Good morning WA2K.
I love that rendition of "One Day More" from the Les Miserables PBS special.
Georgio Tozzi's not bad either.
Wishing a Happy 78th to Clint Eastwood; 70th to Peter Yarrow (Peter, Paul and Mary); 59th to Tom Berenger and 43rd to Brooke Shields.
and a Good Day to all.
Neat. Peter Paul and Mary get three birthdays per year. The music this morning s mostly really good. I shall return with something in a few minutes. Y'all don't go nowhere, hear?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUX58nsrcDE
I have this song by Harry Belafonte. First time I heard anyone else sing it. Peter, Paul, Mary, and.
We didn't go nowhere, edgar, and I did NOT know that song was written for The American Revolution. Love it, Texas.
How about one for Saturday, folks. As you will notice, John Lennon did this one as well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3SIQvaXWBs
letty and djjd - great songs. Come Saturday Morning was featured in Sterile Cuckoo. I don't meet many folks who cared for that film, but I liked it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2vMp0kJHyo
I never cared for The Righteous Brothers' approach to Unchained Melody. Perhaps I was predjudiced by my listening to the Belafonte and Al Hibbler versions, made long before they did it. But, I do like these guys.
Wow! dj, I couldn't appreciate Tori Amos' singing because I was captivated by Leonard Cohen's voice. Hey, Leonard, you can say my name anytime.
Strange, edgar. I didn't see the movie Sterile Cuckoo. Don't know from whence came that song. Another of those cognitive insights, I guess.
You are right about Al Hibbler doing a better job than the Brothers, Texas.
Lord have mercy, I recall Kirk doing that Whale song. I did see Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.
And speaking of sea voyages, I just recalled Jaques Cousteu and his invention of the aqua lung.
Let's do two. One for Jacques and the other by Aqualung.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evMDt1yUwdg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q536JTSe40M
All the old cowboys are gone. The young cowboys grew old. Not that many new ones left.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZAL5hZ-wN8&feature=related
Wow, edgar. That was fabulous. I recognized John Wayne, Alan Ladd, Clint Eastwood and Roy Rogers, but I will have to go through that one again, Texas.
I recall my friend Bob, who was in WWII, telling me about Buck Rogers, so I went searching and found this. Didn't someone make a movie of him, folks? Perhaps Bruce Willis.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBnUM7CTJSo&feature=related
Don Ameche
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born Dominic Felix Amici [1]
May 31, 1908(1908-05-31)
Kenosha, Wisconsin
Died December 6, 1993 (aged 85)
Scottsdale, Arizona
Spouse(s) Honore Prendergast
1932-1986)
Awards won
Academy Awards
Best Supporting Actor
1985 Cocoon
Dominic Felix Ameche (May 31, 1908 - December 6, 1993) was an Academy Award-winning American actor and director.
Family
Ameche was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin to Felix Ameche, an immigrant from Italy whose original surname was "Amici", and Barbara, who was of Irish and German descent. He had two brothers, Burt and Jim, and two sisters, Anne and Mary Jane.[2]
Vaudeville and films
Ameche began his career in vaudeville with Texas Guinan until Guinan dropped him from the act, dismissing him as "too stiff".[3] He made his film debut in 1935 and by the late 1930s, he had established himself as a leading actor in Hollywood. He appeared in such films as Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938), as the title character in The Story of Alexander Graham Bell (1939), It led to the use of the word "ameche" as slang for telephone in common catchphrases, as noted by Mike Kilen in the Iowa City Gazette (December 8, 1993): "The film prompted a generation to call people to the telephone with the phrase: 'You're wanted on the Ameche.'"[4] Another highlight was co-starring with Gene Tierney in Ernest Lubitch's Heaven Can Wait which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.
Radio and television
Ameche was a major radio star, heard on such shows as Empire Builders, The First Nighter Program, Family Theater and the Betty and Bob soap opera. Following his appearances as announcer and sketch participant on The Edgar Bergen/Charlie McCarthy Show, he achieved memorable success during the late 1940s playing opposite Frances Langford in The Bickersons, the Philip Rapp radio comedy series about a combative married couple. It began on NBC in 1946, moving to CBS the following year.
Ameche also enjoyed a substantial Broadway career, with roles in Silk Stockings, Goldilocks, Holiday for Lovers, Henry, Sweet Henry and Our Town.
Between 1961 and 1965, Ameche sat in the grandstand of a different European resident circus each week to serve as host/commentator on International Showtime on NBC television. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Ameche directed the NBC television drama series Julia, starring Diahann Carroll.
Jack Haley (left), Alice Faye (center), Don Ameche and Tyrone Power (right) in a trailer for the 1938 film Alexander's Ragtime BandAfter the release of two 1970 comedies, The Boatniks and Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came?, Ameche was absent from theatrical films for the next 13 years. His only appearance in cinema during that time was in F For Fake, Orson Welles' documentary on hoaxes, when 20th Century-Fox mistakenly sent Welles newsreel footage of Ameche misidentified as footage of Howard Hughes.
Ameche and fellow veteran actor Ralph Bellamy were eventually cast in John Landis' Trading Places in 1983, playing rich brothers intent on ruining an innocent man for the sake of a one-dollar bet. In an interview some years later on Larry King Live, co-star Jamie Lee Curtis said that Ameche, a proper old-school actor, went to everyone on the set ahead of time to apologize when he was called to say the "f-word" in the film. The film's success and their comedic performances brought them both back into the Hollywood limelight. Ameche's next role, in Cocoon (1985), won him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He continued working for the rest of his life, including in the sequel, Cocoon: The Return. His last films were Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (1993) and Corrina, Corrina (1994), completed only days before his death.
For his contribution to radio, Ameche received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6313 Hollywood Boulevard and a second star at 6101 Hollywood Boulevard for his television work.
Personal life
Ameche was married to Honore Prendergast from 1932 until her death in 1986. They had six children. One, Ron Ameche, owned the restaurant "Ameche's Pumpernickel" in Coralville, Iowa. Ameche's younger brother Jim Ameche, was also an actor in radio and films.
Ameche died on December 6, 1993, of prostate cancer. He was buried at Resurrection Catholic Cemetery, also known as St. Philomena's Cemetery, in Asbury, Iowa.
Johnny Paycheck
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Birth name Donald Eugene Lytle
Also known as Johnny Paycheck
Born May 31, 1938(1938-05-31)
Origin Greenfield, Ohio, USA
Died February 19, 2003 (aged 64)
Genre(s) Country Music
Outlaw Country
Honky tonk
Occupation(s) Singer and songwriter
Instrument(s) Electric Guitar
Acoustic Guitar
Years active 1953 - 2003
Website
www.johnnypaycheckmusic.com
Notable instrument(s)
Electric Guitar
Acoustic Guitar
Johnny Paycheck (May 31, 1938 - February 19, 2003) was a country music singer. He is most famous for recording the David Allan Coe song "Take This Job and Shove It".
Early life and recordings
Born Donald Eugene Lytle in Greenfield, Ohio, United States, he began playing guitar by age six and made his first record at age 15.[citation needed] After a time served in the United States Navy (which included a court-martial for assault)[1], he began performing under the name Donny Young. The singer took a job with country music star George Jones, for whom he played bass and steel guitar. He later co-wrote Jones' hit song "Once You've Had the Best." Paycheck was a tenor harmony singer for numerous hard country acts of the late 1950s and early 1960s including Ray Price. Paycheck along with Willie Nelson worked in Price's band the Cherokee Cowboys. He is featured as a tenor singer on recordings by Faron Young, Roger Miller, and Skeets McDonald.[citation needed] All of these recordings are recognizable by their honky tonk purism. The recordings shun vocal choruses and strings, in favor of steel guitar, twin fiddles, shuffle beats, high harmony, and self-consciously miserable lyrics. As George Jones' tenor singer, Paycheck has been credited with the development of Jones' unique vocal phrasing.[citation needed]
Career success
By the 1960s, he had changed his name to Johnny Paycheck. Lytle reportedly re-named himself after the boxer, Johnny Paychek, who fought Joe Louis in 1940.[citation needed] Paycheck had his first hit with a minor Buck Owens' hit, "A-11". This recording set a pattern for the rest of his 1960's work. Paycheck also co-owned his own record company, Little Darlin' Records, with his producer, Aubrey Mayhew. Paycheck's Little Darlin' recordings featured the shrieking pedal steel guitar work of Lloyd Green. By the end of the 1960's, Paycheck had descended into alcoholism and drug abuse, and Little Darlin' Records folded. In the late 1990s, after taking them for granted for years, country music historians began to recognize the distinctive and sharp-edged sound of the Little Darlin' recordings as unique in their time, Paycheck's in particular.[citation needed]
In the early 1970s, Paycheck was revived by producer Billy Sherrill, who significantly changed Paycheck's sound and image. Some of Johnny's biggest hits from this era were "She's All I Got" (a cover of an R&B single by Freddie North), "Someone To Give My Love To," and "For a Minute There." With the popularity of Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings in the mid 70's, Paycheck changed his image to that of outlaw, where he was to have his largest financial success. It was ironic that Sherrill was best known for carefully choreographing his records and infusing them with considerable pop feel. The Paycheck records were clearly based on Sherrill's take on the bands backing Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson on records.
A member of the Grand Ole Opry, Paycheck is best remembered for his 1977 hit single, "Take This Job and Shove It." (The song was written by David Allan Coe). "Take This Job and Shove It" sold over 2 million copies and inspired a motion picture of the same name. "Colorado Kool-Aid," "Me and the IRS," "Friend, Lover, Wife," "Slide Off of Your Satin Sheets," and "The Only Hell my Mama Ever Raised" were hits for Paycheck during this period.
In his career, Paycheck recorded eleven songs that made it into country music's top ten chart. Additionally, he co-wrote several successful songs for other country singers, including "Apartment #9," Tammy Wynette's first hit.
Misfortunes
In 1985, Paycheck was convicted of shooting a man in Hillsboro, Ohio (after the man asked Paycheck to visit his home and try his deer meat and turtle soup).[citation needed] Paycheck reportedly responded, "Do you see me as some kind of hick?...I don't like you," and later fired a .22 pistol -- grazing the man's head with a bullet. Paycheck claimed the act was self-defense. He spent 22 months in prison.[citation needed]
Paycheck also spent a number of years in prison after he was convicted of statutory rape.[citation needed] At a concert in Mississippi, Paycheck was approached by a young girl who told him that she was a student at University of Mississippi. Paycheck allegedly engaged in sexual relations with the girl. The girl's family filed charges against Paycheck, and the musician learned that she was only fourteen years old, instead of nineteen, which is what she allegedly told Paycheck.[citation needed]
In 1990, Paycheck filed for bankruptcy after tax problems with the IRS.[citation needed]
Paycheck suffered from drug and alcohol addiction during his career, although he was said to have "put his life in order" [2] after his prison stay. Suffering from emphysema and asthma after a lengthy illness, Johnny Paycheck died at Nashville's Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Country icon and longtime friend, George Jones, purchased Paycheck's burial plot and headstone when he learned that his family couldn't cover the interment costs.[citation needed] He was buried in Woodlawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Nashville.
Peter Yarrow
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born May 31, 1938 (1938-05-31) (age 70)
Genre(s) Folk
Occupation(s) Singer-songwriter,
guitarist,
record producer
Instrument(s) Vocals
Guitar
Years active 1960 - Present
Associated acts Peter, Paul and Mary
Peter Yarrow (born May 31, 1938) is an American singer who found fame with the 1960s folk music trio Peter, Paul and Mary. Yarrow co-wrote (with Leonard Lipton) the group's most famous song, "Puff, the Magic Dragon." He has also long done work for social change.
Biography
Music
Yarrow began singing with Mary Travers in December 1960; when Noel "Paul" Stookey joined them, they chose the name "Peter, Paul and Mary" for their folk trio. Yarrow's songwriting helped create some of Peter, Paul & Mary's most famous songs, including "Puff the Magic Dragon", "Day is Done," "Light One Candle", and "The Great Mandala". As a member of that folk music trio, he earned a 1996 Emmy nomination for the Great Performances special "LifeLines Live", a highly acclaimed celebration of folk music, with their musical mentors, contemporaries, and a new generation of singer/songwriters.
Yarrow was instrumental in founding the New Folks Concert series at both the Newport Folk Festival and the Kerrville Folk Festival.[1] His work at Kerrville has been called his "most important achievement in this arena."[2]
Yarrow and his daughter Bethany Yarrow, who is also a musician, often perform together.
Social activism
Yarrow has long been an activist for social and political causes. He produced and coordinated many events as a part of the anti-Vietnam War movement, including festivals for peace at Madison Square Garden and Shea Stadium. These efforts culminated in his co-organization work for the 1969 anti-war March on Washington, a.k.a. "The National Mobilization to End the War", in which some half-million people participated.
While campaigning for 1968 presidential candidate Eugene McCarthy, Yarrow met McCarthy's niece, Mary Beth McCarthy.[3] They were married in October 1969.[4]
Yarrow's involvement in politics continued throughout the decades. He also had a variety of contacts with politicians; he performed at John Kerry's wedding.[5]
Yarrow received the Allard K. Lowenstein Award in 1982, for his "remarkable efforts in advancing the causes of human rights, peace and freedom."[6] In 1995, the Miami Jewish Federation recognized Yarrow's continual efforts by awarding him its Tikkun Olam Award for his part in helping to "repair the world".[6][7]
Yarrow serves on the Board of Directors of the Connecticut Hospice.[2][8]
In an effort to combat school violence, Yarrow started Operation Respect, which brings children in schools and camps a curriculum of tolerance and respect for each other's differences.[4]
In 2003, a resolution in Congress recognized the achievements of Peter Yarrow and Operation Respect.[4]
In March, 2008, Yarrow told Reuters
"Operation Respect has been my main and all-consuming work for the past 10 years. My perception is that the kind of bullying, humiliation that goes on in children's schools leads to high rates of depression that was virtually unknown when I was young and the high suicide rate of teenagers which we know is almost inevitably caused by bullying or mean-spiritedness. It is a reflection of the role models that young people observe on TV shows like a lot of the reality shows. It is also part and parcel of the characteristics in the adult world of America."[9]
Personal life
Peter Yarrow's parents were Jewish, born in the Ukraine; the family name was changed from Yaroshevitz to Yarrow after immigrating to Providence, Rhode Island.[4] Yarrow has cited Judaism as one of the roots of his liberal views.[4]
Yarrow received a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from Cornell University in 1959.
In 1970, Yarrow was convicted of taking "improper liberties" with a 14-year-old fan and served three months in prison.[10][11][12] Yarrow regretted the incident, and said: "In that time, it was common practice, unfortunately -- the whole groupie thing."[13]
He was later granted clemency by President Carter for the incident.[14]
In December 2000, Yarrow's Larrivee acoustic guitar was stolen while on an airplane flight. In early 2005, the guitar was spotted by fans of Yarrow on eBay. The guitar was recovered in Sunrise, Florida, by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and returned to Yarrow. Yarrow did not press charges.[15]
On April 14, 2007, Peter Yarrow declined to appear at a previously scheduled Operation Respect event at Bexley High School after several Bexley parents contacted district officials regarding Yarrow's 1970 guilty plea. His daughter Bethany Yarrow performed instead.[16]
Tom Berenger
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born Thomas Michael Moore
May 31, 1949 (1949-05-31) (age 58)
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Spouse(s) Patricia Alvaran (1998 - present)
Lisa Williams (1986 - 1997; divorced)
Barbara Wilson (1976 - 1984; divorced)
Awards won
Academy Awards
Nominated: Best Supporting Actor
1987 Platoon
Golden Globe Awards
Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
1987 Platoon
Tom Berenger (born May 31, 1949) is an Academy Award-nominated and Golden Globe-winning American actor known mainly for his roles in action films.
Biography
Berenger was born Thomas Michael Moore in Chicago, Illinois. He studied journalism at the University of Missouri, but decided to seek an acting career following his graduation. He worked first in regional theatre and moved to New York City in the 1970s. He worked in soap operas and had a starring role on One Life to Live.
Berenger's feature film debut was the lead in Rush It (1976), an independent film now mostly forgotten except for those of its cast members who went on to greater renown. In 1977, Berenger had a small but noticeable role as a murderer in Looking for Mr. Goodbar. In 1978, he had a starring role in In Praise of Older Women for Avco-Embassy Pictures. In 1979, he had the role of Butch Cassidy in Butch and Sundance: The Early Days, a role he got in part because of his resemblance to Paul Newman[citation needed], who played the character in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969). These early roles highlight Berenger's ability to play both villains and heroes.
Berenger's film career peaked in the 1980s with notable films like The Big Chill (1983), Someone to Watch Over Me (1987), and Major League (1989). In 1986, he received an Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of the sociopathic Sgt. Barnes in Platoon. In the mid-1990s he was most recognizable in his role from the movie Sniper, and its later sequels. Other notable films from that period include Shattered (1991), Sliver (1993) and Chasers (1994).
It has been recorded that Berenger himself has said that his favorite movie of those he had starred in was the 1993 hit Gettysburg, where he played the role of General James Longstreet. He has said he has seen Gettysburg more than any other of his starring movies.
In more recent years, Berenger has continued to have an active acting career in film and television, although often at a supporting level. His most notable television appearance was on Cheers in its last season as Rebecca Howe's blue collar-plumber love interest. He also began a career as a producer in the 1990s. In a 2002 interview Berenger was quoted as saying, "Since the 1970s I've seen myself as a poet. Sometimes I express that poetry through acting, sometimes through cooking, and sometimes just having a good chat, you know, one of them chats you have when you're stoned and the hour is getting late. I don't know what's gonna come my way, but I think Berenger's gonna be big these next couple years."
Berenger starred in the mini-series version of Stephen King's Nightmares & Dreamscapes, as a celebrated author who realizes the warped painting he recently purchased, is alive with illustrations of impending doom for him in "The Road Virus Heads North".
Family life
Berenger has been married three times and has one son and five daughters. He resides in Vancouver, Canada and South Carolina.
Berenger has two children by his first wife, Barbara Wilson, to whom he was married between 1976 and 1984: Allison (born in 1977) and Patrick (born in 1979). He has three daughters by second wife Lisa Williams (to whom he was married between 1986 and 1997): Chelsea (born 1986), Chloe (born 1988) and Shiloh (b.1995), and one daughter, Scout (born 1998), by current wife Patricia Alvaran to whom he's been married since 1998.
Brief Scientology period
Tom Berenger had a brief period from 1987-1989 when he discovered The Church of Scientology. Star, Sun, and other tabloids devoted significant coverage to Berenger, Tom Cruise and other notable "Toms" of Scientology.
Lea Thompson
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born Lea Katherine Thompson
May 31, 1961 (1961-05-31) (age 47)
Rochester, Minnesota
Spouse(s) Howard Deutch (1989-present)
Awards won
Other Awards
Best Supporting Actress
1988 Some Kind of Wonderful (1987 film)
Favorite Movie Actress
1990 Back to the Future Part II (1989 Film)
Lea Katherine Thompson (born May 31, 1961, in Rochester, Minnesota) is an American actress and television director.
Early life
Thompson was born in Rochester, Minnesota May 31, 1961. She studied dance as a girl and would practice three to four hours every day. She was dancing professionally by the age of 14. Lea then won scholarships to several ballet schools, including the American Ballet Theatre and the San Francisco Ballet. She danced with the Minnesota Dance Theatre, the Pennsylvania Ballet Company and the Ballet Repertory.
She was informed by Baryshnikov that she was "too stocky." Due to this (as well as some small nagging injuries) she decided to give up dancing in favor of an acting career. She moved to New York at 20 and performed in a number of Burger King ads in the 1980s along with Elisabeth Shue, her eventual co-star in the Back to the Future movies.
Career
Thompson's first significant film role came in All the Right Moves (1983) with Tom Cruise. That was followed by Red Dawn (1984) and The Wild Life (1984). Her most famous role was that of Lorraine Baines McFly in the Back to the Future trilogy; her character is mother of the time traveler played by Michael J. Fox.
She also starred in SpaceCamp (1986) and Howard the Duck (1986), both commercial flops. (For the latter film, Thompson sang several songs on the soundtrack in character as musician Beverley Switzer, aka "Cherry Bomb," and these recordings appeared on both the soundtrack album and on singles.) She did more movies: Casual Sex?, Going Undercover, The Wizard of Loneliness and a TV film, Montana. She is also known for playing Alice Mitchell in the film version of Dennis the Menace (1993) and a phony French teacher in The Beverly Hillbillies (1993).
The actress was nominated for a Cable ACE award for her work in Nightbreaker. She also has been a winner of the People's Choice award. She received critical acclaim for her work with Farrah Fawcett in The Substitute Wife. She went on to star in several more TV movies: The Unspoken Truth (1995), The Right To Remain Silent (1996), The Little Rascals (1994), and the mini-series A Will of their Own (1998).
Thompson found moderate critical and popular success as the star of the NBC sitcom Caroline in the City from 1995-1999.
After a break from acting, she went on to star in Broadway plays. She later starred in another TV series For the People. It only lasted one season. Then came a TV movie, Stealing Christmas (2003), starring Tony Danza and Betty White. Thompson also appeared in several episodes of the dramedy series Ed.
In 2005, Thompson began a series of made-for-TV movies for the Hallmark Channel in which she plays "Jane Doe," an ex-secret agent turned housewife who helps the government solve mysteries. In a guest role on a 2004 episode of NBC's Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, she played a woman whose embryos were stolen.
Thompson was a featured singer on Celebrity Duets and the second contestant eliminated in 2006. Over the next two years, more of her Jane Doe films were released, two of which Thompson directed: The Harder they Fall and Eye of the Beholder.
In April 2007, another TV movie, A Life Interrupted, premiered on Lifetime. It concerns a rape survivor who overcomes her debilitating fear by working to get funding to process the terrible backlog of rape kits processed, so that other women will not have to suffer for years as she did.
Other movies Thompson has worked on awaiting release include Exit Speed, Doubting Thomas, and another TV film, Final Approach, scheduled to be aired May 24, 2008, on the Hallmark Channel. She is in development of another film project, Balancing the Books. In January 2008, she guest-starred on the show Head Case.
Brooke Shields
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born Brooke Christa Camille Shields
May 31, 1965 (1965-05-31) (age 43)
New York City, New York, USA
Years active 1974 ─ present
Spouse(s) Andre Agassi (1997-1999)
Chris Henchy (2001-present)
Awards won
Golden Raspberry Awards
Worst Actress
1980 The Blue Lagoon
Other Awards
People's Choice Awards
Favorite Young Performer
1981, 1982, 1983, 1984
Favorite Female Performer in a New Television Series
1997
Brooke Christa Camille Shields[1] (born May 31, 1965)[2] is an American actress and supermodel.
Biography
Career
Modeling career
Shields' career as a model began in the mid 1960s as an infant. Her first job was for Ivory soap shot by Francesco Scavullo. She continued as a successful child model, with model agent Eileen Ford, in her Lifetime Network biography, stating that she started her children's division just for Brooke. In early 1980 (at age 14), Shields was the youngest fashion model to ever appear on the cover of the top fashion publication Vogue magazine. Later that same year, Shields appeared in controversial print and TV ads for Calvin Klein jeans[3]. The TV ad included her saying the famous tagline, "You want to know what comes between me and my Calvins? Nothing."
By the age of 16, Shields had become one of the most recognizable faces in the world because of her dual career as a provocative fashion model and controversial child actress. TIME magazine reported, in its February 9, 1981 cover story, that her day rate as a model was $10,000. In 1983 Shields appeared on the cover of the September issue of Paris Vogue, the October and November issues of American Vogue and the December edition of Italian Vogue.
Film career
Shields' first major film role was her 1978 appearance in Louis Malle's Pretty Baby, a movie in which she played a child living in a brothel (and in which there were numerous nude scenes). Because she was only 12 when the film was released, and possibly 11 when it was filmed, questions were raised about child pornography.[citation needed] This was followed by a slightly less controversial, but also less notable film, Wanda Nevada (1979).
After two decades of movies, her best-known films are still arguably The Blue Lagoon (1980), which included a number of nude scenes between teenage cousins on a deserted island (Shields later testified before a U.S. Congressional inquiry that older body doubles were used in some of them), and Endless Love (1981). She won the People's Choice Award in the category of Favorite Young Performer in four consecutive years from 1981 to 1984.
Career stalling
Shields put her film career on hold to attend Princeton University from 1983 to 1987, graduating with a degree in French literature. Her senior thesis was titled "The Initiation: From Innocence to Experience: The Pre-Adolescent/Adolescent Journey in the Films of Louis Malle, Pretty Baby and Lacombe Lucien." It was here at Princeton where she spoke openly about her sexuality and virginity. During her tenure at Princeton, Shields was a member of the Princeton Triangle Club and the Cap and Gown Club.
Shields' career stalled at various times, and she has told interviewers that her height (6'0") prevented her from getting roles opposite shorter male actors.
Television appearances
Shields has appeared in a number of television shows, the most successful being the NBC sitcom Suddenly Susan, in which she starred from 1996 until 2000 and which earned her a People's Choice Award in the category of Favorite Female Performer in a New Television Series in 1997 and two Golden Globe nominations.
Shields made a couple of guest appearances on That '70s Show. She played Pam Burkhart, Jackie's (Mila Kunis) mother, who later was briefly involved with Donna's (Laura Prepon) father (played by Don Stark). Shields left That '70s Show when her character was written out. She also appeared in one episode of the popular comedy sitcom Friends playing Joey's stalker. Shields recorded the narration for the Sony/BMG recording of The Runaway Bunny, a Concerto for Violin, Orchestra, and Reader by Glen Roven. It was performed by the Royal Philharmonic and Ittai Shapira. Earlier in 1980, Shields was the youngest guest star to ever appear on The Muppet Show, in which she and the Muppets put on their own version of Alice In Wonderland.
On-stage productions
Shields has appeared in many on-stage productions, mostly musical revivals, including Grease, Cabaret, Wonderful Town and Chicago on Broadway; she also performed in Chicago in London's West End.
Personal life
Shields was born in New York City[4] into a well-known American society family with links to Italian nobility.[5] Her father was Francis Alexander Shields, and her mother was Teri Shields (née Maria Theresia Schmonin). Shields adopted her middle name, Camille, for her Confirmation at age 10. Shields' parents divorced when she was a child, and her father later married Diana Lippert Auchincloss, the former wife of Thomas Gore Auchincloss (a half-brother of Gore Vidal and a stepsister of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis). The actress has three half-sisters: Marina (who married Thomas William Purcell), Olympia, and Christiana Shields. She also has two stepsiblings, Diana Luise Auchincloss and Thomas Gore Auchincloss Jr. She attended the all-girl Lenox School[6]. She graduated from Dwight-Englewood School in Englewood, New Jersey.
Her paternal grandparents were Francis Xavier Shields, a tennis star of Irish descent, and his second wife, the Italian princess Donna Marina Torlonia di Civitella-Cesi, a half-Italian, half-American socialite who was a sister of Don Alessandro Torlonia, 5th Prince di Civitella-Cesi, the husband of Infanta Beatriz of Spain (an aunt of King Juan Carlos I of Spain). Shields is a second cousin once removed of the actress Glenn Close. Shields's great-grandmother Mary Elsie Moore (wife of Don Marino Torlonia, 4th Prince di Civitella-Cesi) was Close's great-aunt, a sister of Close's maternal grandfather, Charles Arthur Moore.
Into the mid-1980s, Shields was a resident of Haworth, New Jersey.[7]
During the 1980s and 1990s, Shields' romantic relationships were the subject of many tabloid articles. Among the celebrities she dated were Ted McGinley (her high school prom escort), Dean Cain (her Princeton roommate)[1], John F. Kennedy Jr., Michael Bolton, Prince Albert II of Monaco, and Michael Jackson (his date to the 1984 Grammy Awards).
Shields was married from April 19, 1997, to April 9, 1999, to professional tennis player Andre Agassi; their marriage was annulled. Since April 4, 2001, she has been married to television writer Chris Henchy. They have two daughters: Rowan Frances (b. May 15, 2003) and Grier Hammond (b. April 18, 2006).
Honorary Ambassador of Peace for the Harvey Ball Foundation along with Jackie Chan, A. V. T. Shankardass, Jerry Lewis, Prince Albert of Monaco, Jack Nicklaus, Greg Norman, Phil Collins, Jimmy Buffett, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Darrell Waltrip, Heather Mills, Yoko Ono, Patch Adams, Sergei Khrushchev and Winnie Mandela.
[edit] Postpartum depression
In the spring of 2005, Shields spoke to magazines (such as Guideposts) and appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show to publicize her battle with postpartum depression, an experience that included depression, thoughts of suicide, an inability to respond to her baby's needs, and delayed maternal bonding. The illness may have been triggered by a traumatic childbirth, the death of her father three weeks earlier, stress from in vitro fertilization, a miscarriage, and a family history of depression, as well as the hormones and life changes brought on by childbirth. Her book, Down Came the Rain, discusses her experience.[8]
In May 2005, Tom Cruise, a Scientologist whose beliefs frowns upon psychiatry, condemned Shields both personally and professionally, particularly for both using and speaking in favor of the antidepressant drug Paxil. As Cruise said, "Here is a woman, and I care about Brooke Shields because I think she is an incredibly talented woman, you look at [and think], where has her career gone?" Shields responded that Cruise's statements about anti-depressants were "irresponsible" and "dangerous." She said he should "stick to fighting aliens", (a reference to Cruise's starring role in War of the Worlds as well as some of the more exotic aspects of Scientology doctrine and teachings), "and let mothers decide the best way to treat postpartum depression." The actress responded to a further attack by Cruise in an essay War of Words published in The New York Times on July 1, 2005, in which she made an individual case for the medication and said, "In a strange way, it was comforting to me when my obstetrician told me that my feelings of extreme despair and my suicidal thoughts were directly tied to a biochemical shift in my body. Once we admit that postpartum is a serious medical condition, then the treatment becomes more available and socially acceptable. With a doctor's care, I have since tapered off the medication, but without it, I wouldn't have become the loving parent I am today."[9] On August 31, 2006, according to USAToday.com,[10] Cruise privately apologized to Shields for the incident, and Shields accepted, saying it was "heartfelt." Three months later, she and her husband attended the wedding of Cruise and Katie Holmes in November 2006.
Since writing her book, Shields has guest-starred on shows like FX's Nip/Tuck and CBS' Two and a Half Men. In 2007, she made a guest appearance on Disney's Hannah Montana playing Susan Stewart, Miley and Jackson's mother. In 2008, she returned in the primetime drama Lipstick Jungle.
