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Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner, Letty.

(Letty quote:

Hey, who was the guy who played the Baron? I do believe he played a lead role in "The Body Snatcher." That movie was scarey, and the acting was marvelous. )



That's Henry Daniell and he's been over 90 feature films/TV movies. The only movie I can remember him playing a likable guy in was "Song of Love" as Franz Liszt.

And he was in Robert Louis Stevenson's "The Body Snatcher" (1945)

Frances Farmer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Frances Elena Farmer (September 19, 1913 - August 1, 1970) was an American film actress.


Early life, career and marriage

Farmer was born in Seattle, Washington to Ernest Melvin Farmer (English ancestry) and Lillian Van Ornum Farmer (Dutch ancestry). In 1931, at age 17, she entered and won $100 in a writing contest sponsored by Scholastic Magazine with her controversial essay God Dies, a precocious attempt to reconcile her wish for, in her words, a "superfather" God with her observations of a chaotic, seemingly Godless, world. In 1935, as a student at the University of Washington, she won a subscription contest for the leftist newspaper The Voice of Action. First prize was a trip to the Soviet Union, which she took despite her mother's strong objections. These two incidents led to accusations that Farmer was both an atheist and a Communist. Farmer studied drama at the University of Washington. During the 1930s its drama department productions were considered citywide cultural events and attended accordingly. While there she starred in diverse plays including Helen of Troy, Everyman and Uncle Vanya. In 1935 she starred in the school's production of Alien Corn, speaking foreign languages, playing the piano and receiving rave reviews in what was the longest running play in the department's history at the time.

Early film career

Returning from the Soviet Union in the summer of 1935, Farmer stopped in New York City, hoping to launch a legitimate theater career. Instead, she was referred to Paramount talent scout Oscar Serlin who arranged for a screen test. Paramount offered her a 7-year contract. Farmer signed it in New York on her 22nd birthday (September 19, 1935) and moved to Hollywood. She had top billing in two well-received 1936 "B" films and that same year was cast opposite Bing Crosby in Rhythm On The Range. Also in 1936 she was loaned to Samuel Goldwyn to appear in Come and Get It, based on the novel by Edna Ferber. Her portrayals of both the mother and daughter were praised by the public and critics, some of whom wrote of her potential to become a major star. She also married her first husband, actor Leif Erickson, in 1936.

A rebellious star

Farmer was not entirely satisfied with her career, however. She felt stifled by Paramount's tendency to cast her in films which depended on her looks more than her talent and her naturally outspoken demeanor made her seem uncooperative and contemptuous. In an age when the studios dictated every facet of a star's life, Farmer rebelled against the studio's control and although she allowed herself to be put through cosmetic "makeovers" and photographed in bathing suits for publicity purposes, she resisted every attempt they made to glamourize her private life, refusing to attend Hollywood parties or to date other stars for the gossip columns. At the time, she was sympathetically described as being indifferent about the clothing she wore and was said to drive an older-model "green roadster," which according to a columnist, once broke down on Melrose Avenue, blocking traffic as Farmer pushed the stricken car to the side, much to the consternation of the studio's publicity department.

Hoping to enhance her reputation as a serious actress, she left Hollywood in 1937 to do summer stock on the East Coast, where she attracted the attention of Harold Clurman and Clifford Odets. They invited her to appear in the Group Theatre production of Odets' play Golden Boy in a performance which at first received highly mixed reviews (Time magazine commented that she had been miscast), but which, due to Farmer's box office appeal, became the biggest hit in the Group's history. By 1938 when the production had embarked on a national tour, regional critics from Washington D.C. to Chicago gave her rave reviews.


Farmer with Tyrone Power in Son of Fury (1942).Farmer also had an affair with Odets but he was married to actress Luise Rainer and didn't offer Farmer a commitment. Farmer felt betrayed when Odets suddenly ended the relationship, believing he had used her drawing power to further the success of his play. She returned to Hollywood, somewhat chastened, willing to continue her movie career but still on her terms. She arranged with Paramount to stay in Los Angeles for three months out of every year to make motion pictures, freeing up the remainder of her time for theater activities. However, her two subsequent appearances on Broadway had short runs and she found herself back in Los Angeles, often loaned out by Paramount to other studios for starring roles, while at her home studio she was consigned to costarring appearances, which she often found unchallenging.

By 1939 her temperamental work habits and drinking had resulted in fewer calls from Paramount. In 1940, after abruptly quitting a Broadway production of a play by Hemingway, she starred in two major films but a year later she was again relegated to co-starring roles. Her performance in Son of Fury (Fox, 1941) was critically praised but in 1942 Paramount cancelled Farmer's contract, reportedly because of her alcoholism and increasingly erratic behaviour.[1] Meanwhile her marriage with Leif Erickson had disintegrated.

The spiral

On October 19, 1942 she was stopped by the police in Santa Monica for driving with her headlights on bright in the wartime blackout zone which affected most of the west coast. Some reports say she was unable to produce a driver's license and was verbally abusive. The police suspected her of being drunk and she was jailed overnight. Farmer was fined $500.00 and given a 180 day suspended sentence. She immediately paid $250.00 and was put on probation. By January 1943 she had failed to pay the rest of the fine and a bench warrant was issued for her arrest. At almost the same time, an assault charge was filed against her by a studio hairdresser who alleged Farmer had dislocated her jaw on the set of a low budget movie. The police traced her to the Knickerbocker Hotel in Hollywood and, getting no answer, entered her room with a pass key. They reportedly found her in bed (some stories include an episode involving the bathroom) and made her dress quickly. By all accounts she did not surrender peacefully.

At her hearing the next morning she behaved erratically. She made claims about her civil rights and demanded an attorney and proceeded to throw an inkwell at the judge, who immediately sentenced her to 180 days in jail. When the judge asked if she had had anything to drink since the last time she was in court she replied that she'd drank anything she came upon and also that she had been taking Benzedrine. Farmer responded by knocking down a policeman and bruising another along with a matron. She ran to a phone booth where she tried to call her attorney but was subdued by the police who physically carried her away as she shouted, "Have you ever had a broken heart?" (a famous picture of this incident survives).

Newspaper reports gave sensationalized accounts of her arrest, including claims she had used profanities when speaking to police officers. Through the efforts of her sister-in-law, a deputy sheriff in Los Angeles county at the time, Farmer was transferred to the psychiatric ward of L.A. General Hospital and diagnosed with "manic depressive psychosis."

Within days, having been sent to the San Fernando Valley and a sanitarium for screen actors in La Crescenta, Farmer was diagnosed as "paranoid schizophrenic" and received insulin shock therapy, a brutal and dangerous treatment which was later discredited, but accepted as standard psychiatric procedure at the time. The painful side effects included intense nausea. Her family later claimed the treatment was given without their consent (as documented in her sister's self-published book Look Back in Love and court records). The sanitarium was a minimum security facility and after about nine months, Farmer walked away one afternoon. She appeared at her half-sister Rita's house over 20 miles away and the pair called their mother Lillian in Seattle to complain about the insulin treatment. Lillian Farmer traveled to California and began a lengthy legal battle to have guardianship of Frances transferred from the state of California to her. Although several psychiatrists testified that Frances needed further treatment, Lillian prevailed and the two of them left Los Angeles by train on September 13, 1943.

Western State Hospital

Farmer moved back in with her parents in West Seattle but she and her mother fought bitterly. Within six months Frances had physically attacked Lillian, who had her daughter committed as "legally insane" to Western State Hospital at Fort Steilacoom, Washington, where she was sometimes placed in a strait jacket and received electro-convulsive shock treatment (ECT). Three months later, during the summer of 1944, she was pronounced "completely cured" and released. While traveling with her father to visit at an aunt's ranch in Reno, Nevada, she ran away and spent time with a family who had picked her up hitchhiking, but was eventually arrested for vagrancy in Antioch, California. This received wide publicity and offers of help flooded in from Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco, which she ignored. After a long stay with her aunt in Nevada she went back to her parents but at her mother's request was returned to Western State in May 1945. The facility was woefully understaffed and has been described as "crumbling," "antiquated" and "dismal."[citation needed]

Sensationalized accounts

In the years following Farmer's death her treatment at Western State was the subject of serious discussion and wild speculation. A sensationalized chapter relating to her breakdown was included in Hollywood Babylon by Kenneth Anger. Farmer's ghostwritten, posthumously published autobiography Will There Really Be A Morning described a brutal incarceration and claimed she had been raped, beaten, doused in freezing baths and forced by a warden to eat her own feces. However, Farmer's friend and ghostwriter Jean Ratcliffe admitted she had written the book specifically to create a saleable and filmable property, conceding she had deliberately exaggerated Farmer's torment and that most of the finished work was not contributed by Farmer.

The false lobotomy claims

William Arnold

In the fictional biography Shadowland (1978), published eight years after her death, William Arnold was the first to claim Farmer had been subjected to a transorbital lobotomy performed by Dr. Walter Freeman. This assertion was repeated in Lobotomy, Resort to the Knife 1982 by David Shutts, who cited Frank Freeman (Walter Freeman's eldest son) as saying his father performed a lobotomy on Farmer. As evidence he offered a dramatic photograph of a lobotomy procedure. This was later shown to be from a series of images accompanying a July, 1949 Seattle Post-Intelligencer article about Walter Freeman. The same patient's face is completely visible in other photos and she is clearly not Farmer (a link below to Shedding Light on Shadowland includes the photos).

Walter Freeman's younger son disputed the lobotomy story but it was widely accepted as fact for several years. Wholly fictional scenes of Farmer being subjected to the procedure were used to shocking effect in the 1982 film Frances. In a court case brought by author William Arnold against Brooksfilms, the film's producers (one of whom was comedian Mel Brooks), Arnold admitted he had never intended to create a true biography of Farmer and that much of his story was "fictionalized" (as he put it), including the lobotomy episode.[2] Years later, on a DVD commentary track of the film Frances, director Graeme Clifford stated, "We didn't want to nickel and dime people to death with facts."

Medical archives

Western State Hospital's medical archives record all of the lobotomies performed during her time there. Since lobotomies were considered a ground-breaking (and money saving) medical procedure at the time, the hospital did not attempt to conceal their work and kept extensive records. Although hundreds of patients underwent the procedure, no evidence has ever been presented to support the claim Farmer was among them. Farmer's own medical records show she was never operated on for any reason while she was institutionalized.[2] Former staff members, including all the lobotomy ward nurses who were on duty during Frances' years at Western State (and who were still alive years later) confirmed during 1983 interviews with Seattle newspapers that Farmer did not receive a lobotomy. Nurse Beverly Tibbetts stated, "I worked on all the patients who had lobotomies, and Frances Farmer never came to that ward." Freeman's own private patient records contain no references to Farmer. Dr. Charles Jones, Psychiatric Resident at Western State during Frances' stays there (and personally trained by Freeman to perform transorbitals) also stated that Farmer was never given a lobotomy. In The Lobotomist, a later biography of Walter Freeman, author Jack El-Hai reported that Freeman's son Frank ultimately hedged his earlier statements and was no longer willing to assert unequivocally that his father operated on Farmer. Her sister Edith Farmer Elliot said her parents were asked for permission to perform a lobotomy on Frances, but her father was "horrified" by the notion and threatened legal action "if they tried any of their guinea pig operations on her."

Second career and death

On March 23, 1950, at her parents' request, she was "paroled" back into her mother's care. Farmer's mostly ghostwritten autobiography bitterly stated that her parents needed her to take care of them in their old age. She took a job sorting laundry at the Olympic Hotel in Seattle. At the time Farmer is said to have believed her mother could have her institutionalized again. In 1953, ten years after her arrest at the Knickerbocker Hotel in Hollywood, a judge legally restored Frances Farmer's competency and full civil rights at her request.

In 1954, after a brief second marriage to utility worker Alfred H. Lobley, Farmer moved to Eureka, California where she worked anonymously for almost three years in a photo studio as a secretary/bookkeeper.

Comeback attempt

In 1957 she met Leland C. Mikesell, an independent broadcast promoter from Indianapolis who helped her move to San Francisco and get work as a receptionist in a hotel, where he then arranged for a reporter to recognize her and write an article. This led to renewed interest. She told Modern Screen magazine, "I blame nobody for my fall... I think I have won the fight to control myself." She made two appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show and also appeared on the TV show This Is Your Life, during which she was asked about her alcohol abuse and mental illness. Farmer said she had never believed she was mentally ill and remarked, "if a person is treated like a patient, they are apt to act like one." Reviewers described her responses as highly intelligent, noted her brusque but forthcoming reactions to some of the more personal questions and suggested that she sometimes seemed to be on the verge of losing her patience.

After a 15 year hiatus, in August 1957 Farmer returned to the stage in New Hope, Pennsylvania for a summer stock production of The Chalk Garden. The wry irony of her role has been noted: The play's protagonist works to rebuild her life after being away for 15 years.

Through the spring of 1958 Farmer appeared in several television dramas and made her last film, The Party Crashers, produced by Paramount for the teen market in an apparent attempt to capitalize on her name. During this period she divorced Lobley and married Mikesell, but her third marriage was also brief. By the summer of 1958, offers for television and theater appearances had fallen off. Her comeback ended with a six day performance of The Chalk Garden in Indianapolis, where she accepted an offer to host afternoon movies on a local TV station.

[edit]
Indianapolis
She made a success of Frances Farmer Presents, was in demand as a public speaker and was actress-in-residence at Purdue University during the early 1960s, appearing in some campus productions.

However, by 1964 her behaviour had turned erratic again (some commentators have implicated her alcoholism), she became unreliable and temperamental, was fired, re-hired and fired again.

A rival television station reportedly offered her a job but Farmer is said to have broken off contact after one telephone call.

Her last acting role was in The Visit at Loeb Playhouse on the Purdue University campus in West Lafayette, Indiana, which ran from October 22 to October 30, 1965. During this engagement she was arrested for drunk driving.

She subsequently attempted two small businesses with her friend, Jean Ratcliffe, but both failed. She was arrested again for drunk driving and her license was suspended for a year.

Farmer also reportedly gave dramatic readings during this period until illness made it too difficult for her to speak. A lifelong heavy smoker, she began work on her autobiography in 1968 but it was uncompleted when Farmer died from esophageal cancer in 1970 at the age of 56.

Six female friends and acquaintances were pallbearers at her funeral. Frances Farmer is interred at Oaklawn Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Fishers, Indiana.

Quotes

"It was pretty sad, because [after the publication of God Dies] for the first time I found how stupid people could be. It sort of made me feel alone in the world. The more people pointed at me in scorn the more stubborn I got and when they began calling me the Bad Girl of West Seattle High, I tried to live up to it."

"It's a nuthouse [Hollywood]. The other day a man phoned and wanted me to endorse a certain brand of cigarettes. I had nothing against them and in fact will smoke them or anything else that comes along, but I didn't know why he was bothering me. I thought maybe if I was nice they'd give me a carton as a thank offering, so I rather tentatively broached the matter of remuneration. What was the endorsement worth, I asked, and he said three thousand dollars. What are you going to do in an atmosphere like that?"

Trivia

She allowed the Paramount make-up department to shave off her eyebrows as a part of the routine "makeover" given to any newly contracted actress. Only a year later (1937), studio photographs show they'd grown back and she wasn't trimming them pencil-thin, contrary to the standard practice for Hollywood actresses at the time.
The January 25, 1943 issue of Newsweek magazine stated that Farmer's famous remark, "Have you ever had a broken heart?" made while she was being carried away from the courtroom by police officers didn't refer to her former husband Leif Erickson but to "a failed relationship with a Hollywood director." Based on Edith Farmer Elliot's book Look Back in Love along with Farmer's personal correspondence, some researchers have concluded that this director was Harold Clurman, to whom Farmer had loaned money.
Farmer was one of only a very few featured guests of the popular This is Your Life series to have been alerted beforehand about the impending show.
Throughout her career Farmer was frequently announced for projects she ultimately did not end up performing in. Among the many Paramount films for which she was announced are College Holiday, Hideaway Girl, Spawn of the North, Big Broadcast of 1938, Beau Geste and Take A Letter, Darling. Preston Sturges apparently wanted Farmer for Sullivan's Travels, but the role ultimately went to Veronica Lake. From 1944-45, during her initial institutionalizations and releases from Western State Hospital, several news articles quoted producers as offering her the lead in the film The Enchanted Forest and the Broadway play The Incredible Woodhull.

Biographical films

Jessica Lange played Farmer in the 1982 feature film Frances and was Oscar-nominated for her role. However, this film contains a discredited, fictional scene which depicts Farmer undergoing a transorbital lobotomy. Lange maintained her compassion and empathy for Farmer's plight and in interviews remained an ardent supporter.
Susan Blakely portrayed Farmer with Lee Grant as Farmer's mother Lillian in a television production which used the title of the autobiography.

Adam West
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Adam West (born William West Anderson on September 19, 1928 in Walla Walla, Washington, USA) is an American actor, best known for playing the role of Batman on the original television program that ran from 1966 to 1968. He currently voices Mayor Adam West of Quahog, Rhode Island in the animated sitcom Family Guy.


Biography

Early life

After attending Lakeside School, a prestigious high school in Seattle, he graduated from Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA where he was a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity, majored in literature and psychology, and was married. He served two years in the United States Army. He worked as a disc jockey, truck driver, and cowboy, then travelled with his wife around Europe, where he sometimes worked as a milkman. Eventually he settled in Hawaii where he got a role on a light entertainment show called The Kini Popo Show. In Hawaii, he divorced his first wife and married a Hawaiian woman named Ngatokoruaimatauaia Frisbie Dawson, whom Adam called Nga. [1]

Batman

Adam West as BatmanIn the 1960s, various roles in films and television brought him to the attention of William Dozier, who cast him as Batman in the 1960s hit television series. West has said he was also invited to play James Bond after Sean Connery decided to give up the role, and that he was almost a majority of the three big B's of the 1960s: Bond, Batman, and The Beatles. The Batman show was internationally successful as light camp entertainment, running from 1966 to 1968 and even producing a feature film.

Post-Batman career

After the show ended, West was typecast as Batman and had trouble playing other roles; audiences identified him as Batman and no one else. Even his convincing lead performance as cynical tough guy Johnny Cain in the 1969 film The Girl Who Knew Too Much did not erode his Batman image.

He never stopped working after Batman and during the 1970s and 1980s appeared in a range of B-grade films and non-aired TV pilots, including The Happy Hooker Goes To Hollywood about the famed call girl, Xaviera Hollander.

In 1979, West returned to the role of Batman in Legends of the Super-Heroes. He returned again in 1983, this time in animated form on the Super Friends cartoon, taking over from previous Batman Olan Soule.


Lookwell pilot episode

1990s

During the 1990s he achieved partial cult status, appearing as himself in such films as The Size of Watermelons and Drop Dead Gorgeous. West has also lent his voice to several animated television series, including The Simpsons and the animated Batman television series. In 1991, he starred in the pilot episode for Lookwell, in which he portrayed a washed-up TV action hero who falsely believes he can solve crimes in real life. The pilot, written by Conan O'Brien and Robert Smigel, has accrued a reputation for being one of the funniest potential series not to be picked up by a network. It was later broadcast on the Trio channel.

West had a cameo appearance on the Fox animated version of Batman, Batman: The Animated Series. In the episode Beware the Gray Ghost, West ironically voices an actor that used to play a hero in a TV series called "The Gray Ghost" and that has since been typecast in that role, having difficulty finding new work.

Family Guy

Adam West plays "Mayor Adam West" on the animated sitcom Family GuyWest makes semi-regular appearances on the animated series Family Guy, on which he plays Mayor Adam West, the near-lunatic mayor of fictional Quahog, Rhode Island

Further information: Adam West (Family Guy)

Other voice work

Adam West also appears on Nickelodeon's animated series The Fairly OddParents, as a cat-obsessed version of himself who is famous for playing a superhero called Catman, and who actually believes he is Catman.

He also voiced cartoon roles on Kim Possible as Timothy North, a washed-up actor who believes he is the superhero he portrayed on television, The Fearless Ferret. He also starred on the Cartoon Network series Johnny Bravo. In The Batman, he plays the mayor of Gotham City named Marion Grange, and most recently has done voice over work for The Boondocks. He also played the voice of General Carrington in the video game XIII.

Investing

He is also a canny investor who has appeared on Fox's Cashin' In show about the stock market and investments in general.

Brook Benton
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Brook Benton, real name Benjamin Franklin Peay (September 19, 1931 - April 9, 1988), was a very popular soul singer in the early 1960s, perhaps most widely known for "Rainy Night in Georgia", "Fools Rush In", "This Time of the Year", and "It's Just A Matter Of Time", his first big hit. He was also a songwriter whose songs were performed by both him and other artists.

David McCallum
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



Born 19 September 1933
Glasgow, Scotland

David Keith McCallum (born September 19, 1933 in Glasgow) is a prolific Scottish actor and the son of concertmaster violinist David McCallum, Sr.. He is best known for his role as Illya Kuryakin, a Russian secret agent, on the popular television series The Man from U.N.C.L.E..

McCallum began his career as a bit-part actor in British films of the 1950s. The Man from U.N.C.L.E., intended as a vehicle for Robert Vaughn, unexpectedly made McCallum into a sex symbol. Although he subsequently became a familiar face on television, he was never able to achieve the same level of popular success as he had done with his role as Kuryakin. His best-known roles were in Sapphire and Steel (opposite Joanna Lumley), as the lead in a 1970s remake of The Invisible Man, and as Judas Iscariot in The Greatest Story Ever Told.

He was married to the late actress Jill Ireland from 1957 to 1967. They had three sons: Paul, Jason (adopted), and Valentine.

McCallum co-starred with Charles Bronson in The Great Escape. He introduced Ireland to Bronson on the set and she later left him and married Bronson. McCallum married Katherine Carpenter in September 1967, and they have two children: Peter and Sophie. As of September 2006, he is one of only four surviving stars of the film, the others being Lord Richard Attenborough, James Garner and John Leyton.

He is currently starring in the CBS television series NCIS as Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard. In an inside joke on that program, when Agent Gibbs is asked the question, "What did Ducky look like when he was younger?," Gibbs simply responds, "Illya Kuryakin."

David McCallum recorded in the 1960s some albums for Capitol Records with producer David Axelrod, such as Music: A Bit More of Me (1966) and Music: It's Happening Now! (1967). The most well known of his pieces today is arguably The Edge, which was sampled by Dr. Dre as the intro and riff to the track The Next Episode.

David McCallum appeared on stage in Australia when he appeared in the play Run For Your Wife , during 1987-1988 and the production toured the country. Other members of the cast in the production were Jack Smethurst, Eric Sykes and Katy Manning.

Paul Williams (songwriter)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Paul Hamilton Williams (born September 19, 1940, in Omaha, Nebraska) is an American composer and songwriter.

Film and Television Career

The diminutive (5 feet [1.5 m] tall) and cherubic Williams is also an actor, appearing in films and many television guest appearances, notably as the lead role in the cult film Phantom of the Paradise, a rock and roll remake of Phantom of the Opera, and as "Virgil", the genius orangutan on Battle for the Planet of the Apes. Williams worked closely with Jim Henson's Henson Productions on The Muppet Movie, most specifically on the soundtrack.

He provided the voice of The Penguin in Batman:The Animated Series.

He is a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and his songs have been performed by both pop and country music artists. He is the son-in-law of actor Keenan Wynn. He has won one Academy Award, two Grammy Awards and several Golden Globes.

Musical career

Williams is responsible for a number of enduring pop hits from the 1970s, including "(Just an) Old Fashioned Love Song", a U.S. top-ten hit for the band Three Dog Night in late 1971, and a number of Carpenters hits, most notably "We've Only Just Begun", which has since become a cover-band standard and de rigueur for weddings throughout North America. An early collaboration with Roger Nichols, "Someday Man", was covered by The Monkees (in which he also auditioned for but did not make it) on a 1969 single, and was the first Monkees' release not published by Screen Gems.

A frequent cowriter of Williams was musician Kenneth Ascher; their songs together included the popular children's favorite "The Rainbow Connection", sung by Kermit the Frog in The Muppet Movie.

Personal life

Williams has been active in the field of recovery from addictions. He has been divorced twice, is currently married, and has two children. Paul's brother, Mentor Williams, is a successful songwriter in his own right and penned Dobie's Gray's 1972 hit, "Drift Away."


Plays

Under the Sycamore Tree
Tru on Broadway, 1989

Television

He made numerous television appearances in the 1970s and 1980s, including guest appearances on Match Game '79, The Love Boat, The Hardy Boys and The Muppet Show. He has also appeared on an episode of Babylon 5 as the aide to an alien ambassador whose species finalizes treaties and agreements by having sex with the other signees.

He is also known as the voice of the Penguin in Batman: The Animated Series.

Cass Elliot
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Mama" Cass Elliot, Baroness von Wiedenman (September 19, 1941 - July 29, 1974), born Ellen Naomi Cohen, was a noted American singer who performed with The Mamas & The Papas. She then went onto a successful solo career, releasing nine albums. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, she spent most of her childhood both in Baltimore and Alexandria, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C.

Mama Cass

Elliot, known for her sense of humor and optimism, was considered by some to be the most charismatic member of The Mamas & The Papas; her warm, distinctive voice was a large factor in their success. She is best remembered for her vocals on the group's Billboard hits California Dreamin', Monday Monday, and Words of Love, as well as her first hit as an independent act, Dream a Little Dream of Me.

Cass was in love with fellow Mamas & Papas band member Denny Doherty. His affair with another married band member, Michelle Phillips, was one of the causes of the break-up of the band. Elliot resented Michelle's perceived betrayal of their friendship and helped to support the band's decision to fire Michelle in June 1966, when it became clear that John Phillips could no longer work with her. Personal problems within the group and Elliot's desire to go solo led to their dissolution in July 1968.

Cass gave birth to a daughter named Owen Vanessa Elliot on April 26, 1967 without naming the father.

In August 1968, Abigail Folger and Wojciech Frykowski moved across the street from Cass, and they quickly befriended her.

Solo career and family

After the breakup of The Mamas & The Papas, Elliot went on to have a successful solo career. Her most successful recording during this period was 1968's Dream a Little Dream of Me from her solo album of the same name, released by Dunhill Records, though it had originally been recorded for and released on the album The Papas & The Mamas Presented By The Mamas and The Papas earlier that year. She headlined briefly in Las Vegas for the whopping contract of USD$40,000 per week. She was a regular on TV talk shows and variety shows in the 1970s including The Julie Andrews Hour and The Carol Burnett Show. She also made a memorable guest-star appearance on The New Scooby-Doo Movies.

At the height of her career in 1974, having just finished performing at the London Palladium theatre, she died of a heart attack. The coroner surmised her heart had weakened to the point of failure owing to Elliot's weight and the effects of several crash diets over the years. She died in the same bed, in the same room - albeit four years earlier - as manic drummer of The Who, Keith Moon, in an apartment owned by singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson. Following the loss of a second friend, Keith Moon, in the building, a distraught Nilsson could not face returning there and subsequently sold the flat to Pete Townshend.

Elliot was married twice. In 1963 she married then-bandmate James Hendricks; they divorced in 1968. In 1971 she married Baron Donald von Wiedenman, a journalist, thus becoming Baroness von Wiedenman.

Cass's sister, Leah Kunkel, is also a singer and charted in 1984 as a member of the Coyote Sisters on the single "Straight From The Heart (Into Your Life)." Kunkel was interviewed by VH1 in 1997 and discussed her more famous sister for the "Mamas & Papas" episode of the network's documentary series Behind The Music.

Cass's daughter, Owen Vanessa Elliot, is a singer as well, and in the late 1980s, her idea of recording a anti-drug song using the offspring of 1960s rock stars led to the formation of the vocal group that would be known as Wilson Phillips. Owen was to have been part of the group herself, but was asked to leave because her voice didn't blend well with the others' voices.

Myths

An urban legend holds that Elliot died choking on a ham sandwich. This is incorrect. Shortly after her death, but before her autopsy, The Times published an article that quoted her doctor as speculating that she "probably... died as a result of choking on a sandwich while lying in bed". However, later that week the coroner found no food in her trachea and determined that the cause of death was heart failure. Nevertheless, the rumor spread, with the popular imagination embellishing that it was a ham sandwich (possibly based on an association with ham, pigs, and her obesity). Another version of the story holds that the doctor found a sandwich or partially eaten sandwich in her room, causing him to speculate about the cause of death. This urban legend led to the joke that "if Mama Cass had given Karen Carpenter the ham sandwich, they'd both be alive today".

Another popular myth about Elliot is that her vocal range was improved after she was hit on the head by copper tubing shortly before joining the band. Elliot had been dogging her friend and former bandmate Denny Doherty to let her join the band. The myth purports that while Cass and the band members were in the Virgin Islands, copper tubing fell on her head and miraculously changed her voice. The myth was started by band member John Phillips as a justification for letting her into the band after initially refusing to allow her to join. He repeats the story himself on the PBS special California Dreamin': The Songs of the Mamas and the Papas, insisting it is true. Casey Kasem repeated the story during his show.

Elliot herself lends validation to the story, however, so it may not be false. From an interview with Rolling Stone magazine in 1968, Elliot was asked, "Is that a true story about a pipe falling on your head…" Elliot responded:

It's true, I did get hit on the head by a pipe that fell down and my range was increased by three notes. They were tearing this club apart in the islands, revamping it, putting in a dance floor. Workmen dropped a thin metal plumbing pipe and it hit me on the head and knocked me to the ground. I had a concussion and went to the hospital. I had a bad headache for about two weeks and all of a sudden I was singing higher. It's true. Honest to God.[1]

The E! True Hollywood Story biography about Elliot reports (and revives) the completely unfounded and baseless rumor that singer-songwriter John Lennon of The Beatles may have been the father of Elliot's daughter, Owen. This rumor most likely originated from Cass's obsession with the Beatles. Many years after Cass's death, bandmate Michelle Phillips helped Owen find her real biological father.

References to Cass Elliot in media

On an episode of Sanford and Son called "The Card Sharps", Skeeter Matthews (Thalmus Rasulala) said, "You must be Poppa Sanford?" Fred Sanford (Redd Foxx) replied, "No, I'm Mama Cass!"
"Make Your Own Kind of Music" is prominently featured in two episodes of the television series Lost, "Man of Science, Man of Faith" and "Adrift" along with a sitar arrangment of the song in "Live Together, Die Alone".
In the British film Beautiful Thing one of the protagonists and his closest friend are avowed fans of Elliot's. Several songs by both her and her group can be heard throughout the movie. Of the sixteen tracks on the soundtrack album, fifteen are songs by either Cass Elliot or The Mamas & the Papas.
The "ham sandwich" myth was used as a joke in Austin Powers. Having been defrosted after 30 years (1967-1997), Austin Powers is wondering what happened to all his friends from the 1960s. For Cass Elliot, he writes, "Mama Cass, deceased: ham sandwich."
Denis Leary makes a comment about Elliot by saying, "I think Mama Cass said it best when she said (choking sound)."
In Father of the Pride, Larry the lion insults a rude pig by yelling, "You people killed Mama Cass!"
In the film Stranger Inside, directed by Cheryl Dunye, when asked which woman would have the top bunk, the thinner inmate responded, "Do you think I would let Mama Cass and her fat ass sleep on top of me?"
In the 2003 film, School of Rock, there was a line cut out of the final version. "Mama Cass was a big lady, too." "Whatever hapened to her?" "She died from choking on a ham sand- never mind, that's not the point."
In the "Weird Al" Yankovic song, Close, But No Cigar (Straight Outta Lynwood album), there is a line, "She got me all choked up like Mama Cass."
In the TISM song, (He'll Never Be An) Ol' Man River, there is a line, "Mama Cass' sandwhich? I ate the same!"

A cannibal went to the tribe's witch doctor. "Doc, I've been feeling
lousy
lately."

"Hmmm," replied the witch doctor. "Let's review your diet. Are you
eating
man or animal?"

"Man, doc. We're eating those Catholic missionaries we caught last
week."

"OK, tell me how you cook them."

"Same way as always, doc. We boil them up in the big pot."

"Hmmmm," pondered the witch doctor. "Tell me more about these Catholic
missionaries. "

"Well, funny thing, doc. They all look alike! They're short, fat, wear
long robes, sandals, rope for belts, and are bald with a fringe of
hair."

"Well, that's your problem right there," responded the witch doctor.
"Those
guys aren't boilers! They're friars!"

Good morning, WA2K listeners and contributors. Well, we know our hawkman is finished with his bio's when we get to hear a real "groaner."

Friars? Love it, Boston.

Speaking of groaners, Eva's reply to hamburger was definitely one. Ah, hbg, I envy you and the Mrs.; wish I could ride in one of thos gondolas. Isn't Venice continuing to sink?

I was interested in Bob's bio of Frances Farmer, because I met Jessica Lang, her children, and Sam. I really thought Frances Farmer had been subjected to a lobotomy.

Hey, Raggedy, thanks for the reminder about "The Body Snatcher." I saw that movie on TCM, and had no idea that R.L.S. had written that short story. I think I read everything by that man, so that must have been why I enjoyed that old movie.

Well, folks, I have some catching up to do, so I will wait for our Raggedy to appear with her fabulous photo's.

Good morning Letty. Pal Mike and I are heading out for the hawk banding. Count so far for banded hawks----0. I've only been out one day and there was no wind hence no hawks. Wish us luck. Imagine---not a single hawk (nor a married one). Hopefully we'll change that today. Partly cloudy with southwest winds at 5-10mph. Looks promising. Have a frivolous day.

Banding Bob

Bob, I hope that you and Mike are successful in your endeavors, and that you don't cause any split up's or separations among the red-tailed hawk population. I'm going to have to practice being frivolous again. It has been a while.<smile>

From the pen of Paul:

Day after day I must face a world of strangers
Where I don't belong, I'm not that strong
It's nice to know that there's someone I can turn to
Who will always care, you're always there

When there's no getting over that rainbow
When my smallest of dreams won't come true
I can take all the madness the world has to give
But I won't last a day without you

So many times when the city seems to be without a friendly face
A lonely place
It's nice to know that you'll be there if I need you
And you'll always smile, it's all worthwhile

When there's no getting over that rainbow
When my smallest of dreams won't come true
I can take all the madness the world has to give
But I won't last a day without you

Touch me and I end up singing
Troubles seem to up and disappear
You touch me with the love you're bringing
I can't really lose when you're near

If all my friends have forgotten half their promises
They're not unkind, just hard to find
One look at you and I know that I could learn to live
Without the rest, I found the best

When there's no getting over that rainbow
When my smallest of dreams won't come true
I can take all the madness the world has to give
But I won't last a day without you

When there's no getting over that rainbow
When my smallest of dreams won't come true
I can take all the madness the world has to give
But I won't last a day without you

Good morning WA2K.

Today's photo gallery:

Good morning, Raggedy. Great photo's as usual. One appears to be missing. (if you will pardon the oxymoron). Well, what do you know. David just reappeared. ; more legerdemain?

Hmmm. Not quite certain who the guy is between Frances and Brook, however.

Let's hear a favorite of all of us here

Brook Benton:

» Rainy Night In Georgia

Hoverin' by my suitcase, tryin' to find a warm place to spend the night
Heavy rain fallin', seems I hear your voice callin' "It's all right."
A rainy night in Georgia, a rainy night in Georgia
It seems like it's rainin' all over the world
I feel like it's rainin' all over the world
Neon signs a-flashin', taxi cabs and buses passin' through the night
A distant moanin' of a train seems to play a sad refrain to the night
A rainy night in Georgia, such a rainy night in Georgia
Lord, I believe it's rainin' all over the world
I feel like it's rainin' all over the world
How many times I wondered
It still comes out the same
No matter how you look at it or think of it
It's life and you just got to play the game
I find me a place in a box car, so I take my guitar to pass some time
Late at night when it's hard to rest I hold your picture to my chest and
I feel fine
(minor scat) But it's a rainy night in Georgia, baby, it's a rainy night
in Georgia I
feel it's rainin' all over the world, kinda lonely now And it's rainin'
all over the
world
Oh, have you ever been lonely, people?
And you feel that it was rainin' all over this man's world
You're talking 'bout rainin', rainin', rainin', rainin', rainin',
rainin', rainin',
rainin', rainin' rainin', rainin', rainin'

Is this better, Letty?

Oh, my gorsh, Raggedy. Adam West. I would never have known had it not been for the hawkman telling us about the batman. Thanks, PA.

Interesting, folks, They have recently released a movie that is a remake of Robert Penn Warren's historical figure Huey Long. I think it's called "A Lion in the Street." I'll have to check that out.

Very interesting, Letty, because I saw a movie many, many years ago called "A Lion Is in the Streets" starring Jimmy Cagney as a character based upon Huey Long. I also read the book of the same title by Adria Locke Langley. It was more exciting than "All the Kings Men".

I'll bet that is the name of the movie, Raggedy. I could check it out, but I trust your movie stuff implicitly.

Poem for the day:

By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April's breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard round the world.

The foe long since in silence slept;
Alike the conqueror silent sleeps;
And Time the ruined bridge has swept
Down the dark stream which seaward creeps.

On this green bank, by this soft stream,
We set to-day a votive stone;
That memory may their deed redeem,
When, like our sires, our sons are gone.

Spirit, that made those heroes dare
To die, or leave their children free,
Bid Time and Nature gently spare
The shaft we raise to them and thee.

Ralph Waldo Emerson.

I thought I would never find that poem, folks. Thought it was Henry and it turned out to be Ralph.

Good morning folks, sure is one fine day…

All Right Now
Free Lyrics

There she stood in the street
Smiling from her head to her feet
I said hey what is this
Now maybe baby
Maybe you're in need for a kiss
I said slow don't talk so fast
Don't you think that love can last
She said love Lord above
Now you're trying to trick me in love

All right now
Baby it's all right now
All right now
Baby it's all right now

I took her home to my place
Watching every move on her face
She said look what's your game
Are you trying to put me in shame
I said slow don't talk so fast
Don't you think that love can last
She said love Lord above
Now you're tryin' to trick me in love

All right now
Baby it's all right now
All right now
Baby it's all right now

All right now
Baby it's all right now
All right now
Baby it's all right now

Margaritaville
Jimmy Buffett

Nibblin' on sponge cake, watchin' the sun bake
All of those tourists covered with oil
Strumming my six string, on my front porch swing
Smell those shrimp, they're beginning to boil

Wastin' away again in Margaritaville
Searchin' for my lost shaker of salt
Some people claim that there's a woman to blame
But I know it's nobody's fault

Don't know the reason
I stayed here all season
With nothing to show
But this brand new tattoo
But it's a real beauty, a Mexican cutie
How it got here, I haven't a clue

Wasting away again in Margaritaville
Searching for my lost shaker of salt
Some people claim that there's a woman to blame
Now I think, hell, it could be my fault

I blew out my flip-flop
Stepped on a pop top
Cut my heel, had to cruise on back home
But there's booze in the blender
And soon it will render
That frozen concoction that helps me hang on

Wasting away again in Margaritaville
Searching for my last shaker of salt
Some people claim that there's a woman to blame
But I know it's my own damn fault

Yes, some people claim that there's a woman to blame
And I know it's my own damn fault