Don Murray
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born Donald Patrick Murray
July 31, 1929 (1929-07-31) (age 79)
Hollywood, California, U.S.
Don Murray (born Donald Patrick Murray on July 31, 1929, in Hollywood, California) is an American actor.
Before breaking into television and movies, he attended East Rockaway High School in Long Island, New York where he played football and track, was a member of the student government and Glee Club and joined the Alpha Phi Chapter of the Omega Gamma Delta Fraternity. From high school he went on to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.
He had a long and varied career in TV and films, but is perhaps best known for his role as Sid Fairgate in the long-running prime time soap opera Knots Landing from 1979 to 1981, for which he also scripted two episodes ("Hitchhike" parts 1 & 2). He was nominated for an Academy Award as best supporting actor in Bus Stop with Marilyn Monroe. Planet of the Apes fans remember him as the ape-hating Governor Breck, from 1972's Conquest of the Planet of the Apes. He also directed a film based on the book The Cross and the Switchblade, starring Pat Boone and Erik Estrada (1970).
Murray also starred with Otis Young in the ground breaking ABC western "The Outcasts" featuring an interracial bounty hunter team in the post-Civil War West (1968-69).
Murray is known for holding strong moral principles and has made career decisions in line with his beliefs. He was a conscientious objector during the Korean War and, in the 1960s, wrote, directed, or starred in a number of films featuring heroes, especially priests, who worked to help the infirm and socially downcast. Examples of these films include Sweet Love, Bitter [1] (1967), The Hoodlum Priest [2] (1961), and The Cross and the Switchblade (starring Erik Estrada)[3] (1971) . Even his role on the salacious nighttime soap opera Knots Landing seemed tailored to his straight-arrow public persona. As Sid Fairgate, he was the community's seemingly lone upstanding citizen and frequently clashed with other, less morally centered characters, who mockingly called him "Saint Sid."
Some have even speculated that his Knots Landing character was killed off the show for being too dull. Murray himself has said he left the show to develop a sitcom for television, although other sources say he left over a salary dispute. The character's death was notable at the time because it was considered rare to "kill off" a star character, especially just as a show was beginning to gain ratings momentum. The character's death came in the second episode of season three, following on from season two's literal cliffhanger in which Sid's car careened off a cliff. To throw viewers off and make them doubt the character would actually die, Murray was listed in the newly created opening credit sequence for season three; the character survived the plunge off the cliff (thus temporarily reassuring viewers), but died later in hospital. The memorable final shot of Sid showed him lying dead on an operating table, arms spread in a Christ-like position, perhaps referencing or poking fun at his character's "saintly" behavior.
Although he effectively distanced himself from Knots Landing after his screen exit in 1981, Murray later contributed an interview segment for Knots Landing: Together Again, a non-fiction reunion special made in 2005.
Murray was the first husband of the actress Hope Lange. They had two children, including actor Christopher Murray.
France Nuyen
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born France Nguyen Vannga
July 31, 1939 (1939-07-31) (age 69)
Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, France
Occupation actress
Spouse(s) Robert Culp (1967-1970)
Thomas Gaspar Morell (1963-1966) 1 Child
France Nuyen (born 31 July 1939) is a French actress.
Biography
Nuyen was born in Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France, Europe as France Nguyen Van-Nga. Her mother was French and her father was Vietnamese. French is Nuyen's first language and she speaks no Asian languages. During the Second World War, her mother and grandfather were persecuted by the Nazis for being Gypsies. She was raised in Marseille by a cousin, whom she describes as "an orchid raiser who was the only person who gave a damn about me".
Working as a seamstress in 1955, Nuyen was discovered by the LIFE photographer Philippe Halsman on the beach. She became a stage actress and portrayed Suzie Wong in the theatrical production of The World of Suzie Wong in 1958, opposite William Shatner (with whom she later worked again in an episode of Star Trek, as the memorable Elaan of Troyius). She was originally cast as Suzie Wong in the film production but was replaced by Nancy Kwan.
Nuyen then went on to appear in television and in films including South Pacific (1958), Satan Never Sleeps (1962), A Girl Named Tamiko (opposite Laurence Harvey) (1962), Diamond Head (1963), Dimension 5 (1966), Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973), and The Joy Luck Club (1993). She continues to work in film and was slated to appear in the film The American Standards (2007).
From 1963 to 1966, Nuyen was married to Dr. Thomas Gaspar Morell, a psychiatrist, with whom she has a daughter named Fleur (who is happily married and resides in Canada). She met her second husband, Robert Culp, while appearing on his TV show I Spy; they married in 1967 but divorced in 1970.
In 1986, Nuyen earned a master's degree in Clinical Psychology and began a second career as a psychological counselor for abused women and children, and women in prison. She received a "Woman of the Year" award in 1989 for her psychological work.
Geraldine Chaplin
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born July 31, 1944 (1944-07-31) (age 64)
Santa Monica, California
Spouse(s) Patricio Castilla (2006-)
Domestic partner(s) Carlos Saura (1970s)
Awards won
Goya Awards
Best Supporting Actress
2002 En la ciudad sin límites
Geraldine Leigh Chaplin (born July 31, 1944) is a Golden Globe and BAFTA Award-nominated actress and the daughter of Charlie Chaplin.
Biography
Personal life
Chaplin was born in Santa Monica, California, the first child of actor/director Charlie Chaplin and Oona O'Neill (who was the daughter of playwright Eugene O'Neill and author Agnes Boulton). Chaplin was educated at a boarding school in Switzerland where she became fluent in French & Spanish, the former being standard in any Swiss school and the latter being aptly demonstrated during her many performances for her Spanish director/ husband. Chaplin had a twelve year relationship with Spanish director Carlos Saura, and she has starred in nine of his movies, including Cría cuervos (1976), Elisa, vida mía (1977), and Mama Turns a Hundred (1979). She also appeared in several of Robert Altman's films during the 1970s. She married a long time companion, Chilean movie operator Patricio Castilla, in 2006 and has two children, Shane (b. 1974, by Carlos) and Oona (b. 1986, by Patricio). From time to time, she makes Miami, Florida her home, where she has a house by the beach.[citation needed]
Career
When Chaplin was eight years old, she appeared uncredited in her famous father's Limelight. When her dream of becoming a ballet dancer ended, she followed in her father's footsteps and became an actor. Director David Lean chose her to play Tonya, the main character's devoted wife in Doctor Zhivago (1965). She has appeared in numerous films throughout her long career. She played the role of her own paternal grandmother Hannah Chaplin in the biographical film on her father Chaplin.
J. K. Rowling
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born Joanne Rowling
31 July 1965 (1965-07-31) (age 43)
Yate, South Gloucestershire, England
Occupation Novelist
Nationality British
Notable work(s) Harry Potter series
Joanne "Jo" Rowling OBE[1] (born 31 July 1965),[2] who writes under the pen name J. K. Rowling,[3] is a British author, best known as the creator of the Harry Potter fantasy series, the idea for which was conceived whilst on a train trip from Manchester to London in 1990. The Potter books have gained worldwide attention, won multiple awards, and sold nearly 400 million copies.[4]
Aside from writing the Potter novels, Rowling is equally famous for her "rags to riches" life story, in which she progressed from living on welfare to multi-millionaire status within five years. The 2008 Sunday Times Rich List estimated Rowling's fortune at £560 million ($1.1 billion), ranking her as the twelfth richest woman in Britain.[5] Forbes ranked Rowling as the forty eighth most powerful celebrity of 2007,[6] and Time magazine named her as a runner-up for its 2007 Person of the Year, noting the social, moral, and political inspiration she has given her fandom.[7] She has become a notable philanthropist, supporting such charities as Comic Relief, One Parent Families and the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Great Britain.
Name
Although she writes under the pen name "J. K. Rowling", pronounced rolling (IPA: /ˈroʊlɪŋ/),[8] her name when her first Harry Potter book was published was simply "Joanne Rowling". Before publishing her first book, her publisher Bloomsbury feared that the target audience of young boys might be reluctant to buy books written by a female author. It requested that Rowling use two initials, rather than reveal her first name. As she had no middle name, she chose K. for Kathleen as the second initial of her pseudonym, from her paternal grandmother. The name Kathleen has never been part of her real name.[3] Following her marriage, she sometimes uses the name Joanne Murray when conducting private matters.[9][10] She calls herself "Jo" and says, "No one ever called me 'Joanne' when I was young, unless they were angry."[11]
Background
Rowling was born to Peter James Rowling and Anne Rowling (née Volant) on 31 July 1965 in Yate, Gloucestershire, England, 10 miles (16.1 km) northeast of Bristol.[12] Her sister Dianne (Di) was born at their home on 28 June 1967[13] when Rowling was 23 months old.[12] The family moved to the nearby village Winterbourne when Rowling was four. She attended St Michael's Primary School,[14] a school founded almost 200 years ago by famed abolitionist William Wilberforce[15] and education reformer Hannah More. Her elderly headmaster at St. Michael's, Alfred Dunn, was claimed as the inspiration for the Harry Potter character Albus Dumbledore.[16][17]
As a child, Rowling enjoyed writing fantasy stories, which she often read to her sister. "I can still remember me telling her a story in which she fell down a rabbit hole and was fed strawberries by the rabbit family inside it," she recalls, "Certainly the first story I ever wrote down (when I was five or six) was about a rabbit called Rabbit. He got the measles and was visited by his friends, including a giant bee called Miss Bee."[8]
At the age of nine, Rowling moved to the Gloucestershire village of Tutshill, close to Chepstow, South Wales.[12] When she was a young teenager, her great aunt, who Rowling said "taught classics and approved of a thirst for knowledge, even of a questionable kind", gave her a very old copy of Jessica Mitford's autobiography, Hons and Rebels.[18] Mitford became Rowling's heroine, and Rowling subsequently read all of her books.[19]
She attended secondary school at Wyedean School and College. Rowling has said of her adolescence, "Hermione is loosely based on me. She's a caricature of me when I was eleven, which I'm not particularly proud of."[20] Sean Harris, her best friend in the Upper Sixth owned a turquoise Ford Anglia, which she says inspired the one in her books. "Ron Weasley isn't a living portrait of Sean, but he really is very Sean-ish."[21] Of her musical tastes of the time, she said "My favourite group in the world is The Smiths. And when I was going through a punky phase, it was The Clash."[22] Rowling read for a BA in French and Classics at the University of Exeter, which she says was a "bit of a shock" as she "was expecting to be amongst lots of similar people- thinking radical thoughts." Once she made friends with "some like-minded people" she says she began to enjoy herself.[23] With a year of study in Paris, Rowling moved to London to work as a researcher and bilingual secretary for Amnesty International.[24]
In 1990, while she was on a four-hour-delayed train trip from Manchester to London, the idea for a story of a young boy attending a school of wizardry "came fully formed" into her mind.[25] "I really don't know where the idea came from", she told the Boston Globe, "It started with Harry, then all these characters and situations came flooding into my head."[25][12] When she had reached her Clapham Junction flat, she began to write immediately.[12][26]
However, in December of that year, Rowling's mother succumbed to a ten-year battle with multiple sclerosis.[12] Rowling commented, "I was writing Harry Potter at the moment my mother died. I had never told her about Harry Potter."[10] Rowling said this death heavily affected her writing[27][10] and that she introduced much more detail about Harry's loss in the first book, because she knew about how it felt.[28]
Rowling then moved to Porto, Portugal to teach English as a foreign language.[19] While there, on 16 October 1992, she married Portuguese television journalist Jorge Arantes. Their one child, Jessica Isabel Rowling Arantes (named after Jessica Mitford), was born on 27 July 1993 in Portugal.[29] They separated in November 1993.[29][30] In December 1994, Rowling and her daughter moved to be near her sister in Edinburgh, Scotland.[12] During this period Rowling was diagnosed with clinical depression, and contemplated suicide.[31] It was the feeling of her illness which brought her the idea of Dementors, soulless creatures featured in Harry Potter.[32]
Unemployed and living on state benefits, Rowling completed her first novel in many cafés, especially Nicolson's Café,[33] whenever she could get Jessica to fall asleep.[12][34] In a 2001 BBC interview, Rowling denied the rumour that she wrote in local cafés to escape from her unheated flat, remarking, "I am not stupid enough to rent an unheated flat in Edinburgh in midwinter. It had heating." Instead, as she stated on the American TV program A&E Biography, one of the reasons she wrote in cafés was because taking her baby out for a walk was the best way to make her fall asleep.[34]
Harry Potter
Harry Potter books
In 1995, Rowling finished her manuscript for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone on an old manual typewriter.[35] Upon the enthusiastic response of Bryony Evans, a reader who had been asked to review the book's first three chapters, the Fulham-based Christopher Little Literary Agents agreed to represent Rowling in her quest for a publisher. The book was submitted to twelve publishing houses, all of which rejected the manuscript.[29] A year later she was finally given the green light (and a £1500 advance) by editor Barry Cunningham from Bloomsbury, a small British publishing house in London, England.[36][29] The decision to publish Rowling's book apparently owes much to Alice Newton, the eight-year-old daughter of Bloomsbury's chairman, who was given the first chapter to review by her father and immediately demanded the next.[37] Although Bloomsbury agreed to publish the book, Cunningham says that he advised Rowling to get a day job, since she had little chance of making money in children's books.[38] Soon after, in 1997, Rowling received an £8000 grant from the Scottish Arts Council to enable her to continue writing.[39] The following spring, an auction was held in the United States for the rights to publish the novel, and was won by Scholastic Inc., for $105,000. Rowling has said she "nearly died" when she heard the news.[40]
In June 1997, Bloomsbury published Philosopher's Stone with an initial print-run of one thousand copies, five hundred of which were distributed to libraries. Today, such copies are valued between £16,000 and £25,000.[41] Five months later, the book won its first award, a Nestlé Smarties Book Prize. In February, the novel won the prestigious British Book Award for Children's Book of the Year, and later, the Children's Book Award. In October 1998, Scholastic published Philosopher's Stone in the US under the title of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone: a change Rowling claims she now regrets and would have fought if she had been in a better position at the time.[3]
In December 1999, the third novel, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, won the Smarties Prize, making Rowling the first person to win the award three times running.[42] She later withdrew the fourth Harry Potter novel from contention to allow other books a fair chance. In January 2000, Prisoner of Azkaban won the inaugural Whitbread Children's Book of the Year award, though it lost the Book of the Year prize to Seamus Heaney's translation of Beowulf.[43]
The fourth book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, was released simultaneously in the UK and the US on 8 July 2000, and broke sales records in both countries. Some 372,775 copies of the book were sold in its first day in the UK, almost equalling the number Prisoner of Azkaban sold during its first year.[44] In the US, the book sold three million copies in its first 48 hours, smashing all literary sales records.[44] Rowling admitted that she had had a moment of crisis while writing the novel; "Halfway through writing Four, I realised there was a serious fault with the plot ... I've had some of my blackest moments with this book ... One chapter I rewrote 13 times, though no-one who has read it can spot which one or know the pain it caused me."[45] Rowling was named author of the year in the 2000 British Book Awards.[46]
A wait of three years occurred between the release of Goblet of Fire and the fifth Harry Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. This gap led to press speculation that Rowling had developed writer's block, speculations she fervently denied.[47] Rowling later admitted that writing the book was a chore. "I think Phoenix could have been shorter", she told Lev Grossman, "I knew that, and I ran out of time and energy toward the end."[48]
The sixth book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, was released on 16 July 2005. It too broke all sales records, selling nine million copies in its first 24 hours of release.[49] While writing, she told a fan online, "Book six has been planned for years, but before I started writing seriously I spend two months re-visiting the plan and making absolutely sure I knew what I was doing."[50] She noted on her website that the opening chapter of book six, which features a conversation between the Minister of Magic and the British Prime Minister, had been intended as the first chapter first for Philosopher's Stone, then Chamber of Secrets then Prisoner of Azkaban.[51] In 2006, Half-Blood Prince received the Book of the Year prize at the British Book Awards.[52]
The title of the seventh and final Harry Potter book was revealed 21 December 2006 to be Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.[53] In February 2007 it was reported that Rowling wrote on a bust in her hotel room at the Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh that she had finished the seventh book in that room on 11 January 2007.[54] Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was released on 21 July 2007 (0:00 BST) and broke its predecessor's record as the fastest-selling book of all time.[55] It sold 11 million copies in the first day of release in the United Kingdom and United States.[55] She has said that the last chapter of the book was written "in something like 1990", as part of her earliest work on the entire series.[56] During a year period when Rowling was completing the last book, she allowed herself to be filmed for a documentary which aired in Britain on ITV on 30 December 2007. It was entitled J K Rowling... A Year In The Life and showed her returning to her old Edinburgh tenement flat where she lived, and completed the first Harry Potter book.[57] Re-visiting the flat for the first time reduced her to tears, saying it was "really where I turned my life around completely."[57]
Harry Potter is now a global brand worth an estimated £7 billion ($15 billion),[58] and the last four Harry Potter books have consecutively set records as the fastest-selling books in history.[59][55] The series, totalling 4,195 pages,[60] has been translated, in whole or in part, into 65 languages.[61]
The Harry Potter books have also gained recognition for sparking an interest in reading among the young at a time when children were thought to be abandoning the book for the computer and the television,[62] although the series' overall impact on children's reading habits has been questioned.[63]
Harry Potter films
In October 1998, Warner Bros. purchased the film rights to the first two novels for a seven-figure sum.[64] A film version of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was released on 16 November 2001, and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets on 15 November 2002.[65] Both were directed by Chris Columbus. 4 June 2004 saw the release of the film version of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, directed by Alfonso Cuarón. The fourth film, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, was directed by another new director, Mike Newell, and released on 18 November 2005. The film of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was released on 11 July 2007.[65] David Yates was its director, and Michael Goldenberg its screenwriter, having taken over the position from Steven Kloves. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is in production,[66] scheduled for release on 21 November 2008.[65] David Yates will direct again, and Kloves will return to screenwrite it.[67] In March 2008, Warner Bros. announced that the final instalment of the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, would be filmed in two segments, with part one released in November 2010 and part two released in May 2011. Yates would again return to direct both films.[68]
Warner Bros took considerable notice of Rowling's desires and thoughts when drafting her contract. One of her principal stipulations was the films be shot in Britain with an all-British cast, which has been adhered to strictly.[69] In an unprecedented move, Rowling also demanded that Coca-Cola, the victor in the race to tie in their products to the film series, donate $18 million to the American charity Reading is Fundamental, as well as a number of community charity programs.[70]
The first four films were scripted by Steve Kloves; Rowling assisted him in the writing process, ensuring that his scripts did not contradict future books in the series. She has said that she told him more about the later books than anybody else (prior to their release), but not everything.[71] She has also said that she told Alan Rickman (Snape) and Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid) certain secrets about their characters before they were revealed in the books.[72] She was also asked by Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) if Harry died and Rowling answered him by saying, "You have a death scene", thereby not explicitly answering the question.[73] Steven Spielberg was approached to direct the first film, but dropped out. The press has repeatedly claimed that Rowling played a role in his departure, but Rowling stated that she has no say in who directs the films and would not have vetoed Spielberg if she had.[74] Rowling's first choice for the director had been Monty Python member Terry Gilliam, as she is a fan of his work. Warner Bros. wanted a more family friendly film, and eventually they settled on Chris Columbus.[75]
After Harry Potter
Rowling has stated that she plans to continue writing after the publication of the final Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,[76] In an interview with Stephen Fry in 2005, Rowling claimed that she would much prefer to write any subsequent books under a pseudonym; however she conceded to Jeremy Paxman in 2003 that if she did, the press would probably "find out in seconds."[77] In 2006, Rowling revealed that she had finished writing a few short stories and another children's book (a "political fairy story") about a monster, aimed at a younger audience than Harry Potter readers.[78]
She is not planning to write an eighth Harry Potter book, and has stated, "I can't say I'll never write another book about that world just because I think, what do I know, in ten years' time I might want to return to it but I think it's unlikely."[79] However, Rowling has said she will be writing an encyclopaedia of Harry Potter's wizarding world consisting of various unpublished material and notes.[80] Any profits from such a book would be given to charity.[81] During a news conference at Hollywood's Kodak Theatre in 2007, Rowling, when asked how the encyclopaedia was coming along, said, "It's not coming along, and I haven't started writing it. I never said it was the next thing I'd do."[82] As of the end of 2007, Rowling has said that the encyclopaedia could take up to ten years to complete, stating "There is no point in doing it unless it is amazing. The last thing I want to do is to rush something out".[57]
In July 2007, Rowling said that she wants to dedicate "lots" of her time to her family, but is currently "sort of writing two things", one for children and the other for adults.[83] She did not give any details about the two projects but did state that she was excited because the two book situation reminded her of writing the Philosopher's Stone, explaining how she was then writing two books until Harry took over.[84] She stated in October 2007 that her future work was unlikely to be in the fantasy genre, explaining, "I think probably I've done my fantasy....it would be incredibly difficult to go out and create another world that didn't in some way overlap with Harry's or maybe borrow a little too much from Harry."[85] In November 2007, Rowling said that she was working on another book, a "half-finished book for children that I think will probably be the next thing I publish."[86] In March 2008, Rowling confirmed that her "political fairy tale" for children was nearing completion.[87]
In March 2008, Rowling revealed in interview that she had returned to writing in Edinburgh cafés, intent on composing a new novel for children. "I will continue writing for children because that's what I enjoy," she told The Daily Telegraph. "I am very good at finding a suitable café; I blend into the crowd and, of course, I don't sit in the middle of the bar staring all around me."[88]
Personal life
Forbes has named Rowling as the first person to become a U.S.-dollar billionaire by writing books,[89] the second-richest female entertainer and the 1,062nd richest person in the world.[90] When first listed as a billionaire by Forbes in 2004, Rowling disputed the calculations and said she had plenty of money, but was not a billionaire.[91] In addition, the 2008 Sunday Times Rich List named Rowling the 144th richest person in Britain.[5] In 2001, Rowling purchased a luxurious nineteenth-century estate house, Killiechassie House, on the banks of the River Tay, near Aberfeldy, in Perth and Kinross, Scotland.[92] Rowling also owns a home in Merchiston, Edinburgh, and a £4.5 million ($9 million) Georgian house in Kensington, West London,[93] on a street with 24-hour security.[94]
On 26 December 2001, Rowling married Neil Michael Murray (born 30 June 1971), an anaesthetist, in a private ceremony at her Aberfeldy home.[95] This was a second marriage for both Rowling and Murray, as Murray had previously been married to Dr. Fiona Duncan in 1996. Murray and Duncan separated in 1999 and divorced in the summer of 2001. Rowling and Murray's son David Gordon Rowling Murray was born on 24 March 2003.[96] Shortly after Rowling began writing Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince she took a break from working on the novel to care for him in his early infancy.[97] Rowling's youngest child, daughter Mackenzie Jean Rowling Murray, to whom she dedicated Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, was born 23 January 2005.[98]
Rowling is a member of the Church of Scotland. She once said, "I believe in God, not magic."[99] Early on she felt that if readers knew of her Christian beliefs, they would be able to "guess what is coming in the books."[100] Rowling has stated that she struggles with her own beliefs. In an interview with the Today Show in July 2007, she said, "...until we reached Book Seven, views of what happens after death and so on...would give away a lot of what was coming. So ... yes, my belief and my struggling with religious belief and so on I think is quite apparent in this book."[101]
Rowling commented on her political views when she discussed the 2008 United States presidential election with the Spanish-language newspaper El País. She said she is obsessed with the United States elections because they will have a profound effect on the rest of the world. As of February 2008, she has said that both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton would be "extraordinary" in the White House. In the same interview, she also said her hero was Robert F. Kennedy.[102]
Rowling has received honorary degrees from St Andrews University, the University of Edinburgh, Napier University, and the University of Aberdeen.[103][104] On 5 June 2008, Rowling spoke at the Harvard University commencement ceremony where she received another honorary degree.[105]
Relationship with the press
Rowling has had a difficult relationship with the press. She admits to being "thin-skinned" and dislikes the fickle nature of reporting. "They went in one day from saying, 'She's got writer's block' to saying, 'She's been self-indulgent'", she told The Times in 2003, "And I thought, well, what a difference 24 hours makes." However, Rowling disputes her reputation as a recluse who hates to be interviewed.[106] In 2001, the Press Complaints Commission upheld a complaint by Rowling over a series of unauthorised photographs of her with her daughter on the beach in Mauritius published in OK! Magazine.[107] In 2007, Rowling's young son, David, assisted by Rowling and her husband, lost a court fight to ban publication of a photograph of him. The photo, taken by a photographer using a long-range lens, was subsequently published in a Sunday Express article featuring Rowling's family life and motherhood.[9] However, the judgment was overturned in David's favour in May 2008.[108][109]
Rowling has said she particularly dislikes the British tabloid The Daily Mail, which made references to a stalker Rowling insists does not exist, and conducted interviews with her estranged ex-husband. As one journalist noted, "Harry's Uncle Vernon is a grotesque philistine of violent tendencies and remarkably little brain. It is not difficult to guess which newspaper Rowling gives him to read [in Goblet of Fire]."[110]
Some have speculated that Rowling's fraught relationship with the press was the inspiration behind the character Rita Skeeter. However, Rowling noted in 2000 that the character actually predates her rise to fame: "People have asked me whether Rita Skeeter was invented [to reflect Harry Potter's popularity], but in fact she was always planned."[111] "I tried to put Rita in Philosopher's Stone - you know when Harry walks into the Leaky Cauldron for the first time and everyone says, "Mr Potter you're back!", I wanted to put a journalist in there. She wasn't called Rita then but she was a woman. And then I thought, as I looked at the plot overall, I thought, that's not really where she fits best, she fits best in Four when Harry's supposed to come to terms with his fame."[112]
Philanthropy
In 2000, Rowling established the Volant Charitable Trust, which uses its annual budget of £5.1 million to aid women and children, and to combat poverty and social inequality. The fund also gives to organizations that aid children, one parent families, and multiple sclerosis research.[113] Rowling said, "I think you have a moral responsibility when you've been given far more than you need, to do wise things with it and give intelligently."[83]
Rowling, once a single parent herself, is now president of the charity One Parent Families, having already become their first Ambassador in 2000.[114][115] Rowling collaborated with Sarah Brown, wife of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, to write a book of children's stories to aid One Parent Families.[116]
In 2001, the UK anti-poverty fundraiser Comic Relief asked three bestselling British authors - cookery writer and TV presenter Delia Smith, Bridget Jones creator Helen Fielding, and Rowling - to submit booklets related to their most famous works for publication.[117] Rowling's two booklets, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Quidditch Through the Ages, are ostensibly facsimiles of books found in the Hogwarts library. Since going on sale in March, 2001, the books have raised £15.7 million ($30 million) for the fund. The £10.8 million ($20 million) they have raised outside the UK have been channeled into a newly created International Fund for Children and Young People in Crisis.[118]
In 2005, to improve the lot of vulnerable children in eastern Europe, Rowling and MEP Emma Nicholson founded the Children's High Level Group.[119] In January 2006, Rowling went to Bucharest to highlight the use of caged beds in children's mental institutions.[120] To further support the CHLG, Rowling auctioned one of seven handwritten and illustrated copies of The Tales of Beedle the Bard, a series of fairy tales referred to in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The book was purchased for £1.95 million by on-line bookseller Amazon.com on 13 December 2007.[121][122][123] Rowling commented "This will mean so much to children in desperate need of help. It means Christmas has come early to me."[121][124] Rowling will give away the remaining six copies to those who have a close connection with the Harry Potter books.[121]
In May 2008, bookseller Waterstones asked Rowling and 12 other writers (Sebastian Faulks, Doris Lessing, Lisa Appignanesi, Margaret Atwood, Lauren Child, Richard Ford, Neil Gaiman, Nick Hornby, Michael Rosen, Axel Scheffler, Tom Stoppard and Irvine Welsh) to compose a short piece of their own choosing on a single A5 card, which would then be sold at auction in aid of the charities Dyslexia Action and English PEN. Rowling's contribution was an 800-word Harry Potter prequel that concerns Harry's father, James Potter and godfather, Sirius Black, and takes place three years before Harry was born.[125][126] Rowling claims that she does not intend to return to Harry Potter for at least ten years.[127][128] The cards will be collected together and sold for charity in book form in August 2008.[126]
Rowling has contributed money and support for research and treatment of multiple sclerosis, from which her mother died in 1990. In 2006, Rowling contributed a substantial sum toward the creation of a new Centre for Regenerative Medicine at Edinburgh University.[129] On 1 August and 2 August 2006 she read alongside Stephen King and John Irving at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Profits from the event were donated to the Haven Foundation, a charity that aids artists and performers left uninsurable and unable to work, and the medical NGO Médecins Sans Frontières.[130] In May 2007, Rowling gave $495,000 to a reward fund of over $4.5 million for the safe return of a young British girl, Madeleine McCann, who disappeared in Portugal.[131][132] Rowling, along with Nelson Mandela, Al Gore, and Alan Greenspan, wrote an introduction to a collection of Gordon Brown's speeches, the proceeds of which are donated to the Jennifer Brown Research Laboratory.[133
The Smiths were unable to conceive children, so they
decided to use a surrogate father to start their
family.
On the day the proxy father was to arrive, Mr. Smith
kissed his wife goodbye and said, "Well, I'm off now.
The man should be here soon."
Half an hour later, just by chance, a door-to-door baby
photographer happened to ring the doorbell, hoping to
make a sale. "Good morning, ma'am," he said, "I've come
to..."
"Oh, no need to explain," Mrs. Smith cut in, embarrassed,
"I've been expecting you."
"Have you really?" said the photographer. "Well, that's
good! Did you know babies are my specialty?"
"Well, that's what my husband and I had hoped. Please
come in and have a seat." After a moment she asked,
blushing, "Well, where do we start?"
"Leave everything to me. I usually try two in the
bathtub, one on the couch, and perhaps a couple on the
bed. And sometimes the living room floor is fun.. You can
really spread out there."
"Bathtub...living room floor? No wonder it didn't work
out for Harry and me!"
"Well, ma'am, none of us can guarantee a good one every
time. But if we try several different positions and I
shoot from six or seven angles, I'm sure you'll be
pleased with the results."
"My, that's a lot!" gasped Mrs. Smith.
"Ma'am, in my line of work, a man has to take his time.
I'd love to be in and out in five minutes, but I'm sure
you'd be disappointed with that."
"Don't I know it," said Mrs. Smith quietly.
The photographer opened his briefcase and pulled out a
portfolio of his baby pictures.
"This was done on the top of a bus," he said.
"Oh, my word!" Mrs. Smith exclaimed, grasping at her
throat.
"And these twins turned out exceptionally well - when
you consider their mother was so difficult to work with."
"She was difficult?" asked Mrs. Smith.
"Yes, I'm afraid so. I finally had to take her to the
park to get the job done right. People were crowding
around four and five deep to get a good look."
"Four and five deep?" said Mrs. Smith, her eyes wide with
amazement.
"Yes", the photographer replied. "And for more than three
hours, too. The mother was constantly squealing and
yelling - I could hardly concentrate, and when darkness
approached, I had to rush my shots. Finally, when the
squirrels began nibbling on my equipment, I just had to
pack it all in."
Mrs. Smith leaned forward. "Do you mean they actually
chewed on your, uh...equipment?"
"It's true, ma'am, yes......Well, if you're ready, I'll
set-up my tripod and we can get to work right away."
"Tripod?"
"Oh yes, ma'am. I need to use a tripod to rest my Canon
on. It's much too big to be held in the hand very long."
Mrs. Smith fainted.
