name	John Wayne
birth name	Marion Robert Morrison
birth date	May 26, 1907
birth place	Winterset, Iowa, U.S.
death date	June 11, 1979
death place	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
other names	Marion Mitchell Morrison; "The Duke"; Duke Morrison
occupation	Actor, director, producer
education	Glendale High School
alma mater	University of Southern California
home town	Glendale, California
party	Republican
religion	Roman Catholic convert from Presbyterian
years active	1926–76
death cause	Stomach cancer
spouse
website	http://www.johnwayne.com }}

Marion Mitchell Morrison (born Marion Robert Morrison; May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive voice, walk and height. He was also known for his conservative political views and his support, beginning in the 1950s, for anti-communist positions.

A Harris Poll, released January 2011, placed Wayne third among America's favorite film stars, the only deceased star on the list and the only one who has appeared on the poll every year since it first began in 1994.

In June of 1999, the American Film Institute named Wayne 13th among the Greatest Male Screen Legends of All Time.

Early life

Wayne was born Marion Robert Morrison in Winterset, Iowa. His middle name was soon changed from Robert to Mitchell when his parents decided to name their next son Robert.

Wayne's father, Clyde Leonard Morrison (1884–1937), was the son of American Civil War veteran Marion Mitchell Morrison (1845–1915). Wayne's mother, the former Mary "Molly" Alberta Brown (1885–1970), was from Lancaster County, Nebraska. Wayne was of Presbyterian Scots-Irish descent through his second great-grandfather Robert Morrison, who was born in County Antrim, Ireland and emigrated to the United States in 1782.

Wayne's family moved to Palmdale, California, and then in 1911 to Glendale, California, where his father worked as a pharmacist. A local fireman at the station on his route to school in Glendale started calling him "Little Duke" because he never went anywhere without his huge Airedale Terrier, Duke. He preferred "Duke" to "Marion", and the name stuck for the rest of his life.

As a teen, Wayne worked in an ice cream shop for a man who shod horses for Hollywood studios. He was also active as a member of the Order of DeMolay, a youth organization associated with the Freemasons. He attended Wilson Middle School in Glendale. He played football for the 1924 champion Glendale High School team. Wayne applied to the U.S. Naval Academy, but was not accepted. He instead attended the University of Southern California (USC), majoring in pre-law. He was a member of the Trojan Knights and Sigma Chi fraternities. Wayne also played on the USC football team under legendary coach Howard Jones. An injury curtailed his athletic career; Wayne later noted he was too terrified of Jones's reaction to reveal the actual cause of his injury, which was bodysurfing at the “Wedge” at the tip of the Balboa Peninsula in Newport Beach. He lost his athletic scholarship and, without funds, had to leave the university.

Wayne began working at the local film studios. Prolific silent western film star Tom Mix had gotten him a summer job in the prop department in exchange for football tickets. Wayne soon moved on to bit parts, establishing a longtime friendship with the director who provided most of those roles, John Ford. Early in this period, Wayne appeared with his USC teammates playing football in ''Brown of Harvard'' (1926), ''The Dropkick'' (1927), and ''Salute'' (1929) and Columbia's ''Maker of Men'' (filmed in 1930, released in 1931). Also, it is during this period that Wayne is reputed to have met the legendary gunfighter and lawman Wyatt Earp.

Film career

While working for Fox Film Corporation in bit roles, he was given on-screen credit as "Duke Morrison" only once, in ''Words and Music'' (1929). In 1930, director Raoul Walsh cast him in his first starring role in ''The Big Trail'' (1930). For his screen name, Walsh suggested "Anthony Wayne", after Revolutionary War general "Mad Anthony" Wayne. Fox Studios chief Winfield Sheehan rejected it as sounding "too Italian". Walsh then suggested "John Wayne". Sheehan agreed, and the name was set. Wayne himself was not even present for the discussion. His pay was raised to $105 a week.

''The Big Trail'' was to be the first big-budget outdoor spectacle of the sound era, made at a staggering cost of over $2 million, using hundreds of extras and wide vistas of the American southwest, still largely unpopulated at the time. To take advantage of the breathtaking scenery, it was filmed in two versions, a standard 35mm version and another in "Grandeur", a new process using innovative camera and lenses and a revolutionary 70mm widescreen process. Many in the audience who saw it in Grandeur stood and cheered. Unfortunately, only a handful of theaters were equipped to show the film in its widescreen process, and the effort was largely wasted. The film was considered a huge flop. After the failure of ''The Big Trail'', Wayne was relegated to small roles in A-pictures, including Columbia's ''The Deceiver'' (1931), in which he played a corpse. He appeared in the serial ''The Three Musketeers'' (1933), an updated version of the Alexandre Dumas novel in which the protagonists were soldiers in the French Foreign Legion in then-contemporary North Africa. He appeared in many low-budget "Poverty Row" westerns, mostly at Monogram Pictures and serials for Mascot Pictures Corporation. By Wayne's own estimation, he appeared in about eighty of these horse operas between 1930 - 1939. In ''Riders of Destiny'' (1933) he became one of the first singing cowboys of film, albeit via dubbing. Wayne also appeared in some of the ''Three Mesquiteers'' westerns, whose title was a play on the Dumas classic. He was mentored by stuntmen in riding and other western skills. He and famed stuntman Yakima Canutt developed and perfected stunts still used today.

Wayne's breakthrough role came with director John Ford's classic ''Stagecoach'' (1939). Because of Wayne's non-star status and track record in low-budget westerns throughout the 1930s, Ford had difficulty getting financing for what was to be an A-budget film. After rejection by all the top studios, Ford struck a deal with independent producer Walter Wanger in which Claire Trevor—a much bigger star at the time—received top billing. ''Stagecoach'' was a huge critical and financial success, and Wayne became a star. He later appeared in more than twenty of John Ford's films, including ''She Wore a Yellow Ribbon'' (1949), ''The Quiet Man'' (1952), ''The Searchers'' (1956), ''The Wings of Eagles'' (1957), and ''The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance'' (1962).

Wayne's first color film was ''Shepherd of the Hills'' (1941), in which he co-starred with his longtime friend Harry Carey. The following year, he appeared in his only film directed by Cecil B. DeMille, the Technicolor epic ''Reap the Wild Wind'' (1942), in which he co-starred with Ray Milland and Paulette Goddard; it was one of the rare times he played a character with questionable values.

In 1949, director Robert Rossen offered the starring role of ''All the King's Men'' to Wayne. Wayne refused, believing the script to be un-American in many ways. Broderick Crawford, who eventually got the role, won the 1949 Oscar for best male actor, ironically beating out Wayne, who had been nominated for ''Sands of Iwo Jima.'' He lost the leading role in ''The Gunfighter'' (1950) to Gregory Peck due to his refusal to work for Columbia Pictures because its chief, Harry Cohn, had mistreated him years before when he was a young contract player. Cohn had bought the project for Wayne, but Wayne's grudge was too deep, and Cohn sold the script to Twentieth Century Fox, which cast Peck in the role Wayne badly wanted but for which he refused to bend.

One of Wayne's most popular roles was in ''The High and the Mighty'' (1954), directed by William Wellman, and based on a novel by Ernest K. Gann. His portrayal of a heroic copilot won widespread acclaim. Wayne also portrayed aviators in ''Flying Tigers (1942),'' ''Flying Leathernecks'' (1951), ''Island in the Sky'' (1953), ''The Wings of Eagles'' (1957), and ''Jet Pilot'' (1957).

''The Searchers'' (1956) continues to be widely regarded as perhaps Wayne's finest and most complex performance. In 2006, ''Premiere Magazine'' ran an industry poll in which Wayne's portrayal of Ethan Edwards was rated the 87th greatest performance in film history. He named his youngest son Ethan after the character. John Wayne won a Best Actor Oscar for ''True Grit'' (1969). Wayne was also nominated as the producer of Best Picture for ''The Alamo'' (1960), one of two films he directed. The other was ''The Green Berets'' (1968), the only major film made during the Vietnam War to support the war. During the filming of ''Green Berets'', the Degar or Montagnard people of Vietnam's Central Highlands, fierce fighters against communism, bestowed on Wayne a brass bracelet that he wore in the film and all subsequent films. His last film was ''The Shootist'' (1976), whose main character, J. B. Books, was dying of cancer—the illness to which Wayne himself succumbed three years later.

According to the Internet Movie Database, Wayne played the lead in 142 of his film appearances.

Batjac, the production company co-founded by Wayne, was named after the fictional shipping company Batjak in ''Wake of the Red Witch'' (1948), a film based on the novel by Garland Roark. (A spelling error by Wayne's secretary was allowed to stand, accounting for the variation.) Batjac (and its predecessor, Wayne-Fellows Productions) was the arm through which Wayne produced many films for himself and other stars. Its best-known non-Wayne production was the highly acclaimed ''Seven Men From Now'' (1956), which started the classic collaboration between director Budd Boetticher and star Randolph Scott.

In the ''Motion Picture Herald'' Top Ten Money- Making Western Stars poll, Wayne was listed in 1936 and 1939. He appeared in the similar ''Box Office'' poll in 1939 and 1940. While these two polls are really an indication only of the popularity of series stars, Wayne also appeared in the ''Top Ten Money Makers Poll'' of all films from 1949 to 1957 and 1958 to 1974, taking first place in 1950, 1951, 1954 and 1971 . With a total of 25 years on the list, Wayne has more appearances than any other star, beating Clint Eastwood (21) into second place.

In later years, Wayne was recognized as a sort of American natural resource, and his various critics, of his performances and his politics, viewed him with more respect. Abbie Hoffman, the radical of the 1960s, paid tribute to Wayne's singularity, saying, "I like Wayne's wholeness, his style. As for his politics, well—I suppose even cavemen felt a little admiration for the dinosaurs that were trying to gobble them up." Reviewing ''The Cowboys'' (1972), Vincent Canby of the ''New York Times'', who did not particularly care for the film, wrote: "Wayne is, of course, marvelously indestructible, and he has become an almost perfect father figure."

Filmography

1964 illness

Wayne had been a chain-smoker of cigarettes since young adulthood. In 1964, Wayne was diagnosed with lung cancer, and underwent successful surgery to remove his entire left lung and four ribs. Despite efforts by his business associates to prevent him from going public with his illness (for fear it would cost him work), Wayne announced he had cancer and called on the public to get preventive examinations. Five years later, Wayne was declared cancer-free. Despite the fact that Wayne's diminished lung capacity left him incapable of prolonged exertion and frequently in need of supplemental oxygen, within a few years of his operation he chewed tobacco and began smoking cigars until the day he died.

Politics

Wayne claimed in his ''Playboy'' interview to have been a socialist during his years at college, and he admitted voting for Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1936 presidential election. In the same interview, he also expressed admiration for Democratic President Harry S Truman. For most of his career, however, he was a vocally conservative Republican. He took part in creating the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals in February 1944 and was elected president of that organization in 1947. He was an ardent anti-communist and vocal supporter of the House Un-American Activities Committee. In 1952, he made ''Big Jim McLain'' to show his support for the anti-communist cause. A supporter of Vice President Richard Nixon's candidacy in the United States presidential election in 1960, he expressed his vision of patriotism when John F. Kennedy won the election: "I didn't vote for him but he's my president, and I hope he does a good job."

Wayne used his iconic status to support conservative causes, including rallying support for the Vietnam War by producing, co-directing, and starring in the critically panned ''The Green Berets'' in 1968. In the mid-1970s, however, he went against many fellow conservatives in supporting the Panama Canal Treaty.

Due to his enormous popularity, and his status as the most famous Republican star in Hollywood, wealthy Texas Republican Party backers asked Wayne to run for national office in 1968, as had his friend and fellow actor, Senator George Murphy. He declined, joking that he did not believe the public would seriously consider an actor in the White House. However, he did support his friend Ronald Reagan's runs for Governor of California in 1966 and 1970. He was also asked to be the running mate for Democratic Alabama Governor George Wallace in 1968. Wayne vehemently rejected the offer. Wayne actively campaigned for Richard Nixon, and addressed the Republican National Convention on its opening day in August 1968. Wayne also was a member of the conservative and anti-communist John Birch Society.

Wayne openly differed with the Republican Party over the issue of the Panama Canal. Conservatives wanted America to retain full control, but Wayne, believing that the Panamanians had the right to the canal, sided with President Jimmy Carter and the Democrats to win passage of the treaty returning the canal in the Senate. Mr. Wayne was a close friend of the late Panamanian leader, Brig. Gen. Omar Torrijos Herrera. Mr. Wayne's first wife, Josephine, whom he divorced in 1946, was a native of Panama.

Soviet documents released in 2003 revealed, despite being a fan of Wayne's movies, Joseph Stalin ordered Wayne's assassination due to his strong anti-communist politics. Stalin died before the killing could be accomplished. His successor, Nikita Khrushchev, reportedly told Wayne during a 1959 visit to the United States that he had personally rescinded the order.

Controversy

Military service

America's entry into World War II resulted in a deluge of support for the war effort from all sectors of society, and Hollywood was no exception. Many established stars rushed to sign up for military service.

As the majority of male leads left Hollywood to serve overseas, John Wayne saw his just-blossoming stardom at risk. Despite enormous pressure from his inner circle of friends, he put off enlisting. Wayne was exempted from service due to his age (34 at the time of Pearl Harbor) and family status, classified as 3-A (family deferment). Wayne's secretary recalled making inquiries of military officials on behalf of his interest in enlisting, "but he never really followed up on them". He repeatedly wrote to John Ford, asking to be placed in Ford's military unit, but consistently postponed it until "after he finished one more film", Republic Studios was emphatically resistant to losing Wayne, especially after the loss of Gene Autry to the Army.

Correspondence between Wayne and Herbert J. Yates (the head of Republic) indicates Yates threatened Wayne with a lawsuit if he walked away from his contract, though the likelihood of a studio suing its biggest star for going to war was minute. Whether or not the threat was real, Wayne did not test it. Selective Service records indicate he did not attempt to prevent his reclassification as 1-A (draft eligible), but apparently Republic Pictures intervened directly, requesting his further deferment. In May, 1944, Wayne was reclassified as 1-A (draft eligible), but the studio obtained another 2-A deferment (for "support of national health, safety, or interest"). He remained 2-A until the war's end. Thus, John Wayne did not illegally "dodge" the draft, but he never took direct positive action toward enlistment.

Wayne was in the South Pacific theater of the war for three months in 1943–44, touring U.S. bases and hospitals, as well as doing some work for OSS commander William J. "Wild Bill" Donovan, who "hoped that a celebrity like Wayne could provide information denied his own operatives. Donovan was particularly interested in Wayne's assessment of MacArthur himself. Wayne's mission was only partly successful. He never met MacArthur, and although he filed a report with Donovan when he got back to the States, he had nothing substantial to offer Donovan." Donovan gave him a plaque and commendation for serving with the OSS, but Wayne dismissed it as meaningless.

The foregoing facts influenced the direction of Wayne's later life. By many accounts, Wayne's failure to serve in the military during World War II was the most painful experience of his life. Some other stars, for various reasons, did not enlist, but Wayne, by virtue of becoming a celluloid war hero in several patriotic war films, as well as an outspoken supporter of conservative political causes and the Vietnam War, became the focus of particular disdain from both himself and certain portions of the public, particularly in later years. While some hold Wayne in contempt for the paradox between his early actions and his later attitudes, his widow suggests Wayne's rampant patriotism in later decades sprang not from hypocrisy but from guilt. Pilar Wayne wrote, "He would become a 'superpatriot' for the rest of his life trying to atone for staying home."

Statements to ''Playboy'' magazine

In an interview with ''Playboy'' magazine published on May 1, 1971, Wayne made several controversial remarks about race and class in the United States. The interview became a hot topic and many stores had trouble keeping the issue in stock. He noted that, as someone living in the 20th century, he was not responsible for the way people who lived one hundred years before him had treated Native Americans, stating:

I don't feel we did wrong in taking this great country away from them if that's what you're asking. Our so called stealing of this country was just a question of survival. There were great numbers of people who needed new land, and the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves.... Look, I'm sure there have been inequalities. If those inequalities are presently affecting any of the Indians now alive, they have a right to a court hearing. But what happened 100 years ago in our country can't be blamed on us today. I'm quite sure that the concept of a Government-run reservation... seems to be what the socialists are working for now – to have everyone cared for from cradle to grave.... What happened between their forefathers and our forefathers is so far back – right, wrong or indifferent – that I don't see why we owe them anything. I don't know why the government should give them something that it wouldn't give me.

Wayne responded to questions about whether social programs like Medicare and Social Security were good for the country:

I know all about that. In the late Twenties, when I was a sophomore at USC, I was a socialist myself – but not when I left. The average college kid idealistically wishes everybody could have ice cream and cake for every meal. But as he gets older and gives more thought to his and his fellow man's responsibilities, he finds that it can't work out that way – that some people just won't carry their load.... I believe in welfare – a welfare work program. I don't think a fella should be able to sit on his backside and receive welfare. I'd like to know why well-educated idiots keep apologizing for lazy and complaining people who think the world owes them a living. I'd like to know why they make excuses for cowards who spit in the faces of the police and then run behind the judicial sob sisters. I can't understand these people who carry placards to save the life of some criminal, yet have no thought for the innocent victim.

In the interview he previously had discussed race relations, including his response to Angela Davis's assertion that her removal from a position as an assistant professor in the UCLA philosophy department on the grounds that she was an active member the Communist party was actually because she was black:

With a lot of blacks, there's quite a bit of resentment along with their dissent, and possibly rightfully so. But we can't all of a sudden get down on our knees and turn everything over to the leadership of the blacks. I believe in white supremacy until blacks are educated to a point of responsibility. I don't believe in giving authority and positions of leadership and judgment to irresponsible people.

When asked how blacks could address their perceived lack of leadership experience and the inequities of the past, Wayne replied:

It's not my judgment. The academic community has developed certain tests that determine whether the blacks are sufficiently equipped scholastically. But some blacks have tried to force the issue and enter college when they haven't passed the tests and don't have the requisite background.... By going to school. I don't know why people insist that blacks have been forbidden to go to school. They were allowed in public schools wherever I've been. Even if they don't have the proper credentials for college, there are courses to help them become eligible. But if they aren't academically ready for that step, I don't think they should be allowed in. Otherwise, the academic society is brought down to the lowest common denominator.... What good would it do to register anybody in a class of higher algebra or calculus if they haven't learned to count? There has to be a standard. I don't feel guilty about the fact that five or 10 generations ago these people were slaves. Now, I'm not condoning slavery. It's just a fact of life, like the kid who gets infantile paralysis and has to wear braces so he can't play football with the rest of us. I will say this, though: I think any black who can compete with a white today can get a better break than a white man. I wish they'd tell me where in the world they have it better than right here in America.

Wayne later made controversial pro-war comments when asked why a North-South joint election in Vietnam could not have been administered in lieu of armed conflict:

That would be no more practical than if France, after coming to help us in the Revolution, suggested having an election to decide what we wanted to do. It would be an exact parallel. The majority of those living in the Colonies didn't want war at that time. If there had been a general election then, we probably wouldn't be here today. As far as Vietnam is concerned, we've made mistakes. I know of no country that's perfect. But I honestly believe that there's as much need for us to help the Vietnamese as there was to help the Jews in Germany. The only difference is that we haven't had any leadership in this war. All the liberal senators have stuck their noses in this, and it's out of their bailiwick. They've already put far too many barriers in the way of the military. Our lack of leadership has gone so far that now no one man can come in, face the issue and tell people that we ought to be in an all-out war.

Personal life

Wayne was married three times and divorced twice. His wives, all of them Hispanic women, were Josephine Alicia Saenz, Esperanza Baur, and Pilar Pallete. He had four children with Josephine:

Michael Wayne (film producer) - Born November 23, 1934 / Died April 2, 2003

Mary Antonia "Toni" Wayne LaCava - Born February 25, 1936 / Died December 6, 2000

Patrick Wayne (actor) - Born July 15, 1939

Melinda Wayne Munoz - Born December 3, 1940

and three with Pilar:

Aissa Wayne (actress, now attorney) - Born March 31, 1956

John Ethan Wayne (actor) - Born February 22, 1962

Marisa Wayne (actress) - Born February 22, 1966

Heavyweight boxer Tommy Morrison alleges that Wayne is his great-uncle. Wayne's son Ethan was billed as John Ethan Wayne in a few films, and played one of the leads in the 1990s update of the ''Adam-12'' television series.

His stormiest divorce was from Esperanza Baur, a former Mexican actress. She convinced herself that Wayne and co-star Gail Russell were having an affair. The night the film ''Angel and the Badman'' (1947) wrapped, there was the usual party for cast and crew, and Wayne came home very late. Esperanza was in a drunken rage by the time he arrived, and she attempted to shoot him as he walked through the front door.

Wayne's hair began thinning in the 1940s, and he started wearing a hairpiece by the end of that decade (though his receding hairline is quite evident in ''Rio Grande''). He was occasionally seen in public without the hairpiece (notably, according to ''Life Magazine'' photos, at Gary Cooper's funeral). The only time he unintentionally appeared on film without it was for a split second in ''North to Alaska.'' On the first punch of the climactic fistfight, Wayne's hat flies off, revealing a brief flash of his unadorned scalp. Wayne also has several scenes in ''The Wings of Eagles'' where he is without his hairpiece. (During a widely noted appearance at Harvard University, Wayne was asked by a student, "Is your hair real?" Wayne responded in the affirmative, then added, "It's not mine, but it's real!")

Wayne had several high-profile affairs, including one with Marlene Dietrich that lasted for three years. In the years prior to his death, Wayne was romantically involved with his former secretary Pat Stacy (1941–1995). She wrote a biography of her life with him, ''DUKE: A Love Story'' (1983).

A close friend of Wayne's, California Congressman Alphonzo Bell, wrote of him, "Duke's personality and sense of humor were very close to what the general public saw on the big screen. It is perhaps best shown in these words he had engraved on a plaque: 'Each of us is a mixture of some good and some not so good qualities. In considering one's fellow man it's important to remember the good things. . . We should refrain from making judgments just because a fella happens to be a dirty, rotten SOB.'"

During the early 1960s, John Wayne traveled extensively to Panama. During this time, the actor reportedly purchased the island of Taborcillo off the main coast of Panama. It was sold by his estate at his death and changed hands many times before being opened as a tourist attraction.

Wayne was a Freemason, a Master Mason in Marion McDaniel Lodge #56 F&AM;, in Tucson. He became a 32nd Degree Scottish Rite Mason and later joined the Al Malaikah Shrine Temple in Los Angeles. He became a member of the York Rite.

Wayne biographer Michael Munn writes of Wayne's love of alcohol. According to Sam O'Steen's memoir, ''Cut to the Chase'', studio directors knew to shoot Wayne's scenes before noon, because by afternoon Wayne "was a mean drunk".

John Wayne's height has been perennially described as at least 6'4" (193 cm), but claims abound that he was shorter. However, Wayne's high school athletic records indicate he was 6'3" at age 17, and his University of Southern California athletic records state that by age 18, he had grown to 6'4".

Death

Although he enrolled in a cancer vaccine study in an attempt to ward off the disease, John Wayne died of stomach cancer on June 11, 1979, at the UCLA Medical Center, and was interred in the Pacific View Memorial Park cemetery in Corona del Mar. According to his son Patrick, he converted to Roman Catholicism shortly before his death. He requested his tombstone read "Feo, Fuerte y Formal", a Mexican epitaph Wayne described as meaning "ugly, strong and dignified". However, the grave, unmarked for twenty years, is now marked with a quotation from his controversial 1971 ''Playboy'' interview: "Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday."

Among the 220 or so cast and crew who filmed the 1956 film, ''The Conqueror'', on location near St. George, Utah, 91 at various times developed some form of cancer (41%), including stars Wayne, Susan Hayward, and Agnes Moorehead, and director Dick Powell. The film was shot in southwestern Utah, east of and generally downwind from where the U.S. Government had tested nuclear weapons in southeastern Nevada. Although the 41% incidence of cancer in the cast and crew is identical to that of the general population, many contend radioactive fallout from these tests contaminated the film location and poisoned the film crew working there. Despite the suggestion Wayne’s 1964 lung cancer and his 1979 stomach cancer resulted from this nuclear contamination, he himself believed his lung cancer to have been a result of his six-pack-a-day cigarette habit.

Legacy

Congressional Gold Medal and Presidential Medal of Freedom

John Wayne's enduring status as an iconic American was formally recognized by the United States Congress on May 26, 1979, when he was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal. Hollywood figures and American leaders from across the political spectrum, including Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Sinatra, Mike Frankovich, Katharine Hepburn, General and Mrs. Omar Bradley, Gregory Peck, Robert Stack, James Arness, and Kirk Douglas, testified to Congress of the merit and deservedness of this award. Most notable was the testimony of Robert Aldrich, then president of the Directors Guild of America: "It is important for you to know that I am a registered Democrat and, to my knowledge, share none of the political views espoused by Duke. However, whether he is ill disposed or healthy, John Wayne is far beyond the normal political sharp shooting in this community. Because of his courage, his dignity, his integrity, and because of his talents as an actor, his strength as a leader, his warmth as a human being throughout his illustrious career, he is entitled to a unique spot in our hearts and minds. In this industry, we often judge people, sometimes unfairly, by asking whether they have paid their dues. John Wayne has paid his dues over and over, and I'm proud to consider him a friend and am very much in favor of my Government recognizing in some important fashion the contribution that Mr. Wayne has made."

Maureen O'Hara, Wayne's close friend, initiated the petition for the medal and requested the words that would be placed onto the medal: "It is my great honor to be here. I beg you to strike a medal for Duke, to order the President to strike it. And I feel that the medal should say just one thing, 'John Wayne, American.'" The medal crafted by the United States Mint has on one side John Wayne riding on horseback, and the other side has a portrait of Wayne with the words, "John Wayne, American". This Congressional Gold Medal was presented to the family of John Wayne in a ceremony held on March 6, 1980, at the United States Capitol. Copies were made and sold in large numbers to the public.

On June 9, 1980, Wayne was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Jimmy Carter (at whose inaugural ball Wayne had appeared "as a member of the loyal opposition", as Wayne described it in his speech to the gathering). Thus Wayne received the two highest civilian decorations awarded by the United States government.

American icon

Wayne rose beyond the typical recognition for a famous actor to that of an enduring icon who symbolized and communicated American values and ideals. By the middle of his career, Wayne had developed a larger-than-life image, and as his career progressed, he selected roles that would not compromise his off-screen image. By the time of his last film ''The Shootist'' (1976), Wayne refused to allow his character to shoot a man in the back as was originally scripted, saying "I've made over 250 pictures and have never shot a guy in the back. Change it."

Wayne's rise to being the quintessential movie war hero began to take shape four years after World War II, when ''Sands of Iwo Jima'' (1949) was released. His footprints at Grauman's Chinese theater in Hollywood were laid in concrete that contained sand from Iwo Jima. His status grew so large and legendary that when Japanese Emperor Hirohito visited the United States in 1975, he asked to meet John Wayne, the symbolic representation of his country's former enemy.

Wayne was a popular visitor to the war zones in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. By the 1950s, perhaps in large part due to the military aspect of films such as the ''Sands of Iwo Jima'', ''Flying Tigers'', ''They Were Expendable'', and the Ford cavalry trilogy, Wayne had become an icon to all the branches of the U.S. Military, even in light of his actual lack of military service. Many veterans have said their reason for serving was in some part related to watching Wayne's movies. His name is attached to various pieces of gear, such as the P-38 "John Wayne" can opener, so named because "it can do anything", paper towels known as "John Wayne toilet paper" because "it's rough and it's tough and don't take shit off no one," and C-Ration crackers are called "John Wayne crackers" because presumably only someone as tough as Wayne could eat them. A rough and rocky mountain pass used by military tanks and jeeps at Fort Irwin in San Bernardino County, California, is aptly named "John Wayne Pass".

Various public locations, named in memory of John Wayne, include John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California, where his nine-foot bronze statue graces the entrance; the John Wayne Marina that Wayne bequeathed the land for, near Sequim, Washington; John Wayne Elementary School (P.S. 380) in Brooklyn, NY, which boasts a 38-foot mosaic mural commission by New York artist Knox Martin entitled "John Wayne and the American Frontier"; and a 100-plus-mile trail named the "John Wayne Pioneer Trail" in Washington state's Iron Horse State Park. A larger than life-size bronze statue of Wayne atop a horse was erected at the corner of La Cienega Boulevard and Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills, California at the former offices of the Great Western Savings & Loan Corporation, for whom Wayne had done a number of commercials. (The building now houses Larry Flynt Enterprises.)

In the city of Maricopa, Arizona, part of AZ State Highway 347 is named John Wayne Parkway, which runs right through the center of town.

On December 5, 2007, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver inducted Wayne into the California Hall of Fame, located at The California Museum for History, Women and the Arts.

Celebrations and landmarks

Several celebrations took place on May 26, 2007, the centennial of John Wayne's birth.

At the John Wayne birthplace in Winterset, Iowa, the John Wayne Birthday Centennial Celebration was held on May 25–27, 2007. The celebration included chuck-wagon suppers, concerts by Michael Martin Murphey and Riders in the Sky, a Wild West Revue in the style of Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, a Cowboy Symposium with John Wayne co-stars, Gregg Palmer, Ed Faulkner, and Dean Smith, along with Paramount producer A.C. Lyles and costumer Luster Bayless were all there to talk about their friendships with Wayne. They had cavalry and trick horse demonstrations, as well as many of John Wayne's films running at the local theater.

This event also included the groundbreaking for the New John Wayne Birthplace Museum and Learning Center at his birthplace house. Over 30 family members were there, including Melinda Wayne Munoz, Aissa, Ethan and Marisa Wayne. Several grandchildren and great-grandchildren were also present. An old gas station is being torn down to make way for the new museum. This groundbreaking was held with Ethan Wayne at the controls of the equipment.

In 2006, friends of Wayne's and his former Arizona business partner, Louis Johnson, inaugurated the "Louie and the Duke Classics" events benefiting the John Wayne Cancer Foundation and the American Cancer Society. The weekend long event each fall in Casa Grande, Arizona includes a golf tournament, an auction of John Wayne memorabilia and a team roping competition.

Missed roles

John Wayne desperately wanted the role of "Jimmy Ringo" in the 1950 film ''The Gunfighter,'' directed by Henry King. But the role went to Gregory Peck instead. John Wayne's final film, ''The Shootist'' (1976), directed by Don Siegel was very similar to ''The Gunfighter.''

An urban legend has it that John Wayne was offered the leading role of Matt Dillon in the longtime favorite television show ''Gunsmoke,'' but he turned it down, recommending instead James Arness for the role. The only part of this story that is true is that Wayne did indeed recommend Arness for the part. Wayne introduced Arness in a prologue to the first episode of ''Gunsmoke''.

Wayne was approached by Mel Brooks to play the part of the Waco Kid in the film ''Blazing Saddles.'' After reading the script he said, "I can't be in this picture, it's too dirty ... but I'll be the first in line to see it."

He reportedly had initially strongly considered taking the role of Major Reisman in ''The Dirty Dozen'', even asking MGM to make changes to the script to accommodate him. But ultimately, he turned it down to make ''The Green Berets''. The role went to Lee Marvin.

Wayne had lobbied to play the lead in ''Dirty Harry'', but Warner Bros. felt that at age 63, he was too old for the role. The role eventually went to Clint Eastwood.

Prior to his death, Wayne had bought the film rights to Buddy Atkinson's novel, ''Beau John'', and was in the pre-production stage of the movie when he took ill. The film was a comedy set in Kentucky during the 1920s, and would have co-starred Ron Howard and Hal Linden.

Quotations

Movie quotations

"I won't be wronged, I won't be insulted, I won't be laid a hand on. I don't do these things to other people, I require the same from them." (''The Shootist'')

Speaking to his young cavalry lieutenants: "Don't apologize—it's a sign of weakness." (''She Wore a Yellow Ribbon'')

"Fill your hand, you son of a bitch!" (''True Grit'')

"That'll be the day!" (''The Searchers'' - Spoken several times; inspired Buddy Holly to write a song with that title.)

"Pilgrim". (''The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance'' - Reportedly he used the expression "Pilgrim", as in "tenderfoot" or "dude" or "amateur", 23 times in that film, and once also in ''McLintock!''. It became a catchphrase for impressionists such as John Byner, and Rich Little)

"I haven't lost my temper in 40 years; but, Pilgrim, you caused a lot of trouble this morning; might have got somebody killed; and somebody oughta belt you in the mouth. But I won't. I won't. ''The hell I won't!''" (He belts him in the mouth). (To Leo Gordon in ''McLintock!'')

"Out here, due process is a bullet!" (To anti-war journalist David Janssen in ''The Green Berets'')

"Not hardly!" (''Big Jake'' - used several times throughout the movie when told by others "Jacob McCandles?! I thought you were dead!")

"It's a hard life!" (''The Cowboys'' - in response to "The 'long-haired man'" played by Bruce Dern saying "You're a hard man!")

"We're burning daylight!" ("The Cowboys")

"You want that gun, pick it up...I wish you would" (Rio Bravo)

Famous quotations outside the movies

"I eat as much as I ever did, I drink more than I should, and my sex life is none of your goddamned business." (May 1971, ''Playboy'' interview)

"If I had known this, I would've put that patch on thirty-five years earlier." (1969, Academy Awards speech for Best Actor in ''True Grit''.)

"We had a pretty good time together, when she wasn't trying to kill me!" (1954, in an interview with Hedda Hopper regarding his marriage to Esperanza "Chata" Baur.)

Awards and nominations

Academy Awards

The Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are presented annually by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry. Wayne was nominated for three competitive awards and won once.

Actor

{| |- | The winner for each year is in bold face text against a | style="background:yellow;"| yellow | background. |}

[[1969 in film
! Actor	! Film	! Actor	! Film
	style="background:yellow;"	[[Richard Burton">1949 in film
	[[1969 in film
! Actor	! Film	! Actor	! Film
	style="background:yellow;"	[[Richard Burton	''Anne of the Thousand Days''
Kirk Douglas		Dustin Hoffman
Gregory Peck	''Twelve O'Clock High''	Peter O'Toole'''	''Goodbye, Mr. Chips''
Richard Todd	''The Hasty Heart''	Jon Voight'''
John Wayne	''Sands of Iwo Jima''		style="background:yellow;"

Producer

{| class=wikitable | style="text-align:center; background:lightsteelblue;" colspan="2"|- 1960 - |- ! Producer ! Film |- | Bernard Smith | ''Elmer Gantry'' |- | Jerry Wald | ''Sons and Lovers'' |- | John Wayne | ''The Alamo'' |- | style="background:yellow;"|Billy Wilder | style="background:yellow;"|''The Apartment'' Best Picture} |- | Fred Zinnemann | ''The Sundowners'' |}

Golden Globes

The Golden Globe Awards are presented annually by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) to recognize outstanding achievements in the entertainment industry, both domestic and foreign, and to focus wide public attention upon the best in motion pictures and television. Wayne won a Golden Globe Award for his performance in "True Grit".

The Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement in motion pictures is an annual award given by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association at the Golden Globe Award ceremonies in Hollywood, California. It was named in honor of Cecil B. DeMille (1881–1959), one of the industry's most successful filmmakers; John Wayne won this particular award in 1966.

See also

Hall of Great Western Performers

List of film director and actor collaborations

National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum

Red Scare

References

Further reading

Baur, Andreas, and Bitterli, Konrad. "Brave Lonesome Cowboy. Der Mythos des Westerns in der Gegenwartskunst oder: John Wayne zum 100. Geburtstag". Verlag für moderne Kunst Nürnberg. Nuremberg 2007 ISBN 978-3-939738-15-2.

Roberts, Randy, and James S. Olson. ''John Wayne: American''. New York: Free Press, 1995 ISBN 978-0029238370.

Campbell, James T. "Print the Legend: John Wayne and Postwar American Culture". ''Reviews in American History'', Volume 28, Number 3, September 2000, pp. 465–477.

Shepherd, Donald, and Robert Slatzer, with Dave Grayson. ''Duke: The Life and Times of John Wayne''. New York: Doubleday, 1985 ISBN 0-385-17893-X.

Carey, Harry Jr. ''A Company of Heroes: My Life as an Actor in the John Ford Stock Company''. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1994 ISBN 0-8108-2865-0.

Clark, Donald & Christopher Anderson. ''John Wayne's The Alamo: The Making of the Epic Film''. New York: Carol Publishing Group, 1995 ISBN 0-8065-1625-9. (pbk.)

Eyman, Scott. ''Print the Legend: The Life and Times of John Ford''. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999 ISBN 0-684-81161-8.

McCarthy, Todd. ''Howard Hawks: The Grey Fox of Hollywood''. New York: Grove Press, 1997 ISBN 0-8021-1598-5.

Maurice Zolotow., ''Shooting Star: A Biography of John Wayne''. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1974 ISBN 0671829696.

Jim Beaver, "John Wayne". ''Films in Review'', Volume 28, Number 5, May 1977, pp. 265–284.

McGivern, Carolyn. ''John Wayne: A Giant Shadow''. Bracknell, England: Sammon, 2000 ISBN 0-9540031-0-1.

Davis, Ronald L. ''Duke: The Life and Times of John Wayne''. University of Oklahoma Press, 2001. ISBN 0806133295.

Raab, Markus, Beautiful Hearts, Laughers at the World, Bowlers. Worldviews of the Late Western; in: Baur/Bitterli: Brave Lonesome Cowboy. Der Myhos des Westerns in der Gegenwartskunst oder: John Wayne zum 100. Geburtstag, Nuremberg 2007, ISBN 978-3-939738-15-2.

External links

John Wayne Cancer Foundation

John Wayne Cancer Institute

FBI file on John Wayne

Birthplace of John Wayne official website

"On the Set of The Alamo": Behind-the-scenes footage from the production of the film, from the Texas Archive of the Moving Image.

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name	Dean Martin
background	solo_singer
birth name	Dino Paul Crocetti
alias	Dean MartinThe King of CoolDinoDino Martini
born	June 07, 1917Steubenville, Ohio, U.S.
died	December 25, 1995Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
genre	Big band, easy listening, pop standard, country
years active	1939–1995
occupation	Musician, singer-songwriter, actor, comedian, film producer
label	Capitol, Reprise }}

Dean Martin (June 7, 1917 – December 25, 1995), born Dino Paul Crocetti, was an American singer, film actor, television star and comedian. Martin's hit singles included "Memories Are Made of This", "That's Amore", "Everybody Loves Somebody", "Mambo Italiano", "Sway", "Volare" and smash hit "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?". Nicknamed the "King of Cool", he was one of the members of the "Rat Pack" and a major star in four areas of show business: concert stage/night clubs, recordings, motion pictures, and television.

Early life

Martin was born in Steubenville, Ohio, to Italian parents, Gaetano and Angela Crocetti (née Barra). His father was from Abruzzo, Italy, and his mother was an Italian of part Neapolitan and part Sicilian ancestry. Martin was the younger of two sons. His brother was named Bill. Martin spoke only Italian until he started school. He attended Grant Elementary School in Steubenville, and took up the drums as a hobby as a teenager. He was the target of much ridicule for his broken English and ultimately dropped out of Steubenville High School in the 10th grade because he thought that he was smarter than his teachers. He delivered bootleg liquor, served as a speakeasy croupier, was a blackjack dealer, worked in a steel mill and boxed as welterweight. He grew up a neighbor to Jimmy the Greek.

At the age of 15, he was a boxer who billed himself as "Kid Crochet". His prizefighting years earned him a broken nose (later straightened), a scarred lip, and many sets of broken knuckles (a result of not being able to afford the tape used to wrap boxers' hands). Of his twelve bouts, he would later say "I won all but eleven." For a time, he roomed with Sonny King, who, like Martin, was just starting in show business and had little money. It is said that Martin and King held bare-knuckle matches in their apartment, fighting until one of them was knocked out; people paid to watch.

Eventually, Martin gave up boxing. He worked as a roulette stickman and croupier in an illegal casino behind a tobacco shop where he had started as a stock boy. At the same time, he sang with local bands. Calling himself "Dino Martini" (after the then-famous Metropolitan Opera tenor, Nino Martini), he got his first break working for the Ernie McKay Orchestra. He sang in a crooning style influenced by Harry Mills (of the Mills Brothers), among others. In the early 1940s, he started singing for bandleader Sammy Watkins, who suggested he change his name to Dean Martin.

In October 1941, Martin married Elizabeth Anne McDonald. During their marriage (ended by divorce in 1949), they had four children. Martin worked for various bands throughout the early 1940s, mostly on looks and personality until he developed his own singing style. Martin famously flopped at the Riobamba, a high class nightclub in New York, when he succeeded Frank Sinatra in 1943, but it was the setting for their meeting.

Drafted into the United States Army in 1944 during World War II, Martin served a year stationed in Akron, Ohio. He was then reclassified as 4-F (possibly because of a double hernia; Jerry Lewis referred to the surgery Martin needed for this in his autobiography) and was discharged.

By 1946, Martin was doing relatively well, but was still little more than an East Coast nightclub singer with a common style, similar to that of Bing Crosby. He drew audiences to the clubs he played, but he inspired none of the fanatic popularity enjoyed by Sinatra.

Mafia connections

A biography on Martin entitled ''Dean Martin: King of the Road'' by Michael Freedland alleged he had links to the Mafia early in his career. According to this book, Martin was given help with his singing career by the Chicago Outfit who owned saloons in the city, and later performed in shows hosted by these bosses when he was a star. The mob bosses were Tony ("Joe Batters") Accardo and Sam Giancana. Freedland suggests Martin felt little sympathy for the Mafia and did them small favors only if it was not inconvenient for him. Another book, ''The Animal in Hollywood'' by John L. Smith, depicted Martin's longtime friendship with Mafia mobsters "Handsome Johnny" Roselli and Anthony ("The Animal") Fiato. Smith suggests that Fiato did Martin many favors, such as getting back money from two swindlers who had cheated Martin's ex-wife Betty out of thousands of dollars of her alimony.

Career

Teaming with Jerry Lewis

Martin attracted the attention of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Columbia Pictures, but a Hollywood contract was not forthcoming. He met comic Jerry Lewis at the Glass Hat Club in New York, where both men were performing. Martin and Lewis formed a fast friendship which led to their participation in each other's acts and the ultimate formation of a music-comedy team.

Martin and Lewis's official debut together occurred at Atlantic City's 500 Club on July 24, 1946, and they were not well received. The owner, Skinny D'Amato, warned them that if they did not come up with a better act for their second show later that night, they would be fired. Huddling together in the alley behind the club, Lewis and Martin agreed to "go for broke", to throw out the pre-scripted gags and to improvise. Martin sang and Lewis came out dressed as a busboy, dropping plates and making a shambles of both Martin's performance and the club's sense of decorum until Lewis was chased from the room as Martin pelted him with breadrolls. They did slapstick, reeled off old vaudeville jokes, and did whatever else popped into their heads at the moment. This time, the audience doubled over in laughter. This success led to a series of well-paying engagements on the Eastern seaboard, culminating in a triumphant run at New York's Copacabana. Patrons were convulsed by the act, which consisted primarily of Lewis interrupting and heckling Martin while he was trying to sing, and ultimately the two of them chasing each other around the stage and having as much fun as possible. The secret, both said, is that they essentially ignored the audience and played to one another.

The team made its TV debut on the very first broadcast of CBS-TV network's ''Toast of the Town'' (later called ''The Ed Sullivan Show'') with Ed Sullivan and Rodgers & Hammerstein appearing on this same inaugural telecast of June 20, 1948. A radio series commenced in 1949, the same year Martin and Lewis were signed by Paramount producer Hal B. Wallis as comedy relief for the movie ''My Friend Irma''.

Their agent, Abby Greshler, negotiated for them one of Hollywood's best deals: although they received only a modest $75,000 between them for their films with Wallis, Martin and Lewis were free to do one outside film a year, which they would co-produce through their own York Productions. They also had complete control of their club, record, radio and television appearances, and it was through these endeavors that they earned millions of dollars.

In ''Dean & Me'', Lewis calls Martin one of the great comic geniuses of all time. But the harsh comments from the critics, as well as frustration with the formulaic similarity of Martin and Lewis movies, which producer Hal Wallis stubbornly refused to change, led to Martin's dissatisfaction. He put less enthusiasm into the work, leading to escalating arguments with Lewis. They finally could not work together, especially after Martin told his partner he was "nothing to me but a dollar sign". The act broke up in 1956, 10 years to the day from the first official teaming.

Martin's first solo film, ''Ten Thousand Bedrooms'' (1957), was a box office failure. He was still popular as a singer, but with rock and roll surging to the fore, the era of the pop crooner was waning.

The CBS film, ''Martin and Lewis'', a made-for-TV movie about the famous comedy duo, starred Jeremy Northam as Martin, and Sean Hayes as Lewis. It depicted the years from 1946–1956.

Solo career

Never totally comfortable in films, Martin wanted to be known as a real actor. Though offered a fraction of his former salary to co-star in a war drama, ''The Young Lions'' (1957), he was ecstatic to receive the part because it would be a dramatic showcase with the two most intriguing young actors of the period and he could learn from Marlon Brando and Montgomery Clift. Tony Randall already had the part, but talent agency MCA realized that with this movie, Martin would become a triple threat: they could make money from his work in night clubs, movies, and records. Martin replaced Randall and the film turned out to be the beginning of Martin's spectacular comeback. Success would continue as Martin starred alongside Frank Sinatra for the first time in a highly acclaimed Vincente Minnelli drama, ''Some Came Running'' (1958). By the mid '60s, Martin was a top movie, recording, and nightclub star, while Lewis' film career declined. Martin was acclaimed for his performance as Dude in ''Rio Bravo'' (1959), directed by Howard Hawks and also starring John Wayne and singer Ricky Nelson. He teamed up again with Wayne in ''The Sons of Katie Elder'' (1965), somewhat unconvincingly cast as brothers.

In 1960, Martin was cast in the motion picture version of the Judy Holliday hit stage play ''Bells Are Ringing''. Martin played a satiric variation of his own womanizing persona as Vegas singer "Dino" in Billy Wilder's comedy ''Kiss Me, Stupid'' (1964) with Kim Novak, and he was not above poking fun at his image in films such as the ''Matt Helm'' spy spoofs of the 1960s, in which he was a co-producer.

As a singer, Martin copied the styles of Harry Mills (of the Mills Brothers), Bing Crosby, and Perry Como until he developed his own and could hold his own in duets with Sinatra and Crosby. Like Sinatra, he could not read music, but he recorded more than 100 albums and 600 songs. His signature tune, "Everybody Loves Somebody", knocked The Beatles' "A Hard Day's Night" out of the number-one spot in the United States in 1964. This was followed by the similarly-styled "The Door is Still Open to My Heart", which reached number six later that year. Elvis Presley was said to have been influenced by Martin, and patterned "Love Me Tender" after his style. Martin, like Elvis, was influenced by country music. By 1965, some of Martin's albums, such as ''Dean "Tex" Martin,'' ''The Hit Sound Of Dean Martin,'' ''Welcome To My World'' and ''Gentle On My Mind'' were composed of country and western songs made famous by artists like Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, and Buck Owens. Martin hosted country performers on his TV show and was named "Man Of the Year" by the Country Music Association in 1966. "Ain't That a Kick in the Head", a song Martin performed in ''Ocean's Eleven'' that never became a hit at the time, has enjoyed a spectacular revival in the media and pop culture.

For three decades, Martin was among the most popular acts in Las Vegas. Martin sang and was one of the smoothest comics in the business, benefiting from the decade of raucous comedy with Lewis. Martin's daughter, Gail, also sang in Vegas and on his TV show, co-hosting his summer replacement series on NBC. Though often thought of as a ladies' man, Martin spent a lot of time with his family; as second wife Jeanne put it, prior to the couple's divorce, "He was home every night for dinner."

The Rat Pack

As Martin's solo career grew, he and Frank Sinatra became close friends. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Martin and Sinatra, along with friends Joey Bishop, Peter Lawford, and Sammy Davis, Jr. formed the legendary Rat Pack, so called by the public after an earlier group of social friends, the Holmby Hills Rat Pack centered on Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, of which Sinatra had been a member.

The Martin-Sinatra-Davis-Lawford-Bishop group referred to themselves as "The Summit" or "The Clan" and never as "The Rat Pack", although this has remained their identity in the popular imagination. The men made films together, formed an important part of the Hollywood social scene in those years, and were politically influential (through Lawford's marriage to Patricia Kennedy, sister of President John F. Kennedy).

The Rat Pack were legendary for their Las Vegas performances. For example, the marquee at the Sands Hotel might read DEAN MARTIN---MAYBE FRANK---MAYBE SAMMY. Las Vegas rooms were at a premium when the Rat Pack would appear, with many visitors sleeping in hotel lobbies or cars to get a chance to see the three men together. Their act (always in tuxedo) consisted of each singing individual numbers, duets and trios, along with much seemingly improvised slapstick and chatter. In the socially-charged 1960s, their jokes revolved around adult themes, such as Sinatra's infamous womanizing and Martin's legendary drinking, as well as many at the expense of Davis's race and religion. Davis famously practiced Judaism and used Yiddish phrases onstage, eliciting much merriment from both his stage-mates and his audiences. It was all good-natured male bonding, never vicious, rarely foul-mouthed, and the three had great respect for each other. The Rat Pack was largely responsible for the integration of Las Vegas. Sinatra and Martin steadfastly refused to appear anywhere that barred Davis, forcing the casinos to open their doors to African-American entertainers and patrons, and to drop restrictive covenants against Jews.

Posthumously, the Rat Pack has experienced a popular revival, inspiring the George Clooney/Brad Pitt "Ocean's" trilogy. An HBO film, ''The Rat Pack'', starred Joe Mantegna as Martin, Ray Liotta as Sinatra and Don Cheadle as Davis. It depicted their contribution to JFK's election in 1960.

The 1960s to 1980s

In 1965, Martin launched his weekly NBC comedy-variety series, ''The Dean Martin Show'', which exploited his public image as a lazy, carefree boozer. There he perfected his famous laid-back persona of the half-drunk crooner suavely hitting on beautiful women with hilarious remarks that would get anyone else slapped, and making snappy if slurred remarks about fellow celebrities during his famous roasts. During an interview he stated, and this may have been tongue-in-cheek, that he had someone record them on cassette tape so he could listen to them; this is evidenced by his comments to this effect on the British TV documentary 'Wine, Women and Song' which was aired in 1983.

The TV show was a success. Martin prided himself on memorizing whole scripts – not merely his own lines. He disliked rehearsing because he firmly believed his best performances were his first. The show's loose format prompted quick-witted improvisation from Martin and the cast. On occasion, he made remarks in Italian, some mild obscenities that brought angry mail from offended, Italian-speaking viewers. This prompted a battle between Martin and NBC censors, who insisted on more scrutiny of the show's content. The show was often in the Top Ten. Martin, deeply appreciative of the efforts of the show's producer, his friend Greg Garrison, later made a handshake deal giving Garrison, a pioneer TV producer in the 1950s, 50% ownership of the show. However, the validity of that ownership is currently the subject of a lawsuit brought by NBC Universal.

Despite Martin's reputation as a heavy drinker – a reputation perpetuated via his vanity license plates reading "DRUNKY" – he was remarkably self-disciplined. He was often the first to call it a night, and when not on tour or on a film location, liked to go home to see his wife and children. Phyllis Diller has said that Martin was indeed drinking alcohol onstage and not apple juice. She also commented that although he was not drunk, he was not really sober either, but had very strict rules when it came to performances. He borrowed the lovable-drunk shtick from Joe E. Lewis, but his convincing portrayals of heavy boozers in ''Some Came Running'' and Howard Hawks's ''Rio Bravo'' led to unsubstantiated claims of alcoholism. More often than not, Martin's idea of a good time was playing golf or watching TV, particularly westerns – not staying with Rat Pack friends Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr. into the early hours of the morning.

Martin starred in and co-produced a series of four Matt Helm superspy comedy adventures. A fifth, ''The Ravagers'', was planned starring Sharon Tate and Martin in a dual role, one as a serial killer, but due to the murder of Tate and the decline of the spy genre the film was never made.

By the early 1970s, ''The Dean Martin Show'' was still earning solid ratings, and although he was no longer a Top 40 hitmaker, his record albums continued to sell steadily. His name on a marquee could guarantee casinos and nightclubs a standing-room-only crowd. He found a way to make his passion for golf profitable by offering his own signature line of golf balls. Shrewd investments had greatly increased Martin's personal wealth; at the time of his death, Martin was reportedly the single largest minority shareholder of RCA stock. Martin even managed to cure himself of his claustrophobia by reportedly locking himself in the elevator of a tall building and riding up and down for hours until he was no longer panic-stricken.

Martin retreated from show business. The final (1973–74) season of his variety show would be retooled into one of celebrity roasts, requiring less of Martin's involvement. After the show's cancellation, NBC continued to air the ''Dean Martin Celebrity Roast'' format in a series of TV specials through 1984. In those 11 years, Martin and his panel of pals successfully ridiculed and made fun of these legendary stars in this order: Ronald Reagan, Hugh Hefner, Ed McMahon, William Conrad, Kirk Douglas, Bette Davis, Barry Goldwater, Johnny Carson, Wilt Chamberlain, Hubert Humphrey, Carroll O'Connor, Monty Hall, Jack Klugman & Tony Randall, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Leo Durocher, Truman Capote, Don Rickles, Ralph Nader, Jack Benny, Redd Foxx, Bobby Riggs, George Washington, Dan Rowan & Dick Martin, Hank Aaron, Joe Namath, Bob Hope, Telly Savalas, Lucille Ball, Jackie Gleason, Sammy Davis Jr, Michael Landon, Evel Knievel, Valerie Harper, Muhammad Ali, Dean Martin, Dennis Weaver, Joe Garagiola, Danny Thomas, Angie Dickinson, Gabe Kaplan, Ted Knight, Peter Marshall, Dan Haggerty, Frank Sinatra, Jack Klugman, Jimmy Stewart, George Burns, Betty White, Suzanne Somers, Joan Collins, and Mr T. For nearly a decade, Martin had recorded as many as four albums a year for Reprise Records. That stopped in November 1974, when Martin recorded his final Reprise album - ''Once In A While,'' released in 1978. His last recording sessions were for Warner Brothers Records. An album titled ''The Nashville Sessions'' was released in 1983, from which he had a hit with "(I Think That I Just Wrote) My First Country Song", which was recorded with Conway Twitty and made a respectable showing on the country charts. A followup single "L.A. Is My Home" / "Drinking Champagne" came in 1985. The 1975 film ''Mr. Ricco'' marked Martin's final starring role, and Martin limited his live performances to Las Vegas and Atlantic City.

Martin seemed to suffer a mid-life crisis. In 1972, he filed for divorce from his second wife, Jeanne. A week later, his business partnership with the Riviera was dissolved amid reports of the casino's refusal to agree to Martin's request to perform only once a night. He was quickly snapped up by the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino, and signed a three-picture deal with MGM Studios. Less than a month after his second marriage had been legally dissolved, Martin married 26-year-old Catherine Hawn on April 25, 1973. Hawn had been the receptionist at the chic Gene Shacrove hair salon in Beverly Hills. They divorced November 10, 1976. He was also briefly engaged to Gail Renshaw, Miss World-U.S.A. 1969.

Eventually, Martin reconciled with Jeanne, though they never remarried. He also made a public reconciliation with Jerry Lewis on Lewis' Labor Day Muscular Dystrophy Association telethon in 1976. Frank Sinatra shocked Lewis and the world by bringing Martin out on stage. As Martin and Lewis embraced, the audience erupted in cheers and the phone banks lit up, resulting in one of the telethon's most profitable years. Lewis reported the event was one of the three most memorable of his life. Lewis brought down the house when he quipped, "So, you working?" Martin, playing drunk, replied that he was "at the Meggum" – this reference to the MGM Grand Hotel convulsed Lewis. This, along with the death of Martin's son Dean Paul Martin a few years later, helped to bring the two men together. They maintained a quiet friendship but only performed together again once, in 1989, on Martin's 72nd birthday.

Personal life

Martin was married three times. Martin's first wife, Betty McDonald, tried by all accounts to be a good wife and mother to their four children, but her efforts were ultimately undone by her alcoholism . It remains a matter of speculation whether her alcoholism led to the failure of the marriage, or whether Martin's infidelities led to Betty's alcoholism. Subsequent to their divorce, Martin gained custody of their children; Betty lived out her life in quiet obscurity in San Francisco. Their children were Stephen Craig (born June 29, 1942), Claudia Dean (March 16, 1944 - 2001 from breast cancer), Barbara Gail (born April 11, 1945) and Deana (Dina) (born August 19, 1948).

Martin's second wife was Jeanne Biegger. A stunning blonde, Jeanne could sometimes be spotted in Martin's audience while he was still married to Betty. Their marriage lasted twenty-four years (1949–1973) and produced three children. Their children were Dean Paul (November 17, 1951 - March 21, 1987; plane crash), Ricci James (born September 20, 1953) and Gina Caroline (born December 20, 1956).

Martin's third marriage, to Catherine Hawn, lasted three years. One of Martin's managers had spotted her at the reception desk of a hair salon on Rodeo Drive, then arranged a meeting. Martin adopted Hawn's daughter, Sasha, but their marriage also failed. Martin initiated divorce proceedings.

Martin's uncle was Leonard Barr, who appeared in several of his shows.

Later years and death

On December 1, 1983 while gambling at the Golden Nugget casino in Atlantic City, Martin and Sinatra intimidated the dealer and several employees into breaking New Jersey law by making the dealer deal the cards by hand instead of from a shoe. Although Sinatra and Martin were implicated as the cause of the violation, neither was fined by the New Jersey Casino Control Commission. The Golden Nugget received a $25,000 fine (which Sinatra paid, stating that it was his responsibility as he and Martin were the cause of the fine) and four employees including the dealer, a supervisor and pit boss were suspended from their jobs without pay.

Martin returned to films briefly with appearances in the two star-laden yet critically panned Cannonball Run movies. He also had a minor hit single with "Since I Met You Baby" and made his first music video, which appeared on MTV. The video was created by Martin's youngest son, Ricci.

On March 21, 1987, Martin's son, Dean Paul (formerly Dino of the '60s "teeny-bopper" rock group Dino, Desi & Billy), was killed when his F-4 Phantom II jet fighter crashed while flying with the California Air National Guard. A much-touted tour with Davis and Sinatra in 1988 sputtered. On one occasion, he infuriated Sinatra when he turned to him and muttered "Frank, what the hell are we doing up here?" Martin, who always responded best to a club audience, felt lost in the huge stadiums they were performing in (at Sinatra's insistence), and he was not interested in drinking until dawn after performances. His final Vegas shows were at Bally's Hotel in 1990. There he had his final reunion with Jerry Lewis on his 72nd birthday. Martin's last two TV appearances involved tributes to his former Rat Pack members. On December 8, 1989, he joined many stars of the entertainment industry in Sammy Davis, Jr's 60th anniversary celebration, which aired only a few weeks before Davis died from throat cancer. In December 1990, he congratulated Frank Sinatra on his 75th birthday special. By early 1995, Martin had officially retired from performing.

Martin, a life-long smoker, was diagnosed with lung cancer at Cedars Sinai Medical Center on 16 September 1993. He died of acute respiratory failure resulting from emphysema at his Beverly Hills home on Christmas morning 1995, at age 78. The lights of the Las Vegas Strip were dimmed in his honor.

Tributes and legacy

In 1996, Ohio Rte. 7, through Steubenville, was re-dedicated as "Dean Martin Boulevard." Road signs bearing an Al Hirschfeld caricature of Martin's likeness officially designate the stretch, along with a state historical marker, in the Gazebo Park at Route 7 and North Fourth Street.

An annual "Dean Martin Festival" celebration is held in Steubenville. Impersonators, friends and family of Martin, and various entertainers, many of Italian ancestry, appear.

In 2005, Las Vegas renamed Industrial Road as ''Dean Martin Drive.'' A similarly named street was dedicated in 2008 in Rancho Mirage, California.

Martin's family was presented a gold record in 2004 for ''Dino: The Essential Dean Martin'', his fastest-selling album ever, which also hit the iTunes Top 10. For the week ending December 23, 2006, the Dean Martin and Martina McBride duet of "Baby, It's Cold Outside" reached #7 on the R&R; AC chart. It also went to #36 on the R&R; Country chart - the last time Martin had a song this high in the charts was in 1965, with the song "I Will", which reached #10 on the Pop chart.

An album of duets, ''Forever Cool'', was released by Capitol/EMI in 2007. It features Martin's voice with Kevin Spacey, Shelby Lynne, Joss Stone, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Robbie Williams, McBride and others.

His footprints were immortalized at Grauman's Chinese Theater in 1964. Martin has three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: One at 6519 Hollywood Boulevard, for movies; one at 1817 Vine, for recordings; and one at 6651 Hollywood Boulevard, for television.

In February 2009, Martin was honored with a posthumous Grammy award for Lifetime Achievement. Four of his surviving children, Gail, Deana, Ricci and Gina, were on hand to accept on his behalf. In 2009, Martin was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.

Popular culture

A number of Dean Martin songs have constantly been featured across popular culture for decades. Hit songs such as "Ain't That a Kick in the Head", "Sway", "That's Amore", and Martin's signature song "Everybody Loves Somebody" (and many more) have been used in films (such as the Oscar-winning ''Logorama'', ''A Bronx Tale'', ''Casino'', ''Goodfellas'', and ''Return to Me''), television series (such as ''American Dad!'', ''Friends'', and ''House MD''), video games (such as ''The Godfather: The Game'', ''The Godfather II'', ''Fallout: New Vegas'', and ''Mafia II''), and even fashion shows (such as the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show 2008).

In film and television

In That '70s show episode, S-6/E-2 "Join Together." When the Forman's were throwing away all of their bad foods and drinks, because of Red's Heart Attack. Red's beloved beer and his meats were taken away and Red's Fresh mouth son, Eric said,"Whoa look at this, it looks like Dean Martin exploded!"

In the movie ''A Bronx Tale'', Martin's song, "Ain't That A Kick In The Head?", was featured during the scene when C was playing dice.

A Budweiser TV commercial that premiered during Super Bowl XLI featured Martin's "Ain't That A Kick In The Head?".

British actor Jeremy Northam portrayed the entertainer in a made-for-TV movie called, ''Martin and Lewis'', alongside Will & Grace's Sean Hayes as Jerry Lewis.

Martin was portrayed by Joe Mantegna in an HBO movie about Sinatra and Martin titled ''The Rat Pack''. Mantegna was nominated for both an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award for the role.

In the movie ''Return to Me'', three of his recordings are featured: "Good Morning, Life," "Buona Sera" and "Return to Me".

Danny Gans portrayed Martin in the miniseries ''Sinatra''.

In the pilot episode of ''White Collar'', Peter refers to Neal as "Dino", referencing the newly-found Sy Devore suits that Neal now wears – made famous by the "Rat Pack".

In the movie ''Pulp Fiction'', Mia Wallace and Vincent Vega go out to dinner at "Jack Rabbit Slim's" – she chooses "Martin and Lewis", and a $5 milkshake shows up.

In the movie ''Moonstruck'', Martin's recording of "That's Amore" plays over both the opening and closing credits.

In a Royal Automobile Club commercial, "Memories are Made of This" is sung.

In games and gambling

Martin is the subject of "Dean Martin's Wild Party", a video slot machine found in some casinos. The game features songs sung by Martin during the bonus game and the count-up of a player's winnings.

The 2010 video game, ''Fallout: New Vegas'', features Martin's "Ain't that a Kick in the Head?" throughout the game. It can be listened to on the "New Vegas" radio channel and heard on the loud speakers when you enter the Vegas Strip. The first quest of the game is also ironically named after the same song, as the player character is inflicted with a headshot wound.

Dean Martin's music is featured on the radios in the game Mafia II and Godfather II.

In music

A compilation album called, ''Amore!'', debuted at Number One on ''Billboard magazine'''s Top Pop Catalog Albums chart in its February 21, 2009 issue.

Other

In the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show 2008, "Ain't That A Kick In The Head?" was the opening song from the show.

Discography

Filmography

Features: {|class="wikitable" style="font-size: 90%;" border="2" cellpadding="4" background: #f9f9f9; |- align="center" ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Year ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Film ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Role ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Notes |- |1946 |''Film Vodvil: Art Mooney and Orchestra'' | |Short |- |1949 |''My Friend Irma'' |Steve Laird | |- |rowspan=3|1950 |''My Friend Irma Goes West'' |Steve Laird | |- |''At War with the Army'' |1st Sgt. Vic Puccinelli | |- |''Screen Snapshots: Thirtieth Anniversary Special'' | |Short |- |1951 |''That's My Boy'' |Bill Baker | |- |rowspan=4|1952 |''Sailor Beware'' |Al Crowthers | |- |''Jumping Jacks'' |Corp. Chick Allen | |- |''Road to Bali'' |Man in Lala's dream |Cameo (uncredited) |- |''The Stooge'' |Bill Miller | |- |rowspan=3|1953 |''Scared Stiff'' |Larry Todd | |- |''The Caddy'' |Joe Anthony | |- |''Money from Home'' |Herman 'Honey Talk' Nelson | |- |rowspan=2|1954 |''Living It Up'' |Dr. Steve Harris | |- |''3 Ring Circus'' |Peter 'Pete' Nelson | |- |rowspan=2|1955 |''You're Never Too Young'' |Bob Miles | |- |''Artists and Models'' |Rick Todd | |- |rowspan=3|1956 |''Screen Snapshots: Hollywood, City of Stars'' | |Short |- |''Pardners'' |Slim Mosely Jr. / Slim Mosely Sr. | |- |''Hollywood or Bust'' |Steve Wiley | |- |1957 |''Ten Thousand Bedrooms'' |Ray Hunter | |- |rowspan=2|1958 |''The Young Lions'' |Michael Whiteacre | |- |''Some Came Running'' |Bama Dillert (professional gambler) | |- |rowspan=2|1959 |''Rio Bravo'' |Dude ('Borachón') | |- |''Career'' |Maurice 'Maury' Novak | |- |rowspan=4|1960 |''Who Was That Lady?'' |Michael Haney |Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy |- |''Bells Are Ringing'' |Jeffrey Moss | |- |''Ocean's Eleven'' |Sam Harmon | |- |''Pepe'' | |Cameo |- |rowspan=2|1961 |''All in a Night's Work'' |Tony Ryder | |- |''Ada'' |Bo Gillis | |- |rowspan=4|1962 |''Something's Got to Give'' |Nicholas 'Nick' Arden |(unfinished) |- |''Sergeants 3'' |Sgt. Chip Deal | |- |''The Road to Hong Kong'' |The 'Grape' on plutonium |Cameo (uncredited) |- |''Who's Got the Action?'' |Steve Flood | |- |rowspan=5|1963 |''38-24-36'' |Self | |- |''Come Blow Your Horn'' |The Bum |(uncredited) |- |''Toys in the Attic'' |Julian Berniers | |- |''4 for Texas'' |Joe Jarrett | |- |''Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed?'' |Jason Steel | |- |rowspan=3|1964 |''What a Way to Go!'' |Leonard 'Lennie' Crawley | |- |''Robin and the 7 Hoods'' |Little John | |- |''Kiss Me, Stupid'' |Dino | |- |rowspan=2|1965 |''The Sons of Katie Elder'' |Tom Elder | |- |''Marriage on the Rocks'' |Ernie Brewer | |- |rowspan=3|1966 |''The Silencers'' |Matt Helm | |- |''Texas Across the River'' |Sam Hollis | |- |''Murderers' Row'' |Matt Helm | |- |rowspan=2|1967 |''Rough Night in Jericho'' |Alex Flood | |- |''The Ambushers'' |Matt Helm | |- |rowspan=4|1968 |''How to Save a Marriage and Ruin Your Life'' |David Sloane | |- |''Bandolero!'' |Dee Bishop | |- |''Rowan & Martin at the Movies'' | |Short |- |''5 Card Stud'' |Van Morgan | |- |1969 |''The Wrecking Crew'' |Matt Helm | |- |1970 |''Airport'' |Capt. Vernon Demerest | |- |1971 |''Something Big'' |Joe Baker | |- |1973 |''Showdown'' |Billy Massey | |- |1975 |''Mr. Ricco'' |Joe Ricco | |- |1981 |''The Cannonball Run'' |Jamie Blake | |- |rowspan=2|1984 |''Cannonball Run II'' |Jamie Blake | |- |''Terror in the Aisles'' | |archival footage |}

References

Further reading

Arthur Marx. ''Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime (Especially Himself): The story of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis'', New York, NY: Hawthorn Books, 1974, ISBN 978-0801524301

Lewis, Jerry and James Kaplan. ''Dean & Me (A Love Story)''. Doubleday, New York, 2005. ISBN 0-7679-2086-4

Tosches, Nick. ''Dino: Living High in the Dirty Business of Dreams''. Delta Trade Paperbacks, New York, 1992 (1st edition). ISBN 0-385-33429-X

Smith, John L. ''The Animal in Hollywood: Anthony Fiato's Life in the Mafia''. Barricade Books, New York, 1998. ISBN 1-56980-126-6

External links

Dean Martin at The Biography Channel

Cleveland.com: Homegrown Heroes: Dean Martin Timeline

Dean Works the room at the Sands

Jerry Lewis interview for the Archive of American Television

Dean Martin biography/discography on The Interlude Era site

Radio interview with Deana Martin WSLR

Dean Martin Roasts Johnny Carson

Dean Martin Roast Frank Sinatra

Dean Martin Roasts Don Rickles

Category:1917 births Category:1995 deaths Category:Actors from Ohio Category:Actors from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Category:American baritones Category:American military personnel of World War II Category:American comedians Category:American crooners Category:American film actors Category:American jazz musicians of Italian descent Category:American people of Sicilian descent Category:Burials at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery Category:California Republicans Category:Cancer deaths in California Category:Capitol Records artists Category:Deaths from emphysema Category:Deaths from lung cancer Category:Deaths from respiratory failure Category:Musicians from Ohio Category:Musicians from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Category:Ohio Republicans Category:People from Steubenville, Ohio Category:Traditional pop music singers

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name	Billy Idol
background	solo_singer
birth name	William Michael Albert Broad
alias	B.I.
born	November 30, 1955Stanmore, Middlesex, England, UK
instrument	Vocals, guitar, bass guitar
genre	Punk rock, New Wave,
occupation	Musician, actor, songwriter, performer
years active	1972–present
label	Chrysalis, EMI, Sanctuary
associated acts	Generation X, Digital Underground, Mister Pusha
website	BillyIdol.net }}

William Michael Albert Broad (born 30 November 1955), better known by his stage name Billy Idol, is an English rock musician. He first achieved fame in the punk rock era as a member of the band Generation X. He then embarked on a successful solo career, aided by a series of stylish music videos, making him one of the first MTV stars. Idol continues to tour with guitarist Steve Stevens and has a worldwide fan base.

Life and career

Early life and Generation X

Idol was born in Stanmore, Middlesex, the son of a salesman. He attended Tideway School in Newhaven, East Sussex. The name ''Billy Idol'' was inspired by a schoolteacher's description of Broad as "idle".

In 1958, when Idol was two years old, his parents moved to Patchogue, New York, on Long Island. The family returned to England four years later with Idol and a younger child Jane (who had been born in the US), settling in Dorking, Surrey. In 1971 the family moved to Bromley, where Idol attended Ravensbourne School for Boys. Idol (rather William Broad) also attended Worthing High School for Boys (later becoming Worthing College). In October 1975, Idol went to Sussex University to pursue an English degree and lived on campus (East Slope) but left after year one (1976). He then went on to join the Bromley Contingent of Sex Pistols fans. Idol first joined the punk rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees (before the band had decided on that name) in 1976, but soon quit and joined Chelsea in 1977 as a guitarist. However, he and Chelsea bandmate Tony James soon quit that group and co-founded Generation X, with Idol switching from guitarist to lead singer. Generation X signed to Chrysalis Records and released three albums and performed in the 1980 film, ''D.O.A.'', before disbanding. Idol moved to New York in 1981 and began working as a solo artist working with Steve Stevens, Phil Feit and Steve Missal, for Idol's debut solo album, "Billy Idol", which was released in July 1982.

Early solo success

Idol's solo career began with the EP titled ''Don't Stop'', which included the Generation X song "Dancing with Myself", originally recorded for their last album ''Kiss Me Deadly'', and a cover of Tommy James & The Shondells' song "Mony Mony". Both songs became his first singles and remain part of his classic live setlists as of 2010. In 1982 Idol instantly became an MTV staple with "White Wedding" and "Dancing with Myself". In 1983, in an effort to introduce Idol to American audiences not yet as familiar with him as those in England, Idol's label released "Dancing with Myself" in the US in conjunction with a music video (directed by Tobe Hooper, produced by Jeffrey Abelson, and conceptualised by Keith Williams) that played in heavy rotation on MTV for six months. That video sparked a new era of feature film directors trying their hand at music videos. Along with "White Wedding", the "Dancing with Myself" and "Eyes Without a Face" videos helped make Idol a household name in America.

''Rebel Yell'' and superstar years

Idol's second LP, ''Rebel Yell'' (1983) was a major success and established Idol's superstar status in the United States with hits like "Eyes Without a Face," "Flesh For Fantasy", and the title cut. Idol also became very popular in Europe thanks to this album and its singles, particularly in Germany, Italy, Switzerland and later in the UK. Tracks from the album featured in the 1988 Hollywood comedy film ''Big'', which starred Tom Hanks.

Idol released ''Whiplash Smile'' in 1986, which sold very well. The album included the hits "To Be a Lover," "Don't Need a Gun" and the country-flavoured "Sweet Sixteen". Idol filmed a video featuring "Sweet Sixteen" (which he also wrote) in Florida's Coral Castle. The song was inspired by the story of Edward Leedskalnin's former love, Agnes Scuffs, who was the main reason Leedskalnin built the structure over a period of decades, starting years after she jilted him the day before their scheduled wedding in their native Latvia. Stevens parted ways with Idol after ''Whiplash Smile''. In 1986, Stevens appeared with Harold Faltermeyer on the ''Top Gun'' soundtrack. Their contribution was the Grammy winning instrumental, "Top Gun Anthem." Stevens decided to go solo, creating his own band, Steve Stevens and the Atomic Playboys. A remix album was released in 1987 called, ''Vital Idol''. The album featured a live rendition of his cover of Tommy James' "Mony Mony" ; as a single it topped the US charts in 1987.

In 1989, Idol appeared on stage with The Who as Cousin Kevin as part of the live version of ''Tommy'', which would be aired as an HBO special and released on home video and later as a DVD. In later years, Idol also stood in as a guest performer with The Who on Bell Boy, a hit from their rock opera album ''Quadrophenia'', and provided the lead vocals that were originally sung by the band's late drummer Keith Moon. On these brief appearances, Idol would dress in a full bell boy's uniform to reflect upon Moon's eccentricity on stage.

Idol was involved in a serious motorcycle accident which nearly cost him a leg in February 1990 in Hollywood. He was hit by a car while driving home from the studio one night when he ran a stop sign, requiring a steel rod to be placed in his leg. Shortly prior to this, film director James Cameron had chosen Idol to play the T-1000 character in ''Terminator 2: Judgment Day'' and had drawn storyboards to resemble him, but the accident prevented Idol from accepting.

The new release, ''Charmed Life'', was due for release and a video for the single, "Cradle of Love" had to be shot. The song had been featured in the Andrew Dice Clay film, ''The Adventures of Ford Fairlane''. Since Idol was unable to walk, he was shot from the waist up. The video would feature video footage of him singing in large frames throughout an apartment while Betsy Lynn George was trying to seduce a businessman. The video was a hit and was placed in heavy rotation on MTV. Idol and Betsy Lynn George recreated the opening of the video for the 1991 American Music Awards. Against his doctors' advice, he also managed to make appearances to promote ''Charmed Life''.

Idol made a cameo appearance in the 1998 film "The Wedding Singer" with Adam Sandler, in which Idol ultimately saved the relationship between characters Robbie Hart (Sandler) and Julia Sullivan (played by Drew Barrymore). Idol also had a small part in the movie ''The Doors'', directed by Oliver Stone. Idol played Jim Morrison's drinking buddy, Cat. Idol also performed at Roger Waters' live concert The Wall Live in Berlin in 1990.

Crisis and resurgence

In 1993, Idol released ''Cyberpunk'', which was largely ignored. Music had changed and many of the bands that were popular in the '80s were being pushed aside. Regarded as experimental, it was recorded in a home studio using a Macintosh computer, which was a fairly new concept at the time. Idol recorded the album with Younger-Smith and producer Robin Hancock. Special editions of the album were issued with a floppy disc which contained a screensaver. It was the first album which listed the e-mail address of the artist (idol@well.sf.ca.us, which is now inactive) in its booklet. The album has become something of a cult favourite today. In 1996, Idol appeared in a live version of The Who's ''Quadrophenia''. He returned to the public eye in 1998, when he played himself in ''The Wedding Singer'', in which "White Wedding" was also the title track. The film was a smash hit worldwide. He was also considered for the role of the villain, Jacob Kell in Highlander: Endgame. Ultimately Bruce Payne was cast. Idol also released three new tracks on Internet - a move which elicited much concern from the RIAA.. He also shared the stage with the band Third Eye Blind.

VH1 aired ''Billy Idol - Behind the Music'' on 16 April 2001. The ''Behind the Music'' series was very popular at the time, and each band or artist that was featured on that program usually gained a resurgence of interest after the show had aired. Idol and Stevens were no exceptions, taking part in a ''VH1 Storytellers'' show three days later. The reunited duo set out to play a series of acoustic/storytellers shows before recording the VH1 special. The acoustic tour was a big success, and Idol eventually started adding new material into the show. Another ''Greatest Hits'' CD was issued in 2001, with Keith Forsey's "Don't You (Forget About Me)" appearing on the compilation. Forsey had originally written it with Idol in mind, but the singer turned it down and eventually the song was given to Simple Minds, who made it a worldwide hit in 1985. The album also includes a live acoustic version of "Rebel Yell" taken from a performance at Los Angeles station KROQ's 1993 Acoustic Christmas concert. The compilation sold about 4,000,000 copies worldwide.

In 2000, Idol was invited to be a guest vocalist on Tony Iommi's album. His contribution was on the song "Into The Night", which he also co-wrote. That year he voice acted the role of Odin, a mysterious alien character, in the animated fantasy film ''Heavy Metal 2000''. In the 2002 NRL Grand Final in Sydney, Idol entered the playing field for the post-match entertainment on a hovercraft-type stage to the intro of White Wedding, when he managed to sing only two words before a power failure ended the performance. "White Wedding" appeared on popular video game ''Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas'', playing on fictional Classic rock radio station, K-DST.

''Devil's Playground'' and beyond

''Devil's Playground'', which came out in March 2005, was Idol's first new studio album in nearly 12 years. It reached #46 on the Billboard 200. The album included a cover of "Plastic Jesus". Idol played a handful of dates on the 2005 Vans Warped Tour and also appeared at the UK's Download Festival at Donington Park and the Voodoo Music Experience in New Orleans. In 2006, as his only UK live date, he appeared headlining the Sunday night of GuilFest. That same year he made an appearance on ''Viva La Bam'' where he helped Bam Margera succeed in "creating" a sunroof for his $250,000 Lamborghini Gallardo and performed live for April Margera for her birthday. In 2006, Idol guested on his keyboardist Derek Sherinian's solo album ''Blood of the Snake'', covering the 1970 Mungo Jerry hit "In the Summertime". A video was made featuring Idol and guitarist Slash. In November 2006, Idol released a Christmas album called ''Happy Holidays''.

In 2008, "Rebel Yell" appeared as a playable track on the video game ''Guitar Hero World Tour'' and "White Wedding" on ''Rock Band 2'', the Rock Band 2 platform later gaining "Mony Mony" and "Rebel Yell" as downloadable tracks. On 24 June 2008 Idol released a new greatest hits album, ''The Very Best of Billy Idol: Idolize Yourself''. The compilation featured two previously unreleased tracks, "John Wayne" and "New Future Weapon". A third track, "Fractured", was available for download on iTunes. He embarked on a successful tour across the world, co-headlining with Def Leppard. In May 2009 Idol donated his time for Music Education in schools by playing along Steve Stevens & Stephen McGrath and the band Venice as backup band and vocals. They were accompanied by a large String & Brass section and chorale group of Santa Monica High School students. The whole event was hosted by AFTA, Artists for the Arts foundation, (aftafoundation.org). The entire event was shot by Touring Video and Post by On the WAVE Productions. Harry Rabin from "On the WAVE" produced the video, which can be seen on billyidol.net and the audio was mixed and Mastered by Steve Miles and Harry Rabin.

In July 2009, Idol performed at the Congress Theater, Chicago for the US TV series ''Soundstage''. This performance was recorded and was released on DVD as ''In Super Overdrive Live'', on 17 November 2009.

Recent events

On 16 February 2010, Idol was announced as one of the acts to play the Download Festival in Donington Park. He was quoted: ''"With all of these great heavyweight and cool bands playing Download this year, I'm going to have to come armed with my punk rock attitude, Steve Stevens, and all of my classic songs plus a couple of way out covers. Should be fun!"'' In March 2010, Idol added Camp Freddy guitarist Billy Morrison and drummer Jeremy Colson to his touring line-up.

In 2010 Billy was working on a new album entitled, "Keep Out of Reach of Children." Billy started debuting new songs like "Kings and Queen of the Underground" "Love Is Strange" "Don't Shoot The Messager" "Cry" and "Scarred For Life" in concert.

Live band

''Billy Idol's current band consists of:''

Steve Stevens - lead guitar(1981–1986, 2001–present)

Stephen McGrath - bass guitar(2001–present)

Derek Sherinian - keyboards(2002–present)

Billy Morrison - rhythm guitar(2010–present)

Jeremy Colson - drums, percussion(2010–present)

Former members

Gregg Gerson - Drums, Percussion(1981–1983)

Steve Missal - Drums, Percussion(1981)

Phil Feit - Bass Guitar(1981–1983)

Thommy Price - Drums, Percussion(1983–1988)

Steve Webster - Bass Guitar(1983–1985)

Judi Dozier - Keyboards(1982–1985)

Kenny Aaronson - Bass Guitar(1986–1988)

Mark Younger-Smith - Lead Guitar(1990–1996)

Mark Schulman - Drums, Percussion(1993–2001)

Brian Tichy - Drums, Percussion(2001–2009)

Tal Bergman - Drums, Percussion(1990–1993)

Danny Sadownik - Drums, Percussion(1993)

Zane Fix - Bass Guitar(1980s)

Jennifer Blakeman - Keyboards(1993)

Julie Greaux - Keyboards(1993)

Discography

''Don't Stop (EP)'' (1981)

''Billy Idol'' (1982)

''Rebel Yell'' (1983)

''Vital Idol'' (1985)

''Whiplash Smile'' (1986)

''Idol Songs: 11 of the Best'' (1988)

''Charmed Life'' (1990)

''Cyberpunk'' (1993)

''Greatest Hits'' (2001)

''VH1 Storytellers'' (2002)

''Devil's Playground'' (2005)

''Happy Holidays'' (2006)

''The Very Best of Billy Idol: Idolize Yourself'' (2008)

List of Billy Idol awards and nominations

Grammys

|- | align="center"| ||"Rebel Yell"|| Best Male Rock Vocal Performance|| |- | align="center"| ||"To Be A Lover" || Best Male Rock Vocal Performance || |- | align="center"| ||"Cradle of Love" || Best Male Rock Vocal Performance ||

MTV Video Music Awards

The MTV Video Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony established in 1984 by MTV.

|- | align="center"| ||"Dancing With Myself" || Best Art Direction || |- | align="center"| ||"Dancing With Myself" || Best Special Effects || |- | align="center"| ||"Eyes Without a Face" || Best Cinematography || |- | align="center"| ||"Eyes Without a Face" || Best Editing || |- | align="center"| || "Cradle of Love" || Best Video from a Film || |- | align="center"| ||"Cradle of Love" || Best Male Video || |- | align="center"| ||"Cradle of Love" || Best Special Effects || |- | align="center"| ||"Shock To The System" || Best Special Effects || |- | align="center"| ||"Shock To The System" || Best Editing || |-

BRIT Awards

The BRIT Awards are the British Phonographic Industry's annual pop music awards. |- | || Billy Idol || Best British Video || |-

See also

Coral Castle, a stone structure where Idol got his inspiration for his song "Sweet Sixteen".

Bromley Contingent

References

External links

Official Site

Billy Idol MySpace page

Interview @ Legends

Billy Idol at ''Rolling Stone''

Category:1955 births Category:Alumni of the University of Sussex Category:English expatriates in the United States Category:English film actors Category:English male singers Category:English New Wave musicians Category:English punk rock singers Category:English vegetarians Category:Living people Category:Chrysalis Records artists Category:People from Stanmore Category:People from Dorking Category:People from Bromley

bg:Били Айдъл cs:Billy Idol cy:Billy Idol da:Billy Idol de:Billy Idol eml:Billy Idol es:Billy Idol fa:بیلی آیدل fr:Billy Idol hr:Billy Idol id:Billy Idol it:Billy Idol lv:Billijs Aidols hu:Billy Idol nl:Billy Idol ja:ビリー・アイドル no:Billy Idol pl:Billy Idol pt:Billy Idol ro:Billy Idol ru:Билли Айдол sk:Billy Idol sl:Billy Idol sr:Bili Ajdol fi:Billy Idol sv:Billy Idol uk:Біллі Айдол zh:比利·爱多尔

name	Sufjan Stevens
landscape	yes
background	solo_singer
born	July 01, 1975
origin	Detroit, Michigan, United States
instrument	Vocals, guitar, bass guitar, banjo, sitar, piano, xylophone, vibraphone, English Horn, oboe, drums, recorder
genre	Indie folk, baroque pop, folk rock, alternative, electronica, experimental
occupation	Musician, singer-songwriter
years active	1999–present
label	Asthmatic KittySounds FamilyreOrchard
associated acts	Cryptacize, Danielson Famile, Denison Witmer, Marzuki, My Brightest Diamond, Rosie Thomas, The Welcome Wagon, Jeffrey Lewis, The National
website	www.asthmatickitty.com/sufjan-stevens
notable instruments	}}

Sufjan Stevens ( ; born July 1, 1975) is an American singer-songwriter and musician born in Detroit, Michigan. Stevens first began releasing his music on Asthmatic Kitty, a label co-founded with his stepfather, beginning with the 1999 release, ''A Sun Came''. He is best known for his 2005 album, ''Illinois'', which hit number one in the Billboard Top Heatseekers chart, and for the song "Chicago".

Stevens has released albums of varying styles, from the electronica of ''Enjoy Your Rabbit'' and the lo-fi folk of ''Seven Swans'' to the symphonic instrumentation of ''Illinois'' and Christmas-themed ''Songs for Christmas''. Stevens makes use of a variety of instruments, often playing many of them himself on the same recording, and writes music in various time signatures. He is considered part of the folk revival in indie pop, but his influences are very broad. His music has been likened to electronica and aesthetically compared to the minimalism of Steve Reich. Though he has repeatedly stated an intent to separate his beliefs from his music, Stevens also freely draws from the Bible and other spiritual traditions, incorporating mystical elements into his music often.

Biography

Early life

Stevens was born in Detroit and lived there until the age of nine, when his family moved to Petoskey, Michigan. In Petoskey he attended the Petoskey High School, the prestigious Interlochen Arts Academy and graduated from Harbor Light Christian School. He went on to attend Hope College in Holland, Michigan and earned a Master of Fine Arts from The New School in New York City.

''Sufjan'' is a Persian name meaning "comes with a sword". It predates Islam and most famously belonged to Abu Sufyan, a figure from early Islamic history. The name was given to Stevens by the founder of Subud, an inter-faith spiritual community to which his parents belonged when he was born.

A multi-instrumentalist, Stevens is known for his use of the banjo, but also plays guitar, piano, drums, and several other instruments, often playing all of these on his albums through the use of multitrack recording. While in school, he studied the oboe and English horn, which he also plays on his albums. This multitude of instruments, including string and horn orchestrations, figure prominently in his compositions, giving his music a symphonic sound.

Stevens currently lives in Kensington, Brooklyn, in New York City, where he makes up the Brooklyn staff of Asthmatic Kitty Records. His brother Marzuki Stevens is a nationally recognized marathon runner.

Career

Stevens began his musical career as a member of Marzuki, a folk-rock band from Holland, Michigan. He also played (and continues to play) various instruments for Danielson Famile. While in school at Hope College, Stevens wrote and recorded his debut solo album, ''A Sun Came'', which he released on Asthmatic Kitty Records. He later moved to New York City, where he was enrolled in a writing program at the New School for Social Research.

While in New York, Stevens composed and recorded the music for his second album, ''Enjoy Your Rabbit'', a song cycle based around the animals of the Chinese Zodiac that delved into electronica.

Stevens followed this with the first album to be released as a part of his "Fifty States Project", a collection of folk songs and instrumentals inspired by his home state of Michigan. The result, the expansive ''Michigan'' included odes to cities including Detroit and Flint, the Upper Peninsula, and vacation areas such as Tahquamenon Falls. Melded into the scenic descriptions and characters are his own declarations of faith, sorrow, love, and the regeneration of Michigan.

Following the release of ''Michigan'', Stevens compiled a collection of songs recorded previously into a side project, the album ''Seven Swans'', which was released in March 2004.

Next he released the second in the 50 states project, titled ''Illinois''. Among the subjects explored on ''Illinois'' are the cities of Chicago, Decatur and Jacksonville; the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893, the state's observance of a holiday in honor of Casimir Pulaski, the poet Carl Sandburg, and the serial killer John Wayne Gacy.

Over the 2005 winter holidays, Stevens recorded an album with Rosie Thomas and Denison Witmer playing banjo and providing vocals. In April 2006, Pitchfork erroneously announced that Stevens and Thomas were having a baby together, but were forced to print a retraction. Witmer and Thomas later admitted it was an April Fools' prank. In December 2006, the collaborative recordings were digitally released by Nettwerk as a Rosie Thomas album titled ''These Friends of Mine''. The album was released in physical form on March 13, 2007.

On September 11, 2006, in Nashville, Tennessee, Stevens debuted a new composition, a ten minute-plus piece titled "Majesty Snowbird". On November 21, 2006, a five CD box set Songs for Christmas was released, which contains originals and Christmas standards recorded every year since 2001 (except 2004). Stevens undertook in the project initially as an exercise to make himself 'appreciate' Christmas more. The songs were the work of an annual collaboration between Stevens and different collaborators, including minister Vito Aiuto; the songs themselves were distributed to friends and family.

In April 2007, in Brooklyn and Philadelphia, Stevens made unannounced appearances on Thomas's tour in support of this album. In 2007 he did a Take-Away Show acoustic video session shot by Vincent Moon standing on a roof in Cincinnati. In 2007, he played shows sporadically, including playing at the Kennedy Center to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Millennium Stage concerts. He was commissioned by the Brooklyn Academy of Music to create a "music and film work" titled ''The BQE'', described as "a symphonic and cinematic exploration of New York City's infamous Brooklyn-Queens Expressway". It premiered at BAM's Next Wave festival on November 1–3, 2007. Stevens has also worked as an essayist, contributing to Asthmatic Kitty Records' "Sidebar" feature and ''Topic Magazine''. He wrote the introduction to the 2007 edition of ''The Best American Nonrequired Reading'', a short story about his early childhood education and learning to read titled ''How I Trumped Rudolf Steiner and Overcame the Tribulations of Illiteracy, One Snickers Bar at a Time''. That winter, he hosted an "Xmas Song Exchange Contest" in which winner Alec Duffy won exclusive rights to the original Stevens song "The Lonely Man of Winter." The track has never been uploaded, and can now only be heard by attending private listening parties at Duffy's home in Brooklyn.

Stevens has contributed to the music of Denison Witmer, Soul Junk, Half-handed Cloud, Brother Danielson, Danielson Famile, Serena Maneesh, Castanets, Will Stratton, Shannon Stephens, Clare & the Reasons, and Liz Janes. In 2007 alone, Stevens played piano on The National's album ''Boxer'', produced and contributed many instrumental tracks to Rosie Thomas's album ''These Friends of Mine'', multiple instruments on Ben + Vesper's album ''All This Could Kill You'' and oboe and vocals to David Garland's new album ''Noise in You''.

He has contributed covers of Tim Buckley ("She Is"), Joni Mitchell ("Free Man in Paris"), Daniel Johnston ("Worried Shoes"), John Fahey ("Variation on 'Commemorative Transfiguration & Communion at Magruder Park"), The Innocence Mission ("The Lakes of Canada"), Bob Dylan ("Ring Them Bells") and The Beatles ("What Goes On") to various tribute albums. His versions of "Free Man in Paris" and "What Goes On" are notable for only retaining the lyrics of the original, as Stevens has taken his own interpretation on the melody and arrangement. His rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner" has a similar rearranged melody and arrangement as well as a whole new verse.

His song "The Tallest Man, The Broadest Shoulders" was featured in the 2006 British comedy-drama ''Driving Lessons'', starring ''Harry Potter's'' Julie Walters and Rupert Grint. In 2008, he produced ''Welcome to the Welcome Wagon'', the debut album of Brooklyn-based husband and wife duo Vito and Monique Auito, The Welcome Wagon.

In February 2009, Stevens contributed "You Are the Blood" to the AIDS benefit album Dark Was the Night produced by the Red Hot Organization. In April 2009, Stevens uploaded a song about director Sofia Coppola online. This song was written while Stevens was in college, from a series of songs about names.

Stevens recalled:

"[...] A few weeks later, our dog got hit by a snowplow and I forgot all about the problem of names. Until college, when I learned to play the guitar, and, as an exercise, started writing songs (very poorly executed) in the same way that Henry Ford produced the automobile: assembly-line-style. I wrote songs for the days of the week (poor Monday!). Songs for the planets (poor Pluto!). Songs for the Apostles (poor Judas!). And, finally, when all else failed, I started a series of songs for names. [...] Each piece was a rhetorical, philosophical, musical rumination on all the possible names I had entertained years before when my parents had given me the one chance to change my own. Oh fates! I sang these songs in the privacy of my dorm room, behind closed doors, pillows and cushions stuffed in the air vents so no one would hear. And then I almost failed Latin class, my grades plummeted, my social life dissolved into ping pong tournaments in the residence halls, and, gradually, my interest in music (or anything divine, creative, fruitful, enriching) completely waned. I turned to beer. And cigarettes. And TV sitcoms. And candy bars. Oh well! A perfectly good youth wasted on junk food! That is, until a few months ago, when I came across some of the old name songs, stuffed onto tape cassettes, 4-track recorders, forgotten boxes, forgotten shelves, forgotten hard drives. It was like finding an old diary, or a high school yearbook, senior picture with lens flare and pockmarks, slightly cute and embarrassing. What was I thinking? [...]"

In September 2009, Stevens began performing four new songs while on his Fall tour, "All Delighted People", "Impossible Soul", "Too Much" and "Age of Adz". That year Stevens contributed to an album with his step father, Lowell Brams, entitled ''Music For Insomnia''. The album was released December 8, 2009.

In November 2009, Stevens admitted to Exclaim! Magazine, in regard to the fact that he recently called his fifty-state project a joke, that "I don't really have as much faith in my work as I used to, but I think that's healthy. I think it's allowed me to be less precious about how I work and write. And maybe it's okay for us to take it less seriously."

In June 2010, The National's Bryce Dessner claimed Stevens is currently at work on his next full length album and stated the band is playing on the new album.

The Fifty States Project

Beginning with ''Michigan'', Stevens announced an intent to write an album for each of the fifty U.S. states.

Stevens spent the second half of 2004 researching and writing material for the second of these projects, this time focusing his efforts on ''Illinois''. As with ''Michigan'', Stevens used the state of Illinois as a leaping-off point for his more personal explorations of faith, family, love, and location. Though slated for general release on July 5, 2005, the album was briefly delayed by legal issues regarding the use of Superman in the original album cover artwork. In the double vinyl release, a balloon sticker has been placed over Superman on the cover art of the first 5,000 copies. The next printings had an empty space where the Superman image was, as with the CD release.

The widely acclaimed ''Illinois'' was the highest-rated album of 2005 on the Metacritic review aggregator site, based on glowing reviews from ''Pitchfork Media'', ''The Onion A/V Club'', ''Spin'', ''Billboard'', ''Entertainment Weekly'', ''Rolling Stone'', ''The New York Times'', KEXP, and ''The Guardian''. The 2006 PLUG Independent Music Awards awarded Stevens with the Album Of The Year, Best Album Art/Packaging, and Male Artist Of The Year. Pitchfork Media, No Ripcord, and Paste Magazine named ''Illinois'' as the editors' choice for best album of 2005 and Stevens received the 2005 Pantheon prize, awarded to noteworthy albums selling fewer than 500,000 copies, for ''Illinois''. In April 2006, Stevens announced that 21 pieces of music he had culled from the ''Illinois'' recording sessions would be incorporated into a new album, called ''The Avalanche'', which was released on July 11, 2006.

The next states to be taken on in the project have been reported as Oregon and Rhode Island. In late 2005 and early 2006 Stevens played a new instrumental track titled "The Maple River". There are various Maple Rivers in the U.S., in Minnesota, Iowa, North or South Dakota. There is also evidence to suggest the possibility of a New York album. Not only is Stevens's current residence in New York City, but at the footnote of his writing piece titled "Friend Rock", Stevens stated that he was reading a biography on Robert Moses, who is a notable New Yorker. In late 2007, Stevens debuted several new songs about New York, including "BQE", a track about the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, one of many urban developments designed and spearheaded by Robert Moses.

Stevens made brief mention to a possible collaboration with Asthmatic Kitty labelmate Rafter on an album about California. Stevens also recorded "The Lord God Bird" about the reported sighting of an ivory-billed woodpecker, thought to be extinct, in Arkansas (known as the 'lord god' or 'great god' bird because of its breathtaking appearance). This was in connection with a National Public Radio piece in which "independent radio producers Dan Collison and Elizabeth Meister were curious about how Stevens writes his songs."

"Sufjan Stevens is not going to write a record for each of the 50 states after all" was the original text included on the online liner notes for their ''Mews Too: An Asthmatic Kitty Compilation'' disc released on February 7, 2006. This statement was possibly included as a joke, as the text has since been removed and the current liner notes related to Stevens reads, "18. Sufjan Stevens can fold a fitted-sheet (he once worked as a professional folder in a commercial laundromat)."

In an article published on February 24, 2008, in ''New York Magazine'', Stevens implied that New Jersey could be the target of his next state project. After he gave a brief quote about the New Jersey Turnpike, he was asked, "So is this the next musical project?" Sufjan joked, "New Jersey, the musical—an ode to the turnpike."

''The Guardian'' published an interview with Stevens on October 27, 2009, in which he stated in relation to the Fifty States Project: "I have no qualms about admitting it was a promotional gimmick".

''The BQE''

On May 31, 2007, Asthmatic Kitty announced that Stevens would be premiering a new project titled ''The BQE'' in early November 2007. The project, dubbed a "symphonic and cinematic exploration of New York City's infamous Brooklyn-Queens Expressway", was manifested in a live show. ''The BQE'' featured an original film by Stevens (shot in Super 8 mm film and standard 16 mm), while Stevens and a backing orchestra provided the live soundtrack. The performance used 36 performers which included a small band, a wind and brass ensemble, string players, horn players, and hula hoopers. There were no lyrics to the music. ''The BQE'' was commissioned by the Brooklyn Academy of Music as part of their Next Wave Festival and performed on three consecutive nights from November 1–3, 2007.

The performance sold out the 2,109 seat BAM Opera House without any advertising. After three weeks of rehearsing the piece with the three dozen musicians involved, he presented the 30-minute composition. ''The BQE'' was followed by an additional one hour of concert by Stevens and his orchestra. ''The BQE'' won the 2008 Brendan Gill Prize.

The multimedia package was released on October 20, 2009. The release included a CD of the show's soundtrack, a DVD of Brooklyn-Queens Expressway footage that accompanied the original performance (not a film of the performance itself), a 40-page booklet with liner notes and photos, and a stereoscopic 3D View-Master reel. A limited edition version that features the soundtrack on 180-gram vinyl and a 40-page BQE-themed comic book starring the show's hula hooping wonder women, the Hooper Heroes, was also released.

''Run Rabbit Run''

On October 6, 2009 Stevens' label released an album of versions of his 2001 album ''Enjoy Your Rabbit'' rearranged for strings and performed by the Osso String Quartet, entitled ''Run Rabbit Run''.

''All Delighted People'' and ''The Age of Adz''

In 2010 Stevens was featured on The National's album ''High Violet'' in May and sang backing vocals for the band on The Late Show with David Letterman. Following the release of ''High Violet,'' band frontman Matt Berninger mentioned that Stevens was recording a new album in the band's studio and that The National would appear on some of the tracks. In early August, Stevens announced North American tour dates across dozens of cities. On August 20, 2010, Stevens suddenly and unexpectedly released a new collection of tracks, the ''All Delighted People'' EP, for digital download. The EP is built around two versions of the title track, "All Delighted People." The EP surprisingly rose to #27 on the Billboard 200 albums solely through its digital sales. On August 26, Asthmatic Kitty announced that Stevens would release his newest full length album, ''The Age of Adz'', on October 12. NPR streamed the album until it released October 12, 2010.

The two albums featured a wide range of arrangements, from orchestral to electronic. Song lengths were also extended as the track "Djohariah" from ''All Delighted People'' is 17 minutes long while "Impossible Soul" from ''The Age of Adz'' is 25 minutes long. The albums also feature many styles from disco to folk.

In interviews, Stevens has stated that, in 2009/10, he suffered from a mysterious debilitating virus infection that affected his nervous system. He experienced chronic pain, and was forced to stop working on music for several months. He said: "''The Age of Adz'', is, in some ways, a result of that process of working through health issues and getting much more in touch with my physical self. That's why I think the record's really obsessed with sensation and has a hysterical melodrama to it."

On October 12, 2010, Stevens began his North American tour in Montreal featuring virtually all new material from his newly released albums. The tour lasted a month and ended on November 15, 2010 in New York.

Stevens toured Australia and New Zealand in early 2011, featuring as part of The Sydney Festival, and appearing on-stage with The National during the last of three sold-out Auckland shows. He also toured around Europe in April and May 2011; this was the first time he has played there in 5 years. His shows mostly consisted of new material, but he did play many older tracks from ''Seven Swans'' and ''Illinois''.

Themes

Many of his songs have spiritual allusions. He says he does not try to make music for the sake of preaching. "I don't think music media is the real forum for theological discussions," says Stevens. "I think I've said things and sung about things that probably weren't appropriate for this kind of forum. And I just feel like it's not my work or my place to be making claims and statements, because I often think it's misunderstood."

Such themes are most notable on his album ''Seven Swans'', the songs "Abraham", "Seven Swans", "To Be Alone with You", "He Woke Me Up Again", "We Won't Need Legs to Stand" and "The Transfiguration" refer to Christian themes. In "Abraham", Stevens recounts the Old Testament story in the Book of Genesis. The lyrics of "The Transfiguration" appear to follow the Biblical accounts of Matthew 17:1–8, Mark 9: 1–8, and Luke 9:28–36. The title of "All the Trees of the Fields Will Clap Their Hands" is a quote from Isaiah 55:12.

During a 2004 interview with Adrian Pannett for ''Comes with a Smile'' magazine, when asked how important faith was to his music, he responded, "I don't like talking about that stuff in the public forum because, I think, certain themes and convictions are meant for personal conversation."

Discography

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" |- ! rowspan="2"|Year ! rowspan="2"|Album ! colspan="5"|Peak chart positions |- ! style="width:35px;"|US ! style="width:35px;"|US H.S. ! style="width:35px;"|CAN ! style="width:35px;"|IRL ! style="width:35px;"|UK |- | 2000 | style="text-align:left;"|''A Sun Came'' | – | – | – | – | – |- | 2001 | style="text-align:left;"|''Enjoy Your Rabbit'' | – | – | – | – | – |- | 2003 | style="text-align:left;"|''Michigan'' | – | – | – | – | – |- | 2004 | style="text-align:left;"|''Seven Swans'' | – | – | – | – | – |- | 2005 | style="text-align:left;"|''Illinois'' | 121 | 1 | 23 | – | – |- | 2006 | style="text-align:left;"|''The Avalanche: Outtakes and Extras from the Illinois Album'' | 71 | – | 93 | – | – |- | 2006 | style="text-align:left;"|''Songs for Christmas'' | 122 | – | – | – | – |- | 2009 | style="text-align:left;"|''The BQE'' | – | – | – | – | – |- | 2010 | style="text-align:left;"|''All Delighted People(EP)'' | 27 | – | – | – | – |- | 2010 | style="text-align:left;"|''The Age of Adz'' | 7 | – | 13 | 23 | 30 |}

References

External links

Sufjan Stevens – official site

Asthmatic Kitty – label page

Sounds Familyre – label page

Purevolume – official Purevolume site

Sufjan Stevens – Rateyourmusic

Photos from Town Hall

Interview with Vish Khanna

Interview with Sufjan Stevens by Gerry Visco, New York Press, "Give Me Your Ugly"

"All Quiet on the Midwestern Front," Cover Story by Susan Moll, Stomp & Stammer, September 2005

Sufjan Stevens performance from Austin City Limits, September 17, 2006

Live concert from the Sydney Opera House, Sydney Festival, January 2011 Sufjan Stevens: "Age of Adz", Sydney Opera House, January 2011.

Category:1975 births Category:Living people Category:American banjoists Category:American composers Category:American folk musicians Category:American folk singers Category:American folk guitarists Category:American multi-instrumentalists Category:American oboists Category:American rock guitarists Category:American rock singer-songwriters Category:Cor anglais players Category:People from Detroit, Michigan Category:People from Holland, Michigan Category:Rough Trade Records artists Category:Waldorf school alumni Category:Winners of the Shortlist Music Prize Category:American performers of Christian music Category:American Episcopalians Category:Musicians from Detroit, Michigan Category:Indie pop musicians Category:American electronic musicians Category:Folk rock musicians Category:Experimental musicians

bg:Суфян Стивънс da:Sufjan Stevens de:Sufjan Stevens es:Sufjan Stevens eo:Sufjan Stevens fr:Sufjan Stevens os:Стивенс, Суфьян it:Sufjan Stevens he:סופיאן סטיבנס nl:Sufjan Stevens ja:スフィアン・スティーヴンス no:Sufjan Stevens pl:Sufjan Stevens pt:Sufjan Stevens ru:Стивенс, Суфьян simple:Sufjan Stevens sr:Суфјан Стивенс fi:Sufjan Stevens sv:Sufjan Stevens

name	John Wayne Gacy
birthname	John Wayne Gacy, Jr.
birth date	March 17, 1942
birth place	Chicago, Illinois, USA
death date	May 10, 1994
death place	Crest Hill, Illinois, USA
cause	Lethal injection
victims	33
country	United States
states	Illinois
beginyear	1972
endyear	1978
apprehended	December 1978
sentence	Death }}

John Wayne Gacy, Jr. (March 17, 1942 – May 10, 1994) was an American serial killer also known as the Killer Clown who raped and murdered 33 teenage boys and young men between 1972 and 1978. Gacy buried 26 of his victims in the crawlspace of his home and three others elsewhere on his property, discarding the remaining four victims in a nearby river.

Gacy became known as the "Killer Clown" due to his charitable services at fundraising events, parades and children's parties where he would dress as "Pogo the Clown," a character he devised himself.

Early life

John Wayne Gacy was born in Chicago, Illinois, the only son and the second of three children born of John Stanley Gacy (June 20, 1900 – December 25, 1969), a machinist and World War I veteran, and Marion Elaine (née Robinson; May 4, 1908 – December 14, 1989). Gacy was of Polish and Danish heritage (his paternal grandparents had been born in Poland). As a child, he was both overweight and nonathletic. He was close to his two sisters and mother (who affectionately called him "Johnny"), but was regularly disciplined by his father, an alcoholic who was physically abusive toward his wife and children, often beating them with a leather belt. Throughout his childhood and adolescence, Gacy continuously strove to make his stern father proud of him, but seldom received his approval; the elder Gacy regularly belittled him, often calling him a "sissy", "stupid" and a "Mama's boy". At the age of nine, Gacy was molested by a family friend. When he was 11, he was struck on the forehead by a swing. The resulting head trauma formed a blood clot in his brain that went unnoticed until he was 16, when he began to suffer blackouts. His father suspected the episodes were an effort to gain sympathy and accused his son of faking. Gacy was prescribed medication to dissolve the clot. Gacy attended four different high schools but dropped out of every one, never actually graduating. At the age of 20, following an argument with his father, Gacy left home and moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, where he worked in a mortuary for three months before returning to Chicago. Without returning to high school, Gacy enrolled in and eventually graduated from Northwestern Business College. He obtained a management-trainee position with the Nunn-Bush Shoe Company shortly after graduation. In 1964, Gacy was transferred to Springfield, Illinois to work as a salesman. There he met co-worker Marlynn Myers, and they married in September 1964. After completing his apprenticeship, Gacy was promoted to manager of his department. He became active in local Springfield organizations, joining the Jaycees and rising to vice-president of the Springfield chapter by 1965.

Move to Iowa, first offenses and imprisonment

Following a lucrative offer from Gacy's father-in-law to appoint him manager of three KFC restaurants, Gacy and his wife moved from Illinois and settled in Waterloo, Iowa. Gacy and his wife had two children; a son named Michael, born in March 1967, followed by a daughter named Christine in January 1969. Shortly after his arrival in the city, Gacy had his first known homosexual experience: a colleague of the Waterloo Jaycees — which Gacy had joined upon his arrival in the city — performed oral sex on Gacy while he was drunk. Gacy was an enthusiastic worker for the Waterloo Jaycees, becoming a tireless worker on several fund-raising projects. In 1967, he was named "outstanding vice-president" of the Waterloo Jaycees. These achievements even earned approval from his father, who mentioned his previous criticism of his son during a 1967 visit to Waterloo and concluded the conversation with his son with the words: "Son, I was wrong about you."

However, there was a seamier side of Jaycee life in Waterloo: one that involved wife swapping, prostitution, pornography and drugs. Gacy was deeply involved in many of these activities, and regularly cheated on his wife. In late 1967, Gacy began to molest teenage male employees of the restaurants he managed. Gacy opened a "club" in his basement, where he allowed employees to drink alcohol before he made sexual advances toward them. One youth was encouraged to sleep with Gacy's wife, then blackmailed into performing oral sex upon Gacy. Several teenagers were conned into believing Gacy was commissioned into carrying out homosexual experiments in the interests of "scientific research", for which the youths were paid up to $50.

Gacy's double life in Waterloo came to a sudden halt in March 1968 when two local boys, aged 15 and 16, accused him of sexually assaulting them. Gacy professed his innocence, but in August of that year he hired another Waterloo youth to physically assault one of his accusers in an effort to discourage the boy from testifying against him. The youth was caught and confessed, and Gacy was arrested. On September 3, Gacy was ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation at the Psychiatric Hospital of the State University of Iowa. Two doctors examined Gacy over a period of 17 days and concluded he was an antisocial personality, unlikely to benefit from medical treatment and whose behavior pattern was likely to bring him into repeated conflict with society. The doctors also concluded he was mentally competent to stand trial.

December 3, 1968, Gacy was convicted of sodomy and sentenced to 10 years at Anamosa State Penitentiary, located in Jones County, Iowa. The day Gacy was sentenced, his wife petitioned for divorce and requested possession of the couples' home, property and subsequent alimony payments. The Court ruled in her favor and the divorce was final in September 1969. Gacy never saw his first wife or children again.

In prison, Gacy rose to the position of head cook and was a model prisoner: joining an all-inmate Jaycee chapter in which he actively supervised several projects to improve conditions for inmates at the prison and even managed to secure an increase in the inmates' daily pay in the prison mess hall. He also oversaw the installation of a miniature golf course in the prison's recreation yard. In June 1969, Gacy first applied to the State of Iowa Board of Parole for early release, which was initially denied. In preparation for a second scheduled hearing in May 1970, Gacy completed 16 high school courses, for which he obtained his diploma in November 1969. Gacy's father died from cirrhosis of the liver on Christmas Day 1969. Gacy was not told his father had passed away until several days after his death. When he heard the news, he broke down in tears and had to be supported by prison staff. Gacy requested compassionate leave from prison to attend his father's funeral, but his request was denied.

Parole

Gacy was granted parole with 12 months' probation on June 18, 1970 after serving either 21 months or 18 months of his 10-year sentence. Upon his release, Gacy announced to a friend who collected him from prison that he intended to re-establish himself in Waterloo. However, within 24 hours of his release, Gacy opted to relocate to Chicago to live with his mother. He arrived in Chicago on June 19 and obtained a job as a short-order cook in a restaurant.

On February 12, 1971, Gacy was charged with sexually assaulting a teenage boy. The youth claimed that Gacy had lured him into his car at Chicago's Greyhound bus terminal and had attempted to force him into sex. The complaint was subsequently dismissed when the youth failed to appear in court. The Iowa Board of Parole did not learn of this incident (which violated the conditions of his parole) and the records of Gacy's previous convictions were subsequently sealed: he was restored to full citizenship in October 1971. Gacy hid his criminal record until police began investigating him for his later murders.

With financial assistance from his mother, Gacy bought a house at 8213 West Summerdale in an unincorporated area of Norwood Park in August 1971. Shortly after Gacy and his mother moved into the house, he became engaged to a woman named Carole Hoff, a divorcee whom he had briefly dated in high school, who had two young daughters. His fiancee moved into his home soon after the couple announced their engagement and Gacy's mother moved out of the house shortly before his wedding, which was held on July 1, 1972.

On June 22, 1972, Gacy was again arrested and charged with battery after another young man complained to police that Gacy, impersonating a police officer, had flashed a sheriff's badge, lured him into his car, and forced him to perform oral sex upon him. These charges were dropped after the complainant attempted to blackmail Gacy into his dropping the charges in exchange for money.

Businessman and community volunteer

Following Gacy's marriage to Carole Hoff, his new wife and stepdaughters moved into the Summerdale Avenue house. In 1972, Gacy quit his job as a cook and started his own construction business, PDM Contractors (PDM being the initials for 'Painting, Decorating and Maintenance'). The business initially undertook minor repair work such as signwriting, pouring concrete and redecorating but later expanded to include projects such as interior design, remodeling, installation, assembly and landscaping. By 1978, PDM's annual turnover would gross over $200,000. By 1975, Gacy had ceased to have sexual relations with his wife after openly admitting to her he was bisexual. He began spending most evenings away from home only to return in the early hours of the morning with the excuse he had been working late. His wife observed Gacy bringing teenage boys into his garage and also found gay pornography inside the house. The Gacys divorced by mutual consent in March 1976.

Gacy became active in his local community activity and projects, including entertaining at picnics and parties as a clown and volunteering to clean the township Democratic party office where he offered the labor services of his PDM employees free of charge. Gacy was rewarded for his services by being appointed to serve upon the Norwood Park Township street lighting committee. He subsequently earned the title of precinct captain. In 1975, Gacy was appointed director of Chicago's annual Polish Constitution Day Parade — an annual event he was to supervise from 1975 until 1978. Through his work with the parade, Gacy met and was photographed with then First Lady Rosalynn Carter on May 6, 1978. Rosalynn Carter signed one photo: "To John Gacy. Best Wishes. Rosalynn Carter". The event later became an embarrassment to the United States Secret Service, as in the pictures Gacy is wearing an "S" pin, indicating a person who has received a special clearance by the Secret Service. Gacy became aware of a "Jolly Joker" Clown Club when he joined the local Moose Club, whose members — dressed as clowns — would regularly perform at fundraising events and parades as well as voluntarily entertain hospitalized children. By late 1975, Gacy had joined the Jolly Jokers and had created a performance character, "Pogo The Clown". He designed his own costumes and taught himself how to apply clown makeup. The sharp corners Gacy painted at the edges of his mouth are contrary to the rounded borders that professional clowns normally employ, so as not to scare children. Gacy performed as Pogo at local parties and events, and though he often spoke of entertaining at children’s hospitals, there is no evidence of his doing so. Gacy is also known to have arrived, dressed in his clowning garb, at a favorite drinking venue named the Good Luck Lounge on several occasions with the explanation he had just performed at a venue as Pogo and was stopping for a social drink before heading home.

Murders

On January 2, 1972, Gacy, engaged to marry his second wife, picked up a 15-year-old youth named Timothy Jack McCoy from Chicago's Greyhound bus terminal. Gacy took McCoy — who was traveling en route from Michigan to Omaha — on a sightseeing tour of Chicago, and then drove him to his home on the promise that he could spend the night and be driven back to the station in time to catch his bus. Gacy later said that he awoke the following morning to find McCoy standing in his bedroom doorway with a kitchen knife in his hand. Gacy leapt from his bed and McCoy raised both arms in a gesture of surrender, tilting the knife upwards and accidentally cutting Gacy's forearm (he had the scar on his arm to support this claim). Gacy twisted the knife from McCoy's wrist, banged his head against his bedroom wall then kicked him against his wardrobe and walked towards him. McCoy then kicked him in the stomach and Gacy then stabbed McCoy repeatedly in the chest and watched him slide down towards the floor. Gacy claimed he then went to his kitchen and saw an opened carton of eggs and a slab of unsliced bacon on his kitchen table. McCoy had also set the table for two: he had walked into Gacy's room to wake him while absentmindedly carrying the kitchen knife in his hand. Gacy subsequently buried McCoy in his crawl space and later covered the youth's grave with a layer of concrete.

Three years later, in July 1975, one of Gacy's employees, 17-year-old John Butkovitch, disappeared. The day prior to his disappearance, Butkovitch had threatened Gacy over two weeks' outstanding back pay. Gacy later admitted to luring Butkovitch to his home while his wife and stepchildren were visiting his sister in Arkansas, ostensibly to settle the issue of Butkovitch's overdue wages. Gacy conned the youth into cuffing his wrists behind his back, then strangled him to death and buried his body under the concrete floor of his garage. Gacy later admitted to having "sat on the kid's chest for a while" before killing him. Butkovitch's Dodge sedan was found abandoned in a parking lot with the youth's wallet inside and the keys still in the ignition. Butkovitch's father called Gacy, who claimed he was happy to help search for the youth but was sorry Butkovitch had "run away". Gacy was questioned about Butkovitch's disappearance and admitted the youth and two friends had arrived at his apartment demanding Butkovitch's overdue pay, but claimed all three youths had left after a compromise had been reached. Over the following three years, Butkovitch's parents called police more than 100 times, urging them to investigate Gacy further.

Gacy's second wife divorced him eight months later, and Gacy began to kill more frequently as he now had the house to himself. Between April and October 1976, Gacy killed a minimum of eight youths between the ages of 14 and 18, seven of whom were buried in his crawlspace, and one beneath his dining room floor. In December 1976, another Gacy employee, Gregory Godzik, disappeared. Godzik had worked for PDM for only three weeks before he disappeared. In the time he had worked for Gacy, he had informed his family Gacy had had him "dig trenches for some kind of (drain) tiles" in his crawl space. Godzik's parents and older sister, Eugenia, contacted Gacy about Greg's disappearance. Gacy claimed to the family that Greg had run away from home, having indicated to Gacy prior to his disappearance that he wished to do so. Gacy also claimed to have received a recorded answering machine message from Godzik shortly after the youth had disappeared. When asked if he could play back the message to Godzik's parents, Gacy stated that he had erased it.

On January 20, 1977, John Szyc, a 19-year-old acquaintance of Butkovich, Godzik and Gacy, disappeared. Szyc was lured to Gacy's house on the pretext of selling his Plymouth Satellite to Gacy. He was buried in Gacy's crawl space directly above the body of Godzik. Gacy later sold Szyc's car to another of his employees. In April 1977, following the March 15 murder of 20-year-old Jon Prestidge — a Michigan youth who disappeared while visiting friends in Chicago — Gacy became temporarily engaged to a woman he had been dating for three months and his fiancée moved into his house. By mutual agreement, the engagement was called off in June of that year and his fiancée moved out of his home. Between July and December 1977, Gacy killed a further seven young men between the ages of 16 and 21, including the son of a Chicago Police Sergeant. In August 1977, a clue emerged to the disappearance of John Szyc when the employee, to whom Gacy had sold Szyc's car, was arrested for stealing gasoline from a station while driving Szyc's car. Upon investigating the theft, Gacy told officers that Szyc had sold the car to him before leaving town. The police did not pursue the matter further.

On December 30, 1977, Gacy abducted a 19-year-old student named Robert Donnelly from a Chicago bus stop at gunpoint. Gacy drove Donnelly home with him, raped him, tortured with various devices, and repeatedly dunked his head into a bathtub filled with water until he passed out, before Gacy revived him. Donnelly later testified at Gacy's trial that he was in such pain that he asked Gacy to kill him to "get it over with", to which Gacy replied: "I'm getting 'round to it". After several hours of assaulting and torturing the youth, Gacy drove Donnelly to his place of work, removed the handcuffs from the youth's wrists, and released him. Donnelly reported the assault and Gacy was questioned about it on January 6, 1978. Gacy admitted to having had "slave-sex" with Donnelly, but insisted everything was consensual. The police believed him and no charges were filed. The following month, Gacy killed a 19-year-old youth named William Kindred, who disappeared February 16, 1978 after telling his fiancée he was to spend the evening in a bar. Kindred was the final victim to be buried in Gacy's crawl space, and Gacy began disposing of his victims in the Des Plaines River.

In March 1978, Gacy lured a 26-year-old named Jeffrey Rignall into his car. Upon entering the car, the young man was chloroformed and driven to the house on Summerdale, where he was raped, tortured with various instruments including lit candles, and repeatedly chloroformed into unconsciousness. Rignall was then driven to Lincoln Park, where he was dumped, unconscious but alive, and managed to stagger to his girlfriend's apartment. Rignall was later informed the chloroform had permanently damaged his liver. Police were again informed of the assault, but did not investigate Gacy. Rignall remembered, through the chloroform haze of that night, Gacy's black Oldsmobile, the Kennedy Expressway and particular side streets. He staked out the exit on the Expressway where he knew he had been driven until — in April — he saw Gacy's distinctive black Oldsmobile, which Rignall and his friends followed to 8213 West Summerdale. Police issued an arrest warrant, and Gacy was arrested on July 15. He was facing an impending trial for a battery charge for the Rignall incident when he was arrested in December for the murders.

Investigation

On December 11, 1978, John Gacy visited a Des Plaines pharmacy to discuss a potential remodeling deal with Phil Torf, the owner of the store. While discussing the potential deal with Torf, Gacy was heard mentioning that his firm hired teenage boys while he was within earshot of a 15-year-old employee named Robert Jerome Piest.

After Gacy left the store, Piest told his mother that "some contractor wants to talk to me about a job". Piest left the store, promising to return shortly. When Piest failed to return, his family filed a missing person report on their son with the Des Plaines Police. The owner of the pharmacy named Gacy as the contractor Piest had most likely left the store to talk with.

Gacy denied talking to Piest when Des Plaines police called him the next day, and promised to come to the station later that evening to make a statement confirming this, indicating he was unable to do so at that moment as his uncle had just died. At 3:30 a.m., Gacy, covered in mud, arrived at the police station, claiming he had been involved in a car accident. Upon returning to the station later that day, Gacy flatly denied any involvement in Piest's disappearance, and denied offering him a job.

Des Plaines police were convinced Gacy was behind Piest's disappearance and checked Gacy's record, discovering that he had an outstanding battery charge against him in Chicago and had served a prison sentence in Iowa for sodomy. A search of Gacy's house, on December 13, turned up several suspicious items: a 1975 high school class ring, other people's driver's licenses, handcuffs, a two-by-four with holes drilled in the ends, books on homosexuality and pederasty, a syringe, clothing too small for Gacy, and a photo receipt from the pharmacy where Robert Piest worked. Police decided to assign two two-man surveillance teams to follow Gacy, while they continued their investigation of Gacy regarding Piest's disappearance. Gacy filed a $750,000 civil suit against the Des Plaines police, demanding the police surveillance cease. The hearing of his suit was scheduled for December 22.

Further investigation into Gacy's background linked him to the disappearance of three additional youths. One of Gacy's employees informed detectives of Gregory Godzik's disappearance, and Gacy's second wife told of the disappearance of John Butkovich. The high school ring found in Gacy's house was traced to John Szyc. On December 18, the Nisson Pharmacy photo receipt found in Gacy's kitchen was traced to a colleague of Piest's, who said she had placed it in his parka pocket just before he left the store, proving conclusively Piest had been in Gacy's house. Another employee revealed Gacy had made him dig trenches in the crawl space of Gacy's house.

On December 20, 1978, Gacy invited two of the surveillance detectives inside his house. The police noticed the smell of corpses emanating from a heating duct. The officers who previously searched Gacy's house failed to notice this as on that occasion the house had been cold. Gacy had remarked to two of the surveillance officers watching him in the days before his arrest: "You know... clowns can get away with murder." On the afternoon of December 21, the eve of the hearing of Gacy's civil suit, police obtained a second search warrant of Gacy's house. To hold Gacy in custody while the search commenced, officers arrested Gacy on a charge of marijuana possession. Upon digging in the crawl space of Gacy's Norwood Park Township residence, police quickly found several human bones and informed investigators they could charge Gacy with murder.

Arrest and confession

After being informed that police had found human remains in his crawl space and that he would now face murder charges, Gacy told officers he wanted to "clear the air," adding that he knew his arrest was inevitable since he had spent the previous evening on the couch in his lawyers' office. In the early hours of December 22, Gacy confessed to police that since 1972, he had committed approximately 25–30 murders, all of whom he falsely claimed were teenage male runaways or male prostitutes, whom he would typically abduct from Chicago's Greyhound Bus station or off the streets and lure to his house with either the promise of a job with his construction company, with an offer of money for sex or simply grab by force.

Once back at Gacy's house, the victims would be handcuffed or otherwise bound, then choked with a rope or a board as they were sexually assaulted. Gacy would often stick clothing in the victims' mouths to muffle their screams. Many of his victims had been strangled with a tourniquet, which Gacy referred to as his "rope trick." Occasionally, the victim had convulsed for an "hour or two" after the rope trick before dying. When asked where he drew the inspiration for the two-by-four found at his house in which he had manacled many of his victims, Gacy stated he had been inspired to construct the device from reading about the Houston Mass Murders.

The victims were usually lured alone to his house, although on approximately three occasions, Gacy had what he called "doubles" — occasions wherein he killed two victims on the same evening.

Most victims were buried in Gacy's crawl space where, periodically, he would pour quicklime to hasten the decomposition of the bodies. Gacy stated he had lost count of the number of victims buried in his crawl space and had thrown the final five victims — all killed in 1978 — off the I-55 bridge into the Des Plaines River because his crawl space was full. He also confessed to police he had buried the body of John Butkovitch in his garage. To assist officers in their search for the victims buried in his house, Gacy drew a diagram of his basement to show where the bodies were buried. Accompanied by police, Gacy returned to his house on December 22 and showed police where he had buried Butkovitch's body, then police drove to the spot on the I-55 bridge where he had thrown the body of Piest and four other victims (although only four of the five victims Gacy claimed to have disposed of in this way were ever recovered from the Des Plaines river).

Between December 1978 and March 1979, 29 bodies were found at Gacy's property: 26 of the victims were found buried in his crawl space, one victim was found buried beneath the concrete floor of Gacy's garage, another victim was found buried in a pit beneath a barbecue grill in Gacy's back garden and the 29th body was found buried beneath the joists of his dining room floor. Three additional bodies, which had been found in the nearby Des Plaines River between June and December 1978, were also confirmed to have been victims of Gacy.

Several of the bodies were found with the ligature used to strangle them still knotted around their necks. In other instances, cloth gags were found lodged deep down the victims' throats, leading the investigators to conclude that 13 of Gacy's victims died not of strangulation, but of asphyxiation. Some victims were identified due to their known connection to Gacy through PDM Contractors; others were identified due to their personal artifacts being found at 8213 Summerdale: one victim, 17-year-old Michael Bonnin, who had disappeared June 3, 1976 while traveling from Chicago to Waukegan, was identified because his fishing license was found at Gacy's home; another youth, Tim O' Rourke, was last heard mentioning that a contractor had offered him a job. Of Gacy's identified victims, the youngest were Samuel Stapleton and Michael Marino, both 14 years old; the oldest were Russell Nelson and James Mazzara, both 21 years old. Eight of the victims have never been identified.

On April 9, 1979, Robert Piest's body was discovered on the banks of the Des Plaines River: his autopsy revealed that "paper-like material" had been shoved down his throat while he was alive.

Trial

John Gacy was brought to trial on February 6, 1980, charged with 33 murders. He was tried in Rockford before Judge Louis Garippo.

In the year before his trial, at the request of his defense counsel, Gacy spent over 300 hours with the doctors at the Menard Correctional Center undergoing a variety of psychological tests before a panel of psychiatrists to determine whether he was mentally competent to stand trial.

Gacy had attempted to convince the doctors he was suffering from a multiple personality disorder. His lawyers, however, opted to plead not guilty by reason of insanity to the charges against him, and produced several psychiatric experts who had examined Gacy the previous year to testify to their findings. Three psychiatric experts appearing for the defense at Gacy's trial testified they found Gacy to be a paranoid schizophrenic who suffered from a multiple personality disorder.

The prosecution's case was that Gacy was sane and fully in control of his actions. The prosecution produced several witnesses to testify to the premeditation of his actions and the efforts he went to in order to escape detection, plus doctors who refuted the defense doctors' claims of multiple personality and insanity. Two witnesses who testified were PDM employees, who confessed Gacy had made them dig trenches in his crawl space. One of these employees, Michael Rossi, testified that in August 1977, Gacy had marked a location in the crawl space with sticks and told him to dig a drainage trench. When asked where in the crawl space he had dug, Rossi turned to a diagram of Gacy's home on display in the courtroom, showing where the bodies were found in the crawl space and elsewhere on the property, and pointed to the location of the remains of an unidentified victim known as "Body 13". Rossi stated he had not dug any other trenches, but — at Gacy's request — had supervised other PDM employees digging trenches in the crawl space. He also testified that Gacy would periodically look into the crawl space to ensure employees did not deviate from the precise locations he had marked. Gacy had testified after his arrest he had had employees (including Gregory Godzik) dig trenches in order that he would "have graves available". During the third week of the trial, Gacy's defense team attempted to raise the possibility that all 33 murders were accidental erotic asphyxia deaths: the Cook County Coroner countered this assertion with evidence that Gacy's claim was impossible.

On February 29, one of the youths Gacy had sexually assaulted in 1967, Donald Voorhees, testified to his ordeal at Gacy's hands, and that Gacy had subsequently paid another youth to beat him and spray mace in his face so he would not testify against him. The youth felt unable to testify, but did attempt to briefly, before being asked to step down. Robert Donnelly testified the week after Voorhees, recounting his ordeal at Gacy's hands in December 1977. Donnelly was visibly distressed as he recollected the abuse he endured at Gacy's hands and came close to breaking down on several occasions. As the youth testified, Gacy repeatedly laughed at Donnelly's expense, but the youth finished his testimony. One of Gacy's defense attorneys, Robert Motta, attempted to discredit Donnelly's testimony, but the youth refused to recant.

During the fifth week of the trial, Gacy wrote a letter to Garippo, requesting a mistrial, claiming he had been against the defense's insanity plea, that his defense team had not called enough witnesses, that he had been denied the opportunity to testify (as his defense counsel had advised him) and that the statements given by police as to what he had said after his arrest were false, "self-serving" statements used by the prosecution. Garippo told Gacy that he had the choice as to whether he wished to testify, and was free to indicate if he wished to do so.

On March 11, both counsels began their final arguments (which finished the following day). The prosecution's Terry Sullivan spoke first, outlining Gacy's history of abusing youths and his efforts to avoid detection, and describing Gacy's surviving victims — Voorhees and Donnelly — as "living dead". After four hours of argument, the prosecution rested, followed immediately by the defense, Sam Amirante and Robert Motta. Motta and Amirante refuted the prosecution doctors' testimony, attempting to portray Gacy as a "man driven by compulsions he was unable to control", and repeatedly referred to the defense doctors' previous testimony. Amirante and Motta then argued that Gacy's psychology should be studied.

The jury deliberated for less than two hours and found Gacy guilty of each murder. The following day, March 13, both the prosecution and defense made alternate pleas for the sentence the jury should decide: the prosecution requesting a death sentence for each murder committed after the Illinois statute on capital punishment came into effect in June 1977; the defense requesting life imprisonment. The jury deliberated for more than two hours before sentencing Gacy to death.

Death row and execution

Gacy was incarcerated at the Menard Correctional Center in Chester, Illinois, where he spent a total of 14 years on death row.

In prison, Gacy began to paint. The subjects Gacy painted varied, although many were of clowns, some of which depicted himself as "Pogo." Many of his paintings were sold at various auctions for prices ranging between $200 and $20,000 apiece.

John Gacy spent much of his time on death row studying books on law and filing numerous, exhaustive appeals and motions, none of which were successful. Gacy contended that he only had "some knowledge" of five of the murders: those of McCoy, Butkovitch, Godzik, Szyc and Piest and contended the remaining 28 murders had been committed by employees who were in possession of keys to his house while he was away on business trips.

In the summer of 1984, the Supreme Court of Illinois upheld Gacy's conviction, ordering him to be executed by lethal injection on November 14. Gacy appealed against this decision, although on March 4, 1985, the Supreme Court of the United States denied his appeal.

On the morning of May 9, 1994, Gacy was transferred from the Menard Correctional Center to Stateville Correctional Center to be executed. That afternoon, he was allowed a private picnic in the prison grounds with his family. That evening, he observed prayer with a Catholic priest before he was escorted to the Stateville execution chamber to receive a lethal injection.

Before the execution began, the chemicals administered to perform the execution unexpectedly solidified, clogging the IV tube administering the chemicals into Gacy's arm and complicating the execution procedure. Blinds covering the window through which witnesses observed the execution were drawn, and the execution team replaced the clogged tube to complete the procedure. After ten minutes, the blinds were reopened and the execution resumed. The entire procedure took a total of 18 minutes to complete. Anesthesiologists blamed the problem on the inexperience of prison officials who were conducting the execution, stating the proper procedures taught in IV 101 would have prevented the error from occurring. This error apparently led to Illinois' subsequent adoption of an alternate method of lethal injection. On this subject, one of the prosecutors at Gacy's trial, William Kunkle, said: "He still got a much easier death than any of his victims. In my opinion he got an easier death than he deserved, but the important thing is that he paid for his crimes with his life."

According to published reports, Gacy was a diagnosed psychopath who did not express any remorse for his crimes. His last words to his lawyer prior to his execution were that "killing him would not compensate for the loss of others, and that this was the state murdering him." It is reported that his final spoken words, said to a correctional officer as he walked to the execution chamber, were simply "kiss my ass."

In the hours leading up to Gacy's execution, a crowd estimated to number over 1,000 gathered outside the correctional center to observe the execution; the majority of them were vocally in favor of the execution, although anti-death penalty protesters were also present. Of those in favor of the execution, some wore t-shirts harking to Gacy's previous community services as a clown and bearing satirical slogans such as "no tears for the clown". The anti-death penalty protesters present observed a silent candlelight vigil.

After Gacy's death was confirmed at 12:58 a.m., his brain was removed. It is in the possession of Dr. Helen Morrison, a witness for the defense at Gacy's trial, who interviewed Gacy and other serial killers in an attempt to isolate common personality traits of violent sociopaths. An examination of Gacy's brain after his execution revealed no abnormalities.

Artist

In the months following Gacy's execution, many of his paintings were auctioned. A total of nineteen were sold by an autograph dealer named Steve Koschal. The asking prices of Gacy's artwork ranged from $195, for an acrylic painting of a bird to $9500 for a painting depicting dwarves playing baseball against the Chicago Cubs. This particular painting was autographed by several members of the Baseball Hall of Fame, although those who had signed the painting were unaware Gacy was the creator. Koschal had initially suggested to Gacy that he offer his paintings for sale and subsequently became Gacy's agent; even commissioning Gacy to produce specific paintings such as the one signed by the Baseball Hall of Famers.

Exhibitions of Gacy's paintings have been held since the 1980s and continue to be held to this day. Gacy had been criticized for earning money from the sale of his paintings, although he dismissed the criticism, claiming his paintings were designed "to bring joy into people's lives."

Several of Gacy's paintings were specifically bought with the intention that they be burned: a bonfire held in Naperville in June 1994 saw a total of 25 paintings burned. The communal bonfire was attended by approximately 300 people, including family members of nine of Gacy's victims.

On May 13, 2011, an exhibit of 74 of Gacy's works opened at the Arts Factory Gallery in Las Vegas, NV, including the self-portrait "Goodbye Pogo" priced at $4,500. Reportedly, the National Center for Victims of Crime, one of the named beneficiaries of the sale, obtained a cease and desist order on the use of their name in connection with the exhibit.

Victims

Identified victims (age in parentheses)

Only 25 of Gacy's victims were ever identified. By the time of Gacy's trial, 22 victims had been identified. In March 1980, Dr. Robert Stein was able to identify two further bodies unearthed from Gacy's crawl space as those of Kenneth Parker and Michael Marino, two teenage friends who were reported missing on October 25, 1976; the day after they had disappeared. In 1986, one further unidentified victim was eventually identified as Timothy McCoy, Gacy's first victim.

Timothy McCoy (15) January 3, 1972 John Butkovitch (17) July 29, 1975 Darrell Sampson (18) April 6, 1976 Randall Reffett (15) May 14, 1976 Samuel Stapleton (14) May 14, 1976 Michael Bonnin (17) June 3, 1976 William Carroll (16) June 13, 1976 Rick Johnston (17) August 6, 1976 Kenneth Parker (16) October 24, 1976 Michael Marino (14) October 24, 1976 Gregory Godzik (17) December 12, 1976 John Szyc (19) January 20, 1977 Jon Prestidge (20) March 15, 1977 Matthew Bowman (19) July 5, 1977 Robert Gilroy (18) September 15, 1977 John Mowery (19) September 25, 1977 Russell Nelson (21) October 17, 1977 Robert Winch (16) November 10, 1977 Tommy Boling (20) November 18, 1977 David Talsma (19) December 9, 1977 William Kindred (19) February 16, 1978 Timothy O' Rourke (20) June 16–23, 1978 Frank Landingin (19) November 4, 1978 James Mazzara (21) November 24, 1978 Robert Piest (15) December 11, 1978

Unidentified victims

Eight victims remain unidentified: seven from Gacy's crawl space and one from beneath his barbecue pit. Experts used the skulls of the unidentified victims to create facial reconstructions. Based upon Gacy's confession, where the victims were buried in his crawl space relative to Gacy's identified victims, and forensic analysis, police were able to determine the most likely dates when his unidentified victims were killed. January, 1974. Body 28. Barbecue pit. Male aged 18–20. July 29, 1975 – May 1976. Body 10. Crawl space. Male aged 15–17. June 13 – August 6, 1976. Body 21. Crawl space. Male aged 20–24. June–December, 1976. Body 13. Crawl space. Male aged c. 17

August–December 1976. Body 26. Crawl space. Male aged 19–21. August–December 1976. Body 24. Crawl space. Male aged 22–28. January 20 – March 15, 1977. Body 5. Crawl space. Male aged c. 25. July–September, 1977. Body 19. Crawl space. Male aged 18–20.

Media

Film

The made-for-TV film ''To Catch a Killer'', starring Brian Dennehy as John Wayne Gacy, was released in 1992. The film is largely based on the investigation of Gacy, following the disappearance of Robert Piest, by Des Plaines Police and their efforts to arrest him before the scheduled civil suit hearing on December 22.

A feature film, ''Gacy'', was released in 2003. This film cast Mark Holton in the role of John Gacy and largely focuses upon Gacy's life after he moved to Norwood Park in 1971 up until his arrest in 1978.

The made-for-TV film ''Dear Mr. Gacy'' was released in 2010, starring William Forsythe as John Wayne Gacy. The film is based upon the book ''The Last Victim'', written by Jason Moss. The film focuses upon the correspondence between Moss and Gacy before Gacy invited Moss to visit him on death row in 1994.

A horror film, ''8213: Gacy House'', was also released in 2010. This film focuses upon a fictional account of a team of paranormal investigators basing themselves in a house constructed on the former site of Gacy's home and attempting to contact his spirit.

Books

''Buried Dreams: Inside the Mind of Serial Killer John Wayne Gacy'', written by Tim Cahill (ISBN 1-85702-084-7).

''Johnny and Me: The True Story of John Wayne Gacy'', written by Barry Boschelli (ISBN 1-4343-2184-3).

''Killer Clown: the John Wayne Gacy Murders'', written by Terry Sullivan and Peter T. Maiken (ISBN 0-7860-1422-9).

''The Last Victim: A True-Life Journey into the Mind of the Serial Killer'', written by Jason Moss and Jeffrey Kottler, Ph.D (ISBN 0-7535-0398-0).

''The Man Who Killed Boys'', written by Clifford L. Linedecker (ISBN 0-312-95228-7).

''John Wayne Gacy: Defending A Monster'', written by Sam L. Amirante and Danny Broderick (ISBN 1-616-08248-8).

Television

"Hell on Earth 2006", the 150th episode of the Comedy Central animated series ''South Park'', portrays Gacy and fellow serial killers Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer as a Three Stooges-like trio of comic relief buffoons sent to run errands for Satan's birthday party.

Music

Illinois, an album by Sufjan Stevens includes a track called "John Wayne Gacy, Jr." that tells the story of Gacy's Chicago murders.

References

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Cited works and further reading

External links

Crimelibrary.com's entry on John Wayne Gacy

FBI file on John Wayne Gacy

Artwork by John Wayne Gacy

"People v. John Wayne Gacy", from the ''Cook County Clerk of Court'' website.

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