WA2K Radio is now on the air

Well, folks, the tornado watch has been canceled and now I can breathe a little easier. hbg, I loved Rosemary doing the mambo. She was some performer; unfortunately George did not inherit her musical ability, but he sure could do the lip sync well.

I do hope you all watched and listened to Danny Kaye and Louis Armstrong. That is one fabulous performance. As a matter of record, I am going to sign off tonight with one of my favorite Hans Christian Anderson songs.

Please support our hebba, too, because these guys are both great Danes.

hebba's site:

http://www.imms.dk/in%20progress.html

Now for Danny doing Hans.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXi3bjKowJU

Goodnight, all, and stay OVER the weather, not UNDER it.

From Letty with love

Good morning, WA2K listeners and contributors.

The weather has been really odd here, but I guess that is one of the constants in life, right?

Here's one for our Raggedy, because today is Guy's birthday.

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

Good morning WA2K

And the

from PA thanks you, Letty, for dedicating that song sung by the guy who stopped in the pawnship here.

Thank you also for playing my favorite Danny Kaye song last night. Don't think once is enough for that one, though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJ8Lwm2h1Q8

Remembering:

Ah, Raggedy, you are right. I don't think my older sister really caught the deep down Danny. Thanks for a different view of the inch worm through the eyes of a muppet.

Well, today is also Elizabeth Taylor's birthday, and I had no idea that "she of the violet eyes" could sing. She's not the greatest, but....


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cv4ziccmThI

Lotte Lehmann
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lotte Lehmann (February 27, 1888 - August 26, 1976) was an German soprano opera and Lieder singer who was especially associated with German repertory. She gave memorable performances in the operas of Richard Strauss; the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier was considered her greatest role.[citation needed]

Lehmann was born in Perleberg. After studying in Berlin, she made her debut in Hamburg Opera in 1910 as a Page in Wagner's Lohengrin. In 1914, she sang for the first time in, and in 1916 joined, the Vienna State Opera, where she sang in the premieres of a number of Strauss's operas, Ariadne auf Naxos (1916), Die Frau ohne Schatten (1919), Intermezzo (1924), and Arabella (1933) as well as Vienna premieres of several operas of Puccini. Lehmann made her debut in London in 1914, and from 1924 to 1935 she performed regularly at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.[citation needed]

She also appeared regularly at the Salzburg Festival (1926-1937), performing with Arturo Toscanini, among other conductors. She also gave recitals there accompanied at the piano by the conductor Bruno Walter.


On the cover of Time magazine: February 18, 1935.In 1930, Lehmann made her US debut in Chicago as Sieglinde in Wagner's Die Walküre.[citation needed] Lehmann's other Wagnerian roles included Eva in Die Meistersinger, Elsa in Lohengrin, and Elisabeth in Tannhäuser; she was also famous for her interpretation of Leonore in Beethoven's Fidelio. Just before Austria was annexed by Germany in 1938, Lehmann emigrated to the United States, where she sang at the San Francisco Opera and the Metropolitan Opera until 1945.

In addition to her operatic work, Lehmann was a renowned singer of lieder, giving frequent recitals up until her retirement. During her long career, Lehmann also made more than five hundred recordings.[citation needed]

After her retirement from the recital stage in 1951, Lehmann taught master classes in Santa Barbara, California, at the Music Academy of the West, which she helped found.[citation needed] She also gave master classes in Chicago, London, Vienna etc. For her contribution to the recording industry, Lehmann has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1735 Hollywood Blvd. However, her first name was misspelled as "Lottie."

She was a prolific writer, publishing a book of poems Verse in Prosa in the early 1920s, a novel, Orplid, mein Land (1937), translated as Eternal Flight (1937) and a book of memoirs, Anfang und Aufstieg (1937), translated as On Wings of Song (UK 1938) and as Midway in My Song (US 1938); a book on the interpretation of song, More Than Singing (1945); My Many Lives (1948), a book on the interpretation of opera roles. Later books include Five Operas and Richard Strauss also titled Singing with Richard Strauss (UK) (1964); a second book of poems Gedichte (1969) and Eighteen Song Cycles (1971) which was largely taken from earlier books.

Biographies of Lehmann include: Lotte Lehmann...mehr als eine Sängerin by Wessling (1969); Lotte Lehmann: A Life in Opera and Song by Glass (1988); Lotte Lehmann: 1888-1976 A Centenary Biography by Jefferson (1988), translated into German as Lotte Lehmann: Eine Biographie (1991).

Lehmann died in 1976 age 88 in Santa Barbara, California. She is interred in the Zentralfriedhof in Vienna, Austria.[citation needed]

The Lotte Lehmann Concert Hall on the campus of the University of California, Santa Barbara was named in her honor.

The Lotte Lehmann Foundation was begun in 1995 with the dual missions to preserve and perpetuate Lotte Lehmann's legacy, and to honor her dream of bringing art song into the lives of as many people as possible.

Franchot Tone
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Born Stanislas Pascal Franchot Tone
February 27, 1905(1905-02-27)
Niagara Falls, New York, U.S.
Died September 18, 1968 (aged 63)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Years active 1932 - 1968
Spouse(s) Joan Crawford (October 11, 1935 - April 11, 1939) (divorced)
Jean Wallace (1941 - 1948) (divorced) 2 children
Barbara Payton (1951 - 1952) (divorced)
Dolores Dorn (1956-1959) (divorced)

Franchot Tone (February 27, 1905 - September 18, 1968) was an American actor.





Biography

He was born Stanislaus Pascal Franchot Tone in Niagara Falls, New York, the youngest son of Dr. Frank Jerome Tone, the president of the Carborundum Company, and his wife, Gertrude Franchot. He was of French Canadian, Irish, English and Basque ancestry, and was related to Irish revolutionary Theobald Wolfe Tone.

Tone attended Cornell University, where he was President of the Dramatic Club and was elected to the Sphinx Head Society. He gave up the family business to pursue an acting career in the theatre. After graduating, he moved to Greenwich Village, New York, and got his first Broadway role in the 1929 Katharine Cornell production of The Age of Innocence.

The following year, he joined the Theatre Guild and played Curly in their production of Green Grow the Lilacs (later to become the famous musical Oklahoma!). He later became a founding member of the famed Group Theatre, together with Harold Clurman, Cheryl Crawford, Lee Strasberg, Stella Adler, Clifford Odets, and others, many of whom had worked with the Theatre Guild. Strasberg had been a castmate of Tone's in Green Grow the Lilacs. These were intense and productive years for him: among the productions of the Group he acted in were 1931 (1931) and Success Story (1932). Franchot Tone was universally regarded by the critics as one of the most promising actors of his generation. Gary Cooper called Tone the best actor he had ever worked with.


The same year, however, Tone was the first of the Group to turn his back on the theatre and go to Hollywood when MGM offered him a film contract. Nevertheless, he always considered cinema far inferior to the theatre and recalled his stage years with longing. He often sent financial support to the Group Theatre, which often needed it. He eventually returned to the stage from time to time after the 1940s. His screen debut was in the 1932 movie The Wiser Sex. He achieved fame in 1933, when he made seven movies that year, including Today We Live, written by William Faulkner, where he first met his future wife Joan Crawford, Bombshell, with Jean Harlow (with whom he co-starred in three other movies), and the smash hit Dancing Lady, again with Crawford and Clark Gable. In 1935, probably his best year, he starred in Mutiny on the Bounty (for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor), The Lives of a Bengal Lancer and Dangerous opposite Bette Davis, with whom he was rumored to have had an affair.

He was married October 11, 1935 in New Jersey to actress Joan Crawford; they were divorced in 1939. They made seven films together: Today We Live (1933), Dancing Lady (1933), Sadie McKee (1934), No More Ladies (1935), The Gorgeous Hussy (1936), Love On The Run (1936) and The Bride Wore Red (1937).

He married and divorced three more times: to fashion model turned actress Jean Wallace (1941-48, with whom he had two sons, actress Barbara Payton (1951-52) (which resulted in his being physically assaulted by Payton's one-time lover, Tom Neal), and finally to the much younger actress Dolores Dorn (1956-59).

He worked steadily through the 1940s without breaking through as a major star. He was beginning to be type-cast as the wealthy cafe-society playboy and very few of the films of this period are notable. One conspicuous exception was Five Graves to Cairo (1943), the third film by the young Billy Wilder, a World War II espionage story, starring Tone, Anne Baxter, Akim Tamiroff and Erich von Stroheim as German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel.

In the 1950s, he moved to television and returned to Broadway. In 1957, he appeared on Broadway in A Moon for the Misbegotten with Wendy Hiller. He co-starred in the Ben Casey medical series from 1965 to 1966 as Casey's supervisor. He also starred in, directed, and produced his first film, an adaptation of Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya (1957) with then wife Dolores Dorn.

A chain smoker, he died of lung cancer in New York City at the age of 63. Joan Crawford was moved by Tone's plight during his illness and was reported to have taken him into her home to care for him. His remains were cremated and his ashes were scattered.

Franchot Tone has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6558 Hollywood Blvd.

I still like the movie Inchworm the best though, Letty.

And I also like Elizabeth singing that song. Love that Sondheim song and Elizabeth

Happy 76th birthday Elizabeth:

OOOPS! Sorry Bob.

Joan Bennett
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Born Joan Geraldine Bennett
February 27, 1910(1910-02-27)
Palisades Park, New Jersey
Died December 7, 1990 (aged 80)
Scarsdale, New York
Years active 1916 - 1982
Spouse(s) John Marion Fox (1926-1928)
Gene Markey (1932-1937)
Walter Wanger (1940-1965)
David Wilde (1978-1990)
Children Adrienne Ralston Fox (b.1928)
Melinda Markey (b.1934)
Stephanie Wanger (b.1943)
Shelley Wanger (b.1948)
Parents Richard Bennett (1872-1944)
Adrienne Morrison (1883-1940)

Joan Geraldine Bennett (February 27, 1910 - December 7, 1990) was an Emmy-nominated American film actress who appeared in more than 70 Hollywood films from the silent era to talkies, from color to the advent of television and epic films. She may be best known and loved for her film noir femme fatale roles in films by director Fritz Lang.





Biography

Joan Bennett (1910-1990) had three distinct phases to her long and successful career, first as a winsome blonde ingenue, then as a brunette femme fatale and, finally, as a warm-hearted wife/mother figure.




Early life

Born in Palisades, N.J., she was part of a famous theatrical family with a lineage dating back to traveling minstrels in 18th century England. Her father was actor Richard Bennett, her mother, actress Adrienne Morrison, and her sisters, actress Constance Bennett and dancer, Barbara Bennett. Joan first acted onstage with her father at age 18 and by 19 had become a movie star courtesy of her roles in such movies as Bulldog Drummond (1929) and Disraeli (1929). She moved quickly from film to film throughout the 1930s, appearing with John Barrymore in his version of Moby Dick (1930) and playing Amy to Katharine Hepburn's Jo in Little Women (1933). Of the three Bennett sisters, Joan would achieve the greatest fame.


Career

Contracted to 20th Century Fox, Joan Bennett appeared as a blonde ingenue in several films including Puttin' on the Ritz in 1930 and Me and My Gal in 1932, before leaving this studio to appear in Little Women (1933). The latter film brought Bennett to the attention of producer Walter Wanger, who signed her to a contract and eventually (in 1940) married her.

Wanger managed Bennett's career, and with director Tay Garnett convinced her to change her hair from blonde (her natural color) to brunette. With this change her screen persona evolved into that of a glamorous seductive, femme fatale and she began to attract attention in a series of highly acclaimed film noirs by director Fritz Lang. During the search to find an actress to play Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind, Bennett was tested and impressed producer David O. Selznick. She was briefly considered to be a front runner for this part but Selznick eventually turned his attention to Paulette Goddard, who was then rejected in favour of Vivien Leigh.

In the 1940s Bennett appeared in four films directed by Fritz Lang with whom she and Wanger had formed their own film company. Three of these films, Man Hunt (1941), The Woman in the Window (1945), and Scarlet Street (1945) established her as a film noir femme fatale and leading Hollywood actress. She also worked with noted directors Jean Renoir in The Woman on the Beach (1947) and Max Ophüls in The Reckless Moment. Other Highlights of the more mature phase of her career include the role of Spencer Tracy's wife and Elizabeth Taylor's mother in both Father of the Bride (1950) and Father's Little Dividend (1951).


Scandal & later years

In 1950, Bennett changed agents. In 1951 Wanger shot and injured Bennett's new MCA agent, Jennings Lang (1915-1996), with whom she had allegedly begun an affair. The resulting scandal hurt her career much more than Wanger's, according to the double standards toward women of the time. Wanger's attorney, Jerry Giesler, mounted a "temporary insanity" defense and Wanger served a four-month sentence at the Castaic Honor Farm two hours' drive north of Los Angeles, quickly returning to his film career to make a string of intelligent hit films. Bennett, meanwhile was forced to flea to Chicago to appear in theater, and later in television because the scandal was too great a stain on her film career and the film studios were already floundering in the 1950s as it was. Though Humphrey Bogart, a longtime friend of Bennett's, pleaded with the studios on her behalf to keep her role in "We're No Angels" following the shooting scandal, that film proved to be one of Bennett's last. Wanger and Bennett remained married until 1965.

Bennett continued to work steadily in theatre and television and was a cast member of the television series Dark Shadows for its entire five year run, from 1966 until 1971, receiving an Emmy Award nomination for her performance therein. Bennett also appeared in a few more films, most notably the cult horror thriller from Italian director Dario Argento's Suspiria. In the last decades of her life, she was married to David Wilde, a Yale graduate and film critic. Bennett died from a heart attack in Scarsdale, New York at the age of 80, and was buried in Pleasant View Cemetery, Lyme, Connecticut.

Joan Bennett was survived by 4 daughters (Diana Fox, Melinda Markey, and Shelley and Stephanie Wanger) and 13 grandchildren.

Bennett has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for services to Motion Pictures, at 6310 Hollywood Boulevard.

Joanne Woodward
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Born Joanne Gignilliat Trimmier Woodward
February 27, 1930 (1930-02-27) (age 78)
Thomasville, Georgia, USA
Spouse(s) Paul Newman (1958-)
[show] Awards won
Academy Awards
Best Actress
1957 The Three Faces of Eve
BAFTA Awards
Best Actress in a Leading Role
1973 Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams
Emmy Awards
Outstanding Lead Actress - Miniseries/Movie
1978 See How She Runs
1985 Do You Remember Love
Outstanding Informational Special
1990 American Masters: Broadway's Dreamers: The Legacy of the Group Theatre
Golden Globe Awards
Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
1958 The Three Faces of Eve
1969 Rachel, Rachel

Best Actress - Miniseries/TV Movie
1995 Breathing Lessons

Screen Actors Guild Awards
Life Achievement Award
1986 Lifetime Achievement
Outstanding Actress - Miniseries/TV Movie
1994 Breathing Lessons
Other Awards
NBR Award for Best Actress
1957 The Three Faces of Eve ; No Down Payment
NYFCC Award for Best Actress
1968 Rachel, Rachel
1973 Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams
1990 Mr. and Mrs. Bridge
Best Actress Award - Cannes Film Festival
1973 The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds

Joanne Gignilliat Trimmier Woodward (born February 27, 1930) is an Academy Award-, Golden Globe-, Emmy and Cannes award-winning American actress. Woodward, who is married to Paul Newman, is also a television and theatrical producer.





Early life

Woodward was born in Thomasville, Georgia, daughter of Elinor Gignilliat (née Trimmier) and Wade Woodward, Jr., who at one point was vice president of publisher Charles Scribner's Sons.[1][2] Her middle name, "Gignilliat", originates from distant Huguenot ancestry.[3] She was influenced to become an actress by her mother's love of movies.[3] Her mother named her after Joan Crawford, using the Southern pronunciation of the name - "Joanne".[3] Attending the premiere of Gone with the Wind in Atlanta, nine-year-old Woodward rushed out into the parade of stars and sat on the lap of Laurence Olivier, star Vivien Leigh's husband. She eventually worked with Olivier in 1979, in a television production of Come Back, Little Sheba.

Woodward lived in Thomasville until she was in the second grade. Her family relocated to Marietta, Georgia. They moved once again when she was a junior in high school, after her parents divorced.[3] She graduated from Greenville High School in 1947, in Greenville, South Carolina. Woodward won many beauty contests as a teenager. She majored in drama at Louisiana State University, where she was an initiate of Chi Omega sorority, then headed to New York City to perform on the stage.[3]



Career

Early career

Woodward's first film was a post-Civil War western Count Three and Pray, in 1955. She continued to move between Hollywood and Broadway, eventually, understudying in the New York production of Picnic which featured Paul Newman.[3] The two were married in 1958 after their work together in the film The Long, Hot Summer. By that time, Woodward had starred in The Three Faces of Eve, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress.[3]


Films with Paul Newman

She appeared with her husband, Paul Newman in ten featured films:

The Long, Hot Summer (1958)
Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys! (1958)
From the Terrace (1960)
Paris Blues (1961)
A New Kind of Love (1963) - a lightweight romantic comedy that she persuaded Newman to make.
Winning (1969)
WUSA (1970)
The Drowning Pool (1975)
Harry & Son (1984) - which Newman also directed
Mr. and Mrs. Bridge (1990)
They both also appeared in the HBO miniseries Empire Falls but did not have any scenes together.

She starred in four films that Newman directed or produced but did not star in:

Rachel, Rachel (1968)
The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds - which also starred their daughter, Nell Potts.
The Shadow Box (1980) - a television movie
The Glass Menagerie (1987)

Later career

Woodward has continued to act on stage, films, and television in such films as Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams and Philadelphia (1993) in which she played the mother to Tom Hanks' character.[3] She also appeared in the television films Sybil opposite Sally Field and Crisis at Central High. She was the narrator for Martin Scorsese's screen version of The Age of Innocence.

She has produced, co-produced and directed a number of TV programs. Woodward is the artistic director of the Westport Country Playhouse.[3]


Personal life

Woodward married Paul Newman on January 29, 1958. They have three daughters: Elinor Teresa (1959; known professionally as Nell Potts), Melissa Stewart (1961), and Claire "Clea" Olivia (1965). She and Newman live in Westport, Connecticut, but are extremely private about their personal lives. Newman will occasionally venture to California, but Woodward has refused to go west for many years.

In 1990, she graduated from Sarah Lawrence College alongside her daughter, Clea.[3]

Elizabeth Taylor
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Born Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor
27 February 1932 (1932-02-27) (age 76)
Hampstead, London, England
Other name(s) Liz Taylor
Years active 1942 - 2003
Spouse(s) Conrad Hilton Jr. (1950-1951)
Michael Wilding (1952-1957)
Mike Todd (1957-1958)
Eddie Fisher (1959-1964)
Richard Burton (1964-1974)
Richard Burton (1975-1976)
John Warner (1976-1982)
Larry Fortensky (1991-1996)
Awards won
Academy Awards
Best Actress
1960 BUtterfield 8
1966 Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award
1993 Outstanding Contributions to Humanitarian Causes
BAFTA Awards
Best Actress
1966 Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Academy Fellowship
1999
Britannia Award
2005 Artistic Excellence in International Entertainment
Golden Globe Awards
Special Award
1957
Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
1959 Suddenly, Last Summer
Cecil B. DeMille Award
1985 Lifetime achievement
Screen Actors Guild Awards
Life Achievement Award
1998 Lifetime Achievement
Other Awards
NYFCC Award for Best Actress
1966 Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
NBR Award for Best Actress
1966 Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Silver Berlin Bear for Best Actress
1972 Hammersmith Is Out
AFI Life Achievement Award
1993 Lifetime Achievement


Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor, DBE (born 27 February 1932) is a two-time Academy Award-winning English American actress. Known for her acting skills and beauty, as well as her Hollywood lifestyle including many marriages, she is considered one of the great actresses of Hollywood's golden years, as well as a larger-than-life celebrity.

The American Film Institute named Taylor seventh among the Greatest Female Stars of All Time.





Biography

Life and career

Taylor was born in Hampstead, a wealthy district of north-west London, the second child of Francis Lenn Taylor (1897 - 1968) and Sara Viola Warmbrodt (1896 - 1994), who were Americans residing in England. Taylor's older brother, Howard Taylor, was born in 1929.

Her two first names are in honor of her paternal grandmother, Elizabeth Taylor, who was born Elizabeth Mary Rosemond. Taylor was born both a British subject and an American citizen, the former by being born on British soil under the principle of jus soli, and the latter through her parents under the principle of jus sanguinis.

Both of her American parents were originally from Arkansas City, Kansas. Her father was an art dealer and her mother a former actress whose stage name was Sara Sothern. Sara retired from the stage when she and Francis Taylor married in 1926 in New York.

At the age of three, Elizabeth began taking ballet lessons. Shortly after the beginning of World War II, her parents decided to return to the United States to avoid hostilities. Her mother took the children first, while her father remained in London to wrap up matters in the art business. They settled in Los Angeles, California, where Sara's family, the Warmbrodts, were then living.

Taylor appeared in her first motion picture at the age of nine for Universal. They let her contract drop, and she was signed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Her first movie with that studio was Lassie Come Home (1943), which drew favorable attention. That movie starred child star Roddy McDowall, with whom Elizabeth would share a lifelong friendship. After a few more movies, the second on loan-out to 20th Century Fox, she first appeared in her first leading role and achieved child star status playing Velvet Brown, a young girl who trains a horse to win the Grand National in Clarence Brown's movie National Velvet (1944) with Mickey Rooney. National Velvet was a big hit, grossing over US$4 million at the box-office, and she was signed to a long-term contract. Gene Tierney originally was offered the role in MGM's National Velvet but production was delayed so Tierney signed with Fox.

She attended school on the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer lot and received a diploma from University High School in Los Angeles on January 26, 1950, the same year she was first married at age 18.

Elizabeth Taylor won the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performances in BUtterfield 8 (1960), which co-starred then husband Eddie Fisher, and again for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), which co-starred then-husband Richard Burton and the Supporting Actress Oscar-winner, Sandy Dennis.

Taylor was nominated for Raintree County (1957) with Montgomery Clift, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) with Paul Newman, and Suddenly, Last Summer (1959) with Clift, Katharine Hepburn and Mercedes McCambridge.

In 1963, she became the highest paid movie star up until that time when she accepted US$1 million to play the title role in the lavish production of Cleopatra for 20th Century Fox. It was during the filming of that movie that she worked for the first time with future husband Richard Burton, who played Mark Antony. Movie magazines, the forerunners of today's tabloids, had a field day when Taylor and Burton began an affair during filming; both stars were married to other people at the time. She was even accused by a Vatican newspaper of having descended into "erotic vagrancy." A lot of people thought of Elizabeth Taylor as a "Scarlet Woman." She and many others disagreed with that strongly. Richard Burton was quoted as saying: "You'd be surprised at the morals of many women stars who are regarded by the public as goody-two-shoes. They leap into bed with any male in grabbing distance. That's what makes me mad when I read stuff hinting Liz is a scarlet woman because she's been married five times. She's only had five men in her life whereas those goody-two-shoes have lost count."[citation needed]

She has also appeared a number of times on television, including the 1973 made-for-TV movie with then husband Richard Burton, titled Divorce His - Divorce Hers. In 1985, she played movie gossip columnist Louella Parsons in Malice in Wonderland opposite Jane Alexander, who played Hedda Hopper, and also appeared in the mini-series North and South. In 2001, she played an agent in These Old Broads. She has also appeared on a number of other TV shows, including the soap operas General Hospital and All My Children and the animated The Simpsons; once as herself, and the other as the voice of Maggie.

Taylor has also acted on the stage, making her Broadway and West End debuts in 1982 with a revival of Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes. She was then in a production of Noel Coward's Private Lives (1983), in which she starred with her former husband, Richard Burton. The student-run Burton Taylor Theatre in Oxford was named for the famous couple after Burton appeared as Doctor Faustus in the Oxford University Dramatic Society (OUDS) production of the Marlowe play. Elizabeth Taylor played the ghostly, wordless Helen of Troy, who is entreated by Faustus to 'make [him] immortal with a kiss'.


Marriages

Taylor has been married eight times to seven husbands:

Conrad "Nicky" Hilton (May 6, 1950 - January 29, 1951) (divorced)
Michael Wilding (February 21, 1952 - January 26, 1957) (divorced)
Michael Todd (February 2, 1957 - March 22, 1958) (widowed)
Eddie Fisher (May 12, 1959 - March 6, 1964) (divorced)
Richard Burton (March 15, 1964 - June 26, 1974) (divorced)
Richard Burton (again) (October 10, 1975 - July 29, 1976) (divorced)
John Warner (December 4, 1976 - November 7, 1982) (divorced)
Larry Fortensky (October 6, 1991 - October 31, 1996) (divorced)

Relationship with parents

Taylor's mother exerted influence on Taylor's life well into adulthood. Despite their often difficult relationship, Sara was always her daughter's biggest champion and when she died in 1994, Taylor was devastated. In 2000 when Taylor was made a Dame of the British Empire she raised a glass of sparkling cider and made a toast:

" There's a woman who deserves our deepest appreciation because if it weren't for her we'd all be somewhere else right now. Let's all drink to my mother Sara Taylor. "

A guest shouted 'Hear, hear!'; however, Taylor then commanded

" No! Let's drink to two things. To my mother and forgiveness.[citation needed] "

Little is known regarding Taylor's relationship with her father.


Children

Taylor and Wilding had two sons, Michael Howard Wilding (b. January 6, 1953), and Christopher Edward Wilding (b. February 27, 1955). She and Todd had one daughter, Elizabeth Frances Todd, called "Liza," (b. August 6, 1957). And in 1964, she and Fisher started adoption proceedings for a daughter, whom Burton later adopted, Maria Burton (b. August 1, 1961). She became a grandmother on August 25, 1971 at age 39.


Other interests

Taylor has a passion for jewelry. Over the years she has owned a number of well known pieces, two of the most talked about being the 33.19 carat (6.638 g) Krupp Diamond and the 69.42 carat (13.884 g) pear-shaped Taylor-Burton Diamond, which were among many gifts from husband Richard Burton. Taylor also owns the 50 carat La Peregrina Pearl, purchased by Burton as a Valentine's day present in 1969. The pearl was formerly owned by Mary I of England, and Burton sought a portrait of Queen Mary wearing the pearl. Upon the purchase of the painting, the Burtons discovered that the British National Portrait Gallery did not have an original painting of Mary, so they donated the painting to the Gallery.[1][2] Her enduring collection of jewelry has been eternalized with her book My Love Affair with Jewelry (2002).

In 2005, she partnered with Jack and Monty Abramov of Mirabelle Luxury Concepts in Los Angeles to introduce the House of Taylor Jewelry. In 2005, House of Taylor Jewelry formed a partnership with Kathy Ireland Worldwide, a design-and-marketing firm with more than US$1 billion in annual sales. She has also launched three perfumes, "Passion," "White Diamonds," and "Black Pearls," that together earn an estimated US$200 million in annual sales. In the Fall of 2006, Dame Elizabeth Taylor celebrated the 15th anniversary of her White Diamonds perfume, one of the top-10 best selling fragrances for more than the past decade.

Taylor has devoted much time and energy to AIDS-related charities and fundraising. She helped start the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) after the death of her former co-star and friend, Rock Hudson. She also created her own AIDS foundation, Elizabeth Taylor Aids Foundation (ETAF). By 1999, she had helped to raise an estimated US$50 million to fight the disease.

Recently, in 2006, Taylor donated US$40,000 to the New Orleans Aids task force, a charity designed for the New Orleans population with AIDS and HIV. The NO/AIDS task force estimated that about 7,400 residents were infected with HIV before Hurricane Katrina.[citation needed] Taylor and Macy's donated a 37-foot "CareVan," equipped with examination tables and X-Ray equipment.[3]

In the early 1980s she moved to Bel-Air, which is her current home. She also owns homes in Palm Springs and Hawaii. The fenced and gated property is on tour maps sold at street corners and is frequently passed by tour guides.

Taylor was also a fan of the soap opera General Hospital. In fact, she was cast as the first Helena Cassadine, matriarch of the Cassadine family.

Taylor is a supporter of Kabbalah and member of the Kabbalah Centre. She encouraged friend Michael Jackson to wear a red string as protection from the evil-eye during his 2005 trial for molestation, where he was eventually cleared of all charges. Back in 1997, Jackson presented Taylor with exclusively written to her epic 'Elizabeth, I Love You' song, performed on the day of her 65th birthday celebration.

In October 2007, she won a legal battle over a Vincent van Gogh painting in her possession when the US Supreme Court refused to reconsider a legal suit filed by four persons claiming that the artwork belongs to one of their Jewish ancestors.[citation needed]

Recent years

In November 2004, Taylor announced that she had been diagnosed with congestive heart failure, a condition in which the heart pumps insufficient amounts of blood throughout the body. She has broken her back five times, had both her hips replaced, survived a benign brain tumor operation, skin cancer, and has faced life-threatening bouts with pneumonia twice. She is reclusive and sometimes fails to make scheduled appearances due to illness or other personal reasons. She now uses a wheelchair and when asked about it she said that she has osteoporosis and was born with scoliosis.[4][5]

In 2005 she was a vocal supporter of her friend Michael Jackson in his trial in California on charges of sexually abusing a child.[6] [7] He was acquitted.

In recent years, Taylor reportedly became closely attached to her pet dog, saying that she went nowhere without her little Maltese named Sugar.[citation needed]In an interview with American magazine W, Taylor said she was happiest while with husbands Todd and Burton, but now has to be content with Sugar for company. She explains, "I've never loved a dog like this in my life. It's amazing. Sometimes I think there's a person in there. There's something to say for this kind of love - it's unconditional."[citation needed] In June 2005, Taylor's beloved dog Sugar died. However, several months later (in September) she purchased a descendant of Sugar which she named Daisy.

It was reported on April 27, 2006 that Taylor was close to death.[citation needed] This was quickly denied by Taylor's publicist, Dick Guttman. "Dick Guttman says that he can refute every allegation in these published reports. In fact, he says they didn't get anything right. Guttman says Taylor has a very busy life, with her successful perfume and jewelry lines and the work she does for the fight against AIDS."[citation needed] On May 30, 2006, she appeared on Larry King Live to refute the claims that she has been ill, and denied the allegations that she was suffering from Alzheimer's disease and was close to death.[8]

In late August 2006 Taylor decided to take a boating trip to help prove that she was not even close to death. She also decided to make Christie's auction house the primary place where she will sell her jewelry, artwork, clothing, furniture, and memorabilia (September 2006).[9]

In October 2006, it was widely reported that Taylor would be marrying her photographer Firooz Zahedi, 17 years her junior.[10] Taylor responded by asserting that she and Zahedi "never have been and will never be romantically involved."[11]

The February 2007 issue of Interview magazine devoted itself entirely to Elizabeth Taylor--a celebration of her life, career and her upcoming seventy-fifth birthday.

On December 5, 2007, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver inducted Taylor into the California Hall of Fame, located at The California Museum for History, Women and the Arts.[12]

She was in news once more recently for a rumored 9th marriage to her constant companion Jason Winters. This has been dismissed as a rumour.[13] However she is quoted as saying, "Jason Winters is one of the most wonderful men I've ever known and that's why I love him. He bought us the most beautiful house in Hawaii and we visit it as often as possible,"[14] to celebrated gossip columnist Liz Smith. Dame Elizabeth and Jason Winters enjoy spending time together in Dame Elizabeth's home in Bel Air as well as in both of Winters' homes located in Palm Springs and Hawaii. He also accompanied her to Macy's Passport 2007 where she was honored with the Humanitarian Award as well as to her performance of A.R. Gurney's, Love Letters in 2007, escorting her down the red carpet at both events.

On December 1, 2007, Taylor and James Earl Jones gave a benefit performance of the A.R. Gurney play Love Letters, to raise $1 million for Taylor's AIDS foundation. Tickets for the show were priced at $2,500 and more than 500 people attended. This event happened to coincide with the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike and, rather than cross the picket line, Taylor requested a "one night dispensation". The Writers Guild agreed not to picket the Paramount Pictures lot that night, to allow for the performance. [15]

Josh Groban
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



Background information

Birth name Joshua Winslow Groban
Born February 27, 1981 (1981-02-27) (age 27)
Los Angeles, California,
United States
Genre(s) Classical
Vocal
Occupation(s) Singer
Instrument(s) Singing, piano, drums
Years active 1997-present
Label(s) 143/Reprise
Website http://www.joshgroban.com

Joshua Winslow Groban (born February 27, 1981) is a Grammy-nominated American singer/songwriter known for his lyrical baritone voice. He has concentrated his career so far mostly in concert singing and recordings, although he has stated that he wishes to pursue musical theatre in the future.




Early life

Josh Groban was born in Los Angeles, California, to a Jewish American father (a descendant of Polish and Russian immigrants) and a Norwegian American mother. His father converted to Christianity upon marriage, and Groban was raised an Anglican-Episcopalian. His younger brother Christopher shares a birthday with him four years later.[1]

Groban debuted as a singer in seventh grade, but soon put it on hold for a few years. "I enjoyed the arts aspects, but my grades were slipping. I didn't feel that I was getting enough creative input. So I went to Bridges Academy to get my grades up to straight A's." While at Bridges Academy, Groban took normal classes from 9:00 AM until 1:00 PM, and then afterwards attended theater classes.[2] He also played the penny whistle as well as the kazoo in grade school.[citation needed]

In 1997 and 1998 , Groban attended the Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan, majoring in musical theater, which is also when he began taking voice lessons outside of school. "I started taking music lessons on the side. I was very much into musical theater. I had a pretty good baritone voice, so I began acting and singing in school productions".[3]

In late 1998, the 17-year-old Groban was introduced by his vocal coach to Grammy-winning producer/arranger David Foster. Groban worked for Foster as a rehearsal singer on a series of high-profile events, including the 1999 Grammy Awards -- where, as a stand-in for Andrea Bocelli, he rehearsed Foster's "The Prayer" with Céline Dion -- and the January 1999 inauguration of Gray Davis as governor of California.

Groban attended the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts as a theater major and graduated in 1999 and then attended Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA, studying drama.


Career

Early career

Groban left Carnegie Mellon after only one year when he was offered a recording contract at Warner Bros. Records through Foster's 143 Records imprint. With regard to signing Groban, Foster said: "I love his natural ability in the pop and rock arena, but I love his sense of classics even more. He's a true musical force to be reckoned with."[4] Therefore, under Foster's influence, Groban's first album focused more on the classics with songs such as "Gira Con Me" and "Alla Luce Del Sole," the first ones decided on by Foster and Groban.

Soon after being picked up by Foster, Groban went on to perform "There For Me" with Sarah Brightman on her 2000-2001 La Luna Tour, featured on her "La Luna" Concert DVD. He made his recording debut by singing "For Always" with Lara Fabian on the movie soundtrack to A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (2001). Groban also became involved in many benefit shows, including the following: "The Andre Agassi Grand Slam Event For Children", singing alongside Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Don Henley and Robin Williams; "Muhammad Ali's Fight Night Foundation" which honored Michael J. Fox and others; "The Family Celebration" (2001) which was co-hosted by President Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and David E. Kelley and his wife, Michelle Pfeiffer; and Michael Milken's CapCure event, which raises funds for cancer research.

Groban played the role of Malcolm Wyatt in the May 2001 season finale of the television series Ally McBeal, performing "You're Still You." The series creator, David E. Kelley, was impressed at Groban's performance at The Family Celebration event, and, based on the audience reaction to Groban's singing, Kelley created a character for Groban in this finale. The character of Malcolm Wyatt was so popular, with 8,000 emails from fans,[4] that Groban was asked to return the next season to reprise his role and perform "To Where You Are."

The singer's eponymous debut album Josh Groban was released on November 20, 2001. Over the next year, it went from gold to double-platinum.[5]

On February 24, 2002, Groban performed "The Prayer" with Charlotte Church at the closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympics, and by November, he had his own PBS special, Josh Groban In Concert (2002). In December he performed "To Where You Are" and then sang "The Prayer" in a duet with Sissel Kyrkjebø at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway. He then joined The Corrs, Ronan Keating, Sting, Lionel Richie and others for a Christmas performance at the Vatican in Rome, Italy. In 2003, Groban performed at the David Foster created concert for World Children's Day. He performed "The Prayer" with Celine Dion and the finale song, "Aren't They All Our Children" with artists like Yolanda Adams, Nick Carter, Enrique Iglesias and Celine Dion.


Recent years

Groban's second album Closer, also produced by Foster, was released on November 11, 2003. Groban said that he believed that this second album was a better reflection of him and that his audience would be able to get a better idea of him personally from listening to it. "What most people know about me, they know through my music. This time, I've tried to open that door as wide as possible. These songs are a giant step closer to who I really am and what my music is all about. Hence the title."[4]

Two months after Closer was released, it rose on the Billboard charts from number 11 to number one.[6] His cover of Brian Kennedy's "You Raise Me Up" became very popular on the adult contemporary charts. Groban also performed the song "Remember" (with Tanja Tzarovska) on the Troy soundtrack, "Believe" on the soundtrack to the 2004 animated film The Polar Express, and a cover of Linkin Park's "My December".

During the summer of 2004, Groban returned to Interlochen, where he gave a performance to local residents and campers, also speaking about his experiences as a young performer. On November 30, 2004, his second live DVD, Live At The Greek, was released. It also ran as a Great Performances special on PBS. Also in 2004 , Groban performed "Remember When It Rained," backed by a full orchestra, at the American Music Awards where he was nominated for Favorite Male Artist in the pop category. Groban and his recordings were nominated for more than a dozen awards in 2004, including the American Music Award, World Music Award, Academy Award, and a Grammy.

Other appearances have included The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Ellen Degeneres Show, Jay Leno, Larry King Live, The Rosie O'Donnell Show, 20/20, The Today Show, Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Super Bowl XXXVIII, the Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade, and the Rockefeller Tree Lighting.[7]

During the first week of September 2006, Groban's latest single entitled "You Are Loved (Don't Give Up)", was exclusively released to AOL's First Listen. It was taken from his third studio album Awake, which was officially released on November 7, 2006. Josh Groban performed "You Are Loved (Don't Give Up)" as well as two other tracks from "Awake" at his recording session for Live from Abbey Road at Abbey Road Studios on 26 October, 2006. On this album Groban also collaborated with British musician and songwriter Imogen Heap, on the single "Now or Never". Two tracks were performed with the South African group Ladysmith Black Mambazo, namely "Lullaby" and "Weeping", both songs having strong African influences. Groban toured with Angelique Kidjo around the U.S. for his Awake tour. The latter also featured a performance by another famous South African artist, Vusi Mahlasela. Groban's "Awake" world tour visits 71 cities between February and August 2007, and travelled further to Australia in September and the Philippines with Lani Misalucha as his special guest in October of 2007. He did a duet with Barbra Streisand ("All I Know of Love") and also in 2007 a duet with Mireille Mathieu ("Over the Rainbow"). Groban has expressed an interest in performing on Broadway one day.

In June 2007, Josh spent some weeks in London recording a Christmas album with the London Philharmonic and the African Children's Choir, which he discussed on the DVD from "The Making of Noël". It was released on October 9, 2007 and is titled Noël.[8] The album has been highly successful in the U.S. breaking numerous records for a Christmas album, as well as becoming the best selling album of 2007 in only its tenth week of release, at sales of 3.6 million. [9] On 10 February, he performed at the 2008 Grammy Awards with Andrea Bocelli in a tribute to Luciano Pavarotti.

According to an advertisement that came with the CD/DVD version of Noël, "Awake: The Live Concert CD + DVD" will be available in early 2008. The concert was filmed in Salt Lake City, Utah, in honor of his first arena concert, which was given at the same city.

More recently in late February 2008, Groban flexed his comedic talents by participating in a skit on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live where he performed in Kimmel's "revenge" music video called "I'm ******* Ben Affleck" which was directed at Kimmel's girlfriend Sarah Silverman and Matt Damon whom had previous released a video entitled "I'm ******* Matt Damon". In discussing the star-studded revenge video, Jill Leiderman, Executive Producer of the program singled out Groban. "We knew he would be an exemplary artist to participate, and he knocked it out of the park. His voice added the exact gravitas we needed for this piece." Leiderman also noted that Groban had long been interested in participating in a skit to show a side of his personality that fans not often see.


Charity

Under the guidance of his mentor David Foster, Groban performed for many charity events that included VH1 Save the Music (2005), Tsunami Aid: A Concert of Hope (2005), Fifth Adopt-A-Annual Minefield concert (2005), 2nd Annual Grammy Jam (2005), Live 8 (2005), The Heart Foundation Gala (2005), and David Foster and Friends Charity Gala (2006). Inspired by a visit with Nelson Mandela during a 2004 trip to South Africa, he established the Josh Groban Foundation to help children in need through education, healthcare and the arts.[10] Mandela appointed Groban as an Official Ambassador for Mandela's Project 46664, a campaign to help raise Global awareness of HIV/AIDS in Africa. On April 25th, 2007, Josh Groban performed with the African Children's Choir on American Idol's "Idol Gives Back" episode. Also on September 2, 2007 Josh Groban donated $150,000 to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools to fund music education.[11]


Influences and personal details

Some of Groban's musical influences have been Radiohead, Paul Simon, Sting, Peter Gabriel, and Björk.[7] He says he is able to look up to anyone, musically, who has pushed the boundaries and stepped outside of the box. As for vocal influences, "anyone who told a story with their songs," including Mandy Patinkin, Klaus Nomi, George Hearn, and Luciano Pavarotti.[12]

He currently resides in Los Angeles, California.

He is single, but dated January Jones from 2003-2006, breaking up in the summer of that year. However, they "remain friends".[13]

IDIOT SIGHTING:
We had to have the garage door repaired. The Sears repairman told us that one of our problems was that we did not have a "large" enough motor on the opener. I thought for a minute, and said that we had the largest one Sears made at that time, a 1/2 horsepower. He shook his head and said, "Lady, you need a 1/4 horsepower." I responded that 1/2 was larger than 1/4. He said, "NO, it's not." Four is larger than two.."

We haven't used Sears repair since.

IDIOT SIGHTING
My daughter and I went through the McDonald's take-out window and I gave the clerk a $5 bill . Our total was $4.25, so I also handed her a quarter. She said, "you gave me too much money." I said, "Yes I know, but this way you can just give me a dollar bill back." She sighed and went to get the manager who asked me to repeat my request. I did so, and he handed me back the quarter, and said "We're sorry but they could not do that kind of thing." The clerk then proceeded to give me back$1 and 75 cents in change.

Do not confuse the clerks at McD's.



IDIOT SIGHTING</ B>:
I live in a semi rural area. We recently had a new neighbor call the local township administrative office to request the removal of the DEER CROSSING sign on our road. The reason: "Too many deer are being hit by cars out here! I don't think this is a good place for them to be crossing anymore."

>From Kingman , KS




IDIOT SIGHTING IN FOOD SERVICE:
My daughter went to a local Taco Bell and ordered a taco. She asked the person behind the
counter for "minimal lettuce." He said he was sorry, but they only had iceburg lettuce.
From Kansas City




IDIOT SIGHTING:
I was at the airport, checking in at the gate when an airport employee asked, "Has anyone put anything in your baggage without your knowledge?" To which I replied, "If it was without my knowledge, how would I know?" He smiled knowingly and nodded,
"That's why we ask."

Happened in Birmingham , Ala.




IDIOT SIGHTING:
The stoplight on the corner buzzes when it's safe to cross the street. I was crossing with an intellectually challenged coworker of mine. She asked if I knew what the buzzer was for. I explaine d that it signals blind people when the light is red. Appalled, she responded, "What on earth are blind people doing driving?!"

She was a probation officer in Wichita , KS






IDIOT SIGHTING:
At a good-bye luncheon for an old and dear coworker. She was leaving the company due to "downsizing." Our manager commented cheerfully, "This is fun. We should do this more often." Not another word was spoken. We all just looked at each other with that deer-in-the-headlights stare.

This was a lunch at Texas Instruments.





IDIOT SIGHTING:
I work with an individual who plugged her power strip back into itself and for the sake of her life, couldn't understand why her system would not turn on.

A deputy with the Dallas County Sheriffs office, no less.






IDIOT SIGHTING:
When my husband and I arrived at an automobile dealership to pick up our car, w e were told the keys had been locked in it. We went to the service department and found a mechanic working feverishly to unlock the drivers side door. As I watched from the passenger side, I instinctively tried the door handle and discovered that it was unlocked. "Hey," I announced to the technician, "its open!" His reply, "I know. I already got that side. "

This was at the Ford dealership in Canton , Mississippi




STA Y ALERT!

They walk among us... and the scary part is that they VOTE and
they REPRODUCE

Well, hawkman, I was looking out my window today to see if skies were cloudy and grey, and I spotted an idiot. UhOh, but I think he is still in Africa. Thanks again for the great bio's, honey.

Raggedy, Elizabeth can fit anywhere, puppy. Damned if she hasn't survived a bunch of stuff.

Love this one by Josh, folks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dK_TOg1KRM

Just listened, Letty. Wow. That is a beautiful song.

Here's Josh:

Cute, ain't he, PA. Hey, folks. Does he soung like this guy to you? Debacle clued us in to him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaHa_9d2y5s

i'm glad to have rockwell perform this song on one of my cd sets

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

please give rockwell about two minutes before he starts to sing

i always enjoyed hearing her sing or talk about her performances -
she always was able to make me smile and helped me appreciate music .
she left much too early !

http://youtube.com/watch?v=SmEFfeYRWeI