Jack Lawrence (September 2, 1995) was an American songwriter. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1975.

Biography[link]

Jack Lawrence was born Jacob Louis Schwartz in Brooklyn, New York City to an Orthodox Jewish family of modest means as the third of four sons. His parents Barney (Beryl) Schwartz and Fanny (Fruma) Goldman Schwartz were first cousins who had run away from their home in Belaya Tserkov (Bila Tserkva, Ukraine) to come to America in 1904.

Lawrence wrote songs while still a child, but because of parental pressure after he graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School, he enrolled in the First Institute of Podiatry where he received a doctoral degree in 1932. The same year, his first song was published and he immediately decided to make a career of songwriting rather than podiatry. That song, "Play, Fiddle, Play", won international fame and he became a member of ASCAP that year at age 20.

In the early 1940s Lawrence and several fellow hit makers formed a sensational review called "Songwriters on Parade", performing all across the Eastern seaboard on the Loew's and Keith circuits.

Lawrence joined the United States Maritime Service during World War II and wrote the official song of the Maritime Service and Merchant Marine, "Heave Ho! My Lads, Heave Ho!" as a lieutenant in 1943, while bandleader at Sheepshead Bay Maritime Service Training Station in New York.

One of Jack Lawrence's first major songs after leaving the service was "Yes, My Darling Daughter", introduced by Dinah Shore on Eddie Cantor's radio program. The song was Shore's first record. His song, "If I Didn't Care", introduced the world to The Ink Spots. And, although Frank Sinatra was already a well-known big band singer, Lawrence's "All or Nothing at All" was Sinatra's first solo hit.

In 1946, Lawrence published a song he had written during his tour of duty in World War II. It was released in February 1947 and eventually spent 2 weeks at #1. He wrote it for the then-five-year-old daughter of his attorney, Lee Eastman: Linda Eastman, future first wife of Beatle Paul McCartney. The name of the song was "Linda".

Lawrence also wrote the lyrics for "Tenderly", Rosemary Clooney's trademark song (in collaboration with composer Walter Gross, as well as the English language lyric to "Beyond the Sea" (based on Charles Trenet's French language song "La mer"), the trademark song for Bobby Darin. Another French song for which Lawrence wrote an English lyric was "La Goualante de Pauvre Jean", becoming "The Poor People of Paris".

Together with Richard Myers he wrote "Hold My Hand", which was featured in the film Susan Slept Here and nominated for the 1954 Academy Award for Best Song.

Lawrence died on March 16, 2009 at age 96 after a fall in his home in Redding, Connecticut.^[1]

Work on Broadway[link]

• Follow Thru (1929) — musical; actor for the role of "Country Club Boy"
• Courtin' Time (1951) — musical; co-composer and co-lyricist with Don Walker
• Ziegfeld Follies of 1957 (1957) — revue; featured lyricist for "Bring on the Girls" and "Music for Madame"
• Maybe Tuesday (1958) — play; co-producer
• I Had a Ball (1964) — musical; co-composer and co-lyricist
• Lena Horne: "The Lady and Her Music" (1981) — concert; co-producer
• Come Back to the 5 & Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982) — play; co-producer
• The Golden Age (1984) — play; owner of the Jack Lawrence Theatre (formerly the Playhouse Theatre)^[2]
• Quilters (1984) — musical; owner of the Jack Lawrence Theatre
• So Long on Lonely Street (1986) — play; owner of the Jack Lawrence Theatre

Jack Lawrence also wrote the lyrics to: " Sleepy Lagoon " a popular hit by the Platters. The music to " Sleepy Lagoon " was written by Eric Coates in 1940. It was originally a hit for Harry James and his Orchestra in the early 1940s.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Jack Lawrence biography
• Jack Lawrence at the Songwriters Hall of Fame
• Jack Lawrence at the Internet Broadway Database
• Jack Lawrence at Allmusic

Jack Lawrence
Lawrence performing at Accelerator, Stockholm, in 2006 with The Raconteurs.
Background information
Birth name	Jack Lawrence
Born	(1976-12-18) December 18, 1976 (age 35)
Genres	Rock
Instruments	Bass, autoharp, banjo, piano, vocals, drums, guitar, clarinet mandolin, accordion, double bass
Years active	1996–present
Labels	V2, Telstar, Third Man, Warner Bros., XL,
Associated acts	The Greenhornes, The Raconteurs, The Dead Weather, Blanche
Notable instruments
Rickenbacker 4001 bass Gretsch White Falcon Bass

"Little" Jack Lawrence (born December 18, 1976) is an American musician from Covington, Kentucky, currently living in Nashville, Tennessee.

Career[link]

Lawrence currently plays bass guitar in The Raconteurs, The Greenhornes and The Dead Weather,^[1] as well as the autoharp and banjo in Blanche. He also guested on the theme song to the 2008 Bond film Quantum of Solace entitled "Another Way To Die", playing bass guitar and baritone guitar.^[2] On May 22, 2009, Lawrence married photographer Jo McCaughey at Jack White's house in Nashville in a double ceremony with Meg White and her husband.^[3] Most recently, Lawrence contributed to the soundtrack of the Spike Jonze film "Where the Wild Things Are". He is uncredited but is one of the members of Karen O's backup band for the album; the group is called Karen O and the Kids. He is also credited on four songs from Wanda Jackson's new album entitled "The Party Ain't Over", which Jack White produced. He also plays bass on one track on Jack White's new album "Blunderbuss".

Discography[link]

• 1999 The Greenhornes - Gun For You
• 2001 The Greenhornes - The Greenhornes
• 2002 The Greenhornes - Dual Mono
• 2004 Loretta Lynn - Van Lear Rose
• 2005 The Greenhornes - East Grand Blues EP
• 2005 The Greenhornes - Sewed Soles
• 2004 Blanche - America's Newest Hitmakers
• 2006 The Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soldiers
• 2007 Blanche - Little Amber Bottles
• 2008 The Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely
• 2009 The Dead Weather - Horehound
• 2009 Karen O & The Kids - Where the Wild Things Are
• 2010 The Dead Weather - Sea of Cowards
• 2010 The Greenhornes - ★★★★
• 2010 Karen Elson- "The Ghost Who Walks"
• 2012 Jack White- "Blunderbuss"

References[link]

External links[link]

• theraconteurs.com - official The Raconteurs site
• thedeadweather.com - official The Dead Weather site
• greenhornes.com - official The Greenhornes site
• blanchemusic.com - official Blanche site

This article about a United States rock singer is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Doc Watson
Doc Watson at Sugar Grove Music Festival in 2009
Background information
Birth name	Arthel Lane Watson
Also known as	Doc Watson
Born	(1923-03-03)March 3, 1923 Deep Gap, North Carolina
Died	May 29, 2012(2012-05-29) (aged 89) Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Genres	Blues, bluegrass, country, folk, gospel
Occupations	Musician, singer-songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, banjo, harmonica
Labels	Folkways, Vanguard, United Artists, Flying Fish, Sugar Hill

Arthel Lane "Doc" Watson (March 3, 1923 – May 29, 2012) was an American guitarist, songwriter and singer of bluegrass, folk, country, blues and gospel music. Watson won seven Grammy awards as well as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Watson's flatpicking skills and knowledge of traditional American music are highly regarded. He performed with his son Merle for over 15 years until Merle's death in 1985, in an accident on the family farm.^[1][2][3]

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Watson was born in Deep Gap, North Carolina. According to Watson on his three-CD biographical recording Legacy, he got the nickname "Doc" during a live radio broadcast when the announcer remarked that his given name Arthel was odd and he needed an easy nickname. A fan in the crowd shouted "Call him Doc!" presumably in reference to the literary character Sherlock Holmes's sidekick Doctor Watson. The name stuck ever since.^[4]

An eye infection caused Doc Watson to lose his vision before his first birthday. Despite this, he was taught by his parents to work hard and care for himself. He attended North Carolina's school for the visually impaired, The Governor Morehead School, in Raleigh, North Carolina.^[5]

In a 1989 radio interview with host Terry Gross on the Fresh Air show of National Public Radio (NPR), Watson explains how he got his first guitar. His father told him that if he and his brother (David Watson) chopped down all the small, dead, chestnut trees along the edge of their field, he could sell the wood to the tannery and make money. The brothers did the work and Watson bought a $10 Stella guitar from Sears Roebuck while his brother bought a new suit.^[6] Later in that same interview, Watson explained that his first high quality guitar was a Martin Guitar D-18.^[7]

Watson's earliest influences were the roots of country, including the Carter Family and Jimmy Rodgers. The first song he learned to play on the guitar was "When Roses Bloom in Dixieland", first recorded by the Carter Family in 1930. Watson stated in an interview with American Songwriter that, "Jimmy Rodgers was the first man that I started to claim as my favorite."^[8] Watson proved to be a natural musical talent and within months was performing on local street corners playing songs from the Delmore Brothers, Louvin Brothers, and Monroe Brothers alongside his brother Linny. By the time Watson reached adulthood, he had become a proficient acoustic and electric guitar player.^[9]

Career[link]

In 1953, Watson joined the Johnson City, Tennessee-based Jack Williams' country and western swing band on electric guitar. The band seldom had a fiddle player, but was often asked to play at square dances. Following the example of country guitarists Grady Martin and Hank Garland, Watson taught himself to play fiddle tunes on his Les Paul electric guitar. He later transferred the technique to acoustic guitar, and playing fiddle tunes became part of his signature sound.^[1][10] During his time with Jack Williams, Doc also supported his family as a piano tuner.

In 1960, as the American folk music revival grew, Watson took the advice of folk musicologist Ralph Rinzler and began playing acoustic guitar and banjo exclusively.^[5] That move ignited Watson's career when he played on his first recording, Old Time Music at Clarence Ashley's. Also of pivotal importance for his career was his February 11, 1961 appearance at P.S. 41 in Greenwich Village.^[11] He subsequently began to tour as a solo performer and appeared at universities and clubs like the Ash Grove in Los Angeles. Watson would eventually get his big break and rave reviews for his performance at the renowned Newport Folk Festival in Newport, Rhode Island in 1963. Watson recorded his first solo album in 1964 and began performing with his son Merle the same year.

After the folk revival waned during the late 1960s, Watson's career was sustained by his performance of "Tennessee Stud" on the 1972 live album recording Will the Circle Be Unbroken. As popular as ever, Doc and Merle began playing as a trio, with T. Michael Coleman on bass guitar, in 1974. The trio toured the globe during the late seventies and early eighties, recorded nearly fifteen albums between 1973 and 1985, and brought Doc and Merle’s unique blend of acoustic music to millions of new fans. In 1985, Merle died in a tractor accident.^[10]

Doc Watson sculpture on the corner of King and Depot Streets in Boone, North Carolina. The plaque on the bench reads "Just one of the People".

Watson played guitar in both flatpicking and fingerpicking style, but is best known for his flatpick work. His guitar playing skills, combined with his authenticity as a mountain musician, made him a highly influential figure during the folk music revival. Watson pioneered a fast and flashy bluegrass, lead guitar style including fiddle tunes and crosspicking techniques which were adopted and extended by Clarence White, Tony Rice and many others. Watson was also an accomplished banjo player and sometimes accompanied himself on harmonica as well. Known also for his distinctive and rich baritone voice, Watson over the years developed a vast repertoire of mountain ballads, which he learned via the oral tradition of his home area in Deep Gap, North Carolina. His affable manner, humble nature and delightful wit endeared him to his fans nearly as much as his musical talent.

Watson played a Martin model D-18 guitar on his earliest recordings. In 1968, Watson began a relationship with Gallagher Guitars when he started playing their G-50 model. His first Gallagher, which Watson refers to as "Old Hoss", is on display at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1974, Gallagher created a customized G-50 line to meet Watson's preferred specifications, which bears the Doc Watson name. In 1991, Gallagher customized a personal cutaway guitar for Watson that he played until his death and which he referred to as "Donald" in honor of Gallagher guitar's second generation proprietor and builder, Don Gallagher. ^[12] For the last few years, Doc had been playing a Dana Bourgeois dreadnought given to him by Ricky Skaggs for his 80th birthday.

In 1986, Watson received the North Carolina Award and in 1994 he received a North Carolina Folk Heritage Award. Also in 1994, Watson teamed up with musicians Randy Scruggs and Earl Scruggs to contribute the classic song "Keep on the Sunny Side" to the AIDS benefit album Red Hot + Country produced by the Red Hot Organization.

Later life[link]

In 2000, Watson was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor in Owensboro, Kentucky. In 1997, Watson received the National Medal of Arts from U.S. president Bill Clinton.^[13] In 2010, he was awarded an honorary doctor of music degree from Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts.^[14]

In his later life, Watson scaled back his touring schedule. Watson was generally joined onstage by his grandson (Merle's son) Richard, as well as longtime musical partners David Holt or Jack Lawrence. On one occasion, Watson was accompanied by Australian guitar player Tommy Emmanuel at a concert at the Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth, Texas. Watson also performed, accompanied by Holt and Richard, at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival in San Francisco, California in 2009, as he had done in several previous years.

Watson hosted the annual MerleFest music festival held every April at Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro, North Carolina. The festival features a vast array of acoustic style music focusing on the folk, bluegrass, blues and old-time music genres. It was named in honor of Merle Watson and is one of the most popular acoustic music festivals in the world, drawing over 70,000 music fans each year.^[15]

In 2010, Blooming Twig Books published "Blind But Now I See" by Dr. Kent Gustavson, the first comprehensive biography of the seminal flatpicking guitarist.

Personal life[link]

In 1947, Doc married Rosa Lee Carlton, the daughter of popular fiddle player Gaither Carlton. Watson and Rosa Lee had two children — Eddy Merle (named after country music legends Eddy Arnold and Merle Travis) in 1949 and Nancy Ellen in 1951.^[5]

In late May 2012, Watson was listed in critical condition but was responsive at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, after undergoing colon surgery.^[16] Watson fell at his home earlier in the week, after which he was sent to Watauga Medical Center in nearby Boone, NC. Watson was not seriously injured in the fall, but an underlying medical condition prompted the surgery which required him to be airlifted to Winston-Salem.^[17] Watson died on May 29, 2012 at Wake Forest Baptist at the age of 89.^[18]

Discography[link]

Awards & honors[link]

Grammy awards[link]

• 1973 Best Ethnic Or Traditional Recording (Including Traditional Blues): Doc Watson for Then And Now
• 1974 Best Ethnic Or Traditional Recording: Merle Watson & Doc Watson for Two Days In November
• 1979 Best Country Instrumental Performance: Doc Watson & Merle Watson for Big Sandy/Leather Britches
• 1986 Best Traditional Folk Recording: Doc Watson for Riding The Midnight Train
• 1990 Best Traditional Folk Recording: Doc Watson for On Praying Ground
• 2002 Best Traditional Folk Album: Doc Watson & David Holt for Legacy
• 2004 Lifetime Achievement Award
• 2006 Best Country Instrumental Performance: Bryan Sutton & Doc Watson for Whiskey Before Breakfast track from Not Too Far From The Tree by Bryan Sutton

References[link]

External links[link]

• Doc's Guitar : A site dedicated to the guitar and music of Doc Watson
• Podcast of Doc Watson and Jack Lawrence performing live at the 1996 Florida Folk Festival from the Florida Folklife Collection (made available for public use by the State Archives of Florida)
• Live 1977 recording of "The Cuckoo Bird" by Doc and Merle Watson from the Florida Folklife Collection (made available for public use by the State Archives of Florida)
• Live 1996 recording of "Shady Grove" by Doc and Jack Lawrence from the Florida Folklife Collection (made available for public use by the State Archives of Florida)
• MerleFest
  • MerleFest official website
  • "Doc's orders: No heavy metal at MerleFest" 2007 article in the Hook weekly
• National Public Radio
  • Guitarist Arthel 'Doc' Watson Interview on NPR's Fresh Air
  • Morning Edition's Bob Edwards interview Doc Watson from 1985
  • Morning Edition's Bob Edwards interview Doc Watson from 1989
• Prairie Home Companion
  • Doc Watson & Taj Mahal August 9, 1986 (db.etree.org)
  • October 23, 1999
  • February 14, 2004

Article on Doc Watson and other western NC guitar players [2]

Annie Cruz
Cruz at the AVN Awards 2011
Born	(1984-11-06) November 6, 1984 (age 27)[1] Stockton, California, United States
Ethnicity	Filipina
Height	5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)[1]
Weight	115 lb (52 kg)[1]
Spouse	Jack Lawrence (2005—2006)
No. of adult films	350 (per IAFD)
Website
http://www.anniecruz.com

Annie Cruz (born November 6, 1984 in Stockton, California) is the stage name of a Filipino American pornographic actress and nude model.

Early life and career[link]

Cruz was born in Stockton, California, to Filipino immigrant parents. She graduated from Brookside Christian High School in Stockton, where she was a cheerleader, and claims to have graduated in the top 5% of her class. She then moved to San Rafael to attend the Dominican University of California, majoring in print journalism. In her sophomore year, she transferred to San Francisco State University, but apparently left without graduating. Instead, she began performing in pornographic films.^[1]

Cruz appeared on The Howard Stern Show on March 28, 2006.^[2] The same year she appeared in a minor role in the film National Lampoon's Teed Off Too.^[3]

She trained as a boxer with one of Laila Ali's former coaches. She fought and won two boxing matches, but gave up boxing for fear of an injury that might interfere with her porn career.^[4]

She also has made several appearances on WEW (Women's Extreme Wrestling).^[5] In 2011 she appeared in Stephen Malkmus' music video Vengeance.^[6] Cruz has also been featured in several sex and bondage videos for Kink.com's SexandSubmission.com website.

Personal life[link]

In 2004, Cruz met Jack Lawrence, whom she married at the Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas.^[7] They divorced two years later apparently due to "differences".^[8] Cruz is bisexual^[4] as well as vegan.^[9]

Awards and nominations[link]

• 2007 AVN Award nominee - Most Valuable Starlet^[10]
• 2007 AVN Award nominee - Best Group Sex Scene, Video - Corruption^[10]
• 2007 F.A.M.E. Award nominee - Finalist: Dirtiest Girl in Porn^[11]
• 2008 Adam Film Award – Squirt Queen of the Year^[12]
• 2012 XBIZ Award nominee - Performer Comeback of the Year^[13]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Annie Cruz at the Internet Movie Database
• Annie Cruz at the Internet Adult Film Database
• Annie Cruz at the Adult Film Database

Kevin Spacey
Spacey in April 2009
Born	Kevin Spacey Fowler (1959-07-26) July 26, 1959 (age 52) South Orange, New Jersey, United States
Occupation	Actor, director, producer, screenwriter
Years active	1981–present

Kevin Spacey, CBE (born Kevin Spacey Fowler; July 26, 1959) is an American actor, director, screenwriter, producer, and crooner. He grew up in California, and began his career as a stage actor during the 1980s, before being cast in supporting roles in film and television. He gained critical acclaim in the early 1990s, culminating in his first Academy Award for The Usual Suspects (Best Supporting Actor), followed by a Best Actor Academy Award win for American Beauty (1999). His other starring roles in Hollywood include Seven, L.A. Confidential, Pay It Forward, K-PAX, and Superman Returns in a career which has earned him several Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. Since 2003, he has been artistic director of the Old Vic theatre in London.

Early life[link]

Spacey was born in South Orange, New Jersey, the son of Kathleen Ann (née Knutson; December 5, 1931 – March 19, 2003), a secretary, and Thomas Geoffrey Fowler (June 4, 1924 – December 24, 1992), a technical writer and data consultant.^[1][2][3] He has two older siblings: a sister, Julie, and a brother, Randy. He attended Northridge Military Academy, Canoga Park High School (in tenth and eleventh grades), and then Chatsworth High School in Chatsworth, Los Angeles, where he graduated valedictorian of his class.^[4][5] At Chatsworth High, he starred in the school's senior production of The Sound of Music, playing the part of Captain Georg von Trapp, opposite Mare Winningham's character, Maria.

While in high school, he took on his paternal grandmother's maiden name, "Spacey", originally a Yorkshire name, as his acting surname.^[3][6] Several reports have incorrectly suggested that he took his name in tribute to actor Spencer Tracy, combining Tracy's first and last names.^[6] He had tried to succeed as a comedian for several years, before attending the Juilliard School in New York City, where he studied drama,^[7] between 1979 and 1981. During this time period, Spacey performed stand-up comedy in bowling alley talent contests.^[8]

Career[link]

Spacey's first professional stage appearance was as a spear-carrier in a New York Shakespeare Festival performance of Henry VI, part 1 in 1981. The following year, he made his first Broadway appearance, as Oswald in a production of Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts, starring Liv Ullmann. Then he portrayed Philinte in Molière's The Misanthrope. In 1984, it was David Rabe's Hurlyburly, where he rotated through each of the male parts (he would later play Mickey in the film version). Next came Anton Chekhov's The Seagull and a period, in 1986, performing Sleuth in a New Jersey dinner theatre.

His prominence as a stage actor began in 1986, when he was cast opposite Jack Lemmon, Peter Gallagher and Bethel Leslie as Jamie, the eldest Tyrone son in Jonathan Miller's lauded production of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night. Lemmon in particular would become a mentor to Spacey.^[9] He made his first major television appearance in the second season premiere of Crime Story, playing a Kennedy-esque American senator. Although his interest soon turned to film, Spacey remained actively involved in the live theater community. In 1991, he won a Tony Award for his portrayal of "Uncle Louie" in Neil Simon's Broadway hit Lost in Yonkers. Spacey's father was unconvinced that Spacey could make a career for himself as an actor, and did not change his mind until Spacey became well-known.^[8]

Some of Spacey's early roles include a widowed eccentric millionaire on L.A. Law, the made-for-television film The Murder of Mary Phagan (1988), opposite Lemmon, and the Richard Pryor/Gene Wilder–starring comedy See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989). Spacey earned a fan base following after playing the criminally insane arms dealer Mel Profitt on the television series Wiseguy. He quickly developed a reputation as a character actor, and was cast in bigger roles, including one-half of the bickering Connecticut couple in the dark comedy The Ref (1994), a malicious Hollywood studio boss in the satire Swimming with Sharks, and the malevolent office manager in the all-star ensemble film Glengarry Glen Ross (1992), gaining him positive notices by critics. His performance as the enigmatic criminal Verbal Kint in The Usual Suspects won him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.^[7]

Spacey appeared in the 1995 thriller film Seven, with Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman, making a sudden entrance late in the film as the serial killer John Doe, after going unmentioned in the film's advertisements and opening credits. His work in Seven, The Usual Suspects, and Outbreak earned him Best Supporting Actor honors at the 1995 Society of Texas Film Critics Awards.^[10][11]

Spacey played an egomaniacal district attorney in A Time to Kill (1996), and founded Trigger Street Productions in 1997, with the purpose of producing and developing entertainment across various media. He made his directorial debut with the film Albino Alligator (1996). The film was a failure at the box office, grossing $339,379 with a budget of $6 million, but critics praised Spacey's direction. He also did voice work in Pixar's A Bug's Life (1998) voicing the main antagonist Hopper, the leader of a vicious gang of grasshoppers.

Spacey won universal praise and a Best Actor Oscar for his role as a depressed suburban father who re-evaluates his life in 1999's American Beauty;^[7] the same year, he was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Spacey also earned another Tony nomination the same year, for his work in a Broadway production of The Iceman Cometh. During the several years following American Beauty's release, Spacey appeared in films that he believes^{[citation needed]} hadn't done as well critically or in terms of box office. In 2001, Spacey co-hosted, with Judi Dench, the Unite for the Future Gala, a UK fundraiser for the British Victims of 9/11 and Médecins Sans Frontières at London's Old Vic Theatre, produced by Harvey Goldsmith and Dominic Madden.

He played a physically and emotionally scarred grade school teacher in Pay It Forward (2000), a patient in a mental institution who may or may not be an alien in K-Pax (2001), and singer Bobby Darin in Beyond the Sea (2004). Beyond The Sea was a lifelong dream project for Spacey, who took on co-writing, directing, co-producing and starring duties in the biography/musical about Darin's life, career, and relationship with actress Sandra Dee. Facing little interest for backing in the States, Spacey went to the UK and Germany for funding. Almost all of the movie was filmed in Berlin.^[9] Spacey provided his own vocals on the Beyond the Sea soundtrack and appeared in several tribute concerts around the time of the film's release. He received mostly positive reviews for his singing, as well as a Golden Globe nomination for his performance. However, reviewers criticized the age disparity between Spacey and Darin, noting that Spacey was too old to convincingly portray Darin, particularly during the early stages of the singer's life depicted in the film.

Spacey hosted Saturday Night Live twice: first in 1997 with musical guest Beck and special guests Michael Palin and John Cleese from Monty Python's Flying Circus; and again in the last episode of season 31 with musical guest Nelly Furtado.

Spacey at HBO Post Emmys Party, 2008

In 2006, Spacey played Lex Luthor in the Bryan Singer–directed superhero film, Superman Returns. He was to return for its 2009 sequel, but it was recently revealed that there won't be a chronological sequel; it is currently unknown if he has been asked to resume the role in any future films. Spacey also appeared in Edison, co-starring Morgan Freeman and Justin Timberlake; Edison received a direct-to-video release on July 18, 2006. In 2008, he played an MIT lecturer in the film 21, along with Kate Bosworth, Laurence Fishburne, and Jim Sturgess. The film is based on Ben Mezrich's best seller, Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas for Millions, a story of student MIT card-counters who used mathematical probability to aid them in card games such as blackjack.

Spacey is well known in Hollywood for his impressions as when he appeared on Inside the Actors Studio he imitated, at host James Lipton's request: James Stewart, Johnny Carson, Katharine Hepburn, Clint Eastwood, John Gielgud, Marlon Brando, Christopher Walken, Al Pacino and Jack Lemmon.^[12]

Capitol/EMI's album Forever Cool (2007) features two duets with Spacey and the voice of the late Dean Martin: "Ain't That a Kick in the Head" and "King of the Road."

Spacey sits on the Board of Directors of the Motion Picture and Television Fund.^[13]

The Old Vic[link]

In February 2003, Spacey announced that he was returning to London to become the artistic director of the Old Vic, one of the city's oldest theatres.^[14] Appearing at a press conference with Judi Dench and Elton John, he promised both to appear on stage and to bring in big-name talent.^[15] Spacey undertook to remain in the post for a full ten years. The Old Vic Theatre Company, in its current form, stages shows eight months out of the year. Spacey's first season started in September 2004, and opened with the British premiere of the play Cloaca by Maria Goos, directed by Spacey, which opened to mixed reviews.^[16] In the 2005 season, Spacey made his UK Shakespearean debut, to good notices, in the title role of Richard II directed by Trevor Nunn.^[16]

In mid-2006, Spacey felt he was having the time of his life working at the Old Vic. At this point in his career, he was "trying to do things now that are much bigger and outside himself".^[17] He performed in productions of National Anthems by Dennis McIntyre, and The Philadelphia Story by Philip Barry in which he played C. K. Dexter Haven, the Cary Grant role in the film version. Critics applauded Spacey's daring for taking on the management of a theatre, but noted that while his acting was impressive, his skills and judgment as a producer/manager had yet to develop.^{[citation needed]}