A Star Is Born 1976 premiere
Saturday December 18th, Regency Village Theatre 961 Broxton Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024
List activity
100 views
• 0 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
50 people
- Music Artist
- Actress
- Producer
Barbra Streisand is an American singer, actress, director and producer and one of the most successful personalities in show business. She is the only person ever to receive all of the following: Oscar, Tony, Emmy, Grammy, Golden Globe, Cable Ace, National Endowment for the Arts, and Peabody awards, as well as the Kennedy Center Honor, American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement honor and the Film Society of Lincoln Center Chaplin Award.
She was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1942 to Diana Kind (née Ida Rosen), a singer turned school secretary, and Emanuel Streisand, a high school teacher. Her father died when she was 15 months old. She has a brother, Sheldon, and a half-sister, Roslyn Kind, from their mother's remarriage. As a child she attended the Beis Yakov Jewish School in Brooklyn. She was raised in a middle-class family and grew up dreaming of becoming an actress (or even an actress / conductor, as she happily described her teenage years at one of her concerts).
After a period as a nightclub singer and off-Broadway performer in New York City she began to attract interest and a fan base, thanks to her original and powerful vocal talent. She debuted on Broadway in the 1962 musical comedy "I Can Get It For You Wholesale" by Harold Rome, receiving a Tony Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress and a New York Drama Critics Poll award. The following year she reached great commercial success with her first Columbia Records solo releases, "The Barbra Streisand Album" (multiple Grammy winner, including "Best Album of the Year") and "The Second Barbra Streisand Album" (her first RIAA Gold Album); these albums, mostly devoted to composer Harold Arlen, brought her critical praise and, most of all, public acclaim all over the US. In 1964 she had another smash Broadway hit when she portrayed legendary Broadway star Fanny Brice in "Funny Girl" by Jule Styne and Bob Merrill; the show's main song, "People", became her first hit single and she appeared on the cover of Time magazine. After many TV appearances as a guest on various music and variety shows (such as an episode of The Judy Garland Show (1963), for which she was nominated for an Emmy), she signed an exclusive contract with CBS for a series of annual TV specials. My Name Is Barbra (1965) (which won an Emmy) and Color Me Barbra (1966) were extremely successful.
After a brief London stage period and the birth of her son Jason Gould (with then-husband Elliott Gould), in summer 1967 she gave a memorable free concert in New York City, "A Happening in Central Park", that was filmed and later broadcast (in an edited version) as a TV special; then she flew to Hollywood for her first movie, Funny Girl (1968), a filming of her stage success. The picture, directed by William Wyler, opened in 1968 and became a hit in the US and abroad, making her an international "superstar" and multiple award winner, including the Best Actress Oscar. After a series of screen musicals, such as Gene Kelly's Hello, Dolly! (1969) and Vincente Minnelli's On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1970), she wanted to try comedies, resulting in such films as The Owl and the Pussycat (1970) and What's Up, Doc? (1972). She turned to dramas and turned out Up the Sandbox (1972) and the classic The Way We Were (1973), directed by Sydney Pollack and co-starring Robert Redford. The song "The Way We Were" (written by Marvin Hamlisch and Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman) became one of her biggest hits and most memorable and famous songs.
She returned to TV for a new special conceived as a musical journey covering many world musical styles, Barbra Streisand and Other Musical Instruments (1973), then returned (for contractual reasons) to her Fanny Brice role in a sequel to her hit "Funny Girl" film, Funny Lady (1975), and the next year turned out one of her most personal film projects, A Star Is Born (1976), one of the biggest hits of the year for which she won a Golden Globe for Best Actress and her second Oscar, for the song "Evergreen". Always extremely busy on the discography side, averaging one album a year throughout the '70s and '80s, she had a string of successful singles and albums, such as "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" (duet with Neil Diamond), "Enough is Enough" (with Donna Summer), "The Main Event" (from her film The Main Event (1979) with her friend Ryan O'Neal) and the album "Guilty", written for her by The Bee Gees' Barry Gibb, which sold more than 10 million copies worldwide.
She debuted as a director with the musical drama Yentl (1983), in which she also portrayed a Jewish girl who is forced to pass herself off as a man to pursue her dreams. The movie received generally positive reviews and the beautiful score by Michel Legrand and lyricists Marilyn Bergman and Alan Bergman stands up as one of Streisand's finest musical works. The film received several Oscar nominations, winning in two categories, but she was not nominated as Best Director, which disappointed both her and her fans, many of whom consider this the Academy's biggest "snub".
In 1985 her album "The Broadway Album" was an unexpected runaway success, winning a Grammy Award and helping to introduce a new generation to the world of American musical theater. In 1986 she performed in a memorable concert, after 19 years of stage silence, "One Voice". She returned to the screen in Nuts (1987), a drama directed by Martin Ritt, in the role of a prostitute accused of murder who fights to avoid being labeled "insane" at her trial. In 1991 she appeared in The Prince of Tides (1991), which many consider to be the pinnacle of her screen career, playing a psychiatrist who tries to help a man (Nick Nolte) to find the pieces of his past life. The film received seven Oscar nominations (but again NOT for Best Directing), but she did receive a nomination from the DGA (Directors Guild of America) for Best Director. In 1994 she returned to the stage after 27 years for a series of sold-out concerts (for the televised version of one of these, she won another Emmy).
In the 1990s she broke several personal records: with two #1 albums ("Back to Broadway" in 1993 and "Higher Ground" in 1997) and became the only artist to achieve a #1 album on the Billboard charts in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s (she extended this record into the 21st century in 2009 with the jazz album "Love is the Answer"). In 1996 she starred in her third picture as director, The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996), with Jeff Bridges and Lauren Bacall. The film had a "the girl got the guy" ending, and the same happened to her in real life--the next year she married well known TV actor James Brolin.
In 2000 she focused her career again on concerts ("Timeless") and in 2006-07 with a European tour. She made only two more films--a supporting role as a sex therapist mother in the Ben Stiller comedy Meet the Fockers (2004) and its sequel, Little Fockers (2010), alongside Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro. She published a book, "Passion for Design", in 2010 and celebrated her friendship with the Bergmans with an entire album of their songs, "What Matters Most" (2011), that debuted in the top 10.
After a long break from filming, she returned in a starring role for the 2012 holiday season with The Guilt Trip (2012), a mother/son picture co-starring Seth Rogen and directed by Anne Fletcher, and is working on putting together a film version of the well-known Jule Styne musical "Gypsy". In almost 50 years of career, Streisand has contributed to the show business industry in a personal and unique way, collecting a multi-generational fan base; she has a powerful and recognize vocal range, and a raucous and often self-deprecating sense of humor, which doesn't prevent her from showing the serious and dramatic sides of her personality. Her strong political belief in social justice infuses her professional career and personal life, and she makes no bones about what she believes; her willingness to put her money where her mouth is has resulted in some truly vicious attacks by many who hold opposite political views, but that hasn't stopped her from acting on her beliefs. She has been honored with the Humanitarian Award from the Human Rights Campaign, an Honorary Doctorate in Arts and Humanities from Brandeis University in 1995, an Honorary Doctorate of Philosophy from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2013 and the bestowing by the government of France the title of Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters. She supports many humanitarian causes through the Streisand Foundation and has been a dedicated environmentalist for many years; she endowed a chair in environmental studies in 1987 and donated her 24-acre estate to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. In addition, she was the lead founder for the Clinton Climate Change Initiative. This effort brought together a consortium of major cities around the world to drive down greenhouse gas emissions. She is a leading spokesperson and fund-raiser for social and political causes close to her heart and has often dedicated proceeds from her live concert performances to benefit programs she supports.- Music Artist
- Actor
- Composer
Kris Kristofferson was born in Brownsville, Texas, to Mary Ann (Ashbrook) and Lars Henry Kristofferson. His paternal grandparents were Swedish, and his father was a United States Air Force general who pushed his son to a military career. Kris was a Golden Gloves boxer and went to Pomona College in California. From there, he earned a Rhodes scholarship to study literature at Oxford University. He ultimately joined the United States Army and achieved the rank of captain. He became a helicopter pilot, which served him well later. In 1965, he resigned his commission to pursue songwriting. He had just been assigned to become a teacher at USMA West Point. He got a job sweeping floors in Nashville studios. There he met Johnny Cash, who initially took some of his songs but ignored them. He was also working as a commercial helicopter pilot at the time. He got Cash's attention when he landed his helicopter in Cash's yard and gave him some more tapes. Cash then recorded Kristofferson's "Sunday Morning Coming Down", which was voted the 1970 Song of the Year by the Country Music Association. Kris was noted for his heavy boozing. He lost his helicopter pilot job when he passed out at the controls, and his drinking ruined his marriage to singer Rita Coolidge, when he was reaching a bottle and half of Jack Daniels daily. He gave up alcohol in 1976. His acting career nose-dived after making Heaven's Gate (1980). In recent years, he has made a comeback with his musical and acting careers. He does say that he prefers his music, but says his children are his true legacy.- Actress
- Music Department
- Additional Crew
Rita Coolidge was born on 1 May 1945 in Lafayette, Tennessee, USA. She is an actress, known for Octopussy (1983), Splash (1983) and Christmas in the Clouds (2001). She has been married to Tatsuya Suda since 19 June 2004. She was previously married to Kris Kristofferson.- Costume and Wardrobe Department
Ames Cushing is known for Nicole (1976).- Daphne Newton was born on 8 March 1907 in Croydon, Surrey, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Our Mutual Friend (1958), Nicholas Nickleby (1957) and ITV Play of the Week (1955). She was married to Peter Gray. She died on 20 January 1986 in Chagford, Devon, England, UK.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Helmut Berger - Austrian born film actor, mostly known for starring in Luchino Visconti's films, which are now considered modern classics. Born Helmut Steinberger in Salzburg in 1944, he turned down a prospect of running a family hotel business and went to London where he worked as waiter to pay his way through drama school. Later he attended the University of Perugia in Italy and spent some time in France. His acting career began with French and Italian commercials and showed no signs of progress until he was picked up by Luchino Visconti out of pool of "extras" during the shooting of Sandra (1965) in 1964. Berger's relationships with Visconti, whose partner he remained for 12 years, brought him to the attention of press and allowed him to act in some Visconti's films such as The Damned (1969), Ludwig (1973) and Conversation Piece (1974). Visconti is said to view Berger as the very image of his idea of a "demonic, insane and sexually perverted" man. As a matter of fact Berger often portrayed anguished souls and sinister villains. His acting career continued throughout the 1970s but was temporarily broken up in the early 80s when he battled alcohol problem. He appeared in numerous French, Italian, German films and spent one season on American soap Dynasty (1981) but few directors used his gifts with the same skill as Visconti. His autobiography "Ich" (Me), in which he famously referred to his relationships with Visconti as "marriage" and claimed to be the director's widow, appeared in 1998. Berger is still very active appearing in TV series regularly. He also very modestly attributed his acting achievements to Visconti's directing.- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Alana Stewart was born on 18 May 1945 in San Diego, California, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Delivered (2011), Wasted in Babylon (1999) and Evel Knievel (1971). She was previously married to Rod Stewart and George Hamilton.- Producer
- Actor
- Make-Up Department
Peters made his Hollywood debut in Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments (1956) as the boy on the donkey crossing the Red Sea. He went on to be a hard-case kid who spent his formative years in and out of reform school. Peters entered the family business of hairdressing at age 14. Armed with an instinctive genius for self-promotion, he amassed a huge celebrity clientele at his trendy Jon Peters Salon on Rodeo Drive, raking in millions by merchandising the salon's ancillary cosmetic products. Privy to confidences that the rich and famous only reveal to their hairdressers, Peters became hip to the ways and means of Hollywood. In 1973, he fell in love with his client Barbra Streisand and proceeded to manage her early music and film career. He produced her 1976 remake of A Star Is Born (1976) which yielded over $100 million at the box office and four Oscar nominations including the Oscar-winning song, "Evergreen". Peters went on to produce a string of best-selling Streisand albums, "The Main Event", The Eyes of Laura Mars" and "Caddyshack". Peters blossomed into an A-list producer, a status he's maintained over 30 years.
In 1980, Peters teamed with former Casablanca Records and Filmworks exec Peter Guber; together with Neil Bogart, Peters and Guber formed the Polygram Productions, later renamed the Boardwalk Company. A series of mergers and sell-offs later, Guber-Peters was born in 1983. The team's willingness to take enormous chances with huge amounts of money transformed Guber and Peters into the wunderkind of Hollywood, especially after such critical and financial successes as Missing (1982), Flashdance (1983), The Color Purple (1985), Witches of Eastwick (1987), Gorillas in the Mist (1988), and Rain Man (1989). Guber-Peters acquired Chuck Barris Productions (The Gong Show, The Dating Game, The Newlywed Game), cementing their role in television as Guber-Peters-Barris. The partnership took its biggest risk and scored its biggest hit with Batman (1989) which won Peters and his partner a multimillion-dollar seven-year WB contract. Within months, they were wooed away by Sony Corporation, which offered Guber and Peters one billion dollars to assume chief executive posts.
Peters left to start Peters Entertainment which has produced such blockbusters as Batman Returns, Wild Wild West, Ali, and Superman Returns. Peters has received over 254 nominations, and won multiple Oscars, Golden Globes, and Grammys. The producer's combined grosses exceed $6 Billion worldwide and will continue to soar with two Superman sequels and a Star is Born remake in development. Peters is the proud father of five children: Christopher, Caleigh, Jordan, Skye, and Kendyl. Through the Peters Family Foundation he supports the Christopher Reeve Foundation, Life Rolls On, Homeboy Industries, My Friend's Place, Cambodian Children's Fund, Andre Sobel River of Life Foundation, Heartfelt Foundation, The Laurence School, the Sheriff's Youth Foundation, and countless other youth charities.- Music Department
- Writer
- Composer
Prolific songwriter ("Nice 'n' Easy", "Yellow Bird"), composer and author Marilyn Bergman wrote several theme songs for television and songs for revues, night clubs, and films. Joining ASCAP in 1953, her chief musical collaborators included her husband Alan Bergman, Lew Spence, Norman Luboff, Paul Weston, Sammy Fain, and Alex North. Her other song compositions included "Cheatin' Billy", "Don't Know Where I'm Goin'", "I've Never Left Your Arms", "Never Be Afraid", "Outta My Mind", "The Right Approach" (for film), "Marriage-Go-Round" (for film), "Sentimental Baby", "Sleep Warm", "Sogni D'Oro", "That Face", "Baby, the Ball is Over", "Ol' MacDonald", "If I Were in Love" (for film) and "That's Him Over There."- Music Department
- Writer
- Composer
Prolific songwriter ("Nice 'n' Easy", "Yellow Bird"), composer and author, educated at UCLA and the University of Northern Carolina (BA). During WW II, he wrote and directed Special Services shows, then directed TV shows for CBS in Philadelphia, PA from 1945-1953. He joined ASCAP in 1955 and wrote TV production numbers for Jo Stafford special shows, and songs for Fred Astaire and Marge and Gower Champion. He also wrote songs for revues and night club acts. His stage scores include "That's Life" (Los Angeles), "Ice Capades of 1957" and "Something More!" (Broadway). His chief musical collaborators include his wife Marilyn Bergman , Lew Spence, Norman Luboff, Paul Weston, Sammy Fain and Alex North. His other song compositions include "Cheatin' Billy", "Don't Know Where I'm Goin'", "I've Never Left Your Arms", "Marriage-Go-Round", "Sentimental Baby", "Sleep Warm", "Sogni D'Oro", "That Face", "Baby, The Ball Is Over", "Ol' MacDonald", "That's Him Over There" and "If I Were In Love". His albums include "Never Be Afraid" and "Aesop's Fables".- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Charles Patrick Ryan O'Neal was an American actor and former boxer. He trained as an amateur boxer before beginning his career in acting in 1960. In 1964, he landed the role of Rodney Harrington on the ABC nighttime soap opera Peyton Place. It was an instant hit and boosted O'Neal's career. He later found success in films, most notably Love Story (1970), for which he received Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations as Best Actor, Peter Bogdanovich's What's Up, Doc? (1972) and Paper Moon (1973), Stanley Kubrick's Barry Lyndon (1975), Richard Attenborough's A Bridge Too Far (1977), and Walter Hill's The Driver (1978). From 2005 to 2017, he had a recurring role in the Fox television series Bones as Max, the father of the show's protagonist.- Sue Mengers was born on 2 September 1932 in Hamburg, Germany. She was married to Jean-Claude Tramont. She died on 15 October 2011 in Beverly Hills, California, USA.
- Actress
- Composer
- Soundtrack
The #1 Grammy-winning "I Am Woman" became not only THE anthem of the feminist movement during the radical 1970s, but also the signature song for its lovely, crop-haired, reddish-haired composer and singer Helen Reddy. Many decades later this is the hit people still remember her for, despite the fact she had a host of other "top ten" records over the course of her long career.
Helen Maxine Lamond Reddy was born in Melbourne, Australia, to showbiz parents, comedy actor/producer/writer Max Reddy and singer/soap opera actress Stella Lamond, and is the half sister to singer/actress Toni Lamond. Of English, Irish, Scottish, and Welsh ancestry, Helen began performing at the age of four at the Tivoli Theatre in Perth, Australia, touring much of her native country with her parents. She left boarding school at age 15 to work on the road singing and acting. Her musical style is best described as a light amalgam of rhythm and blues, easy rock and jazz. Her soothing, quivery vocals and equally warm appeal was instantly embraced, eventually earning her own Australian radio show. "Helen Reddy Sings" aired twice weekly on the Australian Broadcasting Commission.
In 1966 Helen won a trip to New York in an Australian Bandstand International contest and, though she met with little success during this excursion, did meet and marry second husband Jeff Wald, a manager and an agent with the William Morris talent agency. They married the following year and went to Los Angeles. Helen converted to Judaism before the marriage.
Wald worked Helen into a few performances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962), fifteen appearances total, and the resulting attention earned her her first hit with a top version of "I Don't Know How to Love Him" from the Broadway rock musical "Jesus Christ Superstar" in February 1972, peaking at #13 on the Billboard hit list. Signed by Capitol Records, she enjoyed hit after hit throughout the early 1970s, with "Delta Dawn" (1973) and "Angie Baby" (1974) reaching #1.
In 1973, Helen had her own summer-replacement variety show and was a popular hostess for a time on NBC's late-night variety show The Midnight Special (1972). She tried to parlay her singing success into a film career starting with a featured role as a nun in the disaster film Airport 1975 (1974). This led to a wholesome starring role in the promising Disney children's film Pete's Dragon (1977), but it was only mildly received. . During this time, she also appeared on TV in episodes of "The Love Boat," "Fantasy Island," "The Jeffersons" (as herself), "Beast Master," "Diagnosis Murder" and a guest voice on "Family Guy." She appeared in only two more films -- a cameo in the raucous "Fat Boys" comedy Disorderlies (1987) and a featured role in the comedy crime chiller The Perfect Host (2010). A third film, a comedy "mockumentary" entitled Senior Entourage (2021), has yet been released.
In 1982, she divorced Wald and married a third time the following year to drummer Milton Ruth. Helen has ventured on into the concert and symphony orchestra forums as well as becoming a popular cabaret and nightclub attraction. In recent years she has graced a number of musical theater productions both on Broadway and in London's West End.
Over the years she was considered a primary interpreter of English playwright Willy Russell, having appeared in four productions of his one-woman show "Shirley Valentine." Other live musical productions have included "Anything Goes," "Call Me Madam," "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" and Russell's "Blood Brothers," in which she made her Broadway debut.
In 2002 she retired from the business, and moved to her native Australia to work as a practicing hypnotherapist and motivational speaker, but returned from time to time before the camera both here and abroad. In 2017, Helen was diagnosed with dementia, and then resided at the Motion Picture and Television Fund's Samuel Goldwyn Center for Behavioral Health in Woodland Hills, California. She died on September 29, 2020, in Los Angeles.- Producer
- Actor
- Production Manager
Jeff S. Wald was born Jeffrey Sommers in 1944. He is a product of the famous William Morris Agency mailroom, which produced such Hollywood luminaries as David Geffen, Barry Diller, Jerry Weintraub, Ron Meyer, Bernie Brillstein and others. In 1967, Wald moved to Chicago and became the talent buyer for Mister Kelly's, The London House, and the Happy Medium. The following year, he moved to Los Angeles.
In late 1969, Wald and Ron De Blasio formed their own company and added George Carlin to their roster. Two years later, he inked a record deal with Capitol Records for his then-wife, actress and singer Helen Reddy. They wed in 1966 and had two children. During most of the 1970s she was one of the biggest selling female artists, winning a Grammy for "I Am Woman", one of her 14 hits and her first of four number ones. In 1975, he began building his management company and over the years his clients have included Miles Davis, Marvin Gaye, Sylvester Stallone, James Brolin, Paul Rodriguez, Elliott Gould, Donna Summer, Flip Wilson, Clint Black, Gary Morris, Roseanne Barr, and Mike Tyson, among others. In 1986, Wald became President of Barris Industries, which then became Guber Peters. Sony bought the company and Wald stayed on until 1991.
Wald has produced award-winning movies of the week, miniseries, game shows, variety specials, scripted one-hour dramas and talk shows, including Paul Rodriguez's Latin Nights (1995) (ABC), James Brolin's Pensacola: Wings of Gold (1997) (CBS), as well as specials for both Reddy and Donna Summer (NBC & ABC). Wald, Mark Burnett, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and Sylvester Stallone were executive producers of The Contender (2005),, which ran for four years. Wald produced feature films for Orion (Opposing Force (1986)) and for Rhysher/MGM Entertainment (2 Days in the Valley (1996)).
Wald was a Jerry Brown delegate to the 1976 Democratic convention and a Kennedy delegate in 1980. He was appointed to a four-year term by President Jimmy Carter to serve on the board of the USO. Brown appointed him to the Board of Economic Development for the State of California. Wald also served for six years as an appointee of Mayor Bradley to the Organizing Committee for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. He served on the Board of Governors of Cedars Sinai Hospital, USC and the Betty Ford Center. Wald was an active fundraiser for Jerry Brown as Attorney General and Governor.
In 1997, Wald and Irving Azoff formed AzoffWald to promote George Foreman's last two fights. Wald also promoted Sergio Mora, Peter Manfredo, Steve Forbes, Sakio Bika and K9 Bundrage all of whom have won championship belts. He later produced a musical version of the iconic movie "Casablanca", called "Casablanca The Dance", which debuted in Beijing in front of the President of China as well as most of the Government.
Wald is currently CEO of Aria Multimedia Entertainment and Creston Enterprises, whose company has produced and published 2 coffee table books, the first being the "Official Michael Jackson Book" and the second being "Hip Hop: A Cultural Odyssey", both edited and created by Wald's son, Jordan Sommers, and photo-edited by Wald's wife, Deborah.
Wald has two adult children, Traci Donat and Jordan Sommer, from his marriage to Helen Reddy; he has one grandchild, Lily Donat (Traci's daughter). Wald's wife since 1990, Deborah, is a photographer and photo editor; they have a daughter, Sarah.- Actress
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Ruth Batchelor was born on 12 February 1934 in New York City, New York, USA. She was an actress and writer, known for Kid Galahad (1962), Girls! Girls! Girls! (1962) and The Love Machine (1971). She died on 23 July 1992 in Miami, Florida, USA.- Rona Barrett was born on 8 October 1936 in New York City, New York, USA. She is an actress, known for Mannix (1967), Sextette (1977) and The Phynx (1970). She has been married to Daniel Busby since 14 February 2008. She was previously married to Bill Trowbridge.
- Actress
- Additional Crew
Shirley was born and raised in New York City's Washington Square. Her father was a New York Supreme Court justice. He was quoted as saying life upon the wicked stage was no life for a girl, but at age 16 Shirley was able to secure a role in "The Women" starring her soon-to-be good friend Celeste Holm at the Adams theatre in Newark. Shirley was given 10 lines but 7 of the lines to the Producer's girlfriend. Her dreams of working in show business never faded but her acting career quickly faded away, and her ability to cover every aspect of show business became her calling card.
Beginning her career on radio station WINS in New York at age 17, Shirley began doing daily radio programs focusing on women's issues, her good friend Mitzi Green was an impressionist (as Bette Davis or Katharine Hepburn) but stars finally started stopping by. In 1944 she married Edward Slotkin, an executive of Hygrade Foods, a meat packing firm. Edward was serving in the Army at the time so Shirley put her career on hold to go with him for two years. In 1946 she began at WMCA in New York as an emcee of a variety show featuring celebrity interviews. At both WMCA and then later at WOR she hosted "Mic About Town" and cultivated a wide circle of friends in show business.
In 1951, Shirley started a program on WOR TV with Ilka Chase and Dorothy Ward called "Women Talk it Over". In 1956 she joined "Monitor" as a roving reporter and interviewer. By then , Shirley had moved to Detroit and began working as the Girl On The Go on WJR Radio show "Composite". In addition she also did her own show "Dear Shirley", giving advice to listeners who wrote her letters. She also wrote a weekly column in 175 newspapers throughout the country through the Bell Syndicate. And she wrote as a guest columnist for Dorothy Kilgallen.
Now 20 years into her career she was courted by the Detroit Free Press and the Knight Ridder syndicate to write 4 weekly columns on Show Business.
Shirley was able to form relationships with Barbara Stanwyck, Frank Sinatra, Lana Turner, Joan Crawford, Ginger Rogers, Bob Hope and many more. She was also able to stay on top of the Broadway scene by maintaining close friendships with Ethel Merman, Carol Channing. She also had great relationships with Joan Rivers, Jacqueline Susann, Kathleen Winsor, Harold Robbins, Neil Diamond, Peggy Lee, Beverly Sills and many more.
She had unlimited energy and passion for getting the story right, her consistent need being to maintain integrity and the confidentiality of those stars who shared their innermost Private thoughts and dreams with her. She was able to write those stories in an entertaining and compelling way, even when the methods and meanness of the gossip industry changed right before her eyes. She reigned as a Hollywood reporter with class and longevity.- Writer
- Composer
- Music Department
Gary Abrams is known for My Three Sons (1960), The Patty Duke Show (1963) and The Donna Reed Show (1958).- Actress
- Soundtrack
Marisa Berenson was born on 15 February 1947 in New York City, New York, USA. She is an actress, known for Cabaret (1972), Barry Lyndon (1975) and Cinéman (2009). She was previously married to Aaron Richard Golub and Jim Randall.- Producer
- Writer
- Additional Crew
Allan Carr was born on 27 May 1937 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was a producer and writer, known for Grease (1978), Can't Stop the Music (1980) and Grease 2 (1982). He died on 29 June 1999 in Beverly Hills, California, USA.- Music Artist
- Music Department
- Actor
Neil Leslie Diamond was born in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn, New York City, on January 24, 1941. His father, Akeeba "Kieve" Diamond, was a dry-goods merchant. Both he and wife Rose were Jewish immigrants from Poland. The Diamond family temporarily relocated to Cheyenne, Wyoming, because of Kieve Diamond's military service during World War II. During their time in Wyoming, Neil fell in love with "singing cowboy" movies on matinée showings at the local cinema. After the end of World War II, Neil and his parents returned to Brooklyn. He was given a $9 acoustic guitar for a birthday gift, which began his interest in music. At age 15 Neil wrote his first song, which he titled "Here Them Bells".
At Brooklyn's Erasmus Hall High School, Neil sang in the 100-member fixed chorus, with classmate Barbra Streisand, although the two would not formally meet until over 20 years later. Neil and a friend, Jack Packer, formed a duo singing group called Neil & Jack, and they sang at Long Island's Little Neck Country Club and recorded a single for Shell Records. The record failed to sell, however, and the duo soon broke up.
In 1958 Neil entered New York University's pre-med program to become a doctor, on a fencing scholarship. Medicine did not catch his interest as much as music did, though, and he dropped out at the end of his junior year, only 10 credits shy of graduation. He Diamond went to work for Sunbeam Music on Manhattan's famous Tin Pan Alley. Making $50 a week, he worked at tailoring songs to the needs and abilities of the company's B-grade performers. Finding the work unrewarding, Neil soon quit. Renting a storage room in a printer's shop located above the famed Birdland nightclub on Broadway, Neil began to live there and installed a $30 piano and a pay telephone, and set about writing his songs his own way.
A chance encounter with the songwriting/record producing team of Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich led to a contract with Bang Records. In 1966 he recorded his first album, featuring hit singles such as "Solitary Man" and "Cherry, Cherry". That same year Diamond appeared twice on Dick Clark's American Bandstand (1952) TV musical variety show. Also, The Monkees recorded several songs to which he wrote the music, including "I'm a Believer" which was a hit in 1967. A number of TV appearances followed, including singing gigs on The Mike Douglas Show (1961), The Merv Griffin Show (1962) and een a dramatic part as a rock singer on an episode of Mannix (1967). Filling a musical void that existed between Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley, Diamond found wide acceptance among the young and old with his songs, but endured criticism that his music was too middle-of-the-road.
Diamond split with Bang Records in 1969, and signed a contract with California's Uni label, for which he recorded his first gold records. In 1970 he introduced British rock star Elton John in his first Stateside appearance at Hollywood's Troubador nightclub. In December 1971 Diamond signed a $5-million contract with Columbia Records, which led to more recording contracts and live concert appearances. In 1972 Diamond took a 40-month break from touring, during which he agreed to score the film Jonathan Livingston Seagull (1973). Although Diamond's soundtrack for that film earned him a Grammy Award, it was a box-office failure. Despite having worked with an acting coach since 1968, and talk of a five-picture acting contract with Universal Studios, Diamond remained inhibited by shyness of being in front of a camera. He turned down acting roles in every movie contract he was offered (among them was Bob Fosse's Lenny (1974) and Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver (1976)). However, he did appear as himself with Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell and Neil Young in the 1978 documentary The Last Waltz (1978). He appeared at the 1977 Academy Awards where he presented Barbra Streisand the Oscar for Best Song.
In the summer of 1976, on the eve of three Las Vegas shows, Diamond's house in Bel Air was raided by the police because they received an anonymous tip that there were drugs and weapons stored there. The police found less than an ounce of marijuana. To have the arrest expunged from his recored, Diamond agreed to a six-month drug aversion program. In 1977 he starred in two TV specials for NBC. He had a cancer scare in 1979, when a tumor was found on his spine and had to be surgically removed, which confined him to a wheelchair for three months. During his recuperation he was given the script for the lead role in a planned remake of the early sound film The Jazz Singer (1927). Signing a $1-million contract to appear as the son of a Jewish cantor trying to succeed in the music industry, Diamond was cast opposite the legendary Laurence Olivier and Broadway actress Lucie Arnaz. Despite the almost universally negative reviews of the film, it grossed three times its budget when released late in 1980. In 1981 Diamond's hit single, "America", which was part of the film's soundtrack, was used on news broadcasts to underscore the return of the American hostages from Iran.
Aware of his lack of acting talent, Diamond never acted in movie roles again, aside from making appearances as himself. A movie fan, he collaborated on writing the scores of many different soundtracks, which can be heard in such films as Cactus Flower (1969), Pulp Fiction (1994), Beautiful Girls (1996), Donnie Brasco (1997), Bringing Out the Dead (1999) and many more. He continues to occasionally perform in concerts and write a vast catalog of music which is recored by both him and other artists.- Director
- Additional Crew
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
George Cukor was an American film director of Hungarian-Jewish descent, better known for directing comedies and literary adaptations. He once won the Academy Award for Best Director, and was nominated other four times for the same Award.
In 1899, George Dewey Cukor was born on the Lower East Side of New York City. His parents were assistant district attorney Viktor Cukor and Helén Ilona Gross. His middle name "Dewey" honored Admiral George Dewey who was considered a war hero for his victory in the Battle of Manila Bay, in 1898.
As a child, Cukor received dancing lessons, and soon fell in love with the theater, appearing in several amateur plays. In 1906, he performed in a recital with David O. Selznick (1902-1965), who would later become a close friend.
As a teenager, Cukor often visited the New York Hippodrome, a well-known Manhattan theater. He often cut classes while attending high school, in order to attend afternoon matinees. He later took a job as a supernumerary with the Metropolitan Opera, and at times performed there in black-face.
Cukor graduated from the DeWitt Clinton High School in 1917. His father wanted him to follow a legal career, and had his son enrolled City College of New York. Cukor lost interest in his studies and dropped out of college in 1918. He then took a job as an assistant stage manager and bit player for a touring production of the British musical "The Better 'Ole". The musical was an adaptation of the then-popular British comic strip "Old Bill" by Bruce Bairnsfather (1887-1959).
In 1920, Cukor became the stage manager of the Knickerbocker Players, a theatrical troupe. In 1921, Cukor became the general manager of the Lyceum Players, a summer stock company. In 1925, Cukor was one of the co-founders the C.F. and Z. Production Company. With this theatrical company, Cukor started working as a theatrical director. He made his Broadway debut as a director with the play "Antonia" by Melchior Lengyel (1880-1974).
The C.F. and Z. Production Company was eventually renamed the Cukor-Kondolf Stock Company, and started recruiting up-and-coming theatrical talents. Cukor's theatrical troupe included at various times Louis Calhern, Ilka Chase, Bette Davis, Douglass Montgomery, Frank Morgan, Reginald Owen, Elizabeth Patterson, and Phyllis Povah.
Cukor attained great critical acclaim in 1926 for directing "The Great Gatsby", an adaptation of a then-popular novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940). He directed six more Broadway productions until 1929. At the time, Hollywood film studios were recruiting New York theater talent for sound films, and Cukor was hired by Paramount Pictures. He started as an apprentice director before the studio lent him to Universal Pictures. His first notable film work was serving as a dialogue director for "All Quiet on the Western Front" (1930).
After returning to Paramount Pictures, he worked as aco-director. His first solo directorial effort was "Tarnished Lady" (1931), and at that time he earned a weekly salary of $1500. Cukor co-directed the film "One Hour with You" (1932) with Ernst Lubitsch, but Lubitsch demanded sole directorial credit. Cukor filed a legal suit but eventually had to settle for a credit as the film's assistant director. He left Paramount in protest, and took a new job with RKO Studios.
During the 1930s, Cukor was entrusted with directing films for RKO's leading actresses. He worked often with Katharine Hepburn (1907-2003), although not always with box-office success. He did direct such box office hits as "Little Women" (1933) and "Holiday" (1938), but also notable flops such as "Sylvia Scarlett" (1935).
In 1936, Cukor was assigned to work on the film adaptation of the blockbuster novel "Gone with the Wind" by Margaret Mitchell. He spent the next two years preoccupied with the film's pre-production, and with supervising screen tests for actresses seeking to play leading character Scarlett O'Hara. Cukor reportedly favored casting either Katharine Hepburn or Paulette Goddard for the role. Producer David O. Selznick refused to cast either one, since Hepburn was coming off a string of flops and was viewed as "box office poison," while Goddard was rumored to have had a scandalous affair with Charlie Chaplin (1889-1977) and her reputation suffered for it.
Cukor did not get to direct "Gone with the Wind", as Selznick decided to assign the directing duties to Victor Fleming (1889-1949). Cukor's involvement with the film was limited to coaching actresses Vivien Leigh (1913-1967) and Olivia de Havilland (1916-). Similarly, the very same year, Cukor also failed to receive a directing credit for "The Wizard of Oz" (1939), though he was responsible for several casting and costuming decisions for this iconic classic.
In this same period, Cukor did direct an all-female cast in "The Women" (1939), as well as Greta Garbo's final motion picture performance in "Two-Faced Woman" (1941). Then his film career was interrupted by World War II, as he joined the Signal Corps in 1942. Given his experience as a film director, Cukor was soon assigned to producing training and instructional films for army personnel. He wanted to gain an officer's commission, but was denied promotion above the rank of private. Cukor suspected that rumors of his homosexuality were the reason he never received the promotion.
During the 1940s, Cukor had a number of box-office hits, such "A Woman's Face" (1941) and "Gaslight" (1944). He forged a working alliance with screenwriters Garson Kanin and Ruth Gordon, and the trio collaborated on seven films between 1947-1954.
Until the early 1950s, most of his Cukor's films were in black-and-white, and his first film in Technicolor was "A Star Is Born" (1954), with Judy Garland as the leading actress. Casting the male lead for the film proved difficult, as several major stars were either not interested in the role or were considered unsuitable by the studio. Cukor had to settle for James Mason as the male lead, but the film was highly successful and received 6 Academy Award nominations. But Cukor was not nominated for directing.
He had a handful of critical successes over the following years, such as Les Girls (1957) and "Wild Is the Wind" (1957), and also helmed the unfinished "Something's Got to Give" (1962), which had a troubled production and went at least $2 million over budget before it was terminated.
Cukor had a comeback with the critically and commercially successful "My Fair Lady," one of the highlights of his career., for which he won both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for Best Director, along with the Directors Guild of America Award. However, his career very quickly slowed down, and the aging Cukor was infrequently involved with new projects.
Cukor's most notable film in the 1970s was the fantasy The Blue Bird (1976) , which was the first joint Soviet-American production. It was a box-office flop, though it received a nomination for the Saturn Award for Best Fantasy Film and was groundbreaking for its time. Cukor's swan song was "Rich and Famous" (1981), depicting the relationship of two women over a period of several decades., played by co-stars Jacqueline Bisset and Candice Bergen, Cukor's final pair of leading ladies.
He retired as a director at the age of 82, and died a year later of a heart attack in 1983. At the time of his death, his net worth was estimated to be $2,377,720. He was buried at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, CA. Cukor was buried next to his long-time platonic friend Frances Howard (1903-1976), the wife of legendary studio mogul Samuel Goldwyn.- Director
- Producer
- Actor
William Wyler was an American filmmaker who, at the time of his death in 1981, was considered by his peers as second only to John Ford as a master craftsman of cinema. The winner of three Best Director Academy Awards, second again only to Ford's four, Wyler's reputation has unfairly suffered as the lack of an obvious "signature" in his diverse body of work denies him the honorific "auteur" that has become a standard measure of greatness in the post-"Cahiers du Cinéma" critical community.
His directorial career spanned 45 years, from silent pictures to the cultural revolution of the 1970s. Nominated a record 12 times for the Academy Award for Best Director, he won three and in 1966, was honored with the Irving Thalberg Award, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences' ultimate accolade for a producer. So high was his reputation in his lifetime that he was the fourth recipient of the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award, after Ford, James Cagney and Welles. Along with Ford and Welles, Wyler ranks with the best and most influential American directors, including Griffith, DeMille, Frank Capra, Howard Hawks, Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick and Steven Spielberg.
Born Willi Wyler on July 1, 1902, in Mulhouse, Alsace (then a possession of Germany), to Jewish parents. His Swiss-born father, Leopold, started as a traveling salesman but later became a thriving haberdasher in Mulhouse. His mother, Melanie (née Auerbach; died February 13, 1955, Los Angeles, aged 77), was German-born, and a cousin of Carl Laemmle, founder of Universal Pictures. Melanie Wyler often took him and his older brother Robert to concerts, opera, and the theatre, as well as the early cinema. Sometimes at home his family and their friends would stage amateur theatricals for personal enjoyment.
He used his family connections to establish himself in the film industry. Upon being offered a job by his mother's first cousin, Universal Studios head Carl Laemmle, Wyler emigrated to the US in 1920 at the age of 18. After starting in Universal's New York offices as an errand boy, he moved his way up through the organization, ending up in the California operation in 1922. Wyler was given the opportunity to direct in July 1925, with the two-reel western The Crook Buster (1925). It was on this film that he was first credited as William Wyler, though he never officially changed his name and would be known as "Willi" all his life. For almost five years he performed his apprenticeship in Universal's "B" unit, turning out a score of low-budget silent westerns. In 1929 he made his first "A" picture, Hell's Heroes (1929), Universal's first all-sound movie shot outside a studio. The western, the first version of the "Three Godfathers" story, was a commercial and critical success.
The initial years of the Great Depression brought hard times for the film industry, and Universal went into receivership in 1932, partially due to financial troubles brought about by rampant nepotism and the runaway production costs rung up by producer Carl Laemmle Jr., the son of the boss. There were 70 Laemmle family members on the Universal payroll at one point, including Wyler. In 1935 "Uncle" Carl was forced to sell the studio he had created in 1912 with the 1912 merger of his Independent Motion Picture Co. with several other production companies. Wyler continued to direct for Universal up until the end of the family regime, helming Counsellor at Law (1933), the film version of Elmer Rice's play featuring one of John Barrymore's more restrained performances, and The Good Fairy (1935), a comedy adapted from a Ferenc Molnár play by Preston Sturges and starring Margaret Sullavan, who was Wyler's wife for a short time. Both films were produced by his cousin, "Junior" Laemmle. Emancipated from the Laemmle family, Wyler subsequently established himself as a major director in the mid-1930s, when he began directing films for independent producer Samuel Goldwyn. During this key period, he alternated between adaptations of famous plays and filming versions of classic novels. Willi would soon find his freedom fettered by the man with the fabled "Goldwyn touch," which entailed bullying his directors to recast, rewrite and re-cut their films, and sometimes even replacing them during shooting.
The first of the Wyler-Goldwyn collaborations was These Three (1936), based on Lillian Hellman's lesbian-themed play "The Children's Hour" (the Sapphic theme was jettisoned and sanitized into a conventional heterosexual love triangle due to censorship concerns, but it resurfaced intact when Wyler remade the film a quarter-century later). His first unqualified success for Goldwyn was Dodsworth (1936), an adaptation of Sinclair Lewis' portrait of a disintegrating American marriage, a marvelous film that still resonates with audiences in the 21st century. He received his first Best Director Oscar nomination for this picture. The film was nominated for Best Picture, the first of seven straight years in which a Wyler-directed movie would earn that accolade, culminating with Oscars for both William Wyler and Mrs. Miniver (1942) in 1942.
Wyler's potential greatness can be seen as early as "Hell's Heroes," an early talkie that is not constrained by the restrictions of the new technology. The climax of the picture, with Charles Bickford's dying badman walking into town, is a long tracking shot that focuses not on the actor himself but the detritus that he shucks off to lighten his load as he brings a baby back to a cradle of civilization. The scene is a harbinger of the free-flowing style that would become a hallmark of his work. However, it was with "Dodsworth" that Wyler began to establish his critical reputation. The film features long takes and a probing camera, a style that Wyler would make his own. Now established as Goldwyn's director of choice, Wyler made several films for him, including Dead End (1937) and Wuthering Heights (1939). Essentially an employee of the producer, Wyler clashed with Goldwyn over aesthetic choices and longed for his freedom. Goldwyn had demanded that the ghetto set of "Dead End" be spruced up and that "clean garbage" be used in the water tank representing the East River, over Wyler's objections. Goldwyn prevailed, as he did later with the ending of "Wuthering Heights." After he had finished principal photography on the film, Goldwyn demanded a new ending featuring the ghosts of Heathcliff and Cathy reunited and walking away towards what the audience would assume is heaven and an eternity of conjoined bliss. Wyler opposed the new ending and refused to shoot it. Goldwyn had his ending shot without Wyler and had it tacked onto the final cut. It was an artistic betrayal that rankled Wyler.
Goldwyn loaned out Wyler to other studios, and he made Jezebel (1938) and The Letter (1940) for Warner Bros. Working with Bette Davis in the two masterpieces, as well as in Goldwyn's The Little Foxes (1941), Wyler elicited three of the great diva's finest performances. In these films and his films of the mid-to-late 1930s, Wyler pioneered the use of deep-focus cinematography, most famously with lighting cameraman Gregg Toland. Toland shot seven of the eight films Wyler directed for Goldwyn: "These Three", Come and Get It (1936), "Dead End," "Wuthering Heights" (for which Toland won his only Academy Award), The Westerner (1940), "The Little Foxes" and The Best Years of Our Lives (1946). Compositions in Wyler pictures frequently featured multiple horizontal planes with various characters arranged in diagonals at varying distances from the camera lens. Creating an illusion of depth, these deep-focus shots enhanced the naturalism of the picture while heightening the drama. As the photography of Wyler's films was used to serve the story and create mood rather than call attention to itself, Toland was later mistakenly given credit for creating deep-focus cinematography along with another great director, Orson Welles, in Citizen Kane (1941). His first use of deep-focus cinematography was in 1935, with "The Good Fairy", on which Norbert Brodine was the lighting cameraman. It was the first of his films featuring deep-focus shots and the diagonal compositions that became a Wyler leitmotif. The film also includes a receding mirror shot a half-decade before Toland and Welles created a similar one for "Citizen Kane."
Wyler won his first Oscar as Best Director with "Mrs. Miniver" for MGM, which also won the Oscar for Best Picture, the first of three Wyler films that would be so honored. Made as a propaganda piece for American audiences to prepare them for the sacrifices necessitated by World War II, the movie is set in wartime England and elucidates the hardships suffered by an ordinary, middle-class English family coping with the war. An enthusiastic President Franklin D. Roosevelt, after seeing the film at a White House screening, said, "This has to be shown right away." The film also won Oscars for star Greer Garson and co-star Theresa Wright, for cinematographer Joseph Ruttenberg and for Best Screenplay.
After "Miniver," Wyler went off to war as an officer in the U.S. Army Air Forces. One of his more memorable propaganda films of the period was a documentary about a B-17 bomber, The Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress (1944), He also directed the Navy documentary The Fighting Lady (1944), an examination of life aboard an American aircraft carrier. Though the later film won an Oscar as Best Documentary, "The Memphis Belle" is considered a classic of its form. The making of the documentary was even the subject of a 1990 feature film of the same name. "The Memphis Belle" focuses on the eponymous B-17 bomber and its 25th, and last, air raid flown from a base in England. The documentary features aerial battle footage that Wyler and his crew shot over the skies of Germany. One of his photographic crew, flying in another plane, was killed during the filming of the air battles. Wyler himself lost the hearing in one ear and became partially deaf in the other due to the noise and concussion of the flak bursting around his aircraft.
Wyler's first picture upon returning from World War II would prove to be the last movie he made for Goldwyn. A returning veteran like those portrayed in "The Best Years of Our Lives" (1946), this film won Wyler his second Oscar. The movie, which featured a moving performance by real-life veteran and double amputee Harold Russell, struck a universal chord with Americans and was a major box office hit. It was the second Wyler-directed picture to be named Best Picture at the Academy Awards. The film also won Oscars for star Fredric March and co-star Russell (who was also given an honorary award "for bringing hope and courage to his fellow veterans"), film editor Daniel Mandell, composer Hugo Friedhofer and screenwriter Robert E. Sherwood, and was instrumental in garnering the Irving Thalberg Award for Samuel Goldwyn, who also took home the Best Picture Oscar that year as "Best Years" producer.
Though Wyler elicited some of the finest performances preserved on film, ironically he could not communicate what he wanted to an actor. A perfectionist, he became known as "40-Take Wyler", shooting a scene over and over again until the actors played it the way he wanted. With his use of long takes, actors were forced to act within each take as their performances would not be covered in the cutting room. His long takes and lack of cutting slowed down the pacing of his films, providing a greater feeling of continuity within each scene and intimately involving the audience in the development of the drama. The story in a Wyler film was allowed to unfold organically, with no tricky editing to cover up holes in the script or to compensate for an inadequate performance. Wyler typically rehearsed his actors for two weeks before the beginning of principal photography.
While more actors won Academy Awards in Wyler movies, 14 out of a total of 36 nominations (more than any other two directors combined), few actors worked more than once or twice with him. Bette Davis worked on three films with him and won Academy Award nominations for each performance and an Oscar for "Jezebel." On their last collaboration, "The Little Foxes" (1941), Davis walked off the production for two weeks after clashing with Wyler over how her character should be played.
He proved hard on other experienced actors, such as Laurence Olivier in "Wuthering Heights," who gave credit to Willi for turning him from a stage actor into a movie actor. "This isn't the Opera House in Manchester," Wyler told Olivier, his way of conveying that he should tone down his performance. A year earlier, Wyler had forced Henry Fonda through 40 takes on the set of "Jezebel," Wyler's only direction being "Again" after each repeated take. When Fonda demanded some input on what he was doing wrong, Wyler replied only: "It stinks. Do it again." According to Charlton Heston, Wyler approached him early in the shooting of Ben-Hur (1959) and told him that his performance was inadequate. When a dismayed Heston asked him what he should do, "Be better" is all that Wyler could supply. In his autobiography, Elia Kazan, a famed "actor's director", tells how he offered advice to an actor acquaintance of his who was making a Wyler picture as he knew that the great director was inarticulate about acting and would be unable to give advice.
Wyler believed that after many takes, actors got angry and began to shed their preconceived ideas about acting in general and the part in particular. Stripped of these notions, actors were able to play at a truer level. It is a process that Stanley Kubrick would subsequently use on his post-2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) films, though to different results, creating an otherworldly anti-realism rather than the more naturalistic truth of a Wyler movie performance. His methods often meant that his films went over schedule and over budget, but he got results.
Wyler's reputation has suffered as he is not considered an "auteur," or "author" of his films. However, in his postwar career, he definitely was the auteur, or controlling consciousness, behind his films. Although he never took a screenwriting credit (other than for an early horse opera, Ridin' for Love (1926)), he selected his own stories and controlled the screenwriting, hiring his own writers in a development process that could take years. His postwar period films include The Heiress (1949), a fine version of Henry James' novel "Washington Square," with an Oscar-winning performance by Olivia de Havilland; Detective Story (1951), a police drama that takes place on a minimal, controlled set almost as restricted as that of Hitchcock's Rope (1948); and Roman Holiday (1953), which won Audrey Hepburn an Oscar in her first leading role. The other films of this period are Carrie (1952), The Desperate Hours (1955) and Friendly Persuasion (1956).
Wyler returned to the western genre one last time with The Big Country (1958), a picture far removed in scope from his two-reeler origins, featuring Gregory Peck, Heston, and Wyler's old "Hell's Heroes" star Bickford. Burl Ives won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role as the patriarch of an outlaw clan in conflict with Bickford's family. Wyler was next enlisted by producer Sam Zimbalist to helm MGM's high-stakes "Ben-Hur" (1959), a remake of its 1925 classic. It was a high-budget ($15 million, approximately $90 million when factored for inflation), wide-screen (the aspect ratio of the film is 2.76 to 1 when properly shown in 70mm anamorphic prints, the highest ratio ever used for a film) epic that the studio had spent six years preparing. Principal photography required more than six months of shooting on location in Italy, with hundreds of crew members and thousands of extras. Wyler was the overlord of the largest crew and oversaw more extras than any other film had ever used. Wyler's "Ben-Hur" grossed $74 million (approximately $600 million at today's ticket prices, ranking it #13 film in terms of all-time box office performance, when adjusted for inflation), the film was the fourth highest-grossing film of all-time when it was released, surpassed only by Gone with the Wind (1939), DeMille's The Ten Commandments (1956), and Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). "Ben-Hur" went on to win 11 Oscars out of 12 nominations, including a third Best Director Academy Award for Wyler. The 11 Oscars set a record since tied by Titanic (1997) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003).
In the last decade of his career, he remade "These Three" as The Children's Hour (1961), a franker version of Hellman's play than his 1936 version. The Collector (1965) was his last artistic triumph, and he had his last hit with Funny Girl (1968), for which Barbra Streisand repeated Audrey Hepburn's success of 15 years earlier, wining an Oscar in her first lead role. Wyler's last film was The Liberation of L.B. Jones (1970), an estimable failure that tackled the theme of racial prejudice, but which came out in the revolutionary time of Easy Rider (1969) and other such films and held little promise for such traditional warhorses as Wyler.
Although he reportedly dreamed of making more pictures, Wyler's failing health kept him from taking on another film. Instead, he and his wife Margaret Tallichet, the mother of his five children, contented themselves with travel. William Wyler died on July 27, 1981, in Beverly Hills, California.- Producer
- Additional Crew
Daniel Melnick was born on 21 April 1932 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a producer, known for Altered States (1980), Blue Streak (1999) and Straw Dogs (1971). He was married to Linda Rodgers. He died on 13 October 2009 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Tina Sinatra was born on 20 June 1948 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for The Manchurian Candidate (2004), Sinatra (1992) and McCloud (1970). She was previously married to Richard M Cohen and Wes Farrell.- Producer
- Actor
- Executive
Sample some of the best American films over the past forty years and there's a good chance Mike Medavoy played a role in the success of many of them. From agent to studio chief to producer, he has been involved with over 300 feature films, of which 17 have been nominated and 7 have won Best Picture Oscars®, as well as numerous international film festival awards.
Medavoy began his career at Universal Studios in 1964. He rose from the mail room to become a casting director. In 1965, he became an agent at General Artist Corporation and then vice-president at Creative Management Agency. Joining International Famous Agency as vice-president in charge of the motion picture department in 1971, he worked with such prestigious clients as Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola, Terrence Malick, Jane Fonda, Donald Sutherland, Gene Wilder, Jeanne Moreau, and Jean-Louis Trintignant.
United Artists brought him in as senior vice-president of production, in 1974, where he was part of the team responsible for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), Rocky (1976), and Annie Hall (1977), which won Best Picture Oscars® in 1975, 1976, and 1977, respectively. Other notable films included Apocalypse Now (1979), Raging Bull (1980), Network (1976) and Coming Home (1978). In 1978, Medavoy co-founded Orion Pictures where, during his tenure, Platoon (1986), Amadeus (1984), RoboCop (1987), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), The Terminator (1984), Dances with Wolves (1990) and The Silence of the Lambs (1991) were released. In 1990, after twelve successful years at Orion, Medavoy became chairman of TriStar Pictures, where he oversaw such critically-acclaimed box office hits as Philadelphia (1993), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), Sleepless in Seattle (1993), Cliffhanger (1993), The Fisher King (1991), Legends of the Fall (1994) and Steven Spielberg's Hook (1991).
As chairman and co-founder of Phoenix Pictures, Medavoy has brought to the screen The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996), The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996), U Turn (1997), Apt Pupil (1998), The Thin Red Line (1998), The 6th Day (2000), Basic (2003), Holes (2003), All the King's Men (2006), Zodiac (2007), Pathfinder (2007) and Miss Potter (2006), among others. These films have received numerous nominations, won two Golden Bears at the Berlin Film Festival, five Golden Satellite Awards, a cinematography award for John Toll from the ASC and nominations from the DGA and WGA for Terrence Malick. "The Thin Red Line" and "The People vs. Larry Flint" each received Oscar® nominations.
Recently, Phoenix Pictures has released Shutter Island (2010), directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley and Max von Sydow; Shanghai (2010), starring John Cusack and Gong Li; and Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan (2010), starring Natalie Portman, Vincent Cassel and Mila Kunis in 2010. "Black Swan" won numerous awards, including the Oscar® and Golden Globe for Best Actress (Natalie Portman) as well as the Independent Film Spirit Awards for Best Feature, Best Director (Darren Arnofosky), Best Female Lead (Natalie Portman) and Best Cinematography (Matthew Libatique). Medavoy also recently worked as executive producer on the documentary, The Wildest Dream (2010).
Medavoy and Phoenix Pictures recently released What to Expect When You're Expecting (2012), starring Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Lopez, Elizabeth Banks, Anna Kendrick, and Chris Rock.
In 2011, Medavoy announced his newest project surrounding the Chilean mining accident that left 33 men trapped underground for 69 days. Medavoy will collaborate with Chilean officials and Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Jose Rivera to create and authentic retelling of this story.
Also in 2011, Medavoy also announced his collaboration with The Shanghai Film Group to create both a feature film and six-hour miniseries. The feature, an adaptation of the novel "The Cursed Piano", is a love story set in Japanese-occupied China concerning prosecuted Jews seeking refuge from an occupied Europe. The mini-series, Tears of a Sparrow (2011), will focus in greater detail on the experience of these Jews in Shanghai.
Medavoy has received numerous awards, including the 1992 Motion Picture Pioneer of the Year Award, the 1997 Career Achievement Award from UCLA, and the Lifetime Achievement Award (1998) at the Cannes Film Festival. He was awarded the 1999 UCLA Neil H. Jacoby Award, which honors individuals who have made exceptional contributions to humanity. Medavoy also received the inaugural Fred Zinnemann Award (2001), presented by the Anti-Defamation League, the Israel Film Festival's Lifetime Achievement Award (2002), as well as a Career Achievement Award from the University of Central Florida (2002). In 2004, he received the Louis B. Mayer Motion Picture Business Leader of the Year Award from Florida Atlantic University and in 2005, he was the recipient of UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television and Producers Guild of America Vision Award. Also in 2005, Medavoy was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame and received a star on Hollywood Boulevard. In 2007, he received the Stella Adler Actors Studio Marlon Brando Award and in 2008, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Jerusalem Film Foundation. In 2009, he was given the Honorary Doctorate at the Academy of Art in San Francisco and was named Chevalier of the French Government's Legion of Honor. Mike also received the Bernardo O'Higgins award from the Chilean government on February 16th, 2010. In 2011, Medavoy received the Raimondo Rezzonico Prize at the Locarno Film Festival. In 2012, at the 2012 Shanghai International Film Festival, Medavoy was bestowed with the Outstanding Achievement Award.
Medavoy has also served as chairman of the jury of the Tokyo Film Festival, advisor to the Shanghai Film Festival and advisor to the St. Petersburg Festival. He was a member of the board of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences from 1977 to 1981. Medavoy is also one of the original founding members of the board of governors of the Sundance Institute (1978) and is chairman emeritus of the American Cinematheque and the Stella Adler Actors Studio in New York.
Medavoy has made a mark not only within his industry, but in his community as well. He was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Museum of Science and Industry in Los Angeles by Governor Jerry Brown and was appointed by Mayor Richard Riordan as Commissioner on the Los Angeles Board of Parks and Recreations. He is a member of the board of directors of the University of Tel Aviv. He also serves on the board of trustees of the UCLA Foundation and is a member of the Chancellor's Associates, the Dean's Advisory Board at the UCLA School of Theatre, Film and Television and the Alumni Association's Student Relations Committee. He is also the co-chairman of the Burkle Center for UCLA's Center for International Relations and served as a member of the board of advisers at the Kennedy School at Harvard University for five years. In 2002, Governor Gray Davis appointed Mike to the California Anti-Terrorism Information Center's Executive Advisory Board; he is also a member of both the Council on Foreign Relations and the Homeland Security Advisory Council. Medavoy is also on the Baryshnikov Arts Center Advisory Committee in New York, and serves on the advisory board of the University of Southern California's Center on Public Diplomacy.
Throughout his career, Mike Medavoy has also been active in politics. In 1984, he was Co-Finance Chair of the Gary Hart campaign. He also actively participated in President Clinton's campaigns in 1992 and 1996. In 2008, he supported the candidacy of Barack Obama, and his wife, Irena, was the Co-Finance Chair.
In 2002, Simon & Schuster published Mr. Medavoy's best-selling book, You're Only As Good As Your Next One: 100 Great Films, 100 Good Films and 100 For Which I Should Be Shot - which was subsequently released in paperback in 2003. Mike's new book, entitled American Idol After Iraq; Competing for Hearts and Minds in the Global Media Age and published in 2009, reflects on the impact of media on U.S. foreign policy with co-author Nathan Gardels, editor of the National Political Quarterly.
Mike was born in Shanghai, China in 1941 of Russian-Jewish parents, and lived in Chile from 1947 to 1957. He graduated from UCLA in 1963. He is married to Irena Ferris Medavoy, a founder of Team Safe-T and a charity executive and fund raiser for the Industry Task Force. Mike Medavoy has two sons, Brian Medavoy and Nicholas Medavoy, and resides in Beverly Hills, California.- Actress
- Producer
Patricia Duff was born on 12 April 1954 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for About Last Night (1986), D.C. Cab (1983) and Moonlighting (1985). She was previously married to Ronald O. Perelman, Michael Medavoy, Daniel Duff and Thomas Zabrodsky.- Producer
- Additional Crew
Freddie Fields was born on 23 July 1923 in Ferndale, New York, USA. He was a producer, known for American Gigolo (1980), Victory (1981) and Glory (1989). He was married to Corinna Tsopei, Cherie Latimer, Polly Bergen and Edith Fellows. He died on 11 December 2007 in Beverly Hills, California, USA.- Janet De Cordova was born on 14 September 1919. She was married to Frederick De Cordova. She died on 1 September 2009 in San Luis Potosí, Mexico.
- Producer
- Director
- Actor
Educated at Northwestern University, Frederick De Cordova began his show business career on the stage, and came to Hollywood in the mid-'40s as a dialogue director. He graduated to director in 1945. He spent much of his career at Universal Pictures, where he turned out medium-budget westerns, comedies and musicals. In the mid-'50s he turned his main focus to television, directing and producing The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show (1950), The Jack Benny Program (1950) and December Bride (1954). Although he directed an occasional feature, he was much more successful on TV, and in 1971 became executive producer of the long-running late-night talk show The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962).- David Begelman was born on 26 August 1921 in The Bronx, New York, USA. He was a producer, known for Wholly Moses! (1980), The Judy Garland Show (1962) and Keep in Step (1959). He was married to Ann Weston Begelman and Gladys. He died on 7 August 1995 in Los Angeles County, California, USA.
- Producer
- Music Department
- Additional Crew
George Barrie was born on 9 February 1912 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. He was a producer, known for Whiffs (1975), A Touch of Class (1973) and Hangup (1974). He was married to Dorothy Barrie, Georgette Mosbacher, Gloria Barrie and Lucille Schlussel Barrie. He died on 16 November 2002 in Aventura, Florida, USA.- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Ed McMahon's first appearance before a microphone was as a 15-year-old "caller" at a bingo game in Maine. After that, he spent the next three years touring the state fair and carnival circuit. A Marine fighter pilot during World War II, McMahon sold vegetable slicers on Atlantic City's boardwalk to put himself through Catholic University in Washington, DC. In the 1950s, he hosted a late-night interview show in Philadelphia before working as a clown on the show Big Top (1950). His next assignment was as a fighter pilot during the Korean War. After that, he resumed his career in television. In 1959, he was hired as Johnny Carson's straight man on the daytime quiz show Who Do You Trust? (1956). When Carson succeeded Jack Paar on NBC's The Tonight Show Starring Jack Paar (1957), which became The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962), he took McMahon with him. This job lasted for 30 years and made McMahon wealthy and famous. On the big screen, he played straight roles in the dramatic The Incident (1967) -- for which he got very good reviews -- and in the comic Fun with Dick and Jane (1977). He also appeared in made-for-TV movies and hosted daytime game shows in the 1960s and 1970s. In the 1980s, McMahon teamed with Dick Clark on Super Bloopers and Practical Jokes (1984) and hosted his own long-running talent show, Star Search (1983). He also made commercial appearances for a multitude of products. In 1994, he was cast as himself in Love Affair (1994) with Warren Beatty and Annette Bening.- Joel Wachs is known for Vertical Living Made Easy (2008), Post No Bills (1991) and Broadway Treasures (2019).
- Patsy Klein is known for The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis (1959) and You Bet Your Life (1950).
- Irving Axelrad was born on 21 December 1915 in Huron, South Dakota, USA. He was a producer, known for The Color of Money (1986). He died on 15 May 1998 in Beverly Hills, California, USA.
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Wallis Annenberg is known for Vanity Fair: Hollywood Calling (2020), Generation Wealth (2018) and Country: Portraits of an American Sound (2015).- Make-Up Department
- Additional Crew
Carrie White was born on 25 August 1943 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She is known for Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), Coma (1978) and The Goodbye Girl (1977). She was married to Richard Alcala, Frederic White and Jordan Schwartz. She died on 3 May 2022 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Producer
- Additional Crew
- Director
Daniel Selznick was born on 18 May 1936 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He is a producer and director, known for Hoover vs. the Kennedys: The Second Civil War (1987), Targets (1968) and Night Drive (1977). He has been married to Susan Warms Dryfoos since 1989.- Actor
- Writer
- Music Artist
Nick Wilder was born on 3 December 1952 in Insel Fehmarn, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. He is an actor and writer, known for Stargate (1994), The Bourne Supremacy (2004) and S.O.S. Barracuda (1997). He has been married to Christine Mayn since 1998.- Ruth March is known for Matinee Theatre (1955), The Case of the Dangerous Robin (1960) and The Beachcomber (1962).
- Margaret Hartley is known for A Simple Curve (2005).
- Additional Crew
Waldo Fernandez is known for Can't Stop the Music (1980).- Music Department
- Actor
- Composer
Known for timeless classics such as "We've Only Just Begun," "Rainy Days and Mondays," "Evergreen," "Just an Old Fashioned Love Song," and "Rainbow Connection," Paul Williams is responsible for what will remain part of our popular culture for many years to come. His music has been recorded by some of the biggest names in the entertainment industry.
Three Dog Night's versions of "Just an Old Fashioned Love Song," "Out in the Country," and "Family of Man" have sold millions of copies, worldwide. Karen Carpenter's rich vocals made "We've Only Just Begun," "Rainy Days and Mondays," "Let Me Be the One," and "I Won't Last a Day Without You," a part of our lives. Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Barbra Streisand, Willie Nelson, Kermit the Frog and Luther Vandross are among the hundreds of artists who have recorded Paul's songs.
Neal McCoy recently recorded Paul's "Party On," while Diamond Rio recorded and took "You're Gone" to the top of the charts. The video for "You're Gone" became Pick of the Week on Country Music Television. In 1997, Paul went back into the recording studio and recorded his CD, "Back to Love Again," which includes remakes of some of Paul's more classic hits such as "Rainbow Connection" and "I Won't Last a Day Without You," as well as new songs which contain the same quality, passion and depth that was heard and felt in his hits from the past. Richard Carpenter and Graham Nash appear as guest artists on the album, bringing to it a richness and a quality all its own. Critics, fans and the most famous in the music industry have all had positive reactions and reviews to the album.
No one sings a song like the songwriter who wrote it, and the same holds true for Paul's music. No one captures the emotion within the songs the way he can and does time and time again. Paul is one of the most celebrated songwriters of our time having won Academy, Grammy and Golden Globe Awards. His most recent accomplishments include his induction into the American Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Paul's reputation as a motion picture songwriter took hold in 1973, with an Academy Award nomination for "Nice to Be Around" (co-written with John Williams) from Cinderella Liberty (1973). 1975 brought Paul's second nomination for the soundtrack from Brian De Palma's cult classic, Phantom of the Paradise (1974). He not only wrote the words and music and produced the album for the rock cantata, but also held the audience captive with his devious portrayal of the evil Swan.
Paul went on to become the Music Supervisor for A Star Is Born (1976), bringing with it the challenge of working with three different composers to produce its award-winning score. Williams and Kenny Ascher won a Golden Globe Award for "Best Motion Picture Score." "Evergreen," co-written with Barbra Streisand, won the 1976 Oscar for "Best Song of the Year." In 1980, Paul was once again nominated by the Academy for the score from the box office smash hit, The Muppet Movie (1979), for "Best Original Score" as well as the song "Rainbow Connection" being nominated for "Best Song." "The Muppet Movie" soundtrack went on to win two Grammy Awards and became the biggest soundtrack album of the year, exceeding sales of one million units. Paul reunited with Henson Productions for the Disney feature film, The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992). He wrote and produced the songs for the soundtrack which brought with it yet another Grammy Award nomination for "Best Musical Album for Children."
Paul's other film credits include the songs and score for Bugsy Malone (1976), which starred Jodie Foster and Scott Baio. "Bugsy Malone" continues to be a favorite of children's playhouses and theaters, worldwide. He co-wrote the title song for "Flying Dreams" from The Secret of NIMH (1982), which was recently recorded as a duet by Kenny Loggins and Olivia Newton-John, and has written songs for The End (1978), Rocky IV (1985) and Ishtar (1987). Paul collaborated with Jerry Goldsmith on the title song for The Sum of All Fears (2002). The song is featured in the beginning of the movie with a Latin translation and again at the end in English, performed by Electra recording artist, Yolanda Adams. This may very well be the first time in entertainment history where a song has been presented in a film in two different languages. Paul Williams began his career as an actor with his portrayal of a 12-year-old prodigy in The Loved One (1965), playing opposite Jonathan Winters. He is probably best-known for his roles as Little Enos in the "Smokey and the Bandit" movies, as well as the orangutan Virgil in Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973).
In 1995, Paul received stellar reviews for his starring role as a wheelchair-bound hostage in Headless Body in Topless Bar (1995). Paul is also remembered for his roles in Oliver Stone's The Doors (1991), People Like Us (1990) (the NBC miniseries based on the Dominick Dunne bestseller), as the fun-loving amphibian Gus in Frog (1988) and Frogs! (1993) and Freddie the Bomb in Solar Crisis (1990). He rarely passes up the opportunity to return to his early roots of acting and played an emergency room doctor in Roger Avary's The Rules of Attraction (2002). Paul is no stranger to the small screen. He has appeared on Picket Fences (1992), Dream On (1990), Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show (1997), Boston Common (1996), Walker, Texas Ranger (1993) and The Bold and the Beautiful (1987).
Many people are unaware that Paul has provided voice-overs for countless animated series, some of which include his role as the Penguin in Batman: The Animated Series (1992), and his recurring appearances in Phantom 2040 (1994). Having obtained his certification from UCLA as a drug and alcohol counselor, Paul is very active on the speaker's circuit across the country. Speaking from his personal experiences with his own addiction and the knowledge that he gained through his education and his experience as a counselor, Paul continues to touch the lives and hearts of many people whose lives have been affected by drug abuse and/or alcoholism. He is actively involved with the Musician's Assistance Program and is on the Board of Directors for Community High School, a sober high school in Nashville, Tennessee which offers the teens assistance with their recovery as well as the education that they both strive for and deserve.
Paul has appeared on Prime Time Country (1996), The Geraldo Rivera Show (1987) and Primetime (1989), talking about the devastating effects of drugs and alcohol and the increased use of them amongst teens and pre-teens. Paul has been presented with the Global Arts Award from the Friendly House for his efforts on their behalf, the Spirit of Youth Award from the Pacific Boys Lodge for his efforts and contributions and the "Celebration of Hope" award given to him by Hazelden for his overall contribution in the recovery field. Recovery is not simply a field that Paul is active in, it is one that he is passionate about... this is just one way in which Paul gives of himself to others.