Della Reese
Reese in July 2009
Background information
Birth name	Delloreese Patricia Early
Born	(1931-07-06) July 6, 1931 (age 80)[1] Black Bottom, Detroit, Michigan, United States
Genres	Gospel, pop, jazz, R&B, traditional pop
Occupations	Singer, actress, minister, game show panelist
Years active	1953–present
Labels	Jubilee Records RCA Records
Associated acts	Mahalia Jackson Erskine Hawkins
Website	www.DellaReese.com

Delloreese Patricia Early, known professionally as Della Reese (born July 6, 1931),^[1] is an American actress, singer, game show panelist of the 1970s, one-time talk-show hostess and ordained minister. She started her career in the 1950s as a gospel, pop and jazz singer, scoring a hit with her 1959 single "Don't You Know?". In the late 1960s, she had hosted her own talk show, Della, which ran for 297 episodes.^[2][3] Through four decades of acting, she is best known for playing Tess, the lead role on the 1994-2003 television show Touched by an Angel. In more recent times, she became an ordained New Thought minister in the Understanding Principles for Better Living Church in Los Angeles, California.

Early years[link]

Reese was born Delloreese Patricia Early in the historic Black Bottom neighborhood of Detroit, Michigan to Nellie Mitchelle, a Native American (Cherokee) cook, and African American steelworker Richard Thaddeus Early^[4][5] Delloreese's mother also had several older children, before her birth, all of whom did not live with her, hence, she lived as an only child.^[6] At six years old, Reese began singing in church. From this experience, she became an avid gospel singer. On weekends in the 1940s, she and her mother would go to the movies independently to watch the likes of Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, and Lena Horne portray glamorous lives on screen. Afterwards, Reese would act out the scenes from the films. In 1944, she began her career directing the young people's choir, after she had nurtured acting plus her obvious musical talent. She was often chosen, on radio, as a regular singer.^[6] At the age of thirteen, she was hired to sing with Mahalia Jackson's gospel group. Delloreese entered Detroit's popular Cass Technical High School (where she attended the same year as Edna Rae Gillooly, later known as Ellen Burstyn). She also continued with her touring with Jackson. With higher grades, she was the first in her family to graduate from high school in 1947, at only 15.^[6]

Afterwards, she formed her own gospel group, the Meditation Singers. However, due in part to the death of her mother, and her father's serious illness, Reese had to interrupt her schooling at Wayne State University to help support her family. Faithful to the memory of her mother, Deloreese also moved out of her father's house when she disapproved of him taking up with a new girlfriend. She then took on odd jobs, such as truck driver, dental receptionist, and even elevator operator, after 1949.^[6]

Performing in clubs, Early soon decided to shorten her name from "Delloreese Early" to "Della Reese", knowing that her birth name was too long for a club marquee.

Musical career[link]

Reese in the 1950s.

Reese was discovered by the gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, and her big break came when she won a contest, which gave her a week to sing at Detroit's well-known Flame Show Bar. Reese remained there for eight weeks. Although her roots were in gospel music, she now was being exposed to and influenced by such famous jazz artists as Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and Billie Holiday. In 1953, she signed a recording contract with Jubilee Records, for which she recorded 6 albums. Later that year, she also joined the Hawkins Orchestra. Her first recordings for Jubilee were songs such as "In the Still of the Night" (1937), "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm", and "Time After Time" (1947). Although the EP did not enter the charts, it sold 500,000 copies, and the songs were later included on the 1959 album And That Reminds Me.

In 1957, Reese released a single called "And That Reminds Me". After years of performing, she gained chart success with this song. It became a Top Twenty Pop hit and a million-seller record. That year, Reese was voted by Billboard, Cashbox, and various other magazines, as "The Most Promising Singer".

In 1959, Reese moved to a RCA Records, and released her first RCA single, called "Don't You Know?", which was adapted from Puccini's music for La Bohème, specifically, the aria Musetta's Waltz. It became her biggest hit to date, reaching the #2 spot on the Pop charts, and topping the R&B charts, which were then called the "Black Singles Charts", that year. Eventually, the song came to be widely considered the signature song of her early career.

Reese received a Grammy nomination for her 1960 album, Della, and then released a successful follow-up single called "Not One Minute More" (#16), and she remained on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with the songs "And Now" (#69), "Someday (You'll Want Me to Want You)" (#56) and "The Most Beautiful Words" (#67).

Reese recorded regularly throughout the 1960s, releasing singles and several albums. Two of the most significant were The Classic Della (1962) and Waltz with Me, Della (1963), which broadened her fan base internationally. She recorded several jazz-focused albums, including Della Reese Live (1966), On Strings of Blue (1967), and One of a Kind (1978). She also performed in Las Vegas (Nevada) for 9 years, and toured across the country.

Reese continued to record albums in the following decades, receiving two more Grammy nominations in the gospel category for the album Della Reese and Brilliance (1991) and for the live recorded album, My Soul Feels Better Right Now (1999).^[7]

Television and film career[link]

Reese did some commercial work for Kraft Foods in 1977.

In 1969, she began a transition into acting work which would eventually lead to her greatest fame. Her first attempt at television stardom was a 1969 eponymously titled variety series, which was canceled after one season.

In 1970, Reese became the first black woman to guest host The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. She appeared in several TV movies and miniseries, was a regular on Chico and the Man, and played the mother of B. A. Baracus in The A-Team episode "Lease with an Option to Die".

In 1991, she starred opposite Redd Foxx in his final sitcom, The Royal Family, but his death halted production of the series for several months. Reese also did voice-over for the late-1980s animated series A Pup Named Scooby-Doo.

In 1989, she starred alongside Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor, and Arsenio Hall in the theatrical release movie Harlem Nights, in which she performed a fight scene with Eddie Murphy.

Reese appeared as a panelist on several episodes of the popular television game show Match Game

Television guest appearances[link]

Reese has had a wide variety of guest-starring roles, beginning with an episode of The Mod Squad. This led to other roles such as: The Bold Ones: The New Doctors, Getting Together, Police Woman, Petrocelli, Joe Forrester, Police Story, The Rookies, McCloud, Sanford and Son with old friend Redd Foxx, Vega$, Insight, two episodes of The Love Boat. She also had a recurring role on It Takes Two opposite Richard Crenna and Patty Duke, three episodes of Crazy Like a Fox, four episodes of Charlie & Co. opposite Flip Wilson, 227 with best friend Marla Gibbs, MacGyver, Night Court, Dream On, Designing Women, Picket Fences, That's So Raven and The Young and the Restless. She also had a recurring role as Tess, on Promised Land with Wendy Phillips and Gerald McRaney, among many others.

[edit] Touched by an Angel

After coping with the death of one of her best friends, Redd Foxx, in 1991, she was reluctant to play an older female lead in the inspirational television drama Touched by an Angel, but went ahead and auditioned for the role of "Tess". She wanted to have a one-shot agreement between CBS and producer Martha Williamson, but ordered more episodes. Reese was widely seen as a key component of the show's success.

Already starring on Touched by an Angel was the lesser-known Irish actress Roma Downey, who played the role of case worker Tess's angel/employee, Monica. In numerous interviews, there was an on- and off-screen chemistry between both Reese and Downey.

The character of Tess was the angelic supervisor who sent the other angels out on missions to help people redeem their lives and show them God's love, while at the same time, she was sassy and had a no-nonsense attitude. The show often featured a climactic monologue delivered by the angel Monica in which she reveals herself as an angel to a human with the words, "I am an angel sent by God to tell you that he loves you." The character of Tess was portrayed by Reese as down to earth, experienced, and direct.

Reese also sang the show's theme song, "Walk With You" and was featured prominently on the soundtrack album produced in conjunction with the show.

During its first season in 1994, many critics were skeptical about the show, it being the second overtly religious prime-time fantasy series, after Highway to Heaven. The show had a rocky start, and low rating, and it was cancelled 11 episodes into the first season. However, with the help of a massive letter-writing campaign, the show was resuscitated the following season and became a huge ratings winner for the next seven seasons. At the beginning of the fourth season in 1997, Reese threatened to leave the show because she was making less than her co-stars; CBS ended up raising her salary.^[8]

Touched by an Angel was cancelled in 2002, but it continued re-running heavily in syndication and on The Hallmark Channel.

Roma Downey said of her on- and off-screen relationship with Reese:

"She's very wise, she's very loving, she can be a little gruff at times. But she's always adoring and adorable. I lost my mother, when I was very young, and during my whole adolescence and into my twenties, I'd been looking for a mother figure, and I really think I can say with absolute truth and sincerity that I feel that I finally found her in Della Reese."

Downey later also said:

"I think I'll just always remember the feel of her neck against my cheek when she hugs me, and the love, I know that she has for me, and the love that I feel for her, and the love that she has for God. To know Della is to know that she loves God."^[8]

Personal life[link]

Reese's mother, Nellie Mitchelle Early, died in 1949 of a cerebral hemorrhage.

Reese's father, Richard Early, died in 1959.

Reese had an adoptive daughter, Deloreese Daniels Owens, in 1961. Owens died on March 14, 2002, after complications stemming from pituitary disease. She said about the painful experience, sharing her frustration with the lack of awareness and knowledge of pituitary disorders,

"When it happened, I thought, 'It's such an odd thing to die from,' because pituitary problems aren't something you hear about. It makes it harder because you don't understand what happened. It seemed so strange and hard to explain. It still is, to be honest."^[9]

In 1979, after taping a guest spot for The Tonight Show, she suffered a near-fatal brain aneurysm, but made a full recovery after two operations by neurosurgeon Dr. Charles Drake at University Hospital in London, Ontario.

In 1983, she married Franklin Thomas Lett, Jr., a concert producer and writer.

In 2002, Reese announced on Larry King Live that she had been diagnosed with type-2 diabetes. She became a spokeswoman for the American Diabetes Association, traveling around the United States to raise awareness about this disorder.

In 2005, Reese was honored by Oprah Winfrey at her Legends Ball ceremony, along with 25 other women of African-American descent.

Reese was ordained as a minister in 2010, after serving as the senior minister and founder of the Understanding Principles for Better Living Church, an independent "Christian New Thought" congregation, which currently meets at First Lutheran Church (www.firsting.org) in Inglewood, California.^[10] In her ministerial work, she is known as the Rev. Dr. Della Reese Lett.^[11]

Discography[link]

Filmography[link]

Awards and nominations[link]

Awards

• 1994: Hollywood Walk of Fame: 7060 Hollywood Boulevard – Television
• 1996: Image Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series – Touched by an Angel
• 1997: Image Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series – Touched by an Angel
• 1998: Image Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series – Touched by an Angel
• 1999: Image Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series – Touched by an Angel
• 2000: Image Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series – Touched by an Angel
• 2001: Image Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series – Touched by an Angel
• 2002: Image Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series – Touched by an Angel

Nominations

• 1960: Grammy Award – Don't You Know
• 1961: Grammy Award – Della (Album)
• 1991: Grammy Award – Della Reese and Brilliance
• 1997: Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series – Touched by an Angel
• 1997: Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series – Touched by an Angel
• 1998: Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series – Touched by an Angel
• 1998: Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Made for TV Series – Touched by an Angel
• 1998: Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series – Touched by an Angel
• 1999: Grammy Award – My Soul Feels Better Right Now
• 2000: Annie Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting By a Female Performer in an Animated Feature – Dinosaur

References[link]

External links[link]

• Della Reese Official Website
• Della Reese at the Internet Movie Database
• Della Reese Interview at The Archive of American Television
• Understanding Principles for Better Living Church
• Della Reese's Tough TV Career
• Della Reese's oral history video excerpts at The National Visionary Leadership Project

Tavis Smiley
Tavis Smiley, 2011
Born	(1964-09-13) September 13, 1964 (age 47) Gulfport, Mississippi United States
Education	Indiana University (B.A., public affairs, 2003)
Occupation	Talk show host Author Entrepreneur Advocate Philanthropist
Notable credit(s)	Tavis Smiley host (2004–present) The Tavis Smiley Show from PRI (radio) host (2005–present) "Smiley & West" co-host (2010–present) BET Tonight with Tavis Smiley host (1996–2001)
Religion	Christian
Website
http://www.tavistalks.com/

Tavis Smiley (pronounced /ˈtævɨs/; born September 13, 1964) is a talk show host, author, liberal political commentator, entrepreneur, advocate and philanthropist.^[1][2] Smiley was born in Gulfport, Mississippi, and grew up in Kokomo, Indiana. After attending Indiana University, he worked during the late 1980s as an aide to Tom Bradley, the mayor of Los Angeles. Smiley became a radio commentator in 1991, and starting in 1996, he hosted the talk show BET Talk (later renamed BET Tonight) on BET. Controversially, after Smiley sold an exclusive interview of Sara Jane Olson to ABC News in 2001, BET declined to renew Smiley's contract that year. Smiley then began hosting The Tavis Smiley Show on NPR from 2002 to 2004 and currently hosts Tavis Smiley on PBS on the weekdays and "The Tavis Smiley Show" from PRI. In 2010 Smiley and Dr. Cornel West have joined forces for their own radio talk show, Smiley & West. They were featured together interviewing musician Bill Withers in the 2009 documentary film Still Bill.^[3]

Early years[link]

Tavis Smiley was born in Gulfport, Mississippi, the son of Joyce Marie Roberts, a single mother who first became pregnant at age 18.^[4] On September 13, 1966, just shy of his second birthday, his mother married Emory Garnell Smiley, a non-commisioned officer in the U.S. Air Force.^[5] It would not be until a few years later that Tavis would learn the identity of his biological father, whom he identifies in his autobiography, What I Know For Sure: My Story of Growing Up in America only as "T."^[6]

His family soon moved to Indiana because his stepfather had been transferred to Grissom Air Force Base near Peru, Indiana. Upon arriving in Indiana, the Smiley family took up residence in a crowded mobile home in the small town of Bunker Hill, Indiana.^[7] Smiley's immediate family size was increased following the homicide of his aunt, whose death left five children with no stable home. Smiley's parents agreed to take in and raise their five orphaned nieces and nephews. Joyce and her husband also had eight children of their own over the years, resulting at one point in 13 children and Mr. and Mrs. Smiley all living in the trailer-home. Smiley's mother was a very religious person, and the family attended the local New Bethel Tabernacle Church, part of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World.^[8] The Smiley children were forbidden from listening to secular music at home and going to the movie theater and could watch television shows that their parents felt were family-friendly.^[9] When Tavis Smiley was in seventh grade, New Bethel pastor Elder Rufus Mills accused Tavis and his siblings of "running wild, disobeying their teacher, disrespecting their teacher, disrespecting the sanctity of this building, and mocking the holy message being taught" during Sunday School.^[10] According to Smiley's account of the incident, Smiley's Sunday School teacher became more confused as she was asking questions about the Book of John, and while other students "responded by giggling and acting a little unruly", he and his sister Phyllis "remained quiet".^[11] Garnell whipped Tavis and Phyllis with an extension cord, wounding the two children.^[12] The next day at school, administrators found out about the children's injuries.^[13] The local newspaper in Kokomo reported on the beating and the legal proceedings against Garnell, and Tavis and Phyllis were sent to foster care temporarily,^[14] Garnell told his children that the judge decided that he had "overreacted" and found he and Joyce as "concerned parents who were completely involved in our children's lives and well-being".^[15]

Smiley became interested in politics at age 13 after attending a fundraiser for U.S. Senator Birch Bayh.^[8] At Maconaquah High School in Bunker Hill, Indiana, a school that Smiley described as "98 percent white",^[16] Smiley was active in student council and the debate team, even though his parents were "skeptical of all non-church extracurricular activities".^[17]

College and political career[link]

In 1982, Smiley enrolled in Indiana University Bloomington (IU). Because Smiley's parents refused to complete financial aid papers, Smiley entered Indiana University with only $50 and a small suitcase.^[18] Administrators let Smiley complete the paperwork to become a full-time student.^[19] The summer after his freshman year, Smiley worked, attended summer classes, and lived off campus with Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball players, then being coached by Bob Knight.^[20] Smiley was accepted into the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity during his sophomore year and became business manager of his dormitory, a member of the student senate, and director of minority affairs.^[21] After his friend Denver Smith was killed by Indiana police officers who claimed to have acted in self-defense, Smiley helped lead protests to defend Smith, whom he believed had been wrongfully killed.^[22] Those protests led Smiley to a work-study internship at the office of Bloomington mayor Tomilea Allison. Being paid $5 an hour, Smiley wrote letters to local residents, researched for Mayor Allison, and helped write positions on local issues. Mayor Allison rebuked Smiley for padding his time sheets and had Smiley work off the extra hours without pay.^[23] During his first semester of junior year, Smiley was under academic probation and blamed his extracurricular activities for interfering with his studies.^[24] When Smiley visited Los Angeles to attend a national student leaders' convention, the cousin of his roommate introduced Smiley to football star Jim Brown. Brown introduced Smiley to fellow football player George Hughley, who worked for Los Angeles mayor Tom Bradley and connected Smiley to Mayor Bradley's staff.^[25] Every week since meeting Bradley's staff, Smiley wrote a letter to the mayor's office asking for an internship and once personally flew to Los Angeles to appeal. However, by summertime he received a letter from the city stating that all internship positions were filled.^[26] Smiley then handwrote a letter to the mayor that he said represented his feeling "from the heart", and Bradley called Smiley to say that he had a position available for Smiley.^[27] As the internship was unpaid but counted for college credit, the Bloomington Community Progress Council funded Smiley with $5,000 for living expenses in Los Angeles, and Brown allowed Smiley to live as a houseguest during September 1985. Starting the next month, Smiley lived in the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity house in the University of Southern California. At City Hall, Smiley worked at the Office of Youth Development on the 22nd floor.^[28]

Twice, Smiley considered quitting college, first during junior year,^[29] and then after finishing his internship with Mayor Bradley. Bradley successfully convinced Smiley to return to college, and Smiley did.^[30] Smiley took the LSAT twice, as he was considering attending Harvard Law School.^[31] However, in his senior year, he failed a test in a computer class after being accused of copying another student's, so he failed that class and several others and lacked nine hours of credits and thus did not graduate from IU.^[32] Following a hiring freeze by the government of Los Angeles, Smiley served as an aide to Mayor Bradley until 1990.^[33] A 1988 article in the Los Angeles Times identified Smiley as "a Bradley administrative assistant who works in South Los Angeles".^[34] In 2003, Smiley officially received his degree from Indiana University in public affairs.^[35]

Radio and television career[link]

Campaigning for a seat on the Los Angeles City Council in 1991 against incumbent Ruth Galanter, Smiley finished fourth among 15 candidates. Smiley became a radio commentator, broadcasting one-minute daily radio segments called The Smiley Report on KGFJ radio.^[8] With Ruben Navarrette, Jr., Smiley co-hosted a local talk show in Los Angeles where his strongly held views on race and politics, combined with his arguments regarding the impact of institutional racism and substandard educational and economic opportunities for inner-city black youth, earned him attention on the Los Angeles Times. His commentaries focused on local and national current-affairs issues affecting the African-American community.^[36] For six months, Smiley worked on a community news program on a local cable network and spent six more months working on television in Montreal.^[37]

In 1996, Smiley became a frequent commentator on the Tom Joyner Morning Show, a nationally syndicated radio show broadcast on black and urban stations in the United States.^[38] He developed a friendship with host Joyner; together they began hosting annual town hall meetings beginning in 2000 called "The State of the Black Union", which were aired live on the C-SPAN cable television network. Each of these town hall meetings focused on a specific topic affecting the African-American community, featuring a panel of African-American leaders, educators, and professionals assembled before an audience to discuss problems related to the forum's topic, as well as potential solutions.^[39] Smiley also used his commentator status on Joyner's radio show to launch several advocacy campaigns to highlight discriminatory practices in the media and government and to rally support for causes such as the awarding of a Congressional Gold Medal to civil rights icon Rosa Parks. Smiley also began building a national reputation as a political commentator with numerous appearances on political discussion shows on MSNBC, ABC, and CNN.

Also in 1996, Smiley began hosting and executive producing BET Tonight (originally BET Talk when it first premiered), a public affairs discussion show on the Black Entertainment Television (BET) network. Smiley interviewed major political figures and celebrities and discussed topics ranging from racial profiling and police brutality to R&B music and Hollywood gossip. Smiley hosted BET Tonight until 2001, when in a controversial move, the network announced that Smiley's contract would not be renewed. This sparked an angry response from Joyner, who sought to rally his radio audience to protest BET's decision. Robert L. Johnson, founder of BET, defended the decision, stating that Smiley had been fired because he had sold an exclusive interview to ABC News without first offering the story to BET, even though Smiley's contract with BET did not require him to do so. Smiley countered with the assertion that he had offered the story — an interview with Sara Jane Olson, an alleged former member of the Symbionese Liberation Army — to CBS, which, along with BET, was owned by Viacom. Smiley ultimately sold the interview to rival network ABC, he said, only after CBS passed on the interview, and suggested that his firing was payback for the publicity he gained as a result of providing an exclusive interview to ABC.^[40] Ultimately BET and Viacom did not reverse their decision to terminate Smiley's contract.

Smiley was then offered a chance to host a radio talk show on National Public Radio. He served as host of The Tavis Smiley Show on NPR until December 2004 when he announced that he would be leaving his NPR show, citing the network's inability to reach a more diverse audience.^[41] Smiley launched a weekly version of his radio program The Tavis Smiley Show on April 29, 2005, distributed by NPR rival Public Radio International. On October 1, 2010, Tavis Smiley turned the second hour of his PRI program into Smiley & West co-hosted by his longtime collaborator Dr. Cornel West. Smiley also hosts Tavis Smiley, a late night talk show televised on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) network and produced in association with WNET in New York.^[42]

Smiley moderated two live presidential candidate forums in 2007: a Democratic forum on June 28 at Howard University in Washington, D.C.,^[43] and a Republican forum on September 27 at Morgan State University in Baltimore.^[44]

Smiley appears on the Democracy Now! show.^[45]

Controversy over Presidential Candidate Barack Obama[link]

On April 11, 2008, Tavis Smiley announced that he would resign in June 2008 as a commentator on the Tom Joyner Morning Show. He cited fatigue and a busy schedule in a personal call to Joyner. However, Joyner, referring to several commentaries in which Smiley was critical of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, indicated otherwise on his program, stating: "The real reason is that he can't take the hate he's been getting regarding the Barack issue—hate from the black people that he loves so much."^[46] Prior to the public controversy and being elected President, Obama had been on Smiley's PBS show six times.

In 2012, Smiley participated in a "Poverty Tour" with Princeton University professor Cornel West in promoting their book The Rich and the Rest of Us: A Poverty Manifesto. The stated aim of the tour was to highlight the plight of the impoverished population of the United States prior to the 2012 Presidential Election, whose candidates Smiley and West stated had ignored the plight of the poor.^{[47][48][49][50]}

[edit] The Covenant with Black America

In March 2006, The Smiley Group and Third World Press published The Covenant with Black America, a collection of essays by black scholars and professionals edited by Smiley. The book covered topics ranging from education to healthcare. The book was a New York Times Bestseller.^[51]

Awards and contributions[link]

Smiley was honored with the NAACP Image Award for best news, talk, or information series for three consecutive years (1997–99) for his work on BET Tonight with Tavis Smiley.

Smiley's advocacy efforts have earned him numerous awards and recognitions including the recipient of the Mickey Leland Humanitarian Award from the National Association of Minorities in Communications.

In 1999, he founded the Tavis Smiley Foundation, which funds programs that develop young leaders in the black community. Since its inception, more than 6,000 young people have participated in the foundation's Youth to Leaders Training workshops and conferences.

His communications company, The Smiley Group, Inc., serves as the holding company for various enterprises encompassing broadcast and print media, lecturers, symposiums, and the Internet.

In 1994, Time named Smiley one of America's 50 Most Promising Young Leaders.^[52] Time would later honor him in 2009 as one of the "100 Most Influential People in the World". In May 2007, Smiley gave a commencement speech at his alma mater, Indiana University at Bloomington, Indiana (the university recently honored Smiley by naming the atrium of its School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA) building, The Tavis Smiley Atrium).

In May 2008, he gave the commencement address at Connecticut College, where he was awarded an honorary doctorate. In May 2009, Smiley was awarded an honorary doctorate at Langston University after giving the commencement address there.

On December 12, 2008, Smiley received the Du Bois Medal from Harvard University's W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research.

He would also be awarded the 2009 Interdependence Day Prize from Demos in Istanbul, Turkey.

Smiley would be named No. 2 change agent in the field of media behind Oprah Winfrey in EBONY Magazine's POWER 150 list.

Bibliography[link]

• Just a Thought: The Smiley Report (ISBN 0-963-69523-1)
• Doing What's Right: How to Fight for What You Believe—And Make a Difference (ISBN 0-385-49931-0)
• Hard Left (ISBN 0-385-48404-6)
• Keeping the Faith: Stories of Love, Courage, Healing, and Hope from Black America (ISBN 0-385-72169-2)
• How to Make Black America Better: Leading African Americans Speak Out (ISBN 0-385-72087-4)
• On Air:The Best of Tavis Smiley on the Tom Joyner Morning Show (ISBN 1-890194-33-6)
• The Covenant with Black America (ISBN 0-88378-277-4)
• What I Know for Sure: My Story of Growing Up in America (ISBN 978-0-385-50516-1; ISBN 0-388-50516-7)
• Accountable: Making America As Good As Its Promise
• Fail Up (ISBN 1-401-93390-4)
• The Rich and the Rest of Us: A Poverty Manifesto (with Cornel West) (ISBN 1-401940-63-3)

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• LaRue, William. "Tavis Smiley: NPR Host Brings Latenight Talk to PBS". The Post-Standard (Syracuse, New York), 1 February 2004, STARS section, pp. 4–6.
• Slade, Scott. "Author Issues Wakeup Call". Kokomo Tribune (Indiana), 20 June 1996, p. 7.
• Smiley, Tavis (2006), What I Know For Sure: My Story of Growing Up in America, New York City, New York, United States: Doubleday, ISBN 0-385-50516-7, http://books.google.com/books?id=lBHwtgmBJ1IC </ref>

External links[link]

• Official website
• Tavis Smiley on Twitter
• Tavis Smiley on WNET/PBS
• Appearances on C-SPAN
  • Booknotes interview with Smiley on Doing What's Right, April 9, 2000.
  • C-SPAN Q&A interview with Smiley, October 29, 2006
• Tavis Smiley on Charlie Rose
• Tavis Smiley at NPR
• Works by or about Tavis Smiley in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Tavis Smiley: The State of the Black Union Interview
• Tavis Smiley on Rev. Martin Luther King and His Opposition to the Vietnam War - video by Democracy Now!

Demetri Martin
Demetri Martin at Northeastern University on April 11, 2007
Born	(1973-05-25) May 25, 1973 (age 39) New York City, New York, United States
Nationality	American
Years active	Since 2002
Genres	Observational comedy, surreal humor, musical comedy, wit/wordplay, sketch comedy
Subject(s)	Everyday Life, American Culture, Random Subjects
Influences	Steven Wright, Eddie Izzard, Emo Philips, Mitch Hedberg, Socrates
Notable works and roles	· Demetri Martin. Person.  · Correspondent on The Daily Show  · Himself/Various on Important Things with Demetri Martin  · Elliot Tiber in Taking Woodstock (2009)
Website	www.demetrimartin.com

Demetri Martin (born May 25, 1973) is an American comedian, actor, artist, musician, writer and humorist. Martin is best known for his work as a stand-up comedian, contributor on The Daily Show and for his Comedy Central show Important Things with Demetri Martin.

Early life[link]

Demetri Martin was born to a Greek American family^[1] in New York City, New York, and grew up in Toms River, New Jersey. He is the son of Lillian, a nutritionist, and Dean C. Martin, now deceased, a Greek Orthodox priest.^[2] Martin graduated from Yale University in 1995. Although he was accepted into Harvard Law School, he went to New York University School of Law after he received a full scholarship.^[3]

Career[link]

In 2001, Martin caught his first big break in stand-up comedy when he appeared on Comedy Central's stand-up showcase Premium Blend. At the 2003 Edinburgh Festival Fringe he won the Perrier award with his show If I....^[4] The show was turned into a British television special in 2004. From 2003 to 2004, Martin wrote for Late Night with Conan O'Brien.^[5] In 2004, Martin had his own Comedy Central Presents stand-up special. His special was divided into three parts. In the first, he performed in traditional stand-up comedy fashion. In the second segment, he used humorous drawings as visual aids, which would serve either as the punchline or a background. During the third segment, he played a guitar and put on a pseudo-play where he would strum his guitar while alternating between playing harmonica and talking; some of his comedian friends dressed as fairies and dragons acted according to the story he was telling, detailing the magical land where his jokes came from. Martin's mother and grandmother also appeared.

Since late 2005, he has been credited as a contributor on The Daily Show, on which he has appeared as the named "Senior Youth Correspondent" and on which he hosts a segment called "Trendspotting". He has used this segment to talk about so-called hip trends among youth such as hookahs, wine, guerilla marketing and Xbox 360. A piece about social networking featured his profile on MySpace.^[6] On March 22, 2007, Demetri made another appearance on The Daily Show, talking about the Viacom lawsuit against Google and YouTube.

He has recorded a comedy CD/DVD titled These Are Jokes, which was released on September 26, 2006. This album also features Saturday Night Live member Will Forte and stand-up comedian Leo Allen.

Martin returned to The Daily Show on March 22, 2006, as the new Youth Correspondent, calling his segment "Professional Important News with Demetri Martin". In 2007, he starred in a Fountains of Wayne music video for "Someone to Love" as Seth Shapiro, a character in the song. He also starred in the video for the Travis single "Selfish Jean", in which he wears multiple t-shirts with lyrics written on them.

On September 2, 2007, Martin appeared on the season finale of the HBO series Flight of the Conchords. He appeared as a keytar player named Demetri.^[7]

He also had a part in the movie The Rocker (2008) starring Rainn Wilson. Martin played the part of the videographer when the band in the movie was making their first music video.

In 2009, he hosted and starred in his own television show called Important Things With Demetri Martin on Comedy Central. Later in June, it was announced his show had been renewed for a second season.^[8] The second season premiered, again on Comedy Central, on February 4, 2010. Martin has stated that Important Things will not return for a third season.

Prior to completing work on his second season, Martin starred in the comedy-drama film Taking Woodstock (2009), directed by Ang Lee, which premiered at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. In the film Martin plays Elliot Tiber, a closeted gay artist who has given up his ambitions in the city to move upstate and help his old-world Jewish family run their Catskill Mountains motel. The film is based on the book written by Tiber.

On April 25, 2011, Martin released his first book, titled This Is a Book by Demetri Martin.

Martin was slated to portray Paul DePodesta as Oakland Athletics assistant GM to Billy Beane in the 2011 movie Moneyball, however was dropped and Jonah Hill took his place in the movie.

Plans[link]

Martin sold his movie concept Will to DreamWorks; he is expected to play a key supporting role.^[9] He will play the lead in the film Moon People, a pitch that he sold to Columbia Pictures.

Martin also signed a blind script deal with CBS in October 2010 to produce, write, and star in his own television series.^[10]

After CBS was shown the pilot for the series, they decided not to air it.^[11]

On August 11, 2011, Fox ordered a presentation of a new animated show they might air.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] If I

If I is a Perrier Comedy Award-winning comedy one-man show written and performed by Demetri Martin at the 2003 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.^[12] It was also aired on British television as a special. The show is an autobiographical examination of Martin's life, as seen through various definitions of the word "if."

The title of the special comes from a lengthy palindromic poem that Martin wrote; the words "if I" are at the center of the poem.^[13]

Comedic style[link]

Martin is known for being an unconventional stand-up comic. He uses one-liners and drawings on a "large pad", as well as accompanying his jokes with music on either guitar, harmonica, piano, keyboard, glockenspiel, toy bells, ukulele, or tambourine, sometimes all at once.^[14] He has cited comedian Steven Wright as an important influence (both use deadpan one-liners in their acts) and he is also a fan of Bill Cosby.^[15]

Personal life[link]

According to a July 2011 interview on the WTF with Marc Maron podcast, Demetri had a short-lived marriage to a girl he knew from high school. They began dating after high school and got married when he was in NYU Law School and she was attending NYU Medical School. He was aged 25 and in the end of his marriage when his stand-up career began.^[3]

He is extremely allergic to nuts and peanuts.^[16]

Martin moved to Santa Monica, California in 2009.^[17]

Filmography[link]

• Invite Them Up (2005)
• These Are Jokes (2006)
• Demetri Martin. Person. (2007)
• Important Things with Demetri Martin (2009–2010)

Filmography and television work[link]

Written works[link]

• This Is a Book, April 2011, ISBN 978-0446539708.

Awards and nominations[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (May 2012)

• Official website
• Demetri Martin on Myspace
• Demetri Martin at the Internet Movie Database
• Interview from November, 2006, in Onion AV Club
• Interview from October 2006, in The DePaulia
• Article, in The Scotsman
• Article, in Gelf Magazine
• Interview by Brian M. Palmer
• MP3 Audio Interview on The Sound of Young America public radio show and podcast
• Interview Believer Mag
• New Jersey Monthly Magazine
• Fresh Air, NPR.org

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. It needs additional citations for verification. Tagged since December 2009. Its lead section may not adequately summarize its contents. Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of the article's key points. Tagged since December 2009.

Redd Foxx
Foxx in 1966.
Birth name	John Elroy Sanford[1]
Born	(1922-12-09)December 9, 1922[1] St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
Died	October 11, 1991(1991-10-11) (aged 68) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Medium	Stand-up, television, film
Nationality	American
Years active	1935–1991
Genres	Word play, observational comedy, black comedy
Subject(s)	African-American culture, human sexuality, race relations, everyday life
Influences	Muddy Waters, Bill Cosby, Milton Berle, Michael Gough, Kirk Douglas
Influenced	Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy, Andrew Dice Clay, Jamie Foxx, Bernie Mac, Nipsey Russell, Bill Cosby, Michael Douglas, Michael Jackson, Chris Rock
Spouse	Evelyn Killebrew (1948–1951) (divorced) Betty Jean Harris (1956–1975) (divorced) 1 child Yun Chi Chung (1976–1981) (divorced) Ka Ho Cho (1991) (his death)
Notable works and roles	Fred Sanford in Sanford and Son and Sanford
Website	reddfoxx.com
Golden Globe Awards
Best TV Actor – Musical/Comedy 1972 Sanford and Son

John Elroy Sanford^[1] (December 9, 1922 – October 11, 1991), better known by his stage name Redd Foxx, was an American comedian and actor, best known for his starring role on the sitcom Sanford and Son.

Early life[link]

Foxx was born in St. Louis, Missouri and raised there and on Chicago's South Side. His mother was half Seminole.^{[citation needed]} His father, an electrician, left his family when Foxx was four years old. Foxx was raised by his mother, his minister, and his grandmother. He briefly attended DuSable High School with future Chicago mayor Harold Washington.

In the 1940s, he was an associate of Malcolm Little, later known as Malcolm X. In Malcolm's autobiography, Foxx is referred to as "Chicago Red, the funniest dishwasher on this earth." Foxx earned the nickname due to his reddish hair and complexion. His stage surname was taken from baseball star Jimmie Foxx. During World War II, Foxx dodged the draft by eating half a bar of soap before his physical, a trick that resulted in heart palpitations.^[2]

Career[link]