i just have to give one of my favourites the stage :
THE PRESERVATION HALL JAZZ BAND
this was taped in 1973 -about the time we heard them first at LINCOLN CENTER in NYC - and we have heard them many times more over the years - in december 2007 we travelled to toronto to hear them .
none of the oldtimers are alive any more - allan jaffe , the founder , playing the tuba , passed away at a rather young age but his son ben carries on the tradition as a manager of the band .
"sing" miller , piano , was a favourite of mine . he told me of the wonderful concerts they had played in HAMBURG - so that's the connection to HAMBURG of these musicians .
they also played right here in kingston some years ago and of course we went to hear them .
i have several old vinyl covers that they autographed for me over the years - they are precious to me .
Well, y'all. We've listened to chamber music; seen W.C. juggle; heard some dixieland jazz and we would like to thank edgar and hbg for the wonderful memories (hey, Stefan, the Southernese was for you)
here is CARLOS KLEIBER conducting "THUNDER AND LIGHTNING" - he sure is having fun
and so would i if they allowed me to conduct it - sure looks easy swinging THE STICK :wink:
Roy Eldridge
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Roy Eldridge, ca. 1946
Background information
Birth name Roy David Eldridge
Born January 30, 1911(1911-01-30)
Origin Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died February 26, 1989 (aged 78)
Genre(s) Jazz
Swing
Big Band
Occupation(s) Trumpeter
Instrument(s) Trumpet
Associated
acts Charlie Barnet
Roy David Eldridge (January 30, 1911 - February 26, 1989), nicknamed "Little Jazz" was an American jazz trumpet player. His sophisticated use of harmony, including the use of tritone substitutions, his virtuosic solos and his strong influence on Dizzy Gillespie mark him as one of the most exciting musicians of the Swing Era and a precursor of bebop.
Life
Eldridge was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and originally played drums, trumpet and tuba. He led bands from his early years, moving to St. Louis, and then to New York. He absorbed the influence of saxophonists Benny Carter and Coleman Hawkins, setting himself the task of learning Hawkins 1926 solo on "The Stampede" in developing an equivalent trumpet style. [1]
Eldridge played in various bands in New York in the early 1930s, as well as making records and radio broadcasts under his own name. His rhythmic power to swing a band was a dynamic trademark of the jazz of the time. It has been said that "from the mid-Thirties onwards, he had superseded Louis Armstrong as the exemplar of modern 'hot' trumpet playing" [2].
Eldridge was very versatile on his horn, not only quick and articulate with the low to middle registers, but the high registers as well. The high register lines that Eldridge employed were one of many prominent features of his playing, another being blasts of rapid double time notes followed by a return to standard time. These stylistic points were heavy influences on Dizzy Gillespie, who, along with Charlie Parker, brought bebop into existence. Eldridge participated in some of the early jam sessions at Minton's Playhouse. A careful listening to BeBop standards, such as the song BeBop, will reveal how much Eldridge influenced this genre of Jazz.
In May 1941 Eldridge joined Gene Krupa's Orchestra, and was successfully featured with rookie singer Anita O'Day on a series of recordings including the novelty hit "Let Me Off Uptown". However, Eldridge complained that O'Day was upstaging him and the band broke up after Krupa was jailed for marijuana possession in July 1943.[3] Eldridge then joined Artie Shaw's band.
In the postwar years, he became part of the group which toured under the Jazz at the Philharmonic banner. He moved to Paris for a time, before returning to New York, where he worked with Coleman Hawkins, Ella Fitzgerald and Earl "Fatha" Hines among others. After a stroke in 1980, he continued performing on other instruments for the remainder of his life.
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Wed 30 Jan, 2008 07:26 am
John Ireland
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
John Benjamin Ireland (January 30, 1914-March 21, 1992) was an Academy Award-nominated actor and sometime film director.
Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, he was raised in New York City. He started out in minor stage roles on Broadway.
A tall, lean former Canadian professional swimmer who once performed in a water carnival, he appeared on Broadway and toured in Shakespeare in the late 1930s and early 40s before entering film in the mid-40s. He made his screen debut as Pvt. Windy, the thoughtful letter-writing GI, in the 1945 war film A Walk in the Sun. A supporting actor in several notable Westerns including John Ford's My Darling Clementine (1946) and Howard Hawks' Red River (1948) and a lead in small noirs like Railroaded (1947), Ireland was nominated for an Oscar as Best Supporting Actor for his forceful performance as Jack Burden, the hard-boiled newspaper reporter who evolves from devotee to cynical denouncer of demagogue Willie Stark (Broderick Crawford) in All the King's Men (1949), making him the first Vancouver-born actor to receive an Academy Award nomination.
Ireland's main reputation at the time was as a womaniser however, and it is reputed that Howard Hawks even included the famous scene with Ireland and Montgomery Clift in Red River (1948) where they compare the size of their guns as a wink to his infamous physical endowments. Occasionally his name was mentioned in tabloids of the times, in connection with much younger starlets, namely Natalie Wood, Barbara Payton and Sue Lyon. He attracted controversy by dating actress Tuesday Weld when she was 16 and he was 45.
A prolific performer in films and early TV, Ireland had made the transition to supporting roles by the mid-50s, playing cynical villains in films like Vengeance Valley (1951), Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1956), Spartacus (1960) and 55 Days at Peking (1962). Despite critical acclaim and a cult following, it seems his movie career was somewhat limited by Hollywood's inability to stereotype his distinctively craggy, hulking appearance.
From 1960-1962 he starred in the British television series The Cheaters, playing John Hunter, a claims investigator for an insurance company who tracked down cases of fraud. By the late 60s he was turning up as the star of B-movies and second-rate Italian productions like The House of the Seven Corpses (1974), Salon Kitty (1976) and Satan's Cheerleaders (1977), as well as appearing in big-budget fare such as The Adventurers (1970).
Ireland regularly returned to the stage throughout his career and co-directed two features in the 1950s: the acclaimed western drama Hannah Lee (1953) and the carjacking B-movie Fast and the Furious. He was married to actresses Elaine Sheldon (1940-49), Joanne Dru (1949-56) and Daphne Myrick Cameron (from 1962).
In his later years he owned a restaurant, Ireland's, in Santa Barbara, California.
He died of leukaemia in 1992, aged 78.
For his contribution to the television industry, John Ireland has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1610 Vine Street.
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Wed 30 Jan, 2008 07:27 am
David Wayne
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Birth name Wayne James McMeekan
Born January 30, 1914
Traverse City, Michigan, USA
Died February 9, 1995, age 81
Santa Monica, California, USA
David Wayne (January 30, 1914 - February 9, 1995) was a Tony Award-winning American actor with a career spanning nearly half a century.
Born Wayne James McMeekan in Traverse City, Michigan and growing up in Bloomingdale, Michigan, Wayne's first major Broadway role was Og the leprechaun in Finian's Rainbow, for which he won the Theatre World Award and the first ever Tony for Best Featured Actor in a Musical. He was awarded a second Tony for Best Actor in Play for The Teahouse of the August Moon and was nominated as Best Actor in a Musical for The Happy Time. He originated the role of Ensign Pulver in the classic comedy, Mister Roberts and also appeared in Say, Darling, After the Fall, and Incident at Vichy.
In films Wayne most often was cast as a supporting player, such as the charming cad opposite Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn in Adam's Rib (1949). He portrayed the child killer, originally played by Peter Lorre, in the remake of M (1951), a chance to see him in a rare leading role, even rarer as an evil character. He costarred in The Tender Trap (1955) with Frank Sinatra, Debbie Reynolds, and Celeste Holm.
Wayne also appeared in four films with Marilyn Monroe (more than any other actor): As Young as You Feel (1951), We're Not Married (1952), O. Henry's Full House (1952), and How To Marry A Millionaire (1953).
Wayne was also noted for his portrayal of Dr. Charles Dutton in the 1971 film version of Michael Crichton's The Andromeda Strain. He also played the Mad Hatter, one of the recurring villains in the 1960s TV series Batman.
Wayne co-starred with Jim Hutton in the 1970s television series Ellery Queen (as Queen's widowed father), and portrayed curmudgeonly Dr. Amos Wetherby in House Calls with Lynn Redgrave and later Sharon Gless.
Wayne played Digger Barnes on the CBS hit drama Dallas from 1978 to 1979. Wayne died in Santa Monica, California.
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Wed 30 Jan, 2008 07:28 am
Dick Martin (comedian)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born January 30, 1922 (1922-01-30) (age 86)
Battle Creek, Michigan, U.S.
Occupation comedian, actor
Spouse(s) Dolly Martin (1978-Present) (remarried)
Dolly Martin (1971-1975) (divorced)
Peggy Connelly (1957-?) (divorced) 1 Child
Dick Martin (born January 30, 1922 in Battle Creek, Michigan) is an American comedian.
Very early in his career, Martin was a staff writer for Duffy's Tavern, an extremely popular radio situation comedy. However, Abe Burrows, who was much more actively involved in that series, later claimed that Martin's tenure was very brief and that he made no significant contributions.
In the 1950s Dick Martin and Dan Rowan formed the comedy team Rowan and Martin. They played in nightclubs across the USA and overseas, leading to them being tapped to take the role of hosts for the Dean Martin Summer Show in 1966. It was this break on national television that lead to an opportunity for Rowan and Martin to team up with producers Ed Friendly and George Shlatter and create Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (1968-1973) on NBC.
He also was a frequent panelist on game shows such as Match Game and Password Plus.
He was also the chief director of the 1980s sitcom Newhart as well as the host of the short run Mindreaders game show in the late 1970s. He was a regular on The Lucy Show as next door neighbor "Harry Conners" from 1962 to 1964.
He married Playboy Playmate Dolly Read (Dolly Martin) on August 22, 1971. They divorced in 1975 but remarried in 1978 and remain married to this day. He was formerly married to Peggy Connelly. He has two sons, Richard Martin and Cary Martin.
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Wed 30 Jan, 2008 07:30 am
Dorothy Malone
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born January 30, 1925(1925-01-30) (age 82)
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
[show]Awards
Academy Awards
Best Supporting Actress
1956 Written on the Wind
Dorothy Malone (born January 30, 1925) is an Academy Award-winning American actress.
Malone was born Dorothy Eloise Maloney in Chicago, Illinois. The family moved to Dallas, Texas, where she worked as a child model and began acting in school plays at Ursuline Convent and Highland Park High School. While performing at Southern Methodist University, she was spotted by a talent agent for RKO and was signed to a studio contract, making her film debut in 1943 in The Falcon and the Co-Eds. Much of her early career was spent in supporting roles in B-movies, many of them Westerns, although on occasion she had the opportunity to play small but memorable roles, such as that of the young, brainy, lusty, bespectacled bookstore clerk in The Big Sleep, with Humphrey Bogart, in 1946.
In 1956, Malone transformed herself into a platinum blonde and shed her good girl-image to co-star with Rock Hudson, Lauren Bacall, and Robert Stack in director Douglas Sirk's melodrama Written on the Wind. Her portrayal of the dipso-nymphomaniac daughter of a Texas oil baron won her the Oscar as Best Supporting Actress. As a result, she was offered meatier roles in better films, including Too Much, Too Soon, in which she portrayed Diana Barrymore, Man of a Thousand Faces (with James Cagney), The Tarnished Angels (again with Hudson and Stack, again directed by Sirk), The Last Voyage (with Stack), Warlock, and The Last Sunset (with Hudson).
Malone became a household name when she accepted the lead role of Constance MacKenzie on the ABC primetime serial Peyton Place, on which she starred from 1964 through 1968. She had a featured role in the 1976 miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man. Her last notable screen appearance was as a mother convicted of murdering her family in Basic Instinct (1992) opposite Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone.
Malone was married and divorced three times and has two daughters, Mimi and Diane, from her first marriage to actor Jacques Bergerac. Her star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame is located at 1718 Vine Street.
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Wed 30 Jan, 2008 07:35 am
Gene Hackman
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Birth name Eugene Allen Hackman
Born January 30, 1930 (1930-01-30) (age 78)
San Bernardino, California, U.S.
Spouse(s) Fay Maltese (1956-1986)
Betsy Arakawa (1991-)
[show]Awards
Academy Awards
Best Actor
1971 The French Connection
Eugene Allen "Gene" Hackman[1] (born January 30, 1930) is a two-time Academy Award-winning American actor. He came to fame during the 1970s, after his role in The French Connection, and continued to appear in major roles in Hollywood films, including Harry Caul in The Conversation, Norman Dale in Hoosiers and Brill in Enemy of the State.
Biography
Early life
Hackman was born in San Bernardino, California, the son of Lyda (née Gray) and Eugene Ezra Hackman. He has a brother, Richard. Hackman's family moved from one place to another until finally settling in Danville, Illinois, where they lived in the house of his maternal grandmother, Beatrice, and where Hackman's father operated the printing press for the Commercial-News, a local paper.[2] Hackman's parents divorced in 1943.[2] His mother died in 1962, as a result of a fire she accidentally set while smoking.[3] At sixteen, Hackman left home to join the U.S. Marine Corps, where he served 3 years as a field radio operator. Having finished his service, he moved to New York, working in several minor jobs before moving to study television production and journalism at the University of Illinois under the G.I. Bill.
Career
1960s
Already over 30 years old, Hackman decided to become an actor, and joined the Pasadena Playhouse in California. It was there that he forged a friendship with another aspiring actor, Dustin Hoffman. Already seen as outsiders by their classmates, Hackman and Hoffman were later voted "The Least Likely To Succeed". Determined to prove them wrong, Hackman hopped on a bus bound for New York City. A 2004 article in Vanity Fair described how Hackman, Hoffman and Robert Duvall were all struggling actors and close friends while living in New York City in the 1960s. Hackman was working as a doorman when he ran into an instructor whom he had despised at the Pasadena Playhouse. Reinforcing "The Least Likely To Succeed" vote, the man had said "See Hackman, I told you you wouldn't amount to anything." (Some reports allege that it was one of his former drill instructors from the Marines who saw him there and told him this.)
Hackman began performing in several off-Broadway plays. Finally, in 1964, he had an offer to co-star in the play Any Wednesday with actress, Sandy Dennis. This opened the door to film work. His first role was in Lilith, with Warren Beatty in the leading role. Another supporting role, Buck Barrow, in 1967's Bonnie and Clyde, earned him an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor.
1970s
In 1970, he was again nominated for the same award, this time for I Never Sang for My Father, working alongside Melvyn Douglas and Estelle Parsons. The next year he won the Best Actor award for his memorable performance as Popeye Doyle in The French Connection, marking his graduation to leading man status. He followed this with leading roles in the disaster film The Poseidon Adventure (1972) and Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation (1974) which was nominated for several Oscars. That same year, Hackman appeared in one of his most famous comedic roles as the Blindman in Young Frankenstein. He later appeared in the star-studded war film A Bridge Too Far (1977), and showed a talent for both comedy and the "slow burn" as Lex Luthor in Superman: The Movie (1978) and Superman II (1980).
1980s
By the end of the 1980s, Hackman was a well respected actor and alternated between leading and supporting roles, earning another Best Actor nomination for Mississippi Burning, and appearing in such films as Reds, Under Fire, Hoosiers, Power, and Bat*21.
1990s
In 1990, he underwent heart surgery, which kept him away from work for a while, although he still found time for a remake of The Narrow Margin. In 1992, he played the violent sheriff Bill Daggett in the western Unforgiven, directed by Clint Eastwood and written by David Webb Peoples which earned him a second Oscar, this time for Best Supporting Actor, the film itself won Best Picture. In 1995, he played John Herod in The Quick and the Dead, as well as Captain Frank Ramsey in the film Crimson Tide. He also starred in the 1998 film Enemy of the State, where his character was reminiscent of the one he played in The Conversation.
2000s
He starred in Heist as an aging professional thief of considerable skill who is forced into taking one final heist, all the while he has been "burned," his face having been seen on tape during a previous job. He also played in the ensemble cast films The Royal Tenenbaums and Runaway Jury.
Present
Hackman has an ability to disappear into the roles he plays, blending a character actor aesthetic with his leading man status. He is also versatile, able to deliver hard-edged performances in The French Connection and Mississippi Burning as well as convincing comedic turns in fare such as The Birdcage and The Royal Tenenbaums. Together with undersea archaeologist Daniel Lenihan, Hackman also wrote two novels: Wake of the Perdido Star (1999) and Justice for None (2004).
His final film to date was the critically panned Welcome to Mooseport.
His distinctive voice can be heard in television commercials from time-to-time, notably for United Airlines, GTE, CNN, and more recently for Oppenheimer Funds and Lowe's Home Improvement.
Personal life
Hackman's first wife was Faye Maltese. They had three children, Christopher Allen, Elizabeth Jean, and Leslie Anne, but the couple divorced in 1986 after 30 years of marriage. In 1991, Hackman married Betsy Arakawa. They live in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Betsy is co-owner of an upscale retail home-furnishing store in Santa Fe, called Pandora's, Inc. On July 7, 2004, Hackman gave a rare interview to Larry King, in which he announced that he had no future film projects lined up, and believes his acting career is over.
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Wed 30 Jan, 2008 07:39 am
Vanessa Redgrave
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born January 30, 1937 (1937-01-30) (age 71)
London, England
Years active 1958 - present
Spouse(s) Tony Richardson (1962-1967)
Franco Nero (2006-present)
Vanessa Redgrave, CBE (born 30 January 1937) is an Academy Award-winning English actress and member of the Redgrave family, one of the enduring theatrical dynasties. She is also a social activist for human rights.[1]
Ancestry and family
Redgrave was born in London, United Kingdom, the daughter of actors Sir Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson (Lady Redgrave). She was educated at The Alice Ottley School in Worcester. Her siblings, Lynn Redgrave and the equally outspoken Corin Redgrave, are also acclaimed actors. Redgrave's daughters, Natasha Richardson and Joely Richardson (by her 1962-1967 marriage to film director Tony Richardson) have also built respected acting careers. Redgrave's son Carlo Nero (né Carlo Sparanero), by her relationship with Italian actor Franco Nero (né Francesco Sparanero), is a writer and film director. She met Nero while filming Camelot in 1967, the year in which she divorced her husband Tony Richardson.
In 1967, Redgrave was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). It is understood, however, that she declined a damehood (DBE) in 1999.
During the late 1970s and 1980s she had a long-term relationship with actor Timothy Dalton.
In 2007, Redgrave married Franco Nero.[2]
Stage career
Vanessa Redgrave entered the School of Speech and Drama in 1954. She first appeared in the West End theatre, playing opposite her brother, in 1958.
In 1962 she played Imogen in William Gaskill's production of Cymbeline for the Royal Shakespeare Company. In 1966 Redgrave created the role of Jean Brodie in the Donald Albery production "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie", adapted for the stage by Jay Presson Alan from the novel by Muriel Spark; she continues to work regularly in the theatre. In the nineties e.g., she played Prospero in The Tempest in the new Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London. In 2003 she won a Tony Award for "Best Actress in a Play" for her performance in the Broadway revival of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night. In January 2006, Redgrave was presented the Ibsen Centennial Award for her "outstanding work in interpreting many of Henrik Ibsen's works over the last decades."[3] Previous recipients of the award include Liv Ullmann, Glenda Jackson, and Claire Bloom.
In 2007 Redgrave played Joan Didion in Didion's Broadway stage adaptation of her recent book, The Year of Magical Thinking, which played 144 regular performances in a 24-week limited engagement at the Booth Theatre. For this, she was nominated for a Tony Award in the category of Best Leading Actress in a Play. In 2008 she will reprise the role at the National Theatre in London.[4]
Film career
Early film career
Highlights of Vanessa Redgrave's early film career include her first starring role in Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment (for which she earned an Oscar nomination, a Cannes award, a Golden Globe nomination and a BAFTA Film Award nomination); her portrayal of the cool London swinger, Jane, in 1966's Blowup; her spirited portrayal of dancer Isadora Duncan in Isadora (for which she won a National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress, a second Prize for the Best Female Performance at the Cannes film festival, along with a Golden Globe and Oscar nomination in 1969); and various portrayals of historical figures - ranging from Andromache in The Trojan Women, to Mary of Scotland in Mary, Queen of Scots.
Julia
In 1977, Redgrave funded and narrated a documentary film "The Palestinian", which focused on the plight of the Palestinian people. That same year she starred in the film Julia, about a woman murdered by the Nazi regime in the years prior to World War II for her anti-Fascist activism. Her co-star in the film was Jane Fonda who, in her 2005 autobiography, noted that "there is a quality about Vanessa that makes me feel as if she resides in a netherworld of mystery that eludes the rest of us mortals. Her voice seems to come from some deep place that knows all suffering and all secrets. Watching her work is like seeing through layers of glass, each layer painted in mythic watercolor images, layer after layer, until it becomes dark - but even then you know you haven't come to the bottom of it . . . The only other time I had experienced this with an actor was with Marlon Brando . . . Like Vanessa, he always seemed to be in another reality, working off some secret, magnetic, inner rhythm."
Redgrave's performance in Julia garnered an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. However, members of the Jewish Defense League (JDL), led by Rabbi Meir Kahane, picketed the awards ceremony in the spring of 1978 to protest against both Redgrave and her support of the Palestinian cause.
Aware of the JDL's presence outside, Redgrave, in her acceptance speech, denounced all forms of totalitarianism, noting neither she nor the Academy (who had received death threats if she won) would be intimidated by "a small bunch of Zionist hoodlums - whose behavior is an insult to the stature of Jews all over the world, and to their great and heroic record of struggle against fascism and oppression."[5] Her statement was greeted by both applause and boos from the audience.
Later in the broadcast, veteran screenwriter and Oscar presenter Paddy Chayefsky announced to the audience, "there's a little matter I'd like to tidy up at least if I expect to live with myself tomorrow morning. I would like to say that I'm sick and tired of people exploiting the Academy Awards for the propagation of their own personal propaganda. I would like to suggest to Miss Redgrave that her winning an Academy Award is not a pivotal moment in history, does not require a proclamation and a simple ?'Thank you' would have sufficed." He received thunderous applause.[citation needed]
In 1978 Rabbi Meir Kahane published a book entitled Listen Vanessa, I am a Zionist, which was later renamed Listen World, Listen Jew in direct response to Redgrave's comments at the Academy Awards. To this day many right-wing Jewish groups, such as the JDL, consider Redgrave a supporter of terrorism. The JDL itself, however, has been described by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in Congressional testimony as a "violent" and "extremist" group. In a sidebar in its "Terrorism 2000/2001" report, the Bureau notes, "The Jewish Defense League has been deemed a right-wing terrorist group."[6]
In June 2005 Redgrave was asked on Larry King Live: "Regardless of distinctions about policy, do you support Israel's right to exist?" "Yes, I do," she replied.[7]
Later film career
Later film roles of note include those of suffragette Olive Chancellor in The Bostonians (1984, a fourth Best Actress Academy Award nomination), transsexual Renee Richards in Second Serve (1986); Mrs. Wilcox in Howards End (1992, her sixth Academy Award nomination, this time in a supporting role); crime boss Max in Mission: Impossible (1996, when discussing the role of Max, DePalma and Cruise thought it would be fun to cast an actor like Redgrave; they then decided to go with the real thing); Oscar Wilde's mother in Wilde (1997); Clarissa Dalloway in Mrs. Dalloway (1997); and Dr. Wick in Girl, Interrupted (1999). Many of these roles and others, garnered various accolades for Redgrave.
Her performance as a lesbian grieving the loss of her longtime partner in the HBO series If These Walls Could Talk 2 earned her a Golden Globe for "Best TV Series Supporting Actress" in 2000. This same performance also led to an "Excellence in Media Award" by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD). The award honours "a member of the entertainment community who has made a significant difference in promoting equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people". In 2005, Redgrave joined the cast of the hit series Nip/Tuck, which was in its second season. Redgrave played Dr. Erica Noughton, the mother of Julia McNamara, who's played by her real life daughter Joely Richardson. She also made appearances in the third season. In 2006, Redgrave starred opposite Peter O'Toole in the acclaimed film Venus. Redgrave's most recent work include 2007's Evening and the acclaimed Atonement, in which she garnered a Broadcast Film Critics Association award nomination for her performance that only took up seven minutes of screen time.
Political activism
Since the 1960s Redgrave has supported a range of human rights causes, including opposition to the Vietnam War, nuclear disarmament, freedom for Soviet Jews (she was awarded the Sakharov medal by Sakharov's widow, Yelena Bonner, in 1993 for her efforts), and aid for Bosnian Muslims and other victims of war. She also advocates the partition of Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom.[8]She serves as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and was a co-founding member of Artists Against Racism.
Redgrave identifies as a socialist, but her opposition to Soviet oppression led her, early in her career, to join the anti-Stalinist Workers' Revolutionary Party (UK) (WRP), on whose ticket she twice ran for Parliament. Redgrave's Trotskyist political views have been a cause of controversy for some, as has her membership in the WRP. She remained loyal to WRP founder Gerry Healy when he was expelled from the WRP in the mid-1980s. She and other Healy loyalists founded the short-lived Marxist Party in the 1990s. Since 2004 she has been a member of the Peace and Progress Party.
In 1980 Redgrave made her first American TV debut as concentration-camp survivor Fania Fénelon in the Arthur Miller-scripted TV movie Playing for Time - a part for which she won an Emmy as Outstanding Lead Actress in 1981. The decision to cast Redgrave as Fenelon was, however, a source of controversy for some Jewish individuals and organizations. In light of Redgrave's support for the Palestinian cause, even Fenelon objected to her casting. Redgrave was perplexed by such hostility, stating in her 1991 autobiography her long-held belief that "the struggle against anti-Semitism and for the self-determination of the Palestinians form a single whole." (p. 306)
In December 2002 Redgrave paid £50,000 bail for Chechen separatist Deputy Premier and special envoy Akhmed Zakayev, who had sought political asylum in the United Kingdom and was accused by the Russian government of aiding and abetting hostage-takings in the Moscow Hostage Crisis of 2002--in which 128 hostages lost their lives during a Russian special forces (OMON) action --and guerrilla warfare against Russia.
At a press conference Redgrave said she feared for the life of Zakayev if he were to be extradited to Russia on terrorism charges. He would "die of a heart attack" or some other mysterious explanation which would be offered by Russia, she said.[9] On 13 November 2003, a London court rejected the Russian government's request for Zakayev's extradition. Instead, the court accepted a plea by lawyers for Mr Zakayev that he would not get a fair trial - and could even face torture - in Russia. "It would be unjust and oppressive to return Mr Zakayev to Russia," Judge Timothy Workman ruled.[10]
In 2004, Vanessa Redgrave and her brother Corin Redgrave announced the launch of the Peace and Progress Party which would campaign against the Iraq War and for human rights.
Redgrave has been an outspoken critic of the "War on Terror" - the US and British governments' response to the terrorist attacks of 9/11.[11][12] During a June 2005 interview on Larry King Live, Redgrave was challenged on this criticism and on her "far left" political views. In response she questioned if there can be true democracy if the political leadership of the United States and Britain doesn't "uphold the values for which my father's generation fought the Nazis, [and] millions of people gave their lives against the Soviet Union's regime. [Such sacrifice was made] because of democracy and what democracy meant: no torture, no camps, no detention forever or without trial...[Such] techniques are not just alleged [against the governments of the U.S. and Britain], they have actually been written about by the FBI. I don't think it's being 'far left'...to uphold the rule of law."[7]
In March 2006, Redgrave remarked in an interview with US broadcast journalist Amy Goodman, that "I don't know of a single government that actually abides by international human rights law, not one, including my own. In fact, [they] violate these laws in the most despicable and obscene way, I would say."
Goodman's interview of Redgrave took place in the actress's West London home on the evening of 7 March, and covered a range of subjects - though in particular, the cancellation of the Alan Rickman production, My Name is Rachel Corrie, by the New York Theater Workshop. Such a development, said Redgrave, was an "act of catastrophic cowardice" as "the essence of life and the essence of theater is to communicate about lives, either lives that have ended or lives that are still alive, [and about] beliefs, and what is in those beliefs."[13]
In June 2006 she was awarded a 'lifetime achievement' award from the International Transylvanian Film Festival, one of whose sponsors is a mining company named Gabriel Resources. She dedicated the award to a community organisation from Roşia Montană, Romania, which is campaigning against a gold mine that Gabriel Resources are seeking to build near the village. Gabriel Resources placed an 'open letter' in The Guardian on 23 June 2006, attacking Redgrave, arguing the case for the mine, and exhibiting support for it among the inhabitants: the open letter is signed by 77 villagers.[14]
In December 2007, Redgrave was named as one of the possible suretors who paid the £50,000 bail for Jamil el-Banna, one of three British residents arrested after landing back in the UK following four years' captivity at Guantanamo Bay. El-Banna is alleged to have run a terrorist cell called the Islamic Alliance which recruited people to fight jihad in Afghanistan and Indonesia. He also is accused of distributing extremist propaganda produced by Osama bin Laden. Redgrave has declined to be specific about her financial involvement but said she was "very happy" to be of "some small assistance for Jamil and his wife," adding, "It is a profound honour and I am glad to be alive to be able to do this. Guantanamo Bay is a concentration camp."[15]
Quotes
"I've come to see through the course of my life that people understand what I've tried to do, however inadequately I do it. I've just found people have come to understand me and be glad that I tried to do what I tried to do. And I do feel very inadequate about it, but I feel I must try . . . I think that any citizen can understand that you must raise your voice and do the best you can to speak out."[7]
"I've been to Sarajevo a few times and have got to know a lot of people there who put on plays during the siege. I wanted to share in that because I knew it was important to them . . . I began to see something of what was going on there in terms of actually keeping up people's spirit to resist - the resistance that causes change - even in the worst imaginable circumstances. And I realized that it paralleled the same spirit that existed during the Holocaust and in the gulag. Theater and poetry were what helped people stay alive and want to go on living. That experience changed me, because I realized that if, as actors or writers or directors or designers, we can keep the will to resist alive in as many people as possible, then that's what we are about, and that's what we can do. It's more and more important because of the terrible things that are happening in our cities and the political and economic agendas that various governments have."[16]
"As a mother you have got to have a view for now and a view for the future."[17]
0 Replies
bobsmythhawk
1
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Wed 30 Jan, 2008 07:42 am
Some things that make you go hmmm....
1. Why do we park in driveways and drive on parkways?
2. Do Lipton employees take coffee breaks?
3. Can I yell "movie" in a crowded firehouse?
4. Can you be a closet claustrophobic?
5. How do a fool and his money GET together?
6. Why does Hawaii have interstate highways?
7. How is it that a building burns up as it burns down?
8. If a train station is where the train stops, what is a workstation?
9. If nothing ever sticks to Teflon, how do they make Teflon stick to the pan?
10. If the pen is mightier than the sword, and a picture is worth a thousand words, how dangerous is a fax?
11. If the police arrest a mime, do they tell him he has the right to remain silent?
12. What hair color do they put on the driver's licenses of bald men?
13. What was the best thing before sliced bread?
14. Why do banks charge you a "non-sufficient funds" fee on money they already know you don't have?
15. Why do they put Braille on the drive through bank machines?
16. If Barbie is so popular, why do you have to buy her friends?
17. If you get cheated by the Better Business Bureau, who do you complain to?
18. What are Preparation A through Preparation G?
19. In a country of free speech, why are there phone bills?
20. Did Washington flash a quarter when asked for ID?
21. How come there aren't B batteries?
22. If the post office has machines that can sort snail mail at 1000's of times per minute, then why do they give it to a little old man on a bike to deliver?
23. How do "Do not walk on the grass" signs get there?
24. Why do black olives come in cans and green olives come in jars?
25. Before they invented drawing boards, what did they go back to?
26. How is it possible to have a civil war?
27. If all the world is a stage, where is the audience sitting?
28. If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular?
29. If the #2 pencil is so popular, why is it still #2?
30. Why is the alphabet in that order? Is it because of that song?
31. If I melt dry ice, can I take a bath without getting wet?
32. Crime doesn't pay...does that mean that my job is a crime?
33. How do they get the deer to cross at that yellow road sign?
34. How do you know that honesty is the best policy until you have tried some of the others?
35. How do you throw away a garbage can?
36. How does a thermos know if the drink should be hot or cold?
37. How does the guy who drives the snowplow get to work in the mornings?
38. Do you realize how many holes there could be if people would just take the time to take the dirt out of them?
39. If a word in the dictionary were misspelled, how would we know?
40. If you're in a vehicle going the speed of light, what happens when you turn on the headlights?
41. What happens to an 18 hour bra after 18 hours?
42. Why didn't Noah swat those two mosquitoes?
43. Why do hot dogs come 10 to a package and hot dog buns only 8?
44. Why do tourists go to the tops of tall buildings and then put money into telescopes so they can see things on the ground close-up?
45. Why is it that bullets ricochet off of Superman's chest, but he ducks when the gun is thrown at him?
46. Why is it that night falls but day breaks?
47. Why is it that you must wait until night to call it a day?
48. What if the Hokey Pokey IS what its all about?
49. When your pet bird sees you reading the newspaper, does he wonder why you're just sitting there, staring at carpeting?
50. What happened to the first 6 "ups"?
0 Replies
Letty
1
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Wed 30 Jan, 2008 08:11 am
Good morning, WA2K folks.
Things that make you go hmmmm? Well, hawkman, I think we can say more than that. Glad you are all right and back with us, Boston. We were concerned, of course.
One famous birthday that BioBob missed was the natal day of FDR, so until our Raggedy arrives, let's hear a combo of Happy Days and Get Happy.
thought i'd drop in to say aloha to the dedicated staff of WA2K, and a special mahalo to the PD
This is dedicated to the one I love
While I'm far away from you my baby
I know it's hard for you my baby
Because it's hard for me my baby
And the darkest hour is just before dawn
Each night before you go to bed my baby
Whisper a little prayer for me my baby
And tell all the stars above
This is dedicated to the one I love
Life can never be exactly like we want it to be
I can be satisfied just knowing that you love me
There's one thing I want you to do especially for me
And it's something that everybody needs
Each night before you go to bed my baby
Whisper a little prayer for me my baby
And tell all the stars above
This is dedicated to the one I love
This is dedicated to the one I love
0 Replies
Letty
1
Reply
Wed 30 Jan, 2008 02:29 pm
You and JM are really fortunate to have each other, M.D. and I am glad that you like the Turtle song, too.
Your song dedication, JM will sense immediately, methinks.
I love this one, especially as done by Leslie and the Muppets.
Love, love will keep us together
Think of me, babe, whenever
Some sweet-talkin' guy comes along
Singin' his song
Don't mess around, you gotta be strong
Stop, 'cause I really love ya,
Stop, 'cause I'll be thinkin' of ya,
Look in my heart and let love keep us together
You, you belong to me now
Ain't gonna set you free now
When those guys start hangin' around
Talkin' me down
Hear with your heart and you won't hear a sound
Oh, stop, 'cause I really love ya,
Stop, 'cause I'll be thinkin' of ya,
Look in my heart and let love keep us together, whatever
Young and beautiful
But someday your looks will be gone
When the others turn you off,
Who'll be turnin' you on? I will, I will, I will,
I will...be there to share forever
Love will keep us together
I've said it before and I'll say it again
While others pretend,
I'll need you now, and I'll need you then
Just stop, 'cause I really love ya,
Stop, 'cause I'll be thinkin' of ya,
Look in my heart and let love keep us together, whatever
Things that make you go hmmmm? Well, hawkman, I think we can say more than that. Glad you are all right and back with us, Boston. We were concerned, of course.
