Robert I of Scotland
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Reign 1306-1329
Coronation 1306
Born July 11, 1274(1274-07-11)
Birthplace probably Turnberry Castle, Ayrshire
Died June 7, 1329 (aged 54)
Place of death Cardross
Buried Dunfermline Abbey
Predecessor John
Successor David II
Consort i) Isabella of Mar
ii) Elizabeth de Burgh
Offspring Marjorie Bruce with Isabella, David, John, Matilda and Margaret with Elizabeth and several illegitimate children
Royal House Bruce
Father Robert de Brus, 6th Lord of Annandale
Mother Marjorie, Countess of Carrick
Robert I, King of Scots (11 July 1274 - 7 June 1329) usually known in modern English as Robert the Bruce (Mediaeval Gaelic:Roibert a Briuis; modern Scottish Gaelic: Raibeart Bruis; Norman French: Robert de Brus or Robert de Bruys; ) was King of the Scots from 1306 until his death in 1329.
Although his paternal ancestors were of Scoto-Norman heritage (originating in Brieux, Normandy)[1], his maternal ancestors were Scottish-Gaels. He became one of Scotland's greatest kings, as well as one of the most famous warriors of his generation, eventually leading Scotland during the Wars of Scottish Independence against the Kingdom of England. He claimed the Scottish throne as a great-great-great-great-grandson of David I of Scotland.
His body is buried in Dunfermline Abbey, while his heart is buried in Melrose Abbey. His heart was to be taken on crusade eventually to the Holy Land, but only reached Moorish Granada, where it acted as a talisman for the Scottish contingent at the Battle of Teba.
Background and early life
Robert was the first child of Robert de Brus, 6th Lord of Annandale (d. 1304) and Marjorie, Countess of Carrick, (d. 1292) [2] daughter of Niall, Earl of Carrick. His mother was by all accounts a formidable woman who, legend would have it, kept Robert Bruce's father captive until he agreed to marry her. From his mother, he inherited the Gaelic Earldom of Carrick, and through his father a royal lineage that would give him a claim to the Scottish throne. Although his date of birth is definitely known,[3] his place of birth is less certain, but it was probably Turnberry Castle in Ayrshire.[4]
Very little is known of his youth. He could have been sent to be fostered with a local family, as was the custom. It can be presumed that Bruce was raised speaking all the languages of his lineage and nation and was almost certainly fluent in Gaelic and Norman French, with literacy in Latin. Robert's first appearance in history is on a witness list of a charter issued by Alasdair MacDomhnaill, Lord of Islay. His name appears in the company of the Bishop of Argyll, the vicar of Arran, a Kintyre clerk, his father and a host of Gaelic notaries from Carrick.
He saw the outcome of the 'Great Cause' in 1292, which gave the Crown of Scotland to his distant relative, John Balliol, as unjust. As he saw it, it prevented his branch of the family from taking their rightful place on the Scottish throne. Soon afterwards, his grandfather, Robert de Brus, 5th Lord of Annandale?-the unsuccessful claimant?-resigned his lordship to Robert de Brus, Bruce's father. Robert de Brus had already resigned the Earldom of Carrick to Robert Bruce, his son, on the day of his wife's death in 1292, thus making Robert Bruce the Earl of Carrick. Both father and son sided with Edward I against Balliol.
In April 1294, the younger Bruce had permission to visit Ireland for a year and a half, and, as a further mark of King Edward's favour, he received a respite for all the debts owed by him to the English Exchequer.
In 1295, Robert married his first wife, Isabella of Mar (d. before 1302) the daughter of Domhnall I, Earl of Mar (d. after July 1297) by his wife Helen (b. 1246 d. after Feb 1295).
Some sources claim that Helen was the daughter of the Welsh ruler Llywelyn ap Iorwerth, Prince of North Wales, Llywelyn 'The Great' (1173-1240) and his spouse Joan, Lady of Wales, an illegitimate child of King John of England. However, as both Llywelyn and Joan were dead by 1246, that theory would most likely be incorrect. However, there are suggestions that Helen may have in fact been the daughter of Llywelyn's son Dafydd ap Llywelyn and his Norman wife Isabella de Braose, of the south Wales dynasty of Marcher Lords.
Beginning of the Wars of Independence
In August 1296, Bruce and his father swore fealty to Edward I of England at Berwick-upon-Tweed, but in breach of this oath, which had been renewed at Carlisle, the younger Robert joined in the Scottish revolt against King Edward in the following year. Urgent letters were sent ordering Bruce to support Edward's commander, John de Warenne, 7th Earl of Surrey, (to whom Bruce was related), in the summer of 1297; but instead of complying, Bruce laid waste the lands of those who adhered to Edward. On 7 July, Bruce and his friends were forced to make terms by a treaty called the Capitulation of Irvine. The Scottish lords were not to serve beyond the sea against their will, and were pardoned for their recent violence in return for swearing allegiance to King Edward. The Bishop of Glasgow, James the Steward, and Sir Alexander Lindsay became sureties for Bruce until he delivered his infant daughter Marjorie as a hostage.
Shortly after the Battle of Stirling Bridge, Bruce defected to the Scots; Annandale was wasted and he burned the English-held castle of Ayr. Yet, when King Edward returned to England after his victory at the Battle of Falkirk, Annandale and Carrick were excepted from the Lordships and lands which he assigned to his followers; Bruce was being treated as a waverer whose allegiance might still be retained.
After William Wallace resigned as Guardian of Scotland after the Battle of Falkirk, he was succeeded by Robert Bruce and John Comyn as joint Guardians, but they could not see past their personal differences. As a nephew and supporter of John Balliol, and as someone with his own claim to the Scottish throne, Comyn was Bruce's enemy. In 1299, William Lamberton, Bishop of St. Andrews, was appointed as a third, neutral Guardian to try and maintain order between Bruce and Comyn. The following year, Bruce finally resigned as joint Guardian and was replaced by Sir Gilbert, 1st Lord de Umfraville (d. before 13 October 1307), Earl of Angus (in right of his mother, Maud, Countess of Angus).
In May 1301, de Umfraville, Comyn and Lamberton also resigned as joint Guardians and were replaced by Sir John de Soules as sole Guardian. Soules was appointed largely because he was part of neither the Bruce nor the Comyn camps and was a patriot. He was an active Guardian and made renewed efforts to have King John returned to the Scottish throne.
In July, King Edward I launched his sixth campaign into Scotland. Though he captured Bothwell and Turnberry Castle, he did little to damage the Scots' fighting ability and, in January 1302, agreed to a nine-month truce. It was around this time that Robert the Bruce submitted to Edward, along with other nobles, even though he had been on the side of the patriots until then.
There were rumours that Balliol would return to regain the Scottish throne. Soules, who had probably been appointed by King John, supported his return, as did most other nobles, but the return of John as king would lead to the Bruces losing any chance of ever gaining the throne themselves.
Robert the Bruce and Isabella of MarHowever, though recently pledged to support King Edward, it is interesting to note that Robert the Bruce sent a letter to the monks at Melrose Abbey in March 1302 which effectively weakened his usefulness to the English king. Apologising for having called the monks' tenants to service in his army when there had been no national call-up, Bruce pledged that, henceforth, he would "never again" require the monks to serve unless it was to "the common army of the whole realm", for national defence. Bruce also married his second wife that year, Elizabeth de Burgh (d. 26 October 1327), the daughter of Richard de Burgh, 2nd Earl of Ulster, (d. 1326). By Elizabeth he had four children: David II, John (died in childhood), Matilda (who married Thomas Isaac and died at Aberdeen 20 July 1353), and Margaret (who married William de Moravia, 5th Earl of Sutherland in 1345).
In 1303, Edward invaded again, reaching Edinburgh, before marching to Perth. John Comyn, who was by now Guardian, could not hope to defeat King Edward's forces. Edward stayed in Perth until July, then proceeded via Dundee, Brechin and Montrose, to Aberdeen, where he arrived in August. From there, he marched through Moray to Badenoch, before re-tracing his path back south to Dunfermline. With the country now under submission, all the leading Scots, except for William Wallace, surrendered to Edward in February 1304. Terms of submission were negotiated by John Comyn.
The laws and liberties of Scotland were to be as they had been in the days of Alexander III, and any that needed alteration would be with the advice of King Edward and the advice and assent of the Scots nobles.
On 11 June 1304, with both of them having witnessed the heroic efforts of their countrymen during King Edward's siege of Stirling Castle, Bruce and William Lamberton made a pact that bound them, each to the other, in "friendship and alliance against all men." If one should break the secret pact, he would forfeit to the other the sum of ten thousand pounds. Though both had already surrendered to the English, the pact indicated their deep patriotism and commitment to their future perseverance for the Scots and their freedom. They now intended to bide their time until the death of the now elderly King of England.
With Scotland defenseless, Edward set about absorbing her into England. Homage was again obtained from the nobles and the burghs, and a parliament was held to elect those who would meet later in the year with the English parliament to establish rules for the governance of Scotland. For all the apparent participation by Scots in the government however, the English held the real power. The Earl of Richmond, Edward's nephew, was to head up the subordinate government of Scotland.
While all this took place, William Wallace was finally captured near Glasgow and executed on August 23, 1305.
Coronation as King of Scots
In September 1305, Edward ordered Robert Bruce to put his castle at Kildrummy, "in the keeping of such a man as he himself will be willing to answer for," suggesting that King Edward suspected Robert was not entirely trustworthy and may have been plotting behind his back, however an identical phrase appears in an agreement between Edward and his lieutenant and life-long friend Aymer de Valence. Bruce, as Earl of Carrick and now 7th Lord of Annandale, held huge estates and property in Scotland and a barony and some minor properties in England and had a claim to the Scottish throne. He also had a large family to protect. If he claimed the throne, he would throw the country into yet another series of wars, and if he failed, he would be sacrificing everyone and everything he knew.
Bruce, like all his family, had a complete belief in his right to the throne. However his actions of supporting alternately the English and Scottish armies had led to a great deal of distrust towards Bruce among the "Community of the Realm of Scotland". His ambition was further thwarted by the person of John Comyn. Comyn had been much more resolute in his opposition to the English, he was the most powerful noble in Scotland and was related to many more powerful nobles both within Scotland and England. He also had a powerful claim to the Scottish throne through both his descent from the ancient Celtic monarchy and through his being the nephew of John Balliol. To neutralise this threat, Bruce invited him to a meeting under truce in Dumfries on 10 February 1306.
Bruce attacked Comyn before the high altar of the church of the Greyfriars monastery and fled. On being told that Comyn had survived the attack and was being treated, two of Bruce's supporters, Roger de Kirkpatrick and John Lindsay, went back into the church and finished Comyn off. Bruce was excommunicated for this crime, which eventually led to the excommunication first of the barons who supported him and then the entire country.[5] Realising that the 'die had been cast' and he had no alternative except to become king or a fugitive, Bruce asserted his claim to the Scottish crown. He was crowned King of Scots as Robert I at Scone, near Perth on 25 March, by Isabella MacDuff, Countess of Buchan, (alleged by the English to be his mistress) who claimed the right of her family, the Macduff Earl of Fife, to place the Scottish king on his throne. Though now king, Bruce did not yet have a kingdom, and his efforts to obtain it were unsuccessful until after the death of King Edward I.
From Scone to Bannockburn
In June 1306, he was defeated at the Battle of Methven and in August, he was surprised in Strathfillan, where he had taken refuge. The ladies of his family were sent to Kildrummy in January 1307. Bruce, almost without a follower, fled to Rathlin Island off the northern coast of Ireland.
Edward I marched north again in the spring. On his way, he granted the Scottish estates of Bruce and his adherents to his own followers and published a bill excommunicating Bruce. Bruce's queen, Elizabeth, his daughter Marjorie, and his sister Mary were captured in a sanctuary at Tain, while his brother Niall was executed. But, on 7 July, King Edward I died, leaving Bruce opposed by his feeble son, Edward II, and the odds turned in Bruce's favour.
Bruce and his followers returned to the Scottish mainland in February in two groups. One, led by Bruce and his brother Edward landed at Turnberry Castle and began a guerrilla war in southwest Scotland. The other, led by his brothers Thomas and Alexander, landed slightly further south in Loch Ryan; but they were soon captured and executed. In April, Bruce won a small victory over the English at the Battle of Glen Trool, before defeating Aymer de Valence, 2nd Earl of Pembroke at the Battle of Loudoun Hill. Leaving his brother Edward in command in Galloway, he travelled north, capturing Inverlochy and Urquhart Castles, burning Inverness Castle and Nairn to the ground, then unsuccessfully threatening Elgin.
Transferring operations to Aberdeenshire in late 1307, he threatened Banff before falling seriously ill, probably owing to the hardships of the lengthy campaign. Recovering, leaving John Comyn, 3rd Earl of Buchan unsubdued at his rear, Bruce returned west to take Balvenie and Duffus Castles, then Tarradale Castle on the Black Isle. Looping back via the hinterlands of Inverness and a second failed attempt to take Elgin, Bruce finally achieved his landmark defeat of Comyn at the Battle of Inverurie in May 1308, then overran Buchan and slaughtered the English garrison at Aberdeen.
He then crossed to Argyll and defeated another body of his enemies at the Battle of Pass of Brander and took Dunstaffnage Castle, the last major stronghold of the Comyns.[6]
In March 1309, he held his first Parliament at St. Andrews, and by August, he controlled all of Scotland north of the River Tay. The following year, the clergy of Scotland recognised Bruce as king at a general council. The support given to him by the church in spite of his excommunication was of great political importance.
The next three years saw the capture and reduction of one English-held castle or outpost after another: Linlithgow in 1310, Dumbarton in 1311, and Perth, by Bruce himself, in January 1312. Bruce also made raids into northern England and, landing at Ramsey in the Isle of Man, then laid siege to Castle Rushen in Castletown capturing it on 21 June 1313 to deny the island's strategic importance to the English. In the spring of 1314, Edward Bruce laid siege to Stirling Castle, whose governor, Philip de Mowbray, agreed to capitulate if not relieved before 24 June 1314. In March 1314, Sir James Douglas captured Roxburgh, and Randolph captured Edinburgh Castle. In May, Bruce again raided England and subdued the Isle of Man.
Bruce reviewing troops before the Battle of Bannockburn.The eight years of exhausting but deliberate refusal to meet the English on even ground have caused many to consider Bruce as one of the great guerrilla leaders of any age. This represented a transformation for one raised as a feudal knight. Bruce secured Scottish independence from England militarily ?- if not diplomatically ?- at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314.
Freed from English threats, Scotland's armies could now invade northern England. Bruce also drove back a subsequent English expedition north of the border and launched raids into Yorkshire and Lancashire.
Bruce and Ireland
Buoyed by his military successes, Bruce's forces also invaded Ireland in 1315, to free the country from English rule, and to open a second front in the continuing wars with England. The Irish even crowned Edward Bruce as High King of Ireland in 1316. Robert later went there with another army to assist his brother.
To go with the invasion, Bruce popularised an ideological vision of a "Pan-Gaelic Greater Scotia" with his lineage ruling over both Ireland and Scotland. This propaganda campaign was aided by two factors. The first was his marriage alliance from 1302 with the de Burgh family of the Earldom of Ulster in Ireland; second, Bruce himself on his mother's side of Carrick, was descended from Gaelic royalty - in Scotland. Thus, lineally and geopolitically, Bruce attempted to support his anticipated notion of a pan-Gaelic alliance between Scottish-Irish Gaelic populations, under his kingship.
This is revealed by a letter he sent to the Irish chiefs, where he calls the Scots and Irish collectively nostra nacio (our nation), stressing the common language, customs and heritage of the two peoples:
" Whereas we and you and our people and your people, free since ancient times, share the same national ancestry and are urged to come together more eagerly and joyfully in friendship by a common language and by common custom, we have sent you our beloved kinsman, the bearers of this letter, to negotiate with you in our name about permanently strengthening and maintaining inviolate the special friendship between us and you, so that with God's will our nation (nostra nacio) may be able to recover her ancient liberty. "
The diplomacy worked to a certain extent, at least in Ulster, where the Scots had some support. The Irish chief, Donal O'Neill, for instance, later justified his support for the Scots to Pope John XXII by saying "the Kings of Lesser Scotia all trace their blood to our Greater Scotia and retain to some degree our language and customs."
The Bruce campaign to Ireland was characterised by some initial military success. However, the Scots failed to win over the non-Ulster chiefs, or to make any other significant gains in the south of the island, where people couldn't see the difference between English and Scottish occupation. Eventually it was defeated when Edward Bruce was killed at the Battle of Faughart. The Irish Annals of the period described the defeat of the Bruces by the English as one of the greatest things ever done for the Irish nation due to the fact it brought an end to the famine and pillaging brought on the Irish by both the Scots and the English.[7]
Diplomacy
Robert Bruce's reign also witnessed some diplomatic achievements. The Declaration of Arbroath of 1320 strengthened his position, particularly vis-à-vis the Papacy. Pope John XXII eventually lifted Bruce's excommunication. In May 1328 King Edward III of England signed the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton, which recognised Scotland as an independent kingdom, and Bruce as its king.
Death
Robert the Bruce died on 7 June 1329, at the Manor of Cardross, near Dumbarton[8] He had suffered for some years from what some contemporary accounts describe as an "unclean ailment"; the traditional view is that he died of leprosy, but this is now disputed[4] with syphilis, psoriasis, motor neurone disease and a series of strokes all proposed as possible alternatives.
His body lies buried in Dunfermline Abbey, but according to a death bed decree Sir James Douglas removed and carried his heart 'against the enemies of the name of Christ' , in Moorish Granada, Spain. The decree overrode an earlier written request, dated 13th May 1329 Cardross, that his heart be buried in the monastery at Melrose. Douglas was killed in an ambush whilst carrying out the decree. On realising his imminent death Douglas is said to have thrown the casket containing Bruce's heart ahead of him and shouted "Onward braveheart, Douglas shall follow thee or die." According to legend (Fordun Annals), the heart was later recovered by Sir William Keith and taken back to Scotland to be buried at Melrose Abbey, in Roxburghshire, following his earlier decree. In 1996, a casket, thought to contain the heart, was unearthed during construction work.[9]
Family and descendants
Robert Bruce had a large family in addition to his wife Elizabeth and his children. There were his brothers, Edward, Alexander, Thomas, and Neil, his sisters Christina, Isabel (Queen of Norway), Margaret, Matilda, and Mary, and his nephews Donald II, Earl of Mar and Thomas Randolph, 1st Earl of Moray.
In addition to his legitimate offspring, Robert Bruce had several illegitimate children by unknown mothers. His sons were Sir Robert (died 12 August 1332 at the Battle of Dupplin Moor); Walter, of Odistoun on the Clyde, who predeceased his father; and Niall, of Carrick, (died 17 October 1346 at the Battle of Neville's Cross). His daughters were Elizabeth (married Walter Oliphant of Gask); Margaret (married Robert Glen), alive as of 29 February 1364; and Christian of Carrick, who died after 1329, when she was in receipt of a pension.
Robert was succeeded by his only legitimate son, the infant David II.
Robert's only child by his first marriage, Marjorie Bruce, married Walter Stewart, 6th High Steward of Scotland (1293-1326). She died on 2 March 1316, near Paisley, Renfrewshire, after being thrown from her horse while heavily pregnant, but the child survived. He was Robert II, who succeeded David II and founded the Stewart dynasty.
Bruce's descendants include all later Scottish monarchs (except Edward Balliol whose claim to be a Scottish monarch is debatable) and all British monarchs since the Union of the Crowns in 1603. A large number of families definitely are descended from him[10] but there is some controversy about some claims. [11]
Legends
According to legend, at some point while he was on the run during the winter of 1305-06, Bruce hid himself in a cave on Rathlin Island off the north coast of Ireland, where he observed a spider trying to spin a web. Each time the spider failed, it simply started all over again. Inspired by this, Bruce returned to inflict a series of defeats on the English, thus winning him more supporters and eventual victory. The story serves to explain the maxim: "if at first you don't succeed, try try again." Other versions have Bruce defeated for the seventh time by the English, then let him watch the spider spin seven webs, fail, then spin an eighth and succeed[citation needed].
But this legend appears for the first time in only a much later account, "Tales of a Grandfather" by Sir Walter Scott, and may have originally been told about his companion-in-arms Sir James Douglas (the "Black Douglas"). The entire account may in fact be a version of a literary trope used in royal biographical writing. A similar story is told, for example, in Jewish sources about King David, and in Persian folklore about the Mongolian warlord Tamerlane and an ant.[12]
Criticism
On March 21, 2008, Dr. Bruce Durie, academic manager of genealogical studies at the University of Strathclyde, opined in the British daily newspaper The Guardian, "that despite his romantic reputation, Robert the Bruce was an absolute scoundrel". "The first thing he did after taking power was destroy Stirling castle and he was a self-serving, vainglorious opportunist who was determined to be king at any cost," Durie added. [13].
Scholars of the period might, however, point out that Bruce only slighted Stirling castle to deny it to future English invaders, that he restored the independence of the country by expelling the Occupation government, and that he was a very successful monarch in very difficult circumstances.
The Bruce in Fiction
The revolt of Robert the Bruce is the topic of the book The King's Swift Rider, written from the view of a young Scot in the revolt.
In the 1995 film Braveheart, Robert the Bruce is portrayed, somewhat inaccurately, by Scottish actor Angus Macfadyen. Although the film showed him taking the field at Falkirk as part of the English army, he had never betrayed William Wallace (despite changing sides many times).
Scottish author Nigel Tranter wrote a well-researched trilogy based on the life of Robert: Robert the Bruce: The Steps to the Empty Throne; Robert the Bruce: The Path of the Hero King; and Robert the Bruce: The Price of the King's Peace. This has also been published in one volume as The Bruce Trilogy.
Chronicles of the reign of Robert the Bruce (or Robert de Brus) are published in a series titled Rebel King, Hammer of the Scots (2002); Rebel King, The Har'ships (2004); and Rebel King, Bannok Burn (2006). Two more volumes are planned. Historical fiction, but very close to Scottish history, this most comprehensive series on Robert's reign starts in January 1306 and will carry through Robert's death in 1329.
Miscellaneous
Robert The Bruce was portrayed in £1 banknote of Clydesdale Bank, one of the three Scottish banks with right to issue banknotes, from 1981 to 1989. When Clydesdale Bank discontinued £1 banknotes, Robert The Bruce's portrait was moved into the bank's £20 banknote in 1990 and it has remained there to date.
The airline British Caledonian, named a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 (G-BHDI) after Robert the Bruce.
E. B. White
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
E.B. White (July 11, 1899, Mount Vernon, New York - October 1, 1985, North Brooklin, Maine) was an American writer. Although named Elwyn Brooks White by his parents,[1] White used his initials in professional writings all his life.
White graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1921. He picked up the nickname "Andy" at Cornell, where tradition confers that moniker on any male student surnamed White, after Cornell co-founder Andrew Dickson White. While at Cornell, he worked as editor of The Cornell Daily Sun with classmate Allison Danzig who later became a sportswriter for The New York Times. White was also a member of the Quill and Dagger society and Phi Gamma Delta (FIJI). He wrote for The Seattle Times and Seattle Post-Intelligencer and worked as an ad man before returning to New York City in 1924.
He published his first article in The New Yorker magazine in 1925, then joined the staff in 1927 and continued to contribute for six decades. Best recognized for his essays and unsigned "Notes and Comment" pieces, he gradually became the most important contributor to The New Yorker at a time when it was arguably the most important American literary magazine. He also served as a columnist for Harper's Magazine from 1938 to 1943.
In the late 1930s, White turned his hand to children's fiction on behalf of a niece, Janice Hart White. His first children's book, Stuart Little, was published in 1945, and Charlotte's Web appeared in 1952. Both were highly acclaimed and in 1970, jointly won the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal, a major prize in the field of children's literature. In the same year, he published his third children's novel, The Trumpet of the Swan. In 1973, that book received the Sequoyah Award from Oklahoma and the William Allen White Award from Kansas, both of which were awarded by students voting for their favorite book of the year.
In 1959, White edited and updated The Elements of Style. This handbook of grammatical and stylistic dos and don'ts for writers of American English had been written and published in 1918 by William Strunk, Jr., one of White's professors at Cornell. White's rework of the book was extremely well received, and further editions of the work followed in 1972, 1979, and 1999; an illustrated edition followed in 2005. That same year, a New York composer named Nico Muhly premiered a short opera based on the book. The volume is a standard tool for students and writers and remains required reading in many composition classes.
In 1978, White won a special Pulitzer Prize for his work as a whole. Other awards he received included a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963 and memberships in a variety of literary societies throughout the United States.
White married Katharine Sergeant Angell in 1929, also an editor at The New Yorker, and author (as Katharine White) of Onward and Upward in the Garden. They had a son, Joel White, a naval architect and boatbuilder, who owned Brooklin Boatyard in Brooklin, Maine. Katharine's son from her first marriage, Roger Angell, has spent decades as a fiction editor for The New Yorker and is well-known as the magazine's baseball writer. White was related to James White who was a Methodist preacher in Missouri.
White died on October 1, 1985, at his farm home in North Brooklin, Maine, after a long fight with Alzheimer's Disease. He was cremated, and his ashes were buried beside his wife at the Brooklin Cemetery.[2]
Yul Brynner
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born Yuliy Borisovich Brynner
July 11, 1920(1920-07-11)
Vladivostok, Far Eastern Republic
Died October 10, 1985 (aged 65)
New York City, New York, USA
Years active 1944-1980
Spouse(s) Virginia Gilmore (1944-1960)
Doris Kleiner (1960-1967)
Jacqueline de Croisset (1971-1981)
Kathy Lee (1983-1985)
Awards won
Academy Awards
Best Actor
1956 The King and I
Tony Awards
Best Featured Actor in a Musical
1952 King and I
Special Tony Award
1985 Lifetime Achievement
Other Awards
NBR Award for Best Actor
1956 The King and I
1956 Anastasia
1956 The Ten Commandments
Hollywood Walk of Fame
6162 Hollywood Boulevard
Yul Brynner (July 11, 1920 - October 10, 1985)[1] was a Russian-born actor of stage and screen, perhaps best known for his portrayal of the Siamese king in the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical The King and I on the stage and on the screen, as well as Rameses II in the 1956 Cecil B. DeMille film The Ten Commandments and as Chris Adams in The Magnificent Seven.
He was noted for his deep, rich voice and for his shaved head, which he kept as a personal trademark since adopting it in his role in The King and I.
Biography
Early life
He was born Yuliy Borisovich Brynner (Russian: Юлий Бори́сович Бри́нер) in Vladivostok, Russia. His mother, Marusya Blagovidova (Russian: Маруся Благовидова), was the daughter of a Russian Jewish doctor[2] and his father, Boris Brynner (Russian: Борис Бринер), was an alcoholic inventor and engineer born to a religious Jewish family, who spent his life denying his Judaism, claiming to be of Swiss and Mongolian ancestry.[3]
Brynner's early life was exotic, but he made it out to be even more exotic than it actually was, claiming that he was born Taidje Khan of part-Mongol parentage, on the Russian island of Sakhalin, in 1915. A biography published by his son Rock Brynner in 1989, and the diaries of the poet Todja Tartschoff Newman, with whom he went to cheder[4], clarified these issues.
After Boris Brynner abandoned his family, his mother took Yul and his sister, Vera Bryner (Russian: Вера Бринер), to Harbin, China, where they attended a school run by the YMCA, and in 1934 she took them to Paris.
During WWII (1941-D-Day) Brynner worked as a French speaking radio announcer and commentator for the US Office of War Information, broadcasting propaganda to occupied France.
Career
He began acting and modeling in his twenties.
Brynner's best-known role was that of King Mongkut of Siam in the Broadway production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical The King and I which he played 4,626 times onstage over the span of his career. He appeared in the original production and subsequent touring productions, as well as a 1977 Broadway revival, and another Broadway revival in 1985. He also appeared in the film version for which he won an Academy Award as Best Actor, and in a short-lived TV version (Anna and the King) on CBS in 1972. Brynner is one of only nine people who have won both a Tony Award and an Academy Award for the same role.
He made an immediate impact upon launching his film career in 1956, appearing not only in The King and I that year, but also in major roles in The Ten Commandments opposite Charlton Heston and Anastasia opposite Ingrid Bergman. Brynner, at 5'10", was reportedly concerned about being overshadowed by Charlton Heston's physical presence in the film The Ten Commandments, and prepared with an intensive weight-lifting program.
He later starred in such films as the Biblical epic Solomon and Sheba (1959), as Solomon, The Magnificent Seven (1960), and Westworld (1973). He co-starred with Marlon Brando in Morituri; Katharine Hepburn in The Madwoman of Chaillot and William Shatner in a film version of The Brothers Karamazov. He starred with Barbara Bouchet in Death Rage, 1976. His final feature film appearance was in the sequel to Westworld, titled Futureworld with Peter Fonda and Blythe Danner, in 1976.
Brynner also appeared in drag in an unbilled role in the Peter Sellers comedy The Magic Christian (1969).
Towards the end of his life he contracted trichinosis and subsequently sued Trader Vic's restaurant in the Plaza Hotel in New York City for serving him undercooked pork, from which, allegedly, he caught the disease.
Photographer, author, and musician
In addition to his work as a performer, Brynner was an active photographer, and wrote two books. His daughter Victoria put together a book of his photographs of family, friends, and fellow actors, as well as those he took while serving as a UN special consultant on refugees. The book is titled Yul Brynner: Photographer (ISBN 0-8109-3144-3). Brynner also published Bring Forth the Children: A Journey to the Forgotten People of Europe and the Middle East in 1960 and The Yul Brynner Cookbook: Food Fit for the King and You (ISBN 0-8128-2882-8) in 1983.
A student of music from childhood, Brynner was an accomplished guitarist and singer. In his early period in Europe he often played and sang gypsy songs in Parisian nightclubs with Aliosha Dimitrievitch. He sang some of those same songs in the film The Brothers Karamazov. In 1967, he and Dimitrievitch released a record album, The Gypsy and I: Yul Brynner Sings Gypsy Songs (Vanguard VSD 79265).
Personal life
Yul Brynner was married four times, the first three ending in divorce. He had three children and adopted two others.
His first wife, Virginia Gilmore (1944 - 1960), was an actress. They had one child, Yul Brynner II (born December 23, 1946), nicknamed when he was six "Rock" by his father in honor of boxer Rocky Graziano, who won the middleweight title in 1947. Rock is a historian, novelist and university history lecturer at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY and Western Connecticut State University in Danbury, CT.[5] In 2006, Rock wrote a book about his father and his family history titled "Empire and Odyssey: The Brynners in Far East Russia and Beyond."
Lark Brynner (born 1958) was born out of wedlock and raised by her mother.
His second wife, Doris Kleiner (1960 - 1967), was a Chilean model, whom he married on the set during shooting of The Magnificent Seven in 1960.[6] They had one child, Victoria Brynner (born November 1962), whose godmother was Audrey Hepburn.
His third wife, Jacqueline de Croisset (1971 - 1981), was a French socialite. She was the widow of Philippe de Croisset, a publishing executive. Yul and Jacqueline adopted two Vietnamese children: Mia (1974), and Melody (1975).
His fourth wife, Kathy Lee, born in Malaysia, was a dancer in The King and I shows.[7] They married in 1983.
Brynner also had an affair with Marlene Dietrich in the early 1950s and, allegedly, another with Judy Garland in the mid-1950s.[citation needed]
Death
Brynner died of lung cancer on October 10, 1985 (the same day as Orson Welles, his co star in The Battle of Neretva) in New York City.
Throughout his life, Brynner was often seen with a cigarette in his hand. In January 1985, nine months before his death, he gave an interview on Good Morning America, expressing his desire to make an anti-smoking commercial.[8] A clip from that interview was made into just such a public service announcement by the American Cancer Society, and released after his death; it includes the warning "Now that I'm gone, I tell you, don't smoke." This advertisement is now featured in the Body Worlds exhibition.
Yul Brynner is interred in the cemetery at the Saint-Michel-de-Bois-Aubry monastery not far from Luzé, between Tours and Poitiers, Vienne, France.
Honors and awards
Brynner has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6162 Hollywood Blvd, and his childhood home, in Vladivostok, is now a museum. He made "Top 10 stars of the year", in both 1957 and 1958.
Tab Hunter
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born Arthur Andrew Kelm
July 11, 1931 (1931-07-11) (age 77)
New York City, New York, USA
Tab Hunter (born July 11, 1931) is an American actor and singer who appeared in more than 40 major feature films.
Hunter was born Arthur Andrew Kelm in New York City to German immigrants. His father, Charles Kelm, was Jewish and his mother, Gertrude Gelien, a Roman Catholic who later converted to Judaism. Hunter was raised as a Roman Catholic. His father was an abusive man, and within a few years of his birth, his parents divorced and his mother moved with her two sons to California. She reassumed her maiden surname, Gelien, and changed her sons' name to that as well. As a teenager, Hunter was a figure skater, competing in both singles and pairs, and an ardent horseback rider.
In later years, Hunter's mother was institutionalized and underwent shock treatments, and he supported her financially until her death. His older brother Walter, whom he idolized, became a medic and was killed in Vietnam.
Career
Arthur Gelien was signed to a contract at Warner Bros. and christened "Tab Hunter" by his first agent, Henry Willson [1]. His good looks got him pegged as a screen idol. He landed a role in the film Island of Desire opposite Linda Darnell. However, it was his co-starring role as young Marine Danny in 1955's World War II drama Battle Cry, in which he has an affair with an older woman but ends up marrying the girl next door, that cemented his position as one of Hollywood's top young romantic leads. He went on to star in over 40 major Holywood films
In September 1955, the tabloid magazine Confidential reported Hunter's 1950 arrest for disorderly conduct. The innuendo-laced article, and a second one focusing on Rory Calhoun's prison record, were the result of a deal Henry Willson had brokered with the scandal rag in exchange for not revealing his more prominent client Rock Hudson's sexual orientation to the public. Not only was there no negative impact on Hunter's career, but a few months later he was named Most Promising New Personality in a nationwide poll sponsored by the Council of Motion Picture Organizations [2].
Hunter had a 1957 hit record with a cover of the song "Young Love", which was #1 on the charts for five weeks. His success prompted Jack Warner to enforce the actor's contract with the studio by banning Dot Records, the label for which Hunter had recorded the single, from releasing a follow-up album he had recorded for them. He established Warner Bros. Records specifically for Hunter, although his singing career foundered after a few more recordings.
Hunter's best role during this period was in the 1958 musical movie Damn Yankees, in which he played Joe Hardy of Washington D.C's American League baseball club. The movie had originally been a Broadway show, and Hunter was the only one in the film version who hadn't appeared in the original cast. The show was based on the 1954 best-selling book The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant by Douglass Wallop.
Hunter's failure to win the role of Tony in the film adaptation of West Side Story prompted him to agree to star in a weekly television sitcom. On July 9, 1960, prior to the program's debut, he was arrested by Glendale, California police for allegedly regularly and relentlessly beating his dog Fritz. His trial started in mid-October, one month after The Tab Hunter Show debuted on NBC, and lasted eleven days. It was proven the neighbor who initiated the charges had done so for spite when Hunter declined her repeated invitations to dinner, and he was acquitted by the jury [3]. The series suffered from low ratings and was cancelled after one season.
For a short time in the late 1960s, Hunter settled in the south of France, where he acted in spaghetti westerns. His career was revived in the 1980s, when he starred opposite transvestite actor Divine in John Waters' Polyester (1981) and Paul Bartel's Lust in the Dust (1985). He is particularly remembered by later audiences as Mr. Stewart, the substitute teacher in Grease 2, who sang "Reproduction." He also wrote and starred in Dark Horse (1992).
Personal life
In Hunter's 2005 autobiography, Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star, he acknowledged his homosexuality, confirming rumors that had circulated since the height of his fame. According to William L. Hamilton of the New York Times, detailed reports about his alleged romances with very close friends Debbie Reynolds and Natalie Wood were strictly the fodder of studio publicity departments. As Wood and Hunter embarked on a well-publicized and groundless romance, promoting his apparent heterosexuality while promoting their movies, insiders developed their own headline for the item: 'Natalie Wood and Tab Wouldn't.' "[4] Hunter did become close enough with Etchika Choureau, his co-star in Lafayette Escadrille, and Joan Cohn, widow of Harry Cohn, to contemplate marriage, but thought he never could maintain a marriage and remained merely platonic friends with both women.
During Hollywood's studio era, Hunter says, life "was difficult for me, because I was living two lives at that time. A private life of my own, which I never discussed, never talked about to anyone. And then my Hollywood life, which was just trying to learn my craft and succeed ..." The star emphasizes that the word 'gay' "wasn't even around in those days, and if anyone ever confronted me with it, I'd just kinda freak out. I was in total denial. I was just not comfortable in that Hollywood scene, other than the work process."[5] "There was a lot written about my sexuality, and the press was pretty darn cruel," the actor says, but what "moviegoers wanted to hold in their hearts were the boy-next-door marines, cowboys and swoon-bait sweethearts he portrayed."[6]
Hunter had long-term relationships with actor Anthony Perkins and champion figure skater Ronnie Robertson before setting down with his partner of 25 years, Allan Glaser. The two live in Montecito, California.
Hunter has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6320 Hollywood Blvd.
Jeff Corwin
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jeffrey Samuel Corwin (born July 11, 1967 in Norwell, Massachusetts) is best known as the host and executive producer of The Jeff Corwin Experience and Corwin's Quest, two American television shows following his adventures discovering and exploring various kinds of animal life and climates (including locales from all over the world), airing on the Animal Planet cable channel.
Early life and career
Jeff Corwin attended Norwell High School. Jeff spent his freshman year of college at Eastern Nazarene College, which is located in Quincy, Massachusetts. Later he attended Bridgewater State College in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. Jeff has bachelor of science degrees in biology and anthropology. He conducted his graduate studies at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, obtaining a master of science in wildlife and fisheries conservation and doing work on bats and snakes. In 1999, Bridgewater awarded Corwin an honorary doctorate in public education. He lives with his wife, Natasha, and daughter Maya Rose in Marshfield, Massachusetts.
Corwin first experienced the tropical rain forests in 1984 in Belize. As an undergraduate, he became active in conservation of rain forest in Central and South America and helped establish the Emerald Canopy Rainforest Foundation. He also participated in the youth action committee for the United Nations Environmental Program. He lectures on wildlife, ecology and conservation to audiences throughout the United States. In 1993, Jeff addressed the General Assembly of the United Nations regarding the need to conserve neotropical rain forests.
Corwin's big break into television came about thanks to famed oceanographer Bob Ballard, the man who discovered the wreck of the Titanic, in the 1994 documentary Ballard produced for National Geographic called The Jason Project. Then, after several lean years, Corwin migrated over to the Disney Channel with Going Wild with Jeff Corwin. Eventually, he caught the eye of producers at Animal Planet, and since 2000 he's gone on to explore six of the seven continents- all except Antarctica, so far.
Corwin was also certified as an Advanced Field Medical Specialist by the U.S. Army Academy of Health Sciences, Fort Sam Houston, Texas.
In the spring of 2007 Corwin began a new TV show on the Travel Channel titled "Into Alaska with Jeff Corwin." The show highlights wildlife in Alaska while also having a travel perspective. It was originally aired in letterbox format and it would most likely be in high definition when the Travel Channel HD launches in 2008 if it airs again.
Despite the fact that Jeff frequently handles animals that could be considered dangerous, he has admitted on The Jeff Corwin Experience that he has a minor fear of monkeys.
Early inspiration
Corwin's first encounter with snakes taken from an interview with Heartland Magazine:
"When I was, while exploring my grandparent's backyard in Middleboro, Massachusetts, I turned over a log and had an encounter that forever changed my life. I saw this garter snake, and was immediately transfixed by it. I remember catching it and bringing it into the house with me and seeing the terror it unleashed in people, but not understanding why they were so afraid of it. As I've often said, if I'd rolled back that log and found a golf club, I would have been Tiger Woods. I tracked that snake for two years and would visit it every time I went to my grandparents. One day, the neighbor next door snuck up behind me and cut off its head with a spade, thinking it was attacking me. I was so shocked by that behavior, by that expression of ignorance, it focused me on what I was going to do with my life. The day I found that snake was the day I became a naturalist. The day I saw it get killed out of a misunderstanding was the day I became a conservationist" [1]
Close Encounters
In filming a segment of CNN's Planet in Peril with Anderson Cooper near Phnom Penh, Cambodia on March 22nd of 2007, Corwin was the victim of a playful elephant. This rough-play consisted of the elephant putting Corwin's elbow in its mouth and wrapping its trunk around his arm, swinging him around. He yelled as the elephant shook its head, releasing and throwing Corwin into the shallow water in which they were standing. Corwin noted that the pain was so overwhelming that he nearly blacked out, and that his arm still does not work correctly. Corwin later posted the following summary of injuries that resulted:
"To this day my arm doesn't work right. We tend to look at elephants as these very kind very gentle giants, like Dumbo and Jumbo from the cartoons. But the truth is, elephants are complex mammals with a huge array of emotions, from happiness to anger to jealousy, and when I turned away, this was his way of telling me he didn't want to be ignored. The trunk of an elephant can lift a 700-pound tree limb. You do not want to be that close to one when he's having a bad moment."
"Truth is that elephant is easily 15,000 times stronger than my meager self, and if she had wanted to, she could have done far worse than crushing a bit of ligament and muscle. Lucky for me, no bone fracture, hopefully no connective tissue torn (we'll have to wait till I get home to find out about that)." [2]
During a segment entitled I Am Brave, which is a behind the scenes look at different outtakes and Jeff's playful personality while filming The Jeff Corwin Experience, he admitted to have handled several snakes while traveling the globe but having only experienced a bite from a single poisonous snake; A Coral Snake. This same creature is found as a tattoo on Jeff's left shoulder and is more specifically what looks to be an Arizona Coral Snake.
His Life Today
Jeff Corwin now lives in Marshfield, Massachusetts, with his wife Natasha and his daughter, Maya Rose. He still actively works on his show The Jeff Corwin Experience which airs on Animal Planet.
Jeff Corwin Unleashed
Aired on the Discovery Kids channel in 2003, this series was one of Jeff's earliest projects, featuring fun trivia, information and animal discoveries for children. The show earned him high acclaim, including a Daytime Emmy in 2004.
Giant Monsters
"Giant Monsters" redirects here. For the legendary creatures, see Monster.
Giant Monsters was a television documentary special on Animal Planet hosted by Corwin. It dealt with the world's largest creatures of all time, including Tyrannosaurus rex, the saber-toothed cat Smilodon, the gigantic ground sloth Megatherium, the 40-foot crocodile Sarcosuchus, the Komodo dragon-like Megalania, the giant pterosaur Quetzalcoatlus, the huge spider Megarachne, to the giant squid Architeuthis dux.[3]
Going Wild With Jeff Corwin
A show Corwin formerly hosted a TV series from 1997-1999, Going Wild With Jeff Corwin was an educational program on the Disney Channel.
CSI: Miami
In 2003, Corwin appeared as himself in the second season episode of CSI: Miami, Death Grip, helping the detectives retrieve a human foot from inside a live crocodile. However, his background was given to be the college roommate of Detective Eric Delko whose CSI: Miami canon places him at the University of Miami.
King of the Jungle
Airing from 2003-2004, King of the Jungle was a series in which twelve individuals competed in rigorous challenges to win a chance to host a television program for Animal Planet. Corwin served as their guide throughout the tasks. [4]
Corwin's Quest
Corwin's Quest was a series hosted and produced by Jeff Corwin, that premiered on Animal Planet in 2005. The show's premise was based on giving Jeff a special mission to accomplish per episode, which often resulted in exploring challenging environments and seeking out rare creatures.
Planet in Peril
In 2007, he was sponsored by CNN to be an environment correspondent for an Anderson Cooper 360 special called "Planet in Peril," along with co-host Sanjay Gupta.
The Jeff Corwin Experience
The Jeff Corwin Experience is Corwin's longest-running show, currently airing on Animal Planet since 2001. In typical Corwin fashion, the show features an array of animals, educational information and tours through locales, villages, and events across the world.
Into America's West
In April of 2008, Jeff Corwin debuted a documentary series for the Travel Channel, Into America's West. In the program, Jeff journeys across the landscape of Western America, searching for and discovering many forms of unique desert wildlife. [5]
Into Alaska
Also created for the Travel Channel, this is a documentary series exploring the vast landscapes and array of wildlife in Alaska. [6]
Awards
In 2002, Corwin was named one of People Magazine´s 50 Most Beautiful People. [7]
In 2004, Corwin won a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series for Jeff Corwin Unleashed. In 2005, he was nominated for the same award.
