- published: 28 Aug 2008
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Andrew Geoffrey "Andy" Kaufman (January 17, 1949 – May 16, 1984) was an American entertainer, actor and performance artist. While often referred to as a comedian, Kaufman did not consider himself to be one. He disdained telling jokes and engaging in comedy as it was traditionally understood, referring to himself instead as a "song-and-dance man." Elaborate hoaxes and pranks were major elements of his career. His act maintains a cult following and he continues to be respected among comedians for his original material, performance style, and unflinching commitment to character.
Kaufman was born in New York City, on January 17, 1949, the first son of Janice (née Bernstein) and Stanley Kaufman. He grew up in a middle-class Jewish family, in Great Neck, Long Island, New York, and began performing at age nine. He attended the now defunct two-year Grahm Junior College, in Boston, graduating in 1971. He then began performing stand-up comedy at various small clubs along the East Coast.
Kaufman first caught major attention with a character known as Foreign Man, who claimed to be from Caspiar (a fictional island in the Caspian Sea) and would appear on the stage of comedy clubs to play a recording of the theme from the Mighty Mouse cartoon show and sing only the chorus. He would proceed to tell a few jokes and perform a number of impersonations such as television character Archie Bunker or President Richard Nixon. Some variations of this performance were broadcast in the first season of Saturday Night Live; the Mighty Mouse number was featured in the October 11, 1975 premiere, while the joke-telling and Bunker impression were included in the November 8 broadcast that same fall.
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King".
Born in Tupelo, Mississippi, Presley moved to Memphis, Tennessee, with his family at the age of 13. He began his career there in 1954, working with Sun Records owner Sam Phillips, who wanted to bring the sound of African American music to a wider audience. Accompanied by guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black, Presley was the most important popularizer of rockabilly, an uptempo, backbeat-driven fusion of country and rhythm and blues. RCA Victor acquired his contract in a deal arranged by Colonel Tom Parker, who would manage the singer for over two decades. Presley's first RCA single, "Heartbreak Hotel", released in January 1956, was a number one hit. He became the leading figure of the newly popular sound of rock and roll with a series of network television appearances and chart-topping records. His energized interpretations of songs, many from African American sources, and his uninhibited performance style made him enormously popular—and controversial. In November 1956, he made his film debut in Love Me Tender.
Actors: James Atkins (miscellaneous crew), Roxanne Cuenca (miscellaneous crew), Robert Toretto (actor), Marianne Huet (miscellaneous crew), Helier Bissell-Thomas (producer), Helier Bissell-Thomas (editor), Helier Bissell-Thomas (director), Helier Bissell-Thomas (writer), Francesca Brooks (miscellaneous crew), Elizabeth Marshall (miscellaneous crew), Luca Della Valle (actor), Toby Osmond (producer), Toby Osmond (actor), Amy Pemberton (actress), Jared Colao (miscellaneous crew),
Genres: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller,Actors: Paul McGann (actor), Barry Bliss (director), Barry Bliss (writer), John Hollingworth (actor), Fiona Bavinton (miscellaneous crew), Esther Gimenez (editor), Jaspreet Pandohar (miscellaneous crew), Sean McConaghy (actor), William Bliss (actor), Doug Berwick (composer), Otis Waby (actor), Debbie Bliss (producer), Sarah O'Connor (actress), Hedydd Dylan (actress), Donnla Hughes (actress),
Plot: An uncompromising anarchic comedy about the state of independent film making in Britain's ever increasing surveillance society. With specific reference to Godard's call to revolutionary action with his movie La Chinoise we follow the exploits of two guerrilla film makers in contemporary London as they try to make relevant and committed films whilst at the same time keeping one step ahead of the authorities - we see all this while being lectured by a charismatic teacher on how to survive with a camera in Britain today.
Genres: Comedy, Drama,Actors: Steve Broster (director), Harry Fowler (actor), Daniel Hall (producer), Simon Williams (actor), Simon Williams (actor), Steve Broster (producer), Michael Sheard (actor), Sylvester McCoy (actor), Sylvester McCoy (actor), William Russell (actor), Alan Whicker (actor), Sophie Aldred (actress), Sophie Aldred (actress), Jacqueline Hill (actress), Bonnie Langford (actress),
Genres: Documentary, Short,Actors: Greg Nicotero (actor), John Leguizamo (actor), Robert Joy (actor), Tony Nappo (actor), Michael Felsher (actor), Gene Mack (actor), Dennis Hopper (actor), Matt Birman (actor), Simon Baker (actor), Bruce McFee (actor), Boyd Banks (actor), Rick Cordeiro (actor), Eugene Clark (actor), Simon Pegg (actor), Peter Outerbridge (actor),
Plot: Now that zombies have taken over the world, the living have built a walled-in city to keep the dead out. But all's not well where it's most safe, as a revolution plans to overthrow the city leadership, and the zombies are turning into more advanced creatures.
Keywords: apocalypse, arrest, arson, assault, auto-theft, bitten-hand, bitten-in-the-throat, black-humor, blood, blood-splatterActors: Lloyd Kaufman (actor), Gregory Stone (miscellaneous crew), Ryan A. Markle (producer), Ryan A. Markle (writer), Ryan A. Markle (actor), Ryan A. Markle (editor), Ryan A. Markle (miscellaneous crew), Jennifer Popagain (actress), Kevin Toth (actor), Kevin Toth (miscellaneous crew), Kevin Toth (miscellaneous crew), Shawn Stutler (producer), Shawn Stutler (actor), Shawn Stutler (actor), Casey Kirkpatrick (actor),
Plot: After finding a mysterious film reel hidden in their ceiling, the well-meaning staff of a struggling movie theater assume that the film is an old B-movie preview trailer and play it before a midnight screening of the timeless George A. Romero masterpiece, 'Night of the Living Dead'. When the film is revealed to be a long-dead Nazi scientist's mind control experiment, their audience of horror movie fanatics is transformed into a mob of mindless zombies with a fierce hunger for the flesh of the living! Ten survivors struggle to stay alive as the cinema is overrun by shambling hordes of the undead, while outside, ruthless government agents plot to halt the spread of the mysterious outbreak by any means necessary. Sometimes creepy, sometimes campy, 'Dead at the Box Office' pays tribute to the low budget horror films of the '70s and '80s. Combining the elements of these "B" classics with a fresh twist on the zombie origin, 'Dead at the Box Office' is a tongue-in-cheek salute to horror fans everywhere!
Keywords: b-movie, black-comedy, blood, cinema, cult-film-reference, dance-number, digital-film, ex-nazi, experiment-gone-wrong, film-buffActors: Zach Braff (writer), Alison Cohen (miscellaneous crew), Danny DeVito (producer), Michael Shamberg (producer), Natalie Portman (actress), Zach Braff (director), Jean Smart (actress), Jim Parsons (actor), Zach Braff (actor), Method Man (actor), Ian Holm (actor), Denis O'Hare (actor), Peter Sarsgaard (actor), Tracy Scott (miscellaneous crew), Steve McAuliff (miscellaneous crew),
Plot: Andrew Largeman is a semi-successful television actor who plays a retarded quarterback. His somewhat controlling and psychiatrist father has led Andrew ("Large") to believe that his mother's wheelchair bound life was his fault. Andrew decides to lay off the drugs that his father and his doctor made him believe that he needed, and began to see life for what it is. He began to feel the pain he had longed for, and began to have a genuine relationship with a girl who had some problems of her own.
Keywords: abyss, acoustic-guitar, actor, adopted-son, african-american, airliner, airplane-crash, airport, alligator, american-footballActors: Olivia d'Abo (actress), Anne Bancroft (actress), John Badham (actor), Harvey Keitel (actor), James Handy (actor), Michael Rapaport (actor), Geoffrey Lewis (actor), Dermot Mulroney (actor), Gabriel Byrne (actor), Robert Harvey (actor), Miguel Ferrer (actor), John Capodice (actor), Gary Kasper (actor), Carmen Zapata (actress), Bridget Fonda (actress),
Plot: Hardened criminal Maggie Hayward's consistent violence, even in police custody, ends in the execution chamber. However, top-secret US government agent 'Bob' arranges a staged death, so Maggie can be elaborately trained as phantom killer and subdued into obedience. She gets a new cover identity as saleswoman Claudia Anne Doran. She also gets a wonderful house-mate, building super J.P., a broad-minded, gentle photographer. The two fall in love, and that complicates hit jobs. His good influence extends to breeding in her a conscience that places love over business, unlike Bob's agency.
Keywords: action-heroine, ambulance, ambush, arrest, assassin, assumed-identity, axe, beach, beach-house, birthday-cakeActors: Barry Foster (actor), Sylvester McCoy (actor), Renée Glynne (miscellaneous crew), Leslie Stevens (director), Leslie Stevens (writer), Samantha Fox (actress), Michael Mellinger (actor), Robert Ginty (actor), Mary Tamm (actress), Reginald Marsh (actor), Jack Hedley (actor), Edwin Craig (actor), Oscar James (actor), Patrick Durkin (actor), Vincent Wong (actor),
Genres: Action, Comedy,Actors: John Randolph (actor), Allen Garfield (actor), James Keach (actor), Kenneth Tobey (actor), David Janssen (actor), Linda Evans (actress), Lance LeGault (actor), Stefanie Powers (actress), Charles Siebert (actor), John Finnegan (actor), Jerrold Immel (composer), Jim Byrnes (writer), Jim Byrnes (producer), Gary Griffin (editor), Anthony Eisley (actor),
Plot: Harry's married to Marian and things are not going all that well, so he wants out but somehow feels that a divorce is not the answer. After developing a winning blackjack system, he hatches a plan that takes years of preparation: to fake his death, assume a new identity and win $500,000 at blackjack. When his wife notices his peculiar behavior, she is urged by her parents to hire a private investigator to find out what he is doing. In an unusual twist of events, Harry discovers the private investigator and not only hires him to keep tabs on his wife (whom he suspects is having an affair) but they become confidants. Harry carries out his fake suicide successfully and heads for Reno to complete the rest of his plan, but he doesn't count on meeting lovely Amy and falling in love. To further complicate matters, Amy is planning to leave for Israel and Harry decides to go with her, but en route the plane is hijacked and Harry must find a way to conceal both his $500,000 blackjack winnings and his true identity.
Keywords: based-on-novel, husband-wife-relationship, private-detective, secret, three-word-titleActors: Roy Stewart (actor), Warner Richmond (actor), Frank Baker (actor), Pat Somerset (actor), Ben Hendricks Jr. (actor), Frank Albertson (actor), Ivan Lebedeff (actor), Stuart Erwin (actor), J. Farrell MacDonald (actor), Charles K. Gerrard (actor), Walter McGrail (actor), Alberto Morin (actor), Warren Hymer (actor), Robert Parrish (actor), Harry Tenbrook (actor),
Plot: Aboard the U.S. submarine S13 in the China seas, Chief Torpedoman Burke goes about his duties. In actuality, he is Quartermaine, the infamous former commander of the British ship Royal Scot, which was sunk by Germans with a Field Marshal aboard. Quartermaine had told his sweetheart that the Field Marshal would be aboard, not knowing that she was an informant for the enemy. When the S13 sinks, Burke takes charge when the commander, Ensign Price, is unable to command. Burke must keep his mates alive long enough on the bottom of the sea for rescuers to arrive.
Keywords: british-navy, china-sea, collision, courage, drunkenness, freighter, rescue, sailor, self-sacrifice, shanghai