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Rolex SA is a Swiss watchmaking manufacturer of high-quality, luxury wristwatches. Rolex watches are popularly regarded as status symbols^[2][3][4][5] and BusinessWeek magazine ranks Rolex No.71 on its 2007 annual list of the 100 most valuable global brands.^[6] Rolex is also the largest single luxury watch brand, producing about 2,000 watches per day, with estimated revenues of around US$3 billion (£1.75) (CHF3.02 billion) (2003 figures).^[7]

History[link]

In 1905 Hans Wilsdorf and his brother-in-law Alfred Davis founded "Wilsdorf and Davis" in London.^[8] Their main business at the time was importing Hermann Aegler's Swiss movements to England and placing them in quality watch cases made by Dennison and others. These early wristwatches were sold to jewellers, who then put their own names on the dial. The earliest watches from Wilsdorf and Davis were usually hallmarked "W&D" inside the caseback.

In 1908 Wilsdorf registered the trademark "Rolex" and opened an office in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland.^[8] The company name "Rolex" was registered on 15 November 1915. The book The Best of Time: Rolex Wristwatches: An Unauthorized History by Jeffrey P. Hess and James Dowling says that the name was just made up.^[9] One story, never confirmed by Wilsdorf, is that the name came from the French phrase horlogerie exquise, meaning "exquisite clockwork"^[10] or as a contraction of "horological excellence". Wilsdorf was said to want his watch brand's name to be easily pronounceable in any language.^[7] He also thought that the name "Rolex" was onomatopoeic, sounding like a watch being wound. It is easily pronounceable in many languages and, as all letters have the same size, allows to be written symmetrically. It was also short enough to fit on the face of a watch.^[7]

In 1914 Kew Observatory awarded a Rolex watch a Class A precision certificate, a distinction which was normally awarded exclusively to marine chronometers.^[7]

In 1919 Wilsdorf left England due to wartime taxes levied on luxury imports as well as export duties on the silver and gold used for the watch cases driving costs too high^[10] and moved the company to Geneva, Switzerland where it was established as the Rolex Watch Company. Its name was later changed to Montres Rolex, SA and finally Rolex, SA.^[8] Upon the death of his wife in 1944, Wilsdorf established the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation in which he left all of his Rolex shares, making sure that some of the company's income would go to charity. The company is still owned by a private trust and shares are not traded on any stock exchange.^[10]

In December 2008 the abrupt departure of Chief Executive Patrick Heiniger, for “personal reasons”, was followed by a denial by the company that it had lost 1 billion Swiss francs (approx £574 million, $900 million) invested with Bernard Madoff, the American asset manager who pleaded guilty to an approximately £30 billion worldwide Ponzi scheme fraud.^[11]

Innovations[link]

The Rolex Submariner Date

Among the company's innovations are:

• The first waterproof wristwatch "Oyster", 1923
• The first wristwatch with an automatically changing date on the dial (Rolex Datejust ref.4467, 1945)^[7]
• The first wristwatch with an automatically changing day and date on the dial (Rolex Day-Date)
• The first wristwatch case waterproof to 100 m (330 ft) (Rolex Oyster Perpetual Submariner ref.6204, 1953)
• The first wristwatch to show two time zones at once (Rolex GMT Master ref.6542, 1954)
• The first watchmaker to earn chronometer certification for a wristwatch^[10]

Automatic movements[link]

The first self-winding Rolex wristwatch was offered to the public in 1931 (so-called the "bubbleback" due to the large caseback), preceded to the market by Harwood which patented the design in 1923 and produced the first self-winding watch in 1928, powered by an internal mechanism that used the movement of the wearer's arm. This not only made watch-winding unnecessary, but kept the power from the mainspring more consistent resulting in more reliable time keeping.

Quartz movements[link]

Rolex participated in the development of the original quartz watch movements. Although Rolex has made very few quartz models for its Oyster line, the company's engineers were instrumental in design and implementation of the technology during the late 1960s and early 1970s. In 1968, Rolex collaborated with a consortium of 16 Swiss watch manufacturers to develop the Beta 21 quartz movement used in their Rolex Quartz Date 5100.^[12] Within about five years of research, design, and development, Rolex created the "clean-slate" 5035/5055 movement that would eventually power the Rolex Oysterquartz.^[13]

Water-resistant cases[link]

Rolex was also the first watch company to create a water resistant wristwatch that could withstand pressure to a depth of 100 m (330 ft).^[14] Wilsdorf even had a specially made Rolex watch (the watch was called the "DeepSea") attached to the side of the Trieste bathyscaphe, which went to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. The watch survived and tested as having kept perfect time during its descent and ascent. This was confirmed by a telegram sent to Rolex the following day saying "Am happy to confirm that even at 11,000 metres your watch is as precise as on the surface. Best regards, Jacques Piccard".^[10]

Rolex GMT Master II gold and stainless steel (ref. 116713LN)

Collections[link]

Rolex produced specific models suitable for the extremes of deep-sea diving, mountain climbing and aviation. Early sports models included the Rolex Submariner and the Rolex Oyster Perpetual Date Sea Dweller. The latter watch has a helium release valve, co-invented with Swiss watchmaker Doxa, to release helium gas build-up during decompression. The Explorer and Explorer II were developed specifically for explorers who would navigate rough terrain, such as the world famous Mount Everest expeditions. Another iconic model is the Rolex GMT Master, which was originally developed in 1954 at the request of Pan Am Airways to assist its pilots with the problem of crossing multiple time zones when on transcontinental flights (GMT standing for Greenwich Mean Time).^[10]

Certified chronometers[link]

Rolex is the largest manufacturer of Swiss made certified chronometers. In 2005 more than half the annual production of COSC certified watches were Rolexes.^[15] To date, Rolex still holds the record for the most certified chronometer movements in the category of wristwatches.^[10]

Ceramic bezels[link]

The company is now starting to introduce ceramic bezels across the range of professional sports watches. They are available on the Submariner, Sea Dweller-Deepsea, GMT Master II and Daytona models. The ceramic bezel is not influenced by UV-light and is very scratch resistant.

Watch models[link]

Rolex Daytona stainless steel (ref. 116520)

Rolex Sea Dweller Deepsea with 3,900m depth rating (ref. 116660)

Rolex Yacht-Master

Rolex Daytona chronograph stainless steel, white dial (ref. 6263)

Rolex has three watch lines: Oyster Perpetual, Professional and Cellini (the Cellini line is Rolex's line of 'dressy' watches) and the primary bracelets for the Oyster line are named Jubilee, Oyster and President.

Modern models[link]

The name of the watch lines in catalogs is often "Rolex Oyster Perpetual ______" or "Rolex ______"; Rolex Oyster and Oyster Perpetual are generic names and not specific product lines. The Air-King is the least-expensive member of the Oyster Perpetual family and is meant for understated elegance and simplicity. The Date is related to the Air-King but adds a date display.^[16] Certain models from the Date and Datejust are almost identical, however the Datejust 36 mm case and a 20 mm bracelet compared to the Date's 34 mm case and 19 mm bracelet . Internally, the Datejust's mechanism is more sophisticated as it can change date independently of the minute/hour hands by pulling the crown 1/2 way out, while the date on the Date has to be changed by advancing the minute and hour hands all the way around 24 hours. Lastly, the Datejust has optional luxury features such as gold and diamonds which are not available on the Date.^[17][18]

• Air-King
• Date
• Datejust
• Datejust II
• Datejust Turn-O-Graph
• Lady Datejust Pearlmaster
• Daytona
  • Paul Newman Daytona
• Day-Date
• Day-Date II
• Day-Date Oyster Perpetual
• Explorer
• Explorer II
• GMT Master II
• Masterpiece
• Milgauss
• Oysterquartz
• Sea Dweller
• Sea Dweller DeepSea
• Sky-Dweller
• Submariner
• Turn-O-Graph
• Yacht-Master
• Yacht-Master II

Cellini models[link]

• Quartz Ladies
• Quartz Mens
• Cellinium
• Cestello Ladies
• Cestello Mens
• Danaos Mens
• Prince

Tudor[link]

Rolex sells less expensive watches under the Tudor brand name, which was introduced by Rolex founder Hans Wilsdorf in 1946. Tudor is actively marketed and sold in most countries around the world including Australia, Canada, most of Europe, India, Mexico, and in South Asia, the Middle East, South Africa and most countries in South America (Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela in particular). Sales of the Tudor line were discontinued in the United States in 2004.^[19]

Pricing[link]

Rolex watches vary in price according to the model and the materials used. In the UK, the retail price for the highly sought-after stainless steel 'Pilots' range (such as the GMT Master II) starts from GBP £5,250. Diamond inlay watches go for considerably more. The book "Vintage Wristwatches" by Antiques Roadshow's Reyne Haines listed a price estimate of Rolex watches that ranged between $650 and $75,000, while listing Tudors between $250 and $9,000.^[20] The most expensive Rolex ever produced by the Rolex factory was the GMT Ice reference 116769TBR with a retail price of $485,350.00. A Forbes Magazine article on the Swiss watch industry compared the retail value of Rolexes to that of competing brands Corum, Universal Genève and IWC.^[21]

Significant events[link]

Rolex is the official time keeper of Wimbledon and The Australian Open tennis grand slams.

Jacques Piccard had a Rolex Sea Dweller Deep-Sea Special with him strapped to the outside of his submarine in 1960 during the Mariana Trench dive at a depth of 10,916 metres (35,814 ft).

Tenzing Norgay and other members of the Hillary expedition wore Rolex Oysters in 1953 at altitude 8,848 m on Mount Everest while there are attestations and speculation that Sir Edmund Hillary either carried a Smiths Deluxe or a Rolex to the summit, or both.^[22]

Mercedes Gleitze was the first British woman to swim the English Channel on 7 October 1927. But, as John E. Brozek (author of The Rolex Report: An Unauthorized Reference Book for the Rolex Enthusiast) points out in his article "The Vindication Swim, Mercedes Gleitze and Rolex take the plunge", some doubts were cast on her achievement when a hoaxer claimed to have made a faster swim only four days later. To silence her critics, Mercedes Gleitze attempted a repeat swim on 21 October in the full glare of publicity, thus touted the "Vindication Swim". Hans Wilsdorf knew a good marketing opportunity when he saw one and offered her one of the earliest Rolex Oysters if she would wear it during the attempt. After more than 10 hours, in water that was much colder than during her first swim, she was pulled from the sea semi-conscious seven miles short of her goal. It was during this swim where she wore the Rolex watch, contrary to popular opinion. Although she did not complete the second crossing, a journalist for The Times wrote "Having regard to the general conditions, the endurance of Miss Gleitze surprised the doctors, journalists and experts who were present, for it seemed unlikely that she would be able to withstand the cold for so long. It was a good performance". This silenced the doubters and Mercedes Gleitze was hailed as a heroine. As she sat in the boat, the same journalist made a discovery and reported it as follows: "Hanging round her neck by a ribbon on this swim, Miss Gleitze carried a small gold watch, which was found this evening to have kept good time throughout". When examined closely, the watch was found to be in perfect condition, dry inside and ticking away as if nothing had happened. One month later, on 24 November 1927, Wilsdorf launched the Rolex Oyster watch in the United Kingdom as the focal point of a full front page Rolex advert in the Daily Mail and the Rolex Oyster began its rise to fame. The Vienna Herald described the 1969 Apollo moon landing as: 'an event almost as significant as the time a woman swam most of the English Channel with a waterproof watch on."'^[23]

[edit] Watches for POWs and help in the Great Escape

By the start of World War II, Rolex watches had already acquired enough prestige that Royal Air Force pilots bought them to replace their inferior standard-issue watches. However, when captured and sent to POW camps, their watches were confiscated.^[7] When Hans Wilsdorf heard of this, he offered to replace all watches that had been confiscated and not require payment until the end of the war, if the officers would write to Rolex and explain the circumstances of their loss and where they were being held. Wilsdorf, who believed that "a British officer's word was his bond", was in personal charge of the scheme.^[24][25] As a result of this, an estimated 3,000 Rolex watches were ordered by British officers in the Oflag (prison camp for officers) VII B POW camp in Bavaria alone.^[24] This had the effect of raising the morale among the allied POWs because it indicated that Wilsdorf did not believe that the Nazis would win the war.^[24][26] American servicemen heard about this when stationed in Europe during WWII and this helped open up the American market to Rolex after the war.^[7]

On 10 March 1943, while still a prisoner of war, Corporal Clive James Nutting, one of the organizers of the Great Escape, ordered a stainless steel Rolex Oyster 3525 Chronograph (valued at a current equivalent of £1,200) by mail directly from Hans Wilsdorf in Geneva, intending to pay for it with money he saved working as a shoemaker at the camp.^[24][26][27] The watch (Rolex watch no. 185983)^[27][28] was delivered to Stalag Luft III on 10 July that year along with a note from Wilsdorf apologising for any delay in processing the order and explaining that an English gentleman such as Corporal Nutting "should not even think" about paying for the watch before the end of the war.^[24][26] Wilsdorf is reported to have been impressed with Nutting because, although not an officer, he had ordered the expensive Rolex 3525 Oyster chronograph while most other prisoners ordered the much cheaper Rolex Speed King model which was popular due to its small size.^[24] The watch is believed to have been ordered specifically to be used in the Great Escape when, as a chronograph, it could have been used to time patrols of prison guards or time the 76 ill-fated escapees through tunnel 'Harry' on 24 March 1944.^[29][24][26] Eventually, after the war, Nutting was sent an invoice of only £15 for the watch, due to currency export controls in England at the time.^[26] The watch and associated correspondence between Wilsdorf and Nutting were sold at auction for £66,000 in May 2007, while at an earlier auction on September 2006 the same watch fetched AUS$54,000.^[26][28] Nutting served as a consultant for both the 1950 film The Wooden Horse and the 1963 film The Great Escape.^[24] Both films were based on actual escapes which took place at Stalag Luft III.

Murder investigation[link]

In a famous murder case, the Rolex on Ronald Platt's wrist eventually led to the arrest of his murderer, Albert Johnson Walker--a financial planner who had fled from Canada when he was charged with 18 counts of fraud, theft, and money laundering. When the body was found in the English Channel in 1996 by a fisherman named John Coprik,^[30] a Rolex wristwatch was the only identifiable object on the body.^[30] Since the Rolex movement had a serial number and was engraved with special markings every time it was serviced, British police traced the service records from Rolex and identified the owner of the watch as Ronald Platt. In addition, British police were able to determine the date of death by examining the date on the watch calendar. Since the Rolex movement was fully waterproof and had a reserve of two to three days of operation when inactive, they were able to determine the time of death within a small margin of error.^[30][31]

Counterfeits[link]

Rolex watches are frequently counterfeited, often illegally sold on the street and online.

Gallery[link]

• 

  Rolex headquarters in Geneva

• 

  Rolex manufactory in Biel/Bienne

• Rolex1959.JPG

  The Rolex sign in Vienna (2007)

• Twin towers.jpg

  The Rolex sign in Dubai (2007)

• 

  Rolex Beijing

• 

  Rolex Shanghai

• 

  Rolex Ningbo

See also[link]

Companies portal

• Rolex Awards for Enterprise
• Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative
• Rolex Tower
• List of watch manufacturers

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (April 2010)

David Edelstein (born 1959) is the chief film critic for New York Magazine, as well as the film critic for NPR's Fresh Air and CBS Sunday Morning. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Edelstein became a journalist after graduating from Harvard in 1981. He is often associated with friend, fellow film critic, and iconoclast Pauline Kael, to whom he was close. He is also credited with coining the term "torture porn," a genre to describe such movies as Hostel and Saw.^[1]

He has previously been a film critic for Slate (1996–2005), the New York Post, the Village Voice, and the Boston Phoenix. His work has also appeared in the New York Times Arts & Leisure section, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, the New York Times Magazine, Variety, Esquire, and elsewhere. He is a member of the National Society of Film Critics.

He is the author, with independent film producer Christine Vachon of Killer Films, of Shooting to Kill (Avon Books, 1998). He is also the author of two plays, Feed the Monkey (Loeb Experimental Theater, Harvard College, 1993) and Blaming Mom (Watermark Theater, New York City, 1994).

References[link]

External links[link]

• Edelstein's Top 10 films of 2010,2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000, 1999, and 1998.
• David Edelstein at the Internet Movie Database
• Archive of stories by Edelstein at New York Magazine
• Edelstein bio at NPR
• Video (and audio) of interview/discussion with Edelstein and Alex Gibney at Bloggingheads.tv

This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. No cleanup reason has been specified. Please help improve this article if you can; the talk page may contain suggestions. (August 2009)

Karen O
Karen O at All Tomorrow's Parties festival, December 2009
Background information
Birth name	Karen Lee Orzolek
Born	(1978-11-22) November 22, 1978 (age 33)[1] South Korea
Origin	New Jersey, United States
Genres	Indie rock,[2] art punk, alternative rock
Instruments	Vocals, piano
Years active	Since 2000
Labels	Interscope
Associated acts	Yeah Yeah Yeahs Native Korean Rock

Karen Lee Orzolek (born November 22, 1978), better known by her stage name Karen O, is the vocalist for New York rock band Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

Early life[link]

Karen O was born in November 1978^[1] in South Korea to a Korean mother and a Polish father.^[3][4][5] She eventually moved to the United States, where she grew up in Englewood, New Jersey.^[6] She has commented on her childhood: "It's almost embarrassing how well-behaved I was, which is probably why I do things like spit water on myself onstage as an adult."^[7] She attended Oberlin College, but transferred to New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. She is now based in Los Angeles.

Career[link]

Karen O is best known as the frontwoman for the band Yeah Yeah Yeahs. She has also been noted for her sense of fashion, wearing ostentatious outfits made by her friend, fashion designer Christian Joy. In the early days of the band, she became well known for her outrageous antics during live shows.^[4]

Playboy made an offer for her to pose on their cover. Karen O said on the subject, "I was approached but I said no. Who knows though? Maybe I'll do it in the future, but now doesn't seem to be the right time."^[8] Since then, however, Karen stated in an interview with Associated Press magazine that she has changed her mind and would never do Playboy because of the audience that Playboy magazine attracts.^[9]

During a tour for the 2003 Livid Festival in Australia, at a sideshow at The Metro in Sydney, she accidentally danced off the stage and was reluctantly taken to a hospital. A few days later at the Sydney leg of the Livid Festival, she appeared in a wheelchair pushed by Angus Andrew.^[10]

Karen O won Spin Magazine's Sex Goddess Award in both 2004 and 2005. In 2006, she was named one of rock's hottest women by Blender.^[11] In 2007, Karen O placed #3 on Spinner.com's Women Who Rock Right Now.^[12] In February 2010, she won a Shockwaves NME Award for the Hottest Woman.^[13]

She began working on a small side project called Native Korean Rock and the Fishnets with fellow NYC musicians in 2008.^[14]

In 2009, she contributed backing vocals, screaming animal sounds and noises to the songs "Gemini Syringes", "I Can Be A Frog", and "Watching the Planets" on The Flaming Lips album Embryonic.

In 2011, she contributed vocals on the song "Pinky's Dream" on the David Lynch debut album Crazy Clown Time.

On the collaboration project with N.A.S.A. on The Spirit of Apollo, she appears on the track "Strange Enough", together with Ol' Dirty Bastard and Fatlip.

O's vocal approach has been described as "ethereal",^[15] sometimes compared to indie folk artist Quinn Marston,^[16] and has been described as "yelping" at times.^[17] She described her approach:

We still have to grab people by the collar … We put out a record every three years now; we could easily be forgotten. If you look at a lot of our peers that we came up with, a lot of them have disappeared.

—Karen O in the Los Angeles Times, 2009^[17]

Soundtrack work[link]

O was featured in the track "Cut Me Up" by Har Mar Superstar for the soundtrack to the 2005 horror film House of Wax. For the movie Jackass 2, Karen O collaborated with electronic artist Peaches and Johnny Knoxville to record a track entitled "Backass"; for Jackass 3D, she covered the Roger Alan Wade's "If You're Gonna Be Dumb" under the alternative title of "If You're Gonna Be Dumb, You Gotta Be Tough". In 2007, she also contributed vocals to a version of Bob Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited" for the I'm Not There movie soundtrack.^[18] At the end of episode 409, "Brothers Cinco", of the Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! she performed a short song.

In May 2011, it was reported that Karen O had collaborated with Trent Reznor on a cover version of Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" for the soundtrack to the English-language version of the film The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, for which Reznor composed the score.^[19] In December 2011 it was announced that the song would open the soundtrack album, be released as the opening single, and be available free to all who pre-ordered before the official release date (December 9).^[20]

[edit] Where the Wild Things Are

Karen O composed all of the songs on the soundtrack of Where the Wild Things Are (with the exception of a cover of the Daniel Johnston song,"Worried Shoes") in collaboration with Carter Burwell. The film was directed by her former boyfriend Spike Jonze. She is listed on the soundtrack as "Karen O and the Kids".^[21] Karen O and her Yeah Yeah Yeahs bandmate Nick Zinner co-wrote "All is Love", which was nominated for the "Grammy Award for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media", a songwriter's award, at the 2010 Grammy Awards.^[22]

Karen O at Bumbershoot 2009.

Video work[link]

In 2004 Karen O, using the moniker Marshmellow, directed the music video for "We Fenced Other Gardens with the Bones of Our Own" by the Liars, fronted by her then boyfriend Angus Andrew.^[23][24] The following year she directed the "Blessed Evening" video for Foetus with her then boyfriend Spike Jonze working as cinematographer.^[25] In 2006 she directed the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' video "Cheated Hearts".^[26][27]

Under the moniker Kids With Canes, Karen O and her boyfriend Barney Clay directed the music video for the Tiny Masters of Today song "Hologram World", released on February 8, 2008. Karen also contributed vocals to the song, served as choreographer of the video, in which she appears along with Yeah Yeah Yeahs bandmates Nick Zinner and Brian Chase as well as Mike D from the Beastie Boys, Gibby Haynes from the Butthole Surfers, Russell Simins from the Blues Explosion and Sam James from The Mooney Suzuki.^[28]

[edit] The KO At Home demo leak

On December 10, 2006, a home-recorded album titled KO at Home was leaked via an invite-only BitTorrent tracking site. The album, originally a personal gift to Dave Sitek of the NYC band TV on the Radio, was discovered inside a suitcase Sitek left behind in a New York City apartment. The disc's 14 tracks and scan of the cover – a photograph of Karen O, with a poem written by Oscar Wilde on the back side of the photo – quickly spread. The music news site stereogum.com broke the story of the leak^[29] the following morning and continued their coverage^[30] when Sitek lashed out at the fan who leaked the demos.^[31] Eventually Sitek followed up his comments with an apology letter.^[32] Karen O's response to the leak was "shit happens" and although she was somewhat "grossed out," she offered advice on which of the songs she liked the most,^[33] namely the tracks "Pumpkin" and "Snakes and Worms".

Personal life[link]

In 2011, Karen O married longtime boyfriend Barnaby Clay.^[34]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Karen O

• Yeah Yeah Yeahs official website
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs on Myspace
• 2010 interview with Karen O

Brad Pitt
Pitt at the 2008 premiere of Burn After Reading
Born	William Bradley Pitt (1963-12-18) December 18, 1963 (age 48) Shawnee, Oklahoma, U.S.
Alma mater	University of Missouri
Occupation	Actor, producer
Spouse	Jennifer Aniston (m. 2000–2005) «start: (2000)–end+1: (2006)»"Marriage: Jennifer Aniston to Brad Pitt" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Brad_Pitt)
Partner	Angelina Jolie (2005–present)
Children	6

William Bradley "Brad" Pitt^[1] (born December 18, 1963) is an American actor and film producer. Pitt has received four Academy Award nominations and five Golden Globe Award nominations, winning one Golden Globe. He has been described as one of the world's most attractive men, a label for which he has received substantial media attention.^[2][3]

Pitt first gained recognition as a cowboy hitchhiker in the road movie Thelma & Louise (1991). His first leading roles in big-budget productions came with A River Runs Through It (1992), Interview with the Vampire (1994), and Legends of the Fall (1994). In 1995, he gave critically acclaimed performances in the crime thriller Seven and the science fiction film 12 Monkeys, the latter earning him a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor and an Academy Award nomination. Four years later, Pitt starred in the cult hit Fight Club. He then starred in the major international hit Ocean's Eleven (2001) and its sequels, Ocean's Twelve (2004) and Ocean's Thirteen (2007). His greatest commercial successes have been Troy (2004) and Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005). Pitt received his second and third Academy Award nominations for his leading performances in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) and Moneyball (2011). In addition, Pitt owns a production company, Plan B Entertainment, whose productions include The Departed (2006), which won the Academy Award for Best Picture, and Moneyball, which garnered a Best Picture nomination.

Following a high-profile relationship with actress Gwyneth Paltrow, Pitt was married to actress Jennifer Aniston for five years. Pitt lives with actress Angelina Jolie in a relationship that has attracted wide publicity.^[4] He and Jolie have six children—Maddox, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh, Knox, and Vivienne. Since beginning his relationship with Jolie, he has become increasingly involved in social issues both in the United States and internationally.

Early life[link]

William Bradley "Brad" Pitt is the son of Jane Etta (née Hillhouse), a high school counselor, and William Alvin Pitt, a truck company owner, and was born in Shawnee, Oklahoma.^[5] The family soon moved to Springfield, Missouri, where he lived together with his younger siblings, Doug (born 1966) and Julie Neal (born 1969).^[6] Born into a conservative household, he was raised as Southern Baptist,^[7] although he has since described himself as oscillating between atheism and agnosticism.^[8] Pitt has stated that his family's ancestry consists of "probably... Irish-Scots-Germans who settled in the area... I know we have some Seminole, and some Cherokee Indian, in us".^[9] Pitt has described Springfield as "Mark Twain country, Jesse James country", having grown up with "a lot of hills, a lot of lakes".^[9]

Pitt attended Kickapoo High School, where he was a member of the golf, tennis, wrestling and swimming teams.^[10][11] He participated in the school's Key and Forensics clubs, in school debates, and in musicals.^[12] Following his graduation from high school, Pitt enrolled in the University of Missouri in 1982, majoring in journalism, with a focus on advertising.^[12] As a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity,^[5] he acted in several fraternity shows.^[13] As graduation approached, Pitt did not feel ready to settle down. He loved films—"a portal into different worlds for me"—and, since films were not made in Missouri, he decided to go to where they were made.^[7] Two weeks before earning his degree, Pitt left the university and moved to Los Angeles, where he took acting lessons and worked odd jobs.^[7]

Career[link]

Early work[link]

While struggling to establish himself in Los Angeles, Pitt took lessons from acting coach Roy London.^[1][12][14] Pitt's onscreen career began in 1987, with uncredited parts in the films No Way Out, No Man's Land and Less Than Zero.^[12] His television debut came in May 1987 with a two-episode role on the NBC soap opera Another World.^[15] In November of the same year Pitt had a guest appearance on the ABC sitcom Growing Pains.^[16] He appeared in four episodes of the CBS primetime series Dallas between December 1987 and February 1988 as Randy, the boyfriend of Charlie Wade (played by Shalane McCall).^[17][1] Pitt described his character as "an idiot boyfriend who gets caught in the hay."^[18] Speaking of his scenes with McCall, Pitt later said, "It was kind of wild, because I'd never even met her before."^[1] Later in 1988, Pitt made a guest appearance on the Fox police drama 21 Jump Street.^[19]

In the same year, the Yugoslavian–U.S. co-production The Dark Side of the Sun (1988) gave Pitt his first leading film role, as a young American taken by his family to the Adriatic to find a remedy for a skin condition. The film was shelved at the outbreak of the Croatian War of Independence, and was not released until 1997.^[12] Pitt made two motion picture appearances in 1989: the first in a supporting role in the comedy Happy Together; the second a featured role in the horror film Cutting Class, the first of Pitt's films to reach theaters.^[16] He made guest appearances on television series Head of the Class, Freddy's Nightmares, Thirtysomething, and (for a second time) Growing Pains.^[20]

Pitt was cast as Billy Canton, a drug addict who takes advantage of a young runaway (played by Juliette Lewis) in the 1990 NBC television movie Too Young to Die?, the story of an abused teenager sentenced to death for a murder.^[21] Ken Tucker, television reviewer for Entertainment Weekly wrote: "Pitt is a magnificent slimeball as her hoody boyfriend; looking and sounding like a malevolent John Cougar Mellencamp, he's really scary."^[21] The same year, Pitt co-starred in six episodes of the short-lived Fox drama Glory Days,^[1] and took a supporting role in the HBO television movie The Image.^[22] His next appearance came in the 1991 film Across the Tracks; Pitt portrayed Joe Maloney, a high school runner with a criminal brother, played by Ricky Schroder.^[23]

After years of supporting roles in movies and frequent television guest appearances, Pitt attracted wider recognition in his supporting role in the 1991 road film Thelma & Louise.^[22] He played J.D., a small-time criminal who befriends Thelma (Geena Davis). His love scene with Davis has been cited as the event that defined Pitt as a sex symbol.^[16][24] After Thelma & Louise, Pitt starred in the 1991 film Johnny Suede, a low-budget picture about an aspiring rock star,^[25] and the 1992 film Cool World,^[16] although neither furthered his career, having poor reviews and box office performance.^[26][27]

Pitt took the role of Paul Maclean in the 1992 biographical film A River Runs Through It, directed by Robert Redford.^[28] His portrayal of the character has been described as a career-making performance,^[29] proving that Pitt could be more than a "cowboy-hatted hunk."^[30] He has admitted to feeling under pressure when making the film^[6] and thought it one of his "weakest performances ... It's so weird that it ended up being the one that I got the most attention for."^[6] Pitt believed that he benefited from working with such a talented cast and crew. He compared working with Redford to playing tennis with a superior player, saying "when you play with somebody better than you, your game gets better."^[29][30]

In 1993, Pitt reunited with Juliette Lewis for the road film Kalifornia. He played Early Grayce, a serial killer and the boyfriend of Lewis's character in a performance described by Peter Travers of Rolling Stone as "outstanding, all boyish charm and then a snort that exudes pure menace."^[31] Pitt also garnered attention for a brief appearance in the cult hit True Romance as a stoner named Floyd, providing much needed comic relief to the action film.^[32] He capped the year by winning a ShoWest Award for Male Star of Tomorrow.^[33]

Critical success[link]

1994 marked a significant turning point in Pitt's career. Starring as the vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac in the feature film Interview with the Vampire, based on Anne Rice's 1976 novel of the same name,^[34] he was part of an ensemble cast that included Tom Cruise, Kirsten Dunst, Christian Slater, and Antonio Banderas.^[34] Despite his winning two MTV Movie Awards at the 1995 ceremony,^[35] his performance was poorly received. According to the Dallas Observer, "Brad Pitt ... is a large part of the problem [in the film]. When directors play up his cocky, hunkish, folksy side ... he's a joy to watch. But there's nothing about him that suggests inner torment or even self-awareness, which makes him a boring Louis."^[36]

Pitt was named Sexiest Man Alive by People in 1995 and 2000

Following the release of Interview with the Vampire, Pitt starred in Legends of the Fall (1994),^[37] based on a novel by the same name by Jim Harrison, set in the American West during the first four decades of the twentieth century. Portraying Tristan Ludlow, son of Colonel William Ludlow (Anthony Hopkins) a Cornish immigrant,^[38] Pitt received his first Golden Globe Award nomination, in the Best Actor category.^[39] Aidan Quinn and Henry Thomas co-starred as Pitt's brothers. Although the film's reception was mixed,^[40] many film critics praised Pitt's performance. Janet Maslin of The New York Times said, "Pitt's diffident mix of acting and attitude works to such heartthrob perfection it's a shame the film's superficiality gets in his way."^[41] The Deseret News predicted that Legends of the Fall would solidify Pitt's reputation as a lead actor.^[42]

In 1995, Pitt starred alongside Morgan Freeman and Gwyneth Paltrow in the crime thriller Seven, playing a detective on the trail of a serial killer (played by Kevin Spacey).^[43] Pitt called it a great movie and declared the part would expand his acting horizons.^[44] He expressed his intent to move on from "this 'pretty boy' thing [...] and play someone with flaws."^[45] His performance was critically well received, with Variety saying that it was screen acting at its best, further remarking on Pitt's ability to turn in a "determined, energetic, creditable job" as the detective.^[46] Seven earned $327 million at the international box office.^[26]

Following the success of Seven, Pitt took a supporting role as Jeffrey Goines in Terry Gilliam's 1995 science-fiction film 12 Monkeys. The movie received predominantly positive reviews, with Pitt praised in particular. Janet Maslin of the New York Times called Twelve Monkeys "fierce and disturbing" and remarked on Pitt's "startlingly frenzied performance", concluding that he "electrifies Jeffrey with a weird magnetism that becomes important later in the film."^[47] He won a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor for the film^[39] and received his first Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.^[48]

The following year he had a role in the legal drama Sleepers (1996), based on Lorenzo Carcaterra's novel of the same name.^[49] The film received mixed reviews.^[50] In the 1997 movie The Devil's Own Pitt starred, opposite Harrison Ford, as the Irish Republican Army terrorist Rory Devany,^[51] a role for which he was required to learn an Irish accent.^[52] Critical opinion was divided on his accent; "Pitt finds the right tone of moral ambiguity, but at times his Irish brogue is too convincing – it's hard to understand what he's saying", wrote the San Francisco Chronicle.^[53] The Charleston Gazette opined that it had favored Pitt's accent over the movie.^[54] The Devil's Own grossed $140 million worldwide,^[26] but was a critical failure. Later that year he led as Austrian mountaineer Heinrich Harrer in the Jean-Jacques Annaud film Seven Years in Tibet.^[55] Pitt trained for months for the role, which demanded significant mountain climbing and trekking practice, including rock climbing in California and the European Alps with his co-star David Thewlis.^[56] The film received mostly negative reviews, and was generally considered a disappointment.^[57]

Pitt had the lead role in 1998's Meet Joe Black. He portrayed a personification of death inhabiting the body of a young man to learn what it is like to be human.^[58] The film received mixed reviews, and many were critical of Pitt's performance. According to Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle, Pitt was unable to "to make an audience believe that he knows all the mysteries of death and eternity."^[59] Roger Ebert stated "Pitt is a fine actor, but this performance is a miscalculation."^[60]

From 1999 to 2003[link]

In 1999, Pitt portrayed Tyler Durden, an uncompromising and charismatic individual, in Fight Club,^[61][62] a film adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk's novel of the same name, directed by David Fincher.^[63] Pitt prepared for the part with lessons in boxing, taekwondo, and grappling.^[64] To look the part, Pitt consented to the removal of pieces of his front teeth which were restored when filming ended.^[65] While promoting Fight Club, Pitt said that the film explored not taking one's aggressions out on someone else but to "have an experience, take a punch more and see how you come out on the other end."^[66] Fight Club premiered at the 1999 Venice International Film Festival.^[67] Despite divided critical opinion on the film as a whole,^[68][69] Pitt's performance was widely praised. Paul Clinton of CNN noted the risky yet successful nature of the film,^[70] while Variety remarked upon Pitt's ability to be "cool, charismatic and more dynamically physical, perhaps than [...] his breakthrough role in Thelma and Louise".^[71] In spite of a worse-than-expected box office performance, Fight Club became a cult classic after its DVD release in 2000.^[72]

Pitt, George Clooney, Matt Damon, Andy García, Julia Roberts, cast of Ocean's Eleven and director Steven Soderbergh in December 2001

Following Fight Club, Pitt was cast as an Irish Gypsy boxer with a barely intelligible accent in Guy Ritchie's 2000 gangster film Snatch.^[73] Several reviewers were critical of Snatch; however, most praised Pitt.^[74] Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle said Pitt was "ideally cast as an Irishman whose accent is so thick even Brits can't understand him", going on to say that, before Snatch, Pitt had been "shackled by roles that called for brooding introspection, but recently he has found his calling in black comic outrageousness and flashy extroversion;"^[75] while Amy Taubin of The Village Voice claimed that "Pitt gets maximum comic mileage out of a one-joke role".^[76]

The following year Pitt starred opposite Julia Roberts in the romantic comedy The Mexican,^[77] a film that garnered a range of reviews^[78] but enjoyed box office success.^[26] Pitt's next role, in 2001's $143 million-grossing Cold War thriller Spy Game,^[26] was as Tom Bishop, an operative of the CIA's Special Activities Division, mentored by Robert Redford's character.^[79] Mark Holcomb of Salon.com enjoyed the film, although he noted that neither Pitt nor Redford provided "much of an emotional connection for the audience".^[80] On November 22, 2001, Pitt made a guest appearance in the eighth season of the television series Friends, playing a man with a grudge against Rachel Green, played by Jennifer Aniston, to whom Pitt was married at the time.^[81] For this performance he was nominated for an Emmy Award in the category for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series.^[82] In December 2001, Pitt had the role of Rusty Ryan in the heist film Ocean's Eleven, a remake of the 1960 Rat Pack original. He joined an ensemble cast including George Clooney, Matt Damon, Andy García, and Julia Roberts.^[83] Well-received by critics, Ocean's Eleven was highly successful at the box office, earning $450 million worldwide.^[26]

Pitt appeared in two episodes of MTV's reality series Jackass in February 2002, first running through the streets of Los Angeles with several cast members in gorilla suits,^[84] and participating in his own staged abduction in another episode.^[85] In the same year, Pitt had a cameo role in George Clooney's directorial debut Confessions of a Dangerous Mind.^[86] He took on his first voice-acting roles in 2003, speaking as the titular character of the DreamWorks animated film Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas^[87] and playing Boomhauer's brother, Patch, in an episode of the animated television series King of the Hill.^[88]

After 2003[link]

Pitt had two major film roles in 2004, starring as Achilles in Troy, and making a second appearance as Rusty Ryan, in the sequel Ocean's Twelve. He spent six months sword training before the filming of Troy, based on the Iliad.^[89] An on-set injury to his Achilles tendon delayed production on the picture for several weeks.^[90] With a total worldwide gross of $497 million, Troy remains Pitt's most commercially successful picture to date. The film earned $364 million outside the U.S. and $133 million domestically.^[26][91] Stephen Hunter of The Washington Times stated that Pitt excelled at such a demanding role.^[92] Troy was the first film produced by Plan B Entertainment, a film production company he had founded two years earlier with Jennifer Aniston and Brad Grey, CEO of Paramount Pictures.^[93] Ocean's Twelve earned $362 million worldwide,^[26] and Pitt and Clooney's dynamic was described (by CNN's Paul Clinton) as "the best male chemistry since Paul Newman and Robert Redford."^[94]

In 2005, Pitt starred in the Doug Liman-directed action comedy Mr. & Mrs. Smith, in which a bored married couple discover that each is an assassin sent to kill the other. The feature received reasonable reviews but was generally lauded for the chemistry between Pitt and Angelina Jolie, who played his character's wife Jane Smith. The Star Tribune noted that "while the story feels haphazard, the movie gets by on gregarious charm, galloping energy and the stars' thermonuclear screen chemistry."^[95] Mr. & Mrs. Smith earned $478 million worldwide, making it one of the biggest hits of 2005.^[96]

Pitt at the German premiere of Inglourious Basterds in July 2009

For his next feature film, Pitt starred opposite Cate Blanchett in Alejandro González Iñárritu's multi-narrative drama Babel (2006).^[97] Pitt's performance was critically well-received, and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer said that he was credible and gave the film visibility.^[98] Pitt later said he regarded taking the part as one of the best decisions of his career.^[99] The film was screened at a special presentation at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival^[100] and was later featured at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival.^[101] Babel received seven Academy and Golden Globe award nominations, winning the Best Drama Golden Globe, and earned Pitt a nomination for the Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe.^[39] That same year, Pitt's company Plan B Entertainment produced The Departed, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Pitt was credited on-screen as a producer; however, only Graham King was ruled eligible for the Oscar win.^[102]

Reprising his role as Rusty Ryan in a third picture, Pitt starred in 2007's Ocean's Thirteen.^[103] While less lucrative than the first two films, this sequel earned $311 million at the international box office.^[26] Pitt's next film role was as American outlaw Jesse James in the 2007 Western drama The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, adapted from Ron Hansen's 1983 novel of the same name.^[104] Directed by Andrew Dominik and produced by Pitt's company Plan B Entertainment, the film premiered at the 2007 Venice Film Festival,^[105] with Pitt playing a "scary and charismatic" role, according to Lewis Beale of Film Journal International,^[106] and earning Pitt the Volpi Cup award for Best Actor at the 64th Venice International Film Festival.^[107] Although Pitt attended the festival to promote the film, he left early after being attacked by a fan who pushed through his bodyguards.^[108] He eventually collected the award one year later at the 2008 festival.^[109]

Pitt's next appearance was in the 2008 black comedy Burn After Reading, his first collaboration with the Coen brothers. The film received a positive reception from critics, with The Guardian calling it "a tightly wound, slickly plotted spy comedy",^[110] noting that Pitt's performance was one of the funniest.^[110] He was later cast as Benjamin Button, the lead in David Fincher's 2008 film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, a loosely adapted version of a 1921 short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The story follows a man who is born an octogenarian and ages in reverse,^[111] with Pitt's "sensitive" performance making Benjamin Button a "timeless masterpiece," according to Michael Sragow of The Baltimore Sun.^[112] The performance earned Pitt his first Screen Actors Guild Award nomination,^[113] as well as a fourth Golden Globe and second Academy Award nomination,^[39][114] all in the category for Best Actor. The film received thirteen Academy Award nominations in total, and grossed $329 million at the box office worldwide.^[26]

Since 2008, Pitt's work has included a leading role in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, released in August 2009 at a special presentation at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.^[115] Pitt played Lieutenant Aldo Raine, an American resistance fighter battling Nazis in German-occupied France.^[116] The film was a box office hit, taking $311 million worldwide,^[26] and garnered generally favorable reviews.^[117] The film received multiple awards and nominations, including eight Academy Award nominations and seven MTV Movie Award nominations, including Best Male Performance for Pitt.^[118][119] He voiced the superhero character Metro Man in the 2010 animated feature Megamind.^[120] Pitt appeared in Terrence Malick's drama The Tree of Life, co-starring Sean Penn, which won the Palme d'Or at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.^[121] In a performance that attracted strong praise, he portrayed the Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane in the drama Moneyball, which is based on the 2003 book of the same name written by Michael Lewis.^[122] Moneyball received six Academy Award nominations including Best Actor for Pitt.^[123]

He has signed on to appear as a British explorer searching for a mysterious Amazonian civilization in The Lost City of Z, based on David Grann's 2009 book of the same name.^[124]

Humanitarian and political causes[link]

Pitt signing autographs for troops during his 2001 visit to Incirlik Air Base

Pitt visited the University of Missouri campus in October 2004 to encourage students to vote in the 2004 U.S. presidential election,^[125] in which he supported John Kerry.^[125][126] Later in October he publicly supported the principle of public funding for embryonic stem-cell research. "We have to make sure that we open up these avenues so that our best and our brightest can go find these cures that they believe they will find," he said.^[127] In support of this he endorsed Proposition 71, a California ballot initiative intended to provide federal government funding for stem-cell research.^[128]

Pitt supports the ONE Campaign, an organization aimed at combating AIDS and poverty in the developing world.^[129][130] He narrated the 2005 PBS public television series Rx for Survival: A Global Health Challenge, which discusses current global health issues^[131] and traveled to Pakistan in November 2005 with Angelina Jolie to see the impact of the 2005 Kashmir earthquake.^[132] The following year Pitt and Jolie flew to Haiti, where they visited a school supported by Yéle Haïti, a charity founded by Haitian-born hip hop musician Wyclef Jean.^[133] In May 2007, Pitt and Jolie donated $1 million to three organizations in Chad and Sudan dedicated to those affected by the crisis in the Darfur region.^[134] Along with Clooney, Damon, Don Cheadle, and Jerry Weintraub, Pitt is one of the founders of "Not On Our Watch", an organization that tries to focus global attention and resources to stop and prevent genocides such as that in Darfur.^[135]

Pitt has a sustained interest in architecture^[136] and has narrated Design e2, a PBS television series focused on worldwide efforts to build environmentally friendly structures through sustainable architecture and design.^[137] He founded the Make It Right Foundation in 2006, organizing housing professionals in New Orleans to finance and construct 150 sustainable, affordable new houses in New Orleans's Ninth Ward following the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina.^[138][139] The project involves 13 architectural firms and the environmental organization Global Green USA, with several of the firms donating their services.^[140][141] Pitt and philanthropist Steve Bing have each committed $5 million in donations.^[142] The first six homes were completed in October 2008,^[143] and in September 2009 Pitt received an award in recognition of the project from the U.S. Green Building Council, a non-profit trade organization that promotes sustainability in how buildings are designed, built and operated.^[144][145] Pitt met with U.S. President Barack Obama and Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi in March 2009 to promote his concept of green housing as a national model and to discuss federal funding possibilities.^[146]

In September 2006, Pitt and Jolie established a charitable organization, the Jolie-Pitt Foundation, to aid humanitarian causes around the world.^[147] The foundation made initial donations of $1 million each to Global Action for Children and Doctors Without Borders,^[147] followed by an October 2006 donation of $100,000 to the Daniel Pearl Foundation, an organization created in memory of the late American journalist Daniel Pearl.^[148] According to federal filings, Pitt and Jolie invested $8.5 million into the foundation in 2006; it gave away $2.4 million in 2006^[149] and $3.4 million in 2007.^[150] In June 2009 the Jolie-Pitt Foundation donated $1 million to a U.N. refugee agency to help Pakistanis displaced by fighting between troops and Taliban militants.^[151][152] In January 2010 the foundation donated $1 million to Doctors Without Borders for emergency medical assistance to help victims of the Haiti earthquake.^[153][154]

Pitt is a supporter of same-sex marriage. In an October 2006 interview with Esquire, Pitt said that he would marry Jolie when everyone in America is legally able to marry.^[155] He reaffirmed his stance to Parade in August 2009,^[156] and again to People in July 2011.^[157] In September 2008, he donated $100,000 to the campaign against California's 2008 ballot proposition Proposition 8, an initiative to overturn the state Supreme Court decision that had legalized same-sex marriage.^[158] Pitt stated his reasons for the stance: "Because no one has the right to deny another their life, even though they disagree with it, because everyone has the right to live the life they so desire if it doesn't harm another and because discrimination has no place in America, my vote will be for equality and against Proposition 8."^[159] In March 2012, Pitt was featured in a performance of Dustin Lance Black's play, '8' — a staged reenactment of the federal trial that overturned California's Prop 8 ban on same-sex marriage — as Judge Vaughn Walker.^[160] The production was held at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre and broadcast on YouTube to raise money for the American Foundation for Equal Rights, a non-profit organization funding the plaintiffs' legal team and sponsoring the play.^[161][162]

In the media[link]

Pitt interviewed by the news media at the Palm Springs International Film Festival in 2007

Pitt's sex appeal has been picked up by many sources including Empire, who named him one of the 25 sexiest stars in film history in 1995.^[12] The same year, Pitt won People's Sexiest Man Alive, an accolade he won again in 2000.^[2][163] Pitt appeared on Forbes's annual Celebrity 100 list of the 100 most powerful celebrities in 2006, 2007, and 2008, at No. 20, No. 5, and No. 10 respectively.^{[164][165][166]} In 2007 he was listed among the Time 100, a compilation of the 100 most influential people in the world, as selected annually by TIME.^[167] The magazine credited Pitt with using "his star power to get people to look [to where] cameras don't usually catch".^[167] Pitt was again included in the Time 100 in 2009, this time in the Builders and Titans list.^[168]

Starting in 2005, Pitt's relationship with Angelina Jolie became one of the most reported celebrity stories worldwide. After confirming that Jolie was pregnant in early 2006, the unprecedented media hype surrounding the couple reached what Reuters, in a story titled "The Brangelina fever," called "the point of insanity".^[4] To avoid media attention the couple flew to Namibia for the birth of their daughter Shiloh, "the most anticipated baby since Jesus Christ."^[169] Similarly intense media interest greeted the announcement two years later of Jolie's second pregnancy; for the two weeks Jolie spent in a seaside hospital in Nice, reporters and photographers camped outside on the promenade to report on the birth.^[170]

In a 2006 global industry survey by ACNielsen in 42 international markets, Pitt, together with Jolie, was found to be the favorite celebrity endorser for brands and products worldwide.^[171] Pitt has appeared in several television commercials. For the U.S. market, he starred in a Heineken commercial aired during the 2005 Super Bowl; it was directed by David Fincher, who had directed Pitt in Seven, Fight Club and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.^[172] Other commercial appearances came in television spots designed for Asian markets, advertising such products as the Acura Integra, in which he was featured opposite Russian model Tatiana Sorokko,^[173] as well as SoftBank and Edwin Jeans.^[174][175]

Personal life[link]

Relationships[link]

Angelina Jolie and Pitt at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Pitt was involved in successive relationships with several of his co-stars, including Robin Givens (Head of the Class),^[176] Jill Schoelen (Cutting Class),^[176] and Juliette Lewis (Too Young to Die? and Kalifornia), who, at the age of 16, was ten years his junior when they started dating.^[29] In addition, Pitt had a much-publicized romance and engagement to his Seven co-star Gwyneth Paltrow, whom he dated from 1994 to 1997.^[176]

Pitt met Friends actress Jennifer Aniston in 1998 and married her in a private wedding ceremony in Malibu on July 29, 2000.^[1][177] For years their marriage was considered a rare Hollywood success;^[1][178] however, in January 2005, Pitt and Aniston announced that they had decided formally to separate after seven years together.^[177] Two months later Aniston filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences.^[179] Pitt and Aniston's divorce was finalized by the Los Angeles Superior Court on October 2, 2005, legally ending their marriage.^[179] Despite media reports that Pitt and Aniston have an acrimonious relationship, Pitt said in a February 2009 interview that he and Aniston "check in with each other", adding that they were both big parts of each others' lives.^[180]

During Pitt's divorce from Aniston, his involvement with his Mr. & Mrs. Smith co-star Angelina Jolie attracted vigorous media attention.^[181] While Pitt denied claims of adultery, he admitted that he "fell in love" with Jolie on the set.^[182] In April 2005, one month after Aniston filed for divorce, a set of paparazzi photographs emerged showing Pitt, Jolie and her son Maddox at a beach in Kenya; the pictures were construed in the press as evidence of a relationship between Pitt and Jolie.^[183] During the summer of 2005, the two were seen together with increasing frequency, and the entertainment media dubbed the couple "Brangelina".^[184] On January 11, 2006, Jolie confirmed to People that she was pregnant with Pitt's child, thereby publicly acknowledging their relationship for the first time.^[185] Pitt and Jolie announced their engagement in April 2012 after seven years together.^[186]

Children[link]