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Two types of steaming utensils

Cantonese cuisine, steamed fish, seasoned with soy sauce, coriander and Welsh onion

Chinese steamed eggs

Reheating a commercially sold frozen meal by steaming in a wok

Steaming is a method of cooking using steam. Steaming is considered a healthy cooking technique and capable of cooking almost all kinds of food.

Method[link]

Steaming works by boiling water continuously, causing it to vaporize into steam; the steam then carries heat to the nearby food, thus cooking the food. The food is kept separate from the boiling water but has direct contact with the steam, resulting in a moist texture to the food. This differs from double boiling, in which contact with steam is undesired.

Such cooking is most often done by placing the food into a steamer, which is typically a circular container made of metal or bamboo. The steamer usually has a lid that is placed on the top of the container during cooking to allow the steam to cook the food. When a steamer is unavailable, a wok filled less than half with water is a replacement by placing a metal frame made of stainless steel in the middle of the wok. Some modern home microwave ovens include the structure to cook food by steam vapor produced in a separate water container, providing a similar result to being cooked by fire.

Benefits[link]

Overcooking or burning food is easily avoided when steaming it. Health conscious individuals may prefer steaming to other methods which require cooking oil, resulting in lower fat content. Steaming also results in a more nutritious food than boiling because fewer nutrients are leached away into the water, which is usually discarded. A 2007 USDA comparison between steaming and boiling vegetables shows the most affected nutrients are folic acid and vitamin C. When compared to raw consumption, steaming reduces folic acid by 15%, and boiling reduces it by 35%. Steaming reduces vitamin C by 15%, and boiling reduces it by 25%. Phenolic compounds with antioxidant properties have been found to retain significantly better through steaming than through boiling or microwaving.^[1] Most other nutrients are reduced by a similar amount by both methods of cooking.^[2]

Food by steaming[link]

In Western cooking, steaming is most often used to cook vegetables - it is rarely used to cook meats. In Chinese cuisine, vegetables are mostly stir fried or blanched and seldom steamed. Seafood and meat dishes are steamed. For example: steamed whole fish, steamed crab, steamed pork spare ribs, steamed ground pork or beef, steamed chicken, steamed goose, etc. Other than meat dishes, rice can be steamed too, although in Chinese this is rarely referred to as "steaming" but rather simply as "cooking." Wheat foods are steamed as well. Examples include buns, Chinese steamed cakes etc. Steamed meat dishes (except fish and some dim sum) are less common in Chinese restaurants than in traditional home cooking because meats usually require longer cooking times to steam than to stir fry. Commercially sold frozen foods (such as dim sum) used to have instructions to reheat by steaming, until the rise in popularity of home microwave ovens which have considerably shorter cooking times.

See also[link]

Food portal

• Food steamer
• Mushiki, a Japanese steamer made from bamboo

References[link]

Diana Dors
Dors in I Married a Woman (1958)
Born	Diana Mary Fluck 23 October 1931 Swindon, Wiltshire, England, UK
Died	4 May 1984(1984-05-04) (aged 52) Windsor, Berkshire, England, UK
Resting place	Sunningdale Catholic Cemetery
Residence	Orchard Manor, Sunningdale, Berkshire
Nationality	British
Other names	Diana d'Ors
Education	Colville House, Swindon
Alma mater	London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1947–1984
Influenced by	Veronica Lake, Lana Turner, Jean Harlow[1]
Spouse	Dennis Hamilton (m. 1951–1959, his death) Richard Dawson (m. 1959–1966, divorced) Alan Lake (m. 1968–1984, her death)
Children	Mark Dawson Gary Dawson[2] Jason Lake

Diana Dors (23 October 1931 – 4 May 1984) was an English actress, born Diana Mary Fluck in Swindon, Wiltshire. Considered the English equivalent of the blonde bombshells of Hollywood, Dors described herself as, "The only sex symbol Britain has produced since Lady Godiva."^[1][3]

Early life[link]

Diana Mary Fluck was born in ­Swindon, Wiltshire, on 23 October 1931, at the Haven Nursing Home. Her mother Mary was married to Albert Fluck, but had a sexual relationship with their lodger Gerald Lack. When Mary announced she was pregnant with Diana, she admitted she had no clear idea which of them was the father.^[1]

Educated at Colville House, like many children of the time Fiana enjoyed the cinema; her heroines from age 8 onwards were the Hollywood sirens Veronica Lake, Lana Turner and Jean Harlow.^[1]

Career[link]

LAMDA[link]

Having excelled in her elocution studies, after lying about her age, in 1946 aged 14 she was offered a place to study at London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, becoming the college's youngest ever student.^[1] She lodged at the Earls Court YWCA, and supplemented her £2 per week allowance, most of which was spent on her lodgings, by posing for the London Camera Club for one guinea (£1.05) an hour. Signed to the Gordon Harbord Agency, in her first term she won a bronze medal, awarded by Peter Ustinov, and in her second won a silver with honours, awarded by casting director Eric L'Epine Smith.^[4]

She had already acted in public theatre pieces for LAMDA productions; Smith got her into her first film part with a walk-on piece that developed into a speaking part in The Shop at Sly Corner, at a rate of £8 per day for three days. During the signing of contracts, in agreement with Diana and her father, Smith changed her contractual surname to Dors, the maiden name of her maternal grandmother, on the initial suggestion of her mother Mary.^[4] Dors later comented on her name:^[1]

"They asked me to change my name. I suppose they were afraid that if my real name Diana Fluck was in lights and one of the lights blew" ...

Returning to LAMDA, two weeks later she was asked by her agent to audition to for Holiday Camp, by dancing a Jitterbug with fellow young actor John Blythe. Gainsborough Studios gave her the part at a pay rate of £10 per day for four days.^[4] Her next film was Dancing with Crime, shot at Twickenham Studios opposite Richard Attenborough during the coldest winter for nearly fifty years, for which she was paid £10 per day for fifteen days. Following her return to LAMDA, and having won over Principal Wilfred Foulis, she graduated in spring 1947 by winning the London Films Cup, awarded to LAMDA by Sir Alexander Korda. She timed her return to Swindon to visit her parents, with the local release of The Shop at Sly Corner.^[5]

Films[link]

Now aged 16, she was signed under contract to the Rank Organisation, and joined J. Arthur Rank's "Charm School" for young actors, subsequently appearing in many of their films.^[1] She played a number of supporting roles, where in her early films, Dors' chest was in part strapped down, and with her natural hair brown, allows her full and developing acting ability to come through. She made her leading role breakthrough in 1949's Diamond City, a commercially unsuccessful story of a boom town in South Africa in 1870.

After an appearance with Barbara Murray in The Cat and the Canary at the Connaught Theatre, Worthing, she was contracted out to Elstree Studios. They cast her in the play Man of the World with Lionel Jeffries, which opened at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, and capped her works that year to win her Theatre World magazine's Actress of the Year Award. However, with Rank now £18 million in debt, Rank closed their "Charm School", and made Dors redundant.^[6]

With her then boyfriend in jail, and having just undergone her first abortion, Dors met Dennis Hamilton Gittins in May 1951 while filming Lady Godiva Rides Again for Rank,^[1] a film which created first or early appearances for Joan Collins, Sid James and a then four months pregnant Ruth Ellis.^[1] Hamilton romanced Dors, and quickly won her heart, with the couple marrying only five weeks later at Caxton Hall on Monday 3 July 1951.^[7] From this point forward and driven by his publicity focus, her appearance became classical sex symbol and markedly similar to Marilyn Monroe's. She often played characters suffering from unrequited love, and so successful was the transformation that by the mid-1950s Dors was known as "the English Marilyn Monroe."^[1] Hamilton also made sure that she had the lifestyle attachments of a sex symbol, agreeing a lease-deal with Rolls Royce such that a headline could be created in the tabloids that at aged 20, she was the youngest registered owner of a Rolls-Royce in the UK.^[1]

There were no limits to which it is alleged Hamilton would go to advance Dors' career, and his income or influence from it.^[1] Many biographers, writers and peers after her death said that Hamilton would loan Dors out as a favour to hiring producers and leading actors, much as in the casting couch practises of Hollywood.^[1] In 1954, Hamilton had the idea to exploit the new printed technology of 3D. He engaged photographer Horace Roye to take a number of nude and semi-nude photographs of Dors, which Hamilton subsequently had published in two forms. The semi-nude where her modesty is unseen by the camera, or covered with white faux fur, were issued as a "Diana Dors 3D: the ultimate British Sex Symbol" set, which sold together with a pair of 3D glasses, capped her as the true ultimate British sex symbol. The full nude test shot photographs became part of Roye's 1954 booklet "London Models".^[1]

In 1955 exhibitors voted her the 9th most popular British star at the British box office.^[8]

US career[link]

Following the success of 1952 British noir film The Last Page, producer Robert L. Lippert offered her a one-picture deal on one condition: that she divorce Dennis Hamilton Gittins. Dors refused. She gained a second Hollywood offer from Burt Lancaster for a lead role in his 1954 production His Majesty O'Keefe, but this time Hamilton turned down the part on her behalf before she even knew of the offer. The result was that her early promising career was restricted from this point forward to mainly British films. According to film buffs, her best work as an actress was when she played a murderess in the 1956 film Yield to the Night. She showed her capability in her willingsness to play repulsive characters in films, such as The Amazing Mr. Blunden, The Unholy Wife, and Timon of Athens.^[1]

Dors never had quite the same following in the United States, owing to her husband Hamilton. Pre-signing a three-film contract with RKO Pictures, on 20 June 1956 she left Southampton on board the Queen Elizabeth for New York, and then onwards to Hollywood to start shooting The Unholy Wife and I Married a Woman. Due to meet Hollywood columnists Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons, interviews were arranged to be held at the Hollywood home of her friend, the celebrity hairdresser Teasy-Weasy Raymond, who owned a Spanish-style villa off Sunset Boulevard, formerly owned by Marlene Dietrich.^[9] To coincide with the publication of the articles, Hamilton and Raymond arranged a Hollywood launch party at Raymond's house in August 1956, with a guest list that included: Doris Day, Eddie Fisher, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Liberace, Lana Turner, Ginger Rogers and John Wayne. After 30 minutes while lining up next to Raymond's pool with her US agent Louis Shurr and her dress designer Howard Shoup, all four including Dors and Hamilton were pushed into the pool after the party crowd and photographers surged forward. Hamilton emerged drenched from the pool, and hit the first photographer before he could be restrained. The following days headlines in the National Enquirer read: "Ms Dors Go Home – And Take Mr Dors With You.” Due to the resulting negative publicity, the couple failed to buy Lana Turner's house, settling into a rental property in Coldwater Canyon.^[1]

Dors had an alleged affair with Rod Steiger during the filming of The Unholy Wife, which he broke off in October 1956 after Hamilton started an affair with Raymond's estranged wife in London, and his sole management of his alleged mistress Shirley Ann Field. After Dors announced her subsequent separation from Hamilton, RKO cancelled the contract on a moral clause due to her pending divorce, after only 1958's The Unholy Wife and I Married a Woman were completed.^[10] Dors left Hollywood, staying in the Dorchester in London for a single night, before reconcilling with Hamilton for a period.^[1]

Subsequently she had her US films distributed under the stage name Diana d'Ors to avoid bad publicity. In more recent years Dors has made a wider US break through owing to her films having been shown on classic film channels such as Turner Classic Movies.

During the summer of 1961, she taped "The Sorcerer's Apprentice", based on Robert Bloch's story "The Sorcerer's Apprentice", for Alfred Hitchcock Presents. The episode was so gruesome, it was banned by the NBC Television Network and sponsor Revlon, and not released for many decades.^[11] Dors also starred in a 1963 episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour titled "Run for Doom," co-starring John Gavin.

Cabaret[link]

In February 1957 while filming The Long Haul, Dors started a relationship with co-star Victor Mature's stuntman, the actor Tommy Yeardye. Hamilton discovered the relationship through his 8mm movie camera filming of his wife's flat and caravan, and so started another period of separation, which this time led to the start of divorce procedures.^[1]

Following her final separation from her husband Hamilton in 1958, bringing an end to her RKO contract on moral clause grounds, Dors discovered from her accountants that her company Diana Dors Ltd was in serious debt. Hamilton had steered the company towards the dual purpose of publicising Diana and fulfilling his own dreams, over paying tax bills and establishing financial stability.^[10]

Having been forced at gun point by Hamilton to sign over all of her assets on their separation, and now in desperate need of money to pay both her divorce lawyers and their accountants, she agreed to the suggestion of agent Joseph Collins (father of Jackie and Joan Collins), to undertake a theatre-based UK cabaret tour, that later extended into Europe and North America. Under the title of "The Diana Dors Show", her boyfriend Yeardle suggested that they hire the comedian Dickie Dawson, whom they had seen at New York's Stork Club. Dawson subsequently scripted the show and wrote most of the material. Finding Dawson very funny, Dors started a relationship with him and then ended the relationship with Yeardye, who subsequently emptied her cash box at Harrods of £18,000 and sold his story to the media.^[1] This brought negative publicity to the show, but audience numbers remained high, which allowed Dors extra time to explain her affairs to a subsequent HM Revenue and Customs investigation of her cash holdings.^[10] After marrying Dawson in New York whilst making an appearance on The Steve Allen Show in 1959, the theatre-based The Diana Dors Show was commissioned for two studio-based series on television at ITV.^[1]

After the birth of her first child in February 1960, and wishing to stay in the United States as a family unit with Dawson, Dors undertook a cabaret contract to headline at the Dunes hotel and casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.^[1]

Dors divorced Dawson in 1966 and returned to the U.K., leaving behind her two sons Mark and Gary. Mark never forgave her and was belligerent whenever they saw each other. Her youngest son, by her third marriage, Jason Lake, believed that her feelings of guilt about abandoning her sons may have contributed to her developing cancer.^[12] She returned to UK cabaret and subsequently was served with a writ of bankruptcy in which she owed HMRC £40,208.^[13] But as her popularity had fallen, this time she was touring working men's clubs.^[1]

Recordings[link]

The earliest recordings of Dors were two sides of a 78-rpm single released on HMV Records in 1951. The tracks were "I Feel So Mmmm" and "A Kiss and a Cuddle (and a Few Kinds Words From You)". HMV also released sheet music featuring sultry photos of Dors on the cover. She also sang "The Hokey Pokey Polka" on the 1954 soundtrack for the film As Long As They're Happy.

Dors only recorded one complete album, Swinging Dors, in 1960. The LP was originally released on red vinyl. The orchestra was conducted by Wally Stott. Swinging Dors was, obviously, a swing album, and Dors demonstrated a likeable, unaffected singing voice.

She also sang as a special guest for the Italian TV show Un, due, tre (One, two, three, starring Ugo Tognazzi and Raimondo Vianello) on 31 May 1959, at the Teatro della Fiera in Milan, with orchestra conducted by Mario Bertolazzi.

She continued to record singles on various labels: "It's Too Late"/"So Little Time" (Fontana, 1964), "Security"/Gary" (Polydor, 1966), "Passing By"/"It's A Small World" (EMI 1977), and in 1982, although battling cancer, she recorded a single for the Nomis label, "Where Did They Go?"/"It's You Again" (a duet with her son, Gary Dawson).

Dors' image was included with her permission on the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover art, as the blonde in the front row on the right in the gold dress and white gloves. She is also featured on the cover of the Smiths' 1995 compilation album Singles, and later a Morrissey picture disc.

Later career[link]

Still making headlines in the News of the World and other print media in the late 1970s thanks to her adult parties, in her later years, Dors status began to revive.

Although her film work consisted mainly of sex comedies, her popularity climbed thanks to her television work, where her wit, intelligence and catchy one-liners developed as a cabaret performer won over viewers. She became a regular on Jokers Wild, Blankety Blank and Celebrity Squares, and was a regular guest on BBC Radio 2's The Law Game. A popular chat show guest, Russell Harty filmed an entire show – Russell Harty: At Home with Dors – in the pool room of her home, Orchard Manor.^[14] Younger musical artists engaged her persona, brought about after the 1981 Adam and the Ants music video Prince Charming, where she played the fairy godmother opposite Adam Ant, who played a male Cinderella figure.

Having turned her life story into a cash flow through interviewed and leaked tabloid stories, like many celebrities in their later careers she turned to the autobiography to generate retirement cash. Between 1978 and 1984, she published four auto-biographical books under her own name:

• Diana Dors (14 February 1978). For Adults Only. Star. ISBN 0-352-30158-9. 
• Diana Dors (February 1979). Behind Closed Dors. Star. ISBN 0-352-30335-2. 
• Diana Dors (15 October 1981). Dors by Diana. Futura Publications. ISBN 0-7088-2025-5. 
• Diana Dors (1984). A. to Z. of Men. Futura Publications. ISBN 0-7088-2345-9. 

Having gone through her first round of cancer treatment, by the early 1980s Dors hour-glass figure had become plumper, and she addressed the issue through co-authoring a diet book,^[15] and creating a diet and exercise VHS videocassette. This resulted in her joining the cast of the ITV breakfast show, TV-am, in the summer of 1983, in a regular slot focusing on diet and nutrition, which later developed into an agony aunt segment. But as the cancer treatment took its toll again, her appearances became fewer and fewer.^[14]

Personal life[link]

Dors was married three times:

• Dennis Hamilton Gittins (3 July 1951–3 January 1959, his death): married five weeks after meeting, at Caxton Hall; no children; lived London, Berkshire and Hollywood
• Richard Dawson (12 April 1959–1966, div.): married in New York; two sons Mark Dawson and Gary Dawson; lived London, New York and Hollywood
• Alan Lake (23 November 1968–her death): married at Caxton Hall; one son Jason Lake; lived at Orchard Manor, Sunningdale, Berkshire.

In 1949 while filming Diamond City, she had a relationship with businessman Michael Caborn-Waterfield, the son of the Count Del-Colnaghi, who later founded the Ann Summers chain which he named after his cousin/secretary. During the short relationship, Dors fell pregnant, but Caborn-Waterfield paid for a back-street abortion, which took place on a kitchen table in Battersea. The relationship continued for a time, before Dors met Dennis Hamilton Gittins on the set of Lady Godiva Rides Again, with whom she had a second abortion in 1951.^[6]

Dors became a close friend of Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in Britain, after Ellis had a cameo role in Lady Godiva Rides Again, four years before she was executed by Albert Pierrepoint. Through her husband Hamilton, Dors was also close friends with the notorious Kray twins and their mother Violet.^[1]

Parties[link]

Dors became an early focus for the "celebrity exposé" tabloid headlines, most regularly for Rupert Murdoch's News of the World. In a great part, she created this herself in her desperate need for cash, giving an interview after her separation from Hamilton in 1958, which verbally illustrated their lives and adult group parties in full, open detail. The interview was subsequently serialised in the tabloid for 12 weeks,^[16] followed by an extended 6-week series of fake and real stories from fake, real and anonymous friends, adding to her negative publicity. Subsequently the Archbishop of Canterbury, Geoffrey Fisher denounced Dors as a "wayward hussy".^[16]

During and after the end of her relationship with Hamilton, and up to months before her ultimate death, Dors regularly held adult parties at her homes. There, a number of celebrities and young starlets were in close contact, with ample supplies of alcohol and drugs, against a background of both soft and hard core porn films.^[1] Dors gave all her guests full access to the entire private house which, her son Jason Lake later alleged in various media interviews and publications, she had had pre-wired with 8mm movie cameras.^[12] The young starlets were made aware of the arrangement, and were allowed to attend for free in return for making sure that their celebrity performed in bed at the right camera angle.^[1] Dors would then enjoy watching the unedited films the following morning, keeping an archive of the best performances.^[12]

Television news and film media companies with broader interests, in part due to her popularity and in part due to those who were also attending the parties, were unwilling to echo or repeat the stories until well after Dors' death.^[17] Her former lover and party attendee Bob Monkhouse,^[18] later commented in interview after Dors' death, "The awkward part about an orgy, is that afterwards you're not too sure who to thank."^[19]

Dalahaye Roadster[link]

In 1948 aged 17, a benfactor/admirer bought Dors a Delahaye Roadster 175S for £5,000. At the time, she did not have a driving licence, only getting one on 15 December 1955 in Slough. The car was sold at auction in California in August 2010 for $3 million.^[20]

Death[link]

Dors died aged 52, on 4 May 1984, from a recurrence of ovarian cancer, first diagnosed two years before.^[1] Having converted to Roman Catholicism in spring 1973 following Lake's release from a 12-month period in jail for affray, at her funeral she was dressed wearing a gold lamé evening dress with cape, and a gold "dors" necklace, which she was wearing when she died. After a service at the Sacred Heart Church in Sunningdale on 11 May 1984, conducted by Father Theodore Fontanari, she was buried in Sunningdale Catholic Cemetery.^[13]

After her death, Lake immediately burnt all of Dors' remaining clothes, and then fell into a depression. On 10 October 1984, after taking their son to the railway station, he returned to their Sunningdale home, and undertook a telephone interview with Daily Express journalist Jean Rook. He then walked into their son's bedroom, and committed suicide by firing a shotgun into his mouth.^[3] Aged 43, this was five months after her death from cancer, and sixteen years to the day since they had first met.^[21]

Her home for the previous 20 years, Orchard Manor, was sold off by the solicitors. The house's contents were bulk-sold by Sotheby’s, who sold off her jewellry collection in a bespoke auction. After solicitors' bills, outstanding tax payments, death duties, and various other outstanding cost distributions, the combined estate of Dors and Lake left little for the upkeep of their son, who was subsequently made a ward of court to his half-brother Gary Dawson in Los Angeles.^[22]

Alleged fortune[link]

Before she died, Dors apparently hid away what she claimed to be over £2 million in banks across Europe. In 1982, she gave her son Mark Dawson a sheet of paper, which she told him was a code that would reveal the whereabouts of the money.^[1] Her widower Alan Lake supposedly had the key that would crack the code, but as he had committed suicide five months after Dors died, Dawson was left with an apparently unsolvable code.^[1][13]

Dawson sought out computer forensic specialists Inforenz, who recognised the encryption as the Vigenère cipher. Inforenz then used their own cryptanalysis software to suggest a ten-letter decryption key, DMARYFLUCK (short for Diana Mary Fluck, Dors's real name).^[1] Although Inforenz was then able to decode the entire message and link it to a bank statement found in some of Lake's papers, the location of the money is still unknown.^[1][13]

Some speculate presently whether there may have been a second sheet, whose information might have led to the discovery of the money. Channel 4 made a television programme about the mystery, and created a website (now removed) where users could learn more and help solve the mystery.^[1]

Legacy[link]

Her untimely death is referred to in a 1984 song, "Good Day", featured on the Word of Mouth album by the Kinks; it includes the following lines: "The headlines say that Diana is dead/She couldn't act much, but she put on a show/She always smiled, even when she felt low/I used to fancy her a long time ago."^[23] A decade before Diana Dors's death, she was name-checked by the New York Dolls in their song "It's Too Late," on their album Too Much, Too Soon. Diana Dors was portrayed by Keeley Hawes (younger) and Amanda Redman (older) in the 1999 TV biopic The Blonde Bombshell.

Filmography[link]

Television roles[link]

References[link]

• Marriage No.1: GRO Index for Westminster, London. September quarter 1951, Volume No: 5C Page No: 874
• Diana Dors (14 February 1978). For Adults Only. Star. ISBN 0-352-30158-9. 
• Diana Dors (February 1979). Behind Closed Dors. Star. ISBN 0-352-30335-2. 
• Diana Dors (15 October 1981). Dors by Diana. Futura Publications. ISBN 0-7088-2025-5. 
• Diana Dors (1984). A. to Z. of Men. Futura Publications. ISBN 0-7088-2345-9. 
• Diana Dors & Michael Waterfield (May 1983). X-Cel diet. Julian P.. ISBN 0-901943-20-7. 
• Jason Lake. Diana Dors, My Mother. 
• David Bret (October 29,2010). Diana Dors: Hurricane In Mink. JR Books Ltd. ISBN 1-907532-10-2. 
• Damon Wise (7 May 1999). Come by Sunday: The Fabulous, Ruined Life of Diana Dors. Pan Books. ISBN 0-330-36765-X. 
• Diana Dors: Only A Whisper Away. Lennard Books. 1987. ISBN 0-7137-2046-8. 
• Tony Bilbow (1990). Diana Dors. Channel 4 Television. 
• Keeping the British End Up: Four Decades of Saucy Cinema by Simon Sheridan (Titan Books) (fourth edition) 2011
• Fallen Stars by Julian Upton (Critical Vision) 2004

Notes[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Diana Dors

• Diana Dors at the Internet Movie Database
• Diana Dors – Diana Dors Memorial Homepage
• Diana Dors at HorrorStars
• Diana Dors – Screen Online
• Diana Dors: A Life in Pictures photo gallery at BBC Wiltshire
• Diana Dors:1978 – Archive local news footage at BBC Wiltshire
• Diana Dors interviewed by Mike Wallace on The Mike Wallace Interview November 9, 1957

Sarah McLachlan
Sarah McLachlan after a performance at JFK Airport, July 2010
Background information
Birth name	Sarah Ann McLachlan
Born	(1968-01-28) January 28, 1968 (age 44) Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Genres	Pop, soft rock, adult contemporary
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, painter, executive producer
Instruments	Vocals, piano, keyboard, guitar, banjo, harp[1]
Years active	1988–present
Labels	RCA Records, Arista, Nettwerk
Website	sarahmclachlan.com

Sarah Ann McLachlan, OC, OBC (born January 28, 1968) is a Canadian musician, singer and songwriter.^[2] Known for her emotional ballads and mezzo-soprano vocal range,^[3] as of 2009, she has sold over 40 million albums worldwide.^[4][5] McLachlan's best-selling album to date is Surfacing, for which she won two Grammy Awards (out of four nominations) and four Juno Awards. In addition to her personal artistic efforts, she founded the Lilith Fair tour, which showcased female musicians. The Lilith Fair concert tours took place from 1997 to 1999, and resumed in the summer of 2010. Since 2006 she has also been known as a highly visible supporter of the ASPCA, as well as various other charities.

Biography[link]

Sarah McLachlan was born on January 28, 1968, and adopted in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. As a child, she took voice lessons, along with studies in classical piano and guitar. When she was 17 years old and still a student at Queen Elizabeth High School, she fronted a short-lived rock band called The October Game. One of the band's songs, "Grind", credited as a group composition, can be found on the independent Flamingo Records release Out of the Fog and the CD Out of the Fog Too. It has yet to be released elsewhere. Her high school yearbook predicted that she was "destined to become a famous rock star."

Following The October Game's first concert at Dalhousie University opening for Moev, McLachlan was offered a recording contract with Vancouver-based independent record label Nettwerk by Moev's Mark Jowett. McLachlan's parents insisted she finish high school and complete one year of studies at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design before moving to Vancouver and embarking on a new life as a recording artist, and McLachlan finally signed to Nettwerk two years later before having written a single song.

In 1994 McLachlan became the target of a lawsuit, when she was sued by Uwe Vandrei, an obsessed fan from Ottawa, who alleged that his letters to her had been the basis of the single "Possession." The lawsuit was also challenging for the Canadian legal system—Vandrei was a self-admitted stalker whose self-acknowledged goal in filing the lawsuit was to be near McLachlan physically. Consequently, special precautions were planned to ensure McLachlan's safety if at any time she had to be in the same location as Vandrei. The lawsuit never came to trial, however, as Vandrei was found dead in an apparent suicide before the trial began. This topic was explored at length in Canadian author Judith Fitzgerald's book, Building a Mystery: The Story of Sarah McLachlan & Lilith Fair.

In 1997, Sarah McLachlan married her drummer, Ashwin Sood, in Jamaica. McLachlan lost her mother to cancer in December 2001, while McLachlan herself was pregnant. McLachlan gave birth to a daughter, named India Ann Sushil Sood, on April 6, 2002, in Vancouver. By this time, McLachlan had already completed three-quarters of the production on her next record, Afterglow. On June 22, 2007, she gave birth to her second daughter, named Taja Summer Sood, in Vancouver. McLachlan announced her separation from Ashwin Sood in September 2008.^[6]

Sarah McLachlan currently resides in Vancouver.

Musical career[link]

[edit] Touch and Solace

The signing with Nettwerk prompted McLachlan to move to Vancouver, British Columbia. There she recorded the first of her albums, Touch, in 1988, which received both critical and commercial success and included the hit song "Vox". During this period she also contributed to an album by Manufacture, and embarked on her first national concert tour as an opening act for The Grapes of Wrath.^[7][8]

Her 1991 album, Solace, was her mainstream breakthrough in Canada, spawning the hit singles "The Path of Thorns (Terms)" and "Into the Fire". Solace also marked the beginning of her partnership with Pierre Marchand. Marchand and McLachlan have been collaborators ever since, with Marchand producing many of McLachlan's albums and occasionally co-writing songs.^[9]

[edit] Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, and Surfacing

McLachlan at a 1993 benefit for Clayoquot Sound

1993's Fumbling Towards Ecstasy was an immediate hit in Canada. From her Nettwerk connection, her piano version of the song "Possession" was included on the first Due South soundtrack in 1996. Over the next two years, Fumbling Towards Ecstasy quietly became McLachlan's international breakthrough as well, scaling the charts in a number of countries.

In 1993, Darryl Neudorf filed a lawsuit against McLachlan and her label, Nettwerk, alleging that he had made a significant and uncredited contribution to the songwriting on Touch, and alleging that he wasn't paid properly for work done on Solace. The judge in this suit eventually ruled in McLachlan's favour on the songs; though Neudorf may have contributed to the songwriting, neither regarded each other as joint authors. The judge ruled in Neudorf's favour on the payment issue.

Following the success from Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, McLachlan returned in 1997 with Surfacing, her best-selling album to date. Earning her two Grammy Awards and four Juno Awards, the album has since sold over 11 million copies worldwide and brought her much international success. Still in the spotlight from the album, McLachlan launched the highly popular Lilith Fair tour. Her song "Angel"—inspired by the fatal overdose of Smashing Pumpkins touring keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin—made sales skyrocket. In Spring 1998, the motion picture City of Angels featured "Angel". It became the No. 1 album on the Billboard chart. More than five months after the movie disappeared from the theatres, City of Angels: Music from the Motion Picture remained firmly entrenched among Billboard's top 40 albums. This soundtrack earned quadruple-platinum status.^[10]

Lilith Fair[link]

In 1996 McLachlan became frustrated with concert promoters and radio stations that refused to feature two female musicians in a row.^[11] Bucking conventional industry wisdom, she booked a successful tour for herself and Paula Cole. At least one of their appearances together – in McLachlan's home town, on September 14, 1996 – went by the name "Lilith Fair" and included performances by McLachlan, Cole, Lisa Loeb and Michelle McAdorey, formerly of Crash Vegas.

The next year, McLachlan founded the Lilith Fair tour, taking Lilith from the medieval Jewish legend that Lilith was Adam's first wife.^[12]

In 1997, Lilith Fair, featuring McLachlan as one of the headlining acts, garnered a $16 million gross, making it the top-grossing of any touring festival.^[11] Among all concert tours for that year, it was the 16th highest grossing.^[11] Lilith Fair tour brought together 2 million people over its three-year history and raised more than $7 million for charities. It was the most successful all-female music festival in history, one of the biggest music festivals of the 1990s, and helped launch the careers of several well-known female artists. Subsequent Lilith Fairs followed in 1998 and 1999 before the tour was discontinued.

Nettwerk CEO and Lilith Fair co-founder Terry McBride announced that the all-female festival would make its return in summer 2010.

Hiatus[link]

McLachlan performing for Good Morning America in 1998

In 1998, in addition to performing her own set, she performed a cover of "Sad Lisa" with rock band Phish at the annual Bridge School Benefit concert in California, hosted by Neil Young, after which McLachlan began an extended period away from recording or touring. Six years elapsed between the release of Surfacing and that of her next studio album, Afterglow.

However, she did release a live album in 1999, entitled Mirrorball. The album's singles included a new live version of her earlier doubles "I Will Remember You", a studio recording of which had previously been released on The Brothers McMullen soundtrack as well as Rarities, B-Sides and Other Stuff.

Also that year, McLachlan (in the singing voice of "Jessie") recorded the Randy Newman song "When She Loved Me" on the Toy Story 2 soundtrack. This song was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song in 2000, and McLachlan performed it at the awards ceremony, but the award went to "You'll Be in My Heart" from Tarzan, written and recorded by Phil Collins.

In 1997, McLachlan co-wrote and provided guest vocals on the Delerium song "Silence" for their album Karma. This song achieved a massive amount of US top 40 airplay when released as a single in late 2000 and also featured on the soundtrack for the movie Brokedown Palace. In 2001, McLachlan provided background vocals, guitar, and piano on the closing track "Love Is" from Stevie Nicks' eighth solo album, Trouble in Shangri-La, in addition to drawing the dragon used for the "S" in Stevie's name on the album cover. In May 2002, her duet with Bryan Adams was released on the Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron soundtrack. She sang harmonies and played the piano on the song "Don't Let Go" while Sood did the drum work.

McLachlan also participated in several concerts during her break, such as Sheryl Crow's Live from Central Park in 1999, the Arista Records twenty-fifth anniversary celebration in 2000, as well as the 2002 British Columbia Cancer Foundation Benefit Concert in memory of cancer victim Michele Bourbonnais. She participated along with four other Canadian artists: Bryan Adams, Jann Arden, Barenaked Ladies, and Chantal Kreviazuk.

[edit] Afterglow

McLachlan in Menlo Park, California, USA

McLachlan returned to public life and touring with her 2003 album release, Afterglow, which contained the singles "Fallen", "Stupid", and "World On Fire". Rather than shoot a conventional music video for "World On Fire", McLachlan donated all but $15 of the $150,000 budget to various charitable causes around the world and then used the video to explain how it benefited the communities that received the money.

Another live album, Afterglow Live, was released in late 2004. The CD consisted of several tracks from a full-length concert, which was included in its entirety on a DVD, as well as the three music videos from Afterglow.

In 2004, Darryl "D.M.C." McDaniels, who credits McLachlan and her music for lifting him from a period of depression, invited her to join him on a track from his solo album. Although the album was not released until early 2006, remixes of the song "Just Like Me" were included on a number of compilations in 2005.

In 2007, McLachlan's song "Answer" featured in The Brave One starring Jodie Foster.

[edit] Wintersong

In October 2006, McLachlan released a Christmas album called Wintersong. The album included 11 new recordings, featuring covers of Joni Mitchell's "River", Gordon Lightfoot's "Song for a Winter's Night", and John Lennon's "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)", which she recorded with her outreach children and youth choir, and seasonal favourites: "Christmas Time Is Here", "O Little Town of Bethlehem", "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas", "Silent Night", "The First Noel", and "Greensleeves (What Child Is This?)", among others. The title track is an original work of McLachlan's.

Wintersong debuted at No. 42 on the Billboard 200 album chart the week ending 4 November 2006. It peaked at #7. For the week of 5 December 2006, it was the #1 album on iTunes. Worldwide the album has sold over 1.1 million copies to date. It has been certified Platinum in the U.S. and 2x Platinum in Canada.

Wintersong was nominated for both a Grammy Award, in the Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album category, as well as for a Juno Award, for Pop Album of the Year.

Guest appearances[link]

In November 2006, McLachlan performed the song "Ordinary Miracle" for that year's feature film, Charlotte's Web. The song was written by Glen Ballard and David A. Stewart of Eurythmics. McLachlan was the subject of rumours of an Oscar nomination for the song, but in the end was not nominated. She helped to promote the song and movie by performing it on The Oprah Winfrey Show as well as during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. She also performed the song during the opening ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics in her hometown of Vancouver, in front of an estimated 3 billion television viewers worldwide.

In early 2007, she sang on Dave Stewart's Go Green, alongside Nadirah X, Imogen Heap, Natalie Imbruglia, and others.^[13]

McLachlan also appeared on Annie Lennox's album, Songs of Mass Destruction. Together with Madonna, Céline Dion, Pink, Sugababes, Angélique Kidjo, k.d. lang, Faith Hill, Fergie, Melissa Etheridge, Bonnie Raitt, Shakira, Anastacia, Joss Stone, Dido, and KT Tunstall, she performed on the song "Sing".

In 2010, McLachlan appeared as herself on the television series Life Unexpected and performed. On September 8, 2010, McLachlan performed and sang "Forgiveness" from her 2010 album Laws of Illusion on a semi-final show of America's Got Talent; she did so again on the Tonight Show, two days later.

Sarah appeared alongside Aimee Mann on the IFC series Portlandia, as a pinata and a yard maintenance person.

On November 22, 2010, McLachlan again performed and sang "Forgiveness" this time on the Regis and Kelly show.

On September 10, 2011, she performed I Will Remember You and Angel at a ceremony in Stonycreek, Pennsylvania, commemorating the passengers and crew of hijacked United Airlines Flight 93 who fought the hijackers and brought down their airplane on September 11, 2001. The event marked the dedication of the Flight 93 National Memorial and was attended by U.S. President George W. Bush, First Lady Laura Bush, President Bill Clinton, Vice President Joe Biden and Speaker John Boehner.^[14]

[edit] Rereleases, Rarities Vol 2, and Greatest Hits

On October 3, 2006, the live album Mirrorball was re-released as Mirrorball: The Complete Concert. This release contains 2 discs that were compiled from 2 concerts performed on consecutive nights in April 1998 at the Rose Garden arena in Portland, Oregon.

On April 29, 2008, Rarities, B-Sides and Other Stuff Volume 2 was released. The tracklist includes McLachlan's recent covers of Joni Mitchell's "River" and Dave Stewart's "Ordinary Miracle", as well as collaborations throughout her career with The Perishers, Cyndi Lauper and Bryan Adams, among others.

On August 5, 2008, the 15th anniversary 3-disc edition of Fumbling Towards Ecstasy was released. The set includes the original re-mastered album, The Freedom Sessions and a DVD that includes live performances, music videos and more. The album was released by Legacy Recordings.

McLachlan released a greatest hits album, Closer: The Best of Sarah McLachlan, on October 7, 2008. On August 12, 2008, she released a new song from the album, "U want me 2", a mid-tempo contemplative love song, as a digital single on iTunes; also accompanied with a video performance. McLachlan also admitted the song was inspired by the dissolution of her marriage, which she announced in September 2008, during initial promotion. Being quietly released as a single on 3 February 2009 the other new song found on the album, "Don't Give Up on Us", signalled a wrap.

[edit] 2010 Winter Olympics, Laws of Illusion and Lilith Fair 2010

A new single, "One Dream," was released on September 29, 2009 and was the official theme song of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.^[15] McLachlan's first studio album of original material in seven years, Laws of Illusion, was released on June 15, 2010. New York Times music critic John Pareles says about Laws of Illusion - "It’s a kindly, enveloping sound that Ms. McLachlan has long used to conjure passion and empathy laced with melancholy. But now it encompasses a new anguish, deeper and sharper than what she hinted at with Afterglow in 2003." It features 10 new songs in addition to the previously released tracks "U Want Me 2" and "Don't Give Up on Us," as well as various bonus tracks. Previews of the tracks and bonus materials were made available on iTunes and Amazon.com for listening and viewing on May 26, 2010. Lilith Fair kicked off in Calgary, AB on June 27, 2010. In anticipation of the album and the summer's tour, McLachlan appeared on the WNYC-produced radio show Soundcheck. During the wide-ranging interview, McLachlan discussed with host John Schaefer the last eleven years of her life and how she has changed, especially as a working mother of two.

Guitars and equipment[link]

For years, Sarah McLachlan's main stage guitar has been a late-'70s Larrivée C-10 with rosewood back and sides, a spruce top, and a Florentine cutaway. The guitar is amplified with a Fishman Rare Earth Blend (which combines a magnetic pickup and an internal mic), running through a Radial JDV Mk3 active DI. She has also performed with Canadian-made Morgan guitars, and at the time of the interview, she was trying out Taylor models with Expression System electronics.

McLachlan strings her guitars with phosphor-bronze or vintage bronze Dean Markleys. She uses medium-lights (.012–.054) for her guitars in E A D G A D and D A D G A D tunings. Sometimes she uses lights (.011–.046) and raises E A D G A D a whole step so her capo positions can be two frets lower. For instance, in the past she played "Building a Mystery" in E A D G A D with a capo at the seventh fret, but now she tunes to F# B E A B E and capoes at the fifth fret. McLachlan's capo of choice is a Dunlop C-Four.^[16]

Awards and achievements[link]

McLachlan has been nominated for twenty-one Juno Awards and awarded eight. In 1992, her video for "Into the Fire" was selected as best music video. In 1998, she won Female Vocalist of the Year, Songwriter of the Year (along with Pierre Marchand), Single of the Year for "Building a Mystery", and Album of the Year for Surfacing. In 2000, she won an International Achievement award and in 2004, won Pop Album of the Year for Afterglow and again shared the Songwriter of the Year award with Pierre Marchand for the singles "Fallen", "World on Fire", and "Stupid."

She has also won three Grammy Awards. She was awarded Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 1997 for "Building a Mystery" and again in 1999 for the live version of "I Will Remember You." She also scored Best Pop Instrumental Performance in 1997 for "Last Dance." Among these, she is credited for various nominations.

Her song "Building A Mystery" came in at 91 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of the 90s.^[17]

McLachlan has been extensively profiled by media including cover stories for Rolling Stone, Time magazine, Entertainment Weekly and Flare, a Canadian fashion magazine.

Through her career, she has also received many awards, primarily in recognition of her efforts in launching Lilith Fair. She was awarded the Elizabeth Cady Stanton Visionary Award in 1998 for advancing the careers of women in music. In 1999, she was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Canada by then-Governor General Adrienne Clarkson in recognition of her successful recording career, her role in Lilith Fair, and the charitable donations she made to women's shelters across Canada. In 2001, she was inducted to the Order of British Columbia.

On February 12, 2010, McLachlan performed her song "Ordinary Miracle" at the opening ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

On June 15, 2011, she was recognized with an honorary degree from Simon Fraser University.^[18]

Philanthropy[link]

McLachlan contributed the track "Hold On" to the 1993 AIDS-Benefit Album No Alternative produced by the Red Hot Organization. She also performed at the Leonard Peltier Defense Fund Benefit Concert on February 12, 1997 and went on to release a haunting cover version of Unchained Melody created as part of her support for Peltier and later included on the album Rarities, B-Sides and Other Stuff Volume 2.^[19]

In early 2005, McLachlan took part in a star-studded tsunami disaster relief telethon on NBC. On 29 January McLachlan was a headliner for a benefit concert in Vancouver along with other Canadian superstars such as Avril Lavigne and Bryan Adams. The show also featured a performance by the Sarah McLachlan Musical Outreach Choir & Percussion Ensemble, a children's choir and percussion band from the aforementioned Vancouver outreach program. In addition to her own headliner show she also joined Delerium live on stage for their first-ever performance of 'Silence'. The concert was titled One World: The Concert for Tsunami Relief, and raised approximately $3.6 million for several Canadian aid agencies working in south and southeast Asia. The show was the brainchild of McLachlan's manager, Terry McBride, CEO of Nettwerk. It ran for four hours and aired live on CTV across Canada.

She is an avid supporter of the ASPCA and animal welfare. She filmed a two-minute advertisement for the organization which featured her song "Angel".^[20] The advertisement's imagery of shelter animals mixed with the soundtrack and McLachlan's simple appeal for donations has raised $30 million for the ASPCA since it began to air in 2006, which allowed the organization to air appeals in higher profile prime-time cable ad slots; subsequently the organization produced a new ad for the 2008 holiday season featuring McLachlan appealing for the ASPCA over her Wintersong performance of "Silent Night", and a new ad with her was released in January 2009 featuring the song "Answer".^[20] In 2012, McLachlan wrote a letter on behalf of PETA to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, protesting that country's annual seal hunt.^[21]

In 2008, she donated a song to Aid Still Required's CD to assist with the restoration of the devastation done to Southeast Asia from the 2004 Tsunami.

On July 2, 2005, McLachlan participated in the Philadelphia installment of the Live 8 concerts, where she performed her hit "Angel" with Josh Groban. These concerts, which were held simultaneously in nine major cities around the world, were intended to coincide with the G8 summit to put pressure on the leaders of the world's richest nations to fight poverty in Africa by cancelling debt.

McLachlan also funds an outreach program in Vancouver that provides music education for inner city children. In 2007, the provincial government announced $500,000 in funding for the outreach program.^[22]

For raising millions of dollars for causes including women's charities, AIDS sufferers and inner-city kids, Simon Fraser University conferred Sarah McLachlan the degree of Doctor of Fine Arts, honoris causa on June 13, 2011.^[23]

Discography[link]

• 1988: Touch
• 1991: Solace
• 1992: Sarah McLachlan Live EP
• 1993: Fumbling Towards Ecstasy
• 1995: The Freedom Sessions
• 1996: Rarities, B-Sides and Other Stuff
• 1997: Surfacing
• 1999: Mirrorball
• 2001: Remixed
• 2003: Afterglow
• 2005: Bloom: Remix Album
• 2006: Wintersong
• 2008: Rarities, B-Sides and Other Stuff Volume 2
• 2008: Closer: The Best of Sarah McLachlan
• 2010: Laws of Illusion

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Sarah McLachlan

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Sarah McLachlan

• Official website
• Sarah McLachlan at the Internet Movie Database
• Interview with Sarah McLachlan

Richard Jeni
Birth name	Richard John Colangelo
Born	(1957-04-14)April 14, 1957[1] Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Died	March 10, 2007(2007-03-10) (aged 49) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Medium	Improv/Stand up
Nationality	American
Years active	1987–2007
Notable works and roles	Charlie in The Mask Himself in Platypus Man

Richard John Colangelo (April 14, 1957^[1] – March 10, 2007), better known by the stage name of Richard Jeni,^[2] was an American stand-up comedian and actor.

Early life[link]

Raised in an Italian-American Roman Catholic family in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn,^[3] he graduated with honors from Hunter College, earning a bachelor's degree in comparative politics.

Career[link]

Jeni first received recognition through a series of Showtime stand-up specials and frequent appearances on The Tonight Show. Top executives at HBO picked up his first appearance on The HBO Comedy Hour in 1992, titled Richard Jeni: Platypus Man.^[4] The show was well received, and Jeni would return for two more shows, going on to receive a CableACE Award for one of his HBO specials. Jeni would also star on the short-lived UPN sitcom Platypus Man and appeared in the Jim Carrey film The Mask. Jeni composed the theme song ("I'm A Platypus Man") for his TV series. He appeared in The Aristocrats, Dad's Week Off, An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn, and Chasing Robert.^[5] He starred in commercial campaigns for Certs and Arby's, and won a Clio Award for his work as a writer/performer in an advertising campaign for the American Dairy Association.

After making his Tonight Show debut in 1988 with Johnny Carson, Jeni appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno more than any other stand-up comedian. Jeni's death was referenced on the show by Jay Leno on March 12, 2007, with accompanying footage of Jeni's last appearance on The Tonight Show.

In 2004, Jeni was ranked #57 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time.^[6]

Jeni was also an occasional guest on The Howard Stern Show and in 2001 was one of the candidates to sit in the "Jackie Martling chair".^{[episode needed]}

Death[link]

On March 10, 2007, Jeni was found by his girlfriend, Amy Murphy, who was a newscaster/weather anchor and reporter for KTTV in Los Angeles; she reportedly found him, with .38 caliber pistol in hand, with an apparent self-inflicted handgun wound to the face,^[7] in the bedroom area of his West Hollywood, California condominium. Jeni and Murphy had reportedly been conversing just minutes earlier about his next career move, when she had gone to the kitchen of his apartment to cook breakfast for both of them at his request, when gunshots were heard by Murphy, who immediately dialed 911.

Police and paramedics arrived moments later at the scene; Jeni was still alive, but gravely injured.^[2] He was quickly transported to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, where he died. His family later stated with certainty that the death was in fact a suicide, and that Jeni had recently been diagnosed with "severe clinical depression coupled with fits of psychotic paranoia."^[8] According to the coroner's report that was released in June 2007, Jeni had a history of schizophrenia and had been taking antidepressants and a sleeping aid. The report further indicated that his girlfriend heard him talking to himself about a week earlier, saying "just squeeze the trigger."^[9] Jeni's death was marked by many tributes, including specials on XM Satellite Radio, Turner Classic Movie Channel, and Bill Maher's HBO show, Real Time with Bill Maher. The fifth episode of that show's fifth season was dedicated to Jeni's memory.

His interment was in New Dorp, New York's Moravian Cemetery.

Cultural Reference[link]

Jeni is often credited as the originator of the popular catch phrase, "Thank you, Captain Obvious" which is derived from his 1992 HBO Special Platypus Man.^{[citation needed]}

HBO specials[link]

• Richard Jeni: Platypus Man (1992)
• Richard Jeni: A Good Catholic Boy (1997)
• Richard Jeni: A Big Steaming Pile of Me (2005)

Showtime specials[link]

• Richard Jeni: Boy from New York City (1990)
• Richard Jeni: Crazy from The Heat (1992)

Filmography[link]

• Bird (1988) as Morello
• The Mask (1994) as Charlie Schumaker
• Dad's Week Off (1997) as Bernie
• An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn (1998) as Jerry Glover
• Chasing Robert (2007) as Rich the Bookie

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Richard Jeni

• Richard Jeni at Find a Grave
• Richard Jeni at the Internet Movie Database
• RichardJeni.com - Official site