Harold Gould
Harold Gould in 2010
Born	Harold V. Goldstein December 10, 1923(1923-12-10) Schenectady, New York
Died	September 11, 2010(2010-09-11) (aged 86) Woodland Hills, California
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1961–2010
Spouse	Lea Vernon (August 20, 1950 – September 11, 2010; his death; 3 children)

Harold V. Goldstein (December 10, 1923 – September 11, 2010^[1]), best known by his stage name Harold Gould, was an American actor best known for playing Miles Webber on the 1985-1992 sitcom The Golden Girls and Martin Morgenstern in the 1970s sitcom Rhoda. Gould acted in film and television for nearly 50 years, appearing in more than 300 television shows, 20 major motion pictures, and over 100 stage plays, and received Emmy Award nominations five times.^[2] He is known for playing elegant, well-dressed men (as in The Sting), and he regularly played Jewish characters and grandfather-type figures on television and film.^{[citation needed]}

Early life[link]

Gould was born to a Jewish family in Schenectady, New York to Louis and Lillian Goldstein. Louis was a postal worker, and Lillian was a homemaker who did part-time work for the state health department. Gould was raised in Colonie, New York and was valedictorian of his high school class. He enrolled at Albany Teachers College upon graduation (now known as University at Albany, SUNY), and studied to become a social studies or English teacher.

After two years in college, Gould enlisted in the army, during World War II, and saw combat in France in a mortar company.^[2] He developed trenchfoot, and was sent to England to recover. After convalescence, Gould served in a rail transport unit in France.^[3]

After the war, Gould returned to Albany Teachers College to study drama, and graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in 1947.^[4] He performed in summer stock theatre on Cape Cod, then decided to enroll at Cornell University to study drama and speech. Gould earned a master of arts degree in 1948 and a Ph.D. in theatre in 1953 from Cornell, and also met his future wife, Lea Vernon.

Career[link]

Upon graduation, Gould accepted a position at Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Lynchburg, Virginia, and spent three years there teaching and doing stage work.^[3] He made his professional theatre debut in 1955 as Thomas Jefferson in The Common Glory in Williamsburg.^[5]

In 1956, Gould was offered a professorship in the drama department at the University of California, Riverside,^[4] which he accepted. He taught there until 1960, when he decided to try professional acting himself.^[3] He had difficulty finding acting jobs at first, and had to take work as a security guard and as a part-time acting teacher at UCLA.^[2]

Gould made his film debut in Two for the Seesaw but was not credited for his work; his first credited role was a small part in The Coach in 1962. He gradually found more work and got roles in The Yellow Canary, a Rod Serling movie with Pat Boone, Jack Klugman, and Barbara Eden; The Satan Bug; Inside Daisy Clover; and Harper, starring Paul Newman.

Gould worked steadily in television in the 1960s and early 1970s, including roles in Dennis the Menace, Dr. Kildare, Hazel, The Twilight Zone, Get Smart, Hogan's Heroes, The F.B.I., The Big Valley, Cannon and Mission: Impossible. Gould originated the role of Marlo Thomas's father Lou in the 1965 pilot for That Girl, but the series role went to Lew Parker. He appeared in The Long, Hot Summer and He and She, two short-lived television series. Gould also acted in a pilot, later broadcast as a 1972 episode of Love, American Style titled "Love and the Happy Days" as Howard Cunningham, the frustrated father of a young man named Richie Cunningham (played by Ron Howard).^[6]

When ABC turned that episode into a series called Happy Days, Gould was tabbed to reprise the Howard Cunningham role. However when production was delayed, he went abroad to perform in a play. Midway through the play's run, after learning Happy Days was ready to begin shooting, he decided to honor his commitment to the stage production and passed on the part, which led to Tom Bosley being cast as the family patriarch. Gould would later state that a requirement to shave his beard was also a factor in his declining the role.^[7]

Gould had worked in television and film for almost 15 years before his career really took off with his portrayal of Kid Twist in The Sting. He appeared in the Woody Allen movie Love and Death, as a villain in Silent Movie (directed by Mel Brooks), and made guest appearances on television shows such as Hawaii Five-O, Petrocelli, Soap, and The Love Boat. On "Soap" Gould played the hospital roommate of the character Jody Billy Crystal who has suicidal feelings while deciding whether or not to undergo a sexchange. Gould's character sometimes refers to Jody as a 'fagela', which is Yiddish for a Gay man.

Gould as Martin Morgenstern on The Mary Tyler Moore Show in 1973.

In 1972, Gould was cast as Martin Morgenstern, the father of Mary's best friend Rhoda, in an episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show. He reprised the role the following year and was hired as a regular when Rhoda was made into a spin-off in 1974. After Rhoda ended, Gould appeared in short-lived series such as the 1977 series The Feather and Father Gang, where he starred as Harry Danton, a smooth-talking ex-con man, with Stefanie Powers as Toni "Feather" Danton, his daughter and a hard-working, successful lawyer. It ran for 13 episodes.

He also appeared in the miniseries Washington: Behind Closed Doors. In the 1980 NBC miniseries Moviola, he portrayed Louis B. Mayer and gained an Emmy nomination. He appeared as Chad Lowe's grandfather in Spencer, and played a Jewish widower wooing the Christian Katharine Hepburn in Mrs. Delafield Wants to Marry. Other roles included a married man having an affair with another member of his Yiddish-speaking club in an episode of the PBS series The Sunset Years, and as the owner of a deli grooming two African-American men to inherit his business in Singer & Sons.^[5] Gould received Emmy nominations for his roles in Rhoda, Mrs. Delafield Wants to Marry and Moviola.

Gould played Miles Webber, the steadfast boyfriend of Rose Nylund (Betty White) on the NBC series The Golden Girls (he also played a different boyfriend of Rose's named Arnie in the show's first season). He portrayed the father of a villain called The Prankster on Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and made guest appearances on television series such as Felicity, The King of Queens, Touched by an Angel, and Judging Amy. Gould's film roles in the 1990s and 2000s include appearances in Stuart Little, Patch Adams, Master of Disguise, the 2003 remake of Freaky Friday, Nobody's Perfect, and Whisper of the Heart.

His stage credits include Broadway theatre plays such as Jules Feiffer's Grown Ups, Neil Simon's Fools, Richard Baer's Mixed Emotions, and Tom Stoppard's Artist Descending a Staircase. Gould won an Obie Award in 1969 for his work in The Increased Difficulty of Concentration, written by Václav Havel, and reprised the role for a 1988 PBS version of the play.^[2] Gould was an early and longtime (48-years) member of Theatre West, the oldest membership theatre company in Los Angeles.^[8] He played Mr. Green in Jeff Baron's Visiting Mr. Green" at the Pasadena Playhouse.

Personal life[link]

Gould lived in Los Angeles with his wife, Lea. He died from prostate cancer on September 11, 2010.^[1] He is survived by two sons, Joshua and Lowell, and a daughter, Deborah. After his death he was cremated^[9] and his ashes were given to his family. He and Lea were married for 60 years.

Selected works[link]

Films[link]

• The Lawyer (1969)
• The Sting (1973)
• The Front Page (1974)
• Love and Death (1975)
• Gus (1976)
• The Big Bus (1976)
• Silent Movie (1976)
• The One and Only (1978)
• 11th Victim (1979 TV movie)
• Seems Like Old Times (1980)
• King Crab (1980 TV movie)
• Moviola: The Silent Lovers (1980 TV movie)
• Moviola: The Scarlett O'Hara War (1980 TV movie)
• Kenny Rogers as The Gambler (1980 TV movie)
• Mrs. Delafield Wants to Marry (1986 TV movie)
• Playing for Keeps (1986 movie)
• Romero (1989)
• The Sunset Gang (1991 TV movie, episode "Yiddish")
• For Hope (1996 TV movie)
• The Love Bug (1997 TV movie)
• Patch Adams (1998)
• Beloved (1998) (uncredited)
• My Giant (1998)
• Brown's Requiem (1998)
• Stuart Little (1999)
• The Master of Disguise (2002)
• Brother Bear (2003) (voice)
• Freaky Friday (2003)
• Nobody's Perfect (2004)
• Whisper of the Heart (2006) or Mimi wo sumaseba (original release 1995) (voice, English dub)

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Television[link]

Theatre[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Biography portal

• Harold Gould at the Internet Movie Database
• Harold Gould at the Internet Broadway Database
• Harold Gould at Find a Grave
• Harold Gould at TV.com
• Harold Gould biography at Lycos Movies

Guy Kent (born November 2, 1988) is an American actor best known for playing a modern-day interpretation of Buddy Holly in The Day the Music Died.

Life and career[link]

Kent was born in Los Angeles, California on November 2, 1988. He is of English and Greek descent and attended Brentwood School in Los Angeles before graduating from the University of Southern California.

Kent has appeared on FlashForward, Bones, Passions and is an independent cinema mainstay, appearing in The Day the Music Died as a reinterpretation of rock icon Buddy Holly, Meth Head, and the Australian film Sleepwalking Theo^[1]. He is set to star as Donny in The Science of Cool ^[2].

He was featured alongside Jeremy Sumpter, Tristan Wilds, and Travis Caldwell on the cover of the December/January issue of Zooey Magazine ^[3]. In 2011, he also appeared in the Pirate Stereo music video for the single "Thrive of the Thrill."

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Guy Kent at the Internet Movie Database
• Guy Kent on Twitter

Hunter Doherty "Patch" Adams
Adams in Anaheim, California, May 15, 2008
Born	(1945-05-28) May 28, 1945 (age 67) Washington, D.C., U.S.
Nationality	United States
Education	M.D., Virginia Commonwealth University
Alma mater	George Washington University
Home town	Arlington, Virginia
Spouse	Linda Edquist (1975–98; divorced)
Children	Atomic Zagnut Adams Lars Zig Edquist Adams

Hunter Doherty "Patch" Adams (born May 28, 1945, in Washington, D.C.) is an American physician, social activist, citizen diplomat and author. He founded the Gesundheit! Institute in 1971. Each year he organizes a group of volunteers from around the world to travel to various countries where they dress as clowns in an effort to bring humor to orphans, patients, and other people.^[1]

Adams is currently based in Urbana, Illinois. In collaboration with the institute, he promotes an alternative health care model, not funded by insurance policies.^[1]

Early life[link]

Adams had a difficult childhood. His father, an officer in the United States Army, had fought in Korea, and died while stationed in Germany when Adams was still a teenager.^[1] After his father's death, Adams returned to the United States with his mother and brother. Upon his return, Adams has stated that he encountered institutional injustice which made him a target for bullies at school. As a result, Adams was unhappy and became actively suicidal. After being hospitalized three times in one year for wanting to end his life, he decided "you don't kill yourself; you make revolution."^{[citation needed]}

Early career[link]

After graduating (1963) from Wakefield High School,^[2] Adams completed pre-med coursework at the George Washington University. He began medical school without an undergraduate degree, and earned his Doctor of Medicine degree at Virginia Commonwealth University (Medical College of Virginia) in 1971. In the late 1960s one of his closest friends (a man, not a woman as depicted in the Patch Adams film) was murdered. Convinced of the powerful connection between environment and wellness, he believes the health of an individual cannot be separated from the health of the family, community, and the world. While working in an adolescent clinic at MCV, in his final year of med school, he met Linda Edquist, a fellow VCU student who volunteered in the clinic. Soon after graduation, Patch, Linda, and friends founded the Gesundheit! Institute (originally known to many as the Zanies), which ran as a free community hospital for 12 years.

Adams and Edquist married in 1975 and had two sons, Atomic Zagnut "Zag" Adams and Lars Zig Edquist Adams. The couple divorced in 1998.^[3]

Gesundheit! Institute[link]

A revamped Gesundheit! Institute, envisioned as a free, full-scale hospital and health care eco-community, is planned on 316 acres (128 ha) in Pocahontas County, West Virginia. Its goal is to integrate a traditional hospital with alternative medicine, with the organization developing educational programs in sustainable systems design targeted to medical students and the general public.

Since the 1990s Adams has supported the Ithaca Health Alliance (IHA),^[4] founded as the Ithaca Health Fund (IHF) by Paul Glover. In January 2006 IHA launched the Ithaca Free Clinic, bringing to life key aspects of Adams' vision. Adams has also given strong praise to Health Democracy, Glover's book written and published the same year.

In October 2007, Adams and the Gesundheit Board unveiled its campaign to raise $1 million towards building a Teaching Center and Clinic on its land in West Virginia. The Center and Clinic will enable Gesundheit to see patients and teach health care design.

Adams urges medical students to develop compassionate connections with their patients. His prescription for this kind of care relies on humor and play, which he sees as essential to physical and emotional health. Ultimately, Adams wants the Gesundheit! Institute to open a 40-bed hospital in rural West Virginia that offers free, holistic care to anyone who wants it.^[5]

Adams was awarded the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award on January 29, 1997.^[6]

In 2008, Adams agreed to become honorary chair of the "International Association for the Advancement of Creative Maladjustment" or IAACM. In a number of his speeches and essays, Martin Luther King, Jr. had called for such an IAACM, but none was ever created. MindFreedom International, a nonprofit coalition that Gesundheit! belongs to as a sponsor group, launched the IAACM to support "creative maladjustment" and social change.^[7]

In media[link]

The 1998 film Patch Adams was based on Adams' life and views on medicine. Adams has criticized the film, saying it eschewed an accurate representation of his beliefs in favor of commercial viability. He said that out of all aspects of his life and activism, the film portrayed him merely as a funny doctor.^[8] Patch Adams also said of Robin Williams in an interview, "He made $21 million for four months of pretending to be me, in a very simplistic version, and did not give $10 to my free hospital. Patch Adams, the person, would have, if I had Robin's money, given all $21 million to a free hospital in a country where 80 million cannot get care."^[9]

However, in another interview, Adams did clarify that he did not hate Williams^[10], and Williams has actively supported St. Jude Children's Research Hospital for several years.^[11]

As a speaker, Dr. Adams travels around the globe lecturing about his medicine methods. ^[12].

Bibliography[link]

• Adams, Patch; Maureen Mylander (1998). Gesundheit! : bringing good health to you, the medical system, and society through physician service, complementary therapies, humor, and joy. Rochester, Vermont: Healing Arts Press. ISBN 978-0-89281-781-8. http://lccn.loc.gov/99187488. Retrieved 2008-12-16. 
• Adams, Patch; Maureen Mylander (1993). Gesundheit! : bringing good health to you, the medical system, and society through physician service, complementary therapies, humor, and joy. Rochester, Vermont: Healing Arts Press. ISBN 978-0-89281-442-8. http://lccn.loc.gov/92007008. Retrieved 2008-12-16. 
• Adams, Patch; Maureen Mylander (1998). Gesundheit! [sound recording]. Los Angeles, California: NewStar Media. ISBN 978-0-7871-1828-0. http://lccn.loc.gov/00717433. Retrieved 2008-12-16.  4 sound cassettes (ca. 6 hr.) : digitally mastered, Dolby processed.
• Adams, Patch (1998). House calls. cartoons by Jerry Van Amerongen. San Francisco, California: Robert D. Reed Publishers. ISBN 978-1-885003-18-8. http://lccn.loc.gov/98034266. Retrieved 2008-12-16. 
• Bourque, Judith (1999). The real Patch Adams (videorecording) / a film by Judith Bourque. Oley, PA: Bullfrog Films. ISBN 978-1-56029-811-3. http://lccn.loc.gov/2003389123. Retrieved 2008-12-16.  1 videocassette (53 min.) : sd., col. ; 1/2 in.
• Graham, John (1999). It’s up to us. foreword by Patch Adams. Langley, Washington: Giraffe Project. ISBN 978-1-893805-00-2. http://lccn.loc.gov/99097193. Retrieved 2008-12-16. 

References[link]

External links[link]

	Biography portal
	United States portal
	Medicine portal

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Patch Adams

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Patch Adams

• Official website
• Patch Adams at the Internet Movie Database

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There are many people in history who are commonly appended with the phrase "the Great", or who were called that or an equivalent phrase in their own language. Other languages have their own suffixes such as e Bozorg and e azam in Persian and Urdu respectively.

In Persia, the title "the Great" at first seems to be a colloquial version of the Old Persian title "Great King". This title was first used by the conqueror Cyrus II of Persia.^[1]

The Persian title was inherited by Alexander III of Macedon (336–323 BC) when he conquered the Persian Empire, and the epithet "Great" eventually became personally associated with him. The first reference (in a comedy by Plautus)^[2] assumes that everyone knew who "Alexander the Great" was; however, there is no earlier evidence that Alexander III of Macedon was called "the Great".

The early Seleucid kings, who succeeded Alexander in Persia, used "Great King" in local documents, but the title was most notably used for Antiochus the Great (223–187 BC).

Later rulers and commanders began to use the epithet "the Great" as a personal name, like the Roman general Pompey. Others received the surname retrospectively, like the Carthaginian Hanno and the Indian emperor Ashoka the Great. Once the surname gained currency, it was also used as an honorific surname for people without political careers, like the philosopher Albert the Great.

As there are no objective criteria for "greatness", the persistence of later generations in using the designation greatly varies. For example, Louis XIV of France was often referred to as "The Great" in his lifetime but is rarely called such nowadays, while Frederick II of Prussia is still called "The Great". A later Hohenzollern - Wilhelm I - was often called "The Great" in the time of his grandson Wilhelm II, but rarely later.

Rulers[link]

• Abbas I of Persia (1571–1629), Shah of Iran
• Akbar (1542–1605), ruler of the Mughal Empire of South Asia, mainly India
• Alain I of Albret (1440–1522), French aristocrat
• Alexander the Great (356-323 BC), King of Macedonia, Persia, Greece, Egypt, and all of Mesopotamia
• Alexander I of Georgia (1386–1446), King of Georgia
• Alfonso III of León (c. 848-910), King of León, Galicia and Asturias
• Alfred the Great (848/849-899), King of Wessex
• Antiochus III the Great (c. 241–187 BC), ruler of the Seleucid Empire
• Ashoka the Great (c. 304–232 BC), Indian emperor of the Maurya dynasty
• Ashot I of Iberia “the Great”(died 826/830), presiding prince of Iberia (modern Georgia),
• Askia Mohammad I (c. 1442–1538), ruler of the Songhai Empire
• Bhumibol Adulyadej (born 1927), King of Thailand
• Bolesław I Chrobry (967-1025), sometimes called "the Great", first King of Poland
• Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologne and Duke of Lotharingia (also listed in the following section)
• Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke (1736–1809), founder and ruler of the Rattanakosin Kingdom (in what is now Thailand)
• Cnut the Great (c. 985 or 995-1035), King of Denmark, England, Norway and parts of Sweden
• Casimir III the Great (1310–1370), King of Poland
• Catherine the Great (1729–1796), Empress of Russia
• Chandragupta II (reigned 375-413/415), also known as Vikramaditya, ruler of the Gupta empire in India
• Charlemagne (died 814), King of the Franks and Emperor of the Romans
• Chulalongkorn (1853–1910), King of Siam (now Thailand)
• Chlothar II (584-629), King of Neustria and King of the Franks
• Conrad, Margrave of Meissen (c. 1097-1157), Margrave of Meissen
• Constantine I (c. 272-337), Roman emperor
• Cyaxares the Great (c. 625-585 BC), third king of Media
• Cyrus the Great (c. 600 BC or 576 BC–530 BC), founder and ruler of the Persian or Achaemenid Empire
• Darius the Great (550 – 486 BC), third ruler of the Persian Empire
• Devapala (died 850), ruler of the Pala Empire in the Indian subcontinent
• Dionysius I, Greek tyrant of Syracuse^[3]
• Ferdinand I of León and Castile (c. 1015–1065), King of León and Count of Castile
• Frederick the Great (1712–1786), King of Prussia
• Genghis Khan (1162?-1227), founder and Great Khan of the Mongol Empire
• Gero (c. 900–965), ruler of Marca Geronis, a very large march in Europe
• Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden (1594–1632), King of Sweden, founder of the Swedish Empire, and noted military leader
• Gwanggaeto the Great, King of Goguryeo, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea^[4][5]
• Hanno the Great, the name of three leaders of Carthage, in the 4th, 3rd, and 2nd centuries BC
• Henry I, Duke of Burgundy (946–1002)
• Henry IV of France (1553–1610), King of France and King of Navarre
• Herod the Great (73/74 BC-4 BC), King of Judea
• Hugh the Great (898-956), Duke of the Franks and Count of Paris
• Hugh Magnus of France (1007–1025), co-King of France
• Hugh I, Count of Vermandois (1057–1101)
• Humphrey I de Bohun (died c. 1123), Anglo-Norman aristocrat
• Ivan III of Russia (1440–1505), Tsar of Russia
• John I of Portugal (1358–1433), King of Portugal and the Algarve
• John II of Aragon (1398–1479), King of Aragon and, through his wife, King of Navarre
• Justinian I (483-565), Byzantine Emperor
• Kamehameha I (c. 1758-1819), first King of Hawai'i
• Kanishka (died c. 127), ruler of the Kushan Empire in Central Asia and parts of India
• Kvirike III of Kakheti (1010–1029), King of Kakheti in eastern Georgia
• Kublai Khan (1215–1294), Mongol ruler in the 13th century and Emperor of China; founder of the Yuan Dynasty
• Llywelyn the Great (c. 1172–1240), Prince of Gwynedd and de facto ruler of most of Wales
• Louis I of Hungary (1326–1382), King of Hungary, Croatia and Poland
• Mangrai the Great (1238–1317), Lanna, northern Thailand
• Emperor Meiji (1852–1912), Emperor of Japan
• Mircea I of Wallachia (1355–1418)
• Mithridates II of Parthia (died 88 BC), ruler of the Parthian Empire (in present day Iran)
• Mithridates VI of Pontus (134 BC–63 BC), ruler of Pontus and the Bosporan Kingdom
• Mstislav I of Kiev (1076–1132), Grand Prince of Kievan Rus
• Naresuan (1555–1605), King of Ayutthaya
• Narai (1633–1688), King of Ayutthaya (in what is now modern Thailand)
• Odo the Great (died c. 735), Duke of Aquitaine
• Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor (912-973)
• K'inich Janaab' Pakal (603-683), ruler of the Mayan city-state of Palenque
• Parakramabahu I of Polonnaruwa (1123–1186), King of Sri Lanka
• Peter Krešimir IV of Croatia (died 1075), King of Croatia
• Peter the Great (1672–1725), Tsar of Russia
• Peter III of Aragon (1239–1285), King of Aragon and King of Sicily
• Pompey (106 BC-48 BC), military and political leader of the late Roman Republic, rival of Julius Caesar
• Radama I (1793–1828), first king of greater Madagascar
• Raja Raja Chola I (c. 947-1014), Indian emperor of the Cholas.^[6][7][8]
• Rajendra Chola I (reigned 1014–1044), Tamil King of India
• Ramesses II (reigned 1279 BC – 1213 BC), considered the greatest pharaoh of Ancient Egypt
• Ram Khamhaeng (around 1237 to 1247-1298), King of Sukhothai (in present day Thailand)
• Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona (1082–1131), also Count of Provence and various other counties
• Rhodri the Great (c. 820–878), King of Gwynedd (in present day Wales)
• Roman the Great (after 1160-1205), Grand Prince of Kiev
• Saladin (c. 1138-1193), Kurdish Sultan of Egypt and Syria, founder of the Ayyubid dynasty, and victor over the Crusaders
• Samudragupta (c. 335–375), ruler of the Gupta empire in the Indian subcontinent
• Sancho III of Navarre (c. 992-1035), King of Kingdom of Navarre
• Sargon of Akkad (died c. 2215 BC), ruler of the Akkadian Empire
• Sejong the Great (1397–1450), Korean king^[9]
• Shapur II (309-379), king of the Sassanid Empire, Persia
• Simeon I of Bulgaria (864/865-927), ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire
• Stephen III of Moldavia (1433–1504), Prince of Moldavia (Romania)
• Stephen Uroš IV Dušan of Serbia (c. 1308-1355), King of Serbia and Emperor of the Serbs and Greeks
• Taksin (1734–1782), King of the Thonburi Kingdom (Thailand)
• Tamar (1160-1123), Queen of the Georgian Empire
• Timur (1336–1405), better known as Tamerlane, founder of the Timurid Dynasty
• Theobald II, Count of Champagne (1090–1151), Count of Blois and of Chartres as Theobald IV, Count of Champagne and of Brie
• Theodoric the Great (454-526), King of the Ostrogoths, regent of the Visigoths and a viceroy of the Byzantine Empire
• Theodosius I (347-395), Roman emperor
• Tigranes the Great (140-55 BC), Emperor of Armenia
• Tiridates III of Armenia (285-339), King of Armenia
• Umar (c. 586 to 590–644), second caliph of the Muslim Empire
• Valdemar I of Denmark (1131–1182), King of Denmark
• Valentinian I (364-375), Roman Emperor
• Vladimir I of Kiev (c. 958-1015), ruler of Kievan Rus
• Vytautas (c. 1350-1430), archduke of the Lithuanian Grand Duchy
• William I, Count of Burgundy (1020–1087), Count of Burgandy and Mâcon
• William V, Duke of Aquitaine (969-1030), also Count of Poitou
• Xerxes I (519-465 BC), King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire (Persia)
• Yu the Great (c. 2200-2100 BC), legendary ruler in ancient China

Religious figures[link]

• Abraham the Great of Kashkar (ca. 492-586), monk and saint of the Assyrian Church of the East
• Abraham Kidunaia (died c. 366, hermit, priest, and Christian saint of Mesopotamia
• Albertus Magnus (1193/1206–1280), medieval German philosopher and theologian
• Anthony the Great (c. 251–356), early Christian saint of Egypt
• Babai the Great (c. 551–628), Assyrian church leader
• Basil of Caesarea (330-379), Greek bishop and theologian
• Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologne and Duke of Lotharingia (also listed in the previous section)
• Euthymius the Great (377-473), abbot and Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox saint
• Gertrude the Great (1256-c. 1302), German Benedictine, mystic, theologian and Roman Catholic saint
• Pope Gregory I (c. 540-604)
• Hiyya the Great, 3rd-century rabbi, Palestine
• Pope John Paul II (1920–2005)
• Pope Leo I (c. 391 or 400-461)
• Macarius of Egypt (c. 300-391), Egyptian hermit
• Pope Nicholas I (c. 800-867)
• Photius I of Constantinople (c. 810–c. 893), Eastern Orthodox saint and Patriarch of Constantinople
• William of Maleval (died 1157), founder of the Catholic congregation of Williamites

Other[link]

• Beli Mawr, a figure in medieval Welsh literature and genealogies
• Emmy the Great, folk singer
• Matteo Rosso the Great, Roman politician and father of Pope Nicholas III
• Prokop the Great, Hussite general in Bohemia

See also[link]

• Epithet
• List of monarchs by nickname
• List of nicknames of European Royalty and Nobility: G-I
• James, son of Zebedee, also known as James the Greater, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus
• Ajax (mythology), called Ajax the Greater
• Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, whose common honorific "Mahatma" means "Great Soul"

Notes[link]

Greg Giraldo
Giraldo at his final performance, September 24, 2010 in New Brunswick, New Jersey
Born	(1965-12-10)December 10, 1965 New York City, New York, United States
Died	September 29, 2010(2010-09-29) (aged 44) New Brunswick, New Jersey, United States
Medium	Stand-up, television
Nationality	American
Years active	1992–2010
Genres	Observational comedy, black comedy, surreal humor, roast comedian
Subject(s)	Current events, everyday life, self-deprecation, marriage, parenting, pop culture
Spouse	? (1989–1991) Maryann Giraldo (1998–2009) (divorced) 3 children
Notable works and roles	Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn Stand-Up Nation Comedy Central Roasts Lewis Black's Root of All Evil

Greg Giraldo (December 10, 1965 – September 29, 2010) was an American stand-up comedian, television personality, and retired lawyer. Giraldo was best known for his appearances on Comedy Central's televised roast specials, and for his work on that network's television shows Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn, Lewis Black's Root of All Evil, and the programming block Stand-Up Nation, the last of which he hosted.

Early life[link]

Gregory C. Giraldo was born in The Bronx and was raised in a predominantly Irish lower-middle-class neighborhood in Queens.^[1] His father, Alfonso, was from Colombia and worked for Pan Am, and his mother, Dolores, was from Spain. Giraldo was the oldest of three children (brother John and sister Elizabeth) and was raised Roman Catholic.^[2]

Giraldo was an excellent student and was accepted into the prestigious Regis High School in Manhattan. He then went on to earn a bachelor's degree in English from Columbia University in 1987^[3] and a law degree from Harvard Law School in 1990.^[4] While at Columbia, he was an active member of the Psi Upsilon Fraternity.

Before becoming a comedian, Giraldo worked as a lawyer, spending eight months as an associate for Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom before changing his occupation.^[5]

One of the cases that Giraldo handled was an inciting a riot charge, which was brought against his friend and fellow comedian, Jeffrey Ross, in 1993. Ross was performing at a comedy club on Long Island, when a member of the audience produced a toy gun, which looked very similar to a real gun. Ross then grabbed the gun and started fighting with the audience member, and ended up getting arrested.

Said Ross of the incident: "I had to go to court and Greg volunteered to be my attorney as a favor. I remember we slept in his parents' basement in Queens. We drove to court in a Jeep and had dirty blue sport jackets on. It took him two tries, but he got the case dismissed."

Giraldo stated that at the time of the case, he had never done anything in a courtroom before, and nearly ended up sending Ross to jail, when the case was upgraded to a weapons charge and he had nearly told Ross to plead guilty. "The judge called us over...and I had to plead, 'I have no idea what I'm doing here.' We ended up having to get a real lawyer and come back a month later," said Giraldo.^[6]

Giraldo said of his decision to leave the legal profession: "My family was disappointed. But I always wanted to do something creative. I've always had real trouble knowing what my actual desires and goals are. I've just been dragged along by fate. I can't even tell you why I thought to go to law school."^[7]

He also stated: "Because I went to Harvard Law School it seemed like I had my shit together, but I did only because it’s not hard. Everyone is so self motivated that they leave you alone. You get study outlines and just cram, but then when you get out into the real world, it gets tricky. Most comedians are people who couldn’t really work in the real world, they’re too disorganized, too lazy, too fucked up, too erratic, too unstable. If you could work in the real world you would have stayed there because it is so many years of misery in comedy before you really start popping."^[8]

In August 2000, Giraldo was featured in an Esquire magazine article, which profiled several members of the Harvard Law School Class of 1990, who ended up choosing different career paths other than the legal profession.^[9][10] Despite his prior career, Giraldo rejected that persona and very rarely discussed his days as a lawyer.

Career[link]

Giraldo performed regularly at the Comedy Cellar comedy club in Manhattan. He was a regular panelist on Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn. Additionally, he was the star of the short-lived sitcom Common Law.^[11] Giraldo also starred in several pilots, including Drive for CBS, The Greg Giraldo Show for NBC, and Adult Content and Gone Hollywood for Comedy Central.^[12] In 2004, he was featured in the spoken-word Lazyboy song, "Underwear Goes Inside the Pants."

Giraldo performed more than a dozen times on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Late Show with David Letterman, and Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and appeared regularly on The Howard Stern Show. He also appeared as a member of the panel in the NBC show The Marriage Ref.^[13]

He appeared on The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn, Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher, The View, Fox News Channel's The Full Nelson and Beyond The News, Louie Anderson's Comedy Showcase, Comedy Central's Comic Cabana, Showtime's Latino Comedy Festival and Funny is Funny, as well as on the BBC's Live at Jongleurs.^{[14] [15]} Giraldo also performed at the United States Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba as part of a USO tour in 2002.^[16]

He had two half-hour specials on Comedy Central Presents, wrote segments for Last Call with Carson Daly, and was a panelist on Comedy Central's 100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time special. In 2004 his stand up material was featured in Comedy Central's animated series Shorties Watchin' Shorties. Giraldo also appeared on the IFC show Z Rock, playing an angry record producer.^[17]

Giraldo said on Late Night with Conan O'Brien on July 7, 2005, that he had quit drinking alcohol. His series Friday Night Stand-Up with Greg Giraldo began on Comedy Central in late 2005 and ran until 2006. His CD Good Day to Cross a River was released in 2006 by Comedy Central Records.

Giraldo appeared in Comedy Central's annual roasts,^[13] roasting Chevy Chase, Pam Anderson, William Shatner, Jeff Foxworthy, Flavor Flav, Bob Saget, Joan Rivers, Larry the Cable Guy, and David Hasselhoff, as well as the TBS roast of Cheech & Chong.

Giraldo was a regular on Comedy Central's television series Lewis Black's Root of All Evil and was one of the advocates lobbying for his side to be considered the "root of all evil." He won in two of his nine appearances. Giraldo served as a judge during season seven of the NBC reality competition show Last Comic Standing.^[13]

In 2008, Giraldo appeared in venues across the United States as the headlining act of the Indecision '08 Tour, produced by Comedy Central. Midlife Vices, his only one-hour special for Comedy Central, was released in 2009. In June of 2010, Giraldo performed at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Tennessee.^[18] That same month, he hosted The Nasty Show in Chicago, and in July, The Nasty Show in Montreal.^[19]

Personal life[link]

Giraldo was married twice. His first marriage was at the age of 23, and lasted for two years.^[2][20] In a 2005 interview, Giraldo stated that he had been married for seven years to his second wife, a former Carolines comedy club waitress, and that they had three sons, ages five, three and nearly two. Giraldo and his second wife separated in 2008. At the time of Giraldo's death, he was divorced.

Giraldo was very candid about his struggles with drug and alcohol addiction, and the challenges of life on the road, stating in 2005: “I would go on the road and live like a fucking maniac, that’s just the way it was. And then eventually it starts bleeding into your regular life. At first, it starts out on the road and it’s no big deal. So you keep denying that you’re about to destroy your children’s lives because it’s happening in Phoenix as opposed to home. Slowly but surely though, it starts impacting everything and then you have decisions to make. There’s part of me that wants to be an uninhibited, unrestrained lunatic doing whatever I want. Frankly, that was a lot of the fun of it at the beginning. You hear people make grand artistic statements about why they love stand-up. But really, you’re choosing to tell dick jokes in a nightclub for a living. So if you go on the road and get fucked up all the time, you have to take everything that comes with that. You can’t have it both ways. You have to be a reasonable adult or a maniacal party road machine.”^[21]

Death[link]

On September 25, 2010, Giraldo accidentally overdosed on prescription medication.^[22] After he failed to appear for a scheduled performance at the Stress Factory, police officers found him in his hotel room at the Hyatt Hotel in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and rushed him to nearby Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital.^[23] TMZ reported that he had been in a coma for five days when his family had life support removed.^[24] He died on September 29, 2010.^[23][25][26]

Tributes[link]

On September 29, 2010 on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Jon Stewart honored Giraldo by playing a clip of his stand-up, in a one-time segment deemed "Moment of Greg".^[27] Blues Traveler lead singer, John Popper, who had worked with Giraldo on the TV show Z Rock, dedicated the song "The Mountains Win Again" to him, during the band's concert the evening of September 29th.^[28] On September 30, 2010, multiple comedians and celebrities expressed their sorrow for Giraldo's death on Twitter,^[29] and Comedy Central posted a series of clips from Greg Giraldo past works titled "The Best of Greg Giraldo" on their website.^[30]

On October 9, 2010, Comedy Central aired a special titled Comics Anonymous, which had been filmed prior to Giraldo's death and featured several comedians who had been sober for 10 years or more. Executive producer, comedian Mike DeStefano, dedicated the special to Giraldo.^[31] On October 12, 2010, on the series premiere of Nick Swardson's Pretend Time, Swardson dedicated the episode to Giraldo.^[32]

On November 2, 2010, Comix comedy club in New York hosted the Jim Florentine roast, which Giraldo had originally been scheduled to perform at. Throughout the show, many of the comedians on the dais paid tribute to Giraldo, in roast-style fashion. Host Rich Vos joked: “I wasn’t the first choice to host. Greg Giraldo was asked, but he said he’d rather be dead than host this.”^[33]

Seth MacFarlane, Anthony Jeselnik, and Jeff Ross paid tribute to Giraldo during the Comedy Central Roast of Donald Trump in March 2011.

On March 18, 2011, Comedy Central aired Give It Up for Greg Giraldo, a two-hour television special honoring his memory in which multiple comedians, including Jon Stewart, Nick Swardson, Colin Quinn, Jeffrey Ross, Denis Leary, Sarah Silverman, Dave Attell, Tom Papa, Lewis Black, Bill Burr, Daniel Tosh, Conan O'Brien, and Whitney Cummings, talked about his life and career. It also contained short clips of his roasts and other acts.^[34] Coincidentally, Mike DeStefano, who was featured in the special and whose Comics Anonymous special had aired 11 days after Giraldo's death, died 12 days before Give It Up For Greg Giraldo aired, also at the age of 44.^[35]

Discography[link]

• Good Day to Cross a River (2006) Comedy Central Records
• Midlife Vices (2009) Comedy Central Records

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Greg Giraldo

• Greg Giraldo at the Internet Movie Database
• Greg Giraldo at The Comedy Hall of Fame
• Greg Giraldo's MySpace Site
• Greg Giraldo Official Website [site is no longer active]
• Archive of "Giraldo's World: Interview", The DePaulia, 2007, n.d.
• "Comedian Discusses Cornell and his Specialty in Candy" (interview), The Cornell Daily Sun, April 25, 2007
• "Court Jester: Greg Giraldo states his case" [1] (interview), Philly City Paper, October 9, 2007
• Greg Giraldo on Failure, Psychology Today, May 13, 2009
• Greg Giraldo at Find a Grave
• "Opie and Anthony: Greg Giraldo Interview with Patrice O'Neal and Jim Norton", May 6, 2009

v t e Greg Giraldo Albums Good Day to Cross a River (2006) · Midlife Vices (2009) Featured in Common Law  · Comedy Central Roasts  · Lewis Black's Root of All Evil  · Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn  · Last Comic Standing Related "Underwear Goes Inside the Pants"  · Friday Night Stand-Up with Greg Giraldo Wikiquote