Category:American voice actors Category:American television directors Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Living people Category:Place of birth missing (living people)
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| Name | Peter Cullen |
|---|---|
| Caption | Peter Cullen at BotCon '07 |
| Birthname | Peter Claver Cullen |
| Birth date | Disputed |
| Birth place | Montreal Quebec, Canada |
| Children | Clay Cullen, Claire Cullen, and Pilar E. Cullen |
| Occupation | Voice actor |
| Yearsactive | 1962–present |
Cullen has three children: Clay, Claire, and Pilar E. Cullen; and three grandchildren.
His Japanese counterpart is Tesshō Genda, who also voiced Optimus in the 1984 television show and the Michael Bay film series.
He is good friends with his Transformers co-star Frank Welker (who voices Optimus Prime's arch nemesis Megatron on several series), and his movie co-star Shia LaBeouf (who plays Sam Witwicky).
In the 1980s and the 1990s, Cullen appeared on a number of television shows, most of them for Hanna-Barbera. The shows included My Little Pony, Pound Puppies as Captain Slaughter, The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, The Book of Pooh and My Friends Tigger & Pooh as Eeyore, Filmation's Ghostbusters, The Smurfs where he did additional voices, Dungeons & Dragons as Venger, Snorks, The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, Tom and Jerry Kids Show, DuckTales, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Muppet Babies, Bonkers, The New Adventures of Captain Planet, Pac-Man as Sourpuss, The Adventures of Don Coyote and Sancho Panda, Fantastic Max, Denver the Last Dinosaur, The Puppy's Further Adventures as Lucky, Monchichis, The Pink Panther and Sons, Foofur as Baby, The Gummi Bears as Karwin the Conqueror, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Challenge of the GoBots as Pincher, Spoiler and Tank, Rude Dog and the Dweebs as Herman and Winston, Rainbow Brite as Murky Dismal, The Biskitts as Scratch, Goldie Gold and Action Jack, Robotix, Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers as the original voice of Monterey Jack, The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang, Widget the World Watcher, The New Yogi Bear Show as Ranger Roubideaux, Hagar the Horrible as Hagar, Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs, The Little Engine That Could as Pete, the powerful freight engine, Voltron: Defender of the Universe, TaleSpin, Dragon's Lair as Bertram, Immortal Grand Prix, The Addams Family, The Adventures of the Little Prince as Munsil, Mighty Man and Yukk as Mighty Man, Garfield and Friends, The Further Adventures of SuperTed, , Timeless Tales from Hallmark, Darkwing Duck, The New Adventures of Jonny Quest, The Little Rascals as Police Officer Ed, The Flintstone Kids, Crazy Claws, Lucky Luke, Rockin' with Judy Jetson, Heathcliff and the Catillac Cats, BraveStarr, The Jetsons, The Kwicky Koala Show, Galtar and the Golden Lance, The Dukes, Rambo as Sgt. Havoc, Paddington Bear, The All-New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show, Paw Paws, Gravedale High, Foofur, Super Friends, Sectaurs as Mantor, Skito and Toxid, Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, as Felix Faust and Droopy, Master Detective. He also had a voice part in Gremlins as a gremlin and in both the first season of the Original Knight Rider Series and the first season of the 2008 Knight Rider Series as KARR. He also did voicework in series, notably as the king of Nineveh in the Jonah episode. He played the evil sorcerer Renwick in the lesser known series Little Wizards and played Cindarr in the short-lived series .
Among many other television shows and movies, he has also lent his basso voice to many movie trailers and television commercials, including announcing for the blocks Toonami and You Are Here on the Cartoon Network. Cullen spent some of his early professional years in Montreal as a radio announcer/DJ on CKGM; and as a character in a then-popular local television kids show. He acted the role of a French-Canadian astronaut, along with writer and his partner on the show, Ted Ziegler. Both Ziegler and Cullen were spotted in the credits and doing small cameo walk-ons in various comedic roles on The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, as well as other network comedies of the era.
He also voiced Nintendo's mascot Mario in the Donkey Kong segments on Saturday Supercade, making him the first person to ever provide a voice for the character. And he also voiced Lanky Kong in Donkey Kong 64.
Cullen has also done voicework on drum and bass DJ Dieselboy's 2004 album, The Dungeonmaster's Guide. He also did voicework for the unreleased Blizzard Entertainment game , and provided narration for the Star Wars fan film .
Cullen reprised the role of Optimus Prime in the 2007 Transformers live-action movie, and its sequel . He himself originally had a short cameo in Revenge of the Fallen, but this was eventually removed from the final cut. He is signed on for the third movie in the franchise. Jess Harnell was cast to voice Ironhide, who Cullen voiced in the original series. Cullen was offered the chance to reprise Optimus in an episode of Robot Chicken, but refused, as he took the role too seriously to make fun of it, which the crew respected enough to accept his rejection.
He has stated that out of all the voice roles he has done, Optimus is his favorite. Cullen based the voice of the Autobot leader on his older brother Larry, who served in Vietnam as a captain in the United States Marine Corps. "When he came home, I could see a change. He was quieter and he was a man and a hero to me," says the actor. "I watched him and listened to him. I'd never had an opportunity to do a superhero, and when that came, [that voice] just came right out of me and I sounded like Optimus."
In interviews, he has said that he had no idea of Optimus' popularity until the character's controversial death in the , as the studio had never given him fan letters from children addressed to Optimus. The public backlash over Optimus' death surprised producers greatly. Children were leaving the theaters because of the character's death. The writers temporarily revived the character for a single episode in Season 3 called "Dark Awakening". Initially, this was intended to be his final appearance, but after fan requests continued, the "Return Of Optimus Prime", a two-part episode was produced. The original ending of "Dark Awakening" was altered in reruns to include a teaser about the return of the character.
Cullen reprises his role as Optimus Prime in the video game and in the upcoming television series in 2010.
Category:1940s births Category:Anglophone Quebec people Category:Canadian voice actors Category:Canadian Christians Category:Living people Category:National Theatre School of Canada alumni Category:People from Montreal Category:Canadian immigrants to the United States Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States
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| Name | Scatman Crothers |
|---|---|
| Caption | Crothers performing in 1960 |
| Birth name | Benjamin Sherman Crothers |
| Birth date | May 23, 1910 |
| Birth place | Terre Haute, Indiana, U.S. |
| Death date | November 22, 1986 |
| Death place | Van Nuys, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor, dancer, musician, singer |
| Years active | 1932—1986 |
| Spouse | Helen Sullivan (1937-1986) |
Benjamin Sherman "Scatman" Crothers (May 23, 1910 – November 22, 1986) was an American actor, singer, dancer and musician known for his work as Louie the Garbage Man on the TV show Chico and the Man, and as Dick Hallorann in The Shining in 1980. He was also a prolific voiceover artist, and provided the voices of Meadowlark Lemon in the animated TV version of The Harlem Globetrotters, Jazz the Autobot in The Transformers, the title character in Hong Kong Phooey, and Scat Cat in the 1970 film The Aristocats.
Some sources erroneously list him as a dancer in the Duke Ellington short, Symphony in Black (1935), who is first seen dancing with a woman in his apartment before taking her out. Later, he encounters his jilted lover, played by the also uncredited Billie Holiday. They briefly have words, he pushes her down and exits with his new girlfriend before her song. This role was actually played by Earl Snakehips Tucker, who also appears at the end of the short.
During his appearance on Sanford and Son he joined Redd Foxx for two musical numbers. One of which was a memorable version of the standard "All of Me", where he accompanied Foxx on ukulele. Crothers starred in three short-lived 1980s television series: One of the Boys (1982), Casablanca (1983), and Morningstar/Eveningstar (1986).
Through all of the television characters that he played, he was most noted for his supporting role Louie Wilson (the garbage man) on the sitcom Chico and the Man.
Category:1910 births Category:1986 deaths Category:African American film actors Category:African American musicians Category:American dancers Category:American male singers Category:American voice actors Category:Challenge Records artists Category:Actors from Indiana Category:Musicians from Indiana Category:Deaths from lung cancer Category:Actors from Ohio Category:Musicians from Ohio Category:People from Terre Haute, Indiana Category:Cancer deaths in California Category:Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills)
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| Name | Tupac Amaru Shakur |
|---|---|
| Background | solo_singer |
| Birth name | Lesane Parish Crooks |
| Alias | 2Pac, Pac, Makaveli |
| Origin | Marin City, California, U.S. |
| Born | June 16, 1971East Harlem, New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Died | September 13, 1996Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S. |
| Genre | Hip hop |
| Occupation | Rapper, actor, record producer, poet, screenwriter, activist |
| Years active | 1988–1996 (rapping) |
| Label | Interscope, Death Row, Amaru |
| Associated acts | Outlawz, Snoop Doggy Dogg, Digital Underground, Biggie, Richie Rich, K-Ci & JoJo, Dave Hollister, Johnny "J", Dr. Dre, Tha Dogg Pound, Boot Camp Clik, Nate Dogg |
| Url | www.tasf.org |
Tupac Amaru Shakur (June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), known by his stage names 2Pac (or simply Pac) and Makaveli, was an American rapper. Shakur has sold over 75 million albums worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists in the world. In the United States alone he has sold 37.5 million records. Rolling Stone Magazine named him the 86th Greatest Artist of All Time.
In addition to his career as a top-selling rap artist, he was a promising actor, and a social activist. Most of Shakur's songs are about growing up amid violence and hardship in ghettos, racism, other social problems, and conflicts with other rappers during the East Coast-West Coast hip hop rivalry. Shakur began his career as a roadie and backup dancer for the alternative hip hop group Digital Underground.
In September 1996, Shakur was shot four times in the Las Vegas metropolitan area of Nevada. He was taken to the University Medical Center, where he died of respiratory failure and cardiac arrest.
His mother, Afeni Shakur, and his father, Billy Garland, were active members of the Black Panther Party in New York in the late 1960s and early 1970s; he was born just one month after his mother's acquittal on more than 150 charges of "Conspiracy against the United States government and New York landmarks" in the New York Panther 21 court case.
Although unconfirmed by the Shakur family, several sources (including the official coroner's report) list his birth name as "Lesane Parish Crooks". This name was supposedly entered on the birth certificate because Afeni feared her enemies would attack her son, and disguised his true identity using a different last name. She changed it later, following her separation from Garland and marriage to Mutulu Shakur.
Struggle and incarceration surrounded Shakur from an early age. His godfather, Elmer "Geronimo" Pratt, a high ranking Black Panther, was convicted of murdering a school teacher during a 1968 robbery, although his sentence was later overturned. His stepfather, Mutulu, spent four years at large on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list beginning in 1982, when Shakur was a pre-teen. Mutulu was wanted in part for having helped his sister Assata Shakur (also known as Joanne Chesimard) to escape from a penitentiary in New Jersey, where she had been incarcerated for allegedly shooting a state trooper to death in 1973. Mutulu was caught in 1986 and imprisoned for the robbery of a Brinks armored truck in which two police officers and a guard were killed. Shakur had a half-sister, Sekyiwa, two years his junior, and an older stepbrother, Mopreme "Komani" Shakur, who appeared on many of his recordings.
At the age of twelve, Shakur enrolled in Harlem's 127th Street Repertory Ensemble and was cast as the Travis Younger character in the play A Raisin in the Sun, which was performed at the famous Apollo Theater. In 1986, the family relocated to Baltimore, Maryland. After completing his second year at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School he transferred to the Baltimore School for the Arts, where he studied acting, poetry, jazz, and ballet. He performed in Shakespeare plays, and in the role of the Mouse King in The Nutcracker. Although he lacked trendy clothing, he was one of the most popular kids in his school because of his sense of humor, superior rapping skills, and ability to mix in with all crowds. He developed a close friendship with a young Jada Pinkett (later Jada Pinkett Smith) that lasted until his death. In the documentary , Shakur says, "Jada is my heart. She will be my friend for my whole life," and Pinkett Smith calls him "one of my best friends. He was like a brother. It was beyond friendship for us. The type of relationship we had, you only get that once in a lifetime." A poem written by Shakur titled "Jada" appears in his book, The Rose That Grew From Concrete, which also includes a poem dedicated to Pinkett Smith called "The Tears in Cupid's Eyes". During his time in art school, Shakur began dating the daughter of the director of the Baltimore Communist Party USA.
In June 1988, Shakur and his family moved once again, this time to Marin City, California, He began attending the poetry classes of Leila Steinberg in 1989. That same year, Steinberg organized a concert with a former group of Shakur's, Strictly Dope; the concert led to him being signed with Atron Gregory who set him up with the up-and-coming rap group Digital Underground. In 1990, he was hired as the band's backup dancer and roadie.
In 1992, a Texas state trooper was killed by a teenager who was listening to 2Pacalypse Now which included songs about killing police. This caused a swirl of media controversy. Dan Quayle, the Vice President of the United States at the time, demanded that the album be withdrawn from music stores and media across the country; Interscope refused.
On August 22, 1992, in Marin City, California, Shakur rapped at an outdoor festival, and stayed for an hour signing autographs and pictures. Some earlier negative remarks made by Shakur about Marin City had caught up and when arguments started, voices got loud; he pulled a Colt Mustang, cocked it, fumbled and it fell. Someone picked up the gun and a bullet discharged. Though nobody in the crowd was shot, about 100 yards away, 6-year old Qa'id Walker-Teal rode a bicycle at a schoolyard and was hit in the forehead, the bullet killing him. Shakur and Mopreme left in their car and were stopped by an angry mob, by chance, in front of a sheriff's substation. The police "rescued" and took the two into custody, who were released without charge. In 1995, a civil case was brought up by Qa'id's mother. Shakur's lawyer said that the festival was a "nasty situation," and Shakur was saddened by the death of the boy. Shakur's record company settled the lawsuit for a figure reported between $300,000 and $500,000.
In October 1993, in Atlanta, two brothers and off-duty police officers, Mark and Scott Whitwell, were with their wives celebrating Mrs. Whitwell's recent passing of the state bar examination. As they crossed the street, a car with Shakur inside passed by them or "almost struck them," after which the Whitwells began an altercation with the driver, Shakur and the other passengers, which was then joined by a second passing car. Shakur shot one officer in the buttocks, and the other in the leg, back, or abdomen, according to varying news reports. There were no other injuries, but Mark Whitwell was charged with firing at Shakur's car and later lying to the police during the investigation, and Shakur with the shooting, until prosecutors decided to drop all charges against all parties.
In November 1993, Shakur and others were charged with sexually assaulting a woman in a hotel room. According to the complaint, Shakur sodomized the woman and then encouraged his friends to sexually abuse her. Shakur denied the charges. According to Shakur, he had prior relations days earlier with the woman; she performed oral sex on him on a club dance floor and the two later had consensual sex in his hotel room. The complainant claimed sexual assault after her second visit to Shakur's hotel room; she alleged that Shakur and his entourage gang banged her, and she said to Shakur when she left, "Why you let them do this to me?" Shakur said that he fell asleep shortly after the woman arrived and later awoke to her accusations and legal threats. In the ensuing trial, Shakur was convicted of sexual abuse. In sentencing Shakur to 1½–4½ years in prison, the judge described the crime as "an act of brutal violence against a helpless woman." After serving part of his sentence, Shakur was released on bail pending appeal. On April 5, 1996, a judge sentenced him to serve 120 days in jail for violating terms of his release on bail.
In 1995, a wrongful death suit was brought against Shakur for a 1992 shooting that killed Qa'id Walker-Teal, a six-year old of Marin City. The child was the victim of a stray bullet in a shootout between Shakur's entourage and a rival group. Ballistics tests proved the bullet that killed the boy was not from Shakur's or any members of his entourage's guns. No criminal charges were brought. Shakur settled with the family for an undisclosed amount, estimated at $300,000–$500,000.
A year later on November 30, 1995, Stretch was killed after being shot twice in the back by three men who pulled up alongside his green minivan at 112th Ave. and 209th St. in Queens Village, while he was driving. His minivan smashed into a tree and hit a parked car before flipping over.
On March 27, 2008, the LA Times issued an apology to Combs for blaming him for having a role in the November 1994 shooting. The article stated that Shakur was led to the studio by Biggie's associates to gun him down to make favor with Biggie. The newspaper relied on forged documents that The Smoking Gun proved to be faked. Combs stated that he is disgusted with the LA Times for printing the story.
In October 1995, Shakur's case was on appeal but due to all of his legal fees he could not raise the $1.4 million bail. After serving eleven months of his one-and-a-half year to four-and-a-half year sentence, Shakur was released from the penitentiary due in large part to the help and influence of Suge Knight, the CEO of Death Row Records, who posted a $1.4 million bail pending appeal of the conviction in exchange for Shakur to release three albums under the Death Row label.
On June 4, 1996, he and Outlawz released the "Hit 'Em Up", a scathing lyrical assault on Biggie and others associated with him. In the track, Shakur claimed to have had intercourse with Faith Evans, Biggie's wife at the time, and attacks Bad Boy's street credibility. Though no hard evidence suggests so, Shakur was convinced that some members associated with Bad Boy had known about the '94 attack on him beforehand due to their behavior that night and what his sources told him. Shakur aligned himself with Suge, Death Row's CEO, who was already bitter toward Combs over a 1995 incident at the Platinum Club in Atlanta, Georgia, which culminated in the death of Suge's friend and bodyguard, Jake Robles; Suge was adamant in voicing his suspicions of Combs' involvement. Shakur's signing with Suge and Death Row added fuel to building an East Coast-West Coast conflict. Both sides remained bitter enemies until Shakur's death. On July 4, 1996, he performed live at the House of Blues with Outlawz, Tha Dogg Pound, and Snoop Doggy Dogg also headlining. This was Shakur's very last live performance.
While incarcerated in Clinton Correctional Facility, Shakur read and studied Niccolò Machiavelli and other published works, which inspired his pseudonym "Makaveli" under which he released the record album . The album presents a stark contrast to previous works. Throughout the album, Shakur continues to focus on the themes of pain and aggression, making this album one of the emotionally darker works of his career. Shakur wrote and recorded all the lyrics in only three days and the production took another four days, combining for a total of seven days to complete the album (hence the name).
At 10:55 p.m., while paused at a red light, Shakur rolled down his window and a photographer took his photograph. At around 11:00–11:05 p.m., they were halted on Las Vegas Blvd. by Metro bicycle police for playing the car stereo too loud and not having license plates. The plates were then found in the trunk of Suge's car; they were released without being fined a few minutes later. At about 11:10 p.m., while stopped at a red light at Flamingo Road near the intersection of Koval Lane in front of the Maxim Hotel, a vehicle occupied by two women pulled up on their right side. Shakur, who was standing up through the sunroof, exchanged words with the two women, and invited them to go to Club 662. Suge was hit in the head by fragmentation, though it is thought that a bullet grazed him. According to Suge, a bullet from the gunfire had been lodged in his skull, but medical reports later contradicted this statement.
At the time of the drive-by Shakur's bodyguard was following behind in a vehicle belonging to Kidada Jones, Shakur's then-fiancée. The bodyguard, Frank Alexander, stated that when he was about to ride along with the rapper in Suge's car, Shakur asked him to drive Kidada Jones' car instead just in case they were too drunk and needed additional vehicles from Club 662 back to the hotel. Shortly after the assault, the bodyguard reported in his documentary, Before I Wake, that one of the convoy's cars drove off after the assailant but he never heard back from the occupants.
After arriving on the scene, police and paramedics took Suge and a mortally wounded Shakur to the University Medical Center. According to an interview with one of Shakur's closest friends the music video director Gobi, while at the hospital, he received news from a Death Row marketing employee that the shooters had called the record label and were sending death threats aimed at Shakur, claiming that they were going there to "finish him off". Upon hearing this, Gobi immediately alerted the Las Vegas police, but the police claimed they were understaffed and no one could be sent.
Despite having been resuscitated in a trauma center and surviving a multitude of surgeries (as well as the removal of a failed right lung), Shakur had gotten through the critical phase of the medical therapy and was given a 50% chance of pulling through.
In support of their claims, Biggie's family submitted documentation to MTV suggesting that he was working in a New York recording studio the night of the drive-by shooting. His manager Wayne Barrow and fellow rapper James "Lil' Cease" Lloyd made public announcements denying Biggie's partaking in the crime and claimed further that they were both with him in the recording studio during the night of the event.
The high profile nature of the killing and ensuing gang violence caught the attention of English filmmaker Nick Broomfield, who made the documentary film Biggie & Tupac which examines the lack of progress in the case by speaking to those close to the two slain rappers and the investigation. Shakur's close childhood friend and member of Outlawz, Yafeu "Yaki Kadafi" Fula, was in the convoy when the drive-by occurred and indicated to police that he might be able to identify the assailants, however, he was shot and killed shortly thereafter in a housing project in Irvington.
A DVD titled was released on October 23, 2007, more than eleven years after Shakur's murder. It explores aspects surrounding the event and provides fresh insights into the cold case with new details about the environment.
On his second record, Shakur continued to rap about the social ills facing African-Americans, with songs like "The Streetz R Deathrow" and "Last Wordz". He also showed his compassionate side with the anthem "Keep Ya Head Up", while simultaneously putting his legendary aggressiveness on display with the title track from the album Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z. he added a salute to his former group Digital Underground by including them on the playful track "I Get Around". Throughout his career, an increasingly aggressive attitude can be seen pervading Shakur's subsequent albums.
The contradictory themes of social inequality and injustice, unbridled aggression, compassion, playfulness, and hope all continued to shape Shakur's work, as witnessed with the release of his incendiary 1995 album Me Against the World. In 1996, Shakur released All Eyez on Me. Many of these tracks are considered by many critics to be classics, including "Ambitionz Az a Ridah", "I Ain't Mad at Cha", "California Love", "Life Goes On" and "Picture Me Rollin'".; All Eyez on Me was a change of style from his earlier works. While still containing socially conscious songs and themes, Shakur's album was heavily influenced by party tracks and tended to have a more "feel good" vibe than his first albums. Shakur described it as a celebration of life, and the record was critically and commercially successful.
Shakur is held in high esteem by other MCs – in the book How to Rap, Bishop Lamont notes that Shakur “mastered every element, every aspect” of rapping and Fredro Starr of Onyx says Shakur, "was a master of the flow." "Every rapper who grew up in the Nineties owes something to Tupac," wrote 50 Cent. "He didn't sound like anyone who came before him."
To preserve Shakur's legacy, his mother founded the Shakur Family Foundation (later re-named the Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation or TASF) in 1997. The TASF's stated mission is to "provide training and support for students who aspire to enhance their creative talents." The TASF sponsors essay contests, charity events, a performing arts day camp for teenagers and undergraduate scholarships. The Foundation officially opened the Tupac Amaru Shakur Center for the Arts (TASCA) in Stone Mountain, Georgia, on June 11, 2005. On November 14, 2003, a documentary about Shakur entitled was released under the supervision of his mother and narrated entirely in his voice. It was nominated for Best Documentary in the 2005 Academy Awards. Proceeds will go to a charity set up by Shakur's mother Afeni. On April 17, 2003, Harvard University co-sponsored an academic symposium entitled "All Eyez on Me: Tupac Shakur and the Search for the Modern Folk Hero." The speakers discussed a wide range of topics dealing with Shakur's impact on everything from entertainment to sociology.
Many of the speakers discussed Shakur's status and public persona, including State University of New York at Buffalo English professor Mark Anthony Neal who gave the talk "Thug Nigga Intellectual: Tupac as Celebrity Gramscian" in which he argued that Shakur was an example of the "organic intellectual" expressing the concerns of a larger group. Professor Neal has also indicated in his writings that the death of Shakur has left a "leadership void amongst hip-hop artists." Neal further describes him as a "walking contradiction", a status that allowed him to "make being an intellectual accessible to ordinary people."
Professor of Communications Murray Forman, of Northeastern University, spoke of the mythical status about Shakur's life and death. He addressed the symbolism and mythology surrounding Shakur's death in his talk entitled "Tupac Shakur: O.G. (Ostensibly Gone)". Among his findings were that Shakur's fans have "succeeded in resurrecting Tupac as an ethereal life force." In "From Thug Life to Legend: Realization of a Black Folk Hero", Professor of Music at Northeastern University, Emmett Price, compared Shakur's public image to that of the trickster-figures of African-American folklore which gave rise to the urban "bad-man" persona of the post-slavery period. He ultimately described Shakur as a "prolific artist" who was "driven by a terrible sense of urgency" in a quest to "unify mind, body, and spirit".
Michael Eric Dyson, University of Pennsylvania Avalon Professor of Humanities and African American Studies and author of the book Holler If You Hear Me: Searching for Tupac Shakur indicated that Shakur "spoke with brilliance and insight as someone who bears witness to the pain of those who would never have his platform. He told the truth, even as he struggled with the fragments of his identity." At one Harvard Conference the theme was Shakur's impact on entertainment, race relations, politics and the "hero/martyr". In late 1997, the University of California, Berkeley offered a student-led course entitled "History 98: Poetry and History of Tupac Shakur."
In late 2003, the Makaveli Branded Clothing line was launched by Afeni. In 2005, Death Row released . The DVD was the final recorded performance of Shakur's career, which took place on July 4, 1996, and features a plethora of Death Row artists. In August 2006, Tupac Shakur Legacy was released. The interactive biography was written by Jamal Joseph. It features unseen family photographs, intimate stories, and over 20 removable reproductions of his handwritten song lyrics, contracts, scripts, poetry, and other personal papers. Shakur's sixth posthumous studio album, Pac's Life, was released on November 21, 2006. It commemorates the 10th anniversary of Shakur's death. He is still considered one of the most popular artists in the music industry .
According to Forbes, in 2008 Shakur's estate made $15 million. In 2002, they recognize him as a Top Earning Dead celebrity coming in on number ten on their list.
Category:1971 births Category:1996 deaths Category:1990s rappers Category:African American film actors Category:African American poets Category:African American rappers Category:African American record producers Category:American hip hop record producers Category:American people convicted of assault Category:American screenwriters Category:American sex offenders Category:American shooting survivors Category:Atlantic Records artists Category:Deaths by firearm in Nevada Category:Death Row Records artists Category:Deaths from respiratory failure Category:English-language poets Category:Interscope Records artists Category:Murdered African-American people Category:Murdered entertainers Category:Murdered rappers Category:People from Baltimore, Maryland Category:People from Harlem Category:People from Marin County, California Category:People murdered in Nevada Category:Rappers from the San Francisco Bay Area Category:Road crew Category:Shakur family Category:Unsolved murders in the United States Category:West Coast hip hop musicians
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| Name | Neil Ross |
|---|---|
| Birthname | Theodoric Neilson Ross |
| Birth date | December 31, 1944 |
| Birth place | London, England |
| Occupation | Voice actor |
| Yearsactive | 1978–present |
| Alias | Neal Ross |
| Gender | Male |
| Status | married |
| Children | One Daughter |
| Credits | as Dusty/Shipwreckas Colonel VolginTransformersas Bonecrusher/Hook/Springer/SlagVoltronas Keith/Jeff/Pidge/Chipas Mac Mange |
| Website | http://www.neilross.com |
Neil Ross has announced many Emmy Award ceremonies, and started announcing at the Academy Award ceremonies, beginning with the 75th Annual Academy Awards, in 2003. He has also narrated numerous episodes of A&E;'s Biography, and many editions of NOVA on PBS (including Mars - Dead or Alive, which was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2004). He is presently the voice of the cable TV show Game Show Network.
He began his voice-over work in 1978 when he moved to Los Angeles. His first role was as a salesman in an episode of Richie Rich for Hanna-Barbera. He is able to perform almost any accent, but states that his New England accent 'hangs on by a thread', and South African always defeats him. Ross has voiced radio and television commercials for companies including Wal-Mart, AT&T;, Volkswagen, Coca-Cola, Mattel, Goodyear, Lexus, Disney, Hoover, Anheuser-Busch, Southwest Airlines, and Kelloggs, and has done promos for CBS, NBC, ABC, TBS and Fox Kids.
As of 2005, Neil Ross lives in Los Angeles with his wife and daughter. He is a keen diver.
Category:1944 births Category:Living people Category:English voice actors Category:People from London Category:English radio personalities Category:American actors of English descent Category:American voice actors Category:American radio personalities
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| Caption | Gregg Berger acting during a Garfield and Friends voiceover session. |
|---|---|
| Name | Gregg Berger |
| Birthdate | |
| Birthplace | St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. |
| Occupation | Voice actor |
| Yearsactive | 1972–present |
Gregg Berger (born December 10, 1950; St. Louis, Missouri) is an American voice actor, known for his roles in both TV and video games.
Category:1950 births Category:Living people Category:American voice actors Category:American video game actors Category:People from St. Louis, Missouri Category:Actors from Missouri Category:Garfield Category:Place of birth missing (living people)
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
| Name | Bill Burr |
|---|---|
| Birth date | June 10, 1968 |
| Birth place | Canton, Massachusetts U.S. |
| Medium | Stand-up |
| Nationality | United States |
| Active | May 1992 – present | |
| Genre | Cringe humor, black comedy, satire, observational comedy |
| Subject | Dating, human sexuality, race relations, political correctness, professional sports |
| Influences | George Carlin, Bill Hicks, Louis C.K., Dave Chapelle |
| Website | billburr.com |
William "Bill" Burr (born June 10, 1968) is an American stand-up comedian.
He performs over three hundred shows annually, had two movies released in 2006, and has performed on The Late Show with David Letterman, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, and The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. In early 2004, he appeared in two episodes of Chappelle's Show, and in September 2005, his HBO One Night Stand special aired. Along with many other projects, Burr has also been a guest comedian on the Bob and Tom Show as well as on the Opie and Anthony Show on XM Satellite Radio, sometimes sitting in when third member Jim Norton is away. He has also performed on the Comedy Central Presents show.
On December 16, 2006, Burr hosted a three-hour radio show on Opie and Anthony's XM radio channel program The Virus (channel 202) titled "Uninformed with Bill Burr & Joe DeRosa" from 9pm-12am. The second Uninformed show aired February 10, 2007 from 9pm-12am, and the show has continued to run on an irregular schedule about once a month. Since Burr's move to Los Angeles, it has primarily been a pre-taped show, rather than live. The show's collection of free podcasts can be found at http://www.uninformedradio.com/
In September 2007, Burr signed with Colorado independent label What Are Records?. His debut album Emotionally Unavailable: Expanded Edition was released October 16, 2007. Emotionally Unavailable carries content previously available only in Burr’s stand-up shows. It features a completely unedited set with Burr covering topics from rednecks to inadvertent racism to relationship books to crazy people on the subway. The Expanded Edition augments that album with previously unreleased highlights from a different tour - the Houston stop of the I’m Rich Biatch Tour which Bill co-headlined with Chappelle's Show cast mates Charlie Murphy and Donnell Rawlings. Much of the material from this tour later turned up on Burr’s HBO stand-up special.
As with other comics associated with The Opie & Anthony Show, in 2008, Burr's voice was featured in the game Grand Theft Auto IV. In the game, Bill plays of the biker gang the List of gangs in the Grand Theft Auto series#The Lost MC in the mission "No Love Lost". In 2009, he reprized his role in the game's expansion pack . He is a Boston Bruins fan and periodically blogs for NHL.com.
Burr admitted on Chris Hardwick Nerdist Podcast that he is afraid of the ocean.
Burr has a new special scheduled to air called "Let It Go," which he announced on his podcast on September 28, 2009.
Burr is referred to by several in the industry as the "Comedian's Comedian". This was confirmed on the Jason Ellis show Dec 2010.
Burr's brother, Robert, is a selectman from Canton, Massachusetts and was briefly a candidate to fill the Massachusetts' vacant seat in the United States Senate after the death of Ted Kennedy in 2009.He appeared in the movie "Date Night" as Detective Walsh.
Burr regularly answers fans' questions on his podcasts. On a September 2008 podcast, replying to an email, Burr estimated that if he were trapped in a gym full of unarmed 6 year olds he could kill 11 of them before they overtook him.
Burr also appears as a guest on other comedians' podcasts, such as Adam Carolla's podcast (June 16, 2010), The Joe Rogan Experience (June 16, 2010), WTF with Marc Maron (January 11, 2010), and Chris Hardwick's Nerdist podcast (June 29, 2010), where Burr wondered if anyone in the podcast audience was putting trivia about him on wikipedia based on what he said, specifically whether people know he's terrified of the ocean because of the movie Jaws. Burr was also the very first guest on the Tom Green podcast.
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
