A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. Hills often have a distinct summit, although in areas with scarp/dip topography a ''hill'' may refer to a particular section of flat terrain without a massive summit (e.g. Box Hill, Surrey).

Terminology

The distinction between a hill and a mountain is unclear and largely subjective, but a hill is generally somewhat lower and less steep than a mountain. In the United Kingdom geographers historically regarded mountains as hills greater than above sea level, which formed the basis of the plot of the 1995 film ''The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain''. In contrast, hillwalkers have tended to regard mountains as peaks above sea level: the Oxford English Dictionary also suggests a limit of . This has led to Cavanal Hill in Poteau, Oklahoma, receive billing as the "World's Tallest Hill" due to its height of . Mountains in Scotland are frequently referred to as "hills" no matter what their height, as reflected in names such as the ''Cuillin Hills'' and the ''Torridon Hills''. In Wales, the distinction is more a term of land use and appearance and has nothing to do with height.

A hillock is a small hill. Other words include knoll and (in Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England) its variant, knowe.

Artificial hills may be referred to by a variety of technical names, including mound and tumulus.

Hills may form through a number of geomorphic phenomena: faulting, erosion of larger landforms, such as mountains and movement and deposition of sediment by glaciers (e.g. moraines and drumlins, or by erosion exposing solid rock which then weathers down into a hill. The rounded peaks of hills results from the diffusive movement of soil and regolith covering the hill, a process known as downhill creep.

Areas that would otherwise have hills do not because of glacier cover during the Ice Age. The hills that existed before the ice age were worn down by the ice (and the rocks they carry) and/or the surrounding valleys and hollows were filled in with glacial drift, therefore leaving a level topography. The contrast between the flat plains of northern Indiana, once covered by ice, and the rugged hills of southern Indiana, where the ice never reached, is a result of this. Another example is the Driftless Zone, an island of hilly country that the ice sheets missed, surrounded by glacial plains, also in the American Midwest.

There are various specific names used to describe particular types of hill, based on appearance and method of formation. Many such names originated in one geographical region to describe a type of hill formation peculiar to that region, though the names are often adopted by geologists and used in a wider geographical context. These include:

Drumlin – an elongated whale-shaped hill formed by glacial action.

Butte – an isolated hill with steep sides and a small flat top, formed by weathering.

Tor – a rock formation found on a hilltop; also used to refer to the hill itself, especially in South West England.

Puy – used especially in the Auvergne, France, to describe a conical volcanic hill.

Pingo – a mound of earth-covered ice found in the Arctic and Antarctica.

Historical significance

Hills have played an important role in history.

Many settlements were originally built on hills, either to avoid or curb floods, particularly if they were near a large body of water, or for defence, since they offer a good view of the surrounding land and require would-be attackers to fight uphill. For example, Ancient Rome was built on seven hills, protecting it from invaders.

In northern Europe, many ancient monuments are sited in heaps. Some of these are defensive structures (such as the hill-forts of the Iron Age), but others appear to have hardly any significance. In Britain, many churches at the tops of hills are thought to have been built on the sites of earlier pagan holy places. The National Cathedral in Washington, DC has followed this tradition and was built on the highest hill in that city.

Military significance

Hills provide a major advantage to an army, giving them an elevated firing position and forcing an opposing army to charge uphill to attack them. They may also conceal forces behind them, allowing a force to lay in wait on the crest of a hill, using that crest for cover, and firing on unsuspecting attackers as they broach the hilltop.

As a result, conventional military strategies often demand possession of high ground. Hills have become sites for many noted battles, such as the first recorded military conflict in Scotland known as the battle of Mons Graupius. Modern conflicts include the Battle of Bunker Hill (which was actually fought on Breed's Hill) in the American War for Independence and Cemetery Hill and Culp's Hill in the Battle of Gettysburg, the turning point of the American Civil War. The Battle of San Juan Hill in the Spanish-American War won Americans control of Santiago. The Battle of Alesia was also fought from a hilltop fort. Fighting on Mamayev Kurgan during the Battle of Stalingrad and the Umurbrogol Pocket in the Battle of Peleliu were also examples of bloody fighting for high ground. Another recent example is the Kargil War between India and Pakistan.

Sports and games

Hillwalking is a British English term for a form of hiking which involves the ascent of hills. The activity is usually distinguished from mountaineering as it does not involve ropes or technically difficult rock climbing, although the terms mountain and hill are often used interchangeably in Britain. Hillwalking is popular in mountainous areas such as the English Peak District or the Scottish Highlands. Many hills are categorised according to relative height or other criteria and feature on lists named after mountaineers, such as Munros (Scotland) or Wainwrights (England). Specific locating activities such as "peak bagging" (or "Munro bagging") involve climbing hills on these lists with the aim of completing (or "compleating") the list.

In golf, the terrain on golf courses is often made more rugged and hilly to make the holes harder to play. For example, the hole may be located at the top of a hill, and the course is designed specifically to make it almost impossible to allow the golf ball to rest near the top; it would roll down, and the player would have to try again.

Cheese rolling is an annual event in the West Country of England which involves rolling a wheel of cheese down a hill. Contestants stand at the top and chase the wheel of cheese to the bottom. The winner, the one who catches the cheese, gets to keep the wheel of cheese as a prize.

Largest man-made

The Berg proposed () Blackstrap Ski Hill () Grizzly Peak (Disneyland Resort) () Monks Mound () Mount Gushmore ()

Gallery

Image:DirkvdM orosi hill plantation.jpg|A coffee plantation on a conical hill near Orosí, Costa Rica. Image:Xn ant hill.jpg|Some hills can be quite small, such as this Ant-hill

See also

Hill station

Colluvium

Crag and tail

Dune

Jack and Jill (song)

Kame

King of the Hill (game)

List of famous hills

Mountain

Tell

Tor

Mesa

Moor

References

Earth Sculpture; Or, The Origin of Land-forms

The International Geography

Category:Slope landforms

ar:تل (جغرافيا) an:Pueyo gn:Yvyty ay:Qullu az:Təpə bh:पहाड़ bg:Хълм ca:Puig cs:Kopec da:Bakke (geologi) de:Hügel et:Küngas es:Cerro ext:Lombu eu:Muino fa:تپه fr:Colline gd:Meall (cnoc) ko:언덕 hr:Brdo io:Kolino id:Bukit it:Collina he:גבעה jv:Paredèn ltg:Kaupris lt:Kalva lmo:Culina hu:Domb mg:丘 mr:टेकडी nl:Heuvel (landvorm) ja:丘 no:Ås nn:Ås nds:Kommun Ås pl:Wzgórze pt:Morro ro:Deal ru:Холм sq:Kodra (gjeodezi) simple:Hill sl:Grič fi:Kukkula tl:Burol ta:குன்று te:కొండ tr:Tepe (coğrafya) uk:Пагорб vi:Đồi zh-yue:山仔 zh:丘

Coordinates	53°16′″N21°41′″N
name	Benny Hill
birth name	Alfred Hawthorne Hill
birth date	January 21, 1924
birth place
death date	April 20, 1992
death place	Teddington, London, England
genre	Comedy, television
influences	Jack Benny
notable work	''Light Up the Sky!'' (1960)''Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines'' (1965)
nationality	British
medium
active	1937–1992 }}

Benny Hill (21 January 1924 – 20 April 1992) was an English comedian and actor, notable for his long-running television programme ''The Benny Hill Show''.

Beginnings

Alfred Hawthorne Hill was born in Southampton, Hampshire and grew up in Wilton Road in the city's Upper Shirley district, where he and his brother attended Taunton's School. During World War II, Hill was one of the students evacuated with the school to Bournemouth School, East Way, Bournemouth, (then Hampshire, since 1974 Dorset).

After leaving Bournemouth School, Hill worked variously at Woolworth's, as a milkman in Eastleigh, Hampshire, a bridge operator, a driver and a drummer before he finally got a foot in the door of the entertainment industry by becoming a prop boy / assistant stage manager with a touring review. He was drafted in 1942 and trained as a mechanic, but transferred to the Combined Services Entertainment division before the end of the war. It was there that he met his future agent, Richard Stone, then a colonel in the service.

Inspired by the 'star comedians' of British music hall shows, Hill set out to make his mark in show business. For the stage, he changed his first name to 'Benny', in homage to his favourite comedian, Jack Benny. Hill began appearing at working men's clubs and Masonic dinners before moving on to nightclub and theatre jobs. Hill auditioned for Soho's famed Windmill Theatre (home of ''Revudeville'', a popular show of singers, comedians and nude girls), but he was not hired. Hill's first job in professional theatre as a performer was as Reg Varney's straight man, beating a then unknown Peter Sellers for the role.

Private life

Hill never married, although he did propose to three women—one the daughter of a British writer—but was turned down by all three. Although he owned the family home in Southampton, he never owned his own home in London, nor a car. Hill preferred to rent a place to live rather than buy one, first a large double apartment in Queensgate, London for 26 years until 1986, and then a small flat in Teddington, London, within walking distance of the studios of Thames Television where he recorded his shows.

His mother died in 1976 at age 82, and Hill kept the family house at 22 Westrow Gardens in Southampton as a shrine to her, not changing a thing. Before his move to Teddington, whilst looking for somewhere else to live in the Richmond area of London, he lived at 22 Westrow Gardens. Travelling was the one luxury Hill permitted himself; he became a francophile, enjoying frequent visits to France, and in particular Marseille, where until the 1980s he could enjoy anonymity in outdoor cafés, on public transport, and socialising with local women. Besides mastering French, Hill also spoke enough German, Dutch and Italian to get by when travelling. Such holidays were often gathering missions for comedy material, borrowed from regional acts.

Early career

Between the end of World War II and the dawn of television, Hill worked as a radio performer. His first appearance on television was in 1950. In addition, he attempted a sitcom anthology, ''Benny Hill'', which ran from 1962 to 1963, in which he played a different character in each episode. In 1964, he played Nick Bottom in an all-star TV film production of William Shakespeare's ''A Midsummer Night's Dream''. He also had a short-lived radio programme, ''Benny Hill Time'', on BBC Radio's Light Programme from 1964 to 1966.

Films and recordings

Benny Hill's film credits include parts in nine films including ''Who Done It?'' (1956); ''Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines'' (1965); ''Chitty Chitty Bang Bang'' (1968), in which he played the relatively straight role of the Toymaker; ''The Italian Job'' (1969); and, finally, a clip-show film spin-off of his early Thames shows (1969–73), called ''The Best of Benny Hill'' (1974). Hill's audio recordings include "Gather in the Mushrooms", (1961), "Pepy's Diary", (1961), "Transistor Radio" (1961), "Harvest of Love" (1963), and "Ernie (The Fastest Milkman In The West)" (1971). He also appeared in the 1986 video of the song "Anything She Does" by the band Genesis. Hill's song, "Ernie (The Fastest Milkman In The West)", on the ''Best of Benny Hill'' album, was the UK Singles Chart Christmas number one single in 1971.

''The Benny Hill Show''

Hill had struggled on stage and had uneven success in radio. But in television he found a form that played to his strengths, allowing him a format that included live comedy and filmed segments, with him at the focus of almost every segment. It was to prove one of the great success stories of television comedy, keeping Hill a star for nearly four decades, generating impressive revenues for Thames TV, and remaining a cult series in much of the world long after Hill's death.

The show had a music hall-derived format and its humour relied on slapstick, innuendo, and parody. Recurring players on his show during the BBC years included Patricia Hayes, Jeremy Hawk, Peter Vernon, Ronnie Brody, and his co-writer from the early 1950s to early 1960s, Dave Freeman. He remained mostly with the BBC through to 1968, except for a few sojourns with ITV station ATV between 1957 and 1960 and again in 1967. In 1969, his show moved from the BBC to Thames Television, where it remained until cancellation in 1989, with an erratic schedule of one-hour specials. The series showcased Hill's talents as an imaginative writer, comic performer and impressionist. He also bought scripts from various comedy writers but they never received an onscreen credit. He had a need to be in sole control of the show. There is evidence that he bought a script from one of his regular cast members in 1976, Cherri Gilham, whom he wrote to from Spain and told her he was using her "Fat Lady idea on the show" in Jan 77.

The most common running gag in Benny Hill's shows was the closing sequence, The 'run-off', which was literally a "running gag" in that it featured various members of the cast chasing Hill as part of the chase, along with other stock comedy characters, such as policemen, vicars, old ladies, and so on. This was commonly filmed using stop motion and time-lapse techniques for comic effect, and included other comic devices such as characters running off one side of the screen and reappearing running on from the other. The tune used in all the chases, Boots Randolph's "Yakety Sax", is commonly referred to as "The Benny Hill Theme". It has been used as a form of parody in many ways by television shows and a small number of films. The Wachowskis used the same style (and musical theme) in a scene in the film ''V for Vendetta'' (2006). It also appears in the cult movie ''The Gods Must Be Crazy''.

From around the start of the eighties the show featured a troupe of attractive young women, known collectively as 'Hills Angels'. They would appear either on their own in a dance sequence, or in character as foils against Hill. Sue Upton, one of the longest serving members of the Angels, said of Hill, "He was one of the nicest, kindest, most gentle of men to work with". But the sexual content of the routines contributed to feminist accusations of sexism.

The alternative comedian Ben Elton, made a headline-grabbing allegation, both on the TV show ''Saturday Live'' and in the pages of ''Q'' magazine (in its January 1987 issue), that ''The Benny Hill Show'' was single-handedly responsible for the incidences of rape in England during the period in question, and also suggested the programme incited other acts of violence against women. But a writer in ''The Independent'' newspaper opined that Elton's assault was "like watching an elderly uncle being kicked to death by young thugs". Elton later claimed his comment was taken out of context, and he appeared in a parody for ''Harry Enfield and Chums'', Benny Elton, where Elton ends up being chased by angry women, accompanied by the "Yakety Sax" theme, after trying to force them to be more feminist rather than letting them make their own decisions.

In response to the accusations of sexism, defenders of Hill have said the show used traditional comic stereotypes to reflect universal human truths in a way that was un-malicious and fundamentally harmless. Hill's friend and producer Dennis Kirkland said it was the women who chased Hill in anger for undressing them, all of which was done accidentally by some ridiculous means. An article on 27 May 2006 in ''The Independent'' quoted Hill and Kirkland as saying they believed this misrepresentation demonstrated critics could not have watched his programmes.

In an episode about Hill transmitted as part of the documentary series ''Living Famously'', John Howard Davies, the head of light entertainment at Thames Television who had cancelled the show, stated there were three reasons why he did so: "...the audiences were going down, the programme was costing a vast amount of money, and he (Hill) was looking a little tired."

The loss of his show totally devastated Hill (or, as one former supporting player put it, "He started to die from there"), and what followed was a self-inflicted terminal decline in his health. In 1990 a new show was produced complete with Hill and his usual team, called ''Benny Hill's World Tour: New York!''.

In February 1992, Thames Television, which received a steady stream of requests from viewers for ''The Benny Hill Show'' repeats, finally gave in and put together a number of re-edited shows. Hill died on 20 April 1992, the same day that a new contract arrived in the post from Central Independent Television, for which he was to have made a series of specials. Hill turned down competing offers from Carlton and Thames.

Celebrity fans

Charlie Chaplin was a fan of Hill's work: Hill had discovered that Chaplin, his childhood idol, was a fan when he was invited to Chaplin's home in Switzerland by Chaplin's family and discovered that Chaplin had a collection of Hill's work on video. Hill and Dennis Kirkland were the first outside the family to be invited into Chaplin's private study. Hill was awarded the Charlie Chaplin International Award for Comedy at the 1991 Festival of Comedy in Vevey, Switzerland.

Radio and TV show host Adam Carolla claimed that he was a fan of Benny Hill and that he considered Hill "as American as the Beatles." Indeed, during an episode of ''The Man Show'', Carolla performed in what was billed as a tribute to "our favourite Englishman, Sir Benny Hill" in a more risqué takeoff of the sketches that Hill popularised. (Note: Hill was never knighted.) Carolla played a rude and lecherous waiter; a role Hill essayed numerous times in his shows—and the sketch featured many of the staples of Hill's shows, including a Jackie Wright-esque bald man, as well as the usual scantily-clad women.

Michael Jackson was a big Benny Hill fan: "I just love your Benny Hill!" the young Jackson told a bemused English music-press critic during a 1970s tour. "He's so funny!". During Benny Hill's decline in his health he was visited by Jackson, who was in the UK at the time.

In ''Benny Hill: The World's Favourite Clown'', filmed shortly before his death, celebrities such as Burt Reynolds, Michael Caine, John Mortimer, Mickey Rooney, and Walter Cronkite, among others, expressed their appreciation of and admiration for Hill and his humour – and in Reynolds' case, the appreciation extended to the Hill's Angels as well. More surprisingly, perhaps, the novelist Anthony Burgess made no secret of his admiration for Hill. Burgess, whose novels were often comic, relished language, wordplay and dialect, admired the verbal and comedic skill that underlay Hill's success. Reviewing a biography of Hill, ''Saucy Boy'', in the ''Guardian'' in 1990, Burgess described Hill as "a comic genius steeped in the British music-hall tradition" and "one of the great artists of our age". A meeting between the two men was described in a newspaper article by Burgess and recalled in the ''Telegraph'' newspaper by the satirist Craig Brown.

In 2006, broadcaster and critic Garry Bushell launched a campaign to erect a statue of Hill in Southampton, with the support of Barbara Windsor, Brian Conley and other British comedy favourites. Those taking part in the first fundraising concert included Neville Staple, Right Said Fred and Rick Wakeman.

In a June 2011 interview in ''The Observer'', the American rapper Snoop Dogg declared himself to be a fan of Benny Hill.

In a 2011 interview British actor and director Mark Noyce stated that Benny Hill was his all-time favourite comedian. He was quoted as saying “he was way ahead of his time and an absolute master of his art. I would have loved the opportunity to have met him and I hope he will be remembered as the genius I believe he was.”

Death

Hill's health began to decline in the early 1980s, and after suffering a mild heart attack on February 24, 1992, doctors told him he needed to lose weight and recommended a heart bypass. He declined, and a week later was found to have kidney failure. Hill died at the age of 68 on 20 April 1992. On 22 April, after several days of unanswered telephone calls, his producer, Dennis Kirkland, climbed a ladder to the balcony of Hill's 3rd floor apartment and upon seeing the body through a window had the neighbors call the police. The police broke into the apartment and found Hill, dead, sitting in his armchair in front of the television. Hill's cause of death was recorded as coronary thrombosis.

Hill was buried at Hollybrook Cemetery near his birthplace in Southampton on 26 April 1992. In October 1992, following rumors that he was buried with large amounts of gold jewellery, an attempt was made by thieves to exhume his body. However, when authorities looked into his open coffin the following morning, there was no treasure. Consequently, it is not generally known whether anything valuable was inside. Hill was reburied with a new coffin lid and a solid slab across the top of the grave.

Hill's fortune was estimated at £10 million. His only will, however, dated from 1961 and left his entire estate to his parents, both of whom had since died. Next in line were his brother Leonard and sister Diana, both of whom were also dead. This left his seven nieces and nephews, among whom the money was divided. A note was found among his belongings assigning huge sums of money to his close friends, but because there was no witness the note had no legal standing.

Posthumous reception

Although still shown worldwide, ''The Benny Hill Show'' has not been shown on UK terrestrial, networked television since a tribute season on Channel 4 in 1992, and not on satellite or cable since a run on the now defunct channel ''Granada Plus'' – now ITV3 – in 1999. To quote his biographer Mark Lewisohn, "In Britain, Benny Hill is taboo". In the United States the show has recently been aired on the BBC America cable channel and over Tribune Broadcasting's Antenna TV digital subchannel network. An Australian channel, Seven Network, showed some episodes as part of a ''Great Comedy Classics'' slot. On the new Australian channel 7TWO, ''The Benny Hill Show'' is shown frequently. In Italy, Sky television broadcasts quite regularly on Comedy Channel. And in Finland the channel MTV3 MAX presents "The Benny Hill Show" every weekend.

In 1998 Channel 4 featured Hill in one of its ''Heroes Of Comedy'' programmes.

On 28 December 2006, Channel 4 broadcast the documentary ''Is Benny Hill Still Funny?''. The programme featured an audience that comprised a cross-section of young adults who had little or no knowledge of Hill, to discover whether Hill's comedy was valid to a generation that enjoyed the likes of ''Little Britain'', ''The Catherine Tate Show'' and ''Borat''. The participants were asked to watch a 30-minute compilation that included examples of Hill's humour from both his BBC and ITV shows. The responses and results demonstrated that none of the sample of viewers took offence at any of the sketches shown.

Hill's silent "Wishing Well" sketch was discovered to be the most popular. The alternative comedian Ben Elton, who had criticised Hill for sexism, was interviewed in the programme. Elton said he still had reservations about certain aspects of Hill's sketches, but claimed to be an admirer of Hill's talent and abilities as a comic performer.

References

;Notes

;Bibliography

Lewisohn, Mark. ''Funny, Peculiar – The True Story of Benny Hill''

Smith, John. ''Benny Hill Story'' New Yokr: St. Martin's Press, 1989

GRO – Alfred H. Hill born MAR qtr 1924 2c 52 SOUTHAMPTON, mmn = Cave

GRO – Alfred Hawthorne Hill died: APR 1992 14 1352 Richmond-upon-Thames, aged 68, his date of birth was 21 January 1924

External links

Benny Hill - Daily Telegraph obituary

Benny Hill page at the Museum of Broadcast Communications

''The Benny Hill Show'' page at the Museum of Broadcast Communications

The Eastleigh Photograph Archive Photos of the dairy and streets where Benny worked as a milkman, inspiring the song Ernie (The fastest milkman in the west)

The Benny Hill Songbook Lyrics, guitar chords and transcripts

Benny's Place featuring Louise English & Hill's Angels A tribute to Benny Hill and his beautiful ladies known as Hill's Angels

Laughterlog.com Article with complete list of appearances on television, radio and record

BBC Hampshire BBC article on Benny Hill's Hampshire connections

Category:English comedians Category:English film actors Category:English comedy musicians Category:People from Southampton Category:1924 births Category:1992 deaths Category:People educated at Bournemouth School Category:Pye Records artists

bg:Бени Хил cy:Benny Hill de:Benny Hill el:Μπένι Χιλ es:Benny Hill eu:Benny Hill fa:بنی هیل fr:Benny Hill gl:Benny Hill ko:베니 힐 hr:Benny Hill it:Benny Hill he:בני היל la:Benny Hill lv:Benijs Hils hu:Benny Hill nl:Benny Hill ja:ベニー・ヒル no:Benny Hill oc:Benny Hill pl:Benny Hill pt:Benny Hill ro:Benny Hill ru:Хилл, Бенни sq:Benny Hill simple:Benny Hill sl:Benny Hill sr:Бени Хил sh:Benny Hill fi:Benny Hill sv:Benny Hill tr:Benny Hill uk:Бенні Хілл zh:班尼·希爾

Coordinates	53°16′″N21°41′″N
Name	Sean Connery
Birth name	Thomas Sean Connery
Birth date	August 25, 1930
Birth place	Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1954–2006, 2010
Spouse	Diane Cilento (m. 1962-73)Micheline Roquebrune(m. 1975-present)
Relatives	Neil Connery (brother)
Website	http://www.seanconnery.com }}

Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930), better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards (one of them being a BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award) and three Golden Globes (including the Cecil B. DeMille Award and a Henrietta Award).

Connery is best-known for portraying the character James Bond, starring in seven Bond films between 1962 and 1983 (six "official" EON productions films and the non-official ''Thunderball'' remake, ''Never Say Never Again''). In 1988, Connery won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in ''The Untouchables''. His film career also includes such films as ''Marnie'', ''The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen'', ''Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade'', ''The Hunt for Red October'', ''Highlander'', ''Murder on the Orient Express'', ''Dragonheart'', and ''The Rock''. He was knighted in July 2000. Connery has been polled as "The Greatest Living Scot". In 1989, he was proclaimed "Sexiest Man Alive" by ''People'' magazine, and in 1999, at age 69, he was voted "Sexiest Man of the Century".

Early life

Connery's great grand parents emigrated to Scotland from Ireland in the mid 19th century. Thomas Sean Connery, named Thomas after his grandfather, was born in Fountainbridge, Edinburgh, to Euphemia "Effie" (née Maclean), a cleaning woman, and Joseph Connery, a factory worker and lorry driver. Both his mother's parents were native Scottish Gaelic speakers from Fife and Uig on the Isle of Skye. His father was a Roman Catholic Scot, while his mother was a Protestant. He has a younger brother, Neil (b. 1938). Connery claims he was called Sean, his middle name, long before becoming an actor, explaining that when he was young he had an Irish friend named Séamus and that those who knew them both had decided to call Connery by his middle name whenever both were present. He was, however, generally referred to in his youth as "Tommy". Although he was small in primary school, he grew rapidly around the age of 12, reaching his full adult height of 6 ft 2 inches (188 cm) at 18. He was known during his teen years as "Big Tam", and claims to have lost his virginity to an adult woman in an ATS uniform at the age of 14.

Connery's first job was as a milkman in Edinburgh with St. Cuthbert's Co-operative Society. He then joined the Royal Navy during which time he opted for two tattoos that are described on his official website as "unlike many tattoos, his were not frivolous - his tattoos reflect two of his lifelong commitments: his family and Scotland. After six decades, his tattoos still reflect those two ideas: One tattoo is a tribute to his parents and reads "Mum and Dad," and the other is self explanatory, "Scotland Forever."

Connery was later discharged from the navy on medical grounds because of a duodenal ulcer,a condition which was hereditary and had affected most of the males in the family in generations before him. Afterwards, he returned to the co-op, then worked as, among other things, a lorry driver, a lifeguard at Portobello swimming baths, a labourer, an artist's model for the Edinburgh College of Art, after a suggestion by former Mr. Scotland, Archie Brennan. and a coffin polisher. The modelling earned him 15 shillings an hour,

Connery began bodybuilding at the age of 18 and from 1951 time trained heavily with Ellington, a former gym instructor in the British army. While his official website claims he was third in the 1950 Mr. Universe contest, most sources place him in the 1953 competition, either third in the Junior class or failing to place in the Tall Man classification. One of the other competitors mentioned that auditions were being held for a production of ''South Pacific''; and Connery landed a small part. While in Edinburgh, Connery was targeted by the notorious Valdor gang, one of the most ruthless gangs in the city. He was first approached by them in a billiard hall on Lothian Street where he prevented them from stealing from his jacket and was later followed by six gang members to a 15 ft high balcony at the Palais. There Connery launched an attack single-handedly against the gang members, grabbing one by the throat and the other by a biceps and cracked their heads together. From then on he was treated with great respect by the gang and gained a reputation as a "hard man".

Connery was a keen footballer, having played for Bonnyrigg Rose in his younger days. He was offered a trial with East Fife. While on tour with ''South Pacific'', Connery played in a football match against a local team that Matt Busby, manager of Manchester United, happened to be scouting. According to reports, Busby was impressed with his physical prowess and offered Connery a contract worth £25 a week immediately after the game. Connery admits that he was tempted to accept, but he recalls, "I realised that a top-class footballer could be over the hill by the age of 30, and I was already 23. I decided to become an actor and it turned out to be one of my more intelligent moves."

Career

1950s

Looking to pick up some extra money, Connery helped out backstage at the King's Theatre in late 1951. He became interested in the proceedings, and a career was launched.

In 1957, Connery played Spike, a minor gangster with a speech impediment in Montgomery Tully's ''No Road Back'' alongside Skip Homeier, Paul Carpenter, Patricia Dainton and Norman Wooland. He then played a rogue lorry driver Johnny Yates in Cy Endfield's ''Hell Drivers'' (1957) alongside Stanley Baker, Herbert Lom, Peggy Cummins and Patrick McGoohan. Later in 1957 Connery appeared in Terence Young's poorly received MGM action picture ''Action of the Tiger'' opposite Van Johnson, Martine Carol, Herbert Lom and Gustavo Rojo; the film was shot on location in southern Spain. He also had a minor role in Gerald Thomas's thriller ''Time Lock'' (1957) as a welder, appearing alongside Robert Beatty, Lee Patterson, Betty McDowall and Vincent Winter, which commenced filming on December 1, 1956 at Beaconsfield Studios.

In 1958 he had a major role in the melodrama ''Another Time, Another Place'' (1958) as a British reporter named Mark Trevor, caught in a love affair opposite Lana Turner and Barry Sullivan. During filming, star Lana Turner's possessive gangster boyfriend, Johnny Stompanato, who was visiting from Los Angeles, believed she was having an affair with Connery. He stormed onto the set and pointed a gun at Connery, only to have Connery disarm him and knock him flat on his back, causing Stompanato to be banned from the set. Connery later recounted that he had to lie low for a while after receiving threats from men linked to Stompanato's boss, Mickey Cohen.

In 1959, Connery landed a leading role in Robert Stevenson's Walt Disney Productions film ''Darby O'Gill and the Little People'' (1959) alongside Albert Sharpe, Janet Munro, and Jimmy O'Dea. The film is a tale about a wily Irishman and his battle of wits with leprechauns. Upon the film's initial release, A. H. Weiler of the ''New York Times'' praised the cast (save Connery whom he described as "merely tall, dark, and handsome") and thought the film an "overpoweringly charming concoction of standard Gaelic tall stories, fantasy and romance.". In his book ''The Disney Films'', film critic and historian Leonard Maltin stated that, "''Darby O'Gill and the Little People'' is not only one of Disney's best films, but is certainly one of the best fantasies ever put on film."

He also had a prominent television role in Rudolph Cartier's 1961 production of ''Anna Karenina'' for BBC Television, in which he co-starred with Claire Bloom.

James Bond: 1962–71, 1983

Connery's breakthrough came in the role of secret agent James Bond. He played the character in the first five Bond films: ''Dr. No'' (1962), ''From Russia with Love'' (1963), ''Goldfinger'' (1964), ''Thunderball'' (1965), and ''You Only Live Twice'' (1967) -- then appeared again as Bond in ''Diamonds Are Forever'' (1971) and ''Never Say Never Again'' (1983). All seven films were commercially successful.

James Bond's creator, Ian Fleming, originally doubted Connery's casting, saying, "He's not what I envisioned of James Bond looks" and "I’m looking for Commander Bond and not an overgrown stunt-man," adding that Connery (muscular, 6' 2", and a Scot) was unrefined. However, Fleming's girlfriend told him Connery had the requisite sexual charisma. Fleming changed his mind after the successful ''Dr. No'' premiere; he was so impressed, he created a half-Scottish, half-Swiss heritage for the literary James Bond in the later novels.

Connery's portrayal of Bond owes much to stylistic tutelage from director Terence Young, polishing the actor while using his physical grace and presence for the action. Robert Cotton wrote in one Connery biography that Lois Maxwell (the first Miss Moneypenny) noticed, "Terence took Sean under his wing. He took him to dinner, showed him how to walk, how to talk, even how to eat." Cotton wrote, "Some cast members remarked that Connery was simply doing a Terence Young impression, but Young and Connery knew they were on the right track."

In 2005, ''From Russia with Love'' was adapted by Electronic Arts into a video game, titled ''James Bond 007: From Russia with Love'', which featured all-new voice work by Connery as well as his likeness, and those of several of the film's supporting cast.

Beyond Bond

While making the Bond films, Connery also starred in other acclaimed films such as Alfred Hitchcock's ''Marnie'' (1964) and ''Murder on the Orient Express'' (1974). Apart from ''The Man Who Would Be King'' and ''The Wind and the Lion'', both released in 1975, most of Connery's successes in the next decade were as part of ensemble casts in films such as ''Murder on the Orient Express'' (1974) with Vanessa Redgrave and John Gielgud and ''A Bridge Too Far'' (1977) co-starring Dirk Bogarde and Laurence Olivier.

In 1981, Connery appeared in the film ''Time Bandits'' as Agamemnon. The casting choice derives from a joke Michael Palin included in the script, in which he describes the character removing his mask as being "Sean Connery — or someone of equal but cheaper stature". When shown the script, Connery was happy to play the supporting role.

After his experience with ''Never Say Never Again'' in 1983 and the following court case, Connery became unhappy with the major studios and for two years did not make any films. Following the successful European production ''The Name of the Rose'' (1986), for which he won a BAFTA award, Connery's interest in more commercial material was revived. That same year, a supporting role in ''Highlander'' showcased his ability to play older mentors to younger leads, which would become a recurring role in many of his later films. The following year, his acclaimed performance as a hard-nosed Irish-born cop in ''The Untouchables'' (1987) earned him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, his sole nomination throughout his career. His subsequent box-office hits included ''Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade'' (1989), in which he played Henry Jones Sr., the title character's father, ''The Hunt for Red October'' (1990) (where he was reportedly called in at two weeks' notice), ''The Russia House'' (1990), ''The Rock'' (1996), and ''Entrapment'' (1999). In 1996, he voiced the role of Draco the dragon in the animated film ''Dragonheart''. Both ''Last Crusade'' and ''The Rock'' alluded to his James Bond days. Steven Spielberg and George Lucas wanted "the father of Indiana Jones" (although Connery is only 12 years older than Ford) to be Connery since Bond directly inspired the ''Indiana Jones'' series, while his character in ''The Rock'', John Patrick Mason, was a British secret service agent imprisoned since the 1960s. In 1998, Sean Connery received a BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award.

In recent years, Connery's films have included several box office and critical disappointments such as ''First Knight'' (1995), ''The Avengers'' (1998), and ''The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen'' (2003), but he also received positive reviews, including his performance in ''Finding Forrester'' (2000). He also later received a Crystal Globe for outstanding artistic contribution to world cinema.

Retirement

Connery stated in interviews for the film (included on the DVD release) that he was offered a role in ''The Lord of the Rings'' series, declining it due to "not understanding the script." CNN reported that the actor was offered up to 15% of the worldwide box office receipts to play Gandalf, which had he accepted, could have earned him as much as $400 million for the trilogy. After the series went on to become a huge hit, Connery decided to accept the lead role in ''League of Extraordinary Gentlemen'', despite not "understanding" it either. In July 2005, it was reported that he had decided to retire from film-making, following disillusionment with the "idiots now making films in Hollywood" and the turmoil making the 2003 film.

In September 2004, media reports indicated that Connery intended to retire after pulling out of ''Josiah's Canon'', which was set for a 2005 release. However, in a December 2004 interview with ''The Scotsman'' newspaper from his home in the Bahamas, Connery explained he had taken a break from acting in order to concentrate on writing his autobiography. At the Tartan Day celebrations in New York in March 2006, Connery again confirmed his retirement from acting, and stated that he is now writing a history book. On 25 August 2008, his 78th birthday, Connery unveiled his autobiography, ''Being a Scot'', co-written with Murray Grigor.

He was planning to star in an $80 million movie about Saladin and the Crusades that would be filmed in Jordan before the producer Moustapha Akkad was killed in the 2005 Amman bombings. When Connery received the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award on 8 June 2006, he again confirmed his retirement from acting. On 7 June 2007, he denied rumours that he would appear in the fourth ''Indiana Jones'' film, stating that "retirement is just too much damned fun".

Connery returned to voice acting, playing the title character in the animated short ''Sir Billi the Vet'', and in 2005 he recorded voiceovers for a new video game version of his Bond film ''From Russia with Love''. In an interview on the game disc, Connery stated that he was very happy that the producers of the game (EA Games) had approached him to voice Bond and that he hoped to do another one in the near future. In 2010, he reprised his role as the title character in the animated film ''Sir Billi'', serving also as executive producer.

In April 2011, his spokesman confirmed that Connery has retired from making public appearances.

In the film ''Transformers: Dark of the Moon'', the character Sentinel Prime's features were mostly based on Connery. When Leonard Nimoy was to voice the role, however, the effects were altered to incorporate Nimoy's acting as well.

Personal life

Connery dated an attractive blonde named Julie Hamilton in the 1950s; given his rugged appearance and rough charm she initially thought he was the most appalling person and was not attracted to him until she saw him in a kilt. He also shared a mutual attraction with black jazz singer Maxine Daniels, whom he met at the Empire Theatre and made a pass at her, only to be informed by her that she was already happily married with a baby daughter. Connery was married to actress Diane Cilento from 1962 to 1973. They had a son, actor Jason Connery. Connery has been married to Moroccan-French painter Micheline Roquebrune (born 1929) since 1975.

Connery, a keen golfer, owned the Domaine de Terre Blanche in the South of France for twenty years (from 1979) where he planned to build his dream golf course on the of land but the dream was not realised until he sold it to German billionaire Dietmar Hopp in 1999. Connery has also always had an interest in football. He presently supports Rangers F.C. having previously been a Celtic F.C. fan. Commenting on his change of allegiance, Connery stated "I've always supported the team I thought played the best soccer...religious affiliations in sport mean nothing to me." He has been awarded the rank of Shodan in Kyokushin karate.

Connery was knighted in July 2000.

Scottish National Party

Connery is a member of the Scottish National Party, a centre-left political party campaigning for Scottish independence, and has supported the party financially and through personal appearances. In 2008, Connery said in the ''Scottish Sunday Express'' he believed that Scotland will become an independent country within his lifetime and praised the work of the SNP in a minority government after having won the 2007 Scottish Parliamentary elections. Connery has been frequently criticised for remaining outspoken on UK politics while living as a tax exile in the Bahamas. He was also criticised for accepting a knighthood from the Labour government, despite being a vocal critic of it. He has donated thousands of pounds to the SNP and has sworn not to return to Scotland until it is independent.

Health

In 1993, news that Connery was undergoing radiation treatment for an undisclosed throat ailment sparked media reports that the actor was suffering from throat cancer following years of heavy smoking, and he was falsely declared dead by the Japanese and South African news agencies. Connery immediately appeared on the ''Late Show with David Letterman'' to deny all of this. In a February 1995 interview with ''Entertainment Weekly'', he said that the radiation treatment was to remove nodules from his vocal cords. (His father, a heavy smoker, died from throat cancer in 1972.) In 2003, he had surgery to remove cataracts from both eyes. On 12 March 2006, he announced he was recovering from surgery in January to remove a kidney tumour. In 2008, he chipped a bone in his shoulder after falling while playing golf. In October 2009, he told ''Wine Spectator'' magazine that he has been diagnosed with a heart condition.

Tribute

Connery has been polled as "The Greatest Living Scot". A bronze bust sculpture of Connery was placed in the capital city of Estonia.

Connery shared a Henrietta Award with Charles Bronson for "World Film Favorite – Male" in 1972.

Filmography

''No Road Back'' ''Hell Drivers (film) ''Action of the Tiger'' ''Time Lock'' ''Another Time, Another Place (1958 film) '''' ''Darby O'Gill and the Little People'' ''Tarzan's Greatest Adventure'' ''On the Fiddle'' '''' '''' ''Dr. No (film) ''From Russia with Love (film) ''Marnie (film) ''Woman of Straw'' ''Goldfinger (film) '''' ''Thunderball (film) '''' '''' ''You Only Live Twice (film) '''' ''Shalako (film) '''' '''' '''' ''Diamonds Are Forever (film) ''España campo de golf'' '''' ''Zardoz'' ''Murder on the Orient Express (1974 film) ''Ransom (1975 film) '''' '''' '''' ''Robin and Marian'' '''' '''' '''' ''Meteor (film) ''Cuba (film) ''Outland (film) ''Time Bandits'' ''G'olé!'' ''Five Days One Summer'' ''Wrong Is Right'' ''Sean Connery's Edinburgh'' ''Never Say Never Again'' ''Sword of the Valiant'' ''Highlander (film) '''' '''' '''' ''Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade'' ''Family Business (film) '''' '''' ''Highlander II: The Quickening'' ''Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves'' ''Medicine Man (film) ''Rising Sun (film) '''' ''Just Cause (film) ''First Knight'' ''Dragonheart'' '''' '''' ''Playing by Heart'' ''Entrapment (film) ''Finding Forrester'' '''' ''From Russia with Love (video game)

Year	! Title	! Role	Notes
1954	''Lilacs in the Spring''	Undetermined role
1957	|	Spike
1957	Hell Drivers'' ||	Johnny Kates
1957	|	Mike
1957	|	Welder #2
1958	Another Time, Another Place'' ||	Mark Trevor
1958	|	RMS Titanic deck hand	uncredited
1959	|	Michael McBride
1959	|	O'Bannion
1961	|	Pedlar Pascoe
1961	|	Paddy Damion
1962	|	Pte. Flanagan
1962	Dr. No'' ||	James Bond (character)>James Bond
1963	From Russia with Love'' ||	James Bond
1964	Marnie'' ||	Mark Rutland
1964	|	Anthony Richmond
1964	Goldfinger'' ||	James Bond
1965	|	Trooper Joe Roberts
1965	Thunderball'' ||	James Bond
1966	|	Himself	(cameo)
1966	|	Samson Shillitoe
1967	You Only Live Twice'' ||	James Bond
1967	|	Himself	(Director; documentary)
1968	Shalako'' ||	Moses Zebulon 'Shalako' Carlin
1970	|	Jack Kehoe
1971	|	Roald Amundsen
1971	|	John Anderson
1971	Diamonds Are Forever'' ||	James Bond
1972	|	Himself	(short subject)
1973	|	Detective Sergeant Johnson
1974	|	Zed
1974	Murder on the Orient Express'' ||	Colonel Arbuthnot
1975	Ransom'' ||	Nils Tahlvik
1975	|	Himself	(documentary)
1975	|	Mulai Ahmed er Raisuni>Mulay Achmed Mohammed el-Raisuli the Magnificent
1975	|	Daniel Dravot
1976	|	Robin Hood
1976	|	Khalil Abdul-Muhsen
1977	|	Maj. Gen. Roy Urquhart
1979	|	Edward Pierce/John Simms/Geoffrey
1979	Meteor'' ||	Dr. Paul Bradley
1979	Cuba'' ||	Maj. Robert Dapes
1981	Outland'' ||	Marshal William T. O'Niel	Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actor
1981	|	Agamemnon>King Agamemnon/Fireman
1982	|	Narrator	(documentary)
1982	|	Douglas Meredith
1982	|	Patrick Hale
1983	|	Himself	(short subject)
1983	|	James Bond	(Unofficial James Bond film)
1984	|	Green Knight>The Green Knight
1986	Highlander'' ||	Juan Sanchez Villa-Lobos Ramirez
1986	|	William of Baskerville	BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
1987	|	Jim Malone
1988	|	Lt. Col. Alan Caldwell
1989	|	Henry Jones, Sr.>Professor Henry Jones Senior
1989	Family Business'' ||	Jessie McMullen
1990	|	Captain Marko Ramius	Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
1990	|	Bartholomew 'Barley' Scott Blair
1991	|	Juan Sanchez Villa-Lobos Ramirez
1991	|	King Richard I	(uncredited cameo)
1992	Medicine Man'' ||	Dr. Robert Campbell
1993	Rising Sun'' ||	Capt. John Connor	(also executive producer)
1994	|	Dr. Alex Murray
1995	Just Cause'' ||	Paul Armstrong	(also executive producer)
1995	|	King Arthur
1996	|	Draco	(voice)
1996	|	Capt. John Patrick Mason (Ret.)	(also executive producer)
1998	|	Sir August de Wynter
1998	|	Paul
1999	Entrapment'' ||	Robert MacDougal	(also producer)
2000	|	William Forrester
2003	|	Allan Quatermain	(also executive producer)
2005	From Russia with Love'' ||	James Bond	(voice and likeness) video game

References

Bibliography

External links

BBC: Sean Connery Biography (1999)

Profile @ Turner Classic Movies

Photographs and literature

Category:1930 births Category:Actors awarded British knighthoods Category:European Film Awards winners (people) Category:BAFTA winners (people) Category:Best Actor BAFTA Award winners Category:Best Supporting Actor Academy Award winners Category:Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe (film) winners Category:Cecil B. DeMille Award Golden Globe winners Category:Knights Bachelor Category:Légion d'honneur recipients Category:Kennedy Center honorees Category:People from Edinburgh Category:Royal Navy sailors Category:Scottish people of Irish descent Category:Scottish bodybuilders Category:Scottish film actors Category:Scottish film producers Category:Scottish nationalists Category:Scottish stage actors Category:Scottish television actors Category:Scottish actors Category:Scottish voice actors Category:Living people Category:20th-century actors Category:21st-century actors Category:Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic F.C. players Category:British film actors Category:British bodybuilders

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Coordinates	53°16′″N21°41′″N
name	Sir Michael Redgrave
birth name	Michael Scudamore Redgrave
birth date	March 20, 1908
birth place	Bristol, Gloucestershire, England
death date	March 21, 1985
death place	Denham, Buckinghamshire, England
death cause	Parkinson's disease
nationality	British
spouse	Rachel Kempson (m. 1935-85; his death)
children	Vanessa RedgraveCorin Redgrave (deceased)Lynn Redgrave (deceased)
parents	Roy RedgraveMargaret Scudamore
years active	1936-75
alma mater	Magdalene College, Cambridge }}

Sir Michael Scudamore Redgrave, CBE (20 March 1908 – 21 March 1985) was an English stage and film actor, director, manager and author.

Youth and education

Redgrave was born in Bristol, England, the son of the silent film actor Roy Redgrave and the actress Margaret Scudamore. He never knew his father, who left when Michael was only six months old to pursue a career in Australia. His mother subsequently married Captain James Anderson, a tea planter, but Redgrave greatly disliked his stepfather.

He studied at Clifton College and Magdalene College, Cambridge. He was a schoolmaster at Cranleigh School in Surrey before becoming an actor in 1934. There he directed the boys in ''Hamlet'', ''King Lear'' and ''The Tempest'', but managed to play all the leading roles himself. The 'Redgrave Room' at the school was later named after him. In the new Guildford School of Acting building which opened in January 2010, there is the Sir Michael Redgrave studio.

Theatre career

Redgrave made his first professional appearance at the Liverpool Playhouse on 30 August 1934 as Roy Darwin in ''Counsellor-at-Law'' (by Elmer Rice), then spent two years with its Liverpool Repertory Company where he met his future wife Rachel Kempson. They married on 18 July 1935.

1930s

Offered a job by Tyrone Guthrie, he made his first professional appearance in London at the Old Vic on 14 September 1936, playing Ferdinand in ''Love's Labours Lost''. During the 1936-37 season he also played Mr Horner in ''The Country Wife'', Orlando in ''As You Like It'', Warbeck in ''The Witch of Edmonton'' and Laertes to Laurence Olivier's Hamlet. His hit of the season was Orlando. Edith Evans was his Rosalind and the two fell very much in love. As he later explained: "Edith always had a habit of falling in love with her leading men; with us it just went rather further." ''As You Like It'' transferred to the New Theatre in February 1937 when he again played Orlando.

At the Embassy Theatre in March 1937 he played Anderson in a mystery play, ''The Bat'', before returning to the Old Vic in April, succeeding Marius Goring as Chorus in ''Henry V''. Other roles that year included Christopher Drew in Daisy Fisher's comedy ''A Ship Comes Home'' at the St Martin's Theatre in May and Larry Starr in Philip Leaver's comedy ''Three Set Out'' at the Embassy in June, before joining John Gielgud's Company at the Queen's Theatre, September 1937 to April 1938, where he played Bolingbroke in ''Richard II'', Charles Surface in ''The School for Scandal'' and Baron Tusenbach in ''Three Sisters''.

Other roles included:

Alexei Turbin in ''The White Guard'' (''The Days of the Turbins'' by Mikhail Bulgakov), Phoenix Theatre October 1938

Sir Andrew Aguecheek in ''Twelfth Night'', Phoenix December 1938

Harry, Lord Monchesney in ''The Family Reunion'' (T S Eliot), Westminster Theatre March 1939

Henry in ''Springtime for Henry'', touring 1939

Second World War

Once the London theatres were re-opened, after the outbreak of war, he played:

Captain Macheath in ''The Beggar's Opera'', Theatre Royal Haymarket, March 1940

Charleston in ''Thunder Rock'' (Robert Ardrey), Neighbourhood Theatre June 1940; Globe Theatre July 1940

Redgrave joined the Royal Navy as an Ordinary seaman in July 1941, but was discharged on medical grounds in November 1942. Having spent most of 1942 in the Reserve he managed to direct ''Lifeline'' (Norman Armstrong) starring Frank Pettingell at the Duchess Theatre in July; and ''The Duke in Darkness'' (Patrick Hamilton) starring Leslie Banks at the St James's Theatre in October, also taking the role of Gribaux.

Resuming his stage career he played/directed:

Rakitin in ''A Month in the Country'' (Turgenev), St James's Theatre March 1943

Lafont in six matinees of ''Parisienne'', a comedy by Henry Becque, translated by Ashley Dukes, (Redgrave also directed and managed) co-starring Sonia Dresdel, St James's Theatre June 1943

''Blow Your Own Trumpet'', a comedy by Peter Ustinov, (directed), Playhouse Theatre August 1943

''The Wingless Victory'', a period romance by Maxwell Anderson, (directed) starring Rachel Kempson as Faith Ingalls, Phoenix Theatre September 1943

Harry Quincey in ''Uncle Harry'', a thriller by Thomas Job, (also co-directed with William Armstrong) with Beatrix Lehmann as Leslie Quincey and Rachel Kempson as Lucy Forrest, Garrick Theatre March 1944

Colonel Stjerbinsky in ''Jacobowsky and the Colonel'', a comedy by Franz Werfel, adapted by S N Behrman, (Redgrave also directed) with Rachel Kempson as Marianne, Piccadilly Theatre, June 1945

Post-war years

Title role in ''Macbeth'', Aldwych Theatre December 1947; National Theater, New York (NY debut, with Flora Robson as Lady Macbeth) 31 March 1948

Captain in ''The Father'' (August Strindberg) directed by Dennis Arundell with Freda Jackson as Laura, Embassy Theatre November 1948; and Duchess Theatre January 1949

Etienne in ''A Woman in Love'' (also co-adapted with Diana Gould and directed) with Margaret Rawlings as Germaine, Embassy April 1949

Joining the Old Vic Company at the New Theatre for its 1949–50 season, he played:

Berowne in ''Love's Labours Lost''

Marlow in ''She Stoops to Conquer''

Rakitin in ''A Month in the Country''

His first Hamlet, which he also played at the Zurich Festival, the Holland Festival and at Kronborg Castle in Elsinore, June 1950

1950s

Redgrave joined the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre company at Stratford upon Avon and for the 1951 season appeared as Prospero in ''The Tempest'' as well as playing Richard II, Hotspur and Chorus in the Cycle of ''Histories'', for which he also directed ''Henry IV Part Two''. After appearing as Frank Elgin in ''Winter Journey'' at the St James's April 1952, he rejoined the Stratford company in 1953 (together with his actress wife Rachel Kempson) appearing as Shylock, King Lear and Antony in ''Antony and Cleopatra'', also playing Antony when the company transferred to the Princes Theatre in November 1953 before touring to Holland, Belgium and Paris.

At the Apollo in June 1955 he played Hector in ''Tiger at the Gates'', appearing in the same role at the Plymouth Theatre, New York in October 1955 for which he received the New York Critics Award. While in New York he directed ''A Month in the Country'' at the Phoenix Theatre in April 1956, and directed and played the Prince Regent in ''The Sleeping Prince'' at the Coronet Theatre in November 1956.

Returning to London in January 1958 he appeared as Philip Lester in ''A Touch of the Sun'' (N C Hunter) at the Saville Theatre — Best Actor in the Evening Standard Awards 1958 — before rejoining the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre Company in June 1958, to play Hamlet and Benedick, also playing Hamlet with the company in Leningrad and Moscow in December 1958 (while his wife Rachel Kempson played Ursula in ''Much Ado About Nothing'' and Lady Capulet in ''Romeo and Juliet'').

At the Queen's Theatre in London in August 1959 he played HJ in his own adaptation of the Henry James novella ''The Aspern Papers''. His play was later to be successfully revived on Broadway in 1962, with Dame Wendy Hiller and Maurice Evans, while the 1984 London revival featured his daughter, Vanessa Redgrave, along with Christopher Reeve and Hiller, this time in the role of Miss Bordereau.

1960s

Roles included:

Jack Dean in ''The Tiger and the Horse'' by Robert Bolt (which Redgrave also co-presented, directed by Frith Banbury), Queen's Theatre August 1960

Victor Rhodes in ''The Complaisant Lover'' by Graham Greene, Ethel Barrymore Theatre, New York, November 1961 - 101 performances

Returning to England, in July 1962 he took part in the Chichester Festival Theatre's opening season, playing the title role in Chekhov's ''Uncle Vanya'' to the Astrov of Laurence Olivier who also directed.

Alongside John Dexter's Chichester staging of ''Saint Joan'', Olivier's ''Uncle Vanya'' was first revived in Chichester in 1963 before transferring to the Old Vic as part of the nascent Royal National Theatre's inaugural season, winning rave reviews and Redgrave's second win as Best Actor in the 1963 Evening Standard Awards. Critic Michael Billington recalled: "In Redgrave's Vanya you saw both a tremulous victim of a lifetime's emotional repression and the wasted potential of a Chekhovian might-have-been: as Redgrave and Olivier took their joint curtain call, linked hands held triumphantly aloft, we were not to know that this was to symbolise the end of their artistic amity."

Redgrave played (and co-presented) Lancelot Dodd MA in Arthur Watkyn's ''Out of Bounds'' at Wyndham's Theatre in November 1962, following it at the Old Vic with his portrayal of Claudius opposite the Hamlet of Peter O'Toole in 22 October 1963. This ''Hamlet'' was in fact the National Theatre's official opening production, directed by Olivier, but Simon Callow has dubbed it "slow, solemn, long", while Ken Campbell vividly described it as "brochure theatre."

In January 1964 at the National he played the title role in ''Hobson's Choice'', which he admitted was well outside his range: "I couldn't do the Lancashire accent and that shook my nerve terribly - all the other performances suffered." While still at the National in June 1964 he also played Halvard Solness in ''The Master Builder'', which he said 'went wrong'. At this time he had incipient Parkinson's disease, although he did not know it.

In May and June 1965 Redgrave directed the opening festival of the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford, including directing and playing Rakitin in ''A Month in the Country'' (co-starring with Ingrid Bergman as Natalya Petrovna), and Samson in ''Samson Agonistes'' (co-starring with Rachel Kempson as Chorus). He again played Rakitin in September 1965, when his production transferred to the Cambridge Theatre in London. For the Glyndebourne Festival Opera he directed ''Werther'' in 1966 and ''La Boheme'' in 1967.

1970s

At the Mermaid Theatre in July 1971 he played Mr Jaraby in ''The Old Boys'' (William Trevor) and had an unfortunate experience: "My memory went, and on the first night they made me wear a deaf aid to hear some lines from the prompter and it literally fell to pieces - there were little bits of machinery all over the floor, so I then knew I really couldn't go on, at least not learning new plays."

Nevertheless, he successfully took over the part of Father in John Mortimer's ''A Voyage Round My Father'' at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, also touring Canada and Australia in the role in 1972-73. International touring continued in 1974-75 with a Royal Shakespeare Company production of ''The Hollow Crown'', visiting major venues in the US and Australia, while in 1976-77 he toured South America, Canada and the UK in the anthology, ''Shakespeare's People''.

Redgrave's final theatre appearance came in May 1979 when he portrayed Jasper in Simon Gray's ''Close of Play'', directed on the Lyttelton stage at the National Theatre by Harold Pinter. It was a silent, seated role, based on Gray's own father, who had died a year before he wrote the play. As Gray has said: "Jasper is in fact dead but is forced to endure, as if alive, a traditional English Sunday, helpless in his favourite armchair as his three sons and their wives fall to pieces in the usual English middle-class style, sometimes blaming him, sometimes appealing to him for help and sobbing at his feet for forgiveness, but basically ignoring him. In other words I had stuck him in Hell, which turns out to be 'life, old life itself'."

His final work, in 1975, a narrative of the epic poem, ''The Rime of the Ancient Mariner'', by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, a poem that Redgrave taught as a young schoolmaster and visualized by producer-director Raul da Silva, received six international film festival prizes of which five were first place in category. This work was to be his last before the onslaught of Parkinson's disease.

Film and television work

Redgrave first appeared on BBC television at the Alexandra Palace in 1937, in scenes from ''Romeo and Juliet''. His first major film role was in Alfred Hitchcock's ''The Lady Vanishes'' (1938). Redgrave also starred in ''The Stars Look Down'' (1939), with James Mason in the film of Robert Ardrey's play ''Thunder Rock'' (1942), and in the ventriloquist's dummy episode of the Ealing compendium film ''Dead of Night'' (1945).

His first American film role was opposite Rosalind Russell in ''Mourning Becomes Electra'' (1947), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. In 1951 he starred in ''The Browning Version'', from Terence Rattigan's play of the same name. The ''Daily Mirror'' described Redgrave's performance as Crocker-Harris as "one of the greatest performances ever seen in films". The 1950s also saw Redgrave in ''The Importance of Being Earnest'' (1952), ''The Dambusters'' (1954), and ''1984'' (1956).

Notable television performances include voice-overs for ''The Great War'' (1964), a history of the first World War using stills and 'stretched' archive film, and the less successful ''Lost Peace'' series (BBC Television, 1964 and 1966). Of the latter, Philip Purser wrote: "The commentary, spoken by Sir Michael Redgrave, took on an unremittingly pessimistic tone from the outset."

Last years and death

Redgrave died in a nursing home in Denham, Buckinghamshire, in 1985, from Parkinson's disease, one day after his 77th birthday.

Personal life

Family

Redgrave was married to the actress Rachel Kempson for 50 years from 1935 until his death. Their children Vanessa (b. 1937), Corin (1939–2010) and Lynn Redgrave (1943–2010) and their grandchildren - Natasha (1963–2009), Joely Richardson (b. 1965) and Jemma are also involved in theatre or film as actors. His grandson Carlo Gabriel Nero is a screenwriter and film director whilst Luke Redgrave is not connected to acting.

His daughter Lynn created a one-woman play for herself called ''Shakespeare for My Father'', in which she was nominated for Broadway's Tony Award, in which she traced her love for Shakespeare as a way of following and finding her often absent father.

Redgrave owned White Roding Windmill from 1937 to 1946. He and his family lived in "Bedford House" on Chiswick Mall from 1945 to 1954. His entry for ''Who's Who in the Theatre'' (1981) gives his address as Wilks Water, Odiham, Hampshire.

Bisexuality

Corin helped his father in the writing of his last autobiography. During one of Corin's visits to his father, the latter said, "There is something I ought to tell you". Then, after a very long pause, "I am, to say the least of it, bisexual". Corin encouraged him to acknowledge his bisexuality in the book. Michael agreed to do so, but in the end he chose to remain silent about it. Alan Strachan's 2004 biography of Redgrave discusses his affairs with both men and women.

The 1996 BBC documentary film ''Michael Redgrave: My Father'', narrated by Corin Redgrave, and based on his book of the same name, discusses Michael's bisexuality in some depth. Rachel Kempson recounted that, when she proposed to him, Redgrave said that there were "difficulties to do with his nature, and that he felt he ought not to marry". She said that she understood, it didn't matter and that she loved him. To this, Redgrave replied, "Very well. If you're sure, we will".

During the filming of Fritz Lang's ''Secret Beyond the Door'' (1948), Redgrave met Bob Michell. They became lovers, Michell set up house close to the Redgraves, and he became a surrogate "uncle" to Redgrave's children (then aged 11, 9 and 5), who adored him. Michell later had children of his own, including a son he named Michael.

A card was found among Redgrave's effects after his death. The card was signed "Tommy, Liverpool, January 1940", and on it were the words (quoted from W. H. Auden): "The world is love. Surely one fearless kiss would cure the million fevers".

Honours, awards and appointments

Redgrave twice (1958 and 1963) won Best Actor trophies in the Evening Standard Awards and twice received the Variety Club of Great Britain 'Actor of the Year' Award (in the same years).

He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1952 and was knighted in 1959. He was also appointed Commander of the Order of the Dannebrog, Denmark in 1955.

Redgrave became the First President of the English Speaking Board in 1953, and President of the Questors Theatre, Ealing in 1958.

In 1966 he received an honorary DLitt degree from the University of Bristol.

The Redgrave Theatre in Farnham, Surrey, 1974–1998, was named in his honour.

Filmography

''The Lady Vanishes'' (1938)

''Climbing High'' (1938)

''Stolen Life'' (1939)

''The Stars Look Down'' (1939)

''The Big Blockade'' (1940)

''A Window in London'' (1940)

''Atlantic Ferry'' (1941)

''Kipps'' (1941)

''Jeannie'' (1941)

''Thunder Rock'' (1942)

''The Way to the Stars'' (1945)

''Dead of Night'' (1945)

''The Captive Heart'' (1946)

''The Years Between'' (1946)

''The Man Within'' (1947)

''Fame is the Spur'' (1947)

''Mourning Becomes Electra'' (1947)

''Secret Beyond the Door...'' (1948)

''The Browning Version'' (1951)

''The Magic Box (1951)

''The Importance of Being Earnest'' (1952)

''The Green Scarf'' (1954)

''The Sea Shall Not Have Them'' (1954)

''The Night My Number Came Up'' (1955)

''Mr. Arkadin'' (1955)

''The Dam Busters'' (1955)

''Oh... Rosalinda!!'' (1955)

''1984'' (1956)

''Time Without Pity'' (1957)

''The Happy Road'' (1957)

''Behind the Mask'' (1958)

''The Quiet American'' (1958)

''Law and Disorder'' (1958)

''Shake Hands with the Devil'' (1959)

''The Wreck of the Mary Deare'' (1959)

''The Innocents'' (1961)

''No My Darling Daughter'' (1961)

''The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner'' (1962)

''Uncle Vanya'' (1963)

''The Hill'' (1965)

''The Heroes of Telemark'' (1965)

''Alice in Wonderland'' (1966)

''The 25th Hour'' (1967)

''Heidi'' (1968) (TV)

''Assignment K'' (1968)

''Oh! What a Lovely War'' (1969)

''Battle of Britain'' (1969)

''Goodbye, Mr. Chips'' (1969)

''David Copperfield'' (1969)

''Goodbye Gemini'' (1970)

''Connecting Rooms'' (1970)

''The Go-Between'' (1970)

''A Christmas Carol'' (1971), ''narration''

''Nicholas and Alexandra'' (1971)

''The Last Target'' (1972)

''Rime of the Ancient Mariner'' (1975), ''narration''

Writings

Redgrave wrote four books:

''The Actor's Ways and Means'' Heinemann (1953)

''Mask or Face: Reflections in an Actor's Mirror'' Heinemann (1958)

''The Mountebank's Tale'' Heinemann (1959)

''In My Mind's I: An Actor's Autobiography'' Viking (1983) ISBN 0670142336

His plays include ''The Seventh Man'' and ''Circus Boy'', both performed at the Liverpool Playhouse in 1935, and his adaptations of ''A Woman in Love'' (''Amourese'') at the Embassy Theatre in 1949 and the Henry James novella ''The Aspern Papers'' at the Queen's Theatre in 1959.

Further reading

''Who's Who in the Theatre'' 17th edition, Gale (1981) ISBN 0810302157

Theatre Record and its annual Indexes

''The Great Stage Stars'' by Sheridan Morley, Angus & Robertson (1986) ISBN 0207149704

References

External links

Category:1908 births Category:1985 deaths Category:Alumni of Magdalene College, Cambridge Category:Bisexual actors Category:LGBT parents Category:Deaths from Parkinson's disease Category:English film actors Category:English stage actors Category:Knights Bachelor Category:Actors awarded British knighthoods Category:Old Cliftonians Category:People from Bristol Category:Royal National Theatre Company members Category:Shakespearean actors Category:LGBT people from England Category:20th-century actors

an:Michael Redgrave ca:Michael Redgrave cy:Michael Redgrave de:Michael Redgrave es:Michael Redgrave fr:Michael Redgrave it:Michael Redgrave he:מייקל רדגרייב ja:マイケル・レッドグレイヴ no:Michael Redgrave pl:Michael Redgrave pt:Michael Redgrave ro:Michael Redgrave fi:Michael Redgrave sv:Michael Redgrave

Coordinates	53°16′″N21°41′″N
name	Cypress Hill
background	group_or_band
alias	DVX (Devasting Vocal Excellence)
origin	South Gate, California, United States
genre	Hip hop, rap rock, nu metal
years active	1988–present
label	Ruffhouse, Columbia, Sony Music Entertainment, Priority, EMI Records
associated acts	Soul Assassins, Rage Against the Machine, The Beastie Boys, D12, OutKast, Everlast, Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg, Slash, House of Pain, Funkdoobiest, Richie Londres, Xzibit, Young De, Apathy, Adil Omar, Travis Barker, The Transplants, Psycho Realm, La Coka Nostra
website	CypressHill.com
current members	B-Real DJ Muggs Sen Dog Eric Bobo
past members	Mellow Man Ace }}

Cypress Hill is an American hip hop group from South Gate, California. Cypress Hill was the first Cuban-American/Latino hip-hop group to have platinum and multi-platinum albums, selling over 18 million albums worldwide. It is one of the most well-known groups in West Coast rap and was critically acclaimed for their first two groundbreaking albums.

History

Formation (1988)

Senen Reyes (also known as Sen Dog) and Ulpiano Sergio Reyes (also known as Mellow Man Ace) are brothers who initially lived in Cypress Park, California. In 1971, their family had immigrated to the United States, settling in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Eagle Rock. In 1988, the two brothers teamed up with Lawrence Muggerud (also known as DJ Muggs) and Louis Freese (also known as B-Real) to form a hip-hop group named DVX (Devasting Vocal Excellence). The band soon lost Mellow Man Ace to a solo career, and changed their name to Cypress Hill, after a street in North East Los Angeles.

Early works and mainstream success (1989–1995)

After recording a demo in 1989, Cypress Hill signed a record deal with the major label, Columbia Records. Their self-titled first album was released in August 1991. The lead single was the double A-side "The Phuncky Feel One"/"How I Could Just Kill a Man" which received heavy airplay on urban and college radio. The other two singles released from the album were "Hand on the Pump" and "Latin Lingo", the latter of which combined English and Spanish lyrics. The success of these singles led to the album selling two million copies in the US alone. The group made their first appearance at Lollapalooza on the side stage in 1992.

''Black Sunday'', the group's second album, debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 in 1993, recording the highest Soundscan for a rap group up until that time. Also, with their debut still in the charts, they became the first rap group to have 2 albums in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 at the same time. With "Insane in the Brain" becoming a crossover hit, the album went triple platinum in the U.S. and sold about 3.25 million copies.

Cypress Hill was banned from ''Saturday Night Live'' after Muggs smoked a joint on-air and the group trashed their instruments while playing their second single "I Ain't Goin' Out Like That". The band headlined the Soul Assassins tour with House of Pain and Funkdoobiest as support, then performed on a college tour with Rage Against the Machine and Seven Year Bitch. In 1993, Cypress Hill also had two tracks on the ''Judgment Night'' soundtrack, teaming up with Pearl Jam on the track "Real Thing" and Sonic Youth on "I Love You Mary Jane".

The group later played at Woodstock 94, introducing new member Eric Bobo, son of Willie Bobo and formerly a percussionist with the Beastie Boys. ''Rolling Stone'' magazine named the group as the best rap group in their music awards voted by critics and readers. Cypress Hill played at Lollapalooza for two successive years, topping the bill in 1995. They also appeared on the "Homerpalooza" episode of ''The Simpsons''. Prior to Bobo joining the crew, Panchito "Ponch" Gomez sat in as a percussionist when not acting.

Their third album ''III: Temples of Boom'' was released in 1995, selling 1.5 million copies and reaching number 3 on the Billboard 200 on the strength of the hit single "Throw Your Set in the Air". Cypress Hill also contributed a track "I Wanna Get High" to the High Times sponsored ''Hempilation'' album to support NORML.

Continued career (1996–2002)

Sen Dog took a break from the band to form a Los Angeles based rap rock band SX-10. Meanwhile in 1996, Cypress Hill appeared on the first 'Smokin' Grooves' tour, featuring Ziggy Marley, The Fugees, Busta Rhymes and A Tribe Called Quest. The band also released a nine track EP ''Unreleased and Revamped'' with rare mixes. In 1997, band members focused on their solo careers. Muggs released ''Soul Assassins: Chapter 1'' featuring contributions from Dr. Dre, KRS-One, Wyclef Jean and Mobb Deep. B-Real appeared with Busta Rhymes, Coolio, LL Cool J and Method Man on "Hit Em High" from the multi-platinum ''Space Jam Soundtrack''. He also appeared with RBX, Nas and KRS-One on "East Coast Killer, West Coast Killer" off Dr. Dre's ''Dr. Dre Presents the Aftermath'' album, and contributed to an album entitled ''The Psycho Realm'' with the band of the same name. Though the focus that year was not on group efforts, the band played Smokin' Grooves with George Clinton and Erykah Badu.

Cypress Hill released ''IV'' in 1998 which went gold in the U.S., on the backs of hit singles "Tequila Sunrise" and "Dr. Greenthumb." Sen Dog also released the ''Get Wood'' sampler as part of SX-10 on the label Flip. In 1999, Cypress Hill helped with the PC crime video game ''Kingpin: Life of Crime''. Three of their songs from the 1998 ''IV'' album were in the game ( "16 Men Till There's No Men Left", "Checkmate" and "Lightning Strikes"). B-Real also did some of the voices of the people in the game. Also in 1999, the band released a greatest-hits album in Spanish, ''Los grandes éxitos en español''. In 2000, Cypress Hill then fused genres with their fifth album, ''Skull & Bones'', which was a two-disc album. The first disc, "Skull" was composed of rap tracks while "Bones" explored further the group's forays into rock. The album reached the Top 5 on the Billboard 200 and number 3 in Canada. The first single was "Rock Superstar" for rock radio and "Rap Superstar" for urban radio. Following the release of the album, Cypress Hill (along with MxPx) landed a slot opening for The Offspring on the ''Conspiracy of One'' tour. The band also released ''Live at the Fillmore'', a concert disc recorded at the Fillmore (in San Francisco) in 2000. Cypress Hill continued their experimentation with rock on the ''Stoned Raiders'' album in 2001. However, its sales were a disappointment, as the disc did not even reach the top 50 of the U.S. album charts. In 2001, the group appeared in the film ''How High''.

''Till Death Do Us Part'' (2003–2007)

Cypress Hill recorded "Just Another Victim" for WWE as a theme song for Tazz. At the time, WWE was using original music for almost all of the wrestlers, so this was an unusual step for the company to take, but it remains one of the more memorable songs to emerge from the wrestling organization. The band released ''Till Death Do Us Part'' on March 23, 2004. The album saw the band experiment with reggae especially on the lead single "What's Your Number". The track features Tim Armstrong of Rancid on guitar and backup vocals. It is based on the classic song "The Guns of Brixton" on The Clash's ''London Calling'' and has proven to be a success on the modern rock charts. However, the album represented a further departure from the signature sound of their first four albums. The album also features appearances by Damian Marley, son of Bob Marley, Prodigy of Mobb Deep and producers the Alchemist and Fredwreck.

In 2004, the song ''How I Could Just Kill A Man'' was included in the popular video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas created by Rockstar Games, playing on West Coast hip hop radio station Radio Los Santos. In December 2005 a best of compilation album titled Greatest Hits From the Bong was released including 9 hits from previous albums and 2 new tracks. The group's next album was tentatively scheduled for an early 2007 release. In the summer of 2006, B-Real appeared on Snoop Dogg's single "Vato", which was produced by Pharrell Williams.

In 2007 Cypress Hill toured with their full line up as a part of the Rock the Bells tour, held by Guerilla Union, and headlined with Public Enemy, Wu-Tang Clan, Nas, and a reunited Rage Against the Machine. Other acts included Immortal Technique, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, The Roots, EPMD, Pharoahe Monch, Jedi Mind Tricks, Erykah Badu, MF Doom, Sage Francis, Brother Ali, The Coup, Blue Print, Lucky I Am, Living Legends, Felt, Cage, Mr. Lif, Grouch & Eligh, Slightly Stoopid, and Hangar 18.

Departure from Sony and ''Rise Up'' (2008–present)

On July 25, 2008, Cypress Hill performed at a benefit concert at the House of Blues Chicago, where a majority of the proceeds went to the Chicago Alliance to End Homelessness.

In August 2009, a new song by Cypress Hill, titled "Get 'Em Up", was made available on iTunes. The song is featured on the Madden NFL 2010 video game.

In November 2009, a new version of Guns N' Roses classic "Paradise City" performed by Cypress Hill, Slash and Fergie was made available as a bonus track to Slash's single "Sahara" off Slash's solo album ''Slash''.

Cypress Hill's eighth studio album, ''Rise Up'', features contributions from Everlast, Tom Morello, Daron Malakian, Pitbull, Marc Anthony and Mike Shinoda. The album was released on Priority Records/EMI Entertainment, as the group was signed to the label by new Creative Chairman Snoop Dogg on January 15, 2010. The album was finally released on April 20, 2010. The album's introduction single, "It Ain't Nothin'" was released as a free download from the group's official website. The song "Rise Up" was featured at WWE's pay-per-view, Elimination Chamber, as the official theme song for that event, and was released as the third single for the album, with "Armada Latina" being fourth. The song also appeared in the trailer of the movie ''The Green Hornet''.

Cypress Hill commenced its Rise Up tour in Philadelphia on April 10, 2010. Julio G had replaced DJ Muggs for the tour. Muggs had been absent due to working on several other projects, including separate albums with B-Real and Sen Dog. The group was supposed to stop in Tucson, Arizona but canceled the show in protest of the recent immigration legislation. At the Rock en Seine festival in Paris on August 27, 2010 they said in an interview that they would wait and see what happens with the legislation before going back there. Cypress Hill performed at the Reading and Leeds Festivals in late August 2010, on the 28th at Leeds and the 29th at Reading.

Style

Rapping

One of the band's most striking aspects is B-Real's exaggeratedly high-pitched nasal vocals. In the book ''Check the Technique'' B-Real describes his nasal style, saying his rapping voice is "high and annoying... the nasal style I have was just something that I developed... my more natural style wasn't so pleasing to [DJ Muggs and Sen Dog's] ears" and talking about the nasal style in the book ''How to Rap'', B-Real says, "you want to stand out from the others and just be distinct... when you got something that can separate you from everybody else, you gotta use it to your advantage." Sen Dog's voice is deeper, more violent and often shouted alongside the rapping; his vocals are often emphasized by adding an additional background/choir voice to say them. Sen Dog's style is in contrast to B-Real's, who says, "[Sen's] voice is so strong", and "it all blends together" when they are both on the same track.

Both B-Real and Sen Dog started writing lyrics in both Spanish and English and B-Real was inspired to start writing raps from watching Sen Dog and Mellow Man Ace writing their lyrics, and originally B-Real was going to just be the writer for the group rather than a rapper. Their lyrics are noted for bringing a "cartoonish" approach to violence by Peter Shapiro and Allmusic.

Production

The sound and groove of their music, produced by Muggs, is notable for its spooky sounds and stoned aesthetic; with its bass-heavy rhythms and odd sample loops ("Insane in the Brain" is notable for having a pitched-altered horse neigh looped in its chorus), it carries a psychedelic value, which lessened in the later albums.

The band is also known for involving rock instruments. In their songs – this has caused the band to sometimes be classified as a rap rock group. The double album ''Skull & Bones'' consists of a pure rap album ("Skull") and an entire CD of rap/rock songs ("Bones"). Also in ''IV'', there is "Lightning Strikes" which doesn't truly use electric guitars, but a synthesized version of it. In the live album ''Live at The Fillmore'' some of the old classics are played in a rock/metal version, with Sen Dog's band SX-10 and Eric Bobo playing the rock instrument.

The band's music is constantly subject to change: while the first album and ''Black Sunday'' follow a more minimalistic and funky sound, ''III (Temples of Boom)'' has a very dark, spooky atmosphere and heavy beats, sometimes approaching hardcore rap. ''IV'' introduced more diverse sounds on the beats while maintaining the hardcore edge. The first albums are mostly influenced by psychedelic music, but the band eventually got closer to modern rap as it is today while still experimenting with rock from time to time, like on "Skull and Bones" and "Stoned Raiders".

The band involves horns in their songs, and often have guitar and horns together in the instrumentals. "What's Your Number?", "Trouble", "Tequila Sunrise", and "(Rock) Superstar" have become some of the band's most popular songs featuring these elements.

Side and solo projects

Eric Bobo is part of the group Sol Invicto with producer Richie Londres and Stephen Carpenter of the Deftones. Eric Bobo is also a main member of Cultura Londres Proyecto which is a Spanish Hip Hop group from London, England. In 2008, he released his first solo album "Meeting Of The Minds" on Nacional Records. In 2011, he joined up with Chilean DJ Latin Bitman to form the group Ritmo Machine & in November 2011 they released the album "Welcome To The Ritmo Machine" on Nacional Records with special guests Sick Jacken (Psycho Realm), Ana Tijoux, Sen-Dog, Mix Master Mike (Beastie Boys), P-Nut (311), Pato Machete & Chali 2na (Jurassic 5).

2009 saw the releases of both B-Real and Sen Dog's solo efforts Smoke N Mirrors and Diary of a Mad Dog. B-Real is also part of a super-group called Serial Killaz with both Xzibit and his protege Young De. B-Real started his own production company called Audio Hustlaz, with which he has worked and featured on tracks with Kurupt, Young De, Xzibit, Adil Omar, Snoop Dogg, Bitza and others, and has also done guest appearances for La Coka Nostra, Ill Bill, Prozak, Akrobatik, The Outlawz, Nipsey Hussle and Apathy.

Other notable side projects include B-Real's rap metal group Kush with members from Deftones and Fear Factory who are as yet to release any official material.

Sen Dog has released one album with his rap metal group SX-10.

Muggs has released collaborative albums with Sick Jacken, GZA, Planet Asia, Ill Bill and others.

Discography

''Cypress Hill'' (1991)

''Black Sunday'' (1993)

''Cypress Hill III: Temples of Boom'' (1995)

''Unreleased and Revamped'' (1996)

''Cypress Hill IV'' (1998)

''Skull & Bones'' (2000)

''Stoned Raiders'' (2001)

''Till Death Do Us Part'' (2004)

''Rise Up'' (2010)

Awards and Nominations

Grammy Awards

!Year	!Nominated work	!Award	!Result
align=center	"Insane in the Brain"	Best Rap Performance by a Group or Duo
align=center	"I Ain't Goin' Out Like That"	Best Rap Performance by a Group or Duo
align=center	"Throw Your Set in the Air"	Best Rap Performance by a Group or Duo

MTV Video Music Awards Awards

!Year	!Nominated work	!Award	!Result
align=center	"Insane in the Brain"	Best Rap Video

Band Members

;Current Members

B-Real – lead rapping (since 1988)

DJ Muggs – turntables, production (since 1988)

Eric Bobo – drums, percussion (since 1993)

Sen Dog – rapping (since 1988)

;Former Members

Mellow Man Ace - rapping (only 1988)

References

External links

Official Website

Cypress Hill interview by Pete Lewis, 'Blues & Soul' April 2010

Cypress Hill interview, August 2010, Radio France Internationale

Cypress Hill on Velvet Hammer Site

Cypress Hill at Legacy Recordings (Sony Music)

Eric Bobo video interview

Category:Cannabis music Category:Priority Records artists Category:Columbia Records artists Category:Rap rock groups Category:West Coast hip hop groups Category:American hip hop groups Category:Hispanic and Latino American rappers Category:People from South Gate, California Category:Musical groups from California Category:Musical groups established in 1986 Category:West Coast hip hop musicians Category:Rappers from Los Angeles, California

als:Cypress Hill bg:Сайпръс Хил cs:Cypress Hill da:Cypress Hill de:Cypress Hill es:Cypress Hill fa:سایپرس هیل fr:Cypress Hill fy:Cypress Hill ko:사이프레스 힐 hr:Cypress Hill it:Cypress Hill he:סייפרס היל ka:საიპრეს ჰილი hu:Cypress Hill mk:Cypress Hill nl:Cypress Hill ja:サイプレス・ヒル no:Cypress Hill pl:Cypress Hill pt:Cypress Hill ru:Cypress Hill sk:Cypress Hill sr:Sajpres hil fi:Cypress Hill sv:Cypress Hill tr:Cypress Hill uk:Cypress Hill