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Samuel Mudd
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Dr. Samuel Alexander Mudd (December 20, 1833 - January 10, 1883) was born in Charles County, Maryland. He was the fourth of ten children of Henry Lowe Mudd, and his wife, Sarah Ann Reeves. His father owned a large plantation called "Oak Hill," which was approximately 30 miles (48 km), from downtown Washington, DC. Mudd attended Georgetown College, before studying medicine at Baltimore Medical College.

After graduating in 1856, he returned to Charles County where he worked as a physician. On November 26, 1857, he married Sarah Dyer, his childhood sweetheart. They then bought their own farm near Bryantown, Maryland, and they became the parents of nine children.

Mudd had long been an advocate of slavery and, like many Marylanders, supported the Confederacy during the Civil War. He was known to associate with Confederate agents. They included the actor, John Wilkes Booth, who he met for the first time on November 13, 1864. Booth later shot President Abraham Lincoln. After Booth's assassination of Lincoln, on April 14, 1865, Booth broke his left leg while fleeing Ford's Theater. A disguised Booth and David Herold arrived at Mudd's house at around four o'clock in the morning on April 15. Mudd set, splinted and bandaged Booth's broken leg, and arranged for a carpenter to make a pair of crutches for Booth. He also procurred a carriage in Bryantown the next day, for Booth to continue his escape in.

By noon, the news of the President's assassination had reached Bryantown, and of Booth's complicity in it, as well. Dr. Mudd was aware of all of these facts. He also hid the boot he had cut off of John Wilkes Booth's broken leg, between a space in his attic wall. By not contacting any of the authorities of his activities, he soon became a suspect involved in the conspiracy.

After Booth's death, Mudd was arrested and charged with conspiracy to murder Abraham Lincoln. During his subsequent trial, Mudd repeatedly denied recognizing Booth while treating him.

On May 1, 1865, President Andrew Johnson ordered the formation of a nine-man military commission to try the conspirators. The trial began on May 10, 1865. Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell, George Atzerodt, David Herold, Samuel Mudd, Michael O'Laughlin, Edman Spangler and Samuel Arnold were all charged with conspiring to murder Lincoln.

On June 29, 1865, Mudd was found guilty of conspiracy to murder the President. The testimony of Louis J. Weichmann was crucial in procuring the conviction of Mudd and the others. He missed the death penalty by one vote and was sentenced to life imprisonment. Four of the defendants, Surratt, Powell, Atzerodt and Herold were hanged at the Old Penitentiary at the Washington Arsenal on July 7, 1865. Mudd and the three others were imprisoned at Fort Jefferson.

During an outbreak of yellow fever in 1867 at the fort, the prison doctor died. Mudd agreed to take over the position.

Mudd was pardoned by President Andrew Johnson on February 8, 1869, released from prison on March 8, 1869, and returned home to Maryland on March 20, 1869. In 1877 Dr. Mudd ran unsuccessfully as a Democratic candidate for the Maryland House of Delegates. He died of pneumonia on January 10, 1883, and was buried at St. Mary's Catholic Church Cemetery in Bryantown, Maryland.

Note that the expression "His name is mud" is not related to Samuel Mudd as there are much earlier references to it, although this is frequently cited as being its origin; this fact is pointed out by some linguists and semanticists as an example of "folk etymology" or "fake etymology".

Mudd's grandson Richard Mudd unsuccesfully tried to clear his grandfather's name from the stigma of aiding John Wilkes Booth.

His life was the subject of a 1936 John Ford-directed film The Prisoner of Shark Island. It had a script by Nunnally Johnson. Another film, entitled The Ordeal of Dr. Mudd, was made in 1980. It stars Dennis Weaver as Mudd, and espouses the point of view that Mudd was innocent of any conspiracy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Mudd

rene Dunne
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.


Irene Dunne (December 20, 1898 - September 4, 1990), was born Irene Marie Dunn in Louisville, Kentucky. She was a famous film actress and a star with both a solid and a surprisingly erotic screen presence throughout the 1930s. She is now best remembered for her mad-cap and hilarious performance in "The Awful Truth", and as Martha Hanson in George Stevens' 1948 "I Remember Mama" In addition, she introduced the song Smoke Gets in Your Eyes to filmgoers in the 1935 Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers film Roberta, playing a glamorous White Russian princess. She retired from the screen in 1952 as one of the richest and most successful of Hollywoods actresses. She had received five Academy Award Best Actress nominations in her career; three in the 1930s and two more in the 40s.

In 1957, after retiring from show business, Dunne was appointed one of five alternate U.S. delegates to the United Nations by Dwight David Eisenhower. This was done in recognition of her charitable works and interest in conservative and Republican political causes. She was also a devout Catholic who became a daily communicant.

She was married to Dr. Francis Dennis Griffin from July 16, 1928, until his death on October 15, 1965; they had 1 adopted daughter, Mary Frances.

She died in her Holmby Hills home of cardiac arrest in Los Angeles, California at the age of 91, and is entombed in the Calvary Cemetery in East Los Angeles, California. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6440 Hollywood Blvd. She is survived by her adopted daughter's family.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irene_Dunne

Harvey Firestone
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.


Harvey Samuel Firestone' (December 20, 1868 - February 7, 1938) was the founder of one of the first global makers of automobile tires. Work at companies, such as the one he owned, helped turn the U.S. into the world's industrial giant.


Biography

Born in the small town of Columbiana, Ohio, Firestone worked for the Columbus Buggy Company in Columbus before starting his own company in 1890, making rubber tires for carriages.

In 1904 Firestone joined Henry Ford to make rubber tires for the newly popular automobiles. In 1900 he created the Firestone Tire & Rubber Company, which became one of the world's largest companies. The Ford0Firestone corporate marriage was later cemented when Henry's grandson William Clay Ford wed Martha Firestone, grandaughter of Harvey, who then became parents of current Ford Motor Company Chairman, William Clay Ford, Jr..

Firestone was concerned both with the manufacture of tires and with securing supplies of rubber from trees: At one point, the company had a rubber plantation in Liberia that covered more than 4,000 square kilometers (1 million acres). During WWII the company was called on by the U.S. Government to make artillery shells, aluminum kegs for food transport, and other rubberized military products.


The Millionaires Club

Firestone, Ford and Thomas Edison were generally considered the three leaders in American industry at the time, and often worked and vacationed together. All three were part of a very exclusive group titled "The Millionaires Club" . This was a true gentlemen's club where one would call another in the appropriate city and ask him to go purchase a building or other items for them without so much as a handshake, merely on his word.

The main library of Princeton University is named Firestone Library in his honor. It is among the largest university libraries in the world.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_Firestone

Well, there's our hawkman, folks. Very interesting bio's today, Bob. I was particularly interested in Samuel Mudd, as I was one of the ones who thought the expression, " Your name's mud," came from him.

Thanks for clearing that up, buddy.

I just had an interesting experience myself, indicentally. When I left our studio, I found on my kitchen table a lovely poinsettia plant with no card explaining from whence it came.

Was it one of you? <smile>

Poem of the day:
A Red Flower
by Claude McKay (bookmark) (print) (next)
Author Category: Americas. Show lines.


Your lips are like a southern lily red,
Wet with the soft rain-kisses of the night,
In which the brown bee buries deep its head,
When still the dawn's a silver sea of light.

Your lips betray the secret of your soul,
The dark delicious essence that is you,
A mystery of life, the flaming goal
I seek through mazy pathways strange and new.

Your lips are the red symbol of a dream,
What visions of warm lilies they impart,
That line the green bank of a fair blue stream,
With butterflies and bees close to each heart!

Brown bees that murmur sounds of music rare,
That softly fall upon the langourous breeze,
Wafting them gently on the quiet air
Among untended avenues of trees.

O were I hovering, a bee, to probe
Deep down within your scented heart, fair flower,
Enfolded by your soft vermilion robe,
Amorous of sweets, for but one perfect hour!

News break:

Judge Rules Against Pa. Biology Curriculum
AP - 1 hour, 9 minutes ago

HARRISBURG, Pa. - In one of the biggest courtroom clashes between faith and evolution since the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial, a federal judge barred a Pennsylvania public school district Tuesday from teaching "intelligent design" in biology class, saying the concept is creationism in disguise. U.S. District Judge John E. Jones delivered a stinging attack on the Dover Area School Board, saying its first-in-the-nation decision in October 2004 to insert intelligent design into the science curriculum violates the constitutional separation of church and state.

Well, well. Interesting turn of events, listeners.

i'm sure that decision is going to provide a lot of "bread" for quite a few lawyers . i bet some of them are already salivating ! they'll prove that the've been designed "intelligently" - no matter what side they are on ! hbg

Yes, hamburger, I'm afraid that you are right.

Well, folks, in surfing the web today, I was reminded of some folk legends. One of 'em was John Henry. His statue stands at the Big Bend Tunnel in West-by-God-Virginia.

Been a while since we have had fold music on our virtual radio, so let's go for it. This version by Johnny Cash is long, and it ain't the one I know, folks, but it tells the story:

Legend of John Henry's Hammer

John Henry's pappy woke him up one midnight
He said, "'Fore the sheriff comes I wanna tell you - listen boy!
Said, Learn to ball a jack, learn to lay a track, learn to pick and shovel too,
And take my hammer! It'll do anything you tell it to.

John Henry's mammy had about a dozen babies,
John Henry's pappy broke jail about a dozen times
The babies all got sick and when the doctor wanted money,
He said, I'll pay you quarter at a time startin' tomorrow
That's the pay for a steel driver on this line.

Then the section foreman said, Hey - hammer swinger!
I see you brought you own hammer boy, but what else can all those muscles do
And he said, I can turn a jack, I can lay a track, I can pick and shovel too
(Can you swing a hammer boy?)
Yes, Sir, I?ll do anything you hire me to.

Now ain't you something! So high and mighty wif' your muscles!
Just go ahead, boy, and pick up that hammer! Pick up the hammer!

He said, Get a rusty spike and swing it down three times.
I'll pay you a nickel a day for every inch you sink it to.
Go on and do what you say you can do.

With a steep nose hammer on a four foot switch handle,
John Henry raised it back 'til it touched his heels. Then
The spike went through the cross tie, and it split it half in two.
Thirty-five cents a day for drivin' steel.
(Sweat! Sweat boy, sweat! You owe me two more swings!)
I was born for driven steel.

Well John Henry hammered in the mountain.
He'd give a grunt and he'd give a groan with every swing.
The women folks for miles around heard him and come down,
To watch him make the cold steel ring. Lord what a swinger!
Just listen to that cold steel ring!

But the bad boss come up laughin' at John Henry.
Said, You full of vinegar now, but you about through!
We gonna get a steam drill to do your share of drivin?,
Then what's all them muscles gonna do? Huh, John Henry?
Gonna take a little bit of vinegar out of you.

John Henry said, I feed four little brothers,
And baby sister's walking on her knees.
Did the lord say that machines aughtta take the place of living?
And what's a substitute for bread and beans? (I saint seen it)
Do engines get rewarded for their steam

John Henry hid in a coal mine for his dinner nap.
Had thirty minutes to rest before the bell.
The mine boss hollered, Get up, whoever you are, and get a pick axe!
Give me enough coal to start another Hell. (And keep it burnin!)
Mine me enough to start another Hell!

John Henry said to his captain, A man ain't nothin' but a man.
But if you'll bring that steam drill round, I'll beat it fair and honest.
I'll die with my hammer in my hand but I'll be laughing
'Cuz you can't replace a steel driven man.

There was a big crowd of people at the mountain,
John Henry said to the steam drill, How is you?
Pardon me mister steam drill, I suppose you didn't hear me. I said how're you
Well can you turn a jack, can you lay a track, can you pick and shovel too?
Listen - this hammer swinger's talkin' to you!

2000 people hollered, Go, John Henry!
Then somebody hollered, The mountain's caving in!
John Henry told the captain, Tell the kind folks don't worry.
That ain't nothin' but my hammer suckin' wind! (It keeps me breathing.)
A steel driver's muscle I intend.

Captain, tell the people, move back further!
I'm at the finish line and there ain't no drill.
It's so far behind, but yet ain't got the brains to quit it!
When she blows up she'll scatter cross the hills! (Lord Lordy!)
When she blows up she'll scatter cross the hills!

Well John Henry had a little woman,
I believe the lady's name was Polly Ann. (Yeah that was his good woman.)
John Henry threw his hammer over his shoulder and went on home.
He laid down to rest his weary back, and early next mornin', he said,
Come here Polly Ann Come here Sugar
Ya know, I believe this is the first time I ever watched the sun come up
That I couldn't come up.
Take my hammer, Polly Ann, and go to that railroad.
Swing that hammer like you seen me do it.
And when you're swinging with the lead man,
They'll all know they'll all know you're John Henry's woman
But, but tell them ain't all you can do.
Tell 'em I can hoist a jack, and I can lay a track,
I can pick and shovel too! (Ain't no machine can!)
That's been proved to you!

There was a big crowd of mourners at the church house.
The section hands laid him in the sand.
Trains go by on the rails John Henry laid.
They slow down and take off their hats, the men do.
When they come to the place John Henry's layin', restin' his back,
Some of 'em say, 'Mornin', steel driver! You shor' was a hammer swinger!
Then they go on by, pickin' up a little speed. (Clickity clack, clickity clack, clickity clack, clickity clack)
Yonder lies a steel drivin' man, oh lord!
Yonder lies a steel drivin' man.
Yonder lies a steel drivin' man, oh lord!
Yonder lies a steel drivin' man.
Yonder lies a steel drivin' man, oh lord!
Yonder lies a steel drivin' man.

Ms. Letty, if i may, i'd like to play for all the ska fans in the audience, Millie Small's breakthrough hit:

My boy lollipop
You make my heart go giddyup
You are as sweet as candy
You're my sugar dandy

Woah My boy lollipop
Don't you ever leave me
Because it would grieve me
My heart told me so

I love you I love you I love you so
But I don't want you to know
I need you I need you I need you so
And I'll never let you go

My boy lollipop
You make my heart go giddy up
You set the world on fire
You are my one desire
Woah my lollipop

I love you I love you I love you so
But I don't want you to know
I need you I need you I need you so
And I'll never let you go

My boy lollipop
You make my heart go giddy up
You set the world on fire
You are my one desire

Woah my lollipop
Woah my lollipop
My boy lollipop
My boy lollipop
My boy lollipop

Mr. Turtle. Not only may you play ska, we insist that you do. I am not familiar with Millie Small nor ska, but that is the entire point of our radio station.

Thanks, buddy. Some music falls on tin ears, other music is right down "git down". Depends on the mood, right?

ah, it's that time of night, listeners.

Here is my mood music:


It seem like happiness is just a thing called Joe.
He's got a smile that makes the lilacs want to grow.
He's got a way that makes the angels heave a sigh
When they know little Joe's passing by.
Sometimes the cabin's gloomy and the table's bare,
But then he'll kiss me and it's Christmas everywhere.
Troubles fly away and life is easy go.
Does he love me good? That's all I need to know.
Seems like happiness is just a thing called Joe.

Sometimes the cabin's gloomy and the table's bare,
But then he'll kiss me and it's Christmas everywhere.
Troubles fly away and life is easy go.
Does he love me good? That's all I need to know.
Seems like happiness is just a thing called Joe.
Little Joe, my little Joe, little Joe.

Goodnight, all.
From Letty with love

Good morning, WA2K radio fans and contributors.

Go to sleep in the dark; wake up in the dark, right? Isn't this supposed to be the shortest day in the year?

Here's an interesting song from a Romanian performer:

Michael Cretu
» Heavy Traffic

Heavy traffic, highway song
Steely bodies on parade
Heavy traffic, roll along
High performance cavalcade
Heavy traffic, rubber burning
All together, stop and go
Heavy traffic, miss a turning
Interrupt the traffic flow
If I ever get to heaven
I'll be sure to go by train
If I make it home by seven
I'll never drive again
Heavy traffic, stormy weather
Monday morning on the road
Heavy traffic, wait forever
Following an overload
Heavy traffic, never-ending
Spitting poison in the air
Metal river, who's pretending
You won't ever get me there
If I ever get to heaven
I'll be sure to go by train
If I make it home by seven
I'll never drive again

Good morning WA2K.

Interesting song, Letty. I've never heard Michael Cretu. Do you like him?

A few events that occurred today in history:

1620 - The Pilgrims land on what is now known as Plymouth Rock.

1872 - HMS Challenger sails from Portsmouth on the four-year scientific expedition that would lay the foundation for the science of oceanography.

1880 - Isle of Man becomes first political entity that allows women to vote.
1891 - First basketball game played.

1898 - Marie and Pierre Curie discover radium.

1913 - First crossword puzzle published.

1914 - First feature-length silent film comedy, Tillie's Punctured Romance, starring Marie Dressler, Mabel Normand and Charles Chaplin, is released.

1937 - First screening of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first feature-length animated movie.

1958 - Charles de Gaulle is elected as the first President of France and establishes the Fifth Republic.

1987 - The passenger ferry Doña Paz sinks after colliding with the oil tanker Vector 1; well over 1,000 die.

1988 - A terrorist bomb explodes and crashes Pan Am flight 103, a Boeing 747, over Lockerbie, Scotland killing 270, including eleven on the ground.

And a Happy Birthday to Samuel L. Jackson and Kiefer Sutherland.

There's our Raggedy, listeners. Well, PA, I never heard of him either, but I simply was interested in playing that song from a Romanian as a means of representation in the diverse fields of music. Let's dedicate that one to all the romance languages. <smile>

Now Sam and Keifer I know folks, and here's a song for one of them. Which one, do you suppose?

People are strange when you're a stranger
Faces look ugly when you're alone
Women seem wicked when you're unwanted
Streets are uneven when you're down

When you're strange
Faces come out of the rain
When you're strange
No one remembers your name

People are strange when you're a stranger
Faces look ugly when you're alone
Women seem wicked when you're unwanted
Streets are uneven when you're down

When you're strange
Faces come out of the rain
When you're strange
No one remembers your name

People are strange when you're a stranger
Faces look ugly when you're alone
Women seem wicked when you're unwanted
Streets are uneven when you're down

When you're strange
Faces come out of the rain
When you're strange
No one remembers your name

Maila Nurmi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
(Redirected from Vampira)

Actress Maila Nurmi (born December 21, 1921 in Petsamo, Finland - now Pechenga, Russia) portrayed "Vampira" in many shows, and starred in Ed Wood's Plan 9 From Outer Space. She was also known as a close friend of James Dean and had known Marilyn Monroe when she was just known as Norma Jean. She unsuccessfully sued Elvira for stealing her act.


[edit]

Early life

Born in Petsamo, Finland, she was the niece of a famous Finnish long-distance runner Paavo Nurmi. Before moving to the United States, she worked as a model.

As Vampira

The idea for the Vampira character was born in 1953 when she caught the attention of a television producer Hunt Stromberg Jr. with her tight black dress and pale white skin. She was offered the role of Vampira on ABC-TV station. Vampira was a horror hostess who wandered through a hallway of mist and cobwebs to introduce viewers to late-night horror movies. She also engaged in a variety of horror-related comedy antics, including talking to a pet spider called Rollo and encouraging viewers to write for epitaphs instead of autographs.

She was nominated for an Emmy as "Most Outstanding Female Personality" in 1954, and later appeared in Ed Woods infamous low-budget film Plan 9 from Outer Space. She also starred in three other movies in the 1950s and early 1960s.


Later life

In the 1980s she unsuccessfully sued Mark Pierson for character rights over the hostess of a horror movie show called Elvira, an updated version of Vampira. As of 1994, she lived in Hollywood, with a few house animals and without car or telephone.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampira

Paul Winchell
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.


Paul Winchell (December 21, 1922 - June 24, 2005), born Paul Wilchen, was a ventriloquist and voice actor whose fame flourished in the 1950s and 1960s. He was also an amateur inventor and he patented an artificial human heart which he donated to the University of Utah.

The ventriloquist figures for which he was best known include Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead Smiff. Both figures were carved by Chicago-based figure maker Frank Marshall. His first series as a ventriloquist was actually on radio with Mahoney in 1943; the program was short-lived, as he was overshadowed by Edgar Bergen, though radio historian John Dunning, in his 1998 tome On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old Time Radio, felt Winchell was the better ventriloquist.

His later career included a great deal of voice-over acting for animated cartoons, notably for Disney and Hanna-Barbera. For the latter, he played the character Dick Dastardly in several series (notably Wacky Races and Dastardly and Muttley), Fleagle Beagle on The Banana Splits Adventure Hour, and Gargamel on The Smurfs. For Disney, he was best known for voicing the character of Tigger from Disney's Winnie the Pooh films, and won a Grammy for his performance in Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too. Beginning with the television series The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, he alternated in the role with Jim Cummings, the current voice of Pooh. In a somewhat controversial move, Cummings took over permanently beginning with The Tigger Movie in 2000 (though Winchell played Tigger one last time in a Walt Disney World Pooh attraction). Other Disney roles included parts in The Aristocats as a Chinese cat and The Fox and the Hound as Boomer the woodpecker. On TV, he played Zummi Gummi on The Gummi Bears, and in commercials, voiced the Scrubbing Bubbles for Dow Chemicals.

Other work included on-camera guest appearances on such series as The Beverly Hillbillies, The Lucy Show, and The Brady Bunch, as well as a part in the Jerry Lewis movie Which Way to the Front?. On Love, American Style, he appeared with fellow ventriloquist Shari Lewis in a sketch about two shy people in a waiting room who choose to introduce themselves to each other through their dummies.

Winchell was quite interested in technology - particularly the internet - right up to the time of his death. He created a personal website, www.paulwinchell.com, which he personally developed and maintained until 2004. For a short time he operated the now-defunct website ProtectGod.com, which discussed the theology of the latter years of his life.

He had five children: one son Stacy Paul Winchell and a daughter Stephanie from his first marriage to Dorothy (Dottie) Movitz, a daughter April Winchell, a comedian and voice actress, from his second marriage, to actress Nina Russel, and two step-sons Larry and Keith Freeman from his third marriage, to Jean Freeman.

Winchell's autobiography, Winch (2004), exposed many dark areas of Winchell's life, which had hitherto been kept very private. The autobiography opened old wounds within the Winchell family, prompting daughter April to publicly defend her mother who was negatively portrayed in the book. Winchell estranged his children, who were not immediately notified of his death, as indicated by a message on April's website: "T.T.F.N. I got a phone call a few minutes ago, telling me that my father passed away yesterday. A source close to my dad, or at least, closer than I was, decided to tell me himself, instead of letting me find out on the news, which I appreciate. Apparently a decision had been made not to tell me, or my father's other children. My father was a very troubled and unhappy man. If there is another place after this one, it is my hope that he now has the peace that eluded him on earth."

In a strange coincidence, John Fiedler, who voiced Piglet in the Winnie the Pooh films, died on June 25th - the day after Winchell's death.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Winchell

Kiefer Sutherland
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Kiefer William Frederick Dempsey George Rufus Sutherland (born December 21, 1966) is a Canadian television and film actor. He was born in London, England while his parents were working there, but was raised in Canada where he attended a Catholic school. He is the son of Donald Sutherland and Shirley Douglas, both actors themselves, and the grandson of Canadian statesman Tommy Douglas. He has a twin sister named Rachel, who has had a few credits in film production but does not work as an actress.

Originally known for his work in films, and for being a member of the Brat Pack in the 1980s, now Sutherland is probably best known for his role as special field agent Jack Bauer on the hit U.S. television show 24. 24 was originally intended to be a one time mini-series in which special agent Jack Bauer (played by Sutherland) has to stop a presidential candidate from being assassinated as well as rescue his wife and daughter (who are being held hostage). The first season was such a hit that there were second, third, and fourth seasons made. A fifth season will begin in January 2006. Sutherland also lent his voice and motion design, along with various other cast members from the series, to 24: The Game. The game is based on events that occured between the second and third seasons of the show and will be released in February 2006. There was also a graphic novel published by IDW that was released in the summer of 2004. The graphic novel is about Sutherland's character Jack Bauer when he first joins CTU; this takes place before the first season occurs.

After the original broadcast of the November 25, 2003 episode of 24, Kiefer Sutherland broke character to address the issue of gun safety, possibly to limit the liability of Fox Network in case someone attempted to recreate the Russian Roulette scenes. Sutherland gave a promotion for an organization called Americans For Gun Safety Foundation. Sutherland's personal views on gun politics are unknown.

Sutherland broke character again on 24 during the original broadcast of the February 7, 2005 episode for a PSA addressing Arab Americans portrayed on the show. He said that Arab-Americans are united with other Americans in their stand against terrorists. This PSA was in response to a complaint and possible lawsuit by an Arab-American group.

On April 18, 2000, Sutherland was a featured speaker at the Friends of Medicare rally in Edmonton, Alberta, which sought to prevent the governing Conservative premier Ralph Klein from amending Bill 11 in a manner which protesters alleged would permit "two-tier health care" in Canada.

During the fall of 2001, Sutherland unintentionally interrupted the filming of the premiere episode of the online series The Lonely Island. In the episode "White Power", The Dudes beat an old lady and steal her purse to facilitate their addiction to teeth whiteners. Sutherland, driving by at the time, jumped out of his car and intervened, only to discover that he was interrupting a student film. A portion of Sutherland's appearance is displayed after the credits.

Kiefer is named after Warren Kiefer, who directed the Donald Sutherland-starring movie Castle Of The Living Dead. During high school, Sutherland's nickname was "Reefer", predictably enough.

Kiefer's '24' based fame extends to Japan where he reprised his role as Agent Jack Bauer to be the spokesman for Calorie Mate Japan, a nutritional supplement brand.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiefer_Sutherland

Samuel L. Jackson
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Samuel Leroy Jackson (born December 21, 1948 in Washington, DC) is an American actor. He has starred in many Hollywood movies, to the point of holding the title of highest box office grossing actor. His performance in Jungle Fever was so acclaimed, the 1991 Cannes Film Festival created a Supporting Actor award just for him. Along with that award, he has won many others including a Silver Berlin Bear, A BAFTA Film Award, and two Independent Spirit Awards.

Roger Ebert wrote of him:

Like Bill Cosby, Jackson is arguing against the anti-intellectual message that success for young black males is better sought in the worlds of rap and sports than in the classroom.

He is perhaps best known for his roles in the Quentin Tarantino movies Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown, as Jedi Mace Windu in the prequel Star Wars Trilogy, and the Spike Lee movies Do The Right Thing, Mo' Better Blues and Jungle Fever. Thus, he is usually cast into roles that involve a cool, controlled, "in-the-know" black man. His roles almost always involve a memorable line delivery; and Jackson's trademark voice inflection lend heavily to this key attribute.

He received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction.

Trivia

* He grew up in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
* Jackson gave his consent for Marvel Comics to design their "Ultimate" version of the character Nick Fury after his likeness.
* Despite depicting many "tough guy" characters in movies, Jackson is a vegetarian. He is also a stutterer.
* Jackson became an avid Liverpool F.C. fan after filming the movie The 51st State in Liverpool, England
* Jackson has been parodied twice on Chappelle's Show, played by Dave Chappelle.
o During the first season, a sketch involves Mace Windu (who looks and acts like Jackson's stereotypical role, complete with a Jheri curl and a beard) is elected head of the Jedi Council.
o During the second season, a fake commercial peddling "Sam Jackson" beer (a parody of Samuel Adams).


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_L._Jackson