Jean Simmons
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Birth name Jean Merilyn Simmons
Born January 31, 1929 (1929-01-31) (age 79)
Crouch Hill, London, England, United Kingdom
Years active 1944 - present
Spouse(s) Stewart Granger (1950-1960)
Richard Brooks (1960-1977)
[show]Awards
Emmy Awards
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie
1983 The Thorn Birds
Golden Globe Awards
Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical/Comedy
1956 Guys and Dolls
Other Awards
Volpi Cup for Best Actress
1948 Hamlet
NBR Award for Best Actress
1953 Young Bess ; The Actress ; The Robe
Jean Merilyn Simmons, OBE (born January 31, 1929) is an Oscar-nominated English actress.
She was born in Crouch Hill, London, England, and was named an Officer in the Order of the British Empire in 2003. She was married twice; in 1950 to Stewart Granger, divorcing in 1960, and again in 1960 to Richard Brooks divorcing him in 1977. Simmons has two daughters, Tracy Granger and Kate Brooks, one from each marriage.
Career
Prior to moving to Hollywood, Simmons distinguished herself in such roles as the young Estella in David Lean's Great Expectations (1946) and Ophelia in Olivier's opus Hamlet in 1948. By this time, she was already well known for her work in other British films and her stage career.
In 1950, she married the English actor Stewart Granger, with whom she appeared in several films, successfully making the transition to Hollywood. Among her best-known leading roles are The Egyptian (1954), Guys and Dolls (1955), "The Big Country" 1958, Elmer Gantry (1960) (directed by her second husband, Richard Brooks), Spartacus (1960), and The Happy Ending, again directed by Brooks and for which she received her second Oscar nomination.
By the 1970s, Simmons turned her focus to stage and television acting. She toured the U.S. in the well-reviewed A Little Night Music, then took the show to London. For her appearance in the mini-series The Thorn Birds, she won an Emmy Award. In 1988, she starred in the Irish-based film The Dawning with Anthony Hopkins and Hugh Grant, and in 1989 she again starred in a miniseries version of Great Expectations, where she performed the role of Miss Havisham, Estella's adoptive mother, as well as in 1985 and 1986 in North & South.
Jean Simmons would make a late career appearance in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Drumhead" where she portrays a witch hunt inspiring investigator named Admiral Nora Satie.
Suzanne Pleshette
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born January 31, 1937(1937-01-31)
New York City, New York, USA
Died January 19, 2008 (aged 70)
Los Angeles, California, USA
Years active 1957-2008
Spouse(s) Troy Donahue
(1964-1964) (divorced)
Tommy Gallagher
(1968-2000) (his death)
Tom Poston
(2001-2007) (his death)
Suzanne Pleshette (January 31, 1937 - January 19, 2008) [1][2] was an American actress, on stage and screen, known for her role of Emily Hartley on The Bob Newhart Show in the 1970s, and for prior roles in several major films, including The Birds and Rome Adventure, as well as in Broadway plays.[1]
Biography
Early life
Pleshette was born in Brooklyn, New York and is of Jewish heritage.[3] Her mother, Geraldine (née Kaplan), was a dancer and artist who performed under the stage name Geraldine Rivers. Her father, Eugene Pleshette, was a stage manager, network executive and manager of the Paramount Theater in Brooklyn.[4][5] She was a cousin of Knots Landing actor John Pleshette.[citation needed] She graduated from Manhattan's High School of Performing Arts and then attended Syracuse University.[6]
Acting career
Reviewers described her appearance and demeanor as sardonic and her voice as sultry.[7]
Pleshette began her career as a stage actress. She made her Broadway debut in Meyer Levin's 1957 play Compulsion, adapted from his novel inspired by the Leopold and Loeb case. Two years later she was featured in the comedy Golden Fleecing starring Tom Poston, who eventually would become her third husband. In February 1961, she replaced Anne Bancroft opposite 14-year-old Patty Duke in The Miracle Worker to rave reviews.[8]
Pleshette's early screen credits include The Geisha Boy, Rome Adventure, Fate Is the Hunter, and Youngblood Hawke, but she perhaps is remembered best for her role of schoolteacher Annie Hayworth opposite Tippi Hedren in Alfred Hitchcock's classic film The Birds. In later years she provided the voices of Yubaba and Zeniba in the English dub of Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki's Academy Award-winning film Spirited Away and the voice of Zira in the Disney sequel The Lion King II: Simba's Pride.
Pleshette's early television appearances included Playhouse 90, Have Gun - Will Travel, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Ben Casey, Wagon Train, and Dr. Kildare, for which she was nominated for her first Emmy Award. [9] She appeared as different characters in each of these late 1960s series: The Invaders, The F.B.I. and The Name of the Game.[10]
Pleshette appeared on The Bob Newhart Show (1972-1978) for all six seasons, and was nominated twice for the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. She reprised her role of Emily Hartley in the memorable final episode of Newhart, in which viewers discovered the entire series had been dreamed by Bob Hartley when he awakens next to Pleshette in the bedroom set from The Bob Newhart Show.
Her 1984 situation comedy, Suzanne Pleshette is Maggie Briggs, was cancelled after seven episodes.[11] In 1990, Pleshette portrayed Manhattan hotelier Leona Helmsley in the television movie The Queen of Mean, which garnered her Emmy and Golden Globe Award nominations. She had a recurring role in Good Morning, Miami, as Mark Feuerstein's grandmother Claire Arnold and played the mother of Katey Sagal's character in the ABC sitcom 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter following John Ritter's death, and appeared as the estranged mother of Megan Mullally's character Karen Walker in three episodes of Will & Grace. The role would prove to be her last.
Tonight Show with Johnny Carson
A native New Yorker, Suzanne Pleshette had already had a full career on stage and screen by 1971, when TV producers saw her on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson,[8] and they noticed a certain chemistry between Suzanne and another guest, Bob Newhart.[8] She was soon cast as wife to Newhart's character, and the series ran six seasons, from 1972 to 1978, as part of the CBS Saturday night lineup.[8] Suzanne Pleshette's down-to-earth but elegant manner was caught during an anecdote Johnny Carson was relating about working with a farm tractor in Nebraska. When he asked her, "Have you ever ridden on a tractor?" she replied smoothly, "Johnny, I've never even been in a Chevrolet."
Personal life
Pleshette's 1964 marriage to her Rome Adventure co-star Troy Donahue ended acrimoniously after eight months. Her second husband was Texas oilman Tommy Gallagher, to whom she was wed from 1968 until his death from lung cancer on January 21, 2000. In 2001, she married Bob Newhart's former Newhart co-star Tom Poston.[12] They were married until his death from respiratory failure in Los Angeles on April 30, 2007.
Cancer illness and death
On August 11, 2006, her agent Joel Dean announced that Pleshette was being treated for lung cancer at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. On August 14, 2006, New York Newsday reported that Dean claimed the cancer was the size of "a grain of sand" when it was found during a routine X-ray, that the cancer was "caught very much in time," that she was receiving chemotherapy as an outpatient, and that Pleshette was "in good spirits." She was later hospitalized for a pulmonary infection and developed pneumonia, causing her to be hospitalized for an extended period. She arrived at a Bob Newhart Show cast reunion in September 2007 in a wheelchair, causing concern about her health, although she insisted that she was "cancer free" (she was seated in a regular chair during the actual telecast). During an interview in USA Today given at the time of the reunion, Pleshette stated that she had been released four days earlier from the hospital where, as part of her cancer treatment, a part of one of her lungs had been removed.[13]
Pleshette died early in the evening of January 17, 2008 of respiratory failure at her Los Angeles home at age 70. She had been scheduled to receive her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on January 31, 2008, which would have been her 71st birthday. On the January 22 edition of Entertainment Tonight, her former co-star and longtime friend Marcia Wallace announced she would be attending the ceremony on Pleshette's behalf.[14]
There was a boy who worked in the produce section of a super market. A man came in and asked to buy half a head of lettuce. The boy told him that they only sold whole heads of lettuce, but the man replied that he did not need a whole head, only half. The boy explained that he would have to ask the manager and so he walked into the back room and said, "There is some jerk out there who wants to buy only a half a head of lettuce." As he finished saying this, he turned around to find the man standing right behind him, so he quickly added, "And this gentleman wants to buy the other half." The manager okayed the request and the man went on his way. Later on the manager said to the boy, "You almost got yourself in a lot of trouble earlier, but I must say I was impressed with the way you got out of it. You think on your feet and we like that around here. Where are you from, son?" The boy replied, "Minnesota, sir." "Oh, really? Why did you leave Minnesota?" inquired the manager. The boy replied, "They're all just whores and hockey players up there." "My wife is from Minnesota", exclaimed the manager. The boy instantly replied, "Really! What team did she play for?"
Hey, hawkman. Bet that kid rose in the corporate world rapidly. Loved it, BioBob and thanks for the great celeb info.
Until our Raggedy arrives, here's a song by Minnie. (no, not the moocher)
The Invisible Girl
Panda eyes and your sister's dress that you took and you tore
And you know that you got a long walk home
Pick your way over drunken shapes on the lawn by the pool
And you lost both your shoes that his Mom's gonna find
Her dress,
Your shoes,
Little flower bruise
Old smoke in your hair,
No subway fare, but you just don't care
Heart shines like a neon sign
For tonight won't you just be mine
Invisible girl, in the sodium light
She's the Queen of the Night
Crown starts to slip and fade, little feet on the street
tired girl in someone else's clothes
Stand in the quiet house, making tea, making toast
Making room for your daytime ghost
Her dress,
Your shoes,
Little flower bruise
Old smoke in your hair
No subway fare, but you just don't care
Heart shines like a neon sign
For tonight won't you just be mine
Invisible girl, in the sodium light
She's the Queen of the Night
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzRCZvw70_w
i should save this for Valentine's probably, but if i did, i'd probably forget, so here's a little warmup you might say by Sergio Mendes & Brazil '66
Like a lover, the morning sun
Slowly rises and kisses you awake
Your smile is soft and fuzzy
As you let it play upon your face
Oh, how I dream
I might be like the morning sun to you
Like a lover, the river wind
Sighs and ripples its fingers through your hair
Upon your cheek it lingers
Never having known a sweeter place
Oh, how I dream
I might be like the river wind to you
How I envy a cup that knows your lips
Let it be me, my love
And a table that feels your fingertips
Let it be me, let me be your love
Bring an end to the endless days and nights
Without you
Like a lover, the velvet moon
Shares your pillow and watches while you sleep
Its light arrives on tiptoe
Gently taking you in its embrace
Oh, how I dream
I might be like the velvet moon to you
(Bridge)
Oh, how I dream
I might be like the river wind to you
How I envy a cup that knows your lips
Let it be me, my love
And a table that feels your fingertips
Let it be me, let me be your love
Bring an end to the endless days and nights
Without you
Like a lover, the velvet moon
Shares your pillow and watches while you sleep
Its light arrives on tiptoe
Gently taking you in its embrace
Oh, how I dream
I might be like the velvet moon to you
I might be like the velvet moon to you
I might be like the velvet moon to you
(Fade out)
UhOh, M.D. Maybe this will help.
I'm Beginning to See the Light by Bobby Darin
I never cared much for moonlit skies
I never wink back at fireflies
But now that the stars are in you eyes
I'm beginning to see the light
I never went in for afterglow
Or candlelight on the mistletoe
But now when you turn the lamp down low
I'm beginning to see the light
Used to ramble through the park
Shadow boxing in the dark
Then you came and caused a spark
that's a four-alarm fire now
I never made love by lantern shine
I never saw rainbows in my wine
But now that your lips are burning mine
I'm beginning to see the light
Welcome back ,Debacle. I wish that I could have accessed your samples, honey, but to no avail. Thanks anyway. Maybe tomorrow?
Well, time for me to say goodnight and I love this song. I found a most unusual version of it, and I think that I like this rendition
In the still of the night
As I gaze out of my window
At the moon in it's flight
My thoughts all stray, stray to you
In the still of the night
While the world lies in slumber
Oh the times without number
When I say to you
Do you love me
Just like I love you
Are you my life to be
That dream come true
Or will this dream of mine
Will it fade way out of sight
Just like that moon growing dim
Way out on the rim of the hill
In the still of the night
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxNg5LSdW0c
Tomorrow, my friends..
From Letty with love
Good morning, WA2K listening audience.
edgar, always nice to listen to The King. Thanks for the morning memory, Texas.
Debacle, I had no luck locating Michele Lee's voice, but I did find out that she sang this song.
Michele Lee
I am not such a clever one about the latest fads
I admit I was never one adored by local lads
Not that I ever tried to be a saint
I'm the type that they classify as quaint
I'm old fashioned, I love the moonlight
I love the old fashioned things
The sound of rain upon a window pane
The starry song that April sings
This years fancies are passing fancies
But sighing sighs, holding hands
These my heart understands
I'm old fashioned but I don't mind it
That's how I want to be
As long as you agree
To stay old fashioned with me.
(Orchestral Interlude)
I'm old fashioned but I don't mind it
That's how I want to be
As long as you agree
To stay old fashioned with me.
Today is Brandon Lee's birthday, folks, and I really liked both him and Bruce Lee. Such an extraordinary situation for both to die so young. Naturally, Letty thinks conspiracy.
Well, here's a memorial to Brandon.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLvGfYDBmJ8
Victor Herbert
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Victor August Herbert (February 1, 1859 - May 26, 1924) was a cellist,conductor and composer of light opera. He was prominent among the tin pan alley composers and later a founder of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP).
Biography
Herbert was born in Dublin, Ireland, and at age three and a half, shortly after the death of his father, moved to live with his playwright grandfather, where he received encouragement in his creative endeavours. However, after his mother remarried a physician, his music was put on hold until a relatively late age.
Early career
Herbert received his early musical training in Europe at the Stuttgart Conservatory, where he developed into an outstanding cellist. He played cello in the orchestra of Johann Strauss in Vienna. He came to the United States in 1886 when his wife, soprano Therese Förster, was engaged by the Metropolitan Opera Company. He played cello in the Met orchestra. Madame Herbert-Förster sang the title role in the Met's first production of Verdi's Aida.
Conductor
In 1892, Victor Herbert exhibited another side of his musical life when he became conductor of the 22nd Regimental Band of the New York National Guard, succeeding the great Patrick Gilmore; the following year he took over leadership of Gilmore's civilian band following Gilmore's death. Herbert conducted the Pittsburgh Symphony from 1898 until 1902, building that orchestra into a major American ensemble, with tours to major cities, including New York and Chicago, where his Auditorium Festival March celebrated the twelfth anniversary of Chicago's Auditorium Theatre in 1901, designed by Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright. Six years later, Herbert founded the Victor Herbert Orchestra and conducted programs of light orchestral music on tours and at summer resorts for many years.
Composer
Among other works, Herbert composed two operas, Natoma and Madeleine, one cantata, 43 operettas, incidental music to 10 stage productions of others including several of the Ziegfeld Follies, 31 compositions for orchestra including the Auditorium Festival March (1901), nine band compositions, nine cello compositions and five violin compositions with piano or orchestra, 22 piano compositions, one flute and clarinet duet with orchestra, 54 songs not including those from other works, 12 choral compositions, and numerous orchestrations of works by other composers.
In 1894, Herbert composed the first of his operettas, Prince Ananias, which was soon followed by the successful The Wizard of the Nile, The Serenade and The Fortune Teller. Starting in 1903, Babes in Toyland, Mlle. Modiste, The Red Mill, Naughty Marietta, and other successes made him one of the best-known figures in American music. He finally realized his long-standing intention to compose an Irish operetta, Eileen, produced in 1917. Herbert's last operetta was The Dream Girl in 1924. His most successful operettas include:
Prince Ananias (1894)
The Wizard of the Nile (1895) (Herbert's biggest international hit) . . .
The Serenade (1897)
The Fortune Teller (1898)
Babes in Toyland (1903)
It Happened in Nordland (1904)[1]
Mlle. Modiste (1905)
The Red Mill (1906)
Little Nemo (1908)
Naughty Marietta (1910)
The Enchantress (1911)
Sweethearts (1913)
The Princess Pat (1915)
Eileen, (aka The Hearts of Erin) (1917)
Angel Face (1919)
Orange Blossoms (1921)
The Dream Girl (1924)
A number of these Herbert operettas are still performed and recorded today by light opera companies, as well as occasionally by the larger opera companies.
Herbert's first opera Natoma debuted in Philadelphia on February 25, 1911 and in New York on February 28, 1911. It starred Mary Garden in the title role and the young Irish tenor John McCormack in his opera debut, creating the role of the American seaman, Paul. His short opera Madeleine was produced at the Metropolitan Opera in 1914.
Herbert's 1894 Cello Concerto No. 2 in E minor, op. 30 is featured on a Yo-Yo Ma recording with Kurt Masur and the New York Philharmonic and a Julian Lloyd Webber recording with Charles Mackerras and the London Symphony Orchestra adding weight to Herbert's reputation as an under appreciated composer of his era. An early rare recording with Bernard Greenhouse and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra conducted by Max Schoenherr displays a warm cello sound and a virtuoso technique produced by one of the greatest American cellists of the twentieth century. Antonín Dvořák claimed to have been inspired to write his Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in B minor, Op. 104 (1894-1895) after hearing this concerto.
ASCAP
In the early years of the twentieth century, Herbert championed the right of composers to profit from their work and worked closely with John Philip Sousa, Irving Berlin, and others in founding, on February 13, 1914, the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP), the organization that even today protects the rights of creative musicians. Herbert served as the organization's vice president for a decade.
Clark Gable
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Birth name William Clark Gable
Born February 1, 1901(1901-02-01)
Cadiz, Ohio, United States
Died November 16, 1960 (aged 59)
Los Angeles, California, United States
Years active 1924 - 1960
Spouse(s) Josephine Dillon (1924-1930)
Maria "Ria" Franklin Printiss Lucas Langham (1931-1939)
Carole Lombard (1939-1942)
Sylvia Ashley (1949-1952)
Kay Williams (1955-1960)
Children Judy Lewis (b.1935)
John Clark Gable (b.1961)
[show]Awards
Academy Awards
Best Actor
1934 It Happened One Night
William Clark Gable (February 1, 1901 - November 16, 1960) was an iconic Academy Award-winning American film actor. He has been nicknamed "The King of Hollywood." His most famous role was in the 1939 epic film Gone with the Wind, in which he starred with Vivien Leigh. Gable and Joan Crawford were together in eight films, Myrna Loy was with him seven times, and Jean Harlow was with him six times. He also starred with Lana Turner in four features, with Norma Shearer in three. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Gable seventh among the Greatest Male Stars of All Time.
Early life
Clark Gable was born in Cadiz, Ohio, on February 1, 1901 to William Henry "Bill" Gable, an oil-well driller,[1][2] and Adeline Hershelman, both of German descent.[3] He was mistakenly listed as a female on his birth certificate. His original name was probably William Clark Gable, but birth registrations, and school records, and other documents contradict one another. "William" would have been in honor of his father. "Clark" was the maiden name of his maternal grandmother. In childhood he was almost always called "Clark"; some friends called him "Clarkie," "Billy," or "Gabe."[4]
When he was six months old, his sickly mother had him baptized Roman Catholic. She died when he was ten months old, probably of an aggressive brain tumor. Following her death, Gable's father's family refused to raise him as a Catholic, provoking enmity with his mother's side of the family. The dispute was resolved when his father's family agreed to allow Gable to spend time with his mother's Catholic brother Thomas and wife Elizabeth on their farm.
In April 1903, Gable's father Will married Jennie Dunlap, whose family came from the small neighboring town of Hopedale, Ohio. Gable was a tall shy child with a loud voice. After his father purchased some land and built a house, the new family settled in. Jennie played the piano and gave her stepson lessons at home; later he took up brass instruments. She raised Gable to be well-dressed and well-groomed; he stood out from the other kids. Gable was very mechanically inclined and loved to strip down and repair cars with his father. At thirteen, he was the only boy in the men's town band. Even though his father insisted on Gable doing manly things, like hunting and hard physical work, Gable loved language. Among trusted company, he would recite Shakespeare, particularly the sonnets. Will Gable did agree to buy a seventy-two volume set of The World's Greatest Literature to improve his son's education, but claimed he never saw his son use it.[5] In 1917, when Gable was in high school, his father had financial difficulties. Will decided to settle his debts and try his hand at farming and the family moved to Ravenna, just outside of Akron. Gable had trouble settling down in the very rural area. Despite his father's insistence that he work the farm, Gable soon left to work in Akron's tire factories.
At seventeen, Gable was inspired to be an actor after seeing the play The Bird of Paradise, but he was not able to make a real start until he turned 21 and inherited money. By then, his stepmother Jennie had died and his father moved to Tulsa to go back to the oil business. He toured in stock companies and worked the oil fields and as a horse manager. Gable found work with several second-class theater companies and worked his way across the Midwest to Portland, Oregon, where he found work as a necktie salesman in the Meier & Frank department store. While there, he met actress Laura Hope Crews, who encouraged him to go back to the stage and into another theater company. His acting coach was a theater manager in Portland, Oregon, Josephine Dillon (17 years his senior). Dillon paid to have his teeth repaired and his hair styled. She guided him in building up his chronically undernourished body, and taught him better body control and posture. She spent considerable time training his naturally high-pitched voice, which Gable slowly managed to lower, and he gained better resonance and tone. As his speech habits improved, Gable's facial expressions became more natural and convincing.[6] After the long period of rigorous training, she eventually considered him ready to attempt a film career.
Hollywood
Stage and silent films
In 1924, with Josephine's financial aid, the two went to Hollywood, where she became his manager and first wife. He changed his stage name from W. C. Gable to Clark Gable. [7] He found work as an extra in such silent films as The Plastic Age (1925), which starred Clara Bow, and Forbidden Paradise, plus a series of two-reel comedies called The Pacemakers. He also appeared as a bit player in a series of shorts. However, Gable was not offered any major roles and so he returned to the stage, becoming lifelong friends with Lionel Barrymore, who in spite of his bawling Gable out for amateurish acting at first, urged Gable to pursue a career on stage.[8] During the 1927-8 theater season, Gable acted with the Laskin Brothers Stock Company in Houston, where he played numerous roles and gained considerable experience and became a local matinee idol. Gable then moved to New York and Dillon sought work for him on Broadway. He received good reviews in Machinal, "He's young, vigorous and brutally masculine" said the Morning Telegraph.[9] The start of the Depression and the beginning of talking pictures caused a cancellation of many plays in the 1929-30 season and acting work became harder to get.
Early successes
In 1930, after his impressive appearance as the seething and desperate character Killer Mears in the play The Last Mile, Gable was offered a contract with MGM. His first role in a sound picture was as the villain in a low-budget William Boyd western called The Painted Desert (1931). He received a lot of fan mail as a result of his powerful voice and appearance; the studio took notice.
In 1930, Clark and Josephine Dillon were divorced. A few days later, he married Texas socialite Ria Franklin Prentiss Lucas Langham. After moving to California, they were married again in 1931, possibly due to differences in state legal requirements.
"His ears are too big and he looks like an ape." So said Warner Bros. executive Darryl F. Zanuck about Clark Gable after testing him for the lead in Warner's gangster drama Little Caesar (1931).[10] After several failed screen tests for Barrymore and Zanuck, Gable was signed in 1930 by MGM's Irving Thalberg. He became a client of agent Minna Wallis, well-connected sister of producer Hal Wallis and very close friend of Norma Shearer.
Gable's timing in arriving in Hollywood was excellent as MGM was looking to expand its stable of male stars and he fitted the bill. Gable then worked mainly in supporting roles, often as the villain. MGM's publicity manager Howard Strickland developed Gable's studio image, playing up his he-man experiences and his 'lumberjack in evening clothes' persona. To bolster his rocketing popularity, MGM frequently paired him with well-established female stars. Joan Crawford asked for him as her co-star in Dance, Fools, Dance (1931). He built his fame and public visibility in such important movies as A Free Soul (1931), in which he played a gangster who slapped Norma Shearer (Gable never played a supporting role again after that slap). The Hollywood Reporter wrote "A star in the making has been made, one that, to our reckoning, will outdraw every other star... Never have we seen audiences work themselves into such enthusiasm as when Clark Gable walks on the screen". [11] He followed that with Susan Lenox (Her Fall and Rise) (1931) with Greta Garbo, and Possessed (1931), in which he and Joan Crawford (then married to Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.) steamed up the screen with some of the passion they shared for decades to come in real life. Adela Rogers St. John later dubbed the relationship as "the affair that nearly burned Hollywood down." [12] Louis B. Mayer threatened to terminate both their contracts and for a while they kept apart and Gable shifted his attentions to Marion Davies. On the other hand, Gable and Garbo disliked each other. She thought he was a wooden actor while he considered her a snob.
Stardom
Gable was considered for Tarzan but lost out to Johnny Weissmuller's better physique and superior swimming prowess. Gable's unshaven lovemaking with bra-less Jean Harlow in Red Dust (1932) made him MGM's most important star. After the hit Hold Your Man (1933), MGM recognized the goldmine of the Gable-Harlow pairing, putting them in two more films, China Seas (1935) and Wife vs. Secretary (1936). An enormously popular combination, on-screen and off-screen, Gable and Jean Harlow made six films together, the most notable being Red Dust (1932) and Saratoga (1937). Harlow died during production of Saratoga of kidney failure. Ninety percent completed, the remaining scenes were filmed with long shots or doubles; Gable would say that he felt as if he were "in the arms of a ghost".[13]
In the following years, he acted in a succession of enormously popular pictures, earning him the undisputed title of "King of Hollywood" in 1938. The title 'King' was first offered by Spencer Tracy, probably in jest but soon Ed Sullivan started a poll in his newspaper column and more than 20 million fans voted Gable 'King' and Myrna Loy 'Queen' of Hollywood. Though the honorific certainly helped his career, Gable grew tired of it and later stated, "This 'King' stuff is pure bullshit...I'm just a lucky slob from Ohio. I happened to be in the right place at the right time". [14]Throughout most of the 1930s and the early 1940s, he was arguably the world's biggest movie star.
David Bret's book Clark Gable: Tormented Star claims that Gable had relationships with openly homosexual men and was "gay for pay" in his early career. It claims that Gable was branded a "sissy" by his father as a child, prompting him to adopt a macho image and denounce homosexuality. The book reported Gable's first two wives turned a blind eye towards his affairs with men, such as Johnny Mack Brown, William Haines, Earl Larimore and Rod LaRocque - Gable outed them to the press to prevent himself from being outed. After 1942, ending his affair with the journalist Ben Maddox, Gable seems to have 'gone straight'. It also recounts that his wartime "heroics" were no more than an elaborate publicity stunt which subsequently embarrassed the U.S. government. He was promoted through the ranks from private to major in less than a year. According to David Bret, Gable was suffering from phimosis, an inability to retract the foreskin of his uncircumcised penis. [15]
Most famous roles
It Happened One Night
with Claudette Colbert in It Happened One Night (1934)According to legend, Gable was lent to Columbia Pictures, then considered a second-rate operation, as punishment for refusing roles; however, this has been refuted by more recent biographies. MGM did not have a project ready for Gable and was paying him $2000 per week, under his contract, to do nothing. Studio head Louis B. Mayer lent him to Columbia for $2500 per week, making a $500 per week profit.[16]
Gable was not the first choice to play the lead role of Peter Warne. Robert Montgomery was originally offered the role, but he felt that the script was poor.[17] Filming began in a tense atmosphere;[18] both Gable and Frank Capra enjoyed making the movie.
Another persistent legend has it that Gable had a profound effect on men's fashion, thanks to a scene in this movie. As he is preparing for bed, he takes off his shirt to reveal that he is bare-chested. Sales of men's undershirts across the country allegedly declined noticeably for a period following this movie.[19]
Gable won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his 1934 performance in the film. He returned to MGM a bigger star than ever.[20]
The unpublished memoirs of animator Friz Freleng's mention that this was one of his favorite films. It has been claimed that it helped inspire the cartoon character Bugs Bunny. Four things in the film may have coalesced to create Bugs: the personality of a minor character, Oscar Shapely and his penchant for referring to Gable's character as "Doc", an imaginary character named "Bugs Dooley" that Gable's character uses to frighten Shapely, and most of all, a scene in which Clark Gable eats carrots while talking quickly with his mouth full, as Bugs does.[21]
from the Mutiny on the Bounty trailer (1935)Gable also earned an Academy Award nomination when he portrayed Fletcher Christian in 1935's Mutiny on the Bounty. Gable once said that this was his favorite film of his own. This was despite the fact that he did not get along with his co-stars Charles Laughton and Franchot Tone.
Gone with the Wind
Despite his reluctance to play the role, Gable is best known for his performance in Gone with the Wind (1939), which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. Carole Lombard may have been the first to suggest that he play Rhett (and she play Scarlett) when she bought him a copy of the bestseller which he refused to read.[22]
Gable was an almost immediate favorite for the role of Rhett Butler with both the public and producer David O. Selznick. But as Selznick had no male stars under long-term contract, he needed to go through the process of negotiating to borrow an actor from another studio. Gary Cooper was Selznick's first choice.[23] When Cooper turned down the role, he was quoted as saying, "Gone With The Wind is going to be the biggest flop in Hollywood history. I'm glad it'll be Clark Gable who's falling flat on his nose, not me".[24][25] By then, Selznick was determined to get Gable, and eventually found a way to borrow him from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Gable was wary of potentially disappointing a public who had decided no one else could play the part. He later conceded, "I think I know now how a fly must react after being caught in a spider's web".[26] It was his first film in Technicolor. Also appearing in Gone With The Wind in the role of "Aunt Pittypat" was Laura Hope Crews, the grandmother of the friend in Portland who had coaxed Gable back into the theater.
During filming, Vivien Leigh complained about his bad breath, which was apparently caused by false teeth. They otherwise got along well.[27] His famous line, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn," caused an uproar since it was in violation of the Production Code in effect at the time. Gable didn't want to shed tears for the scene after Scarlett (Leigh) has a miscarriage. Olivia de Havilland made him cry, later commenting, "... Oh, he would not do it. He would not! Victor (Fleming) tried everything with him. He tried to attack him on a professional level. We had done it without him weeping several times and then we had one last try. I said, "You can do it, I know you can do it and you will be wonderful ..." Well, by heaven, just before the cameras rolled, you could see the tears come up at his eyes and he played the scene unforgettably well. He put his whole heart into it."[28]
Decades later, Gable would say that whenever his career would start to fade, a re-release of Gone with the Wind would instantly revive everything, and he continued as a top leading man for the rest of his life. In addition, Gable was one of the few actors to play the lead in three films that won an Academy Award for Best Picture.
Marriage to Carole Lombard
Gable's marriage in 1939 to his third wife, successful actress Carole Lombard, was the happiest period of his personal life. As an independent actress, her annual income exceeded his studio salary until Gone With The Wind brought them to rough parity.[29] From their pairing, she gained personal stability and he thrived being around her youthful, charming, and blunt personality. She went hunting and fishing with him and with his cronies and he became more sociable. Most times, she tolerated his philandering. He famously stated, "You can trust that little screwball with your life or your hopes or your weaknesses, and she wouldn't even know how to think about letting you down". [30] They purchased a ranch at Encino and once Clark had become accustomed to her often blunt way of expressing herself, they found they had much in common, despite Gable being a conservative Republican and Lombard a liberal Democrat. Their efforts to have a child were unsuccessful.
On January 16, 1942, Lombard, who had just finished her 57th film, To Be Or Not To Be, was on a tour to sell war bonds when the twin-engine DC-3 she was traveling in crashed into a mountain near Las Vegas, killing all aboard including Lombard's mother and MGM staff publicist Otto Winkler (best man at Gable's wedding to Lombard). Gable flew to the site and saw the forest fire ignited by the burning plane. Lombard was declared the first war-related female casualty the U.S. suffered in World War II and Gable received a personal condolence note from President Roosevelt. The CAB investigation cited 'pilot error'.[31]
Gable returned to their empty house and a month later to the studio to work with Lana Turner on Somewhere I'll Find You. Gable was devastated by the tragedy for many months and drank heavily but managed to perform professionally on the set. For a while, Joan Crawford returned to his side to offer support and friendship.
Gable resided the rest of his life at the couple's Encino home, made 27 more movies, and married twice more. "But he was never the same," said Esther Williams. "His heart sank a bit."[32]
World War II
In 1942, following Lombard's death, Gable joined the U.S. Army Air Forces. With the rank of Captain, Gable trained with and accompanied the 351st Heavy Bomb Group as head of a 6-man motion picture unit making a gunnery training film. While at RAF Polebrook, England, Gable flew five combat missions, including one to Germany, as an observer-gunner in B-17 Flying Fortresses between May 4 and September 23, 1943, earning the Air Medal and the Distinguished Flying Cross for his efforts. Adolf Hitler esteemed Gable above all other actors; during the Second World War he offered a sizable reward to anyone who could capture and bring Gable unscathed to him.[33] Gable left the Army Air Forces with the rank of Major.
After World War II
Immediately after his discharge from the service, Gable returned to his ranch and rested. He resumed a pre-war relationship with Virginia Grey and dated other starlets. He introduced his golf caddie Robert Wagner to MGM casting. Gable's first movie after World War II was the 1945 production of Adventure, with his ill-matched co-star Greer Garson. It was a critical and commercial failure despite the famous teaser tagline "Gable's back and Garson's got him".
After Joan Crawford's third divorce, she and Gable resumed their affair and lived together for a brief time. Gable was acclaimed for his performance in The Hucksters (1947), a satire of post-war Madison Avenue corruption and immorality. A very public and brief romance with Paulette Goddard occurred after that. In 1949, Clark married Sylvia Ashley, a British divorcée and the widow of Douglas Fairbanks. The relationship was profoundly unsuccessful; they divorced in 1952. Soon followed Never Let Me Go (1953), opposite Gene Tierney. Tierney was a favorite of Gable and he was very disappointed when she was replaced in Mogambo (due to her mental health problems) by Grace Kelly. Mogambo (1953), directed by John Ford, was a Technicolor remake of his earlier film Red Dust, which had been an even greater success. Gable's on-location affair with Grace Kelly sputtered out after filming was completed.
Gable became increasingly unhappy with what he considered mediocre roles offered him by MGM, while the studio regarded his salary as excessive. Studio head Louis B. Mayer was fired in 1951 amid slumping Hollywood production and revenue, due primarily to the rising popularity of television, and studio chiefs struggled to cut costs. Many MGM stars were fired or not renewed including Greer Garson and Judy Garland. In 1953, Gable refused to renew his contract, and began to work independently. His first two films were Soldier of Fortune and The Tall Men, both profitable though only modest successes. Gable's fifth wife, whom he met again in 1954 and married in 1955 after an on-again, off-again affair spanning thirteen years, was Kay Spreckels (full name Kathleen Williams Capps de Alzaga Spreckels), a thrice-married former fashion model and stock actress.
In 1955, Gable formed a production company with Jane Russell and her husband Bob Waterfield, and they produced The King and Four Queens, Gable's one and only production. He found producing and acting to be too taxing on his health, and he was beginning to manifest a noticeable tremor particularly in long takes. His next project was Band of Angels, with relative newcomer Sidney Poitier and Yvonne De Carlo; it was a total disaster. Newsweek said, "Here is a movie so bad that it must be seen to be disbelieved".[34] Next he paired with Doris Day in Teacher's Pet, shot in black in white to better hide his aging face and overweight body. The film was good enough to bring Gable more films offers, including Run Silent, Run Deep, with co-star and producer Burt Lancaster, which featured his first on screen death since 1937, and which garnered good reviews. Gable started to receive television offers but rejected them outright, even though some of his peers, like his old flame Loretta Young, were flourishing in the new medium. His next two films were for Paramount: But Not for Me with Carroll Baker and It Started in Naples with Sophie Loren. At 58, Gable finally acknowledged, "Now it's time I act my age".[35]
Gable's last film was The Misfits, written by Arthur Miller, directed by John Huston, and co-starring Marilyn Monroe, Eli Wallach, and Montgomery Clift. This was also the final film completed by Monroe. Many critics regard Gable's performance to be his finest, and Gable, after seeing the rough cuts, agreed.[36]
Children
Gable had a daughter, Judy Lewis (b. 1935), the result of an affair with actress Loretta Young begun on the set of The Call of the Wild (1935). In an elaborate scheme, Young took an extended vacation and went to Europe to hide the fact that she was pregnant. After a few months she came back to California and gave birth to their child in Venice. Nineteen months after the birth, Loretta claimed to have adopted Judy (a gambit that got less believable when the child grew to look much like her mother, with ears sticking out like Gable's).
According to Lewis, Gable visited her home once, but he didn't tell her that he was her father. While neither Gable nor Young would ever publicly acknowledge their daughter's real parentage, this fact was so widely known that in Lewis's autobiography Uncommon Knowledge, she wrote that she was shocked to learn of it from other children at school. Loretta Young would never officially acknowledge the fact, which she said would be the same as admitting to a "venial sin". However, she finally gave her biographer permission to include it only on the condition the book not be published until after her death.
On March 20, 1961, Kay Spreckels gave birth to Gable's son, John Clark Gable, born four months after Clark's death. She also had two children from her third marriage, Joan and Adolph Spreckels III (nicknamed "Bunker").
Death
Gable died in Los Angeles, California on November 16, 1960, the result of a fourth heart attack. There was much speculation that Gable's physically demanding Misfits role, which required yanking on and being dragged by horses, contributed to his sudden death soon after filming was completed. In a widely reported quote, Gable's wife Kay blamed it on stress caused by "the endless waiting... waiting (for Monroe)". Monroe, on the other hand, claimed that she and Kay had become close during the filming and would refer to Clark as "Our Man".[37] Arthur Miller, observing Gable on location, noted that "no hint of affront ever showed on his face". [38] Monroe's claim is supported by her being specifically invited by Kay to Gable's funeral, where contemporary newsreels showed the two of them sitting together in the church.
Others have blamed Gable's crash diet before filming began. The 6'1" (185 cm) Gable weighed about 190 pounds (86 kg) at the time of Gone with the Wind, but by his late 50s, he weighed 230 pounds (104 kg). To get in shape for The Misfits, he dropped to 195 lbs (88 kg). For years, Gable's hand would sometimes shake from the diet pills he would take to shed pounds before making a film, leading to rumors he had Parkinson's disease.[citation needed] In addition, Gable was in poor health from years of heavy smoking (three packs of unfiltered cigarettes a day over thirty years, as well as cigars and at least two bowlfuls of pipe tobacco a day. He is still known for his pipe smoking and even has pipes named after him.) and drinking (he liked whiskey), and in the previous decade, had suffered two seizures which may have been heart attacks.[citation needed]
Gable is interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California, beside Carole Lombard.
Doris Day summed up Gable's unique personality, "He was as masculine as any man I've ever known, and as much a little boy as a grown man could be--it was this combination that had such a devastating effect on women".[39]
Stuart Whitman
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Stuart Maxwell Whitman (born February 1, 1928)[1] is an American actor.
Stuart Whitman is arguably best-known for playing Marshal Jim Crown in the western television series Cimarron Strip in 1967. Whitman also starred with John Wayne in the Western movie, The Comancheros, in 1961, and received top billing as the romantic lead in the extravagant aerial epic Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines in 1965.
Early Life
Born in San Francisco, he graduated from high school and spent three years in the Army Corps of Engineers. He became a boxer and was at one time a top light heavyweight contender. After leaving the army, he enrolled in Los Angeles City College and the Los Angeles Academy of Dramatic Art.
Celebrated Film Actor
He had a small part in When Worlds Collide (1951). Whitman performed minor roles in films like All American (1953), Brigadoon (1954), Ten North Frederick (1958) and The Sound and the Fury (1959). His first leading man role is in Murder, Inc. in 1960.
In 1961, Whitman was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as a child molester in The Mark. He has since appeared in starring and supporting roles in many films, including Francis of Assisi, The Fiercest Heart, The Longest Day, The Comancheros (sharing leading man status with John Wayne), Convicts 4, The Day and the Hour, Signpost to Murder, Shock Treatment, Rio Conchos, Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, Sands of the Kalahari,"The City Beneath the Sea", An American Dream, The Last Escape, The Decks Ran Red, The Invincible Six, Night of the Lepus, Shatter, Tony Saitta, and Guyana: Crime of the Century.
Television
In 1957 Whitman was seriously considered for the role of "Bart Maverick" in the smash hit television series Maverick. The studio realized that they needed another Maverick to rotate as the series lead with James Garner, who had filmed seven episodes and closely resembled Whitman at the time, but Jack Kelly was chosen for the part.
When Charlton Heston, who had originally been signed to play the lead in Darby's Rangers (film) left the movie, James Garner was given the lead and Whitman wound up with Garner's original role in the film.[2]
Whitman had a memorable foray into television for a single season in 1967, playing the heroic Marshal Jim Crown in the lavish western series Cimarron Strip. The show, which ran 90 minutes per episode, was highly regarded for its thrilling theme music, top-notch production values, and Whitman's performance.
Later Whitman performed the role of Clark Kent's father Jonathan Kent on the popular TV series Superboy.
Whitman made over two hundred appearances in various movies and television shows over a half century span between 1951 and 2000.
Brandon Lee
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Birth name Brandon Bruce Lee
Born February 1, 1965
Oakland, California
Died March 31, 1993 (aged 28)
Wilmington, North Carolina
Other name(s) Brandon Bruce Lee
Years active 1986-1993
Brandon Bruce Lee (李國豪 Cantonese: Léi Gwokhòu Pinyin: Lǐ Guóháo; February 1, 1965 - March 31, 1993) was an American actor. He was the son of the late legendary martial arts film star Bruce Lee and Linda Lee Cadwell and the brother of actress Shannon Lee.
Early life
Brandon Lee was born in Oakland, California, to the legendary martial artist actor Bruce Lee and his wife Linda Emery. Lee is of Chinese, English, German and Swedish descent. Only a week after his birth, his grandfather Lee Hoi-Chuen died. The family moved to Los Angeles, California when he was three months old. When offers for film roles became limited for his father the family moved back to Hong Kong in 1971; Bruce Lee made three films there between 1971 and 1973.
When Lee was eight, his father died suddenly from a cerebral edema. After her husband's death, Linda Lee moved the family (including daughter Shannon Lee (b.1969)) back to the United States. They lived briefly in his mother's hometown of Seattle, Washington, and then in Los Angeles, where Lee grew up in the affluent area of Rolling Hills. According to his mother, he was "a handful... either the teacher's pet, or the teacher's nightmare."[citation needed]
He attended high school at The Chadwick School, but was asked to leave for insubordination three months before graduating. He received his GED in 1983, and then went to Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts where he majored in theater. After one year, Lee moved to New York City where he took acting lessons at the famed Lee Strasberg Academy and was part of the American New Theatre group founded by his friend John Lee Hancock. The bulk of Lee's martial arts instruction came from his father's top student, Dan Inosanto.
Career
Lee returned to Los Angeles in 1985, where he worked for Ruddy Morgan Productions as a script reader. He was asked to audition for a role by casting director Lyn Stalmaster and then made his acting debut in Kung Fu: The Movie, a feature-length television movie and a follow-up to the 1970s television series Kung Fu. The film aired on ABC on February 1, 1986 which was also Lee's 21 birthday.
In Kung Fu: The Movie, Lee played Chung Wang, the suspected son of Kwai Chang Caine (played by David Carradine). This seemed ironic at the time as Brandon's father Bruce Lee was originally intended to have played the leading role in the Kung Fu TV series as he had also come up with the original concept for the TV series, but in the end he was turned down for playing the lead in favor for Carradine.
Later that same year, Lee got his first major film role in the Hong Kong action thriller Legacy of Rage in which he starred alongside Michael Wong. This film also had a cameo by Bolo Yeung who also appeared in his father's last film, Enter the Dragon. .The film was made in Cantonese, and directed by Ronny Yu. It was the only film Lee made in Hong Kong.
In 1987 Lee starred in an unsuccessful television pilot, another follow-up to the television series Kung Fu, titled Kung Fu: The Next Generation. In this film the story moved to the present day, and centered on the story of Johnny Caine (played by Lee), who is the great-grandson of Kwai Chang Caine. The pilot was not picked up for a series but aired on the CBS Summer Playhouse.
Lee then made a guest appearance in an episode of the short-lived American television series Ohara in 1988 where he played a villainous character named Kenji, opposite Pat Morita who played the title role.
In 1988, Lee also started filming his first English-language B-grade film, Laser Mission, which was filmed cheaply in South Africa. The film was not released commercially in America until after his death, although it was released on video in 1990 throughout Europe.
In 1991, he starred opposite Dolph Lundgren in the buddy cop action thriller Showdown in Little Tokyo. This marked his first studio film and American film debut. Lee signed a multi-picture deal with 20th Century Fox in 1991. He had his first starring role in the action thriller Rapid Fire in 1992, and was scheduled to do two more films for them.
In 1992, Lee landed the lead role of Eric Draven, in the movie adaptation of The Crow, a popular underground comic book. About his character, an undead rock musician avenging his and his fiancée's murder, Lee said, "He has something he has to do and he is forced to put aside his own pain long enough to go do it".
It would be Lee's last film. Filming began on February 1, 1993, which was his 28th birthday.
Death
On March 31, 1993, while filming The Crow, the film crew filmed a scene in which Lee's character walked into his apartment and discovered his girlfriend being raped by thugs. Actor Michael Massee, who played one of the film's villains, was supposed to fire a gun at Lee as he walked into his apartment with groceries.
Because the movie's second unit team were running behind schedule, it was decided that dummy cartridges (cartridges that outwardly appear to be functional, but contain no gunpowder) would be made from real cartridges. A cartridge with only a primer and a bullet was fired in the pistol prior to the scene. It caused a squib load, in which the primer provided enough force to push the bullet out of the cartridge and into the barrel of the revolver, where it became stuck.
The malfunction went unnoticed by the crew, and the same gun was used again later to shoot the death scene, having been re-loaded with blanks. Nevertheless, the squib load was still lodged in the barrel, and was propelled by the blank cartridge's explosion out of the barrel and into Lee's body. Although the bullet was traveling much slower than a normally fired bullet would be, the bullet's large size and the extremely short firing distance made it powerful enough to fatally wound Lee.
When the blank was fired, the bullet shot out and hit Lee in the abdomen. He fell down instantly and the director shouted "Cut!", but Lee did not respond. The cast and crew filming rushed to him and noticed he was wounded. He was immediately rushed to the hospital where the doctors tried to revive him. It was too late however, and he was pronounced dead at 1:03pm.
His funeral was held several days later; he was buried next to his father in Lake View Cemetery, Seattle. The following day, a memorial service was held in Los Angeles.
The shooting was ruled an accident, although many fans suspected foul play. The theory of the Lee "family curse" was also carried over from Bruce Lee's death to Brandon's, as he had died almost 20 years after his father and before the release of the film which could have potentially catapulted him to stardom.
Legacy
After Lee's death, his fiancée Eliza Hutton and his mother supported director Alex Proyas' decision to complete The Crow. At the time of Lee's death, only eight days were left before completion of the movie. A majority of the film had already been completed with Lee and only a few scenes had to be done.
To complete the film, stunt double Chad Stahelski, who was a friend of Lee's at the famed Inosanto Academy, was used as a stand-in; special effects were used to add Lee's face on to the stunt double. Another stunt double named Jeff Cadiente was also used to complete the movie. These scenes were filmed after Lee's death:
Eric Draven's death in flashbacks (this was the scene Lee was filming at the time he had died)
A scene with Eric walking into his apartment after returning from the dead was digitally composited from a scene of Lee walking into an alleyway with raindrops added (the rest of the scenes in the apartment were all done with the double);
Lee's face was digitally imposed onto the stunt double when Eric puts on make-up in front of a mirror and walks towards the broken down window of his apartment;
When Sarah (Rochelle Davis) visits Eric, his face is not seen as it is actually the stunt double.
When Eric plays his guitar on the rooftop, it is one of Lee's body doubles.
In the scene in which Eric Draven kills secondary villain T-Bird (David Patrick Kelly), he does not speak, nor is his face shown; the close-up of Draven's face was from a deleted shot.
A scene in which Eric Draven is running on the rooftops from the police after a shootout was filmed with a double, as was his escape in a police car.
The Crow was released in May 1994 and became a box office hit. The film is dedicated to Lee and Hutton. They were to have been married on April 17, 1993, in Mexico. Lee is survived by his mother and sister.
In an interview just prior to his death, Lee quoted a passage from Paul Bowles' book The Sheltering Sky that he had chosen for his wedding invitations; it is now inscribed on his tombstone:
"Because we do not know when we will die, we get to think of life as an inexhaustible well. And yet everything happens only a certain number of times, and a very small number really. How many more times will you remember a certain afternoon of your childhood, an afternoon that is so deeply a part of your being that you cannot conceive of your life without it? Perhaps four, or five times more? Perhaps not even that. How many more times will you watch the full moon rise? Perhaps twenty. And yet it all seems limitless..."
The quotation is not attributed to Bowles in either Lee's final interview or on his tombstone, leading some fans to the mistaken impression that Lee composed the passage himself. The interview can be seen on VHS and DVD releases of the The Crow.
Seven years after Lee's death, a direct-to-video Swedish film titled Sex, lögner & videovåld (Sex, lies & video violence) was released in which Lee had a very brief cameo appearance. Lee had filmed his cameo appearance in 1992 at the time he was promoting Rapid Fire in Sweden, but the film was delayed for seven years finally releasing in 2000. It was dedicated to Lee during the end credits.
At the time of his death, his father's biopic Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story was ready for release. The film was released two months after Lee's death, with a dedication to his memory in the end credits. In the film, Lee was portrayed by child actor Iain M. Parker.
Personal life
In 1990, Lee met Eliza "Lisa" Hutton at director Renny Harlin's office, located at the headquarters of 20th Century Fox. Hutton was working as a personal assistant to Harlin, and later became a story editor for Stillwater Productions, in 1991. Lee and Hutton moved in together in 1991 and became engaged in October 1992.
They were to be married in Mexico on April 17, 1993, a week after Lee was to complete filming on The Crow - just 18 days after he died. At the time of Lee's death, Hutton was working as a casting assistant and was on set of The Crow so much that she was later credited with being Lee's on-set assistant. After his death, Hutton petitioned to have gun safety regulations tightened on film sets
