- go to the top
- About WN
- Contact
- Feedback
- Privacy Policy
- © 2012 World News Inc., all Rights Reserved
1959
Loading suggestions ...
-
"Weird Al" Yankovic
Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic (; born October 23, 1959) is an American singer-songwriter, music producer, actor, comedian, satirist, and a parodist. Yankovic is known in particular for his humorous songs that make light of popular culture and that often parody specific songs by contemporary musical acts. Since his first-aired comedy song in 1976, he has sold more than 12 million albums—more than any other comedy act in history—recorded more than 150 parody and original songs, and has performed more than 1,000 live shows. His works have earned him three Grammy Awards among nine nominations, four gold records, and six platinum records in the United States. Yankovic's first top ten Billboard album (Straight Outta Lynwood) and single ("White & Nerdy") were both released in 2006, nearly three decades into his career.
http://wn.com/"Weird_Al"_Yankovic -
Aidan Quinn
Aidan Quinn (born March 8, 1959) is an Irish/American actor.
http://wn.com/Aidan_Quinn -
Akihito
:See also Prince Komatsu Akihito, a Japanese general.
http://wn.com/Akihito -
Alan Best (animator)
http://wn.com/Alan_Best_(animator) -
Alec Issigonis
Sir Alexander Arnold Constantine Issigonis, CBE, FRS (18 November 1906–2 October 1988) was a Greek-British designer of cars, now remembered chiefly for the groundbreaking and influential development of the Mini, launched by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) in 1959.
http://wn.com/Alec_Issigonis -
Alex McLeish
Alexander "Alex" McLeish (born 21 January 1959) nicknamed "Big Eck", is a Scottish former professional footballer who is currently manager of Birmingham City. Born in Barrhead, Renfrewshire, McLeish played as a central defender for Aberdeen during their 1980s glory years, making nearly 500 League appearances for the club, and won 77 caps for Scotland.
http://wn.com/Alex_McLeish -
Alfie Anido
Alfie Anido (December 31, 1959 – December 30, 1981) was a popular Filipino matinee idol best remembered for his death at the age of 22. He was the eldest of four children of Alberto Anido and Sara Serrano, and was the brother of Albert Anido, another Filipino actor.
http://wn.com/Alfie_Anido -
Alison Ramsay
Alison Gail Ramsay (born April 16, 1959 in London, Greater London) is a former Scottish field hockey player, who was a member of the Great Britain and Northern Ireland squad that won the bronze medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. She's one of the world's most capped women's hockey players, with over 250 appearances for Scotland and Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and received the MBE.
http://wn.com/Alison_Ramsay -
Allison Janney
Allison Brooks Janney (born November 19, 1959) is an American actress, best known for her role as C. J. Cregg on the television series The West Wing.
http://wn.com/Allison_Janney -
Ana María Polo
Ana María Polo (born on April 11, 1959) is a Cuban-American lawyer and Hispanic television judge on Caso Cerrado. Born in Havana, Cuba, Ana, came to Miami at a young age accompanied by her family. Later, they moved to Puerto Rico where she participated in different musicals such as: Godspell, Jubilee & Showboat in addition to singing with the Chorus of Jubilee, who were invited by Pope Paul VI to sing at St. Peter’s Basilica as part of the celebration of the 1975 Holy Year.
http://wn.com/Ana_María_Polo -
Andrew Bailey
Andrew Bailey (born March 30, 1959) is the current Executive Director Banking and Chief Cashier at the Bank of England. He was appointed to his current role in January 2004 and has several key responsibilities to fulfil. He is also a member of the Governor's Executive Team, which is the bank's senior management group. Bailey's signature appears underneath the amount in £ on the side with the Queen on all bank notes issued by the bank since his appointment.
http://wn.com/Andrew_Bailey -
Andrew Eldritch
Andrew Eldritch (born Andrew William Harvey Taylor, 15 May 1959, Ely, Cambridgeshire, England) is the English frontman, singer, songwriter and only remaining original member of The Sisters of Mercy, a band that emerged from the British post punk scene, reoriented gothic rock and, in later years, also flirted with pop and hard rock.
http://wn.com/Andrew_Eldritch -
Andy Dog Johnson
Andy Johnson is the older brother of The The's Matt Johnson. He is an artist best known for designing the record sleeves of The The in the 1980s and 1990s which were produced under the pseudonym Andy Dog. His work has a very distinctive style and often features tortured, grimacing figures coupled with dark, sad themes.
http://wn.com/Andy_Dog_Johnson -
Ante Pavelić
Ante Pavelić (14 July 1889 – 28 December 1959) was a Croatian fascist politician, war criminal and Axis collaborator. He ruled as Poglavnik of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH), a World War II puppet state of Nazi Germany in Axis-occupied Yugoslavia. In the 1930s, he was a founding member and leader of the Croatian fascist ultra-nationalist separatist movement, the Ustaše. In 1941, having been installed by the Axis occupation as leader of a Croat puppet state, he instituted a racial policy that led to genocide over hundreds of thousands of Serbs, Jews, and Roma in the NDH concentration camps, along with Croat political opponents and resistance members. At the end of the war, Pavelić escaped abroad. He died from wounds caused by an assassination attempt in Madrid on 28 December 1959.
http://wn.com/Ante_Pavelić -
Anthony Sowell
Anthony Edward Sowell (born August 19, 1959) is an American alleged serial killer. He pleaded guilty to attempted rape in 1989 and served 15 years before his release in 2005. He was arrested in October 2009 as a suspect in the murders of eleven women whose bodies were discovered at his Cleveland, Ohio duplex in the Mt. Pleasant neighborhood. Sowell has been charged with eighty-five counts of murder, rape, and kidnapping; he has pled not guilty by reason of insanity.
http://wn.com/Anthony_Sowell -
Armin Kogler
Armin Kogler (born 4 September 1959 in Innsbruck) is an Austrian ski jumper who competed from the late 1970s to the mid 1980s. After his surprise win at the FIS Ski-Flying World Championships 1979, Kogler set a new record in Planica (1981) with a leap of 180 meters. He won two overall World Cup victories (1981 and 1982) along with a complete set of medals at the 1982 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships with gold in the individual normal hill, a silver in the team large hill, and a bronze in the individual large hill. He would then follow it up with a silver in the team large hill event at the 1985 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Seefeld. Additionally, Kogler won the ski jumping event at the Holmenkollen ski festival in 1980. Kogler's best Olympic finish was fifth in the individual large hill at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid.
http://wn.com/Armin_Kogler -
Arthur Kornberg
Arthur Kornberg (March 3, 1918 – October 26, 2007) was an American biochemist who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1959 for his discovery of "the mechanisms in the biological synthesis of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)" together with Dr. Severo Ochoa of New York University. He was also awarded the Paul-Lewis Laboratories Award in Enzyme Chemistry from the American Chemical Society in 1951, L.H.D. degree from Yeshiva University in 1962, as well as National Medal of Science in 1979.
http://wn.com/Arthur_Kornberg -
Arto Salminen
Arto Salminen (22 October 1959, Helsinki – 15 November 2005, Hausjärvi) was a Finnish writer known for his social commentary. Salminen, who had also worked as a journalist and taxi driver, wrote six novels which criticised with a morbid black sense of humour such current phenomena in Finnish society as neoliberalist politics, the decline of the welfare state, tabloid media, reality television and so on. His books gained a small cult following in Finland and they also received excellent reviews even though they did not sell particularly well.
http://wn.com/Arto_Salminen -
Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn ( – ) was a British actress and humanitarian.
http://wn.com/Audrey_Hepburn -
Azali Assoumani
Azali Assoumani (, born January 1, 1959) was a president of the Comoros. He became leader of the country on 30 April 1999 after leading a coup to depose acting president Tadjidine Ben Said Massounde, who he saw as pandering to the independence movement on Anjouan. He won multi-party elections in 2002, prior to which he was constitutionally required to temporarily step down in order to run as a candidate.
http://wn.com/Azali_Assoumani -
Baby Dodds
Warren "Baby" Dodds (December 24, 1898 – February 14, 1959) was a jazz drummer born in New Orleans, Louisiana.
http://wn.com/Baby_Dodds -
Badou Ezzaki
Ezzaki Badou, nicknamed "Zaki" (; born 2 April 1959 in Sidi Kacem) was the manager of the Morocco national football team from 2002 to 2005. Before coaching, he was a noted goalkeeper, appearing as the keeper for the Morocco national football team at the 1984 Summer Olympics and at the 1986 FIFA World Cup. He was named by France Football magazine as France Football African Footballer of the Year for 1986. He was coach of KAC of Marrakech in the Moroccan First Division,resigning in November 2007.
http://wn.com/Badou_Ezzaki -
Barbara Krause
MedalCountry|
http://wn.com/Barbara_Krause -
Baron Waqa
Baron Divavesi Waqa (b. December 31, 1959) is a Nauruan politician and composer.
http://wn.com/Baron_Waqa -
Barry Blanchard
Barry Blanchard (born March 29, 1959 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada) is one of North America's top alpinists, noted for pushing the standards of highly technical, high-risk alpine climbing in the Canadian Rockies and the Himalayas.
http://wn.com/Barry_Blanchard -
Barthélemy Boganda
Barthélemy Boganda (4 April 1910 – 29 March 1959) was the leading nationalist politician of what is now the Central African Republic. Boganda was active prior to his country's independence, during the period when the area, part of French Equatorial Africa, was administered by France under the name of Oubangui-Chari. He served as the first Prime Minister of the Central African Republic autonomous territory.
http://wn.com/Barthélemy_Boganda -
Beijing
| style="float:right;"
http://wn.com/Beijing -
Ben Elton
Benjamin Charles "Ben" Elton (born 3 May 1959) is a London-born comedian, author, playwright and television director. He was a leading figure in the British alternative comedy movement of the 1980s, as a writer on such cult series as The Young Ones and Blackadder and as well as a successful stand-up comedian on stage and TV. He was a high-profile frontman of 1980s left-wing political satire. Since then he has published over twelve novels and more lately become known for writing the musical We Will Rock You (2002) and Love Never Dies (2010), the sequel to Phantom of the Opera.
http://wn.com/Ben_Elton -
Ben Linder
Benjamin Ernest "Ben" Linder (July 7, 1959 – April 28, 1987), was a young American engineer who was working on a small hydroelectric dam in rural northern Nicaragua when he was killed by anti-government Contra rebels. Coming at a time when U.S. support for the Contras was already highly controversial, Linder's death made front-page headlines around the world and further polarized opinion in the United States.
http://wn.com/Ben_Linder -
Benjamin Sehene
Benjamin Sehene (born 1959) is a Rwandan author whose work primarily focuses on questions of identity and the events surrounding the Rwandan genocide. He has spent much of life in Canada and France.
http://wn.com/Benjamin_Sehene -
Benny Fields
Benny (Bennie) Fields (born: Benjamin Geisenfeld) (June 14, 1894 – August 16, 1959) was a popular singer of the early 20th century, best known as one-half of the Blossom Seeley-Benny Fields vaudeville team
http://wn.com/Benny_Fields -
Bernard Berenson
Bernard Berenson (June 26, 1865 – October 6, 1959) was an American art historian specializing in the Renaissance. He was a major figure in pioneering art attribution and therefore establishing the market for paintings by the "Old Masters".
http://wn.com/Bernard_Berenson -
Bernd Schuster
Bernhard Schuster (born 22 December 1959 in Augsburg) is a German football manager and former player, currently managing Turkish Super Lig side Beşiktaş. His nickname is "der Blonde Engel" (the Blonde Angel).
http://wn.com/Bernd_Schuster -
Berry Gordy
Berry Gordy, Jr. (born November 28, 1929) is an American record producer, and the founder of the Motown record label, as well as its many subsidiaries.
http://wn.com/Berry_Gordy -
Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday was a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing. Her vocal style, strongly inspired by jazz instrumentalists, pioneered a new way of manipulating phrasing and tempo. Above all, she was admired worldwide for her deeply personal, intimate approach to singing.
http://wn.com/Billie_Holiday -
Billy Childish
Billy Childish (born Steven John Hamper, 1 December 1959) is an English artist, painter, author, poet, photographer, film maker, singer and guitarist. He is known for his explicit and prolific work — he has detailed his love life and childhood sexual abuse, notably in his early poetry and the novels My Fault (1996), Notebooks of a Naked Youth (1997), Sex Crimes of the Futcher (2004) — The Idiocy of Idears (2007), and in several of his songs, notably in the instrumental Peodaphile, Clawfist Records (1992)
http://wn.com/Billy_Childish -
Billy Gillispie
Billy Clyde Gillispie (, , born November 7, 1959), also known by his initials BCG, is an American college men's basketball coach, most recently at the University of Kentucky.
http://wn.com/Billy_Gillispie -
Billy Mayerl
Billy Joseph Mayerl (May 31, 1902- March 25, 1959), was an English pianist and composer who built a career in music hall and musical theatre and became an acknowledged master of light music. Best known for his syncopated novelty piano solos, he wrote over 300 piano pieces, many of which were named after flowers and trees, including his best known composition, Marigold (1927).
http://wn.com/Billy_Mayerl -
Blind Willie McTell
Blind Willie McTell (May 5, 1898 – August 19, 1959) was an influential African-American blues musician and songwriter, who sang and accompanied himself on the guitar. He was a twelve-string finger picking Piedmont blues guitarist, and recorded 149 songs between 1927 and 1956.
http://wn.com/Blind_Willie_McTell -
Boris Vian
Boris Vian (10 March 1920 – 23 June 1959) was a French polymath: writer, poet, musician, singer, translator, critic, actor, inventor and engineer. He is best remembered today for his novels. Those published under the pseudonym Vernon Sullivan were bizarre parodies of criminal fiction, highly controversial at the time of their release. Vian's other fiction, published under his real name, featured a highly individual writing style with numerous madeup words, subtle wordplay and surrealistic plots. ''L'Écume des jours'' is the best known of these works, and one of the few translated into English.
http://wn.com/Boris_Vian -
Boughera El Ouafi
MedalCountry|
http://wn.com/Boughera_El_Ouafi -
Brad Wellman
Brad Eugene Wellman (born August 17, 1959, in Lodi, California) was a Major League Baseball infielder.
http://wn.com/Brad_Wellman -
Brian Lenihan, Jnr
Brian Joseph Lenihan (born 21 May 1959) is an Irish Fianna Fáil politician. He is the current Minister for Finance and a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin West constituency. He previously served as Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, as did his father, Brian Lenihan, Snr.
http://wn.com/Brian_Lenihan_Jnr -
Brian P. Cleary
Brian P. Cleary, (born October 1, 1959 in Lakewood, Ohio) is an American humorist, poet, and author. He is best-known for his books that explore grammar in humorous ways written for grade-school children.
http://wn.com/Brian_P_Cleary -
Brian Setzer
Brian Setzer (born April 10, 1959) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. He first found widespread success in the early 1980s with the 1950s-style rockabilly revival group The Stray Cats, and revitalized his career in the late 1990s with a jazz-oriented big band.
http://wn.com/Brian_Setzer -
Brian Williams
Brian Douglas Williams (born May 5, 1959) is the American anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News, the evening news program of the NBC television network, a position he assumed in 2004. Williams was listed among ''Time Magazine's'' 100 Most Influential People in The World in 2007, and in 2010, a prominent media observer dubbed him "the Walter Cronkite of the 21st century." He lives in New Canaan, Connecticut, with his wife, Jane Stoddard Williams, one of their two children (Doug Williams), and two dogs.
http://wn.com/Brian_Williams -
Bryan Adams
Bryan Adams, OC, OBC (born Bryan Guy Adams, 5 November 1959) is a Canadian rock singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and photographer.
http://wn.com/Bryan_Adams -
Buddy Holly
'''Charles Hardin Holley
http://wn.com/Buddy_Holly -
Camilo Cienfuegos
Camilo Cienfuegos Gorriarán (February 6, 1932 – October 28, 1959) was a Cuban revolutionary born in Lawton, Havana City. Raised in an anarchist family that had fled Spain during the Spanish Civil War, he became a key figure of the Cuban Revolution, along with Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Juan Almeida Bosque, and Raúl Castro.
http://wn.com/Camilo_Cienfuegos -
Carl Switzer
Carl Dean "Alfalfa" Switzer (August 7, 1927 – January 21, 1959) was an American child actor, professional dog breeder and hunting guide, most notable for appearing in the Our Gang short subjects series as Alfalfa, one of the series' most popular and best-remembered characters.
http://wn.com/Carl_Switzer -
Carlo Ancelotti
Carlo Ancelotti (born 10 June 1959 in Reggiolo, Reggio Emilia) is an Italian retired footballer and current manager of Chelsea.
http://wn.com/Carlo_Ancelotti -
Catherine Keener
Catherine Ann Keener (born March 23, 1959) is an American actress. She has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress twice, for Being John Malkovich (1999) and Capote (2005).
http://wn.com/Catherine_Keener -
Cecil B. DeMille
Cecil Blount DeMille (August 12, 1881 – January 21, 1959) was an American film director and Academy Award-winning film producer in both silent and sound films. He was renowned for the flamboyance and showmanship of his movies. Among his best-known films are The Ten Commandments (1956), Cleopatra (1934), and The Greatest Show on Earth (1952), which won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
http://wn.com/Cecil_B_DeMille -
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (, or ; 22 November 1890 – 9 November 1970) was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969.
http://wn.com/Charles_de_Gaulle -
Charles Kennedy
Charles Peter Kennedy (born 25 November 1959) is a British politician; from 9 August 1999 until 7 January 2006, he was the Leader of the Liberal Democrats, the third largest political party in the United Kingdom.
http://wn.com/Charles_Kennedy -
Charles Lawson
Charles Lawson (born 17 September 1959) is an Northern Irish film and television actor.
http://wn.com/Charles_Lawson -
Charles Starkweather
Charles Raymond Starkweather (November 24, 1938 – June 25, 1959, though his first tombstone carried 11/25 as his birthdate) was an American spree killer who murdered eleven people in Nebraska and Wyoming during a two-month road trip with his 14-year-old girlfriend Caril Ann Fugate. The couple was captured on January 29, 1958. Starkweather was executed five months later, while Fugate served 17 years in prison.
http://wn.com/Charles_Starkweather -
Charles Vidor
Charles Vidor (July 27, 1900 – June 4, 1959) was a film director.
http://wn.com/Charles_Vidor -
Charlton Heston
Charlton Heston (October 4, 1923 – April 5, 2008) was an American actor of film, theatre and television.
http://wn.com/Charlton_Heston -
Che Guevara
Ernesto "Che" Guevara (; June 14, 1928 – October 9, 1967), commonly known as El Che or simply Che, was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerrilla leader, diplomat, military theorist, and major figure of the Cuban Revolution. Since his death, his stylized visage has become a ubiquitous countercultural symbol and global insignia within popular culture.
http://wn.com/Che_Guevara -
Chester M. Ovnand
Master Sergeant Chester Melvin Ovnand (September 8, 1914 - July 8, 1959) is listed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial as the second American killed in the Vietnam War.
http://wn.com/Chester_M_Ovnand -
Chris Lowe
Chris Lowe (born Christopher Sean Lowe on 4 October 1959) is a British musician, who, with colleague Neil Tennant, makes up the successful pop duo the Pet Shop Boys.
http://wn.com/Chris_Lowe -
Christa Luding
sportsperson
http://wn.com/Christa_Luding -
Christina Amphlett
Christine Joy Amphlett (born 25 October 1959 in Geelong, Victoria, Australia) is the lead singer of Australian rock band Divinyls. She is also known as Chrissy Amphlett.
http://wn.com/Christina_Amphlett -
Clancy Brown
Clarence J. "Clancy" Brown III (born January 5, 1959) is an American actor and voice actor known for his roles as Byron Hadley in the award winning The Shawshank Redemption and Career Sergeant Zim in Starship Troopers. He is perhaps best known for his role as the Kurgan in the cult classic Highlander. Brown also works extensively as a voice actor in animated TV series, notably portraying Lex Luthor on and Justice League/Justice League Unlimited as well as Mr. Krabs on SpongeBob SquarePants.
http://wn.com/Clancy_Brown -
Claude Grahame White
Claude Grahame White (August 21, 1879 – August 19, 1959) was an English pioneer of aviation, and the first to make a night flight, during the Daily Mail sponsored 1910 London to Manchester air race.
http://wn.com/Claude_Grahame_White -
Clint Howard
Clinton Evan "Clint" Howard (born April 20, 1959) is an American film and television actor. He is a character actor with numerous brief appearances on television and films, usually noted for his unusual appearance. He has played many bit parts in movies directed by his brother, actor-turned-director Ron Howard. He is also the uncle of actress Bryce Dallas Howard.
http://wn.com/Clint_Howard -
Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama (; ) is a Buddhist leader of religious officials of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" branch of Tibetan Buddhism. The name is a combination of the Mongolian word Далай "Dalai" meaning "Ocean" and the Tibetan word བླ་མ ་"Blama" (with a silent b) meaning "chief" or "high priest." "Lama" is a general term referring to Tibetan Buddhist teachers. In religious terms, the Dalai Lama is believed by his devotees to be the rebirth of a long line of tulkus who descend from the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara. Traditionally, he is thought of as the latest reincarnation of a series of spiritual leaders who have chosen to be reborn in order to enlighten others. The Dalai Lama is often thought to be the director of the Gelug School, but this position belongs officially to the Ganden Tripa, which is a temporary position appointed by the Dalai Lama who, in practice, exerts much influence.
http://wn.com/Dalai_Lama -
Dale R. Buis
U.S. Army Major Dale Richard Buis (August 29, 1921 – July 8, 1959) used to be the first name listed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
http://wn.com/Dale_R_Buis -
Daler Nazarov
Daler Nazarov (Тоҷикӣ: Далер Назаров) (born on September 8, 1959) is a Tajik/Pamiri composer, singer and actor.
http://wn.com/Daler_Nazarov -
Danny Ainge
Daniel Ray "Danny" Ainge (born March 17, 1959 in Eugene, Oregon) is an American retired professional basketball and baseball player who is currently the President of Basketball Operations for the Boston Celtics of the NBA. He played 14 seasons in the NBA for the Celtics, Sacramento Kings, Portland Trail Blazers, and Phoenix Suns, and briefly also in Major League Baseball for parts of three seasons with the Toronto Blue Jays before he switched sports.
http://wn.com/Danny_Ainge -
Dave Coulier
David Alan "Dave" Coulier (born September 21, 1959) is an American stand-up comedian, impressionist, television and voice actor, and television host. He is well-known for his role as Joey Gladstone on the ABC sitcom Full House, which ran from 1987 to 1995.
http://wn.com/Dave_Coulier -
David Hyde Pierce
David Hyde Pierce (born April 3, 1959) is an American actor and comedian best known for playing psychiatrist Dr. Niles Crane on the NBC sitcom Frasier.
http://wn.com/David_Hyde_Pierce -
Dennis Gentry
Dennis Louis Gentry (born February 10, 1959 in Lubbock, Texas) is a former professional American football player who was selected by the Chicago Bears in the 4th round of the 1982 NFL Draft. He spent his entire 11-year NFL career with the Bears from 1982 to 1992, and was a part of the Bears team that was victorious in Super Bowl XX versus the New England Patriots. He was also a member of the "Chicago Bears Shufflin' Crew" in the video "The Super Bowl Shuffle," which featured him pantomiming on the bass.
http://wn.com/Dennis_Gentry -
Dominique Dunne
Dominique Ellen Dunne (November 23, 1959 – November 4, 1982) was an American actress.
http://wn.com/Dominique_Dunne -
Don McLean
Donald McLean, Jr. (born October 2, 1945, New Rochelle, New York) is an American singer-songwriter. He is most famous for the 1971 album American Pie, containing the renowned songs "American Pie" and "Vincent".
http://wn.com/Don_McLean -
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower ( ; October 14, 1890, in Denison, Texas – March 28, 1969), at Walter Reed Army Hospital, in Washington D. C. was a five-star general in the United States Army and the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961, and the last to be born in the 19th century. During World War II, he served as Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe, with responsibility for planning and supervising the successful invasion of France and Germany in 1944–45, from the Western Front. In 1951, he became the first supreme commander of NATO.
http://wn.com/Dwight_D_Eisenhower -
Ebrahim Hakimi
Ebrahim Hakimi (August 15, 1863 – October 19, 1959) was a Prime Minister of Iran.
http://wn.com/Ebrahim_Hakimi -
Ed Viesturs
Edmund Viesturs, known as Ed Viesturs, (Fort Wayne, Indiana, June 22, 1959) is one of the world's premier high-altitude mountaineers. He is one of only 22 people and the only American to have climbed all eight-thousander peaks. He has summited peaks of more than 8,000 meters for a total of 21 times, including Mount Everest seven times, which makes him the second person with most total summits, only behind the Basque climber Juanito Oiarzabal who has reached 24 summits.
http://wn.com/Ed_Viesturs -
Edmund Goulding
Edmund Goulding (20 March 1891 - 24 December 1959) was a British film writer and director. Goulding is best remembered for directing cultured dramas and such as Grand Hotel (1932) with Greta Garbo and Joan Crawford, Dark Victory (1939) with Bette Davis, and ''The Razor's Edge (1946) with Gene Tierney and Tyrone Power. He also directed the classic film noir Nightmare Alley (1947) with Tyrone Power and Joan Blondell, and the action drama The Dawn Patrol''. He was also a successful songwriter, composer, and producer.
http://wn.com/Edmund_Goulding -
Edmund Gwenn
Edmund Gwenn (26 September 1877 – 6 September 1959) was an English theatre and film actor.
http://wn.com/Edmund_Gwenn -
Edna Wallace Hopper
Edna Wallace Hopper (January 17, 1872 - December 14, 1959), was an American actress on stage and in silent films.
http://wn.com/Edna_Wallace_Hopper -
Edwin Balmer
Edwin Balmer (July 26, 1883 - March 21, 1959) was an American science fiction and mystery writer. He was born in Chicago to Helen Clark (Pratt) and Thomas Balmer. In 1909, he married Katharine MacHarg, sister of the writer William MacHarg. After her death, he married Grace A. Kee in 1927.
http://wn.com/Edwin_Balmer -
Edwin Muir
Edwin Muir (15 May 1887 – 3 January 1959) was an Orcadian poet, novelist and translator born on a farm in Deerness with spectacularly panoramic views around Copinsay island, topped by its lighthouse. His mother was born in Deerness too,at Hacco, remembered in the autobography as HacoOrkney Islands. Remembered for his deeply felt and vivid poetry in plain, unostentatious language with few stylistic preoccupations.
http://wn.com/Edwin_Muir -
Elisha Scott
Elisha Scott (24 August 1894 – 16 May 1959) was an Irish football goalkeeper who most notably played for Liverpool from 1912 to 1934 (still holding the record as their longest-serving player).
http://wn.com/Elisha_Scott -
Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary, born 21 April 1926) is the reigning queen and head of state of 16 independent sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Kitts and Nevis. In addition, as Head of the Commonwealth, she is the figurehead of the 54-member Commonwealth of Nations and, as the British monarch, she is the Supreme Governor of the Church of England.
http://wn.com/Elizabeth_II -
Emeril Lagasse
http://wn.com/Emeril_Lagasse -
Emilio Gino Segrè
http://wn.com/Emilio_Gino_Segrè -
Empress Michiko
|align=right
http://wn.com/Empress_Michiko -
Enrique Guaita
Enrique Guaita (11 July 1910 – 18 May 1959) commonly known as "Enrico Guaita" was an Italian Argentine footballer who played for both Argentina and Italy. He won the World Cup in 1934 with Italy.
http://wn.com/Enrique_Guaita -
Errol Flynn
Errol Leslie Flynn (20 June 1909 – 14 October 1959) was an Australian-born American actor. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles in Hollywood films and his flamboyant lifestyle.
http://wn.com/Errol_Flynn -
Erving Goffman
Erving Goffman (June 11, 1922 – November 19, 1982), was a Canadian born sociologist and writer.
http://wn.com/Erving_Goffman -
Ethel Barrymore
Ethel Barrymore (August 15, 1879 – June 18, 1959) was an American actress and a member of the Barrymore family of actors.
http://wn.com/Ethel_Barrymore -
Ettore Messina
Ettore Messina (born September 30, 1959 in Catania, Sicily) is an Italian basketball coach. In June 2009, he became head coach at the Spanish Liga ACB club Real Madrid. He had previously been the head coach of CSKA Moscow in the Russian League. He has won 4 Euroleague championships as a head coach.
http://wn.com/Ettore_Messina -
Evo Morales
Juan Evo Morales Ayma (born October 26, 1959), popularly known as Evo (), has been the President of Bolivia since 2006.
http://wn.com/Evo_Morales -
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (born August 13, 1926) is a Cuban politician. One of the primary leaders of the Cuban Revolution, Castro served as the Prime Minister of Cuba from February 1959 to December 1976, and then as the President of the Council of State of Cuba and the President of Council of Ministers of Cuba until his resignation from the office in February 2008. He currently serves as First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, a position he has held since 1965.
http://wn.com/Fidel_Castro -
Flavor Flav
William Jonathan Drayton, Jr. (born March 16, 1959), better known by his stage name Flavor Flav, is an American rapper, television star, and member of the rap group Public Enemy. He is also known for popularizing the role of the hype man and for yelling "Yeah boy!" and "Flavor Flav!" during performances.
http://wn.com/Flavor_Flav -
Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright (born Frank Lincoln Wright, June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 projects, which resulted in more than 500 completed works.
http://wn.com/Frank_Lloyd_Wright -
Frank Shannon
Frank Connolly Shannon (July 27, 1874 - February 1, 1959) was an Irish-born actor and writer.
http://wn.com/Frank_Shannon -
Fred Couples
Frederick Steven Couples (born October 3, 1959) is an American professional golfer who competes on the PGA Tour and Champions Tour. A former World No. 1, he has won numerous events, most notably the Masters Tournament in 1992.
http://wn.com/Fred_Couples -
Fred Stone
Fred Andrew Stone (August 19, 1873 – March 6, 1959) was an American actor. Stone began his career as a performer in circuses and minstrel shows, went on to act on vaudeville, and became a star on Broadway and in feature films, which earned him a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
http://wn.com/Fred_Stone -
Fruit Chan
Fruit Chan Gor (), born April 15, 1959 in Guangdong, China, is an independent Hong Kong screenwriter, filmmaker and producer, who is best known for his style of film reflecting the everyday life of Hong Kong people. He is well known for using amateur actors (such as Sam Lee in Made in Hong Kong, Wong Yau-Nam in Hollywood Hong Kong) in his films. His name became familiar to many Hong Kongers only after the success of the 1997 film Made in Hong Kong, which earned many local and international awards.
http://wn.com/Fruit_Chan -
Fulgencio Batista
Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar (; January 16, 1901 – August 6, 1973) was a Cuban President, dictator, and military leader closely aligned with and supported by the United States. He served as the leader of Cuba from 1933–1944, and 1952–1959, before being overthrown as a result of the Cuban Revolution.
http://wn.com/Fulgencio_Batista -
Galaktion Tabidze
Galaktion Tabidze () (November 17, 1891 – March 17, 1959) was a leading Georgian poet of the twentieth century whose writings profoundly influenced all subsequent generations of Georgian poets. He survived Stalin's Great Purge of the 1930s, which claimed lives of many of his fellow writers, friends and relatives, but came under heavy pressure from the Soviet authorities. Those tragic years plunged him into depression and alcoholism. He was eventually placed in a psychiatric hospital in Tbilisi, where he committed suicide.
http://wn.com/Galaktion_Tabidze -
George Antheil
George Antheil (July 8, 1900 – February 12, 1959) was an American avant-garde composer, pianist, author and inventor. A self-described "Bad Boy of Music", his modernist compositions amazed and appalled listeners in Europe and the US during the 1920s with its cacophonous celebration of mechanical devices. Returning permanently to the US in the 1930s, he turned to writing film-scores in Hollywood and his various compositions for the concert hall, the ballet and films became more tonal. A man of wide interests, Antheil researched female endocrinology, wrote a mystery novel and newspaper advice and music columns, and with the actress Hedy Lamarr patented a frequency-hopping torpedo guidance system.
http://wn.com/George_Antheil -
George Grosz
George Grosz (July 26, 1893 – July 6, 1959) was a German artist known especially for his savagely caricatural drawings of Berlin life in the 1920s. He was a prominent member of the Berlin Dada and New Objectivity group during the Weimar Republic before he emigrated to the United States in 1933.
http://wn.com/George_Grosz -
George Marshall
George Catlett Marshall (December 31, 1880 – October 16, 1959) was an American military leader, Chief of Staff of the Army, Secretary of State, and the third Secretary of Defense. Once noted as the "organizer of victory" by Winston Churchill for his leadership of the Allied victory in World War II, Marshall served as the United States Army Chief of Staff during the war and as the chief military adviser to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. As Secretary of State, his name was given to the Marshall Plan, for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1953.
http://wn.com/George_Marshall -
George Reeves
George Reeves (January 5, 1914 – June 16, 1959) was an American actor best known for his role as Superman in the 1950s television program Adventures of Superman.
http://wn.com/George_Reeves -
Gerard Hoffnung
Gerard Hoffnung (22 March 192525 September 1959) was an artist and musician, best known for his humorous works.
http://wn.com/Gerard_Hoffnung -
Gerina Dunwich
Gerina Dunwich (b. December 27, 1959, Illinois, United States) is a professional astrologer, occult historian, and New Age author, best known for her books on Wicca and various occult subjects. She is also involved in paranormal research and is the founder of the Paranormal Animal Research Group, which investigates cases of alleged hauntings by animal spirits.
http://wn.com/Gerina_Dunwich -
Gilda Gray
Gilda Gray (October 24, 1901 – December 22, 1959) was a Polish born American actress and dancer who became famous in the US for popularizing a dance called the "shimmy" which became fashionable in 1920s films and theater productions.
http://wn.com/Gilda_Gray -
Giovanni di Lorenzo
Giovanni di Lorenzo (born March 9, 1959) is a German-Italian journalist. Editor-in-chief (since 2004) of German nationwide weekly newspaper DIE ZEIT and former editor-in-chief of Berlin's liberal daily newspaper Der Tagesspiegel (1999-2004; has since retained the position of publisher). Additionally di Lorenzo is a prominent talk show host for the Radio Bremen show 3nach9 airing monthly on NDR.
http://wn.com/Giovanni_di_Lorenzo -
Grant Withers
Grant Withers (January 17, 1905, Pueblo, Colorado – March 27, 1959, North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California), born Granville G. Withers, was a prolific American film actor with a sizeable body of work.
http://wn.com/Grant_Withers -
Greg Proops
Gregory Everett "Greg" Proops (born October 3, 1959) is an American actor, stand-up comedian and television host. He is widely known for his work as an improvisational comedian on the UK and U.S. versions of Whose Line Is It Anyway?. He also currently stars as Max Madigan on the Nickelodeon sitcom True Jackson, VP.
http://wn.com/Greg_Proops -
Gustavo Cerati
Gustavo Adrián Cerati Clark (born August 11, 1959) is an Argentine guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer. During the 1980s and 90s he was a member of the Argentine rock group Soda Stereo, along with Charly Alberti and Zeta Bosio. In the early 90s, with Amor Amarillo, he pursued a solo career. He is currently in a coma after suffering a stroke on May 15, 2010.
http://wn.com/Gustavo_Cerati -
Harold Baines
Harold Douglas Baines (born March 15, 1959 in Easton, Maryland) is a former right fielder and designated hitter in Major League Baseball who played for five American League teams from 1980 to 2001. He is best known for his three stints with the Chicago White Sox, the team on which he now serves as coach. He ranked 7th in AL history in games played (2,830) and 10th in runs batted in (1,628) upon his retirement. Noted as well for his power hitting in clutch situations, he is tied for 7th in AL history in grand slams (13), 4th in 3-home run games (3), and tied for 7th in major league history in walk-off home runs (10). Baines batted over .300 eight times and hit .324 in 31 career postseason games, topping the .350 mark in five separate series. A six-time All-Star, he led the AL in slugging average in . He held the White Sox team record for career home runs from until Carlton Fisk passed him in ; his eventual total of 221 remains the club record for left-handed hitters, as do his 981 RBI and 585 extra base hits with the team. His 1,652 games as a designated hitter are a major league record, and he held the mark for career home runs as a DH (236) until Edgar Martínez passed him in . With 1,628 RBI, Baines has the most RBI of any player eligible for the Hall of Fame not currently inducted.
http://wn.com/Harold_Baines -
Helen Broderick
Helen Broderick (August 11, 1891 – September 25, 1959) was an American film and stage actress known for her comic roles, especially as a wisecracking sidekick.
http://wn.com/Helen_Broderick -
Helen Parrish
Helen Parrish (23 March 1924, Columbus, Georgia – 22 February 1959) was an American movie actress, the daughter of stage and bit film actress Laura Parrish.
http://wn.com/Helen_Parrish -
Hubert Marischka
Hubert Marischka (27 August 1882 – 4 December 1959), brother of Ernst Marischka, was an Austrian operetta tenor, actor, film director and screenwriter.
http://wn.com/Hubert_Marischka -
Hugh Laurie
James Hugh Calum Laurie, OBE (; born 11 June 1959), best known as Hugh Laurie, is an English actor, voice artist, comedian, writer, musician and director. He first reached fame as one half of the Fry and Laurie double act, along with his friend and comedy partner Stephen Fry, whom he joined in the cast of Blackadder and Jeeves and Wooster from 1987 until 1999. Since 2004, he has been starring as Dr. Gregory House, the protagonist of House, for which he has received two Golden Globe awards and several Emmy nominations. As of August 2010 he is the highest paid actor in a drama series on US television.
http://wn.com/Hugh_Laurie -
Irene Cara
Irene Cara (born March 18, 1962) is an American singer and actress. Cara won an Academy Award in 1984 in the category of Best Original Song for co-writing "Flashdance... What a Feeling." She is also known for her recording of the song "Fame", and she also starred in the 1980 film Fame.
http://wn.com/Irene_Cara -
Irina Strakhova
Irina Strakhova (born 4 March 1959 in Novosibirsk) is a race walker who represented the Soviet Union.
http://wn.com/Irina_Strakhova -
Irving Cummings
Irving Cummings (October 9, 1888 - April 18, 1959), born Irving Camisky in New York City, New York was an American movie actor, director, producer and writer.
http://wn.com/Irving_Cummings -
Jack Norworth
Jack Norworth (5 January 1879 - 1 September 1959) was a U.S. songwriter, singer and vaudeville performer.
http://wn.com/Jack_Norworth -
Jack Wagner (actor)
Peter John "Jack" Wagner, II (born October 3, 1959 in Washington, Missouri) is an American singer and actor best-known for appearing on the soap operas General Hospital and Melrose Place.
http://wn.com/Jack_Wagner_(actor) -
Jacob Epstein
Sir Jacob Epstein KBE (10 November 1880 19 August 1959) was an American-born British sculptor who helped pioneer modern sculpture. He was born in the United States, and moved to Europe in 1902, becoming a British citizen in 1911. He often produced controversial works which challenged taboos on what was appropriate subject matter for public artworks. He also made paintings and drawings, and often exhibited his work.
http://wn.com/Jacob_Epstein -
James Gleason
:For the politician, see James P. Gleason.
http://wn.com/James_Gleason -
Jari Tervo
Jari Tervo (born February 2, 1959) is a well-known Finnish author of prose. He is a major name in current Finnish literature.
http://wn.com/Jari_Tervo -
Jaroslav Heyrovský
Jaroslav Heyrovský () (December 20, 1890 – March 27, 1967) was a Czech chemist and inventor. Heyrovský was the inventor of the polarographic method, father of the electroanalytical method, and recipient of the Nobel Prize in 1959. His main field of work was polarography.
http://wn.com/Jaroslav_Heyrovský -
Jason Alexander
Jason Alexander (born September 23, 1959) is an American actor, comedian and singer. He is best known for his role as George Costanza on the television series Seinfeld, appearing in the sitcom from 1989 to 1998. He also has had an active career on the stage, appearing in several Broadway musicals including ''Jerome Robbins' Broadway in 1989, for which he won the Tony Award as Best Actor in a Musical. He appeared in the Los Angeles production of The Producers'' with Martin Short. He is the Artistic Director of "Reprise! Broadway's Best in Los Angeles", where he has directed several musicals. Alexander is also an avid poker player.
http://wn.com/Jason_Alexander -
Jayne Atkinson
Jayne Atkinson (born February 18, 1959) is an English-born American film, theatre and television actress. She is perhaps best known for the role of Karen Hayes on 24 as well as her Tony Award-nominated roles in The Rainmaker and Enchanted April.
http://wn.com/Jayne_Atkinson -
Jens Stoltenberg
(born 16 March 1959) is the Prime Minister of Norway. He took office in 2005, having previously served as Prime Minister from 2000 to 2001. He has also been the leader of the Norwegian Labour Party since 2002 and has been a Member of Parliament from Oslo since 1993. He was State Secretary in the Ministry of the Environment from 1990 to 1991, Minister of Industry from 1993 to 1996, and Minister of Finance from 1996 to 1997. He was re-elected Prime Minister in the 2009 parliamentary election.
http://wn.com/Jens_Stoltenberg -
Jim Kerr
James "Jim" Kerr (born in Toryglen, Glasgow on 9 July 1959) is a Scottish musician and singer-songwriter, best known for his work with the band Simple Minds who achieved five UK #1 albums and a #1 single "Ballad of the Streets EP".
http://wn.com/Jim_Kerr -
Jim Nantz
James William Nantz, III (born May 17, 1959) is an American sportscaster, known primarily for his work with CBS Sports television.
http://wn.com/Jim_Nantz -
Jo Bonner
Josiah Robins (Jo) Bonner, Jr. (born November 19, 1959), American politician, has been a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives since 2003, representing .
http://wn.com/Jo_Bonner -
John Foster Dulles
John Foster Dulles (February 25, 1888 – May 24, 1959) served as U.S. Secretary of State under President Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1953 to 1959. He was a significant figure in the early Cold War era, advocating an aggressive stance against communism throughout the world. He advocated support of the French in their war against the Viet Minh in Indochina and it is widely believed that he refused to shake the hand of Zhou Enlai at the Geneva Conference in 1954. He also played a major role in the Central Intelligence Agency operation to overthrow the democratic Mossadegh government of Iran in 1953 (Operation Ajax) and the democratic Arbenz government of Guatemala in 1954 (Operation PBSUCCESS).
http://wn.com/John_Foster_Dulles -
John McEnroe
John Patrick McEnroe, Jr. (born February 16, 1959) is a former World No. 1 professional tennis player from the United States. During his career, he won seven Grand Slam singles titles (three at Wimbledon and four at the US Open), nine Grand Slam men's doubles titles, and one Grand Slam mixed doubles title. McEnroe also won a record eight year ending championship titles, including five WCT Finals and three Masters Grand Prix titles. He is best remembered for his shot-making artistry and superb volleying; for his famous rivalries with Björn Borg, Jimmy Connors and Ivan Lendl; for his confrontational on-court behavior which frequently landed him in trouble with umpires and tennis authorities; and for the catchphrase "You cannot be serious!" directed toward an umpire during a match at Wimbledon in 1981. He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1999, and is regarded as one of the greatest male tennis players of all time.
http://wn.com/John_McEnroe -
Johnny Whitaker
Johnny Whitaker (born December 13, 1959) is an American actor and singer notable for several performances for film and television during his childhood. The naturally redheaded Whitaker is best known for his role as Brian Keith's 6-year-old nephew, Jody Davis, on Family Affair from 1966-1971, originated the role of Scotty Baldwin on General Hospital in 1965, played the lead in Hallmark's 1969 The Littlest Angel, and portrayed the title character in the 1973 musical version of Tom Sawyer. Two of his siblings, Billy and Dora, provided the voices of the rabbits Skippy and Tagalong for Disney's animated film Robin Hood in that same year.
http://wn.com/Johnny_Whitaker -
Joseph Cahill
John Joseph Cahill (21 January 1891 – 22 October 1959) was Premier of New South Wales from 1952 to 1959. He is best remembered as the Premier who approved construction on the Sydney Opera House, and for his work increasing the authority of local government in the state.
http://wn.com/Joseph_Cahill -
Juan Fernando Cobo
Juan Fernando Cobo Agudelo (born August 27, 1959, in Cali, Colombia) is a Colombian painter, illustrator, sculptor and cultural promoter, one of the most notable artists of his native region, Valle del Cauca.
http://wn.com/Juan_Fernando_Cobo -
Juan Jose Campanella
http://wn.com/Juan_Jose_Campanella -
Judd Nelson
Judd Asher Nelson (born November 28, 1959) is an American actor. He is best known for being a member of the "Brat Pack" in the mid-1980s; and for his roles as John Bender in The Breakfast Club, Alec Newbary in ''St. Elmo's Fire, and Jack Richmond in Suddenly Susan''.
http://wn.com/Judd_Nelson -
Julie Burchill
Julie Burchill (born 3 July 1959, Frenchay, Bristol) is an English writer and columnist known for her provocative comments. Beginning as a writer for the New Musical Express at the age of 17, she has written for newspapers such as The Sunday Times and The Guardian. She is a self-declared "militant feminist". She has several times been involved in legal action resulting from her work. She is also an author and novelist, her 1989 novel Ambition being a bestseller, and her 2004 novel Sugar Rush being adapted for television.
http://wn.com/Julie_Burchill -
Kay Kendall
Kay Kendall (21 May 1926 – 6 September 1959) was a British actress.
http://wn.com/Kay_Kendall -
Keith Deller
Keith Deller (born 24 December 1959 in Ipswich) is an English darts player, who won the Embassy World Professional Darts Championship in 1983. He was the youngest player and the first qualifier ever to win the championship. Dutch player Jelle Klaasen took his record as youngest ever winner in 2006.
http://wn.com/Keith_Deller -
Keith Olbermann
Keith Theodore Olbermann (; born January 27, 1959) is an American news anchor, sportscaster, writer, and political commentator. He hosts Countdown with Keith Olbermann, an hour-long nightly news and commentary program on MSNBC.
http://wn.com/Keith_Olbermann -
Kelly Moore
Kelly Moore (born January 31, 1959) is the driver with the all time most wins in the NASCAR Grand National Division, Busch East Series and the driver of the #47 NAPA Chevy. He is the father of NASCAR driver Ryan Moore.
http://wn.com/Kelly_Moore -
Ken Lo
Ken Low Wai-kwong , also known as Kenneth Low or Low Houi Kang, nickname Kwong Jai) is a Hong Kong actor, martial artist and a ex-member of the Jackie Chan Stunt Team born in Laos on March 17, 1959. But in 1975, he moved from Cambodia when he was 15 years old to Udon Thani, Thailand, then 5 years later, in 1980 he fled to Hong Kong in where he took a job as a tour guide.
http://wn.com/Ken_Lo -
Ken Watanabe
is a Japanese stage, film, and television actor. To English-speaking audiences he is known for playing tragic hero characters, such as General Tadamichi Kuribayashi in Letters from Iwo Jima and Lord Katsumoto Moritsu in The Last Samurai, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Among other awards, he has won the Japan Academy Prize for Best Actor twice, in 2007 for Memories of Tomorrow and in 2010 for Shizumanu Taiyō. He is also known for his roles in director Christopher Nolan's Hollywood blockbusters Batman Begins and Inception.
http://wn.com/Ken_Watanabe -
Kevin Nash
Kevin Scott Nash (born July 9, 1959) is a retired American professional wrestler and actor, who most recently worked for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. Nash has wrestled under various ring names, but is most notably known by his real name in World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and in World Wrestling Federation / Entertainment (WWF/E), where he was known as Diesel in his first run with the company. Nash is a six-time world champion, having won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship five times and the WWF Championship once. He has achieved notable success in the tag team division as well, being a twelve-time world tag team champion: nine times in WCW, two times in WWF and once in TNA. He is also a one-time WWE Intercontinental Champion. He also won the WCW World War 3 battle royal in 1998. He is also one of the three founding members of the New World Order (nWo), along with Hulk Hogan and Scott Hall.
http://wn.com/Kevin_Nash -
Kevin Spacey
Kevin Spacey (born July 26, 1959) is an American actor, director, screenwriter, producer, and crooner. He grew up in California, and began his career as a stage actor during the 1980s, before being cast in supporting roles in film and television. He gained critical acclaim in the early 1990s, culminating in his first Academy Award for The Usual Suspects (Best Supporting Actor), followed by a Best Actor Academy Award win for American Beauty (1999). His other starring roles in Hollywood include Seven, L.A. Confidential, Pay It Forward, and Superman Returns in a career which has eventually earned him Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. Since 2003, he has been artistic director of the Old Vic theatre in London.
http://wn.com/Kevin_Spacey -
Kirsty MacColl
Kirsty Anna MacColl (10 October 1959 – 18 December 2000) was an English singer-songwriter.
http://wn.com/Kirsty_MacColl -
Klaus Fuchs
Klaus Emil Julius Fuchs (29 December 1911 – 28 January 1988) was a German theoretical physicist and atomic spy who in 1950 was convicted of supplying information from the American, British and Canadian atomic bomb research (the Manhattan Project) to the USSR during and shortly after World War II. While at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Fuchs was responsible for many significant theoretical calculations relating to the first fission weapons and later, the early models of the hydrogen bomb, the first fusion weapon.
http://wn.com/Klaus_Fuchs -
Koichi Tanaka
is a Japanese scientist who shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2002 for developing a novel method for mass spectrometric analyses of biological macromolecules with John Bennett Fenn and Kurt Wuthrich (the latter for work in NMR spectroscopy).
http://wn.com/Koichi_Tanaka -
Kurdish people
The Kurds () are an Iranian-speaking ethnolinguistic group mostly inhabiting a region known as Kurdistan, which includes adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. Substantial Kurdish communities also exist in the cities of western Turkey, and they can also be found in Armenia, Georgia, Israel, Azerbaijan, Russia, Lebanon and, in recent decades, some European countries and the United States (see Kurdish diaspora). Most speak Kurdish, an Indo-European language of the Iranian branch. The Kurds are classified as an Iranian people.Bois, Th.; Minorsky, V.; Bois, Th.; Bois, Th.; MacKenzie, D.N.; Bois, Th. "Kurds, Kurdistan." Encyclopaedia of Islam. Edited by: P. Bearman , Th. Bianquis , C.E. Bosworth , E. van Donzel and W.P. Heinrichs. Brill, 2009. Brill Online. Excerpt 1:"The Kurds, an Iranian people of the Near East, live at the junction of more or less laicised Turkey"..Excerpt 2: "The classification of the Kurds among the Iranian nations is based mainly on linguistic and historical data and does not prejudice the fact there is a complexity of ethnical elements incorporated in them" Excerpt 3:"We thus find that about the period of the Arab conquest a single ethnic term Kurd (plur. Akrād ) was beginning to be applied to an amalgamation of Iranian or iranicised tribes. Among the latter, some were autochthonous (the Ḳardū; the Tmorik̲h̲/Ṭamurāyē in the district of which Alḳī = Elk was the capital; the Χοθα̑ίται [= al-Ḵh̲uwayt̲h̲iyya] in the canton of Ḵh̲oyt of Sāsūn, the Orṭāyē [= al-Arṭān] in the bend of the Euphrates); some were Semites (cf. the popular genealogies of the Kurd tribes) and some probably Armenian (it is said that the Mamakān tribe is of Mamikonian origin). " Excerpt 4: "In the 20th century, the existence of an Iranian non-Kurdish element among the Kurds has been definitely established (the Gūrān-Zāzā group)."
http://wn.com/Kurdish_people -
Kyle MacLachlan
Kyle Merritt MacLachlan (born February 22, 1959) is an American actor. He graduated from the University of Washington in 1982 and, shortly afterward, moved to Hollywood, California to pursue his career. MacLachlan is best known for his roles in cult films Blue Velvet as Jeffrey Beaumont, in Showgirls as Zack Carey, Paul Atreides in Dune, and as Ray Manzarek in the Oliver Stone film The Doors. His television series roles include Orson Hodge in Desperate Housewives, Trey MacDougal in Sex and the City, and Special Agent Dale Cooper in Twin Peaks.
http://wn.com/Kyle_MacLachlan -
Laurence Housman
Laurence Housman (; 18 July 1865 - 20 February 1959)
http://wn.com/Laurence_Housman -
Lawrence Taylor
Lawrence Julius Taylor (born February 4, 1959), nicknamed "L.T.", is a Hall of Fame former American football player. Taylor played his entire professional career as a linebacker for the New York Giants in the National Football League (NFL). He is considered to be one of the greatest players in the history of football, and has been called the greatest defensive player of all time by members of the media, former players, and coaches.
http://wn.com/Lawrence_Taylor -
Lee Kuan Yew
Lee Kuan Yew, GCMG, CH (English name: Harry, ; POJ: Lí Kong-iāu; born 16 September 1923; also Lee Kwan-Yew) is a Singaporean statesman. He was the first Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore, from 1959 to 1990, and was one of the longest serving Prime Ministers in the world.
http://wn.com/Lee_Kuan_Yew -
Lee Petty
Lee Arnold Petty (March 14, 1914 – April 5, 2000) was an American stock car driver in the 1950s and 60s. He was one of the pioneers of NASCAR, and one of its first superstars. He was born near Randleman, North Carolina.
http://wn.com/Lee_Petty -
Leo Aryeh Mayer
Leo Aryeh Mayer (, 12 January 1895 – 6 April 1959), was an Israeli scholar of Islamic art and rector of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
http://wn.com/Leo_Aryeh_Mayer -
Lester Young
Lester Willis Young (August 27, 1909 – March 15, 1959), nicknamed "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and clarinetist. He also played trumpet, violin, and drums.
http://wn.com/Lester_Young -
Liu Shaoqi
Liu Shaoqi () (24 November 1898 12 November 1969) was a Chinese revolutionary, statesman, and theorist. He was Chairman of the People's Republic of China, China's head of state, from 27 April 1959 to 31 October 1968, during which he implemented policies of economic reconstruction in China. He fell out of favour in the later 1960s during the Cultural Revolution because of his perceived 'right-wing' viewpoints and, it is theorised, because Mao viewed Liu as a threat to his power. He disappeared from public life in 1968 and was labelled China's premier 'Capitalist-roader' and a traitor. He died under harsh treatment in late 1969, but he was posthumously rehabilitated by Deng Xiaoping's government in 1980 and given a state funeral.
http://wn.com/Liu_Shaoqi -
Lorraine Hansberry
Lorraine Hansberry (May 19, 1930 – January 12, 1965) was an African American playwright and author of political speeches, letters, and essays.Lipari, Lisbeth. "Queering the borders: Lorraine Hansberry’s 1957 Letters to The Ladder" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association, Marriott Hotel, San Diego, CA, May 27, 2003 Online . 2008-06-28 Her best known work, A Raisin in the Sun, was inspired by her family's legal battle against racially segregated housing laws in the Washington Park Subdivision of the South Side of Chicago during her childhood.Carter, Stephen R., ''Commitment Amid Complexity: Lorraine Hansberry's Life in Action, MELUS (The Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States), Vol. 7, Issue 3, at 39,40-41 (Autumn 1980), available at'' (subscription required).
http://wn.com/Lorraine_Hansberry -
Lorraine Kelly
Lorraine Kelly (born 30 November 1959 in Glasgow) is a Scottish television presenter and journalist best known as a presenter for GMTV (GMTV with Lorraine) and ITV Breakfast (Lorraine). She currently resides in Broughty Ferry, and London.
http://wn.com/Lorraine_Kelly -
Lou Costello
Louis Francis "Lou" Costello (March 6, 1906 – March 3, 1959) was an American actor and comedian best known as half of the comedy team of Abbott and Costello, with Bud Abbott. Costello was famous for his bumbling, chubby, clean-cut image that has appealed to many Americans over the decades, and for his shouted line of "HEEEEYYY ABBOTT!!."
http://wn.com/Lou_Costello -
Louis Leakey
Louis Seymour Bazett Leakey (L.S.B. Leakey) (August 7, 1903 – October 1, 1972) was a Kenyan archaeologist and naturalist whose work was important in establishing human evolutionary development in Africa. He also played a major role in creating organizations for future research in Africa and for protecting wildlife there. Having been a prime mover in establishing a tradition of palaeoanthropological inquiry, he was able to motivate the next generation to continue it, notably within his own family, many of whom also became prominent. Louis participated in national events of British East Africa and then Kenya in critical if less spectacular ways.
http://wn.com/Louis_Leakey -
Luc Besson
Luc Besson (; born 18 March 1959) is a French film director, writer and producer. He is the creator of EuropaCorp film company. He has been involved with over 50 films, spanning 26 years, as writer, director, and/or producer, including the Transporter series.
http://wn.com/Luc_Besson -
Luis Palés Matos
Luis Palés Matos (March 20, 1898-February 23, 1959) was a Puerto Rican poet who is credited with creating the poetry genre known as Afro-Antillano.
http://wn.com/Luis_Palés_Matos -
Lupino Lane
Lupino Lane (16 June 1892 – 10 November 1959) was an English actor and theatre manager, and a member of the famous Lupino family. Lane started out as a child performer, known as 'Little Nipper', and went on to appear in a wide range of theatrical, music hall and film performances. He is best known for playing Bill Snibson in the play and film Me and My Girl, which popularised the Lambeth walk.
http://wn.com/Lupino_Lane -
MacGillivray Milne
MacGillivray Milne (August 19, 1882 – January 26, 1959) was a United States Navy Captain, and the 27th Governor of American Samoa from January 20, 1936, to June 3, 1938. After graduating from the United States Naval Academy, Milne served many posts in the Navy, including heading the Department of Modern Languages at the Naval Academy. He was a veteran of a large numbers of conflicts, including the Philippine–American War, the United States occupation of Veracruz, and both World War I and World War II. Milne commanded a number of ships, but his last one was the battleship . After the ship struck a private fishing vessel and killed two civilians, Milne was court-martialed and stripped of three grades which determined his eligibility for promotion. As Governor, Milne pushed for the modernization of American Samoa, and sought increased federal aid for the islands; his efforts to obtain additional funding for the island largely ended in failure. He died in 1959 at the Naval Hospital Oakland, and was buried in Tenafly, New Jersey.
http://wn.com/MacGillivray_Milne -
Mack Gordon
Mack Gordon (born Morris Gittler, June 21, 1904 – March 1, 1959) was a Jewish-American composer and lyricist of songs for the stage and film. He was nominated for the best original song Oscar nine times, including six consecutive years between 1940 and 1945, and won the award once, for "You'll Never Know". That song has proved amongst his most enduring and remains popular in films and television commercials to this day. "At Last" is another of his best-known songs.
http://wn.com/Mack_Gordon -
Mackenzie Phillips
Mackenzie Phillips (born November 10, 1959) is an American actress and singer best known for her roles in American Graffiti and as rebellious teenager Julie Cooper Horvath on the sitcom One Day at a Time. She's also known for her role in the Disney Channel science fiction show So Weird.
http://wn.com/Mackenzie_Phillips -
Magic Johnson
Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. (born August 14, 1959) is a retired American professional basketball player who played point guard for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). After winning championships in high school and college, Johnson was selected first overall in the 1979 NBA Draft by the Lakers. He won a championship and an NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award in his rookie season, and won four more championships with the Lakers during the 1980s. Johnson retired abruptly in 1991 after announcing that he had HIV, but returned to play in the 1992 All-Star Game, winning the All-Star MVP Award. After protests from his fellow players, he retired again for four years, but returned in 1996 to play 32 games for the Lakers before retiring for the third and final time.
http://wn.com/Magic_Johnson -
Makarios III
Makarios III (), born Michail Christodolou Mouskos (Greek: Μιχαήλ Χριστοδούλου Μούσκος) (August 13, 1913 – August 3, 1977), was the archbishop and primate of the autocephalous Cypriot Orthodox Church (1950–1977) and the first President of the Republic of Cyprus (1960–1974 and 1974–1977).
http://wn.com/Makarios_III -
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong (; December 26, 1893 September 9, 1976) was a Han Chinese revolutionary, political theorist and communist leader. He led the People's Republic of China (PRC) from its establishment in 1949 until his death in 1976. His theoretical contribution to Marxism-Leninism, military strategies, and his brand of Communist policies are now collectively known as Maoism.
http://wn.com/Mao_Zedong -
Marcelo Loffreda
Marcelo Loffreda (born May 17, 1959 in Buenos Aires, Argentina) is a rugby player and coach, until recently head coach for the English club power Leicester Tigers. Loffreda won 44 caps with one as captain, playing at for the Argentine rugby union side (los Pumas). He played much of his career outside the legendary Hugo Porta and scored 4 test tries.
http://wn.com/Marcelo_Loffreda -
Marcia Gay Harden
Marcia Gay Harden (born August 14, 1959) is an American film and theatre actress. Harden's breakthrough role was in The First Wives Club (1996) which was followed by several roles which gained her wider fame including the hit comedy Flubber (1997) and Meet Joe Black (1998). She received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Lee Krasner in Pollock (2000). She has starred in a string of successful mainstream and independent movies, some of which are Space Cowboys (2000), Into the Wild (2007) and The Mist (2007). More recently, she starred in Whip It (2009).
http://wn.com/Marcia_Gay_Harden -
Marcus Miller
Marcus Miller (born William Henry Marcus Miller Jr., June 14, 1959, Brooklyn, New York) is an American jazz musician, composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist.
http://wn.com/Marcus_Miller -
Margaret Becker
Margaret Becker (born July 17, 1959) is an American Christian rock singer, guitarist, and songwriter. She has had twentyone #1 Christian radio hits, won four Dove Awards, and been nominated for four Grammy Awards.
http://wn.com/Margaret_Becker -
Marie Osmond
Olive Marie Osmond (born October 13, 1959) is an American actress, singer, doll designer, and a member of the show business family The Osmonds. Although she was never part of her family's singing group, she gained success as a solo country music artist in the 1970s and 1980s. Her best known song is a cover of the country pop ballad "Paper Roses." In 1976, she and her singer brother Donny Osmond began hosting the TV variety show Donny & Marie.
http://wn.com/Marie_Osmond -
Mark "Jacko" Jackson
Mark "Jacko" Jackson, born 30 August 1959, is a former Australian rules footballer who played professionally for several teams, including St Kilda, Melbourne, Geelong and South Fremantle. After his football career he became notable for his television appearances, namely the Energizer and Nutri-Grain commercials, and several feature films.
http://wn.com/Mark_"Jacko"_Jackson -
Mark Martin
Mark Anthony Martin (born January 9, 1959) is an American stock car driver currently competing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. He drives the #5 GoDaddy.com/Delphi/Carquest/Hendrickcars.com Chevrolet Impala for Hendrick Motorsports. Mark Martin has the most wins in the NASCAR Nationwide Series with 48. Mark Martin has also finished second in the Sprint Cup Series standings five times and has been described by ESPN as "The best driver to never win a championship."
http://wn.com/Mark_Martin -
Mark McKinney
Mark Douglas Brown McKinney (born June 26, 1959) is a Canadian comedian and actor, best known for his work in the sketch comedy troupe The Kids in the Hall. Following the run of their television series (1989 to 1995) and feature film (Brain Candy), he went on to star in Saturday Night Live from 1995 to 1997. From 2003 to 2006, he co-created, wrote and starred in the acclaimed mini-series Slings and Arrows, a TV show about a Canadian theatre company struggling to survive while a crazy genius director haunted by his dead mentor helps the actors find authenticity in their acting.
http://wn.com/Mark_McKinney -
Markus Hediger
http://wn.com/Markus_Hediger -
Marshall Teague
Marshall Teague (February 22, 1922 - February 11, 1959) was an American race car driver.
http://wn.com/Marshall_Teague -
Mary Leakey
Mary Leakey (February 6, 1913 – December 9, 1996) was a British archaeologist and anthropologist, who discovered the first skull of a fossil ape on Rusinga Island and also a noted robust Australopithecine called Zinjanthropus at Olduvai. For much of her career she worked together with her husband, Louis Leakey, in Olduvai Gorge, uncovering the tools and fossils of ancient hominines. She developed a system for classifying the stone tools found at Olduvai. She also discovered the Laetoli footprints. In 1960 she became director of excavation at Olduvai and subsequently took it over, building her own staff. After the death of her husband she became a leading palaeoanthropologist, helping to establish the Leakey tradition by training her son, Richard, in the field.
http://wn.com/Mary_Leakey -
Matthew Modine
Matthew Avery Modine (born March 22, 1959) is an American actor. His film roles include Private Joker in Stanley Kubrick's 1987 film Full Metal Jacket and high school wrestler Louden Swain in Vision Quest.
http://wn.com/Matthew_Modine -
Maurice Duplessis
Maurice Le Noblet Duplessis (; 20 April 1890 – 7 September 1959) served as the 16th Premier of the Canadian province of Quebec from 1936 to 1939 and 1944 to 1959. A founder and leader of the highly conservative Union Nationale party, he rose to power after exposing the misconduct and patronage of Liberal Premier Louis-Alexandre Taschereau.
http://wn.com/Maurice_Duplessis -
Max Baer (boxer)
Maximilian Adelbert Baer (February 11, 1909 – November 21, 1959) was an American boxer of the 1930s, one-time Heavyweight Champion of the World, actor, entertainer, professional wrestler and referee.
http://wn.com/Max_Baer_(boxer) -
Max Reinhardt
__NOTOC__
http://wn.com/Max_Reinhardt -
Maxie Long
http://wn.com/Maxie_Long -
Maxwell Anderson
James Maxwell Anderson (15 December 1888 – 28 February 1959) was an American playwright, author, poet, journalist and lyricist. He was a founding member of The Playwrights Company.
http://wn.com/Maxwell_Anderson -
Mel Purcell
Mel Purcell (born July 18, 1959, in Joplin, Missouri, U.S.) is a former World No. 17 tennis player in the ATP tennis rankings. He is the head coach of the Murray State University men's tennis team. Purcell's finest moment was when he reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon in 1983.
http://wn.com/Mel_Purcell -
Mercury Seven
Mercury Seven was the group of seven Mercury astronauts selected by NASA on April 9, 1959. They are also referred to as the Original Seven and Astronaut Group 1. This was the only astronaut group with members that flew on all classes of NASA manned orbital spacecraft of the 20th century: Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and ending with John Glenn's flight on the STS-95 Space Shuttle mission.
http://wn.com/Mercury_Seven -
Michael Considine
Michael Patrick Considine (c. 26 January 1885 – 2 November 1959) was an Irish-born Australian politician and unionist. He represented the seat of Barrier in the House of Representatives from 1917 to 1922. A controversial figure, Considine was pressured to resign from the Australian Labor Party (ALP). He won in 1919 as an independent before joining the Industrial Socialist Labor Party in 1920, but his seat was abolished for the 1922 election and he was defeated in an attempt to transfer to the seat of Darling.
http://wn.com/Michael_Considine -
Michael Pare
http://wn.com/Michael_Pare -
Mike Hawthorn
John Michael Hawthorn (10 April 1929 - 22 January 1959) was a racing driver, born in Mexborough, Yorkshire, England, and educated at Ardingly College, West Sussex.
http://wn.com/Mike_Hawthorn -
Mike Reiss
Michael "Mike" Reiss (born September 15, 1959) is an American television comedy writer. He served as a show-runner, writer and producer for the animated series The Simpsons and co-created the animated series The Critic. He created and wrote the webtoon Queer Duck and has also worked on screenplays including: , Horton Hears a Who!, The Simpsons Movie and My Life in Ruins.
http://wn.com/Mike_Reiss -
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926 – September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer.
http://wn.com/Miles_Davis -
Minor Hall
Ram "Minor" Hall (March 2, 1897, Sellers, Louisiana - October 16, 1959, Sawtelle, California) was an American jazz drummer active on the New Orleans jazz scene. He was the younger brother of Tubby Hall.
http://wn.com/Minor_Hall -
Molla Mallory
MedalCountry|
http://wn.com/Molla_Mallory -
Morrissey
Steven Patrick Morrissey (born 22 May 1959), known primarily as Morrissey, is an English singer and songwriter. He rose to prominence in the 1980s as the lyricist and vocalist of the alternative rock band The Smiths. After the band's break-up in 1987, Morrissey began a solo career, making the top ten of the UK Singles Chart in the United Kingdom on ten occasions. Widely regarded as an important innovator in indie music, Morrissey has been described by music magazine NME as "one of the most influential artists ever," and The Independent has stated that "most pop stars have to be dead before they reach the iconic status that he has reached in his lifetime." Pitchfork Media has called him "one of the most singular figures in Western popular culture from the last 20 years."
http://wn.com/Morrissey -
Morten Harket
Morten Harket (born 14 September 1959) is the lead singer of the Norwegian synthpop band a-ha, who have released nine studio albums and topped the charts in several countries after their breakthrough hit "Take on Me" in 1985. Harket has also released four solo albums.
http://wn.com/Morten_Harket -
Mustafa Barzani
Mustafa Barzani () (March 14, 1903 – March 1, 1979) was a Kurdish nationalist leader, and the most prominent political figure in the modern Kurdish politics. In 1946 he was chosen as the leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) to lead the Kurdish revolution against Iraqi regimes. Barzani was the primary political and military leader of the Kurdish revolution until his death in March 1979. He led campaigns of armed struggle against both the Iraqi and Iranian governments.
http://wn.com/Mustafa_Barzani -
Mutara III of Rwanda
Mutara III (also known as Rudahigwa; 1912? – July 25, 1959) was the Mwami, or monarch of Rwanda between 1931 and 1959. As a member of the Tutsi people in Rwanda, stereotyped as tall, he stood a symbolic 6'8" tall. His Christian name was Charles Léon Pierre, and he is sometimes referred to as Charles Rudahigwa Mutara III or Rukabu.
http://wn.com/Mutara_III_of_Rwanda -
Nancy Grace
Nancy Ann Grace (born October 23, 1959) is an American legal commentator, television host, and former prosecutor. She frequently discusses issues from what she describes as a victims' rights standpoint, with an outspoken style that has won her both praise and condemnation. She is the host of Nancy Grace, a nightly gossip and current affairs show on HLN, and she was the host of Court TV's Closing Arguments. She also co-wrote the book Objection! — How High-Priced Defense Attorneys, Celebrity Defendants, and a 24/7 Media Have Hijacked Our Criminal Justice System. She is also the host of Swift Justice with Nancy Grace, a syndicated court room reality show.
http://wn.com/Nancy_Grace -
Neal Stephenson
Neal Town Stephenson (born October 31, 1959) is an American writer known for his works of speculative fiction, which have been variously categorized as science fiction, historical fiction, cyberpunk, and postcyberpunk. He has also written with his uncle, George Jewsbury ("J. Frederick George"), under the collective pseudonym of Stephen Bury.
http://wn.com/Neal_Stephenson -
Nicole Brown Simpson
Nicole Brown Simpson (May 19, 1959 – June 12, 1994) was an ex-wife of former American football player O. J. Simpson. She was murdered at her home in Los Angeles, California, along with her friend Ronald Goldman. O. J. Simpson was arrested and found not guilty of murdering both her and Goldman in a controversial criminal trial. He was later found liable for the deaths in a civil suit brought by the families of the two victims.
http://wn.com/Nicole_Brown_Simpson -
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (April 15, 1894 – September 11, 1971) led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, from 1958 to 1964. Khrushchev was responsible for the partial de-Stalinization of the Soviet Union, for backing the progress of the early Soviet space program, and for several relatively liberal reforms in areas of domestic policy. Khrushchev's party colleagues removed him from power in 1964, replacing him with Leonid Brezhnev as First Secretary and Alexei Kosygin as Premier.
http://wn.com/Nikita_Khrushchev -
Nobuo Uematsu
is a Japanese video game composer, best known for scoring the majority of titles in the Final Fantasy series. He is regarded as one of the most famous and respected composers in the video game community. Uematsu, a self-taught musician, began playing the piano at the age of eleven or twelve, with Elton John as his biggest influence.
http://wn.com/Nobuo_Uematsu -
Owen Chamberlain
Owen Chamberlain (July 10, 1920 – February 28, 2006) was an American physicist, and Nobel laureate in physics for his discovery, with collaborator Emilio Segrè, of antiprotons, a sub-atomic antiparticle.
http://wn.com/Owen_Chamberlain -
Pamelyn Ferdin
Pamelyn Ferdin (born February 4, 1959) is an American animal rights activist and former child actress.
http://wn.com/Pamelyn_Ferdin -
Pat Bullard
Patrick ("Pat") Bullard is a Canadian writer and comedian. He was born in Mississauga, Ontario, on February 6, 1959.
http://wn.com/Pat_Bullard -
Paul Douglas (actor)
Paul Douglas (April 11, 1907 – September 11, 1959) was an American actor.
http://wn.com/Paul_Douglas_(actor) -
Paul McGann
Paul McGann (born 14 November 1959 in Liverpool, England) is a British actor who made his name on the BBC serial The Monocled Mutineer, in which he played the lead role. He is also known for his role in Withnail and I, and for portraying the Eighth Doctor in the 1996 Doctor Who television movie and subsequent tie-in media.
http://wn.com/Paul_McGann -
Per Gessle
Per Håkan Gessle (; born 12 January 1959 in Halmstad) is a Swedish pop singer-songwriter, guitarist, and harmonica player. He is the lead singer of the Swedish pop group Gyllene Tider and formed Roxette with Marie Fredriksson (being the chief songwriter in both bands). With Fredriksson's illness in 2002, he went back to recording and became a successful solo artist in native Sweden, selling multi-platinum albums.
http://wn.com/Per_Gessle -
Pete Burns
Pete Burns (born 5 August 1959) is an English singer-songwriter who founded the band Dead or Alive in 1980, for which he acted as the vocalist and songwriter, and which rose to mainstream success with their 1985 single "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)". He later rose to further celebrity status in the British media following his appearance on Celebrity Big Brother 2006 and his own television show, ''Pete's PA'' in 2007.
http://wn.com/Pete_Burns -
Peter Molyneux
Peter Douglas Molyneux OBE, born 5 May 1959 is an English computer game designer and game programmer. He is responsible for well known God games Dungeon Keeper, Populous, and Black & White, among others, as well as business simulation games such as Theme Park and more recently, hit adventure role playing games Fable and Fable II.
http://wn.com/Peter_Molyneux -
Philip Noel-Baker
http://wn.com/Philip_Noel-Baker -
Pietro Canonica
Pietro Canonica (March 1, 1869 – June 8, 1959) was an Italian sculptor of international repute, painter, opera composer, professor of arts and senator for life.
http://wn.com/Pietro_Canonica -
Platon Lebedev
Platon Leonidovich Lebedev (Russian: Платон Леонидович Лебедев; born 29 November 1956) is a former CEO of Group Menatep, and is best known as a close associate of Mikhail Khodorkovsky. He was convicted of tax evasion in 2005, and sentenced to nine years in prison. He was subsequently charged with embezzlement and money laundering in 2009, and pled not guilty to the charges. There has been speculation that these charges were politically motivated.
http://wn.com/Platon_Lebedev -
Pope John XXIII
Blessed Pope John XXIII (; ), born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli (25 November 1881 – 3 June 1963), known as Blessed John XXIII since his beatification, was elected as the 261st Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City on 28 October 1958.
http://wn.com/Pope_John_XXIII -
Preston Sturges
Preston Sturges (29 August 1898 – 6 August 1959), originally Edmund Preston Biden, was a celebrated screenwriter and film director born in Chicago, Illinois. In 1941 he won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for the film The Great McGinty.
http://wn.com/Preston_Sturges -
Rahm Emanuel
Rahm Israel Emanuel (; born November 29, 1959) is an American politician and former White House Chief of Staff to President Barack Obama. He served previously as senior advisor to President Clinton at the White House from 1993 to 1998 and as a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives, representing , from 2003 until his resignation in 2009 to take up his position in the Obama Administration.
http://wn.com/Rahm_Emanuel -
Raymond Chandler
Raymond Thornton Chandler (July 23, 1888 – March 26, 1959) was an Anglo-American novelist and screenwriter who had an immense stylistic influence upon the modern private detective story, especially in the style of the writing and the attitudes now characteristic of the genre. His protagonist, Philip Marlowe, along with Dashiell Hammett's Sam Spade, is considered synonymous with "private detective", both being played on screen by Humphrey Bogart.
http://wn.com/Raymond_Chandler -
Rebecca De Mornay
Rebecca De Mornay (born Rebecca Jane Pearch; August 29, 1959) is an American film and television actress. Her breakthrough film role came in 1983, when she played Lana in Risky Business.
http://wn.com/Rebecca_De_Mornay -
Renée Fleming
Renée Fleming (born February 14, 1959) is an American soprano specializing in opera and lieder. Fleming has a full lyric soprano voice.
http://wn.com/Renée_Fleming -
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913 – April 22, 1994) was the 37th President of the United States from 1969 to 1974, having formerly been the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961. A member of the Republican Party, he was the only President to resign the office as well as the only person to be elected twice to both the Presidency and the Vice Presidency.
http://wn.com/Richard_Nixon -
Richard Roeper
Richard E. Roeper (born October 17, 1959) is an American columnist and film critic for The Chicago Sun-Times and now a co-host on The Roe Conn Show on WLS-AM. He co-hosted the television series At the Movies with Roger Ebert from 2000–2008.
http://wn.com/Richard_Roeper -
Richie Sambora
Richard Stephen "Richie" Sambora (born July 11, 1959) is an American rock guitarist, producer, musician, singer/songwriter who is the longtime lead guitarist of the popular rock band Bon Jovi. He and frontman Jon Bon Jovi form the primary songwriting unit of the band. He is also a solo artist, having released two solo albums; Stranger in This Town in 1991, and Undiscovered Soul in 1998.
http://wn.com/Richie_Sambora -
Rick Ardon
Rick Ardon (born 4 March 1959 in Perth, Western Australia), is a news presenter on Seven News in Perth, Western Australia. In 2005, Ardon and his co-anchor, Susannah Carr, celebrated their 20th consecutive year reading the news together on Seven Perth.
http://wn.com/Rick_Ardon -
Rick Bragg
Rick Bragg (born July 26, 1959) is an American author and journalist known for his non-fiction books, especially those on his family in Alabama. Bragg won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing in 1996 for his work at The New York Times.
http://wn.com/Rick_Bragg -
Rigoberta Menchú
Rigoberta Menchú Tum (born 9 January 1959, Laj Chimel, El Quiché, Guatemala) is an indigenous Guatemalan, of the K'iche' Maya ethnic group. Menchú has dedicated her life to publicizing the plight of Guatemala's indigenous peoples during and after the Guatemalan Civil War (1960–1996), and to promoting indigenous rights in the country. She received the 1992 Nobel Peace Prize and Prince of Asturias Award in 1998. She is the subject of the testimonial biography I, Rigoberta Menchú (1983) and the author of the autobiographical work, Crossing Borders. Later, American anthropologist David Stoll visited Guatemala and uncovered evidence that some of the claims in Menchú's Nobel Prize-winning autobiography were false.
http://wn.com/Rigoberta_Menchú -
Ritchie Valens
Ritchie Valens (born Ricardo Esteban Valenzuela Reyes; May 13, 1941 – February 3, 1959) was a Mexican-American singer, songwriter and guitarist.
http://wn.com/Ritchie_Valens -
Robbin Crosby
Robbin Crosby (August 4, 1959 – June 6, 2002), born Robb Lantz Crosby and nicknamed "King", was co-lead guitarist in the Glam metal band Ratt, earning several platinum albums in the U.S. in the mid-to-late 1980s. HIV positive, he died of a heroin overdose in 2002.
http://wn.com/Robbin_Crosby -
Rod Serling
Rodman "Rod" Edward Serling (December 25, 1924 – June 28, 1975) was an American screenwriter, television producer, and narrator best known for his live television dramas of the 1950s and his science fiction anthology TV series, The Twilight Zone. Serling was active in politics, both on and off the screen and helped form television industry standards. He was known as the angry young man of Hollywood, clashing with television executives and sponsors over a wide range of issues including censorship, racism, and anti-war politics.
http://wn.com/Rod_Serling -
Rosanna Arquette
Rosanna Lauren Arquette (born August 10, 1959) is an American actress, film director, and film producer.
http://wn.com/Rosanna_Arquette -
Rupert Everett
Rupert James Hector Everett (born 29 May 1959) is an English actor. He first came to public attention in 1981, when he was cast in Julian Mitchell's play and subsequent film Another Country as an openly gay student at an English public school, set in the 1930s. He has subsequently appeared in many other films including ''My Best Friend's Wedding, An Ideal Husband, The Next Best Thing and the Shrek'' sequels. He currently lives in London.
http://wn.com/Rupert_Everett -
Ruud Janssen
Ruud Janssen (b. Tilburg July 29, 1959) is a Dutch Fluxus and mail artist currently living in Breda in the Netherlands.
http://wn.com/Ruud_Janssen -
Ryan Stiles
Ryan Lee Stiles (born April 22, 1959) is an American actor, comedian, director, and voice actor whose work is often associated with improvisational comedy. He is best known for his improv and co-production work on Whose Line Is It Anyway? and the role of Lewis Kiniski on The Drew Carey Show. He currently plays Herb Melnick on the CBS comedy Two and a Half Men.
http://wn.com/Ryan_Stiles -
Sade Adu
Helen Folasade Adu, OBE, (born 16 January 1959), better known as Sade, is a British singer-songwriter, composer, and record producer. She first achieved success in the 1980s as the frontwoman and lead vocalist of the popular Brit and Grammy Award winning English group, Sade.
http://wn.com/Sade_Adu -
Saeko Shimazu
is a prolific seiyū from Isehara.
http://wn.com/Saeko_Shimazu -
Sakamoto Chika
http://wn.com/Sakamoto_Chika -
Salvatore Quasimodo
Salvatore Quasimodo (August 20, 1901 - June 14, 1968) was an Italian author. In 1959, he won the Nobel Prize for Literature "for his lyrical poetry, which with classical fire expresses the tragic experience of life in our own times." Along with Giuseppe Ungaretti and Eugenio Montale, he is one of the foremost Italian poets of the 20th century.
http://wn.com/Salvatore_Quasimodo -
Sam Marcy
Sam Marcy (1911–February 1, 1998) was an American Marxist of the post-World War II era. In 1959, a group he led founded the Workers World Party, which continues to the present day.
http://wn.com/Sam_Marcy -
Sandra Cisneros
Sandra Cisneros (born December 20, 1954) is an American writer best known for her acclaimed first novel The House on Mango Street (1984) and her subsequent short story collection Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories (1991). Her work experiments with literary forms and investigates emerging subject positions, which Cisneros herself attributes to growing up in a context of cultural hybridity and economic inequality that endowed her with unique stories to tell. She is the recipient of numerous awards including a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and is regarded as a key figure in Chicana literature.
http://wn.com/Sandra_Cisneros -
Sanjay Dutt
Sanjay Dutt (Hindi: संजय दत्त), born 29 July 1959) is an Indian Hindi film actor and politician. Dutt is the son of Hindi film stars Sunil and Nargis Dutt. He made his debut in 1981.
http://wn.com/Sanjay_Dutt -
Sarah Ferguson
http://wn.com/Sarah_Ferguson -
Satoru Iwata
is the fourth president and CEO of Nintendo, succeeding the long-standing previous president of the company, Hiroshi Yamauchi in 2002. He was responsible in great part for defining Nintendo's strategy both before and during the release of its Nintendo GameCube video game console in 2001, a vision which helped Nintendo generate a forty-one percent increase in sales at the end of the 2002 fiscal year.
http://wn.com/Satoru_Iwata -
Saïd Aouita
Saïd Aouita (born 2 November 1959) is a former Moroccan athlete, winner of 5000 meters at the 1984 Summer Olympics, 5000 meters at the World Championship, in Roma, 3000 meters at the World Indoor Championships, in Budapest, and held many World records (1500m (3.29:45) – 2000m (4.50:80) -3000m (7.29:46) - Twice 5000m (13.00:40) and (12.58:58). He is a track and field legend and remains one of the greatest athletes
http://wn.com/Saïd_Aouita -
Scott Altman
Captain Scott Douglas "Scooter" Altman, USN, (born 15 August 1959) is a test pilot and NASA astronaut and veteran of four space shuttle missions. His fourth space shuttle mission on STS-125 was the last servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope.
http://wn.com/Scott_Altman -
Sean Bean
Shaun Mark "Sean" Bean (born 17 April 1959) is an English film and stage actor. Bean has also acted in a number of television productions as well as performing voice work for computer games and television adverts.
http://wn.com/Sean_Bean -
Sean Lemass
http://wn.com/Sean_Lemass -
Selig Suskin
Selig Suskin (, 1873–26 February 1959) was an Israeli agronomist and an early member of the Zionist movement.
http://wn.com/Selig_Suskin -
Selçuk Yula
Selçuk Yula, born on November 8, 1959 in Ankara, is a Turkish football player and topscorer.
http://wn.com/Selçuk_Yula -
Sheena Easton
Sheena Easton (born Sheena Shirley Orr; 27 April 1959) is a Scottish recording artist who achieved worldwide fame in the 1980s. Easton became famous for being the focus of an episode in the British television program The Big Time, which recorded her attempts to gain a record contract and her eventual signing with EMI Records.
http://wn.com/Sheena_Easton -
Sidney Bechet
Sidney Bechet (May 14, 1897 – May 14, 1959) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer.
http://wn.com/Sidney_Bechet -
Simon Cowell
Simon Phillip Cowell (born 7 October 1959) is a British music executive, television producer and entrepreneur. He is known in the United Kingdom and in the United States for his role as a talent judge on TV shows such as Pop Idol, The X Factor, ''Britain's Got Talent, and American Idol''. He is also the owner of the television production and music publishing house Syco.
http://wn.com/Simon_Cowell -
Solomon Bandaranaike
http://wn.com/Solomon_Bandaranaike -
Stephen Chan Chi Wan
Stephen Chan Chi Wan, born 1959, was the general manager of Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB).
http://wn.com/Stephen_Chan_Chi_Wan -
Stephen Harper
Stephen Joseph Harper, PC, MP (born April 30, 1959) is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada, and leader of the Conservative Party. Harper became Prime Minister after his party won a minority government in the 2006 federal election. He is the first Prime Minister from the newly reconstituted Conservative Party, following a merger of the Progressive Conservative and Canadian Alliance parties.
http://wn.com/Stephen_Harper -
Stephen Wolfram
Stephen Wolfram (born 29 August 1959) is a British physicist, software developer, mathematician, author and businessman, known for his work in theoretical particle physics, cosmology, cellular automata, computational complexity theory, computer algebra, the Mathematica software application, and the Wolfram Alpha computational knowledge engine.
http://wn.com/Stephen_Wolfram -
Steve McFadden
Steve McFadden (born 20 March 1959) is an English actor who is well-known for his starring role as cockney Phil Mitchell in the British BBC TV drama EastEnders, which he first played in 1990.
http://wn.com/Steve_McFadden -
Susanna Hoffs
Susanna Lee Hoffs (born January 17, 1959) is an American vocalist, guitarist and actress. She is best known as a member of the all-female pop band The Bangles.
http://wn.com/Susanna_Hoffs -
Suzanne Vega
Suzanne Nadine Vega (born July 11, 1959) is an American songwriter and singer known for her eclectic folk-inspired music.
http://wn.com/Suzanne_Vega -
Sönke Wortmann
Sönke Wortmann (August 25, 1959 in Marl, North Rhine-Westphalia) is a German film director.
http://wn.com/Sönke_Wortmann -
Taiwan
Taiwan, also known (especially in the past) as Formosa (from , "Beautiful Island"), is an island situated in East Asia in the Western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. It comprises most (99%) of the territory of the Republic of China (ROC) since the 1950s. The term "Taiwan" is also a common name to refer to the entire country of the Republic of China.
http://wn.com/Taiwan -
Taylor Holmes
Taylor Holmes (May 16, 1878 – September 30, 1959) was an actor who appeared in over 100 Broadway plays in his five-decade career. However, he's probably best remembered for his film roles, which he began in silent movies in 1917 before working more in films than on stage in the 1940s. Holmes played a number of memorable roles, including the gullible millionaire conned in Nightmare Alley (1947), a shifty lawyer in Kiss of Death (1947) and the voice of King Stefan in Disney's animated feature Sleeping Beauty (1959) - Holmes' last credited screen role. He was married to actress Edna Phillips and was the father of actors Phillips Holmes, Madeleine Taylor Holmes, and Ralph Holmes.
http://wn.com/Taylor_Holmes -
Terry Francona
Terry Jon Francona (born April 22, 1959 in Aberdeen, South Dakota), nicknamed "Tito," is a Major League Baseball manager. Francona has been the manager of the Boston Red Sox, of the American League since 2004.
http://wn.com/Terry_Francona -
The Big Bopper
Jiles Perry "J. P." Richardson, Jr. (October 24, 1930 – February 3, 1959) also commonly known as The Big Bopper, was an American disc jockey, singer, and songwriter whose big voice and exuberant personality made him an early rock and roll star. He is best known for his recording of "Chantilly Lace". On February 3, 1959, on what has become known as The Day the Music Died, Richardson was killed in a small-plane crash in Iowa, along with Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens.
http://wn.com/The_Big_Bopper -
The Cure
The Cure are an English rock band formed in Crawley, West Sussex in 1976. The band has experienced several line-up changes, with frontman, vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter Robert Smith being the only constant member. The Cure first began releasing music in the late 1970s with their debut album Three Imaginary Boys (1979); this, along with several early singles, placed the band as part of the post-punk and New Wave movements that had sprung up in the wake of the punk rock revolution in the United Kingdom. During the early 1980s, the band's increasingly dark and tormented music helped form the gothic rock genre.
http://wn.com/The_Cure -
Thomas F. Wilson
Thomas Francis Wilson (born April 15, 1959) is an American actor, writer, musician, painter, voice-over artist and stand up comedian. He is best known for playing Biff Tannen (and his grandson Griff Tannen and great-grandfather Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen) in the Back to the Future trilogy and Coach Ben Fredricks on NBC's Freaks and Geeks.
http://wn.com/Thomas_F_Wilson -
Tom Arnold (actor)
Thomas Duane "Tom" Arnold (born March 6, 1959) is an American actor and comedian. He has starred in many films, most notably True Lies (1994). He was the host of The Best Damn Sports Show Period for four years.
http://wn.com/Tom_Arnold_(actor) -
Tonga Fifita
'''Tonga 'Uli'uli Fifita (born February 3, 1959) is a retired professional wrestler and actor, known for his appearances in both World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). In WCW, he wrestled under the name Meng; in the WWF, he wrestled under the names King Tonga, King Haku, and Haku'''.
http://wn.com/Tonga_Fifita -
Tony DeFranco
http://wn.com/Tony_DeFranco -
Tony Phillips
Keith Anthony Phillips (born April 25, 1959 in Atlanta, Georgia) is a former Major League Baseball utility player who had an 18-year career from to . He played regularly at three infield positions, primarily as a second baseman, but also had significant time as a shortstop and third baseman. He also played in over 100 games as a left fielder, right fielder, and designated hitter.
http://wn.com/Tony_Phillips -
Tracey Ullman
Tracey Ullman (born 30 December 1959) is a British-American stage and television actress, comedienne, singer, dancer, screenwriter and author.
http://wn.com/Tracey_Ullman -
Truman Capote
Truman Capote (; September 30, 1924 – August 25, 1984) was an American author and comedian, many of whose short stories, novels, plays and nonfiction are recognized literary classics, including the novella ''Breakfast at Tiffany's (1958) and In Cold Blood'' (1965), which he labeled a "nonfiction novel." At least 20 films and television dramas have been produced from Capote novels, stories and screenplays.
http://wn.com/Truman_Capote -
Tutsi
Tutsi (; ) are an ethnic group in Central Africa. They are the second largest population of peoples in Rwanda and Burundi, the other two being the Hutu (largest) and the Twa (smallest).
http://wn.com/Tutsi -
Ulrike Richter
Ulrike Richter (born 17 June 1959 in Görlitz) is a German former swimmer who competed for East Germany in the 1970s. At the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal she received three gold medals. She received two gold medals at the 1973 World Aquatics Championships, and two in 1975. Richter set fourteen world records during her career, in 100 m backstroke, 200 m backstroke, and medley relay. She was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in 1983.
http://wn.com/Ulrike_Richter -
Uma Bharati
http://wn.com/Uma_Bharati -
Una O'Connor
http://wn.com/Una_O'Connor -
Val Kilmer
Val Edward Kilmer (born December 31, 1959) is an American actor. Originally a stage actor, Kilmer became popular in the mid-1980s after a string of appearances in comedy films, starting with Top Secret! (1984), then the cult classic Real Genius (1985), as well as blockbuster action films, including a role in Top Gun and a lead role in Willow.
http://wn.com/Val_Kilmer -
Victor McLaglen
Victor Andrew de Bier Everleigh McLaglen (10 December 1886 – 7 November 1959) was an English boxer and World War I veteran who became a leading American film actor.
http://wn.com/Victor_McLaglen -
Victoria Rowell
Victoria "Vicki" Lynn Rowell (born May 10, 1959) is an American actress and dancer. She is best known for her portrayal of ballerina-turned-model Drucilla Winters on the CBS daytime drama The Young and the Restless, and medical examiner/pathologist Dr. Amanda Bentley on the CBS drama . From 1993 to 2000, she appeared on both series simultaneously.
http://wn.com/Victoria_Rowell -
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to 15 May 1975 when the Mayaguez Incident concluded and two weeks after the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. The 'Mayaguez incident' involving the Khmer Rouge government in Cambodia on 12–15 May 1975, marked the last official battle of the United States (U.S.) involvement in the Vietnam War. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of South Vietnam, supported by the United States and other anti-communist nations.
http://wn.com/Vietnam_War -
Viktoria Mullova
Viktoria Yurievna Mullova () (born 27 November 1959) is a Russian violinist. She is best known for her performances and recordings of a number of violin concerti, compositions by J.S. Bach, and her innovative interpretations of popular and jazz compositions by Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, The Beatles, and others.
http://wn.com/Viktoria_Mullova -
Vincent Astor
William Vincent Astor (November 15, 1891 – February 3, 1959) was a businessman and philanthropist and a member of the prominent Astor family.
http://wn.com/Vincent_Astor -
Vincent D'Onofrio
'''Vincent Phillip D'Onofrio''' (born June 30, 1959) is an American actor, film producer, and singer. He first gained attention for his role as Private Leonard 'Gomer Pyle' Lawrence in the war film Full Metal Jacket and more recently for his role as Detective Robert Goren in the crime TV series .
http://wn.com/Vincent_D'Onofrio -
Vinnie Richards
http://wn.com/Vinnie_Richards -
Waise Lee
Waise Lee Chi-hung (; born 19 December 1959) is a Hong Kong actor, known for playing villains in Hong Kong action films, most notably in the film A Better Tomorrow. He is also regarded as the George W. Bush of Hong Kong as he resembles the latter a lot.
http://wn.com/Waise_Lee -
Wally Lewis
Walter James "Wally" Lewis AM (born 1 December 1959 in Hawthorne, Queensland) is an Australian former rugby league footballer and coach. Currently a commentator of the sport, he is widely regarded as the greatest Rugby League player of all time. His time as a player and coach was followed by a career as a newsreader for the Nine Network.
http://wn.com/Wally_Lewis -
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney (December 5, 1901 – December 15, 1966) was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist. Disney is famous for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. As the co-founder (with his brother Roy O. Disney) of Walt Disney Productions, Disney became one of the best-known motion picture producers in the world. The corporation he co-founded, now known as The Walt Disney Company, today has annual revenues of approximately U.S. $35 billion.
http://wn.com/Walt_Disney -
Walter Beall
Walter Esau Beall (July 29, 1899 – January 28, 1959) was an American major league baseball player who played for the New York Yankees on several championship teams in the 1920s.
http://wn.com/Walter_Beall -
Wayne Federman
Wayne Federman (born June 22, 1959) is an American comedian, actor, author, and comedy writer. He is noted for his numerous stand-up comedy appearances in clubs, theaters, and on television; his biography of "Pistol" Pete Maravich; and his supporting comedic acting roles in The X-Files, The Larry Sanders Show, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Legally Blonde, 50 First Dates, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, and Step Brothers. He was the head monologue writer for NBC's Late Night with Jimmy Fallon in its first season.
http://wn.com/Wayne_Federman -
Werner Krauss
Werner Johannes Krauss (Krauß in German) (23 June 1884 – 20 October 1959) was a German stage and film actor.
http://wn.com/Werner_Krauss -
William D. Francis
William Douglas Francis (6 March 1889 - 2 January 1959) was a notable Australian botanist. Born in Bega, New South Wales, at the age of 17 he moved with his father Alfred, and brother Frederick, from Wollongong, New South Wales, where he attended Wollongong Superior Public School, to Kin Kin, Queensland. It was here that he was able to satisfy his strong interest in natural history while helping his father and brother on the farm.
http://wn.com/William_D_Francis -
William Halsey, Jr.
Fleet Admiral William Frederick Halsey, Jr., USN, (October 30, 1882 – August 16, 1959) (called "Bill Halsey" and sometimes known as "Bull" Halsey), was a U.S. Naval officer and the commander of the United States Third Fleet during part of the Pacific War against Japan. Earlier, he had commanded the South Pacific Theater during desperate times.
http://wn.com/William_Halsey_Jr -
William R. Moses
William Remington Moses (born November 17, 1959) is an American actor.
http://wn.com/William_R_Moses -
Yoshiaki Murakami
is a Japanese investor known for highly publicized corporate raid. He was the founder and the former president of M&A; Consulting, Inc., usually known as the "Murakami fund".
http://wn.com/Yoshiaki_Murakami -
Yoshitomo Nara
is a Japanese artist. He currently lives and works in Tokyo, though his artwork has been exhibited worldwide. Nara received his B.F.A. (1985) and an M.F.A. (1987) from the Aichi Prefectural University of Fine Arts and Music. Between 1988 and 1993, Nara studied at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, in Germany. Nara has had nearly 40 solo exhibitions since 1984. He is represented in New York City by Marianne Boesky Gallery and in Los Angeles by Blum & Poe.
http://wn.com/Yoshitomo_Nara -
Youssou N'Dour
'''Youssou N'Dour' (; born 1 October 1959 in Dakar) is a Senegalese singer, percussionist and occasional actor. In 2004, Rolling Stone described him as, in Senegal and much of Africa, "perhaps the most famous singer alive." He helped develop a style of popular music in Senegal, known in the Serer language as mbalax. He is the subject of the 2008 award-winning documentary film '' directed by Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, which was released theatrically around the world. The film won several awards including the Special Jury Prize at the Middle East International Film Festival.
http://wn.com/Youssou_N'Dour
-
Addu Atoll
Addu Atoll (local administrative code Seenu) is the southernmost atoll of the Maldives.
http://wn.com/Addu_Atoll -
Alaska
Alaska () is the largest state of the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait. Approximately half of Alaska's 698,473 residents live within the Anchorage metropolitan area. As of 2009, Alaska remains the least densely populated state of the U.S.
http://wn.com/Alaska -
Antarctica
Antarctica
http://wn.com/Antarctica -
Australia
{{Infobox country
http://wn.com/Australia -
Bass Strait
Bass Strait () is a sea strait separating Tasmania from the south of the Australian mainland, specifically the state of Victoria.
http://wn.com/Bass_Strait -
Beijing
{| style="float:right;"
http://wn.com/Beijing -
Belgian Congo
The Belgian Congo (French: Congo Belge, Dutch: ) was the formal title of present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) between King Leopold II's formal relinquishment of his personal control over the state to Belgium on 15 November 1908, and Congolese independence on 30 June 1960.
http://wn.com/Belgian_Congo -
Belgium
Belgium (, ), officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, as well as those of several other major international organizations such as NATO. Belgium covers an area of , and it has a population of about 10.8 million people.
http://wn.com/Belgium -
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 large professional theatres with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan, New York City.Although theater is the preferred spelling in the U.S.A. (see further at American and British English Spelling Differences), the majority of venues, performers, and trade groups for live dramatic presentations use the spelling theatre. Along with London's West End theatre, Broadway theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English-speaking world.
http://wn.com/Broadway_theatre -
Cape Canaveral
Cape Canaveral, from the Spanish Cabo Cañaveral, is a headland in Brevard County, Florida, United States, near the center of the state's Atlantic coast. Known as Cape Kennedy from 1963 to 1973, it lies east of Merritt Island, separated from it by the Banana River. It is part of a region known as the Space Coast, and is the site of the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Since many U.S. spacecraft are launched from both the station and the Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, the terms "Cape Canaveral," "Canaveral" or even "The Cape" have become metonyms that refer to both as the launch site of spacecraft. In homage to its spacefaring heritage, the Florida Public Service Commission allocated "321" as the telephone area code for Cape Canaveral and surrounding counties.
http://wn.com/Cape_Canaveral -
Caves of Nerja
The Caves of Nerja are a series of caverns close to the town of Nerja in Andalusia. Stretching for almost 5 km the caverns are one of Spain's major tourist attractions. Concerts are regularly held in one of the chambers which forms a natural amphitheatre.
http://wn.com/Caves_of_Nerja -
Chicago
Chicago ( or ) is the largest city in the state of Illinois. With over 2.8 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous city in the country. Its metropolitan area, commonly named "Chicagoland," is the 26th most populous in the world, home to an estimated 9.7 million people spread across the U.S. states of Illinois, Wisconsin, and Indiana. Chicago is the county seat of Cook County.
http://wn.com/Chicago -
Clear Lake, Iowa
Clear Lake is a city in Cerro Gordo County, Iowa, United States. The population was 8,161 at the 2000 census. The city is named for the large lake on which it is located. It is the home of a number of marinas, state parks and tourism-related businesses. Clear Lake is also a major stop on Interstate 35 with many restaurants, hotels and truck stops.
http://wn.com/Clear_Lake_Iowa -
Conakry
Conakry (Sosso: ) is the capital and largest city of Guinea. Conakry is a port city on the Atlantic Ocean and serves as the economic, financial and cultural centre of Guinea with a 2009 population of 1,548,500. Originally situated on Tombo Island, one of the Îles de Los, it has since spread up the neighboring Kaloum Peninsula.
http://wn.com/Conakry -
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba (; , ) is an island country in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos.
http://wn.com/Cuba -
Cyprus
Cyprus (; , Kýpros, ; ), – officially the Republic of Cyprus (, Kypriakī́ Dīmokratía, ; ) – is a Eurasian island country in the Eastern Mediterranean, south of Turkey and west of Syria and Lebanon. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of its most popular tourist destinations. An advanced, high-income economy with a very high Human Development Index, the Republic of Cyprus was a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement until it joined the European Union on 1 May 2004.
http://wn.com/Cyprus -
Dartmoor
Dartmoor is an area of moorland in the centre of Devon, England. Protected by National Park status, it covers .
http://wn.com/Dartmoor -
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic (; , ) is a nation on the island of Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries. Both by area and population, the Dominican Republic is the second largest Caribbean nation (after Cuba), with and an estimated 10 million people.
http://wn.com/Dominican_Republic -
Dover
Dover is a town and major ferry port in the home county of Kent, in South East England. It faces France across the narrowest part of the English Channel, and lies south-east of Canterbury; east of Kent's administrative capital Maidstone; and north-east along the coastline from Dungeness and Hastings. The town is the administrative centre of the Dover District and home of the Dover Calais ferry through the Port of Dover. The surrounding chalk cliffs have become known as the White cliffs of Dover, and the narrow sea passage nearby – the Strait of Dover.
http://wn.com/Dover -
East Germany
The German Democratic Republic (GDR; German: Deutsche Demokratische Republik or DDR), informally called East Germany by the West, was the socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany and in the East Berlin portion of the Allied-occupied capital city. The German Democratic Republic, which consisted geographically of northeast Germany rather than all of eastern Germany, had an area of 107,771 km2. (41,610 mi.2), bordering Czechoslovakia in the south, West Germany (officially: Federal Republic of Germany) in the south and west, the Baltic Sea to the north, and Poland in the east.
http://wn.com/East_Germany -
English Channel
The English Channel (, the "sleeve") is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Great Britain from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest, to only in the Strait of Dover. It is the smallest of the shallow seas around the continental shelf of Europe, covering an area of some .
http://wn.com/English_Channel -
Florida
Florida () is a state of the United States. It is located in the Southeastern United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the north. Much of the state's land mass is a large peninsula with the Gulf of Mexico to the west, the Atlantic Ocean to the east and the Caribbean to the south. Florida was admitted as the 27th U.S. state in 1845, after a three hundred year period of European colonization.
http://wn.com/Florida -
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes are a collection of freshwater seas located in northeastern North America, on the Canada – United States border. Consisting of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total surface and volume. The total surface is , and the total volume is The lakes are sometimes referred to as the North Coast or "Third Coast" by some citizens of the United States. The Great Lakes hold 21 percent of the world's surface fresh water.
http://wn.com/Great_Lakes -
Guinea
Guinea (, officially the Republic of Guinea ), is a country in West Africa. Formerly known as French Guinea (Guinée française), it is today sometimes called Guinea-Conakry to distinguish it from its neighbor Guinea-Bissau. Conakry is the capital, the seat of the national government, and the largest city.
http://wn.com/Guinea -
Havana
Havana (, , officially Ciudad de La Habana,) is the capital city, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city is one of the 14 Cuban provinces. The city/province has 2.1 million inhabitants, the largest city in Cuba and the largest in the Caribbean region. The city extends mostly westward and southward from the bay, which is entered through a narrow inlet and which divides into three main harbours: Marimelena, Guanabacoa, and Atarés. The sluggish Almendares River traverses the city from south to north, entering the Straits of Florida a few miles west of the bay.
http://wn.com/Havana -
Hawaii
: For geographic details see Geography and environment or Hawaiian Islands.
http://wn.com/Hawaii -
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire ( or ; abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.
http://wn.com/Hertfordshire -
Holcomb, Kansas
Holcomb is a city in Finney County, Kansas, United States. The population was 2,026 at the 2000 census.
http://wn.com/Holcomb_Kansas -
Honshū
Honshū (; also spelled Honshu) is the largest island of Japan. The nation's main island, it is south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Strait. It is the seventh largest island in the world, and the second most populous after Java in Indonesia.
http://wn.com/Honshū -
India
India (), officially the Republic of India ( ; see also official names of India), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.18 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world. Mainland India is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal on the east; and it is bordered by Pakistan to the west; Bhutan, the People's Republic of China and Nepal to the north; and Bangladesh and Burma to the east. In the Indian Ocean, mainland India and the Lakshadweep Islands are in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives, while India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands share maritime border with Thailand and the Indonesian island of Sumatra in the Andaman Sea. India has a coastline of .
http://wn.com/India -
Ireland
Ireland (,; , ; Ulster Scots: Airlann) is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the northwest of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland is Great Britain, separated from it by the Irish Sea. The island is divided between the Republic of Ireland, which covers just under five-sixths of the island, and Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom, which covers the remainder and is located in the northeast of the island. The population of Ireland is approximately 6.2 million people. Just under 4.5 million live in the Republic of Ireland and just under 1.8 million live in Northern Ireland.
http://wn.com/Ireland -
Japan
Japan (日本 Nihon or Nippon), officially the State of Japan ( or Nihon-koku), is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south. The characters that make up Japan's name mean "sun-origin" (because it lies to the east of nearby countries), which is why Japan is sometimes referred to as the "Land of the Rising Sun".
http://wn.com/Japan -
Kinshasa
Kinshasa (formerly French: Léopoldville, and Dutch: ) is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, known as Zaire from 1971 to 1997. The city is located on the Congo River.
http://wn.com/Kinshasa -
Knox Mine disaster
The Knox Mine disaster was a mining accident that took place in the Greater Pittston metro area in Port Griffith village of Jenkins Township, Pennsylvania, near Pittston, on January 22, 1959.
http://wn.com/Knox_Mine_disaster -
Laos
Laos (, , or ), officially the '''Lao People's Democratic Republic''', is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and People's Republic of China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west.
http://wn.com/Laos -
Leeds
Leeds () is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city had a population of (). Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial heart of the West Yorkshire Urban Area, which at the 2001 census had a population of 1.5 million, and the Leeds city region, an economic area with Leeds at its core, had a population of 2.9 million. Leeds is the UK's largest centre for business, legal, and financial services outside London, and according to the most recent Office for National Statistics estimates, Leeds is the fastest growing city in the UK.
http://wn.com/Leeds -
Lhasa
Lhasa ( in English, Tibetan: ལྷ་ས་, pronounced or ; and sometimes spelled Lasa) is the administrative capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China. At an altitude of , Lhasa is one of the highest cities in the world. It is the birthplace of Tibetan Buddhism and contain many religious sites such as the Jokhang, Potala and Norbulingka palaces.
http://wn.com/Lhasa -
London
London () is the capital of England and the United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its founding by the Romans, who called it Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, largely retains its square-mile mediaeval boundaries. Since at least the 19th century, the name London has also referred to the metropolis developed around this core. The bulk of this conurbation forms the London region and the Greater London administrative area, governed by the elected Mayor of London and the London Assembly.
http://wn.com/London -
Maldives
The Maldives ( or ), (Dhivehi: ދިވެހިރާއްޖެ ''Dhivehi Raa'je'') or Maldive Islands, officially Republic of Maldives, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean formed by a double chain of twenty-six atolls stretching in a north-south direction off India's Lakshadweep islands, between Minicoy Island and Chagos Archipelago. It stands in the Laccadive Sea, about seven hundred kilometers (435 mi) south-west of Sri Lanka.
http://wn.com/Maldives -
Malpasset
Malpasset was an arch dam on the Reyran River, constructed approximately 7 km north of Fréjus on the Côte d'Azur, southern France, in the Var département. It collapsed on December 2, 1959, killing 421 people in the resulting flood. Various sources indicate death numbers of 361, 400, 423, 429 or 510. The damage amounted to a total of $68 million.
http://wn.com/Malpasset -
Moscow
Moscow ( or ; ; see also ) is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the world, a global city. Moscow is the most populous city on the continent of Europe and the seventh largest city proper in the world, a megacity. The population of Moscow (as of 1 January 2010) is 10,563,038.
http://wn.com/Moscow -
Nagoya
is the third-largest incorporated city and the fourth most populous urban area in Japan.
http://wn.com/Nagoya -
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA, ) is an Executive Branch agency of the United States government, responsible for the nation's civilian space program and aeronautics and aerospace research. Since February 2006, NASA's self-described mission statement is to "pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery and aeronautics research."
http://wn.com/NASA -
Netherlands
{{Infobox country
http://wn.com/Netherlands -
New York
New York (; locally or ) is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east. The state has a maritime border with Rhode Island east of Long Island, as well as an international border with the Canadian provinces of Ontario to the north and west, and Quebec to the north. New York is often referred to as New York State to distinguish it from New York City.
http://wn.com/New_York -
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish and Norwegian: Nobels fredspris) is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.
http://wn.com/Nobel_Peace_Prize -
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire ( or ; archaically, the County of Northampton; abbreviated Northants. or N/hants) is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east, Buckinghamshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the south-west, and Lincolnshire to the north-east – England's shortest county boundary at . The county town is Northampton.
http://wn.com/Northamptonshire -
Olduvai Gorge
The Oldupai Gorge is commonly referred to as "The Cradle of Mankind." The old name for the Gorge was Olduvai Gorge, which was a mispronunciation of Oldupai. The Gorge was re-named in 2005 to correct this mistake. Oldupai is the Maasai word for the wild sisal plant Sansevieria ehrenbergii, which grows in the Gorge. Oldupai Gorge is a steep-sided ravine in the Great Rift Valley that stretches through eastern Africa. Olduvai is in the eastern Serengeti Plains in northern Tanzania and is about long.
http://wn.com/Olduvai_Gorge -
Panama
Panama (), officially the Republic of Panama (; ), is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The capital is Panama City.
http://wn.com/Panama -
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania () is a U.S. state and Commonwealth located in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to the east. The state's four most populous cities are Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown and Erie. The state capital is Harrisburg.
http://wn.com/Pennsylvania -
Republic of Ireland
Ireland (, , , ), described as the Republic of Ireland (), is a state in northwest Europe with a population of almost 4.5 million people. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional republic occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of Ireland, which was partitioned into two jurisdictions in 1921. It is bordered to the northeast by Northern Ireland, which is a part of the United Kingdom, and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the Irish Sea to the east, St George's Channel to the southeast, and the Celtic Sea to the south.
http://wn.com/Republic_of_Ireland -
Rome
Rome (; , ; ) is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . In 2006 the population of the metropolitan area was estimated by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development to have a population of 3.7 million.
http://wn.com/Rome -
Roseburg blast
http://wn.com/Roseburg_blast -
Rwanda
The Republic of Rwanda (, , or in English, or in Kinyarwanda) is a unitary republic of central and eastern Africa. It borders Uganda to the north; Tanzania to the east; Burundi to the south; and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west. Rwanda is landlocked but is noted for its lakes, particularly Lake Kivu, which occupies the floor of the Rift Valley along most of the country's western border. Although close to the equator, the country has a temperate climate due to its high elevation, with the highest point being Mount Karisimbi. The terrain consists of mountains and gently rolling hills, with plains and swamps in the east. Abundant wildlife, including rare mountain gorillas, have led to a fast-growing tourism sector. The largest cities in Rwanda are Kigali, Gitarama, and Butare. Unlike many African countries, Rwanda is home to only one significant ethnic and linguistic group, the Banyarwanda. The country is well known for its native styles of dance, particularly the Intore dance, and for its drummers. Kinyarwanda, English and French are the official languages.
http://wn.com/Rwanda -
Scotland
Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: Alba) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the southwest. In addition to the mainland, Scotland includes over 790 islands including the Northern Isles and the Hebrides.
http://wn.com/Scotland -
Singapore
{{Infobox Country
http://wn.com/Singapore -
Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR, , abbreviated СССР, SSSR), informally known as the Soviet Union () or Soviet Russia, was a constitutionally socialist state that existed on the territory of most of the former Russian Empire in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991.
http://wn.com/Soviet_Union -
Spain under Franco
http://wn.com/Spain_under_Franco -
Sri Lanka
The Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (commonly known as Sri Lanka (, , or ); ; , ) is a country and a sovereign state off souther coast of the Indian subcontinent. A island nation in South Asia, it was till 1972 known as Ceylon (, , or ). Sri Lanka is surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait.
http://wn.com/Sri_Lanka -
Taiwan
Taiwan, also known (especially in the past) as Formosa (from , "Beautiful Island"), is an island situated in East Asia in the Western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. It comprises most (99%) of the territory of the Republic of China (ROC) since the 1950s. The term "Taiwan" is also a common name to refer to the entire country of the Republic of China.
http://wn.com/Taiwan -
Tampa, Florida
Tampa () is a Gulf Coast Bay city in the U.S. state of Florida. It serves as the county seat for Hillsborough County. Tampa is located on the west coast of Florida. The population of Tampa in 2000 was 303,447. According to the 2009 estimates, the city's population had grown to 343,890, making it the 54th largest city in the United States.
http://wn.com/Tampa_Florida -
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania (; phonetical: tan-zann-ei-a; or sometimes tan-zanneia; ) is a country in central East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.
http://wn.com/Tanzania -
U.S.S.R.
http://wn.com/USSR -
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK, or Britain) is a country and sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island nation, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of the island of Ireland, and many smaller islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK with a land border with another sovereign state, sharing it with the Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border, the UK is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel and the Irish Sea. Great Britain is linked to continental Europe by the Channel Tunnel.
http://wn.com/United_Kingdom -
Vietnam
Vietnam ( ; , ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (, ), is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by People's Republic of China (PRC) to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea, referred to as East Sea (), to the east. With a population of over 86 million, Vietnam is the 13th most populous country in the world.
http://wn.com/Vietnam -
Vincent Astor
William Vincent Astor (November 15, 1891 – February 3, 1959) was a businessman and philanthropist and a member of the prominent Astor family.
http://wn.com/Vincent_Astor -
Warwickshire
{| border=1 cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" align="right" width=250 style=margin-left:10px
http://wn.com/Warwickshire
- 10 yen coin
- 1865
- 1867
- 1869
- 1871
- 1872
- 1873
- 1874
- 1876
- 1877
- 1878
- 1879
- 1880
- 1881
- 1882
- 1883
- 1884
- 1885
- 1886
- 1887
- 1888
- 1889
- 1890
- 1891
- 1892
- 1893
- 1894
- 1895
- 1897
- 1898
- 1899
- 1900
- 1901
- 1902
- 1903
- 1904
- 1905
- 1906
- 1907
- 1909
- 1910
- 1912
- 1914
- 1915
- 1920
- 1921
- 1922
- 1924
- 1925
- 1926
- 1927
- 1929
- 1930
- 1932
- 1936
- 1937
- 1938
- 1941
- 1959 FA Cup Final
- 1963
- 1970s
- 1972
- 1981
- 1982
- 1987
- 1998
- 2000
- 2002
- 2005
- 31st Academy Awards
- A Raisin in the Sun
- a-ha
- ABAKO
- Academy Award
- Addu Atoll
- Aidan Quinn
- Akihito
- Alan Best (animator)
- Alaska
- Alec Issigonis
- Alex McLeish
- Alfie Anido
- Alison LaPlaca
- Alison Ramsay
- Allison Janney
- American Pie (song)
- Ana María Polo
- Andrew Bailey
- Andrew Eldritch
- Andy Dog Johnson
- Antarctica
- Ante Pavelić
- Anthony Sowell
- APRA Rebelde
- April 10
- April 11
- April 12
- April 15
- April 16
- April 17
- April 18
- April 2
- April 20
- April 21
- April 22
- April 24
- April 25
- April 27
- April 3
- April 30
- April 6
- April 8
- April 9
- Archbishop
- Armin Kogler
- arms control
- Arthur Kornberg
- Arto Salminen
- Atlantic Ocean
- Audrey Hepburn
- August 10
- August 11
- August 13
- August 14
- August 15
- August 16
- August 17
- August 19
- August 21
- August 24
- August 25
- August 26
- August 27
- August 28
- August 29
- August 3
- August 30
- August 31
- August 4
- August 5
- August 6
- August 7
- August 8
- Australia
- Australopithecus
- Azali Assoumani
- Baby Dodds
- Backstage Wife
- Badou Ezzaki
- Baikonur Cosmodrome
- ballistic missile
- Bank of England
- Banking
- Barbara Krause
- Barbie
- Baron Waqa
- Barry Blanchard
- Barthélemy Boganda
- Bass Strait
- Beijing
- Belgian Congo
- Belgium
- Ben Elton
- Ben Linder
- Ben-Hur (1959 film)
- Benjamin Sehene
- Benny Fields
- Bernard Berenson
- Bernd Schuster
- Berry Gordy
- Billie Holiday
- Billy Childish
- Billy Gillispie
- Billy Mayerl
- Birmingham City F.C.
- Blind Willie McTell
- blizzard
- Bohuslav Martinů
- Boris Vian
- Boughera El Ouafi
- Brad Wellman
- Brian Lenihan, Jnr
- Brian P. Cleary
- Brian Setzer
- Brian Williams
- Broadway theatre
- Bryan Adams
- Buddy Holly
- Busch Gardens
- Calais
- Camilo Cienfuegos
- Cape Canaveral
- Carl Switzer
- Carlo Ancelotti
- Caspian Tiger
- Catherine Keener
- Caves of Nerja
- CBS
- Cecil B. DeMille
- Charles de Gaulle
- Charles Kennedy
- Charles Lawson
- Charles Starkweather
- Charles Vidor
- Charlton Heston
- Che Guevara
- Chester M. Ovnand
- Chicago
- Chief Cashier
- Chris Lowe
- Christa Luding
- Christina Amphlett
- Christoph Theinert
- Cirque du Soleil
- Clancy Brown
- Claude Grahame White
- Clear Lake, Iowa
- Clint Howard
- Cold War
- Columbia Records
- Commonwealth Day
- Communism
- Conakry
- continent
- Cuba
- Cultivar
- Cyprus
- Dalai Lama
- Dale R. Buis
- Daler Nazarov
- Dally Messenger
- Danny Ainge
- Danny Bonaduce
- Dantes Tsitsi
- Dartmoor
- Dave Coulier
- David Hyde Pierce
- Daytona 500
- Dead or Alive (band)
- December 1
- December 13
- December 14
- December 16
- December 19
- December 2
- December 20
- December 21
- December 22
- December 24
- December 27
- December 28
- December 30
- December 31
- December 4
- December 6
- December 8
- Dennis Gentry
- dictator
- Diesel engine
- Dominican Republic
- Dominique Dunne
- Don McLean
- Dover
- Dresden
- Dwight D. Eisenhower
- East Germany
- East River
- Ebrahim Hakimi
- Ed Viesturs
- Edgar Guest
- Edmund Goulding
- Edmund Gwenn
- Edna Wallace Hopper
- Edwin Balmer
- Edwin Muir
- electric car
- Eliot Spitzer
- Elisha Scott
- Elizabeth II
- Emeril Lagasse
- Emilio Gino Segrè
- Emma Thompson
- Empress Michiko
- English Channel
- Enrique Guaita
- Eric Blore
- Ernest Bloch
- Errol Flynn
- Erving Goffman
- Ethel Barrymore
- Ettore Messina
- Evo Morales
- Executive Director
- Explorer 6
- Explorer 7
- Explorer program
- Fantasia (film)
- far side of the Moon
- February 1
- February 10
- February 11
- February 12
- February 13
- February 14
- February 15
- February 16
- February 17
- February 18
- February 19
- February 2
- February 20
- February 22
- February 23
- February 26
- February 28
- February 3
- February 4
- February 6
- February 7
- February 9
- ferry
- Fidel Castro
- Flavor Flav
- flood
- Florida
- Frank Lloyd Wright
- Frank Shannon
- Fred Couples
- Fred Stone
- Fruit Chan
- Fréjus
- Fulgencio Batista
- Gago Coutinho
- Galaktion Tabidze
- George Antheil
- George Grosz
- George Marshall
- George Reeves
- Gerard Hoffnung
- Gerina Dunwich
- Gilda Gray
- Giovanni di Lorenzo
- Grant Withers
- Great Lakes
- Greg Proops
- Gregorian calendar
- Guinea
- Gustavo Cerati
- Guy Laliberté
- Gérard Philipe
- Harold Baines
- Havana
- Hawaii
- Heitor Villa-Lobos
- Helen Broderick
- Helen Parrish
- Henney Kilowatt
- Hertfordshire
- Hitoshi Ashida
- HIV
- Holcomb, Kansas
- Honshū
- hovercraft
- Hubert Marischka
- Hugh Laurie
- Hutu
- In Cold Blood
- independence
- India
- Ireland
- Irene Cara
- Irina Strakhova
- Irving Cummings
- Jack Llewelyn Davies
- Jack Norworth
- Jack Wagner (actor)
- Jacob Epstein
- James Gleason
- January 1
- January 12
- January 13
- January 16
- January 17
- January 2
- January 21
- January 22
- January 25
- January 26
- January 27
- January 28
- January 29
- January 3
- January 31
- January 4
- January 5
- January 6
- January 7
- January 8
- January 9
- Japan
- Jari Tervo
- Jaroslav Heyrovský
- Jason Alexander
- Jayne Atkinson
- Jens Stoltenberg
- Jesús Sosa Blanco
- Jim Kerr
- Jim McMahon
- Jim Nantz
- Jo Bonner
- John Foster Dulles
- John McEnroe
- Johnny Whitaker
- Jonathan Franzen
- Joseph Cahill
- Juan Fernando Cobo
- Juan Jose Campanella
- Judd Nelson
- Julie Burchill
- July 1
- July 11
- July 14
- July 15
- July 16
- July 17
- July 18
- July 19
- July 2
- July 22
- July 24
- July 25
- July 26
- July 27
- July 29
- July 3
- July 4
- July 6
- July 7
- July 8
- July 9
- June 10
- June 11
- June 14
- June 16
- June 17
- June 18
- June 20
- June 22
- June 23
- June 25
- June 26
- June 28
- June 3
- June 30
- June 4
- June 5
- June 8
- June 9
- Katherine Lanpher
- Kay Kendall
- Keith Deller
- Keith Olbermann
- Kelly Moore
- Ken Lo
- Ken Watanabe
- Kenny Mayne
- Kevin Nash
- Kevin Spacey
- Kind of Blue
- Kinshasa
- Kirk Fogg
- Kirsty MacColl
- Kitchen Debate
- Klaus Fuchs
- Knox Mine disaster
- Koichi Tanaka
- Kumamoto University
- Kurdish people
- Kyle MacLachlan
- Laos
- Latin
- Laurence Housman
- Lawrence Taylor
- Lee Kuan Yew
- Lee Petty
- Leeds
- Leo Aryeh Mayer
- Lester Young
- Lhasa
- Lifeboat Mona
- Linda Cohn
- Liu Shaoqi
- London
- Lorraine Hansberry
- Lorraine Kelly
- Lou Costello
- Louis Blériot
- Louis Leakey
- Lourdes Flores
- Luc Besson
- Luis Palés Matos
- Luna 1
- Luna 2
- Luna 3
- Lupino Lane
- M1 motorway
- MacGillivray Milne
- Mack Gordon
- Mackenzie Phillips
- Magic Johnson
- Magnum T.A.
- Makarios III
- Maldives
- Malpasset
- Manhattan Project
- Mao Zedong
- Marcelo Loffreda
- March 1
- March 10
- March 11
- March 15
- March 16
- March 17
- March 18
- March 19
- March 2
- March 20
- March 21
- March 22
- March 23
- March 25
- March 26
- March 27
- March 29
- March 3
- March 30
- March 31
- March 4
- March 6
- March 8
- March 9
- Marcia Gay Harden
- Marcus Miller
- Margaret Becker
- Marie Osmond
- Mario Lanza
- Mark "Jacko" Jackson
- Mark Martin
- Mark McKinney
- Markus Hediger
- Marshall Teague
- Martial law
- Mary Crosby
- Mary Leakey
- Matthew Modine
- Maurice Duplessis
- Max Baer (boxer)
- Max Reinhardt
- Maxie Long
- Maxwell Anderson
- May 10
- May 14
- May 15
- May 16
- May 17
- May 18
- May 19
- May 2
- May 20
- May 21
- May 22
- May 24
- May 27
- May 28
- May 29
- May 3
- May 30
- May 5
- Mel Purcell
- mercury (element)
- Mercury Seven
- Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
- Michael Considine
- Michael Pare
- Mike Hawthorn
- Mike Reiss
- Miles Davis
- Minamata disease
- Mini
- Minor Hall
- Missile Mail
- Molla Mallory
- Momoe Yamaguchi
- Moon
- Morrissey
- Morten Harket
- Moscow
- Motown Records
- Mustafa Barzani
- Mutara III of Rwanda
- Nagoya
- Nancy Grace
- Nap Lajoie
- NASA
- Neal Stephenson
- Nepal
- Netherlands
- New York
- New York City
- Nick Griffin
- Nicole Brown Simpson
- Nikita Khrushchev
- Nobel Peace Prize
- Nobuo Uematsu
- Northamptonshire
- November 1
- November 10
- November 12
- November 14
- November 15
- November 17
- November 18
- November 19
- November 2
- November 20
- November 21
- November 22
- November 23
- November 24
- November 25
- November 27
- November 28
- November 29
- November 30
- November 5
- November 7
- November 8
- November 9
- O.J. Simpson
- October 1
- October 10
- October 12
- October 13
- October 14
- October 15
- October 16
- October 17
- October 18
- October 19
- October 2
- October 20
- October 21
- October 22
- October 23
- October 25
- October 26
- October 27
- October 28
- October 3
- October 31
- October 4
- October 6
- October 7
- October 9
- Olduvai Gorge
- Our Gang
- Owen Chamberlain
- Pamelyn Ferdin
- Panama
- Pantyhose
- passenger
- Pat Bullard
- Patrick Bruel
- Paul Douglas (actor)
- Paul McGann
- Paula Yates
- Paulo Miklos
- Pelle Lindbergh
- Pennsylvania
- Per Gessle
- Peru
- Pete Burns
- Peter Molyneux
- Peter Pan
- PGM-19 Jupiter
- Philip Noel-Baker
- Pietro Canonica
- Platon Lebedev
- Politics of Canada
- Pope John XXIII
- Premier of Quebec
- President of Bolivia
- president of Cyprus
- Preston Sturges
- Princess of Tasmania
- Queen of Canada
- Rahm Emanuel
- Ratt
- Raymond Chandler
- Rebecca De Mornay
- Regulus
- Renée Fleming
- Republic of Ireland
- Richard Dacoury
- Richard Nixon
- Richard Roeper
- Richie Sambora
- Rick Ardon
- Rick Bragg
- Rick Carlisle
- Rigoberta Menchú
- Ritchie Valens
- Robbin Crosby
- Rod Serling
- Rolando Blackman
- Roman numerals
- Rome
- Rosanna Arquette
- Roseburg blast
- Roxette
- Rudolf Caracciola
- Rupert Everett
- Ruud Janssen
- Rwanda
- Ryan Stiles
- Sade Adu
- Saeko Shimazu
- Sakamoto Chika
- Salvatore Quasimodo
- Sam Marcy
- Sandra Cisneros
- Sanjay Dutt
- Sarah Ferguson
- Satoru Iwata
- Saïd Aouita
- Scotland
- Scott Altman
- Sean Bean
- Sean Lemass
- Selig Suskin
- Selçuk Yula
- September 1
- September 11
- September 13
- September 14
- September 15
- September 17
- September 18
- September 2
- September 21
- September 23
- September 25
- September 26
- September 28
- September 29
- September 30
- September 4
- September 6
- September 7
- September 8
- Severo Ochoa
- Sheena Easton
- shipping
- Sidney Bechet
- Simon Cowell
- Singapore
- sociology
- Solomon Bandaranaike
- Soviet Union
- spacecraft
- Spain under Franco
- SR-N1
- Sri Lanka
- St. Lawrence Seaway
- Stan Van Gundy
- Stephen Chan Chi Wan
- Stephen Harper
- Stephen Wolfram
- Steve Borden
- Steve McFadden
- Steve Stevens
- submarine
- Susanna Hoffs
- Suzanne Vega
- Sérgio Britto
- Sönke Wortmann
- Taiwan
- Tampa, Florida
- Tanzania
- Taoiseach
- Tariff
- TAT-2
- Taylor Holmes
- Technicolor
- Ten Tors
- Terry Francona
- The Big Bopper
- The Cure
- The Marx Brothers
- The Sisters of Mercy
- Thomas F. Wilson
- Tibet
- Titanic (1997 film)
- Tom Arnold (actor)
- Tonga Fifita
- Tony DeFranco
- Tony Phillips
- Tony Slattery
- Tracey Ullman
- Transit (satellite)
- treaty
- Truman Capote
- Tutsi
- Typhoon Vera (1959)
- U.S. state
- U.S.S.R.
- Ulrike Richter
- Uma Bharati
- Una O'Connor
- United Kingdom
- United Nations
- United States Navy
- USS Barbero (SS-317)
- Val Kilmer
- Vanguard II
- Venus
- Victor McLaglen
- Victoria Rowell
- Vietcong
- Vietnam
- Vietnam War
- Viktoria Mullova
- Vincent Astor
- Vincent D'Onofrio
- Vinnie Richards
- Waise Lee
- Wally Lewis
- Walt Disney
- Walter Beall
- Wanda Landowska
- Warner Bros.
- Warwickshire
- Wayne Federman
- weather satellite
- Werner Krauss
- William D. Francis
- William Halsey, Jr.
- William R. Moses
- wind of destruction
- Women's suffrage
- Workers World Party
- Yoshiaki Murakami
- Yoshitomo Nara
- Youssou N'Dour
Send this Playlist by SMS
Email this Page
The Sisters of Mercy -- 1959
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:17
- Published: 24 Jan 2006
- Uploaded: 01 Feb 2012
- Author: rhubarbcream
The Sisters of Mercy -- 1959
http://wn.com/The_Sisters_of_Mercy_-_1959
Fender Factory Tour 1959
1959 8mm Film by Forrest White. Digital Film Restoration by CinePost www.posthouse.com Edited by Ross Lenenski. Read the story behind this film in "Fender The Inside Story," by Forrest White available at Amazon: www.amazon.com Music by Russell Eldridge at www.youtube.com . Russell's Stratocaster guitar is from the American Deluxe Series made at the Corona Plant (Fender), USA in the Year 2000. Leo Fender is in the second shot. No CNC machines back then, everything was done by hand. It is amazing to realize that every guitar made that year is now worth a small fortune. Archival High Resolution film transfer by CinePost at www.posthouse.com If you know the names of the employees, please let us know and we will annotate them. For more info please call 678-238-0800.
http://wn.com/Fender_Factory_Tour_1959
Crash test: 1959 Chevy Bel Air
Crash test: 1959 Chevy Bel Air The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety conducted a unique crash test to demonstrate the advances in motor vehicle safety over the last 50 years.
http://wn.com/Crash_test_1959_Chevy_Bel_Air
"Why are you not a Christian?" (Bertrand Russell)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:24
- Published: 21 Jan 2012
- Uploaded: 01 Feb 2012
- Author: bdwilson1000
Nobel Prize-winning philosopher/mathematician Bertrand Russell (1872-1970), explains why he does not believe in God. Courtesy of CBC TV Retro Bites - via www.AtheistMedia.com Russel's Essay "Why I Am Not A Christian" users.drew.edu His book by the same title: www.amazon.com Bertrand Russell Wikipedia Page: en.wikipedia.org
http://wn.com/Why_are_you_not_a_Christian?_Bertrand_Russell
Bertrand Russell on God (1959)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:26
- Published: 28 Dec 2009
- Uploaded: 02 Feb 2012
- Author: AtheistMediaBlog
Nobel Prize-winning philosopher/mathematician, Bertrand Russell, explains why he does not believe in God. - Courtesy of CBC TV Retro Bites - via www.AtheistMedia.com
http://wn.com/Bertrand_Russell_on_God_1959
Kids Say The Darndest Things Art Linkletter 1959
http://wn.com/Kids_Say_The_Darndest_Things_Art_Linkletter_1959
1959 Film from ULI and National Association of Homebuilders Warns of Urban Sprawl
This 1959 film, "Community Growth, Crisis and Challenge," warns citizens, developers, and city officials of the dangers of urban sprawl. This historical artifact, co-sponsored by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and the Urban Land Institute ULI) provides alternative approaches to land development. The film was produced by the NAHB. For more information on ULI's historical 75 years, go to: www.uli75.org
http://wn.com/1959_Film_from_ULI_and_National_Association_of_Homebuilders_Warns_of_Urban_Sprawl
Miss Universe Bolivia Tribute 1959-2012
Miss Bolivia is an annual Bolivian beauty pageant responsible for selecting the country's representative to the Miss Universe pageant since 1959. Runner-up goes to Miss World. The contest was founded in 1959 and Gloria Suárez de Limpias has been the event's director since 1979. As of 2010, Bolivia has not won a Miss Universe or Miss World title. A three-hour parade is held annually on August 5. Bolivian TV channel Unitel broadcasts it to the rest of Latin America, and cable broadcasts are available in the United States. For approximately one month, there are several preliminary events and presentations regarding the main parade. By general rule, three major crowns are given each year, in this order: Miss Bolivia goes to Miss Universe, Miss Bolivia Mundo to Miss World, and Miss Bolivia Internacional to the Miss International contest. One of these three titleholders participates in Reina Hispanoamericana, owned by Promociones Gloria, the same group that organizes the Miss Bolivia pageant. In 2010, the third title was awarded to the Miss Earth representative, called Miss Bolivia Earth. Besides the titleholders, there are four additional runner-up positions. Representatives are also chosen for Miss Tourism Queen International and Miss Continente Americano. 1959 Corina Taborga 1960 Nancy Aguirre 1961 Gloria Soruco Suárez 1962 Gabriela "Gaby" Roca Díaz 1963 Ana Maria Velasco Gutiérrez 1964 Olga Mónica del Carpio Oropeza (Top 15 semi-finalist) 1965 Patricia Estensoro Terazas <b>...</b>
http://wn.com/Miss_Universe_Bolivia_Tribute_1959-2012
1959 US Chess Championship: Bobby Fischer vs Robin Ault
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 27:43
- Published: 02 Nov 2011
- Uploaded: 29 Jan 2012
- Author: thechesswebsite
gatherfield.com In the 1959 US Championship we have the 2 time defending champion, Fischer, taking on the 1959 Junior US Champion, Ault. Dubbed as one of the matches for the up and coming chess stars for the US, Fischer put on great display of end game chess and took advantage of the mistakes by Ault.
http://wn.com/1959_US_Chess_Championship_Bobby_Fischer_vs_Robin_Ault
Custom 1959 Imperial Speedster. BEAUTIFUL!
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:02
- Published: 29 Aug 2011
- Uploaded: 22 Jan 2012
- Author: DtRockstar1
Please comment, rate, and subscribe! My Facebook Page - tinyurl.com Blog - dtrockstar1.blogspot.com Chris Ashworth records a highly customized, 2 seater Chrysler Imperial Speedster with a 6.1 Hemi. The exhaust sound is mean, and the car takes off like a rocket.
http://wn.com/Custom_1959_Imperial_Speedster_BEAUTIFUL!
Gibson Collectors Choice #2 1959 Les Paul Standard "Goldie"
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 10:14
- Published: 11 Dec 2011
- Uploaded: 31 Jan 2012
- Author: RobChappers
Gibson Collectors Choice #2 1959 Les Paul Standard "Goldie"3 www.andertons.co.uk Chapman Guitars www.chapmanguitars.co.uk Monkey Lord Forum forum.monkeylord.co.uk Monkey Lord Store store.monkeylord.co.uk Twitter www.twitter.com Facebook: www.facebook.com Place yourself on the Monkey Lord Minion Map: map.monkeylord.co.uk All audio was recorded & produced by Paul 'Stick' Annis Studio www.youtube.com www.facebook.com www.soundcloud.com www.twitter.com www.maplewoodstudio.com
http://wn.com/Gibson_Collectors_Choice_#2_1959_Les_Paul_Standard_Goldie
Speedy Gonzalez-Mexicali Shmoes (1959)
The UNEDITED version of the 1959 Speedy Gonzalez cartoon Mexicaly Shmoes.It features Slowpoke Rodriguez ,Speedy's cousin who appears in only two Speedy cartoons the second being Mexican Boarders.I think that is the last cartoon produced by Edward Seltzer.That cartoon was nominated for Best short subject:Cartoons ,in 1959 Academy Awards.Please Subscribe
http://wn.com/Speedy_Gonzalez-Mexicali_Shmoes_1959
Ben Hur (1959)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 222:21
- Published: 03 Oct 2011
- Uploaded: 17 Jan 2012
- Author: warnervoduk
Record-breaking winner of 11 Oscars, including Best Picture, Director, Actor, Supporting Actor, and Score, this epic masterpiece stars Charlton Heston ("The Ten Commandments," "Touch of Evil") in the title role of a rebellious Israelite Jew who takes on the Roman Empire during the time of Christ. Featuring one of the most famous action sequences of all time -- the breathtaking chariot race. Directed by Oscar-winner William Wyler ("Mrs. Miniver," "The Best Years of Our Lives"). Recently selected as one of the top 100 American films of all time by the prestigious American Film Institute. MPAA Rating: NOTRATED "BEN HUR and all related characters and elements are trademarks of and ©
http://wn.com/Ben_Hur_1959
"Flying Soldiers" - 1959 United States Army Aviation - Helicopters & Planes
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 28:53
- Published: 07 Aug 2011
- Uploaded: 31 Dec 2011
- Author: wdtvlive42
"Flying Soldiers" is a documentary film from the late 1950's which dramatically presents the story of Army aviation. Viewers will see everything from a foot soldier to an Honest John missile. A simulated battle is staged for the cameras in which fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters rush vitally needed soldiers to the front. Also seen in this episode is the latest in Army aircraft -- the revolutionary "Tilt-Wing," the Caribou, and the Mohawk. Today Army aviation is more than a new weapon. It multiplies the effectiveness of every new weapon we have now, and those we will have in the future. As pointed out in this THE BIG PICTURE release, today's Army must take to the air, which has no mud holes or traffic jams, no road blocks or narrow bridges. This is not the air 20000 feet up or even 2000 feet, but the air just above the treetops -- or better yet, in between the trees. This film is available for download from www.archive.org
http://wn.com/Flying_Soldiers__1959_United_States_Army_Aviation__Helicopters_Planes
Shadows
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 102:37
- Published: 03 Dec 2010
- Uploaded: 31 Jan 2012
- Author: NollywoodLove
irokotv.com A young man propose to his love (mona) while his mother is planning his wedding to another lady, a family friend. He refuses and his mother who will do anything to break them apart.
http://wn.com/Shadows
The Bridal Path (1959) Part 1/7 FULL MOVIE
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 14:41
- Published: 29 Aug 2011
- Uploaded: 27 Jan 2012
- Author: TheBridalPath
The Bridal Path is a 1959 British comedy film directed by Frank Launder and starring Bill Travers, George Cole and Bernadette O'Farrell. It is based on the 1952 novel of the same name by Nigel Tranter. A young man on a remote Scottish island travels to the mainland in search of a wife CAST Bill Travers ... Ewan George Cole ... Police Sgt. Bruce Bernadette O'Farrell ... Siona Duncan Macrae ... HQ Police Sgt. Alex Mackenzie ... Finlay Patricia Bredin ... Margaret Fiona Clyne ... Katie Dilys Laye ... Isobel Eddie Byrne ... Mike Flanagan Terry Scott ... PC Donald Gordon Jackson ... PC Alec Roddy McMillan ... Murdo Joan Benham ... Barmaid Nell Ballantyne ... Jessie Jameson Clark ... PC at Crossroads Jack Lambert ... Hector Vincent Winter ... Neil Elizabeth Campbell ... Kirsty John Rae ... Angus Jefferson Clifford ... Wallace Eric Woodburn ... Archie Andrew Downie ... PC Hamish John Dunbar ... Sgt. MacConnochie Robert James ... Inspector Joan Fitzpatrick ... Sarah Pekoe Ainley ... Craigie Annette Crosbie ... 1st Waitress Molly Weir ... 2nd Waitress Russell Waters ... Bank Cashier Lynda King ... Clerk Abe Barker ... The Poacher Bluey ... Police Dog Edward Evans ... Innkeeper Hope Jackman ... Innkeeper's Wife Arthur Lawrence ... Fisherman Ewan MacDuff ... Fisherman Ian MacNaughton ... Fisherman Hamish Roughead ... Fisherman Graham Crowden ... Man giving directions to the beach (uncredited) Dickie Furness ... Runner (uncredited) Charlotte Mitchell ... Mrs. Mavis Bruce (uncredited <b>...</b>
http://wn.com/The_Bridal_Path_1959_Part_1/7_FULL_MOVIE
Chart Sweep -- Billboard Hot 100, 1959
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:00
- Published: 19 Feb 2007
- Uploaded: 27 Jan 2012
- Author: MGoddard84
Every record to reach #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart during 1959.
http://wn.com/Chart_Sweep_-_Billboard_Hot_100,_1959
Louis Armstrong - Mack The Knife - 1959
1959 in Stuttgart Germany Louis Armstrong - trumpet Trummy Young - trombone Peanuts Hucko - clarinet Billy Kyle - piano Mort Herbert - bass Danny Barcelona - drums
http://wn.com/Louis_Armstrong__Mack_The_Knife__1959
1959 First EVER Barbie Commercial
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:01
- Published: 21 May 2007
- Uploaded: 31 Jan 2012
- Author: BarbieCollectors
This is the first Barbie commercial that first aired during Mickey Mouse Club! Ruth Handler watched her daughter Barbara at play with paper dolls, and noticed that she often enjoyed giving them adult roles. At the time, most children's toy dolls were representations of infants. Realizing that there could be a gap in the market, Handler suggested the idea of an adult-bodied doll to her husband Elliot, a co-founder of the Mattel toy company. He was unenthusiastic about the idea, as were Mattel's directors. During a trip to Europe in 1956 with her children Barbara and Kenneth, Ruth Handler came across a German toy doll called Bild Lilli. The adult-figured Lilli doll was like what Handler had in mind, so she purchased three of them. She gave one to her daughter and took the others back to Mattel. The Lilli doll was based on a popular character appearing in a comic strip drawn by Reinhard Beuthin for the newspaper Die Bild-Zeitung. Upon her return to the United States, Handler reworked the design of the doll (with help from engineer Jack Ryan) and the doll was given a name, Barbie, after Handler's daughter Barbara. The doll made its debut at the American International Toy Fair in New York on March 9, 1959. This date is also used as Barbie's official birthday. Mattel acquired the rights to the Bild Lilli doll in 1964 and production of Lilli was stopped. The first Barbie doll wore a black and white zebra striped swimsuit and signature topknot ponytail, and was available as <b>...</b>
http://wn.com/1959_First_EVER_Barbie_Commercial
New York City 1959
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 17:07
- Published: 28 May 2008
- Uploaded: 31 Jan 2012
- Author: travelfilmarchive
A tour of New York City in 1959.Footage from this subject is available for licensing from www.globalimageworks.com
http://wn.com/New_York_City_1959
Bugs Bunny - A Witch's Tangled Hare (1959)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:22
- Published: 14 Aug 2011
- Uploaded: 30 Jan 2012
- Author: LooneyTunesMonster
A Witch's Tangled Hare is a 1959 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes theatrical cartoon short directed by Abe Levitow. In this cartoon Mel Blanc plays voice roles for Bugs Bunny, while June Foray voices Witch Hazel. The cartoon makes many references to various plays by William Shakespeare (Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, and As You Like It). PLOT The cartoon opens with the poet, who looks similar to William Shakespeare, trying to write and coming across a castle with a mailbox with "Macbeth" written on it. At this he begins to write a story based on this title. He hears the loud screeching laugh of Witch Hazel and watches her stir her cauldron. The witch has Bugs Bunny trapped, sleeping on a platter and wakes him up. He believes the cauldron to be a bath and readily climbs in, only realising his mistake after reading her open recipe book. He quickly jumps out of the boiling cauldron and runs away from Witch Hazel, towards the castle, when she tries to attack him with a meat cleaver. Witch Hazel pursues Bugs Bunny on her flying broomstick. We then see the poet again trying to write after Bugs and the witch have departed.
http://wn.com/Bugs_Bunny__A_Witch's_Tangled_Hare_1959
Porgy and Bess (1959) Stereo - Summertime - Bess, You Is My Woman Now - I Got Plenty o' Nuttin'
Here are four songs from the 1959 film of George Gershwin's opera, produced by Samuel Goldwyn and directed by Otto Preminger. I've replaced the audio with tracks from the soundtrack CD. "Summertime" Loulie Jean Norman sings for Diahann Carroll "I Got Plenty o' Nuttin'" Robert McFerrin sings for Sidney Poitier "Bess, You Is My Woman Now" Adele Addison sings for Dorothy Dandridge "Oh, I Can't Sit Down" Pearl Bailey sings herself .
http://wn.com/Porgy_and_Bess_1959_Stereo__Summertime__Bess,_You_Is_My_Woman_Now__I_Got_Plenty_o'_Nuttin'
Creative Commons / Graeme Bartlett
Creative Commons / Bricktop
Creative Commons / Joe
Creative Commons / James Gay Sawkins
Creative Commons / JGKlein
Creative Commons
Creative Commons
Creative Commons
Creative Commons / Zureks
Creative Commons
Creative Commons
Creative Commons / Nsaum75
Creative Commons
Creative Commons
Creative Commons
Creative Commons
Creative Commons
Creative Commons
Creative Commons
Creative Commons
Creative Commons
Creative Commons / JGKlein,
Creative Commons / Immanuel Giel
Creative Commons
Creative Commons / Heinrich Klaffs
Creative Commons
Creative Commons
Creative Commons
Creative Commons / 宮内庁（投稿者がスキャン
Creative Commons
Most Popular
RELATED LINKS
- "Weird Al" Yankovic
- 10 yen coin
- 1865
- 1867
- 1869
- 1871
- 1872
- 1873
- 1874
- 1876
- 1877
- 1878
- 1879
- 1880
- 1881
- 1882
- 1883
- 1884
- 1885
- 1886
- 1887
- 1888
- 1889
- 1890
- 1891
- 1892
- 1893
- 1894
- 1895
- 1897
- 1898
- 1899
- 1900
- 1901
- 1902
- 1903
- 1904
- 1905
- 1906
- 1907
- 1909
- 1910
- 1912
- 1914
- 1915
- 1920
- 1921
- 1922
- 1924
- 1925
- 1926
- 1927
- 1929
- 1930
- 1932
- 1936
- 1937
- 1938
- 1941
- 1959 FA Cup Final
The 1959 & 1960 Chevrolet El Camino
28 Jan 2012
The Examiner
The Chevrolet El Camino was first introduced in 1959. This was Chevrolet’s response to Ford’s 1957 introduction of their very successful Ranchero model. General Motors would relish in the fact that they had the reputation of being first to introduce a particular concept or model...
size: 7.2Kb
size: 7.2Kb
The Australian
SUCH was the determination of John Blades - broadcaster, structural engineer, writer and performance artist who died on November 25, two weeks shy of his 52nd birthday - he never thought of himself as sick. "It has been very important to me throughout my MS (multiple sclerosis) to never regard...
size: 4.9Kb
size: 4.9Kb
Granma Internacional
HAVANA.The triumph of the Cuban Revolution in 1959 made it possible to initiate a transformation of the electricity system of the country, which currently generates tenfold the power existing then. During the cancellation of an allegorical stamp in the capital marking Electrical Workers Day, Ramón...
size: 4.6Kb
size: 4.6Kb
Blast from the past - Sahodari (1959)
07 Jan 2012
The Hindu
Karnataka stage and screen icon Gubbi Veeranna was also a producer. During the late 1950s, he and his friend C. R. Basavaraj, a noted producer based in Mysore, joined hands and made a bilingual film in Kannada and Tamil, the Tamil version being Sahodari. Written by noted screenwriter Murasoli Maran,...
size: 3.1Kb
size: 3.1Kb
January 7th, 1959
07 Jan 2012
Irish Times
FROM THE ARCHIVES:�Someone with the initials D.P.M. analysed the most popular names for boys and girls among the lists of births in The Irish Times in 1958. - JOE JOYCE� Anyone might think it difficult enough to think up offhand a score of different names for boys, or a like number for girls. Yet...
size: 3.0Kb
size: 3.0Kb
The Consumerist
Imagine a portable TV with a 19" screen that has a fuel cell that recharges from your wall outlet, and can be disguised as a weirdly heavy briefcase. Not impressed? Maybe you would...
size: 1.2Kb
size: 1.2Kb
__NOTOC__
Year 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar.
January 1
* Cultivars of plants named after this date must be named in a modern language, not in Latin.
* Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance.
January 2
* CBS Radio cuts four soap operas: ''Backstage Wife'', ''Our Gal Sunday'', ''The Road of Life'', and ''This is Nora Drake''.
* Castro's troops approach Havana.
* Soviet Union successfully launches Luna 1 spacecraft from Baikonur Cosmodrome.
January 3
* The island of Addu in the Maldives declares independence.
* Alaska is admitted as the 49th U.S. state.
January 4
* In Cuba, rebel troops led by Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos enter the city of Havana.
* In Léopoldville, 42 people are killed during food fights between the police and participants of a meeting of the Abako Party.
January 6
* Fidel Castro arrives in Havana.
* The International Maritime Organization is inaugurated.
January 7 – The United States recognizes the new Cuban government of Fidel Castro.
January 8 – Charles De Gaulle is inaugurated as the first president of the French Fifth Republic.
January 12
* Caves of Nerja are discovered in Spain.
* Motown Records founded by Berry Gordy, Jr.
January 13 – Cuban communists execute 71 supporters of Fulgencio Batista.
January 22 – Knox Mine Disaster: Water breaches the River Slope Mine near Pittston City, Pennsylvania in Port Griffith; 12 miners are killed.
January 25 – Pope John XXIII announces that the Second Vatican Council will be convened in Rome.
January 29 – Walt Disney releases his 16th animated film, ''Sleeping Beauty'' in Beverly Hills. It is Disney's first animated film to be shown in 70mm and modern 6-track stereophonic sound. (''Fantasia'' had also used a multi-speaker stereophonic sound system, but it was primitive compared to the one used in ''Sleeping Beauty'').
February 1 – A referendum in Switzerland turns down female suffrage.
February 3
* A chartered plane transporting musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, Roger Peterson and The Big Bopper goes down in foggy conditions near Clear Lake, Iowa, killing all 4 occupants on board, including the pilot. The tragedy is later termed "The Day the Music Died", popularized in Don McLean's 1972 song "American Pie".
* American Airlines Flight 320, a Lockheed L-188 Electra heading from Chicago to New York City, crashes into the East River, killing 65 of the 73 people on board.
February 6 – At Cape Canaveral, Florida, the first successful test firing of a Titan intercontinental ballistic missile is accomplished.
February 9 – Yugoslavia and Spain set trade relations (not diplomatic ones)
February 13 – TAT-2 cable goes into operation.
February 16
* Fidel Castro becomes Premier of Cuba.
* A blizzard causes a massive power outage in Newfoundland.
February 17 – The United States launches the Vanguard II weather satellite.
February 18
* Jesús Sosa Blanco, murderer of 108 people, is executed in Cuba.
* Women in Nepal vote for the first time.
February 19 – The United Kingdom decides to grant Cyprus its independence.
February 20 – The Canadian Government cancels the CF-105 Arrow project.
February 22 – Lee Petty wins the first Daytona 500.
March 1
* The USS Tuscaloosa, USS New Orleans, USS Tennessee and USS West Virginia are struck from the Naval Vessel Register.
* Archbishop Makarios returns to Cyprus from exile.
March 2 – Recording sessions for the album Kind of Blue by Miles Davis took place at Columbia's 30th Street Studio in New York City.
March 8 – The Marx Brothers make their last TV appearance, in ''The Incredible Jewel Robbery''.
March 9 – The Barbie doll debuts.
March 10 – A Tibetan uprising against 10 years of Chinese rule erupts in Lhasa.
March 11
* ''Een beetje'' by Teddy Scholten (music by Dick Schallies, text by Willy van Hemert) wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1959 for the Netherlands.
* ''A Raisin in the Sun'' by Lorraine Hansberry opens on Broadway in New York.
March 17 – Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, starts to flee Tibet and travels to India.
March 18 – American President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs a bill allowing for Hawaiian statehood.
March 19 – Two other islands join Addu in the United Suvadive Republic (abolished September 1963), in the Maldives Islands.
March 31
* Busch Gardens in Tampa, Florida is dedicated and opens its gates.
* The Dalai Lama flees from Tibet and is granted asylum in India.
April 6 – The 31st Academy Awards ceremony is held.
April 8 – The Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) is established.
April 9 – NASA announces its selection of 7 military pilots to become the first U.S. astronauts (see Mercury Seven).
April 10 – Japanese Prince Akihito marries Shōda Michiko.
April 22 – Recording sessions for the album Kind of Blue by Miles Davis take place at Columbia's 30th Street Studio in New York City.
April 25 – The St. Lawrence Seaway linking the North American Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean officially opens to shipping.
April 27 – National People's Congress elects Liu Shaoqi as Chairman of the People's Republic of China, as a successor of Mao Zedong.
May
* The first Ten Tors event is held in Dartmoor.
* Import tariffs are lifted in the United Kingdom.
May 2 – 1959 FA Cup Final: Nottingham Forest defeats Luton Town 2–1.
May 18 – The National Liberation Committee of Côte d'Ivoire is launched in Conakry, Guinea.
May 24 – British Empire Day is renamed Commonwealth Day.
May 28 – Two monkeys, Able and Miss Baker are the first living beings to successfully return to Earth from space aboard the flight Jupiter AM-18.
June 3 – Singapore becomes a self-governing crown colony of Britain with Lee Kuan Yew as Prime Minister.
June 5 – A new government of the State of Singapore is sworn in by Sir William Goode. Two former ministers are re-elected to the Legislative Assembly.
June 8 – The USS ''Barbero'' and United States Postal Service attempt the delivery of mail via Missile Mail.
June 9 – The USS ''George Washington'' is launched as the first submarine to carry ballistic missiles.
June 14 – A 3-front revolutionary invasion by air and sea takes place in the Dominican Republic, consisting of exiles aided by Fidel Castro, whose purpose is to overthrow dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo. Within a few days all but 4 are captured and executed. Trujillo is killed less than 2 years later by men partly inspired by the deaths of the 1959 revolutionaries.
June 18 – The film ''The Nun's Story'', based on the best-selling novel, is released. Audrey Hepburn stars as the title character; she later says that this is her favorite film role. The film is a box-office hit, and is nominated for several Oscars.
June 23
* Sean Lemass becomes the third Taoiseach of Ireland.
* Convicted Manhattan Project spy Klaus Fuchs is released after only 9 years in a British prison and allowed to emigrate to Dresden, East Germany (where he resumes a scientific career).
June 26
* Elizabeth II (Queen of Canada) and U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower open the Saint Lawrence Seaway.
* ''Darby O'Gill and the Little People'', a film based on H.T. Kavanagh's short stories, is released in the U.S. by Walt Disney, after world premiering in Ireland.
July 1 – The opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway by Canada and the United States, officiated by Queen Elizabeth II.
July 2 – Prince Albert of Belgium marries Italian princess Paola Ruffo di Calabria.
July 4 – With the admission of Alaska as the 49th U.S. state earlier in the year, the 49-star flag of the United States debuts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
July 7 – At 14:28 UT Venus occults the star Regulus. The rare event (which will next occur on October 1, 2044) is used for determining the diameter of Venus and the structure of Venus' atmosphere.
July 8 – Charles Ovnand and Dale R. Buis become the first Americans killed in action in Vietnam.
July 14 Groups of Kurdish and communist militias under the leadership of Mustafa Barzani committed the Kerkuk 1959 Massacre in which tens of unarmed civilians were killed.
July 15 – A strike occurs against the U.S. steel industry.
July 17 – The first skull of Australopithecus is discovered by Louis Leakey and his wife Mary Leakey in the Olduvai Gorge of Tanzania.
July 22 – Kumamoto University medical research group studying Minamata disease comes to the conclusion that mercury is the cause.
July 24 – At the opening of the American National Exhibition in Moscow, U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon and USSR Premier Nikita Khrushchev have a "kitchen debate".
July 25 – The SR-N1 hovercraft crosses the English Channel from Calais to Dover in just over 2 hours, on the 50th anniversary of Louis Bleriot's first crossing by heavier-than-air craft.
August 4 – Martial law is declared in Laos.
August 7
* Explorer program: The United States launches Explorer 6 from the Atlantic Missile Range in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
* United States The Roseburg Oregon Blast kills 14 and causes $12 million worth of damage.
August 8 – A flood in Taiwan kills 2,000.
August 14 – Explorer 6 sends the first picture of Earth from space.
August 15 – Cyprus gains independence.
August 17
* The Hebgen Lake Earthquake in southwest Montana kills 28.
* Columbia Records releases Miles Davis' groundbreaking album, ''Kind of Blue''.
August 19 – The Central Treaty Organization (CENTO) is established.
August 21 – Hawaii is admitted as the 50th U.S. state.
August 24 – Cyprus joins the United Nations.
August 26 – The original Mini designed by Sir Alec Issigonis is launched.
September 14 – Luna 2 becomes the first man-made object to crash on the Moon.
September 17 – The first ''Navy Navigation Satellite System'' Transit 1A is launched but fails to reach orbit.
September 23 – The ''M/S Princess of Tasmania'' (Australia's first passenger RO/RO diesel ferry) makes its maiden voyage across the Bass Strait.
September 25 – Ceylon's prime minister S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike is assassinated.
September 26
* Typhoon Vera hits central Honshū, Japan, killing an estimated 5,098, injuring another 38,921, and leaving 1,533,000 homeless. Most of the victims and damage are centered in the Nagoya area.
* The first official large unit action of the Vietnam War took place when two companies of the ARVN 23d Division were ambushed by a well-organized Vietcong force of several hundred identified as the "2d Liberation Battalion".
September 30 – Soviet Union leader Nikita Khrushchev meets Mao Zedong in Beijing.
October 2 – Rod Serling's classic anthology series ''The Twilight Zone'' premieres on CBS.
October 7 – The U.S.S.R. probe ''Luna 3'' sends back the first ever photos of the far side of the Moon.
October 12 – At the national APRA Congress in Peru, a group of leftist radicals is expelled from the party; they later form APRA Rebelde.
October 13 – The United States launches Explorer 7.
October 21 – In New York City, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (designed by Frank Lloyd Wright) opens to the public.
October 31 – Riots break out in the Belgian Congo.
November 1 – In Rwanda, Hutu politician Dominique Mbonyumutwa is beaten up by Tutsi forces, leading to a period of violence known as the wind of destruction.
November 2 – The first section of the M1 motorway in England opens between Hertfordshire, just north of London, and the border of Northamptonshire and Warwickshire. The motorway is set to be expanded over the next few years to provide an unbroken motorway link with London and Leeds. A full motorway network across Britain is also set to be developed over the coming decade and into the 1970s.
November 12 – The Warner Bros. epic ''The Miracle'', very loosely based on the 1911 stage pantomime produced by Max Reinhardt, is released. It is a critical and financial bomb.
November 15 – The Clutter family of Holcomb, Kansas is brutally murdered, inspiring Truman Capote's ''In Cold Blood''.
November 18 – MGM's widescreen, multimillion dollar, Technicolor version of ''Ben-Hur'', starring Charlton Heston, is released and becomes the studio's greatest hit up to that time. It is critically acclaimed and eventually wins 11 Academy Awards – a record held until 1998, when 1997's ''Titanic'' becomes the first film to equal the record.
November 20 – The Declaration of the Rights of the Child is adopted by the United Nations.
December 1 – Cold War – Antarctic Treaty: 12 countries, including the United States and the Soviet Union, sign a landmark treaty, which sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve and bans military activity on that continent (the first arms control agreement established during the Cold War).
December 2 – Malpasset Dam in southern France collapses and water flows over the town of Frejus, killing 412.
December 8 – The Mona, a lifeboat based at Broughty Ferry in Scotland, capsizes during a rescue attempt, with the loss of 8 lives.
December 13 – Three years after its first telecast, MGM's ''The Wizard of Oz'' is shown on television for only the second time, but it gains an even larger viewing audience than its first television outing, spurring CBS to make it an annual tradition.
December 14 – Makarios III is selected the first president of Cyprus.
December 20 – The Walker Family Murders.
Pantyhose introduced by Glen Raven Mills.
The Workers World Party is founded by Sam Marcy.
The first known human with HIV dies in the Congo. PMID 9468138
The current (as of 2006) design of the Japanese 10 yen coin is put into circulation.
The Caspian Tiger becomes extinct in Iran.
The Henney Kilowatt goes on sale in the United States, becoming the first mass-produced electric car in almost three decades.
Erving Goffman publishes his seminal study in sociology, ''The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life''.
January 1 – Azali Assoumani, President of the Comoros
January 4 – Yoshitomo Nara, Japanese artist
January 5 – Clancy Brown, American actor
January 6 – Andrew Johnson, English artist.
January 9
* Rigoberta Menchú, Guatemalan writer, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
* Mark Martin, American NASCAR driver
January 12 – Per Gessle, Swedish singer-songwriter & Roxette guitarist
January 16 – Sade, Nigerian-born singer
January 17
* Susanna Hoffs, American rock vocalist
* Momoe Yamaguchi, Japanese singer
January 21
* Paulo Miklos, Brazilian singer and actor
* Alex McLeish, Birmingham City and ex-Scotland football manager
January 27 – Keith Olbermann, American news correspondent and sportscaster (''Countdown'')
January 31 – Kelly Moore, American race car driver
February 2 – Jari Tervo, Finnish author
February 3 – UliUli Fifita, Professional Wrestler aka(Haku/Meng)
February 4
* Lawrence Taylor, American football player
* Pamelyn Ferdin, former child actress & animal activist
February 6
* Ken Nelson, English record producer
* Pat Bullard, Canadian game show host, comedian and writer
February 10 – Dennis Gentry, American football player
February 14 – Renée Fleming, American soprano
February 16 – John McEnroe, American tennis player
February 18 – Jayne Atkinson, English-born American film, theatre and television actress
February 22 – Kyle MacLachlan, American actor
February 26 – Rolando Blackman, Panamanian basketball player
March 1 – Nick Griffin, British politician
March 4
* Rick Ardon, Australian news presenter
* Irina Strakhova, Russian race walker
March 6 – Tom Arnold, American actor and comedian
March 8 – Aidan Quinn, Irish/American actor
March 9 – Giovanni di Lorenzo, German-Italian journalist and talk show host
March 10 – Mike Wallace, American race car driver
March 11 – Dejan Stojanović, Serbian-American poet, writer, essayist, philosopher, businessman, and former journalist
March 15 – Harold Baines, American baseball player
March 16
* Flavor Flav, American rapper
* Jens Stoltenberg, Prime Minister of Norway
March 17
* Danny Ainge, American basketball player, coach, and baseball player
* Ken Lo, actor and member of the Jackie Chan Stunt Team
March 18
* Luc Besson, French film producer, writer, and director
* Irene Cara, American singer
March 20
* Steve Borden, American wrestler
* Steve McFadden, British actor
March 21 – Nobuo Uematsu, Japanese composer
March 22 – Matthew Modine, American actor
March 23 – Catherine Keener, American actress
March 29 – Barry Blanchard, Canadian mountaineer
March 30 - Andrew Bailey, Executive Director Banking and Chief Cashier at the Bank of England
March 31 – Markus Hediger, Swiss writer and translator
April 2 – Badou Zaki, Morrocan football player and manager
April 3 – David Hyde Pierce, American actor
April 10 – Brian Setzer, American rock guitarist and singer
April 11 – Ana María Polo, Cuban-born judge and television personality
April 15
* Fruit Chan, Hong Kong film director
* Emma Thompson, English actress
* Thomas F. Wilson, American actor
April 16 – Alison Ramsay, Scottish field hockey player
April 17 – Sean Bean, British actor
April 20 – Clint Howard, American actor and producer
April 21 – Robert Smith, British rock musician (The Cure)
April 22
* Ryan Stiles, American comedian
* Terry Francona, American baseball player and manager
April 24 – Paula Yates, British television presenter (d. 2000)
April 25 – Tony Phillips, American baseball player
April 27 – Sheena Easton, Scottish singer
April 30 – Stephen Harper, Canadian politician and present Prime Minister (2006– )
May 2 – Alan Best, Canadian animation director and producer
May 3
* Uma Bharati, Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh
* Ben Elton, British comedian and writer
May 5
* Steve Stevens, American guitarist
* Peter Molyneux, British game programmer
* Brian Williams, American news anchor
May 10 – Victoria Rowell, American actress
May 14 – Patrick Bruel, French singer
May 15 – Andrew Eldritch (born Andrew Taylor), British singer/songwriter (The Sisters of Mercy).
May 17
* Marcelo Loffreda, Argentine rugby player and coach
* Jim Nantz, American sports announcer
May 19 – Nicole Brown Simpson, American ex-wife of O.J. Simpson and murder victim (d. 1994)
May 20 – Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, American singer (d. 1997)
May 21 – Brian Lenihan, Irish politician (d. 2011)
May 22 – Morrissey, British singer
May 24 – Pelle Lindbergh, Swedish-born hockey player (d. 1985)
May 27 – Katherine Lanpher, American journalist
May 29 – Rupert Everett, British actor
June 8 – Bernard White, Sri Lankan-born American actor, screenwriter and film director
June 9 – Miles O'Brien, American television news anchor, pilot
June 10
* Eliot Spitzer, American politician and former governor of New York
* Carlo Ancelotti, Italian football player and manager
June 11
* Hugh Laurie, British actor and comedian
* Magnum T.A., American professional wrestler
June 14 – Marcus Miller, American bassist
June 17 – Ulrike Richter, German swimmer
June 22
* Wayne Federman, American comedian, actor, and author
* Ed Viesturs, American mountaineer
June 26 – Mark McKinney, Canadian actor and comedian
June 28 – John Shelley, British illustrator
June 30 – Vincent D'Onofrio, American actor
July 3 – Julie Burchill, British journalist
July 6 – Richard Dacoury, French basketball player
July 7
* Ben Linder, American engineer (d. 1987)
* Barbara Krause, German swimmer
July 9
* Jim Kerr, Scottish rock singer
* Kevin Nash, American professional wrestler
July 11
* Richie Sambora, American musician
* Suzanne Vega, American singer
July 16 – Gary Anderson, American football player
July 17 – Margaret Becker, American Christian singer
July 18 – Mel Purcell, American tennis player
July 19 – Juan Jose Campanella, Argentinian filmmaker
July 26
* Rick Bragg, American journalist
* Kevin Spacey, American actor
July 27 – Hugh Green, American football player
July 29
* Sanjay Dutt, Indian actor
* Ruud Janssen, Dutch artist
August 3 – Koichi Tanaka, Japanese scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
August 4 – Robbin Crosby, American rock guitarist (Ratt) (d. 2002)
August 5 – Pete Burns, British singer (Dead or Alive)
August 8 – Christoph Theinert, German cellist and composer
August 10 – Rosanna Arquette, American actress
August 11
* Gustavo Cerati, Argentinian singer
* Yoshiaki Murakami, Japanese investor
August 13 – Danny Bonaduce, American actor and disc jockey
August 14
* Marcia Gay Harden, American actress
* Magic Johnson, American basketball player
August 15 – Scott Altman, American astronaut
August 17
* Sakamoto Chika, Japanese voice actress and singer
* Jonathan Franzen, American author
* Brad Wellman, American baseball player
August 19 – Anthony Sowell, suspected serial killer and convicted rapist
August 21 – Jim McMahon, American football player
August 25 – Sönke Wortmann, German film director
August 27 – Juan Fernando Cobo, Colombian artist
August 29
* Rebecca De Mornay, American actress
* Stephen Wolfram, British scientist
August 30 – Mark 'Jacko' Jackson, Australian rules footballer and actor
August 31 – Tony DeFranco, Canadian singer
September 1 – Kenny Mayne, American sportscaster
September 2 – Guy Laliberté, Canadian Cirque du Soleil founder
September 4
* Kevin Harrington, Australian actor
* Armin Kogler, Austrian ski jumper
September 8
* Daler Nazarov, Tajik composer, singer, and actor
* Saeko Shimazu, Japanese voice actress
September 14
* Mary Crosby, American actress
* Morten Harket, Norwegian rock singer (a-ha)
September 15 – Mike Reiss, American television comedy writer
September 17 – Charles Lawson, Irish actor
September 18
* Kirk Fogg, American actor, game show host and singer (''Legends of the Hidden Temple'')
* Sérgio Britto, Brazilian singer and keyboardist
September 21
* Dave Coulier, American actor and comedian
* Stan Van Gundy, American basketball coach
September 23 – Jason Alexander, American actor
September 28 – Dantes Tsitsi, Nauruan politician
September 29 – Benjamin Sehene, Rwandan writer
September 30 – Ettore Messina, Italian basketball coach
October 1
* Youssou N'Dour, Senegalese singer
* Brian P. Cleary, American humorist, author, poet
October 3
* Fred Couples, American golfer
* Greg Proops, American comedian
* Jack Wagner, American actor
October 4 – Chris Lowe, British musician
October 7
* Lourdes Flores, Peruvian politician
* Simon Cowell, English music producer and television talent show judge
October 9 – Michael Pare, American actor
October 10 – Kirsty MacColl, British singer and songwriter (d. 2000)
October 13 – Marie Osmond, American singer
October 15
* Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York
* Emeril Lagasse, American chef and restaurant owner
October 17 – Richard Roeper, American film critic
October 21 – Ken Watanabe, Japanese actor
October 22 – Arto Salminen, Finnish writer (d. 2005)
October 23
* "Weird Al" Yankovic, American singer and parodist
* Nancy Grace, American television host
October 25 – Christina Amphlett, Australian rock singer
October 26 – Evo Morales, President of Bolivia
October 27 – Rick Carlisle, American basketball coach
October 31 – Neal Stephenson, American writer
November 2 – Saïd Aouita, Moroccan athlete
November 5 – Bryan Adams, Canadian singer and photographer
November 7 – Billy Gillispie, American basketball coach
November 8 – Selçuk Yula, Turkish football player and top scorer
November 9 – Tony Slattery, British comedian and actor
November 10
* Linda Cohn, American sports reporter
* Mackenzie Phillips, American actress
* Mike McCarthy, American football coach
November 14 – Paul McGann, British actor
November 17 – William R. Moses, American actor
November 18 – Jimmy Quinn, Irish footballer and football manager
November 19
* Allison Janney, American actress
* Jo Bonner, American U.S. Representative for Alabama's 1st congressional district
November 23 – Dominique Dunne, American actress (d. 1982)
November 25 – Charles Kennedy, British politician
November 27 – Viktoria Mullova, Russian violinist
November 28 – Judd Nelson, American actor
November 29
* Rahm Emanuel, American politician
* Platon Lebedev, Russian executive
November 30 – Lorraine Kelly, British presenter and journalist
December 1
* Billy Childish, English painter, writer and musician
* Wally Lewis, Australian sport identity
December 4 – Christa Luding, German speed skater
December 6 – Satoru Iwata, Japanese president of Nintendo
December 13 – Johnny Whitaker, American actor
December 16 – Alison LaPlaca, American actress
December 19 – Waise Lee, Hong Kong actor
December 20
* Stephen Chan Chi Wan, general manager of TVB
* Sandra Cisneros, Mexican-born author
December 21 – Florence Griffith Joyner, American athlete (d. 1998)
December 22 – Bernd Schuster, German footballer and manager
December 24 – Keith Deller, English darts player
December 27 – Gerina Dunwich, American author
December 30 – Tracey Ullman, English/American comedian and actress
December 31
* Alfie Anido, Filipino actor (d. 1981)
* Val Kilmer, American actor
* Baron Waqa, Nauruan politician and composer
January 2 – William D. Francis, Australian botanist (b. 1889)
January 3 – Edwin Muir, Scottish poet, novelist and translator (b. 1887)
January 21
* Cecil B. DeMille, American film director (b. 1881)
* Carl Switzer, American actor (''Our Gang'') (b. 1927)
January 22 – Mike Hawthorn, English race car driver (b. 1929)
January 26 – MacGillivray Milne, United States Navy Captain, and the 27th Governor of American Samoa (b. 1882)
January 28 – Walter Beall, American baseball player (b. 1899)
February 1 – Frank Shannon, American actor (b. 1874)
February 3 – Killed in the crash of a private plane:
* The Big Bopper (J.P. Richardson), American rock singer (b. 1930)
* Buddy Holly, American rock singer (b. 1936)
* Roger Peterson, pilot (b. 1937)
* Ritchie Valens, American rock singer (b. 1941)
February 3 – Vincent Astor, American philanthropist (b. 1891)
February 4 – Una O'Connor, Irish actress (b. 1880)
February 7 – Nap Lajoie, American baseball player (b. 1874)
February 11 – Marshall Teague, American race car driver (b. 1922)
February 12 – George Antheil, American composer (b. 1900)
February 14 – Baby Dodds, American jazz musician (b. 1898)
February 15 – Owen Willans Richardson, British physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1879)
February 18 – Gago Coutinho, Portuguese aviation pioneer (b. 1869)
February 20 – Laurence Housman, English playwright and writer (b. 1865)
February 22 – Helen Parrish, American actress (b. 1924)
February 23 – Luis Palés Matos, Puerto Rican poet (b. 1898)
February 26
* Princess Alexandra, Duchess of Fife, eldest grandchild of King Edward VII of the United Kingdom (b. 1891)
* Selig Suskin, Russian-born Israeli agronomist and early Zionist (b. 1873)
February 28 – Maxwell Anderson, American screenwriter (b. 1888)
March 1 – Mack Gordon, American composer and lyricist (b. 1904)
March 2 – Eric Blore, English actor (b. 1887)
March 3 – Lou Costello, American actor and comedian (b. 1906)
March 4 – Maxie Long, American athlete (b. 1878)
March 6 – Fred Stone, American actor (b. 1873)
March 15 – Lester Young, American jazz saxophonist (b. 1909)
March 17 – Galaktion Tabidze, Georgian poet (b. 1891)
March 21 – Edwin Balmer, American science fiction and mystery writer (b. 1883)
March 25 - Billy Mayerl, English pianist and composer (b. 1902)
March 26 – Raymond Chandler, American-born novelist (b. 1888)
March 27 – Grant Withers, American actor (b. 1905)
March 29 – Barthélemy Boganda, first President of the Central African Republic (b. 1910)
April 6 – Leo Aryeh Mayer, Israeli professor and scholar of Islamic art (b. 1895)
April 9 – Frank Lloyd Wright, American architect (b. 1867)
April 12 – James Gleason, American actor (b. 1882)
April 18 – Irving Cummings, American actor (b. 1888)
May 5 – Carlos Saavedra Lamas, Argentine politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1878)
May 14 – Sidney Bechet, American musician (b. 1897)
May 16 – Elisha Scott, Irish footballer (b. 1894)
May 18
* Apsley Cherry-Garrard, Antarctic explorer (b. 1886)
* Enrique Guaita, Argentinian footballer (b. 1910)
May 24 – John Foster Dulles, United States Secretary of State (b. 1888)
May 30 – Raúl Scalabrini Ortiz, Argentinian journalist (b. 1898)
June 4 – Charles Vidor, American director (b. 1900)
June 8 – Pietro Canonica, sculptor (b. 1869)
June 9 – Adolf Otto Reinhold Windaus, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1876)
June 16 – George Reeves, American TV actor (b. 1914)
June 18 – Ethel Barrymore, American stage & screen actress (b. 1879)
June 20 – Hitoshi Ashida, Prime Minister of Japan 1948 (b. 1887)
June 23 – Boris Vian, French writer, poet, singer, and musician (b. 1920)
June 25 – Charles Starkweather, American spree killer (b. 1938)
July 6 – George Grosz, German artist (b. 1893)
July 11 – Charlie Parker, English cricketer (b. 1882)
July 15 – Ernest Bloch, Swiss composer (b. 1880)
July 17 – Billie Holiday, American singer (b. 1915)
July 25
* King Mutara III of Rwanda (b. c.1912)
* Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog, Polish-born Chief Rabbi of Ireland and of Israel (b. 1888)
August 5 – Edgar Guest, English poet (b. 1881)
August 6 – Preston Sturges, American film director and writer (b. 1898)
August 15 – Blind Willie McTell, American singer (b. 1901)
August 16
* Benny Fields, American singer (b. 1894)
* William Halsey, Jr., American World War II naval officer (b. 1882)
* Wanda Landowska, Polish harpsichordist (b. 1879)
August 19
* Claude Grahame White, British aviation pioneer (b. 1879)
* Jacob Epstein, American-born sculptor (b. 1880)
August 28 – Bohuslav Martinů, Czech composer (b. 1890)
September 1 – Jack Norworth, American singer and songwriter (b. 1879)
September 6
* Edmund Gwenn, English actor (b. 1877)
* Kay Kendall, English actress(b. 1926)
September 7 – Maurice Duplessis, Premier of Quebec (b. 1890)
September 11 – Paul Douglas, American actor (b. 1907)
September 13 – Gilbert Adrian, American costume designer (b. 1903)
September 14 – Wayne Morris, American actor (b. 1914)
September 17 – Jack Llewelyn Davies, one of the 'Lost Boys' for the Peter Pan book (b. 1894)
September 25
* Solomon Bandaranaike, prime minister of Ceylon (b. 1899)
* Helen Broderick, American actress (b. 1891)
* Gerard Hoffnung, German-born English humorist (b. 1925)
September 28
* Rudolf Caracciola, German race car driver (b. 1901)
* Vinnie Richards, American tennis player (b. 1903)
September 30 – Taylor Holmes, American actor (b. 1878)
October 6 – Bernard Berenson, American art historian (b. 1865)
October 7 – Mario Lanza, American tenor (b. 1921)
October 14 – Errol Flynn, Australian actor (b. 1909)
October 16
* George C. Marshall, United States Secretary of State, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1880)
* Minor Hall, American jazz musician (b. 1897)
October 18 – Boughera El Ouafi, Algerian athlete (b. 1898)
October 19 – Ebrahim Hakimi, Prime Minister of Iran (b. 1871)
October 20 – Werner Krauss, German actor (b. 1884)
October 22 – Joseph Cahill, Australian politician (b. 1891)
October 28 – Camilo Cienfuegos, Cuban revolutionary (b. 1932)
November 1 – M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar, Tamil film actor and producer (b. 1909)
November 2 – Michael Considine, Australian politician (b. 1885)
November 7 – Victor McLaglen, English actor (b. 1886)
November 10 – Lupino Lane, British actor (b. 1892)
November 15 – Charles Thomson Rees Wilson, Scottish physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1869)
November 17 – Heitor Villa-Lobos, Brazilian composer (b. 1887)
November 21 – Max Baer, American boxer and actor (b. 1909)
November 22 – Molla Mallory, American tennis champion (b. 1884)
November 24 – Dally Messenger, Australian rugby league player (b. 1883)
November 25 – Gérard Philipe, French actor (b. 1922)
December 4 – Hubert Marischka, Austrian film director (b. 1882)
December 14 – Edna Wallace Hopper, stage actress (b. 1872)
December 22 – Gilda Gray, Polish-born dancer and actress (b. 1901)
December 24 – Edmund Goulding, American director (b. 1891)
December 28 – Ante Pavelic, Croatian fascist leader during World War II (b. 1889)
Physics – Emilio Gino Segrè, Owen Chamberlain
Chemistry – Jaroslav Heyrovský
Physiology or Medicine – Severo Ochoa, Arthur Kornberg
Literature – Salvatore Quasimodo
Peace – Philip John Noel-Baker
Events
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Date unknown
Births
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Deaths
January–March
April–June
July–September
October–December
Nobel Prizes
References
af:1959 am:1959 እ.ኤ.አ. ar:ملحق:1959 an:1959 frp:1959 ast:1959 gn:1959 av:1959 ay:1959 az:1959 bn:১৯৫৯ zh-min-nan:1959 nî map-bms:1959 be:1959 be-x-old:1959 bh:१९५९ bcl:1959 bs:1959 br:1959 bg:1959 ca:1959 cv:1959 cs:1959 cbk-zam:1959 co:1959 cy:1959 da:1959 pdc:1959 de:1959 et:1959 el:1959 myv:1959 ие es:1959 eo:1959 eu:1959 fa:۱۹۵۹ (میلادی) hif:1959 fo:1959 fr:1959 fy:1959 fur:1959 ga:1959 gv:1959 gd:1959 gl:1959 gan:1959年 xal:1959 җил ko:1959년 hy:1959 hi:१९५९ hr:1959. io:1959 ilo:1959 bpy:মারি ১৯৫৯ id:1959 ia:1959 ie:1959 os:1959-æм аз is:1959 it:1959 he:1959 jv:1959 kn:೧೯೫೯ pam:1959 krc:1959 джыл ka:1959 csb:1959 kk:1959 kw:1959 sw:1959 kv:1959 во ht:1959 (almanak gregoryen) ku:1959 la:1959 lv:1959. gads lb:1959 lt:1959 m. lij:1959 li:1959 jbo:1959moi lmo:1959 hu:1959 mk:1959 ml:1959 mi:1959 mr:इ.स. १९५९ arz:1959 ms:1959 nah:1959 nl:1959 ne:१९५९ new:ई सं १९५९ ja:1959年 nap:1959 no:1959 nn:1959 nrm:1959 nov:1959 oc:1959 mhr:1959 uz:1959 pa:੧੯੫੯ pi:१९५९ pnb:1959 pap:1959 tpi:1959 nds:1959 pl:1959 pt:1959 ty:1959 ksh:Joohr 1959 ro:1959 qu:1959 rue:1959 ru:1959 год sah:1959 se:1959 sq:1959 scn:1959 simple:1959 sk:1959 sl:1959 so:1959 ckb:١٩٥٩ sr:1959 sh:1959 su:1959 fi:1959 sv:1959 tl:1959 ta:1959 tt:1959 ел te:1959 tet:1959 th:พ.ศ. 2502 tr:1959 tk:1959 udm:1959 ар uk:1959 ur:1959ء vec:1959 vi:1959 vo:1959 fiu-vro:1959 wa:1959 vls:1959 war:1959 yi:1959 yo:1959 zh-yue:1959年 diq:1959 bat-smg:1959 zh:1959年This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, and social critic. At various points in his life he imagined himself a liberal, a socialist, and a pacifist, but he also admitted that he had never been any of these things in any profound sense. He was born in Wales, into one of the most prominent aristocratic families in Britain.
Russell led the British "revolt against idealism" in the early 1900s. He is considered one of the founders of analytic philosophy along with his predecessor Gottlob Frege and his protégé Ludwig Wittgenstein, and is widely held to be one of the 20th century's premier logicians. He co-authored, with A. N. Whitehead, ''Principia Mathematica'', an attempt to ground mathematics on logic. His philosophical essay "On Denoting" has been considered a "paradigm of philosophy." His work has had a considerable influence on logic, mathematics, set theory, linguistics, computer science (see type theory and type system), and philosophy, especially philosophy of language, epistemology, and metaphysics.
Russell was a prominent anti-war activist; he championed free trade and anti-imperialism. Russell went to prison for his pacifism during World War I. Later, he campaigned against Adolf Hitler, then criticised Stalinist totalitarianism, attacked the United States of America's involvement in the Vietnam War, and was an outspoken proponent of nuclear disarmament. One of his last acts was to issue a statement which condemned Israeli aggression in the Middle East.
In 1950, Russell was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, "in recognition of his varied and significant writings in which he champions humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought."
Biography
Ancestry
Bertrand Russell was born on 18 May 1872 at Ravenscroft, Trellech, Monmouthshire, Wales, into an influential and liberal family of the British aristocracy. His paternal grandfather, John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, was the third son of John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford, and had twice been asked by Queen Victoria to form a government, serving her as Prime Minister in the 1840s and 1860s. The Russells had been prominent in England for several centuries before this, coming to power and the peerage with the rise of the Tudor dynasty. They established themselves as one of Britain's leading Whig families, and participated in every great political event from the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536–40 to the Glorious Revolution in 1688–89 to the Great Reform Act in 1832.Russell's mother Katharine Louisa (1844–1874) was the daughter of Edward Stanley, 2nd Baron Stanley of Alderley, and was the sister of Rosalind Howard, Countess of Carlisle. Kate and Rosalind's mother was one of the founders of Girton College, Cambridge.
Russell's parents were radical for their times. Russell's father, Viscount Amberley, was an atheist and consented to his wife's affair with their children's tutor, the biologist Douglas Spalding. Both were early advocates of birth control at a time when this was considered scandalous. John Russell's atheism was evident when he asked the philosopher John Stuart Mill to act as Russell's secular godfather. Mill died the year after Russell's birth, but his writings had a great effect on Russell's life.
Childhood and adolescence
Russell had two siblings: Frank (nearly seven years older than Bertrand), and Rachel (four years older). In June 1874 Russell's mother died of diphtheria, followed shortly by Rachel's death. In January 1876, his father also died of bronchitis following a long period of depression. Frank and Bertrand were placed in the care of their staunchly Victorian grandparents, who lived at Pembroke Lodge in Richmond Park. John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, his grandfather, who had been Prime Minister, died in 1878, and was remembered by Russell as a kindly old man in a wheelchair. As a result, his widow, the Countess Russell (née Lady Frances Elliot), was the dominant family figure for the rest of Russell's childhood and youth.The countess was from a Scottish Presbyterian family, and successfully petitioned the Court of Chancery to set aside a provision in Amberley's will requiring the children to be raised as agnostics. Despite her religious conservatism, she held progressive views in other areas (accepting Darwinism and supporting Irish Home Rule), and her influence on Bertrand Russell's outlook on social justice and standing up for principle remained with him throughout his life — her favourite Bible verse, 'Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil' (Exodus 23:2), became his motto. The atmosphere at Pembroke Lodge was one of frequent prayer, emotional repression and formality; Frank reacted to this with open rebellion, but the young Bertrand learned to hide his feelings.
Russell's adolescence was very lonely, and he often contemplated suicide. He remarked in his autobiography that his keenest interests were in religion and mathematics, and that only the wish to know more mathematics kept him from suicide. He was educated at home by a series of tutors. His brother Frank introduced him to the work of Euclid, which transformed Russell's life.
Also, during these formative years, he discovered the works of Percy Bysshe Shelley. In his autobiography, he writes: "I spent all my spare time reading him, and learning him by heart, knowing no one to whom I could speak of what I thought or felt, I used to reflect how wonderful it would have been to know Shelley, and to wonder whether I should meet any live human being with whom I should feel so much sympathy." Russell claimed that beginning at age 15, he spent considerable time thinking about the validity of Christian religious dogma, and by 18 had decided to discard the last of it.
University and first marriage
Russell won a scholarship to read for the Mathematical Tripos at Trinity College, Cambridge, and commenced his studies there in 1890. He became acquainted with the younger G.E. Moore and came under the influence of Alfred North Whitehead, who recommended him to the Cambridge Apostles. He quickly distinguished himself in mathematics and philosophy, graduating as a high Wrangler in 1893 and becoming a Fellow in the latter in 1895.Russell first met the American Quaker Alys Pearsall Smith when he was 17 years old. He became a friend of the Pearsall Smith family—they knew him primarily as 'Lord John's grandson' and enjoyed showing him off—and travelled with them to the continent; it was in their company that Russell visited the Paris Exhibition of 1889 and was able to climb the Eiffel Tower soon after it was completed.
He soon fell in love with the puritanical, high-minded Alys, who was a graduate of Bryn Mawr College near Philadelphia, and, contrary to his grandmother's wishes, married her on 13 December 1894. Their marriage began to fall apart in 1901 when it occurred to Russell, while he was cycling, that he no longer loved her. She asked him if he loved her and he replied that he didn't. Russell also disliked Alys's mother, finding her controlling and cruel. It was to be a hollow shell of a marriage and they finally divorced in 1921, after a lengthy period of separation. During this period, Russell had passionate (and often simultaneous) affairs with a number of women, including Lady Ottoline Morrell and the actress Lady Constance Malleson.
Early career
Russell began his published work in 1896 with ''German Social Democracy'', a study in politics that was an early indication of a lifelong interest in political and social theory. In 1896, he taught German social democracy at the London School of Economics, where he also lectured on the science of power in the autumn of 1937. He was also a member of the Coefficients dining club of social reformers set up in 1902 by the Fabian campaigners Sidney and Beatrice Webb.He now started an intensive study of the foundations of mathematics at Trinity during which he discovered Russell's paradox which challenged the foundations of set theory. In 1903 he published his first important book on mathematical logic, ''The Principles of Mathematics'' showing that mathematics could be deduced from a very small number of principles, and contributing significantly to the cause of logicism.
In 1905 he wrote the essay "On Denoting", which was published in the philosophical journal ''Mind''. Russell became a fellow of the Royal Society in 1908. The first of three volumes of ''Principia Mathematica'', written with Whitehead, was published in 1910, which, along with the earlier ''The Principles of Mathematics'', soon made Russell world famous in his field.
In 1910 he became a lecturer in the University of Cambridge where he soon received an approach from the Austrian engineering student Ludwig Wittgenstein, who became his PhD student and whom he viewed as a genius and a successor who would continue his work on logic. He spent hours dealing with Wittgenstein's various phobias and his frequent bouts of despair. This was often a drain on Russell's energy, but Russell continued to be fascinated by him and encouraged his academic development, including the publication of Wittgenstein's ''Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus'' in 1922. Russell delivered his lectures on Logical Atomism, his version of these ideas, in 1918 before the end of the First World War and whilst Wittgenstein was still a prisoner of war.
First World War
During the First World War, Russell was one of a very small number of intellectuals engaged in pacifist activities, and, in 1916, he was dismissed from Trinity College following his conviction under the Defence of the Realm Act. He was charged a fine of 100 Pounds Sterling which he refused to pay, hoping that he would be sent to prison, but they instead sold his books at auction to raise the money. The books were bought by friends and he later treasured his copy of the King James Bible that was stamped "Confiscated by Cambridge Police." Russell was released from prison in September 1918. He was reinstated 1919, resigned 1920, was Tarner Lecturer 1926, and became a Fellow again 1944–1949. A later conviction for publicly lecturing against inviting the US to enter the war on Britain's side, resulted in six months' imprisonment in Brixton prison (see ''Bertrand Russell's views on society'').
Between the wars, and second marriage
In August 1920, Russell travelled to Russia as part of an official delegation sent by the British government to investigate the effects of the Russian Revolution. He met Vladimir Lenin and had an hour-long conversation with him. In his autobiography, he mentions that he found Lenin rather disappointing, sensing an "impish cruelty" in him and comparing him to "an opinionated professor". He also cruised down the Volga on a steam-ship. Russell's lover Dora Black also visited Russia independently at the same time — she was enthusiastic about the revolution, but Russell's experiences destroyed his previous tentative support for it. He wrote a book "The Practice and Theory of Bolshevism" about his experiences on this trip, which included 24 others from Britain, all of whom came home thinking well of the regime, despite Russell's attempts to change their mind. For example, he told them that he heard shots fired in the middle of the night and was sure these were clandestine executions, but the others maintained that it was only cars backfiring.Russell subsequently lectured in Beijing on philosophy for one year, accompanied by Dora. He went there with optimism and hope, as China was then on a new path. Among other scholars there was Rabindranath Tagore, the Indian poet and also a Nobel Laureate. While in China, Russell became gravely ill with pneumonia, and incorrect reports of his death were published in the Japanese press. When the couple visited Japan on their return journey, Dora notified the world that "Mr. Bertrand Russell, having died according to the Japanese press, is unable to give interviews to Japanese journalists." The press were not amused and did not appreciate the sarcasm.
On the couple's return to England on 26 August 1921, Dora was six months pregnant, and Russell arranged a hasty divorce from Alys, marrying Dora six days after the divorce was finalised, on 27 September 1921. Their children were John Conrad Russell, 4th Earl Russell, born on 16 November 1921 and Katharine Jane Russell (now Lady Katharine Tait) born on 29 December 1923. Russell supported himself during this time by writing popular books explaining matters of physics, ethics, and education to the layman. Some have suggested that at this point he had an affair with Vivienne Haigh-Wood, first wife of T. S. Eliot.
Together with Dora, he also founded the experimental Beacon Hill School in 1927. The school was run from a succession of different locations, including its original premises at the Russells' residence, Telegraph House, near Harting, West Sussex. On 8 July 1930 Dora welcomed her third child, a daughter, Harriet Ruth. After he left the school in 1932, Dora continued it until 1943.
Upon the death of his elder brother Frank, in 1931, Russell became the 3rd Earl Russell. He once said that his title was primarily useful for securing hotel rooms.
Russell's marriage to Dora grew increasingly tenuous, and it reached a breaking point over her having two children with an American journalist, Griffin Barry. They separated in 1932 and finally divorced. On 18 January 1936, Russell married his third wife, an Oxford undergraduate named Patricia ("Peter") Spence, who had been his children's governess since the summer of 1930. Russell and Peter had one son, Conrad Sebastian Robert Russell, 5th Earl Russell, who became a prominent historian and one of the leading figures in the Liberal Democratic party.
Second World War
Russell opposed rearmament against Nazi Germany, but in 1940 changed his view that avoiding a full scale world war was more important than defeating Hitler. He concluded that Adolf Hitler taking over all of Europe would be a permanent threat to democracy. In 1943, he adopted a stance toward large-scale warfare, "Relative Political Pacifism": War was always a great evil, but in some particularly extreme circumstances, it may be the lesser of two evils.
Post-Second World War
Before the Second World War, Russell taught at the University of Chicago, later moving on to Los Angeles to lecture at the University of California, Los Angeles. He was appointed professor at the City College of New York in 1940, but after a public outcry, the appointment was annulled by a court judgement: his opinions (especially those relating to sexual morality, detailed in ''Marriage and Morals'' ten years earlier) made him "morally unfit" to teach at the college. The protest was started by the mother of a student who would not have been eligible for his graduate-level course in mathematical logic. Many intellectuals, led by John Dewey, protested against his treatment. Albert Einstein's often-quoted aphorism that "Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds..." originated in his open letter in support of Russell, during this time. Dewey and Horace M. Kallen edited a collection of articles on the CCNY affair in ''The Bertrand Russell Case''. He soon joined the Barnes Foundation, lecturing to a varied audience on the history of philosophy; these lectures formed the basis of ''A History of Western Philosophy''. His relationship with the eccentric Albert C. Barnes soon soured, and he returned to Britain in 1944 to rejoin the faculty of Trinity College.
Later life
During the 1940s and 1950s, Russell participated in many broadcasts over the BBC, particularly The Brains Trust and the Third Programme, on various topical and philosophical subjects. By this time Russell was world famous outside of academic circles, frequently the subject or author of magazine and newspaper articles, and was called upon to offer up opinions on a wide variety of subjects, even mundane ones. En route to one of his lectures in Trondheim, Russell was one of 24 survivors (among a total of 43 passengers) in an aeroplane crash in Hommelvik in October 1948. ''A History of Western Philosophy'' (1945) became a best-seller, and provided Russell with a steady income for the remainder of his life.In a speech in 1948, Russell said that if the USSR's aggression continued, it would be morally worse to go to war after the USSR possessed an atomic bomb than before it possessed one, because if the USSR had no bomb the West's victory would come more swiftly and with fewer casualties than if there were atom bombs on both sides. At that time, only the USA possessed an atomic bomb, and the USSR was pursuing an extremely aggressive policy towards the countries in Eastern Europe which it was absorbing into its sphere of influence. Many understood Russell's comments to mean that Russell approved of a first strike in a war with the USSR, including Lawson, who was present when Russell spoke. Others, including Griffin who obtained a transcript of the speech, have argued that he was merely explaining the usefulness of America's atomic arsenal in deterring the USSR from continuing its domination of Eastern Europe.
In 1948, Russell was invited by the BBC to deliver the inaugural Reith Lectures - what was to become an annual series of lectures, still broadcast by the BBC. His series of six broadcasts, titled Authority and the Individual explored themes such as the role of individual initiative in the development of a community and the role of state control in a progressive society. Russell also continued to write about philosophy. He wrote a foreword to ''Words and Things'' by Ernest Gellner which was highly critical of the later thought of Ludwig Wittgenstein and of Ordinary language philosophy. Gilbert Ryle refused to have the book reviewed in the philosophical journal ''Mind'' which caused Russell to respond via the Times. The results was a month-long correspondence in the Times, between the supporters and detractors of Ordinary language philosophy which was only ended when the Times published an editorial about the matter, which was critical of both sides but agreeing with the opponents of Ordinary language philosophy.
In the King's Birthday Honours of 9 June 1949, Russell was awarded the Order of Merit, and the following year he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. When he was given the Order of Merit, King George VI was affable but slightly embarrassed at decorating a former jailbird, saying that "You have sometimes behaved in a manner that would not do if generally adopted." Russell merely smiled, but afterwards claimed that the reply "That's right, just like your brother" immediately came to mind.
In 1952, Russell was divorced by Spence, with whom he had been very unhappy. Conrad, Russell's son by Spence, did not see his father between the time of the divorce and 1968 (at which time his decision to meet his father caused a permanent breach with his mother).
Russell married his fourth wife, Edith Finch, soon after the divorce, on 15 December 1952. They had known each other since 1925, and Edith had taught English at Bryn Mawr College near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, sharing a house for 20 years with Russell's old friend Lucy Donnelly. Edith remained with him until his death, and, by all accounts, their marriage was a happy, close, and loving one. Russell's eldest son, John, suffered from serious mental illness, which was the source of ongoing disputes between Russell and John's mother, Russell's former wife, Dora. John's wife Susan was also mentally ill, and eventually Russell and Edith became the legal guardians of their three daughters (two of whom were later found to have schizophrenia).
In 1962, Russell played a public role in the Cuban Missile Crisis: in an exchange of telegrams with the Soviet Union leader Nikita Khrushchev, Khrushchev assured him that the Soviet government would not be reckless. Russell also wrote to President Kennedy, who returned his telegram unopened.
Political causes
Russell spent the 1950s and 1960s engaged in various political causes, primarily related to nuclear disarmament and opposing the Vietnam war (see also Russell Vietnam War Crimes Tribunal). The 1955 Russell–Einstein Manifesto was a document calling for nuclear disarmament and was signed by 11 of the most prominent nuclear physicists and intellectuals of the time. He wrote a great many letters to world leaders during this period. He was in contact with Lionel Rogosin while the latter was filming his anti-war film ''Good Times, Wonderful Times'' in the 1960s. He also became a hero to many of the youthful members of the New Left. In early 1963, in particular, Russell became increasingly vocal about his disapproval of what he felt to be the US government's near-genocidal policies in South Vietnam. In 1963 he became the inaugural recipient of the Jerusalem Prize, an award for writers concerned with the freedom of the individual in society. In October 1965 he tore up his Labour Party card because he suspected the party was going to send soldiers to support the USA in the Vietnam War.
Final years and death
Russell published his three-volume autobiography in 1967, 1968, and 1969. On 23 November 1969 he wrote to ''The Times'' newspaper saying that the preparation for show trials in Czechoslovakia was "highly alarming". The same month he appealed to Secretary General U Thant of the United Nations to support an international war crimes commission to investigate alleged torture and genocide by the USA in South Vietnam. The following month, he protested to Alexei Kosygin over the expulsion of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn from the Writers Union.On 31 January 1970, Russell issued a statement which condemned Israeli aggression in the Middle East and called for Israeli withdrawal from territory occupied in 1967. This was Russell's final political statement or act. It was read out at the International Conference of Parliamentarians in Cairo on 3 February 1970, the day after his death.
Russell died of influenza on 2 February 1970 at his home, Plas Penrhyn, in Penrhyndeudraeth, Merionethshire, Wales. His body was cremated in Colwyn Bay on 5 February 1970. In accordance with his will there was no religious ceremony; his ashes were scattered over the Welsh mountains later that year.
In 1980, a memorial to Russell was commissioned by a committee including A. J. Ayer. It consists of a bust of Russell in Red Lion Square in London sculpted by Marcelle Quinton.
Titles and honours from birth
Russell held throughout his life the following styles and honours:
Views
Views on philosophy
Russell is generally credited with being one of the founders of analytic philosophy. He was deeply impressed by Gottfried Leibniz (1646–1716) and wrote on every major area of philosophy except aesthetics. He was particularly prolific in the field of metaphysics, the logic and the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of language, ethics and epistemology. When Brand Blanshard asked Russell why he didn't write on aesthetics, Russell replied that he didn't know anything about it, "but that is not a very good excuse, for my friends tell me it has not deterred me from writing on other subjects."
Views on society
Political and social activism occupied much of Russell's time for most of his life, which makes his prodigious and seminal writing on a wide range of technical and non-technical subjects all the more remarkable. Russell remained politically active almost to the end of his life, writing to and exhorting world leaders and lending his name to various causes. He was also famously noted for saying "No one can sit at the bedside of a dying child and still believe in God."Russell determined man to be "the product of causes . . . his origin, his growth, his hopes and fears, his loves and his beliefs, are but the outcome of accidental collocations of atoms, that no fire, no heroism, no intensity of thought and feeling, can preserve an individual life beyond the grave; that all the labors of the ages, all the inspiration, all the noonday brightness of human genius are destined to extinction in the vast death of the solar system, that the whole temple of man's achievement must inevitably be buried beneath the debris of a universe in ruins -- all these things, if not quite beyond dispute, are so nearly certain, that no philosophy which rejects them can hope to stand. . . ."
Selected works
Selected bibliography of Russell's books
This is a selected bibliography of Russell's books in English sorted by year of first publication.Note: These are major publications. Russell also wrote many pamphlets, introductions, articles and letters to the editor. His works also can be found in any number of anthologies and collections, perhaps most notably ''The Collected Papers of Bertrand Russell'', which McMaster University began publishing in 1983. This collection of his shorter and previously unpublished works is now up to 16 volumes, and many more are forthcoming. An additional three volumes catalogue just his bibliography. The Russell Archives at McMaster University also have more than 30,000 letters that he wrote.
Additional references
Russell
Secondary references
Books about Russell's philosophy
Biographical books
See also
Notes
Further reading
External links
;Other writings available online
;Audio
;Other
Category:1872 births Category:1970 deaths Category:20th-century mathematicians Category:20th-century philosophers Category:Academics of the London School of Economics Category:Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge Category:Analytic philosophers Category:Anti–Vietnam War activists Category:Atheist philosophers Category:Atheism activists Bertrand Russell Category:British anti–nuclear weapons activists Category:British anti-war activists Category:British logicians Category:British prisoners and detainees Category:British republicans Category:British Nobel laureates Category:Cambridge University Moral Sciences Club Category:Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament Category:Critics of work and the work ethic Category:Deaths from influenza Category:Earls in the Peerage of the United Kingdom Category:Epistemologists Category:Fellows of the Royal Society Category:Free love advocates Category:Welsh historians of philosophy category:English historians of philosophy Category:Infectious disease deaths in Wales Category:Kalinga Prize recipients Category:LGBT rights activists from the United Kingdom Category:Male feminists Category:Members of the Order of Merit Category:Nobel laureates in Literature Category:Ontologists Category:People from Monmouthshire Category:Philosophers of language Category:Philosophers of mathematics Bertrand Russell Category:Set theorists Category:University of California, Los Angeles faculty Category:University of Chicago faculty Category:Utilitarians Category:Western writers about Soviet Russia Category:World federalists Category:British sceptics
af:Bertrand Russell am:በርትራንድ ረስል ar:بيرتراند راسل an:Bertrand Russell az:Bertran Rassel bn:বারট্রান্ড রাসেল zh-min-nan:Bertrand Russell be:Бертран Артур Уільям Расэл be-x-old:Бэртран Расэл bs:Bertrand Russell bg:Бъртранд Ръсел ca:Bertrand Russell cs:Bertrand Russell cy:Bertrand Russell da:Bertrand Russell de:Bertrand Russell et:Bertrand Russell el:Μπέρτραντ Ράσελ es:Bertrand Russell eo:Bertrand Russell eu:Bertrand Russell fa:برتراند راسل fr:Bertrand Russell fy:Bertrand Russell ga:Bertrand Russell gd:Bertrand Russell gl:Bertrand Russell ko:버트런드 러셀 hy:Բերտրան Ռասել hi:बर्टराण्ड रसेल hr:Bertrand Russell io:Bertrand Russell id:Bertrand Russell is:Bertrand Russell it:Bertrand Russell he:ברטראנד ראסל jv:Bertrand Russell ka:ბერტრან რასელი kk:Рассел, Бертран sw:Bertrand Russell ht:Bertrand Russell ku:Bertrand Russell la:Bertrandus Russell lv:Bertrans Rasels lb:Bertrand Russell lt:Bertrand Russell hu:Bertrand Russell mk:Бертранд Расел ml:ബെര്ട്രാന്ഡ് റസ്സല് mr:बर्ट्रांड रसेल arz:برتراند راسل mn:Бертранд Рассел nl:Bertrand Russell ja:バートランド・ラッセル no:Bertrand Russell oc:Bertrand Russell uz:Bertrand Russell pnb:برٹرینڈ رسل pms:Bertrand Russell pl:Bertrand Russell pt:Bertrand Russell ro:Bertrand Russell ru:Рассел, Бертран sc:Bertrand Russell sco:Bertrand Russell sq:Bertrand Russell scn:Bertrand Russell simple:Bertrand Russell sk:Bertrand Russell sl:Bertrand Russell ckb:بێرتراند ڕاسێل sr:Бертранд Расел sh:Bertrand Russell fi:Bertrand Russell sv:Bertrand Russell tl:Bertrand Russell ta:பெர்ட்ரண்டு ரசல் te:బెర్ట్రాండ్ రస్సెల్ th:เบอร์ทรานด์ รัสเซิลล์ tr:Bertrand Russell uk:Бертран Расселл ur:برٹرینڈ رسل vi:Bertrand Russell fiu-vro:Russelli Bertrand war:Bertrand Russell yo:Bertrand Russell diq:Bertrand Russell zh:伯特兰·罗素
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
| background | non_vocal_instrumentalist |
|---|---|
| birth name | Lester William Polsfuss |
| born | June 09, 1915Waukesha, Wisconsin, United States |
| died | August 12, 2009White Plains, New York, United States |
| genre | Jazz, country, blues, rock and roll |
| occupation | Innovator, Inventor, Musician, Songwriter |
| instrument | Guitar, Banjo, Harmonica |
| years active | 1928–2009 |
| website | lespaulonline.com |
| notable instruments | Gibson Les Paul }} |
His innovative talents extended into his playing style, including licks, trills, chording sequences, fretting techniques and timing, which set him apart from his contemporaries and inspired many guitarists of the present day. He recorded with his wife Mary Ford in the 1950s, and they sold millions of records.
Among his many honors, Paul is one of a handful of artists with a permanent, stand-alone exhibit in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He is prominently named by the music museum on its website as an "architect" and a "key inductee" along with Sam Phillips and Alan Freed.
Biography
Early life
Les Paul was born Lester William Polsfuss outside Milwaukee, in Waukesha, Wisconsin, to George and Evelyn (1888–1989) (née Stutz) Polsfus. His family was of German ancestry. Paul's mother was related to the founders of Milwaukee's Valentin Blatz Brewing Company and the makers of the Stutz automobile. His parents divorced when he was a child. The Prussia family name was first simplified by his mother to Polfuss before he took his stage name of Les Paul. He also used the nicknames Red Hot Red and Rhubarb Red.While living in Wisconsin, he first became interested in music at age eight when he began playing the harmonica. After an attempt at learning the banjo, he began to play the guitar. It was during this time that he invented a neck-worn harmonica holder, which allowed him to play the harmonica hands-free while accompanying himself on the guitar. Paul's device is still manufactured using his basic design. By age thirteen, Paul was performing semi-professionally as a country-music singer, guitarist and harmonica player. While playing at the Waukesha area drive-ins and roadhouses, Paul began his first experiment with sound. Wanting to make himself heard by more people at the local venues, he wired a phonograph needle to a radio speaker, using that to amplify his acoustic guitar. At age seventeen, Paul played with Rube Tronson's Texas Cowboys, and soon after he dropped out of high school to join Wolverton's Radio Band in St. Louis, Missouri, on KMOX.
Early career
Paul migrated to Chicago in 1934, where he continued to perform on radio. His first two records were released in 1936. One was credited to "Rhubarb Red", Paul's hillbilly ''alter ego'', and the other was as an accompanist for blues-artist Georgia White. It was during this time that he began playing jazz and adopted his stage name.Paul's jazz-guitar style was strongly influenced by the music of Django Reinhardt, whom he greatly admired. Following World War II, Paul sought out and befriended Reinhardt. After Reinhardt's death in 1953, Paul furnished his headstone. One of Paul's prize possessions was a Selmer Maccaferri acoustic guitar given to him by Reinhardt's widow.
Paul formed a trio in 1937 with singer/rhythm guitarist Jim Atkins (older half-brother of guitarist Chet Atkins) and bassist/percussionist Ernie "Darius" Newton. They left Chicago for New York in 1939, landing a featured spot with ''Fred Waring's Pennsylvanians'' radio show. Chet Atkins later wrote that his brother, home on a family visit, presented the younger Atkins with an expensive Gibson archtop guitar that had been given to Jim Atkins by Les Paul. Chet recalled that it was the first professional-quality instrument he ever owned.
Paul was dissatisfied with acoustic-electric guitars and began experimenting at his apartment in Queens, NY with a few designs of his own. Famously, he created several versions of "The Log", which was nothing more than a length of common 4x4 lumber with a bridge, guitar neck and pickup attached. For the sake of appearance, he attached the body of an Epiphone hollow-body guitar, sawn lengthwise with The Log in the middle. This solved his two main problems: feedback, as the acoustic body no longer resonated with the amplified sound, and sustain, as the energy of the strings was not dissipated in generating sound through the guitar body. These instruments were constantly being improved and modified over the years, and Paul continued to use them in his recordings long after the development of his eponymous Gibson model.
While experimenting in his apartment in 1940, Paul nearly succumbed to electrocution. During two years of recuperation, he relocated to Hollywood, supporting himself by producing radio music and forming a new trio. He was drafted into the US Army shortly after the beginning of World War II, where he served in the Armed Forces Network, backing such artists as Bing Crosby, the Andrews Sisters, and performing in his own right. As a last-minute replacement for Oscar Moore, Paul played with Nat King Cole and other artists in the inaugural Jazz at the Philharmonic concert in Los Angeles, California, on July 2, 1944. The recording, still available as Jazz at the Philharmonic- the first concert- shows Paul at the top of his game, both in his solid four to the bar comping in the style of Freddie Green and for the originality of his solo lines. Paul's solo on 'Blues' is an astonishing tour de force and represents a memorable contest between himself and Nat 'King' Cole. Much later in his career, Paul declared that he had been the victor and that this had been conceded by Cole. His solo on Body and Soul is a fine demonstration both of his admiration for and emulation of the playing of Django Reinhardt, as well as his development of some very original lines.
Also that year, Paul's trio appeared on Bing Crosby's radio show. Crosby went on to sponsor Paul's recording experiments. The two also recorded together several times, including a 1945 number-one hit, "It's Been a Long, Long Time." In addition to backing Crosby, The Andrews Sisters and other artists, Paul's trio also recorded a few albums of their own on the Decca label in the late 1940s.
In January 1948, Paul shattered his right arm and elbow in a near-fatal automobile accident on an icy Route 66 just west of Davenport, Oklahoma. Mary Ford was driving the Buick convertible, which rolled several times down a creekbed; they were on their way back from Wisconsin to Los Angeles after performing at the opening of a restaurant owned by Paul's father. Doctors at Oklahoma City's Wesley Presbyterian Hospital told him that they could not rebuild his elbow so that he would regain movement; his arm would remain permanently in whatever position they placed it in. Their other option was amputation. Paul instructed surgeons, brought in from Los Angeles, to set his arm at an angle—just under 90 degrees—that would allow him to cradle and pick the guitar. It took him nearly a year and a half to recover.
Guitar builder
Paul's innovative guitar, "The Log", built after-hours in the Epiphone guitar factory in 1940, a 4" × 4" chunk of pine with strings and a pickup, was one of the first solid-body electric guitars. Paul Tutmarc of Audiovox Manufacturing Co. built a solid body electric bass in 1935 and Adolph Rickenbacker had marketed a solid-body guitar in the 1930s and Paul A. Bigsby had built one for Merle Travis in 1948 and Leo Fender also independently created his own in 1949. Although Paul approached the Gibson Guitar Corporation with his idea of a solid body electric guitar, they showed no interest until Fender began marketing its Esquire which later became known as the Telecaster models.The arrangement persisted until 1961, when declining sales prompted Gibson to change the design without Paul's knowledge, creating a much thinner, lighter and more aggressive-looking instrument with two cutaway "horns" instead of one. Paul said he first saw the "new" Gibson Les Paul in a music-store window, and disliked it. Although his contract required him to pose with the guitar, he said it was not "his" instrument and asked Gibson to remove his name from the headstock. Others claimed that Paul ended his endorsement contract with Gibson during his divorce to avoid having his wife get his endorsement money. Gibson renamed the guitar "Gibson SG", which stands for "Solid Guitar", and it also became one of the company's best sellers.
The original Gibson Les Paul-guitar design regained popularity when Eric Clapton began playing the instrument a few years later, although he also played an SG and an ES-335. Paul resumed his relationship with Gibson and endorsed the original Gibson Les Paul guitar from that point onwards. His personal Gibson Les Pauls were much modified by him—Paul always used his own self-wound pickups and customized methods of switching between pickups on his guitars. To this day, various models of Gibson Les Paul guitars are used all over the world by both novice and professional guitarists. A less-expensive version of the Gibson Les Paul guitar is also manufactured for Gibson's lower-priced Epiphone brand.
On January 30, 1962, the US Patent and Trademark Office issued Paul a patent, Patent No. 3,018,680, for an "Electrical Music Instrument."
Multitrack-recording innovations
Paul had never been happy with the way his records sounded. During a post-recording session talk with Bing Crosby, the crooner suggested Paul try building his own recording studio so he might be able to get the sound he wanted. At first Paul discounted the idea only to give it a few more minutes thought before deciding Crosby was right. Paul started his own studio in the garage of his home on Hollywood's North Curson Street. The studio drew many other famous vocalists and musicians who wanted the benefit of Paul's expertise. The home and studio are still standing, but both had been moved to Pasadena at some point after Paul no longer owned the home.In 1948, Les Paul was given one of the first Ampex Model 200A reel-to-reel audio tape recording decks by Crosby and went on to use Ampex's eight track "Sel-Sync" machines for Multitrack recording. Capitol Records released a recording that had begun as an experiment in Paul's garage, entitled "Lover (When You're Near Me)", which featured Paul playing eight different parts on electric guitar, some of them recorded at half-speed, hence "double-fast" when played back at normal speed for the master. ("Brazil", similarly recorded, was the B-side.) This was the first time that Les Paul used multitracking in a recording (Paul had been shopping his multitracking technique, unsuccessfully, since the '30s. Much to his dismay, Sidney Bechet used it in 1941 to play half a dozen instruments on "Sheik of Araby"). These recordings were made not with magnetic tape, but with acetate discs. Paul would record a track onto a disk, then record himself playing another part with the first. He built the multitrack recording with overlaid tracks, rather than parallel ones as he did later. By the time he had a result he was satisfied with, he had discarded some five hundred recording disks.
Paul even built his own disc-cutter assembly, based on automobile parts. He favored the flywheel from a Cadillac for its weight and flatness. Even in these early days, he used the acetate-disk setup to record parts at different speeds and with delay, resulting in his signature sound with echoes and birdsong-like guitar riffs. When he later began using magnetic tape, the major change was that he could take his recording rig on tour with him, even making episodes for his fifteen-minute radio show in his hotel room. He later worked with Ross Snyder in the design of the first eight-track recording deck (built for him by Ampex for his home studio.)
Electronics engineer Jack Mullin had been assigned to a U.S. Army Signal Corps unit stationed in France during World War II. On a mission in Germany near the end of the war, he acquired and later shipped home a German Magnetophon (tape recorder) and fifty reels of I.G. Farben plastic recording tape. Back in the U.S., Mullin rebuilt and developed the machine with the intention of selling it to the film industry, and held a series of demonstrations which quickly became the talk of the American audio industry.
Within a short time, Crosby had hired Mullin to record and produce his radio shows and master his studio recordings on tape, and he invested US$50,000 in a Northern California electronics firm, Ampex. With Crosby's backing, Mullin and Ampex created the Ampex Model 200, the world's first commercially produced reel-to-reel audio tape recorder. Crosby gave Les Paul the second Model 200 to be produced. Using this machine, Paul placed an additional playback head, located before the conventional erase/record/playback heads. This allowed Paul to play along with a previously recorded track, both of which were mixed together on to a new track. This was a mono tape recorder with just one track across the entire width of quarter-inch tape; thus, the recording was "destructive" in the sense that the original recording was permanently replaced with the new, mixed recording.
Paul's re-invention of the Ampex 200 inspired Ampex to develop two-track and three-track recorders, which allowed him to record as many tracks on one tape without erasing previous takes. These machines were the backbone of professional recording, radio and television studios in the 1950s and early 1960s. In 1954, Paul continued to develop this technology by commissioning Ampex to build the first 8-track (multitrack) tape recorder, at his own expense. His design became known as "Sel-Sync" (Selective Synchronization), in which specially modified electronics could either record or play back from the record head, which was not optimized for playback but which had acceptable sound quality for musicians to listen to for the purposes of recording an "overdub" (OD) in sync with the original recording. This is the core technology behind multitrack recording.
Les Paul & Mary Ford
Paul met country-western singer Colleen Summers in 1945. They began working together in 1948, at which time she adopted the stage name Mary Ford. They were married in 1949. The couple's hits included "How High the Moon", "Bye Bye Blues", "Song in Blue", "Don'cha Hear Them Bells", "The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise", and "Vaya con Dios". These songs featured Ford harmonizing with herself.Like Crosby, Paul and Ford used the now-ubiquitous recording technique known as close miking, where the microphone is less than from the singer's mouth. This produces a more-intimate, less-reverberant sound than is heard when a singer is or more from the microphone. When implemented using a cardioid-patterned microphone, it emphasizes low-frequency sounds in the voice due to a cardioid microphone's proximity effect and can give a more relaxed feel because the performer isn't working so hard. The result is a singing style which diverged strongly from unamplified theater-style singing, as might be heard in musical comedies of the 1930s and 1940s.
Radio and television programs
Paul had hosted a fifteen-minute radio program, ''The Les Paul Show'', on NBC radio in 1950, featuring his trio (himself, Ford and rhythm player Eddie Stapleton) and his electronics, recorded from their home and with gentle humor between Paul and Ford bridging musical selections, some of which had already been successful on records, some of which anticipated the couple's recordings, and many of which presented re-interpretations of such jazz and pop selections as "In the Mood", "Little Rock Getaway", "Brazil" and "Tiger Rag". Over ten of these shows survive among old-time radio collectors today.The show also appeared on television a few years later with the same format, but excluding the trio and retitled ''The Les Paul & Mary Ford Show'' (also known as ''Les Paul & Mary Ford at Home'') with "Vaya Con Dios" as a theme song. Sponsored by Warner Lambert's Listerine mouthwash, it was widely syndicated during 1954–1955, and was only five minutes (one or two songs) long on film, therefore used as a brief interlude or fill-in in programming schedules. Since Paul created the entire show himself, including audio and video, he maintained the original recordings and was in the process of restoring them to current quality standards up until his death.
During his radio shows, Paul introduced the fictional "Les Paulverizer" device, which multiplies anything fed into it, like a guitar sound or a voice. Paul has stated that the idea was to explain to the audience how his single guitar could be multiplied to become a group of guitars. The device even became the subject of comedy, with Ford multiplying herself and her vacuum cleaner with it so she could finish the housework faster.
Later career
In 1965, Paul went into semi-retirement, although he did return to the studio occasionally. He and Ford had divorced in December 1962, as she could no longer cope with the traveling lifestyle their act required of them. Paul's most-recognizable recordings from then through the mid-1970s were an album for London Records/Phase 4 Stereo, ''Les Paul Now'' (1968), on which he updated some of his earlier hits; and, backed by some of Nashville's celebrated studio musicians, a meld of jazz and country improvisation with fellow guitar virtuoso Chet Atkins, ''Chester and Lester'' (1976), for RCA Victor.By the late 1980s, Paul had returned to active live performance, continuing into his 80s even though he often found it painful to play the guitar because of arthritis in his hands. In 2006, at age 90, he won two Grammys at the 48th Annual Grammy Awards for his album ''Les Paul & Friends: American Made World Played''. He also performed every Monday night, accompanied by a trio which included guitarist Lou Pallo, bassist Paul Nowinksi (and later, Nicki Parrott) and pianist John Colianni, originally at Fat Tuesdays, and later at the Iridium Jazz Club on Broadway in the Times Square area of New York City.
Composer Richard Stein (1909–1992) sued Paul for plagiarism, charging that Paul's "Johnny (Is the Boy for Me)" was taken from Stein's 1937 song "Sanie cu zurgălăi" (Romanian for "Sledge with Bells"). A 2000 cover version of "Johnny" by Belgian musical group Vaya Con Dios that credited Paul prompted another action by the Romanian Musical Performing and Mechanical Rights Society.
For many years Les Paul would sometimes surprise radio hosts Steve King and Johnnie Putman with a call to the "Life After Dark Show" on WGN (AM) in Chicago. These calls would take place in the wee hours of Tuesday Morning following his show at the Iridium Jazz Club. Steve and Johnnie continue to honor Les on Tuesday Mornings at 2:35 AM with their segment "A Little More Les" drawing from around 30 hours of recorded conversations with Les.
Death
On August 12, 2009, Paul died of complications from pneumonia at White Plains Hospital in White Plains, New York. His family and friends were by his side. Paul is survived by his four children and his companion Arlene Palmer. His attorney told the media Paul had been "in and out of the hospital" because of illness. His last concert took place a few weeks before his death.Upon learning of his death many artists and popular musicians paid tribute by publicly expressing their sorrow. After learning of Paul's death, former Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash called him "vibrant and full of positive energy.", while Richie Sambora, lead guitarist of Bon Jovi, referred to him as "revolutionary in the music business". U2 guitarist The Edge said, "His legacy as a musician and inventor will live on and his influence on rock and roll will never be forgotten."
On August 21, 2009, he was buried near Milwaukee in Waukesha, Wisconsin at Prairie Home Cemetery which indicated that his plot would be in an area where visitors can easily view it. Like his funeral in New York on August 19, the burial was private, but earlier in the day a public memorial viewing of the closed casket was held in Milwaukee at Discovery World with 1,500 attendees who were offered free admission to the Les Paul House of Sound exhibit for the day.
Awards and honors
Paul was initiated into the Gamma Delta chapter of the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity at the University of Miami in 1952. He has earned the Presidential award from the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity.In 1979, Paul and Ford's 1951 recording of "How High the Moon" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Paul received a Grammy Trustees Award for his lifetime achievements in 1983.
In 1988, Paul was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Jeff Beck, who said, "I've copied more licks from Les Paul than I'd like to admit." In 1991, the Mix Foundation established an annual award in his name; the Les Paul Award which honors "individuals or institutions that have set the highest standards of excellence in the creative application of audio technology". In 2005, he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame for his development of the solid-body electric guitar. In 2006, Paul was inducted into the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame. He was named an honorary member of the Audio Engineering Society. In 2007, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts.
A one-hour biographical documentary film ''The Wizard of Waukesha'' was shown at the Los Angeles International Film Exposition (FILMEX) March 4–21, 1980, and later on PBS television. A biographical, feature-length documentary titled ''Chasing Sound: Les Paul at 90'' made its world première on May 9, 2007, at the Downer Theater in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Paul appeared at the event and spoke briefly to the enthusiastic crowd. The film is distributed by Koch Entertainment and was broadcast on PBS on July 11, 2007, as part of its American Masters series and was broadcast on October 17, 2008, on BBC Four as part of its Guitar Night. The première coincided with the final part of a three-part documentary by the BBC broadcast on BBC ONE ''The Story of the Guitar''.
In June 2008, an exhibit showcasing his legacy and featuring items from his personal collection opened at Discovery World in Milwaukee. The exhibit was facilitated by a group of local musicians under the name Partnership for the Arts and Creative Excellence (PACE). Paul played a concert in Milwaukee to coincide with the opening of the exhibit.
Paul's hometown of Waukesha is planning a permanent exhibit to be called "The Les Paul experience."
In July 2005, a 90th-birthday tribute concert was held at Carnegie Hall in New York City. After performances by Steve Miller, Peter Frampton, Jose Feliciano and a number of other contemporary guitarists and vocalists, Paul was presented with a commemorative guitar from the Gibson Guitar Corporation.
On November 15, 2008, he received the American Music Masters award through the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at a tribute concert at the State Theater in Cleveland, Ohio. Among the many guest performers were Duane Eddy, Eric Carmen, Lonnie Mack, Jennifer Batten, Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, Dennis Coffey, James Burton, Billy Gibbons, Lenny Kaye, Steve Lukather, Barbara Lynn, Katy Moffatt, Alannah Myles, Richie Sambora, The Ventures and Slash.
In February 2009, only months prior to his death, Les Paul sat down with Scott Vollweiler of Broken Records Magazine, in which would be one of Les Paul's final interviews. His candid answers were direct and emotional. Broken Records Magazine had planned to run that cover feature the following month but due to delays was held until the summer. 3 days before the release, Les Paul died. The issue would be his final cover feature of his storied career.
In August, 2009, Paul was named one of the ten best electric guitar players of all-time by ''Time'' magazine.
On June 9, 2010, which would have been Les Paul's 95th birthday, a tribute concert featuring Jeff Beck, Imelda May, Gary U.S. Bonds and Brian Setzer among others, was held at the Iridium Jazz Club where Les Paul played nearly every week almost to the end of his life. The concert was released on the live album Rock 'n' Roll Party (Honoring Les Paul) in 2011.
On June 9–10, 2011 Google celebrated what would have been Paul's 96th birthday with a Google doodle of an interactive guitar.
Personal life
Paul married Virginia Webb in 1938. They had two children, Gene (Lester Jr.), born in 1941 and named after actor-songwriter Gene Lockhart, and Russell (Rusty), born 1944, before divorcing in 1949. Later that year, Paul and Mary Ford (born Iris Colleen Summers) were married. They adopted a girl, Colleen, in 1958 and their son Robert (Bobby) was born the following year. They had also lost a child, who was born prematurely and died only four days old. Les Paul and Mary Ford divorced in 1963.Paul was the instructor of rock guitarist Steve Miller of the Steve Miller Band, to whom Paul gave his first guitar lesson. Miller's father was best man at Paul's 1949 wedding to Mary Ford.
Paul resided for many years in Mahwah, New Jersey.
Discography
Hit singles
| Year | Single | Chart positions | |||
| ! style="width:35px;" | ! style="width:35px;" | ! style="width:35px;" | ! style="width:35px;" | ||
| 1945 | 1 | ||||
| 1946 | 4 | ||||
| 21 | |||||
| 22 | |||||
| 11 | |||||
| 9 | |||||
| 21 | |||||
| 18 | |||||
| 6 | |||||
| 23 | |||||
| 2 | 7 | ||||
| 1 | 2 | ||||
| 12 | |||||
| 18 | |||||
| 2 | |||||
| 7 | |||||
| 5 | |||||
| 10 | |||||
| 2 | |||||
| 13 | |||||
| 14 | |||||
| 15 | |||||
| 14 | |||||
| 5 | |||||
| 15 | |||||
| 8 | |||||
| 7 | |||||
| 5 | |||||
| 10 | |||||
| 21 | |||||
| style="text-align:left;" | 1 | 7 | |||
| 15 | |||||
| 25 | |||||
| 13 | |||||
| 11 | |||||
| 6 | |||||
| 10 | |||||
| 19 | |||||
| 7 | |||||
| 38 | |||||
| 96 | |||||
| 91 | |||||
| 49 | |||||
| 91 | |||||
| 1957 | 35 | ||||
| 1958 | 32 | ||||
| 37 | |||||
| 105 | |||||
Albums
Singles
Compositions
Les Paul was also a prolific composer. Some of the songs he wrote were "Song in Blue", "Cryin'", "Hip-billy Boogie", "Suspicion", "Mandolino", "Magic Melody", "Don'cha Hear Them Bells", "The Kangaroo", "Big-Eyed Gal", "All I Need is You", "Mammy's Boogie", and "Walkin' and Whistlin' Blues".
See also
References
External links
Category:American jazz guitarists Category:American musical instrument makers Category:American radio personalities Category:Capitol Records artists Category:Columbia Records artists Category:Deaths from pneumonia Category:Decca Records artists Category:American musicians of German descent Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Guitar makers Category:Infectious disease deaths in New York Category:Inventors of musical instruments Category:Lead guitarists Category:Musicians from New Jersey Category:Musicians from Wisconsin Category:National Inventors Hall of Fame inductees Category:People from Mahwah, New Jersey Category:People from Waukesha, Wisconsin Category:RCA Victor artists Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Category:United States National Medal of Arts recipients Category:1915 births Category:2009 deaths Category:American rock guitarists Category:American inventors Category:American blues guitarists
ar:لس بول zh-min-nan:Les Paul bg:Лес Пол ca:Les Paul cs:Les Paul cy:Les Paul da:Les Paul (musiker) de:Les Paul et:Les Paul es:Les Paul eo:Les Paul fa:لس پال fr:Les Paul ga:Les Paul gl:Les Paul hr:Les Paul io:Les Paul id:Les Paul is:Les Paul it:Les Paul he:לס פול la:Les Paul lv:Less Pols lb:Les Paul hu:Les Paul ml:ലെസ് പോൾ nl:Les Paul ja:レス・ポール no:Les Paul nn:Les Paul uz:Les Paul pl:Les Paul pt:Les Paul ro:Les Paul ru:Лес Пол simple:Les Paul sk:Les Paul szl:Les Paul fi:Les Paul sv:Les Paul th:เลส พอล tr:Les Paul uk:Лес Пол vi:Les Paul zh-yue:Les Paul zh:萊斯·保羅This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
| name | Louis Armstrong |
|---|---|
| alt | A picture of Louis Armstrong. Short-haired black man in his fifties blowing into a trumpet. He is wearing a light-colored sport coat, a white shirt and a bow tie. He is faced left with his eyes looking upwards. His right hand is fingering the trumpet, with the index finger down and three fingers pointing upwards. The man's left hand is mostly covered with a handkerchief and it has a shining ring on the little finger. He is wearing a wristwatch on the left wrist. |
| landscape | Yes |
| background | solo_singer |
| birth name | Louis Armstrong |
| born | August 4, 1901New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. |
| died | July 06, 1971Corona, Queens, New York City, U.S. |
| instruments | Trumpet, cornet, vocals |
| genre | Dixieland, jazz, swing, traditional pop |
| occupation | Musician |
| spouse | Daisy Parker |
| years active | c. 1914–71 |
| associated acts | Joe "King" Oliver, Ella Fitzgerald, Kid Ory, Bobby Hackett |
| website | }} |
Coming to prominence in the 1920s as an "inventive" cornet and trumpet player, Armstrong was a foundational influence in jazz, shifting the music's focus from collective improvisation to solo performance.
With his instantly recognizable deep and distinctive gravelly voice, Armstrong was also an influential singer, demonstrating great dexterity as an improviser, bending the lyrics and melody of a song for expressive purposes. He was also greatly skilled at scat singing, vocalizing using sounds and syllables instead of actual lyrics.
Renowned for his charismatic stage presence and voice almost as much as for his trumpet-playing, Armstrong's influence extends well beyond jazz music, and by the end of his career in the 1960s, he was widely regarded as a profound influence on popular music in general.
Armstrong was one of the first truly popular African-American entertainers to "cross over," whose skin-color was secondary to his amazing talent in an America that was severely racially divided. It allowed him socially acceptable access to the upper echelons of American society that were highly restricted for a person of color. While he rarely publicly politicized his race, often to the dismay of fellow African-Americans, he was privately a strong supporter of the Civil Rights movement in America.
Biography
Early life
Armstrong often stated that he was born on July 4, 1900, a date that has been noted in many biographies. Although he died in 1971, it was not until the mid-1980s that his true birth date of August 4, 1901 was discovered through the examination of baptismal records.
Armstrong was born into a very poor family in New Orleans, Louisiana, the grandson of slaves. He spent his youth in poverty, in a rough neighborhood of Uptown New Orleans, known as “Back of Town”, as his father, William Armstrong (1881–1922), abandoned the family when Louis was an infant and took up with another woman. His mother, Mary "Mayann" Albert (1886–1942), then left Louis and his younger sister Beatrice Armstrong Collins (1903–1987) in the care of his grandmother, Josephine Armstrong, and at times, his Uncle Isaac. At five, he moved back to live with his mother and her relatives, and saw his father only in parades.
He attended the Fisk School for Boys. It was there that he likely had his first exposure to Creole music. He brought in some money as a paperboy and also by finding discarded food and selling it to restaurants, but it was not enough to keep his mother from prostitution. He hung out in dance halls close to home, where he observed everything from licentious dancing to the quadrille. For extra money he also hauled coal to Storyville, the famed red-light district, and listened to the bands playing in the brothels and dance halls, especially Pete Lala's where Joe "King" Oliver performed and other famous musicians would drop in to jam.
After dropping out of the Fisk School at age eleven, Armstrong joined a quartet of boys that sang in the streets for money. But he also started to get into trouble. Cornet player Bunk Johnson said he taught Armstrong (then 11) to play by ear at Dago Tony's Tonk in New Orleans, although in his later years Armstrong gave the credit to Oliver. Armstrong hardly looked back at his youth as the worst of times but instead drew inspiration from it, “Every time I close my eyes blowing that trumpet of mine—I look right in the heart of good old New Orleans...It has given me something to live for.”
He also worked for a Lithuanian-Jewish immigrant family, the Karnofskys, who had a junk hauling business and gave him odd jobs. They took him in and treated him as almost a family member, knowing he lived without a father, and would feed and nurture him. He later wrote a memoir of his relationship with the Karnofskys titled, ''Louis Armstrong + the Jewish Family in New Orleans, La., the Year of 1907.'' In it he describes his discovery that this family was also subject to discrimination by "other white folks' nationalities who felt that they were better than the Jewish race. I was only seven years old but I could easily see the ungodly treatment that the White Folks were handing the poor Jewish family whom I worked for." Armstrong wore a Star of David pendant for the rest of his life and wrote about what he learned from them: "how to live—real life and determination." The influence of Karnofsky is remembered in New Orleans by the Karnofsky Project, a non-profit organization dedicated to accepting donated musical instruments to "put them into the hands of an eager child who could not otherwise take part in a wonderful learning experience."
Armstrong developed his cornet playing seriously in the band of the New Orleans Home for Colored Waifs, where he had been sent multiple times for general delinquency, most notably for a long term after firing his stepfather's pistol into the air at a New Year's Eve celebration, as police records confirm. Professor Peter Davis (who frequently appeared at the Home at the request of its administrator, Captain Joseph Jones) instilled discipline in and provided musical training to the otherwise self-taught Armstrong. Eventually, Davis made Armstrong the band leader. The Home band played around New Orleans and the thirteen year old Louis began to draw attention by his cornet playing, starting him on a musical career. At fourteen he was released from the Home, living again with his father and new stepmother and then back with his mother and also back to the streets and their temptations. Armstrong got his first dance hall job at Henry Ponce’s where Black Benny became his protector and guide. He hauled coal by day and played his cornet at night.
He played in the city's frequent brass band parades and listened to older musicians every chance he got, learning from Bunk Johnson, Buddy Petit, Kid Ory, and above all, Joe "King" Oliver, who acted as a mentor and father figure to the young musician. Later, he played in the brass bands and riverboats of New Orleans, and began traveling with the well-regarded band of Fate Marable, which toured on a steamboat up and down the Mississippi River. He described his time with Marable as, "going to the University," since it gave him a much wider experience working with written arrangements.
In 1919, Joe Oliver decided to go north and resigned his position in Kid Ory's band; Armstrong replaced him. He also became second trumpet for the Tuxedo Brass Band, a society band.
Career
On March 19, 1918, Louis married Daisy Parker from Gretna, Louisiana. They adopted a 3-year-old boy, Clarence Armstrong, whose mother, Louis's cousin Flora, died soon after giving birth. Clarence Armstrong was mentally disabled (the result of a head injury at an early age) and Louis would spend the rest of his life taking care of him. Louis's marriage to Parker failed quickly and they separated. She died shortly after the divorce.Through all his riverboat experience Armstrong’s musicianship began to mature and expand. At twenty, he could read music and he started to be featured in extended trumpet solos, one of the first jazzmen to do this, injecting his own personality and style into his solo turns. He had learned how to create a unique sound and also started using singing and patter in his performances. In 1922, Armstrong joined the exodus to Chicago, where he had been invited by his mentor, Joe "King" Oliver, to join his Creole Jazz Band and where he could make a sufficient income so that he no longer needed to supplement his music with day labor jobs. It was a boom time in Chicago and though race relations were poor, the “Windy City” was teeming with jobs for black people, who were making good wages in factories and had plenty to spend on entertainment.
Oliver's band was the best and most influential hot jazz band in Chicago in the early 1920s, at a time when Chicago was the center of the jazz universe. Armstrong lived like a king in Chicago, in his own apartment with his own private bath (his first). Excited as he was to be in Chicago, he began his career-long pastime of writing nostalgic letters to friends in New Orleans. As Armstrong’s reputation grew, he was challenged to “cutting contests” by hornmen trying to displace the new phenom, who could blow two hundred high C’s in a row. Armstrong made his first recordings on the Gennett and Okeh labels (jazz records were starting to boom across the country), including taking some solos and breaks, while playing second cornet in Oliver's band in 1923. At this time, he met Hoagy Carmichael (with whom he would collaborate later) who was introduced by friend Bix Beiderbecke, who now had his own Chicago band.
Armstrong enjoyed working with Oliver, but Louis's second wife, pianist Lil Hardin Armstrong, urged him to seek more prominent billing and develop his newer style away from the influence of Oliver. Armstrong took the advice of his wife and left Oliver's band. For a year Armstrong played in Fletcher Henderson's band in New York on many recordings. After playing in New York, Armstrong returned to Chicago, playing in large orchestras; there he created his most important early recordings. Lil had her husband play classical music in church concerts to broaden his skill and improve his solo play and she prodded him into wearing more stylish attire to make him look sharp and to better offset his growing girth. Lil’s influence eventually undermined Armstrong’s relationship with his mentor, especially concerning his salary and additional moneys that Oliver held back from Armstrong and other band members. Armstrong and Oliver parted amicably in 1924. Shortly afterward, Armstrong received an invitation to go to New York City to play with the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra, the top African-American band of the day. Armstrong switched to the trumpet to blend in better with the other musicians in his section. His influence upon Henderson's tenor sax soloist, Coleman Hawkins, can be judged by listening to the records made by the band during this period. Armstrong quickly adapted to the more tightly controlled style of Henderson, playing trumpet and even experimenting with the trombone and the other members quickly took up Armstrong’s emotional, expressive pulse. Soon his act included singing and telling tales of New Orleans characters, especially preachers. The Henderson Orchestra was playing in the best venues for white-only patrons, including the famed Roseland Ballroom, featuring the classy arrangements of Don Redman. Duke Ellington’s orchestra would go to Roseland to catch Armstrong’s performances and young hornmen around town tried in vain to outplay him, splitting their lips in their attempts.
During this time, Armstrong also made many recordings on the side, arranged by an old friend from New Orleans, pianist Clarence Williams; these included small jazz band sides with the Williams Blue Five (some of the best pairing Armstrong with one of Armstrong's few rivals in fiery technique and ideas, Sidney Bechet) and a series of accompaniments with blues singers, including Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, and Alberta Hunter.
Armstrong returned to Chicago in 1925 due mostly to the urging of his wife, who wanted to pump up Armstrong’s career and income. He was content in New York but later would concede that she was right and that the Henderson Orchestra was limiting his artistic growth. In publicity, much to his chagrin, she billed him as “the World’s Greatest Trumpet Player”. At first he was actually a member of the Lil Hardin Armstrong Band and working for his wife. He began recording under his own name for Okeh with his famous Hot Five and Hot Seven groups, producing hits such as "Potato Head Blues", "Muggles", (a reference to marijuana, for which Armstrong had a lifelong fondness), and "West End Blues", the music of which set the standard and the agenda for jazz for many years to come.
The group included Kid Ory (trombone), Johnny Dodds (clarinet), Johnny St. Cyr (banjo), wife Lil on piano, and usually no drummer. Armstrong’s bandleading style was easygoing, as St. Cyr noted, "One felt so relaxed working with him and he was very broad-minded ... always did his best to feature each individual." His recordings soon after with pianist Earl "Fatha" Hines (most famously their 1928 ''Weatherbird'' duet) and Armstrong's trumpet introduction to "West End Blues" remain some of the most famous and influential improvisations in jazz history. Armstrong was now free to develop his personal style as he wished, which included a heavy dose of effervescent jive, such as "whip that thing, Miss Lil" and "Mr. Johnny Dodds, Aw, do that clarinet, boy!"
Armstrong also played with Erskine Tate’s Little Symphony, actually a quintet, which played mostly at the Vendome Theatre. They furnished music for silent movies and live shows, including jazz versions of classical music, such as “Madame Butterfly,” which gave Armstrong experience with longer forms of music and with hosting before a large audience. He began to scat sing (improvised vocal jazz using non-sensical words) and was among the first to record it, on "Heebie Jeebies" in 1926. So popular was the recording the group became the most famous jazz band in the USA even though they as yet had not performed live to any great degree. Young musicians across the country, black and white, were turned on by Armstrong’s new type of jazz.
After separating from Lil, Armstrong started to play at the Sunset Café for Al Capone's associate Joe Glaser in the Carroll Dickerson Orchestra, with Earl Hines on piano, which was soon renamed ''Louis Armstrong and his Stompers'', though Hines was the music director and Glaser managed the orchestra. Hines and Armstrong became fast friends as well as successful collaborators.
Armstrong returned to New York, in 1929, where he played in the pit orchestra of the successful musical ''Hot Chocolate'', an all-black revue written by Andy Razaf and pianist/composer Fats Waller. He also made a cameo appearance as a vocalist, regularly stealing the show with his rendition of "Ain't Misbehavin'", his version of the song becoming his biggest selling record to date.
Armstrong started to work at Connie's Inn in Harlem, chief rival to the Cotton Club, a venue for elaborately staged floor shows, and a front for gangster Dutch Schultz. Armstrong also had considerable success with vocal recordings, including versions of famous songs composed by his old friend Hoagy Carmichael. His 1930s recordings took full advantage of the new RCA ribbon microphone, introduced in 1931, which imparted a characteristic warmth to vocals and immediately became an intrinsic part of the 'crooning' sound of artists like Bing Crosby. Armstrong's famous interpretation of Hoagy Carmichael's "Stardust" became one of the most successful versions of this song ever recorded, showcasing Armstrong's unique vocal sound and style and his innovative approach to singing songs that had already become standards.
Armstrong's radical re-working of Sidney Arodin and Carmichael's "Lazy River" (recorded in 1931) encapsulated many features of his groundbreaking approach to melody and phrasing. The song begins with a brief trumpet solo, then the main melody is stated by sobbing horns, memorably punctuated by Armstrong's growling interjections at the end of each bar: "Yeah! ..."Uh-huh" ..."Sure" ... "Way down, way down." In the first verse, he ignores the notated melody entirely and sings as if playing a trumpet solo, pitching most of the first line on a single note and using strongly syncopated phrasing. In the second stanza he breaks into an almost fully improvised melody, which then evolves into a classic passage of Armstrong "scat singing".
As with his trumpet playing, Armstrong's vocal innovations served as a foundation stone for the art of jazz vocal interpretation. The uniquely gritty coloration of his voice became a musical archetype that was much imitated and endlessly impersonated. His scat singing style was enriched by his matchless experience as a trumpet soloist. His resonant, velvety lower-register tone and bubbling cadences on sides such as "Lazy River" exerted a huge influence on younger white singers such as Bing Crosby.
The Depression of the early Thirties was especially hard on the jazz scene. The Cotton Club closed in 1936 after a long downward spiral and many musicians stopped playing altogether as club dates evaporated. Bix Beiderbecke died and Fletcher Henderson’s band broke up. King Oliver made a few records but otherwise struggled. Sidney Bechet became a tailor and Kid Ory returned to New Orleans and raised chickens. Armstrong moved to Los Angeles in 1930 to seek new opportunities. He played at the New Cotton Club in LA with Lionel Hampton on drums. The band drew the Hollywood crowd, which could still afford a lavish night life, while radio broadcasts from the club connected with younger audiences at home. Bing Crosby and many other celebrities were regulars at the club. In 1931, Armstrong appeared in his first movie, ''Ex-Flame''. Armstrong was convicted of marijuana possession but received a suspended sentence. He returned to Chicago in late 1931 and played in bands more in the Guy Lombardo vein and he recorded more standards. When the mob insisted that he get out of town, Armstrong visited New Orleans, got a hero’s welcome and saw old friends. He sponsored a local baseball team known as “Armstrong’s Secret Nine” and got a cigar named after himself. But soon he was on the road again and after a tour across the country shadowed by the mob, Armstrong decided to go to Europe to escape.
After returning to the States, he undertook several exhausting tours. His agent Johnny Collins’ erratic behavior and his own spending ways left Armstrong short of cash. Breach of contract violations plagued him. Finally, he hired Joe Glaser as his new manager, a tough mob-connected wheeler-dealer, who began to straighten out his legal mess, his mob troubles, and his debts. Armstrong also began to experience problems with his fingers and lips, which were aggravated by his unorthodox playing style. As a result he branched out, developing his vocal style and making his first theatrical appearances. He appeared in movies again, including Crosby's 1936 hit ''Pennies from Heaven''. In 1937, Armstrong substituted for Rudy Vallee on the CBS radio network and became the first African American to host a sponsored, national broadcast. He finally divorced Lil in 1938 and married longtime girlfriend Alpha.
After spending many years on the road, Armstrong settled permanently in Queens, New York in 1943 in contentment with his fourth wife, Lucille. Although subject to the vicissitudes of Tin Pan Alley and the gangster-ridden music business, as well as anti-black prejudice, he continued to develop his playing. He recorded Hoagy Carmichael's Rockin' Chair for Okeh Records.
During the subsequent thirty years, Armstrong played more than three hundred gigs a year. Bookings for big bands tapered off during the 1940s due to changes in public tastes: ballrooms closed, and there was competition from television and from other types of music becoming more popular than big band music. It became impossible under such circumstances to support and finance a 16-piece touring band.
The All Stars
Following a highly successful small-group jazz concert at New York Town Hall on May 17, 1947, featuring Armstrong with trombonist/singer Jack Teagarden, Armstrong's manager Joe Glaser dissolved the Armstrong big band on August 13, 1947 and established a six-piece small group featuring Armstrong with (initially) Teagarden, Earl Hines and other top swing and dixieland musicians, most of them ex-big band leaders. The new group was announced at the opening of Billy Berg's Supper Club.This group was called Louis Armstrong and his All Stars and included at various times Earl "Fatha" Hines, Barney Bigard, Edmond Hall, Jack Teagarden, Trummy Young, Arvell Shaw, Billy Kyle, Marty Napoleon, Big Sid Catlett, Cozy Cole, Tyree Glenn, Barrett Deems and the Filipino-American percussionist, Danny Barcelona. During this period, Armstrong made many recordings and appeared in over thirty films. He was the first jazz musician to appear on the cover of ''Time Magazine'' on February 21, 1949.
In 1964, he recorded his biggest-selling record, "Hello, Dolly!" The song went to #1 on the pop chart, making Armstrong (age 63) the oldest person to ever accomplish that feat. In the process, Armstrong dislodged The Beatles from the #1 position they had occupied for 14 consecutive weeks with three different songs.
Armstrong kept up his busy tour schedule until a few years before his death in 1971. In his later years he would sometimes play some of his numerous gigs by rote, but other times would enliven the most mundane gig with his vigorous playing, often to the astonishment of his band. He also toured Africa, Europe, and Asia under sponsorship of the US State Department with great success, earning the nickname "Ambassador Satch." While failing health restricted his schedule in his last years, within those limitations he continued playing until the day he died.
Death
Armstrong died of a heart attack in his sleep on July 6, 1971, a month before his 70th birthday, and 11 months after playing a famous show at the Waldorf-Astoria's Empire Room. He was residing in Corona, Queens, New York City, at the time of his death. He was interred in Flushing Cemetery, Flushing, in Queens, New York City.His honorary pallbearers included Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Pearl Bailey, Count Basie, Harry James, Frank Sinatra, Ed Sullivan, Earl Wilson, Alan King, Johnny Carson and David Frost. Peggy Lee sang The Lord's Prayer at the services while Al Hibbler sang "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen" and Fred Robbins, a long-time friend, gave the eulogy.
Personality
Armstrong was a colorful character. His own biography vexes biographers and historians, because he had a habit of telling tales, particularly of his early childhood, when he was less scrutinized, and his embellishments of his history often lack consistency.He was not only an entertainer. Armstrong was a leading personality of the day who was so beloved by a white-controlled America that gave even the greatest African American performers little access beyond their public celebrity, that he was able to privately live a life of access and privilege accorded to few other African Americans.
He tried to remain politically neutral, which gave him a large part of that access, but often alienated him from members of the African-American community who looked to him to use his prominence with white America to become more of an outspoken figure during the Civil Rights Era of U.S. history.
Nicknames
The nicknames Satchmo and Satch are short for Satchelmouth. Like many things in Armstrong's life, which was filled with colorful stories both real and imagined, many of his own telling, the nickname has many possible origins.The most common tale that biographers tell is the story of Armstrong as a young boy dancing for pennies in the streets of New Orleans, who would scoop up the coins off of the streets and stick them into his mouth to avoid having the bigger children steal them from him. Someone dubbed him "satchel mouth" for his mouth acting as a satchel.
Early on he was also known as Dipper, short for Dippermouth, a reference to the piece ''Dippermouth Blues''. and something of a riff on his unusual embouchure.
Armstrong and race
Armstrong was largely accepted into white society, both on stage and off, a privilege reserved for very few African-American public figures, and usually those of either exceptional talent and fair skin-tone. As his fame grew, so did his access to the finer things in life usually denied to a black man, even a famous one. His renown was such that he dined in the best restaurants and stayed in hotels usually exclusively for whites.It was a power and privilege that he enjoyed, although he was very careful not to flaunt it with fellow performers of color, and privately, he shared what access that he could with friends and fellow musicians.
That still did not prevent members of the African-American community, particularly in the late 1950s to the early 1970s, from calling him an ''Uncle Tom'', a black-on-black racial epithet for someone who kowtowed to white society at the expense of their own racial identity.
He was criticized for accepting the title of "King of The Zulus" for Mardi Gras in 1949. In the New Orleans African-American community it is an honored role as the head of leading black Carnival Krewe, but bewildering or offensive to outsiders with their traditional costume of grass-skirts and blackface makeup satirizing southern white attitudes.
Some musicians criticized Armstrong for playing in front of segregated audiences, and for not taking a strong enough stand in the civil rights movement.
Billie Holiday countered, however, "Of course Pops toms, but he toms from the heart."
The few exceptions made it more effective when he did speak out. Armstrong's criticism of President Eisenhower, calling him "two-faced" and "gutless" because of his inaction during the conflict over school desegregation in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957 made national news.
As a protest, Armstrong canceled a planned tour of the Soviet Union on behalf of the State Department saying "The way they're treating my people in the South, the government can go to hell" and that he could not represent his government abroad when it was in conflict with its own people. Six days after Armstrong's comments, Eisenhower ordered Federal troops to Little Rock to escort students into the school.
The FBI kept a file on Armstrong, for his outspokenness about integration.
Religion
When asked about his religion, Armstrong would answer that he was raised a Baptist, always wore a Star of David, and was friends with the Pope. Armstrong wore the Star of David in honor of the Karnofsky family, who took him in as a child and lent him the money to buy his first cornet. Louis Armstrong was, in fact, baptized as a Catholic at the Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in New Orleans, and he met popes Pius XII and Paul VI, though there is no evidence that he considered himself Catholic. Armstrong seems to have been tolerant towards various religions, but also found humor in them.
Personal habits
Purging
Armstrong was also greatly concerned with his health and bodily functions. He made frequent use of laxatives as a means of controlling his weight, a practice he advocated both to personal acquaintances and in the diet plans he published under the title ''Lose Weight the Satchmo Way''. Armstrong's laxative of preference in his younger days was Pluto Water, but he then became an enthusiastic convert when he discovered the herbal remedy Swiss Kriss. He would extol its virtues to anyone who would listen and pass out packets to everyone he encountered, including members of the British Royal Family. (Armstrong also appeared in humorous, albeit risqué, cards that he had printed to send out to friends; the cards bore a picture of him sitting on a toilet—as viewed through a keyhole—with the slogan "''Satch says, 'Leave it all behind ya!'''") The cards have sometimes been incorrectly described as ads for Swiss Kriss.In a live recording of "Baby, It's Cold Outside" with Velma Middleton, he changes the lyric from "Put another record on while I pour" to "Take some Swiss Kriss while I pour." The line, slightly garbled in the live recording, could just as likely be "Take some Swiss Miss while I pour"—Swiss Miss is a hot chocolate mix that would have been fairly new on the market in 1951. (The line comes at 1:04 in the song.)
Love of food
The concern with his health and weight was balanced by his love of food, reflected in such songs as "Cheesecake", "Cornet Chop Suey," though "Struttin’ with Some Barbecue" was written about a fine-looking companion, not about food. He kept a strong connection throughout his life to the cooking of New Orleans, always signing his letters, "Red beans and ricely yours..."
Writings
Armstrong’s gregariousness extended to writing. On the road, he wrote constantly, sharing favorite themes of his life with correspondents around the world. He avidly typed or wrote on whatever stationery was at hand, recording instant takes on music, sex, food, childhood memories, his heavy “medicinal” marijuana use—and even his bowel movements, which he gleefully described. He had a fondness for lewd jokes and dirty limericks as well.
Social organizations
Louis Armstrong was not, as is often claimed, a Freemason. Although he is usually listed as being a member of Montgomery Lodge No. 18 (Prince Hall) in New York, no such lodge has ever existed. Armstrong states in his autobiography, however, that he was a member of the Knights of Pythias, which is not a Masonic group.
Music
Horn playing and early jazz
In his early years, Armstrong was best known for his virtuosity with the cornet and trumpet. The greatest trumpet playing of his early years can be heard on his Hot Five and Hot Seven records, as well as the Red Onion Jazz Babies. The improvisations he made on these records of New Orleans jazz standards and popular songs of the day are unsurpassed by later jazz performers. The older generation of New Orleans jazz musicians often referred to their improvisations as "variating the melody." Armstrong's improvisations were daring and sophisticated for the time, while often subtle and melodic.He often essentially re-composed pop-tunes he played, making them more interesting. Armstrong's playing is filled with joyous, inspired original melodies, creative leaps, and subtle relaxed or driving rhythms. The genius of these creative passages is matched by Armstrong's playing technique, honed by constant practice, which extended the range, tone and capabilities of the trumpet. In these records, Armstrong almost single-handedly created the role of the jazz soloist, taking what was essentially a collective folk music and turning it into an art form with tremendous possibilities for individual expression.
Armstrong's work in the 1920s shows him playing at the outer limits of his abilities. The Hot Five records, especially, often have minor flubs and missed notes, which do little to detract from listening enjoyment since the energy of the spontaneous performance comes through. By the mid 1930s, Armstrong achieved a smooth assurance, knowing exactly what he could do and carrying out his ideas to perfection.
He was one of the first artists to use recordings of his performances to improve himself. Armstrong was an avid audiophile. He had a large collection of recordings, including reel-to-reel tapes, which he took on the road with him in a trunk during his later career. He enjoyed listening to his own recordings, and comparing his performances musically. In the den of his home, he had the latest audio equipment and would sometimes rehearse and record along with his older recordings or the radio.
Vocal popularity
As his music progressed and popularity grew, his singing also became very important. Armstrong was not the first to record scat singing, but he was masterful at it and helped popularize it. He had a hit with his playing and scat singing on "Heebie Jeebies" when, according to some legends, the sheet music fell on the floor and he simply started singing nonsense syllables. Armstrong stated in his memoirs that this actually occurred. He also sang out "I done forgot the words" in the middle of recording "I'm A Ding Dong Daddy From Dumas."Such records were hits and scat singing became a major part of his performances. Long before this, however, Armstrong was playing around with his vocals, shortening and lengthening phrases, interjecting improvisations, using his voice as creatively as his trumpet.
Colleagues and followers
During his long career he played and sang with some of the most important instrumentalists and vocalists of the time; among them were Bing Crosby, Duke Ellington, Fletcher Henderson, Earl Hines, the singing brakeman Jimmie Rodgers, Bessie Smith and perhaps most famously Ella Fitzgerald.His influence upon Bing Crosby is particularly important with regard to the subsequent development of popular music: Crosby admired and copied Armstrong, as is evident on many of his early recordings, notably "Just One More Chance" (1931). The ''New Grove Dictionary Of Jazz'' describes Crosby's debt to Armstrong in precise detail, although it does not acknowledge Armstrong by name:
Armstrong recorded three albums with Ella Fitzgerald: ''Ella and Louis'', ''Ella and Louis Again'', and ''Porgy and Bess'' for Verve Records, with the sessions featuring the backing musicianship of the Oscar Peterson Trio and drummer Buddy Rich. His recordings ''Satch Plays Fats'', all Fats Waller tunes, and ''Louis Armstrong Plays W.C. Handy'' in the 1950s were perhaps among the last of his great creative recordings, but even oddities like ''Disney Songs the Satchmo Way'' are seen to have their musical moments. And, his participation in Dave Brubeck's high-concept jazz musical ''The Real Ambassadors'' was critically acclaimed. For the most part, however, his later output was criticized as being overly simplistic or repetitive.
Hits and later career
Armstrong had many hit records including "Stardust", "What a Wonderful World", "When The Saints Go Marching In", "Dream a Little Dream of Me", "Ain't Misbehavin'", "You Rascal You,"and "Stompin' at the Savoy." "We Have All the Time in the World" was featured on the soundtrack of the James Bond film ''On Her Majesty's Secret Service'', and enjoyed renewed popularity in the UK in 1994 when it featured on a Guinness advert. It reached number 3 in the charts on being re-released.In 1964, Armstrong knocked the Beatles off the top of the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart with "Hello, Dolly!", which gave the 63-year-old performer a U.S. record as the oldest artist to have a number one song. His 1964 song, "Bout Time" was later featured in the film "Bewitched" (2005).
Armstrong performed in Italy at the 1968 Sanremo Music Festival where he sang "Mi Va di Cantare" alongside his friend, the Eritrean-born Italian singer Lara Saint Paul. In February 1968, he also appeared with Lara Saint Paul on the Italian RAI television channel where he performed "Grassa e Bella," a track he sang in Italian for the Italian market and C.D.I. label.
In 1968, Armstrong scored one last popular hit in the United Kingdom with the highly sentimental pop song "What a Wonderful World", which topped the British charts for a month; however, the single did not chart at all in America. The song gained greater currency in the popular consciousness when it was used in the 1987 movie ''Good Morning, Vietnam'', its subsequent rerelease topping many charts around the world. Armstrong even appeared on the October 28, 1970 ''Johnny Cash Show'', where he sang Nat "King" Cole's hit "Rambling Rose" and joined Cash to re-create his performance backing Jimmie Rodgers on "Blue Yodel #9".
Stylistic range
Armstrong enjoyed many types of music, from blues to the arrangements of Guy Lombardo, to Latin American folksongs, to classical symphonies and opera. Armstrong incorporated influences from all these sources into his performances, sometimes to the bewilderment of fans who wanted Armstrong to stay in convenient narrow categories. Armstrong was inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as an ''early influence''. Some of his solos from the 1950s, such as the hard rocking version of "St. Louis Blues" from the ''WC Handy'' album, show that the influence went in both directions.
Literature, radio, films and TV
Armstrong appeared in more than a dozen Hollywood films, usually playing a band leader or musician. His most familiar role was as the bandleader ''cum'' narrator in the 1956 musical, ''High Society'', in which he sang the title song and performed a duet with Bing Crosby on "Now You Has Jazz". In 1947, he played himself in the movie ''New Orleans'' opposite Billie Holiday, which chronicled the demise of the Storyville district and the ensuing exodus of musicians from New Orleans to Chicago. In the 1959 film, The Five Pennies (the story of the cornetist Red Nichols), he played himself as well as singing and playing several classic numbers, including a remarkable duet with Danny Kaye of ''When the Saints Go Marching In'' during which Kaye does a brilliant impersonation of Armstrong. He also had a part in the film alongside James Stewart in "The Glenn Miller Story" in which Glenn (played by Stewart) went along to Connies Inn and had a jam session with him and a few other noted musicians of the time, Louis sang "Basin St. Blues"..He was the first African American to host a nationally broadcast radio show in the 1930s. In 1969, Armstrong had a cameo role in the film version of ''Hello, Dolly!'' as the bandleader, Louis, to which he sang the title song with actress Barbra Streisand. His solo recording of "Hello, Dolly!" is one of his most recognizable performances. He was heard on such radio programs as ''The Story of Swing'' (1937) and ''This Is Jazz'' (1947), and he also made countless television appearances, especially in the 1950s and 1960s, including appearances on ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson''.
Armstrong has a record star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7601 Hollywood Boulevard.
Many of Armstrong's recordings remain popular. Almost four decades since his passing, a larger number of his recordings from all periods of his career are more widely available than at any time during his lifetime. His songs are broadcast and listened to every day throughout the world, and are honored in various movies, TV series, commercials, and even anime and computer games. "A Kiss to Build a Dream On" was included in the computer game ''Fallout 2'', accompanying the intro cinematic. It was also used in the 1993 film ''Sleepless in Seattle'' and the 2005 film ''Lord of War''. His 1923 recordings, with Joe Oliver and his Creole Jazz Band, continue to be listened to as documents of ensemble style New Orleans jazz, but more particularly as ripper jazz records in their own right. All too often, however, Armstrong recorded with stiff, standard orchestras leaving only his sublime trumpet playing as of interest. "Melancholy Blues," performed by Armstrong and his Hot Seven was included on the Voyager Golden Record sent into outer space to represent one of the greatest achievements of humanity. Most familiar to modern listeners is his ubiquitous rendition of "What a Wonderful World". In 2008, Armstrong's recording of Edith Piaf's famous "La Vie En Rose" was used in a scene of the popular Disney/Pixar film ''WALL-E''. The song was also used in parts, especially the opening trumpets, in the French Film Jeux d'enfants (English: Love Me If You Dare)
Argentine writer Julio Cortázar, a self-described Armstrong admirer, asserted that a 1952 Louis Armstrong concert at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris played a significant role in inspiring him to create the fictional creatures called Cronopios that are the subject of a number of Cortázar's short stories. Cortázar once called Armstrong himself "Grandísimo Cronopio" (Most Enormous Cronopio).
Armstrong appears as a minor character in Harry Turtledove's Southern Victory Series. When he and his band escape from a Nazi-like Confederacy, they enhance the insipid mainstream music of the North. A young Armstrong also appears as a minor character in Patrick Neate's 2001 novel ''Twelve Bar Blues'', part of which is set in New Orleans, and which was a winner at that year's Whitbread Book Awards.
There is a pivotal scene in 1980's ''Stardust Memories'' in which Woody Allen is overwhelmed by a recording of Armstrong's Stardust and experiences a nostalgic epiphany. The combination of the music and the perfect moment is the catalyst for much of the film's action, prompting the protagonist to fall in love with an ill-advised woman.
Armstrong is referred to in ''The Trumpet of the Swan'' along with Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday. Three siblings in the film are named Louis, Billie, and Ella. The main character, Louis, plays a trumpet, an obvious nod to Armstrong. In the original E. B. White book, he is referred to by name, by a child who hears Louis playing and comments, "He sounds just like Louis Armstrong, the famous trumpet player."
In the 2009 Disney Film ''The Princess and the Frog'', one of the supporting characters is a trumpet-playing alligator named Louis. During the song "When I'm Human", Louis sings a line and it says "Y'all heard of Louis Armstrong".
Awards and honors
Grammy Awards
Armstrong was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1972 by the Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. This Special Merit Award is presented by vote of the Recording Academy's National Trustees to performers who, during their lifetimes, have made creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording.{| class=wikitable |- | colspan="6" style="text-align:center;" | Grammy Award |- ! Year ! Category ! Title ! Genre ! Label ! Result |- align=center | 1964 | Male Vocal Performance | "Hello, Dolly!" | Pop | Kapp | Winner |}
Grammy Hall of Fame
Recordings of Armstrong were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, which is a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least twenty-five years old, and that have "qualitative or historical significance."{| class=wikitable |- | colspan="6" style="text-align:center;" | Grammy Hall of Fame |- ! Year Recorded ! Title ! Genre ! Label ! Year Inducted ! Notes |- align=center | 1929 | "St. Louis Blues" | Jazz (Single) | OKeh | 2008 |with Bessie Smith |- align=center | 1928 | "Weather Bird" | Jazz (Single) | OKeh | 2008 | with Earl Hines |- align=center | 1930 | "Blue Yodel #9(Standing on the Corner)" | Country (Single) | Victor | 2007 | Jimmie Rodgers (Featuring Louis Armstrong) |- align=center | 1932 | "All of Me" | Jazz (Single) | Columbia | 2005 | |- align=center | 1958 | ''Porgy and Bess'' | Jazz (Album) | Verve | 2001 | with Ella Fitzgerald |- align=center | 1964 | "Hello Dolly!" | Pop (Single) | Kapp | 2001 | |- align=center | 1926 | "Heebie Jeebies" | Jazz (Single) | OKeh | 1999 | |- align=center | 1968 | "What a Wonderful World" | Jazz (Single) | ABC | 1999 | |- align=center | 1955 | "Mack the Knife" | Jazz (Single) | Columbia | 1997 | |- align=center | 1925 | "St. Louis Blues" | Jazz (Single) | Columbia | 1993 | Bessie Smith with Louis Armstrong, cornet |- align=center | 1928 | "West End Blues" | Jazz (Single) | OKeh | 1974 | |}
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame listed Armstrong's ''West End Blues'' on the list of 500 songs that shaped Rock and Roll.{| class=wikitable |- ! Year Recorded ! Title ! Label ! Group |- align=center | 1928 | West End Blues | Okeh | Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five |}
Inductions and honors
In 1995, the U.S. Post Office issued a Louis Armstrong 32 cents commemorative postage stamp.{| class=wikitable |- ! Year Inducted ! Title ! Results ! Notes |- align=center | 2007 | Louisiana Music Hall of Fame | | |- align=center | 2007 | Gennett Records Walk of Fame, Richmond, Indiana | | |- align=center | 2007 | Long Island Music Hall of Fame | | |- align=center | 2004 | Nesuhi Ertegün Jazz Hall of Fameat Jazz at Lincoln Center | | |- align=center | 1990 | Rock and Roll Hall of Fame | | Early influence |- align=center | 1978 | Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame | | |- align=center | 1952 | Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame | | |- align=center | 1960 | Hollywood Walk of Fame | Star | at 7601 Hollywood Blvd. |}
Legacy
The house where Louis Armstrong lived for close to 28 years was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1977 and is now a museum. The Louis Armstrong House Museum, at 34-56 107th Street (between 34th and 37th Avenues) in Corona, Queens, presents concerts and educational programs, operates as a historic house museum and makes materials in its archives of writings, books, recordings and memorabilia available to the public for research. The museum is operated by the City University of New York's Queens College, following the dictates of Lucille Armstrong's will.The museum opened to the public on October 15, 2003. A visitors center is currently being planned, and estimated to open in 2011.
The influence of Armstrong on the development of jazz is virtually immeasurable. Yet, his irrepressible personality both as a performer, and as a public figure later in his career, was so strong that to some it sometimes overshadowed his contributions as a musician and singer.
As a virtuoso trumpet player, Armstrong had a unique tone and an extraordinary talent for melodic improvisation. Through his playing, the trumpet emerged as a solo instrument in jazz and is used widely today. He was a masterful accompanist and ensemble player in addition to his extraordinary skills as a soloist. With his innovations, he raised the bar musically for all who came after him.
Though Armstrong is widely recognized as a pioneer of scat singing, Ethel Waters precedes his scatting on record in the 1930s according to Gary Giddins and others. Billie Holiday and Frank Sinatra are just two singers who were greatly indebted to him. Holiday said that she always wanted Bessie Smith's 'big' sound and Armstrong's feeling in her singing.
On August 4, 2001, the centennial of Armstrong's birth, New Orleans's airport was renamed Louis Armstrong International Airport in his honor.
In 2002, the Louis Armstrong's Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings (1925–1928) are preserved in the United States National Recording Registry, a registry of recordings selected yearly by the National Recording Preservation Board for preservation in the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress.
The US Open tennis tournament's former main stadium was named Louis Armstrong Stadium in honor of Armstrong who had lived a few blocks from the site.
Today, there are many bands worldwide dedicated to preserving and honoring the music and style of Satchmo, including the Louis Armstrong Society located in New Orleans, LA.
Discography
Notes
References
Video clips
External links
Category:Article Feedback Pilot Category:1901 births Category:1971 deaths Category:ABC Records artists Category:African American brass musicians Category:African American singers Category:American buskers Category:American jazz cornetists Category:American jazz singers Category:American jazz trumpeters Category:Burials at Flushing Cemetery Category:Cardiovascular disease deaths in New York Category:Columbia Records artists Category:Deaths from myocardial infarction Category:Decca Records artists Category:Dixieland bandleaders Category:Dixieland singers Category:Dixieland trumpeters Category:Gennett recording artists Category:Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Category:Jazz bandleaders Category:Jazz musicians from New Orleans, Louisiana Category:MGM Records artists Category:Musicians from Louisiana Category:Okeh Records artists Category:People from Corona, Queens Category:RCA Victor artists Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Category:Swing bandleaders Category:Swing singers Category:Swing trumpeters Category:Traditional pop music singers Category:Vocal jazz musicians Category:Vocalion Records artists Category:Performing arts pages with videographic documentation
ar:لويس أرمسترونغ an:Louis Armstrong az:Luis Armstronq zh-min-nan:Louis Armstrong be:Луі Армстранг be-x-old:Луіс Армстранг bs:Louis Armstrong br:Louis Armstrong bg:Луис Армстронг ca:Louis Armstrong cv:Луи Армстронг cs:Louis Armstrong cy:Louis Armstrong da:Louis Armstrong de:Louis Armstrong et:Louis Armstrong el:Λούις Άρμστρονγκ es:Louis Armstrong eo:Louis Armstrong eu:Louis Armstrong fa:لویی آرمسترانگ hif:Louis Armstrong fr:Louis Armstrong fy:Louis Armstrong gl:Louis Armstrong gan:路易·暗式將 ko:루이 암스트롱 hi:लुईस आर्मस्ट्रांग hr:Louis Armstrong io:Louis Armstrong id:Louis Armstrong is:Louis Armstrong it:Louis Armstrong he:לואי ארמסטרונג pam:Louis Armstrong ka:ლუი არმსტრონგი sw:Louis Armstrong la:Ludovicus Armstrong lv:Lūiss Ārmstrongs lb:Louis Armstrong lt:Louis Armstrong hu:Louis Armstrong mk:Луис Армстронг ml:ലൂയിസ് ആംസ്ട്രോംങ് ms:Louis Armstrong nl:Louis Armstrong ja:ルイ・アームストロング no:Louis Armstrong nn:Louis Armstrong oc:Louis Armstrong pnb:لوئیس آرمسٹرانگ pap:Louis Armstrong nds:Louis Armstrong pl:Louis Armstrong pt:Louis Armstrong kaa:Louis Armstrong ro:Louis Armstrong qu:Louis Armstrong rue:Луї Армстронґ ru:Армстронг, Луи sah:Луи Армстроҥ sc:Louis Armstrong sq:Louis Armstrong scn:Louis Armstrong simple:Louis Armstrong sk:Louis Armstrong sl:Louis Armstrong sr:Луј Армстронг sh:Louis Armstrong fi:Louis Armstrong sv:Louis Armstrong tl:Louis Armstrong ta:லூயிசு ஆம்சுட்ராங் th:หลุยส์ อาร์มสตรอง tr:Louis Armstrong uk:Луї Армстронг ur:لوئی آرمسٹرانگ vi:Louis Armstrong war:Louis Armstrong yo:Louis Armstrong bat-smg:Loisos Armstrongos zh:路易斯·阿姆斯特朗This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
| name | Bugs Bunny |
|---|---|
| first | |
| latest | ''The Looney Tunes Show'' (2011) |
| creator | }} |
Bugs Bunny is a fictional animated character who starred in the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of animated films produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions, which became Warner Bros. Cartoons in 1944. Bugs starred in 167 shorts during the Golden Age of American animation, and cameoed in many others, including few appearances in non-animated films. He is an anthropomorphic hare or rabbit.
According to ''Bugs Bunny: 50 Years and Only One Grey Hare'', he was born on July 27, 1940 in Brooklyn, New York in a warren under Ebbets Field, home of the Brooklyn Dodgers. In reality, he was created by many animators and staff, including Tex Avery, who directed ''A Wild Hare'', Bugs' debut role, and Robert McKimson, who created the definitive "Bugs Bunny" character design. According to Mel Blanc, the character's original voice actor, Bugs has a Flatbush accent. Bugs has had numerous catchphrases, the most prominent being a casual "Eh... What's up, doc?", usually said while chewing a carrot.
He is the most prominent of the Looney Tunes characters as his calm, flippant insouciance endeared him to American audiences during and after World War II. He is also a mascot of the Looney Tunes, as well as Warner Bros. in general.
History
Happy Rabbit
thumb|left|550px|A depiction of Bugs Bunny's evolution through the years.A rabbit (named as "Happy Rabbit") with some of the personality of Bugs, though looking very different, first appears in the cartoon short ''Porky's Hare Hunt'', released on April 30, 1938. Co-directed by Ben "Bugs" Hardaway and an uncredited Cal Dalton (who was responsible for the initial design of Happy), this short has an almost identical plot to Tex Avery's 1937 cartoon ''Porky's Duck Hunt'', which had introduced Daffy Duck. Porky Pig is again cast as a hunter tracking a silly prey less interested in escape than in driving his pursuer insane. The latter short replaces the little black duck with a small white rabbit. Happy introduces himself with the odd expression "Jiggers, fellers", and Mel Blanc gave Happy a voice and laugh almost like that he would later use for Woody Woodpecker. This cartoon also first uses the famous Groucho Marx line, "Of course you realize, this means war!" This rabbit was so popular with its audience that the Schlesinger staff decided to use it again.
Happy appears again in 1939's ''Prest-O Change-O'', directed by Chuck Jones, where he is the pet rabbit of unseen character Sham-Fu the Magician. Two dogs, fleeing the local dogcatcher, enter his absent master's house. Happy harasses them, but is ultimately bested by the bigger of the two dogs.
His third appearance is in another 1939 cartoon, ''Hare-um Scare-um'', directed by Dalton and Hardaway. This short, the first where he is depicted as a gray bunny instead of a white one, is also notable for Happy's first singing role. Charlie Thorson, lead animator on the short, gave the character a name. He had written "Bugs' Bunny" on the model sheet that he drew for Hardaway, implying that he considered the rabbit model sheet to be Hardaway's property. In promotional material for the short, including a surviving 1939 presskit, the name on the model sheet was altered to become the rabbit's own name: "Bugs" Bunny (quotation marks only used at the very beginning). In his later years, Mel Blanc stated that a proposed name was "Happy Rabbit". Oddly, "Happy" was only used in reference to Bugs Hardaway. In the cartoon ''Hare-um Scare-um'', a newspaper headline reads, "Happy Hardaway".
In Chuck Jones' ''Elmer's Candid Camera'' Happy first meets Elmer Fudd. This rabbit looks more like the present-day Bugs, taller and with a similar face. This rabbit, however, speaks with a rural drawl. The early version of Elmer is also different from the present-day one, much fatter and taller, although Arthur Q. Bryan's voice is the same as it would be later. In Robert Clampett's 1940 ''Patient Porky'', a similar rabbit appears to trick the audience into thinking that 750 rabbits have been born.
Bugs Bunny emerges
''A Wild Hare'', directed by Tex Avery and released on July 27, 1940, is the first cartoon where both Elmer Fudd and Bugs are shown in their fully developed forms as hunter and tormentor. In this cartoon Mel Blanc first uses what would become Bugs' standard voice; this cartoon also marks the first time that Bugs uses his catchphrase, "What's up, Doc?" Animation historian Joe Adamson counts ''A Wild Hare'' as the first "official" Bugs Bunny short.Bugs's second appearance, in Jones' ''Elmer's Pet Rabbit'', introduces the audience to the name Bugs Bunny, which until then had only been used among the Termite Terrace employees. It was also the first short where he received billing under his now-famous name, but the card, "featuring Bugs Bunny", was just slapped on the end of the completed short's opening titles when ''A Wild Hare'' proved an unexpected success. The rabbit here is in look and voice identical to the one in Jones' earlier ''Elmer's Candid Camera''.
Bugs in his ''Wild Hare'' likeness appeared in five more shorts during 1941. ''Tortoise Beats Hare'', directed by Tex Avery, features the first appearance of Cecil Turtle; ''Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt'', is the first Bugs Bunny short directed by Friz Freleng; ''All This and Rabbit Stew'', directed by Avery, has Bugs tracked by a little African-American hunter (based heavily on racial stereotypes); ''The Heckling Hare'' was the final Bugs short Avery worked on before being fired (Avery and producer Schlesinger vehemently disagreed over the ending gag of The Heckling Hare, and Avery refused to compromise his creative principles) and leaving for MGM; and ''Wabbit Twouble'', the first Bugs short directed by Robert Clampett. ''Wabbit Twouble'' was also the first of five Bugs shorts to feature a chubbier remodel of Elmer Fudd, a short-lived attempt to have Fudd more closely resemble his voice actor, comedian Arthur Q. Bryan.
World War II
By 1942, Bugs had become the number one star of ''Merrie Melodies''. The series had originally been intended only for one-shot characters in shorts after several early attempts to introduce characters (Foxy, Goopy Geer and Piggy) failed under Harman–Ising. (In 1937, under Schlesinger, it had started introducing newer characters.) Bugs' 1942 shorts included Friz Freleng's ''The Wabbit Who Came to Supper'', and the Robert Clampett shorts ''The Wacky Wabbit'' and ''Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid'' (which introduced Beaky Buzzard). ''Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid'' shows a slight redesign of Bugs, with less-prominent front teeth and a rounder head. The character was reworked by Robert McKimson, then an animator in Robert Clampett's unit. The redesign at first was only used in the shorts created by Clampett's unit, but in time it would be taken up by the other directors, with Freleng and Frank Tashlin the first. When McKimson was himself promoted to director, he created yet another version, with more slanted eyes, longer teeth and a much larger mouth. He used this version until 1949 (as did Art Davis for the one Bugs Bunny cartoon he directed) when he started using the version he had designed for Clampett. Jones would come up with his own slight modification, and the voice had slight variations between the units.Other 1942 Bugs shorts included Chuck Jones' ''Hold the Lion, Please'', Freleng's ''Fresh Hare'' and ''The Hare-Brained Hypnotist'' (which restores Elmer Fudd to his previous size), and Jones' ''Case of the Missing Hare''. Bugs also made cameos in Tex Avery's final Warner Bros. short, ''Crazy Cruise'', and stars in the two-minute United States war bonds commercial film ''Any Bonds Today''.
Bugs became more popular during World War II because of his free and easy attitude, and began receiving special star billing in his cartoons by 1943. By that time Warner Bros. had become the most profitable cartoon studio in the United States. In company with cartoon studios such as Disney and Famous Studios, Warners put its characters against Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and the Japanese. The 1944 short ''Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips'' features Bugs at odds with a group of Japanese soldiers. This cartoon has since been pulled from distribution due to its racial stereotypes of Japanese people. He also faces off against Herman Goering and Hitler in ''Herr Meets Hare'', which introduced his well-known reference to Albuquerque as he mistakenly winds up in the Black Forest of 'Joimany' instead of Las Vegas, Nevada.
Since Bugs' debut in ''A Wild Hare'', he had appeared only in color ''Merrie Melodie'' cartoons (making him one of the few recurring characters created for that series in the Leon Schlesinger era prior to the full conversion to color), alongside Elmer's prototype Egghead, Inki, Sniffles, and Elmer himself—who was heard but not seen in the 1942 ''Looney Tunes'' cartoon ''Nutty News'', and made his first formal appearance in that series in 1943's ''To Duck or Not to Duck''. While he made a cameo appearance in the 1943 Porky and Daffy cartoon ''Porky Pig's Feat'' this was his only appearance in a black-and-white ''Looney Tune'' cartoon. He did not star in a cartoon in the ''Looney Tunes'' series until that series made its complete conversion to only color cartoons beginning with 1944 releases. ''Buckaroo Bugs'' was Bugs' first cartoon in the ''Looney Tunes'' series, and was also the last Warner Bros. cartoon to credit Leon Schlesinger.
Among his most notable civilian shorts during this period are Bob Clampett's ''Tortoise Wins by a Hare'' (a sequel to 1941's ''Tortoise Beats Hare''); ''A Corny Concerto'' (a spoof of Disney's ''Fantasia''); ''Falling Hare''; ''What's Cookin' Doc?''; Chuck Jones' ''Superman'' parody ''Super-Rabbit''; and Freleng's ''Little Red Riding Rabbit''. The 1944 short ''Bugs Bunny and the Three Bears'' introduces Jones' The Three Bears characters.
At the end of the cartoon ''Super-Rabbit'', Bugs appears wearing a United States Marine Corps dress blue uniform. As a result, the Marine Corps made Bugs an honorary Marine Master Sergeant. From 1943 to 1946, Bugs was the official mascot of Kingman Army Airfield, Kingman, Arizona, where thousands of aerial gunners were trained during World War II. Some notable trainees included Clark Gable and Charles Bronson. Bugs also served as the mascot for 530 Squadron of the 380th Bombardment Group, 5th Air Force, U.S. Air Force, which was attached to the Royal Australian Air Force and operated out of Australia's Northern Territory from 1943 to 1945, flying B-24 Liberator bombers. Bugs riding an air delivered torpedo served as the squadron logo for Marine Torpedo/Bomber Squadron 242 in the Second World War.
In 1944, Bugs Bunny made a cameo appearance in ''Jasper Goes Hunting'', a short produced by rival studio Paramount Pictures. In this cameo (animated by Robert McKimson, with Mel Blanc providing the voice), Bugs pops out of a rabbit hole, saying his usual catchphrase; Bugs then says, "I must be in the wrong picture" and then goes back in the hole. He also appears in the 1947 Arthur Davis cartoon ''The Goofy Gophers''
The post-war era
After World War II Bugs appeared in numerous cartoon shorts in the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series, making his last appearance in the theatrical cartoons in 1964 with ''False Hare''. He was directed by Friz Freleng, Robert McKimson, Arthur Davis and Chuck Jones and appeared in feature films, including ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'' (which features the first-ever meeting between Bugs and his box-office rival Mickey Mouse), ''Space Jam'', and the 2003 movie ''Looney Tunes: Back in Action.''The Bugs Bunny short ''Knighty Knight Bugs'' (1958), in which a medieval Bugs Bunny trades blows with Yosemite Sam and his fire-breathing dragon (which has a cold), won the Academy Award for Best Short Subject (Cartoons) of 1958. Three of Chuck Jones' Bugs Bunny shorts — ''Rabbit Fire'', ''Rabbit Seasoning'', and ''Duck! Rabbit, Duck!'' — comprise what is often referred to as the "Duck Season/Rabbit Season" trilogy. Jones' 1957 classic, ''What's Opera, Doc?'', cast Bugs and Elmer in a parody of Richard Wagner's ''Der Ring des Nibelungen''. It has been deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry, the first cartoon short to receive this honor.
In the fall of 1960, ABC debuted the prime-time television program ''The Bugs Bunny Show''. This show packaged many of the post-1948 Warners shorts with newly animated wraparounds. After two seasons, it was moved from its evening slot to reruns on Saturday mornings. ''The Bugs Bunny Show'' changed format and exact title frequently, but remained on network television for 40 years. The packaging was later completely different, with each short simply presented on its own, title and all, though some clips from the new bridging material were sometimes used as filler.
After the classic cartoon era
After Mel Blanc died in 1989, Jeff Bergman, Greg Burson, Billy West, and Joe Alaskey became the new voices of Bugs Bunny and many of the other Looney Tunes, each taking turns doing Bugs' voice for various projects over the years.Bugs has made appearances in animated specials for network television, mostly composed of classic cartoons with bridging material added, including ''How Bugs Bunny Won the West'', and ''The Bugs Bunny Mystery Special''. ''Bugs Bunny's Busting Out All Over'' (1980) contained no vintage clips and featured the first new Bugs Bunny cartoons in 16 years. It opened with "Portrait Of The Artist As a Young Bunny", which features a flashback of Bugs as a child thwarting a young Elmer Fudd, while its third and closing short was "Spaced Out Bunny", with Bugs being kidnapped by Marvin the Martian to be a playmate for Hugo, an Abominable Snowman-like character. (A new Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner short filled out the half hour.) Compilation films included the independently produced ''Bugs Bunny: Superstar'', using the vintage shorts then owned by United Artists; as well as Warner Bros. efforts ''The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie'', ''The Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie'', ''Daffy Duck's Fantastic Island'', ''Bugs Bunny's 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales'' and ''Daffy Duck's Quackbusters''. He also made guest appearances in episodes of the 1990s television program ''Tiny Toon Adventures'' as the principal of Acme Looniversity and the mentor of Babs and Buster Bunny, and would later make occasional guest cameos on spinoffs ''Taz-Mania'' and ''Animaniacs''. He appears in the beginning of ''Gremlins 2: The New Batch'', where he tries to ride the opening Warner Bros logo, but is interrupted by Daffy Duck.
Bugs has had several comic book series over the years. Western Publishing had the license for all the Warner Brothers cartoons, and produced Bugs Bunny comics first for Dell Comics, then later for their own Gold Key Comics. Dell published 58 issues and several specials from 1952 to 1962. Gold Key continued for another 133 issues. DC Comics, the sister/subsidiary company of Warner Bros., has published several comics titles since 1994 that Bugs has appeared in. Notable among these was the 2000 four-issue miniseries ''Superman & Bugs Bunny'', written by Mark Evanier and drawn by Joe Staton. This depicted a crossover between DC's superheroes and the Warner cartoon characters.
Like SpongeBob for Nickelodeon and Mickey Mouse (a Disney character), Bugs has served as the mascot for Warner Bros. Entertainment and its various divisions. He and Mickey are the first cartoon characters to have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
In the 1988 animated/live action movie ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'', Bugs was shown as one of the inhabitants of Toontown. However, since the film was being produced by Disney, Warner Bros. would only allow the use of their biggest star if he got an equal amount of screen time as Disney's biggest star, Mickey Mouse. Because of this, both characters are always together in frame when onscreen. For the same reasons, Bugs never calls Mickey by his name, only referring to him as "Doc," while Mickey calls him "Bugs."
Bugs Bunny was featured in ''The Earth Day Special'' showing his displeasure on how man started mistreating the environment. He was voiced by Jeff Bergman who also voiced Porky Pig and Tweety.
Bugs Bunny came back to the silver screen in ''Box Office Bunny'' in 1990. This was the first Bugs Bunny cartoon short since 1964 to be released to theaters, and it was created for the Bugs Bunny 50th anniversary celebration. It was followed in 1991 by ''(Blooper) Bunny,'' a short that has gained a cult following among some animation fans for its edgy humor.
Bugs made an appearance in the 1990 drug prevention video ''Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue.'' This special is notable for being the first time that somebody other than Mel Blanc voiced Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. (In this video, both characters were voiced by Jeff Bergman.)
In 1997, Bugs appeared on a U.S. postage stamp, the first cartoon to be so honored, beating the iconic Mickey Mouse. The stamp is number seven on the list of the ten most popular U.S. stamps, as calculated by the number of stamps purchased but not used. The introduction of Bugs onto a stamp was controversial at the time, as it was seen as a step toward the 'commercialization' of stamp art. The postal service rejected many designs, and went with a postal-themed drawing. Avery Dennison printed the Bugs Bunny stamp sheet, which featured "a special ten-stamp design and was the first self-adhesive souvenir sheet issued by the U.S. Postal Service."
A younger version of Bugs is the main character of ''Baby Looney Tunes,'' which debuted on Cartoon Network in 2002. In the action comedy ''Loonatics Unleashed'', his definite descendant Ace Bunny is the leader of the Loonatics team and seems to have inherited his ancestor's Brooklyn accent and comic wit. Strangely, Bugs was one of the few Looney Tunes characters who never appeared in the 2003 Duck Dodgers series.
Bugs has appeared in numerous video games, including the ''Bugs Bunny's Crazy Castle'' series, ''Bugs Bunny Birthday Blowout'', ''Bugs Bunny: Rabbit Rampage'' and the similar ''Bugs Bunny in Double Trouble'', ''Looney Tunes B-Ball'', ''Space Jam'', ''Looney Tunes Racing'', ''Looney Tunes: Space Race'', ''Bugs Bunny Lost in Time'', and its sequel, ''Bugs Bunny and Taz Time Busters'', and ''Looney Tunes: Back in Action'' and the new video game ''Looney Tunes: Acme Arsenal''.
On August 13, 2010, Warner Bros. Pictures announced that they are planning a live-action/CG-animated combo feature film based on the Looney Tunes character.
Return to television
Bugs Bunny and the rest of the ''Looney Tunes'' gang returned to Cartoon Network in 2011 in a brand new show called ''The Looney Tunes Show'', with Jeff Bergman returning to voice both Bugs and Daffy Duck. This series will also feature the characters singing original songs as well. The show debuted on May 3, 2011. A large difference between Bugs and Daffy's friendship in the show is that, whereas Bugs would hardly mind Daffy's flaws in the original cartoons, in the show Bugs is often and openly annoyed at Daffy's antics, sometimes to the point of aggression when Daffy becomes too obnoxious. He also dated Lola Bunny once, but found her to be "crazy" and a bit too talkative. Unlike the original cartoons, Bugs lives in a regular home, which he shares with Daffy. To earn income, Bugs earns money for having invented the Carrot Peeler.Bugs also appeared in the ''MAD'' episode "Hops", where he appeared at the party.
Personality and catchphrases
– it's actually a big put-on. Let's face it Doc. I've read the script and I already know how it turns out. |Bob Clampett on Bugs Bunny, written in first person.}} Bugs has feuded with Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam, Willoughby the Dog, Marvin the Martian, Beaky Buzzard, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Tasmanian Devil, Cecil Turtle, Charlie Dog, Witch Hazel, Rocky and Mugsy, Wile E. Coyote, the Crusher, Gremlin, Big Bad Wolf, Count Blood Count and a host of others. Bugs almost always wins these conflicts, a plot pattern which recurs in ''Looney Tunes'' films directed by Chuck Jones. Concerned that viewers would lose sympathy for an aggressive protagonist who always won, Jones arranged for Bugs to be bullied, cheated, or threatened by the antagonists while minding his own business, justifying his subsequent antics as retaliation or self-defense. He's also been known to break the fourth wall by "communicating" with the audience, either by explaining the situation (e.g. "Be with you in a minute, folks!"), describing someone to the audience (e.g. "Feisty, ain't they?"), clueing in on the story (e.g. "That happens to him all during the picture, folks."), explaining that one of his antagonists' actions have pushed him to the breaking point ("Of course you know, this means war."), etc.Bugs will usually try to placate the antagonist and avoid conflict, but when an antagonist pushes him too far, Bugs may address the audience and invoke his catchphrase "Of course you realize this means ''war!''" before he retaliates, and the retaliation will be devastating. This line was taken from Groucho Marx and others in the 1933 film ''Duck Soup'' and was also used in the 1935 Marx film ''A Night at the Opera''. Bugs would pay homage to Groucho in other ways, such as occasionally adopting his stooped walk or leering eyebrow-raising (in ''Hair-Raising Hare'', for example) or sometimes with a direct impersonation (as in ''Slick Hare'').
Other directors, such as Friz Freleng, characterized Bugs as altruistic. When Bugs meets other successful characters (such as Cecil Turtle in ''Tortoise Beats Hare'', or, in World War II, the Gremlin of ''Falling Hare''), his overconfidence becomes a disadvantage. Most of Bugs' antagonists are extremely dim-witted, and Bugs is easily able to outwit and torment them, though on occasion they will manage to get the best of Bugs. Daffy Duck, who is considerably more intelligent, is unaffected by Bugs' usual schemes, and the two usually end up fighting a battle of wits, though Bugs is still the superior.
During the 1940s, Bugs was immature and wild, but starting in the 1950s his personality matured and his attitude was less frenetic. Though often shown as highly mischievous and violent, Bugs is never actually malicious, and only acts as such in self-defense against his aggressors; the only two cartoons where Bugs ever served as an antagonist were Buckaroo Bugs and Duck Amuck; the latter cartoon depicts him as far more sadistic than usual, as he becomes the cartoonist and abuses his newfound divine powers to torture Daffy.
Bugs Bunny's nonchalant carrot-chewing standing position, as explained by Chuck Jones, Friz Freleng, and Bob Clampett, originated in a scene in the film ''It Happened One Night'', in which Clark Gable's character leans against a fence, eating carrots rapidly and talking with his mouth full to Claudette Colbert's character. This scene was well known while the film was popular, and viewers at the time likely recognized Bugs Bunny's behavior as satire.
The carrot-chewing scenes are generally followed by Bugs Bunny's most well-known catchphrase, "What's up, Doc?", which was written by director Tex Avery for his first Bugs Bunny short, 1940s ''A Wild Hare''. Avery explained later that it was a common expression in his native Texas and that he did not think much of the phrase. When the short was first screened in theaters, the "What's up, Doc?" scene generated a tremendously positive audience reaction. As a result, the scene became a recurring element in subsequent films and cartoons. The phrase was sometimes modified for a situation. For example, Bugs says "What's up, dogs?" to the antagonists in ''A Hare Grows in Manhattan'', "What's up, Duke?" to the knight in ''Knight-mare Hare'' and "What's up, prune-face?" to the aged Elmer in ''The Old Grey Hare''. He might also greet Daffy with "What's up, Duck?" He used one variation, "What's all the hub-bub, bub?" only once, in ''Falling Hare.'' Another variation is used in ''Looney Tunes: Back In Action'' when he greets a lightsaber-wielding Marvin the Martian saying "What's up, Darth?"
Several Chuck Jones shorts in the late 1940s and 1950s depict Bugs travelling via cross-country (and, in some cases, intercontinental) tunnel-digging, ending up in places as varied as Mexico (''Bully for Bugs'', 1953), the Himalayas (''The Abominable Snow Rabbit'', 1960) and Antarctica (''Frigid Hare'', 1949) all because he "shoulda taken that left toin at Albukoikee." He first utters that phrase in ''Herr Meets Hare'' (1945), when he emerges in the Black Forest, a cartoon seldom seen today due to its blatantly topical subject matter. When Hermann Göring says to Bugs, "There is no Las Vegas in 'Chermany'" and takes a potshot at Bugs, Bugs dives into his hole and says, "Joimany! Yipe!", as Bugs realizes he's behind enemy lines. The confused response to his "left toin" comment also followed a pattern. For example, when he tunnels into Scotland in 1948's ''My Bunny Lies over the Sea'', while thinking he's heading for the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles, California, it provides another chance for an ethnic stereotype: "Therrre's no La Brrrea Tarrr Pits in Scotland!" (to which Bugs responds, "Uh...what's up, Mac-doc?"). A couple of late-1950s shorts of this ilk also featured Daffy Duck travelling with Bugs ("Since when is Pismo Beach inside a cave?!").
Bugs Bunny has some similarities to figures from mythology and folklore, such as Br'er Rabbit, Nanabozho, or Anansi, and might be seen as a modern trickster (for example, he repeatedly uses cross-dressing mischievously). Unlike most cartoon characters, however, Bugs Bunny is rarely defeated in his own games of trickery. One exception to this is the short ''Hare Brush'', in which Elmer Fudd ultimately carries the day at the end; however, critics note that in this short, Elmer and Bugs assume each other's personalities—through mental illness and hypnosis, respectively—and it is only by becoming Bugs that Elmer can win. However, Bugs was beaten at his own game. In the short ''Duck Amuck'' he torments Daffy Duck as the unseen animator, ending with his line, "Ain't I a stinker?" Bugs feels the same wrath of an unseen animator in the short ''Rabbit Rampage'' where he is in turn tormented by Elmer Fudd. At the end of the clip Elmer gleefully exclaims, 'Well, I finally got even with that scwewy wabbit!"
Although it was usually Porky Pig who brought the WB cartoons to a close with his stuttering, "That's all, folks!", Bugs would occasionally appear, bursting through a drum just as Porky did, but munching a carrot and saying in his Bronx-Brooklyn accent, "And dat's de end!"
The name "Bugs" or "Bugsy" as an old-fashioned nickname means "crazy" (or "loopy"). Several famous people from the first half of the twentieth century had that nickname. It is now out of fashion as a nickname, but survives in 1950s–1960s expressions like "you're bugging me", as in "you're driving me crazy".
Bugs wears white gloves, which he is rarely seen without, although he may remove one and use it for slapping an opponent to predicate a duel. Another glove-less example is the episode ''Long-Haired Hare'', where Bugs pretends to be the famed conductor Leopold Stokowski and instructs opera star "Giovanni Jones" to sing and to hold a high note. As Giovanni Jones is turning red with the strain, Bugs slips his left hand out of its glove, leaving the glove hovering in the air in order to command Jones to continue to hold the high note. Bugs then nips down to the mail drop to order, and then to receive, a pair of ear defenders. Bugs puts on the ear defenders and then zips back into the amphitheater and reinserts his hand into his glove as singer Jones is writhing on the stage, still holding that same high note.
Bugs Bunny is also a master of disguise: he can wear any disguise that he wants to confuse his enemies: in ''Bowery Bugs'' he uses diverse disguises: fakir, gentleman, woman, baker and finally policeman. This ability of disguise makes Bugs famous because we can recognize him while at the same time realizing that his enemies are stumped. Bugs has a certain preference for the female disguise: Taz, Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam were fooled by this sexy bunny (woman) and in ''Hare Trimmed'', Sam discovers the real face of "Granny" (Bugs's disguise) in the church where they attempt to get married. For all the gullible victims of all these disguises, however, for some reason, Daffy Duck and Cecil Turtle are among those who are never fooled.
Bugs Bunny may also have some mystical potential. In ''Knight-mare Hare'' he was able to return to his bunny form (after being transformed into a donkey) by removing his donkey form as if it were a suit. Merlin of Monroe (the wizard) was unable to do the same thing. Later Bugs Bunny defeated the Count Blood Count in a magical spell duel. However, the story was a dream and Bugs Bunny's victory over Count Blood Count was a result of his intellect, not innate magical power.
Rabbit or hare?
The animators throughout Bugs' history have treated the terms rabbit and hare as synonymous. Taxonomically, they are not synonymous, being somewhat similar but observably different types of lagomorphs. Hares have much longer ears than rabbits, so Bugs might seem to be of the hare family, yet rabbits live in burrows, as Bugs is seen to do. Many more of the cartoon titles include the word "hare" rather than "rabbit," as "hare" lends itself easily to puns ("hair," "air," etc.) although Elmer Fudd has always referred to Bugs as a "wabbit".Within the cartoons, although the term "hare" comes up sometimes, again typically as a pun—for example, Bugs drinking "hare tonic" to "stop falling hare" or being doused with "hare restorer" to bring him back from invisibility—Bugs as well as his antagonists most often refer to the character as a "rabbit." The word "bunny" is of no help in answering this question, as it is a synonym for both young hares and young rabbits.
In Nike commercials with Michael Jordan, Bugs had been referred to as "''Hare'' Jordan."
The opening and closing
In the opening of many of the Bugs Bunny cartoons, the ''Merrie Melodies'' and ''Looney Tunes'' irises contain Bugs Bunny's head after the Warner Bros. shield (generally from 1944 and 1949 onward). Others have Bugs Bunny relaxing on top of the Warner Bros. shield: He chews on his carrot, looks angrily at the camera and pulls down the next logo (''Merrie Melodies'' or ''Looney Tunes'') like a window shade (generally on cartoons between 1945 until early 1949). Then he lifts it back up, to now be seen lying on his own name, which then fades into the title of the specific short. In some other cases, the title card sometimes fades to him, already on his name and chewing his carrot then fade to the name of the short. At the finish of ''Hare Tonic'' and ''Baseball Bugs'', Bugs breaks out of a drum (like ''Porky Pig'') and says, "And that's the end". Also, at the end of ''Box Office Bunny'', right after Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd run out through the Looney Tunes "That's All Folks!" sequence, Bugs later comes in through the rings and says, "And that's all, folks!". He did the ending for the last time at the end of ''Space Jam'' but this time saying "Well, that's all, folks!".
Voice actors
The following are the many voice actors who have voiced the character Bugs Bunny over the last seventy-one years:;Mel Blanc :Mel Blanc voiced the character for 49 years, from Bugs' debut in ''A Wild Hare'' (1940) until Blanc's death in 1989. Blanc described the voice as a combination of Bronx and Brooklyn accents; however, Tex Avery claimed that he asked Blanc to give the character not a New York accent ''per se'', but a voice like that of actor Frank McHugh, who frequently appeared in supporting roles in the 1930s and whose voice might be described as New York Irish. In Bugs' second cartoon ''Elmer's Pet Rabbit'', Blanc created a completely new voice for Bugs, which sounded like a Jimmy Stewart impression, but the directors decided the previous voice was better. Though his best-known character was the carrot-chomping rabbit, munching on the carrots interrupted the dialogue. Various substitutes, such as celery, were tried, but none of them ''sounded'' like a carrot. So for the sake of expedience, he would munch and then spit the carrot bits into a spittoon rather than swallowing them, and continue with the dialogue. One often-repeated story, possibly originating from ''Bugs Bunny: Superstar'', is that Blanc was allergic to carrots and ''had'' to spit them out to minimize any allergic reaction — but his autobiography makes no such claim. In fact, in a 1984 interview with Tim Lawson, co-author of ''The Magic Behind The Voices: A Who's Who of Cartoon Voice Actors'' (University Press of Mississippi, 2004), Blanc emphatically denied being allergic to carrots.
;Jeff Bergman :Jeff Bergman was the first to voice Bugs Bunny (and several other Looney Tunes characters) after Blanc died in 1989. He got the job by impressing Warner Bros. higher-ups with a tape of himself re-creating the voices of several of Blanc's characters, including Bugs. He had rigged the tape player so that he could use a switch to instantly toggle back and forth between the original recording of Blanc and Bergman's recording of the same lines. Upon doing this, it was almost impossible for the producers to tell which voice was Blanc's and which voice was Bergman; thus his vocal ability was established and his career launched.
:Bergman first voiced Bugs during the 1990 Academy Awards and then in ''Box Office Bunny'', a 4-minute ''Looney Tunes'' short released in 1990 to commemorate Bugs' fiftieth anniversary. Bergman would next voice Bugs in the 1991 short ''(Blooper) Bunny'', a Greg Ford-directed cartoon produced to coincide with Bugs' 51st and a half anniversary. However, the short never received its intended theatrical release and was shelved for years, until Cartoon Network rediscovered it and broadcast it on their channel several years later. ''(Blooper) Bunny'' has since garnered a cult following among animation fans for its use of edgy humor. Other works for which Bergman provided Bugs' voice include ''Invasion of the Bunny Snatchers'' (an obvious parody of the 1950s sci-fi classic ''Invasion of the Body Snatchers''), ''Tiny Toon Adventures'' (a popular television program of the early nineties that featured the classic ''Looney Tunes'' characters as mentors to their younger counterparts) in the first season, and ''Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue'' (a television special exposing children to dangers of illegal drugs). Bergman would continue to do the voice of Bugs Bunny until 1993, apparently due to him having difficulty moving to Los Angeles at the time. In 2011, Bergman has returned to voice Bugs for Cartoon Network's new series, ''The Looney Tunes Show''.
;Greg Burson :Greg Burson first voiced Bugs Bunny in later episodes of ''Tiny Toon Adventures''. He was then given the responsibility of voicing Bugs in 1995's ''Carrotblanca'', a well-received 8-minute ''Looney Tunes'' cartoon originally shown in cinemas alongside ''The Amazing Panda Adventure'' (US) and ''The Pebble and the Penguin'' (non-US); it has since been released on video packaged with older ''Looney Tunes'' cartoons and was even included in the special edition DVD release of ''Casablanca'', of which it is both a parody and an homage. Burson next voiced Bugs in the 1996 short ''From Hare to Eternity''; the film is notable for being dedicated to the memory of the then-just deceased Friz Freleng, and for being the final ''Looney Tunes'' cartoon that Chuck Jones directed. Burson also provided Bugs' voice in ''The Bugs and Daffy Show'', which ran on Cartoon Network from 1996 to 2003. He died in 2008.
;Billy West :Billy West has been in television since the late 1980s. His first role was for the 1988 revived version of Bob Clampett's ''Beany and Cecil''. West's breakthrough role then came almost immediately, as the voice of Stimpy and later Ren in John Kricfalusi's ''Ren & Stimpy''. West has since been the voice talent for close to 120 different characters, including some of the most iconic animated figures in television history. Perhaps West's most notable film work came in the 1996 film ''Space Jam''. Starring alongside Michael Jordan, West provided the voice of both Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd. West would go on to reprise the roles of Bugs in subsequent ''Looney Tunes'' productions, including his cameos on ''Histeria!'', also he made a cameo appearance on ''Kid vs. Kat'' in "Class Act", the Kids' WB! promotional spots, and the 2006 Christmas-themed special ''Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas'' and the DVD compilations "Reality Check" and "Stranger Than Fiction", along with several ''Looney Tunes''-centric CDs, cartoons, and video games.
;Joe Alaskey :Joe Alaskey, like Jeff Bergman, is well-known for his ability to successfully impersonate many ''Looney Tunes'' characters. In fact, Alaskey voiced Yosemite Sam in ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'', as original voice actor Mel Blanc had found it too hard on his vocal cords (which makes Sam one of the few voices created by Blanc to be voiced by someone else during his lifetime). Alaskey's first performance as Bugs Bunny came in the 2003 feature film ''Looney Tunes: Back in Action'', although he had tested performing the role in a few earlier projects, such as ''Tweety's High-Flying Adventure''. While still best known for providing the voice of Daffy Duck, Alaskey has also gone on to do Bugs' voice in several subsequent productions, including ''Daffy Duck for President'' (which was released on ''The Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 2'' and dedicated to then-just deceased Chuck Jones) and several recent video games and Looney Tunes cartoons, including ''Hare and Loathing in Las Vegas''.
;Samuel Vincent :Samuel Vincent served as the voice of Bugs in the Cartoon Network TV series ''Baby Looney Tunes''.
;Noel Blanc :Noel Blanc, Mel Blanc's son, voiced Bugs for the ''Tiny Toons'' special ''It's a Wonderful Tiny Toon Christmas Special''. The elder Blanc claimed in his later years that Noel substituted for Mel in various cartoon studios, including doing Bugs at Warner Bros., while he was recovering from a near-fatal car wreck. Noel can also be seen doing Bugs' voice with his father in the documentary on the making of the film ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit''.
Cameos
Bugs Bunny has had cameo appearances in ten cartoons, including two ''Private SNAFU'' shorts.
Current popularity
In 2002, ''TV Guide'' compiled a list of the 50 greatest cartoon characters of all time as part of the magazine's 50th anniversary. Bugs Bunny was given the honor of number 1. In a CNN broadcast on July 31, 2002, a ''TV Guide'' editor talked about the group that created the list. The editor also explained why Bugs pulled top billing: "His stock...has never gone down...Bugs is the best example...of the smart-aleck American comic. He not only is a great cartoon character, he's a great comedian. He was written well. He was drawn beautifully. He has thrilled and made many generations laugh. He is tops." Additionally, in ''Animal Planet'''s ''50 Greatest Movie Animals'' (2004), Bugs was named #3, behind Mickey Mouse and Toto. In 2005 Bugs Bunny was voted the 10th greatest cartoon in Channel 4's 100 Greatest Cartoons behind ''The Simpsons'', ''Tom and Jerry'', ''South Park'', ''Toy Story'', ''Family Guy'', ''Shrek'', ''The Lion King'', ''Spirited Away'' and ''The Incredibles''.Bugs has also had an effect on "live" movie acting. During an interview for ''Inside the Actors Studio'', comedian Dave Chappelle cited him as one of his earliest influences, praising voice actor Mel Blanc.
According to Time Warner, Bugs Bunny became the current official mascot for Six Flags theme parks beginning with their 45th anniversary.
Awards
Academy Awards
Academy Award nominations
See also
References
Bibliography
External links
Category:Corporate mascots Category:DC Comics titles Category:Dell Comics titles Category:Fictional anthropomorphic characters Category:Fictional characters from New York City Category:Fictional hares and rabbits Category:Gold Key Comics titles Category:Honorary United States Marines Category:Looney Tunes characters Category:Fictional characters introduced in 1940
ar:باغز باني bn:বাগস বানি bar:Bugs Bunny bs:Duško Dugouško bg:Бъгс Бъни ca:Bugs Bunny da:Snurre Snup de:Bugs Bunny es:Bugs Bunny eu:Bugs Bunny fa:باگز بانی fr:Bugs Bunny gl:Bugs Bunny hr:Zekoslav Mrkva id:Bugs Bunny it:Bugs Bunny he:באגס באני jv:Bugs Bunny pam:Bugs Bunny sw:Bugs Bunny hu:Tapsi Hapsi ms:Bugs Bunny ro:Bugs Bunny nah:Bugs Bunny nl:Bugs Bunny ja:バッグス・バニー no:Snurre Sprett pl:Królik Bugs pt:Bugs Bunny ru:Багз Банни sq:Bugs Bunny simple:Bugs Bunny sr:Душко Дугоушко fi:Väiski Vemmelsääri sv:Snurre Sprätt th:บักส์ บันนี tr:Bugs Bunny zh:賓尼兔This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
Affiliated Video Suggestions
