- published: 26 Oct 2006
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- author: David Lukas
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Amityville, New York
Amityville is a village in the town of Babylon in Suffolk County, New York, in the United States. The population was 9,441 at the 2000 census.
Huntington settlers first visited the Amityville area in 1653 as a source of salt hay. Chief Wyandanch granted the first deed to land in Amityville in 1658. The area was originally called Huntington West Neck South (it is on the Great South Bay and Suffolk County, New York border in the southwest corner of what once called Huntington South but is now the Town of Babylon. According to village lore, the name was changed in 1846 when residents met to find a better name for its new post office. The meeting turned into bedlam and one participant was to exclaim, "What this meeting needs is some amity". Another version says the name was first suggested by mill owner Samuel Ireland to name the town for his boat, the Amity.
The place name is strictly speaking an incidental name, marking an amicable agreement on the choice of a place name The village was formally incorporated on March 3, 1894. In the early 1900s Amityville was a popular tourist destination with large hotels on the bay and large homes. Annie Oakley was said to be a frequent guest of vaudevillian Fred Stone. Will Rogers had a home across Clocks Boulevard from Stone. Gangster Al Capone also had a house in the community. Amityville has been twinning with Le Bourget, France since 1979.
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Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City. Along with London's West End theatre, Broadway theatre is widely considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English-speaking world.
The Broadway theatre district is a popular tourist attraction in New York. According to The Broadway League, Broadway shows sold approximately $1.081 billion worth of tickets in calendar year 2011, compared with $1.037 billion for 2010. Attendance in 2011 was 12.13 million.
New York did not have a significant theatre presence until about 1750, when actor-managers Walter Murray and Thomas Kean established a resident theatre company at the Theatre on Nassau Street, which held about 280 people. They presented Shakespeare plays and ballad operas such as The Beggar's Opera. In 1752, William Hallam sent a company of twelve actors from Britain to the colonies with his brother Lewis as their manager. They established a theatre in Williamsburg, Virginia and opened with The Merchant of Venice and The Anatomist. The company moved to New York in the summer of 1753, performing ballad operas and ballad-farces like Damon and Phillida. The Revolutionary War suspended theatre in New York, but thereafter theatre resumed in 1798, the year the 2,000-seat Park Theatre was built on Chatham Street (now called Park Row). The Bowery Theatre opened in 1826, followed by others. Blackface minstrel shows, a distinctly American form of entertainment, became popular in the 1830s, and especially so with the arrival of the Virginia Minstrels in the 1840s.
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California
California (pronounced
i/kælɨˈfɔrnjə/) is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third most extensive (after Alaska and Texas). It is home to the nation's second- and sixth-largest census statistical areas (Los Angeles Metropolitan Area and San Francisco Bay Area), and eight of the nation's fifty most populated cities (Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, San Francisco, Fresno, Sacramento, Long Beach and Oakland). The capital city is Sacramento.
California's diverse geography ranges from the Pacific Coast in the west, to the Sierra Nevada mountains in the east – from the Redwood–Douglas-fir forests of the northwest, to the Mojave Desert areas in the southeast. The center of the state is dominated by Central Valley, a major agricultural area. California contains both the highest and lowest points in the contiguous United States (Mount Whitney and Death Valley), and has the third-longest coastline of all states (after Alaska and Florida). Earthquakes are a common occurrence due to the state's location along the Pacific Ring of Fire: about 37,000 are recorded annually.
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Hollywood
Hollywood is a district in Los Angeles, California, United States situated west-northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word Hollywood is often used as a metonym of American cinema. Today, much of the movie industry has dispersed into surrounding areas such as the Westside neighborhood, and the San Fernando and Santa Clarita Valleys, but significant auxiliary industries, such as editing, effects, props, post-production, and lighting companies remain in Hollywood, as does the backlot of Paramount Pictures.
On February 16, 2005, California Assembly Members Jackie Goldberg and Paul Koretz introduced a bill to require California to keep specific records on Hollywood as if it were independent, although it is not the typical practice of the City of Los Angeles to establish specific boundaries for districts or neighborhoods. For this to be done, the boundaries were defined. The bill was unanimously supported by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and the Los Angeles City Council. Assembly Bill 588 was approved by the Governor of California on August 28, 2006, and now the district of Hollywood has official borders. The border can be loosely described as the area east of West Hollywood, south of Mulholland Drive, Laurel Canyon, Cahuenga Boulevard, and Barham Boulevard, and the cities of Burbank and Glendale, north of Melrose Avenue and west of the Golden State Freeway and Hyperion Avenue. This includes all of Griffith Park and Los Feliz[citation needed] – two areas that were hitherto considered separate from Hollywood by most Angelenos. The population of the district, including Los Feliz, as of the 2000 census was 123,436 and the median household income was $33,409 in 1999.
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LAX
Los Angeles International Airport (IATA: LAX, ICAO: KLAX, FAA LID: LAX) is the primary airport serving the Greater Los Angeles Area, the second-most populated metropolitan area in the United States. It is most often referred to by its IATA airport code LAX, with the letters pronounced individually. LAX is located in southwestern Los Angeles along the Pacific coast in the neighborhood of Westchester, 16 miles (26 km) from the downtown core and is the primary airport of Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), an agency of the Los Angeles city government formerly known as the Department of Airports.
In 2011, LAX was the sixth busiest airport in the world after Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Beijing Capital International Airport, London Heathrow Airport, Chicago O'Hare International Airport, and Tokyo Haneda International Airport with 61,862,052 passengers.
LAX is the busiest airport in the Greater Los Angeles Area, but other airports including Bob Hope Airport, John Wayne Airport, Long Beach Airport, and LA/Ontario International Airport also serve the region. LAX is also the busiest airport in California and the U.S. West Coast in terms of flight operations, passenger traffic and air cargo activity, leading it to be referred to as the "Gateway to the Pacific Rim."
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Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City (Queens and Brooklyn), and two of which are mainly suburban (Nassau and Suffolk). The term "Long Island" often refers only to Nassau and Suffolk counties in order to differentiate them from New York City, though all four counties are on the island and part of the New York metropolitan area.
As of the 2010 census, Long Island had a population of 7,568,304, making it the most populated island in any U.S. state or territory. It is also the 17th most populous island in the world, ahead of Ireland, Jamaica and the Japanese island of Hokkaidō. Its population density is 5,402 inhabitants per square mile (2,086 /km2). If it were a state, Long Island would rank 13th in population (after Virginia) and first in population density.
Both the longest and the largest island in the contiguous United States, Long Island extends 118 miles (190 km) eastward from New York Harbor to Montauk Point, and has a maximum north-to-south expanse of 23 miles (37 km) between the northern Long Island Sound coast and the southern Atlantic coast. With a land area of 1,401 square miles (3,629 km2), Long Island is the 11th largest island in the United States and the 148th largest island in the world — larger than the 1,214 square miles (3,140 km2) of the smallest state, Rhode Island.
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Manhattan
Manhattan (/mænˈhætən/) is the most densely populated and the oldest of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the U.S. state of New York. The borough and county consist of Manhattan Island and several small adjacent islands: Roosevelt Island, Randall's Island, Wards Island, Governors Island, Liberty Island, part of Ellis Island,Mill Rock, and U Thant Island; as well as Marble Hill, a very small area on the mainland bordering the Bronx. The original city of New York began at the southern end of Manhattan, expanded northward, and then between 1874 and 1898, annexed land from surrounding counties.
The New York County is the most densely populated county in the United States, and one of the most densely populated areas in the world, with a 2010 population of 1,585,873 living in a land area of 22.96 square miles (59.5 km2), or 69,464 residents per square mile (26,924/km²), more dense than any individual American city. It is also one of the wealthiest counties in the United States, with a 2005 per capita income above $100,000. Manhattan is the third-largest of New York's five boroughs in population, and its smallest borough in land area.
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New York University
Coordinates: 40°43′48″N 73°59′42″W / 40.73°N 73.995°W / 40.73; -73.995
New York University (NYU) is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City, USA. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan. Founded in 1831, NYU is one of the largest private nonprofit institutions of American higher education.
NYU was elected to the Association of American Universities in 1950. The university counts 34 Nobel Prize winners, 3 Abel Prize winners, 10 National Medal of Science recipients, 16 Pulitzer Prize winners, 21 Academy Award winners, and Emmy,Grammy, and Tony Award winners among its faculty and alumni. NYU also has MacArthur and Guggenheim Fellowship holders as well as National Academy of Sciences members among its past and present graduates and faculty.
NYU is organized into 18 schools, colleges, and institutes, located in six centers throughout Manhattan and Downtown Brooklyn, as well as more than a dozen other sites across the world, with plans for further expansion.
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SoHo
SoHo is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City, notable for being the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, and also, more recently, for the wide variety of stores and shops ranging from trendy boutiques to outlets of upscale national and international chain stores. The area's history is an archetypal example of inner-city regeneration and gentrification, encompassing socio-economic, cultural, political and architectural developments.
Almost all of SoHo is included in the SoHo-Cast Iron Historic District, which was designated by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1973, extended in 2010, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and declared a National Historic Landmark in 1978. It consists of 26 blocks and approximately 500 buildings, many of them incorporating cast iron architectural elements. The side streets in the district are notable for being paved with Belgian blocks.
The name SoHo refers to the area being "SOuth of HOuston (Street)". This naming convention has become a model for the names of new and emerging neighborhoods in New York such as NoHo, for "NOrth of HOuston Street", TriBeCa ("TRIangle BElow CAnal Street"), Nolita ("NOrth of Little ITAly"), NoMad ("NOrth of MADison Square"), and DUMBO ("Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass").
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Upper West Side
The Upper West Side is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, New York City, that lies between Central Park and the Hudson River and between West 59th Street and West 110th Street. The Upper West Side is sometimes also considered to include the neighborhood of Morningside Heights.
Like the Upper East Side, the Upper West Side is an upscale, primarily residential, area, with many of its residents working in more commercial areas in Midtown and Lower Manhattan. While these distinctions were never hard-and-fast rules and now mean little, it has the reputation of being home to New York City's cultural and artistic workers, while the Upper East Side is traditionally perceived to be home to commercial and business types.
The Upper West Side is bounded on the south by 58th Street, Central Park to the east, and the Hudson River to the west. Its northern boundary is somewhat less obvious. Although it has historically been cited as 110th Street, which fixes the neighborhood alongside Central Park, it is now sometimes considered to be 125th Street, encompassing Morningside Heights. This reflects demographic shifts in Morningside Heights, as well as the tendency of real estate brokers to co-opt the tony Upper West Side name when listing Morningside Heights and Harlem apartments.[citation needed] The area north of West 96th Street and east of Broadway is also identified as Manhattan Valley. The overlapping area west of Amsterdam Avenue to Riverside Park was once known as the Bloomingdale District.
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Al Pacino
Alfredo James "Al" Pacino (/pəˈtʃiːnɵ/; born April 25, 1940) is an American film and stage actor and director. He is famous for playing mobsters, including Michael Corleone in The Godfather trilogy and Tony Montana in Scarface, though he has also appeared several times on the other side of the law — as a police officer, a detective and a lawyer. His role as Frank Slade in Scent of a Woman won him the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1993 after receiving seven previous Oscar nominations, one of them being in the same year.
He made his feature film debut in the 1969 film Me, Natalie in a minor supporting role, before playing the leading role in the 1971 drama The Panic in Needle Park. Pacino made his major breakthrough when he was given the role of Michael Corleone in The Godfather in 1972, which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Other Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actor were for Dick Tracy and Glengarry Glen Ross. Oscar nominations for Best Actor include The Godfather Part II, Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, ...And Justice for All and Scent of a Woman.
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Alan Alda
Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo (born January 28, 1936), better known as Alan Alda, is an American actor, director, screenwriter, and author. A six-time Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award winner, he is best known for his role as Hawkeye Pierce in the TV series M*A*S*H. He is currently a Visiting Professor at the State University of New York at Stony Brook School of Journalism and a member of the advisory board of The Center for Communicating Science.
In 1996, Alda was ranked #41 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time.
Alda was born Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo in The Bronx, New York City. His father, Robert Alda (born Alphonso Giuseppe Giovanni Roberto D'Abruzzo), was an actor and singer, and his mother, Joan Browne, was a former showgirl. His father was of Italian descent and his mother was of Irish ancestry. His adopted surname, "Alda," is a portmanteau of ALphonso and D'Abruzzo. When Alda was seven years old, he contracted Poliomyelitis. To combat the disease, his parents administered a painful treatment regimen developed by Sister Elizabeth Kenny that consisted of applying hot woolen blankets to his limbs and stretching his muscles. Alda attended Archbishop Stepinac High School in White Plains, New York. In 1956, he received his Bachelor of Science degree in English from Fordham College of Fordham University in the Bronx, where he was a student staff member of its FM radio station, WFUV. Alda's half-brother, Antony Alda, was born the same year and would also become an actor.
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Albert Salmi
Albert Salmi (March 11, 1928 – April 22, 1990) was an American actor.
Albert Salmi was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Finnish immigrant parents, and following a stint in the Army, took up acting as a career, studying Method acting with Lee Strasberg. In 1955, Salmi starred in Bus Stop on Broadway. He volunteered to go on the road with the show, where he fell in love with and married his leading lady, former child star Peggy Ann Garner, on May 16, 1956. Their only child, Catherine Ann Salmi, died in 1995 of premature heart disease at the age of thirty-eight.
He made his film debut as Smerdjakov in the 1958 movie version of The Brothers Karamazov, with Yul Brynner, Lee J. Cobb, William Shatner, and Richard Basehart. Salmi's next film was The Bravados in which he played one of the villains hunted down by hero Gregory Peck. The National Board of Review presented Salmi with the NBR Award for Best Supporting Actor for his work in both of these films.
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Amber Riley
Amber Patrice Riley (born February 15, 1986) is an American Actress best known for her role on the series Glee as Mercedes Jones.
Riley was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Tiny (née Hightower) and Elwin Riley. Riley auditioned for American Idol when she was 17 years old, during the show's second season, but was turned down by the producers. Amber graduated from La Mirada High School in La Mirada, California in 2004. In 2006 Riley auditioned unsuccessfully for the part of Effie White in Dreamgirls. She appeared at the 2010 MTV VMAs on September 12, 2010.
Riley plays the role of Mercedes Jones on the hit musical comedy-drama Glee. A member of the main cast, she has appeared since the show's pilot, which debuted in May 2009. She has sung numerous solos, including "Respect", "Bust Your Windows", "Hate on Me", "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going", "Beautiful", "Bridge over Troubled Water", "I Look to You", "Hell to the No", "Ain't No Way", "Try a Little Tenderness", "Spotlight", "All I Want for Christmas Is You" and, three days after Whitney Houston's death, a tribute version of "I Will Always Love You". Her character gets through her schooldays with her "diva-style", stylish clothes, and has a friendship with the only openly gay boy in school, Kurt Hummel (Chris Colfer). In 2011, Riley received an NAACP Image Award nomination for her portrayal of Mercedes; she has won a Screen Actors Guild Award for her acting on Glee, along with the show's ensemble, and has also been nominated for a Teen Choice Award for her acting on the show. Her mother was a member of the choir in the song "Like a Prayer"—Mercedes dances with her—during the first season episode "The Power of Madonna".
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Andrea Bowen
Andrea Lauren Bowen (born March 4, 1990; Columbus, Ohio) is an American actress who is best known for playing Julie Mayer on Desperate Housewives (2004–2012). She has won two SAG Awards.
Bowen is of Welsh descent and made her Broadway debut in 1996 as Young Cosette/Young Eponine in Les Misérables. At six, she was the youngest actress to ever play the role. From 1996 to 2001 Bowen was a consistent presence on Broadway. She appeared in the original company of the 1998 revival of The Sound of Music as Marta, and in 2000, created the role of Adele in the musical version of Jane Eyre. Bowen was also a member of The Broadway Kids concert group. Several of Bowen's siblings have also been heavily involved in musical theatre, performing roles in various other Broadway shows.
She briefly attended the Professional Performing Arts School in New York alongside best friend Sarah Hyland.
From 2004–2012 Bowen has portrayed Julie Mayer on Desperate Housewives. She currently models for Miss Selfridge.[citation needed] She has also had recurring or guest starring roles on such shows as One Tree Hill (with friend Sophia Bush), Boston Public and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. In the film Red Riding Hood she appears as one of "The Three Ashleys." Most recently, she played the role of Candace in the esoteric adventure film Eye of the Dolphin. She also starred in the Lifetime Original film Girl, Positive, an experience that allowed her to help spread the message among youth that "HIV is something you can protect yourself from." More recently, she has appeared in an episode of Ghost Whisperer during its fourth season.
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Andy Samberg
David Andrew "Andy" Samberg (born August 18, 1978) is an American actor, comedian, rapper, and writer best known as a member of the comedy group The Lonely Island and as a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 2005 to 2012. On Saturday Night Live, he and The Lonely Island have been credited with popularizing the Emmy-winning SNL Digital Shorts, the comical short films and music videos starring Samberg and other members of the SNL cast. As a film actor, Samberg has appeared in Hot Rod; Space Chimps; Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist; I Love You, Man; Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs; Friends with Benefits; and What's Your Number?
Samberg was born in Mill Valley California, the son of Joe Samberg, a photographer, and Margi (née Marrow), an elementary school teacher who taught at Old Mill School. Samberg also has two sisters, Johanna and Darrow. He was raised in a Jewish household. His maternal grandfather, Alfred J. Marrow, served as the executive chair of the American Jewish Congress, although Samberg describes himself as "not particularly religious." Samberg discovered Saturday Night Live as a child while sneaking past his parents to watch professional wrestling on television. He became "obsessed" with the show, and his devotion to comedy became frustrating to teachers who felt he was unfocused on his schoolwork.
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Angela Bassett
Angela Evelyn Bassett (born August 16, 1958) is an American actress and comedienne. She has become well known for her biographical film roles portraying real life women in African American culture, including Tina Turner in What's Love Got to Do with It, as well as Betty Shabazz in Malcolm X and Panther, Rosa Parks in The Rosa Parks Story, Katherine Jackson in The Jacksons: An American Dream,and Voletta Wallace in Notorious.
Bassett was born Angela Evelyn Bassett in Harlem, New York on August 16, 1958, the daughter of Betty Jane and Daniel Benjamin Bassett. After her parents' separation, she relocated to St. Petersburg, Florida, where she and her sister D'nette were raised by their social worker/civil servant mother. As her interest in entertainment developed, Angela and her sister would often put on shows, reading poems or performing popular music for their family. At Boca Ciega High School, Bassett was a cheerleader and a member of the debate team, student government, drama club and choir.
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Angela Kinsey
Angela Kinsey (born June 25, 1971) is an American actress. She currently appears as the uptight accountant Angela Martin on the hit NBC television series The Office.
Kinsey was born in Lafayette, Louisiana. When she was two, her family moved to Jakarta, Indonesia, where her father worked as a drilling engineer. They lived there for twelve years, and she attended the Jakarta International School. During this time she learned Indonesian, which she still knows. Her family then returned to the United States and settled in Archer City, Texas.
Kinsey studied English at Baylor University, where she became a member of the Chi Omega sorority, "took as many theatre classes as possible", and participated in the "Baylor in London" program. In a 2007 interview with the Baylor student newspaper, she discussed the influence of her years at the university:
Kinsey served as an intern on the NBC late night talk show Late Night with Conan O'Brien, which she described as an "awesome" experience.[citation needed] She worked for the show's drummer Max Weinberg. The experience inspired Kinsey to take a coast-to-coast road trip with a friend from New York City to California.
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Anne Heche
Anne Celeste Heche (
/ˈheɪʃ/ HAYSH; born May 25, 1969) is an American actress, director, and screenwriter. She started her career on the daytime soap opera Another World, for which she won a Daytime Emmy Award in 1991. Heche gradually landed supporting roles in feature films, and in 1997 appeared in I Know What You Did Last Summer, Wag the Dog, Donnie Brasco and Volcano. Her first leading role in a major Hollywood film was Six Days Seven Nights (1998)—which has remained her highest-profile film role to date. Following a supporting role in the film John Q. (2002), she was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for her performance in the TV movie Gracie's Choice (2004), and starred in the 2006–2008 TV series Men in Trees. Her most recent film roles include Spread (2009), The Other Guys (2010), and Cedar Rapids (2011); she currently appears in the HBO cable TV series Hung.
Heche was beginning to establish herself in films during the late 1990s, when she began a highly publicized relationship with Ellen DeGeneres. In 2001, a year after her break-up with DeGeneres, Heche married cameraman Coleman Laffoon, with whom she had a son. Since their separation in 2007 (they divorced in 2009), she has lived with actor James Tupper, with whom she also has a son.
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Anthony Hopkins
Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins, CBE (born 31 December 1937), best known as Anthony Hopkins, is a Welsh actor of film, stage and television, and a composer. Considered to be one of the greatest living actors, Hopkins is perhaps best known for his portrayal of Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs. Other prominent film credits include The Lion in Winter, Magic, The Elephant Man, 84 Charing Cross Road, Dracula, Legends of the Fall, The Remains of the Day, Amistad, Nixon, The World's Fastest Indian, and Fracture. Hopkins was born and brought up in Wales. Retaining his British citizenship, he became a U.S. citizen on 12 April 2000. Hopkins' films have spanned a wide variety of genres, from family films to horror. As well as his Academy Award, Hopkins has also won three BAFTA Awards, two Emmys and the Cecil B. DeMille Golden Globe Award. Hopkins was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1993 for services to the arts. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2003, and was made a Fellow of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts in 2008.
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Anthony Weiner
Anthony David Weiner (pronounced /ˈwiːnər/; born September 4, 1964) is a former U.S. Representative who served New York's 9th congressional district from January 1999 until June 2011. A Democrat, Weiner held the seat previously occupied by Democrat Charles Schumer and won seven terms, never receiving less than 59 percent of the vote. He was an unsuccessful candidate for mayor of New York City in the 2005 election, and had begun to amass a campaign fund to run again for mayor in 2013.
Previously, Weiner was a New York City councilman from 1992 to 1998, and a congressional aide to then-U.S. Representative Schumer from 1985 to 1991. A New York City native, he attended the public schools and graduated from the State University of New York at Plattsburgh in 1985 with a bachelor of arts degree in political science.
Weiner resigned from Congress due to a sexting scandal, effective June 21, 2011. A special election was held on September 13, 2011, to fill the remainder of his term.
Weiner was born in Brooklyn, New York, one of three sons of Mort Weiner, a lawyer, and his wife Fran, a public high school mathematics teacher. The family lived for a time in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn. Weiner described his ethnic and religious background in 2011: "We weren't a very religious household," he said, "but we had a very strong sense of our Judaism." His older brother, Seth, was killed at age 39 in a hit-and-run vehicle-pedestrian accident in May 2000. His younger brother, Jason, is a chef and co-owner of several New York restaurants.
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B. J. Novak
Benjamin Joseph Manaly "B. J." Novak (born July 31, 1979) is an American actor, stand-up comedian, screenwriter, and director. He is best known for being a writer and co-executive producer for and playing the role of Ryan Howard on The Office, as well as appearing in Inglourious Basterds.
Novak was born and raised in Newton, Massachusetts, the son of Linda (née Manaly) and William Novak, who has ghostwritten memoirs for Nancy Reagan, Lee Iacocca, and others. Novak's family is Jewish; his father co-edited The Big Book of Jewish Humor, and his parents also established a Jewish matchmaking service. Novak has two younger brothers, Jesse, a composer, and Lev, an undergraduate student at Tufts University. He attended Newton South High School with future Office costar John Krasinski, and they graduated in 1997. Novak attended Harvard University, where he worked for the Harvard Lampoon and majored in English and Spanish literature after writing a thesis on Hollywood responses to Shakespeare. In addition to the Lampoon, he occasionally staged and performed in a variety show called The B.J. Show with fellow Harvard student B. J. Averell. Novak wrote his honors thesis on the films of Shakespeare's Hamlet.
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Ben Johnson (actor)
Ben "Son" Johnson, Jr. (June 13, 1918 – April 8, 1996) was an American motion picture actor who was mainly cast in Westerns. He was also a rodeo cowboy, stuntman, and rancher.
Johnson was born in Foraker, Oklahoma, on the Osage Indian Reservation, of Irish and Cherokee ancestry, the son of Ollie Susan (née Workmon) and Ben Johnson, Sr. His father was a rancher in Osage County and also a rodeo champion. As a young man, Johnson was a ranch hand and travelled with his father on the rodeo circuit. He was a star in rodeo before becoming involved in the movies. He was the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association's Team Roping World Champion in 1953. After winning the title, he discovered that, after travel and expenses, he broke even for the year. Johnson was inducted into the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association's ProRodeo Hall of Fame in 1973.
Johnson married Carol Elaine Jones in 1941, and they were married for 53 years until her death on March 27, 1994. The couple had no children. Carol Jones was the daughter of noted Hollywood horse wrangler Clarence "Fat" Jones.
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Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton (born William Jefferson Blythe III; August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation. Clinton has been described as a New Democrat. Many of his policies have been attributed to a centrist Third Way philosophy of governance.
Born and raised in Arkansas, Clinton became both a student leader and a skilled musician. He is an alumnus of Georgetown University where he was Phi Beta Kappa and earned a Rhodes Scholarship to attend the University of Oxford. He is married to Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has served as the United States Secretary of State since 2009 and was a Senator from New York from 2001 to 2009. Both Clintons received law degrees from Yale Law School, where they met and began dating. As Governor of Arkansas, Clinton overhauled the state's education system, and served as Chair of the National Governors Association.
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Billy Crystal
William Edward "Billy" Crystal (born March 14, 1948) is an American actor, writer, producer, comedian, and film director. He gained prominence in the 1970s for playing Jodie Dallas on the ABC sitcom Soap and became a Hollywood film star during the late 1980s and 1990s, appearing in the critical and box office successes When Harry Met Sally... and City Slickers. He has hosted the Academy Awards nine times, including the 84th Academy Awards in 2012.
Crystal was born in the Doctor's Hospital in Manhattan and raised on Long Island in Long Beach, the son of Helen (née Gabler), a housewife, and Jack Crystal, a record company executive and jazz producer who also owned and operated the Commodore Record store. His babysitter was occasionally Billie Holiday. His uncle was musician and songwriter Milt Gabler, and his brother, Richard "Rip" Crystal, is a television producer. Crystal grew up in a Jewish family that he has described as "large" and "loving".
After graduation from Long Beach High School, Crystal attended Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia on a baseball scholarship, having learned the game from his father, who pitched for St. John's University. Crystal never played a game at Marshall because the program was suspended during his freshman year, and because he was too busy being the Editor in Chief of The BG News from 1969–70. He did not return to Marshall as a sophomore, staying back in New York with his future wife. He instead attended Nassau Community College and later New York University, where he graduated in 1970 with a BFA from its Tisch School of the Arts.
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Bob Reifsnyder
Robert Harland Reifsnyder (born 1937) is a retired professional American football player. An All-American at the United States Naval Academy, he was the 1957 recipient of the Maxwell Award for College Player of the Year.
He went on to play for the American Football League's New York Titans (1960–1961).
Reifsnyder was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1997.
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Bob Yari
Bob Yari (born May 30, 1961, in Iran) is an Iranian-American film producer.
He grew up in New York City, and studied cinematography at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Yari's film Crash won the Best Picture at the 78th Academy Awards.
Although Yari received screen credit as a producer of Crash, the Producers Guild of America refused to designate him as a producer to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the purpose of nominating producers of the film for the Best Picture Oscar. Yari sued both the Academy and the Guild in the Los Angeles Superior Court and lost at the demurrer stage. The trial court's decision was affirmed by the California Court of Appeal for the Second Appellate District on March 25, 2008.[non-primary source needed]
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Bobby DeLaughter
Robert "Bobby" DeLaughter (born February 28, 1954) is an American Mississippi state prosecutor, judge, and author. He is notable for prosecuting and securing the conviction in 1994 of Byron De La Beckwith, charged with the murder of the civil rights leader Medgar Evers on June 12, 1963. Two earlier trials in Mississippi in 1964 had resulted in hung juries.
Bobby Burt DeLaughter was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi, on February 28, 1954. He was the first son of Barney Roy DeLaughter and Billie Newman (Burt) DeLaughter, who later had another son Mike. Bobby's father Barney Roy was a commercial artist for a newspaper. The family moved to Jackson when Bobby was very young, and DeLaughter grew up being part of the city's white middle class. He was nine on June 12, 1963, when Medgar Evers was killed.
DeLaughter first saw the law in action when his ninth-grade civics teacher took the class to watch a trial at the Hinds County courthouse. That day convinced DeLaughter he wanted to practice law. He graduated from Wingfield High School in Jackson. DeLaughter attended undergraduate college and law school at the University of Mississippi. He became a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity.
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Brad Garrett
Bradley "Brad" Garrett (born Bradley H. Gerstenfeld; April 14, 1960) is an American actor, voice-actor, stand-up comedian, and professional poker-player. He has appeared in numerous television and film roles.
Garret was initially successful as a stand-up comedian in the early 1980s. Taking advantage of that success in the late 1980s, Garrett began appearing in television and film, in minor and guest roles. His first major role was Robert Barone on the CBS series Everybody Loves Raymond. The series debuted September 13, 1996 and ran nine seasons.
Garrett's film roles include Stuart Little 2, Finding Nemo, Garfield, The Amateurs, The Pacifier, Night at the Museum 2, Tangled, and Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil. Garrett also played the leading role of Eddie Stark on the FOX television series 'Til Death from 2006 to 2010.
Garrett has won three primetime Emmy awards, with three other nominations. Garrett is still prominent within stand-up comedy and is also a professional poker player. Garrett's trademarks are his height (6 feet 8½ inches; 204 cm) and deep voice.
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Brenda Strong
Brenda Lee Strong (born March 25, 1960) is an American actress and yoga instructor, best known for her role as Mary Alice Young on the ABC television comedy-drama series Desperate Housewives (2004–2012), for which she was nominated for Emmy Awards. She also is known for role as Sally Sasser on the ABC comedy-drama Sports Night (1998–2000) and currently starring as Ann Ewing on the TNT drama series Dallas.
Strong was born in Brightwood, Oregon, and grew up near Portland, Oregon, graduating in 1978 from Sandy Union High School in Sandy, Oregon. She later moved to Arizona to attend college, and graduated from Arizona State University with a Bachelor of Music in musical theater. Strong was crowned Miss Arizona in 1980; she is 6'0" (1.83 m) tall.
Her first break after college was a spot in Billy Crystal’s 1984 music video You Look Marvelous. Her first television appearances came in 1985 with brief stints on St. Elsewhere, MacGyver, and Cheers. She also made guest appearances on Matlock, Murphy Brown, Herman's Head, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Blossom, and had a brief role on the cult favorite Twin Peaks.
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Brent Kinsman
Brent Kinsman and Shane Kinsman (Los Angeles, California, November 13, 1997) in are American twin child actors who typically portray rambunctious twins, most notably, as Kyle and Nigel Baker in the 2003 film Cheaper by the Dozen and its 2005 sequel Cheaper by the Dozen 2. They also had featured roles as Porter and Preston Scavo on the popular ABC television series Desperate Housewives for 4 years (replaced by Charlie Carver and Max Carver).
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Brian Baumgartner
Brian Baumgartner (born November 29, 1972) is an Emmy Award-winning American film and television actor, best known for playing Kevin Malone on The Office.
Baumgartner was born in Atlanta, Georgia, where he attended Holy Innocents' Episcopal School. He attended high school at The Westminster Schools in Atlanta with future Office co-star Ed Helms, who graduated one year later in 1992. He then attended SMU before moving to Los Angeles, Baumgartner served as Artistic Director of Hidden Theatre in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he received multiple awards for artistic and acting excellence. In addition, Baumgartner performed regionally at the Guthrie Theater, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Children's Theater Company, and Theatre de la Jeune Lune. Baumgartner studied acting at the Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University. Brian is also a Los Angeles Dodgers fan. Baumgartner lives in Los Angeles and Hilton Head with his wife and daughter.
Baumgartner's television appearances include roles on Jake in Progress, Arrested Development and Everwood. He also acted as a talent scout on Last Comic Standing with his Office co-star Kate Flannery. He appears in the romantic comedy feature film License to Wed opposite Robin Williams, Mandy Moore, and Office co-star John Krasinski. In June 2007, Baumgartner won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Broadband Program - Comedy, for his work on The Office: Accountants webisodes. His co-stars Angela Kinsey and Oscar Nunez also shared the award.
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Burgess Meredith
Oliver Burgess Meredith (November 16, 1907 – September 9, 1997), known professionally as Burgess Meredith, was an American actor in theatre, film, and television, who also worked as a director. Active for more than six decades, Meredith has been called "a virtuosic actor" who was "one of the most accomplished actors of the century." Meredith won several Emmys, was the first man to win two times the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor, and was nominated for Academy Awards.
Meredith was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Ida Beth (née Burgess) and Canadian-born William George Meredith, M.D.
He graduated from Hoosac School in 1926 and then attended Amherst College as a member of the Class of 1931. Meredith served in the United States Army Air Forces in World War II, reaching the rank of captain. He was discharged in 1944 to work on the movie The Story of G.I. Joe, in which he starred as the popular war correspondent Ernie Pyle.
In 1933, he became a member of Eva Le Gallienne's Civic Repertory Theatre company in New York City. Although best known to the larger world audience for his film and television work, Meredith was an influential actor and director for the stage. He made his Broadway debut as Peter in Le Gallienne's production of Romeo and Juliet (1930) and became a star in Maxwell Anderson's Winterset (1935), which became his film debut the following year. His early life and theatre work were the subject of a New Yorker profile.
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Caryl Churchill
Caryl Churchill (born 3 September 1938) is an English dramatist known for her use of non-naturalistic techniques and feminist themes, the abuses of power, and sexual politics. She is acknowledged as a major playwright in the English language and a leading female writer. Her early work developed Brecht's modernist dramatic and theatrical techniques of ‘Epic theatre’ to explore issues around gender and sexuality. From A Mouthful of Birds (1986) onwards, she began to experiment with forms of dance-theatre, incorporating techniques developed from the performance tradition initiated by Artaud with his 'Theatre of Cruelty'. This move away from a clear Fabel dramaturgy towards increasingly fragmented and surrealistic narratives characterizes her work as postmodernist.
Churchill was born in London, England, the daughter of Jan, a fashion model, and Robert Churchill, a political cartoonist. After World War II her family emigrated to Montreal, Canada at ten years old, where she attended Trafalgar School for Girls. She returned to England to attend university, and graduated from Lady Margaret Hall, a women’s college of the Oxford University, in 1960 with a B.A. degree in English Literature. She also began her career there. Her four earliest plays, Downstairs (produced 1958),You've No Need to be Frightened, Having a Wonderful Time (1960), and Easy Death (produced 1962) were performed by Oxford-based theatrical ensembles-student drama groups.
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Casey Affleck
Caleb Casey McGuire Affleck-Boldt (born August 12, 1975), better known as Casey Affleck, is an American actor and film director. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, he played supporting roles in mainstream hits like Good Will Hunting (1997) and Ocean's Eleven (2001) as well as in critically acclaimed independent films such as Chasing Amy (1997). Casey is the younger brother of actor and director Ben Affleck, with whom he has frequently collaborated professionally. In 2007, his breakout year, Affleck gained recognition and critical acclaim for his work in Gone Baby Gone and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
Affleck was born in Falmouth, Massachusetts. He is the younger brother of Ben Affleck, and second son of Christine Anne "Chris" (née Boldt), a school district employee and teacher, and Timothy Byers Affleck, a drug counselor, social worker, janitor, auto mechanic, bartender, and former actor with the Theater Company of Boston. Affleck has Irish, Scottish, German, and English ancestry (the surname "Affleck" is Scottish), and is a distant cousin of actor Matt Damon. He was raised in a mostly Episcopalian family. Affleck is three years younger than his brother Ben. As a child he had numerous pets, including cats, snakes, guinea pigs and turtles. Affleck went to George Washington University and later transferred to Columbia University in New York City, where he majored in physics, astronomy, and Western philosophy, but never graduated. Affleck worked sporadically on television while finishing high school and attending college during the early 1990s.
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Catherine Zeta-Jones
Catherine Zeta-Jones, CBE, ( /ˈziːtə/; born Catherine Zeta Jones; 25 September 1969) is a Welsh actress. She began her career on stage at an early age. After starring in a number of United Kingdom and United States television films and small roles in films, she came to prominence with roles in Hollywood movies such as the 1998 action film The Mask of Zorro and the 1999 crime thriller film Entrapment. Her breakthrough role was in the 2000 film Traffic, for which she earned her first Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture.
Zeta-Jones subsequently starred as Velma Kelly in the 2002 film adaptation of the musical Chicago, a critical and commercial success, and received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, BAFTA Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award and was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. Later, she appeared in the 2003 romantic comedy film Intolerable Cruelty and 2004 crime comedy film Ocean's Twelve. Zeta-Jones starred in the 2005 sequel of the 1998 film, The Legend of Zorro. She also starred in the 2008 biopic romantic thriller Death Defying Acts. In 2010, she won the Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical for her portrayal of Desiree in A Little Night Music.
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Charles Bickford
Charles Bickford (January 1, 1891 – November 9, 1967) was an American actor best known for his supporting roles. He was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for The Song of Bernadette (1943), The Farmer's Daughter (1947), and Johnny Belinda (1948). Other notable roles include Whirlpool (1948), A Star is Born (1954) and The Big Country (1958).
Bickford was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, during the first minute of 1891. The fifth of seven children, he was a very independent and unruly child who was tried and acquitted at nine years old of the attempted murder of a trolley motorman who had callously driven over and killed his dog. In his late teens he drifted aimlessly around the United States for a time. Before breaking into acting he worked as a lumberjack, investment promoter, and for a short time, ran a pest extermination business. He was a stoker and fireman in the United States Navy when a friend dared him to get a job in Burlesque. He did and remained on stage for the next sixteen years.
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Charlie Sheen
Carlos Irwin Estevez (born September 3, 1965), better known by his stage name Charlie Sheen, is an American film and television actor. He is the youngest son of actor Martin Sheen.
His character roles in films have included Chris Taylor in the 1986 Vietnam War drama Platoon, Jake Kesey in the 1986 film The Wraith, and Bud Fox in the 1987 film Wall Street. His career has also included more comedic films such as Major League, the Hot Shots! films, and Scary Movie 3 and Scary Movie 4. On television, Sheen is known for his roles on two sitcoms: as Charlie Crawford on Spin City and as Charlie Harper on Two and a Half Men. In 2010, Sheen was the highest paid actor on television, earning US$1.8 million per episode of Two and a Half Men.
Sheen's personal life has also made headlines, including reports about alcohol and drug abuse and marital problems as well as allegations of domestic violence. He was fired from his role on Two and a Half Men by CBS and Warner Bros. on March 7, 2011. Sheen subsequently announced a nationwide tour.
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Chris Colfer
Christopher Paul "Chris" Colfer (born May 27, 1990) is an American actor and singer, known for his portrayal of Kurt Hummel on the television series Glee. He is a Golden Globe winner and a two-time Emmy nominee.
Colfer was named one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world in 2011.
Colfer was born in Clovis, California, the son of Karyn Colfer (née Boling) and Tim Colfer. Colfer has Irish ancestry; he has stated "I’m very Irish, my family is all Irish and St. Patrick’s day in my house is crazy." He was home schooled for half of 7th grade and 8th grade because he was bullied so much in school.
While a student at Clovis East High School, Colfer was involved with the speech and debate program, where he won "many speech and debate champion titles," including placing ninth in the State Competition for Dramatic Interpretation, the drama club, the FFA, "was president of the Writer’s Club, editor of the school's literary magazine, and captain of Destination ImagiNation." As a high school senior, he wrote, starred in, and directed a spoof of Sweeney Todd entitled "Shirley Todd", in which all of the roles were gender-reversed. One of his real in-school experiences was later turned into a sub-plot for his character on Glee, when the high school teachers denied him the chance to sing "Defying Gravity" from the musical Wicked because it is traditionally sung by a woman. His grandmother, a minister, let him sing the song in her church.
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Christian Bale
Christian Charles Philip Bale (born 30 January 1974) is an English actor. Best known for his roles in American films, Bale has starred in both big budget Hollywood films and the smaller projects from independent producers and art houses.
Bale first caught the public eye at the age of 13, when he was cast in the starring role of Steven Spielberg's Empire of the Sun (1987). He played an English boy who is separated from his parents and subsequently finds himself lost in a Japanese internment camp during World War II. He is also notable for his role as serial killer Patrick Bateman in American Psycho (2000), and for portraying Bruce Wayne/Batman in Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins (2005), The Dark Knight (2008) and the upcoming finale The Dark Knight Rises (2012).
In 2010, Bale portrayed Dicky Eklund in the biopic The Fighter. He received critical acclaim for his role and won several awards, including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role.
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Christopher Plummer
Arthur Christopher Orme Plummer, CC (born December 13, 1929) is a Canadian theatre, film and television actor. He made his film debut in 1958's Stage Struck, and notable early film performances include The Night of the Generals, The Return of the Pink Panther, and The Man Who Would Be King.
In a career that spans seven decades and includes substantial roles in each of the dramatic arts, Plummer is probably best known to audiences as the autocratic widower Captain Georg Ludwig von Trapp in the hit 1965 musical film The Sound of Music alongside Julie Andrews. Plummer has also ventured into various television projects, including the legendary miniseries The Thorn Birds.
His most recent film roles include the The Insider as Mike Wallace, the Disney-Pixar 2009 film Up as Charles Muntz, the Shane Acker production 9 as 1, The Last Station as Leo Tolstoy, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus as Doctor Parnassus, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo as Henrik Vanger, and Beginners as Hal.
Plummer has won numerous awards and accolades for his work, including an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, two Tony Awards, a Golden Globe Award, a SAG Award, and a BAFTA Award. With his win at the age of 82 in 2012 for Beginners, Plummer is the oldest actor ever to win an Academy Award.
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Cody Kasch
Cody Reed Kasch (born August 21, 1987) is an American actor.
Kasch was born of Scottish heritage in Santa Monica, California and raised in Ojai, California on a working ranch until he was nearly fourteen, when he moved to Camarillo, California.
After numerous television guest appearances, Kasch got his big break when he was cast in a regular role on the John Goodman sitcom Normal, Ohio, only to see that series be cancelled after only a few episodes[citation needed]. Kasch portrayed a Texan high school student in the Australian teenage series, Out There. Four years later, Kasch was hired to play the character of Zach Young on the ABC comedy-drama Desperate Housewives, where as the son of deceased Mary Alice Young, Kasch played one of the pivotal figures in the show's main mystery. After a brief absence from the series he returned in the season 3 as Gabrielle Solis' secret admirer and again in season 7. He is also the narrator for several audiobooks[citation needed]. Kasch starred in the 2010 horror film Chain Letter as Neil Conners.
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Cory Monteith
Cory Allan Michael Monteith (born May 11, 1982) is a Canadian actor and musician, best known for his role of Finn Hudson on the Fox television series Glee.
Monteith was born in Calgary, Alberta and raised in Victoria, British Columbia. His parents divorced when he was seven, and he was raised by his mother. By 13, Monteith, once a promising student, who, at age 5, could read at a fourth-grade level, dropped out of school. Monteith estimates that by the time he quit school for good at age 16, he had attended 12 different schools, including alternative programs for troubled teens. He went drinking with his friends and had a drug addiction. Monteith went to rehab at 19 after his family gave him an ultimatum: either he gets clean or they would report him to the police and press charges for stealing a significant amount of money to fuel his addiction. Looking back, he stated, "I finally said, 'I'm gonna start looking at my life and figure out why I'm doing this.'"
He has worked various jobs, such as a Wal-Mart people greeter, taxi driver, school bus driver, and roofer.
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Dan Aykroyd
Daniel Edward "Dan" Aykroyd, CM (born July 1, 1952) is a Canadian comedian, singer, actor and screenwriter. He was an original cast member of Saturday Night Live, an originator of The Blues Brothers (with John Belushi) and Ghostbusters and has had a long career as a film actor and screenwriter.
Aykroyd was born on July 1, 1952, at the Ottawa General Hospital in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. He grew up in the Canadian capital, where his father, Samuel Peter Aykroyd, a civil engineer, worked as a policy adviser to Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. His mother, Lorraine Hélène (née Gougeon), is a secretary, of French Canadian descent. His brother, Peter, also became a comedy actor. Aykroyd was born with syndactyly (webbed toes), which was revealed in the movie Mr. Mike's Mondo Video and in a short film on Saturday Night Live (Don't Look Back In Anger). He was also born with heterochromia (a condition of having two differently coloured eyes). His right eye is green and his left eye is brown.
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David Denman
David Denman (born July 25, 1973) is an American film and television actor.
After graduating from Fountain Valley High School, Denman attended the summer training congress at American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. He then attended the Juilliard School's Drama Division (1993-1997, Group 26) where he graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.
He made his film debut with Keanu Reeves and Gene Hackman as a deaf tight-end in the Warner Bros. football comedy The Replacements. His other feature credits include Fair Game, Shutter, Smart People, Out Cold, and Big Fish. He will appear in the upcoming feature film Let Go with Ed Asner, Gillian Jacobs, and Kevin Hart.
On television, Denman recurred as "Tony" on Drop Dead Diva. He has appeared on Brothers & Sisters, In Plain Sight, Gary Unmarried, Grey’s Anatomy, K-Ville, Without A Trace, Bones, Crossing Jordan, CSI: Miami, The X-Files, ER, Arliss, as well as in recurring roles on the UPN series Second Time Around and as Skip the Demon on Angel. He also appeared in The '60s and The Perfect Husband: The Laci Peterson Story. He is perhaps best known for his role as Roy Anderson, the ex-fiancé of Pam Beesly on the US version of The Office.
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David Hyde Pierce
David Hyde Pierce (born April 3, 1959) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for playing the psychiatrist Dr. Niles Crane on the NBC sitcom Frasier, for which he won four Emmy Awards during the series' run.
Pierce, the youngest of four siblings, was born in Saratoga Springs, New York, the son of Laura Marie (née Hughes) and George Hyde Pierce, an insurance agent and aspiring actor. He has three older siblings: Barbara, Nancy, and Thomas, and adapted his name as an adult.
As a child, Pierce became very interested in the piano and frequently played organ at the local Bethesda Episcopal Church in Saratoga Springs. He began acting while in high school, earning recognition as best Dramatic Arts student. In 1977, Pierce received the Yaddo Medal for character and scholarship and worked in theater while a counselor at Camp Kabeyun in New Hampshire. However, his love of music was still strong, so he decided to study classical piano at Yale University. However, Pierce soon grew bored with music history lessons and found that he wasn’t dedicated enough to practice the required number of hours to become a successful concert pianist. Instead, he graduated in 1981 with a double major in English and Theatre Arts.
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David Mamet
David Alan Mamet ( /ˈmæmɨt/; born November 30, 1947) is an American playwright, essayist, screenwriter and film director.
Best known as a playwright, Mamet won a Pulitzer Prize and received a Tony nomination for Glengarry Glen Ross (1984). He also received a Tony nomination for Speed-the-Plow (1988). As a screenwriter, he received Oscar nominations for The Verdict (1982) and Wag the Dog (1997). Mamet's books include: The Old Religion (1997), a novel about the lynching of Leo Frank; Five Cities of Refuge: Weekly Reflections on Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy (2004), a Torah commentary with Rabbi Lawrence Kushner; The Wicked Son (2006), a study of Jewish self-hatred and antisemitism; and Bambi vs. Godzilla, a commentary on the movie business.
Mamet was born in 1947 in Chicago to Jewish parents, Lenore June (Silver), a teacher, and Bernard Morris Mamet, an attorney. One of his first jobs was as a busboy at Chicago's The Second City. He was educated at the progressive Francis W. Parker School and at Goddard College in Plainfield, Vermont.
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Debra Messing
Debra Lynn Messing (born August 15, 1968) is an American actress. She is widely known for her television roles in Will & Grace and The Starter Wife.
Following her graduation from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, Messing rose to prominence in television roles in several short-lived series, such as the Fox sitcom Ned & Stacey and the ABC's science fictional Prey. It was her casting as Grace Adler in the NBC sitcom Will & Grace which catapulted Messing to TV stardom. The series ran for eight seasons, and in 2003 she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for her performance. She also received critical acclaim for her work as Molly Kagan in the mini-series The Starter Wife. As of 2012, she is starring as Julia Houston, a leading role in the NBC musical drama series Smash.
Throughout her career she has been nominated for a total of six Emmy Awards, eight Golden Globe Awards and eight Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Messing was born in the Brooklyn borough of New York City, the daughter of Sandra (née Simons), who has worked as a professional singer, banker, travel and real estate agent, and Brian Messing, a sales executive for a costume jewelry packaging manufacturer. Messing is Jewish; she is a descendant of immigrants from Russia and Poland. When Messing was three, she moved with her parents and her older brother, Brett, to East Greenwich, Rhode Island.
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Diane Lane
Diane Lane (born January 22, 1965) is an American film actress.
Born and raised in New York City, Lane made her screen debut at the age of 13 in George Roy Hill's 1979 film A Little Romance, starring opposite Sir Laurence Olivier. Soon after, she was featured on the cover of Time magazine. She has since appeared in several notable films, including the 2002 film Unfaithful, which earned her Academy Award, Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations.
Lane has been married to actor Josh Brolin since 2004. She was previously married to actor Christopher Lambert from 1988 to 1994.
Lane was born in New York City. Her mother, Colleen Farrington, was a nightclub singer and Playboy centerfold (Miss October 1957), who was also known as "Colleen Price". Her father, Burton Eugene Lane, was a Manhattan drama coach who ran an acting workshop with John Cassavetes, worked as a cab driver, and later taught humanities at City College. When Lane was 13 months old, her parents split up. Her mother went to Mexico and obtained a divorce while retaining custody of her daughter until the child was six. Her father got custody of her after Farrington moved to Georgia. Lane and her father lived in a number of residential hotels in New York City and she would ride with him in his taxi.
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Dianna Agron
Dianna Elise Agron ( /ˈeɪɡrɒn/; born April 30, 1986) is an American actress, singer, and dancer best known for her portrayal of Quinn Fabray on the television series Glee and Sarah Hart in I Am Number Four.
Dianna Agron was born in Savannah, Georgia, and raised in San Antonio, Texas and San Francisco, California. She is the daughter of Mary and Ronald S. Agron, a general manager of Hyatt hotels. Agron's father's family is originally from Russia, and their original surname, Agronsky, was altered by Ellis Island officials. Her father was born Jewish and her mother converted to Judaism; Agron attended Hebrew school and had a bat mitzvah. Agron attended Burlingame Intermediate School and then Burlingame High School in Burlingame, California. She has been dancing since the age of three, and began teaching dance as a teenager.
Agron has appeared on television shows such as Shark, Close to Home, CSI: NY, Numb3rs,[citation needed] and had a recurring role on Veronica Mars. She then appeared as Harper on a 13-episode series of short films called It's a Mall World, directed by Milo Ventimiglia, and airing on MTV, and then on the second season of Heroes as Debbie Marshall, the head cheerleader/captain of the cheer squad at Costa Verde High School. Dianna has also hosted a mini Music Festival for 826LA in Los Angeles called Chickens in Love.
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Djimon Hounsou
Djimon Diaw Hounsou (pronounced [dʒimɔ̃ hũsu];[need tone] born April 24, 1964) is a Beninese actor and model. As an actor, Hounsou has been nominated for two Academy Awards.
Djimon Hounsou was born in Cotonou, Benin, in 1964, to lbertine and Pierre Hounsou, a cook. He emigrated to Lyon in France at the age of thirteen with his brother, Edmond. In 1987, he became a model and established a career in Paris. He moved to the U.S. in 1990.
In 1989 he appeared in a music video of Straight Up by Paula Abdul. Hounsou's film debut was in the 1990 Sandra Bernhard film Without You I’m Nothing, and he has had television parts on Beverly Hills, 90210 and ER and a guest starring role on Alias, but received a larger role in the science fiction film Stargate. His first on-screen appearance was in the 1990 Janet Jackson video “Love Will Never Do (Without You)” from Rhythm Nation 1814, which co-starred Antonio Sabàto, Jr. He also starred in a 2002 Gap commercial directed by Peter Lindbergh, dancing to a rendition of John Lee Hooker's "Boom Boom" by Arrested Development's Baba Oje.
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Doris Roberts
Doris Roberts (born November 4, 1930) is an American character actress of film, stage and television.
She has received five Emmy Awards during her acting career, which began in 1952. She is perhaps best known for her role as Marie Barone on Everybody Loves Raymond from 1996 to 2005.
Doris Roberts was born in St. Louis, Missouri. Her mother, Ann Meltzer, raised Roberts in the Jewish faith in the New York City borough of The Bronx with the assistance of her own parents, after her husband, whose name may have been Larry Meltzer or Larry Green, deserted the family. Doris' stepfather, whose surname she took as her own, was Chester H. Roberts. Chester and Ann Roberts operated the Z.L. Rosenfield Agency, a stenographic service catering to playwrights and actors.
Roberts' acting career began in 1952 with a role on the TV series Studio One. She appeared in episodes of The Naked City (1958–63), Way Out (1961), Ben Casey (1963), and The Defenders (1962–63).
In 1961, she made her film debut in Something Wild. She appeared in such 1960s and 1970s cult films as A Lovely Way to Die, No Way to Treat a Lady, The Honeymoon Killers, Such Good Friends, Little Murders, A New Leaf and The Taking of Pelham One Two Three. In 1978, she appeared in a film about John F. Kennedy's assassination, Ruby and Oswald, in which she played Jack Ruby's sister. She also appeared very briefly in The Rose, as the mother of the title character (played by Bette Midler).
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Doug Savant
Douglas Peter "Doug" Savant (born June 21, 1964) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Matt Fielding on Melrose Place and Tom Scavo on the ABC dramedy series Desperate Housewives.
Doug Savant first gained notice for playing a younger version of Mac McKenzie (played by Kojak alumnus Kevin Dobson) on the CBS nighttime soap, Knots Landing. He was paired with future Desperate Housewives co-star Nicollette Sheridan, who played a younger version of the Anne Matheson character portrayed by Michelle Phillips.
In the eighties he appeared in such films as Masquerade, starring Rob Lowe, Teen Wolf, with Michael J. Fox, and Trick or Treat with Marc Price and Ozzy Osbourne. Additionally, he was the central character in an episode of The Outer Limits called "The Hunt." In the episode, he played an android that is being hunted for sport.
From 1992 to 1997, Savant starred as Matt Fielding on Melrose Place, a role that was notable for being one of the first mainstream openly gay characters on television. His role was, however, censored greatly by the network - notably a kiss between Matt and guest star Ty Miller during the season two finale was edited out at the last minute by FOX. Savant left the series after five seasons and, a year later, his character was killed off-screen in a car crash.
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Ed Rollins
Edward John "Ed" Rollins (born March 19, 1943) is a Republican campaign consultant and advisor who has worked on several high-profile political campaigns in the United States. In 1983-84, he was National Campaign Director for the Reagan-Bush '84 campaign, winning 49 of 50 states. In December 2007, he was named the national campaign chairman for the Mike Huckabee campaign for President.
Rollins was born in Boston, Massachusetts, into an Irish Catholic blue-collar household. At the time, his father was stationed with the U.S. Army in the Aleutians. After the war, his parents returned with him to Vallejo, California, where his father (previously stationed there) found work as an electrician at the city's Mare Island Navy Yard, primarily building submarines.
Rollins grew up in the Federal Terrace housing project, attending St. Vincent Ferrer Grammar and High School. For a year, at age 14, he attended St. Joseph's, a junior seminary in Mountain View, before returning to Vallejo.
He also fought as a boxer from ages 13 to 23, winning several West Coast amateur titles while an undergraduate. "My dreams of being an Olympic boxer were snuffed out in 1967, when I lost my last fight by a TKO," he wrote in his 1996 autobiography. Rollins recalls his record as 164 victories and just 2 defeats -- "the wins are all a blur . . . but I remember every detail -- every punch, every pain, every mistake -- of my two losses." His last bout was with National AAU Champion (and Olympic Bronze medal winner) Bob Christopherson; Rollins recalled later that he was leading on points, when he threw out his back in the 3rd round, and the referee stopped the fight.
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Ellen DeGeneres
Ellen Lee DeGeneres ( /dɨˈdʒɛnərəs/; born January 26, 1958) is an American stand-up comedian, television host and actress. She hosts the syndicated talk show The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
DeGeneres has hosted both the Academy Awards and the Primetime Emmys. As a film actress, she starred in Mr. Wrong, appeared in EDtv and The Love Letter, and provided the voice of Dory in the Disney-Pixar animated film Finding Nemo, for which she was awarded a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress, the first and only time a voice performance won a Saturn Award. She was a judge on American Idol for one year, having joined the show in its ninth season. She also starred in two television sitcoms, Ellen from 1994 to 1998 and The Ellen Show from 2001 to 2002. During the fourth season of Ellen in 1997, DeGeneres came out publicly as a lesbian in an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Shortly afterwards, her character Ellen Morgan also came out to a therapist played by Winfrey, and the series went on to explore various LGBT issues including the coming out process. She has won thirteen Emmys and numerous other awards for her work and charitable efforts.
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Eric McCormack
Eric James McCormack (born April 18, 1963) is a Canadian American actor, musician, writer and producer. Born in Toronto, he began his acting career performing in school plays at Stephen Leacock Collegiate Institute High School. He left Ryerson University in 1985, in order to accept a position with the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, where he spent five years performing in numerous play productions.
For much of the late 1990s, he lived in Los Angeles and had minor roles. He made his feature film debut in the 1992 science fiction The Lost World. McCormack appeared in multiple television series roles, including Top Cops, Street Justice, Lonesome Dove: The Series, Townies, and Ally McBeal. McCormack later gained worldwide recognition for playing Will Truman in the American sitcom Will & Grace, which premiered in September 1998. His performance earned him an Emmy Award in the category for Best Actor in a Comedy Series in 2001.
Aside from appearing in television, he made his Broadway debut in the 2001 production of The Music Man and starred in the 2005 film The Sisters. Following the series conclusion of Will & Grace in 2006, McCormack starred as the leading role in the New York production of Some Girl(s). He starred in the television mini-series The Andromeda Strain (2008) and returned to television in 2009 in the TNT drama Trust Me, which was cancelled after one season. Also in 2009, McCormack was cast in the science fiction movie Alien Trespass.
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Eva Longoria
Eva Jacqueline Longoria (born March 15, 1975) is an American actress, best known for portraying Gabrielle Solis on the ABC television series Desperate Housewives. Longoria received a nomination for the 2006 Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series for her performance on Desperate Housewives.
Longoria first rose to fame on television for portraying Isabella Braña on the CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless from 2001 to 2003. She became nationally recognized in the 2000s after appearing in several high-profile advertising campaigns and numerous men's magazines, reaching #14 in the FHM "Sexiest Women 2008" poll, and having appeared on the cover of various international women's magazines including Vogue, Marie Claire and Harper's Bazaar. Longoria has also starred in films such as Harsh Times (2005), The Sentinel (2006) and Over Her Dead Body (2008).
Eva Jacqueline Longoria was born in Corpus Christi, Nueces County, Texas, the youngest of four daughters born to Mexican-Americans Enrique Longoria, Jr. and Ella Eva Mireles. She was raised Roman Catholic. The Longoria family originated in Spain and has resided in Texas since before the creation of the United States, predating the English-speaking settlers.
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Felicity Huffman
Felicity Kendall Huffman (born December 9, 1962) is an American film, stage, and television actress. She is known for her role as executive producer Dana Whitaker on the ABC television show Sports Night (1998–2000), which earned her a Golden Globe Award nomination, and as hectic supermom Lynette Scavo on the ABC show Desperate Housewives (2004–2012), which has earned her an Emmy Award.
In 2005, her critically acclaimed role as a trans woman in the independent film Transamerica earned her a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award nomination. She has also starred in films such as Reversal of Fortune, The Spanish Prisoner, Magnolia, Path to War, Georgia Rule and Phoebe in Wonderland.
Huffman was born in Bedford, New York, the daughter of Grace Valle (née Ewing), an actress, and Moore Peters Huffman, a banker and partner at Morgan Stanley. Her parents divorced a year after her birth, and she was raised mostly by her mother. She has six sisters (Mariah, Betsy, Jane, Grace, Isabel, Jessie) and a brother (Moore Jr.).[citation needed] She attended The Putney School, a private boarding high school in Putney, Vermont and graduated from Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan in 1980. After high school she went on to New York University where she graduated in 1984 from Circle In The Square, with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Drama.[citation needed]
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Frank Langella
Frank A. Langella, Jr. (born January 1, 1938) is an American stage and film actor. He has won a Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Play for his performance as Richard Nixon in the play Frost/Nixon (2006), and later received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role for the same role in the film, Frost/Nixon (2008).
Langella, an Italian American, was born in Bayonne, New Jersey, the son of Angelina and Frank A. Langella Sr., a business executive who was the president of the Bayonne Barrel and Drum Company. Langella attended Washington Elementary School and Bayonne High School in Bayonne. After the family moved to South Orange, New Jersey he graduated from Columbia High School, in the South Orange-Maplewood School District, in 1955, and graduated from Syracuse University in 1959 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in drama. He remains a brother of the Alpha Chi Rho fraternity.
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Gary Sinise
Gary Alan Sinise ( /səˈniːs/; born March 17, 1955) is an American actor, film director and musician. During his career, Sinise has won various awards including an Emmy and a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for an Academy Award. In 1992, Sinise directed, and played the role of George Milton in the successful film adaptation of Of Mice and Men. Sinise was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1994 for his role as Lt. Dan Taylor in Forrest Gump. He won a Golden Globe Award for his role in Truman, as Harry S. Truman. In 1996, he played a corrupt police officer in the dramatic hit Ransom, Detective Jimmy Shaker. In 1998, Sinise was awarded an Emmy Award for the television film George Wallace, a portrayal of the late George C. Wallace. Since 2004, Sinise has starred in CBS's CSI: NY as Detective Mac Taylor.
Sinise was born in Blue Island, Illinois, the son of Mylles S. (née Alsip; b. 1932) and Robert L. Sinise (b. 1931), the latter of whom was a film editor. He is of part Italian ancestry (from his paternal grandfather). He attended Highland Park High School in Highland Park, Illinois. In 1974, Sinise and two friends, Terry Kinney and Jeff Perry, founded the Steppenwolf Theatre Company. Since its founding, Steppenwolf has showcased the talents of such notable actors as Joan Allen, Kevin Anderson, Gary Cole, Ethan Hawke, Glenne Headly, John Mahoney, John Malkovich, Laurie Metcalf, Martha Plimpton, Jim True-Frost and most recently William Petersen. At Steppenwolf, Sinise honed his acting and directing skills, received a Joseph Jefferson Award for his direction of Lyle Kessler's play Orphans, that took him from Chicago, to New York City to London's West End, and worked on more than thirty of the company's productions.
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George C. Wolfe
George Costello Wolfe (born September 23, 1954) is an American playwright and director of theater and film. He won a Tony Award in 1993 for directing Angels in America: Millennium Approaches and another Tony Award in 1996 for his direction of the musical, Bring in 'da Noise/Bring in 'da Funk.
Wolfe was born in Frankfort, Kentucky, the son of Anna (née Lindsey), an educator, and Costello Wolfe, a government clerk. He attended an all-black private school where his mother taught. After a family move, he began attending the integrated Frankfort public school district.
He attended Frankfort High School where he began to pursue his interest in the theatre arts, and wrote poetry and prose for the school's literary journal. After high school, Wolfe enrolled at the historically black Kentucky State University, the alma mater of his parents. Following his first year, he transferred to Pomona College in Claremont, California, where he pursued a BA in theater. Wolfe taught for several years in Los Angeles at the Inner City Cultural Center and later in New York. He earned an MFA in dramatic writing and musical theater at New York University in 1983.
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George Peppard
George Peppard Byrne, Jr. ( /pəˈpɑrd/; October 1, 1928 – May 8, 1994) was an American film and television actor.
Peppard secured a major role when he starred alongside Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), portrayed a character based on Howard Hughes in The Carpetbaggers (1964), and played the title role of the millionaire sleuth Thomas Banacek in the early-1970s television series Banacek. He is probably best known for his role as Col. John "Hannibal" Smith, the cigar-chomping leader of a renegade commando squad, in the 1980s television show The A-Team.
George Peppard Byrne, Jr. was born in Detroit, Michigan, the son of building contractor George Peppard Byrne, Sr. and opera singer Vernelle Rohrer. He graduated from Dearborn High School in Dearborn, Michigan.
Peppard enlisted in the United States Marine Corps at age 17 on July 8, 1946 and rose to rank of Corporal in the 10th Marines, leaving the Marines at the end of his enlistment in January 1948.
From 1948 to 1949, he studied Civil Engineering at Purdue University where he was a member of the Purdue Playmakers theatre troupe and Beta Theta Pi fraternity. He then transferred to Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he received his bachelor's degree in 1955. He also trained at the Pittsburgh Playhouse.
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Gore Vidal
Gore Vidal ( /ˌɡɔr vɨˈdɑːl/; born October 3, 1925) is an American author, playwright, essayist, screenwriter, and political activist. His third novel, The City and the Pillar (1948), outraged mainstream critics as one of the first major American novels to feature unambiguous homosexuality. He also ran for political office twice and has been a longtime political critic.
Vidal was born Eugene Luther Gore Vidal in West Point, New York, the only child of 1st Lieutenant Eugene Luther Vidal (1895–1969) and Nina Gore (1903–1978). He was born in the Cadet Hospital of the United States Military Academy, where his father was the first aeronautics instructor, and was christened by the headmaster of St. Albans preparatory school, his future alma mater. According to "West Point and the Third Loyalty", an article Vidal wrote for The New York Review of Books (October 18, 1973), he later decided to be called Gore in honor of his maternal grandfather, Thomas Gore, Democratic senator from Oklahoma.
Vidal's father, a West Point football quarterback and captain, and an all-American basketball player, was director of the Commerce Department's Bureau of Air Commerce (1933–1937) in the Roosevelt administration, was one of the first Army Air Corps pilots and, according to biographer Susan Butler, was the great love of Amelia Earhart's life. In the 1920s and 1930s, he was a co-founder of three American airlines: the Ludington Line, which merged with others and became Eastern Airlines, Transcontinental Air Transport (TAT, which became TWA), and Northeast Airlines, which he founded with Earhart, as well as the Boston and Maine Railroad. The elder Vidal was also an athlete in the 1920 and 1924 Summer Olympics (seventh in the decathlon; U.S. pentathlon team coach).
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Harry Andrews
Harry Fleetwood Andrews, CBE (10 November 1911 – 6 March 1989) was an English film actor known for his frequent portrayals of tough military officers. His performance as Sergeant Major Wilson in The Hill alongside Sean Connery earned Andrews the 1965 National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor and a nomination for the 1966 BAFTA Award for Best British Actor. He made his film debut in The Red Beret in 1953.
Prior to his film career, Andrews was an accomplished Shakespearean actor, appearing at such venues as the Queen's Theatre, the Lyceum Theatre, and the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in England as well as theatres in New York City, Paris, Antwerp and Brussels. Andrews made his London theatre debut in 1935 at the St James's Theatre and his New York debut in 1936 at the since-demolished Empire Theatre.
Harry Andrews was born on 10 November 1911, in Tonbridge, Kent. He was the son of Henry Arthur Andrews and Amy Diana Frances (née Horner). Andrews attended Wrekin College in Wellington, Shropshire. From October 1939 to October 1945, Andrews served with the Royal Artillery during the Second World War. Andrews died at the age of 77 on 6 March 1989, at his home in Salehurst, leaving behind his long-term romantic partner Basil Hoskins.
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Harry Shum, Jr.
Harry Shum, Jr. (Chinese: 岑勇康; born April 28, 1982) is an American dancer, actor, and choreographer. He is best known for his role as Mike Chang on the Fox television show Glee. He has appeared in dance films such as Stomp the Yard, You Got Served, Step Up 2: The Streets and Step Up 3D. He also plays the character of Elliot Hoo in The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers.
Shum was born in Puerto Limón, Costa Rica on April 28, 1982. His mother is a native of Hong Kong, and his father is from Guangzhou, China. They relocated to Costa Rica, where Shum and his two older sisters were born. When Shum was six years old, the family moved to San Francisco, California. He states, "I feel I have the best of so many worlds. I speak Chinese and Spanish. Spanish is actually my first language before I learned Chinese and English". In an interview, he said that his earliest motivations to dance were from Ginuwine, Dru Hill, and Usher, before becoming influenced by iconic dancers like Gene Kelly and Michael Jackson.
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Heather Morris
Heather Elizabeth Morris (born February 1, 1987) is an American actress, dancer, and singer, known for her role as the cheerleader Brittany S. Pierce in the musical comedy series Glee.
She began dancing when she was one. Morris competed at a young age in a variety of styles including jazz, tap, and contemporary. Morris's father passed away of cancer when she was 14 years old. "It's something that is hard for me, because I'm sad about it, but I don't dwell on it," she said during an interview workshop with students in December 2009. "I know he's in a better place, instead of suffering." After graduating from Desert Mountain High School, Morris decided to enroll in a local university but realized she was in the wrong place and moved to L.A. instead at age 19.
Morris' first significant appearance was in 2006 on So You Think You Can Dance Season 2 where she made the "green mile" or "Vegas Week" but failed to make the final 20 by a vote of 3-2.
Not discouraged, Morris moved to Los Angeles and actively pursued a career in dancing and was trained in jazz dance. Her big break came in 2007 via Beyoncé. Morris was one of Beyoncé's backup dancers on The Beyoncé Experience world tour and, following that, worked again with Beyoncé on a mini "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" promotional tour that included 2008 performances on the American Music Awards,Saturday Night Live,The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Today, and MTV's Total Request Live Finale. She also danced backup for Beyoncé and Tina Turner at the 50th Grammy Awards in 2008. She later appeared in a small role in the movie Fired Up, where she met choreographer Zach Woodlee. Following that film, Woodlee brought Morris in to dance on other shows he was choreographing, including episodes of Eli Stone and Swingtown, the movie Bedtime Stories, and eventually Glee.
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Henry Hyde
Henry John Hyde (April 18, 1924 – November 29, 2007), an American politician, was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1975 to 2007, representing the 6th District of Illinois, an area of Chicago's northwestern suburbs which included O'Hare International Airport. He chaired the Judiciary Committee from 1995 to 2001, and the House International Relations Committee from 2001 to 2007. He gained national attention for his leadership role in managing the impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton.
Hyde was born in Chicago to an English father and an Irish Catholic mother, in a family that supported the Democratic Party. He attended Duke University where he joined the Sigma Chi Fraternity, graduated from Georgetown University and obtained his law degree from Loyola University. Hyde played basketball for the Georgetown Hoyas where he helped take the team to the 1943 championship game. He served in the Navy during World War II. He remained in the Naval Reserve from 1946 to 1968, as an officer in charge of the U.S. Naval Intelligence Reserve Unit in Chicago. He retired at the rank of Commander.
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Holger Löwenadler
Holger Löwenadler (1 April 1904, Jönköping, Jönköpings län, Sweden – 18 June 1977, Stockholm, Sweden) was a Swedish film actor. He starred in Ingmar Bergman's 1947 A Ship to India. He appeared in the 1951 Divorced, which was written by Bergman. Other appearances include Lacombe Lucien (1974).
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Hugh Griffith
Hugh Emrys Griffith (30 May 1912 – 14 May 1980) was a Welsh film, stage and television actor.
Griffith was born in Marianglas, Anglesey, Wales, the son of Mary and William Griffith. He was educated at Llangefni County School and attempted to gain entrance to university, but failed the English examination. He was then urged to make a career in banking, becoming a bank clerk and transferring to London to be closer to acting opportunities. Just as he was making progress and gained admission to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, he had to suspend his plans in order to serve in the British Army, serving for six years with the Royal Welsh Fusiliers in India and the Burma Campaign during World War II. He resumed his acting career in 1946.
Between 1946 and 1976, Griffith won acclaim for many stage roles, in particular for his portrayals of Falstaff, Lear and Prospero. Griffith acted on both sides of the Atlantic, taking leading roles in London, New York and Stratford. In 1952 he starred in the Broadway adaption of Legend of Lovers, alongside fellow Welsh actor Richard Burton. In 1958 he was back in New York, this time taking a lead role in the opening production of Look Homeward, Angel alongside Anthony Perkins. Both he and Perkins were nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor in a play for their roles.
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Hugh Jackman
Hugh Michael Jackman (born 12 October 1968) is an Australian actor and producer who is involved in film, musical theatre, and television.
Jackman has won international recognition for his roles in major films, notably as action/superhero, period and romance characters. He is known for his role as Wolverine in the X-Men film series, as well as for his leads in Kate & Leopold, Van Helsing, The Prestige, Australia, and Real Steel. Jackman is a singer, dancer, and actor in stage musicals, and won a Tony Award for his role in The Boy from Oz.
In November 2008, Open Salon named Jackman one of the sexiest men alive. Later that same month, People magazine named Jackman "Sexiest Man Alive."
A three-time host of the Tony Awards, winning an Emmy Award for one of these appearances, Jackman also hosted the 81st Academy Awards on 22 February 2009.
Jackman was born in Sydney, New South Wales, the youngest of five children of English parents Chris Jackman and Grace Watson, and the second child to be born in Australia (he also has a younger half-sister, from his mother's re-marriage). One of his paternal great-grandfathers was Greek. His parents divorced when he was eight, and he remained with his accountant father and siblings, while his mother moved back to England. As a child, Jackman liked the outdoors, spending a lot of time at the beach and on camping trips and vacations all over Australia. He wanted to see the world: "I used to spend nights looking at atlases. I decided I wanted to be a chef on a plane. Because I'd been on a plane and there was food on board, I presumed there was a chef. I thought that would be an ideal job."
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Jack Donaghy
John Francis "Jack" Donaghy ( /ˈdɒnəɡiː/ DON-ə-gee) is a fictional character on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock. He begins the series as the Vice President of East Coast Television and Microwave Oven Programming for General Electric, and later serves as the head of NBC after it is bought by the fictional Kabletown.
Donaghy is played by Alec Baldwin, who has received two Emmy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, six Screen Actors Guild Awards and one Television Critics Association Award for his portrayal of this character.
Jack Donaghy had an unhappy and impoverished childhood in South Boston and Sadchester, Massachusetts. When he was two, his father lured him to the edge of a swimming pool with a puppy and pushed him in the pool, and later abandoned his family. His mother Colleen Murphy Donaghy has nagged him his whole life, even blaming him for John F. Kennedy's death and for his father leaving. However, she was also devoted to her children. For example, it was noted that she had traded sexual favors with F. A. O. Schwarz for Christmas presents for Jack and his siblings. Young Jack took to calling his collie "Pop" until the dog was accidentally run over by the mailman and left to die in the street by his mother, which caused him to cry. The dog had earlier been neutered, causing Jack to charge his mother with "cutting off Pop's balls." His mother even tried to send him to Vietnam when he was 12 to make a man out of him. He also played hockey, the piano and the flute as a child, prompting his mother to embarrass him by having him play "The Star-Spangled Banner" on said flute in front of his team. He was also the captain of the diving team.
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Jack McBrayer
Jack McBrayer (born May 27, 1973) is an American actor and comedian. He gained national exposure for his characters on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. He is best known for portraying Kenneth Parcell on the television series 30 Rock, a role for which he received an Emmy nomination in 2009.
McBrayer was born in Georgia and studied theater at the University of Evansville.
McBrayer worked at Second City and iO from 1995 to 2002, an experience that introduced him to 30 Rock creator Tina Fey and prepared him "100 percent" for his role in her show.
From 2002-2004, McBrayer appeared in over 80 sketches on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, often lampooning his own Southern upbringing by playing stereotypical hillbilly characters. On August 10, 2007 and September 20, 2008 he made a cameo appearance on Late Night playing his character (Kenneth Parcell) from 30 Rock. During the first appearance, O'Brien remarked to him, "I thought you were above this now." McBrayer also reprised his Kenneth the Page role twice (November 24, 2009 and January 13, 2010) after O'Brien's switch to The Tonight Show, and has appeared on Conan's Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television Tour at stops in Eugene, Oregon, Universal City, California (on the Universal Studios lot where O'Brien taped Tonight), and the final tour stop in Atlanta, in his home state of Georgia.
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Jack Nicholson
Not to be confused with Nicholas Jackson
John Joseph "Jack" Nicholson (born April 22, 1937) is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is renowned for his often dark portrayals of neurotic characters. His twelve Oscar nominations make him the second most nominated actor of all time, behind only Meryl Streep, and tied with Katharine Hepburn.
Nicholson has been nominated for an Academy Award twelve times and has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice: for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and for As Good as It Gets. He also won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the 1983 film Terms of Endearment. He is tied with Walter Brennan for most acting wins by a male actor (three). Nicholson is well known for playing villainous roles such as Jack Torrance in The Shining, Frank Costello in The Departed, and the Joker in 1989's Batman, among many other roles.
Nicholson is one of only two actors who have been nominated for an Academy Award for acting in every decade from the 1960s to 2000s; the other is Michael Caine. He has won seven Golden Globe Awards, and received a Kennedy Center Honor in 2001. In 1994, he became one of the youngest actors to be awarded the American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award. Notable films in which he has starred include Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, Chinatown, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Passenger, The Shining, Reds, Terms of Endearment, Batman, A Few Good Men, As Good as It Gets, About Schmidt, The Departed and Anger Management .
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Jackie Gleason
Jackie Gleason (February 26, 1916 – June 24, 1987) was an American comedian, actor and musician. He was known for his brash visual and verbal comedy style, especially by his character Ralph Kramden on The Honeymooners. His most noted film roles were as Minnesota Fats in the drama film The Hustler (1961) starring Paul Newman, and as Buford T. Justice in the Smokey and the Bandit movie series.
Gleason was born at 364 Chauncey Street in Bushwick, Brooklyn, New York. He grew up nearby at 328 Chauncey Street, an address that he later used as the address for Ralph and Alice Kramden on his show The Honeymooners. Originally named Herbert Walton Gleason, Jr., he was baptized as John Herbert Gleason. His parents were Mae "Maisie" (née Kelly), a subway change-booth attendant, and Herbert John "Herb" Gleason, an insurance auditor. His mother was from Farranree,[citation needed]Cork, Ireland. Gleason was one of their two children. Gleason's brother, Clemence, died of spinal meningitis at age 14, and his father abandoned the family.
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Jake Gyllenhaal
Jacob Benjamin "Jake" Gyllenhaal (
/ˈdʒɪlənhɔːl/ JIL-ən-hawl; born December 19, 1980) is an American actor. The son of director Stephen Gyllenhaal and screenwriter Naomi Foner, Gyllenhaal began acting at the age of ten. Following his first lead role in 1999's October Sky, he starred in the indie cult hit Donnie Darko (2001), in which he played a psychologically troubled teenager alongside his older sister, actress Maggie Gyllenhaal. In 2004 he appeared in the science-fiction film The Day After Tomorrow, portraying a student caught in a cataclysmic global cooling event. He then played against type as a frustrated Marine in Jarhead (2005). The same year his role as Jack Twist in Brokeback Mountain earned him critical acclaim and an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He has since played the lead roles in many notable films, including Zodiac (2007), Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010) and Source Code (2011).
Gyllenhaal has promoted various political and social causes. He has appeared in Rock the Vote advertising, campaigned for the Democratic Party in the 2004 U.S. presidential election, promoted environmental causes, and campaigned on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union.
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James Denton
James "Jamie" Thomas Denton, Jr. (born January 20, 1963) is an American film and television actor, best known for playing Mike Delfino in the television series Desperate Housewives.
Denton was born in Nashville, Tennessee, and grew up in nearby Goodlettsville. His father, J.T. Denton (1930–1993), was a dentist who had served in the military. His mother, Mary Jean Woolslair Denton, died from breast cancer in 2002.
Denton attended the University of Tennessee where he was a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, majored in television/journalism and earned a degree in advertising. Before he became an actor, he sold advertising for two radio stations. He began acting at the age of 23, at a community theater in Nashville. He eventually moved to California to become a full-time actor. He was for a time credited as Jamie Denton, for example in the film That Old Feeling.
Denton has appeared in several films, including That Old Feeling (1997), Face/Off (1997) and Primary Colors (1998).
He has also appeared in various television shows including Sliders, Dark Skies, Two Guys and a Girl, Ally McBeal, The West Wing, and JAG, and has had recurring roles in The Pretender, Philly, The Drew Carey Show and Reba. In 2003, he had the lead role of Special Agent John Kilmer in the short-lived crime thriller series Threat Matrix.
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James Franco
James Edward Franco (born April 19, 1978) is an American actor. His first prominent role was a lead part on the short-lived cult hit television program Freaks and Geeks; he later achieved recognition for playing the titular character in the TV biographical film James Dean (2001), for which he was awarded a Golden Globe Award. He achieved international fame with his portrayals of Harry Osborn in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy.
Franco has won or been nominated for a number of awards. He has done both dramatic and comedic work in projects and has appeared in an eclectic range of films since the 2000s, ranging from period to contemporary pieces, and from major Hollywood productions to less publicized indie films, as well as fantasy films to biopics and soap operas. Other notable films include Pineapple Express, a 2008 stoner comedy that earned him his second Golden Globes nomination; the 2008 Harvey Milk-biopic Milk; and Danny Boyle's 2010 drama film 127 Hours, about real-life mountain climber Aron Ralston's struggle to free his hand from a boulder. His performance in 127 Hours earned him nominations for many high-profile awards, including the Academy Awards, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Awards. In 2011, he starred opposite Andy Serkis in Rupert Wyatt's successful science fiction film Rise of the Planet of the Apes, a reboot of the Planet of the Apes franchise. Since 2009, he has played a recurring role in the ABC daytime soap opera General Hospital.
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Jane Krakowski
Jane Krakowski (pronounced /krəˈkovski/; born October 11, 1968) is an American actress and singer. She is best known for her performance as Elaine Vassal on Ally McBeal, for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award, and for her current role as Jenna Maroney on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock, for which she has received three Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. She also regularly performs on the stage and won a Tony Award for her performance in the Broadway revival of Nine and an Olivier Award for her role as Miss Adelaide in the West End revival of Guys and Dolls.
Krakowski was born Jane Krajkowski in Parsippany, New Jersey. Her mother, Barbara (née Benoit), is a college theater instructor and producing artistic director for the Women's Theater Company, and her father, Ed Krajkowski, is a chemical engineer. She has an older brother. Krakowski's father's family is entirely Polish and comes from Kraków, and although she only knows a few words in Polish, her father and grandparents are fluent. Krakowski was a childhood classmate of astronaut Garrett Reisman.
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Jane Lynch
Jane Marie Lynch (born July 14, 1960) is an American actress, comedian, and singer. She obtained a Golden Globe Award, Emmy Award, Screen Actors Guild Award, People's Choice Award, and Satellite Award. Lynch also received the First Annual PlanetOut.com Short Movie Award, Florida Film Critics Circle Award, and Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival Jury Award. She is open about her lesbianism; in 2005, Lynch was named one of POWER UP's "10 Amazing Gay Women in Showbiz".
She gained fame in Christopher Guest's improv mockumentary pictures such as Best in Show and is currently known for playing the role of Sue Sylvester in the Fox musical comedy series Glee for which she has won both the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series and Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film. Other notable awards she has won for the series include the People's Choice Award for Favorite TV Comedy Actress, Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film, and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series. Her television cameos include an appearance in the Nickelodeon situation comedy iCarly and the Showtime dark comedy series Weeds. Lynch had a recurring role in the Fox situation comedy Two and a Half Men and also has had notable roles in numerous mainstream comedies, such as Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Role Models, and The Three Stooges.
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Jason Alexander
Jason Scott Greenspan (born September 23, 1959), better known by his professional name of Jason Alexander, is an American actor, director, producer, writer, singer, and comedian. He is best known for his role as George Costanza on Seinfeld, appearing from 1989 to 1998. He also has had an active career on the stage, appearing in several Broadway musicals including Jerome Robbins' Broadway in 1989, for which he won the Tony Award as Best Actor in a Musical. He appeared in the Los Angeles production of The Producers with Martin Short. He is the Artistic Director of "Reprise! Broadway's Best in Los Angeles," where he has directed several musicals. Alexander is also an avid poker player.
Alexander was born Jay Scott Greenspan in Newark, New Jersey, the son of Jewish parents Ruth Minnie (née Simon), a nurse and health care administrator, and Alexander B. Greenspan, an accounting manager. He has a half-sister, Karen Van Horn, and a half-brother, Michael Greenspan. Alexander grew up in Livingston, New Jersey and is a 1977 graduate of Livingston High School. Alexander had a very wheezy voice growing up, primarily because of his asthma. He attended Boston University but left the summer before his senior year, after getting work in New York City. He was later given an honorary degree in 1995. He is a practiced magician, and only switched to acting as a career when he realized that he was unlikely to succeed as a magician.
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Jason Bateman
Jason Kent Bateman (born January 14, 1969) is an American television and film actor. After appearing in several 1980s and 1990s sitcoms including It's Your Move, and The Hogan Family, Bateman came to prominence in the early 2000s for playing Michael Bluth on Arrested Development, for which he won a TV Land, a Golden Globe, and two Satellite Awards. He has since established himself in Hollywood by appearing in several films including The Kingdom, Juno, Hancock, Up in the Air, Paul, and Horrible Bosses.
Bateman was born in Rye, New York, the son of Victoria Elizabeth, a former flight attendant for Pan Am, and Kent Bruce Bateman, an actor, film and television writer/director, and founder of a repertory stage in Hollywood. His mother was from the United Kingdom, born in Shrewsbury, Shropshire. His older sister, Justine, is of Family Ties fame. Bateman also has three half-brothers. His family moved to Salt Lake City when he was only four years old, and later to California.
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Jason Robards
Jason Nelson Robards, Jr. (July 26, 1922 – December 26, 2000) was an American actor on stage, and in film and television. He is a winner of the Tony Award, two Academy Awards and the Emmy Award. He was also a United States Navy combat veteran of World War II.
He became famous playing works of Eugene O'Neill, an American playwright, and regularly performed in O'Neill's works throughout his career. Robards was cast in both common-man roles and as well-known historical figures.
Robards was born in Chicago, the son of Hope Maxine (née Glanville) Robards and Jason Robards, Sr., an actor who regularly appeared on the stage and in such early films as The Gamblers (1929). Robards was of English, Welsh, Irish, and Swedish descent.
The family moved to New York City, New York, when Jason Jr. was still a toddler, and then moved to Los Angeles, California, when he was six years old. Later interviews with Robards suggested that the trauma of his parents' divorce, which occurred during his grade-school years, greatly affected his personality and worldview.
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Jayma Mays
Jayma Suzette Mays (born Jamia Suzette Mays; July 16, 1979) is an American actress and singer. Mays' most prominent roles include that of Emma Pillsbury on the American television series Glee, recurring appearances on Ugly Betty, and Charlie Andrews on Heroes.
Mays was born in Bristol, Tennessee and raised in Grundy, Virginia, the daughter of Paulette (née Norris) and James Mays, a high school teacher who also worked in the coal mining industry. Mays' interests as a child ranged from singing to mathematics. At the age of 15, Jayma was offered a job working on the local radio station reading the obituaries. After graduating from Grundy High School, she earned an associate's degree from Southwest Virginia Community College. Mays then attended Virginia Tech for a year before transferring to Radford University, graduating in 2001 with a degree in theatre.
In 2004, she made her first television appearance on Joey. The following year, she made her feature film debut with a supporting role in Red Eye. Mays's other credits include Six Feet Under, The Comeback, Entourage, Stacked, How I Met Your Mother, Heroes, Pushing Daisies where she played both Elsita and her mother Elsa in episode four, Ghost Whisperer, and Ugly Betty. Jayma was in other movies, such as Bar Starz, Flags of Our Fathers and Blind Guy Driving. She starred in the spoof film Epic Movie and as Amy in Paul Blart: Mall Cop. She was a patient on House in the episode "Sleeping Dogs Lie" in 2006. She stars in the 2007 music video for the song "Awakening" by Switchfoot alongside her husband Adam Campbell.
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Jenna Fischer
Regina Marie "Jenna" Fischer (born March 7, 1974) is an American actress and director. She is most widely known for her Emmy-nominated portrayal of Pam Halpert (née Beesly) on the NBC situation comedy and mockumentary The Office, and has also appeared in several films, including Blades of Glory, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, The Promotion and Hall Pass.
Fischer was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, but raised in suburban St. Louis, Missouri, the daughter of Jim, a plastics engineer, and Anne, a history teacher. Fischer has one younger sister, Emily, a third grade teacher. Fischer experienced her first taste of performing at age six, when she participated in an acting workshop taught by her mother at Henry School in St. Louis, a workshop also attended by actor Sean Gunn, with whom she grew up.
Fischer attended Pierremont Elementary School in Manchester, Missouri, and Nerinx Hall High School, a private all-girls Catholic school, in Webster Groves, Missouri. She holds a bachelor of arts in theatre, as well as a minor in journalism, from Truman State University, where she originally enrolled as a pre-law history major.
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Jenna Ushkowitz
Jenna Noelle Ushkowitz (born April 28, 1986) is an American stage and television actress and singer, who is perhaps best known for her performances in Broadway musicals and for her role as Tina Cohen-Chang on Glee.
Ushkowitz was born in Seoul, South Korea; she was adopted at the age of three months and raised in East Meadow, New York. Ushkowitz was raised Catholic and attended Parkway Elementary School and Holy Trinity Diocesan High School, a Catholic school in Hicksville, Long Island known for its strong theater department. During high school, Ushkowitz appeared in several musicals, including the first-ever high school production of Les Misérables. Her other roles included Penny in Honk!, Inez in The Baker's Wife, Little Red Riding Hood in Into the Woods, and Romaine Patterson in The Laramie Project. She graduated from high school in 2004 and moved on to attend Marymount Manhattan College, where she once again took the role of Little Red Riding Hood in Into the Woods. She graduated from Marymount Manhattan in 2007 with a B.A. in Acting, with a concentration in Theater Performance and a minor in Musical Theater.
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Jennifer Love Hewitt
Jennifer Love Hewitt (born February 21, 1979) is an American actress, producer, television director and singer-songwriter. Hewitt began her acting career as a child by appearing in television commercials and the Disney Channel series Kids Incorporated. She rose to fame in teenage popular culture in her roles in the Fox series Party of Five as Sarah Reeves Merrin, and films I Know What You Did Last Summer and its sequel as Julie James. She starred on the hit CBS television program Ghost Whisperer as Melinda Gordon, for which she won a Saturn Award in 2007 and 2008 for Best Actress on Television. She was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for her television movie The Client List. Hewitt has served as a producer on some of her film and television projects. As a singer, Hewitt's most successful single on the Billboard Hot 100 is the 1999 release "How Do I Deal", which peaked at No. 59. She has contributed music to the promotion or soundtracks of acting projects. She was identified as the "#1 reader choice" on the November 1999 and May 2009 covers of Maxim.TV Guide named her the sexiest woman on television in 2008.
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Jerry Seinfeld
Jerome Allen "Jerry" Seinfeld (born April 29, 1954) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and television and film producer, best known for playing a semi-fictional version of himself in the sitcom Seinfeld (1989–1998), which he co-created and co-wrote with Larry David, and, in the show's final two seasons, co-executive-produced.
In his first major foray back into the media since the finale of Seinfeld, he co-wrote and co-produced the film Bee Movie, also taking on the lead role of Barry B. Benson. In February 2010, Seinfeld premiered a reality TV series called The Marriage Ref on NBC. Seinfeld directed Colin Quinn in the Broadway show Long Story Short at the Helen Hayes Theater in New York which ran until January 8, 2011.
Seinfeld is known for specializing in observational humor, often focusing on personal relationships and uncomfortable social obligations. Comedy Central ranked Jerry Seinfeld as one of the twelve greatest stand-up comedians of all time in its four-part special The 100 Greatest Standups Of All Time.
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Jessalyn Gilsig
Jessalyn Gilsig (born November 30, 1971) is a Canadian actress known for her roles in the television series Boston Public, Nip/Tuck and as Will Schuester's ex-wife Terri Schuester in Glee. She has also appeared in several episodes of NYPD Blue, Prison Break, and Heroes as well as several other series.
Gilsig was born in Montreal, Quebec, the daughter of Claire, a writer and translator, and Toby Gilsig, an engineer. She began acting at age 12. She attended high school at Trafalgar School for Girls in downtown Montreal. She later studied at Harvard University’s American Repertory Theater and attended McGill University from 1989 to 1993, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English in 1993.
Gilsig first met Bobby Salomon when both were Montreal high school students. They briefly dated, with Gilsig commenting that Salomon was the "cool guy" and football team quarterback. After Salomon, now a film producer, moved to Hollywood in 2002, he and Gilsig renewed their friendship and began dating again. The pair wed on January 1, 2005. As Salomon is Jewish and Gilsig is Jewish on her father's side, the couple had a traditional Jewish wedding. Gilsig and Salomon have a daughter, Penelope, born on September 26, 2006. Gilsig filed for divorce from Salomon on September 8, 2010, citing irreconcilable differences. They had been separated since 2009.
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Jesse Metcalfe
Jesse Eden Metcalfe (born December 9, 1978) is an American actor. He is notable for his portrayal of John Rowland on Desperate Housewives, Miguel Lopez-Fitzgerald on Passions, and as the title character in the movie John Tucker Must Die.
Metcalfe was born in Carmel Valley, California, the son of Nancy (née DeMaio) and Jeff Metcalfe. His father is of French and Italian descent and his mother is of Italian and Portuguese descent. Metcalfe played in several basketball leagues during his teen years in Waterford, Connecticut and graduated from The Williams School in New London, Connecticut.
After successfully auditioning for the NBC soap opera Passions, he played Miguel Lopez-Fitzgerald, one of five siblings, from the show's debut in July 1999 to July 2004, and November 2004 to January 2005, co-starring with actress Molly Stanton, creating one of Daytime's favorite couple, Charity & Miguel. The pair departed onscreen together in what is referred to a "classic daytime cliffhanger" in July 2004 but Metcafe was soon brought back to the series for a short-stint later that year.
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Jessica Lange
Jessica Phyllis Lange (born April 20, 1949) is an American actress who has worked in film, theatre and television. The recipient of multiple awards, including two Academy Awards, five Golden Globes, one Emmy and one Screen Actors Guild Award, Lange is regarded as one of the première actors of her generation.
Lange was discovered by producer Dino De Laurentiis and made her professional film debut in 1976's King Kong. In 1982, she became the first actor in forty years to receive two Oscar nominations within the same year; she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as a soap opera star in Tootsie and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of the troubled actress Frances Farmer in Frances. Lange received three more nominations for Country (1984), Sweet Dreams (1985), and Music Box (1989) before being nominated a sixth time and winning the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance as a manic depressive in Blue Sky (1994).
In addition to acting, Lange is a photographer with two published works, and is a humanitarian, holding a position as a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF, specializing in the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the Congo and Russia.
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Jim Broadbent
James "Jim" Broadbent (born 24 May 1949) is an English theatre, film, and television actor. He is known for his roles in Iris, Moulin Rouge!, Topsy-Turvy, Hot Fuzz, and Bridget Jones' Diary. He also appears in the Harry Potter films as Horace Slughorn.
Broadbent was born in Holton cum Beckering, the son of Doreen "Dee" Broadbent (née Findlay), a sculptor, and Roy Laverick Broadbent, an artist, sculptor, interior designer, and furniture maker who turned a former church into a theatre named after him. Broadbent's parents were both amateur actors who co-founded the Holton Players acting troupe at Holton cum Beckering; the two were described by the BBC as conscientious objectors who "worked the land" rather than participate in World War II. He had a twin sister who died at birth. Broadbent was educated at Leighton Park School, a Quaker school in Reading, and briefly attended art college before transferring to the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art from which he graduated in 1972.
Broadbent's early stagework included a number of productions for The National Theatre of Brent, as the downtrodden assistant Wallace to Patrick Barlow's self-important actor/manager character Desmond Olivier Dingle. Broadbent and Barlow played many male and female character roles in comically less-than-epic tellings of historical and religious stories such as The Messiah, The Complete Guide to Sex, The Greatest Story Ever Told, Revolution!!, and All The World's A Globe. These were hits at the Edinburgh Fringe, in London, and on tour. Later stage work included the original productions of Kafka's Dick (1986) and Our Country's Good (1988) at the Royal Court Theatre and work for the Royal National Theatre including "The Government Inspector". Work on the stage with Mike Leigh includes Goosepimples and Ecstasy.
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Jim Parsons
James Joseph "Jim" Parsons (born March 24, 1973) is an American television and film actor. He is best known for playing Sheldon Cooper on the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory, with his performance often cited as a significant reason for the program's success. He has received several awards for his performance, including the Television Critics Association award for the highest individual achievements in comedy, the National Association of Broadcasters Television Chairman's Award for a significant breakthrough in a specific art discipline, two consecutive Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Television Series Musical or Comedy.
Parsons was born and raised in Houston, Texas, the older of two children. After playing the role of the Kola-Kola bird in a school production of The Elephant's Child at age six, Parsons was determined to become an actor. The young Parsons was heavily influenced by sitcoms, particularly Three's Company, Family Ties, and The Cosby Show. He attended Klein Oak High School in Spring, Texas, a northern suburb of Houston. Parsons points to a role in Noises Off during his junior year as the first time "I fully connected with the role I was playing and started to truly understand what it meant to be honest on stage".
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Jimmy Doolittle
General James Harold "Jimmy" Doolittle, USAF (December 14, 1896 – September 27, 1993) was an American aviation pioneer. Doolittle served as an officer in the United States Army Air Forces during the Second World War. He earned the Medal of Honor for his valor and leadership as commander of the Doolittle Raid while a lieutenant colonel.
Doolittle was born in Alameda, California, and spent his youth in Nome, Alaska, where he earned a reputation as a boxer. His parents were Frank Henry Doolittle and Rosa (Rose) Cerenah Shephard. By 1910, Jimmy Doolittle was attending school in Los Angeles. When his school attended the 1910 Los Angeles International Air Meet at Dominguez Field Doolittle saw his first airplane. He attended Los Angeles City College after graduating from Manual Arts High School in Los Angeles, and later won admission to the University of California, Berkeley where he studied in The School of Mines. He was a member of Theta Kappa Nu fraternity. Doolittle took a leave of absence in October 1917 to enlist in the Signal Corps Reserve as a flying cadet; he ground trained at the University of California School of Military Aeronautics, and flight-trained at Rockwell Field, California. Doolittle received his Reserve Military Aviator rating and was commissioned a first lieutenant in the Signal Officers Reserve Corps on March 11, 1918.
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Jimmy Swaggart
Jimmy Lee Swaggart (born March 15, 1935) is a Pentecostal American pastor, teacher, musician, author, television host, and televangelist. He has preached to crowds around the world through his weekly telecast. According to the official website for Jimmy Swaggart Ministries, his 1980s telecast was transmitted to over 3,000 stations and cable systems each week.
Swaggart's television ministry, which began in 1975, continues airing nationally and internationally. The weekly Jimmy Swaggart Telecast and A Study in the Word programs are seen nationwide and abroad on 78 channels in 104 countries as well as live over the Internet.[citation needed]
Swaggart is also known as the cousin of controversial rock'n'roll pioneer Jerry Lee Lewis and country music star Mickey Gilley.
Swaggart was born in Ferriday, Louisiana, to Willie Leon (a.k.a., "Son") and Minnie Belle (née Herron) Swaggart. He is the cousin of rock'n'roll pioneer Jerry Lee Lewis and country music star Mickey Gilley. With his parents, Swaggart attended a small, 25-member Assemblies of God congregation in Ferriday. At the age of nine, he began to preach on street corners and lead congregations in singing.[citation needed] On October 10, 1952, Swaggart married Frances Anderson. Their son, Donnie, was born in 1954. Swaggart worked several part-time odd jobs in order to support his young family and also began singing Southern Gospel music at various Baptist and Pentecostal churches.
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Joe Orton
John Kingsley ("Joe") Orton (1 January 1933 – 9 August 1967), an English playwright and author. His public career was short but prolific, lasting from 1964 until his death. During this brief period he shocked, outraged, and amused audiences with his scandalous black comedies. The adjective Ortonesque is sometimes used to refer to work characterised by a similarly dark yet farcical cynicism.
Orton was born at Causeway Lane Maternity Hospital, Leicester, to William and Elsie Orton. William worked for Leicester County Borough Council as a gardener and Elsie worked in the local footwear industry until tuberculosis cost her a lung. When he was two years old, they moved from 261 Avenue Road Extension in Clarendon Park, Leicester, to the Saffron Lane council estate. Joe soon had a younger brother, Douglas, and two younger sisters, Marilyn and Leonie.
Orton attended Marriot Road Primary School, but failed the eleven-plus exam after extended bouts of asthma, and so took a secretarial course at Clark's College in Leicester from 1945 to 1947. He then began working as a junior clerk on £3 a week.
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Joe Pesci
Joseph Frank "Joe" Pesci (/ˈpɛʃi/PESH-ee; born February 9, 1943) is an American actor, comedian, and musician. He is known for playing a variety of different roles, from violent mobsters to comedic leads to quirky sidekicks. Pesci has starred in a number of high profile films including Goodfellas, Casino, Raging Bull, Once Upon a Time in America, My Cousin Vinny, JFK, Home Alone, and the Lethal Weapon series. He took a six year hiatus from acting between 1999 and 2005 before returning for a cameo in The Good Shepherd (2006).
In 1990, Pesci won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as the psychotic mobster Tommy DeVito in Goodfellas, ten years after receiving a nomination in the same category for Raging Bull.
Pesci was born in Newark, New Jersey, the son of Mary, who worked part-time as a barber, and Angelo Pesci, a forklift driver for General Motors and bartender. Pesci was raised in Belleville, New Jersey and attended Belleville High School. By the time Pesci was five years old, he was appearing in plays in New York. A few years later, at age ten, he was a regular on a television variety show called Startime Kids, which also featured Connie Francis. He started out working as a barber in the 1960s, following in his mother's footsteps.
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John Goodman
John Stephen Goodman (born June 20, 1952) is an American film, television, and stage actor. He is best known for his role as Dan Conner on the television series Roseanne (1988–1997) for which he won a Best Actor Golden Globe Award in 1993.
Goodman was born in St. Louis, Missouri. His mother, Virginia Roos (née Loosmore), was a store clerk and waitress who worked at Jack and Phil's Bar-B-Que, and his father, Leslie F. Goodman, was a postal worker who died of a heart attack in 1954. He has a sister, Elisabeth Horvath, and a brother, Leslie.
Goodman went to Affton High School, where he played football and dabbled in theater. He then won a football scholarship to Southwest Missouri State University, now called Missouri State University. He pledged the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, but was not formally initiated until several years later. Later he discovered Southwest Missouri's drama program. He studied there with actors Kathleen Turner and Tess Harper. After a college injury ended his football career, he decided to become a professional actor, leaving Missouri for New York in 1975.
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John Houseman
John Houseman (born Jacques Haussmann; September 22, 1902 – October 31, 1988) was a Romanian-born British-American actor and film producer who became known for his highly publicized collaboration with director Orson Welles from their days in the Federal Theatre Project through to the production of Citizen Kane. He is perhaps best known for his role as Professor Charles Kingsfield in the 1973 film The Paper Chase, for which he won a best supporting actor Oscar. He reprised his role as Kingsfield in the subsequent TV series adaptation of The Paper Chase. Houseman was also known for his commercials for the brokerage firm Smith Barney. He had a distinctive Mid-Atlantic English accent, in common with many actors of his generation.
Houseman was born in Bucharest, Romania in 1902, the son of May (née Davies) and Georges Haussmann, who ran a grain business. His mother was British, from a Christian family of Welsh and Irish descent. His father was an Alsatian-born Jew. He was educated in England at Clifton College, became a British citizen and worked in the grain trade in London before emigrating to the United States in 1925, where he took the stage name of John Houseman. He became a U.S. citizen in 1943. Houseman died of spinal cancer in 1988 at his home in Malibu, California, at age 86.
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Johnny Bravo
Johnny Bravo is an American animated television series created by Van Partible for Cartoon Network. The series stars a muscular beefcake young man named Johnny Bravo who dons a pompadour hairstyle and an Elvis Presley-like voice and has a forward, woman-chasing personality. Plots typically revolve around him trying to get a woman that he has targeted throughout the episode to fall in love with him. He is often beaten up or stunned by his target or companions, or is ditched by them in the end.
The series was originally part of a series of shorts on Cartoon Network's animation showcase series World Premiere Toons (also known as the The What a Cartoon! Show.) The popularity of the shorts led to the network commissioning a full series for the show, which premiered on July 14, 1997. The series was renewed for multiple following seasons and finally ended its official run on August 27, 2004.
The series was the second series to be spun from World Premiere Toons, and is the second series under Cartoon Cartoons (a collective name for early Cartoon Network original series). A spin-off of the series, JBVO, was unsuccessful and ran for one season. Many of the writers and directors on the series went on to become famous for their own projects (writer Seth MacFarlane for Family Guy and writer/director Butch Hartman for The Fairly OddParents). Johnny Bravo is today considered a classic Cartoon Network series, the title character is labeled as "iconic", and his catchphrases (including "Oohh, Mama!") are relatively common in popular culture. Reruns of the show are played on Boomerang.
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Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart (born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz; November 28, 1962) is an American political satirist, writer, television host, actor, media critic and stand-up comedian. He is widely known as host of The Daily Show, a satirical news program that airs on Comedy Central.
Stewart started as a stand-up comedian, but branched into television as host of Short Attention Span Theater for Comedy Central. He went on to host his own show on MTV, called The Jon Stewart Show, and then hosted another show on MTV called You Wrote It, You Watch It. He has also had several film roles as an actor. Stewart became the host of The Daily Show on Comedy Central in early 1999. He is also a writer and co-executive-producer of the show. After Stewart joined, The Daily Show steadily gained popularity and critical acclaim, resulting in his sixteen Emmy Awards.
Stewart has gained acclaim as an acerbic, satirical critic of personality-driven media shows, in particular those of the US media networks such as CNN, Fox News Channel, and MSNBC. Critics say Stewart benefits from a double standard: he critiques other news shows from the safe, removed position of his "fake news" desk. Stewart agrees, saying that neither his show nor his channel purports to be anything other than satire and comedy. In spite of its self-professed entertainment mandate, The Daily Show has been nominated for news and journalism awards. Stewart hosted the 78th and 80th Academy Awards. He is the co-author of America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction, which was one of the best-selling books in the U.S. in 2004 and Earth (The Book): A Visitor's Guide to the Human Race released in 2010.
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Joseph Maher
Joseph Maher (December 29, 1933 – July 17, 1998) was an Irish character actor who appeared in 43 films and was nominated for three Tony Awards and a Drama Desk Award for his supporting roles on the stage.
Maher was born in Westport, County Mayo, Ireland, the son of Delia A. (née O'Malley) and Joseph Maher, a schoolteacher. One of ten children, he was educated by the Irish Christian Brothers.
Maher's Broadway theatre credits include The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, King Henry V, The Royal Family, Night and Day, and Loot.
Maher's film credits included For Pete's Sake, Heaven Can Wait, Just Tell Me What You Want, I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can, The Evil That Men Do, My Stepmother is an Alien, Sister Act, Funny Farm, I.Q., In & Out and The Out-of-Towners.
Maher died of a brain tumor at his home in Los Angeles, California, on July 17, 1998.
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Josh Brolin
Josh James Brolin (pronounced /ˈbroʊlɨn/; born February 12, 1968) is an American actor. He has acted in theater, film and television roles since 1985, and won acting awards for his roles in the films W., No Country for Old Men, Milk and True Grit.
Brolin was born in Santa Monica, California, the son of Jane Cameron Agee, a wildlife activist who was a native of Corpus Christi, Texas, and actor James Brolin. Brolin was raised on a California ranch with little exposure to his father's acting career. His parents divorced when he was 16 and his stepmother is singer/actress Barbra Streisand. He became interested in acting after taking an improv acting class in high school.
Brolin started his career in TV movies and guest spots on TV shows before getting a more notable role as Brand Walsh in the Richard Donner-directed movie The Goonies (1985). He was considered for the role of Tom Hanson in the series 21 Jump Street; he and Johnny Depp were the finalists for the role, and at that time the two became close and remained friends even after the role was ultimately awarded to Depp. Brolin guest-starred in an episode of the show in its first season.
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Josh Sussman
Josh Sussman (born December 30, 1983) is an American actor, best known for his role as Hugh Normous in Wizards of Waverly Place and his role as Jacob Ben Israel in Glee.
Sussman grew up in Teaneck, New Jersey. He studied acting for two years at the School for Film and Television in New York City, an intense Meisner technique-based program.[citation needed]
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Juan Trippe
Juan Terry Trippe (June 27, 1899 – April 3, 1981) was an American airline entrepreneur and pioneer, and the founder of Pan American World Airways, one of the world's most prominent airlines of the twentieth century.
Trippe was born in Sea Bright, New Jersey, on June 27, 1899, the great-great-grandson of Lieutenant John Trippe, captain of the USS Vixen. Because of his Spanish first name, people often assume that Trippe was of Cuban descent, but his family was actually Northern European in ancestry and settled in Maryland in 1664. He was, in fact, named after Juanita Terry, the Venezuelan wife of his great uncle. Trippe graduated from The Hill School in 1917. Attending Yale University as America entered World War I, he temporarily left Yale and, along with some of his Yale classmates, applied for flight training with the U.S. Navy. After completing training in June 1918, he was designated as a Naval Aviator and was commissioned as an Ensign in the U.S. Naval Reserve. However, the end of World War I precluded him from flying in combat. Demobilized from active duty, he returned to Yale University, graduating in 1921. While at Yale, he was a member of St. Anthony Hall and of the Skull and Bones society. Trippe was treasurer at the first-ever meet of the National Intercollegiate Flying Association in 1920 .
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Judah Friedlander
Judah Friedlander (born March 16, 1969) is an American actor and comedian, known for his trademark trucker hats, oversized glasses and unkempt appearance, which he retains in many of his screen roles.
Friedlander was born in Gaithersburg, Maryland, the son of Shirley (née Sestric) and Art Friedlander. His father was of Russian Jewish descent and his mother, a native of Pittsburgh, is Croatian American.
Friedlander started in show business as cameraman on Chris Rock's short Who Is Chris Rock?. Ten years later, Friedlander began working in front of the camera, with appearances on Lateline and roles in numerous feature film comedies including Meet the Parents, Zoolander and Full Grown Men. Friedlander's most noted movie role to date was in the film American Splendor, as Toby Radloff. He appeared as "The Hug Guy" from the Dave Matthews Band 2001 video "Everyday". He was also a series regular on VH1's Best Week Ever and currently on NBC's 30 Rock, on which he plays Frank Rossitano, one of the writers of TGS with Tracy Jordan, a spoof of Saturday Night Live. In every episode, Friedlander wears a different slogan on his trademark hat, which he designs himself.
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Kate Flannery
Katherine Patricia "Kate" Flannery (born June 10, 1964) is an American actress best known for playing the role of Meredith Palmer on the NBC hit series The Office.
Flannery was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She attended Saint John Neumann School and Archbishop John Carroll High School in Radnor, Pennsylvania. She graduated from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. She is one of seven children in an Irish-American family.
Flannery is one of only two cast members from The Office who is actually from Pennsylvania, where the show is set. The other is Zach Woods, who plays the character Gabe.
A former member of The Second City's National Touring Company, Flannery is an original member of Chicago's Annoyance Theater, where she created over 15 shows including "The Miss Vagina Pageant" and "The Real Live Brady Bunch".
The Lampshades, her comedy lounge act with veteran improviser Scot Robinson, has been running in Hollywood at the iO WEST stage for over four years and was seen at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colorado. The Lampshades was New York magazine's "LA Pick" for 2006 and was declared "Best Saturday Comedy Show of the Year" by LA Weekly.[citation needed]
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Katrina Bowden
Katrina Bowden (born September 19, 1988) is an American actress. She is perhaps best known for her roles on 30 Rock and American Reunion.
Bowden was born in Wyckoff, New Jersey. She attended the now-defunct Saint Thomas More School in Midland Park, New Jersey, for her grammar and middle school education. She later attended Immaculate Heart Academy in Township of Washington, Bergen County, New Jersey.
On January 28th, 2012, Bowden got engaged to her boyfriend of nearly two years, musician Ben Jorgensen.
In 2006 Katrina scored her first Acting role in a two-episode arc on the ABC long-time running daytime soap opera television series One Life to Live as Britney. Katrina has since guest starred on shows such as Law & Order: SVU, Ugly Betty and most recently on the FOX Comedy series New Girl. In May 2006 Katrina was cast as a recurring role on the Emmy Award winning Comedy television series 30 Rock which premiered on October 11, 2006 on NBC. Katrina portrays the role of a sexy and laid back assistant Cerie and also stars Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin and Tracy Morgan. Katrina signed on as a regular for the shows second season in 2007 and is considered to be Katrina's breakout role. The series most recent sixth season premiered on January 12, 2012. Katrina also appeared in "Dance, Dance" a music video from American rock band Fall Out Boy.
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Keith Powell
Keith Powell is an American television actor who is best known for his role as James "Toofer" Spurlock on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock.
Powell was the Producing Artistic Director of Contemporary Stage Company, a summer theater in Wilmington, Delaware. He has produced/starred in/directed shows with Lynn Redgrave, Jasmine Guy, Keith David, Richard Easton, Duncan Sheik, and Sean Patrick Thomas. Producing credits include New York productions of The Mouse That Roared, Enter Pissarro, Indra & Agni Collide and a workshop of Kidding Jane with Ellen McLaughlin and William Charles Mitchell. Powell was the resident director for Equalogy, a professional touring company promoting social change, for which he directed two plays by August Schulenberg, Four Hearts Changing and One Night. His other directing credits include Dutchman, Quality of Silence, The Visit and Enter Pissarro. As an actor, Powell has appeared in numerous national network commercials. His theatre credits include Romeo & Juliet (The Shakespeare Theatre, Washington, D.C. ), Kidding Jane (Portland Stage Company), Macbeth (Pittsburgh Public Theater), As Bees in Honey Drown (Hangar Theater, Ithaca, NY), and The French (HB Playwrights Foundation, NYC) among others.
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Kelsey Grammer
Allen Kelsey Grammer (born February 21, 1955) is an American actor and comedian. He is most widely known for his two-decade portrayal of psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane on the hit NBC sitcoms Cheers and Frasier. He has been nominated for fourteen Emmy Awards, including one for playing his character on three sitcoms, and has also worked as a television producer, director, writer, and as a voice artist. Grammer has been married four times and has four children.
Grammer was born in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, the son of Sally (née Cranmer), a singer, and Frank Allen Grammer, Jr., a musician and owner of a coffee shop and a bar & grill called Greer's Place. His parents divorced when Grammer was two years old. He attended Pine Crest School, a private preparatory school in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Grammer later spent two years at the Juilliard School. Grammer's personal life has been affected by several tragedies: in 1968, his estranged father, whom he had seen only twice since his parents' divorce, was shot and killed; in 1975, his younger sister, Karen, was abducted, raped, and murdered by spree killer Freddie Glenn; in 1980, his twin half-brothers died in a scuba diving accident; and in 2001, David Angell, close friend and producer of Frasier, died in the 9/11 attacks.
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Kevin McHale (actor)
Kevin Michael McHale (born June 14, 1988) is an American actor, dancer, and singer. Formerly of the boy band NLT, McHale is best known for his current role as Artie Abrams in the Fox hit television series Glee.
McHale was born in Plano, Texas, the youngest of four children. McHale is descended from immigrants from County Mayo, Ireland.
He admitted to Ryan Seacrest that he grew up with Disney Channel actress and singer Demi Lovato. Before becoming an actor, McHale joined an American Boy Group, NLT, which is short for "Not Like Them". The R&B group was discovered by Chris Stokes. On March 13, 2007, they released their first single, "That Girl". The following month they opened (with Chantelle Paige) for The Pussycat Dolls. The band also had a guest appearance in Bratz: The Movie. On April 30, 2009, group member Travis Michael Garland announced that NLT had split.
McHale currently stars on Glee as Artie Abrams, a member of the McKinley High glee club with a physical disability. Although his character is in a wheelchair, McHale is a skilled dancer and has said that it is hard to keep his feet from moving along with the music while on the set. He had his first solo single on Glee singing "Dancing with Myself" in the episode "Wheels". In the episode "Dream On" he danced in a fantasy sequence to "The Safety Dance" and sang "Dream a Little Dream of Me". He also danced in a dream sequence alongside Harry Shum, Jr. to the song "Scream" in the third season episode "Michael".
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Kevin Spacey
Kevin Spacey, CBE (born Kevin Spacey Fowler; July 26, 1959) is an American actor, director, screenwriter, producer, and crooner. He grew up in California, and began his career as a stage actor during the 1980s, before being cast in supporting roles in film and television. He gained critical acclaim in the early 1990s, culminating in his first Academy Award for The Usual Suspects (Best Supporting Actor), followed by a Best Actor Academy Award win for American Beauty (1999). His other starring roles in Hollywood include Seven, L.A. Confidential, Pay It Forward, K-PAX, and Superman Returns in a career which has earned him several Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. Since 2003, he has been artistic director of the Old Vic theatre in London.
Spacey was born in South Orange, New Jersey, the son of Kathleen Ann (née Knutson; December 5, 1931 – March 19, 2003), a secretary, and Thomas Geoffrey Fowler (June 4, 1924 – December 24, 1992), a technical writer and data consultant. He has two older siblings: a sister, Julie, and a brother, Randy. He attended Northridge Military Academy, Canoga Park High School (in tenth and eleventh grades), and then Chatsworth High School in Chatsworth, Los Angeles, where he graduated valedictorian of his class. At Chatsworth High, he starred in the school's senior production of The Sound of Music, playing the part of Captain Georg von Trapp, opposite Mare Winningham's character, Maria.
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Kim Basinger
Kimila Ann "Kim" Basinger ( /ˈbeɪsɪŋər/ BAY-sing-ər, often mispronounced /ˈbæsɪndʒər/ BASS-in-jər; born December 8, 1953) is an American actress, singer, and former fashion model.
She is known for her portrayals of Domino Petachi, the Bond girl in Never Say Never Again (1983), and Vicki Vale, the female lead in Batman (1989). Basinger received a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture nomination for her work in The Natural (1984). She won an Academy Award, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in L.A. Confidential (1997). Basinger also acted in the movies 9½ Weeks (1986) and 8 Mile (2002).
Basinger was born in Athens, Georgia. Her father, Donald Wade Basinger, was a big band musician and loan manager who as a U.S. Army soldier landed in Normandy on D-Day (June 6, 1944). Her mother, Ann (née Cordell), was a model, an actress, and a swimmer who appeared in several Esther Williams films. The third of five children, she has two brothers, Mick and Skip, and two sisters, Ashley and Barbara. Basinger's ancestry includes German, Swedish, Irish and Native American, and she was raised a Methodist.
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Kim Cattrall
Kim Victoria Cattrall ( /kəˈtræl/; born 21 August 1956) is an English-Canadian actress. She is known for her role as Samantha Jones in the HBO comedy/romance series Sex and the City and for her leading roles in the 1980s films Police Academy, Big Trouble in Little China, Mannequin, and Porky's. For her role as Samantha Jones, she won a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2002 and received four nominations for the role. Her success in Sex and the City also led her to receive two Screen Actors Guild Awards out of seven nominations (including two for Outstanding Female Actress in a Comedy Series) and five Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. In September and October 2011, she appeared in a production of Noël Coward's Private Lives in Toronto, Canada co-starring Paul Gross; the production then moved to Broadway where it opened for previews 6 November 2011.
Cattrall was born in Mossley Hill, Liverpool, Merseyside. Her mother, Gladys Shane (née Baugh), was a secretary, and her father, Dennis Cattrall, was a construction engineer. When she was three months old, her family emigrated to the Canadian city of Courtenay in British Columbia. At 11, she returned to England when her grandmother became ill. She took a number of acting examinations with the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA), before returning to Canada at age 16 to finish high school.
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Kristin Davis
Kristin Landen Davis (also listed as Kristin Lee Davis; born February 24, 1965) is an American actress. She first rose to prominence and achieved fame for playing the role of Brooke Armstrong on Melrose Place and went on to achieve greater success as Charlotte York Goldenblatt on HBO's Sex and the City.
Davis was born in Boulder, Colorado. She is an only child, and her parents divorced when she was a baby. She was adopted by her stepfather, then-University of Colorado Boulder professor Keith Davis, after he married her mother, Dorothy, a university data analyst, in 1968. She has three sisters from her adoptive father's first marriage. Early in her childhood, she and her parents moved to Columbia, South Carolina, where her father served as provost and teaches psychology at the University of South Carolina.
Davis wanted to be an actress from the age of 9, when she was cast in the Workshop Theatre production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Davis lived in South Carolina until she graduated from A.C. Flora High School in 1983. She then moved to New Jersey, where she attended Rutgers University. Davis graduated with a BFA degree in Acting from Rutgers University's Mason Gross School of the Arts in 1987.
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Lea Michele
Lea Michele Sarfati (born August 29, 1986), known professionally as Lea Michele, is an American actress and singer. Michele began working professionally as a child actress on Broadway in productions such as Ragtime and Les Misérables. She originated the role of Wendla in the musical Spring Awakening and currently plays Rachel Berry in the Fox television series Glee and made her film debut in New Year's Eve starring alongside Ashton Kutcher. Michele performs in the soprano range.
Michele was born in the Bronx, New York City. She is the only daughter of Edith, a nurse, and Marc Sarfati, a delicatessen owner. Her mother is Italian American and Roman Catholic, while her father is a Spanish Sephardic Jew. Michele was raised Catholic, and has stated that her father "gladly" attends church with her and her mother. She grew up in Tenafly, New Jersey. She attended Rockland Country Day School for elementary school in New York and then Tenafly High School. Michele was home schooled one year while working in Toronto, Ontario on Ragtime. She attended Stagedoor Manor in the Catskills, a center for performing arts training. She was then later accepted to the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, but opted instead to continue working professionally on the stage.
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Leo McKern
Reginald "Leo" McKern, AO (16 March 1920 – 23 July 2002) was an Australian-born English actor who appeared in numerous British and Australian television programmes and movies, and more than 200 stage roles.
McKern was born Reginald McKern in Sydney, New South Wales, the son of Vera (née Martin) and Norman Walton McKern and attended Sydney Technical High School. After an accident at age 15 he lost his left eye. He first worked as an engineering apprentice, then as an artist, followed by serving in the Australian Army during World War II. During the war, he made his first stage appearance in Sydney in 1944.
Having fallen in love with actress Jane Holland, McKern moved to England to be with her and they married in 1946. He soon became a regular performer at London's Old Vic theatre and the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre (now called the Royal Shakespeare Theatre) in Stratford-upon-Avon, despite the difficulties posed by his glass eye and Australian accent.
In 1949, he played Forester in Love's Labour's Lost at the Old Vic. His most notable Shakespearean role was as Iago to Anthony Quayle's Othello in 1952. On the West End in London, McKern originated the role of the Common Man for Robert Bolt's A Man for All Seasons in 1960, but for the show's Broadway production, he was shifted to the role of Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex, the prosecutor of Sir Thomas More, which he would reprise in the film version. He also memorably played Subtle in Ben Jonson's The Alchemist in 1962.
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Leonard Nimoy
Leonard Simon Nimoy ( /ˈniːmɔɪ/ NEE-moy; born March 26, 1931) is an American actor, film director, poet, musician and photographer. Nimoy's most famous role is that of Spock in the original Star Trek series (1966–1969), and in multiple film, television, and video-game sequels.
Nimoy began his career in his early twenties, teaching acting classes in Hollywood and making minor film and television appearances through the 1950s, as well as playing the title role in Kid Monk Baroni. In 1953, he served in the United States Army. In 1965, he made his first appearance in the rejected Star Trek pilot, "The Cage", and would go on to play the character of Mr. Spock until 1969, followed by seven feature films and guest slots in various sequels. His character of Spock had a significant cultural impact and garnered Nimoy three Emmy Award nominations; TV Guide named Spock one of the 50 greatest TV characters. After the original Star Trek series, Nimoy starred in Mission: Impossible for two seasons, hosted the documentary series In Search of..., and narrated Civilization IV, as well as making several well-received stage appearances.
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Leonardo DiCaprio
Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio (/dɨˈkæpri.oʊ/; born November 11, 1974) is an American actor and film producer. He has been nominated for the Golden Globe Award eight times as an actor, and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor for his performance in The Aviator (2004). He has also been nominated by the Academy Awards, Screen Actors Guild, Satellite Awards, and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, DiCaprio started his career by appearing in television commercials prior to landing recurring roles in TV series such as the soap opera Santa Barbara and the sitcom Growing Pains in the early 1990s. He made his film debut in the comedic sci-fi horror film Critters 3 (1991) and received first notable critical praise for his performance in This Boy's Life (1993). DiCaprio obtained recognition for his subsequent work in supporting roles in What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993) and Marvin's Room (1996), as well as leading roles in The Basketball Diaries (1995) and Romeo + Juliet (1996), before achieving international fame in James Cameron's Titanic (1997).
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Leslie David Baker
Leslie David Baker (born February 19, 1958) is an American film and television actor who plays Stanley Hudson on The Office. He also had several small roles in Scrubs and appeared on That '70s Show as a janitor after a Ted Nugent concert and played an office worker in several of OfficeMax's "Rubberband Man" series of advertisements. He holds a B.S. in Psychology from Loyola University Chicago and a M.S. Human Services Administration from Spertus College of Judaica in Chicago. He taught special education, grades K-8, while working on his masters. He was reluctant to move to Hollywood, as he thought it important to first attain financial security. He once played a police officer and a customer in a stereo store in Malcolm in the Middle and a security guard in Action. His favorite episodes of The Office to date are Did I Stutter and Basketball.
In November 2011, Baker released his debut single, "2 Be Simple", with an accompanying music video. Jen Chaney of The Washington Post wrote that the song is "destined to be the party anthem at all your yuletide throwdowns," while Cameron Mathews of Spinner described the hook as "infectious" and the lyrics as "totally [capturing] the daydreams of a middle-aged man in crisis."
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Liev Schreiber
Isaac Liev Schreiber ( /ˈliːɨv/ not /ˈliːv/; born October 4, 1967), commonly known as Liev Schreiber, is an American actor, producer, director, and screenwriter. He became known during the late 1990s and early 2000s, having initially appeared in several independent films, and later mainstream Hollywood films, including the Scream trilogy of horror films, Phantoms, The Sum of All Fears, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Salt and Goon. Schreiber is also a respected stage actor, having performed in several Broadway productions. In 2005, Schreiber won a Tony Award as Best Featured Actor for his performance in the play Glengarry Glen Ross. That year, Schreiber also made his debut as a film director and writer with Everything Is Illuminated, based on the novel of the same name.
Schreiber is in a relationship with Naomi Watts, with whom he has two children.
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Madylin Sweeten
Madylin Anne Michele Sweeten (born June 27, 1991) is an American actress.
Sweeten was born in Brownwood, Texas, to Timothy Lynn Sweeten and Elizabeth Anne Millsap. She is perhaps best known for playing the role of Ally Barone on the CBS television sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond from 1996–2005. Her younger twin brothers Sullivan and Sawyer played her twin brothers Geoffrey and Michael Barone on the sitcom. She also has a younger sister, Maysa Sweeten.
Sweeten began her acting career by attending the Kay Scott School of Performing Arts in San Saba, Texas, at age 3. While attending Kay Scott, Sweeten, at age four, was cast in the television movie A Promise to Carolyn. From there, she went on to book several commercials in Dallas. Madylin also captured the title of World's Universal Beauty a title that is part of the oldest children's scholarship competition called "Our Little Miss". Later that year, she auditioned for several television pilot roles in Los Angeles and was discovered by producers of Everybody Loves Raymond. Sweeten played Ally Barone, the eldest child and only daughter of Raymond and Debra Barone for 9 seasons, starting in 1996, until the show's end in 2005.
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Marcia Cross
Marcia Anne Cross (born March 25, 1962) is an American television actress, best known for her roles as Bree Van de Kamp on the ABC comedy-drama series Desperate Housewives, and as Dr. Kimberly Shaw on the Fox soap opera Melrose Place.
Cross is of English descent[citation needed] and was born in Marlborough, Massachusetts, the daughter of Janet, a teacher, and Mark Cross, a personnel manager. Her parents raised her in the Roman Catholic religion. She grew up with sisters Susan (age 51–52), a teacher, and Ellen (age 45–46), a singer and songwriter.
Raised in Marlborough, she graduated from Marlborough High School in 1980. Having received a half scholarship to Juilliard at the age of 17, she moved to New York City at the age of 18 to study at the school where she graduated in 1984. Cross returned to school in 1997 to earn a master's degree in psychology, which she received from Antioch University Los Angeles in 2003.
She began her television career in 1984 on the soap opera The Edge of Night. She then moved from New York to Los Angeles, and soon landed roles in television movies such as The Last Days of Frank and Jessie James, co-starring with Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson. In 1986 she joined the cast of the ABC daytime Soap opera One Life to Live, where she played Kate Sanders, until 1987.
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Mark Moses
Mark W. Moses (born February 24, 1958) is an American actor, known for his roles of Paul Young on Desperate Housewives and Herman "Duck" Phillips on the AMC series Mad Men.
Moses was born in New York City, the brother of actor and singer Burke Moses. Moses grew up in Evanston, IL and was the quarterback for Evanston high school football.
Moses has appeared in a number of films by director Oliver Stone, such as Platoon, The Doors, and Born on the Fourth of July.
As a character actor with appearances on projects ranging as diverse as Big Momma's House 2 (2006), Platoon (1986) and Star Trek: Voyager (1999), Moses was always reliably employed, but never became a household name.
This changed in 2004, when Moses was cast in the role of Paul Young on the hit ABC dramedy Desperate Housewives (2004–2007). As the disturbed husband of the deceased (suicide victim) Mary Alice Young, Moses played one of the pivotal figures in the show's original main mystery.
He currently plays Herman "Duck" Phillips on the AMC series Mad Men.
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Mark Salling
Mark Wayne Salling (born August 17, 1982) is an American actor, singer-songwriter, composer, and musician. He is known for his role as Noah "Puck" Puckerman on the comedy television series, Glee.
Salling was born in Dallas, Texas. He is the younger of two children of Condy Sue (née Wherry), a school secretary, and John Robert Salling, Jr., an accountant. He was home-schooled at an early age. Salling was raised in a "strict Christian home" and attended Providence Christian School and Our Redeemer Lutheran during elementary school. He attended, but did not graduate from Culver Military Academy, and later graduated from Lake Highlands High School in 2001. While he attended high school, he was a member of the school wrestling team. Performing was also an integral part of his teenage years; he often performed in bars despite being underage and participated in school talent shows.[citation needed]
After graduating from high school, he attended the Los Angeles Music Academy College of Music in Pasadena, California and began studying guitar, giving guitar lessons to make a living.
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Martin Balsam
Martin Henry Balsam (November 4, 1919 – February 13, 1996) was an American actor. He is known for his Oscar-winning role as "Arnold Burns" in A Thousand Clowns and his role as "Detective Milton Arbogast" in Psycho.
Martin Balsam was born in The Bronx, New York to Jewish parents Lillian (née Weinstein) and Albert Balsam, who was a manufacturer of ladies sportswear. He attended DeWitt Clinton High School, where he participated in the drama club. He studied at the Dramatic Workshop of The New School in New York with the influential German director Erwin Piscator and then served in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II.
Martin Balsam made his professional debut in August 1941 in a production of The Play's the Thing in Locust Valley. In 1947, he was selected by Elia Kazan and Lee Strasberg to be a player in the Actors Studio television program. He appeared in many other television drama series, including The Twilight Zone (episodes "The Sixteen Millimeter Shrine" and "The New Exhibit"), as a psychologist in the pilot episode, Five Fingers, Target: The Corruptors!, The Eleventh Hour, Breaking Point, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Fugitive, and Mr. Broadway, as a retired U.N.C.L.E. agent in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. episode, "The Odd Man Affair", and guest starred in the two-part Murder, She Wrote episode, "Death Stalks the Big Top".
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Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese ( /skɔrˈsɛsɛ/; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation. He is a recipient of the AFI Life Achievement Award for his contributions to the cinema, and has won Academy Award, Palme d'Or, Emmys, Golden Globes, BAFTAs, and DGA Awards.
Scorsese's body of work addresses such themes as Italian American identity, Roman Catholic concepts of guilt and redemption,machismo, modern crime, and violence. Scorsese is hailed as one of the most significant and influential filmmakers of all time, directing landmark films such as Mean Streets (1973), Taxi Driver (1976), Raging Bull (1980), and Goodfellas (1990) – all of which he collaborated on with actor and close friend Robert De Niro. He won the Academy Award for Best Director for The Departed (2006), having been nominated a previous five times.
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Mary J. Blige
Mary J. Blige ( /ˈblaɪʒ/; born January 11, 1971) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer and occasional rapper and actress. She is a recipient of nine Grammy Awards and four American Music Awards, and has recorded eight multi-platinum albums. She is the only artist with Grammy Award wins in Pop, Rap, Gospel, and R&B.
Blige started her musical career in 1992, releasing her debut album, What's the 411? on MCA Records and Uptown. With her tenth album, My Life II... The Journey Continues (Act 1) (2011), she had ten consecutive albums debut in the top 10 on the Billboard 200. Blige's work has defined the course of R&B/Hip-Hop music. My Life, in particular, is considered among the greatest albums ever recorded according to Rolling Stone (279/500),Time, and Vibe. For her part in combining hip hop and soul in the early 1990s and its subsequent commercial success, Blige received the World Music Awards "Legends Award". In 2007 the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers awarded her its "Voice of Music" Award. ASCAP official Jeanie Weems stated that "[Blige's] music has been the voice of inspiration to women worldwide in both struggle and triumph." That same year, Time included her in its "Time 100" list, a collection of the year's 100 most influential individuals around the world. In a documentary by BET television, Mary J. Blige said that when she hears music, she sees colors. In other words she has Synesthesia.
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Matthew Morrison
Matthew James Morrison (born October 30, 1978) is an American actor, dancer, musician, and singer-songwriter. He is best known for starring in multiple Broadway and Off-Broadway productions, including his portrayal of Link Larkin in Hairspray on Broadway, and most notably for his Emmy and Golden Globe nominated role as Will Schuester on the Fox television show Glee (2009–present). He has also received a Satellite Award for this role.
Matthew Morrison was born in Fort Ord, California, and raised in Orange County, and is of Scottish heritage. He was part of the Collaborative Arts Project 21 (CAP21) and the Orange County High School of the Arts, while at the Los Alamitos High School campus. While in high school, he did a musical with actress Jodie Sweetin. He attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts for two years before dropping out and joining the Broadway adaptation of Footloose.
By freshman year of college Morrison already was a regular performer on Broadway. He states in Details "There were all these beautiful, beautiful dancers. As a straight guy I had some room. There were the shared interests in singing and dancing, and I always find dancing with someone very erotic and sexual. I definitely hooked up with a lot of girls when I was a young guy on Broadway. It was fun, I guess. Very joyous and free."
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Meg Ryan
Margaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra (born November 19, 1961), professionally known as Meg Ryan, is an American actress and producer. After minor roles in film and television, Ryan became a movie star in 1989 when she appeared in When Harry Met Sally.... Over the next 15 years she played leading roles in several romantic comedy films, including Sleepless in Seattle (1993), French Kiss (1995), Addicted to Love (1997), City of Angels (1998), You've Got Mail (1998), and Kate & Leopold (2001), grossing a total of over $870 million worldwide. At that time, TIME critic Richard Corliss called her "the current soul of romantic comedy".
Ryan (née Hyra) was born in Fairfield, Connecticut, the daughter of Susan Jordan (née Duggan) – a former actress and English teacher – and Harry Hyra, a math teacher. Both Susan and Harry were raised in Fairfield, Connecticut. Harry was an all state basketball player. Ryan's mother had appeared in one television commercial and later worked briefly as an assistant casting director in New York City. She supported and encouraged her young daughter's study of acting. Ryan has two sisters, Dana and Annie, and a brother, musician Andrew Hyra, of the band Billy Pilgrim. Her parents divorced in 1976, when she was 15 years old.
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Megan Mullally
Megan Mullally (born November 12, 1958) is an American actress of both stage and screen as well as a singer.
After working in the theatre in Chicago, Mullally moved to Los Angeles in 1985 and began to appear in supporting roles in film and television productions. She made her Broadway debut in Grease in 1994 and she has since appeared in several Broadway musicals. From 1998 until 2006, she played Karen Walker on the TV sitcom Will & Grace, arguably her best-known role to date. From 2006 until early 2007, Mullally hosted the short lived talk show The Megan Mullally Show. She has since appeared in guest-starring roles in television programs such as Parks and Recreation, Happy Endings, 30 Rock, Up All Night, Boston Legal and a GLAAD Award-winning episode of The New Adventures of Old Christine. In 2010, Mullally starred as Lydia in the second season of Party Down. She currently stars as Chief on Adult Swim's Childrens Hospital, and recurs as Tammy Swanson on NBC's Parks and Recreation and as Dana Hartz on ABC's Happy Endings. She also joined the cast of Breaking In for its second season, which began airing on March 6, 2012.
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Meryl Streep
Mary Louise "Meryl" Streep (born June 22, 1949) is an American actress who has worked in theatre, television, and film. She is widely regarded as one of the most talented actors of all time.
Streep made her professional stage debut in The Playboy of Seville (1971), before her screen debut in the television movie Deadliest Season (1977). In that same year, she made her film debut with Julia (1977). Both critical and commercial success came quickly with roles in The Deer Hunter (1978) and Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), the former giving Streep her first Academy Award nomination and the latter her first win. She later won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performances in Sophie's Choice (1982) and The Iron Lady (2011).
Streep has received 17 Academy Award nominations, winning three, and 26 Golden Globe nominations, winning eight, more nominations than any other actor in the history of either award. Her work has also earned her two Emmy Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, a Cannes Film Festival award, five New York Film Critics Circle Awards, two BAFTA awards, an Australian Film Institute Award, five Grammy Award nominations, and a Tony Award nomination, amongst others. She was awarded the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2004 and the Kennedy Center Honor in 2009 for her contribution to American culture through performing arts, the youngest actress in each award's history.
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Michael Douglas
Michael Kirk Douglas (born September 25, 1944) is an American actor and producer, primarily in movies and television. He has won three Golden Globes and two Academy Awards; as producer of 1975's Best Picture, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and as Best Actor in 1987 for his role in Wall Street. Douglas received the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2009. He is the eldest of actor Kirk Douglas's four sons.
Douglas was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, the first child of actor Kirk Douglas and Bermudian-born actress Diana Dill. His paternal grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Gomel in Belarus (at that time a part of the Russian Empire). His mother was from Devonshire Parish, Bermuda; Douglas's maternal grandfather, Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Melville Dill, served as Attorney General of Bermuda and was commanding officer of the Bermuda Militia Artillery. Douglas has a younger brother, Joel Douglas (born 1947), and two paternal half-brothers, Peter Douglas (born 1955) and Eric Douglas (1958–2004), from stepmother Anne Buydens.
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Michael J. Fox
Michael J. Fox, OC (born Michael Andrew Fox; June 9, 1961) is a Canadian American actor, author, celebrity, producer, activist and voice-over artist. With a film and television career spanning from the late 1970s, Fox's roles have included Marty McFly from the Back to the Future trilogy (1985–1990); Alex P. Keaton from Family Ties (1982–1989) for which he won three Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award; and Mike Flaherty from Spin City (1996–2000), for which he won an Emmy, three Golden Globes, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1991, and disclosed his condition to the public in 1998. Fox semi-retired from acting in 2000 as the symptoms of his disease worsened. He has since become an activist for research toward finding a cure. This led him to create the Michael J. Fox Foundation, and on March 5, 2010, Sweden's Karolinska Institutet gave him a honoris causa doctorate for his work in advocating a cure for Parkinson's disease.
Since 2000 Fox has mainly worked as a voice-over actor in films such as Stuart Little and Atlantis: The Lost Empire, and taken guest TV roles such as in Boston Legal, The Good Wife, Scrubs, Curb Your Enthusiasm and Rescue Me. He has also released three books, Lucky Man: A Memoir (2002); Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist (2009); and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future: Twists and Turns and Lessons Learned (2010). He was inducted as an Officer of the Order of Canada on May 27, 2011, for his outreach and fundraising work.
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Mindy Kaling
Vera Mindy Chokalingam (born June 24, 1979), better known as Mindy Kaling, is an American actress, comedian, writer and producer who plays Kelly Kapoor on the NBC sitcom The Office. Kaling is also a co-executive producer and writer of several of the show's episodes.
Kaling was born Vera Chokalingam in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to a Tamil father and Bengali mother from India. Her father, Avu, is an architect, and her mother, Swati, is an obstetrician/gynecologist.
She explains that she has been known as Mindy ever since her mother was pregnant with her when her parents were living in Nigeria. They were already planning to move to the U.S. and wanted a "cute American name" for their daughter, and liked the name Mindy from the TV show Mork & Mindy. The name Vera is the name of the "incarnation of a Hindu goddess."
She graduated from Buckingham Browne & Nichols, a private school in Cambridge in 1997. The following year, she entered Dartmouth College, where she was a member of the improvisational comedy troupe "The Dog Day Players" and the a cappella group "The Rockapellas", and the creator of the comic strip "Badly Drawn Girl" in The Dartmouth (the college's daily newspaper), as well as writing for the Dartmouth Jack-O-Lantern (the college's humor magazine). She graduated in 2001.
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Naya Rivera
Naya Rivera (born January 12, 1987) is an American actress and singer known for her role in the musical comedy television series Glee, as cheerleader Santana Lopez.
Rivera was raised in Valencia, Santa Clarita, California and has lived in or around Los Angeles for most of her life. Rivera is of half Puerto Rican, quarter African, and quarter German descent. At eight or nine months old, she began to be represented by the same talent agent as her mother, who had moved to Los Angeles to pursue modeling.
As a baby, Rivera appeared in commercials for Kmart, but her first significant acting job was at the age of four when she starred as Hillary Winston in the Eddie Murphy produced sitcom The Royal Family in 1991. The show received positive reviews and high ratings initially, but when star Redd Foxx suffered a sudden heart attack on set the show never recovered and was soon canceled. Nonetheless, Rivera received a Young Artist Award nomination for her performance.
Between 1992 and 2002, she had small roles in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Family Matters, Live Shot, Baywatch, Smart Guy, The Jersey, House Blend, Even Stevens and The Master of Disguise. In 2002 she also appeared in the music video for B2K's "Why I Love You". She was hired for a single-episode guest appearance on The Bernie Mac Show in 2002, but was brought back to work on a further five episodes. She was later featured in single episodes of 8 Simple Rules and CSI: Miami. In between auditions and roles, Rivera worked odd jobs as a telemarketer, a nanny, and a greeter at an Abercrombie & Fitch store.
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Nicollette Sheridan
Nicollette Sheridan (born November 21, 1963) is an English television and film actress, best known for playing Edie Britt on the ABC dramedy series Desperate Housewives (2004-2009) and as Paige Matheson of the CBS primetime soap opera Knots Landing (1986–1993). In film, she is known for her roles in The Sure Thing (1985), Noises Off (1992), Spy Hard (1996) and Beverly Hills Ninja (1997).
Sheridan was born in Worthing, Sussex, England, the daughter of actress Sally Sheridan (née Adams). She attended school at Millfield in Somerset.[citation needed] In 1969, her mother was working alongside Greek-American actor Telly Savalas on the James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service. The couple started an affair, and after completion of shooting Savalas moved the entire family to the United States. Her mother gave birth to a son, Nicholas Savalas, on February 24, 1973.[citation needed] Telly Savalas and Sally Sheridan separated in 1977, and the family split their time between the United States and England.[citation needed]
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Norm Macdonald
Norman Gene "Norm" Macdonald (born October 17, 1963) is a Canadian stand-up comedian, writer, producer and actor. He is best known for his five seasons as a cast member on Saturday Night Live, which included anchoring Weekend Update for three years. Early in his career, he wrote for the sitcom Roseanne and made appearances on shows including The Drew Carey Show and NewsRadio. He also starred in The Norm Show from 1999 to 2001. Comedy Central named him #83 on the five-part miniseries 100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time. He is noted as one of Conan O'Brien's favorite and most frequent guests on his various talk shows. His brother is Canadian journalist Neil Macdonald, of CBC News' Washington, D.C. bureau.
Starting February 26, 2011, Macdonald became the new host of High Stakes Poker on Game Show Network. He also hosted Sports Show with Norm Macdonald on Comedy Central, which began airing on April 12, 2011. It was announced on June 7, 2011, that the Sports Show would not be renewed for a second season, reportedly due to low ratings, even though Sports Show steadily averaged one-million viewers per episode.
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Oscar Nunez
Oscar Nunez (born November 18, 1958), sometimes credited as Oscar Núñez, is a Cuban American actor and comedian. He currently appears as Dunder Mifflin's paper supply accountant, Oscar Martinez, on NBC's The Office.
Born in Cuba, Nunez moved to Union City, New Jersey when he was fourteen years old. He is bilingual in English and Spanish. Having attended various colleges in New York, including Fashion Institute of Technology and the Parsons School of Design for writing, Nunez became a certified dental technician from Magna Institute of Dental Technology.
Nunez started his comedy career in New York, founding and performing over 300 shows with The Shock of the Funny theater company. The troupe was active in the East Village for several years. In addition to his work with Shock, Nunez appeared in theater in New York and Washington, D.C. before moving to Los Angeles in the mid 1990s. In LA, he joined The Groundlings and performed in their Sunday Company. While with the Groundlings, he wrote and starred in a production called "Smooth Down There."
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Paul Dooley
Paul Dooley (born February 22, 1928) is an American actor, writer, and comedian.
Dooley was born Paul Dooley Brown in Parkersburg, West Virginia, the son of Ruth Irene (née Barringer), a homemaker, and Peter James Brown, a factory worker. Dooley was a cartoonist as a youth and drew a strip for a local paper in Parkersburg. He joined the Navy before discovering acting while at college. He is married to writer Winnie Holzman, with whom he has one daughter, Savannah Dooley (born 1985).
Moving to New York, he soon found success as a regular on the stage. Also having an interest in comedy, Dooley was a standup comedian for five years, and a member of the Compass Players and The Second City troupe in NYC, as well as having brief stints as a magician and as a clown. Not afraid of trying different areas of entertainment, he also worked as a writer. He was one of the writers on The Electric Company, which the character Paul the Gorilla was named after, and appeared in commercials.
Besides appearing in many movies, including most notably Popeye, Sixteen Candles, Breaking Away, and the voice of Sarge in the Disney/Pixar film Cars and its sequel Cars 2. Dooley has also appeared as a variety of recurrent characters on numerous television shows, including My So-Called Life, Dream On, Grace Under Fire, Curb Your Enthusiasm, ALF (playing Whizzer Deaver) and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine where he played the recurring role of Enabran Tain. He guest starred in other primetime shows like The Wonder Years, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, The Golden Girls, and Desperate Housewives. In 2000, he was nominated for an Emmy Award for his role as an eccentric judge on The Practice. He was also in the infamous alternate ending to Little Shop of Horrors, but was replaced by Jim Belushi in the final cut.
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Paul Ford
Paul Ford (born Paul Ford Weaver, November 2, 1901 – April 12, 1976) was an American character actor who came to specialize in authority figures whose ineptitude and pompous demeanor were played for comic effect.
Ford was born in Baltimore, Maryland. At a young age, he showed an adept talent for performance, but was discouraged when directors thought he was tone-deaf. However, in later years, he made his hollow, reverberating voice one of the most recognized of his era. His success was long in the making, and he did little acting, but instead raised his family during the Great Depression.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Public Works programs provided Ford with work, and to the day he died, he was a passionate Democrat. Ford auditioned for a play under his birth name, but did not get the part. Later, he dropped his surname and was known professionally as Paul Ford.
Ford became an "overnight" success at age 54 when he played Colonel John T. Hall opposite Phil Silvers on Silvers' Sergeant Bilko TV show. His signature role may well be the part of Mayor George Shinn, a befuddled politico in the film adaptation of the Broadway show The Music Man. Ford played the role straight, and received glowing reviews. Ford had an active career in both films and television until his retirement in the early 1970s.
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Paul Lieberstein
Paul Bevan Lieberstein (born February 22, 1967)[citation needed] is an American screenwriter, actor and television producer. An Emmy Award winner, he is most widely known as a writer, producer, and as supporting cast member Toby Flenderson on the U.S. version of the sitcom The Office. He has been the series' showrunner since its 5th season. On March 22, 2012, it was announced that Lieberstein will be stepping down from his showrunner role (the 8th season having already wrapped production) to focus on a planned spin-off series featuring Rainn Wilson as Dwight Schrute, which is tentatively called "The Farm" and Lieberstein will be the showrunner for when/if it becomes an NBC series.
In a SuicideGirls interview, Lieberstein noted that "as an actor, which is just a very small percentage of me, I don’t feel Toby while I’m writing. It’s the hardest of the characters to access." In an interview for his alma mater, Hamilton College, Lieberstein commented on the bigger picture:
On June 12, 2008, Variety magazine reported that he would become one of the executive producers of The Office.
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People (magazine)
People (originally called People Weekly) is a weekly American magazine of celebrity and human-interest stories, published by Time Inc. As of 2006, it has a circulation of 3.75 million and revenue expected to top $1.5 billion. It was named "Magazine of the Year" by Advertising Age in October 2005, for excellence in editorial, circulation and advertising.People ranked #6 on Advertising Age's annual "A-list" and #3 on Adweek's "Brand Blazers" list in October 2006.
The magazine runs a roughly 50/50 mix of celebrity and human-interest articles. People's editors claim to refrain from printing pure celebrity gossip, enough so to lead celebrity publicists to propose exclusives to the magazine, evidence of what one staffer calls a "publicist-friendly strategy".
People's website, People.com, focuses exclusively on celebrity news. In February 2007, the website drew 39.6 million page views "within a day" of the Golden Globes. However "the mother ship of Oscar coverage" broke a site record with 51.7 million page views on the day after the Oscars, beating the previous record set just a month before from the Golden Globes.[not in citation given]
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PETA
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) (stylized PeTA) is an American animal rights organization based in Norfolk, Virginia, and led by Ingrid Newkirk, its international president. A non-profit corporation with 300 employees and two million members and supporters, it claims to be the largest animal rights group in the world. Its slogan is "animals are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on, or use for entertainment."
Founded in March 1980 by Newkirk and fellow animal rights activist Alex Pacheco, the organization first caught the public's attention in the summer of 1981 during what became known as the Silver Spring monkeys case, a widely publicized dispute about experiments conducted on 17 macaque monkeys inside the Institute of Behavioral Research in Silver Spring, Maryland. The case lasted ten years, involved the only police raid on an animal laboratory in the United States, triggered an amendment in 1985 to that country's Animal Welfare Act, and established PETA as an internationally known organization. Since then, in its campaigns and undercover investigations, it has focused on four core issues—opposition to factory farming, fur farming, animal testing, and animals in entertainment—though it also campaigns against fishing, the killing of animals regarded as pests, the keeping of chained backyard dogs, cock fighting, dog fighting, and bullfighting.
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Peter Boyle
Peter Lawrence Boyle, Jr. (October 18, 1935 – December 12, 2006) was an American actor, best known for his role as Frank Barone on the sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, and as a comical monster in Mel Brooks' film spoof Young Frankenstein (1974).
Boyle, who won an Emmy Award in 1996 for a guest-starring role on the science-fiction drama The X-Files, won praise in both comedic and dramatic parts following his breakthrough performance in the 1970 film Joe.
Boyle was born in Norristown, Pennsylvania of Irish descent, the son of Alice and Peter Boyle Sr. He moved with his family to nearby Philadelphia. His father was a Philadelphia TV personality from 1951–1963 who, among many other things, played the Western-show host Chuck Wagon Pete, and hosted the afterschool children's program Uncle Pete Presents the Little Rascals, which showed vintage Little Rascals, Three Stooges comedy shorts and Popeye cartoons.
He was raised Roman Catholic and he attended St. Francis de Sales School and West Philadelphia Catholic High School For Boys. After high school Boyle spent three years as a novice of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, or De La Salle Brothers, a Catholic teaching order. He lived in a house of studies with other novices and earned a BA from La Salle University in Philadelphia in 1957, but left the order because he did not feel called to religious life. While in Philadelphia, he worked as a cameraman on the cooking show Television Kitchen, hosted by Florence Hanford.
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Philippe Noiret
Philippe Noiret (born 1 October 1930, Lille, France – died 23 November 2006, Paris, France) was a French film actor.
Noiret's father was in the clothes trade. Philippe was an indifferent scholar and attended several prestigious Paris schools, including the Lycée Janson de Sailly. He failed several times to pass his baccalauréat exams, so he decided to study theater. He trained at the Centre Dramatique de l'Ouest and toured with the Théâtre National Populaire for seven years, where he met Monique Chaumette, whom he married in 1962. During that time he developed a career as a nightclub comedian in a duo act with Jean-Pierre Darras, in which he played Louis XIV in an extravagant wig opposite Darras as the dramatist Jean Racine. In these roles they satirized the politics of Charles de Gaulle, Michel Debré and André Malraux.
Noiret's screen debut (1949) was an uncredited role in Gigi. In 1955 he appeared in La Pointe Courte directed by Agnès Varda. She said later - "I discovered in him a breadth of talent rare in a young actor." Sporting a pudding-basin haircut, Noiret played a lovelorn youth in the southern fishing port of Sète. He later admitted : "I was scared stiff, and fumbled my way through the part - I am totally absent in the film." He was not cast again until 1960 in Zazie dans le métro. After playing second leads in Georges Franju's Thérèse Desqueyroux in 1962, and in Le Capitaine Fracasse, from Théophile Gautier's romantic adventure, he became a regular on the French screen, without being cast in major roles until La Vie de château directed by Jean-Paul Rappeneau in 1966. He became a star in France with Yves Robert's Alexandre le Bienheureux in 1967. After that he devoted himself entirely to movie roles.[citation needed]
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Phoebe Buffay
Phoebe Buffay-Hannigan is a fictional character on the U.S. television sitcom Friends (1994–2004), portrayed by Lisa Kudrow. Kudrow received an Emmy Award, Screen Actor Guild's Award and a Golden Globe nomination for her performance. Her twin sister is Ursula Buffay, who first appeared on Mad About You and eventually becomes Governor of New York.
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Phyllis Smith
Phyllis Smith (born July 10, 1951) is an American film and television actress who is best known for playing Phyllis Lapin-Vance on The Office.
Smith was born July 10, 1951 in Lemay, Missouri, outside St. Louis. She graduated from the University of Missouri–St. Louis in 1972 with a degree in elementary education. In the 1970s and 1980s, she worked as a dancer, a cheerleader for the old St. Louis Cardinals football team, and a burlesque performer ("No stripping, but I did wear feathers," says Smith). She was forced to quit dancing after suffering a knee injury. Smith later worked in Hollywood as an actress and in casting; she was working as a casting associate on The Office when she was offered the role of Phyllis, a character created specifically for her — a soft-spoken saleswoman who tends to disagree with the pompous office manager Michael Scott. Smith received Screen Actors Guild Awards in 2006 and 2007 for her performance in The Office, in the category "Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series".
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Rainn Wilson
Rainn Dietrich Wilson (born January 20, 1966) is an American actor and comedian. He is primarily known for his Emmy-nominated role as the egomaniacal Dwight Schrute on the American version of the television comedy The Office. He has also directed three episodes of The Office: the sixth season's "The Cover-Up", the seventh season's "Classy Christmas", and the eighth season's "Get the Girl".
Wilson was born in Seattle, Washington, the son of Shay Cooper, a yoga teacher and actress, and Robert G. Wilson, a novel writer, artist, and business consultant who wrote the science fiction novel Tentacles of Dawn. Rainn showed the book and read from it on Jimmy Kimmel Live! March 22, 2011. Wilson attended Central Middle School and Shorecrest High School in Shoreline, Washington, where he played the clarinet and bassoon in the band. He transferred to and graduated from New Trier High School after his family moved to Winnetka, Illinois to serve at the Bahá'í National Center. Wilson has a theatre background from Tufts University and the University of Washington, and has taught acting classes. He holds an MFA from New York University's Graduate Acting Program at the Tisch School of the Arts and was a member of The Acting Company. While acting in theatrical productions in New York, he drove a moving van to make ends meet.
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Ray Romano
Raymond Albert Romano (born December 21, 1957) is an American actor, writer and stand-up comedian, best known for his roles on the sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond and in the Ice Age film series. He recently starred in the TNT comedy-drama Men of a Certain Age.
Romano was born in Queens, New York, to Italian American parents: Lucie, a piano teacher, and Albert Romano (1925–March 2010), a real estate agent and an engineer. He grew up in the Forest Hills neighborhood of Queens. He has a brother named Richard A. Romano. Romano attended elementary and middle school at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs in Forest Hills. After transferring from Archbishop Molloy High School, Romano graduated from Hillcrest High School in 1975. He was in the same high school class as Fran Drescher and later appeared on Drescher's sitcom, The Nanny, as an old classmate. Before getting into show business, Romano briefly attended Queens College, in Flushing, New York, where he studied accounting. Romano quit after gaining only 15 credits in three years, but he would later return, however, making it to the Dean's List for three years.
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Reba McEntire
Reba Nell McEntire (born March 28, 1955) is an American country music artist and actress. She began her career in the music industry as a high school student singing in the Kiowa High School band, on local radio shows with her siblings, and at rodeos. As a solo act, she was invited to perform at a rodeo in Oklahoma City, which caught the attention of country artist Red Steagall. He brought her to Nashville, Tennessee, where she eventually signed a contract with Mercury Records in 1975. She released her first solo album in 1977 and released five additional studio albums under the label until 1983.
Signing with MCA Nashville Records, McEntire took creative control over her second MCA album, My Kind of Country (1984), which had a more traditional country sound and produced two number one singles: "How Blue" and "Somebody Should Leave". The album brought her breakthrough success, bringing her a series of successful albums and number one singles in the 1980s and 1990s. McEntire has since released 26 studio albums, acquired 35 number one singles, and 28 albums have been certified gold, platinum or multi-platinum in sales by the Recording Industry Association of America.
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Richard Basehart
John Richard Basehart (August 31, 1914 – September 17, 1984) was an American actor. He starred in the 1960s television science fiction drama Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, in the role of Admiral Harriman Nelson.
One of his most notable film roles was the acrobat known as "the Fool" in the acclaimed Italian film La Strada, directed by Federico Fellini. He also appeared as the killer in the film noir classic He Walked by Night (1948), as a psychotic member of the Hatfield clan in Roseanna McCoy (1949), as Ishmael in Moby Dick (1956), and in the drama Decision Before Dawn (1951). He was married to Italian Academy Award-nominated actress Valentina Cortese, with whom he had one son, the actor Jackie Basehart, before their divorce in 1960. Cortese and Basehart also costarred in Robert Wise's The House on Telegraph Hill (1951).
From 1964-68, Basehart played the lead role, Admiral Harriman Nelson, on Irwin Allen's first foray into science-fiction television, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. Allen would go on to produce a number of sci-fi series in the 1960s and the highly successful feature films The Poseidon Adventure (1972) and The Towering Inferno (1974), earning him the moniker "The Master of Disaster." Although Basehart started his career as a film actor, he became best known for his role on Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.
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Robert McNamara
Robert Strange McNamara (June 9, 1916 – July 6, 2009) was an American business executive and the eighth Secretary of Defense, serving under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson from 1961 to 1968, during which time he played a large role in escalating the United States involvement in the Vietnam War. Following that, he served as President of the World Bank from 1968 to 1981. McNamara was responsible for the institution of systems analysis in public policy, which developed into the discipline known today as policy analysis.
Prior to public service, McNamara was one of the "Whiz Kids" who helped rebuild Ford Motor Company after World War II, and briefly served as Ford's President before becoming Secretary of Defense.
Robert McNamara was born in San Francisco, California. His father was Robert James McNamara, sales manager of a wholesale shoe company. His mother was Clara Nell Strange McNamara. His father's family was Irish and in about 1850, following the Great Irish Famine, had emigrated to Massachusetts and later to California. He graduated from Piedmont High School in Piedmont, California in 1933 where he was president of the Rigma Lions boys club and earned the rank of Eagle Scout. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 1937 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics with minors in mathematics and philosophy. He was a member of Phi Gamma Delta fraternity, was elected to Phi Beta Kappa his sophomore year and earned a varsity letter in crew. He was also a member of the UC Berkeley's Order of the Golden Bear which was a fellowship of students and leading faculty members formed to promote leadership within the student body. He earned an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1939.
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Robert Osborne
Robert Jolin Osborne (born May 3, 1932) is an American actor and film historian best known as the primary host for Turner Classic Movies, and previously a host of The Movie Channel.
Born in the small town of Colfax, Washington, Osborne graduated from the University of Washington's School of Journalism. He began his career working as a contract actor for Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball's Desilu Studios, becoming part of Lucille Ball's Desilu Workshop, in which Ball worked with and nurtured young performers such as Osborne and actress-singer Carole Cook. One of Osborne's early television appearances was in 1959 on an episode of Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse called "Chain of Command," starring Hugh O'Brian. He was also featured on the special Christmas Day Desilu Playhouse installment "The Desilu Revue" in December of that year. He had small roles in such TV shows as The Californians and in the pilot episode of The Beverly Hillbillies.
Ball suggested that Osborne combine his love of film with his abilities as a journalist. Osborne took her advice, although he has continued to appear in small parts in television and film, including an appearance parodying his TCM hosting job on Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law.
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Roger Bart
Roger Bart (born September 29, 1962) is an American musical theatre, film and television actor and singer. He has received Tony Award, Drama Desk Award and Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Bart was born in Norwalk, Connecticut, the son of a teacher and a chemical engineer, and grew up in Bernardsville, New Jersey. His uncle is journalist Peter Bart. He made his Broadway debut in Big River as Tom Sawyer in 1987. Additional theatre credits include Jonathan in the Alan Menken/Tim Rice musical King David, Harlequin in Triumph of Love, Snoopy in the Broadway revival of You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown (for which he won the Drama Desk Award and a Tony), Carmen Ghia and later Leo Bloom in The Producers (earning Drama Desk and Tony nominations), and The Frogs at Lincoln Center, which reunited him with fellow Producers star Nathan Lane and Susan Stroman.
In 1996 and 1997, Bart appeared as Bud Frump in the U.S. national tour of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.
On television, Bart played George Carlin's son on The George Carlin Show (1994), and on Bram and Alice (2002) he portrayed Bram's assistant Paul Newman. He became widely known to viewers with his portrayal of George Williams, the murderous pharmacist in love with Bree Van de Kamp (Marcia Cross), on Desperate Housewives, which earned him a SAG Award.
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Rupert Murdoch
Keith Rupert Murdoch, AC, KSG (born 11 March 1931) is an Australian American media mogul. Murdoch became managing director of Australia's News Limited, inherited from his father, in 1952. He is the founder, Chairman and CEO of global media holding company the News Corporation, the world's second-largest media conglomerate.
In the 1950s and '60s, he acquired various newspapers in Australia and New Zealand, before expanding into the United Kingdom in 1969, taking over the News of the World followed closely by The Sun. He moved to New York in 1974 to expand into the US market and became a naturalised US citizen in 1985. In 1981, he bought The Times, his first British broadsheet.
In 1986, keen to adopt newer electronic publishing technologies, he consolidated his UK printing operations in Wapping, causing bitter industrial disputes. His News Corporation acquired Twentieth Century Fox (1985), HarperCollins (1989) and The Wall Street Journal (2007). He formed BSkyB in 1990 and during the 1990s expanded into Asian networks and South American television. By 2000 Murdoch's News Corporation owned over 800 companies in more than 50 countries with a net worth of over $5 billion.
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Scott Adsit
Scott Adsit (born November 26, 1965) is an American actor, writer and improvisational comedian. He is currently co-starring as Pete Hornberger in the hit NBC comedy 30 Rock and worked in the Adult Swim stop-motion animation programs Moral Orel and Mary Shelley's Frankenhole.
After attending Columbia College Chicago, Adsit joined the mainstage cast of Chicago's The Second City in 1994, where he appeared in several Jeff award-winning revues, including Pinata Full of Bees and Paradigm Lost for which he won The Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Actor in a Comedy. A sketch he performed with future SNL head writer Adam McKay, "Gump," was included as one of Second City's all-time best in the theater's 25th anniversary compilation. He also appeared in the 1997 PBS documentary about the process of creating the multi-award winning Second City review, Paradigm Lost, Second to None along with castmates Tina Fey, Kevin Dorff, Rachel Dratch, Jenna Jolovitz and Jim Zulevic. Adsit also attended DePauw University in Indiana.
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Sean Connery
Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930) is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards (one of them being a BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award) and three Golden Globes (including the Cecil B. DeMille Award and a Henrietta Award).
Connery is best known for portraying the character James Bond, starring in seven Bond films between 1962 and 1983 (six Eon Productions films and the non-canonical Thunderball remake, Never Say Never Again). In 1988, Connery won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Untouchables. His film career also includes such films as Marnie, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, The Hunt for Red October, Highlander, Murder on the Orient Express, Dragonheart, and The Rock. He was knighted in July 2000. Connery has been polled as "The Greatest Living Scot" and "Scotland's Greatest Living National Treasure". In 1989, he was proclaimed "Sexiest Man Alive" by People magazine and in 1999, at age 69, he was voted "Sexiest Man of the Century".
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Sean Hayes (actor)
Sean Patrick Hayes (born June 26, 1970) is an American actor and comedian. He is widely known for his role as Jack McFarland in the NBC sitcom Will & Grace, for which he won an Emmy Award, four SAG Awards, one American Comedy Award, and six Golden Globes nominations. He also portrayed comedian Jerry Lewis in the made-for-TV movie Martin and Lewis.
Hayes was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Mary, the director of a non-profit food bank, and Ronald Hayes, a lithographer. He is of Irish descent and was raised as a Roman Catholic. After graduating from Glenbard West High School in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, Hayes attended Illinois State University. There he studied piano performance and conducting, with a special focus on the music of Mozart, but he left before graduating.
He worked as a classical pianist, and served as a music director at the Pheasant Run Theater in St. Charles, Illinois. He also composed original music for a production of Antigone at the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago.
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Sessue Hayakawa
Sessue Hayakawa (早川 雪洲, Hayakawa Sesshū?, June 10, 1889 – November 23, 1973) was a Japanese and American Issei actor who starred in American, Japanese, French, German, and British films. Active at the beginning of the American film industry, Hayakawa was the first and remains one of the few Asian actors to find stardom in the United States and Europe. His brooding good looks and typecasting as a sinister villain with sexual dominance made him a heartthrob among American women and the first male sex symbol of Hollywood before Rudolf Valentino. In his time Hayakawa was as well known and popular as Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks although today his name is mostly unknown to the general public.
His popularity, sex appeal and extravagant lifestyle (such as hosting wild parties and driving a gold-plated Pierce-Arrow) caused tension within American society resulting in discriminatory stereotypes and the de-sexualizing of Asian men in cinema, as exemplified by the controversial I.Y. Yunioshi. Refusing to adopt negative stereotypes he decided to leave Hollywood and moved into European cinema where he was treated equally, as would his female counterpart Anna May Wong. Hayakawa's friendship with fellow actors would see him return to Hollywood once again, although to this day few Asian actors have ever had the chance to play a respectable lead role in an American film. He was one of the highest paid stars of his time; making $5,000 a week in 1915, and $2 million a year via his own production company during the 1920s. He starred in over 80 movies and has two films in the U.S. National Film Registry.
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Shane Kinsman
Brent Kinsman and Shane Kinsman (Los Angeles, California, November 13, 1997) in are American twin child actors who typically portray rambunctious twins, most notably, as Kyle and Nigel Baker in the 2003 film Cheaper by the Dozen and its 2005 sequel Cheaper by the Dozen 2. They also had featured roles as Porter and Preston Scavo on the popular ABC television series Desperate Housewives for 4 years (replaced by Charlie Carver and Max Carver).
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Steve Carell
Steven John "Steve" Carell ( /kəˈrɛl/; born August 16, 1962) is an American comedian, actor, voice artist, producer, writer, and director. Although Carell is notable for his role on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, he found greater fame in the late 2000s for playing Michael Scott on The Office. He has also starred in lead roles in the films The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Little Miss Sunshine, Evan Almighty, Dan in Real Life, Get Smart, Date Night, Dinner for Schmucks, and Crazy, Stupid, Love.; and voiced characters in the animated films Over the Hedge, Horton Hears a Who!, and Despicable Me. Carell was nominated as "America's funniest man" in Life magazine, and received a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Television Comedy Series for playing the lead role of Michael Scott for The Office in 2006.
Carell, the youngest of four brothers, was born at Emerson Hospital in Concord, Massachusetts, and was raised in nearby Acton by his parents, Harriet T. (née Koch), a psychiatric nurse, and Edwin A. Carell, an electrical engineer. His maternal uncle, Stanley Koch, worked with Allen B. DuMont to create cathode ray tubes. Carell's paternal grandfather was Italian; his father was born with the surname "Caroselli", later shortening it to "Carell". Carell was raised Roman Catholic, and was educated at The Fenn School and Middlesex School. Carell also played ice hockey as a teenager for his high school.[citation needed] He played the fife, performing with other members of his family, and later joined a reenacting group portraying the 10th (North Lincoln) Regiment of Foot. Carell attributed his interest in history to this, in which he earned his degree from Denison University in Granville, Ohio in 1984. While at Denison, Carell was a member of Burpee's Seedy Theatrical Company, a student-run improvisational comedy troupe.
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Steve Martin
Stephen Glenn "Steve" Martin (born August 14, 1945) is an American actor, comedian, author, playwright, producer, musician and composer. Martin came to public notice as a writer for the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, and later became a frequent guest on The Tonight Show. In the 1970s, Martin performed his offbeat, absurdist comedy routines before packed houses on national tours. In 2004, Comedy Central ranked Martin at sixth place in a list of the 100 greatest stand-up comics.
Since the 1980s, having branched away from stand-up comedy, Martin has become a successful actor in both comedic and dramatic roles, as well as an author, playwright, pianist, and banjo player, eventually earning Emmy, Grammy, and American Comedy awards, among other honors.
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Talk Radio (film)
Talk Radio is a 1988 American drama film, starring Eric Bogosian, Ellen Greene and Leslie Hope. Directed by Oliver Stone, the film was based on the play by Eric Bogosian and Tad Savinar. Portions of the film and play were based on the assassination of radio host Alan Berg in 1984 and the book Talked to Death: The Life and Murder of Alan Berg by Stephen Singular. The film was entered into the 39th Berlin International Film Festival, where it won the Silver Bear.
Barry Champlain, a Jewish radio personality in Dallas, Texas, is a host with a caustic sense of humor and a knack for cutting people down with his controversial political views.
Champlain's radio show is about to go nationwide. A former suit salesman, he achieves his rise to fame through a guest shot on the Jeff Fisher radio show. He is subsequently given his own show. Barry has a substantial number of hostile callers trying to intimidate him and sometimes receives threatening fan mail, such as when one caller makes a bomb threat. His rise to fame is accompanied not only with attention from radical elements, but also with the alienation of his wife.
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Ted Danson
Edward Bridge 'Ted' Danson III (born December 29, 1947) is an American actor, author and producer, well known for his role as lead character Sam Malone in the sitcom Cheers, and his role as Dr. John Becker on the series Becker. He is currently starring in the CBS drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. He also plays a recurring role on Larry David's HBO sitcom Curb Your Enthusiasm, starred alongside Glenn Close in legal drama Damages and was a regular on the HBO comedy series Bored to Death.
In his 30-year career, Danson has been nominated for 15 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning two; ten Golden Globe Awards nominations, winning three; one Screen Actors Guild Awards nomination; one American Comedy Award and a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame. He was ranked second in TV Guide's list of the top 25 television stars. Danson has also been a longtime activist in ocean conservation. In March 2011, he published his first book, Oceana: Our Endangered Oceans And What We Can Do To Save Them, written with journalist Michael D'Orso.
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Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983) was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs. His professional career lasted from the mid 1930s until his death in 1983, and saw the creation of many plays that are regarded as classics of the American stage. Williams adapted much of his best known work for the cinema.
Williams received virtually all of the top theatrical awards for his works of drama, including several New York Drama Critics' Circle awards, a Tony Award for best play for The Rose Tattoo (1951) and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for A Streetcar Named Desire (1948) and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955). In 1980 he was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Jimmy Carter and is today acknowledged as one of the most accomplished playwrights in the history of English speaking theater.
Theater scholar Charlotte Canning, of the University of Texas at Austin where Williams' archives are located, has said, "There is no more influential 20th-century American playwright than Tennessee Williams... He inspired future generations of writers as diverse as Suzan-Lori Parks, Tony Kushner, David Mamet and John Waters, and his plays remain among the most produced in the world."
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Teri Hatcher
Teri Lynn Hatcher (born December 8, 1964) is an American actress, writer, and presenter. She is known for her television roles as Susan Mayer on the ABC comedy-drama series Desperate Housewives, and Lois Lane on the ABC comedy-drama series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. For her work on Desperate Housewives, she won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress and three Screen Actors Guild Awards, as well as a Primetime Emmy nomination.
Hatcher was born in Palo Alto, California, the daughter of Esther (née Beshur), a computer programmer who worked for Lockheed Martin, and Owen Walker Hatcher, Jr., a nuclear physicist and electrical engineer. Her father is of Welsh descent (Hatcher has said that he also has Choctaw ancestry) and her mother is of half Syrian and half Bohemian (Czech)-Irish ancestry. Teri Hatcher took ballet lessons at the San Juan School of Dance in Los Altos. Her big debut was as the lead flying monkey in a production of The Wizard Of Oz.[citation needed] Hatcher grew up in Sunnyvale, California. and attended Mango Junior High (now Sunnyvale Middle School), Fremont High School in Sunnyvale and De Anza College in Cupertino. As an undergraduate she studied mathematics and engineering.
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The Shadow
The Shadow is a collection of serialized dramas, originally in pulp magazines, then on 1930s radio and then in a wide variety of media, that follow the exploits of the title character, a crimefighting vigilante in the pulps, which carried over to the airwaves as a "wealthy, young man about town" with psychic powers. One of the most famous pulp heroes of the 20th century, The Shadow has been featured in comic books, comic strips, television, video games, and at least five motion pictures. The radio drama is well-remembered for those episodes voiced by Orson Welles.
Introduced as a mysterious radio narrator by David Chrisman, William Sweets and Harry Engman Charlot for Street and Smith Publications, The Shadow was fully developed and transformed into a pop culture icon by pulp writer Walter B. Gibson.
The Shadow debuted on July 31, 1930, as the mysterious narrator of the Street and Smith radio program Detective Story Hour. After gaining popularity among the show's listeners, the narrator became the star of The Shadow Magazine on April 1, 1931, a pulp series created and primarily written by the prolific Gibson.
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Thomas Haden Church
Thomas Haden Church (born June 17, 1960) is an American actor. After co-starring in the 1990s sitcom Wings, Church became well known for his film roles, including his Academy Award-nominated performance in Sideways and his role as the Sandman in Spider-Man 3.
Church, the fourth of six children, was born Thomas Richard McMillen in Yolo, California, to an Army officer/health care worker father and a telephone company sales rep mother. He was raised under his stepfather's surname, "Quesada", and later changed his surname to "Haden Church" (both names are in his family tree). He was raised in Laredo, Texas, and graduated from Harlingen High School, Harlingen, Texas, in 1979, going on to attend the University of North Texas.
Church started in the entertainment business as a radio personality and doing voice over work. A part in an independent film convinced him to move to California to pursue an acting career. He played the part of slow-witted airport mechanic Lowell Mather for six seasons (1990–1995) on the NBC sitcom Wings. He worked in television for two more seasons with a lead role on Ned and Stacey opposite Debra Messing. He has had supporting roles in films such as Tombstone, George of the Jungle, and The Specials. Church often plays villains or comic relief in films, most evident by turns in Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight and Over the Hedge.
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Tim Allen
Tim Allen (born Timothy Alan Dick; June 13, 1953) is an American comedian, actor, voice-over artist, and entertainer, known for his role in the sitcom Home Improvement. He is also known for his starring roles in several popular films, including the Toy Story film series, The Santa Clause film series, and Galaxy Quest. Allen currently stars in the ABC sitcom Last Man Standing.
Born in Denver, Colorado, Allen is the son of Martha Katherine (née Fox), a community-service worker, and Gerald M. Dick, a real estate agent. He is the third oldest of five brothers. His father died in a car accident, colliding with a drunk driver, when Allen was 11. Two years later, his mother married her high school sweetheart, a successful business executive, and moved with her six children to Birmingham, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, to be with her new husband and his three children. Allen attended Ernest W. Seaholm High School in Birmingham, where he was in theater and music classes (resulting in his love of classical piano). He then attended Central Michigan University and transferred to Western Michigan University in 1974. At Western Michigan, Allen worked at the student radio station WIDR and received a bachelor of science degree in communications specializing in radio and television production in 1976 with a split minor in philosophy and design. In 1998, Western Michigan awarded Allen an honorary fine arts degree and the Distinguished Alumni Award.
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Timmy Turner
That is a list of characters in the Nickelodeon animated series The Fairly OddParents.
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Tina Fey
Elizabeth Stamatina "Tina" Fey ( /ˈfeɪ/; born May 18, 1970) is an American actress, comedian, writer and producer, known for her work on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live (SNL), the NBC comedy series 30 Rock, and films such as Mean Girls (2004) and Baby Mama (2008).
Fey first broke into comedy as a featured player in the Chicago-based improvisational comedy group The Second City. She then joined SNL as a writer, later becoming head writer and a performer, known for her position as co-anchor in the Weekend Update segment. In 2004 she adapted the screenplay Mean Girls in which she also co-starred. After leaving SNL in 2006, she created the television series 30 Rock, a situation comedy loosely based on her experiences at SNL. In the series, Fey portrays the head writer of a fictional sketch comedy series. In 2008, she starred in the comedy film Baby Mama, alongside former SNL co-star Amy Poehler. Fey next appeared in the 2010 comedy films Date Night and Megamind.
She has received seven Emmy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, four Screen Actors Guild Awards, four Writers Guild of America Awards and has been nominated for a Grammy Award for her autobiographical book Bossypants, which topped the The New York Times Best Seller list for five weeks. She was singled out as the performer who had the greatest impact on culture and entertainment in 2008 by the Associated Press, which gave her its AP Entertainer of the Year award for her satirical portrayal of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin in a guest appearance on SNL. In 2010, Fey was the recipient of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, the youngest-ever winner of the award.
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Tom Cruise
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV ( /ˈtɒməs ˈkruːz ˈmeɪpɒθər/; born July 3, 1962), widely known as Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and has won three Golden Globe Awards for the same movies: Born on the Fourth of July (1989), Jerry Maguire (1996), Magnolia (1999). He started his career with the movie Endless Love. Cruise's first appearance in a major film was in 1981's Taps. His first leading role was in the film Risky Business, released in August 1983. Cruise played the role of a heroic naval pilot in the popular and successful 1986 film Top Gun, and also secret agent Ethan Hunt in the series of Mission: Impossible action films.
He has starred in a variety of other successful films, including: Rain Man (1988), Days of Thunder (1990), A Few Good Men (1992), Vanilla Sky (2001), Minority Report (2002), The Last Samurai (2003), Collateral (2004), and War of the Worlds (2005).
Since 2005, Cruise and Paula Wagner have been in charge of the United Artists film studio, with Cruise as producer and star and Wagner as the chief executive. Cruise is also known for his support of and adherence to the Church of Scientology.
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Tom Petty
Thomas Earl "Tom" Petty (born October 20, 1950) is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is the frontman of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and was a founding member of the late 1980s supergroup Traveling Wilburys and Mudcrutch. He has also performed under the pseudonyms of Charlie T. Wilbury, Jr. and Muddy Wilbury.
He has recorded a number of hit singles with the Heartbreakers and as a solo artist, many of which remain heavily played on adult contemporary and classic rock radio. His music, and notably his hits, have become popular among younger generations as he continues to host sold-out shows. Throughout his career, Petty and his collaborators have sold 60 million albums.
Tom Petty was born and raised in Gainesville, Florida, and attended Gainesville High School. His interest in rock and roll music began at age 10 when he met Elvis Presley. In the summer of 1961, his uncle was working on the set of Presley's film Follow That Dream in nearby Ocala, Florida and invited Petty to come down and watch the shoot. He instantly became an Elvis Presley fan and soon traded his Wham-O slingshot for a box of Elvis 45s. In a 2006 interview on the National Public Radio program Fresh Air, Petty said that he knew he wanted to be in a band the moment he saw The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show. One of his first guitar teachers was Don Felder, a fellow Gainesville resident, who would later join the Eagles. As a young man, Petty worked briefly on the grounds crew for the University of Florida, but never attended as a student. An Ogeechee lime tree that he planted while employed at the University is now called the Tom Petty tree.
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Tom Skerritt
Thomas Roy "Tom" Skerritt (born August 25, 1933) is an American actor who has appeared in over 40 films and more than 200 television episodes since 1962. He is best known for his roles in MASH, Alien, Top Gun, A River Runs Through It, and the TV series Picket Fences.
Skerritt was born in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Helen, a homemaker, and Roy Skerritt, a businessman. A 1951 graduate of Detroit's Mackenzie High School, Skerritt attended Wayne State University and the University of California at Los Angeles.
Skerritt made his film debut in War Hunt, produced by Terry Sanders and released in 1962. Skerritt's notable film appearances include MASH (1970), Harold and Maude (credited as "M. Borman", 1971), Big Bad Mama, Cheech & Chong's Up In Smoke (1978), Ice Castles (1978), as Captain A. J. Dallas in Alien (1979), as a would-be astronaut in Contact (1997) and SpaceCamp (1986), and in Top Gun (1986) as Commander Mike "Viper" Metcalf. In 1988, he starred with Nancy Allen and Lara Flynn Boyle in Poltergeist III.
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Tony Shalhoub
Anthony Marcus "Tony" Shalhoub (born October 9, 1953) is an American actor. His television work includes the roles of Antonio Scarpacci in Wings and sleuth Adrian Monk in the TV series Monk. He has won three Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe for his work in Monk. He has also had a successful career as a character actor, with roles in films like Spy Kids, Men in Black, Men in Black II, Thirteen Ghosts, Galaxy Quest, 1408, Barton Fink, Big Night, The Siege, Cars (film) and The Man Who Wasn't There.
Shalhoub was born and raised in Green Bay, Wisconsin. His father, Joe Shalhoub, a Catholic Maronite from Lebanon, immigrated to the United States as an orphan at the age of 10. He married Shalhoub’s mother, Helen, a second-generation Lebanese-American, and founded a family grocery chain, starting with a store in downtown Green Bay.
Being the second youngest of the couple's 10 children, Shalhoub was introduced to the theater by an older sister, who put his name forward to be an extra in a high school production of The King and I. Despite finding himself standing on the wrong side of the curtain during the final dress rehearsal, he became enamored with the theater. Shalhoub graduated from Green Bay East High School, where his senior peers named him the best dressed and most likely to succeed.[citation needed] In his senior year he suffered a setback, breaking his leg in a fall off the stage into the pit during a rehearsal. Recovering quickly, he was able to perform in the school's final play of the year. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in drama from the University of Southern Maine in Portland, going on to earn a master's from the Yale School of Drama in 1980.[citation needed]
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Tracy Morgan
Tracy Jamal Morgan (born November 10, 1968) is an American actor and comedian who is best known for his eight seasons as a cast member on Saturday Night Live as well as the role of Tracy Jordan on the NBC series 30 Rock.
Morgan was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, the second of five children of Alicia (née Warden), a homemaker, and James Morgan, Jr., a musician. Morgan says his father returned after multiple tours of duty in Vietnam addicted to heroin, causing him to leave the family when Morgan was six. He was the target of bullies as a child. His older brother had cerebral palsy and could not protect him so he used comedy to make bullies laugh rather than being beat up. Before Morgan began his career, he worked in New York City as a painter, for L&L Painting and Rose Company.
Morgan began his career on Martin, where he played Hustle Man. The character sold various items he had from the "hood," always greeting people with his trademark "What's happ'n, chief?" and had a pet dog that he dressed as a rapper. In the 2003 Chris Rock film Head of State, Morgan appeared as a man watching television, often questioning why they are not watching Martin.
wn.com/Tracy_Morgan -
Walking with Cavemen
Walking with Cavemen is a four-part television documentary series about human evolution produced by the BBC in the United Kingdom. It was originally released in April 2003. It was subsequently presented in the United States as a two-part series by the Discovery Channel and its affiliates. The documentary was produced largely by the same team who produced the award-winning documentary series Walking with Dinosaurs (1999), Walking with Beasts (2001) and Walking with Monsters (2005), though the original series' director, Tim Haines, was not involved. There was an accompanying book of the same title.
In the previous Walking with... documentaries, extinct animals were recreated with CGI and animatronics. For Walking with Cavemen, a slightly different approach was taken. While most of the animals depicted were still computer generated or animatronic, the human ancestors were portrayed by actors wearing makeup and prosthetics, giving them a more realistic look and permitting the actors to give the creatures a human quality.
wn.com/Walking_with_Cavemen -
Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg ( /ˈhwʊpi/, born Caryn Elaine Johnson; November 13, 1955) is an American comedienne, actress, singer-songwriter, political activist, author and talk show host.
Goldberg made her film debut in The Color Purple (1985) playing Celie, a mistreated black woman in the Deep South. She received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won her first Golden Globe Award for her role in the film. In 1990, she starred as Oda Mae Brown, a psychic helping a slain man (Patrick Swayze) find his killer in the blockbuster film Ghost. This performance won her a second Golden Globe and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Notable later films include Sister Act and Sister Act 2, The Lion King, Made in America, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, Girl, Interrupted and Rat Race. She is also acclaimed for her roles as the bartender Guinan in Star Trek: The Next Generation and as Terry Doolittle in Jumpin' Jack Flash. More recently, she had performed the voice of Stretch in Toy Story 3 and made an appearance in Glee as Carmen Tibideaux.
wn.com/Whoopi_Goldberg -
William B. Travis
William Barret Travis (August 1, 1809 – March 6, 1836) was a 19th-century American lawyer and soldier. At the age of 26, he was a lieutenant colonel in the Texas Army. He died at the Battle of the Alamo during the Texas Revolution.
Travis, an American of English descent, was born in August,1,1809 in Saluda County, South Carolina, to Mark and Jemima Travis. Records differ as to whether his date of birth was the first or ninth of August, but his youngest brother James C. Travis, who was in possession of the Travis family Bible at the time of his statement, indicated that he was born on the first. When he was nine, his uncle Alexander Travis, a prominent Baptist preacher, called on his family to move to the town of Sparta in Conecuh County, Alabama, where he received much of his education. He later enrolled in a school in nearby Claiborne, where he eventually worked as an assistant teacher.
Travis then became an attorney and, at age 19, married one of his former students, 16-year-old Rosanna Cato (1812–1848), on October 26, 1828. The couple stayed in Claiborne and had a son, Charles Edward, in 1829. Travis began publication of a newspaper that same year, the Claiborne Herald. He became a Mason, joining the Alabama Lodge No.3 – Free and Accepted Masons, and later joined the Alabama militia as adjutant of the Twenty-sixth Regiment, Eighth Brigade, and Fourth Division.
wn.com/William_B._Travis -
Zoë Wanamaker
Zoë Wanamaker, CBE (born 13 May 1949) is an American-born English actress. She has performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company; in films, including the Harry Potter series; and in a number of television productions, including a long-time role as Susan Harper in the sitcom My Family. Wanamaker has been nominated for a BAFTA Film Award, two BAFTA TV Awards, Four Tony's and nine Olivier Awards, winning two.
Wanamaker was born in New York City, the daughter of Canadian-born actress and radio performer Charlotte Holland, and American-born actor, film director and radio producer Sam Wanamaker, who decided not to return to the United States after being blacklisted in 1952.
Wanamaker's parents were Jewish, though she had a non-religious and non-observant upbringing. Her family was of Ukrainian extraction. The BBC documentary Who Do You Think You Are? broadcast on 24 February 2009, revealed that Wanamaker's paternal grandfather Maurice Wanamaker (originally Manus Watmacher) was a tailor (born 1895) in Nikolaev in what is now Ukraine.
wn.com/Zoë_Wanamaker -
Željko Ivanek
Željko Ivanek ([ˈʒeʎko iˈʋanək]; born 15 August 1957) is an Emmy Award-winning Slovenian American actor well known for his role as Ray Fiske on Damages, as well as his role of Ed Danvers on Homicide: Life on the Street, Governor James Devlin on Oz, and in Homicide: The Movie. He is also known for playing Blake Sterling on short-lived NBC series The Event and Emile Danko on Heroes.
Ivanek was born in Ljubljana, Slovenia, then a part of Yugoslavia. He immigrated with his parents to the United States in 1960 when he was 3 years old; after a two-year stay, the family moved back to Slovenia for five years and then returned to the United States in 1967. Ivanek graduated from Yale University in 1978 and afterward attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.
In 1982, Ivanek originated the role of Hally in Athol Fugard's play Master Harold...and the Boys. He has also appeared in the U.S. premieres of such notable plays as Caryl Churchill's Cloud Nine - garnering the 1981 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play - and Martin McDonagh's The Pillowman. He would later work again with McDonagh, playing a minor role as a Canadian tourist in the film In Bruges.
wn.com/Željko_Ivanek
Baldwin, Alec Filmography
- The Normal Heart (2014)
- Untitled Woody Allen Project (2013)
- Seduced And Abandoned (2013)
- Untitled Steve Martin/Alec Baldwin Project (2013)
- Caught Stealing (2013)
- Seduced And Abandoned (2013)
- NFL Alumni Player of the Year Awards (2012)
- To Rome with Love (2012)
- 18th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards (2012)
- The 64th Primetime Emmy Awards (2012)
- Rock of Ages (2012)
- AmeriQua (2012)
- Rise of the Guardians (2012)
- The 68th Annual Golden Globe Awards (2011)
- Plastiki and the Material of the Future (2011)
- Saturday Night Live Backstage (2011)
- Saturday Night Live Backstage (2011)
- Saturday Night Live Backstage (2011)
- The 65th Annual Tony Awards (2011)
- The 2011 Comedy Awards (2011)
- 17th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards (2011)
- The Annual 2011 Actors Fund Gala Awards (2011)
- Method to the Madness of Jerry Lewis (2011)
- Hick (2011)
- The 82nd Annual Academy Awards (2010)
- Saturday Night Live in the 2000s: Time and Again (2010)
- Under the Boardwalk: The Monopoly Story (2010)
- Tina Fey: The Mark Twain Prize (2010)
- The Women of SNL (2010)
- The Simpsons: Celebrity Friends (2010)
- 16th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards (2010)
- The Last Play at Shea (2010)
- The Kennedy Center Honors: A Celebration of the Performing Arts (2010)
- The Fairmont Banff Springs Sports Invitational (2010)
- Teenage Paparazzo (2010)
- SNL Presents: A Very Gilly Christmas (2009)
- The 61st Primetime Emmy Awards (2009)
- Square Roots: The Story of SpongeBob SquarePants (2009)
- Broadway: The Next Generation (2009)
- Saturday Night Live: The Best of Amy Poehler (2009)
- My Sister's Keeper (2009)
- It's Complicated (2009)
- A to Z: Professor Turner's Sexist Rating System (2009)
- The 66th Annual Golden Globe Awards (2009)
- Paul McCartney: Good Evening New York City (2009)
- 15th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards (2009)
- Good Night Chicago Show (2009)
- The 24th Annual Guild Hall Academy of the Arts Lifetime Achievement Awards (2009)
- The 60th Primetime Emmy Awards (2008)
- Lymelife (2008)
- A President to Remember (2008)
- Baseball's Golden Age (2008)
- The Masterpiece That Almost Wasn't (2008)
- The 62nd Annual Tony Awards (2008)
- Journey to the Edge of the Universe (2008)
- Lymelife (2008)
- Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008)
- Stanley Kramer: A Man's Search for Truth (2008)
- My Best Friend's Girl (2008)
- Six Degrees Could Change the World (2008)
- Public Enemies: The Golden Age of the Gangster Film (2008)
- Role Model: Gene Wilder (2008)
- Rosie Live (2008)
- Karl Rove, I Love You (2007)
- The 64th Annual Golden Globe Awards (2007)
- Suburban Girl (2007)
- Wind (2007)
- Crossing Criminal Cultures (2007)
- Brooklyn Rules (2007)
- Saturday Night Live in the '90s: Pop Culture Nation (2007)
- 13th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards (2007)
- The 59th Primetime Emmy Awards (2007)
- Saturday Night Live in the '90s: Pop Culture Nation (2007)
- The Departed (2006)
- The Good Shepherd (2006)
- Mini's First Time (2006)
- Running with Scissors (2006)
- Christmas in Rockefeller Center (2006)
- Street (2006)
- Knots Landing Reunion: Together Again (2005)
- The Swimmer (2005)
- The 20th Anniversary Independent Spirit Awards Special (2005)
- Knots Landing Reunion: Together Again (2005)
- I'm King Kong!: The Exploits of Merian C. Cooper (2005)
- Steve McQueen: The Essence of Cool (2005)
- Livin It: Unusual Suspects (2005)
- Naked (2005)
- Fun with Dick and Jane (2005)
- Elizabethtown (2005)
- A Life Without Limits: The Making of 'The Aviator' (2005)
- Saturday Night Live: The Best of Alec Baldwin (2005)
- Saturday Night Live: The Best of Alec Baldwin (2005)
- Saturday Night Live: The Best of Commercial Parodies (2005)
- The Devil and Daniel Webster (2004)
- 10th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards (2004)
- Along Came Polly (2004)
- Double Dare (2004)
- Saturday Night Live: The Best of Tracy Morgan (2004)
- Saturday Night Live: The Best of Will Ferrell - Volume 2 (2004)
- The 61st Annual Golden Globe Awards (2004)
- The 76th Annual Academy Awards (2004)
- The 76th Annual Academy Awards (2004)
- The Aviator (2004)
- The Devil and Daniel Webster (2004)
- The Last Shot (2004)
- The Rise of the Celebrity Class (2004)
- The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (2004)
- Thomas & Friends: Best of Gordon (2004)
- The Devil and Daniel Webster (2004)
- 101 Most Unforgettable SNL Moments (2004)
- Dreams & Giants (2003)
- The Cooler (2003)
- IFP Gotham Awards 2003 (2003)
- Second Nature (2003)
- I Love the '70s (2003)
- Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat (2003)
- The 60th Annual Golden Globe Awards (2003)
- Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There (2003)
- Second Nature (2003)
- Brighter Days (2003)
- The Best of Leifer (2002)
- The Adventures of Pluto Nash (2002)
- The Hamptons (2002)
- Saturday Night Live: The Best of Will Ferrell (2002)
- Short Talks on the Universe Benefit Performance (2002)
- Path to War (2002)
- Sean Connery, an Intimate Portrait (2002)
- Saturday Night Live Christmas 2002 (2002)
- Meet Your Meat (2002)
- Thomas and Friends: Races Rescues and Runaways (2002)
- The 54th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (2002)
- Breaking the Silence: The Making of 'Hannibal' (2001)
- Cats & Dogs (2001)
- The Making of 'Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within' (2001)
- Beyond the Movie: Pearl Harbor (2001)
- 2001 ABC World Stunt Awards (2001)
- Aki's Dream (2001)
- Journey to the Screen: The Making of 'Pearl Harbor' (2001)
- Into the Shadows: The CIA in Hollywood (2001)
- Saturday Night Live: The Best of Molly Shannon (2001)
- Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001)
- The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
- Pearl Harbor (2001)
- The Big Show (2001)
- Thomas and the Magic Railroad (2000)
- The Kennedy Center Presents: Speak Truth to Power (2000)
- State and Main (2000)
- Nuremberg (2000)
- State and Main (2000)
- The 54th Annual Tony Awards (2000)
- The Acting Class (2000)
- The 57th Annual Golden Globe Awards (2000)
- Nuremberg (2000)
- Scout's Honor (1999)
- Outside Providence (1999)
- Notting Hill (1999)
- The 53rd Annual Tony Awards (1999)
- 5th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards (1999)
- The Confession (1999)
- The Democratic Promise (1999)
- The Confession (1999)
- Thick as Thieves (1999)
- Watch the Mercury Rising (1999)
- AFI's 100 Years... 100 Stars: America's Greatest Screen Legends (1999)
- Saturday Night Live: The Best of Adam Sandler (1999)
- Saturday Night Live Christmas (1999)
- Saturday Night Live 25 (1999)
- Test Pilots (1999)
- The Kennedy Center Honors: A Celebration of the Performing Arts (1998)
- The 52nd Annual Tony Awards (1998)
- Saturday Night Live: The Best of Chris Farley (1998)
- The 55th Annual Golden Globe Awards (1998)
- Saturday Night Live: The Best of Mike Myers (1998)
- The Bad Boys of Saturday Night Live (1998)
- Saturday Night Live: The Best of Phil Hartman (1998)
- The Bad Boys of Saturday Night Live (1998)
- The 70th Annual Academy Awards (1998)
- Mercury Rising (1998)
- Black Market Birds (1997)
- The 69th Annual Academy Awards (1997)
- Happy Birthday Elizabeth: A Celebration of Life (1997)
- The Edge (1997)
- Sean Connery Close Up (1997)
- The 51st Annual Tony Awards (1997)
- Blacklist: Hollywood on Trial (1996)
- Ghosts of Mississippi (1996)
- Heaven's Prisoners (1996)
- Heaven's Prisoners (1996)
- The Juror (1996)
- Looking for Richard (1996)
- Looking for Richard (1996)
- The 49th Annual Tony Awards (1995)
- Wild Bill: Hollywood Maverick (1995)
- A Streetcar Named Desire (1995)
- The Universal Story (1995)
- Two Bits (1995)
- Wild Bill: Hollywood Maverick (1995)
- The 67th Annual Academy Awards (1995)
- The Shadow (1994)
- The Getaway (1994)
- Masters of Illusion: The Wizards of Special Effects (1994)
- The Shadow (1994)
- Malice (1993)
- Canceled Lives: Letters from the Inside (1993)
- Moving Image Salutes Al Pacino (1993)
- The Crusaders (1993)
- Prelude to a Kiss (1992)
- The 39th Annual New Dramatists Benefit (1992)
- Earth and the American Dream (1992)
- The 46th Annual Tony Awards (1992)
- Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)
- The 63rd Annual Academy Awards (1991)
- The Marrying Man (1991)
- Alice (1990)
- Miami Blues (1990)
- The Hunt for Red October (1990)
- Great Balls of Fire! (1989)
- Tong Tana - En resa till Borneos inre (1989)
- Talk Radio (1988)
- Beetle Juice (1988)
- She's Having a Baby (1988)
- Married to the Mob (1988)
- Working Girl (1988)
- The Alamo: Thirteen Days to Glory (1987)
- Forever, Lulu (1987)
- Dress Gray (1986)
- Love on the Run (1985)
- Sweet Revenge (1984)
- The Doctors (1963)
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Alec Baldwin - Best performance
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 7:22
- Updated: 03 Dec 2012
In Glengarry Glen Ross, Alec Baldwin plays the character Blake, almost earning Baldwin an Oscar for the role. The salestalk presented is one of the finest ever, allthough sarcastic, it contains the foundations of a well meditated salesmen.
http://wn.com/Alec_Baldwin_Best_performance
In Glengarry Glen Ross, Alec Baldwin plays the character Blake, almost earning Baldwin an Oscar for the role. The salestalk presented is one of the finest ever, allthough sarcastic, it contains the foundations of a well meditated salesmen.
Inside The Actors Studio - Alec Baldwin (second visit)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 39:02
- Updated: 03 Dec 2012
Alec Baldwin on Inside the Actors Studio for the second time hosted by James Lipton season 13, episode 13 original airdate 2007-10-22 i had to cut out all the movie scenes because otherwise youtube would have blocked the video This video does not belong to me and no copyright infringement is intended. This video has been uploaded for educational end entertaining purposes only. The video is owned by Bravo.
http://wn.com/Inside_The_Actors_Studio_Alec_Baldwin_second_visit
Alec Baldwin on Inside the Actors Studio for the second time hosted by James Lipton season 13, episode 13 original airdate 2007-10-22 i had to cut out all the movie scenes because otherwise youtube would have blocked the video This video does not belong to me and no copyright infringement is intended. This video has been uploaded for educational end entertaining purposes only. The video is owned by Bravo.
- published: 05 Jun 2011
- views: 65312
- author: SirPsychoFlea
Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin hosting the Oscars®
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 9:46
- Updated: 03 Dec 2012
Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin, co-hosts of the 82nd Academy Awards®, in their opening monologue.
http://wn.com/Steve_Martin_and_Alec_Baldwin_hosting_the_Oscars®
Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin, co-hosts of the 82nd Academy Awards®, in their opening monologue.
- published: 10 Mar 2010
- views: 1321054
- author: Oscars
David Letterman - Alec Baldwin on Woody Allen
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:22
- Updated: 28 Nov 2012
Alec talks about how he had to get loud with the legendary film director.
http://wn.com/David_Letterman_Alec_Baldwin_on_Woody_Allen
Alec talks about how he had to get loud with the legendary film director.
- published: 21 Jun 2012
- views: 9096
- author: CBS
Alec Baldwin's Tracy Morgan Impersonation 12/05/11
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:56
- Updated: 04 Dec 2012
Watch Conan Clips and more @TeamCoco.com
http://wn.com/Alec_Baldwin's_Tracy_Morgan_Impersonation_12_05_11
Watch Conan Clips and more @TeamCoco.com
- published: 07 Dec 2011
- views: 870816
- author: teamcoco
Alec Baldwin Takes On Santa Claus In Rise Of The Guardians
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:46
- Updated: 29 Nov 2012
Alec Baldwin chats with Access' Michelle Beadle about voicing the edgy new Santa Claus in his new animated film, "Rise of the Guardians." Also, he talks about changing his voice into funny cartoonish Russian accent.
http://wn.com/Alec_Baldwin_Takes_On_Santa_Claus_In_Rise_Of_The_Guardians
Alec Baldwin chats with Access' Michelle Beadle about voicing the edgy new Santa Claus in his new animated film, "Rise of the Guardians." Also, he talks about changing his voice into funny cartoonish Russian accent.
- published: 29 Nov 2012
- views: 23
- author: NANDUCHANNEL
Alec Baldwin Interview "Knot's Landing" (Merv Griffin Show 1984)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:16
- Updated: 02 Dec 2012
A young blond Alec Baldwin chats with Merv about his voice, his career, his love of New York, his start in show business and his role on Knot's Landing in this interview from late 1984. Merv Griffin had over 5000 guests appear on his show from 1963-1986. Footage from the Merv Griffin Show is available for licensing to all forms of media through Reelin' In The Years Productions. www.reelinintheyears.com.
http://wn.com/Alec_Baldwin_Interview_Knot's_Landing_Merv_Griffin_Show_1984
A young blond Alec Baldwin chats with Merv about his voice, his career, his love of New York, his start in show business and his role on Knot's Landing in this interview from late 1984. Merv Griffin had over 5000 guests appear on his show from 1963-1986. Footage from the Merv Griffin Show is available for licensing to all forms of media through Reelin' In The Years Productions. www.reelinintheyears.com.
- published: 28 Nov 2012
- views: 139
- author: Merv GriffinShow
David Letterman - Alec Baldwin's Voiceover Gig
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:33
- Updated: 02 Dec 2012
It's the middle of Dave's show but that doesn't stop Alec Baldwin from recording a voiceover job.
http://wn.com/David_Letterman_Alec_Baldwin's_Voiceover_Gig
It's the middle of Dave's show but that doesn't stop Alec Baldwin from recording a voiceover job.
- published: 15 Nov 2012
- views: 50999
- author: CBS
Alec Baldwin Visits 10-11-06
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 54:27
- Updated: 29 Nov 2012
Alec Baldwin Visits 10-11-06
http://wn.com/Alec_Baldwin_Visits_10-11-06
Alec Baldwin Visits 10-11-06
- published: 24 Sep 2012
- views: 4252
- author: nauris705
Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee - Just a Lazy Shiftless Bastard
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 11:25
- Updated: 03 Dec 2012
Jerry's special guest is Alec Baldwin in this episode of Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee. Next episode starting August 23rd @ 9pm ET/6pm PT. Watch hundreds of free full-length streaming movies and TV shows on www.crackle.com. Crackle Twitter twitter.com Be a Facebook Fan! www.facebook.com
http://wn.com/Comedians_in_Cars_Getting_Coffee_Just_a_Lazy_Shiftless_Bastard
Jerry's special guest is Alec Baldwin in this episode of Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee. Next episode starting August 23rd @ 9pm ET/6pm PT. Watch hundreds of free full-length streaming movies and TV shows on www.crackle.com. Crackle Twitter twitter.com Be a Facebook Fan! www.facebook.com
- published: 15 Aug 2012
- views: 216612
- author: Crackle
Alec Baldwin Mocks American Airline Incident on 'Saturday Night Live'
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:03
- Updated: 02 Dec 2012
The actor plays a pilot who issues an apology in a comedy sketch. For more on this go here: abcn.ws
http://wn.com/Alec_Baldwin_Mocks_American_Airline_Incident_on_'Saturday_Night_Live'
The actor plays a pilot who issues an apology in a comedy sketch. For more on this go here: abcn.ws
- published: 12 Dec 2011
- views: 178241
- author: ABCNews
Alec Baldwin - Interview Letterman 2012 11 14 720p
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 15:00
- Updated: 01 Dec 2012
http://wn.com/Alec_Baldwin_Interview_Letterman_2012_11_14_720p
- published: 15 Nov 2012
- views: 4289
- author: valpcomeess
David Letterman - Alec Baldwin's Paparazzi Incident
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:04
- Updated: 20 Nov 2012
Alec sets the record straight about what he was saying to the Daily News photographer.
http://wn.com/David_Letterman_Alec_Baldwin's_Paparazzi_Incident
Alec sets the record straight about what he was saying to the Daily News photographer.
- published: 20 Jun 2012
- views: 27304
- author: CBS
Freestylin' with The Roots: Alec Baldwin (10/2/12)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:32
- Updated: 02 Dec 2012
The Roots sing a doo-wop style song dedicated to 30 Rock star Alec Baldwin, who stopped by to visit. Subscribe NOW to Late Night with Jimmy Fallon: full.sc Watch Late Night With Jimmy Fallon Weeknights 1235/11:35c Get more Jimmy Fallon: Follow Jimmy: Twitter.com Like Jimmy: Facebook.com Get more Late Night with Jimmy Fallon: LateNightWithJimmyFallon.com Follow Late Night: Twitter.com Like Late Night: Facebook.com Late Night Tumblr: LateNightJimmy.tumblr.com Full Episodes: full.sc Get more NBC: Full Episodes: NBC.com NBC YouTube: full.sc Follow NBC: Twitter.com Like NBC: Facebook.com NBC Pinterest: Pinterest.com NBC Tumblr: NBCtv.tumblr.com Freestylin' with The Roots: Alec Baldwin (10/2/12) www.youtube.com
http://wn.com/Freestylin'_with_The_Roots_Alec_Baldwin_10_2_12
The Roots sing a doo-wop style song dedicated to 30 Rock star Alec Baldwin, who stopped by to visit. Subscribe NOW to Late Night with Jimmy Fallon: full.sc Watch Late Night With Jimmy Fallon Weeknights 1235/11:35c Get more Jimmy Fallon: Follow Jimmy: Twitter.com Like Jimmy: Facebook.com Get more Late Night with Jimmy Fallon: LateNightWithJimmyFallon.com Follow Late Night: Twitter.com Like Late Night: Facebook.com Late Night Tumblr: LateNightJimmy.tumblr.com Full Episodes: full.sc Get more NBC: Full Episodes: NBC.com NBC YouTube: full.sc Follow NBC: Twitter.com Like NBC: Facebook.com NBC Pinterest: Pinterest.com NBC Tumblr: NBCtv.tumblr.com Freestylin' with The Roots: Alec Baldwin (10/2/12) www.youtube.com
- published: 03 Oct 2012
- views: 28513
- author: latenight
David Letterman - Alec Baldwin Drops His Pants
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:12
- Updated: 28 Nov 2012
To mark the beginning of summer, Dave and Alec go pantsless.
http://wn.com/David_Letterman_Alec_Baldwin_Drops_His_Pants
To mark the beginning of summer, Dave and Alec go pantsless.
- published: 21 Jun 2012
- views: 47822
- author: CBS
Hilaria and Alec Baldwin Talk Plane Rides and Babies
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:39
- Updated: 06 Nov 2012
"Extra's" Jerry Penacoli chatted with Alec Baldwin and wife Hilaria at the AFI Film Festival premiere of "Rise of the Guardians," laughing about their plane ride to LA and the possible patter of little feet. Watch the interviews!
http://wn.com/Hilaria_and_Alec_Baldwin_Talk_Plane_Rides_and_Babies
"Extra's" Jerry Penacoli chatted with Alec Baldwin and wife Hilaria at the AFI Film Festival premiere of "Rise of the Guardians," laughing about their plane ride to LA and the possible patter of little feet. Watch the interviews!
- published: 05 Nov 2012
- views: 210
- author: extratv
30 Rock - Therapy, Jack Style
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:56
- Updated: 03 Dec 2012
Jack pretends to be Tracy's parents in a role playing therapy session.
http://wn.com/30_Rock_Therapy,_Jack_Style
Jack pretends to be Tracy's parents in a role playing therapy session.
- published: 04 Apr 2008
- views: 1706539
- author: huluDotCom
Alec Baldwin attends premiere of Rise of the Guardians - Hollywood.TV
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:15
- Updated: 12 Nov 2012
Hollywood.TV is your source for all the latest celebrity news, gossip and videos of your favorite stars! bit.ly - Click to Subscribe! Facebook.com - Become a Fan! Twitter.com - Follow Us! Rise of the Guardians" premiered during the 2012 AFI Fest presented by Audi at Grauman's Chinese Theatre o in Hollywood, California. "Rise of the Guardians" was directed by Peter Ramsey. We got a chance to talk to Santa himself Alec Baldwin. Check it out. Hollywood.TV is the global leader in capturing celebrity breaking news as it happens. Launched in 2008, we capture all the latest news, exclusive celebrity interviews, star videos and hot celebrity gossip from around the world every minute of everyday. HTV is on the streets 24/7, at all the industry events and invited by the stars to cover their every move in Hollywood, New York and Miami. Hollywood.TV is currently the third most viewed reporter channel on www.youtube.com YouTube with almost 400 million views, and our footage is seen worldwide! Tune in daily for all the latest Hollywood news on www.hollywood.tv and http like us on Facebook!
http://wn.com/Alec_Baldwin_attends_premiere_of_Rise_of_the_Guardians_HollywoodTV
Hollywood.TV is your source for all the latest celebrity news, gossip and videos of your favorite stars! bit.ly - Click to Subscribe! Facebook.com - Become a Fan! Twitter.com - Follow Us! Rise of the Guardians" premiered during the 2012 AFI Fest presented by Audi at Grauman's Chinese Theatre o in Hollywood, California. "Rise of the Guardians" was directed by Peter Ramsey. We got a chance to talk to Santa himself Alec Baldwin. Check it out. Hollywood.TV is the global leader in capturing celebrity breaking news as it happens. Launched in 2008, we capture all the latest news, exclusive celebrity interviews, star videos and hot celebrity gossip from around the world every minute of everyday. HTV is on the streets 24/7, at all the industry events and invited by the stars to cover their every move in Hollywood, New York and Miami. Hollywood.TV is currently the third most viewed reporter channel on www.youtube.com YouTube with almost 400 million views, and our footage is seen worldwide! Tune in daily for all the latest Hollywood news on www.hollywood.tv and http like us on Facebook!
- published: 09 Nov 2012
- views: 933
- author: hollywoodtv
Alec Baldwin turns the tables on Piers Morgan
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:19
- Updated: 02 Dec 2012
Alec Baldwin explains the fear of dying alone, then asks Piers "how many times have you been properly in love?"
http://wn.com/Alec_Baldwin_turns_the_tables_on_Piers_Morgan
Alec Baldwin explains the fear of dying alone, then asks Piers "how many times have you been properly in love?"
- published: 25 Jan 2012
- views: 67299
- author: CNN
MIAMI BLUES (1990) Alec Baldwin - Full Movie 17+
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 92:40
- Updated: 02 Dec 2012
Rated R 17+ (For mobile version just choose desktop -bottom left- through your phone's browser) 'Real badge. Real gun. Fake cop'. Also starring Jennifer Jason Leigh.
http://wn.com/MIAMI_BLUES_1990_Alec_Baldwin_Full_Movie_17+
Rated R 17+ (For mobile version just choose desktop -bottom left- through your phone's browser) 'Real badge. Real gun. Fake cop'. Also starring Jennifer Jason Leigh.
- published: 30 Sep 2012
- views: 6587
- author: 90ZCOMEDYMOVIEZ
'Extra' Raw! Alec Baldwin on Obama, Sandy and Santa
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:54
- Updated: 13 Nov 2012
"Extra" Special Correspondent Hilaria Baldwin talked with husband Alec about President Obama's re-election, Hurricane Sandy and playing Santa in "Rise of the Guardians."
http://wn.com/'Extra'_Raw!_Alec_Baldwin_on_Obama,_Sandy_and_Santa
"Extra" Special Correspondent Hilaria Baldwin talked with husband Alec about President Obama's re-election, Hurricane Sandy and playing Santa in "Rise of the Guardians."
- published: 10 Nov 2012
- views: 705
- author: extratv
Alec Baldwin Tats Up Santa Claus
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:57
- Updated: 24 Nov 2012
Alec and costar Isla Fisher lend their voices to Saint Nick and Tinker Bell in the animated flick "Rise of the Guardians." Hear how they put their spin on the childhood icons.
http://wn.com/Alec_Baldwin_Tats_Up_Santa_Claus
Alec and costar Isla Fisher lend their voices to Saint Nick and Tinker Bell in the animated flick "Rise of the Guardians." Hear how they put their spin on the childhood icons.
- published: 13 Nov 2012
- views: 348
- author: enews
The great Alec Baldwin on David Letterman 11-14-2012.
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 16:33
- Updated: 03 Dec 2012
Alec being Alec....
http://wn.com/The_great_Alec_Baldwin_on_David_Letterman_11-14-2012
Alec being Alec....
- published: 15 Nov 2012
- views: 1254
- author: ScottPerri
photo: AP / Todd Williamson
10 Dec 2012
MÉXICO, D.F., diciembre 9 (EL UNIVERSAL).- La Voz México, programa de talentos de Televisa, confirmó la muerte de la cantante Jenni Rivera, a través de su Twitter. "Que toquen fuerte las bandas, suelten por mí mariposas, apláudanme con sus palmas... http.//twitpic.com/bkmhl0 .Descanse en paz Jenni Rivera" ... Además, anunció un homenaje luctuoso dedicado a la cantante ... Descanse en Paz" ... ....(size: 2.1Kb)
photo: AP / Khalil Hamra
09 Dec 2012
Syria's rebel leaders have agreed to come under a united command in a bid to integrate diverse fighting groups and streamline the route for arms essential to their struggle against President Bashar al-Assad. The new body, expected to be announced officially on Sunday, hopes to form the basis of a united rebel front ... "It also aims to get the situation under control once the regime falls." ... 378 Source.. Agencies. Share ... News ... Egypt....(size: 18.6Kb)
photo: AP / Gustavo Ferrari
09 Dec 2012
Tens of thousands of Kuwaitis have staged a peaceful protest against the parliament elected last week under voting rules deemed unfair by the opposition. The opposition supporters demonstrated for the second week in a row as police watched the protest without interfering on Saturday ... The opposition says the amendments of the electoral law enables the government to control the outcome of polls ... 349 Source.. Agencies. Share ... News ... ....(size: 18.5Kb)
photo: US Navy / Electronics Technician Seaman Sean Roozen
08 Dec 2012
WASHINGTON — The White House on Friday proposed $60 billion in spending to help the Northeast and mid-Atlantic states recover from Superstorm Sandy and shore up defenses against future disasters. Congress is expected to begin consideration of the relief measure as soon as next week, with lawmakers from states still reeling from the October storm eager for action by the end of the year ... New Jersey Gov ... Andrew M ... New York Reps ... Rep ... 0....(size: 32.2Kb)
The Verge
10 Dec 2012
Move over Avengers, there???s a new aggregation of super-powered heroes set to boss the big screen.???Rise of the Guardians,??? based on the book by William Joyce, puts the brand of Santa Claus (Alec Baldwin), Jack Frost (Chris Pine), the Tooth Bogie (Isla Fisher) and the Easter Bunny (Hugh Jackman) on a mission to assure the accouchement of ......(size: 5.7Kb)
IMDb
10 Dec 2012
DreamWorks animation Rise of the Guardians, featuring the voices of Hugh Jackman, Alec Baldwin and Jude Law, also jumped up a spot to number ......(size: 0.7Kb)
Huffington Post
10 Dec 2012
Kyra Sedgwick is one lucky lady. Not only is she married to Kevin Bacon, but the actor sounds like he just might be the perfect man ... no, seriously. In the January issue of Good Housekeeping, Sedgwick gushes about her husband of 24 years, revealing he knows exactly how to make her feel sexy and special every day ... 21 on Fox. "He says 'Honey, you look beautiful ... "He is so honorable ... Alec Baldwin & Hilaria Thomas Celebrity Couples ... Like ... ....(size: 6.5Kb)
Rollingstone
10 Dec 2012
Tom Hanks has a problem with his dressing room. The two-time Oscar winner and generally agreed-upon national treasure has just arrived backstage at UCLA's Freud Playhouse, dragging a duffel bag in each hand with his wife, Rita Wilson, trailing behind ... "I ran into Alec Baldwin, who looks fabulous, and said, 'Dude, your health is so fantastic!' And he said" – cut to a perfect raspy Baldwin growl – "'Yeah ... ....(size: 11.4Kb)
NZ Herald
09 Dec 2012
Alec Baldwin has one of the most famous voices in showbiz - a low, whispered growl that can be played for menace, or laughs. However, as anybody who has caught Baldwin on 30 Rock, Saturday Night Live or even Inside the Actor's Studio can attest, he's more than happy to hide that ... a complicated, competitive Santa Claus," Baldwin recalls ... Baldwin, 54, knows funny ... Baldwin protests that, "I've imitated a comic for a while ... Alec Baldwin....(size: 3.7Kb)
IMDb
09 Dec 2012
Pic featuring the voice talents of Chris Pine, Hugh Jackman, Alec Baldwin, Isla Fisher, Jude Law and Dakota Goyo, has around $61.9 million ......(size: 0.7Kb)
The Daily Mail
09 Dec 2012
Newsday
09 Dec 2012
Galleries. The theme of this year's Z100's Jingle Ball was stated oh-so-elegantly at the beginning of the nearly four-hour pop music extravaganza by One Direction, though it may have been lost in all the ear-piercing screams ... "Tonight, let's get some . . And live while we're young." ... 0 ... Comments ... Royal hoax tragedy sparks angry backlash at DJs 1.31 PM Alec Baldwin critical of NYC's Quinn 2.02 PM 'Gangnam Style' rapper sorry for anti-U.S ... ....(size: 8.8Kb)
The Observer
09 Dec 2012
MS Dhoni looks as if he is overburdened by the demands of the India captaincy. This is a stock image as the Guardian is not publishing live pictures from this series because of the BCCI's dispute with picture agencies. Photograph. Ed Sykes/Action Images. MS Dhoni keeps three dogs, a labrador, an alsatian, and a weimaraner ... It took brass neck, and, as Alec Baldwin puts it in Glengarry Glen Ross, brass balls too ... Sender's name ... Share ... ....(size: 7.3Kb)
The Hollywood Reporter
09 Dec 2012
share. "Breaking Dawn 2" drops to third place; "Skyfall" bags more than $650 million while China propels "Life of Pi" past $100 million mark ... A Chat with the Team Behind Animated Oscar Contender 'Rise of the Guardians' (Video). Rise of the Guardians ... The Paramount release, a $145 million fantasy title featuring the voices of Alec Baldwin and Hugh Jackman, drew $3 million in its second France round from 665 locations, enough for a No ... ....(size: 6.4Kb)
The Guardian
09 Dec 2012
Ian McKellen mesmerised us as a classical actor, but his portrayal of Tolkien's Gandalf has made him a global superstar ... Photograph ... "Q ... And so when I'd set up the film of Richard III I deliberately took very small jobs in other people's movies – Meryl Streep, Arnold Schwarzenegger for goodness' sake, Alec Baldwin – and I just began to see what they were up to, so that when it came to the real thing I felt that bit more confident ... ....(size: 16.2Kb)
Zap2it
08 Dec 2012
| Alec Baldwin | |
|---|---|
 Alec Baldwin with fiance, Hilaria Thomas in 2011. |
|
| Born | Alexander Rae Baldwin III (1958-04-03) April 3, 1958 (age 54) Long Island, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1980–present |
| Spouse | Kim Basinger (m. 1993–2002; divorced) |
| Partner | Hilaria Thomas (engaged) |
| Children | 1 |
| Website | |
| http://www.alecbaldwin.com/ | |
Alexander Rae "Alec" Baldwin III (born April 3, 1958) is an American actor who has appeared on film, stage, and television.
Baldwin first gained recognition through television for his work, for two seasons (6 and 7), on the soap opera Knots Landing, in the role of Joshua Rush. He has since played both leading and supporting roles in films such as Beetlejuice (1988), The Hunt for Red October (1990), The Marrying Man (1991), The Shadow (1994), Notting Hill (1999), The Aviator (2004) and The Departed (2006). His performance in the 2003 film The Cooler garnered him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Since 2006 he has starred as Jack Donaghy on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock, receiving critical acclaim for his performance and winning two Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, and seven Screen Actors Guild Awards for his work on the show, making him the male performer with most SAG Awards ever.
He is the eldest of the Baldwin brothers working in Hollywood.
Contents |
Early life[link]
Baldwin was born on Long Island, New York, the son of Carolyn Newcomb (née Martineau) and Alexander Rae Baldwin, Jr., a high school history/social studies teacher and football coach.[1] Baldwin was raised in a Roman Catholic family of Irish, English, and French descent.[2][3] He has three younger brothers, Daniel, William, and Stephen, who also became actors. Baldwin has two sisters, Beth Baldwin Keuchler (born 1955), and Jane Baldwin Sasso (born 1965).[citation needed]
Baldwin attended Alfred G. Berner High School in Massapequa, Long Island, and played football there under Coach Bob Reifsnyder, who is in the College Football Hall of Fame. He worked as a busboy at the famous New York City disco Studio 54. Baldwin attended George Washington University from 1976 to 1979. He then transferred to New York University to study acting at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute under Elaine Aiken and Geoffrey Horne.[4] He returned to NYU in 1994 and graduated with a BFA that year. On May 12, 2010, he gave a commencement address at New York University and was awarded a Doctor of Fine Arts degree, honoris causa.[5]
Career[link]
Stage[link]
Baldwin made his Broadway debut in 1986, in a revival of Joe Orton's Loot alongside theater veterans Zoë Wanamaker, Željko Ivanek, Joseph Maher and Charles Keating.[6] This production closed after three months. His other Broadway credits include Caryl Churchill's Serious Money with Kate Nelligan and a highly acclaimed revival of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire. His performance as Stanley Kowalski in the latter garnered him a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor. Baldwin also received an Emmy nomination for the 1995 television version of the production, in which both he and Jessica Lange reprised their roles, alongside John Goodman and Diane Lane. In 1998, Baldwin played the title role in Macbeth at the Public theater alongside Angela Bassett and Liev Schreiber in a production directed by George C. Wolfe. In 2004, Baldwin starred in a revival of Twentieth Century with Anne Heche.
On June 9, 2005, he appeared in a concert version of the Rogers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific at Carnegie Hall. He starred as Luther Billis, alongside Reba McEntire as Nellie and Brian Stokes Mitchell as Emile. The production was taped and telecast by PBS on April 26, 2006. In 2006, Baldwin made theater news in Roundabout Theatre Company's Off-Broadway revival of Joe Orton's Entertaining Mr. Sloane. In 2010, Baldwin starred opposite Sam Underwood in a critically acclaimed revival of Peter Shaffer's Equus, directed by Tony Walton at Guild Hall in East Hampton, NY.
Television[link]
Baldwin's first major acting role was as Billy Aldrich on the daytime soap opera The Doctors from 1980 to 1982. In fall 1983, he starred in the short-lived television series Cutter to Houston. He then co-starred in the television series Knots Landing from 1984 to 1986. In 1986, Baldwin starred in Dress Gray, a four-hour made-for-television miniseries, as an honest cadet sergeant who tries to solve the mystery of a murdered gay classmate.[7] The film was adapted by Gore Vidal from the novel by Lucian Truscott IV.
Between 1998 and 2003, Baldwin was the U.S. narrator for the children's show Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends, narrating all 52 episodes of Series 5 and Series 6. He portrayed Arnold Pagani in a Goosebumps episode, "Bad Hare Day". Baldwin appeared in a celebrity edition of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire in November 2000, competing against Jon Stewart, Charlie Sheen, Vivica A. Fox and Norm Macdonald. He won $250,000 for PAWS, and used Kim Basinger as one of his "phone-a-friend" partners. He voiced Blue Barron in Teen Titans.
In 2002, Baldwin appeared on two episodes of Friends as Phoebe Buffay's overly enthusiastic love interest, Parker. He also portrayed a recurring character in a number of episodes in seasons 7 and 8 of Will & Grace, in which he played Malcolm – a "top secret agent" and the lover of Karen Walker (Megan Mullally). He also guest-starred in the first live episode of the series. Baldwin wrote an episode of Law & Order entitled "Tabloid", which aired in 1998. He played the role of Dr. Barrett Moore, a retired plastic surgeon, in the series Nip/Tuck.
On July 7, 2007, Baldwin was a host at the American leg of Live Earth, which was broadcast on NBC.[citation needed]
Baldwin stars in the NBC sitcom 30 Rock, which first aired October 2006. Baldwin met his future co-stars Tina Fey and Tracy Morgan while appearing on Saturday Night Live. He has received two Emmy Awards,[8] two Golden Globe awards and five Screen Actors Guild Awards for his role. Baldwin received his second Emmy nomination for Best Actor in a Television Comedy or Musical as Jack Donaghy in 2008, marking his seventh Primetime Emmy nomination and first win. He won again in 2009. Since season 3, Baldwin has been credited as producer of the show.
Baldwin joined TCM’s The Essentials Robert Osborne as co-host beginning in March 2009.[9][10]
Baldwin co-hosted the 82nd Academy Awards with Steve Martin in 2010.[11] He has hosted Saturday Night Live sixteen times, the most recent being the Season 37 premiere on September 24, 2011. He currently holds the record for most times hosting Saturday Night Live, eclipsing Steve Martin.[12]
Film[link]
Baldwin made his film debut with a minor role in the 1987 film Forever, Lulu. Also in 1988, he appeared in Beetlejuice and Working Girl. He gained further recognition as a leading man with his role as Jack Ryan in The Hunt for Red October (1990).
Baldwin met his future wife Kim Basinger when they played lovers in the 1991 film The Marrying Man. He appeared with Basinger again in The Getaway, a 1994 remake of the 1972 Steve McQueen film of the same name. Next, in a brief role, Baldwin played a ferocious sales executive in Glengarry Glen Ross (1992), a part added to the film version of David Mamet's Pulitzer Prize-winning stage play (including the monologue "Coffee's for closers"). Later that year, he starred in Prelude to a Kiss with Meg Ryan, which was based on the Broadway play. The film received a lukewarm reception by critics and grossed only $22 million worldwide.[13]
In 1994, Baldwin made a foray into pulp fiction-based movies with the role of the title character in The Shadow. The film made $48 million. In 1996 and 1997, Baldwin continued to work in several thrillers including The Edge, The Juror and Heaven's Prisoners.
Baldwin shifted towards character acting, beginning with Pearl Harbor in 2001. He played Lt. Col. James Doolittle in the film, which, with a worldwide box office of $449,220,945, remains the highest grossing film Baldwin has appeared in his acting career.[14] Baldwin was nominated for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, and the Screen Actors Guild Award for his performance in the 2003 gambling drama The Cooler.[4] He appeared in Martin Scorsese's The Aviator (2004) and The Departed (2006).[4] In 2006, he starred in the film Mini's First Time, alongside Nikki Reed and Luke Wilson. Baldwin performed opposite Sarah Michelle Gellar in the 2007 romantic comedy, Suburban Girl. In 2009, he co-starred in the hit romantic comedy It's Complicated with Meryl Streep and Steve Martin. In 2001, he voiced Butch in Cats & Dogs.
Baldwin directed and starred in an all-star version of The Devil and Daniel Webster with Anthony Hopkins, Jennifer Love Hewitt and Dan Aykroyd in 2001.[15] The then-unreleased film became an asset in a federal bank fraud trial when investor Jed Barron was convicted of bank fraud while the movie was in production. The film eventually was acquired by The Yari Group without Baldwin's involvement.[16]
In 2003, he served as the antagonist in the live-action film The Cat in the Hat.
In 2007, the Yari Film Group announced it would give the film, now titled Shortcut to Happiness, a theatrical release in the spring and cable film network Starz! announced they had acquired pay TV rights for the film. Shortcut to Happiness was finally released in 2008. Baldwin, displeased with the way the film had been cut in post-production, demanded that his directorial credit be changed to the pseudonym "Harry Kirkpatrick".[17]
In 2009, Balwin appeared in a series of commercials for Hulu that premiered during the Super Bowl broadcast.
In 2010, Baldwin made a 5-second cameo appearance with comedian Andy Samberg in a musical video titled "Great Day" featured on the bonus DVD as part of Lonely Island's new album "Turtleneck & Chain". In this video, Samberg plays an enthusiastic, upbeat cocaine addict who believes that Tom Petty (who also co-stars) and Alec Baldwin are his very best friends--only to be quickly rejected by both. After finding out the hard way they are quite the opposite and feeling heartbroken, the addict then briefly sings about losing them.
Baldwin has also worked as voice actor in films such as The Royal Tenenbaums, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, Thomas and the Magic Railroad and The Spongebob Squarepants Movie. As of March 2011 Baldwin has signed on to star alongside Tom Cruise, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Julianne Hough, and Mary J. Blige in the film adaptaion of the jukebox hit musical Rock of Ages. Baldwin will play Dennis Dupree, the aging owner of a Sunset Strip rock club, when production begins in May 2011.
Radio[link]
On January 12, 2009, Baldwin became the host of The New York Philharmonic This Week, the nationally broadcast radio series of the New York Philharmonic.[18] He has recorded two nationally distributed public service radio announcements on behalf of the Save the Manatee Club.[19]
On October 24, 2011, WNYC public radio released the first episode of Baldwin's new podcast Here's the Thing, a series of interviews with public figures including artists, policy makers and performers. The first two episodes featured actor Michael Douglas and political consultant Ed Rollins.[20]
Personal life[link]
In 1990, he met his future wife, actress Kim Basinger, when they played lovers in the film The Marrying Man.[21] They married in 1993[22] and had a daughter, Ireland, in October 1995.[23] On January 12, 2001, Basinger filed for divorce,[24] which was finalized in February[citation needed] 2002.[25]
Since summer 2011,[26] Baldwin has been dating Hilaria Thomas, an instructor with Yoga Vida in Manhattan.[27][28] As of April 2012, Baldwin and Thomas are engaged.[29] In August 2011, Baldwin moved from the Upper West Side and to SoHo,[30] where they live together.[31]
Baldwin is a Catholic.[32][33]
Runway Incident[link]
In December of 2011, Alec was waiting on an American Airlines flight at LAX, and playing Words with Friends on his phone. When instructed to put away the "electronic device" by the stewardess, he reportedly became belligerent, and was eventually removed from the plane. He later publicly apologized, though only to the passengers so delayed, not the airline or Federal regulators.[34]
In 2012, a commercial for Capital One credit cards (for which Alec is a spokesman) made a humorous reference to this event: A viking character from the famous ad series asks about the phone Alec is using, and Baldwin replies, in a very facetious way, that it is not to be used on the runway, ending with a very chiding "no!" A commercial for Best Buy, also humorously referenced the event in which the Words With Friends co-creators are on a plane and are interrupted by a stewardess looking down at them, clearing her throat and signaling them to put their phones away while saying, "we created Words With Friends."
Baldwin also made a guest appearance on SNL's Weekend Update posing as the captain of the plane he was removed from in a bit poking fun at the situation.
[edit] A Promise to Ourselves
In 2008 Alec Baldwin and Mark Tabb published their book, A Promise to Ourselves, which chronicles Baldwin's seven-year battle to remain a part of his daughter's life.[35][36]
Baldwin contends that after their separation in December 2000, his former wife, Kim Basinger, endeavored to deny him access to his daughter by refusing to discuss parenting,[37] blocking visitation,[38] not providing telephone access,[39] not following court orders,[40] not dropping their daughter off for reasons of it being inconvenient,[41] and directly lobbying the child.[42] He contends she spent over $1.5 million in the effort.[43]
Baldwin called this parental alienation syndrome.[44] Baldwin has called the attorneys in the case "opportunists" and has characterized Basinger's psychologists as part of the "divorce industry". He has faulted them more than Basinger, and writes, "In fact, I blame my ex-wife least of all for what has transpired. She is a person, like many of us, doing the best she can with what she has. She is a litigant, and therefore, one who walks into a courtroom and is never offered anything other than what is served there. Nothing off the menu, ever."[45]
Baldwin wrote that he has spent over a million dollars,[46] has had to put time aside from his career,[47] has had to travel extensively,[48] and needed to find a house in California (he lived in New York),[49] so he could stay in his daughter's life.[35]
Baldwin contended that after seven years of these issues, he hit a breaking point, and on April 11, 2007, left an angry voicemail message in response to another unanswered arranged call in which Baldwin called his daughter a "rude, thoughtless little pig".[50] He contends that the tape was sold to TMZ, which released the recording despite laws against publishing media related to a minor without the permission of both parents.[51] Baldwin admitted he made a mistake, but asked not to be judged as a parent based on a bad moment.[52] He later admitted to Playboy in June 2009 that he contemplated suicide over the voice mail that leaked to the public. Of the incident, he said "I spoke to a lot of professionals, who helped me. If I committed suicide, [ex-wife Kim Basinger's side] would have considered that a victory. Destroying me was their avowed goal."[53]
During the autumn of 2008, Baldwin toured in support of the book, speaking about his experiences related in it.[54][55][56][57]
Political views[link]
Baldwin serves on the board of People for the American Way. He is an animal rights activist, and a strong supporter of PETA,[58][59] for which he has done work that includes narrating the video entitled Meet Your Meat.[60] Baldwin also lent his support to the Save the Manatee Club by donating his time to record several public service announcements for the group, which had contacted him following his role in "Bonfire of the Manatees", an episode of The Simpsons in which he was the voice of a biologist working to save the endangered mammals.[61]
During his appearance on the comedy late night show Late Night with Conan O'Brien on December 12, 1998, eight days before President Bill Clinton was to be impeached, Baldwin said, "If we were in another country ... we would stone Henry Hyde to death and we would go to their homes and kill their wives and their children. We would kill their families, for what they're doing to this country."[62] Baldwin later apologized for the remarks, and the network explained it was meant as a joke and promised not to rerun it.[63]
Baldwin said in a 2006 interview with the New York Times that if he did become involved in electoral politics, he would prefer to run for Governor of New York. When asked if he was qualified for the office, Baldwin responded that he considered himself far more qualified than California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.[64] In June 2011, The Daily reported that Baldwin was mulling a 2013 run for Mayor of New York City, in the wake of a potential early race shakeup after candidate Congressman Anthony Weiner's sexting scandal.[65] However, on December 21, 2011, Baldwin said he was abandoning plans to run for the office and would instead continue in his role on 30 Rock.[66]
In February 2009, Baldwin spoke out to encourage state leaders to renew New York's tax break for the film and television industry, stating that if the "tax breaks are not reinstated into the budget, film production in this town is going to collapse and television production is going to collapse and it's all going to go to California".[67]
During the 2011 Emmy Awards, Baldwin was slated to appear in a taped skit. However, the producers of the show cut a portion of the skit containing a reference to Rupert Murdoch and the News International phone hacking scandal. Baldwin told Access Hollywood Live that he asked them not to air his performance. Producers complied and he was replaced with Leonard Nimoy.[68]
Filmography[link]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980–1982 | Doctors, TheThe Doctors | Billy Allison Aldrich | |
| 1983 | Cutter to Houston | Dr. Hal Wexler | |
| 1984 | Sweet Revenge | Major Alex Breen | |
| 1984–1986 | Knots Landing | Joshua Rush | Cast member, seasons 6 & 7: 40 episodes |
| 1985 | Hotel | Dennis Medford | Episode: Distortions |
| Love on the Run | Sean Carpenter | ||
| 1986 | Dress Gray | Rysam 'Ry' Slaight | Miniseries |
| 1987 | Alamo: Thirteen Days to Glory, TheThe Alamo: Thirteen Days to Glory | Colonel William B. Travis | |
| 1990–2011 | Saturday Night Live | Host/various roles | Has record for most times hosted - 16 times |
| 1995 | Streetcar Named Desire, AA Streetcar Named Desire | Stanley Kowalski | Nominated—Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Television Film Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film |
| 1996 | Goosebumps | Arnold Pagani | Episode: "Bad Hare Day" |
| 1998 | The Simpsons | Himself | Episode: "When You Dish Upon A Star" |
| Storytime with Thomas | Himself | Narrator | |
| 1998–2002 | Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends | Himself | Narrator: Series 5-6 |
| 2000 | Nuremberg | Justice Robert H. Jackson | TV miniseries Nominated—Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film |
| 2000–2001 | Clerks: The Animated Series | Leonardo Leonardo | 6 Episodes |
| 2002 | Friends | Parker | Episodes: "The One in Massapequa", "The One with the Tea Leaves" |
| Path to War | Robert McNamara, Secretary of Defense | TV movie Nominated—Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor – Miniseries or a Television Film Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film |
|
| 2003 | Walking with Cavemen | Himself | Episodes: "Blood Brothers", "First Ancestors", "Savage Family", "The Survivors" |
| Teen Titans | Blue Barron | Voice | |
| Second Nature | Paul Kane | ||
| Dreams & Giants | Himself | Host | |
| 2004 | Johnny Bravo | Himself | Voice role Episode: "Johnny Bravo Goes to Hollywood" |
| Fairly OddParents in: Channel Chasers, TheThe Fairly OddParents in: Channel Chasers | Adult Timmy Turner | Voice | |
| Nip/Tuck | Dr. Barret Moore | Episode: "Joan Rivers" | |
| Las Vegas | Jack Keller | Episodes: "Degas Away with It", "Hellraisers & Heartbreakers" | |
| 2005 | Simpsons, TheThe Simpsons | Dr. Caleb Thorn | Episode: "Bonfire of the Manatees" |
| Will & Grace | Malcolm | Episodes: "The Hole Truth", "Seems Like Old Times", "The Old Man and the Sea", "Alive and Schticking", "Friends with Benefits", "Kiss and Tell" Nominated—Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor – Comedy Series (2005, 2006) |
|
| 2006 | Great Performances | Luther Billis | Episode: "'South Pacific' in Concert from Carnegie Hall" |
| 2006–present | 30 Rock | Jack Donaghy | Produced five episodes Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Comedy Series (2008, 2009) Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy (2006, 2008, 2009) Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series (2006-2011) Nominated—Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Comedy Series (2007, 2010, 2011) Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy (2007, 2010) |
| 2010 | Marriage Ref, TheThe Marriage Ref | Guest Judge | Episodes: "Pilot", "Episode 5" |
References[link]
- ^ Alec Baldwin Biography (1958–). filmreference.com
- ^ Kaiser, Charles (1989-10). "Baldwin on the Brink". Interview Magazine. Archived from the original on 2010-11-14. http://www.helenheart.com/alec/article/interview89.html. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
- ^ Green, Blake (2004). "Alec Baldwin". Newsday (Melville, NY). Archived from the original on June 17, 2004. http://web.archive.org/web/20040617164456/http://www.newsday.com/community/guide/lihistory/ny-hometown_alec,0,6869261.story?coll=ny-lihistory-navigation.
- ^ a b c Stated on Inside the Actors Studio, 2007
- ^ Oldenburg, Ann (May 13, 2010). "Alec Baldwin gives NYU grads advice". USA Today. Retrieved October 28, 2011.
- ^ Alec Baldwin | PlaybillVault.com
- ^ Gates, Anita. "Dress Gray (1986)". The New York Times. http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/14783/Dress-Gray/overview. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
- ^ Alec Baldwin Emmy Award Winner
- ^ "Alec Baldwin to Co-Host TCM's The Essentials". TV Guide. October 23, 2008. Retrieved on October 24, 2008.
- ^ "Newly Crowned Emmy Winner Alec Baldwin Coming to TCM As Co-Host of THE ESSENTIALS Weekly Movie Showcase, Set to Premiere March 2009". TCM.com.[dead link]
- ^ King, Susan (2009-11-03). "Steve Martin, Alec Baldwin will co-host the Oscars". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 2010-11-14. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/awards/2009/11/steve-martin-alec-baldwin-will-cohost-the-oscars.html. Retrieved 2009-11-04.
- ^ "Alec Baldwin Sets Hosting Record as "SNL" Premieres Anew". NBC New York. http://www.nbcnewyork.com/entertainment/television/Alec-Baldwin-Sets-Hosting-Record-as-SNL-Premieres-Anew-130515098.html. Retrieved 2011-10-31.
- ^ "''Prelude to a Kiss''". The-numbers.com. http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/1992/0PTAK.php. Retrieved 2011-10-31.
- ^ "Pearl Harbor (2001)". Box Office Mojo. 2001-07-22. http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=pearlharbor.htm. Retrieved 2011-10-31.
- ^ Fleming, Michael (2002-11-07). "Clearasil crowd makes room for another Vice". Variety. Archived from the original on 2010-11-14. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117875673.html?categoryid=3&cs=1. Retrieved 2008-11-01.
- ^ Saito, Stephen. "When Actors Direct!". premiere.com. Archived from the original on 2010-11-14. http://www.premiere.com/features/3403/when-actors-direct.html?print_page=y. Retrieved 2008-11-01.
- ^ Nathan Rabin review at The Onion A.V. Club
- ^ Daniel J. Wakin, "Music? Serious Music? He Loves It. No, Seriously", New York Times, December 11, 2009.
- ^ Associated Press, "Alec Baldwin Promotes Manatee Awareness", USA Today, August 1, 2007.
- ^ "Here's the Thing with Alec Baldwin". New York: WNYC. Retrieved November 23, 2011.
- ^ Jill Smolowe (29 January 2001). "Too Hot to Handle". 'People. http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20133526,00.html. Retrieved 14 April 2012.
- ^ Gil Kaufman (2 April 2012). "Alec Baldwin Engaged To Yoga Instructor". MTV. http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1682260/alec-baldwin-engaged-yoga-instructor-hilaria-thomas.jhtml. Retrieved 14 April 2012.
- ^ "Alec Baldwin, 53, Set To Marry Hilaria Thomas, 28". Contactmusic.com. 2 April 2012. http://www.contactmusic.com/news/alec-baldwin-53-set-to-marry-hilaria-thomas-28_1313397. Retrieved 14 April 2012.
- ^ Smolowe, Jill (January 29, 2001). "Too Hot to Handle: After Seven Years of Temperamental Explosions and Fiery Romance, Kim Basinger and Alec Baldwin Head for Divorce". People 55 (4). http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20133526,00.html. Retrieved Apriul 2, 2012.
- ^ "Alec Baldwin apologises for calling daughter, 11, a 'rude thoughtless pig'". Daily Mail (London). http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-449775/Alec-Baldwin-apologises-calling-daughter-11-rude-thoughtless-pig.html#ixzz1GQ8OOMN0.
- ^ Michaud, Sarah (April 02, 2012). "Alec Baldwin Engaged to Hilaria Thomas". People. http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20583803,00.html. Retrieved April 02, 2012.
- ^ YogaVida: Hilaria Thomas
- ^ "Alec Baldwin Girlfriend Hilaria Thomas Revealed, New York City Mayor Run Discussed On Letterman (VIDEO)". The Huffington Post.
- ^ "Alec Baldwin Engaged to Hilaria Thomas". People Magazine.
- ^ "Gotham Gossipist: Alec Baldwin Finds Love…And Salad With Latest Love Interest". New York: WCBS-TV. November 11, 2011.
- ^ "Alec Baldwin, yoga instructor Hilaria Thomas are engaged". Los Angeles Times. April 2, 2012. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/gossip/2012/04/alec-baldwin-engaged-hilaria-thomas-yoga-instructor.html. Retrieved April 2, 2012.
- ^ The Daily Beast (2011-03-08). "Stephen Colbert, Alec Baldwin, More on What They're Giving Up for Lent". The Daily Beast. http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-03-08/stephen-colbert-alec-baldwin-more-on-what-theyre-giving-up-for-lent/#. Retrieved 2011-10-31.
- ^ "So who are the Baldwins?". Angelfire.com. http://www.angelfire.com/yt/stephenbaldwin/otherbaldwins.html. Retrieved 2011-10-31.
- ^ Alec Baldwin thrown off AA flight at LAX for 'playing game' on phone
- ^ a b Baldwin 2008.
- ^ "Alec Baldwin: A Promise to Ourselves".
- ^ Baldwin 2008. p25.
- ^ Baldwin 2008. pp 71, 117, 150–51, 153, 166, 169.
- ^ Baldwin 2008. pp. 43, 71, 127, 153–54, 178, 180.
- ^ Baldwin 2008. pp. 117, 155, 165, 175–77.
- ^ Baldwin 2008
- ^ Baldwin 2008. p. 66.
- ^ Baldwin 2008. pp. 185, 202.
- ^ Baldwin 2008. pp. 75–94.
- ^ Baldwin 2008. pp. 215–216.
- ^ Baldwin 2008. pp. 202–03.
- ^ Baldwin 2008. p. 99, 102.
- ^ Baldwin 2008. pp. 41, 45, 151–53.
- ^ Baldwin 2008. pp. 44, 47, 117.
- ^ Baldwin 2008. pp. 173–184.
- ^ Baldwin 2008. pp. 178–179.
- ^ Baldwin 2008. pp. 101, 151.
- ^ "Alec Baldwin Says He Considered Suicide Over "Rude Pig" Voicemail". TV Guide. Archived from the original on 2010-11-14. http://www.tvguide.com/News/Alec-Baldwin-Suicide-1006923.aspx. Retrieved June 16, 2009.
- ^ Italie, Hillel. "Alec Baldwin's Book Tour: Crowded And Conflicted". The Huffington Post. September 24, 2008.
- ^ "Alec Baldwin: A Journey Through Fatherhood and Divorce". Fora.tv. 2008-09-22. http://fora.tv/2008/09/22/Alec_Baldwin_A_Journey_Through_Fatherhood_and_Divorce. Retrieved 2011-10-31.
- ^ "Baldwin book rails against US family court system". International Herald Tribune. 2009-03-29. http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/09/23/arts/NA-US-Alec-Baldwin.php. Retrieved 2011-10-31.
- ^ Georgiades, William. "Emmy winner Alec Baldwin talks about the book he didn't want to write". Los Angeles Times. September 25, 2008.
- ^ De Vries, Hilary (June 22, 2003). "A Night Out With: Alec Baldwin; Mellow Is Not His Role". The New York Times. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0C13FD355C0C718EDDAF0894DB404482&scp=14&sq=alec%20baldwin%20+vegetarian&st=cse. Retrieved March 10, 2011.
- ^ "And the Oscar Goes to ... 'The Cove'!". The PETA Files. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. March 8, 2010. http://www.peta.org/b/thepetafiles/archive/tags/Alec+Baldwin/default.aspx. Retrieved March 10, 2011.
- ^ "Alec Baldwin to receive award at PETA gala". USA Today. August 22, 2005. Archived from the original on 2010-11-14. http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2005-08-22-baldwin-award_x.htm. Retrieved April 23, 2010.
- ^ "Alec Baldwin speaks out for manatees" (Press release). Save the Manatee Club. July 31 , 2007. http://www.savethemanatee.org/news_pr_baldwin_psas.html. Retrieved August 20, 2011.
- ^ Baker, Brent H. (December 16, 1998). "'Stone Henry Hyde to Death!'". CyberAlert. Media Research Center. Archived from the original on November 14, 2010. http://www.mediaresearch.org/cyberalerts/1998/cyb19981215.asp#5. Retrieved March 3, 2011.
- ^ Shogan, Robert (2004). Constant Conflict: Politics, Culture, and the Struggle for America's Future. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. p. 67. ISBN 978-0-8133-4221-4. http://books.google.com/books?id=qO1wIHiQ2jsC.
- ^ Solomon, Deborah (2006-10-29). "Getting In on the Sitcom Act". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/29/magazine/29wwln_q4.html?_r=1&oref=slogin. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
- ^ Johnson, Richard (June 8, 2011). "Political Smart Alec". The Daily. http://www.thedaily.com/page/2011/06/08/060811-news-alec-baldwin-1-2/. Retrieved August 20, 2011.
- ^ Johnson, Richard (December 21, 2011). "Alec Baldwin rules out 2013 NYC mayoral campaign". Daily News (New York). http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/alec-baldwin-rules-2013-mayoral-campaign-article-1.995075. Retrieved December 23, 2011.
- ^ "Alec Baldwin Calls on Governor To Extend Tax Credit". NY1. February 26, 2009. http://www.ny1.com/content/94633/alec-baldwin-calls-on-governor-to-extend-tax-credit/Default.aspx. Retrieved August 20, 2011.
- ^ "Baldwin out of Emmys after hacking joke nixed". breitbart.com. breitbart.com. http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9PRAQ100&show_article=1. Retrieved September 19, 2011.
Further reading[link]
- Baldwin, Alec (2008). A Promise to Ourselves: A Journey Through Fatherhood and Divorce. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 978-0-312-36336-9. OCLC 222666774. http://books.google.com/books?id=BdLOJ-S_IIEC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_navlinks_s#v=onepage&q=&f=false.
- Brown, Scott (December 15, 2009). "Stay in the Game: The Fall and Rise of Alec Baldwin". Wired (Condé Nast Publications) (January 2010): 86–87. http://www.wired.com/magazine/2009/12/fail_alec_baldwin/.
External links[link]
- Official website
- Alec Baldwin at the Internet Movie Database
- Alec Baldwin at the Internet Broadway Database
- Alec Baldwin at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
- Alec Baldwin at AllRovi
- Political contributions of Alec Baldwin
- Alec Baldwin's Blog at Huffington Post
- Alec Baldwin narrates the PETA's Meet your Meat video
- Alec Baldwin's Charity Work
- Alec Baldwin at Emmys.com
|
||||||||
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Baldwin, Alec |
| Alternative names | Baldwin, Alexander Rae III |
| Short description | American actor |
| Date of birth | April 3, 1958 |
| Place of birth | Amityville, New York, U.S. |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
http://wn.com/Alec_Baldwin
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This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alec_Baldwin
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is about the performer. For other people named Steve Martin, see Steve Martin (disambiguation).
| Steve Martin | |
|---|---|
 Martin in April 2011 |
|
| Birth name | Stephen Glenn Martin |
| Born | (1945-08-14) August 14, 1945 (age 66) Waco, Texas, United States |
| Medium | Concert, film, recordings, television, books |
| Nationality | American |
| Years active | 1967–present |
| Genres | Surreal humor, Musical comedy, physical comedy, sketch comedy, Wit/word play Music: bluegrass |
| Influences | British television, Red Skelton, Jerry Lewis, Jack Benny, Laurel and Hardy, Wally Boag[1] |
| Influenced | Judd Apatow, Will Arnett, Louis C.K., Stephen Colbert,[2] Eddie Izzard, Patton Oswalt,[3] Lucy Porter, Sarah Silverman, Jon Stewart |
| Spouse | Victoria Tennant (1986–1994)[4] Anne Stringfield (2007–present) |
| Signature |  |
| Website | www.stevemartin.com |
| Emmy Awards | |
| Outstanding Writing Achievement in Comedy, Variety or Music 1969 The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour |
|
| Grammy Awards | |
| Best Comedy Album 1978 Let's Get Small 1979 A Wild and Crazy Guy Best Country Instrumental Performance 2002 Foggy Mountain Breakdown Best Bluegrass Album 2009 The Crow: New Songs for the 5-String Banjo |
|
| American Comedy Awards | |
| Lifetime Achievement Award in Comedy 2000 Lifetime Achievement |
|
| NYFCC Award for Best Actor | |
| All of Me (1984) | |
Stephen Glenn "Steve" Martin (born August 14, 1945) is an American actor, comedian, author, playwright, producer, musician and composer. Martin came to public notice as a writer for the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, and later became a frequent guest on The Tonight Show. In the 1970s, Martin performed his offbeat, absurdist comedy routines before packed houses on national tours. In 2004, Comedy Central[5] ranked Martin at sixth place in a list of the 100 greatest stand-up comics.
Since the 1980s, having branched away from stand-up comedy, Martin has become a successful actor in both comedic and dramatic roles, as well as an author, playwright, pianist, and banjo player, eventually earning Emmy, Grammy, and American Comedy awards, among other honors.
Contents |
Early life[link]
Martin was born in Waco, Texas,[6] the son of Mary Lee (née Stewart) and Glenn Vernon Martin, a real estate salesman and aspiring actor.[4][7] Martin was raised in Inglewood, California, and then later in Garden Grove, California, in a Baptist family.[8] Martin was a cheerleader of Garden Grove High School.[9] One of his earliest memories is of seeing his father, as an extra, serving drinks onstage at the Call Board Theatre on Melrose Place. During World War II, in England, Martin's father had appeared in a production of Our Town with Raymond Massey. Years later, he would write to Massey for help in Steve's fledgling career, but would receive no reply. Expressing his affection through gifts of cars, bikes, etc., Martin's father was stern, and not emotionally open to his son.[10] He was proud but critical, with Martin later recalling that in his teens his feelings for his father were mostly ones of hatred.[11] Martin's first job was at Disneyland, selling guidebooks on weekends and full-time during the summer school break. That lasted for three years (1955–1958). During his free time he frequented the Main Street Magic shop, where tricks were demonstrated to potential customers.[10] By 1960, he had mastered several of the tricks and illusions, and took a paying job there in August. There he perfected his talents for magic, juggling, and creating balloon animals, frequently performing for tips.[12] In his authorized biography, close friend Morris Walker suggests that Martin could "be described most accurately as an agnostic [...] he rarely went to church and was never involved in organized religion of his own volition".[13]
Comedy[link]
After high school graduation, Martin attended Santa Ana Junior College, taking classes in drama and English poetry. In his free time, he teamed up with friend and Garden Grove High School classmate Kathy Westmoreland to participate in comedies and other productions at the Bird Cage Theatre. He joined a comedy troupe at Knott's Berry Farm.[10] Later, he met budding actress Stormie Sherk, and they developed comedy routines and became romantically involved. Sherk's influence caused Martin to apply to the California State University, Long Beach, for enrollment with a major in Philosophy.[10] Stormie enrolled at UCLA, about an hour's drive north, and the distance eventually caused them to lead separate lives.[14]
Inspired by his philosophy classes, Martin considered becoming a professor instead of an actor-comedian. His time at college changed his life. "It changed what I believe and what I think about everything. I majored in philosophy. Something about non-sequiturs appealed to me. In philosophy, I started studying logic, and they were talking about cause and effect, and you start to realize, 'Hey, there is no cause and effect! There is no logic! There is no anything!' Then it gets real easy to write this stuff, because all you have to do is twist everything hard—you twist the punch line, you twist the non sequitur so hard away from the things that set it up".[15] Martin recalls wondering in a psychology class "What if there were no punch lines? What if there were no indicators? What if I created tension and never released it? What if I headed for a climax, but all I delivered was an anticlimax? What would the audience do with all that tension? Theoretically, it would have to come out sometime. But if I kept denying them the formality of a punch line, the audience would eventually pick their own place to laugh, essentially out of desperation."[16] Martin periodically spoofed his philosophy studies in his 1970s stand-up act, comparing philosophy with studying geology. "If you're studying geology, which is all facts, as soon as you get out of school you forget it all, but philosophy you remember just enough to screw you up for the rest of your life."[17]
In 1967, Martin transferred to UCLA and switched his major to theater. While attending college, he appeared in an episode of The Dating Game. Martin began working local clubs at night, to mixed notices, and at twenty-one he dropped out of college.[18]
Career[link]
Early career – stand-up[link]
In 1967, his former girlfriend Nina Goldblatt, a dancer on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, helped Martin land a writing job with the show by submitting his work to head writer Mason Williams.[19] Williams initially paid Martin out of his own pocket. Along with the other writers for the show, Martin won an Emmy Award[20] in 1969, aged 23.[10] He also wrote for John Denver (a neighbor of his in Aspen, Colorado, at one point), The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, and The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour. Martin's first TV appearance was on The Steve Allen Show in 1969. He says: "[I] appeared on The Virginia Graham Show, circa 1970. I looked grotesque. I had a hairdo like a helmet, which I blow-dried to a puffy bouffant, for reasons I no longer understand. I wore a frock coat and a silk shirt, and my delivery was mannered, slow and self-aware. I had absolutely no authority. After reviewing the show, I was depressed for a week."[21] During these years his roommates included comedian Gary Mule Deer and singer/guitarist Michael Johnson.[22] Martin opened for groups such as The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, The Carpenters, and Toto. He appeared at San Francisco's The Boarding House, among other venues. He continued to write, earning an Emmy nomination for his work on Van Dyke and Company in 1976.
In the mid-1970s, Martin made frequent appearances as a stand-up comedian on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.,[21] and on The Gong Show, HBO's On Location and NBC's Saturday Night Live (SNL). SNL's audience jumped by a million viewers when he made guest appearances, though despite a common misconception, he was never a cast member.[10] Martin has guest-hosted Saturday Night Live 15 times, bested only in number of presentations by host Alec Baldwin (who has hosted 16 times as of September 2011). On the show, Martin popularized the air quotes gesture, which uses four fingers to make double quote marks in the air.[23] While on the show Martin became close with several of the cast members, including Gilda Radner. On the day Radner died of ovarian cancer in 1989, a visibly shaken Martin hosted SNL and featured footage of himself and Radner together in a 1978 sketch.
His TV appearances in the 1970s led to the release of comedy albums that went platinum.[10] The track "Excuse Me" on his first album, Let's Get Small, helped establish a national catch phrase.[10] His next album, A Wild and Crazy Guy (1978), was an even bigger success, reaching the No.2 spot on the US sales chart, selling over a million copies. "Just a wild and crazy guy" became another of Martin's known catch phrases.[10] The album featured a character based on a series of Saturday Night Live sketches where Martin and Dan Aykroyd played "Georgi" and "Yortuk" the Festrunk Brothers, a couple of bumbling Czechoslovak would-be playboys. The album ends with the song "King Tut", sung and written by Martin and backed by the "Toot Uncommons", members of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. It was later released as a single, reaching No.17 on the US charts in 1978 and selling over a million copies.[10][24] The song came out during the King Tut craze that accompanied the popular traveling exhibit of the Egyptian king's tomb artifacts. Both albums won Grammys for Best Comedy Recording in 1977 and 1978, respectively. Martin performed "King Tut" on the April 22, 1978, edition of SNL.
On his comedy albums, Martin's stand-up is self-referential and sometimes self-mocking. It mixes philosophical riffs with sudden spurts of "happy feet", banjo playing with balloon depictions of concepts like venereal disease, and the controversial kitten juggling (he is a master juggler). His style is off-kilter and ironic, and sometimes pokes fun at stand-up comedy traditions, such as Martin opening his act (from A Wild and Crazy Guy) by saying, "I think there's nothing better for a person to come up and do the same thing over and over for two weeks. This is what I enjoy, so I'm going to do the same thing over and over and over [...] I'm going to do the same joke over and over in the same show, it'll be like a new thing." Or: "Hello, I'm Steve Martin, and I'll be out here in a minute."[23][25] In one comedy routine, used on the Comedy Is Not Pretty! album, Martin claimed that his real name was "Gern Blanston". The riff took on a life of its own. There is a Gern Blanston website, and for a time a rock band took the moniker as their name.[26] He stopped stand-up in 1981 to concentrate on movies and never went back.[10]
Acting career – film[link]
By the end of the 1970s, Martin had acquired the kind of following normally reserved for rock stars, with his tour appearances typically occurring at sold-out arenas filled with tens of thousands of screaming fans. But unknown to his audience, stand-up comedy was "just an accident" for him; his real goal was to get into film.[15]
Martin's first film was a short, The Absent-Minded Waiter (1977). The seven-minute-long film, also featuring Buck Henry and Teri Garr, was written by and starred Martin. The film was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Short Film, Live Action. He made his first feature film appearance in the musical Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, where he sang The Beatles' "Maxwell's Silver Hammer". In 1979, Martin co-wrote and starred in his first full-length movie, The Jerk, directed by Carl Reiner. The movie was a huge success, grossing over $100 million on a budget of approximately $4 million.[27]
Stanley Kubrick met with him to discuss the possibility of Martin starring in a screwball comedy version of Traumnovelle (Kubrick later changed his approach to the material, the result of which was 1999's Eyes Wide Shut). Martin was executive producer for Domestic Life, a prime-time television series starring friend Martin Mull, and a late-night series called Twilight Theater. It emboldened Martin to try his hand at his first serious film, Pennies from Heaven, a movie he was anxious to perform in because of his desire to avoid being typecast. To prepare for that film, Martin took acting lessons from director Herbert Ross, and spent months learning how to tap dance. The film was a financial failure; Martin's comment at the time was "I don't know what to blame, other than it's me and not a comedy."[28]
Martin was in three more Reiner-directed comedies after The Jerk: Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid in 1982, The Man with Two Brains in 1983 and All of Me in 1984, possibly his most critically acclaimed comic performance to date.[29][30] In 1986, Martin joined fellow Saturday Night Live veterans Martin Short and Chevy Chase in ¡Three Amigos!, directed by John Landis, and written by Martin, Lorne Michaels, and singer-songwriter Randy Newman. It was originally entitled The Three Caballeros and Martin was to be teamed with Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi. In 1986, Martin was in the movie musical film version of the hit Off-Broadway play Little Shop of Horrors (based on a famous B-movie), playing the sadistic dentist, Orin Scrivello. The film was the first of three films teaming Martin with Rick Moranis. In 1987, Martin joined comedian John Candy in the John Hughes movie Planes, Trains and Automobiles. That same year, Roxanne, the film adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac which Martin co-wrote, won him a Writers Guild of America, East award. It also garnered recognition from Hollywood and the public that he was more than a comedian. In 1988, he performed in the Frank Oz film Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, a remake of Bedtime Story, alongside Michael Caine.
Martin starred in the Ron Howard film Parenthood, with Moranis in 1989. He later met with Moranis to make the Mafia comedy My Blue Heaven in 1990. In 1991, Martin starred in and wrote L.A. Story, a romantic comedy, in which the female lead was played by his then-wife Victoria Tennant. Martin also appeared in Lawrence Kasdan's Grand Canyon, in which he played the tightly-wound Hollywood film producer, Davis, who was recovering from a traumatic robbery that left him injured, which was a more serious role for him. Martin also appeared in a remake of the comedy Father of the Bride in 1991 (followed by a sequel in 1995). He starred in the 1992 comedy HouseSitter, with Goldie Hawn and Dana Delany.
In David Mamet's 1997 thriller, The Spanish Prisoner, Martin played a darker role as a wealthy stranger who takes a suspicious interest in the work of a young businessman (Campbell Scott). He went on to star with Eddie Murphy in the 1999 comedy Bowfinger, which Martin also wrote. He appeared in a version of Waiting for Godot as Vladimir, with Robin Williams as Estragon and Bill Irwin as Lucky. In 1998, Martin guest starred with U2 in the 200th episode of The Simpsons titled "Trash of the Titans", providing the voice for sanitation commissioner Ray Patterson. In 1999, Martin and Hawn starred in a remake of the 1970 Neil Simon comedy, The Out-of-Towners. By 2003, Martin ranked 4th on the box office stars list, after starring in Bringing Down The House and Cheaper By The Dozen, each of which earned over $130 million at U.S. theaters. That same year, he also played the villainous Mr. Chairman in the animation/live action blend, Looney Tunes: Back in Action.
Martin wrote and starred in Shopgirl (2005), based on his own novella (2000), and starred in Cheaper by the Dozen 2. He also starred in the box office hit The Pink Panther in 2006, standing in Peter Sellers's shoes as the bumbling Inspector Clouseau, a role which he reprised in 2009's The Pink Panther 2. In Baby Mama (2008), he played the founder of a health food company, and in It's Complicated (2009), he played opposite Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin. In 2009, an article in The Guardian listed Martin as one of the best actors never to receive an Oscar nomination.[31]
He appeared with Jack Black, Owen Wilson, and JoBeth Williams in the birdwatching comedy The Big Year, in 2011.
Writing[link]
In 1993, Martin wrote his first full length play Picasso at the Lapin Agile. The first reading of the play took place in Beverly Hills, California at Steve Martin's home, with Tom Hanks reading the role of Pablo Picasso and Chris Sarandon reading the role of Albert Einstein. Following this, the play opened at the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago, Illinois, and played from October 1993 to May 1994, then went on to run successfully in Los Angeles, New York City and several other US cities.[32] In 2009, the La Grande, Oregon school board refused to allow the play to be performed after several parents complained about the content. In an open letter in the local Observer newspaper, Martin wrote "I have heard that some in your community have characterized the play as 'people drinking in bars, and treating women as sex objects.' With apologies to William Shakespeare, this is like calling Hamlet a play about a castle [...] I will finance a non-profit, off-high school campus production [...] so that individuals, outside the jurisdiction of the school board but within the guarantees of freedom of expression provided by the Constitution of the United States can determine whether they will or will not see the play".[33]
Throughout the 1990s, Martin wrote various pieces for The New Yorker. In 2002, he adapted the Carl Sternheim play The Underpants, which ran Off Broadway at Classic Stage Company and in 2008, co-wrote and produced Traitor, starring Don Cheadle. He has also written the novellas, Shopgirl (2000), and The Pleasure of My Company (2003), both more wry in tone than raucous.[34] A story of a 28-year-old woman behind the glove counter at the Neiman Marcus department store in Beverly Hills, Shopgirl was made into a film starring Martin and Claire Danes.[34] The film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in September 2005 and was featured at the Chicago International Film Festival and the Austin Film Festival before going into limited release in the US. In 2007, he published a memoir, Born Standing Up, which TIME magazine named as one of the Top 10 Nonfiction Books of 2007, ranking it at #6, and praising it as "a funny, moving, surprisingly frank memoir."[35] In 2010, he published the novel An Object of Beauty.
Hosting[link]
Martin hosted Academy Awards solo in 2001 and 2003 and with Alec Baldwin in 2010.[36] In 2005, Martin co-hosted Disneyland: The First 50 Magical Years, marking the park's anniversary. Disney continued to run the show until March 2009, which now plays in the lobby of Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln.
Music[link]
Martin first picked up the banjo when he was around 17 years of age. Martin has claimed in several interviews and in his autobiography, "Born Standing Up", that he used to take 33 rpm bluegrass records and slow them down to 16 rpm and tune his banjo down, so the notes would sound the same. Martin was able to pick out each note, and perfect his playing.
Martin learned how to play the banjo with help from John McEuen, who later joined the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. McEuen's brother later managed Martin as well as the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. Martin did his stand-up routine opening for the band in the early 1970s. He had the band play on his hit song, "King Tut", being credited as "The Toot Uncommons" (as in Tutankhamun).
File:Steve Martin & The Steep Canyon Rangers in Seattle.JPG
Steve Martin playing with the Steep Canyon Rangers in Seattle
The banjo was a staple of Martin's 1970s stand-up career, and he periodically poked fun at his love for the instrument.[21] On the Comedy Is Not Pretty! album he included an all-instrumental jam, titled "Drop Thumb Medley", and played the track on his 1979 concert tour. His final comedy album, The Steve Martin Brothers (1981), featured one side of Martin's typical stand-up material, with the other side featuring live performances of Steve playing banjo with a bluegrass band.
In 2001, he played banjo on Earl Scruggs's remake of "Foggy Mountain Breakdown". The recording was the winner of the Best Country Instrumental Performance category at the following year's Grammys. In 2008, Martin appeared with the band, In the Minds of the Living, during a show in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.[37]
In 2009, Martin released his first all-music album, The Crow: New Songs for the 5-String Banjo with appearances from stars such as Dolly Parton.[38] The album won the Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album in 2010.[39] Nitty Gritty Dirt Band member John McEuen produced the album.
Martin made his first appearance on The Grand Ole Opry on May 30, 2009.[40] In the American Idol season eight finals, he performed alongside Michael Sarver and Megan Joy in the song "Pretty Flowers". In June, Martin played banjo along with the Steep Canyon Rangers on A Prairie Home Companion, and began a two-month U.S. tour with the Rangers in September, including an appearances at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival, Carnegie Hall and Benaroya Hall in Seattle.[41][42] In November, they went on to play at the Royal Festival Hall in London with support from Mary Black.[43] In 2010, Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers appeared at the New Orleans Jazzfest, Merlefest Bluegrass Festival in Wilkesboro, North Carolina, at Bonnaroo Music Festival, at the ROMP[44] Bluegrass festival in Owensboro, Kentucky, at the Red Butte Garden Concert series and on the BBC's Later... with Jools Holland.[45][46] Martin performed "Jubilation Day" with the Steep Canyon Rangers on The Colbert Report on March 21, 2011, on Conan on May 3, 2011, and on BBC's The One Show on July 6, 2011.[47] Martin performed a song he wrote called "Me and Paul Revere"[48] in addition to two other songs on the lawn of the Capitol Building in Washington, DC, at the "Capitol Fourth Celebration" on July 4, 2011.[49]
Personal life[link]
Martin was romantically involved with actress and singer Bernadette Peters, his costar in the films The Jerk and Pennies from Heaven, during the 1970s and early 1980s. He married actress Victoria Tennant on November 20, 1986, and the union lasted until 1994. On July 28, 2007, after three years together, Martin married Anne Stringfield, a writer and former staffer for The New Yorker magazine.[50] Former Nebraska Senator Bob Kerrey presided over the ceremony at Martin's Los Angeles home. Lorne Michaels, creator of Saturday Night Live, was best man.[50] Several of the guests, including close friends Tom Hanks, Eugene Levy, comedian Carl Reiner, and magician/actor Ricky Jay were not informed that a wedding ceremony would take place. Instead, they were told they were invited to a party, and were surprised by the nuptials.[50]
Investigators at Berlin's state criminal police office (LKA) think that Martin was one victim of a German art forgery scandal. In July 2004 Martin purchased what he believed to be a 1915 work by the German-Dutch painter Heinrich Campendonk, "Landschaft mit Pferden", or "Landscape With Horses", from a Paris gallery for what should have been a bargain price in the neighborhood of €700,000 (around $850,000 at the time). Before the purchase an expert authenticated the work and identified the painter's signature on a label attached to the back. Fifteen months later Martin put the painting up for sale, and auction house Christie's disposed of it in February 2006 to a Swiss businesswoman for €500,000 – a loss of €200,000. Police believe the fake Campendonk originated from an invented art collection devised by a group of German swindlers caught in 2010. Skillfully forged paintings from this group were sold to French galleries like the one where Martin bought the forgery.[51]
Awards and honors[link]
- 1969 Emmy Award – The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (with other writers)
- 1978 Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album – Let's Get Small[52]
- 1979 Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album – A Wild and Crazy Guy.[52]
- 1989 Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from California State University Long Beach[53]
- 2001 Grammy Award for Best Country Instrumental Performance with Earl Scruggs (and others) – banjo performance of "Foggy Mountain Breakdown".[52]
- 2005 Mark Twain Prize for American Humor
- 2005 Disney Legend award
- 2007 30th Annual Kennedy Center Honors
- 2009 Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album for his album The Crow: New Songs for the 5-String Banjo.[52]
- 2011 International Bluegrass Music Association's Entertainer of the Year.
Written works by Martin[link]
- The Jerk (1979) (Screenplay written with Carl Gottlieb)
- Cruel Shoes (1979) (Essays)
- Picasso at the Lapin Agile and Other Plays: Picasso at the Lapin Agile, the Zig-Zag Woman, Patter for the Floating Lady, WASP (1996) (Play)
- L.A. Story and Roxanne: Two Screenplays (published together in 1997) (Screenplays)
- Pure Drivel (1998) (Stories)
- Bowfinger (1999) (Screenplay)
- Eric Fischl : 1970–2000 (2000) (Afterword)
- Modern Library Humor and Wit Series (2000) (Introduction and Series Editor)
- Shopgirl (2000) (Novella)
- Kindly Lent Their Owner: The Private Collection of Steve Martin (2001) (Art)
- The Underpants: A Play (2002) (Play)
- The Pleasure of My Company (2003) (Novel)
- The Alphabet from A to Y with Bonus Letter Z (2007) (Children's Books illustrated by Roz Chast)
- Born Standing Up (2007) (Memoir)
- An Object of Beauty (2010) (Novel)
- Late For School (2010) (Children's book)
- The Ten, Make That Nine, Habits of Very Organized People. Make That Ten.: The Tweets of Steve Martin (February 21, 2012) (Collection)
Released stand-up shows[link]
- Steve Martin-Live! (1986, VHS)
- Saturday Night Live: The Best Of Steve Martin (1998, DVD)
Filmography[link]
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1956 | Disneyland Dream | Documentary | |
| 1977 | The Absent-Minded Waiter | Short Subject | |
| 1978 | Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band | Dr. Maxwell Edison | |
| 1979 | The Muppet Movie | Insolent Waiter | |
| The Kids Are Alright | Documentary | ||
| The Jerk | Navin R. Johnson | Also Writer | |
| 1981 | Pennies from Heaven | Arthur | Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy |
| 1982 | Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid | Rigby Reardon | Also Writer |
| 1983 | The Man with Two Brains | Dr. Michael Hfuhruhurr | |
| 1984 | The Lonely Guy | Larry Hubbard | |
| All of Me | Roger Cobb | National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy |
|
| 1985 | Movers & Shakers | Fabio Longio | |
| 1986 | Three Amigos | Lucky Day | Also Writer and Executive Producer |
| Little Shop of Horrors | Orin Scrivello, DDS | Billed as "Special Appearance" | |
| 1987 | Roxanne | C.D. Bales | Also Writer and Executive Producer Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy |
| Planes, Trains and Automobiles | Neal Page | ||
| 1988 | Dirty Rotten Scoundrels | Freddy Benson | |
| 1989 | Parenthood | Gil Buckman | Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy |
| 1990 | My Blue Heaven | Vinnie Antonelli | |
| 1991 | L.A. Story | Harris K. Telemacher | Also Writer and Executive Producer |
| Father of the Bride | George Banks | Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance | |
| Grand Canyon | Davis | ||
| 1992 | HouseSitter | Newton Davis | |
| Leap of Faith | Jonas Nightengale | ||
| 1993 | And the Band Played On | The Brother | Cameo |
| 1994 | A Simple Twist of Fate | Michael McCann | Also Writer and Executive Producer |
| Mixed Nuts | Philip | ||
| 1995 | Father of the Bride Part II | George Banks | Nominated – American Comedy Award for Funniest Actor in a Motion Picture (Leading Role) Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy |
| 1996 | Sgt. Bilko | Master Sergeant Ernest G. Bilko | |
| 1997 | The Spanish Prisoner | Jimmy Dell | |
| 1998 | The Prince of Egypt | Hotep | Voice |
| 1999 | The Out-of-Towners | Henry Clark | |
| Bowfinger | Bobby Bowfinger | Also writer | |
| The Venice Project | Cameo | ||
| Fantasia 2000 | Introductory Host | Disney Re-Release | |
| 2000 | Joe Gould's Secret | Charlie Duell | |
| 2001 | Novocaine | Frank Sangster | |
| 2002 | Smothered: The Censorship Struggles of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour | As himself | |
| 2003 | Bringing Down the House | Peter Sanderson | |
| Looney Tunes: Back in Action | Mr. Chairman | ||
| Cheaper by the Dozen | Tom Baker | ||
| 2004 | Jiminy Glick in Lalawood | Cameo | |
| The Merchant of Venice | |||
| 2005 | Shopgirl | Ray Porter | Also Writer and Producer |
| Cheaper by the Dozen 2 | Tom Baker | ||
| Disneyland: The First 50 Magical Years | As himself | ||
| 2006 | The Pink Panther | Inspector Clouseau | A remake of the earlier series |
| 2008 | Baby Mama | Barry | |
| Traitor | Writer and Producer | ||
| 2009 | The Pink Panther 2 | Inspector Clouseau | Also Screenplay Nominated - Razzie Award for Worst Actor |
| It's Complicated | Adam Schaffer | ||
| 2011 | The Big Year | Stu Preissler |
Discography[link]
Albums[link]
| Album | Year | Peak chart positions | Certifications | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US [54] |
US Bluegrass [54][55] |
|||
| Let's Get Small | 1977 | 10 | — |
|
| A Wild and Crazy Guy | 1978 | 2 | — |
|
| Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band soundtrack | 1978 | 5 | — |
|
| Comedy Is Not Pretty! | 1979 | 25 | — |
|
| The Steve Martin Brothers | 1981 | 135 | — | |
| Little Shop of Horrors soundtrack | 1986 | — | — | |
| The Crow: New Songs for the 5-String Banjo | 2009 | 93[58] | 1 | |
| Rare Bird Alert[59] | 2011 | 43 | 1 | |
| "—" denotes a title that did not chart. | ||||
Singles[link]
| Single | Year | Peak chart positions |
|---|---|---|
| US [60] |
||
| "Grandmother's Song" | 1977 | 72 |
| "King Tut" | 1978 | 17 |
| "Cruel Shoes" | 1979 | 91 |
Music videos[link]
| Video | Year | Director |
|---|---|---|
| "Jubilation Day"[61] | 2011 | Ryan Reichenfeld |
TV specials[link]
| Title | Year | Network |
|---|---|---|
| "Steve Martin: A Wild and Crazy Guy" | 1978 | NBC |
| "All Commercials... A Steve Martin Special" | 1980 | NBC |
| "Steve Martin: Comedy is Not Pretty" | 1980 | NBC |
| "Steve Martin's Best Show Ever" | 1981 | NBC |
| "The Winds of Whoopie" | 1983 | NBC |
References[link]
- ^ Martin (2007) p18–19
- ^ King, Larry. "Interview with Stephen Colbert". Larry King Live. October 11, 2007.
- ^ "The AST Interview: Patton Oswalt". Web.archive.org. November 21, 2005. Archived from the original on October 13, 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20071013165258/http://aspecialthing.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=1465. Retrieved November 13, 2011.
- ^ a b Morris (1999) p 2.
- ^ Comedy Central's 100 Greatest Stand-Ups of all Time
- ^ Walker (1999) p1
- ^ "Ancestry of Steve Martin". Wargs.com. http://www.wargs.com/other/martin.html. Retrieved November 13, 2011.
- ^ Martin (2007) pp.20–39
- ^ http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/feb/20/top-5-famous-former-male-cheerleaders/
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Steve Martin, a Mild and Crazy Guy". Time Magazine article. November 15, 2007. Accessed August 14, 2010.
- ^ Wills, Dominic. "Steve Martin – Biography". TalkTalk. http://www.talktalk.co.uk/entertainment/film/biography/artist/steve-martin/biography/118. Retrieved May 15, 2010.
- ^ Martin (2007) p 39
- ^ Walker (1999) p40
- ^ Martin (2007) p 65
- ^ a b Fong-Torres, Ben (1982) "Steve Martin Sings: The Rolling Stone Interview". Rolling Stone February 18, 1982. Issue 363
- ^ "Being Funny: How the path-breaking comedian got his act together" By Steve Martin. Smithsonian magazine. February 2008. Accessed August 14, 2010
- ^ Steve Martin at the Internet Movie Database
- ^ "SteveMartin.com | Stop the Presses"[dead link]
- ^ Martin, (2007) p. 76
- ^ Steve Martin Emmy Award Winner
- ^ a b c Martin, Steve (2008). "Being Funny". Smithsonian Magazine. http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/funny-martin-200802.html. Retrieved February 22, 2008.
- ^ Martin, (2007) p. 77
- ^ a b Frum, David (2000). How We Got Here: The '70s. New York, New York: Basic Books. pp. 36–37. ISBN 0-465-04195-7.
- ^ "King Tut" Video. Accessed August 14, 2010.
- ^ "Rationalist of the Absurd: Steve Martin’s extraordinarily calculated comedy".New York Books" Nov 18, 2007. Accessed August 12, 2010[dead link]
- ^ Martin (2007) p176–77
- ^ Chris Brummel (2010). "The Jerk". http://chrisbrummel.com/the-jerk-that-movie-about-hating-cans. Retrieved June 19, 2010.
- ^ American film Volume 7. 1981. American Film Institute, Arthur M. Sackler Foundation
- ^ "All of Me". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1000640-all_of_me/. Retrieved November 13, 2011.
- ^ All of Me. New York Times film review. September 21, 1984. Accessed August 12, 2010
- ^ Singer, Leigh (February 19, 2009). "Oscars: the best actors never to have been nominated". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2009/feb/19/best-actors-never-nominated-for-oscars. Retrieved November 13, 2011.
- ^ History: Picasso At The Lapin Agile. Oct. 13, 1993 – May. 12, 1994. Steppenwolf Theatre Company. Accessed August 14, 2010
- ^ "Of arts and sciences". by Steve Martin. Article in The Observer (Oregon). March 13, 2009. Accessed August 14, 2010
- ^ a b But Seriously, Folks. Time Magazine article. October 16, 2000. Accessed August 14, 2010
- ^ Grossman, Lev (December 9, 2007). "Born Standing Up'' review". Time.com. http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/top10/article/0,30583,1686204_1686244_1691787,00.html. Retrieved November 13, 2011.
- ^ "Hosts of the 2010 (82nd) Academy Awards". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
- ^ "Steve Martin Plays The Banjo Really Well (Video)". October 6, 2009. HuffingtonPost.com. Retrieved May 15, 2010.
- ^ Itzkoff, Dave (August 5, 2009). "Steve Martin brings it all home with his banjo". Guardian. Retrieved May 15, 2010
- ^ The Crow album on Martin's official website. Retrieved May 15, 2010.
- ^ "Steve Martin To Make Grand Ole Opry Debut". April 1, 2009. Billboard. Retrieved May 15, 2010.
- ^ "Benaroya Hall Calendar, Seattle Symphony Orchestra".
- ^ Madison, Tjames (August 4, 2009). "Steve Martin and his banjo map fall tour". LiveDaily.com. Retrieved on October 4, 2009.
- ^ Gill, Andy (November 10, 2009). "Steve Martin with The Steep Canyon Rangers, Royal Festival Hall, London". The Independent.
- ^ "2011 ROMP". Bluegrass-museum.org. International Bluegrass Music Museum. http://www.bluegrass-museum.org/general/home.php.
- ^ "Concerts – 2010 Outdoor Concert Series". Red Butte Garden. The University of Utah. Retrieved May 15, 2010.
- ^ "BBC – BBC Two Programmes – Later... with Jools Holland, Series 35, Episode 9". BBC. Retrieved May 15, 2010.
- ^ Tobey, Matt (March 21, 2011). "This Week on the Colbert Report: Steve Martin". Ccinsider.comedycentral.com. Comedy Partners. http://ccinsider.comedycentral.com/2011/03/21/this-week-on-the-colbert-report-steve-martin/. Retrieved November 13, 2011.
- ^ Barker, Olivia (June 29, 2011). "Steve Martin's 'Paul Revere' picks away at history". USA Today.
- ^ "A Capitol Fourth". PBS. Retrieved July, 4, 2011.
- ^ a b c "Steve Martin weds girlfriend Anne Stringfield". July 29, 2007. USA Today.
- ^ Der Spiegel (May 30, 2011). "German Art Forgery Scandal Reaches Hollywood". http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,765658,00.html. Retrieved May 30, 2011.
- ^ a b c d http://www.grammy.com/nominees/search?artist=%22steve+martin%22&title=&year=All&genre=All
- ^ Los Angeles Times via Sydney Morning Herald; August 28, 1989 Late Edition; NEWS AND FEATURES; Pg. 11
- ^ a b "Steve Martin – Billboard Albums". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p198/charts-awards. Retrieved January 15, 2011.
- ^ "Steve Martin Album & Song Chart History". Billboard.com. Prometheus Media Group. Retrieved January 15, 2011.
- ^ a b c "RIAA – Searchable Database: Steve Martin". Recording Industry Association of America. http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?artist=%22Martin,%20Steve%22. Retrieved November 14, 2011.
- ^ "RIAA – Searchable Database: Lonely Hearts Club Band". Recording Industry Association of America. http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?artist=%22Lonely%20Hearts%20Club%20Band%22. Retrieved November 14, 2011.
- ^ "Bluegrass Albums | Billboard.com". Billboard. June 13, 2009. http://www.billboard.com/#/charts/bluegrass-albums?chartDate=2009-06-13. Retrieved March 24, 2011.
- ^ "Rare Bird Alert". Rounder.com. Rounder Records. March 1, 2011. http://www.rounder.com/2011/03/new-releases/rare-bird-alert. Retrieved November 13, 2011.
- ^ "Steve Martin – Billboard Albums". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p198/charts-awards/billboard-singles. Retrieved January 15, 2011.
- ^ "CMT : Videos : Steve Martin : Jubilation Day". Country Music Television. http://www.cmt.com/videos/steve-martin/659725/jubilation-day.jhtml. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
Sources[link]
- Martin, Steve. (2007) Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life. Scribner. ISBN 1-4165-5364-9.
- Walker, Morris (1999) Steve Martin: The Magic Years. SPI Books. ISBN 1-56171-980-3.
External links[link]
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Steve Martin |
 |
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Steve Martin |
- Official website
- Steve Martin at the Internet Movie Database
- Steve Martin on National Public Radio in 2008. Article and radio file
- Steve Martin on National Public Radio in 2003. Radio file.
- Steve Martin on Charlie Rose Video of interview
- Men's Vogue article
- Disney Legends profile
- Works by or about Steve Martin in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Martin, Steve |
| Alternative names | Martin, Stephen Glen |
| Short description | American comedian, writer, entertainer |
| Date of birth | August 14, 1945 |
| Place of birth | Waco, Texas, United States |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
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This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Martin
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This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
| David Letterman | |
|---|---|
 Letterman performing on his show in June 2011. |
|
| Pseudonym | Earl Hofert |
| Born | (1947-04-12) April 12, 1947 (age 65) Indianapolis, Indiana, United States[1] |
| Medium | Stand-up, talk show |
| Nationality | American |
| Years active | 1974–present |
| Genres | Observational comedy, surreal humor, deadpan |
| Subject(s) | Self-deprecation, everyday life |
| Influences | Steve Allen,[citation needed] Johnny Carson,[2] Jack Paar,[citation needed] Paul Dixon[3] |
| Influenced | Jimmy Kimmel, Jim Gaffigan, Jon Stewart, Conan O'Brien, Jimmy Fallon |
| Spouse | Michelle Cook (1969–1977) Regina Lasko (2009–present) |
| Domestic partner(s) | Regina Lasko (1986–2009) |
| Notable works and roles | Host of The David Letterman Show (NBC) Host of Late Night with David Letterman (NBC) Host of Late Show with David Letterman (CBS) |
| Signature |  |
| Website | CBS.com/latenight/lateshow |
| Emmy Awards | |
| Outstanding Host or Hostess in a Variety Series 1981 The David Letterman Show Outstanding Individual Achievement — Writers 1981 The David Letterman Show Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program 1984 Late Night with David Letterman 1985 Late Night with David Letterman 1986 Late Night with David Letterman 1987 Late Night with David Letterman Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series 1994 Late Show with David Letterman |
|
| American Comedy Awards | |
| Funniest Male Performer in a TV Special (Leading or Supporting) Network, Cable or Syndication 1989 Late Night with David Letterman 1995 Late Show with David Letterman: Video Special Funniest Male Performer in a TV Series (Leading Role) Network, Cable or Syndication 1994 Late Show with David Letterman 2001 Late Show with David Letterman |
|
David Michael Letterman (born April 12, 1947) is an American television host and comedian.[1] He hosts the late night television talk show, Late Show with David Letterman, broadcast on CBS. Letterman has been a fixture on late night television since the 1982 debut of Late Night with David Letterman on NBC. Letterman recently surpassed friend and mentor Johnny Carson for having the longest late-night hosting career in the United States of America.[4]
Letterman is also a television and film producer. His company Worldwide Pants produces his show as well as its network follow-up The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. Worldwide Pants has also produced several prime-time comedies, the most successful of which was Everybody Loves Raymond, currently in syndication.
In 1996, David Letterman was ranked #45 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time.[5]
Contents |
Early life and career[link]
Letterman was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. His father, Harry Joseph Letterman (April 1915 – February 1973),[6] was a florist of British descent; his mother Dorothy Letterman (née Hofert, now Dorothy Mengering), a Presbyterian church secretary of German descent, is an occasional figure on the show, usually at holidays and birthdays.
Letterman lived on the north side of Indianapolis (Broad Ripple area), not far from Speedway, IN, and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and he enjoyed collecting model cars, including racers.[7] In 2000, he told an interviewer for Esquire that, while growing up, he admired his father's ability to tell jokes and be the life of the party. Harry Joseph Letterman survived a heart attack at age 36, when David was a young boy. The fear of losing his father was constantly with Letterman as he grew up.[8] The elder Letterman died of a second heart attack[9] at age 57.
Letterman attended his hometown's Broad Ripple High School at the same time as Marilyn Tucker (future wife of Dan Quayle) and worked as a stock boy at the local Atlas supermarket.[10] According to the Ball State Daily News, he originally had wanted to attend Indiana University, but his grades weren't good enough, so he decided to attend Ball State University, in Muncie, Indiana.[11] He is a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity, and he graduated from what was then the Department of Radio and Television, in 1969. A self-described average student, Letterman endowed a scholarship for what he called "C students" at Ball State.[12]
Though he registered for the draft and passed his physical after graduating from college, he was not drafted for service in Vietnam due to receiving a draft lottery number of 352 (out of 365).[13]
Letterman began his broadcasting career as an announcer and newscaster at the college's student-run radio station—WBST—a 10-watt campus station which now is part of Indiana Public Radio.[14] He was fired for treating classical music with irreverence.[14]
Letterman then became involved with the founding of another campus station—WAGO-AM 570 (now WWHI, 91.3).[15]
Letterman credits Paul Dixon—host of the Paul Dixon Show, a Cincinnati-based talk show also shown in Indianapolis while Letterman was growing up—for inspiring his choice of career:[3]
- "I was just out of college [in 1969], and I really didn't know what I wanted to do. And then all of a sudden I saw him doing it [on TV]. And I thought: That's really what I want to do!"
Weatherman[link]
Letterman began his career as a radio talk show host on WNTS (AM), and on Indianapolis television station WLWI (now called WTHR) as an anchor, and weatherman. He received some attention for his unpredictable on-air behavior, which included congratulating a tropical storm for being upgraded to a hurricane and predicting hail stones "the size of canned hams."[16] He would also occasionally report the weather and the day's very high and low temps for fictitious cities ("Eight inches of snow in Bingree and surrounding areas.") while on another occasion saying that a state border had been erased.[17] ("From space you can see the border between Indiana and Ohio has been erased. I'm not in favor of this.") He also starred in a local kiddie show, made wisecracks as host of a late night TV show called "Freeze-Dried Movies" (he once acted out a scene from "Godzilla" using plastic dinosaurs),[18] and hosted a talk show that aired early on Saturday mornings called "Clover Power,"[19] in which he interviewed 4-H members about their projects.[20]
In 1971, Letterman appeared as a pit road reporter for ABC Sports' tape-delayed coverage of the Indianapolis 500.[21] David initially is introduced as Chris Economaki in his job as a corner reporter. Letterman interviews Mario Andretti who has just crashed out of the race and asks him a question about traffic on the course.
Move to Los Angeles[link]
In 1975, encouraged by his then-wife Michelle and several of his Sigma Chi fraternity brothers, Letterman moved to Los Angeles, California, with hope of becoming a comedy writer.[22] He started off by writing material for comedian Jimmie Walker.[23] He also began performing stand-up comedy at The Comedy Store, a proving ground for unknown comics.
In the summer of 1977, Letterman was a writer and regular on the six-week summer series The Starland Vocal Band Show, broadcast on CBS.[24] He hosted a 1977 pilot for a game show entitled The Riddlers[25][26] that was never picked up and co-starred in the Barry Levinson-produced comedy special Peeping Times that aired in January 1978. Later that year, Letterman was a cast member on Mary Tyler Moore's variety show, Mary.[27] Letterman made a guest appearance on Mork & Mindy (as a parody of EST leader Werner Erhard[28]) and appearances on game shows such as The $20,000 Pyramid,[29] The Gong Show, Password Plus[30] and Liar's Club, as well as talk shows such as The Mike Douglas Show.[31] He was also screen tested for the lead role in the 1980 film Airplane!, a role that eventually went to Robert Hays.[32]
His dry, sarcastic humor caught the attention of scouts for The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, and Letterman was soon a regular guest on the show. Letterman became a favorite of Carson's and was a regular guest host for the show beginning in 1978. Letterman credits Carson as the person who influenced his career the most.[2]
NBC[link]
Morning show[link]
Main article: The David Letterman Show
On June 23, 1980, Letterman was given his own morning comedy show on NBC, The David Letterman Show. It was originally 90 minutes long, but was shortened to 60 minutes in August 1980.[33] The show was a critical success, winning two Emmy Awards, but was a ratings disappointment and was canceled in October 1980.
[edit] Late Night with David Letterman
Main article: Late Night with David Letterman
NBC kept Letterman under contract to try him in a different time slot. Late Night with David Letterman debuted February 1, 1982; the first guest on the first show was Bill Murray.[34] Murray also guested on January 31, 2012 – 30 years later. The show ran Monday through Thursday at 12:30 a.m. Eastern Time, immediately following The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (a Friday night broadcast was added in June 1987). It was seen as being edgy and unpredictable, and soon developed a cult following (particularly among college students). Letterman's reputation as an acerbic interviewer was borne out in verbal sparring matches with Cher[35] (who even called him an asshole on the show), Shirley MacLaine,[36] Charles Grodin, and Madonna. The show also featured comedy segments and running characters, in a style heavily influenced by the 1950s and 1960s programs of Steve Allen.[37] Although Ernie Kovacs is often cited as an influence on the show,[38] Letterman has denied this.[2]
The show often featured quirky, genre-mocking regular features, including "Stupid Pet Tricks[39] ", dropping various objects off the roof of a five-story building,[40] demonstrations of unorthodox clothing (such as suits made of Alka-Seltzer,[41] Velcro[42] and suet), a recurring Top 10 list, the Monkey-Cam[43] (and the Audience Cam), and a facetious letter-answering segment.[44] The Top 10 list, several "Film[s] by My Dog Bob" in which a camera was mounted on Letterman's own dog[45] (often with comic results), Stupid Human Tricks,[46] Small Town News,[47] and Stupid Pet Tricks[48] (which had its origins on Letterman's morning show) all eventually moved with Letterman to CBS.
Other memorable moments included Letterman using a bullhorn to interrupt a live interview on The Today Show, announcing that he was the NBC president while not wearing any pants; interrupting Al Roker on WNBC-TV's broadcast of Live at Five by walking into their studio (which occupied the same floor of 30 Rockefeller Plaza as Letterman's studio); and staging "elevator races", complete with commentary by NBC Sports' Bob Costas. In one infamous appearance, in 1982, Andy Kaufman (who was already wearing a neck brace) appeared to be slapped and knocked to the ground by professional wrestler Jerry Lawler (though Lawler and Kaufman's friend Bob Zmuda later revealed that the event was staged.)[49] In another memorable exchange, sex expert Dr. Ruth Westheimer included cucumbers in a list of handy sex objects that women could find at home. The following night, guest Ted Koppel asked Letterman "May I insert something here?" and Dave responded "OK, as long as it's not a cucumber."[citation needed]
[edit] Late Show with David Letterman
Main article: Late Show with David Letterman
In 1992, Johnny Carson retired, and many fans believed that Letterman would become host of The Tonight Show. When NBC instead gave the job to Jay Leno, Letterman departed NBC to host his own late-night show on CBS, opposite The Tonight Show at 11:30 p.m., called the Late Show with David Letterman. The new show debuted on August 30, 1993 and was taped at the historic Ed Sullivan Theater, where Ed Sullivan taped his eponymous variety series from 1948 to 1971. For Letterman's arrival, CBS spent $8 million in renovations.[50] In addition to that cost, CBS also signed Letterman to a lucrative three-year, $14 million/year contract,[51] doubling his Late Night salary. The total cost for everything (renovations, negotiation right paid to NBC, signing Letterman, announcer Bill Wendell, Shaffer, the writers and the band) was over $140 million.
But while the expectation was that Letterman would retain his unique style and sense of humor with the move, Late Show was not an exact replica of his old NBC program. Recognizing the more formal mood (and wider audience) of his new time slot and studio, Letterman eschewed his trademark blazer with khaki pants and white sneakers wardrobe combination in favor of expensive shoes, tailored suits and light-colored socks. The monologue was lengthened and Paul Shaffer and the "World's Most Dangerous Band" followed Letterman to CBS, but they added a brass section and were rebranded the "CBS Orchestra" as a short monologue and a small band were mandated by Carson while Letterman occupied the 12:30 slot. Additionally, because of intellectual property disagreements, Letterman was unable to import many of his Late Night segments verbatim,[52] but he sidestepped this problem by simply renaming them (the "Top Ten List" became the "Late Show Top Ten", "Viewer Mail" became the "CBS Mailbag", etc.)
Popularity[link]
The main competitor of The Late Show is NBC's The Tonight Show, which was hosted by Jay Leno for nearly 16 years, but from June 1, 2009, to January 22, 2010, was hosted by Conan O'Brien. In 1993 and 1994, The Late Show consistently gained higher ratings than The Tonight Show. But in 1995, ratings dipped and Leno's show consistently beat Letterman's in the ratings from the time that Hugh Grant came on Leno's show after Grant's arrest for soliciting a prostitute.;[53] Leno typically attracted about 5 million nightly viewers between 1999 and 2009. The Late Show lost nearly half its audience during its competition with Leno, attracting 7.1 million viewers nightly in its 1993–94 season and about 3.8 million per night as of Leno's departure in 2009.[54] In the final months of his first stint as host of The Tonight Show, Leno beat Letterman in the ratings by a 1.3 million viewer margin (5.2 million to 3.9 million), and Nightline and The Late Show were virtually tied.[55] Once O'Brien took over Tonight, however, Letterman closed the gap in the ratings.[56][57][58] O'Brien initially drove the median age of Tonight Show viewers from 55 to 45, with most older viewers opting to watch The Late Show instead.[59]
Following Leno's return to The Tonight Show, however, Leno has regained his lead.[60]
Letterman's shows have garnered both critical and industry praise, receiving 67 Emmy Award nominations, winning 12 times in his first 20 years in late night television. From 1993–2009, Letterman ranked higher than Leno in the annual Harris Poll of Nation's Favorite TV Personality 12 times.[61] For example, in 2003 and 2004 Letterman ranked second in that poll, behind only Oprah Winfrey, a year that Leno was ranked fifth.[62] Leno was higher than Letterman on that poll three times during the same period, in 1998, 2007, and 2008.[61]
Hosting the Academy Awards[link]
On March 27, 1995, Letterman acted as the host for the 67th Academy Awards ceremony. Critics blasted[63] Letterman for what they deemed a poor hosting of the Oscars, noting that his irreverent style undermined the traditional importance and glamor of the event.[citation needed] In a joke about their unusual names (inspired by a similar joke by Woody Allen), he started off by introducing Uma Thurman to Oprah Winfrey, and then both of them to Keanu Reeves: "Oprah...Uma. Uma...Oprah," "Have you kids met Keanu?"[64] This and many of his other jokes fell flat.[citation needed] Although Letterman attracted the highest ratings to the annual telecast since 1983, many felt that the bad publicity garnered by Letterman's hosting caused a decline in the Late Show's ratings.[65]
Letterman recycled the apparent debacle into a long-running gag. On his first show after the Oscars, he joked, "Looking back, I had no idea that thing was being televised." He lampooned his stint two years later, during Billy Crystal's opening Oscar skit, which also parodied the plane-crashing scenes from that year's chief nominated film, The English Patient.
For years afterward, Letterman recounted his hosting the Oscars, although the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences continued to hold Letterman in high regard and they had invited him to host the Oscars again.[66][67] On September 7, 2010, he made an appearance on the premiere of the 14th season of The View, and confirmed that he had been considered for hosting again.
Heart surgery hiatus[link]
On January 14, 2000, a routine check-up revealed that an artery in Letterman's heart was severely obstructed. He was rushed to emergency surgery for a quintuple bypass.[68]
During the initial weeks of his recovery, reruns of the Late Show were shown and introduced by friends of Letterman including Drew Barrymore,[58] Ray Romano, Robin Williams, Bonnie Hunt, Megan Mullally, Bill Murray, Regis Philbin, Charles Grodin, Nathan Lane, Julia Roberts,[58] Bruce Willis, Jerry Seinfeld, Martin Short, Steven Seagal, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Danny DeVito, Steve Martin, and Sarah Jessica Parker.
Subsequently, while still recovering from surgery, Letterman revived the late night tradition that had virtually disappeared on network television during the 1990s of 'guest hosts' by allowing Bill Cosby, Kathie Lee Gifford (recommended by Regis Philbin, who was asked first but had no time in his schedule), Dana Carvey, Janeane Garofalo, and others to host new episodes of The Late Show. Cosby—the show's first guest host—refused to sit at Letterman's desk out of respect, using the couch instead; Garofalo followed suit, utilizing a set of grade-school desks instead.
Upon his return to the show on February 21, 2000, Letterman brought all of the doctors and nurses on stage who had participated in his surgery and recovery (with extra teasing of a nurse who had given him bed baths—"This woman has seen me naked!"),[69] including Dr. O. Wayne Isom and physician Louis Aronne, who frequently appears on the show. In a show of emotion, Letterman was nearly in tears as he thanked the health care team with the words "These are the people who saved my life!" The episode earned an Emmy nomination. For a number of episodes, Letterman continued to crack jokes about his bypass, including saying, "Bypass surgery: it's when doctors surgically create new blood flow to your heart. A bypass is what happened to me when I didn't get The Tonight Show! It's a whole different thing." In a later running gag he lobbied his home state of Indiana to rename the freeway circling Indianapolis (I-465) "The David Letterman Bypass." He also featured a montage of faux news coverage of his bypass surgery, which included a clip of Dave's heart for sale on the Home Shopping Network. Letterman became friends with his doctors and nurses. In 2008, a Rolling Stone interview stated "he hosted a doctor and nurse who'd helped perform the emergency quintuple-bypass heart surgery that saved his life in 2000. 'These are people who were complete strangers when they opened my chest,' he says. 'And now, eight years later, they're among my best friends.' "[4]
Additionally, Letterman invited the band Foo Fighters to play "Everlong",[70] introducing them as "my favorite band, playing my favorite song."[71] During a later Foo Fighters appearance, Letterman said that Foo Fighters had been in the middle of a South American tour which they canceled to come play on his comeback episode.
Letterman again handed over the reins of the show to several guest hosts (including Bill Cosby, Brad Garrett, Elvis Costello, John McEnroe, Vince Vaughn, Will Ferrell, Bonnie Hunt, Luke Wilson and bandleader Paul Shaffer) in February 2003, when he was diagnosed with a severe case of shingles. Later that year, Letterman made regular use of guest hosts—including Tom Arnold and Kelsey Grammer—for new shows broadcast on Fridays. In March 2007, Adam Sandler—who had been scheduled to be the lead guest—served as a guest host while Letterman was ill with a stomach virus.[72]
Re-signing with CBS[link]
In March 2002, as Letterman's contract with CBS neared expiration, ABC offered him the time slot for long-running news program Nightline with Ted Koppel. Letterman was interested as he believed he could never match Leno's ratings at CBS due to Letterman's complaint of weaker lead-ins from the network's late local news programs, but was reluctant to replace Koppel.[73] Letterman addressed his decision to re-sign on the air, stating that he was content at CBS and that he had great respect for Koppel.
On December 4, 2006, CBS revealed that Letterman signed a new contract to host The Late Show with David Letterman through the fall of 2010. "I'm thrilled to be continuing on at CBS," said Letterman. "At my age you really don't want to have to learn a new commute."[74] Letterman further joked about the subject by pulling up his right pants leg, revealing a tattoo, presumably temporary, of the ABC logo.
"Thirteen years ago, David Letterman put CBS late night on the map and in the process became one of the defining icons of our network," said Leslie Moonves, president and CEO of CBS Corporation. "His presence on our air is an ongoing source of pride, and the creativity and imagination that the Late Show puts forth every night is an ongoing display of the highest quality entertainment. We are truly honored that one of the most revered and talented entertainers of our time will continue to call CBS 'home.'"[75]
According to a 2007 article in Forbes magazine, Letterman earned $40 million a year.[76] A 2009 article in The New York Times, however, said his salary was estimated at $32 million per year.[77] In June 2009, Letterman's Worldwide Pants and CBS reached agreement to continue the Late Show until at least August 2012. The previous contract had been set to expire in 2010, and the two-year extension is shorter than the typical three-year contract period negotiated in the past.[77] Worldwide Pants agreed to lower its fee for the show, though it had remained a "solid moneymaker for CBS" under the previous contract.[77]
On the February 3, 2011, edition of the Late Show, during an interview with Howard Stern, Letterman said he would continue to do his talk show for "maybe two years, I think."[78]
2007–2008 writers' strike[link]
The Late Show went off air for eight weeks during the months of November and December because of the Writers Guild of America strike. Letterman's production company—Worldwide Pants—was the first company to make an individual agreement with the WGA,[79] thus allowing his show to come back on air on January 2, 2008. On his first episode since being off air, he surprised the viewing audience with his newly grown beard, which signified solidarity with the strike.[80] His beard was shaved off during the show on January 7, 2008.
Controversy over jokes about daughter of Sarah Palin[link]
On June 8 and June 9, 2009, Letterman told a sexually-themed joke on his show each night about a daughter of Sarah Palin.[81] Palin was in New York City at the time with her fourteen year-old daughter, Willow, and the jokes were said to be aimed at the daughter, never named, who was visiting New York City with her mother.[81] Palin criticized the jokes, saying in a statement posted on the internet that "I doubt he'd ever dare make such comments about anyone else's daughter," and "laughter incited by sexually-perverted comments made by a 62-year-old male celebrity aimed at a 14-year-old girl" is "disgusting."[82] On June 10, Letterman responded to the controversy on his show by stating that the jokes were meant to be about Palin's eighteen year-old daughter, Bristol, whose pregnancy as an unmarried teenager had caused controversy during the 2008 Presidential election, and that "(t)hese are not jokes made about (Palin's) 14-year-old daughter. I would never, never make jokes about raping or having sex of any description with a 14-year-old girl."[82] His remarks didn't put an end to the public criticism, however, with the National Organization for Women, who supported Palin in a statement, noting he had given only "something of an apology."[81] With the controversy not subsiding, Letterman addressed the issue again on his June 15 show, faulting himself for the error and apologizing "especially to the two daughters involved, Bristol and Willow, and also to the governor and her family and everybody else who was outraged by the joke."[83]
Letterman and Carson[link]
In spite of Johnny Carson's clear intention to pass his title to Letterman, NBC selected Jay Leno to host The Tonight Show after Carson's departure.[84] Letterman maintained a close relationship with Carson through his break with NBC. Three years after he left for CBS, HBO produced a made-for-television movie called The Late Shift, based on a book by New York Times reporter Bill Carter, chronicling the battle between Letterman and Leno for the coveted Tonight Show hosting spot. Letterman would mock the film for months afterward, specifically on how the actor playing him, John Michael Higgins, did not resemble him in the least.[citation needed]
Carson later made a few cameo appearances as a guest on Letterman's show. Carson's final television appearance came May 13, 1994, on a Late Show episode taped in Los Angeles, when he made a surprise appearance during a 'Top 10 list' segment. The audience went wild as Letterman stood up and proudly invited Carson to sit at his desk. The applause was so protracted that Carson was unable to say anything, and he finally returned backstage as the applause continued (it was later explained that Carson had laryngitis, though Carson can be heard talking to Letterman during his appearance).
In early 2005, it was revealed that Carson still kept up with current events and late-night TV right up to his death that year, and that he occasionally sent jokes to Letterman, who used these jokes in his monologue; according to CBS senior vice president Peter Lassally (a onetime producer for both men), Carson got "a big kick out of it."[85] Letterman would do a characteristic Johnny Carson golf swing after delivering one of Carson's jokes. In a tribute to Carson, all of the opening monologue jokes during the first show following Carson's death were written by Carson.
Lassally also claimed that Carson had always believed Letterman, not Leno, to be his "rightful successor."[86] Letterman also frequently employs some of Carson's trademark bits on his show, including "Carnac the Magnificent" (with Paul Shaffer as Carnac), "Stump the Band" and the "Week in Review."
Letterman and Oprah Winfrey[link]
Letterman and Oprah had a 16 year feud which according to Letterman started when he and his girlfriend decided to skip out on a bill, tricking the waiter into thinking Oprah agreed to pay it.[87]
On September 10, 2007, Letterman made his first appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show at Madison Square Garden in New York City. He shared pictures of his son and live-in girlfriend. The so-called feud between Letterman and Winfrey apparently ended in 2005 when Winfrey appeared on CBS's Late Show with David Letterman on December 2, in an event Letterman jokingly referred to as "the Super Bowl of Love".[88] Winfrey had previously appeared on Letterman's show when he was hosting NBC's Late Night on May 2, 1989.
Winfrey and Letterman also appeared together in a Late Show promo that aired during CBS's coverage of Super Bowl XLI in February 2007, with the two sitting next to each other on the couch watching the game. Since the game was played between the Indianapolis Colts and Chicago Bears, the Indianapolis-born Letterman wears a Peyton Manning jersey, while Winfrey—who tapes her show in Chicago—is in a Brian Urlacher jersey.[89] Three years later, during CBS's coverage of Super Bowl XLIV, the two appeared again, this time with Winfrey sitting on a couch between Letterman and Jay Leno. The appearance was Letterman's idea: Leno flew to New York City in an NBC corporate jet, sneaking into the Ed Sullivan Theater during the Late Show's February 4 taping wearing a disguise, meeting Winfrey and Letterman at a living room set created in the theater's balcony where they taped their promo.[90]
Response to Internet death threat[link]
On August 17, 2011, it was reported that a Muslim militant had posted a death threat against Letterman on a website frequented by Al-Qaeda supporters, calling on American Muslims to kill Letterman for making a joke about the death of an Al-Qaeda leader killed in a drone strike in Pakistan in June 2011.[91] In his show on August 22, Letterman joked about the threat, saying "State Department authorities are looking into this. They're not taking this lightly. They're looking into it. They're questioning, they're interrogating, there's an electronic trail—but everybody knows it's Leno."[92]
Appearances in other media[link]
Letterman appeared in issue 239 of the Marvel comic book The Avengers, in which the title characters are guests on Late Night.[93] A parody of Letterman, named "David Endochrine," is gassed to death along with his bandleader named "Paul" and their audience in Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns.[94]
Letterman appeared in the pilot episode of the short-lived 1986 series "Coach Toast", and he appears with a bag over his head as a guest on Bonnie Hunt's ca. 1993 sitcom The Building. He also appears in The Simpsons, as himself in a couch gag when The Simpsons find themselves (and the couch) in "Late Night with David Letterman." He had a cameo in the feature film Cabin Boy, with Chris Elliott, who worked as a writer on Letterman's show. In this and other appearances, Letterman is listed in the credits as "Earl Hofert", the name of Letterman's maternal grandfather. He also appeared as himself in the Howard Stern biopic Private Parts as well as the 1999 Andy Kaufman biopic Man on the Moon, in a few episodes of Garry Shandling's 1990s TV series The Larry Sanders Show and in "The Abstinence", a 1996 episode of the sitcom Seinfeld. Letterman also made an uncredited appearance in the first episode of the third season of the sitcom The Nanny.
Letterman provided vocals for the Warren Zevon song "Hit Somebody" from My Ride's Here,[95] and provided the voice for Butt-head's father in the 1996 animated film Beavis and Butt-head Do America.
In 2010, a documentary Dying to Do Letterman was released directed by Joke Fincioen and Biagio Messina featuring Steve Mazan, a stand up comic, who has cancer and wants to appear on the Letterman Show. The film won Best Documentary and Jury Awards at the Cinequest Film Festival.[96] Steve Mazan published a same-titled book (full title, Dying to Do Letterman: Turning Someday into Today) about his own saga.[97]
Known for rarely giving television interviews, Letterman appeared as an exclusive guest on CNN's Piers Morgan Tonight on May 29, 2012. He was interviewed for one full hour by a long-time friend and fellow television host Regis Philbin, who guest hosted the show during Piers Morgan's leave during that week.
Other projects[link]
Worldwide Pants[link]
Letterman started his own production company—Worldwide Pants Incorporated—which produced his show and several others, including Everybody Loves Raymond, The Late Late Show, and several critically acclaimed, but short-lived television series for Bonnie Hunt. Worldwide Pants also produced the dramedy program Ed, which aired on NBC from 2000–2004. It was Letterman's first association with NBC since he left the network in 1993. During Ed's run, the star, Tom Cavanagh, appeared as a guest on The Late Show several times.
In 2005, Worldwide Pants produced its first feature film, Strangers with Candy, which was a prequel to the Comedy Central TV series of the same title. In 2007, Worldwide Pants produced the ABC comedy series, Knights of Prosperity.
Worldwide Pants made significant news in December 2007 when it was announced that Letterman's company had independently negotiated its own contract with the Writers Guild of America, East, thus allowing Letterman, Craig Ferguson, and their writers to return to work, while the union continued its strike against production companies, networks and studios who had not reached an agreement.
Record company[link]
In late April 2010, several music industry websites reported that Letterman started a record label named Clear Entertainment/C.E. Music and signed his first artist, Runner Runner.[98][99] Lucy Walsh announced on her MySpace page that she has been signed by Letterman and Clear Entertainment/C.E. Music and is working on her album.
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing[link]
Main article: Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLLR) is an auto racing team that currently races in the American Le Mans Series, and part-time in the Indy Racing League. It is co-owned by 1986 Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Rahal, businessman Mike Lanigan, and Letterman himself, and is based in Hilliard, Ohio. The team won the 2004 Indianapolis 500 with driver Buddy Rice. Letterman was a pit reporter for ABC in the 1971 Indianapolis 500.[21]
American Foundation for Courtesy and Grooming[link]
Main article: American Foundation for Courtesy and Grooming
American Foundation for Courtesy and Grooming is Letterman's private foundation. Through it, Letterman has donated millions of dollars to charities and other non-profits in Indiana and Montana, celebrity-affiliated organizations such as Paul Newman's Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, universities such as Ball State, and other organizations such as the American Cancer Society, Salvation Army, and Doctors Without Borders.
Personal life[link]
Marriages and long-term relationships[link]
In 1969, Letterman married Michelle Cook; the marriage ended by divorce in 1977.[100] He also had a long-term relationship with former head writer and producer on Late Night, Merrill Markoe. Markoe was the mind behind several Late Night staples, such as "Stupid Pet/Human Tricks".
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Wikinews has related news: TV late night show host David Letterman marries girlfriend of 23 years |
Letterman has a son, Harry Joseph Letterman (born on November 3, 2003), with Regina Lasko. Harry is named after Letterman's father.[101] In 2005, police discovered a plot to kidnap Harry Letterman and ransom him for $5 million. Kelly Frank, a house painter who had worked for Letterman, was charged in the conspiracy.[102]
Letterman and Lasko, who had been together since 1986, wed on March 19, 2009, during a quiet courthouse civil ceremony in Choteau, Montana, where he purchased a ranch in 1999.[103][104][105] Letterman announced the marriage during the taping of his March 23 show, shortly after congratulating Bruce Willis for getting married the previous week. Letterman told the audience he nearly missed the ceremony because his truck became stuck in mud two miles from their house.[106] The family resides in North Salem, New York, on a 108-acre (44 ha) estate.[107]
Stalking incident[link]
Beginning in May 1988, Letterman was stalked by Margaret Mary Ray, a woman suffering from schizophrenia. She once stole his Porsche, repeatedly broke into his house, and camped out on his tennis court. Her exploits drew national attention, and Letterman occasionally joked about her behavior in his show, although never mentioning her name. After she committed suicide in 1998, Letterman told the New York Times that he had had great compassion for her,[108] and publicly expressed sympathy.[109]
[edit] Extortion attempt and revelation of affairs
On his October 1, 2009, show, Letterman announced that he had been the victim of an extortion attempt by someone threatening to reveal that he had had sex with several of his female employees, and at the same time, he confirmed that he had had such relationships.[110] He stated that three weeks earlier (on September 9, 2009) someone had left a package in his car with material he said he would write into a screenplay and a book if Letterman did not pay him $2 million. Letterman said that he contacted the Manhattan District Attorney's office, ultimately cooperating with them to conduct a sting operation involving giving the man a phony check.[111] Subsequently, Robert J. "Joe" Halderman, a producer of the CBS true crime journalism series 48 Hours, was arrested after trying to deposit the check. He was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury and pleaded not guilty to a charge of attempted grand larceny on October 2, 2009.[112] Eventually, on March 9, 2010, he pleaded guilty to this same felony and served a 6-month jail sentence, followed by probation and community service.[113]
A central figure in the case and one of the women Letterman had had a sexual relationship with was his longtime personal assistant Stephanie Birkitt, who often appeared with him on his show. She had also worked for 48 Hours.[114] Until a month prior to the revelations, she had shared a residence with Halderman,[115] who allegedly had copied her personal diary and used it, along with private emails, in the blackmail package.[116]
On October 3, 2009, a former CBS employee, Holly Hester, announced that she and Letterman had engaged in a year-long "secret" affair in the early 1990s while she was his intern and a student at New York University.[117]
In the days following the initial announcement of the affairs and the arrest, several prominent women, including Kathie Lee Gifford, co-host of NBC's Today Show, and NBC news anchor Ann Curry questioned whether Letterman's affairs with subordinates created an unfair working environment.[118] A spokesman for Worldwide Pants said that the company's sexual harassment policy did not prohibit sexual relationships between managers and employees.[119] According to business news reporter Eve Tahmincioglu, "CBS suppliers are supposed to follow the company's business conduct policies" and the CBS 2008 Business Conduct Statement states that "If a consenting romantic or sexual relationship between a supervisor and a direct or indirect subordinate should develop, CBS requires the supervisor to disclose this information to his or her Company's Human Resources Department..."[120]
On October 5, 2009, Letterman devoted a segment of his show to a public apology to his wife and staff.[121][122] Three days later, Worldwide Pants announced that Birkitt had been placed on a "paid leave of absence" from the Late Show.[123] On October 15, CBS News announced that the company's Chief Investigative Correspondent, Armen Keteyian, had been assigned to conduct an "in-depth investigation" into Halderman's blackmail of Letterman.[124]
Awards and honors[link]
Awards[link]
Main article: List of David Letterman awards
In his capacities as either a writer, producer, performer, or as part of a writing team, Letterman is among the most nominated people in Emmy Award history with 52 nominations, winning two Daytime Emmys and five Primetime Emmys since 1981. His nomination record is second only to producer Jac Venza, who holds the record for the most Emmy nominations for an individual (57). Letterman has been nominated every year since 1984, when he first appeared on late night television as the host of Late Night with David Letterman. Additionally, he has won four American Comedy Awards. Letterman was the first recipient of the Johnny Carson Award for Comedic Excellence at The Comedy Awards in 2011.
David Letterman Communication and Media Building[link]
On September 7, 2007, Letterman visited his alma mater, Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, for the dedication of a communications facility named in his honor for his dedication to the university throughout his career as a comedian. The $21 million, 75,000-square-foot (7,000 m2) David Letterman Communication and Media Building opened for the 2007 fall semester. It features state-of-the-art recording equipment and facilities. Thousands of Ball State students, faculty, and local residents welcomed Letterman back to Indiana.[125] Letterman's emotional speech touched on his struggles as a college student and his late father, and also included the "top ten good things about having your name on a building", finishing with, "if reasonable people can put my name on a $21 million building, anything is possible."[126]
At the same time, Letterman also received a Sagamore of the Wabash award given by Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, which recognizes distinguished service to the state of Indiana.[125]
References[link]
- ^ a b "David Letterman Biography". The New York Times. http://movies.nytimes.com/person/954441/David-Letterman/biography. Retrieved 2009-02-03.
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- ^ IMDB, broadcast April 3, 1979.
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- ^ TV By The Numbers "Jay Leno And Jimmy Fallon Win the Late-Night Week of April 27 - May 1" May 7, 2009
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- ^ John O'Connor (March 29, 1995). "The Winner Isn't David Letterman". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1995/03/29/movies/critic-s-notebook-the-winner-isn-t-david-letterman.html. Retrieved December 8, 2011.
- ^ "David Letterman Hosts The Academy Awards". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gS0-inBTfPc. Retrieved February 5, 2012.
- ^ Schruers, Fred (May 30, 1996). "Dave vs. Dave: Forget Leno & Koppel — Letterman May Be His Own Worst Enemy". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 2007-11-27. http://web.archive.org/web/20071127145433/http://www.geocities.com/davidletterman82/RollingStone1996Interview.html.
- ^ Finke, Nikki (February 25, 2008). "The 411 about David Letterman & Oscar". Deadline Hollywood Daily. http://www.deadline.com/2008/02/the-411-about-david-letterman-oscar/.
- ^ Keller, Joel (23 February 2011). "Interview: Bruce Vilanch". A.V. Club. http://www.avclub.com/articles/bruce-vilanch,52248/. Retrieved 19 December 2011.
- ^ Kelley, Tina (January 15, 2000). "Artery Blocked, Letterman Has Heart Bypass Surgery". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2000/01/15/nyregion/artery-blocked-letterman-has-heart-bypass-surgery.html?sec=health. Retrieved March 23, 2009.
- ^ "David Letterman biography". Popstarsplus.com. http://www.popstarsplus.com/celebrities_davidletterman.htm. Retrieved 2010-11-07.
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- ^ Millman, Joyce (2000-03-20). "The top 10 reasons David Letterman's heart bypass operation was a good thing". Salon. http://www.salon.com/entertainment/col/mill/2000/03/20/letterman. Retrieved 2010-06-05.
- ^ Carter, Bill (March 20, 2007). "Letterman is Ill, so Guest Takes Over Late Show". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/20/arts/television/20cnd-letterman.html?ex=1175313600&en=e887f76d9783d7e7&ei=5070. Retrieved March 29, 2007.
- ^ "The Battle for Late Night" A&E Network, 27 April 2010.
- ^ Pierce, Scott D. (December 8, 2006). "Dave will outlast Jay". Deseret News. http://www.deseretnews.com/article/650213242/Dave-will-outlast-Jay.html.
- ^ "CBS Signs David Letterman As Host Of The "Late Show" Through Fall 2010". CBS. December 4, 2006. http://www.cbscorporation.com/news-article.php?id=13.
- ^ "#17 David Letterman". Forbes. http://www.forbes.com/lists/2007/53/07celebrities_David-Letterman_C8CO.html.
- ^ a b c Carter, Bill (June 6, 2009). "Letterman Reaches a Deal With CBS to Extend ‘Late Show’". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/10/arts/television/10letterman.html. Retrieved 2011-05-15.
- ^ Seth Abramovitch (February 4, 2011). "Is David Letterman Ready to be Done with the Late Show?". TV.com. http://www.tv.com/is-david-letterman-ready-to-be-done-with-the-late-show/story/25084.html. Retrieved 2011-06-17. "Dave tried valiantly to change the subject to Stern’s new Sirius deal, rumored to be worth even more than the $500 million contract he signed with them in 2005. But once again, Stern (now 57) turned the tables on Dave (now 63), asking the host, “How much longer are you doing this?” To which Letterman replied: “Maybe two years, I think?”"
- ^ "e-mail 12-28-07". wga.org. http://www.wga.org/subpage_member.aspx?id=2692.
- ^ Gary Levin (January 3, 2008). "Late-night shows return fully bearded — with and without writers". USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2008-01-02-late-night-strike_N.htm. Retrieved 2010-01-17.
- ^ a b c Lisa Bennett (June 11, 2009). "Letterman "Jokes" About Palin's Daughter". NOW. http://www.now.org/issues/media/hall-of-shame/index.php/television/letterman-palin-daughter. Retrieved 2012-04-27.
- ^ a b Caitlin Taylor (June 11, 2009). "Palin vs. Letterman". ABC News. http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2009/06/palin-vs-letterman/. Retrieved 2012-04-27.
- ^ Paul Farhi (June 16, 2009). "One Pregnant-Teen Joke Too Many? Angry Palin Gets Letterman to Apologize". washingtonpost.com. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/15/AR2009061503131.html?hpid=topnews. Retrieved 2012-04-27.
- ^ "The Independent". Johnny Carson, king of late-night chat, dies at 79 (London). January 24, 2005. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/johnny-carson-king-of-latenight-chat-dies-at-79-488063.html. Retrieved July 6, 2009.
- ^ Pierce, Scott D. (January 24, 2005). "TV critics genuinely fond of Carson". Deseret News. http://www.deseretnews.com/article/600106891/TV-critics-genuinely-fond-of-Carson.html. Retrieved February 27, 2012.
- ^ "New York Post". Carson Feeds Letterman Lines. http://pqarchiver.nypost.com/nypost/access/781543221.html?dids=781543221:781543221&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Jan+20%2C+2005&author=Post+Wire+Services&pub=New+York+Post&edition=&startpage=102&desc=CARSON+FEEDS+LETTERMAN+LINES. Retrieved December 17, 2006.
- ^ Bauderap, David (2010-10-01). "Free lunch behind 16-year Letterman, Oprah feud". News.com.au. http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/television/free-lunch-behind-16-year-letterman-oprah-feud/story-e6frfmyi-1225932672545. Retrieved 2012-05-15.
- ^ "Letterman to appear on `Oprah'". Yahoo.TV. http://tv.yahoo.com/show/32704/news/urn:newsml:tv.ap.org:20070830:people_winfrey_letterman__ER:1759. [dead link]
- ^ "Dave and Oprah's Super Bowl of Love". YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_i5we6MB-w.
- ^ Bill Carter (February 7, 2010). "How the Letterman-Oprah-Leno Super Bowl Ad Came Together". Media Decoder (The New York Times). http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/07/how-the-letterman-oprah-leno-super-bowl-ad-came-together/. Retrieved 2010-02-08.
- ^ "Militant makes death threat against David Letterman". Reuters. August 17, 2011. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/17/us-davidletterman-idUSTRE77G6K520110817. Retrieved 2011-08-18.
- ^ Carter, Bill (August 22, 2011). "Letterman Responds to Death Threats in Monologue". The New York Times. http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/22/letterman-responds-to-death-threats-in-monologue/. Retrieved 2011-08-23.
- ^ The Avengers meet David Letterman reviewed at misterkitty.org
- ^ Review of The Dark Knight Returns at Batman-on-film.com
- ^ Warren Zevon : Hit Somebody (The Hockey Song) from Artistdirect
- ^ Dying to Do Letterman official website
- ^ The Book Tree: Book Review - Dying to Do Letterman
- ^ Runner Runner sign to EMI
- ^ Vozick, Simon (2010-04-28). "David Letterman starts record label, signs pop-punk band". Music-mix.ew.com. http://music-mix.ew.com/2010/04/28/david-letterman-runner-band/. Retrieved 2010-11-07.
- ^ Biography for David Letterman at the Internet Movie Database
- ^ "Letterman: It's A Boy!, 'Late Show' Host, Girlfriend Have 9 Pound, 11 Ounce Son". CBS News. November 4, 2003. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/11/04/entertainment/main581713.shtml.
- ^ "Montana man charged with Letterman plot". CNN. March 17, 2005. http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/TV/03/17/letterman.plot/index.html. Retrieved May 1, 2010.
- ^ "David Letterman Weds!". People. March 23, 2009. http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20267367,00.html. Retrieved August 7, 2011.
- ^ Rhein, Jamie (March 25, 2009). "Great American Road Trip: Choteau, Montana, Letterman's Hangout is a Gem of a Town". Gadling. AOL Travel. http://www.gadling.com/2009/03/25/choteau-montana-lettermans-hangout-is-a-gem-of-a-town/. Retrieved August 7, 2011.
- ^ "Heartfelt Thanks From Letterman". CBS News. February 11, 2009. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/03/22/entertainment/main682106.shtml. Retrieved September 3, 2011.
- ^ Snead, Elizabeth (2009-03-23). "David Letterman (finally) gets hitched to Regina Lasko". Los Angeles Times. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedishrag/2009/03/ok-theres-somet.html. Retrieved 2009-03-26.
- ^ Dave's domain from the March 22, 2007 "Gimme Shelter" column in the New York Post
- ^ Bruni, Frank (November 22, 1998). "For Letterman Stalker, Mental Illness Was Family Curse and Scarring Legacy". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9E0CE7DC1130F931A15752C1A96E958260. Retrieved May 1, 2010.
- ^ Foster, David; Levinson, Arlene (October 10, 1998). "Suicide on a railroad track ends a celebrity-stalker's inner agony". Associated Press, online Athens. http://www.onlineathens.com/1998/101198/1011.a3letterman.html.
- ^ Gold, Matea (October 2, 2009). "David Letterman on extortion attempt: 'I felt menaced by this'". Los Angeles Times. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2009/10/david-letterman-on-extortion-attempt-i-felt-menaced-by-this.html.
- ^ Martinez, Edecio (October 2, 2009). "Robert Joe Halderman, 48 Hours Producer, Named in David Letterman Sex Extortion Plot". CBSnews.com. http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/10/02/crimesider/entry5357903.shtml?tag=cbsnewsCrimesiderArea.0.
- ^ Honan, Edith (September 2, 2009). "Suspect in Letterman extortion pleads not guilty". Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUSTRE5910GR20091002. Retrieved 2009-10-02.
- ^ Grace, Melissa; Boyle, Christina; McShane, Larry (March 9, 2010). "Ex-CBS producer Robert Halderman pleads guilty to blackmailing David Letterman over intern affairs". NY Daily News (New York). http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2010/03/09/2010-03-09_david_letterman_blackmailer_robert_halderman_will_plead_guilty_take_sixmonth_jai.html. Retrieved 2010-03-10.
- ^ Shea, Danny (October 2, 2009). "Stephanie Birkitt". The Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/02/stephanie-birkitt-letterm_n_307558.html. Retrieved 2009-10-02.
- ^ Carter, Bill; Stelter, Brian (October 2, 2009). "Letterman Extortion Raises Questions for CBS". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/03/business/media/03extort.html.
- ^ "Stephanie Birkitt Secret Diary at Center of Letterman Sex Extortion, Say Cops". CBS News/Associated press. October 5, 2009. http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/10/05/crimesider/entry5364879.shtml. Retrieved 2009-10-05.
- ^ Cahalan, Sussanah; Karni, Annie; Cohen, Stephanie (October 4, 2009). "'Late Show' staff gals got plenty of 'advances'". New York Post. http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/late_show_staff_gals_got_plenty_QzBeMomGK52ixJtyl0Z8kI. Retrieved 2009-10-04.
- ^ "Will women viewers turn away from Letterman?". Associated Press. October 4, 2009. http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/33167148/ns/today-entertainment/t/will-women-viewers-turn-away-letterman/. Retrieved 2009-10-04.
- ^ Gold, Matea; Collins, Scott (October 3, 2009). "David Letterman affair is no joke". Los Angeles Times. http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/tv/la-et-letterman3-2009oct03,0,257832,full.story. Retrieved 2009-10-04. "'We have a written policy in our employee manual that covers harassment,' the spokesman said in a statement. 'It is circulated to every employee every year. Dave is not in violation of our policy and no one has ever raised a complaint against him.'"
- ^ Tahmincioglu, Eve (October 4, 2009). "Sleeping with the boss often leads to trouble: Policies on workplace romances aim to limit legal liabilities". MSNBC. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33146450/ns/business-careers/. Retrieved 2009-10-04. "If a consenting romantic or sexual relationship between a supervisor and a direct or indirect subordinate should develop, CBS requires the supervisor to disclose this information to his or her Company's Human Resources Department to ensure that there are no issues of actual or apparent favoritism, conflict of interest, sexual harassment, or any other negative impact on others in the work environment."
- ^ "Letterman apologizes to wife on Monday's show: Late-night host says Regina Lasko has been 'horribly hurt' by his behavior". Associated Press. MSNBC. October 5, 2009-. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33184320/ns/entertainment-television/. Retrieved 2009-10-05.
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- ^ "David Letterman's former mistress Stephanie Birkitt banned from Late Show set". London Telegraph. October 8, 2009. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/6271085/David-Lettermans-former-mistress-Stephanie-Birkitt-banned-from-Late-Show-set.html. Retrieved 2009-10-12.
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- ^ a b Lloyd, Christopher (September 8, 2007). "It's no joke: Ball State dedicates building in Letterman's honor". indystar.com. http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200781121039.
- ^ Ball State University (September 7, 2007). David Letterman Communication and Media Building (videos). http://www.bsu.edu/web/news/letterman/.
External links[link]
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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. (April 2012) |
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: David Letterman |
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: David Letterman |
- David Letterman at the Open Directory Project
- David Letterman at the Internet Movie Database
- David Letterman's Feb. 24, 1978 appearance on 90 Minutes Live
- Official Late Show biography
- 1999 article on Letterman from Salon.com
- Tape of Letterman announcing affairs/extortion attempt on Late Show
- Works by or about David Letterman in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
| Media offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| First | Host of Late Night Feb. 1, 1982 – June 25, 1993 |
Succeeded by Conan O'Brien |
| First | Host of The Late Show Aug. 30, 1993 – present |
Incumbent |
| Preceded by Whoopi Goldberg |
Host of the Academy Awards 1995 |
Succeeded by Whoopi Goldberg |
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Letterman, David |
| Alternative names | Letterman, Dave |
| Short description | American television personality |
| Date of birth | April 12, 1947 |
| Place of birth | Indianapolis, Indiana, United States |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
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| Woody Allen | |
|---|---|
 Allen at the 2009 premiere of Whatever Works |
|
| Born | Allan Stewart Konigsberg (1935-12-01) December 1, 1935 (age 76) The Bronx, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor Director Screenwriter Comedian Musician Playwright |
| Years active | 1950–present |
| Influenced by | Charlie Chaplin, Groucho Marx, Ingmar Bergman, Federico Fellini, Stanley Kubrick |
| Home town | New York City, New York |
| Spouse |
Harlene Rosen (m. 1954–1959) «start: (1954)–end+1: (1960)»"Marriage: Harlene Rosen to Woody Allen" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Woody_Allen) |
| Partner | Mia Farrow (1980–92) |
| Children | Ronan Farrow (son) Bechet Dumaine Allen (daughter) Manzie Tio Allen (daughter)[1] |
| Relatives | Letty Aronson (sister) |
| Website | |
| www.woodyallen.com | |
Woody Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg, December 1, 1935) is an award-winning American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, author, and playwright, whose career spans over half a century.
He began as a comedy writer in the 1950s, penning jokes and scripts for television and also publishing several books of short humor pieces. In the early 1960s, Allen started performing as a stand-up comic, emphasizing monologues rather than traditional jokes. As a comic, he developed the persona of an insecure, intellectual, fretful nebbish, which he insists is quite different from his real-life personality.[2] In 2004, Comedy Central[3] ranked Allen in fourth place on a list of the 100 greatest stand-up comics, while a UK survey ranked Allen as the third greatest comedian.[4]
By the mid-1960s Allen was writing and directing films, first specializing in slapstick comedies before moving into more dramatic material influenced by European art films during the 1970s. He is often identified as part of the New Hollywood wave of filmmakers of the mid-1960s to late '70s.[5] Allen often stars in his own films, typically in the persona he developed as a standup. The best-known of his over 40 films include the Academy Award-winners Annie Hall (1977), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) and Midnight in Paris (2011); and the Golden Globe-winning The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985). Critic Roger Ebert has described Allen as "a treasure of the cinema."[6]
He is also a jazz clarinetist who performs regularly at small venues in Manhattan.
Contents |
Early life[link]
Allen was born Allan Stewart Königsberg in The Bronx and raised in Brooklyn, NY, the son of Nettie (born Cherrie; November 8, 1906 – January 27, 2002), a bookkeeper at her family's delicatessen, and Martin Königsberg (December 25, 1900 – January 13, 2001), a jewelry engraver and waiter.[7] His family was Jewish and his grandparents were German immigrants who spoke Yiddish, Hebrew, and German;[8] both of his parents were born and raised on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.[8] Allen has a sister, Letty, who was born in 1943, and was raised in Midwood, Brooklyn.[9] His childhood was not particularly happy: his parents did not get along, and he had a rocky relationship with his stern, temperamental mother.[10] Allen spoke German quite a bit during his early years.[11] While attending Hebrew school for eight years, he went to Public School 99 (now The Isaac Asimov School for Science and Literature)[12] and to Midwood High School.[13] During that time, he lived in an apartment at 1402 Avenue K, between East 14th and 15th Streets.[citation needed] Unlike his comic persona, he was more interested in baseball than school and his strong arms ensured he was the first to be picked for a team.[14][15] He impressed students with his extraordinary talent at card and magic tricks.[16] To raise money he began writing jokes (or "gags") for the agent David O. Alber, who sold them to newspaper columnists. According to Allen, his first published joke read: "Woody Allen says he ate at a restaurant that had O.P.S. prices – over people's salaries."[17]
He began to call himself Woody Allen. He would later joke that when he was young he was often sent to inter-faith summer camps, where he "was savagely beaten by children of all races and creeds."[16] At the age of 17, he legally changed his name to Heywood Allen.[18] He was already earning more than both of his parents combined.[14]
After high school, he attended New York University, where he studied communication and film. He later briefly attended City College of New York and soon flunked out. Later, he learned via self-study rather than the classroom.[15] He eventually taught at The New School. He also studied with writing teacher Lajos Egri.[15]p.74
Career[link]
Comedy writer[link]
He became a full-time writer for Herb Shriner, earning $75 a week at first.[17] At the age of 19, he started writing scripts for The Ed Sullivan Show, The Tonight Show, specials for Sid Caesar post-Caesar's Hour (1954–1957), and other television shows.[15][19]p.111 By the time he was working for Caesar, he was making $1500 a week; with Caesar he worked alongside Danny Simon, whom Allen credits for helping him to form his writing style.[17][20]
In 1961, he started a new career as a stand-up comedian, debuting in a Greenwich Village club called the Duplex.[17] Examples of Allen's standup act can be heard on the albums Standup Comic and Nightclub Years 1964–1968 (including his classic routine entitled "The Moose").[21] Together with his managers, Allen developed a neurotic, nervous, and intellectual persona for his stand-up routine, a successful move which secured regular gigs for him in nightclubs and on television. Allen brought innovation to the comedy monologue genre and his stand-up comedy is considered influential.[22]
Allen wrote for the popular Candid Camera television show, and appeared in some episodes.[23][24][25]
Allen started writing short stories and cartoon captions for magazines such as The New Yorker; he was inspired by the tradition of four prominent New Yorker's humorists, S. J. Perelman, George S. Kaufman, Robert Benchley and Max Shulman, whose material he modernized.[26][27][28][29][30] Allen is also an accomplished author having published four collections of his short pieces and plays.[31][32] These are Getting Even, Without Feathers, Side Effects and Mere Anarchy. His early comic fiction was heavily influenced by the zany, pun-ridden humour of S.J. Perelman.
Playwright[link]
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He also became a successful Broadway playwright and wrote Don't Drink the Water in 1966. It starred Lou Jacobi, Kay Medford, Anita Gillette and Allen's future movie co-star Tony Roberts. A film adaptation of the play, directed by Howard Morris, was released in 1969, starring Jackie Gleason. Because he was not particularly happy with the 1969 film version of his play, in 1994, Allen directed and starred in a third version for television, with Michael J. Fox and Mayim Bialik.
The next play Allen wrote that was produced on Broadway was Play It Again, Sam, which he also starred in. The play opened on February 12, 1969, and ran for 453 performances. It also featured Diane Keaton and Tony Roberts. Allen, Keaton and Roberts would reprise their roles in the film version of the play, directed by Herbert Ross. For its March 21 issue, Life featured Allen on its cover.[33] In 1981, his play The Floating Light Bulb premiered on Broadway and ran for 65 performances. While receiving mixed reviews, it was noted for giving an autobiographical insight into Allen's childhood, specifically his fascination with magic tricks. He has written several one-act plays, including 'Riverside Drive' and 'Old Saybrook' which both explore well-known Allen themes.
On October 20, 2011, Allen's one-act play Honeymoon Motel opened as part of a larger piece entitled Relatively Speaking on Broadway, along with two other one-acts by Ethan Coen and Elaine May.[34]
Early films[link]
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His first movie was the Charles K. Feldman production What's New Pussycat? in 1965, for which he wrote the initial screenplay. Warren Beatty hired him to re-write a script and to appear in a small part in the movie. Over the course of the re-write, Beatty's role was lessened and Allen's increased. Beatty was upset and quit the production. Peter O'Toole was hired for the Beatty role, and Peter Sellers was brought in as well; Sellers was a big enough star to demand many of Woody Allen's best lines/scenes, prompting hasty re-writes. Because of this experience, Allen realized the importance of having control of his own writing. Despite the fact that most of his movies do not gross well and the fact that due to the small amounts of money his producers are able to raise he asks his actors to work for far less than what they would normally be paid, Allen remains one of a handful of writers and directors who has been able to maintain complete control over his own work.[citation needed]
Allen's first directorial effort was What's Up, Tiger Lily? (1966, co-written with Mickey Rose), in which an existing Japanese spy movie – Kokusai himitsu keisatsu: Kagi no kagi (1965), "International Secret Police: Key of Keys" – was redubbed in English by Allen and his friends with entirely new, comic dialogue.[citation needed]
Allen also appeared in Feldman's follow-up to What's New Pussycat?, the James Bond spoof Casino Royale. A number of writers contributed to the film, but once again Allen scripted his own sequences, although in this case uncredited.[citation needed]
Allen directed, starred in, and wrote Take the Money and Run in 1969. That same year he starred in his own TV special, The Woody Allen Special. On the show he performed standup comedy routines before a live audience and acted in a sketch with Candice Bergen in which they appeared nude but their bodies were kept hidden from view by the camera. The special also had Allen interviewing evangelist Billy Graham and performances by the pop vocal group The 5th Dimension, singing their hit singles "Workin' On A Groovy Thing" and "Wedding Bell Blues." The show's sponsor, Libby's, broadcast comical commercials starring Tony Randall as a detective.[citation needed]
From 1971 to 1975, Allen co-wrote, directed, and starred in Bananas, Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask), Sleeper, and Love and Death. Take the Money and Run and Bananas were co-written by his childhood friend, Mickey Rose.[citation needed]
In 1972, he wrote and starred in the film version of Play It Again, Sam, which was directed by Herbert Ross and co-starred Diane Keaton. In 1976, he starred in The Front (directed by Martin Ritt) a humorous and poignant account of Hollywood blacklisting during the 1950s.
Then came two of Allen's finest films. Annie Hall won four Academy Awards in 1977, including Best Picture, Best Actress in a Leading Role for Diane Keaton, Best Original Screenplay and Best Director for Woody Allen. Annie Hall set the standard for modern romantic comedy and also started a minor fashion trend with the clothes worn by Diane Keaton in the film (the masculine clothing, such as ties with cardigans, was actually Keaton's own). While in production, its working title was "Anhedonia," a term that means the inability to feel pleasure and its plot revolved around a murder mystery. Allen re-cut the movie after production ended to focus on the romantic comedy between Allen's character, Alvy Singer, and Keaton's character, Annie Hall. The new version, retitled Annie Hall (named after Keaton, Hall being her original last name and Annie a nickname), still deals with the theme of the inability to feel pleasure. The film is ranked at No. 35 on the American Film Institute's "100 Best Movies" and at No. 4 on the AFI list of "100 Best Comedies."
Manhattan, released in 1979, is a black-and-white film that can be viewed as an homage to New York City. As in many other Allen films, the protagonists are upper-middle class academics. The love-hate opinion of cerebral persons found in Manhattan is characteristic of many of Allen's movies including Crimes and Misdemeanors and Annie Hall. Manhattan focuses on the complicated relationship between a middle-aged Isaac Davis (Allen) and a 17-year-old Tracy (Mariel Hemingway).
Between Annie Hall and Manhattan, Allen wrote and directed the dark drama Interiors (1978), in the style of the late Swedish director Ingmar Bergman, one of Allen's chief influences. Interiors represented a departure from Allen's "early, funny" comedies (a line from 1980s Stardust Memories).
1980s[link]
Allen's 1980s films, even the comedies, have somber and philosophical undertones. Some are influenced by the works of European directors, notably Ingmar Bergman and Federico Fellini.[35][36] September resembles Bergman's Autumn Sonata, and Allen uses many elements from Bergman's Wild Strawberries[37] in Another Woman. Similarly, the Federico Fellini classic Amarcord strongly inspired Radio Days.[38] A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy in 1982 was adapted from Ingmar Bergman's Smiles of a Summer Night. It was the first of 13 movies Allen made starring Mia Farrow, who stepped in to Diane Keaton's role when Keaton was busy shooting Reds.
Stardust Memories features Sandy Bates, a successful filmmaker played by Allen, who expresses resentment and scorn for his fans. Overcome by the recent death of a friend from illness, the character states, "I don't want to make funny movies any more" and a running gag has various people (including a group of visiting space aliens) telling Bates that they appreciate his films, "especially the early, funny ones."[39] Allen believes this to be one of his best films.[40]
Allen combined tragic and comic elements in such films as Hannah and Her Sisters and Crimes and Misdemeanors, in which he tells two stories that connect at the end. He also produced a vividly idiosyncratic tragi-comical parody of documentary, Zelig.
He made three films about show business: Broadway Danny Rose, in which he plays a New York show business agent, The Purple Rose of Cairo, a movie that shows the importance of the cinema during the Depression through the character of the naive Cecilia, and Radio Days, which is a film about his childhood in Brooklyn and the importance of the radio. Purple Rose was named by Time as one of the 100 best films of all time and Allen has described it as one of his three best films, along with Stardust Memories and Match Point.[41] (Allen defines them as "best" not in terms of quality but because they came out the closest to his original vision.)
In 1989, Allen teamed up with directors Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese to make New York Stories, an anthology film about New Yorkers. Allen's short, Oedipus Wrecks, is about a neurotic lawyer and his critical mother. His short pleased critics, but New York Stories bombed at the box office.
1990s[link]
His 1992 film Shadows and Fog is a black-and-white homage to the German expressionists and features the music of Kurt Weill. Allen then made his critically acclaimed drama Husbands and Wives (1992), which received two Oscar nominations: Best Supporting Actress for Judy Davis and Best Original Screenplay for Allen. His film Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993) combined suspense with dark comedy and marked the return of Diane Keaton, Alan Alda and Anjelica Huston.
He returned to lighter movies like Bullets Over Broadway (1994), which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Director, followed by a musical, Everyone Says I Love You (1996). The singing and dancing scenes in Everyone Says I Love You are similar to many musicals starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. The comedy Mighty Aphrodite (1995), in which Greek drama plays a large role, won an Academy Award for Mira Sorvino. Allen's 1999 jazz-based comedy-drama Sweet and Lowdown was also nominated for two Academy Awards for Sean Penn (Best Actor) and Samantha Morton (Best Supporting Actress). In contrast to these lighter movies, Allen veered into darker satire towards the end of the decade with Deconstructing Harry (1997) and Celebrity (1998). Allen made his only sitcom "appearance" to date (2009) via telephone on the show Just Shoot Me! in a 1997 episode, "My Dinner with Woody" which paid tribute to several of his films. Allen also provided the lead voice in the 1998 animated film Antz, which featured many actors he had worked with and had Allen play a character that was similar to his earlier neurotic roles.
2000s[link]
Small Time Crooks (2000) (a remake of the 1942 film comedy Larceny, Inc., written by S. J. Perelman and starring Edward G. Robinson) was his first film with the DreamWorks studio and represented a change in direction: Allen began giving more interviews and made an attempt to return to his slapstick roots. Small Time Crooks was a relative financial success, grossing over $17 million domestically but Allen's next four films floundered at the box office, including Allen's most expensive film, The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (with a budget of $26 million). Hollywood Ending, Anything Else, and Melinda and Melinda were given "rotten" ratings from film-review website Rotten Tomatoes and each earned less than $4 million domestically.[42] Some critics claimed that Allen's films since 1999's Sweet and Lowdown were subpar and expressed concern that Allen's best years were now behind him.[43] Others have been less harsh; reviewing the little-liked Melinda and Melinda, Roger Ebert wrote, "I cannot escape the suspicion that if Woody had never made a previous film, if each new one was Woody's Sundance debut, it would get a better reception. His reputation is not a dead shark but an albatross, which with admirable economy Allen has arranged for the critics to carry around their own necks."[44] Woody gave his godson Quincy Rose a small part in Melinda and Melinda. Allen was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2001.[45]
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Match Point (2005) was one of Allen's most successful films of the decade, garnering very positive reviews.[46] Set in London, it starred Jonathan Rhys-Meyers and Scarlett Johansson. It is also markedly darker than Allen's first four films with DreamWorks SKG. In Match Point, Allen shifts his focus from the intellectual upper class of New York to the moneyed upper class of London. It earned more than $23 million domestically (more than any of his films in nearly 20 years) and over $62 million in international box office sales.[47] Match Point earned Allen his first Academy Award nomination since 1998, for Best Writing – Original Screenplay and also earned directing and writing nominations at the Golden Globes, his first Globe nominations since 1987. In an interview with Premiere Magazine, Allen stated this was the best film he has ever made.[48]
Allen returned to London to film Scoop, which also starred Johansson, Hugh Jackman, Ian McShane, Kevin McNally and Allen himself. The film was released on July 28, 2006, and received mixed reviews. He has also filmed Cassandra's Dream in London. Cassandra's Dream was released in November 2007, and stars Colin Farrell, Ewan McGregor and Tom Wilkinson.
After finishing his third London film, Allen headed to Spain. He reached an agreement to film Vicky Cristina Barcelona in Avilés, Barcelona and Oviedo, where shooting started on July 9, 2007. The movie stars Scarlett Johansson, Javier Bardem, Rebecca Hall and Penélope Cruz.[49][50] Speaking of his experience there, Allen said: "I'm delighted at being able to work with Mediapro and make a film in Spain, a country which has become so special to me." Vicky Cristina Barcelona was well received, winning "Best Musical or Comedy" at the Golden Globe awards. Penélope Cruz received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the film.
Allen has said that he "survives" on the European market. Audiences there have tended to be more receptive to Allen's films, particularly in Spain, France and Italy – countries where he has a large audience (something joked about in Hollywood Ending). "In the United States things have changed a lot, and it's hard to make good small films now," Allen said in a 2004 interview. "The avaricious studios couldn't care less about good films – if they get a good film they're twice as happy but money-making films are their goal. They only want these $100 million pictures that make $500 million."[51]
In April 2008, he began filming for a movie focused more towards older audiences starring Larry David, Patricia Clarkson[52] and Evan Rachel Wood.[53] Released in 2009, Whatever Works,[54][55] described as a dark comedy, follows the story of a botched suicide attempt turned messy love triangle. Whatever Works was written by Allen in the 1970s and the character now played by Larry David was originally written for Zero Mostel, who died the year Annie Hall came out.
2010s[link]
You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, filmed in London, stars Antonio Banderas, Josh Brolin, Anthony Hopkins, Anupam Kher, Freida Pinto and Naomi Watts. Filming started in July 2009. It was released theatrically in the US on September 23, 2010, following a Cannes debut in May 2010, and a screening at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 12, 2010. Allen announced that his next film would be titled Midnight in Paris,[56] starring Adrien Brody, Owen Wilson, Marion Cotillard, Rachel McAdams, Kathy Bates, Michael Sheen, Gad Elmaleh and French First Lady Carla Bruni. The film followed a young engaged couple in Paris who see their lives transformed. It debuted at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival on May 12, 2011. Allen said he wanted to "show the city emotionally," during the press conference. "I just wanted it to be the way I saw Paris – Paris through my eyes," he added.[57] Midnight in Paris has overthrown Hannah and Her Sisters as Allen's most successful film at the box office in the United States.[58] It has also opened to much critical acclaim, and has been considered by many critics to mark his return to form.[59] His next film, To Rome with Love, is a Rome-set comedy slated for a 2012 release. The film will be structured in four different vignettes featuring dialogue in both Italian and English. The film will mark Allen's return to acting since his last role in Scoop.[60]
Future projects[link]
For many years, Allen wanted to make a film about the origins of jazz in New Orleans. The film, tentatively titled American Blues, would follow the vastly different careers of Louis Armstrong and Sidney Bechet. Allen has stated that the film would cost between $80 and $100 million and is therefore unlikely to be made.[61]
It was announced in February 2012 that Allen would adapt Bullets Over Broadway into a Broadway musical scheduled to open in 2013.[62]
Distinction in the film world[link]
Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Woody Allen
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Over the course of his career, Allen has received a considerable number of awards and distinctions in film festivals and yearly national film awards ceremonies, saluting his work as a director, screenwriter, and actor.[19]
- Allen's film Annie Hall won four Academy Awards in 1977, including Best Picture.
- Allen won the 1978 O. Henry Award for his short story The Kugelmass Episode, published in The New Yorker on May 2, 1977.
- Allen twice won the César Award for Best Foreign Film, the first in 1980, for Manhattan and the second in 1986, for The Purple Rose of Cairo. Seven other of his movies were nominated for the prize.
- In 1986, Allen won the Golden Globe for Best Screenplay for The Purple Rose of Cairo. In 2009 he won the same award for Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical for Vicky Cristina Barcelona. In 2012, he won the Best Screenplay award for Midnight in Paris which was also nominated for Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical, Best Director and Best Actor (Comedy/musical) – Owen Wilson. Overall, Allen has been nominated five times as Best Director, five times for Best Screenplay and twice for Best Actor (Comedy/musical).
- At the 1995 Venice Film Festival, Allen received a Career Golden Lion for lifetime achievement.
- In 1996, Allen received a lifetime achievement award from the Directors Guild of America.
- In 2002, Allen won the Prince of Asturias Award. Subsequently, the city of Oviedo, Spain, erected a life-size statue of Allen.[63]
- In 2002, Allen received the Palme des Palmes, a special lifetime achievement award granted by the Cannes Festival.[64]
- In a 2005 UK poll The Comedian's Comedian, Allen was voted the third greatest comedy act ever by fellow comedians and comedy insiders.[4]
- In June 2007, Allen received a PhD Honoris Causa from Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Spain.
Academy Awards[link]
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Woody Allen has won 4 Academy Awards: three Best Original Screenplays (Annie Hall (1978, shared with Marshall Brickman), Hannah and Her Sisters (1987) and Midnight in Paris (2012)), and one Best Director (Annie Hall (1978)). Mr. Allen has been nominated a total of 23 times: 15 as a screenwriter, seven as a director, and once as an actor.[65] He has more screenwriting Academy Award nominations than any other writer; all are in the Best Original Screenplay category. He is tied for third all-time with seven Best Director nominations.
Annie Hall won four Academy Awards (Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Director and Best Actress in a Leading Role – Diane Keaton). The film received a fifth nomination, for Allen as Best Actor in a Leading Role. Hannah and Her Sisters won three, for Best Original Screenplay, Best Actor in a Supporting Role and Best Actress in a Supporting Role categories; it was nominated in four other categories, including Best Picture and Best Director.
His actors have regularly received both nominations and Academy Awards for their work in Allen films, particularly in the Best Supporting categories: In 1987 Michael Caine[66] and Diane Wiest[67] won for Hannah and Her Sisters[68], in 1995 Diane Wiest again won for Bullets Over Broadway[69], in 1996 Mira Sorvino[70] won for Mighty Aphrodite [71], and in 2009 Penelope Cruz[72] won for Vicky Cristina Barcelona.[73]
Despite friendly recognition from the Academy, Allen has consistently refused to attend the ceremony or acknowledge his Oscar wins. He broke this pattern only once. At the Academy Awards ceremony in 2002, Allen made an unannounced appearance, making a plea for producers to continue filming their movies in New York City after the 9-11 attacks, where he stated, "I didn't have to present anything. I didn't have to accept anything. I just had to talk about New York City."[74] He was given a standing ovation before introducing a montage of movie clips featuring New York.
BAFTA[link]
Allen has won a number of British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) awards and nominations for best picture, best director, best actor, and best screenplay. In 1997, he received the honorary BAFTA Fellowship for his work.
- 1978 – Won – Best Film – Annie Hall
- 1978 – Won – Best Screenplay – Annie Hall (with Marshall Brickman)
- 1978 – Won – Best Direction – Annie Hall
- 1980 – Won – Best Film – Manhattan
- 1980 – Won – Best Screenplay – Manhattan (with Marshall Brickman)
- 1985 – Won – Best Screenplay – Broadway Danny Rose
- 1986 – Won – Best Film – The Purple Rose of Cairo
- 1986 – Won – Best Screenplay – The Purple Rose of Cairo
- 1987 – Won – Best Screenplay – Hannah and Her Sisters
- 1987 – Won – Best Direction – Hannah and Her Sisters
- 1993 – Won – Best Screenplay – Husbands and Wives
- 2012 – Nominated – Best Screenplay – Midnight in Paris
- Nominated for best film for Hannah and Her Sisters, Radio Days, Crimes and Misdemeanors.
- Nominated for best actor for Annie Hall, Manhattan, Hannah and Her Sisters.
- Nominated for best director for Manhattan, Crimes and Misdemeanors.
- Nominated for best screenplay for Zelig, Radio Days, Crimes and Misdemeanors, and Bullets Over Broadway (with Douglas McGrath).
Theatre[link]
Although best known for his films, Allen has also enjoyed a very successful career in theater, starting as early as 1960, when Allen wrote sketches for the revue From A to Z. His first great success was Don't Drink the Water, which opened in 1968, and ran for 598 performances for almost two years on Broadway. His success continued with Play it Again, Sam, which opened in 1969, starring Allen and Diane Keaton. The show played for 453 performances and was nominated for three Tony Awards, although none of the nominations were for Allen's writing or acting.[75]
In the 1970s, Allen wrote a number of one-act plays, most notably God and Death, which were published in his 1975 collection Without Feathers.
In 1981, Allen's play The Floating Light Bulb opened on Broadway. The play was a critical success but a commercial flop. Despite two Tony Award nominations, a Tony win for the acting of Brian Backer (who also won the 1981 Theater World Award and a Drama Desk Award for his work), the play only ran for 62 performances.[76] As of January 2008[update], it is the last Allen work that ran on Broadway.
After a long hiatus from the stage, Allen returned to the theater in 1995, with the one-act Central Park West, an installment in an evening of theater known as Death Defying Acts that was also made up of new work by David Mamet and Elaine May.[77]
For the next couple of years, Allen had no direct involvement with the stage, yet notable productions of his work were being staged. A production of God was staged at The Bank of Brazil Cultural Center in Rio de Janeiro,[78] and theatrical adaptations of Allen's films Bullets Over Broadway[79] and September[80] were produced in Italy and France, respectively, without Allen's involvement. In 1997, rumors of Allen returning to the theater to write a starring role for his wife Soon-Yi Previn turned out to be false.[81]
In 2003, Allen finally returned to the stage with Writer's Block, an evening of two one-acts – Old Saybrook and Riverside Drive – that played Off-Broadway. The production marked the stage-directing debut for Allen.[82] The production sold out its entire run.[83]
Also that year, reports of Allen writing the book for a musical based on Bullets Over Broadway surfaced, but no show ever formulated.[84] In 2004, Allen's first full-length play since 1981, A Second Hand Memory,[85] was directed by Allen and enjoyed an extended run Off-Broadway.[83]
In June 2007, it was announced that Allen would make two more creative debuts in the theater, directing a work that he did not write and directing an opera – a re-interpretation of Puccini's Gianni Schicchi for the Los Angeles Opera[86] – which debuted at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on September 6, 2008.[87] Commenting on his direction of the opera, Allen said, "I have no idea what I'm doing." His production of the opera opened the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy, in June 2009.[88]
In October 2011, Woody Allen's one-act play called Honeymoon Motel premiered as one in a series of one act plays on Broadway titled Relatively Speaking.[89] Also contributing to the plays are Elaine May and Ethan Coen with John Turturro directing.[90]
Marriages and relationships[link]
Harlene Rosen[link]
At age 19, Allen married 16-year-old Harlene Rosen.[91] The marriage lasted from 1954 to 1959. Time stated that the years were "nettling" and "unsettling."[91]
Rosen, whom Allen referred to in his standup act as "the Dread Mrs. Allen," later sued Allen for defamation due to comments at a TV appearance shortly after their divorce. Allen tells a different story on his mid-1960s standup album Standup Comic. In his act, Allen said that Rosen sued him because of a joke he made in an interview. Rosen had been sexually assaulted outside her apartment and according to Allen, the newspapers reported that she "had been violated." In the interview, Allen said, "Knowing my ex-wife, it probably wasn't a moving violation." In a later interview on The Dick Cavett Show, Allen brought the incident up again where he repeated his comments and stated that the amount that he was being sued for was "$1 million."
Louise Lasser[link]
Allen married Louise Lasser in 1966. They divorced in 1969, and Allen did not marry again until 1997. Lasser appeared in three Allen films after the divorce – Take the Money and Run, Bananas, and Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) – and made a brief appearance in Stardust Memories.
Diane Keaton[link]
In 1970, Allen cast Diane Keaton in his Broadway show, Play It Again, Sam. During the run she and Allen became romantically involved and although they broke up after a year, she continued to star in a number of his films, including Sleeper as a futuristic poet and Love and Death as a composite character based on the novels of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. Annie Hall was very important in Allen and Keaton's careers. It is said that the role was written specifically for her as Diane Keaton's given name is Diane Hall. She then starred in Interiors as a poet, followed by Manhattan. In 1987, she had a cameo as a night-club singer in Radio Days and was chosen to replace Mia Farrow in the co-starring role for Manhattan Murder Mystery after Allen and Farrow began having troubles with their personal and working relationship while making this film. Keaton has not worked with Allen since Manhattan Murder Mystery. Since the end of their romantic relationship, Keaton and Allen have remained close friends.[92]
Stacey Nelkin[link]
The film Manhattan is said by the Los Angeles Times[93] to be widely known to have been based on his romantic relationship with the actress Stacey Nelkin. Her bit part in Annie Hall ended up on the cutting room floor, and their relationship, though never publicly acknowledged by Allen, reportedly began when she was 17 years old and a student at New York's Stuyvesant High School.[94][95][96]
Mia Farrow[link]
Around 1980, Allen began a relationship with actress Mia Farrow, who had leading roles in several of his movies from 1982 to 1992. Farrow and Allen never married and kept separate homes[97] but they adopted two children, Dylan Farrow (who changed her name to Eliza and is now known as Malone) and Moshe Farrow (now known as Moses); they also had one biological child, Satchel Farrow (now known as Ronan Seamus Farrow). Allen did not adopt any of Farrow's other family, including Soon-Yi Farrow Previn (the adopted daughter of Farrow and André Previn, now known as Soon-Yi Previn). Allen and Farrow separated in 1992, after Farrow discovered nude photographs that Allen had taken of a then 20-year-old Soon-Yi.[98] In her autobiography, What Falls Away (New York: Doubleday, 1997), Farrow says that Allen admitted to a relationship with Soon-Yi.[99]
After Allen and Farrow separated, a long public legal battle for the custody of their three children began. During the proceedings, Farrow alleged that Allen had sexually molested their adopted daughter Dylan, who was then seven years old. The judge eventually concluded that the sex abuse charges were inconclusive[100] but called Allen's conduct with Soon-Yi "grossly inappropriate." She called the report of the team that investigated the issue "sanitized and therefore, less credible" and added that she had "reservations about the reliability of the report."[101] Farrow won custody of their children. Allen was denied visitation rights with Malone and could see Ronan only under supervision. Moses, who was then 14, chose not to see Allen.[101]
In a 2005 Vanity Fair interview,[102] Allen estimated that, despite the scandal's damage to his reputation, Farrow's discovery of Allen's attraction to Soon-Yi Previn by finding nude photographs of her was "just one of the fortuitous events, one of the great pieces of luck in my life. . . It was a turning point for the better." Of his relationship with Farrow, he said, "I'm sure there are things that I might have done differently. . . Probably in retrospect I should have bowed out of that relationship much earlier than I did." In a report June 22, 2011, Reuters quoted Allen as saying, "What was the scandal? I fell in love with this girl, married her. We have been married for almost 15 years now. There was no scandal, but people refer to it all the time as a scandal and I kind of like that in a way because when I go I would like to say I had one real juicy scandal in my life."[103]
Soon-Yi Previn[link]
After ending his relationship with Mia Farrow in 1992, Allen continued his relationship with Soon-Yi Previn. Even though Allen never married Mia Farrow[97][104] and was never Previn's legal stepfather, the relationship between Allen and Previn has often been referred to as a father involved romantically with his stepdaughter[105] since he had been perceived as being in Previn's life in a father-like capacity. For example, in 1991, The New York Times described Allen's family life by reporting, "Few married couples seem more married. They are constantly in touch with each other, and not many fathers spend as much time with their children as Allen does."[97] Despite assertions from Previn that Allen was never a father figure to her,[106] the relationship became a scandal. In 1991, when the relationship started, Allen was 56 and Previn was 21. Asked whether their age difference was conducive to "a healthy, equal relationship," Allen said equality is not necessarily a requirement in a relationship and said, "The heart wants what it wants. There's no logic to those things. You meet someone and you fall in love and that's that."[107]
Allen and Previn married on December 24, 1997, in the Palazzo Cavalli in Venice. The couple have adopted two daughters, naming them Bechet and Manzie Tio[108] after jazz musicians Sidney Bechet, Manzie Johnson and Lorenzo Tio, Jr.
Allen and Farrow's biological son, Ronan Seamus Farrow, is widely quoted, without source or date, as disparaging Allen and having said he cannot see him.
Clarinetist[link]
Allen is a passionate fan of jazz, which is often featured prominently in the soundtracks to his films. He began playing as a child and took his stage name from clarinetist Woody Herman.[109] He has performed publicly at least since the late 1960s, notably with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band on the soundtrack of Sleeper.[110] One of his earliest televised performances was on The Dick Cavett Show on October 20, 1971.[111]
Woody Allen and his New Orleans Jazz Band have been playing each Monday evening at Manhattan's Carlyle Hotel for many years[112] (as of 2011,[113] specializing in classic New Orleans jazz from the early twentieth century).[114] The documentary film Wild Man Blues (directed by Barbara Kopple) documents a 1996 European tour by Allen and his band, as well as his relationship with Previn. The band has released two CDs: The Bunk Project (1993) and the soundtrack of Wild Man Blues (1997).
Allen and his band played the Montreal Jazz Festival on two consecutive nights in June 2008.[115]
Significant works about Woody Allen[link]
File:Insidewoodyallen.png
A panel from Stuart Hample's Inside Woody Allen comic strip
Apart from Wild Man Blues, directed by Barbara Kopple, there are a number of other documentaries featuring Woody Allen, including the 2002 cable-television documentary Woody Allen: a Life in Film, directed by Time film critic Richard Schickel, which interlaces interviews of Allen with clips of his films, and Meetin' WA, a short interview of Allen by French director Jean-Luc Godard. In 2011 the PBS series American Masters co-produced a comprehensive documentary about him, Woody Allen: a Documentary directed by Robert B. Weide.
From 1976 to 1984, Stuart Hample wrote and drew Inside Woody Allen, a comic strip based on Allen's film persona.
Psychoanalysis[link]
Allen spent over 37 years undergoing psychoanalysis. Many of his films contain references to psychoanalysis. Even the film Antz, an animated feature in which Allen contributes the voice of lead character Z, opens with a classic piece of Allen analysis shtick.
Moment Magazine says, "It drove his self-absorbed work." John Baxter, author of Woody Allen – A Biography, wrote, "Allen obviously found analysis stimulating, even exciting."[116]
Allen says he ended his psychoanalysis visits around the time he began his relationship with Previn. He says he still is claustrophobic and agoraphobic.[102]
Filmography[link]
Main article: Woody Allen filmography
Allen's films span six decades, starting with 1965's What's New Pussycat?. He has written, directed, and starred in many of them, including films such as Annie Hall (1977), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), and Husbands and Wives (1992), all of which earned major awards. Originally known for his comedies, his early successes were followed by his first purely dramatic work, Interiors (1978).
Theatre works[link]
In addition to directing, writing, and acting in films, Allen has written and performed in a number of Broadway theater productions.
| Year | Title | Credit | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1960 | From A to Z | Writer (book) | Plymouth Theatre |
| 1966 | Don't Drink the Water | Writer | Coconut Grove Playhouse, Florida |
| 1969 | Play It Again, Sam | Writer, Performer (Allan Felix) | Broadhurst Theatre[117] |
| 1975 | God | Writer | — |
| 1975 | Death | Writer | — |
| 1981 | The Floating Light Bulb | Writer | Vivian Beaumont Theatre |
| 1995 | Central Park West | Writer | Variety Arts Theatre |
| 2003 | Old Saybrook | Writer, Director | Atlantic Theatre Company |
| 2003 | Riverside Drive | Writer, Director | Atlantic Theatre Company |
| 2004 | A Second Hand Memory | Writer, Director | Atlantic Theater Company |
| 2011 | Honeymoon Motel | Writer | Brooks Atkinson Theatre |
Bibliography[link]
Published plays[link]
- Don't Drink the Water: A comedy in two acts (1967), ASIN B0006BSWBW
- Play It Again, Sam (1969), ISBN 0-394-40663-X
- God: A comedy in one act (1975), ISBN 0-573-62201-9
- The Floating Light Bulb (1981)
- Three One-Act Plays: Riverside Drive / Old Saybrook / Central Park West (2003), ISBN 0-8129-7244-9
- Writer's Block: Two One-Act Plays (2005), ISBN 0-573-62630-8 (includes Riverside Drive and Old Saybrook)
- A Second Hand Memory: A drama in two acts (2005)
- The one-act plays God and Death are both included in Allen's 1975 collection Without Feathers (see below).
Short stories[link]
- Getting Even (1971), ISBN 0-394-47348-5
- Without Feathers (1975), ISBN 0-394-49743-0
- "The Whore of Mensa" (1974)[118]
- Side Effects (1980), ISBN 0-394-51104-2
- Mere Anarchy (2007), ISBN 978-1-4000-6641-4
Anthologies[link]
- Complete Prose of Woody Allen (1992), ISBN 0-517-07229-7. (Collection of Allen's short stories first published in Getting Even, Without Feathers and Side Effects.)
- The Insanity Defense: The Complete Prose. New York: Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2007, ISBN 978-0-8129-7811-7.
Chapbook[link]
- Lunatic's Tale (1986), ISBN 1-55628-001-7 (Short story previously included in Side Effects.)
See also[link]
- Woody Allen filmography
- List of awards and nominations received by Woody Allen
- Cinema of the United States
References[link]
- ^ Steven Silverman (November 6, 1997). Woody's New Girl People. Accessed 2008-01-19.
- ^ Gross, Terry (2009/2012). "Woody Allen: Blending Real Life With Fiction." URL accessed 07 April 2012.
- ^ Comedy Central's 100 Greatest Stand-Ups of all Time. Everything2.com (2004-04-18). Retrieved on 2012-05-04.
- ^ a b Thorpe, Vanessa (January 2, 2005). "Cook tops poll of comedy greats". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2005/jan/02/arts.artsnews.
- ^ Newton, Michael (January 13, 2012). "Woody Allen: cinema's great experimentalist". The Guardian. Guardian News and Media. http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/jan/13/woody-allen-michael-newton. Retrieved April 9, 2012. "In the 1970s, Allen looked irreverent, hip, a part of the New Hollywood generation. In an age of 'auteurs', he was the auteur personified, the writer, director and star of his films, active in the editing, choosing the soundtrack, initiating the projects"
- ^ "Midnight in Paris :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews". Rogerebert.suntimes.com. May 25, 2011. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110524/REVIEWS/110529987. Retrieved 2011-06-20.
- ^ "Woody Allen Biography (1935–)". Filmreference.com. http://www.filmreference.com/film/33/Woody-Allen.html. Retrieved March 9, 2010.
- ^ a b "The religion of Woody Allen, director and actor". http://www.adherents.com/people/pa/Woody_Allen.html. Retrieved January 16, 2008.
- ^ Andy Newman; Corey Kilgannon (June 5, 2002). "Curse of the Jaded Audience: Woody Allen, in Art and Life". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/05/nyregion/curse-of-the-jaded-audience-woody-allen-in-art-and-life.html. Retrieved January 16, 2008. "'I think he's slacked off the last few movies', said Norman Brown, 70, a retired draftsman from Mr. Allen's old neighborhood, Midwood, Brooklyn, who said he had seen nearly all of Mr. Allen's 33 films."
- ^ "The Unruly Life of Woody Allen". The New York Times. March 5, 2000. http://partners.nytimes.com/books/first/m/meade-woody.html. Retrieved March 9, 2010.
- ^ "The Religious Affiliation of Woody Allen, Influential Director and Actor". Adherents.com. http://www.adherents.com/people/pa/Woody_Allen.html. Retrieved November 5, 2011.
- ^ Meade, Marion (2000). The unruly life of Woody Allen: a biography. New York: Scribner. p. 31. ISBN 978-0-684-83374-3. OCLC 42291110.
- ^ The principal of P.S. 99 was Mrs. Eudora Fletcher; Allen has used her name for characters in several of his films.
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- ^ Scanzi, Andrea (2002) (in Italian). Man on the moon, interview with comedian Daniele Luttazzi. Il Mucchio Selvaggio. "Woody Allen per un monologhista è fondamentale. E' la forma aurea del monologo. Se uno vuole fare il monologhista, che è un genere a parte come il mimo, deve ispirarsi a Woody Allen. Non ci si improvvisa monologhisti. Dalla scelta di argomenti alla loro esposizione, lui è il modello. [...] Woody Allen ha fatto cose molto nuove. Negli anni si è spostato verso la commedia sofisticata alla Lubitsch, o alla Wilder, perdendo però quell'aspetto surreale che era ciò per cui più lo amavo. Il mio film della vita è Ciao Pussycat. C'era il meglio di quella generazione, che proprio allora si affacciava alla vita artistica. Era un film surreale, assurdo. Allen lo ha sconfessato, dicendo che era senza capo né coda. Ma no, Ciao Pussycat era una formless comedy. Una "commedia senza forma", come quella dei fratelli Marx. Un film comico non ha bisogno della trama, quella deve essere esilissima, il resto devono essere tutte intuizioni comiche. All'epoca lui faceva film meravigliosi che erano una sequenza continua di gag. Oggi ha aggiunto la trama, la storia, sottraendo le invenzioni comiche. Volendo essere per forza Lubitsch, ha finito col non essere più Woody Allen. Prendi i soldi e scappa, Il dormiglione, Amore e guerra erano eccezionali."
- ^ "Woody Allen Candid Camera Must See". YouTube. February 15, 2009. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYpROqeKRMY. Retrieved November 5, 2011.
- ^ O'Connor, John J. (February 17, 1987). "TV Reviews; 'Candid Camera' Marks 40 Years With a Special". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1987/02/17/arts/tv-reviews-candid-camera-marks-40-years-with-a-special.html?src=pm. Retrieved November 5, 2011.
- ^ "Woody Allen = IMDb". http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000095/. Retrieved November 5, 2011.
- ^ Daniele Luttazzi, preface to the Italian translation of Allen's trilogy Complete prose, ISBN 978-88-452-3307-4 p. 7 quote: "Uno dei tanti meriti di Allen e' quello di aver reso moderno l'arsenale comico della tradizione cui si ispira, quella dei monumentali umoristi della rivista New Yorker (Perelman, Kaufman, Benchley e Shulman)". [1]. Retrieved December 1, 2010.
- ^ Allen, W. (October 24, 2004) "I Appreciate George S. Kaufman", The New York Times.
- ^ Woody Allen: Rabbit Running. Time. July 3, 1972. pp. 5–6 quote: "I never had a teacher who made the least impression on me, if you ask me who are my heroes, the answer is simple and truthful: George S. Kaufman and the Marx Brothers."
- ^ Michiko Kakutani (1995) "Woody Allen". This interview is part I of the series The Art of Humor, published by Paris Review v37, n136 (Fall, 1995):200 (23 pages). [2]
- ^ David Galef (February 21, 2003). "Getting Even: Literary Posterity and the Case for Woody Allen". South Atlantic Review (South Atlantic Modern Language Association) 64 (2): 146–160. DOI:10.2307/3201987. JSTOR 3201987.
- ^ "Amazon.com: The Insanity Defense – The Complete Prose". amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/Insanity-Defense-Complete-Prose/dp/0812978110/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1320523358&sr=1-1. Retrieved November 5, 2011.
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- ^ "1969 LIFE Magazine Cover Art". http://www.2neatmagazines.com/life/1969cover.html. Retrieved January 25, 2010.
- ^ "Official Website". http://www.relativelyspeakingbroadway.com.
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- ^ Roger Ebert's Movie Yearbook 2007. Google Books. November 1, 2006. ISBN 978-0-7407-6157-7. http://books.google.com/books?id=LtJgv-f-nl8C&pg=PA451&lpg=PA451&dq#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved January 9, 2011.
- ^ "Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter A". American Academy of Arts and Sciences. http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterA.pdf. Retrieved April 15, 2011.
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- ^ "Box Office Mojo – People Index". http://www.boxofficemojo.com/people/chart/?view=Director&id=woodallen.html. Retrieved January 17, 2008.
- ^ Matloff, Jason (February 2006). "Woody Allen's European Vacation". Premiere 19 (5): 98–101. http://jasonmatloff.com/selected-articles/woody-allens-european-vacation/. "I think it turned out to be the best film I've ever made."
- ^ "Woody Allen's Next Star: Penelope Cruz – Celebrity Gossip". FOX News. February 1, 2007. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,249259,00.html. Retrieved January 17, 2008.
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- ^ Barnes, Jessica (July 31, 2008). "Woody Allen Reveals Latest Movie Title: 'Whatever Works'". Cinematical. http://www.cinematical.com/2008/07/31/woody-allen-reveals-latest-movie-title-whatever-works. Retrieved March 9, 2010.
- ^ Mark Harris (May 24, 2009). "Twilight of the Tummlers". New York. http://nymag.com/movies/features/56930/. Retrieved June 10, 2009.
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- ^ "How Did 'Midnight in Paris' Become Woody Allen's Top-Grossing Movie". Moviefone. http://blog.moviefone.com/2011/08/02/midnight-in-paris-woody-allen-highest-grossing-box-office/. Retrieved November 5, 2011.
- ^ Stephanie Zacharek REVIEW: Woody Allen Returns to Form For Real This Time With Midnight in Paris. Movie-Line (2011-05-19). Retrieved November 20, 2011.
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- ^ Awards for Woody Allen. IMDb.com
- ^ Awards for Michael Caine (I). IMDb.com
- ^ Awards for Diane Wiest. IMDb.com
- ^ Awards for Hannah and Her Sisters (1986). IMDb.com
- ^ Awards for Bullets Over Broadway (1994). IMDb.com
- ^ Awards for Mira Sorvino. IMDb.com
- ^ Awards for Mighty Aphrodite (1995). IMDb.com
- ^ Awards for Penélope Cruz. IMDb.com
- ^ Awards for Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008). IMDb.com
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- ^ The Broadway League. "Internet Broadway Database: The Floating Light Bulb Production Credits". Ibdb.com. http://www.ibdb.com/production.asp?ID=4112. Retrieved March 9, 2010.
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- ^ Itzkoff, Dave (May 7, 2009). "Woody Allen's Puccini Goes to Spoleto". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/08/arts/music/08arts-WOODYALLENSP_BRF.html. Retrieved April 6, 2010.
- ^ Relatively Speaking relativelyspeakingbroadway.com, accessed January 4, 2012
- ^ Charles Isherwood (October 20, 2011). "Each Family, Tortured in Its Own Way". The New York Times. http://theater.nytimes.com/2011/10/21/theater/reviews/relatively-speaking-at-brooks-atkinson-theater-review.html.
- ^ a b "Woody Allen: Rabbit Running". Time: p. 3. July 3, 1972. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,877848-3,00.html. Retrieved August 4, 2009.
- ^ Q&A: Diane Keaton. CBS News. February 18, 2004. Retrieved February 21, 2006.
- ^ "Stacey Nelkin". Los Angeles Times. http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-hween-teen-nelkin,0,5813645.photo. Retrieved November 19, 2010.
- ^ Fox, Julian. Woody: Movies from Manhattan. New York: Overlook Press, 1996. pp. 111–112 ISBN 0-87951-692-5.
- ^ Baxter, John. Woody Allen: A Biography. New York: Caroll & Graf., 1998. pp. 226, 248, 249, 250, 253, 273–4, 385, 416 ISBN 0-7867-0807-7.
- ^ Bailey, Peter J. [http://books.google.com/books?id=Z5rGWBIW_FgC&printsec=frontcover The Reluctant Film Art of Woody Allen. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2001. p. 61 ISBN 0-8131-9041-X.
- ^ a b c Eric Lax (February 24, 1991). "Woody and Mia: A New York Story". The New York Times: p. 5 of 12. http://www.nytimes.com/1991/02/24/magazine/woody-and-mia-a-new-york-story.html?pagewanted=5&src=pm. Retrieved November 21, 2011. "They are not married, neither do they live together; their apartments face each other across Central Park."
- ^ Kathryn Harrison. "Intimate Strangers". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/02/23/reviews/970223.23harrist.html. Retrieved November 5, 2011.
- ^ Tom Gliatto. "A Family Affair". People.com. http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20108514,00.html. Retrieved November 5, 2011.
- ^ Brozan, Nadine. "Chronicle", The New York Times, May 13, 1994.
- ^ a b Peter Marks. "Allen Loses to Farrow in Bitter Custody Battle". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/02/23/reviews/farrow-verdict.html. Retrieved November 5, 2011.
- ^ a b Biskind, Peter (December 2005). "Reconstructing Woody". Vanity Fair. http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2005/12/woodyallen200512. Retrieved March 9, 2010.
- ^ Kearney, Christine (June 22, 2011). "Just A Minute With: Woody Allen on nostalgia, scandal". Reuters. http://ca.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idCATRE75L1OV20110622. Retrieved June 22, 2011.
- ^ Glenn Collins, "Mixed Reviews Greet Woody Allen Marriage", The New York Times, December 25, 1997. Retrieved January 23, 2010.
- ^ Hornblow, Deborah. "Entertainment", Los Angeles Times, August 30, 2001.
- ^ Isaacson, Walter; Soon-Yi Farrow Previn. "Soon-Yi: Woody Was Not My Father", Time, August 31, 1992.
- ^ "The heart wants what it wants" Walter Isaacson; Woody Allen, August 31, 1992, Time..
- ^ "Woody Allen Ventures Out With Soon-Yi and the Kids". The New York Observer. http://www.observer.com/2008/o2/woody-allen-ventures-out-public-appearance-wife-and-children.
- ^ Victor Gonzalez (September 19, 2011). "Woody Allen and His New Orleans Jazz Band Announce Miami Beach Haunukkah Show". Miami New Times. http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/crossfade/2011/09/woody_allen_new_orleans_jazz_band_miami_beach_hanukkah_show.php. Retrieved November 5, 2011.
- ^ Jeff Stafford. "Sleeper". Turner Classic Movies. http://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/33752%7C0/Sleeper.html. Retrieved November 5, 2011.
- ^ Stuart Galbraith IV (February 21, 2006). "The Dick Cavett Show: Comic Legends DVD Talk Review of the DVD Video". dvdtalk.com. http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/20274/dick-cavett-show-comic-legends-the/. Retrieved November 5, 2011.
- ^ Erik Olsen (October 19, 2005). "New York City: Catch Woody Allen at the Cafe Carlyle". gadling.com. http://www.gadling.com/2005/10/19/new-york-city-catch-woody-allen-at-the-cafe-carlyle/. Retrieved November 5, 2011.
- ^ Krisanne Alcantara (March 3, 2011). "Woody Allen Plays Jazz at the Carlyle Hotel". nearsay.com. http://newyork.nearsay.com/nyc/upper-east-side/nightlife-woody-allen-carlyle-hotel-bemelmans-bar-jazz-clarinet. Retrieved November 5, 2011.
- ^ "New Orleans Trombone, Jerry Zigmont – Jazz Trombone, Eddy Davis & His New Orleans Jazz Band featuring Woody Allen, Cafe Carlyle, Woody Allen Band". http://www.woodyallenband.com. Retrieved January 17, 2008.
- ^ "Concert: Woody Allen And His New Orleans Jazz Band – Festival International de Jazz de Montreal". Montreal Jazz Festival. http://www.montrealjazzfest.com/program/concert.aspx?id=340. Retrieved November 5, 2011.
- ^ "Moment Mag". Archived from the original on March 11, 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070311035947/http://www.momentmag.com/archive/dec99/feat1.html. Retrieved January 17, 2008.
- ^ "Woody Allen Biography (1935–)". filmreference.com. http://www.filmreference.com/film/33/Woody-Allen.html. Retrieved February 28, 2008.
- ^ Remnick, David (ed.). Wonderful Town. New York Stories from The New Yorker. New York: The Modern Library, 2001. 48–53.
Further reading[link]
- Stardust Memories: Visiting Woody Michael Žantovský recalls a memorable meeting between two giants, Woody Allen and Václav Havel
- Essay by Victoria Loy on Woody Allen's career
- The Essential Woody Allen; Lauren Hill
- Fun With Woody, The Complete Woody Allen Quiz Book (Henry Holt), Graham Flashner
- The Importance of Being Famous: Behind the Scenes of the Celebrity Industrial Complex by Maureen Orth p233 ISBN 0-8050-7545-3
- Woody Allen – A Biography; John Baxter (1999) ISBN 0-7867-0666-X
- Woody Allen: Conversations with Filmmakers Series, ed. R. E. Kapsis and K. Coblentz, (2006) ISBN 1-57806-793-6
- Woody Allen; Stephan Reimertz, (rororo-Monographie), Reinbek (2005) ISBN 3-499-50410-3 (in German)
- Woody Allen: Eine Biographie; Stephan Reimertz, Reinbek (2000) ISBN 3-499-61145-7 (in German)
- Woody Allen On Location, by Thierry de Navacelle (Morrow, 1987); a day-to-day account of the making of Radio Days (1987)
- Woody Allen on Woody Allen: In Conversation With Stig Bjorkman (1995), ISBN 0-8021-1556-X
- Woody Allen: Profane and Sacred; Richard A. Blake (1995) ISBN 978-0-8108-2993-0
External links[link]
|
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Woody Allen |
|
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Woody Allen |
- The Official Site of Woody Allen
- Woody Allen at the Internet Movie Database
- Woody Allen at AllRovi
- Woody Allen at the TCM Movie Database
- Woody Allen at the Internet Broadway Database
- Woody Allen on National Public Radio in 2009
- Woody Allen at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
- Appearances on C-SPAN
- Works by or about Woody Allen in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
- Woody Allen collected news and commentary at The Guardian
- Woody Allen collected news and commentary at The New York Times
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Allen, Woody |
| Alternative names | Konigsberg, Allan Stewart; Allen, Heywood |
| Short description | Actor, writer, and director |
| Date of birth | December 1, 1935 |
| Place of birth | New York City, New York, United States |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
http://wn.com/Woody_Allen
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This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woody_Allen
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
| Tracy Morgan | |
|---|---|
 Morgan discussing his book I Am the New Black, New York City 2009 |
|
| Birth name | Tracy Jamal Morgan |
| Born | (1968-11-10) November 10, 1968 (age 43)[1][2] Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Medium | Stand up, Television, Film |
| Nationality | American |
| Years active | 1989–present |
| Genres | Black comedy, Musical comedy, Cringe comedy, Character comedy |
| Subject(s) | African-American culture, Race relations, Racism, Marriage, Family, Self-deprecation, Recreational drug use, Sex, Current events |
| Spouse | Sabrina Morgan (1985–2009; 3 children) (Divorced) |
| Notable works and roles | Saturday Night Live Tracy Mitchell in The Tracy Morgan Show Tracy Jordan in 30 Rock Host of Scare Tactics |
Tracy Jamal Morgan (born November 10, 1968)[1][2] is an American actor and comedian who is best known for his eight seasons as a cast member on Saturday Night Live as well as the role of Tracy Jordan on the NBC series 30 Rock.
Contents |
Early life[link]
Morgan was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, the second of five children of Alicia (née Warden), a homemaker, and James Morgan, Jr., a musician. Morgan says his father returned after multiple tours of duty in Vietnam addicted to heroin,[3] causing him to leave the family when Morgan was six.[4][5][6] He was the target of bullies as a child.[7] His older brother had cerebral palsy and could not protect him so he used comedy to make bullies laugh rather than being beat up[8]. Before Morgan began his career, he worked in New York City as a painter, for L&L Painting and Rose Company.
Early career[link]
Morgan began his career on Martin, where he played Hustle Man. The character sold various items he had from the "hood," always greeting people with his trademark "What's happ'n, chief?" and had a pet dog that he dressed as a rapper. In the 2003 Chris Rock film Head of State, Morgan appeared as a man watching television, often questioning why they are not watching Martin.
Morgan was also a regular cast member on Uptown Comedy Club,[9] a sketch comedy show filmed in Harlem which aired for two seasons between 1992 to 1994. He was also on the HBO show Snaps.
[edit] Saturday Night Live
Morgan joined the cast of comedy show Saturday Night Live in 1996, where he performed as a regular until 2003. In December 2011, he made a guest appearance on Saturday Night Live's Christmas show, hosted by Jimmy Fallon.
Recurring characters[link]
He performed a variety of characters on the program, including:
- Brian Fellow
- Uncle Jemima
- Dominican Lou
- Bishop Don "Mack" Donald
- Astronaut Jones
- African Andy
- Benny the Bengal
- Woodrow
Notable impressions[link]
Morgan is also credited with impressions of:
On March 14, 2009, Morgan returned to SNL as host and reprised his roles of Brian Fellow and Astronaut Jones.
[edit] 30 Rock
Since 2006, Morgan has been a cast member of the NBC television show 30 Rock, playing the character Tracy Jordan, a caricature of himself. His work on 30 Rock has been well-received, being nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series at the 2009 Emmy Awards.[10]
Other work[link]
Morgan had his own show, The Tracy Morgan Show, in 2003, which was canceled after one season.
Morgan also had a stand-up special entitled "One Mic" that was shown on Comedy Central. He also was the host of the first Spike Guys' Choice Awards, which aired on June 13, 2007. In 2003, he was on an episode of Punk'd in which his car was towed from the valet parking. He can be heard as "Spoonie Luv" on the Comedy Central program Crank Yankers and as Woof in the MTV2 Animated Series Where My Dogs At?.
Morgan acted in commercials for ESPN NFL 2K, ESPN NBA 2K, and ESPN NHL 2K, where he co-starred with Warren Sapp, Ben Wallace and Jeremy Roenick. He appeared in the movie The Longest Yard, starring Adam Sandler, as a transvestite inmate.[11]
Morgan has hosted the VH1 Hip Hop Honors for 2 consecutive years and hosted the third season of Scare Tactics, the Sci Fi Channel's hidden camera show that pranks people by using their worst fears against them.
Morgan voiced Agent Blaster in Disney's G-Force and a Bulldog named luiz in the Blue Sky Animation Studios film Rio.
Autobiography[link]
On October 20, 2009, Morgan's autobiography I Am the New Black was released. The book includes stories from his life living in Tompkins Projects in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, to becoming a cast member on Saturday Night Live. Tracy appeared on National Public Radio's Fresh Air hosted by Terry Gross, at times tearing up about his former life in a New York ghetto.[3]
Personal life[link]
Morgan claims to have a number of tattoos, including: a peace sign; a happy and sad face; a cross bearing the names of his wife and three sons; the name of a friend he played football with in high school who was murdered; the words ME, MYSELF, & I on his back; and the phrase Stove Top.[12]
Family[link]
Morgan married his high school sweetheart Sabrina in 1985. They have three sons together. Their sons' names are Bobby Morgan, Tracy Jr., and Chris Morgan.[13] Morgan filed for divorce at Bronx Supreme Court on August 7, 2009 after 23 years of marriage, although he and his wife had been already separated for eight years. A friend told the New York Daily News, "Basically they were divorced without the paperwork."[14] Morgan credits one of his sons with having saved him from his alcoholism.[15] Morgan is estranged from his mother and most of his family.[16]
On September 18, 2011, it was announced that Morgan is engaged to model Megan Wollover. Morgan proposed to Wollover while the couple were in San Francisco.[17]
Health problems[link]
In 1996, he was diagnosed with diabetes, but says he never took it seriously, refusing to take medication or change his diet. After running a 104-degree Fahrenheit fever on the set of 30 Rock, Morgan decided to finally comply with his doctor's orders. He is now very cautious when it comes to the condition. With his consent, many of Morgan's own troubles have been incorporated within episodes of 30 Rock.[18]
In early December 2010, Tracy Morgan received a kidney transplant. It was announced on December 22, 2010 that he was resting and would miss "at least two episodes" of 30 Rock in 2011.[19]
On January 22, 2012, Morgan collapsed at an awards ceremony for the Sundance Film Festival. He appeared disoriented while giving a speech, and he was escorted out of the building before collapsing outside. Hospital officials stated that no drugs or alcohol were found in his system. His publicist attributed the incident to a combination of exhaustion and altitude sickness.[20]
Legal troubles[link]
On December 2, 2005, Morgan was arrested in Los Angeles on impaired driving charges after police stopped him for speeding. On February 17, 2006, he pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of drunken driving and was sentenced to 36 months' probation, fined $390 and ordered to attend an alcohol education program.[21]
In November 2006, Morgan was arrested for DUI after police spotted him driving erratically and was also charged with probation violation. In April 2007, Morgan entered a guilty plea where he had to wear an alcohol monitoring bracelet and perform five days of community service.[22]
Controversies[link]
On January 27, 2011, Morgan appeared on the NBA on TNT pregame coverage of the Miami Heat and the New York Knicks nationally televised live basketball game. During the appearance, commentators Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith asked Morgan to choose between Sarah Palin and Tina Fey on who was better looking (Fey portrays Palin on Saturday Night Live and is a coworker of Morgan). Morgan said Palin was "good masturbation material". The comment led TNT to apologize for his remarks on live camera.[23]
On June 3, 2011, during a performance in Nashville, Tennessee, Morgan made offensive remarks against gay people, reportedly including that, if his son was gay, he'd better speak to him like a man or he would "pull out a knife and stab" him. Morgan apologized, saying that he had "gone too far".[24] NBC Entertainment head Bob Greenblatt stated, "I speak for NBC and myself personally when I say we do not condone hate or violence of any kind, and I am pleased to see Tracy Morgan apologizing for recent homophobic remarks in his standup appearance... Unfortunately, Tracy's comments reflect negatively on both 30 Rock and NBC — two very all-inclusive and diverse organizations — and we have made it clear to him that this kind of behavior will not be tolerated." Tina Fey, Morgan's boss both in fiction and in real life, said, "I'm glad to hear that Tracy apologized .... but the violent imagery of Tracy's rant was disturbing to me at a time when homophobic hate crimes continue to be a life-threatening issue for the LGBT community...the Tracy Morgan I know, ...is not a hateful man and [would never] hurt another person. I hope for his sake that Tracy's apology will be accepted as sincere by his gay and lesbian co-workers at 30 Rock, without whom Tracy would not have lines to say, clothes to wear, sets to stand on, scene partners to act with or a printed-out paycheck from accounting to put in his pocket."[25]
On June 25, 2011, during a show at Caroline's in New York City, Morgan made derogatory comments about disabled children, saying things such as, "Don't ever mess with women who have retarded kids,"[26] and referring to a woman as "a cripple". Peter Bernes, CEO of The Arc, an organization supporting people with disabilities, stated, "Tracy Morgan should apologize immediately. This quote is far too offensive to be excused as comedy, and it is very hurtful to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families. Mr. Morgan has an incredibly powerful platform from which to fix this, and if he's learned anything in the last few weeks, he can't bomb this apology."[27]
Awards/nominations[link]
- Emmy Awards
- 2009, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series: 30 Rock, nominated
- Image Awards
- 2008, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series: 30 Rock, nominated
- 2007, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series: 30 Rock, nominated
Filmography[link]
- A Thin Line Between Love and Hate (1996)
- Half Baked (1998)
- How High (2001)
- Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001)
- 30 Years to Life (2001)
- Head of State (2003)
- The Longest Yard (2005)
- Are We There Yet? (2005)
- Little Man (2006)
- VH1's Totally Awesome (2006)
- Farce of the Penguins (2006)
- First Sunday (2008)
- Superhero Movie (2008)
- Beer for My Horses (2008)
- Scare Tactics (2008)
- G-Force (2009)
- Deep in the Valley (2009)
- Nailed (2010)
- Cop Out (2010)
- Death at a Funeral (2010)
- The Other Guys (2010)
- Rio (2011)
- Son of No One (2011)
- Chick Magnet (2011)
References[link]
- ^ a b "Tracy Morgan: Biography". http://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/tracy-morgan/bio/177572.
- ^ a b "Tracy Morgan". http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1804385094/bio.
- ^ a b "Tracy Morgan On Being 'The New Black'". Fresh Air. October 22, 2009. NPR. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=114009203.
- ^ Lipton, Michael A. (January 12, 2004). "Bowling 'em Over – Saturday Night Live, The Tracy Morgan Show, Tracy Morgan". People.com. http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20149057,00.html. Retrieved April 12, 2010.
- ^ "I Am the New Black by Tracy Morgan, with Anthony Bozza – Abridged Compact Disc – Random House – Read an Excerpt". Random House. October 20, 2009. http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780739381946&view=excerpt. Retrieved April 12, 2010.
- ^ Fretts, Bruce (November 27, 2003). "Is Tracy Morgan NBC's next breakout star?". Entertainment Weekly. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,550948,00.html. Retrieved April 12, 2010.
- ^ Lynette Rice (June 13, 2011). "Tracy Morgan: 'I know bullying can hurt'". Entertainment Weekly. http://insidetv.ew.com/2011/06/13/tracy-morgan-i-know-bullying-can-hurt/. Retrieved December 10, 2011.
- ^ web|url=http://www.vh1.com/news/editorial/?page=9&contentId=1594603 |title=20 Things You Don't Know About Tracy Morgan |publisher=VH1 |date=September 11, 2008 |accessdate=April 12, 2010}}
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxPhoH5w3bA&feature=related
- ^ Tracy Morgan Emmy Award Nominee
- ^ Itzkoff, Dave (2008-10-28). "New York Times article on Tracy Morgan". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/02/arts/television/02itzk.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin. Retrieved 2011-09-26.
- ^ Tracy Morgan: Naughty Boy Maxim, January 15, 2009
- ^ "Tracy Morgan". Nndb.com. http://www.nndb.com/people/556/000110226/. Retrieved April 12, 2010.
- ^ Joyce Eng (August 10, 2009). "Report: Tracy Morgan Files for Divorce". TVGuide.com. http://www.tvguide.com/News/Tracy-Morgan-Files-1008828.aspx. Retrieved August 10, 2009.
- ^ "YouTube – TAVIS SMILEY | Guest: Tracy Morgan | PBS". Youtube.com. 2010-02-17. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMfRuIAGfNQ&feature=related. Retrieved 2011-09-26.
- ^ "Excerpt: I Am The New Black". Random House. http://www.randomhouse.com/rhpg/features/tracymorgan/excerpt.php. Retrieved December 11, 2011.
- ^ "Tracy Morgan Is Engaged!". US Weekly. September 18, 2011. http://www.usmagazine.com/celebritynews/news/tracy-morgan-is-engaged-2011189. Retrieved September 27, 2011.
- ^ Itzkoff, Dave (October 28, 2008). "For Tracy Morgan, Every Day Is a Show". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/02/arts/television/02itzk.html. Retrieved March 5, 2009.
- ^ Ariano, Tara (December 21, 2010). "Tracy Morgan receives kidney transplant, will miss at least two episodes of 30 Rock". The Set. http://tv.yahoo.com/blog/tracy-morgan-receives-kidney-transplant-will-miss-at-least-two-episodes-of-30-rock--2018. Retrieved December 22, 2010.
- ^ Kaufman, Gil (January 23, 2012). "Tracy Morgan Collapses At Sundance". MTV. http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1677696/tracy-morgan-hospitalized-sundance.jhtml. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
- ^ "Tracy Morgan Charged With DWI". February 11, 2009. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/11/28/entertainment/main2212520.shtml.
- ^ "Tracy Morgan Ordered to SCRAM, Escapes Jail Time". http://www.tmz.com/2007/04/28/tracy-morgan-cops-a-plea/#.TsWkTiYi40M.
- ^ "Tracy Morgan Calls Sarah Palin 'Good Masturbation Material,' Network Apologizes". Fox News. January 28, 2011. http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2011/01/28/tracy-morgan-calls-palin-good-masturbation-material-network-apologizes/#ixzz1FCgwww.foxnews.com/entertainment/2011/01/28/tracy-morgan-calls-palin-good-masturbation-material-network-apologizes/.
- ^ "Tina Fey:Tracy Morgan is 'not a hateful man'". USA Today. 2011-06-12. http://content.usatoday.com/communities/entertainment/post/2011/06/tina-feytracy-morgan-is-not-a-hateful-man/1. Retrieved 2011-09-26.
- ^ Yvonne Villarreal (June 10, 2011). "'30 Rock's' Tina Fey and NBC honcho Bob Greenblatt respond to Tracy Morgan's homophobic comments". Los Angeles Times. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2011/06/30-rocks-tina-fey-and-nbc-honcho-bob-greenblatt-respond-to-tracy-morgans-homophobic-comments.html.
- ^ Le Tellier, Alexandra (June 29, 2011). "Tracy Morgan apologizes, then tries out a different offensive rant". The Los Angeles Times. http://opinion.latimes.com/opinionla/2011/06/tracy-morgan-new-offensive-rant.html.
- ^ Weiss, Shari (June 29, 2011). "Tracy Morgan under fire again for cracking offensive jokes about the mentally disabled in NYC show". Daily News. http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2011/06/29/2011-06-29_tracy_morgan_offensively_jokes_about_disabled_people_compares_young_retarded_mal.html.
External links[link]
|
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Tracy Morgan |
- Tracy Morgan on Twitter
- Works by or about Tracy Morgan in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
- Tracy Morgan at the Internet Movie Database
- Tracy Morgan collected news and commentary at The New York Times
- Interview with Tracy Morgan
- Tracy Morgan at Emmys.com
|
||||||||
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Morgan, Tracy |
| Alternative names | |
| Short description | |
| Date of birth | 1968-11-10 |
| Place of birth | Brooklyn, New York, US |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
http://wn.com/Tracy_Morgan
Related pages:
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http://fr.wn.com/Tracy Morgan
http://pt.wn.com/Tracy Morgan
http://de.wn.com/Tracy Morgan
http://it.wn.com/Tracy Morgan
http://pl.wn.com/Tracy Morgan
http://es.wn.com/Tracy Morgan
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracy_Morgan
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
