Harvey L. Hall is the current mayor of Bakersfield, California, serving his third term, having last been re-elected in June 2008. Hall was first elected in 2000, and first re-elected in 2004. One of his focuses as mayor has been beautification, through "Keep Bakersfield Beautiful" and the creation of, and participation in, monthly "Mayor’s Freeway Cleanups", trash pickups on local freeways. Hall has donated his mayor’s salary to the Kern Community Foundation, which provides scholarships to local colleges, and to California State University, Bakersfield, for local students. He is the 25th mayor of the city.

Hall is the founder and current president of Hall Ambulance Service. ^[1]

References[link]

1. ^ [1]

Halls employees qualify for food stamps

External links[link]

• Keep Bakersfield Beautiful website
• kern foundation website

Rich Hall
Hall performing at the Tower Theatre in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania in 1986
Birth name	Richard Hall
Born	(1954-06-10) 10 June 1954 (age 58) Alexandria, Virginia, United States
Medium	Stand-up, television
Nationality	American
Years active	1979—present
Genres	Observational comedy, Deadpan, Political satire
Subject(s)	American culture, British culture, United States politics, British politics
Spouse	Karen Hall
Notable works and roles	QI, Saturday Night Live, Fridays, Late Show with David Letterman
Website	http://www.offthekerb.co.uk/rich-hall/

Richard "Rich" Hall (born 10 June 1954) is an American comedian, writer and musician.

Early life and career[link]

Hall was born in Alexandria, Virginia and grew up in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. He is part Cherokee Indian and his mother's Christian name is Doris.^[1] Early in his career, he performed as a street comedian with a suitcase and stand, traveling the college circuit, and performing impromptu skits for gathering crowds.

Hall's first professional work was as a writer and performer on the American sketch comedy TV series Fridays from 1980 until 1982. After the end of Fridays, Hall co-wrote and starred in the satirical comedy series Not Necessarily the News from 1983 until 1990 where he coined the term "sniglet" and collected and published several volumes of books of them. Matt Groening has described him as the inspiration for Moe Szyslak from The Simpsons.^[2] He was also a regular on Saturday Night Live. In 1986, he had his own Showtime channel special, Vanishing America, which was turned into a book with the same title. He hosted a talk show during The Comedy Channel's 1990-91 season, titled Rich Hall's Onion World.

In the United States, he has appeared several times on American talk shows such as Late Show with David Letterman and Late Night with Conan O'Brien.

Appearances and work in the United Kingdom[link]

Outside his homeland, Hall has also achieved popularity in the United Kingdom, where he has lived on-and-off for 23 years. He spends part of his time during the off-seasons writing plays in the United States where he has a small ranch just outside Livingston, Montana. The rest of the time is spent in London, where he owns a flat. Hall is a guest on popular BBC panel quiz shows, most notably as a regular guest on QI,^[3] for which he has received much critical acclaim and is known as the game's most frequently victorious guest panellist with seven victories (only permanent panellist Alan Davies has won more shows), and also with appearances in 8 Out of 10 Cats, Have I Got News for You and Never Mind the Buzzcocks.^[4][5] He has also appeared on the British stand-up comedy series Jack Dee's Live at the Apollo. His appearances achieved some cult status due to his line of jokes on Live at the Apollo about Tom Cruise, and the perceivable similarities between many of his roles. In 2000, he won the Perrier Comedy Award at the Edinburgh Fringe, in the guise of his own grizzled uncle, Otis Lee Crenshaw, the much-convicted country music singer. He has released several albums and a concert movie as this character. In 2004, he published a book of the man's memoirs, entitled Otis Lee Crenshaw: I Blame Society, and in 2007 he finished a screenplay for a film based on the book, written for the director Mel Smith.^[6] In 2006, Hall also wrote and acted in the play Levelland at the Edinburgh Festival.

Hall has had four BBC TV series of his own: Rich Hall's Badly Funded Think Tank, Rich Hall's Fishing Show in 2003, Rich Hall's Cattle Drive in 2006, as well as a one-off programme about the 2004 American Presidential Elections, Rich Hall's Election Special. He also appeared on the BBC Two programme Top Gear, where he successfully managed to make a song about a Rover 25 car, much to the enjoyment of host Jeremy Clarkson and the audience. After the September 11, 2001 attacks, Hall was entrusted with the task of responding to the tragedy on the first subsequent edition of Have I Got News for You.

Hall has written and presented three 90-minute documentaries about film genres, broadcast on BBC Four. Rich Hall's How the West Was Lost (first broadcast June 2008)^[7] discusses Westerns, Rich Hall's The Dirty South (October 2010) challenges stereotypical Hollywood presentations of the Southern United States,^[8][9] and Rich Hall's Continental Drifters (November 2011) examines the American road movie.^[10]

In 2007, he returned to the Fringe with his second play, Best Western, which he wrote and directed. In 2008, Hall toured two stand-up shows around the UK: Rich Hall Autumn Tour 2008 played around 45 dates and he also went on the road as his alter-ego in a show entitled Otis Lee Crenshaw and Band that listed Rich Hall as a "special guest." He subsequently toured a version of this show throughout the UK and Ireland in 2009, with long time sidekick Myron T. Buttram (guitarist and pedal steel player, Rob Childs) and Lonesome Dave (banjoist and guitarist, David Lindsay) appearing at the 2009 Adelaide Fringe festival, the Sydney Opera House, and the 2009 Melbourne Comedy festival. With the band renamed as "The Honky Tonk A**holes" and joined by Horst Furst II (bassist, Nigel Portman Smith) and drummer Mark Hewitt, his autumn 2009 tour included a performance at London's Hammersmith Apollo, which was recorded and released in November 2009 as a live DVD.

In 2009, he performed at the Edinburgh Festival in two shows, his solo stand up and also with long time collaborator Mike Wilmot and Montana-based actor Tim Williams in a new play entitled "Campfire Stories".

On April 5, 2010, Hall appeared as one of the stand-up acts on Channel 4's Comedy Gala, a benefit show organised by Channel 4 to raise money for Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital.

Hall is now a regular performer on Channel 4's Stand Up for the Week, which began in June 2010.^[11]

Other appearances[link]

Hall also made an Irish TV appearance as a guest on the fifth series of RTÉ's topical news comedy programme, Don't Feed the Gondolas, and has appeared at the Kilkenny Cat Laughs comedy festival on 15 occasions. He has also performed at the West Belfast Festival/Feile an Phobail, one of the largest community festivals in Ireland, to a sell-out audience where he received widespread critical acclaim.

Hall appeared in several Pizza Hut commercials in the 1980s, mainly promoting Pizza Hut's guarantee of serving each customer within five minutes.

He has also achieved some popularity in Australia, regularly appearing at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and the Adelaide Fringe Festival, and also on Australian comedy panel shows, such as The Glass House and Spicks and Specks.

Rich Hall also made a guest appearance on Top Gear (British TV series) in 2003.

Hall has also appeared in France at the Altitude Comedy Festival 2008 in the ski resort of Meribel. He also appeared — albeit briefly — in the 2006 Cheap Seats (ESPNCL) episode titled "Steve Garvey Celebrity Skiing". He was also at the Garvey 1989 Celebrity Ski Classic.

[edit] List of celebrities impersonated on SNL

• Doug Henning
• Doug Flutie
• Bernhard Goetz
• Caspar Weinberger
• Paul Harvey
• David Byrne
• Mark Goodman
• Vince McMahon

Musical and literary career[link]

Discography[link]

1. London Not Tennessee (with The Black Liars) (2001)
2. How Do We Do It? Volume! (2003)

Bibliography[link]

1. 1984: Sniglets (Snig'Lit: Any Word That Doesn't Appear in the Dictionary, but Should), ISBN 0-02-012530-5
2. 1985: More Sniglets: Any Word That Doesn't Appear in the Dictionary, but Should
3. 1986: Unexplained Sniglets of the Universe
4. 1986: Rich Hall's Vanishing America, ISBN 0-02-547480-4
5. 1987: Angry Young Sniglets (1987)
6. 1989: When Sniglets Ruled the Earth (1989)
7. 1994: Self Help for the Bleak: Attaboy Therapy, ISBN 0-8431-3669-3
8. 2002: Things Snowball, ISBN 0-349-11576-1
9. 2003: Top Gear, (2003)
10. 2004: Otis Lee Crenshaw: I Blame Society, ISBN 0-349-11818-3
11. 2009: Magnificent Bastards, ISBN 0-349-11965-1

References[link]

External links[link]

• Rich Hall at the Internet Movie Database
• Rich Hall reading from "Magnificent Bastards" at writLOUD, London

Paul Harvey
receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005
Birth name	Paul Harvey Aurandt
Born	(1918-09-04)September 4, 1918 Tulsa, Oklahoma
Died	February 28, 2009(2009-02-28) (aged 90)[1] Phoenix, Arizona
Show	The Rest of the Story, Paul Harvey News and Comment
Network	ABC Radio Networks
Country	United States
Spouse(s)	Lynne "Angel" Cooper Harvey (1940–2008)
Children	Paul Harvey, Jr.

Paul Harvey Aurandt (September 4, 1918 – February 28, 2009),^[1] better known as Paul Harvey, was an American radio broadcaster for the ABC Radio Networks. He broadcast News and Comment on weekday mornings and mid-days, and at noon on Saturdays, as well as his famous The Rest of the Story segments. His listening audience was estimated, at its peak, at 24 million people a week.^[2] Paul Harvey News was carried on 1,200 radio stations, 400 Armed Forces Network stations and 300 newspapers. His broadcasts and newspaper columns have been reprinted in the Congressional Record more than those of any other commentator.^[3]

The most noticeable features of Harvey's folksy delivery were his dramatic pauses and quirky intonations.

His success with sponsors stemmed from the seamlessness with which he segued from his monologue into reading commercial messages. He explained his relationship with them, saying "I am fiercely loyal to those willing to put their money where my mouth is."^[4]

Career[link]

Early years[link]

The son of a policeman,^[5] Harvey made radio receivers as a young boy. He attended Tulsa Central High School where a teacher, Isabelle Ronan, was "impressed by his voice." On her recommendation, he started working at KVOO in Tulsa in 1933, when he was 14. His first job was helping clean up. Eventually he was allowed to fill in on the air, reading commercials and the news.^[6][7][8]

While attending the University of Tulsa, he continued working at KVOO, first as an announcer, and later as a program director. Harvey, at age nineteen spent three years as^[9] a station manager for KFBI AM, now known as KFDI, a local station in Salina, Kansas. From there, he moved to a newscasting job at KOMA in Oklahoma City, and then to KXOK, in St. Louis, where he was Director of Special Events and a roving reporter.

Harvey then moved to Hawaii to cover the United States Navy as it concentrated its fleet in the Pacific. He was returning to the mainland from assignment when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. He eventually enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces but served only from December 1943 to March 1944. His critics^[specify] claimed he was given a psychiatric discharge for deliberately injuring himself in the heel. Harvey angrily denied the accusation, but was vague about details: "There was a little training accident...a minor cut on the obstacle course...I don't recall seeing anyone I knew who was a psychiatrist...I cannot tell you the exact wording on my discharge."^[10]

Move to Chicago[link]

Harvey then moved to Chicago, where in June 1944, he began broadcasting from the ABC affiliate WENR. In 1945, he began hosting the postwar employment program Jobs for G.I. Joe on WENR. Harvey added The Rest of the Story as a tagline to in-depth feature stories in 1946.

One of Harvey's regular topics was lax security, in particular at Argonne National Laboratory, a nuclear test site located 20 miles (32 km) west of Chicago.^[5] To demonstrate his concern, just after midnight on February 6, 1951, Harvey engaged in an "act of participatory journalism"; as The Washington Post described it in 2010, after obtaining 1400 pages of the FBI file on Harvey:^[5][11]

Harvey guided his black Cadillac Fleetwood toward Argonne, arriving sometime past midnight. He parked in a secluded spot, tossed his overcoat onto the barbed wire topping a fence, then scampered over....Harvey['s plan was] to scratch his signature on 'objects that could not possibly have been brought to the site by someone else,' according to a statement later given by an off-duty guard who accompanied him....But seconds after Harvey hit the ground, security officers spotted him....Harvey ran until, caught in a Jeep's headlights, he tripped and fell. As guards approached, Harvey sprang to his feet and waved. Guards asked whether Harvey realized he was in a restricted area. Harvey replied no, that he thought he might be at the airport because of the red lights.....Harvey told the authorities he had been headed to a neighboring town to give a speech when his car died....Under questioning, Harvey eventually dropped his cover story but refused to elaborate, saying he wanted to tell his tale before a congressional committee. Guards searched his Cadillac and found ... a four-page, typewritten script for an upcoming broadcast. Harvey, it turned out, had planned from the outset to feed the nation a bogus account of his escapade: "I hereby affirm the following is a true and accurate account," the script began. "My friend and I were driving a once-familiar road, when the car stalled....We started to walk....We made no effort to conceal our presence....Suddenly I realized where I was. That I had entered, unchallenged, one of the United States' vital atomic research installations....Quite by accident, understand, I had found myself inside the 'hot' area....We could have carried a bomb in, or classified documents out.

Harvey's "escapade" prompted the U.S. attorney for Illinois to empanel a grand jury to consider an espionage indictment; Harvey "went on the air to suggest he was being set up"; the grand jury subsequently declined to indict Harvey.^[5]

On April 1, 1951, before the grand jury's decision,^[5] the ABC Radio Network debuted Paul Harvey News and Comment "Commentary and analysis of Paul Harvey each weekday at 12 Noon". Paul Harvey was also heard originally on Sundays; the first Sunday program was Harvey's introduction. Later, the Sunday program would move to Saturdays. The program continued until his death.

From the late 1960s through the early 1980s, there was a televised, five-minute editorial by Paul Harvey that local stations could insert into their local news programs or show separately.

In the latter half of his career, Paul Harvey was also known for the radio series The Rest of the Story, described as a blend of mystery and history, which premiered on May 10, 1976. The series quickly grew to six broadcasts a week, and continued until Harvey's death in 2009. The Rest of the Story series was written and produced by the broadcaster's son, Paul Harvey, Jr., from its outset and for its thirty-three year duration. Harvey and his radio network stated that the stories in that series, although entertaining, were completely true.^[12] This was contested by some critics, including urban legend expert Jan Harold Brunvand.^[13]

In November 2000, Harvey signed a 10-year, $100M contract with ABC Radio Networks. A few months later, after damaging his vocal cords, he went off the air, but returned in August 2001.

Fill-in hosts[link]

Former Senator Fred Thompson, known for his work on NBC's Law and Order, substituted for Harvey regularly from 2006 to 2007, prior to his unsuccessful run for President. Thompson left the network to run and did not return, instead joining Westwood One in January 2009. Other substitutes for Harvey have included his son, Paul Harvey, Jr.,^[14] Doug Limerick,^[15] Paul W. Smith,^[16] Gil Gross,^[17] Ron Chapman,^[18] Mitt Romney,^[19] Mike Huckabee,^[20] Mort Crim, Scott Shannon, and Tony Snow. After Huckabee's sub-hosting, ABC offered him a spin-off program, The Huckabee Report, which launched early in 2009. Gross (morning) and Limerick (afternoons) were named Harvey's eventual successors, but three weeks after Harvey's death, the entire News and Comment franchise was canceled.

Harvey did not host the show full-time after April 2008, when he came down with pneumonia. Shortly after his recovery, his wife died on May 3, causing him to prolong his time away from broadcasting. He voiced commercials, new episodes of The Rest of the Story and News & Comment during middays a few times a week, with his son handling mornings.

On-air persona, catch phrases, trademarks, and off-air interest[link]

Harvey's on-air persona was influenced by that of sportscaster Bill Stern. During the 1940s, Stern's The Colgate Sports Reel and newsreel programs used many of the techniques later used by Harvey, including his emphatic style of delivery, and the use of phrases such as Reel Two and Reel Three to denote segments of the broadcast—much like Harvey's Page Two and Page Three.^[21][22]

Harvey was also known for catch phrases he used at the beginning of his programs, such as "Hello Americans, I'm Paul Harvey. You know what the news is, in a minute, you're going to hear ... the rest of the story." He always ended, "Paul Harvey ... Good day." A story might be "This day's news of most lasting significance." At the end of a report about someone who had done something ridiculous or offensive, Harvey would say, "He would want us to mention his name," followed by silence, then would start the next item. The last item of a broadcast, which was often a funny story, would usually be preceded by "For what it's worth."

Other phrases made famous by Harvey included "Here's a strange..." (a story with an unusual twist) and "Self-government won't work without self-discipline."^[23]

In addition to the inquiry into whether Harvey's Rest of the Story tales are true, Harvey's trademark ability to seamlessly migrate from content to commercial brought scrutiny. In that context, Salon magazine called him the "finest huckster ever to roam the airwaves."^[24] Some have argued that Harvey's fawning and lavish product endorsements may be misleading or confusing to his audience. Harvey's endorsed products included EdenPure heaters, Bose radios, Select Comfort mattresses, and Hi-Health dietary supplements, including a supplement that was claimed to improve vision but was later the subject of a Federal Trade Commission enforcement action against the manufacturer (but not Harvey himself) for misleading claims made on Harvey's show.^[25] In one of the tribute broadcasts, Gil Gross said Harvey considered advertising just another type of news, and he only endorsed products he believed in, often interviewing someone from the company.

Harvey was also an avid pilot. He had been an Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association member for more than 50 years, and would occasionally talk about flying to his radio audience. He also was a member of the Experimental Aircraft Association, and was frequently seen at EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wis. He was responsible for funding the Paul Harvey Audio-Video Center at EAA headquarters in Oshkosh. According to AOPA Pilot contributing editor Barry Schiff, Harvey coined the term “skyjack.” He is also credited with coining "Reaganomics" and "guesstimate."^[26]

His car of choice was the Cadillac. His Illinois license plates read PH.^{[citation needed]} Chicago officially recognized his accomplishments by naming one of the streets near the Loop, "Paul Harvey Drive".

Beginning in 1952, Harvey was a friend of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover; the men were introduced to each other by Rep. Fred Busbey (R-Illinois); Harvey would often submit "advance copies of his radio script for comment and approval."^[5] It is believed that Harvey's friendship with Hoover helped Harvey escape criminal charges relating to his trespassing at Argonne National Laboratory. Harvey was also a close friend of Senator Joseph McCarthy and supporter of his search for Communists.^[27]

Harvey was also a close friend of Reverend Billy Graham.^[10] From the mid 1970s until the mid 1980s, Harvey attended Calvary Memorial Church, in Oak Park.^{[citation needed]} When the church moved from its original location on Madison Street to the former Presbyterian Church on Lake Street, Harvey asked his friend Graham to preach at the dedication service.^{[citation needed]} Paul Harvey associated with various congregations of different denominations.^[28] He and his wife regularly attended the Camelback Adventist Church in Scottsdale, Arizona during his winters there.^[29] He often quoted Adventist pioneer Ellen G. White in his broadcasts and received the "Golden Microphone" Award for his professionalism and graciousness in dealing with the church.^[30][31]

Awards[link]

Harvey was named Salesman of the Year, Commentator of the Year, Person of the Year, Father of the Year, and American of the Year. He was elected to the National Association of Broadcasters National Radio Hall of Fame and Oklahoma Hall of Fame, and appeared on the Gallup poll list of America's most admired men. In addition he received 11 Freedom Foundation Awards as well as the Horatio Alger Award. Paul Harvey was named to the DeMolay Hall of Fame, a Masonic youth organization, on June 25, 1993.

In 2005, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States' most prestigious civilian award, by President George W. Bush.^[32]

On May 18, 2007, he received an honorary degree from Washington University in St. Louis.

Family[link]

Paul Harvey was born and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the son of Harry Harrison Aurandt (1873–1921) and Anna Dagmar (née Christensen) Aurandt (1883–1960). His father was born in Martinsburg, Pennsylvania; his mother was a native of Denmark. He had one sibling, an older sister Frances Harrietta (née Aurandt) Price (1908–1988).

In 1921, when Harvey was three years old, his father was murdered. He and a friend—a Tulsa police detective—were rabbit hunting while off-duty when approached by four armed men who attempted to rob them. Aurandt was shot and died two days later of his wounds. The four robbers were identified by the surviving detective, and arrested the day after Aurandt died. A lynch mob of 1,500 people formed at the jail, but all four were smuggled out, tried, convicted, and received life terms.^[33]

In 1940, Harvey married Lynne Cooper of St. Louis. She was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa at Washington University in St. Louis^[34] and a former schoolteacher.^[35] They met when Harvey was working at KXOK and Cooper came to the station for a school news program. Harvey invited her to dinner, proposed to her after a few minutes of conversation and from then on called her "Angel," even on his radio show. A year later she said yes. The couple moved to Chicago in 1944.^[34]

On May 17, 2007, Harvey told his radio audience that Angel had developed leukemia. Her death, at the age of 92, was announced by ABC radio on May 3, 2008.^[36] When she died at their River Forest home, the Chicago Sun-Times described her as, "More than his astute business partner and producer, she also was a pioneer for women in radio and an influential figure in her own right for decades." According to the founder of the Museum of Broadcast Communications, Bruce DuMont, "She was to Paul Harvey what Colonel Parker was to Elvis Presley. She really put him on track to have the phenomenal career that his career has been."^[37]

Lynne Harvey was the first producer ever inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame, and had developed some of her husband's best-known features, such as "The Rest of the Story."^[34] While working on her husband's radio show, she established 10 p.m. as the hour in which news is broadcast. She was the first woman to receive a lifetime achievement award from the Chicago chapter of American Women in Radio and Television.^[36] She worked in television also, and created a television show called Dilemma which is acknowledged as the prototype of the modern talk show genre. While working at CBS, she was among the first women to produce an entire newscast. In later years, she was best known as a philanthropist.^[38]

They had one son, Paul Aurandt, Jr., who goes by the name Paul Harvey, Jr. He assisted his father at News and Comment and The Rest of the Story. Paul, Jr., whose voice announced the bumpers into and out of each News and Comment episode, filled in for his father during broadcasts and broadcast the morning editions after the passing of his mother.

Death and tributes[link]

Wikinews has related news: Broadcaster Paul Harvey dies

Harvey died on February 28, 2009, at the age of 90 at a hospital in Phoenix, Arizona, surrounded by family and friends. No cause of death was announced. In response to his father's death, his son, Paul Harvey Jr., said, "millions have lost a friend".^[39] At the time of his death, he had less than two years left on his ten-year contract. Former President George W. Bush issued a statement on Harvey's death, calling Harvey: "a friendly and familiar voice in the lives of millions of Americans."^[40]

On March 4, Gil Gross was chosen to become the next host of News & Comment.^[41] New owners Citadel Broadcasting, who bought ABC Radio from Disney in 2008, chose Mike Huckabee instead but the show lasted only one week before it was taken off the air.^[42]

Harvey's full-length biography, Good Day! The Paul Harvey Story, was published in May 2009 by Regnery Publishing.^[28]

Books[link]

• Autumn of Liberty. Garden City, New York: Hanover House, 1954.
• The Rest of the Story. Garden City, New York: Hanover House, 1956.
• Our Lives, Our Fortunes, Our Sacred Honor. Waco, Texas: Word Books, 1975.
• Paul Harvey's The Rest of the Story. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1977. ISBN 0-385-12768-5
• More of Paul Harvey's The Rest of the Story. New York: William Morrow, 1980, ISBN 0-688-03669-4
• Destiny: From Paul Harvey's The Rest of the Story. New York: William Morrow, 1983, ISBN 0-688-02205-7
• Paul Harvey's For What It's Worth. New York: Bantam Books, 1991, ISBN 0-553-07720-1.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Paul Harvey

• Paul Harvey official website
• Paul Harvey at the National Radio Hall of Fame
• Paul Harvey at Find a Grave
• The Right of the Story Is Paul Harvey's reporting accurate?
• Report/Obituary in the Chicago Tribune
• Photo gallery in the Chicago Sun-Times
• Paul Harvey, Newscaster, dies at 90
• McFadden, Robert D. "Paul Harvey, Homespun Radio Voice of Middle America, Is Dead at 90," The New York Times, Monday, March 2, 2009.
• "Paul Harvey . . . Good Day! Remembering an American original" – Wall Street Journal – March 4, 2009
• A look at Paul Harvey's Radio Studios c. 2004
• Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture – Harvey, Paul

Regina Hall (born December 12, 1970) is an American film and television actress known for her lead role of Brenda Meeks in the Scary Movie films and as Corretta Lipp in the FOX comedy-drama Ally McBeal.

Personal life[link]

Hall was born in [los angeles, california]], on December 12, 1970,^[1] the daughter of a contractor father and a teacher mother, Ruby.^[2][3] She graduated from New York University in 1997 with a Master's degree in Journalism,^[4] and shortly thereafter began a career in the entertainment industry, starting off with a guest appearance on Sadat X's 1996 album Wild Cowboys on the track, "The Interview".

Around 2004, Regina Hall’s mother was diagnosed with scleroderma, a rare autoimmune disease. Therefore, when not working in Hollywood, Hall can be found volunteering for the care of senior citizens at a Sherman Oaks, CA convalescent home twice a week as well as raising public awareness for the disease. “When my mom was diagnosed, I didn’t know much about the condition. But Dana Delany, who is an actress and now a friend of mine, put me in touch with Bob Saget. Bob had made a television movie about scleroderma years ago because his sister had died from it. That was back when they didn’t even know what it was. Anyway, Bob had a group called the Scleroderma Research Foundation, so I donated to that and my mother even went to the doctor Bob had suggested, who happened to be over at Johns Hopkins.”^[5]

Career[link]

In 1997, Hall appeared in her first television commercial at the age of 26. Her television career initially began with a recurring role on the soap opera Loving, and guest appearances on the FOX's police drama New York Undercover. Her first film role came in 1999 with a small part in the film The Best Man. She left a lasting impression on viewers with her portrayal of the character Candy. It signaled a pivotal point for Hall’s career. As a key member of the all-star cast, she welcomed rising-star status in "black-Hollywood".

Hall gained more recognition with her role in the comedy-horror-spoof Scary Movie (and the sequels Scary Movie 2, Scary Movie 3, and Scary Movie 4) portraying the high school-aged Brenda Meeks, and the TV movie Disappearing Acts. In 2001, Hall landed the role of Coretta Lipp on the prime-time drama Ally McBeal, which was originally a recurring role over several episodes but was made a main character in the 5th season of the show. A year later, she starred in the action-drama Paid in Full, a film directed by Charles Stone III. Since then, she has appeared in leading roles in films such as Malibu's Most Wanted, King's Ransom and The Honeymooners.^[6] She will have a role in the 2010 Danneel Harris and Arielle Kebbel film Mardi Gras. Scary Movie 5 has also been recently announced by the Weinstein Company, it is unknown if Hall will be returning. From its fall 2010 debut until a series overhaul in January 2011, Regina Hall portrayed Deputy District Attorney Evelyn Price on Law & Order: LA. In addition to being an actress and advocate, Regina Hall announced in November 2010 that she is now writing for ABILITY Magazine.^[7]

Awards and nominations[link]

2003 NAACP Image Awards

• Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, for Ally McBeal (nominated)

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Regina Hall at the Internet Movie Database
• Regina Hall — Interview"Regina Hall Issue", ABILITY Magazine, April/May 2010

Steve Harvey
Harvey in September 2008
Born	Broderick Steven Harvey (1957-01-17) January 17, 1957 (age 55) Welch, West Virginia, U.S.
Residence	Atlanta, Georgia
Occupation	Actor Comedian Radio and television personality Author
Years active	1985–present
Spouse	Marcia Harvey (1980-1994)[1] Mary Lee Shackelford (1996-2005)[1] Marjorie Bridges (2007–present)[1]
Website
http://www.steveharvey.com

Broderick Steven "Steve" Harvey (born January 17, 1957)^[2] is an American entertainer and author who hosts The Steve Harvey Morning Show, and Family Feud. He is the author of Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man, which was published in March 2009, and the book Straight Talk, No Chaser: How to Find and Keep a Man.

He's been an actor, comedian, entertainer, television and radio personality and best-selling author. He starred in The Steve Harvey Show, and he was featured in The Original Kings of Comedy. He also hosts the Steve Harvey Project, on an extended cable channel.

Biography[link]

Early years[link]

Harvey was born in Welch, West Virginia, the son of Eloise and Jesse Harvey, a coal miner.^[3] His family moved to Cleveland, Ohio where he graduated from Glenville High School in 1974.^[4][1] Shortly after high school he attended Kent State University and West Virginia University and is a member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity.^[1] He has been a boxer, an insurance salesman, and a mailman.^[1][5]

Comedy career[link]

Steve Harvey first performed stand-up comedy on October 8, 1985 at the Hilarities Comedy Club in Cleveland, Ohio. He was a finalist in Second Annual Johnnie Walker National Comedy Search in 1989, eventually leading to a long stint as host of It's Showtime at the Apollo, succeeding Mark Curry in that role. His success as a stand-up comedian led to a starring role on the ABC show Me and the Boys in 1994. He would later star on the WB network show, The Steve Harvey Show, which ran from 1996 to 2002. While wildly popular in the African-American community (the show won multiple NAACP Image Awards), the show never achieved critical acclaim outside of the African-American community, a matter about which Harvey has often complained.

In 1997, Harvey continued his work in stand-up comedy, touring as one of the Kings of Comedy, along with Cedric the Entertainer, D.L. Hughley and Bernie Mac. The comedy act would later be put together into a film by Spike Lee called The Original Kings of Comedy. DVD sales of The Original Kings of Comedy and Don't Trip, He Ain't Through With Me Yet increased Harvey's popularity. Harvey released a hip hop and R&B audio CD on a record label he founded, and authored a book, Steve Harvey's Big Time. That title was also used as the name of Harvey's comedy and variety television show (later renamed Steve Harvey's Big Time Challenge) which aired on The WB network from 2003 until 2005. Harvey also launched a clothing line which features the line of dress wear. In 2005 he co-starred in the movie Racing Stripes. He had appeared in the 2003 movie The Fighting Temptations alongside Cuba Gooding Jr. and Beyoncé Knowles.

In 2008, Harvey hosted the Disney Dreamers Academy with Steve Harvey, a teen-focused personal and professional enrichment event that took place January 17–20, 2008 at the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. Harvey along with a team of judges chose 100 teens to attend the event.^[6]

Radio host[link]

[edit] The Steve Harvey Morning Show

Harvey is the host of a weekday-morning radio program, The Steve Harvey Morning Show, which was originally syndicated through Radio One, Inc. from September 2000 until May 2005, and which continues to air to the present time.

Television roles[link]

[edit] Family Feud

Harvey became the host of Family Feud in September 2010.^[8]

Film roles[link]

Personal life[link]

Harvey has been married three times and has four biological children. He has twin daughters, Karli and Brandi (born 1982) and a son, Broderick Jr. (born 1991), from his first marriage^[10] to Marcia Harvey.^[1] Harvey also has another son, Wynton (born 1997), from his second marriage to Mary Shackelford. The couple divorced in November 2005.^[11]

In June 2007 he married his current wife, Marjorie Bridges, who he says is responsible for making him a better man and changing his life.^[12] The Harveys live in Atlanta, Georgia with four of their youngest children as a "blended family".^[13] Harvey will move to Illinois to tape a daily talk show for NBCUniversal from the company's Chicago studios. Production on Family Feud and the radio show will remain in Atlanta, though Harvey will host the radio show from Chicago as well.^[14]

Controversy[link]

On March 27, 2009, Harvey appeared on an episode of The Tyra Show with Tyra Banks to promote his book Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man.^[15] During the course of the interview, Harvey advised that women should not date atheists. Saying:

"You sitting up there talking to a dude and he tells you he’s an atheist, you need to pack it up and go home. You talking to a person who don’t believe in God. What’s his moral barometer? Where’s it at? It's nowhere."

On May 30, 2009, Harvey appeared on an episode of Larry King Live guest hosted by Joy Behar.^[16] During that interview, Harvey reiterated his assertion that women should not date atheists, who he claimed have "no moral barometer". Harvey stated that he refuses to speak to anyone claiming to be an atheist, who he said are "idiot(s)". Harvey went on to suggest that modern astrophysics and evolutionary biology are without merit by saying:

You can't just tell me it spun out of a gastrous ball and then all of a sudden we were evolved from monkeys. Why we still got monkeys?

In August 2011 on his radio show, Harvey called Cornel West and Tavis Smiley "Uncle Toms" because they have criticized President Barack Obama.^[17]

Awards[link]

In 2007, Harvey won the Syndicated Personality/Show of the Year award by Radio & Records magazine. Other finalists included: Delilah, Blair Garner, Kidd Kraddick, The Lia Show and John Tesh.^[18]

References[link]

External links[link]

• www.steveharvey.com -- Official website
• Steve Harvey at the Internet Movie Database