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name | Barbra Streisand |
---|---|
background | solo_singer |
birth name | Barbara Joan Streisand |
birth date | April 24, 1942Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
genre | Broadway, traditional pop, adult contemporary |
occupation | Singer-songwriter, actress, film producer, director |
years active | 1957–present |
label | Columbia |
spouse | James Brolin (1998-present) |
website | |
children | Jason Gould }} |
Barbra Joan Streisand (pronounced ; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Award.
She is one of the most commercially and critically successful entertainers in modern entertainment history, with more than 71.5 million albums shipped in the United States and 140 million albums sold worldwide. She is the best-selling female artist on the Recording Industry Association of America's (RIAA) Top Selling Artists list, the only female recording artist in the top ten, and the only artist outside of the rock and roll genre. Along with Frank Sinatra, Cher, and Shirley Jones, she shares the distinction of being awarded an acting Oscar and also recording a number-one single on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart.
According to the RIAA, Streisand holds the record for the most top ten albums of any female recording artist - a total of 31 since 1963. Streisand has the widest span (46 years) between first and latest top ten albums of any female recording artist. With her 2009 album, ''Love Is the Answer'', she became one of the only artists to achieve number-one albums in five consecutive decades. According to the RIAA, she has released 51 Gold albums, 30 Platinum albums, and 13 Multi-Platinum albums in the United States.
Barbra Streisand became a nightclub singer while in her teens. She wanted to be an actress and appeared in summer stock and in a number of Off-Off-Broadway productions, including ''Driftwood'' (1959), with then-unknown Joan Rivers. (In her autobiography, Rivers wrote that she played a lesbian with a crush on Streisand's character, but this was later denied by the play's author.) ''Driftwood'' ran for only six weeks. When her boyfriend, Barry Dennen, helped her create a club act—first performed at The Lion, a popular gay nightclub in Manhattan's Greenwich Village in 1960—she achieved success as a singer. While singing at The Lion for several weeks, she changed her name from Barbara to Barbra. One early appearance outside of New York City was at Enrico Banducci’s hungry i nightclub in San Francisco. In 1961, Streisand appeared at the Town and Country nightclub in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, but her appearance was cut short; the club owner did not appreciate her singing style. Streisand appeared at Baker's Keyboard Lounge in Detroit in 1961.
Streisand's first television appearance was on ''The Tonight Show'', then hosted by Jack Paar, in 1961, singing Harold Arlen's "A Sleepin' Bee". Orson Bean, who substituted for Paar that night, had seen the singer perform at a gay bar and booked her for the telecast (Her older brother Sheldon paid NBC for a kinescope film so she could use it in 1961 to promote herself. Decades later the film was preserved through digitizing and is available for viewing on a website). Streisand became a semi-regular on ''PM East/PM West'', a talk/variety series hosted by Mike Wallace, in late 1961. Westinghouse Broadcasting, which aired ''PM East/PM West'' in a select few cities (Boston, New York, Baltimore, Washington, DC, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Chicago and San Francisco), has since wiped all the videotapes because of the cost of videotape at the time. Audio segments from some episodes are part of the compilation CD ''Just for the Record'', which went platinum in 1991. The singer said on ''60 Minutes'' in 1991 that 30 years earlier Mike Wallace had been "mean" to her on ''PM East/PM West''. He countered that she had been "self-absorbed." ''60 Minutes'' included the audio of Streisand saying to him in 1961, "I like the fact that you are provoking. But don't provoke ''me''."
In 1962, after several appearances on ''PM East/PM West'', Streisand first appeared on Broadway, in the small but star-making role of Miss Marmelstein in the musical ''I Can Get It for You Wholesale''. Her first album, ''The Barbra Streisand Album'', won two Grammy Awards in 1963. Following her success in ''I Can Get It for You Wholesale'', Streisand made several appearances on ''The Tonight Show'' in 1962 and 1963. Topics covered in her interviews with host Johnny Carson included the empire-waisted dresses that she bought wholesale, to her "crazy" reputation at Erasmus Hall High School. As is the case with Mike Wallace, only audio survives from small portions of her telecast conversations with Carson. It was at about this time that Streisand entered into a long and successful professional relationship with Lee Solters and Sheldon Roskin as her publicists with the firm Solters/Roskin (later Solters/Roskin/Friedman).
Streisand returned to Broadway in 1964 with an acclaimed performance as entertainer Fanny Brice in ''Funny Girl'' at the Winter Garden Theatre. The show introduced two of her signature songs, "People" and "Don't Rain on My Parade." Because of the play's overnight success she appeared on the cover of ''Time.'' In 1966, she repeated her success with ''Funny Girl'' in London's West End at the Prince of Wales Theatre. From 1965 to 1967 she appeared in her first four solo television specials.
Beginning with ''My Name Is Barbra'', her early albums were often medley-filled keepsakes of her television specials. Starting in 1969, she began attempting more contemporary material, but like many talented singers of the day, she found herself out of her element with rock. Her vocal talents prevailed, and she gained newfound success with the pop and ballad-oriented Richard Perry-produced album ''Stoney End'' in 1971. The title track, written by Laura Nyro, was a major hit for Streisand.
During the 1970s, she was also highly prominent on the pop charts, with Top 10 recordings such as ''The Way We Were'' (US No. 1), ''Evergreen'' (US No. 1), ''No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)'' (1979, with Donna Summer), which as of 2010 is reportedly still the most commercially successful duet,(US No. 1), ''You Don't Bring Me Flowers'' (with Neil Diamond) (US No. 1) and ''The Main Event'' (US No. 3), some of which came from soundtrack recordings of her films. As the 1970s ended, Streisand was named the most successful female singer in the U.S.—only Elvis Presley and The Beatles had sold more albums. In 1980, she released her best-selling effort to date, the Barry Gibb-produced ''Guilty''. The album contained the hits ''Woman In Love'' (which spent several weeks atop the pop charts in the Fall of 1980), ''Guilty,'' and ''What Kind of Fool.''
After years of largely ignoring Broadway and traditional pop music in favor of more contemporary material, Streisand returned to her musical-theater roots with 1985's ''The Broadway Album'', which was unexpectedly successful, holding the coveted No. 1 Billboard position for three straight weeks, and being certified quadruple platinum. The album featured tunes by Rodgers & Hammerstein, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, and Stephen Sondheim, who was persuaded to rework some of his songs especially for this recording. ''The Broadway Album'' was met with acclaim, including a Grammy nomination for album of the year and, ultimately, handed Streisand her eighth Grammy as Best Female Vocalist. After releasing the live album ''One Voice'' in 1986, Streisand was set to take another musical journey along the Great White Way in 1988. She recorded several cuts for the album under the direction of Rupert Holmes, including ''On My Own'' (from ''Les Misérables''), a medley of ''How Are Things in Glocca Morra?'' and ''Heather on the Hill'' (from ''Finian's Rainbow'' and ''Brigadoon,'' respectively), ''All I Ask of You'' (from ''Phantom of the Opera''), ''Warm All Over'' (from ''The Most Happy Fella'') and an unusual solo version of ''Make Our Garden Grow'' (from ''Candide''). Streisand was not happy with the direction of the project and it was ultimately scrapped. Only ''Warm All Over'' and a reworked, lite FM-friendly version of ''All I Ask of You'' were ever released, the latter appearing on Streisand's 1988 effort, ''Till I Loved You.'' At the beginning of the 1990s, Streisand started focusing on her film directorial efforts and became almost inactive in the recording studio. In 1991, a four-disc box set, ''Just for the Record'', was released. A compilation spanning Streisand's entire career to date, it featured over 70 tracks of live performances, greatest hits, rarities and previously unreleased material.
The following year, Streisand's concert fundraising events helped propel former President Bill Clinton into the spotlight and into office. Streisand later introduced Clinton at his inauguration in 1993. Streisand's music career, however, was largely on hold. A 1992 appearance at an APLA benefit as well as the aforementioned inaugural performance hinted that Streisand was becoming more receptive to the idea of live performances. A tour was suggested, though Streisand would not immediately commit to it, citing her well-known stage fright as well as security concerns. During this time, Streisand finally returned to the recording studio and released ''Back to Broadway'' in June 1993. The album was not as universally lauded as its predecessor, but it did debut at No. 1 on the pop charts (a rare feat for an artist of Streisand's age, especially given that it relegated Janet Jackson's ''Janet'' to the No. 2 spot). One of the album's highlights was a medley of ''I Have A Love/One Hand, One Heart,'' a duet with Johnny Mathis, who Streisand said is one of her favorite singers.
In 1993, ''New York Times'' music critic Stephen Holden wrote that Streisand "enjoys a cultural status that only one other American entertainer, Frank Sinatra, has achieved in the last half century." In September 1993, Streisand announced her first public concert appearances in 27 years. What began as a two-night New Year's event at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas eventually led to a multi-city tour in the summer of 1994. Tickets to the tour were sold out in under one hour. Streisand also appeared on the covers of major magazines in anticipation of what ''Time magazine'' named "The Music Event of the Century." The tour was one of the biggest all-media merchandise parlays in history. Ticket prices ranged from US$50 to US$1,500 – making Streisand the highest-paid concert performer in history. ''Barbra Streisand: The Concert'' went on to be the top-grossing concert of the year and earned five Emmy Awards and the Peabody Award, while the taped broadcast on HBO is, to date, the highest-rated concert special in HBO's 30-year history. Following the tour's conclusion, Streisand once again kept a low profile musically, instead focusing her efforts on acting and directing duties as well as a burgeoning romance with actor James Brolin.
In 1997, she finally returned to the recording studio, releasing ''Higher Ground,'' a collection of songs of a loosely-inspirational nature which also featured a duet with Celine Dion. The album received generally favorable reviews and, remarkably, once again debuted at No. 1 on the pop charts. Following her marriage to Brolin in 1998, Streisand recorded an album of love songs entitled ''A Love Like Ours'' the following year. Reviews were mixed, with many critics carping about the somewhat syrupy sentiments and overly-lush arrangements; however, it did produce a modest hit for Streisand in the country-tinged ''If You Ever Leave Me,'' a duet with Vince Gill.
On New Year's Eve 1999, Streisand returned to the concert stage, with the highest-grossing single concert in Las Vegas history to date. At the end of the millennium, she was the number-one female singer in the U.S., with at least two No. 1 albums in each decade since she began performing. A two-disc live album of the concert entitled ''Timeless: Live in Concert'' was released in 2000. Streisand performed versions of the "Timeless" concert in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia, in early 2000. In advance of four concerts (two each in Los Angeles and New York) in September 2000, Streisand announced she was retiring from paying public concerts. Her performance of the song ''People'' was broadcast on the Internet via America Online.
Streisand's most-recent albums have been ''Christmas Memories'' (2001), a somewhat somber collection of holiday songs (which felt entirely—albeit unintentionally—appropriate in the early post-9/11 days), and ''The Movie Album'' (2003), featuring famous film themes and backed by a large symphony orchestra. ''Guilty Pleasures'' (called ''Guilty Too'' in the UK), a collaboration with Barry Gibb and a sequel to their ''Guilty,'' was released worldwide in 2005.
In February 2006, Streisand recorded the song ''Smile'' alongside Tony Bennett at Streisand's Malibu home. The song is included on Tony Bennett's 80th birthday album, ''Duets.'' In September 2006, the pair filmed a live performance of the song for a special directed by Rob Marshall entitled ''Tony Bennett: An American Classic.'' The special aired on NBC November 21, 2006, and was released on DVD the same day. Streisand's duet with Bennett opened the special. In 2006, Streisand announced her intent to tour again, in an effort to raise money and awareness for multiple issues. After four days of rehearsal at the Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton, New Jersey, the tour began on October 4 at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, continued with a featured stop in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, (this was the concert Streisand chose to film for a TV special), and concluded at Staples Center in Los Angeles on November 20, 2006. Special guests Il Divo were interwoven throughout the show. On stage closing night, Streisand hinted that six more concerts may follow on foreign soil. The show was known as ''Streisand: The Tour.''
Streisand's 20-concert tour set box-office records. At the age of 64, well past the prime of most performers, she grossed US$92,457,062 and set house gross records in 14 of the 16 arenas played on the tour. She set the third-place record for her October 9, 2006, show at Madison Square Garden, the first- and second-place records of which are held by her two shows in September 2000. She set the second-place record at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, with her December 31, 1999, show being the house record and the highest-grossing concert of all time. This led many people to openly criticize Streisand for price gouging, as many tickets sold for upwards of US$1,000.
A collection of performances culled from different stops on this tour, ''Live in Concert 2006,'' debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard 200, making it Streisand's 29th Top 10 album. In the summer of 2007, Streisand gave concerts for the first time in continental Europe. The first concert took place in Zürich (June 18), then Vienna (June 22), Paris (June 26), Berlin (June 30), Stockholm (July 4, canceled), Manchester (July 10) and Celbridge, near Dublin (July 14), followed by three concerts in London (July 18, 22 and 25), the only European city where Streisand had performed before 2007. Tickets for the London dates cost between £100.00 and GB£1,500.00 and for the Ireland date between €118 and €500. The tour included a 58-piece orchestra.
In February 2008, ''Forbes'' listed Streisand as the No. 2 earning female musician, between June 2006 and June 2007, with earnings of about US$60 million. Although Streisand's range has changed with time and her voice has deepened over the years, her vocal prowess has remained remarkably secure for a singer whose career has endured for nearly half a century. Streisand is a contralto or possibly a mezzo-soprano who has a range consisting of well over two octaves from “low E to a high G and probably a bit more in either direction.” On November 17, 2008, Streisand returned to the studio to begin recording what would be her sixty-third album and it was announced that Diana Krall was producing the album. Streisand is one of the recipients of the 2008 Kennedy Center Honors. On December 7, 2008, she visited the White House as part of the ceremonies.
On April 25, 2009, CBS aired Streisand's latest TV special, ''Streisand: Live In Concert'', highlighting the aforementioned featured stop from her 2006 North American tour, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. On September 26, 2009, Streisand performed a one-night-only show at the Village Vanguard in New York City's Greenwich Village. This performance was later released on DVD as ''One Night Only Barbra Streisand and Quartet at The Village Vanguard.'' On September 29, 2009, Streisand and Columbia Records released her newest studio album, ''Love is the Answer.'' produced by Diana Krall. On October 2, 2009, Streisand made her British television performance debut with an interview on Friday Night With Jonathan Ross to promote the album. This album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and registered her biggest weekly sales since 1997, making Streisand the only artist in history to achieve No. 1 albums in five different decades.
On February 1, 2010, Streisand joined over 80 other artists in recording a new version of the 1985 charity single "We Are the World." Quincy Jones and Lionel Richie planned to release the new version to mark the 25th anniversary of its original recording. These plans changed, however, in view of the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti on January 12, 2010, and on February 12, the song, now called "We Are the World 25 for Haiti," made its debut as a charity single to support relief aid for the beleaguered island nation.
Streisand was honored as MusiCares Person of the Year on February 11, 2011, two days prior to the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards.
Streisand is one of many singers who uses teleprompters during their live performances. Streisand has defended her choice in using teleprompters to display lyrics and, sometimes, banter.
During the 1970s, Streisand starred in several screwball comedies, including ''What's Up, Doc?'' (1972) and ''The Main Event'' (1979), both co-starring Ryan O'Neal, and ''For Pete's Sake'' (1974) with Michael Sarrazin. One of her most famous roles during this period was in the drama ''The Way We Were'' (1973) with Robert Redford, for which she received an Academy Award nomination as Best Actress. She earned her second Academy Award for Best Original Song as composer (together with lyricist Paul Williams) for the song "Evergreen", from ''A Star Is Born'' in 1976.
Along with Paul Newman, Sidney Poitier and later Steve McQueen, Streisand formed First Artists Production Company in 1969, so the actors could secure properties and develop movie projects for themselves. Streisand's initial outing with First Artists was ''Up the Sandbox'' (1972).
From a period beginning in 1969 and ending in 1980, Streisand appeared in the annual motion picture exhibitors poll of Top 10 Box Office attractions a total of 10 times, often as the only woman on the list. After the commercially disappointing ''All Night Long'' in 1981, Streisand's film output decreased considerably. She has only acted in six films since.
Streisand produced a number of her own films, setting up Barwood Films in 1972. For ''Yentl'' (1983), she was producer, director, and star, an experience she repeated for ''The Prince of Tides'' (1991) and ''The Mirror Has Two Faces'' (1996). There was controversy when ''Yentl'' received five Academy Award nominations, but none for the major categories of Best Picture, Actress, or Director. ''The Prince of Tides'' received even more Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, but the director was not nominated. Streisand also scripted "Yentl", something she is not always given credit for. According to New York Times Editorial Page Editor Andrew Rosenthal in an interview (story begins at minute 16) with Allan Wolper, "the one thing that makes Barbra Streisand crazy is when nobody gives her the credit for having written 'Yentl'."
In 2004, Streisand made a return to film acting, after an eight-year hiatus, in the comedy ''Meet the Fockers'' (a sequel to ''Meet the Parents''), playing opposite Dustin Hoffman, Ben Stiller, Blythe Danner and Robert De Niro.
In 2005, Streisand's Barwood Films, Gary Smith, and Sonny Murray purchased the rights to Simon Mawer's book ''Mendel's Dwarf''. In December 2008, she stated that she was considering directing an adaptation of Larry Kramer's play ''The Normal Heart'', a project she has worked on since the mid-1990s In 2009, Andrew Lloyd Webber stated that Streisand was one of several actresses (alongside Meryl Streep and Glenn Close) who were interested in playing the role of Norma Desmond in the film adaptation of Webber's musical version of ''Sunset Boulevard''
In December 2010, Streisand appeared in ''Little Fockers'', the third film from the ''Meet the Parents trilogy''. She reprised the role of Roz Focker alongside Dustin Hoffman.
On 4 January 2011, the ''New York Post'' reported that Streisand was in negotiations to produce, direct, and star in a new film version of ''Gypsy.'' In an interview with the ''New York Post'', Arthur Laurents said: "We've talked about it a lot, and she knows what she's doing. She has my approval." He said that he would not write the screenplay. The following day, the ''New York Times'' reported that Arthur Laurents clarified in a telephonic interview that Streisand would not direct the film "but playing Rose is enough to make her happy." Streisand's spokesperson confirmed that "there have been conversations".
On 28 January 2011, ''The Hollywood Reporter'' announced that Paramount Pictures has given the road-trip comedy, ''My Mother's Curse,'' the green light to begin shooting, with Streisand and Seth Rogen playing mother and son. Anne Fletcher is slated to direct the project with a script by Dan Fogelman. Lorne Michaels and John Goldwyn will produce it with Evan Goldberg. Executive producers include Streisand, Rogen, Fogelman, and David Ellison, whose Skydance will co-finance the pic. Shooting began in spring of 2011 and wrapped in July. In August the Internet Movie Database began listing the film with the new title ''Guilt Trip''. The film is set for a November 2012 release (originally it was slated to release in March 2012).
Jon Peters' daughters, Caleigh Peters and Skye Peters, are her goddaughters.
Streisand shares a birthday with Shirley MacLaine, and they celebrate together every year.
In 1971, Streisand was one of the celebrities listed on President Richard Nixon's infamous Enemies List.
In 2006, Streisand donated $1 million to the William J. Clinton Foundation in support of former President Bill Clinton’s climate change initiative.
In 2008, Streisand gifted $5 million to endow the Barbra Streisand Women's Cardiovascular Research and Education Program at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center's Women's Heart Center. In September that year, ''Parade'' magazine included Streisand on their Giving Back Fund's second annual Giving Back 30 survey, "a ranking of the celebrities who have made the largest donations to charity in 2007 according to public records", as the third most generous celebrity. The Giving Back Fund claimed Streisand donated $11 million, which The Streisand Foundation distributed.
At Julien’s Auctions in October 2009, Streisand, a long-time collector of art and furniture, sold 526 items with all the proceeds going to her foundation. Items included a costume from ''Funny Lady'' and a vintage dental cabinet purchased by the performer at 18 years old. The sale’s most valuable lot was a painting by Kees van Dongen.
Streisand is frequently mentioned in the sitcom "The Nanny" as Fran Fine states she is her leader. Both Fran and her mother adore Streisand, and often compete in who loves her more.
Streisand is mentioned in the sitcom ''Will & Grace'', particularly by the character Jack McFarland. Songs made famous by Streisand, such as "Papa, Can You Hear Me?" from ''Yentl'' and "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" from ''The Broadway Album'' are reproduced by characters in the show.
The sitcom ''Friends'' refers to Streisand in at least two episodes. In "The One Where Chandler Can't Remember Which Sister", Monica names a sandwich at her 1950s-styled restaurant after Barbra Streisand. A soup is also named after Streisand's movie ''Yentl''. Meanwhile, in "The One After 'I Do'", Phoebe pretends she is pregnant with James Brolin's baby, to which Chandler responds "[A]s in Barbra Streisand's husband, James Brolin?" In the same episode, Gould appears on the show as Ross and Monica's father.
In an episode of ''Absolutely Fabulous'' ("Small Opening"), Beau visits the Monsoon household with her husband Marshall. In another one of their schemes, they have become Jewish with Beau wearing one of Streisand's wigs. She takes the wig off and begins to channel Barbra and says "Papa, Can You Hear Me?" and "People."
At least four episodes of the animated sitcom ''The Simpsons'' refer to Streisand. Outside Springfield Elementary School, announcing Lisa's jazz concert and noting tickets have been sold out, is an advertisement for a Streisand concert in the same venue for the following day, with tickets still on sale. In "Fear of Flying", after Marge undergoes therapy, she informs the therapist that whenever she hears the wind blow, she'll hear it saying "Lowenstein", Streisand's therapist character in ''The Prince of Tides'', even though Marge's therapist is named Zweig. Another reference comes in "Sleeping with the Enemy" when Bart exclaims after seeing Lisa make a snow-angel in a cake on the kitchen table, "At least she's not singing Streisand", in reference to Nelson Muntz singing "Papa Can You Hear Me?" from ''Yentl'' earlier in the episode. In "Simple Simpson", a patriotic country singer says that Streisand is unpatriotic and could be pleased by spitting on the flag and strangling a bald eagle.
thumb|180px|"Mecha Streisand" as portrayed in the animated show ''South Park''. Another enduring satirical reference is in the animated series ''South Park'', most notably in the episode "Mecha-Streisand", where Streisand is portrayed as a self-important, evil, gigantic robotic dinosaur with a terrible singing voice about to conquer the universe before being defeated by Robert Smith of The Cure. On another occasion, the Halloween episode "Spookyfish" is promoted for a week as being done in "Spooky-Vision", which involves Streisand's face seen at times during the episode in the four corners of the screen. At the end of the feature film ''South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut,'' her name is used as a powerful curse word, a gag repeated in the episode "Osama bin Laden Has Farty Pants". The Mecha-Streisand character made a return in the Season 14 episodes "200" and "201", as one of several celebrities the show had lampooned over the years.
In the ''Sex and the City'' episode "Ex in the City", protagonist Carrie Bradshaw likens herself and her lovelife to that of Streisand's character, Katie Morosky in ''The Way We Were'' before breaking into a rendition of the title song.
In the 2002–04 Icebox.com cartoon and animated TV series ''Queer Duck'', the title character is obsessed with Streisand. He undergoes conversion therapy at a Christian camp to be "made" straight, but Streisand's magic nose returns him to his former sexual orientation.
In the ''American Dad!'' episode "In Country...Club", Roger prepares to watch a Streisand special where the entertainer sings the collected works of Celine Dion in Las Vegas.
In Season 1 Episode 12 of ''Boston Legal'', Denny Crane boasts that he once had a threesome with Shirley Schmidt and Barbra Streisand. Schmidt corrects him by reminding him that "Barbra Streisand" was actually a female impersonator.
In the ''Family Guy'' episode "Mind Over Murder", Lois sings a cabaret act with "Don't Rain on My Parade" — originally sung by Streisand in ''Funny Girl'' — only slowed down and jazzier, as an act of defiance to Peter. In "Stewie Kills Lois", Peter receives life insurance after Lois' apparent death, and claims that he has more money than Streisand. This was followed by a cut scene showing Streisand blowing money out of her nose. In "Wasted Talent", Streisand and husband James Brolin are shown sitting together at the dinner table, with Streisand remarking "I'm glad I married a regular person and not a celebrity".
Streisand is referenced frequently on the Fox TV musical series ''Glee''. The character Rachel (Lea Michele) mentions that Streisand refused to alter her nose in order to become famous in the show's third episode "Acafellas". Also, in the mid-season finale of ''Glee'', Rachel sings the Streisand anthem "Don't Rain on My Parade". In the episode "Hell-O", she says that she will be heartbroken for life, "Like Barbra in ''The Way We Were''." In the same episode, Jesse St. James (Jonathan Groff) criticizes Rachel's performance of "Don't Rain on My Parade" by saying that she "lacked Barbra's emotional depth." In the episode "Theatricality", Rachel is spying on the opposing team's dance rehearsal when the director, Shelby Corcoran (Idina Menzel), expresses dissatisfaction at the team's routine. She demonstrates how it's done with the title song from ''Funny Girl'', and Rachel, sitting in the audience, whispers to her friend, "Exactly what I would have done — Barbra. I could do it in my sleep." On the episode Born This Way Barbara is mentioned when Rachel is debating whether or not to get a nose job, Kurt Hummel and the rest of the glee club set up a "Barbra-vention" of a flashmob to the popular hit "Barbra Streisand" by Duck Sauce. The characters of Kurt and Rachel also sang the Get Happy/Happy Days are Here Again duet originally heard during Streisand's 1963 appearance with Judy Garland on Garland's weekly TV series.
When ''Glee'' won the prize for "Best TV Series-Comedy Or Musical" at the 2010 Golden Globe Awards, creator Ryan Murphy quipped on stage, "Thank you to the Hollywood Foreign Press and Miss Barbra Streisand".
In the 1980 musical film ''Fame'', one of the characters, Mrs. Finsecker, announces that Barbra Streisand did not have to change her name to get to the top. Also, Doris Finsecker, played by Maureen Teefy, sings "The Way We Were" for her audition to get into the drama department.
In the 1988 comedy, BIG, Tom Hanks goes home and to prove to his mother that he is her "little" boy he sings the first line of her favorite song, "Memories, like the corner of my mind..." from "The Way We Were."
In the 1993 romantic comedy ''Mrs. Doubtfire'', Robin Williams, while trying different looks to apply to the Mrs. Doubtfire character that he portrays, uses a wig "a la Streisand" and sings some lines from "Don't Rain on My Parade".
In the 1996 comedy "The Associate", Whoopi Goldberg plays a business woman, Laurel Ayers, who creates a business associate, Robert S. Cutty, who is said to have known and dated Streisand. In addition to having an autographed picture of Streisand in her office, Ayers also has a cross-dressing friend who dresses up to resemble Streisand throughout the film.
In the 1998 film adaptation of the novel ''Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas'' a teenage runaway played by Christina Ricci paints images of Streisand while being administered large amounts of LSD by Hunter Thompson's Samoan attorney.
In the 1999 film South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut based on the TV series, Cartman shouted out Barbra Streisand's name and shot electricity out of his hands. She is also mentioned in a relationship conversation between the characters of Satan and Saddam Hussein.
In the 2000 remake of the comedy ''Bedazzled'', the Devil (Elizabeth Hurley) tells Elliot (Brendan Fraser): "It's not easy being the Barbra Streisand of evil, you know."
The characters Carla and Connie, as aspiring song-and-dance acts in the 2004 comedy ''Connie and Carla'', include four Streisand references. They sing "Papa, Can You Hear Me?" and "Memory" at an airport lounge and "Don't Rain on My Parade" onstage in a gay bar, and talk about the plot of ''Yentl'' at the climax of the film after they ask how many in their audience have seen the movie (everyone raised their hands).
In the 2005 animated feature ''Chicken Little'', Chicken's best friend Runt's mom says, after she thinks he is lying about seeing an alien spaceship, "Don't make me take away your Streisand collection!" and Runt returns with, "Mother, you leave Barbra out of this!" Also, she is referred to many times in the series "Gilmore Girls"
"Barbra Streisand" is a disco house song by American-Canadian DJ duo Duck Sauce. It was released on 10 September 2010. The song peaked at number one in Poland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Finland, Switzerland and Austria. It became a top ten hit in Australia, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy and the UK.
Her name consists both the title and the complete lyrics of Duck Sauce's 2010 disco house song "Barbra Streisand", which reached number 1 in the UK Dance charts. It also reached number 1 in several other countries.
The 2005 Broadway musical ''Spamalot'' carries the song "You won't succeed on Broadway" which references lines from "People" and "Papa, Can You Hear Me?".
The 2008 Broadway musical "Title of show" has a line where the character, Susan, was suggesting names for the title of the show. She threw out the name "Color Me Susan", a reference to Barbra's Color Me Barbra.
Year !! Award !! Category !! Work !! Result | |||||
rowspan="3" | 1963 | Grammy Awards | Album of the Year| | ''The Barbra Streisand Album'' | |
Best Female Vocal Performance | |||||
Record of the Year | Happy Days Are Here Again#Barbra Streisand version>Happy Days Are Here Again" | ||||
rowspan="3" | 1964 | Best Female Vocal Performance''People'' || | |||
Album of the Year | |||||
Record of the Year | |||||
rowspan="2" | 1965 | Best Female Vocal Performance| | ''My Name Is Barbra'' | ||
Album of the Year | |||||
rowspan="2" | 1966 | Best Female Vocal Performance| | ''Color Me Barbra'' | ||
Album of the Year | |||||
1968 | Best Contemporary-Pop Vocal Performance| | Funny Girl (film)>Funny Girl'' Soundtrack | |||
1970 | AGVAAGVA Georgie Award || | Entertainer of the Year | — | ||
rowspan="2" | 1972 | Grammy Awards| | Best Pop Female Vocal Performance | "Sweet Inspiration / Where You Lead" | |
AGVA Georgie Award | Singing Star of the Year| | — | |||
1975 | People's Choice Awards| | Favorite Female Singer of the Year | |||
1976 | rowspan="5"Grammy Awards || | Best Classical Vocal Soloist Performance | ''Classical Barbra'' | ||
rowspan="5" | 1977 | Best Pop Female Vocal Performance"Evergreen" (from ''A Star Is Born'') || | |||
Song of the Year | |||||
Record of the Year | |||||
Best Original Score – Motion Picture or Television Special | |||||
AGVA Georgie Award | Singing Star of the Year| | — | |||
1978 | rowspan="7"Grammy Awards || | Best Pop Female Vocal Performance | rowspan="3"You Don't Bring Me Flowers (song) | You Don't Bring Me Flowers" (with Neil Diamond) |> | |
rowspan="2" | 1979 | Record of the Year | |||
rowspan="2" | Best Pop Vocal Performance – Duo, Group, or Chorus | ||||
rowspan="5" | 1980 | rowspan="2"Guilty (Barbra Streisand album) | Guilty'' (with Barry Gibb) |> | ||
Album of the Year | |||||
Record of the Year | "Woman in Love" | ||||
Best Pop Vocal Female Performance | |||||
AGVA Georgie Awards | Singing Star of the Year| | — | |||
1985 | People's Choice Awards| | Favorite All-Around Female Entertainer | |||
rowspan="3" | 1986 | rowspan="5"Grammy Awards || | Best Pop Vocal Female Performance | ''The Broadway Album'' | |
Album of the Year | |||||
Best Instrumental Arrangement Acompanying Vocal | "Being Alive" | ||||
rowspan="2" | 1987 | Best Pop Vocal Female Performance''One Voice'' || | |||
Best Music Video Performance | |||||
1988 | People's Choice Awards| | Favorite All-Time Musical Performer | — | ||
1991 | rowspan="16"Grammy Awards || | Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance | "Warm All Over" | ||
1992 | Grammy Legend Award| | — | Special award | ||
1993 | Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance| | ''Back to Broadway'' | |||
rowspan="3" | 1994 | Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award| | — | Special award | |
Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance | ''Barbra: The Concert'' | ||||
Best Pop Vocal Female Performance | "Ordinary Miracles" | ||||
rowspan="2" | 1997 | rowspan="2"Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals || | Tell Him (Barbra Streisand and Celine Dion song)>Tell Him" (with Celine Dion) | ||
"I Finally Found Someone" (with Bryan Adams) | |||||
2000 | rowspan="3"Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album || | ''Timeless – Live In Concert'' | |||
2002 | ''Christmas Memories'' | ||||
2003 | ''The Movie Album'' | ||||
2004 | rowspan="2"Grammy Hall of Fame || | Funny Girl (musical)>Funny Girl'' (Barbra Streisand and Sydney Chaplin) | Inducted | ||
2006 | ''The Barbra Streisand Album'' | ||||
2007 | Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album| | ''Live in Concert 2006'' | |||
2008 | Grammy Hall of Fame| | The Way We Were (song)>The Way We Were" | Inducted | ||
2011 | Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album| | Love Is the Answer (album)>Love Is the Answer'' |
Year !! Award !! Category !! Work !! Result | |||||
rowspan="2" | 1969 | Academy Awards | Best Actress''Funny Girl'' || | ||
rowspan="5" | Golden Globe Awards | Best Actress in a Motion Picture (Comedy or Musical) | |||
rowspan="2" | 1970 | ''Hello, Dolly(film) | Hello, Dolly!'' | ||
Henrietta Award | Henrietta World Film Favorite | — | |||
rowspan="2" | 1971 | Best Actress in a Motion Picture (Comedy or Musical)| | The Owl and the Pussycat (film)>The Owl and the Pussycat'' | ||
Henrietta World Film Favorite | — | ||||
rowspan="2" | 1974 | Academy Awards| | Best Actress | ''The Way We Were'' | |
rowspan="3" | Golden Globe Awards | Best Actress in a Motion Picture (Drama) | |||
1975 | Henrietta World Film Favorite| | — | Special award | ||
1976 | Best Actress in a Motion Picture (Comedy or Musical)| | ''Funny Lady'' | |||
rowspan="3" | 1977 | Academy Awards| | Best Original Song | rowspan="3"Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star Is Born) | Evergreen" (from ''A Star Is Born'') |> |
rowspan="6" | Golden Globe Awards | Best Actress in a Motion Picture (Comedy or Musical) | |||
Best Original Song | |||||
1978 | Henrietta World Film Favorite| | — | Special award | ||
rowspan="2" | 1984 | Best Actress in a Motion Picture (Comedy or Musical)''Yentl'' || | |||
Best Director (Motion Picture) | |||||
1988 | Best Actress in Motion Picture (Drama)| | Nuts (film)>Nuts'' | |||
rowspan="2" | 1992 | Academy Awards| | Best Picture | ''The Prince of Tides'' | |
Golden Globe Awards | Best Director (Motion Picture) | ||||
rowspan="3" | 1997 | Academy Awards| | Best Original Song | "I Finally Found Someone" (from ''The Mirror Has Two Faces'') | |
rowspan="3" | Golden Globe Awards | Best Actress in a Motion Picture (Comedy or Musical)| | ''The Mirror Has Two Faces'' | ||
Best Original Song | "I Finally Found Someone" (from ''The Mirror Has Two Faces'') | ||||
2000 | Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award for Lifetime Achievement| | — | Special award |
Year !! Title !! Notes | ||
1961–1963 | ''I Can Get It for You Wholesale'' | Nominated—Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical |
1964–1965 | Funny Girl (musical)>Funny Girl'' |
Year !! Title !! Notes | ||
1966 | Funny Girl (musical)>Funny Girl'' | April 13, 1966 – July 16, 1966 at the Prince of Wales Theatre, London. |
Year !! Title !! Notes | ||
1965 | ''My Name Is Barbra'' | Aired April 28, 1965 |
1966 | Color Me Barbra'' > | |
1967 | ''The Belle of 14th Street'' | |
1968 | ''A Happening in Central Park'' | |
1973 | ''Barbra Streisand...And Other Musical Instruments'' | |
1975 | ''Funny Girl to Funny Lady'' | |
1976 | ''Barbra: With One More Look at You'' | |
1983 | ''A Film Is Born: The Making of 'Yentl''' | |
1986 | ''Putting it Together: The Making of The Broadway Album'' | |
1987 | One Voice (Barbra Streisand album)>One Voice'' | |
1994 | ''Barbra Streisand: The Concert'' | |
2001 | ''Barbra Streisand: Timeless'' | |
2009 | ''Streisand: Live in Concert'' | |
2009 | ''Friday Night with Jonathan Ross'' |
Year !! Title !! Continents !! Box-office benefits !! Total audience | ||||
1966 | ''An Evening with Barbra Streisand (Tour)'' | North America| | $480,000 | 60,000 |
1994 | ''Barbra Streisand: The Concert Tour''| | North America and Europe | $50 million | 400,000 |
2000 | ''Timeless: Live in Concert Tour''| | North America and Oceania | $70 million | 200,000 |
2006–2007 | ''Streisand: The Tour''| | North America and Europe | $119.5 million | 425,000 |
}}
Category:Article Feedback Pilot Category:1942 births Category:Living people Category:20th-century actors Category:21st-century actors Category:Actors from New York City Category:American dance musicians Category:American female pop singers Category:American film actors Category:American film directors Category:American musical theatre actors Category:American stage actors Category:Best Actress Academy Award winners Category:Best Director Golden Globe winners Category:Best Song Academy Award winning songwriters Category:Daytime Emmy Award winners Category:Emmy Award winners Category:English-language singers Category:Erasmus Hall High School alumni Category:Female film directors Category:BRIT Award winners Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Category:MusiCares Person of the Year Honorees Category:Jewish actors Category:Jewish American composers and songwriters Category:Jewish singers Category:Officiers of the Légion d'honneur Category:Kennedy Center honorees Category:New York Democrats Category:People from Brooklyn Category:Singers from New York City Category:Tony Award winners Category:Torch singers Category:United States National Medal of Arts recipients
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Birthname | Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger |
---|---|
Order | 38th |
Office | Governor of California |
Lieutenant | Cruz BustamanteMona Pasquil (acting) John GaramendiAbel Maldonado |
Term start | November 17, 2003 |
Term end | January 3, 2011 |
Predecessor | Gray Davis |
Successor | Jerry Brown |
Birth date | July 30, 1947 |
Birth place | Thal, Austria |
Citizenship | American, Austrian |
Party | Republican Party |
Spouse | Maria Shriver (1986–2011) |
Children | Katherine (b. 1989)Christina (b. 1991)Patrick (b. 1993)Christopher (b. 1997)Joseph Baena (b. 1997) |
Relations | Gustav Schwarzenegger(father, deceased)Aurelia née Jadrny(mother, deceased) |
Alma mater | Santa Monica CollegeUniversity of Wisconsin, Superior |
Profession | Bodybuilder, actor, director, businessman, investor, and politician |
Religion | Roman Catholic |
Signature | Arnold Schwarzenegger Signature.svg |
Website | Personal website |
Branch | Austrian Armed Forces |
Serviceyears | 1965 }} |
Schwarzenegger began to weight train at the young age of 15 years old. He was awarded the title of Mr. Universe at age 20 and went on to win the Mr. Olympia contest seven times. Schwarzenegger has remained a prominent presence in the sport of bodybuilding and he has written several books and numerous articles on the sport. Schwarzenegger gained worldwide fame as a Hollywood action film icon. He was nicknamed the "Austrian Oak" and the "Styrian Oak" in his bodybuilding days, "Arnie" during his acting career and more recently the "Governator" (a portmanteau of "Governor" and "Terminator").
As a Republican, he was first elected on October 7, 2003, in a special recall election to replace then-Governor Gray Davis. Schwarzenegger was sworn in on November 17, 2003, to serve the remainder of Davis's term. Schwarzenegger was then re-elected on November 7, 2006, in California's 2006 gubernatorial election, to serve a full term as governor, defeating Democrat Phil Angelides, who was California State Treasurer at the time. Schwarzenegger was sworn in for his second term on January 5, 2007.
Schwarzenegger had been married to Maria Shriver for over 25 years and the couple had four children together. In 2011, it was revealed that Schwarzenegger had engaged in an adulterous affair and fathered a son with an employee of his, Mildred Baena, 14 years earlier. This subsequently led to Schwarzenegger and Shriver separating and Shriver filing for divorce.
Gustav had a preference for his stepson Meinhard, over his son, Arnold. His favoritism was "strong and blatant," which stemmed from unfounded suspicion that Arnold was not his child. Schwarzenegger has said his father had "no patience for listening or understanding your problems." Schwarzenegger had a good relationship with his mother and kept in touch with her until her death. In later life, Schwarzenegger commissioned the Simon Wiesenthal Center to research his father's wartime record, which came up with no evidence of atrocities despite Gustav's membership in the Nazi Party and SA. Schwarzenneger's father's background received wide press attention during the 2003 California recall campaign. At school, Schwarzenegger was apparently in the middle but stood out for his "cheerful, good-humored and exuberant" character. Money was a problem in their household; Schwarzenegger recalled that one of the highlights of his youth was when the family bought a refrigerator.
As a boy, Schwarzenegger played several sports, heavily influenced by his father. He picked up his first barbell in 1960, when his football coach took his team to a local gym. At the age of 14, he chose bodybuilding over football (soccer) as a career. Schwarzenegger has responded to a question asking if he was 13 when he started weightlifting: "I actually started weight training when I was 15, but I'd been participating in sports, like soccer, for years, so I felt that although I was slim, I was well-developed, at least enough so that I could start going to the gym and start Olympic lifting." However, his official website biography claims: "At 14, he started an intensive training program with Dan Farmer, studied psychology at 15 (to learn more about the power of mind over body) and at 17, officially started his competitive career." During a speech in 2001, he said, ''"My own plan formed when I was 14 years old. My father had wanted me to be a police officer like he was. My mother wanted me to go to trade school."'' Schwarzenegger took to visiting a gym in Graz, where he also frequented the local movie theaters to see bodybuilding idols such as Reg Park, Steve Reeves and Johnny Weissmuller on the big screen. "I was inspired by individuals like Reg Park and Steve Reeves." When Reeves died in 2000, Schwarzenegger fondly remembered him: "As a teenager, I grew up with Steve Reeves. His remarkable accomplishments allowed me a sense of what was possible, when others around me didn't always understand my dreams ... Steve Reeves has been part of everything I've ever been fortunate enough to achieve." In 1961, Schwarzenegger met former Mr. Austria Kurt Marnul, who invited him to train at the gym in Graz. He was so dedicated as a youngster that he broke into the local gym on weekends, when it was usually closed, so that he could train. "It would make me sick to miss a workout ... I knew I couldn't look at myself in the mirror the next morning if I didn't do it." When Schwarzenegger was asked about his first movie experience as a boy, he replied, "I was very young, but I remember my father taking me to the Austrian theaters and seeing some newsreels. The first real movie I saw, that I distinctly remember, was a John Wayne movie."
In 1971, his brother Meinhard died in a car accident. Meinhard had been drinking and was killed instantly. Schwarzenegger did not attend his funeral. Meinhard was due to marry Erika Knapp, and the couple had a three-year-old son, Patrick. Schwarzenegger would pay for Patrick's education and help him to immigrate to the United States. Gustav died the following year from a stroke. In ''Pumping Iron'', Schwarzenegger claimed that he did not attend his father's funeral because he was training for a bodybuilding contest. Later, he and the film's producer said this story was taken from another bodybuilder for the purpose of showing the extremes that some would go to for their sport and to make Schwarzenegger's image more cold and machine-like in order to fan controversy for the film. Barbara Baker, his first serious girlfriend, has said he informed her of his father's death without emotion and that he never spoke of his brother. Over time, he has given at least three versions of why he was absent from his father's funeral.
In an interview with ''Fortune'' in 2004, Schwarzenegger told how he suffered what "would now be called child abuse" at the hands of his father:
"The Mr. Universe title was my ticket to America – the land of opportunity, where I could become a star and get rich." Schwarzenegger made his first plane trip in 1966, attending the NABBA Mr. Universe competition in London. He would come in second in the Mr. Universe competition, not having the muscle definition of American winner Chester Yorton.
Charles "Wag" Bennett, one of the judges at the 1966 competition, was impressed with Schwarzenegger and he offered to coach him. As Schwarzenegger had little money, Bennett invited him to stay in his crowded family home above one of his two gyms in Forest Gate, London, England. Yorton's leg definition had been judged superior, and Schwarzenegger, under a training program devised by Bennett, concentrated on improving the muscle definition and power in his legs. Staying in the East End of London helped Schwarzenegger improve his rudimentary grasp of the English language. Also in 1966, Schwarzenegger had the opportunity to meet childhood idol Reg Park, who became his friend and mentor. The training paid off and, in 1967, Schwarzenegger won the title for the first time, becoming the youngest ever Mr. Universe at the age of 20. He would go on to win the title a further three times. Schwarzenegger then flew back to Munich, training for four to six hours daily, attending business school and working in a health club (Rolf Putzinger's gym where he worked and trained from 1966–1968), returning in 1968 to London to win his next Mr. Universe title. He frequently told Roger C. Field, a friend in Munich at that time, "I'm going to become the greatest actor!"
Immigration law firm Siskind & Susser have stated that Schwarzenegger may have been an illegal immigrant at some point in the late 1960s or early 1970s because of violations in the terms of his visa. ''LA Weekly'' would later say in 2002 that Schwarzenegger is the most famous immigrant in America, who "overcame a thick Austrian accent and transcended the unlikely background of bodybuilding to become the biggest movie star in the world in the 1990s".
In 1977, Schwarzenegger's autobiography/weight-training guide ''Arnold: The Education of a Bodybuilder'' was published and became a huge success. After taking English classes at Santa Monica College in California, he earned a BA by correspondence from the University of Wisconsin–Superior, where he graduated Business and International Economics, in 1979.
Name | Arnold Schwarzenegger |
---|---|
Nickname | The Austrian Oak |
Birth date | July 30, 1947 |
Birth place | Thal, Styria, Austria |
Height | |
Weight | 250 pounds (113 kg) |
Firstproshow | NABBA Mr. Universe |
Firstproshowyear | 1968 |
Bestwin | IFBB Mr. Olympia |
Bestwinyear | 1970–1975, 1980, Seven Times |
Predecessor | Sergio Oliva ('69), Frank Zane ('79) |
Successor | Franco Columbu ('76, '81) |
Yesorretiredyear | Retired 1980 }} |
Schwarzenegger is considered among the most important figures in the history of bodybuilding, and his legacy is commemorated in the Arnold Classic annual bodybuilding competition. Schwarzenegger has remained a prominent face in the bodybuilding sport long after his retirement, in part because of his ownership of gyms and fitness magazines. He has presided over numerous contests and awards shows.
For many years, he wrote a monthly column for the bodybuilding magazines ''Muscle & Fitness'' and ''Flex''. Shortly after being elected Governor, he was appointed executive editor of both magazines, in a largely symbolic capacity. The magazines agreed to donate $250,000 a year to the Governor's various physical fitness initiatives. The magazine ''MuscleMag International'' has a monthly two-page article on him, and refers to him as "The King".
One of the first competitions he won was the Junior Mr. Europe contest in 1965. He won Mr. Europe the following year, at age 19. He would go on to compete in, and win, many bodybuilding contests, as well as some weightlifting contests, including five Mr. Universe (4 – NABBA [England], 1 – IFBB [USA]) wins, and seven Mr. Olympia wins, a record which would stand until Lee Haney won his eighth consecutive Mr. Olympia title in 1991.
Schwarzenegger continues to work out even today. When asked about his personal training during the 2011 Arnold Classic he said that he was still working out a half an hour with weights every day.
Competition Weight: (top 250 lb [113 kg])
Off Season Weight:
He continued his winning streak in the 1971–74 competitions. In 1975, Schwarzenegger was once again in top form, and won the title for the sixth consecutive time, beating Franco Columbu. After the 1975 Mr. Olympia contest, Schwarzenegger announced his retirement from professional bodybuilding.
Months before the 1975 Mr. Olympia contest, filmmakers George Butler and Robert Fiore persuaded Schwarzenegger to compete, in order to film his training in the bodybuilding documentary called ''Pumping Iron.'' Schwarzenegger had only three months to prepare for the competition, after losing significant weight to appear in the film ''Stay Hungry'' with Jeff Bridges. Lou Ferrigno proved not to be a threat, and a lighter-than-usual Schwarzenegger convincingly won the 1975 Mr. Olympia.
Schwarzenegger came out of retirement, however, to compete in the 1980 Mr. Olympia. Schwarzenegger was training for his role in ''Conan'', and he got into such good shape because of the running, horseback riding and sword training, that he decided he wanted to win the Mr. Olympia contest one last time. He kept this plan a secret, in the event that a training accident would prevent his entry and cause him to lose face. Schwarzenegger had been hired to provide color commentary for network television, when he announced at the eleventh hour that while he was there: "Why not compete?" Schwarzenegger ended up winning the event with only seven weeks of preparation. After being declared Mr. Olympia for a seventh time, Schwarzenegger then officially retired from competition.
In 1999, Schwarzenegger sued Dr. Willi Heepe, a German doctor who publicly predicted his early death on the basis of a link between his steroid use and his later heart problems. As the doctor had never examined him personally, Schwarzenegger collected a US$10,000 libel judgment against him in a German court. In 1999, Schwarzenegger also sued and settled with ''The Globe'', a U.S. tabloid which had made similar predictions about the bodybuilder's future health.
Other names | Arnold StrongArnie |
---|---|
Years active | 1970–2006, 2009–present (acting) |
Occupation | Actor, director, producer }} |
Schwarzenegger drew attention and boosted his profile in the bodybuilding film ''Pumping Iron'' (1977), elements of which were dramatized. In 1991, Schwarzenegger purchased the rights to the film, its outtakes, and associated still photography. Schwarzenegger auditioned for the title role of ''The Incredible Hulk'', but did not win the role because of his height. Later, Lou Ferrigno got the part of Dr. David Banner's alter ego. Schwarzenegger appeared with Kirk Douglas and Ann-Margret in the 1979 comedy ''The Villain''. In 1980 he starred in a biographical film of the 1950s actress Jayne Mansfield as Mansfield's husband, Mickey Hargitay.
Schwarzenegger's breakthrough film was the sword-and-sorcery epic ''Conan the Barbarian'' in 1982, which was a box-office hit. This was followed by a sequel, ''Conan the Destroyer'' in 1984, although it was not as successful as its predecessor. In 1983, Schwarzenegger starred in the promotional video "Carnival in Rio".
In 1984, he made the first of three appearances as the eponymous character and what some would say was the signature role in his acting career in director James Cameron's science fiction thriller film ''The Terminator''. Following ''The Terminator'', Schwarzenegger made ''Red Sonja'' in 1985.
During the 1980s, audiences had an appetite for action films, with both Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone becoming international stars. Schwarzenegger's roles reflected his sense of humor, separating his roles from more serious action hero fare. His alternative-universe comedy/thriller ''Last Action Hero'' featured a poster of the movie ''Terminator 2: Judgment Day'' which, in the fictional alternate universe, had Sylvester Stallone as its star.
He made a number of successful films: ''Commando'' (1985), ''Raw Deal'' (1986), ''The Running Man'' (1987), and ''Red Heat'' (1988). In ''Predator'' (1987), another successful film, Schwarzenegger led a cast which included future Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura (Ventura also appeared in ''The Running Man'' and ''Batman & Robin'' with Schwarzenegger) and future candidate for governor of Kentucky Sonny Landham.
''Twins'' (1988), a comedy with Danny DeVito also proved successful. ''Total Recall'' (1990) netted Schwarzenegger $10 million and 15% of the gross, and was a science fiction script directed by Paul Verhoeven, based on the Philip K. Dick short story, "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale". ''Kindergarten Cop'' (1990) reunited him with director Ivan Reitman, who directed him in ''Twins''.
Schwarzenegger had a brief foray into directing, first with a 1990 episode of the TV series ''Tales from the Crypt'', entitled "The Switch", and then with the 1992 telemovie ''Christmas in Connecticut''. He has not directed since.
Schwarzenegger's commercial peak was his return as the title character in 1991's ''Terminator 2: Judgment Day'', which was the highest-grossing film of 1991. In 1993, the National Association of Theatre Owners named him the "International Star of the Decade." His next film project, the 1993 self-aware action comedy spoof ''Last Action Hero'' was released opposite ''Jurassic Park'', and did not do well at the box office. His next film, the comedy drama ''True Lies'' (1994) was a popular spy film, and saw Schwarzenegger, reunited with James Cameron, appearing opposite Jamie Lee Curtis.
That same year the comedy ''Junior'' (1994) was released, the last of his three collaborations with Ivan Reitman and again co-starring Danny DeVito and also for the second time featuring Pamela Reed. This film brought Schwarzenegger his second Golden Globe nomination, this time for Best Actor – Musical or Comedy. It was followed by the action thriller ''Eraser'' (1996), the Christmas comedy ''Jingle All The Way'' (1996) with Arnold playing the main character, Howard Langston, and the comic book-based ''Batman & Robin'' (1997), where he played the villain Mr. Freeze. This was his final film before taking time to recuperate from a back injury. Following the critical failure of ''Batman & Robin'', Schwarzenegger's film career and box office prominence went into decline.
He returned with the supernatural thriller ''''End of Days'''' (1999), later followed by the action films ''The 6th Day'' (2000) and ''Collateral Damage'' (2002) all of which failed to do well at the box office. In 2003, he made his third appearance as the title character in ''Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines'', which went on to earn over $150 million domestically.
In tribute to Schwarzenegger in 2002, Forum Stadtpark, a local cultural association, proposed plans to build a 25-meter (82 ft) tall ''Terminator'' statue in a park in central Graz. Schwarzenegger reportedly said he was flattered, but thought the money would be better spent on social projects and the Special Olympics.
His film appearances after becoming Governor of California include a 3-second cameo appearance in ''The Rundown'' (a.k.a., ''Welcome to the Jungle'') with The Rock, and the 2004 remake of ''Around the World in 80 Days'', where he appeared onscreen with action star Jackie Chan for the first time. In 2005 he appeared as himself in the film ''The Kid & I''. Schwarzenegger voiced Baron von Steuben in Episode 24 ("Valley Forge") of ''Liberty's Kids''.
Schwarzenegger had been rumored to be appearing in ''Terminator Salvation'' as the original T-800 model, alongside Roland Kickinger. Schwarzenegger denied his involvement, but it was later revealed that although he would appear briefly he would not be shooting new footage, and his image would be inserted into the movie from stock footage of the first Terminator movie. Schwarzenegger's most recent appearance was in Sylvester Stallone's ''The Expendables'', where he made a cameo appearance alongside Stallone and Bruce Willis.
On March 6, 2011, at the Arnold Seminar of the Arnold Classic, Schwarzenegger revealed that he was being courted for several films, including sequels to ''The Terminator'' and remakes of ''Predator'' and ''The Running Man'', and that he was "packaging" a comic book character. The character was later revealed to be the Governator, star of the comic book and animated series of the same name. Schwarzenegger inspired the character and co-developed it with Stan Lee, who would have produced the series. Schwarzenegger would have voiced the Governator.
On May 20, 2011, Schwarzenegger's entertainment counsel announced that all movie projects currently in development were being halted. "Governor Schwarzenegger is focusing on personal matters and is not willing to commit to any production schedules or timelines." However, the ''Daily Star'' reported on May 29 that Schwarzenegger had been offered $40 million to star in two ''Terminator'' films.
On July 11, 2011 it was announced that Schwarzenegger is considering a comeback film despite his continuing legal problems. He has reportedly signed to star in "Last Stand" as a dishonored Los Angeles cop.
In 1985, Schwarzenegger appeared in ''Stop the Madness'', an anti-drug music video sponsored by the Reagan administration. He first came to wide public notice as a Republican during the 1988 Presidential election, accompanying then-Vice President George H.W. Bush at a campaign rally.
Schwarzenegger's first political appointment was as chairman of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, on which he served from 1990 to 1993. He was nominated by George H. W. Bush, who dubbed him "Conan the Republican". He later served as Chairman for the California Governor's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports under Governor Pete Wilson. Yet, political analysts have identified Schwarzenegger as a liberal, as he has become more left-leaning since his election.
Between 1993 and 1994, Schwarzenegger was a Red Cross ambassador (a ceremonial role fulfilled by celebrities), recording several television/radio public service announcements to donate blood. A small amount of interest was garnered by his wearing of a white t-shirt with the Red Cross on it, while posing with a flexed arm; the image made it into several celebrity magazines.
In an interview with ''Talk'' magazine in late 1999, Schwarzenegger was asked if he thought of running for office. He replied, "I think about it many times. The possibility is there, because I feel it inside." ''The Hollywood Reporter'' claimed shortly after that Schwarzenegger sought to end speculation that he might run for governor of California. Following his initial comments, Schwarzenegger said, "I'm in show business – I am in the middle of my career. Why would I go away from that and jump into something else?"
On October 7, 2003, the recall election resulted in Governor Gray Davis being removed from office with 55.4% of the ''Yes'' vote in favor of a recall. Schwarzenegger was elected Governor of California under the second question on the ballot with 48.6% of the vote to choose a successor to Davis. Schwarzenegger defeated Democrat Cruz Bustamante, fellow Republican Tom McClintock, and others. His nearest rival, Bustamante, received 31% of the vote. In total, Schwarzenegger won the election by about 1.3 million votes. Under the regulations of the California Constitution, no runoff election was required. Schwarzenegger was the first foreign-born governor of California since Irish-born Governor John G. Downey in 1862.
As soon as Schwarzenegger was elected governor, Willie Brown said he would start a drive to recall the governor. Schwarzenegger was equally entrenched in what he considered to be his mandate in cleaning up gridlock. Building on a catchphrase from the sketch "Hans and Franz" from ''Saturday Night Live'' (which partly parodied his bodybuilding career), Schwarzenegger called the Democratic State politicians "girlie men".
Schwarzenegger's early victories included repealing an unpopular increase in the vehicle registration fee as well as preventing driver's licenses being given out to illegal immigrants, but later he began to feel the backlash when powerful state unions began to oppose his various initiatives. Key among his reckoning with political realities was a special election he called in November 2005, in which four ballot measures he sponsored were defeated. Schwarzenegger accepted personal responsibility for the defeats and vowed to continue to seek consensus for the people of California. He would later comment that "no one could win if the opposition raised 160 million dollars to defeat you".
Schwarzenegger then went against the advice of fellow Republican strategists and appointed a Democrat, Susan Kennedy, as his Chief of Staff. Schwarzenegger gradually moved towards a more politically moderate position, determined to build a winning legacy with only a short time to go until the next gubernatorial election.
Schwarzenegger ran for re-election against Democrat Phil Angelides, the California State Treasurer, in the 2006 elections, held on November 7, 2006. Despite a poor year nationally for the Republican party, Schwarzenegger won re-election with 56.0% of the vote compared with 38.9% for Angelides, a margin of well over one million votes. In recent years, many commentators have seen Schwarzenegger as moving away from the right and towards the center of the political spectrum. After hearing a speech by Schwarzenegger at the 2006 Martin Luther King, Jr. breakfast, San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom said that, "[H]e's becoming a Democrat [... H]e's running back, not even to the center. I would say center-left".
It was rumored that Schwarzenegger might run for the United States Senate in 2010, as his governorship would be term-limited by that time. This turned out to be false. Wendy Leigh, who wrote an unofficial biography on Schwarzenegger, claims he plotted his political rise from an early age using the movie business and bodybuilding as building blocks to escape a depressing home. Leigh portrays Schwarzenegger as obsessed with power and quotes him as saying, "I wanted to be part of the small percentage of people who were leaders, not the large mass of followers. I think it is because I saw leaders use 100% of their potential –I was always fascinated by people in control of other people." Schwarzenegger has said that it was never his intention to enter politics, but he says, "I married into a political family. You get together with them and you hear about policy, about reaching out to help people. I was exposed to the idea of being a public servant and Eunice and Sargent Shriver became my heroes." Eunice Kennedy Shriver was sister of John F. Kennedy, and mother-in-law to Schwarzenegger; Sargent Shriver is husband to Eunice and father-in-law to Schwarzenegger. He cannot run for president as he is not a natural born citizen of the United States. In ''The Simpsons Movie'' (2007), he is portrayed as the President, and in the Sylvester Stallone movie, ''Demolition Man'' (1993, ten years before his first run for political office), it is revealed that a constitutional amendment passed which allowed Schwarzenegger to run for President.
Schwarzenegger is a dual Austria/United States citizen. He holds Austrian citizenship by birth and has held U.S. citizenship since becoming naturalized in 1983. Being Austrian and thus European, he was able to win the 2007 European Voice campaigner of the year award for taking action against climate change with the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 and plans to introduce an emissions trading scheme with other US states and possibly with the EU. Still, Schwarzenegger has always identified with his American citizenship, and has shown great affinity for the state of California beyond his foreign birth.
Because of his personal wealth from his acting career, Schwarzenegger did not accept his governor's salary of $175,000 per year. He stated after he left office that being governor cost him as much as $200 million in potential movie deals, but that "it was more than worth it."
Schwarzenegger's endorsement in the Republican primary of the 2008 U.S. Presidential election was highly sought; despite being good friends with candidates Rudy Giuliani and Senator John McCain, Schwarzenegger remained neutral throughout 2007 and early 2008. Giuliani dropped out of the Presidential race on January 30, 2008, largely because of a poor showing in Florida, and endorsed McCain. Later that night, Schwarzenegger was in the audience at a Republican debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California. The following day, he endorsed McCain, joking, "It's Rudy's fault!" (in reference to his friendships with both candidates and that he could not make up his mind). Schwarzenegger's endorsement was thought to be a boost for Senator McCain's campaign; both spoke about their concerns for the environment and economy.
In its April 2010 report, Progressive ethics watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington named Schwarzenegger one of 11 "worst governors" in the United States because of various ethics issues throughout Schwarzenegger's term as governor.
Governor Schwarzenegger played a significant role in opposing Proposition 66, a proposed amendment of the Californian Three Strikes Law, in November 2004. This amendment would have required the third felony to be either violent or serious to mandate a 25-years-to-life sentence. In the last week before the ballot, Schwarzenegger launched an intensive campaign against Proposition 66. He stated that "it would release 26,000 dangerous criminals and rapists".
Three of the women claimed he had grabbed their breasts, a fourth said he placed his hand under her skirt on her buttock. A fifth woman claimed Schwarzenegger tried to take off her bathing suit in a hotel elevator, and the last said he pulled her onto his lap and asked her about a sex act.
Schwarzenegger admitted that he has "behaved badly sometimes" and apologized, but also stated that "a lot of [what] you see in the stories is not true". This came after an interview in adult magazine ''Oui'' from 1977 surfaced, in which Schwarzenegger discussed attending sexual orgies and using substances such as marijuana. Schwarzenegger is shown smoking a marijuana joint after winning Mr. Olympia in the 1975 documentary film ''Pumping Iron.'' In an interview with ''GQ'' magazine in October 2007, Schwarzenegger said, "[Marijuana] is not a drug. It's a leaf. My drug was pumping iron, trust me." His spokesperson later said the comment was meant to be a joke.
British television personality Anna Richardson settled a libel lawsuit in August 2006 against Schwarzenegger, his top aide, Sean Walsh, and his publicist, Sheryl Main. A joint statement read: "The parties are content to put this matter behind them and are pleased that this legal dispute has now been settled." Richardson claimed they tried to tarnish her reputation by dismissing her allegations that Schwarzenegger touched her breast during a press event for ''The 6th Day'' in London. She claimed Walsh and Main libeled her in a ''Los Angeles Times'' article when they contended she encouraged his behavior.
Schwarzenegger signed another executive order on October 17, 2006 allowing California to work with the Northeast's Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. They plan to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by issuing a limited amount of carbon credits to each power plant in participating states. Any power plants that exceed emissions for the amount of carbon credits will have to purchase more credits to cover the difference. The plan is set to be in effect in 2009. In addition to using his political power to fight global warming, the governor has taken steps at his home to reduce his personal carbon footprint. Schwarzenegger has adapted one of his Hummers to run on hydrogen and another to run on biofuels. He has also installed solar panels to heat his home.
In respect of his contribution to the direction of the US motor industry, Schwarzenegger was invited to open the 2009 SAE World Congress in Detroit, on April 20, 2009.
Schwarzenegger met his next paramour, Sue Moray, a Beverly Hills hairdresser's assistant, on Venice Beach in July 1977. According to Moray, the couple led an open relationship: "We were faithful when we were both in LA ... but when he was out of town, we were free to do whatever we wanted." Schwarzenegger met Maria Shriver at the Robert F. Kennedy Tennis Tournament in August 1977, and went on to have a relationship with both women until August 1978, when Moray (who knew of his relationship with Shriver) issued an ultimatum.
After the news of Schwarzenegger's infidelity scandal was revealed, actress Brigitte Nielsen came forward and confessed that she too had an affair with Schwarzenegger while he was in a relationship with Shriver, saying, "Maybe I wouldn't have got into it if he said 'I'm going to marry Maria' and this is dead serious, but he didn't, and our affair carried on."
Fifty-year-old Baena, of Guatemalan origin, was employed by the family for 20 years and retired in January. The pregnant Baena was working in the home while Shriver was pregnant with the youngest of the couple’s four children. Baena's son with Schwarzenegger, Joseph, was born on October 2, 1997; Shriver gave birth to Christopher only a few days earlier on September 27, 1997. Schwarzenegger found ways to spend time with this child: in one instance, in 1998, Shriver and Schwarzenegger's children unexpectedly accompanied Schwarzenegger to the lovechild's baptism; and he was photographed teaching the boy how to play golf and swinging him playfully above his head. Despite Schwarzenegger's interactions with the child, the boy was never told that Schwarzenegger was his father, and he was unaware of the fact until it was revealed by the press. Schwarzenegger has taken financial responsibility for the child "from the start and continued to provide support." KNX 1070 radio reported that he bought a new, four-bedroom house, with a pool, in Bakersfield, about north of Los Angeles, in 2010 for Baena and their son. Baena separated from her husband, Rogelio, in 1997, a few months after Joseph's birth. She divorced Rogelio in 2008. Baena's ex-husband, Rogelio Baena, says that the child's birth certificate was falsified and that he plans to sue Schwarzenegger and his ex-wife for engaging in conspiracy to falsify a public document, a serious crime in California.
Schwarzenegger has consulted an attorney, Bob Kaufman. Kaufman has earlier handled divorce cases for celebrities such as Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon. Schwarzenegger will keep the Brentwood home as part of their divorce settlement and Shriver has purchased a new home nearby so that the children may travel easily between their parents' homes. They will share custody of the two minor children. Schwarzenegger came under fire after the initial petition did not include spousal support and a reimbursement of attorney's fees. However, he claims this was not intentional and that he signed the initial documents without having properly read them. Schwarzenegger has filed amended divorce papers remedying this.
In the aftermath of Schwarzenegger's infidelity scandal, actress Brigitte Nielsen came forward and stated that she too had an affair with Schwarzenegger while he was in a relationship with Shriver, saying, "Maybe I wouldn't have got into it if he said 'I'm going to marry Maria' and this is dead serious, but he didn't, and our affair carried on."
On December 9, 2001, he broke six ribs and was hospitalized for four days after a motorcycle crash in Los Angeles.
Schwarzenegger saved a drowning man's life in 2004 while on vacation in Hawaii by swimming out and bringing him back to shore.
On January 8, 2006, while Schwarzenegger was riding his Harley Davidson motorcycle in Los Angeles, with his son Patrick in the sidecar, another driver backed into the street he was riding on, causing him and his son to collide with the car at a low speed. While his son and the other driver were unharmed, the governor sustained a minor injury to his lip, requiring 15 stitches. "No citations were issued", said Officer Jason Lee, a Los Angeles Police Department spokesman. Schwarzenegger did not obtain his motorcycle license until July 3, 2006.
Schwarzenegger tripped over his ski pole and broke his right femur while skiing in Sun Valley, Idaho, with his family on December 23, 2006. On December 26, 2006, he underwent a 90-minute operation in which cables and screws were used to wire the broken bone back together. He was released from the St. John's Health Center on December 30, 2006. He appeared in crutches at his inauguration.
Schwarzenegger's private jet made an emergency landing at Van Nuys Airport on June 19, 2009, after the pilot reported smoke coming from the cockpit, according to a statement released by the governor's press secretary. No one was harmed in the incident.
On February 12, 2010, Schwarzenegger was the 18th runner on the 106th day of the Vancouver Olympic Torch relay. His leg was along the Stanley Park Seawall, and he exchanged a "torch kiss" with the next runner, Sebastian Coe.
The Sun Valley Resort has a short ski trail called ''Arnold's Run'', named after Schwarzenegger in 2001. The trail is categorized as a black diamond, or most difficult, for its terrain.
People in Thal, Austria, celebrated Schwarzenegger's 60th birthday by throwing a party. Officials proclaimed "A Day for Arnold" on July 30, 2007. The mayor sent Schwarzenegger the enameled sign, Thal 145, the number of the house where Schwarzenegger was born, declaring "This belongs to him. No one here will ever be assigned that number again".
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ar:أرنولد شوارزنيجر az:Arnold Şvartsenegger bn:আর্নল্ড শোয়ার্জনেগার zh-min-nan:Arnold Schwarzenegger be:Арнольд Шварцэнэгер bar:Arnold Schwarzenegger bs:Arnold Schwarzenegger bg:Арнолд Шварценегер ca:Arnold Schwarzenegger cs:Arnold Schwarzenegger co:Arnold Schwarzenegger cy:Arnold Schwarzenegger da:Arnold Schwarzenegger de:Arnold Schwarzenegger et:Arnold Schwarzenegger el:Άρνολντ Σβαρτσενέγκερ es:Arnold Schwarzenegger eo:Arnold Schwarzenegger eu:Arnold Schwarzenegger fa:آرنولد شوارزنگر fo:Arnold Schwarzenegger fr:Arnold Schwarzenegger ga:Arnold Schwarzenegger gd:Arnold Schwarzenegger gl:Arnold Schwarzenegger gu:આર્નોલ્ડ શ્વાર્ઝેનેગર ko:아널드 슈워제네거 hy:Առնոլդ Շվարցենեգեր hi:अर्नोल्ड श्वार्ज़नेगर hr:Arnold Schwarzenegger io:Arnold Schwarzenegger id:Arnold Schwarzenegger is:Arnold Schwarzenegger it:Arnold Schwarzenegger he:ארנולד שוורצנגר kl:Arnold Schwarzenegger kn:ಅರ್ನಾಲ್ಡ್ ಶ್ವಾರ್ಜಿನೆಗ್ಗರ್ ka:არნოლდ შვარცენეგერი sw:Arnold Schwarzenegger ku:Arnold Schwarzenegger la:Arnoldus Schwarzenegger lv:Arnolds Švarcenegers lt:Arnold Schwarzenegger jbo:arnold. cyvartseneger hu:Arnold Schwarzenegger mk:Арнолд Шварценегер ml:അർണോൾഡ് സ്വാറ്റ്സെനെഗർ mr:आर्नोल्ड श्वार्झनेगर ms:Arnold Schwarzenegger mn:Арнольд Шварценеггер nl:Arnold Schwarzenegger ja:アーノルド・シュワルツェネッガー no:Arnold Schwarzenegger nn:Arnold Schwarzenegger oc:Arnold Schwarzenegger uz:Arnold Schwarzenegger pl:Arnold Schwarzenegger pt:Arnold Schwarzenegger ro:Arnold Schwarzenegger ru:Шварценеггер, Арнольд sq:Arnold Schwarzenegger simple:Arnold Schwarzenegger sk:Arnold Schwarzenegger sl:Arnold Schwarzenegger szl:Arnold Schwarzenegger srn:Arnold Schwarzenegger sr:Арнолд Шварценегер sh:Arnold Švarceneger fi:Arnold Schwarzenegger sv:Arnold Schwarzenegger tl:Arnold Schwarzenegger ta:ஆர்னோல்ட் ஸ்வார்செனேகர் te:ఆర్నాల్డ్ స్క్వార్జెనెగర్ th:อาร์โนลด์ ชวาร์เซเน็กเกอร์ tg:Арнолд Швартсенеггер tr:Arnold Schwarzenegger uk:Арнольд Шварценеггер vi:Arnold Schwarzenegger yi:ארנאלד שווארצענעגער zh:阿诺·施瓦辛格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 | solo_singer |
---|---|
birth name | Minnie Julia Riperton |
alias | Andrea Davis |
birth date | November 08, 1947Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
death date | July 12, 1979Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
genre | Soul, R&B; |
occupation | Singer-songwriter |
years active | 1962–1979 |
label | Chess, GRT, Epic, Capitol }} |
Riperton grew up on Chicago's South Side. As a child, she studied music, drama, and dance at Chicago's Lincoln Center. In her teen years, she sang lead vocals for the Chicago-based girl group, The Gems. Her early affiliation with the legendary Chicago-based Chess Records afforded her the opportunity to sing backup for various established artist such as Etta James, Fontella Bass, Ramsey Lewis, Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, and Muddy Waters. While at Chess, Riperton also sang lead for the experimental rock/soul group Rotary Connection, from 1967 to 1971. In 1969 Riperton, along with Rotary Connection, played in the first Catholic Rock Mass at the Liturgical Conference National Convention, Milwaukee Arena, Milwaukee, WI, produced by James F. Colaianni. Riperton reached the apex of her short, but esteemed, career with her number-one hit single, "Lovin' You," on April 4, 1975. The single was the last release from her 1974 gold album entitled ''Perfect Angel''.
In January 1976 Riperton was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a radical mastectomy. By the time of diagnosis, the cancer had metastasized and she was given about six months to live. Despite the grim prognosis, she continued recording and touring. Riperton was one of the first celebrities to go public with her breast cancer diagnosis, but did not disclose that she was terminally ill. In 1977, she became spokesman for the American Cancer Society. In 1978, Riperton also received the American Cancer Society's Courage Award which was presented to her at the White House by President Jimmy Carter. She died at age 31 on July 12, 1979.
At Chicago's Lincoln Center, Riperton received operatic vocal training from Marion Jeffery. She practiced breathing and phrasing, with particular emphasis on diction. Jeffery also trained Riperton to use her full range.
While studying under Jeffery, Riperton sang operettas and show tunes, in preparation for a career in opera. Jeffery was so convinced of her pupil's abilities that she strongly pushed her to further study the classics at Chicago's Junior Lyric Opera. The young Riperton was, however, becoming very interested in soul, rhythm and blues, and rock. After graduating from Hyde Park High School, now Hyde Park Career Academy, she enrolled at Loop College and became a member of the prestigious Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated. She dropped out of college to pursue her music career. In 1967, Riperton met songwriter Richard Rudolph, whom she married five years later. They have a son named Marc, and their daughter is Maya Rudolph, a television and film actress / comedienne that has appeared in the film ''Grown Ups'', and on NBC's ''Saturday Night Live'' variety program and the sitcom ''Up All Night''.
In 1964 the Gems released a local hit, ''I Can't Help Myself'', and their last single, ''He Makes Me Feel So Good'', was released in 1965. After that, the group released records under numerous names—most notably 1966's ''Baby I Want You'' by the Girls Three and 1967's ''My Baby's Real'' by the Starlets. The latter has achieved cult status with northern soul fans and remains a favorite. It also was a Motown-style song reminiscent of Tammi Terrell. In 1968 ''Watered Down'' was released as a follow-up, under the name The Starlets. It was the last release of Riperton's former girl group.
Rotary Connection consisted of Riperton, Chess, Judy Hauff, Sidney Barnes and Charles Stepney. The group released their debut in 1967, and eventually five more albums, 1968's ''Aladdin'', the Christmas album ''Peace'', ''Songs'', and finally 1970's ''Dinner Music'' and "Hey Love."
In 1978, Riperton's attorney Mike Rosenfeld and her husband, Richard Rudolph, orchestrated a move to Capitol Records for Riperton and her CBS Records catalogue. In April 1979, Riperton released her fifth and final album, ''Minnie''. During the recording of the album, her cancer progressed to the point that she was in a great deal of pain. "Memory Lane" was a hit from the album, and was arguably Riperton's greatest work. Riperton incorporated the sadness of the ending of a relationship while suddenly shifting to cries of "I don't want to go," "save me," "now I'm slippin' fast," "thought it was over; here I go again," and "travelin' down, faster than the speed of sound." It is thought that "Memory Lane" was her farewell to her family and to the world. Her last televised performance was on an episode of ''The Merv Griffin Show'' (aired July 6, 1979), during which she performed ''Memory Lane'' and ''Lover and Friend''.
Extreme lymphedema immobilized her right arm in early 1979. In her final singing appearances on television (most notably on the ''Mike Douglas Show''), her right arm would remain in a fixed position during her performances. By mid-June, she was confined to bed. She entered Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on July 10. On Thursday, July 12 at 10am, while lying in her husband's arms, Riperton died while listening to a recording Stevie Wonder had made for her. That Sunday, following a funeral service attended by more than five hundred mourners, Riperton was interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles. Her epitaph is the opening line of her most famous song, "Lovin' you is easy cause you're beautiful".
Riperton's last single, ''Give Me Time'' was released in 1980. Richard Rudolph wrote the song, ''Now That I Have You'' for Riperton, but she never got the chance to record it; he gave the song to Teena Marie, who recorded it (and co-produced it with Rudolph) on Marie's second LP, ''Lady T''. Finally, in 1981, Capitol Records released ''The Best of Minnie Riperton'', a greatest hits collection. The "new" song on the album was a remake of Joni Mitchell's "A Woman Of Heart And Mind," which was a holdover from the ''Minnie'' sessions. Also included were an alternate mix of "Memory Lane," live versions of "Can You Feel What I'm Saying," "Lover And Friend," "Young, Willing and Able," and two "Moments With Minnie." It also included the hits "Perfect Angel," "Lovin' You,", "Inside My Love", "Adventures In Paradise", and two tracks from ''Love Lives Forever''; the single "Here We Go" and "You Take My Breath Away". During the 1990s, Riperton's music was sampled by many rap and hip-hop artists, including Tupac Shakur, Dr. Dre, A Tribe Called Quest, Blumentopf, and Tragedy Khadafi.
Category:1947 births Category:1979 deaths Category:American rhythm and blues singer-songwriters Category:American soul singers Category:Singers with a five octave vocal range Category:Cancer deaths in California Category:Deaths from breast cancer Category:English-language singers Category:Epic Records artists Category:Musicians from Chicago, Illinois Category:Musicians from Los Angeles, California
cs:Minnie Riperton de:Minnie Riperton el:Μίνι Ράιπερτον es:Minnie Riperton fr:Minnie Riperton ko:미니 리퍼튼 it:Minnie Riperton he:מיני ריפרטון nl:Minnie Riperton ja:ミニー・リパートン no:Minnie Riperton pl:Minnie Riperton pt:Minnie Riperton fi:Minnie Riperton sv:Minnie RipertonThis 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 | Monty Python |
---|---|
medium | Television, film, theatre, audio recordings, books |
nationality | British |
active | 1969–1983 |
genre | Satire, Surreal humour, dark comedy |
influences | The Goons, Spike Milligan, Peter Cook |
influenced | Douglas Adams, Eddie Izzard, George Carlin, Vic and Bob, Matt Stone, Trey Parker |
notable work | ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' (1969–1974)''And Now for Something Completely Different'' (1971)''Monty Python and the Holy Grail'' (1974)''Monty Python's Life of Brian'' (1979)''Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl'' (1982)''Monty Python's The Meaning of Life'' (1983) |
current members | Graham Chapman John Cleese Terry Gilliam Eric Idle Terry Jones Michael Palin |
website | PythOnline |
footnotes | }} |
Monty Python (sometimes known as The Pythons) was a British surreal comedy group who created their influential ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'', a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series. The Python phenomenon developed from the television series into something larger in scope and impact, spawning touring stage shows, films, numerous albums, several books and a stage musical as well as launching the members to individual stardom. The group's influence on comedy has been compared to Elvis Presley's influence on music.
The television series, broadcast by the BBC from 1969 to 1974, was conceived, written and performed by members Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin. Loosely structured as a sketch show, but with an innovative stream-of-consciousness approach (aided by Gilliam's animation), it pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable in style and content. A self-contained comedy team responsible for both writing and performing their work, they changed the way performers entertained audiences. The Pythons' creative control allowed them to experiment with form and content, discarding rules of television comedy. Their influence on British comedy has been apparent for years, while in North America it has coloured the work of cult performers from the early editions of ''Saturday Night Live'' through to more recent absurdist trends in television comedy. "Pythonesque" has entered the English lexicon as a result.
In a 2005 UK poll to find ''The Comedian's Comedian'', three of the six Pythons members were voted by fellow comedians and comedy insiders to be among the top 50 greatest comedians ever: Cleese at #2, Idle at #21, and Palin at #30.
Python members appeared in and/or wrote the following shows before ''Monty Python's Flying Circus''. ''The Frost Report'' is credited as first uniting the British Pythons and providing an environment in which they could develop their particular styles:
Several featured other important British comedy writers or performers of the future, including Marty Feldman, Jonathan Lynn, David Jason and David Frost, as well as members of other future comedy teams, Ronnie Corbett and Ronnie Barker (the Two Ronnies), and Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie (the Goodies).
Following the success of ''Do Not Adjust Your Set'', originally intended to be a children's programme, with adults, ITV offered Palin, Jones, Idle and Gilliam their own series together. At the same time Cleese and Chapman were offered a show by the BBC, which had been impressed by their work on ''The Frost Report'' and ''At Last The 1948 Show''. Cleese was reluctant to do a two-man show for various reasons, including Chapman's supposedly difficult personality. Cleese had fond memories of working with Palin and invited him to join the team. With the ITV series still in pre-production, Palin agreed and suggested the involvement of his writing partner Jones and colleague Idle—who in turn suggested that Gilliam could provide animations for the projected series. Much has been made of the fact that the Monty Python troupe is the result of Cleese's desire to work with Palin and the chance circumstances that brought the other four members into the fold.
After much debate, Jones remembered an animation Gilliam had created for ''Do Not Adjust Your Set'' called ''Beware of the Elephants'', which had intrigued him with its stream-of-consciousness style. Jones felt it would be a good concept to apply to the series: allowing sketches to blend into one another. Palin had been equally fascinated by another of Gilliam's efforts, entitled ''Christmas Cards'', and agreed that it represented "a way of doing things differently". Since Cleese, Chapman and Idle were less concerned with the overall flow of the programme, it was Jones, Palin and Gilliam who became largely responsible for the presentation style of the ''Flying Circus'' series, in which disparate sketches are linked to give each episode the appearance of a single stream-of-consciousness (often using a Gilliam animation to move from the closing image of one sketch to the opening scene of another).
Writing started at 9 am and finished at 5 pm. Typically, Cleese and Chapman worked as one pair isolated from the others, as did Jones and Palin, while Idle wrote alone. After a few days, they would join together with Gilliam, critique their scripts, and exchange ideas. Their approach to writing was democratic. If the majority found an idea humorous, it was included in the show. The casting of roles for the sketches was a similarly unselfish process, since each member viewed himself primarily as a 'writer', rather than an actor desperate for screen time. When the themes for sketches were chosen, Gilliam had carte blanche to decide how to bridge them with animations, using a camera, scissors, and airbrush.
While the show was a collaborative process, different factions within Python were responsible for elements of the team's humour. In general, the work of the Oxford-educated members was more visual, and more fanciful conceptually (e.g., the arrival of the Spanish Inquisition in a suburban front room), while the Cambridge graduates' sketches tended to be more verbal and more aggressive (for example, Cleese and Chapman's many "confrontation" sketches, where one character intimidates or hurls abuse, or Idle's characters with bizarre verbal quirks, such as The Man Who Speaks In Anagrams). Cleese confirmed that "most of the sketches with heavy abuse were Graham's and mine, anything that started with a slow pan across countryside and impressive music was Mike and Terry's, and anything that got utterly involved with words and disappeared up any personal orifice was Eric's". Gilliam's animations, meanwhile, ranged from the whimsical to the savage (the cartoon format allowing him to create some astonishingly violent scenes without fear of censorship).
Several names for the show were considered before ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' was settled upon. Some were ''Owl Stretching Time'', ''Toad Elevating Moment'', ''A Bucket, a Horse and a Spoon'', ''Vaseline Review'' and ''Bun, Wackett, Buzzard, Stubble and Boot''. ''Flying Circus'' stuck when the BBC explained it had printed that name in its schedules and was not prepared to amend it. Many variations on the name in front of this title then came and went (popular legend holds that the BBC considered ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' to be a ridiculous name, at which point the group threatened to change their name every week until the BBC relented). "Gwen Dibley's Flying Circus" was named after a woman Palin had read about in the newspaper, thinking it would be amusing if she were to discover she had her own TV show. "Baron Von Took's Flying Circus" was considered as an affectionate tribute to Barry Took, the man who had brought them together. ''Arthur Megapode's Flying Circus'' was suggested, then discarded.
There are differing, somewhat confusing accounts of the origins of the Python name although the members agree that its only "significance" was that they thought it sounded funny. In the 1998 documentary ''Live At Aspen'' during the US Comedy Arts Festival, where the troupe was awarded the AFI Star Award by the American Film Institute, the group implied that "Monty" was selected (Eric Idle's idea) as a gently-mocking tribute to Field Marshal Lord Montgomery, a legendary British general of World War II; requiring a "slippery-sounding" surname, they settled on "Python". On other occasions Idle has claimed that the name "Monty" was that of a popular and rotund fellow who drank in his local pub; people would often walk in and ask the barman, "Has Monty been in yet?", forcing the name to become stuck in his mind. The name Monty Python was later described by the BBC as being "envisaged by the team as the perfect name for a sleazy entertainment agent".
The Python theme music is ''The Liberty Bell'', a march by John Philip Sousa, which was chosen, among other reasons, because the recording was in the public domain.
The use of Gilliam's surreal, collage stop motion animations was another innovative intertextual element of the Python style. Many of the images Gilliam used were lifted from famous works of art, and from Victorian illustrations and engravings. The giant foot which crushes the show's title at the end of the opening credits is in fact the foot of Cupid, cut from a reproduction of the Renaissance masterpiece ''Venus, Cupid, Folly, and Time'' by Bronzino. This foot, and Gilliam's style in general, are visual trademarks of the series.
The Pythons used the British tradition of cross-dressing comedy by donning frocks and makeup and playing female roles themselves while speaking in falsetto. Generally speaking, female roles were played by a woman (usually Carol Cleveland) when the scene specifically required that the character be sexually attractive (although sometimes they used Idle for this). In some episodes and later in ''Monty Python's Life of Brian'' they took the idea one step further by playing women who impersonated men (in the stoning scene).
Many sketches are well-known and widely quoted. "Dead Parrot", "The Lumberjack Song", "Spam", "Nudge Nudge", "The Spanish Inquisition", "Upper Class Twit of the Year", "Cheese Shop" and "The Ministry of Silly Walks" are just a few examples.
The rest of the group carried on for one more "half" series before calling a halt to the programme in 1974. The name ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' appears in the opening animation for series four, but in the end credits the show is listed as simply "Monty Python". Despite his official departure from the group, Cleese supposedly made a (non-speaking) cameo appearance in the fourth series, but never appeared in the credits as a performer. Several episodes credit him as a co-writer since some sketches were recycled from scenes cut from the ''Holy Grail'' script. While the first three series contained 13 episodes each, the fourth ended after six.
Time-Life Films had the right to distribute all BBC-TV programs in America, however they had decided that British comedy simply would not work in the U.S.A. Therefore, it was not worth the investment to convert the Python shows from the European PAL standard to the American NTSC standard, which meant PBS stations could not afford the programmes. Finally, in 1974, Greg Garrison, TV producer for Dean Martin, used a couple of Python sketches ("Bicycle Repairman" and "The Dull Life of a Stockbroker") on the NBC series ''ComedyWorld'', a summer replacement series for ''The Dean Martin Show''. Payment for use of these segments was enough to pay for the conversion of the entire Python library to NTSC standard. At last, they could be sold to non-commercial TV stations, where officially they began airing in October 1974—exactly 5 years after their BBC debut. One PBS station had a program director (Ron Devillier) so eager that he 'jumped the gun' and started broadcasting the 'Flying Circus' episodes in that summer on the unlikely KERA in Dallas. The ratings shot through the roof—and was an encouraging sign to the other 100 stations that had signed up to air the shows. There was also cross-promotion from FM radio stations across the country, whose airing of tracks from the Python LPs had already introduced American audiences to this bizarre brand of comedy.
With the popularity of Python throughout the rest of the 1970s and through most of the 1980s, PBS stations looked at other British comedies, leading to UK shows such as ''Are You Being Served?'' gaining a US audience, and leading, over time, to many PBS stations having a "British Comedy Night" which airs many popular UK comedies.
The backers of the film wanted to cut the famous Black Knight scene (in which the Black Knight loses his limbs in a duel) but it was eventually kept in the movie.
The focus therefore shifted to a separate individual born at the same time, in a neighbouring stable. When Jesus appears in the film (first, as a baby in the stable, and then later on the Mount, speaking the Beatitudes), he is played straight (by actor Kenneth Colley) and portrayed with respect. The comedy begins when members of the crowd mishear his statements of peace, love and tolerance. ("I think he said, 'Blessed are the cheesemakers.'")
Directing duties were handled solely by Jones, having amicably agreed with Gilliam that Jones' approach to film-making was better suited for Python's general performing style. ''Holy Grail's'' production had often been stilted by their differences behind the camera. Gilliam again contributed two animated sequences (one being the opening credits) and took charge of set design. The film was shot on location in Tunisia, the finances being provided this time by former Beatle George Harrison, who together with Denis O'Brien formed the production company Hand-Made Films for the movie. He had a cameo role as the 'owner of the Mount.'
Despite its subject matter attracting controversy, particularly upon its initial release, it has (together with its predecessor) been ranked among the greatest comedy films. A Channel 4 poll in 2005 ranked ''Holy Grail'' in sixth place, with ''Life of Brian'' at the top.
Python's final film returned to something structurally closer to the style of ''Flying Circus''. A series of sketches loosely follows the ages of man from birth to death. Directed again by Jones solo, ''The Meaning of Life'' is embellished with some of Python's most bizarre and disturbing moments, as well as various elaborate musical numbers. The film is by far their darkest work, containing a great deal of black humour, garnished by some spectacular violence (including an operation to remove a liver from a living patient without anaesthetic and the morbidly obese Mr. Creosote exploding over several restaurant patrons). At the time of its release, the Pythons confessed their aim was to offend "absolutely everyone."
Besides the opening credits and the fish sequence, Gilliam, by now an established live action director, no longer wanted to produce any linking cartoons, offering instead to direct one sketch—''The Crimson Permanent Assurance''. Under his helm, though, the segment grew so ambitious and tangential that it was cut from the movie and used as a supporting feature in its own right. (Television screenings also use it as a prologue.) Crucially, this was the last project that all six Pythons would collaborate on, except for the 1989 compilation ''Parrot Sketch Not Included,'' where they are all seen sitting in a closet for four seconds. This would be the last time Chapman appeared on-screen with the Pythons.
Cleese and Jones had an involvement (as performer, writer or director) in all four Amnesty benefit shows, Palin in three, Chapman in two and Gilliam in one. Idle did not participate in the Amnesty shows. Notwithstanding Idle's lack of participation, the other five members (together with "Associate Pythons" Carol Cleveland and Neil Innes) all appeared together in the first ''Secret Policeman's Ball'' benefit—the 1976 ''A Poke In The Eye (With A Sharp Stick)''—where they performed several Python sketches. In this first show they were collectively billed as ''Monty Python''. (Peter Cook deputised for the errant Idle in one major sketch ''The Courtroom''.) In the next three shows, the participating Python members performed many Python sketches, but were billed under their individual names rather than under the collective Python banner. After a six-year break, Amnesty resumed producing ''Secret Policeman's Ball'' benefit shows in 1987 (sometimes with, and sometimes without variants of the iconic title) and by 2006 had presented a total of twelve such shows. The shows since 1987 have featured newer generations of British comedic performers, including many who have attributed their participation in the show to their desire to emulate the Python's pioneering work for Amnesty. (Cleese and Palin made a brief cameo appearance in the 1989 Amnesty show; apart from that the Pythons have not appeared in shows after the first four.)
Palin and Jones wrote the comedic TV series ''Ripping Yarns'' (1976–79), starring Palin. Jones also appeared in the pilot episode and Cleese appeared in a non-speaking part in the episode "Golden Gordon". Jones' film ''Erik the Viking'', also has Cleese playing a small part.
In 1996, Terry Jones wrote and directed an adaption of Kenneth Grahame's novel ''The Wind in the Willows''. It featured four members of Monty Python: Jones as Mr. Toad, Idle as Ratty, Cleese as Mr. Toad's lawyer, and Palin as the Sun. Gilliam was considered for the voice of the river.
In terms of numbers of productions, Cleese has the most prolific solo career, having appeared in 59 theatrical films, 22 TV shows or series (including ''Cheers'', ''3rd Rock from the Sun'', Q's assistant in the James Bond movies, and ''Will & Grace''), 23 direct-to-video productions, six video games, and a number of commercials. His BBC sitcom ''Fawlty Towers'' (written by and starring Cleese together with his then-wife Connie Booth), is considered the greatest solo work by a Python since the sketch show finished. It is the only comedy series to rank higher than the ''Flying Circus'' on the BFI TV 100's list, topping the whole poll.
Idle enjoyed critical success with ''Rutland Weekend Television'' in the mid-1970s, out of which came the Beatles parody The Rutles (responsible for the cult mockumentary ''All You Need Is Cash''), and as an actor in ''Nuns on the Run'' (1990) with Robbie Coltrane. Idle has had success with Python songs: "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" went to no. 3 in the UK singles chart in 1991. The song had been revived by Simon Mayo on BBC Radio 1, and was consequently released as a single that year. The theatrical phenomenon of the Python musical ''Spamalot'' has made Idle the most financially successful of the troupe post-Python. Written by Idle, it has proved an enormous hit on Broadway, London's West End and also Las Vegas. This was followed by ''Not the Messiah (He's a Very Naughty Boy)'', which repurposes ''The Life of Brian'' as an oratorio. For the work's 2007 premiere at the Luminato festival in Toronto (which commissioned the work), Idle himself sang the "baritone-ish" part.
In 1996, Jones, Idle, Cleese and Palin were featured in a film adaptation of ''The Wind in the Willows'', which was later renamed ''Mr. Toad's Wild Ride''.
In 1998 during the US Comedy Arts Festival, where the troupe was awarded the AFI Star Award by the American Film Institute, the five remaining members along with what was purported to be Chapman's ashes, were reunited on stage for the first time in 18 years. The occasion was in the form of an interview called Monty Python Live At Aspen, (hosted by Robert Klein, with an appearance by Eddie Izzard) in which the team looked back at some of their work and performed a few new sketches.
On 9 October 1999, to commemorate 30 years since the first ''Flying Circus'' television broadcast, BBC2 devoted an evening to Python programmes, including a documentary charting the history of the team, interspersed with new sketches by the Monty Python team filmed especially for the event. The program appears, though omitting a few things, on the DVD ''The Life of Python''. Though Idle's involvement in the special is limited, the final sketch marks the only time since 1989 that all surviving members of the troupe appear in one sketch, albeit not in the same room.
In 2002, four of the surviving members, bar Cleese, performed "The Lumberjack Song" and "Sit on My Face" for George Harrison's memorial concert. The reunion also included regular supporting contributors Neil Innes and Carol Cleveland, with a special appearance from Tom Hanks.
In an interview to publicise the DVD release of ''The Meaning of Life,'' Cleese said a further reunion was unlikely. "It is absolutely impossible to get even a majority of us together in a room, and I'm not joking," Cleese said. He said that the problem was one of business rather than one of bad feelings. A sketch appears on the same DVD spoofing the impossibility of a full reunion, bringing the members “together” in a deliberately unconvincing fashion with modern bluescreen/greenscreen techniques.
Idle has responded to queries about a Python reunion by adapting a line used by George Harrison in response to queries about a possible Beatles reunion. When asked in November 1989 about such a possibility, Harrison responded: "As far as I'm concerned, there won't be a Beatles reunion as long as John Lennon remains dead." Idle's version of this was that he expected to see a proper Python reunion, "just as soon as Graham Chapman comes back from the dead", but added, "we're talking to his agent about terms."
2003's ''The Pythons Autobiography By The Pythons'', compiled from interviews with the surviving members, reveals that a series of disputes in 1998, over a possible sequel to ''Holy Grail'' that had been conceived by Idle, may have resulted in the group's permanent fission. Cleese's feeling was that ''The Meaning of Life'' had been personally difficult and ultimately mediocre, and did not wish to be involved in another Python project for a variety of reasons (not least amongst them was the absence of Chapman, whose straight man-like central roles in the original ''Grail'' and ''Brian'' films had been considered to be essential performance anchorage). Apparently Idle was angry with Cleese for refusing to do the film, which most of the remaining Pythons thought reasonably promising (the basic plot would have taken on a self-referential tone, featuring them in their main 'knight' guises from ''Holy Grail'', mulling over the possibilities of reforming their posse). The book also reveals that a secondary option around this point was the possibility of revitalising the Python brand with a new stage tour, perhaps with the promise of new material. This idea had also hit the buffers at Cleese's refusal, this time with the backing of other members.
March 2005 saw a full, if non-performing, reunion of the surviving cast members at the premiere of Idle's musical ''Spamalot'', based on ''Monty Python and the Holy Grail''. It opened in Chicago and has since played in New York on Broadway, London and numerous other major cities across the world. In 2004, it was nominated for 14 Tony Awards and won three: Best Musical, Best Direction of a Musical for Mike Nichols and Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical for Sara Ramirez, who played the Lady of the Lake, a character specially added for the musical. Cleese played the voice of God, played in the film by Chapman.
Owing in part to the success of ''Spamalot'', PBS announced on 13 July 2005, that it would begin to re-air the entire run of ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' and new one-hour specials focusing on each member of the group, called ''Monty Python's Personal Best.'' Each episode was written and produced by the individual being honoured, with the five remaining Pythons collaborating on Chapman's programme, the only one of the editions to take on a serious tone with its new material.
Eric Idle and John Cleese appeared on stage together singing "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" with the rest of the performers for the climax of Prince Charles 60th Birthday Show.
In 2009, to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the first episode of ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'', a six part documentary entitled ''Monty Python: Almost the Truth (The Lawyer's Cut)'' was released, featuring interviews with the surviving members of the team as well as archive interviews with Graham Chapman and numerous excerpts from the television series and films.
Also in commemoration of the 40th anniversary Idle, Palin, Jones and Gilliam appeared in a production of ''Not the Messiah (He's a Very Naughty Boy)'' at the Royal Albert Hall. The European premiere was held on 23 October 2009. An official 40th anniversary Monty Python reunion event took place in New York City on 15 October 2009 where the Team received a Special Award from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
In June 2011, it was announced that Monty Python have begun production on their first film project since ''the Meaning of Life'' in 1983. Their next film, ''A Liar's Autobiography'', is an animated 3D movie based on the memoir of the late Python member, Graham Chapman, who died in 1989 at the age of 48. ''A Liar’s Autobiography'' was published in 1980 and details Chapman's journey through medical school, alcoholism, acknowledgement of his gay identity and the toils of surreal comedy.
Asked what was true in a deliberately fanciful account by Chapman of his life, Terry Jones joked: "Nothing . . . it’s all a downright, absolute, blackguardly lie."
The film will use Chapman's own voice - from a reading of his autobiography shortly before he died of cancer - and entertainment channel EPIX announced that the film will be released in early 2012 in both 2D and 3D formats. Produced and directed by London-based Bill Jones, Ben Timlett and Jeff Simpson, the new film has 15 animation companies working on chapters that will range from three to 12 minutes in length, each in a different style.
John Cleese has recorded new dialogue which will be matched with Chapman’s voice and Michael Palin will voice Chapman’s mother and father. Terry Gilliam plays various roles. Among the original Python group, only Eric Idle has not become involved, though Timlett said the filmmakers are “working on” him.
John Cleese is the oldest Python. He met his future Python writing partner, Graham Chapman in Cambridge.
Terry Gilliam, an American, was the only member of the troupe of non-British origin. He started off as an animator and strip cartoonist for Harvey Kurtzman's ''Help!'' magazine, one issue of which featured Cleese. Moving from the USA to England, he animated features for ''Do Not Adjust Your Set'' and was then asked by its makers to join them on their next project: ''Monty Python's Flying Circus''. He co-directed ''Monty Python and the Holy Grail'' and directed short segments of other Python films (for instance "The Crimson Permanent Assurance", the short film that appears before ''The Meaning of Life'').
When Monty Python was first formed, two writing partnerships were already in place: Cleese and Chapman, Jones and Palin. That left two in their own corners: Gilliam, operating solo due to the nature of his work, and Eric Idle. Regular themes in his contributions were elaborate wordplay and musical numbers. After ''Flying Circus'', he hosted ''Saturday Night Live'' four times in the first five seasons. Idle's initially successful solo career faltered in the 1990s with the failures of his 1993 film ''Splitting Heirs'' (written, produced by and starring him) and 1998's ''An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn'' (in which he starred), which was awarded five Razzies, including 'Worst Picture of the Year'. He revived his career by returning to the source of his worldwide fame, adapting Monty Python material for other media. He also wrote the Broadway musical ''Spamalot'', based on the ''Holy Grail'' movie. He also wrote ''Not the Messiah (He's a Very Naughty Boy)'', an oratorio derived from the ''Life of Brian''.
Terry Jones has been described by other members of the team as the “heart” of the operation. Jones had a lead role in maintaining the group's unity and creative independence. Python biographer George Perry has commented that should you "speak to him on subjects as diverse as fossil fuels, or Rupert Bear, or mercenaries in the Middle Ages or Modern China... in a moment you will find yourself hopelessly out of your depth, floored by his knowledge." Many others agree that Jones is characterised by his irrepressible, good-natured enthusiasm. However, Jones' passion often led to prolonged arguments with other group members—in particular Cleese—with Jones often unwilling to back down. Since his major contributions were largely behind the scenes (direction, writing), and he often deferred to the other members of the group as an actor, Jones' importance to Python was often underrated. However, he does have the legacy of delivering possibly the most famous line in all of Python, as Brian's mother Mandy in ''Life of Brian'', "He's not the Messiah, he's a very naughty boy!", a line voted the funniest in film history on two occasions.
Michael Palin attended Oxford, where he met his Python writing partner Jones. The two also wrote the series ''Ripping Yarns'' together. Palin and Jones originally wrote face-to-face, but soon found it was more productive to write apart and then come together to review what the other had written. Therefore, Jones and Palin's sketches tended to be more focused than that of the others, taking one bizarre situation, sticking to it, and building on it. After ''Flying Circus'', he hosted ''Saturday Night Live'' four times in the first ten seasons. His comedy output began to decrease in amount following the increasing success of his travel documentaries for the BBC. Palin released a book of diaries from the Python years entitled ''Michael Palin Diaries 1969–1979'', published in 2007.
Carol Cleveland was the most important female performer in the Monty Python ensemble, commonly referred to as the "Python Girl." Originally hired by producer/director John Howard Davies for just the first five episodes of the ''Flying Circus'', she went on to appear in approximately two-thirds of the episodes as well as in all of the Python films, and in most of their stage shows as well. Her common portrayal as the stereotypical "blonde bimbo" eventually earned her the sobriquet "Carol Cleavage" from the other Pythons, but she felt that the variety of her roles should not be described in such a pejorative way.
Douglas Adams was "discovered" by Chapman when a version of the ''Footlights Revue'' (a 1974 BBC2 television show featuring some of Adams' early work) was performed live in London's West End. In Cleese's absence from the final TV series, the two formed a brief writing partnership, with Adams earning a writing credit in one episode for a sketch called "Patient Abuse". In the sketch, a man who had been stabbed by a nurse arrives at his doctor's office bleeding profusely from the stomach, when the doctor makes him fill out numerous senseless forms before he can administer treatment. He also had two cameo appearances in this season. Firstly, in the episode ''The Light Entertainment War'', Adams shows up in a surgeon's mask (as Dr. Emile Koning, according to the on-screen captions), pulling on gloves, while Palin narrates a sketch that introduces one person after another, and never actually gets started. Secondly, at the beginning of ''Mr. Neutron'', Adams is dressed in a "pepperpot" outfit and loads a missile onto a cart being driven by Terry Jones, who is calling out for scrap metal ("Any old iron..."). Adams and Chapman also subsequently attempted a few non-Python projects, including ''Out of the Trees.'' He also contributed to a sketch on the soundtrack album for ''Monty Python and the Holy Grail''.
Stand-up comedian Eddie Izzard, a devoted fan of the group, has occasionally stood in for absent members. When the BBC held a "Python Night" in 1999 to celebrate 30 years of the first broadcast of ''Flying Circus'', the Pythons recorded some new material with Izzard standing in for Idle, who had declined to partake in person (he taped a solo contribution from the US). Izzard hosted a history of the group entitled ''The Life of Python'' (1999) that was part of the ''Python Night'' and appeared with them at a festival/tribute in Aspen, Colorado, in 1998 (released on DVD as ''Live at Aspen'').
The term has been applied to animations similar to those constructed by Gilliam (e.g. the cut-out style of ''South Park'', whose creators have often acknowledged a debt to Python, including contributing material to the aforementioned 30th anniversary theme night).
''Good Eats'' creator Alton Brown cited Python as one of the influences that shaped how he created the series, as well as how he authors the script for each episode. Recent episodes even include Gilliam-style animations to illustrate key points.
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