Helen
Helen in 1967
Born	Helen Richardson (1939-11-21) 21 November 1939 (age 72)[1] Burma
Occupation	Actress, Dancer
Years active	1951–present
Spouse	Salim Khan (1981–present)
Relatives	Salman Khan (step-son) Arbaaz Khan (step-son) Sohail Khan (step-son)

Helen Jairag Richardson is an Indian film actress and dancer of Anglo-Burmese descent, working in Hindi films. She is often cited as the most popular dancer of the item number in her time.^[2] She was the inspiration for four films and a book.^[3]

Early life and background[link]

Helen was born on November 21, 1939 in Burma to an Anglo-Indian father and Burmese mother.^[4] She has a brother Roger and a sister Jennifer. Her father died during the Second World War. The family migrated to Mumbai in 1943 in order to escape from the Japanese occupation of Burma. Helen had to quit her schooling to support her family because her mother's salary as a nurse was not enough to feed a family of four.^[4] In a documentary called 'Queen of the Nautch girls', Helen said she was 17 yrs old in 1957 when she got her first big break in Howrah Bridge.

Career[link]

Helen was introduced to Bollywood when a family friend, an actress known as Cukoo, helped her find jobs as a chorus dancer in the films Shabistan and Awaara (1951). She was soon working regularly and was featured as a solo dancer in films such as Alif Laila (1954), Hoor-e-Arab (1953), and number "Mr. John O Baba Khan" in the film Baarish.

Helen got her break in 1958 when she performed the song "Mera Naam Chin Chin Chu" in Shakti Samanta's film, Howrah Bridge, which was sung by Geeta Dutt. After that, offers started pouring in throughout the 1960's and 1970's. During her initial career, Geeta Dutt sang many songs for her. The Bollywood playback singer Asha Bhosle also frequently sang for Helen, particularly during the 1960s and the early 70's.

She was nominated for the Filmfare best supporting actress award in 1965 for her role in Gumnaam. She played dramatic roles such as the rape victim in Shakti Samanta's Pagla Kahin Ka (1970).

Writer Salim Khan helped her get roles in some of the films he was co-scripting with Javed Akhtar: Imaam Dharam, Don, Dostana, and Sholay. This was followed by a role in Mahesh Bhatt's film Lahu Ke Do Rang (1979), for which she won a Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award. In 1999 Helen was given India's Filmfare lifetime achievement award.

Helen officially retired from movies in 1983, but she has since then appeared in a few guest roles such as Khamoshi: The Musical (1996) and Mohabbatein (2000). She also made a special appearance as the mother of real-life step-son Salman Khan's character in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. Helen was selected for the Padma Shri awards of 2009 along with Aishwarya Rai and Akshay Kumar.

Non-acting career[link]

Helen also performed numerous stage shows in London, Paris, and Hong Kong.

In 1973, Helen, Queen of the Nautch Girls, a 30-minute documentary film from Merchant Ivory Films, was released. Anthony Korner directed and narrated the film. A book about Helen was published by Jerry Pinto in 2006, titled The Life and Times of an H-Bomb,^[5][6] which went on to win the National Film Award for Best Book on Cinema in 2007.

Helen appeared as a Judge in the semi finals and finals of the 2009 Indian Dancing Queen (Dance Contest)

Personal life[link]

For 16 years from 1957 to 1973, Helen lived with film director P.N Arora who was her benefactor. She broke up with him on her 34th birthday on November 21, 1973. ^[7] In 1981, Helen married Salim Khan, and became his second wife and they adopted a girl, Arpita. Salman Khan is her stepson and she has acted as his mother in the film Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, as his grand mother-in-law in Khamoshi: The Musical and Dil Ne Jise Apna Kaha and as his grandmother in the film Marigold.

Popular songs performed by Helen[link]

• "Mera Naam Chin Chin Chu" - Howrah Bridge (1958)
• "Oyee Maa Oyee Maa Yeh Kya Ho Gaya" - Paras Mani (1963)
• "Gham Chhod ke Manao Rang Relly" - Gumnaam (1965)
• "O Haseena Zulfowali" - Teesri Manzil (1966)
• "Aa Jaane Jaan" - Intaquam (1969)
• "Piya Tu Ab To Aaja" - Caravan (1971)
• "Ae Nujawan Hai Sab" - Apradh (1972)
• "Aaj Ki Raat Koi Aane Ko Hai" - Anamika (1973)
• "Mehbooba Mehbooba" - Sholay (1975)
• "Mungda Main Gud Ki Dali" - Inkaar (1978)
• "Yeh Mera Dil Pyar Ka Diwana" - Don (1978)

Awards and honors[link]

• Filmfare Nomination as Best Supporting Actress for Gumnaam (1965)
• Filmfare Nomination as Best Supporting Actress for Shikar (1968)
• Filmfare Nomination as Best Supporting Actress for Elan (1971)
• Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award for Lahu Ke Do Rang (1979)
• Filmfare Nomination as Best Supporting Actress for Khamoshi: The Musical (1996)
• Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award (1998)^[8]
• Padma Shri, a civilian honour from the Indian government (2009)

Selected filmography[link]

References[link]

Notes

Further reading

• Pinto, Jerry. Helen; The Life and Times of An H-Bomb. New Delhi: Penguin Books India, 2006. ISBN 0-14-303124-4.

External links[link]

• Rediff magazine profile of Helen
• Helen at the Internet Movie Database

Look up Helen or helen in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Helen may refer to:

• Helen of Troy, from Greek mythology
• Helen (given name)
• Helen (play), a play by Euripides
• Helen (Inheritance), a fictional supporting character in Christopher Paolini's Inheritance trilogy
• Helen (film), a 2009 drama starring Ashley Judd and directed by Sandra Nettelbeck
• Helen, Sweetheart of the Internet, a webcomic
• Helen (unit), a humorous unit of measuring beauty
• Helen (album), a Grammy-nominated album by Helen Humes
• Helen, Georgia, United States, a small city
• Helen, Maryland, United States, an unincorporated place
• Helen Falls, a waterfall in Lady Evelyn-Smoothwater Provincial Park, Temagami, Ontario, Canada
• Helen Jairag Richardson, known as Helen, a Bollywood actress and dancer

See also[link]

• Elena (name)
• Eleni (disambiguation)
• Helena (disambiguation)
• Helene (disambiguation)
• Hélène (disambiguation)
• Ellen (disambiguation)
• Hellen, son of Deucalion and Pyrrha, the ancestor of the Greeks
• Helenus, son of King Priam of Troy
• Saint Helena (disambiguation), people and places called Saint Helena
• Julia (daughter of Drusus the Younger), nicknamed "Helen" in Robert Graves' Claudius novels

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Zeenat Aman
Zeenat Aman at BIG Awards Jury Press Meet
Born	(1951-11-19) 19 November 1951 (age 60) Bombay
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1971–1989, 1999, 2003, 2006–present
Spouse	Mazhar Khan (1985–1998, his death)

Zeenat Aman (Hindi: ज़ीनत अमान, Urdu: زینت امان) (born 19 November 1951) is an Indian actress who has appeared in Hindi films, notably in the 1970s and 1980s. She was the second runner up in the Miss India Contest and went on to win the Miss Asia Pacific in 1970. Upon making her debut in Bollywood, Aman was credited with making a lasting impact on the image of its leading actresses by bringing the western heroine look to Hindi cinema, and throughout her career has been considered a sex symbol.^[1][2][3]

Early life[link]

Zeenat Aman was born in Mumbai (erstwhile Bombay) to a Muslim father, Amanullah Khan and a Hindu mother, Scinda. Her father was a script writer who was one of the writers for such movies as Mughal-e-Azam and Pakeezah. He died when Zeenat was 13. Her mother got re-married to a German, Mr. Heinz (was constantly referred to as Mrs. Heinz in all subsequent articles film magazines would carry on Zeenat). Zeenat's mother obtained German citizenship, and took her to Germany, where Zeenat was very unhappy, returning to India as soon as she turned 18.

Aman graduated from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai and went to University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California for further studies on student aid. Upon returning to India, she first took a job as a journalist for Femina and then later on moved on to modeling. One of the first few brands that she modeled for was Taj Mahal Tea and Television X Debut in 1966 exclusively. She was the second runner up in the Miss India Contest and went on to win the Miss Asia Pacific in 1970.

Film career[link]

The beginning[link]

After having studied in Los Angeles, winning the Miss Asia Pageant and a successful modeling career, Aman's film career began with a small role in O. P. Ralhan's Hulchul in 1971. A second role in Hungama (1971), starring singer Kishore Kumar, was also not successful.

Dev Anand offered Zaheeda (his second heroine in Prem Pujari) the role of sister in Hare Rama Hare Krishna (1972). Not realizing the importance of this secondary role, Zaheeda wanted the lead female part (eventually played by Mumtaz), and she opted out. Aman was chosen as a last-minute replacement.^[2]

In Hare Rama Hare Krishna, Aman, aided by R. D. Burman's song "Dum Maro Dum" (Take Another Toke), won over the heart's of audience as Janice. She earned a Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award^[4] and BFJA Award for Best Actress.^[5] Throughout the 1970s, the Dev-Zeenat pairing was seen in half a dozen films: Heera Panna (1973), Ishq Ishq Ishq (1974), Prem Shastra (1974), Warrant (1975), Darling Darling (1977) and Kalabaaz (1977). Of these, Warrant, was the biggest box-office success.

Her hip looks in Yaadon Ki Baaraat (1973) as the girl carrying a guitar, singing "churaliya hai tumne jo dil ko" (in Asha Bhonsle's voice) has won her more popularity and the hearts of millions of fans.^[2]

She appeared on every Hindi film magazine's cover during 1970s. In December 1974, Cine Blitz magazine was launched with Zeenat Aman on its cover, a testimony to her popularity at the time. However, she went on as the favourite cover girl of the popular magazine 'Stardust'.

The late 1970s[link]

Zeenat Aman, in her career, found success with other banners such as Dev Anand, B.R. Chopra, Raj Kapoor, Manmohan Desai, Feroz Khan, Nasir Hussain, Manoj Kumar, Prakash Mehra, Raj Khosla and Shakti Samanta.

In 1978, she starred in Raj Kapoor's massively publicised Satyam Shivam Sundaram (1978), however, the film was heavely criticized. The subject ironically dealt with the notion of the soul being more attractive than the body, but Kapoor chose to showcase Aman's sex-appeal. The actress was highly criticized for her exposure but somehow, later on the film had a great deal to do with Zeenat's fame and the movie itself was distinguished as a work of art. She also earned a Filmfare nomination as Best Actress for this film.^[2]

Zeenat Aman's entry into Hollywood also backfired when Krishna Shah's Shalimar (1978), co-starring Dharmendra and international names like Rex Harrison and Sylvia Miles, proved to be a failure in the USA and in India.^[2] Zeenat possessed a convent schoolgirl accent and a penchant for revealing dresses. She matched Sophia Loren & Gina Lollobrigida in the battle of oomph at Shalimar's launch. 1978 could have been a disaster year for her, because of the diminishing box office returns of Satyam Shivam Sundaram and Shalimar, but it was Don that came to the rescue and set her career soaring again. Ironically, her reasons for accepting the role in Don were altruistic, and she didn't even take any remuneration for it, because she wanted to help the producer, Nariman Irani, who died midway filming.^[6] Her role of a Westernized revenge-seeking action heroine contributed to the film's huge success, and her fans reconnected with her again. Westernised heroines like Parveen Babi and Tina Munim now followed in her footsteps, by the late 1970s. Aman continued to act in hits like Dharam Veer, Chhaila Babu and The Great Gambler.

The 1980s[link]

By the beginning of the 1980s multi-starrers films became a trend, and Zeenat Aman was increasingly asked to just provide sex appeal in hero-oriented, despite success in so many films. In contrast to this trend was her performance as a rape victim seeking justice in B. R. Chopra's Insaaf Ka Tarazu (1980) for which she received a Filmfare Best Actress nomination. This film was followed by success in the love triangle Qurbani, Ali Baba aur 40 Chor, Dostana (1980) and Lawaaris (1981).^[2]

Zeenat's popularity in Russia was so great after Alibaba Aur 40 Chor that she felt pressured into doing a supporting role in Sohni Mahiwal. The film was moderately successful but no credit went to Zeenat.^{[citation needed]}

Her last role as the female lead was in the movie Gawahi, a court room drama, in 1989.

The 1990s & 2000s[link]

Zeenat came back to the silver screen after a decade doing a cameo role in the film Bhopal Express, and she went on to do small roles in Boom (2003), Jaana... Let's Fall in Love (2006), Chaurahen (2007), Ugly Aur Pagli (2008), Geeta in Paradise (2009) and Dunno Y... Na Jaane Kyon (2010).

In 2004, she appeared as Mrs. Robinson in the play The Graduate staged at St Andrew's auditorium in Mumbai.

Aman had a TV show called In Conversation with Zeenat made by B4U TV, and also made an appearance along with Hema Malini in the popular show Koffee with Karan hosted by Karan Johar.

Aman received a Lifetime Achievement Award during the Zee Cine Awards function in 2008, as a recognition of her contribution to Hindi Cinema.

She also received An Outstanding Contribution to Indian Cinema award at IIFA awards 2010 held at Colombo, Sri Lanka. She dedicated this award to her mother.

Image[link]

Aman's sultry persona was a contrast to many of the more conservative stars of the era.^[2] At a time when heroines were obedient wives and lovers on screen, Aman was drawn to more unconventional roles—she was cast as the opportunist who deserts her jobless lover for a millionaire (Roti Kapda Aur Makaan), the ambitious girl who considers having an abortion in order to pursue a career (Ajnabee), the happy hooker (Manoranjan), the disenchanted hippie (Hare Rama Hare Krishna), the girl who falls in love with her mother's one-time lover (Prem Shastra), and a woman married to a caustic cripple but involved in an extramarital relationship (Dhund). She managed to balance these roles with acting in more conventional films such as Chori Mera Kaam, Chhaila Babu, Dostana and Lawaaris, which is considered by many to be a landmark in Indian Cinema. Encyclopædia Britannica's "Encyclopedia of Hindi Cinema" wrote, "Zeenat Aman had a definite impact on the characterization of the heroine in Hindi films. With films such as Hare Rama Hare Krishna and Yaadon Ki Baraat, she fashioned the image of the youthful and westernized woman in Hindi cinema."^[1]

Aman's persona was such that newcomers were, and still are compared to her. Parveen Babi was called "The poor man's Zeenat Aman", Sarika was christened "Zeenat Aman 2" and Padmini Kolhapure was named "Baby Zeenat".

Personal life[link]

In 1985, she got married to Mazhar Khan and had two sons Azaan and Zahaan.Her husband Mazhar used to beat her up often which ultimately led to their filing for divorce^[7]. Mazhar Khan died in September 1998 (renal failure).

Today, Aman lives with her two sons and makes many social appearances and film awards functions, she is rarely seen on screen.

Awards and recognitions[link]

• 1972 - Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award for Hare Rama Hare Krishna
• 1972 - BFJA Awards, Best Actress for Hare Rama Hare Krishna
• 1978 - Filmfare Nomination as Best Actress for Satyam Shivam Sundaram
• 1980 - Filmfare Nomination as Best Actress for Insaaf Ka Tarazu
• 2003 - Bollywood Awards 'Award for Lifetime Achievement'- Lifetime of Glamour.^[8]
• 2006 - "Outstanding Contribution to the Motion Picture Industry of India Awards" at the eighth annual Bollywood Movie Awards.^[9][10]
• 2008 - Zee Cine Award for Lifetime Achievement
• 2010 - "Outstanding Contribution to Indian cinema" at the 11th IIFA awards

Filmography[link]

Further reading[link]

• Dinesh Raheja. The A to Z of Zeenat Aman. Rediff.com, 26 September 2004. Retrieved on 14 November 2005.
• Vidya Sampat & Lavanya Varadrajan. Zeenat Aman: The Sensual^{[dead link]}. Despardes.com, 4 March 2005. Retrieved on 10 August 2005.
• Prateek Modi. Zeenat Aman: A Touch Of Class With Unlimited Oomph. Bollykings.com, 4 November 2011.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Zeenat Aman at the Internet Movie Database

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Zeenat Aman

• Celebrity Profile: Zeenat Aman^{[dead link]}. Buzz18.com
• Zeenat Aman^{[dead link]}. Yahoo! Movies
• Zeenat Aman article at Sunday Observer

Awards and titles for Zeenat Aman Awards and achievements Preceded by Seo Won-kyoung Miss Asia Pacific 1970 1970 Succeeded by Flora Baza Preceded by Tasneem Fakir Mohammed Femina Miss India 1970 Succeeded by Urmila Sanandan

v t e Miss India winners in the Grand Slam pageants Miss Universe Sushmita Sen (1994) · Lara Dutta (2000) Miss World Reita Faria (1966) · Aishwarya Rai (1994) · Diana Hayden (1997) · Yukta Mookhey (1999) · Priyanka Chopra (2000) Miss Asia Pacific Zeenat Aman (1970) · Tara Anne Fonseca (1973) · Dia Mirza (2000) Miss Earth Nicole Faria (2010) Miss International - Dominican Republic India Panamá Philippines Puerto Rico USA Venezuela

Helen Keller
Helen Keller sitting holding a magnolia flower, circa 1920.
Born	Helen Adams Keller (1880-06-27)June 27, 1880 Tuscumbia, Alabama, USA
Died	June 1, 1968(1968-06-01) (aged 87) Arcan Ridge, Easton, Connecticut, USA
Signature

Helen Adams Keller (June 27, 1880 – June 1, 1968) was an American author, political activist, and lecturer. She was the first deafblind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree.^[1][2] The story of how Keller's teacher, Anne Sullivan, broke through the isolation imposed by a near complete lack of language, allowing the girl to blossom as she learned to communicate, has become widely known through the dramatic depictions of the play and film The Miracle Worker.

A prolific author, Keller was well-traveled, and was outspoken in her anti-war convictions. A member of the Socialist Party of America and the Industrial Workers of the World, she campaigned for women's suffrage, labor rights, socialism, and other radical left causes. She was inducted into the Alabama Women's Hall of Fame in 1971.^[3]

Early childhood and illness[link]

Keller with Anne Sullivan vacationing at Cape Cod in July 1888

Helen Adams Keller was born on June 27, 1880, in Tuscumbia, Alabama. Her family lived on a homestead, Ivy Green,^[4] that Helen's grandfather had built decades earlier.^[5] Helen's father, Arthur H. Keller,^[6] spent many years as an editor for the Tuscumbia North Alabamian and had served as a captain for the Confederate Army.^[5] Helen's paternal grandmother was the second cousin of Robert E. Lee.^[7] Helen's mother, Kate Adams,^[8] was the daughter of Charles Adams.^[9] Though originally from Massachusetts, Charles Adams also fought for the Confederate Army during the American Civil War, earning the rank of brigadier-general.^[7]

Helen's father's lineage can be traced to Casper Keller, a native of Switzerland.^[7][10] Coincidentally, one of Helen's Swiss ancestors was the first teacher for the deaf in Zurich.^[7] Helen reflects upon this coincidence in her first autobiography, stating "that there is no king who has not had a slave among his ancestors, and no slave who has not had a king among his."^[7]

Helen Keller was not born blind and deaf; it was not until she was 19 months old that she contracted an illness described by doctors as "an acute congestion of the stomach and the brain", which might have been scarlet fever or meningitis. The illness did not last for a particularly long time, but it left her deaf and blind. At that time, she was able to communicate somewhat with Martha Washington,^[11] the six-year-old daughter of the family cook, who understood her signs; by the age of seven, she had over 60 home signs to communicate with her family.

In 1886, her mother, inspired by an account in Charles Dickens' American Notes of the successful education of another deaf and blind woman, Laura Bridgman, dispatched young Helen, accompanied by her father, to seek out Dr. J. Julian Chisolm, an eye, ear, nose, and throat specialist in Baltimore, for advice.^[12] He subsequently put them in touch with Alexander Graham Bell, who was working with deaf children at the time. Bell advised the couple to contact the Perkins Institute for the Blind, the school where Bridgman had been educated, which was then located in South Boston. Michael Anaganos, the school's director, asked former student Anne Sullivan, herself visually impaired and only 20 years old, to become Keller's instructor. It was the beginning of a 49-year-long relationship, Sullivan evolving into governess and then eventual companion.

Anne Sullivan arrived at Keller's house in March 1887, and immediately began to teach Helen to communicate by spelling words into her hand, beginning with "d-o-l-l" for the doll that she had brought Keller as a present. Keller was frustrated, at first, because she did not understand that every object had a word uniquely identifying it. In fact, when Sullivan was trying to teach Keller the word for "mug", Keller became so frustrated she broke the doll.^[13] Keller's big breakthrough in communication came the next month, when she realized that the motions her teacher was making on the palm of her hand, while running cool water over her other hand, symbolized the idea of "water"; she then nearly exhausted Sullivan demanding the names of all the other familiar objects in her world.

Due to a protruding left eye, Keller was usually photographed in profile. Both her eyes were replaced in adulthood with glass replicas for "medical and cosmetic reasons".^[14]

Formal education[link]

Starting in May, 1888, Keller attended the Perkins Institute for the Blind. In 1894, Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan moved to New York to attend the Wright-Humason School for the Deaf, and to learn from Sarah Fuller at the Horace Mann School for the Deaf. In 1896, they returned to Massachusetts and Keller entered The Cambridge School for Young Ladies before gaining admittance, in 1900, to Radcliffe College, where she lived in Briggs Hall, South House. Her admirer, Mark Twain, had introduced her to Standard Oil magnate Henry Huttleston Rogers, who, with his wife Abbie, paid for her education. In 1904, at the age of 24, Keller graduated from Radcliffe, becoming the first deaf blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. She maintained a correspondence with the Austrian philosopher and pedagogue Wilhelm Jerusalem, who was one of the first to discover her literary talent.^[15]

Determined to communicate with others as conventionally as possible, Keller learned to speak, and spent much of her life giving speeches and lectures. She learned to "hear" people's speech by reading their lips with her hands—her sense of touch had become extremely supple. She became proficient at using Braille and reading sign language with her hands as well.^{[volume & issue needed]}

Companions[link]

Anne Sullivan stayed as a companion to Helen Keller long after she taught her. Anne married John Macy in 1905, and her health started failing around 1914. Polly Thompson was hired to keep house. She was a young woman from Scotland who had no experience with deaf or blind people. She progressed to working as a secretary as well, and eventually became a constant companion to Keller.^[16]

Keller moved to Forest Hills, Queens, together with Anne and John, and used the house as a base for her efforts on behalf of the American Foundation for the Blind.^[17]

After Sullivan died in 1936, Keller and Thompson moved to Connecticut. They traveled worldwide and raised funds for the blind. Thompson had a stroke in 1957 from which she never fully recovered, and died in 1960.^[1]

Winnie Corbally, a nurse who was originally brought in to care for Thompson in 1957, stayed on after her death and was Keller's companion for the rest of her life.^[1]

Political activities[link]

Helen Keller portrait, 1904.

Keller went on to become a world-famous speaker and author. She is remembered as an advocate for people with disabilities, amid numerous other causes. She was a suffragist, a pacifist, an opponent of Woodrow Wilson, a radical socialist and a birth control supporter. In 1915 she and George Kessler founded the Helen Keller International (HKI) organization. This organization is devoted to research in vision, health and nutrition. In 1920 she helped to found the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Keller traveled to 40 some-odd countries with Sullivan, making several trips to Japan and becoming a favorite of the Japanese people. Keller met every U.S. President from Grover Cleveland to Lyndon B. Johnson and was friends with many famous figures, including Alexander Graham Bell, Charlie Chaplin and Mark Twain. Keller and Chaplin shared anti-capitalist views; Keller and Twain were both considered radicals at the beginning of the 20th century, and as a consequence, their political views have been forgotten or glossed over in popular perception.^[19]

Keller was a member of the Socialist Party and actively campaigned and wrote in support of the working class from 1909 to 1921. She supported Socialist Party candidate Eugene V. Debs in each of his campaigns for the presidency. Newspaper columnists who had praised her courage and intelligence before she expressed her socialist views now called attention to her disabilities. The editor of the Brooklyn Eagle wrote that her "mistakes sprung out of the manifest limitations of her development." Keller responded to that editor, referring to having met him before he knew of her political views:

Keller joined the Industrial Workers of the World (known as the IWW or the Wobblies) in 1912,^[19] saying that parliamentary socialism was "sinking in the political bog". She wrote for the IWW between 1916 and 1918. In Why I Became an IWW,^[21] Keller explained that her motivation for activism came in part from her concern about blindness and other disabilities:

The last sentence refers to prostitution and syphilis, the former a frequent cause of the latter, and the latter a leading cause of blindness. In the same interview, Keller cited the 1912 strike of textile workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts for instigating her radicalization.

Writings[link]

Helen Keller, circa 1912

Keller wrote a total of 12 published books and several articles.

One of her earliest pieces of writing, at age 11, was The Frost King (1891). There were allegations that this story had been plagiarized from The Frost Fairies by Margaret Canby. An investigation into the matter revealed that Keller may have experienced a case of cryptomnesia, which was that she had Canby's story read to her but forgot about it, while the memory remained in her subconscious.^[1]

At age 22, Keller published her autobiography, The Story of My Life (1903), with help from Sullivan and Sullivan's husband, John Macy. It includes words that Keller wrote and the story of her life up to age 21, and was written during her time in college.

Keller wrote The World I Live In in 1908 giving readers an insight into how she felt about the world.^[22] Out of the Dark, a series of essays on socialism, was published in 1913.

When Keller was young, Anne Sullivan introduced her to Phillips Brooks, who introduced her to Christianity, Keller famously saying: "I always knew He was there, but I didn't know His name!"^[23][24][25]

Her spiritual autobiography, My Religion, was published in 1927 and then in 1994 extensively revised and re-issued under the title Light in My Darkness. It advocates the teachings of Emanuel Swedenborg, the Christian revelator and theologian who gives a spiritual interpretation of the teachings of the Bible and who claims that the second coming of Jesus Christ has already taken place. Adherents use several names to describe themselves, including Second Advent Christian, Swedenborgian and New Church.

Akita dog[link]

When Keller visited Akita Prefecture in Japan in July 1937, she inquired about Hachikō, the famed Akita dog that had died in 1935. She told a Japanese person that she would like to have an Akita dog; one was given to her within a month, with the name of Kamikaze-go. When he died of canine distemper, his older brother, Kenzan-go, was presented to her as an official gift from the Japanese government in July 1938. Keller is credited with having introduced the Akita to the United States through these two dogs.

By 1939 a breed standard had been established and dog shows had been held, but such activities stopped after World War II began. Keller wrote in the Akita Journal:

Later life[link]

Keller suffered a series of strokes in 1961 and spent the last years of her life at her home.^[1]

On September 14, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, one of the United States' two highest civilian honors. In 1965 she was elected to the National Women's Hall of Fame at the New York World's Fair.^[1]

Keller devoted much of her later life to raising funds for the American Foundation for the Blind. She died in her sleep on June 1, 1968, at her home, Arcan Ridge, located in Easton, Connecticut. A service was held in her honor at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., and her ashes were placed there next to her constant companions, Anne Sullivan and Polly Thompson.

Portrayals[link]

Keller's life has been interpreted many times. She appeared in a silent film, Deliverance (1919), which told her story in a melodramatic, allegorical style.^[28]

She was also the subject of the documentaries Helen Keller in Her Story, narrated by Katharine Cornell, and The Story of Helen Keller, part of the Famous Americans series produced by Hearst Entertainment.

The Miracle Worker is a cycle of dramatic works ultimately derived from her autobiography, The Story of My Life. The various dramas each describe the relationship between Keller and Sullivan, depicting how the teacher led her from a state of almost feral wildness into education, activism, and intellectual celebrity. The common title of the cycle echoes Mark Twain's description of Sullivan as a "miracle worker." Its first realization was the 1957 Playhouse 90 teleplay of that title by William Gibson. He adapted it for a Broadway production in 1959 and an Oscar-winning feature film in 1962, starring Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke. It was remade for television in 1979 and 2000.

In 1984, Helen Keller's life story was made into a TV movie called The Miracle Continues.^[29] This film that entailed the semi-sequel to The Miracle Worker recounts her college years and her early adult life. None of the early movies hint at the social activism that would become the hallmark of Keller's later life, although a Disney version produced in 2000 states in the credits that she became an activist for social equality.

The Bollywood movie Black (2005) was largely based on Keller's story, from her childhood to her graduation. A documentary called Shining Soul: Helen Keller's Spiritual Life and Legacy was produced by the Swedenborg Foundation in the same year. The film focuses on the role played by Emanuel Swedenborg's spiritual theology in her life and how it inspired Keller's triumph over her triple disabilities of blindness, deafness and a severe speech impediment.

On March 6, 2008, the New England Historic Genealogical Society announced that a staff member had discovered a rare 1888 photograph showing Helen and Anne, which, although previously published, had escaped widespread attention.^[30] Depicting Helen holding one of her many dolls, it is believed to be the earliest surviving photograph of Anne.^[31]

Posthumous honors[link]

Helen Keller as depicted on the Alabama state quarter

In 1999, Keller was listed in Gallup's Most Widely Admired People of the 20th century.

In 2003, Alabama honored its native daughter on its state quarter.^[32]

The Helen Keller Hospital in Sheffield, Alabama is dedicated to her.^[33]

There are streets named after Helen Keller in Getafe, Spain, in Lod, Israel^[34], in Lisbon, Portugal^[35] and in Caen, France.

A preschool for the deaf and hard of hearing in Mysore, India, was originally named after Helen Keller by its founder K. K. Srinivasan.

On October 7, 2009, a bronze statue of Helen Keller was added to the National Statuary Hall Collection, as a replacement for the State of Alabama's former 1908 statue of the education reformer Jabez Lamar Monroe Curry. It is displayed in the United States Capitol Visitor Center and depicts Keller as a seven-year-old child standing at a water pump. The statue represents the seminal moment in Keller's life when she understood her first word: W-A-T-E-R, as signed into her hand by teacher Anne Sullivan. The pedestal base bears a quotation in raised letters and Braille characters: "The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched, they must be felt with the heart."^[36] The statue is the first one of a person with a disability and of a child to be permanently displayed at the U.S. Capitol.^[37][38][39]

See also[link]

• Helen Keller Services for the Blind

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Keller, Helen with Anne Sullivan and John A. Macy (1903) The Story of My Life. New York, NY: Doubleday, Page & Co.
• Lash, Joseph P. (1980) Helen and Teacher: The Story of Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan Macy . New York, NY: Delacorte Press. ISBN 978-0-440-03654-8
• Herrmann, Dorothy (1998) Helen Keller: A Life. New York, NY: Knopf. ISBN 978-0-679-44354-4
• "Keller, Helen Adams" World Encyclopedia. Philip's, 2008. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. University of Edinburgh. February 10, 2012 <http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t142.e6208>

External links[link]

Wikisource has original works written by or about: Helen Keller

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Helen Keller

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Helen Keller

• The Story of My Life by Helen Keller at Project Gutenberg
• The Story of My Life with introduction to the text
• Works by or about Helen Keller in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Booknotes interview with Dorothy Herrmann on Helen Keller: A Life, October 25, 1998.

v t e Helen Keller Life history Ivy Green Tuscumbia, Alabama Laura Bridgman Alexander Graham Bell Schools attended Perkins School for the Blind Anne Sullivan Wright-Humason School for the Deaf Horace Mann School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing The Cambridge School of Weston Radcliffe College Related foundations Helen Keller International American Civil Liberties Union Helen Keller Services for the Blind Related works The Frost King The Story of My Life The World I Live In My Religion Light in My Darkness Deliverance Helen Keller in Her Story The Miracle Worker The Miracle Continues Black

Helen Hunt
Hunt in 2011
Born	Helen Elizabeth Hunt (1963-06-15) June 15, 1963 (age 49) Culver City, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actress, director, screenwriter
Years active	1973–present
Spouse	Hank Azaria (1999–2000); divorced
Partner	Matthew Carnahan (2001–present)

Helen Elizabeth Hunt (born June 15, 1963) is an American actress, film director, and screenwriter. She starred in the sitcom, Mad About You, for seven years before being cast in the 1997 romantic comedy film, As Good as It Gets for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. Some of her other Hollywood credits include Twister, Cast Away, What Women Want, Pay It Forward, and Soul Surfer. She made her directorial debut in 2007 with Then She Found Me.