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Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about 106,400,000 square kilometres (41,100,000 sq mi), it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area. The first part of its name refers to Atlas of Greek mythology, making the Atlantic the "Sea of Atlas".
The oldest known mention of "Atlantic" is in The Histories of Herodotus around 450 BC (Hdt. 1.202.4): Atlantis thalassa (Greek: Ἀτλαντὶς θάλασσα; English: Sea of Atlas); see also: Atlas Mountains. The term Ethiopic Ocean, derived from Ethiopia, was applied to the southern Atlantic ocean as late as the mid-19th century. Before Europeans discovered other oceans, the term "ocean" itself was synonymous with the waters beyond the Strait of Gibraltar that we now know as the Atlantic. The early Greeks believed this ocean to be a gigantic river encircling the world.
The Atlantic Ocean occupies an elongated, S-shaped basin extending longitudinally between Europe and Africa to the east, and the Americas to the west. As one component of the interconnected global ocean, it is connected in the north to the Arctic Ocean (which is sometimes considered a sea of the Atlantic), to the Pacific Ocean in the southwest, the Indian Ocean in the southeast, and the Southern Ocean in the south. (Other definitions describe the Atlantic as extending southward to Antarctica.) The equator subdivides it into the North Atlantic Ocean and South Atlantic Ocean.
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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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England
England
i/ˈɪŋɡlənd/ is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, while the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separate it from continental Europe. Most of England comprises the central and southern part of the island of Great Britain in the North Atlantic. The country also includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly and the Isle of Wight.
The area now called England was first inhabited by modern humans during the Upper Palaeolithic period, but it takes its name from the Angles, one of the Germanic tribes who settled during the 5th and 6th centuries. England became a unified state in AD 927, and since the Age of Discovery, which began during the 15th century, has had a significant cultural and legal impact on the wider world. The English language, the Anglican Church, and English law—the basis for the common law legal systems of many other countries around the world—developed in England, and the country's parliamentary system of government has been widely adopted by other nations. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the world's first industrialised nation. England's Royal Society laid the foundations of modern experimental science.
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Liverpool
Liverpool (
/ˈlɪvəpuːl/) is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Liverpool was 445,200 and was part of a larger urban area of 816,216.
Historically a part of Lancashire, the urbanisation and expansion of Liverpool were both largely brought about by the city's status as a major port. By the 18th century, trade from the West Indies, Ireland and mainland Europe coupled with close links with the Atlantic Slave Trade furthered the economic expansion of Liverpool. By the early 19th century, 40% of the world's trade passed through Liverpool's docks, contributing to Liverpool's rise as a major city.
Inhabitants of Liverpool are referred to as Liverpudlians but are also colloquially known as "Scousers", in reference to the local dish known as "scouse", a form of stew. The word "Scouse" has also become synonymous with the Liverpool accent and dialect. Liverpool's status as a port city has contributed to its diverse population, which, historically, were drawn from a wide range of peoples, cultures, and religions, particularly those from Ireland. The city is also home to the oldest Black African community in the country and the oldest Chinese community in Europe.
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London
Londoni/ˈlʌndən/ is the capital city of England and the United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its founding by the Romans, who named it Londinium. London's ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its square-mile mediaeval boundaries. Since at least the 19th century, the name London has also referred to the metropolis developed around this core. The bulk of this conurbation forms the London region and the Greater London administrative area, governed by the elected Mayor of London and the London Assembly.
London is a leading global city, with strengths in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism and transport all contributing to its prominence. It is the world's leading financial centre alongside New York City and has the fifth-largest city GDP in the world (and the largest in Europe). London has been described as a world cultural capital. It was the world's most visited city during 2011 and London Heathrow is the world's busiest airport by number of international passengers. London's 43 universities form the largest concentration of higher education in Europe. In 2012 London will become the first city to host the modern Summer Olympic Games three times.
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Maida Vale
Coordinates: 51°31′39″N 0°11′24″W / 51.5274°N 0.1899°W / 51.5274; -0.1899
Maida Vale is a residential district comprising the northern part of Paddington in west London, between St John's Wood and Kilburn. It is part of the City of Westminster. The area is mostly residential, and mainly affluent, consisting of many large late Victorian and Edwardian blocks of mansion flats. It is also home to the BBC Maida Vale Studios.
The Maida Vale area is usually regarded as being bounded by Maida Avenue and the Regent’s Canal in the South, Maida Vale road to the north east, Kilburn Park Road to the north west, and Shirland Road and Blomfield Road to the south west. The southern part of Maida Vale around Paddington Basin, a junction of two canals with many houseboats, is known as Little Venice. The area to the south-west of Maida Vale, at the southern end of Elgin Avenue, was historically known as "Maida Hill", and was a recognised postal district bounded by the Avenues on the west, the Grand Union Canal on the south, Maida Vale to the east and Kilburn Lane to the north. Parts of Maida Vale were also included within this. The name of "Maida Hill" has since fallen out of use, although has recently been resurrected through the new 414 bus route (which terminates on Shirland road and states its destination as Maida Hill), and a new street market on the Piazza at the junction of Elgin Avenue and Harrow Road.
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Midhurst
Coordinates: 50°59′06″N 0°44′24″W / 50.985°N 0.740°W / 50.985; -0.740
Midhurst ( /ˈmɪd.hɜrst/; Sussex dialect: Medhas /ˈmɛd.həs/) is a market town and civil parish in the Chichester district of West Sussex, England, with a population of 4,889 in 2001. The town is situated on the River Rother and is home to the ruin of the Tudor Cowdray House and the stately Victorian Cowdray Park. Country Life magazine rated Midhurst the second best town in England.
In the United Kingdom Census 2001 the parish covered 333 hectares and had 2,327 households with a total population of 4,889 of which 2,258 residents were economically active. In 1831 the population was 1,478; and 1,536 in 1841.
Formerly standing within the grounds of Midhurst Castle, the parish church of St. Mary Magdalene and St. Denys was mentioned in 1291 and later in 1367 as standing, "in a place called Courtgene". The interior of the church has undergone much restoration and change and little evidence exists of its medieval heritage. Consisting of chancel and nave flanked by aisles on both sides, the church was largely rebuilt in the Perpendicular style in 1422, towards the end of Henry V's reign.
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Noël Coward Theatre
The Noël Coward Theatre, formerly known as the Albery Theatre, is a West End theatre on St. Martin's Lane in the City of Westminster. It opened on 12 March 1903 as the New Theatre and was built by Sir Charles Wyndham behind Wyndham's Theatre which was completed in 1899. The building was designed by architect W. G. R. Sprague with an exterior in the classical style and an interior in the Rococo style.
In 1973 it was renamed the Albery Theatre in tribute to the late Sir Bronson Albery who had presided as its manager for many years. Since September 2005, the theatre has been owned by Delfont-Mackintosh Ltd. It underwent major refurbishment in 2006, and was renamed the Noël Coward Theatre when it re-opened for the London premiere of Avenue Q on 1 June 2006. Noël Coward, one of Britain's greatest playwrights and actors, appeared in his own play, I'll Leave It To You, at the then New Theatre in 1920, the first West End production of one of his plays.
The theatre seats 872 patrons on four levels. The building is now a Grade II Listed structure.
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Paddington
Coordinates: 51°31′02″N 0°10′23″W / 51.5172°N 0.1730°W / 51.5172; -0.1730
Paddington is a district within the City of Westminster, in central London, England. Formerly a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Paddington station, designed by the celebrated engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel and opened in 1847; St Mary's Hospital and Paddington Green Police Station (the most important high-security police station in the United Kingdom).
A major project called Paddington Waterside aims to regenerate former railway and canal land between 1998 and 2018, and the area is seeing many new developments.
The earliest extant reference to Padington, historically a part of Middlesex, was made in 1056.[citation needed]
In the later Elizabethan and early Stuart era, the rectory and associated estate houses were occupied by the Small (or Smale) family. Nicholas Small was a clothworker sufficiently well connected to have his new wife's (Jane Small) portrait painted by Holbein. Nicholas died in 1565 and his wife married again, to Nicholas Parkinson, who also resided in Paddington. Parkinson went on to be the Master of the Clothworker's company. Jane Small continued to live in Paddington after her second husband's death, and her manor house was big enough to have been let to Sir John Popham, the attorney general, in the 1580s. At this time there was an inn attached to the estate, named Blowers.
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Playhouse Theatre
The Playhouse Theatre is a West End theatre in the City of Westminster, located in Northumberland Avenue, near Trafalgar Square. The Theatre was built by F. H. Fowler and Hill with a seating capacity of 1,200. It was rebuilt in 1907 and still retains its original substage machinery. Its current seating capacity is 786.
Built by Sefton Henry Parry as the Royal Avenue Theatre, it opened on 11 March 1882 with 679 seats. The first production at the theatre was Jacques Offenbach's Madame Favart. In its early seasons, the theatre hosted comic operas, burlesques and farces for several years. For much of this time, the low comedian, Arthur Roberts, a popular star of the music halls, starred at the theatre. By the 1890s, the theatre was presenting drama, and in 1894 Annie Horniman, the tea heiress, anonymously sponsored the actress Florence Farr in a season of plays at the theatre. Farr's first production was unsuccessful, and so she prevailed upon her friend, George Bernard Shaw to hurry and make his West End début at the theatre with Arms and the Man in 1894. It was successful enough to allow him to discontinue music criticism to focus full time on play writing. The legendary actress manager Gladys Cooper ran the theatre for some years.
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Royal Court Theatre
The Royal Court Theatre is a non-commercial theatre on Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London. It is noted for its contributions to modern theatre. In 1956 it was acquired by and is home to a resident company, the English Stage Company.
The first theatre on Lower George Street, off Sloane Square, was the converted Nonconformist Ranelagh Chapel, opened as a theatre in 1870 under the name The New Chelsea Theatre. Marie Litton became its manager in 1871, hiring Walter Emden to remodel the interior, and it was renamed the Court Theatre.
Several of W. S. Gilbert's early plays were staged here, including Randall's Thumb, Creatures of Impulse (with music by Alberto Randegger), Great Expectations (adapted from the Dickens novel), and On Guard (all in 1871); The Happy Land (1873, with Gilbert Abbott à Beckett; Gilbert's most controversial play); The Wedding March, translated from Un Chapeau de Paille d'Italie by Eugène Marin Labiche (1873); The Blue-Legged Lady, translated from La Dame aux Jambes d'Azur by Labiche and Marc-Michel (1874); and Broken Hearts (1875). By 1878, management of the theatre was shared by John Hare and W. H. Kendal.
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Sicily
Sicily (Italian and Sicilian: Sicilia, [siˈtʃiːlja]; [sɪˈɕilja]) is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea; along with surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana (Sicilian Autonomous Region).
Sicily is located in the central Mediterranean. It extends from the tip of the Apennine peninsula from which it is separated only by the narrow Strait of Messina, towards the North African coast. Its most prominent landmark is Mount Etna, which is at 3,320 m (10,890 ft) the tallest active volcano in Europe and one of the most active in the world. The island has a typical Mediterranean climate.
The earliest archeological evidence of human dwelling on the island dates from 8000 BC. At around 750 BC, Sicily became a Greek colony and for the next 600 years it was the site of the Greek-Punic and Roman-Punic wars, which ended with the Roman destruction of Carthage. After the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century AD, Sicily often changed hands, and during the early Middle Ages it was ruled in turn by the Vandals, Ostrogoths, Byzantines, Arabs and Normans. Later on, the Kingdom of Sicily lasted between 1130 and 1816, subordinated to the crowns of Aragon, Spain, the Holy Roman Empire, and finally the Bourbons, as the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. It was united with the rest of Italy in 1860, but a subsequent economic collapse led to a wave of emigration, separatism, and the emergence of the Mafia, whose criminal activities pose problems to this day. After the birth of the Italian Republic in 1946, Sicily was given special status as an autonomous region.
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Townsville Bulletin
The Townsville Bulletin is a daily newspaper published in Townsville, Queensland, Australia. It is the only daily paper that serves the northern Queensland region. The paper has a print edition, a free World Wide Web edition, and a subscription digital edition.
The newspaper is published by The North Queensland Newspaper Company Pty Ltd, which is a subsidiary of News Limited. News Limited is Australia’s largest newspaper publisher and a subsidiary of News Corporation associated with Rupert Murdoch.
The newspaper employs over 100 people.[citation needed]
The Bulletin has a A$1.20 cover price on weekdays, increasing to $1.80 for the weekend edition. It is in tabloid format. In 2006 the Bulletin had a readership (average) Monday to Friday of 84,000 (up 15.5% on 2005) and weekend readership (avg) of 104,000 (up 1.96% on 2005) and circulation (avg) of 27,187 Monday to Friday, weekend circulation (avg) of 41,814.
The Townsville Bulletin was established in 1881.
The newspaper chartered a Boeing 747 to take North Queensland fans to the 2005 NRL grand final, the Cowboys' first.
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United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK, or Britain) is a sovereign state located off the north-western coast of continental Europe. The country includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border the UK is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel and the Irish Sea.
The United Kingdom is a unitary state governed under a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary system, with its seat of government in the capital city of London. It is a country in its own right and consists of four countries: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. There are three devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in Belfast, Edinburgh and Cardiff, the capitals of Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Associated with the UK, but not constitutionally part of it, are three Crown Dependencies. The United Kingdom has fourteen overseas territories. These are remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in 1922, encompassed almost a quarter of the world's land surface and was the largest empire in history. British influence can still be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former territories.
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West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering East Sussex (with Brighton and Hove), Hampshire and Surrey. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century, and obtained separate county councils in 1888, but it remained a single ceremonial county until 1974 and the coming into force of the Local Government Act 1972. At the same time the Mid Sussex region (including Haywards Heath, Burgess Hill and East Grinstead) was transferred from East Sussex.
West Sussex has a wide range of scenery, including Wealden, Downland and coastal. It has a number of stately homes including Goodwood, Petworth House and Uppark and also castles such as Arundel Castle and Bramber Castle. Over half the county is protected countryside, offering walking, cycling and other recreational opportunities for visitors and residents alike.
Chichester is the county town of West Sussex, and the highest point of the county is Black Down, at 280 metres (919 ft, grid reference SU919296).
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Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (German: [ˈadɔlf ˈhɪtlɐ] (
listen); 20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party (German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP), commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945 and dictator of Nazi Germany (as Führer und Reichskanzler) from 1934 to 1945. Hitler is commonly associated with the rise of fascism in Europe, World War II, and the Holocaust.
A decorated veteran of World War I, Hitler joined the German Workers' Party, precursor of the Nazi Party, in 1919, and became leader of the NSDAP in 1921. In 1923, he attempted a coup d'état, known as the Beer Hall Putsch, in Munich. The failed coup resulted in Hitler's imprisonment, during which time he wrote his memoir, Mein Kampf (My Struggle). After his release in 1924, Hitler gained popular support by attacking the Treaty of Versailles and promoting Pan-Germanism, antisemitism, and anticommunism with charismatic oratory and Nazi propaganda. After his appointment as chancellor in 1933, he transformed the Weimar Republic into the Third Reich, a single-party dictatorship based on the totalitarian and autocratic ideology of Nazism. His aim was to establish a New Order of absolute Nazi German hegemony in continental Europe.
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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 Bates
Sir Alain Arthur Bates CBE (17 February 1934 – 27 December 2003) was an English actor who came to prominence in the 1960s, a time of high creativity in British cinema, when he appeared in films ranging from the popular children's story Whistle Down the Wind to the "kitchen sink" drama A Kind of Loving. He is also known for his performance with Anthony Quinn in Zorba the Greek, as well as his roles in King of Hearts, Georgy Girl, Far From the Madding Crowd, and The Fixer, which gave him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. In 1969, he starred in the Ken Russell film Women in Love with Oliver Reed and Glenda Jackson.
Bates went on to star in The Go-Between, An Unmarried Woman, Nijinsky, and The Rose with Bette Midler, as well as playing varied roles in television drama, including The Mayor of Casterbridge, Harold Pinter's The Collection, A Voyage Round My Father, An Englishman Abroad (as Guy Burgess), and Pack of Lies. He also continued to appear on the stage, notably in the plays of Simon Gray, such as Butley and Otherwise Engaged.
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Albert Finney
Albert Finney (born 9 May 1936) is an English actor. He achieved prominence in films in the early 1960s, and has maintained a successful career in theatre, film and television.
A recipient of BAFTA, Golden Globe, Emmy and Screen Actors Guild Awards, Finney has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor four times, for Tom Jones (1963), Murder on the Orient Express (1974), The Dresser (1983), and Under the Volcano (1984); and was nominated for Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Erin Brockovich (2000).
Finney is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. His career began in the theatre; he made his first appearance on the London stage in 1958 in Jane Arden's The Party, directed by Charles Laughton, who starred in the production along with his wife, Elsa Lanchester. Then in 1959 he appeared at Stratford in Coriolanus opposite Laurence Olivier (as Coriolanus), Edith Evans and Vanessa Redgrave.
His first film appearance was a role in Tony Richardson's The Entertainer (1960), with Laurence Olivier, but he made his breakthrough with his portrayal of a disillusioned factory worker in Karel Reisz's film version of Alan Sillitoe's Saturday Night and Sunday Morning. This led to a series of "Angry Young Man" roles in kitchen sink dramas, before he starred in the Academy Award-winning 1963 film Tom Jones. Prior to this, Finney had been chosen to play T. E. Lawrence in David Lean's production of Lawrence of Arabia, but the actor quit after four days of shooting.
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Alec Guinness
Sir Alec Guinness, CH, CBE (2 April 1914 – 5 August 2000) was an English actor. After an early career on the stage he was featured in several of the Ealing Comedies, including Kind Hearts and Coronets in which he played eight different characters. However, he was probably best known for his six collaborations with David Lean: Herbert Pocket in Great Expectations (1946), Fagin in Oliver Twist (1948), Col. Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor), Prince Faisal in Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Yevgraf in Doctor Zhivago (1965), and Professor Godbole in A Passage to India (1984). In later years, he achieved fame with younger audiences for his role as Obi-Wan Kenobi in George Lucas’s Star Wars films.
Guinness was born at 155 Lauderdale Mansions South, Lauderdale Road, Maida Vale, London as Alec Guinness de Cuffe. His mother's maiden name was Agnes Cuff. She was born 8 December 1890 to Edward Cuff and Mary Ann Benfield. On Guinness's birth certificate, the space for the mother's name shows Agnes de Cuffe. The space for the infant's name (where first names only are given) says Alec Guinness. The column for name and surname of father is blank.
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Alexander Knox
Alexander Knox (16 January 1907 – 25 April 1995) was a Canadian actor and author of adventure novels set in the Great Lakes area during the 19th century.
Born in Strathroy, Ontario, he graduated from the University of Western Ontario, and later moved to Boston, Massachusetts to perform on the stage. During the 1930s he moved to London, England where he appeared in several films. He starred opposite Jessica Tandy in the 1940 Broadway production of Jupiter Laughs. In 1944, he was chosen by Darryl F. Zanuck to star in Wilson, the biographical film about US President Woodrow Wilson, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor. However, during the McCarthy Era, he was blacklisted by the Hollywood film studio bosses and he returned to England.
He had major roles in The Sea Wolf, Over 21, Sister Kenny, The Vikings, Europa '51, None Shall Escape, and Nicholas and Alexandra, as well as supporting roles in Joshua Then and Now and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. He also wrote six adventure novels: Bride of Quietness, Night of the White Bear, The Enemy I Kill, Raider's Moon, The Kidnapped Surgeon and Totem Dream.
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Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood. On 19 April 1955, he became an American citizen while remaining a British subject.
Over a career spanning more than half a century, Hitchcock fashioned for himself a distinctive and recognisable directorial style. He pioneered the use of a camera made to move in a way that mimics a person's gaze, forcing viewers to engage in a form of voyeurism. He framed shots to maximise anxiety, fear, or empathy, and used innovative film editing. His stories frequently feature fugitives on the run from the law alongside "icy blonde" female characters. Many of Hitchcock's films have twist endings and thrilling plots featuring depictions of violence, murder, and crime, although many of the mysteries function as decoys or "MacGuffins" meant only to serve thematic elements in the film and the extremely complex psychological examinations of the characters. Hitchcock's films also borrow many themes from psychoanalysis and feature strong sexual undertones. Through his cameo appearances in his own films, interviews, film trailers, and the television program Alfred Hitchcock Presents, he became a cultural icon. Hitchocks reputation as a filmmaker is offset by claims that he engaged in obsessive and controlling behaviour towards many of his leading ladies, and that in some cases this extended to physical abuse and sexual harrassment.
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Alfred Lunt
Alfred Lunt (August 12, 1892 – August 3, 1977) was an American stage director and actor, often identified for a long-time professional partnership with his wife, actress Lynn Fontanne. Broadway's Lunt-Fontanne Theatre was named for them.
Lunt received two Tony Awards, an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for 1931's The Guardsman and an Emmy Award for the Hallmark Hall of Fame's production of The Magnificent Yankee. He became a star in 1919 as the buffoonish lead in Booth Tarkington's Clarence, but soon distinguished himself in a variety of roles. The roles ranged from the Earl of Essex in Maxwell Anderson's Elizabeth the Queen, to a song-and-dance man touring the Balkans in Robert E. Sherwood's Idiot's Delight, a megalomaniacal tycoon in S. N. Behrman's Meteor and Jupiter himself in Jean Giraudoux's Amphitryon 38. His appearances in classical drama were infrequent, but he scored successes in Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew and Chekhov's The Seagull (in which Lunt played Trigorin, his wife played Arkadina, and Uta Hagen made her Broadway debut in the role of Nina). He was described by director and critic Harold Clurman as "universally acclaimed the finest American actor in the generation which followed John Barrymore; the Lunts are absolute angels."
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Allan Warren
Michael Allan Warren (born 26 October 1948 in Wimbledon, London) is an English society-photographer, writer and former actor. His work encompasses works of many celebrities during the late 1960s, 70s and into the 80s, such as members of the British Royal Family, influential politicians and artists in both music and literature as well as some of the most important people in Hollywood at their time.
After growing up in post-war London, Warren attended Terry's Juveniles, a stage school based in the Drury Lane Theatre. It was during this time that he attended auditions through which he received several assignments. One such piece of work was as a child presenter in "The Five O'clock Club", which afforded him the opportunity to associate with a variety of people, including a young Marc Bolan (then performing as "Toby Tyler") who would later employ Warren as his first manager.
Warren started his photographic career at the age of 17 when he was acting in Alan Bennett's play Forty Years On with John Gielgud in the West End at the Apollo Theatre. Around this time Warren bought his first second-hand camera and started to take photographs of his fellow actors. His first major assignment was when his friend Mickey Deans asked him to cover his wedding to Judy Garland, which marked the beginning of Warren's work as a professional photographer. Upon travelling to New York for personal reasons, he attended an audition for the Broadway production of Minnie's Boys. However, he later declined the role offered to him in favour of returning to London and pursuing photography as his vocation.
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Anthony Andrews
Anthony Corin Gerald Andrews ( /ˈæntəni ˈændruːz/; born 12 January 1948) is an English actor best known for his role as Lord Sebastian Flyte in the 1981 ITV miniseries Brideshead Revisited.
Andrews was born in London, the son of Geraldine Agnes (née Cooper), a dancer, and Stanley Thomas Andrews, a musical arranger and musical conductor. He grew up in the North Finchley district of London. At the age of eight he undertook dancing lessons, making his stage debut as the White Rabbit in a stage adaptation of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland.
After a series of short term "fill-in" jobs that included catering, farming and journalism, he secured a position at the Chichester Theatre where he worked as an assistant stage manager and later as a stand-in producer. He auditioned in 1968 for a production of Alan Bennett's new play, Forty Years On, which featured John Gielgud as the headmaster of a British public school during the First World War period. Andrews was cast as Skinner, one of twenty schoolboys; the role gave him the opportunity at an early age of working with Gielgud.
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Anthony Daniels
Anthony Daniels (born 21 February 1946) is an English actor. He is best known for his role as the droid C-3PO in the Star Wars series of films made between 1977 and 2005.
Daniels was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England, the son of a plastics company executive. Never a science fiction fan, Daniels has said that before his role in Star Wars, the only science fiction film he had ever gone to see in a theatre was 2001: A Space Odyssey in 1968. He was so dissatisfied with the film that he walked out after only ten minutes and demanded his money back.
Daniels has played C-3PO in all six of the Star Wars feature films, as both the body and voice of the golden robot. In Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, he wore a blue Spandex costume so that during editing of the movie his body could be turned into many different wires and circuits. Daniels has reprised the role for various promotional work such as hosting The Making of Star Wars, Star Wars Connections and The Science of Star Wars; for appearances on The Muppet Show and Sesame Street and an anti-smoking public service announcement; for The Star Wars Holiday Special; in advertising for Star Wars licensed products such as Kenner toys and even a breakfast cereal based on the character.
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Anthony Franciosa
Anthony Franciosa (October 25, 1928 – January 19, 2006) was an American film, TV, and stage actor, usually billed as Tony Franciosa during the height of his career. He made several feature films, including Career (1959) for which he won the Golden Globe for Best Actor/Drama. In television, along with many minor parts, he played lead roles in five major TV series: the sitcom Valentine's Day (1964–65), drama The Name of the Game (1968–71), Search (1972–73), Matt Helm (1975) and Finder of Lost Loves (1984). However, he began as a successful stage actor, gaining a Tony Award nomination for the drug-addiction play A Hatful of Rain.
Although he married four times, the longest of which lasted 36 years, to his last wife, Rita Theil, he had been married during 1957–1960 to Academy Award-winning actress Shelley Winters, who died five days before him.
Born as Anthony George Papaleo to Italian-American parents, and raised by his mother and aunt, he adopted his mother's maiden name ("Franciosa") as his professional name.
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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 Quayle
Sir John Anthony Quayle, CBE (7 September 1913 – 20 October 1989) was an English actor and director.
Quayle was born in Ainsdale, Southport, Lancashire to a Manx family.
He was educated at the private Rugby School and trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. After appearing in music hall, he joined the Old Vic in 1932. During the Second World War he was an army officer and was made one of the area commanders of the Auxiliary Units. Later he joined the Special Operations Executive and served as a liaison officer with the partisans in Albania (reportedly, his service with the SOE seriously affected him, and he never felt comfortable talking about it). He described his experiences in a fictionalised form in Eight Hours from England. In 1944 he was an aide to the Governor of Gibraltar at the time of the air crash of General Władysław Sikorski's aircraft on 4 July 1943. He fictionalised his Gibraltar experience in his second novel On Such a Night, published by Heinemann.
From 1948 to 1956 Quayle directed at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, and laid the foundations for the creation of the Royal Shakespeare Company. His own Shakespearian roles included Falstaff, Othello, Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing, Henry VIII and Aaron in Titus Andronicus opposite Laurence Olivier; he played Mosca in Ben Jonson's Volpone; and he also appeared in contemporary plays. He played the role of Moses in Christopher Fry's play The Firstborn, in a production starring opposite Katharine Cornell. He also made an LP with Cornell, in which he played the role of poet Robert Browning in The Barretts of Wimpole Street.
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Anthony Quinn
Antonio Rodolfo Quinn-Oaxaca (April 21, 1915 – June 3, 2001), more commonly known as Anthony Quinn, was a Mexican and American actor, as well as a painter and writer. He starred in numerous critically acclaimed and commercially successful films, including Zorba the Greek, Lawrence of Arabia, The Guns of Navarone, The Message, Guns for San Sebastian, Lion of the Desert and Federico Fellini's La Strada. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor twice; for Viva Zapata! in 1952 and Lust for Life in 1956.
Quinn was born Antonio Reyes in Chihuahua, Chihuahua, Mexico, during the Mexican Revolution. His mother, Manuela "Nellie" Oaxaca, was of Aztec Indian ancestry. His father, Francisco Quinn, was also born in Mexico, to an Irish immigrant father from County Cork and a Mexican mother. Frank Quinn rode with Pancho Villa, then later moved to Los Angeles and became an assistant cameraman at a movie studio. In Quinn's autobiography The Original Sin: A Self-Portrait by Anthony Quinn he denied being the son of an "Irish adventurer" and attributed that tale to Hollywood publicists.
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Arte Johnson
Arthur Stanton Eric "Arte" Johnson (born January 20, 1929) is an American comic actor. Johnson was a regular on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In. His best-remembered "character" was that of a German soldier with the catchphrase: "Verrrry interesting, but...['stupid', 'not very funny', and other variations]".
Johnson was born in Benton Harbor, Michigan, the son of Edythe Mackenzie (née Golden) and Abraham Lincoln Johnson, an attorney. He attended the University of Illinois, graduating in 1949 after working on the campus radio station and the U of I Theater Guild with his brother, Coslough "Cos" Johnson.
He initially sought employment in Chicago working for advertising agencies but left for New York to work for Viking Press. His first "show business" job came when he impulsively stepped into an audition line and was cast in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Johnson appeared in Ben Bagley's "The Shoestring Revue", which opened off-Broadway at the President Theater in New York on February 28, 1955, along with Beatrice Arthur, Dody Goodman, Chita Rivera, and Jane Connell. He appeared three times in the 1955-56 CBS sitcom It's Always Jan, starring Janis Paige and Merry Anders. In 1958, he joined the cast of the short-lived NBC sitcom, Sally, starring Joan Caulfield. He played Bascomb Bleacher, Jr., the son of a co-owner of a department store, portrayed by Gale Gordon.
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Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn (born Audrey Kathleen Ruston; 4 May 1929 – 20 January 1993) was a British actress and humanitarian. Although modest about her acting ability, Hepburn remains one of the world's most famous actresses of all time who was ranked as the third greatest female screen legend in the history of American cinema. Remembered as both a film and fashion icon of the twentieth century, Hepburn redefined glamour with "elfin" features and a gamine waif-like figure that inspired designs by Givenchy and earned her place in the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame.
Born in Ixelles, a district of Brussels, Hepburn spent her childhood between Belgium, England and the Netherlands, including German-occupied Arnhem during the Second World War, where she studied ballet with Sonia Gaskell in Amsterdam before moving to London in 1948 to continue ballet training with Marie Rambert and perform as a chorus girl in West End musical theatre productions.
After appearing in several British films and starring in the 1951 Broadway play Gigi, Hepburn gained instant Hollywood stardom for playing the Academy Award-winning lead role in Roman Holiday (1953). Later performing in Sabrina (1954), The Nun's Story (1959), Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), Charade (1963), My Fair Lady (1964) and Wait Until Dark (1967), Hepburn became one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age who received Academy Award, Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations and accrued a Tony Award for her theatrical performance in the 1954 Broadway play Ondine. Hepburn remains one of few people who have won Academy, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Awards.
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Barbara Stanwyck
Barbara Stanwyck (July 16, 1907 – January 20, 1990) was an American actress. She was a film and television star, known during her 60-year career as a consummate and versatile professional with a strong screen presence, and a favorite of directors including Cecil B. DeMille, Fritz Lang and Frank Capra. After a short but notable career as a stage actress in the late 1920s, she made 85 films in 38 years in Hollywood, before turning to television.
Stanwyck was nominated for the Academy Award four times, and won three Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe. She was the recipient of honorary lifetime awards from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1981, the American Film Institute in 1987, the Film Society of Lincoln Center, the Golden Globes, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and the Screen Actors Guild. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and is ranked as the eleventh greatest female star of all time by the American Film Institute.
Barbara Stanwyck was born Ruby Catherine Stevens in Brooklyn, New York on July 16, 1907. She was the fifth and youngest child of Catherine Ann (née McPhee) and Byron E. Stevens; the couple were working-class, her father a native of Massachusetts and her mother an immigrant from Nova Scotia, Canada. Stanwyck had English and Scottish ancestry. When she was four, her mother was killed when a drunken stranger pushed her off a moving streetcar. Two weeks after the funeral, Byron Stevens joined a work crew digging the Panama canal and was never seen again. Ruby and her brother Byron were raised by their elder sister Mildred, five years Ruby's senior. When Mildred got a job as a John Cort showgirl, Ruby and Byron were placed in a series of foster homes (as many as four in a year), from which Ruby often ran away.
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Basil Rathbone
Sir Philip St. John Basil Rathbone, KBE, MC, Kt (13 June 1892 – 21 July 1967) was a South African-born British actor. He rose to prominence in England as a Shakespearean stage actor and went on to appear in over 70 films, primarily costume dramas, swashbucklers, and, occasionally, horror films. He frequently portrayed suave villains or morally ambiguous characters, such as Murdstone in David Copperfield (1935) and Sir Guy of Gisbourne in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). His most famous role, however, was heroic—that of Sherlock Holmes in fourteen Hollywood films made between 1939 and 1946 and in a radio series. His later career included Broadway and television work; he received a Tony Award in 1948 as Best Actor in a Play.
He was born Philip St. John Basil Rathbone in Johannesburg, South African Republic, to English parents Edgar Philip Rathbone, a mining engineer and scion of the Liverpool Rathbone family, and Anna Barbara née George, a violinist. He had two older half brothers Harold and Horace as well as two younger siblings, Beatrice and John. The Rathbones fled to England when Basil was three years old after his father was accused by the Boers of being a British spy near the onset of the Second Boer War at the end of the 1890s.
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Ben Jonson
Benjamin "Ben" Jonson (c. 11 June 1572 – 6 August 1637) was an English Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor. A contemporary of William Shakespeare, he is best known for his satirical plays, particularly Volpone, The Alchemist, and Bartholomew Fair, which are considered his best, and his lyric poems. A man of vast reading and a seemingly insatiable appetite for controversy, Jonson had an unparalleled breadth of influence on Jacobean and Caroline playwrights and poets.
Jonson claimed his family was of Scottish Border country descent, and this claim may have been supported by the fact that his coat of arms bears three spindles or rhombi, a device shared by a Borders family, the Johnstones of Annandale. His father died a month before Ben's birth, and his mother remarried two years later, to a master bricklayer. Jonson attended school in St. Martin's Lane, and was later paid for by a friend to go to Westminster School, where one of his teachers was William Camden. Jonson remained friendly with Camden, whose broad scholarship evidently influenced his own style, until the latter's death in 1623. On leaving, Jonson was once thought to have gone on to the University of Cambridge, but Jonson himself contradicts this, saying that he did not go to university, but was put to a trade, probably bricklaying, immediately: a legend recorded by Thomas Fuller indicates that he worked on a garden wall in Lincoln's Inn. He soon had enough of the trade and spent some time in the Low Countries as a volunteer with the regiments of Francis Vere. In conversations with poet William Drummond of Hawthornden, subsequently published as the Hawthornden Manuscripts, Jonson reports that while in the Netherlands he killed an opponent in single combat and stripped him of his weapons.
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Ben Kingsley
Sir Ben Kingsley, CBE (born Krishna Pandit Bhanji;Gujarati:કૃષ્ણા પંડિત ભાનજી; 31 December 1943) is an English actor who has won an Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards in his career. He is known for starring as Mohandas Gandhi in the film Gandhi in 1982, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. He is also known for his performances in the films Schindler's List (1993), Sexy Beast (2000), House of Sand and Fog (2003), and Hugo (2011).
Kingsley was born Krishna Pandit Bhanji in Snainton, North Yorkshire, England, the son of Anna Lyna Mary (née Goodman), an actress and model, and Rahimtulla Harji Bhanji, a medical doctor.
Kingsley's father, born in Kenya, is of Gujarati Indian descent; Kingsley's paternal grandfather was a spice trader who had moved from India to Zanzibar, where Kingsley's father lived until moving to England at the age of 14. Kingsley's mother, born out of wedlock, was "loath to speak of her background". Kingsley's maternal grandfather was believed by the family to have been a Russian or German Jew, while Kingsley's maternal grandmother was English and worked in the garment district of East London.
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Benjamin Disraeli
Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, KG, PC, FRS, (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British Prime Minister, parliamentarian, Conservative statesman and literary figure. He served in government for three decades, twice as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Although his father had him baptised to Anglicanism at age 12, he was nonetheless Britain's first and thus far only Prime Minister who was born into a Jewish family—originally from Portugal. He played an instrumental role in the creation of the modern Conservative Party after the Corn Laws schism of 1846.
Although he was a major figure in the protectionist wing of the Conservative Party after 1844, Disraeli's relations with the other leading figures in the party, particularly Lord Derby, the overall leader, were often strained. Not until the 1860s would Derby and Disraeli be on easy terms, and the latter's succession of the former assured. From 1852 onwards, Disraeli's career would also be marked by his often intense rivalry with William Ewart Gladstone, who eventually rose to become leader of the Liberal Party. In this feud, Disraeli was aided by his warm friendship with Queen Victoria, who came to detest Gladstone during the latter's first premiership in the 1870s. In 1876 Disraeli was raised to the peerage as the Earl of Beaconsfield, capping nearly four decades in the House of Commons.
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Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional comedies, although her greatest successes were her roles in romantic dramas.
After appearing in Broadway plays, Davis moved to Hollywood in 1930, but her early films for Universal Studios were unsuccessful. She joined Warner Bros. in 1932 and established her career with several critically acclaimed performances. In 1937, she attempted to free herself from her contract and although she lost a well-publicized legal case, it marked the beginning of the most successful period of her career. Until the late 1940s, she was one of American cinema's most celebrated leading ladies, known for her forceful and intense style. Davis gained a reputation as a perfectionist who could be highly combative, and confrontations with studio executives, film directors and costars were often reported. Her forthright manner, clipped vocal style and ubiquitous cigarette contributed to a public persona which has often been imitated and satirized.
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Bill Paxton
William "Bill" Paxton (born May 17, 1955) is an American actor and film director. He gained popularity after starring roles in the films Apollo 13, Twister, Aliens, True Lies, and Titanic. Paxton starred in the HBO series Big Love (2006–2011).
Paxton was born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas, the son of Mary Lou (née Gray) and John Lane Paxton, a businessman, lumber wholesaler, museum executive, and occasional actor. He was raised Roman Catholic, his mother's religion. He attended St. Anne's Catholic School, Arlington Heights High School (Fort Worth, Texas), and Southwest Texas State University (San Marcos, Texas).[citation needed]
Paxton has appeared in such films as Weird Science, Aliens, Apollo 13, Near Dark, Twister, Titanic and True Lies. Four years after appearing in Titanic, he joined James Cameron on an expedition to the actual Titanic. A film about this trip, Ghosts of the Abyss, was released in 2003.
Paxton has also directed a number of short films, including Fish Heads, which aired during Saturday Night Live's low-rated 1980-1981 season. He directed the feature films Frailty and The Greatest Game Ever Played.
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Billy Bob Thornton
Billy Bob Thornton (born August 4, 1955) is an American actor, screenwriter, director and musician. Thornton gained early recognition as a cast member on the CBS sitcom Hearts Afire and in several early 1990s films including On Deadly Ground and Tombstone. In the mid-1990s, after writing, directing, and starring in the independent film Sling Blade, he won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. He appeared in several major film roles following Sling Blade 's success, including 1998's Armageddon and A Simple Plan. During the late 1990s, Thornton began a career as a singer-songwriter. He has released three albums and was the singer in a blues rock band.
Thornton was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas, the son of Virginia Roberta (née Faulkner), a psychic, and William Raymond "Billy Ray" Thornton (November 1929–August 1974), a high school history teacher and basketball coach who died when Thornton was 18. He has two younger brothers, Jimmy Don (April 1958–October 1988), who died of a heart attack at 30, and John David (born 1969), who resides in California. Jimmy Don Thornton wrote a number of songs, two of which—"Island Avenue" and "Emily"—Thornton has recorded on his solo albums. During his childhood, Thornton lived in both Alpine, Arkansas, and Malvern, Arkansas. He was raised a Methodist, in an extended family in a shack that had neither electricity nor plumbing. Thornton graduated from high school in 1973. A good high school baseball player, he tried out for the Kansas City Royals, but was let go after an injury. After a short period laying asphalt for the Arkansas State Transportation Department, he attended Henderson State University to pursue studies in psychology, but he dropped out after two semesters.
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Billy Wilder
Billy Wilder (22 June 1906 – 27 March 2002) was an Austro-Hungarian born American filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, artist, and journalist, whose career spanned more than 50 years and 60 films. He is regarded as one of the most brilliant and versatile filmmakers of Hollywood's golden age. Wilder is one of only five people to have won Academy Awards as producer, director, and writer for the same film (The Apartment).
Wilder became a screenwriter in the late 1920s while living in Berlin. After the rise of Nazi Party, Wilder, who was Jewish, left for Paris, where he made his directorial debut. He relocated to Hollywood in 1933, and in 1939 he had a hit when he co-wrote the screenplay to the screwball comedy Ninotchka. Wilder established his directorial reputation after helming Double Indemnity (1944), a film noir he co-wrote with mystery novelist Raymond Chandler. Wilder earned the Best Director and Best Screenplay Academy Awards for the adaptation of a Charles R. Jackson story The Lost Weekend, about alcoholism. In 1950, Wilder co-wrote and directed the critically acclaimed Sunset Boulevard.
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Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artistes of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation.
A multimedia star, from 1934 to 1954 Bing Crosby was a leader in record sales, radio ratings and motion picture grosses. His early career coincided with technical recording innovations; this allowed him to develop a laid-back, intimate singing style that influenced many of the popular male singers who followed him, including Perry Como,Frank Sinatra, and Dean Martin. Yank magazine recognized Crosby as the person who had done the most for American G.I. morale during World War II and, during his peak years, around 1948, polls declared him the "most admired man alive," ahead of Jackie Robinson and Pope Pius XII. Also in 1948, the Music Digest estimated that Crosby recordings filled more than half of the 80,000 weekly hours allocated to recorded radio music.
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Bob Hope
Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS (born Leslie Townes Hope; May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was an English-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel. Throughout his long career, he was honored for his humanitarian work. In 1996, the U.S. Congress honored Bob Hope by declaring him the "first and only honorary veteran of the U.S. armed forces." Bob Hope appeared in or hosted 199 known USO shows.
Hope was born in Eltham, London, England, the fifth of seven sons. His English father, William Henry Hope, was a stonemason from Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, and his Welsh mother, Avis Townes, was a light opera singer from Barry who later worked as a cleaning woman. She married William Hope in April 1891 and the couple set up home at 12 Greenwood Street in the town, then moved to Whitehall and St George in Bristol, before eventually moving to Cleveland, Ohio in 1908. The family emigrated to the United States aboard the SS Philadelphia, and passed inspection at Ellis Island on March 30, 1908. Hope became a U.S. citizen in 1920 at the age of 17. In a 1942 legal document, Hope's legal name is given as Lester Townes Hope. His name on the Social Security Index is also listed as Lester T. Hope. His name as registered at birth was Leslie Towns [sic] Hope.
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Bob Peck
Bob Peck (23 August 1945 – 4 April 1999) was an English stage, television and film actor.
He went to Leeds Modern School in Lawnswood. Peck was educated at the Leeds College of Art where he received a Diploma in Art and Design.
Before breaking into film and television work, he was a regular actor with the Royal Shakespeare Company alongside Ian McKellen, Donald Sinden and Judi Dench, and appeared on stage (and later on television) in the RSC production of The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby as "John Browdie" and "Sir Mulberry Hawk", and as Macduff in Trevor Nunn's acclaimed 1976 stage and 1978 television production of Macbeth. He also appeared in a production of Macbeth in 1982. According to McKellen, Peck is the actor he considers he "learned the most from".
Peck's first television role was in 1972 on the BBC's Thirty-Minute Theatre anthology series in the episode "Bypass". He went on to appear in various other television productions such as Z-Cars and Play For Today, but he was probably best known to British audiences for his role as Ronald Craven in the acclaimed 1985 BBC drama serial Edge of Darkness. The role won him the "Best Actor" award at that year's BAFTA Awards and helped to launch his television and film career. He later became familiar to audiences worldwide for his film roles, including Jurassic Park (as park game warden Robert Muldoon), and Smilla's Sense of Snow (1997). Prior to these, he had also played an escaped android in the post apocalyptic film Slipstream (1989), which also starred Mark Hamill and Bill Paxton, and had a small role in the 1990 film Lord of the Flies.
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Brian Bedford
Brian Bedford (born 16 February 1935) is an English actor. He has appeared on the stage and in film, and is known for both acting in and directing Shakespeare.
Bedford was born in Morley, West Riding of Yorkshire, the son of Ellen (née O'Donnell) and Arthur Bedford, a postman. Bedford attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London from 1952–1954 and was in the same class as Albert Finney, Alan Bates and Peter O'Toole.
Primarily a stage actor, he is known for his English-speaking interpretations of the French playwright Molière, including Tony Award nominated performances in Tartuffe, The Molière Comedies (a double bill of the short plays The School for Husbands and The Imaginary Cuckold) and The School for Wives, for which he received the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play. He has done a great deal of Shakespearean work, notably as Ariel in The Tempest opposite John Gielgud's Prospero in 1958, Angelo in Measure for Measure at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in 1975 and 1976, and The Public Theater's New York Shakespeare Festival Shakespeare in the Park productions of As You Like It (as Orlando), and Timon of Athens (as Timon), the latter based on a production he originated with the National Actors Theatre in 1993 and which he eventually played on Broadway.
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Broderick Crawford
Broderick Crawford (December 9, 1911 – April 26, 1986) was an Academy Award-winning American stage, film, radio and TV actor, often cast in tough-guy roles and best known for his starring role in the television series Highway Patrol.
Crawford was born William Broderick Crawford in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Lester Crawford and Helen Broderick, who were both vaudeville performers, as his grandparents had been. His father appeared in films in the 1920s and 1930s; his mother had a minor career in Hollywood comedies. He joined his parents on the stage, working for producer Max Gordon. When vaudeville went into decline, he attended Harvard University for three months, but dropped out to work as a stevedore on the New York docks.
Crawford returned to vaudeville and radio, which included a period with the Marx Brothers on their NBC radio comedy show Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel. He played his first serious character as a footballer in She Loves Me Not at the Adelphi Theatre, London in 1932. Crawford's talents were spotted by Noël Coward during the three weeks the play ran. Coward also played in the 1935 Broadway production of 'Point Valaine'.
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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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Burt Lancaster
Burton Stephen "Burt" Lancaster (November 2, 1913 – October 20, 1994) was an American film actor noted for his athletic physique and distinctive smile (which he called "The Grin"). After initially building his career on "tough guy" roles Lancaster abandoned his "all-American" image in the late 1950s in favor of more complex and challenging roles, and came to be regarded as one of the best actors of his generation as a result.
Lancaster was nominated four times for Academy Awards and won once — for his work in Elmer Gantry in 1960. He also won a Golden Globe for that performance and BAFTA Awards for The Birdman of Alcatraz (1962) and Atlantic City (1980). His production company, Hecht-Hill-Lancaster, was the most successful and innovative star-driven independent production company in Hollywood of the 1950s, making movies such as Marty (1955), Trapeze (1956), and Sweet Smell of Success (1957).
In 1999, the American Film Institute named Lancaster 19th among the greatest male stars of all time.
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Campbell Scott
Campbell Scott (born July 19, 1961) is an American actor, director, producer, and voice artist.
Scott was born in New York City, the son of George C. Scott, an actor, director, and producer, and Colleen Dewhurst, a Canadian-born actress. He graduated from Lawrence University in 1983. His brother is Alexander Scott. He has a son, Malcolm, born in 1998.
In 1990, Scott played a lead role in the ground-breaking film Longtime Companion, which chronicles the early years of the AIDS/HIV epidemic and its impact upon a group of American friends. In the following year, Scott co-starred in the movie Dying Young (in which his mother also appeared) alongside Julia Roberts. He also appears in the 1992 movie Singles, and in 1996, he teamed up with Stanley Tucci to direct the film Big Night. The film met with critical acclaim and was nominated for the "Grand Jury Prize" at the Sundance Film Festival. For their work, Scott and Tucci won both the New York Film Critics Circle Award and the Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best New Director.
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Carol Reed
Sir Carol Reed (30 December 1906 – 25 April 1976) was an English film director best known for Odd Man Out (1947), The Fallen Idol (1948), The Third Man (1949) and Oliver! (1968). He won the Palme d'Or for The Third Man and the 1968 Academy Award for Best Director for Oliver!
The son of actor-producer Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree and his mistress, May Pinney Reed, Carol Reed was born in Putney, and educated at The King's School, Canterbury, an independent school. Reed served in the British Army during the Second World War, giving him many experiences which appeared in his later films.
He embarked on an acting career while still in his teens, but soon went into the role of producer/director. He worked as an Assistant Director with Basil Dean on the films Autumn Crocus, Lorna Doone and Loyalties and with Thorold Dickinson on Java Head. As director he was responsible for The Stars Look Down (1939), Kipps (1941), Odd Man Out (1947), The Fallen Idol (1948), Outcast of the Islands (1952), Our Man in Havana (1959), and The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965). The Fallen Idol, The Third Man, and Our Man in Havana are based on the work of Graham Greene.
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Carrie Fisher
Carrie Frances Fisher (born October 21, 1956) is an American actress, novelist, screenwriter, and performance artist. She is best known for her portrayal of Princess Leia in the original Star Wars trilogy, her bestselling novel Postcards from the Edge and screenplay for a film of the same name, and her autobiographical one-woman play, Wishful Drinking.
Fisher was born in Beverly Hills, California, the daughter of singer Eddie Fisher and actress Debbie Reynolds. Her father was Jewish, the son of immigrants from Russia, and her mother was Protestant. Her younger brother is producer and actor Todd Fisher, and her half-sisters are actresses Joely Fisher and Tricia Leigh Fisher. Joely and Tricia's mother is the singer/actress Connie Stevens.
When Carrie Fisher was two, her parents divorced after her father left Debbie for her best friend, actress Elizabeth Taylor, the widow of Eddie's best friend Mike Todd. The following year, her mother married shoe store chain owner Harry Karl, who secretly spent her life savings. It was assumed from an early age that Carrie would go into the family show business, and she began appearing with her mother in Las Vegas, Nevada at the age of 12. She attended Beverly Hills High School, but she left to join her mother on the road. She appeared as a debutante and singer in the hit Broadway revival Irene (1973), starring her mother.
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Catherine Deneuve
Catherine Deneuve (French pronunciation: [katʁin dəˈnœv], born 22 October 1943) is a French actress. She gained recognition for her portrayal of aloof and mysterious beauties in films such as Repulsion (1965) and Belle de jour (1967). Deneuve was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in 1993 for her performance in Indochine; she also won César Awards for that film and The Last Metro (1980). One of France's most renowned actresses, she has also appeared in seven English-language films, most notably the 1983 cult classic The Hunger. In 2008, she appeared in her 100th film, Un conte de Noël.
Deneuve was born Catherine Fabienne Dorléac in occupied Paris to French stage and screen actor Maurice Dorléac and actress Renée Deneuve (born 1912). Deneuve is the second of their three daughters. Her older sister was Françoise Dorléac (1942-1967) and her younger sister is Sylvie Dorléac (born 1946). They have a maternal half-sister, Danielle (born 1937). Deneuve attended Catholic schools.
As Catherine Dorléac, she made her film debut at age eleven in Les Collégiennes (1957), filmed in 1955 but not released until two years later. Deneuve subsequently began using her mother's surname professionally so she wouldn't be confused with her elder sister, Françoise Dorléac, who was using their father's name.
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Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens ( /ˈtʃɑrlz ˈdɪkɪnz/; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic who is generally regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian period and the creator of some of the world's most memorable fictional characters. During his lifetime Dickens' works enjoyed unprecedented popularity and fame, but it was in the twentieth century that his literary genius was fully recognized by critics and scholars. His novels and short stories continue to enjoy an enduring popularity among the general reading public.
Born in Portsmouth, England, Dickens left school to work in a factory after his father was thrown into debtors' prison. Though he had little formal education, his early impoverishment drove him to succeed. He edited a weekly journal for 20 years, wrote 15 novels and hundreds of short stories and non-fiction articles, lectured and performed extensively, was an indefatigable letter writer, and campaigned vigorously for children's rights, education, and other social reforms.
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Charles I of England
Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles believed was divinely ordained. Many of his English subjects opposed his actions, in particular his interference in the English and Scottish churches and the levying of taxes without parliamentary consent, because they saw them as those of a tyrannical absolute monarch.
Charles's reign was also characterised by religious conflicts. His failure to successfully aid Protestant forces during the Thirty Years' War, coupled with the fact that he married a Roman Catholic princess, generated deep mistrust concerning the king's dogma. Charles further allied himself with controversial ecclesiastic figures, such as Richard Montagu and William Laud, whom Charles appointed Archbishop of Canterbury. Many of Charles's subjects felt this brought the Church of England too close to the Roman Catholic Church. Charles's later attempts to force religious reforms upon Scotland led to the Bishops' Wars, strengthened the position of the English and Scottish parliaments and helped precipitate his own downfall.
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Charles Wintour
Charles Vere Wintour, CBE, MBE (Mil) (18 May 1917 – 4 November 1999) was a British newspaper editor and was the father of Editor-in-Chief of Vogue magazine, Anna Wintour.
Wintour wrote articles for the Radio Times while he was at Oundle School, and won a prize awarded by the Daily Mail. He completed his education at Peterhouse, University of Cambridge, where studied English and History and briefly edited Granta with Eric Hobsbawm.
After university, Wintour took a job in advertising, but left at the start of World War II to join the Royal Norfolk Regiment. During the war, he was awarded the military MBE, the Croix de Guerre and the Bronze Star.
In 1946, Wintour became a leader writer for the Evening Standard. He was soon promoted to political editor, then moved to the Sunday Express as assistant editor. He returned to the Standard as deputy editor, during which period he convinced Lord Beaverbrook to launch the Evening Standard Awards for theatre.
Wintour became managing editor of the Daily Express in 1958, then in 1959 moved back to the Standard as editor. During this period, he had five children, of whom two: Anna and Patrick later became prominent journalists.
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Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE (16 April 1889 – 25 December 1977) was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I. Chaplin used mime, slapstick and other visual comedy routines, and continued well into the era of the talkies, though his films decreased in frequency from the end of the 1920s. His most famous role was that of The Tramp, which he first played in the Keystone comedy Kid Auto Races at Venice in 1914. From the April 1914 one-reeler Twenty Minutes of Love onwards he was writing and directing most of his films, by 1916 he was also producing them, and from 1918 he was even composing the music for them. With Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D. W. Griffith, he co-founded United Artists in 1919.
Chaplin was one of the most creative and influential personalities of the silent-film era. He was influenced by his predecessor, the French silent film comedian Max Linder, to whom he dedicated one of his films. His working life in entertainment spanned over 75 years, from the Victorian stage and the music hall in the United Kingdom as a child performer, until close to his death at the age of 88. His high-profile public and private life encompassed both adulation and controversy. Chaplin was identified with left-wing politics during the McCarthy era and he was ultimately forced to resettle in Europe from 1952.
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Charlton Heston
Charlton Heston (born John Charles Carter; October 4, 1923 – April 5, 2008) was an American actor of film, theatre and television. Heston is known for heroic roles in films such as The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor, El Cid, and Planet of the Apes. He also is well known for his roles in the films The Greatest Show on Earth and Touch of Evil.
Heston was also known for his political activism. In the 1950s and 1960s he was one of a handful of Hollywood actors to speak openly against racism and was an active supporter of the Civil Rights Movement. Initially a moderate Democrat, he later supported conservative Republican policies and was president of the National Rifle Association from 1998 to 2003.
Heston was born John Charles Carter, the son of Lilla (née Charlton; 1899–1994) and Russell Whitford Carter (1897–1966), a sawmill operator. Most sources state that he was born in Evanston, Illinois. Heston's autobiography, however, and some other sources place his birth in No Man's Land, Illinois, which usually refers to a then-unincorporated area now part of Wilmette, a wealthy northern suburb of Chicago. Heston said in a 1995 interview that he was not very good at remembering addresses or his early childhood.
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Claude Rains
Claude Rains (10 November 1889 – 30 May 1967) was an English stage and film actor whose career spanned 46 years. He was known for many roles in Hollywood films, among them the title role in The Invisible Man (1933), a corrupt senator in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), Mr. Dryden in Lawrence of Arabia (1962), and, perhaps his most notable performance, as Captain Renault in Casablanca (1942).
Rains was born William Claude Rains in Camberwell, London. He grew up, according to his daughter, with "a very serious cockney accent and a speech impediment". His parents were Emily Eliza (Cox) and English stage and film actor Frederick William Rains. The young Rains made his stage debut at 11 in Nell of Old Drury.
His acting talents were recognised by Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree, founder of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Tree paid for the elocution lessons Rains needed in order to succeed as an actor. Later, Rains taught at the institution, teaching John Gielgud and Laurence Olivier, among others. Many years later, after he had gone to Hollywood and become a film star, Gielgud was to quip: "He was a great influence on me. I don`t know what happened to him. I think he failed and went to America."
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Claudette Colbert
Claudette Colbert (/koʊlˈbɛər/; 13 September 1903 – 30 July 1996) was an American actress of stage and film.
Born in Paris, France, and raised in New York City, Colbert began her career in Broadway productions during the 1920s, progressing to film with the advent of talking pictures. She established a successful film career with Paramount Pictures, and was recognized as one of the leading female exponents of screwball comedy. Colbert was the highest paid actress in American cinema during late 1930s, and later became a freelance performer. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her comedic performance in It Happened One Night (1934), and also received Academy Award nominations for her dramatic roles in Private Worlds (1935) and Since You Went Away (1944).
Colbert's film career declined in the 1950s, and finished in 1961. Later in life, she returned to theater, except brief appearances in television. Her intermittent career lasted more than six decades. She moved in later life to Barbados, where she died at the age of 92, following a series of strokes.
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Cliff Gorman
Cliff Gorman (October 13, 1936 – September 5, 2002) was an American stage and screen actor. He won an Obie award in 1968 for the stage presentation of The Boys in the Band, and went on to reprise his role in the 1970 film version.
Gorman was born in New York City, New York, the son of Ethel (née Kaplan) and Samuel Gorman. He was raised Jewish.
Gorman won a Tony Award in 1972 for playing Lenny Bruce in the play Lenny. Although the film version, directed by Bob Fosse, featured Dustin Hoffman, Gorman was recruited to portray a Lenny-like character in a side-story in Fosse's film All That Jazz. In 1984 he co-starred as Lt. Andrews in the film Angel. Noteworthy are his roles in movies like An Unmarried Woman with Jill Clayburgh, Hoffa with Jack Nicholson and Danny De Vito and Night and the City with Robert De Niro. His TV work included performances in series like Law and Order, Murder, She Wrote and the 1970's drama Police Story, written by former LAPD Detective Sergeant Joseph Wambaugh.
Gorman and his wife cared for his fellow Boys in the Band performer Robert La Tourneaux in the last few months of his battle against AIDS, until La Tourneaux's death on June 3, 1986.
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Cliff Robertson
Clifford Parker "Cliff" Robertson III (September 9, 1923 – September 10, 2011) was an American actor with a film and television career that spanned half a century. Robertson portrayed a young John F. Kennedy in the 1963 film PT 109, and won the 1968 Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in the movie Charly. On television, he portrayed retired astronaut Buzz Aldrin in the 1976 adaptation of Aldrin's autobiographic Return to Earth, played a fictional character based on Director of Central Intelligence Richard Helms in the 1977 adaptation of John Ehrlichman's Watergate novel The Company, and portrayed Henry Ford in the 1987 Ford: The Man and the Machine. His last well-known film appearances were in 2002 through 2007 as Uncle Ben in the Spider-Man film trilogy.
Robertson was born on September 9, 1923 in La Jolla, California, the son of Clifford Parker Robertson, Jr. (1902–1968), and his first wife, the former Audrey Olga Willingham (1903-1925). His Texas-born father was described as "the idle heir to a tidy sum of ranching money". Robertson recalled that his father "was a very romantic figure—tall, handsome. He married four or five times, and between marriages he'd pop in to see me. He was a great raconteur, and he was always surrounded by sycophants who let him pick up the tab. During the Depression, he tapped the trust for $500,000, and six months later he was back for more." The actor's parents divorced when he was one, and Robertson's mother died of peritonitis a year later in El Paso, Texas, at the age of 21. He was raised by his maternal grandmother, Mary Eleanor "Eleanora" Willingham (née Sawyer, 1875–1957), in California, and he and his father rarely saw one another. He graduated from La Jolla High School in 1941, where he was known as "The Walking Phoenix".[why?] He then served in the merchant marine in World War II before attending Antioch College in Ohio and dropping out to work as a journalist for a short time.
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Clint Eastwood
Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide (1959–1965). He rose to fame for playing the Man with No Name in Sergio Leone's Dollars trilogy of spaghetti westerns (A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly) during the late 1960s, and as Harry Callahan in the Dirty Harry films (Dirty Harry, Magnum Force, The Enforcer, Sudden Impact, and The Dead Pool) throughout the 1970s and 1980s. These roles, among others, have made him an enduring cultural icon of masculinity.
For his work in the films Unforgiven (1992) and Million Dollar Baby (2004), Eastwood won Academy Awards for Best Director and Producer of the Best Picture, as well as receiving nominations for Best Actor. These films in particular, as well as others including Play Misty for Me (1971), Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974), The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), Escape from Alcatraz (1979), Tightrope (1984), Pale Rider (1985), Heartbreak Ridge (1986), In the Line of Fire (1993), The Bridges of Madison County (1995), and Gran Torino (2008), have all received commercial success and critical acclaim. Eastwood's only comedies have been Every Which Way but Loose (1978) and its sequel Any Which Way You Can (1980), which are his two most commercially successful films after adjustment for inflation.
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David Carradine
David Carradine (born John Arthur Carradine; December 8, 1936 – June 3, 2009) was an American actor and martial artist, best known for his role as a warrior monk, Kwai Chang Caine, in the 1970s television series Kung Fu. He was a member of a productive acting family dynasty that began with his father, John Carradine. His acting career, which included major and minor roles on stage, television and cinema, spanned over four decades. A prolific "B" movie actor, he appeared in more than 100 feature films and was nominated four times for a Golden Globe Award. The last nomination was for his title role in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill.
Films that featured Carradine continued to be released after his death. These posthumous credits were from a variety of genres including horror, action, western, martial arts, drama, science fiction and documentary. In addition to his acting career, Carradine was also a musician and pursued a directing career. Influenced by his most popular acting role, he studied martial arts. The child of a frequently married actor, "Jack", as Carradine was known in his youth, had an unstable childhood. This instability would continue throughout his life as he himself was married five times. He was also frequently arrested and prosecuted for a variety of offenses which often involved substance abuse. He died on June 3, 2009 of an apparently accidental asphyxiation.
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David Jason
Sir David John White OBE (born 2 February 1940), better known by his stage name David Jason, is an English BAFTA award-winning actor. He is best known as the main character Derek "Del Boy" Trotter in the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses from 1981, the voice of Mr Toad in The Wind in the Willows and as Detective Inspector Jack Frost on the ITV crime drama A Touch of Frost from 1992. Other high profile television roles were as Granville in the sitcom Open All Hours, and Pop Larkin in the comedy drama The Darling Buds of May. His last original appearance as Del Boy was in 2003, while Jason retired his role as Frost in 2010.
Jason was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1993, and knighted in 2005, both for services to drama. Jason has won four British Academy Television Awards (BAFTAs), (1988, 1991, 1997, 2003), four British Comedy Awards (1990, 1992, 1997, 2001) and six National Television Awards (1997, 2001, 2002 twice, 2003, 2011). These included the British Comedy Awards Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001, and the BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award in 2003. In 2006, Jason topped the poll to find TV's 50 Greatest Stars, as part of ITV's 50th anniversary celebrations.
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David Lean
Sir David Lean, CBE (25 March 1908 – 16 April 1991) was an English film director, producer, screenwriter and editor, best remembered for big-screen epics The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Doctor Zhivago (1965), and A Passage to India (1984); for bringing Charles Dickens' novels to the silver screen with films such as Great Expectations (1946) and Oliver Twist (1948); and for the renowned romantic drama Brief Encounter (1945).
Acclaimed by directors including Steven Spielberg and Stanley Kubrick,, Lean was voted 9th greatest film director of all time in the British Film Institute Sight & Sound Directors' Top Directors" poll 2002. Lean has four films in the top eleven of the British Film Institute's Top 100 British Films.
David Lean was born in Croydon, Surrey (now part of Greater London), to Francis William le Blount Lean and the former Helena Tangye (niece of Sir Richard Trevithick Tangye). His parents were Quakers and he was a pupil at the Quaker-founded Leighton Park School in Reading. His younger brother, Edward Tangye Lean (1911–1974), founded the original Inklings literary club when a student at Oxford University. Lean was a half-hearted schoolboy with a dreamy nature who was labeled a "dud" of a student; he left in his mid-teens and entered his father's chartered accountancy firm as an apprentice. At age 16, his father deserted the family when he ran off with another woman, and young David would later follow a similar path after his own first marriage and child.
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David Mirvish
David Mirvish, CM OOnt (born 1945) is a Canadian art collector, art dealer, theatre producer and son of the late "Honest" Ed Mirvish, Toronto discount department store-owner and artist Anne Lazare Macklin.
He owns and operates the Royal Alexandra Theatre, the Princess of Wales Theatre, the Canon Theatre and the Panasonic Theatre, all in Toronto, Ontario. From 2002 to 2005, he was on the Board of Trustees of the Royal Ontario Museum. He was also a member of the Board of Trustees of the National Gallery of Canada.
From 1963 through 1975, Mirvish operated a contemporary art gallery - the David Mirvish Gallery - specialising in the American abstract painters of the 1960s and 1970s known as the Color Field school.
He closed the gallery in 1975, but continues to buy and sell privately and to lend works to museums for exhibition.
In 1987, took over direction of his father's 1500-seat Toronto theatre, the Royal Alexandra Theatre. For most of the theatre's history, it had functioned as a road house - a temporary venue for touring productions. In 1987, Mr. Mirvish founded the company Mirvish Productions for the purpose of producing and staging original works for the Royal Alexandra and, later, his new Princess of Wales Theatre (opened in 1993).
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David Niven
James David Graham Niven (1 March 1910 – 29 July 1983), was a British actor and novelist, best known for his roles as Phileas Fogg in Around the World in 80 Days and Sir Charles Lytton, a.k.a. "the Phantom", in The Pink Panther. He was awarded the 1958 Academy Award for Best Actor in Separate Tables.
Born in London, Niven attended Heatherdown and Stowe before gaining a place at Royal Military College at Sandhurst. He was gazetted a Lieutenant in the Highland Light Infantry. Having developed an interest in acting, he left the Highland Light Infantry, travelled to Hollywood and had several minor roles in film. He first appeared as an extra in the British film There Goes the Bride (1932). From there, he hired an agent and had several small parts in films from 1933, 1934 and 1935, including a non-speaking part in MGM's Mutiny on the Bounty. This brought him to wider attention within the film industry and he was spotted by Samuel Goldwyn. Upon the outbreak of the Second World War, Niven returned to England, and rejoined the army and was recommissioned as a lieutenant.
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David Wayne
David Wayne (January 30, 1914 – February 9, 1995) was an American actor with a career spanning nearly 50 years.
Wayne was born Wayne James McMeekan in Traverse City, Michigan, the son of Helen Matilda (née Mason) and John David McMeekan. He grew up in Bloomingdale, Michigan. Wayne's first major Broadway role was Og the leprechaun in Finian's Rainbow, for which he won the Theatre World Award and the first ever Tony for Best Featured Actor in a Musical. While appearing in the play, he and co-star Albert Sharpe were recruited by producer David O. Selznick to play Irish characters in the film Portrait of Jennie (1948).
He was awarded a second Tony for Best Actor in a Play for The Teahouse of the August Moon and was nominated as Best Actor in a Musical for The Happy Time. He originated the role of Ensign Pulver in the classic stage comedy Mister Roberts and also appeared in Say, Darling, After the Fall, and Incident at Vichy.
In films, Wayne most often was cast as a supporting player, such as the charming cad opposite Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn in Adam's Rib (1949). He portrayed the child killer, originally played by Peter Lorre, in the remake of M (1951), a chance to see him in a rare leading role, even rarer as an evil character. He costarred in The Tender Trap (1955) with Frank Sinatra, Debbie Reynolds, and Celeste Holm.
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Denholm Elliott
Denholm Mitchell Elliott, CBE (31 May 1922 – 6 October 1992) was an English film, television and theatre actor with over 120 film and television credits. In the 1980s, he won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in three consecutive years.
He was born in London, England, the son of Nina (née Mitchell) and Myles Laymen Farr Elliott. He attended Malvern College and trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.
In World War II, he joined the Royal Air Force, training as a sergeant radio operator and gunner and serving with No. 76 Squadron RAF under the command of Leonard Cheshire. On the night of 23/24 September 1942, his Handley Page Halifax bomber took part in an air raid on the U-boat pens at Flensburg, Germany. The aircraft was hit by flak and subsequently ditched in the North Sea near Sylt, Germany. Elliot and two other crew members survived and he spent the rest of the war in a prisoner of war camp in Silesia, during which time he became involved in amateur dramatics.
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Diane Keaton
Diane Keaton (born Diane Hall; January 5, 1946) is an American film actress, director, producer, and screenwriter. Keaton began her career on stage, and made her screen debut in 1970. Her first major film role was as Kay Adams-Corleone in The Godfather (1972), but the films that shaped her early career were those with director and co-star Woody Allen beginning with Play It Again, Sam in 1972. Her next two films with Allen, Sleeper (1973) and Love and Death (1975), established her as a comic actor. Her fourth, Annie Hall (1977), won her the Academy Award for Best Actress.
Keaton subsequently expanded her range to avoid becoming typecast as her Annie Hall persona. She became an accomplished dramatic performer, starring in Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977) and received Academy Award nominations for Reds (1981) and Marvin's Room (1996). Some of her popular later films include Baby Boom (1987), Father of the Bride (1991), The First Wives Club (1996), Something's Gotta Give (2003) and The Family Stone (2005). Keaton's films have earned a cumulative gross of over US$1.1 billion in North America. In addition to acting, she is also a photographer, real estate developer, author, and occasional singer.
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Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Lee Hoffman (born August 8, 1937) is an American actor with a career in film, television, and theatre since 1960. He has been known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and vulnerable characters.
He first drew critical praise for the play Eh?, for which he won a Theatre World Award and a Drama Desk Award. This was soon followed by his breakthrough movie role as the good-looking but troubled Benjamin Braddock in The Graduate (1967). Since then Hoffman's career has largely been focused on cinema, with only sporadic returns to television and the stage. Some of his most notable films are Papillon, Marathon Man, Midnight Cowboy, Little Big Man, Lenny, All the President's Men, Kramer vs. Kramer, Tootsie, Rain Man, Wag the Dog, and Meet the Fockers.
Hoffman has won two Academy Awards (for his performances in Kramer vs. Kramer and Rain Man), five Golden Globes, four BAFTAs, three Drama Desk Awards, a Genie Award, and an Emmy Award. Dustin Hoffman received the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1999.
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Dylan Thomas
Dylan Marlais Thomas (27 October 1914 – 9 November 1953) was a Welsh poet and writer who wrote exclusively in English. In addition to poetry, he wrote short stories and scripts for film and radio, which he often performed himself. His public readings, particularly in America, won him great acclaim; his sonorous voice with a subtle Welsh lilt became almost as famous as his works. His best-known works include the "play for voices" Under Milk Wood and the celebrated villanelle for his dying father, "Do not go gentle into that good night". Appreciative critics have also noted the craftsmanship and compression of poems such as "In my Craft or Sullen Art", and the rhapsodic lyricism in "And death shall have no dominion" and "Fern Hill".
Dylan Thomas was born in the Uplands area of Swansea, Glamorgan, Wales, on 27 October 1914 just a few months after the Thomas family had bought the house. Uplands was, and still is, one of the more affluent areas of the city.
His father, David John Thomas (1876–1952), had attained a first-class honours degree in English at University College, Aberystwyth, and was dissatisfied with his position at the local grammar school as an English master who taught English literature. His mother, Florence Hannah Thomas (née Williams) (1882–1958), was a seamstress born in Swansea. Nancy, Thomas's sister, (Nancy Marles 1906–1953) was nine years older than he. Their father brought up both children to speak only English, even though he and his wife were both bilingual in English and Welsh. David was even known to give Welsh lessons at home.
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Ed Mirvish
Edwin “Honest Ed” Mirvish, OC, CBE (24 July 1914 – 11 July 2007) was a Canadian businessman, philanthropist and theatrical impresario who lived in Toronto, Ontario. He is known for his flagship business, Honest Ed's, a landmark discount store in downtown Toronto, and as a patron of the arts, instrumental in revitalizing the theatre scene in Toronto.
Born in Colonial Beach, Virginia, the son of Jewish immigrants from Lithuania (his father, David) and Austria (his mother, Anna). His parents gave him the Hebrew name, Yehuda, but at the urging of a cousin, they added a more American name, Edwin. Mirvish often told the tale of his bris; there was no mohel in Colonial Beach, so the family hired one in nearby Washington, D.C., to come down to perform the ceremony. The mohel chosen was Rabbi Moshe Reuben Yoelson, the father of Al Jolson. Mirvish credited this as his introduction to show business.
The family later moved to Washington, D.C., where Mirvish's father opened a grocery store. The grocery store went bankrupt in 1923, and David Mirvish moved his family to Toronto where he worked as a door-to-door salesman – peddling, among other things, Fuller Brushes and the Encyclopedia of Freemasonry – until he opened a grocery in the Toronto Jewish community, on Dundas Street. The family lived above the store, sharing their tiny apartment with a Hebrew school. Mirvish would often joke that it was his dream in those days to someday have a bathroom he didn't have to share with 50 others.
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Elizabeth Taylor
Dame Elizabeth Rosemond "Liz" Taylor, DBE (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011) was a British-American actress. From her early years as a child star with MGM, she became one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age. As one of the world's most famous film stars, Taylor was recognized for her acting ability and for her glamorous lifestyle, beauty and distinctive violet eyes.
National Velvet (1944) was Taylor's first success, and she starred in Father of the Bride (1950), A Place in the Sun (1951), Giant (1956), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), and Suddenly, Last Summer (1959). She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for BUtterfield 8 (1960), played the title role in Cleopatra (1963), and married her co-star Richard Burton. They appeared together in 11 films, including Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), for which Taylor won a second Academy Award. From the mid-1970s, she appeared less frequently in film, and made occasional appearances in television and theatre.
Her much publicized personal life included eight marriages and several life-threatening illnesses. From the mid-1980s, Taylor championed HIV and AIDS programs; she co-founded the American Foundation for AIDS Research in 1985, and the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation in 1993. She received the Presidential Citizens Medal, the Legion of Honour, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award and a Life Achievement Award from the American Film Institute, who named her seventh on their list of the "Greatest American Screen Legends". Taylor died of congestive heart failure in March 2011 at the age of 79, having suffered many years of ill health.
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English people
The English (from Old English: Englisc) are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens. Their ethnonym is derived from the Angles, a Germanic people originally from Northern Germany who migrated to Britain.
Historically, the English population is descended from several genetically similar peoples—the earlier Britons (or Brythons), the Germanic tribes that settled in the area, including Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, collectively known as the Anglo-Saxons, who founded what was to become England (from the Old English Englaland), and the later Danes, Normans and other groups. Following the Act of Union in 1707, in which the Kingdom of England became part of the Kingdom of Great Britain, English customs and identity became closely aligned with British customs and identity.
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Ernest Borgnine
Ernest Borgnine (born Ermes Effron Borgnino; January 24, 1917) is an American actor of television and film. His career has spanned more than six decades. He was an unconventional lead in many films of the 1950s, including his Academy Award-winning turn in the 1955 film Marty. On television, he played Quinton McHale in the 1962–66 series McHale's Navy and co-starred in the mid-1980s action series Airwolf, in addition to a wide variety of other roles. Borgnine is also known for his role as Mermaid Man in the animated television series SpongeBob SquarePants. Borgnine earned an Emmy Award nomination at age 92 for his work on the series ER.
Borgnine was born in Hamden, Connecticut, the son of Anna (née Boselli), who immigrated to the United States from Carpi (Modena, Italy), and Camillo Borgnino, who immigrated to the U.S. from Ottiglio (Province of Alessandria, Italy).
His parents separated when he was two years old, and he and his mother went to live in Italy. By 1923, his parents had reconciled, and the family name was changed from Borgnino to Borgnine. The family had settled in North Haven, Connecticut, where he attended public schools. His mother also had the passion to develop her own style of dance.[citation needed] Anna gave her son a lot of moral support and he stood closely by her at all times.[citation needed]
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Faisal I of Iraq
Faisal bin Hussein bin Ali al-Hashemi, (Arabic: فيصل بن حسين بن علي الهاشمي Fayṣal ibn Ḥusayn; 20 May 1885 – 8 September 1933) was for a short time King of the Arab Kingdom of Syria or Greater Syria in 1920, and was King of the Kingdom of Iraq (today Iraq) from 23 August 1921 to 1933. He was a member of the Hashemite dynasty.
Faisal encouraged overcoming cleavage between Sunni and Shiite to foster common loyalty and promote pan-Arabism in the goal of creating an Arab state that would include Iraq, Syria and the rest of the Fertile Crescent. While in power, Faisal tried to diversify his administration by including different ethnic and religious groups in offices. He faced great challenges in achieving this because the region was under European, specifically French and British, control and other Arab leaders of the time were hostile to his ideas as they pursued their own political aspirations for power. In addition, Faisal’s attempt at pan-Arab nationalism inevitably isolated certain religious groups.
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Federico Fellini
Federico Fellini (Italian pronunciation: [fedeˈriːko felˈliːni]; January 20, 1920 – October 31, 1993) was an Italian film director and scriptwriter. Known for a distinct style that blends fantasy and baroque images, he is considered one of the most influential filmmakers of the 20th century, and is widely revered. He won five Academy Awards and was nominated for 12 in a career that spanned over forty years.
Fellini was born on January 20, 1920 to middle-class parents in Rimini, then a small town on the Adriatic Sea. His father, Urbano Fellini (1894–1956), born to a family of Romagnol peasants and small landholders from Gambettola, moved to Rome in 1915 as a baker apprenticed to the Pantanella pasta factory. His mother, Ida Barbiani (1896–1984), came from a bourgeois Catholic family of Roman merchants. Despite her family’s vehement disapproval, she eloped with Urbano in 1917 to live at his parents' home in Gambettola. A civil marriage followed in 1918 with the religious ceremony held at Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome a year later. The couple settled in Rimini where Urbano became a traveling salesman and wholesale vendor. Fellini had two siblings: Riccardo (1921–1991), a documentary director for RAI Television, and Maria Maddalena (m. Fabbri; 1929–2002).
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Forest Whitaker
Forest Steven Whitaker (born July 15, 1961) is an American actor, producer, and director. He has earned a reputation for intensive character study work for films such as Bird and Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, and for his recurring role as ex-LAPD Lieutenant Jon Kavanaugh on the gritty, award-winning television series, The Shield. Whitaker won an Academy Award for his performance as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in the 2006 film The Last King of Scotland. Whitaker has also won a Golden Globe and a BAFTA.
Whitaker was born in Longview, Texas, and his family moved to South Central Los Angeles when he was four. His father, Forest Whitaker, Jr., was an insurance salesman and the son of novelist Forest Whitaker, Sr. His mother, Laura Francis (née Smith), was a special education teacher who put herself through college and earned two Masters degrees while raising her children. Whitaker has two younger brothers, Kenn and Damon, and an older sister, Deborah.
As a teenager, Whitaker commuted from Carson to wealthy Palisades High School on LA's West Side. There, he was all-league defensive tackle on the football team quarterbacked by Jay Schroeder, a future NFL player. While in high school, he also took voice lessons, performed in musicals, and caught the "acting bug"; his first role as an actor was the lead in Dylan Thomas' play, Under Milk Wood. Whitaker graduated from "Pali High" in 1979.
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Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola ( /ˈkoʊpələ/ KOH-pə-lə; born April 7, 1939) is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. He is widely acclaimed as one of Hollywood's most innovative and influential film directors. He epitomized the group of filmmakers known as the New Hollywood, that includes Martin Scorsese, Terrence Malick, Robert Altman, Woody Allen, William Friedkin, Philip Kaufman, and George Lucas who emerged in the early 1970s with unconventional ideas that challenged contemporary film-making.
He co-wrote the script for Patton (1970), which won an Academy Award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay). His directorial fame escalated with the release of The Godfather (1972), a film which revolutionized movie-making in the gangster genre, earning praise from critics and public alike. It won three Academy Awards, including his second, for Academy Award for Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay), and was instrumental in cementing his position as a prominent American film director.
Coppola followed it with a critically successful sequel, The Godfather Part II (1974), which became the first sequel to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. The film was highly praised and won him three Academy Awards—for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Director and Best Picture. The Conversation, which Coppola directed, produced and wrote, was released that same year, winning the Palme d'Or at the 1974 Cannes Film Festival. He next directed Apocalypse Now (1979); notorious for its overlong and strenuous production, but critically acclaimed for its vivid and stark depiction of the Vietnam War, winning the Palme d'Or at the 1979 Cannes Film Festival. To this day, Coppola is one of only seven filmmakers to win two Palme d'Or awards, and is the only filmmaker to win both in the same decade.
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Franco Zeffirelli
Franco Zeffirelli, KBE (born 12 February 1923) is an Italian director and producer of films and television. He is also a director and designer of operas and a former senator (1994–2001) for the Italian centre-right Forza Italia party.
He is principally known for his 1968 version of Romeo and Juliet, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award, although his 1967 version of The Taming of the Shrew (with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton) remains the most popular production of that play as well. His mini-series Jesus of Nazareth won acclaim and is still shown on Easter weekend in many countries.
He was the first Italian national to receive an honorary knighthood from the British government when he was created a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
He was awarded the Premio Colosseo in 2009 by the city of Rome.
Zeffirelli was born in Florence as Gianfranco Corsi, the illegitimate son of a mercer, Ottorino Corsi, and his mistress, Adelaide Garosi, a dressmaker. When he was six years old, his mother died and he subsequently grew up under the auspices of the British expatriate community and was particularly involved with the so-called Scorpioni, who inspired his semi-autobiographical 1999 film Tea With Mussolini.
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François Périer
François Périer, (10 November 1919 – 29 June 2002), born François Pillu in Paris, was one of France's most distinguished actors.
He made over 110 film and TV appearances between 1938 and 1996. He was also prominent in the theatre. Among his most notable parts was that of Hugo in the first production of Jean-Paul Sartre's Les Mains Sales in 1948. He was the French narrator in Fantasia .
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Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire (born Frederick Austerlitz; May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987) was an American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor. His stage and subsequent film career spanned a total of 76 years, during which he made 31 musical films. He was named the fifth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute. He is particularly associated with Ginger Rogers, with whom he made ten films.
Gene Kelly, another major innovator in filmed dance, said that "the history of dance on film begins with Astaire". Beyond film and television, many classical dancers and choreographers, Rudolf Nureyev, Sammy Davis, Jr., Michael Jackson, Gregory Hines, Mikhail Baryshnikov, George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins among them, also acknowledged his importance and influence.
Astaire was born in Omaha, Nebraska, the son of Johanna "Ann" (née Geilus) and Frederic "Fritz" Austerlitz (born September 8, 1868, as Friedrich Emanuel Austerlitz). Astaire's mother was born in the United States to Lutheran German immigrants from East Prussia and Alsace, while Astaire's father was born in Linz, Austria, to Jewish parents who had converted to Catholicism.
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Fredric March
Fredric March (born Ernest Frederick McIntyre Bickel; August 31, 1897 – April 14, 1975) was an American stage and film actor. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1932 for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and in 1946 for The Best Years of Our Lives.
March was born in Racine, Wisconsin, the son of Cora Brown (née Marcher), a schoolteacher, and John F. Bickel, a devout Presbyterian Church elder who worked in the wholesale hardware business. March attended the Winslow Elementary School (established in 1855), Racine High School, and the University of Wisconsin–Madison where he was a member of Alpha Delta Phi. He began a career as a banker, but an emergency appendectomy caused him to reevaluate his life, and in 1920 he began working as an extra in movies made in New York City, using a shortened form of his mother's maiden name, Marcher. He appeared on Broadway in 1926, and by the end of the decade signed a film contract with Paramount Pictures.
March received an Oscar nomination in 1930 for The Royal Family of Broadway, in which he played a role based upon John Barrymore (which he had first played on stage in Los Angeles). He won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1932 for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (tied with Wallace Beery for The Champ although March accrued one more vote than Beery), leading to a series of classic films based on stage hits and classic novels like Design for Living (1933) with Gary Cooper, Death Takes a Holiday (1934), Les Misérables (1935) with Charles Laughton, Anthony Adverse (1936) with Olivia de Havilland, and as the original Norman Maine in A Star is Born (1937) with Janet Gaynor, for which he received his third Oscar nomination.
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Fritz Weaver
Fritz William Weaver (born January 19, 1926) is an American actor and voice actor.
Weaver was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of Elsa W. (née Stringaro) and John Carson Weaver. His mother was of Italian descent and his father was a social worker from Pittsburgh. Weaver attended Peabody High School. He served in Civilian Public Service as a conscientious objector during World War II, breaking into acting in the early 1950s. His first television role came in 1956 on an episode of The United States Steel Hour. He would continue to appear on television during the next four decades, appearing on such shows as The Twilight Zone (in episodes "Third from the Sun" and "The Obsolete Man"), Beyond This Place, Dr. Kildare, The Fugitive, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Rawhide, Mission: Impossible, Combat!, Gunsmoke, Mannix, Night Gallery, Kung Fu, Hawaii Five-O, Wonder Woman, Magnum, P.I., Murder, She Wrote, Matlock, Law & Order, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (in the episode "Tribunal"), 12 O'Clock High, The X-Files, and Frasier. Weaver also starred in the TV movies Holocaust (1978), and The Legend of Lizzie Borden.
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Gary Cooper
Frank James Cooper, known professionally as Gary Cooper, (May 7, 1901 – May 13, 1961) was an American film actor. He was renowned for his quiet, understated acting style and his stoic, but at times intense screen persona, which was particularly well suited to the many Westerns he made. He also excelled in sophisticated, screwball romantic comedies. His career spanned from 1925 until shortly before his death in 1961, and comprised more than one hundred films.
Cooper received five Academy Award nominations for Best Actor, winning twice for Sergeant York and High Noon. He also received an Honorary Award in 1961 from the Academy.
Decades later, the American Film Institute named Cooper among the AFI's 100 Years... 100 Stars, ranking 11th among males from the Classical Hollywood cinema period. In 2003, his performances as Will Kane in High Noon, Lou Gehrig in The Pride of the Yankees, and Alvin York in Sergeant York made the AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains list, all of them as heroes.
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Gene Hackman
Eugene Allen "Gene" Hackman (born January 30, 1930) is a retired American actor and novelist.
Nominated for five Academy Awards, winning two, Hackman has also won three Golden Globes and two BAFTAs in a career that spanned five decades. He first came to fame in 1967 with his performance as Buck Barrow in Bonnie and Clyde. His major subsequent films include The French Connection (1971), in which he played Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle; The Poseidon Adventure (1972); The Conversation (1974); Superman (1978), in which he played arch-villain Lex Luthor; Hoosiers (1986); Mississippi Burning (1987); Unforgiven (1992); The Firm (1993); Crimson Tide (1995); Get Shorty (1995); The Birdcage (1996); Enemy of the State (1998); and The Royal Tenenbaums (2001).
Hackman was born in San Bernardino, California, the son of Lyda (née Gray) and Eugene Ezra Hackman. He has a brother, Richard. His family moved frequently, finally settling in Danville, Illinois, where they lived in the house of his English-born maternal grandmother, Beatrice. Hackman's father operated the printing press for the Commercial-News, a local paper. Hackman's parents divorced in 1943 and his father subsequently left the family.
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George Clooney
George Timothy Clooney (born May 6, 1961) is an American actor, film director, producer, and screenwriter. For his work as an actor, he has received three Golden Globe Awards and an Academy Award. Clooney is also noted for his political activism, and has served as one of the United Nations Messengers of Peace since January 31, 2008.
Though he made his acting debut on television in 1978, Clooney gained fame and recognition by portraying Dr. Douglas "Doug" Ross on the long-running medical drama ER from 1994 to 1999. While working on ER, he started attracting a variety of leading roles in films including Batman & Robin (1997) and Out of Sight (1998), in which he first teamed with long-term collaborator Steven Soderbergh. 1999 saw the release of Three Kings, a well-received war satire set during the Gulf War featuring Clooney in another lead role. In 2001, Clooney's fame widened with the release of his biggest commercial success, Ocean's Eleven, the first of a profitable film trilogy, a remake of the film from 1960 with the members of The Rat Pack with Frank Sinatra as Danny Ocean. He made his directorial debut a year later with the 2002 biographical thriller Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, and has since directed Good Night, and Good Luck (2005), Leatherheads (2008), and The Ides of March (2011). He won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his work in the Middle East thriller Syriana (2005) and subsequently fetched Best Actor nominations for such films as Michael Clayton (2007), Up in the Air (2009) and The Descendants (2011).
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George Cukor
George Dewey Cukor ( /ˈkjuːkər/; July 7, 1899 – January 24, 1983) was an American film director. He mainly concentrated on comedies and literary adaptations. His career flourished at RKO and later MGM, where he directed What Price Hollywood? (1932), A Bill of Divorcement (1932), Dinner at Eight (1933), Little Women (1933), David Copperfield (1935), Romeo and Juliet (1936) and Camille (1936).
He was replaced as the director of Gone with the Wind (1939), but he went on to direct The Philadelphia Story (1940), Adam's Rib (1949), Born Yesterday (1950), A Star Is Born (1954) and My Fair Lady (1964). He continued to work into the 1980s.
Cukor was born on the Lower East Side of New York City, the younger child and only son of Hungarian Jewish immigrants Victor, an assistant district attorney, and Helen Ilona (née Gross) Cukor. His parents selected his middle name in honor of Spanish–American War hero George Dewey. Unlike the Jews of Poland and Russia whose first language was Yiddish, Hungarian Jews did not adopt Yiddish as their primary language. Therefore, the Cukor family, subscribing to the norm of their country of origin, was not a Yiddish speaking household. The family was not particularly religious, pork was a staple on the dinner table, and when he started attending temple as a boy, Cukor learned Hebrew phonetically, with no real understanding of the meaning of the words or what they represented. As a result, he was ambivalent about his faith and dismissive of old world traditions from childhood, and as an adult he embraced Anglophilia to remove himself even further from his roots.
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George Lucas
George Walton Lucas, Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American film producer, screenwriter, director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones. Lucas is one of the American film industry's most financially successful directors/producers, with an estimated net worth of $3.2 billion as of 2011.
George Lucas was born in Modesto, California, the son of Dorothy Ellinore (née Bomberger) and George Walton Lucas, Sr. (1913–1991), who owned a stationery store.
Lucas grew up in the Central Valley town of Modesto and his early passion for cars and motor racing would eventually serve as inspiration for his USC student film 1:42.08, as well as his Oscar-nominated low-budget phenomenon, American Graffiti. Long before Lucas became obsessed with film making, he wanted to be a race-car driver, and he spent most of his high school years racing on the underground circuit at fairgrounds and hanging out at garages. However, a near-fatal accident in his souped-up Autobianchi Bianchina on June 12, 1962, just days before his high school graduation, quickly changed his mind. Instead of racing, he attended Modesto Junior College and later got accepted into a junior college to study anthropology. While taking liberal arts courses, he developed a passion for cinematography and camera tricks. George Lucas graduated from USC in California.
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George Smiley
George Smiley is a fictional character created by John le Carré. Smiley is an intelligence officer working for MI6 (often referred to as "the Circus" in the novels and films), the British overseas intelligence agency. He is a central character in the novels Call for the Dead; A Murder of Quality; Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy; The Honourable Schoolboy; and Smiley's People, and a minor character in a number of others, including The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, The Looking Glass War and The Secret Pilgrim.
Although Smiley has no concrete biography beyond that offered briefly at the beginning of Call for the Dead, le Carré does leave clues in his novels.
Smiley was probably born around 1906 (or 1915 on the revised chronology) to middle class parents in the South of England, and attended a minor public school and an antiquated Oxford college of no real distinction (in the 1982 BBC television adaptation of Smiley's People, he refers to himself as a fellow of Lincoln College), studying modern languages with a particular focus on Baroque German literature. In July 1928, while considering post-graduate study in that field, he was recruited into the Secret Intelligence Service by his tutor Jebedee.
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Grace Kelly
Grace Patricia Kelly (November 12, 1929 – September 14, 1982) was an American actress who, in April 1956, married Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, to become Princess consort of Monaco, styled as Her Serene Highness The Princess of Monaco, and commonly referred to as Princess Grace.
After embarking on an acting career in 1950, at the age of 20, Grace Kelly appeared in New York City theatrical productions as well as in more than forty episodes of live drama productions broadcast during the early 1950s Golden Age of Television. In October 1953, with the release of Mogambo, she became a movie star, a status confirmed in 1954 with a Golden Globe Award and Academy Award nomination as well as leading roles in five films, including The Country Girl, in which she gave a deglamorized, Academy Award-winning performance. She retired from acting at 26 to enter upon her duties in Monaco. She and Prince Rainier had three children: Caroline, Albert, and Stéphanie. She also retained her American roots, maintaining dual US and Monégasque citizenships.
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Gregory Peck
Eldred Gregory Peck (April 5, 1916 – June 12, 2003) was an American actor.
One of the world's most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1960s, Peck continued to play important roles well into the 1980s. His notable performances include that of Atticus Finch in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird, for which he won an Academy Award. President Lyndon Johnson honored Peck with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1969 for his lifetime humanitarian efforts. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Peck among the Greatest Male Stars of All Time, ranking at #12. He was named to the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame in 1983.
Eldred Gregory Peck was born in La Jolla, California, the son of Missouri-born Bernice Mae "Bunny" (née Ayres) and Gregory Pearl Peck, who was a chemist and pharmacist. Peck's father was of Irish (maternal) heritage and English (paternal) heritage, and his mother was of Scots (paternal) and English (maternal) ancestry. Peck's father was a Catholic and his mother converted upon marrying his father. Peck's Irish-born paternal grandmother, Catherine Ashe, was related to Thomas Ashe, who took part in the Easter Rising fewer than three weeks after Peck's birth and died while on hunger strike in 1917. Peck's parents divorced by the time he was six years old and he spent the next few years being raised by his maternal grandmother.
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Hal Holbrook
Harold Rowe "Hal" Holbrook, Jr. (born February 17, 1925) is an American actor. His television roles include Abraham Lincoln in the 1976 TV series Lincoln, Hays Stowe on The Bold Ones: The Senator and Capt. Lloyd Bucher on Pueblo. He is also known for his role in the 2007 film Into the Wild, for which he was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award and an Academy Award. He has also performed a one-man show as Mark Twain since 1954.
Holbrook was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Aileen Davenport Holbrook, a vaudeville dancer, and Harold Rowe Holbrook, Sr. He was raised in South Weymouth, Massachusetts. He graduated from the Culver Academies and Denison University, where an honors project about Mark Twain led him to develop the one-man show for which he is best known, a series of performances called Mark Twain Tonight (for which he won both a Tony and a Drama Desk Award). Holbrook served in the U.S. Army in World War II and was stationed in Newfoundland, where he performed in theatre productions such as the play Madam Precious.
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Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter, CH, CBE (10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a Nobel Prize-winning English playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. One of the most influential modern British dramatists, his writing career spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party (1957), The Homecoming (1964), and Betrayal (1978), each of which he adapted to film. His screenplay adaptations of others' works include The Servant (1963), The Go-Between (1970), The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981), The Trial (1993), and Sleuth (2007). He also directed or acted in radio, stage, television, and film productions of his own and others' works.
Pinter was born and raised in Hackney, east London, and educated at Hackney Downs School. He was a sprinter and a keen cricket player, acting in school plays and writing poetry. He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art but did not complete the course. He was fined for refusing National Service as a conscientious objector. Subsequently, he continued training at the Central School of Speech and Drama and worked in repertory theatre in Ireland and England. In 1956 he married actress Vivien Merchant and had a son, Daniel born in 1958. He left Merchant in 1975 and married author Antonia Fraser in 1980.
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Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford (born July 13, 1942) is an American film actor and producer. He is famous for his performances as Han Solo in the original Star Wars trilogy and as the title character of the Indiana Jones film series. Ford is also known for his roles as Rick Deckard in Blade Runner, John Book in Witness and Jack Ryan in Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger. His career has spanned six decades and includes roles in several Hollywood blockbusters, including Presumed Innocent, The Fugitive, Air Force One, and What Lies Beneath. At one point, four of the top six box-office hits of all time included one of his roles. Five of his films have been inducted into the National Film Registry.
In 1997, Ford was ranked No. 1 in Empire's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. As of July 2008[update], the United States domestic box office grosses of Ford's films total over US$3.5 billion, with worldwide grosses surpassing $6 billion, making Ford the third highest grossing U.S. domestic box-office star. Ford is the husband of actress Calista Flockhart.
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Henry Fonda
Henry Jaynes Fonda (May 16, 1905 – August 12, 1982) was an American film and stage actor.
Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor. He also appeared in 1938 in plays performed in White Plains, New York, with Joan Tompkins. He made his Hollywood debut in 1935, and his career gained momentum after his Academy Award-nominated performance as Tom Joad in The Grapes of Wrath, a 1940 adaptation of John Steinbeck's novel about an Oklahoma family who moved west during the Dust Bowl. Throughout six decades in Hollywood, Fonda cultivated a strong, appealing screen image in such classics as The Ox-Bow Incident, Mister Roberts and 12 Angry Men. Later, Fonda moved both toward darker epics as Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West and lighter roles in family comedies like Yours, Mine and Ours with Lucille Ball.
Fonda was the patriarch of a family of famous actors, including daughter Jane Fonda, son Peter Fonda, granddaughter Bridget Fonda, and grandson Troy Garity. His family and close friends called him "Hank". In 1999, he was named the sixth-Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute.
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Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart (December 25, 1899 – January 14, 1957) was an American actor. He is widely regarded as a cultural icon. The American Film Institute ranked Bogart as the greatest male star in the history of American cinema.
After trying various jobs, Bogart began acting in 1921 and became a regular in Broadway productions in the 1920s and 1930s. When the stock market crash of 1929 reduced the demand for plays, Bogart turned to film. His first great success was as Duke Mantee in The Petrified Forest (1936), and this led to a period of typecasting as a gangster with films such as Angels with Dirty Faces (1938) and B-movies like The Return of Doctor X (1939).
Bogart's breakthrough as a leading man came in 1941, with High Sierra and The Maltese Falcon. The next year, his performance in Casablanca raised him to the peak of his profession and, at the same time, cemented his trademark film persona, that of the hard-boiled cynic who ultimately shows his noble side. Other successes followed, including To Have and Have Not (1944); The Big Sleep (1946); Dark Passage (1947) and Key Largo (1948), with his wife Lauren Bacall; The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948); In a Lonely Place (1950); The African Queen (1951), for which he won his only Academy Award; Sabrina (1954); and The Caine Mutiny (1954). His last movie was The Harder They Fall (1956). During a film career of almost thirty years, he appeared in 75 feature films.
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Ian McKellen
Sir Ian Murray McKellen, CH CBE (born 25 May 1939) is an English actor. He has won multiple Laurence Olivier Awards, a Tony Award, two Academy Award nominations, and five Emmy Award nominations. His work has spanned genres from Shakespearean and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction. He is known for film roles such as Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, Magneto in the X-Men films, and as Sir Leigh Teabing in The Da Vinci Code.
McKellen was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1979, was knighted in 1991 for services to the performing arts, and was made a Companion of Honour for services to drama and to equality, in the 2008 New Year Honours.
McKellen was born in Burnley, Lancashire, England, though he spent most of his early life in Wigan. Born shortly before the outbreak of World War II, the experience had some lasting impact on him. In response to an interview question when an interviewer remarked that he seemed quite calm in the aftermath of the 11 September attacks, he said: "Well, darling, you forget — I slept under a steel plate until I was four years old."
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Ian Richardson
Ian William Richardson CBE (7 April 1934 – 9 February 2007) was a Scottish actor best known for his portrayal of the Machiavellian Tory politician Francis Urquhart in the BBC's House of Cards trilogy. He was also a leading Shakespearean stage actor.
Richardson was born in Edinburgh, the son of Margaret (née Drummond) and John Richardson. He was educated in the city, at Balgreen Primary School, Tynecastle High School and George Heriot's School. He first appeared on stage at the age of fourteen, in an amateur production of A Tale of Two Cities. The director encouraged his talent, but warned that he would need to lose his Scottish accent to progress as an actor. His mother arranged elocution lessons and he became a stage manager with the semi-professional Edinburgh People's Theatre. After National Service in the Army (part of which he spent as an announcer and drama director with the British Forces Broadcasting Service) he obtained a place at the College of Dramatic Arts in Glasgow. After a period at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre he appeared with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), of which he was a founding member, from 1960 to 1975.
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Jack Hawkins
Colonel John Edward "Jack" Hawkins CBE (14 September 1910 – 18 July 1973) was an English actor who worked on stage and in film from the 1930s through the 1970s.
Hawkins was born at Lyndhurst Road, Wood Green, Middlesex, the son of master builder Thomas George Hawkins and his wife, Phoebe née Goodman. The youngest of four children in a close-knit family, Jack was educated at St. Michael's School, Wood Green, where he joined his school choir at the age of eight; two years later he sang in the local operatic society's Patience by Gilbert and Sullivan.
Hawkins attended stage school in London, the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts, which led to his London stage debut in Where the Rainbow Ends at the Holborn Empire on 26 December 1923, a production that also included the young Noël Coward. Hawkins made his New York stage debut on Broadway by 22 March 1929 as Second Lieutenant Hibbert in R. C. Sherriff's Journey's End, at the age of 18.
As early as 1933, the drama critic of the Evening News called him ‘the most indubitable of matinée idols’ and predicted that he might outstrip talented contemporaries such as Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud, and in the pre-war years Hawkins often worked with the latter. The high point of this collaboration was Gielgud's staging, in the period of the Phoney War, of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest in which Hawkins scintillated in the role of Algernon Moncrieff.
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Jack Lemmon
John Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III (February 8, 1925 – June 27, 2001) was an American actor and musician. He starred in more than 60 films including Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, Mister Roberts (for which he won the 1955 Best Supporting Actor Academy Award), Days of Wine and Roses, The Great Race, Irma la Douce, The Odd Couple, Save the Tiger (for which he won the 1973 Best Actor Academy Award), The Out-of-Towners, The China Syndrome, Missing (for which he won 'Best Actor' at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival), Glengarry Glen Ross, Grumpy Old Men and Grumpier Old Men.
Lemmon was born in an elevator[citation needed] at Newton-Wellesley Hospital in Newton, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. He was the only child of Mildred Burgess LaRue (née Noel) and John Uhler Lemmon, Jr., who was the president of a doughnut company. Lemmon attended John Ward Elementary School in Newton and The Rivers School in Weston, Massachusetts. He had stated that he knew he wanted to be an actor from the age of eight. Lemmon attended Phillips Academy (Class of 1943) and Harvard University (Class of 1947), where he lived in Adams House and was an active member of several Drama Clubs - becoming president of the Hasty Pudding Club - as well as a member of the Delphic Club for Gentleman, a final club at Harvard. After Harvard, Lemmon joined the Navy, receiving V-12 training and serving as an ensign. On being discharged, he took up acting professionally, working on radio, television and Broadway. He studied acting under coach Uta Hagen. He also became enamored of the piano and learned to play it on his own. He could also play the harmonica, organ, and the double bass.
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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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Jacob Marley
Jacob Marley is a fictional character who appears in Charles Dickens' 1843 novella A Christmas Carol.
In life, Marley was the business partner of Ebenezer Scrooge. As teenagers, both men had been apprenticed in business and met as clerks in another business. The firm of Scrooge and Marley was a nineteenth century financial institution, probably a counting house, as Marley refers to their offices as 'our money-changing hole'. They have become successful bankers, with seats on the London Stock Exchange.
In A Christmas Carol, Marley is said to have died seven years earlier on Christmas Eve (as the setting is Christmas Eve 1843, this would have made the date of his passing December 24, 1836). It would be his ghost who would be Scrooge's first visitor (before the three other spirits to come).
Marley preys upon Scrooge's mind in many different ways. First, his face appears in place of Scrooge's door-knocker as Scrooge approaches his lodgings; secondly, Scrooge gets the impression of a hearse ascending the stairs before him as he climbs; thirdly his face replaces each of the engraved images in the hearth and mantel of Scrooge's bedroom fireplace; then every bell in the house rings simultaneously of its own accord, heralding his appearance before Scrooge in the form of a ghost himself.
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James Cagney
James Francis Cagney, Jr. (July 17, 1899 – March 30, 1986) was an American actor, first on stage, then in film, where he had his greatest impact. Although he won acclaim and major awards for a wide variety of performances, he is best remembered for playing tough guys. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him eighth among its 50 Greatest American Screen Legends.
In his first professional acting performance, he danced dressed as a woman in the chorus line of the 1919 revue Every Sailor. He spent several years in vaudeville as a hoofer and comedian, until he got his first major acting part in 1925. He secured several other roles, receiving good notices, before landing the lead in the 1929 play Penny Arcade. After rave reviews, Warner Bros. signed him for an initial $500-a-week, three-week contract to reprise his role; this was quickly extended to a seven-year contract.
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James Earl Jones
James Earl Jones (born January 17, 1931) is an American actor. Since his Broadway debut in 1957, Jones has spent more than five decades as "one of America's most distinguished and versatile actors" and has been termed "one of the greatest actors in American history." On November 12, 2011, Jones received an Honorary Academy Award.
He is well known for his distinctive bass voice and for his portrayal of characters of substance, gravitas and leadership.
James Earl Jones was born in Arkabutla, Mississippi, son of Robert Earl Jones (1910–2006), an actor, boxer, butler, and chauffeur who left the family shortly after James Earl's birth, and his wife Ruth (Connolly) Jones, a teacher and maid. Jones and his father reconciled many years later. Jones was raised by his maternal grandparents, farmers John Henry and Maggie Connolly. He is multiracial, with African, Irish, and Native American ancestry.
Jones describes his grandmother, Maggie, as "the most racist person I have ever known", thus forcing him to develop his own independent thinking. His grandmother was of Cherokee, Choctaw, and black ancestry.
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James Mason
James Neville Mason (15 May 1909 - 27 July 1984) was an English actor who attained stardom in both British and American films. Mason remained a powerful figure in the industry throughout his career and was nominated for three Academy Awards as well as three Golden Globes (winning once).
Mason was born in Huddersfield, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, to John and Mabel Mason; his father was a wealthy merchant. He was educated at Marlborough College, and earned a first in architecture at Peterhouse, Cambridge where he became involved in stock theatre companies in his spare time. Mason had no formal training as an actor and initially embarked upon it for fun. After Cambridge he joined the Old Vic theatre in London under the guidance of Tyrone Guthrie and Alexander Korda. In 1933 Korda gave Mason a small role in The Private Life of Don Juan but fired him three days into shooting.
From 1935 to 1948 he starred in many British quota quickies. A conscientious objector during World War II (causing his family to break with him for many years), he became immensely popular for his brooding anti-heroes in the Gainsborough series of melodramas of the 1940s, including The Man in Grey (1943) and The Wicked Lady (1945). He also starred with Deborah Kerr and Robert Newton in Hatter's Castle (1942). He then took the lead role in the critically acclaimed and immensely popular The Seventh Veil (1945) that set box office records in postwar Britain and raised him to international stardom. He followed it with a role as a mortally wounded Irish bank robber in Odd Man Out (1947) and his first Hollywood film, Caught (1949). Exhibitors voted him the most popular star in Britain in 1944 and 1945.
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James Stewart
James Maitland "Jimmy" Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American film and stage actor, known for his distinctive voice and persona. Over the course of his career, he starred in many films widely considered classics and was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one in competition and receiving one Lifetime Achievement award. He was a major MGM contract star. He also had a noted military career and was a World War II and Vietnam War veteran, who rose to the rank of Brigadier General in the United States Air Force Reserve.
James Maitland Stewart was born on May 20, 1908, in Indiana, Pennsylvania, the son of Elizabeth Ruth (née Jackson) and Alexander Maitland Stewart, who owned a hardware store. Stewart's parents were of Scottish descent and Presbyterians. His maternal ancestors served in the American Revolution, the War of 1812 and the American Civil War. The eldest of three children (he had two younger sisters, Virginia and Mary), he was expected to continue his father's business, which had been in the family for three generations. His mother was an excellent pianist but his father discouraged Stewart's request for lessons. But when his father accepted a gift of an accordion from a guest, young Stewart quickly learned to play the instrument, which became a fixture off-stage during his acting career. As the family grew, music continued to be an important part of family life.
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Jamie Foxx
Eric Marlon Bishop (born December 13, 1967), professionally known as Jamie Foxx, is an American actor, singer-songwriter, rapper, stand-up comedian, and talk radio host who began playing the piano when he was five years old. As an actor, his work in the film Ray earned him the Academy Award and BAFTA Award for Best Actor as well as the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a musical/comedy. He is also a Grammy Award winning musician, producing three albums which have charted highly on the Billboard 200: Unpredictable, which topped the chart, Best Night of My Life and Intuition.
Born in Terrell, Texas, Foxx was raised by his mother's adoptive parents. He performed in high school and was awarded with a scholarship to United States International University. In his twenties, Foxx began performing stand-up at comedy clubs, and eventually joined the cast of In Living Color in 1991; this exposure helped him land film roles and star in his own sitcom, The Jamie Foxx Show. He released his debut album, Peep This, in 1994, but he did not gain significant musical success until 2004 when he was featured in Twista's song "Slow Jamz". Also in 2004, Foxx played critically acclaimed roles in the films Collateral and Ray. He released his second album, Unpredictable, in 2005, which was helped by his collaboration on Kanye West's number-one single "Gold Digger". His third album Intuition was released in 2008 and was anchored by the single "Blame It". Foxx released his fourth studio album, Best Night of My Life, in 2010.
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Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda (born Lady Jayne Seymour Fonda; December 21, 1937) is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model, and fitness guru. She rose to fame in the 1960s with films such as Barbarella and Cat Ballou. She has won two Academy Awards and received several other movie awards and nominations during more than 50 years as an actress. After 15 years of retirement, she returned to film in 2005 with Monster in Law, followed by Georgia Rule two years later. She also produced and starred in over 20 exercise videos released between 1982 and 1995, and once again in 2010.
Fonda has been an activist for many political causes; her opposition to the Vietnam War and associated activities were controversial. She has also protested the Iraq War and violence against women. She describes herself as a liberal and a feminist. In 2005, Fonda worked alongside Robin Morgan and Gloria Steinem to co-found the Women's Media Center, an organization that works to amplify the voices of women in the media through advocacy, media and leadership training, and the creation of original content. Fonda currently serves on the board of the organization. Since 2001, Fonda has been a Christian. She published an autobiography in 2005, and in 2011, she published a second memoir, Prime Time.
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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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Javier Bardem
Javier Ángel Encinas Bardem (Spanish pronunciation: [xaˈβjer βarˈðen]; born 1 March 1969) is a Spanish actor. In 2007 he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as sociopathic assassin Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Men, and has also garnered critical acclaim for roles in films such as Jamón, jamón, Carne trémula, Boca a boca, Los Lunes al sol and Mar adentro.
As well as the Academy Award, Bardem has been awarded a Golden Globe, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a BAFTA, five Goya awards, two European Film Awards, a Prize for Best Actor at Cannes and two Coppa Volpis at Venice for his work. He is the first Spaniard to be nominated for an Oscar (Best Actor, 2000, for Before Night Falls, lost to Russell Crowe for Gladiator), as well as the first Spanish actor to win an Academy Award. He received his third Academy Award nomination, and second Best Actor nomination, for the film Biutiful.
Bardem was born in Las Palmas in the Canary Islands (Spain). His mother, Pilar Bardem, is an actress, and his father, José Carlos Encinas Doussinague, was a businessman who was involved in environmental work; the two separated shortly after his birth. His mother raised him alone. Bardem comes from a long line of filmmakers and actors who have been working since the earliest days of Spanish cinema; he is the grandson of actors Rafael Bardem and Matilde Muñoz Sampedro, and the nephew of screenwriter and director Juan Antonio Bardem. Both his older brother and sister, Carlos and Mónica, are actors. Bardem was raised Roman Catholic by his grandmother. He also comes from a very political background, his uncle Juan Antonio was imprisoned by Franco for his anti-fascist films.
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Jay Robinson
Jay Robinson (born April 14, 1930) is an American actor specializing in character roles. He achieved his greatest fame playing Emperor Caligula in the film The Robe (1953) and its sequel Demetrius and the Gladiators (1954).
He was born in New York City, son of a dancer and a director of the Van Heusen Shirt Co. He became interested in acting after discovering a scrapbook of his mother's dance career.
Robinson began his acting career in summer stock theatre and repertory companies, and eventually made his way to the Broadway stage, where he appeared in Shakespeare's As You Like It and Much Ado About Nothing, as well as several other plays by the age of 19. His first film role was as the insane Emperor Caligula in The Robe (1953), which he reprised in Demetrius and the Gladiators (1954).
This was followed by roles in The Virgin Queen (1955) starring Bette Davis, My Man Godfrey (1957) with David Niven and June Allyson and Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) (1972), the Woody Allen comedy and Bram Stoker's Dracula. He was also featured on two Folkways albums of Shakespeare: Othello: William Shakespeare and William Shakespeare: King Richard III, which were both released in 1964.
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Jesse Eisenberg
Jesse Adam Eisenberg (born October 5, 1983) is an American actor. He made his screen debut with the comedy-drama television series Get Real from 1999 to 2000. After his first leading role in the film Roger Dodger (2002), he appeared in such films as The Squid and the Whale (2005) and The Education of Charlie Banks (2007).
In 2004, Eisenberg was honored with the Vail Film Festival Rising Star Award. In 2009, he starred in the comedy drama Adventureland and the horror comedy Zombieland, for which he won critical acclaim. He then played Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network (2010), for which he received a Golden Globe and Academy Award nomination in the Best Actor category. He also starred in Holy Rollers (2010), which was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. Since then, he has voiced the main character in the animated film Rio (2011), and starred in the comedy 30 Minutes or Less (2011). He will once again voice Blu in Rio 2, which is scheduled for a 2014 release.
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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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Joan Littlewood
Joan Maud Littlewood (6 October 1914 – 20 September 2002) was a British theatre director, noted for her work in developing the left-wing Theatre Workshop. She has been called "The Mother of Modern Theatre".
She also conceived and developed along with architect Cedric Price the Fun Palace, an experimental model of participatory social environment that, although never realized, has become an important influence in Architecture of the 20th and 21st Centuries.[citation needed]
Littlewood was born at Stockwell, London, England and trained as an actress at RADA but left after an unhappy start and moved to Manchester in 1934 where she met folksinger Jimmie Miller who would later become known as Ewan MacColl. After joining his troupe, Theatre of Action, Littlewood and Miller were soon married. After a brief move to London, they returned to Manchester and set up the Theatre Union in 1936.
In 1941, Littlewood was banned from broadcasting on the BBC. The ban was lifted two years later when MI5 said she had broken off her association with the Communist Party. She was under surveillance by MI5 from 1939 until the 1950s.
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Joanne Woodward
Joanne Gignilliat Trimmier Woodward (born February 27, 1930) is an American actress, television and theatrical producer, and widow of Paul Newman. She is perhaps best known for her Academy Award winning role in The Three Faces of Eve (1957).
Woodward was born in Thomasville, Georgia, daughter of Elinor Gignilliat (née Trimmier) and Wade Woodward, Jr., who at one point was vice president of publisher Charles Scribner's Sons. Her middle name, "Gignilliat", originates from distant Huguenot ancestry. She was influenced to become an actress by her mother's love of movies. Her mother named her after Joan Crawford, using the Southern pronunciation of the name "Joanne". Attending the premiere of Gone with the Wind in Atlanta, nine-year-old Woodward rushed out into the parade of stars and sat on the lap of Laurence Olivier, star Vivien Leigh's partner and future husband. She eventually worked with Olivier in 1977, in a television production of Come Back, Little Sheba. During rehearsals, she mentioned this incident to him and he told her he remembered her doing it.
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John Gielgud
Sir Arthur John Gielgud, OM, CH (/ˈɡiːlɡʊd/; 14 April 1904 – 21 May 2000) was an English actor, director, and producer. A descendant of the renowned Terry acting family, he achieved early international acclaim for his youthful, emotionally expressive Hamlet which broke box office records on Broadway in 1937. He was known for his beautiful speaking of verse and particularly for his warm and expressive voice, which his colleague Sir Alec Guinness likened to "a silver trumpet muffled in silk". Gielgud is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Award.
John Gielgud was born in South Kensington in London to Kate Terry and Frank Gielgud. He was of theatrical lineage on his mother's side, being the grandson of actress Kate Terry, whose actor-siblings included Ellen Terry, Marion Terry and Fred Terry.
Gielgud's Catholic father, Franciszek Giełgud, born in 1880, was a descendant of a Polish noble family residing at a manor in a town called Giełgudyszki (now Gelgaudiškis in Marijampolė County, Lithuania). In his autobiography, Gielgud states repeatedly and clearly that his father was Polish Catholic, and mentions Gelgaudiškis as being his ancestral home whence his family and their surname originated.
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John Huston
John Marcellus Huston (August 5, 1906 – August 28, 1987) was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He wrote the screenplay for most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered classics: The Maltese Falcon (1941), The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), Key Largo (1948), The Asphalt Jungle (1950), The African Queen (1951), Moulin Rouge (1952), The Misfits (1961), and The Man Who Would Be King (1975). During his 46-year career, Huston received 15 Oscar nominations, winning twice, and directed both his father, Walter Huston, and daughter, Anjelica Huston, to Oscar wins in different films.
Huston was known to direct with the vision of an artist, having studied and worked as a fine art painter in Paris in his early years. He continued to explore the visual aspects of his films throughout his career: sketching each scene on paper beforehand, then carefully framing his characters during the shooting. In addition, while most directors rely on post-production editing to shape their final work, Huston instead created his films while they were being shot, making his films both more economical and more cerebral, with little editing needed.
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John Kani
Bonsile John Kani (born 1943) is a South African actor, director and playwright.
He was born in New Brighton, South Africa.
Kani joined The Serpent Players (a group of actors whose first performance was in the former snake pit of the zoo, hence the name) in Port Elizabeth in 1965 and helped to create many plays that went unpublished but were performed to a resounding reception.
These were followed by the more famous Sizwe Banzi is Dead and The Island, co-written with Athol Fugard and Winston Ntshona, in the early 1970s. He also received an Olivier nomination for his role in My Children My Africa!
Kani's work has been widely performed around the world, including New York, where he and Winston Ntshona won a Tony Award in 1975 for Sizwe Banzi Is Dead and The Island. These two plays were presented in repertory at the Edison Theatre for a total of 52 performances.
Nothing but the Truth (2002) was his debut as sole playwright and was first performed in the Market Theatre in Johannesburg. This play takes place in post-apartheid South Africa and does not concern the conflicts between whites and blacks, but the rift between blacks who stayed in South Africa to fight apartheid, and those who left only to return when the hated regime folded. It won the 2003 Fleur du Cap Awards for best actor and best new South African play. In the same year he was also awarded a special Obie award for his extraordinary contribution to theatre in the USA.
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John le Carré
David John Moore Cornwell (born 19 October 1931), pen name John le Carré ( /lə ˈkɑrˌeɪ/), is a British author of espionage novels. During the 1950s and the 1960s, Cornwell worked for the British intelligence services MI5 and MI6, when he began writing novels under a pen name. His third novel The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1963) became an international best-seller, and remains one of his best known works. Following the novel's success, he left MI6 to become a full-time author.
Since, Le Carré has established himself as an important writer of espionage fiction. In 1990, he received the Helmerich Award which is presented annually by the Tulsa Library Trust.. In 2008, The Times ranked Le Carré 22nd on its list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945". In 2011, he won the Goethe Medal, a yearly prize given by the Goethe Institute.
On 19 October 1931, David John Moore Cornwell was born to Richard Thomas Archibald (Ronnie) Cornwell (1906–75) and Olive (Glassy) Cornwell, in Poole, Dorset, England. He was the second son to the marriage, the first being Tony, two years his elder, now a retired advertising executive; his younger half-sister is the actress Charlotte Cornwell; and Rupert Cornwell, a former Independent newspaper Washington bureau chief, is a younger half-brother. John le Carré said he did not know his mother, who abandoned him when he was five years old, until their re-acquaintance when he was 21 years old. His relationship with his father was difficult, given that the man had been jailed for insurance fraud, was an associate of the Kray twins (among the foremost criminals in London) and was continually in debt. A biographer reports,
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John Lithgow
John Arthur Lithgow ( /ˈlɪθɡoʊ/ LITH-goh; born October 19, 1945) is an American actor, musician, and author. Presently, he is involved with a wide range of media projects, including stage, television, film, and radio. He also has written and published several books of poetry and children's literature.
He appeared in the films The World According to Garp (1982) and Terms of Endearment (1983), receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for each. Lithgow is known for his roles as the Reverend Shaw Moore in Footloose, Dick Solomon on the NBC sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun, the voice of Lord Farquaad in Shrek, and Arthur Mitchell on Showtime's Dexter, for which he won Golden Globe and Emmy awards.
On the stage, he appeared in the musical adaptation of Sweet Smell of Success, winning the Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical. He again appeared in a musical, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, again receiving a Tony nomination for Best Leading Actor in a Musical.
He has also recorded music, such as the 1999 album of children's music, Singin' in the Bathtub, and has written poetry and short stories for children, such as Marsupial Sue.
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John Thaw
John Edward Thaw, CBE (3 January 1942 – 21 February 2002) was an English actor, who appeared in a range of television, stage and cinema roles, his most popular being police and legal dramas such as Redcap, The Sweeney, Inspector Morse and Kavanagh QC.
Thaw came from a working class background, having been born in Longsight, Manchester, Lancashire then moved to nearby Gorton to parents John and Dorothy (née Ablott). His father was a long distance lorry driver. He had a difficult childhood as his mother left him when he was seven years old and he didn't see her again until 12 years later. His younger brother, Raymond Stuart "Ray" emigrated to Australia in the mid-1960s.
Thaw grew up in the Burnage area of the city, and attended Ducie Technical High School for Boys. Thaw entered the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art at the age of 16, where he was a contemporary of Tom Courtenay.
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John Travolta
John Joseph Travolta (born February 18, 1954) is an American actor, dancer, and singer. Travolta first became known in the 1970s, after appearing on the television series Welcome Back, Kotter and starring in the box office successes Saturday Night Fever and Grease. Travolta's acting career declined in the early 1980s and continued to deteriorate for the rest of the decade. His career enjoyed a resurgence in the 1990s with his role in Pulp Fiction, and he has since continued starring in Hollywood films, including Face/Off, Ladder 49, and Wild Hogs. Travolta was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for Saturday Night Fever and Pulp Fiction. He won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his performance in Get Shorty.
Travolta, the youngest of six children, was born and raised in Englewood, New Jersey, an inner-ring suburb of New York City. His father, Salvatore Travolta (November 1912 – May 1995), was a semi-professional American football player turned tire salesman and partner in a tire company. His mother, Helen Cecilia (née Burke, January 1912 – December 1978), was an actress and singer who had appeared in The Sunshine Sisters, a radio vocal group, and acted and directed before becoming a high school drama and English teacher. His siblings, Joey, Ellen, Ann, Margaret, and Sam Travolta, have all acted. His father was a second-generation Italian American and his mother was Irish American; he grew up in an Irish-American neighborhood and has said that his household was predominantly Irish in culture. He was raised Roman Catholic, but converted to Scientology in 1975.
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Jon Voight
Jonathan Vincent "Jon" Voight (/vɔɪt/) (born December 29, 1938) is an American actor. He has won one Academy Award, out of four nominations, and three Golden Globe Awards, out of nine nominations. Voight is the father of actress Angelina Jolie.
Voight came to prominence in the late 1960s with his performance as a would-be gigolo in Midnight Cowboy (1969). During the 1970s, he became a Hollywood star with his portrayals of a businessman mixed up with murder in Deliverance (1972), a paraplegic Vietnam veteran in Coming Home (1978), for which he won an Academy Award for Best Actor, and a penniless ex-boxing champion in The Champ (1979).
Although his output slowed during the 1980s, Voight received critical acclaim for his performance as a ruthless bank robber in Runaway Train (1985). During the 1990s, he most notably starred as an unscrupulous showman attorney in The Rainmaker (1997). Voight gave critically acclaimed biographical performances during the 2000s, appearing as sportscaster Howard Cosell in Ali (2001), as Nazi officer Jürgen Stroop in Uprising (2001), and as Pope John Paul II in the television miniseries of the same name (2005).
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José Ferrer
José Vicente Ferrer de Otero y Cintrón (January 8, 1912 – January 26, 1992), best known as José Ferrer, was a Puerto Rican actor, as well as a theater and film director. He was the first Puerto Rican, as well as the first Hispanic actor to win an Academy Award. Jose Ferrer donated his Academy Award to the University of Puerto Rico as a tribute to his roots. The prolific and distinguished thespian also won numerous Tony Awards: In 1947 he won a Tony Award for his theatrical performance of Cyrano de Bergerac, and in 1952 Ferrer won the Distinguished Dramatic Actor Award for The Shrike, plus the Outstanding Director Award for The Shrike, The Fourposter, and Stalag 17. Jose Ferrer's contributions to American theatre were recognized in 1981 when he was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame. Further honors came in 1985 when he was awarded the National Medal of Arts.
Ferrer was born in the Santurce, Puerto Rico, the son of Maria Providencia Cintron and Rafael Ferrer, an attorney and writer. He studied in the Swiss boarding school Institut Le Rosey. In 1933, he graduated from Princeton University, where he wrote a senior thesis "French Naturalism and Pardo Bazán"; he was also a member of the Princeton Triangle Club.
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Joyce Cary
Joyce Cary (born Arthur Joyce Lunel Cary, December 7, 1888 – March 29, 1957) was an Anglo-Irishnovelist and artist.
Arthur Joyce Lunel Cary was born in a hospital in Derry, Ireland, on December 7, 1888. His family had been landlords in Inishowen in County Donegal since Elizabethan times, but lost their property after passage of the Irish Land Act in 1882. Cary's grandfather died soon after and his grandmother moved into a cottage near Cary Castle, one of the lost family properties.
The family dispersed and Cary had uncles who served in the frontier US Cavalry and the Canadian North-West Mounted Police. Most of the Carys wound up in England. Arthur Cary, his father, trained as an engineer and married Charlotte Joyce, the well-to-do daughter of a Belfast banker. After his son was born in 1888, Arthur moved his family to London.
Throughout his childhood, Joyce Cary spent many summers at his grandmother's house in Ireland and at Cromwell House in England, home of his great-uncle, which served as a base for all the Cary clan. Some of this upbringing is described in the fictionalized memoir A House of Children (1941) and the novel Castle Corner (1938)—i.e., Cary Castle. Although he always remembered his Irish childhood with affection and wrote about it with great feeling, Cary was based in England the rest of his life. The feeling of displacement and the idea that life's tranquility may be disturbed at any moment marked Cary and informs much of his writing.
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Kenneth MacMillan
Sir Kenneth MacMillan (11 December 1929 – 29 October 1992) was a British ballet dancer and choreographer. He was artistic director of the Royal Ballet in London between 1970 and 1977.
MacMillan was born at Dunfermline, Scotland. He grew up in Great Yarmouth, where he studied with Phyllis Adams. Later he won a scholarship to the Sadler's Wells Ballet School, where he studied for a year before, in 1946, joining Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet, now known as Birmingham Royal Ballet. Whilst studying, he met and gained the support of Ninette de Valois, something he was to enjoy wholeheartedly for the rest of his life. In 1948 he moved to the Sadler's Wells Ballet, but returned to the Theatre Ballet four years later.
MacMillan began choreographing for the company's choreographic group and two promising early works, Somnambulism (1953) and Laiderette (1954) led de Valois to commission a work from the 25-year-old MacMillan. Danses concertantes was first produced in January 1955. He continued to dance, but gradually gave it up in favour of his true vocation. A string of successful works followed including Solitaire (1956), The Burrow (1958), Le baiser de la fée and The Invitation (1960), The Rite of Spring (1962), La Création du monde (1964) The Song of the Earth and his first full-length work, Romeo and Juliet (1965). The year he choreographed Romeo and Juliet, which has become one of his best-loved pieces, he was appointed resident choreographer at The Royal Ballet.
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Kenneth More
Kenneth Gilbert More CBE (20 September 1914 – 12 July 1982) was a highly successful English film actor during the post-World War II era and starred in many feature films, often in the role of an archetypal carefree and happy-go-lucky middle-class gentleman. As More himself described it, "I seem fated to be either the stiff-upper-lip war hero or the hearty back-slapping idiot".
Kenneth More was born in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, the only son of Charles Gilbert More, a Royal Naval Air Service pilot, and Edith Winifred Watkins, the daughter of a Cardiff solicitor. He was educated at Victoria College, Jersey. He spent part of his childhood in the Channel Islands, where his father was general manager of the Jersey Eastern Railway. After he left school, he followed the family tradition by training as a civil engineer. He gave up his training and worked for a while in Sainsbury's.
When More was 17 his father died, and he applied to join the RAF, but failed the medical test for equilibrium. He went to Canada, intending to work as a fur trapper, but was sent back for lacking immigration papers.
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Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas (born Issur Danielovitch, Russian: И́сер Даниело́вич; December 9, 1916) is an American stage and film actor, film producer and author. His popular films include Out of the Past (1947), Champion (1949), Ace in the Hole (1951), The Bad and the Beautiful (1952), Lust for Life (1956), Paths of Glory (1957), Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957), Spartacus (1960), and Lonely Are the Brave (1962).
He is No.17 on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest male American screen legends of all time, making him the highest-ranked living person on the list. In 1996, he received the Academy Honorary Award "for 50 years as a creative and moral force in the motion picture community."
Douglas was born Issur Danielovitch in Amsterdam, New York, the son of Bryna "Bertha" (née Sanglel) and Herschel "Harry" Danielovitch, a businessman. His parents were Jewish immigrants from Gomel, Belarus. His father's brother, who emigrated earlier, used the surname Demsky, which Douglas's family adopted in the United States. In addition to their surname, his parents also changed their given names to Harry and Bertha. Douglas grew up as Izzy Demsky and legally changed his name to Kirk Douglas before entering the Navy during World War II.
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Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM ( /ˈlɒrəns ɵˈlɪvi.eɪ/; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor, director, and producer. One of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century, he was the youngest actor to be knighted and the first to be elevated to the peerage. He married three times, to actresses Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright. Actor Spencer Tracy said that Olivier was 'the greatest actor in the English-speaking world'.
Olivier played a wide variety of roles on stage and screen from Greek tragedy, Shakespeare and Restoration comedy to modern American and British drama. He was the first artistic director of the National Theatre of Great Britain and its main stage is named in his honour. He is regarded by some to be the greatest actor of the 20th century, in the same category as David Garrick, Richard Burbage, Edmund Kean and Henry Irving in their own centuries. Olivier's AMPAS acknowledgments are considerable: twelve Oscar nominations, with two awards (for Best Actor and Best Picture for the 1948 film Hamlet), plus two honorary awards including a statuette and certificate. He was also awarded five Emmy awards from the nine nominations he received. Additionally, he was a three-time Golden Globe and BAFTA winner.
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Lee Marvin
Lee Marvin (February 19, 1924 – August 29, 1987) was an American film actor. Known for his gravelly voice, white hair and 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) stature, Marvin at first did supporting roles, mostly villains, soldiers and other hardboiled characters, but after winning an Academy Award for Best Actor for his dual roles in Cat Ballou (1965), he landed more heroic and sympathetic leading roles.
Marvin was born in New York City. He was the son of Lamont Waltman Marvin, an advertising executive and the head of the New York and New England Apple Institute, and his wife Courtenay Washington (née Davidge), a fashion writer and beauty consultant. He was named in honor of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, who was his first cousin, four times removed. His father was a direct descendant of Matthew Marvin, Sr., who emigrated from Great Bentley, Essex, England in 1635 and helped found Hartford, Connecticut.
Marvin studied violin when he was young. As a teenager, Marvin "spent weekends and spare time hunting deer, puma, wild turkey, and bobwhite in the wilds of the then-uncharted Everglades." He attended St. Leo College Preparatory School in St. Leo, Florida after being expelled from several other schools for bad behavior.
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Macbeth
The Tragedy of Macbeth (commonly called Macbeth) is a tragedy by William Shakespeare about a man who commits regicide so as to become king and then commits further murders to maintain his power. The play clearly demonstrates the corrupting effect of ambition, but also deals with the relationship between cruelty and masculinity, tyranny and kingship, treachery, violence, guilt, prophecy, and disruption of the natural order.
The play is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607. The earliest account of a performance of what was probably Shakespeare's play is April 1611, when Simon Forman recorded seeing such a play at the Globe Theatre. It was first published in the Folio of 1623, possibly from a prompt book. The play was most likely written during the reign of James I, who had been James VI of Scotland before he succeeded to the English throne in 1603. James was a patron of Shakespeare’s acting company, and of all the plays Shakespeare wrote under James’s reign, Macbeth most clearly reflects the playwright’s close relationship with the sovereign.
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Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius (Latin: Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus; 26 April 121 – 17 March 180 AD), was Roman Emperor from 161 to 180 AD. He ruled with Lucius Verus as co-emperor from 161 until Verus' death in 169. He was the last of the "Five Good Emperors", and is also considered one of the most important Stoic philosophers. During his reign, the Empire defeated a revitalized Parthian Empire; Aurelius' general Avidius Cassius sacked the capital Ctesiphon in 164. Aurelius fought the Marcomanni, Quadi, and Sarmatians with success during the Marcomannic Wars, but the threat of the Germanic tribes began to represent a troubling reality for the Empire. A revolt in the East led by Avidius Cassius failed to gain momentum and was suppressed immediately.
Marcus Aurelius' Stoic tome Meditations, written in Greek while on campaign between 170 and 180, is still revered as a literary monument to a philosophy of service and duty, describing how to find and preserve equanimity in the midst of conflict by following nature as a source of guidance and inspiration.
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Margaret Harris
Margaret Frances Harris (28 May 1904 – 10 May 2000) was an English theatre and opera costume and scenic designer.
Harris was born in Hayes, Kent, the fourth child and second daughter of William Birkbeck Harris, a Lloyds Insurance clerk, and his wife Kathleen Marion, née Carey. With her older sister Sophie Harris she studied at The Chelsea Illustrators Studio in London in the late 1920s. A fellow student was Elizabeth Montgomery Wilmot, and the three formed a theatre design partnership known as Motley Theatre Design Group.
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Mark Hamill
Mark Richard Hamill (born September 25, 1951) is an American actor, voice artist, producer, director, and writer, best known for his role as Luke Skywalker in the original Star Wars trilogy and voicing the Joker in various Batman media, including the DC Animated Universe. Hamill has also lent his voice to villains and anti-heroes.
Hamill was born in Oakland, California and raised in Virginia, the son of Virginia Suzanne (née Johnson) and William Thomas Hamill, who was a captain in the U.S. Navy. He was one of seven children: two brothers, Will and Patrick, and four sisters, Terry, Jan, Jeanie, and Kim. When Mark was a child, his father's career meant numerous relocations, and he attended different schools throughout his childhood. In his elementary years, he went to Poe Middle School. At age 11, he moved to the 5900 block of Castleton Drive in San Diego where he attended Hale Junior High School and then, during his freshman year at James Madison Senior High School, his family moved to Virginia. By junior year, his father was stationed in Japan where Mark attended Nile C. Kinnick H.S.(Yokosuka High) and was a member of the drama club. After that he attended Annandale High School in Annandale, Virginia. He majored in drama at Los Angeles City College.
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Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando, Jr. (April 3, 1924 – July 1, 2004) was an American movie star and political activist. "Unchallenged as the most important actor in modern American Cinema" according to the St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, Brando was one of only three professional actors, along with Charlie Chaplin and Marilyn Monroe, named by Time magazine as one of its 100 Persons of the Century in 1999.
Brando had a significant impact on film acting, and was the foremost example of the "method" acting style. While he became notorious for his "mumbling" diction and exuding a raw animal magnetism, his mercurial performances were nonetheless highly regarded, and he is widely considered as one of the greatest and most influential actors of the 20th century. Director Martin Scorsese said of him, "He is the marker. There's 'before Brando' and 'after Brando'." Actor Jack Nicholson once said, "When Marlon dies, everybody moves up one." He was ranked by the American Film Institute as the fourth greatest screen legend among male movie stars.
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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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Marty Feldman
Martin Alan "Marty" Feldman (8 July 1934 – 2 December 1982) was an English comedy writer, comedian and actor who starred in a series of British television comedy shows, including At Last the 1948 Show, and Marty, which won two BAFTA awards and was the first Saturn Award winner for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Young Frankenstein.
Feldman was born in the East End of London, the son of Jewish immigrants from Kiev. He recalled his childhood as "solitary".
A BBC documentary also explained that an operation due to his Graves' disease resulted in his eyes being more protruded, together with a squint (strabismus). Leaving school at 15, he worked at the Dreamland fun fair in Margate. By the age of 20, he had decided to pursue a career as a comedian.
In 1954, Feldman formed a writing partnership with Barry Took. They wrote situation comedies such as The Army Game and Bootsie and Snudge for British television, and the BBC radio show Round the Horne, which starred Kenneth Horne and Kenneth Williams. This put Feldman and Took "in the front rank of comedy writers" (Denis Norden).
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Matthew Guinness
Matthew Guinness (born 6 June 1940) is an English actor. He played The Farmer in the 1976 film Nuts in May, appears in Ridley Scott's The Duellists (1977) and had a small role in 1987's Lady Jane. He has also worked extensively in theatre.
Guinness was born in London, the only child of actor Alec Guinness (1914–2000) and Merula Salaman (1914–2000).
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Melvyn Douglas
Melvyn Edouard Hesselberg (April 5, 1901 – August 4, 1981), better known as Melvyn Douglas, was an American actor.
Coming to prominence in the 1930s as a suave leading man (perhaps best typified by his performance in the 1939 romantic comedy Ninotchka), Douglas later transitioned into more mature and fatherly roles as in his Academy Award-winning performances in Hud (1963) and Being There (1979).
Douglas was born in Macon, Georgia, the son of Lena Priscilla (née Shackelford) and Edouard Gregory Hesselberg, a concert pianist and composer. His father was a Jewish immigrant from Riga, Latvia, then part of Russia. His mother, a native of Tennessee, was Protestant and a Mayflower descendant. His maternal grandfather, George Shackelford, was a General and Civil War veteran.
Douglas, in his autobiography, See You at the Movies (1987), writes that he was unaware of his Jewish background until later in his youth: "I did not learn about the non-Christian part of my heritage until my early teens," as his parents preferred to hide his Jewish heritage. It was his aunts, on his father's side, who told him "the truth" when he was 14. He writes that he "admired them unstintingly and modeled" himself on them; they in turn treated him like a son.
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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 Caine
Sir Michael Caine, CBE (born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite; 14 March 1933) is an English actor.
Caine is one of two actors nominated for an Academy Award for acting in every decade from the 1960s to 2000s, the other one being Jack Nicholson. In 2000, Caine was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in recognition of his contribution to cinema.
Caine was born in St Olave's Hospital, Rotherhithe, Southwark in South East London, the son of Ellen Frances Marie (née Burchell; 1900-1989), a cook and charwoman, and Maurice Joseph Micklewhite, a fish market porter. His father was of English, Irish, and, reportedly, Irish Traveller ancestry. Caine was brought up in his mother's Protestant religion (his father was Catholic).
Caine grew up in Southwark, South London, and during the Second World War he was evacuated to North Runcton near King's Lynn in Norfolk. After the war, when his father was demobilised, the family was rehoused by the council in Marshall Gardens at the Elephant and Castle in a pre-fabricated house made in Canada, as much of London's housing stock had been damaged during the Blitz in 1940-41.
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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 Gambon
Sir Michael John Gambon, CBE (born 19 October 1940) is an Irish actor who has worked in theatre, television and film. A highly respected theatre actor, Gambon is recognised for his roles as Philip Marlow in the BBC television serial The Singing Detective, as Jules Maigret in the 1990s ITV serial Maigret, and as Professor Albus Dumbledore in the last six Harry Potter films (following the death of actor Richard Harris).
Gambon was born in Cabra, Dublin, during World War II. His father, Edward Gambon, was an engineer, and his mother, Mary (née Hoare), was a seamstress. His father decided to seek work in the rebuilding of London, and so the family moved to Mornington Crescent in North London, when Gambon was five. His father had him made a British citizen, a decision that would later allow Gambon to receive an actual, rather than honorary, knighthood and CBE.
Brought up as a strict Roman Catholic, he attended St Aloysius Boys' School in Somers Town and served at the altar. He then moved to St Aloysius' College in Hornsey Lane, Highgate, London, whose former pupils include Peter Sellers and Joe Cole. He later attended a school in Kent, before leaving with no qualifications at fifteen. He then gained an apprenticeship with Vickers Armstrong as a toolmaker. By the time he was 21, he was a fully qualified engineer. He kept the job for a further year, acquiring a fascination and passion for collecting antique guns, clocks, watches, and classic cars.
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Michael Moriarty
Michael Moriarty (born April 5, 1941) is an American-Canadian actor of stage and screen, and a jazz musician. He played Benjamin Stone for four seasons in the TV series Law & Order.
Moriarty, an Irish American was born in Detroit, Michigan the son of Elinor (married and maiden names|née Paul) and George Moriarty, a police sergeant. His grandfather, George Moriarty, was a third baseman, umpire and manager in the major leagues for nearly 40 years.
Moriarty attended middle school at Cranbrook School in Bloomfield Hills before transferring to the University of Detroit Jesuit High School for high school. He then matriculated at Dartmouth College in the class of 1963, where he was a theatre college major. After receiving his degree, he left for London, England, where he enrolled in the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, after receiving a Fulbright Scholarship.
In 1973, Moriarty was cast as the egocentric Henry Wiggen in Bang the Drum Slowly, a film about the unlikely friendship between two baseball teammates – the second being Robert De Niro, a slow thinking catcher who becomes terminally ill. In the same year, Moriarty starred in a TV movie adaptation of Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie with Katharine Hepburn. Coincidentally, the film also featured Sam Waterston, who later replaced Moriarty as the Executive Assistant District Attorney on Law & Order. Moriarty's role in Menagerie (as "Jim," the Gentleman Caller; Waterston played the son "Tom") won him an Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actor of the Year. In 1974, Moriarty starred as rookie detective Bo Lockley in the acclaimed gritty police drama Report to the Commissioner.
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Michael Redgrave
Sir Michael Scudamore Redgrave, CBE (20 March 1908 – 21 March 1985) was an English stage and film actor, director, manager and author.
Redgrave was born in Bristol, Gloucestershire, England, the son of the silent film actor Roy Redgrave and the actress Margaret Scudamore. He never knew his father, who left when Michael was only six months old to pursue a career in Australia. His mother subsequently married Captain James Anderson, a tea planter, but Redgrave greatly disliked his stepfather.
He studied at Clifton College and Magdalene College, Cambridge. He was a schoolmaster at Cranleigh School in Surrey before becoming an actor in 1934. There he directed the boys in Hamlet, King Lear and The Tempest, but managed to play all the leading roles himself. The 'Redgrave Room' at the school was later named after him. In the new Guildford School of Acting building which opened in January 2010, there is the Sir Michael Redgrave studio.
Redgrave made his first professional appearance at the Liverpool Playhouse on 30 August 1934 as Roy Darwin in Counsellor-at-Law (by Elmer Rice), then spent two years with its Liverpool Repertory Company where he met his future wife Rachel Kempson. They married on 18 July 1935.
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Mike Nichols
Mike Nichols (born Michael Igor Peschkowsky; November 6, 1931) is a German-born American television, stage and film director, writer, producer and comedian. He began his career in the 1950s as one half of the comedy duo Nichols and May, along with Elaine May. In 1968 he won the Academy Award for Best Director for the film The Graduate. His other noteworthy films include Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Carnal Knowledge, Working Girl, Closer and the TV mini-series Angels in America. He also staged the original theatrical productions of Barefoot in the Park, Luv, The Odd Couple and Spamalot.
Nichols is one of a small group of people who have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Award. His other honors include the Lincoln Center Gala Tribute in 1999, the National Medal of Arts in 2001, the Kennedy Center Honors in 2003 and the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2010.
Mike Nichols was born Michael Igor Peschkowsky in Berlin, Germany, the son of Brigitte (née Landauer) and Paul Peschkowsky, a physician. His father was born in Vienna, Austria, to a Russian Jewish immigrant family that had been wealthy and lived in Siberia, leaving after the Russian Revolution and settling in Germany around 1920. His mother's family were German Jews. His maternal grandparents were anarchist Gustav Landauer and author Hedwig Lachmann. Nichols is a third cousin twice removed of scientist Albert Einstein, through Nichols' mother. He moved to the United States to flee the Nazis on April 28, 1939. His father, who had changed his name to Paul Nichols, had successfully set up a medical practice in Manhattan and the family lived near Central Park. He became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1944 and attended public elementary school in Manhattan (PS 87). After graduating from Walden High School, Nichols briefly attended New York University before dropping out. In 1950, he enrolled in the pre-med program at the University of Chicago.
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Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman (born June 1, 1937) is an American actor, film director, aviator and narrator. Freeman has received Academy Award nominations for his performances in Street Smart, Driving Miss Daisy, The Shawshank Redemption and Invictus and won in 2005 for Million Dollar Baby. He has also won a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award. Freeman has appeared in many other box office hits, including Unforgiven, Glory, Seven, Deep Impact, The Sum of All Fears, Bruce Almighty, Batman Begins, March of the Penguins, The Bucket List, Wanted, The Dark Knight, and RED.
Morgan Freeman was born in Memphis, Tennessee, the son of Mayme Edna (née Revere), a teacher, and Morgan Porterfield Freeman, a barber who died April 27, 1961, from cirrhosis. He has three older siblings. Freeman was sent as an infant to his paternal grandmother in Charleston, Mississippi. His family moved frequently during his childhood, living in Greenwood, Mississippi; Gary, Indiana; and finally Chicago, Illinois. Freeman made his acting debut at age 9, playing the lead role in a school play. He then attended Broad Street High School, later named Threadgill Elementary School, in Mississippi. At age 12, he won a statewide drama competition, and while still at Broad Street High School, he performed in a radio show based in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1955, he graduated from Broad Street, but turned down a partial drama scholarship from Jackson State University, opting instead to work as a mechanic in the United States Air Force.
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Neil Simon
Neil Simon (born July 4, 1927) is an American playwright and screenwriter. He has written numerous Broadway plays, including Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, and The Odd Couple. He won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Lost In Yonkers. He has written the screenplays for several of his plays that were made into movies. He also has written the books for several musicals, including Sweet Charity.
Neil Simon was born on July 4, 1927 in The Bronx, New York City to Irving Simon, a garment salesman, and his wife Mamie. He was their second son and grew up in Washington Heights, Manhattan during the Great Depression. His father often abandoned the family, causing financial and emotional difficulties. He attended DeWitt Clinton High School and graduated at the age of sixteen.
He attended New York Universitybriefly from 1944 to 1945, where he was enlisted in the Army Air Force Reserve training program. He was assigned to Lowry Air Force Base during 1945 and attended the University of Denver from 1945 to 1946. He was a sports editor for the military magazine Rev-Meter.
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Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Cage (born Nicolas Kim Coppola; January 7, 1964) is an Academy Award–winning American actor, producer and director, having appeared in over 60 films including Raising Arizona (1987), The Rock (1996), Face/Off (1997), Gone in 60 Seconds (2000), Adaptation (2002), National Treasure (2004), Lord of War (2005), Ghost Rider (2007), Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009), Kick-Ass (2010), and Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2012).
Cage was born Nicolas Kim Coppola on January 7, 1964 in Long Beach, California. His father, August Coppola, a professor of literature, and his mother, Joy Vogelsang, a dancer and choreographer, divorced in 1976. He was raised in a Catholic family. Cage's mother is of German descent and his father was of Italian descent. His paternal grandparents were composer Carmine Coppola and actress Italia Pennino, and his paternal great-grandparents were immigrants from Bernalda, Basilicata. Through his father, Cage is the nephew of director Francis Ford Coppola and actress Talia Shire, and the cousin of directors Roman Coppola and Sofia Coppola, film producer Gian-Carlo Coppola, and actors Robert Carmine and Jason Schwartzman. Cage's two brothers are New York radio personality Marc "The Cope" Coppola and director Christopher Coppola. He attended Beverly Hills High School, which is known for its many alumni who became entertainers. He aspired to act from an early age and also attended UCLA School of Theatre, Film and Television. His first non-cinematic acting experience was in a school production of Golden Boy.
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Nigel Hawthorne
Sir Nigel Barnard Hawthorne, CBE (5 April 1929 – 26 December 2001) was an English actor, perhaps best remembered for his role as Sir Humphrey Appleby, the Permanent Secretary in the 1980s sitcom Yes Minister and the Cabinet Secretary in its sequel, Yes, Prime Minister. For this role he won four BAFTA Awards during the 1980s in the 'Best Light Entertainment Performance' Category. In the 1990s he won two more BAFTAs, one as Best TV Actor for The Fragile Heart, and one as Best Film Actor for The Madness of King George. His role in the latter also garnered him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.
Hawthorne was born in Coventry, England, the son of Agnes Rosemary (née Rice) and Charles Barnard Hawthorne, a physician. He grew up in South Africa, where he was educated at St George's Grammar School, Cape Town and Christian Brothers College. He enrolled at the University of Cape Town but withdrew and returned to the United Kingdom in the 1950s to pursue a career in acting.
Hawthorne made his professional stage debut in 1950, playing Archie Fellows in a Cape Town production of The Shop at Sly Corner.
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Ninette de Valois
Dame Ninette de Valois, OM, CH, DBE, FRAD, FISTD (6 June 1898 – 8 March 2001) was an Irish-born British dancer, teacher, choreographer and director of classical ballet. Most notably, she danced professionally with Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, later establishing The Royal Ballet, one of the foremost ballet companies of the 20th century and one of the leading ballet companies in the world today. She also established the Birmingham Royal Ballet and Royal Ballet School. She is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of ballet and as the 'godmother' of English ballet.
Ninette de Valois was born Edris Stannus on 6 June 1898, near the town of Blessington, County Wicklow, Ireland. She was the second daughter of Lieutenant Colonel Stannus (DSO), a British army officer, and Lillith Graydon-Smith, a distinguished glassmaker. She moved to England in 1905, where she lived with her grandmother in Kent.
De Valois started attending ballet lessons in 1908 at the age of 10. At the age of 13, she began her professional training at the Lila Field Academy for Children. It was at this time that she legally changed her name to Ninette de Valois and made her professional debut as a principal dancer in pantomime at the Lyceum Theatre in the West End. In 1919, at the age of 21, she was appointed principal dancer of the Beecham Opera, which was then the resident opera company at the Royal Opera House. She continued to study ballet with notable teachers, including Edouard Espinosa, Enrico Cecchetti and Nicholas Legat.
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Paul Lukas
Paul Lukas (May 26, 1891 – August 15, 1971) was an Austrian-Hungarian-born actor.
Lukas was born Pál Lukács in Budapest, the son of Naria (née Zilahy) and Janos Lukacs, an advertising executive. His family was Jewish.
Lukas made his stage debut in Budapest in 1916 and his film debut in 1917. At first, he played elegant, smooth womanizers, but increasingly he became typecast as a villain. He had a successful stage and film career in Hungary, Germany and Austria where he worked with Max Reinhardt. He arrived in Hollywood in 1927 and became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1933.
He was busy in the 1930s, appearing in such films as the melodrama Rockabye, the crime caper Grumpy, Alfred Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes, the comedy Ladies in Love, and the drama Dodsworth. He followed William Powell and Basil Rathbone portraying the series detective Philo Vance, a cosmopolitan New Yorker, once in 1935 in The Casino Murder Case, but his major role came in 1943's Watch on the Rhine, when he played a man working against the Nazis (he had played the same role on Broadway in 1941). He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the role, winning out over luminary efforts as Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca, Gary Cooper in For Whom the Bell Tolls, Walter Pidgeon in Madame Curie, and Mickey Rooney in The Human Comedy. In the same year, he guest starred as the eponymous character in an episode of the radio program Suspense, "Mr. Markham, Antique Dealer".
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Paul Muni
Paul Muni (born Meshilem Meier Weisenfreund; 22 September 1895 – 25 August 1967) was an Austrian-born American stage and film actor. During the 1930s, he was considered one of the most prestigious actors at Warner Brothers studios, and one of the rare actors who was given the privilege of choosing which parts he wanted.
His acting quality, usually playing a powerful character, such as Scarface, was partly a result of his intense preparation for his parts, often immersing himself in study of the real character's traits and mannerisms. He was also highly skilled in using makeup techniques, a talent he learned from his parents, who were also actors, and from his early years on stage with the Yiddish Theater, in New York. At the age of 12, he played the stage role of an 80-year-old man; in one of his films, Seven Faces, he played seven different characters.
He was nominated six times for an Oscar, winning once as Best Actor in The Story of Louis Pasteur.
Muni was born to a Jewish family in Lemberg, Galicia, a province of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, now Lviv, Ukraine (formerly Lwów, Poland). His family emigrated to the United States in 1902.
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Paul Newman
Paul Leonard Newman (January 26, 1925 – September 26, 2008) was an American actor, film director, entrepreneur, humanitarian, professional racing driver, auto racing team owner, and auto racing enthusiast. He won numerous awards, including an Academy Award for best actor for his performance in the 1986 Martin Scorsese film The Color of Money and eight other nominations, three Golden Globe Awards, a BAFTA Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Cannes Film Festival Award, an Emmy award, and many honorary awards. He also won several national championships as a driver in Sports Car Club of America road racing, and his race teams won several championships in open wheel IndyCar racing.
Newman was a co-founder of Newman's Own, a food company from which Newman donated all post-tax profits and royalties to charity. As of July 2011, these donations exceeded $300 million.
Newman was born in Shaker Heights (a suburb of Cleveland). He was the son of Theresa (née Fetzer or Fetsko; Slovak: Terézia Fecková) and Arthur Sigmund Newman, who ran a profitable sporting goods store. His father was Jewish (Paul's paternal grandparents, Simon Newman and Hannah Cohn, were immigrants from Hungary and Poland). His mother, who practiced Christian Science, was born to a Slovak Roman Catholic family at Humenné, Ptičie (formerly Pticsie) in the former Kingdom of Hungary, Austria–Hungary (now Humenné in Slovakia). Newman had no religion as an adult, but described himself as a Jew, stating that "it's more of a challenge". Newman's mother worked in his father's store, while raising Paul and his brother, Arthur, who later became a producer and production manager.
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Paul Scofield
David Paul Scofield, CH, CBE (21 January 1922 – 19 March 2008), better known as Paul Scofield, was an English actor of stage and screen. Noted for his distinctive voice and delivery, Scofield received an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award for his performance as Sir Thomas More in the 1966 film A Man for All Seasons, a reprise of the role he played in the stage version at the West End and on Broadway for which he received a Tony Award.
Scofield was born in Birmingham, England, the son of Mary and Edward Harry Scofield. When Scofield was a few weeks old, his family moved to Hurstpierpoint, Sussex, where his father served as the headmaster at the Hurstpierpoint Church of England School. At the age of 12 he began attending the Varndean Secondary School in Brighton, where he took various roles in school plays.
Scofield began his stage career in 1940 with a debut performance in Desire Under the Elms at the Westminster Theatre, and was soon being compared to Laurence Olivier. He played at the Old Rep in Birmingham. From there he went to the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford, where he starred in Walter Nugent Monck's 1947 revival of Pericles, Prince of Tyre.
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Peggy Ashcroft
Dame Peggy Ashcroft, DBE (22 December 1907 – 14 June 1991) was an English actress.
Born as Edith Margaret Emily Ashcroft in Croydon, Surrey, Ashcroft attended the Woodford School, Croydon and the Central School of Speech and Drama. A prolific stage actress from a young age, she first gained notoriety playing Naemi in Jew Suss in 1929, and Desdemona opposite Paul Robeson's Othello two years later, during which time the two had a brief affair.
Stardom came in 1934 when she played Juliet in a legendary production of Romeo and Juliet, at the New Theatre, in which Laurence Olivier and John Gielgud alternated in the roles of Romeo and Mercutio. She and Gielgud would later be acclaimed as Beatrice and Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing, which they played together a number of times, including a London engagement and European tour for the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in 1955 (she also played Cordelia to his King Lear during that tour). When she first played Beatrice with him in 1950, Gielgud found her performance "a revelation - an impish, rather tactless girl with a curious resemblance to Bea Lillie," while a teenage Peter Hall observed in her "English containment and decency, contrasted with a wild passion." She stayed at the top of the British theatrical profession throughout her career, with some of the highlights Three Sisters (1937) in which she played Irina, The Heiress (1949), Antony and Cleopatra (1953), As You Like It and Cymbeline (as Imogen) (1957), The Taming of the Shrew (1960), and The War of the Roses, the Royal Shakespeare Company's massive landmark compendium of the three Henry VI plays and Richard III, directed by Peter Hall for the RSC in 1963. Her last appearances for the RSC were as the Countess of Rousillon in Trevor Nunn's 1981 All's Well That Ends Well, a "perfect…performance" according to Financial Times critic Bertram Young, and in a revival of The Hollow Crown for a gala performance at The Swan on 22 June 1986.
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Peter Finch
Frederick George Peter Ingle Finch (28 September 1916 – 14 January 1977) was a British-born Australian actor. He is best remembered for his role as "crazed" television anchorman Howard Beale in the film Network, which earned him a posthumous Academy Award for Best Actor, his fifth Best Actor award from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, and a Best Actor award from the Golden Globes. He was the first of two people to win a posthumous Academy Award in an acting category; the other was fellow Australian Heath Ledger.
Finch was born as Frederick George Peter Ingle Finch in London to Alicia Gladys Fisher. At the time, Alicia was married to George Finch. George Finch was born in New South Wales, Australia, but was educated in Paris and Zurich. He was a research chemist when he moved to England in 1912 and later served during the first World War with the Royal Army Ordnance Depot and the Royal Field Artillery. In 1915, at Portsmouth, in Hampshire, George married Alicia Fisher, the daughter of a Kent barrister. However, George Finch was not Peter Finch's biological father. He learned only in his mid-40s that his biological father was Wentworth Edward Dallas "Jock" Campbell, an Indian Army officer, whose adultery with Finch's mother was the cause of George and Alice's divorce, when Peter was two years old. Alicia Finch married "Jock" Campbell in 1922.
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Peter Fonda
Peter Henry Fonda (born February 23, 1940) is an American actor. He is the son of Henry Fonda, brother of Jane Fonda, and father of Bridget and Justin Fonda (by first wife Susan Brewer, stepdaughter of Noah Dietrich). Fonda is an icon of the counterculture of the 1960s.
Fonda was born in New York City, the only son of actor Henry Fonda and his wife Frances Ford Seymour; he is the younger brother of actress Jane Fonda.
On his eleventh birthday, he accidentally shot himself in the stomach and nearly died. Years later, he would reference this incident to John Lennon and George Harrison while taking LSD with The Beatles, and claiming "I know what it's like to be dead", which ended up becoming a direct inspiration for The Beatles song "She Said, She Said".
Early on, Fonda studied acting in Omaha, Nebraska, his father's home town. While attending the University of Nebraska at Omaha, Fonda joined the Omaha Community Playhouse, where many actors (including his father and Marlon Brando) had begun their careers.
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Peter Sellers
Richard Henry Sellers, CBE (8 September 1925 – 24 July 1980), known as Peter Sellers, was a British comedian and actor. Perhaps best known as Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther film series, he is also notable for playing three different characters in Dr. Strangelove, as Clare Quilty in Lolita, and as the TV-addicted man-child Chance the gardener in his penultimate film, Being There. Actress Bette Davis once remarked of him, "He isn't an actor—he's a chameleon."
Sellers rose to fame on the BBC Radio comedy series The Goon Show. His ability to speak in different accents (e.g., French, Indian, Italian, American, German, as well as British regional accents), along with his talent to portray a range of characters to comic effect, contributed to his success as a radio personality and screen actor and earned him national and international nominations and awards. Many of his characters became ingrained in public perception of his work. Sellers' private life was characterised by turmoil and crises, and included emotional problems and substance abuse. Sellers was married four times, and had three children from the first two marriages.
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Petula Clark
Petula Clark, CBE (born 15 November 1932) is an English singer, actress and composer whose career has spanned eight decades.
Clark's professional career began as an entertainer on BBC Radio during World War II. During the 1950s she started recording in French and having international success in both French and English, with such songs as "The Little Shoemaker", "Baby Lover", "With All My Heart" and "Prends Mon Coeur". During the 1960s she became known globally for her popular upbeat hits, including "Downtown", "I Know a Place", "My Love", "Colour My World", "A Sign of the Times", and "Don't Sleep in the Subway". She has sold in excess of 68 million records throughout her career.
Born to English father Leslie Norman Clark and Welsh mother Doris (née Phillips), both nurses at Long Grove Hospital, in Epsom, Surrey, England, she was christened Petula Sally Olwen Clark. Her father Leslie coined her first name, jokingly alleging it was a combination of the names of two former girlfriends, Pet and Ulla. As a child, she sang in the chapel choir and showed a talent for mimicry, frequently impersonating Vera Lynn, Carmen Miranda and Sophie Tucker for the amusement of family and friends. Her father introduced her to theatre when he took her to see Flora Robson in a 1938 production of Mary Tudor; she later recalled that after the performance "I made up my mind then and there I was going to be an actress ... I wanted to be Ingrid Bergman more than anything else in the world." However, her first public performances were as a singer, performing with an orchestra in the entrance hall of Bentall's Department Store in Kingston upon Thames for a tin of toffee and a gold wristwatch, in 1939.
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Piers Paul Read
Piers Paul Read, FRSL (born 7 March 1941) is a British novelist and non-fiction writer.
Piers Paul Read was born in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire. He is the third son of Sir Herbert Read, a poet, art critic and theorist of anarchism, and Margaret (née Ludwig) Read, a professional musician. His mother was a convert to Roman Catholicism and he was raised in that religion.
When Read was eight, his family moved to North Yorkshire. He was educated by Benedictine monks at Gilling Castle and Ampleforth College. His years at Ampleforth would later provide much of the material for the first part of his third novel Monk Dawson (1969) and rural Ryedale was the setting of his fifth novel, The Upstart (1973). In 1959 he went to St John's College, Cambridge, where he read history. He received his B.A. in 1961 and M.A. in 1962. In 1963–64, he spent a year in West Berlin on a Ford Foundation Fellowship. There he made friends with two other beneficiaries of the Ford Foundation, Tom Stoppard and Derek Marlowe, and worked on his first novel Game in Heaven with Tussy Marx (1966).
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Prospero
Prospero ( /ˈprɒspəroʊ/ PROS-pər-oh) is the protagonist in The Tempest, a play by William Shakespeare.
Prospero is the rightful Duke of Milan, who (with his infant daughter, Miranda) was put to sea on "a rotten carcass of a butt [boat]" to die by his usurping brother, Antonio, twelve years before the play begins. Prospero and Miranda survived, and found exile on a small island. He has learned sorcery (referred to as his "Art" in the play), and uses it while on the island to protect Miranda and control the other characters. On the island, he becomes master of the monster Caliban (the son of Sycorax, a malevolent witch), and Ariel, an elemental who has become enslaved by Prospero after he is freed from his prison inside a tree.
However, at the end of the play, Prospero intends to drown his book and renounce magic. In the view of the audience, this may have been required to make the ending unambiguously happy, as magic smacked too much of diabolical works; he will drown his books for the same reason that Doctor Faust, in an earlier play by Christopher Marlowe, promised in vain to burn his books.
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Ralph Bellamy
Ralph Bellamy (June 17, 1904 – November 29, 1991) was an American actor whose career spanned sixty-two years.
He was born Ralph Rexford Bellamy in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Lilla Louise (née Smith), a native of Canada, and Charles Rexford Bellamy. He ran away from home when he was fifteen and managed to get into a road show. He toured with road shows before finally landing in New York City, New York. He began acting on stage there and by 1927 owned his own theatre company. In 1931, he made his film debut and worked constantly throughout the decade first as a lead then as a capable supporting actor. Bellamy was cast in the lead role in the film Straight from the Shoulder (1936) and also in the film It Can't Last Forever (1937) with Edward J. Pawley.
He received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Awful Truth (1937) with Irene Dunne and Cary Grant, and played a similar part, that of a naive boyfriend competing with the sophisticated Grant character, in His Girl Friday (1940). He portrayed detective Ellery Queen in a few films during the 1940s, but as his film career did not progress, he returned to the stage, where he continued to perform throughout the fifties. Highly regarded within the industry, he was a founder of the Screen Actors Guild and served as President of Actors' Equity from 1952-1964.
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Ralph Richardson
Sir Ralph David Richardson (19 December 1902 – 10 October 1983) was an English actor, one of a group of theatrical knights of the mid-20th century who, though more closely associated with the stage, also appeared in several classic films.
Richardson first became known for his work on stage in the 1930s. In the 1940s, together with Laurence Olivier, he ran the Old Vic Company. He continued on stage and in films into the early 1980s and was especially praised for his comedic roles. In his later years he was celebrated for his theatre work with his old friend John Gielgud. Among his most famous roles were Peer Gynt, Falstaff, John Gabriel Borkman and Hirst in Pinter's No Man's Land.
Richardson was born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England, the third son and youngest child of Arthur Richardson, a master at the Ladies' College, and his wife Lydia (née Russell). When he was a baby, his mother left his father and took him with her to Gloucester, where he was brought up in the Roman Catholic faith of his mother (his father and brothers were Quakers). His father supported them with a small allowance. Lydia Richardson wished Ralph to become a priest. He was an altar boy in Brighton, and was sent to the Xavierian College, but he ran away from it.
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Ray McAnally
Ray McAnally (30 March 1926 – 15 June 1989) was an Irish actor famous for his performances in films such as The Mission, My Left Foot, and A Very British Coup.
Ray McAnally was born in Buncrana, a seaside town located on the Inishowen Peninsula of County Donegal, Ireland. The son of a bank manager, he was educated at St. Eunan's College in Letterkenny where he wrote, produced and staged a musical called 'Madame Screwball' at the age of 16. He entered a seminary at the age of 18. However, he left the seminary after a short time having decided that the priesthood was not his vocation. He joined the Abbey Theatre in 1947 where he met and married actress Ronnie Masterson. He was bilingual in English and Irish, and performed on stage in both languages.
The couple would later form Old Quay Productions and present an assortment of classic plays in the 1960s and 1970s. He made his theatre debut in 1962 with A Nice Bunch of Cheap Flowers and gave a well-received performance as George in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, opposite Constance Cummings, at the Piccadilly Theatre.
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Ray Milland
Ray Milland (3 January 1907 – 10 March 1986) was a Welsh actor and director. His screen career ran from 1929 to 1985, and he is best remembered for his Academy Award–winning portrayal of an alcoholic writer in The Lost Weekend (1945), a sophisticated leading man opposite a corrupt John Wayne in Reap the Wild Wind (1942), the murder-plotting husband in Dial M for Murder (1954), and as Oliver Barrett III in Love Story (1970).
Milland was born Alfred Reginald Jones (not Reginald Alfred John Truscott-Jones as has often been stated). His birth was registered in the March Quarter of 1907 in Neath, Wales, and he was the son of Elizabeth Annie (née Truscott) and Alfred Jones. In the 1911 census the family were living at 66 Coronation Road, Mount Pleasant, Neath, Wales. Of his parents, Milland wrote in his 1974 autobiography Wide-Eyed in Babylon, "My father was not a cruel or harsh man. Just a very quiet one. I think he was an incurable romantic and consequently a little afraid of his emotions and perhaps ashamed of them... he had been a young hussar in the Boer War and had been present at the relief of Mafeking. He never held long conversations with anyone, except perhaps with me, possibly because I was the only other male in our family. The household consisted of my mother, a rather flighty and coquettish woman much concerned with propriety and what the neighbours thought.."
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Raúl Juliá
Raúl Rafael Juliá y Arcelay (March 9, 1940 – October 24, 1994) was a Puerto Rican actor.
Born in San Juan, he gained interest in acting while still in school. Upon completing his studies, Juliá decided to pursue a career in acting. After performing in the local scene for some time, he was convinced by entertainment personality Orson Bean to move and work in New York City. Juliá, who had been bilingual since his childhood, soon gained interest in Broadway and Off-Broadway plays. He performed in mobile projects, including the Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre.
Juliá was eventually noticed by Joseph Papp, who offered him work in the New York Shakespeare Festival. After gaining notoriety, he received roles in two television series, Love of Life and Sesame Street. For his performance in Two Gentlemen of Verona, he received a nomination for the Tony Award and won a Drama Desk Award. Between 1974 and 1982, Juliá received Tony Award nominations for Where's Charley?, The Threepenny Opera and Nine. During the 1980s, he worked in several films, receiving nominations for the Golden Globe Awards, for his performance in Tempest, and Kiss of the Spider Woman, winning the National Board of Review Award for Best Actor for the latter.
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Rex Harrison
Sir Reginald Carey "Rex" Harrison (5 March 1908 – 2 June 1990) was an English actor of stage and screen. One of Harrison's best remembered film roles was that of Professor Henry Higgins in the stage and film versions of My Fair Lady. The role earned him a Tony Award, a Golden Globe Award and Best Actor Oscar.
Harrison was born in Huyton, Lancashire, and educated at Liverpool College. After a bout of childhood measles, Harrison lost most of the sight in his left eye, which on one occasion caused some on-stage difficulty. He first appeared on the stage in 1924 in Liverpool. Harrison's acting career was interrupted during World War II while serving in the Royal Air Force, reaching the rank of Flight Lieutenant. He acted in various stage productions until 11 May 1990. He acted in the West End of London when he was young, appearing in the Terence Rattigan play French Without Tears, which proved to be his breakthrough role.
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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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Richard Dawson
Richard Dawson (born 20 November 1932) is an English actor, comedian, game show panelist and host in America. He is best known for his role as Corporal Peter Newkirk on Hogan's Heroes, being the original host of the Family Feud game show from 1976–1985, and from 1994 to 1995, and for being a regular panelist on the 1970s version of Match Game on CBS from 1973 to 1978. He is also famous for what is to date his final film role, that of Damon Killian, host of "The Running Man" in the 1987 film, The Running Man.
Dawson was born as Colin Lionel Emm in Gosport, Hampshire, England, to an American father and English mother. At the age of 14, he ran away from home to join the Merchant Marine, where he pursued a boxing career. After his discharge, he pursued a comedy career using the stage name Dickie Dawson; when he reached adulthood, he revised this to become Richard Dawson. This name he would later officially legalise. In the course of his career in comedy Dawson is known to have played the London Palladium.
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Robbie Coltrane
Robbie Coltrane, OBE (born Anthony Robert McMillan, March 30, 1950) is a Scottish actor, comedian and author. He is known both for his role as Dr. Eddie "Fitz" Fitzgerald in the British TV series Cracker during the 1990s and as Rubeus Hagrid in the Harry Potter films.
Coltrane was born Anthony Robert McMillan in Rutherglen, South Lanarkshire, the son of Jean McMillan Ross (née Howie), a teacher and pianist, and Ian Baxter McMillan, a general practitioner who also served as a forensic police surgeon. He has an older sister, Annie, and a late younger sister, Jane. Coltrane is the great-grandson of Scottish businessman Thomas W. Howie. He was educated at the prestigious Glenalmond College in Perthshire, from which he was nearly expelled after hanging the prefects' gowns from the school clocktower. Though he later described his experiences there as deeply unhappy, he played for the rugby First XV, was head of the school's debating society and won prizes for his art. From Glenalmond, Coltrane went on to Glasgow School of Art, where he was ridiculed for "having an accent like Prince Charles" (which he quickly disposed of, though not before gaining the nickname "Lord Fauntleroy") and then the Moray House College Of Education in Edinburgh. Coltrane later called for public schools to be banned and used to be known as "Red Robbie", rebelling against his conservative upbringing through involvement with Amnesty International, Greenpeace, the Labour Party and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.
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Robert Altman
Robert Bernard Altman (February 20, 1925 – November 20, 2006) was an American film director and screenwriter known for making films that are highly naturalistic, but with a stylized perspective. In 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized his body of work with an Academy Honorary Award.
His films MASH (1970), McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971), and Nashville (1975) have been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.
Altman was born in Kansas City, Missouri, the son of Helen (née Matthews), a Mayflower descendant from Nebraska, and Bernard Clement Altman, a wealthy insurance salesman and amateur gambler, who came from an upper-class family. Altman's ancestry was German, English and Irish; his paternal grandfather, Frank Altman, Sr., anglicized the spelling of the family name from "Altmann" to "Altman". Altman had a Catholic upbringing, but he did not continue to practice as a Catholic as an adult, although he has been referred to as "a sort of Catholic" and a Catholic director. He was educated at Jesuit schools, including Rockhurst High School, in Kansas City. He graduated from Wentworth Military Academy in Lexington, Missouri in 1943.
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Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro (pronounced /dəˈnɪəroʊ/; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor, director and producer. His first major film roles were in Bang the Drum Slowly and Mean Streets, both in 1973. In 1974, he played the young Vito Corleone in The Godfather Part II, a role that won him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
His critically acclaimed, longtime collaborations with Martin Scorsese began with 1973's Mean Streets, and earned De Niro an Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Jake LaMotta in the 1980 film Raging Bull. He was also nominated for an Academy Award for his roles in Scorsese's Taxi Driver (1976) and Cape Fear (1991). In addition, he received nominations for his acting in Michael Cimino's The Deer Hunter (1978) and Penny Marshall's Awakenings (1990). Also in 1990, his portrayal as Jimmy Conway in Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas earned him a BAFTA nomination.
He has earned four nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy: New York, New York (1977), Midnight Run (1988), Analyze This (1999) and Meet the Parents (2000). De Niro directed A Bronx Tale (1993) and The Good Shepherd (2006). He has received accolades for his esteemed career, including the AFI Life Achievement Award and the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award.
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Robert Loggia
Robert Loggia (born Salvatore Loggia; January 3, 1930) is an American actor and director.
Loggia, an Italian American, was born on Staten Island, the son of Benjamin Loggia, a shoemaker, and Elena Blandino, a homemaker, both of whom were born in Sicily, Italy. After studying at Wagner College and journalism at the University of Missouri (class of 1951) and serving in the US Army, Loggia began a long career as a supporting player in movies, on stage and television.
Loggia was a radio and TV anchor in Southern Command Network in the Panama Canal Zone. Loggia first came to prominence playing real-life American lawman Elfego Baca in a 1958 series of Walt Disney television shows. He starred as the proverbial cat-burglar-turned-good in a short-lived series called T.H.E. Cat. In 1972 he played Frank Carver on the CBS soap opera The Secret Storm. His many television credits include appearances on Frasier, The Bionic Woman, Overland Trail, Target: The Corruptors!, The Eleventh Hour, Breaking Point, Combat!, Custer, Columbo, Ellery Queen, Gunsmoke 1965 episode-Chief Joseph,Starsky and Hutch, Charlie's Angels, The Rockford Files (three times as three different characters), Magnum, P.I., Quincy ME, The Sopranos, Monk, Oliver Stone's miniseries Wild Palms and Little House on the Prairie.
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Robert Mitchum
Robert Charles Durman Mitchum (August 6, 1917 – July 1, 1997) was an American film actor, author, composer and singer and is #23 on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest male American screen legends of all time. Mitchum rose to prominence for his starring roles in several major works of the film noir style, and is considered a forerunner of the anti-heroes prevalent in film during the 1950s and 1960s.
Mitchum was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, into a Methodist family. His mother, Ann Harriet (née Gunderson), was a Norwegian immigrant and sea captain's daughter, and his father, James Thomas Mitchum, was a shipyard and railroad worker. A sister, Annette, (known as Julie Mitchum during her acting career) was born in 1914. James Mitchum was crushed to death in a railyard accident in Charleston, South Carolina, in February 1919, when his son was less than 2 years old. After his death, Ann Mitchum was awarded a government pension, and soon realized she was pregnant. She returned to her family in Connecticut, and married a former British Army major who helped her care for the children. In September 1919 a second son, John, was born. When all of the children were old enough to attend school, Ann found employment as a linotype operator for the Bridgeport Post.
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Robert Ryan
Robert Bushnell Ryan (November 11, 1909 – July 11, 1973) was an American actor who often played hardened cops and ruthless villains.
Ryan was born in Chicago, Illinois, the first child of Timothy Ryan and his wife Mabel Bushnell Ryan. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1932, having held the school's heavyweight boxing title all four years of his attendance. After graduation, the 6′ 4" Ryan found employment as a stoker on a ship, a WPA worker, and a ranch hand in Montana.
Ryan attempted to make a career in show business as a playwright, but had to turn to acting to support himself. He studied acting in Hollywood and appeared on stage and in small film parts during the early 1940s.
In January 1944, after securing a contract guarantee from RKO Radio Pictures, Ryan enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and served as a drill instructor at Camp Pendleton, in San Diego, California. At Camp Pendleton, he befriended writer and future director Richard Brooks, whose novel, The Brick Foxhole, he greatly admired. He also took up painting.
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Robin Williams
Robin McLaurin Williams (born July 21, 1951) is an American actor and comedian. Rising to fame with his role as the alien Mork in the TV series Mork & Mindy, and later stand-up comedy work, Williams has performed in many feature films since 1980. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the 1997 film Good Will Hunting. He has also won two Emmy Awards, four Golden Globes, two Screen Actors Guild Awards and five Grammy Awards.
Williams was born in Chicago, Illinois. His mother, Laura McLaurin (née Smith, 1922–2001), was a former model from New Orleans, Louisiana. His father, Robert Fitzgerald Williams (September 10, 1906 – October 18, 1987), was a senior executive at Ford Motor Company in charge of the Midwest region. His maternal great-great-grandfather was senator and Mississippi governor Anselm J. McLaurin. Williams is of English, Welsh, Irish, and French ancestry. He was raised in the Episcopal Church (his mother practiced Christian Science). He grew up in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, where he was a student at the Detroit Country Day School, and later moved to Woodacre, Marin County, California, where he attended the public Redwood High School. Williams studied at Claremont McKenna College (then called Claremont Men's College) for four years. He has two half-brothers: Todd (who died August 14, 2007) and McLaurin.
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Roddy McDowall
Roderick Andrew Anthony Jude "Roddy" McDowall (17 September 1928 – 3 October 1998) was a British actor and photographer. His film roles included Cornelius and Caesar in the Planet of the Apes film series. He began his long acting career as a child in How Green Was My Valley, My Friend Flicka and Lassie Come Home, and as an adult appeared most frequently as a character actor on stage and television. He served in several positions on the Board of Governors for the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences as well as contributed to various charities related to the motion picture industry and film preservation.
McDowall was born in the Herne Hill area of London, England, the son of Winsfriede L. (née Corcoran), an Irish-born aspiring actress, and Thomas Andrew McDowall, a merchant seaman. Both of his parents were enthusiastic about the theatre. He had an older sister, Virginia, who was a sometime actress.
After McDowall had appeared in several British films, his family moved to the United States of America in 1939 because of the outbreak of World War II in Britain. McDowall apparently resided in the United States for the rest of his life. He never married.
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Ronald Colman
Ronald Charles Colman (9 February 1891 – 19 May 1958) was an English actor.
He was born in Richmond, Surrey, England, as Roland Charles Colman, the second son and fourth child of Charles Colman and his wife Marjory Read Fraser. His siblings included Eric, Edith, and Marjorie. He was educated at boarding school in Littlehampton, where he discovered he enjoyed acting. He intended to study engineering at Cambridge University, but his father's sudden death from pneumonia in 1907 made this financially impossible.
He became a well-known amateur actor and was a member of the West Middlesex Dramatic Society in 1908-09. He made his first appearance on the professional stage in 1914.
After working as a clerk at the British Steamship Company in the City of London, he joined the London Scottish Regiment in 1909 and was among the first of Territorial Army to fight in World War I. During the war, he served with fellow actors Claude Rains, Herbert Marshall, Cedric Hardwicke and Basil Rathbone. On 31 October 1914, at the Battle of Messines, Colman was seriously wounded by shrapnel in his ankle, which gave him a limp that he would attempt to hide throughout the rest of his acting career. He was invalided from the service in 1916.
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Ronald Neame
Ronald Elwin NeameCBE BSC (23 April 1911 – 16 June 2010) was an English film cinematographer, producer, screenwriter and director.
Neame's parents were the photographer Elwin Neame and the actress Ivy Close. He studied at the University College School and Hurstpierpoint College. His father died in 1923, and Neame took a job with the Anglo-Persian Oil Company as an office boy. Later, through his mother's contacts in the British film industry, Neame started at Elstree Studios as a messenger boy.
He was fortunate enough to be hired as an assistant cameraman on Blackmail (1929), the first British talkie, directed by a young Alfred Hitchcock. Neame's own career as a cinematographer began with the musical comedy Happy (1933), and he continued to develop his skills in various "quota quickies" films for several years.
His credits as cinematographer include Major Barbara (1941), In Which We Serve (1942), This Happy Breed (1944), and Blithe Spirit (1945). His camera work on One of Our Aircraft Is Missing got him an Academy Award nomination for Best Special Effects in 1943.
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Russell Crowe
Russell Ira Crowe (born 7 April 1964) is a New Zealand born Australian actor, film producer and musician. He came to international attention for his role as Roman General Maximus Decimus Meridius in the 2000 historical epic film Gladiator, directed by Ridley Scott, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Actor, a Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor, an Empire Award for Best Actor and a London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor and ten further nominations for Best Actor. Crowe appeared as the tobacco firm whistle blower Jeffrey Wigand in the 1999 film The Insider, for which he received five awards as Best Actor and seven nominations in the same category. In 2001, Crowe's portrayal of mathematician and Nobel Prize winner John F. Nash in the biopic A Beautiful Mind brought him numerous awards, including an BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor category Motion Picture Drama and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role.
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Sam Wanamaker
Samuel Wanamaker (14 June 1919 – 18 December 1993) was an American film director and actor and is credited as the person most responsible for the modern recreation of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London. He was the father of actress Zoë Wanamaker.
Wanamaker was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Ukrainian Jewish immigrants from Nikolayev, tailor Maurice Wattenmacker (Manus Watmakher) and Molly Bobele. He was the younger of two brothers, the elder being William Wanamaker, long time cardiologist at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles. Wanamaker trained at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago and began working with summer stock theatre companies in Chicago and northern Wisconsin, where he helped build the stage of the Peninsula Players Theatre in 1937.
Wanamaker began his acting career in traveling shows and later worked on Broadway. In 1940, he married Charlotte Holland, a Canadian radio soap star of the 1940s and later an actress.
In 1943, Wanamaker was part of the cast of the play Counterattack at the National Theatre, Washington D.C.. During the play he became enamored of the ideals of Communism and joined the American Communist Party. He attended Drake University prior to serving in the U.S. Army between 1943 and 1946 during the Second World War. In 1947 he returned to civilian life and, before relocating to Hollywood, quit the Communist Party.
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Scatman Crothers
Benjamin Sherman "Scatman" Crothers (May 23, 1910 – November 22, 1986) was an American actor, singer, dancer and musician known for his work as Louie the Garbage Man on the TV show Chico and the Man, and as Dick Hallorann in The Shining in 1980. He was also a prolific voiceover artist, and provided the voices of Meadowlark Lemon in the animated TV version of The Harlem Globetrotters, Jazz the Autobot in The Transformers, the title character in Hong Kong Phooey, and Scat Cat in the 1970 film The Aristocats.
Crothers was born in Terre Haute, Indiana. He got the name Scatman when he auditioned for a radio show in 1932 at the former WSMK (now WING) in Dayton, Ohio. The director didn't think his given name was catchy enough, so Crothers quickly concocted the handle Scat Man, although this talent, scat singing, would develop later. He continued to enjoy this talent throughout his career, even teaching scat singing to college students. Later, the nickname was condensed to Scatman by Arthur Godfrey. In his early career, he also associated with many Cleveland-based acts and frequently played on the scene in Ohio.
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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 Penn
Sean Justin Penn (born August 17, 1960) is an American actor, screenwriter and film director, also known for his left-wing political and social activism (including humanitarian work). He is a two-time Academy Award winner for his roles in Mystic River (2003) and Milk (2008), as well as the recipient of a Golden Globe Award for the former and a Screen Actors Guild Award for the latter.
Penn began his acting career in television with a brief appearance in a 1974 episode of Little House on the Prairie, directed by his father Leo Penn. Following his film debut in 1981's Taps and a diverse range of film roles in the 1980s, Penn emerged as a prominent leading actor with the 1995 drama film Dead Man Walking, for which he earned his first Academy Award nomination and the Best Actor Award at the Berlin Film Festival. Penn received another two Oscar nominations for Sweet and Lowdown (1999) and I Am Sam (2001), before winning his first Academy Award for Best Actor in 2003 for Mystic River and a second one in 2008 for Milk. He has also won a Best Actor Award of the Cannes Film Festival for She's So Lovely (1997), and two Best Actor Awards at the Venice Film Festival for Hurlyburly (1998) and 21 Grams (2003).
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Shirley MacLaine
Shirley MacLean Beaty (born April 24, 1934), known professionally as Shirley MacLaine, is an American film and theater actress, singer, dancer, activist and author, well known for her beliefs in New Age spirituality and reincarnation. She has written a large number of autobiographical works, many dealing with her spiritual beliefs as well as her Hollywood career. She was nominated for an Academy Award five times before winning the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1983 for her role in Terms of Endearment. Her younger brother is Warren Beatty.
Named after Shirley Temple, MacLaine was born in Richmond, Virginia. Her father, Ira Owens Beaty, was a professor of psychology, public school administrator, and real estate agent, and her mother, Kathlyn Corinne (née MacLean), was a drama teacher originally from Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada; MacLaine's grandparents were also teachers.The family was devoutly Baptist. Her uncle (her mother's brother-in-law) was A.A. MacLeod, a Communist member of the Ontario legislature in the 1940s.
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Sidney Blackmer
Sidney Alderman Blackmer (July 13, 1895 – October 6, 1973) was an American actor.
Blackmer was born and raised in Salisbury, North Carolina. He started off in an insurance and financial business but gave up on it. While working as a builder's laborer on a new building, he saw a Pearl White serial being filmed and immediately decided to go into acting. He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Blackmer went to New York hoping to act on the stage. While in the city, he took jobs and extra work at various film studios at the then motion picture capital, Fort Lee, New Jersey, including a bit part in the highly popular serial, The Perils of Pauline (1914).
He made his Broadway debut in 1917, but his career was interrupted by service in the U.S. military in World War I. After the war, he returned to the theatre and in 1929 returned to motion pictures and went on to be a major character actor in more than 120 films. He won the 1950 Tony Award for Best Actor (Drama) for his role in the Broadway play, Come Back, Little Sheba.
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Sidney Poitier
Sir Sidney Poitier, KBE ( /ˈpwɑːtjeɪ/ or /ˈpwɑːti.eɪ/; born February 20, 1927) is a Bahamian American actor, film director, author, and diplomat.
In 1963, Poitier became the first black person to win an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Lilies of the Field. The significance of this achievement was later bolstered in 1967 when he starred in three well-received films To Sir, with Love; In the Heat of the Night; and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, making him the top box office star of that year. In all three films, issues revolve around the race of the characters Poitier portrays. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Poitier among the Greatest Male Stars of All Time, ranking 22nd on the list of 25.
Poitier has directed a number of popular movies such as A Piece of the Action; Uptown Saturday Night, and Let's Do It Again (with friend Bill Cosby), and Stir Crazy (starring Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder). In 2002, 38 years after receiving the Best Actor Award, Poitier was chosen by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to receive an Honorary Award, designated "To Sidney Poitier in recognition of his remarkable accomplishments as an artist and as a human being." Since 1997 he has been the Bahamian ambassador to Japan. On August 12, 2009, Sidney Poitier was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States of America's highest civilian honor, by President Barack Obama.
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Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud (German pronunciation: [ˈziːkmʊnt ˈfʁɔʏt]), born Sigismund Schlomo Freud (6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939), was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis. Freud's family and ancestry were Jewish. Freud always considered himself a Jew even though he rejected Judaism and had a critical view of religion. Freud's parents were poor, but ensured his education. Freud was an outstanding pupil in high school, and graduated the Matura with honors in 1873. Interested in philosophy as a student, Freud later turned away from it and became a neurological researcher into cerebral palsy, Aphasia and microscopic neuroanatomy.
Freud went on to develop theories about the unconscious mind and the mechanism of repression, and established the field of verbal psychotherapy by creating psychoanalysis, a clinical method for treating psychopathology through dialogue between a patient (or "analysand") and a psychoanalyst. Though psychoanalysis has declined as a therapeutic practice, it has helped inspire the development of many other forms of psychotherapy, some diverging from Freud's original ideas and approach. Freud postulated the existence of libido (an energy with which mental process and structures are invested), developed therapeutic techniques such as the use of free association (in which patients report their thoughts without reservation and make no attempt to concentrate while doing so), discovered the transference (the process by which patients displace on to their analysts feelings based on their experience of earlier figures in their lives) and established its central role in the analytic process, and proposed that dreams help to preserve sleep by representing as fulfilled wishes that would otherwise awake the dreamer. He was also a prolific essayist, drawing on psychoanalysis to contribute to the interpretation and critique of culture.
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Simon Russell Beale
Simon Russell Beale, CBE (born 12 January 1961) is an English actor and music historian. He has been described by The Independent as "the greatest stage actor of his generation."
Beale was born to Lieutenant-General Sir Peter Beale, and Julia Winter in Penang, Malaya, where his father served as a physician, later going on to become Surgeon General of the British Armed Forces. Several members of his family had careers in medicine. He was first drawn to performance when, at the age of eight, he became a chorister at St. Paul's Cathedral, and a pupil at the adjoining St Paul's Cathedral School.
Aged 14 he gave his first theatre performance playing Desdemona in Othello at the independent school Clifton College's Redgrave Theatre; in the sixth form he also performed Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, a play in which he would later star at the National Theatre. After Clifton, he went to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge and obtained a first in English, after which he was offered a place to do a PhD. He graduated from Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 1983.
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Simone Signoret
Simone Signoret (French pronunciation: [simɔn siɲɔˈʁɛ]; 25 March 1921 – 30 September 1985) was a French cinema actress often hailed as one of France's greatest movie stars. She became the first French person to win an Academy Award, for her role in Room at the Top (1959). In her lifetime she also received a BAFTA, an Emmy, Golden Globe, Cannes Film Festival recognition and the Silver Bear for Best Actress.
Signoret was born Simone Henriette Charlotte Kaminker in Wiesbaden, Germany to André and Georgette (Signoret) Kaminker as the eldest of three children, with two younger brothers. Her father, a pioneering interpreter who worked in the League of Nations, was a French-born Jewish army officer of Polish descent, who brought the family to Neuilly-sur-Seine on the outskirts of Paris. Her mother Georgette, from whom she acquired her stage name, was a French Catholic. Signoret grew up in Paris in an intellectual atmosphere and studied the English language in school, earning a teaching certificate. She tutored English and Latin and worked part-time as a typist for a French collaborationist newspaper, Les nouveaux temps, run by Jean Luchaire.
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Spencer Tracy
Spencer Bonaventure Tracy (April 5, 1900 – June 10, 1967) was an American actor. Respected for his natural style and versatility, Tracy was one of the major stars of Hollywood's Golden Age. In a screen career that spanned 37 years, he was nominated for nine Academy Awards for Best Actor—a record he holds with Laurence Olivier—of which he won two.
Tracy discovered his talent for acting while a student at Ripon College, and subsequently gained a scholarship for the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He spent seven years in the theatre, working in a succession of stock companies and intermittently on Broadway. Tracy's breakthrough came in 1930, when his lead performance in The Last Mile caught the attention of Hollywood. After a successful film debut in Up the River, Tracy was signed to a contract with Fox Film Corporation. His five years with Fox were unremarkable, and he remained largely unknown to audiences after 25 films. In 1935, Tracy joined Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Hollywood's most prestigious studio. His career flourished with a series of hit films, and in 1937 and 1938 he won consecutive Oscars for Captains Courageous and Boys Town. By the 1940s, Tracy was one of the studio's top stars. In 1942 he appeared with Katharine Hepburn in Woman of the Year, beginning a popular partnership that produced nine movies over 25 years.
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Stan Laurel
Arthur Stanley "Stan" Jefferson (16 June 1890 – 23 February 1965), known as Stan Laurel, was an English comic actor, writer and film director, famous as the first half of the comedy team Laurel and Hardy. His film acting career stretched between 1917 and 1951 and included a starring role in the Academy Award winning film The Music Box (1932). In 1961, Laurel was given a Lifetime Achievement Academy Award for his pioneering work in comedy. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7021 Hollywood Blvd.
Arthur Stanley Jefferson was born in his grandparents' house on 16 June 1890 at 3 Argyle Street, Ulverston, then in Lancashire. He had two brothers and a sister.
His parents, Arthur and Margaret ("Madge") Jefferson, were both active in the theatre and always very busy. In his early years, he spent much time living with his grandmother Sarah Metcalfe. Stan Jefferson attended school at King James I Grammar School, Bishop Auckland, County Durham and the King's School, Tynemouth, before moving with his parents to Glasgow, where he completed his education at Rutherglen Academy. His father managed Glasgow's Metropole Theatre where he began work. At the age of 16, with a natural affinity for the theatre, Jefferson gave his first professional performance on stage at the Panopticon in Glasgow.
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Susan Sarandon
Susan Sarandon (born Susan Abigail Tomalin; October 4, 1946) is an American actress. She has worked in movies and television since 1969, and won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in the 1995 film Dead Man Walking. She had also been nominated for the award for four films before that and has received other recognition for her work. She is also noted for her social and political activism for a variety of liberal causes.
Sarandon was born Susan Abigail Tomalin in New York City to a Roman Catholic family. She is the eldest of nine children of Lenora Marie (née Criscione) and Phillip Leslie Tomalin, who worked as an advertising executive, television producer, and nightclub singer during the big band era. Her father was of English, Irish, and Welsh ancestry, his English ancestors being from Hackney in London. On her mother's side, she is of Italian descent, with ancestors from the regions of Tuscany and Sicily. Sarandon attended Roman Catholic schools.[citation needed] She grew up in Edison, New Jersey, where she graduated from Edison High School in 1964. She then attended The Catholic University of America, from 1964 to 1968, where she began dating actor Chris Sarandon whom she married in 1967.
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Terence Rattigan
Sir Terence Mervyn Rattigan CBE (10 June 1911 – 30 November 1977) was one of England's most popular 20th-century dramatists. His plays are generally set in an upper-middle-class background. He is known for such works as The Winslow Boy (1946), The Browning Version (1948), The Deep Blue Sea (1952) and Separate Tables (1954), among many others.
Terence Rattigan was born in 1911 in South Kensington,London, England, of Irish Protestant extraction. He had an elder brother, Brian. They were the grandsons of Sir William Henry Rattigan, a notable Indian-based jurist, and later a Liberal Unionist Member of Parliament for North East Lanarkshire. His father was Frank Rattigan CMG, a diplomat whose exploits included an affair with Princess Elisabeth of Romania (future consort of King George II of Greece) which resulted in her having an abortion.
Rattigan's birth certificate and his birth announcement in The Times indicate he was born on 9 June 1911. However, most reference books state that he was born the following day; Rattigan himself never publicly disputed this date. There is evidence suggesting that the date on the birth certificate is incorrect. He was given no middle name, but he adopted the middle name "Mervyn" in early adulthood.
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Tom Conti
Thomas "Tom" Conti (born 22 November 1941) is a Scottish actor, theatre director and novelist.
Born Thomas Conti in Paisley, Renfrewshire, he was brought up Roman Catholic, but he considers himself anti-religious. Conti's father was Italian and his mother was Scottish.
Conti was educated Hamilton Crescent School an independent fee-paying Catholic boys' (at that time) school in Glasgow, and at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow.
Conti is an accomplished film and television actor. He began working with the Dundee Repertory in 1959. He appeared on Broadway in Whose Life Is It Anyway? in 1979, and in London he played the lead in Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell at the Garrick Theatre.
Besides taking the leading role in the TV versions of Frederic Raphael's The Glittering Prizes and Alan Ayckbourn's Norman Conquests, Conti appeared in the Princess and the Pea episode of the family television series Faerie Tale Theatre, guested on Friends and Cosby, and played opposite Nigel Hawthorne in a long-running series of Vauxhall Astra car advertisements in the UK during the mid 1990s.
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Tom Courtenay
Sir Thomas Daniel "Tom" Courtenay (/ˈkɔrtni/; born 25 February 1937) is an English actor who came to prominence in the early 1960s with a succession of films including The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962), Billy Liar (1963), and Dr. Zhivago (1965). Since the mid-1960s he has been known primarily for his work in the theatre; he received an Oscar nomination for Best Actor in the film adaptation of The Dresser (1983), which he had performed on the West End and on Broadway. Courtenay received a knighthood in February 2001 for forty years' service to cinema and theatre.
Courtenay was born in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, the son of Annie Eliza (née Quest) and Thomas Henry Courtenay, a boat painter. He attended Kingston High School there. Courtenay studied drama at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London.
Courtenay made his stage début in 1960 with the Old Vic theatre company at the Lyceum, Edinburgh, before taking over from Albert Finney in the title role of Billy Liar at the Cambridge Theatre in 1961. In 1963 he played that same title role in the film version, directed by John Schlesinger. He said of Albert Finney, "We both have the same problem, overcoming the flat harsh speech of the North."
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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 Ewell
Tom Ewell (April 29, 1909 – September 12, 1994) was an American actor.
Born Samuel Yewell Tompkins in Owensboro, Kentucky, where his family expected him to follow in their footsteps as lawyers or whiskey and tobacco dealers.
Ewell began acting in summer stock in 1928 with Don Ameche, before moving to New York in 1931. He enrolled in the Actors Studio alongside classmates Montgomery Clift and Karl Malden. He made his Broadway debut in 1934 and his film debut in 1940, and for several years played comic supporting roles. He attracted attention with a strong performance in the film Adam's Rib (1949) and he began to receive Hollywood roles more frequently. Ewell continued acting in summer stock through the 1940s: He starred opposite June Lockhart in Lawrence Riley's biographical play Kin Hubbard in 1951, the story of one of America's greatest humorists and cartoonists. With this play, Ewell also made his debut as a producer. In 1947 he won a Clarence Derwent Award for his portrayal of Fred Taylor in the original Broadway cast of John Loves Mary.
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Tom Hanks
Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks is known for his roles in Philadelphia and as the title character in Forrest Gump, roles which won him two consecutive Academy Awards for Best Actor. Hanks is also known for his Oscar nominated roles in Big, Saving Private Ryan and Cast Away.
Hanks' other acting roles include Apollo 13 as Jim Lovell, The Green Mile as Paul Edgecomb, Toy Story as Woody and Charlie Wilson's War as Charlie Wilson.
Hanks was born in Concord, California. His father, Amos Mefford Hanks (born in Glenn County, California, on March 9, 1924 – died in Alameda, California, on January 31, 1992), was an itinerant cook. His mother, Janet Marylyn (née Frager; born in Alameda County, California, on January 18, 1932), was a hospital worker. Hanks' mother is of Portuguese ancestry, while two of his paternal great-grandparents immigrated from Britain. Hanks's parents divorced in 1960. The family's three oldest children, Sandra (now Sandra Hanks Benoiton, a writer)[citation needed], Larry (now Lawrence M. Hanks, PhD, an entomology professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) and Tom, went with their father, while the youngest, Jim, now an actor and film maker, remained with his mother in Red Bluff, California.[citation needed]
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Tracey Walter
Tracey Walter (born November 25, 1947) is an American character actor. He has appeared in over 100 films and television shows.
Walter was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, the son of a truck driver.
He is known for his portrayal of "side-kicks" and "henchmen" such as Bob the Goon in Batman, Cookie in City Slickers, and Malak in Conan the Destroyer. He portrayed Frog Rothchild Jr. on the ABC sitcom Best of the West from 1981 to 1982. Walter has acted in six Jonathan Demme films: Something Wild (1986), Married to the Mob (1988), The Silence of the Lambs (1991), Philadelphia (1993), Beloved (1998), and The Manchurian Candidate (2004). He has been directed by Danny DeVito in three films: Matilda (1996), Death to Smoochy (2002), and Duplex (2003). The two have acted together in nine films, the first being Goin' South in 1978. He acted with and was directed by Jack Nicholson in The Two Jakes (1990).
He appeared in a small role with Clint Eastwood in the 1982 film Honkytonk Man and has coined the phrase "Right Cheer" (as in right here) while playing a service station attendant as well as "Make 'Em Bounce (as in happy) from the movie Raggedy Man". His portrayal of Miller, the philosopher mechanic of Alex Cox's Repo Man, earned Walter a Saturn Award in 1984 for Best Supporting Actor. The film has achieved cult status perhaps, in part, due to Miller's memorable ruminations about a plate of shrimp and lines like "the more you drive, the less intelligent you are."[citation needed]
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Trevor Howard
Trevor Howard (29 September 1913 – 7 January 1988), born Trevor Wallace Howard-Smith, was an English film, stage and television actor.
Trevor Wallace Howard-Smith was born in Cliftonville, Kent, England, on 29 September 1913, the only son and elder child of Arthur John Howard-Smith, who worked as the Ceylon representative for Lloyd's of London, and his Canadian wife, Mabel Grey Wallace, a nurse. During his lifetime his year of birth was often given as 1916. Until he was five, he lived in Colombo, Ceylon, but then travelled with his mother until the age of eight, when he was sent to school at Clifton College, Bristol.
Howard attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), acting on the London stage for several years before World War II. His first paid work was in the play Revolt in a Reformatory (1934), before he left RADA in 1935 to take small roles. That year, he was spotted by a Paramount studio talent scout, but turned down the offer of film work in favour of a career in theatre. This decision seemed justified when, in 1936, he was invited to join the Stratford Memorial Theatre and, in London, given the role of one of the students in French without Tears by Terence Rattigan, which ran for two years. He returned to Stratford in 1939.
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Tyrone Guthrie
Sir William Tyrone Guthrie (2 July 1900 – 15 May 1971) was an English theatrical director instrumental in the founding of the Stratford Festival of Canada, the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota and the Tyrone Guthrie Centre, at his family's ancestral home, Annaghmakerrig, near Newbliss in County Monaghan, Ireland.
Guthrie was born in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England, the son of Dr Thomas Guthrie (a grandson of the Scottish preacher Thomas Guthrie) and Norah Power. His mother Norah was the daughter of Sir William James Tyrone Power, Commissary-General-in-chief of the British Army from 1863 to 1869 and Martha, daughter of Dr. John Moorhead of Annaghmakerrig House and his Philadelphia-born wife, Susan (née Allibone) Humphreys. His great-grandfather was the Irish actor Tyrone Power. He was also a second cousin of the Hollywood actor Tyrone Power. His sister, Susan Margaret, married his close university friend, fellow Anglo-Irishman Hubert Butler. Butler translated the text for Guthrie's 1934 production of Anton Chekhov's Cherry Orchard, for perhaps its first English-language production.
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Victor Banerjee
Victor Banerjee (Bengali: ভিক্টর ব্যানার্জী, Hindi: विक्टर बनर्जी) (born 15 October 1946) is an Indian actor who appears in Hindi, Bengali and English language films. He has also appeared on a number of TV series on Indian television. He has worked for prominent directors like Jerry London, Shyam Benegal, Satyajit Ray, Ram Gopal Varma, Roman Polanski, James Ivory, Mrinal Sen and David Lean.
Banerjee was born to a of Bengali Hindu family and is a descendant of Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee, a leading intellectual, a prominent man of his time and the first president of the Indian National Congress (1885).
He had his schooling in St. Edmund's, Shillong, and graduated in English Literature from St. Xavier's College, Calcutta.
In 1984, he acted as Dr. Aziz Ahmed in David Lean's film of A Passage to India, bringing him to the attention of Western audiences. Victor was nominated for BAFTA award for this role in 1986. He won two other awards for this role: Evening Standard British Film Award and NBR Award (National Board Review, USA).
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Victor Sjöström
Victor Sjöström (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈvɪktɔɾ ˈɧœˈstɾœm] ( listen); in the United States sometimes known as Victor Seastrom) (20 September 1879 – 3 January 1960) was a Swedish actor, screenwriter, and film director.
Born in Silbodal, in the Värmland region of Sweden, he was only a year old when his father, Olof Adolf Sjöström, moved the family to Brooklyn, New York. His mother died when he was seven years old in 1886. Sjöström returned to Sweden where he lived with relatives in Stockholm, beginning his acting career at 17 as a member of a touring theater company.
Drawn from the stage to the fledgling motion picture industry, he made his first film in 1912 under the direction of Mauritz Stiller. Between then and 1923, he directed another forty-one films in Sweden, some of which are now lost. Those surviving include The Sons of Ingmar (1919), Karin, Daughter of Ingmar (1920) and The Phantom Carriage (1921), all based on stories by the Nobel-prize winning novelist Selma Lagerlöf. They confirm him as one the very greatest of silent film directors, who helped to create a unique idiom with qualities quite different from those of sound cinema. Many of his films from the period are marked by subtle character portrayal, fine storytelling and evocative settings in which the Swedish landscape often plays a key psychological role. The naturalistic quality of his films was enhanced by his (then revolutionary) preference for on-location filming, especially in rural and village settings.
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Walter Huston
Walter Thomas Huston ( /ˈwɔːltər ˈhjuːstən/; April 5, 1883 – April 7, 1950) was a Canadian-born American actor. He was the father of actor and director John Huston and the grandfather of actress Anjelica Huston and actor Danny Huston.
Huston was born in York County, Ontario, the son of Elizabeth (née McGibbon) and Robert Moore Huston, a provincial farmer who founded a construction company. He was of Scottish and Irish descent.
Huston began his Broadway career in 1924. Once talkies began in Hollywood, he achieved fame in character roles. His first major role was in 1929's The Virginian with Gary Cooper. He appeared in the Broadway theatrical adaptation of Sinclair Lewis's novel Dodsworth in 1934 and the play's film version two years later.
Huston remained busy throughout the 1930s and 1940s, both on stage and screen (becoming one of America's most distinguished actors); he performed "September Song" in the original Broadway production of Knickerbocker Holiday in 1938 (his grandaughter Anjelica Huston sang it on the May 7, 2012 episode of the NBC TV series "Smash"). Among his films are Abraham Lincoln (1930), Rain (1932), Gabriel Over the White House (1933), The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941), Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), and Mission to Moscow (1943), a pro-Soviet World War II propaganda film as Ambassador Joseph E. Davies. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1948 for his role in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, which was directed by his son, John Huston. His last film was The Furies in 1950 with Barbara Stanwyck.
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Walter Matthau
Walter Matthau (October 1, 1920 – July 1, 2000) was an American actor best known for his role as Oscar Madison in The Odd Couple and his frequent collaborations with Odd Couple star Jack Lemmon, as well as his role as Coach Buttermaker in the 1976 comedy The Bad News Bears. He won an Academy Award for his performance in the 1966 Billy Wilder film The Fortune Cookie.
Matthau was born Walter John Matthow in New York City's Lower East Side on October 1, 1920, the son of Rose (née Berolsky; from Lithuania), who worked in a sweatshop, and Milton Matthow, an electrician and peddler (from Russia), both Jewish immigrants. His surname has often incorrectly been listed as Matuschanskayasky (see below for a detailed discussion). As a young boy, Walter attended a Jewish non-profit sleepaway camp, Tranquillity Camp, where he first began acting in the shows the camp would stage on Saturday nights. He also attended Surprise Lake Camp. His high school was Seward Park High School.
During World War II, Matthau served in the U.S. Army Air Forces with the Eighth Air Force in England as a B-24 Liberator radioman-gunner, in the same 453rd Bombardment Group as James Stewart. He reached the rank of staff sergeant and became interested in acting. He took classes in acting at the Dramatic Workshop of The New School in New York with the influential German director Erwin Piscator. He often joked that his best early review came in a play where he posed as a derelict. One reviewer said, "The others just looked like actors in make-up, Walter Matthau really looks like a skid row bum!" Matthau was a respected stage actor for years in such fare as Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? and A Shot in the Dark. He won the 1962 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a play.
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Warren Beatty
Warren Beatty ( /ˈbeɪti/ BAY-tee; born March 30, 1937) is an American actor, producer, screenwriter and director. He has been nominated for 15 Academy Awards, including winning the Best Director Award and its highest honor, the Irving G. Thalberg Award. He has been nominated for 16 Golden Globe Awards and won six, including the Cecil B. DeMille Award, which he received in 2007. Only Beatty and Orson Welles have been nominated for producer, director, writer and actor in the same film. Welles did it once (for Citizen Kane), Beatty did it twice (for Heaven Can Wait and Reds).
Beatty was born Henry Warren Beaty in Richmond, Virginia. His mother, Kathlyn Corinne (née MacLean), was a Nova Scotia-born teacher, and his father, Ira Owens Beaty, was a Ph.D. of educational psychology, a public school administrator, and dealt in real estate. Beatty's grandparents were also educators. The family was Baptist. In 1945, the family moved from Richmond to Arlington, Virginia. Beatty's sister is the multi-award winning actress and writer Shirley MacLaine.
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Wikipedia Persondata
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William Holden
William Holden (April 17, 1918 – November 12, 1981) was an American actor. Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1954 and the Emmy Award for Best Actor in 1974. One of the most popular and well known movie stars of all time, Holden was one of the biggest box office draws of the 1950s, he was named one of the "Top 10 Stars of the Year" six times (1954–1958, 1961) and appeared on the American Film Institute's AFI's 100 Years…100 Stars list as number 25. He starred in some of the most popular and critically acclaimed films of all time, including such blockbusters as Sunset Boulevard, The Bridge on the River Kwai, The Wild Bunch, The Towering Inferno, and Network.
Holden was born William Franklin Beedle, Jr. in O'Fallon, Illinois, the son of Mary Blanche (née Ball), a schoolteacher, and William Franklin Beedle, Sr., an industrial chemist. He had two younger brothers, Robert and Richard. Holden's paternal great-grandmother, Rebecca Westfield, was born in England in 1817, while some of his mother's ancestors settled in Virginia's Lancaster County after emigrating from England in the 17th century. Growing up, Holden was raised in the Methodist church, and while some sources cite him as a Congregationalist, Holden identified himself as a Methodist throughout his life. His family moved to South Pasadena when he was three.
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William Hurt
William McChord Hurt (born March 20, 1950) is an American stage and film actor. He received his acting training at the Juilliard School, and began acting on stage in the 1970s. Hurt made his film debut as a troubled scientist in the science-fiction feature Altered States (1980), for which he received a Golden Globe nomination for New Star of the Year. He subsequently played a leading role, as a lawyer who succumbs to the temptations of Kathleen Turner, in the well-received neo noir Body Heat (1981).
In 1985, Hurt garnered substantial critical acclaim and multiple acting awards, including an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award for Best Actor, for portraying an effeminate gay man in Kiss of the Spider Woman. He received another two Academy Award nominations for his lead performances in Children of a Lesser God (1986) and Broadcast News (1987). Hurt remained an active stage actor throughout the 1980s, appearing in Off-Broadway productions, including Henry V, Fifth of July, Richard II, and A Midsummer Night's Dream. Hurt received his first Tony Award nomination in 1985 for the Broadway production of Hurlyburly.
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Winston Ntshona
Winston Ntshona (born 6 October 1941) is a South African playwright and actor.
Born in Port Elizabeth, Ntshona worked alongside fellow South African Athol Fugard on several occasions and played a minor role in Richard Attenborough's acclaimed film Gandhi.
Ntshona also played deposed President Julius Limbani, the subject of a rescue attempt in The Wild Geese (1978). Limbani is based on Moise Tshombe.
With Fugard and John Kani, Ntshona wrote the 1973 play The Island, in which he and Kani starred in a number of major international productions over the next thirty years. He and Kani were co-winners of the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for their performance in both The Island and Sizwe Banzi is Dead, which he also co-wrote.
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Yul Brynner
Yul Brynner (Russian: Юлий Борисович Бринер, Yuliy Borisovich Bryner; July 11, 1920 – October 10, 1985) was a Russian-born stage and film actor. He was best known for his portrayal of Mongkut, king of Siam, in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The King and I, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Actor for the film version; he also played the role more than 4,500 times onstage. He is also remembered as Rameses II in the 1956 Cecil B. DeMille blockbuster The Ten Commandments, General Bounine in Anastasia and Chris Adams in The Magnificent Seven. Brynner was noted for his distinctive voice and for his shaven head, which he maintained as a personal trademark long after adopting it for his initial role in The King and I. He was also a photographer and the author of two books.
Yul Brynner was born Yuliy Borisovich Bryner in 1920. He exaggerated his background and early life for the press, claiming that he was born Taidje Khan of part-Mongol-Tatar parentage, on the Russian island of Sakhalin. In reality, he was born at home in a four-storey residence at 15 Aleutskaya Street, Vladivostok, in the Far Eastern Republic (present-day Primorsky Krai, Russia). He also occasionally referred to himself as Julius Briner,Jules Bryner, or Youl Bryner. A biography written by his son, Rock Brynner, in 1989 clarified these issues.
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Yves Montand
Yves Montand (French pronunciation: [iv mɔ̃ˈtɑ̃]; 13 October 1921 – 9 November 1991) was an Italian-born French actor and singer.
Montand was born Ivo Livi in Monsummano Terme, Italy, the son of poor peasants Giuseppina (née Simoni) and Giovanni Livi, a broommaker. Montand's mother was a devout Catholic, while his father held strong Communist beliefs. Because of the Fascist regime in Italy, Montand's family left for France in 1923. He grew up in Marseilles, where, as a young man, he worked in his sister's barber shop, and later on the docks. He began a career in show business as a music-hall singer. In 1944, he was discovered by Édith Piaf in Paris and she made him part of her act, becoming his mentor and lover.
Montand went on to international recognition as a singer and actor, starring in numerous films. His recognizably crooner songs, especially those about Paris, became instant classics.
He was one of the most famous performers at Bruno Coquatrix's famous Paris Olympia music hall, and toured with musicians including Didi Duprat.
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Zero Mostel
Samuel Joel “Zero” Mostel (February 28, 1915 – September 8, 1977) was an American actor of stage and screen, best known for his portrayal of comic characters such as Tevye on stage in Fiddler on the Roof, Pseudolus on stage and on screen in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and Max Bialystock in the original film version of The Producers. He was blacklisted during the 1950s, and his testimony before the House Committee on Un-American Activities was well-publicized. He was a Tony Award and Obie Award winner.
Mostel was born to Israel Mostel, an Eastern European Jew, and Cina "Celia" Druchs, also from a Jewish family, who was born in Poland and raised in Vienna. The two immigrated to the United States (separately: Israel in 1898 and Cina in 1908), where they met and married. Israel already had four children from his first wife; he had four more children with Cina. Samuel, later known as Zero, was Israel's seventh child.
It is said that Samuel Mostel got his nickname "Zero" since his parents were not kind with words and always told him that he would only ever amount to "Gournisht," which is Yiddish for "zero" or "nothing." The rest is history.
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Alec Guinness receiving an Honorary Oscar®
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 7:30
- Updated: 05 Jan 2013
Dustin Hoffman presenting an honorary Oscar® to Alec Guinness("Star Wars," "The Bridge on the River Kwai," "The Lavender Hill Mob") for advancing the art of screen acting through a host of memorable and distinguished performances - 52nd Annual Academys® in 1980.
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Dustin Hoffman presenting an honorary Oscar® to Alec Guinness("Star Wars," "The Bridge on the River Kwai," "The Lavender Hill Mob") for advancing the art of screen acting through a host of memorable and distinguished performances - 52nd Annual Academys® in 1980.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy Chapter 1 Return to The Circus (4/6)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 9:09
- Updated: 29 Sep 2012
le Carre, Smiley, MI5, espionage, spy, mole
http://wn.com/Tinker_Tailor_Soldier_Spy_Chapter_1_Return_to_The_Circus_4_6
le Carre, Smiley, MI5, espionage, spy, mole
- published: 10 Feb 2011
- views: 43028
- author: WarDocumentary
The Prisoner (1955)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 89:58
- Updated: 03 Jan 2013
British drama directed by Peter Glenville and starring Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins and Wilfrid Lawson. Screenplay by Bridget Boland; musical score by Benjamin Frankel. The movie is apparently inspired by historical facts: The resistance and subsequent imprisonment and torture of hungarian Cardinal József Mindszenty under communism.
http://wn.com/The_Prisoner_1955
British drama directed by Peter Glenville and starring Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins and Wilfrid Lawson. Screenplay by Bridget Boland; musical score by Benjamin Frankel. The movie is apparently inspired by historical facts: The resistance and subsequent imprisonment and torture of hungarian Cardinal József Mindszenty under communism.
- published: 09 Oct 2012
- views: 5898
- author: JCaesarus
Alec Guinness as King Charles I - Execution Scene
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 8:21
- Updated: 05 Jan 2013
Alec Guinness as King Charles I execution scene in "Cromwell" (1970), starring Richard Harris.
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Alec Guinness as King Charles I execution scene in "Cromwell" (1970), starring Richard Harris.
- published: 25 May 2008
- views: 134109
- author: brokenglass72
Interview with Alec Guinness (BBC's Film Extra program 1973) Part 1
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:33
- Updated: 31 Dec 2012
http://wn.com/Interview_with_Alec_Guinness_BBC's_Film_Extra_program_1973_Part_1
Smiley's People (1982) Part One
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 60:00
- Updated: 05 Jan 2013
Smiley's People, television adaptation based on the third and final novel (1979) of the "Karla Trilogy", following Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1974) and The Honourable Schoolboy(1977). Dramatized by John Hopkins for television for the BBC in 1982, as a sequel to the television series Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979), again starring Alec Guinness as George Smiley. The screenplay was written by John le Carré and John Hopkins. I decided to upload this series as I am a big fan and wanted to inform others about this sublime series. I do not intend to violate any copyright acts. The copyrights belong to the rightful owners (Paramount Pictures and BBC). Buy this series if you enjoy it.
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Smiley's People, television adaptation based on the third and final novel (1979) of the "Karla Trilogy", following Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1974) and The Honourable Schoolboy(1977). Dramatized by John Hopkins for television for the BBC in 1982, as a sequel to the television series Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979), again starring Alec Guinness as George Smiley. The screenplay was written by John le Carré and John Hopkins. I decided to upload this series as I am a big fan and wanted to inform others about this sublime series. I do not intend to violate any copyright acts. The copyrights belong to the rightful owners (Paramount Pictures and BBC). Buy this series if you enjoy it.
- published: 06 Sep 2012
- views: 17289
- author: BHASKAR KRISHNATREYA
Smiley's People (1982) - Alec Guinness - Chat with Toby
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 11:58
- Updated: 07 Dec 2012
Smiley's People was dramatised by John Hopkins for television for the BBC in 1982, as a sequel to Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979), again starring Alec Guinness as George Smiley.
http://wn.com/Smiley's_People_1982_Alec_Guinness_Chat_with_Toby
Smiley's People was dramatised by John Hopkins for television for the BBC in 1982, as a sequel to Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979), again starring Alec Guinness as George Smiley.
- published: 11 Mar 2012
- views: 6800
- author: VindobonaNorikum4
David Lean about working with William Holden & Alec Guinness and "A Passage to India"
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 8:18
- Updated: 04 Jan 2013
A great director shares his great experience.
http://wn.com/David_Lean_about_working_with_William_Holden_Alec_Guinness_and_A_Passage_to_India
A great director shares his great experience.
- published: 19 Apr 2010
- views: 20186
- author: radoslav1948
Hotel Paradiso (1966) - Robert Morley, Alec Guinness, Leonard Rossiter
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:08
- Updated: 17 Nov 2012
A scene from the 1966 hotel comedy caper Hotel Paradiso featuring Leonard Rossiter. For more info see www.leonardrossiter.com Two Youtube channels for LeonardRossiter.com www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
http://wn.com/Hotel_Paradiso_1966_Robert_Morley,_Alec_Guinness,_Leonard_Rossiter
A scene from the 1966 hotel comedy caper Hotel Paradiso featuring Leonard Rossiter. For more info see www.leonardrossiter.com Two Youtube channels for LeonardRossiter.com www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
- published: 28 Dec 2011
- views: 2587
- author: OfficialRossiter
Alec Guinness sick monologue - THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI (1957)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:58
- Updated: 17 Dec 2012
Go to 54 seconds to get straight into the dialogue. A wicked awesome clip from a great movie, THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI (1957). Alec Guinness, as Colonel Nicholson of the British Army in WW2, delivers a phenomenal monologue right after the completion of the bridge. Incredible writing, performing, and cinematography. Sir Alec Guinness, CH, CBE (2 April 1914 -- 5 August 2000) was an English actor. He was featured in several of the Ealing Comedies, including Kind Hearts and Coronets in which he played eight different characters. He later won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Colonel Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai. He is known for playing Obi-Wan Kenobi in the original Star Wars trilogy, Prince Feisal in Lawrence of Arabia, and George Smiley in the TV adaptation of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. He is also known for his portrayal of Herbert Pocket in Great Expectations (1946). The Bridge on the River Kwai opens in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp in Burma in 1943, where a battle of wills rages between camp commander Colonel Saito (Sessue Hayakawa) and newly arrived British colonel Nicholson (Alec Guinness). Saito insists that Nicholson order his men to build a bridge over the river Kwai, which will be used to transport Japanese munitions. Nicholson refuses, despite all the various "persuasive" devices at Saito's disposal. Finally, Nicholson agrees, not so much to cooperate with his captor as to provide a morale-boosting project for the military ...
http://wn.com/Alec_Guinness_sick_monologue_THE_BRIDGE_ON_THE_RIVER_KWAI_1957
Go to 54 seconds to get straight into the dialogue. A wicked awesome clip from a great movie, THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI (1957). Alec Guinness, as Colonel Nicholson of the British Army in WW2, delivers a phenomenal monologue right after the completion of the bridge. Incredible writing, performing, and cinematography. Sir Alec Guinness, CH, CBE (2 April 1914 -- 5 August 2000) was an English actor. He was featured in several of the Ealing Comedies, including Kind Hearts and Coronets in which he played eight different characters. He later won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Colonel Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai. He is known for playing Obi-Wan Kenobi in the original Star Wars trilogy, Prince Feisal in Lawrence of Arabia, and George Smiley in the TV adaptation of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. He is also known for his portrayal of Herbert Pocket in Great Expectations (1946). The Bridge on the River Kwai opens in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp in Burma in 1943, where a battle of wills rages between camp commander Colonel Saito (Sessue Hayakawa) and newly arrived British colonel Nicholson (Alec Guinness). Saito insists that Nicholson order his men to build a bridge over the river Kwai, which will be used to transport Japanese munitions. Nicholson refuses, despite all the various "persuasive" devices at Saito's disposal. Finally, Nicholson agrees, not so much to cooperate with his captor as to provide a morale-boosting project for the military ...
- published: 25 Dec 2011
- views: 3470
- author: Kevin Losani
Kind Hearts and Coronets clip
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:40
- Updated: 01 Nov 2012
Dennis Price continues his crusade against the D'ascoyne family (All 9 of whom are portrayed by Alec Guinness).
http://wn.com/Kind_Hearts_and_Coronets_clip
Dennis Price continues his crusade against the D'ascoyne family (All 9 of whom are portrayed by Alec Guinness).
- published: 11 Jan 2007
- views: 44807
- author: AnAmericanGentleman
Alec Guinness - Hitler: The Last Ten Days
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:41
- Updated: 27 Dec 2012
Alec Guinness, who played Adolf Hitler in Hitler: The Last Ten Days really looks like the real Hitler more than any actor I've seen played him. Hitler: The Last Ten Days (1973) Directed by Ennio De Concini Disclaimer: I do not own this video, all rights go to their rightful owners, and no copyright infringement is intended. This upload is solely for fans and will not be used inappropriately, please support the official release. "Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use."
http://wn.com/Alec_Guinness_Hitler_The_Last_Ten_Days
Alec Guinness, who played Adolf Hitler in Hitler: The Last Ten Days really looks like the real Hitler more than any actor I've seen played him. Hitler: The Last Ten Days (1973) Directed by Ennio De Concini Disclaimer: I do not own this video, all rights go to their rightful owners, and no copyright infringement is intended. This upload is solely for fans and will not be used inappropriately, please support the official release. "Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use."
- published: 08 May 2011
- views: 14055
- author: AMP2883
"Last Holiday" (original 1950 British classic) w. Alec Guiness PART 1
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 10:01
- Updated: 18 Nov 2012
"Last Holiday" 1/8 (original 1950 British classic) w. Alec Guiness PART 1 (sorry, the first few minutes are missing) From VHS tape, so fair quality. "When a lonely, unappreciated farm equipment salesman discovers he has only weeks to live, he withdraws his savings for a final holiday at a 'posh' resort."
http://wn.com/Last_Holiday_original_1950_British_classic_w_Alec_Guiness_PART_1
"Last Holiday" 1/8 (original 1950 British classic) w. Alec Guiness PART 1 (sorry, the first few minutes are missing) From VHS tape, so fair quality. "When a lonely, unappreciated farm equipment salesman discovers he has only weeks to live, he withdraws his savings for a final holiday at a 'posh' resort."
- published: 26 Oct 2011
- views: 5993
- author: serotta2
alec guinness as col jock sinclair, tunes of glory
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:12
- Updated: 14 Dec 2012
a moving scene from tunes of glory with alec guiness after the death of his replacement played by john mills
http://wn.com/alec_guinness_as_col_jock_sinclair,_tunes_of_glory
a moving scene from tunes of glory with alec guiness after the death of his replacement played by john mills
- published: 14 May 2009
- views: 11658
- author: gazzer97
![The Fall Of The Roman Empire 1964[ Sophia Loren, Stephen Boyd and Alec Guinness]](http://web.archive.org./web/20130106084322im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/nNmR8mTANUY/default.jpg "The Fall Of The Roman Empire 1964[ Sophia Loren, Stephen Boyd and Alec Guinness]")
The Fall Of The Roman Empire 1964[ Sophia Loren, Stephen Boyd and Alec Guinness]
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 172:26
- Updated: 01 Jan 2013
http://wn.com/The_Fall_Of_The_Roman_Empire_1964_Sophia_Loren,_Stephen_Boyd_and_Alec_Guinness_
The brigde on the river Kwai ending
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:13
- Updated: 26 Dec 2012
http://wn.com/The_brigde_on_the_river_Kwai_ending
Alec Guiness (1914-2000)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:22
- Updated: 09 Nov 2012
Sir Alec Guinness, CH, CBE (born as Alec Guinness de Cuffe: 2nd April 1914 - 5th August 2000) was an English actor. He featured in several of the Ealing Comedies, including Kind Hearts and Coronets in which he played eight different characters. Guinness later won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Colonel Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai. His most prominent role in his later career was as Obi-Wan Kenobi in the original Star Wars trilogy. PUBLIC DOMAIN News item.
http://wn.com/Alec_Guiness_1914-2000
Sir Alec Guinness, CH, CBE (born as Alec Guinness de Cuffe: 2nd April 1914 - 5th August 2000) was an English actor. He featured in several of the Ealing Comedies, including Kind Hearts and Coronets in which he played eight different characters. Guinness later won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Colonel Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai. His most prominent role in his later career was as Obi-Wan Kenobi in the original Star Wars trilogy. PUBLIC DOMAIN News item.
- published: 08 Dec 2009
- views: 2825
- author: plagalcadenze
Joanne Woodward (with speech), Alec Guinness, Red Buttons and Miyoshi Umeki winning Oscar
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:30
- Updated: 24 Sep 2012
http://wn.com/Joanne_Woodward_with_speech,_Alec_Guinness,_Red_Buttons_and_Miyoshi_Umeki_winning_Oscar
Lawrence of Arabia
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:54
- Updated: 05 Jan 2013
Lawrence of Arabia is a sweeping epic that still manages to be a character study of the entirely unique and compelling TE Lawrence. Notwithstanding the writing of Robert Bolt and the performance by Peter O'Toole (was there ever a better break-out role?), David Lean's direction is what moves this movie into the realm of greatness. In the following scene we see Lean's economy with the camera in capturing and framing Lawrence (O'Toole) and Prince Feisal's (Alec Guiness) pivotal conversation that underlines the major themes of the film and sends Lawrence off to find Feisal's "miracle". If you haven't seen it, go out and rent this movie! For more thoughts on this film and others, check out my blog: www.jasongoode.wordpress.com
http://wn.com/Lawrence_of_Arabia
Lawrence of Arabia is a sweeping epic that still manages to be a character study of the entirely unique and compelling TE Lawrence. Notwithstanding the writing of Robert Bolt and the performance by Peter O'Toole (was there ever a better break-out role?), David Lean's direction is what moves this movie into the realm of greatness. In the following scene we see Lean's economy with the camera in capturing and framing Lawrence (O'Toole) and Prince Feisal's (Alec Guiness) pivotal conversation that underlines the major themes of the film and sends Lawrence off to find Feisal's "miracle". If you haven't seen it, go out and rent this movie! For more thoughts on this film and others, check out my blog: www.jasongoode.wordpress.com
- published: 07 Mar 2008
- views: 41031
- author: gooder8888
Interview with Alec Guinness (BBC's Film Extra program 1973) Part 2
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 8:20
- Updated: 05 Jan 2013
http://wn.com/Interview_with_Alec_Guinness_BBC's_Film_Extra_program_1973_Part_2
The Swan (1956) - Grace Kelly - Alec Guinness
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:53
- Updated: 02 Oct 2012
http://wn.com/The_Swan_1956_Grace_Kelly_Alec_Guinness
Patrick Stewart and Alec Guiness in Tinker Tailer Soldier Spy
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:19
- Updated: 02 Jan 2013
Stewart says nothing. But, he doesn't need to. Great scene between two legendary actors.
http://wn.com/Patrick_Stewart_and_Alec_Guiness_in_Tinker_Tailer_Soldier_Spy
Stewart says nothing. But, he doesn't need to. Great scene between two legendary actors.
- published: 26 Nov 2011
- views: 5076
- author: Chris Fanelli
George Smiley
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 0:29
- Updated: 29 Sep 2012
George Smiley (Alec Guinness) sets the tone for his interrogation of exiled secret service agent Ricki Tarr, who is about to relate his discovery of news of a mole in 'the circus' ie MI6 in London (named after Cambridge Circus, where their headquarters are located).
http://wn.com/George_Smiley
George Smiley (Alec Guinness) sets the tone for his interrogation of exiled secret service agent Ricki Tarr, who is about to relate his discovery of news of a mole in 'the circus' ie MI6 in London (named after Cambridge Circus, where their headquarters are located).
- published: 19 Sep 2011
- views: 3715
- author: EmptyGlass99
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Barnacle Bill. Starring Alec Guinness (1957).m4v
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 83:37
- Updated: 27 Dec 2012
Barnacle Bill (released in the US as All at Sea) is a 1957 Ealing Studios comedy film, starring Alec Guinness. He plays an unsuccessful Royal Navy officer, and six of his maritime ancestors. William Horatio Ambrose (Guinness) wants desperately to live up to the proud family tradition; the Ambroses have always been mariners, hence their family motto, Omnes per Mare (All at Sea). In humorous vignettes, Guinness portrays all six, starting with a confused caveman pioneer and ending with his own father's ignominious demise at the Battle of Jutland. Ambrose has a debilitating problem however: he gets violently seasick at the slightest excuse. As a result, his contribution to World War II consists of testing cures for the malady. When he retires from the Royal Navy as a captain, he purchases a dilapidated amusement pier (the closest thing to a command of his own) with his life savings. The workers are an apathetic bunch, led by an insolent Figg (Victor Maddern), who quits as soon as the new owner begins imposing some semblance of discipline. With the assistance of his new second in command, Tommy (Percy Herbert), and much hard work, Ambrose soon has the pier repaired. This was the last film Guinness made for Ealing Studios. By coincidence, the first Ealing film he starred in was Kind Hearts and Coronets, in which he also played multiple roles. Guinness actually served in the Royal Navy in World War II. Originally released on 17th December 1957. Music by Henry Mancini.
http://wn.com/Barnacle_Bill_Starring_Alec_Guinness_1957m4v
Barnacle Bill (released in the US as All at Sea) is a 1957 Ealing Studios comedy film, starring Alec Guinness. He plays an unsuccessful Royal Navy officer, and six of his maritime ancestors. William Horatio Ambrose (Guinness) wants desperately to live up to the proud family tradition; the Ambroses have always been mariners, hence their family motto, Omnes per Mare (All at Sea). In humorous vignettes, Guinness portrays all six, starting with a confused caveman pioneer and ending with his own father's ignominious demise at the Battle of Jutland. Ambrose has a debilitating problem however: he gets violently seasick at the slightest excuse. As a result, his contribution to World War II consists of testing cures for the malady. When he retires from the Royal Navy as a captain, he purchases a dilapidated amusement pier (the closest thing to a command of his own) with his life savings. The workers are an apathetic bunch, led by an insolent Figg (Victor Maddern), who quits as soon as the new owner begins imposing some semblance of discipline. With the assistance of his new second in command, Tommy (Percy Herbert), and much hard work, Ambrose soon has the pier repaired. This was the last film Guinness made for Ealing Studios. By coincidence, the first Ealing film he starred in was Kind Hearts and Coronets, in which he also played multiple roles. Guinness actually served in the Royal Navy in World War II. Originally released on 17th December 1957. Music by Henry Mancini.
- published: 08 Dec 2012
- views: 1325
- author: Marius Lestat
The Prisoner (1955)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 89:58
- Updated: 26 Dec 2012
British drama directed by Peter Glenville and starring Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins and Wilfrid Lawson. Screenplay by Bridget Boland; musical score by Benjamin Frankel. The movie is apparently inspired by historical facts: The resistance and subsequent imprisonment and torture of hungarian Cardinal József Mindszenty under communism.
http://wn.com/The_Prisoner_1955
British drama directed by Peter Glenville and starring Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins and Wilfrid Lawson. Screenplay by Bridget Boland; musical score by Benjamin Frankel. The movie is apparently inspired by historical facts: The resistance and subsequent imprisonment and torture of hungarian Cardinal József Mindszenty under communism.
- published: 09 Oct 2012
- views: 4263
- author: JCaesarus
The Fall Of The Roman Empire 1964[ Sophia Loren, Stephen Boyd and Alec Guinness]
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 172:26
- Updated: 25 Dec 2012
http://wn.com/The_Fall_Of_The_Roman_Empire_1964_Sophia_Loren,_Stephen_Boyd_and_Alec_Guinness_
Albert Finney is Scrooge (1970) Alec Guinness and Edith Evans FULL MOVIE
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 108:28
- Updated: 27 Dec 2012
A musical retelling of Charles Dickens' classic Christmas tale. www.imdb.com
http://wn.com/Albert_Finney_is_Scrooge_1970_Alec_Guinness_and_Edith_Evans_FULL_MOVIE
A musical retelling of Charles Dickens' classic Christmas tale. www.imdb.com
- published: 18 Dec 2012
- views: 2346
- author: TheCinemaVampire
The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964) Sophia Loren, Stephen Boyd and Alec Guinness FULL MOVIE
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 184:21
- Updated: 26 Dec 2012
Action-packed look at the beginnings of the fall of the Roman Empire. Here is the glory, the greed and grandeur that was Rome. Here is the story of personal lust for power, and the shattering effects of that power's loss. Here is the tale of the plight of a people living on the brink of a political abyss.
http://wn.com/The_Fall_of_the_Roman_Empire_1964_Sophia_Loren,_Stephen_Boyd_and_Alec_Guinness_FULL_MOVIE
Action-packed look at the beginnings of the fall of the Roman Empire. Here is the glory, the greed and grandeur that was Rome. Here is the story of personal lust for power, and the shattering effects of that power's loss. Here is the tale of the plight of a people living on the brink of a political abyss.
- published: 22 Oct 2012
- views: 4823
- author: MrsMovieLovesMovies
Peter and the Wolf (RCA Victor LM-1761) - Alec Guinness
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 24:22
- Updated: 20 Dec 2012
See our complete collection of Long Playing Record Albums at www.kiddierecords.com.
http://wn.com/Peter_and_the_Wolf_RCA_Victor_LM-1761_Alec_Guinness
See our complete collection of Long Playing Record Albums at www.kiddierecords.com.
- published: 20 Jul 2012
- views: 573
- author: KiddieRecordsWeekly
Smiley's People (1982) Part One
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 60:00
- Updated: 27 Dec 2012
Smiley's People, television adaptation based on the third and final novel (1979) of the "Karla Trilogy", following Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1974) and The Honourable Schoolboy(1977). Dramatized by John Hopkins for television for the BBC in 1982, as a sequel to the television series Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979), again starring Alec Guinness as George Smiley. The screenplay was written by John le Carré and John Hopkins. I decided to upload this series as I am a big fan and wanted to inform others about this sublime series. I do not intend to violate any copyright acts. The copyrights belong to the rightful owners (Paramount Pictures and BBC). Buy this series if you enjoy it.
http://wn.com/Smiley's_People_1982_Part_One
Smiley's People, television adaptation based on the third and final novel (1979) of the "Karla Trilogy", following Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1974) and The Honourable Schoolboy(1977). Dramatized by John Hopkins for television for the BBC in 1982, as a sequel to the television series Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979), again starring Alec Guinness as George Smiley. The screenplay was written by John le Carré and John Hopkins. I decided to upload this series as I am a big fan and wanted to inform others about this sublime series. I do not intend to violate any copyright acts. The copyrights belong to the rightful owners (Paramount Pictures and BBC). Buy this series if you enjoy it.
- published: 06 Sep 2012
- views: 14838
- author: BHASKAR KRISHNATREYA
Smiley's People (1982) Part Two
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 58:41
- Updated: 26 Dec 2012
Smiley's People, television adaptation based on the third and final novel (1979) of the "Karla Trilogy", following Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1974) and The Honourable Schoolboy(1977). Dramatized by John Hopkins for television for the BBC in 1982, as a sequel to the television series Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979), again starring Alec Guinness as George Smiley. The screenplay was written by John le Carré and John Hopkins. I decided to upload this series as I am a big fan and wanted to inform others about this sublime series. I do not intend to violate any copyright acts. The copyrights belong to the rightful owners (Paramount Pictures and BBC). Buy this series if you enjoy it.
http://wn.com/Smiley's_People_1982_Part_Two
Smiley's People, television adaptation based on the third and final novel (1979) of the "Karla Trilogy", following Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1974) and The Honourable Schoolboy(1977). Dramatized by John Hopkins for television for the BBC in 1982, as a sequel to the television series Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979), again starring Alec Guinness as George Smiley. The screenplay was written by John le Carré and John Hopkins. I decided to upload this series as I am a big fan and wanted to inform others about this sublime series. I do not intend to violate any copyright acts. The copyrights belong to the rightful owners (Paramount Pictures and BBC). Buy this series if you enjoy it.
- published: 06 Sep 2012
- views: 7863
- author: BHASKAR KRISHNATREYA
Smiley's People (1982) Part Three
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 58:21
- Updated: 16 Dec 2012
Smiley's People, television adaptation based on the third and final novel (1979) of the "Karla Trilogy", following Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1974) and The Honourable Schoolboy(1977). Dramatized by John Hopkins for television for the BBC in 1982, as a sequel to the television series Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979), again starring Alec Guinness as George Smiley. The screenplay was written by John le Carré and John Hopkins. I decided to upload this series as I am a big fan and wanted to inform others about this sublime series. I do not intend to violate any copyright acts. The copyrights belong to the rightful owners (Paramount Pictures and BBC). Buy this series if you enjoy it.
http://wn.com/Smiley's_People_1982_Part_Three
Smiley's People, television adaptation based on the third and final novel (1979) of the "Karla Trilogy", following Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1974) and The Honourable Schoolboy(1977). Dramatized by John Hopkins for television for the BBC in 1982, as a sequel to the television series Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979), again starring Alec Guinness as George Smiley. The screenplay was written by John le Carré and John Hopkins. I decided to upload this series as I am a big fan and wanted to inform others about this sublime series. I do not intend to violate any copyright acts. The copyrights belong to the rightful owners (Paramount Pictures and BBC). Buy this series if you enjoy it.
- published: 06 Sep 2012
- views: 7872
- author: BHASKAR KRISHNATREYA
Smiley's People (1982) Part Four
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 54:45
- Updated: 27 Dec 2012
Smiley's People, television adaptation based on the third and final novel (1979) of the "Karla Trilogy", following Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1974) and The Honourable Schoolboy(1977). Dramatized by John Hopkins for television for the BBC in 1982, as a sequel to the television series Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979), again starring Alec Guinness as George Smiley. The screenplay was written by John le Carré and John Hopkins. I decided to upload this series as I am a big fan and wanted to inform others about this sublime series. I do not intend to violate any copyright acts. The copyrights belong to the rightful owners (Paramount Pictures and BBC). Buy this series if you enjoy it.
http://wn.com/Smiley's_People_1982_Part_Four
Smiley's People, television adaptation based on the third and final novel (1979) of the "Karla Trilogy", following Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1974) and The Honourable Schoolboy(1977). Dramatized by John Hopkins for television for the BBC in 1982, as a sequel to the television series Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979), again starring Alec Guinness as George Smiley. The screenplay was written by John le Carré and John Hopkins. I decided to upload this series as I am a big fan and wanted to inform others about this sublime series. I do not intend to violate any copyright acts. The copyrights belong to the rightful owners (Paramount Pictures and BBC). Buy this series if you enjoy it.
- published: 06 Sep 2012
- views: 6828
- author: BHASKAR KRISHNATREYA
Smiley's People (1982) Part Five
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 58:58
- Updated: 27 Dec 2012
Smiley's People, television adaptation based on the third and final novel (1979) of the "Karla Trilogy", following Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1974) and The Honourable Schoolboy(1977). Dramatized by John Hopkins for television for the BBC in 1982, as a sequel to the television series Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979), again starring Alec Guinness as George Smiley. The screenplay was written by John le Carré and John Hopkins. I decided to upload this series as I am a big fan and wanted to inform others about this sublime series. I do not intend to violate any copyright acts. The copyrights belong to the rightful owners (Paramount Pictures and BBC). Buy this series if you enjoy it.
http://wn.com/Smiley's_People_1982_Part_Five
Smiley's People, television adaptation based on the third and final novel (1979) of the "Karla Trilogy", following Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1974) and The Honourable Schoolboy(1977). Dramatized by John Hopkins for television for the BBC in 1982, as a sequel to the television series Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979), again starring Alec Guinness as George Smiley. The screenplay was written by John le Carré and John Hopkins. I decided to upload this series as I am a big fan and wanted to inform others about this sublime series. I do not intend to violate any copyright acts. The copyrights belong to the rightful owners (Paramount Pictures and BBC). Buy this series if you enjoy it.
- published: 06 Sep 2012
- views: 8038
- author: BHASKAR KRISHNATREYA
Smiley's People (1982) Part Six
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 60:05
- Updated: 27 Dec 2012
Smiley's People, television adaptation based on the third and final novel (1979) of the "Karla Trilogy", following Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1974) and The Honourable Schoolboy(1977). Dramatized by John Hopkins for television for the BBC in 1982, as a sequel to the television series Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979), again starring Alec Guinness as George Smiley. The screenplay was written by John le Carré and John Hopkins. I decided to upload this series as I am a big fan and wanted to inform others about this sublime series. I do not intend to violate any copyright acts. The copyrights belong to the rightful owners (Paramount Pictures and BBC). Buy this series if you enjoy it.
http://wn.com/Smiley's_People_1982_Part_Six
Smiley's People, television adaptation based on the third and final novel (1979) of the "Karla Trilogy", following Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1974) and The Honourable Schoolboy(1977). Dramatized by John Hopkins for television for the BBC in 1982, as a sequel to the television series Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979), again starring Alec Guinness as George Smiley. The screenplay was written by John le Carré and John Hopkins. I decided to upload this series as I am a big fan and wanted to inform others about this sublime series. I do not intend to violate any copyright acts. The copyrights belong to the rightful owners (Paramount Pictures and BBC). Buy this series if you enjoy it.
- published: 06 Sep 2012
- views: 7314
- author: BHASKAR KRISHNATREYA
Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy (1979) Part 1
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 49:41
- Updated: 27 Dec 2012
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979), based on the first novel of the Karla Trilogy by the master spy storyteller John le Carré, was adapted to television as a seven-part series for the BBC, featuring Alec Guinness as George Smiley, of the SIS.
http://wn.com/Tinker_Taylor_Soldier_Spy_1979_Part_1
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979), based on the first novel of the Karla Trilogy by the master spy storyteller John le Carré, was adapted to television as a seven-part series for the BBC, featuring Alec Guinness as George Smiley, of the SIS.
- published: 09 Sep 2012
- views: 19700
- author: BHASKAR KRISHNATREYA
Our Man In Havana
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 107:23
- Updated: 10 Dec 2012
Needing money to satisfy his daughter Milly's (Jo Morrow) expensive tastes, Wormold (Alec Guinness), the Havana-based agent for a vacuum cleaner company, allows himself to be recruited into the British Secret Service by Hawthorne (Noel Coward). But, when his phony reports about ""recruiting"" fictitious agents and ""discovering"" mysterious installations cause his income and "expenses" to pile up, Wormold's secret service boss ""C"" (Ralph Richardson) sends Beatrice (Maureen O'Hara) to help him. Though enamored of Milly, Cuban police Captain Segura (Ernie Kovacs) discovers Wormold's plot and threatens to have him deported, making him a target for other spies. Under the circumstances, Wormold and Beatrice gladly head fore London to report to ""C"", where they are told his chicanery must never be revealed because it would be too scandalous. So, instead, Wormold is given a medal as he and Beatrice decide to marry. Watch Our Man in Havana and hundreds of other 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/Our_Man_In_Havana
Needing money to satisfy his daughter Milly's (Jo Morrow) expensive tastes, Wormold (Alec Guinness), the Havana-based agent for a vacuum cleaner company, allows himself to be recruited into the British Secret Service by Hawthorne (Noel Coward). But, when his phony reports about ""recruiting"" fictitious agents and ""discovering"" mysterious installations cause his income and "expenses" to pile up, Wormold's secret service boss ""C"" (Ralph Richardson) sends Beatrice (Maureen O'Hara) to help him. Though enamored of Milly, Cuban police Captain Segura (Ernie Kovacs) discovers Wormold's plot and threatens to have him deported, making him a target for other spies. Under the circumstances, Wormold and Beatrice gladly head fore London to report to ""C"", where they are told his chicanery must never be revealed because it would be too scandalous. So, instead, Wormold is given a medal as he and Beatrice decide to marry. Watch Our Man in Havana and hundreds of other free full-length streaming movies and TV shows on www.crackle.com Crackle Twitter twitter.com Be a Facebook Fan! www.facebook.com
- published: 25 Mar 2012
- views: 605
- author: Crackle
Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy (1979) Part 2
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 49:18
- Updated: 25 Dec 2012
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979), based on the first novel of the Karla Trilogy by the master spy storyteller John le Carré, was adapted to television as a seven-part series for the BBC, featuring Alec Guinness as George Smiley, of the SIS.
http://wn.com/Tinker_Taylor_Soldier_Spy_1979_Part_2
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979), based on the first novel of the Karla Trilogy by the master spy storyteller John le Carré, was adapted to television as a seven-part series for the BBC, featuring Alec Guinness as George Smiley, of the SIS.
- published: 09 Sep 2012
- views: 8803
- author: BHASKAR KRISHNATREYA
Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy (1979) Part 3
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 46:35
- Updated: 25 Dec 2012
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979), based on the first novel of the Karla Trilogy by the master spy storyteller John le Carré, was adapted to television as a seven-part series for the BBC, featuring Alec Guinness as George Smiley, of the SIS.
http://wn.com/Tinker_Taylor_Soldier_Spy_1979_Part_3
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979), based on the first novel of the Karla Trilogy by the master spy storyteller John le Carré, was adapted to television as a seven-part series for the BBC, featuring Alec Guinness as George Smiley, of the SIS.
- published: 09 Sep 2012
- views: 8138
- author: BHASKAR KRISHNATREYA
Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy (1979) Part 4
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 42:41
- Updated: 27 Dec 2012
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979), based on the first novel of the Karla Trilogy by the master spy storyteller John le Carré, was adapted to television as a seven-part series for the BBC, featuring Alec Guinness as George Smiley, of the SIS.
http://wn.com/Tinker_Taylor_Soldier_Spy_1979_Part_4
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979), based on the first novel of the Karla Trilogy by the master spy storyteller John le Carré, was adapted to television as a seven-part series for the BBC, featuring Alec Guinness as George Smiley, of the SIS.
- published: 09 Sep 2012
- views: 7562
- author: BHASKAR KRISHNATREYA
Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy Part 7
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 43:11
- Updated: 26 Dec 2012
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979), based on the first novel of the Karla Trilogy by the master spy storyteller John le Carré, was adapted to television as a seven-part series for the BBC, featuring Alec Guinness as George Smiley, of the SIS.
http://wn.com/Tinker_Taylor_Soldier_Spy_Part_7
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979), based on the first novel of the Karla Trilogy by the master spy storyteller John le Carré, was adapted to television as a seven-part series for the BBC, featuring Alec Guinness as George Smiley, of the SIS.
- published: 09 Sep 2012
- views: 6329
- author: BHASKAR KRISHNATREYA
Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy Part 6
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 41:02
- Updated: 25 Dec 2012
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979), based on the first novel of the Karla Trilogy by the master spy storyteller John le Carré, was adapted to television as a seven-part series for the BBC, featuring Alec Guinness as George Smiley, of the SIS.
http://wn.com/Tinker_Taylor_Soldier_Spy_Part_6
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979), based on the first novel of the Karla Trilogy by the master spy storyteller John le Carré, was adapted to television as a seven-part series for the BBC, featuring Alec Guinness as George Smiley, of the SIS.
- published: 09 Sep 2012
- views: 6469
- author: BHASKAR KRISHNATREYA
Lavender Hill Mob 1951.DVDRip.XviD.avi
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 81:16
- Updated: 26 Dec 2012
The title refers to Lavender Hill, a street in Battersea, a district of South London, in the postcode district SW11, near to Clapham Junction railway station. Henry Holland (Alec Guinness) is a timid London bank clerk who has been in charge of gold bullion deliveries for over 20 years. He has a reputation for fussing over details and panicking about suspect cars following the bullion van, and appears to be a man dedicated to his job and the gold's security. But, in fact, he has hatched the "perfect" plot to steal a load of bullion and retire. The one thing that has prevented this plan from being put into operation is that selling the gold on the black market in Britain would be too risky, and Holland is at a loss as to how to smuggle it abroad.
http://wn.com/Lavender_Hill_Mob_1951DVDRipXviDavi
The title refers to Lavender Hill, a street in Battersea, a district of South London, in the postcode district SW11, near to Clapham Junction railway station. Henry Holland (Alec Guinness) is a timid London bank clerk who has been in charge of gold bullion deliveries for over 20 years. He has a reputation for fussing over details and panicking about suspect cars following the bullion van, and appears to be a man dedicated to his job and the gold's security. But, in fact, he has hatched the "perfect" plot to steal a load of bullion and retire. The one thing that has prevented this plan from being put into operation is that selling the gold on the black market in Britain would be too risky, and Holland is at a loss as to how to smuggle it abroad.
- published: 03 Dec 2012
- views: 749
- author: Marius Lestat
Lemon Demon - "Damn Skippy" (2005)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 60:56
- Updated: 26 Dec 2012
I'm glad for the mid-2000s, but I don't miss them. Download this album free: www.lemondemon.com 0:00 - 1. Dead Sea Monkeys 4:08 - 2. Sky Is Not Blue 8:10 - 3. Pumpkin Pie 11:15 - 4. When Robots Attack 15:06 - 5. Geeks in Love 18:26 - 6. New Way Out 22:35 - 7. What Will Happen Will Happen 27:17 - 8. Kitten Is Angry 29:21 - 9. The Ceiling 31:05 - 10. Subtle Oddities 34:17 - 11. Gonna Dig Up Alec Guinness 37:18 - 12. Flamingo Legs 40:20 - 13. Ode to Crayola 43:32 - 14. Rainwater 45:49 - 15. Smell Like a Cookie All Day 49:23 - 16. Dizziful Bliss 53:06 - 17. Word Disassociation 57:08 - 18. Eventuality
http://wn.com/Lemon_Demon_Damn_Skippy_2005
I'm glad for the mid-2000s, but I don't miss them. Download this album free: www.lemondemon.com 0:00 - 1. Dead Sea Monkeys 4:08 - 2. Sky Is Not Blue 8:10 - 3. Pumpkin Pie 11:15 - 4. When Robots Attack 15:06 - 5. Geeks in Love 18:26 - 6. New Way Out 22:35 - 7. What Will Happen Will Happen 27:17 - 8. Kitten Is Angry 29:21 - 9. The Ceiling 31:05 - 10. Subtle Oddities 34:17 - 11. Gonna Dig Up Alec Guinness 37:18 - 12. Flamingo Legs 40:20 - 13. Ode to Crayola 43:32 - 14. Rainwater 45:49 - 15. Smell Like a Cookie All Day 49:23 - 16. Dizziful Bliss 53:06 - 17. Word Disassociation 57:08 - 18. Eventuality
- published: 08 Jun 2012
- views: 4335
- author: 2Neil2Cicierega
The Card 1952.avi
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 87:26
- Updated: 24 Dec 2012
The Card is a black-and-white film version of the novel by Arnold Bennett. Entitled The Promoter for its American audience, it was adapted by Eric Ambler and directed by Ronald Neame. It was released in 1952. It starred Alec Guinness as Denry Machin, Petula Clark as Nellie Cotterill, Valerie Hobson as the Countess, and Glynis Johns as Ruth Earp. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Sound. The film follows the adventures and misadventures of Edward Henry (Denry) Machin, an ambitious young man from a poor background. Denry cheats at an examination in order to qualify for entry to a 'school for the sons of gentlemen'. At the age of 16, he becomes a junior clerk to Mr. Duncalf, the town clerk and a solicitor. He meets the charming and socially well-connected Countess of Chell, a client of Duncalf's, and is given the job of sending out invitations to a grand municipal ball. He 'invites' himself, and wins a five-pound bet (equivalent to over two thousand pounds at 2010 values), that he will dance with the Countess. This earns him the reputation of a "card" (a "character", someone able to set tongues wagging) -- a reputation he is determined to cement. But the next day, Duncalf angrily sacks Denry. Denry offers his services as a rent collector to a dissatisfied former client of Duncalf's, Mrs Codleyn. His reputation as an efficient and no-nonsense collector brings the business of Mr Calvert. But Denry quickly realises that he can make more money by advancing ...
http://wn.com/The_Card_1952avi
The Card is a black-and-white film version of the novel by Arnold Bennett. Entitled The Promoter for its American audience, it was adapted by Eric Ambler and directed by Ronald Neame. It was released in 1952. It starred Alec Guinness as Denry Machin, Petula Clark as Nellie Cotterill, Valerie Hobson as the Countess, and Glynis Johns as Ruth Earp. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Sound. The film follows the adventures and misadventures of Edward Henry (Denry) Machin, an ambitious young man from a poor background. Denry cheats at an examination in order to qualify for entry to a 'school for the sons of gentlemen'. At the age of 16, he becomes a junior clerk to Mr. Duncalf, the town clerk and a solicitor. He meets the charming and socially well-connected Countess of Chell, a client of Duncalf's, and is given the job of sending out invitations to a grand municipal ball. He 'invites' himself, and wins a five-pound bet (equivalent to over two thousand pounds at 2010 values), that he will dance with the Countess. This earns him the reputation of a "card" (a "character", someone able to set tongues wagging) -- a reputation he is determined to cement. But the next day, Duncalf angrily sacks Denry. Denry offers his services as a rent collector to a dissatisfied former client of Duncalf's, Mrs Codleyn. His reputation as an efficient and no-nonsense collector brings the business of Mr Calvert. But Denry quickly realises that he can make more money by advancing ...
- published: 05 Dec 2012
- views: 491
- author: Marius Lestat
Filmes Completos Legendados BR - O Prisioneiro (1955) com Alec Guinness
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 89:58
- Updated: 24 Dec 2012
Título Original: The Prisoner Drama Um cardeal é preso, acusado de traição contra o Estado. Como um ícone de sua igreja e um herói de seu povo por sua resistência contra os nazistas durante a guerra, mais uma vez se vê curvado perante um conquistador totalitário. Na prisão, seu interrogador está determinado a obter uma confissão de culpa e assim destruir a influência que o acusado exerce sobre seu povo. Geraldão Movies: Filmes antigos, raros, todos legendados. Romances, "Faroestes", Dramas, Guerra, Suspenses, Musicais, Comédias, etc. Campeões de bilheteria dos anos 30, 40, 50, ... Assine o Canal e relaxe com os grandes clássicos que lotaram os cinemas nos bons tempos. Divulgue: www.youtube.com/user/ChannelCult Obrigado
http://wn.com/Filmes_Completos_Legendados_BR_O_Prisioneiro_1955_com_Alec_Guinness
Título Original: The Prisoner Drama Um cardeal é preso, acusado de traição contra o Estado. Como um ícone de sua igreja e um herói de seu povo por sua resistência contra os nazistas durante a guerra, mais uma vez se vê curvado perante um conquistador totalitário. Na prisão, seu interrogador está determinado a obter uma confissão de culpa e assim destruir a influência que o acusado exerce sobre seu povo. Geraldão Movies: Filmes antigos, raros, todos legendados. Romances, "Faroestes", Dramas, Guerra, Suspenses, Musicais, Comédias, etc. Campeões de bilheteria dos anos 30, 40, 50, ... Assine o Canal e relaxe com os grandes clássicos que lotaram os cinemas nos bons tempos. Divulgue: www.youtube.com/user/ChannelCult Obrigado
- published: 30 Nov 2012
- views: 691
- author: ChannelCult
83:37
Barnacle Bill. Starring Alec Guinness (1957).m4v
Barnacle Bill (released in the US as All at Sea) is a 1957 Ealing Studios comedy film, sta...
published: 08 Dec 2012
author: Marius Lestat
Barnacle Bill. Starring Alec Guinness (1957).m4v
Barnacle Bill (released in the US as All at Sea) is a 1957 Ealing Studios comedy film, starring Alec Guinness. He plays an unsuccessful Royal Navy officer, and six of his maritime ancestors. William Horatio Ambrose (Guinness) wants desperately to live up to the proud family tradition; the Ambroses have always been mariners, hence their family motto, Omnes per Mare (All at Sea). In humorous vignettes, Guinness portrays all six, starting with a confused caveman pioneer and ending with his own father's ignominious demise at the Battle of Jutland. Ambrose has a debilitating problem however: he gets violently seasick at the slightest excuse. As a result, his contribution to World War II consists of testing cures for the malady. When he retires from the Royal Navy as a captain, he purchases a dilapidated amusement pier (the closest thing to a command of his own) with his life savings. The workers are an apathetic bunch, led by an insolent Figg (Victor Maddern), who quits as soon as the new owner begins imposing some semblance of discipline. With the assistance of his new second in command, Tommy (Percy Herbert), and much hard work, Ambrose soon has the pier repaired. This was the last film Guinness made for Ealing Studios. By coincidence, the first Ealing film he starred in was Kind Hearts and Coronets, in which he also played multiple roles. Guinness actually served in the Royal Navy in World War II. Originally released on 17th December 1957. Music by Henry Mancini.
- published: 08 Dec 2012
- views: 1325
- author: Marius Lestat
89:58
The Prisoner (1955)
British drama directed by Peter Glenville and starring Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins and Wil...
published: 09 Oct 2012
author: JCaesarus
The Prisoner (1955)
British drama directed by Peter Glenville and starring Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins and Wilfrid Lawson. Screenplay by Bridget Boland; musical score by Benjamin Frankel. The movie is apparently inspired by historical facts: The resistance and subsequent imprisonment and torture of hungarian Cardinal József Mindszenty under communism.
- published: 09 Oct 2012
- views: 4263
- author: JCaesarus
172:26
The Fall Of The Roman Empire 1964[ Sophia Loren, Stephen Boyd and Alec Guinness]
...
published: 14 Nov 2012
author: Anca Dorin
The Fall Of The Roman Empire 1964[ Sophia Loren, Stephen Boyd and Alec Guinness]
- published: 14 Nov 2012
- views: 758
- author: Anca Dorin
108:28
Albert Finney is Scrooge (1970) Alec Guinness and Edith Evans FULL MOVIE
A musical retelling of Charles Dickens' classic Christmas tale. www.imdb.com...
published: 18 Dec 2012
author: TheCinemaVampire
Albert Finney is Scrooge (1970) Alec Guinness and Edith Evans FULL MOVIE
A musical retelling of Charles Dickens' classic Christmas tale. www.imdb.com
- published: 18 Dec 2012
- views: 2346
- author: TheCinemaVampire
184:21
The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964) Sophia Loren, Stephen Boyd and Alec Guinness FULL MOVIE
Action-packed look at the beginnings of the fall of the Roman Empire. Here is the glory, t...
published: 22 Oct 2012
author: MrsMovieLovesMovies
The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964) Sophia Loren, Stephen Boyd and Alec Guinness FULL MOVIE
Action-packed look at the beginnings of the fall of the Roman Empire. Here is the glory, the greed and grandeur that was Rome. Here is the story of personal lust for power, and the shattering effects of that power's loss. Here is the tale of the plight of a people living on the brink of a political abyss.
- published: 22 Oct 2012
- views: 4823
- author: MrsMovieLovesMovies
24:22
Peter and the Wolf (RCA Victor LM-1761) - Alec Guinness
See our complete collection of Long Playing Record Albums at www.kiddierecords.com....
published: 20 Jul 2012
author: KiddieRecordsWeekly
Peter and the Wolf (RCA Victor LM-1761) - Alec Guinness
See our complete collection of Long Playing Record Albums at www.kiddierecords.com.
- published: 20 Jul 2012
- views: 573
- author: KiddieRecordsWeekly
60:00
Smiley's People (1982) Part One
Smiley's People, television adaptation based on the third and final novel (1979) of the "K...
published: 06 Sep 2012
author: BHASKAR KRISHNATREYA
Smiley's People (1982) Part One
Smiley's People, television adaptation based on the third and final novel (1979) of the "Karla Trilogy", following Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1974) and The Honourable Schoolboy(1977). Dramatized by John Hopkins for television for the BBC in 1982, as a sequel to the television series Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979), again starring Alec Guinness as George Smiley. The screenplay was written by John le Carré and John Hopkins. I decided to upload this series as I am a big fan and wanted to inform others about this sublime series. I do not intend to violate any copyright acts. The copyrights belong to the rightful owners (Paramount Pictures and BBC). Buy this series if you enjoy it.
- published: 06 Sep 2012
- views: 14838
- author: BHASKAR KRISHNATREYA
58:41
Smiley's People (1982) Part Two
Smiley's People, television adaptation based on the third and final novel (1979) of the "K...
published: 06 Sep 2012
author: BHASKAR KRISHNATREYA
Smiley's People (1982) Part Two
Smiley's People, television adaptation based on the third and final novel (1979) of the "Karla Trilogy", following Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1974) and The Honourable Schoolboy(1977). Dramatized by John Hopkins for television for the BBC in 1982, as a sequel to the television series Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979), again starring Alec Guinness as George Smiley. The screenplay was written by John le Carré and John Hopkins. I decided to upload this series as I am a big fan and wanted to inform others about this sublime series. I do not intend to violate any copyright acts. The copyrights belong to the rightful owners (Paramount Pictures and BBC). Buy this series if you enjoy it.
- published: 06 Sep 2012
- views: 7863
- author: BHASKAR KRISHNATREYA
58:21
Smiley's People (1982) Part Three
Smiley's People, television adaptation based on the third and final novel (1979) of the "K...
published: 06 Sep 2012
author: BHASKAR KRISHNATREYA
Smiley's People (1982) Part Three
Smiley's People, television adaptation based on the third and final novel (1979) of the "Karla Trilogy", following Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1974) and The Honourable Schoolboy(1977). Dramatized by John Hopkins for television for the BBC in 1982, as a sequel to the television series Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979), again starring Alec Guinness as George Smiley. The screenplay was written by John le Carré and John Hopkins. I decided to upload this series as I am a big fan and wanted to inform others about this sublime series. I do not intend to violate any copyright acts. The copyrights belong to the rightful owners (Paramount Pictures and BBC). Buy this series if you enjoy it.
- published: 06 Sep 2012
- views: 7872
- author: BHASKAR KRISHNATREYA
54:45
Smiley's People (1982) Part Four
Smiley's People, television adaptation based on the third and final novel (1979) of the "K...
published: 06 Sep 2012
author: BHASKAR KRISHNATREYA
Smiley's People (1982) Part Four
Smiley's People, television adaptation based on the third and final novel (1979) of the "Karla Trilogy", following Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1974) and The Honourable Schoolboy(1977). Dramatized by John Hopkins for television for the BBC in 1982, as a sequel to the television series Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979), again starring Alec Guinness as George Smiley. The screenplay was written by John le Carré and John Hopkins. I decided to upload this series as I am a big fan and wanted to inform others about this sublime series. I do not intend to violate any copyright acts. The copyrights belong to the rightful owners (Paramount Pictures and BBC). Buy this series if you enjoy it.
- published: 06 Sep 2012
- views: 6828
- author: BHASKAR KRISHNATREYA
58:58
Smiley's People (1982) Part Five
Smiley's People, television adaptation based on the third and final novel (1979) of the "K...
published: 06 Sep 2012
author: BHASKAR KRISHNATREYA
Smiley's People (1982) Part Five
Smiley's People, television adaptation based on the third and final novel (1979) of the "Karla Trilogy", following Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1974) and The Honourable Schoolboy(1977). Dramatized by John Hopkins for television for the BBC in 1982, as a sequel to the television series Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979), again starring Alec Guinness as George Smiley. The screenplay was written by John le Carré and John Hopkins. I decided to upload this series as I am a big fan and wanted to inform others about this sublime series. I do not intend to violate any copyright acts. The copyrights belong to the rightful owners (Paramount Pictures and BBC). Buy this series if you enjoy it.
- published: 06 Sep 2012
- views: 8038
- author: BHASKAR KRISHNATREYA
60:05
Smiley's People (1982) Part Six
Smiley's People, television adaptation based on the third and final novel (1979) of the "K...
published: 06 Sep 2012
author: BHASKAR KRISHNATREYA
Smiley's People (1982) Part Six
Smiley's People, television adaptation based on the third and final novel (1979) of the "Karla Trilogy", following Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1974) and The Honourable Schoolboy(1977). Dramatized by John Hopkins for television for the BBC in 1982, as a sequel to the television series Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979), again starring Alec Guinness as George Smiley. The screenplay was written by John le Carré and John Hopkins. I decided to upload this series as I am a big fan and wanted to inform others about this sublime series. I do not intend to violate any copyright acts. The copyrights belong to the rightful owners (Paramount Pictures and BBC). Buy this series if you enjoy it.
- published: 06 Sep 2012
- views: 7314
- author: BHASKAR KRISHNATREYA
49:41
Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy (1979) Part 1
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979), based on the first novel of the Karla Trilogy by the ...
published: 09 Sep 2012
author: BHASKAR KRISHNATREYA
Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy (1979) Part 1
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979), based on the first novel of the Karla Trilogy by the master spy storyteller John le Carré, was adapted to television as a seven-part series for the BBC, featuring Alec Guinness as George Smiley, of the SIS.
- published: 09 Sep 2012
- views: 19700
- author: BHASKAR KRISHNATREYA
107:23
Our Man In Havana
Needing money to satisfy his daughter Milly's (Jo Morrow) expensive tastes, Wormold (Alec ...
published: 25 Mar 2012
author: Crackle
Our Man In Havana
Needing money to satisfy his daughter Milly's (Jo Morrow) expensive tastes, Wormold (Alec Guinness), the Havana-based agent for a vacuum cleaner company, allows himself to be recruited into the British Secret Service by Hawthorne (Noel Coward). But, when his phony reports about ""recruiting"" fictitious agents and ""discovering"" mysterious installations cause his income and "expenses" to pile up, Wormold's secret service boss ""C"" (Ralph Richardson) sends Beatrice (Maureen O'Hara) to help him. Though enamored of Milly, Cuban police Captain Segura (Ernie Kovacs) discovers Wormold's plot and threatens to have him deported, making him a target for other spies. Under the circumstances, Wormold and Beatrice gladly head fore London to report to ""C"", where they are told his chicanery must never be revealed because it would be too scandalous. So, instead, Wormold is given a medal as he and Beatrice decide to marry. Watch Our Man in Havana and hundreds of other free full-length streaming movies and TV shows on www.crackle.com Crackle Twitter twitter.com Be a Facebook Fan! www.facebook.com
- published: 25 Mar 2012
- views: 605
- author: Crackle
Vimeo results:
2:32
Alec Guinness
Bericht von Wilhelm G. Bohnes...
published: 16 Mar 2010
author: Jochen Bohnes
Alec Guinness
Bericht von Wilhelm G. Bohnes
25:00
Church Awakening-Guest Dr. Os Guinness-Air Date 6/15/2010 (24:59)
Church Awakening Radio Program with Pastor Alec Rowlands and Pastor Mark Nordtvedt....
published: 16 Jun 2010
author: soundthealarm
Church Awakening-Guest Dr. Os Guinness-Air Date 6/15/2010 (24:59)
Church Awakening Radio Program with Pastor Alec Rowlands and Pastor Mark Nordtvedt.
25:01
Church Awakening-Guest Dr. Os Guinness-Air Date 6/8/2010 (25:00)
Church Awakening Radio Program with Pastor Alec Rowlands and Pastor Mark Nordtvedt....
published: 10 Jun 2010
author: soundthealarm
Church Awakening-Guest Dr. Os Guinness-Air Date 6/8/2010 (25:00)
Church Awakening Radio Program with Pastor Alec Rowlands and Pastor Mark Nordtvedt.
4:56
Terence Davies: Reverse Shot Direct Address #13
The inimitable Terence Davies ("The Deep Blue Sea") has an animated chat with Reverse Shot...
published: 21 Mar 2012
author: Reverse Shot
Terence Davies: Reverse Shot Direct Address #13
The inimitable Terence Davies ("The Deep Blue Sea") has an animated chat with Reverse Shot's Damon Smith about time and memory, T.S. Eliot and Alec Guinness, the terror of being alive and the special magic of American musicals. On the occasion of Davies' latest film, BAMcinématek opens its seven-film retrospective March 22, celebrating "arguably the greatest living British director." New York's Film Forum opens "The Long Day Closes" on March 28. "The Deep Blue Sea," starring Rachel Weisz, is in theaters tomorrow.
Youtube results:
49:18
Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy (1979) Part 2
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979), based on the first novel of the Karla Trilogy by the ...
published: 09 Sep 2012
author: BHASKAR KRISHNATREYA
Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy (1979) Part 2
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979), based on the first novel of the Karla Trilogy by the master spy storyteller John le Carré, was adapted to television as a seven-part series for the BBC, featuring Alec Guinness as George Smiley, of the SIS.
- published: 09 Sep 2012
- views: 8803
- author: BHASKAR KRISHNATREYA
46:35
Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy (1979) Part 3
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979), based on the first novel of the Karla Trilogy by the ...
published: 09 Sep 2012
author: BHASKAR KRISHNATREYA
Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy (1979) Part 3
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979), based on the first novel of the Karla Trilogy by the master spy storyteller John le Carré, was adapted to television as a seven-part series for the BBC, featuring Alec Guinness as George Smiley, of the SIS.
- published: 09 Sep 2012
- views: 8138
- author: BHASKAR KRISHNATREYA
42:41
Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy (1979) Part 4
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979), based on the first novel of the Karla Trilogy by the ...
published: 09 Sep 2012
author: BHASKAR KRISHNATREYA
Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy (1979) Part 4
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979), based on the first novel of the Karla Trilogy by the master spy storyteller John le Carré, was adapted to television as a seven-part series for the BBC, featuring Alec Guinness as George Smiley, of the SIS.
- published: 09 Sep 2012
- views: 7562
- author: BHASKAR KRISHNATREYA
43:11
Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy Part 7
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979), based on the first novel of the Karla Trilogy by the ...
published: 09 Sep 2012
author: BHASKAR KRISHNATREYA
Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy Part 7
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979), based on the first novel of the Karla Trilogy by the master spy storyteller John le Carré, was adapted to television as a seven-part series for the BBC, featuring Alec Guinness as George Smiley, of the SIS.
- published: 09 Sep 2012
- views: 6329
- author: BHASKAR KRISHNATREYA
photo: AP / Juan Karita
04 Jan 2013
Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has released a public letter urging the United Kingdom to relinquish its control over the disputed Falkland Islands. ... The veterans delivered a letter addressed to the British Ambassador in Argentina, John Freeman, criticising the British government for refusing to discuss the sovereignty of the islands with the Argentine government ... 508 Source.. Al Jazeera and agencies. Share....(size: 19.6Kb)
photo: WN / Imran Nissar
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A gang of men accused of repeatedly raping a 23-year-old student on a moving bus in New Delhi in a deadly crime that repulsed the nation are to appear in court today for the first time. A British tourist join others in a candlelight vigil to mourn the death of a gang rape victim, in Kolkata, India Photo. AP. 3.52AM GMT 03 Jan 2013 ... Police have ordered a bone test to determine his age and whether he can stand trial in an adult court....(size: 11.3Kb)
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Washington. Aiming to get cooperation through dialogue, the US said that it is working hard to create an environment within Afghanistan and also in the region to have support for Afghan-Afghan reconciliation ... Responding to questions, Nuland said the US supports an Afghan-led process of reconciliation ... Saying that Pakistan needs to engage with Afghanistan directly, Nuland said the US supports dialogue between the two ... PTI ... First Published....(size: 2.3Kb)
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Syrian government forces have bombarded several rebel strongholds in the suburbs of Damascus to quell the fighters battling the regime of President Bashar al-Assad from reaching the capital. Activists on Saturday said troops leveled their bombardment campaign on the districts of Hajar al-Aswad and Qaboun in southern Damascus while they continued to shell the suburbs of Daraya, Beit Hahm, Zibdeen, Maadamiya and Jisteen ... 445 Source. ... ....(size: 19.0Kb)
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05 Jan 2013
Tweet. New Delhi, Jan 5 (ANI). The male friend of the 23-year-old medical student, who was gang-raped and left unclothed and bleeding in the street and later died in hospital two weeks after she was attacked on December 16 on a private bus in New Delhi, has said that things would have gone differently if someone had stopped to help ... "It would have been a very different scenario today, had even one person come to our help that day ... (ANI)....(size: 3.8Kb)
The Observer
30 Dec 2012
‘Diaries are fascinating for their strangeness, the unexpected tangents that pull you up short.' Photograph. Michael Hartmann/Getty/Imagebroker RF ... "At first I thought they were ringing for a victory." ... Now there is an archive to house these messages from the past ... "As I reluctantly swung out of bed I noticed my feet," wrote Alec Guinness on the first day of 1995, "never something on which I like to dwell." ... Sender's name ... Share ... ....(size: 6.6Kb)
The Examiner
23 Dec 2012
Are you a last-minute Holiday shopper? Then consider a gift of Entertainment. The City is filled with something for everyone ... FAMSF ... The magnetic Peter O’Toole leads the star-studded cast, including Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn and Omar Sharif, in this thrilling tale of a young British officer who audaciously leads a band of Bedouins in their revolt against the occupying Turks, and ends up believing himself a demigod in the process ... ....(size: 12.6Kb)
The Examiner
22 Dec 2012
Click here to purchase tickets on-line. CASTRO THEATRE ... Lawrence and his adventures in the Middle East circa WWI. The magnetic Peter O’Toole leads the star-studded cast, including Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn and Omar Sharif, in this thrilling tale of a young British officer who audaciously leads a band of Bedouins in their revolt against the occupying Turks, and ends up believing himself a demigod in the process ... LAWRENCE OF ARABIA ... ....(size: 3.7Kb)
Chicago Sun-Times
20 Dec 2012
Updated. December 19, 2012 9.14PM. Before Ewan McGregor gets into the land and water of his new movie “The Impossible,” why not pan up and talk about the stars?. “I wouldn’t want to see someone else playing Obi-Wan Kenobi,” he says, discussing the three new “Star Wars” films looming in the future for film fans. “I am Obi now. And Alec Guinness isn’t available,”. McGregor, a native of Scotland, can come back down to earth now ... ....(size: 3.1Kb)
NZ Herald
19 Dec 2012
Looking back at at the year in cinema, TimeOut film reviewers found it difficult to single out one title as top of the heap. Instead they offer this alphabetical list of the 30 films which left the biggest impression in 2012 and name a few genre champs ... Best drama. Amour. Director. Michael Haneke. Austria/France/Germany. It screened. (PC) ... And Gary Oldman was a fitting challenger to Alec Guinness, who has owned George Smiley for 40 years ... ....(size: 20.2Kb)
The Observer
16 Dec 2012
Alec Guinness and Joan Greenwood lead a flawless cast in The Man in the White Suit. Photograph. Cine Text/Sportsphoto Ltd/Allstar. Last September marked the centenary of the birth of Alexander Mackendrick (1912-93) ... Buy it from. Buy the DVD Buy the Blu-ray. It stars Alec Guinness as Sidney Stratton, a dreamily eccentric inventor who develops an artificial fibre that's indestructible and resistant to dirt ... Sender's name ... Share ... Contact us....(size: 4.9Kb)
noodls
14 Dec 2012
Sony Movie Channel will also pay tribute to the masterpiece work on Christmas Day, featuring additional classic projects from the movie's notable cast and crew, namely Peter O'Toole, Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn, Omar Sharif and director David Lean....(size: 4.9Kb)
Lexington Herald-Leader
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J.P. Cummins doesn't much sound like Gandalf when he picks up the phone. Point that out to him and listen to the change. The Lexingtonian's voice gets bigger, cinematic in scope and timbre, like the late Alec Guinness taking a run at the Ten Commandments. Or more appropriately, like Ian McKellen conjuring a spell as the powerful wizard in Peter Jackson's films based on J.R.R. Tolkein's The Lord of the Rings books ... The Hobbit ... ... Twitter ... ....(size: 3.2Kb)
m&c;
12 Dec 2012
Sony Movie Channel will also pay tribute to the masterpiece work on Christmas Day, featuring additional classic projects from the movies notable cast and crew, namely Peter OToole, Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn, Omar Sharif and director David Lean....(size: 4.0Kb)
PR Newswire
12 Dec 2012
Sony Movie Channel will also pay tribute to the masterpiece work on Christmas Day, featuring additional classic projects from the movie's notable cast and crew, namely Peter O'Toole, Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn, Omar Sharif and director David Lean....(size: 6.3Kb)
The Guardian
12 Dec 2012
Douglas H Jeffery's archive documents more than 30,000 productions, from RSC's early days to Lord of the Rings musical ... Photograph ... Among Dorney's favourites, she said, are shots from the Royal Court's disastrous Macbeth in 1966, which starred Alec Guinness and Simone Signoret with her unfortunately impenetrable French accent; Ginger Rogers in Mame in 1969; and Judi Dench and Michael Williams in the RSC's The Duchess of Malfi in 1971 ... ....(size: 5.2Kb)
The Guardian
11 Dec 2012
Pagans rank highly with 56,620 adherents, but high-profile Scientology is followed by only 2,418, and 14m have no religion. Sir Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan Kenobi. perhaps the best-known Jedi to wield a lightsabre. Photograph. AP ... Asked what religion they were, 6,242 answered Heavy Metal, 1,893 said they were Satanists and 650 said they were New Age ... ....(size: 3.1Kb)
The Inquisitr
10 Dec 2012
He would most likely play the role of a blue-tinted ghost much like the original Obi-Wan actor Alec Guinness did in episodes V and VI, and would be the second physical re-cast among the blue ghost crowd involved in Star Wars after Hayden Christensen replaced Sebastian Shaw at the end of “Return of the Jedi” ... alec guinness, blue ghost, Carrie Fisher, ......(size: 6.9Kb)
| Sir Alec Guinness | |
|---|---|
 Sir Alec Guinness in 1973 by Allan Warren |
|
| Born | Alec Guinness de Cuffe (1914-04-02)2 April 1914 Paddington, London, England, United Kingdom |
| Died | 5 August 2000(2000-08-05) (aged 86) Midhurst, West Sussex, England |
| Cause of death | Liver Cancer |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1934–96 |
| Spouse | Merula Salaman (m. 1938–2000) |
| Children | Matthew Guinness |
Sir Alec Guinness, CH, CBE (2 April 1914 – 5 August 2000) was an English actor. After an early career on the stage he was featured in several of the Ealing Comedies, including Kind Hearts and Coronets in which he played eight different characters. However, he was probably best known for his six collaborations with David Lean: Herbert Pocket in Great Expectations (1946), Fagin in Oliver Twist (1948), Col. Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor), Prince Faisal in Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Yevgraf in Doctor Zhivago (1965), and Professor Godbole in A Passage to India (1984). In later years, he achieved fame with younger audiences for his role as Obi-Wan Kenobi in George Lucas’s Star Wars films.
Contents |
Early life[link]
Guinness was born at 155 Lauderdale Mansions South, Lauderdale Road, Maida Vale, London as Alec Guinness de Cuffe.[1] His mother's maiden name was Agnes Cuff. She was born 8 December 1890 to Edward Cuff and Mary Ann Benfield. On Guinness's birth certificate, the space for the mother's name shows Agnes de Cuffe. The space for the infant's name (where first names only are given) says Alec Guinness. The column for name and surname of father is blank.[2]
It has been frequently speculated that the actor's father was a member of the Anglo-Irish Guinness family. However, it was a Scottish banker, Andrew Geddes, who paid for Guinness's private school education. From 1875, under English law, when the birth of an illegitimate child was registered, the father's name could be entered on the certificate only if he were present and gave his consent. Guinness and Geddes never met, and the identity of Guinness's father has never been confirmed.[3] Guinness was uninterested in his mother, who later had a short marriage to a violent,[4] shell-shocked veteran of the Irish War of Independence.[2]
Early career and war service[link]
Guinness first worked writing advertising copy. His first job in the theatre was on his 20th birthday, while he was still a drama student, in the play Libel, which opened at the old King's Theatre, Hammersmith, and then transferred to the Playhouse where his status was raised from a walk-on to understudying two lines and his salary increased to £1 a week.[5] He appeared at the Albery Theatre in 1936 at the age of 22, playing the role of Osric in John Gielgud's successful production of Hamlet. 1936 also saw Guinness sign on with the Old Vic, where he was cast in a series of classic roles.[6] During this time he worked with many actors and actresses who would become his friends and frequent co-stars in the future, including John Gielgud, Peggy Ashcroft, Anthony Quayle and Jack Hawkins. An early influence from afar was Stan Laurel, whom Guinness admired.[7]
Guinness continued playing Shakespearean roles throughout his career. In 1937 he played Aumerle in Richard II and Lorenzo in The Merchant of Venice under the direction of John Gielgud. He starred in a 1938 production of Hamlet which won him acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic.[6] He also appeared as Romeo in a production of Romeo and Juliet (1939), Andrew Aguecheek in Twelfth Night and as Exeter in Henry V in 1937, both opposite Laurence Olivier, and Ferdinand in The Tempest, opposite Gielgud as Prospero.
In 1939, he adapted Charles Dickens' novel Great Expectations for the stage, playing the part of Herbert Pocket. The play was a success. One of its viewers was a young British film editor, David Lean, who would later have Guinness reprise his role in Lean's 1946 film adaptation of the play.
Guinness served in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve in World War II, serving first as a seaman in 1941 and being commissioned the following year.[8] He commanded a landing craft taking part in the invasion of Sicily and Elba and later ferried supplies to the Yugoslav partisans.
During the war, he was granted leave to appear in the Broadway production of Terence Rattigan's play Flare Path about the RAF Bomber Command.[9]
Postwar stage career[link]
Guinness returned to the Old Vic in 1946 and stayed until 1948, playing Abel Drugger in Ben Jonson's The Alchemist, the Fool in King Lear opposite Laurence Olivier in the title role, DeGuiche in Cyrano de Bergerac opposite Ralph Richardson in the title role, and finally starring in an Old Vic production as Shakespeare's Richard II. After leaving the Old Vic, he played Eric Birling in J. B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls at the New Theatre in October 1946. He played the Uninvited Guest in the Broadway production of T. S. Eliot's The Cocktail Party (1950, revived at the Edinburgh Festival in 1968). His third attempt at the title role of Hamlet, this time under his own direction at the New Theatre (1951), proved a major theatrical disaster.[10]
Invited by his friend Tyrone Guthrie to join the premier season of the Stratford Festival of Canada, Guinness lived for a brief time in Stratford, Ontario. On 13 July 1953, Guinness spoke the first lines of the first play produced by the festival, Shakespeare's Richard III: "Now is the winter of our discontent/Made glorious summer by this sun of York."
Guinness won a Tony Award for his Broadway performance as poet Dylan Thomas in Dylan. He next played the title role in Macbeth opposite Simone Signoret at the Royal Court Theatre in 1966, a conspicuous failure.[11]
Guinness made his final stage performance at the Comedy Theatre on 30 May 1989, in the play A Walk in the Woods. In all, between 2 April 1934 and 30 May 1989, he played 77 parts in the theatre.[12]
Film career[link]
In films, Guinness was initially associated mainly with the Ealing comedies, and particularly for playing eight different characters in Kind Hearts and Coronets. Other films from this period included The Lavender Hill Mob, The Ladykillers, and The Man in the White Suit. In 1952, director Ronald Neame cast Guinness in his first romantic lead role, opposite Petula Clark in The Card. In 1951, exhibitors voted him the most popular British star.[13]
Other notable film roles of this period included The Swan (1956) with Grace Kelly, in her second to last film role; The Horse's Mouth (1958) in which Guinness played the part of drunken painter Gulley Jimson as well as contributing the screenplay, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award; the lead in Carol Reed's Our Man in Havana (1959); Marcus Aurelius in The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964); The Quiller Memorandum (1966); Marley's Ghost in Scrooge (1970); Charles I in Cromwell (1970); Pope Innocent III in Franco Zeffirelli's Brother Sun, Sister Moon (1972); and the title role in Hitler: The Last Ten Days (1973), which he considered his best film performance, though critics disagreed.[14]
Guinness also played the role of Jamessir Bensonmum, the blind butler, in the 1976 Neil Simon film Murder By Death.
David Lean[link]
Guinness won particular acclaim for his work with director David Lean, which today is his best-known and most critically acclaimed work. After appearing in Lean's Great Expectations and Oliver Twist, he was given a starring role opposite William Holden in The Bridge on the River Kwai. For his performance as Colonel Nicholson, the unyielding British POW leader, Guinness won an Academy Award. Despite a difficult and often hostile relationship, Lean, referring to Guinness as "my good luck charm", continued to cast Guinness in character roles in his later films: Arab leader Prince Feisal in Lawrence of Arabia; the title character's half-brother, Bolshevik leader Yevgraf, in Doctor Zhivago; and Indian mystic Godbole in A Passage to India. He was also offered a role in Lean's Ryan's Daughter (1970), but declined. By that time, Guinness had "mistrusted" Lean and considered the earlier close relationship as strained; although at his funeral, he recalled that the famed director had been "charming and affable".[15]
[edit] Star Wars
Guinness's role as Obi-Wan Kenobi in the original Star Wars trilogy, beginning in 1977, brought him worldwide recognition by a new generation, as well as Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations. In letters to his friends, Guinness described the film as "fairy tale rubbish," but the movie's sense of moral good – and the studio's doubling of his initial salary offer – appealed to him, and he signed on. [16] He was one of the few cast members who believed that the film would be a box office hit; he negotiated a deal for 2% of the gross royalties paid to the director, George Lucas, who received one fifth of the box office takings. This made him very wealthy in his later life, and he agreed to take the part of Kenobi on the condition that he would not have to do any publicity to promote the film. Upon his first viewing of the film, Guinness wrote in his diary that "It's a pretty staggering film as spectacle and technically brilliant. Exciting, very noisy and warm-hearted. The battle scenes at the end go on for five minutes too long, I feel, and some of the dialogue is excruciating and much of it is lost in noise, but it remains a vivid experience."[17]
Despite these rewards, Guinness soon became unhappy with being identified with the part, and expressed dismay at the fan-following that the Star Wars trilogy attracted. In the DVD commentary of the original Star Wars, director George Lucas says that Guinness was not happy with the script re-write in which Obi-Wan is killed. However, Guinness said in a 1999 interview that it was actually his idea to kill off Obi-Wan, persuading Lucas that it would make him a stronger character, and that Lucas agreed to the idea. Guinness stated in the interview, "What I didn't tell Lucas was that I just couldn't go on speaking those bloody awful, banal lines. I'd had enough of the mumbo jumbo." He went on to say that he "shrivelled up" every time Star Wars was mentioned to him.[18]
Although Guinness disliked the fame attracted by work he did not esteem,[17] Lucas and fellow cast members Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Anthony Daniels, and Carrie Fisher have spoken highly of his courtesy and professionalism, both on and off the set. Lucas credited him with inspiring cast and crew to work harder, saying that Guinness contributed significantly to achieving completion of the filming. Guinness was quoted as saying that the royalties he obtained from working on the films gave him "no complaints; let me leave it by saying I can live for the rest of my life in the reasonably modest way I am now used to, that I have no debts and I can afford to refuse work that doesn't appeal to me." In his autobiography, Blessings In Disguise, Guinness tells an imaginary interviewer "Blessed be Star Wars", regarding the income it provided.[19]
In the final volume of the book A Positively Final Appearance (1997), Guinness recounts grudgingly giving an autograph to a young fan who claimed to have watched Star Wars over 100 times, on the condition that the boy promise to stop watching the film, because, as Guinness told him, "this is going to be an ill effect on your life." The fan was stunned at first, but later thanked him (though some sources say it went differently). Guinness is quoted as saying: "Well," I said, "do you think you could promise never to see Star Wars again?" He burst into tears. His mother drew herself up to an immense height. "What a dreadful thing to say to a child!" she barked, and dragged the poor kid away. Maybe she was right but I just hope the lad, now in his thirties, is not living in a fantasy world of secondhand, childish banalities.[20] Guinness grew so tired of modern audiences apparently knowing him only for his role of Obi-Wan Kenobi that he would throw away the mail he received from Star Wars fans without reading it.[21]
Television appearances[link]
From the 1970s, Guinness made regular television appearances, including the part of George Smiley in the serialisations of two novels by John le Carré: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and Smiley's People. Le Carré was so impressed by Guinness's performance as Smiley that he based his characterisation of Smiley in subsequent novels on Guinness.
One of Guinness's last appearances was in the BBC drama Eskimo Day.
Awards and honours[link]
Guinness won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1957 for his role in The Bridge on the River Kwai having been unsuccessfully nominated in 1952 for his performance in The Lavender Hill Mob. He was nominated in 1958 for the Academy Award for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium, for his screenplay adapted from Joyce Cary's novel The Horse's Mouth. He was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars in 1977. He received an Academy Honorary Award for lifetime achievement in 1980. In 1988, he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for Little Dorrit.
For his theatre work, he received an Evening Standard Award for his performance as T.E. Lawrence in Ross and a Tony Award for his Broadway turn as Dylan Thomas in Dylan.[22]
Guinness was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1955, and was knighted in 1959.[6] In 1991, he received an honorary doctorate from Cambridge University.[23] Three years later, at age 80, he was appointed a Companion of Honour.[24]
Guinness received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1559 Vine Street on 8 February 1960.[2]
Personal life[link]
 |
This section's references may not meet Wikipedia's guidelines for reliable sources. Please help by checking whether the references meet the criteria for reliable sources. (April 2011) |
Guinness married the artist, playwright and actress Merula Sylvia Salaman (16 October 1914 – 18 October 2000) in 1938; in 1940, they had a son, Matthew Guinness, who later became an actor.
In his biography, Alec Guinness: The Unknown, Garry O'Connor says that Guinness was arrested and fined 10 guineas for a homosexual act in a public lavatory in Liverpool in 1946. Guinness avoided publicity by giving his name to police and court as "Herbert Pocket", the name of the character he played in Great Expectations. The incident did not become public knowledge until April 2001, eight months after his death when a BBC News article claimed that Guinness was in fact bisexual and that he had successfully kept his sexuality private from the public eye as his closest friends and family members also knew he had sexual relationships with men.[25] Piers Paul Read, Guinness's official biographer, doubts that this incident actually occurred. He believes that Guinness was confused with John Gielgud, who was infamously arrested for such an act around the same time.
Religious conversion[link]
While serving in the Royal Navy, Guinness had planned to become an Anglican priest. However, in 1954, while he was filming Father Brown in Burgundy, Guinness, who was in costume as a Catholic priest, was mistaken for a real priest by a local child. Guinness was far from fluent in French, and the child apparently did not notice that Guinness did not understand him, but took his hand and chattered while the two strolled; the child then waved and trotted off.[26] The confidence and affection the clerical attire appeared to inspire in the boy left a deep impression on the actor.[27] Alec Guinness was formally received into the Roman Catholic Church on 24 March 1956. His wife followed suit in 1957 while he was in Sri Lanka filming The Bridge on the River Kwai, and she informed him only after the event.[28] They remained devout and regular church-goers for the remainder of their lives. Their son Matthew had converted to Catholicism some time earlier.[29] Every morning, Guinness recited a verse from Psalm 143, "Cause me to hear your loving kindness in the morning".[30]
Death[link]
Guinness died on 5 August 2000, from liver cancer, at Midhurst in West Sussex.[31] He had been receiving hospital treatment for glaucoma, and had recently also been diagnosed with prostate cancer. He was interred at Petersfield, Hampshire, England. His widow, Lady Guinness, died of cancer at Petersfield, two months after her husband, also aged 86,[32] and was interred alongside her husband of 62 years.
Autobiographies and biography[link]
Guinness wrote three volumes of a best-selling autobiography, beginning with Blessings in Disguise in 1985, followed by My Name Escapes Me in 1996, and A Positively Final Appearance in 1999. He recorded each of them as an audiobook. Shortly after his death, Lady Guinness asked the couple's close friend and fellow Catholic, novelist Piers Paul Read, to write Guinness's official biography. It was published in 2003.
Filmography[link]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1934 | Evensong | Extra (World War I soldier in audience) | uncredited |
| 1946 | Great Expectations | Herbert Pocket | |
| 1948 | Oliver Twist | Fagin | |
| 1949 | Kind Hearts and Coronets |
|
National Board of Review Award for Best Actor |
| 1949 | Run for Your Money, AA Run for Your Money | Whimple | |
| 1950 | Last Holiday | George Bird | |
| 1950 | Mudlark, TheThe Mudlark | Benjamin Disraeli | |
| 1951 | Lavender Hill Mob, TheThe Lavender Hill Mob | Henry Holland |
|
| 1951 | Man in the White Suit, TheThe Man in the White Suit | Sidney Stratton | |
| 1952 | Card, TheThe Card | Edward Henry 'Denry' Machin | released in the United States as The Promoter |
| 1953 | Square Mile, TheThe Square Mile | narrator | short subject |
| 1953 | Malta Story | Flight Lt. Peter Ross | |
| 1953 | Captain's Paradise, TheThe Captain's Paradise | Capt. Henry St. James | |
| 1954 | Father Brown | Father Brown | |
| 1954 | Stratford Adventure, TheThe Stratford Adventure | Himself | short subject |
| 1955 | Rowlandson's England | narrator | short subject |
| 1955 | To Paris with Love | Col. Sir Edgar Fraser | |
| 1955 | Prisoner, TheThe Prisoner | Cardinal, TheThe Cardinal | Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role |
| 1955 | Ladykillers, TheThe Ladykillers | Professor Marcus | |
| 1956 | Swan, TheThe Swan | Prince Albert | |
| 1957 | Bridge on the River Kwai, TheThe Bridge on the River Kwai | Col. Nicholson |
|
| 1957 | Barnacle Bill | Captain William Horatio Ambrose | released in the United States as All at Sea |
| 1958 | Horse's Mouth, TheThe Horse's Mouth | Gulley Jimson |
|
| 1959 | Our Man in Havana | Jim Wormold | |
| 1959 | Scapegoat, TheThe Scapegoat | John Barratt/Jacques De Gue | |
| 1960 | Tunes of Glory | Maj. Jock Sinclair, D.S.O., M.M. | Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role |
| 1962 | Majority of One, AA Majority of One | Koichi Asano | |
| 1962 | H.M.S. Defiant | Captain Crawford | |
| 1962 | Lawrence of Arabia | Prince Faisal | |
| 1964 | Fall of the Roman Empire, TheThe Fall of the Roman Empire | Marcus Aurelius | |
| 1965 | Pasternak | Himself | short subject |
| 1965 | Situation Hopeless ... But Not Serious | Wilhelm Frick | |
| 1965 | Doctor Zhivago | Gen. Yevgraf Zhivago | |
| 1966 | Hotel Paradiso | Benedict Boniface | |
| 1966 | Quiller Memorandum, TheThe Quiller Memorandum | Pol | |
| 1967 | Comedians in Africa, TheThe Comedians in Africa | Himself | uncredited, short subject |
| 1967 | Comedians, TheThe Comedians | Major H.O. Jones | Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor |
| 1970 | Cromwell | King Charles I | |
| 1970 | Scrooge | Jacob Marley's ghost | |
| 1972 | Brother Sun, Sister Moon | Pope Innocent III | |
| 1973 | Hitler: The Last Ten Days | Adolf Hitler | |
| 1976 | Murder by Death | Jamesir Bensonmum | |
| 1977 | Star Wars | Obi-Wan Kenobi | |
| 1979 | Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy | George Smiley | British Academy Television Award for Best Actor |
| 1980 | The Empire Strikes Back | Obi-Wan Kenobi | |
| 1980 | Raise the Titanic | John Bigalow | |
| 1980 | Little Lord Fauntleroy | Earl of Dorincourt | |
| 1982 | Smiley's People | George Smiley | |
| 1983 | Lovesick | Sigmund Freud | |
| 1983 | Return of the Jedi | Obi-Wan Kenobi | |
| 1984 | Passage to India, AA Passage to India | Professor Godbole | |
| 1985 | Monsignor Quixote | Monsignor Quixote | |
| 1988 | Little Dorrit | William Dorrit | |
| 1988 | Handful of Dust, AA Handful of Dust | Mr. Todd | |
| 1991 | Kafka | chief clerk, TheThe chief clerk | |
| 1993 | Foreign Field, AA Foreign Field | Amos | |
| 1994 | Mute Witness | Reaper, TheThe Reaper | |
| 1996 | Eskimo Day | James |
Box Office Ranking in Britain[link]
For a number of years, British film exhibitors voted Guinness among the most popular stars in Britain at the box office via an annual poll in the Motion Picture Herald.
- 1951 - 1st most popular British star (5th overall)[13]
- 1952 - 3rd most popular British star[33]
- 1953 - 2nd most popular British star[34]
- 1954 - 6th most popular British star[35]
- 1955 - 10th most popular British star[36]
- 1956 - 8th most popular British star[37]
- 1958 - most popular star[38]
- 1960 - 4th most popular star[39]
References[link]
- Notes
- ^ GRO Register of Births: June 1914 1a 39 Paddington – Alec Guinness De Cuffe, mmn = De Cuffe.
- ^ a b c "Alec Guinness." Hollywood Walk of Fame (Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, Hollywood, California), 2011. Retrieved: 22 June 2011.
- ^ "Alec Guinness biography." MSN Movies. Retrieved: 29 July 2007.
- ^ "Guinness: The black stuff." guardian.co. Retrieved: 8 April 2012.
- ^ Extracts from Guinness's Journals, The Daily Telegraph, 20 March 1999.
- ^ a b c ‘Guinness, Alec (1914 - )’ 2000, in The Cambridge Guide to Theatre, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom, viewed 22 June 2011, from Credo reference(Subscription required)
- ^ On 3 June 1961, Alec Guinness sent a letter to Stan Laurel,[1] acknowledging that he had unconsciously modelled his portrayal of Sir Andrew Aguecheek as he imagined Laurel might have done. Guinness was 23 at the time he was performing in Twelfth Night, so this would have been around 1937, by which time Laurel had become an international movie star.
- ^ Houterman, J.N. "Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR) Officers 1939–1945." Unithistories.com. Retrieved: 7 March 2010.
- ^ "Theatre Obituaries: Sir Alec Guinness." The Telegraph, 8 August 2000. Retrieved: 22 February 2011.
- ^ * McCarten, John. "Eliot and Guinness." The New Yorker, Volume 25, Issue 50, 1950, pp. 25–26.
- ^ Taylor 2000, pp. 133–134.
- ^ Alec Guinness, Journals, November 1998.
- ^ a b "Vivien Leigh Actress Of The Year." Townsville Daily Bulletin (Qld.: 1885–1954), via National Library of Australia, 29 December 1951, p. 1. Retrieved: 24 April 2012.
- ^ Canby, Vincent. "Screen: 'Last Ten Days': Guinness Plays Hitler in Bunker Episode, The Cast." The New York Times, 10 May 1973.
- ^ Guinness 1998, pp. 90–91.
- ^ Selim, Jocelyn. "Alec Guinness: Reluctant Intergalactic Icon." Cancer Today magazine, Spring 2012.
- ^ a b Read 2005, p. 507.
- ^ "Alec Guinness Blasts Jedi 'Mumbo Jumbo'." Space.com, 8 August 1999.
- ^ Guinness 1986, p. 214.
- ^ Guinness 2001, p. 11.
- ^ "The shy introvert who shone on screen." The Guardian, 7 August 2000.
- ^ Taylor 2000, p. 131.
- ^ "Honorary Degrees conferred from 1977 till present." Cambridge University, 18 December 2008.
- ^ Chambers 2002, p. 334.
- ^ "Sir Alec Guinness was bisexual." BBC News (Showbiz), 16 April 2001. Retrieved: 24 August 2009.
- ^ Pearce 2006, p. 301.
- ^ "Sir Alec Guinness." Telegraph (Obituaries), 8 August 2000. Retrieved: 26 August 2009.
- ^ Pearce 2006, p. 311.
- ^ Sutcliffe, Tom."Sir Alec Guinness (1914–2000)." The Guardian, 7 August 2000. Retrieved: 26 August 2009.
- ^ The invisible man, by Hugh Davies, originally published in the Telegraph and reprinted in The Sunday Age, 13 August 2000.
- ^ GRO Register of Deaths: AUG 2000 1DD 21 Chicester– Alec Guinness, DoB = 2 April 1914, aged 86.
- ^ GRO Register of Deaths: OCT 2000 38C 104 Petersfield – Merula Sylvia (Lady) Guinness, DoB = 16 October 1914, aged 86.
- ^ "Comedian tops film poll." The Sunday Herald (Sydney, NSW: 1949–1953), via National Library of Australia, 28 December 1952, p. 4. Retrieved: 27 April 2012.
- ^ "Film Data for 1953." heylookmeover. Retrieved: 27 April 2012.
- ^ "Film Data for 1954." heylookmeover. Retrieved: 27 April 2012.
- ^ "Film Data for 1955." heylookmeover. Retrieved: 27 April 2012.
- ^ "Film Data for 1956." heylookmeover. Retrieved: 27 April 2012.
- ^ "Film Data for 1958." heylookmeover. Retrieved: 27 April 2012.
- ^ "Film Data for 1960." heylookmeover. Retrieved: 27 April 2012.
- Bibliography
- Chambers, Colin. Continuum Companion to Twentieth Century Theatre. London: Continuum International Publishing Group, 2002. ISBN 0-8264-4959-X.
- Guinness, Alec. A Positively Final Appearance: A Journal, 1996-1998. London: Penquin Books, 2001. ISBN 978-0-14-029964-9.
- Guinness, Alec. My Name Escapes Me. London: Penquin Books, 1998. ISBN 978-0-14-027745-6.
- Pearce, Joseph. Literary Converts: Spiritual Inspiration in an Age of Unbelief. London: Ignatius Press, 2006. ISBN 978-1-58617-159-9.
- Read, Piers Paul. Alec Guinness: The Authorised Biography. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2005. ISBN 978-0-7432-4498-5.
- Taylor, John Russell. Alec Guinness: A Celebration. London: Pavilion, 2000. ISBN 1-86205-501-7.
External links[link]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Alec Guinness |
- Alec Guinness at the Internet Broadway Database
- Alec Guinness at the Internet Movie Database
- Alec Guinness at the British Film Institute's Screenonline
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Guinness, Alec |
| Alternative names | Guinness de Cuffe, Alec |
| Short description | English actor |
| Date of birth | 2 April 1914 |
| Place of birth | Paddington, London, England, UK |
| Date of death | 5 August 2000 |
| Place of death | Midhurst, West Sussex, England, UK |
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Wiki Summary
Sir Alec Guinness, CH, CBE (2 April 1914 – 5 August 2000) was an English actor. After an early career on the stage he was featured in several of the Ealing Comedies, including Kind Hearts and Coronets in which he played eight different characters. However, he was probably best known for his six collaborations with David Lean: Herbert Pocket in Great Expectations (1946), Fagin in Oliver Twist (1948), Col. Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor), Prince Faisal in Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Yevgraf in Doctor Zhivago (1965), and Professor Godbole in A Passage to India (1984). In later years, he achieved fame with younger audiences for his role as Obi-Wan Kenobi in George Lucas’s Star Wars films.
Guinness was born at 155 Lauderdale Mansions South, Lauderdale Road, Maida Vale, London as Alec Guinness de Cuffe. His mother's maiden name was Agnes Cuff. She was born 8 December 1890 to Edward Cuff and Mary Ann Benfield. On Guinness's birth certificate, the space for the mother's name shows Agnes de Cuffe. The space for the infant's name (where first names only are given) says Alec Guinness. The column for name and surname of father is blank.
