Advanced search
- TITLES
- NAMES
- COLLABORATIONS
Search filters
Enter full date
to
or just enter yyyy, or yyyy-mm below
to
Only includes names with the selected topics
to
or just enter yyyy, or yyyy-mm below
to
1-50 of 5,071
- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Harrison Ford was born on July 13, 1942 in Chicago, Illinois, to Dorothy (Nidelman), a radio actress, and Christopher Ford (born John William Ford), an actor turned advertising executive. His father was of Irish and German ancestry, while his maternal grandparents were Jewish emigrants from Minsk, Belarus. Harrison was a lackluster student at Maine Township High School East in Park Ridge Illinois (no athletic star, never above a C average). After dropping out of Ripon College in Wisconsin, where he did some acting and later summer stock, he signed a Hollywood contract with Columbia and later Universal. His roles in movies and television (Ironside (1967), The Virginian (1962)) remained secondary and, discouraged, he turned to a career in professional carpentry. He came back big four years later, however, as Bob Falfa in American Graffiti (1973). Four years after that, he hit colossal with the role of Han Solo in Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977). Another four years and Ford was Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981).
Four years later and he received Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for his role as John Book in Witness (1985). All he managed four years after that was his third starring success as Indiana Jones; in fact, many of his earlier successful roles led to sequels as did his more recent portrayal of Jack Ryan in Patriot Games (1992). Another Golden Globe nomination came his way for the part of Dr. Richard Kimble in The Fugitive (1993). He is clearly a well-established Hollywood superstar. He also maintains an 800-acre ranch in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Ford is a private pilot of both fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters, and owns an 800-acre (3.2 km2) ranch in Jackson, Wyoming, approximately half of which he has donated as a nature reserve. On several occasions, Ford has personally provided emergency helicopter services at the request of local authorities, in one instance rescuing a hiker overcome by dehydration. Ford began flight training in the 1960s at Wild Rose Idlewild Airport in Wild Rose, Wisconsin, flying in a Piper PA-22 Tri-Pacer, but at $15 an hour, he could not afford to continue the training. In the mid-1990s, he bought a used Gulfstream II and asked one of his pilots, Terry Bender, to give him flying lessons. They started flying a Cessna 182 out of Jackson, Wyoming, later switching to Teterboro, New Jersey, flying a Cessna 206, the aircraft he soloed in. Ford is an honorary board member of the humanitarian aviation organization Wings of Hope.
On March 5, 2015, Ford's plane, believed to be a Ryan PT-22 Recruit, made an emergency landing on the Penmar Golf Course in Venice, California. Ford had radioed in to report that the plane had suffered engine failure. He was taken to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, where he was reported to be in fair to moderate condition. Ford suffered a broken pelvis and broken ankle during the accident, as well as other injuries.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Charmian Carr was born Charmian Farnon on December 28, 1942. She got her name because, supposedly, her father liked the name after reading William Shakespeare's "Antony and Cleopatra". Charmian was the name of one of Cleopatra's maids. She was the second of three daughters. Her mother, Rita Oehmen, had been a vaudeville actress with her brother Eddy, and her father, Brian Farnon, was a musician. She remembers her childhood as very nice, because her older sister Shannon Farnon was always there to watch out for her and their younger sister, Darleen Carr. She moved from Chicago to California when she was 13 and her father left her mother a few years after that. The girls hardly saw their father after that.
She wanted to travel and to visit Europe, little knowing that a movie she would make would be partially shot in Europe. She worked as a doctor's assistant for awhile until a friend of her mother's asked her to audition for the part of "Liesl Von Trapp" in the movie, The Sound of Music (1965). Her fictional family became part of her real family and she considers Nicholas Hammond (who played her brother "Freidrich Von Trapp") her real brother. After she made the movie, she spent much of the next several years promoting the movie around the world.
During a lull in the touring, she met and married Jay Brent and became the mother of two girls. She continued acting for a while, but decided that she wanted to stay home and raise her children. After her children were grown, she began a decorating company and met Michael Jackson, who became one of her clients. Other clients included members of her "Sound of Music" family, including Heather Menzies-Urich and her husband Robert Urich and Ernest Lehman.
She got divorced from Jay in 1991. In the late 1990s, she wrote a book about her life and her experiences being Liesl, called "Forever Liesl".- Producer
- Director
- Actor
Martin Charles Scorsese was born on November 17, 1942 in Queens, New York City, to Catherine Scorsese (née Cappa) and Charles Scorsese, who both worked in Manhattan's garment district, and whose families both came from Palermo, Sicily. He was raised in the neighborhood of Little Italy, which later provided the inspiration for several of his films. Scorsese earned a B.S. degree in film communications in 1964, followed by an M.A. in the same field in 1966 at New York University's School of Film. During this time, he made numerous prize-winning short films including The Big Shave (1967), and directed his first feature film, Who's That Knocking at My Door (1967).
He served as assistant director and an editor of the documentary Woodstock (1970) and won critical and popular acclaim for Mean Streets (1973), which first paired him with actor and frequent collaborator Robert De Niro. In 1976, Scorsese's Taxi Driver (1976), also starring De Niro, was awarded the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, and he followed that film with New York, New York (1977) and The Last Waltz (1978). Scorsese directed De Niro to an Oscar-winning performance as boxer Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull (1980), which received eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director, and is hailed as one of the masterpieces of modern cinema. Scorsese went on to direct The Color of Money (1986), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), Goodfellas (1990), Cape Fear (1991), The Age of Innocence (1993), Casino (1995) and Kundun (1997), among other films. Commissioned by the British Film Institute to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of cinema, Scorsese completed the four-hour documentary, A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies (1995), co-directed by Michael Henry Wilson.
His long-cherished project, Gangs of New York (2002), earned numerous critical honors, including a Golden Globe Award for Best Director; the Howard Hughes biopic The Aviator (2004) won five Academy Awards, in addition to the Golden Globe and BAFTA awards for Best Picture. Scorsese won his first Academy Award for Best Director for The Departed (2006), which was also honored with the Director's Guild of America, Golden Globe, New York Film Critics, National Board of Review and Critic's Choice awards for Best Director, in addition to four Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Scorsese's documentary of the Rolling Stones in concert, Shine a Light (2008), followed, with the successful thriller Shutter Island (2010) two years later. Scorsese received his seventh Academy Award nomination for Best Director, as well as a Golden Globe Award, for Hugo (2011), which went on to win five Academy Awards.
Scorsese also serves as executive producer on the HBO series Boardwalk Empire (2010) for which he directed the pilot episode. Scorsese's additional awards and honors include the Golden Lion from the Venice Film Festival (1995), the AFI Life Achievement Award (1997), the Honoree at the Film Society of Lincoln Center's 25th Gala Tribute (1998), the DGA Lifetime Achievement Award (2003), The Kennedy Center Honors (2007) and the HFPA Cecil B. DeMille Award (2010). Scorsese and actor Leonardo DiCaprio have worked together on five separate occasions: Gangs of New York (2002), The Aviator (2004), The Departed (2006), Shutter Island (2010) and The Wolf of Wall Street (2013).- Cassandra Harris was born on 15 December 1942 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. She was an actress, known for For Your Eyes Only (1981), Remington Steele (1982) and Rough Cut (1980). She was married to Pierce Brosnan, Dermot Harris and William Firth. She died on 28 December 1991 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Actor
- Producer
- Director
A natural at portraying complex villains, anti-heroes, and charming heavies, Ian McShane is the classically trained, award-winning actor who has grabbed attention and acclaim from audiences and critics around the world with his unforgettable gallery of scoundrels, kings, mobsters and thugs.
And, now, a god as well!
McShane just completed his third season (as star and executive producer) on the hit Starz series, "American Gods," the TV adaptation of Neil Gaiman's 2001 novel. As Mr. Wednesday, a shifty, silver-tongued conman, he masks his true identity - that of the Norse god of war, Odin, who's assembling a team of elders to bring down the new false idols. A series McShane calls "like nothing else I've seen on television."
It's a comment that also befits McShane's critically-acclaimed role of the charismatic, menacing and lawless 19th century brothel-and-bar keep, Al Swearengen, in the profound and profane HBO western series "Deadwood," which ran for just 36 episodes over three seasons from 2004-06. For his work on the series' second season, McShane won the 2005 Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Television Drama (in addition to Emmy and Screen Actors Guild nominations as Outstanding Lead Dramatic Actor). He also received the Television Critics Association Award for Individual Achievement in Drama for his work in the show's debut season (with a second nomination in 2005).
It is a role and performance the New York Times dubbed "one of the most interesting villains on television." And, a recent online poll called Swearengen a more compelling onscreen gangster over the likes of Tony Soprano and Michael Corleone. After a twelve-year hiatus from portraying maybe his most iconic character ("it was the most satisfyingly creative three years of my professional career" he says), McShane recently reprised the unforgettable rogue when HBO resurrected the 1870s western in a two-hour telefilm, "Deadwood: The Movie," nominated for the Outstanding Television Movie Emmy.
At an age when many successful thespians turn to cameo appearances and character parts, McShane's busy career (which dates back to 1962) also includes three very different starring roles on the big screen. He was seen alongside David Harbour in Neil Marshall's reimagined comic book epic, "Hellboy." McShane also co-starred with Gary Carr in the Dan Pritzker drama, "Bolden," the biopic of musician Buddy Bolden, the father of jazz and a key figure in the development of ragtime music (McShane portrays Bolden's nemesis, Judge Perry). And, he reprised his role (reuniting with Keanu Reeves) as Winston, the suave and charming owner of the assassins-only Tribeca hotel in the latest installment of director Chad Stahelski's action trilogy, "John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum," which opened to enormous box office success.
Years before his triumphant role in "Deadwood," McShane had compiled a long and diverse career on both British and American television. He produced and starred in the acclaimed series "Lovejoy" for the BBC (and A&E in the U.S.), directing several episodes during the show's lengthy run. The popular Sunday night drama (which attracted 18 million viewers weekly during its run from 1990-94) saw McShane in the title role of an irresistible, roguish Suffolk antiques dealer. He would reunite with the BBC by producing and starring in the darker and more serious drama, Madson.
He collected a second Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Miniseries for his portrayal of the scheming Waleran Bigod in Starz's Emmy-nominated "Pillars of the Earth." The production, which originated on the U.K.'s Channel 4, was based on Ken Follett's bestselling historic novel about the building of a 12th-century cathedral during the time known as "the Anarchy" after King Henry I had lost his only son in the White Ship disaster of 1120. It's a character McShane says "would fit into the Vatican."
He is also well-known to TV audiences for his roles in FX's "American Horror Story," Showtime's "Ray Donovan" and, more recently, Amazon's "Dr. Thorne" and HBO's juggernaut, "Game of Thrones" ("I loved the character and did it because my three grandkids, big fans of the show, wouldn't have forgiven me if I hadn't"). And, he first worked with "American Gods" producer Michael Green on the short-lived NBC drama, "Kings," a show (inspired by The Book Of Samuel) he calls "far too revolutionary for network television."
Other notable small screen roles include his appearance in David Wolper's landmark miniseries "Roots" (as the British cockfighting aficionado), "Whose Life Is it Anyway?," Heathcliff in the 1967 miniseries "Wuthering Heights" and Harold Pinter's Emmy-winning "The Caretaker." McShane has also played a variety of real-life subjects like Sejanus in the miniseries "A.D.," the title role of Masterpiece Theater's "Disraeli: Portrait of A Romantic" and Judas in NBC's "Jesus of Nazareth" (directed by Franco Zeffirelli).
McShane, who shows no signs of slowing down in a career now entrenched in its sixth decade ("acting is the only business where the older you get, the parts and the pay get better"), began his career during Britain's New Wave Cinema of the early 1960s. He landed his first lead role in the 1962 English feature "The Wild and the Willing," which also starred another acting upstart and fellow Brit - McShane's lifelong friend, the late John Hurt. McShane later revealed that he had ditched class at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art to audition for the role.
Since that 1962 motion picture debut, McShane has enjoyed a fabulous run of character roles such as the sinister Cockney mobster, Teddy Bass, opposite Ray Winstone and Ben Kingsley in "Sexy Beast"; the infamous pirate, Blackbeard, alongside Johnny Depp and Penelope Cruz in "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides"; and Richard Burton's bi-sexual partner, Wolfie, in the 1971 heist film, "Villain." He gave Hayley Mills her first onscreen kiss as a smoldering gypsy in 1965's "Sky West and Crooked," was part of the stellar ensemble cast (James Mason, James Coburn, Dyan Cannon) in the Stephen Sondheim-Anthony Perkins scripted big screen mystery, "The Last of Sheila," and played a retired sheriff with a violent past opposite Patrick Wilson in the gritty drama, "The Hollow Point."
Other film credits include Guy Hamilton's all-star WWII epic, "The Battle of Britain," the romantic comedy "If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium," "Pottersville," "Hercules," "Snow White and the Huntsman" and "Jawbone" (reuniting with fellow Brit Ray Winstone in both), "Jack the Giant Slayer," Woody Allen's "Scoop," Rodrigo Garcia's indie drama "Nine Lives" (Gotham Award nominee for Best Ensemble Performance) and the darkly perverse crime drama, "44 Inch Chest," a film in which McShane not only starred, but also produced.
While also making his professional theatre debut in 1962 ("Infanticide in the House of Fred August," Arts Theatre, London), McShane appeared onstage in the original 1965 production of Joe Orton's "Loot." Two years later, he starred alongside Ian McKellen and Judi Dench in the hit stage play, "The Promise," a production which transferred to Broadway in 1967 (with Eileen Atkins replacing Dench). He would return to Broadway one more time forty years later (2008), starring in the 40th anniversary staging of Harold Pinter's "The Homecoming," for which he shared a Drama Desk Award as Best Cast Ensemble.
McShane also returned to the West End boards in 2000, charming audiences as the seductive, sex-obsessed Darryl Van Horne while making his musical stage debut in Cameron Mackintosh's "The Witches of Eastwick," an adaptation of the 1987 film. At the esteemed Matrix Theatre in Los Angeles, he appeared in Harold Pinter's "Betrayal," and John Osborne's "Inadmissible Evidence," earning a pair of Los Angeles Drama Critics' Awards for Lead Performance in the process. He also starred in the world premiere of Larry Atlas' "Yield of the Long Bond."
In addition to his work in front of the camera, McShane is also well-known for his voiceover work, with his low, distinctive baritone on display in a variety of projects. He voiced the eccentric magician, Mr. Bobinsky, in Henry Selick's award nominated "Coraline" (scripted by "American Gods" author Neil Gaiman), lent a sinister air to Tai Lung, the snow leopard adept at martial arts, in "Kung Fu Panda" (Annie Award nominee), and created the notorious Captain Hook in "Shrek the Third." He also narrated Grace Jones' 1985 album, Slave to the Rhythm, succumbing to producer Trevor Horn's request to take the job because, per Horn," Orson Welles was dead, and I needed a voice." The album sold over a million copies worldwide. In the virtual reality domain, he recently lent his voice to the award- winning VR animated short "Age of Sail" in the role of the elderly sailor, William Avery, adrift alone in the North Atlantic.
After almost sixty years entertaining audiences across the performance spectrum, McShane admits he did not set out for a career in the footlights while growing up in Manchester, England (he was actually born in Blackburn). It was by unexpected circumstances after McShane broke his leg playing soccer that he ended up performing in the school play production of Cyrano De Bergerac where he met his life-long friend and teacher, Leslie Ryder. Before he knew it, he auditioned for the Royal Academy of Arts where he was accepted and then left a term early to appear in the film, "The Wild and The Willing".
McShane never looked back.- Actor
- Director
- Soundtrack
Andrew Jordt Robinson was born in New York City and attended the University of New Hampshire, later receiving his B.A. in English from the New School for Social Research in NYC. After graduation, he spent a year in England at the London Academy for Music and Dramatic Arts on a Fulbright Scholarship. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Mr. Robinson performed a wide variety of theater, movie and television roles. These included the infamous Scorpio killer in Dirty Harry (1971), a stint on Ryan's Hope (1975), which earned him an Emmy nomination, and the title role in a TV movie about Liberace. He was chosen for the continuing guest role of "Elim Garak", the Cardassian tailor/spy on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993), after first reading for the part of "Odo"! In the early 90s, Mr. Robinson helped found The Matrix Theatre Company in Los Angeles. In addition to acting in several of the company's productions, in 1995 and 1996 his direction of "Endgame" and "The Homecoming" at the Matrix earned him two Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards. This led to his TV directing debut on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993), and Mr. Robinson has since gone on to direct episodes of Star Trek: Voyager (1995). 1997-1998 directorial projects at The Matrix were "Dangerous Corner" and "A Moon for the Misbegotten".- Beautiful California-born Angel Tompkins started her career out as a Chicago-area model before attempting an on-camera career in the late 60s. She made an assured (major) film debut as the seductive blonde who comes between husband and wife Elliott Gould and Brenda Vaccaro in the comedy I Love My Wife (1970). An irreverent vehicle for Gould, who was in the initial stages of his euphoric post-M*A*S*H (1970) super stardom, Angel experienced almost Bo Derek-like attention as Gould's mistress and earned a Golden Globe nomination for "Best Newcomer" in the process. The camera obviously loved her and she immediately went into a slew of projects, but the quality was nowhere to be found after such a promising start.
Prime Cut (1972) at least co-starred Gene Hackman and Lee Marvin with newcomer Sissy Spacek in a featured role, but it bordered on trashy entertainment. Angel's "Clarabelle" character did warrant some attention when Playboy magazine featured some nude scenes in their pages. Little Cigars (1973) has a minor cult following today but is no great shakes. Angel again played a mistress, this time a mobster's gal, who joins a band of little people and robs banks and casinos. Such teasing sexploitation films as How to Seduce a Woman (1974) and The Teacher (1974), the latter co-starring the now-grownup Dennis the Menace (1959) Jay North, and violence-prone flicks including The Don Is Dead (1973), The Farmer (1977) and The Bees (1978) did not help in the long run.
On TV, Angel played a season on the short-lived Search (1972), and showed up in scores of guest spots as either a fetching diversion or fetching part of the action in such shows as The Wild Wild West (1965), Mannix (1967), Task Force: Part I (1976), Knight Rider (1982) and Simon & Simon (1981). She continued into the 80s but her filming remained standard. Playing a stripper who divorces Charles Bronson in Murphy's Law (1986), later film appearances include the action-filled Relentless (1989), Crack House (1989) and Extreme Honor (2001). A dedicated SAG board member all these years, Angel's multiple runs for the presidency have thus far been unsuccessful. - Actor
- Soundtrack
- Producer
The handsome, weird and worldly-looking Chris Sarandon has shown his versatility in everything from vampires to Jesus Christ in hypnotic performances that have been controversial but irresistible. He was born Christopher Sarandon, Jr. and raised in Beckley, West Virginia of Greek heritage on both sides (family surname originally Sarondonethes). His mother Cliffie (Cardullias) and father Christopher Sarandon, Sr. were restaurateurs.
As a teen, Chris appeared locally on the musical stage and played drums and sang back-up with a local band called The Teen Tones. His band toured following high school and backed up such music legends as Bobby Darin, Gene Vincent and Danny and the Juniors. Chris later attended West Virginia University majoring in speech, but appearing in such musical productions as "The Music Man" as Harold Hill. He went on to attend the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, where he received his master's degree in theater and met first wife Susan Sarandon. They married in 1967.
Touring with improv companies and in regional theater productions, he made his professional debut in "The Rose Tattoo" in 1965 and later joined the Long Wharf Theatre Company for a season. The Sarandons moved to New York in 1968, wherein the dark and handsome charmer immediately nabbed the role of Dr. Tom Halverson on the daytime soap Guiding Light (1952), a part that would last two years. Throughout the 1970s he would be rewarded with rich theater acting roles. On Broadway he appeared in "The Rothchilds" and replaced Raul Julia in "Two Gentlemen from Verona" while appearing elsewhere in various Shakespeare and Shaw festivals both here and in Canada.
Chris made a phenomenally successful film debut in a huge, career-risking part as bank robber's Al Pacino's tormented, gender-confused lover in Dog Day Afternoon (1975), earning the New York Film Critics award and Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for his supporting turn. He took other sordid roles as well, this time in co-leads, such as opposite Margaux Hemingway in the poorly received exploitative thriller Lipstick (1976) and as a demon in the shocker The Sentinel (1977). To avoid being typed as creepy characters, Chris furthered his range of roles in years to come, including the title role in The Day Christ Died (1980), a critically heralded TV-movie. He then received high marks also for his mesmerizing interpretation of two completely different characters with unique subtlety, intelligence, charisma and profoundness as both Sydney Carton and Charles Darnay in A Tale of Two Cities (1980) and co-starred with Goldie Hawn in the more mainstream Protocol (1984). By the end of the 1970's, he and Susan would divorce and he would remarry (model Lisa Ann Cooper).
Moving into 80s work, Chris endeared himself to a younger generation of film goers with memorable performances in enjoyable roles such as the undeniably sexy, magnetic vampire-next-door in the teen horror classic Fright Night (1985), the cruel, evil-plotting prince in Rob Reiner's The Princess Bride (1987) and as the investigating cop in Child's Play (1988), the first in the "Chucky" series about a murdering doll. In recent years Chris has continued steadily on stage, film and TV but at a lesser pace and in less flashy, high-profiled roles.
In 1991 he co-starred on Broadway in the short-lived musical "Nick and Nora" with Joanna Gleason, the daughter of Monty Hall (Let's Make a Deal (1963)). Again divorced, he and Gleason married in 1994 and reunited on stage in "Thorn & Bloom" in 1998. They have also appeared together in a number of films, including American Perfekt (1997), Edie & Pen (1996) and Let the Devil Wear Black (1999). He found frightful fun and a major cartoon niche as the voice of Jack Skellington in the original Disney movie The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), reprising the role in sequels, video games and Halloween special events.
Into the millennium, Chris' focus has been more on Broadway and off-Broadway theatre with flavorful roles in "The Light in the Piazza," "Cyrano de Bergerac," "Through a Glass Darkly and "The Exonerated." In the 2015 production of "Preludes," he played multiple roles that included Chekhov, Tchaikovsky and Tolstoy. He has also sporadically appeared in films with featured parts in Perfume (2001), Loggerheads (2005), My Sassy Girl (2008), a cameo as a vampire victim in a remake of Fright Night (2011), Safe (2012) and Frank the Bastard (2013), Big Stone Gap (2014) and I Smile Back (2015). He has also uplifted a number of popular TV shows with his presence: "ER," "Charmed," "Cold Case," "Judging Amy," "Law and Order," "The Good Wife," "Orange Is the New Black" and as the voice of Dracula in "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles."- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Director. Writer. Producer. Actor. Poet. He studied history, literature and theatre for some time, but didn't finish it and founded instead his own film production company in 1963. Later in his life, Herzog also staged several operas in Bayreuth, Germany, and at the Milan Scala in Italy. Herzog has won numerous national and international awards for his poetic feature and documentary films.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Gorgeous, brown-eyed, chestnut-maned Sherry Jackson began her promising career as a pig-tailed, pleasant-looking child actress. Born in Idaho on February 15, 1942, she was the only daughter of four children born to Maurita Kathleen Gilbert and Curtis Loys Jackson, Sr. Her father died when she was 6, and the family relocated to Los Angeles. Her mother married television writer/director/actor Montgomery Pittman, who died of cancer in 1962. Sherry's mother provided her daughter drama, singing and dancing lessons as a child. The story goes that the little girl was discovered by a talent agent while she and her mother were waiting for a bus. She began her career at age 7 with small, un-billed bit parts in You're My Everything (1949), For Heaven's Sake (1950), Lorna Doone (1951), The Great Caruso (1951), and two of the "Ma and Pa Kettle" films series, Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town (1950) and Ma and Pa Kettle Back on the Farm (1951), as Susie Kettle, one of the couple's numerous children.
Sherry gained more attention as her parts increased in size, holding her own among the Hollywood's movie elite, including moppet star Bobby Driscoll in When I Grow Up (1951); John Garfield and Patricia Neal in The Breaking Point (1950); and rugged Steve Cochran in the "B" western The Lion and the Horse (1952). She earned good notices as John Wayne's daughter in Trouble Along the Way (1953), but her most impressive role during this time was as a Portuguese youngster who witnesses a vision in the religious offering The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima (1952). At age 11, she made appearances on both "The Roy Rogers Show" and "The Gene Autry Show". She literally grew up on the small screen as Danny Thomas' daughter Terry Williams on the comedy series The Danny Thomas Show (1953) which co-starred Jean Hagen as her mother and Rusty Hamer as her pesky younger brother. A cast change occurred in 1956 when Hagen, who did not get along with Danny Thomas, opted to leave the show (Hagen's character was killed off between seasons) and a step-mother (played by Marjorie Lord) and step-sister (played by Angela Cartwright) helped increase the ratings. During the show's run, she was given a strong teen role in the film drama Come Next Spring (1956) as the daughter of Ann Sheridan and Steve Cochran.
Named a "Deb Star" in 1959, Sherry played a number of beguiling victims or bewitching vixens on such 60's programs as "77 Sunset Strip," "Mr. Novak," "The Twilight Zone," "Hawaiian Eye," "Gunsmoke," "Perry Mason," "Gomer Pyle," "The Virginian," "My Three Sons," "Batman" and "The Wild, Wild West." On film, the vivacious beauty was pretty much relegated to minor cult worship in low-budgets or exploitation films -- Wild on the Beach (1965), Gunn (1967), The Mini-Skirt Mob (1968) and The Monitors (1969). One could usually spot Sherry somewhere as a biker babe, party chick, capricious rich girl or scantily-clad fem-fatale with character names such as "Comfort", "Shasta", "Lola" and "Mona" pretty much putting a stamp on her typecast.
Her adult work remained a sexy standard throughout the 1970's as seen in the TV-movies Wild Women (1970), Hitchhike! (1974), The Girl on the Late, Late Show (1974), Returning Home (1975), and Casino (1980). She also reprised her role as Terry Williams in the premiere episode (only) of the series Make Room for Granddaddy (1970) and appeared in the glamorous title role of Brenda Starr, Reporter (1979), an unsold TV pilot. As a guest star, she participated in such well-established series as "Love, American Style", "Get Christie Love", "The Rockford Files", "Matt Helm", "Barnaby Jones", "The Streets of San Francisco", "Starsky & Hutch", "The Incredible Hulk", "Fantasy Island", "Charlie's Angels", and "CHiPs".
A few forgettable films came her way with Cotter (1973), Bare Knuckles (1977) and Stingray (1978), but she grew hard-pressed to find more challenging parts. By the early 1990s, a frustrated Sherry let her career slide away. She was last seen onscreen of an episode of the soap opera "Guiding Light" in 1992. Never married, she was involved in a fairly long-term relationship with business executive and horse breeder Fletcher R. Jones. That ended in 1972 when he died in a small plane crash.- Actor
- Location Management
- Soundtrack
Seemingly omnipresent on both stage and screen, David Bradley has amassed a truly diverse gallery of memorable characters. The pugnacious-looking, gruff-voiced performer has played fools and kings, gardeners and fishermen, policemen and murderers, priests and madmen, undertakers and rabbis, a druid and a vampire hunter. On the Shakespearean stage alone, he has headlined as Henry IV, Titus Andronicus and Cymbeline, King of Britain. His numerous portrayals have included the foolish Polonius in Hamlet, the jester Trinculo in The Tempest, Mephostophiles in Doctor Faustus, and, unsurprisingly, Ebenezer Scrooge. He is quoted, saying, "Not all the characters I play are on the side of the angels....I consider myself fortunate in having a lot of variety of work whether it's on stage or on film, and the parts have been rich and varied."
Bradley was born in York where his first exposure to performing in public at the age of fourteen began inauspiciously (he fainted from an attack of nerves). Nonetheless, he found himself inexorably drawn to the acting profession after a trip to the pictures, watching Laurence Olivier in his celebrated role as Richard III (1955). Having left Catholic school, Bradley began his professional life by serving a five-year long apprenticeship with the optical instruments manufacturing firm of Cooke, Troughton & Simms, a subsidiary of Vickers. Moving on in 1966, he eventually took his first steps on the stage in musical productions with the York Boys Club and the Rowntree Youth Theatre. From there, he moved on to join the Settlement Players (getting his first grounding in roles by Shakespeare and Chekhov) and then the York Co-operative Players, where he was mentored by the producer Edward Taylor. Bradley later explained: "He's the one who encouraged me to go to drama school, and helped me with my audition speeches."
Having relocated to London, Bradley was accepted by the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and, in 1968, made his bona fide acting debut in a RADA theatrical production of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. In 1972, he successfully auditioned for Olivier and spent several seasons with the National Theatre Company. In 1978, he became an alumnus of the Royal Shakespeare Company. One of the high points of his theatrical career was receiving a Laurence Olivier Award in 1991 for his role as the fool in King Lear. More recently, in 2005, he headlined as Henry IV in Parts One and Two at London's Olivier Theatre.
On screen from 1971, Bradley toiled for some two decades in unremarkable supporting parts. His acting sharpened with the passage of time and he was given more substantial roles to play by the mid-90s. Three of his early standouts were in BBC period drama: his David Crimp, Secretary of the 'Disinterested Loan and Life Assurance Company', in an adaptation of Martin Chuzzlewit (1994); the lecherous and miserly Baronet Sir Pitt Crawley in Vanity Fair (1998) and the leering blackmailer Rogue Riderhood in Our Mutual Friend (1998), based on a lesser known novel by Charles Dickens. He also appeared with Christopher Eccleston in the political drama Our Friends in the North (1996), as independent Labour MP Eddie Wells. In Bradley's own words: "That was the biggest part I'd ever done on TV and it opened up a lot of opportunities for me on screen". In the excellent musical drama six-part miniseries Blackpool (2004), Bradley later portrayed Hallworth, a devout Christian anti-gambling crusader and vocal opponent of David Morrissey's overambitious arcade owner Ripley Holden.
After playing a succession of curmudgeons and cantankerous old geezers, Bradley took a surprising detour into the comical, co-starring opposite Dawn French and Catherine Tate in Wild West (2002) as the entrepreneurial Cornish boatman Old Jake. He also popped up as the (aptly named) gun-toting farmer Arthur Webley in the buddy cop comedy Hot Fuzz (2007) and as Cohen the Barbarian, Discworld's 'greatest warrior', in Sky One's adaptation of Terry Pratchett's quirky fantasy The Color of Magic (2008). By that time, he had also embarked on his recurring role as Argus Filch, the caretaker of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, in the Harry Potter films. Bradley later revealed that his children had steered him towards the Harry Potter franchise and 'coached' him for the role of Filch.
Returning to period drama, Bradley appeared in too few scenes as the (wise) court jester Will Somers, the only individual who would console a distraught Henry VIII after the death of Jane Seymour in Showtime's historical drama series The Tudors (2007). The following year saw him nominated by the London Film Critics Circle as Best Supporting Actor for his role as Ronnie Hepple in Mike Leigh's acclaimed 'kitchen sink' comedy-drama Another Year (2010).
If Harry Potter had not already put him on the map, Bradley's next set of performances would certainly have done the trick. In 2014, he won a BAFTA TV Award for his role as the tormented Jack Marshall, a local shopkeeper in Broadchurch (2013), unjustly accused of being a paedophile and murderer, consequently driven to suicide. Returning to the dark side side, he subsequently portrayed his most evil character to date, the duplicitous Walder Frey, Lord of Riverrun, in HBO's epic series Game of Thrones (2011). Bradley relished the role of the man audiences loved to hate, with Frey having presided over the 'red wedding' (in season three's penultimate episode), at which Robb, Talisa and Catelyn Stark and many of their bannermen were brutally slain. In the aftermath of the show, Bradley quipped to reporters at the Television Critics Association's press tour "wedding invitations have dried up".
In 2012, Bradley made his entry (not counting earlier voice-over work and podcasts) into the Doctor Who (2005) universe as Solomon, a ruthless space pirate, in the episode "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship'. He was then perfectly cast as William Hartnell --the actor who portrayed the very first Doctor in 1963-- in the BBC's excellent docu-drama An Adventure in Space and Time (2013). Bradley followed up to play Hartnell's role in an episode of season ten ('The Doctor Falls'), the 2017 Christmas special 'Twice Upon a Time' and in the final 2022 special, entitled 'The Power of the Doctor'.
More recently, Bradley has appeared on TV as the fierce vampire hunter Abraham Setrakian, a holocaust survivor and New York pawnshop proprietor, relentlessly in pursuit of the demonic Strigoi (led by 'The Master', aka Sariel) while combating a global viral outbreak known as The Strain (2014). For his commanding performance, Bradley was nominated for a Fangoria Chainsaw Award and a Saturn Award by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA. Incidentally, the show's Setrakian character bears more than a passing resemblance to Van Helsing in Bram Stoker's classic 'Dracula'.
Bradley's other recent roles of note have included a wizened Druid in the historical fantasy Britannia (2017), the demented father of suicidal newspaper writer Tony Johnson (Ricky Gervais) in the black comedy After Life (2019) and the voice of Fowler, an elderly, stiff-upper-lip rooster and ex-RAF mascot, in Aardman's animation Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget (2023).
David Bradley holds honorary doctorates from the University of Warwick and from York St. John University. He has long resided n Stratford-upon-Avon, where he has served as president of Second Thoughts, a local community theatre group set up in 1984.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Madeline Kahn was born Madeline Gail Wolfson of Russian Jewish descent on September 29, 1942 in Boston, Massachusetts, to Freda Goldberg (later known as Paula Kahn), who was still in her teens, and Bernard B. Wolfson, a garment manufacturer. She began her acting career in high school and went on to university where she trained as an opera singer and starred in several campus productions, ultimately earning an honorary doctorate from Boston Conservatory.
Kahn's best-known work came in the Mel Brooks films, but she was a standout in Paper Moon (1973) with Ryan O'Neal, which was followed the next year by Mel Brooks's outrageous Blazing Saddles (1974) as Lili Von Shtupp, a cabaret singer who was obviously based on Marlene Dietrich's performance in Destry Rides Again (1939). Kahn was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in both movies. In 1998, she lent her voice to the character of "Gypsy" in A Bug's Life (1998).
On December 3, 1999, Madeline Kahn died of ovarian cancer in New York City, after a yearlong or so battle, during part of which time she was a cast member of Cosby (1996), aged 57.- Tony Sirico was born in New York City on July 29, 1942 to a family of Italian descent. He grew up in the Brooklyn neighborhoods of East Flatbush and Bensonhurst. His brother, Father Robert Sirico, is a Catholic priest and co-founder of the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty. The Institute has been described as an "American research and educational institution, or think tank," in Grand Rapids, Michigan, whose stated mission is "to promote a free and virtuous society characterized by individual liberty and sustained by religious principles."
Sirico was convicted of several crimes and was arrested 28 times, including for disorderly conduct, assault, and robbery, before taking up acting. On February 27, 1970, he was arrested at a restaurant, and found with a .32 caliber revolver on his person. In 1971, he was indicted for extortion, coercion, and felony weapons possession, convicted, and sentenced to four years in prison, of which he served 20 months at Sing Sing.
Tony Sirico died on July 8, 2022, from undisclosed causes, aged 79. - Actor
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Michael York was born in Fulmer, England, 27 March 1942. He performed on stage with the National Youth Theatre in London's East End and on international tour. Other early acting experience came through the Oxford University Dramatic Society (he graduated from Oxford in1964), the Dundee Repertory, and Laurence Olivier's National Theater Company - where he worked with Franco Zeffirelli, who gave him his film debut as Lucentio in The Taming of The Shrew (1967) and his breakthrough role as Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet (1968). He achieved early TV acclaim for his portrayal of Jolyon in The Forsyte Saga (1967). Other notable early movie roles include Brian Roberts in Cabaret (1972), Count Andrenyi in Murder on the Orient Express (1974) and D'Artagnan in several Musketeers films. He has starred in over 50 TV movies, continued stage work, starring on Broadway, made many spoken word recordings, written and lectured internationally. His autobiography (1993) was issued as "Accidentally on Purpose" in the U.S. and "Travelling Player" in Britain. He was in the hit The Omega Code (1999) with Catherine Oxenberg and Casper Van Dien. He had a great part in all of the "Austin Powers" films.- Actor
- Writer
- Composer
Billy Connolly was born and raised in Glasgow, Scotland. He left school to work in the shipyards, becoming a welder, and joined the Territorial Army (in the parachute regiment) at around the same time. He developed an interest in folk music, eventually being an accomplished banjo player and a member of the band Humblebums with Gerry Rafferty (later of Baker Street fame). The jokes he told between songs eventually took over his act and he became a full-time comedian. Already a big star in Scotland, he became a household name in the UK after appearing on Parkinson (1971) in the early seventies. Billy has released many recordings and videos of his concert performances over the years. He has expanded his repertoire to include acting, appearing in a number of television dramas and films, most recently in the USA. In the 90s he made two documentary series for the BBC, about Scotland and Australia respectively, and in 1997 he starred in the award winning film Mrs. Brown (1997). He is one of the UK's top comedians.- Actress
- Soundtrack
A familiar character actress, Marianna Hill is the daughter of a building contractor. From her native southern California, her family moved around frequently, including to Canada, Spain and Great Britain. As a result, she became familiar with different accents and dialects, whether a French accent (for a guest appearance on My Three Sons (1960), or German Hogan's Heroes (1965). She started acting while a teenager, apprenticing at the La Jolla (Calif.) Playhouse, and also studied at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City. Marianna's exotic looks enabled her to portray a variety of types, including a Hawaiian girl, an Irish lass and Greek beauty. She has also been an acting coach and teacher at the Lee Strasberg Institute in London.- Music Artist
- Actress
- Producer
Barbra Streisand is an American singer, actress, director and producer and one of the most successful personalities in show business. She is the only person ever to receive all of the following: Oscar, Tony, Emmy, Grammy, Golden Globe, Cable Ace, National Endowment for the Arts, and Peabody awards, as well as the Kennedy Center Honor, American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement honor and the Film Society of Lincoln Center Chaplin Award.
She was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1942 to Diana Kind (née Ida Rosen), a singer turned school secretary, and Emanuel Streisand, a high school teacher. Her father died when she was 15 months old. She has a brother, Sheldon, and a half-sister, Roslyn Kind, from their mother's remarriage. As a child she attended the Beis Yakov Jewish School in Brooklyn. She was raised in a middle-class family and grew up dreaming of becoming an actress (or even an actress / conductor, as she happily described her teenage years at one of her concerts).
After a period as a nightclub singer and off-Broadway performer in New York City she began to attract interest and a fan base, thanks to her original and powerful vocal talent. She debuted on Broadway in the 1962 musical comedy "I Can Get It For You Wholesale" by Harold Rome, receiving a Tony Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress and a New York Drama Critics Poll award. The following year she reached great commercial success with her first Columbia Records solo releases, "The Barbra Streisand Album" (multiple Grammy winner, including "Best Album of the Year") and "The Second Barbra Streisand Album" (her first RIAA Gold Album); these albums, mostly devoted to composer Harold Arlen, brought her critical praise and, most of all, public acclaim all over the US. In 1964 she had another smash Broadway hit when she portrayed legendary Broadway star Fanny Brice in "Funny Girl" by Jule Styne and Bob Merrill; the show's main song, "People", became her first hit single and she appeared on the cover of Time magazine. After many TV appearances as a guest on various music and variety shows (such as an episode of The Judy Garland Show (1963), for which she was nominated for an Emmy), she signed an exclusive contract with CBS for a series of annual TV specials. My Name Is Barbra (1965) (which won an Emmy) and Color Me Barbra (1966) were extremely successful.
After a brief London stage period and the birth of her son Jason Gould (with then-husband Elliott Gould), in summer 1967 she gave a memorable free concert in New York City, "A Happening in Central Park", that was filmed and later broadcast (in an edited version) as a TV special; then she flew to Hollywood for her first movie, Funny Girl (1968), a filming of her stage success. The picture, directed by William Wyler, opened in 1968 and became a hit in the US and abroad, making her an international "superstar" and multiple award winner, including the Best Actress Oscar. After a series of screen musicals, such as Gene Kelly's Hello, Dolly! (1969) and Vincente Minnelli's On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1970), she wanted to try comedies, resulting in such films as The Owl and the Pussycat (1970) and What's Up, Doc? (1972). She turned to dramas and turned out Up the Sandbox (1972) and the classic The Way We Were (1973), directed by Sydney Pollack and co-starring Robert Redford. The song "The Way We Were" (written by Marvin Hamlisch and Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman) became one of her biggest hits and most memorable and famous songs.
She returned to TV for a new special conceived as a musical journey covering many world musical styles, Barbra Streisand and Other Musical Instruments (1973), then returned (for contractual reasons) to her Fanny Brice role in a sequel to her hit "Funny Girl" film, Funny Lady (1975), and the next year turned out one of her most personal film projects, A Star Is Born (1976), one of the biggest hits of the year for which she won a Golden Globe for Best Actress and her second Oscar, for the song "Evergreen". Always extremely busy on the discography side, averaging one album a year throughout the '70s and '80s, she had a string of successful singles and albums, such as "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" (duet with Neil Diamond), "Enough is Enough" (with Donna Summer), "The Main Event" (from her film The Main Event (1979) with her friend Ryan O'Neal) and the album "Guilty", written for her by The Bee Gees' Barry Gibb, which sold more than 10 million copies worldwide.
She debuted as a director with the musical drama Yentl (1983), in which she also portrayed a Jewish girl who is forced to pass herself off as a man to pursue her dreams. The movie received generally positive reviews and the beautiful score by Michel Legrand and lyricists Marilyn Bergman and Alan Bergman stands up as one of Streisand's finest musical works. The film received several Oscar nominations, winning in two categories, but she was not nominated as Best Director, which disappointed both her and her fans, many of whom consider this the Academy's biggest "snub".
In 1985 her album "The Broadway Album" was an unexpected runaway success, winning a Grammy Award and helping to introduce a new generation to the world of American musical theater. In 1986 she performed in a memorable concert, after 19 years of stage silence, "One Voice". She returned to the screen in Nuts (1987), a drama directed by Martin Ritt, in the role of a prostitute accused of murder who fights to avoid being labeled "insane" at her trial. In 1991 she appeared in The Prince of Tides (1991), which many consider to be the pinnacle of her screen career, playing a psychiatrist who tries to help a man (Nick Nolte) to find the pieces of his past life. The film received seven Oscar nominations (but again NOT for Best Directing), but she did receive a nomination from the DGA (Directors Guild of America) for Best Director. In 1994 she returned to the stage after 27 years for a series of sold-out concerts (for the televised version of one of these, she won another Emmy).
In the 1990s she broke several personal records: with two #1 albums ("Back to Broadway" in 1993 and "Higher Ground" in 1997) and became the only artist to achieve a #1 album on the Billboard charts in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s (she extended this record into the 21st century in 2009 with the jazz album "Love is the Answer"). In 1996 she starred in her third picture as director, The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996), with Jeff Bridges and Lauren Bacall. The film had a "the girl got the guy" ending, and the same happened to her in real life--the next year she married well known TV actor James Brolin.
In 2000 she focused her career again on concerts ("Timeless") and in 2006-07 with a European tour. She made only two more films--a supporting role as a sex therapist mother in the Ben Stiller comedy Meet the Fockers (2004) and its sequel, Little Fockers (2010), alongside Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro. She published a book, "Passion for Design", in 2010 and celebrated her friendship with the Bergmans with an entire album of their songs, "What Matters Most" (2011), that debuted in the top 10.
After a long break from filming, she returned in a starring role for the 2012 holiday season with The Guilt Trip (2012), a mother/son picture co-starring Seth Rogen and directed by Anne Fletcher, and is working on putting together a film version of the well-known Jule Styne musical "Gypsy". In almost 50 years of career, Streisand has contributed to the show business industry in a personal and unique way, collecting a multi-generational fan base; she has a powerful and recognize vocal range, and a raucous and often self-deprecating sense of humor, which doesn't prevent her from showing the serious and dramatic sides of her personality. Her strong political belief in social justice infuses her professional career and personal life, and she makes no bones about what she believes; her willingness to put her money where her mouth is has resulted in some truly vicious attacks by many who hold opposite political views, but that hasn't stopped her from acting on her beliefs. She has been honored with the Humanitarian Award from the Human Rights Campaign, an Honorary Doctorate in Arts and Humanities from Brandeis University in 1995, an Honorary Doctorate of Philosophy from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2013 and the bestowing by the government of France the title of Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters. She supports many humanitarian causes through the Streisand Foundation and has been a dedicated environmentalist for many years; she endowed a chair in environmental studies in 1987 and donated her 24-acre estate to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. In addition, she was the lead founder for the Clinton Climate Change Initiative. This effort brought together a consortium of major cities around the world to drive down greenhouse gas emissions. She is a leading spokesperson and fund-raiser for social and political causes close to her heart and has often dedicated proceeds from her live concert performances to benefit programs she supports.- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Bob Hoskins was described by the director John Mackenzie as "an actor from the British tradition but with an almost American approach, an instinctive approach to acting and knowing how to work with the camera". He was born on October 26, 1942, in Bury St. Edmund's, Suffolk, where his mother was living after being evacuated as a result of the heavy bombings. He is the son of Elsie Lillian (Hopkins), a nursery school teacher and cook, and Robert William Hoskins, Sr., who drove a lorry and worked as a bookkeeper. Growing up, Hoskins received only limited education and he left school at 15, but with a passion for language and literature instilled by his former English teacher.
A regular theatre-goer, Hoskins dreamed of starring on stage, but before he could do so he had to work odd jobs for a long time to make ends meet. His acting career started out more by accident than by design, when he accompanied a friend to watch some auditions, only to be confused for one of the people auditioning, getting a script pushed into his hands with the message "You're next". He got the part and acquired an agent. After some stage success, he expanded to television with roles in television series such as Villains (1972) and Thick as Thieves (1974). In the mid-'70s, he started his film career, standing out when he performed alongside Richard Dreyfuss in John Byrum's Inserts (1975) and in a smaller part in Richard Lester's Royal Flash (1975).
Hoskins broke through in 1978 in Dennis Potter's mini TV series, Pennies from Heaven (1978), playing "Arthur Parker", the doomed salesman. After this, a string of high-profile and successful films followed, starting with his true major movie debut in 1980's The Long Good Friday (1980) as the ultimately doomed "Harold Shand". This was followed by such works as The Cotton Club (1984), Mona Lisa (1986), which won him an Oscar nomination as well as a BAFTA award, Cannes Film Festival and Golden Globe), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) (Golden Globe nomination), Mermaids (1990), Hook (1991), Nixon (1995), Felicia's Journey (1999) and Enemy at the Gates (2001).
Hoskins always carefully balanced the riches of Hollywood with the labor of independent film, though leaned more towards the latter than the former. He worked at smaller projects such as Shane Meadows' debut TwentyFourSeven (1997), in which he starred as "Allen Darcy". Besides this, he found time to direct, write and star in The Raggedy Rawney (1988), as well as direct and star in Rainbow (1995), and contributing to HBO's Tales from the Crypt (1989) and Tube Tales (1999).
Suffering from Parkinson's disease in later years, Hoskins died of pneumonia at age 71 in a London hospital.- Writer
- Actor
- Producer
John Kani was born on 30 November 1942 in New Brighton, South Africa. He is a writer and actor, known for Black Panther (2018), Captain America: Civil War (2016) and The Ghost and the Darkness (1996).- Actress
- Soundtrack
Originally groomed for the theater, Sullivan worked at the National Repertory Theatre in Washington D.C. before landing a role in Broadway opposite Dustin Hoffman in "Jimmy Shine". Sullivan continued appearing in theater while working on Falcon Crest (1981) in the 1980s. In the 1960s, Susan played "Lenore Curtin" on Another World (1964) for four years, a role that gave her much experience in television, and evidently had a lot of fun from what fellow co-stars (especially Nicolas Coster) have testified. Following her role, Sullivan was acting off-Broadway when an agent spotted her and encouraged her to move to Hollywood, signing her to a contract which was conditional upon her doing so. She went on to play a dozen different parts on TV before taking on the role that would win her an Emmy nomination; that of Peter Strauss' lover in the miniseries, Rich Man, Poor Man - Book II (1976). Sullivan then played a gynecologist in two TV movies, Having Babies II (1977) and Having Babies III (1978), which led to a role in the short-run series Having Babies (1978) (aka Julia Farr, M.D.). Sullivan then went on to become a member of the ensemble cast of It's a Living (1980). She attained her greatest success during the '80s when she played the often put-upon "Maggie" on Falcon Crest (1981). Throughout FC's run, Sullivan remained devoted to the theatre appearing in "Fifth of July" at the Mark Taper Forum in L.A. and "Last Summer" at Blue Fish Cove in San Francisco. Sullivan decided to leave FC at the start of its final season after seven seasons because she felt "Maggie was repeating herself". Sullivan looks back on her days at FC with pride, especially at her gutsy work when her character had a brief bout with alcohol, drawing on her memories of being the child of an alcoholic. After leaving FC, Sullivan continued her charity association with the Blue Cross and ACOA (Adult Children of Alcoholics). She then got the opportunity to play comedy in a guest stint in Doctor Doctor (1989). Sullivan then recorded two pilot comedies, "Ruth Harper" and "Satellite News". She then went on to play the recurring character of George Carlin's love interest on his self-titled show. While working on GC, she played Robert Urich's ex-wife in Danielle Steel's A Perfect Stranger (1994). In 1995, Sullivan returned to drama in ABC's The Monroes (1995) as "Kathryn Monroe", wife of political aspirant William Devane. Sullivan relished the role, and despite the show folding soon after, she received rave reviews, being dubbed the season's best actress. She was also singled out in publications as the show's saving grace. Sullivan continues to stay in touch with several Falcon Crest (1981) stars, including David Selby, and is now dating author Connell Cowan whom she has been seeing since 1989. Sullivan has a sister, Brigid, an executive at WGBH-TV in Boston, and a brother, Brendan, a methadone counselor in N.Y.C. Sullivan had no qualms about working as a bunny girl in the Manhattan Playboy Club ("I had been a waitress before and I felt I would rather show my legs and make sixty dollars a night instead of twenty"), where she recited Shakespeare while serving drinks. When she was twenty-three, Sullivan dated Cary Grant. Behind the scenes, stories of Susan indicate she is big on practical jokes and works hard at cracking the cast up. Her co-star on Falcon Crest (1981), David Selby (Richard) has recalled the time Susan went into the bathroom to slip into something more comfortable for her role, and when the passion of the scene reached fever-pitch, she dropped the robe to reveal a body-stocking crammed with bottles, cans and tubes of toothpaste. David and the rest of the crew fell about laughing hysterically. Sullivan has been a spokeswoman for Tylenol for many years, and is proud to be associated with the product (pointing out the fact that she has been able to buy a beach house with the proceeds). Attractive, intelligent and outspoken, Sullivan is a well-grounded and giving actress who brings much insight into whichever role she chooses to play.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Actress Linda Evans has personified beauty and grace to American television viewers for over five decades, from her role as Audra Barkley, a daughter of the Old West on The Big Valley (1965) (1965-1969 on ABC) to the glamorous Krystle Carrington on Dynasty (1981) (1981-1989 on ABC) to Hell's Kitchen (2004), the British competitive cooking reality show she won in 2009.
Linda became one of the most celebrated female television stars of the 1980s. For her role as Krystle, wife of an oil multimillionaire played by John Forsythe and good girl counterpart to Joan Collins' evil Alexis, Linda was nominated five times for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a TV Drama series (every year from 1982 to 1986). She won in 1982, sharing the honor with Barbara Bel Geddes of rival primetime television soap opera Dallas (1978). Linda won five People's Choice Awards as Favorite Actress in a Drama Series in 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, and 1986, and was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead actress in a Drama Series in 1983. For her contribution to the television industry, Linda has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6834 Hollywood Blvd.
Linda was born on November 18, 1942, as Linda Evenstad in Hartford, Connecticut, the second of three daughters to parents who were professional dancers. When Linda was six months old, her family moved to Hollywood.
At age 14, Linda was encouraged to take drama classes to overcome her shyness. At 15, she joined a friend who was auditioning for a television commercial. Linda got the part.
A short time later, Linda earned her first guest-starring role on a major television series, Bachelor Father (1957), starring John Forsythe, whose career would become eternally tied to Linda when they portrayed the powerful Carringtons on Dynasty. She went on to guest-star on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1952), Wagon Train (1957), My Favorite Martian (1963) and other staples of the 1960s before landing the role of Audra, daughter of Big Valley matriarch Victoria Barkley, played by Barbara Stanwyck.
Between her Audra years and her portrayal of Krystle, Linda was rarely off the airwaves, guest starring on shows that ranged from McCloud (1970) to The Rockford Files (1974), from the miniseries North & South: Book 2, Love & War (1986) to the primetime drama Hunter (1976), co-starring Linda as secret agent Marty Shaw.
After Dynasty, Linda decided there was something more to life than Hollywood and moved to the Pacific Northwest, where she began an extraordinary journey of self-discovery.
But she returned to performing frequently, starring in the stage play, Legends, and winning the Hell's Kitchen competition while working under Michelin-starred chef Marco Pierre White.
Linda's often lavish and luxurious life has rivaled Krystle Carrington's. She has dined with queens and presidents, been romanced by the rich and famous, and today, what Linda treasures most is the wisdom she has gained along the way.- Daniela Bianchi is an Italian actress, best known for her role of Bond girl Tatiana Romanova in From Russia with Love (1963). She Finished 1st Runner Up in Miss Universe 1960 Competition, enough to get the attentions of Bond movie producers who chose her over 200 female prospects for the role of Tatiana Romanova.
Bianchi made a number of French and Italian movies after From Russia with Love (1963), the last being The Last Chance (1968). One of her later films was Operation Kid Brother (1967), which was a James Bond spoof filmed in English (though Bianchi was again dubbed) and starring Sean Connery's brother, Neil Connery.
In 2012, Bianchi appeared in a small role in the documentary film We're Nothing Like James Bond. - Actress
- Director
- Writer
Britt Ekland was born in Sweden and grew up to be the poster girl for beautiful, big-eyed Scandinavian blondes. She attended a drama school and then joined a traveling theater group. With her looks as her passport, Britt entered films and became a star in Italy. When Peter Sellers met her in a hotel, he fell hard for her and they soon married. The combination of Sellers' stardom and her stunning beauty contributed to her fame (the fact that Sellers suffered a heart attack in bed on their wedding night did not hurt, either). She appeared in several films with her husband, including After the Fox (1966), written by Neil Simon, and the forgettable The Bobo (1967). Her claim to fame would come as the young girl who invented the striptease in The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968). After that, she appeared in a string of movies that were built around her looks and not much else. She did appear in some first-rate productions over the years, though, two of them being Get Carter (1971) and the cult classic The Wicker Man (1973). The high point in her career would be her role as Bond girl Mary Goodnight in The Man with the Golden Gun (1974). After her much publicized breakup with rocker Rod Stewart in 1977, Britt continued to make movies--both features and made-for-TV films--and tried the stage. By that time, the quality of her film projects had decreased markedly, and she was reduced to appearing in things like Fraternity Vacation (1985) and Beverly Hills Vamp (1989).- Actress
- Writer
- Producer
An intelligent, slender leading lady of the 1960s and 70s, Yvette Carmen Mimieux was born in Hollywood, California, to Maria (Montemayor) and René Mimieux, an occasional movie extra. Her father was born in England, of French and German descent, and her mother was Mexican. While she was first persuaded to go into acting by a Hollywood publicist, her discovery for the screen can be attributed to the director Vincente Minnelli who saw her perform in a play and decided to cast her in his melodrama Home from the Hill (1960). Though Yvette's small role ended up on the cutting room floor, MGM producers were sufficiently impressed with her looks to sign her under a long term contract. Her first role of note, Platinum High School (1960), won her a Golden Globe nomination as Most Promising Newcomer. She was then properly 'launched' with the part of Weena, the naive Eloi cave girl, in George Pal's version of The Time Machine (1960). This turned out to be one of the studio's biggest box office winners of 1960. That same year, Mimieux also played a carefree collegian in Where the Boys Are (1960), a teen comedy (with serious undertones) dealing with adolescent sexuality. Both of her performances were well received by critics, but also set the trend for the actress to become typed either as fragile or insecure characters, or as sex kittens.
After a two year hiatus, Mimieux gave a genuinely compelling performance as Clara Johnson, a retarded girl who captures the affections of a young Italian in Light in the Piazza (1962). Though disliking the film, New York Times critic Bosley Crowther described Clara as "played with sunshine radiance and rapturous grace." Having essayed more conventional heroines in Diamond Head (1962) (sister of blustering land baron), The Reward (1965) (a fugitive's girlfriend) and Dark of the Sun (1968) (girl caught up with mercenaries in the Congo), Mimieux began to concentrate on TV movies which gave her the opportunity to further expand her dramatic range. Her contract killer in Hit Lady (1974) and the unhinged stalker in Obsessive Love (1984) were based, respectively, on her own screenplay and story. Probably her last role of note was as the victim of a harrowing chain of events in Jackson County Jail (1976), a downbeat exploitation drama produced by Roger Corman's New World Pictures. In 1985, Mimieux had a recurring role in Berrenger's (1985), a glossy soap opera set in a luxurious department store. The series lasted just one season before being canceled. Though ultimately nominated for three Golden Globes, Mimieux came to bemoan the fact that scriptwriters of the period tended to depict women as 'one-dimensional'.
In 1992, Mimieux left the acting profession to form a partnership with Sara Shane (another ex-MGM contract player) in a Los Angeles-based enterprise called "Partners in Paradise", selling embroidered tapestries, bedspreads and pillows based on Haitian designs. She subsequently went on to find even more lucrative opportunities in real estate. In her spare time, Mimieux traveled extensively, painted and studied archaeology. At the time of her death at the age of 80, she was married to Howard F. Ruby, founder and chairman of Oakwood Worldwide, a large global corporation providing furnished apartments.- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Amitabh Bachchan was born on October 11, 1942 in Allahabad, British India (present-day Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, India) to legendary poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan & Teji Bachchan. He also has a brother named Ajitabh. He completed his education from Uttar Pradesh and moved to Bombay to find work as a film star, in vain though, as film-makers preferred someone with a fairer skin, and he was not quite fair enough. But they did use one of his other assets, his deep baritone voice, which was used for narration and background commentary. He was successful in being cast in Saat Hindustani. He got his break in Bollywood after a letter of introduction from the then Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi, as he was a friend of her son, Rajiv Gandhi. This is how Bachchan made an entry in Bollywood, starting with Zanjeer, co-starred with his future wife Jaya Bhaduri, and since then there has been no looking back.
He married Jaya Bhaduri, an accomplished actress in her own right, and they had two children, Shweta and Abhishek. Shweta is married, lives a non-filmy life and has two children.
Being friends with Rajiv Gandhi, got him to decide to run for seat in the Indian National Congress (political party) from his home town but had to leave mid-term because of controversies, particularly after Rajiv and he were implicated in the now infamous "Bofors" case along with the U. K. based Hinduja Brothers.
After a four year break, he was back in the unsuccessful Mrityudaata (1997), a comeback which the actor wanted to forget. Critics written him off but his career was saved with Bade Miyan Chote Miyan (1998). But four flops in 1999 and incurring debt of over 90 crore rupees of his sinking company ABCL saw him at an all-time low. To make matters worse, after the defeat of the Congress party, Bachchan lost considerable political support, the opposition made him a target, and his credit rating deteriorated to such an extent that a leading nationalized bank, Canara Bank, sued him for outstanding loans. He did bounce back, presenting the Indian version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire called Kaun Banega Crorepati? (2000). After a series of hits with Mohabbatein (2000), Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... (2001) and Baghban (2003) and Khakee (2004), Bachchan is showing no signs of slowing down and proving the critics wrong once again.
Amitabh and Jaya were interested in getting their son Abhishek married to Karisma Kapoor, the daughter of Babita and Randhir Kapoor, they went through a formal engagement, but later broke it off.
The former Miss World and Bollywood actress, Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek, were formally engaged on Sunday January 14, 2007, at the Bachchan residence in Juhu, Bombay, with the marriage taking place at the Bachchan residence on April 20, 2007.
On November 16, 2011, he became a Dada (paternal grandfather) when Aishwarya gave birth to a daughter in a Mumbai Hospital. He is already a Nana (maternal grandfather) to Navya and Agastye - Shweta's children.
He continues to be one of the busiest actors and singers in Bollywood as well as on TV, as can be seen from the commercials that he appears on, especially on Sahara One. Looks like there are no limits for this super-star and once the "Angry Young Man" of Bollywood.