Sanka is a brand of instant decaffeinated coffee, sold around the world, and was one of the earliest decaffeinated varieties. Sanka is distributed in the United States by Kraft Foods.

History

Decaffeinated coffee was developed in 1903 by a team of researchers led by Ludwig Roselius in Bremen, Germany. It was first sold in Germany and many other European countries in 1905–1906 under the name Kaffee HAG (short for Kaffee Handels-Aktien-Gesellschaft, or Coffee Trading Public Company). In France, the brand name became "Sanka", derived from the French words sans caféine ("without caffeine"). The brand came to the United States in 1909–1910, where it was first marketed under the name "Dekafa" or "Dekofa" by an American sales agent.

In 1914, Roselius founded his own company, Kaffee Hag Corporation, in New York. When Kaffee Hag was confiscated by the Alien Property Custodian during World War I and sold to an American firm, Roselius lost not only his company, but also the American trademark rights to the name. To re-establish his product, he began to use the Sanka brand name in America.

In Europe, the Hag company used the Sanka brand in many countries (the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland amongst others) as a cheaper alternative to the premium brand Coffee Hag. The brand disappeared in these countries after World War II, but it continued until the 1970s as the premium brand in France. First marketed in the U.S. in 1923, Sanka was initially sold only at two Sanka Coffee Houses in New York, but it soon was brought into retail.

Radio and TV

The intensive American advertising campaigns included the 1927 broadcasts of Sanka After-Dinner Hour (aka Sanka Music, Sanka After-Dinner Music, Sanka Music Hour and Sanka After-Dinner Coffee Hour), heard at 6:30pm Tuesdays on New York's WEAF. Sanka was a sponsor of I Love Lucy and The Andy Griffith Show during their respective runs on CBS television in the 1950s and early 1960s.

With such promotion, Sanka became a nationwide sales success with General Foods Corporation taking over distribution in 1928 as a defensive measure, since Sanka directly competed with its non-caffeine coffee substitute Postum. The bright orange label that made Sanka easily identifiable to consumers found its way into coffee shops around the country in the form of the decaf coffee pot. Coffee pots with a bright orange handle are a direct result of the American public's association of the color orange with Sanka, no matter which brand of coffee is actually served. Businesses that serve rival Folgers decaffeinated coffee usually have green-handled pots. The instant sanka cartoon on the commercial's name is Juan.

Sanka albums

In France, Café Sanka issued heraldic picture albums in the same style as the Coffee Hag albums. However, only six albums of the planned 42 were ever published.

References

External links

Kraft Foods profile on Ludwig Roselius

Category:1920s American radio programs Category:1903 introductions Category:Coffee brands Category:Kraft brands

Name	Sanka Dineth
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Sanka Dineth De Silva
Born	November 12, 1986Kaluthara, Sri Lanka
Origin	Sri Lanka
Instrument	Vocals, Guitar
Genre	R&B;, dance-pop
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, composer
Years active	M Entertainments
Associated acts	Sanka and Nadhini Live in Concert

Sanka Dineth De Silva (born November 12, 1986), better known as Sanka Dineth, is a Sri Lankan pop music singer-songwriter and composer.

Early life

Sanka Dineth spent most of his schooling life was at Tissa Central College in Kalutara, then later at Panadura Sumangala in Kalutara.

Sanka was also in the school western band. He played guitar, piano, violin and the flute. He has a diploma in vocal classic bhathkande music (Indian classic). Throughout his schooling he participated numerous talent shows.

2008 - Present

As a result of popiularity he gained trough Superstar, he was selected to promotes several promenet brands in Sri Lanka including Lankabell, Elephant Cream Soda and Maliban Biscuits. for His debut album "Sankranthi" has been released in 2009. and 2011 Sinhala Film "Colors"

He also launched album named "U" in collaboration with lyrics writer Thushara kodikara.

In July 2010, he that he in planning to launch a set of "different kind of songs" in collaboration with local radio station, Hiru FM

Discography

References

Category:1986 births Category:2000s singers Category:Sri Lankan musicians Category:Living people Category:Sri Lankan singers

is a Japanese koto player noted for her performance of contemporary classical music and free improvisation.

She began studying, at the age of eight, with Michio Miyagi. She later graduated from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music.

She plays both the 13-string and 17-string kotos. As a soloist, as well as with her koto ensemble, she has performed and worked with John Cage, Toshi Ichiyanagi, Yuji Takahashi, Roberto Carnevale, Sofia Gubaidulina, David Behrman, Carl Stone, and many other composers. She has performed in Japan, North America, and Europe.

She was married to the late Tadao Sawai, who was also a koto player and composer. The couple had a son Hikaru Sawai (b. 1964), who is also a koto player and composer.

She operates a school in Japan, where she teaches both Japanese and foreign students. Her students include Michio Yagi, Elizabeth Falconer, Shoko Hikage, and Mei Han.

References

External links

Kazue Sawai official site

Kazue Sawai page

Article about Kazue Sawai by Elizabeth Falconer

Kazue Sawai biography

Category:1941 births Category:Living people Category:Japanese musicians Category:Contemporary classical music performers Category:Koto players Category:Tokyo University of the Arts alumni Category:People from Kyoto (city)

Alt	Robert De Niro in 2008
Caption	Robert De Niro in 2008
Birth date	August 17, 1943
Birth place	New York City, New York, U.S.
Birth name	Robert De Niro, Jr.
Occupation	Actor, director, producer
Years active	1968–present
Spouse	Diahnne Abbott (1976–1988)Grace Hightower (1997–present)

Robert De Niro, Jr. (born August 17, 1943) is an American actor, director, and producer. Widely considered one of the greatest actors of his generation, his first major film role was in 1973's Bang the Drum Slowly. In 1974, he played the young Vito Corleone in The Godfather Part II, a role that won him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

His longtime collaboration with Martin Scorsese began with 1973's Mean Streets, and earned De Niro an Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Jake LaMotta in the 1980 film, Raging Bull. He was also nominated for an Academy Award for his roles in Scorsese's Taxi Driver (1976) and Cape Fear (1991). In addition, he received nominations for his acting in Michael Cimino's The Deer Hunter (1978) and Penny Marshall's Awakenings (1990).

He has earned four nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy: New York, New York (1977), Midnight Run (1989), Analyze This (1999) and Meet the Parents (2000).

Robert De Niro will be the President of the Jury for the 64th Cannes Film Festival, which is scheduled to be held from May 11 to May 22, 2011 in Cannes, France.

Early life

Robert De Niro was born in New York City, the son of Virginia Admiral, a painter, and Robert De Niro, Sr., an abstract expressionist painter and sculptor. De Niro's father was of Italian and Irish descent, and his mother was of German, French, and Dutch ancestry. His Italian great-grandparents, Giovanni Di Niro (the original surname was Di Niro and not De Niro) and Angelina Mercurio, emigrated from Ferrazzano, in the province of Campobasso, Molise, and his paternal grandmother, Helen O'Reilly, was the granddaughter of Edward O'Reilly, an immigrant from Ireland.

De Niro's parents, who had met at the painting classes of Hans Hofmann in Provincetown (Cape Cod), Massachusetts, divorced when he was three years old. De Niro was raised by his mother in the Little Italy neighborhood of Manhattan, and in Greenwich Village. His father lived within walking distance and Robert spent much time with him as he was growing up. He attended PS 41, a public elementary school in Manhattan, through the sixth grade and then went to the private Elisabeth Irwin High School, the upper school of the Little Red School House, for the seventh and eighth grades. He was accepted at the High School of Music and Art for the ninth grade, but only attended for a short time, transferring instead to a public junior high school. He began high school at the private McBurney School, attended the private Rhodes Preparatory School, but never graduated. Nicknamed "Bobby Milk" for his pallor, the youthful De Niro hung out with a group of street kids in Little Italy, some of whom have remained lifelong friends of his. But the direction of his future had already been determined by his stage debut at age ten, playing the Cowardly Lion in his school's production of The Wizard of Oz. Along with finding relief from shyness through performing, De Niro was also entranced by the movies, and he dropped out of high school at age 16 to pursue acting. De Niro studied acting at the Stella Adler Conservatory as well as Lee Strasberg's Actors Studio.

Early film career

De Niro's first film role in collaboration with Brian De Palma was in 1963 at the age of 20, when he appeared opposite his friend Jill Clayburgh in The Wedding Party; however, the film was not released until 1969. He gained popular attention with his role as a dying Major League Baseball player in Bang the Drum Slowly (1973). That same year, he began his fruitful collaboration with Scorsese when he played a memorable role as the smalltime hood "Johnny Boy", alongside Harvey Keitel's "Charlie" in Mean Streets (1973). In 1974, De Niro played a pivotal role in Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather, Part II, playing the young Don Vito Corleone, having previously auditioned for the roles of Sonny Corleone, Michael Corleone, Carlo Rizzi and Paulie Gatto in The Godfather. His performance earned him his first Academy Award, for Best Supporting Actor, although Coppola accepted the award, as De Niro was not present at the Oscar ceremony. He became the first actor to win an Academy Award speaking mainly a foreign language, in this case, multiple Sicilian dialects (although he delivered a few lines in English). De Niro and Marlon Brando, who played the older Vito Corleone in the first film, are the only actors to have won Oscars portraying the same fictional character.

After working with Scorsese in Mean Streets, he had a very successful working relationship with the director in films such as Taxi Driver (1976), New York, New York (1977), Raging Bull (1980), The King of Comedy (1983), Goodfellas (1990), Cape Fear (1991), and Casino (1995). They also acted together in Guilty by Suspicion and provided their voices for the animated feature Shark Tale.

Taxi Driver is particularly important to De Niro's career; his iconic performance as Travis Bickle shot him to stardom and forever linked De Niro's name with Bickle's famous "You talkin' to me?" monologue, which De Niro largely improvised.

In 1976, De Niro appeared, along with Gérard Depardieu and Donald Sutherland, in Bernardo Bertolucci's epic biographical exploration of life in Italy before World War II, Novecento (1900), seen through the eyes of two Italian childhood friends at the opposite sides of society's hierarchy.

In 1978, De Niro played "Michael Vronsky" in the acclaimed Vietnam War film The Deer Hunter, for which he was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role.

Later film career

Praised for his commitment to roles, stemming from his background in method acting, De Niro gained 60 pounds (27 kg) and learned how to box for his portrayal of Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull; ground his teeth for Cape Fear; lived in Sicily for The Godfather, Part II; worked as a cab driver for a few weeks for Taxi Driver; and learned to play the saxophone for New York, New York.

De Niro's brand of method acting includes employing whatever extreme tactic he feels is necessary to elicit the best performance from those he is acting with. During the filming of The King of Comedy, for example, he directed a slew of anti-Semitic epithets at co-star Jerry Lewis in order to enhance and authenticate the anger demonstrated by his onscreen character. According to People magazine, the technique was successful. Lewis recalled, "I forgot the cameras were there... I was going for Bobby's throat."

Fearing he had become typecast in mob roles, De Niro began expanding into occasional comedic roles in the mid-1980s and has had much success there as well, with such films as Brazil (1985), the hit action-comedy Midnight Run (1988), Analyze This (1999) opposite actor/comedian Billy Crystal, Meet the Parents (2000) and Meet the Fockers (2004), both opposite Ben Stiller.

Other films include Falling in Love (1984), The Mission (1986), Angel Heart (1987), The Untouchables (1987), Goodfellas (1990), Awakenings (1990), Heat (1995), The Fan (1996), Sleepers (1996), Wag the Dog (1997), Jackie Brown and Ronin (1998). In 1997, he re-teamed with Harvey Keitel and Ray Liotta along with Sylvester Stallone in the crime drama Cop Land. De Niro played a supporting role, taking a back seat to Stallone, Keitel, and Liotta.

In 1993, he also starred in This Boy's Life, featuring then-rising child actors Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire. Around this time, he was offered the role of Mitch Leary in In the Line of Fire, opposite Clint Eastwood. However, due to scheduling conflicts with A Bronx Tale, he turned the role down in favor of John Malkovich, who, himself, received an Academy Award nomination for the role. De Niro would later reference In the Line of Fire, along with Dirty Harry and Magnum Force, two more of Eastwood's films, in Righteous Kill.

In 1995, De Niro starred in Michael Mann's police action-thriller Heat, along with fellow actor and long-time friend, Al Pacino. The duo drew much attention from fans, as both have generally been compared throughout their careers. Though Pacino and De Niro both starred in The Godfather, Part II, they shared no screen time. De Niro and Pacino once again appeared togther, in the crime thriller Righteous Kill.

In 2004, De Niro provided the voice of Don Lino, the antagonist in the animated film Shark Tale, opposite Will Smith. He also reprised his role as Jack Byrnes in Meet the Fockers, and was featured in Stardust. All of the films were successful at the box office, but they received mixed reviews. When promoting Shark Tale, De Niro said that was his first experience with voice acting, which he commented, was an enjoyable time.

in Berlin in February 2007 for the premiere of The Good Shepherd]] De Niro had to turn down a role in The Departed (Martin Sheen taking the role instead) due to commitments with preparing The Good Shepherd. He said "I wanted to. I wish I could've been able to, but I was preparing The Good Shepherd so much that I couldn't take the time to. I was trying to figure a way to do it while I was preparing. It just didn't seem possible."

He directed The Good Shepherd (2006), and costarred with Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie. The movie also reunited him onscreen with Joe Pesci, with whom De Niro had starred in Raging Bull, Goodfellas, A Bronx Tale, Once Upon a Time in America and Casino.

In June 2006, it was announced that De Niro had donated his film archive — including scripts, costumes, and props — to the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin. On April 27, 2009, it was announced that the De Niro collection at the Ransom Center was open to researchers and the public. De Niro has said that he is working with Martin Scorsese on a new project. "I'm trying to actually work... [screenwriter] Eric Roth and myself and Marty are working on a script now, trying to get it done." but the role was given to James Caan. When The Godfather, Part II was in preproduction, the director, Francis Ford Coppola, remembered De Niro's audition and cast him to play the young Vito Corleone. De Niro is one of only five people to win an Academy Award for working in a foreign language, as he almost exclusively spoke Sicilian, with very few phrases in English.

De Niro announced that he would appear in Martin Campbell's film version of the classic BBC crime series Edge of Darkness in 2010, alongside Mel Gibson; however, just after he arrived to begin shooting, De Niro walked from the set due to creative differences. He was then replaced by Ray Winstone. He appeared as Senator John McLaughlin in the action film, Machete, directed by Robert Rodriguez and Ethan Maniquis. De Niro starred in the thriller Stone (2010), along with Edward Norton and Milla Jovovich. The sequel to Meet the Parents (2000) and Meet the Fockers (2004), Little Fockers, starring Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Blythe Danner, Teri Polo, Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand was released on December 22, 2010.

Film director

In 1993, De Niro made his directorial debut with A Bronx Tale. The film, written by Chazz Palminteri, was about Palminteri's turbulent childhood in the Bronx. De Niro agreed to direct the film after seeing Palminteri's one-man off-Broadway play. De Niro also played Lorenzo, the bus driver who struggles to keep his son away from local mobster Sonny, played by Palminteri.

De Niro had not directed another film until 2006's The Good Shepherd, which starred Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie. The Good Shepherd depicts the origins of the CIA, with Damon portraying one of the top counter-intelligence agents during World War II and the Cold War. De Niro has a small role as General Bill Donovan, who recruits Damon's character into the world of counter-intelligence.

Recent projects

In 2011, De Niro will appear in the action movie The Killer Elite with Jason Statham and Clive Owen, and in the film adaptation of the novel, The Dark Fields, with Bradley Cooper, directed by Neil Burger.

Thirty-four years after Bernardo Bertolucci's 1900, De Niro will star in one of three episodes of the film Manuale d'amore 3, with Monica Bellucci, directed by Italian director Giovanni Veronesi.

According to the July 2010 issue of Gourmet magazine, De Niro is in negotiations with an internationally renowned chef, Natalia Jibladze, to launch a yet unnamed restaurant in Manhattan under his Tribeca trademark. He was in Malaysia recently, and while having lunch with the Malaysian Prime Minister's wife, was asked to open a Malay restaurant in Aloq Staq.

Personal life

at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival.]] De Niro, who lives in New York City, has been investing in the TriBeCa neighborhood in lower Manhattan since 1989. He also has residences on the east and west sides of Manhattan and an estate in Marbletown in upstate New York. His capital ventures have included: cofounding the film studio TriBeCa Productions; the popular Tribeca Film Festival; Nobu and TriBeCa Grill, which he co-owns with a developer Paul Wallace and Broadway producer Stewart F. Lane, The Greenwich Hotel, located in Tribeca, and the restaurant inside the hotel, Locanda Verde, formally known as Ago, which is run by executive chef and co-owner, Andrew Carmellini.

In 1997, De Niro married his second wife, Grace Hightower, at their Marbletown home. Their son Elliot was born in 1998. Hightower appeared in a 1994 episode of NYPD Blue and had her film debut in 2009's Precious.

De Niro and his first wife Diahnne Abbott had a son, Raphael, a former actor who now works in New York real estate. De Niro also adopted Abbott's daughter from a previous relationship, Drena. In addition, he has twin sons, Julian Henry and AaronKendrik, conceived by in vitro fertilization and delivered by a surrogate mother in 1995, from a long-term live-in relationship with former model Toukie Smith.

In February 1998, during a film shoot in France, he was taken in for questioning by French police for nine hours and was then questioned by a magistrate over a prostitution ring. De Niro denied any involvement, saying that he had never paid for sex, "...and even if I had, it wouldn't have been a crime." The magistrate wanted to speak to him after his name was mentioned by one of the call girls. In an interview with the French newspaper, Le Monde, he said, "I will never return to France. I will advise my friends against going to France," and he would "send your Legion of Honor back to the ambassador, as soon as possible." French judicial sources say the actor is regarded as a potential witness, not a suspect.

In 2003, it was announced that De Niro had been diagnosed with prostate cancer, although he went on to make a full recovery. De Niro was due to be granted Italian citizenship at the Venice Film Festival in September 2004. However, the Sons of Italy lodged a protest with Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, claiming De Niro had damaged the image of Italians and Italian Americans by frequently portraying them in criminal roles. Culture Minister Giuliano Urbani dismissed the objections, and the ceremony was rescheduled to go forward in Rome in October. Controversy flared again when De Niro failed to show for two media appearances in Italy that month, which De Niro blamed on "serious communication problems" that weren't "handled properly" on his end, stating, "The last thing I would want to do is offend anyone. I love Italy." The citizenship was conferred on De Niro on October 21, 2006, during the finale of the Rome Film Festival. De Niro is registered in the electoral district of Molise, the Italian homeland of his great-grandparents. He speaks fluent Italian and also understands Spanish.

De Niro is a supporter of the Democratic Party, and vocally supported Al Gore in the 2000 presidential election. De Niro publicly supported John Kerry in the 2004 presidential election. In 1998, he lobbied Congress against impeaching President Bill Clinton. De Niro also narrated 9/11, a documentary about the September 11, 2001 attacks, shown on CBS and centering on video footage made by Jules and Gedeon Naudet, that focused on the role of firefighters following the attacks. While promoting his movie The Good Shepherd with co-star Matt Damon on the December 8, 2006 episode of Hardball with Chris Matthews at George Mason University, De Niro was asked whom he would like to see as President of the United States. De Niro responded, "Well, I think of two people: Hillary Clinton and Obama." On February 4, 2008, De Niro supported Obama at a rally at the Izod Center in New Jersey before Super Tuesday.

Filmography

Awards and nominations

Academy Award

Won: Best Supporting Actor, The Godfather, Part II (1974)

Nominated: Best Actor, Taxi Driver (1976)

Nominated: Best Actor, The Deer Hunter (1978)

Won: Best Actor, Raging Bull (1980)

Nominated: Best Actor, Awakenings (1990)

Nominated: Best Actor, Cape Fear (1991)

BAFTA Award

Nominated: Best Newcomer, The Godfather, Part II (1974)

Nominated: Best Actor, Taxi Driver (1976)

Nominated: Best Actor, The Deer Hunter (1980)

References

External links

AMC's Photo Gallery: Robert De Niro, Hollywood Icon

Tiscali UK: Robert De Niro

Robert De Niro Videography by NIAF

Telegraph.co.uk Article about Robert De Niro

Finding Aids for Robert De Niro's papers and costumes and props collection at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin

Category:1943 births Category:Actors from New York City Category:Actors Studio alumni Category:American film actors Category:American film directors Category:American actors of French descent Category:American actors of German descent Category:American actors of Italian descent Category:American people of Dutch descent Category:American people of Irish descent Category:Best Actor Academy Award winners Category:Best Supporting Actor Academy Award winners Category:Film festival founders Category:Golden Globe Award winners Category:Kennedy Center honorees Category:Living people Category:New York Democrats Category:People from Manhattan