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Clifton Webb
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Birth name Webb Parmalee Hollenbeck
Born November 11, 1889(1889-11-11)
Beech Grove, Indiana, USA
Died October 13, 1966 (aged 76)
Beverly Hills, California, USA
Resting place Hollywood Forever, Hollywood, California, USA

Clifton Webb (November 19, 1889 - October 13, 1966) was an American actor, dancer and singer.





Biography

Early life

Webb was born Webb Parmelee Hollenbeck in a rural part of Marion County, Indiana which would, in 1906, become Beech Grove, a self-governing city entirely surrounded by Indianapolis. As a result, virtually all printed sources give the larger city as his place of birth. Webb's parents were Jacob Grant Hollenbeck (1867-May 2, 1939), the son of a grocer from a multi-generational Indiana farming family, and Mabelle A. Parmelee (most sources give "Parmalee" or "Parmallee") (March 24, 1869-October 17, 1960), the daughter of a railroad conductor.

In 1892, Webb's formidable mother, Mabelle, moved to New York with her beloved "little Webb", as she called him for the remainder of her life. She dismissed questions about her husband Jacob, a ticket clerk who, like her father, worked for the Indianapolis-St. Louis Railroad, by saying, "We never speak of him. He didn't care for the theater."

Privately tutored, Webb started taking dance and acting lessons at the age of five. He made his stage debut at seven in the impressive setting of Carnegie Hall by performing with the New York Children's Theater in Palmer Cox's The Brownies. This success was followed by a vaudeville tour playing The Master of Charlton Hall, succeeded by leading roles as Oliver Twist and Tom Sawyer in Huckleberry Finn. In between performances, Mabelle saw to it that he studied painting with the renowned Robert Henri and voice with the equally famous Victor Maurel. By his seventeenth birthday, he was singing one of the secondary leads in the Boston-based Aborn Opera Company's production of the operetta Mignon.


Career

By the age of nineteen, Webb had become a professional ballroom dancer and, taking the stage name "Clifton Webb", sang and danced in about two dozen operettas before debuting on Broadway as Bosco in The Purple Road, which opened at the Liberty Theater on April 7, 1913 and ran for 136 performances before closing in August. His mother (billed as Mabel Parmalee) was also listed in the program as a member of the opening night cast. His next musical was an Al Jolson vehicle, Sigmund Romberg's Dancing Around. It opened at the Winter Garden Theatre on October 10, 1914, and had 145 performances, closing in February, 1915. Later that year, Webb was in the all-star revue Ned Wayburn's Town Topics, which boasted 117 famous performers, including Will Rogers, listed in the Century Theatre opening night program of September 23, 1915. It closed 68 performances later on November 20, 1915. In 1916, he had another short run with Cole Porter's operetta See America First, which opened at Maxine Elliott's Theatre on March 28, 1916, and closed after 15 performances on April 8, 1916. The World War I year of 1917 proved to be better, with a 233-performance run of Jerome Kern's Love o'Mike, which opened at the Shubert Theatre on January 15, 1917. After moving to Maxine Elliott's Theatre and Casino Theatre, it closed on September 29, 1917. Future Mama star Peggy Wood was also in the cast. Webb's final show of the 1910s, the musical Listen Lester, had the longest run, 272 performances. It opened at the Knickerbocker Theatre December 23, 1918 and closed in August, 1919.


The 1920s saw Clifton Webb in no less than eight Broadway shows, numerous other stage appearances, including vaudeville, and a handful of silent films. The revue As You Were, with additional songs by Cole Porter, opened at the Central Theatre on January 29, 1920 and closed 143 performances later on May 29, 1920. Busy with films, tours and vaudeville, he did not return to Broadway until 1923, with the musical Jack and Jill (Globe Theatre) which had 92 performances between March 22, 1923 and June 9, 1923, and Lynn Starling's comic play Meet the Wife which opened on November 26, 1923 and ran into the summer of 1924, closing in August. The play's male ingenue was 24-year old Humphrey Bogart.

In 1925, Webb appeared on stage in a dance act with vaudeville star and silent film actress Mary Hay. Later that year, when she and her husband, Tol'able David star Richard Barthelmess, decided to produce and star in their own film vehicle New Toys, they chose Webb to be second lead. The movie proved to be financially successful, but nineteen more years would pass before Webb appeared in another feature film.

Webb's mainstay was the Broadway theatre. Between 1913 and 1947, the tall and slender performer who sang in a clear, gentle tenor, appeared in 23 Broadway shows, starting with major supporting roles and quickly progressing to leads. He introduced Irving Berlin's "Easter Parade" and George and Ira Gershwin's "I've Got a Crush on You" in Treasure Girl (1928); Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz's "I Guess I'll Have to Change My Plan" in The Little Show (1929) and "Louisiana Hayride" in Flying Colors (1932); and Irving Berlin's "Not for All the Rice in China" in As Thousands Cheer (1933).

Most of his Broadway shows were musicals, but he also starred in Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, and his longtime friend Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit and Present Laughter, in parts that Coward wrote with Webb in mind.

Webb was a friend and Broadway co-star of lesbian singer Libby Holman. Webb and his mother used to take frequent vacations with Holman, and they would remain friends until the mid-1940s.[1]

His Broadway credentials were impressive and his London stage appearances were critically praised, but Hollywood was another story. After New Toys and another 1925 silent The Heart of a Siren, he was classified as a character actor and stereotyped as a fussy effete snob. Mother Mabelle also preferred New York to Hollywood with its "yes men".

Webb was in his mid-fifties when actor/director Otto Preminger chose him over the objections of 20th Century Fox chief Darryl F. Zanuck to play the classy, but evil, radio columnist Waldo Lydecker, who is obsessed with Gene Tierney's character in the 1944 film noir Laura. His performance was showered with acclaim and made him an unlikely movie star. Despite Zanuck's original objection, Webb was immediately signed to a long term contract with Fox! Two years later he was reunited with Tierney in another highly-praised role as the elitist Elliott Templeton in The Razor's Edge (1946). He received Academy Award nominations for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for both.


Webb received an Oscar nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role in 1949 for Sitting Pretty, the first in a three-film series of comedic "Mr. Belvedere" features with Webb portraying the snide and omniscient central character. In the 1950s and 60s, TV producers unsuccessfully continued trying to revive "Mr. Belvedere" as a sitcom character?-Reginald Gardiner was the star of the first TV series pilot in 1956, followed by Hans Conried in 1959 and Victor Buono in 1965. When it finally did become a popular ABC series that ran for five years starting in 1985, "Mr. Belvedere", now reborn as the all-knowing male housekeeper to Bob Uecker, was portrayed by another gay actor, Christopher Hewett.

In 1950's film Cheaper by the Dozen, Webb and Myrna Loy played Frank and Lillian Gilbreth, real-life efficiency experts of the 1910s and 1920s, and the parents of twelve children.

Webb's subsequent movie roles include that of college professor Thornton Sayre, who in his younger days was known as silent film idol Bruce "Dreamboat" Blair. Now a distinguished academic who wants no part of his past fame, he sets out to stop the showing of his old films on television in 1952's Dreamboat. Also in 1952 he played the part of John Philip Sousa in Stars and Stripes Forever. In 1953 he had his most dramatic role as the doomed husband of unfaithful Barbara Stanwyck in Titanic and in 1954 played the (fictional) novelist John Frederick Shadwell in Three Coins in the Fountain. In 1957's Boy on a Dolphin, second-billed to Alan Ladd, with third-billed Sophia Loren, he portrayed a wealthy sophisticate who enjoyed collecting illegally obtained Greek antiquities. In a nod to his own identity, the character's amusingly-chosen name was "Victor Parmalee".

Webb's elegant taste kept him on Hollywood's best-dressed lists for decades. Even though he exhibited comically foppish mannerisms in portraying Mr. Belvedere and other movie characters, his scrupulous private life kept him free of scandal. In more open modern times, comedian Bob Newhart once told Johnny Carson about being at a Hollywood party in the early 1960s, and being fairly startled when Webb asked him if he would like to dance.

In fact, the character of Lynn Belvedere is said to have been very close to his real life?-he had an almost Oedipal-like extreme devotion to his mother Mabelle, who was his companion and who lived with him until her death at age ninety-one. Although he was gay,[2] he might be better defined as asexual, given that the object of his love and tenderness was his mother.[1]

When Webb's mourning for his mother continued for a year with no signs of letting up, Noel Coward, in a fit of comic exasperation is said to have finally told Webb, "It must be difficult to be orphaned at seventy, Clifton".

But the twilight had arrived for Webb's life and career. Inconsolable in his grief, he completed a final role as an initially sarcastic, but ultimately self-sacrificing Catholic priest in Leo McCarey's Satan Never Sleeps. The film, which was set in China, showed the victory of Mao Tse-tung's armies in the Chinese civil war, which ended with his ascension to power in 1949, but was actually filmed in England during the summer of 1961, using sets from the 1958 film, The Inn of the Sixth Happiness, which had the same milieu.


Death and afterward

Webb spent the remaining five years of his life as an ill recluse at his home in Beverly Hills, California, succumbing to a heart attack at the age of 76.

He is interred in crypt 2350, corridor G-6, Abbey of the Psalms in Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

Clifton Webb has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6840 Hollywood Boulevard.

Tommy Dorsey
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Background information

Birth name Tommy Dorsey
Born November 19, 1905(1905-11-19)
Origin Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, USA
Died November 26, 1956 (aged 51)
Genre(s) Big band music
Swing
Sweet bands
Occupation(s) Bandleader
Instrument(s) Trombone
Trumpet
Associated
acts California Ramblers
Jimmy Dorsey
Jean Goldkette
Paul Whiteman

Tommy Dorsey (November 19, 1905 - November 26, 1956) was an American jazz trombonist, trumpeter and bandleader in the Big Band era. He was the younger brother of Jimmy Dorsey.





Early life

Thomas Francis Dorsey, Jr. was born in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania and started out only 16 years later in Allentown, Pennsylvania with big band album Russ Morgan in the famous pick-up band of the 1920s "The Scranton Sirens".

Tommy and his brother Jimmy worked in several bands (including those of Rudy Vallee, Vincent Lopez, and especially Paul Whiteman) before forming the original Dorsey Brothers Orchestra in 1934. Ongoing acrimony between the brothers, however, led to Tommy Dorsey's walking out to form his own band in 1935, just as the Orchestra was having a hit with "Every Little Movement."


His own band

Tommy Dorsey's first band formed out of the remnant of the Joe Haymes band, and his smooth, lyrical trombone style--whether on ballads or on no-holds-barred swingers--became one of the signature sounds of both his band and the Swing Era. The new band hit from almost the moment it signed with RCA Victor with "On Treasure Island," the first of four hits for the new band that year. That led to a run of 137 Billboard chart hits, including his theme song, "I'm Getting Sentimental Over You" (which showcases his phenomenal range and masterful mute use, reaching up to the high C #), "Marie", "The Big Apple", "Music, Maestro, Please", "I'll Never Smile Again", "This Love of Mine", "On the Sunny Side of the Street", "T.D.'s Boogie Woogie", "Well, Git 'It", "Opus One", "Manhattan Serenade", and "There Are Such Things"--among many others.

The band featured a number of the best instrumentalists in jazz at the time, including (the list is far more extensive than what we list here) trumpeters Bunny Berigan, Ziggy Elman, George Seaberg, Carl "Doc" Severinsen, and Charlie Shavers, trumpeter/arranger/composer Sy Oliver (who wrote "Well, Git 'It" and "Opus One"), clarinetists Buddy DeFranco, Johnny Mince and Peanuts Hucko drummers Buddy Rich, Louis Bellson, Gene Krupa and Dave Tough and singers Jo Stafford, Dick Haymes and Frank Sinatra. Sinatra achieved his first great success as a vocalist in the Dorsey band and claimed he learned breath control from watching Dorsey play trombone. Dorsey said his trombone style was heavily influenced by that of Jack Teagarden. Another member of the Dorsey band probably spent considerable time observing and listening to Sy Oliver's striking arrangements: trombonist Nelson Riddle, whose later partnership as Sinatra's major arranger and conductor is considered to have revolutionised post-World War II popular music.

Dorsey might have broken up his own band permanently following World War II, as many big bands did due to the shift in music economics following the war, and he did disband the orchestra at the end of 1946. But a top-ten selling album (All-Time Hits) made it possible for Dorsey to re-organise a big band in early 1947.


The biographical film of 1947, "The Fabulous Dorseys" describes sketchy details of how the brothers got their start from-the-bottom-up into the jazz era of one-nighters, the early days of radio in its infancy stages, and the onward march when both brothers ended up with Paul Whiteman before 1935 when The Dorsey Brothers' Orchestra split into two.

The Dorsey brothers themselves later reconciled---Jimmy Dorsey had had to break up his own highly successful big band in 1953, and brother Tommy invited him to join up as a feature attraction---but before long Tommy renamed the band the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra. The brothers took the unit on tour and onto their own television show, Stage Show, from 1954-1956---on which they introduced Elvis Presley to national television audiences, among others.


Death and aftermath

In 1956, Tommy Dorsey died at age 51 in his Greenwich, Connecticut home, choking in his sleep after a heavy meal following which he had been sedated with sleeping pills. Jimmy Dorsey (out of whose band Tommy had walked two decades earlier) led his brother's band until his own death of throat cancer the following year. At that point, trombonist Warren Covington assumed leadership of the band with, presumably, Jane Dorsey's blessing (she owned the rights to her late husband's band and name) and it produced, ironically enough, the biggest selling hit record ever released under the Dorsey name. Billed as the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra Starring Warren Covington, they topped the charts in 1958 with Tea For Two Cha-Cha. Covington led the Dorsey band through 1970 (he also led and recorded with his own organisation), after which Jane Dorsey renamed it, simply, The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, which is conducted today by Buddy Morrow, featuring vocalist Rob Zappulla. Jane Dorsey died of natural causes around the age of 79 in 2003.



Married life

Dorsey's married life was varied and at times headline making. His first wife was 16 year old Mildred Kraft with whom he eloped while he was 17 in 1922. They had two children- Patricia and Tom (nicknamed "Skipper") but divorced in 1943. He then wed movie actress Pat Dane in 1943 and they were divorced in 1947, but not before he gained headlines for striking actor Jon Hall when Hall embraced his wife Pat. Finally Dorsey married Jane Earl New (b. 23 October 1923 in Dublin, Laurens County, Georgia - d. 24 August 2003 in Bay Harbor Island, Miami-Dade County, Florida) on 27 March 1948 in Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia, and had two children - Catherine Susan and Steve. She remained his wife until his death. She had been a dancer at the world-renowned Copacabana.

Tommy and Jane Dorsey are interred together in Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York. Sinatra released a tribute album to Dorsey in 1961 entitled I Remember Tommy with arrangements by another Dorsey alumnus, Sy Oliver

Alan Young
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Born November 19, 1919 (1919-11-19) (age 88)
North Shields, Tyne and Wear, England

Alan Young (born November 19, 1919) is an actor best known for his television role opposite a talking horse, Mister Ed.

Born in North Shields,Tyne and Wear, England, with the given name Angus Young, he was raised in Edinburgh, Scotland and in Canada. He grew to love radio when bedbound as a child because of severe asthma and became a radio broadcaster on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. In 1944, he made the leap to American radio with The Alan Young Show, NBC's summer replacement for Eddie Cantor. Following a move to ABC two years later, he returned to NBC.

His television version of The Alan Young Show began in 1950. After the show's cancellation, Young appeared in supporting parts in films such as The Time Machine. His most popular venture, however, was Mister Ed, a CBS television show which ran from 1961 to 1966. He played the owner of a talking horse which would talk to no one but him.

In later life he founded a broadcast division for the Christian Science church and did animation voices. He was the voice of Scrooge McDuck for many Disney films and on the popular cartoon series DuckTales from 1987 to 1990. In Mickey's Christmas Carol, he portrays the character's miserly namesake. He also provided the voice of Jack Allen on the Focus on the Family radio drama, Adventures in Odyssey and voiced Hiram Flaversham in Disney's The Great Mouse Detective. His other cartoon voice appearances include Camp Lazlo, Megas XLR, Static Shock, House of Mouse, The Ren & Stimpy Show, Duckman, Batman: The Animated Series, TaleSpin, The Smurfs, The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries and Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends.

His television guest appearances include The Love Boat, Murder, She Wrote, St. Elsewhere, Coach, Party of Five, The Wayans Bros., Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, USA High, Hang Time, ER and Maybe It's Me.

In 1993, Mr. Young recreated his role as Filby for the mini-sequel to George Pal's classic The Time Machine reuniting him with Rod Taylor, who played George the Time Traveller. It was called Time Machine: The Journey Back directed by Clyde Lucas.

In 2000, he read H. G. Wells's The Time Machine for 7th Voyage Productions, Inc.

Currently, Alan Young voices the character of Jack Allen on the Focus on the Family audio series Adventures in Odyssey.

Gene Tierney
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Birth name Gene Eliza Tierney
Born November 19, 1920(1920-11-19)
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.

Died November 6, 1991, aged 70
Houston, Texas, U.S.
Spouse(s) Oleg Cassini (1941-1952; div.)
W. Howard Lee (1960-1981; desc.)
Children Antoinette Daria Cassini (b.1943)
Christina "Tina" Cassini (b.1948)

Gene Tierney (November 19, 1920 - November 6, 1991) was an American film and stage actress. Acclaimed as one of the most beautiful women of the twentieth century, she is probably best-remembered for her performance in the title role of Laura (1944) and her Academy Award-nominated performance for Best Actress in Leave Her to Heaven (1945). Other notable roles include Martha Strable Van Cleve in Heaven Can Wait (1943), Isabel Bradley Maturin in The Razor's Edge (1946), Lucy Muir in The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947), Ann Sutton in Whirlpool (1949), Maggie Carleton McNulty in The Mating Season (1951) and Anne Scott in The Left Hand of God (1955).





Biography

She was born Gene Eliza Tierney in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of Howard Sherwood Tierney and Belle Lavina Taylor. She had an older brother, Howard Sherwood "Butch" Tierney, Jr., and a younger sister, Patricia "Pat" Tierney. Her father was a prosperous insurance broker of Irish descent, her mother a former gym teacher.

Gene attended St. Margaret School, Waterbury, Connecticut, and the Unquowa School in Bridgeport. Her first poem, titled "Night", was published in the school magazine, and writing verse became an occasional pastime during the rest of her life. She then spent two years in Europe and attended the Brillantmont finishing school in Lausanne, Switzerland, where she learned to speak fluent French.

She returned to the U.S. in 1938 and attended Miss Porter's School. On a trip to the West Coast, she visited Warner Bros. and was told by Anatole Litvak - who was so taken by her beauty - that she should become an actress. Warners wanted to sign her to a contract, but her parents advised against it because of the low salary. Her coming-out party as a debutante was September 24, when she was seventeen, but she soon became bored with society life and decided to pursue a career in acting. Her father felt if Gene was to be an actress, it should be in the legitimate theater. Tierney auditioned for the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York and was accepted. Other notable talents of the era who studied there include Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Grace Kelly and Lauren Bacall.


Personal life

Tierney married twice, first to costume and fashion designer Oleg Cassini on July 11, 1941. She and Cassini had two daughters, Antoinette Daria Cassini (born October 15, 1943) and Christina "Tina" Cassini (born November 19, 1948). In June 1943, while pregnant with her first daughter, she contracted German measles during her only appearance at the Hollywood Canteen. Daria was born prematurely in Washington, D.C., weighing only 3 pounds, 2 ounces, and requiring a total blood transfusion. Because of Tierney's illness, Daria was also deaf, partially blind with cataracts, with severe mental retardation. Tierney's grief over the tragedy led to many years of depression and may have begun her bi-polar disorder. Some time after the tragedy surrounding her daughter Daria's birth, Tierney learned from a fan who approached her for an autograph that the woman, then a member of the women's branch of the Marine Corps, had sneaked out of quarantine while sick with German measles to meet Tierney, at her only Hollywood Canteen appearance. In her autobiography, Tierney related that after the woman had recounted her story, she just stared at her silently, then turned and walked away. She wrote, "After that I didn't care whether ever again I was anyone's favorite actress." Biographers have theorized and speculated that Agatha Christie used this real life tragedy as the basis of her plot for The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side. The incident, as well as the circumstances under which the information is imparted to the actress, is repeated almost verbatim in the story. Tierney's tragedy had been well publicized for years previously. During this time, Howard Hughes, an old friend, saw to it that Daria received the best medical care available, paying for all of her medical expenses. Tierney never forgot Hughes' acts of kindness.

Tierney separated from Cassini, challenged by the marital stress of Daria's condition, but they later reconciled and had a second daughter, Tina. During her separation, Tierney had two romances. The first was with Tyrone Power, her co-star in The Razor's Edge. That came to an end in the spring of 1946. During the filming of Dragonwyck, she met a young John F. Kennedy, who was visiting the set. They began a romance that ended the following year, when Kennedy told her he could never marry her because of his political ambitions. Tierney then reconciled with Cassini, but they were divorced on February 28, 1952. In 1960, Tierney sent Kennedy a note of congratulations on his election victory although she later admitted that she voted for Richard Nixon because she thought that he would make a better president.

In 1958, she met Texas oil baron W. Howard Lee, who was married to Hedy Lamarr from 1953 to 1960. Tierney and Lee were married in Aspen on July 11, 1960 and lived in Houston. She loved life in Texas with Lee and became an expert bridge player. In 1962, 20th Century Fox announced she would play the lead role in Return to Peyton Place, but she became pregnant and dropped out of the project. She later miscarried the baby.

Her autobiography, Self-Portrait, in which she candidly discussed her life, career and mental illness, was published in 1979.

On February 17, 1981, she was widowed after a long and supportive marriage. Tierney died in 1991 shortly before her 71st birthday, of emphysema in Houston, Texas, and is interred beside Lee, in Section E-1 of Glenwood Cemetery. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6125 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood.


Career

Broadway

In her first part on Broadway, she carried a bucket of water across the stage in What a Life! (1938). The Variety Magazine critic declared, "Miss Tierney is certainly the most beautiful water carrier I've ever seen!" At the same time, she was an understudy for The Primerose Path (1938). The next year, she appeared in the role as Molly O'Day in the Broadway production Mrs. O'Brien Entertains (1939), and was praised by Brooks Atkinson in the New York Times. That same year, Gene appeared as Peggy Carr in Ring Two (1939), to favorable reviews. Theater critic Richard Watts wrote, "I see no reason why Miss Tierney should not have long and interesting Stage career, that is if Hollywood does not steal her away."

Tierney also worked as a photographic model in between her appearances on the stage. Photos of her appeared in Life, Harper's Bazaar, and Collier's Weekly.

Her father set up a corporation, Belle-Tier, to fund and promote her acting career (he went on to steal all of her money), and Columbia signed her to a six-month contract in 1939. She also met Howard Hughes, who tried unsuccessfully to seduce her, but she was from a well-to-do family and was not impressed by his wealth. However, he became a lifelong friend. A cameraman advised her to lose a little weight, saying "a thinner face is more seductive." She then wrote to Harper's Bazaar for a slimming diet, which she followed for the next twenty years.

The studio failed to find her a project, so she returned to New York and starred as Patricia Stanley to critical and commercial success in The Male Animal (1940). She was the toast of Broadway before her twentieth birthday.


Film career

Hollywood called once again. Tierney was offered the lead in MGM's National Velvet, but when the production was delayed, she signed with 20th Century Fox. Her motion picture debut was in a co-starring role as Elenore Stone in Fritz Lang's western The Return of Frank James (1940) opposite Henry Fonda. A small role as Barbra Hall followed in Hudson's Bay (1941) with Paul Muni.

1941 was a busy year for the actress, as she co-starred as Ellie Mae Lester in John Ford's drama Tobacco Road, the title role in Belle Starr, Zia in Sundown, Victoria Charteris aka Poppy Smith in The Shanghai Gesture. In 1942, she played Eve in Son of Fury, the dual role as Susan Miller aka Linda Worthington in the screwball comedy Rings on Her Fingers, Kay Saunders in Thunder Birds, and Miss Young in China Girl.

Top billing in Ernst Lubitsch's classic 1943 comedy Heaven Can Wait as Martha Strable Van Cleve signaled an upward turn in Tierney's career as her popularity increased. In 1944, she starred in what became her most famous role, as the intended murder victim, Laura Hunt, in Otto Preminger's mystery Laura opposite Dana Andrews. After playing Tina Tomasino in A Bell for Adano (1945), she played the jealous, narcissistic femme fatale Ellen Berent Harland, opposite Cornel Wilde, in the film version of the best-selling book Leave Her to Heaven?-a performance that won her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress (1945). Leave Her To Heaven was Fox's most successful film of the 1940s.

Tierney starred as Miranda Wells in Dragonwyck (1946). That same year, she played Isabel Bradley opposite Tyrone Power in The Razor's Edge, an adaptation of Somerset Maugham's novel. She followed that with her role as Lucy Muir in The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947) opposite Rex Harrison. The following year, Tierney co-starred once again with Power as Sara Farley in the successful screwball comedy That Wonderful Urge (1948). As the decade came to a close, Tierney reunited with Laura director Preminger to star as Ann Sutton in the classic film noir Whirlpool, co-starring Richard Conte and Jose Ferrer (1949).

Tierney gave memorable performances in two classic film noirs, Jules Dassin's Night and the City as Mary Bristol co-starring Richard Widmark and Otto Preminger's Where the Sidewalk Ends as Morgan Taylor with her Laura co-star Dana Andrews (both in 1950).


In 1951, she was loaned out to Paramount Pictures and gave a memorable comic turn as Maggie Carleton in Mitchell Leisen's classic screwball comedy The Mating Season with John Lund, Thelma Ritter and Miriam Hopkins. This was also the year Tierney gave a tender performance as Midge Sheridan opposite Ray Milland in Close to my Heart (1951) (Warner Bros.). The film is about a couple trying to adopt. Gene felt this was her best role in a half dozen years, as it touched the chords of her own experience. The film addressed the issue of "nature vs nurture" and opened an early conversation about the adoption process. Later in her career, she would be reunited with Milland in Daughter of the Mind (1969), which has a cult following.

After appearing opposite Rory Calhoun as Teresa in Way of The Gaucho (1952), her contract at 20th Century Fox expired. That same year, she starred as Dorothy Bradford in Plymouth Adventure opposite Spencer Tracy at MGM, which was followed by Never Let Me Go (1953) as Marya Lamarkina opposite Clark Gable which was filmed in England. Gene found Gable patient and considerate, but lonely and vulnerable, still mourning the death of Carole Lombard. She remained in Europe to play Kay Barlow in United Artists Personal Affair (1953), which was released that same year. While Tierney was in Europe, she began a romance with Prince Ali Khan, but their marriage plans met with fierce opposition from his father, the Aga Khan. Early 1953 She returned to the U.S to co-star in a murder mystery as Iris Denver in Black Widow (1954) with Ginger Rogers.

During 1953, Tierney's mental health problems were becoming harder for her to hide; she dropped out of Mogambo and was replaced by Grace Kelly. While playing Anne Scott in The Left Hand of God (1955) opposite Humphrey Bogart, Tierney's long string of personal troubles finally took their toll. She said that "Bogey could tell that I was mentally unstable." During the production, he fed Tierney her lines, and encouraged her to seek help. Worried about her mental health, she consulted a psychiatrist, and was admitted to Harkness Pavilion in New York. Later, she went to the The Institute of Living in Hartford, Connecticut. After some 27 shock treatments, she attempted to flee, but was caught and re-institutionalized. She became an outspoken opponent of shock treatment therapy, claiming that it had destroyed significant portions of her memory.

In 1957, Tierney was seen by a neighbor as she was about to jump from a ledge. The police were called, and she was admitted to the Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kansas on December 25. She was released from Menninger the following year, after a treatment that included, in its final stages, working as a sales girl in a large department store (where she was recognized by a customer, resulting in sensational newspaper headlines).

20th Century Fox offered her a lead role in Holiday for Lovers (1957), but the stress proved too great. Days into production, she was forced to drop out of the film and was readmitted to Menninger.


Comeback

She made a screen comeback in Advise and Consent (1962), co-starring Franchot Tone. A year later she played Albertine Prine in Toys in the Attic, starring Dean Martin and Geraldine Page. She received overall critical praise for her performances. Tierney played Jane Barton in The Pleasure Seekers (1964), starring Ann-Margret, Anthony Franciosa, and Carol Lynley, then again retired.

However, she starred in the television movie Daughter of the Mind (1969), with Don Murray and Ray Milland. Tierney's final performance was in the TV mini-series Scruples (1980), starring Lindsay Wagner.

Quotes



About Tierney

"Undeniably the most beautiful woman in movie history" - Darryl F Zanuck, former chief of production and founder of Twentieth Century Fox.
"Although she was beautiful in her films, they couldn't quite capture all of her. Fortunately, I did, even if it was late in my life." - Spencer Tracy, actor.
"This one is in Technicolor. That means that the audience will also get the force of those Tierney green eyes. Now maybe they'll understand why scriptwriters have me go off the deep end every time I'm in the same picture as her." - Vincent Price actor.
"Gene is the luckiest, unlucky girl in the world" - Oleg Cassini, first husband, fashion designer.
"I see no reason why Miss Tierney should not have a long and interesting Stage career, that is if Hollywood does not steal her away." - Richard Watts, Theater critic.
"The woman with the Mona Lisa smile who left us haunting images of her presence on screen forever remembered as 'the face in the misty light'." - Neil Doyle, film historian.

By Tierney

"Everyone should see Hollywood once, I think, through the eyes of a teenage girl who has just passed a screen test."
"I loved to eat. For all of Hollywoods rewards, I was hungry for most of those 25 years."
"Jealousy is, I think, the worst of all faults, it makes a victim of both parties."
"I do not recall spending long hours in a mirror loving my reflection."
"Wealth, beauty and fame are transient. When those are gone, little is left except the need to be useful."

Cultural references - Movie facts


Tierney negotiated a unique contract with a raise every six months and she was to be given half a year off-with written notice to the studio-to appear on Broadway.
When Grauman's Chinese Theatre resumed cement handprints and footprints after World War II ended in 1945, Gene was the first actor asked to continue the tradition. Laura (1944) had been a hit, and with the release of Leave Her to Heaven (1945), her star was rising fast in the mid-1940s.
She was well known for her prominent overbite, which was clearly protuberant in The Shanghai Gesture (1941).
Gene started smoking after a screening of her first movie " I sounded like an angry Minnie Mouse" to lower her voice. She was a heavy smoker her entire life which contributed to her death from emphysema.
Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis had a comedy routine in which Lewis (in boxing shorts and gear) states he's fighting Gene Tierney, Martin corrects Lewis and suggests that he must mean Gene Tunney (the Heavyweight Boxing Champ). Lewis then quips, "You fight who you wanna fight, I'm fight'n who I wanna fight, I'm fight'n Gene Tierney."
The theme from Laura was adapted by Johnny Mercer (who wrote the lyrics), Dick Haymes, Woody Herman and Frank Sinatra, all of whom had hits. Laura has been recorded by various artists over four hundred times.
Contrary to some published reports, Gene's birth name was never "Jean". Gene was named after a beloved uncle who died young as told in her autobiography Self-Portrait (1979)
The famous portrait of Gene in Laura was in fact a photograph that the studio lightly brushed with paint. That same portrait can be seen in color in On the Riviera (1951).

Meg Ryan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



Birth name Margaret Mary Emily Hyra
Born November 19, 1961 (1961-11-19) (age 46)
Fairfield, Connecticut
Years active 1981 - present
Spouse(s) Dennis Quaid (1991-2001)
[show]Awards
Golden Globe Awards
Nominated: Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical/Comedy
1990 When Harry Met Sally...
1994 Sleepless in Seattle
1999 You've Got Mail

Meg Ryan (born November 19, 1961) is an American actress who specializes in romantic comedies but has also worked in other film genres.



Biography

Early life

Ryan was born Margaret Mary Emily Hyra in Fairfield, Connecticut, daughter of Susan Jordan (née Ryan), a former teacher of English, actress, and casting director, and Harry Hyra, a math teacher.[1][2] She went by the name Peggy (also her grandmother's nickname) as a child. She has two sisters, Dana and Annie, and a brother, Andrew. Ryan was raised in the Catholic religion[3] and graduated from Saint Pius X Elementary School in Fairfield, where her mother taught the sixth grade. There, Ryan was confirmed into the Catholic Church, choosing Anne as her confirmation name. Ryan's mother had appeared in one television commercial and later worked briefly as an assistant casting director in New York City. She supported and encouraged her young daughter's study of acting. At age 18, through her mother's connections, she booked her first television commercial, doing chin-ups and giggling to promote "Tickle" deodorant.

She graduated from Bethel High School in 1979, where she was elected Homecoming Queen. She went on to study journalism at the University of Connecticut and then at New York University, while acting in television commercials to earn extra money. Her success led her to drop out of college only a semester shy of graduating.


Soap opera career & early film work: 1982-1988

After her first role in a feature film, Rich and Famousz (1981), Ryan (then using her screen name) played Betsy Stewart in the daytime drama As the World Turns from 1982 to 1984. Several TV film and smaller movie roles followed. Ryan's first film role was a small role in Amityville 3-D, She appealed to much larger audiences in the 1986 blockbuster Top Gun. Ryan then appeared in the indie film The Promise Land, where she received her first Independent Spirit Award Nominaton. Ryan then appeared in two romantic movies D.O.A. and The Presidio.


Film success 1989-1999

Her first full-blown hit in a leading role was the romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally... (1989) which paired her with comedic leading man Billy Crystal. Her portrayal of Sally Albright, which earned her a Golden Globe nomination, is memorable for her depiction of a theatrical faked orgasm in a Manhattan delicatessen (shot at the legendary Katz's on E. Houston Street.) The film would be the first of three successful Nora Ephron films in which Ryan would be typecast as a bubbly, feisty, incurable romantic. Ryan then starred in The Doors, and Prelude to a Kiss. Both films were moderately successful.She had much success with her on-screen pairing with Tom Hanks. They starred in three films together: Joe Versus the Volcano, Sleepless In Seattle and You've Got Mail. She made several attempts to break away from the romantic comedy ingenue stereotype, and garnered critical acclaim for her work in When a Man Loves a Woman in which she played an alcoholic and Courage Under Fire, portraying a captain in the Gulf War. Many of her films of the 1990s were hits not only in North America, but also abroad. In 1994, Ryan won the Harvard Hasty Pudding Award as "Woman of the Year". That same year, People Magazine dubbed her one of "The 50 most beautiful people in the world". In 1997 Ryan steped in the animated film Anastasia which garnered good reviews, and box office. In 1998 Ryan released two films, one of them being City of Angels, which drew negative reviews, but it became a huge financial success, topping nearly 200 million worldwide, her final film was You've Got Mail which garnered her third and final Golden Globe nomination, it also made over 250 million worldwide, becoming her last box office smash.


Personal and professional setbacks 2000-2003

In 2000 Ryan starred in the action thriller Proof of Life opposite Russell Crowe. The two actors carried on a clandestine love affair during filming. The media then pounced on the story, and critics and audiences scorned the movie. That same year Ryan returned to her Romantic comedy roots in the film Kate & Leopold. The film was well-received by critics, but failed to find an audience. In 2003, she consciously broke away from her usual roles. Ryan had generally refused to do nude scenes during her career, but at the age of 42 starred in Jane Campion's In the Cut, an erotic crime thriller in which Ryan appeared in love scenes featuring full-frontal nudity. That decision got Ryan much attention, but movie still proved to be a failure with both critics and audiences.


Hiatus and Activism 2005-2006

Ryan talked with Oprah Winfrey (March 1, 2006, The Oprah Winfrey Show) about her work with CARE in India and empowering women in poor countries.[4]

In January 2006, Ryan adopted a daughter, one-year-old Daisy True, from China.


Comeback attempts 2007 - present

Ryan's most recent project, George Gallo's My Mom's New Boyfriend, was shot in the fall of 2006 in Shreveport, Louisiana and is due to be released in 2008. The romantic comedy stars Ryan opposite Antonio Banderas. Ryan is joined by former co-star Tom Hanks's son, Colin, who plays her son in the film.[5][6] In 2007 she played the role of Sarah, in In The Land of Women, co-staring Adam Brody. Meg won over critics from both the industry and the public.

Ryan's next project is a remake of the 1939 classic film The Women, which is slated to begin filming in New York City in August 2007. The $18 million remake of the George Cukor classic is being directed by Murphy Brown creator Diane English and produced by Mick Jagger. It's slated for release in 2008. Ryan will play the central character, Mary Haines, a wealthy woman who is one of the last to find out that her husband is cheating on her with a shop girl. The leading role was originally made famous by actress Norma Shearer. Annette Bening, Eva Mendes and Candice Bergen are also slated to star in the remake.[7]


Personal life

Ryan married actor Dennis Quaid on Valentine's Day in 1991, after starring in two films with him. It was during Ryan's engagement to Quaid that she had a falling out with her mother over his alleged drug abuse. Ryan agreed to marry him only after he kicked his drug and alcohol addiction. Quaid and Ryan have one child together, Jack Henry, born April 24, 1992. The couple divorced on July 16, 2001. Although Ryan had a relationship with actor Russell Crowe, with whom she made a movie, both she and Quaid deny it was a factor in their divorce. In a 2006 interview with Allure, Ryan indicated that Quaid had not been faithful to her during their marriage.

Ryan tends to support the U.S. Democratic Party, especially its environment protection programs and initiatives. In 2003, she supported General Wesley Clark's campaign for U.S. president. She supported John Kerry during the 2004 presidential elections. [citation needed]

Jodie Foster
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Birth name Alicia Christian Foster
Born November 19, 1962 (1962-11-19) (age 45)
Los Angeles, California, United States
Years active 1968 - present
[show]Awards
Academy Awards
Best Actress
1988 The Accused
1991 The Silence of the Lambs
BAFTA Awards
Best Actress in a Supporting Role
1976 Taxi Driver ; Bugsy Malone
Best Newcomer
1976 Taxi Driver ; Bugsy Malone
Best Actress in a Leading Role
1991 The Silence of the Lambs
Golden Globe Awards
Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
1989 The Accused
1992 The Silence of the Lambs
Screen Actors Guild Awards
Outstanding Actress in a Leading Role
1994 Nell
Other Awards
Saturn Award for Best Actress (film)
1978 The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane
1998 Contact
NBR Award for Best Actress
1988 The Accused
NYFCC Award for Best Actress
1991 The Silence of the Lambs

Alicia Christian Foster (born November 19, 1962), better known as Jodie Foster, is a two-time Academy Award-winning American actress, director, and producer. She has also won two Golden Globes, 3 BAFTA awards and a Screen Actors Guild Award, making her one of the few select actors to have won all four major motion picture acting awards (Oscars, Golden Globes, SAG, and BAFTA awards).

After appearing as a child in several commercials, Foster won her first role in the 1970 TV movie Menace on the Mountain, followed by several Disney productions. Foster did not experience her breakout role until 1976, when she received moderate recognition but great acclaim for her role as a pre-teenage prostitute in Taxi Driver, receiving an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She won an Oscar for Best Actress in 1988, for playing a rape victim in The Accused. In 1991, she starred in The Silence of the Lambs as Clarice Starling, a gifted FBI Agent investigating a serial killer. For this performance she received international acclaim and another Oscar for Best Actress. Her films and roles have spanned a wide variety of genres, including thrillers, crime, romance, comedy, children's movies, and science fiction. Popular later films include the box office successes Contact (1997), Panic Room (2002), Flightplan (2005) and Inside Man (2006).

Due to her continual success as a headlining film star wielding enormous clout at the world wide box office, Jodie Foster is considered to have a much-envied Hollywood Midas touch. [1]





Early life

Foster was born to Lucius Foster III and Evelyn 'Brandy' (née Almond) Foster in Los Angeles, California. Her father, an Air Force colonel turned real estate broker, came from a wealthy background and left Foster's family a few months before she was born.[2] Foster's mother supported the family by working as a film producer. She sent her daughter to an exclusive French-speaking prep school, the Lycée Français de Los Angeles, from which Foster graduated valedictorian before going to Yale University where she earned a B.A. in literature and graduated magna cum laude in 1985.[3][4] While at Yale, Foster, like fellow 1985 Yale graduate Jennifer Beals of Flashdance fame, led a fairly normal life, considering her celebrity status. She would often spend time with friends at the local dive bar Anchor, and she occasionally partied in the haunts of one of the secret societies, the Manuscript Society (a scene recounting such an event is noted in Tom Perrotta's novel Joe College).


Career

1970-1979

Foster made nearly 50 film and television appearances before she attended college. She began her career at age three as the Coppertone Girl in a television commercial and debuted as a television actress in a 1968 episode of Mayberry R.F.D.[5] In 1969 she appeared in an episode of Gunsmoke where she was credited as "Jody Foster". She made her film debut in the 1970 TV movie Menace on the Mountain. Foster made a number of Disney movies, including Napoleon and Samantha (1972), One Little Indian (1973), Freaky Friday (1976) and Candleshoe (1977). She also co-starred with Christopher Connelly in the 1974 TV series version of Paper Moon and alongside Martin Sheen in the 1976 cult film The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane. As a teenager, Foster made several appearances on the French pop music circuit as a singer. Commenting on her years as a child actress, which she describes as an "actor's career," Foster has said that "it was very clear to me at a young age that I had to fight for my life and that if I didn't, my life would get gobbled up and taken away from me."[6] She hosted Saturday Night Live at age fourteen, making her the youngest person to host at that time until Drew Barrymore hosted at the age of seven. She also said, "I think all of us when we look back on our childhood, we always think of it as somebody else. It's just a completely different place. But I was lucky to be around in the '70s and to be really making movies in the '70s with some great filmmakers ?- the most exciting time, for me, in American cinema. And I learned a lot from very interesting artists, and I learned a lot about the business at a young age. Because, for whatever reason, I was paying attention. So it was kind of invaluable in my career."[7]

Foster was originally considered for the role of Princess Leia in Star Wars, but was unable to pull out of her contract with Disney.[8] She made her debut (and only official) musical recordings in France in 1977: two 7" singles, "Je T'attends Depuis la Nuit des Temps" b/w "La Vie C'est Chouette" and "When I Looked at Your Face" b/w "La Vie C'est Chouette."[3] The A-side of the former is sung in French, the A-side of the latter in English. The B-side of both is mostly spoken word and is performed in both French and English. These three recordings were included on the soundtrack to Foster's 1977 French film Moi, fleur bleue. Foster also sang in the film Bugsy Malone, for which she received two BAFTA awards in 1976: Best Newcomer and Best Supporting Actress.

At age fourteen, Foster was nominated for the Academy Award For Best Supporting Actress for her role as a pre-teen prostitute in Martin Scorsese's film Taxi Driver opposite Robert De Niro.[9] De Niro's character, the psychotic Travis Bickle, intends to "save" her from life on the streets. When that does not succeed, he tries to assassinate a presidential candidate. After this fails, he shoots Iris' pimp, played by Harvey Keitel.[10]

John Hinckley Jr., a deranged fan, became obsessed with her after watching the film a number of times,[11][12] and he stalked her while she attended Yale, sending her love letters to her campus mail box and even talking to her on the phone. On March 30, 1981, he attempted to assassinate U.S. President Ronald Reagan (shooting and wounding Reagan and three others) and claimed his motive was to impress Foster, then a Yale freshman. The media stormed the Yale campus in April "like a cavalry invasion", and followed Foster relentlessly.[9] In 1982, Foster was called to testify during his trial. After she responded to a question by saying that "I don't have any relationship with John Hinckley," Hinckley threw a pen at her and yelled "I'll get you, Foster!"[13] Another man, Edward Richardson, followed Foster around Yale and planned to shoot her, but decided against it because she "was too pretty". This all caused intense discomfort to Foster, who has been known to walk out of interviews if Hinckley's name is even mentioned.[14] In 1991, Foster canceled an interview with NBC's Today Show when she was told Hinckley's name would be mentioned in her introduction.[15] Foster's only public reactions to this were a press conference afterwards and an article entitled Why Me?, which she wrote for Esquire in December 1982, about two years after the assassination attempt.[16] In 1999, she discussed the experience with Charlie Rose of 60 Minutes II.[17]


1980-present

Unlike other child stars such as Shirley Temple or Tatum O'Neal, Foster successfully made the transition to adult roles, but not without initial difficulty. Several of her post-Taxi Driver works were financially unsuccessful, such as Foxes,[18] The Hotel New Hampshire,[19] Five Corners,[20] and Stealing Home.[21] She had to audition for her role in The Accused.[9] She won the part and the first of her two Golden Globes and Academy Awards as Best Actress for her role as a gang-rape survivor. She earned her second as FBI agent Clarice Starling, opposite Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter, in the 1991 film, The Silence of the Lambs.[9]

She made her directorial debut in 1991 with Little Man Tate, a critically acclaimed[22] drama about a child prodigy, in which she also co-starred as the child's mother.[9] She also directed Home For The Holidays (1995), a black comedy starring Holly Hunter and Robert Downey Jr..[7] In 1992, Foster founded a production company called Egg Pictures in Los Angeles. It primarily produced independent films until it was closed in 2001. Foster said that she did not have the ambition to produce "big mainstream popcorn" movies, and as a child, independent films made her more interested in the movie business than mainstream ones.[7] She began working as a producer in 1994 with the acclaimed Nell, the story of a young woman raised in an isolated place who has to return to civilization.[9] She later commented that it was difficult being an actress and a producer for Nell.[7]

Foster played Laural Sommersby in Sommersby and Annabelle Bransford in the 1994 film Maverick. Sommersby co-star Richard Gere would comment that "She's very much a close-up actress, because her thoughts are clear."[23] In 1997, she starred alongside Matthew McConaughey in the sci-fi movie Contact, based on the novel by scientist Carl Sagan. She portrayed a scientist searching for extra-terrestrial life in the SETI project. She commented on the script that "I have to have some acute personal connection with the material. And that's pretty hard for me to find". Contact was also her first science fiction film, and her first experience with a bluescreen. She commented, "Blue walls, blue roof. It was just blue, blue, blue. And I was rotated on a lazy Susan with the camera moving on a computerized arm. It was really tough".[24] In 1998, an asteroid, 17744 Jodiefoster, was named in her honor.[25]

In 2002 Foster took over the lead role in David Fincher's Panic Room after Nicole Kidman was injured during initial filming, the film grossed over 30 million dollars in its opening weekend in the United States, Foster's biggest box office opening success of her career so far.[7] She then performed in the French-language film, Un long dimanche de fiançailles (2004), speaking French fluently throughout. As a fluent French speaker, Foster dubs her own voice in all her movies for release in French-speaking countries. After taking time away from the spotlight, Foster returned in the 2005 film Flightplan which opened once again #1 at the US box office and was a world wide hit. Foster portrayed a woman whose daughter disappears on an airplane that Foster's character, an engineer, had helped to design.[26]

In 2006, she appeared in Inside Man, a thriller directed by Spike Lee and co-starring Denzel Washington and Clive Owen, which true to form opened #1 at the US box office. Her latest film is The Brave One, a thriller which opened once again at #1 at the US box office [27] was filmed in New York City, both in Manhattan and Brooklyn. It is directed by Neil Jordan and co-stars Terrence Howard. Commenting on her latest roles, Foster has said that she enjoys appearing in mainstream genre films that have a "real heart to them."[28] Indeed, many of her most successful films since the millennium have been thrillers.

At the 2007 Academy Awards, she referred to the death of Randy Stone two weeks prior and called him her best friend. She enjoys physical activity while making movies.[7] She commented that doing nude scenes is "a little scary."[23]


Current projects

Foster was set to direct, as well as reunite with actor Robert De Niro, for the film Sugarland. Ultimately the film was shelved indefinitely in 2007. Foster's upcoming films include Nim's Island, where she portrays a reclusive writer who is contacted by a young girl, played by Abigail Breslin, and the bio-flick, Leni Riefenstahl.


Personal life and recognition

She has two sisters and a brother, Lucinda "Cindy" Foster (born 1954), Constance "Connie" Foster (b. 1955), and Lucius "Buddy" Foster (b. 1957). During the filming of both Taxi Driver and The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane, Connie was her stand-in.

Foster is intensely private about certain aspects of her personal life, notably her sexual orientation, which has been the subject of speculation.[29] She is currently in a relationship with Cydney Bernard, her partner for over a decade, but has been reluctant to openly discuss any aspect of their relationship with the media.[30][31] Foster pulled out of the film Double Jeopardy when she became pregnant,[32] and filmed Panic Room during the first months of her second pregnancy.[7] She has two sons, Charles (b. 1998) and Kit (b. 2001); Foster has never identified or discussed their father. Foster does not follow any "traditional religion," but has "great respect for all religions" and enjoys reading religious texts.[33][23] In an interview, she said she is an atheist.[34] In an interview with Entertainment Weekly she stated that she and her children celebrate both Christmas and Channukah.

She gave the Class of 2006 University of Pennsylvania commencement address on May 15, 2006, the university's 250th commencement. The university also conferred on her the Doctor of Arts (honoris causa) degree for her lifelong achievement and contribution to film in both acting and directing.[35][36] Her commencement address is available in Webcast(jump to 1:44:08) and MP3 format.

More intriguing English examples. There's no question in my mind that rules were made to be broken.



Poem of English


Dearest creature in creation,
Study English pronunciation.
I will teach you in my verse
Sounds like corpse, corps, horse, and worse.
I will keep you, Suzy, busy,
Make your head with heat grow dizzy.
Tear in eye, your dress will tear.
So shall I! Oh hear my prayer.

Just compare heart, beard, and heard,
Dies and diet, lord and word,
Sword and sward, retain and Britain.
(Mind the latter, how it's written.)
Now I surely will not plague you
With such words as plaque and ague.
But be careful how you speak:
Say break and steak, but bleak and streak;
Cloven, oven, how and low,
Script, receipt, show, poem, and toe.

Hear me say, devoid of trickery,
Daughter, laughter, and Terpsichore,
Typhoid, measles, topsails, aisles,
Exiles, similes, and reviles;
Scholar, vicar, and cigar,
Solar, mica, war and far;
One, anemone, Balmoral,
Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel;
Gertrude, German, wind and mind,
Scene, Melpomene, mankind.

Billet does not rhyme with ballet,
Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet.
Blood and flood are not like food,
Nor is mould like should and would.
Viscous, viscount, load and broad,
Toward, to forward, to reward.
And your pronunciation's OK
When you correctly say croquet,
Rounded, wounded, grieve and sieve,
Friend and fiend, alive and live.

Ivy, privy, famous; clamour
And enamour rhyme with hammer.
River, rival, tomb, bomb, comb,
Doll and roll and some and home.
Stranger does not rhyme with anger,
Neither does devour with clangour.
Souls but foul, haunt but aunt,
Font, front, wont, want, grand, and grant,
Shoes, goes, does. Now first say finger,
And then singer, ginger, linger,
Real, zeal, mauve, gauze, gouge and gauge,
Marriage, foliage, mirage, and age.

Query does not rhyme with very,
Nor does fury sound like bury.
Dost, lost, post and doth, cloth, loth.
Job, nob, bosom, transom, oath.
Though the differences seem little,
We say actual but victual.
Refer does not rhyme with deafer.
Foeffer does, and zephyr, heifer.
Mint, pint, senate and sedate;
Dull, bull, and George ate late.
Scenic, Arabic, Pacific,
Science, conscience, scientific.

Liberty, library, heave and heaven,
Rachel, ache, moustache, eleven.
We say hallowed, but allowed,
People, leopard, towed, but vowed.
Mark the differences, moreover,
Between mover, cover, clover;
Leeches, breeches, wise, precise,
Chalice, but police and lice;
Camel, constable, unstable,
Principle, disciple, label.

Petal, panel, and canal,
Wait, surprise, plait, promise, pal.
Worm and storm, chaise, chaos, chair,
Senator, spectator, mayor.
Tour, but our and succour, four.
Gas, alas, and Arkansas.
Sea, idea, Korea, area,
Psalm, Maria, but malaria.
Youth, south, southern, cleanse and clean.
Doctrine, turpentine, marine.

Compare alien with Italian,
Dandelion and battalion.
Sally with ally, yea, ye,
Eye, I, ay, aye, whey, and key.
Say aver, but ever, fever,
Neither, leisure, skein, deceiver.
Heron, granary, canary.
Crevice and device and aerie.

Face, but preface, not efface.
Phlegm, phlegmatic, ass, glass, bass.
Large, but target, gin, give, verging,
Ought, out, joust and scour, scourging.
Ear, but earn and wear and tear
Do not rhyme with here but ere.
Seven is right, but so is even,
Hyphen, roughen, nephew Stephen,
Monkey, donkey, Turk and jerk,
Ask, grasp, wasp, and cork and work.

Pronunciation -- think of Psyche!
Is a paling stout and spikey?
Won't it make you lose your wits,
Writing groats and saying grits?
It's a dark abyss or tunnel:
Strewn with stones, stowed, solace, gunwale,
Islington and Isle of Wight,
Housewife, verdict and indict.

Finally, which rhymes with enough --
Though, through, plough, or dough, or cough?
Hiccough has the sound of cup.
My advice is to give up!

First, Bob, allow me to wish you and Nair a Happy Thanksgiving, and all of our radio audience. (except Europe)

Incidentally, Boston, your poem about English, parallels the Pet Peeves portion of our audience. Thanks for the confusion, buddy.

Actually, folks, English is the third most difficult language to learn.

Here are two songs that are mirror reflections of two or more of our celebs.

A horse is a horse, of course, of course,
And no one can talk to a horse of course
That is, of course, unless the horse is the famous Mr. Ed.

Go right to the source and ask the horse
He'll give you the answer that you'll endorse.
He's always on a steady course.
Talk to Mr. Ed.

People yakkity yak a streak and waste your time of day
But Mister Ed will never speak unless he has something to say.

A horse is a horse, of course, of course,
And this one'll talk 'til his voice is hoarse.
You never heard of a talking horse?

Well listen to this.

I am Mister Ed.

Laura is the face in the misty light
Footsteps that you hear down the hall
The laugh that floats on a summer night
That you can never quite recall

And you see Laura on a train that is passing through
Those eyes, how familiar they seem
She gave your very first kiss to you
That was Laura, but she's only a dream

She gave your very first kiss to you
That was Laura, but she's only a dream

Good morning WA2K.

Today's celeb photo gallery:

Clifton Webb (Wonder if "Laura" was filmed in November. Clifton and Gene could have shared a cake on the set); Tommy Dorsey, Alan Young, Gene Tierney, Meg Ryan and Jodie Foster

letty wrote :



and HAPPY THANKSGIVING to you and all listeners ( INCLUDING those in europe too :wink: . )
we already had our thanksgiving in canada in october and in germany they had ERNTE DANKFEST (harvest thanksgiving) .
i don't mind celebrating all kinds of festivities as often as necessary :wink: - the more the merrier !
hbg

GERMAN HARVEST FESTIVAL

Oh, my goodness, folks. Our Raggedy got her puppy back. Those flyers must have helped. Thanks once again for the lovely collage, and today it's a sextet. I always wonder about things, puppy.

Ah, hbg. I really think that Adam is a funny man. I love the song, Canada. Thanks. Your photo is awesome as well.

Actually, listeners, what I meant about Thanksgiving here is resolved in the following pnemonic device.

The year 1620 the pilgrims came over.
The good ship Mayflower brought them crosse the sea.

I bet a lot of those puritan ladies "came across" on the Mayflower. :wink:

Here's a little song we used to sing as kids.



There's a great big turkey on grandpa's farm
And he think he's mighty gay.

He spreads his tail into a great big fan
And he struts around all day.

You should hear him gobble at the girls and boys
Well, he thinks that's singing when he makes that noise.

He'll be singing a different kind of tune
This Thanksgiving day.

Letty:
I got all sentimental, when you mentioned Lilies of The Field. What a movie!

And you Edgar, you took me right back to 1959, when I was a Freahman at Xavier Prep and I was cheering and that song was a teen favorite that year! Thank you so much!

letty's song :



methinks the word GAY is now used somewhat differently :wink: .
that turkey sure doesn't act like he is a MODERN GAY

i do recall that when we had chickens when i was a kid , one of the hens would occasionally turn GAY when my father decided to consign the rooster of the day to my mother's kitchen - so a new and young rooster would usually be brought in to "set things straight again" - much to the relief of the hens i believe
hbg

Sharon, I think Sidney Poitier is one of the finest actors that has ever graced the silver screen.

Now here's a shocker, folks.



That's Not Bob Dylan, That's Cate Blanchett, Baby!
8/31/06, 1:17 pm EST
You may remember director Todd Haynes: He's the one who used Barbie Dolls to tell the life story of Karen Carpenter some years back. Now he's found a way to top himself: He's currently filming a Bob Dylan biopic called I'm Not There in which seven different actors portray the legendary singer-songwriter. Here are the first shots to emerge from the set: Speaking for ourselves, we're pretty shocked at how well Cate Blanchett manages to pull off Dylan circa 1965 or 1966. Richard Gere, Heath Ledger, Julianne Moore, David Cross, Michelle Williams and Christian Bale are also in the movie - though it's unclear if they all will play Bob as well. Taking bets now: will it be better or worse than Masked And Anonymous?

All Along the Watchtower

"There must be some kind of way out of here,"
Said the joker to the thief,
"There's too much confusion,
I can't get no relief.
Businessman they drink my wine,
Plowman dig my earth
None will level on the line, nobody offered his word, hey"

"No reason to get excited,"
The thief, he kindly spoke
"There are many here among us
Who feel that life is but a joke
But you and I, we've been through that
And this is not our fate
So let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late"

All along the watchtower
Princes kept the view
While all the women came and went
Barefoot servants, too

Outside in the cold distance
A wildcat did growl
Two riders were approaching
And the wind began to howl
*buisness man there, drink my wine,
Come and take my herb.

Oops, hbg, I was so caught up searching the archives that I missed your hen clucking. You're right, Canada. epithets for certain things have changed over the years.

I recall when my oldest sister and her husband finally renovated the school house, they decided to raise chickens. They ordered them via some company, and when they arrived, both she and John started their chicken farm. As they grew, my sister noticed that one red hen kept hiding under the porch. Why? Because she had received ten roosters and one hen.

B.B.King

One night farmer Brown was takin' the air
Locked up the barnyard with the greatest of care
Down in the hen house something stirred
When he shouted, "Who's there?"
This is what he heard

There ain't nobody here but us chickens
There ain't nobody here at all
So calm yourself and stop that fuss
There ain't nobody here but us
We chickens tryin' to sleep and you butt in
And hobble, hobble, hobble, hobble, with your chin

There ain't nobody here but us chickens
There ain't nobody here at all
You're stompin' around and shakin' the ground
Kicking up an awful dust
We chickens tryin' to sleep and you butt in
And hobble, hobble, hobble, hobble, it's a sin

Tomorrow is a busy day
We got things to do, we got eggs to lay
We got ground to dig and worms to scratch
It takes a lot of sittin', gettin' chicks to hatch

Oh, there ain't nobody here but us chickens
There ain't nobody here at all
So quiet yourself and stop that fuss
There ain't nobody here but us
Kindly point the gun the other way
And hobble, hobble, hobble, hobble off and hit the hay

You are wild!!!!!! Cracking up!

Well, Sharon, we sometimes get wild on our little cyber radio.

Which reminds me, folks. It's been a while since we played this one. It was back when I gave my creatures names.

Jimi Hendrix - Wild Thing

come on man sing it with me
Wild thing, you make my heart sing
oh
you make a everything, groovy
wild thing
wild thing i think you move me
but i want a know for sure
come on and sssock it to me one more time
(click)you move me
wild thing, you make my heart sing
oh
you make a everything, groovy
a sing again
wild thing
yeah
wild thing i think you move me
but i want a know for sure
come on and sssock it to me one more time again
oh shucks i love ya
wild thing, you make my heart sing
you make a everything, groovy
yeah wild thing
yeah wild thing
yeah yeah wild thing
yeah yeah yeah wild thing
oh sock it to me
wild thing

Boy, how the nomenclature of the musicians changes as well.

And from wild to subdued, a goodnight song.

Dan Fogelberg
Only The Heart May Know

Silent sea
Tell this to me:
Where are the children that we
used to be
Silent sea:
At picture shows
Where nobody goes
And only the heart can see.
Starry skies
Soft lullabies
Where do they go when their
melodies die?
Starry skies:
To a day
Far, far away
That only the heart may know.
Friends we knew
Follow us through
All of the days of our lives
Love we shared
Waits for us there
Where our wishes forever reside.
Falling tears
Memories' mirrors
Where are summers
Oh, where are the years?
Carried far
To a wandering star
That only the heart may know.
Friends we knew
Follow us through
All of the days of our lives
Love we shared
Waits for us there
Where our wishes forever reside.
Starry skies
Soft lullabies
Where do they go when their
melodies die?
To a day
Far, far away
That only the heart may know.

Goodnight, my friends

From Letty with love

We had some chickens
No eggs would they lay
My wife said honey
This isn't funny, we're losing money
Why don't the little chickens lay

One day a rooster came into our yard
And caught those little chickens
Right off their guard
They're laying eggs now just like they used to
Ever since that rooster came into our yard
They're laying eggs now just like they used to
Ever since that rooster came into our yard

Chickens
Harry Belafonte

Judy Canova
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Birth name Juliette Canova
Born November 20, 1913
Starke, Florida
Died August 5, 1983
Hollywood, California
Spouse(s) Bob Burns (1936-1939)
James Ripley (1941-1941)
Chester B. England (1943-1950)
Filberto Rivero (1950-1964)

Judy Canova (November 20, 1913 - August 5, 1983) was an American comedienne, actress, singer and radio personality.





Early career

Born Juliette Canova in Starke, Florida, her show business career began with a family vaudeville routine. She joined her sister Annie and brother Zeke, and their performances as the Three Georgia Crackers took them from theaters in Florida to a club in a New York City. Judy Canova sang, yodeled and played guitar. The standout in the family, she developed her persona as a wide-eyed likeable country bumpkin, often wearing her hair in braids and sometimes topped with a straw hat. When bandleader Rudy Vallee offered her a guest spot on his radio show, it opened the door to a career that spanned more than five decades.


Radio and films

The popularity of the Canova family led to numerous performances on radio in the 1930s, and they made their Broadway debut in the revue, Calling All Stars. An offer from Warner Bros. led to several bit parts before she signed with Republic Pictures. During her career she recorded for the RCA Victor label and appeared in more than two dozen Hollywood films, including Scatterbrain (1940), Joan of Ozark (1942) and Lay That Rifle Down (1955).

In 1943, she began her own radio program, The Judy Canova Show, that ran for 12 years, first on CBS and then on NBC. Playing herself as a love-starved Ozark bumpkin dividing time between home and southern California, Canova was accompanied by a cast that included voicemaster Mel Blanc as Pedro (using the accented voice he later gave cartoons' Speedy Gonzales), Ruth Perrott as Aunt Aggie, Ruby Dandridge as Geranium, Joseph Kearns as Benchley Botsford, and Sharon Douglas as Brenda, with Gale Gordon, Sheldon Leonard, and Hans Conried also making periodic appearances. The Sportsmen Quartet, soon to become familiar to fans of Jack Benny, provided some of the music and the Charles Dant Orchestra provided the rest, usually supporting Canova's country warble. (She was sometimes known as the Ozark Nightingale.)

During World War II, she closed her show with the song "Goodnight, Soldier" ("wherever you may be... my heart's lonely... without you") and used her free time to sell U.S. War Bonds. After the war, she introduced a new closing theme that she once said she remembered her own mother singing to her when she was a small child:

Go to sleep-y, little baby,
Go to sleep-y, little baby,
When you wake
You'll patty-patty cake,
And ride a shiny little pony.
Canova recorded the song in 1946.

While a hit with her own show, Canova made frequent appearances on other popular radio programs of the day, including and especially those hosted by Abbott and Costello and Fred Allen.


Television

By the time her radio program ended in 1955, Canova easily made a smooth transition to television with appearances on The Colgate Comedy Hour, The Steve Allen Show, Matinee Theatre, Alfred Hitchcock Presents and other shows. In 1967, she portrayed Mammy Yokum in an unsold TV pilot adapted from Al Capp's L'il Abner. She also worked on Broadway and in Las Vegas nightclubs through the early 1970s, touring with No, No Nanette in 1971.

Her daughter, Diana Canova, is an actress best known for her role on the ABC television sitcom, Soap.

In 1983, Judy Canova died from cancer at age 69 and was buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contribution to the film industry (6821 Hollywood Boulevard) and a second star for her radio career (6777 Hollywood Boulevard).