WA2K Radio is now on the air

Oh, my, hebba. Now I'm really smiling. I had almost forgotten Girl in a Swing. Love it, buddy.

Here's one that will frighten no one.

Would you like to swing on a star
Carry moonbeams home in a jar
And be better off than you are
Or would you rather be a mule

A mule is an animal with long funny ears
He kicks up at anything he hears
His back is brawny - and his brain is weak
Hes just plain stupid with a - stubborn streak

And by the way, if you hate to go to school
You may grow up to be a mule

Would you like to swing on a star
Carry moonbeams home in a jar
And be better off than you are
Or would you rather be a pig

A pig is an animal with dirt on his face
His shoes are a terrible disgrace
He aint got no manners when he eats his food
Hes fat and lazy - and extremely rude

But if you dont care a feather or a fig
You may grow up to be a pig

Would you like to swing on a star
Carry moonbeams home in a jar
And be better off than you are
Or would you rather be a fish

A fish wont do anything but swim in a brook
He cant write his name or read a book
And to fool the people is his only thought
Though he slippery - he still gets caught
But then if that sort of life is what you wish
You may grow up to be a fish

And all the monkeys arent in a zoo
Every day you meet quite a few
So you see its all up to you
You can be better than you are
You could be swinging on a star

good evening listeners !
it's dark now - just a few lights in the backyards , but it was a nice sunny day - though it was cool , just a tad abave freezing - but we still went for a little walk by lake ontario .
picked up a stack of videos at the library on the way home including :
RAMBLIN' JACK ELLIOTT .
one of his songs is woody guthrie's TALKING DUSTBOWL BLUES :



from wiki :


SIGNING OFF - IT'S MOVIETIME
hbg

Well there's a leak in this old building
Yes, there's a leak in this old building
Well there's a leak in this old building
We're gonna move to a better home

We got no pane in this old window'
We got no pane in this old window'
We got no pane in this old window'
We're gonna move to a better home

Well there's a hole in the roof where the rain pours in
A hole in the floor where it drops right out again
Well there's a leak in this old building
Well there's a leak in this old building
Well there's a leak in this old building
We're gonna move to a better home

Well there's a crack across the ceiling
Yes there's a crack across the ceiling
Well there's a crack across the ceiling
We're gonna find us a better home

We've gotta stove without a chimney
We've gotta stove without a chimney
What good's a stove without a chimney
We're gonna move to a better home

Pulling down window shades is no use at all
The kids and the neighbor can peep right through the wall
Well there's a leak in this old building
Well there's a leak in this old building
Well there's a leak in this old building
We're gonna move to a better, move to a better
Move to a better home

Elvis

hbg, love your song, buddy, and speaking of cowboys.

This is a ballad, folks, so it's a little long, but it is great.

Marty Robbins

Out in the west Texas town of El Paso,
I fell in love with a Mexican girl.
Nighttime would find me in Rose's cantina,
Music would play and Falina would whirl.

Blacker than night were the eyes of Falina,
Wicked and evil while casting the spell.
My love was deep for this Mexican maiden,
I was in love but in vain I could tell.

One night a wild young cowboy came in,
Wild as the West Texas wind.
Dashing and daring and drink he was sharing,
With wicked Falina, the girl that I love.

So, in anger I challenged his right for the love of this maiden,
Down went his hand for the gun that he wore.
My challenge was answered in less than a heartbeat,
The handsome young stranger lay dead on the floor.

Just for a moment I stood there in silence,
Shocked by the foul, evil deed I had done.
Many thoughts raced through my mind as I stood there,
I had but one chance and that was to run.

Out through the back door of Rose's I ran,
Out where the horses were tied.
I caught a good one, it looked like it could run.
Up on its back and away I did ride.

Just as fast as I could from the west Texas town of El Paso,
Out to the badlands of New Mexico.
Back in El Paso, my life would be worthless,
Everything's gone in life, nothing is left.

It's been so long since I've seen the young maiden,
My love is stronger than my fear of death.
I saddeled up and away I did go,
Riding alone in the dark.

Maybe tomorrow a bullet may find me,
Tonight nothing's worse than this pain in my heart.
And at last here I am on the hill overlooking El Paso,
I can see Rosa's cantina below.

My love is strong and it pushes me onward,
Down off the hill to Falina I go.
Off to my right, I see five mounted cowboys,
Off to my left ride a dozen or more.

Shouting and shooting, I can't let them catch me,
I have to make it to Rose's back door.
Something is dreadfully wrong for I feel,
A deep burning pain in my side.

Though I am trying to stay in the saddle,
I'm getting weary, unable to ride.
But my love for Falina is strong and I rise where I've fallen,
Though I am weary, I cant stop to rest.

I see the white puff of smoke from the rifle,
I feel the bullet go deep in my chest.
From out of nowhere, Falina has found me,
Kissing my cheek as she kneels by my side.

Cradeled by true love in arms that I'll die for,
One little kiss and Falina goodbye.

Oops, folks, missed our edgar's song. Maybe the subject of Elvis' song would prefer it here.

From the mountain ranges, heavenly pretty, are coming down
A pair of black eyes, heavenly pretty, that are being smuggled

Ay, ay, ay, ay sing and don't cry

because singing will make happy, heavenly pretty, the hearts

An arrow in the air, heavenly pretty, Cupid threw

In the playing, heavenly pretty, has hurt me

From your house to mine, heavenly pretty, there's only one step

Now that we're alone, heavenly pretty, give me a hug

Ay, ay, ay, ay sing and don't cry

because singing will make happy, heavenly pretty, the hearts

Much lovlier in Spanish, folks.

De las sierras morenas, Cielito Lindo, vienen bajando
Un par de ojitos negros, Cielito lindo, de contrabando

Ay, ay, ay, ay canta y no llores

Porque cantando se alegran, Cielito Lindo, los corazones

Una flecha en el aire, Cielito Lindo, tiró Cupido

Él la tiró jugando, Cielito Lindo y a mí me ha herido.

De tu casa a la mía, Cielito Lindo, solo hay un paso

Ahora que estamos solos, Cielito lindo, dame un abrazo

Ay, ay, ay, ay canta y no llores

Porque cantando se alegran, Cielito Lindo, los corazones

letty :
in the late winter of 1979 mrs h and i spend six weeks in texas - mostly austin , where i was attenting a training course .
after we returned , i found out that MARTY ROBBINS had become one of her favourite singers :wink:
so i bought her a 2-lp set - we still have it : MARTY ROBBINS - 20 GOLDEN MEMORIES .
often when i returned from the office i would be greeted by MARTY warbling

hbg, you just touched a nerve. I didn't know that Marty did that one, but I sure know that Hank Williams wrote it and sang it. That man was a born victim, but a beautiful writer. Thanks for the reminder of those haunting lyrics.

Hey, let's do something funny, ok?

Here's a parody on Hank Snow's "Monin' On" by Homer and Jethro. Elvis once observed that he knew he had arrived if that duo did a parody on one of his songs.

MOVING ON 2

The old hound dog was feelin' fine
Till he fell in a barrel of turpentine
He's A-Movin' On, He's A-Movin' On
He passed the gate, like an eight-eight, He's A-Movin' On.

There was a smart guy from the city
And he picked up a stripe'd kitty
He's A-Movin' On, He's A-Movin' On
We held our nose, as we burried his clothes, We're A-Movin' On.

I let a man work on my car
Then he grabbed a-hold of a spark plug wire
He's A-Movin' On, He's A-Movin' On
He turned it loose, when he felt the juice, He's A-Movin' On.

The old Tom cat was a-feelin' mean
When he caught his tail in the sewin' machine
He's A-Movin' On, He's A-Movin' On
He ripped a stitch, when he hit the ditch, He's A-Movin' On.

The old man's face got white as a sheet
When he slipped and fell in his cream of wheat
He's A-Movin' On, He's A-Movin' On
He flapped his ears, as he shifted gears, He's A-Movin' On.

Uncle John got awful clean
When he fell into the washing machine
He's A-Movin' On,He's A-Movin' On
He couldn't straddle, that doggone paddle, He's A-Movin' On.

We travel a lot to make our showin'
The way we sing we have to keep goin'
We're A-Movin' On, We're A-Movin' On
We've gotta go, here comes Hank Snow, We're A-Movin' On.

YES , letty , it certainly was hank williams song , but marty did a fine job singing it (i have it on authority from mrs h ) .
take care !
hbg

Bob Dylan said he regretted recording this song, because of the unflattering portrait it makes of his onetime girlfriend' family.

Ballad in Plain D

I once loved a girl, her skin it was bronze.
With the innocence of a lamb, she was gentle like a fawn.
I courted her proudly but now she is gone,
Gone as the season she's taken.

Through young summer's youth, I stole her away
From her mother and sister, though close did they stay.
Each one of them suffering from the failures of their day,
With strings of guilt they tried hard to guide us.

Of the two sisters, I loved the young.
With sensitive instincts, she was the creative one.
The constant scapegoat, she was easily undone
By the jealousy of others around her.

For her parasite sister, I had no respect,
Bound by her boredom, her pride to protect.
Countless visions of the other she'd reflect
As a crutch for her scenes and her society.

Myself, for what I did, I cannot be excused,
The changes I was going through can't even be used,
For the lies that I told her in hopes not to lose
The could-be dream-lover of my lifetime.

With unknown consciousness, I possessed in my grip
A magnificent mantelpiece, though its heart being chipped,
Noticing not that I'd already slipped
Into the sin of love's false security.

From silhouetted anger to manufactured peace,
Answers of emptiness, voiced vacancies,
Till the tombstones of damage read me no questions but, "Please,
What's wrong? What's exactly the matter?"

And so it did happen like it could have been foreseen,
The timeless explosion of fantasy's dream.
At the peak of the night, the king and the queen
Tumbled all down into pieces.

The tragic figure, her sister did shout,
"Leave her alone, God damn you, get out!"
And I in my armor, turning about
And nailing her in the ruins of her pettiness.

Beneath a bare light bulb the plaster did pound
Her sister and I in a screaming battleground.
And she in between, the victim of sound,
Soon shattered as a child to the shadows.

All is gone, all is gone, admit it, take flight.
I gagged in contradiction, tears blinding my sight.
My mind it was mangled, I ran into the night
Leaving all of love's ashes behind me.

The wind knocks my window, the room it is wet.
The words to say I'm sorry, I haven't found yet.
I think of her often and hope whoever she's met
Will be fully aware of how precious she is.

Ah, my friends from the prison, they ask unto me,
"How good, how good does it feel to be free?"
And I answer them most mysteriously,
"Are birds free from the chains of the skyway?"

Good morning, WA2K audience

edgar, that is one haunting song by Dylan. We're not sorry that he wrote it, Texas, but we can understand his misgivings.

Folks, today is Veteran's Day in the U.S. and we would like to honor our soldiers regardless of how we feel about war in general.

One of my favorites, listeners.

In Flanders Fields
by John McCrae, May 1915

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep,
though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

And then, folks, their is this view.

The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner

From my mother's sleep I fell into the State,
And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze.
Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life,
I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters.
When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose.

-- Randall Jarrell

Current Version:
Stand, Navy, out to sea, Fight our battle cry;
We'll never change our course, So vicious foe
steer shy-y-y-y.
Roll out the TNT, Anchors Aweigh.
Sail on to victory
And sink their bones to Davy Jones, hooray!

Anchors Aweigh, my boys, Anchors Aweigh.
Farewell to college joys, we sail at break of day-ay-ay-ay.
Through our last night on shore, drink to the foam,
Until we meet once more,
Here's wishing you a happy voyage home.

Original Version
Stand Navy down the field, sails set to the sky.
We'll never change our course, so Army you steer shy-y-y-y.
Roll up the score, Navy, Anchors Aweigh.
Sail Navy down the field and sink the Army, sink the Army Grey.

Get underway, Navy, decks cleared for the fray,
We'll hoist true Navy Blue o Army down your Grey-y-y-y.
Full speed ahead, Navy; Army heave to,
Furl Black and Grey and Gold and hoist the Navy, hoist the Navy
Blue

Blue of the Seven Seas; gold of God's great sun
Let these our colors be till all of time be done-n-n-ne,
By Severn shore we learn Navy's stern call:
Faith, courage, service true, with honor over, honor over all.

The Gunners Dream -- Pink Floyd
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfRJdDh2RsE

Floating down through the clouds
Memories come rushing up to meet me now.
But in the space between the heavens
and the corner of some foreign field
I had a dream.
I had a dream.
Good-bye Max.
Good-bye Ma.
After the service when you're walking slowly to the car
And the silver in her hair shines in the cold November air
You hear the tolling bell
And touch the silk in your lapel
And as the tear drops rise to meet the comfort of the band
You take her frail hand
And hold on to the dream.

A place to stay
"Oi! A real one ..."
Enough to eat
Somewhere old heroes shuffle safely down the street
Where you can speak out loud
About your doubts and fears
And what's more no-one ever disappears
You never hear their standard issue kicking in your door.
You can relax on both sides of the tracks
And maniacs don't blow holes in bandsmen by remote control
And everyone has recourse to the law
And no-one kills the children anymore.
And no one kills the children anymore.

Night after night
Going round and round my brain
His dream is driving me insane.
In the corner of some foreign field
The gunner sleeps tonight.
What's done is done.
We cannot just write off his final scene.
Take heed of the dream.
Take heed.

Pat O'Brien
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pat O'Brien (November 11, 1899 - October 15, 1983) was an American movie actor with over 100 screen credits. O'Brien was born William Joseph Patrick O'Brien to an Irish American Catholic family in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.[1] He served as an alter boy at Gesu Church while growing up near 13th & Clybourn streets. O'Brien attended Marquette Academy with fellow actor Spencer Tracy, and later attended Marquette University. Reportedly he also served with Jack Benny at Great Lakes Naval Station during World War I.

O'Brien appeared with James Cagney in eight movies including Angels with Dirty Faces (1938) and Cagney's last film Ragtime (1981). He began appearing in movies (many times playing Irish cops or priests) in the 1930s, starting with the role of ace reporter Hildy Johnson in the original version of The Front Page in 1931. He memorably appeared in the highly successful 1946 suspense film, Crack-Up and played the lead in The Personality Kid (1934). He may be best remembered for his role as a police detective opposite George Raft in Some Like It Hot (1959) and the title role as a football coach in Knute Rockne, All American (1940), where he gave the speech to "win just one for the Gipper," referring to recently deceased football player George Gipp, portrayed in the film by a young Ronald Reagan (the origin of countless later references to President Reagan as "the Gipper"). O'Brien's movie career more or less ended in the early 1950s when he was apparently partially blacklisted but could continue to get work in television; O'Brien later claimed to be completely flummoxed about this in his autobiography The Wind At My Back. His close friend Spencer Tracy had to fight the studio to get a small role for O'Brien in Tracy's film The Last Hurrah in 1958.

O'Brien died from a heart attack at the age of 84.

F. Van Wyck Mason
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Francis Van Wyck Mason (November 11, 1901 - August 28, 1978, Bermuda) was an American historian and novelist. He had a long and prolific career as a writer spanning 50 years and including 65 published novels.





Life

Mason was born to a patrician Boston family which traced its roots on the North American continent back to the 17th Century. His early life before he started writing was filled with adventure. His first eight years he lived in Berlin and then Paris where his grandfather served as U.S. Consul General. After a few years in Illinois he left for Europe in 1917 while still a teenager to fight in World War I. Like many future writers, he was an ambulance driver for a while. He then managed to enlist in the French Army where he became a decorated artillery officer. By the end of the war he had worked his way into the U.S. Army, rising to the rank of Lieutenant. After the war he went to prep school before attending Harvard where he received his Bachelor of Science (SB) in 1924. At one time in his student days, he was mistakenly arrested for murder. Having borrowed a dinner jacket, he was wrongly identified for a waiter who at the time had committed a murder.

His hopes of entering the diplomatic corps were thwarted after the death of his father and he started an importing business instead. He spent the next few years traveling the world buying rugs and antiques before getting married and settling down. His travels were extensive and included Europe, Russia,the Near East, North Africa (9 weeks with own caravan), the West Indies, Central Africa, and a ride across Central America on horseback. He lived in New York City and was in a famous Cavalry division of the National Guard and played quite a bit of polo. This set the tone for him as he continued to travel and indulge his interest in hunting the rest of his life.

By 1927 he was getting ready to settle down and get married when a chance meeting with one of his college professors, John Gallishaw, encouraged him to take a stab at writing. He took Gallishaw's course in short fiction on the condition that he pay for the course out of future sales.[1] He married socialite Dorothy L. MacReady in New York City in November of that year and by May 1928 he had his first story published. He enjoyed immediate success selling to the pulp magazines and sold 18 stories before his first rejection. The magazines paid well at that time and he was soon able to build a comfortable home outside of Baltimore, Maryland. In 1930 he published his first book The Seeds of Murder which introduced Captain Hugh North, a detective in Army Intelligence and the hero in a long series of "intrigue" novels.

By 1931 he had settled into a career as an author of books as well as short fiction, publishing two more Captain North novels and his first historical novel, Captain Nemesis, which was republished from an earlier pulp serial. The historical novel apparently did not sell well because he went back to the mystery/intrigue books, publishing a dozen or so over then next 7 years. He developed his Hugh North character, who was Mason's alter ego, in these books. North was a prototype for James Bond in that he was a smooth, capable spy, as well as quite a lady killer. This series of books also seemed to predict actual military events before they took place, including a sneak attack on Pearl Harbor.

Mason was still selling historical stories for the pulps during this period and in 1938 returned to the genre for a major novel, Three Harbours, about the early phases of the American Revolution. By this time Mason was doing very well indeed as he was able to split his time between Nantucket, Bermuda, and Maryland. When delivering the manuscript from Nantucket, he was caught in the middle of the New England Hurricane of 1938 and had many close calls which may have ended his career right there.[2] Fortunately the manuscript was a long one and he was able to use it as a defense against flying debris.[3] He made it to New York and the book turned out to be very popular and changed his focus to historical fiction for the rest of his career, though he would continue to write Hugh North stories until 1968.

He wrote two more companion books to Three Harbours, Stars on the Sea and Rivers of Glory, as well as three more Hugh North mysteries in the years leading up to World War II. These books all did very well, especially Stars on the Sea which was a top 10 bestseller for 1940, and Mason was in his prime before the war interrupted his writing for a time. He reenlisted at the beginning of the war and suspended his writing career though he did manage to write some youth oriented war stories during the war under the name Frank W. Mason as well as publishing a couple of reworked pulp serials under the name Ward Weaver. During World War II he worked as Chief Historian serving on General Eisenhower's staff. His main responsibility was to document the war for future generations but he did lend a hand to write the famous communiqués which announced the activities of D-Day to the world. As part of his duties he followed behind or with advancing troops as they worked their way into enemy territory and was one of the first into some of the concentration camps including Buchenwald.

After the war he settled into a more leisurely pace of a little more than one book per year, which he was to maintain for the next quarter century. His style was well refined by this time and he was able to publish a string of fairly popular books. He finished his American Revolution series with Eagle in the Sky in 1948, wrote a popular novel about the famous buccaneer, Henry Morgan called Cutlass Empire in 1949, and started a trilogy on the Civil War in 1951.

He rewrote more of his pulps for the paperback market during the fifties and had a successful youth book called The Winter at Valley Forge in 1955. He would continue to write historical novels for the youth market after that as part of his mix. He also moved to Bermuda from the Baltimore area during the '50s. His wife was ill during this period and finally died in 1958.

He was soon remarried to Jean-Louise Hand, his long-time secretary. He spent the rest of his life in Bermuda, writing historical fiction for both the adult and youth market as well as several more Hugh North novels. He drowned off the coast of Bermuda in 1978 after having finished his final novel, Armored Giants, about the battle between the Monitor and Merrimack, which was published posthumously in 1980.

Writing Style

Mason's writing style was colorful though straightforward. He seems to use his own voice in telling these stories in the third person, though he only lets a little of his personality come through as narrator. His stories usually revolve around a heroic gentleman character. This hero is usually a little rough around the edges and may be forced to extreme measures by circumstances, but in the end, comes out on top. Based on his own life which involved extensive travel, his stories are usually either set in exotic locations, as in the Hugh North stories, or involve main characters who are getting about quite a bit. His historical stories nearly always involve some kind of warfare and frequently include naval battles. While one may learn a little history and geography when reading his works, the main point of his stories is the excitement provided as he first makes the reader care about his main characters and then puts them into dire circumstances where they have to fight for their lives.

Thanks, edgar and Tico.

Tico, I am not familiar with your song, but the lyrics are truly moving, Kansas.

Just spoke with my friend from Virginia Beach. Believe it or not, he was a marvelous vocalist but has some problem with his RNA. He is a WWII vet.

Love this one, and it represents the buddy poppy. I have heard varying opinions, but I think it was written in honor of the buddy system that was so supportive for those kids in the fox holes. Fred sang it.


My Buddy

Life is a book that we study.
Some of it's leaves bring a sigh.
There it was written, my Buddy,
That we must part, you and I.

Nights are long since you went away.
I think about you all through the day,
My buddy, my buddy,
Nobody quite so true.

Miss your voice, the touch of your hand
Just long to know that you understand,
My buddy, my buddy,
Your buddy misses you.

Miss your voice, the touch of your hand
Just long to know that you understand,
My buddy, my buddy,
Your buddy misses you.

Your buddy misses you...

Howard Fast
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Howard Melvin Fast (November 11, 1914 New York City - March 12, 2003 Old Greenwich, Connecticut) was a Jewish American novelist and television writer, who wrote also under the pen names E. V. Cunningham and Walter Ericson.




Biography

Early life

His mother, Ida (née Miller), was a British Jewish immigrant and his father, Barney Howard Fast, the son of Ukrainian Jewish immigrants. When his mother died in 1923 and his father became unemployed, Howard's youngest brother, Julius, went to live with relatives, while Howard and his older brother Jerome worked by selling newspapers. He credited his early voracious reading to his part-time job in the New York Public Library.

Young Howard began writing at an early age. While hitchhiking and riding railroads around the country to find odd jobs, he wrote. His first novel, Two Valleys, was published when he was 18, in 1933. His first popular work was Citizen Tom Paine, a fictional account of the life of Thomas Paine. Always interested in American history, he also wrote The Last Frontier, about an attempt by Cheyennes to return to their native land; and Freedom Road, about the lives of former slaves during Reconstruction.


Career

Fast spent World War II working with the United States Office of War Information, writing for Voice of America. But he had joined the Communist Party USA in 1944, and was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee. He refused to disclose the names of contributors to a fund for a home for orphans of American veterans of the Spanish Civil War (one of the contributors was Eleanor Roosevelt), and he was imprisoned for three months in 1950 for contempt of Congress.

It was while he was in jail that Fast began writing his most famous work, Spartacus, a novel about an uprising among Roman slaves. Blacklisted for his Communist activities and his criminal record, Fast was forced to publish the novel by his own Blue Heron Press. Unable to publish under his own name, he used various pseudonyms, including E.V. Cunningham, under which he published a series of popular detective novels starring a Nisei detective with the Beverly Hills, California Police Department.

In 1952, Fast ran for Congress on the American Labor Party ticket. During the 1950s he also worked for the Communist Party newspaper, the Daily Worker. In 1953, he was awarded the Stalin Peace Prize. But, later in the decade, Fast broke with the Party over issues of conditions in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

Shortly afterward, Fast wrote April Morning, an account of the Battle of Lexington and Concord from the perspective of a fictional teenager. While not originally intended as a "young adult" novel, it has become a frequent assignment in American secondary schools and is probably thus his most popular work in the early 21st century. A film version was made for television in 1988.

In 1974, Fast and his family moved to California, where he wrote television scripts, including such television programs as How the West Was Won. In 1977, he published The Immigrants, the first of a six-part series of novels.

He married his first wife, Bette Cohen, on June 6, 1937. Their children are Jonathan and Rachel. Bette died in 1994. In 1999 he married Mercedes O'Connor, who had already three sons.

Fast's son Jonathan Fast, himself a novelist, was the husband of novelist Erica Jong, their daughter is the novelist Molly Jong-Fast.

Stubby Kaye
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Stubby Kaye (November 11, 1918 - December 14, 1997) was an American comic actor. He was born Bernard Sholm Kotzin in New York on West 114th Street in the Morningside Heights Section of Manhattan to first generation Jewish Americans originally from Russia and Austria. He was raised in the Far Rockaway section of Queens and in the Bronx.

Kaye is best known for defining the role of Nicely-Nicely Johnson in Guys and Dolls, first on Broadway and then in the film version. He also played Marryin' Sam in Li'l Abner (which featured his signature song, "Jubilation T. Cornpone"), again on both stage and screen. In 1962 he played the Mikado in Michael Winner's The Cool Mikado. His last featured role was as Marvin Acme in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Around this time he also made a guest appearance on the British science fiction series, Doctor Who.

His first wife was Jeanne Watson from Chicago, who was a clerical worker at the movie studios in the late 50's. They were married in 1960 but due to personal differences, divorced within a year of their marriage.

His second wife, Angela Bracewell, was a former Broadway chorus girl whom he met while living in England. She was the hostess of the British version of the "Beat the Clock" (1950) game show, a segment of "Val Parnell's Sunday Night at the London Palladium" (1955). They remained wed until his passing on Dec. 14, 1997.

During the 1960s, Kaye became well known in the UK as host of a weekly children's talent show, Stubby's Silver Star Show. During the 1962-63 TV season he was a regular on Stump the Stars. From 1964 - 1965 he hosted the Saturday-morning children's game show Shenanigans on ABC. He loved living in the UK and often referred to himself as the Kosher Squire. He also appeared in the 1974 Broadway revival of Good News.

He died at age 79 on December 14, 1997 from lung cancer in Los Angeles, California and made his home in Rancho Mirage.

Jonathan Winters
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Birth name Jonathan Harshman Winters III
Born November 11, 1925 (1925-11-11) (age 82)
Bellbrook, Ohio, U.S.
Medium stand-up, film, television
Nationality American
Influenced Bill Cosby, Robin Williams, Patton Oswalt
Spouse Eileen Schauder (1948 - present) (2 children)

Jonathan Harshman Winters III (born November 11, 1925, in Bellbrook, Ohio) is an American comedian and actor. Winters is a descendent of Valentine Winters, founder of the Winters National Bank in Dayton which is now part of JPMorgan Chase.

After attending public school in Springfield, Ohio at Culver Military Academy, Jonathan enlisted in the Marines at age 17 and served in the South Pacific during World War II. After his discharge he studied cartooning at Dayton Art Institute, where he met Eileen Schauder, whom he married in 1948. He began comedy routines and acting while studying at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. He was also a local radio personality at WIZE in Springfield,Ohio.

In 1999 Winters was awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. In a 2005 interview on XM Radio, Bill Cosby called Winters "The King". Winters now lives near Santa Barbara, California, and is often seen browsing and hamming to the crowd at the antique show at the Ventura County fairgrounds. He often entertains the tellers and other workers whenever he visits his local bank to make a deposit or withdrawal. He spends time painting and has been presented in one-man shows of his art. In 1997 he published Winters' Tales: Stories and Observations for the Unusual. Other writings have followed, and he is said to be working on his autobiography.



Career

Beginning as a stand-up comic with a madcap wildness, Winters recorded many classic comedy albums. Probably the best known of his characters from this period is Maudie Frickert, the seemingly sweet old lady with the barbed tongue. He was a favorite of Jack Paar and appeared frequently on his television programs. In addition, he would often appear on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, usually in the guise of some character. Carson often did not know what Winters had planned and usually had to tease out the character's backstory through the course of the interview.

Winters has to date appeared in nearly 50 movies and several television shows, including particularly notable roles in the film It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and in the dual roles of Henry Glenworthy and his dark, scheming brother, Rev. Wilbur Glenworthy, in the film adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's The Loved One. His fellow comedians that starred with him in "Mad World", such as Arnold Stang, claimed that, in the long periods while they waited between scenes, Winters would entertain them for hours in their trailer by becoming any character that they would suggest to him.

On television, he appeared in his own show The Wacky World of Jonathan Winters (1972-1974) and as Mork's infant son Mearth in the television program Mork & Mindy. Robin Williams calls Jonathan Winters his idol and greatest influence. Winters has also done some dramatic work, as evidenced in the Twilight Zone episode "A Game of Pool" (episode # 3.5) (13 October 1961). He recorded Ogden Nash's The Carnival of the Animals poems to Camille Saint-Saëns' classical opus. He also made an appearance on the Dean Martin Comedy Roasts.

In addition to his live action roles, he was also a guest star on The New Scooby Doo Movies as a sweet old lady who was really the villain and the narrator in Frosty Returns. Winters had also earlier appeared as himself on an episode of Scooby Doo, where the Scooby Gang was looking forward to his promised performance as Maudie Frickert.

In his "Archive of American Television Interview," Winters reported that he suffered a nervous breakdown and spent eight months in a private mental hospital. Although he was not given a diagnosis while in the hospital he was later diagnosed with manic depression (known today as Bipolar disorder).

Demi Moore
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Demi Moore Kutcher
Birth name Demetria Gene Guynes
Born November 11, 1962 (1962-11-11) (age 45)
Roswell, New Mexico, U.S.A.
Occupation actress
Years active 1982?-present
Spouse(s) Freddy Moore (1980?-1985)
Bruce Willis (1987?-2000)
Ashton Kutcher (2005?-present)
Children Rumer Willis, (b.1988)
Scout LaRue Willis (b.1991)
Tallulah Belle Willis (b.1994)
Parents Virginia King, Charles Harmon (biological father), Danny Guynes (stepfather)
[show]Awards
Golden Raspberry Awards
Worst Supporting Actress
2003 Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle
Worst Actress
1997 G.I. Jane
Worst Actress
1996 The Juror & Striptease
Worst Screen Couple
1996 Striptease
with Burt Reynolds

Demi Kutcher (born Demetria Gene Guynes on November 11, 1962) is an American actress. For most of her career, she has been known as Demi Moore, using the surname of her first husband, singer-songwriter Freddy Moore. She became well-known after a string of 1980s teen-oriented movies, and was one of the best known actresses of 1990s Hollywood. She is currently married to Ashton Kutcher.



Biography

Early life

Moore was born Demetria Gene Guynes in Roswell, New Mexico, and spent much of her childhood and teenage years in Perryopolis, Pennsylvania, a small town south of Pittsburgh. As a child, she had a difficult and unstable home life. Her biological father, Charles Harmon, left her mother, Virginia King, after a two-month marriage, before Moore was born. As a result, Moore had the surname of her stepfather, Danny Guynes, on her birth certificate. Danny Guynes, who committed suicide in 1980, frequently changed jobs and made the family move a total of forty times. Moore's parents were also alcoholics and often fought and beat each other. Operations on Moore's left eye during childhood required her to wear an eyepatch. During that time, she also suffered from a bad kidney.

Moore's family settled in Los Angeles in 1976. When Moore was sixteen, her friend, actress Nastassja Kinski, persuaded her to drop out of Hollywood's Fairfax High School, where her schoolmates included Red Hot Chili Peppers frontman Anthony Kiedis and actor Timothy Hutton, to become an actress. In 1979 she met and married her first husband, songwriter Freddy Moore. Though they divorced in 1985, she kept the last name Moore.


Career

After quitting school, Moore went to work as a pin-up girl, modelled for European photographers, and worked at a collection agency. In the early 1980s, Moore posed for a series of photographs featuring full frontal nudity. These photos went unnoticed until after she became a star, and were eventually published in a German magazine and later in North America. Moore's film debut was in the 1982 3-D science fiction/horror film, Parasite, which was a hit on the drive-in circuit, ultimately grossing $7 million.[1] However, Moore was not widely known until she played the part of Jackie Templeton on the ABC soap opera, General Hospital, from 1982-1983. Appropriately, she also had an uncredited cameo at the end of the 1982 spoof Young Doctors in Love.

In the mid-1980s, she was mentioned as being a member of the Brat Pack and appeared in the youth-oriented films St. Elmo's Fire and About Last Night. For a time during the 1990s, Moore was the highest-paid actress in Hollywood. She had a string of box-office successes, including Ghost, A Few Good Men, Indecent Proposal, Disclosure and The Hunchback of Notre Dame for which she was the first actress to reach the $10 million salary mark. Among other films for which Moore was considered were Basic Instinct, Flashdance, Runaway Bride, and While You Were Sleeping.

Moore's reputation suffered in the mid 1990s when her starring vehicles The Scarlet Letter, The Juror, Striptease, and G.I. Jane (a movie in which Moore shaved off all her long hair on camera, leaving her head totally bald) failed at the box office and garnered mixed reviews. At the same time she produced and starred in a TV mini-series called If These Walls Could Talk, written by Nancy Savoca. A three part series on abortion, Savoca directed two segments, especially the one in which Moore gave a stunning performance as a single woman in the 1950's seeking a back-street abortion. She was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress.

Demi Moore was a founding "celebrity investor" in the Planet Hollywood chain of international theme restaurants (modeled after the Hard Rock Cafe and launched in New York on October 22, 1991) along with Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger and then-husband Bruce Willis.

After a break from her acting career, Moore returned to the screen as a former member of Charlie's Angels gone bad in the 2003 film Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle. In 2006, she appeared in Bobby which featured an all-star cast including her husband Ashton Kutcher although they did not appear in any scenes together. On June 1, 2007, her most recent film, Mr. Brooks, was released. She appeared in Jon Bon Jovi's longform video "Destination Anywhere" as Janie.[2]


Vanity Fair controversy

In August 1991, Moore appeared nude on the cover of Vanity Fair. Annie Leibovitz shot the picture while Moore was seven months pregnant with her daughter Scout LaRue, intending to portray "anti-Hollywood, anti-glitz" attitude.[3] The cover sparked an intense controversy for Vanity Fair and Demi Moore, it was widely discussed on television, radio, and in newspaper articles.[4] Some retailers pulled the issue from newsstands, while others only sold it in a brown paper bag. The frankness of Liebowitz' portrayal of a pregnant sex symbol led to divided opinions, ranging from complaints of sexual objectification to celebrations of the photograph as a symbol of empowerment.[5]

The photograph was subject to numerous parodies, including the Spy magazine version, which placed Moore's then husband Bruce Willis' head on her body. Leibovitz sued over one parody featuring Leslie Nielsen, made to promote the 1994 film Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult. The case was dismissed in 1996 because the parody relied "for its comic effect on the contrast between the original".[6]


Relationship With Her Mother

Moore's relationship with her mother Virginia King Guynes was rocky at the best of times, stealthing from an unhappy and difficult childhood. Mother and daughter both became alcoholics. Guynes would later talk of times when the pair started sharing a Hollywood flat together in 1980, where Rob Lowe, Sean Penn and Charlie Sheen would regularly come round for drinks. That era ended with Moore and Guynes checking into a drug-and-alcohol-recovery program, from which Moore emerged clean. Guynes failed her recovery and at Moore's 1987 marriage to Willis fell off the wagon with a champagne and vodka binge. The next day she was picked up for drunk driving and Willis and Moore refused to bail her out. In 1989 Guynes OD'd on pills and was again arrested for drink-driving. In 1990 Demi footed the bill for Guyne's eight month stay in rehab, but cut her off when Guynes sold the story of her recovery and tumultuous relationship with her daughter. Guynes embarrassed her daughter twice with pictorials in adult magazines, including her 1993 12-page spread in porn magazine High Society (after being turned down by Playboy). She posed in front of a potter's wheel, parodying Moore's sex scene with Patrick Swayze in Ghost, her translucent white panties glistening with wet clay. As well as the shoot, Guynes also alleged that her daughter's marriage to Willis was "in trouble" and that Moore called the shots. "The more famous she becomes", said Guynes, "the more bossy she becomes". She also posed in photos spoofing Moore's controversial Vanity Fair pregnancy and bodypaint covers and said "I dont want to hurt her. This is my story, my life." In 1993 at the premiere of Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story Moore introduced her companion, Pattsy Rugg as her mother. Rugg was actually the star's Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor, but Moore seemingly preferred her to play the maternal role than her mother. "Its just so stupid that Demi would say anything like that", Guynes later said, but added, "Demi's a pretty strange child. She's angry with me. This is what she does when she gets angry. What she will do is find the single most hurtful thing and do it." In 1994 Guynes pleaded no contest to a charge of setting fire to the home of a bartender who caught her swiping drinks. She was fined and ordered to go to rehab. Guynes it seemed was dying to be a star. Some even went as far as to say that she was trying to get back at her daughter for leaving her behind. In November 1995 a tabloid tracked her down at her then-home, a rat-infested shack in Las Vegas with a beaten-up '88 Honda Prelude (a one-time brand-new birthday present from Moore and Willis) parked out front. She was surviving on $250 a month social security and $85 a month in food-stamps. In 1996 she was located in New Mexico where she died two years later in 1998 at the age of fifty-four from a brain tumour.

Moore later spoke of how her character in the Emilio Estevez drama Bobby made her draw on her own perception of Guynes. Her character called Virginia, like her mother, was an alcoholic.

"The fact that she was called Virginia grounded the part in something that was familiar," explained Moore. "And, although there were aspects of it that were painful, it was actually very liberating for me. Emilio knew my mother and she was a pained soul. But it was a great gift being able to go to the depths of the soul that lives underneath the pain of this character." Also saying that "I had an unusual childhood."

"I had a very young mother," Moore says. "But I know she tried to do the best she could and that in the mix of it all - and she was nutty, trust me - she really loved me. It wasn't always the kind of love I wanted but that doesn't necessarily mean it wasn't what I needed."


Personal life

Moore married singer Freddy Moore in 1980 before she was eighteen. They divorced in 1985 and in 1987 Moore met then Moonlighting star Bruce Willis. The two soon fell in love and married two months later. The star couple had three daughters together: Rumer Willis (b. 1988), Scout LaRue Willis (b. 1991) and Tallulah Belle Willis (b. 1994). The pair separated in 1998 and divorced in 2000. In 2003, Moore started dating actor Ashton Kutcher, seventeen years her junior. After much press speculation and interest, the pair married in 2005. Moore's primary residence is in Hailey, Idaho, near the famous Sun Valley resort, although she spends much time in the Los Angeles area with Kutcher. She is a practicing follower of the Rabbi Philip Berg's trendy Kabbalah Centre religion, and initiated Kutcher into the faith, having said that she "didn't grow up Jewish, but... would say that [she has] been more exposed to the deeper meanings of particular rituals than any of [her] friends ever did".[7] She is also a passionate raw foodist or live-vegan.[8] Moore has undergone extensive cosmetic surgery[9] including additional breast implants, numerous collagen injections, liposuction, cheek implants, eyelid lift, and a procedure to lift sagging skin around her knees. Demi has three children with her ex-husband, Bruce Willis.

Moore legally changed her last name to Kutcher two years after marrying husband Ashton Kutcher. However, she will continue to use Moore in her professional life and her acting roles.[10][11][12]

Leonardo DiCaprio
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



Birth name Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio
Born November 11, 1974 (1974-11-11) (age 33)
Los Angeles, California
[show]Awards
Golden Globe Awards
Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
2005 The Aviator

Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio (born November 11, 1974[1]) is a three-time Academy Award-nominated and Golden Globe Award-winning American actor who garnered world wide fame for his role as Jack Dawson in Titanic. Dicaprio has starred in many successful feature films since, including William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet (1996), The Beach (2000), Catch Me If You Can (2002), and Blood Diamond (2006). He has been director Martin Scorsese's favorite actor to direct.[citation needed] He has appeared perennially with Scorsese in a majority of his most recent films, including Gangs of New York (2002), The Aviator (2004), and The Departed (2006), causing people to compare this relationship to the one actor Robert De Niro benefited from early on in his career.




Biography

Childhood

He was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of George DiCaprio, an underground comix artist and distributor of comic books, and Irmelin Indenbirken, a former legal secretary. His mother moved from Oer-Erkenschwick, Germany, to the U.S. during her childhood, while his father is of half Italian and half German descent.[1] DiCaprio's parents met while attending college together and subsequently moved to Los Angeles.[1] He was named after artist Leonardo da Vinci, as his pregnant mother was standing in front of a da Vinci painting at a museum in Italy when DiCaprio first kicked.

DiCaprio's parents divorced when he was one year old. He lived mostly with his mother, although his father was also around. During his childhood, he attended Canterbury Elementary School. He was interested in baseball cards, comic books and frequently visited museums, with his father.[1] He also spent part of his childhood in Germany, where his maternal grandparents, Wilhelm and Helene, still lived, and still speaks German fluently. DiCaprio and his mother lived in several neighborhoods, such as Echo Park.

During his teen years, he lived at 1874 Hillhurst Avenue, Los Feliz district of Los Angeles, California (which was later converted into a local public library) and his mother worked several jobs to support them.[1] He attended John Marshall High School, a few blocks away, before attending the Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies.

DiCaprio was inspired to become an actor after Adam Starr, a stepson of his father's from his father's re-marriage, began appearing in commercials.[1] DiCaprio began looking for an agent at the age of twelve, but was initially turned down several times; one agent suggested that he anglicize his name to "Lenny Williams", which DiCaprio rejected.[1]


Early career

DiCaprio's acting career began in 1989 when he was cast in the role of Garry Buckman on the TV version of the film Parenthood, where he met Tobey Maguire, with whom he remains close friends. In that same year, DiCaprio appeared on the soap opera Santa Barbara in the role of Mason Capwell (in flashbacks as a teenager). From 1991 to 1992 he had the role of Luke Brower, a homeless boy, on Growing Pains.

However, DiCaprio is most famous for his roles in motion pictures. His debut role was as Josh in Critters 3 (1991), a film with a limited theatrical release, which was released on video soon after.

Two years later, his breakthrough came with the role of Toby in This Boy's Life (1993) co-starring with Robert De Niro and Ellen Barkin, which led the New York Film Critics and the National Society of Film Critics to name him runner-up for Best Supporting Actor. In the same year he also portrayed a mentally handicapped boy in What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993). The role earned him an Academy Award nomination at the age of 19.

In 1995, he starred in Total Eclipse, a fictionalized account of the passionate and violent homosexual relationship between the two 19th century French poets, Paul Verlaine (David Thewlis) and Arthur Rimbaud (Leonardo DiCaprio). River Phoenix was originally cast as the lead in the film, but after his 1993 death, DiCaprio was cast.

The black-and-white movie Don's Plum, a low-budget drama featuring the actor and some of his friends (including Tobey Maguire) was filmed between 1995 and 1996. Its release was later blocked in the United States and Canada by DiCaprio and Maguire, who argued they never intended to make it a theatrical feature. Nevertheless, it later premiered on February 9, 2001 in Berlin.

In 1995 he starred as Jim Carroll, a heroin addict in The Basketball Diaries. In 1996, DiCaprio also played the male lead in Romeo + Juliet, a slick and updated modern-day version of William Shakespeare's play, directed by Australian director Baz Luhrmann. DiCaprio was reportedly so dedicated to the project, he flew coach class, for free to Australia a year before production started to workshop the film. Following Romeo + Juliet, in 1996 DiCaprio starred in Marvin's Room along side Meryl Streep and Diane Keaton.


Superstardom and "Leo-Mania"

The move from "star" to "superstar" came when DiCaprio played Jack Dawson in the 1997 blockbuster Titanic, the highest grossing movie ever (in nominal terms?-adjusted for inflation it is the sixth highest in the United States, while remaining the highest grossing movie worldwide). It also received eleven Academy Awards. Over the course of the next few years he would become a household name worldwide, synonymous with labels such as "teenage heart-throb" and sex symbol. People placed him in their annual "Most Beautiful People" issue on numerous occasions. At the peak of his celebrity in 1998, DiCaprio fronted scores of magazine covers ranging from Vanity Fair to Rolling Stone,[2] and was once the most searched for personality in the early years of the Internet. DiCaprio agreed to play the spoof role of his real life "teen idol" persona during this period, in Woody Allen's satirical parody, Celebrity. What came apropos with fame were tales in the tabloids of excesses and indulgence. In the Japanese media, he was referred to as Leo-sama (レオ様), with the "sama" suffix given to show the utmost respect. Time summed up the fame superhighway and its trappings in an interview with the actor in 2000, reporting:

DiCaprio still thinks of himself as an edgy indie actor, not the Tiger Beat cover boy. "I have no connection with me during that whole Titanic Phenomenon and what my face became around the world," DiCaprio commented, adding, "I'll never reach that state of popularity again, and I don't expect to. It's not something I'm going to try to achieve either."

Nonetheless, the headlines and controversy failed to let up, peaking when he starred in a project by Danny Boyle based on Alex Garland's backpacker cult classic The Beach that year. Because of clashes with the Thai authorities over the use of the island of Ko Phi Phi in 1999, the film garnered more bad press than expected. It was reported that permission granted to the film company to physically alter the environment inside Phi Phi Islands National Park was illegal. In the end, the film also did not score as well as expected at the box office, losing mainstream commercial appeal due to its content.


Critically acclaimed acting

In 2002, DiCaprio began a shift away from his stereotypical image and moved to engage himself with critically acclaimed directors by starring in two epic movies: Gangs of New York (directed by Martin Scorsese), and Catch Me If You Can (directed by Steven Spielberg). Both films were very well received by critics. Forging a collaboration with Scorsese, the two paired again for a biopic of American businessman Howard Hughes in The Aviator, a film that scored DiCaprio a second Academy Award nomination, for Best Actor.

DiCaprio continued his run with Scorsese (some claim him to be Scorsese's "new De Niro") in the 2006 film The Departed as Billy Costigan, a smart undercover cop in Boston. His next film was Blood Diamond, released on December 8, 2006. While the film itself received mixed reviews, DiCaprio was praised for the authenticity of his Zimbabwean Afrikaner accent, known as a difficult accent of English to emulate. He is also reported to have purchased the rights to Blink, Malcolm Gladwell's book on the power and validity of first impressions, in order to produce a film based on it.

Cruise/Wagner Productions, Tom Cruise's film production company, is said to be developing a screenplay based on Erik Larson's New York Times bestseller The Devil in the White City, about H. H. Holmes, a serial killer at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. Meanwhile, DiCaprio's production company, Appian Way Productions, is also developing a film about Holmes and the World's Fair, in which DiCaprio will star.

In 2006, the Golden Globes and Broadcast Film Critics Association nominated DiCaprio twice in the same category: Best Actor for Blood Diamond and The Departed, which is an extremely rare honor for actors. Also in the same year, he received two nominations for the Screen Actors Guild Awards, a lead actor nomination for Blood Diamond and a supporting actor nomination for The Departed. He earned an Oscar nomination for lead actor in Blood Diamond and a BAFTA nod for lead actor for The Departed.

After working in two Warner Brothers films, DiCaprio will again star in a WB production for a film about the collapse of Enron, based on the book Conspiracy of Fools. The film's script is currently under negotiations.[3]

He is also reportedly attached to a number of other upcoming projects, including The Chancellor Manuscript, Stephen Gaghan's Blink, a biopic of LSD-spokesperson Professor Timothy Leary, and two projects in collaboration with Martin Scorsese, Shutter Island, an adaptation of a novel by Dennis Lehane, and The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt. All projects are in the developmental stages.

On March 22, 2007, DiCaprio signed on to re-team with his Titanic co-star, Kate Winslet, on an adaptation of Richard Yates's critically-lauded 1961 novel Revolutionary Road. The film of the same name is being directed by Winslet's husband, Sam Mendes and was adapted for the screen by Justin Haythe. They are currently shooting in New York City.[4]

In addition to an already impressive career, DiCaprio is currently ranked the 5th Best Working Actor Today by The Screen Directory.[5]. In May 2007, DiCaprio was listed among Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in The World.


Personal life

DiCaprio's best friend is actor Tobey Maguire, whom he beat to get roles in Growing Pains and This Boy's Life. He is also good friends with Kate Winslet, Cameron Diaz, Mark Wahlberg, Lukas Haas, Ethan Suplee, Kevin Connolly, and Ben Affleck (whom he worked with during the John Kerry presidential campaign) and cites actress Eliska Amor as one of his favorites. Of Eliska, he declared: "Not only do I respect her outstanding talent as an actress, but as a person she takes it to another level. She's beautiful, intelligent, talented and fighting for the same causes I am," in reference to Amor's animal rights and welfare promotion and environmental awareness campaigning.

DiCaprio sued Playgirl magazine to stop the New York-based monthly magazine from publishing unauthorized nude photos of him in its July 1998 issue. Some reports claim the photos were secretly taken while the actor was lounging in the nude, while others say they came from stills of his nude scenes in, or from outtakes of, the movie Total Eclipse. The case was settled on June 29, 1998, for an undisclosed amount.

A registered Democrat in California, DiCaprio has been active in promoting liberal causes, and in 2004 supported Senator John Kerry's presidential campaign.

A committed environmentalist, DiCaprio has received praise from environmental groups for opting to fly on commercial flights instead of chartering private jets, which use more fuel. He has also mentioned that he drives a hybrid car and that his house has solar panels.[6] His actions have inspired other celebrities, such as Orlando Bloom and Penelope Cruz. In an article in Ukula about his new film 11th Hour (which he co-wrote, co-produced and narrated), DiCaprio cites global warming as "the number one environmental challenge."[7]. DiCaprio and former vice-president Al Gore announced at the 2007 Oscar ceremony that the Oscars had incorporated environmentally intelligent practices throughout the planning and production processes, thus affirming their commitment to the environment. On July 7, 2007, DiCaprio presented at the American leg of Live Earth.

In 1998, he and his mother donated $35,000 for a state-of-the-art "Leonardo DiCaprio Computer Center" at the Los Feliz branch of the Los Angeles Public Library (1874 Hillhurst Avenue) which happens to be the site of his childhood home. It was rebuilt after the 1994 Northridge earthquake, and opened in early 1999. There are commemorative placards and curious fans are welcomed at the library.[8][9]

During the filming of Blood Diamond , DiCaprio worked with 24 orphaned children from the SOS Children's Village in Maputo, Mozambique, and was said to be extremely touched by his interactions with the children.[10]

Dicaprio owns a home in Los Angeles and an apartment in New York. He bought an island in Belize where he is planning to create an eco-friendly resort[11].

He was in a relationship with Israeli model Bar Refaeli before they decided to break up, in October 2007.