George Gobel had a wonderful record of The Twelfth of Never, but it's not on youtube that I can see.
Finally, folks, I got my insurance problems cleared up.
Thanks, Bob, for the background on the celebs. Lots of stuff that you learn about people from reading your information, and I love the way continuity writers get one's attention. I, for one, got a kick out of the used car advertisement.
edgar, I like this one by George and Dean.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCmo9OyAZoI
I have also been enjoying the wonderful people who met in Albuquerque.
What beautiful people they are, folks.
Henri Rousseau
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Henri Julien Félix Rousseau (May 21, 1844 - September 2, 1910) was a French Post-Impressionist painter in the Naive or Primitive manner. He is also known as Le Douanier (the customs officer) after his place of employment. Ridiculed during his life, he came to be recognized as a self-taught genius whose works are of high artistic quality.
Background
He was born in Laval in the Loire Valley into the family of a plumber. He attended Laval High School as a day student and then as a boarder, after his father became a debtor and his parents had to leave the town upon the seizure of their house. He was mediocre in some subjects at the high school but won prizes for drawing and music.[1] He worked for a lawyer and studied law, but "attempted a small perjury and sought refuge in the army,"[2] serving for four years, starting in 1863. With his father's death, Rousseau moved to Paris in 1868 to support his widowed mother as a government employee. With his new job in hand, in 1869 he started a relationship with a cabinetmaker's daughter, Clémence Boitard, who became his first wife and he wrote a waltz bearing her name. They went on to have nine children but tuberculosis was rife at the time and seven died at an early age.[1] In 1871, he was promoted to the toll collector's office in Paris as a tax collector. He started painting seriously in his early forties, and by age 49 he retired from his job to work on his art.[3] His wife died in 1888 and he later remarried.
Rousseau claimed he had "no teacher other than nature", although he admitted he had received "some advice" from two established Academic painters, Félix Auguste-Clément and Jean-Léon Gérôme. Essentially he was self-taught and is considered to be a naive or primitive painter.
Paintings
His best known paintings depict jungle scenes, even though he never left France or saw a jungle. Stories spread by admirers that his army service included the French expeditionary force to Mexico are unfounded. His inspiration came from illustrated books and the botanical gardens in Paris, as well as tableaux of "taxidermified" wild animals. He had also met soldiers, during his term of service, who had survived the French expedition to Mexico and listened to their stories of the subtropical country they had encountered. To the critic Arsène Alexandre, he described his frequent visits to the Jardin des Plantes: "When I go into the glass houses and I see the strange plants of exotic lands, it seems to me that I enter into a dream."
Along with his exotic scenes there was a concurrent output of smaller topographical images of the city and its suburbs.
He claimed to have invented a new genre of portrait landscape, which he achieved by starting a painting with a view such as a favourite part of the city, and then depicting a person in the foreground.
Criticism and recognition
Rousseau's flat, seemingly childish style gave him many critics; people often were shocked by his work or ridiculed it. His ingenuousness was extreme, and he was unaware that establishment artists considered him untutored. He always aspired, in vain, to conventional acceptance. Many observers commented that he painted like a child and did not know what he was doing, but the work shows sophistication with his particular technique.
From 1886 he exhibited regularly in the Salon des Indépendants, and, although his work was not placed prominently, it drew an increasing following over the years. Tiger in a Tropical Storm (Surprised!) was exhibited in 1891, and Rousseau received his first serious review, when the young artist Félix Vallotton wrote: "His tiger surprising its prey ought not to be missed; it's the alpha and omega of painting." Yet it was more than a decade before Rousseau returned to depicting his vision of jungles.[3]
During 1897 he produced one of his most famous paintings, La Bohémienne endormie (The Sleeping Gypsy).
During 1905 a large jungle scene The Hungry Lion Throws Itself on the Antelope was exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants near works by younger leading avant-garde artists such as Henri Matisse in what is now seen as the first showing of The Fauves. Rousseau's painting may even have influenced the naming of the Fauves.[3]
The Snake Charmer, 1907In 1907 he was commissioned by artist Robert Delaunay's mother, Berthe, Comtesse de Delaunay, to paint The Snake Charmer.
When Pablo Picasso happened upon a painting by Rousseau being sold on the street as a canvas to be painted over, the younger artist instantly recognised Rousseau's genius and went to meet him. In 1908 Picasso held a half serious, half burlesque banquet in his studio in Le Bateau-Lavoir in Rousseau's honour.
After Rousseau's retirement in 1893, he supplemented his small pension with part-time jobs and work such as playing a violin in the streets. He also worked briefly at Le petit journal, where he produced a number of its covers.[3]
Henri Rousseau died 2 September 1910 in the Hospital Necker in Paris. Seven friends stood at his grave in the Cimetière de Bagneux: the painters Paul Signac and Otiz de Zarate, Robert Delaunay and his wife Sonia Terk, the sculptor Brancusi, Rousseau's landlord Armand Queval and Guillaume Apollinaire who wrote the epitaph Brancusi put on the tombstone:
We salute you
Gentle Rousseau you can hear us
Delaunay his wife Monsieur Queval and myself
Let our luggage pass duty free through the gates
of heaven
We will bring you brushes paints and canvas
That you may spend your sacred leisure in the
light of truth Painting
as you once did my portrait
Facing the stars
Legacy
Rousseau's work exerted an "extensive influence ... on several generations of vanguard artists, starting with Picasso and including Léger, Beckmann and the Surrealists," according to Roberta Smith, an art critic writing in The New York Times. "Beckmann's amazing self-portraits, for example, descend from the brusque, concentrated forms of Rousseau's portrait of the writer Pierre Loti".[3]
Exhibitions
In 1911 a retrospective exhibition of Rousseau's works was shown at the Salon des Indépendants. His paintings were also shown at the first Blaue Reiter exhibition.
Two major museum exhibitions of his work were held in 1984-85 (in Paris, at the Grand Palais; and in New York, at the Museum of Modern Art) and in 2001 (Tübingen, Germany). "These efforts countered the persona of the humble, oblivious naïf by detailing his assured single-mindedness and tracked the extensive influence his work exerted on several generations of vanguard artists," critic Roberta Smith wrote in a review of a later exhibition.[3]
A major exhibition of his work, "Henri Rousseau: Jungles in Paris," was shown at Tate Modern from November 2005 for four months, organised by the Tate and the Musée d'Orsay, where the show also appeared. The exhibition, encompassing 49 of his paintings, was on display at the National Gallery of Art in Washington from July 16-October 15, 2006.
A major collection of Rousseau's work were shown at The Grand Palais from March 15 to June 19, 2006.
Robert Montgomery (actor)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born Henry Montgomery Jr.
May 21, 1904(1904-05-21)
Beacon, New York
Died September 27, 1981 (aged 77)
New York City, New York
Robert Montgomery, U.S.N.R. Commander (May 21, 1904 - September 27, 1981) was an American actor and director.
Montgomery was born Henry Montgomery Jr. in Beacon, New York, the son of Mary Weed (née Barney) and Henry Montgomery, Sr.[1] His early childhood was one of privilege, since his father was President of the New York Rubber Company. When his father died, the family's fortune was gone, and young Robert went to New York City to try his hand at writing and acting. Sharing a stage with George Cukor gave him an in to Hollywood, where, in 1929, he debuted in So This is College. Norma Shearer chose him to star opposite her in Private Lives in 1931, and he became a star. During this time, Montgomery appeared in the first, filmed version of When Ladies Meet (1933). In 1937, he starred opposite Marion Davies in Ever Since Eve from a screenplay by the "hot" playwright of the day, Lawrence Riley, et al.
In 1935, Montgomery became President of the Screen Actors Guild, and was elected again in 1946. In 1937 he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor as a psychopath in the chiller Night Must Fall, and again in 1942 for Here Comes Mr. Jordan. During World War II, he joined the Navy, rising to the rank of Lieutenant Commander.
In 1945 he returned to Hollywood, making his uncredited directing debut with They Were Expendable, where he directed some of the PT Boat scenes when director John Ford was unable to work for health reasons. His first credited film as director was Lady in the Lake (1947), in which he also starred, and which brought him mixed reviews. He was a friendly witness before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1947. The next year, Montgomery hosted the Academy Awards. He hosted a popular television series, Robert Montgomery Presents, in the 1950s. The Gallant Hours, a 1960 film Montgomery directed and co-produced with its star, his friend James Cagney, was the last film or television production he was connected with in any capacity, as actor, director or producer.
He died of cancer at the age of 77 in New York City. His daughter, actress Elizabeth Montgomery, born April 15, 1933 also succumbed to cancer on May 18, 1995 at the age of 62, and his son, Robert Montgomery, Jr. (better known as Skip), born February 15, 1936 fell victim to it on April 28, 2000, at the age of 64.
Montgomery has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for movies at 6440 Hollywood Blvd., and one for television at 1631 Vine Street. He was a longtime summer resident of North Haven, Maine.
Raymond Burr
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born Raymond William Stacey Burr
May 21, 1917(1917-05-21)
New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
Died September 12, 1993 (aged 76)
Healdsburg, California, USA
Spouse(s) Isabella Ward (1948-1952)
Awards won
Emmy Awards
Outstanding Lead Actor - Drama Series
1959 Perry Mason
1961 Perry Mason
Raymond Burr (born Raymond William Stacey Burr May 21, 1917 - September 12, 1993) was a Canadian Emmy-winning actor and vintner, perhaps best known for his roles in the television dramas Perry Mason and Ironside.
Biography
Early life
Raymond Burr was born on May 21, 1917 in New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada, to William Johnston Burr (1889-1985), an Irish hardware salesman from County Cork, Ireland, and his wife Minerva Smith (1892-1974), a concert pianist and music teacher who had immigrated to Canada from Chicago, United States, in 1914.[1] Burr spent part of his childhood in China where his father worked as a trade agent. After his parents divorced, Burr moved to Vallejo, California with his mother and younger sister and brother. As soon as he came of age, Burr went to work as a ranch and a photo salesman to help support his mother and younger sister and brother. After two years in the Navy during World War II, Burr returned home after being wounded in the stomach on Okinawa.
Early career
In 1937, Burr began his acting career at the Pasadena Playhouse. In 1941, he landed his first Broadway role in "Crazy with the Heart". He became a contract player at RKO studio, playing mostly villains, and had roles in over 60 movies between 1946 and 1957. Burr received favourable notice for his role as a prosecutor in A Place in the Sun (1951), co-starring Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift, and perhaps his best-known film role of the period was as the "heavy" in the Alfred Hitchcock classic Rear Window (1954), starring James Stewart and Grace Kelly.
During this time, Burr's distinctive voice could also be heard on network radio, appearing alongside Jack Webb in the short-lived Pat Novak for Hire on ABC radio, as well as in early episodes of NBC's Dragnet. He also made guest appearances on other Los Angeles-based shows, and landed a starring role in CBS's Fort Laramie (1956).
Burr also emerged as a prolific television character actor in the early to mid 1950s. He made his guest-starring television debut on an episode of The Amazing Dr. Malone. This part led to other television roles in such programs as Dragnet, Chesterfield Sound Off Time, Four Star Playhouse, Mr. & Mrs. North, Schlitz Playhouse of Stardom, The Ford Television Theatre and Lux Video Theatre.
In 1955, Burr took on the part of Steve Martin in Godzilla, King of the Monsters!, a role he would reprise again almost 30 years later in Godzilla 1985.
Perry Mason and Ironside
In 1956, Burr auditioned for the role of District Attorney Hamilton Burger in Perry Mason, a new courtroom drama created by Erle Stanley Gardner for the CBS TV network. William Talman auditioned for the title role of Perry Mason. However, Erle Stanley Gardner was present and demanded that the actors switch parts. Mason eventually became the role with which Burr was most closely identified in the public mind. Also starring were Barbara Hale - a 1940s movie actress and old friend of Burr's - as Mason's secretary, Della Street, and B-actor William Hopper as Mason's private investigator, Paul Drake. William Talman played the district attorney, Hamilton Burger, who was destined to lose every case (at least against Perry Mason), and Ray Collins was the homicide detective, Lt. Arthur Tragg. On every show Mason built a defense case with extraordinary precision and succeeded in proving his client's innocence, often provoking an emotional confession from the true culprit.
Burr and Talman were both professionals and wise enough to realize that new or inexperienced actors could be extremely nervous during filming. In order to calm scared "newbies" Burr and Talman would purposely blow some of their own lines, thereby relaxing everyone else on the set.
Burr won two Emmy Awards for his role as Perry Mason which originally ran from 1957 to 1966, and has been re-run in syndication ever since. In 2006, the first season became available on DVD.
Burr moved from CBS to Universal Studios, where he played the title role in the television drama Ironside. In the pilot episode, San Francisco Chief of Detectives Robert T. Ironside was wounded by a sniper during an attempt on his life but survived as an invalid in a wheel-chair for the rest of his life. This role gave Burr another hit series, the first crime drama show ever to star a disabled police officer. The show ran from 1967 to 1975. In 1977, Burr starred in the short-lived TV series Kingston: Confidential.
In 1985, Burr was approached by producers Dean Hargrove and Fred Silverman to star in a made-for-TV movie Perry Mason Returns. While he loved the idea he only agreed to do the movie if Barbara Hale returned to reprise her role as secretary Della Street. Not only did Hale agree, but for the first time in the show's history she ended up being the accused when Perry Mason Returns aired in December 1985. The rest of the original cast had since died, but Hale's real-life son William Katt was cast in the TV movie as Paul Drake, Jr. Expected to only be a one-off special, the success of the first movie led to Burr making twenty-six more films before his death. Many of these were filmed in and around Denver, Colorado. In 1988, after three years and nine Perry Mason TV movies, William Katt left to pursue other projects. A new leg-man for Mason was needed and actor William R. Moses was hired to play Ken Malansky, a young and up-and-coming lawyer who goes to work for Mason after he clears him of murder. Moses appeared in the Mason TV movies filmed between 1989 and 1995. By this time Burr was largely wheelchair-bound (in his final Mason movie, he is always shown either sitting or standing while leaning on a table, but never standing unsupported - as his character in Ironside had been - but this time it was due to his real-life failing health). Four more Perry Mason films were made between 1993 and 1995, after Burr's death, with supposed lawyer friends of Perry's defending the accused. However, without Burr, the magic was gone.
In 1993, as he had with the Perry Mason TV movies, Burr decided to do an Ironside reunion movie. In May of that year, The Return of Ironside aired, reuniting the entire original cast of the 1967-1975 hit-series. However, as he was already in his last days suffering from liver cancer, this would be the only Ironside reunion. (In reprising the role of Ironside, Burr was forced to dye his hair red and change his beard in order not to look too much like Perry Mason).
Other work
Burr co-starred in such TV films as Eischied: Only The Pretty Girls Die and Disaster On The Coastliner (both 1979), The Curse of King Tut's Tomb and The Night The City Screamed (both 1980), and Peter And Paul (1981). He also had a supporting role in Dennis Hopper's controversial film Out of the Blue (1980) and spoofed his Perry Mason image in Airplane II: The Sequel (1982).
Burr also worked as as media spokesman for the now-defunct British Columbia-based real estate company Block Bros. in TV, radio, and print ads during the late 1970s and early 1980s.[2]
Personal life
Burr's parents, William and Minerva, remarried in 1955 after 33 years of separation. Burr had remained close to them, both during their separation and after their second marriage.
In the late 1950s, Burr was rumored to be romantically involved with the young Natalie Wood. "When I was talking to Dennis Hopper about that," Wood biographer Suzanne Finstad says, "he was saying, I just can't wrap my mind around that one. But you know, I saw them together. They were definitely a couple. Who knows what was going on there?".
Burr's official biography claimed that he had been married three times but that two of his wives and his only child had died. In 1942, while working in London, he claimed to have met an aspiring Scottish actress named "Annette Sutherland" and to have married her the same year. The official biography goes on to claim that, despite protests from him, Sutherland had insisted on fulfilling her acting contract and traveled to Spain with a touring theatre company. She then boarded a flight from Lisbon to London BOAC Flight 777-A, perishing on the same flight as English actor Leslie Howard. However, Burr's biographer Ona L. Hill writes that "no one by the name of "Annette Sutherland Burr" was listed as a passenger on the plane". In fact, only one of Burr's wives, Isabella Ward, can actually be documented (they were married between 1948 and 1952; reports of the marriage having been annulled are untrue). The other "wives" appear to have never existed (Sutherland was said to be a British actress, yet British Equity has no record of anyone by that name). The same goes for Burr's "son," who is said to have died from an incurable disease sometime in the 1950s. There is no record anywhere of his birth, existence or death, which strongly suggests that he never existed.
One possible explanation for this bizarre deceit is that by claiming such a heart-rending personal history, Burr could scare reporters into backing off from digging into his personal life. He was rumored to be gay, or at least bi-sexual, which at that time would have been ruinous for a popular TV star.
When Perry Mason premiered in 1957, Burr kept his private life extremely low-key. Perhaps one of the reasons for this was because his co-star William Hopper (Paul Drake) was the son of gossip columnist Hedda Hopper.
In 1963, Burr became friendly with former actor Robert Benevides (sometimes Benevedes). Benevides, who is credited as production consultant in 21 Perry Mason TV movies, was described as Burr's "long-time companion" in a 1993 TV Guide article.[3] They remained together for approx. 30 years until Burr's death. Sonoma County residents were well acquainted with Burr and Benevides, who together owned and operated first an orchid business, then a vineyard,[4] in the Dry Creek Valley. After Burr died, one of his nieces (Minerva) in Canada began a public feud with Benevides, questioning whether he should have been given the bulk of Burr's estate. Benevides remains the proprietor of the Raymond Burr Vineyards, located at 8339 West Dry Creek Road, Healdsburg, California.
Illness and death
In January 1993, Burr was diagnosed with cancer in his left kidney. He refused to undergo surgery, as this would have interfered with the shooting schedule of his final two television movies. After filming was completed, it was determined that the cancer had spread to several other organs, making it inoperable. Burr threw several "goodbye parties" before his death aged 76 on September 12, 1993 on his Sonoma County, California ranch near Healdsburg, California.[5] Burr was interred with his parents at Fraser Cemetery, New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada.
On October 1, 1993, friends of Burr mourned him at the Pasadena Playhouse in Pasadena, California. The private memorial was attended by Robert Benevides, Barbara Hale, Don Galloway, Don Mitchell, Barbara Anderson, Elizabeth Baur, Dean Hargrove, and William R. Moses.
Hobbies
Burr had at least a dozen hobbies over the course of his lifetime: cultivating orchids, collecting wine and art, collecting seashells, cooking, flying, sailing, fishing and throwing small get togethers with friends. He donated most of his money to charities and friends (see philanthropy). According to A&E Biography, on several episodes of Ironside, Burr was also an avid reader with a retentive memory. In addition, he taught acting classes at Columbia University.
Burr was devoted to his favourite hobby, cultivating and hybridizing orchids. He later developed this passion into an orchid business with his partner, Robert Benevides, a fellow orchidist. Their company, Sea God Nurseries, had, during its 20-year existence, nurseries in Fiji, Hawaii, the Azores Islands, Southern California, and Northern California, and was responsible for adding more than 1,500 new orchids to the world-wide catalogue. Burr even developed an orchid he named the "Barbara Hale Orchid".[6] [7]
Burr was also among the earliest importers and breeders of Portuguese Water Dogs in the United States. [8] The breed may have recommended itself to Burr because his life-partner, Benevides, was of Portuguese descent.
Burr's farm land holdings in Sonoma County, California, were where he and Benevides raised Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, and Port grapes, as well as orchids. The land is still in production, and is today known as the Raymond Burr Vinyards. According to the vineyards' web site, "Raymond Burr didn't want the vineyards named for him. But Robert Benevides, his partner, colleague and companion of 35 years, after much struggle and thought, decided that, in this case, the parallels of man and wine could not be separated; it is not so much a memorial to Raymond Burr as it is his living, breathing presence." [9]
Burr also purchased 4,000 acres (1600 ha) on the island of Naitauba, Fiji, in 1965. There the couple oversaw the raising of copra (coconut meat or kernel) and cattle, as well as orchids. [10] This land was sold in 1983 to the self-proclaimed guru Adi Da.[11]
Raymond Burr Quotes
"Try to live your life the way you wish other people would live theirs." (Source: BrainyQuote.com)
"Perry Mason is a marvelous show because it has so much to do with peoples' lives and television. People were buying television sets when Perry Mason first went on, and it all goes back to that nostalgia." (Source: TV.com)
"I'm a fine guy to be an actor. Can't stand to have my picture taken." (Source: PerryMasontvshowbook.com)
"I'm too busy to sleep. Actually, my stand-in, Lee Miller, does my sleeping for me." (Source: PerryMasontvshowbook.com)
On reprising his role as Perry Mason in 1985: "When I sat down at the defense table again, it was as if 25 years had been taken off my life. I don't think there's anything wrong with returning to a character. I played MacBeth when I was 19, and I would do it again. But of course, I wouldn't do it exactly the same way. Similarly, I hope there's been a progression in the way I play Perry Mason." (Source: TV.com)
On being typecast as Perry Mason: "I find myself resorting to tricks and devices. I do things for the sake of the series that I never before would have done as an actor." (Source: PerryMasontvshowbook.com)
On people with special needs: "You can imagine what happens with people who are really handicapped and really crippled, that they have to spend hours in wheelchairs. The only time I had any back trouble in my life was from the time I had to spend in a chair. Yet, I was grateful for the opportunity." (Source: CNN.com)
On his brief romance with Natalie Wood: "I was very attracted to her. I think she was to me." (Source: PerryMasontvshowbook.com)
Philanthropy
In contrast to the "bad guys" and hard, unbending heroes he often played, Burr was an extraordinarily giving man.
Many servicemen remember him for his participation in United Service Organizations tours in Korea and Vietnam.[12][13][14]
He gave enormous sums of money (including his salaries from the Perry Mason movies) to charity. He once sponsored 27 foster children through the Christian Children's Fund. He would sponsor children with the greatest medical needs. Burr always insisted that TV executives and directors treated his co-stars with the same respect shown to him. He also gave generously over many years to the McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento, California, including the donation of some of his Perry Mason scripts.[15]
Burr was heavily involved in raising money for The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum in Sanibel, Florida.
The Raymond Burr Performing Arts Centre
The Raymond Burr Performing Arts Centre in New Westminster, British Columbia, opened in October 2000, near a city block bearing the Burr family name. Originally a movie theatre, under ownership of the Famous Players chain (as the Columbia Theatre), it is now an intimate, 238-seat theatre; plans exist to expand the venue to a 650-seat regional performing arts facility. Since the theatre opened, it has been the custom to have a picture of Raymond Burr included somewhere on each set, with the first toast on the opening night of every production always dedicated to his memory. The Centre is commonly referred to as the "Burr Theatre", or simply as "the Burr".
Burr has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6656 Hollywood Blvd.
Burr in popular culture
Burr was referenced in Beastie Boys' B-Boy Bouillabaisse from the Paul's Boutique album: "I ride around town like Raymond Burr". In an episode of Married...with Children, Al Bundy confuses a TV Guide cover shot of Delta Burke as that of Raymond Burr.
In the animated television series Home Movies, the episode 'Definite Possible Murder' features a plot mirroring Rear Window with a character named Raymond Berland.
Peggy Cass
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born Mary Margaret Cass
May 21, 1924(1924-05-21)
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Died March 8, 1999 (aged 74)
New York City, New York, USA
Years active 1949-1997
Spouse(s) Eugene Feeney (m. 1979)
Awards won
Tony Awards
Best Featured Actress in a Play
1957 Auntie Mame
Mary Margaret "Peggy" Cass (May 21, 1924 - March 8, 1999) was an American award-winning actress, comedian, game show panelist, and announcer.
A native of Boston, Massachusetts, Cass became interested in acting as a member of the drama club at Cambridge Latin School; however, she attended all of high school without a speaking part. After graduating high school, she spent most of the 1940s in search of an acting career, eventually landing Jan Sterling's role in a traveling production of Born Yesterday.
Stage and film
Cass made her Broadway debut in 1949 with the play Touch and Go.
She was best known for her performance as Agnes Gooch in Auntie Mame on both Broadway and in the film version (1958), a role for which she won the Tony Award for Best Supporting Actress, and later received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Upon achieving acclaim for her role as Agnes Gooch, Cass once recounted how she felt a high one night as she approached the theatre where Auntie Mame was playing; however, the lights were out in the "C" of her last name, which resulted in a billing of "Peggy -ass."
Cass was also part of the nine member ensemble cast for the 1960 Broadway revue A Thurber Carnival, adapted by James Thurber from his own works. As "First Woman", according to the script,[1] she played the mother in "The Wolf at the Door", a woman who insisted Macbeth was a murder mystery, the wife Mr. Preble wanted to get rid of, Miss Alma Winege (who wanted to ship Thurber 36 copies of Grandma Was a Nudist), a woman helping to update old poetry, Walter Mitty's wife, and the narrator of "The Little Girl and The Wolf".
In 1964 she starred as First Lady Martha Dinwiddie Butterfield in the mock-biographical novel First Lady: My Thirty Days in the White House. The book, written by Auntie Mame author Patrick Dennis, included photographs by Cris Alexander of Cass, Dody Goodman, Kaye Ballard and others, portraying the novel's characters.[2]
In the late 1960s and early 1970s she replaced other actresses in Don't Drink the Water (as Marion Hollander) and in Neil Simon's Plaza Suite; and played Mollie Malloy in two revival runs of The Front Page. She also appeared in the 1969 film comedy If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium. In the 1980s she returned to the stage in 42nd Street and in the brief 1985 run of The Octette Bridge Club.
Television and later years
According to Jack Paar, speaking in retrospect, he felt he may have ruined Cass's Oscar chances by lobbying too much for her on his enormously popular television series The Tonight Show.[citation needed] Cass filled in as announcer for Jack Paar's late night talk show that aired in the 1970s on ABC.
In the early 1960s, Cass starred in an ABC sitcom, The Hathaways, co-starring the Marquis Chimps, a chimpanzee showbiz troupe, who were her "children" on the show. The show was not a success. In 1987, she was featured in the early Fox situation comedy Women in Prison. Aside from sitcoms, she played the role of H. Sweeney on the NBC afternoon soap opera The Doctors from 1978 to 1979.
Aside from her work with Jack Parr, her most notable television appearances came as a guest on many game shows, mainly on shows based in New York City. She was a regular panelist on To Tell the Truth from the 1960 through its 1990 revival, appearing in most episodes in the 1960s and 1970s.[3] She was also a panelist on the pilot of the 1963 version of Match Game. On Truth and other series, she often displayed near-encyclopedic knowledge of various topics, and would occasionally question the logic of some of the "facts" presented on the program.
She died of heart failure in New York City in 1999, aged 74, at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. It was never made clear if she had been receiving treatment for cancer at Sloane-Kettering, which is renowned as a cancer care facility. She was survived by her husband, Eugene Feeney. They had no children.
Nick Cassavetes
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born Nicholas David Rowland Cassavetes
May 21, 1959 (1959-05-21) (age 49)
New York City, New York
Occupation Actor, Director, Writer
Years active 1971-Present
Spouse(s) Isabelle Rafalovich
Heather Wahlquist
Awards won
Emmy Awards
Outstanding Children/Youth/Family Special
2004 The Incredible Mrs. Ritchie
Nicholas David Rowland Cassavetes (born May 21, 1959) is an American actor, writer and director.
Cassavetes was born in New York City, New York, the son of actress Gena Rowlands and Greek-American actor and director John Cassavetes. He has appeared in the films Face/Off, The Wraith, Life, Backstreet Dreams and The Astronaut's Wife, among others. He has directed several films, including John Q, Alpha Dog, She's So Lovely, Unhook the Stars, and The Notebook. He also adapted the screenplay for Blow and wrote the dialogue for the Justin Timberlake music video "What Goes Around...Comes Around".
Cassavetes is married to Heather Wahlquist, who has appeared in several of his films, including a small role in the 2004 film adaptation of The Notebook. She appeared as a secondary character: best friend to the female lead of Allie Hamilton, portrayed by Rachel McAdams.
Leo Sayer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Birth name Gerard Hugh Sayer
Born 21 May 1948 (1948-05-21) (age 60)
Shoreham-by-Sea, Sussex, England
Genre(s) Pop, pop rock
Occupation(s) Singer-songwriter, musician
Instrument(s) Vocals, guitar, harmonica
Years active 1973-present
Label(s) Chrysalis Records
Warner Bros. Records (US)
Website
www.leosayer.com
Leo Sayer (born Gerard Hugh Sayer, 21 May 1948, Shoreham-by-Sea, Sussex) is an English singer-songwriter and musician, now living in Australia, whose singing career has spanned four decades.
Life and career
Sayer has had success with his single and album releases, in both the UK and the U.S. He was initially discovered by David Courtney, who co-managed him with the singer-turned-manager, Adam Faith. Sayer began his music career co-writing songs with David Courtney, including "Giving It All Away," which gave Roger Daltrey of The Who his first hit as a soloist in 1973.
That same year, Sayer began his career as a recording artist. At the time of his initial chart breakthrough in Britain, with his debut hit "The Show Must Go On," he wore a pierrot style outfit and make-up.
In 1976, Sayer recorded three Beatles songs, "I Am the Walrus", "Let It Be" and "The Long and Winding Road" for the documentary, All This and World War II.
His subsequent hits included, "Long Tall Glasses" and "Orchard Road." In 1977, he had hits with "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing" (a U.S. number one), the romantic ballad, "When I Need You", which reached number one in both the UK and U.S. Sayer also had remakes of Bobby Vee's Sonny Curtis composition, "More Than I Can Say" (his fourth UK number 2 hit, and in the U.S., number 2 pop and number one in the adult contemporary chart), and Buddy Holly's "Raining In My Heart". In the U.S., three of his singles - "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing," "When I Need You," and "More Than I Can Say" - were certified gold.
Sayer made an appearance on The Muppet Show during the third season (second show) on which he sang "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing," "The Show Must Go On," and "When I Need You."
He also provided the soundtrack for the English language version of the French-Belgian animated film, The Missing Link (1980).[citation needed]
In 1990, he contributed to the last recording studio collaboration between Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson, the album Freudiana, performing "I Am A Mirror".[citation needed]
In 2000, "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing" was featured in the hit film, Charlie's Angels, and was on the accompanying soundtrack album.
Sayer's debut UK hit, "The Show Must Go On," was covered by Three Dog Night for the U.S. market and reached Number four on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1974. Phil Collins covered Sayer's song "I Can't Stop Loving You" for his 2002 album, Testify. It reached number one on the U.S. adult contemporary chart.
In 2005, Sayer moved to Sydney, Australia, where he remains based to this day. On 12 February 2006, made a surprise return to number one in the UK Singles Chart, with Meck's remix of "Thunder In My Heart." He has also appeared in the Australian comedy, Stupid, Stupid Man.
Leo Sayer: At His Very Best, a career spanning compilation album, was released in the UK on 6 March 2006. It exclusively features the Meck single, alongside Sayer classics such as, "When I Need You" and "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing".
Celebrity Big Brother 5
In 2007, Sayer was the fifth person to join the Celebrity Big Brother UK house at the start of the series.
When Jade Goody arrived on Day 3, the House was divided into two groups as part of a task, (the 'masters' and the 'servants'), with Sayer entering the servants' quarters. He participated as a night butler, but eventually rebelled and pretended to be a mute, annoyed over a comment made by Dirk Benedict, suggesting that he always talks over people. However, he eventually relented and began talking to his fellow servants again, but continued his miming in front of the masters and the Big Brother until the task ended. He was at odds with the producers over a number of issues, at one point consulting his contract.
Sayer was nominated for eviction, along with fellow housemates Dirk Benedict and Carole Malone, with Sayer and Malone being joint favourites to leave the House.
Sayer walked out of the Big Brother house on 12 January ostensibly because he was refused a supply of fresh underwear, the same day he was due to face eviction.[1] He broke an outside door with a broomstick, made his way to the outer compound and then tussled with the security guards who were the obstacle between him and freedom, issuing a tirade of abuse in the process.[2]
1967 hotel fire
In January 1967, while Sayer was working as a hall porter at the King's Hotel in Hove, he assisted in the rescue of guests from a fire that damaged the first floor of the hotel. He was rescued by builders working on a block of flats beside the hotel.[3]
MGM Spoof
Sayer was featured in an MGM parody on YouTube with the 20th Century Fox fanfare.
A very depressed man
There's a man sitting at a bar just looking at his drink. He stays like that for half an hour. Then, a big trouble-making truck driver steps next to him, takes the drink from the guy, and just drinks it all down.
The poor man starts crying. The truck driver says, "Come on man, I was just joking. Here, I'll buy you another drink. I just can't stand seeing a man crying."
"No, it's not that. This day is the worst of my life. First, I fall asleep, and I'm late to my office. My boss, in an outrage, fires me. When I leave the building to my car, I found out it was stolen. The police say they can do nothing. I get a cab to return home and when I leave it, I remember I left my wallet and credit cards there. The cab driver just drives away. I go home and when I get there, I find my wife sleeping with the gardener. I leave home and come to this bar. And when I was thinking about putting an end to my life, you show up and drink my poison."
