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With an almost unpronounceable surname and a thick Austrian accent, who would have ever believed that a brash, quick talking bodybuilder from a small European village would become one of Hollywood's biggest stars, marry into the prestigious Kennedy family, amass a fortune via shrewd investments and one day be the Governor of California!?
The amazing story of megastar Arnold Schwarzenegger is a true "rags to riches" tale of a penniless immigrant making it in the land of opportunity, the United States of America. Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger was born July 30, 1947, in the town of Thal, Styria, Austria, to Aurelia Schwarzenegger (born Jadrny) and Gustav Schwarzenegger, the local police chief. From a young age, he took a keen interest in physical fitness and bodybuilding, going on to compete in several minor contests in Europe. However, it was when he emigrated to the United States in 1968 at the tender age of 21 that his star began to rise.
Up until the early 1970s, bodybuilding had been viewed as a rather oddball sport, or even a mis-understood "freak show" by the general public, however two entrepreneurial Canadian brothers Ben Weider and Joe Weider set about broadening the appeal of "pumping iron" and getting the sport respect, and what better poster boy could they have to lead the charge, then the incredible "Austrian Oak", Arnold Schwarzenegger. Over roughly the next decade, beginning in 1970, Schwarzenegger dominated the sport of competitive bodybuilding winning five Mr. Universe titles and seven Mr. Olympia titles and, with it, he made himself a major sports icon, he generated a new international audience for bodybuilding, gym memberships worldwide swelled by the tens of thousands and the Weider sports business empire flourished beyond belief and reached out to all corners of the globe. However, Schwarzenegger's horizons were bigger than just the landscape of bodybuilding and he debuted on screen as "Arnold Strong" in the low budget Hercules in New York (1970), then director Bob Rafelson cast Arnold in Stay Hungry (1976) alongside Jeff Bridges and Sally Field, for which Arnold won a Golden Globe Award for "Best Acting Debut in a Motion Picture". The mesmerizing Pumping Iron (1977) covering the 1975 Mr Olympia contest in South Africa has since gone on to become one of the key sports documentaries of the 20th century, plus Arnold landed other acting roles in the comedy The Villain (1979) opposite Kirk Douglas, and he portrayed Mickey Hargitay in the well- received TV movie The Jayne Mansfield Story (1980).
What Arnold really needed was a super hero / warrior style role in a lavish production that utilized his chiseled physique, and gave him room to show off his growing acting talents and quirky humor. Conan the Barbarian (1982) was just that role. Inspired by the Robert E. Howard short stories of the "Hyborean Age" and directed by gung ho director John Milius, and with a largely unknown cast, save Max von Sydow and James Earl Jones, "Conan" was a smash hit worldwide and an inferior, although still enjoyable sequel titled Conan the Destroyer (1984) quickly followed. If "Conan" was the kick start to Arnold's movie career, then his next role was to put the pedal to the floor and accelerate his star status into overdrive. Director James Cameron had until that time only previously directed one earlier feature film titled Piranha II: The Spawning (1982), which stank of rotten fish from start to finish. However, Cameron had penned a fast paced, science fiction themed film script that called for an actor to play an unstoppable, ruthless predator - The Terminator (1984). Made on a relatively modest budget, the high voltage action / science fiction thriller The Terminator (1984) was incredibly successful worldwide, and began one of the most profitable film franchises in history. The dead pan phrase "I'll be back" quickly became part of popular culture across the globe. Schwarzenegger was in vogue with action movie fans, and the next few years were to see Arnold reap box office gold in roles portraying tough, no-nonsense individuals who used their fists, guns and witty one-liners to get the job done. The testosterone laden Commando (1985), Raw Deal (1986), Predator (1987), The Running Man (1987) and Red Heat (1988) were all box office hits and Arnold could seemingly could no wrong when it came to picking winning scripts. The tongue-in-cheek comedy Twins (1988) with co-star Danny DeVito was a smash and won Arnold new fans who saw a more comedic side to the muscle- bound actor once described by Australian author / TV host Clive James as "a condom stuffed with walnuts". The spectacular Total Recall (1990) and "feel good" Kindergarten Cop (1990) were both solid box office performers for Arnold, plus he was about to return to familiar territory with director James Cameron in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). The second time around for the futuristic robot, the production budget had grown from the initial film's $6.5 million to an alleged $100 million for the sequel, and it clearly showed as the stunning sequel bristled with amazing special effects, bone-crunching chases & stunt sequences, plus state of the art computer-generated imagery. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) was arguably the zenith of Arnold's film career to date and he was voted "International Star of the Decade" by the National Association of Theatre Owners.
Remarkably, his next film Last Action Hero (1993) brought Arnold back to Earth with a hard thud as the self-satirizing, but confusing plot line of a young boy entering into a mythical Hollywood action film confused movie fans even more and they stayed away in droves making the film an initial financial disaster. Arnold turned back to good friend, director James Cameron and the chemistry was definitely still there as the "James Bond" style spy thriller True Lies (1994) co-starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Tom Arnold was the surprise hit of 1994! Following the broad audience appeal of True Lies (1994), Schwarzenegger decided to lean towards more family-themed entertainment with Junior (1994) and Jingle All the Way (1996), but he still found time to satisfy his hard-core fan base with Eraser (1996), as the chilling "Mr. Freeze" in Batman & Robin (1997) and battling dark forces in the supernatural action of End of Days (1999). The science fiction / conspiracy tale The 6th Day (2000) played to only mediocre fan interest, and Collateral Damage (2002) had its theatrical release held over for nearly a year after the tragic events of Sept 11th 2001, but it still only received a lukewarm reception.
It was time again to resurrect Arnold's most successful franchise and, in 2003, Schwarzenegger pulled on the biker leathers for the third time for Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003). Unfortunately, directorial duties passed from James Cameron to Jonathan Mostow and the deletion of the character of "Sarah Connor" aka Linda Hamilton and a change in the actor playing "John Connor" - Nick Stahl took over from Edward Furlong - making the third entry in the "Terminator" series the weakest to date.
Schwarzenegger married TV journalist Maria Shriver in April, 1986 and the couple have four children.
In October of 2003 Schwarzenegger, running as a Republican, was elected Governor of California in a special recall election of then governor Gray Davis. The "Governator," as Schwarzenegger came to be called, held the office until 2011. Upon leaving the Governor's mansion it was revealed that he had fathered a child with the family's live-in maid and Shriver filed for divorce.
Schwarzenegger contributed cameo roles to The Rundown (2003), Around the World in 80 Days (2004) and The Kid & I (2005). Recently, he starred in The Expendables 2 (2012), The Last Stand (2013), Escape Plan (2013), The Expendables 3 (2014), and Terminator Genisys (2015).- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Bryan Brown was born on 23 June 1947 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. He is an actor and producer, known for Cocktail (1988), Breaker Morant (1980) and Two Hands (1999). He has been married to Rachel Ward since 16 April 1983. They have three children.- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Sam Neill was born in Omagh, Co. Tyrone, Northern Ireland, to army parents, an English-born mother, Priscilla Beatrice (Ingham), and a New Zealand-born father, Dermot Neill. His family moved to the South Island of New Zealand in 1954. He went to boarding schools and then attended the universities at Canterbury and Victoria. The 6-foot tall star has a BA in English Literature. Following his graduation, he worked with the New Zealand Players and other theater groups. He also was a film director, editor and scriptwriter for the New Zealand National Film Unit for 6 years.
Sam Neill is internationally recognised for his contribution to film and television. He is well known for his roles in Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park (1993) and Jane Campion's Academy Award Winning film The Piano (1993). Other film roles include The Daughter (2015), Backtrack (2015) opposite Adrien Brody, MindGamers (2015), United Passions (2014), A Long Way Down (2014), Escape Plan (2013), The Hunter (2011) with Willem Dafoe, Daybreakers (2009), Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole (2010), Little Fish (2005) opposite Cate Blanchett, Skin (2008), Dean Spanley (2008), Wimbledon (2004), Yes (2004), Perfect Strangers (2003), Dirty Deeds (2002), The Zookeeper (2001), Bicentennial Man (1999) opposite Robin Williams, The Horse Whisperer (1998) alongside Kristin Scott Thomas, Sleeping Dogs (1977), and My Brilliant Career (1979).
He received Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for the NBC miniseries Merlin (1998). He also received a Golden Globe nomination for One Against the Wind (1991), and for Reilly: Ace of Spies (1983). The British Academy of Film and Television honoured Sam's work in Reilly by naming him Best Actor. Sam received an AFI Award for Best Actor for his role in Jessica (2004).
Other television includes House of Hancock (2015), Rake (2010), Doctor Zhivago (2002), To the Ends of the Earth (2005), The Tudors (2007) with Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Crusoe (2008), Alcatraz (2012) and recently in Old School (2014) opposite Bryan Brown, Peaky Blinders (2013) alongside Cillian Murphy and The Dovekeepers (2015) for CBS Studios.- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Versatile veteran character actor Jonathan Banks was born in Washington, D.C. in 1947. While growing up he always had an interest in acting and stage work, so decided to pursue a career in entertainment. To this day he is a very accomplished stage actor. While acting in film, he usually plays sinister types or villains. He can be seen in Better Call Saul (2015) as Mike Ehrmantraut.- Actress
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Teri Garr can claim a career in show business by birthright. She was the daughter of Eddie Garr, a Broadway stage and film actor, and Phyllis Garr, a dancer. While she was still an infant, her family moved from Hollywood to New Jersey but, after the death of her father when she was 11, the family returned to Hollywood, where her mother became a wardrobe mistress for movies and television. While Garr's dancing can be seen in five Elvis Presley movies, her first speaking role in motion pictures was in the 1968 feature Head (1968), starring The Monkees. In the 1970s she became well established in television with appearances on shows such as Star Trek (1966), It Takes a Thief (1968) and McCloud (1970), and became a semi-regular on The Sonny and Cher Show (1976) as Cher's friend, Olivia. Garr has since risen to become one of Hollywood's most versatile, energetic and well-recognized actresses. She has starred in many memorable films, including Young Frankenstein (1974), Oh, God! (1977), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Mr. Mom (1983), After Hours (1985) and her Academy Award-nominated performance for Best Supporting Actress in Tootsie (1982). Other film roles include The Black Stallion (1979), One from the Heart (1981), The Escape Artist (1982), Firstborn (1984), Let It Ride (1989), Full Moon in Blue Water (1988), Out Cold (1989), Short Time (1990), Waiting for the Light (1990), Mom and Dad Save the World (1992), Perfect Alibi (1995), Ready to Wear (1994) and A Simple Wish (1997).- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Jonathan Pryce was born on 1 June 1947 in Holywell, Flintshire, Wales, UK. He is an actor and producer, known for The Two Popes (2019), The Wife (2017) and Tomorrow Never Dies (1997). He has been married to Kate Fahy since April 2015. They have three children.- Producer
- Writer
- Actor
Lawrence Gene David is an American comedian, writer, actor, director, and television producer. He and Jerry Seinfeld created the television sitcom Seinfeld, on which David was head writer and executive producer for the first seven seasons. He gained further recognition for the HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm, which he created and stars in as a semi-fictionalized version of himself. He has written or co-written the stories of every episode since its pilot episode in 1999.
David's work on Seinfeld won him two Primetime Emmy Awards in 1993, for Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing in a Comedy Series. Formerly a comedian, he went into television comedy, writing and starring in ABC's Fridays, and writing briefly for Saturday Night Live. He has been nominated for 27 Primetime Emmy Awards and three Golden Globe Awards. He was voted by fellow comedians and comedy insiders as the 23rd greatest comedy star ever in a 2004 British poll to select "The Comedian's Comedian", and received the Laurel Award for TV Writing Achievement by the Writers Guild of America in 2010.
Since 2015, he has made recurring guest appearances on Saturday Night Live, where he impersonates 2016 and 2020 U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Richard Philip Lewis was born on June 29, 1947 in Brooklyn, New York and raised in Englewood, New Jersey. He went to Dwight Morrow High School and Ohio State University, graduating in 1969 with a degree in marketing and communications. Lewis wrote ad copy in New Jersey while also writing jokes for comedians such as Morty Gunty. He finally got the nerve to perform his own jokes in 1971 at New York's Improvisation and Pips.
After appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962) in 1974, he continued to tour and hone his act with help from David Brenner and Robert Klein. His film Diary of a Young Comic (1979) aired in the Saturday Night Live (1975) time-slot. His work on cable "I'm in Pain" for Showtime in 1988, The I'm Exhausted Concert (1988) earned a nomination from American Comedy Awards for Funniest Male Performer in a Television Special (for HBO); Richard Lewis: I'm Doomed (1990) (HBO) won him a second Ace Nomination for Best Stand-Up Comedy Special. His Richard Lewis: The Magical Misery Tour (1996) was filmed at New York's "Bottom Line" in December 1996. In December 1989, he performed to an SRO crowd at Carnegie Hall.- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Ted Danson is well known for his role as Sam Malone in the television series Cheers (1982). During the show's 11-year run, he was nominated nine times for an Emmy Award as Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series and won twice, in 1990 and 1993. The role also earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Comedy Series in 1989 and 1990. He and his wife, actress Mary Steenburgen, starred in and were executive producers of the CBS comedy series Ink (1996).
Edward Bridge "Ted" Danson III was born in San Diego, California, to Jessica Harriet (MacMaster) and Edward Bridge Danson, Jr., who was an archaeologist and museum director. He has English, Scottish, and German ancestry. He was raised just outside Flagstaff, Ariz. Danson attended Stanford University, where he became interested in drama during his second year. In 1972, he transferred to Carnegie-Mellon University (formerly Carnegie Tech) in Pittsburgh. After graduation, he was hired as an understudy in Tom Stoppard's Off Broadway production of "The Real Inspector Hound." Danson moved to Los Angeles in 1978 and studied with Dan Fauci at the Actor's Institute, where he also taught classes. Danson lives with his family in Los Angeles. He is a founding member of the American Oceans Campaign (AOC), an organization established to alert Americans to the life-threatening hazards created by oil spills, offshore development, toxic wastes, sewage pollution and other ocean abuses.
In 1984, Danson received a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor for his performance in the television movie Something About Amelia (1984), in which he starred opposite Glenn Close. He also starred opposite Lee Remick in The Women's Room (1980). In 1986, he made his debut as a television producer with When the Bough Breaks (1986), in which he also starred. He later starred in the mini-series Gulliver's Travels (1996) and Thanks of a Grateful Nation (1998). Danson's numerous feature film credits include The Onion Field (1979), in which he made his debut as Officer Ian Campbell, Body Heat (1981), Three Men and a Baby (1987), Three Men and a Little Lady (1990), Cousins (1989), Dad (1989), Made in America (1993), Saving Private Ryan (1998), Mumford (1999), and Jerry and Tom (1998).- Actor
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Tim Matheson is an American actor, director and producer perhaps best known for his portrayal of the smooth talking 'Eric "Otter" Stratton' in the 1978 comedy, National Lampoon's Animal House (1978), but has had a variety of other well-known roles both before and since, including critical accolades for his playing "Vice President John Hoynes" on the television series, The West Wing (1999), which garnered him two Primetime Emmy award nominations for Best Guest Star in a Drama Series.
From 2011 to 2015, Matheson starred as 'Dr. Brick Breeland' in The CW series, Hart of Dixie (2011), opposite Rachel Bilson. He has and continues to direct several episodes each season throughout the series. Not limited to "Hart of Dixie", Matheson has made a career of directing an array of episodic projects on some of television's most prominent shows, including "The Last Ship," "Burn Notice," "Criminal Minds," "Without a Trace," "Cold Case," "Numbers," "Drop Dead Diva," "Suits," "Eureka" and "White Collar," as well as pilots for Fox's "The Good Guys" and the USA Network successful original series "Covert Affairs."
Beginning his career at the age of 13, Matheson appeared in Robert Young's CBS nostalgia comedy series, Window on Main Street (1961), during the 1961-1962 television season. In 1964, he provided the voice of the lead character in the cartoon program Jonny Quest (1964), as well as the voice of "Jace" in the original animated series, Space Ghost (1966). Additionally, he played the role of the oldest son, "Mike Beardsley", in the film Yours, Mine and Ours (1968), which starred Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda.
In 1969, Matheson joined the cast of NBC's western series, The Virginian (1962), in its eighth season, as "Jim Horn". During the final season of the television western Bonanza (1959) in 1972-1973, Matheson played "Griff King", a parolee who tries to reform his life as a worker at the Ponderosa Ranch under Ben Cartwright's watch. Following that, he portrayed young motorcycle cop "Phil Sweet", in the 1973 film, Magnum Force (1973).
In the fall of 1976, Matheson was seen opposite Kurt Russell in the NBC series, The Quest (1976), the story of two young men in the American West seeking the whereabouts of their sister, a captive of the Cheyenne. In 1978, he co-starred in the acclaimed National Lampoon's Animal House (1978), opposite John Belushi; the following year, he appeared alongside Belushi again in Steven Spielberg's 1941 (1979). Matheson and Catherine Hicks played "Rick Tucker" and "Amanda Tucker", who operate a detective agency in Laurel Canyon in CBS' Tucker's Witch (1982), which aired during the 1982-1983 season. He then appeared in the 1983 To Be or Not to Be (1983), starring Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft and went on to star in the 1984 comedy, Up the Creek (1984) and 1985's Fletch (1985).
Matheson, along with business partner 'Dan Grodnik', bought National Lampoon in 1989, when the magazine was facing financial decline. They took the stock from two dollars to over six dollars, and sold it in 1991. In 1996, Matheson took on the role of a con man who claims to be Carol Brady's thought-to-be-dead husband in A Very Brady Sequel (1996). Matheson was seen opposite Ryan Reynolds in the feature comedy National Lampoon's Van Wilder (2002) in 2002, playing the father of the title character, who was inspired by his own character in National Lampoon's Animal House (1978), as a nod to the original film.
Tim was born Timothy Lewis Matthieson in Glendale, California, a suburb of Los Angeles, the son of Sally and Clifford Matthieson, a training pilot. He has three wonderful children with former wife Megan Murphy Matheson.- Actress
- Producer
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Eight time Academy Award-nominated actress Glenn Close was born and raised in Greenwich, Connecticut. She is the daughter of Elizabeth Mary H. "Bettine" (Moore) and William Taliaferro Close (William Close), a prominent doctor. Both of her parents were from upper-class families.
Glenn was a noted Broadway performer when she was cast in her award-winning role as Jenny Fields in The World According to Garp (1982) alongside Robin Williams. For this role, a breakthrough in film for Close, she later went on to receive an Academy Award Nomination for Best Supporting Actress. The following year she was cast in the hit comedy The Big Chill (1983) for which she received a second Oscar Nomination, once again for Supporting Actress in the role of Sarah Cooper. In her third film, Close portrayed Iris Gaines a former lover of baseball player Roy Hobbs portrayed by Robert Redford, in one of the greatest sports films of all time, The Natural (1984). For a third time, Close was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Close went on to star in films like The Stone Boy (1984), Maxie (1985) and Jagged Edge (1985). In 1987 Close was cast in the box office hit Fatal Attraction (1987) for which she portrayed deranged stalker Alex Forrest alongside costars Michael Douglas and Anne Archer. For this role she was nominated for the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Actress. The following year Close starred in the Oscar Winning Drama Dangerous Liaisons (1988) for which she portrayed one of the most classic roles of all time as Marquise Isabelle de Merteuil, starring alongside John Malkovich and Michelle Pfeiffer. For this role she was nominated once again for the Academy Award and BAFTA Film Award for Best Actress. Close was favorite to win the coveted statue but lost to Jodie Foster for The Accused (1988). Close had her claim to fame in the 1980s. Close starred on the hit Drama series Damages (2007) for which she has won a Golden Globe Award and two Emmy Awards. In her career Close has been Oscar nominated eight times, won three Tonys, an Obie, three Emmys, two Golden Globes and a Screen Actors Guild Award.- Actor
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- Additional Crew
Hugh Keays-Byrne was born in 1947 in Kashmir, India. In 1973, he moved to Australia, where he began an acting career. He is a well respected theater, film and TV actor in Australia. Hugh became noticed after roles in Stone (1974), Mad Dog Morgan (1976) and The Trespassers (1976). He landed his first leading role in TV film The Death Train (1978), and year later he became internationally well-known for his role of Toecutter in highly praised apocalyptic SF film Mad Max (1979).
Hugh has continued to work on TV, usually in smaller parts, and he is known for his performance as Mr. Stubb in the mini-TV series Moby Dick (1998) and TV series "Farscape".- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Kevin Kline was born in St. Louis, Missouri, to Margaret and Robert Joseph Kline, who owned several stores. His father was of German Jewish descent and his mother was of Irish ancestry. After attending Indiana University in Bloomington, Kline studied at the Juilliard School in New York. In 1972, Kline joined the Acting Company in New York which was run by John Houseman. With this company, Kline performed Shakespeare across the country. On the stage, Kline has won two Tony Awards for his work in the musicals "On the Twentieth Century" (1978) and "The Pirates of Penzance" (1981). After working on the Television soap Search for Tomorrow (1951), Kline went to Hollywood where his first film was Sophie's Choice (1982). He was nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance. His work in the ensemble cast of The Big Chill (1983) would again be highly successful, so that when Lawrence Kasdan wrote Silverado (1985), Kline would again be part of the cast. With his role as Otto "Don't call me Stupid!" West in the film A Fish Called Wanda (1988), Kline would win the Oscar for Supporting Actor. Kline could play classic roles such as Hamlet in Hamlet (1990); or a swashbuckling actor like Douglas Fairbanks in Chaplin (1992); or a comedic role in Soapdish (1991). In all the films that he has worked in, it is hard to find a performance that is not well done. In 1989, Kline married actress Phoebe Cates.- Writer
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Paul Auster was born in Newark, New Jersey on February 3rd 1947. His father was a landlord, who owned buildings with his brothers in Jersey City. The family was middle-class and the parents' marriage was not a happy one. Auster grew up in the Newark suburbs of South Orange and Maplewood. He read books enthusiastically and developed an interest for writing.
Auster attended high school in Maplewood, some twenty miles southwest of New York City. After his parents' divorce, during his senior year in high school, his mother moved, with his sister and him, to an apartment in the Weequahic section of Newark. Instead of attending his high-school graduation, Auster headed for Europe. He visited Italy, Spain, Paris and naturally James Joyce's Dublin. While he travelled he worked on a novel.
He returned to the United States in time to start at Columbia University in the fall. In early 1966 he began his relationship with Lydia Davis. Davis, who is now also a writer, was at that time attending Barnard College and was a good match for Auster's intellect. In 1967 Auster again left the US to attend Columbia's Junior Year Abroad in Paris. Auster became disillusioned with the dull existence within the programme and quit college. But he was still reinstated at Columbia when he returned to New York.
Auster's undergraduate years at Columbia coincided with a period of social unrest but he didn't participate actively in student politics. He supported himself with a variety of freelance jobs and wrote articles for university magazines. In June of 1969 Auster was granted a B.A. in English and comparative literature. The following year he received his M.A. from Columbia.
A high lottery number saved Auster from having to worry about the Vietnam draft and he took a job with the Census Bureau. During this period he also began work on the novels "In the Country of Last Things" and "Moon Palace", which he would not complete until many years later. In February 1971 Auster left once again for Paris. He supported himself there with a variety of odd jobs and minor literary tasks. He also worked on several film projects, one of them being in Mexico. In 1973 he moved with Davis to Provence where they became caretakers of a farmhouse.
After returning to the US in 1974, Auster has written poems, essays, novels, screenplays and translations. He directed his first motion picture in 1995. He lives in Brooklyn, New York City with his wife and two children.- Actor
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James Howard Woods was born on April 18, 1947 in Vernal, Utah, the son of Martha A. (Smith) and Gail Peyton Woods, a U.S. Army intelligence officer who died during Woods' childhood. James is of Irish, English, and German descent. He grew up in Warwick, Rhode Island, with his mother and stepfather Thomas E. Dixon. He graduated from Pilgrim High School in 1965, near the top of his class. James earned a scholarship to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; dropping out during his senior year in 1969, he then headed off to New York with his fraternity brother Martin Donovan to pursue aspirations to appear on the stage. After appearing in a handful of New York City theater productions, Woods scored his first film role in All the Way Home (1971) and followed that up with meager supporting roles in The Way We Were (1973) and The Choirboys (1977).
However, it was Woods' cold-blooded performance as the cop killer in The Onion Field (1979), based on a Joseph Wambaugh novel, that seized the attention of movie-goers to his on-screen power. Woods quickly followed up with another role in another Joseph Wambaugh film adaptation, The Black Marble (1980), as a sleazy and unstable cable-T.V.-station owner in David Cronenberg's mind-bending and prophetic Videodrome (1983), as gangster Max Bercovicz in Sergio Leones mammoth epic Once Upon a Time in America (1984), and scored a best actor Academy Award nomination as abrasive journalist Richard Boyle in Oliver Stone's gritty and unsettling Salvador (1986).
There seemed to be no stopping the rise of this star as he continued to amaze movie-goers with his remarkable versatility and his ability to create such intense, memorable characters. The decade of the 1990s started off strongly with high praise for his role as Roy Cohn in the television production of Citizen Cohn (1992). Woods was equally impressive as sneaky hustler Lester Diamond who cons Sharon Stone in Casino (1995), made a tremendous H.R. Haldeman in Nixon (1995), portrayed serial killer Carl Panzram in Killer: A Journal of Murder (1995), and then as accused civil rights assassin Byron De La Beckwith in Ghosts of Mississippi (1996).
Not to be typecast solely as hostile hoodlums, Woods has further expanded his range to encompass providing voice-overs for animated productions including Hercules (1997), Hooves of Fire (1999), and Stuart Little 2 (2002). Woods also appeared in the critically praised The Virgin Suicides (1999), in the coming-of-age movie Riding in Cars with Boys (2001), as a corrupt medico in Any Given Sunday (1999), and in the comedy-horror spoof Scary Movie 2 (2001). A remarkable performer with an incredibly diverse range of acting talent, Woods remains one of Hollywood's outstanding leading men.- Actor
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Peter Frederick Weller was born in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, to Dorothy Jean (Davidson) and Frederick Bradford Weller, a federal judge and career helicopter pilot for the United States Army. He traveled extensively as his father literally flew around the world. Before he was out of his teens, he had attended high schools in Heidelberg, Germany and San Antonio, Texas, then enrolled the University of North Texas -- attracted by the chance of playing trumpet in one of the college's celebrated jazz bands. Music is in his family. Three generations on his mother's side were piano players and jazz is still his overriding interest. Ask him who his favorite performer in any art form is and he will say Miles Davis. It was with a B.A. in Theatre and a scholarship to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts that he left Texas for New York. Two weeks after graduating, he made his first appearance on Broadway as David in Joseph Papp's New York Shakespeare Festival production of David Rabe's "Sticks and Bones", a role he repeated on the London stage.
While a student of legendary actress and drama coach, Uta Hagen, Weller appeared on and off Broadway in works like William Inge's "Summer Brave", Thomas Babe's "Rebel Women" and "Full Circle", one of the last plays directed by Otto Preminger. He began garnering critical acclaim with his portrayal of Billie Wilson in "Streamers", directed by Mike Nichols for Joseph Papp at Lincoln Center. He continued that success with his performances as Cliff in "The Woolgatherer" and as Nick in the first American production of David Mamet's "The Woods". During this period, he became a member of the highly respected Actor's Studio, under the aegis of Elia Kazan and Lee Strasberg.
Weller's film debut was in Richard Lester's Butch and Sundance: The Early Days (1979). He then co-starred with Alan King and Ali MacGraw in Sidney Lumet's Just Tell Me What You Want (1980) and, with Albert Finney and Diane Keaton, in Alan Parker's Shoot the Moon (1982). Other film credits include Firstborn (1984) with Teri Garr, the HBO made-for-TV Apology (1986), co-starring Lesley Ann Warren, and Of Unknown Origin (1983), the film which won Weller the Best Actor award at the Paris International Film Festival for his performance as an upwardly mobile bachelor with a serious rat problem. That same film also marked his first association with Leviathan (1989) director George P. Cosmatos.- Actor
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Richard Dreyfuss is an American leading man, who has played his fair share of irritating pests and brash, ambitious hustlers.
He was born Richard Stephen Dreyfus in Brooklyn, New York, to Geraldine (Robbins), an activist, and Norman Dreyfus, a restaurateur and attorney. His paternal grandparents were Austro-Hungarian Jewish immigrants, and his mother's family was Russian Jewish.
Richard worked his way up through bit parts (The Graduate (1967), for one) and TV before gaining attention with his portrayal of Baby Face Nelson in John Milius' Dillinger (1973). He gained prominence as a college-bound young man in American Graffiti (1973) and as a nervy Jewish kid with high hopes in The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974). By the latter part of the 1970s Dreyfuss was established as a major star, playing leads (and alter-egos) for Steven Spielberg in two of the top-grossing films of the that decade: Jaws (1975) and Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). He won a Best Actor Oscar in his first romantic lead as an out-of-work actor in The Goodbye Girl (1977). Dreyfuss also produced and starred in the entertaining private eye movie The Big Fix (1978). After a brief lull in the early 1980s, a well-publicized drug problem and a string of box-office disappointments (The Competition (1980), Whose Life Is It Anyway? (1981), The Buddy System (1984)), a clean and sober Dreyfuss re-established himself in the mid-'80s as one of Hollywood's more engaging leads. He co-starred with Bette Midler and Nick Nolte in Paul Mazursky's popular Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986). That same year he provided the narration and appeared in the opening and closing "bookends" of Rob Reiner's nostalgic Stand by Me (1986). He quickly followed that with Nuts (1987) opposite Barbra Streisand, Barry Levinson's Tin Men (1987) in a memorable teaming with Danny DeVito, and Stakeout (1987) with Emilio Estevez. Dreyfuss continued working steadily through the end of the 1980s and into the 1990s, most notably in Mazursky's farce Moon Over Parador (1988), Spielberg's Always (1989), Postcards from the Edge (1990) and Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (1990). He appeared as a member of an ensemble that included Holly Hunter, Gena Rowlands and Danny Aiello in the romantic comedy Once Around (1991) and as a pop psychiatrist, the author of several successful self-help books, who is driven to the edge by nutcase Bill Murray in the popular comedy What About Bob? (1991). Dreyfuss has also remained active in the theater ("Death and Maiden", 1992) and on TV. In his next project he starred the thriller Silent Fall (1994) with John Lithgow and Linda Hamilton, being the film debut of Liv Tyler, Steven Tyler's daughter (Aerosmith's lead vocals). Just later Dreyfuss made Another Stakeout (1993), sequel of Stakeout (1987) where was team again with Emilio Estevez accompanied of Rosie O'Donnell, the adaptation of Neil Simon's play Lost in Yonkers (1993) and followed with a supporting turn as the querulous political opponent in The American President (1995). Dreyfuss received some of the best notices of his career as a determined, inspiring music teacher coping with a deaf son and the demands of his career in Mr. Holland's Opus (1995). Closing the 20th century he was in Sidney Lumet's Night Falls on Manhattan (1996) with Andy Garcia, the crime comedy Mad Dog Time (1996) as the mob boss Vic, the screwball comedy Krippendorf's Tribe (1998) about an anthropologist who creates a false lost New Guinea tribe for not losing his job in the university, TV movie Lansky (1999) about the infamous mob boss to end, the too TV movie Fail Safe (2000) playing The President, and The Crew (2000), about four older mobsters retired in Miami, partnering with Hollywood legends Burt Reynolds, Dan Hedaya and Seymour Cassel.
His start in the 21st century was with the adaption of Luis Sepúlveda's novel The Old Man Who Read Love Stories (2001), playing an old man to must to hunt a female jaguar turned crazy. It was followed by the supporting apparition in the comedy Who Is Cletis Tout? (2001) and another TV movie about 1981 Ronald Reagan's shooting The Day Reagan Was Shot (2001). After the short-lived TV series The Education of Max Bickford (2001) about a teacher in a women's college where his daughter is student, Dreyfuss returned to cinema in Silver City (2004) and the box-office bomb Poseidon (2006) with Kurt Russell, Emmy Rossum and Josh Lucas. Playing former vice-president Dick Cheney in the Oliver Stone's biopic W. (2008) and Irv, the cunning tourist in Greece turned in assistant of a troubled tour guide in My Life in Ruins (2009), Dreyfuss participated in low-budget productions as Leaves of Grass (2009) and The Lightkeepers (2009), for making a cameo in the wild and crazy Piranha 3D (2010) about prehistoric men-eater piranhas that make a bloodbath in a spring break. Returning to first line playing evil Alexander Dunning in the actioner RED (2010), his further productions included Paranoia (2013) as Liam Hemsworth's father partnering Harrison Ford and Gary Oldman, road movie Cas & Dylan (2013) opposites Tatiana Maslany and the biopic TV mini-series Madoff (2016) about the infamous multi-billion-dollar and hustler Bernie Madoff. Tireless and always implied in new projects, Dreyfuss played George, the funny online date of Candice Bergen in Book Club (2018), the comedy and road movie The Last Laugh (2019) with Chevy Chase, and the set in wilderness thriller Daughter of the Wolf (2019) with Gina Carano and Brendan Fehr. Making his 73rd birthday in 2020, Dreyfuss is an example of talent, diversity and love for his work, touching not only all the genres in cinema but leaving an unforgettable footprint at any of them.- Actor
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From small-town Oklahoma native to internationally acclaimed actor and musician, Wes Studi credits his passion and multi-faceted background for his powerful character portrayals that forever changed a Hollywood stereotype. Within a few years of his arrival in Hollywood, Studi caught the attention of the public in Dances with Wolves (1990). In 1992, his powerful performance as "Magua" in The Last of the Mohicans (1992) established him as one of the most compelling actors in the business.
Studi has since appeared in more than 80 film and television productions, including Geronimo: An American Legend (1993), Being Flynn (2012), Avatar (2009), Comanche Moon (2008), Streets of Laredo (1995), Mystery Men (1999), Kings (TV Series), The New World (2005), Hell on Wheels (2011), Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (2007) and Seraphim Falls (2006). He also brought Tony Hillerman's "Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn" to life in a series of PBS specials produced by Robert Redford: Skinwalkers (2002), Coyote Waits (2003), and A Thief of Time (2003).
Studi was born in Nofire Hollow, Oklahoma, the son of Maggie (Nofire), a housekeeper, and Andy Studie, a ranch hand. Studi exclusively spoke his native Cherokee language until beginning school at the age of five. A professional horse trainer, Studi began acting at The American Indian Theatre Company in Tulsa in the mid-80s.
Studi and his wife, Maura Dhu Studi, live in Santa Fe, New Mexico. They have a son, Kholan. Studi has a daughter, Leah, and a son, Daniel, from a previous marriage.- Actor
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Albert Brooks was born on 22 July 1947 in Beverly Hills, California, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for Drive (2011), Broadcast News (1987) and Defending Your Life (1991). He has been married to Kimberly Shlain since 15 March 1997. They have two children.- Actress
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Farrah Fawcett is a true Hollywood success story. Born in Texas, she was the daughter of Pauline Fawcett (Pauline Alice Evans), a homemaker, and James Fawcett, an oil field contractor. She was a natural athlete, something that her father encouraged, and she attended a high school with a strong arts program. She attended the University of Texas in Austin, graduating with a degree in Microbiology, but only wanted to be an actress.
Winning a campus beauty contest got her noticed by an agent, who encouraged her to pursue acting. After graduating, she moved to Los Angeles and her healthy, all-American blond beauty was immediately noticed. She quickly got roles in various television commercials for such products as Ultra-Brite toothpaste, and Wella Balsam shampoo, and also made appearances in some TV series. In 1968, she met another Southerner, actor Lee Majors, star of the popular TV series The Big Valley (1965), on a blind date set up by their publicists. He became very taken with her and also used his own standing to promote her career. In 1969, she made her film debut in Love Is a Funny Thing (1969). The next year, she appeared in the film adaptation of the Gore Vidal bestselling novel Myra Breckinridge (1970). The shooting was very unpleasant, with much feuding on the set, and Farrah was embarrassed by the finished film, which was a major failure. But Farrah was undamaged and continued to win roles. In 1973, she and Majors married, and the following year, she won a recurring role in the crime series, Harry O (1973). She had her first taste of major success when she won a supporting role in the science fiction film, Logan's Run (1976). She came to the attention of the highly successful producer Aaron Spelling, who was impressed by her beauty and vivacious personality. That won her a role in the TV series, Charlie's Angels (1976). She played a private investigator who works for a wealthy and mysterious businessman, along with two other glamorous female detectives, played by Kate Jackson and Jaclyn Smith. The show immediately became the most popular series on television, earning record ratings and a huge audience. All three actresses became very popular, but Farrah became, by far, the best known. She won the People's Choice Award for Favorite Female Performer in a New TV program in 1977. Her lush, free-wheeling, wavy blond hair also became a phenomenon, with millions of women begging their hairstylists to give them "The Farrah", as her hairstyle was called. Fawcett was also a savvy businesswoman, and she received 10% profit from the proceeds of her famous poster in a red swimsuit. It sold millions and she became the "It Girl" of the 1970s.
Fawcett was America's sweetheart and found herself on every celebrity magazine and pursued by photographers and fans. While she enjoyed the success and got along well with her co-stars (both of whom were also of Southern origin), she found the material lightweight. Also, the long hours she worked were beginning to take a toll on her marriage to Majors, who found himself eclipsed by her popularity. So the following year, when the show was at its peak, she left to pursue a movie career. Charlie's Angels' producers sued her, and the studios shied away from her, and she lost out on the lead role in the hit feature film Foul Play (1978) to Goldie Hawn. Eventually, she and the Charlie's Angels producers reached a settlement, where she would make guest appearances on the series. As a result of the negative publicity and some poor script choices, her career briefly hit a slow spot. In addition, she and Majors separated in 1979. She had starring roles in Somebody Killed Her Husband (1978), Sunburn (1979), and Saturn 3 (1980) (which she did a topless scene in), but all three failed financially. She appeared in the Burt Reynolds chase comedy The Cannonball Run (1981), which was successful financially, but it was met not only with bad reviews but also with bad publicity when Farrah's stunt double Heidi Von Beltz was involved in a stunt that went horribly wrong and left her a quadriplegic. Farrah's feature film career came to a halt, and she and Majors were drifting apart. In 1981, she met Ryan O'Neal, a friend of her husband's, and they began became friends and spent a great deal of time together. He also encouraged her to go back to television and she received good reviews in the well-received miniseries, Murder in Texas (1981). In 1982, she filed for divorce, which Majors readily agreed to. Soon, she and O'Neal were a couple and moved in together. She set on sights on becoming a serious dramatic actress. She took over for Susan Sarandon in the stage play, "Extremities", where she played a rape victim who turns the tables on her rapist. That, in turn, led her to her major comeback, when she starred in the searing story of a battered wife in The Burning Bed (1984), based on a true story. It garnered a very large audience, and critics gave her the best reviews she had ever received for her heartfelt performance. She was nominated for both an Emmy and Golden Globe and also became involved in helping organizations for battered women. The following year, she and O'Neal became the parents of a son, Redmond O'Neal. She tried to continue her momentum with a starring role in the feature film adaptation of Extremities (1986), and while she garnered a Golden Globe nomination, the film, itself, was not a hit.
She continued to seek out serious roles, appearing mainly on television. She scored success again in Small Sacrifices (1989), again based on a true crime. Portraying an unhappy woman who is so obsessed with the man she loves that she shoots her children to make herself available and disguises it as a carjacking, Farrah again won rave reviews and helped draw a large audience, and was nominated for an Emmy again. Shortly afterwards, she and O'Neal co-starred in Good Sports (1991), playing a couple who co-star in a sports news program, but O'Neal's performance was lambasted and only 9 episodes were aired. In 1995, she surprised her fans by posing for "Playboy" at the age of 48, it became the magazine's best-selling issue of that decade.
Her relationship with O'Neal was deteriorating, however, and in 1997, they broke up. The breakup took a toll, and she posed for Playboy again at the age of 50. To promote it, she appeared on Late Show with David Letterman (1993) and gave a rambling interview, sparking rumors of drug use. That same year, however, she made another comeback in The Apostle (1997), playing the neglected wife of a Pentacostal preacher, played by Robert Duvall. Both stars were praised and the film became a surprise hit. She also began dating James Orr, who had directed her earlier in the feature film, Man of the House (1995). An incident occurred between them in 1998, and Farrah suffered injuries. The scandal drew nationwide headlines, especially after the tabloids published photos of Farrah with her injuries. The authorities compelled Fawcett to testify against Orr in court, and he was found guilty of assault and given a minimum sentence. Embarrassed, she lowered her profile and her career lost momentum, but she continued to work in television and films. She and O'Neal also started seeing each other again, when he was diagnosed with leukemia. The new millennium brought her highs and lows. In 2000, she acted with Richard Gere in Robert Altman's film, Dr. T & the Women (2000). Her son Redmond has had problems with drug abuse and has been in and out of jail. In 2001, she lost her only sister, Diane Fawcett Walls, to cancer. In 2004, she received her third Emmy nomination for her performance in The Guardian (2003), and she starred in her own reality show, titled Chasing Farrah (2005), in 2005 along with Ryan O'Neal, but that ended after only 7 episodes. That same year, she was devastated when her beloved mother, Pauline Fawcett, died. In 2006, producer Aaron Spelling died, and she famously reunited with her Charlie's Angels co-stars, Kate Jackson and Jaclyn Smith, at the Emmys, in a tribute to him. She looked tan and healthy, but soon, she was diagnosed with anal cancer. She asked her friend Alana Stewart to accompany her and videotape her during her doctor's visits. Those video journals resulted in the documentary Farrah's Story (2009), co-executive produced by Fawcett. It aired in 2009, and viewers were shocked to see Farrah with a shaved head and in a continuous state of pain. Ryan O'Neal and Alana Stewart were constantly by her side, and her Charlie's Angels co-stars, Kate Jackson and Jaclyn Smith, also visited her, marking the final time that all three original Angels appeared together on television. The documentary became a ratings success, and it earned a Emmy nomination as Outstanding Nonfiction Special. On June 25, 2009 Farrah lost her battle with cancer and passed away at aged 62. She left the bulk of her estate to her only son Redmond, and her trust fund allowed for the creation of The Farrah Fawcett Foundation, which provides funding for cancer research and prevention. Alana Stewart is the president of the Foundation and Jaclyn Smith's husband Dr. Brad Allen is one of the Board of Directors. Ryan O'Neal and Farrah's nephew, Greg Walls, are also on the Advisory Board, keeping alive her legacy.- Actor
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McKean was born in New York City at Manhattan Women's Hospital, now part of the Mt. Sinai St. Luke's complex on Amsterdam Avenue. He is the son of Ruth Stewart McKean, a librarian, and Gilbert S. McKean, one of the founders of Decca Records, and was raised in Sea Cliff, New York, on Long Island. McKean is of Irish, English, Scottish, and some German and Dutch descent. He graduated from high school in 1965. In early 1967, he was briefly a member of the New York City "baroque pop" band The Left Banke and played on the "Ivy, Ivy" single (B-side: "And Suddenly").- Writer
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Stephen Edwin King was born on September 21, 1947, at the Maine General Hospital in Portland. His parents were Nellie Ruth (Pillsbury), who worked as a caregiver at a mental institute, and Donald Edwin King, a merchant seaman. His father was born under the surname "Pollock," but used the last name "King," under which Stephen was born. He has an older brother, David. The Kings were a typical family until one night, when Donald said he was stepping out for cigarettes and was never heard from again. Ruth took over raising the family with help from relatives. They traveled throughout many states over several years, finally moving back to Durham, Maine, in 1958.
Stephen began his actual writing career in January of 1959, when David and Stephen decided to publish their own local newspaper named "Dave's Rag". David bought a mimeograph machine, and they put together a paper they sold for five cents an issue. Stephen attended Lisbon High School, in Lisbon, in 1962. Collaborating with his best friend Chris Chesley in 1963, they published a collection of 18 short stories called "People, Places, and Things--Volume I". King's stories included "Hotel at the End of the Road", "I've Got to Get Away!", "The Dimension Warp", "The Thing at the Bottom of the Well", "The Stranger", "I'm Falling", "The Cursed Expedition", and "The Other Side of the Fog." A year later, King's amateur press, Triad and Gaslight Books, published a two-part book titled "The Star Invaders".
King made his first actual published appearance in 1965 in the magazine Comics Review with his story "I Was a Teenage Grave Robber." The story ran about 6,000 words in length. In 1966 he graduated from high school and took a scholarship to attend the University of Maine. Looking back on his high school days, King recalled that "my high school career was totally undistinguished. I was not at the top of my class, nor at the bottom." Later that summer King began working on a novel called "Getting It On", about some kids who take over a classroom and try unsuccessfully to ward off the National Guard. During his first year at college, King completed his first full-length novel, "The Long Walk." He submitted the novel to Bennett Cerf/Random House only to have it rejected. King took the rejection badly and filed the book away.
He made his first small sale--$35--with the story "The Glass Floor". In June 1970 King graduated from the University of Maine with a Bachelor of Science degree in English and a certificate to teach high school. King's next idea came from the poem by Robert Browning, "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came." He found bright colored green paper in the library and began work on "The Dark Tower" saga, but his chronic shortage of money meant that he was unable to further pursue the novel, and it, too, was filed away. King took a job at a filling station pumping gas for the princely sum of $1.25 an hour. Soon he began to earn money for his writings by submitting his short stories to men's magazines such as Cavalier.
On January 2, 1971, he married Tabitha King (born Tabitha Jane Spruce). In the fall of 1971 King took a teaching job at Hampden Academy, earning $6,400 a year. The Kings then moved to Hermon, a town west of Bangor. Stephen then began work on a short story about a teenage girl named Carietta White. After completing a few pages, he decided it was not a worthy story and crumpled the pages up and tossed them into the trash. Fortunately, Tabitha took the pages out and read them. She encouraged her husband to continue the story, which he did. In January 1973 he submitted "Carrie" to Doubleday. In March Doubleday bought the book. On May 12 the publisher sold the paperback rights for the novel to New American Library for $400,000. His contract called for his getting half of that sum, and he quit his teaching job to pursue writing full time. The rest, as they say, is history.
Since then King has had numerous short stories and novels published and movies made from his work. He has been called the "Master of Horror". His books have been translated into 33 different languages, published in over 35 different countries. There are over 300 million copies of his novels in publication. He continues to live in Bangor, Maine, with his wife, and writes out of his home.
In June 1999 King was severely injured in an accident, he was walking alongside a highway and was hit by a van, that left him in critical condition with injuries to his lung, broken ribs, a broken leg and a severely fractured hip. After three weeks of operations, he was released from the Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston.- Actor
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Robert Reiner was born in New York City, to Estelle Reiner (née Lebost) and Emmy-winning actor, comedian, writer, and producer Carl Reiner.
As a child, his father was his role model, as Carl Reiner created and starred in The Dick Van Dyke Show. Estelle was also an inspiration for him to become a director; her experience as a singer helped him understand how music was used in a scene. Rob often felt pressured about measuring up to his father's successful streak, with twelve Emmys and other prestigious awards.
When Rob graduated high school, his parents advised him to participate in Summer Theatre. Reiner got a job as an apprentice in the Bucks County Playhouse in Pennsylvania. He went on to UCLA Film School to further his education. Reiner felt he still wasn't successful even having a recurring role on one of the biggest shows in the country, All in the Family. He began his directing career with the Oscar-nominated films This Is Spinal Tap, Stand By Me, and The Princess Bride.
In 1987, with these successful box-office movies under his belt, Reiner founded his own production company, Castle Rock Entertainment; along with Martin Shafer, Andrew Scheinman, Glenn Padnick, and Alan Horn. Under Castle Rock Entertainment, he went to direct Oscar-nominated films When Harry Met Sally, Misery, and A Few Good Men. Reiner has credited former co-star Carroll O'Connor in helping him get into the directing business, showing Reiner the ropes.
Reiner is known as a political activist, co-founding the American Foundation For Equal Rights, a group that was an advisory for same-sex-marriage. He has spoken at several rallies on several topics, an advocate for social change regarding such issues as domestic violence and tobacco use.
Reiner made cameo appearances on television shows 30 Rock, The Simpsons, and Hannah Montana, and in films The First Wives Club, Bullets Over Broadway, Primary Colors, and Throw Momma From The Train, among many others.- Actress
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Anne Archer was nominated for an Academy Award®, a Golden Globe and the British (BAFTA) Academy Award for her role as Michael Douglas' sympathetic, tortured wife, "Beth Gallagher", in Adrian Lyne's 1987 thriller Fatal Attraction (1987). Archer is also well-known for her poignant Golden Globe-winning performance in the ensemble cast of Robert Altman's Short Cuts (1993) and for playing CIA agent Jack Ryan's beleaguered wife, "Cathy", in Patriot Games (1992) and Clear and Present Danger (1994), both based on Tom Clancy bestsellers.
Archer was born into a show business family in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of actors Marjorie Lord (née Marjorie F. Wollenberg), who appeared on TV's The Danny Thomas Show (1953), and John Archer (born Ralph Bowman), who starred in White Heat (1949). Her ancestry includes German, English, Czech, and Scots-Irish.
Archer studied theatre arts at Claremont College before debuting on the motion picture screen opposite Jon Voight in The All-American Boy (1973). She won critical acclaim for her leading role in Lifeguard (1976) as Sam Elliott's old flame.
Throughout her motion picture career, Archer has starred opposite some of Hollywood's most dynamic and respected leading men, not only Michael Douglas and Harrison Ford, but also Gene Hackman in Narrow Margin (1990), Tom Berenger in director Alan Rudolph's romantic comedy Love at Large (1990), Donald Sutherland in Eminent Domain (1990) and Sylvester Stallone in Paradise Alley (1978). In 2000, she appeared in The Art of War (2000) with Wesley Snipes and Rules of Engagement (2000) (her first project with Tommy Lee Jones), which was one of the box office hits in Spring of that year.
With husband Terry Jastrow (an Emmy-winning sports producer), she co-produced and starred in the feature Waltz Across Texas (1982), a modern romance set in the Texas oil fields. In 1998, Archer worked with husband Jastrow again as co-producer and co-host, with Isabella Rossellini, on ABC's World Fashion Premiere from Paris (1998), a history-making two-hour special. Again the following year, she served as a producer on the telecast. With complete backstage access, the shows spotlighted the haute couture shows of the most famous designers in the world.
Archer has essayed dramatic roles as complex and disparate characters in cable productions of equally distinct genres. She starred with Michael Murphy in the contemporary romantic drama Indiscretion of an American Wife (1998) for Lifetime and opposite William Petersen in Present Tense, Past Perfect (1995), based on a bittersweet story by Richard Dreyfuss, who also directed the Showtime drama. Previously, for the same network, she portrayed Dennis Hopper's sexy former wife in the contemporary, gritty Nails (1992) and for HBO, again, starred with Jon Voight in the period piece The Last of His Tribe (1992).
Her television performances have also included Neil Simon's Jake's Women (1996) opposite Alan Alda and CBS's Jane's House (1994) opposite James Woods. Recently, she received acclaim for a three episode arc on Fox-TV's series Boston Public (2000), created by David E. Kelley.
She had a starring role opposite Courteney Cox in the independent feature November (2004) and appeared in Revolution Studios' comedy Man of the House (2005), portraying Prof. Molly McCarthy, opposite Tommy Lee Jones. She also had a role on Showtime's provocative series The L Word (2004) with Jennifer Beals, Mia Kirshner and Pam Grier.
Her stage work includes the world premiere of "The Poison Tree" at Los Angeles' Mark Taper Forum, the Williamstown Theatre Festival production of "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" in Massachusetts and the starring role in the London West End production of "The Graduate", for which she received rave reviews. Archer's New York stage debut was as "Maude Mix" in the celebrated Off-Broadway production of John Ford Noonan's "A Coupla White Chicks Sitting Around Talking".- Orenthal James Simpson, was an American former football running back, broadcaster, actor, advertising spokesman.
Simpson attended the University of Southern California, where he played football for the USC Trojans and won the Heisman Trophy in 1968. He played professionally as a running back in the NFL for 11 seasons, primarily with the Buffalo Bills from 1969 to 1977. He also played for the San Francisco 49ers from 1978 to 1979. In 1973, he became the first NFL player to rush for more than 2,000 yards in a season. He holds the record for the single season yards-per-game average, which stands at 143.1. He was the only player to ever rush for over 2,000 yards in the 14-game regular season NFL format.
Simpson was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1983 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1985. After retiring from football, he began new careers in acting and football broadcasting. - Actor
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McRaney holds the distinction of being the last guest star to meet "Matt Dillon" in a gunfight on Gunsmoke (1955) - in the episode, Hard Labor (1975), first broadcast on February 24, 1975 (he lost). In fact, in the early portion of Gerald McRaney's career he almost always played the villain; but, since his first series, Simon & Simon (1981), hit it big, he's played mostly good guys. The character of passionate but irresponsible "Rick Simon" gave McRaney the opportunity to play a dramatic role with a comedic edge. A second hit series, Major Dad (1989), showcased his talent for comedy. McRaney met and fell in love with fellow southerner Delta Burke when she guest-starred on Simon & Simon (1981). He later appeared on her series, Designing Women (1986), as her ex-husband, although it is an unwritten rule that actors with current series don't do guest roles; they were married not long after.- Actor
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John started the improvisational duo group, "Sal's Meat Market", in Bridgeport, Connecticut with fellow actor and friend Ray Hassett. He was later affiliated with the ensemble group, "The Downtown Cabaret". Coincidentally, he was a friend of Susan Ryan, the mother of Meg Ryan. A mutual friend, also associated with "The Downtown Cabaret", was the daughter-in-law of actress Mabel Albertson, the sister of actor Jack Albertson.- Actor
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Joe Mantegna is an American actor who has made over 200 film and TV appearances. He is also a producer, writer, and director, and is probably best known for his role as Joey Zasa in the Francis Ford Coppola epic The Godfather Part III (1990), in which he stars alongside Al Pacino and Andy Garcia.
Joseph Anthony Mantegna, Jr. was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Mary Anne (Novelli), a shipping clerk, and Joseph Anthony Mantegna, Sr., an insurance salesman. He is of Italian descent. Having obtained a degree in acting from the Goodman School of Drama and taken to the stage early on in life, it is no surprise that Joe has maintained a strong relationship with the playwright -turned- screenwriter-director David Mamet. They have collaborated on several projects. He also stars as SSA David Rossi on the long running TV drama Criminal Minds. (2005-)- Actor
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Born February 24, 1947, in East Los Angeles, at The First Japanese Hospital to Pedro Olmos and Eleanor Huizar. Raised on Cheesebrough's Lane, he attended Greenwood Elementary and Montebello Junior High. He then graduated from Montebello High School in 1964. After which he received an Associative Arts Degree in Sociology and Criminal Justice at East Los Angeles College in 1966. Olmos since then has gone on to receive many accolades from the City of Montebello, including the Alumni of The Year from Montebello High School in 2014, and Man of the Year Award from The Mexican American Opportunity Foundation in 2015.
He has achieved extraordinary success as an actor, producer and humanitarian. The Tony, Emmy and Academy Award® Nominated actor, is probably best known to young audiences for his work on the SYFY television series "Battlestar Galatica" as Admiral William Adama. Although the series kept the actor busy during its run from 2003 through 2009, it didn't stop him from directing the HBO movie "Walkout" in 2007, for which he earned a DGA Nomination in the Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Movies for Television category.
Olmos' career in entertainment spans over 30 years. In that time he created a signature style and aesthetic that he applies to every artist endeavor, often grounding his characters in reality and gravitas. His dedication to his craft has brought him attention across the industry, and with audiences worldwide.- Actor
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Veteran character actor Robert Englund was born in Glendale, California, to Janis (MacDonald) and John Kent Englund, an aeronautics engineer. Since 1973, Robert has appeared in over 75 feature films and starred in four TV series. He has starred alongside Oscar-winners Henry Fonda, Susan Sarandon and Jeff Bridges. Since 1984 he's achieved international fame as the iconic boogeyman Freddy Krueger in the hit franchise A Nightmare on Elm Street and its seven sequels. Englund has guest starred in hundreds of hours of TV most recently Bones, Criminal Minds and Hawaii 5-0. He will soon be seen starring in the horror film Fear Clinic, and the English thriller The Last Showing, he can be heard as the voice of the Evil Beaver in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon show.- Actor
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Richard Jenkins was born on 4 May 1947 in DeKalb, Illinois, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for The Shape of Water (2017), The Visitor (2007) and Step Brothers (2008). He has been married to Sharon R. Friedrick since 23 August 1969. They have two children.- Actor
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Stephen McHattie was born on 3 February 1947 in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada. He is an actor and director, known for Pontypool (2008), The Fountain (2006) and Watchmen (2009). He is married to Lisa Houle. They have three children. He was previously married to Meg Foster.- Actress
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Jacqueline Ruth Weaver is an Australian theatre, film and television actress. She is known internationally for her performances in Animal Kingdom (2010) and Silver Linings Playbook (2012), both of which earned her nominations for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Weaver emerged in the 1970s as a symbol of the Australian New Wave through her work in Ozploitation films such as Stork (1971), Alvin Purple (1973), and Petersen (1974). Weaver's other films include Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), Magic in the Moonlight (2014), The Disaster Artist (2017), Bird Box (2018), and Poms (2019).
In 2019-20, Weaver had main roles in Bloom and Perpetual Grace, LTD, and in 2021 she had a recurring role in Season 4 of Yellowstone.
In 2005, she released her autobiography, Much Love, Jac.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
The son of writer/producer/actor Dwight Hauser, who worked on (amongst many other projects) the classic "Whistler" radio series, and Geraldine Hauser (the daughter of author Tom Thieness), he raised a child as a single father, having arrived in Hollywood "with thirty dollars and a box of pampers" - and actually earned his career accomplishments with hard work and dedication. He is the father of actor Cole Hauser.
Wings Hauser married his young music and filmmaking partner, actress/filmmaker Cali Lili on June 12, 2012. Having often been compared to Richard Widmark for some of his "mean" roles, he has played a variety of equally remarkable roles in films and on TV. After a high-school career centered in sports (his name "Wings" is taken from the wing-back position he played in football), he chose to lean toward the arts - acting and music (including an album of his original music for RCA) - instead of pursuing professional sports. Having descended from an artistic and talented family, this choice was a heartfelt one.- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Martin Kove was born on March 6, 1947 in Brooklyn, New York. Strong-featured, narrow-eyed actor who has portrayed a mixed bag of both good guys and bad guys. He first turned up on screen in several minor roles, and was noticed as the villainous Nero the Hero in the low-budget road race Death Race 2000 (1975), and then as Clem the sadistic rigger, breaking Jan-Michael Vincent's ribs in White Line Fever (1975). He cropped up on the television series Cagney & Lacey (1981) portraying honest Police Detective Isbecki, and then ended up on the wrong side of a rampaging Sylvester Stallone in Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985).
Kove probably scored his greatest visibility to the public in the hugely successful The Karate Kid (1984) in which he played John Kreese, the head instructor of the Cobra Kai karate school. He reprised the role in the two sequels, The Karate Kid Part II (1986) and The Karate Kid Part III (1989). Kove has since kept consistently busy, primarily in the action-thriller film genre, and has notched up over 80 film appearances to date, as well as numerous television guest roles.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Raymond Herbert "Ray" Wise (born August 20, 1947) is an American actor. Some of his best-known roles include Leland Palmer in Twin Peaks (1990), henchman Leon C. Nash in RoboCop (1987), Jack Taggart Sr. in Jeepers Creepers 2 (2003), the Devil in the CW television series Reaper (2007), Donald Wadsworth in Suburban Gothic (2014).
Wise was born in Akron, Ohio, graduated from Garfield High School in 1964 and attended Kent State University in Kent, Ohio. He is of Romanian descent on his mother's side.- Actress
- Writer
- Producer
Heralded as "one of the funniest women on Broadway" by the New York Times, ANDREA MARTIN is a multi-talented award-winning actress who won the Tony Award, Drama Desk Award, and Theatre World Award for her Broadway debut in MY FAVORITE YEAR. She has since become the featured actress with the most Tony Award nominations in a musical, with a record number for her performances in CANDIDE (also Drama Desk Award nomination), OKLAHOMA! (also Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award nominations), YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN (also Drama Desk Award nomination), and PIPPIN for which she received Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Elliot Norton, and IRNE Awards. Her Broadway appearance in the revival of NOISES OFF earned her an additional Tony Award nomination. She has also been seen on stage in the revival of EXIT THE KING (Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award nominations), in the Broadway adaptation of Moss Hart's ACT ONE (Outer Critics Circle Award), which also aired on PBS, and in her one-person play NUDE NUDE TOTALLY NUDE (Drama Desk Award nomination).
Martin received two Emmy Awards for writing and an Emmy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Variety Series for her work on the legendary sketch comedy show SCTV. She also received a special Emmy Award for her contributions on SESAME STREET and had her own special for Showtime, ANDREA MARTIN, TOGETHER AGAIN. Her additional television appearances include HAIRSPRAY LIVE!, MODERN FAMILY, UNBREAKABLE KIMMY SCHMIDT, 30 ROCK, THE GOOD FIGHT, and HARLEM. Following her simultaneous runs on the NBC comedy series GREAT NEWS and the Hulu series DIFFICULT PEOPLE. Martin appears in the hit Hulu show, ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING, as well as the Paramount + series EVIL, for which she received a Critics Choice Award nomination.
Martin's film appearances include CANNIBAL GIRLS, CLUB PARADISE, STEPPING OUT, ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS, WAG THE DOG, HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH, ALL OVER THE GUY, NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM 3, MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING (SAG Award nomination for Best Ensemble and People's Choice Award), and its sequels MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING 2 and 3.
Martin recently received a star on the Canada Walk of Fame. Her critically acclaimed book LADY PARTS was released by Harper Collins.- Actor
- Director
- Soundtrack
Stephen Collins was born on 1 October 1947 in Des Moines, Iowa, USA. He is an actor and director, known for 7th Heaven (1996), Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) and The First Wives Club (1996). He has been married to Jenny Nagel since 22 July 2019. He was previously married to Faye Grant and Marjorie Weinman.- The avuncular star character actor Richard Griffiths grew up in a council flat in less than prosperous conditions, the son of deaf and volatile parents in a dysfunctional family setting. According to an article in the Telegraph newspaper, his father Thomas was a steelworker 'who fought in pubs for prize money'. Like most children, Richard's "mother tongue" was the same as his parents. In his case, that was sign language. Like many kids in the 50s, his world did not include television. He had to explain sounds to his parents, for example music. Griffiths made a career out of language. For instance, he developed a talent for dialects which later allowed him to shine in a number of ethnic portrayals. He attended the Manchester Polytechnic School Of Drama and then began his career in radio drama and repertory theatre. He subsequently became a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company where he often excelled playing Shakespeare's comic characters.
In a 2007 interview, Griffiths said "I like playing Vernon Dursley in Harry Potter because that gives me a license to be horrible to kids. I hate the odious business of sucking up to the public." In fact, unlike those jovial characters he so often portrayed on screen, Griffiths did not tolerate fools gladly. On occasion, he would get stroppy with members of an audience, especially those failing to switch off their mobile phones during a performance (who could blame him?). He was also highly thought of as a raconteur and wit.
The ever-versatile, often bespectacled and bearded Griffiths did his best work for the small screen, excelling as the inquisitive and resourceful civil servant Henry Jay in Bird of Prey (1982) and as the lovable 'cooking policeman' Henry Crabbe in Pie in the Sky (1994), a role specially created for him. As comic relief he made many a hilarious guest appearance, in, among other popular series, The Vicar of Dibley (1994) (as the Bishop of Mulberry) and as Dr. Bayham Badger in the superb BBC adaption of Bleak House (2005). He could also play evil and sinister, none more so than Swelter in Gormenghast (2000), a character Griffiths described being at once "laughably comic" and "a monster like Idi Amin". He was also much sought-after by Hollywood producers, appearing in a dual role in The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear (1991), as the ill-fated Magistrate Philipse in Tim Burton 's Sleepy Hollow (1999) and as King George in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011).
The much-acclaimed actor won a Tony Award, a Laurence Olivier Award, the Drama Desk Award and the Outer Critics Circle Award.
Griffiths was uncommonly skinny as a child and this required radiation treatment on his pituitary gland from the age of eight. It caused his metabolism to slow to such an extent that he eventually became obese, a condition which in all likelihood contributed to his death from complications during heart surgery on 28 March 2013 at the age of 65. - Music Artist
- Actor
- Composer
David Bowie was one of the most influential and prolific writers and performers of popular music, but he was much more than that; he was also an accomplished actor, a mime and an intellectual, as well as an art lover whose appreciation and knowledge of it had led to him amassing one of the biggest collections of 20th century art.
Born David Jones, he changed his name to Bowie in the 1960s, to avoid confusion with the then well-known Davy Jones (lead singer of The Monkees). The 1960s were not a happy period for Bowie, who remained a struggling artist, awaiting his breakthrough. He dabbled in many different styles of music (without commercial success), and other art forms such as acting, mime, painting, and play-writing. He finally achieved his commercial breakthrough in 1969 with the song "Space Oddity", which was released at the time of the moon landing. Despite the fact that the literal meaning of the lyrics relates to an astronaut who is lost in space, this song was used by the BBC in their coverage of the moon landing, and this helped it become such a success. The album, which followed "Space Oddity", and the two, which followed (one of which included the song "The Man Who Sold The World", covered by Lulu and Nirvana) failed to produce another hit single, and Bowie's career appeared to be in decline.
However, he made the first of many successful "comebacks" in 1972 with "Ziggy Stardust", a concept album about a space-age rock star. This album was followed by others in a similar vein, rock albums built around a central character and concerned with futuristic themes of Armageddon, gender dysfunction/confusion, as well as more contemporary themes such as the destructiveness of success and fame, and the dangers inherent in star worship. In the mid-1970s, Bowie was a heavy cocaine abuser and sometime heroin user.
In 1975, he changed tack. Musically, he released "Young Americans", a soul (or plastic soul as he later referred to it) album. This produced his first number one hit in the US, "Fame". He also appeared in his first major film, The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976). With a permanently-dilated pupil and skeletal frame, he certainly looked the part of an alien. The following year, he released "Station to Station," containing some of the material he had written for the soundtrack to this film (which was not used). As his drug problem heightened, his behavior became more erratic. Reports of his insanity started to appear, and he continued to waste away physically. He fled back to Europe, finally settling in Berlin, where he changed musical direction again and recorded three of the most influential albums of all time, an electronic trilogy with Brian Eno "Low, Heroes and Lodger". Towards the end of the 1970s, he finally kicked his drug habit, and recorded the album many of his fans consider his best, the Japanese-influenced "Scary Monsters". Around this time, he appeared in the title role of the Broadway drama The Elephant Man, and to considerable acclaim.
The next few years saw something of a drop-off in his musical output as his acting career flourished, culminating in his acclaimed performance in Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (1983). In 1983, he released "Let's Dance," an album which proved an unexpected massive commercial success, and produced his second #1 hit single in the United States. According to producer Nile Rodgers, the album was made in just 17 days and was "the easiest album" he'd ever made in his life. The tour which followed, "Serious Moonlight", was his most successful ever. Faced with this success on a massive scale, Bowie apparently attempted to "repeat the formula" in the next two albums, with less success (and to critical scorn). Finally, in the late 1980s, he turned his back on commercial success and his solo career, forming the hard rock band, Tin Machine, who had a deliberate limited appeal. By now, his acting career was in decline. After the comparative failure of Labyrinth (1986), the movie industry appears to have decided that Bowie was not a sufficient name to be a lead actor in a major movie, and since that date, most of his roles have been cameos or glorified cameos. Tin Machine toured extensively and released two albums, with little critical or commercial success.
In 1992, Bowie again changed direction and re-launched his solo career with "Black Tie White Noise", a wedding album inspired by his recent marriage to Iman. He released three albums to considerable critical acclaim and reasonable commercial success. In 1995, he renewed his working relationship with Brian Eno to record "Outside." After an initial hostile reaction from the critics, this album has now taken its place with his classic albums. In 2003, Bowie released an album entitled 'Reality.' The Reality Tour began in November 2003 and, after great commercial success, was extended into July 2004. In June 2004, Bowie suffered a heart attack and the tour did not finish its scheduled run.
After recovering, Bowie gave what turned out to be his final live performance in a three-song set with Alicia Keys at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York in November 2006. He also returned to acting. He played Tesla in The Prestige (2006) and had a small cameo in the comedy David Bowie (2006) for fan Ricky Gervais. In 2007, he did a cartoon voice in SpongeBob SquarePants (1999) playing Lord Royal Highness. He had a brief cameo in the movie ''Bandslam'' released in 2009; after a ten year hiatus from recording, he released a new album called 'The Next Day', featuring a homage cover to his earlier work ''Heroes''. The music video of ''Stars are Out Tonight'' premiered on 25 February 2013. It consists of other songs like ''Where Are We Now?", "Valentine's Day", "Love is Lost", "The Next Day", etc.
In 2014, Bowie won British Male Solo Artist at the 2014 Brit Awards, 30 years since last winning it, and became the oldest ever Brit winner. Bowie wrote and recorded the opening title song to the television miniseries The Last Panthers (2015), which aired in November 2015. The theme used for The Last Panthers (2015) was also the title track for his January 2016 release, ''Blackstar" (released on 8 January 2016, Bowie's 69th birthday) was met with critical acclaim. Following Bowie's death two days later, on 10 January 2016, producer Tony Visconti revealed Bowie had planned the album to be his swan song, and a "parting gift" for his fans before his death. An EP, No Plan, was released on 8 January 2017, which would have been Bowie's 70th birthday. The day following his death, online viewing of Bowie's music skyrocketed, breaking the record for Vevo's most viewed artist in a single day.
On 15 January, "Blackstar" debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart; nineteen of his albums were in the UK Top 100 Albums Chart, and thirteen singles were in the UK Top 100 Singles Chart. The song also debuted at #1 on album charts around the world, including Australia, France, Germany, Italy, New Zealand and the US Billboard 200. At the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, Bowie won all five nominated awards: Best Rock Performance; Best Alternative Music Album; Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical; Best Recording Package; and Best Rock Song. The wins marked Bowie's first ever in musical categories. David Bowie influenced the course of popular music several times and had an effect on several generations of musicians.- Actor
- Producer
- Director
John Bernard Larroquette, is an all-around American actor known for his roles in both drama and comedy. He became well-known as Deputy District Attorney Dan Fielding in the NBC sitcom "Night Court" (1984-1992; 2023-present), a role that earned him four straight Emmy Awards for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy. This remarkable achievement showed off his talent, demonstrating his knack for mixing serious drama with comedic flair. Larroquette's performance of Dan Fielding evolved from conservative to more humorous, reflecting his own sense of humor, which was a hit with viewers.
Apart from "Night Court," Larroquette's career is filled with impressive roles in various TV series. He won an Emmy for a guest role in "The Practice" and appeared in "The Good Fight," "The Librarians," "Boston Legal," and "Happy Family." His return to "Night Court" in the reboot sees him play again his role as Dan Fielding. However, the character has become gentler over time, suggesting personal growth and struggles, including a reference to a past marriage and a shift from practicing law to working as a process server. This comeback in the reboot adds a new layer to his famous role, mixing fond memories with fresh storytelling.- Actress
- Producer
- Composer
Betty Buckley, who has been called "The Voice of Broadway," is one of theater's most respected and legendary leading ladies. She is an actress/singer whose career spans theater, film, television and concert halls around the world. She is a 2012 Theatre Hall of Fame inductee and the 2017 recipient of the Julie Harris Awards from the Actor's Fund for Artistic Achievement.
She won a Tony Award for her performance as Grizabella, the Glamour Cat, in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats. She received her second Tony Award nomination for Best Actress in a musical for her performance as Hesione in Triumph of Love, and an Olivier Award nomination for her critically acclaimed interpretation of Norma Desmond in the London production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard, which she repeated to more rave reviews on Broadway.
Her other Broadway credits include 1776, Pippin, Song and Dance, The Mystery of Edwin Drood and Carrie. Off-Broadway credits include the world premiere of Horton Foote's The Old Friends for which she received a Drama Desk Nomination in 2014, White's Lies, Lincoln Center's Elegies, the original NYSF production of Edwin Drood, The Eros Trilogy, Juno's Swans and Getting My Act Together and Taking It On The Road. Regional credits include The Perfectionist, Gypsy, Threepenny Opera, Camino Real, Buffalo Gal, Arsenic and Old Lace, The Old Friends at Houston's Alley Theatre and Grey Gardens at the Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor, NY and The Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles in 2016 for which she received an Ovation Award Nomination. In London she starred in Promises, Promises for which she was nominated for An Evening Standard Award and in 2013 the British premiere of Dear World.
Ms. Buckley most recently appeared in the new M. Night Shyamalan hit film Split co-starring James McAvoy, released in January 2017. She was nominated for a Saturn Award for her work in the film. Her other films include her debut in Brian de Palma's screen version of Stephen King's Carrie, Bruce Beresford's Tender Mercies, Roman Polanski's Frantic, Woody Allen's Another Woman, Lawrence Kasden's Wyatt Earp and M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening.
On television, Buckley most recently guest starred in the NBC Series Chicago Med and in the HBO series The Leftovers and Getting On. She appeared in The Pacific also for HBO and twice on the Kennedy Center Honors. She also starred for three seasons in the HBO series Oz and as Abby Bradford in the hit series Eight Is Enough. She has appeared as a guest star in numerous television series, miniseries and films for television including Evergreen, Roses For The Rich, Without A Trace, Law & Order: SVU and Pretty Little Liars.
Buckley tours in concert worldwide with her ensemble of musicians and recently was featured in the Royal Albert Hall concert of Follies in celebration of Stephen Sondheim's 85th birthday. She has recorded 17 CD's: including Ghostlight produced by T Bone Burnett released in 2014 and most recently Story Songs released in April 2017.
She received a Grammy Nomination for Stars and The Moon, Betty Buckley Live at the Donmar. She received her second Grammy Nomination for the audio book The Diaries of Adam and Eve. For over forty years Ms. Buckley has been a teacher of scene study and song interpretation, giving workshops in Manhattan and various universities and performing Arts Conservatories around the country. She has been a faculty member in the theatre department of the University of Texas at Arlington and teaches regularly at the T. Schreiber Studio in New York City, The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, TX and in Los Angeles, Denver and Oklahoma.
In 2009, Ms. Buckley received the Texas Medal of Arts Award for Theater and was inducted into the Texas Film Hall of Fame in 2007. She has two honorary doctorates from The Boston Conservatory and Marymount College and has been honored with three Lifetime Achievement Awards for her contributions to theater from the New England Theater Conference, The Shubert Theater in New Haven and the Terry Schreiber School in NYC.- The child of professional dancers, Kim Darby began her career studying dance with her father, as well as Nico Charisse. At fourteen, she was granted special admission to Tony Barr's acting workshop at Desilu Studios on the Paramount Pictures lot. He wrote later that it was her remarkable openness, honesty, emotional readiness and focus that convinced him to bring her into his adult class. These traits have become the signature of her work in a career that has now spanned a period of more than forty years.
As a teenager, she earned her first acting roles in episodes of television shows, including Mr. Novak (1963), Dr. Kildare (1961), The Eleventh Hour (1962), Star Trek (1966) and The Fugitive (1963). Her reputation continued to grow with more work in film and television.
She was twenty-one when producer Hal B. Wallis saw her in an episode of Run for Your Life (1965) and decided to offer her the coveted role of "Mattie Ross", opposite John Wayne's "Rooster Cogburn", in True Grit (1969). The classic western earned Wayne his only Oscar and made Kim Darby a film star.
Ms. Darby went on to star in a variety of productions, receiving a Golden Globe nomination for her work in Generation (1969), and an Emmy Nomination for her role in Rich Man, Poor Man (1976). Her feature films include The Strawberry Statement (1970), The Grissom Gang (1971), Better Off Dead (1985) and Mockingbird Don't Sing (2001); television movies include The Story of Pretty Boy Floyd (1974), Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (1973) and Enola Gay: The Men, the Mission, the Atomic Bomb (1980).
Still acting, since 1990, she has also been teaching her craft and is asked to give seminars at universities and film schools throughout the country. Her own training and lifelong experience over the last four decades has provided her with a rich perspective as well as a diverse collection of skills which she enjoys sharing with enthusiastic students. - Actress
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Cute as a button and with a petite, porcelain prettiness and vulnerability that endeared her to the American public, Sally Struthers nabbed a series role in the early 1970s and became a solid part of TV history as a member of a dysfunctional family quartet in the milestone sitcom, All in the Family (1971).
She was born Sally Ann Struthers, the daughter of a surgeon, on July 28, 1948, in Portland, Oregon. Raised there, she pursued an acting career following high school. She eventually moved to Los Angeles and trained at the Pasadena Playhouse College of Theatre Arts, earning a scholarship as its "most promising student." She performed briefly in regional stock plays until finding her break as both a commercial actress and dancer on TV.
A recurring dancer/performer on such variety shows as The Smothers Brothers Summer Show (1970) and The Tim Conway Comedy Hour (1970), the pert-nosed, blue-eyed, curly blonde cutie showed starlet promise in films, offering ditsy support in the Jack Nicholson starrer, Five Easy Pieces (1970), and the chase film, The Getaway (1972), top-lining Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw.
And, then came the iconic series All in the Family (1971). Also starring Carroll O'Connor and Jean Stapleton as conservative parents Archie and Edith, and Rob Reiner as liberal husband Mike, Struthers went on to win two supporting Emmy Awards and four Golden Globe nominations as kewpie-doll Gloria Bunker Strivic, Archie Bunker's "little goil."
Seen occasionally guesting elsewhere on such popular TV programs as "Love, American Style," "The Courtship of Eddie's Father," "Ironside," "Laugh-In," "Sonny and Cher" and as the voice of teenage Pebbles Flintstone on the spin-off cartoon series The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show (1971), Sally, along with Rob, finally left the popular family show after seven seasons, both eager to grow away from their strong TV images. While Reiner stepped away from the camera and became a noted director, Sally continued to act. She made her Broadway debut in "Wally's Cafe" in 1981 and returned, four years later, with a gender-bending version of "The Odd Couple" as neat-freak "Florence" opposite Rita Moreno's slovenly "Olive". In addition, she found steady work in both topical and light-hearted 70's TV movies with Aloha Means Goodbye (1974), Hey, I'm Alive (1975), The Great Houdini (1976), My Husband Is Missing (1978), ...and Your Name Is Jonah (1979), A Gun in the House (1981), to name a few.
When offers began to dry up for Sally, she returned to the TV series fold in the early 1980s spinning off her "Gloria" character, sans Rob Reiner, with the self-titled sitcom, Gloria (1982). Without Reiner (the plot had the couple split and her focusing on raising son Joey), the ensemble formula that worked so well for her earlier was missing here and the show died in its freshman year. To compensate, however, Sally's baby-doll voice worked extremely well for her in cartoons. She remained active off-camera, providing little girl voices for Saturday morning entertainment, notably her teenage "Pebbles Flintstone" character.
In addition to Yo Yogi! (1991) and Tiny Toon Adventures (1990), other TVanimated voice-over work included TaleSpin (1990) as "Rebecca 'Becky' Cunningham" and, notably, puppeteer Jim Henson's creative prehistoric sitcom, Dinosaurs (1991), playing dino-daughter "Charlene Sinclair."
As she grew older, Sally continued delighting fans with broader shtick in plus-sized parts. She showed that she had lost none of the fun for which she was known, by providing hearty comedy relief when she joined the prime-time series Nine to Five (1982) and as a guest in "Charles in Charge," "Sister Kate" and "Murder, She Wrote."
The musical stage was another popular venue. Over the years, she has patented the by-the-book principal "Miss Lynch", with her many "Grease" tours, and as the scheming orphanage operator "Miss Hannigan" in a number of road productions of "Annie." She went on to cop a 2002 Los Angeles "Ovation" award for her delightfully over-the-top "Agnes Gooch" in "Mame", starring Carol Lawrence and in 2012, she performed in both "Always...Patsy Cline" as Louise Segar, and "9 to 5: The Musical" as nosy Roz Klein. In 2014, Struthers toured in the 50th anniversary production in the title role of "Hello, Dolly!"
Into the millennium, Sally has guested on such series as "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch" and "The Division," had recurring roles on Still Standing (2002) and Gilmore Girls (2000), and was seen in featured or cameo roles in such independent films as the drama A Month of Sundays (2001), the mystery thriller Reeseville (2003), the Mario Van Peebles biopic Baadasssss! (2003), the comedy Monster Heroes (2010), and the musical comedies Waiting in the Wings: The Musical (2014), Hollywood Musical! (2015), Still Waiting in the Wings (2018) and Christmas Harmony (2018).
Divorced, Sally is the mother of one daughter who has made a career for herself as a clinical psychologist.
For years, Sally was a prime spokesperson for the Christian Children's Fund on TV, fervently (and often tearfully) appealing for viewer's monetary assistance in finding an end to starvation in under-developed countries.- Actress
- Producer
Deidre Hall has emerged as one of America's most beloved actresses, who delighted her fans in August 1991, when she returned to NBC-TV's number one daytime program, Days of Our Lives (1965). Hall created the role of "Dr. Marlena Evans" in 1976, a character whose popularity has created a furor and a fan following, seldom seen on television. The favorable regard in which Hall is held has spanned all demographics and regions. She was named Best Television Role Model; won the prestigious America Women in Radio and Television (AWRT) award in 1994; garnered five Best Actress awards from Soap Opera Digest (1982-85,1995), and broke new ground for daytime stars when she guested on shows such as The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962), Night of 100 Stars II (1985) and 20/20 (1978), at the birth of her surrogate son. Recognizing her continuing appeal, in 1990, the Hallmark Co. chose Hall as celebrity spokesperson for a new card line called, "To Kids with Love". The following spring, Deidre became the sole spokesperson for Dexatrim. Deidre's elegant fashion statements have not gone unnoticed in the press. Twice naming her the "Best Dressed Woman", she was also named one of America's ten most beautiful women by TV Guide and Satellite Orbit. Hall has graced the covers of national and regional magazines such as People, Woman, Woman's Own, TV Guide, Woman's World, McCalls, Family Circle, Shape, Los Angeles Magazine, Beverly Hills (213), Orange Coast and First for Women.- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Mary Kay Place (born September 23, 1947) is an American actress, singer, director, and screenwriter. She is known for portraying Loretta Haggers on the television series Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, a role that won her the 1977 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress - Comedy Series. Her numerous film appearances include Private Benjamin (1980), The Big Chill (1983), Captain Ron (1992) and Francis Ford Coppola's 1997 drama The Rainmaker. Place also recorded three studio albums for Columbia Records, one in the Haggers persona, which included the Top Ten country music hit "Baby Boy." For her performance in Diane (2018), Place won the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress and the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Candy Clark was born on 20 June 1947 in Norman, Oklahoma, USA. She is an actress, known for American Graffiti (1973), The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976) and Blue Thunder (1983). She was previously married to Jeff Wald and Marjoe Gortner.- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Michael Gross was born in 1947 in Chicago, Illinois, to Virginia Ruth (Cahill), a telephone operator, and William Oscar Gross, a tool designer. He was involved with a gang for a couple of years during high school before becoming a better student. He went on to be senior class president. Received an M.F.A. from the Yale University School of Drama. Worked in theater before moving to New York to begin an acting career. This eventually led to his breakthrough role on the show Family Ties (1982).
He has moved on to several other projects since the show's end, including three of the In the Line of Duty movies, narrating audio books, and, probably most notably, playing the character Burt in the Tremors (1990) films.- Actress
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Meredith Baxter is an American actress from California, better known for television roles. Her most famous roles include Catholic teacher Bridget Fitzgerald in the sitcom "Bridget Loves Bernie" (1972-1973), divorced mother Nancy Lawrence in the family-themed drama "Family" (1976-1980), and architect Elyse Keaton in the sitcom "Family Ties" (1982-1989).
In 1947, Baxter was born in South Pasadena, California. South Pasadena is a small city in Los Angeles County, located within San Gabriel Valley. The larger city of Pasadena is located north of Baxter's hometown. Baxter was the daughter of radio announcer Tom Baxter (John Thomas Baxter, Jr.) and actress Whitney Blake (1926-2002). Baxter's maternal grandfather was Harry C. Whitney, an agent of the United States Secret Service. Harry Whitney had served as a bodyguard to President Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924, term 1913-1921).
In 1953, Baxter's parents divorced. Whitney Blake received custody of Baxter and her two older brothers. In 1957, Blake married talent agent Jack Fields. This marriage ended in divorce in 1967. In 1968, Blake married television writer Allan Manings (1924-2010). This marriage lasted until Blake's death in 2002. Baxter reportedly maintained a familial relationship with her second stepfather until his own death.
Baxter received part of her secondary education at James Monroe High School, located in the neighborhood of Sepulveda (later renamed to North Hills) in Los Angeles. She later transferred to Hollywood High School. She graduated in 1965. During her senior year, Baxter also received voice lessons at the Interlochen Center for the Arts. Interlochen was an arts education institution located in Michigan.
In 1966, Baxter married Robert Lewis Bush. At the time, she was only 19-years-old. They had two children, son Theodore Justin "Ted" Bush (born1967) and daughter Eva Whitney Bush (born 1969) . The couple separated in 1969, and their divorce was finalized in 1971.
Baxter aspired to an acting career, like her mother. She remained fairly obscure until the early 1970s. Her highest-profile work were guest-star roles in then-popular television series, such as "The Doris Day Show" and "The Partridge Family". Baxter received her big break when cast as the female lead in the sitcom "Bridget Loves Bernie" (1972-1973). The main premise was an interfaith marriage between Catholic teacher Bridget Fitzgerald and Jewish taxi driver Bernie Steinberg. The series was the 5th highest-rated show on television during its single season, though it was controversial due to its subject matter. Jewish organizations protested that the show violated Judaism's prohibition against interfaith marriage, and organized protest campaigns. Baxter herself received threatening house visits by members of the Jewish Defense League, a vigilante organization known for violent crimes. The controversy led to the series' cancellation by the network CBS. Only 24 episodes were ever broadcast. As of 2002, the series remained the highest-rated American show to be canceled after a single season.
Following the series' cancellation, Baxter maintained a relationship with her co-star David Birney (1939-). In 1974, Baxter and Birney married each other. Their marriage lasted until 1989. They had three children: daughter Kathleen Jeanne "Kate" Birney (born 1974) and twins Mollie Elizabeth and Peter David Edwin Birney (born 1984). Several years following the end of their marriage, Baxter claimed that she had been physically abused by Birney during their marriage. Her co-workers were reportedly unaware that she had a problematic family life, or that she had struggled with alcoholism for several years.
During the 1970s, Baxter started regularly appearing in television films. She had a starring role in the horror film "The Cat Creature" (1973), involving a curse by the cat goddess Bastet. The film was scripted by noted horror writer Robert Bloch (1917-1994), and paid tribute to classic horror films of the 1940s. She also had starring role in the romantic drama "The Stranger Who Looks Like Me" (1974), as a grown woman who is searching for the birth parents who had abandoned her.
Baxter had one of her few feature films roles in the political thriller "All the President's Men" (1976), which depicted the early phases of the Watergate scandal. She played the supporting role of Debbie Sloan, the pregnant wife of witness Hugh W. Sloan Jr. (1940-). The real-life Hugh Sloan was the treasurer of the Committee to Re-elect the President, and later testified about the Committee's criminal activities. Sloan was depicted as one of the few honest men involved in Richard Nixon's shady organization. The film earned about 70.6 million dollars at the domestic box office, one of the greatest commercial hits in Baxter's career.
Baxter had another shot at television stardom when cast as Nancy Lawrence in the family-themed drama "Family" (1976-1980). The series depicted a middle-aged couple who still lives with their three grown-up children. The character of Nancy was depicted as a divorced mother who moved back in with her parents. She was trying to raise her own child, while attending law school. Baxter's role was critically acclaimed, and she was twice nominated for the "Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series". The award was instead won by rival actresses Kristy McNichol (1962-) and Nancy Marchand (1928-2000).
"Family" lasted for 5 seasons, and 86 episodes. It maintained solid ratings for most of its run, though a change to its time slot had led to rapid decline in ratings. Afterwards, Baxter was again in high demand for television roles. In 1981, Baxter co-starred in a television production of the play "Vanities" (1976) by Jack Heifner. The play follows the life of three best friends over an 11-year-period (1963-1974), from their high school and college years to adulthood. The friendship dissolves when the women discover that they no longer have any common interests. Joanne has become a conservative housewife and is trapped in an unhappy marriage, Mary owns a gallery specializing in erotic art and has become an advocate of sexual liberation, and Kathy has become a bookworm with a jaded view of life.
Baxter gained her next major role as successful architect Elyse Keaton in the hit "Family Ties" (1982-1989). The main premise of the series was an exploration of the generation gap, between two generations with different political views. The parents of the Keaton family were former hippies, lifelong liberals, and successful professionals. Their only son Alex was a Young Republican who was mainly driven by his own greed and ambition, their eldest daughter Mallory was a typical "material girl" with apolitical views, and their youngest daughter Jennifer was a tomboy mainly interested in athletics,.
"Family Ties" maintained high-ratings for most of its run, though it was not particularly well-liked by critics. The series lasted for 7 seasons, a total of 176 episodes, and a television film. It was considered indicative of the conservative political landscape of the 1980s. Its main legacy was turning actor Michael J. Fox (who played Alex) into a household name. Baxter was at the height of her popularity in the 1980s. However, she later claimed that she had no actual social life for its duration. She went straight from home to the television studio, and from the studio back to home.
In 1986, Baxter played the main role in the television film "Kate's Secret". It was acclaimed for its groundbreaking depiction of eating disorders. The main character Kate Stark (played by Baxter) appears to have an idyllic life. She is married to a man with a successful career, appears to have a loving family, and a close social circle. The truth depicted is less than idyllic. Kate's husband prioritizes his career over their marriage, and there is little actual affection in their relationship. Kate's "loving" mother is a domineering woman who criticizes her daughter for many perceived flaws. Kate's friends have no idea that she is suffering from bulimia nervosa, and Kate systematically hides her problems from everyone. The problems escalate until they become apparent to people surrounding Kate.
In 1989, Baxter received a divorce. At the time, she was 42-years-old. In 1990, the then-recently divorced Baxter managed to overcome her alcoholism. She has reportedly been sober ever since. Also in 1990, Baxter played kidnapper Florence Tulane in the television film "The Kissing Place". She was playing against type, as she had previously mostly played morally upright characters in television.
In 1992, Baxter had another well-received role in a television film. She played the main character in "A Woman Scorned: The Betty Broderick Story". The film dramatized the life of Betty Broderick (1947-), a divorced woman who had murdered her ex-husband Daniel T. Broderick III and his second wife Linda Kolkena. The case had attracted much publicity because Daniel Broderick was the president of the San Diego Bar Association, and had apparently used his legal influence to to win sole custody over their children, to sell their house against Betty's wishes, and to bilk Betty out of her rightful share of his income. For this role, Baxter was nominated for the "Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie". The award was instead won by rival actress Gena Rowlands (1930-).
In 1994, Baxter received an award by the "National Breast Cancer Coalition". Baxter had reportedly helped raise awareness of breast cancer and its effects through her then-recent work. In 1999, Baxter herself was diagnosed with breast cancer. She received medical treatment, and she is thought to have fully recovered.
In 1995, Baxter married the novelist (and screenwriter) Michael Blodgett (1939-2007). This was Baxter's third marriage and Blodgett's fourth and last marriage. Baxter became the stepmother of Blodgett's three daughters from previous marriages. The couple received a divorce in 2000. A few years later, Blodgett died due to heart disease.
In 1996, Baxter starred in the short-lived sitcom "The Faculty". The series was set in a typical middle school, with Baxter playing vice-principal Flynn Sullivan. Flynn was depicted as a single mother who was trying to balance her career and her family life. While the series was praised for its dignified main character, most critics found that the show lacked memorable supporting characters and was not particularly humorous in its depiction of school life. The series never had high ratings, and was canceled after a single season. Only 13 episodes were broadcast.
In 1997, Baxter guest-starred in a two-part episode of the politically-themed sitcom "Spin City" (1996-2002). She played Macy Flaherty, the mother of protagonist Mike Flaherty (played by Michael J. Fox) Mike was depicted as the deputy mayor of New York City, skilled in politics but inept in managing his personal life. In this two-part episode, Macy has a brief romantic relationship with mayor Randall Winston (played by Barry Bostwick) , Mike's boss. She is then asked to help cover-up Randall's past relationship with a prostitute, which is thought to be damaging to his political career. The episodes were thought to be memorable for reuniting Baxter with her former co-star Michael J. Fox.
In the early 2000s, Baxter had been reduced to playing one-shot characters in various television series. In 2006, Baxter joined the cast of the police procedural series "Cold Case" (2003-2010). She played the supporting character Ellen Rush, mother of the protagonist Lilly Rush (played by Kathryn Morris). Lilly was depicted as a homicide detective, who specialized in resolving decades-old cold cases. Ellen was depicted as an alcoholic single mother, who had managed to raise two daughters despite her personal problems. In seasons 3 and 4 of the series, Ellen was slowly dying from cirrhosis of the liver and Lilly had to take care of her. The storyline of the character was concluded with Ellen's death, and Baxter left the series in 2007.
In 2009, Baxter publicly came out as a lesbian. She had been dating general contractor Nancy Locke since 2005. Baxter married Locke in 2013, and their marriage is still ongoing (as of 2021). This is Baxter's fourth and (so far) last marriage. Baxter revealed that she had been dating women since 2002, having previously had no same-sex relationships.
In 2011, Baxter published her memoir "Untied", revealing previously unknown details about her personal and family life. Some of the details came as a surprise to longtime co-workers of Baxter, as she had never confided in them about her personal problems. Baxter's former husband David Birney publicly disputed the veracity of the book's narrative. The book became a New York Times bestseller.
In 2014, Baxter briefly joined the cast of the long-running soap opera "The Young and the Restless" (1973-). She played Maureen Russell, a new drinking buddy for prominent character Nikki Newman (played by Melody Thomas Scott). Maureen was described as a charming middle-class woman with social-climbing aspirations. This was the first recurring television role Baxter since departing "Cold Case". For this role, Baxter was nominated for the "Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Performer in a Drama Series". The award was instead won in a tie by three rival actors: Donna Mills (1940-), Fred Willard ( 1933-2020), and Ray Wise (1947-).
From 2014 to 2015, Baxter had a recurring role in the short-lived teen drama "Finding Carter" (2014-2015). The premise of the series was that teenage girl Carter Stevens (played by Kathryn Prescott) reunites with her biological family, after years of being raised by a kidnapper. Carter has trouble acclimating to her new life. Baxter played Grandma Joan (nicknamed Gammy), Carter's wealthy grandmother. The main subplot involving Joan was that she had never accepted her daughter's marriage to a professional writer with no fixed income. The series lasted for 2 seasons, and a total of 36 episodes. So far, this has been Baxter's last recurring role in television.
As of 2021, Baxter is 74-years-old. She has never fully retired from acting, though she infrequently appears in new roles. Several of her past roles are still fondly remembered. Baxter has never won any major acting award, despite multiple nominations over several decades. But she has remained quite popular with the general public.- Actor
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Dwight Schultz is an American actor who is known for playing Howling Mad Murdock from The A-Team and Reginald Barclay from Star Trek: The Next Generation. He is also known for his voice work as Mung Daal from Chowder, Professor Pyg from Batman: Arkham Knight, Vulture from Spider-Man video games, Dr. Animo from Ben 10 and Eddie the Squirrel from CatDog. He is married to Wendy Fulton and has a daughter.- Actor
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Although he was born in Glasgow he was moved to Crieff when 3 which was where his father had a jewelers shop. At 17 he failed to get into The Royal Academy of Music and Drama so got a job selling carpets for a while until he succeeded in getting into the Academy on his 2nd application and where he stayed for 3 years, His big break came in the play Pal Joey and he shot to fame in The Justice Game and the film Local Hero. He eventually left his common law wife for Sheila Gish.- Jeffrey DeMunn was born on April 25, 1947 in Buffalo, New York. He studied in England at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, then returned to America and was a member of the National Shakespeare Company. He has starred in many theatre productions, both on and off Broadway, including "K2" (for which he received a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor), "Spoils of War" and "Comedians".
He is known as a favorite of director Frank Darabont, who has cast him in all four of his films: "The Shawshank Redemption" (1994), "The Green Mile" (1999), "The Majestic" (2001) and "The Mist" (2007).
He has appeared in such films as "The Blob" (1988), "The X-Files: Fight the Future" (1998), "Hollywoodland" (2006), "Burn After Reading" (2008) and such television shows as "Hill Street Blues" (1981), "Kojak: The Price of Justice" (1987), "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (1999) and "The Walking Dead" (2010-2012), the latter developed by Frank Darabont and based on the eponymous comic book series created by Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore. - Actress
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Karen Valentine was born on a chicken farm in northern California and made her professional debut, at the age of 16, on The Ed Sullivan Show (1948) (aka "The Ed Sullivan Show"). After performing as a contestant on a live national broadcast of "The Miss Teenage America Pageant", Ed Sullivan phoned during the ceremonies and invited her to appear on his iconic variety show the following week. She has since starred in countless productions on stage and screen, including the acclaimed series, Room 222 (1969) as student teacher Alice Johnson, for which she received an Emmy Award. She was a regular panelist on the popular game show The Hollywood Squares (Daytime) (1965), exchanging quips with Paul Lynde, George Gobel and host Peter Marshall. Over the years she has starred in many made-for-television movies, series episodes and variety specials, as well as several feature films. She has been a fixture on TV talk shows and guest-hosted for Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962). Across the country, Ms. Valentine has appeared in many stage productions, on Broadway and off, as well as touring with national companies.- Actress
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Cindy Williams was born Cynthia Jane Williams in Van Nuys, California on August 22, 1947. The Leo was 5'4" and, during her first years on Laverne & Shirley (1976), weighed a dainty 105 lbs. The brown haired, blue-eyed female was born the daughter of Francesca Bellini and Beachard Williams. Her father was an electronic technician, and Cindy grew up in reduced circumstances. She had one sister, Carol Ann Williams, and an older half-brother, Jim from her mother's first marriage.
As a child, she dreamed of being an actress. She used to create and perform her own plays and, as she grew, she wished that one day, Debbie Reynolds would see her in one of those amateur shows and whisk her away and put her in a film. Another thing that brought show business into her life was her alcoholic father's imitations of comics like Jackie Gleason and Milton Berle. She worked as a waitress, while she auditioned for commercials, television guest spots, and feature films. Her first step to fame was a movie in which she tap danced with Gene Kelly. She stepped on Kelly's foot, leaving her "really embarrassed". She landed important film roles early in her career.
Famed director George Cukor cast her in Travels with My Aunt (1972). Her next big role was for George Lucas in American Graffiti (1973), as Ron Howard's girlfriend, for which she earned a BAFTA nomination as Best Supporting Actress. That led to Francis Ford Coppola casting her in The Conversation (1974). The three instant-classic films should have propelled her into movie stardom, but her career inexplicably hit a lull. She couldn't go back to working as a waitress, because she was too well-known.
She was set up in a writing team with Penny Marshall and the girls were called by Penny's brother, Garry Marshall, to do a stint as two fast girls on Happy Days (1974). The public received them so warmly that Cindy and Penny soon got their own show and was referred to everywhere as "Shirley Feeney".
She earned a Golden Globe nomination as Best Actress in 1978. She left the show in 1982, pregnant with daughter Emily. She was married to Bill Hudson, who had previously been married to actress Goldie Hawn. Williams later gave birth to a son, Zachary, in 1986. She went on to make a few movies and co-produced "The Father Of The Bride" movies with Hudson. They divorced in 2000.
She did Jenny Craig commercials and acted on guest spots on the TV show For Your Love (1998) and reunited with Penny Marshall several times on television. In 2015, her memoir, Shirley, I Jest! (co-written with Dave Smitherman), was published.
Cindy Williams died, aged 75, following a brief, undisclosed illness, in 2023.- Actor
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Joe Morton was born on October 18, 1947 in New York, New York, USA. He is a television, film, and theater actor, best known for The Brother from Another Planet (1984), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), Eureka (2006), and Scandal (2012). He also writes and directs, and is a singer/songwriter.- Actress
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Stephanie Beacham is without a doubt one of Britain's most talented, beautiful and well-known actresses. Despite becoming world famous and an icon of the 1980s due to her role as Sable Colby in the American soap operas Dynasty (1981) and The Colbys (1985) and going on to have starring roles in shows such as Sister Kate (1989), SeaQuest 2032 (1993), Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990) and Bad Girls (1999), Stephanie Beacham had already carved a solid acting career back in her home country. Born in Hertfordshire in southern England, one of the four children of an insurance executive and a housewife, Beacham began an interest in acting at a young age and studied mime at the respected and renowned school of Étienne Decroux in Paris before completing her studies at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London. Guest roles on British television followed in the late 1960s such as The Saint (1962) and UFO (1970), however Beacham's breakthrough was her starring role opposite Marlon Brando in the cult horror film The Nightcomers (1971) that brought her critical acclaim and widespread attention. She became a regular staple in British horror films for the remainder of the 1970s and early 1980s such as Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972), The Confessional (1976), Schizo (1976) and Inseminoid (1981), however she was still a commonly seen face on television, such as being given her own soap opera in Marked Personal (1973) as well as regular modelling work. It was in the 1980s however that Beacham's career became supercharged. She had starring roles in the acclaimed television series Tenko (1981) and Connie (1985), the latter gaining particular interest in the US. Beacham moved to Hollywood in the mid-1980s and was given the role of Sable Colby in the ABC soap opera The Colbys (1985), and then joined it's parent show Dynasty (1981) where she remained until the show's cancellation. Both shows made Beacham a household name on both sides of the Atlantic as the glamour-puss wife of Charlton Heston's character Jason and cousin of Joan Collins' Alexis, with the two regularly involved in a 'battle of the bitches' scenario. Following the cancellation of Dynasty, Beacham headlined the sitcom Sister Kate (1989) for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award, before going on to have main roles in Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990) as Iris McKay, Steven Spielberg's SeaQuest 2032 (1993) as Dr. Kristen Westphalen and Countess Bartholomew in Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) as well as film roles opposite Christopher Plummer in Secrets (1992) and Anthony Hopkins in To Be the Best (1991). Beacham maintained a regular presence on television and in theatre both in the US and the UK for the remainder of the 1990s until she played Phyllida Oswyn in the prison series Bad Girls (1999), a role she would play until the show's end in 2006. She would later have parts in films such as Love and Other Disasters (2006), Moving Target (2011) and Wild Oats (2016) and played Martha Fraser in Coronation Street (1960).- Lee Meredith was born on 22 October 1947 in River Edge, New Jersey, USA. She is an actress, known for The Producers (1967), Great Performances (1971) and The Sunshine Boys (1975). She has been married to Bert Stratford since 1969. They have two children.
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Peter Riegert was born on 11 April 1947 in New York City, New York, USA. He is an actor and director, known for The Mask (1994), National Lampoon's Animal House (1978) and Local Hero (1983).- Actress
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Jane Therese Curtin was born September 6th, 1947. Years later, a 27-year-old Jane auditioned for a comedy variety show. which turned out to be the the thing that would first expose her to fame, Saturday Night Live (1975). Jane won the audition against Mimi Kennedy, a tough competitor. Also in the same year (1975), she married Patrick Lynch.
After her five-year run on SNL, Jane moved on, having a daughter named Tess in-between a new show with Susan Saint James titled Kate & Allie (1984), which was about two divorced women living in one house with their children. After Kate & Allie (1984) and several film roles, including Coneheads (1993), came 3rd Rock from the Sun (1996), a show about aliens living in Ohio and adjusting to Earth. In 2001, 3rd Rock ended production, and Jane eventually brought her talents to Broadway. She lives with her husband and daughter.- Actress
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Cindy Pickett was born on 18 April 1947 in Sand Springs, Oklahoma, USA. She is an actress, known for Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986), Son in Law (1993) and DeepStar Six (1989). She was previously married to Lyman Ward.- Actor
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Dennis Stewart was born on 29 July 1947 in Los Angeles County, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Grease (1978), Grease 2 (1982) and Moonlighting (1985). He died on 20 April 1994 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Music Artist
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Meat Loaf was born Marvin Lee Aday in Dallas, Texas, to Wilma Artie (Hukel), a teacher and gospel singer, and Orvis Wesley Aday, a police officer. He moved to Los Angeles in 1967 to play in local bands. In 1970, he moved to New York and appeared in the Broadway musicals "Hair", "Rockabye Hamlet" and "The Rocky Horror Show," and Off Broadway in "Rainbow", "More Than You Deserve", "National Lampoon Show" and the New York Shakespeare Festival's production of "As You Like it;" as well as other productions at the famed New York Public Theatre. He made his film debut with a memorable role in the cult film The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975).
In 1977, he and lyricist Jim Steinman released an operatic rock album called "Bat Out Of Hell"; the record was huge and has sold 50,000,000 copies worldwide and is tied with AC/DC for the 2nd best selling record of all time. The tour and promoting the album took a toll on Meat Loaf's voice and left him unable to sing for 2 years, but with months of rehabilitation, he was able to get back in the studio and record the album "Dead Ringer". Meat Loaf stayed in the dark through the 1980s in the US, recording 4 records which got very little airplay or high chart positions in the US but continued to have major chart success in Europe and Australia. The 1981 Single "Dead Ringer for Love", a duet with Cher, was a top 10 single in many countries outside the US, but which American radio refused to play.
Meat Loaf had many film and TV roles, including the lead character Travis Redfish in Roadie (1980); a pilot in Out of Bounds (1986); in The Squeeze (1987) with Michael Keaton; and Fred in Focus (2001) (based on the Arthur Miller book by the same name), with Laura Dern and William H. Macy. When Meat Loaf and Steinman got back together in 1993, they delivered a powerful sequel, "Bat Out Of Hell II", which went to #1 in the US and UK and 26 other countries. Bat II sold over 22,000,000 copies.
He appeared in many films, including Crazy in Alabama (1999), Formula 51 (2001) (with Samuel L. Jackson), and Fight Club (1999) (with Brad Pitt). TV credits included guest starring roles as a soldier being held prisoner in Vietnam in Lightning Force (1991), a newspaper reporter in the hit series Glee (2009), a slick landlord of a restaurant who ends up on the menu in HBO series Tales from the Crypt (1989) a blacksmith on Showtime's Dead Man's Gun (1997), as fur trader Jake in Masters of Horror (2005) episode Pelts (2006), in House (2004) as caring husband Eddie, and, most recently, in the supporting role of Doug in the SYFY series Ghost Wars (2017). Hugh Laurie (star of "House") played piano on the song "If I Can't Have You" on Meat Loaf's album "Hang Cool Teddy Bear", which was produced by award-winning music producer Rob Cavallo. (Jack Black also sang on the album.)
Marvin Lee Aday died on January 20, 2022 in Austin, Texas from COVID-19 complications.- Actress
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Lois Chiles is a former supermodel-turned-actress who gave elegant performances in a variety of films throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Her motion picture debut role was as Robert Redford's sexual endeavor in the old-fashioned Hollywood melodrama, The Way We Were (1973). Shortly after, she starred opposite Clifton Davis in the indie blaxploitation film, Together for Days (1972); they portrayed a mixed-race couple enduring societal disapproval and political pandemonium. She also appeared as the irreverent socialite Jordan Baker in The Great Gatsby (1974), in which she starred alongside Mia Farrow and, again, Robert Redford.
Chiles delivered a series of pivotal characters particularly as a woman who mysteriously falls into a state of unconsciousness after entering the hospital for an early term abortion in Coma (1978), and as an impudent heiress and murder victim in the center of Death on the Nile (1978).
Chiles' most recognized role is the sophisticated NASA astronaut, scientist, and "Bond girl", Dr. Holly Goodhead opposite Roger Moore's James Bond in Moonraker (1979). It is worth noting that Goodhead was different than any previous "Bond girl", in that she was dignified and not so much sexualized. Sadly, that same year, just as Chiles' career was at its height, she lost her youngest brother to non-Hodgkin's lymphoma which resulted in her three-year hiatus from acting. Her career never fully recovered and she struggled to find roles that necessitated her individuality but she persevered and received positive reviews for her continued performances in film and television, particularly in Sweet Liberty (1986), Broadcast News (1987), Creepshow 2 (1987), Diary of a Hitman (1991) and Curdled (1996).
In recent years, she's appeared in a few television sitcoms, participated in interviews recalling her experience as a "Bond girl", and taught an acting class at the University of Houston.- Actor
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Tracey Walter was born on 25 November 1947 in Jersey City, New Jersey, USA. He is an actor, known for Repo Man (1984), Batman (1989) and Conan the Destroyer (1984).- Actress
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Dorothy Lyman was born on 18 April 1947 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. She is an actress and director, known for Blow (2001), All My Children (1970) and Mama's Family (1983). She was previously married to Vincent Malle and John Tillinger.- Actress
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She originally came to musical fans when Bette Midler's version of Amanda's song "The Rose" hit number one all over the world in 1979. In addition to Midler, her songs have been recorded by a wide variety of artists including Amy Poehler and Jack Black, Barry Manilow, Judy Collins, Barbara Cook, LeAnn Rimes, Anne Murray, Harry Belafonte, Betty Buckley, Stephanie Mills, The Manhattan Transfer, Donny Osmond, Kurt Cobain, Nana Mouskouri, Conway Twitty, the Chipmunks and the Baby Dinosaurs in "The Land Before Time". She wrote all the songs for sixteen of Universal's animated films with longtime collaborator Michele Brourman). Her performance of "The Rose" on the Golden Globes (she won!) convinced audiences worldwide that the best interpretations of McBroom songs are by McBroom herself and applaud her in concert halls around the world from, Carnegie Hall to Angel Place Recital Hall in Sydney, Australia. Her love of musical theater (she starred in the New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and European productions of Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, on Broadway in Seesaw, and in productions of Sweeney Todd, A Little Night Music and Mame) compelled her to create a musical based on her songs. Heartbeats made its debut in 1989 in Los Angeles, and the play has enjoyed more than 15 regional theater productions around the U.S. The original cast recording was released in 1994 on Varese Sarabande Records, and is represented by the Rogers and Hammerstein Music Library. Amanda's latest musical, A Woman of Will, made its off-Broadway debut in 2005. She recently celebrated the release of VOICES, her sixth recording on Gecko, the label she established in 1985. Other Gecko recordings include Dreaming, Midnight Matinee, A Waiting Heart, Portraits, and Chanson. In addition, she has recorded: Live From Rainbow and Stars (DRG), Heartbeats (Varese Sarabande), and A Woman of Will (LML Music). Her first two groundbreaking vinyl recordings, Growing Up In Hollywood Town and West of OZ, were recorded direct to disc for Sheffield Labs and made McBroom an audiophile darling.- Actor
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Ben Cross was born Harry Bernard Cross on December 16, 1947, in London, England. He was the son of Catherine (O'Donovan), a cleaning woman, from Keelraheen, Dunmanway, Ireland, and Harry Cross, an English doorman and nurse. He began acting at a very young age and participated in grammar school plays -- most notably playing "Jesus" in a school pageant at age twelve.
Ben left home and school at age 15 and worked various jobs, including work as a window washer, waiter and carpenter. He was master carpenter for the Welsh National Opera and property master at the Alexandra Theatre in Birmingham, England. Driven by his desire to be an actor, Ben accepted and overcame the enormous challenges and obstacles that came with the profession. In 1970, at age 22, he was accepted into London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) -- the alma mater of legendary actors such as Sir John Gielgud, Glenda Jackson and Sir Anthony Hopkins.
Upon graduation from RADA, Ben performed in several stage plays at Duke's Playhouse where he was seen in "Macbeth", "The Importance of Being Earnest", and Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman". He then joined the Prospect Theatre Company and played roles in "Pericles", "Twelfth Night" and "Royal Hunt of the Sun". Ben also joined the cast in the immensely popular musical "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" and played leading roles in Peter Shaffer's "Equurs", "Mind Your Head" and the musical "Irma La Douce" -- all at Leicester's Haymarket Theatre.
In 1976, Ben's debut screen appearance came when he went on location to Deventer, Holland, to play Trooper Binns in Joseph E. Levine's World War II epic A Bridge Too Far (1977), which starred a very famous international cast -- namely Dirk Bogarde, Sir Sean Connery, Sir Michael Caine and James Caan. In 1977, Ben became a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company and performed in the premier of "Privates on Parade" as Kevin Cartwright and played Rover in a revival of a Restoration play titled "Wild Oats".
Ben's path to international stardom began in 1978 with his extraordinary performance in the musical "Chicago" in which he played Billy Flynn, the slick lawyer of murderess Roxie Hart. During his performance in this musical, he was recognized and recommended for a leading role in the multiple Oscar-winning Chariots of Fire (1981). The major success of Chariots of Fire (1981) opened the doors to the international film market. Ben followed up Chariots of Fire (1981) with strong and successful performances, most notably in the Masterpiece Theatre miniseries The Citadel (1983), in which he played a Scottish physician, Dr. Andrew Manson, struggling with the politics of the British medical system during the 1920s, and his performance as Ash Pelham-Martyn, a British cavalry officer torn between two cultures in the Home Box Office miniseries The Far Pavilions (1984). During the 1984 Summer Olympic Games, Ben appeared in a commercial for American Express with Jackson Scholz, a sprinter for the 1924 American Olympic team whose character was featured in the film Chariots of Fire (1981). In 1986, he subsequently replaced James Garner as the featured actor endorsing the Polaroid Spectra camera. Ben was also featured in GQ Magazine as one of the annual "Manstyle" winners in January 1985, followed by a featured photo shoot in March 1985.
Having stuck by his desire to choose quality roles over monetary potential, Ben enjoyed long-term success in the film industry, for over 40 years. He played several outstanding roles including his portrayal of Solomon, one of the most fascinatingly complex characters of the Bible, in the Trimark Pictures production Solomon (1997). Other outstanding roles included his Barnabus in the MGM remake of the miniseries Dark Shadows (1991); Sir Harold Pearson in the Italian production Honey Sweet Love... (1994); Ikey Solomon in the Australian production The Potato Factory (2000); and his role as Rudolf Hess in the BBC production Nuremberg: Nazis on Trial (2006).
Ben was a director, writer and musician, as well. Among many of his original works is the musical "Rage" about Ruth Ellis, which was performed in various regional towns in the London area. He also starred in it and played the role of the hangman. Ben's first single as a lyricist was released by Polydor Records in the late 1970s and was titled "Mickey Moonshine". Other works include "The Best We've Ever Had" and "Nearly Midnight", both written by Ben and directed by his son, Theo Cross. In addition, the original soundtrack for "Nearly Midnight" was written, produced and performed by his daughter, Lauren Cross. These works were performed in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 2002 and 2003, respectively. "Square One", directed by Ben, was performed at the Etcetera Theatre in London in 2004.
Ben resided all over the world, including London, Los Angeles, New York, Southern Spain, Vienna and Sofia. He was familiar with the Spanish, Italian and German languages and enrolled in a course studying Bulgarian. When he was not filming, he wrote music, screenplays and articles for English language publications. Ben Cross died at age 72 of cancer on August 18, 2020 in Vienna, Austria.- Actor
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Actor Robert Hays was an Air Force Brat and attended Izmir American School in Izmir, Turkey during the Seventh Grade. He graduated in 1965 from Bellevue High School, Bellevue, Nebraska where his father was stationed at Offutt AFB. He began his career in theatre, performing in plays like Richard III and The Glass Menagerie at the famous Old Globe Theatre in San Diego. After spending several years in the theatre, he moved to Hollywood to pursue his career in film and television.
He first appeared on television in series such as Marcus Welby, M.D. (1969), Wonder Woman (1975), Laverne & Shirley (1976) and Angie (1979). He made his feature-film debut in the landmark comedy Airplane! (1980), starring as Ted Striker, the traumatized former pilot who must land the plane when the flight crew gets struck by food poisoning. He later reprised his role as Ted Striker in Airplane II: The Sequel (1982).
After the massive success of Airplane!, Hays went on to star in many feature films including Take This Job and Shove It (1981), Trenchcoat (1983), Cat's Eye (1985), Fifty/Fifty (1992), Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (1993), Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco (1996), Robert Altman's Dr. T & the Women (2000) and Alex in Wonder (2001), which he also produced. He starred in over 20 made-for-TV movies like NBC's Mister Roberts (1984), CBS' Murder by the Book (1987), and Lifetime's The Abduction (1996). He also had a surprise appearance in Sharknado 2: The Second One (2014). Hays also had numerous guest appearances on various television shows including Touched by an Angel (1994), Promised Land (1996) and That '70s Show (1998), and he starred in the series Starman (1986), FM (1989), Cutters (1993) and Kelly Kelly (1998).- Writer
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Born in 1947 in Chicago, he was educated at Goddard College, in Vermont, and studied drama at New York's Neighborhood Playhouse, before returning to Chicago and establishing the St Nicholas Theatre Company in 1972. He remained their resident writer for four years. The first of his plays to secure international recognition was 'Sexual Perversity in Chicago' (1974) and 'American Buffalo' (1975). The latter was eventually performed by Al Pacino on Broadway and London's West End earning him an 'Award Obie' when it transferred from Chicago to New York. His play 'Glengarry Glen Ross' won the Pulitzer Prize and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play. His other plays include 'A Life in the Theatre' (1977). 'Edmond' (1982). 'The Shawl' (1985) and 'Speed the Plow' (1988). The rejection of his screen adaption of 'Sexual Perversity in Chicago' was completely rewritten and released as 'About Last Night in 1986. He soon attracted wide acclaim as a screenwriter when his version of 'The Postman Always Rings Twice' (1981) was made by Bob Rafelson and his original screenplay for 'The Verdict (1982) was nominated for an Oscar. Subsequent screenplays include 'The Untouchables' (1987), 'We're No Angels' (1990), 'Glengarry Glen Ross' (1992). He then wrote and directed 'House of Games' (1987), 'Things Change' (1988) and 'Homicide' (1991). He's also published two collections of essays 'Writing in Restaurants' (1986) and Some Freaks' (1989). In 1987, he conducted a series of classes at Columbia University Film School which were put into print as 'On Directing Film' (1992).- Actor
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New York City-bred actor Glynn Russell Turman, born on January 31, 1947, who enjoyed his first taste of success as a young teenager, originating the role of "Travis Younger" on Broadway in Lorraine Hansberry's landmark play "A Raisin in the Sun" in 1959 opposite Sidney Poitier, Ruby Dee, Claudia McNeil and Diana Sands as his various family members. While he did not play the role when it transferred to film in 1961, he intensified his studies at Manhattan's renowned High School of Performing Arts.
Upon graduation, Glynn apprenticed in regional companies throughout the country including Tyrone Guthrie's Repertory Theatre in which he performed in late 60s productions of "Good Boys," "Harper's Ferry," "The Visit" and "The House of Atreus." He made his Los Angeles stage debut in Vinnette Carroll's "Slow Dance on the Killing Ground" and earned TV marks for appearances in "Daktari," "Julia," "Room 222," a featured part in the TV movie Carter's Army (1970), and a regular role on the prime-time soap opera Peyton Place (1964). An impressive 1974 performance in "The Wine Sellers" earned him a Los Angeles Critics Award nomination and a Dramalogue Award. The play was entitled "What The Wine Sellers Buy" when he played it earlier on Broadway. He won his first NAACP Image Award for his work in the play "Eyes of the American."
A writer and stage director as well, Glynn received his second NAACP Image award for his directing of "Deadwood Dick" at the Inner City Cultural Center. He segued these directing talents to TV where he helmed several episodes of "The Parenthood," "Hanging with Mr. Cooper" and "The Wayans Bros," among others. He also directed during his seasons of steady employment on A Different World (1987), in which he played the role of Colonel Taylor for five seasons (1988-1993). The show's theme song was sung by his late ex-wife, legendary "Queen of Soul" artist Aretha Franklin. They divorced in 1984 after six years.
Glynn began his film career in the 1970s with such "blaxploitation" flicks as Honky (1971), Five on the Black Hand Side (1973), Together Brothers (1974) and Thomasine & Bushrod (1974), then advanced to the cult classic Cooley High (1975), plus The River Niger (1976) and A Hero Ain't Nothin' But a Sandwich (1977). TV-movies included the prestigious Centennial (1978), Attica (1980) and Minstrel Man (1977), for which he won his third NAACP Image Award, Race to Freedom: The Underground Railroad (1994), Buffalo Soldiers (1997) and Freedom Song (2000). In the midst of these early movie roles, he was once considered to play "Han Solo" in the original "Star Wars" film.
A regular fixture on the smaller screen, Glynn appeared in a host of guest appearances during this time included "The Mod Squad," "The Rookies," "The Blue Knight," "The Paper Chase," "The Greatest American Hero," "Fame," "T.J. Hooker," "Hail to the Chief," "The Redd Foxx Show," "Matlock," "Murder, She Wrote" and "Touched by an Angel."
The actor has also participated in such mainstream, audience-favorite, adrenalin-packed movies as Gremlins (1984), Out of Bounds (1986), Deep Cover (1992), How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998), Subterfuge (1996), Sahara (2005), Burlesque (2010), Super 8 (2011) and Bumblebee (2018) along with the more critically acclaimed films Kings of the Evening (2008), Race (2016) and Windows on the World (2019) have also come across his path. Adept at professional roles, Glynn has enjoyed recurring roles into the millennium on such TV series as The Wire (2002) (as a mayor); Episode #1.422 (as a judge); and Mr. Mercedes (2017) (as another judge).
Glynn has returned from time to time to the theatre (2013, "Joe Turner's Come and Gone"). The father of four children from his first and present third marriages (between singer Franklin).- Actor
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Alan Dale was born on 6 May 1947 in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand. He is an actor, known for Priest (2011), Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008). He has been married to Tracey Dale since 8 April 1990. They have two children. He was previously married to Claire.- Actor
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Sam Anderson was born on 2 April 1947 in South Dakota, USA. He is an actor, known for Forrest Gump (1994), Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992) and Water for Elephants (2011). He has been married to Barbara Ann Hancock since 17 August 1985. They have two children.- Brunette Laurie Walters was born on January 8, 1947 in San Francisco, California. Laurie enrolled in Humboldt State College and originally planned on majoring in wildlife conservation. Walters switched to theater and briefly attended UC Santa Barbara. She then moved to Berkeley, California and helped form the Berkeley Repertory Theater. Laurie got her equity card at the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival. Walters first began acting in films and TV shows in the early 70s. She was especially likable and memorable as the shy, awkward, and virginal Sheila Grove in "The Harrad Experiment" and "The Harrad Summer." Laurie was also solid and sympathetic as spunky college student Jenny Macallister in the spooky horror outing "Warlock Moon." Walters achieved her greatest enduring popularity as endearing screwball Joannie Bradford on the hit sitcom "Eight Is Enough." Following the cancellation of "Eight Is Enough" Laurie continued to act on episodic television and in a couple of "Eight Is Enough" reunion TV specials. Moreover, she toured in dinner theater and acted in theater productions of such plays as "Richard III" and "Playboy of the Western World." Walters quit acting in the late 90s and became a dedicated environmentalist (she coordinated the volunteer program for the Los Angeles organization Tree People). More recently Laurie has resumed acting on stage in the southern California area as well as directed theater productions in Ojai, California under her married name of Laurie Walters Slade.
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Dan Lauria was born on 12 April 1947 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He is an actor and director, known for The Spirit (2008), The Wonder Years (1988) and Stakeout (1987). He was previously married to Eileen Cregg.- Music Department
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Alan Thicke was born on 1 March 1947 in Kirkland Lake, Ontario, Canada. He was an actor and writer, known for Growing Pains (1985), Raising Helen (2004) and The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard (2009). He was married to Tanya Callau, Gina Marie Tolleson and Gloria Loring. He died on 13 December 2016 in Burbank, California, USA.- Actor
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Takeshi Kitano originally studied to become an engineer, but was thrown out of school for rebellious behavior. He learned comedy, singing and dancing from famed comedian Senzaburô Fukami. Working as a lift boy on a nightclub with such features as comic sketches and striptease dancing, Kitano saw his chance when a comedian suddenly fell ill, and he went on stage in the man's place. With a friend he formed the comic duo "The Two Beat" (his artist's name, "Beat Takeshi", comes from this period), which became very popular on Japanese television.
Kitano soon embarked on an acting career, and when the director of Violent Cop (1989) (aka "Violent Cop") fell ill, he took over that function as well. Immediately after that film was finished he set out to make a second gangster movie, Boiling Point (1990). Just after finishing Getting Any? (1994), Kitano was involved in a serious motorcycle accident that almost killed him. It changed his way of life, and he became an active painter. This change can be seen in his later films, which are characterized by his giving more importance to the aesthetics of the film, such as in Fireworks (1997) and Kikujiro (1999).- Actress
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Tall (5' 9"), svelte, adventurous young actress Linda Thorson, invariably known as the brunette dish who replaced Diana Rigg on the highly popular action series The Avengers (1961), was born Linda Robinson on June 18, 1947 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The second of four children of a math and physics teacher, she made a move to England in 1965 and initially studied dance and voice.
A teen apprentice at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, her professional career took off abruptly in another direction, away from the theatre lights, when the 20-year-old was chosen over 200 hopefuls to succeed Ms. Rigg's character Emma Peel as John Steed's (played by Patrick Macnee) new partner, female secret agent Tara King. Despite her equally luscious looks and a set of beautiful, crystal blue orbs, Linda had major boots to fill and the stay was not long or heralded. Fans and critics alike were rather unkind to Linda and the series was canceled after one season (1968-69).
Out of the limelight for much of the 1970s, with occasional film and television roles coming her way, including Valentino (1977) and The Greek Tycoon (1978), and as Vera in a television version of the Turgenev play A Month in the Country (1977) starring Susannah York. Linda eventually made the trek to America, Broadway to be exact, and went on to win a Theatre World Award for her superb performance in "Steaming" (1982). Immediately following came rave reviews for the Drama Desk Award-winning comedy farce "Noises Off". Linda was now back on her own terms. Later Broadway work would include a sexy femme fatale role in the noirish musical "City of Angels" (1989), the title role in "Zoya's Apartment" (1990) and the Circle in the Square production of "Getting Married" (1991).
As a transatlantic player working in the United States, her native Canada and in England, she went on to perform with the prestigious Royal Shakespeare and Old Vic theatre companies. By the late 1980s, she was appearing with more frequency on the big screen in such lesser-known films as Walls of Glass (1985), Sweet Liberty (1986) and The Other Sister (1999). A number of television credits also came her way, including guest work on Law & Order (1990) and St. Elsewhere (1982) and, as a regular cast member, on the daytime soap opera One Life to Live (1968) and the sitcom Marblehead Manor (1987). Although she has yet to gain the same kind of attention (and controversy) she did as a 20-year-old, her career has been consistently rewarding over the last three decades. Outstanding stage work in "Shirley Valentine" (1993), "The Sisters Rosenzweig" (1995) and "Amy's View" (2000) have added to her value as an artist.
Linda remained a vivid presence in millennium film work including Steven Seagal's crime thriller Half Past Dead (2002); the Canadian/British romance dramedy Touch of Pink (2004); the American action horror film Straight Into Darkness (2004); the American co-production action film Max Havoc: Ring of Fire (2006); and the touching Canadian romance drama The Second Time Around (2016) in which she co-starred with Stuart Margolin. On television, she was a regular in a couple of drama series (Emily of New Moon (1998) and The Hoop Life (1999)), a single season (2006-07) of the British soap opera Emmerdale Farm (1972) and, more recently, a Canadian series based on the famous teenage detective books The Hardy Boys (2020). She was also seen in a few guest roles on Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987), Kung Fu: The Legend Continues (1993), F/X: The Series (1996), Law & Order (1990) and Schitt's Creek (2015).
Married four times, Linda has one son, Trevor, from her third marriage to husband actor/producer/newsman Bill Boggs). She married Canadian filmmaker Gavin Mitchell on November 20, 2005.- Actor
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Larry Wilcox grew up in Rawlins, Wyoming, with three siblings and raised by a single parent - his mother. He graduated and then went to the University of Wyoming and studied pre-med and then transferred to Cal State University Northridge in Southern California. His sister was tragically murdered by her husband in front of her mother and their three children and Larry returned home to assist the family. During this time Larry was drafted in the Army but he wanted to be in the best outfit during the Vietnam War and so he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. He honorably served thirteen months in Vietnam with five campaign stars and two meritorious promotions. He was discharged as a Sergeant and then went back to school. Wilcox hit the pavement running and began working two to three jobs to make ends meet. He began studying acting and music and soon got a Hollywood agent and landed many commercials and then beat 300 actors to win the co-star role on Lassie in 1970. He then went on to guest star in many popular TV shows from MASH, Love Boat, Police Story, Room 222, The Partridge Family, Hawaii Five-0 and many others. He was subsequently picked to star in CHiPS with co-star Erik Estrada which he did for five years and the show was syndicated in one-hundred foreign countries. During this time Wilcox, a businessman at heart, formed his own production company and began buying scripts and books and making deals with studios and networks. He produced the Death of a Playmate: The Dorothy Stratten Story for MGM and NBC which he believed had many parallels to the death of his sister. He then developed, funded and produced the award winning TV Series, The Ray Bradbury Theater for HBO for five years. Wilcox has a long list of productions and is presently negotiating some very significant projects we all hope to see in the near future.
Wilcox has been married to Marlene Harmon for over thirty years with three boys and two girls which are all adults now. Wilcox was an avid sportsman and, as he states, "I enjoyed pushing the envelope." He set eight Land Speed Records at the infamous Bonneville Salt Flats, was a race car driver and competed in SCCA events and was a cowboy competitor and member of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association. Wilcox is also a pilot who is known for some crazy rides in his very own military plane with a cockpit. He has flown with the Blue Angels and the Marines as a Celebrity Guest and is famous for asking the military pilot to "let it all hang out" and to try and make him sick.
Presently (as of April 2016) Wilcox is focused on two arenas: filmmaking and digital distribution tools that he owns and/or participates in. He has been the past national spokesperson for The Motorcycle Safety Foundation and the Red Cross. He was the national celebrity spokesperson for the Vets Save The Flag campaign. He has also been the celebrity filmmaker and spokesperson for TheFallenHeroes.org. Wilcox believes that man was put on this earth to help each other and to perpetuate better offspring than yourself. He said his credits are not about his life.....his credits are his family. His fan site is larrywilcox.net and he has a Facebook site that he writes a monthly journal to keep in touch with his fans. When asked what advice Wilcox would give to the world he says: "Love and be Loved; and walk tall through the fire and stay in your bubble of personal belief because HE is with you all the way!"- Actor
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Keone Young is an Asian-American actor who is known for playing Mr. Wu from Deadwood and voicing Kaz Harada from Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi. He also acted in Men in Black 3, Samurai Jack, Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness, Codename: Kids Next Door, The Mighty B, American Dragon: Jake Long and the Spider-Man 3 video game. He speaks English, Japanese and Chinese.- Pretty, spunky, and talented blonde Linda Haynes was born on November 4, 1947 in Florida. Haynes made her film debut as Dr. Anne Barton in the silly Japanse sci-fi monster flick Latitude Zero (1969). Linda was excellent as brassy prostitute Meg in Jack Hill's terrifically trashy blaxploitation cult favorite Coffy (1973) and was likewise fine as small-time L.A. mobster Jason Miller's girlfriend Sarah in the downbeat crime drama The Nickel Ride (1974). Haynes gave her best, most gritty, and impressive performance to date as tough and world-weary barmaid and war hero groupie Linda Forchet, who befriends traumatized Vietnam veteran William Devane in the outstanding revenge thriller winner Rolling Thunder (1977). Linda had her sole starring role as country singer Rachel Foster in the sleazy women-in-prison exploitation outing Human Experiments (1979). Alas, following her appearances in both the prison drama Brubaker (1980) and the acclaimed made-for-TV feature Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones (1980), Haynes called it a day as an actress and went on to work as a legal assistant in a law firm in Florida.
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Surrounded by four dazzling Southern-styled ladies on the hit sitcom Designing Women (1986), genial African-American actor Meshach Taylor made a name for himself as the beleaguered male foil consistently at the mercy of the title gals' antics during its popular 7-season run.
The Boston-born actor who entered life on April 11, 1947, was raised in New Orleans and Indianapolis (Crispus Attucks High School) and took an early interest in acting back in high school. He first studied drama at Ohio's Wilmington College before transferring to Florida A&M in Tallahassee, Florida.
Gaining experience back at an Indianapolis radio station as a State House political correspondent and in repertory theater. His first professional break came in with a national tour of the musical "Hair." He eventually became a member of both Chicago's Goodman Theatre and the Organic Theatre group. One of his stage performances, "Sizwe Banzi Is Dead," earned him Chicago theater's Joseph Jefferson Award. Taylor transported himself to Los Angeles in the 78 and found minor work in a few of the popular horror films of the day: Damien: Omen II (1978), The Howling (1981) and The Beast Within (1982), and also started to make the typical rounds on popular TV shows including "Barney Miller," "Lou Grant" and "M*A*S*H."
After a regular part on the promising, but short-lived Buffalo Bill (1983), he nabbed the Emmy-nominated role of Anthony Bouvier, the jailbird-turned-assistant to Delta Burke, Annie Potts, Jean Smart and Dixie Carter. Originally a guest part at the beginning, he proved popular with audiences and the show progressed his character and was eventually made a full partner of the ladies' designer firm.
Following this success, Taylor moved straight into four seasons with the sitcom Dave's World (1993) as a poker-playing buddy/neighbor to Harry Anderson. His film and TV load has been fairly lightweight overall with routine turns in such comedy fare as Mannequin (1987) and Class Act (1992), an Olsen twins mini-movie, and as a regular panelist on a revamped version of To Tell the Truth (2000). One of his brighter moments (literally) was playing the role of Lumiere in Broadway's "Beauty and the Beast."
His later career was comprised of lowbudget comedy films such as Jacks or Better (2000), Friends and Family (2001), Club Fiji (2008), as well as horror/drama including Tranced (2010), Wigger (2010) and Hyenas (2011). He was occasionally seen as a guest on the small screen in such shows as "The Drew Carey Show," "Hannah Montana," "Jessie" and, his last, "Criminal Minds," as well as a regular role in the series Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide (2004), which lasted three seasons.
After his 11-year marriage to Sandra Taylor ended in 1980, Meshach married actress Bianca Taylor ("General Hospital") in 1983 and had three children. He had one child from his first marriage. In addition to daughters Tamar, Yasmine and Esme and son Tariq, he has a sister, Judith, and brother, Hussain, a private investigator in the Los Angeles area, as well as four grandchildren. His father, Joseph, was a Dean at Indiana University and his mother, Hertha, a school teacher in Indianapolis, Indiana. Taylor died at age 67 of colorectal cancer on June 28 2014, in the Los Angeles area (Altadena). Terminally ill and extremely weak, he nevertheless flew with his children to Indiana just one week before his death to celebrate the centennial birthday of his mother. He was interred at Forest Lawn in Glendale, CA.- Debra Mooney was born on 28 August 1947 in Aberdeen, South Dakota, USA. She is an actress, known for Domestic Disturbance (2001), Everwood (2002) and Anastasia (1997).
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Sir Elton John is one of pop music's great survivors. Born 25 March, 1947, as Reginald Kenneth Dwight, he started to play the piano at the early age of four. At the age of 11, he won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music. His first band was called Bluesology. He later auditioned (unsuccessfully) as lead singer for the progressive rock bands King Crimson and Gentle Giant. Dwight teamed up with lyricist Bernie Taupin and changed his name to Elton John (merging the names of saxophonist Elton Dean and Long John Baldry). The duo wrote songs for Lulu and Roger Cook. In the early 1970s, he recorded the concept album "Tumbleweed Connection." He became the most successful pop artist of the 1970s, and he has survived many different pop fads including punk, the New Romantics and Britpop to remain one of Britain's most internationally acclaimed musicians.
Elton John announced he was a bisexual in 1976, and in 1984, he married Renate Blauel. The marriage lasted four years before he finally came to terms with the fact that he was actually homosexual. In the 1970s and 1980s, he suffered from drug and alcohol addiction and bulimia but came through it. He is well known as a campaigner for AIDS research and he keeps his finger on the pulse of modern music, enjoying artists such as Eminem, Radiohead, Coldplay and Robbie Williams. He was knighted in 1997.- Actor
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Larry Manetti was born on 23 July 1947 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Magnum, P.I. (1980), Black Sheep Squadron (1976) and Battlestar Galactica (1978). He has been married to Nancy DeCarl since 19 February 1980. They have one child.- Actress
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Spunky actress, singer and comedienne all rolled up into one, Puerto Rican-American Liz Torres was born on September 27, 1947, a native of the Bronx. She began her stand-up/singing career as a regular performing in various small NYC niteries. It wasn't until she received an invite to appear on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962) that her comic career started blooming on TV and in film.
Liz has been a broadly familiar ethnic face on the sitcom circuit, having had regular or recurring parts in numerous series. In addition to regular roles on 70s TV variety shows for Melba Moore, Clifton Davis and Ben Vereen, she replaced the late Barbara Colby in the Mary Tyler Moore spinoff Phyllis (1975) starring Cloris Leachman following Colby's tragic murder. A year later she joined the All in the Family (1971) cast for a season. Liz co-starred in a number of short-lived series such as Checking In (1981), The New Odd Couple (1982) and City (1990) before hitting paydirt and scoring multiple Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for her prime role of Mahalia on The John Larroquette Show (1993). She has continued to make the guest rounds on such popular series as Ally McBeal (1997), The Nanny (1993), Quantum Leap (1989), The Wonder Years (1988) and L.A. Law (1986), often providing some necessary comedy relief amid the drama, and she is a veteran of many mini-movies, both comedic and dramatic.
On Broadway, Torres replaced Tony-winning Rita Moreno as men's bathhouse entertainer Googie Gomez in the wacky comedy "The Ritz" and portrayed the bizarre character of Bunny in "House of Blue Leaves." The musical part of her has recorded for RCA and appeared in a number of stage roles that have ranged from Aldonza/Dulcinea in "Man of La Mancha" to lightweight roles in "Bye Bye Birdie" and "See Saw."
She has provided amusing vignettes in such film comedies as The Odd Couple II (1998) starring the late Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, Sunset (1988) with Bruce Willis and Permanent Midnight (1998) showcasing Ben Stiller. She was nominated for her the
Although comedy has been Liz's primary career outlet, her millennium film credits have leaned toward heavier material with featured parts in the romantic drama Gabriela (2001), the urban drama King Rikki (2002), the social drama Taylor (2005) and the dramedy West of Brooklyn (2008). Outside the recurring roles on the law series First Monday (2002) and the Latino family drama American Family (2002), TV has proven a different story where she is best remembered for her series role as "Miss Patty" in the long-running sitcom Gilmore Girls (2000), and made numerous amusing appearances on such regular comedies as "The Fighting Fitzgeralds," "The Brothers Garcia," "Ugly Betty," "Desperate Housewives," "Devious Maids" and the Cuban-American sitcom "One Day at a Time."
Long married to producer Peter Locke, the couple resides in Los Angeles.- Actress
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Carolyn Seymour is a highly accomplished actress of stage and screen, with a long and impressive list of credits on both sides of the Atlantic.
Born in Buckinghamshire to an Estonian father with Russian descent and an Irish mother, Carolyn trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama, before rising to fame with starring roles in Peter Barnes' much acclaimed THE RULING CLASS starring Peter O'Toole and directed by Peter Medak, Terry Nation's cult sci-fi television series SURVIVORS and the BBC's TAKE THREE GIRLS.
Multiple film credits include GUMSHOE opposite Albert Finney for director Stephen Frears, STEPTOE & SON, MR. MUM with Michael Keaton, and CONGO for director Frank Marshall.
Carolyn's extensive theatre work includes THE GREAT EXHIBITION written by Sir David Hare, for which Carolyn starred opposite David Warner and Penelope Wilton at The Hampstead Theatre. The production was directed by Sir Richard Eyre.
Carolyn received critical praise for a role as Ophelia in HAMLET at The Gielgud (formerly The Globe Theatre), directed by Peter Coe and produced by Sam Wanamaker. ON APPROVAL saw Carolyn starring opposite Kenneth More and Moray Watson at The Vaudeville Theatre. In THE PRODIGAL DAUGHTER Carolyn co-starred with Wilfred Hyde-White for the production at the Theatre Royal Brighton followed by a national tour, both directed by Roger Redfarn. HAY FEVER marked Carolyn's debut on Broadway playing Myra Arundel for director Brian Murray. SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL directed by Brian Bedford would follow at The Taper in Los Angeles.
Carolyn made the effortless transition to American television during the 1980s, with celebrated performances in a multitude of hit, award-winning series including FAMILY TIES, HART TO HART, CAGNEY & LACEY, MAGNUM P.I., MURDER SHE WROTE, QUANTUM LEAP, L.A LAW and ER. Recurring guest appearances on the Emmy award-winning STAR TREK: The Next Generation and STAR TREK Voyager, like that of her work on SURVIVORS, have also drawn a strong and devoted fan-base.
Carolyn is also a regular voice artist, recording audio adaptations of stage plays by Sir Alan Ayckbourn (TABLE MANNERS and LIVING TOGETHER), as well as TOP GIRLS by celebrated playwright Caryl Churchill. For Big Finish Productions, and by the demand of her loyal fans, Carolyn returned to her iconic role of Abby Grant in SURVIVORS, as well as guest-starring alongside the surviving DOCTOR WHO's.
Over 5 decades in the industry, Carolyn has continued to adapt to the demands of the business including successfully transitioning into the world of video games, with multiple projects for the STAR WARS franchise amongst many others.
Having resided in the United States and France for many years, Carolyn returns to her native England in Summer 2021 with plans to return to her roots - British stage and screen.
Carolyn divides her personal time between her family, her love of art, and her passion for charitable work including animal activism and supporting the homeless.- Actor
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Lancashire-born Warren Clarke was an actor of immense presence and considerable versatility who turned his wide-shouldered, robust appearance and lived-in, hangdog facial features into an asset. For more than two and a half decades he had toiled in a wide variety of supporting roles before finding international success as the often crude, irascible, heavy-drinking Superintendant Andy Dalziel in TV's Dalziel and Pascoe (1996). When the series began, Clarke had summed up Dalziel as 'a beer-swilling chauvinist pig', but the character evolved and became more complex and endearing (in a curmudgeonly sort of way) over the show's eleven-year duration. There were also commonalities between the actor and his creation: impatience, a reputation for not tolerating fools gladly; a humorous, irreverent nature and a shared dislike for political correctness. In private life, Clarke was passionate about football (a lifelong Manchester City supporter) and golf.
The son of a hard-working stained glass maker, Clarke developed his love for the performing arts while in his teens. A frequent visitor to the cinema for Saturday morning and matinée screenings ("Flash Gordon" seemed to have been a particular favourite), he was actively encouraged by his parents to follow his chosen vocation. He performed in amateur theatrics, meanwhile earning his money as a copy boy, running errands for the Manchester Evening News, then working in a fruit and vegetable market before securing his first acting gig with Huddersfield Rep at the age of eighteen. Clarke once recalled his first performance, as an elderly German academic, which was marred by a make-up malfunction when the self-raising flour he had put in his hair to make it appear white mixed with perspiration, turned to dough and ran down his face. He would eventually master the stage (enacting, among other parts, Caligula in John Mortimer's 1972 adaptation of "I, Claudius" and Winston Churchill in "Three Days in May" at the West End, a performance the reviewer of The Guardian described as "utterly persuasive").
From the late 1960's, Clarke found more or less regular television work, at first with Granada in series like The Avengers (1961) and Callan (1967). For years he remained a struggling actor, earning barely enough to make ends meet. He performed on stage at the Royal Court in London, and, to improve his situation, earned a second income as a van driver. He finally attracted attention on the big screen as a violent, bowler-hatted thug in Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange (1971). The turning point in Clarke's career was his role as a pig-headed manager of an engineering firm involved in a chalk-and-cheese relationship with a liberal-minded academic in Nice Work (1989). In the years between, his expressive features graced a succession of diverse leading and supporting parts in both comedy and drama: Churchill in ITV's Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill (1974); Quasimodo in the 1976 television version of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame"; a mutinous Roman soldier in the epic miniseries Masada (1981); a surly East German STASI officer in the uproarious parody Top Secret! (1984); a pig-fixated Regency period industrialist in Blackadder the Third (1987); stalwart, bewhiskered Lawrence Boythorne in BBC's outstanding production of Bleak House (2005); "pathetically nice" market gardener Brian Addis in the first two seasons of Down to Earth (2000). Clarke's guest appearances were prolific: from Elsie Tanner's nephew in Coronation Street (1960) to a querulous diabetic patient in Call the Midwife (2012).
Always a welcome presence in period drama, he had been cast in Poldark (2015), a remake of the popular 1975 miniseries, based on the novels by Winston Graham. Filming had already begun in Bristol and Cornwall when Clarke died in his sleep at the age of 67.- Anna Calder-Marshall was born on 11 January 1947 in Kensington, London, England, UK. She is an actress, known for Wuthering Heights (1970), Male of the Species (1969) and Last Christmas (2019). She has been married to David Burke since 20 March 1971. They have one child.
- Lori Martin was born Dawn Catherine Menzer in Glendale, California. She was born at 10 am, four minutes before her twin sister, Doree, arrived. Having an elder sister, Jean, and a younger brother, Stephen, she had plenty of company at an early age. At the age of six, her mother took her to an agent who dealt with child actresses. Her first job was filming a commercial for "Chrysler", followed by many other commercials. Her first film part was in Machine-Gun Kelly (1958), followed by The FBI Story (1959) and Cash McCall (1960), both in 1959. She also appeared on many television shows of the time. It was at the age of 12 that she won the part of "Velvet Brown" on television's National Velvet (1960), and changed her name to Lori Martin. Being a natural blonde, Lori had to have her hair dyed black for the part, many thought she had a resemblance to Elizabeth Taylor. It was this reason that the producers chose her out of 974 hopefuls for this part. The show ran for 54 episodes and was axed in 1962 after making Lori famous. In 1962, she made Cape Fear (1962) and said, afterward, that it was the best performance of her life. She went on to continue in television shows and films for the cinema. She had also made a name for herself making records for her fans but, sadly, they were not hits.
Lori later married her husband, Charles Breitenbucher, and retired to Oakhurst, California, where she enjoyed nature, birds, wild animals, and her dog, Taylor. Sadly, her husband died in 1999, leaving her with an only son to raise. At this time, she became ill with bipolar disorder and battled this for many years up until her death. - Actor
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Charles Frank was born on 17 April 1947 in Olympia, Washington, USA. He is an actor and director, known for The Right Stuff (1983), All My Children (1970) and Wonder Woman (1975). He has been married to Susan Blanchard since 25 June 1977. They have one child.- Cates' acting career ignited after she appeared on an episode of Sally Jessy Raphael (1983), titled "Too Heavy to Leave Their House". Shortly after, author and screenwriter Peter Hedges proposed to her that she play Johnny Depp and Leonardo DiCaprio's morbidly obese and housebound mother in What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)--Cates accepted. Her performance earned stellar reviews; Roger Ebert said about the actress, "Darlene Cates, making her movie debut, has an extraordinary presence on the screen. We see that she is fat but we see many other things, too, including the losses and disappointments in her life, and the ability she finds to take a grip and make a new start." The actress went on to appear in a handful of film and television projects before succumbing to natural causes, she was 69. When the The Guardian released a statement on the actress's death, Leonard DiCaprio paid tribute to the actress identifying her as "the best acting mom I ever had".
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Marisa Berenson was born on 15 February 1947 in New York City, New York, USA. She is an actress, known for Cabaret (1972), Barry Lyndon (1975) and Cinéman (2009). She was previously married to Aaron Richard Golub and Jim Randall.- Actor
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Peter Strauss has focused on theater for the last few years. He recently performed the role of Leonardo da Vinci in "Divine Rivalry" at Hartford Stage, Ben Bradlee in "Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers" for the New York Theater Workshop, Sigmund Freud in "Sabina" for Primary Stages and in "The Outgoing Tide" as an Alzheimer's patient for the Delaware Theater and Primary Stages in NY. Recent film roles are Warner Brothers' feature "License to Wed" with Robin Williams and as the U.S. President in Columbia's "XXX: State of the Union," and two independent films "Drawing Home" and "Sugar Baby." He completed the English voiceover for Albert Lamorisse's 1953 French film "White Mane" and as the narrator for Tracey Ullman's "State of the Union" series for Showtime.
Strauss is well known for his long list of starring roles in motion pictures-for-television, including "The Jericho Mile" for which he won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Special. Strauss has also received Emmy Award nominations for his roles in the mini-series "Rich Man, Poor Man" and "Masada" as well as five Golden Globe Nominations.
Strauss was born in New York City and grew up in Croton-on-Hudson, New York, where he was introduced to the theatre via the Croton Shakespeare Festival. His summers were spent with stock companies including the Pocono Playhouse in Pennsylvania and Ogunquit Playhouse in Maine. He attended the Hackley School for Boys in Tarrytown, New York and graduated from Northwestern University in 1969, committed to an acting career.
He made his Broadway debut in Tom Griffin's "Einstein and the Polar Bear" in 1981. His other theatrical credits include the plays "The Dance Next Door", "The Mind with the Dirty Man" and "The Trial of the Catonsville Nine" at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles and "A Cry of Players" at Baltimore's Center Stage.
His feature film credits include Soldier Blue (1970), The Trial of the Catonsville Nine (1972), The Last Tycoon (1976), The Secret of NIMH (1982), Flight of Black Angel (1991) and Nick of Time (1995).
Strauss' many television credits include starring in the TV films Young Joe, the Forgotten Kennedy (1977), Angel on My Shoulder (1980), A Whale for the Killing (1981), Heart of Steel (1983), Under Siege (1986), _ Penalty Phase (1986) (TV), Proud Men (1987), 83 Hours 'Til Dawn (1990), Fugitive Among Us (1992), Men Don't Tell (1993), Thicker Than Blood (1994), Reunion (1980), The Yearling (1994), In the Lake of the Woods (1996), My Father's Shadow: The Sam Sheppard Story (1998), A Father's Choice (2000) and Murder on the Orient Express (2001), as well as the miniseries Tender Is the Night (1985), Kane & Abel (1985), Brotherhood of the Rose (1989), Trial: The Price of Passion (1992) and Texas Justice (1995). His latest mini-series appearances were Seasons of Love (1999), with Rachel Ward and Hume Cronyn, (which he executive-produced) and as La Hire in the CBS four-hour mini-series Joan of Arc (2005).
Strauss starred for one season in the CBS drama series Moloney (1996) and the PAX drama series Body & Soul (2002).
Strauss is married to actress Rachel Ticotin and lives in Ojai, California, where he also operates a commercial citrus enterprise that produces 440 tons of citrus per year.- Alexandra Hay was born on 24 July 1947 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She was an actress, known for Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), Model Shop (1969) and Skidoo (1968). She died on 11 October 1993 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Mel Martin was born on 7 March 1947 in Chelsea, London, England, UK. She is an actress, known for White Hunter Black Heart (1990), Persuasion (1971) and Do You Remember? (1978). She has been married to John Duttine since 1998. She was previously married to Paul Ridley.
- Michael Burns is a former child actor who went on to a distinguished career as a historian, writer, and college professor. He is now retired and raising thoroughbred horses in Kentucky. He was familiar to television audiences of the early 1960s as the teenage character, "Barnaby West", on the popular Wagon Train (1957) series. After other TV and film credits in his late teens and early 20s, Burns left acting to pursue his interest in history, graduating from the University of California. He earned a Ph. D. from Yale University in 1977 and wrote an acclaimed history book, "Dreyfus", about the Dreyfus Affair. Between 1980-2002, Burns was a professor of history at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts.
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Joanna David was born on 17 January 1947 in Lancaster, England, UK. She is an actress and producer, known for Pride and Prejudice (1995), You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010) and Rogue Trader (1999). She has been married to Edward Fox since 2004. They have two children.- Actress
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Julie Cobb was born into a theatrical family. Her mother, Helen Beverley, was a renowned Yiddish stage and film actress, and her father was famed award-winning actor Lee J. Cobb. Her grandparents on her mother's side were also performers and theater owners. Involved in theater at Beverly Hills High School with classmates Richard Dreyfuss and Albert Brooks, among others, she followed her pursuit to San Francisco State University. She left college to begin working in Los Angeles. She has appeared in over seventy television programs in her over forty year career.
She may be best-remembered as Jill Pembroke on the CBS series Charles in Charge (1984) and had recurring roles on Knots Landing (1979), Hearts Afire (1992), Magnum, P.I. (1980), Family Ties (1982), and Judging Amy (1999), among other television series. At Company of Angels Theater she was awarded the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for her performance as Maggie in Arthur Miller's "After the Fall", and won the same honor in addition to the Dramalogue Award for her direction of Reginald Rose's "Twelve Angry Men".
A published writer, her column "The Path" appeared in the magazine journal Country Connections for several years. Trained and certified by Coaches Training Institute, she worked with clients helping them realize their most productive selves. Her daughter, Rosemary Morgan, continued in the family business as an actress before becoming a practicing attorney. The first film she wrote and directed, Night Vet (2014) won for Best Short Film at the Lady Filmmakers Festival.- Actor
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James Keach was born on 7 December 1947 in Queens, New York, USA. He is an actor and director, known for Vacation (1983), The Long Riders (1980) and Walk the Line (2005). He was previously married to Jane Seymour, Mimi Maynard and Holly Collins.- Actor
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David L. Lander was born on 22 June 1947 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Laverne & Shirley (1976), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) and Used Cars (1980). He was married to Kathy Fields and Thea (Pool) Markus. He died on 4 December 2020 in Los Angeles, California, USA.