Estelle Getty
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Birth name Estelle Scher
Born July 25, 1923 (1923-07-25) (age 84)
New York City, United States
Notable roles Sophia Petrillo in The Golden Girls
Emmy Awards
Outstanding Supporting Actress - Comedy Series, The Golden Girls, 1988
Estelle Getty (born Estelle Scher on July 25, 1923 in New York City) is an Emmy and Golden Globe Award winning actress (theatre and screen).
Biography
Her most important early role was playing Harvey Fierstein's mother on Broadway in the play Torch Song Trilogy; however, she is best known for her role as Sophia Petrillo on the popular 1980s sitcom, The Golden Girls. In it, she played the wise-cracking old Sicilian mother of Dorothy Zbornak, who was the show's main protagonist, played by Bea Arthur. Getty was actually one year and two months younger than Bea Arthur and was heavily made-up to look significantly older.
In the early days of AIDS hysteria, Estelle opened her heart to her nephew, Steven Scher (age 29), who was in the final stages of AIDS and near death in 1991. With Steve's parents living in England and his friends no longer to care for him in Greensboro, North Carolina, Estelle had Steve flown out to California where she admitted him to hospice care. Steve died in January 1992. An extensive and truthful account of her act of charity was published in STAR Magazine.
In 2000, she stopped making public appearances after revealing that she had Parkinson's Disease and osteoporosis. In 2002, it was revealed to the media that she is also suffering from Alzheimer's Disease. It was later discovered that she actually has Lewy Body Dementia, and both the Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diagnoses were incorrect. In 2004 there was a Golden Girls reunion hosted on the Lifetime television network but unfortunately Estelle did not appear in it due to her failing health.
Estelle has come to public awaresness once more, however, when she was recently was referenced in Eminems hit single 'I'm REALLY REALLY REALLY ready'. In the lyrics to the 2nd verse, Eminem raps 'I'm shooting jizz like Spaghetti balls deep in Estelle Getty's Yeti.' Eminem was at one time was romantically linked with Estelle.
Happy Birthday Bearded Bender.
Barbara Harris (actress)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born July 25, 1935 (1935-07-25) (age 71)
Evanston, Illinois, United States
Notable roles Sandra Markowitz in
A Thousand Clowns
Alison Densmore in Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?
Albuquerque in
Nashville
Tony Awards
Best Actress
1967 The Apple Tree
Barbara Harris (born July 25, 1935) is the American Tony Award-winning Broadway stage star and Academy Award-nominated motion picture actress.
Biography
Early life
Barbara Harris was born in Evanston, Illinois, the daughter of Oscar Harris, an arborist who later became a businessman, and Natalie Densmoor, an accomplished pianist. She began her stage career as a teenager at the Playwrights Theatre in Chicago. Her fellow players included Edward Asner, Elaine May and Mike Nichols.
She was also a member of the Compass Players, the first ongoing improvisational theatre troupe in the United States, directed by Paul Sills, to whom she married at the time. Though the Compass Players closed in disarray, a second theatre opened by Paul Sills called The Second City opened in Chicago in 1959 and attracted national attention. Despite the fact that Sills and Harris had divorced by this time, Sills cast her in this company and brought her to New York to play in a Broadway edition at the Royale Theater, opening on September 26, 1961. For her performance in this, she received her first Tony Award nomination.
Broadway career
Harris received a nomination for the 1962 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her Broadway debut in the original musical revue production From the Second City (1961), which ran at the Royale Theater from September 26 to December 9, 1961. The revue also featured the young Alan Arkin and Paul Sand. Produced by the legendary Max Liebman (among others) and directed by Paul Sills, the production presented Harris in such sketches as Caesar's Wife, First Affair, Museum Piece, and The Bergman Film winning critical and audience acclaim.
In a rare 2002 interview in a Phoenix, Arizona newspaper, she recalled her ambivalence about even bringing the troupe to New York from Chicago. She said, "When I was at Second City, there was a vote about whether we should take our show to Broadway or not. Andrew Duncan and I voted no. I stayed in New York, but only because Richard Rodgers and Alan Jay Lerner came and said, "We want to write a musical for you!" Well, I wasn't big on musical theater. I had seen part of South Pacific in Chicago and I walked out. But it was Richard Rodgers calling!"
While Rodgers and Lerner were busy working on their original musical for her, she won the Theatre World Award for her role in playwright Arthur Kopit's dark comedic farce, Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feeling So Sad. Next, she received a nomination for the 1966 Tony for Best Actress in a Musical for On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1965), a Broadway musical created for her in the end by Alan Jay Lerner and Burton Lane, but not by Richard Rodgers, who left the project. She starred as "Daisy Gamble", a New Yorker who seeks out the help of a psychiatrist to stop smoking. Under hypnosis, the apparently kooky, brash, and quirky character reveals unexpected hidden depths. During her hypnotic trances, she becomes fascinating to the psychiatrist as she reveals herself as a woman who has lived many past lives, one of them ending tragically. While critics were divided over the merits of the show, they praised Harris' performance. The show opened on October 14, 1965 at the Mark Hellinger Theater and ran for 280 performances, earning a total of three Tony nominations. Harris performed numbers from the show with John Cullum on The Bell Telephone Hour - The Lyrics of Alan Jay Lerner, broadcast on February 27, 1966.
She next appeared on Broadway with Anne Bancroft in a 1963 production of Bertolt Brecht's Mother Courage, staged by Jerome Robbins, at the Martin Beck Theater; the production received five Tony Award nominations.
Harris gave another memorable performance in The Apple Tree, another Broadway musical created for her, this time by the team of composer Jerry Bock and lyricist Sheldon Harnick, known best for Fiddler On the Roof. The show, in which Harris co-starred with Alan Alda and Larry Blyden was directed by Mike Nichols, opened at the Shubert Theater on October 5, 1966 and closed on November 25, 1967. The show was based on three tales by Mark Twain, Frank R. Stockton, and Jules Feiffer and Harris starred in all three, again receiving exceptional reviews, even if the show did not. Richard Watts Jr. of the New York Post wrote "[t]here are many high triumphs of the imagination in the vastly original musical comedy", he added "but it is Miss Harris who provides it with the extra touch of magic." Walter Kerr famously called her "the square root of noisy sex" and "sweetness carried well into infinity". Harris captured the 1967 Tony for Best Actress in a Musical. Of her friend and colleague Mike Nichols, she said in 2002, "Mike Nichols was a toughie. He could be very kind, but if you weren't first-rate, watch out. He'd let you know."
Just as Harris appeared poised to join the first ranks of Broadway stars, she stopped appearing on stage after The Apple Tree. That her Broadway career was so legendary but so brief has long been considered by theater fans to be a major and baffling loss. Always a mercurial, private person, in a 2002 interview, Harris shed some light on why she stopped performing regularly on stage despite all the acclaim. She said, "Who wants to be up on the stage all the time? It isn't easy. You have to be awfully invested in the fame aspect, and I really never was. What I cared about was the discipline of acting, whether I did well or not."
Hollywood Career
From 1962 through 1964, she appeared as a guest star on such popular television series as Naked City, Channing, The Defenders and The Nurses. In 1965, she made an auspicious feature film debut as social worker Sandra Markowitz in the screen version of A Thousand Clowns. She co-starred opposite Jason Robards, who played the freewheeling, eternally optimistic guardian of his teenage nephew, the custody of whom is threatened by authorities' dim view of his bohemian lifestyle. The New York Times critic wrote on December 9, 1965 that the movie "has the new and senational Barbara Harris playing the appropriately light-headed girl". Harris and Robards won Golden Globe nominations and the film won four Oscar nominations, with Martin Balsam winning the Best Supporting Actor Oscar as Robards' brother.
In Neil Simon's Plaza Suite with Walter Matthau, the British entertainment magazine Time Out called the "delightful" Harris' gifts "wasted". She had only slightly better opportunities in The War Between Men and Women with Jack Lemmon, and the screen version of Arthur Kopit's darkly comic Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad with Rosalind Russell as the monstrous mother of Robert Morse who takes the stuffed corpse of her dead husband along on trips. Reviewing the latter film for the New York Times on February 16, 1967, critic Bosley Crowther wrote, "Barbara Harris from the original play cast is as wacky as she was on the stage -- casual and direct and totally blase about the boisterous business of sex. Her tussle to accomplish her purpose, with the corpse falling out into the roam every time she is about to score a field goal, is still the funniest scene."
She earned an Oscar nomination for the 1971 film (which co-starred Dustin Hoffman) Who Is Harry Kellerman And Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?, about a rich, successful, womanizing pop song writer suffering a debilitating but oddly liberating mental crisis. The script was by Herb Gardner, who also wrote A Thousand Clowns.
Harris Vs. Two Master Directors
In 1975, Harris appeared in one of her signature film roles in Robert Altman's masterpiece Nashville, playing "Albuquerque", a ditzy, scantily clad country singing hopeful who may be far more opportunistic and calculating than she would first appear. Accounts of the film's chaotic and inspired production, particularly in Jan Stuart's book The Nashville Chronicles: The Making of Robert Altman's Masterpiece, indicate a clash between actress and director. Still, even among rich and inventive performances by Lily Tomlin, Karen Black, Henry Gibson, Ned Beatty, Ronee Blakely, Shelley Duvall, Keenan Wynn, Keith Carradine, Barbara Baxley, Geraldine Chaplin and others, Harris' wildly eccentric performance and her impassioned singing of "It Don't Worry Me" in the devastating finale stands out. Harris earned a Golden Globe nomination (one of 11 for the film); as Oscar-nominated co-star Lily Tomlin put it, "I was the hugest of Barbara Harris fans; I thought she was so stunning and original." Although the two were set to reunite with Altman in a sequel, that film was never made.
The following year, Alfred Hitchcock cast her in Family Plot as a bogus spiritualist hunting with her cab driver boyfriend for a missing heir and a family fortune. Among a cast that included Bruce Dern, Karen Black and William Devane, Hitchcock was particularly delighted by Harris' quirkiness, skill and intelligence. She received critical kudos for the film, which was based upon the novel The Rainbird Pattern by Victor Canning and which marked a reunion of Hitchcock with Ernest Lehman, who created the original screenplay for North by Northwest. In a rare interview published in a 2002 edition of the New Times of Scottsdale, Arizona, she admitted, "I turned down Alfred Hitchcock when he first asked me to be in one of his movies." But, finally agreeing to star in Family Plot, she recalled, "Mr. Hitchcock was a wonderful man."
Later Career and Vanishing Act
Harris continued to appear in films of the '70s and '80s including Freaky Friday with a young Jodie Foster, Movie Movie for director Stanley Donen, and The North Avenue Irregulars with Cloris Leachman. She co-starred in The Seduction of Joe Tynan with one of her former Broadway leading men, Alan Alda (who also wrote the screenplay), a tale of a liberal Washington Senator caught in an affair with a younger woman, played by Meryl Streep. In 1981, she starred in Second-Hand Hearts for esteemed director Hal Ashby as "Dinette Dusty", a recently widowed waitress and would-be singer who marries a boozy carwash worker named "Loyal", played by Robert Blake to get back her children from their paternal grandparents. The film, based on a highly sought-after "road movie" screenplay by Charles Eastman, was a disaster that tarnished the careers of all concerned. Critic Vincent Canby in his negative New York Times review on May 8, 1981 opined, "[t]he film's one bright spot is Barbara Harris, who plays Dinette as sincerely as possible under awful conditions. She looks great even when she's supposed to be tacky, and is genuinely funny as she tries to make sense out of Loyal's muddled philosophizing, which, of course, the screenplay requires her to match."
A combination of career frustrations, personal challenges and other issues kept Harris off the movie screen until 1986 when she played a supporting role as the mother of Kathleen Turner in Peggy Sue Got Married for Francis Ford Coppola. Her last films to date were the 1988 black comedy Dirty Rotten Scoundrels starring Michael Caine and Steve Martin and Grosse Pointe Blank, in which she played John Cusack's mother.
Many have tried to lure back Harris with other film, stage, and television projects, including Bette Midler who called her "the greatest thing I've ever seen on stage", and tried unsuccessfully to cast her as one of the star strippers in the show-stopping You Gotta Have a Gimmick number in the 1993 TV version of the Stephen Sondheim and Jule Styne musical Gypsy.
Harris currently teaches and directs. Asked if she might one day be lured back to mainstream stage, film or television, Harris said in 2002, "Well, if someone handed me something fantastic for 10 million dollars, I'd work again. But I haven't worked in a long time as an actor. I don't miss it. I think the only thing that drew me to acting in the first place was the group of people I was working with: Ed Asner, Paul Sills, Mike Nichols, Elaine May. And all I really wanted to do back then was rehearsal. I was in it for the process, and I really resented having to go out and do a performance for an audience, because the process stopped; it had to freeze and be the same every night. It wasn't as interesting."
In 2005, she briefly resurfaced, guest starring as "The Queen" and "Spunky Brandburn" on the Radio Repertory Company of America audio drama, Anne Manx on Amazonia, which aired on XM Satellite Radio.
Stacey makes a new friend at school and invites her home for
the first time. Stacey excuses herself to fetch her Mom and
introduce her new friend. As her friend is standing in the living
room next to the fireplace, she picks up the attractive vase on
the mantle.
When Stacey returns with her mother, her friend is staring
curiously into the vase. "Oh, those are my father's ashes,"
Stacey informs her new friend. However, this startles her so
that she drops the vase with a <gasp!> -- ashes and broken
vase scattering all around.
After turning three shades of red she stammers out, "Oh, no...
I'm, oh!... I, can't... didn't mean to.."
"It's OK dear," the mother says. "The vase was just from Wal-
Mart."
The new friend catches her breath enough to say, "But... but
your husband's ashes..."
"Well," the mother says, "looks like he'll just have to get off
his lazy butt and get the ashtray from the kitchen from now on!"
Good morning, Bob of Boston. Delightful celeb backgrounds today, hawk.
Hey, listeners. Do you get the idea that Stacey's dad wasn't particularly revered? Funny, Bob.
Well, we'll continue with the TV show themes, but there are others that we can play when our Raggedy appears with her magical faces to match the moment. Until then....
Theme from The Golden Girls
Thank you for being a friend
Traveled down the road and back again
your heart is true you're a pal and a confidant
I'm not ashamed to say
I hope it always will stay this way
My hat is off, won't you stand up and take a bow
And if you threw a party
Invited everyone you knew
You would see, the biggest gift would be for me
and the card attached would say,
Thank you for being a friend
Thank you for being a friend
Thank you for being a friend
Thank you for being a friend
If it's a car you lack
I'd surely buy you a cadillac
Whatever you need, anytime of the day or night
I'm not ashamed to say
I hope it always will stay this way
My hat is off, won't you stand up and take a bow
And when we both get older
With walking canes and hair of gray
Have no fear, even though it's hardly here
I will stand real close and say,
Thank you for being a friend
(I want to thank you)
Thank you for being a friend
(I want to thank you)
Thank you for being a friend
(I want to thank you)
Thank you for being a friend
(I want to thank you)
Let me tell you bout a friend
(I want to thank you)
Thank you for being a friend
(I want to thank you)
Thank you for being a friend
(I want to thank you)
Thank you for being a friend
And when we die, and float away
I'll see you there, and once again
Thank you for being a friend
Thank you for being a friend
(I want to thank you)
Thank you for being a friend
(I want to thank you)
Thank you for being a friend
(I want to thank you)
Thank you for being a friend
Whoa, tell you about a friend
(Thank you right now, for being a friend)
Thank you for being a friend
(I wanna tell you right now, and tell you again)
Thank you for being a friend
(I wanna thank you, thank you, for being a friend)
Thank you for being a friend
The MTA
I have been having trouble with my monitor that's why I haven't been around for a while. Sure hope it does not cut off today! This song is dedicated to a man who frequents the same restaurant as I do. He just passed away last week. He did not drive he always took the bus and his name was Charlie!
The MTA by The Kingston Trio
Spoken:
These are the times that try men's souls. In the course of our nation's history, the people of Boston have rallied bravely whenever the rights of men have been threatened. Today, a new crisis has arisen. The Metropolitan Transit Authority, better known as the M.T.A., is attempting to levy a burdensome tax on the population in the form of a subway fare increase. Citizens, hear me out! This could happen to you!
(Eight bar guitar, banjo introduction)
Well, let me tell you of the story of a man named Charley
on a tragic and fateful day.
He put ten cents in his pocket, kissed his wife and family,
went to ride on the M.T.A.
Chorus:
Well, did he ever return? No, he never returned and
his fate is still unknown.
(What a pity! Poor ole Charlie. Shame and scandal.
He may ride forever. Just like Paul Revere.)
He may ride forever 'neath the streets of Boston.
He's the man who never returned.
Charlie handed in his dime at the Kendall Square Station
and he changed for Jamaica Plain.
When he got there the conductor told him, "One more nickel."
Charlie couldn't get off of that train.
(Chorus)
Now, all night long Charlie rides through the station,
crying, "What will become of me?!!
How can I afford to see my sister in Chelsea
or my cousin in Roxbury?"
(Chorus)
Charlie's wife goes down to the Sculley Square Station
every day at quarter past two,
And through the open window she hands Charlie a sandwich
as the train comes rumblin' through.
(Chorus)
Now, you citizens of Boston, don't you think it's a scandal
how the people have to pay and pay?
Fight the fare increase! Vote for George O'Brien!
Get poor Charlie off the M. T. A.
(Chorus)
He's the man who never returned.
He's the man who never returned.
Ain't you Charlie?
Good morning WA2K.
Love the MTA, Victor.
Walter, Estelle Getty and Barbara Harris (I thought she was funny in Plaza Suite).
A friend of mine loved the Old Shep record.
Welcome back, Victor. Hope that monitor keeps on ticking, buddy. Thanks for the MTA song, and we're just happy that our Raggedy did NOT take that subway to get into our studio this morning.
Thanks, pup for the great photo's. It is always helpful to know who we are discussing, PA.
You know, listeners, I think the first time that I saw Estelle Getty was in the movie Bonnie and Clyde; it may have been the first movie in which Gene Hackman played a major role. (Bud took great pleasure in referring to us as boney and clod)
Need to check out that Old Shep record, R.A.
Can't recall Barbara Harris, I'm afraid, but I did find this song from The Apple Tree soundtrack.
LISTEN CLOSELY. LET ME FILL YOU IN
ABOUT THE RICH RIPE ROUND RED
ROSY APPLES THE CALL FORBIDDEN FRUIT
WHAT I'M ABOUT TO SAY IS
CONFIDENTIAL SO PROMISE YOU'LL BE MUTE.
BECAUSE IF EVERY CREATURE IN THE GARDEN KNOWS
THEY'LL COME 'ROUND LIKE HUNGRY BUFFALOS
AND IN NO TIME THERE'LL BE NONE OF THOSE
PRECIOUS APPLES LEFT FOR YOU AND ME.
NOW IN THE AVERAGE APPLE
YOU'RE ACCUSTOMED TO SKIN, SEEDS, FLESH AND CORE
BUT YOU WILL FIND THAT THESE ARE
SPECIAL APPLES THAT GIVE YOU SOMETHING MORE
WHY, EVERY SEED CONTAINS SOME INFORMATION YOU
NEED TO SPEED YOUR EDUCATION, THE
SEEDS, INDEED, OF ALL CREATION ARE HERE
WHY, BE FOOLISH MY DEAR
COME WITH ME
TO THAT TREE.
WITH EVERY SWEET AND JUICY
LUSCIOUS BITE OF THIS NOT FORBIDDEN FRUIT
YOU'LL SEE YOUR MIND EXPAND AND
YOUR PERCEPTIONS GROW MORE AND MORE ACUTE
AND YOU CAN TEACH HIM PLUMBING AND PHILOSOPHY
NEW TECHNIQUES FOR GLAZING POTTERY
WOOD-CRAFT, FIRST-AID, HOME ECONOMY
MADAM, ADAM WILL BE OVERJOYED!
WHEN HE BECOMES AWARE OF
YOUR ATTAINMENTS HE'LL BEAM WITH LOVING PRIDE
AND HE WILL SAY,
'O, EVE, YOU'RE
INDISPENSABLE! PLEASE, DON'T LEAVE MY SIDE!'
AND WITH YOUR NIFTY,NEW-FOUND EDUCATION, HE'LL
RELISH EVERY CONVERSATION,WHY
YOU'LL BE ADAM'S INSPIRATION THIS WAY!
JUST AN APPLE A DAY
WAIT AND SEE
COME WITH ME
TO THAT TREE!
NOW!
Back later after checking out Old Shep
Walter Brennan
Old rivers
(Words and music by Crofford)
How old was I when I first seen old Rivers?
I can't remember when he weren't around
Well, that old fellow did a heap of work
Spent his whole life walking plowed ground.
He had a one-room shack not far from us
And well, we was about as poor as him
He had one old mule he called Midnight
And I'd trailed along after them.
He used to plow them rows straight and deep
And I'd come along near behind
A-bustin' up clods with my own bare feet
Old Rivers was a friend of mine.
That sun'd get high and that mule would work
Till old Rivers'd say, ''Whoa!''
He'd wipe his brow, lean back on the reins
And talk about a place he was gonna go.
Chorus:
He'd say, one of these days
I'm gonna climb that mountain
Walk up there amoung the clouds
Where the cotton's high
And the corn's a-growin'
And there ain't no fields to plow.
--- Instrumental ---
I got a letter today from the folks back home and
They're all fine and crops is dry
Down at the end my mama said, ''son
You know old Rivers died.''
Just sittin' here now on this new-plowed earth
Trying to find me a little shade
With the sun beating down 'cross the field I see
That mule, old Rivers and me.
Chorus:
Now, one of these days
I'm gonna climb that mountain
Walk up there amoung the clouds
Where the cotton's high
And the corn's a-growin'
And there ain't no fields to plow.
With the sun beating down 'cross the field I see
That mule, old Rivers and me...
Thanks, edgar. We do meet people in our lives that are simply acquaintances and we miss them almost as much as family; especially those like the one in your song.
Found the Old Shep song, and it's the one that we used to sing to make ourselves cry. I wasn't certain if the version was the same as I remembered.
When I was a lad
And old Shep was a pup
Over hills and meadows we'd stray
Just a boy and his dog
We were both full of fun
We grew up together that way
I remember the time at the old swimmin' hole
When I would have drowned beyond doubt
But old Shep was right there
To the rescue he came
He jumped in and then pulled me out
Well the years rolled around
And at last he grew old
His eyesight was fast growing dim
And one day the doctor looked at me and said
I can do no more for him Jim
With hands that were trembling
I picked up my gun
And aimed it at Shep's faithful head
I just couldn't do it
I wanted to run
I wished they would shoot me instead
He came to my side
And looked up at me
And laid his old head on my knee
I had stroked the best friend that a man ever had
I cried so I scarcely could see
Old Shep he has gone
Where the good doggies go
And no more with old Shep will I roam
But if dogs have a heaven
There's one thing I know
Old Shep has a wonderful home
Damned if I didn't get lachrymose again.
Well, everyone. I have spent most of the afternoon and late evening looking through family albums. What a delight to see all those faces looking back at me.
A great way to say goodnight:
You oughta be in pictures,
You're wonderful to see,
You oughta be in pictures,
Oh what a hit you would be!
Your voice would thrill a nation,
Your face would be adored,
You'd make a great sensation
with wealth and fame your reward;
And if you should kiss the way you kiss,
When we're alone,
You'd make ev'ry girl and man
A fan worshiping at your throne.
You oughta shine as brightly
As Jupiter and Mars;
You oughta be in pictures,
My star of stars
Regardless of how we looked in those family albums, we are all stars in our own way.
Picture me going to bed.
From Letty with love
Sandra Bullock
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Birth name Sandra Annette Bullock
Born July 26, 1964 (1964-07-26) (age 43)
Arlington, Virginia
Years active 1987 - present
Spouse(s) Jesse James (July 2005 - present)
Notable roles Annie in Speed and Speed 2: Cruise Control
Angela Bennett/Ruth Marx in The Net
Sally Owens in Practical Magic
Sarah Lewis in Forces of Nature
Gwen Cummings in 28 Days
Gracie Hart in Miss Congeniality and Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous
Jean Cabot in Crash
Kate Forster in The Lake House
' Linda Hanson in Premonition
Screen Actors Guild Awards
Best Cast - Motion Picture
2005 Crash
Sandra Annette Bullock (born July 26, 1964) is an American film actress. She came to fame in the 1990s, after roles in successful films like Speed and While You Were Sleeping, and has since established a career as a well-known Hollywood leading actress, with the box office comedy hit Miss Congeniality and one of her most recent film roles, in 2004's Crash, receiving critical acclaim. She is the 14th richest female celebrity with an estimated fortune of $85 million [1].
Biography
Early life
Bullock was born in Arlington County, Virginia to John W. Bullock, a Pentagon contractor and part-time vocal coach from Alabama, and Helga D. Meyer,[2] a German opera singer who died of cancer on April 4, 2000; Bullock's maternal grandfather was a rocket scientist from Nuremberg. Bullock lived in Nuremberg until age twelve, where she sang in the opera's childrens' choir at the Staatstheater Nürnberg.[3] She frequently traveled with her mother on her opera tours, and lived in Germany and other parts of Europe for much of her childhood. Bullock studied ballet and vocal arts as a child, taking small parts in her mother's opera productions.
Bullock attended Washington-Lee High School where she was a cheerleader, participated in high school theater productions and dated a football player.[4] She graduated in 1982 and enrolled in East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. During this time she worked as a waitress at a restaurant.[4] She left school during her senior year (Spring 1986), three credits short of graduating,[4] to pursue an acting career. She went to Manhattan to try to get auditions and supported herself with a variety of odd jobs (bartender, cocktail waitress, coat checker).[4]
Sandra Bullock later completed her coursework and was awarded a bachelor's degree from East Carolina University.[5] She is fluent in German. When appearing on German TV shows, she prefers to speak English (the TV hosts speak German though).
Career
While in New York, Bullock took acting classes at The Neighborhood Playhouse. She appeared in several student films and later landed a role in an Off-Broadway play No Time Flat.[4] Director Alan J. Levi was impressed by Bullock's performance and offered her a part in the made-for-TV movie Bionic Showdown: The Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman (1989). After filming the movie, Bullock stayed in Los Angeles, California, and was cast in a series of small roles in several independent films as well as in the lead role of the short-lived NBC television version of the film Working Girl (1990). She appeared in several films such as Love Potion No. 9 (1992), The Thing Called Love (1993) and Fire on the Amazon (where she agreed to appear topless if the camera did not show that much, she covered herself with duct tape which apparently was somewhat painful to take off).[4]
One of Bullock's first notable movie appearances was in Demolition Man (1993), which led to her breakthrough performance in Speed the following year. She became a high-level movie star in the late 1990s, carrying a string of successes, including While You Were Sleeping (she replaced actress Demi Moore, who was originally scheduled to star), Miss Congeniality and Two Weeks Notice. Bullock received 11 million dollars for Speed 2[4] and 17.5 million dollars for Miss Congeniality 2: Armed & Fabulous.[4]
Bullock has been selected as one of People magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People in the World in 1996 and 1999, and has also been ranked #58 in Empire magazine's Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time list. She was presented with the 2002 Raul Julia Award for Excellence[6] for her efforts, as the executive producer of the sitcom The George Lopez Show, in helping expand career openings for Hispanic talent in the media and entertainment industry.
In 2005, Bullock had a supporting role in the film Crash. She received positive reviews for her performance, with some critics suggesting that it was the best performance of her career. Bullock later appeared in The Lake House, a romantic drama also starring her Speed co-star, Keanu Reeves; it was released on June 16, 2006. Because their film characters are separated throughout the film (due to the plot revolving around time travel), Bullock and Reeves were only on set together for two weeks during filming.[7] The same year, Bullock appeared in Infamous, playing author Harper Lee. Bullock also stars in Premonition with Julian McMahon, which was released in March of 2007.[8]
Bullock received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on March 24, 2005. In January 2007, Bullock was named the 14th richest woman in entertainment by Forbes, with a net worth of $85 million.[9]
Entrepreneurship
Bullock runs her own production company, Fortis Films; her sister, Gesine Bullock-Prado, is president of the company and her father, John Bullock, is its CEO.[10] She was an executive producer of George Lopez, The network canned the sitcom in May, though not before it clinched a lucrative syndication deal than banked Bullock some $10 million. Bullock tried to produce a film based on F.X. Toole's short story Million-Dollar Baby, but couldn't interest studios in a female boxing drama.[11] The story was eventually made as the Oscar-winning film Million Dollar Baby (2004).Bullock's Fortis Films will produce her next movie, All About Steve. In the meantime, she tends to her Austin restaurant, Bess Bistro, and its first merchandising tie-in, a line of organic candles.
Personal life
Bullock was once engaged to actor Tate Donovan whom she met while filming Love Potion No. 9. Their relationship lasted four years.[4] She had previously dated football player Troy Aikman, blues guitarist Guy Forsythe, Steve Buscemi, Austin musician Bob Schneider (for two years)[4] and film co-stars, Ryan Gosling and Matthew McConaughey. McConaughey and Bullock met each other while filming A Time to Kill and became friends. They dated for a while. Some notable celebrity friends include Heather Burns and Hugh Grant.
Bullock married motorcycle builder and Monster Garage host Jesse James on July 16, 2005; they met when Bullock arranged for her ten-year-old godson to meet James as a Christmas present. On her husband and her marriage, Bullock has commented:
" So basically through a courtship of letters... I learned about a human being. It was not something I wanted, needed, or looked for, but because he was a stronger person than I was, spiritually and on a tolerance level, I was lucky enough that he educated me... I always thought of marriage as a death sentence, that there'd be a ball and chain, and you'd be told, 'You need to stop doing these things and become a good little wife.' Now people say 'Oh my God you're going to have sex with one person the rest of your life!' I hope I have sex with him for the rest of my life - because I like it![12] "
On December 20, 2000, Bullock survived the crash of a chartered business jet at Jackson Hole Airport. The aircraft hit a snowbank instead of the runway, resulting in both the nose gear and nose cone being ripped off, the right wing partially separated from the aircraft and the left wing bent back. When the September 11, 2001 attacks occurred, Bullock was staying at the Soho Grand hotel, twelve blocks from the World Trade Center. She saw the attacks from her hotel bedroom window and went to a nearby hospital to offer help. As all phone lines in New York City were down, she spent the rest of the day using her Palm Pilot to send e-mails on behalf of patients wanting to contact their families.
Bullock has twice donated $1 million to the American Red Cross, first to its Liberty Disaster Relief Fund and four years later in response to the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunamis.[13]
In October 2004, Bullock won a multimillion dollar judgment against Benny Daneshjou, the builder of her Lake Austin Texas mansion; the jury ruled the house was uninhabitable. It has since been torn down and rebuilt, and her beloved Porsche 911 Turbo replaced by a Toyota Prius.[14] Bullock also owns a house on Tybee Island, Georgia, which is a few miles from Savannah, Georgia. After four years of preparation, Bullock's first restaurant, Bess,[15] opened in November 2006 in Austin, Texas.
Bullock was voted "Most Likely To Brighten Up Your Day" in high school. Although she loves horses, she is allergic to them. She has a scar on her head which she received when she fell into a lake and cut her head on a rock.
On April 22, 2007, a woman was lying outside James and Bullock's Southern California home in Orange County. When Jesse James confronted the woman, she ran inside her 2004 silver Mercedes and tried to run him over 3 to 4 times. Jesse James was not hit during the many attempts to be run over. The woman is said to be an obsessed fan of Sandra Bullock. The woman, Marcia Diana Valentine, was arrested for investigation of assault with a deadly weapon. She was released after posting $25,000 bail. A court hearing is scheduled for May 22.[16]
Subject: Church Bulletins
They're back! Church Bulletins: Thank God for church ladies with
typewriters. These sentences actually appeared in church bulletins or
were announced in church services:
The Fasting & Prayer Conference includes meals.
*~*~*~*
The sermon this morning: "Jesus Walks on the Water." The sermon
tonight: "Searching for Jesus."
*~*~*~*
Our youth basketball team is back in action Wednesday at 8 PM in the
recreation hall. Come out and watch us kill Christ the King.
*~*~*~*
Ladies, don't forget the rummage sale. It's a chance to get rid of
those things not worth keeping around the house. Bring your husbands.
*~*~*~*
The peacemaking meeting scheduled for today has been canceled due to a
conflict.
*~*~*~*
Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our community.
Smile at someone who is hard to love. Say "Hell" to someone who doesn't
care much about you.
*~*~*~*
Don't let worry kill you off - let the Church help.
*~*~*~*
Miss Charlene Mason sang "I will not pass this way again," giving
obvious pleasure to the congregation.
*~*~*~*
For those of you who have children and don't know it, we have a nursery
downstairs.
*~*~*~*
Next Thursday there will be tryouts for the choir. They need all the
help they can get.
*~*~*~*
The Rector will preach his farewell message after which the choir will
sing: "Break Forth Into Joy."
*~*~*~*
Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married on October 24 in the
church.
So ends a friendship that began in their school days!
*~*~*~*
A bean supper will be held on Tuesday evening in the church hall.
Music will follow.
*~*~*~*
At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be "What Is Hell?"
Come early and listen to our choir practice.
*~*~*~*
Eight new choir robes are currently needed due to the addition of
several new members and to the deterioration of some older ones.
*~*~*~*
Scouts are saving aluminum cans, bottles and other items to be recycled.
Proceeds will be used to cripple children.
*~*~*~*
Please place your donation in the envelope along with the deceased
person you want remembered.
*~*~*~*
The church will host an evening of fine dining, super
entertainment and gracious hostility.
*~*~*~*
Potluck supper Sunday at 5:00 PM - prayer and medication to follow.
*~*~*~*
The ladies of the Church have cast off clothing of every kind. They may
be seen in the basement on Friday afternoon.
*~*~*~*
This evening at 7 PM there will be a hymn singing in the park across
from the Church.
Bring a blanket and come prepared to sin.
*~*~*~*
Ladies Bible Study will be held Thursday morning at 10 AM. All ladies
are invited to lunch in the Fellowship Hall after the B. S. is done.
*~*~*~*
The pastor would appreciate it if the ladies of the congregation would
lend him their electric girdles for the pancake breakfast next Sunday.
*~*~*~*
Low Self Esteem Support Group will meet Thursday at 7 PM. Please use
the back door.
*~*~*~*
The eighth-graders will be presenting Shakespeare's Hamlet in the
Church basement Friday at 7PM.
The congregation is invited to attend this tragedy.
*~*~*~*
Weight Watchers will meet at 7 PM at the First Presbyterian Church.
Please use large double door at the side entrance.
*~*~*~*
The Associate Minister unveiled the church's new tithing campaign slogan
last Sunday: "I Upped My Pledge - Up Yours"
Townes Van Zandt
Me & this friend streetlife brown
We got a bottle of red and walked downtown
One hand on the jug and one on time
He said i bet you a dollar against this next line
Don't let the sunshine fool ya
Don't let the bluebirds tool ya
Don't let the women do ya
Put your hand in mine
Advice is fine if you've got a mind
To listen to the end that's got the time
But the muse'll get ya if you don't watch out
He's equipped to know what it's all about
Don't let the sunshine fool ya
Don't let the bluebirds tool ya
Don't let the women do ya
Put your hand in mine
Fanon street in the afternoon
An easy way to get out of tune
But the hard soap salesman said no dice
When i asked politely for a better price
Don't let the sunshine fool ya
Don't let the bluebirds tool ya
Don't let the women do ya
Put your hand in mine
Here's a song for you child of mine
I hope you make it through this time
Get yourself a piece of that rainbow pie
No reason in the world you can't get by
Don't let the sunshine fool ya
Don't let the bluebirds tool ya
Don't let the women do ya
Put your hand in mine
Don't let the sunshine fool ya
Don't let the bluebirds tool ya
Don't let the women do ya
Put your hand in mine
Good morning, everyone.
Bob, love the church bulletins funnies, especially the one that read, "I upped my pledge; up yours."
Thanks for the great bio's again and I think we all know every one of them
Well, I see our dys is back with a great song. For some reason, cowboy, I really tuned into one phrase, "...put your hand in mine...". There is something about holding hands that seems so safe.
Well, thank goodness our Raggedy is back with us. Gal you always do the greatest photo's. Thanks again, PA. Yep, Old Shep reminds me of all the puppies that I once had and lost.
There's George and Gracie, Lucy and Vivian, Jason, Mick and Sandra.
Here's one by Mick that is perfect for our little cyber station.
I'm a player in a game show
And it's poisoning my mind
I'm a string on someone's yo-yo
I feel my life is trivialised
I eat scandal for my breakfast
I spit gossip late at night
I'm not one for fancy speeches
But they're sucking me like leeches
Feel my body's under radio control
Listen
Hey hey hey
Hey hey hey
Hey hey hey
Hey hey hey
Every woman that I'm loving
She's got to have that sense of style
All the men love that aggression
They want to walk that extra mile
I'm getting sick of competition
You better take me off this mission
Feel my body's under radio control
Listen
Hey hey hey
Hey hey hey
Hey hey hey
Hey hey hey
I always stay fresh
don't run out of juice
I don't let the power run dry
Don't make a fool of myself
Let my tongue hang too loose
I stay out of range to survive
Every woman she got to walk that extra mile
I'm not one for fancy speeches
But they're sucking me like leeches
Feel my body's under radio control
Listen
Hey hey hey
Hey hey hey
Hey hey hey
Hey hey hey
Walk forwards
Walk backwards
Radio control
Work hard
Take a vacation
Radio control
Radio control
Radio control
in honor of Mick J's UFO experiences
Sun turnin' 'round with graceful motion
We're setting off with soft explosion
Bound for a star with fiery oceans
It's so very lonely, you're a hundred light years from home
Freezing red deserts turn to dark
Energy here in every part
It's so very lonely, you're six hundred light years from home
It's so very lonely, you're a thousand light years from home
It's so very lonely, you're a thousand light years from home
Bell flight fourteen you now can land
Seen you on Aldebaran, safe on the green desert sand
It's so very lonely, you're two thousand light years from home
It's so very lonely, you're two thousand light years from home
