firefly, I didn't pick up on The Scat Man in Roots, but I most certainly recall him in The Shining. "this boy's got the shine."
Well, folks, we know that LeVar Burton was in one of the Roots episodes. It was either the movie or the mini-series. Can't recall, but here is a tribute to the man.
Today is also the birthday of TV personality and singer, Mike Douglas. All of the big stars appeared on his popular show, and Mike entertained us with his own lovely voice as well. Here he sings the fitting, "The Way We Were".
Well, folks, it looks as though Hulk frightened everyone away. It's safe now, so you can come on back in our little cyber studio.
I have spent the better part of the day talking to my daughter and searching for Schumann variations on Traumerei. So, it's time for me to say goodnight, and I think I have found a surprising version by Neil Sedaka. Then, I found a second version of that lovely song by a duet on violin and piano. They called him "Alexander" on the second version, but I don't think he will mind.
edgar, can't beat that combo. Frank and Pearl are still legends. Thanks, Texas.
firefly, John Williams says it right. They are the champions, but every time I think of him all I can see is JAWS. Thanks, fly of fire.
Well, my goodness, R.H. That was a marvelous trio of tremendous performers.(ok, Letty-stop with the alliteration) Loved it, however.Can't top Elvis, Diana, and Willie. All three are champions in their own right. No need to be a grump. When we wake up alive, that's a good thing.
Today is Buck Owens birthday, so let's hear a great one by him, ok?
Today is also the birthday of Thomas August Darnell Browder (aka August Darnell, aka Kid Creole). Darnell took the name King Creole from the Elvis Presley film, King Creole, in 1980 and formed The Coconuts. I confess to never having heard of him, but perhaps he is familiar to some of the WA2K listeners.
Katharine Lee Bates
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born 12 August 1859(1859-08-12)
Falmouth, Massachusetts, United States
Died 28 March 1929 (aged 69)
Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States
Occupation Author, Poet, Educator
Nationality American
Genres Poetry
Notable work(s) "America the Beautiful"
Katharine Lee Bates, (August 12, 1859 - March 28, 1929), is remembered as the author of the words to the anthem "America the Beautiful".
Bates was born in Falmouth, Massachusetts and lived as an adult on Centre Street in Newton, Massachusetts. An historic plaque marks the site of her home. The daughter of a Congregational pastor, she graduated from Wellesley College in 1880 and for many years was a professor of English literature at Wellesley. While teaching there, she was elected a member of the newly formed Pi Gamma Mu honor society for the social sciences because of her interest in history and politics for which she also studied. She lived at Wellesley with Katharine Coman, who herself was a history and political economy teacher and founder of the Wellesley College Economics department. The pair lived together for twenty-five years until Coman's death in 1915. It is debated if this relationship was an intimate lesbian relationship as different sources maintain [1][2][3] or a platonic relationship called sometimes "Boston marriages" as the local historical society of her birthplace maintain.
In the years following Coman's death, Bates wrote Yellow Clover: A Book of Remembrance, to Katharine Coman[2]. Almost all the poems there contained refer to the relationship between Bates and Coleman. One lesbian culture website sees in the text of some of the poems (for example If You Could Come and Yellow Clover[3]) a confirmation that the relationship between the two women was actually a lesbian relationship.
The first draft of "America the Beautiful" was hastily jotted in a notebook during the summer of 1893, which Bates spent teaching English at Colorado College in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Later she remembered
"One day some of the other teachers and I decided to go on a trip to 14,000-foot Pikes Peak. We hired a prairie wagon. Near the top we had to leave the wagon and go the rest of the way on mules. I was very tired. But when I saw the view, I felt great joy. All the wonder of America seemed displayed there, with the sea-like expanse."
The words to her one famous poem first appeared in print in The Congregationalist, a weekly journal, for Independence Day, 1895. The poem reached a wider audience when her revised version was printed in the Boston Evening Transcript, November 19, 1904. Her final expanded version was written in 1913.
The hymn has been sung to other music, but the familiar tune that Ray Charles (1930-2004) delivered is by Samuel A. Ward (1847-1903), written for his hymn "Materna" (1882).
Bates was a prolific author of many volumes of poetry, travel books, and children's books. Her family home on Falmouth's Main Street is preserved by the Falmouth Historical Society. There is also a street named in her honor, "Katharine Lee Bates Road" in Falmouth.
Bates has two schools named in her honor, the Katharine Lee Bates Elementary School, located on Elmwood Road in Wellesley, Massachusetts and the Katharine Lee Bates Elementary School[4], located in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The latter was founded in 1957.
Bates is credited with creating Mrs. Claus in the poem Goody Santa Claus on a Sleigh Ride from the collection Sunshine and other Verses for Children (1889).
Katharine Lee Bates died in Wellesley, Massachusetts, on March 28, 1929, aged 69. She was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970.
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Tue 12 Aug, 2008 07:27 am
Jane Wyatt
Wikipedia the free encyclopedia
Jane Waddington Wyatt (August 12, 1910 - October 20, 2006) was a three-time Emmy-winning American actress perhaps best known for her role as the housewife and mother on the television series Father Knows Best and as Amanda Grayson, the human mother of Spock on the science fiction television show, "Star Trek".
Biography
Early life
Jane Wyatt was born on August 12, 1910 in Campgaw (now part of Mahwah, New Jersey), but was raised in New York City. Her father, Christopher Billopp Wyatt, Jr., was a Wall Street investment banker, and her mother, the former Euphemia Van Rensselaer Waddington, was a drama critic for the Catholic World. One of her ancestors, Rufus King, was a signer of the U.S. Constitution, a U.S. Senator and ambassador, and the Federalist candidate in the 1816 United States presidential election. She was also a distant cousin of Eleanor Roosevelt and the poet Harry Crosby, through their shared descent from Philip Livingston, also a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
While in New York City, Wyatt attended the fashionable Chapin School and later attended two years of Barnard College. After leaving Barnard, she joined the apprentice school of the Berkshire Playhouse at Stockbridge, Massachusetts, where for six months she played a varied assortment of roles.
Films
One of her first jobs on Broadway was as understudy to Rose Hobart in a production of Trade Winds - a career move that cost her her listing in the New York Social Register (she later was relisted upon her marriage). Receiving favorable notices on Broadway and celebrated for her understated beauty, Wyatt made the transition from stage to screen and was placed under contract at Universal, where she co-starred as Ronald Colman's love interest in Frank Capra's Columbia film Lost Horizon (1937). This was arguably her most famous role. Of her experience in Lost Horizon, she noted in an article in the St. Anthony Messenger newsletter, "During the war, they cut out all the pacifist parts of the film?-the High Lama talking about peace in the world. All that was cut because they were trying to inspire those G.I.'s to get out there and go 'bang! bang! bang!' which sort of ruined the film." Other film appearances included 1947's Gentleman's Agreement (with Gregory Peck), None but the Lonely Heart (with Cary Grant), and Boomerang (with Dana Andrews).
Her film career suffered because of her outspoken opposition to Senator Joseph McCarthy, the chief figure in the anti-Communist investigations of that era. Her career was temporarily damaged for having assisted in hosting a performance by the Bolshoi Ballet during the Second World War, even though it was at President Roosevelt's request ([1]). As a result, she returned to her roots on the New York stage for a time and appeared in such plays as Lillian Hellman's The Autumn Garden opposite Fredric March.
Television
For many people, Wyatt is best remembered for her television role as Margaret Anderson in the television comedy Father Knows Best from 1954 to 1960. Her role, opposite Robert Young, was of the devoted wife and mother in the show which chronicled the life and times of the Anderson family in the Midwestern town of Springfield. This role won Wyatt three Emmy Awards for best actress in a comedy series.
In addition to Father Knows Best, Wyatt also starred as as Amanda Grayson, Mr. Spock's mother, in the 1967 episode Journey To Babel of the original Star Trek series and the 1986 film Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.[1] Late in her career, she played Katherine Auschlander, the wife of hospital administrator Dr. Daniel Auschlander (Norman Lloyd), on the 1980s medical drama St. Elsewhere. Wyatt was once quoted as saying her fan mail for the first two roles exceeded that for her appearance in Lost Horizon. She also appeared as Anna, mother of the Virgin Mary, in the 1978 TV film The Nativity.
Death
Jane Wyatt died on October 20, 2006 of natural causes at her home in Bel-Air, California. She was 96 years old.
Though one of her early suitors was John D. Rockefeller III, Wyatt was married to investment broker Edgar Bethune Wardon from November 9, 1935 until his death on November 8, 2000, just one day short of the couple's 65th wedding anniversary. The couple met in the late 1920s when both were weekend houseguests of Franklin D. Roosevelt at Hyde Park. Wyatt was survived by two sons, and according to an obituary in The Washington Post, a third son died in infancy in the early 1940s.
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Tue 12 Aug, 2008 07:38 am
Cantinflas
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Fortino Mario Alfonso Moreno Reyes (August 12, 1911 - April 20, 1993) was a Mexican comedian and actor.
Life
He earned wide popularity with his stage and film persona Cantinflas, usually portrayed as an impoverished campesino slumdweller of pelado origin. The character came to be associated with the national identity of Mexico, and allowed Moreno to establish a long, successful film career that included a foray into Hollywood. Charlie Chaplin once called him "the greatest comedian in the world", and Moreno is often referred to as the "Charlie Chaplin of Mexico".[1]
While some of Moreno's films were dubbed into English for American audiences, and his work found modest success in France, his strong reliance on complex Spanish-language wordplay did not translate particularly well into other languages. However, he was wildly successful in Spanish-speaking Latin America, where he still has many devoted fans.
As a pioneer of the cinema of Mexico, Moreno helped usher in its golden era. His success, as part of Mexico's cinematic blossoming, helped establish Mexico as the entertainment capital of Latin America. In addition to being a business leader, he also became involved in Mexico's tangled and often dangerous labor politics. Although he was himself politically conservative, his reputation as a spokesperson for the downtrodden gave his actions authenticity and became important in the early struggle against charrismo, the one-party government's practice of coopting and controlling unions.
Moreover, his character Cantinflas, whose identity became enmeshed with his own, was examined by media critics, philosophers, anthropologists, and linguists, who saw him variably as a danger to Mexican society, a bourgeois puppet, a kind philanthropist, a venture capitalist, a transgressor of gender roles, a pious Catholic, a verbal innovator, and a picaresque underdog. In effect, Moreno was all of these. His character Cantinflas, in attempting to encompass the identity of an entire nation, developed the contradictions and complexities inherent in any attempt to epitomize a country as complex and contradictory as Mexico.
Personal life
He was born the seventh of twelve children to Mr. Pedro Moreno Esquivel, an impoverished mail carrier, and Mrs. Soledad Guizar Reyes de Moreno. Four of their twelve children died due to miscarriages. Eight survived: Pedro, Jose "Pepe", Edwardo, Mario, Esperanza, Catalina, Enrique and Roberto. Fortino Mario Alfonso Moreno Reyes was born in the Santa María la Redonda neighborhood of Mexico City, and grew up in the rough Tepito barrio.[2] He made it through difficult situations with the quick wit and street smarts that he would later apply in his films. After an unsuccessful attempt to enter the United States through California, he became a prizefighter in his teens as a source of income.[3] His comic personality led him to a circus tent show, and from there to legitimate theatre and film.
He married Valentina Ivanova Zubareff, of Russian ethnicity, on October 27, 1936, and remained with her until her death in January, 1966. A son was born to Moreno in 1961 by another woman;[4] the child was adopted by Valentina Ivanova and was named Mario Arturo Moreno Ivanova, causing some references to erroneously refer to him as "Cantinflas' adopted son."[5]
He served as president of the Mexican actor's guild known as Asociación Nacional de Actores (ANDA, "National Association of Actors") and as first secretary general of the independent filmworkers' union Sindicato de Trabajadores de la Producción Cinematográfica (STPC).
Following his retirement, Moreno devoted his life to helping others through charity and humanitarian organizations, especially those dedicated to helping children. His contributions to the Roman Catholic Church and orphanages made him a folk hero in Mexico.
In 1993, after his death in Mexico City from lung cancer, thousands appeared on the rainy day for his funeral. The ceremony was a national event, lasting three days. His body lay in state in the Rotonda de los Hombres Ilustres (Rotunda of Distinguished Men) and he was honored by many heads of state and the United States Senate, which held a moment of silence for him.
After his death, a 14-year legal battle ensued between Mario Moreno Ivanova, Cantinflas' son and heir to his estate, and the actor's blood nephew, Eduardo Moreno Laparade over the control of 34 of films made by Cantinflas. The nephew claimed his uncle gave him a written notice to the rights for movies on his deathbed. Moreno Ivanova argued he is the direct heir of Cantinflas and the rights belong to him. Moreno Laparade won the lawsuit twice,[6] but Moreno Ivanova eventually triumphed after two appeals.[7] In 2006, Mario Moreno Ivanova, Jr. won rights to 39 films and name.
At the same time, another legal battle ensued between Columbia Pictures and Moreno Ivanova over control of these films. Columbia claims that it bought the rights to the 34 films four decades ago with the court noting several discrepancies in the papers. Moreno Ivanova wanted the rights to the films to remain his and more generally, Mexico's, as a national treasure. On June 2, 2001 the eight year battle was resolved with Columbia retaining ownership over the 34 disputed films.[8]
Cantinflas has relatives in Houston, Texas and Miami, Florida.
Origin of name
As a young man, Cantinflas performed a variety of acts in travelling tents. It was also in the tents that he earned the nickname "Cantinflas"; however, the origin of the name is obscured by legend. According to one obituary, "Cantinflas" is a meaningless name invented to prevent his parents from knowing he was in the entertainment business, which they considered a shameful occupation. In another version, the Mexican media critic and theorist Carlos Monsiváis cites a legendary account of the origin of Cantinflas' characteristic speech:
According to a legend that he agrees with, a young Mario Moreno, overwhelmed by stage fright, once, in the Ofelia carpa, forgets his original monologue. He begins to say what comes to mind in a complete emancipation of phrases and words, and what comes to mind is an incoherent brilliance. His assistants recite his attack on syntax, and Mario becomes aware of it: destiny has placed in his hands the distinctive characteristic, the style that is manipulation of chaos. Weeks later, the name that will mark the invention is invented. Someone, taken in by the nonsense, screams: "Cuanto inflas!" [C' ntinflas] (You're annoying!) or "En la cantina inflas!" (You like to drink a lot at the cantina (inflar means to drink)). The contraction catches on and becomes proof of the baptism that the character needs.[9]
Entertainment career
Before starting his professional life in entertainment, he explored a number of possible careers, such as medicine and professional boxing, before joining the entertainment world as a dancer. By 1930 he was involved in Mexico City's carpa (travelling tent) circuit, performing in succession with the Ofelia, Sotelo of Azcapotzalco, and finally the Valentina carpa, where he met his future wife. At first he tried to imitate Al Jolson by smearing his face with black paint, but later separated himself to form his own identity as an impoverished slum dweller with baggy pants, a rope for a belt, and a distinct mustache.[3] In the tents, he danced, performed acrobatics, and performed in the roles of several different professions.
Cantinflismo
In 1936, Moreno made his debut in Mexico City's Folies Bergères Theater. Now removed from the lower-class environment that pandered to baser humor, cantinflismo, the political joke that challenged the notion that Cantinflas' nonsense was vacuous, was born. In 1937, the politician Vicente Lombardo Toledano responded to a political rival: "If [labor leader Luis] Morones has decided to show his dialectical prowess, let him argue with Cantinflas." Now directly invoked in the debate, Cantinflas responded:
Ah! but let me make one thing clear, I have moments of lucidity, and I speak very clearly. And now I will speak with clarity...Friends! There are moments in my life that are really momentary...And it's not because one says it, but we must see it! What do we see? that's what we must see...because, what a coincidence, friends, that supposing that in the case?-let's not say what it could be?-but we must think about it and understand the psychology of life to make an analogy of the synthesis of humanity. Right? Well, that's the point![10]
Media figures and intellectuals fleshed out the definition and applications of cantinflismo in subsequent publications. Monsiváis interprets it in the context of the left-leaning presidency of Lázaro Cárdenas, calling it a "mock[ery] of proletariat discourse from glorious senselessness".[11] But perhaps the contemporary writer Miguel del Río's elaboration is the most eloquent:
It's as if Cantinflas were, more than anyone, the Mexican dictator of optimism ... he flirts with politics as if he were the most experienced politician. He becomes a leader and a proletariat, with only the change of a hat or a phrase.[12]
The political bent of Moreno's work was a marked turn, and his comedic innocence no longer sufficed to shield him from the criticism that political involvement entailed.
Film career
In the mid-1930s, Cantinflas met Russian producer Jacques Gelman and subsequently partnered with him to form their own film production venture. Gelman produced, directed, and distributed, while Cantinflas acted. Cantinflas made his film debut in 1936 with No te engañes corazón but the film received little attention. He established Posa Films in 1939, producing short films that allowed him to develop the Cantinflas character, but it was in 1940 that he finally became a movie star, after shooting Ahí está el detalle ("There's the rub", literally "There lies the detail"). The phrase that gave that movie its name became a Cantinflas catch phrase for the rest of his career. The film was a breakthrough in Latin America and was later recognized by Somos magazine as the 10th greatest film produced largely in Mexico.[13]
In 1941 Moreno first played the role of a police officer on film in El gendarme desconocido ("The unknown police officer" a play of words on "The Unknown Soldier). By this time he had sufficiently distinguished the peladito character from the 1920s-era pelado, and his character flowed comfortably from the disenfranchised, marginalized, underclassman to the empowered public servant. The political nature of the rhetoric of cantinflismo facilitated this fluidity. He would reprise the role of Agent 777 and be honored by police forces throughout Latin America for his positive portrayal of law enforcement.
Ni sangre, ni arena ("Neither Blood, nor Sand" a play on words on the bullfighter/gladiator phrase "Blood and Sand"), the 1941 satirical film on bullfighting, broke box-office records for Mexican-made films throughout Spanish-speaking countries. In 1942, Moreno teamed up with Miguel M. Delgado and Jaime Salvador to produce a series of low-quality parodies, including an interpretation of Chaplin's The Circus.
The 1940s and 1950s were Cantinflas' heyday. In 1946, he rejected Mexican film companies and instead signed with Columbia Pictures.[3] By this time, his popularity was such that he was able to lend his prestige to the cause of Mexican labor, representing the National Association of Actors in talks with President Manuel Ávila Camacho. The talks did not go well, however, and, in the resulting scandal, Moreno took his act back to the theatre.
On August 30, 1953, Cantinflas began performing his theatrical work Yo Colón ("I, Columbus") in the Teatro de los Insurgentes, the same theatre that had earlier been embroiled in a controversy over a Diego Rivera mural incorporating Cantinflas and the Virgin of Guadalupe. Critics, including the PAN and archbishop Luis María Martínez, called the mural blasphemous, and it was eventually painted without the image of the Virgin.
Yo Colón placed Cantinflas in the character of Christopher Columbus, who, while continually "discovering America", made comical historical and contemporary observations from fresh perspectives. The jokes changed nightly, and Moreno continued to employ his word games and double entendres to jab at politicians.
In 1956, Around the World in Eighty Days, Cantinflas' American debut earned him a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a musical or comedy.[14] Variety magazine said in 1956 that his Chaplinesque quality made a big contribution to the success of the film.[15] The film ultimately made an unadjusted $42 million dollars at the box office.[16] While Niven was billed as the lead in English-speaking nations, Cantinflas was billed as the lead elsewhere. As a result of the film, Cantinflas became the world's most highly paid actor.[17]
Moreno's second Hollywood feature, Pepe, attempted to replicate the success of his first. The film had cameo appearances by Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, and other stars. His humor, deeply rooted in the Spanish language, did not translate well for the American audience and the movie was a notorious box office disappointment. He still earned a Golden Globe nomination for his part. Later in a 1992 American interview, Moreno cited the language barrier as the biggest impediment to his making it big in the United States.[18]
After returning to Mexico, Cantinflas created his own company, Cantinflas Films and continued making movies until his last, El Barrendero, in 1982.
Like Charlie Chaplin, Cantinflas was a social satirist. He played el pelado, an impoverished Everyman, with hopes to succeed. With mutual admiration, Cantinflas was influenced by Chaplin's earlier films and ideology. El Circo (the circus) was a "shadow" of Chaplin's silent film, The Circus and Si yo fuera diputado ("If I Were a Congressman") had many similarities with the 1940 film, The Great Dictator.
Cantinflas' films, to this day, still generate revenue for Columbia Pictures. In 2000, Columbia reported in an estimated USD$4 million in foreign distribution from the films.[3]
Impact
Among the things that endeared him to his public was his comic use of language in his films; his characters (all of which were really variations of the main "Cantinflas" persona but cast in different social roles and circumstances) would strike up a normal conversation and then complicate it to the point where no one understood what they were talking about. The Cantinflas character was particularly adept at obfuscating the conversation when he owed somebody money, was courting an attractive young woman, or was trying to talk his way out of trouble with authorities, whom he managed to humiliate without their even being able to tell. This manner of talking became known as Cantinfleada, and it became common parlance for Spanish speakers to say "¡estás cantinfleando!" (loosely translated as you're pulling a "Cantinflas!" or you're "Cantinflassing!") whenever someone became hard to understand in conversation. The Real Academia Española officially included the verb cantinflear, cantinflas, and cantinflada[19] in its dictionary in 1992.
In the visual arts, Mexican artists such as Rufino Tamayo and Diego Rivera painted Cantinflas as a symbol of the Mexican everyman. The American punk band Mindless Self Indulgence released a song about Cantinflas called "Whipstickagostop".
Cantinflas' style and the content of his films have led scholars to conclude that he influenced the many teatros that spread the message of the Chicano Movement during the 1960s-1970s in the United States, the most important of which was El Teatro Campesino. The teatro movement was an important part of the cultural renaissance that was the social counterpart of the political movement for the civil rights of Mexican Americans. Cantinflas' use of social themes and style is seen as a precursor to Chicano theater.[20]
A cartoon series, the Cantinflas Show, was made in the 1970s starring an animated Cantinflas. The show was targeted for children and was intended to be educational.[21] The animated character was known as "Little Amigo" and concentrated on a wide range of subjects intended to educate children, from the origin of soccer to the reasons behind the International Date Line.
Although Cantinflas never achieved the same success in the United States as in Mexico, he was honored with a star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He earned two Golden Globe nominations (winning one) for best actor and the Mexican Academy of Film Lifetime Achievement Award.[22][1]
The Mario Moreno "Cantinflas" Award is handed out annually for entertainers who "represent the Latino community with the same humor and distinction as the legendary Mario Moreno "Cantinflas" and who, like Cantinflas, utilizes his power to help those most in need."[23]
Cantinflas films are distributed in North America by Laguna Films.
Critical response
Cantinflas is sometimes seen as a Mexican Groucho Marx character, one who uses his skill with words to puncture the pretensions of the wealthy and powerful, the police and the government. Historian and author of Cantinflas and the Chaos of Mexican Modernity, writes, "Cantinflas symbolized the underdog who triumphed through trickery over more powerful opponents" and presents Cantinflas as a self image of a transitional Mexico. Gregorio Luke, executive director of the Museum of Latin American Art said, "To understand Cantinflas is to understand what happened in Mexico during the last century."[24][3]
For his part, Monsiváis interprets the Moreno's portrayals in terms of the importance of the spoken word in the context of Mexico's "reigning illiteracy" (70% in 1930). Particularly in the film El Analfabeto, (The Illiterate), "Cantinflas is the illiterate who takes control of the language by whatever means he can."[25]
The journalist Salvador Novo interprets the role of Moreno's character entirely in terms of Cantinflismo: "En condensarlos: en entregar a la saludable carcajada del pueblo la esencia demagógica de su vacuo confusionismo, estriba el mérito y se asegura la gloria de este hijo cazurro de la ciudad ladina y burlona de México, que es Cantinflas". ("In condensing them [the leaders of the world and of Mexico], in the giving back to the healthy laughter of the people the demagogic state of their empty confusion, merit is sustained and glory is ensured for the self-contained son of the Spanish-speaking mocker of Mexico, who is Cantinflas.")[26]
In his biography of the comic, the scholar of Mexican culture Jeffrey M. Pilcher views Cantinflas as a metaphor for "the chaos of Mexican modernity", a modernity that was just out of reach for the majority of Mexicans: "His nonsense language eloquently expressed the contradictions of modernity as 'the palpitating moment of everything that wants to be that which it cannot be'."[27] Likewise, "Social hierarchies, speech patterns, ethnic identities, and masculine forms of behavior all crumbled before his chaotic humor, to be reformulated in revolutionary new ways."[28]
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Tue 12 Aug, 2008 07:41 am
John Derek
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
August 12, 1926
Hollywood, California, USA
Died May 22, 1998 (aged 71)
Santa Monica, California, USA
Occupation actor, director, cinematographer, screenwriter, editor, producer
Years active 1943 - 1990
Spouse(s) Pati Behrs (1951-1957)
Ursula Andress (1957-1966)
Linda Evans (1968-1974)
Bo Derek (1976-1998)
Awards won
Golden Raspberry Awards
Worst Director
1985 Bolero
1991 Ghosts Can't Do It
Worst Screenplay
1985 Bolero
John Derek (August 12, 1926 - May 22, 1998) was an American actor, director and photographer most famous for the women to whom he was married.
Born Derek Delevan Harris in Hollywood, California, he was first married to actress Pati Behrs (1922-2004), grand-niece of Leo Tolstoy and mother of his two children, Russell & Sean.
His matinee-idol good looks quickly got him supporting roles, most notably as Broderick Crawford's son in All the King's Men (1949), but he also enjoyed leads such as "Nick Romano" in Knock on Any Door (1949) opposite Humphrey Bogart (who told him, "You look great, but kid, that's not enough"), "Brock Mitchell" in Fury at Showdown, and as Robin Hood in Rogues of Sherwood Forest (1950) with Alan Hale.
Perhaps Derek's most memorable film appearance was in a supporting role in the 1956 epic film, as the noble Joshua in The Ten Commandments.
Derek had a minor role as a film director. He directed his fourth wife, Bo Derek, in four movies. The 1990 film Ghosts Can't Do It was his last attempt in the director's chair. He also directed two hit music videos for Shania Twain, "Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under?" and "Any Man of Mine".
His last three wives seemed to be nearly identical in appearance, especially Linda Evans and Bo Derek. Derek took photos of all three, at different times, for Playboy magazine. He died from cardiovascular disease in Santa Maria, California at the age of 71.
Derek was married to:
Pati Behrs (1951-1957)
Ursula Andress (1957-1966)
Linda Evans (1968-1974)
Bo Derek (1976-1998)
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Tue 12 Aug, 2008 07:46 am
Porter Wagoner
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Background information
Birth name Porter Wayne Wagoner
Also known as Mr. Grand Ole Opry
Born August 12, 1927(1927-08-12)
West Plains, Missouri, USA
Died October 28, 2007 (aged 80)
Nashville, Tennessee, USA
Genre(s) Country Music
Occupation(s) Country music artist
Instrument(s) Acoustic Guitar
Years active 1951 - 2007
Label(s) RCA Victor
(1956 - 1980)
Shell Point Records
(2000 - 2002)
TeeVee Records
(2003 - 2006)
Anti
(2007)
Website www.porterwagoner.com
Members
Country Music Hall of Fame
The Grand Ole Opry
Notable instrument(s)
Acoustic Guitar
Porter Wayne Wagoner (August 12, 1927 - October 28, 2007) was an American country music singer. Famous for his flashy Nudie suits and blond pompadour, Wagoner introduced a young Dolly Parton to his long-running television show. Together, "Porter and Dolly" were a well-known duet team throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s. Parton wrote the song "I Will Always Love You" after Wagoner suggested she shift from story songs to focus on love songs. [1]
His first band, The Blue Ridge Boys, performed on radio station KWPM from a butcher shop in his native West Plains, Missouri where Wagoner cut meat. Wagoner's big break came in 1951, when he was hired as a performer by station KWTO in Springfield, Missouri. This led to a contract with RCA Records. With lagging sales, Wagoner and his trio played schoolhouses for the gate proceeds.
In 1953, his song entitled "Trademark" became a hit for Carl Smith, followed by a few hits of his own on RCA. He was a featured performer on ABC's Ozark Jubilee and moved to Nashville, joining the Grand Ole Opry in 1957.
Chart success
His 81 charted records include "Satisfied Mind" (#1, 1955), "Misery Loves Company" (#1, 1962), "I've Enjoyed As Much of This As I Can Stand" (#7, 1962-1963), "Sorrow on the Rocks" (#5, 1964), "Green Green Grass of Home" (#4, 1965), "Skid Row Joe" (#3, 1965-1966), "The Cold Hard Facts of Life" (#2, 1967), and "The Carroll County Accident" (#2, 1968-1969). Among his hit duets with Dolly Parton were a cover of Tom Paxton's "The Last Thing on My Mind" (1967), "We'll Get Ahead Someday" (1968), "Just Someone I Used To Know" (1969), "Better Move it on Home" (1971), "The Right Combination" (1972), "Please Don't Stop Loving Me" (#1, 1974) and "Making Plans" (#2, 1980). He also won three Grammy Awards for gospel recordings.
Television show
The Porter Wagoner Show ran on syndicated television from 1960 to 1981. There were 686 thirty-minute episodes filmed, the first 104 being shot in black and white, the remainder in color. At its peak, it was featured in over 100 markets, with an average viewership of over three million.[citation needed] Reruns of the program currently air on the rural cable network RFD-TV. Wagoner's stage alter ego was Skid Row Joe.
The regular cast included:
Singer Norma Jean (Beasler) 1960-1967
Singer Dolly Parton 1967-1974
Singer Mel Tillis
Comedian/Stand-up bass Speck Rhodes
Announcer Don Howser
The house band, The Wagonmasters
Buck Trent on banjo and guitar
George McCormick on rhythm guitar
Don Warden on steel guitar
"Little" Jack Little on drums
Mack Magaha on fiddle
Michael Treadwell on bass
After 1974:
Fred Newell on guitar/mandolin
Dave Kirby on guitar
Stu Basor on steel guitar/dobro
Bobby Dyson on bass
Jerry Carey on drums
Mack Magaha on fiddle
Linda Carol Moore vocals
The shows usually featured opening performances by Wagoner, with additional performances by Parton or Norma Jean and comedic interludes by Rhodes. During Parton's tenure, she and Wagoner usually sang a duet at some point each week (Wagoner had not previously duetted with Norma Jean).[citation needed] Each episode also featured a guest performer, who would usually perform one or two songs. A spiritual or gospel performance was almost always featured toward the end of the show, and was generally performed by either Wagoner or Parton, or the show's guest star, or occasionally the entire cast.
The shows had a friendly, informal feel, with Wagoner trading jokes with band members (frequently during songs) and exchanging banter with Parton and Howser. During their duets, Parton and Wagoner both frequently changed lyrics on one another, in an attempt to throw the other off course.[citation needed]
Later career
Wagoner brought James Brown to the Grand Ole Opry, produced a rhythm & blues album for Joe Simon, and appeared in the Clint Eastwood film Honkytonk Man.[1] During the mid 1980s, Wagoner formed an all girl group called The Right Combination, which was named after one of Porter and Dolly Parton's hit records. He also hosted "Opry Backstage" during the 1990s on The Nashville Network where he interviewed guests. Though Parton's departure caused some animosity on both sides, the two reconciled in the late 1980s and have appeared together a number of times in the years since; Parton inducted Wagoner into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2002.
Wagoner made a guest appearance on the HBO comedy series Da Ali G Show, being interviewed by the fictional character Borat, in its second season.[citation needed]
On July 14, 2006, Wagoner was hospitalized and underwent surgery for an abdominal aneurysm.[citation needed]
Wagoner was honored on May 19, 2007 at the Grand Ole Opry for both his fifty years of membership and his 80th birthday. This was telecast on GAC's Grand Ole Opry Live that day with artists such as Stuart, Parton, and Patty Loveless. Grand Ole Opry Live host Nan Kelley was part of the birthday celebration as well.
On June 5, 2007, Wagoner released his final album called Wagonmaster. The album was produced by Marty Stuart for the Anti-label. This album received the best reviews ever in Porter's career and briefly charted on the country charts.
Wagoner also toured during the summer of 2007 to promote the album. One of these was opening for the rock group The White Stripes at a sold-out concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Last illness and death
Wagoner's publicist Darlene Bieber announced on October 19, 2007 that the singer had been hospitalized and was in very serious condition. WSMV-TV reported that Wagoner was admitted earlier that week for observation from an illness. Bieber gave no further information but said that the country star was asking for prayers from his family and fans.
On October 21, 2007, his publicist confirmed that Wagoner had been diagnosed with lung cancer.[2]
On October 26, 2007, Porter was released into hospice care.[3] He died two days later in Nashville, Tennessee.[4] Wagoner's funeral was held on November 1, 2007 at the Grand Ole Opry House followed by interment at the Woodlawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Nashville.
Up until his illness and death, he appeared regularly on the Grand Ole Opry and toured actively.
Porter Wagoner Boulevard
In his native West Plains, Missouri, Porter Wagoner Boulevard is named in his honor. Originally built as a bypass around West Plains, numerous businesses sprang up on it in the 1970s, making it the major north-south thoroughfare in West Plains. The northern terminus is at the intersection with Missouri Route 14. Porter Wagoner Boulevard is labeled as Business Route US 63 from this interchange until it reaches Broadway Street, where Business Route US 63 turns east to follow Broadway. Porter Wagoner Boulevard then continues for only three more blocks to its southern terminus at Main Street.
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bobsmythhawk
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Tue 12 Aug, 2008 07:50 am
Buck Owens
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Background information
Birth name Alvis Edgar Owens, Jr.
Born August 12, 1929(1929-08-12)
Origin Sherman, Texas
Died March 25, 2006 (aged 76)
Bakersfield, California
Genre(s) Bakersfield Sound, country music
Occupation(s) singer-songwriter
Instrument(s) guitar, vocals
Years active 1950s-2006
Label(s) Capitol Records, Warner Bros. Records, Rhino Records
Associated acts Susan Raye, Rose Maddox, Dwight Yoakam, Roy Clark, Merle Haggard
Alvis Edgar "Buck" Owens, Jr., (August 12, 1929 - March 25, 2006) was an American singer and guitarist, with 20 number-one hits on the Billboard country music charts. Both as a solo artist and with his band, the Buckaroos, Buck Owens, along with his partner Don Rich, pioneered what has come to be called the Bakersfield sound ?- a reference to Bakersfield, California, the city Owens called home and from which he drew inspiration for what he preferred to call "American Music".[1]
While Owens originally used fiddle and retained pedal steel guitar into the 1970s, his sound on records and onstage was always more stripped-down and elemental, incorporating elements of rock'n'roll. Owens met Rich while in Tacoma. Rich can be heard harmonizing on all of Owens' hits until his untimely death in a motorcycle accident in 1974. The loss of his best friend devastated Owens for years and abruptly halted his career until Owens performed with Dwight Yoakam in 1988.
Owens co-hosted Hee Haw with Roy Clark. Hee Haw, originally envisioned as country music's answer to Laugh-In, outlived that show and ran for 24 seasons. Owens was co-host from 1969 until he left the cast in 1986, convinced that the show's exposure had obscured his immense musical legacy. But following the death of Rich, a deep depression set in and lasted throughout the remaining years of his stint on Hee Haw.
In 2007 Dwight Yoakam released a tribute album to Buck Owens, Dwight Sings Buck.
Biography
Owens was born on a farm in Sherman, Texas to Maicie Azel Ellington and Alvis Edgar Owens, Sr. A shopping mall, (Midway Mall of Sherman, Texas), located at 4800 Texoma Parkway, now sits where his farm used to be in Sherman. [2] (U.S. Highway 82 through Sherman was named "Buck Owens Freeway" in his honor). "'Buck' was a mule on the Owens farm," Rich Kienzle wrote in About Buck, the biography at Owens' official website adapted from Kienzle's notes for Rhino Records' 1992 "The Buck Owens Collection" box set. "When Alvis, Jr., was three or four years old, he walked into the house and announced that his name was also Buck. That was fine with the family; the boy was Buck from then on."[3]
In 1937, his family migrated to Mesa, Arizona, during the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression.
According to a postcard from Buck Owens dated 3-31-98 he wrote: "Enclosed autograph. Thought you might get a kick out of knowing (that) Garland, (Texas) is where I went to school (grades) 1-2-3 when we decided to move to California (in) 1938. Buck Owens"
In 1945, Owens co-hosted a radio show called Buck and Britt. In the late 1940s, Owens became a truck driver and discovered the San Joaquin Valley of California. He was impressed by Bakersfield, where he and his wife settled in 1950.
Soon, Owens was frequently traveling to Hollywood for session recording jobs at Capitol Records, playing backup for Tennessee Ernie Ford, Sonny James, Wanda Jackson, Del Reeves, Tommy Sands, Tommy Collins, Faron Young and Gene Vincent, and many others.
Owens recorded a rockabilly record called "Hot Dog" for the Pep label, using the pseudonym Corky Jones. He used the pseudonym because he did not want the fact he recorded a rock n' roll tune to hurt his country music career.
Owens' career took off in 1959, when his song "Second Fiddle" hit number 24 on the Billboard country chart. A few months later, "Under Your Spell Again" hit number 4, and then "Above and Beyond" hit #3.
In the early 1960s, the "countrypolitan" sound was popular, with smooth, string-laden, pop-influenced styles used by Eddy Arnold, Jim Reeves, and Patsy Cline, among others. Owens went against the trend, utilizing honky-tonk hillbilly feel, mixed idiosyncratically with the Mexican polkas he had heard on border radio stations while growing up.
Owens was named the most promising country and western singer of 1960 by Billboard and his Top-10-charting duets with Rose Maddox in 1961 earned them awards as vocal team of the year.
1963's "Act Naturally" became Buck Owens and the Buckaroos' first #1 hit. The Beatles later recorded a cover of it in 1965. It appears on their Help! album. Ringo Starr later re-recorded the song as a duet with Buck Owens in 1988.
The 1966 album Carnegie Hall Concert was a smash hit and further cemented Buck Owens and the Buckaroos as more than just another honky tonk country band. Buck Owens and the Buckaroos achieved crossover success on to the pop charts. Also in 1966, R&B singer Ray Charles released cover versions of two of Owens' songs that became pop hits: "Crying Time" and "Together Again".
In 1967, Owens and the Buckaroos toured Japan, a then-rare occurrence for a country musician. The subsequent live album, appropriately named Buck Owens and His Buckaroos in Japan, is the first country music album recorded outside the United States.[4]
At the White House the following year, Owens and the Buckaroos performed for President Lyndon Baines Johnson.
Creedence Clearwater Revival, one of the biggest American rock bands of the period, often demonstrated a country flavor and even mentioned Owens in the hit, "Lookin' Out My Back Door":
A dinosaur Victrola
List'nin' to Buck Owens
Doo, doo, doo
Lookin' out my back door
Hee Haw hit the television airwaves in 1969, keeping Owens busy throughout the 1970s and 1980s.
In the 1970s, he enjoyed a string of hit duets with a protege, Susan Raye, who subsequentally became a popular solo artist, with recordings produced by Owens.
In 1971 the Buckaroos' bass gutarist Doyle Holly left the band to pursue a solo career. The departure of Doyle was a blow to the band as Doyle had received the "Bass Player of the Year" award from the Academy of Country and Western Music the year before in 1970. Doyle Holly went on to record two solo records in the 1970s, both were top 20 hits. Doyle Holly has subsequently been honored with a Block in the Walkway of Stars at the Country Music Hall of Fame as a solo artist and as a member of the legendary band Buck Owens and the Buckaroos.
In 1972 Buck Owens and the Buckaroos had another #1 hit, "Made in Japan".
On July 17, 1974, his best friend and Buckaroos guitarist Don Rich was killed when he lost control of his motorcycle and struck a guard rail on Highway 99 north of Bakersfield as he made his way to join his family for a vacation on the coast at Morro Bay. Owens was devastated. "He was like a brother, a son and a best friend," he said in the late 1990s. "Something I never said before, maybe I couldn't, but I think my music life ended when he did. Oh yeah, I carried on and I existed, but the real joy and love, the real lightning and thunder is gone forever."[5]
KUZZ Radio logo featuring a depiction of Owens' trademark guitarBefore the 1960s were done, Owens ?- with the help of manager Jack McFadden ?- began to concentrate on his financial future. He bought several radio stations, including KNIX (AM) and KNIX-FM in Phoenix and KUZZ in Bakersfield. In 1999, Owens sold the KNIX duo stations to Clear Channel Communications, but he maintained ownership of KUZZ until his death.
Owens established Buck Owens Enterprises and produced records by several artists.
Owens recorded for Warner Bros. Records, but Owens and his longtime fans were less than happy with the results; the recordings, made in Nashville, reflected the very type of bland country music he had always assailed. His spirit broken by the depression of Rich's death, he simply allowed himself to be led. He was no longer recording by the 1980s, devoting his time to overseeing his business empire from Bakersfield. Slowly, during that time, he recovered his equilibrium. Time allowed him to realize that, despite the excellent pay and friendships he'd developed on Hee Haw, the show effectively ruined his musical career by redefining him as a comedian, to the point that many who tuned in knew nothing of his phenomenal country music career or his classic hit recordings. He left the show in 1986.
Dwight Yoakam was largely influenced by Owens' style of music and eventually teamed up with him for a duet of "Streets of Bakersfield" in 1988. Their duet was Owens' first #1 single in 16 years.
The 1990s saw a flood of reissues of his Capitol recordings on compact disc. In 1974, Owens had bought back publishing rights to all of his Capitol recordings, as part of his final contract with the label. His albums had been out of print for nearly 15 years, when he released a retrospective box set in 1990. Encouraged by brisk sales, Owens struck a distribution deal with "Sundazed Records" of New York, which specializes in reissuing obscure recordings. A bulk of his Capitol catalog was reissued on CD in 1995, 1997 and recently in 2005. Sometime in the 1970s, Owens had also purchased the remaining copies of his original LP albums from Capitol's distribution warehouses across the country. Many of those records(still in the shrinkwrap) were stored by Owens for decades. He often gave them away as gifts and sold them at his nightclub for a premium price some 35 years later!
In August 1999, Owens brought back together his original Buckaroo Band to help him celebrate his 70th Birthday. They performed at Buck's Crystal Palace in Bakersfield. All the original surviving Buckaroos were there. Buck Owens, Doyle Holly, Tom Brumley, and Wille Cantu performed old hits from their heyday including "Tiger by the Tail" and "Act Naturally."
Owens was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1996. He was ranked #12 in CMT's 40 Greatest Men of Country Music in 2003.
CMT (Country Music Television) named the Buckaroos as 2nd greatest country music band in history.
Long before Owens became the famous co-host of Hee Haw, his band became known for their signature 'Bakersfield Sound', later emulated by artists such as Merle Haggard, Dwight Yoakam, and Brad Paisley. This sound was originally made possible with two trademark silver-sparkle Fender Telecaster guitars, often played simultaneously by Owens and longtime wing-man Don Rich. In 2003, Paisley blended creative styles with this guitar and his own famous Paisley Telecaster, creating what became known as the "Buck-O-Caster". Initially, only two were made; one for Paisley himself and the other presented to Buck during a New Year celebration that Paisley attended in 2004. Subsequent copies can be custom ordered at Crook Custom Guitars.
Following the death of Don Rich, Owens' latter trademark was a red, white and blue acoustic guitar, along with a 1974 Pontiac convertible "Nudiemobile", adorned with pistols and silver dollars. A similar car, created by Nudie Cohn for Elvis Presley and later won by Owens in a bet, is now enshrined behind the bar at Owens' Crystal Palace Nightclub in Bakersfield, California.
Owens would hand out replicas of his trademark acoustic guitar to friends, acquaintances and fans. Each would contain a gold plaque with the name of the recipient. Some of these guitars cost $1000 and up.
Death
Buck Owens died in his sleep of an apparent heart attack on March 25, 2006, only hours after performing at his Crystal Palace restaurant, club and museum in Bakersfield. He had successfully recovered from oral cancer in the early 1990s, but had additional health problems near the end of the 1990s and the beginning of the 21st century, including pneumonia and a minor stroke suffered in 2004. These health problems had forced him to curtail his regular weekly performances with the Buckaroos at his Crystal Palace.
The Los Angeles Times interviewed longtime Owens spokesman (and Buckaroos keyboard player) Jim Shaw, who said Owens "had come to the club early and had a chicken-fried steak dinner and bragged that it's his favorite meal." Afterwards, Owens told band members that he wasn't feeling well and was going to skip that night's performance. Shaw said a group of fans introduced themselves while Owens was preparing to drive home; when they told him that they had traveled from Oregon to hear him perform, Owens changed his mind and took the stage anyway.
Shaw recalled Owens telling the audience, "If somebody's come all that way, I'm gonna do the show and give it my best shot. I might groan and squeak, but I'll see what I can do." Shaw added, "So, he had his favorite meal, played a show and died in his sleep. We thought, that's not too bad."[6]
The front of the mausoleum where Owens is buried is inscribed "The Buck Owens Family" with the word's "Buck's Place" beneath.
His first wife, country singer Bonnie Owens, died just a month after Owens himself. His second wife was the fiddle soloist in his Hee Haw band, Janna Jae Greif. They were married for only a few days before she filed for divorce. Owens also had three sons: Buddy Alan (who charted several hits as a Capitol recording artist in the early 1970s), Michael and Johnny Owens.
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bobsmythhawk
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Tue 12 Aug, 2008 07:54 am
Casey Affleck
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born Caleb Casey Affleck-Boldt
August 12, 1975 (1975-08-12) (age 33)
Falmouth, Massachusetts, United States
Spouse(s) Summer Phoenix (2006 - present)
Official website
Awards won
Other Awards
NBR Award for Best Supporting Actor
2007 The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Casey Affleck (born August 12, 1975) is an Academy Award-, SAG Award- and Golden Globe-nominated American actor and the younger brother of actor-director-writer Ben Affleck. He is perhaps best known for his roles in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Gone Baby Gone, Ocean's Eleven (and its sequels, Ocean's Twelve and Ocean's Thirteen), and Good Will Hunting.
Biography
Early life
Affleck was born Caleb Casey Affleck-Boldt in Falmouth, Massachusetts, the son of Chris Ann (née Boldt), a school district employee and teacher, and Timothy Affleck, a drug counselor, social worker, janitor, auto mechanic, bartender, and former actor with the Theater Company of Boston.[1] As a child he had numerous pets, including cats, snakes, guinea pigs and turtles.[2] Affleck went to George Washington University, later transferring to Columbia University in New York City, where he majored in physics, astronomy, and Western philosophy.[3]
Career
Affleck's first movie role was as a sociopathic teenager in Gus Van Sant's 1995 dark comedy To Die For, alongside Joaquin Phoenix and Nicole Kidman.[4] After starring the following year in the box office flop Race the Sun (co-starring Halle Berry), he appeared in two films featuring older brother Ben Affleck: Chasing Amy and Good Will Hunting. The latter was a major hit and jump-started the careers of Matt Damon and the Affleck brothers. Ben Affleck and Damon went on to win the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. Affleck then starred in the underground movie Desert Blue, a film which met with limited success, but also featured rising star Kate Hudson.[5] He took time off from acting before playing another role.
He next starred in the black comedy Drowning Mona with Bette Midler, Jamie Lee Curtis, Neve Campbell, and Danny DeVito. The movie performed poorly at the box office and with critics. He then starred in the 2001 horror movie Soul Survivors, co-starring Luke Wilson, Wes Bentley, and Eliza Dushku. Affleck later admitted in an interview to Nylon Magazine that he was ashamed to have been involved with both films.[citation needed] Affleck followed them up with a re-make of the Rat Pack movie Ocean's Eleven, directed by Steven Soderbergh. The 2001 release had a star-studded cast, including George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Andy Garcia, and Julia Roberts. Affleck played Virgil Malloy, one of the pair of brothers hired to drive the getaway vehicle. Affleck would return to this character in Ocean's Twelve in 2004, and Ocean's Thirteen, released in June 2007. In the latter film, several scenes take place in Mexico, where Affleck lived as a child, and in which he has extended dialogue in Spanish, in which he is fluent.[6]
After establishing his movie career, Affleck turned to screenwriting, teaming up with Matt Damon to write the 2002 film Gerry about two friends who get lost while hiking in the desert, directed by Van Sant. Affleck also starred in the film The Last Kiss as a friend of Zach Braff's character and made a cameo in the Joaquin Phoenix-directed video "Tired of Being Sorry" for Balthazar Getty's band Ringside.
In 2007, he starred in the Western The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, playing Robert Ford to Brad Pitt's Jesse James. For this role he received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture at the 65th Golden Globe Awards and an Oscar nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role at the 80th Academy Awards. He also starred in the critically acclaimed Gone Baby Gone in which he appeared as the main protagonist, Patrick Kenzie. The movie was directed by his brother, Ben Affleck.
In April 2008, director Ridley Scott had announced his new project The Kind One, a period noir drama set for release in 2010. Affleck has been cast in the lead role.[7]
Personal life
Affleck married Summer Phoenix, his girlfriend of six years, on June 3, 2006[8]. The couple were introduced by her brother. The couple have two sons, Indiana August, who was born on May 31, 2004 in Amsterdam[9] and Atticus [10], who was born January 12, 2008.[11]
Affleck is involved with many animal rights movements and campaigns for PETA and Farm Sanctuary.[12] He is a vegan.[13]
Affleck speaks fluent Spanish and resides in Los Angeles, California with his family.
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bobsmythhawk
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Tue 12 Aug, 2008 07:57 am
Is It Better To Be A Jock Or A Nerd?
The answer to the eternal question "Is it better to be a jock or a nerd"?
Michael Jordan made over $300,000 a game. That equals $10,000 a minute, at an average of 30 minutes per game.
With $40 million in endorsements, he made $178,100 a day, working or not.
If he sleeps 7 hours a night, he makes $52,000 every night while visions of sugarplums dance in his head.
If he goes to see a movie, it'll cost him $9.50, but he'll make $18,550 while he's there.
If he decides to have a 5 minute egg, he'll make $618 while boiling it.
He makes $7,415/hr more than minimum wage.
He'd make $3,710 while watching each episode of Friends.
If he wanted to save up for a new Acura SLX (about $90,000) it would take him a whole 12 hours.
If someone were to hand him his salary and endorsement money, they would have to do it at the rate of $2.00 every second.
He'd probably pay around $200 for a nice round of golf, but will be reimbursed around $30,000 during that round.
Assuming he puts the federal maximum of 15% of his income into a tax deferred account (401k), he will hit the federal cap of $9500 at 8:30 a.m. on January 1st.
If you were given a penny for every 10 dollars he made, you'd be living comfortably at $65,000 a year.
He'd make about $19.60 while watching the 100 meter dash in the Olympics.
He'd make about $15,600 during the Boston Marathon.
While the common person is spending about $20 for a meal in his trendy Chicago restaurant, he'd pull in about $5600.
In his last year, he made more than twice as much as all U.S. past presidents for all of their terms combined.
... However...
... If Jordan saves 100% of his income for the next 250 years, he'll still have less than Bill Gates has today.
Thanks, fly of fire.