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James Whitmore
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Born October 1, 1921 (1921-10-01) (age 86)
White Plains, New York
James Allen Whitmore (born October 1, 1921) is an American film actor.




Biography

Early life

Whitmore was born in White Plains, New York to Florence Bell and James Allen Whitmore. He graduated from Amherst High School in Amherst, New York, and subsequently Yale University, where he was a member of Skull and Bones, and served in the United States Marine Corps during World War II.


Career

Whitmore's first major movie was Battleground, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Other major films included The Asphalt Jungle, The Next Voice You Hear, Above and Beyond, Kiss Me, Kate, Them!, Oklahoma! (1955), Black Like Me, Guns of the Magnificent Seven, Tora! Tora! Tora!, and Give 'em Hell, Harry!, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of former President of the United States Harry S. Truman.

In 1963, Whitmore played Captain William Benteen in the The Twilight Zone episode "On Thursday We Leave for Home." In 1969 Whitmore played the leading character of Professor Woodruff in the TV series My Friend Tony, produced by NBC. He was also a lawyer, Abraham Lincoln Jones, in the TV Series The Law & Mr.Jones during the late 1950s.

Whitmore also appeared as General Oliver O. Howard in the 1975 TV movie I Will Fight No More Forever, based on the 1877 conflict between the United States and the Nez Percé tribe, led by Chief Joseph. Whitmore's last major role was that of librarian Brooks Hatlen in the critically-acclaimed and Academy award-nominated 1994 film The Shawshank Redemption; who commits suicide in the middle of the film. To a younger generation, he is probably best known, in addition to his role in Shawshank, as the commercial spokesman for Miracle-Gro plant food for many years.

In addition to his film career, Whitmore has done extensive theatre work. He won a Tony Award for "Best Performance by a Newcomer" in the Broadway production of Command Decision (1948). He later won the title "King of the One Man Show" after appearing in the solo vehicles Will Rogers' USA (1970), Give 'em Hell, Harry! (1975) (repeating the role in the film version, for which he was nominated for an Oscar) and as Theodore Roosevelt in Bully (1977) although the latter production did not repeat the success of the first two.

In 1999, he played Raymond Oz in two episodes of The Practice, earning an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series.

In 2002, Whitmore got the role of the Grandfather in the Disney Channel original movie A Ring of Endless Light. Whitmore has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6611 Hollywood Blvd.

In April of 2007 he also appeared in C.S.I. in an episode titled "Ending Happy" as Milton, an elderly man who provides a clue of dubious utility.


Personal life

Whitmore is the father of actor James Whitmore Jr. and the grandfather of actor James Whitmore III. He was married to actress Audra Lindley. Whitmore spends most of his summers in Peterborough, New Hampshire, performing with the Peterborough Players and of course his wife since 2001, Noreen Nash.

Roger Williams
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Background information

Birth name Louis Weertz
Born October 1, 1924 (1924-10-01) (age 83)
Omaha, Nebraska, United States
Genre(s) Pop standards
Instrument(s) Piano
Years active 1955-present
Label(s) Kapp
Website Roger Williams homepage

Roger Williams (born October 1, 1924) is one of the most popular pianists in American popular music history.[citation needed] As of 2004, he has released 116 albums.[1]

He was born Louis Weertz, the son of a Lutheran minister (Rev. Frederick J. Weertz) and a music teacher (Dorothea Bang Weertz), in Omaha, Nebraska, but before his first birthday moved to Des Moines, Iowa. He first played the piano at age three, but in high school became interested in boxing, mainly at his father's insistence, and only returned to music after breaking his nose several times and sustaining several other injuries. He majored in piano at Drake University in Des Moines, but was expelled for playing "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" in the practice room.[2] Weertz entered the United States Navy, served in World War II, and while still in the Navy received a bachelor's degree from Idaho State College (now Idaho State University) in 1950. Afterwards he managed to re-enroll at Drake, where he earned his master's degree, and later moved to New York City to study at the Juilliard School of Music. At Juilliard he studied jazz piano under Lennie Tristano and Teddy Wilson.

One night he was scheduled to play as an accompanist for a Juilliard student who was scheduled to sing on "Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts." The singer failed to appear, and Louis Weertz went on as a piano soloist, winning the night's contest. He was heard by David Kapp, founder of Kapp Records, and Kapp was so impressed that he signed the pianist, changing his name to "Roger Williams" after the founder of Rhode Island. In addition to the Godfrey program, he also won a talent contest on Dennis James' program, "Chance of a Lifetime."[3]

In 1955 he recorded the only piano instrumental to reach #1 on Billboard magazine's popular music charts: "Autumn Leaves."[1] While many other records of this song have been made since it was composed in 1945 by the composer Joseph Kosma, Roger Williams' version is easily the best known and most played. In 1966 he had another Top Ten hit with the song Born Free from the motion picture soundtrack of the same name.

His first wife, Joy Dunsmoor, bore him three children. After divorcing her he married again, in 1985, to Louise DiCarlo.

He was the first pianist to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. On October 29, 2004 he was inducted into the Nebraska Music Hall of Fame.

Williams resides in Encino, California and has more recently bought the rights to his Kapp masters from the Universal Music Group.

Tom Bosley
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



Born October 1, 1927 (1927-10-01) (age 80)
Chicago, Illinois
[show]Awards
Tony Awards
Featured Actor
1959 Fiorello!

Thomas Edward Bosley (born October 1, 1927) is an Emmy-nominated and Tony Award winning American actor, best known on-stage for his work in Fiorello!, and for his starring and supporting roles on television shows like Happy Days, Murder, She Wrote and the Father Dowling Mysteries.





Biography

Early life

Bosley was born in Chicago, Illinois; he is Jewish.[1] During World War II, Tom Bosley served in the U.S. Navy. While attending DePaul University in Chicago in 1947, he made his stage debut in Our Town with the Canterbury Players at the Fine Arts Theatre. Bosley performed at the Woodstock Opera House in Woodstock, Illinois in 1949 and 1950 alongside Paul Newman.


Career

Bosley's breakthrough stage role was New York's Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia in the long-running Broadway musical Fiorello! (1959) for which he won a Tony Award. His first motion picture role was in 1963, as the would-be suitor of Natalie Wood in Love with the Proper Stranger.

Bosley is best known as Howard Cunningham, Richie Cunningham's father, in the long running sitcom Happy Days. Bosley is also known for portraying Sheriff Amos Tupper on Murder, She Wrote. He also portrayed the titular Father Frank Dowling on the TV mystery series, Father Dowling Mysteries.

Bosley has several notable roles in animation, due to his resonant, fatherly yet expressive tone. Bosley is the voice of Harry Boyle in the animated series, Wait Till Your Father Gets Home. He provided the voice of the title character in the 1980s cartoon The World of David the Gnome, and voiced the shop owner Mr. Winkle in the children's animated Christmas special The Tangerine Bear. He also narrated the movie documentary series That's Hollywood. Additionally, he played the narrator B.A.H. Humbug in the Rankin/Bass animated Christmas special The Stingiest Man In Town.

He has endorsed Glad Trash Bags, D-Con, the IQ Computer and Sonic Drive-Ins, and currently is the spokesman for SMC Specialty Merchandise Corporation.

In 2004, Bosley guest starred as a toy maker named Ben-Ami on the series finale of the Christian video series K10C: Kids' Ten Commandments.

Beginning in 2008, Bosley will join the cast of the television drama Underground

Bosley shared a heartfelt story about his experience with the Holocaust in the documentary film Paper Clips. Other films include The Triangle Factory Fire Scandal.

Richard Harris
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Birth name Richard St John Harris
Born 1 October 1930(1930-10-01)
Limerick, Ireland
Died 25 October 2002 (aged 72)

Spouse(s) Elizabeth Rees-Williams (1957-1969)
Ann Turkel (1974-1982)
[show]Awards
Academy Awards
Nominated: Best Actor
1963 This Sporting Life
1990 The Field
Golden Globe Awards
Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical/Comedy
1968 Camelot
Grammy Awards
Best Spoken Word Album
1974 Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Richard St. John Harris (1 October 1930 - 25 October 2002) was an Academy Award-nominated and Grammy Award--winning Irish actor, singer and songwriter. He appeared on stage and in many films, and is perhaps best known for his roles as King Arthur in Camelot (1967), as Oliver Cromwell in Cromwell and for his portrayal of Albus Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001) and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), his last film. He also played a British aristocrat and prisoner in A Man Called Horse (1970).

Harris was a notorious playboy and drinker, part of a rowdy generation of British and Irish actors including Albert Finney, Laurence Harvey, Peter Finch, Richard Burton and Peter O'Toole. [citation needed]




Biography

Early life and career

Harris was born in Limerick, Ireland, one of nine children of farmer Ivan Harris and Mildred (née Harty). He was schooled by the Jesuits at Crescent College. A talented rugby player, he was on several Munster Junior and Senior Cup teams for Crescent, and played for the well-respected Garryowen club. He might have become a provincial or international-standard rugby player, but his athletic career was cut short when he contracted tuberculosis in his teens. He remained an ardent fan of Munster provincial rugby team until his death, attending many matches, and there are numerous stories of japes at rugby matches with fellow actors and rugby fans Peter O'Toole and Richard Burton.

After recovering from the disease he moved to London, wanting to become a director. He could not find any suitable courses and enrolled in the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) to learn acting. While still a student, Harris rented the tiny "off-West End" Irving Theatre, and directed his own production of the Clifford Odets play Winter Journey (The Country Girl). The show was a critical success, but a financial failure, and Harris lost all his savings on the venture.

As a result, he ended up temporarily homeless, sleeping in a coal cellar for six weeks. After completing his studies at the Academy, Harris joined Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop. He began getting roles in West End theatre productions, starting with The Quare Fellow in 1956, a transfer from the Theatre Workshop.


Career

Harris made his film debut in 1958 in the film Alive and Kicking. He had a memorable bit part in The Guns of Navarone as an Australian air force pilot who reports that blowing up the "bloody guns" of the title is impossible by air. For his role in Mutiny on the Bounty, despite being virtually unknown, he insisted on third billing, behind Trevor Howard and Marlon Brando.

His first star turn was in the 1963 film This Sporting Life, as a bitter young coal miner, Frank Machin, who becomes an acclaimed rugby league footballer. For his role as Frank Machin, Harris won the 1963 award for best actor at the Cannes film festival. He also won acclaim and notice for his leading role (with Charlton Heston) in Sam Peckinpah's famous "lost masterpiece" Major Dundee (1965), as an Irish immigrant-turned-Confederate cavalryman during the American Civil War.

He appeared as King Arthur in the film adaptation of Camelot (in which he was cast despite his limited singing range, just like Richard Burton), and proceeded to appear on stage in that role for years. He recorded several albums, one ("A Tramp Shining") included the seven-minute hit song written by Jimmy Webb, "MacArthur Park" (which Harris mispronounced as "MacArthur's Park"); that song reached #2 on the United States Billboard magazine pop chart, while topping several charts in Europe, in the summer of 1968. A second all-Webb composed album, "The Yard Went on Forever", was released in 1969. He also wrote one of the songs, There are Too Many Saviours on My Cross, considered to be a criticism of the sectarian violence in Northern Ireland.

Some memorable performances followed, among them a role as a reluctant police informer in The Molly Maguires (1970) alongside Sean Connery. In 1971 he starred in the film Man in the Wilderness and in the low-budget Orca in 1977. Harris achieved a form of cult status for his role as mercenary tactician Rafer Janders in the 1978 film The Wild Geese. Also, in 1973, Harris wrote a highly acclaimed book of poetry, titled I, In The Membership Of My Days which was later released in record format with him reciting his poems.

By the end of the 1980s, Harris had gone a long time without a significant film role. He was familiar with the stage plays of fellow Irishman John B. Keane, and had heard that one of them, The Field, was being adapted for film by director Jim Sheridan. Sheridan was working with actor Ray McAnally on the adaptation, intending to feature McAnally in the lead role (Bull McCabe). When McAnally died suddenly during initial preparations for the film, Harris began a concerted campaign to be cast as McCabe. This campaign eventually succeeded, and the film version of The Field (which also starred Tom Berenger) was released in 1990. Harris earned an Academy Award nomination for his portrayal.


Later career and Harry Potter

Later in his career, Harris appeared in two Oscar-winning films, first as gunman "English Bob" in the 1992 western, Unforgiven, as well as portraying Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius in Ridley Scott's Gladiator (2000).

Harris initially declined the offer to play Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter films, not wanting to commit to subsequent sequels. Upon learning that he had turned down the role, his granddaughter convinced him that he was "going to do it."[1] He played the role of Headmaster Dumbledore in the first two Harry Potter film adaptations, but died before filming commenced on the third movie.

In the 2002 re-make of The Count of Monte Cristo, Harris performed as the book's fictionalized character of Abbé Faria, the jailed priest and former Napoleonic soldier who instructs Dantès in language, science, and combat, and provides him a treasure map.

In 2003, his voice could be heard as the character Opaz in the animated film Kaena: The Prophecy. The movie was dedicated to him as he had died the previous year.


Personal life and death

In 1957, he married Elizabeth Rees-Williams, daughter of David Rees-Williams. Their three children are actor Jared Harris, actor Jamie Harris (born Tudor St. John Harris, but known as Jamie since childhood), and director Damian Harris (who has a son named Marlowe, born 2002, with Australian actress Peta Wilson). Harris and Rees-Willams were divorced in 1969, and Elizabeth married another actor, Rex Harrison.

Harris' second marriage was to American actress Ann Turkel, who was 16 years his junior; that marriage also ended in divorce. He was a member of the Knights of Malta, despite his divorces, and was also knighted by Denmark in 1985. He was reportedly good friends with Peter O'Toole.[2] His family reportedly hoped O'Toole would replace Harris as Dumbledore in Harry Potter And The Prisoner of Azkaban.[2]

Harris died of Hodgkin's disease in 2002 at the age of 72, two and a half weeks before the U.S. premiere of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. He would be replaced as Dumbledore by fellow Irish-born actor Michael Gambon.

Whenever he was in London, Harris lived at the Savoy Hotel. According to hotel archivist Susan Scott, when he was being taken from the hotel on a stretcher, shortly before his death, he warned diners, 'It was the food!'[3]


Epilogue

Harris's Bar opened in the new landmark Riverpoint building in Limerick. It was named in honour of the Limerick legend. A statue of Harris was unveiled in Bedford Row in Limerick on September 7th 2007 by the Mayor of Limerick, Cllr. Ger Fahy, with the Harris Family in attendance. Sculptor Jim Connolly

On 30 September 2006, Manuel Di Lucia, of Kilkee, County Clare and long time friend, organized a bronze lifesize statue of Richard Harris at age eighteen playing the game of raquets to be unveiled in Kilkee [citation needed]. Sculptor Seamus Connolly

Julie Andrews
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Birth name Julia Elizabeth Wells
Born 1 October 1935 (1935-10-01) (age 72)
Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England
Spouse(s) Tony Walton (1959-1967)
Blake Edwards (1969-present)

Children Emma Walton (b.1962)
Amy Edwards (b.1974)
Joanna Edwards (b.1975)
[show]Awards
Academy Awards
Best Actress
1964 Mary Poppins
BAFTA Awards
Best Newcomer
1964 Mary Poppins
Emmy Awards
Outstanding Variety, Music/Comedy Series
1973 The Julie Andrews Hour
Outstanding Nonfiction Series
2004 Broadway: The American Musical
Golden Globe Awards
Best Actress - Musical or Comedy
1965 Mary Poppins
1966 The Sound of Music
1983 Victor/Victoria
Grammy Awards
Best Album for Children
1965 Mary Poppins
Screen Actors Guild Awards
Life Achievement Award
2006 Lifetime Achievement

Dame Julie Elizabeth Andrews, DBE (born Julia Elizabeth Wells[1] on 1 October 1935[2]) is an award-winning English actress, singer, author and cultural icon. She is the recipient of Golden Globe, Emmy, Grammy, BAFTA, People's Choice Award, Theatre World Award, Screen Actors Guild and Academy Award honors. Andrews rose to prominence after starring in Broadway musicals such as My Fair Lady and Camelot, as well as musical films like Mary Poppins (1964) and The Sound of Music (1965).

In 2001, she had a major revival of her acting career as a result of her role in The Princess Diaries, its sequel The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement as well as the Shrek animated films. In 2005 Andrews made her debut as a stage director with a revival of The Boyfriend, in which she also made her Broadway acting debut in 1954.




Early life

Andrews was born Julia Elizabeth Wells on 1 October 1935 in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England, the daughter of Edward C. "Ted" Wells, a teacher of metal and woodworking, and Barbara Wells (née Morris), who played piano at her sister Joan's dance school. It was at this Aunt Joan's dance school that the two-year-old Julia had her first non-speaking role as a fairy, then at age three the singing and speaking role of Nod in a production of Winken, Blinken, and Nod.[3][4]

In 1939, Barbara Wells met Ted Andrews (died 1966) while both worked for a variety show called The Dazzle Company at the seaside resort town of Bognor Regis. A Vaudeville-style entertainer who emigrated to England from Canada, Ted Andrews was billed as "The Canadian Troubador, Songs and a Guitar".[5][6]

With the outbreak of World War II, Barbara and Ted Wells went their separate ways. Ted assisted with the evacuation of children in Surrey during the Blitz, while Barbara joined Ted Andrews in entertaining the troops through the good offices of the Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA). Barbara and Ted were soon divorced; they both remarried - her mother to Ted Andrews in 1939, and her father to a former hairstylist working a lathe at a war factory that employed them both in Hinchley Wood, Surrey.[7][8]

Julia Wells lived briefly with her father and her brother John Wells in Surrey. About 1940, her father sent her to live with her mother and stepfather, who (her father felt) would be better able to provide for his talented daughter's artistic training. While her mother wanted Julia to call Ted Andrews "Uncle Ted", she determined to refer to her stepfather as "Pop", while her father remained "Dad" or "Daddy" to her. Julia Wells's surname was legally changed to Andrews around this time.[9]

The Andrews family was "very poor and we lived in a bad slum area of London," Andrews said, adding, "That was a very black period in my life." But as the stage career of Ted and Barbara Andrews grew in popularity, they were able to afford to move to better surroundings, first to Beckenham, and then, as the war ended, back to Andrews' home town of Walton-on-Thames. The Andrewses took up residence at The Old Meuse, a house where Andrews' maternal grandmother happened to have served as a maid.[10]

Andrews' father sponsored lessons for his daughter, first at the Cone-Ripman School, then with the famous concert soprano and voice instructor Madame Lilian Stiles-Allen. "She had an enormous influence on me," Andrews said of Mme Stiles-Allen, adding, "She was my third mother -- I've got more mothers and fathers than anyone in the world." Andrews developed a strong voice and perfect pitch.[11][12]

Andrews performed spontaneously and unbilled on stage with her parents for about two years beginning in 1945. "Then came the day when I was told I must go to bed in the afternoon because I was going to be allowed to sing with Mummy and Pop in the evening," Andrews explained. She would stand on a beer crate to reach the microphone and sing while her mother played piano, sometimes a solo or as a duet with her stepfather. "It must have been ghastly, but it seemed to go down all right."[13][14]

Andrews got her big break when her step-father introduced her to Val Parnell, whose Moss Empires controlled prominent venues in London. Andrews made her professional solo debut at the London Hippodrome singing the difficult "Je Suis Titania" aria from Mignon as part of a musical revue called "Starlight Roof" on 22 October 1947. She played the Hippodrome for one year.[15][16] See List of former child actors.

On 1 November 1948, Andrews became the youngest solo performer ever to be seen in a Royal Command Variety Performance, at the London Palladium, where she performed along with Danny Kaye, the Nicholas Brothers, and the comedy team George and Bert Bernard for members of King George VI's family.[17][18]

Andrews followed her parents into radio and television.[19] She reportedly made her television debut on the BBC program RadiOlympia Showtime on 8 October 1949[20]. She garnered considerable fame throughout England for her work on the BBC radio show "Educating Archie", which she played from 1950 to 1952.[21]

Andrews appeared on West End Theatre at the London Casino, where she played one year each as Princess Balroulbadour in Aladdin and the egg in Humpty Dumpty. She also appeared on provincial stages across England in Jack and the Beanstalk and Little Red Riding Hood, as well as starring as the lead role in Cinderella.[22]


Mid-1950s

On 30 September 1954, on the eve of her 19th birthday, Andrews made her Broadway debut portraying "Polly Browne" in the already highly successful London musical The Boy Friend.[2] To the critics, Andrews was the stand-out performer in the show.[23]

In November 1955, Andrews was signed to appear opposite Bing Crosby in what is regarded as the first made-for-television movie, High Tor.[24]

In 1956, she appeared in the Frederick Loewe and Alan Jay Lerner musical My Fair Lady as Eliza Doolittle, opposite Rex Harrison's Henry Higgins. The show was a musical adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion and became the smash hit of the decade. Andrews was a sensation.

Before My Fair Lady, Andrews had auditioned for but not received a part in the Richard Rodgers play Pipe Dream. Rodgers wanted her for "Pipe Dream" but advised her to take the part in "My Fair Lady" if she was offered it, rather than the part in "Pipe Dream". Rodgers was so impressed with Andrews' talent that, concurrent with her run in My Fair Lady, Andrews was featured in the Rodgers and Hammerstein television musical, Cinderella.[25] Cinderella was broadcast live on CBS on March 31, 1957 and attracted an estimated 107 million viewers. [26]

Andrews married Tony Walton on 5 May 1959 in Weybridge, Surrey. They had first met in 1948 when Andrews was appearing at the London Casino in the show Humpty Dumpty. Andrews filed for divorce on 14 November 1967.[27]


1960s

In 1960, Lerner and Loewe again cast her in a period musical, as Queen Guinevere in Camelot, opposite Richard Burton and newcomer Robert Goulet. After a slow start, cast appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show ensured that the show would ultimately become a hit.


Rave Broadway reviews aside, movie studio head Jack Warner felt Andrews lacked broad name recognition, so he hired film actress Audrey Hepburn to play Eliza for the film version of My Fair Lady. As Warner later recalled, the decision was easy. "In my business I have to know who brings people and their money to a movie theatre box office. Audrey Hepburn had never made a financial flop."[28] Ironically, Hepburn's singing voice would be judged inadequate and would be overdubbed by Marni Nixon.

Andrews received the "consolation" of playing her first film in the title role of Walt Disney's Mary Poppins. Walt Disney had seen a performance of Camelot and thought Andrews would be perfect for the role of an English nanny who is "practically perfect in every way!" Andrews initially declined due to pregnancy, but Disney politely insisted, saying, "We'll wait for you." Andrews and her husband headed back to England in September 1962 to await the birth of daughter Emma Kate Walton, who was born in London two months later. Andrews and family returned to America in 1963 and began the film.

As a result of her performance in Mary Poppins, Andrews won the 1964 Academy Award for Best Actress and the 1965 Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. She and her "Mary Poppins" co-stars also won the 1965 Grammy Award for Best Album for Children. As a measure of "sweet revenge", as Poppins songwriter Richard M. Sherman put it, Andrews closed her acceptance speech at the Golden Globes by saying, "And, finally, my thanks to a man who made a wonderful movie, and who made all this possible in the first place, Mr. Jack Warner."[29]


Andrews was nominated for the 1965 Academy Award for Best Actress for her role as Maria von Trapp in The Sound of Music. The movie also starred actors Christopher Plummer and Charmian Carr. The role had some superficial similarities to that of Mary Poppins.

By the end of 1967, Andrews had appeared in the most-watched television special, Cinderella; the biggest Broadway musical of its time, My Fair Lady; the largest-selling long-playing album, the original cast recording of My Fair Lady; the biggest hit in Disney's history, Mary Poppins; the biggest and second biggest hits in Universal's history, Thoroughly Modern Millie and Torn Curtain; and the biggest hit in 20th Century Fox's history and the most successful film of all time, The Sound of Music. This distinction is unmatched by any other performer in history.[citation needed]


1970s, 1980s and 1990s

Star!, a 1968 biopic of Gertrude Lawrence, and Darling Lili (1970), co-starring Rock Hudson and directed by her second husband, Blake Edwards (they married in 1969), are often cited by critics as major contributors to the decline of the movie musical. Both were damaging to Andrews' career and she made only three other films in the 1970s, The Tamarind Seed, Little Miss Marker and 10.

She starred in her own variety series (for one season, on the ABC network in 1972 - 1973, winning 7 Emmy Awards), but the greatest critical acclaim accorded her TV work was for her variety show specials with her close friend Carol Burnett.

In 1983, she was chosen as the Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year by the Harvard University theatrical society. The roles of Victoria Grant and Count Victor Grezhinski in the film Victor/Victoria earned Andrews the 1983 Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, as well as a nomination for the 1982 Academy Award for Best Actress, her third Oscar nomination overall.[30][2]

In 1993, she starred in a limited run at the Manhattan Theatre Club, of the American premiere of Stephen Sondheim's revue, Putting It Together. The show sold out immediately and proved that there was tremendous interest in seeing her return to the New York stage. In 1995, she starred in the commercially successful stage musical version of Victor/Victoria. It was her first appearance in a Broadway show in 35 years. Opening on Broadway on 25 October 1995 at the Marquis Theatre, it later went on the road on a very successful world tour. When she was the only Tony Award nominee for the production, she declined the nomination, saying that she could not accept because she felt the entire production was snubbed.[31]

Andrews was forced to quit the show towards the end of the Broadway run, when she developed vocal problems. She subsequently underwent surgery to remove non-cancerous nodules from her throat and was left unable to sing.[2] In 1999, Andrews filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against the doctors at New York's Mount Sinai Hospital, including Stuart Kessler, who had operated on her throat. Originally, the doctors claimed that she should regain her voice within six weeks, but Andrews' stepdaughter Jennifer Edwards has claimed that "it's been two years, and it [her singing voice] still hasn't returned."[32]


Revival

Director Garry Marshall cast her in The Princess Diaries and its sequel, playing the role of the queen of an imaginary country, Queen Clarisse Marie Renaldi; both films, in which she starred opposite Anne Hathaway, proved to be box-office success stories. In the film The Princess Diaries 2, Andrews made her singing comeback, performing the song "Your Crowning Glory." The melody was set in a limited range of an octave and a major third to accommodate Andrews' recovering voice. The film's music superviser Dawn Soler had a positive reaction to Andrews' performance: "She nailed the song on the first take. I looked around and I saw grips with tears in their eyes."[33] She has also starred in two made-for-television movies based on the character of Eloise (playing her Nanny), the child who lives at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. In 2004, she lent her voice to the role of Queen Lillian in Shrek 2, and Shrek the Third.


Recent activities

In 1999, Julie starred in a new movie, One Special Night, made for television, with James Garner. This would be their third time acting together; the first was The Americanization of Emily (1964) and the second Victor/Victoria (1982).[32] She has described "The Americanization of Emily" as her favorite film. [34]

In the 2000 New Year's Honours, despite her long exile in the United States and Switzerland, she was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire (DBE).

Andrews has been struggling to recover her four-octave singing voice following surgery to remove vocal fold cysts, but had a short tour of the U.S. at the end of 2002 with Christopher Plummer, Charlotte Church, Max Howard, and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. The year before her tour, she and Plummer reunited for the first time since The Sound of Music in a live television adaptation of On Golden Pond, which aired on CBS in the United States.

Andrews' career is said to have suffered from typecasting, as her two most famous roles (in Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music) cemented her image as a "sugary sweet" personality best known for working with children. Her roles in Blake Edwards' films could be seen as an attempt to break away from this image: In 10, her character is a no-nonsense career woman; in Victor/Victoria, she plays a woman pretending to be a man (who is working as a female impersonator); and, perhaps most notoriously, in S.O.B., she plays a character very similar to herself, who agrees (with some pharmaceutical persuasion) to "show my boobies" in a scene in the film-within-a-film. For this last performance, late night television host Johnny Carson thanked Andrews for "showing us that the hills were still alive", alluding to her most famous line from the title song of The Sound of Music.

Andrews recently directed a revival of The Boy Friend, the musical in which she made her Broadway debut in 1954. The production was created in 2003, at the Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor, New York. It was then remounted at the Tony Award winning Goodspeed Opera House in 2005, where she developed it further. From there, the show toured to cities in North America, including: Boston, Chicago and Toronto through 2006. The production included costume and scenic design by good friend and former husband, Tony Walton.

Andrews received Kennedy Center Honors in 2001. She also appears in the 2002 List of "100 Greatest Britons" sponsored by the BBC and chosen by the public. For her contribution to the motion picture industry, she has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, located at 6901 Hollywood Blvd.

On May 5th, 2005 Andrews became the Official Ambassador for Disneyland's 18 month-long, 50th anniversary celebration the "Happiest Homecoming on Earth". Her duties included making personal appearances at the park, traveling to promote the celebration and narrating the new 50th anniversary fireworks show, "Remember...Dreams Come True".

In a recent (2006) interview, she said: "To be honest with you, I've never been busier in my life," Andrews said. "I'm not quite sure what I was supposed to learn from all of that. It did bother me. I can't say that I wasn't devastated. Singing, with an orchestra, being able to sing, was what I'd known my entire life. Whatever happened, I think I found so much to keep me feeling that I'm contributing still."

In January of 2007, Andrews was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Screen Actors Guild's awards. The award was presented by two of Andrews' co-stars: Anne Hathaway, Andrews' co-star in The Princess Diaries, and Dick Van Dyke, her co-star from Mary Poppins.[35] When commenting on her feelings on receiving the award, Andrews said: "I'm terribly honored...I mean, there are an awful lot of people out there that could be honored. And the fact that they very sweetly chose me, means a lot."[30] When commenting on her career, Andrews said: "My career has just been blessed by good fortune, by amazing mentors who really cared and so many wonderful actors who have been a part of my life."[35]

Currently, Andrews' goals included continuing stage direction and possibly producing her own Broadway musical.[30]

In the fall of 2007, Julie Andrews will lend her voice to the narration of the Disney film, Enchanted.

In April 2008, Andrews will release "part one", of her autobiography, entitled Home: A Memoir, which will chronicle her early years in England's Music Hall circuit, up to her winning the role of Mary Poppins. The American Library Association has invited Andrews to serve as the 2008 Chair of National Library Week to promote the value of libraries and librarians. "Libraries have always been places of opportunity, places where everyone can come together, whether for research, entertainment, self help or to find that one special book," she said.





Status as a gay and lesbian icon

Julie Andrews has long had something of a dual image, being both a family-friendly icon and an icon for gays and lesbians. According to cultural studies scholar Brett Farmer, she "... is notable as one of the few divas to enjoy a parallel popularization across both gay and lesbian reading formations."[36] Andrews herself has acknowledged her strange status, commenting that " "I'm that odd mixture of, on the one hand, being a gay icon and, on the other, having grandmas and parents grateful I'm around to be a babysitter for their kids. . . "[37] She has frequently appeared as a formative presence and signifier in narratives of homosexual identity, notably in The Queen's Throat: Opera, Homosexuality, and the Mystery of Desire, Does Freddy Dance and Widescreen Dreams: Growing Up Gay at the Movies, and recently ranked 25th in a major poll ranking top gay icons.[38]

Perhaps more interesting is that there is notable investment in the very films that cemented her alleged "sugary sweet" image, as much as, if not more, than in Victor/Victoria. The Sound of Music has long been a gay favorite, and its recent Singalong incarnation was originally created for London's Gay and Lesbian Film Festival in 1999[39]. Recent queer theorists such as Stacy Wolf and Peter Kemp have argued for a different reading of the image projected by her two most famous films, Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music, as that of a transgressive, subversive and life-changing force, rather than a sugary nanny committed to keeping the traditional status quo. Stacy Wolf's book, A Problem Like Maria-- Gender and Sexuality in the American Musical, analyzes Andrews' unique performance style (alongside stars such as Mary Martin and Ethel Merman) and devotes an entire chapter to The Sound of Music, studying it within a queer feminist context, and shedding light on its importance among lesbian spectators.

Stella Stevens
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Birthplace
Yazoo City, Mississippi
Birthdate October 1, 1938 (1938-10-01) (age 69)
Measurements 37" - 22" - 36"
Height 5 ft 5 in (1.65 m)
Weight 118 lb (54 kg)
Preceded by Ellen Stratton
Succeeded by Susie Scott

Stella Stevens (born Estelle Caro Eggleston on October 1, 1938 in Yazoo City, Mississippi) is an American actress, film producer film director and nude model who began her acting career in 1959.





Biography

Stevens was born in Yazoo City although some sources mistakenly indicate the hamlet of Hot Coffee, Mississippi as the place of her birth. This was a publicity device.

She married electrician Noble Herman Stephens on December 1, 1954, probably in Memphis, by whom she had her only child, actor/producer Andrew Stevens. She and Herman Stephens divorced three years later, although she retained a variation of his surname as her own professional name. She was formerly Kate Jackson's mother-in-law. She has three grandchildren.

She was first under contract to 20th Century Fox, then dropped after six months. After winning the role of "Appassionata Von Climax" in Li'l Abner (1959), she got a contract with Paramount Studios (1959-1963) and later Columbia Pictures (1964-1968). She shared the 1960 Golden Globe Award for "Most Promising Newcomer - Female" with Tuesday Weld, Angie Dickinson, and Janet Munro.

In 1960, she was Playboy magazine's Playmate of the Month for January (and had featured pictorials in 1965 and 1968). She was listed among the 100 sexiest stars of the 20th century (#27). During the 1960s, she was one of the ten most photographed women in the world, along with Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe, Brigitte Bardot, Ann-Margret and Raquel Welch.

In 1962, she starred opposite Elvis Presley in Girls! Girls! Girls!. Later that year, she portrayed Jerry Lewis's love interest in The Nutty Professor. 1970 saw her featured in The Ballad of Cable Hogue with Jason Robards. In 1972, she appeared in Irwin Allen's The Poseidon Adventure as "Linda Rogo" (the former-hooker wife of Ernest Borgnine's character).

Throughout her career, she appeared in dozens of TV shows and was a regular on the 1981-1982 prime-time soap opera Flamingo Road. She teamed with the late Sandy Dennis in a touring production of an all-female version of Neil Simon's The Odd Couple, playing the messy one.

She produced and directed two films, The Ranch (1989) and The American Heroine (1979).

Randy Quaid
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Birth name Randall Rudy Quaid
Born October 1, 1950 (1950-10-01) (age 57)
Houston, Texas, United States
Spouse(s) Ella Jolly (1980-1985)
Evi Quaid (1989-present)
[show]Awards
Golden Globe Awards
Best Actor - Miniseries
1988 LBJ: The Early Years

Randall Rudy "Randy" Quaid (born October 1, 1950) is an Academy Award-nominated American actor and comedian.




Biography

Personal life

Quaid was born in Houston, Texas to Juanita Bonniedale "Nita" (née Jordan), a real estate agent, and William Rudy Quaid, an electrician.[1] Quaid is married to former Helmut Newton model Evi Quaid, and is the older brother of fellow actor Dennis Quaid. He attended Pershing Middle School (Houston).


Feature films

In a career that spans over 30 years, he has appeared in over 90 movies. Peter Bogdanovich discovered him when Quaid was a student at the University of Houston in Houston, Texas. He received his first exposure in The Last Picture Show, when escorting Jacy Farrow (played by Cybill Shepherd) to late-night indoor skinny dipping at a swimming pool. It was the first of several roles he has had which were directed by Bogdanovich and/or based on the writings of Larry McMurtry.


Quaid appeared in several National Lampoon's Vacation movies where he proved an impressive scene-stealer as Cousin Eddie, the dim-witted, bucolic in-law of Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase). He was nominated for an Academy Award for his role in The Last Detail (1973) and won a Golden Globe for his portrayal of President Lyndon Johnson in LBJ: The Early Years (1987). He was featured (with Margaret Colin) in two science fiction movies, the unsuccessful Martians Go Home and very successful Independence Day. Other movies include Kingpin, where he played the lovable Amish bowler Ishmael, alongside Woody Harrelson and Weird Science (the television version) cast member Vanessa Angel; a loser father in Not Another Teen Movie; and an obnoxious neighbor to Richard Pryor's character in Moving. He played the lead role in the HBO movie Dead Solid Perfect as a golfer trying to make it on the PGA Tour. Quaid is often considered to be one of the most versatile actors of his generation, easily adapting to suit incredibly varied roles in both comedy and drama. In fact he's often nominated for awards when playing complex dramatic characters.

In 2004, Quaid appeared on stage undertaking the starring role of Frank in the world premiere of Sam Shepard's The God of Hell produced by the New School University at the Actors Studio Drama School in New York. In The God of Hell Quaid's portrayal of Frank, a Wisconsin dairy farmer whose home is infiltrated by a dangerous government operative who wants to take over his farm, was well-received and reviewed by New York City's top theatre critics. It also marked the second time that Quaid starred in a Shepard play, the first being the long running Broadway hit True West.

In 2005, Quaid starred as Bill Geurrard in the Universal Pictures film The Ice Harvest. His chilling portrayal of a Kansas City mob boss was voted as one of the Top 10 Film Gangsters of all-time in a UK poll, the number one slot went to Marlon Brando. He had a pivotal supporting role in the SAG Award nominated ensemble drama Brokeback Mountain (2005) in which he played a homophobic rancher whose two male employees are the movie's main characters. On March 23, 2006, Quaid filed a lawsuit for $10 million plus punitive damages against Focus Features, Del Mar Productions, James Schamus, David Linde, alleging that they both intentionally and negligently misrepresented Brokeback Mountain as being, "a low-budget, art house film with no prospect of making any money" in order to secure Quaid's professional acting services at a considerably lower rate to his usual fee. The film then grossed over $160 million. The lawsuit was closely monitored by many actors who forgo their usual fees to make low-budget movies they believe have artistic merit. On May 5, 2006, Quaid dropped his lawsuit after he was advised that a financial resolution would be made. In 2007, Quaid portrays King Carlos the IV in Goya's Ghosts, a role for which he learned to play the violin, and he stars in the comedy Gary the Tennis Coach alongside Sean William Scott.


Television

Quaid received both Golden Globe and Emmy nominations for his 2005 portrayal of talent manager Colonel Tom Parker in the critically acclaimed CBS television network mini-series Elvis. Quaid's other television appearances include a season as a Saturday Night Live cast member (1985-1986), the role of real-life gunslinger John Wesley Hardin in the miniseries Streets of Laredo, and starring roles in the short-lived series The Brotherhood of Poland, New Hampshire (2003) and Davis Rules (1991-1992). He was featured in the highly-rated TV movies Category 6: Day of Destruction and Category 7: The End of the World and starred in Last Rites, a made-for-cable Starz/Encore! premiere movie.

He also provided the voice of an animated Colonel Sanders character in a series of television commercials for fried chicken restaurant chain KFC.

The Accident
--Author Unknown

A drunk man in an Oldsmobile
They said had run the light
That caused the six-car pileup
On 109 that night.

When broken bodies lay about
"And blood was everywhere,"
"The sirens screamed out eulogies,"
For death was in the air.

"A mother, trapped inside her car,"
Was heard above the noise;
Her plaintive plea near split the air:
"Oh, God, please spare my boys!"

She fought to loose her pinned hands;
"She struggled to get free,"
But mangled metal held her fast
In grim captivity.

Her frightened eyes then focused
On where the back seat once had been,
But all she saw was broken glass and
Two children's seats crushed in.

Her twins were nowhere to be seen;
She did not hear them cry,
And then she prayed they'd been thrown free,
"Oh, God, don't let them die! "

Then firemen came and cut her loose,
But when they searched the back,
They found therein no little boys,
But the seat belts were intact.

They thought the woman had gone mad
And was traveling alone,
But when they turned to question her,
They discovered she was gone.

Policemen saw her running wild,
screaming above the noise
In beseeching supplication,
"Please help me find my boys!

"They're four years old and wear blue shirts;
Their jeans are blue to match.""
One cop spoke up, "They're in my car,
And they don't have a scratch."

"They said their daddy put them there
And gave them each a cone,
Then told them both to wait for Mom
To come and take them home."

"I've searched the area high and low,
But I can't find their dad.
He must have fled the scene,
I guess, and that is very bad."

The mother hugged the twins and said,
While wiping at a tear,
"He could not flee the scene, you see,
For he's been dead a year."

The cop just looked confused and asked,
"Now, how can that be true?
The boys said, 'Mommy, Daddy came
And left a kiss for you."

"He told us not to worry
And that you would be all right,
And then he put us in this car with
The pretty, flashing light."

"We wanted him to stay with us,
Because we miss him so,
But Mommy, he just hugged us tight,
And said he had to go."

"He said someday we'd understand
And told us not to fuss,
And he said to tell you, Mommy,
He's watching over us."

The mother knew without a doubt
That what they spoke was true,
For she recalled their dad's last words,
"I will watch over you."

The firemen's notes could not explain
The twisted, mangled car,
And how the three of them escaped
Without a single scar.

But on the cop's report was scribed,
In print so very fine,
An angel walked the beat tonight
on Highway 109.

That poem was worth a second read, Bob. It is the start of the spooky season, and that one gives us a chill or two.

I had forgotten about The A-Team and had to recall it by photo, listeners.



George is the only one smiling.

Let's do this song as I had no idea that George Peppard was in Breakfast at Tiffany's

Moon River

Moon river, wider than a mile,
I'm crossing you in style, some day.
Old dream maker, you heart breaker,
Wherever you're goin', I'm goin' your way.
Two drifters, off to see the world,
There's such a lot of world, to see.
We're after the same rainbow's end,
Waitin' 'round the bend,
My Huckleberry friend, moon river,
And me

By Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer

My radio experiences span over 60 years. As a child, the Golden Age radio programs meant as much to me as did the music broadcasts. So, I think I shall, from time to time, throw in a bit of related trivia, beginning with one of my top favorites, Hal Peary.


Biography
Known to radio, film and TV fans as "Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve," Hal Peary's booming voice and distinctive laugh certainly left their mark on all three mediums. Born Harrold Jese Pereira de Faria in San Leandro, California, Peary was the son of Portuguese immigrants. A natural performer with a great singing voice, Peary was performing on radio in the San Francisco area by age eleven. He went on to be a popular radio performer and the break that would change his career came in 1939 when he was cast on The Fibber McGee and Molly Show playing a host of characters. When his "Throckmorton Gildersleeve" character became a hit it was spun-off into its own program, The Great Gildersleeve. The show was one of radios most popular, running for seventeen years and enabled the Peary to develop a movie career playing the Gildersleeve character. The rotund Peary was right at home on the silver screen in movies such as The Great Gildersleeve, Gildersleeve's Ghost, Gildersleeve on Broadway, and Gildersleeve's Bad Day, and he proved himself to be as gifted a physical comedian as he was with his voice. Peary appeared on television in several series including Roman Holidays, Fibber McGee and Molly, and Blondie. He continued to work into the 1970s making guest appearances on shows such as The Brady Bunch and doing voice work. Interestingly, in 1950 Peary left The Great Gildersleeve radio program and was replaced by Willard Waterman. Waterman's voice was similar to Peary's and he did such a fine imitation of him that many people didn't realize that Peary had left the show.







Filmography
Film


Here We Go Again
The Great Gildersleeve
Gildersleeve's Bad Day
Gildersleeve on Broadway
Unusual Occupations
Gildersleeve's Ghost
Hare Conditioned (voice)
Port of Hell
Wetbacks
Outlaw Queen
A Tiger Walks
Clambake
Seven Days' Leave
Country Fair
Look Who's Laughing
Comin' Round the Mountain
TV

Roman Holidays
Rudolph's Shiny New Year (voice)
Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July (voice)
Fibber McGee and Molly
Blondie

TV Guest Appearances

Perry Mason
Petticoat Junction
The Addams Family
My Three Sons
Petticoat Junction
The Brady Bunch
The Dick Van Dyke Show
Circus Boy
The Spike Jones Show

Bring It On Home To Me
Sam Cooke (With backup by Lou Rawls)

If you ever change your mind
About leavin', leavin' me behind
Oh, oh, bring it to me
Bring your sweet lovin'
Bring it on home to me, oh yeah

You know I laughed (ha ha) when you left
But now I know I've only hurt myself
Oh, oh, bring it to me
Bring your sweet lovin'
Bring it on home to me, yeah

(Yeah) yeah (yeah) yeah (yeah)

I'll give you jewellery, money too
And that's not all, all I'll do for you
Oh, oh, bring it to me
Bring your sweet lovin'
Bring it on home to me, yeah

(Yeah) yeah (yeah) yeah (yeah)
Yeah

------ Guitar and piano in unison ------

You know I'll always be your slave
Till I'm dead and buried in my grave
Oh, oh, bring it to me
Bring your sweet lovin'
Bring it on home to me, yeah

(Yeah) yeah (yeah) yeah (yeah)

If you ever change your mind
About leavin', leavin' me behind
Oh, oh, bring it to me
Bring your sweet lovin'
Bring it on home to me, yeah

(Yeah) yeah (yeah) yeah (yeah)
Yeah (yeah) yeah (yeah)

Thanks, edgar, for that great commentary on the Radio Days. I am afraid, y'all, that I don't have anyone to ask about the good old days. That's why these brief comments are welcomed. My mom spent a lot of time listening to the radio, and I recall bits and pieces of this and that. Went to the archives to find your man, Texas



I know Lou Rawls as well, but although this is not a familiar song, the lyrics are great.

Lou Rawls---Nobody But Me

I've got no chauffeur to chauffeur me
I've got no servant to serve my tea
But I'm as happy as a man can be
Because I've got a girl who loves nobody but me

I don't own stock in no stock exchange
I don't hold claim to no real estate
But I'm not living my life in vain
Because I've got a girl who loves nobody but me

And everytime my sweetie goes walking
Down some sunny street
She always sets the whole town to talking
'Cause she's a genuine Athenes from her head down to her feet

I don't rank high in society
I don't possess a PhD
But I'm all set confident-u-ally
Because I've got a girl who loves nobody but me, now

Would Letty please undedicate that Kate Bush song to Raggedyaggie.

Would you believe it if you didn't see it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfGc4wcil2g

Dream Weaver
Gary Wright lyrics

I've just closed my eyes again
Climbed aboard the dream weaver train
Driver take away my worries of today
And leave tomorrow behind

Ooooh, dream weaver
I believe you can get me through the night
Ooooh, dream weaver
I believe we can reach the morning light

Fly me high through the starry skies
Maybe to an astral plane
Cross the highways of fantasy
Help me to forget todays pain

Ooooh, dream weaver
I believe you can get me through the night
Ooooh, dream weaver
I believe we can reach the morning light

Though the dawn may be coming soon
There still may be some time
Fly me away to the bright side of the moon
And meet me on the other side

Ooooh, dream weaver
I believe you can get me through the night
Ooooh, dream weaver
I believe we can reach the morning light

Dream weaver
Dream weaver

Bud Abbott
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Born October 2, 1895(1895-10-02)
Asbury Park, New Jersey
Died April 24, 1974 (aged 78)

Occupation Actor, Comedian
Spouse(s) Betty Smith
Children Bud Abbott, Jr
Vickie Abbott

William Alexander "Bud" Abbott (October 2, 1895 - April 24, 1974) was an American actor, producer and comedian born in Asbury Park, New Jersey. He is best remembered as the straight man of the comedy team of Abbott and Costello, with Lou Costello.




Early years

Abbott was born into a show business family. His parents worked for the Barnum and Bailey Circus: his mother, Rae Fisher, was a bareback rider and his father, Harry, was an advance man. Bud dropped out of school as a child and began working at Coney Island. When Bud was 16, his father, now an employee of the Columbia Burlesque Wheel, installed him in the box office of the Casino Theater in Brooklyn. Eventually Bud began putting together touring burlesque shows. In 1918 he married Betty Smith, a burlesque dancer and comedienne. Shortly after his marriage, Abbott and his new wife began producing a vaudeville "tab show" called Broadway Flashes. This show toured on the Gus Sun Vaudeville Circuit.[1] Around 1924 Bud started performing as a straight man in an act with Betty. As his stature grew, Abbott began working with veteran comedians like Harry Steppe and Harry Evanson.[citation needed]


Lou Costello and Hollywood

Abbott crossed paths with Lou Costello in burlesque in the early 1930s. Abbott was producing and performing in Minsky's Burlesque shows, while Costello was a rising comic. They formally teamed up in 1936 and performed together in burlesque, vaudeville, minstrel shows, and cinemas.

In 1938 they received national exposure for the first time by performing on the Kate Smith Hour radio show, which led to the duo appearing in a Broadway musical, The Streets of Paris. In 1940, Universal signed Abbott and Costello for their first film, One Night in the Tropics. Although Abbott and Costello were only filling supporting roles, they stole the film with their classic routines, including "Who's On First?" (It is widely rumored that Abbott and Costello are the only two non-baseball players honored in the Baseball Hall of Fame, but this is actually not true.)[2]

During World War II, Abbott and Costello were among the most popular and highest-paid stars in the world. Between 1940 and 1956 they made 36 films, and earned a percentage of the profits on each. They were popular on radio throughout the 1940s, primarily on their own program which ran from 1942 until 1947 on NBC and from 1947 to 1949 on ABC. In the 1950s they brought their comedy to live television on the Colgate Comedy Hour, and launched their own half-hour series, The Abbott and Costello Show.


Split up

Relations between the two partners had been strained for years. In their early burlesque days, their salaries were split sixty-forty, favoring Abbott, because the straight man was always viewed as the more valuable member of the team. That was changed to fifty-fifty after they became burlesque stars.

Another version was that the sixty-forty split was Costello's idea. "A Good Straight Man is hard to find" is attributed to Costello.

The sixty-forty split had long irked Costello. Later, after Buck Privates made them movie stars, Costello insisted that the split be reversed in his favor, and it remained sixty-forty for the remainder of their careers. Costello's other demand, that the team be renamed "Costello and Abbott," was rejected by Universal Studios. The result was a "permanent chill" between the two partners, according to Lou's daughter Chris Costello, in her biography Lou's on First.

The team's popularity waned in the 1950s, and Abbott and Costello parted ways in July 1957. Lou Costello died on March 3, 1959.


Later years

Abbott attempted to begin performing again in 1960, with a new partner, Candy Candido, and received good reviews. But Abbott called it quits, remarking that "No one could ever live up to Lou." On TV, he performed in a dramatic episode of General Electric Theater titled "The Joke's On Me" in 1961. A few years later, Bud provided his own voice for the Hanna-Barbera animated series Abbott and Costello, with Stan Irwin providing the voice of Lou Costello.

Bud and Betty were married for 55 years. The couple adopted two children: Bud, Jr. in 1942, and Vickie in 1949. Bud Jr. died in January 1997 at the age of 57.

Bud Abbott has three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: the radio star is located on 6333 Hollywood Blvd., the motion pictures star is located on 1611 Vine St., and the TV star is located on 6740 Hollywood Blvd.


Death

Bud Abbott suffered from epilepsy and died of cancer at the age of 78 on April 24, 1974 in Woodland Hills, California. He was cremated and his ashes were scattered in the Pacific Ocean.[3] When Groucho Marx was asked about Abbott shortly after his death, his response was that Bud was "the greatest straight man ever."[4]

George McFarland
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia




"Spanky" McFarland
Born October 2, 1928(1928-10-02)
Dallas, Texas, U.S.
Died June 30, 1993 (aged 64)
Grapevine, Texas, U.S.

Spanky McFarland (October 2, 1928 - June 30, 1993) was an American actor most famous for his appearances in the Our Gang series of short-subject comedies of the 1930s and '40s. The juvenile ensemble is also known as The Little Rascals.

McFarland was born George Robert Phillips McFarland in Dallas, Texas (not in Ft. Worth as many biographies report), to Emmett and Virginia McFarland. He had three siblings, Thomas ("Tommy," who himself had a brief stint in the "comedies" as "Dynamite"), Amanda, and Roderick ("Rod").[citation needed]

Prior to joining the comedies, Buddy, as he was then nick-named by his family, modeled children's clothing for a Dallas department store, and also was regularly seen around the Dallas area on highway billboards and in print advertisements for Wonderbread. This established "Buddy" early on in the local public's eye as an adorable child model, and also provided him experience in front of camera equipment and photographic sets. In response to a trade magazine advertisement from Hal Roach Studios in Culver City, California requesting photographs of "cute kids," Spanky's Aunt Dottie (Virginia's sister) sent in some pictures from Buddy's portfolio. Before long, an invitation to come to California for a screen test arrived, and the rest his history.[citation needed]

McFarland's nickname "Spanky" is said to have arisen from repeated warnings by his mother not to misbehave during one of the initial discussions with Hal Roach in his office. As the story goes, he had a habit of reaching out and grabbing things, and on doing so his mother Virginia would say, "Spanky, spanky, mustn't touch!" Spanky himself refuted this version in his later years, saying instead that the name was given to him by a Los Angeles newspaper reporter. Use of the Spanky name by McFarland for subsequent business or personal activities was expressly granted to McFarland in one of his studio contracts. In later years some in his family would affectionately refer to him as just "Spank".[1]

After his discovery at the age of three, he instantly became a popular member of the Our Gang children's comedy movie series and one of Hollywood's darlings. His earliest films show him as an outspoken toddler, grumpily going along with the rest of the gang. His sassy portrayals, natural comedic timing, hilarious facial expressions and ability to act soon brought him more attention, and by 1935 he was the de facto leader of the gang, often paired with Alfalfa and always the enterprising "idea man."[citation needed]

He remained with Our Gang through 1942. Spanky McFarland also appeared as a juvenile perfomer in feature films, including the Wheeler & Woolsey comedy Kentucky Kernels and two Fritz Lang features of the 1940s.[citation needed]

McFarland joined the Army Air Corps (now, the Air Force) at age 24, and on occsion would perform at military bases for troops during World War II. Upon his return to civilian life, indelibly typecast in the public's mind as "Spanky" from Our Gang, he found himself unable to find work in show business. In order to make ends meet, he took far less glamorous jobs including work at a soft-drink plant, a hamburger stand, and a popsicle factory. In the late 1950s, when the Our Gang comedies were sweeping the nation on TV, McFarland hosted an afternoon childrens' show, "Spanky's Clubhouse," on KOTV television in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The show included a studio audience, appearances by other celebrities such as James Arness, and ran Little Rascals shorts.[2]

After that stint, he continued down the "odd-job road" selling wine, operating a restaurant and night club, and selling appliances, electronics and furniture. One job saw him selling for Philco-Ford Corporation, where he worked his way up to national sales director. After his self-described "semi-retirement,", Spanky loaned his name and celebrity to help raise money for numerous charities, primarily by participating in golf tournaments. Spanky also had is own name-sake charity golf classic for 16 years, held in Marion, Indiana.[3]

McFarland continued to do personal appearances and cameo roles in films and television. His final television performance was an introductory vignette at the beginning of the popular Cheers episode, "Woody Gets an Election."

McFarland died suddenly of a heart attack on June 30, 1993, at age 64. In January 1994, "Spanky" joined fellow alumnus Jackie Cooper to become one of two Our Gang members to receive a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame.