Nancy Kelly
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born March 25, 1921(1921-03-25)
Lowell, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died January 2, 1995 (aged 73)
Bel Air, California, U.S.
Years active 1926 - 1977
Spouse(s) Edmond O'Brien (1941-1942)
Fred Jackman Jr. (1946-1950)
Warren Caro (1955-1968)
Awards won
Tony Awards
Best Leading Actress in a Play
1955 The Bad Seed
Nancy Kelly (March 25, 1921 - January 2, 1995) was an Academy Award-nominated American actress, born in Lowell, Massachusetts. Kelly was a major movie leading lady in the 1930s, making 36 movies between 1926 and 1977, including portraying Tyrone Power's love interest in the classic Jesse James (1939), which also featured Henry Fonda, and playing opposite Spencer Tracy in Stanley and Livingstone later that same year.
Nancy was a child star, who had made so many movies by the time she was nine years old, that Film Daily called her "the most photographed child in America due to commercial posing." She also played Dorothy Gale in a 1933 to 1934 radio show based on the The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and was the older sister of actor Jack Kelly, star of the 1957 television series Maverick.
As an adult actress, she was a two-time winner of the Sarah Siddons Award for her work in Chicago theatre as well as a Tony Award winner for her performance in The Bad Seed, which she followed up by starring in the film version in 1956 and receiving a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. She also starred on television, including the leading role in "The Lonely Hour" for The Alfred Hitchcock Hour in 1963.
For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Nancy Kelly has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7021 Hollywood Blvd.
Sister of Jack Kelly
She was the older sister of actor Jack Kelly, who played "Bart Maverick" alongside James Garner and Roger Moore in the television series Maverick (1957-1962). Nancy Kelly and Jack Kelly strongly resembled each other in their facial structures but never acted together in a film. Nancy Kelly's acting career was much more successful than her younger brother's, whose career gradually faded out after Maverick.
On her passing in 1995 from complications of diabetes, Nancy Kelly was interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.
Simone Signoret
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born Simone Henriette Charlotte Kaminker
March 25, 1921(1921-03-25)
Wiesbaden, Germany
Died September 30, 1985 (aged 64)
Auteuil-Anthouillet, France
Spouse(s) Yves Allégret (1944-1949)
Yves Montand (1951-1985)
[show]Awards won
Academy Awards
Best Actress
1959 Room at the Top
BAFTA Awards
Best Actress in a Leading Role
1952 Casque d'or
1957 The Crucible
1959 Room at the Top
César Awards
Best Actress
1977 Madame Rosa
Emmy Awards
Outstanding Lead Actress - Miniseries or a Movie
1966 A Small Rebellion
Other Awards
Best Actress Award (Cannes Film Festival)
1959 Room at the Top
NBR Award for Best Actress
1959 Room at the Top
Silver Bear for Best Actress
1971 Le Chat
Simone Signoret (pronounced [simɔn siɲɔˈʀɛ] in French) (March 25, 1921 - September 30, 1985), was an Academy Award, Emmy, BAFTA, César and Cannes award-winning Jewish-French actress.
Life and career
She was born Simone-Henriette-Charlotte Kaminker in Wiesbaden, Germany to André and Georgette (Signoret) Kaminker. She was the oldest child of three, with two younger brothers. Her father, a linguist who later worked in the United Nations, was a French-born Jewish army officer of Polish descent[1], who brought the family to Neuilly-sur-Seine on the fancy outskirts of Paris. Signoret grew up in Paris in an intellectual atmosphere and studied the English language in school, earning a teaching certificate. She tutored English and Latin and worked part-time as a typist for a French collaborationist newspaper, Le Nouveau Temps, run by Jean Luchaire.
During the German occupation of France, Signoret formed close bonds with an artistic group of writers and actors who met at a café in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés quarter, Café de Flore. By this time, she had developed an interest in acting and was encouraged by her friends, including her lover, Daniel Gélin, to follow her ambition. In 1942, she began appearing in bit parts and was able to earn enough money to support her mother and two brothers as her father, who was a French patriot, had fled the country in 1940 to join General De Gaulle in England. She took her mother's maiden name for the screen to help hide her Jewish roots.
Signoret's sensual features and earthy nature led to type-casting and she was often seen in prostitute roles. She won considerable attention in La Ronde (1950), a film which was banned briefly in New York as immoral. She won further raves, including an acting award from the British Film Academy, for her portrayal of yet another prostitute in Jacques Becker's Casque d'or (1951). She went on to appear in many notable films in France during the 1950s, including Thérèse Raquin (1953), directed by Marcel Carné, Les Diaboliques (1954), and Les Sorcières de Salem (1956), based on Arthur Miller's The Crucible.
In 1958, Signoret went to England to film Room at the Top (1959), which won her numerous awards including the Best Female Performance Prize at Cannes and the Academy Award for Best Actress. She was the only French cinema actress to receive an Oscar until Juliette Binoche in 1997 (Supporting Actress) and Marion Cotillard in 2008 (Lead Actress), and the first woman to win the award appearing in a foreign film. She was offered films in Hollywood but turned them down and continued to work in France and England. She played opposite Laurence Olivier in Term of Trial (1962). She did return to America for Ship of Fools (1965) which earned her another Oscar nomination and she went on to appear in several Hollywood films before returning to France in 1969.
Her one attempt at Shakespeare, playing Lady Macbeth opposite Alec Guinness at the Royal Court Theatre in London in 1966 proved to be ill-advised, although some critics were harsher and one referred to her English as "impossibly Gallic".[2]
In her later years, she was often criticized for gaining weight and letting her looks go but Signoret, who was never concerned with glamour, ignored the insults and continued giving finely etched performances. She won more acclaim for her portrayal of a weary madam (Madame Rosa) in La Vie devant soi (1977) and as an unmarried sister who unknowingly falls in love with her paralyzed brother via anonymous correspondence in I Sent a Letter to my Love (1980).
Her memoirs, Nostalgia Isn't What It Used To Be, were published in 1978. She also wrote a novel, Adieu Volodya, published in 1985, the year of her death.
First married to the filmmaker Yves Allégret from 1944 to 1949, with whom she had a daughter Catherine Allégret, herself an actress. Her second marriage was to the Italian-born French actor Yves Montand in 1950, a union which lasted until her death.
In Playboy she was shown once in an embrace with Robert Mitchum. She was nude above the waist, and the magazine's caption used the term "a big bare hug."
She died of pancreatic cancer in Auteuil-Anthouillet, France; and is buried in Le Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.
The late American singer, pianist and composer Nina Simone took her stage name from Signoret.
Anita Bryant
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Background information
Birth name Anita Jane Bryant
Born March 25, 1940 (1940-03-25) (age 68)
Origin Barnsdall, Oklahoma
Genre(s) Pop Music
Years active 1956 - 1980
Label(s) Carlton Records, Columbia Records
Anita Jane Bryant (born March 25, 1940, in Barnsdall, Oklahoma) is an American singer.
She is widely known for her strong views against homosexuality, and for her prominent campaigning in the mid-1970s to prevent gay equality - specifically her successful move to repeal a local ordinance in Miami, Florida, that prohibited discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Bryant is a member of a conservative church congregation affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.
Early life and career
Bryant's belief in God and the Bible had their roots in her childhood. She was initially declared dead at childbirth in her grandparents' tiny frame house in Barnsdall, Oklahoma, but her grandfather would not accept that the baby was dead. When the doctor told her grandfather to get him a pan of ice water, the new grandfather lost no time and the newborn Anita survived.[citation needed]
Her grandfather taught her as a baby to sing when she was six months old. Soon after her sister Sandra was born, her mother and father divorced. Her father went in the Army and her mother went to work, taking her children to live with their grandparents temporarily. When Anita was two years old, her grandfather taught her to sing Jesus Loves Me. Bryant was singing onstage on local fairgrounds in Oklahoma at age six. She sang occasionally on radio and television, and was invited to audition when Arthur Godfrey's talent show came to town. Her father at first refused to allow her to go on Godfrey's show, relenting only when he was told his daughter had exceptional talent, and it would be a sin not to share it.
Bryant became Miss Oklahoma in 1958 and was a second runner-up in the 1959 Miss America beauty pageant at age 19, right after graduating from Tulsa's Will Rogers High School.
In 1960, she married Bob Green, a Miami disc jockey, with whom she eventually raised four children, including Gloria and Robert Jr. (Bobby).
Her three biggest pop hits were: "Till There Was You" (1959); "Paper Roses" (1960) (successfully covered 13 years later by Marie Osmond); and "In My Little Corner of the World" (1960). She placed a total of eleven songs in the Top 100, plus some in the "Bubbling Under" chart.
There were several albums on the Carlton and Columbia labels. The 1959 Carlton LP Anita Bryant contained "Till There Was You", "Do-Re-Mi" (from The Sound Of Music), and other show tunes. The 1963 Columbia Greatest Hits LP contained both Carlton and Columbia songs, including "Paper Roses" and "Step by Step, Little by Little". In 1964 came The World of Lonely People, containing, in addition to the title song, "Welcome, Welcome Home" and a new rendition of "Little Things Mean a Lot" arranged by Frank Hunter.
In 1969 she became a spokeswoman for the Florida Citrus Commission, and nationally televised commercials featured her singing "Come to the Florida Sunshine Tree" and stating the commercials' tagline: "Breakfast without orange juice is like a day without sunshine". In addition, during this time, she also did advertisements for Coca-Cola, Kraft Foods, Holiday Inn, and Tupperware.
She sang "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" during the graveside services for Lyndon B. Johnson in 1973, and performed the National Anthem at Super Bowl III in 1969.
Political campaigning
Save Our Children
In 1977, Dade County, Florida (now Miami-Dade County) passed a human-rights ordinance that prohibited discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Anita Bryant led a highly publicized campaign to repeal the ordinance. The campaign was waged based on what was labeled "Christian beliefs regarding the sinfulness of homosexuality and the perceived threat of homosexual recruitment of children and child molestation."
Her view was that "What these people really want, hidden behind obscure legal phrases, is the legal right to propose to our children that theirs is an acceptable alternate way of life. [...] I will lead such a crusade to stop it as this country has not seen before." The campaign was called 'Save Our Children', the start of an organized opposition to gay rights that spread across the nation. Jerry Falwell went to Miami to help her.
Bryant made the following statements during the campaign: "As a mother, I know that homosexuals cannot biologically reproduce children; therefore, they must recruit our children" and "If gays are granted rights, next we'll have to give rights to prostitutes and to people who sleep with St. Bernards and to nail biters." On June 7, 1977, Bryant's campaign led to a repeal of the anti-discrimination ordinance by a margin of 69 to 31 percent.
Victory and defeat
A boycott was organised against the Florida Citrus Commission, who used Bryant in advertising. In the aftermath, legislation was passed outlawing adoption by gays and lesbians in the state of Florida and Bryant led several more campaigns around the country to repeal local anti-discrimination ordinances. Her success led to a proactive effort to pass landmark anti-homosexual legislation in California that would have made pro- or neutral statements regarding homosexuals or homosexuality by any public school employee cause for dismissal. Grass-roots liberal organizations, chiefly in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area, sprang up to defeat the initiative. Days before the election, the California Democratic Party (wary of appearing pro-gay) opposed the proposed legislation, causing it to go down to narrow defeat at the polls.
In 1998 Dade County repudiated Bryant's successful campaign of 20 years earlier, and re-authorized an anti-discrimination ordinance protecting individuals from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation by a 7 to 6 margin. In 2002, a ballot initiative to repeal the 1998 law called Amendment 14 was voted down by 56% of the voters. The Florida statute forbidding adoptions by gay persons, however, remains law; in 2004, a federal appellate court upheld Florida's adoption law against a constitutional challenge.
Anita Bryant's political success galvanized her opponents. She became one of the first persons to be publicly "pied" as a political act (in her case, on television), in Des Moines in 1977; Bryant quipped, "At least it was a fruit pie", apparently making a pun on the derogatory term for a gay man, "fruit". Police authorities refused to prosecute for the assault. Gay activists organized an orange juice boycott. Many celebrities including Barbra Streisand, Bette Midler, Paul Williams, John Waters, Carroll O'Connor, Mary Tyler Moore, and Jane Fonda publicly supported the boycott. The story was told in the book, At Any Cost (1978). To this day, Bryant is still viewed as one of the most loathed public figures of all time by the gay community, her name being synonymous with homophobia.[1]
Career decline and bankruptcy
The fallout from her political activism had a devastating effect on her business and entertainment career. Her contract with the Florida Citrus Commission was allowed to lapse in 1979 because of the controversy and the negative publicity generated by her political campaigns and the resulting boycott of Florida orange juice.[2]
Her marriage to Bob Green failed at that time, and in 1980 she divorced him, although he reportedly has said that his fundamentalist religious beliefs do not recognize civil divorce and that she is still his wife in God's eyes. Some observers feel that her husband pushed her to get involved in the political activism that eventually led to her downfall and loss of income. Kathie Lee Gifford, who worked as a live-in secretary/babysitter for the Greens in the early 1970s said in her autobiography that Green had a ferocious temper and could be very possessive and emotionally abusive and that Anita was not very happy.
Due to her divorce, many fundamentalist Christians shunned her. No longer invited to appear at their events, she lost a source of income. With her four children she moved from Miami to Selma, Alabama, and later to Atlanta, Georgia. In a Ladies Home Journal article she said, "The church needs to wake up and find some way to cope with divorce and women's problems."
In the 1980s she even renounced her anti-gay ways. In the same article in Ladies Home Journal she said that she felt sorry for all of the hateful things she had said and done during her campaign.[3] She said that she had a more "Live and let live" attitude now.
She married her second husband, Charlie Hobson Dry, in 1990, and they tried to reestablish her career in a series of small venues, including Branson, Missouri, and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Commercial success was elusive, however, due to the controversy from the past; and they left behind them a series of unpaid employees and creditors. Her career decline is detailed in her book, A New Day (1992). They filed for bankruptcy in Arkansas (1997) and in Tennessee (2001).
Anita Bryant returned to Barnsdall, Oklahoma, in 2005 for the town's 100th anniversary celebration and to have a street renamed in her honor. She returned to her high school in Tulsa on April 21, 2007, to perform in the school's annual musical revue. She now lives in Edmond, Oklahoma, and says she does charity work for various youth organizations while heading Anita Bryant Ministries International.
Cultural References
On Will & Grace, the character Karen Walker refers to Anita Bryant as being her enemy who fell in love with her.
On Designing Women, Bryant is mentioned on more than one occasion by Suzanne Sugarbaker, referencing both her beauty pageant history, as well as her political activism.
On an episode of The Golden Girls, an effeminate male guest star is overcome with emotion, causing character Blanche Devereaux to comment, "you're about to go flying right outta here, aren't ya". The man replies, "well, excuse me for living, Anita Bryant!".
In the film Airplane!, Leslie Nielsen's character, Doctor Rumack, upon seeing a large number of passengers become violently ill, vomit, and suffer uncontrolable flatulence, says, "I haven't seen anything this bad since the Anita Bryant concert."
In the song, F*ck Anita Bryant, on his Nothing Sacred album, David Allan Coe expresses his feelings for Anita.
On Gilmore Girls Lorelai says to her father that he could fill huge gap after Anita Bryant because her father always have a half of grapefruit for breakfast. Season 2 espisode 12: Richard In Stars Hollow
In the song "Manana" by Jimmy Buffett, Buffett says he hopes Anita Bryant never sings one of his songs.
Anita Bryant also narrated the Infamous anti-drugs film, "Drugs are like that".
Bonnie Bedelia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born Bonnie Bedelia Culkin
March 25, 1948 (1948-03-25) (age 60)
New York City, New York
Spouse(s) Michael McCrea
Bonnie Bedelia (born March 25, 1948) is an American actress.
Bedelia was born Bonnie Bedelia Culkin in New York City, New York, the daughter of Marian Ethel (née Wagner), a writer and editor, and Philip Harley Culkin, a journalist.[1] She is the sister of Kit Culkin; she is also the aunt of actors Macaulay, Quinn, Kieran, Christian, Shane and Rory Culkin.
Bedelia was nominated for a Golden Globe for her starring role in 1983's Heart Like a Wheel as drag racer Shirley Muldowney. Other well-known performances came as the wives of Bruce Willis in Die Hard (1988) and Harrison Ford in Presumed Innocent (1990).
Occasionally, airline attendants make an effort to make the "in-flight
safety lecture" and their other announcements a bit more entertaining. Here are some real examples that have been heard or reported.
From a Southwest Airlines employee: "There may be 50 ways to leave your lover, but there are only 4 ways out of this airplane..."
Pilot: "Folks, we have reached our cruising altitude now, so I am going
to switch the seat belt sign off. Feel free to move about as you wish, but
please stay inside the plane till we land... it's a bit cold outside, and if
you walk on the wings it affects the flight pattern."
After landing: "Thank you for flying Delta Business Express. We hope you
enjoyed giving us the business as much as we enjoyed taking you for a ride."
As the plane landed and was coming to a stop at Washington National, a
lone voice comes over the loudspeaker: "Whoa, big fella. Whoa."
After a particularly rough landing during thunderstorms in Memphis, a
flight attendant on a Northwest flight announced: "Please take care when
opening the overhead compartments because, after a landing like that, sure as hell everything has shifted."
From a Southwest Airlines employee: "Welcome aboard Southwest Flight XXX to YYY. To operate your seatbelt, insert the metal tab into the buckle, and pull tight. It works just like every other seatbelt and if you don't know how to operate one, you probably shouldn't be out in public unsupervised."
"In the event of a sudden loss of cabin pressure, oxygen masks will
descend from the ceiling. Stop screaming, grab the mask, and pull it over
your face. If you have a small child traveling with you, secure your mask
before assisting with theirs. If you are traveling with two small children
decide now which one you love more."
"Weather at our destination is 50 degrees with some broken clouds, but
they'll try to have them fixed before we arrive. Thank you, and remember, nobody loves you or your money more than Southwest Airlines."
"Your seat cushions can be used for flotation and in the event of an
emergency water landing, please take them with our compliments."
"As you exit the plane, please make sure to gather all of your
belongings. Anything left behind will be distributed evenly among the flight attendants. Please do not leave children or spouses."
"Last one off the plane must clean it."
From the pilot during his welcome message: "We are pleased to have some of the best flight attendants in the industry... Unfortunately none of them are on this flight..."
Overheard on an American Airlines flight into Amarillo, Texas, on a
particularly windy and bumpy day. During the final approach, the captain was really having to fight it. After an extremely hard landing, the flight
attendant came on the PA and announced: "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Amarillo. Please remain in your seats with your seatbelts fastened while the captain taxis what's left of our airplane to the gate."
Another flight attendant's comment on a less than perfect landing: "We
ask you to please remain seated as Captain Kangaroo bounces us to the
terminal."
An airline pilot wrote that on this particular flight he had hammered
his ship into the runway really hard. The airline had a policy which
required the first officer to stand at the door while the passengers exited,
smile, and give them a "Thanks for flying XYZ airline." He said that in
light of his bad landing, he had a hard time looking the passengers in the
eye, thinking that someone would have a smart comment. Finally, everyone had gotten off except for this little old lady walking with a cane. She said, "Sonny, mind if I ask you a question?" "Why no, Mam," said the pilot, "What is it?" The little old lady said, "Did we land or were we shot down?"
After a real crusher of a landing in Phoenix, the flight attendant came
on with: "Ladies and gentlemen, please remain in your seats until Captain
Crash and the Crew have brought the aircraft to a screeching halt up against the gate. And, once the tire smoke has cleared and the warning bells are silenced, we'll open the door and you can pick your way through the wreckage to the terminal."
Part of a flight attendant's arrival announcement: "We'd like to thank
you folks for flying with us today. And, the next time you get the insane
urge to go blasting through the skies in a pressurized metal tube, we hope you'll think of us here at US Airways."
Thanks, Bob, for the background on the celebs. I like your last airline observation. Gave me a much needed smile.
Speaking of flying, The space shuttle Endeavor is supposed to return to earth Wednesday. More about that later.
Let's hear a dance from Bela until our puppy arrives.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHZt6ITdSto&feature=related
Letty: Here is one interpretation of "Daniel" that I read on the net some time ago:
""Daniel":
Daniel is a fictional character made up by Elton John's lyricist, Bernie
Taupin, and is loosely based on someone Bernie read about in the news in
1972-- a Viet Nam veteran who returned home as a hero but who just wanted to be left alone and live a normal life. In the song "Daniel," Daniel is a blind Viet Nam vet who, like the person in the news account Bernie read, wants to leave home and live a quiet life... in Spain. The song is sung from the perspective of Daniel's younger brother who watches Daniel's plane rise in the sky as it leaves him behind."
Be back with some matches for Bob's bios.
First, dear Raggedy, allow me to thank you for the interpretation of Daniel. Someone else pointed that same thing to me sometime back
The nonet is delightful, PA, I recognize most of them, but strangely, I did NOT know about Anita Bryant and her pogrom against gays. My cleaning lady had to explain to me that she was fired from her job as spokesperson for the Florida orange growers.
This, of course, prompted me to seek her out on video. Here is the result.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouKb-dgdrSs
NASA news:
Space Shuttle Endeavour Heading Home
The job is done and it's time for the crew of the Space Shuttle Endeavour to start heading home. The shuttle has undocked from the International Space Station after a 16-day mission that included five space walks. The shuttle is due to arrive at the Kennedy Space Center tomorrow night. Three astronauts were left behind to prepare for the arrival of a European cargo carrier on April 3. The next scheduled visit to the space station is in May when the Space Shuttle Discovery will deliver a Japanese lab.
The song by Dinah was not about Ira. In one scene, he was in a bar, drinking, suffering. On the juke box, Dinah's record played throughout the scene.
Thanks for clearing that up about Dinah, edgar.
Wow! That guitar rendition by Hank, Jr. was great, and of course Fats is awesome. I saw the live performance depicting Fats in Roanoke, Va. many years ago. I think the show was called, "Ain't Misbehavin."
I read Katherine Ann Porter's Ship of fools, but didn't realize that it took her twenty years to complete.
How about a tribute to Simone and Oskar.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzKp-J-02Eg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaVhL41Sygw
The Theme From The Apartment
Ferrante and Taischer (sp?)
I love these guys and their twin pianos.
edgar, I watched your video three or four times. Captivating, Texas. I'm sure all of us enjoyed it. I was truly amazed at some of the movies that made the list. Thanks.
Time for me to say goodnight, and I think that I shall do it with another song by Hoagy Carmichael.
One may not appreciate Frank's life style, but we cannot ignore his Italian pipes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgMVkmxnoUI
Goodnight, all.
From Letty with love
Sinatra - Stardust - unbeatable combination
Good morning, WA2K folks.
edgar, did you notice that Frank only sang the verse to Stardust? Actually, Texas, that is the prettiest part of the song.
Today is Diana Ross's birthday, and of all the things she did, "Lady Sings the Blues" was monumental.
Here's one by Lady Day to begin same.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vP_37rVco8M&feature=PlayList&p=D3F5D79310BBD617&index=0&playnext=1
