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Apple Lisa

Apple Lisa, with an Apple ProFile external hard disk sitting atop it. Note the dual 5.25-inch "Twiggy" floppy drives.
Developer	Apple Computer, Inc.
Type	Personal computer
Release date	January 19, 1983
Introductory price	US$ 9,995 (1983)
Discontinued	August 1986
Operating system	Lisa OS, Xenix
CPU	Motorola 68000 @ 5 MHz

The Lisa was a personal computer designed by Apple Computer, Inc. during the early 1980s. It was the first personal computer to offer a graphical user interface in an inexpensive machine aimed at individual business users.

Development of the Lisa began in 1978^[1] as a powerful personal computer with a graphical user interface (GUI) targeted toward business customers.

In 1982, Steve Jobs was forced out of the Lisa project,^[2] so he joined the Macintosh project instead. The Macintosh is not a direct descendant of Lisa, although there are obvious similarities between the systems and the final revision, the Lisa 2/10, was modified and sold as the Macintosh XL.

The Lisa was a more advanced system than the Macintosh of that time in many respects, such as its inclusion of protected memory, cooperative multitasking, a generally more sophisticated hard disk based operating system, a built-in screensaver, an advanced calculator with a paper tape and RPN, support for up to 2 megabytes (MB) of RAM, expansion slots, a numeric keypad, data corruption protection schemes such as block sparing, non-physical file names (with the ability to have multiple documents with the same name), and a larger higher-resolution display. It would be many years before many of those features were implemented on the Macintosh platform. Protected memory, for instance, did not arrive until the Mac OS X operating system was released in 2001. The Macintosh featured a faster 68000 processor (7.89 MHz) and sound. The complexity of the Lisa operating system and its programs taxed the 5 MHz Motorola 68000 microprocessor so that consumers said it felt sluggish, particularly when scrolling in documents.

Etymology[link]

While the documentation shipped with the original Lisa only ever referred to it as The Lisa, officially, Apple stated that the name was an acronym for Local Integrated System Architecture or "LISA". Since Steve Jobs' first daughter (born in 1978) was named Lisa Nicole Brennan, it is normally inferred that the name also had a personal association, and perhaps that the acronym was invented later to fit the name. Andy Hertzfeld^[3] states that the acronym was reverse engineered from the name "Lisa" in autumn 1982 by the Apple marketing team, after they had hired a marketing consultancy firm to come up with names to replace "Lisa" and "Macintosh" (at the time considered by Rod Holt, vice president of engineering^[4] to be merely internal project codenames) and then rejected all of the suggestions. Privately, Hertzfeld and the other software developers used "Lisa: Invented Stupid Acronym", a recursive backronym, while computer industry pundits coined the term "Let's Invent Some Acronym" to fit the Lisa's name. Decades later, Jobs would tell his biographer Walter Isaacson: "Obviously it was named for my daughter."^[5]

Development[link]

The project began in 1978 as an effort to create a more modern version of the then-conventional design epitomized by the Apple II. Initial team lead Ken Rothmuller was soon replaced by John Couch, under whose direction the project evolved to the 'windows & mouse-driven' form that was finally released. Trip Hawkins, who was then on the marketing team for the nascent Lisa project, and Jef Raskin contributed to the change in design.^[6]

Several years prior to this, research had been going on at Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center to create a new way to organize everything on the screen, today known as the desktop. Steve Jobs visited Xerox PARC in 1979. He was excited by the revolutionary mouse-driven GUI of the Xerox Alto and was keen to use these ideas back at Apple. By late 1979, Jobs successfully negotiated with Xerox for his Lisa team to receive two demonstrations of ongoing research projects at Xerox PARC; when the Apple team saw the demonstration of the Alto computer they were able to see in action the basic elements of what constituted a workable GUI. A great deal of work was put into making the graphical interface into a mainstream commercial product by the Lisa team.

The Lisa was a major project at Apple, with more than 90 people participating on the design, plus more on the sales and marketing effort to launch the machine.^[7] Byte magazine credited Wayne Rosing with being the most important person on the development of the computer's hardware until the machine went into production, at which point he became technical lead for the entire Lisa project. Bruce Daniels was in charge of applications development, and Larry Tesler was in charge of system software.^[7] After a six-month period in which the user interface was designed, the hardware, operating system, and applications were all created in parallel.

Hardware[link]

The hardware development team for the Lisa was headed by Robert Paratore. The Lisa was first introduced on January 19, 1983 and cost US$9,995 ($21,693.67 in 2009 dollars). It was the second personal computer system with a graphical user interface (GUI) to be sold commercially, the first being the Xerox Star. It used a Motorola 68000 CPU at a 5 MHz clock rate and had 1 MB RAM.

Drives[link]

The original Lisa had two Apple FileWare 5.25-inch double-sided floppy disk drives, more commonly known by Apple's internal code name for the drive: "Twiggy". They had a capacity of approximately 871 kB each, but required special diskettes. The Macintosh, which was originally designed to have a single Twiggy drive, was revised to use a Sony 400 kB microfloppy drive in January 1984. An optional external 5 MB or, later, a 10 MB Apple ProFile hard drive (originally designed for the Apple III) was available. With the introduction of the Lisa 2, an optional 10 MB internal proprietary hard disk manufactured by Apple, known as the "Widget" was also offered.

Lisa 2[link]

Lisa 2

The first hardware revision, the Lisa 2, released in January 1984 and was priced between $3,495 and $5,495 US.^[8] It was much less expensive than the original model and dropped the Twiggy floppy drives in favor of a single 400k Sony microfloppy. It was possible to purchase the Lisa 2 with as little as 512k RAM. An external ProFile and internal Widget drive were available as standard options in different configurations. In 1984, at the same time the Macintosh was officially announced, Apple offered free upgrades to the Lisa 2 to all Lisa 1 owners, by swapping the pair of Twiggy drives for a single 3.5-inch drive, and updating the boot ROM and I/O ROM. In addition, the Lisa 2's new front faceplate was included to accommodate the reconfigured floppy disk drive. With this change, the Lisa 2 had the notable distinction of introducing the new Apple inlaid logo, as well as the first Snow White design language features.

There were relatively few third-party hardware offerings for the Lisa, as compared to the earlier Apple II.^{[citation needed]} AST offered a 1.5 MB memory board, which — when combined with the standard Apple 512 KB memory board — expanded the Lisa to a total of 2 MB of memory, the maximum the MMU could address.

Late in the product life of the Lisa, there were third-party hard disk drives, SCSI controllers, and double-sided 3½ inch floppy-disk upgrades. Unlike the original Macintosh, the Lisa features expansion slots. Like the Apple II, it was an 'open system'. The Lisa 2 motherboard had a very basic backplane with virtually no electronic components, but plenty of edge connector sockets/slots. There were two RAM slots, one CPU slot and one I/O slot all in parallel placement to each other. At the other end, there were three 'Lisa' slots, parallel to each other. This flexibility provided the potential for a developer to create a replacement for the CPU 'card' to upgrade the Lisa to run a newer CPU, albeit with potential limitations from other parts of the system.

Macintosh XL[link]

Macintosh XL

In January 1985, following on the heels of the Macintosh, the Lisa 2/10 (with integrated 10 MB hard drive) was re-branded the Macintosh XL and with new software, positioned as Apple's high-end Macintosh. The price was lowered yet again, to $4000 and sales tripled, but (according to CEO Sculley) Apple would have lost money increasing production to meet the new demand.^[9] Apple discontinued the Macintosh XL, leaving an eight-month void in Apple's high-end product line until the Macintosh Plus was introduced in 1986. Apple would not introduce a replacement computer with an internal hard drive or expansion slots until 1987.

Software[link]

The Lisa operating system featured cooperative (non-preemptive) multitasking^[10] and virtual memory, then extremely advanced features for a personal computer. The use of virtual memory coupled with a fairly slow disk system made the system performance seem glacial at times. Based in part on advanced elements from the failed Apple III SOS operating system released three years earlier, the Lisa also organized its files in hierarchal directories, making the use of large hard drives practical. The Macintosh would eventually adopt this disk organizational design as well for its HFS filing system. Conceptually, the Lisa resembles the Xerox Star in the sense that it was envisioned as an office computing system; consequently, Lisa has two main user modes: the Lisa Office System and the Workshop. The Lisa Office System is the GUI environment for end users. The Workshop was a program development environment, and was almost entirely text-based, though it used a GUI text editor. The Lisa Office System was eventually renamed "7/7", in reference to the seven supplied application programs: LisaWrite, LisaCalc, LisaDraw, LisaGraph, LisaProject, LisaList, and LisaTerminal.

Third-party software[link]

A significant impediment to third-party software on the Lisa was the fact that, when first launched, the Lisa Office System could not be used to write programs for itself: a separate development OS was required called Lisa Workshop. During this development process, an engineer ran the two OSes in a dual-boot config, writing and compiling code on one machine and testing it on the other. Later, the same Lisa Workshop was used to develop software for the Macintosh. After a few years, a Macintosh-native development system was developed. For most of its lifetime, the Lisa never went beyond the original seven applications that Apple had deemed enough to "do everything."^{[citation needed]}

MacWorks[link]

In April 1984, following the success of the Macintosh, Apple introduced MacWorks, a software emulation environment which allowed the Lisa to run Macintosh System software and applications.^[11] MacWorks helped make the Lisa more attractive to potential customers, but did not enable the Macintosh emulation to access the hard disk until September. In January 1985, re-branded MacWorks XL, it became the primary system application designed to turn the Lisa into the Macintosh XL.

Reception[link]

Apple Convention, Boston, Spring 1983. An original Apple Lisa at work.

The Apple Lisa was a commercial failure for Apple, the largest since the failure of the Apple III of 1980. The intended business customers were reluctant to purchase the machine because of its high price (nearly $10,000), making it largely unable to compete with the less expensive IBM PCs, which were already beginning to dominate business desktop computing. The largest Lisa customer was NASA, which used LisaProject for project management and was eventually faced with significant problems when the Lisa was discontinued.^{[citation needed]}

The release of the Apple Macintosh in 1984, which was faster and much less expensive, was the most significant factor in the Lisa's demise. Two later Lisa models were released (the Lisa 2 and its Mac ROM-enabled sibling Macintosh XL) before the Lisa line was discontinued in April 1985.^[12] In 1986, Apple offered all Lisa/XL owners the opportunity to return their computer and US$1,498.00, in return for a Macintosh Plus and Hard Disk 20^[13]

Historical importance[link]

The Apple Lisa was immediately recognized as a significant machine, with Byte for example opining it more important than the IBM PC.^[14] Further, though a limited number of Lisas were sold, the Lisa software, in combination with an Apple dot-matrix printer, could produce documents that surpassed other comparably-priced options available at the time.^{[citation needed]} This one compelling usage meant that the Lisa was introduced into a number of larger offices, and due to the price, the number of people who had used a Lisa was much larger than the number of Lisas sold.^{[citation needed]}

An often-overlooked feature the Lisa system used is its early harnessing of document-centric^{[citation needed]} computing instead of application-centric computing. On a Macintosh, Windows, or Linux system, a user typically seeks a program. In the Lisa system, users use stationery to begin using an application. Apple implemented stationery documents on System 7 in 1991 and attempted to further advance this approach on the Mac platform later with OpenDoc. Microsoft also later implemented stationery in a limited fashion via the Windows Start menu for Microsoft Office.

International significance[link]

Within a few months of the Lisa's introduction in the US, fully translated versions of the software and documentation were commercially available for British, French, German, Italian, and Spanish markets, followed by several Scandinavian versions shortly thereafter. The user interface for the OS, all seven applications, LisaGuide, and the Lisa diagnostics (in ROM) can be fully translated, without any programming required, using resource files and a translation kit. The keyboard can identify its native language layout, and the entire user experience will be in that language, including any hardware diagnostic messages.

Although several foreign-language keyboard layouts were available, the Dvorak keyboard layout was never ported to the Lisa, though such porting had been available for the Apple III, IIe, and IIc, and later for the Macintosh. Keyboard-mapping on the Lisa was complex and required building a new OS/kernel. All kernels contain images for all layouts, so due to serious memory constraints, keyboard layouts were stored as differences from a set of standard layouts, thus only a few bytes are needed to accommodate most additional layouts. A notable exception is the Dvorak layout that moves just about every key and thus requires hundreds of extra bytes of precious kernel storage regardless of whether it was needed.^{[citation needed]}

Each localized version (built on a globalized core) requires grammatical, linguistic, and cultural adaptations throughout the user interface, including formats for dates, numbers, times, currencies, sorting, even for word and phrase order in alerts and dialog boxes. A kit was provided, and the translation work was done by native-speaking Apple marketing staff in each country. This localization effort resulted in about as many Lisa unit sales outside the US as inside the US over the product's lifespan, while setting new standards for future localized software products, and for global project co-ordination.

The end of the Lisa[link]

In 1987, Sun Remarketing purchased about 5,000 Macintosh XLs and upgraded them. Some leftover Lisa computers and spare parts were available until recently when Cherokee Data (who purchased Sun Remarketing) went out of business.

In 1989, Apple disposed of approximately 2,700 unsold Lisas in a guarded landfill in Logan, Utah, in order to receive a tax write-off on the unsold inventory.^[15]

Like other early GUI computers, working Lisas are now fairly valuable collectors items, for which people will pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars. The original model is the most sought after, although working ProFile and Widget hard disks, which are necessary for running the Lisa OS, are also particularly valued.

Timeline of Lisa models

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See also[link]

• Macintosh 128K
• Computer Acronyms
• People: Bill Atkinson, John Couch, Steve Jobs, Rich Page, Jef Raskin, Wayne Rosing, Brad Silverberg, Larry Tesler
• Technology: History of the graphical user interface, Cut and paste, Mouse, Mouse gesture, Xerox Star, Visi On, Apple ProFile, NeXT, QuickDraw, Pascal programming language

References[link]

External links[link]

This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (April 2010)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Apple Lisa

Lisa may refer to:

People[link]

• Lisa (given name)
• Lisa (musician), Japanese singer and producer
• LiSA, Japanese singer
• Esteban Lisa, Argentine painter

Information technology[link]

• Apple Lisa computer, the precursor to the Apple Macintosh
• Lisa assembler, a 6502 assembler for Apple II
• LISA+, a traffic engineering software package

Media[link]

Film[link]

• Lisa, a 1989 crime thriller film starring Staci Keanan and Cheryl Ladd
• The Inspector (1962 film), a drama starring Stephen Boyd and Dolores Hart (alternate title)

Music[link]

• Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam are the names of Lisa Velez and her urban contemporary band, one of first freestyle music groups to emerge from New York City in the 1980s.
• "Lisa's Separation", a song by The Legendary Pink Dots from the album The Golden Age

Places[link]

• Lisa, Braşov, Romania
• Lisa, Teleorman, Romania
• Lisa River, Romania
• Lisa, a village in Schitu Commune, Olt County, Romania

Religion[link]

• Lisa (mythology), a creator deity in Dahomeyan religion

Acronyms[link]

• Laser Interferometer Space Antenna
• Language for Instruction Set Architecture, in computer science
• Liaison Interne Satellite Aérogare, one of the two lines of CDGVAL at Charles de Gaulle International Airport
• Life Insurance Settlement Association
• LISA (conference), the annual system administration conference, formerly Large Installation System Administration conference
• Lisp-based Intelligent Software Agents, a production system written in Common Lisp
• Local indicators of spatial association, a statistical method
• Localization Industry Standards Association (shut down in February 2011)

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

Kevin Costner
visiting Andrews Air Force Base in 2003
Born	Kevin Michael Costner (1955-01-18) January 18, 1955 (age 57) Lynwood, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, producer, director; musician
Years active	1974–present
Spouse	Cindy Silva (1978–1994) Christine Baumgartner (2004–present)
Children	7

Kevin Michael Costner (born January 18, 1955) is an American actor, singer, musician, producer, director, and businessman. He has won two Academy Awards, and two Golden Globe Awards and has been nominated for three BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) Awards. Costner's roles include Lt. John J. Dunbar in the film Dances with Wolves, Jim Garrison in JFK, Ray Kinsella in Field of Dreams, Robin Hood in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Crash Davis in Bull Durham, Robert "Butch" Haynes in A Perfect World, Frank Farmer in The Bodyguard, Lt. Cmdr. Tom Farrell in No Way Out, and Eliot Ness in The Untouchables. Costner also founded the band Modern West, and has performed with the band since 2007.

Early life[link]

Born in Lynwood, California, the youngest of three sons (the middle of whom died at birth). His mother, Sharon Rae (née Tedrick), was a welfare worker, and his father, William Costner, was an electrician and later utilities executive at Southern California Edison.^[1][2] Costner's patrilineal ancestry originates with German immigrants to North Carolina in the 1700s;^[3] he also has English and Irish ancestry, and has said that one of his ancestors had "married a Cherokee woman".^[3][4][5][6] Costner was raised Baptist.^[7] He attended Cabrillo Middle School and Villa Park High School. Costner was not academically inclined. Rather, he enjoyed sports, took piano lessons, wrote poetry and sang in the First Baptist Choir.^[1][8] He has stated that a viewing of the film How the West Was Won at the age of seven had "formed" his childhood.^[3]

Spending his teenage years in various parts of California as his father's career progressed,^[3] Costner has described this as a period when he "lost a lot of confidence", having to make new friends often.^[3] Costner lived in Orange County, then in Visalia (Tulare County), attending Mt. Whitney High School, and then back to Ventura, graduating from Buena High School in 1973. He went on to earn a B.A. in marketing and finance from California State University, Fullerton, in 1978.^[3]

Post-graduation[link]

Costner became interested in acting while in his last year of college,^[3] and on graduation married Cindy Silva. The couple honeymooned in Puerto Vallarta and on the return plane journey had a chance encounter with actor and fellow passenger Richard Burton, who had purchased all the seats around him for solitude. Burton agreed to speak to Costner after he finished his book. Costner, who had been taking acting classes, but had not told his wife about his desire to be an actor, watched Burton closely and approached when Burton gestured. Costner told Burton that he would prefer that his life was not filled with the type of drama that had followed Burton and asked if he would have to tolerate that if he became an actor. Burton replied, "You have green eyes. I have green eyes. I think you'll be fine." After landing, Burton's limousine pulled up to the curb where Costner and Cindy were waiting for a taxi, where Burton wished Costner luck. Costner would never see Burton again, but credits Burton with partially contributing to his career.^[1][9]

Having agreed to undertake a job as a marketing executive on return, Costner began taking acting lessons five nights a week, with the support of his wife.^[3] His marketing job lasted 30 days. He took work which allowed him to develop his acting skills via tuition, including working on fishing boats, as a truck driver, and giving tours of stars' Hollywood homes to support the couple while he also made the audition rounds.^[1]

Career[link]

Acting[link]

Costner in 2003

Costner allegedly made his film debut in the film Sizzle Beach, U.S.A. Although a biography claims it was actually filmed in the winter of 1978-1979, the film was not released until 1986.

Costner made a very brief cameo in the 1982 Ron Howard film Night Shift, he is listed in the credits as 'Frat Boy #1' and appears at the climax of a frat-style, blow-out party in the New York City morgue, when the music is suddenly stopped by a frantic Henry Winkler, Costner can be seen holding a beer and looking surprised at the sudden halt of celebration.

He appeared in a commercial for the Apple Lisa and Table for Five in 1983, and, the same year, had a small role in the nuclear holocaust film Testament. Later, he was cast in The Big Chill and filmed several scenes that were planned as flashbacks, but they were removed from the final cut.^[3] His role was that of Alex, the friend who committed suicide, the event that brings the rest of the cast together. All that is seen of him are his hair and his slashed wrists as the mortician dresses his corpse in the movie's opening scenes.^[10] Costner was a friend of director Lawrence Kasdan, who promised the actor a role in a future project.^[3] That became 1985's Silverado and a breakout role for Costner.^[3] He also starred that year in the smaller films Fandango and American Flyers.

Full-blown movie star status for Costner arrived in 1987, when he starred as federal agent Eliot Ness in The Untouchables and in the leading role of the thriller No Way Out.^[3] He solidified his A-list status in the baseball-themed films Bull Durham (1988) and Field of Dreams (1989).^[3]

Costner's next success came with the epic Dances with Wolves (1990).^[3] He directed and starred in the film and served as one of its producers.^[3] The film was nominated for 12 Academy Awards and won seven, including two for him personally (Best Picture and Best Director).^[3] The same year saw the release of Revenge, in which he starred along with Anthony Quinn and Madeleine Stowe, directed by Tony Scott (Costner had wanted to direct it himself).

He followed this with Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991), the Oliver Stone-directed JFK (1991), The Bodyguard (1992), and Clint Eastwood's A Perfect World (1993), all of which provided box office or critical acclaim.^[3]

He then took the title role in the biopic Wyatt Earp (1994), directed by Kasdan. It received bad reviews and flopped^{[citation needed]} at the box office. The science fiction-post-apocalyptic epics Waterworld (1995) and The Postman (1997), the latter of which Costner also directed, were both commercial disappointments and both largely regarded by critics as artistic failures.^[3] However, The Postman results were worse than Waterworld and ended up "winning" five Golden Raspberry Awards, including Worst Picture, Worst Actor and Worst Director for Costner.^[11]

Costner then starred in the golf comedy Tin Cup (1996) for Ron Shelton, who had previously directed him in Bull Durham.^[3] He developed the film Air Force One and was set to play the lead role of the President, but ultimately decided to concentrate on finishing The Postman instead. He personally offered the project to Harrison Ford.

His career revived somewhat in 2000 with Thirteen Days, in which he portrayed a top adviser to John F. Kennedy. The western Open Range, which he directed and starred in, received critical acclaim in 2003, and was a surprise success commercially. He received some of his best reviews for his supporting role as retired professional baseball player Denny Davies in The Upside of Anger, for which he received a nomination from the Broadcast Film Critics Association and won the San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor.

After that, Costner starred in The Guardian and in Mr. Brooks, in which he portrayed a serial killer. In 2008, Costner starred in Swing Vote. Costner was honored on September 6, 2006 when his hand and foot prints were set in concrete in front of Grauman's Chinese Theatre alongside those of other celebrated actors and entertainers.

In 2010, The Company Men debuted on the Sundance Festival starring Costner with Ben Affleck. It had good reviews. It was released in cinemas worldwide in January 2011. The film was considered to be an Oscar contender, but did not get a nomination.

Costner announced that he would be returning to the director's chair for the first time in seven years in 2011 with A Little War of Our Own. The film is about a local sheriff who must keep his town from erupting into violence during World War II. The other lead role is that of a German U-boat captain. The screenplay is by Dan Gordon, who co-wrote another sheriff movie for Costner, 1994's Wyatt Earp. In January 2012 Costner had to admit funding did not come through, and that he still hopes to make it in 2013.

He was also about to team up again with director Kevin Reynolds in Learning Italian. Costner would play a CIA agent stationed in a coastal Italian town in order to keep an eye on a KGB operative. However, the movie did not get past pre-production phase because they could not get the money together and it is currently not known if the movie will ever be made.

He also appears, as a special cameo, in Funny or Die's "Field of Dreams 2: Lockout".

Warner Bros. confirmed that Costner would portray Jonathan Kent in the upcoming rebooted Superman film, Man of Steel, directed by Zack Snyder.^[12] In 2011, Costner confirmed his role in Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained.^[13] Later on, it was announced that Costner had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts, most likely to be the TV series directed by Kevin Reynolds called Hatfields & McCoys.^{[citation needed]}

Country music[link]

Costner on stage in July 2010

Costner is the singer in Kevin Costner & Modern West, a country rock band which he founded with the encouragement of his wife Christine. They began a worldwide tour in October 2007, which included shows in Istanbul and Rome. The group also performed at NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races at Daytona International Speedway and Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, NC.

The band released a country album, Untold Truths, on November 11, 2008 on Universal South Records. The album peaked at #61 on the Billboard Top Country Albums and #35 on the Top Heatseekers chart. Three singles ("Superman 14", "Long Hot Night" and "Backyard") have been released to radio, although none have charted. The single "Superman 14" has been made into a live music video.

In 2009, they went on tour with opening act The Alternate Routes. In August, at the Big Valley Jamboree in Camrose, Alberta, Costner and the band were scheduled next on stage when a severe thunderstorm struck, collapsing the stage and stands on the main stage. One person was reported dead and forty injured.^[14] Later, an auction was held to raise money for the two young sons of the woman killed. A dinner with Costner was auctioned off for $41,000. Two guitars, one autographed by Costner, helped raise another $10,000 each.^[15]

A second Kevin Costner and Modern West album, Turn It On, was released in February 2010 in Europe^[16] and was supported by a European tour.^[17]

Other ventures[link]

Baseball[link]

Several of Costner's films have included a baseball theme. They include Chasing Dreams, Bull Durham, Field of Dreams, For Love of the Game and The Upside of Anger, in which his character is a former pro baseball player.

He has a home in Austin, Texas and sometimes appears at University of Texas baseball practices and games. Costner is a close friend of Longhorns baseball coach Augie Garrido from Garrido's days coaching at Cal State Fullerton, the actor's alma mater. He cast Garrido to play the role of the Yankee manager in For Love of the Game. He tries to attend every College World Series game that Cal State Fullerton plays in Omaha, Nebraska.

Costner is a partial owner of the Zion, Illinois-based Lake County Fielders independent baseball team team in the North American League. The Fielders name is an homage to Field of Dreams, with the logo showing a ballplayer standing amid a field of corn.^[18][19]

Business interests[link]

Costner owns 100% of the Midnight Star casino, in Deadwood, South Dakota. The casino, its sports bar Diamond Lil's, and its restaurant Jake's are named after characters and locations from the movie Silverado. The facility contains posters, costumes, and other memorabilia from Costner's films.

In July 2004, Costner fired Francis and Carla Caneva, who managed the Midnight Star. A judge subsequently ordered Costner to pay a percentage of $6.1 million to buy out the Canevas as his business partners. In October 2006, Costner asked the South Dakota Supreme Court to re-examine the ruling, as an accountant hired by the actor had determined the market value of the casino to be $3.1 million.^[20]

In 1995, Costner began developing oil separation machines based on a patent he purchased from the US government. The machines developed by the company were of little commercial interest until the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, when BP took six of the machines from a company in which Costner owned an interest, Ocean Therapy Solutions, for testing in late May 2010.^[21] On June 16, 2010 BP entered into a lease with Ocean Therapy Solutions for 32 of the oil-water separation devices.^[22] Although Spyron Contoguris and Stephen Baldwin previously sold their interests in Ocean Therapy Solutions in mid-June to another investor in the company, they filed a lawsuit in Louisiana District Court claiming $10.64 million for securities fraud and misrepresentation. The suit claims that Costner kept a meeting with BP secret from them, and the secret meeting resulted in an $18 million down payment on a $52 million purchase and that after the down payment but before any announcement another investor used part of the downpayment to buy out their shares, thus excluding them from their share of the profits from the total sale.^[23] The suit claims that, despite public statements by Costner, Ocean Therapy Solutions, BP and others to the contrary, Baldwin and Contogouris were told that BP was still testing the machines and had not yet committed to lease the machines from Ocean Therapy Solutions and that the other investor in Ocean Therapy Solutions purchased their shares for $1.4 million to Baldwin and $500,000, to Contogouris.^[24]

Philanthropy[link]

Costner serves on an honorary board for The National World War I Museum in Kansas City. In spring 2011, he recorded two radio spots for the museum that were aired on Kansas City Royals Radio Network.^[25]

NASCAR[link]

Costner was named ceremonial Grand Marshal of the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series' Auto Club 500 which took place on February 25, 2007, at the California Speedway.^[26] In 2008, he worked with the NASCAR Media Group and CMT Films to help produce the NASCAR Documentary, The Ride of Their Lives which would be released in 2009. Costner would be the narrator for that documentary. Also in 2009, he was named the spokesperson for NASCAR Day which took place on May 15. The next day, May 16, he and his country music band would perform in the infield of Lowe's Motor Speedway as well as participate as a judge in the 2nd annual Pennzoil Victory Challenge before the 25th Running of the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race.

Personal life[link]

Relationships[link]

While in college, Costner was a member of Delta Chi fraternity.^[1] He started dating fellow student Cindy Silva in March 1975, and their subsequent marriage three years later produced three children: Anne "Annie" Clayton (born April 15, 1984), Lily McCall (born August 4, 1986) and Joseph "Joe" (born January 31, 1988). The couple divorced in 1994 after 16 years of marriage. He has a son, Liam (born in 1996), with Bridget Rooney, with whom he had a brief relationship following his divorce.^[27]

In 1996, he cohabited with supermodel Elle MacPherson.^[28]

On September 25, 2004, Costner married his girlfriend of four years, German-American model and handbag designer Christine Baumgartner,^[29] at his ranch in Aspen, Colorado. Costner took his new bride for a canoe ride on a lake following the ceremony. The couple honeymooned in Scotland.^[30] Their first child, Cayden Wyatt Costner, was born on May 6, 2007 at a Los Angeles hospital.^[31] Their second son, Hayes Logan, was born on February 12, 2009,^[32] and their third child, a daughter named Grace Avery, was born on June 2, 2010.^[33]

Sports[link]

The actor plays regularly in celebrity golf tournaments, including the PGA Tour's annual pro-am at Pebble Beach, California and the BMW Pro-Am held each April in Greenville County, South Carolina. Costner is a member at Birnam Wood Golf Club in California.

Costner is a fan of the London football team Arsenal F.C. While filming Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, he attended a match and has followed the team ever since.^[34]

Political activism[link]

Since 1992, Costner has financially supported a variety of Democratic Party politicians, including Al Gore and Tom Daschle, but also made contributions to the Republican Party's Phil Gramm as late as 1995.^[35] He said publicly in 2008 that he has no ambition to run for political office, adding "I've lived quite a colorful life."^[36]

In the final days before the 2008 election, Costner campaigned for Barack Obama, visiting various places in Colorado—a state in which he has a home. In his speech, Costner stated the need for young voters to get to the polls, early and with enthusiasm. "We were going to change the world and we haven't," Costner said at a Colorado State University rally. "My generation didn't get it done, and we need you to help us."^[37]

Filmography[link]

Mentions & Popular Culture[link]

He is mentioned in Lil Cory's "Ballin' Remix" from the mixtape Da Return.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Kevin Costner

• AMC's Photo Gallery : Kevin Costner, Hollywood Icon
• KevinCostner.com – Official website
• Kevin Costner at the Internet Movie Database
• JewReview.net interview with Kevin Costner
• Kevin Costner – Biography, filmography and awards
• Films They Would Rather Forget – Shadows Run Black
• Review of Kevin's Country Band at www.CountryMusicpride.com