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In 1976, if you had told fourteen-year-old Franciscan seminary student Thomas Cruise Mapother IV that one day in the not too distant future he would be Tom Cruise, one of the top 100 movie stars of all time, he would have probably grinned and told you that his ambition was to join the priesthood. Nonetheless, this sensitive, deeply religious youngster who was born in 1962 in Syracuse, New York, was destined to become one of the highest paid and most sought after actors in screen history.
Tom is the only son (among four children) of nomadic parents, Mary Lee (Pfeiffer), a special education teacher, and Thomas Cruise Mapother III, an electrical engineer. His parents were both from Louisville, Kentucky, and he has German, Irish, and English ancestry. Young Tom spent his boyhood always on the move, and by the time he was 14 he had attended 15 different schools in the U.S. and Canada. He finally settled in Glen Ridge, New Jersey with his mother and her new husband. While in high school, Tom wanted to become a priest but pretty soon he developed an interest in acting and abandoned his plans of becoming a priest, dropped out of school, and at age 18 headed for New York and a possible acting career. The next 15 years of his life are the stuff of legends. He made his film debut with a small part in Endless Love (1981) and from the outset exhibited an undeniable box office appeal to both male and female audiences.
With handsome movie star looks and a charismatic smile, within 5 years Tom Cruise was starring in some of the top-grossing films of the 1980s including Top Gun (1986); The Color of Money (1986), Rain Man (1988) and Born on the Fourth of July (1989). By the 1990s he was one of the highest-paid actors in the world earning an average 15 million dollars a picture in such blockbuster hits as Interview with the Vampire (1994), Mission: Impossible (1996) and Jerry Maguire (1996), for which he received an Academy Award Nomination for best actor. Tom Cruise's biggest franchise, Mission Impossible, has also earned a total of 3 billion dollars worldwide. Tom Cruise has also shown lots of interest in producing, with his biggest producer credits being the Mission Impossible franchise.
In 1990 he renounced his devout Catholic beliefs and embraced The Church of Scientology claiming that Scientology teachings had cured him of the dyslexia that had plagued him all of his life. A kind and thoughtful man well known for his compassion and generosity, Tom Cruise is one of the best liked members of the movie community. He was married to actress Nicole Kidman until 2001. Thomas Cruise Mapother IV has indeed come a long way from the lonely wanderings of his youth to become one of the biggest movie stars ever.- Director
- Actor
- Writer
Robert Francis 'Bobcat' Goldthwait, born May 26, 1962, is an American comedian, writer, producer, director, and star of films and television shows. He is most widely known for his at times screechy voice and scattergun delivery during his standup comedy performances and some film roles.
He was born in 1962 in Syracuse, New York, the son of Kathleen Ann (Welch), a department store employee, and Thomas Lincoln Goldthwait, a sheet metal worker. His family, of Irish, German, and English descent, was Catholic. He decided on a career as a comedian at an early age and was performing professionally while still in high school at the age of fifteen. He and his classmate, Tom Kenny, performed in a comedy duo, billing themselves as "Bobcat and Tomcat". Goldthwait became recognized as a solo stand-up comedian and had three televised concert specials in The 1980s: Bob Goldthwait - Is He Like That All the Time?, An Evening with Bobcat Goldthwait: Share the Warmth (1987) and Meat Bob.
Goldthwait's first major film role was in Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment (1985). He reprised the role in the next two films in the series. During the fall of 1993, Goldthwait did stand-up material as an opening act for Nirvana on what would be their final North American tour. He has made several guest appearances on talk shows as well as comedy programs including The Ben Stiller Show (1992). On May 9, 1994, he made a controversial appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (1992), where, on impulse, he set a couch on fire. This incident was then the basis of the plot for his subsequent appearance on The Larry Sanders Show (1992).
One of the most recognizable features of Goldthwait's performances is his voice. Goldthwait has voiced characters on the television series Capitol Critters (1992); The Moxy & Flea Show (1995); Unhappily Ever After (1995); Hercules (1998) and Buzz Lightyear of Star Command (2000). He has also appeared, as himself, hosting the comedy quiz show Bobcat's Big Ass Show (1998). Goldthwait has released two comedy albums: "Meat Bob" (1988) on Chrysalis Records and "I Don't Mean to Insult You, but You Look Like Bobcat Goldthwait" (23 September, 2003) on Comedy Central Records.
He made his feature film directorial debut with Shakes the Clown (1991), which he wrote and starred in as well. His film, Windy City Heat (2003), won a Comedia Award for Best Comedy Film at Montreal's Just for Laughs Film Festival in 2004.
Bobcat began directing ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live! (2003) in the fall 2004 season. Since joining the show's crew, the ratings went up to 2 million viewers a night, with the numbers rising nearly 50% with the teenage demographic. In May of 2006, he left to pursue his film career as a filmmaker/director but has since returned to the show. Goldthwait's feature, "Sleeping Dogs Lie" (formally Sleeping Dogs Lie (2006)), starring Melinda Page Hamilton, was in the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and it was part of the "Independent Dramatic Features" competition. "Sleeping Dogs Lie" is about a youthful, impulsive sexual encounter which opens the door to a dark comedy about the complexities of honesty. It was also nominated for the Grand Jury Prize in the "Dramatic Features" category. "Sleeping Dogs Lie" was picked up in a mid-six figure deal for distribution in north America by Roadside Attractions & Samuel Goldwyn Films at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. A French film company called "Gaumont" bought it for the international rights to the film in France. "Tartan Films", a UK-based production company, also bought it for international rights in the United Kingdom. The film was released in the US on October 20, 2006.
He married Ann Luly in 1986 at the age of 24. The couple have two children (now grown), Tasha and Taylor, and divorced in May 1998. At one time, Goldthwait was engaged to his Unhappily Ever After (1995) co-star, Nikki Cox, but the couple split.- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Dylan Baker was born on 7 October 1959 in Syracuse, New York, USA. He is an actor and director, known for Happiness (1998), Trick 'r Treat (2007) and Revolutionary Road (2008). He has been married to Becky Ann Baker since 6 September 1987. They have one child.- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Music Department
Tom Kenny grew up in East Syracuse, New York. When Tom was young he was into comic books, drawing funny pictures and collecting records. Tom turned to stand-up comedy in Boston and San Francisco. This led to appearances on every cable show spawned by the stand-up epidemic of the '80s and '90s as well as stints on The Dennis Miller Show (1992), The Pat Sajak Show (1989), Late Night with Conan O'Brien (1993). Tom was a regular on Fox TV's The Edge (1992) and spent a year as the host of NBC's Friday Night (1983). His mainstream television appearances include Brotherly Love (1995) and David Alan Grier's sitcom debacle, The Preston Episodes (1995). Tom supplies the voice for "Heffer" the cow on Nickelodeon's Rocko's Modern Life (1993) and Nickelodeon's SpongeBob SquarePants (1999), as well as regular performances on The Cartoon Network's Dexter's Laboratory (1996), Justice League (2001), The Powerpuff Girls (1998), and Johnny Bravo (1997). Tom joined the cast of Mr. Show with Bob and David (1995) where he met his future wife Jill Talley. Together they've teamed up on Comedy Central's The Mark Thomas Comedy Product (1996), the stage show "The Show With Two Heads", HBO's Not Necessarily the Election (1996), the The Smashing Pumpkins' "Tonight, Tonight" video and Travis "Sing" video.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Frank Whaley is a critically acclaimed actor/writer/director. He is best known for the films Pulp Fiction (1994) and Swimming with Sharks (1994), and has worked with Oliver Stone multiple times. His feature directorial debut, Joe the King (1999), earned him the Waldo Salt Screenwriting prize at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival. He was born in Syracuse, New York, and resides in New York City. He is also an accomplished stage actor, working frequently with the New Group theater. Frank is married to the writer Heather Whaley. They have two children.- Actress
- Writer
- Producer
Siobhan Fallon Hogan has been seen in several blockbusters over the past twenty five years. Her many film and television credits include "Men In Black," "Forrest Gump," "SNL," "Seinfeld, "Holes", "Eileen," "New In Town," and "Wayward Pines." She has done several foreign films including three with Denmark's Lars von Trier in "Dancer Dark," "Dogville" and "The House that Jack Built" and Michael Haneke's "Funny Games." Fallon Hogan has been recently seen in William Oldroyd's Sundance hit "Eileen starring Anne Hathaway. "Vanity Fair" review said, "The great Siobhan Fallon Hogan who practically walks off with the movie after a mere few line readings." Other recent films include work Johnny Depp in "The Professor", FX's "What We Do in The Shadows" and in Paramount Pictures "Clifford the Big Red Dog". Fallon Hogan wrote, produced and plays the lead role in her film, "RUSHED" released in 2021 by Vertical Entertainment in theaters and now streaming on Amazon in the USA and in 20 countries. Emerald Caz Productions and Lars von Trier's Zentropa Entertainment co produced "RUSHED" with a critic score of 90% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes and 89% audience.
Fallon Hogan's has penned and produced a second film "Shelter in Solitude" directed by Vibeke Muasya starring Robert Patrick, Peter Macon, Peter Hogan, Jr. and Fallon Hogan. It premiered at Kevin Smith's SModCastle Film Festival and will be seen Spring 2023 at the Craicfest in NYC, Boston Film Festival and many others and is awaiting distribution.
Siobhan was born in 1961 in Syracuse, New York, to Jane (Eagan) and William J. Fallon, an attorney, and is the second of five children. A graduate of LeMoyne College in Syracuse, she received her M.F.A. from Catholic University. She began her career on stage in her own character-driven, one-women shows. After appearing in her show "Bat Girl," she was cast on SNL and Seinfeld in 1992. These shows opened many doors for Fallon, and she then began to work steadily in film. Fallon Hogan has been married to Peter Hogan for over twenty thirty years. They have three children: Bernadette Hogan, Pete Hogan and Sinead Hogan.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Rory Cochrane was born in New York, however he spent his childhood years in England. He later returned to New York City and was educated at the renowned High School of The Performing Arts. Soon after graduating, he got his first substantial role as Jeff Goldblum's son in Fathers & Sons, followed by Richard Linklater's sophomore film Dazed and confused...- Actor
- Producer
Johnny Messner was born on 11 April 1970 in Syracuse, New York, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Running Scared (2006), Tears of the Sun (2003) and Spartan (2004).- Actress
- Writer
- Producer
Michaela is currently a main company member of The Groundlings in Los Angeles.
Before moving to Los Angeles, Michaela pursued a life in regional theater.
She received her BFA from Boston University School For the Arts.
Her father is a math professor at Syracuse University, and her mother teaches Latin in the Boston area.- Music Artist
- Actor
- Composer
Austin Richard Post, known professionally as Post Malone, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer.
Post was born in Syracuse, New York, the son of Nicole Frazier Lake, from Walton, NY, and Rich Post. His father had been a disc jockey in his youth and introduced Post to many different genres of music including hip-hop, country, and rock. He is of Polish, English, and Scottish descent.
When Post was nine years old, he moved to Grapevine, Texas, with his father and stepmother Jodie, after his father became the manager of concessions for the Dallas Cowboys. Post began to play the guitar and auditioned for the band Crown the Empire in 2010, but was rejected after his guitar strings broke during the audition. He credited his initial interest in learning guitar to the popular video game Guitar Hero. Post has always had a love for emo music, and appeared for a DJ set at Emo Nite in Los Angeles in June 2017, playing My Chemical Romance at the event. According to Post, his very first foray into professional music began when he was in a heavy metal band. Soon after, he says he transitioned to softer rock as well as hip-hop, before beginning to experiment on FL Studio. At 16, using Audacity, Post created his first mixtape, Young and After Them Riches. He showed it to some of his classmates at Grapevine High School.He was voted "Most Likely to Become Famous" by his classmates as a senior in high school. He worked at a Chicken Express as a teenager.
He enrolled in Tarrant County College but dropped out. After leaving college, Post moved to Los Angeles, California, with his longtime friend Jason Probst, a professional game streamer.
According to Post, he chose Post Malone as his stage name when he was 14 or 15. The name was rumored to be a reference to the professional basketball player Karl Malone, but Post later explained that while 'Post' is his last name, he used a "rap name generator" to get "Malone".
After moving to LA, Post, Probst, and several other producers and artists formed the music group BLCKVRD and recorded music together. Several members of the group, including Post, moved into a house in San Fernando Valley together. While living in San Fernando Valley, Austin met 1st Down of FKi. He met 1st and Rich from FKi and Rex Kudo who produced several of Post's tracks, including "White Iverson". Post recorded the song two days after writing it. "White Iverson" is, in part, a reference to the professional basketball player Allen Iverson. In February 2015, upon completion, it was uploaded to Post's SoundCloud account. On July 19, 2015, Post released a music video for "White Iverson". The single received praise from Mac Miller and Wiz Khalifa. However, the song was notoriously mocked by Earl Sweatshirt.
After hitting one million views within a month of releasing "White Iverson", Post quickly garnered attention from record labels. In August 2015, he signed a recording contract with Republic Records. Post subsequently worked with a number of prominent rappers such as 50 Cent, Young Thug, and Kanye West, among others. In August 2015, he performed at Kylie Jenner's 18th birthday party, where he met Kanye West, who enjoyed his music, leading to him collaborating with Post on his single "Fade" from his album The Life of Pablo. Post later began his friendship with Canadian singer and songwriter Justin Bieber, which led to Post being an opening act for Bieber's Purpose World Tour. On April 20, 2016, Post premiered his new single, "Go Flex" on Zane Lowe's Beats 1 show. On May 12, 2016, he released his first full-length project, a mixtape, titled August 26, the title of which was a reference to the release date of his debut album. On June 9, 2016, Post made his national television debut on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, performing "Go Flex".
In June 2016, XXL editor-in-chief Vanessa Satten revealed Post Malone was considered for XXL's "2016 Freshmen Class" magazine cover, but she was "told by his camp that he wasn't paying attention to hip hop so much. He was going in more of a rock/pop/country direction." However, Post denied these claims, explaining that his latest mixtape as well as his upcoming album were both hip-hop. In August 2016, Post issued an apology for his album, Stoney, being late. It was available for pre-order on November 4, and was finally released on December 9. Post later went on to call the album "mediocre", despite the success of the single "Congratulations" featuring Quavo, Post's first top-ten song on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number eight. Stoney also featured the top 100 hits "I Fall Apart", and "Deja Vu", featuring Bieber, with the album later being certified double platinum by the RIAA in October 2017.
Post's music has described as a "melting pot of the country, grunge, hip-hop and R&B" and Post himself has been described as versatile. His vocal style has been described as laconic. Jon Caramanica of The New York Times described Post as "an artist who toes the line between singing and rapping, and hip-hop and spooky electric folk". Malone himself has called his music "genre-less".
Post cites Bob Dylan, in whom he became interested around the age of 15, as an influence on his music, calling him "a genius" and "a god" though his music has been called "about as far away from Rock n' Roll as you can get." He called "Subterranean Homesick Blues" the "first rap song". He has a tattoo of Dylan as well. Post has also listed rappers 50 Cent, whom he called a legend and Key! as influences.
In February 2017, Post revealed the title of his next project, Beerbongs & Bentleys, and was set to be released in December, before eventually being pushed back to 2018. In September, Malone released the first single from the album, "Rockstar", featuring 21 Savage. The song peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and held the spot for eight consecutive weeks, later prompting Rolling Stone to call him "one of the most popular musicians in the country" in 2017. In November, Malone released the official music video for "Rockstar", directed by Emil Nava.
On February 20, 2018, Malone previewed his new song with Ty Dolla Sign titled "Psycho." "Psycho" was released on February 23, 2018 and a tour with 21 Savage was announced. The song debuted at number 2 and later peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Post's third entry in the top 10. On April 5, 2018, Malone stated that Beerbongs & Bentleys will be released on April 27, 2018. The same day, he also premiered the song "Stay" during the Bud Lite Dive Bar show in Nashville. Upon release, Beerbongs & Bentleys broke the first day streaming records on Spotify, with 78.7 million streams worldwide. The album was also certified platinum by the RIAA after four days and spawned three top 10 songs and six top 20 songs.
In an interview with Billboard in May 2018, Malone's manager announced that Malone was planning to start his own record label and film production company and Post later won Top Rap Song at the Billboard Music Awards for "Rockstar" featuring 21 Savage. Post confirmed in June 2018 that he was writing his third album.- Writer
- Actor
- Producer
A former boxer, paratrooper and general all-around angry young man, Rod Serling was one of the radical new voices that made the "Golden Age" of television. Long before The Twilight Zone (1959), he was known for writing such high-quality scripts as "Patterns" and "Requiem for a Heavyweight," both later turned into films (Patterns (1956) and Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962)). The Twilight Zone (1959) featured forays into controversial grounds like racism, Cold War paranoia and the horrors of war. His maverick attitude eventually drove him from regular network television.- Anthony attended Marquette University on the Liberace Foundation Scholarship for Performance, where he studied Theatre and Spanish Literature. While at Marquette he worked with the Pabst Theatre and the Wisconsin Shakespeare Company, appearing in a range of plays spanning classic, modern and musical. After graduating cum laude from Marquette with a B.A. in Theatre Arts and a B.A. in Spanish, Anthony took up acting full time.
He quickly won a screen role for in the CBS Movie of the Week, "First Steps", playing quadriplegic teenager Dean Conroy. His first feature film was "Nothing in Common" with Jackie Gleason and Tom Hanks, playing the part of Cameron. Other film roles were quick to follow. He continues to play lead and guest characters in many of America's favorite drama and comedy shows, as well as appearing on the stage and in film.
Anthony has proven himself to be a versatile and varied actor, with a full body of works behind him to show for it. He lives in Los Angeles, California. - Actress
- Soundtrack
Mary Mara's television credits include recurring roles on the series "ER" and guest-starring roles on "Hope & Gloria", "NYPD Blue" and "Law & Order". She has also appeared in the television films "In the Blink of an Eye", on the CBS Television Network, and "Indictment". Mara's feature film credits include "Mr. Saturday Night", "True Colors", "Blue Steel", "Just Looking", "Love Potion #9", with Sandra Bullock, and "The Hard Way", with Michael J. Fox. She has performed on stage in "Kindertransport", "Dream of a Common Language" and "Mad Forest" for the Manhattan Theatre Club in New York, as well as in a New York Shakespeare Festival production of "Twelfth Night", co-starring with Michelle Pfeiffer, Jeff Goldblum and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio. She also appeared with William Hurt in a Yale Repertory production of "Ivanov", directed by the head of the Moscow Arts Theater (who spoke no English). While attending San Francisco State University, Mara established the theater company HART (Haight Ashbury Repertory Theatre), where she honed her acting skills. She later transferred to the Yale School of Drama from which she was graduated with a master's degree in fine arts. Mara, a native of Syracuse, N.Y., split her time between homes in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
On June 26, 2022 Mary accidentally drowned while swimming in the St. Lawrence River, a life long favorite vacation spot.- Sean was born in Syracuse, NY. He holds a MFA from Harvard University's A.R.T. Institute. He is known for multiple roles including Lebron in Syfy's Reginald the Vampire, IDO in Paramount's Wifelike and Marcus in Hallmark's Splash of Love. He is slated for more projects in 2023 as well as reprising his role as Lebron in Reginald the Vampire's second season.
- Actor
- Additional Crew
Andy Ridings was born on 16 December 1984 in Syracuse, New York, USA. He is an actor, known for All My Children (1970), Hearts Unarmored (2007) and Dan Is Missing (2013).- Robert De Niro Sr. was born on 3 May 1922 in Syracuse, New York, USA. He was married to Virginia Holton Admiral. He died on 3 May 1993 in New York City, New York, USA.
- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Jeff Altman was born on 13 August 1951 in Syracuse, New York, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Bee Movie (2007), Highlander II: The Quickening (1991) and Easy Money (1983). He is married to Bonnie Goldstein. He was previously married to Leslie Ackerman.- Actress
- Writer
- Director
Jaclyn Hales was born on September 4th, in Syracuse, New York to Julie Lea Hales, a homemaker and real estate agent, and James Rulon "Jim" Hales, a retired pharmaceutical district sales manager. She is of Scottish, Italian, and English descent. At age six, Hales made her stage debut as "The Shrunken Alice" in a production of Alice in Wonderland, at the Seacoast Repertory Theater in Portsmouth, New Hampshire where she grew up. She appeared in many more productions throughout her childhood until her family moved to North Salt Lake, Utah at the age of fourteen and she decided it was time to try TV/Film.
It was at a Janet Jackson Concert that she was first scouted by a modeling agent. The modeling didn't pan out due to her not wanting to quit the swim team, leave her friends behind, or lose the extra inch off her waist they wanted. However, she was able to meet a talent agent in an office down the hall and quickly booked her first television role on a show called Everwood, which aired on The WB. This was the beginning of her professional quest to be a full-time actress.
Hales studied acting at Utah Valley University and graduated with a BS in theater performance. She was awarded "Best Actress 2009" and "Best Student Director 2009" by the theater department.
Her career truly began when she was offered the lead role in the Indie feature 'Unicorn City' (Jon Gries, 2011) winning her the Best Actress award at the LA Comedy Festival (2012). This led to her appearing in several more films and TV shows including FX's 'Legion' (Jean Smart, Jemaine Clement), HBO's 'Mosaic' (Garrett Hedlund, Sharon Stone), and 'Christmas Eve' (Patrick Stewart). She has played two series regular roles; Lynn from 'Extinct' (2017), which aired on BYUTV, and Claire from 'Cypher' (2021) which aired on The Roku Channel as their first exclusive series.
In 2020, Hales began co-writing with Ash Lendzion, to create a scripted dark comedy podcast called The Bystanders. Producers Heather Morris (Glee) and Black Label Media (La La Land) helped them bring it to life. Now writer, producer, and director, Season 1 (2021) starring, Jane Lynch (Glee), Kristin Chenoweth (Wicked), Oscar Nunez (The Office), Ed Westwick (Gossip Girl), and Michael Hitchcock (Best in Show), took off with rave reviews, landing them another season. Season 2 (2023) stars, Jane Lynch (Glee), Kathleen Turner (Romancing the Stone), Margaret Cho (PsyCHO), Beth Dover (Orange is the New Black), Joe Lo Truglio (Brooklyn Nine-Nine), Jon Gries (Napoleon Dynamite), Luke Cook (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina), Darren Chris (Glee), and Wayne Knight (Jurassic Park).- Viva was born Janet Susan Mary Hoffmann in Syracuse, New York, to Mary Alice (McNicholas) and Wilfred Ernest Hoffmann, a well-to-do lawyer. She is the first child of a devout Catholic family, and is of German, Irish, English, and one eighth Italian, ancestry. Her parents had eight more children. She told her mentor, Andy Warhol, that her father was a religious fanatic and her mother worshiped the Irish-Catholic Witch-Finder General Joseph McCarthy, insisting that the children watch the televised Army-McCarthy hearings of 1954.
Janet Hoffman was educated in parochial schools and attended a Catholic college, Marymount, in Tarrytown, New York. She spent her junior year in college abroad, studying art at the Sorbonne in Paris, boarding at a convent. Hers was a life that made her ache for rebellion, and rebel the young Ms. Hoffman eventually did. She became the first non-anonymous performer to perform an act of sexual intercourse on screen, in Warhol's Blue Movie (1969), at the end of the turbulent decade that was the 1960s.
Reportedly, she had had a nervous breakdown and was institutionalized by her parents when she stayed in Paris to try to become a painter, supporting herself by modeling. She moved to New York City in the early 1960s, intent on becoming a fashion illustrator. Living with a photographer, she remained involved with the arts, and one night at a gallery opening circa 1963, she introduced herself to Warhol. They did not click then, nor did they the second time their forking paths brought Warhol into contact with his future movie queen.
It was a different story in 1965, when they met again and engaged in conversation at a party thrown by fashion designer Betsey Johnson. Not lacking in courage, Hoffman soon went over to Warhol's loft-living/work space, "The Factory", to solicit Warhol for money to pay her rent at the Chelsea Hotel, where she lived with her sister in a room that cost $16.00 a week. Of the encounter, Warhol wrote in his memoir "Popism". "She'd done it with all the nonchalance of somebody asking for their paycheck - except that I didn't even know her! What she essentially said was 'I need twenty dollars and you can afford it.'" It was an attitude that would lead to the break-up of their professional and social relationship four years later.
Warhol's movies were always transgressive, and he had decided to move into pornographic production, "nudies" as he called him. (Hard-core porn would come later in the decade). He became entranced with Viva, as he believed he could use the striking, well-educated women in his films (which were pointedly homo-erotic and featured male "flesh" in abundance).
Andy Warhol thought Viva's tedious voice could work to his advantage in dealing with the censors. Warhol was concerned about the "without redeeming social value" phrase in the legal definition of obscenity under the Warren Court in the 1960s. Many decisions finding a film "pornographic," and thus not legally protected by the First Amendment, hinged on whether there was or was not redeeming social value. One of Russ Meyer's nudies had been condemned as obscene and withdrawn from exhibition by the courts as its attempt at inserting redeeming social value had been too transparent and obvious and was felt, by the judges, to be a cynical ploy to make an otherwise objectionable film legally acceptable.
Confronted with Hoffman, Warhol the avant-garde filmmaker had a brainstorm that would make her famous for slightly more than 15 minutes: the Machiavellian Warhol became convinced that he might be able to outfox the censors if he used a woman who "could look beautiful, take off her clothes, step into a bathtub, and talk as intellectually as Viva did".
"Redeeming social value" was the legal fiction that Warhol enlisted Viva to provide in order to make genuinely pornographic movies without getting busted for obscenity. Viva's reflection was beautiful in Warhol's bloodshot eyes and - ever the Catholic rebel - she was willing to go fully nude on screen and even do the nasty.
Warhol's directorial method was to encourage improvisation among his actors while his cinematographic technique entailed aiming a camera at them and shooting continuously for the entire length of a 1,200-ft. reel of 16-mm film, approximately 33 minutes of running time. (Joe Dallesandro once saw Warhol direct a film by reading a newspaper with his back to the unmanned camera that was shooting the actors!) He believed that Viva, with her continuous stream of intellectual babble, would provide him with the legal fig leaf of "socially redeeming value" that would enable him to become a profitable pornographer.
Viva made her debut in The Nude Restaurant (1967), though another movie she had made for Warhol, Bike Boy (1967), was screened first. Playing a waitress in a restaurant patronized by only men (including a bemused Taylor Mead and real-life Army deserter Julian Burroughs), Viva wore only a G-string throughout the entire movie, as did all the male patrons. (A first version of the film, featuring an all-male cast completely in the buff, has been lost.)
But it was Blue Movie (1969) that made Viva infamous for 15 minutes - at least. It was shot in October 1968 at David Bourdon's apartment in Greenwich Village. Although Viva and Louis Waldon actually do have sexual intercourse in the film, they spend more time involved in social intercourse to give Warhol that fig leaf of "socially redeeming value." For 33 minutes, the length of one uninterrupted 1,200 foot 16-mm reel of film stock, Viva and Waldon made love. For the rest of the 132-minute movie (three more reels worth of film shown at the pubic premiere), they spend time talking about the war in Vietnam, cooking food and taking a shower. (The blue tint that gave the alternate title of the film its punning quality was not planned but actually was the result of an error. Warhol had correctly used tungsten film for shooting indoors, but he did not compensate with a blue filter for the sunlight streaming into Bordon's apartment, resulting in the blue tint on the exposed negative.)
Viva was cast in a speaking part in John Schlesinger's Midnight Cowboy (1969), as "Gretel McAlbertson", the woman throwing the party with her "brother" who invites "Joe Buck" to her soirée. The party scenes -- which featured other Warhol regulars -- were filmed in late June 1968, two weeks after Valerie Solanas's unsuccessful attempt to assassinate Warhol.
In November 1968, Viva wanted to go to Europe, and Warhol provided her with a round-trip plane ticket to Paris. In January of the following year, she sent Warhol a nasty letter from Paris that threatened that she would turn on him unless he sent her money. Her disappointed mentor decided to ignore her. She followed up with new threats in February 1969, in a telegram. Again she was ignored, as Warhol had more pressing concerns on his mind. He had to have an operation related to complications from his June 1968 shooting, and when he was in the hospital, Viva sent another telegram to "The Factory", announcing her marriage.
Viva had met and married Michel Auder, a French filmmaker whom she brought back with her to the States. While in New York, she telephoned Warhol to tell him she had signed a contract with the prestigious publishing house G.P. Putnam to write an autobiographical novel. She informed Warhol that she was taping their conversation for use in her book, which she intended to call "Superstar", an expose of the New York demimonde.
Thus, Viva and Warhol parted ways, and she signed up to star in Agnès Varda's Lions Love (... and Lies) (1969), which was shot in Los Angeles. She went off to California with her new hubby in tow. She eventually made 13 movies in addition to the Varda picture, including such films as the Kris Kristofferson vehicle Cisco Pike (1971), the non-Woody Allen-directed Woody Allen movie Play It Again, Sam (1972), Dino De Laurentiis's megalithic Flash Gordon (1980), and Wim Wenders' Paris, Texas (1984), but they were just bit parts. She never made another film with Warhol after the break-up, and never achieved anything close to the notoriety she did as one of his superstars.
In addition to her 1970 memoir "Superstar", she wrote a book about giving birth,"The Baby", which was published in 1975 by Alfred A. Knopf. - Actress
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Petite, sultry leading lady of the 1920s and '30s who was born and schooled in Tampa, Florida, until the age of ten when she lost her mother. She moved to New York with her dad and started modeling while still in her teens. Her original intention was to go into the teaching profession. Instead, Evelyn became enamored with acting during a school visit to the Popular Plays and Players Studio in Fort Lee, New Jersey, a production cooperative for distributors World Film, Pathe and Metro. Before long, she obtained a job as an extra for $3 a week using her birth name Betty Riggs. Between 1914 and 1920, she appeared in featured film roles with stars like Olga Petrova and John Barrymore (who hand-picked her as his leading lady for Raffles, the Amateur Cracksman (1917)), then took a sabbatical for health reasons and went to England.
By making the acquaintance of American playwright Oliver Cromwell she was able to land a good role in the George Bernard Shaw comedy 'The Ruined Lady' on the London stage. This, in turn, led to her being cast as leading lady in several British films. In 1922, she even went to Spain as star of The Spanish Jade (1922), distributed in America by Paramount. Upon her return to the United States in 1924, she was briefly under contract to Fox, then joined Associated Authors, and, finally, Paramount-Famous Players-Lasky (1926-30). At the height of her career in silent films, the dark-haired, aquiline Evelyn became a matinee idol with performances as exotic temptresses and vamps, particularly in films by Austrian director Josef von Sternberg. She was notable as the gangster's moll 'Feathers' in Underworld (1927) (the proverbial tough broad with the heart of gold) and as a self-sacrificing Russian girl in love with an exiled Czarist general (Emil Jannings) in The Last Command (1928). She gave another interesting performance as a blackmailer in Paramount's first all-talking picture Interference (1928)
While Evelyn's voice proved no detriment to her success in talking pictures, the declining quality of her films certainly did. Her Alaskan epic The Silver Horde (1930) in which she portrayed another disreputable character named Cherry Malotte was described in critical review as 'dull and trivial' (New York Times, October 25). Her performances as gang molls in Framed (1930) and The World Gone Mad (1933), as well as her unlikely mission worker in Madonna of the Streets (1930) engendered lukewarm write-ups like 'satisfactory' or 'competent'. This did nothing to elevate Evelyn's post-Paramount career. By the end of the decade she had moved down the cast list from second leads to supporting roles, finally appearing in westerns and 'quota quickies' for poverty row studios, such as Monogram and PRC. One example of the 'cheap and cheerful' category in which she seemed to enjoy herself was the Columbia serial Holt of the Secret Service (1941), playing Kay Drew, partner of tough agent Jack Holt. She was also memorable in one of her last roles as a one-armed satanist in the eerie Val Lewton horror flick about devil-worshipers in Greenwich Village, The Seventh Victim (1943).
After making her last film in 1950, Evelyn found work as an actor's agent with the Thelma White Agency in Hollywood. After the death of her third husband, Harry Fox (who gave the Foxtrot its name) in 1959, Evelyn made a final screen appearance as a guest star on Wagon Train (1957). She left the limelight for good in 1960 and lived her remaining years in retirement in Westwood Village, California. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6548 Hollywood Boulevard.- Actor
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Since the age of six, Andy Davoli has been performing on stage and it can be said that since then he hasn't left. He attended clown and magic school as a teen, graduated from Villanova University and then got accepted into law school. But Andy knew his destiny was always in front of him so he made his way to New York City to realize his dreams of being an actor. He settled in Little Italy where he vigorously studied the three branches of the Method, finding that he could instinctively bring his intensity, intelligence, and humor and encompass them into the characters he played whether it be on stage or on film.
After returning from a visit to Davoli, Italy, he was cast in his first lead role in an independent film entitled "Loser Love" directed by Jean-Marc Vallée. Meanwhile, he carried on honing his craft performing in several Off-Broadway plays. Director James Gray discovered Andy and cast him in what would be Andy's first foray into studio features for a splashy role opposite such top talents as Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Wahlberg, and Charlize Theron, in the big budget Miramax feature "The Yards". It's no surprise then that Andy quickly caught the eye of Italian-American cinematic legends like Martin Scorsese who cast him in a cameo role in "Bringing Out the Dead" opposite Nicolas Cage. Andy then had a cameo in "People I Know" with The Godfather himself, the great Al Pacino.
Davoli beat out hundreds of other actors for the coveted role of "Scarpa" in New Line Cinema's "Knockaround Guys" where Brian Koppelman and David Levein cast him in the lead role opposite Vin Diesel, Barry Pepper, and John Malkovich. After an audition for the critically acclaimed HBO series "The Sopranos", series creator David Chase wrote the recurring role of "Dino Zerilli" for him in the third season of arguably the greatest show in the history of television. Clearly Andy Davoli brings something special to the screen and the directing duo Anthony and Joe Russo saw what others were seeing. They cast the rising star in the lead ensemble role of "Basil" alongside Sam Rockwell, George Clooney, and Gabrielle Union in Warner Bros' "Welcome to Collinwood", produced by Clooney and Steven Soderbergh.
While in the room auditioning in front of Pulitzer winning playwright and screenwriter David Mamet, he was immediately cast opposite Val Kilmer in "Spartan" after telling a joke. Andy's charisma is both on and off the screen. He continued to prove himself as a multi-faceted actor in the role of "Jake Perini", a wheelchair-bound victim of polio, opposite Kenneth Branagh and Cynthia Nixon in the Golden Globe-nominated HBO film "Warm Springs".
Davoli's dark Sicilian-Italian good looks were used to stunning effect in a Stephen Meisel Dolce & Gabbana campaign opposite international supermodel Gisele Bündchen.
His starring turn as the lead in the magical surrealistic short film "Lucky Clown" brought Andy back to his clown college roots and paved the way for the film to premiere at both the 2007 Cannes Film Festival and the Venice Film Festival. Directed by the brilliant Renaissance filmmaker Salvatore Di Costanzo, Andy went on to make two more shorts with him of the same genre: "The Crying Museum" and "The Abandoned Circus".
Since his memorable role in "The Sopranos", Andy has lent his talent and versatility over the years to countless roles on such celebrated shows as "24", "CSI:New York", "CSI:Miami", "The Unit", "Burn Notice", and "Lucifer".
As if being in recognizable films, TV series, and stage performances weren't enough, you most likely have seen Davoli in memorable national commercials and groundbreaking video games such as Rockstar Games' "LA Noir". His broad range is truly remarkable.
Yes, it can be said with confidence that the once young boy on stage is still doing what he's always done-manifesting his dreams and bringing his passion of storytelling with him to every project he collaborates on. Now living in Los Angeles, Andy Davoli continues to sharpen his skills as he further advances his career.- Actor
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The athletic William Lundigan stood 6' 2" and weighed 170 pounds. He played football, basketball and tennis at Syracuse (NY) University. He was discovered by Charles R. Rogers, head of production at Universal Studios. Rogers happened to tune into radio station WFBL in Syracuse. He was so intrigued by a voice he heard reading a commercial that he gave instructions for the speaker to be located, brought to New York and tested for movie possibilities. The speaker, of course, was Lundigan. He had gotten the announcing job because his father owned the building that housed WBFL. Later in his career Lundigan was successful as the host of the CBS programs Climax! (1954) and Shower of Stars (1954). For these programs he delivered on-air commercials for their sponsor, Chrysler Motors. Off screen he traveled as a goodwill ambassador for the company, covering over 100,000 miles on the road and visiting 560,000 people in 90 weeks.- Ted Markland was born on 15 January 1933 in Syracuse, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), Colors (1988) and Last Man Standing (1996). He died on 18 December 2011 in Yucca Valley, California, USA.
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Michael A. Nickles was born in Syracuse, New York, USA. He is a writer and director, known for A Spartan Dream (2024), Holly Star (2018) and Hands on a Hardbody: The Documentary (1997).- Director
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Having photographed and directed hundreds of music videos, films and commercials over the last 30 years, Samuel Bayer has firmly established himself as one of the industry's most prolific and sought-after talents.
A 1987 graduate of New York City's School of Visual Arts, Bayer was a painter who saw film and video as the perfect medium to deliver his art to a greater audience. He launched his career with Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit," a landmark video that MTV has consistently rated as one of the most influential music videos ever made. His decision to photograph the Nirvana video himself infused it with a distinct style and attitude that started him on a path, he's blazed ever since. His hands-on approach to filmmaking so clearly imprinted on his work, Bayer chooses to light, photograph and operate the camera on all his work. On the heels of his work with Nirvana, he went on to create countless videos for artists as diverse as The Rolling Stones, Sheryl Crow, John Lee Hooker, Marilyn Manson, Metallica, The Smashing Pumpkins, 'David Bowie (I)', Aerosmith, Lenny Kravitz and Blink-182.
In 1995 he hit the commercial scene with the same results--one of his first spots, the revolutionary spot for Nike's "If You Let Me Play", won the AICP award for Best Direction. In 1997 his Packard-Bell "Home" spot won the AICP for Cinematography, Direction, and Production Design. His work on Mountain Dew's "Showstopper" collected the 2001 Clio Awards for Best Direction and Best Cinematography. His other commercial work includes campaigns for Nike, Coke, Pepsi, Nissan, Lexus, and Mountain Dew, and has cemented his reputation as a visual revolutionary. Bayer's commercials are showcased in the permanent film/video collection at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
His video for Green Day's "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" swept the MTV music awards, garnering seven Moon Men including Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Rock Video as well as the coveted Viewer's Choice Award. In 2005 Bayer was the recipient of the Kodak Lifetime Achievement Award for his work and cinematography in music videos and was honored in 2006 by the Music Video Producers Association with his second Lifetime Achievement Award.