Stelvio Massi (26 March 1929 - 26 March 2004) was an Italian director known for his crime films, although he was not as well known as crime film specialists like Enzo G Castellari or Umberto Lenzi, but he made about thirteen films in the genre, and was considered a fairly decent director.

He also worked with actors such as Eva Grimaldi, Fred Williamson, Janet Agren, Olga Karlatos and Thomas Milan.

In 1987 he directed the TV series ''Due assi per un turbo''.

External links

category:1929 births category:2004 deaths category:People from the Province of Macerata category:Italian film directors

de:Stelvio Massi it:Stelvio Massi ru:Масси, Стелвио

Maurizio Merli (8 February 1940 in Rome – 10 March 1989) was an Italian film actor.

Merli got his first lead role in 1974 in the film ''White Fang to the Rescue'' due to his resemblance to the highly popular cult actor Franco Nero, who played the lead role in the first two films. Merli later became one of the most prominent actors of the poliziotteschi genre by starring in almost a dozen films. He died in 1989 of myocardial infarction after a tennis match.

Selected filmography

''White Fang to the Rescue'' (1974)

''Violent Rome'' (1975)

''A Special Cop in Action'' (1976)

''Rome Armed to the Teeth'' (1976)

''Violent Naples'' (1976)

''Fearless'' (1977)

''Mannaja'' (1977)

''The Cynic, the Rat & the Fist'' (1977)

''Highway Racer'' (1977)

''Covert Action'' (1978)

''Convoy Busters'' (1978)

''From Corleone to Brooklyn'' (1979)

References

External links

Category:1940 births Category:1989 deaths Category:Italian film actors Category:People from Rome (city)

de:Maurizio Merli es:Maurizio Merli fr:Maurizio Merli it:Maurizio Merli pl:Maurizio Merli fi:Maurizio Merli

Stelvio Cipriani born 20 August 1937 in Rome is an Italian composer, notably for motion picture soundtracks.

Though not coming from a musical background, as a child Cipriani was fascinated by his church's organ. His priest gave him his first music lessons and encouraged Cipriani and his family. Cipriani passed his examinations and studied at Santa Cecilia Conservatory from the age of 14, then played on cruise ship bands, that enabled him to meet Dave Brubeck. Upon return to Italy he accompanied Rita Pavone on piano.

His first soundtrack was the spaghetti western ''El Precio de un Hombre''/''The Bounty Killer'' (1966) followed by a well known score for ''Un Uomo, uno caballo, una pistola''/''The Stranger Returns''/''Shoot First Laugh Last'' (1967) starring Tony Anthony; Cipriani later composed other spaghetti western scores with Anthony.

Cipriani became prolific in the Italian film world and was awarded a Nastro d'Argento Best Score for ''The Anonymous Venetian (film)'' (1970).

In a 2007 interview, Cipriani said that he had composed music for Pope John Paul II and was currently working with Pope Benedict XVI.

One of Cipriani's most famous scores is from "''La Polizia Sta a Guardare''". The main theme was recycled by Cipriani for the score for ''Tentacoli'' and was brought to the public's attention again in 2007 when it was featured in Quentin Tarantino's ''Death Proof''.

Cipriani's scores for the films of the "''La Polizia...''" series were different arrangements over the same theme. Some of those themes were used in the soundtrack of the couple Hélène Cattet & Bruno Forzani's first feature ''Amer''.

Selective Filmography

Year	Film	Directed by	Notes
1969	''The Thirteen Chairs''	Nicolas Gessner
	Enrico Maria Salerno
''The Lickerish Quartet''	Radley Metzger
1971	''Twitch of the Death Nerve''	Mario Bava
1972	''Night Hair Child''
	''Le mataf''	Serge Leroy
''The Bloody Hands of the Law''	Mario Gariazzo
1974	''The Balloon Vendor''	Mario Gariazzo
1976	''Colt 38 Special Squad''	Massimo Dallamano
1977			as "S.W. Cipriani"
1979	''Concorde Affaire '79''	Ruggero Deodato
1981	''Piranha II: The Spawning''	James Cameron & Ovidio G. Assonitis	as "Steve Powder"
2001	''Death, Deceit and Destiny Aboard the Orient Express''	Mark Roper

References

External links

Category:1937 births Category:Italian composers Category:Italian film score composers Category:Spaghetti Western composers Category:Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia alumni Category:Living people

bg:Стелвио Чиприани de:Stelvio Cipriani fr:Stelvio Cipriani it:Stelvio Cipriani

Coordinates	°′″N°′″N
name	Gene Roddenberry
birth name	Eugene Wesley Roddenberry
birth date	August 19, 1921
birth place	El Paso, Texas, U.S.
death date	October 24, 1991
Resting place	Outer space
death place	Santa Monica, California, U.S.
other names	Robert Wesley
notable work	''Star Trek''
occupation	Television writer, producer, and futurist
spouse	Eileen-Anita Rexroat (1942–1969)Majel Barrett (1969–1991) }}

Eugene Wesley "Gene" Roddenberry (August 19, 1921 – October 24, 1991) was an American television screenwriter, producer and futurist, best known for creating the American science fiction series ''Star Trek''. Born in El Paso, Texas, Roddenberry grew up in Los Angeles, California where his father worked as a police officer. Roddenberry flew 89 combat missions in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II, and worked as a commercial pilot after the war. He later followed in his father's footsteps, joining the Los Angeles Police Department to provide for his family, but began focusing on writing scripts for television.

As a freelance writer, Roddenberry wrote scripts for ''Highway Patrol'', ''Have Gun, Will Travel'' and other series, before creating and producing his own television program, ''The Lieutenant''. In 1964, Roddenberry created ''Star Trek'', and it premiered in 1966, running for three seasons before cancellation. Syndication of ''Star Trek'' led to increasing popularity, and Roddenberry continued to create, produce, and consult on ''Star Trek'' films and the television series, ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'' until his death. Roddenberry received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and he was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Hall of Fame. Years after his death, Roddenberry was one of the first humans to have his ashes "buried" in outer space.

The fictional ''Star Trek'' universe Roddenberry created has spanned over four decades, producing six television series, 715 episodes and eleven films, with a twelfth film currently in development and scheduled for a 2012 release. Additionally, the popularity of the ''Star Trek'' universe and films inspired the gentle parody/homage film ''Galaxy Quest'' (1999).

Early life (1921–1940)

Gene Roddenberry was born on August 19, 1921, in El Paso, Texas, His parents were police officer Eugene Edward Roddenberry and Caroline "Glen" Golemon Roddenberry. He grew up in Los Angeles and attended Berendo Junior High School (now Berendo Middle School) before graduating from Franklin High School.

After graduation, Roddenberry took classes in Police Studies at Los Angeles City College and became head of the Police Club, liaising with the FBI. He went on to study at Columbia University, the University of Miami, and the University of Southern California but did not graduate.

Military service and civil aviation (since 1941)

Roddenberry developed an interest in aeronautical engineering and subsequently obtained a pilot's license. In 1941, he joined the United States Army Air Corps, which in the same year became the United States Army Air Forces. He began training at Goodfellow Field (now Goodfellow Air Force Base) in San Angelo, Texas and graduated training in 1942, Class G. He flew combat missions in the Pacific Theatre with the "Bomber Barons" of the 394th Bomb Squadron, 5th Bombardment Wing of the Thirteenth Air Force and on August 2, 1943, Roddenberry was piloting a B-17E Flying Fortress named the "Yankee Doodle", from Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides when mechanical failure caused it to crash on take-off. In total, he flew eighty-nine missions for which he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal before leaving the Army Air Forces in 1945. After the military, Roddenberry worked as a commercial pilot for Pan American World Airways (Pan Am). He received a Civil Aeronautics commendation for his rescue efforts following a June 1947 crash in the Syrian desert while on a flight to Istanbul from Karachi.

Roddenberry maintained an ongoing association with the aviation world, over the years. During the mid-sixties he spent much of his spare time, while working on Star Trek at California’s Monterey Peninsula Airport with a group of aviation enthusiasts who flew World War 2 fighters. These included John Church, (F8 Bearcat)), Bruce Goessling (P-40), Chuck Lyford (P-51), Lynn Garrison (F4U)

Los Angeles Police Department (1949–1956)

Name	Gene Roddenberry
Birth date	August 19, 1921
Death date	October 24, 1991
Birth place	El Paso, Texas
Department	Los Angeles Police Department
Service	United States
Serviceyears	1949 - 1956
Rank	Sworn in as an Officer - 1949;20px Police Officer III - 1951;20px Sergeant I - 1953.
Relations	Eileen-Anita Rexroat (wife)
Laterwork	LAPD Speechwriter, screenwriter, dramatist, television producer, Creator of Star Trek }}

Pursuing a career in Hollywood, Roddenberry left Pan Am and moved to Los Angeles. To provide for his family, he joined the Los Angeles Police Department on February 1, 1949. He became a Police Officer III in 1951 and was made a Sergeant in 1953. Toward the end of his Law enforcement career as a sergeant he became the speech writer for legendary LAPD Chief William H. Parker. He reputedly based his iconic Star Trek character Mr. Spock on Parker for his very rational and low emotional behavior. On June 7, 1956, he resigned from the police force to concentrate on his writing career. In his brief letter of resignation, Roddenberry wrote:

I find myself unable to support my family at present on anticipated police salary levels in a manner we consider necessary. Having spent slightly more than seven years on this job, during all of which fair treatment and enjoyable working conditions were received, this decision is made with considerable and genuine regret.

The series went on to gain popularity through syndication.

Beginning in 1975, the go-ahead was given by Paramount for Roddenberry to develop a new ''Star Trek'' television series, with many of the original cast to be included. It was originally called ''Phase II''. This series was the anchor show of a new network (the ancestor of UPN, which later became part of The CW Television Network), but plans by Paramount for this network were scrapped and the project was reworked into a feature film. The result, ''Star Trek: The Motion Picture'', received a lukewarm critical response, but it performed well at the box office – it was the highest-grossing of all Star Trek movies until the release of ''First Contact'' in 1996.

When it came time to produce the obligatory theatrical sequel, Roddenberry's story submission of a time-traveling ''Enterprise'' crew involved in the John F. Kennedy assassination was rejected. He was removed from direct involvement and replaced by Harve Bennett. He continued, however, as executive consultant for the next four films: ''Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan''; ''Star Trek III: The Search for Spock''; ''Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home''; and ''Star Trek V: The Final Frontier''. ''Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country'' was the last film with the cast of the original ''Star Trek'' series and was dedicated to Roddenberry. He reportedly viewed an early version of the film a few days before his death.

Roddenberry was deeply involved with creating and producing ''Star Trek: The Next Generation''. As with the films Roddenberry's participation greatly decreased after the first season, although this was not publicly disclosed because of the value of his name to fans. Besides ''The Next Generation'', Roddenberry was credited as a "creator" of ''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'', ''Star Trek: Voyager'', and ''Star Trek: Enterprise''.

In addition to his film and TV work, Roddenberry also wrote the novelization of ''Star Trek: The Motion Picture''. It was published in 1979 and was the first of hundreds of ''Star Trek''-based novels to be published by the Pocket Books unit of Simon & Schuster, whose parent company also owned Paramount Pictures Corporation. Because Alan Dean Foster wrote the original treatment of the ''Star Trek: The Motion Picture'' film, there was a rumor that Foster was the ghostwriter of the novel. This has been debunked by Foster on his personal web site. (Foster did, however, ghostwrite the novelization of George Lucas's ''Star Wars''.) Roddenberry talked of writing a second ''Trek'' novel based on his rejected 1975 script of the JFK assassination plot, but he died before he was able to do so.

Roddenberry is reported to have made comments regarding what was to be considered canonical material in the fictional Star Trek universe, even toward the end of his life. In particular, claims have been made about his expressed opinions as to the place of the films ''Star Trek V: The Final Frontier'', ''Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country'', and ''Star Trek: The Animated Series'' in Star Trek canon.

"Star Trek" is a rare instance of a television series gaining substantially in popularity and cultural currency long after cancellation (see main article, Cultural influence of Star Trek). Perhaps inevitably, then, there has been some contention over the years regarding proper attribution of artistic credit and assignment of royalties related to the show. A few writers and other production staff for the series have said that ideas they developed were later claimed by Roddenberry as his own, or that Roddenberry discounted their contributions and involvement. Roddenberry was confronted by some of these people, and he apologized to them; but according to at least one critic, he continued to claim undue credit.

"Star Trek" theme music composer Alexander Courage long harbored resentment of Roddenberry's attachment of lyrics to his composition. By union rules, this resulted in the two men splitting the music royalties payable whenever an episode of ''Star Trek'' aired, which otherwise would have gone to Courage in full. (The lyrics were never used on the show, but were performed by Nichelle Nichols on her 1991 album, "Out of this World.") Later, while cooperating with Stephen Whitfield for the latter's book ''The Making of Star Trek,'' Roddenberry demanded and received Whitfield's acquiescence for 50 percent of that book's royalties. As Roddenberry explained to Whitfield in 1968:

I had to get some money somewhere. I'm sure not going to get it from the profits of ''Star Trek''.

Herbert Solow and Robert H. Justman observe that Whitfield never regretted his fifty-fifty deal with Roddenberry since it gave him "the opportunity to become the first chronicler of television's successful unsuccessful series".

Other television work

Aside from ''Star Trek'', Gene produced ''Pretty Maids All in a Row'', a sexploitation film adapted from the novel written by Francis Pollini and directed by Roger Vadim. The cast included Rock Hudson, Angie Dickinson, Telly Savalas, and Roddy McDowall alongside ''Star Trek'' regulars James Doohan and William Campbell. It also featured Gretchen Burrell, the wife of country-rock pioneer Gram Parsons. Despite Roddenberry's expectations, the film was not a success.

In the early 1970s, Roddenberry pitched pilots for three sci-fi TV series concepts, although none were developed as series: ''The Questor Tapes''; ''Spectre'', and ''Genesis II''. ABC asked to see another TV movie using the characters from ''Genesis II'', but with more action, and Roddenberry produced ''Planet Earth''. He was not, however, involved in a third TV Movie, ''Strange New World'', which used some of the characters and situations from ''Planet Earth'', but with a different origin story.

Roddenberry feared that he would be unable to provide for his family, as he was unable to find work in the television and film industry and was facing possible bankruptcy.

Marriages

In 1942, Gene Roddenberry married Eileen Rexroat. They had two daughters, Darlene and Dawn, but during the 1960s, he had affairs with Nichelle Nichols (said by Nichols to be the reason he wanted her on the show) and Majel Barrett. Twenty-seven years after his first marriage, Roddenberry divorced his first wife and married Barrett in Japan in a traditional Shinto ceremony on August 6, 1969 and they had one child together, Eugene Wesley, Jr.

Religious views

Although Roddenberry was raised as a Southern Baptist, he instead considered himself a humanist and agnostic. He saw religion as the cause of many wars and human suffering. Brannon Braga has said that Roddenberry made it known to the writers of ''Star Trek'' and ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'' that religion and mystical thinking were not to be included, and that in Roddenberry's vision of Earth's future, everyone was an atheist and better for it. However, Roddenberry was clearly not punctilious in this regard, and some religious references exist in various episodes of both series under his watch. The original series episodes "Bread and Circuses", "Who Mourns for Adonais?" and "The Ultimate Computer", and the ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'' episode "Data's Day" are examples. On the other hand, "Metamorphosis", "The Empath", "Who Watches the Watchers", and several others reflect his agnostic views.

Death and legacy

Roddenberry died on October 24, 1991 of heart failure. On April 21, 1997, a Celestis spacecraft -- carrying portions of the cremated remains of Roddenberry, of Timothy Leary and of 22 other individuals -- was launched into Earth orbit aboard a Pegasus XL rocket from near the Canary Islands. On May 20, 2002, the spacecraft's orbit deteriorated and it disintegrated in the atmosphere. Another flight to launch more of his ashes into deep space along with those of Majel (Barret) Roddenberry, his widow who died in 2008, is planned for launch in 2012.

After his death, Roddenberry's estate permitted the filming of ''Earth: Final Conflict'' and ''Andromeda'', two television series which were based on his unused stories. A third story idea was adapted in 1995 as the comic book ''Gene Roddenberry's Lost Universe'' (later titled ''Gene Roddenberry's Xander in Lost Universe''). ''Gene Roddenberry's Starship'', was a computer-animated series that was proposed by Majel Barrett and John Semper but was not produced.

Roddenberry and his wife Majel were honored by the Space Foundation in 2002 with the Douglas S. Morrow Public Outreach Award, in recognition of their contributions to awareness of and enthusiasm for space exploration.

References

Further reading

Cast autobiographies

Doohan, James and transcribed by Peter David. ''Beam Me Up, Scotty: Star Trek's "Scotty" in his own words.'' ISBN 0-671-52056-3.

Koenig, Walter. ''Warped Factors: A Neurotic's Guide to the Universe.'' ISBN 0-87833-991-4.

Nichols, Nichelle. ''Beyond Uhura: Star Trek and Other Memories.'' ISBN 1-57297-011-1. Published 1995.

Nimoy, Leonard. ''I Am Not Spock.'' ISBN 978-0-89087-117-1. Published 1977.

Nimoy, Leonard. ''I Am Spock.'' ISBN 978-0-7868-6182-8. Published 1995.

Shatner, William and transcribed by Chris Kreski. ''Star Trek Memories.'' HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-017734-9; ISBN 978-0-06-017734-8. Published 1993.

Shatner, William and transcribed by Chris Kreski. ''Star Trek Movie Memories.'' HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-017617-2. Published 1994.

Solow, Herbert F. and Robert H. Justman. ''Inside Star Trek: The Real Story.'' ISBN 0-671-89628-8. Published 1999.

Takei, George. ''To The Stars: The Autobiography of George Takei: Star Trek's Mr Sulu.'' ISBN 0-671-89008-5. Published 1994.

Whitney, Grace Lee and transcribed by Jim Denney. ''The Longest Trek: My Tour of the Galaxy.'' Foreword by Leonard Nimoy. ISBN 1-884956-05-X; ISBN 978-1-884956-05-8. Published 1998.

External links

Official Roddenberry family website

Retrieved on January 24, 2008 Retrieved on January 24, 2008

The Museum of Broadcast Communication

Strange New Worlds: The Humanist Philosophy of Star Trek by Robert Bowman, ''Christian Research Journal'', Fall 1991, pp. 20 ff.

StarTrek.com biography

Gene Roddenberry: What Might Have Been... on Roddenberry's 70s failed pilots

Celebrating Gene Roddenberry

Category:1921 births Category:1991 deaths Category:American agnostics Category:American humanists Category:American science fiction writers Category:American television producers Category:American television writers Category:Cardiovascular disease deaths in California Category:Deaths from heart failure Category:Los Angeles City College alumni Category:Los Angeles Police Department officers Category:People from El Paso, Texas Category:People from Los Angeles, California Category:Recipients of the Air Medal Category:Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United States) Category:Science Fiction Hall of Fame inductees Category:Space burials Category:United States Army Air Forces officers Category:United States Army Air Forces pilots of World War II Category:University of Miami alumni Category:University of Southern California alumni

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