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René Murat Auberjonois was born on June 1, 1940 in New York City, to Princess Laure Louise Napoléone Eugénie Caroline (Murat), who was born in Paris, and Fernand Auberjonois, who was Swiss-born. René was born into an already artistic family, which included his grandfather, a well-known Swiss painter, and his father, a Pulitzer-nominated writer and Cold War-era foreign correspondent. The Auberjonois family moved to Paris shortly after World War II, and it was there that René made an important career decision at the age of six. When his school put on a musical performance for the parents, little René was given the honor of conducting his classmates in a rendition of "Do You Know the Muffin Man?". When the performance was over, René took a bow, and, knowing that he was not the real conductor, imagined that he had been acting. He decided then and there that he wanted to be an actor. After leaving Paris, the Auberjonois family moved into an Artist's Colony in upstate New York.
At an early age, René was surrounded by musicians, composers and actors. Among his neighbors were Helen Hayes, Burgess Meredith and John Houseman, who would later become an important mentor. Houseman gave René his first theater job at the age of 16, as an apprentice at a theater in Stratford, Connecticut. René would later teach at Juilliard under Houseman. René attended Carnegie-Mellon University and studied theater completely, not only learning about acting but about the entire process of producing a play. After graduating from CMU, René acted with various theater companies, including San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater and Los Angeles' Mark Taper Forum. In 1969, he won a role in his first Broadway musical, "Coco" (with Katharine Hepburn), for which he won a Tony Award.
Throughout his life, René acted in a variety of theater productions, films and television presentations, including a rather famous stint as Clayton Endicott III on the comedy series Benson (1979), not to mention seven years on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993) as Odo. René also performed dramatic readings of a variety of books on tape, and appeared in projects like The Patriot (2000), starring Mel Gibson, Sally Hemings: An American Scandal (2000), and NBC's Frasier (1993) and ABC's The Practice (1997).- Director
- Writer
JoAnne Akalaitis was born on 29 June 1937 in Cicero, Illinois, USA. She is a director and writer, known for Dead End Kids (1986), Phedre (2002) and The Iphigenia Cycle (1997).- Music Department
Joseph Alessi is known for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024) and Live from Lincoln Center (1976).- Music Department
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- Editorial Department
Nancy Allen is known for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), A Quiet Place Part II (2020) and Black Swan (2010).- Location Management
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- Producer
- Actor
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Emanuel Ax was born on 8 June 1949 in Lvov, Ukrainian SSR, USSR [now Lviv, Ukraine]. He is an actor, known for The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), The Horse Whisperer (1998) and The Crime of Padre Amaro (2002). He is married to Yoko Nozaki. They have two children.- Milton Babbitt was born on 10 May 1916 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. He is known for Alice Cooper: (No More) Love at Your Convenience (1977), Alice Cooper: You and Me (1977) and C'è musica & musica (1972). He was married to Sylvia Babbitt and Sylvia Miller. He died on 29 January 2011 in Princeton, New Jersey, USA.
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Mr. Baitz was born in 1961 in Los Angeles, and grew up there, in Brazil and South Africa. Plays include: "Other Desert Cities", "The Substance of Fire", "A Fair Country", and "Ten Unknowns", (All produced at Lincoln Center), The Paris Letter", "The Film Society", "Mizlansky/Zilinsky" and "Three Hotels", as well as a new version of Ibsen's Hedda Gabler. He is the recipient of a Rockefeller Foundation Award, a Drama Desk Award, is a Guggenheim Fellow, and a Pulitzer Prize finalist for "A Fair Country." He won a Humanitas Award for the PBS-TV's "American Playhouse" version of "Three Hotels" which he also directed.- Music Department
- Additional Crew
Julius Baker was born on 23 September 1915 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. He is known for New York Stories (1989), Lovesick (1983) and Great Performances (1971). He was married to Ruth. He died on 6 August 2003 in Danbury, Connecticut, USA.- Actor
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Brian Bedford was born on 16 February 1935 in Morley, Yorkshire, England, UK. He was an actor and director, known for Nixon (1995), Robin Hood (1973) and Grand Prix (1966). He was married to Tim MacDonald. He died on 13 January 2016 in Santa Barbara, California, USA.- Music Department
- Composer
Henry Brant was born on 15 September 1913 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He was a composer, known for Good Morning, Vietnam (1987), Louisiana Story (1948) and The Big Break (1953). He was married to Kathy Wilkowski, Maxine Picard and Patricia Gorman. He died on 26 April 2008 in Santa Barbara, California, USA.- Writer
- Composer
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Luciano Berio was born on 24 October 1925 in Oneglia, Liguria, Italy. He was a writer and composer, known for Woman in Chains (1968), Metropoli (1983) and Chung Kuo: China (1972). He was married to Talia Pecker, Susan Oyama and Cathy Berberian. He died on 27 May 2003 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Actor
- Writer
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Eric Bogosian was born in Boston and grew up in Woburn, Massachusetts. After graduating from Woburn Memorial High School in 1971, he attended the University of Chicago and graduated from Oberlin College in 1976, whereupon he moved to New York City. In New York he was hired by the Kitchen as an assistant, established a dance series there and after five years left to devote all his energies to his theater work. Between 1976 and 1982, Bogosian wrote, directed and/or starred in over sixteen productions Off-Off-Broadway. In 1982, he toured the Midwest with Fab Five Freddy and the Rock Steady Crew.
In the early 1980's Eric Bogosian became well-known in New York for his intense one-man theater pieces, winning the Obie Award three times as well as the Drama Desk Award. In 1983, after attending one of his one-man shows, Larry Cohen cast Bogosian as the homicidal director in his low-budget film Special Effects (1984). Four years later, Bogosian's Pulitzer-nominated play, (in which he also starred), "Talk Radio" caught the attention of the greater film world. Robert Altman cast Bogosian in his film of The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial (1988) while producer Edward R. Pressman obtained the rights to the play and brought it to director Oliver Stone. Stone and Bogosian adapted the play script to film script, Bogosian again played the lead and the film of Talk Radio (1988) opened in December 1988. Bogosian received the prestigious "Silver Bear" at the 1989 Berlin Festival for his work on the film.
After the release of "Talk Radio", Bogosian worked regularly as an actor in film and television while remaining very active in the theater. 1994 was a banner year in which Bogosian co-starred with Steven Seagal in Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (1995) as the diabolical "Travis Dane", was featured in Dolores Claiborne (1995), staged another one-man show Off-Broadway and authored the play, "subUrbia" directed by Robert Falls and produced by Lincoln Center Theater, ("subUrbia" was adapted for film by director Richard Linklater). Around this time, Bogosian would also cameo appearances in Woody Allen's Deconstructing Harry (1997), Atom Egoyan's Ararat (2002), Cindy Sherman's Office Killer (1997) and Mike Judge's Beavis and Butt-Head Do America (1996).
In the 1990's Bogosian continued to write for film and TV, adapting his own work as well as receiving assignments from studios. He began to write for television when he was invited to co-create a show for Steven Spielberg: High Incident (1996) in 1996. As an actor, in 2003, he co-starred with Val Kilmer as the notorious Eddie Nash in James Cox's Wonderland (2003). In 2006 he was invited onboard Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2001) as Captain Danny Ross (where he appeared in over sixty episodes).
In 2010, Bogosian starred on Broadway in Donald Margulies' "Time Stands Still" with Laura Linney, Brian d'Arcy James, Alicia Silverstone and Christina Ricci.
In 2013, Bogosian created a website featuring his numerous monologues performed by notable actors. Visit 100monologues.com to view the complete catalog of over 75 monologues.
More recently, Bogosian landed a series of featured television roles on Netflix's The Get Down (2016), Showtime's Billions (2016) and as Senator Gil Eavis on HBO's Succession (2018).
Bogosian has been featured in Josh Safdie and Benny Safdie's Uncut Gems (2019) (starring Adam Sandler).
In addition to his numerous plays, Bogosian is the author of three novels "Mall", "Wasted Beauty" and "Perforated Heart." His non-fiction history, Operation Nemesis: The Assassination Plot that Avenged the Armenian Genocide was published by Little, Brown in 2015.
He lives in New York City with his wife, director Jo Bonney with whom he has two children; Travis Bogosian and Harry Bogosian.- Actress
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This volatile opera diva was born Sophie Cecilia Kalos in New York City to Greek émigrés on December 2, 1923. Her father set up a pharmacy and changed the family name from Kalogeropoulos to Callas. As a child Maria studied the piano. When her parents separated (she was 14 at the time), her mother returned to Athens with Maria and her sister.
The budding singer was quickly accepted into the National Conservatoire where she was taught singing lessons by Maria Trivella. She performed her first recital within the year and in 1939 won a prize for her stage debut in the Conservatoire's production of "Cavalleria Rusticana." In 1941, the soprano dramatico d'agilita made her professional debut in "Boccaccio" with the Lyric Theatre Company. While there she made a semi-name for herself with performances of "Tosca" and "Fidelio."
Impending war led her back to the United States in 1944 where she reclaimed the name of Maria Callas. She was offered a contract from the Met which she turned down because among the three roles she was offered to sing there was Butterfly and she believed that she was too obese to sing the fragile 14 year-old Butterfly, her friends considered her to be crazy turning down the Met while she was so unknown.
Maria performed elsewhere (Chicago, etc.) before returning to Europe in the post-war years where she met Giovanni Battista Meneghini, a wealthy industrialist and avid opera fan. They married in 1949 and he immediately took control of her career. She reached her zenith at La Scala (1951-1958), also recording during that time. In 1956, she finally made her debut at the Met as "Norma" with performances of "Tosca" and "Lucia" following.
Within a couple of years her temperamental outbursts and excessive demands began to rise full force, resulting in a number of dismissals and walkouts. After meeting Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis through her husband, a torrid affair erupted and her marriage ended. Maria gave up the stage in the early 1960s for the jet-set life with Onassis, but continued with occasional concerts. Despite experiencing vocal problems, she made one unforgettable comeback on stage in 1964-1965 when she toured with her personal favorites ("Norma" in Paris and "Tosca" at the Met). Weak and tired, her final curtain on stage rang down in July of 1965 in Covent Garden.
With her career over, she renounced her American citizenship and expected to marry Onassis. But their relationship was a stormy one and it eventually tapered off with Onassis instead marrying Jacqueline Kennedy in 1968. Maria was completely devastated and those around her say she never recovered. The following year she filmed an unsuccessful production of Medea (1969) and eventually set up master classes at Juilliard. In one last comeback, she attempted a European tour of recitals but her voice completely failed her. Her last public performance was on November 11, 1975.
Riddled by sadness and despair, and by now firmly addicted to sleeping pills, Maria turned reclusive in her last year and died of a heart attack in 1977 at age 53. Despite a career that flourished less than two decades, Callas must be respected as one of the more important and recognizable opera legends. She was certainly one of the most emotive and visually dramatic. What also carries her today is, of course, her grandly turbulent and tragic image -- an Édith Piaf of opera.- Composer
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Elliott Cook Carter Jr. was a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning American Western-classical-music composer who was born in and lived in New York City. He studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris in the 1930s and then returned to the United States. After a neoclassical phase, he went on to write atonal, rhythmically complex music. His compositions, which were performed all over the world, included orchestral, chamber, solo, and vocal works.
He was extremely productive in his latter years, during which he wrote more than 40 works between the ages of 90 and 100, and even more since he turned 100. He died at the remarkable age of 103 from natural causes.- Music Department
- Actor
- Composer
Ron Carter was born on 4 May 1937 in Ferndale, Michigan, USA. He is an actor and composer, known for House of Gucci (2021), Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992) and What Happens in Vegas (2008). He has been married to Quintell Williams since 2012. He was previously married to Janet Hasbrouch.- Antonio Ciacca was born on 14 March 1969 in Wuppertal, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. He is a composer, known for Non abbiamo sete di scenografie - la lunga storia della chiesa di Alvar Aalto a Riola (2018) and My Main Man. Appunti per un film sul jazz a Bologna (2009).
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John Corigliano was born on 16 February 1938 in New York City, New York, USA. He is a composer, known for The Red Violin (1998), Altered States (1980) and Revolution (1985).- Music Department
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Colin Davis was born on 25 September 1927 in Weybridge, Surrey, England, UK. He is known for Star Trek: First Contact (1996), Red Sparrow (2018) and The Big Lebowski (1998). He was married to Ashraf Naini and April Cantelo. He died on 14 April 2013 in London, England, UK.- Dorothy Delay was born on 31 March 1917 in Medicine Lodge, Kansas, USA. She was married to Edward Newhouse. She died on 24 March 2002 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA.
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James DePreist was born on 21 November 1936 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. He was married to Ginette DePreist and Betty Childress. He died on 8 February 2013 in Scottsdale, Arizona, USA.- Composer
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Composer and educator, educated at the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Eastman School of Music, and the New Music School. He studied with Roger Sessions and Nadia Boulanger. He received Elfrida Whiteman, Guggenheim, and National Academy of Arts and Letters grants and Prix de Rome, Paderewski, and Ernest Bloch awards. He joined ASCAP in 1946, and went to Europe in 1951 as a Fulbright professor (he was a Slee professor at the University of Boston in 1951). He joined the faculty at the Manhattan School of Music in 1965, and was a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters. His vocal compositions include "David Mourns for Absalom", "Lift Not the Painted Veil", and "Love Is More".- Music Department
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Glenn Dicterow is known for The Turning Point (1977), Live from Lincoln Center (1976) and The Bell Telephone Hour (1959).- Actor
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Christopher Durang was born on 2 January 1949 in Montclair, New Jersey, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for The Cowboy Way (1994), The Secret of My Success (1987) and HouseSitter (1992). He was married to John Augustine. He died on 2 April 2024 in Pipersville, Pennsylvania, USA.- Music Department
- Composer
Sixten Ehrling was born on 3 April 1918 in Malmö, Skåne län, Sweden. He was a composer, known for The Seventh Seal (1957), Miss Julie (1951) and Tre önskningar (1960). He was married to Gunnel Lindgren-Ehrling. He died on 13 February 2005 in New York City, New York, USA.- Actor
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Simon Estes was born on 2 February 1938 in Centerville, Iowa, USA. He is an actor, known for Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria (1980), The Metropolitan Opera Presents (1977) and Hello I Must Be Going (2012). He is married to Yvonne Bare. They have three children.- Daniel Ferro was born on 8 March 1979 in Bogota, Colombia.
- Rudolf Firkusny was born on 11 February 1912 in Napajedla, Morava, Austria-Hungary. He was married to Tatiana Nevolová Firkusný. He died on 19 July 1994 in Staatsburg, New York, USA.
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John Guare was born on 5 February 1938 in New York City, New York, USA. He is a writer and actor, known for Atlantic City (1980), Six Degrees of Separation (1993) and Taking Off (1971).- Music Department
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Gerre Hancock was born on 21 February 1934 in Lubbock, Texas, USA. Gerre is known for Reckless (1995) and Requiem Mass (1985). Gerre was married to Judith Eckerman. Gerre died on 21 January 2012 in Austin, Texas, USA.- Son of Edward & Nora Hickey. Best known as the ancient Mafia don in Prizzi's Honor (1985), Hickey had a long, distinguished career in film, television, and the stage. Began career as a child actor on the variety stage. Made Broadway debut as walk-on in George Bernard Shaw's "Saint Joan" (1951 production, starring Uta Hagen). Performed often during the golden age of television, including appearances on Studio One and Philco Playhouse. His most important contribution to the arts, however, remains his teaching career at the HB Studio in Greenwich Village, founded by Hagen and Herbert Berghof. George Segal, Sandy Dennis, and Barbra Streisand all studied under him.
- Martha Hill is known for The Second Voyage of the Mimi (1988).
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Hanya Holm was born on 3 March 1893 in Worms, Grand Duchy of Hesse [now Rhineland-Palatinate], Germany. She is known for The Vagabond King (1956), The Golden Fleece (1941) and Pinocchio (1957). She died on 3 November 1992 in New York City, New York, USA.- Actor
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Academy Award-winning actor John Houseman's main contribution to American culture was not his own performances on film but rather, his role as a midwife to one of the greatest actor-directors-cinematic geniuses his adopted country ever produced (Orson Welles) and as a midwife to a whole generation of actors as head of the drama division of the Juilliard School.
Houseman was born Jacques Haussmann on September 22, 1902 in Bucharest, Romania, to May (Davies) and Georges Haussmann, who ran a grain business. His father was from an Alsatian Jewish family, and his mother, who was British, was of Welsh and Irish descent. John was raised in England, where he was educated. He emigrated to America in 1925, establishing himself in New York City, where he directed "Four Saints in Three Acts" for the theater in 1934. He founded the Mercury Theatre along with Orson Welles (whom he affectionately called "The Dog-Faced Boy"). Their most important success was a modern-dress version of Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar", in which the spectre of Hitler and Mussolini's Fascist states were evoked.
As a producer assigned to Unit 891 of the Federal Theater Project funded by the government's Works Progress Administration, he produced the legendary production "Cradle Will Rock", a musical about the tyranny of capitalism, with music by Marc Blitzstein, creative input from Welles, and starring leftists Howard Da Silva and Will Geer. The production was so controversial, it was banned before its debut, although the did manage to stage one performance. On Broadway, apart from the Mercury Theatre and the WPA, Houseman directed "The Devil and Daniel Webster" (1939) and "Liberty Jones" and produced "Native Son" (1941). During World War II, Houseman went to work for the Office of War Information and was involved in broadcasting radio propaganda for the Voice of America. After the war, Houseman returned to directing and produced Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's version of Julius Caesar (1953).
He had produced his first film, Orson Welles' Too Much Johnson (1938), while with the Mercury Theatre. He was involved with the pre-production of Citizen Kane (1941) but fell out with Welles due to Welles' already legendary ego. He produced a score of major films and was involved in three television series before devoting his life to teaching. He helped establish the acting program at New York's famous Julliard School for the Arts, where he influenced a new generation of actors. Ironically, he had appeared in only one major movie, in a supporting role, before being tapped to replace James Mason in The Paper Chase (1973). He won an Academy Award for the role and began a 15-year career as a highly sought after supporting player.
John Houseman, who wrote three volumes of memoirs, "Run-Through" (1972), "Front and Center" (1979) and "Final Dress" (1983), died at age 86 on October 31, 1988 after making major contributions to the theater and film.- Music Department
Acclaimed for her extraordinary lyricism, technique and versatility, multiple Grammy Award winner Sharon Isbin has been hailed as "the pre-eminent guitarist of our time". She is the winner of Guitar Player magazine's Best Classical Guitarist award, the Munich, Toronto and Madrid international competitions, Germany's Echo Klassik award, Concert Artists Guild's Virtuoso Award, and many others. She has appeared as soloist with over 170 orchestras and has given sold-out performances in the world's finest halls, including New York's Carnegie and Avery Fisher Halls, Boston's Symphony Hall, Washington D.C.'s Kennedy Center, London's Barbican and Wigmore Halls, Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, Paris' Châtelet, Vienna's Musikverein, Munich's Herkulessaal, and Madrid's Teatro Real. She has served as Artistic Director/Soloist of festivals she created for Carnegie Hall, the Ordway Music Theatre (St. Paul), New York's 92nd Street Y, and the acclaimed national radio series Guitarjam. A frequent guest on NPR's All Things Considered and A Prairie Home Companion, she has been profiled on television throughout the world, including CBS Sunday Morning, and she was featured as soloist on the Grammy nominated soundtrack of Scorsese's Academy Award-winning The Departed (2006), and as a guest actress on Showtime Television's hit series The L Word (2004). Ms. Isbin performed at Ground Zero for the first internationally televised 9/11 memorial, in concert at the White House by invitation of President Obama, and was the only classical artist to perform in the 2010 Grammy Awards. She has been profiled in periodicals from People to Elle, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, and has appeared on the cover of over 45 magazines. Her 2015 national television performances on PBS include the Billy Joel Gershwin Prize, Tavis Smiley, and American Public Television's acclaimed one-hour documentary on her life and work titled Sharon Isbin: Troubadour (2014), seen by millions on over 200 PBS stations across the US, and winner of the 2015 ASCAP Television Broadcast Award. The film was released with bonus performances on DVD and Blu-ray by Video Artists International, and is distributed by EuroArts for foreign television.
Ms. Isbin's catalog of over 25 recordings-from Baroque, Spanish/Latin and 20th Century to crossover and jazz-fusion-reflects remarkable versatility. Her latest releases, Sharon Isbin: 5 Classic Albums (Warner) and Sharon Isbin & Friends: Guitar Passions (Sony) with rock guests Steve Vai, Steve Morse, Heart's Nancy Wilson and jazz guitarist Stanley Jordan, have been #1 bestsellers on Amazon.com. Her 2010 Grammy Award-winning Journey to the New World with guests Joan Baez and Mark O'Connor was a #1 bestseller on Amazon and iTunes, and spent 63 consecutive weeks on the top Billboard charts. Other Grammys include her world premiere recording of concerti written for her by Christopher Rouse and Tan Dun, and Dreams of a World which made her the first classical guitarist in 28 years to receive the award. She received Latin Grammy and GLAAD Media Award nominations for her Rodrigo Aranjuez, Ponce and Villa-Lobos concerti with the New York Philharmonic-their first and only recording with a guitar soloist. Other honors include Gramophone's Recording of the Year and Guitar Player's Album of the Year.
Sharon Isbin has been acclaimed for expanding the guitar repertoire with some of the finest new works of the century. She has commissioned and premiered more concerti than any other guitarist, and her American Landscapes CD with works for her by Corigliano, Schwantner and Foss was the first-ever recording of American guitar concerti. In November 1995, it was launched in the space shuttle Atlantis and presented to Russian cosmonauts during a rendezvous with Mir. Her world premieres in 2015 included Affinity: Concerto for Guitar & Orchestra composed for her by Chris Brubeck, and a commission for her and opera star Isabel Leonard by Carnegie Hall for their 125th anniversary with Chicago's Harris Theater.
Recent highlights include sold-out recitals in Carnegie Hall, Philadelphia's Kimmel Center and Washington D.C.'s Kennedy Center; tours with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, Austria's Tonkünstler Orchestra and Belgium's Philharmonique de Liege; a week of performances at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, MIDEM Classical Awards in Cannes, a 21-city Guitar Passions tour with Stanley Jordan and Romero Lubambo, and a 2015 sold-out performance in Carnegie Hall with Sting which included Katy Perry and Jerry Seinfeld to benefit the David Lynch Foundation.
Ms. Isbin appears as soloist with orchestras throughout the world, including the New York Philharmonic, National Symphony, Baltimore, Detroit, Houston, Dallas, Pittsburgh, Minnesota, St. Louis, Nashville, New Jersey, Louisville, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Phoenix, Buffalo and Utah Symphonies; Saint Paul, Los Angeles, Zurich, Scottish and Lausanne Chamber Orchestras; the London Symphony and Orchestre National de France; and BBC Scottish, Lisbon Gulbenkian, Prague, Milan Verdi, Belgrade, Mexico City, Jerusalem and Tokyo Symphonies. Her festival appearances include Mostly Mozart, Aspen, Ravinia, Grant Park, Interlochen, Santa Fe, Mexico City, Bermuda, Hong Kong, Montreux, Strasbourg, Paris, Athens, Istanbul, Ravenna, Prague and Budapest International Festivals.
Born in Minneapolis, Sharon Isbin began her guitar studies at nine in Italy, and later studied with Andrés Segovia and Oscar Ghiglia. A former student of Rosalyn Tureck, Ms. Isbin collaborated with the noted keyboardist in publishing and recording the first performance editions of the Bach lute suites for guitar (Warner Classics/ G. Schirmer). She is the author of the Classical Guitar Answer Book, and is Director of guitar departments at the Aspen Music Festival and The Juilliard School, which she created in 1989.- Joseph Kalichstein was born on 15 January 1946 in Tel Aviv, British Mandate of Palestine [now Israel]. He was married to Rowain . He died on 31 March 2022 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA.
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Tony Kushner's play "Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes" earned him the Pulitzer Prize, among many other awards. His other acclaimed plays include "Slavs", "Homebody/Kabul" and "Caroline, or Change". He has collaborated with children's author and illustrator Maurice Sendak on several books. In 2003, Kushner married his boyfriend, Mark Harris, editor at large of Entertainment Weekly; they were the first gay couple to be featured in The New York Times' "Vows" column.- Michael Langham was born on 22 August 1919 in Bridgwater, Somerset, England, UK. He was a director, known for Great Performances (1971), Folio (1955) and Approach to Theatre (1956). He was married to Helen Burns. He died on 15 January 2011 in Cranbrook, Kent, England, UK.
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Eugene Levinson is known for Live from Lincoln Center (1976).- Additional Crew
- Actor
José Limon was born on 12 January 1908 in Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico. He was an actor, known for The Moor's Pavane (1951), Folio (1955) and And David Wept (1971). He was married to Pauline Lawrence. He died on 2 December 1972 in Flemington, New Jersey, USA.- Actor
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Romulus Linney, the prolific American playwright, was born on September 21, 1930 in Philadelphia. He was the namesake of his great-grandfather, the Republican Congressman, Romulus Zachariah Linney, a Confederate Army veteran who represented North Carolina's 8th District from 1895-1901. Raised in North Carolina and Tennessee, Linney graduated from Oberlin College and then attended the Yale School of Drama, here he earned a Master of Fine Arts degree.
Linney wrote 85 plays, including "Holy Ghosts", "Sand Mountain, "The Sorrows of Frederick", and "2: Goering at Nuremberg". His play "The 34th Star" was produced for public television in 1974.
His plays were staged Off- and Off-Off-Broadway and by regional theaters. His one Broadway production, "The Love Suicide at Schofield Barracks", was a flop, closing after only five performances in 1972. (The play was revived Off-Broadway in 1992, playing for a little over two weeks.) While he was never a success in commercial terms, he was highly respected. Linney won two Obie Awards, one of which was for career achievement, and two National Critics Awards. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Academy honored him with its Award in Literature, its Award of Merit and the Gold Medal, its highest award. In 1994, he also received an honorary doctorate award from his alma mater, Oberlin College.
Linney also taught dramatic writing, eventually serving as the head of Columbia University's MFA Playwriting program. He also taught playwriting at the Actors Studio's MFA program, and taught at the New School in New York, Princeton, and the University of Pennsylvania, among other schools.
Suffering from lung cancer, Romulus Linney died on January 15, 2011. He was 80 years old. The award-winning actress Laura Linney is his daughter. They appeared together in the movie Kinsey (2004).- Actor
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Gene Lockhart was born on July 18, 1891, in London, Ontario, Canada, the son of John Coates Lockhart and Ellen Mary (Delany) Lockhart. His father had studied singing and young Gene displayed an early interest in drama and music. Shortly after the 7-year-old danced a Highland fling in a concert given by the 48th Highlanders' Regimental Band, his father joined the band as a Scottish tenor. The Lockhart family accompanied the band to England. While his father toured, Gene studied at the Brompton Oratory School in London. When they returned to Canada, Gene began singing in concert, often on the same program with Beatrice Lillie. His mother encouraged his career, urging him to try for a part on Broadway. Lockhart went to America. At 25, he got a part in a New York play in September, 1917, as Gustave in Klaw and Erlanger's musical "The Riviera Girl." Between acting engagements, he wrote for the stage. His first production was "The Pierrot Players" for which he wrote both book and lyrics and played. It toured Canada in 1919 and introduced "The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise" (words by Lockhart, music by Ernest Seitz), which became a very popular ballad.. "Heigh-Ho" (1920) followed, a musical fantasy with score by Deems Taylor and book and lyrics by Lockhart. It had a short run (again, with him in the cast). Lockhart's first real break as a dramatic actor came in the supporting role of Bud, a mountaineer moonshiner, in Lula Vollmer's Sun Up (1939). This was an American folk play, first presented by The Players, a theatrical club, in a Greenwich Village little theater in 1923. After great notices it moved to a larger house for a two-year run. During this engagement, in 1924 at the age of 33, Lockhart married Kathleen Lockhart (aka Kathleen Arthur), an English actress and musician. Gene meanwhile also appeared in a series of performances presented by The Players in New York theaters: as Gregoire in "The Little Father of the Wilderness"; as Waitwell in "The Way of the World," as Gumption Cute in "Uncle Tom's Cabin", and as Faust in "Mephisto." The Lockharts' daughter, June Lockhart, was born in 1925. She would eventually appear regularly in the television series Lassie (1954) and Lost in Space (1965). In 1933, Gene and Kathleen were featured in "Sunday Night at Nine," a radio program presented at New York's Barbizon-Plaza Hotel. Meanwhile, Lockhart was keeping busy writing articles for theatrical magazines and a weekly column for a Canadian publication, coaching members of New York's Junior League in dramatics, lecturing on dramatic technique at the Julliard School of Music, and directing a revival of "The Warrior's Husband"--a formidable schedule. It amused him as he said that, "in spite of [the amount of work in a typical day] I don't get thin." Lockhart had by this time taken on the appearance that audiences would see again and again in films--short and plump with a chubby, jowly face and twinkling blue eyes. In 1933, he played Uncle Sid in the Theatre Guild's production of Eugene O'Neill's comedy "Ah, Wilderness!" co-starring George M. Cohan. This was the role that was to bring Lockhart stardom and lead to a contract with RKO Pictures and his first film, By Your Leave (1934). O'Neill wrote to Lockhart: "Every time your Sid has come in for dinner I've wanted to burst into song, and every time you've come down from that nap I've felt the cold gray ghost of an old heebie-jeebie." The acclaim for his acting in "Ah, Wilderness!" allowed Lockhart to proceed to Hollywood and remain there almost without interruption. However, he was back on Broadway in December, 1949, when he took over the part of Willy Loman in the New York production of "Death of a Salesman." Lockhart appeared in over 125 films. Though he often played upright doctors, judges and businessmen, and was in real life described as an amiable and gentle soul, Lockhart is perhaps best remembered on film as a villain who usually ends up cowering in a corner whimpering pitifully before getting his just desserts, a scene he played to the hilt in such movies as Algiers (1938) (for which he was nominated for an Oscar), Blackmail (1939), Geronimo (1939), Northern Pursuit (1943), and Hangmen Also Die! (1943). Late on Saturday, March 30, 1957, Lockhart suffered a heart attack while sleeping in his apartment at 10439 Ashton Avenue in West Los Angeles. He was taken to St. John's Hospital and died on Sunday afternoon, March 31. He is buried in Holy Cross Cemetery.- Music Department
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Robert F. Mann is known for That Thing You Do! (1996), Bird on a Wire (1990) and Father of the Bride (1991).- Music Department
- Composer
- Actor
Wynton Marsalis is widely recognized as the pre-eminent jazz artist of our time. He is hailed not only as a performer on the trumpet, but also as a music educator and a promoter of the history and culture of jazz. Marsalis is also an established artist in performing trumpet in works of classical music, and he is a leader in civic matters.
Wynton Marsalis was born into a musical family in the city of New Orleans, the birthplace of jazz. Marsalis's father was a pianist and music teacher. Some of Wynton's brothers have become notable musicians in their own right, specifically Branford Marsalis on saxophone, Delfeayo Marsalis on trombone, and Jason Marsalis on drums. Wynton was a precocious student of music in his youth. He eventually attended the Juilliard School. Later he joined the band of the renowned jazz artist Art Blakey.
Marsalis spent ten years touring continuously with his band. He has virtually single-handedly revived the public's interest in jazz, which to many had become a lost art form. In addition to performing, Marsalis also focuses strongly on education by giving lectures and workshops to students on musicianship.
Wynton Marsalis created the PBS TV series Marsalis on Music (1995), as well as the National Public Radio 26-week series "Making the Music" in that same year. Marsalis played a major role in developing Ken Burns's TV mini-series Jazz (2001). These efforts played a significant role in helping to bring jazz forward in the public's mind.
Marsalis has been criticized by some for discounting the value of jazz forms that have emerged after 1965. Marsalis has countered by stating that attempts at a musical fusion of jazz with other pop forms yields a mixture of sounds that are simply not true jazz.
Wynton Marsalis has made major efforts to help revive and restore his home city of New Orleans following the disaster of hurricane Katrina, including organizing the benefit concert "Higher Ground" at Lincoln Center in New York City. Marsalis has promoted human rights for the people of Burma and their imprisoned leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The Secretary-General of the United Nations has declared Marsalis to be a U.N. Messenger of Peace.
Marsalis has won numerous awards including nine Grammys, two of them for his recordings of classical works for trumpet by Haydn, Mozart and Handel. He is the first jazz artist to win a Pulitzer Prize, given for composing his oratorio "Blood on the Fields". Wynton Marsalis now serves as the Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center's Rose Hall in New York City.- Music Department
Alberta Masiello is known for The Metropolitan Opera Presents (1977).- Music Department
- Actor
- Composer
João Carlos Martins is known for A Grande Vitória (2014), Serenata Monumental da Queima das Fitas (RTP) (1995) and Gabriel Sater: Amor de Índio (2022).- Actor
- Producer
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From February 2014 Dakin is taking on the iconic role of Mickey, the grizzled no-mercy trainer in ROCKY, THE MUSICAL at Broadway's Winter Gardens Theatre. This role was originally played by veteran screen actor Burgess Meredith in the original 1976 movie and he received an Academy award nomination for his achievement.- Director
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- Writer
- Script and Continuity Department
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Terrence McNally was born on 3 November 1938 in St. Petersburg, Florida, USA. He was a writer and actor, known for American Playhouse (1980), Frankie and Johnny (1991) and The Ritz (1976). He was married to Thomas Kirdahy. He died on 24 March 2020 in Sarasota, Florida, USA.- Yevgeniya Melnikova was born on 27 June 1909 in Moscow, Russian Empire [now Russia]. She was an actress, known for Chipollino (1973), The Diamond Arm (1969) and The Circus (1936). She was married to Anatoliy Pavlovich. She died on 10 September 2001 in Moscow, Russia.
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Jeffrey Milarsky is known for Safe Men (1998).- Writer
- Additional Crew
- Art Director
Marsha Norman was born on 21 September 1947 in Louisville, Kentucky, USA. She is a writer and art director, known for The Laundromat (1985), Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2001) and The Color Purple (2023). She has been married to Tim Dykma since 1987. She was previously married to Dann C. Byck, Jr. and Michael Norman.- Actress
- Music Department
Orin O'Brien is known for Live from Lincoln Center (1976) and The Only Girl in the Orchestra (2023).- Actor
- Music Department
- Composer
Probably the pre-eminent violinist of our time, Itzhak Perlman is known for his brilliant technique, direct interpretation and precision. Mr. Perlman's recordings include not only all standard violin repertoires but those of contemporary composers. He has appeared with every major orchestra in the world, showcasing his talent at music festivals, recitals, and concerts around the world. The man who plays sitting down has never ceased to bring audiences and truly, the world, to its feet in appreciation of his gifts. Mr. Perlman was born to a barber in Israel in 1945. He contracted polio and lost the use of his legs at the age of four. Shortly after, he began to study the violin. After learning the violin at Shulamit High School in Tel-Aviv, he was performing with the Israel Broadcasting Orchestra. He toured with Ed Sullivan's Caravan of Stars, a showcase of talented children. He emigrated to the US in 1958 and under scholarship, Mr. Perlman went on to study at the prestigious Juilliard School of Music in New York with Ivan Galamian. Mr. Perlman made his professional debut playing Wienawski F-sharp minor Concerto at Carnegie Hall in 1963. He won the Leventritt Memorial Competition in 1964, which helped paved the way to his illustrious international career. Mr. Perlman returned to Israel in 1965 with a stunning eight concert and in 1968, made his British debut at Festival Hall with the London Symphony Orchestra. On the 4th of July in 1986, Mr. Perlman was one of 12 first-generation US citizens to be honored with the Medal of Liberty by President Ronald Reagan, in recognition and appreciation of his contributions to America. In December 2000, President Clinton awarded Mr. Perlman the "National Medal of Arts." With the Israel Philharmonic, Mr. Perlman performed several notable recitals in countries previously closed off. In November of 1987, the Philharmonic and Mr. Perlman performed in Warsaw and Budapest. It was the first time the Philharmonic and the violinist had performed in the Eastern Bloc. In April and May of 1990, the Philharmonic and Mr. Perlman journeyed to Russia for the first time, performing recitals in Moscow and Leningrad. The timing of this tour coincided with the 150th anniversary of Tchaikovsky's birth and Mr. Perlman honored the composer. In December 1994, Mr. Perlman and the Israel Philharmonic performed in China and India, marking the first time the Philharmonic played in either nation. Perhaps one of his greatest moments as an artist came when he collaborated with legendary composer John Williams. The film score that was created, with Mr. Perlman as a soloist, was used in the film _Schindler's List (1993)_ which won an Academy Award. Ever a teacher and holder of many teaching posts, Mr. Perlman participated in London South Bank Summer Music Series in 1968 and 1969. He created a master class in violin in 1970, at the Meadowbrooks Festival in the US. Mr. Perlman and his wife founded the Perlman Music Program in 1998 to nurture young musicians, ages 11-18. The program is costly but three quarters of the children receive some sort of financial aid. It includes year-round instruction and mentoring, a six-week summer residency on Shelter Island, New York and an annual international study/performance tour. In Mr. Perlman's 50th birthday year, he performed the major violin repertoire in a special concert series in London. That year was the launch of the Perlman Edition to commemorate his birth. The 20 CD set was released in May 1995. It was chosen by Mr. Perlman himself and included some of his favorite pieces by Sarasate, Wieniawski, Kreisler and Tchaikovsky. Later that year, EMI released a live recording of Beethoven's Triple Concerto with Yo-Yo Ma and the Berlin Philharmonic. The holder of honorary degrees from Harvard, Yale, and Yeshiva Universities, among others, it's Itzhak Perlman's passion for music that recommends him to the world. The joy of making music has seldom been translated so well and it is this combination of talent and personal charm which makes him such an outstanding violinist and the greatest violin virtuoso of our time.- Vincent Persichetti was born on 6 June 1915 in Philadelphia, USA. He was a composer, known for Mosselman (2010). He died on 14 August 1987 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
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- Actor
Erik Ralske is known for Don't Worry Darling (2022), Crater (2023) and Live from Lincoln Center (1976).- Sound Department
- Music Department
- Producer
- Director
- Actor
Michel Saint-Denis was born on 13 September 1897 in Beauvais, Oise, France. He was a producer and director, known for Twelfth Night (1939), The Black Arrow (1951) and Scenes from Macbeth (1937). He was married to Suria Magito and Marie Ostroga. He died on 31 July 1971 in London, England, UK.- Composer
- Music Department
- Actor
Peter Schickele is a renowned American composer. Inspired by the music of Spike Jones, as a young teenager, he also studied composition and music history at Juilliard. After graduating from Juilliard he asked himself what in the world he was going to do with a PhD in music history, and proceeded to rewrite it (history, that is) by discovering works by Johann Sebastian Bach's heretofore unknown 21st child, "last and by far the least", "a pimple on the face of music", P.D.Q. Bach. PDQ's music had its first public performance in 1965, and lectures by "Professor Schickele" (of the University of Southern North Dakota at Hoople, or "U of SND at H" for short) have delighted audiences ever since. Although the first ten PDQ Bach albums on Vanguard hold his most inspired work, only his latest five albums (on Telarc) have earned him proper recognition, with four of the five winning Grammy Awards in comedy. In 1993 he stopped touring with PDQ Bach to devote himself more fully to 'real' composing (which he's done all along, in spite of the spectre of PDQ Bach which often resulted in even his most serious work eliciting laughter) and his radio show "Schickele Mix". His weekly show (of which there have been 168 episodes) features an eclectic mix of music from many cultures and centuries; he's perfectly happy to illustrate a musical point using a "suite" that combines music of seeming opposites: Bach and the Beatles; Heavy Metal bands and Classical string quartets. You can find him on the radio or in New York City every week after Christmas performing P.D.Q. Bach at Carnegie Hall or Lincoln Center.- William Schuman was born on 4 August 1910 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a composer, known for Omnibus (1952), Night Journey (1960) and Eye on New York (1956). He died on 15 February 1992 in Manhattan, New York, USA.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
BernNadette Stanis is best known as Thelma from Good Times (1974), but there's much more to her than that. In the 1970s she was the personification of black beauty. As sophisticated and graceful as she was, she still became TV's first black sex symbol or "It" girl. Thelma/BernNadette and the Evans family also proved many stereotypes wrong about the ghetto and the young black girl, such as that all black girls and black families in the ghetto had no hopes, dreams, or class. Thelma showed that a "ghetto girl" had hopes and dreams, intelligence, respect, dignity, and grace, and it wasn't just acting--BernNadette was that naturally. She introduced a new definitive image of the young black girl and woman.
BernNadette was a wonderful, graceful dancer, which she displayed several times on the series. Everything she did was marked with delicacy, diminutive beauty, form, or grace, all very welcome in TV in the 1970s. Her dramatic, comedic charm, witty one-liners, daintiness, winsomeness, and sexy but innocent image were versatile qualities that made her a great talent and great favorite who will never be forgotten.- Actor
- Production Manager
- Writer
György Sándor was born on 4 April 1938 in Budapest, Hungary. He is an actor and production manager, known for Vigyázat, mélyföld! (1986), Amerikai anzix (1975) and Nem szoktam hazudni (1966). He is married to Judit Csonka. He was previously married to Christina Sandor.- Director
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Born in Russia, stage director Alan Schneider worked primarily in the U.S., and was best known for interpreting the plays of Samuel Beckett. Schneider made very infrequent ventures into cinema, the best-known being Film (1965), an experimental silent movie written by Beckett, made in 1964 with Buster Keaton. Schneider corresponded with Samuel Beckett for many years; ironically, and tragically, he was struck and killed by a motorcycle in London while crossing the street to post a letter to Beckett.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Tony Award-winner Marian Hall Seldes, one of the premier stage actresses in America, was born on August 23, 1928 in Manhattan, New York, to writer and journalist Gilbert Seldes, and his socialite wife, the former Alice Wadhams Hall. Her paternal grandparents were Russian Jewish immigrants, and her mother was from an Episcopalian family with deep roots in the United States.
Marian studied drama at the Neighborhood Playhouse with Sanford Meisner and dance with Martha Graham. She honed her craft with the legendary Broadway diva, Katharine Cornell, with whom she appeared in the play, "That Lady", in the 1949-50 season.
Seldes, herself, taught acting at The Juilliard School from 1967 to 1991 and at Fordham University's Lincoln Center campus since 2002. Her students include Oscar-winners William Hurt, Kevin Kline and Robin Williams, Emmy Award-winners Kelsey Grammer and Laura Linney, and Tony Award-winner Patti LuPone.
She made her Broadway debut, in 1948, in Robinson Jeffers' adaptation of "Medea", with acting great Judith Anderson giving a legendary performance as Euripides' scorned heroine in a production directed by John Gielgud, who also played "Jason". It began a career that lasted 59 years: She last appeared on Broadway in 2007 in Terrence McNally's "Deuce". Along the way, she was nominated for a Tony Award five times, winning on her first nod for Edward Albee's A Delicate Balance (1973). Seldes has long been associated with Albee, appearing in three of his plays, starting with "Tiny Alice" in 1962. (Albee's Pulitzer Prize-winning "Three Tall Women", which starred Seldes, did not play the Great White Way but appeared off-Broadway.)
Seldes also has had an extensive career in movies, television and radio, playing everything from Emily Brontë in the 1952 TV movie, Our Sister Emily (1952), to Lucas McCain's dead wife in The Rifleman (1958) episode, The Vision (1960) in 1960, to First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt in Truman (1995) to Mr. Big's mother on Sex and the City (1998). She also has done extensive work as a radio actress, appearing on the CBS Radio Mystery Theater, from 1974 to 1982.
Her first marriage to Julian Claman, by whom she had a daughter, ended in divorce in 1961. She was married to screenwriter Garson Kanin from 1990 until his death in 1999.
In 2010, Marian Seldes received a Tony Lifetime Achievement Award for her great career in the theater as befits her reputation as one of America's greatest stage performers.- Additional Crew
Anna Sokolow was born on 9 February 1910 in Hartford, Connecticut, USA. She is known for Un beso en la noche (1945), La corte de faraón (1944) and Pulitzer Prize Playhouse (1950). She died on 29 March 2000 in New York City, New York, USA.- David Soyer was born on 24 February 1923 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. He was married to Janet Soyer. He died on 25 February 2010 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA.
- Liz Smith found fame as an actress at an age when most people are considering retirement. It was a long road to eventual stardom, during which she struggled to raise a family after a broken marriage. She became best known for her roles in The Vicar of Dibley (1994) and The Royle Family but her talents encompassed serious drama too. And while she made something of a name playing slightly dotty old ladies, the real Liz Smith was far removed from these on-screen personas. She was born Betty Gleadle in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire. Her early life was not happy. Her mother died in childbirth when she was just two years old and her father abandoned her when he remarried. "My father was a bit of a sod, really. He just went off with loads of women and then married one who said he had to cut off completely from his prior life and that meant me." She started going to the local cinema with her grandfather when she was four and she quickly gained a fascination for acting.
By the age of nine, she was appearing in local dramatic productions, often playing the part of elderly ladies. World War Two thwarted her plans and she joined the WRNS because, as she later told the BBC's Desert Island Discs, she loved the cut of the naval uniform. She continued appearing in plays and entertainments while serving in the Royal Navy. She met her future husband Jack Thomas while she was stationed in India and the couple married at the end of the war. Her grandmother had left her enough money to buy a house in London. Smith later remembered that she had picked it at random from a magazine and bought it without crossing the threshold.
But what had been an idyllic marriage failed shortly after the family moved to Epping Forest in Essex and she was left to bring up her two children alone. With money tight, she worked in a number of jobs including delivering post and quality control in a plastic bag factory. But her love for acting remained and she began buying the theatrical magazine, The Stage, and sending her photograph to casting agents. Eventually she became part of a group studying method acting under a teacher who had come to the UK from America.
She performed at the Gate Theatre in west London and spent many years in repertory, as well as spells as an entertainer in Butlins holiday camps. In 1970, she was selling toys in London's Regent Street when she got a call from the director Mike Leigh to play the downtrodden mother in his film Bleak Moments. Leigh cast her again in Hard Labour, part of the BBC's Play for Today series, a role that allowed her to shine. She received critical acclaim as the middle-aged housewife who endures a life of domestic drudgery, constantly at the beck and call of her demanding husband and daughter.
It was the breakthrough she had sought for years and, as she later recalled: "I never went back to grotty jobs again." She was seldom off the screen over the next 20 years, with appearances in a number of TV programmes including Last of the Summer Wine, The Sweeney, The Duchess of Duke Street and The Gentle Touch. She was cast as Madame Balls in the 1976 film The Pink Panther Strikes Again, but her scenes were left on the cutting-room floor. However, she did appear in the role six years later in The Curse of the Pink Panther. In 1984 she received a Bafta for Best Supporting Actress when she played Maggie Smith's mother in the film A Private Function.
Two years later she appeared as Patricia Hodge's alcoholic mother in the BBC drama The Life and Loves Of A She Devil. It was a part, she said, that she really enjoyed as it gave her the chance to wear more glamorous outfits than her usual roles required. And she was able to dress up again for her next film appearance, this time in the role of Grace in Peter Greenaway's film The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover. She was still much in demand at the beginning of the 1990s, appearing in the sitcom 2point4 Children and in the series Lovejoy and Bottom.
In 1994 she became a household name with her portrayal of Letitia Cropley in the series The Vicar of Dibley (1994). The character was famous for her idiosyncratic recipes such as parsnip brownies and lard and fish paste pancakes, but was killed off in 1996. Two years later Liz Smith starred as Nana in The Royle Family, a sitcom that ran for nearly four years. She took the part again in 2006 in a special edition in which Nana died. Typically, she attributed her success to Caroline Aherne's scripts rather than her own talent.
"They were great roles," she later remembered. "I was so lucky that things did come my way then." Unlike some actors, she watched recordings of her own performances looking for ways in which she could improve her acting. She continued to appear in feature films, playing Grandma Georgina in Tim Burton's 2005 version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and she was the voice of Mrs Mulch in Wallace & Gromit -The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. In 2006 she published her autobiography Our Betty and moved into a retirement home in north London but continued acting. She appeared in the BBC's Lark Rise to Candleford, finally announcing her retirement in 2008 at the age of 87. It was a belief in her own talent that drove Liz Smith on when her life was at a low ebb. "All I wanted was a chance," she told the BBC. "It was wonderful when it did happen."
Smith died on Christmas Eve 2016. She was 95. - Leon Theremin was born on 15 August 1896 in St. Petersburg, Russia. He was married to Maria, Katia Constantina and Lavinia Williams. He died on 3 November 1993 in Moscow, Russia.
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- Producer
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Tracie Thoms has had wide-ranging success in film, television and theatre throughout her busy career.
Tracie's currently a series regular opposite Oscar winner Octavia Spencer on the Apple series, Truth Be Told, while at the same time recurring on Fox's 9-1-1 and ABC's Station 19.
Tracie realized a long-held dream when she starred as 'Joanne' in the final weeks of the historic Broadway run of the iconic musical, Rent. She played the same key role in Sony's film of Rent opposite Rosario Dawson and Idina Menzel. She was seen opposite Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon-Levitt in Rian Johnson's Looper, and with Denzel Washington in Safe House. She starred with Kurt Russell in Quentin Tarantino's Grindhouse: Death Proof and opposite Anne Hathaway in David Frankel's The Devil Wears Prada. She was featured in Columbia's remake of Annie with Jamie Foxx and Quvenzhané Wallis. She's also been featured in dozens of indie films throughout her career.
Tracie starred on Broadway most recently in the acclaimed production of James Lapine's Falsettos. She also starred opposite Dulé Hill and Mekhi Phifer in Stick Fly, and opposite Alfre Woodard in Drowning Crow. She starred Off-Broadway in Working at Encores! Off-Center, with Oscar nominee John Hawkes in the world premiere of David Auburn's Lost Lake at Manhattan Theatre Club, and she was a lead in the acclaimed The Exonerated at The Culture Project. She's been featured in The 24 Hour Plays, The 24 Hour Musicals, and 10 Things To Do Before I Die at New York's Second Stage.
Tracie was a series regular for six years on CBS' Cold Case. She starred for Fox in Wonderfalls and recurred on Hulu's The First, WGN's Gone, Lifetime's UnREAL, Netflix's Love and NBC's Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector. She's guest starred on Veep, Person of Interest, Suits, The Shield, The Good Wife, The Mindy Project, Criminal Minds, The Affair, The Good Doctor, Grey's Anatomy, Mad About You, Run, Curb Your Enthusiasm and NCIS: Los Angeles.
Tracie began studying acting in her hometown of Baltimore at age 9. She attended high school at the prestigious Baltimore School for the Arts. Later, she received a bachelor of fine arts degree from Howard University and a graduate degree in acting from New York City's renowned Juilliard School.- Additional Crew
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- Production Designer
Antony Tudor was born on 4 April 1908 in London, England, UK. He was a director and production designer, known for In a Monastery Garden (1932), Folio (1955) and The Tempest/II (1939). He died on 19 April 1987 in New York City, New York, USA.- Writer
- Actress
- Producer
Wendy Wasserstein was born on 18 October 1950 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. She was a writer and actress, known for Life with Mikey (1993), The Object of My Affection (1998) and Great Performances (1971). She died on 30 January 2006 in New York City, New York, USA.- Composer
- Music Department
- Actor
Earl Wild was born on 26 November 1915 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. He was a composer and actor, known for Greta (2018), The United States Steel Hour (1953) and The Revlon Revue (1959). He was married to Rolland Davis. He died on 23 January 2010 in Palm Springs, California, USA.- Actor
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Multiple award-winning (Esquire Gold Award, Silver Award, Downbeat Poll, Metronome Poll, more) jazz pianist who went on to play with the groups of Louis Armstrong, Benny Carter, Jimmie Noone, and Willie Bryant. In 1935, he went on tour with Benny Goodman and Gene Krupa as the Benny Goodman Trio, which made jazz history. Teddy Wilson became one of the best-known pianists in the world of jazz, with a quiet, neat and lightly-swinging style.- Stefan Wolpe was born on 25 August 1902 in Berlin, Germany. He was a composer, known for Dance for the Camera (1994), Stationary Music (2008) and Camera Three (1955). He was married to Ola Okuniewska. He died on 4 April 1972 in New York City, New York, USA.