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WA2K Radio is now on the air

 
 
edgarblythe
 
  1  
Reply Sun 7 May, 2006 10:43 am
Whistling Tune - Elvis
(Words & music by Edwards - David)

Did you ever notice when the sun goes down
Out of nowhere comes a strange and pretty sound
It's a whistling tune for walking in the night
If you listen you can hear it in the breeze
Specially when the breeze is drifting through the trees

It's a whistling tune for walking in the night
And the murmuring waters sing the song
The echoing mountains hum along
The whispering valleys fill the air
With a whistling tune our hearts can share

It's so wonderful to walk beneath the moon
Listening to old mother nature's favorite tune
It's a whistling tune for walking in the night
0 Replies
 
edgarblythe
 
  1  
Reply Sun 7 May, 2006 10:46 am
Baby, Let's Play House
(words & music by Arthur Gunter)

Oh, baby, baby, baby, baby baby.
Baby, baby baby, b-b-b-b-b-b baby baby, baby.
Baby baby baby
Come back, baby, I wanna play house with you.

Well, you may go to college,
You may go to school.
You may have a pink cadillac,
But don't you be nobody's fool.

Now baby,
Come back, baby, come.
Come back, baby, come.
Come back, baby,
I wanna play house with you.

Now listen and I'll tell you baby
What I'm talking about.
Come on back to me, little girl,
So we can play some house.

Now baby,
Come back, baby, come.
Come back, baby, come.
Come back, baby,
I wanna play house with you.
Oh let's play house, baby.

Now this is one thing, baby
That I want you to know.
Come on back and let's play a little house,
And we can act like we did before.
Well, baby,
Come back, baby, come.
Come back, baby, come.
Come back, baby,
I wanna play house with you.

Yeah.

Now listen to me, baby
Try to understand.
I'd rather see you dead, little girl,
Than to be with another man.
Now baby,
Come back, baby, come.
Come back, baby, come.
Come back, baby, I wanna play house with you.

Oh, baby baby baby.
Baby baby baby b-b-b-b-b-b baby baby baby.
Baby baby baby.
Come back, baby, I wanna play house with you.
0 Replies
 
Letty
 
  1  
Reply Sun 7 May, 2006 10:51 am
Little did he know, right?

Fats Domino




I like the way you walk
I like the way you talk
Let me hold your hand
Try to understand
I want a girl like you
Tell my love is true
Don't be afraid
You've heard what I said

Let the four winds blow
Let it blow and a-blow
>From the east to the west
I love you the best
Let the four winds blow
Let it blow and a-blow
>From the east to the west
I love you the best


I like the way you walk
I like the way you talk
Let me hold your hand
Try to understand
I want a girl like you
Tell my love is true
Don't be afraid
You've heard what I said

Let the four winds blow
Let it blow and a-blow
>From the east to the west
I love you the best
Let the four winds blow
Let it blow and a-blow
>From the east to the west
I love you the best
0 Replies
 
Letty
 
  1  
Reply Sun 7 May, 2006 11:19 am
Speaking of house, edgar, Dr. House, the TV series, is a marvelous way to keep track of the problems with hospital care in America.

The CEO of the hospital where Dr. House practices, iterates that health care is a business, and that the doctors who practice there either play it his way or he withdraws his multi million dollar support. The first thing on the agenda is to fire Dr. House who has failed to give the right speech concerning a new beta blocker that the CEO , of course, has a vested interest in.

At the conclusion, the board finally decides to keep the recalcitrant doctor, even at the expense of the funding. Nobody really wins except those who refuse to be bought.

This song may be a little naive, but................

Wild Orchid
» You Don't Own Me

There we were
On a Sunday afternoon
Just holding hands
Lover making future plans together
We thought forever, forever, yeah...

Now here we are
The hand that used to hold me gently
Doesn't know when to let me go
It holds too tight now
And we just fight now
Where is the love

[Chorus:]

You don't own me
Can't control me
I'm not gonna change for nobody

You don't own me
You can't chain me down
If I'm the one you love
Then set me free
Set me free

Side by side
We should walk together
See love eye to eye
Remember all the reasons why you love me

Strength within me
Can't tie it down

You're not my mother
Not my father
You're supposed to be my lover
Not my sister
Not my brother
Gotta be more than just another

Another guy forgettin the combination to my heart
Just another page inside of a book without a mark

Love won't be my ball and chain
Driving me insane
Cause you're holdin me down
Holdin me down
Stop holdin me down down down

You don't own me
Can't control me
I'm not gonna change for nobody
No,no

You don't own me
I'm not chained babe.
If I'm the one you love
Then set me free
Set me free

You only call me when I want you to [x8]

You don't own me
You can't control me
I'm not gonna change for nobody
no no

You don't own me
I'm not chained babe.
If I'm the one you love
Then set me free

You're not my mother
Not my father
You're supposed to be my lover
Not my sister
Not my brother
Gotta be more than just another

Another guy forgettin the combination to my heart
Just another page inside of a book without a mark

You don't own me
You can't control me
If you love me,
set me free.

You don't own me
Then set me free
Set me free
0 Replies
 
Raggedyaggie
 
  1  
Reply Sun 7 May, 2006 11:42 am
To answer our PD's question:

Everybody's Out of Town
Where have the people gone
Seems like there's no one hangin' on
Look through the window
The houses are empty
Hey, everybody's out of town
Seems like I'm the only one around.

All of the streets are bare
No traffic tie-ups anywhere
Don't have to wait for a seat at the movie
Hey, everybody's out of town
Seems like, I'm the only one around.

Everyone's moved out
>from the ghetto
Lots of space
Empty apartments
No more pollution
Plenty of classrooms everyplace
And it looks like we're ready
To give it one more try
This time there'll be no alibi
I'm gonna send out a message to Noah
Hey, better send some people down
Everyone on earth,
Is out of town

(BURT BACHARACH)



and today's Birthday Celeb:

http://www.classicmovies.org/graphics/Coop100.jpghttp://www.netpro.ne.jp/~kkk/cinema/Gary_Cooper.jpg
http://www.cineyestrellas.com/Elenco/Actores/C/Cooper_Gary_6.jpghttp://www.modaentertainment.com/images/prods/yankees.jpg
0 Replies
 
Letty
 
  1  
Reply Sun 7 May, 2006 11:57 am
Ah, Raggedy, the perfect song for the proper occasion. Thanks, PA.

Dear Gary Cooper, and here's a song to remember him by:



Do not forsake me O my darlin'
On this our wedding day.
Do not forsake me O my darlin'
Wait, wait along.
The noonday train will bring Frank Miller.
If I'm a man I must be brave
And I must face that deadly killer
Or lie a coward, a craven coward,
Or lie a coward in my grave.

O to be torn 'twixt love and duty!
S'posin' I lose my fair-haired beauty!
Look at that big hand move along
Nearin' high noon.

He made a vow while in State's Prison,
Vow'd it would be my life or his and
I'm not afraid of death, but O,
What will I do if you leave me?


Do not forsake me O my darlin'
You made that promise when we wed.
Do not forsake me O my darlin'
Although you're grievin', I can't be leavin'
Until I shoot Frank Miller dead.

Wait along, wait along
Wait along
Wait along
0 Replies
 
edgarblythe
 
  1  
Reply Sun 7 May, 2006 11:59 am
Another to honor Gary Cooper.


PAT BOONE - "Friendly Persuasion"



(Words by Paul Francis Webster and Music by Dmitri Tiomkin)

Thee I love, more than the meadow so green and still
More than the mulberries on the hill
More than the buds on the May apple tree, I love thee

Arms have I, strong as the oak, for this occasion
Lips have I, to kiss thee, too, in friendly persuasion

Thee is mine, though I don't know many words of praise
Thee pleasures me in a hundred ways
Put on your bonnet, your cape, and your glove
And come with me, for thee I love


Friendly persuasion

Thee is mine, though I don't know many words of praise
Thee pleasures me in a hundred ways
Put on your bonnet, your cape, and your glove
And come with me, for thee I love
0 Replies
 
Letty
 
  1  
Reply Sun 7 May, 2006 12:12 pm
You know, edgar. The words and music to that song are lovely, but I never cared for Pat Boone too much. That's what I get for being too influenced by Bud who called him "out of tune Boone". Razz

Thinking of manifest destiny today, folks. Wow! Wonder if them pioneers were wrong.

Red River Valley
Marty Robbins


From this valley they say you are leaving
We shall miss your bright eyes and sweet smile
For you take with you all of the sunshine
That has brightened our pathway a while

Then come sit by my side if you love me
Do not hasten to bid me adieu
Just remember the Red River Valley
And the cowboy that's loved you so true

For a long time my darlin' I've waited
For the sweet words you never would say
Now at last all my fond hopes have vanished
For they say that you're going away

Then come sit by my side if you love me
Do not hasten to bid me adieu
Just remember the Red River Valley
And the cowboy that's loved you so true
0 Replies
 
edgarblythe
 
  1  
Reply Sun 7 May, 2006 12:18 pm
Pat Boone was awful on most rythem and blues tunes, but he had a wonderful voice for other music.
0 Replies
 
Letty
 
  1  
Reply Sun 7 May, 2006 12:24 pm
You're right, edgar. Sometime back here on WA2K radio, we talked about Alice and Pat, remember?

Well, this one isn't too bad, I guess:

On a day like today
We passed the time away
Writing love letters in the sand

How you laughed when I cried
Each time I saw the tide
Take our love letters from the sand

CHORUS
You made a vow that you would ever be true
But somehow that vow meant nothing to you

Now my broken heart aches
With every wave that breaks
Over love letters in the sand

Now my broken heart aches
With every wave that breaks
Over love letters in the sand
0 Replies
 
Letty
 
  1  
Reply Sun 7 May, 2006 02:43 pm
0 Replies
 
edgarblythe
 
  1  
Reply Sun 7 May, 2006 04:37 pm
Flesh and Blood - Johnny Cash

Beside a Singin' Mountain Stream
Where the Willow grew

Where the Silver Leaf of Maple
Sparkled in the Mornin' Dew
I braided Twigs of Willows
Made a String of Buckeye Beads;
But Flesh And Blood need Flesh And Blood
And you're the one I need
Flesh And Blood need Flesh And Blood
And you're the one I need.

I leaned against a Bark of Birch
And I breathed the Honey Dew
I saw a North-bound Flock of Geese
Against a Sky of Baby Blue
Beside the Lily Pads
I carved a Whistle from a Reed;
Mother Nature's quite a Lady
But you're the one I need
Flesh And Blood need Flesh And Blood
And you're the one I need.

A Cardinal sang just for me
And I thanked him for the Song
Then the Sun went slowly down the West
And I had to move along
These were some of the things
On which my Mind and Spirit feed;
But Flesh And Blood need Flesh And Blood
And you're the one I need
Flesh And Blood need Flesh And Blood
And you're the one I need.

[SPOKEN]

So when this Day was ended
I was still not satisfied
For I knew ev'rything I touched
Would wither and would die
And Love is all that will remain
And grow from all these Seed;

[SUNG]

Mother Nature's quite a Lady
But you're the one I need
Flesh And Blood need Flesh And Blood
And you're the one I need.
0 Replies
 
Letty
 
  1  
Reply Sun 7 May, 2006 04:52 pm
Lovely, edgar. Dear Johnny.

How about a little change of pace inspired by Imur:

The Lay of the Last Minstrel
Sir Walter Scott
Canto VI, Stanza 1
Breathes there the man, with soul so dead,
Who never to himself hath said,
This is my own, my native land!
Whose heart hath ne'er within him burn'd,
As home his footsteps he hath turn'd,
From wandering on a foreign strand!
If such there breathe, go, mark him well;
For him no Minstrel raptures swell;
High though his titles, proud his name,
Boundless his wealth as wish can claim;
Despite those titles, power, and pelf,
The wretch, concentred all in self,
Living, shall forfeit fair renown,
And, doubly dying, shall go down
To the vile dust, from whence he sprung,
Unwept, unhonor'd, and unsung.

A newbie in the crossword section was asking about a three letter word that meant "short narrative". Well, I couldn't think of any SHORT narrative poem, but this one was a part of a LONG narrative poem.
0 Replies
 
bobsmythhawk
 
  1  
Reply Sun 7 May, 2006 05:26 pm
0 Replies
 
bobsmythhawk
 
  1  
Reply Sun 7 May, 2006 05:28 pm
0 Replies
 
bobsmythhawk
 
  1  
Reply Sun 7 May, 2006 05:31 pm
George 'Gabby' Hayes
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


George Francis 'Gabby' Hayes (May 7, 1885 - February 9, 1969) was an American actor. He was best known for his numerous appearances in western movies as the colorful sidekick to the leading man.

Hayes was born in Wellsville, New York and did not come from a cowboy background. In fact, he did not know how to ride a horse until he was in his forties and had to learn for movie roles. Hayes' early show business career included working in the circus, in vaudeville, on stage, and playing semi-professional baseball.

Hayes married Olive Dorothy Ireland in 1914. They remained together until her death in 1957. The couple had no children.

Hayes' film career began in 1923 with his appearance in the silent film Why Women Marry. In his early career, Hayes was cast in a variety of roles, including villains, and occasionally played two roles in a single film. Hayes briefly retired in the 1920's but lost most of his money in the 1929 stock market crash and had to return to acting. He fortunately found a niche in the growing genre of western films, many of which were series with recurring characters. Ironically, Hayes would admit he had never been a big fan of westerns.

Hayes, in real life an intelligent, well groomed, and articulate man, was cast as a grizzled codger who uttered phrases like "consarn it", "yer durn tootin", "durn persnickety female", and "young whipper snapper". Hayes played the part of Windy Halliday, the sidekick to Hopalong Cassidy (William Boyd), from 1935 to 1939. In 1939, Hayes left Paramount Pictures in a dispute over his salary and moved to Republic Pictures. Paramount held the rights to the name Windy Halliday, so a new nickname was created for Hayes' character; Gabby. As Gabby Whitaker, Hayes appeared in over forty pictures between 1939 and 1946, usually with Roy Rogers but also with Gene Autry or Bill Elliot. Hayes also was repeatedly cast as a sidekick to western icons Randolph Scott and John Wayne. In fact, Wayne and Hayes made numerous films together in the very early '30s with Hayes playing "straight" pre-sidekick roles, and sometimes even the villain. Hayes became a popular performer and consistently appeared among the ten favorite actors in polls taken of movie-goers of the period.

The western film genre declined in the late 1940's and Hayes made his last film appearance in The Cariboo Trail (1950). He moved to television and hosted The Gabby Hayes Show, a children's western series, from 1950 to 1954. When the series ended he retired from show business.

For his contribution to radio, Gabby Hayes has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6427 Hollywood Blvd. and a second star at 1724 Vine Street for his contribution to the television industry. In 2000, he was posthumously inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Gabby Hayes died in Burbank, California in 1969 and was interred in the Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles.
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Homage was paid to Hayes in a different way, in the 1974 satirical western Blazing Saddles. A lookalike actor named Claude Ennis Starrett, Jr. played a Gabby Hayes-like character. In keeping with one running joke in the movie, the character was called Gabby Johnson. After he delivered a rousing, though largely unintelligible, speech to the townspeople ("You get back here you pious candy-ass sidewinder. Ain't no way that nobody is gonna' to leave this town. Hell, I was born here, an' I was raished here, an' dad gum it, I am gonna die here, an no sidewindin bushwackin, hornswaglin, cracker croaker is gonna rouin me biscuit cutter."), David Huddleston's character proclaimed, "Now, who can argue with that?!" and described it as "authentic frontier gibberish."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_%27Gabby%27_Hayes
0 Replies
 
bobsmythhawk
 
  1  
Reply Sun 7 May, 2006 05:34 pm
Gary Cooper
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Gary Cooper (May 7, 1901 - May 13, 1961) was a two-time Academy Award-winning American film actor of British heritage, whose career spanned from the 1920s up until the year of his death. He was renowned for his quiet, understated acting style and his stoic, individualistic, emotionally restrained, but at times intense screen persona, which was particularly well suited for the many Westerns he made.

During his career, Cooper received five Oscar nominations for Best Actor, winning twice. He also received an Honorary Award from the Academy in 1961.

Childhood

Cooper was born Frank James Cooper in Helena, Montana, but as a child lived in Dunstable, England, with his mother Alice, and elder brother Arthur Le Roy (1895 - 19??). The two boys attended Dunstable Grammar School between 1910 and 1913.

When he was thirteen years old he was injured in an automobile accident, and had to move to his father's cattle ranch in Montana to recuperate, which is where he gained his riding skills. During this time he became friendly with 10 year old Myrna Loy, who lived near him.


Hollywood

In 1924 Cooper moved to Los Angeles with the intention of becoming an artist for advertisements, but was not very successful. After three months he became an extra in the motion picture industry. A year later he had a chance at a real part in a two reeler with actress Eileen Sedgewick as his leading lady. After the release of this short film he was called to Paramount Studios and offered a long-term contract, which he accepted. He changed his name to Gary in 1925, following the advice of his agent, who felt it evoked the "rough, tough" nature of Gary, Indiana.

"Coop", as he was called by his peers, went on to appear in over 100 films. In 1941, He won his first Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as the title character in Sergeant York. In 1952, Cooper won his second Best Actor Academy Award for his performance as Marshal Will Kane in High Noon, considered his finest role.

Social life

After high-profile love affairs with actresses Clara Bow, Lupe Vélez, and the American-born socialite-spy Countess Carlo Dentice di Frasso (née Dorothy Caldwell Taylor, formerly wife of British aviator Claude Grahame-White), Cooper finally got married. He married Veronica Balfe, a New York Roman Catholic socialite who worked briefly as an actress under the name of "Sandra Shaw". They had one child, Maria (a.k.a. Maria Cooper Janis), and eventually his wife persuaded Cooper to become a Roman Catholic in 1958. However, before he converted, while he was married to Balfe, a marriage which lasted until his death, Cooper did have affairs with several famous co-stars, including Grace Kelly and Patricia Neal. He pressured Neal to have an abortion in 1950, since fathering a child out of wedlock could have destroyed his career. Cooper's daughter, Maria, famously spit at Neal when she was a little girl, but many years later Patricia Neal and Maria Cooper reconciled and are now friends. Neal later became a pro-life activist. Cecil Beaton claimed to have had an affair with Cooper.


Death and legacy

In 1961, Cooper died of lung cancer 6 days after his 60th birthday, and he was interred in the Sacred Heart Cemetery, Southampton, New York. He had undergone surgery for prostate cancer and intestinal cancer in the previous year, but as there were no means of monitoring the progress of cancer in those days it spread first to his lungs and then, most painfully, to his bones. Cooper was too ill to attend the Academy Awards ceremony in April 1961, so his close friend James Stewart accepted the honorary Oscar on his behalf. Stewart's emotional speech hinted that something was seriously wrong, and so on the next day newspapers all over the world ran the headline, "Gary Cooper has cancer". One month later, the revered star was dead.

For his contribution to the film industry, Gary Cooper has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6243 Hollywood Blvd. In 1966, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. His name has also been immortalized in Irving Berlin's song "Puttin' on the Ritz" with the line, "Trying hard to look like Gary Cooper, (super duper)".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Cooper

ARTIST: Irving Berlin
TITLE: Putting On the Ritz
Lyrics and Chords


[ Abdim7 = xx0101 ; Bbdim7 = xx2323 ]

Have you seen the well-to-do up and down Park Avenue
On that famous thoroughfare with their noses in the air
High hats and Arrow collars, white spats and lots of dollars
Spending every dime for a wonderful time

/ Dm Abdim7 Em7 A7 Dm Abdim7 Em7 A7 /
/ F Abdim7 C7 - F Abdim7 C7 - /
/ A6 Bbdim7 Bm7 E7 A6 Bbdim7 Bm7 E7 /
/ F#m F#m7 B7 - E7 - A7 - /

If you're blue and you don't know where to go to
Why don't you go where fashion sits
Puttin' on the Ritz

/ Dm - - - - / - - - A7 A7sus4 A7 - / Dm - Bb A7 /

Diff'rent types who wear a day coat, pants with stripes
And cutaway coat, perfect fits
Puttin' on the Ritz

Dressed up like a million dollar trouper
Trying hard to look like Gary Cooper
Super duper

/ Gm - - D7 Gm - C7 - / F Dm7 Gm7 C7 F - / Bb A7 /

Come let's mix where Rockefellers walk with sticks
Or "um-ber-ellas" in their mitts
Puttin' on the Ritz

Strolling down the avenue so happy
All dressed up just like an English chappie
Very snappy

You'll declare it's simply "top-thing" to be there
And hear them swapping smart tidbits
Puttin' on the Ritz
0 Replies
 
bobsmythhawk
 
  1  
Reply Sun 7 May, 2006 05:36 pm
Edwin H. Land
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Edwin Herbert Land (May 12, 1909 - March 1, 1991) was an American scientist and inventor. Among other things, he invented inexpensive filters for polarizing light, instant polaroid photography, and his retinex theory of color vision. At one time, he was listed in the Guiness Book of World Records as the world's richest scientist.


Biography

Early years

Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut to Harry and Helen Land, he studied chemistry at Harvard. While still a freshman, he invented the first inexpensive filters capable of polarizing light. Edwin Land did not finish his studies, but instead set up the Land-Wheelwright Laboratories in 1932 together with his Harvard physics instructor.

Land then went on to establish the Polaroid Corporation in Boston in 1937 to further develop and produce the sheet polarizers under the Polaroid trademark. The initial major application was for sunglasses and science, but it has found many applications, for instance as an important component of LCDs. During World War II, he worked on military tasks developing dark-adaptation goggles, and target finders. On February 21, 1947, Edwin Land demonstrated an instant image camera and associated film. Called the Land Camera, it was in commercial sale less than two years later. It's said that he invented the camera because his daughter complained it took too long to develop film.

Later years

In the 1950s, Edwin Land's team helped design the optics of the revolutionary Lockheed U-2 spy plane. Also in this decade, Land first discovered a two-color system for projecting the entire spectrum of hues with only two colors of projecting light (he later found more specifically that one could achieve the same effect using very narrow bands of 500nm and 557nm light). Some of this was written up later in the 1970s with his Retinex theory. In 1957 Harvard University awarded him an honorary doctorate. Later Edwin Land Blvd. a street in Cambridge, MA was named in his memory. The street forms the beginning of Memorial Drive, where the Polaroid company building was located.

In the early 1970s, he attempted to explain the previously known phenomenon of color constancy with his Retinex theory of color vision. His popular demonstrations of color constancy raised much interest in the concept. Land however failed to cite earlier work on the concept and was later criticized for that. In his retirement years, he founded the Rowland Institute for Science. Edwin Herbert Land died on March 1, 1991 in Cambridge, Massachusetts at the age of 82.

Awards

In 1957 Land received an honorary LL.D. from Bates College. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest award given to a U.S. citizen, in 1963 for his work in optics. He had over 500 patents, standing second to Thomas Edison. In 1988 Land was awarded the National Medal of Technology for "the invention, development and marketing of instant photography".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_H._Land
0 Replies
 
bobsmythhawk
 
  1  
Reply Sun 7 May, 2006 05:38 pm
Darren McGavin
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


William Lyle Richardson (May 7, 1922 - February 25, 2006), who adopted the name Darren McGavin, was an American actor best known for playing the title role in the television horror series Kolchak: The Night Stalker, and also his portrayal in the movie A Christmas Story of the grumpy father given to bursts of profanity that he never realizes his sons overhear. He also appeared as the tough-talking, funny detective in the TV series Mike Hammer.


Childhood

McGavin was born in Spokane, Washington, to Reid Delano Richardson and Grace McGavin. However, some sources list his birthplace as San Joaquin, California.

In magazine interviews during the 1960s, he stated that his parents divorced when he was very young and that his father, not knowing what else to do, put him in an orphanage at the age of 11. McGavin began to run away, often sleeping on the docks and in warehouses. He ended up in three orphanages. The last one was a boy's home, which turned out to be a safe haven for McGavin. He lived there for a few years where there were farm chores assigned, along with several other boys who were abandoned like himself. McGavin said that the owners of the home helped him to establish a sense of pride and responsibility, and that this helped to turn his life around.


Career

Still untrained as an actor, McGavin worked as a painter in the paint crew at the Columbia Pictures movie studios in 1945. When an opening became available for a bit part in A Song to Remember, the movie set on which he was working, McGavin applied for the role. He was hired for it, and that was his first foray into movie acting. (He had spent a year at College of the Pacific in Stockton, California.) Shortly afterwards, he moved to New York City and spent a decade of learning the acting craft in TV and the plays there. McGavin studied at the Neighborhood Playhouse and the Actors Studio under the famous teacher Sanford Meisner and began working in live TV drama and on Broadway. A few of the plays in which he starred included "The Rainmaker" (where he created the title role on Broadway), "The King and I" and "Death of a Salesman".

McGavin returned to Hollywood and became a busy actor in a wide variety of TV and movie roles; in 1955 he broke through with notable roles in the films Summertime and The Man with the Golden Arm. Over the course of his career, McGavin starred in seven different TV series and guest-starred in many more; these roles on television increased in the late 1950s and early 1960s with leading parts in series such as Mike Hammer and Riverboat. He was the top contender to replace Larry Hagman as the male lead of the television series I Dream of Jeannie, but the producers chose not to replace Hagman.

McGavin was also known for his role as Sam Parkhill in the miniseries adaptation of The Martian Chronicles. He appeared as a regular in The Name of the Game in 1971 after Tony Franciosa was dismissed; he, Peter Falk, Robert Culp, and Robert Wagner stepped in to rotate in the lead role with Gene Barry and Robert Stack.

The first of his two best-known roles came in 1972, in the supernatural-themed TV movie The Night Stalker (1972). With McGavin playing a reporter who discovers the activities of a modern-day vampire on the loose in Las Vegas, the film became the highest-rated made-for-TV movie in history; and when the sequel The Night Strangler (1973) also was a strong success, a subsequent television series Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1974) was begun. In the series, McGavin played Carl Kolchak, an investigative reporter for a Chicago-based news service who regularly stumbles upon the supernatural or occult basis for a seemingly mundane crime; although his involvement routinely assisted in the dispelment of the otherwordly adversary, his evidence in the case was always destroyed or seized, usually by a public official or major social figure who sought to cover up the incident. He would write his ensuing stories in a sensational, tabloid style which advised readers that the true story was being withheld from them.

Kolchak was the inspiration for the successful 1993 series The X-Files and because of this, McGavin was asked to play the role of Arthur Dales, the man who started the X-Files, in three episodes: Season 5's "Travelers" and two episodes from Season 6, "Agua Mala" and "The Unnatural". Unfortunately, failing health forced him to withdraw from the latter, and the script (written and directed by series star David Duchovny) was rewritten to feature M. Emmet Walsh as Dales' brother, also called Arthur.

In 1983, he had his second signature role as "The Old Man," the narrator's father, in the classic Christmas movie A Christmas Story. Opposite Melinda Dillon as the narrator's mother, he portrayed an ornery, irascible working-class father, in an unnamed Indiana town in the 1940s, who was endearing in spite of his being comically oblivious to his own use of profanity and completely unable to recognize his unfortunate taste for kitsch. Blissfully unaware of his family's embarrassment by his behavior, he took pride in his self-assessed ability to fix anything in record time, and carried on a tireless campaign against his neighbor's rampaging bloodhounds. Although the film was a box office failure, grossing under $20 million, subsequent television airings led to a huge surge in its popularity; by the early 2000s, the cable station Turner Network Television had begun airing the film repeatedly in a continuous 24-hour loop just prior to Christmas [1].

McGavin made an uncredited appearance in 1984's The Natural as a shady gambler and appeared on a Christmas episode ("Midnight of the Century") of Chris Carter's Millennium, playing the long-estranged father of Frank Black (Lance Henriksen); he also appeared as Adam Sandler's hotel-magnate father in the 1995 movie Billy Madison.

He won a CableACE Award (for the 1991 TV movie Clara) and received a 1990 Emmy Award (see www.emmys.org) as an Outstanding Guest Star in a Comedy Series on the comedy series Murphy Brown, in which he played Murphy Brown (Candice Bergen)'s father.

McGavin was married twice in long-term marriages:

* Melanie York (March 20, 1944 to 1969), producing four children (Bogart, York, Megan, and Bridget McGavin), ending in divorce;
* Kathie Browne (December 31, 1969 - April 8, 2003), ending in her death.

It is unclear whether McGavin was in military or naval service in World War II, although he was then in his early twenties and thus eligible.

Death

McGavin died of natural causes at age 83 in a Los Angeles-area hospital, according to his son, Bogart McGavin [2]. He was survived by all four of his children. He died the day after one of his co-stars, Don Knotts, with whom McGavin had worked with twice in Disney films, in 1976's No Deposit, No Return, and 1978's Hot Lead and Cold Feet

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darren_McGavin
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bobsmythhawk
 
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Reply Sun 7 May, 2006 05:40 pm
Anne Baxter
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Anne Baxter (May 7, 1923 - December 12, 1985) was an Academy Award-winning American actress.


Early life

Baxter was born in Michigan City, Indiana, to Kenneth Stuart Baxter and Catherine Wright; her maternal grandfather was architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Baxter's father was a prominent executive with the Seagrams Distillery Co. and she was raised in New York City amidst luxury and sophistication. At age 10, Baxter attended a Broadway play starring Helen Hayes, and was so impressed that she declared to her family that she wanted to become an actress. By the age of 13, Anne had appeared on Broadway. During this period, Baxter learned her acting craft as a student of the famed teacher Maria Ouspenskaya.

Career

Baxter screen-tested for the role of Mrs. DeWinter in Rebecca, but lost out to Joan Fontaine because director Alfred Hitchcock considered her "too young" for the role. The strength of that first foray into movie acting secured the then sixteen-year-old Baxter a seven year contract with The Fox Film Co. which later became 20th Century Fox. Her first movie role was in 20 Mule Team in 1940. She was chosen by Orson Welles to appear in The Magnificent Ambersons, based on the novel by Booth Tarkington. Baxter didn't have a starring role until The Razor's Edge in 1946, for which she won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1950 she was chosen to co-star in All About Eve, largely because of a resemblance to Claudette Colbert, who had initially been chosen to co-star in the film. Baxter received a nomination for Best Actress for the title role of Eve Harrington, which is one of Baxter's enduring legacies to the history of cinema. Later during that decade, Baxter also continued to act in professional theater. According to a program from the production, Baxter appeared on Broadway in 1953 opposite Tyrone Power in Charles Laughton's John Brown's Body, a play based upon the narrative poem by Stephen Vincent Benet (though IBDB-- International Broadway Database states that Power's co-star was Judith Anderson)

Today, Baxter is probably best remembered for her compelling role as the Egyptian princess Nefretiri opposite Charlton Heston's portrayal of Moses in Cecil B. Demille's award winning The Ten Commandments (1956).

Baxter appeared regularly on television in the 1960s. For example, she did a stint as one of the What's My Line? Mystery Guests on the popular Sunday Night CBS-TV program.

Baxter appeared again on Broadway during the 1970s, in Applause, the musical version of All About Eve, but this time in the "Margo Channing" role played by Bette Davis in the film (she was replacing Lauren Bacall, who won a Tony Award in the role). Bette Davis tells, in one of her biographies, of attending one such performance by Baxter, to their mutual delight.

In the 1970s, Baxter was a frequent guest and stand-in host on the popular daytime TV talk-fest, The Mike Douglas Show, as Baxter and Douglas were the best of friends.

In 1983, she starred in the television series Hotel after replacing Bette Davis in the cast after Davis took ill. Baxter has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6741 Hollywood Blvd.

Private life

In the 1950s, Baxter was married to and then divorced from actor John Hodiak. That union produced Baxter's oldest daughter, Katrina. In 1961, Baxter and her second husband, Randolph Galt, left the United States to live and raise their kids on a cattle station in the Australian Outback. She told the story in her memoir Intermission: A True Story. In the book, Baxter blamed the failure of her first marriage to Hodiak on herself.

Though her second marriage to Galt did not last much longer, Baxter and Galt had two daughters together: Melissa and Maginel. Privately during this period, Baxter chose to refer to herself as Ann Galt amongst her neighbors in Brentwood, Los Angeles, California, probably as a way to downplay her star status and to raise her daughters as normally as possible. Baxter was briefly married again in 1977 to David Klee, a prominent stockbroker, but then she was abruptly widowed with his sudden death to illness. Baxter never again married.

Anne died from a brain aneurysm on December 12, 1985 while walking down the street in New York City.

Baxter was survived upon her passing by her three adult daughters. A footnote is that Ms. Baxter was a lifelong friend of the late costume-designer, Edith Head. Upon Ms. Head's death in 1981, Baxter's daughter Melissa was bequeathed Ms. Head's extraordinary collection of jewelry. Melissa Galt today works as an interior designer in Atlanta. Baxter's daughter Katrina Hodiak ultimately married and had children. Baxter's daughter Maginel Galt is purported today to be a Catholic nun living and working in Rome, Italy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Baxter
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