad luck while challenging for wins at the end of the season, most notably on the Telstra Rally Australia, where he was forced to retire after striking a wayward kangaroo.

2006

For 2006, Solberg continued his partnership with the Subaru team, driving a new version of the Impreza WRC. His main sponsor was 24SevenOffice with a 5 million kroner sponsorship deal, a Norwegian record. His results, though, proved patchy in comparison to Loeb. While Loeb went on to register five rally victories on the bounce in a privately (Kronos) run Citroën Xsara WRC, his winning of the title unhampered even by breaking his arm at an advanced stage of the season, Solberg could only comparatively muster a handful of runner-up places on rallies all season — in Mexico, Argentina and Australia. Failure to claw his way any higher than sixth in the year's final points standings duly brought an end to the chain of top three drivers' championship appearances which Subaru had enjoyed since 1994.

2007

The Norwegian did, at least, get his 2007 season off to a rather more auspicious start, managing a joint-career-best finish of sixth place on the Rally Monte Carlo. He surrendered a potential third place finish in Sweden after a substantial time loss, as well as being bested by his brother, Henning, in the race for the final podium place on the siblings' home event – Rally Norway. In Mexico, Argentina and Sardinia Petter struggled with his Impreza — technical problems caused two retirements and a plummet down the leaderboard in Italy. Good pace in Portugal and taking third place on the Acropolis Rally at least appeared to mark a turnaround in the quality of the younger Solberg's results, although even Greek event wasn't problem-free for the Norwegian as he experienced some damper problems.

Despite Subaru's confidence in their car performance and reliability built up during summer break tests, Impreza S12A failed again — Solberg had to retire on day two in Finland, after monstrous handling and steering problems which the engineers were unable to deal with. On the next round, Rallye Deutschland, where he finished sixth, the car by itself was reliable, but the Norwegian hit a rock on SS5 heavily damaging the steering, which had cost him considerable amount of time because the team wasn't able to fully repair it. The New Zealand event was another problem-ridden outing for Solberg — he described the handling difficulties as similar to those he had experienced in Finland earlier.

At the next round on Rally Catalunya, it was a difficult rally for Solberg  — he struggled to maintain a good pace and in the end finished sixth, almost 3 minutes adrift from the winner, Loeb. He was however pleased with changes in car setup made for day 3, which seemed promising for the following Tour de Corse. Unfortunately for the Norwegian, the setup wasn't as good and he had problems with handling again which, along with a stalled engine on the start of SS5, resulted in a disappointing fifth place, behind young Finn Jari-Matti Latvala. In Japan, his team's home event, Petter clocked several top-ten times on the early stages, but crashed badly on SS5 then, probably due to damage sustained in accident, his gearbox locked in sixth gear, forcing his retirement for the day. He later rejoined the competition under the SupeRally format and finished 16th, managing to score two points in the Manufacturers' Championship. On the day of his 33rd birthday, Solberg finished fifth on Rally Ireland, calling it "the most difficult rally he has ever done"; he had also found his car's performance better than in previous events.

On the final event of the season, Wales Rally GB, Solberg had consistent pace and won the battle for fourth with Spaniard Dani Sordo even though the Norwegian hit a rock in the morning and again had some minor handling issues. This result allowed Subaru to retain their third place in the Manufacturers' Championship, and Solberg ended the 2007 season in fifth place overall. He also took part in the 2007 Race of Champions, representing Norway, along with his brother, Henning. He didn't manage to win the first race with David Coulthard, but in Nation's Cup Norwegian brothers made their way to the semi-finals.

2008

For the 2008 season, Solberg and Atkinson were retained by SWRT as driving staff. Solberg started his season with a fifth place in Monte Carlo and fourth in Sweden, but went on to retire or finish outside point-scoring positions in the following four events. A radical new hatchback homologation of the long-serving Subaru Impreza, the WRC2008, debuted on the Acropolis Rally, marked by the Norwegian collecting a runner-up spot to Sébastien Loeb.

Although Solberg went on to break his personal record in consecutive point-scoring finishes, Acropolis remained his only podium of the season. He finished sixth overall in the drivers' championship, four points behind teammate Chris Atkinson, while Subaru took third place in the manufacturers' standings.

2009

Subaru announced on 16 December 2008 that they would not be participating in the World Rally Championship any longer, a mere day after Suzuki announced their withdrawal. Petter and co-driver Phil Mills were left without a ride. Looking at their options with the remaining teams they had to sit out the 2009 season opening Rally Ireland. After careful evaluation of several privateer options including Ford and Citroën cars, Solberg confirmed having acquired (most likely leased) a Citroën Xsara WRC (in 2006 WRC spec) as of 25 January 2009, and that Phil Mills and himself would return to the WRC in a privateer team for the 2009 Rally Norway. On 1 February 2009, Solberg indicated that five sponsors for the 2009 season were in place. The sponsors announced were Microsoft, Pareto, Hurtigruta Carglass and two undisclosed sponsors.

On 6 February 2009, Solberg officially unveiled the Petter Solberg World Rally Team, with himself as driver and Phil Mills as codriver. The team served Solberg and his 2006-spec. Citroën Xsara WRC with active suspension and diffs. A 13-member team, PSWRT employed ex-Subaru World Rally Team members Ken Rees as team manager, and François-Xavier "FX" Demaison as chief engineer. The PSWRT also returned Solberg's personal friend and ex-SWRT member, Tore Dahl, to the WRC scene as a mechanic. Swede Sven-Inge Neby, for about 40 years the engineer of Petter's father-in-law Per-Inge Walfridsson and his brothers Lars-Erik Walfridsson and Stig-Olov Walfridsson, is another support to the international team.

It took some time to adapt to the new car during their first round in Norway, but eventually Petter and Phil managed to secure a sixth place and three points in the drivers' championship. Following that result and a new engine from Citroën, Solberg finished third in the Cyprus Rally, being the first true privateer in a privately run team to be in the podium since Malcolm Wilson back in 1993. Solberg managed to repeat this feat in Sardinia.

Solberg and Mills retained their consistent fight for 3rd and 4th position through the three next rallies; Portugal, Argentina (Retired from 3rd position due to loss of fuel pressure on the final stage) and Italy. Solberg "threatened" to swap to a Peugeot 307, unless he got the 2006 spec upgrades for his Xsara. He received the upgrades (mainly improved intercooler and mechanical differentials) for Sardinia, which made them able to defend a 3rd place, in very hot conditions. Solberg expressed that they were unable to push harder in hot temperatures, and remained open to analyze what to do for the next events. Solberg was believed to be in talks of upgrading to a Peugeot 307 CC but decided to stick with the Xsara. After retiring from Rally Finland, Solberg decided to miss Australia to concentrate on finding a more competitive car. After testing a Citroën C4 WRC in France, and a Ford Focus WRC in Britain, Solberg confirmed he would drive a C4 at the final two rounds of the season, Rally Catalunya and Wales Rally GB. The car was to be a 2008-spec C4, but would feature updates to bring it as close as possible to the factory cars of Sébastien Loeb and Dani Sordo. Solberg continued to drive for his own Petter Solberg World Rally Team for Catalunya, but was a nominated points scorer for the Citroen Junior Team at Wales Rally GB, alongside Sebastien Ogier. He finished in 4th position in both of these events, and ended up 5th in the overall 2009 Drivers' Championship standings.

2010

Solberg announced on 12 January 2010 that he had purchased two Citroën C4 WRC (2009 spec) cars from Citroën and that he would compete in the 2010 World Rally Championship. On the Swedish Rally Solberg was unable to find the rhythm and pace, and finished 9th earning him 2 points. At the second round of the season, the Corona Mexico Rally, Petter held the lead after day 1, with a 27sec gap down to Loeb on 3rd. With Petter sweeping the road on Saturday Loeb advanced to a 55 sec lead by the end of the day, with Solberg on 2nd place 2.7 sec ahead of Sebastien Ogier. A great battle for 2nd place played out on Sunday, with Petter Solberg trailing Ogier with 0.6sec going into the last super special stage. Petter sat a fastest stage time here by 1.4 sec which secured the 2nd place podium finish, marking the best result by PSWRT to date. In the third Round of the season, Rally Jordan, Solberg trailed Latvala (−16s), Ogier (−19s) and Loeb (−43s) going into the last day. Ogier was sacrificed in a new level of tactics, sending him out as first car as road sweeper for Loeb, while receiving penalties and losing his good position. The exploiting of the rules received much criticism, and was subsequently banned for the next rally. The other drivers kept their position with Solberg scoring a 3rd place podium. In Rally Turkey, 16–18 April, Solberg held a good position through the whole rally, and had a serious chance to battle for the victory on the last day, positioned 2nd on the road, 16sec after Loeb. With several stages canceled on safety reasons due to too much mud, and later a scary meet with a tree on the slippery conditions, Solberg wisely stopped fighting and conceded to secure the 2nd place. Hirvonen, Latvala, Sordo and Ogier all had incidents/offs, hindering them to challenge Solbergs position. This result put Petter second in the Driver's Championship standings, 1 point ahead of Hirvonen and 6 points ahead of Latvala, but a full 40 points after Loeb, with 4 out of 13 rallies completed. In Rally New Zealand Solberg made a tactical blunder, simply by not adapting any road position tactics, and finished in first position on day 1, with a marginal lead. Sweaping Saturday's stages left him 54 sec behind, in 5th place, realistically out of reach of a win. But for the final 30 km stage of the rally, four drivers were within 18 seconds of the lead, which lead to an epic four-way battle for the victory, between Ogier, Latvala, Solberg and Loeb. Three of them took a maximum attack, high-risk approach, which none of them managed to complete without incident. Ogier and Loeb both had a spin that cost them some seconds, and Solberg going too fast around a high speed bend hit a telegraph pole on the road shoulder and retired from 3rd position. Latvala did no serious mistakes and took his 3rd WRC win by 2.4 seconds. Loeb crashed two times during this rally, but still managed to finish only 15 seconds behind. On 11 June 2010, PSWRT announced that Phil Mills have decided to leave the codriver seat to focus on other things in life. This brings to an end a 152-event unbroken run of the pair competing together, over 11 years since 1999. In their time they have driven for Ford, Subaru and for their own Citroen team, winning 13 individual world rallies and the 2003 world title. 29 June PSWRT announced that Chris Patterson would be Solberg's new codriver.

In their first rally together, the tarmac event Rally Bulgaria, Petter and Chris put in an impressive performance; five stage wins and finished 3rd, 6.8sec off Dani Sordo in 2nd place.

After more podiums in Japan, France and Spain, Solberg finished 2nd on Rally GB, securing his goal of finishing in the top three in the championship.

2011

On 14 January 2011, PSWRT confirmed that Solberg will compete in the 2011 World Rally Championship in a Citroën DS3 WRC.

In February, Solberg had his driving licence suspended in Sweden after police caught him travelling 32kph above the speed limit on the way to the fifth stage of the country's WRC round, forcing co-driver Chris Patterson to take up the wheel.

Personal life

Solberg is married to a Swede, Pernilla Walfridsson, with whom he has a son, Oliver. Pernilla is the daughter of former Volvo factory driver and 1980 European Rallycross Champion, Per-Inge "Pi" Walfridsson (who also claimed a remarkable fourth overall in the 1973 RAC Rally). Pernilla was also, for some time, one of the world's leading female rally drivers.

WRC victories

:{|class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%; max-width: 49em;" width=100% ! No. ! Event ! Season ! Co-driver ! Car |- |align="right" style="padding-right: 0.5em;"| 1 | 58th Network Q Rally of Great Britain |align="center"| 2002 | Phil Mills | Subaru Impreza WRC |- |align="right" style="padding-right: 0.5em;"| 2 | 31st Cyprus Rally |align="center"| 2003 | Phil Mills | Subaru Impreza WRC |- |align="right" style="padding-right: 0.5em;"| 3 | 16th Telstra Rally Australia |align="center"| 2003 | Phil Mills | Subaru Impreza WRC |- |align="right" style="padding-right: 0.5em;"| 4 | 47ème Tour de Corse – Rallye de France |align="center"| 2003 | Phil Mills | Subaru Impreza WRC |- |align="right" style="padding-right: 0.5em;"| 5 | 59th Wales Rally of Great Britain |align="center"| 2003 | Phil Mills | Subaru Impreza WRC |- |align="right" style="padding-right: 0.5em;"| 6 | 34th Propecia Rally New Zealand |align="center"| 2004 | Phil Mills | Subaru Impreza WRC |- |align="right" style="padding-right: 0.5em;"| 7 | 51st Acropolis Rally |align="center"| 2004 | Phil Mills | Subaru Impreza WRC |- |align="right" style="padding-right: 0.5em;"| 8 | 1st Rally Japan |align="center"| 2004 | Phil Mills | Subaru Impreza WRC |- |align="right" style="padding-right: 0.5em;"| 9 | 60th Wales Rally of Great Britain |align="center"| 2004 | Phil Mills | Subaru Impreza WRC |- |align="right" style="padding-right: 0.5em;"| 10 | 1º Supermag Rally d'Italia Sardinia |align="center"| 2004 | Phil Mills | Subaru Impreza WRC |- |align="right" style="padding-right: 0.5em;"| 11 | 54th Uddeholm Swedish Rally |align="center"| 2005 | Phil Mills | Subaru Impreza WRC |- |align="right" style="padding-right: 0.5em;"| 12 | 19º Corona Rally México |align="center"| 2005 | Phil Mills | Subaru Impreza WRC |- |align="right" style="padding-right: 0.5em;"| 13 | 61st Wales Rally of Great Britain |align="center"| 2005 | Phil Mills | Subaru Impreza WRC |}

WRC results

! Year

! Entrant

! Car

! 1

! 2

! 3

! 4

! 5

! 6

! 7

! 8

! 9

! 10

! 11

! 12

! 13

! 14

! 15

! 16

! WDC

! Points

rowspan=2

! Shell Norge

Toyota Celica GT-Four

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

–

0

! Petter Solberg

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

rowspan=3

!rowspan=2

! Ford Escort WRC

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

19th

2

Ford Focus WRC

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

! Petter Solberg

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

rowspan=3

BP Ford World Rally Team>Ford Motor Co

Ford Focus WRC>Ford Focus WRC 00

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

10th

6

! Petter Solberg

!rowspan=2

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

! Subaru World Rally Team

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

! Subaru World Rally Team

Subaru Impreza WRC>Subaru Impreza WRC2001

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#DFDFDF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

! 10th

! 11

rowspan=2

555 Subaru World Rally Team

Subaru Impreza WRC>Subaru Impreza WRC2001

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

Subaru Impreza WRC>Subaru Impreza WRC2002

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#DFDFDF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#FFDF9F"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#FFDF9F"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#FFDF9F"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

Subaru World Rally Team>555 Subaru World Rally Team

Subaru Impreza WRC>Subaru Impreza WRC2003

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#FFDF9F"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#FFDF9F"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#DFDFDF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

rowspan=2

!rowspan=2

Subaru Impreza WRC>Subaru Impreza WRC2003

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#FFDF9F"

Subaru Impreza WRC>Subaru Impreza WRC2004

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#FFDF9F"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

rowspan=2

Subaru World Rally Team

Subaru Impreza WRC>Subaru Impreza WRC2004

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

Subaru Impreza WRC>Subaru Impreza WRC2005

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#FFDF9F"

bgcolor="#DFDFDF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#DFDFDF"

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

bgcolor="#FFDF9F"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#FFDF9F"

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

! Subaru World Rally Team

Subaru Impreza WRC>Subaru Impreza WRC2006

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#DFDFDF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

bgcolor="#DFDFDF"

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

bgcolor="#DFDFDF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#FFDF9F"

! 6th

! 40

rowspan=2

Subaru World Rally Team

Subaru Impreza WRC>Subaru Impreza WRC2006

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

5th

47

Subaru Impreza WRC>Subaru Impreza WRC2007

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#DFDFDF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#FFDF9F"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

rowspan=2

Subaru World Rally Team

Subaru Impreza WRC>Subaru Impreza WRC2007

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

6th

46

Subaru Impreza WRC>Subaru Impreza WRC2008

bgcolor="#DFDFDF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

rowspan=2

Petter Solberg World Rally Team

! Citroën Xsara WRC

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#FFDF9F"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#FFDF9F"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

5th

35

! Citroën C4 WRC

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

! Petter Solberg World Rally Team

! Citroën C4 WRC

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#DFDFDF"

bgcolor="#FFDF9F"

bgcolor="#DFDFDF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#FFDF9F"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#DFDFDF"

bgcolor="#FFDF9F"

bgcolor="#DFDFDF"

bgcolor="#DFDFDF"

! Petter Solberg World Rally Team

! Citroën DS3 WRC

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#FFDF9F"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

! 5th*

! 94*

* Season in progress

IRC results

! Year

! Entrant

! Car

! 1

! 2

! 3

! 4

! 5

! 6

! 7

! 8

! 9

! 10

! 11

! 12

! WDC

! Points

! Petter Solberg

! Peugeot 207 S2000

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

! –

! 0

References

External links

pettersolberg.com – official website

Petter Solberg's profile at RallyBase.nl

Category:1974 births Category:Living people Category:World Rally Champions Category:World Rally Championship drivers Category:Norwegian rally drivers Category:Intercontinental Rally Challenge drivers

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