WA2K Radio is now on the air

Good morning, WA2K.

edgar, I recall Gershwin's "They All Laughed", Texas, but I don't know your song.

It seems, folks, that The Dixie Chicks made a comeback at the Grammy Awards in spite of their politically incorrect remarks about the president, so let's hear one from them.

).
Artist/Band: Dixie Chicks
Lyrics for Song: Not Ready To Make Nice
Lyrics for Album: Taking The Long Way

Forgive, sounds good.
Forget, I'm not sure I could.
They say time heals everything,
But I'm still waiting

I'm through, with doubt,
There's nothing left for me to figure out,
I've paid a price, and i'll keep paying

I'm not ready to make nice,
I'm not ready to back down,
I'm still mad as hell
And I don't have time
To go round and round and round
It's too late to make it right
I probably wouldn't if I could
Cause I'm mad as hell
Can't bring myself to do what it is
You think I should

I know you said
Why can't you just get over it,
It turned my whole world around
and i kind of like it

I made by bed, and I sleep like a baby,
With no regrets and I don't mind saying,
It's a sad sad story
That a mother will teach her daughter
that she ought to hate a perfect stranger.
And how in the world
Can the words that I said
Send somebody so over the edge
That they'd write me a letter
Saying that I better shut up and sing
Or my life will be over

I'm not ready to make nice,
I'm not ready to back down,
I'm still mad as hell
And I don't have time
To go round and round and round
It's too late to make it right
I probably wouldn't if I could
Cause I'm mad as hell
Can't bring myself to do what it is
You think I should

I'm not ready to make nice,
I'm not ready to back down,
I'm still mad as hell
And I don't have time
To go round and round and round
It's too late to make it right
I probably wouldn't if I could
Cause I'm mad as hell
Can't bring myself to do what it is
You think I should

Forgive, sounds good.
Forget, I'm not sure I could.
They say time heals everything,
But I'm still waiting

Good morning.

Remembering Lorne Greene and wishing Christina Ricci a Happy 27th Birthday.

Good morning, Raggedy. Thanks, PA, for the photo's. Not certain, listeners, if the hawkman has remedied his problems as yet, so here's a bio of Lorne:

Lorne Greene was born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada on February 12, 1915, an only child, he later said that he tried to base his posrtrayal of Ben Cartwright on his own father, Daniel Greene, who made orthopedic boots and shoes. Daniel Greene died in 1956, three years before the premier of "Bonanza". "But he will always be alive somewhere when the show is aired," Green said.
Greene enrolled at Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, to study chemical engineering, but succumbed to his love of the theater and his desire to be a part of it. He served as both an actor and director in the school's drama guild. He won a fellowship to the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theater located in New York City. Returning home in 1939, Greene became "The Voice of Canada" when the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation hired him . One columnist went so far to describe his voice as "surely one of the finest ever wrought by nature". After service as a flying officer in the RCAF during World War II, Lorne returned to Toronto and founded the Academy of Radio Arts.
Greene developed a stopwatch that ran backwards as an aid to radio announcers in gauging the time available,
during a promotional trip to New York on behalf of his invention, Greene ran into Canadian producer Fletcher Markle, who cast him as Big Brother in a live Studio One broadcast adaptation of George Orwell's "1984".
More work in television followed, as well as stage appearances in the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Ontario and major roles in three Broadway plays. In 1954 Lorne made his motion picture debut as the Apostle Peter in "The Silver Chalice".

Lorne Green's big break came in 1959 through his performance in an episode of the western series "Wagon Train". The producer and creator of "Bonanza", David Dortort spotted Lorne during this performance and immediately recognized him as the perfect Ben Cartwright. When asked to take the role of Ben Cartwright Lorne said, "Yes, but on three conditions: It had to be successful, I had to be the star and I had to make a lot of money."
Lorne of course took the role of Ben Cartwright, agreeing to be one of four stars and became as producer David Dortort would later comment, "the perfect "Bonanza" image. Lorne identified strongly with the character and millions of viewers saw Greene as Ben Cartwright.
Lorne Greene become for millions the idyllic father figure, strong and loving, compassionate and understanding. Much of his fan mail was from boys who either wanted to be like him when they grew up or wanted him for their own father. Writer Dwight Whitney said Greene "is perhaps the most exciting and certainly most convincing "father" ever to appear in regular series TV."
After the cancellation of Bonanza in January of 1973 Lorne, signed on to play the title role in "Griff", a detective series that lasted less than four months on NBC. He also portrayed another father figure, Commander Adama on the short-lived ABC science fiction series "Battlestar Galactica".
His most successful television work after "Bonanza" was his four years as the host and narrator of the syndicated nature film series, "Lorne Greene's New Wilderness".
Sadly, Lorne Greene passed away on September 11, 1987. Plans to appear in a new TV film "Bonanza The Next Generation" were put on hold when Lorne began to deteriorate. While hospitalized for surgery of a perforated ulcer he developed pneumonia and never recovered. "He was Ben Cartwright to the end," commented a mournful Michael Landon (Little Joe), "I took his hand in mine and held it. He looked at me and slowly started to arm wrestle like we used to. The he broke into a smile and nodded. And everything was ok. I think he wanted me to know everything was ok."
For millions of "Bonanza" fans the world over, the loss of television's favorite "Pa" was a devastating one. Fortunately for us all Lorne's memory lives on in re-runs of "Bonanza" where fans can visit the home Ben Cartwright and his sons.
Lorne Greene married Rita Hands, of Toronto, in 1940. Their children are Belinda Susan (now Mrs. Richard Bennet) and Charles, twins born in 1945. Greene's first marriage ended in divorce in 1960. In December 1961 he married Nancy Anne Deale together they had one child, Gillian Greene.

Back later with the theme of Bonanza.

Charles Darwin
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



Born 12 February 1809
Mount House, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England
Died 19 April 1882
Down House, Kent, England

Residence England
Nationality British
Field Naturalist
Institution Royal Geographical Society
Alma mater University of Edinburgh
University of Cambridge
Academic advisor Adam Sedgwick
Known for The Origin of Species
Natural selection
Notable prizes Royal Medal (1853)
Wollaston Medal (1859)
Copley Medal (1864)
Religion Church of England, though Unitarian family background, Agnostic after 1851.

Charles Robert Darwin (12 February 1809 - 19 April 1882) was an eminent English naturalist who achieved lasting fame by convincing the scientific community that species develop over time from a common origin. His theories explaining this phenomenon through natural and sexual selection are central to the modern understanding of evolution as the unifying theory of the life sciences, essential in biology and important in other disciplines such as anthropology, psychology and philosophy.[1]

Darwin developed his interest in natural history while studying first medicine, then theology, at university.[2] His five-year voyage on the Beagle established him as a geologist whose observations and theorising supported Charles Lyell's uniformitarian ideas, and the subsequent publication of his journal of the voyage made him famous as a popular author. Puzzled by the geographical distribution of wildlife and fossils he collected on the voyage, he investigated the transmutation of species and conceived his theory of natural selection in 1838. He had seen others attacked for such heretical ideas and confided only in his closest friends while carrying out extensive research to meet anticipated objections.[3] However, in 1858, Alfred Russel Wallace sent him an essay describing a similar theory, forcing early joint publication of both of their theories.[4]

His 1859 book, On the Origin of Species, established evolution by common descent as the dominant scientific explanation of diversification in nature. Human origins and features without obvious utility such as beautiful bird plumage were examined in The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, followed by The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. His research on plants was published in a series of books, and in his final book, he examined earthworms and their effect on soil.[5]

In recognition of Darwin's pre-eminence, he was buried in Westminster Abbey, close to John Herschel and Isaac Newton.[6]





Biography

Early life


Charles Darwin was born in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England on 12 February 1809 at The Mount, the house his father built in 1800 near the River Severn.[7] He was the fifth of six children of wealthy society doctor and financier Robert Darwin, and Susannah Darwin (née Wedgwood). He was the grandson of Erasmus Darwin on his father's side, and of Josiah Wedgwood on his mother's side. Both families were largely Unitarian, though the Wedgwoods were adopting Anglicanism. Robert Darwin, himself quietly a freethinker, made a nod toward convention by having baby Charles baptized in the Anglican church. Nonetheless, Charles and his siblings attended the Unitarian chapel with their mother, and early in 1817, Charles joined the day school run by its preacher. In July of that year, his mother died; he was only eight. From September 1818, he attended the nearby Anglican Shrewsbury School as a boarder.[8]

Darwin spent the summer of 1825 as an apprentice doctor, helping his father treat the poor of Shropshire. In the autumn, he went to the University of Edinburgh to study medicine, but was revolted by the brutality of surgery and neglected his medical studies. He learned taxidermy from John Edmonstone, a freed black slave who told him exciting tales of the South American rainforest. Later, in The Descent of Man, he used this experience as evidence that "Negroes and Europeans" were closely related despite superficial differences in appearance.[9] In Darwin's second year, he joined the Plinian Society, a student group interested in natural history.[10] He became a keen pupil of Robert Edmund Grant, a proponent of Lamarck's theory of evolution by acquired characteristics which had appeared in the writings of Charles' grandfather Erasmus before being developed by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck. On the shores of the Firth of Forth, Darwin joined in Grant's investigations of the life cycle of marine animals. These studies found evidence for homology, the radical theory that all animals have similar organs which differ only in complexity, thus showing common descent.[11] In March 1827, Darwin made a presentation to the Plinian of his own discovery that the black spores often found in oyster shells were the eggs of a skate leech.[12] He also sat in on Robert Jameson's natural history course, learning about stratigraphic geology, receiving training in how to classify plants, and assisting with work on the extensive collections of the Museum of Edinburgh University, one of the largest museums in Europe at the time.[13]

In 1827, his father, unhappy at his younger son's lack of progress, shrewdly enrolled him in a Bachelor of Arts course at Christ's College, University of Cambridge to qualify as a clergyman, expecting him to get a good income as an Anglican parson.[14] However, Darwin preferred riding and shooting to studying.[15] Along with his cousin William Darwin Fox, he became engrossed in the craze at the time for the competitive collecting of beetles,[16] Fox introduced him to the Reverend John Stevens Henslow, professor of botany, for expert advice on beetles. Darwin subsequently joined Henslow's natural history course and became his favourite pupil, known to the dons as "the man who walks with Henslow".[17][18] Once exams drew near, Darwin focused on his studies and received private instruction from Henslow. Darwin was particularly enthusiastic about the writings of William Paley, including the argument of divine design in nature.[19] In his finals in January 1831, he performed well in theology and, having scraped through in classics, mathematics and physics, came tenth out of a pass list of 178.[20]

Residential requirements kept Darwin at Cambridge until June. Following Henslow's example and advice, he was in no rush to take holy orders. Inspired by Alexander von Humboldt's Personal Narrative, he planned to visit the Madeira Islands with some classmates after graduation to study natural history in the tropics. To prepare himself, Darwin joined the geology course of the Reverend Adam Sedgwick then, in the summer, went with him to assist in mapping strata in Wales.[21] After a fortnight with student friends at Barmouth, he returned home to find a letter from Henslow who had recommended Darwin as a suitable (if unfinished) naturalist for the unpaid position of gentleman's companion to Robert FitzRoy, the captain of HMS Beagle which was to leave in four weeks on an expedition to chart the coastline of South America. His father objected to the planned two-year voyage, regarding it as a waste of time, but was persuaded by his brother-in-law, Josiah Wedgwood, to agree to his son's participation.[22]


Journey of the Beagle


As HMS Beagle surveyed the coasts of South America, Darwin began to theorise about the wonders of nature around him.The Beagle survey took five years, two-thirds of which Darwin spent on land. He carefully noted a rich variety of geological features, fossils and living organisms, and methodically collected an enormous number of specimens, many of them new to science.[23] At intervals during the voyage he sent specimens to Cambridge together with letters about his findings, and these established his reputation as a naturalist. His extensive detailed notes showed his gift for theorising and formed the basis for his later work. The journal he originally wrote for his family, published as The Voyage of the Beagle, summarises his findings and provides social, political and anthropological insights into the wide range of people he met, both native and colonial.[24]

While on board the ship, Darwin suffered badly from seasickness.[25] In October 1833, he caught a fever in Argentina, and in July 1834, while returning from the Andes down to Valparaíso, he fell ill and spent a month in bed.[26]

Before they set out, Fitzroy gave Darwin volume one of Charles Lyell's Principles of Geology, which explained landforms as the outcome of gradual processes over huge periods of time.[II] On their first stop ashore at St Jago Darwin found that a white band high in the volcanic rock cliffs consisted of baked coral fragments and shells. This matched Lyell's concept of land slowly rising or falling, giving Darwin a new insight into the geological history of the island which inspired him to think of writing a book on geology.[27] He went on to make many more discoveries, some of them particularly dramatic.[23] He saw stepped plains of shingle and seashells in Patagonia as raised beaches, and after experiencing an earthquake in Chile saw mussel-beds stranded above high tide showing that the land had just been raised. High in the Andes he saw several fossil trees that had grown on a sand beach, with seashells nearby. He theorised that coral atolls form on sinking volcanic mountains, and confirmed this when the Beagle surveyed the Cocos (Keeling) Islands.[28]

In South America, Darwin found and excavated rare fossils of gigantic extinct mammals, some in strata which showed no signs of catastrophe or change in climate. A huge skull seemed to him to be related to the African rhinoceros. At first, he thought that fragments of bony armour came from a gigantic armadillo like the small creatures common in the area, but was then misled by Bory de Saint-Vincent's Dictionnaire classique into thinking they belonged to the megatherium fossils he found nearby.[29] He was sent Lyell's second volume which argued against evolutionism and explained species distribution by "centres of creation". Darwin puzzled over all he saw and his ideas went beyond Lyell.[30] In Argentina, he found that two types of rhea had separate but overlapping territories. On the Galápagos Islands, he collected mockingbirds and noted that they were different depending on which island they came from. He also heard that local Spaniards could tell from their appearance which island tortoises originated on, but thought the creatures had been imported by buccaneers.[31] In Australia, the marsupial rat-kangaroo and the platypus seemed so unusual that Darwin thought it was almost as though two distinct Creators had been at work.[32] In Cape Town he and FitzRoy met John Herschel, who had recently written to Lyell about that "mystery of mysteries", the origin of species. When organising his notes on the return journey, Darwin wrote that if his growing suspicions about the mockingbirds and tortoises were correct, "such facts undermine the stability of Species", then cautiously added "would" before "undermine".[33] He later wrote that such facts "seemed to me to throw some light on the origin of species".[34]


The voyage of the Beagle

Three natives who had been taken from Tierra del Fuego on the Beagle's previous voyage were taken back there to become missionaries. They had become "civilised" in England over the previous two years, yet their relatives appeared to Darwin to be "miserable, degraded savages".[35] A year on, the mission had been abandoned and only Jemmy Button spoke with them to say he preferred his harsh previous way of life and did not want to return to England. As a result of this experience, Darwin came to think that humans were not as far removed from animals as his friends believed, and saw differences as relating to cultural advances towards civilisation rather than being racial. He detested the slavery he saw elsewhere in South America, and was saddened by the effects of European settlement on aborigines in New Zealand and Australia.[36]

Captain FitzRoy was committed to writing the official Narrative of the Beagle voyages, and near the end of the voyage, he read Darwin's diary and asked him to rewrite this Journal to provide the third volume, on natural history.[37]




While still a young man, Charles Darwin joined the scientific élite.While Darwin was still on the voyage, Henslow fostered his former pupil's reputation by giving selected naturalists access to the fossil specimens and a pamphlet of Darwin's geological letters.[38] When the Beagle returned on 2 October 1836, Darwin was a celebrity in scientific circles. After visiting his home in Shrewsbury and seeing relatives, Darwin hurried to Cambridge to see Henslow, who advised on finding naturalists available to describe and catalogue the collections, and agreed to take on the botanical specimens. Darwin's father organised investments, enabling his son to be a self-funded gentleman scientist, and an excited Darwin went round the London institutions being fêted and seeking experts to describe the collections. Zoologists had a huge backlog of work, and there was a danger of specimens just being left in storage.[39]

An eager Charles Lyell met Darwin for the first time on 29 October and soon introduced him to the up-and-coming anatomist Richard Owen who had the facilities of the Royal College of Surgeons at his disposal to work on Darwin's fossil bones. Owen's surprising results included gigantic sloths, a hippopotamus-like skull from the extinct rodent toxodon, and armour fragments from a huge extinct armadillo (glyptodon), as Darwin had initially surmised.[40] The fossil creatures were unrelated to African animals, but closely related to living species in South America.[41]

In mid December, Darwin moved to Cambridge to organise work on his collections and rewrite his Journal.[42] He wrote his first paper, showing that the South American landmass was slowly rising, and with Lyell's enthusiastic backing read it to the Geological Society of London on 4 January 1837. On the same day, he presented his mammal and bird specimens to the Zoological Society. The ornithologist John Gould soon revealed that the Galapagos birds that Darwin had thought a mixture of blackbirds, "gross-beaks" and finches, were, in fact, twelve separate species of finches. On 17 February 1837, Darwin was elected to the Council of the Geographical Society, and in his presidential address, Lyell presented Owen's findings on Darwin's fossils, stressing geographical continuity of species as supporting his uniformitarian ideas.[43]


Darwin's first sketch of an evolutionary tree from his First Notebook on Transmutation of Species (1837)On 6 March 1837, Darwin moved to London to be close to this work, and joined the social whirl around scientists and savants such as Babbage, who thought that God preordained life by natural laws rather than ad hoc miraculous creations. Darwin lived near his freethinking brother Erasmus, who was part of this Whig circle and whose close friend the writer Harriet Martineau promoted the ideas of Thomas Malthus underlying the Whig "Poor Law reforms" aimed at discouraging the poor from breeding beyond available food supplies. John Herschel's question on the origin of species was widely discussed. Medical men including Dr. Gully even joined Grant in endorsing transmutation of species, but to Darwin's scientist friends such radical heresy attacked the divine basis of the social order already under threat from recession and riots.[44]

Gould now revealed that the Galapagos mockingbirds from different islands were separate species, not just varieties, and the "wrens" were yet another species of finches. Darwin had not kept track of which islands the finch specimens were from, but found information from the notes of others on the Beagle, including FitzRoy, who had more carefully recorded their own collections. The zoologist Thomas Bell showed that the Galápagos tortoises were native to the islands. By mid March, Darwin was convinced that creatures arriving in the islands had become altered in some way to form new species on the different islands, and investigated transmutation while noting his speculations in his "Red Notebook" which he had begun on the Beagle. In mid-July, he began his secret "B" notebook on transmutation, and on page 36 wrote "I think" above his first sketch of an evolutionary tree.[45]


Overwork, illness and marriage

As well as launching into this intensive study of transmutation, Darwin became mired in more work. While still rewriting his Journal, he took on editing and publishing the expert reports on his collections, and with Henslow's help obtained a Treasury grant of £1,000 to sponsor this multivolume Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle. He agreed to unrealistic dates for this and for a book on South American Geology supporting Lyell's ideas. Darwin finished writing his Journal around 20 June 1837 just as Queen Victoria came to the throne, but then had its proofs to correct.[46]

Darwin's health suffered from the pressure. On 20 September 1837, he had "palpitations of the heart". On doctor's advice that a month of recuperation was needed, he went to Shrewsbury then on to visit his Wedgwood relatives at Maer Hall, but found them too eager for tales of his travels to give him much rest. His charming, intelligent and rather messy cousin Emma Wedgwood, nine months older than Darwin, was nursing his invalid aunt. His uncle Jos pointed out an area of ground where cinders had disappeared under loam and suggested that this might have been the work of earthworms. This inspired a talk which Darwin gave to the Geological Society on 1 November, the first demonstration of the role of earthworms in soil formation.[47]

William Whewell pushed Darwin to take on the duties of Secretary of the Geological Society. After first declining this extra work, he accepted the post in March 1838.[48] Despite the grind of writing and editing, remarkable progress was made on transmutation. While keeping his developing ideas secret, Darwin took every opportunity to question expert naturalists and, unconventionally, people with practical experience such as farmers and pigeon fanciers.[23][49] Over time his research drew on information from his relatives and children, the family butler, neighbours, colonists and former shipmates.[50] He included mankind in his speculations from the outset, and on seeing an ape in the zoo on 28 March 1838 noted its child-like behaviour.[51]

The strain told and by June he was being laid up for days on end with stomach problems, headaches and heart symptoms.[52] For the rest of his life, he was repeatedly incapacitated with episodes of stomach pains, vomiting, severe boils, palpitations, trembling and other symptoms, particularly during times of stress, such as when attending meetings or dealing with controversy over his theory. The cause of Darwin's illness was unknown during his lifetime and attempts at treatment had little success. Recent attempts at diagnosis have suggested Chagas disease caught from insect bites in South America, Ménière's disease or various psychological illnesses as possible causes, without any conclusive results.[53]

On 23 June 1838, he took a break from the pressure of work and went "geologising" in Scotland. He visited Glen Roy in glorious weather to see the parallel "roads", horizontal ledges cut into the hillsides. He thought that these were raised beaches: they were later shown to have been shorelines of a glacial lake.[54]


Charles chose to marry his cousin, Emma Wedgwood.Fully recuperated, he returned to Shrewsbury in July. Used to jotting down daily notes on animal breeding, he scrawled rambling thoughts about career and prospects on two scraps of paper, one with columns headed "Marry" and "Not Marry". Advantages included "constant companion and a friend in old age ... better than a dog anyhow", against points such as "less money for books" and "terrible loss of time."[55] Having decided in favour, he discussed it with his father then went to visit Emma on 29 July 1838. He did not get around to proposing, but against his father's advice he mentioned his ideas on transmutation.[56]

Continuing his research in London, Darwin's wide reading now included "for amusement" the 6th edition of Malthus's An Essay on the Principle of Population which calculates from the birth rate that human population could double every 25 years, but in practice growth is kept in check by death, disease, wars and famine.[23][57] Darwin was well prepared to see at once that this also applied to de Candolle's "warring of the species" of plants and the struggle for existence among wildlife, explaining how numbers of a species kept roughly stable. As species always breed beyond available resources, favourable variations would make organisms better at surviving and passing the variations on to their offspring, while unfavourable variations would be lost. This would result in the formation of new species.[58] On 28 September 1838 he noted this insight, describing it as a kind of wedging, forcing adapted structures into gaps in the economy of nature as weaker structures were thrust out.[23] He now had a theory by which to work, and over the following months compared farmers picking the best breeding stock to a Malthusian Nature selecting from variants thrown up by "chance" so that "every part of [every] newly acquired structure is fully practised and perfected", and thought this analogy "the most beautiful part of my theory".[59]

On 11 November, he returned to Maer and proposed to Emma, once more telling her his ideas. She accepted, then in exchanges of loving letters she showed how she valued his openness, but her upbringing as a very devout Anglican led her to express fears that his lapses of faith could endanger her hopes to meet in the afterlife.[60] While he was house-hunting in London, bouts of illness continued and Emma wrote urging him to get some rest, almost prophetically remarking "So don't be ill any more my dear Charley till I can be with you to nurse you." He found what they called "Macaw Cottage" (because of its gaudy interiors) in Gower Street, then moved his "museum" in over Christmas. The marriage was arranged for 24 January 1839, but the Wedgwoods set the date back. On the 24th, Darwin was honoured by being elected as Fellow of the Royal Society.[61]

On 29 January 1839, Darwin and Emma Wedgwood were married at Maer in an Anglican ceremony arranged to suit the Unitarians, then immediately caught the train to London and their new home.[62]


Preparing the theory of natural selection for publication


Darwin had found the basis of his theory of natural selection, but was aware of how much work was needed to make it credible to his fiercely critical scientific colleagues. As Secretary of the Geological Society at its meeting on 19 December 1838, he saw Owen and Buckland display their hatred of evolution when destroying the reputation of his old Lamarckian teacher Grant.[63] Work on his Beagle findings continued, and as well as consulting animal husbanders he carried out extensive experiments with plants, trying to find evidence answering all the arguments he anticipated when his theory was made public.[64] When FitzRoy's Narrative was published in May 1839, Darwin's Journal and Remarks (The Voyage of the Beagle) as the third volume was such a success that later that year it was published on its own.[65]

Early in 1842, Darwin sent a letter about his ideas to Lyell, who was dismayed that his ally now denied "seeing a beginning to each crop of species". Darwin then wrote a "pencil sketch" of his theory.[66] To escape the pressures of London, the family moved to rural Down House in November.[67] On 11 January 1844 Darwin wrote to his botanist friend Joseph Dalton Hooker about his theory, saying it was like confessing "a murder", but to his relief Hooker thought that "there might have been a gradual change of species" and expressed interest in Darwin's explanation. By July Darwin had expanded his "sketch" into a 230-page "Essay".[68] His fears that his ideas would be dismissed as Lamarckian Radicalism were reawakened by controversy over the anonymous publication in October of Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation which was severely attacked by establishment scientists. However, the book was a best-seller and widened middle-class interest in transmutation, paving the way for Darwin as well as reminding him of the need to answer all difficulties before making his theory public. Darwin completed his third geological book in 1846, and embarked on a huge study of barnacles with the assistance of Hooker. In 1847, Hooker read the "Essay" and sent notes that provided Darwin with the calm critical feedback that he needed, but would not commit himself and questioned Darwin's opposition to continuing acts of Creation.[69]

In an attempt to improve his chronic ill health, Darwin went to a spa in Malvern in 1849. To his surprise, he found that two months of water treatment helped.[70] Then his treasured daughter Annie fell ill, reawakening his fears that his illness might be hereditary. After a long series of crises, she died and Darwin lost all faith in a beneficent God.[71]

Darwin's eight years of work on barnacles (Cirripedia) found "homologies" that supported his theory by showing that slightly changed body parts could serve different functions to meet new conditions.[72] In 1853 it earned him the Royal Society's Royal Medal, and it made his reputation as a biologist.[73] In 1854 he resumed work on his theory of species, and in November realised that divergence in the character of descendants could be explained by them becoming adapted to "diversified places in the economy of nature".[74]


Publication of theory

Darwin was forced into early publication of his theory of natural selection.
By the Spring of 1856, Darwin was investigating how species spread. Hooker increasingly doubted the traditional view that species were fixed, but their new ally Huxley was firmly against evolution. Lyell was intrigued by Darwin's speculations without realising their extent, and when he read a paper by Wallace on the Introduction of species, he saw similarities with Darwin's thoughts and urged him to publish to establish precedence. Though Darwin saw no threat, he began work on a short paper. He was repeatedly held up by finding answers to difficult questions such as how seeds could travel across seawater, and expanded his plans to a "big book on species" titled Natural Selection. He continued his researches, obtaining information and specimens from naturalists worldwide including Wallace who was working in Borneo. In December 1857, Darwin received a letter from Wallace asking if the book would examine human origins. He responded that he would avoid that subject, "so surrounded with prejudices", while encouraging Wallace's theorising and adding that "I go much further than you."[75]

Darwin's book was half way when, on 18 June 1858, he received a paper from Wallace describing natural selection. Though shocked that he had been "forestalled", Darwin sent it on to Lyell, as requested, and, though Wallace had not asked for publication, offered to send it to any journal that Wallace chose. His family was in crisis with children in the village dying of scarlet fever, and he put matters in the hands of Lyell and Hooker. They agreed on a joint presentation at the Linnean Society on 1 July of On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties; and on the Perpetuation of Varieties and Species by Natural Means of Selection; however, Darwin's baby son died of the fever and he was too distraught to attend.[76]

There was little immediate attention to this announcement of the theory; the president of the Linnean left the meeting lamenting that the year had not been marked by any great discoveries.[77] Later, Darwin could only recall one review; Professor Haughton of Dublin claimed that "all that was new in them was false, and what was true was old."[78] Darwin struggled for thirteen months to produce an abstract of his "big book", suffering from ill health but getting constant encouragement from his scientific friends. Lyell arranged to have it published by John Murray.[79]

On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life (usually abbreviated to The Origin of Species) proved unexpectedly popular, with the entire stock of 1,250 copies oversubscribed when it went on sale to booksellers on 22 November 1859.[80] In the book, Darwin set out "one long argument" of facts, inferences and consideration of anticipated objections.[81] His only allusion to human evolution was the understatement that "light will be thrown on the origin of man and his history".[82] He avoided the then controversial term "evolution", but at the end of the book concluded that "endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved."[83] His theory is simply stated in the introduction:

As many more individuals of each species are born than can possibly survive; and as, consequently, there is a frequently recurring struggle for existence, it follows that any being, if it vary however slightly in any manner profitable to itself, under the complex and sometimes varying conditions of life, will have a better chance of surviving, and thus be naturally selected. From the strong principle of inheritance, any selected variety will tend to propagate its new and modified form.[84]


Reaction to the publication


A typical satire was the later caricature in Hornet magazine portraying Darwin with an ape body and the bushy beard he grew in 1866.There was wide public interest in Darwin's book and a controversy which he monitored closely, keeping press cuttings of reviews, articles, satires, parodies and caricatures.[85] Critical reviewers were quick to pick out the unstated implications of "men from monkeys", while amongst favourable responses Huxley's reviews included swipes at Richard Owen, leader of the scientific establishment Huxley was trying to overthrow. Owen's verdict was unknown until his April review condemned the book.[86]

The Church of England scientific establishment including Darwin's old Cambridge tutors Sedgwick and Henslow reacted against the book, though it was well received by a younger generation of professional naturalists. In 1860, the publication of Essays and Reviews by seven liberal Anglican theologians diverted clerical attention away from Darwin. An explanation of higher criticism and other heresies, it included the argument that miracles broke God's laws, so belief in them was atheistic?-and praise for "Mr Darwin's masterly volume [supporting] the grand principle of the self-evolving powers of nature".[87]

The most famous confrontation took place at a meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in Oxford. Professor John William Draper delivered a long lecture about Darwin and social progress, then Samuel Wilberforce, the Bishop of Oxford, argued against Darwin. In the ensuing debate Joseph Hooker argued strongly for Darwin and Thomas Huxley established himself as "Darwin's bulldog" - the fiercest defender of evolutionary theory on the Victorian stage. Both sides came away feeling victorious, but Huxley went on to make much of his claim that on being asked by Wilberforce whether he was descended from monkeys on his grandfather's side or his grandmother's side, Huxley muttered: "The Lord has delivered him into my hands" and replied that he "would rather be descended from an ape than from a cultivated man who used his gifts of culture and eloquence in the service of prejudice and falsehood".[88]

Darwin's illness kept him away from the public debates, though he read eagerly about them and mustered support through correspondence. Asa Gray persuaded a publisher in the United States to pay royalties, and Darwin imported and distributed Gray's pamphlet Natural Selection is not inconsistent with Natural Theology.[89] In Britain, friends including Hooker[90] and Lyell[91] took part in the scientific debates which Huxley pugnaciously led to overturn the dominance of clergymen and aristocratic amateurs under Owen in favour of a new generation of professional scientists. Owen made the mistake of (wrongly) claiming certain anatomical differences between ape and human brains, and accusing Huxley of advocating "Ape Origin of Man". Huxley gladly did just that, and his campaign over two years was devastatingly successful in ousting Owen and the "old guard".[92] Darwin's friends formed The X Club and helped to gain him the honour of the Royal Society's Copley Medal in 1864.[91]

Broader public interest had already been stimulated by Vestiges, and the Origin of Species was translated into many languages and went through numerous reprints, becoming a staple scientific text accessible both to a newly curious middle class and to "working men" who flocked to Huxley's lectures.[93] Darwin's theory also resonated with various movements at the time[III] and became a key fixture of popular culture.[IV]


Descent of Man, sexual selection and botany


Despite repeated bouts of illness during the last twenty-two years of his life, Darwin pressed on with his work. He had published an abstract of his theory, but more controversial aspects of his "big book" were still incomplete, including explicit evidence of humankind's descent from earlier animals, and exploration of possible causes underlying the development of society and of human mental abilities. He had yet to explain features with no obvious utility other than decorative beauty. His experiments, research and writing continued.

When Darwin's daughter fell ill, he set aside his experiments with seedlings and domestic animals to accompany her to a seaside resort where he became interested in wild orchids. This developed into an innovative study of how their beautiful flowers served to control insect pollination and ensure cross fertilisation. As with the barnacles, homologous parts served different functions in different species. Back at home, he lay on his sickbed in a room filled with experiments on climbing plants. He was visited by a reverent Ernst Haeckel who had spread the gospel of Darwinismus in Germany.[94] Wallace remained supportive, though he increasingly turned to spiritualism.[95]

Variation of Plants and Animals Under Domestication, the first part of Darwin's planned "big book" (expanding on his "abstract" published as The Origin of Species) grew to two huge volumes, forcing him to leave out human evolution and sexual selection, and sold briskly despite its size.[96] A further book of evidences, dealing with natural selection in the same style, was largely written, but was not published until 1975.[97]

The question of human evolution had been taken up by his supporters (and detractors) shortly after the publication of The Origin of Species,[98] but Darwin's own contribution to the subject came more than ten years later with the two-volume The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex published in 1871. In the second volume, Darwin introduced in full his concept of sexual selection to explain the evolution of human culture, the differences between the human sexes, and the differentiation of human races, as well as the beautiful (and seemingly non-adaptive) plumage of birds.[99] A year later Darwin published his last major work, The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, which focused on the evolution of human psychology and its continuity with to the behaviour of animals. He developed his ideas that the human mind and cultures were developed by natural and sexual selection,[100] an approach which has been revived in the last three decades with the emergence of evolutionary psychology.[101] As he concluded in Descent of Man, Darwin felt that, despite all of humankind's "noble qualities" and "exalted powers": "Man still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin."[102]

His evolution-related experiments and investigations culminated in five books on plants, and then, in his last book, he returned to the effect earthworms have on soil formation. He died in Downe, Kent, England, on 19 April 1882. He had expected to be buried in St Mary's churchyard at Downe, but, at the request of Darwin's colleagues, William Spottiswoode (President of the Royal Society) arranged for Darwin to be given a state funeral and buried in Westminster Abbey, close to John Herschel and Isaac Newton.[103]


Darwin's children


William Erasmus Darwin (27 December 1839-1914)
Anne Elizabeth Darwin (2 March 1841-22 April 1851)
Mary Eleanor Darwin (23 September 1842-16 October 1842)
Henrietta Emma "Etty" Darwin (25 September 1843-1929)
George Howard Darwin (9 July 1845-7 December 1912)
Elizabeth "Bessy" Darwin (8 July 1847-1926)
Francis Darwin (6 August 1848-19 September 1925)
Leonard Darwin (15 January 1850-26 March 1943)
Horace Darwin (13 May 1851-29 September 1928)
Charles Waring Darwin (6 December 1856-28 June 1858)

The Darwins had ten children: two died in infancy, and Annie's death at the age of ten had a devastating effect on her parents. Charles was a devoted father and uncommonly attentive to his children.[2] Whenever they fell ill he feared that they might have inherited weaknesses from inbreeding due to the close family ties he shared with his wife and cousin, Emma Wedgwood. He examined this topic in his writings, contrasting it with the advantages of crossing amongst many organisms.[104] Despite his fears, most of the surviving children went on to have distinguished careers as notable members of the prominent Darwin ?- Wedgwood family.[105]

Of his surviving children, George, Francis and Horace became Fellows of the Royal Society, distinguished as astronomer,[106] botanist and civil engineer, respectively.[107] His son Leonard, on the other hand, went on to be a soldier, politician, economist, eugenicist and mentor of the statistician and evolutionary biologist Ronald Fisher.[108]


Religious views


Though Charles Darwin's family background was Nonconformist, and his father, grandfather and brother were Freethinkers,[109] at first he did not doubt the literal truth of the Bible.[110] He attended a Church of England school, then at Cambridge studied Anglican theology to become a clergyman.[111] He was convinced by William Paley's teleological argument that design in nature proved the existence of God,[112] but during the Beagle voyage he questioned, for example, why beautiful deep-ocean creatures had been created where no one could see them, or how the ichneumon wasp paralysing caterpillars as live food for its eggs could be reconciled with Paley's vision of beneficent design.[113] He was still quite orthodox and would quote the Bible as an authority on morality, but did not trust the history in the Old Testament.[114]


The 1851 death of Darwin's daughter, Annie, was the final step in pushing an already doubting Darwin away from the idea of a beneficent God.When investigating transmutation of species he knew that his naturalist friends thought this a bestial heresy undermining miraculous justifications for the social order, the kind of radical argument then being used by Dissenters and atheists to attack the Church of England's privileged position as the established church.[115] Though Darwin wrote of religion as a tribal survival strategy, he still believed that God was the ultimate lawgiver.[116] His belief dwindled, and with the death of his daughter Annie in 1851, Darwin finally lost all faith in Christianity. He continued to help the local church with parish work, but on Sundays would go for a walk while his family attended church.[117] He now thought it better to look at pain and suffering as the result of general laws rather than direct intervention by God.[118] When asked about his religious views, he wrote that he had never been an atheist in the sense of denying the existence of a God, and that generally "an Agnostic would be the more correct description of my state of mind."[119]

The "Lady Hope Story", published in 1915, claimed that Darwin had converted to Christianity on his sickbed. The claims were refuted by Darwin's children and have been dismissed as false by historians.[120] His daughter, Henrietta, who was at his deathbed, said that he did not convert to Christianity.[121] His last words were, in fact, directed at Emma: "Remember what a good wife you have been."[122]



Political interpretations

Darwin's theories and writings, combined with Gregor Mendel's genetics, (the "modern synthesis") form the basis of all modern biology.[123] However, Darwin's fame and popularity led to his name being associated with ideas and movements which at times had only an indirect relation to his writings, and sometimes went directly against his express comments.


Eugenics

Following Darwin's publication of the Origin, his cousin, Francis Galton, applied the concepts to human society, starting in 1865 with ideas to promote "hereditary improvement" which he elaborated at length in 1869.[124] In The Descent of Man Darwin agreed that Galton had demonstrated the probability that "talent" and "genius" in humans was inherited, but dismissed the social changes Galton proposed as too utopian.[125] Neither Galton nor Darwin supported government intervention and instead believed that, at most, heredity should be taken into consideration by people seeking potential mates.[126] In 1883, after Darwin's death, Galton began calling his social philosophy Eugenics.[127] In the twentieth century, eugenics movements gained popularity in a number of countries and became associated with reproduction control programmes such as compulsory sterilisation laws,[128] then were stigmatised after their usage in the rhetoric of Nazi Germany in its goals of genetic "purity".[V]


Social Darwinism

The ideas of Thomas Malthus and Herbert Spencer which applied ideas of evolution and "survival of the fittest" to societies, nations and businesses became popular in the late 19th and early 20th century, and were used to defend various, sometimes contradictory, ideological perspectives including laissez-faire economics,[129] colonialism,[130] racism and imperialism.[130] The term, "Social Darwinism", originated around the 1890s, but became popular as a derogatory term in the 1940s with Richard Hofstadter's critique of laissez-faire conservatism.[131] The concepts predate Darwin's publication of the Origin in 1859:[130][132] Malthus died in 1834[133] and Spencer published his books on economics in 1851 and on evolution in 1855.[134] Darwin himself insisted that social policy should not simply be guided by concepts of struggle and selection in nature,[135] and that sympathy should be extended to all races and nations.[136][VI]


Commemoration

Charles Darwin's contributions to evolutionary thought had an enormous effect on many fields of science.During Darwin's lifetime many species and geographical features were given his name. An expanse of water adjoining the Beagle Channel was named Darwin Sound by Robert FitzRoy after Darwin's prompt action saved them from being marooned on a nearby shore when a collapsing glacier caused a large wave that would have swept away their boats,[137] and the nearby Mount Darwin in the Andes was named in celebration of Darwin's 25th birthday.[138] When the Beagle was surveying Australia in 1839, Darwin's friend John Lort Stokes sighted a natural harbour which the ship's captain Wickham named Port Darwin.[139] The settlement of Palmerston founded there in 1869 was officially renamed Darwin in 1911. It became the capital city of Australia's Northern Territory,[139] which also boasts Charles Darwin University[140] and Charles Darwin National Park.[141]

The 14 species of finches he collected in the Galápagos Islands are affectionately named "Darwin's Finches" in honour of his legacy.[142] Darwin College, Cambridge, founded in 1964, was named in honour of the Darwin family, partially because they owned some of the land it was on.[143] In 1992, Darwin was ranked #16 on Michael H. Hart's list of the most influential figures in history.[144] Darwin came fourth in the 100 Greatest Britons poll sponsored by the BBC and voted for by the public.[145] In 2000 Darwin's image appeared on the Bank of England ten pound note, replacing Charles Dickens. His impressive, luxuriant beard (which was reportedly difficult to forge) was said to be a contributory factor to the bank's choice.[146]

As a humorous celebration of evolution, the annual Darwin Award is bestowed on individuals who "improve our gene pool by removing themselves from it."[147]

Darwin has been the subject of many exhibitions, including the "Darwin" exhibition organised by the American Museum of Natural History in New York City in 2006 and shown in various cities in the US.[148]

Forrest Tucker
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Forrest Tucker (February 12, 1919 - October 25, 1986) was an American actor in both movies and television from the 1940s to the 1980s. Tucker, who stood 6'5" and weighed 200 lbs. (91 kg), excelled as both hero and villain in nearly 100 action films throughout the 1940s and 1950s.

Tucker was born in Plainfield, Indiana. He began his performing career at age 14 at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair, pushing the big wicker tourist's chairs by day and singing "Throw Money" at night. After his family moved to Washington, D.C. the young Tucker came to the attention of Jimmy Lake, the owner of the Old Gayety Burlesque Theater, by winning the Saturday night amateur contest there on consecutive weeks. After his second win he was hired full time as Master of Ceremonies at the theatre. However, his initial employment there was short-lived, for it was soon discovered that Tucker was underage. Again lying about his age, Tucker then joined the United States Cavalry, stationed at Fort Meyer in Virginia, and returned to work at the Old Gayety after his 18th birthday.

When the theatre closed for the summer of 1939, Tucker took a vacation to California, and he soon began auditioning for movie roles. He was cast as Wade Harper in The Westerner (1940), which starred Gary Cooper. He stood out in a fight scene with Cooper and was signed to Columbia Pictures.

In 1941, he played his first lead in Emergency Landing, and the following year he co-starred in the classic Keeper of the Flame. From 1942 to 1945, Tucker served in World War II, reaching the rank of Second Lieutenant during his second stint in uniform. Tucker resumed his acting career after the war, appearing in the classic 1946 film The Yearling and stealing a few scenes from Errol Flynn in Never Say Goodbye the same year.

In 1948, Tucker left Columbia and signed with Republic Pictures. At Republic he made his breakthrough in Sands of Iwo Jima (1949), as Corporal Thomas, a Marine with a score to settle with John Wayne's Sergeant Stryker. Graduating to top billing, Tucker starred in numerous action films during the 1950s, including Rock Island Trail (1950), California Passage (1950), The Abominable Snowman (1957), and The Crawling Eye (1958). Also in 1958, he played Beauregard Burnside, Mame's first husband in Auntie Mame, which was the highest grossing U.S. film of the year. This film marked another turning point in Tucker's career, as he showed a flair for light comedy under the direction of Morton Da Costa.

Tucker then was cast as "Professor" Harold Hill by director Da Costa in the national production of The Music Man, and he played the role 2,008 times over the next five years, including a 56 week run at the legendary Shubert Theatre in Chicago. Following his "Music Man" run, Tucker starred in the Broadway production of Fair Game for Lovers (1964) and then turned to television for his most famous role, starring as frontier capitalist Sgt. Morgan O'Rourke in F Troop (1965 - 1967). Though the network run on ABC lasted only two seasons, the series has been in constant syndication since, reaching three generations of viewers. {Ironically enough two of his Gunsmoke episodes feature Tucker in his cavalry uniform again, as another comic sergeant, "Sgt. Emmett Holly"-who in one scene "marries" Miss Kitty!}

Following F Troop, Tucker returned to films in character parts (Barquero and Chisum, both 1970) and occasional leads (1975's The Wild McCullochs). On television Tucker was a frequent guest star, including a total of six appearances on Gunsmoke and the recurring role of Jarvis Castleberry, Flo's estranged father on the 1976-1985 TV series, Alice and its spinoff, Flo. Tucker was a regular on three series after F Troop: Dusty's Trail (1973) with Bob Denver; The Ghost Busters (1975-76) which reunited him with F Troop co-star Larry Storch; and The Filthy Rich (1982-83). He continued to be active on stage as well, starring in the national productions of "Plaza Suite", "Show Boat", and "That Championship Season".

Tucker returned to the big screen after an absence of several years in 1986, playing the hero, trucker Charlie Morrison, in Cannon's action film Thunder Run (1986). Unfortunately, Tucker's feature film comeback was short-lived, as he died from lung cancer on October 25, 1986, five months after the film's theatrical release. He was 67 years old.

Tucker is interred in Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles.

Joe Don Baker
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Born February 12, 1936 (age 70)
Groesbeck, Texas, USA
Height 6' 2½" (1.89 m)
Spouse(s) Maria Dolores Rivero-Torres
(1969-present)
Notable roles Buford Pusser in Walking Tall (1973)
The Whammer in The Natural (1984)
Darius Jedburgh in Edge of Darkness (1985)
Jack Wade in Goldeneye (1995) and Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

Joe Don Baker (born February 12, 1936) is an American film actor perhaps best known for his role as sheriff "Buford Pusser" in the American film classic Walking Tall. Baker got his start in acting as an uncredited character in the 1967 film Cool Hand Luke, but his real beginnings came when he scored the role of Steve McQueen's younger brother in the film Junior Bonner. He later starred as the main character in the 1973 film Walking Tall, a film that was remade in 2004 starring The Rock. Baker was offered a cameo in the remake and declined the offer.

Although lampooned on the Mystery Science Theater 3000 television series: Mitchell and Final Justice, Baker has quality performances in a career spanning four decades.

Baker appeared on television in 1980 in the short lived police drama series Eischeid where he played Chief Earl Eischeid. In 1985 he portrayed the corrupt key villain Chief Jerry Karlin in the Chevy Chase hit Fletch.

While actor Carroll O'Connor was undergoing heart bypass surgery, Baker took his place on the television series In the Heat of the Night. Baker appeared as Captain Tom Duggan, a retired police captain who filled in while O'Connor's character was away at a police convention.


James Bond series

In 1987, Baker got the role of the villain Brad Whitaker (as seen in the picture above) in the Bond film The Living Daylights, starring Timothy Dalton as James Bond. In 1995 and 1997 Baker returned to the series, this time playing a different character, the slovenly and dim-witted CIA agent Jack Wade, in GoldenEye and Tomorrow Never Dies with Pierce Brosnan as Bond. He is one of eight actors to have played two separate roles in the official James Bond cinema series, preceded by Charles Gray, Walter Gotell, Jeremy Bulloch, Maud Adams, Burt Kwouk, Anthony Dawson, Tsai Chin and Robert Brown.

The character of Wade is similar to that of CIA agent Darius Jedburgh, played by Baker in the critically acclaimed 1985 BBC Television serial Edge of Darkness. He was nominated for "Best Actor" by the British Academy Television Awards. This serial was directed by Martin Campbell, who also cast Baker as Wade in GoldenEye.

Also, strangely enough Baker was said to have actually tried out for the role of James Bond once for Live and Let Die, but decided to work on other roles.

Maud Adams
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



Maud Adams (born February 12, 1945 in Luleå, Sweden as Maud Solveig Christina Wikström) is an actress best known for her roles as two different Bond girls in two James Bond films, The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) and as the title character in Octopussy (1983). She also had a cameo appearance in A View to a Kill (1985). Something Adams enjoyed about working with Bond movies was that she had a Swedish co-star on both films, Kristina Wayborn as Magda in Octopussy and Britt Ekland as Mary Goodnight in The Man with the Golden Gun.

Adams was discovered in 1963 in a shop by a photographer who asked to take her picture, a picture he submitted to the Miss Sweden contest arranged by the magazine Allers. Adams won this contest and from there her modelling career took off. She moved to Paris and later to New York City to work for Eileen Ford, at this time she was one of the highest paid and most exposed models in the world. Her acting career started when she was asked to star in the 1970 movie The Boys In The Band, in which she played a model.

She hosted the Swedish TV show Kafé Luleå in 1994 and played a guest role in the Swedish soap opera Vita lögner in 1998. In the 1970s, she guest starred in such American TV series as Hawaii Five-O and Kojak.





Personal life

She was first married to photographer Roy Adams from 1966 to 1975, ending in divorce. Her second husband is Charles Rubin, a judge, and she married him on May 23, 1999. She has no children.

Christina Ricci
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Born February 12, 1980 (age 26)
Santa Monica, California, USA
Notable roles Wednesday Addams in The Addams Family (1991) and
Addams Family Values (1993)
Kathleen 'Kat' Harvey in Casper (1995)
Dede Truitt in The Opposite of Sex (1998)
Katrina VanTassel in Sleepy Hollow (1999)
Selby in Monster (2003)

Christina Ricci (born February 12, 1980) is a Golden Globe and Emmy Award-nominated American actress. Ricci began performing as a child actress, and had her debute role at age ten starring alongside Winona Ryder and Cher in Mermaids. Her breakout role was as Wednesday Addams in the successful Addams Family films, from 1991 - 1993.

As an adult, Ricci began appearing in more mature roles after 1997's The Ice Storm, and eventually successfully emerged out of her status as a child star, and predominantly performed in many varied roles ranging from romantic comedies, dramas and horror films.




Biography

Early life

Ricci was born in Santa Monica, California, the fourth child of Ralph Ricci and Sarah Murdoch. Regarding her ancestry, Ricci has noted that "the Italian blood has been bred out of [her]. There's an Italian four or five generations back who married an Irish woman and they all had sons. So they married more Irish women, there were more sons, and more Irish women. Now I'm basically Scots-Irish".[1] Her family was reasonably financially comfortable from its inception; her father, Ralph, before becoming a lawyer, was a psychiatrist who specialized in shrieking therapy. While a child, Christina could hear the therapies through the vents in her room, and would act them out in front of her mother. The family moved to Montclair, New Jersey, where she grew up attending Edgemont Elementary School, Glenfield Middle School and Montclair High School. She left the high school for a private school in New York City (the Professional Children's School) after one year, which was also attended by various other celebraties such as Sarah Michelle Geller, Macaulay Culkin and Jerry O'Connell. [2]. Her siblings are Jared (born 1971), Dante (born 1974), and Pia (born 1976). When her father and her mother, a former fashion model who now works in the real estate business, eventually separated in 1993, she stayed with her mother who took custody of the children. Ricci has not spoken to her father since this took place in 1993. Of her siblings, she closest to her brother Jared, who currently works in the Child Support field in California.[3]


1990-1997: Early work

A critic for the Bergen Record discovered Ricci at age eight in a school play (The Twelve Days of Christmas) at Edgemont School in Montclair, New Jersey. The critic's son was originally cast in the role, but Ricci got him to hit her and told on him; he lost the role to her as part of his punishment. After this, she became involved in the movie business. She did several commercials starting at the age of six, until she finally got her big screen debut in Richard Benjamin's Mermaids (1990) alongside Cher, Bob Hoskins, and Winona Ryder, as Cher's younger daughter. Although much attention went to Winona Ryder, who played Ricci's older sister, the young actress made enough of an impression to land more work: the following year, she starred as the morbidly precocious Wednesday Addams in the hit film adaptation of The Addams Family. The role would help to establish Ricci as an actress known for playing dark, unconventional characters; she went on to play Wednesday again in the film's 1993 sequel Addams Family Values.


After this, her popularity increased dramatically, and she became in high demand by the mid-1990s. Her next project was the box office hit Casper, which received mixed critical reviews. After Casper, she starred in Now and Then, a coming-of-age film about four 12-year-old girls and their friendship from the 1970s to the 1990s. Now and Then was another box office success, and Christina was becoming a top box office draw. She also starred in a handful of other films with teenage roles such as Golddiggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain and That Darn Cat.



1998-2007: Later films

In 1997, Ricci began to appear in more "mature" adult roles, beginning with her role as the troubled, sexually curious Wendy Hood in Ang Lee's critically acclaimed The Ice Storm. The actress handled the part with maturity, leading many observers to conclude that she was truly beginning to come into her own. This assessment was solidified with Ricci's subsequent roles in films like the independent hit Buffalo '66 (in which she played Vincent Gallo's unwitting abductee-turned-girlfriend), John Waters' Pecker, and Don Roos' The Opposite of Sex, as the acid tounged, mainipulative Dede, the last of which cast her as Dede, a delightfully loathsome girl who wreaks tabloid-style havoc on everyone she encounters. For her performance as Dede, Ricci was nominated for a Golden Globe and attained the unofficial title of the Sundance Film Festival's 1998 "It" Girl.

Later films included Sleepy Hollow alongside Johnny Depp, Monster, and Prozac Nation (which featured her first on-screen nude scene). Ricci had to turn down the role of Ronna in Go (1999) because of scheduling conflicts; the role eventually went to Sarah Polley. She was turned down four times for the role of Dolores Haze in Lolita (1997), which eventually went to Dominique Swain. Ricci was originally slated to play the lead in Ghost World (2001), but by the time it was filmed she was too old for the part and had moved on to other projects. Thora Birch took over the role. She also turned down a role in Loser (2000) due to some ethically questionable dialogue. Ricci has also begun producing films. In February of 2006, Ricci made a guest appearance as a paramedic in the ABC drama Grey's Anatomy, for which she was nominated for an Emmy award.

On December 4, 1999, she appeared as the guest host on Saturday Night Live, and performed parodies of Britney Spears and the Olsen twins (her older sister made a special appearance during her monologue at the beginning of the show). During one of her skits, she accidentally punched actress Ana Gasteyer in the face. The skit was a parody of the Sally Jessy Raphael show, in which she played a 13-year-old runaway who sleeps with dogs, and required her to fake-punch Gasteyer, but accidentally hit her for real. Although Gasteyer initially reacted by putting her hands over her mouth in surprise, she quickly fell back into character.


A Black Snake Moan poster card featuring RicciIn 2006, Ricci stated that she feels that at 5'1" she is "too short" to ever be an A-list actress, saying she tends "to look really small on camera".[4] She has also said that she believes that she does not have much control over her career, specifying that she still has to audition for film parts.[5] Her next film, the drama Black Snake Moan, co-stars Samuel L. Jackson and Justin Timberlake and is scheduled to open on February 23, 2007.


Personal life

Ricci owns her own production company, Blaspheme Films, responsible for Prozac Nation and Pumpkin.

She dated fellow actor Adam Goldberg until the end of 2005. The couple reportedly sold the house they had together when they broke up. Since August 2006 the couple has been seen back together and Christina wears a gold necklace with an anchor that bears the initials AG. Christina said in an interview that it was "fate" that she and Adam were back together.[citation needed]

Ricci is on the national board of VOX-Voices for Planned Parenthood, which works to promote the mission of Planned Parenthood to young adults. She will also be appearing in national ads for Emergency Contraception. She supported John Kerry's presidential bid in 2004.[6]

After making the top of PETA's 2006 worst-dressed list and receiving a letter from PETA Christina decided to give up wearing fur. [7] Ricci also owns two dogs.


Tattoos

Christina has several tattoos including a bouquet of sweet peas on her lower back, a pair of praying hands on her hip (this used to be a bat but she has since had it covered), a fairy on her inner wrist, a sparrow on her lower right breast, a lion (from The Chronicles of Narnia) on her shoulder blade, the name "Jack" on her right thigh, and the words "Move Or Bleed" on the left side of her rib cage.[

A police officer pulls over a speeding car. The officer says,
I clocked you at 80 miles per hour, sir."

The driver says, "Gee, officer, I had it on cruise control at 60,
perhaps your radar gun needs calibrating."

Not looking up from her knitting the wife says: "Now don't be
silly dear, you know that this car doesn't have cruise control."

As the officer writes out the ticket, the driver looks over at his wife
and growls, "Can't you please keep your mouth shut for once?"

The wife smiles demurely and says, "You should be thankful
your radar detector went off when it did."

As the officer makes out the second ticket for the illegal radar
detector unit, the man glowers at his wife and says through clenched
teeth, "Darn it, woman, can't you keep your mouth shut?"

The officer frowns and says, "And I notice that you're not
wearing your seat belt, sir. That's an automatic $75 fine."

The driver says, "Yeah, well, you see officer, I had it on, but took it off
when you pulled me over so that I could get my license
out of my back pocket."

The wife says, "Now, dear, you know very well that you didn't
have your seat belt on. You never wear your seat belt
when you're driving."

As the police officer is writing out the third ticket the driver
turns to his wife and barks,
"WHY DON'T YOU PLEASE SHUT UP?"

The officer looks over at the woman and asks, "Does
your husband always talk to you this way, Ma'am?"


I love this part .............


ready..............


here it is .................



"Only when he's been drinking!"

Hoorah, all. Our hawkman is back with his great bio's and a very funny joke that reminds us why some women are very artful at inappropriate times. Love it, Bob of Boston.

My goodness, what timing, folks. I stayed awake half the night watching Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci in the movie, Sleepy Hollow. Although Washington Iriving would not have approved of the plot, it was quite good with a new twist on the Hessian horseman who finally found his head, took it inside a tree but still remained dead. <smile>

love ms. ricci and her movies


Divorce Song
Liz Phair

And when I asked for a separate room
It was late at night, and we'd been driving since noon
But if I'd known how that would sound to you
I would have stayed in your bed for the rest of my life
Just to prove I was right
That it's harder to be friends than lovers
And you shouldn't try to mix the two
'Cause if you do it and you're still unhappy
Then you know that the problem is you

And it's true that I stole your lighter
And it's also true that I lost the map
But when you said that I wasn't worth talking to
I had to take your word on that
But if you'd known how that would sound to me
You would have taken it back
And boxed it up and buried it in the ground
Boxed it up and buried it in the ground
Boxed it up and buried it in the ground
Burned it up and thrown it away

You put in my hands a loaded gun
And then told me not to fire it
When you did the things you said were up to me
And then accused me of trying to f**k it up
But you've never been a waste of my time
It's never been a drag
So take a deep breath and count back from ten
And maybe you'll be alright

And the license said you had to stick around until I was dead
But if you're tired of looking at my face, I guess I already am
But you've never been a waste of my time
It's never been a drag
So take a deep breath and count back from ten
And maybe you'll be alright

Hey, dj. I really like the line in your song:

"It's harder to be friends than lovers." I agree with Liz.

Here's a comic valentine to me as a result of today's foul ups:

I work and work and work all day,
In fact I never stop.
When I get through,
Things look worse and I look like a mop.

Now for a real song to echo yours, Canada.

"Squeeze Separate Beds lyrics"

(difford/tilbrook)

Tonight I take her from her parents
I came along to her rescue
Without a word about arrangements
She came along without a clue
So I said my love I want to take you
A place I have inside my head
And so it seemed I had to love you
With some cards and separate beds

Her mother didn't like me
She thought I was on drugs
My mother didn't like her
She'd never peel the spuds
So we took off together
And stayed at mrs. smith's
Breakfast at half seven
Where you can view the cliffs

The moon was full and in our window
I could see her turning in her bed
I was loved but all in limbo
There was time to pass but not to spend
Soon I saw that this was silly
Spending all my wages on this peach
When we could sit so very pretty
And get our heads down out on the beach

Her father seemed to like me
I helped him fix his car
My father seemed to like her
And I couldn't see the harm
In going off together
To see the pier and lights
So we could be together
In separate beds tonight

Instant Karma
John Lennon

Instant Karmas's gonna get you
Gonna knock you right on the head
You better get yourself together
Pretty soon, you're gonna be dead
What in the world you thinking of
Laughing in the face of love
What on earth you tryin' to do
It's up to you, yeah you

Instant Karma's gonna get you
Gonna look you right in the face
You better get yourself together darlin'
Join the human race
How in the world you gonna see
Laughin' at fools like me
Who in the heck d'you think you are
A super star
Well, alright you are

Well, we all shine on
Like the moon and the stars and the sun
Well, we all shine on
Ev'ryone
Come on

Instant Karma's gonna get you
Gonna knock you off your feet
Better recognize your brothers
Ev'ryone you meet
Why in the world are we here
Surely not to live in pain and fear
Why on earth are you there
When you're ev'rywhere
Gonna get you share

Well, we all shine on
Like the moon and the stars and the sun
Yeah, we all shine on
Come on, and on, and on
On, on
Yeah, yeah
Alright
Aaah-ha
Well, we all shine on
Like the moon and the stars and the sun
Yeah, we all shine on
Come on, and on, and on
On, and on......

Gruesome Details
John Vanderslice

leave the TV on
and tell me again why you left your dad in portland
without a word
is it what i suspect?
i won't even guess

everybody's got screwed-up stories
everybody's got gruesome details
but you'll never get mine

it's not that bad
it could never justify my life
i used to feel i was improving my position
acting as my own physician
really getting better all the time

everybody's got screwed-up stories
everybody's got gruesome details
but you'll never get mine

Lyle Bettger
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lyle S. Bettger (February 13, 1915 - September 24, 2003) was a character actor known most for his Hollywood roles from the 1950s, typically portraying villains. He is perhaps most recognisable as the wrathfully jealous elephant handler Klaus from the Oscar winning film The Greatest Show on Earth (1952).

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Lyle was the son of Frank Bettger, who was an infielder for the St Louis Cardinals. An enthusiastic fan of cinema, Lyle left school in his late teens with the ambition of becoming an actor.

Bettger graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, and after a period languishing in small-time theatre he landed the lead role in the Broadway production of The Flying Gerardos in 1940. When Paramount sent a talent scout to see the show, Bettger was signed on a three-year contract.

Bettger's movie career began when he was cast as the lead in the Film noir No Man of Her Own (1950). After that he soon became a regular on the set of Westerns such as Denver and Rio Grande (1952), The Great Sioux Uprising (1953), Drums Across the River (1954), The Lone Ranger (1956) and Gunfight at the OK Corral (1957). Lyle developed a reputation for playing the bad guy and excelled in villainous roles such as the menacing Joe Beacom in Union Station (1950) and the cold-blooded Nazi Chief Officer Kirchner in The Sea Chase (1955), a role which exploited his aryan appearance.

Bettger also made many appearances in dramatic roles on television, including several guest appearances in Hawaii Five-O as well roles in Rawhide and Bonanza.

Lyle Bettger died on September 24, 2003 in San Luis Obispo County, California

Tennessee Ernie Ford
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Ernest Jennings Ford (February 13, 1919 - October 17, 1991), better known by the stage name Tennessee Ernie Ford, was a pioneering U.S. recording artist and television host who enjoyed success in the country & western, pop, and gospel musical genres.

Early life

Born in Bristol, Tennessee, Ford began his radio career as an announcer at station WOPI in Bristol, leaving in 1939 to study classical music and voice at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. 1st Lieut. Ford served in World War II as the bombardier on a B-29 Superfortress flying missions over Japan. After the war, Ford worked at radio stations in San Bernardino and Pasadena, Calif. In San Bernardino, hired as a radio announcer, Ernest J. Ford did the news and general announcing. He was assigned the job of hosting an early morning country music disc jockey program titled "Bar Nothin' Ranch." To differentiate himself, he created the personality of "Tennessee Ernie," a wild, madcap exaggerated hillbilly. He became popular in the area and was soon hired away by Pasadena's KXLA radio.

At KXLA he continued doing the same show and also joined the cast of Cliffie Stone's popular live KXLA country show "Dinner Bell Roundup" as a vocalist while still doing the early morning broadcast. Stone, a part-time talent scout for Capitol Records, brought him to the attention of the label. In 1949, while still doing his morning show, he signed a contract with Capitol. He also became a local TV star as the star of Stone's popular Southern California "Hometown Jamboree" TV show. He released almost 50 country singles through the early 1950s, several of which made the charts. Many of his early records, including "The Shot Gun Boogie," "Blackberry Boogie," and so on were exciting, driving boogie-woogie records featuring exciting accompaniment by the Hometown Jamboree band which included Jimmy Bryant on lead guitar and pioneer pedal steel guitarist Speedy West. "I'll Never Be Free," a duet pairing Ford with Capitol Records pop singer Kay Starr, became a huge country and pop crossover hit in 1950.

Ford eventually ended his KXLA morning show and in the early 1950's, moved on from Hometown Jamboree. He took over from bandleader Kay Kyser as host of the TV version of NBC quiz show "College of Musical Knowledge" when it returned briefly in 1954 after a four-year hiatus. He also portrayed the 'country bumpkin' "Cousin Ernie" on I Love Lucy.


Sixteen Tons

Ford scored an unexpected hit on the pop charts in 1955 with his rendition of Merle Travis' "Sixteen Tons," a sparsely arranged coal-miner's lament that Travis wrote in 1946, based on his own family's experience in the mines of Muhlenberg County, Kentucky. Its fatalistic tone contrasted vividly with the sugary pop ballads and the rock and roll just starting to dominate the charts at the time:

You load sixteen tons, what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt.
Saint Peter, don't you call me, 'cause I can't go;
I owe my soul to the company store...

With a unique clarinet-driven pop arrangement by Ford's musical director, Jack Fascinato, "Sixteen Tons" spent ten weeks at number one on the country charts and eight weeks at number one on the pop charts, and made Ford a crossover star. It became Ford's 'signature song.'

Ford subsequently helmed his own primetime variety program, "The Ford Show," which ran on NBC from 1956 to 1961. Ford's program was notable for the inclusion of a religious song at the end of every show; Ford insisted on this despite objections from network officials who feared it might provoke controversy. He earned the nickname "The Ol' Pea-Picker" due to his catch-phrase, "Bless your pea-pickin' heart!" He began using the term during his disc jockey days on KXLA.

In 1956 he released "Hymns," his first gospel album, which remained on Billboard's "Top Album" charts for a remarkable 277 consecutive weeks; his album "Great Gospel Songs" won a Grammy Award in 1964. After the NBC show ended, Ford moved his family to Northern California and from 1962-65, hosted a daytime talk show The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show from San Francisco, broadcast over the ABC TV network.

Over the years, Ford has been awarded three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, for radio, records, and television. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1984 and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1990.

Offstage, Ford contended with a serious alcohol problem. While it never affected his professional work, it took an increasing toll on his health. He began suffering increasing liver problems in the 1980s that worsened in 1990, the year he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. He fell ill in 1991 after leaving a state dinner at the White House hosted by President George H. W. Bush, and died in a Virginia hospital on October 17, exactly thirty-six years after "Sixteen Tons" was released and one day shy of the first anniversary of his induction into the Hall of Fame.

Ford was posthumously recognized for his gospel music contributions by adding him to the Gospel Music Association's Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1994.

The McGuire Sisters
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia




Background information

Origin Miamisburg, Ohio, United States
Genre(s) Traditional Pop
Years active 1952-1968
Website McGuire Sisters' page on the Primarily A Cappella site
Former members
Christine McGuire, Dorothy McGuire, and Phyllis McGuire

The McGuire Sisters were a singing trio in American popular music. They consisted of Christine McGuire (born July 30, 1926), Dorothy McGuire (born February 13, 1928), and Phyllis McGuire (born February 14, 1931).

They were born in Middletown, Ohio and grew up in Miamisburg, Ohio, where their mother, Lillie, was an ordained minister of the Miamisburg First Church of God and let them sing in the church as young girls. They sang at weddings, funerals, and church revivals. When they started in 1935, Phyllis was only four years old. Eventually, they sang on other occasions than church-related ones; by 1949, they were singing at military bases and veterans' hospitals. They incorporated a more diverse repertoire for these, extending themselves to more than the hymns they had sung at church.

In 1952, they appeared on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts, and as a result, Godfrey hired them for his other shows, where they remained for seven years. They performed for five Presidents of the United States (Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush), and for Queen Elizabeth II, as well as appearing on many top television shows. The Coca-Cola company signed them to a contract with the highest fee in advertising history up to that date.

The McGuire Sisters, and most especially Phyllis McGuire, were the subjects of a 1995 HBO movie called Sugartime, which depicted Phyllis' relationship with mobster Sam Giancana. Giancana was played by actor John Turturro and Phyllis was played by Mary Louise Parker.

In 1968, they retired from public performance. Phyllis went to a solo act; Dorothy and Christine became totally devoted to their families. Seventeen years later, however, they joined as an act again in response to fans' entreaties.

In 1994, they were inducted into the National Broadcasting Hall of Fame. In 2001, they were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame. They have also been inducted into the Coca-Cola Hall of Fame and the Headliners' Hall of Fame.

Susan Oliver
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Susan Oliver (February 13, 1932?-May 10, 1990) was an American actress, television director and a record-setting pilot.





Early life and family

Susan Oliver was born in New York City as Charlotte Gercke, the daughter of journalist George Gercke and astrology practitioner Ruth Hale Oliver, who divorced when Charlotte was still a child.

At the end of World War II, George Gercke joined the United States Information Agency and in 1946 was posted to Japan as a supervisor overseeing news dissemination and instruction in democratic institutions during the U.S. occupation. While living with her father, Charlotte studied at Tokyo International College in 1948-49 and developed a lifelong interest in Japanese society and its absorption of American pop culture. In 1977, twenty eight years after her early experiences in Japan, she wrote and directed Cowboysan, a short film which presents the fantasy scenario of a Japanese actor and actress playing leads in an American western.

Upon coming back from Japan in spring 1949, Charlotte joined her mother in California, where Ruth Hale Oliver was in the process of becoming a well-known Hollywood astrologer.


Career beginnings 1955-1957

By the fall semester of 1949, Charlotte returned to the East Coast to begin drama studies at Pennsylvania's Swarthmore College, followed by professional training at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City. After working in summer stock, regional theater and unbilled bit parts in daytime and primetime TV shows and commercials, she adopted the stage name Susan Oliver and made her first major appearance on television playing a supporting role in the July 31, 1955 episode of the live drama series Goodyear TV Playhouse, followed by parts in other Golden Age of TV shows.

1957 was a banner year for Susan, including Broadway, numerous TV shows and a starring role in a movie. She began the year with an important ingenue part as the daughter in her first Broadway play, Small War on Murray Hill, a Robert E. Sherwood comedy about the intrigues surrounding General Howe's (Leo Genn) visit to the home of a putatively "loyal" Manhattan family in September 1776, at the start of the Revolutionary War. It opened at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on January 3 and played 12 performances, closing on January 12.

The play's disappointingly short run was immediately followed by meaty roles in live TV plays on Kaiser Aluminum Hour, The United States Steel Hour and Matinee Theater. Susan then went to Hollywood, where she appeared in the November 14, 1957 episode of Climax!, one of the few live drama series based on the West Coast, as well as in a number of filmed shows, including the October 30, 1957 Wagon Train and a memorable installment of Father Knows Best (broadcast on March 5, 1958), in which she was the titular "Country Cousin" of the show's "Anderson Family".


Motion picture debut

In July Susan was chosen for the title role in her first motion picture The Green-Eyed Blonde, a low-budget independent melodrama released by Warner Brothers in December on the bottom half of a double bill. The film was scripted by renowned blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo using the name of a "front".

Despite the alluring title and exploitative publicity stills designed to capitalize on Susan's attractiveness, the storyline was raw social protest mixed with soap opera, portraying outcast teenage girls in reform school, banding together to secretly shelter one of the girls' baby. Susan played Phyllis, the tough veteran inmate considered the unofficial leader of the group. The downbeat ending had the baby being discovered and removed, followed by a riot which ends with Phyllis' death. Ironically, The Green-Eyed Blonde, which in black-and-white was incapable of conveying the descriptive promise of the title, would turn out to be the only motion picture on which Susan Oliver received first billing.

At the close of the year, Susan returned to New York, appearing in the December 12, 1957 broadcast of the prestigious live drama series Playhouse 90. Her performance in the John Frankenheimer-directed teleplay was well-received and she was invited to Playhouse 90 two more times, March 26, 1959 and January 21, 1960.


Central points of career

In 1958 Susan was back in the Golden Age of TV Drama, acting in the February 26 episode of Kraft Television Theatre and "The Woman Who Turned to Salt", the June 16 episode of Suspicion, an anthology series produced by Alfred Hitchcock, who also directed one episode. Susan's entry, directed by Robert Stevens, co-starred Hitchcock's daughter, Patricia along with Michael Rennie.

Susan was also rehearsing for a co-starring role in Patate, her second Broadway play. The melancholy comedy, written by renowned playwright Marcel Achard played to sold-out theaters in Paris upon its premiere in 1957. Adapted for American audiences by Irwin Shaw, Patate (which in French means "spud", but can also mean "chump") paired Susan with veteran leading men Tom Ewell (in the title role) and Lee Bowman. The play opened at Henry Miller's Theatre on October 28 and closed on November 1, its 7-performance run being even shorter than that of her first show, Small War on Murray Hill. Nevertheless, Patate won Susan a Theatre World Award for "outstanding breakout performance". It also turned out to be her last Broadway appearance.

Noted for her striking good looks, the blonde actress spent the remainder of her career in Hollywood, going on to play in more than one hundred television shows and made-for-TV movies, as well as thirteen theatrical features. She appeared in three additional episodes of Wagon Train, four episodes of The Virginian, three episodes each of Adventures in Paradise, Route 66 and Dr. Kildare, as well as a highly-praised October 8-15, 1963 two-part episode of The Fugitive entitled "Never Wave Goodbye".

She was fourth-billed in her second theatrical feature, 1959's The Gene Krupa Story. The film gave her the meaty femme fatale role of Dorissa Dinell, a beautiful big-band singer who seduces up-and-coming drum virtuoso Gene Krupa (1909-1973), played by Sal Mineo, from the faithful girl who truly loves him (Susan Kohner) into a high life of partying and marijuana smoking. The fictional Dinell was based on a number of women in Krupa's life, but reviewers primarily noted that Susan Oliver had the film's juiciest dialogue?-tempting Krupa to try the "weed", she whispers, "...put your miseries out to pasture, Gino" and when he's arrested for possession, she abandons him with the line, "...now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a town I'd better get out of".

Of the ten listed players in her next movie, the 1960 Elizabeth Taylor vehicle BUtterfield 8, Susan was ninth, the lowest billing of her career. She portrayed Norma, a self-assured young woman, to whom the secondary male lead Steve (Eddie Fisher) proposes after realizing the pointlessness of carrying a torch for Taylor's character. Norma's plain-spoken, plain-dressed personality was a total opposite of Susan's previous characterization of the hypnotically enticing and alluring Dorissa Dinell. In this relatively minor supporting role, Susan shared no scenes with Elizabeth Taylor and Norma's makeup and hairstyle were apparently designed to make her seem rather non-competitively down-to-earth.

In 1963 Susan played a psychiatric nurse, one of the mental-health-care professionals depicted in the all-star hospital melodrama The Caretakers. At the end of the year, she filmed an episode of the hour-long TV western The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters, which starred 12-year-old Kurt Russell in the title role. The 26-episode plotwise-unfinished series about a westward-bound wagon train, originally focused on the relationship between the boy and his free-spirited Scottish physician father (Dan O'Herlihy). The 13th episode, however, introduced the charismatic new wagonmaster Linc Murdock, played by Charles Bronson who, along with Russell's Jaimie, became the focus of the remaining storylines.

"The Day of the Reckoning", shown on March 15, 1964 as the show's final installment, cast Susan as Linc Murdock's long-lost former love, whose star-crossed romance became a touching subplot shown in flashback. Even though the series' previous 25 episodes were filmed in black-and-white, the 52-minute finale had been edited down from an expanded 90-minute color version which, titled Guns of Diablo, was later released to theaters in Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America to capitalize on Bronson's subsequent world-wide popularity. With an eye towards continental audiences, the additional scenes included an unusually torrid (by 1964 standards) display of passion between Susan and Bronson.

In addition to appearing in six TV shows in 1964, Susan had major roles in three features?-Looking for Love, The Disorderly Orderly and Your Cheatin' Heart, in which she co-starred as Audrey Williams, wife of country music legend Hank Williams, portrayed by George Hamilton. Hamilton, along with a number of other guest stars, also popped up in a cameo appearance in Love, a Connie Francis vehicle, with Susan in support as Connie's friend.

The Frank Tashlin-directed Orderly was another entry in the then-popular Jerry Lewis theatrical series. Amidst the wild slapstick, Susan was cast in an oddly serious role as a beautiful former cheerleader from Jerry's high school days who, after having been used and exploited by men, attempted suicide and wound up in the medical institution where Jerry is the titular character. Jerry has never gotten over his lovesickness for her, and finding out that she is destitute, works overtime to pay for her stay. Unaware of these circumstances, she rejects him as an apparent Peeping Tom, when in his fumbling eagerness to please her, he manages to be discovered under her hospital bed. As a basically unsympathetic, neurotic and ultimately pitiable character, Susan brought a note of pathos to the otherwise knockabout comedy, but to some reviewers, seemed jarringly out of place with the rest of the proceedings.


Twilight Zone, Star Trek and Night Gallery appearances

Genre fans consider Susan's appearance in the March 25, 1960, episode of The Twilight Zone as one of her most emblematic. In the Rod Serling-scripted "People Are Alike All Over", Roddy McDowall starred as Sam Conrad, an astronaut who lands on Mars, which he finds to be inhabited by a handsome, highly-intelligent, seemingly-human race. The only female Martian he has the opportunity to befriend is the beautiful Teenya, played by Susan, but in the shocking climax is lost to him when the Martians place him in a zoo-like enclosure for Martian public display as a lower interplanetary species.

Susan was involved in a similar storyline four years later when she was cast in "The Cage", the unsold 1964 pilot episode of Star Trek. In what may be the iconic role of her career, she portrays Vina, the lone survivor of an earlier spaceship which had crash-landed on the distant planet Talos IV who becomes the irresistible fulfillment of love for Captain Christopher Pike. Although "The Cage" was not telecast until a special 1988 broadcast, some 80% of its footage was used in re-edited form as part of the November 17-24, 1966 two-part episode "The Menagerie". It is also Susan who is seen in the end credit images of early episodes of Star Trek as the green-skinned "Orion Slave Girl".

In a brief footnote, twelve years after her Twilight Zone performance, Susan was seen in one of the stories on the January 5, 1972 episode of the Rod Serling-hosted Night Gallery. In the 15-minute ghost tale "The Tune in Dan's Cafe", she is the unhappily-married wife of Pernell Roberts, as the couple experiences an emotional epiphany triggered by the single song emanating from a cafeteria jukebox.


Final theatrical films

In 1966 she appeared in the continuing role of the tragic Ann Howard on ABC's prime-time serial Peyton Place and in 1967 had her most sexually-provocative role in one of the first films to portray the then-newly-emerging counterculture, The Love-Ins. Richard Todd played a Timothy Leary-like professor who promotes himself into an LSD-advocating media star. He lures Susan's character into his hallucinatory world, impregnates and rebuffs her, causing her to suffer a breakdown. In response, her former lover, underground publisher James MacArthur, assassinates the demagogue at one of his mass rallies. Susan's most memorable scene depicts her LSD "trip" in which she visualizes herself as "Alice in Wonderland", vigorously executing go-go gyrations in a skimpy outfit and, as the scene ends, tearing off the remnants of her clothing. The sensational nature of the film caused it to be banned in the United Kingdom.

In 1969 Susan was the female lead in three medium-to-low-budget features, the western A Man Called Gannon with Anthony Franciosa and the science-fiction Change of Mind and The Monitors. In the Toronto-filmed Mind, Susan played the racially-torn wife of a district attorney whose brain, at the point of his death from cancer, is transplanted into the head of a just-deceased black man (Raymond St. Jacques). The newly-reborn individual finds a streak of rejectionist racism in all the people he knew, including his own mother. Determined to re-establish himself, he returns to the D.A.'s office and unmasks the racist sheriff (Leslie Nielsen) who pinned the sensational murder of his own black mistress on an innocent black victim. Despite her still-festering bias, Susan, as the wife, now comes to appreciate her husband, in his new body, as the righteous man she originally married. Despite the recently-found freedom of cinematic subject matter, the specter of implied miscegenation was still reflected in the prejudices of the period, thus consigning Mind to exploitation grindhouses.

The last of the three, Monitors was an independently-made, poorly-distributed satire, filmed in Chicago by The Second City troupe, which depicted derby-wearing, slogan-chanting aliens who pacify the world "for our own good" by negating human emotions and turning America into a passive nation, which spends its time watching brainwashed celebrities appear in TV ads designed to perpetuate the regime. The numerous familiar faces in the film included Sherry Jackson, Larry Storch, Avery Schreiber, Keenan Wynn, Ed Begley and Peter Boyle, with cameo "TV appearances" by Alan Arkin, Adam Arkin, Xavier Cugat, Stubby Kaye, Jackie Vernon and even Senator Everett Dirksen, who died a month before the film's October release. These efforts represented Susan's final burst of filmmaking activity.

From actor to director

By the 1970s, Susan was working mainly in television where she directed several shows, including the October 25, 1982 episode of M*A*S*H and the December 4, 1983 episode of one of its sequels, Trapper John, M.D., whose title character was her former Night Gallery co-star Pernell Roberts. During 1975-76 she was a regular cast member of the soap opera Days of Our Lives and received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actress in the 1976 made-for-TV drama, Amelia Earhart. Playing Amelia's (Susan Clark) friend and mentor, aviatrix Neta "Snookie" Snook (1896-1991), was a natural for Susan, a genuine flying enthusiast who piloted her own aircraft. Neta Snook, then 80, lived to be 95, ironically outliving Susan by ten months.

In the first of her final three theatrical features, Ginger in the Morning (1974), Susan appeared with a rarely-seen black hairdo (apparently not a wig, since her hair stylist received a separate credit). Monte Markham was billed first and Susan second, but audiences first saw her 45 minutes into the 90-minute film, which gave its real star fourth billing: "and Sissy Spacek as Ginger". Susan, playing a feisty southern-accented divorcee, was well-received in her few scenes, but the talky film had the look and feel of a filmed stage play.

Three years later, Susan had a supporting role in her penultimate theatrical movie, an obscure Spanish-made item entitled Nido de viudas, which was barely shown in Los Angeles in December 1977 as Widow's Nest. Despite a cast which included Oscar winners Patricia Neal and Lila Kedrova, the film quickly disappeared and has remained elusive.


Susan Oliver
From actor to aviator

After surviving a 1966 plane crash that almost took her life, she co-piloted her Piper Comanche (a different aircraft from the one shown in the photo to the right) to victory in 1970 in the 2,760 mile transcontinental race known as the "Powder Puff Derby", which resulted in her being named Pilot of the Year. In 1967 Susan became the first woman to fly a single-engined aircraft solo from New York City across the Atlantic Ocean as part of her attempt to fly to Moscow. Her odyssey ended in Denmark after the government of the Soviet Union denied her permission to enter its air space. Susan wrote about her aviation exploits and philosophy of life in an autobiography published in 1983 as Odyssey: A Daring Transatlantic Journey. There is a considerable demand for this book, which is out of print, and used copies typically are quoted at over $100 on amazon.

At the end of the 1970s, Susan appeared in her last theatrically-released motion picture. Fittingly enough, it was a reunion with her old friend Jerry Lewis in his self-directed comeback vehicle, the hardly-released Hardly Working, in which she was second-billed as Jerry's patient, long-suffering sister. Following the pattern of her earlier dramatic turn in The Disorderly Orderly, this role was also a straight one, but Susan was singled out in a couple of reviews as the better part of an unhappy comedy which sat on the shelf for over two years before receiving a perfunctory release in 1980-81.

Final decade

Susan continued to act through the 1980s, playing strong supporting roles in her final two films, Tomorrow's Child and International Airport, both TV movies made for ABC. Child, broadcast on March 22, 1982, was the second of two consecutive TV films about the then-sensational topic of surrogate motherhood (the first one, CBS' The Gift of Life was seen on March 16). Airport, shown on May 25, 1985, was an all-star unsold pilot integrating multiple stories and characters into a plot-driven mix of suspense and danger at a giant airport. Produced by Aaron Spelling, it had most of the multi-star-multi-plot elements typical of his successful television show The Love Boat, which had already hosted Susan in its January 24, 1981 episode.

In 1985 Susan was also seen in two episodes of Murder, She Wrote, March 31 and December 1. She had a 45-second scene in the February 12, 1987 episode of Simon and Simon, in which she was almost unrecognizable in a black wig. It may have been worn to mask the effects of chemotherapy and radiation, since by 1988, in her final two appearances in front of the camera, her hair has a different look. She appeared on Magnum, PI 21 February 1985 (Season 5, Episode 18) as Laurie Crane along with Dennis Weaver. The January 10 episode of the NBC domestic drama Our House and the November 6 episode of the syndicated horror anthology Freddy's Nightmares show her clearly ravaged by illness. In the Freddy's Nightmares hour-long entry "Judy Miller, Come on Down", she appears in the second half-hour as a mysterious cleaning maid who, in an anguished monologue, reveals herself to the young title character as seemingly her own gray-haired future self and warns her of dire events to come. In Susan's prophetic final scene, she turns away from "Judy" and leaves the house, slowly walking and disappearing into the fog-shrouded darkness.


Death and uncertainty regarding year of birth

A cigarette smoker, Susan Oliver died from lung cancer in Woodland Hills, California. Her age at death would appear to have been 58, although an argument was put forward for 61 [see discussion]. Many printed sources continue to perpetuate outdated biographical details, giving her birth year as 1936 or 1937, notwithstanding the previously mentioned credible evidence that she may actually have been born in 1929. However, considering that her attendance at institutions of higher learning occurred between 1948 and 1952, recent biographies have apparently accepted 1932 as the correct year.

Kim Novak
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia




Birth name Marilyn Pauline Novak
Born February 13, 1933 (age 74)
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Years active 1954 -
Spouse(s) Dr. Robert Malloy
Notable roles Madeleine Elster and Judy Barton in Vertigo.
Madge Owens in Picnic

Kim Novak (born February 13, 1933) is an American actress who was one of America's most popular movie stars in the late 1950s. She is perhaps best known for her performance in Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958).





Early life

Novak was born Marilyn Pauline Novak in Chicago, Illinois, a Roman Catholic of Czech extraction. Her father was a railroad clerk and former teacher; her mother also was a former teacher, and Novak has a sister.

After graduating from high school, she began her career modeling teen fashions for a local department store. She later received a scholarship at a modeling school and continued to model part time. She also worked as an elevator operator, a sales clerk, and a dental assistant.

After a job touring the country as a spokesman for a refrigerator manufacturer, "Miss Deepfreeze," Novak moved to Los Angeles, where she continued modeling. She then appeared as a model standing on a stairway in the RKO motion picture The French Line (1954) starring Jane Russell and Gilbert Roland. For that film, released in 3-D, Novak's bit received no screen credit.


Career

Film

She was seen by a Columbia Pictures talent agent and filmed a screen test. Studio chief Harry Cohn was searching for another beauty to replace the rebellious and difficult Rita Hayworth. Novak was signed to a six-month contract. Columbia decided to make the blonde and buxom actress their version of Marilyn Monroe. She was still using the name Marilyn Novak, and they wanted to change it to Kit Marlowe. She wanted to keep her surname, however, and resisted pressure to change it. She and the studio finally settled on the stage name Kim Novak.

Cohn told her to lose weight, and he won the battle to make her wear brassieres. She took acting lessons, which she had to pay for herself, then debuted as Lona McLane in Pushover (1954) opposite Fred MacMurray and Philip Carey. Though her role was not the best, her beauty caught the attention of fans and critics alike.

She then played the femme fatale role as Janis in Phffft! (1954) opposite Judy Holliday, Jack Lemmon, and Jack Carson. Novak's reviews were good. More people were eager to see the new star, and she received an enormous amount of fan mail. She went on to appear in a number of successful movies.


After playing Madge Owens in Picnic (1955) opposite William Holden, Novak won a Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer and for World Film Favorite. She was also nominated for the British BAFTA Film Award for Best Foreign Actress.

She played Molly in The Man with the Golden Arm (1955) opposite Frank Sinatra and Eleanor Parker on loan-out to United Artists. The movie was a big hit. She was paired opposite Sinatra again in Pal Joey (1957), which also starred Rita Hayworth.

Her popularity became such that she made the cover of the July 29, 1957, issue of Time Magazine. That same year, she went on strike, protesting at her current salary of $1,250 per week.

In 1958, Novak appeared in a dual role in Hitchcock's classic thriller Vertigo opposite James Stewart. She played the dual roles of the elegant, troubled, wealthy blonde Madeleine Elster and the earthy shop girl brunette, Judy Barton. Today, the film is often considered a masterpiece of romantic suspense, and Novak's turn is possibly the best-known and most admired of her career.

She followed Vertigo with her role as Gillian Holroyd in Bell Book and Candle (1958) opposite James Stewart and Jack Lemmon, with Ernie Kovacs, Hermione Gingold, and Elsa Lanchester, a comedy tale of modern-day witchcraft that did not do well at the box-office, yet today is a popular favorite.

Although some believe that by the early 1960s Novak's career had begun to slide, in fact she refused to accept many of the sexpot, glamour girl roles she was offered. Yet, during the same decade, she also turned down several strong roles including Breakfast at Tiffany's, The Hustler, Days of Wine and Roses, and The Sandpiper. She played the vulgar waitress Mildred Rogers in a remake of Somerset Maugham's drama Of Human Bondage (1964) opposite Laurence Harvey and Robert Morley, and received good reviews. She showed a cunning sense of humor in Billy Wilder's cult classic Kiss Me, Stupid (1964) opposite Dean Martin, though the film was critically panned.


With George Sanders in The Amorous Adventures of Moll FlandersAfter playing the title role in The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders (1965) opposite Richard Johnson and Angela Lansbury, with George Sanders and Lilli Palmer, Novak took a break from acting, seeing as little of Hollywood as possible.

Novak made a comeback in a dual role as a young actress, Elsa Brinkmann, and an early-day movie goddess who was murdered, Lylah Clare, in producer-director Robert Aldrich's The Legend of Lylah Clare (1968) opposite Oscar winners Peter Finch and Ernest Borgnine for MGM. It failed miserably.

After playing a forger, Sister Lyda Kebanov, in The Great Bank Robbery (1969) opposite Zero Mostel, Clint Walker, and Claude Akins, she stayed away from the screen for four years. She then played the key role of Auriol Pageant in the horror anthology film Tales That Witness Madness (1973). In 1979, she played Helga in Just a Gigolo starring David Bowie. She played Lola Brewster in Agatha Christie's mystery/thriller The Mirror Crack'd (1980) opposite Angela Lansbury, Geraldine Chaplin, Tony Curtis, Edward Fox, Rock Hudson, and Elizabeth Taylor. In the film, Novak and Taylor portray rival actresses.

Her last appearance on the big screen was as Lillian Anderson Munnsen in the mystery/thriller Liebestraum (1991) for MGM, however her scenes were cut from the movie due to her battles with the director over how to play the role. Novak later admitted that she had been "unprofessional" in her conduct with director Mike Figgis, as recounted by gossip columnist Liz Smith. Since that time, she has turned down many other chances to appear in film and on television.


Television

Novak has also made occasional appearances on TV over the years. She starred as aging showgirl Gloria Joyce in the made-for-TV movie The Third Girl From the Left (1973); played Eve in Satan's Triangle (1975); the role as Billie Farnsworth in Malibu (1983); the role as Rosa in a revival of Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1985). She also joined the cast of the series Falcon Crest in the role of Kit Marlowe during the 1986-1987 season.


Personal life

She had a relationship with Ramfis Trujillo, the son of Rafael Leónidas Trujillo, the dictator of the Dominican Republic as well as with the entertainer Sammy Davis, Jr. She has had two husbands, English actor Richard Johnson (married March 15, 1965-divorced April 23, 1966) and veterinarian Dr. Robert Malloy (married March 12, 1976-present).

Her home in Eagle Point, Oregon, was destroyed in a fire on July 24, 2000. A deputy fire marshall said the blaze was probably caused by a tree falling across a power line. Among Novak's lost mementos were scripts of some of her most critically acclaimed movies, including Vertigo and Picnic. The only existing draft of the actress's autobiography was also lost to the fire.

George Segal
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


George Segal (born February 13, 1934 in Great Neck, Long Island, New York) is a well-known American film and stage actor. He was educated at the George School, a private Quaker preparatory boarding school near Newtown, Pennsylvania.

A 1955 graduate of Columbia University, the amiable, wavy-haired leading man is equally at home in drama and comedy, although he is more often seen in the latter. Originally a stage actor and musician, Segal appeared in several nondescript films in the early 1960s before raising eyebrows in 1965 as a distraught newlywed in Ship of Fools and as a P.O.W. in King Rat. He followed with top performances as Nick in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (for which he was nominated for an Oscar), a Cagneyesque gangster in The St. Valentine's Day Massacre, perplexed police detective Mo Brummel in No Way to Treat a Lady, a bookworm in The Owl and the Pussycat, a man laying waste to his marriage in Loving, and a hairdresser turned junkie in Born to Win. Segal starred with Ruth Gordon in Carl Reiner's 1970 outrageous dark comedy Where's Poppa?.

He played an inept burglar in the 1972 comedy The Hot Rock with Robert Redford, a comically unfaithful husband in A Touch of Class and a midlife crisis victim in Blume in Love. He co-starred with Jane Fonda as suburbanites-turned-bank-robbers in Fun with Dick and Jane (1977 film), and starred as a faux gourmet in Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?.

Segal was so appealing that too often he was asked to carry a film on his charm alone, especially in the 1970s. He was relatively inactive in the 1980s, but bounced back as the sleazy father of Kirstie Alley's baby in Look Who's Talking, and in the 1993 sequel Look Who's Talking Now, and as a left-wing comedy writer in For the Boys (1991).

He has since starred in the long-running NBC television sitcom Just Shoot Me! (1997-2003) as the head of the wacky fashion and style magazine Blush.

He is also an accomplished banjo player; in 1974 he played in "A Touch of Ragtime" {Stereophonic LP}, an album with his band, the Imperial Jazzband.