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Casper Van Dien
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



Birth name Casper Van Dien
Born December 18, 1968 (age 38)
Milton, Florida


Casper Van Dien (born December 18, 1968, in Milton, Florida) is an American actor, best known for his role as Johnnie Rico in Starship Troopers.



Biography

Early life

Casper grew up in Ridgewood, New Jersey. His mother is a retired nursery school teacher, and his father a retired U.S. Navy pilot. There is a long military tradition in Van Dien's family. Besides his father, his grandfather was a marine during WW II. Van Dien is a descendant of an old Dutch family long settled in the New York area; his other heritage includes Swedish, French, English and Native American. When he was older, his family returned to Florida, where he enrolled at the St. Petersburg branch of the Admiral Farragut Military Academy, graduating 3rd in command.

Next, he went to Florida State University in Tallahassee, enrolling in pre-med. Looking for college electives, he began taking theater classes. Soon acting began to overshadow medicine, and he dropped out of FSU to pursue a career in the field.


Career

Moving to L.A., he landed a number of small parts in various television series and movies. Two early breaks were recurring roles on One Life To Live and Beverly Hills 90210. This was followed by parts in several straight-to-video releases, including Night Eyes 4, Beastmaster III: The Eye of Braxus, Night Scream and, ironically, Casper: A Spirited Beginning.


He achieved more notice as the lead in the biopic James Dean: Race with Destiny. Soon after, he got the breakthrough role of Johnnie Rico in Paul Verhoeven's science fiction action film Starship Troopers. This directly led to his being cast as the "Lord of the Jungle" in Tarzan and the Lost City [1] Soon following was the role of Brom von Brunt in Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow, a reworking of the classic Washington Irving tale.

Returning to his television roots, in 2000 he appeared in the Aaron Spelling's short-lived NBC series Titans with Yasmine Bleeth, John Barrowman, Perry King and Victoria Principal.

In 2005, he produced and appeared in the reality series I Married a Princess, about his professional and personal life with Catherine Oxenberg, whose mother is Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia.



Personal life

He was married to Carrie Mitchum (the granddaughter of Robert Mitchum) from 1993 to 1997. They had two children: Cappy (Casper Robert Mitchum Van Dien) and Gracie. The only time the couple worked together was near the end of their marriage, in James Dean: Race with Destiny, which also starred Robert Mitchum.

He dated Denise Richards for a short time, while they were making Starship Troopers.

During the filming of The Collectors, he met Catherine Oxenberg. They worked together again in the Christian thriller The Omega Code. The two married in May of 1999. Oxenberg had a daughter, India, from a previous marriage. Van Dien and Oxenburg now have two daughters of their own, Maya and Celeste.

In 2006, Van Dien was a guest on Larry King Live, where he admitted that he was sexually abused by a female babysitter at the age of eight. The abuse was a secret he kept until he was 32.


Trivia

General

The name Casper is a family tradition, given to the eldest son of his family for more than 11 generations.
Mark Twain is his great great great uncle.
He learned the box step, the jitterbug, and ballroom dancing from his parents.
He grew up on the same block as actor Robert Sean Leonard, and raced go-carts in their neighborhood.
He was a published poet at 17 years old.
In high school, he was often referred to as "Ken doll" due to his good looks, and got into many fights for that reason. [2]
Coincidentally, he was later described as a "perfect life-sized Ken doll." [3]
He was an extra in two 1989 episodes of Saved by the Bell.
People magazine gave him the title "Sexiest Soap Star" in November 2000.
He played the trumpet for 7 years, and played the bugle for "Taps" and "Reveille" during boot camp for Starship Troopers.
He filmed several scenes as Patrick Bateman, Sean's brother, in 2002's The Rules of Attraction. This was the same character that Christian Bale played in American Psycho. However, the scenes wound up on the cutting room floor.
Among his good friends are Bailey Chase (who lived in Van Dien's house in 1998 for a year) and Kenny Johnson.

Coincidences

The street on which he grew up in New Jersey, Van Dien Avenue, was named after his great great grandfather.
The last name of James Dean (whom he portrayed in a biopic) is a derivative of Van Dien.
Starship Troopers was filmed primarily in Casper, Wyoming.
He played a suitor of Katrina van Tassel in Sleepy Hollow. In fact, Van Dien's family are cousins to the van Tassels.

Katie Holmes
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Birth name Kate Noelle Holmes
Born December 18, 1978 (age 28)
Toledo, Ohio, USA

Kate Noelle "Katie" Holmes[1] (born December 18, 1978) is an American actress who first achieved fame for her role as Joey Potter on The WB teen drama Dawson's Creek from 1998 to 2003. Her part on the show, only her second professional role, made Holmes a star. Her movie roles have ranged from art house films such as The Ice Storm to thrillers such as Abandon to blockbusters such as Batman Begins, but she has not found the same success in films as she did on television and admits most of her films have been "bombs".

Weeks after ending her engagement with actor Chris Klein, Holmes began in early 2005 a highly publicized relationship with actor Tom Cruise, sixteen years her senior. In June, two months after they first met, she became engaged to Cruise. Their relationship has made Holmes the subject of international media attention, much of it negative, the press speculating that the relationship was a publicity stunt to promote the couple's films. Many reports commented negatively about the interest of Holmes, raised Roman Catholic, in Cruise's religion, Scientology. The couple announced Holmes was pregnant in October 2005; on April 18, 2006, she gave birth to a baby girl, Suri Cruise. On November 18, 2006, she and Cruise were married in Italy.


Early life and career

Holmes was born in Toledo, Ohio,[2] the youngest in a family of five children (four daughters, one son) of Kathleen A. and Martin Joseph Holmes, Sr. (born 1945), an attorney specializing in divorces.[3] She lived in the Corey Woods section of Sylvania Township, Lucas County, in a brick 1862 Italianate home with a white picket fence.[4] Her siblings are Tamera (born c. 1968), Holly Ann (born c. 1970), Martin (born 1970), and Nancy Kay Blaylock (born c. 1975).[5] Holmes, born a Roman Catholic, attended Christ the King Church and parochial schools in Toledo.[6] Her high school was the all-female Notre Dame Academy, her mother's alma mater, where Katie was a 4.0 student.[7] At St. John's Jesuit, a nearby all-male high school, she appeared in school musicals, playing a waiter in Hello, Dolly! and Lola in Damn Yankees.[8] She scored 1310 on her SAT and was accepted to Columbia University;[9] her father wanted her to be a doctor.[10] Holmes loved reading: "I never feel lonely in a bookstore," she said.[11] A British writer profiling her in 2003 said "The way Holmes approached her unusual education was as American as apple pie: she went to cheerleading practice, got straight A grades, and made a pledge that she would remain a virgin until marriage."[12] Holmes told her hometown paper The Blade that the three words best describing herself were "honest, determined, and imaginative."[13]

At fourteen she began classes at a modeling school in Toledo run by Margaret O'Brien, who took her to a New York City talent expo in 1996. There she found an agent after performing a monologue from To Kill a Mockingbird.[14] An audition tape was sent to the casting director for the 1997 film The Ice Storm, directed by Ang Lee. She was cast in a small role, Libbets Casey, in the film which starred Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver. Ang Lee told The Blade, "Katie was cast because she had the perfect amount of innocence and worldliness that we needed for Libbets. I was really taken by her wide open eyes. She really is a beautiful girl but there is also a lot of intelligence there and it shows."[15]

In January 1997, Holmes went to Los Angeles for pilot season, when producers cast and shoot new programs in the hopes of securing a spot on a network schedule. The Blade reported she was offered the lead in Buffy the Vampire Slayer but she turned it down.[16] Columbia Tri-Star Television, producer of a new show created by screenwriter Kevin Williamson, asked her to come to Los Angeles to audition, but there was a conflict with her schedule. "I was doing my school play, Damn Yankees. And I was playing Lola. I even got to wear the feather boa. I thought, 'There is no way I'm not playing Lola to go audition for some network. I couldn't let my school down. We had already sold a lot of tickets. So I told Kevin and The WB, 'I'm sorry. I just can't meet with you this week. I've got other commitments.'"[17]

The producers permitted her to audition on videotape. Holmes read for the part of Joey Potter, the tomboy best friend of the title character Dawson's Creek, on a videotape shot in her basement, her mother reading Dawson's lines in a scene where the dialogue included talk of sex and masturbation.[18] The Hollywood Reporter claimed the story of Holmes's audition "has become the stuff of legend" and "no one even thought that it was weird that one of the female leads would audition via Federal Express."[19]

Holmes won the part. Paul Stupin, executive producer of the show, said his first reaction on seeing her audition tape was "That's Joey Potter!"[20] Creator and executive producer Kevin Williamson said Holmes has a "unique combination of talent, beauty and skill that makes Hollywood come calling. But that's just the beginning. To meet her is to instantly fall under her spell."[21] Williamson thought she had exactly the right look for Joey Potter. "She had those eyes, those eyes just stained with loneliness."[22]


Dawson's Creek


"Joey Potter" is a headstrong, vibrant, wily, sultry, and determined go-getter. And yet, in a gloriously contradictory manner, in spite of her tough-as-nails exterior demeanor, Joey's also a frail, sometimes uncertain, emotionally sensitive, in-need-of-love person," said the show's official book.[23]. Joey, named for Jo in Little Women, for years had been climbing in Dawson's bedroom window and platonically sharing his bed. Joey's mother had died from cancer when Joey was thirteen and her father, Mike (Gareth Williams), was in prison for "conspiracy to traffic in marijuana in excess of 10,000 pounds." Her harried and very pregnant sister, Bessie (Nina Repeta), about ten years older than Joey, was raising her while running the Ice House restaurant, where Joey worked as a waitress. GQ described Joey as "kind of an uptight fussbudget?-one who's always twisted up over doing the right thing and bungling-up ways to hook up with her crush and across the creek neighbor, Dawson."[24]

"I'm a lot like Joey," said Holmes. "I think they saw that. I come from a small town. I was a tomboy. Joey tries to be articulate and deny that she doesn't have a lot of experience in life. Her life parallels mine, which is all about new everything?-relationships, personal perceptions?-and about being guarded." Holmes filmed the pilot of Dawson's Creek in Wilmington, North Carolina, during spring break of her senior year of high school in 1997.[25] When the show was picked up by The WB, Holmes moved to Wilmington, where the show filmed.

The tall (5 ft 9 in.)[26] brunette enchanted the press, writers of both sexes commenting how Holmes was the sort of girl one wants to bring home to meet the parents and to marry.[27] "The Audrey Hepburn of her generation," was one typical comment.[28] Time called her "impossibly lovely" and Entertainment Weekly said she was "next up for idolhood."[29] Variety, reviewing the pilot, said Holmes "is a confident young performer who delivers her lines with slyness and conviction." [30] Holmes made such an impression in Hollywood, The New York Times Magazine claimed everyone was seeking to cast a "Katie Holmes type", who, the reporter claimed, "is a throwback to the 1950's: she is a smart girl next door (as opposed to the babe-o-rama blondes)"?-the sort represented by her Dawson's Creek co-star Michelle Williams.[31] But her "type" was no less attractive, Arena magazine declaring her "the most coquettishly sexy woman on television. Anywhere." [32]

The show was aggressively marketed by The WB Network before its premiere in January 1998. The cast was featured in the J. Crew catalog and trailers for the program were shown in movie theatres. Before the premiere, the show's talk of sex caused a stir in the press; one of the show's producers, Procter and Gamble, withdrew after negative press in its hometown newspapers.[33] Holmes was soon on the covers of magazines such as Seventeen, TV Guide, and Rolling Stone. Jancee Dunn, an editor at Rolling Stone said she was chosen for the cover because "every time you mention Dawson's Creek you tend to get a lot of dolphin-like shrieks from teenage girls. The fact that she is drop-dead gorgeous didn't hurt either."[34]

Reviews were mixed. The Blade said the characters "just talk like they came from a planet ruled by Manhattan psychologists, one where small talk is punishable by death."[35] Holmes herself needed help with the dialogue. "Sometimes before we read a script, I have to get my dictionary and call people to make sure I'm pronouncing some of the words correctly."[36] The show brought her national attention and many fans back home; Toledo's Thanksgiving Day parade in November 1998 had record attendance when Holmes was named grand marshal.[37]

Dawson's Creek ran from 1998 to 2003, and Holmes was the only actor to appear in all 128 episodes. "It was very difficult for me to leave Wilmington, to have my little glass bubble burst and move on. I hate change. On the other hand it was refreshing to play someone else," she said in 2004.[38] Holmes confirmed that, as is often the case on soaps, the character was a caricature of the actor:

I miss her spirit, and her spunk, and I miss her anxiety. She always had these long speeches about her fears and her future and love. It was a great tool for me personally because I got to get it all out. I was able to psychoanalyze all of it everyday with her and then I wouldn't have to do it on my own. So much of me is in Joey and it really felt like I grew up on television.[39]

"As Joey," claimed Life," Holmes has had seismic influences on teen life . . . Through it all, Joey has managed to hang on to her integrity. . . The show?-and Katie's character in particular?-has touched a nerve."[40]


Film career

"In 2005, Holmes characterized her film career as being a string of "bombs." "Usually I'm not even in the top ten," she said, the highest grossing film of her career at that time being Phone Booth, in which she played a supporting role. [41] She lamented "It's not like I have a lot of stuff that's great just waiting for me to sign on to."[42]

Her first leading role came in Disturbing Behavior (1998), a Scream-era Stepford Wives-goes-to-high school thriller, where she was a loner from the wrong side of the tracks. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote her character, Rachel, "dresses in black and likes to strike poses on the beds of pickup trucks and is a bad girl who is in great danger of becoming a very good one." [43]The actress won a MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Performance for the role, though Holmes said the film was "just horrible."[44]

Holmes played a disaffected supermarket clerk in Doug Liman's acclaimed ensemble piece Go (1999).[45]

She had an uncredited cameo with Dawson's Creek co-star Joshua Jackson in Muppets from Space (1999), which was also filmed in Wilmington.

Kevin Williamson's disaffection for his high school days spawned Teaching Mrs. Tingle (1999), which he wrote and directed. Holmes played a straight-A student whose vindictive teacher (Helen Mirren) threatens to keep her from a desperately needed scholarship.[46]

In Wonder Boys (2000), directed by Curtis Hanson from the novel by Michael Chabon, Holmes had a small role (six and one-half minutes of screen time) but nevertheless attracted the attention of numerous film critics with her performance as Hannah Green, the talented student who lusts after Professor Grady Tripp (Michael Douglas), her creative writing instructor and landlord. Kenneth Turan of The Los Angeles Times said she was "just right as the beauty with kind of a crush on the old man."[47]

In The Gift (2000), a Southern Gothic story directed by Sam Raimi and starring Cate Blanchett, she played the antithesis of Joey Potter: a promiscuous rich girl having affairs with everyone from a sociopathic wife-beater (Keanu Reeves) to the district attorney (Gary Cole), and is murdered by her fiancé (Greg Kinnear). Holmes did her first nude scene for the film, baring her breasts and her buttocks in a thong in a scene where her character was about to be murdered. Of the scene, she said, "I just hope there aren't a lot of pauses on DVD players."[48] Her appearance was lamented by Variety's Steven Kotler: "It seems the only time we see a naked woman on screen is when someone like Katie Holmes needs to break with her sanitized WB past and march brazenly into a new future."[49] In Ohio, the scene met with disapproval, Russ Lemmon writing in The Blade:

Toledo's Katie Holmes?-whose popularity is probably directly proportional to her perceived level of sweetness and innocence?-bares her breasts in The Gift. . . Say it ain't so, Katie. . . Katie's topless scene was gratuitous. It added nothing to the movie . . I hope it added to her checking account, above and beyond what she would have received for appearing fully clothed throughout. I also hope her contract stipulated that she will receive a percentage of DVD rentals and sales. As one Internet writer on roughcut.com put it: Katie's topless scene assures that "The Gift will be the DVD most rented by teenage (and not teenage) boys in the history of freeze frame" . . . It seems to me that the four years that she spent cultivating a wholesome image vanished in just a few seconds?-in a potential box-office bomb, no less.[50]

In Abandon (2002), written by Oscar winner Stephen Gaghan, Holmes was a delusional, homicidal college student named "Katie." Todd McCarthy of Variety and Roger Ebert commended her performance, but other critics and audiences savaged it. [51] The actress played the mistress of the public relations flack played by Colin Farrell in Phone Booth (2002) and Robert Downey, Jr.'s nurse in The Singing Detective (2003). Holmes's next starring role was in Pieces of April (2003), a gritty comedy about a dysfunctional family on Thanksgiving. Variety said it was "one of her best film performances." [52] "Each actor shines," wrote Elvis Mitchell, "even Ms. Holmes, whose beauty seems to have fogged the minds of her previous directors" in playing "a brat who is slaving to find her inner decency and barely has the equipment for such an achievement, let alone to serve a meal whose salmonella potential could claim an entire borough. Yet it is her surliness, as well as her intransigent determination to make Thanksgiving work, that keeps the laughs coming."[53]

Holmes played the President's daughter in First Daughter, which was originally to be released in January 2004 on the same day as Chasing Liberty, the Mandy Moore film about a presidential daughter, but was ultimately released in September 2004 to dismal reviews and ticket sales. First Daughter, directed by Forest Whitaker, also starred Michael Keaton as her father and Marc Blucas as her love interest. The Hollywood Reporter's Kirk Honeycutt called her character, Samantha Mackenzie, "a startling example of how a studio film can dumb down and neutralize the comic abilities of a lively young star." [54] In the 2005 film Batman Begins, the most successful film of her career to date, she played Rachel Dawes, an attorney in the Gotham City district attorney's office and the childhood sweetheart of the title character. Variety was unenthusiastic. "Holmes is OK," was its critic's sole remark on her performance.[55] She received a Golden Raspberry nomination for "worst supporting actress" for the film.

In 2006, she appeared in the film version of Christopher Buckley's satirical novel Thank You For Smoking about a tobacco lobbyist played by Aaron Eckhart, whom Holmes's character, a Washington reporter, seduces. Variety wrote one of the film's "sole relatively weak notes [came] from Holmes, who lacks even a hint of the wiliness of a ruthless reporter" and The New York Times said the cast was "exceptionally fine" except for Holmes, who "strain[ed] credulity" in her role.[56]

Holmes had agreed to play the wife of Spade Cooley, who was stomped to death by the country singer, in a biopic, Shame on You, written and directed by Dennis Quaid, who is to play Cooley. But the picture, set to shoot in New Orleans, Louisiana, was delayed by Hurricane Katrina, and Holmes dropped out because of her pregnancy.[57].


Holmes in the media

Holmes hosted Saturday Night Live on February 24, 2001, participating in a send-up of Dawson's Creek where she falls madly in love with Chris Kattan's Mr. Peepers character and singing "Hey, Big Spender" from Sweet Charity. On the November 9, 2003 episode, she was Punk'd by Ashton Kutcher and the next year she was the subject of an episode of the MTV program Diary.[58]

Holmes was annually named by both the British and American editions of FHM magazine as one of the sexiest women in the world from 1999 forward. She was named one of People's "50 Most Beautiful People" in 2003; its sibling Teen People declared her one of the "25 Hottest Stars Under 25" that year[59]; and in 2005, People said she was one of the ten best dressed stars that year.[60] She has appeared in advertisements for Garnier Lumia haircolor, Coach leather goods, and clothing retailer The Gap.[61]


Personal life

Holmes purchased a townhouse in Wilmington in 2002.[62] When Dawson's Creek ended its run in 2003, she moved to Los Angeles, California, then New York City in 2005.[63] ." Holmes dated her Dawson's Creek co-star Joshua Jackson for several months early in the show's run, the relationship ending amicably. She told Rolling Stone, "I fell in love, I had my first love, and it was something so incredible and indescribable that I will treasure it always. And that I feel so fortunate because he's now one of my best friends."[64] Holmes met actor Chris Klein in 2000. A Midwesterner like Holmes?-he grew up in Illinois and Nebraska?-Klein and Holmes were engaged in late 2003, but in early 2005 she and Klein ended their relationship. Press accounts cited the distance imposed by their careers as a factor. Klein in the fall of 2005 said of the split "We grew up. The fantasy was over and reality set in." He denied they were still friends or talked as Holmes had claimed.[65]


Relationship with Tom Cruise

Weeks after her relationship with Chris Klein ended, Holmes began dating actor Tom Cruise. Their first public appearance together was on April 29 in Rome, Italy, at the David di Donatello Awards, the Italian equivalent of the Oscars.[66]. Her family expressed support, with her father stating, "We're very excited for Katie," and saying his daughter was "a very mature young lady with a good head on her shoulders. From all we have read and heard about [Cruise], he's a humanitarian and a real class act. From the perspective of a parent, we're very excited for both of them." [67]. Holmes's sister Tamara said, "They're both wonderful people." [68]

Holmes, born a Roman Catholic, began to "embrace" the Church of Scientology soon after she began dating Cruise, a longtime member of and outspoken advocate for the church, who had himself been raised as a Catholic. On May 23, Cruise appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, jumping on Winfrey's couch and vociferously declaring his love for Holmes. He went backstage and pulled the embarrassed actress onto the program.[69] Cruise proposed to Holmes in the early morning of June 17 atop Paris's Eiffel Tower; she accepted.[70] At the press conference, attended by Holmes's mother, Cruise announced the news, declaring, "Today is a magnificent day for me. I'm engaged to a magnificent woman."[71]


Press skepticism

Gossip columnists dubbed the pair "TomKat". Articles appeared doubting the actors' sincerity and speculating their very public relationship was artifice designed to promote the actors' upcoming films. They noted that Cruise had been extremely private about his personal life and the flaunting of his new relationship was a marked contrast from his past behavior; the series of "bombs" Holmes has appeared in; the succession of actresses Cruise has dated since his divorce from Nicole Kidman, like Penélope Cruz and Sofía Vergara; and Holmes's recent breakup.[72] A poll in People found that 62 percent of readers believed the Cruise-Holmes affair was merely a publicity stunt. The New York Times published a story with the skeptical headline "I Love You With All My Hype" and compared the relationship to the public relationships of actors such as Rock Hudson and Tab Hunter.[73] The Boston Globe was equally dubious, claiming "If this is a romance, it looks more like a tireless campaign, and he seems less like a man giddily in love than an overbearing used car salesman. It may also explain why few seem to be buying whatever it is Cruise is working so hard to sell."[74] The New York Post asked "What if they concocted a publicity stunt and nobody bought it?" and quoted CNN's Bill Hemmer wondering "what kind of sham is this?"[75] The entertainment trade paper The Hollywood Reporter quoted an observer saying "One minute, they were having a professional meeting. The next they were lovers."[76] Ray Richmond of The Hollywood Reporter was typical of the skepticism, envisioning a scene in a publicist's office:

While the Cruise-Holmes pairing could be legit, it just seems like the kind of made-for-Us-Weekly pairing that was cooked up in a backroom with the stars, their reps and various image consultants in attendance. Had you been a fly on the wall, you might have heard, "OK, Tom, you get to be linked with an actress in her mid-20s to help people forget that even actors who can open blockbusters are not immune from the aging process. Katie, you get the boost of being associated with a hunky superstar as your career is starting to gain steam. Just sign right here."[77]

Cruise's sister and publicist, Lee Anne DeVette, protested the talk of the romance being a stunt proclaiming, "I don't understand it. It's just insane. There's nothing going on here except that there's a man and a woman who are dating each other and are exceptionally happy."[78]


Scientology

Many stories in the press negatively noted Holmes's interest in Cruise's religion, the Church of Scientology, some suggesting she had been coerced or "brainwashed" into it. Soon after beginning her relationship with him, Holmes fired her long-time manager and agent and acquired a new "best friend", Jessica Rodriguez, a prominent member of the Church of Scientology described as part of its "royalty." Rodriguez has been referred to as Holmes's Scientology "minder" as she follows the actress everywhere and tells Holmes what to say during interviews. Robert Haskell, who wrote W magazine's cover story on the actress, said Rodriguez "was described to me as Holmes's 'Scientology chaperone' and it was clear that she would be on hand during our interview despite my protests."[79] This was in contrast to Holmes's earlier press, which noted approvingly she "arrives without the ubiquitous PR person in tow."[80] In an April 2006 interview with ABC News's Diane Sawyer, Cruise said he and Holmes were "just Scientologists" and that their child would not be baptized Catholic.[81]


Hometown reaction

Even before Holmes' engagement, her hometown paper was already speculating about "what happens if our very own 'good ole Katie' morphs into 'Katie Holmes, the former actress now better known as Tom Cruise's third wife.'"[82] Following the engagement, the Chicago Tribune sent a reporter to Toledo who found the citizens felt the biggest star from their city was not Holmes, but Jamie Farr, who played Corporal Maxwell Klinger on M*A*S*H. "I think he's bigger than Katie. He's so humble and he's so proud of his hometown?-he name-drops it all the time. If it wasn't for Jamie, I don't think people would really know about Toledo," said a Toledo waitress. Others quoted by the newspaper were puzzled by her interest in Scientology. Farr subsequently wrote a letter to the newspaper declaring "I admire Katie Holmes. She is a wonderful, beautiful actress" and "I do not feel that Katie and I are in any form of competition in the city of Toledo."[83]


Holmes's child

On October 6, 2005, Holmes and Cruise announced they were expecting a child and days later took a walk in a Los Angeles park to show to the world Holmes's very visible pregnancy.[84] Holmes's Dawson's Creek co-star Oliver Hudson said, "She almost seems born for motherhood. She's a nurturer. She's got mother qualities a lot of girls her age don't have."[85].

On April 18, 2006, the first anniversary of Holmes's first date with Cruise, she gave birth at St. John's Medical Center in Santa Monica, California, to a daughter, Suri.[86] The Los Angeles Times quoted Cruise's publicist Arnold Robinson saying "everyone is wonderful" but noted "he declined to give any other details, saying the couple wished no comments to be made beyond those in the release. He declined to give the time or place of birth or the rest of Suri's name, nor would he discuss the duration or nature of the labor." The Times summarized the written statement Cruise released on the birth as saying the name "is a word with origins in both Hebrew and Persian. In Hebrew, it means 'princess' and in Persian, 'red rose,' it was claimed in the release."[87]

Until September 2006, Suri had not been seen in public, which led to tabloid stories questioning the existence of the child, contrasting Holmes and Cruise to other celebrity couples with newborns such as Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt.[88] Typical was the Us Weekly cover story "BABY MYSTERY: Best friends' visits denied, baby photos cancelled, a wedding delayed, and Katie in seclusion."[89] The "FreeKatie" website, which had criticized Holmes's relationship with Cruise from the beginning, offered a bumper sticker for sale that read "Honk If You've Seen Suri".[90] The first photographs of the child appeared in the October 2006 issue of Vanity Fair, shot by Annie Leibovitz.[91] In the accompanying story, Holmes said "we weren't trying to hide anything" and said she was bothered by the press coverage. "I do know what is being said in the press. This is my future. This is my family and I care so much about them. The stories are not okay. It eats away at me because it's just not okay."[92]


Marriage to Cruise

Cruise and Holmes were wed in Italy in November 2006.On November 18, 2006, Holmes and Cruise were married at the 15th-century Odescalchi Castle in Bracciano, Italy, in a Scientology ceremony attended by many Hollywood stars.[93] Italian authorities said the ceremony was not legal since no paperwork was filed. Bracciano's mayor, Patrizia Riccioni, told the British newspaper the Sunday Mirror that "No civil ceremony has taken place and no paperwork has been received. The wedding is not legally-binding."[94] The actors' publicist said the couple had "officialized" their marriage in Los Angeles the day before the Italian ceremony. [95] The day after the ceremony, the couple left for a honeymoon in the Maldives.[96]

Christina Aguilera
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



Background information

Birth name Christina Maria Aguilera
Born December 18, 1980 (age 25)
Origin Staten Island, New York, United States

Christina Maria Aguilera (born December 18, 1980) is a four-time Grammy Award-winning American pop singer and songwriter. She was signed to RCA Records after recording "Reflection" for the film Mulan, and her bubblegum pop-oriented debut album Christina Aguilera (1999) was a critical and commercial success: it produced four hit singles, including "Genie in a Bottle", and helped Aguilera win a Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 2000. A Latin Pop album Mi Reflejo which won a 2001 Latin Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album and a Christmas album My Kind of Christmas released during this period also sold strongly. In 2001, she participated in collaboration projects for Ricky Martin's Sound Loaded album and the Moulin Rouge! soundtrack, which she won another Grammy Award for "Lady Marmalade" in the category Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals in 2002.

Aguilera took creative control over her second studio album Stripped (2002), which produced the hip-hop-influenced "Dirrty" and the award-winning (including the 2004 Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance) "Beautiful". It received mixed reviews, and Aguilera's increasingly sexual image during its promotion became the subject of criticism, controversy and ridicule. She contributed to several other artists' songs in 2004 and 2005 and married record executive Jordan Bratman.[1] Her third studio album Back to Basics (2006), which was preceded by the hit single "Ain't No Other Man", included elements of soul, jazz and blues music and was released to good sales and positive critical reception. She earned two more Grammy nominations, Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "Ain't No Other Man".



Biography

Early life and career

Aguilera was born in Staten Island, New York to Fausto Wagner Xavier Aguilera, a U.S. Army sergeant, and Shelly Loraine Fidler, a Spanish teacher. Aguilera's father was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador, while her mother, a Newfoundlander, is a Canadian that has German, English, Irish and Dutch ancestry.[2] Aguilera's parents met while her father, Fausto, was serving at Earnest Harmon Air Force Base in Stephenville, Newfoundland, Canada. They were both Catholics. Her parents married when her mother was 20 years old and her father 31. Aguilera lived with her father and mother until she was 6 or 7 years old. When her parents divorced her mother took her and her younger sister Rachel to her grandmother's home in Rochester, Pennsylvania, a blue-collar suburb of Pittsburgh. According to Aguilera and Fidler, her father was very controlling, as well as physically and emotionally abusive, which was reflected in her songs, "I'm OK" in Stripped, and "Oh Mother" in Back to Basics. [3] Since then, Fidler has married a paramedic named Jim Kearns, and has changed her name to Shelly Kearns. [4].

She attended North Allegheny School District.

Aguilera made her first recording as a fourteen-year-old on a duet with Japanese singer Keizo Nakanishi. That song, All I Wanna Do, became successful in Japan. [citation needed]

Aguilera's grandmother was the first person to recognize her vocal skills. Since Aguilera was a small child, she aspired to be a singer. She grew up admiring artists such as Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Etta James, Judy Garland, Lena Horne, Barbra Streisand, Otis Redding, Madonna, Minnie Riperton, Bessie Smith, Anita Baker, Janis Joplin, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Janet Jackson, Stevie Wonder, and Aretha Franklin. As a child she performed at block parties and in talent competitions, where she defeated her opponents. Aguilera soon gained media attention, and was known as "the little girl with the big voice".[5]

According to VH1's Driven, this label eventually backfired on her. When competitors learned they would be up against her in any given week, they immediately backed out, prompting insiders to claim it was "like sending a lamb to the slaughter." Her peers soon became jealous of her and would frequently subject her to ridicule, ostracism, and, in one gym class, attempted assault. Acts of vandalism around her house included the slashing of the tires on the family car. Eventually the family relocated and, by her own order, swore to secrecy about her talent lest another backlash occur.[6]

On March 15, 1990, she appeared on Star Search singing Etta James's "A Sunday Kind of Love", but failed to win. Soon after losing on Star Search, she returned home and appeared on Pittsburgh's KDKA-TV's Wake Up with Larry Richert to perform the same song again. People remarked that the then 10-year-old "sounded 20".

Throughout her youth in Pittsburgh, Aguilera sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" before Pittsburgh Penguins Hockey games, Pittsburgh Steelers football and Pittsburgh Pirates baseball games. Her first major role in entertainment came in 1993 when she joined the Disney Channel's variety show The New Mickey Mouse Club. Her co-stars included Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, JC Chasez, Rhona Bennett (who later became a member of En Vogue), Ryan Gosling, and Keri Russell. According to the documentary Driven, Aguilera's Mickey Mouse Club co-stars called her "the Diva". One of her most notable performances was of Whitney Houston's "I Have Nothing".[6] When the show ended in 1994, Aguilera began recording demos in an attempt to get signed to a record label.

In 1997 she represented the United States at the "Golden Stag" International Festival with a two-song set which included a Sheryl Crow and Diana Ross song[7].


1998-2001: Pop music beginnings

In 1998 she sang the High "E" ("E" above tenor high "C") in full voice on a cover of Whitney Houston's "Run to You" which she recorded with an old tape recorder in her bathroom. She was then selected to record the song "Reflection" for the Disney animated production of Mulan (1998). Recording "Reflection" led to Aguilera earning a contract with RCA Records during the same week.[8] "Reflection" peaked within the top twenty on the Adult Contemporary Singles Chart, and it was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for "Best Original Song" in 1998.

Under the exclusive representation of Steve Kurtz, Aguilera's self-titled debut album Christina Aguilera was released in the United States on August 24, 1999. It reached the top of the Billboard 200 and Canadian album charts, shipping over 8 million copies in the United States alone.


Her singles "Genie in a Bottle", "What a Girl Wants" and "Come on Over Baby (All I Want Is You)" topped the Billboard Hot 100 during 1999 and 2000, and "I Turn to You" reached #3. Aguilera won the "Best New Artist" award at the 2000 Grammy Awards, and she was nominated for "Best Female Pop Vocal Performance" for "Genie in a Bottle". According to the album's songwriters who appeared on the documentary Driven, Aguilera wanted to display the range and audacity in her voice during the promotion of the album, and performed acoustic sets and appeared on television shows accompanied only by a piano.[6] She ended the year on MTV's 2 Large New Year's Special, as she performed and was MTV's first artist of the millennium.

Later in 2000 Aguilera first emphasized her Latin heritage, following the Latin pop trend of the time, by releasing her first Spanish album, Mi Reflejo on September.12, 2000. This album contained Spanish versions of songs from her English debut as well as new Spanish tracks. It peaked at #27 on the Billboard 200 and number one on the Latin album charts, and in 2001 it won Aguilera a Latin Grammy Award for "Best Female Pop Vocal Album". The Album has sold 2.1 million copies worldwide and has been certified Gold(500,000) in the USA and 3x Platinum (600,000* Latin album)[6] under the RIAA's Los Premios de Oro y Platino program. The single "Falsas Esperanzas" from the album reached the top forty in Argentina. Christina also released a Christmas album on October 24, 2000 called My Kind of Christmas. It peaked at #28 on the Billboard 200, has sold 1.3 million copies worldwide, and has been certified Platinum (1 million)[7] in the USA. Ricky Martin asked her to duet with him on the track "Nobody Wants to Be Lonely" from his album Sound Loaded; released in 2001 as the album's second single, it reached the top five in the United Kingdom and Germany, top twenty in the U.S., and top forty in Canada, Switzerland, and Australia.

In 2001, Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mya, and P!nk were chosen to remake Patti LaBelle's 1975 single "Lady Marmalade" for the Moulin Rouge! soundtrack. "Lady Marmalade" hit number one on the Hot 100 for five weeks and reached number one in eleven other countries, and it earned all four performers a Grammy Award for "Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals".


That year a single emerged into record stores called "Just Be Free", one of the demos Aguilera recorded when she was around fifteen years old. When RCA Records discovered the single, they officially advised fans not to purchase it and had German authorities pull the single off shelves.[9] Months later, Warlock Records was set to release Just Be Free, an album which contains the demo tracks. Aguilera filed a breach of contract and unfair-competition suit against Warlock and the album's producers to block the release. [10] Instead, the two parties came to a settlement to release the album. Aguilera lent out her name, likeness and image for an unspecified amount of damages. Many of the details of the lawsuit remain confidential. When the album was released in August 2001, it had a photograph of Aguilera when she was fifteen years old.[11]

Although Aguilera's debut album was very well-received, she was dissatisfied with the music and image her management had created for her. At the time, Aguilera was marketed as a bubblegum pop artist, because of the genre's upward financial trend. However, she publicly mentioned plans of her next album to have much more depth, both musically and lyrically.[12] Steve Kurtz's influence in matters of the singer's creative direction, the role of being her exclusive personal manager and overscheduling had in part caused her to seek legal means of terminating their management contract.

In October 2000 Aguilera filed a Breach of Fiduciary Duty lawsuit against Kurtz for improper, undue and inappropriate influence over her professional activities, as well as fraud. According to legal documents, Kurtz did not protect her rights and interests. Instead, he took action that was for his own interest, at the cost of hers. The lawsuit came about when Aguilera discovered Kurtz used more of her commissionable income than he was allotted, and had paid other managers to assist him. She also petitioned the California State Labor Commission to nullify the contract. After terminating Kurtz's services, Irving Azoff was hired as her new manager.[13] The change in management marked a new change in how Aguilera was marketed, as well as what music she would do in the future.

Kurtz countersued later that month for breach of contract, claiming that the singer violated the same agreement she had sued to void. In the lawsuit, he included others close to Aguilera, alleging their intent to sabotage his business relationship with Aguilera. He also singled out Azoff for being in violation of the terms of Kurtz's contract.[14]


2002-2003: Stripped era

On October 29, 2002, after much delay, Aguilera's second full-length English album, Stripped, was released selling more than 330,000 copies in the first week and peaking at #2 on the Billboard 200. The majority of Stripped was co-written by Aguilera (who had recently signed a global music publishing deal with BMG Music Publishing), and was influenced by many different subjects and music styles, including rhythm and blues, gospel, soul, balladry, pop rock, hip-hop and jazz. The album was not received as well as her debut by most critics, and Aguilera's vocals were overlooked as she began to cultivate a more sexually provocative image. After the release of the album, she took part in photoshoots for magazines such as Maxim, Rolling Stone[15] and CosmoGirl!. Many of these photographs featured her nude or semi-nude. She denied that this change was a matter of publicity, claiming that the image better reflected her true personality than did the image she cultivated back in 1999. It was during this time Aguilera referred to herself as "Xtina", stating that it was a "reflection of her darker self".


Initially, the raunchy image had a negative effect on Aguilera in the U.S., especially after the release of her controversial "Dirrty" music video. While the video for "Dirrty" became a huge hit on MTV, it disappointed on the U.S. singles chart. However, the single was a huge hit worldwide, reaching number one in several countries. The album reached the top five on the UK, U.S. and Canadian album charts, though it was initially considered a "sophomore slump". The second single, "Beautiful", became a huge radio hit and three more singles from the album ("Fighter", "Can't Hold Us Down" featuring Lil' Kim, "The Voice Within") were released in the following two years and were huge hits helping the album stay on the charts for the next two years. Stripped stayed on the U.S. and UK album charts until well into 2004, and went on to be certified 4x Platinum in the U.S., ending up at number ten on Billboard's year-end album chart. Kelly Clarkson's second single "Miss Independent" was co-written by Aguilera, having been half-finished for Stripped. "[8]"

In June, Aguilera joined Justin Timberlake on the final leg of his international Justified tour, held in the U.S. This portion of the tour became a co-headliner called the Justified & Stripped tour. In August an overhead lighting grid collapsed from the ceiling of the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey, causing major damage to the sound and video equipment below. Because the collapse occurred hours before the performance, only a few stagehands were injured, but a few shows were cancelled or postponed. In the fourth quarter of that year Aguilera continued to tour internationally without Timberlake, and changed the name of the tour to the Stripped tour. She also dyed her hair black. It was one of the top-grossing tours of that year, and sold out most of its venues. Rolling Stone readers named it the best tour of the year.[16]

In light of the tour's success, another U.S. tour was scheduled to begin in mid-2004 with a new theme and featuring Chingy as an opening act. The tour was scrapped because of Aguilera's vocal cord injuries suffered shortly before its opening date. It was later reported by the British tabloid newspaper The Sun that low ticket sales and lack of new material were actually the major contributing factors in the tour's cancellation. Aguilera has since denied the report.[17] In a tribute to Madonna's performance at the inaugural MTV Video Music Awards' ceremony, Aguilera performed a kiss with the singer-actress at the 2003 edition of the ceremony in August. The incident occurred during the opening performance of Madonna's songs "Like a Virgin" and "Hollywood" with fellow popstar Britney Spears.[18]

During 2003, Christina also became the face of the fashion house Versace.


2004-2005: Stripped activities

A January 2004 ZOO magazine (a British men's tabloid magazine) article reported that Aguilera is possibly bisexual. The article quotes her stating in an interview: "I find it hornier looking at women than men. Sorry, I love experimenting with my sexuality. If that means girls, then so be it." The article also reports that Christina enjoys casual sex: "I have casual sex, I love casual sex. But that doesn't mean I'm incapable of keeping my legs together".[19]

Aguilera later decided to embrace a more mature image; this move was met with more praise than criticism, with articles using punch lines such as "From Crass to Class".[20] She eventually dyed her hair cherry blonde and recorded a jingle, "Hello", for a Mercedes-Benz ad, becoming the new face of Mercedes-Benz. Shortly after, she dyed her hair blonde and cut it short, and took on a Marilyn Monroe look; many of her fans believe she is one of the main proponents (along with Dita Von Teese, Gwen Stefani and Ashley Judd) in bringing back the 1920s-1940s Hollywood glamour look.[citation needed]


In the run-up to the 2004 United States presidential election, Aguilera was featured on billboards for the "Only You Can Silence Yourself" online voter registration drive run by the nonpartisan, non-profit campaign "Declare Yourself". In these political advertisements Aguilera was shown with her mouth sewn shut, to symbolize the effects of not voting. She appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show to discuss the importance of voting.

In late summer 2004 Aguilera released two singles. The first, "Car Wash", was a remake of the Rose Royce disco song recorded as a collaboration with rapper Missy Elliott for the soundtrack to the film Shark Tale. The second song is also a collaboration, but this time as a second single from one of Nelly's double-release albums, Sweat, titled "Tilt Ya Head Back". Both singles failed commercially in the U.S., but did considerably better in other parts of the world. After much delay, Aguilera's first DVD live-recording from a concert tour, Stripped Live in the UK, was released in November 2004. In late December she officially released a fragrance, Xpose, which has only been available in a few European countries.

Aguilera collaborated with jazz artist Herbie Hancock on a cover of Leon Russell's "A Song for You" recorded for Hancock's album Possibilities, released in August 2005. Aguilera and Hancock were later nominated for the Grammy Award for "Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals". Aguilera went back to her Mickey Mouse Club roots when she helped open the 50th Anniversary for Disneyland by performing "When You Wish upon a Star", and she also collaborated with Andrea Bocelli on the song "Somos Novios" for his album Amore, released in early 2006. She performed at "Unite of the Stars" charity banquet in Johannesburg, South Africa in late 2005 with stars such as Diana Ross and Westlife in aid of Unite Against Hunger, and she also performed at the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund at the Coca-Cola Dome in November.


2006-present: Back to Basics

In March 2006 Aguilera signed a contract with European cellphone operator Orange to represent the company and promote the new Sony Ericsson Walkman phones across Europe. She was featured in a Pepsi commercial alongside Arab singer Elissa as well as Korean pop singer Rain in May; the spot aired during the 2006 World Cup.


Aguilera also posed nude for a Marilyn Monroe-inspired photoshoot in the May 2006 issue of GQ magazine, in which she was also interviewed. She expressed disappointment in fellow singer Mariah Carey, saying, "She was never cool to me... to the point that one time we were at a party and I think she got really drunk, and she had just really derogatory things to say to me." Carey responded in a press release, "It is sad yet predictable that she would use my name at this time to reinvent past incidents for her promotional gain."[21] Aguilera then released her own statement claiming, "My intentions were not to upset Mariah with any statements that were published or taken out of context. I have all the respect in the world for her."[22][23]

Aguilera's third English studio album Back to Basics, which was released on August 15, 2006, went to #1 in 15 countries. Lead single "Ain't No Other Man" was a substantial success, reaching #6 in the U.S. and the top three in the UK. It was #18 on Rolling Stone's greatest songs of 2006. Aguilera described the double-CD as "a throwback to the 20s, 30s, and 40s-style jazz, blues, and feel-good soul music, but with a modern twist."[24] Producers on the album include DJ Premier, Kwamé, Linda Perry, and Mark Ronson. One track, "F.U.S.S.", was written as a response to the animosity between Aguilera and Scott Storch during the recording of Stripped. She received writing credit for every track and was the executive producer for the album, which debuted at number one in the U.S.[25] and the UK. "Hurt" is the 2nd single of Back To Basics and has fallen out the top 20.

Aside from promoting her own album, Aguilera teamed up with Diddy on a track, titled "Tell Me", from his album, "Press Play". The single was released in Autumn 2006, and currently it's at number #50 on Billboard Hot 100 and is expected to be released in the UK on December 11.

In September 2006 she announced her "Back To Basics Tour" with eighteen European dates scheduled to begin on November 17 and end on December 17. This tour will also see her return to Ireland including Belfast's Odyssey Arena, the first since her Stripped tour came to the city in 2003.[26] Following this contrary to her previous plans to tour blues and jazz clubs for a more intimate setting, she will tour North America in a 41- date concert kicking off February 20 in Houston and wrapping up on May 5 in Florida.[9] But she insist that the Jazz Tour will push through sometime after. "We're definitely going to mix it up, change it up, do some things that are not on the record, do some favorite classics of mine," Aguilera said in an interview with MTV. "We're really going to have fun and experiment with new ideas and interesting places to go to that have a throwback appeal and vibe."


Personal Life

During 2000, Aguilera was rumored to have dated MTV VJ Carson Daly, although both parties denied it. The relationship was the subject of much discussion after the release of Eminem's song The Real Slim Shady. In the song Eminem suggests that Aguilera was sexually involved with both Daly and Fred Durst, the lead singer of Limp Bizkit. Aguilera called the comments "disgusting" and "untrue." Both Aguilera and Eminem reportedly made peace three years later backstage at The MTV Video Music Awards. [10]

She dated Brooklyn-born dancer Jorge Santos for two years until the relationship ended in September 2001. She revealed in 2006's issue of The Advocate[11] that she dated someone with a gay past, undoubtedly referring to Santos.

She began dating music executive Jordan Bratman in late 2002; their engagement was announced in February 2005.[27] They were married on November 19, 2005, in the Napa Valley. [28] The couple celebrated their one year anniversary in Dublin, Ireland.


Charity work

Throughout her career, Aguilera has been involved with certain charities. She was the first celebrity to sign a letter from PETA to the South Korean government asking that the country stop its alleged "abuse of dogs killed for food". Her involvement in supporting the Defenders of Wildlife have also added to her donations with charities. Aguilera is still a major contributor in her hometown of Pittsburgh contributing regularly to the Women's Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh. According to her official website, she toured the center and donated $200,000 to the shelter. She also has auctioned off front row seats and back stage passes for the Pittsburgh based charity [29]. She also supports the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, and Refuge UK.

Aguilera contributes in the fight against AIDS, by participating in AIDS Project Los Angeles' Artists Against AIDS "What's Going On?" cover project. In 2004 Aguilera became the new face for cosmetic company M·A·C and spokesperson for M·A·C AIDS Fund. Aguilera appeared in advertisements of the M·A·C's Viva Glam V lipstick and lipgloss. According to published reports, in November 2005, all of her wedding gifts were submitted to various charities around the nation in support of Hurricane Katrina victims.[citation needed] In addition, Aguilera contributed to YouthAIDS by posing for a joint YouthAIDS and Aldo Shoes campaign for "Empowerment Tags" in Canada, the U.S. and the UK. She was featured with one of three ubiquitous slogans, "Speak No Evil?" and was quoted saying, "HIV is something that people don't want to talk about, hear about, or face."[citation needed]

According to Billboard,[30] singer Elton John hand-picked Aguilera, among others, for his Fashion Rocks concert benefiting his AIDS foundation. The show, which accompanies music and fashion to benefit the fight against AIDS/HIV, is televised annually and aired in September.


Vocal ability

In the MTV special All Eyes on Christina, John Norris said that Aguilera "has a four octave range." Aguilera has been noted to possess the ability to hit notes in the whistle register. A review in an Entertainment Weekly article mentions her "tackling that dog-whistle high note" at the 3:20 mark in the song "Soar" from the album Stripped. If you go to a piano and find the middle F, and go two more octaves above it, that is the note that Aguilera hits. However, Christina doesn't use the whistle register much [even though she has the ability to hit those] but prefers to use melisma [which is when you stretch out a note about an octave or two]. A clear example is right in the beginning of Ain't No Other Man when we first hear her, and she begins descending down.

An old couple was just settling in to bed one night when the phone rang.
The husband got out of bed and went into the living room to answer the phone.
His wife could hear him say, "Hello?" Then he said, "Sure is."
He hung up the receiver and went back to bed.
A minute later the phone rang again. The husband got out of bed and went
into the other room and his wife could hear him say, "Hello?" and then he
said, "Sure is." He hung up the receiver and went back to bed.
The wife asked who it was.
The man said he didn't know.
A minute later the phone rang again. The husband got out of bed and went into
the other room and his wife could hear him say, "Hello?" Then he said,
"Sure is." He hung up the receiver and went back to bed.
The wife asked again about the caller.
The man said he didn't know who it was.
The wife then asked, "Well, what did the person say?"
He said, "It's odd, a woman just keeps saying, 'Long distance from Chicago..'"

Love it, Bob. It's a long way to Tipperary, too.

I think we know most of your celebs, hawkman, but until our Raggedy arrives with photo's, I will await comment.

In the interim, folks, here is a "time" song from one of the celebs among your many:


Rolling Stones - Time Is On My Side Lyrics

(meade)

Time is on my side, yes it is
Time is on my side, yes it is

Now you always say
That you want to be free
But you'll come running back (said you would baby)
You'll come running back (I said so many times before)
You'll come running back to me

Oh, time is on my side, yes it is
Time is on my side, yes it is

You're searching for good times
But just wait and see
You'll come running back (I won't have to worry no more)
You'll come running back (spend the rest of my life with you, baby)
You'll come running back to me

Go ahead, go ahead and light up the town
And baby, do everything your heart desires
Remember, I'll always be around
And I know, I know
Like I told you so many times before
You're gonna come back, baby
'cause I know
You're gonna come back knocking
Yeah, knocking right on my door
Yes, yes!

Well, time is on my side, yes it is
Time is on my side, yes it is

'cause I got the real love
The kind that you need
You'll come running back (said you would, baby)
You'll come running back (I always said you would)
You'll come running back, to me
Yes time, time, time is on my side, yes it is
Time, time, time is on my side, yes it is
Oh, time, time, time is on my side, yes it is
I said, time, time, time is on my side, yes it is
Oh, time, time, time is on my side
Yeah, time, time, time is on my side

Dam Sam! If I had known that adorable Raggedy Ann was the prize, I would have done more research on those lyrics Letty and Edgar were looking for.

Anyway, A Good Afternoon to all with some of today's movie bio people:

Ah, there's our Raggedy with great pictures. Love 'em, PA.

Let's see, folks. We're looking at damn Sam. No, wait a sec. We're looking at Ray and Brad, and the pin up queen. I understand that she had her legs insured by Lloyd's of London.

Now who is that hunk with the tattoo and that girl with the radiant smile?

Give us a clue, Raggedy, and you will still get that adorable Andy.

Thinking of James Dean today, because one of my young friends has a plate on her car with his picture. He must be returning to cult status.

Mr. James Dean by Hillary Duff


All the king's horses
Wouldn't make me believe
Even when the walls come crashing down
You still can never be
A rebel without a cause
A rebel to the first degree
Why don't you stop trying so hard?
Cause there's no men, man enough to be


Another James Dean
You're nothing like him
So don't call me friend
Cause you're nothing like me
Even when the world stop turning
There will never be another James Dean
You'll never be James Dean

All the faces you're making
Save it for the scene
All the people you're faking
Why was it only me
Who saw right into your eyes
And you're just not so deep
I've had too many cries
Mr. Prince Charming
Sorry, you could never be

Cause you're nothing like him
So don't call me friend
Cause you're nothing like me
Even when the world stop turning, the world stops turning
Now you move to the move to the next town
Next chance, next girl, have fun baby
I'm taking back my world

Here we are face to face
Same energy, you and me
Don't wanna be enemies [x5]

Clue: The lady with the smile and the guy (with the smile) that she married in November were on every news channel for at least 2 weeks and I couldn't understand why.

The hunk is Casper Van Dien. A bit of sync from Bob's bio: The last name of James Dean (whom he portrayed in a biopic) is a derivative of Van Dien.

Aha! The only caspar that I ever knew was a friendly ghost.

Thanks, Raggedy. You are a fabulous finder.

Here ya go, PA. The large economy size:

Ooooh! Thank you, Letty.

The smiling couple:

Wow, Raggedy. Am I seeing things? I swear that looks like Tom Cruise. Love it, gal.

Speaking of Ghosts and Christmas, folks. I stumbled across this when searching for Bette Midler's new Christmas album.

The Ghosts Of Christmas Eve lyrics
Artist: Trans-Siberian Orchestra
Album: The Christmas Attic



In this room where shadows live

And ghosts that failed learn time forgives

Welcome, friends, please stay awhile
Our story starts with one small child

Who spends this night in attics dark
Where dreams are stored like sleeping hearts
And so it's here that they must wait
Till someone wishes them awake

For somewhere on this night of nights
She's looking to believe
Here among the ghosts on christmas eve

And there near an old looking glass
There was a trunk from christmas past
That she had somehow missed before
But now decides she will explore

'Twas filled with toys and one old wreath
And several letters underneath
So as the evening hours leave
The child sat down and started to read

For somewhere on this night of nights
She's looking to believe
Here among the ghosts on christmas eve

On christmas eve
On christmas eve

Odd, no?

With The Wind And The Rain In Your Hair
Kay Kyser & His Orchestra

[Words and Music by Jack Lawrence and Clara Edwards]

Last night we met
And I dream of you yet
With the wind and the rain in your hair

I held you tight
And you whispered, good night
With the wind and the rain in your hair

Now it will be my favorite memory
That vision of you standing there

Oh, there in the mist
How you sighed when we kissed
With the wind and the rain in your hair

Now it will be my favorite memory
That vision of you standing there

Mm, there in the mist
How you sighed when we kissed
With the wind and the rain in your hair

edgar, that is one that I recall from somewhere, but I can't remember where or when. <smile>

I like this one as well, folks:

High on a windy hill
I feel my heart stand still
All I can hear you calling my name
Into a misty blue
I go in search of you
There in the shadows calling your name
Why are you just beyond me
When will I see your face
Why do you just elude me
And leave me this lonely space
Oh, into eternity your love will beckon me
I can't forget your voice that calls my name

Into eternity your love will beckon me
I can't forget your voice that calls my name..

Can't play Christmas songs all day, now can we.

I believe the newer hit version of Wind and Rain in Your Hair was done years ago, by Pat Boone.

edgar, you and that grinch are unbelievable. I never pay any attention to who does what, and I am not certain who did the one that I just played. As I once told our Raggedy, a cue in the environment brings things to me that have been rolling around in my RNA.

Just talked with my son, and this one is for him:

Artist: James Taylor Lyrics
Song: That Lonesome Road Lyrics



Walk down that lonesome road all by yourself
Don't turn your head back over your shoulder
And only stop to rest yourself when the silver moon
Is shining high above the trees

If I had stopped to listen once or twice
If I had closed my mouth and opened my eyes
If I had cooled my head and warmed my heart
I'd not be on this road tonight

Carry on

Never mind feeling sorry for yourself
It doesn't save you from your troubled mind

Walk down that lonesome road all by yourself
Don't turn your head back over your shoulder
And only stop to rest yourself when the silver moon
Is shining high above the trees

Thee I Love (theme from Friendly Persuasion)
Pat Boone

Thee I love, more than the meadow so green and still
More than the mulberries on the hill
More than the buds of a 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

edgar, don't you recall Pat Boone imitating Alice Cooper, but Cooper would not play that game

Seems that James has done a Christmas Album as well.

If you insist, Texas:

(Moody river moody river)
Moody river more deadly
Than the vainest knife
Moody river your muddy water
Took my baby's life

Last saturday evening
I came to the old oak tree
It stands beside the river
Where you were to meet me
On the ground your love I found
With a note addressed to me
It read dear love I've done you wrong
Now I must set you free

No longer can I live
With this hurt and this sin
I just couldn't tell you
That guy was just a friend

Moody river more deadly
Than the vainest knife
Moody river your muddy water
Took my baby's life

I looked into the muddy water
And what could I see
I saw alonely lonely face just
Lookin' back at me
Tears in his eyes
And a prayer on his lips
And the glove of his lost love
At his finger tips

Moody river more deadly
Than the vainest knife
Moody river your muddy water
Took my baby's life

Pat Boone made some very poor choices in his career, but managed to make a substantial contribution, in my view. I like his voice, and several of his songs.

I love the way Pat Boone sings Friendly Persuasion.

That is Tom Cruise, Letty.

I thought so, Raggedy. The only movie that I really enjoyed by Tom was Collateral. Think that was the name of it.

You're not going to believe this, but inspired by Stray Cat's thread on biographies, one of which was the book by the Massies, I went searching for a song about the Romanov's and found this

Artist: Pat Boone
Song Lyrics: Anastasia
"Anastasia" by Pat Boone


Anastasia, tell me who you are
Are you someone from another star?

Anastasia, are you what you seem?
Do your sad eyes remember a dream?

Why do you tremble and why do you sigh?
Could you be lonely, as lonely as I?

Will you remember when summer has flown
Another world, a world thats yours alone?

Anastasia, smile away the past
Anastasia, spring is here at last

Beautiful stranger step down from your star
I only know I love you so whoever you are

Anastasia,
Anastasia, back-up singer sings Oh-oh-oh-oh

Beautiful stranger step down from your star
I only know I love you so whoever you are