The 46th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (1994) Premiere
September 11,1994
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Angela Lansbury was born in 1925 into a prominent family of the upper middle class living in the Regent's Park neighborhood of London. Her father was socialist politician Edgar Isaac Lansbury (1887-1935), a member of both the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) and the Labour Party. Edgar served as Honorary Treasurer of the East London Federation of Suffragettes (term 1915), and Mayor of Poplar (term 1924-1925). He was the second Communist mayor in British history, the first being Joe Vaughan (1878-1938). Lansbury's mother was Irish film actress Moyna Macgill (1895-1975), originally from Belfast. During the first five years of Angela's life, the Lansbury family lived in a flat located in Poplar. In 1930, they moved to a house located in the Mill Hill neighborhood of north London. They spend their weekends vacationing in a farm located in Berrick Salome, a village in South Oxfordshire.
In 1935, Edgar Lansbury died from stomach cancer. Angela reportedly retreated into "playing characters", as a coping mechanism to deal with the loss. The widowed Moyna Macgill soon became engaged to Leckie Forbes, a Scottish colonel. Moyna moved into his house in Hampstead.
From 1934 to 1939, Angela was a student at South Hampstead High School. During these years, she became interested in films.. She regularly visited the local cinema, and imagined herself in various roles. Angela learned how to play the piano, and received a musical education at the Ritman School of Dancing.
In 1940, Lansbury started her acting education at the Webber Douglas School of Singing and Dramatic Art, located in Kensington, West London. She made her theatrical debut in the school's production of the play "Mary of Scotland" (1933) by Maxwell Anderson (1888-1959). The play depicted the life of Mary, Queen of Scots (1542-1587, reigned 1542-1567), and Lansbury played one of the queen's ladies-in-waiting.
Also in 1940, Lansbury's paternal grandfather, George Lansbury, died from stomach cancer. When the Blitz started, Moyna Macgill had reasons to fear for the safety of her family and few remaining ties to England. Macgill moved to the United States to escape the Blitz, taking her three youngest children with her. Isolde was already a married adult, and was left behind in England.
Macgill secured financial sponsorship from American businessman Charles T. Smith. She and her children (including Angela) moved into Smith's house in Mahopac, New York, a hamlet in Putnam County. Lansbury was interested in continuing her studies, and secured a scholarship from the American Theatre Wing. From 1940 to 1942, Lansbury studied acting at the Feagin School of Dramatic Art, located in New York City. She appeared in performances organized by the school.
In 1942, Lansbury moved with her family to a flat located in Morton Street, Greenwich Village. She soon followed her mother in her theatrical tour of Canada. Lansbury secured her first paying job in Montreal, singing at the nightclub Samovar Club for a payment of 60 dollars per week. Lansbury was 16 years old at the time, but lied about her age and claimed to be 19 in order to be hired.
Lansbury returned to New York City in August, 1942, but Moyna Macgill soon moved herself and her family again. The family moved to Los Angeles, where Moyna was interested in resurrecting her film career. Their first home there was a bungalow in Laurel Canyon, a neighborhood in the Hollywood Hills.
Lansbury helped financially support her family by working for the Bullocks Wilshire department store in Los Angeles. Her weekly wages were only 28 dollars, but she had a secure income while her mother was unemployed. Through her mother, Lansbury was introduced to screenwriter John Van Druten (1901-1957), who had recently completed his script of "Gaslight" (1944). He suggested that young Lansbury would be perfect for the role of Nancy Oliver, the film's conniving cockney maid. This helped secure Lansbury's first film role at the age of 17, and a seven-year contract with the film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. She earned 500 dollars per week, and chose to continue using her own name instead of a stage name.
In 1945, Lansbury married actor Richard Cromwell (1910-1960), who was 15 years older than she. The troubled marriage ended in a divorce in 1946. The former spouses remained friends until Cromwell's death.
In 1946, Lansbury started a romantic relationship with aspiring actor Peter Shaw (1918-2003), who was 7 years older than her. Shaw had recently ended his relationship with actress Joan Crawford (c. 1908-1977). The new couple started living together, while planning marriage. They wanted to be married in the United Kingdom, but the Church of England refused to marry two divorcees. They were married in 1949, in a Church of Scotland ceremony at St. Columba's Church, located in Knightsbridge, London. After their return to the United States, they settled into Lansbury's home in Rustic Canyon, Malibu. In 1951, both Lansbury and Shaw became naturalized citizens of the United States, while retaining their British citizenship.
Meanwhile, Lansbury continued appearing in MGM films. She appeared in 11 MGM films between 1945 and 1952. MGM at times loaned Lansbury to other film studios. She appeared in United Artists' "The Private Affairs of Bel Ami" (1947), and Paramount Pictures' "Samson and Delilah" (1949). In 1948, Lansbury made her debut in radio roles, followed by her television debut in 1950.
In 1952, Lansbury requested the termination of her contract with MGM, instead of its renewal. She felt unsatisfied with her film career as an MGM contract player. She then joined the East Coast touring productions of two former Broadway plays. By 1953, Lansbury had two children of her own and was also raising a stepson. She and her family moved into a larger house, located on San Vincente Boulevard in Santa Monica. In 1959, she and her family moved into a house in Malibu. The married couple were able to send their children to a local public school.
Meanwhile she continued her film career as a freelance actress, but continued to be cast in middle-aged roles. She regained her A-picture actress through well-received roles in the drama film "The Long, Hot Summer" (1958) and the comedy film "The Reluctant Debutante" (1958). She also appeared regularly in television roles, and became a regular on game show "Pantomime Quiz" (1947-1959).
In 1957, Lansbury made her Broadway debut in a performance of "Hotel Paradiso". The play was an adaptation of the 1894 "L'Hôtel du libre échange" ("Free Exchange Hotel"), written by Maurice Desvallières (1857-1926) and Georges Feydeau (1862-1921). Lansbury's role as "Marcel Cat" was critically well received. She continued appearing in Broadway over the next several years, most notably cast as the verbally abusive mother in "A Taste of Honey". She was cast as the mother of co-star Joan Plowright (1929-), who was only four years younger.
In the early 1960s, Lansbury was cast as an overbearing mother in "Blue Hawaii" (1961). The role of her son was played by Elvis Presley (1935-1977), who was only 10 years than her. The film was a box office hit, it finished as the 10th-top-grossing film of 1961 and 14th for 1962 on the "Variety" national box office survey. It gained Lansbury renewed fame, at a difficult point of her career.
Lansbury gained critical praise for a sympathetic role in the drama film "The Dark at the Top of the Stairs" (1960), and the role of a manipulative mother in the drama film "All Fall Down" (1962). Based on her success in "All Fall Down", she was cast in a similar role in the Cold War-themed thriller "The Manchurian Candidate" (1962). She was cast as Eleanor Iselin, the mother of her co-star Laurence Harvey (1928-1973), who was only 3 years younger than she. This turned out to be one of the most memorable roles in her career. She received critical acclaim and was nominated for a third time for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. The award was instead won by Patty Duke (1946-2016).
Lansbury made a comeback in the starring role of Mame Dennis in the musical "Mame" (1966), by Jerome Lawrence (1915-2004) and Robert Edwin Lee (1918-1994). The play was an adaptation of the novel "Auntie Mame: An Irreverent Escapade" (1955) by Patrick Dennis (1921-1976), and focused on the life and ideas of eccentric bohemian Mame Dennis. The musical received critical and popular praise, and Lansbury won her first Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical. Lansbury gained significant fame from her success, becoming a "superstar".
Her newfound fame led to other high-profile appearances by Lansbury. She starred in a musical performance at the 1968 Academy Awards ceremony, and co-hosted the 1968 Tony Awards. The Hasty Pudding Club, a social club for Harvard students. elected her "Woman of the Year" in 1968.
Lansbury's next theatrical success was in 1969 "The Madwoman of Chaillot" (1945) by Jean Giraudoux (1882-1944). The play concerns an eccentric Parisian woman's struggles with authority figures. Lansbury was cast in the starring role of 75-year-old Countess Aurelia, despite her actual age of 44. The show was well received and lasted for 132 performances. Lansbury won her second Tony Award for this role.
In 1970, Lansbury's Malibu home was destroyed in a brush fire. Lansbury and her husband decided to buy Knockmourne Glebe, an 1820s Irish farmhouse, located near the village of Conna in rural County Cork.
Her film career reached a new height. She was cast in the starring role of benevolent witch Eglantine Price in Disney's fantasy film "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" (1971). The film was a box-office hit; it was critically well received, and introduced Lansbury to a wider audience of children and families.
In 1972, Lansbury returned to the British stage, performing in London's West End with the Royal Shakespeare Company. In 1973, Lansbury appeared in the role of Rose in London performances of the musical "Gypsy" (1959) by Arthur Laurents. It was quite successful. In 1974, "Gypsy" went on tour in the United States. with the same cast. For her role, Lanbury won the Sarah Siddons Award and her third Tony Award. The musical had its second tour in 1975.
Tired from musicals. Lansbury next sought Shakespearean roles in the United Kingdom. From 1975 to 1976, she appeared as Queen Gertrude in the National Theatre Company's production of Hamlet. In November 1975, Lansbury's mother Moyna Macgill died at the age of 79. Lansbury arranged for her mother's remains to be cremated, and the ashes scattered near her own County Cork home.
In 1976, Lansbury returned to the American stage. In 1978, Lansbury temporarily replaced Constance Towers (1933-) in the starring role of Anna Leonowens (1831-1915) in The King and I. While Towers was on a break from the role, Lansbury appeared in 24 performances.
In 1978, Lansbury appeared in her first film role in seven years, as the novelist and murder victim Salome Otterbourne in the mystery film "Death on the Nile" (1978). The film was an adaptation of the 1937 novel by Agatha Christie (1890-1976); Otterbourne was loosely based on real-life novelist Elinor Glyn (1864-1943). The film was a modest box-office hit, and Lansbury befriended her co-star Bette Davis (1908-1989).
In 1979, Lansbury was cast in the role of meat pie seller Mrs. Lovett in the musical "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" (1979), by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler (1912-1987). The musical was loosely based on the penny dreadful serial novel "The String of Pearls: A Domestic Romance" (1846-1847), which first depicted fictional serial killer Sweeney Todd. Lansbury remained in the role for 14 months, and was then replaced by Dorothy Loudon (1925-2003). Lansbury won her fourth Tony Award for this role. She returned to the role for 10 months in 1980.
Lansbury's next prominent film role was that of Miss Froy in "The Lady Vanishes" (1979), a remake of the 1938 film directed by Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980). She was next cast in the role of amateur sleuth Miss Jane Marple in the mystery film "The Mirror Crack'd" (1980), an adaptation of the novel "The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side" (1962) by Agatha Christie. The novel was loosely inspired by the life of Gene Tierney (1920-1991). The film was a modest commercial success. There were plans for at least two sequels, but they ended in development hell.
In 1982, Lansbury was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame, She appeared at the time in the new play "A Little Family Business" and a revival of "Mame", but both shows were commercial failures. In film, Lansbury voiced the witch Mommy Fortuna in the animated fantasy film "The Last Unicorn" (1982). The film was critically well received, but was not a box-office hit.
Lansbury played Ruth in the musical comedy "The Pirates of Penzance" (1983), a film adaptation of the 1879 comic opera by William Schwenck Gilbert (1836-1911) and Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900). The film was a box office bomb, earning about 695,000 dollars.
Lansbury's next film role was that of Granny in the gothic fantasy film "The Company of Wolves" (1984), based on a 1979 short story by Angela Carter (1940-1992). Lansbury was cast as the grandmother of protagonist Rosaleen (played by Sarah Patterson), in a tale featuring werewolves and shape-shifting. The film was critically well received, but barely broke even at the box office.
At about that time, Lansbury appeared regularly in television films and mini-series. Her most prominent television role was that of Jessica Fletcher in the detective series "Murder, She Wrote" (1984-1996). Jessica was depicted as a successful mystery novelist from Maine who encounters and solves many murders. The character was considered an American counterpart to Miss Marple. The series followed the "whodunit" format and mostly avoided depictions of violence or gore.
The series was considered a television landmark for having an older female character as the protagonist. It was aimed primarily at middle-aged audiences, but also attracted both younger viewers and senior citizen viewers. Ratings remained high for most of its run. Lansbury rejected pressure from network executives to put her character in a relationship, as she believed that Fletcher should remain a strong single female.
In 1989, Lansbury co-founded the production company Corymore Productions, which started co-producing the television series with Universal Television. This allowed Lansbury to have more creative input on the series. She was appointed an executive producer. By the time the series ended in 1996, it tied with the original "Hawaii Five-O" (1968-1980) as the longest-running detective drama series in television history.
Her popularity from "Murder, She Wrote" made Lansbury a much-sought figure for advertisers. She appeared in advertisements and infomercials for Bufferin, MasterCard and the Beatrix Potter Company.
Lansbury's highest-profile film role in decades was voicing the character of singing teapot Mrs. Potts in Disney's animated fantasy film "Beauty and the Beast" (1991). Lansbury performed the film's title song, which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song, and the Grammy Award for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media.
During the late 1980s and 1990s, Lansbury lived most of the year in California. In 1991, she had Corymore House, a farmhouse at Ballywilliam, County Cork, built as her new family home. She spend Christmases and summers there.
Following the end of "Murder, She Wrote", Lansbury returned to a career as a theatrical actress. She temporarily retired from the stage in 2001, to take care of her husband Peter Shaw, whose health was failing. Shaw died in 2003, from congestive heart failure at the couple's Brentwood, California home. Their marriage had lasted for 54 years (1949-2003).
Lansbury felt at the time that she could not take on any more major acting roles, but that she could still make cameos. She moved back to New York City in 2006, buying a condominium in Manhattan. Her first prominent film role in years was that of Aunt Adelaide in the fantasy film "Nanny McPhee" (2005). She credits her performance in the film with pulling her out of depression, a state of mind which had lasted since her husband's death.
Lansbury returned to performing on the Broadway stage in 2007, after an absence of 23 years. In 2009, she won her fifth Tony Award. She shared the record for most Tony Award victories with Julie Harris (1925-2013). In the 2010s, she continued regularly appearing in theatrical performances. In 2014, she returned to the London stage, after an absence of nearly 40 years.
In 2015, Lansbury received her first Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress. At age 89, she was among the oldest first-time winners. Also in 2015, November 2015 was awarded the Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement in Musical Theatre.
In 2017, she was cast as Aunt March in the mini-series "Little Women". The mini-series was an adaptation of the 1868-1869 novel of the same name by Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888). The series lasted for 3 episodes, and was critically well received.
In 2018, Lansbury gained her next film role in Disney's fantasy film "Mary Poppins Returns" (2018), a sequel to "Mary Poppins". Lansbury was cast in the role of the Balloon Lady, a kindly old woman who sells balloons at the park. The films was a commercial hit, earning about 350 million dollars at the worldwide box office.
In 2019, Lansbury performed at a one-night benefit staging of Oscar Wilde's play "The Importance of Being Earnest" (1895). a farce satirizing Victorian morals. She was cast in the role of society lady Lady Bracknell, mother to Gwendolen Fairfax.
By 2020, Lansbury was 95 years old, one of the oldest-living actresses. She has never retired from acting, and remains a popular icon.- Actor
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Alan Alda (born under the name Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo) is an American actor, comedian, film director, and screenwriter from New York City. His father was the Italian-American actor Robert Alda. Alda's best known role was playing chief surgeon Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce in the medical-themed sitcom M*A*S*H (1972-1983) for 11 seasons. He twice won the "Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series" for this role. Alda was later nominated for the "Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor", for his portrayal of career politician Ralph Owen Brewster (1888-1961) in the biographical film "The Aviator" (2004). The film depicted Brewster's opposition to the commercial interests of Howard Hughes, and the alleged political corruption which caused the end of Brewster's career.
In 1936, Alda was born in the Bronx, New York City. By that time, his father Robert Alda (1914-1986) had already started performing in vaudeville and burlesque theaters. Alda's mother was former beauty queen Joan Browne. Alda had Italian ancestry on his father's side of the family, and Irish ancestry on his mother's side of the family. Alda spend much of his childhood touring the United States with his father, as his father's acting job required frequent travel.
In 1943, Alda contracted polio. His parents chose to administer a painful treatment regimen, "consisting of applying hot woolen blankets to his limbs and stretching his muscles". This treatment had been developed by the Australian nurse Elizabeth Kenny (1880-1952), and was based on the principle of muscle rehabilitation. Though the treatment was considered controversial, it seemingly helped Alda to recover his mobility.
Alda received his secondary education at Archbishop Stepinac High School, an all-boys Roman Catholic high school located in White Plains, New York, United States. The school was named in honor of Aloysius Stepinac (1898 - 1960), the Archbishop of Zagreb who was hero-worshiped for his conviction for treason by communist Yugoslavia. Alda received his college education at Fordham University, a Jesuit research university located in New York City. He graduated In 1956 with a Bachelor of Arts degree.
During his college years, Alda worked for the radio station WFUV. The station was owned by Fordham University, and was operated by its students. Alda joined the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) , a training program intended for prospective commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces. He subsequently entered the United States Army Reserve. He served for a year at Fort Benning, a United States Army post straddling the Alabama-Georgia border . He then spend 6 months stationed in Korea. His official rank at that time was that of a gunnery officer, though Alda claims that he was placed in charge of a mess tent.
In 1956, Alda was introduced to Jewish-American musician Arlene Weiss (a clarinetist). They soon bonded due to their similar tastes in humor, and started dating each other. They were married on March 15, 1957. They had three daughters, born between 1958 and 1961.
Alda started his acting career in the mid-1950s, as a theatrical actor. He joined the Compass Players (1955-1958), a short-lived improvisational theatre revue which was based in Chicago. He subsequently joined the improvisational group Second City, and the regional theater company Cleveland Play House for its 1958-1959 season. In 1958, he had his first guest star role in television. He appeared in an episode of "The Phil Silvers Show", a military-themed sitcom about a swindler operating within the United States Army.
Alda made his film debut in the comedy-drama film "Gone Are the Days!" (1963). The film was a satire of segregation and bigotry, based on a play written by Ossie Davis (1917-2005). Alda was part of the recurring cast of "That Was the Week That Was" (1963-1965), a political satire series which targeted various political figures of the era. It was based on a British satire series of the same name. Most episodes of the American version are considered lost, though there are surviving audio recordings.
In 1968, Alda had his first starring role in a film. He portrayed sports journalist George Plimpton (1927-2003) in the sports comedy "Paper Lion". The film depicted Plimpton's brief term as a player of the Detroit Lions, and focused on his inexperience and ineptitude as a football player.
Alda played the accountant Morton Krim in the World War II-themed war comedy "The Extraordinary Seaman" (1969). The film depicts four sailors of the United States Navy who have been stranded on an island of the Philippines. They encounter the ghost of a British naval officer who was killed in World War I, and he encourages them to launch an attack on Japanese positions. Due to the ghost's perpetual bad luck, their attack is ill-fated.
Alda next played the male lead in the drama film "Jenny" (1970). In the film, main character Jenny Marsh (played by Marlo Thomas) was impregnated in a one-night-stand and has few options in life. Her acquaintance Delano (played by Alda) agrees to marry her and to claim the child's paternity, in an effort to avoid being drafted for war service. The film depicts the problems of a typical "marriage of convenience" (a marriage contracted for reasons other than that of love and commitment), and Delano's attempts to maintain both his marriage and his long-term relationship with another woman. The film earned 2,825,000 million dollars at the worldwide box office.
Alda also played the main character in the crime film "The Moonshine War" (1970), which was set in Prohibition-era Kentucky. He played John "Son" Martin, a man whose main source of income is the production of moonshine whiskey. An acquaintance in the Internal Revenue Service starts pressuring him for a cut on the profits. When Son refuses, the acquaintance reports his activities to a violent gang leader and his henchmen. Son has to outwit the gang in order to survive. The film was one of several films greenlit by Louis Polk and Herb Solow, the then-new co-leaders of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Alda had his first role in a horror film, when he played the main character in the occult-themed horror film "The Mephisto Waltz" (1971). He played music journalist Myles Clarkson, who unexpectedly befriends piano virtuoso Duncan Ely (played by Curd Jürgens). He does not realize that Ely is dying due to cancer, and that he intends to perform a body-swapping spell to take over Clarkson's body. Once the spell succeeds, Ely starts a new career in Clarkson's body and kills Clarkson's daughter. Ely fails to realize that his new "wife" Paula Clarkson (played by Jacqueline Bisset) intends to use the same spell to swap bodies with Ely's adult daughter. Bisset was praised for her "chillingly effective" performance, but film critics argued that Alda had been miscast in this role.
Alda had a scarier role in the psychological thriller "To Kill a Clown" (1972), playing disturbed Vietnam War veteran Evelyn Ritchie. Ritchie was once a military officer, but retired after having one of his legs amputated. He agrees to become the landlord of a young married couple, despite his intense dislike for the artistic lifestyle of his tenant Timothy Frischer (played by Heath Lamberts). He starts treating Frischer as a military subordinate, and insists on keeping both of his tenants as prisoners in their residence. The young couple soon learn that Ritchie has sadistic tendencies, and that he had a history of tormenting his subordinates throughout his military career.
Alda had the big break in his career when cast to play chief surgeon Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce in the medical-themed sitcom M*A*S*H (1972-1983). The series depicted life within a "Mobile Army Surgical Hospital" (MASH) during the Korean War (1950-1953). It was based on the novel "MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors" (1968) by military surgeon H. Richard Hornberger. The series often questioned the United States' role in the Cold War, and satirized authority figures. Its ratings placed it among the top 10 most viewed shows throughout most of its run, and it was critically acclaimed. Alda appeared in all 256 episodes of the series, which helped him become a household name in the United States. Alda eventually served as the series' producer, creative consultant, and co-writer.
Alda played the male lead in the romantic comedy "Same Time, Next Year" (1978), which was his first film role since the early 1970s. The film depicts an extramarital affair which lasts for 26 years (1951-1977), despite the two lovers only meeting once per year. The film also covers the effects time has on the couple's political ideologies, and how they react to the deaths of various family members. The film was partially shot at the Heritage House Inn in Little River, California. The inn became a popular romantic getaway due to the film's enduring popularity. Alda was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for "Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy", but the award was instead won by rival actor Warren Beatty.
Alda was part of the ensemble cast in the comedy film "California Suite" (1978). He played successful screenwriter Bill Warren, who is involved in a custody dispute with his ex-wife, the workaholic Hannah Warren (played by Jane Fonda). Both parents claim custody over their adolescent daughter Jenny Warren (played by Dana Plato), and have little regard for Jenny's plans about her own life. The film's cast was nominated for several awards, but Alda was overshadowed by his co-stars.
Alda received his first screenwriting credit for the political drama film "The Seduction of Joe Tynan" (1979). He also played the film's eponymous character. He portrayed an ambitious American senator, whose marriage seems to be deteriorating. He briefly has an extramarital affair with labor lawyer Karen Traynor (played by Meryl Streep), but decides against seeking a divorce. The film earned about 19.6 million dollars at the worldwide box office. Alda was praised more for his ability as a screenwriter than his acting in this film. Streep was nominated for several acting awards for her supporting role, having a breakthrough in her career.
Alda made his directorial debut with the romantic comedy film "The Four Seasons" (1981), depicting the relationships between three upper middle-class married couples. Alda kept for himself the role of Jack Burroughs, a lawyer who has a tendency towards expressing narrow moral attitudes. The film was an unexpected box office hit, earning about 50,4 million dollars at the box office. It was the ninth highest-grossing film of 1981, and won the "Bodil Award for Best Non-European Film". Alda was again nominated for the "Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy", but the award was instead won by rival actor Dudley Moore.
Alda had a hiatus in his acting and directing career during the early 1980s, as he had to take care of his terminally-ill parents. He attempted a comeback by directing the comedy film "Sweet Liberty" (1986), which parodies Hollywood filmmaking. Alda kept for himself the role of Michael Burgess, a college professor and historical novelist. Burgess wants to oversee the adaptation of his historically-accurate and realistic novel into a Hollywood film, but soon realizes that the film's screenwriter has turned the film into a historically inaccurate soap opera. He then sets out to sabotage the film. The film only earned 14.2 million dollars at the box office, despite the critical praise for its leading actors. The poor box office performance was attributed to its release time at movie theaters. It was directly competing with two more lucrative films, "Top Gun" and "Short Circuit".
Alda's next directing effort was the romantic comedy "A New Life" (1988), which depicted the problems faced by middle-aged divorced people. Alda played Steve Giardino, a workaholic businessman who received a divorce after more than 25 years of marriage. His attempts to pursue a new romance are complicated by his inexperience at dating and his unwillingness to father children again. Giardino soon suffers a heart attack due to his poor eating habits. He falls in love with the female physician attending to his problem, Dr. Kay Hutton (played by Veronica Hamel). The film was a box-office flop, only earning 7,7 million dollars at the box office. Critics found the film pleasant, but predictable.
Alda played pompous television producer Lester in the comedy-drama film "Crimes and Misdemeanors" (1989). In the film, Lester wants to finance a documentary celebrating his own life and work. He hires his brother-in-law to direct it, documentary filmmaker Clifford "Cliff" Stern (played by Woody Allen). He is unaware that Stern despises him. Stern uses the film to expose Lester's mistreatment of his employees, and Lester's sexual harassment towards actresses. The film earned 18,2 million dollars at the box office. For his role, Alda won the "National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor".
Alda had his final directing credit with the romantic comedy "Betsy's Wedding" (1990). Alda played the main role of Eddie Hopper, a construction contractor who insists on organizing a lavish wedding for his beloved daughter Betsy Hopper (played by Molly Ringwald). Since Eddie can not actually afford the wedding expenses, he requests financial assistance from loan sharks. The film earned 19.7 million dollars at the box office, but its leading actresses (Molly Ringwald and Ally Sheedy) were both nominated for Golden Raspberry Awards. Unlike Alda's previous directing efforts, critics were mostly hostile towards the film.
Alda played the evil mentor Leo Green in the erotic thriller "Whispers in the Dark" (1992). In the film, main character Ann Hecker (a psychiatrist, played by Annabella Sciorra) seeks help from her mentor Leo Green due to suffering from disturbing dreams. Hecker is soon implicated in the murder of her female patient Eve Abergray (played by Deborah Unger), and then in the murder of the police detective investigating the case. She eventually realizes that her mentor has been obsessed with her for years. He committed both murders in a misguided attempt to protect her. This was Alda's first villainous role in a film since the early 1970s. The film only earned 11.1 million dollars at the box office.
In 1993, Alda became the new host of the science-themed television program "Scientific American Frontiers" (1990-2005). The series was a spin-off of the popular science magazine "Scientific American" (1845-). The show typically focused on new technology, and on scientific and medical discoveries. Alda remained the host for 12 years, and was credited with inspiring youngsters to follow scientific careers.
Alda was reduced to the supporting role of the protagonist's confidant in the black comedy film "Manhattan Murder Mystery" (1993). The main plot involved amateur detectives who were investigating the mysterious death of a neighbor, who seemed to have died twice and on two entirely different locations. They eventually realize that they have stumbled on the deaths of two sisters with a close family resemblance, and that the motive for the murders was their family fortune. The film only earned 11.2 million dollars at the box office. Its perceived failure led to the termination of a long-term deal between director Woody Allen and the film studio TriStar Pictures.
Alda had a more comedic role in the political satire film "Canadian Bacon" (1995). The film satirized international relations between Canada and the United States. Alda played an unnamed President of the United States who wants to start a new war to boost his sagging poll numbers, but lacks a credible enemy to serve as an opponent. He finds that Russia is not interested in renewed hostilities, and a proposal to declare war on international terrorism is rejected as absurd. So he uses a flimsy excuse to declare war on Canada, and uses television channels to transmit anti-Canada propaganda to the gullible American population. The film was a box office flop, despite featuring a large cast of Canadian actors. It is mostly remembered as the final film appearance for actor John Candy.
Alda next had a supporting role in the black comedy "Flirting with Disaster" (1996). In the film, an adult, married man searches throughout the United States for the biological parents who gave him up for adoption. He eventually learns that his biological father is Richard Schlichting (played by Alda), a man who has devoted the last 30 years in producing and distributing "lysergic acid diethylamide" (LSD). The family reunion is less than happy, and the protagonist is introduced to a biological brother who despises him. The film earned 14,7 million dollars at the box office.
Alda had another villainous role in the action thriller film "Murder at 1600" (1997), playing national security adviser Alvin Jordan. In the film, Jordan has organized a conspiracy in order to blackmail the President of the United States into resigning, and to start a second Korean War. The conspiracy involved murdering a White House secretary (who had a brief affair with the president) and framing the President for murdering her. The film earned 41,1 million dollars at the worldwide box office, Alda's most profitable film in a decade.
Alda played news anchorman Kevin Hollander in the media-themed thriller "Mad City" (1997). In the film, a fired museum guard takes several people hostage at his former workplace. The news media decides to exploit the situation for profit, and several reporters compete in trying to get the lion's share of the publicity. The situation escalates until the museum guard becomes a suicide bomber. The film only earned 10.5 million dollars at the box office.
Alda's career had declined in the early 2000s, but this situation was only temporary. In 2004, Alda joined the recurring cast of the political television series "The West Wing" (1999-2006). The series depicted the administration of a fictional United States president and his staff. Alda played Republican senator Arnold Vinick for 28 episodes. His character was depicted as a fiscal conservative, who was opposed to corporate welfare and resented to Christian' right's influence on his political party. Vinick became the new Secretary of State in the finale of the series. For his role, Alda won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 2006.
Alda's film career experienced a revival with his portrayal of career politician Ralph Owen Brewster (1888-1961) in the biographical film "The Aviator" (2004). He was nominated for the "Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor", the first Academy Award nomination in Alda's career. The award was instead won by rival actor Morgan Freeman. The critical acclaim for his role went against years of criticism for his acting abilities. Alda received several new offers for film roles.
Alda remained active as an actor throughout the 2000s and 2010s. He published three different memoirs between 2005 and 2017, covering different aspects of his life and career. In July 2018, he announced in an interview that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2015. While this has not ended his acting career, he feared that the effects could be distracting to viewers of his work.
From 2018 to 2020, Alda had a recurring role in the crime drama television series "Ray Donovan" (2013-2020). The series depicted the life and career of a professional "fixer" of the entertainment industry, in charge of bribes, payoffs, threats, crime-scene clean-up, and other illegal activities. Alda also appeared in the spin-off film "Ray Donovan: The Movie" (2022), which concluded remaining plot-lines from the series. By 2022, Alda was 86-years-old. He may no longer be in his prime, but the aging actor seems to have no plans to retire yet.- Actor
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Jay Scott Greenspan, known professionally as Jason Alexander, is an American actor, comedian, film director, and television presenter. An Emmy and Tony winner, he is best known for his role as George Costanza in the television series Seinfeld (1989), for which he was nominated for seven consecutive Primetime Emmy Awards and four Golden Globe Awards. His other well-known roles include Phillip Stuckey in the film Pretty Woman (1990), comic relief gargoyle Hugo in the Disney animated feature The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), and the title character in the animated series Duckman: Private Dick/Family Man (1994). He has also made guest appearances on shows such as Dream On (1994), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2001, 2009), and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2019). For his role in Dream On, he was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series. He won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Song in 2020 for "The Bad Guys?" on Brainwashed By Toons.- Actor
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Timothy Allen Dick was born on June 13, 1953, in Denver, Colorado, to Martha Katherine (Fox) and Gerald M. Dick. His father, a real estate salesman, was killed in a collision with a drunk driver while driving his family home from a University of Colorado football game, when Tim was eleven years old. His mother, a community service worker, remarried her high school sweetheart, an Episcopalian deacon, two years after Tim's father's death. He was raised with his many siblings and step-siblings. When Tim was young, his family moved to Birmingham, Michigan.
In high school, his favorite subject was shop, of course, and after high school, he attended Western Michigan University and graduated with a degree in Television Production in 1975. In 1978, he was arrested on drug charges and spent two years in jail. Upon his release, he had a new outlook on life and on a dare from a friend, started his comedy career at the Comedy Castle in Detroit. Later, he went on to do several cable specials, including, Comedy's Dirtiest Dozen (1988) and Tim Allen: Men Are Pigs (1990). In 1991, he became the star of his own hit television series on ABC called Home Improvement (1991). While continuing to film his television series throughout most of the 1990s, he starred in a string of blockbuster movies, including The Santa Clause (1994), Toy Story (1995), Toy Story 2 (1999) and Galaxy Quest (1999). In August 1996, he developed and unveiled his own signature line of power tools, manufactured by Ryobi. On top of all that, he has his own racing team, Tim Allen/Saleen RRRRacing. In May 1999, he ended his series Home Improvement (1991) after eight seasons and in 2001, he filmed such movies as Big Trouble (2002) and Joe Somebody (2001).- Actress
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Kirstie Louise Alley was an American actress. Her breakout role was as Rebecca Howe in the NBC sitcom Cheers (1987-1993), receiving an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe in 1991 for the role. From 1997 to 2000, she starred in the sitcom Veronica's Closet, earning additional Emmy and Golden Globe nominations.- Writer
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David Angell was a multiple Emmy Award winner as the creator/executive producer, along with Peter Casey and David Lee, of the hit comedy series Frasier. David was born in West Barrington, RI, and he received a bachelor's degree in English Literature from Providence College. He entered the army upon graduation and served at the Pentagon until 1972. David then moved to Boston and worked as a methods analyst at an engineering company and later at an insurance firm in Rhode Island. David moved to Los Angeles in 1977. His first first script was sold to the producers of the "Annie Flynn" series. Five years before he sold his second script to Archie Bunker's Place (1979)." David virtually worked in every temporary job known to mankind. In 1983, he joined Cheers (1982) as a staff writer. In 1985, David Angell joined forces with Peter Casey and David Lee as Cheers (1982) supervising producers/writers. Since then, the trio has received 37 Emmy Award nominations and won 24 Emmy Awards, including the above-mentioned for Frasier (1993), as well as an Outstanding Comedy Series Emmy for Cheers (1982), in 1989, which Angell, Casey, Lee and the series' other producers shared, and Outstanding Writing/Comedy Emmy for Cheers (1982), which Angell received in 1984. After working together as producers on the hit comedy series "Cheers" for NBC-TV, Angell, Casey and Lee formed "Grub Street Productions." In 1990, they created and executive produced the hit comedy series Wings (1990), which received critical and ratings success during its seven season run.- Actress
- Producer
For someone who has made an award-winning impact in all three mediums (stage, film and TV), actress Kathy Baker has been strangely denied all-out stardom, yet continues to demonstrate her versatility in whatever material comes her way.
The comely blonde was born Katherine Whitton Baker in Midland, Texas, to Helene Andree Baker (nee Whitton) and John Seawand Baker, a geologist and educator who taught at both Princeton and the University of Paris. Raised in New Mexico, she first took to the stage at age 10. Influenced by her French-born mother, Kathy attended the University of California at Berkeley and received her Bachelor of Arts degree in French in 1977, then went to Paris to study haute cuisine at the famed Cordon Bleu. She returned to the States to work as a pastry chef, but discovered that she still wanted to act and eventually joined San Francisco's Magic Theatre, where she appeared in the play "The Man Who Killed the Buddha." Her performance drew the immediate attention of playwright Sam Shepard.
1983 was a banner year for Kathy. At the Magic Theatre, wherein she used the stage name of Kathy Whitton Baker, Shepard cast her in a leading role in one of his new plays, "Fool for Love." The premiere garnered exceptional notices and the play (and Kathy) went to New York. She and co-star Ed Harris, won 1984 Obie Awards for their rich performances, as did playwright Shepard for directing. The production itself won the Obie for "Best New American Play." That same year Kathy made a strong movie debut co-starring in The Right Stuff (1983) as the wife of astronaut Alan Shepard (played by Scott Glenn).
Displaying an attractive intelligence in her performances, Kathy continued to make strides on the New York stage both in 1984's "Desire Under the Elms" and as a replacement for the Lemon character in the Obie-winning "Aunt Dan and Lemon" at Joseph Papp's Shakespeare Festival in 1986. Later in the decade, both Kathy and Morgan Freeman stole the thunder right from under star Christopher Reeve in the tense film drama Street Smart (1987) with Kathy delivering a grim, heartfelt performance as an ill-fated hooker to Freeman's feral pimp. Both performances delivered a one-two punch and were applauded for their shocking realism. Each received their share of awards and plaudits; Kathy nabbed both the National Society of Critics and Boston Society of Critics awards, but was shamefully snubbed when it came to the Oscar race (Freeman was nominated, but lost).
Throughout the rest of the decade Kathy continued to give spot-on performances in such quality films as Clean and Sober (1988), as a recovering addict; Permanent Record (1988), as a wife whose son commits suicide; Jacknife (1989), in which she was reunited with Ed Harris as the put-upon, plain-Jane sister of an alcoholic Vietnam vet; and Edward Scissorhands (1990) as a seemingly model housewife who has an uncontrollably flirtatious nature. Top-flight stardom seemed to be almost a given.
With the new decade, however, the movie roles tendered out to her became less frequent or noteworthy so Kathy decided to focus outside her medium of choice and actively search for TV roles. The results were customarily expert. In the slightly quirky Picket Fences (1992), Kathy found a perfect fit taking on the role of small town mother and doctor Jill Brock. Running for four seasons, she was nominated for an Emmy each year and took home the trophy three of those four times for "Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series".
Into the millennium Kathy has maintained consistency with quality roles in such releases as The Glass House (2001), Assassination Tango (2002), Cold Mountain (2003), Nine Lives (2005), All the King's Men (2006), The Jane Austen Book Club (2007), Miss Nobody (2010), Seven Days in Utopia (2011), Saving Mr. Banks (2013), The Ballad of Lefty Brown (2017) and The Art of Racing in the Rain (2019). On TV she and Helen Mirren picked up supporting Emmy nods in the bittersweet Door to Door (2002), with Emmy-winning William H. Macy starring as a man with cerebral palsy.
In 2001 she joined the cast of Boston Public (2000) as a manipulative mom (another Emmy nomination). Some of those episodes were directed by Steven Robman, whom she married in June of 2003. Kathy has two children from a previous marriage.
In addition to guest spots on such TV series as "Fathers and Son," "Nip/Tuck," "Gilmore Girls, "Grey's Anatomy," "Saving Grace," "Medium" (recurring), and "Criminal Minds," she had series roles in Against the Wall (2011), I'm Sorry (2017) and The Ranch (2016).- Producer
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Firebrand Roseanne Barr has long been one of America's funniest and most controversial comedians.
She was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Helen (Davis), a cashier and bookkeeper, and Jerome Hershel "Jerry" Barr, a salesman. Her family was Jewish, and had moved to the U.S. from Russia, Lithuania, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. She dropped out of high school when she was seventeen, and, after a car accident, was admitted to a mental institution, claiming she was having nightmares and memory loss. She left the institute less than a year later. At seventeen, she gave birth to her first daughter, Brandi Brown, and gave her up for adoption. She began working at a restaurant as a dishwasher and waitress. Her hilarious comments to the customers she waited on led her to doing stand-up comedy at the restaurant. She married Bill Pentland and they had three children together, Jessica, Jennifer, and Jacob Pentland.
Roseanne worked doing stand-up comedy until her August 23, 1985 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962) thrust her into the limelight. In 1987, HBO offered her a show of her own, On Location: The Roseanne Barr Show (1987). It was canceled after a short time. In 1989, Roseanne starred opposite Meryl Streep and Ed Begley Jr. in She-Devil (1989). Though her first picture wasn't as successful as she might have hoped, her sitcom, Roseanne (1988), debuted in 1988 and ran for 9 seasons on ABC, co-starring John Goodman. It dealt with real-life issues in a lower middle-class working family. During its first season on ABC, it leaped to #2 in the ratings. After the sitcom's first season, Roseanne gained notoriety when she gave a screeching, crotch-grabbing performance of "The Star Spangled Banner" at a baseball game.
When Roseanne divorced her first husband, Bill Pentland, after 16 years of marriage in 1990 and married Roseanne (1988) co-star Tom Arnold only four days later, her sitcom was already beginning its downward spiral. In 1991, she started to be billed as Roseanne Arnold. Around this time, she began to claim that she, as well as her siblings, had been physically and sexually abused as a child. Both her siblings and parents denied the charges, and lie detector tests used on Roseanne's parents came back negative. The court battles led to ten years of estrangement with her parents and siblings. Her marriage with Arnold lasted four years before she filed for divorce from him for physical abuse and domestic violence. It is still not known if the accusations were true. Although she insisted that he hit her, she admits that he never abused her three children from her previous marriage:
In 1996, she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and won, but she was not there to accept it. Luckily, Tom Arnold's exit from "Roseanne" happened towards the end of the sixth season, allowing the show to have an almost smooth ending. However, after the sixth season of Roseanne (1988), the plots started to run dry and ratings began to drop. During the season following her divorce, she insisted on being billed as simply "Roseanne." After Roseanne (1988) was canceled, she went on Broadway to play "The Wicked Witch of the West" in "The Wizard of Oz" to rave reviews.
On Valentine's Day 1995, Roseanne married former bodyguard Ben Thomas. With Thomas, she had her tubal ligation surgery reversed in order to become pregnant with her fifth child, Buck Thomas. In 1997, she slowly began being billed as "Roseanne Thomas", as in the last 11 episodes of Roseanne, as executive producer (she was still "Roseanne" in the cast credits). She guest-starred in The Nanny (1993) as Roseanne Thomas in late 1997. In 2002, she filed for divorce against Thomas for the second time (the first time, in 1998, she dropped the suit), accusing him of being disturbed and claiming that he threatened to run off with their son.
After the divorce, she began to study the Kabballah, a form of Jewish mysticism, and those around her said she became amazingly centered and stable. In the 2000s, she ended the feud with her parents and siblings and went back to being billed as Roseanne Barr. Today, Roseanne Barr Pentland Arnold Thomas spends her time with her family in her home in El Segundo, California.
Always outspoken, Roseanne began commenting on politics in earnest in the 2000s, and unsuccessfully ran for the Green Party's presidential nomination in 2012. She was subsequently chosen as the Peace and Freedom Party's candidate for President of the United States in '12, receiving 61,971 votes in the general election, and placing sixth. Her run is depicted in the documentary Roseanne for President! (2015).
Initially a left-leaning liberal, she became considerably more right-wing throughout the 2010s. Her show Roseanne returned for a tenth season in 2018, to blockbuster ratings, but was canceled after Roseanne sent a racially-offensive tweet that capped off a longer run of incendiary comments.- Actress
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Meredith Baxter is an American actress from California, better known for television roles. Her most famous roles include Catholic teacher Bridget Fitzgerald in the sitcom "Bridget Loves Bernie" (1972-1973), divorced mother Nancy Lawrence in the family-themed drama "Family" (1976-1980), and architect Elyse Keaton in the sitcom "Family Ties" (1982-1989).
In 1947, Baxter was born in South Pasadena, California. South Pasadena is a small city in Los Angeles County, located within San Gabriel Valley. The larger city of Pasadena is located north of Baxter's hometown. Baxter was the daughter of radio announcer Tom Baxter (John Thomas Baxter, Jr.) and actress Whitney Blake (1926-2002). Baxter's maternal grandfather was Harry C. Whitney, an agent of the United States Secret Service. Harry Whitney had served as a bodyguard to President Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924, term 1913-1921).
In 1953, Baxter's parents divorced. Whitney Blake received custody of Baxter and her two older brothers. In 1957, Blake married talent agent Jack Fields. This marriage ended in divorce in 1967. In 1968, Blake married television writer Allan Manings (1924-2010). This marriage lasted until Blake's death in 2002. Baxter reportedly maintained a familial relationship with her second stepfather until his own death.
Baxter received part of her secondary education at James Monroe High School, located in the neighborhood of Sepulveda (later renamed to North Hills) in Los Angeles. She later transferred to Hollywood High School. She graduated in 1965. During her senior year, Baxter also received voice lessons at the Interlochen Center for the Arts. Interlochen was an arts education institution located in Michigan.
In 1966, Baxter married Robert Lewis Bush. At the time, she was only 19-years-old. They had two children, son Theodore Justin "Ted" Bush (born1967) and daughter Eva Whitney Bush (born 1969) . The couple separated in 1969, and their divorce was finalized in 1971.
Baxter aspired to an acting career, like her mother. She remained fairly obscure until the early 1970s. Her highest-profile work were guest-star roles in then-popular television series, such as "The Doris Day Show" and "The Partridge Family". Baxter received her big break when cast as the female lead in the sitcom "Bridget Loves Bernie" (1972-1973). The main premise was an interfaith marriage between Catholic teacher Bridget Fitzgerald and Jewish taxi driver Bernie Steinberg. The series was the 5th highest-rated show on television during its single season, though it was controversial due to its subject matter. Jewish organizations protested that the show violated Judaism's prohibition against interfaith marriage, and organized protest campaigns. Baxter herself received threatening house visits by members of the Jewish Defense League, a vigilante organization known for violent crimes. The controversy led to the series' cancellation by the network CBS. Only 24 episodes were ever broadcast. As of 2002, the series remained the highest-rated American show to be canceled after a single season.
Following the series' cancellation, Baxter maintained a relationship with her co-star David Birney (1939-). In 1974, Baxter and Birney married each other. Their marriage lasted until 1989. They had three children: daughter Kathleen Jeanne "Kate" Birney (born 1974) and twins Mollie Elizabeth and Peter David Edwin Birney (born 1984). Several years following the end of their marriage, Baxter claimed that she had been physically abused by Birney during their marriage. Her co-workers were reportedly unaware that she had a problematic family life, or that she had struggled with alcoholism for several years.
During the 1970s, Baxter started regularly appearing in television films. She had a starring role in the horror film "The Cat Creature" (1973), involving a curse by the cat goddess Bastet. The film was scripted by noted horror writer Robert Bloch (1917-1994), and paid tribute to classic horror films of the 1940s. She also had starring role in the romantic drama "The Stranger Who Looks Like Me" (1974), as a grown woman who is searching for the birth parents who had abandoned her.
Baxter had one of her few feature films roles in the political thriller "All the President's Men" (1976), which depicted the early phases of the Watergate scandal. She played the supporting role of Debbie Sloan, the pregnant wife of witness Hugh W. Sloan Jr. (1940-). The real-life Hugh Sloan was the treasurer of the Committee to Re-elect the President, and later testified about the Committee's criminal activities. Sloan was depicted as one of the few honest men involved in Richard Nixon's shady organization. The film earned about 70.6 million dollars at the domestic box office, one of the greatest commercial hits in Baxter's career.
Baxter had another shot at television stardom when cast as Nancy Lawrence in the family-themed drama "Family" (1976-1980). The series depicted a middle-aged couple who still lives with their three grown-up children. The character of Nancy was depicted as a divorced mother who moved back in with her parents. She was trying to raise her own child, while attending law school. Baxter's role was critically acclaimed, and she was twice nominated for the "Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series". The award was instead won by rival actresses Kristy McNichol (1962-) and Nancy Marchand (1928-2000).
"Family" lasted for 5 seasons, and 86 episodes. It maintained solid ratings for most of its run, though a change to its time slot had led to rapid decline in ratings. Afterwards, Baxter was again in high demand for television roles. In 1981, Baxter co-starred in a television production of the play "Vanities" (1976) by Jack Heifner. The play follows the life of three best friends over an 11-year-period (1963-1974), from their high school and college years to adulthood. The friendship dissolves when the women discover that they no longer have any common interests. Joanne has become a conservative housewife and is trapped in an unhappy marriage, Mary owns a gallery specializing in erotic art and has become an advocate of sexual liberation, and Kathy has become a bookworm with a jaded view of life.
Baxter gained her next major role as successful architect Elyse Keaton in the hit "Family Ties" (1982-1989). The main premise of the series was an exploration of the generation gap, between two generations with different political views. The parents of the Keaton family were former hippies, lifelong liberals, and successful professionals. Their only son Alex was a Young Republican who was mainly driven by his own greed and ambition, their eldest daughter Mallory was a typical "material girl" with apolitical views, and their youngest daughter Jennifer was a tomboy mainly interested in athletics,.
"Family Ties" maintained high-ratings for most of its run, though it was not particularly well-liked by critics. The series lasted for 7 seasons, a total of 176 episodes, and a television film. It was considered indicative of the conservative political landscape of the 1980s. Its main legacy was turning actor Michael J. Fox (who played Alex) into a household name. Baxter was at the height of her popularity in the 1980s. However, she later claimed that she had no actual social life for its duration. She went straight from home to the television studio, and from the studio back to home.
In 1986, Baxter played the main role in the television film "Kate's Secret". It was acclaimed for its groundbreaking depiction of eating disorders. The main character Kate Stark (played by Baxter) appears to have an idyllic life. She is married to a man with a successful career, appears to have a loving family, and a close social circle. The truth depicted is less than idyllic. Kate's husband prioritizes his career over their marriage, and there is little actual affection in their relationship. Kate's "loving" mother is a domineering woman who criticizes her daughter for many perceived flaws. Kate's friends have no idea that she is suffering from bulimia nervosa, and Kate systematically hides her problems from everyone. The problems escalate until they become apparent to people surrounding Kate.
In 1989, Baxter received a divorce. At the time, she was 42-years-old. In 1990, the then-recently divorced Baxter managed to overcome her alcoholism. She has reportedly been sober ever since. Also in 1990, Baxter played kidnapper Florence Tulane in the television film "The Kissing Place". She was playing against type, as she had previously mostly played morally upright characters in television.
In 1992, Baxter had another well-received role in a television film. She played the main character in "A Woman Scorned: The Betty Broderick Story". The film dramatized the life of Betty Broderick (1947-), a divorced woman who had murdered her ex-husband Daniel T. Broderick III and his second wife Linda Kolkena. The case had attracted much publicity because Daniel Broderick was the president of the San Diego Bar Association, and had apparently used his legal influence to to win sole custody over their children, to sell their house against Betty's wishes, and to bilk Betty out of her rightful share of his income. For this role, Baxter was nominated for the "Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie". The award was instead won by rival actress Gena Rowlands (1930-).
In 1994, Baxter received an award by the "National Breast Cancer Coalition". Baxter had reportedly helped raise awareness of breast cancer and its effects through her then-recent work. In 1999, Baxter herself was diagnosed with breast cancer. She received medical treatment, and she is thought to have fully recovered.
In 1995, Baxter married the novelist (and screenwriter) Michael Blodgett (1939-2007). This was Baxter's third marriage and Blodgett's fourth and last marriage. Baxter became the stepmother of Blodgett's three daughters from previous marriages. The couple received a divorce in 2000. A few years later, Blodgett died due to heart disease.
In 1996, Baxter starred in the short-lived sitcom "The Faculty". The series was set in a typical middle school, with Baxter playing vice-principal Flynn Sullivan. Flynn was depicted as a single mother who was trying to balance her career and her family life. While the series was praised for its dignified main character, most critics found that the show lacked memorable supporting characters and was not particularly humorous in its depiction of school life. The series never had high ratings, and was canceled after a single season. Only 13 episodes were broadcast.
In 1997, Baxter guest-starred in a two-part episode of the politically-themed sitcom "Spin City" (1996-2002). She played Macy Flaherty, the mother of protagonist Mike Flaherty (played by Michael J. Fox) Mike was depicted as the deputy mayor of New York City, skilled in politics but inept in managing his personal life. In this two-part episode, Macy has a brief romantic relationship with mayor Randall Winston (played by Barry Bostwick) , Mike's boss. She is then asked to help cover-up Randall's past relationship with a prostitute, which is thought to be damaging to his political career. The episodes were thought to be memorable for reuniting Baxter with her former co-star Michael J. Fox.
In the early 2000s, Baxter had been reduced to playing one-shot characters in various television series. In 2006, Baxter joined the cast of the police procedural series "Cold Case" (2003-2010). She played the supporting character Ellen Rush, mother of the protagonist Lilly Rush (played by Kathryn Morris). Lilly was depicted as a homicide detective, who specialized in resolving decades-old cold cases. Ellen was depicted as an alcoholic single mother, who had managed to raise two daughters despite her personal problems. In seasons 3 and 4 of the series, Ellen was slowly dying from cirrhosis of the liver and Lilly had to take care of her. The storyline of the character was concluded with Ellen's death, and Baxter left the series in 2007.
In 2009, Baxter publicly came out as a lesbian. She had been dating general contractor Nancy Locke since 2005. Baxter married Locke in 2013, and their marriage is still ongoing (as of 2021). This is Baxter's fourth and (so far) last marriage. Baxter revealed that she had been dating women since 2002, having previously had no same-sex relationships.
In 2011, Baxter published her memoir "Untied", revealing previously unknown details about her personal and family life. Some of the details came as a surprise to longtime co-workers of Baxter, as she had never confided in them about her personal problems. Baxter's former husband David Birney publicly disputed the veracity of the book's narrative. The book became a New York Times bestseller.
In 2014, Baxter briefly joined the cast of the long-running soap opera "The Young and the Restless" (1973-). She played Maureen Russell, a new drinking buddy for prominent character Nikki Newman (played by Melody Thomas Scott). Maureen was described as a charming middle-class woman with social-climbing aspirations. This was the first recurring television role Baxter since departing "Cold Case". For this role, Baxter was nominated for the "Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Performer in a Drama Series". The award was instead won in a tie by three rival actors: Donna Mills (1940-), Fred Willard ( 1933-2020), and Ray Wise (1947-).
From 2014 to 2015, Baxter had a recurring role in the short-lived teen drama "Finding Carter" (2014-2015). The premise of the series was that teenage girl Carter Stevens (played by Kathryn Prescott) reunites with her biological family, after years of being raised by a kidnapper. Carter has trouble acclimating to her new life. Baxter played Grandma Joan (nicknamed Gammy), Carter's wealthy grandmother. The main subplot involving Joan was that she had never accepted her daughter's marriage to a professional writer with no fixed income. The series lasted for 2 seasons, and a total of 36 episodes. So far, this has been Baxter's last recurring role in television.
As of 2021, Baxter is 74-years-old. She has never fully retired from acting, though she infrequently appears in new roles. Several of her past roles are still fondly remembered. Baxter has never won any major acting award, despite multiple nominations over several decades. But she has remained quite popular with the general public.- Actress
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One cool, eternally classy lady, Candice Bergen was elegantly poised for trendy "ice princess" stardom when she first arrived on the '60s screen, but she gradually reshaped that débutante image in the '70s, both on- and off-camera. A staunch, outspoken feminist with a decisive edge, she went on to take a sizable portion of those contradicting qualities to film and, most particularly, to late 1980s TV.
The daughter of famed ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and former actress and "Chesterfield Girl" model Frances Bergen (née Westerman), Candice Patricia Bergen was born in Beverly Hills, California, of Swedish, German, and English descent. At the age of six, she made her radio debut on her father's show. She attended Westlake School for Girls in Los Angeles, the Cathedral School in Washington D.C. and then went abroad to the Montesano (finishing) School in Switzerland. Although she began taking art history and creative drawing at the University of Pennsylvania, she did not complete her studies.
In between she also worked as a Ford model in order to buy cameras for her new passion--photography. Her Grace Kelly-like glacial beauty deemed her an ideal candidate for Ivy League patrician roles, and Candice made an auspicious film debut while still a college student portraying the Vassar-styled lesbian member of Sidney Lumet's The Group (1966) in an ensemble that included the debuts of other lovely up-and-comers including Kathleen Widdoes, Carrie Nye, Joan Hackett and Joanna Pettet.
Film offers started coming her way, both here and abroad (spurred by her love for travel). Other than her top-notch roles as the co-ed who comes between Jack Nicholson and Art Garfunkel in Carnal Knowledge (1971) and her prim American lady kidnapped by Moroccan sheik Sean Connery in The Wind and the Lion (1975), her performances were deemed a bit too aloof to really stand out among the crowd. During this time, she found a passionate second career as a photographer and photojournalist. A number of her works went on to appear in an assortment of magazines including Life, Playboy and Esquire.
Most of Candice's 1970s films were dismissible and unworthy of her talents, including the campus comedy Getting Straight (1970) opposite the hip counterculture star of the era -- Elliott Gould; the disturbingly violent Soldier Blue (1970); the epic-sized bomb The Adventurers (1970); T.R. Baskin (1971); Bite the Bullet (1975); The Domino Principle (1977), Lina Wertmüller's long-winded and notoriously long-titled Italian drama A Night Full of Rain (1978); and the inferior sequel to the huge box-office soaper Love Story (1970), entitled Oliver's Story (1978) alongside original star Ryan O'Neal. Things picked up toward the second half of the decade, however, when the seemingly humorless Candice made a clever swipe at comedy. She made history as the first female guest host of Saturday Night Live (1975) and then showed an equally amusing side of her in the dramedy Starting Over (1979) as Burt Reynolds' tone-deaf ex-wife, enjoying a "best supporting actress" Oscar nomination in the process. She and Jacqueline Bisset also worked well as a team in George Cukor's Rich and Famous (1981), in which her mother Frances could be glimpsed in a Malibu party scene.
Candice made her Broadway debut in 1985 replacing Sigourney Weaver in David Rabe's black comedy "Hurlyburly". In 1980 Candice married Louis Malle, the older (by 14 years) French director. They had one child, Chloe. In the late 1980s, Candice hit a new career plateau on comedy television as the spiky title role on Murphy Brown (1988), giving great gripe as the cynical and competitive anchor/reporter of a TV magazine show. With a superlative supporting cast around her, the CBS sitcom went the distance (ten seasons) and earned Candice a whopping five Emmys and two Golden Globe awards. TV-movie roles also came her way as a result with colorful roles ranging from the evil Arthurian temptress "Morgan Le Fey" to an elite, high-classed madam -- all many moons away from her initial white-gloved debs of the late 60s.
Husband Malle's illness and subsequent death from cancer in 1995 resulted in Candice maintaining a low profile for an extended period. In time, however, she married a second time (since 2000) to Manhattan real estate developer Marshall Rose and returned to acting with a renewed vigor (or vinegar), with many of her characters enjoyable extensions of her sardonic "Murphy Brown" character. As for TV, she joined the 2005 cast of Boston Legal (2004) playing a brash, no-nonsense lawyer while trading barbs with a much less serious William Shatner, earning an Emmy nomination in the process. In 2018, Candice revisited her Murphy Brown character in a revised series form with many of the cast back on board. The show, however, was cancelled after only one season.
Candice also ventured into the romantic comedy film genre with a spray of crisp supports -- sometimes as a confidante, sometimes as a villain. Such films include Miss Congeniality (2000), Sweet Home Alabama (2002), The In-Laws (2003), Sex and the City (2008), The Women (2008), Bride Wars (2009), A Merry Friggin' Christmas (2014), Rules Don't Apply (2016), The Meyerowitz Stories (2017), Home Again (2017) and Book Club (2018).- Actress
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Crystal Bernard was born on 30 September 1961 in Garland, Texas, USA. She is an actress, known for Wings (1990), Slumber Party Massacre II (1987) and It's a Living (1980).- Writer
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Ann Biderman was born on 15 August 1951. She is a writer and producer, known for NYPD Blue (1993), Copycat (1995) and Primal Fear (1996).- Writer
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Attended Carnegie Tech (now Carnegie-Mellon University) as a playwriting major. Barbara Bosson (his second wife), Michael Tucker, Bruce Weitz and Charles Haid were classmates; he and Tucker drove cross-country to Hollywood for full-time jobs at Universal, where Bochco would remain for 12 years.
In 1978, he moved to MTM Enterprises, who after several attempts gave him carte Blanche to create a show similar to Fort Apache the Bronx (1981) (Hill Street Blues (1981)). In 1985, MTM fired him, in part for his inability to keep HSB on budget. After creating L.A. Law (1986) and Doogie Howser, M.D. (1989) for NBC, he struck a $15M deal with ABC in 1987 to create 10 series pilots over 10 years.- Actress
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Amy Frederica Brenneman was born in New London, Connecticut, to Frederica (Shoenfield), a judge in the Connecticut State Superior Court, and Russell Langdon Brenneman, Jr., an environmental lawyer. Amy's mother was one of the first women to graduate from Harvard. Amy is also a graduate of Harvard, where she majored in comparative religion. She spent one semester studying sacred dances in Nepal. While in college, she formed the Cornerstone Theater Company, a touring production company that takes classics to small towns and encourages locals to participate in them. After touring for five years, she moved to New York, where she became a teacher in Brooklyn. She landed her first TV role in 1992.- Actress
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The entertainment world has enjoyed a six-decade love affair with comedienne/singer Carol Burnett. A peerless sketch performer and delightful, self-effacing personality who rightfully succeeded Lucille Ball as the carrot-topped "Queen of Television Comedy," it was Burnett's traumatic childhood that set the stage for her comedy.
Carol's rags-to-riches story started out in San Antonio, Texas, on April 26, 1933, where she was born to Ina Louise (Creighton) and Joseph Thomas "Jodie" Burnett, both of whom suffered from acute alcoholism. As a child, she was left in the care of a beloved grandmother, who shuttled the two of them off to Hollywood, California, where they lived in a boarding house and shared a great passion for the Golden Age of movies. The plaintive, loose-limbed, highly sensitive Carol survived her wallflower insecurities by grabbing attention as a cut-up at Hollywood High School. A natural talent, she attended the University of California and switched majors from journalism to theater. Scouting out comedy parts on TV and in the theater, she first had them rolling in the aisles in the mid-1950s performing a lovelorn novelty song called "I Made a Fool of Myself Over John Foster Dulles" (then Secretary of State) in a nightclub act. This led to night-time variety show appearances with Jack Paar and Ed Sullivan and where the career ball really started rolling.
Carol's first big TV breaks came at age 22 and 23 as a foil to a ventriloquist's dummy on the already-established The Paul Winchell Show (1950) in 1955, and as Buddy Hackett's gawky girlfriend on the short-lived sitcom Stanley (1956). She also developed an affinity for game shows and appeared as a regular on one of TV earliest, Stump the Stars (1947) in 1958. While TV would bring Carol fans by the millions, it was Broadway that set her on the road to stardom. She began as the woebegone Princess Winnifred in the 1959 Broadway musical "Once Upon a Mattress" which earned her first Tony Award nomination. [She would later appear in three TV adaptations - Once Upon a Mattress (1964), Once Upon a Mattress (1972) and Once Upon a Mattress (2005).] This, in turn, led to the first of an armful of Emmy Awards as a repertoire player on the popular variety series The Garry Moore Show (1958) in 1959. Burnett invented a number of scene-stealing characters during this time, most notably her charwoman character. With the phenomenal household success of the Moore show, she moved up quickly from second banana to headliner and appeared in a 1962 Emmy-winning special Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall (1962) co-starring close friend Julie Andrews. She earned the Outer Critics Circle Award for the short-lived musical "Fade Out, Fade In" (1964); and made her official film debut opposite Bewitched (1964) star Elizabeth Montgomery and Dean Martin in the lightweight comedy Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? (1963).
Not surprisingly, fellow redhead Lucille Ball, who had been Carol's treasured idol growing up, subsequently became a friend and mentor to the rising funny girl. Hilarious as a guest star on The Lucy Show (1962), Carol appeared as a painfully shy (natch) wallflower type who suddenly blooms in jaw-dropping fashion. Ms. Ball was so convinced of Carol's talent that she offered Carol her own Desilu-produced sitcom, but Burnett had her heart set on fronting a variety show. With her own team of second bananas, including character crony Harvey Korman, handsome foil Lyle Waggoner, and lookalike "kid sister" type Vicki Lawrence, the The Carol Burnett Show (1967) became an instant sensation, and earned 22 Emmy Awards during its 11-year run. It allowed Carol to fire off her wide range of comedy and musical ammunition--whether running amok in broad sketch comedy, parodying movie icons such as Gloria Swanson, Shirley Temple, Vivien Leigh or Joan Crawford, or singing/gushing alongside favorite vocalists Jim Nabors, Steve Lawrence, Peggy Lee, Sammy Davis Jr., Ella Fitzgerald and Mel Tormé. She managed to bring in huge stars not known at all for slapstick comedy, including Rock Hudson and even then-Governor Ronald Reagan while providing a platform for such up-and-coming talent as Bernadette Peters and The Pointer Sisters In between, Carol branched out with supporting turns in the films Pete 'n' Tillie (1972), The Front Page (1974) and Robert Altman's A Wedding (1978).
Her program, whose last episode aired in March of 1978, was the last truly successful major network variety show to date. Carol took on new challenges to display her unseen dramatic mettle, and accomplished this amazingly in TV-movie showcases. She earned an Emmy nomination for her gripping portrayal of anti-Vietnam War activist Peg Mullen in Friendly Fire (1979), and convincingly played a woman coming to terms with her alcoholism in Life of the Party: The Story of Beatrice (1982). Neither character bore any traces of the usual Burnett comedy shtick. Though she proved she could contain herself for films, Carol was never able to acquire crossover success into movies, despite trouper work in The Four Seasons (1981), Annie (1982) (as the hammy villainess Miss Hannigan), and Noises Off... (1992). The last two roles had been created onstage by Broadway's Dorothy Loudon.
Carol would return from time to time to the stage and concert forums with productions of "Plaza Suite", "I Do! I Do", "Follies", "Company" and "Putting It Together". A second Tony nomination came for her comedy work in "Moon Over Buffalo" in 1995. Carol has made frequent appearances on her own favorite TV shows too, such as Password (1961) (along with Elizabeth Montgomery, Carol was considered one of the show's best players) and the daytime soaper, All My Children (1970).
During the early 1990s, Carol attempted a TV comeback of sorts, with a couple of new variety formats in Carol & Company (1990) and The Carol Burnett Show (1991), but neither could recreate the magic of the original. She has appeared, sporadically, on various established shows such as "Magnum, P.I.," "Touched by an Angel," "Mad About You" (for which she won an Emmy), "Desperate Housewives," "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (Emmy nomination), "Hawaii Five-0," "Glee" and "Hot in Cleveland." Befitting such a classy clown, she has received a multitude of awards over time, including the 2003 Kennedy Center Honors and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005. She was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1985. Her personal life has been valiant--tears in between the laughs. Married three times, her second union with jazz-musician-turned-variety-show-producer Joe Hamilton produced three daughters. Eldest girl, Carrie Hamilton, an actress and former teen substance abuser, tragically died of lung and brain cancer at age 38. Shortly before Carrie's death, mother and daughter managed to write a play, together, entitled "Hollywood Arms", based on Carol's 1986 memoir, "One More Time". The show subsequently made it to Broadway.
Today, at age 80 plus, Carol has been seen less frequently but still continues to make appearances, especially on TV. Most recently she has guested on the shows "Glee," "Hot in Cleveland" and the revivals of "Hawaii Five-0" and "Mad About You." As always she signs off a live appearance with her signature ear tug (acknowledging her late grandmother), reminding us all, between the wisecracks and the songs, how glad and lucky we all are to still have some of "this time together".- Director
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James Burrows was born on 30 December 1940 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He is a director and producer, known for Cheers (1982), Will & Grace (1998) and Taxi (1978). He has been married to Debbie Easton since 1997. He was previously married to Linda Solomon.- Actress
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Brett Butler (born January 30, 1958) is an American actress, writer, and stand-up comedian. She played the title role in the comedy series Grace Under Fire.
Butler was born Brett Anderson in Montgomery, Alabama, the eldest of five sisters. Before experiencing success as a stand-up comic, she worked as a cocktail waitress.
One of the first notable appearances for Butler was on Dolly Parton's ill-fated 1987 variety series, Dolly. Parton hired Butler as a writer for the remainder of the show's season, but the series was subsequently canceled after one season of lackluster ratings.
She was the star of the ABC television show Grace Under Fire from 1993 to 1998. During the show, she battled a recurring drug addiction and spent time in rehab.
Butler published her memoirs, titled Knee Deep in Paradise, in 1996. The book was started before attaining her celebrity status, and candidly addresses much of this time frame, ending the autobiography before Grace Under Fire's television debut.
In February 1998, due to her erratic behavior stemming from substance abuse, she was dismissed from the show and ABC canceled the series.
After Grace was canceled in 1998, Butler moved out of Los Angeles and onto a farm in Georgia where she lived with 15 pets. In 2008, Butler headlined at an arts fundraiser and spoke freely with a reporter about her depression, past drug addiction, television work, and current life on a farm. She also expressed interest in writing another book.
In October 2011, Butler appeared on The Rosie Show and reported being sober since 1998. A 2011 Hollywood Reporter article said that when the money ran out, she turned to a homeless shelter for cover. By this time Butler was attempting to make a career comeback, and was working on developing a reality TV show about her self-professed psychic abilities and performing at the Downtown Comedy Club in Los Angeles.
Beginning in June 2012, Butler appeared in a recurring role on the CBS soap The Young and the Restless playing ex-psychiatrist Tim Reid's girlfriend.
Butler also had a recurring role as the bartender at the restaurant that Charlie Goodson frequents in the FX show Anger Management starring Charlie Sheen.- Actor
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His low-keyed intensity, deep-voiced somberness, pale skin, puffy-eyed baby face and crop of carrot-red hair are all obvious and intriguing trademarks of TV star David Caruso. A hugely popular item in the 1990s as a result of a smash crime series, he got way too caught up in all the hoopla surrounding him. Those working with him on the innovative cop series were not exactly unhappy when he decided to abandon ship after only one season in order to pursue movie star fame. Despite his own predictions, the show prospered quite well after the loss of his focal character...but it would be a major understatement to state that Caruso did not fare as well.
TV to film crossover fame is tricky and David did not have the right formula to pull it off. Bad judgment calls, bad publicity after his departure from his TV series, a couple of poor film vehicles, and virtual unemployment in its wake eventually led him back to the small screen again a somewhat humbler person. Not many are given a second chance but Caruso, the enigmatic talent that he is, found gold a second time as (again) a wan, brooding lead in a hip, unconventional cop series.
David Stephen Caruso was born in Forest Hills, Queens, New York, the son of Charles Caruso, a magazine and newspaper editor, and Joan, a librarian. The Irish Catholic youngster attended elementary and middle school at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs and then Archbishop Molloy High School, both in Queens.
Following high school graduation in 1974, he toyed with some commercial work. A few years later he began to make a slight dent in films. He first appeared in Getting Wasted (1980) and Without Warning (1980), which led to a succession of secondary roles in such 80s movies as An Officer and a Gentleman (1982), First Blood (1982) (as a sheriff's deputy), Thief of Hearts (1984), Blue City (1986), China Girl (1987) and Twins (1988). But the break into full-fledged TV stardom proved elusive. It was argued that the thin and lanky actor was not handsome enough to become a leading man in film and didn't have the charisma credentials to carry a big movie.
Making his unbilled debut in a daytime episode of "Ryan's Hope", TV proved to be a more inviting medium and police stories seemed to be the name of the game for him. He had a strong recurring role as a gang leader on Hill Street Blues (1981) and showed to good advantage in the series Crime Story (1986). This sudden notoriety on police TV gave way to some even stronger stuff in streetwise film crimers such as King of New York (1990) as a cop gone bad, and Mad Dog and Glory (1993), in which he earned excellent marks as a cynical urban cop. But his star-making role came via TV and his portrayal of Detective John Kelly the critically-acclaimed series NYPD Blue (1993). Audience adoration was immediate.
His volatile but principled character on the gritty, boldly-written, unconventional show earned him impressive and sexy notices with a Golden Globe Award and Emmy nomination placed in his hands. Confident now that he could be a magnetic force in front of a movie camera, stories began to circulate that the instant fame had gone to his head, that he was moody, demanding and difficult on the set, and that he was quickly alienating not only his co-stars but the show's directors and writers.
Ready to prove all those naysayers wrong about his chances in film, Caruso made tabloid headlines when he announced his decision to leave the highly-rated show after only one season (and only four episodes into the second season) to pursue film stardom. Rumors also bounced around that he left following unresolved salary negotiations. For whatever reason, he wasted no time in scouting out movie vehicles for himself. Again, he focused on his specialty -- crime thrillers. The first, Kiss of Death (1995), in which he played a petty thief trying to go straight, did not go over well box-office-wise despite its good reviews, and the second, Jade (1995), in which he portrayed a homicide detective, was a grisly, unappetizing thriller that was given the thumbs down almost immediately. As a comeuppance for coming up short, he was nominated for the dubious "Razzie" award as the "Worst New Star" of those two films. With no movie releases at all in 1996, by the time Cold Around the Heart (1997) was released, in which he played a jewel thief who is betrayed by his sexy partner-in-crime (Kelly Lynch), the TV star had lost all of his movie star momentum.
In 1997, Caruso made an inauspicious return to the small screen as the placid title prosecutor Michael Hayes (1997), a law series, but it was a very short-lived experience. Audiences had become fickle and indifferent to his "heralded comeback". Finding a serious lack of offers, he returned to supporting others in films such as Russell Crowe in Proof of Life (2000), and copped a couple of leads for himself in such low-budgeted films as Session 9 (2001) and the Canadian film Black Point (2002).
But in 2002, he found TV magic once again behind a badge as Lt. Horatio Caine in the popular CSI spin-off series CSI: Miami (2002). Strongly anchoring the show, which focuses more on crime methodology and whodunnit twists than character development, Caruso has nevertheless earned cult fame for his slick demeanor and deliberately slow speech patterns, reminding one of William Shatner's heady, methodical approach to Captain Kirk. Known for his deep, dry tones and parade of droll one-liners, many of which include him slipping on his dark shades during mid-sentence, he has been the subject of many a late-nite parody and satire.
A difficult interviewee who has admitted to keeping his monumental ego in check since his return to TV, he has been little seen since the "Miami" series ended in 2012 after ten season. David has been married and divorced three times, which includes a brief 1980s union to actress Rachel Ticotin. He has a daughter, Greta, from that union. On the sly, Caruso was a co-owner of now long-defunct Steam, a clothing and furniture store in Miami, Florida. He and his current girlfriend (since 2005), Liza Marquez, have two children -- son Marquez Anthony and and daughter, Paloma Raquel.- Producer
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Gordon Clapp grew up in the ski resort town of North Conway in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. He developed an interest in acting at an early age when he was cast in a production of THE HAPPY TIME at a local summer theater. He attended Williams College where he majored in English but spent most of his time with the Drama department. It was there he met John Sayles who was to cast Gordon in four films over a twenty-year span including the cult favorite, RETURN OF THE SECAUCUS SEVEN. During his Senior year at Williams he was part of the inaugural class at the National Theatre Institute at the Eugene O'Neill Center. Post college years found him performing for three seasons with a touring children's theater, and summer stock in the very hometown theater where he began as a 12 year old. The 70's and 80's found him in several regional theaters in Canada, and the States, forging a path into film and television. His work included five seasons at Canada's National Arts Centre, a number of CBC movies, a regular on a sitcom called CHECK IT OUT with Don Adams and two John Sayles films, MATEWAN and EIGHT MEN OUT. He finally took the Hollywood plunge in 1989, and soon landed a starring role along side Farrah Fawcett in the mini-series SMALL SACRIFICES. From there, numerous guest roles in such favorites as CHEERS, NIGHT COURT, WINGS and WONDER YEARS led to an audition for a guest role on NYPD BLUE where an impulsive character choice landed him 12 seasons in the role of Detective Greg Medavoy. Awards include a 1998 Emmy Award for Supporting Actor in a Drama Series and the first SAG Award for Ensemble in a Drama Series. Since then, numerous film and television roles, including recurring roles on DAMAGES and CHICAGO FIRE notwithstanding, he has returned to his first love, theatre. In 2005 he received a Theatre World Award, A Drama Desk Ensemble Award, and a Tony nomination for his portrayal of Dave Moss in the All-star Broadway revival of GLENGARRY, GLEN ROSS. Off Broadway appearances include The New Group and 59E59. But his home is in New England where he frequents Vermont's Northern Stage, Lost Nation Theatre and Dorset Theatre Festival, Connecticut's Ivoryton Playhouse, New Hampshire's New London Barn and Peterborough Players and Boston's Huntington Theatre, and Central Square Theatre. In the Fall of 2019 he portrayed J Edgar Hoover in the Lincoln Center production of THE GREAT SOCIETY. What has stayed with him through all this time is his love of the poet Robert Frost. In 2008, he stumbled across a script titled THIS VERSE BUSINESS. He and playwright A.M. Dolan have been developing it and "barding" around the country with it ever since. In 2010 Gus Kaikkonen directed the first full production of the play at Peterborough Players taking it to new heights. In 2013 they played for three weeks at Lost Nation in Montpelier, Vermont and then skipped around the state in four other locations. The 2017 run at Northern Stage saw the 100th performance.- Actor
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Barry's full given name is Leonard Barrie Corbin, and he was born on October 16, 1940 in Lamesa, Texas, to Kilmer Blain Corbin, an attorney & TX State Senator, and Alma Corbin, an elementary school teacher. Barry and his wife Jo share a ranch in Fort Worth, Texas. He says when he isn't working, he rides horses there every chance he gets.- Producer
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Emmy-winning talk show host Ellen Lee DeGeneres was born in Metairie, Louisiana, a New Orleans suburb. She is the daughter of Betty DeGeneres (née Elizabeth Jane Pfeffer), a speech therapist, and Elliott Everett DeGeneres, Jr., an insurance agent. Her brother is musician and producer Vance DeGeneres. Her parents divorced when she was 16 years old. Her mother remarried, and her new husband, salesman Roy Gruessendorf, moved the family to Atlanta, Texas.
After graduating from Atlanta High School in 1976, Ellen attended the University of New Orleans as a communications major, but she dropped out after one semester. She held a wide variety of jobs until she turned to stand-up comedy, making her bones at small clubs and coffeehouses before working her way up to emcee Clyde's Comedy Club by 1981. Her comedy was described as a distaff version of Bob Newhart. Beginning in the early 1980s, she toured nationally and was named the funniest person in America after winning a competition sponsored by the cable network Showtime. This led to better gigs, including her first appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962) in 1986.
Though DeGeneres's early forays into series television were not successful (she appeared as a supporting player in two short-lived TV situation comedies in the period 1989-92, Open House (1989) and Laurie Hill (1992)), she scored a hit headlining her own 1994 sitcom on ABC "These Friends of Mine" (renamed Ellen (1994) after its first season). She made TV history in April 1997, when her character, and DeGeneres personally, revealed that she was a lesbian. However, the show was canceled the following season due to declining ratings, after which DeGeneres returned to the stand-up circuit. In 2001, DeGeneres launched a new series, The Ellen Show (2001), on CBS, but it suffered from poor ratings and was canceled.
Redemption as a television artist came in 2003, when DeGeneres's daytime talk show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show (2003), proved to be both a critical hit and a commercial success. Along with good ratings, the show has won unprecedented kudos from the industry, winning 15 Emmy Awards in its first three seasons on the air and becoming the first talk show in TV history to win the Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show in its first three seasons.
DeGeneres has also made a name for herself as a host of awards shows. She hosted the Grammy Awards in 1996 and 1997, as well as the Primetime Emmy Awards in 2001 and 2005. In February 2007, she had the ultimate TV awards show gig, hosting the Oscars, which she hosted again in 2014.- Actress
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An icy, elegant blonde with a knack for playing complex and strong-willed female leads, enormously popular actress Faye Dunaway starred in several films which defined what many would come to call Hollywood's "second Golden Age." During her tenure at the top of the box office, she was a more than capable match for some of the biggest macho stars of the 1970s. Then an overwrought turn in the disastrous biopic Mommie Dearest (1981) effectively derailed her career - but, at the same time, made her a bit of a camp favorite in the gay community - though she's been afforded infrequent opportunities worthy of her talent since that unfortunate halt.
Born prematurely on Jan. 14, 1941 in Bascom, FL, Dorothy Faye Dunaway was the daughter of MacDowell Dunaway, Jr., a career Army officer, and his wife, Grace April Smith. After a stint as a teenaged beauty queen in Florida, she intended to pursue education at the University of Florida, but switched to acting, earning her degree from Boston University in 1962. She was given the enviable task of choosing between a Fulbright Scholarship to the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts or a role in the Broadway production of "A Man For All Seasons" as a member of the American National Theatre and Academy. She picked the latter, enjoying a fruitful stage career for the next two years, which was capped by appearances in "After the Fall" and "Hogan's Goat." The latter - an off-Broadway production in 1967 - required Dunaway to tumble down a flight of steps in every performance, earning her a screen debut in the wan counterculture comedy The Happening (1967). Just five months after its release, however, she was wowing audiences across the country as Depression-era bank robber Bonnie Parker in Arthur Penn's controversial Bonnie and Clyde (1967). Her turn as the naïve but trigger-happy and sexually aggressive Parker earned her Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations, and provided a direct route to the front of the line for Hollywood leading ladies in an unbelievably short amount of time.
Dunaway followed this success with another hit, The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), in which her coolly sensual insurance investigator generated considerable sparks with playboy and jewel thief Steve McQueen. She then bounced between arthouse efforts like Puzzle of a Downfall Child (1970), directed by her ex-boyfriend, photographer Jerry Schatzberg, and the revisionist Western 'Doc' (1971), as well as big-budget efforts like Little Big Man (1970), which cast her as a predatory preacher's wife with designs on Dustin Hoffman's reluctant Native American hero. Dunaway also balanced these projects with several well-regarded theatrical productions, including a 1972-73 stint as Blanche Du Bois in "A Streetcar Named Desire," and notable TV-movies like The Woman I Love (1972), which cast her as the Duchess of Windsor, and TV broadcasts of Hogan's Goat (1971) and After the Fall (1974). But her turn as the duplicitous Lady De Winter in Richard Lester's splashy, slapstick take on The Three Musketeers (1973) and its sequel The Four Musketeers: Milady's Revenge (1974) preceded a long period of critical and box office hits, starting with her masterful performance in Chinatown (1974).
Dunaway's turn as Evelyn Mulwray, the mysterious woman who draws detective Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson) into a dark and complicated web of murder, incest, and catastrophic business deals, seemed the epitome of every femme fatale to ever stride across a chiaroscuro-lit scene in classic noir. But Dunaway also found the horribly wounded core of her character as well, and turned Evelyn from a pastiche to a full-blown and emotionally resonant human being. Critics and award groups rushed to nominate Dunaway for the role, and she netted her second Academy Award nod, as well as Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations. Dunaway had fought hard for her performance - her battles with director Roman Polanski were no secret - but sadly, she lost the Oscar to Ellen Burstyn for Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974). However, it would be Dunaway's performance which stood the test of time.
High-gloss turns in The Towering Inferno (1974) and Sydney Pollack's political thriller Three Days of the Condor (1975) preceded one of her best television performances; that of Depression-era radio preacher Aimee Semple MacPherson in The Disappearance of Aimee (1976). Even more startling was her sterling role in Network (1976), Paddy Chayefsky's blistering take on the television industry. Dunaway pulled out all the stops as an executive on the rise who stops at nothing to advance her career - even bedding veteran producer William Holden. Critics again rose in unison to praise Dunaway, and she finally netted an Oscar for the role, as well as a Golden Globe.
Surprisingly, Dunaway's career began to falter after her Oscar win. She was effective as a fashion photographer who experiences disturbing visions in Eyes of Laura Mars (1978), but was wasted in thankless roles as the dissatisfied ex of washed-up boxer Jon Voight in The Champ (1979) and wife to Frank Sinatra's detective in The First Deadly Sin (1980). And then came Mommie Dearest (1981), director Frank Perry's biopic of actress Joan Crawford based on the tell-all book by her daughter Christina Crawford. Crawford herself had praised Dunaway in the early stages of her career, and while some critics gave positive reviews to her performance - in particular, the extent to which she physically transformed herself into Crawford - most fixated on the hysterical dialogue and garish scenes of child abuse. Clips of Dunaway as Crawford bellowing "No more wire hangers!" became immediate laugh-getters on late-night television, and a substantial gay following rose up in response to the film's high camp value. Dunaway, however, found none of the response amusing, and later admitted her regret in taking the role. Whether laughable or pure genius, no one could deny that Dunaway threw her everything into the role. The film's continued cult success proved she had succeeded in becoming Crawford.
The fallout from "Mommie Dearest" obscured Dunaway's follow-up projects, which included the title role in the TV-movie Evita Peron (1981) and a return to Broadway in 1982's "The Curse of an Aching Heart". Discouraged, she moved to London with her second husband, photographer Terry O'Neill, who had also served as a producer on "Mommie Dearest." For the next few years, Dunaway appeared sporadically in films, most of which underscored her newly minted status as a camp icon. The Wicked Lady (1983) was an absurd, near-softcore period drama by Michael Winner, with Dunaway as an 18th-century highway robber. Fans of her early dramatic work were similarly aghast by her turn as a shrieking witch battling Helen Slater's Girl of Steel in Supergirl (1984). Only a Golden Globe-winning appearance in the cumbersome miniseries Ellis Island (1984) offered any respite from the negative press which now continued to follow her.
Dunaway returned to the United States in 1987 following her divorce from O'Neill, and attempted to rebuild her career and reputation by appearing in several independent dramas. She was widely praised for her performance as a once-glamorous woman felled by alcohol in Barbet Schroeder's Barfly (1987), and served as executive producer and star of Cold Sassy Tree (1989), a TV adaptation of the popular novel by Olive Ann Burns about an independent-minded woman who romances a recently widowed store owner (Richard Widmark). Dunaway was exceptionally busy for the remainder of the decade in both major Hollywood features and independent fare, though her strong women now occasionally sported an unfortunate shrill side. She was Robert Duvall's frosty wife in the dystopian thriller The Handmaid's Tale (1990) and contributed a vocal cameo as Evelyn Mulwray in The Two Jakes (1990), the ill-fated sequel to "Chinatown". Other notable performances came as the unhappy wife of psychiatrist Marlon Brando in Don Juan DeMarco (1994), as the daughter of imprisoned Klansman Gene Hackman in The Chamber (1996), and as a bartender caught in the middle of a hostage standoff in Kevin Spacey's Albino Alligator (1996). She later received Screen Actors Guild and Golden Globe nominations as the matron of a wealthy Jewish family in turmoil in The Twilight of the Golds (1996). Perhaps her best turn of the decade was as a seductive murderess who attempts to sway the unflappable Lt. Columbo (Peter Falk) in It's All in the Game (1993), which earned her a 1994 Emmy. She won her third Golden Globe as modeling agency head Wilhelmina Cooper in the biopic Gia (1998), starring Angelina Jolie as doomed model Gia Carangi.
The 1990s were also not without incident for Dunaway. She was embroiled in an ugly lawsuit against Andrew Lloyd Webber after he closed a Los Angeles production of his musical version of "Sunset Blvd." with claims that she was unable to sing to his standards. The suit was later settled out of court for an undisclosed sum. A national tour of Terrence McNally's "Master Class", about the legendary opera diva Maria Callas, ended with her involvement in a suit over legal rights to the play. The project was expected to become her next great film role but remained uncompleted more than a decade after the 1996 tour. Her attempt at sitcom stardom in It Had to Be You (1993), co-starring Robert Urich, was met with universal disinterest, and the project was announced as being retooled without Dunaway prior to its cancellation.
Dunaway's schedule remained busy from 2000 onward, mostly in television and small independent features. She co-starred with Mark Wahlberg and Joaquin Phoenix as the wife of career criminal James Caan in The Yards (2000), then made her directorial debut with the short The Yellow Bird (2001), based on the play by Tennessee Williams. Younger audiences had their first taste of Dunaway's particular star power as Ian Somerhalder's mother in The Rules of Attraction (2002), Roger Avary's amped-up adaptation of the Bret Easton Ellis novel, before Dunaway turned up the heat as a merciless celebrity judge on the reality series The Starlet (2005).
Dunaway penned her memoirs, Looking For Gatsby, in 1995, one year before receiving her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Attached throughout her professional career to intriguing men ranging from Lenny Bruce to Marcello Mastroianni, she was twice married; her first husband was singer Peter Wolf of the popular seventies rock group, The J. Geils Band. Liam O'Neill, her son by second husband Terry, followed in her footsteps with minor acting roles beginning in 2004. His father later dropped a bombshell in 2003 by revealing that Liam was not their biological son, but was adopted - a claim that Dunaway had previously denied.
A series of occasional roles in little-seen films followed, but Dunaway was unexpectedly thrust back into the public eye at the 2017 Academy Awards. Reunited with Warren Beatty on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of "Bonnie and Clyde," the pair were tapped to present the Best Picture award to close the night. Before proceeding onstage, Beatty was mistakenly handed a backup envelope for Best Actress in a Leading Role, which had already been won by Emma Stone for La La Land (2016). Unsure what to do when he opened the envelope and discovered the error, Beatty stalled for time and showed the card to Dunaway; misunderstanding his intent, the actress announced that the Best Picture Oscar went to "La La Land." During producer Jordan Horowitz's acceptance speech, he was informed that the actual Best Picture winner was Moonlight (2016). During the onstage chaos that ensued, Beatty delivered a heartfelt explanation and apology for the snafu while undergoing good-natured ribbing from host Jimmy Kimmel.
After her break from acting and the memorable Oscars moment, Dunaway is now back in the saddle as an actress working more frequently in her 70s. Over the past year, she has appeared in three films, starring in The Bye Bye Man (2017), The Case for Christ (2017), and Inconceivable (2017), with more projects expected to be on the way. The icon also fronts Gucci's summer 2018 ad campaign for their Sylvie handbag and has a Broadway show scheduled for 2019.- Actress
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The couple who plays together stays together. While this old and familiar adage probably would not work for a number of the happily married, high-profiled Hollywood star couples still thriving around town, it certainly has done wonders for one of Hollywood's more popular pairs -- actress Jill Eikenberry and her actor/husband, Michael Tucker. Broaching on a four-decade union, the couple has enjoyed a highly productive personal, as well as professional, pairing. Balancing strong solo careers as well, they have appeared together in all three mediums at one time or another, and one of their more recent projects was a cabaret act aptly titled, "Life Is a Duet", which came alive in 2007.
Born in New Haven, Connecticut on January 21, 1947, Jill was raised in Madison, Wisconsin, before moving to Missouri. She began her college studies taking up anthropology at Barnard College in New York. In her second year, however, she auditioned for and was accepted into the Yale School of Drama in New Haven.
She met Tucker while the two of them were performing at the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C.. Appearing in "The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail" (1970), they were later cast in the play, "Moonchildren" (1971), which eventually took them to Broadway in 1972. Jill and Michael married the following year and decided to settle in New York City. Together, they have a son, Max Tucker, a sometime actor, and Jill has a stepdaughter, actress Alison Tucker, from Michael's first marriage.
Throughout the early-to-mid 1970s, Jill focused on the theater, building up a strong reputation, with roles in "The Beggar's Opera" (1972), "Lotta" (1973), "All Over Town" (1974) (her Broadway debut), "Summer Brave" (1975) and "Saints" (1976). Films began to come her way, with Rush It (1978) (her debut) and Between the Lines (1977). In 1978, she and Michael earned small roles in both Lina Wertmüller's A Night Full of Rain (1978) [also "The End of the World in Our Usual Bed in a Night full of Rain"] and in the social drama, An Unmarried Woman (1978), starring Oscar nominee Jill Clayburgh. Jill finished the decade with sterling theater performances as "Alma Winemiller" in the play, "Eccentricities of a Nightingale", and in Wendy Wasserstein's "Uncommon Women and Others", which was taped for the small screen. The entire cast got to recreate their roles except for Glenn Close, who was replaced by Meryl Streep, for the TV presentation of Uncommon Women... and Others (1979).
Jill also began to gain some ground on the larger screen, with roles in Butch and Sundance: The Early Days (1979), Rich Kids (1979) and Hide in Plain Sight (1980). Making a formidable dent in TV-movies as well, she appeared in the PBS mini-series, The Best of Families (1977), and the TV-movies, The Deadliest Season (1977), Orphan Train (1979), and Swan Song (1980).
A gentle, effortless sweet nature befits the lovely Jill but it also can belie some of the stronger-willed, resourceful, even neurotic character that have played figuratively into her versatile career. This was never displayed better on film than with her breakthrough role as dipsomaniac Dudley Moore's ever-patient but extremely passive-aggressive fiancée, "Susan", in the classic comedy film, Arthur (1981). This success helped put her on the map in Hollywood.
Following a 1985 off-Broadway Obie Award win for her work in both "Lemon Sky" and "Life Under Water", she and husband Michael were cast in the acclaimed TV law series, L.A. Law (1986). Produced by Steven Bochco, who had remembered them after using the duo in two episodes of his established series, Hill Street Blues (1981), the couple not only enjoyed the steady employment but the richness in the writing of the show. While both went on to receive multiple Emmy nominations, neither won. Jill did pick up, however, a Golden Globe statuette for her excellent work on the series. The taller blonde (5'8") and her shorter husband (5'5") soon became instantly identifiable as a TV couple. Art imitated life, as well, when their characters, lawyer "Ann Kelsey" and tax specialist "Stuart Markowitz", wound up marrying on the series.
Just before the beginning of the run of the law series, Jill was diagnosed with breast cancer. The cancer eventually went into remission but, as a result of her ordeal, she became committed to her new cause and co-produced a 1989 documentary for NBC called "Destined to Live", which featured interviews with other cancer survivors, including former actress Nancy Reagan [aka Nancy Reagan]. To this day, Jill remains an ardent activist for breast cancer research and early detection. Her efforts have been recognized with awards and commendations and both she and Michael have been official spokespersons for the Susan G. Komen Foundation. She has since been inducted into the Cancer Survivors' Hall of Fame.
Jill and Michael went on to parlay their TV success into acting projects for themselves, creating a number of mini-movies as vehicles, including the social/domestic comedies, Assault and Matrimony (1987) and The Secret Life of Archie's Wife (1990) and the more dramatic A Town Torn Apart (1992) and Gone in a Heartbeat (1996). They also appeared together in A Family Again (1988) and reunited with their former series' cast members for the TV-movie, L.A. Law: The Movie (2002). On film, they played the mother and father of the groom in the comedy The Happiest Day of His Life (2007) and have cameos as themselves in Humor Me (2017). On the theatre stage, the couple appeared in productions of "Love Letters", plus "Emma's Child" (1997) and "The Last Schwartz" (2004).
Independent of Tucker, Jill has more recently appeared in the films Manna from Heaven (2002), Suburban Girl (2007), Something Borrowed (2011), Young Adult (2011), Keep in Touch (2015) and In Reality (2018).- Actress
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Vibrant, increasingly lovely teen fave Shelley Fabares withstood the test of time by transitioning successfully into adult parts unlike many of her 1960s "teen queen" peers who faded quickly into the memory books. She was born Michele Marie Fabares on January 19, 1944, in sunny Santa Monica, California, the daughter of Elsa Rose (Eyler) and James Alan Fabares. As the niece of singer/comedienne Nanette Fabray, she was indoctrinated early into the show biz life. Tap dancing from age three, she also modeled during her elementary school and began appearing on such TV shows as Captain Midnight (1954) and Annie Oakley (1954) (the latter a recurring role). At age 12, she made her professional film debut in the Rock Hudson/Cornell Borchers tearjerker Never Say Goodbye (1956) as Hudson's daughter, and went on to play kid sister roles in the rock 'n' roll-themed Rock, Pretty Baby! (1956) and its sequel Summer Love (1958) both starring John Saxon.
Teen-idol status came with her coming-of-age role as the ever-wholesome daughter "Mary Stone" on The Donna Reed Show (1958), a part she played for five seasons before embarking on a more grown-up film career. During the run of the classic sitcom, she and TV "brother" Paul Petersen grew so popular that they sprinted to adjoining pop singing celebrity, although both admitted that their vocal talents were limited. Shelley especially enjoyed a #1 Billboard hit with the breathy, sultry-edged "Johnny Angel." The character of "Mary Stone" was gently phased out of the show as her character "left for college."
By this time, Shelley had turned into quite a curvaceous stunner. Her acting mettle hardly tested, she managed to become part of the bikini-clad blonde set with top femme parts in such fun-and-frolic fare as Ride the Wild Surf (1964), Hold On! (1966), which was a vehicle for British singing sensation Peter Noone of Herman's Hermits, and three of Elvis Presley's less-acclaimed vehicles of the later 1960s: Girl Happy (1965), Spinout (1966) and Clambake (1967).
A serious Vietnam-era stream of consciousness began to pervade film audiences in the late 1960s and Shelley's perky innocence that found so much favor during the Camelot years had lost its appeal. After a notoriously dry spell, she bounced back as the altruistic wife of a dying footballer "Brian Piccolo" in Brian's Song (1971), opposite James Caan, and settled comfortably again on the small screen with bright co-star roles on the series The Little People (1972), The Practice (1976), and Highcliffe Manor (1979). A more prickly character than usual, however, reared its head in the late-night soap spoof Forever Fernwood (1977), and this led to the equally malicious, vainglorious role of Bonnie Franklin's business competitor on the already-established hit sitcom One Day at a Time (1975). The show also featured her aunt Nanette Fabray as Franklin's meddling mom. In the late 1980s, Shelley found a fleshier character as Craig T. Nelson's resourceful mate on Coach (1989), earning steady work for eight seasons and two Emmy nominations in the process. A return to film stardom, however, would eclipse her.
Married and separated from record producer Lou Adler during her fun-in-the-sun years of the mid 1960s (they eventually divorced in 1980 after a separation of almost 14 years), Shelley found marital stability with actor/activist Mike Farrell of M*A*S*H (1972) fame, and became stepmother to his two children from a prior marriage. Following her recovery from a home accident that broke several ribs in 1998, Shelley was tested and diagnosed with severe auto-immune hepatitis, which resulted in a liver transplant in 2000. Thankfully, she survived the near-fatal ordeal and has been more heard than seen in recent years. She supplied the voice of "Martha Kent" on the Superman: The Animated Series (1996) animated series but has done little else in the ensuing years.- Actor
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Peter Michael Falk was born on September 16, 1927, in New York City, New York. At the age of 3, his right eye was surgically removed due to cancer. He graduated from Ossining High School, where he was president of his class. His early career choices involved becoming a certified public accountant, and he worked as an efficiency expert for the Budget Bureau of the state of Connecticut before becoming an actor. On choosing to change careers, he studied the acting art with Eva Le Gallienne and Sanford Meisner. His most famous role is that of the detective Columbo (1971); however, this was not his first foray into acting the role of a detective. During a high school play, he stood in for such a role when the original student actor fell sick. He has been married twice, and is the father of two children:Catherine, a private detective in real life, and Jackie. He was diagnosed with dementia in 2008, which was most likely brought on by Alzheimer's disease, from which he died on June 23, 2011.- Actor
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Fyvush Finkel was born on 9 October 1922 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Picket Fences (1992), Nixon (1995) and A Serious Man (2009). He was married to Gertrude (Trudi) Lieberman. He died on 14 August 2016 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA.- Actor
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Michael Fishman was born in Long Beach, California and grew up on the set of Roseanne (1988). While becoming known as an Actor for handling deep topics with great comedic timing Fishman immersed himself in all aspects of production. Michael has worked alongside and has learned from industry leaders for over three decades.
While being recognizable to the public for his Acting roles in Roseanne (1988), Seinfeld (1989), Walker, Texas Ranger (1993), and The Conners (2018). Fishman has become equally known amongst his colleagues for being adept behind the camera. As a television and film Director he has led multiple projects including five episodes of ABC's top comedy The Conners (2018). Michael has also produced Scripted and Unscripted content including a 2022 award winning feature titled A Place in the Field (2022).
As the son of an immigrant, Fishman is motivated by his multi-racial family, and strives to create projects as diverse and inclusive as his personal life. A former Athlete, Coach, Teacher, Bounty Hunter, and Rescue Diver, Michael incorporates his active lifestyle and extensive experience as a Dad to tell relatable stories that feature complex and varied characters that represent a multitude of backgrounds. Fishman believes in the power of community and telling visceral uplifting stories.- Actress
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Her classic beauty, combined with wit and comedic talent, earned Ford five Emmy nominations and two consecutive Golden Globe Award nominations for her ten-year portrayal of reporter 'Corky Sherwood' on the CBS series "Murphy Brown." Prior to Murphy Brown, Ford landed a reoccurring role playing a fumbling secretary named Janine on "Thirtysomething". Ford also starred in the ABC hit comedy series "Hope & Faith" with Kelly Ripa for three seasons and later co-starred opposite Fred Goss and Jerry O'Connell in the ABC comedy series, "Carpoolers." Ford has a wide range of guest starring roles, from "My Name is Earl", "Criminal Minds" to "The Middle" and also co-starred opposite Vin Diesel in Touchstone Pictures' "The Pacifier, " and "Prom." Ford has starred in several TV movies, ABC Family's "Mom's on Strike", NBC/Walmart movie "Field of Vision", Hallmark movies, "A Kiss at Midnight", "Trading Christmas" and "The Bridge 1 and 2" along with Lifetime movies, "Sorority Wars" and 2017' "Christmas in Mississippi." Faith co-starred and produced a feature thriller, "Escapee", starring Dominic Purcell and Christine Evangelista along with producing the well-received short films, "Citation of Merit" and "The Day I Finally Decided to Kill Myself". In addition to her acting career, Ford made her writing debut in 2004 with an exciting cookbook, "Cooking With Faith", co-written with Melissa Clark. This multi-generational Southern cookbook draws on Ford's childhood in Louisiana where she learned how to cook down-home food at the knees of her Grandmother and Mother. Along with the traditional family recipes, the cookbook includes updated healthier versions sprinkled with familiar anecdotes of good ole' Southern hospitality and charm. Ford never forgot her roots being raised in the quiet community of Pineville, Louisiana. In high school, Faith acted in school plays, and in her senior year she was a finalist in Teen Magazine's annual model search. Faith moved to New York City when she was 17 where she worked in commercials, took acting classes, and did some modeling. Ford was 18 when she landed a role on the soap "Another World," and later "One Life to Live." Faith continues to act and produce films and television.- Production Manager
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Richard H. Frank is known for Madame's Place (1982), Thank You, Rock 'N' Roll: A Tribute to Alan Freed (1978) and Solid Gold (1980).- Director
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Born in New York and raised in Queens, John Frankenheimer wanted to become a professional tennis player. He loved movies and his favorite actor was Robert Mitchum. He decided he wanted to be an actor but then he applied for and was accepted in the Motion Picture Squadron of the Air Force where he realized his natural talent to handle a camera. After his military discharge he began a TV career in 1953 convincing CBS to hire him as an assistant director, which consisted mainly working as a cameraman at that time. He eventually started to direct the show he was working on as an assistant director. Frankenheimer still didn't want to direct films. He liked to direct live television, and he would have continued to do it if the profession itself hadn't cease to exist. He first turned to the big screen with The Young Stranger (1957) which he hated to do because he thought he didn't understand movies and wasn't used to work with only one camera. Disappointed his with first feature film experience he returned to his successful television career directing a total of 152 live television shows between 1954 and 1960. He took another chance to move to the cinema industry, working with Burt Lancaster in The Young Savages (1961) ending up becoming a successful filmmaker best known by expressing on films his views on important social and philosophical topics.- Actor
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Dennis Franz was born Dennis Franz Schlacta in Maywood, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, and is the son of Eleanor (Mueller) and Franz Ferdinand Schlachta, who were postal workers. He has two sisters, Marlene (born 1938) and Heidi (born 1935). He graduated from Southern Illinois University and was immediately drafted into the military. He served eleven months in Vietnam in a reconnaissance unit, and after his service he suffered depression for some time afterwards. In 1972 he joined the Organic Theatre Company. Robert Altman discovered him at an auditions and urged him to go to Los Angeles, where he became part of Altman's resident company. He met Joanie Zeck on April Fool's Day 1982 and aided her in raising her two daughters, Krista (born 1976) and Tricia (born 1974). They married thirteen years later in Carmel, California.- Actor
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Amiable and handsome James Garner had obtained success in both films and television, often playing variations of the charming anti-hero/con-man persona he first developed in Maverick, the offbeat western TV series that shot him to stardom in the late 1950s.
James Garner was born James Scott Bumgarner in Norman, Oklahoma, to Mildred Scott (Meek) and Weldon Warren Bumgarner, a carpet layer. He dropped out of high school at 16 to join the Merchant Marines. He worked in a variety of jobs and received 2 Purple Hearts when he was wounded twice during the Korean War. He had his first chance to act when a friend got him a non-speaking role in the Broadway stage play "The Caine Mutiny Court Martial (1954)". Part of his work was to read lines to the lead actors and he began to learn the craft of acting. This play led to small television roles, television commercials and eventually a contract with Warner Brothers. Director David Butler saw something in Garner and gave him all the attention he needed when he appeared in The Girl He Left Behind (1956). After co-starring in a handful of films during 1956-57, Warner Brothers gave Garner a co-starring role in the the western series Maverick (1957). Originally planned to alternate between Bart Maverick (Jack Kelly) and Bret Maverick (Garner), the show quickly turned into the Bret Maverick Show. As Maverick, Garner was cool, good-natured, likable and always ready to use his wits to get him in or out of trouble. The series was highly successful, and Garner continued in it into 1960 when he left the series in a dispute over money.
In the early 1960s Garner returned to films, often playing the same type of character he had played on "Maverick". His successful films included The Thrill of It All (1963), Move Over, Darling (1963), The Great Escape (1963) and The Americanization of Emily (1964). After that, his career wandered and when he appeared in the automobile racing movie Grand Prix (1966), he got the bug to race professionally. Soon, this ambition turned to supporting a racing team, not unlike what Paul Newman would do in later years.
Garner found great success in the western comedy Support Your Local Sheriff! (1969). He tried to repeat his success with a sequel, Support Your Local Gunfighter (1971), but it wasn't up to the standards of the first one. After 11 years off the small screen, Garner returned to television in a role not unlike that in Support Your Local Sheriff! (1969). The show was Nichols (1971) and he played the sheriff who would try to solve all problems with his wits and without gun play. When the show was canceled, Garner took the news by having Nichols shot dead, never to return in a sequel. In 1974 he got the role for which he will probably be best remembered, as wry private eye Jim Rockford in the classic The Rockford Files (1974). This became his second major television hit, with Noah Beery Jr. and Stuart Margolin, and in 1977 he won an Emmy for his portrayal. However, a combination of injuries and the discovery that Universal Pictures' "creative bookkeeping" would not give him any of the huge profits the show generated soon soured him and the show ended in 1980. In the 1980s Garner appeared in few movies, but the ones he did make were darker than the likable Garner of old. These included Tank (1984) and Murphy's Romance (1985). For the latter, he was nominated for both the Academy Award and a Golden Globe. Returning to the western mode, he co-starred with the young Bruce Willis in Sunset (1988), a mythical story of Wyatt Earp, Tom Mix and 1920s Hollywood.
In the 1990s Garner received rave reviews for his role in the acclaimed television movie about corporate greed, Barbarians at the Gate (1993). After that he appeared in the theatrical remake of his old television series, Maverick (1994), opposite Mel Gibson. Most of his appearances after that were in numerous TV movies based upon The Rockford Files (1974). His most recent films were My Fellow Americans (1996) and Space Cowboys (2000) .- Daniel Gerroll was born in London and educated in Switzerland, Scotland and London. After studying Law and Philosophy at Nottingham University, he trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London and subsequently spent some years in British theatre arriving in the West End in 1976 in "Once a Catholic". Following a major role in Chariots of Fire (1981) in 1980, he moved to New York, where his early work garnered a Theatre World Award and an Outer Critic Circle Award. Going to Hollywood in 1987 to appear in Big Business (1988), he stayed to play a variety of roles on TV and film. He later returned to New York in order to indulge his first love - the theatre. In 1999, he won an OBIE award for sustained excellence in theatre.
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Sara Gilbert was born on January 29, 1975, as Sara Rebecca Abeles at St. John's Hospital and Health Center in Santa Monica, California, to Barbara Cowan and Harold Abeles. Barbara was previously married to the late Paul Gilbert. At the age of six, when Sara saw her sister Melissa Gilbert get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, she told her mother that she wanted to be an actress, too. A string of commercials and, in 1984, an appearance in the CBS TV movie Calamity Jane (1984), led her to adopt the Gilbert family name. After failing to get the new The Facts of Life (1979) show, she eventually found success with Roseanne (1988). Sara spent a total of nine years on that show and was given time to be able to study at Yale University, graduating with honors in 1997. Aside from Roseanne (1988), she has provided the voice of Laura Powers on The Simpsons (1989), and starred in several movies including Sudie and Simpson (1990), Poison Ivy (1992) and Light It Up (1999).- Actor
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John Stephen Goodman's an American film, TV & stage actor. He was born in Affton, Missouri to Virginia Roos (Loosmore), a waitress and saleswoman & Leslie Francis Goodman, a postal worker who died when he was a small child. He's of English, Welsh & German ancestry. He's best known for his role as Dan Conner on the TV show Roseanne (1988), which ran until 1997 & for which he earned him a Best Actor Golden Globe in 1993. He's also noted for appearances in films of the Coen brothers, w/ prominent roles in Raising Arizona (1987) as an escaped convict, in Barton Fink (1991) as a congenial murderer, in The Big Lebowski (1998) as a volatile bowler & in O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) as a cultured thief. Additionally, he has done voice work in numerous Disney & Pixar films, including the Sulley in Monsters, Inc. (2001). Having contributed to more than 50 films, he has also won 2 American Comedy Awards & hosted Saturday Night Live (1975) 14 times.- Actor
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Michael Goorjian, born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, is an American actor, filmmaker, and writer. As an actor, Michael won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Special for David's Mother (1994) with Kirstie Alley. He is also well known for his role as Justin, Neve Campbell's love interest on the Golden Globe winning series Party of Five (1994), as well as Heroin Bob in SLC Punk! (1998). As a director, Michael achieved widespread recognition for his first major independent film, Illusion (2004), a film he wrote, directed and starred in alongside Hollywood-legend Kirk Douglas
Michael's acting career began at the early age of 14 when he decided to audition for a local theatre company thinking it was a 'cool way' to skip class. After landing the lead role in a 'not-so-cool play called Computer Crazy, Michael soon found out that the rest of the cast were all senior citizens and that he would have to perform the play at his own junior high. Despite this rather humiliating experience, Michael stuck with acting and eventually trained at UCLA School of Theatre, Film and Television.
Michael's first big Hollywood break came as a dancer when in 1992 he was cast as Skittery in the Disney film, Newsies (1992), starring Christian Bale and Robert Duvall. What followed was starring roles in numerous films including Chaplin (1992) with Robert Downey Jr., Forever Young (1992) with Mel Gibson, Oscar-winning Leaving Las Vegas (1995), Hard Rain (1998) with Morgan Freeman and Christian Slater, SLC Punk! (1998), The Invisibles (1999) with Portia de Rossi, Broken (2006) with Heather Graham and Conversations with God (2006).
Michael also guest starred in countless television series including Lie to Me (2009), House (2004), Alias (2001), Monk (2002), CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000), CSI: Miami (2002), Without a Trace (2002), Chicago Hope (1994) as well as a recurring role on Life Goes On (1989) as Ray Nelson.
Never straying far from the stage, Michael is a founding member of the Los Angeles based theater group, Buffalo Nights and starred in the West Coast premiere of Dennis McIntyre's powerful drama, Modigliani, which won him a L.A. Weekly Theater Award nomination for Best Lead Actor. With the 'Nights', Michael also received tremendous critical acclaim for playing title roles in both productions of, The Apollo of Bellac by Jean Giraudoux, and J.B. by Archibald MacLeish. Michael also won a LA Critics Choice and a Garland Backstage West awards for his original choreography for the L.A. production of the musical Refer Madness.- Producer
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A six-time Emmy Award winner, Kelsey Grammer was born in Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, to Sally (Cranmer), a singer, and Frank Allen Grammer, Jr., a musician and restaurateur, who were from the mainland. He was raised in New Jersey and Florida. Grammer was drawn to the works of William Shakespeare and spent two years at the prestigious Juilliard School. He then dove into the world of regional theater, eventually making the leap to Broadway with roles in "Macbeth" and "Othello." He joined the cast of the situation comedy Cheers (1982) in 1984.
Grammer is the first actor in television history to receive multiple Emmy nominations for performing the same role on three series. He received two nominations for his original portrayal of Dr. Frasier Crane on Cheers (1982), another for his guest appearance in that role on Wings (1990), and nine nominations (earning four awards) as Outstanding Actor for his work on Frasier (1993). Over the years, Dr. Frasier Crane has become one of television's most endearing and enduring characters. In addition to his Emmy Awards, Grammer has won two Golden Globe Awards, two American Comedy Awards and a People's Choice Award for his portrait. Grammer's distinctive voice has been heard in several hit animated features, including the voice of Stinky Pete in Disney's hit Toy Story 2 (1999) and a role in Anastasia (1997). On television, he has also been seen in several mini-series and movies. In 1996, he hosted an hour-long salute to Jack Benny for which he served as executive producer. He also starred in HBO's award-winning comedy The Pentagon Wars (1998). Grammer's autobiography, "So Far," was published in fall 1995.- Jeff Greenfield was born on 10 June 1943 in New York City, New York, USA. He is a writer, known for Disco Beaver from Outer Space (1979), CNN & Time (1997) and CBS News Sunday Morning with Jane Pauley (1979). He has been married to Diane (Dena) Schloss Sklar since 21 June 2002. He was previously married to Harriet (Carrie) Carmichael and Karen Anne Gannett.
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In addition to helming the iconic feature hits An Officer and a Gentleman (1982), Against All Odds (1984), Ray (2004), and the cult thriller The Devil's Advocate (1997), Taylor Hackford has directed the films Dolores Claiborne (1995), Everybody's All-American (1988), and Proof of Life (2000). Taylor developed and produced La Bamba (1987), the most successful Latin-themed feature film in history. Mr. Hackford has been an active member of the Directors Guild of America for over 40 years, including twice as elected President of the DGA, beginning in 2009.- Actor
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Phil Hartman was born Philip Edward Hartmann on September 24, 1948, in Brantford, Ontario, Canada. His surname was originally "Hartmann", but he later dropped the second "n". He was one of eight children of Doris Marguerite (Wardell) and Rupert Loebig Hartmann, a salesman. He was of German, Irish, and English descent. The family moved to the United States when Phil was around ten, and he spent the majority of his childhood in Connecticut and Southern California. He later obtained his American citizenship in the early 1990s. He often would visit his homeland of Canada throughout his career, and the City of Brantford even erected a plaque on the Walk of Fame in the town in honor of Phil's career and memory. The Humber College Comedy: Writing & Performance program in Toronto, Ontario, also has an award in Phil's memory that is given out to their Post-Graduate comedy students.
Phil originally studied Graphic Design at California State University. He began to work part time as a graphic artist, designing album covers for such bands as Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young (see Crosby Stills Nash & Young) and Poco. In 1975, alongside doing album work, Phil joined the California comedy troupe, The Groundlings. While in The Groundlings, Phil worked with Paul Reubens and Jon Lovitz, who became good friends of his until his death. Phil and Paul created the character Pee Wee Herman together, and Phil even had a role on Pee-wee's Playhouse (1986) as pirate Captin' Carl.
In 1986, Phil joined the cast of Saturday Night Live (1975) and was on the show for a record of 8 seasons (which was later broken by Tim Meadows). Phil played a wide range of characters including: Frank Sinatra, Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, Ed McMahon, Barbara Bush, and many others. He was known to help out other writers who wanted to get their sketches read and onto the show. He held Saturday Night Live (1975) together during his 8-year reign, thus the nickname he garnered while on the show, "The Glue." Phil was also known for his voice work on commercials and cartoons. He was probably most well known for the voices of Troy McClure and Lionel Hutz on the animated comedy The Simpsons (1989). He also provided other minor voices for The Simpsons (1989). Phil left Saturday Night Live (1975) in 1994, and in 1995, was cast in the critically acclaimed NBC show NewsRadio (1995) as arrogant radio show host Bill McNeal.
After Phil's death, Phil's good friend Jon Lovitz attempted to fill the void as Max Lewis on NewsRadio (1995), but the struggling show's ratings dropped, and the show later fizzled out and ended in 1999. Phil had an interesting career in movies, mostly playing supporting characters. He was the lead in Houseguest (1995) and was also in Greedy (1994), Jingle All the Way (1996), Sgt. Bilko (1996), and his last live action film, Small Soldiers (1998). His last role was the English language dub of Kiki's Delivery Service (1989), as the quick-witted cat Jiji, which featured Small Soldiers co-star Kirsten Dunst in the lead voice role.
On May 28th, 1998, Phil was shot to death while sleeping in his Encino, California home by his wife, Brynn Hartman. Brynn left the house and later came back with a friend to show him Phil's body. When her friend went to call 911, Brynn locked herself in the bedroom with Phil's lifeless body and shot herself. It was later discovered by the coroner that Brynn had alcohol, cocaine, and the antidepressant, Zoloft, in her system. They left behind two children, Sean Edward (b. 1988) and Birgen (b. 1992). Phil and Brynn's bodies were cremated and spread upon Catalina Island, just off the coast of California, on June 4, 1998. Phil had specifically stated in his will that he wanted the ashes spread on Catalina Island because it was his favorite holiday getaway as he was an avid boater, surfer and general lover of the sea.
Phil was a very caring and sensitive person and was described as "very sweet and kind of quiet."- Producer
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Sally Head was born on 20 February 1951 in Cornwall, England, UK. She is a producer, known for Cracker (1993), Prime Suspect 2 (1992) and The Life and Loves of a She-Devil (1986).- Versatile, award-winning character actress Eileen Heckart, with the lean, horsey face and assured, fervent gait, was born Anna Eileen Herbert on March 29, 1919, in Columbus, Ohio. An only child, she lived with her mother after her parents separated when she was 2 years old, and was eventually adopted by her grandfather, whose surname (Heckart) she took. Her childhood was an acutely unhappy one. Her mother, an alcoholic, was married five times, and her stern grandmother, with whom Eileen was often shuttled off to stay, was physically abusive. To survive, Eileen escaped into the joy of movies as an adolescent.
She graduated from Ohio State University in 1942 with a degree in English. That same year she married John Harrison Yankee Jr., an insurance broker. They had three sons in a union that lasted 54 years, unusual for a feisty, independent lady of show business. While her husband was off to the war (he joined the Navy), she moved to New York and toiled in a number of day jobs while trying to jump start a career in acting. Beginning in summer stock, she took classes at the American Theatre Wing and apprenticed in a number of obscure plays/revues such as "Tinker's Dam" (1943) and "Musical Moment" (1943).
Following extensive work on the NY stage, which included her Broadway debut as an understudy and eventual replacement in "The Voice of the Turtle" (1945), she established herself as a major force on the Great White Way. Her first big break under the Broadway lights was her portrayal of the arch, lonely schoolteacher in William Inge's "Picnic", which earned her both the Outer Critics Circle and Theatre World awards in 1953. (Rosalind Russell played the role in the film version.)
Heckart was in demand by then as flinty, overwrought, down-to-earth types or wise-to-the-bone old gals. Later award-worthy Broadway hits would include "The Bad Seed" (which earned her the Donaldson award), "The Dark at the Top of the Stairs" (Tony-nom), "Invitation to a March" (Tony-nom), and "Butterflies Are Free" (Tony-nom). Intermixed were live performances on TV for such prestigious programs as "Goodyear Television Playhouse", "Kraft Television Theatre", "Studio One", "Suspense", "The Alcoa Hour", and "Playhouse 90".
Heckart was a dominant yet only intermittent force in films, making her debut in the so-so Miracle in the Rain (1956) featured as Jane Wyman's confidante. Although greatly disappointed at losing the bid to recreate her Broadway role in the film version of Picnic (1955) (Rosalind Russell won the honors), she did receive the satisfaction of transferring her scene-chewing stage role as the despairing, drunken mom whose son falls victim to young Patty McCormack's malevolent mischief in The Bad Seed (1956). For this Eileen copped both Oscar and Golden Globe nominations. During this period she fell into a number of dowdy matrons, dour moms and matter-of-fact gal friends with flashy roles in Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956), Bus Stop (1956), Hot Spell (1958) and Heller in Pink Tights (1960).
Earning another Tony nomination and the New York Drama Critics Award for her brittle role in the 1957 production of Inge's "The Dark at the Top of the Stairs", she was pregnant with her third child when the film version of The Dark at the Top of the Stairs (1960) started rolling and Angela Lansbury stepped in to replace her.
For most of the 1960s, she traded off TV guest parts ("Ben Casey", "Dr. Kildare", "The F.B.I.", "The Defenders") with theater roles ("Pal Joey", "Barefoot in the Park", "You Know I Can't Hear You When the Water's Running"). She was finally rewarded on film as blind Edward Albert's busybody mom in Butterflies Are Free (1972), netting the Academy Award for "Best Supporting Actress". It was a role she had played on Broadway, receiving her fourth Tony nomination.
The Oscar did not bring her the choice roles which other winners had enjoyed but she continued on in all three mediums quite enviably. While not fond of sitcom work, she gave Emmy-style for her guest work on such shows as "The Mary Tyler Moore Show", "Love & War", "Ellen", "Cybill", and was part of a short-lived ensemble series as one of The 5 Mrs. Buchanans (1994). She also put together a one-woman stage tribute to Eleanor Roosevelt and gave assertive theater performances in "The Ladies of the Alamo", "The Cemetery Club", and "Northeast Local".
The Tony Award eluded the four-time nominee during her long, eventful career. The Tony committee finally made up for this oversight in 2000 by awarding her a "special" Tony for "excellence in theater, triggered by her final, multiple award-winning success (Obie, Drama Desk) as an Alzheimer's patient in "The Waverly Gallery" in 2000. In retrospect, it was none too soon as Heckart, who worked nearly until the end, had been diagnosed with lung cancer, which was kept secret until after her death, on December 31, 2001, aged 82. - Director
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Todd Holland's life was changed forever when, at the age of five, he saw an episode of Jonny Quest that scared the bejesus out of him - and from that moment he wanted life to always be that exciting. Story-telling became his gateway drug of choice. Since that fateful viewing, Todd has directed more than 200 episodes of television and three feature films including the gamer, cult-classic, The Wizard. His work has earned him three EMMY Awards, eight EMMY nominations, five Cable-Ace Awards, a DGA award, six DGA nominations and a WGA nomination. As a director and producer, he was a key creative force behind The Larry Sanders Show, Malcolm In The Middle and he co-created the short-lived but enduring-fan favorite, Wonderfalls. His episodic work spans the gamut of genres - from Twin Peaks, My So-Called Life, Stitchers and Shameless on the drama side to Tales From The Crypt, Friends, Black-ish and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt in comedy. He just signed his third overall deal with ABC Studios under his Dark Toy Entertainment shingle. While at ABC/Disney, Todd was proud Director/EP of ABC's The Real O'Neals -- a show that will forever hold a special place in his heart. Todd earned his big break after Steven Spielberg saw his UCLA short film, Chicken Thing, and hired him to write and direct for Amazing Stories. (Fun Fact: Chicken Thing was a fictionalized re-telling of that fateful night watching Jonny Quest at 5yo - but adding a giant Chicken Monster, because... why not?) Todd joined the DGA in 1986. He is co-Chair of the Diversity Task Force of the DGA, working to increase the number of women and men of color directing episodic TV. He is happily married to Scotch Ellis Loring and is the loving father of amazing Triplets.- Actress
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Helen Hunt began studying acting at the age of eight with her father, respected director and acting coach Gordon Hunt. A year later she made her professional debut and afterwards worked steadily in films, theatre and television.- Actress
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Holly Hunter was born in Conyers, Georgia, to Opal Marguerite (Catledge), a homemaker, and Charles Edwin Hunter, a part-time sporting goods company representative and farmer with a 250 acre farm. She is the youngest of seven children. Her parents encouraged her talent at an early age, and her first acting part was as Helen Keller in a fifth-grade play. In 1976 she went to Pittsburgh to pursue a degree in drama from Carnegie Mellon University. After graduating in 1980, she went to New York City, where she met playwright Beth Henley in a stalled elevator. Hunter went on to get roles in a number of Henley's southern Gothic plays, including Crimes of the Heart and The Miss Firecracker Contest. In 1982 the actress went to Los Angeles. She landed her first starring role in the movies in the Coen brothers' Raising Arizona (1987), a part that is said to have been written with her in mind. She gained stardom in 1987 when she played the driven TV news producer Jane Craig in James L. Brooks' Broadcast News (1987). In 1993 she earned an Academy Award and worldwide acclaim with her performance as a mute bride to a New Zealand planter in The Piano (1993).- Actor
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David Hyde Pierce was born in Saratoga Springs, New York, USA. He is the youngest child of George and Laura Pierce (both deceased) and has two older sisters (Barbara and Nancy) and an older brother (Thomas). As a child, he was very interested in music (particularly piano) and regularly played the organ at his local church (Bethesda Episcopal Church). David discovered a love of drama in high school and, upon his graduation in 1977, he received the Yaddo Medal which is to honor academic achievement and personal character. However, his love of music was still strong so he decided to study classical piano at Yale University.
Unfortunately, he soon grew bored with music history lessons and found that he wasn't dedicated enough to practice the required amount of hours to become a successful concert pianist. Instead, he returned to his love of drama and graduated in 1981 with a double major in English and Theatre Arts. He then moved to New York where he worked several menial jobs (including selling ties at Bloomingdales and working as a security guard) while acting in the theater during the late 80s and early 90s. He appeared in small roles in films such as Bright Lights, Big City (1988) before his life and career changed forever when he landed the role of "Dr. Niles Crane" in the television series Frasier (1993). Throughout the show's eleven year run (1993-2004), David was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series each year (he won four times: 1995, 1998-1999 and 2004). David resides in Los Angeles with his romantic partner, Brian Hargrove, and their two Wheaton Terriers, Maude and Mabel. He remains very close to his three siblings.- Director
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Glenn Jordan was born on 5 April 1936 in San Antonio, Texas, USA. He is a director and producer, known for Family (1976), Barbarians at the Gate (1993) and The Lives of Benjamin Franklin (1974).- Patricia was raised in Westport, Connecticut and Louisville, Kentucky. Studied acting at Indiana and Temple Universities after being encouraged by her high-school drama teacher. She finished College with a B.A. degree in theater and immediately started acting in major regional and off-Broadway productions. Back in New York, where she was born, she worked in numerous daytime soaps, commercials and theatrical events. She received a nomination for the Outer Critics Circle Award for her part in the long-running play "The Foreigner". She starred on Broadway in Larry Shue's "The Nerd" and together with her husband, Daniel Gerroll, in "Betrayal" at the Berkshire Theater.
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David Kelley might be described as living the American Dream, 1990s' style: write a screenplay, move to Hollywood, make millions and marry a movie star. A former Boston lawyer, in the last decade, he switched careers to become a successful television producer whose shows are recognized for their quality as well as receiving top ratings. David Kelley was born in 1956 and is originally from Maine. He attended Princeton University and Boston University Law School. He married actress Michelle Pfeiffer in November 1993. They have two children: Claudia Rose Kelley, born in March 1993, who was adopted by Ms. Pfeiffer eight months before their marriage, and John Henry, born in August 1994. Claudia Rose Kelley was christened and given Mr. Kelley's name at the couple's wedding ceremony. Mr. Kelley was an associate at Fine & Ambrogne in 1983 when he wrote a film script based on some of his legal experiences. Through a family friend, he got the script optioned and acquired an agent in 1986. It was produced in 1987, as a film titled From the Hip (1987), starring Judd Nelson, Elizabeth Perkins, and John Hurt. At the same time, producers Steven Bochco and Terry Louise Fisher (creators of the successful police drama Hill Street Blues (1981)) were planning a new series set in a law firm, and looking for writers with legal backgrounds. They saw Mr. Kelley's script and invited him to Los Angeles to discuss writing a single script for L.A. Law (1986). The meeting was so successful that Mr. Kelley joined the show's staff as a story editor. The next year, he became executive story editor, and after Terry Fisher left the show, he became the supervising producer. Steven Bochco left L.A. Law (1986) after the third season, and Mr. Kelley took over as executive producer, while continuing to write many of the scripts himself. Mr. Kelley has since produced more critically acclaimed and successful shows. He served as creative consultant on Doogie Howser, M.D. (1989), which was produced by Steven Bochco, and as executive producer and writer for Picket Fences (1992). He is the executive producer of Chicago Hope (1994). He is part of the television production division of Twentieth Century Fox, which has been owned by Rupert Murdoch's media conglomerate, The News Corporation Ltd., since 1985.- Producer
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Richard Kramer is known for Thirtysomething (1987), Tales of the City (1993) and Once and Again (1999).- Actress
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Swoosie is the only child of author Margo and Frank Kurtz. As her father was a colonel in the U.S. Air Force, she moved often during her school years, living in eight different states. At the University of Southern California she majored in drama; later she attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, collected Broadway's "triple crown" (the Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle awards) for her portrayal of Gwen in Lanford Wilson's "The Fifth of July". Since then she has appeared in many TV shows and movies, and received several Emmy and Golden Globe nominations and an Emmy for her guest-starring performance on Carol Burnett's comedy series Carol & Company (1990).- Writer
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Lynda La Plante was born on 15 March 1943 in Liverpool, England, UK. She is a writer and actress, known for Prime Suspect (1991), Prime Suspect 3 (1993) and Widows (2018). She was previously married to Richard La Plante.- Actor
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John Bernard Larroquette, is an all-around American actor known for his roles in both drama and comedy. He became well-known as Deputy District Attorney Dan Fielding in the NBC sitcom "Night Court" (1984-1992; 2023-present), a role that earned him four straight Emmy Awards for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy. This remarkable achievement showed off his talent, demonstrating his knack for mixing serious drama with comedic flair. Larroquette's performance of Dan Fielding evolved from conservative to more humorous, reflecting his own sense of humor, which was a hit with viewers.
Apart from "Night Court," Larroquette's career is filled with impressive roles in various TV series. He won an Emmy for a guest role in "The Practice" and appeared in "The Good Fight," "The Librarians," "Boston Legal," and "Happy Family." His return to "Night Court" in the reboot sees him play again his role as Dan Fielding. However, the character has become gentler over time, suggesting personal growth and struggles, including a reference to a past marriage and a shift from practicing law to working as a process server. This comeback in the reboot adds a new layer to his famous role, mixing fond memories with fresh storytelling.- Actress
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Sharon Lawrence grew up in North Carolina (Charlotte and Raleigh), graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill with a degree in Journalism and spent her college summers doing musicals in summer stock. She became an Actors Equity Member in 1984 and a SAG-AFTRA member in 1987. She may be best known for her multiply Emmy Award-nominated and SAG Award-winning portrayal of ADA Sylvia Costas Sipowicz in NYPD Blue. She also played, among many roles, a stay-at-home prostitute in Desperate Housewives, a charming but murderous realtor on Monk, the twisted jailbird mother of a sociopath on Criminal Minds, a serial killer on Law and Order: SVU, and a mother coming to terms with her long-lost daughter on Rizzoli & Isles -- not to mention bantering with Alfred Molina on Ladies Man or beating up Larry David on Curb Your Enthusiasm.
More recent work includes Blunt Talk (opposite Sir Patrick Stewart) and an arc on NBC's Game Of Silence. Recent film includes Solace (opposite Sir Anthony Hopkins), Of Music and Mind (with Joaquim de Almeida and Aunjanue Ellis), and the award-winning The Bridge Partner (with Beth Grant).
An accomplished stage actress, Lawrence played twenty different female characters in the Noel Coward cabaret, Love, Noel at the Wallis. Lawrence starred in Sir Noel Coward's final play, A Song at Twilight, at the Pasadena Playhouse, and as Vivien Leigh in Orson's Shadow (winner LA Drama Critics Circle Award, nominated for Ovation Award). At the Mark Taper Forum, she created the role of Maureen in the premiere of Theresa Rebeck's Poor Behavior and was featured Carl Reiner's gala, Enter Laughing. Her Broadway credits include revivals of Cabaret, Fiddler On The Roof and Chicago (as Velma Kelly).
A former Chair of Women In Film Foundation, she is affiliated with the Board of Directors of the SAG-AFTRA Foundation as well as WeForShe.org, HealTheBay.org and UNC-Chapel Hill General Alumni Association.- Producer
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Jay Leno began his career in night clubs, where he worked 300 nights a year before hitting it big in 1992 with his own late-night talk show, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (1992). By that time he had appeared on television, acted in a few films (American Hot Wax (1978)) but hit paydirt with his late-night television appearances (he made a record number of visits to [error]); for several years, he served as Johnny Carson's permanent guest host on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962). A big, sweet guy with a very good comedy routine, he vied with David Letterman to inherit Carson's seat when Johnny retired in 1992. His victory was well-publicized, but empty, though he did gain a measure of revenge when his show beat Letterman's for the Emmy in 1995. Though he consistently lost in the ratings to Letterman except on special occasions, like Hugh Grant's first TV appearance after his encounter with Divine Brown, he surged ahead in 1996, as CBS plunged further into oblivion.- Robert W. Lenski was born on 11 June 1926 in Michigan, USA. He was a writer, known for The Dain Curse (1978), Mannix (1967) and Bridges to Cross (1986). He was married to Leah. He died on 19 June 2002 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
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Television would never be the same after David Letterman made his second attempt at a show in 1982. But his career before becoming host of the show was quite an interesting and long one.
Letterman was born in Broad Ripple, a neighborhood in Indianapolis, to Dorothy Marie (Hofert), a church secretary, and Harry Joseph Letterman, a florist. He is of German, English, and Scots-Irish descent. His childhood was relatively unremarkable, but he exhibited tendencies of the class clown and showed a very strong independent streak as a child. Letterman went on to graduate from Ball State University in the late 1960s and married Michelle Cook in 1969. From 1970 to 1974, he worked as a weatherman and TV announcer and from 1974 to 1975 as a radio talk show host.
As the late 1970s approached, Letterman was working as a struggling stand-up comic at The Comedy Store and started writing for television shows. He wrote for the summer series "The Peeping Times" and for such shows as Good Times (1974). Letterman had become something of a minor celebrity by 1978, by which time he had appeared on The Gong Show (1976), Mary Tyler Moore's variety series, Mary (1978), Liar's Club (1976), The $10,000 Pyramid (1973), Password Plus (1979) and the variety series, The Starland Vocal Band Show (1977). (It was also revealed on the Game Show Network that Letterman hosted a pilot of a game show in the seventies called The Riddlers (1977), but it was not made into a series.)
This exposure prompted many appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962). He became so popular that he was permanent substitute host by the end of the 1970s. NBC saw great potential in the young irreverent comedian, so they gave Letterman his own daytime talk show, The David Letterman Show (1980), which was a disaster and aired for only a few months. At about this time, Tom Snyder was having problems with his late-night show, Tomorrow Coast to Coast (1973), which aired after the "Tonight Show." His problems were mostly with his co-host, Rona Barrett, and Snyder was forced off air in late 1981. Letterman, who was still permanent co-host of the "Tonight Show," took over the post-Carson slot with [error].
Letterman's show was extremely unconventional. For starters, Letterman was very political, whereas Johnny Carson had steered away from political jokes. Letterman's early antics changed talk shows. He would often stage elevator races in Radio City Music Hall. He made random calls to strangers and talked about the strangest subjects. At one point, Letterman got his associate Larry "Bud" Melman to stand outside the Russian Embassy and hand out pamphlets encouraging defection. He often made his guests feel uncomfortable with his intelligent and abrasive style, and guests often participated in funny and unusual skits with him. Letterman became almost an instant success, and some say he surpassed Carson in popularity.
As the late 1980s approached, Letterman was becoming more and more of a household name, often at odds with the censors over his show, and never one to kowtow to guests' wishes. But that only made him more popular, and he garnered more and more status as a world class talk show host. Among the more classic moments in his early show was the time he covered his suit with Alka Seltzer and jumped in a vat of water. Letterman helped Andy Kaufman with his wrestling saga, as Kaufman and Jerry Lawler pretended to get in a fight on "Late Night." Letterman also became known for his on-screen reclusiveness with respect to other shows. While Carson at one point in his career would often make cameos and guest appearances, Letterman would shy away from cameos and stuck almost solely to doing his "Late Night" show.
In 1992 Johnny Carson made a landmark announcement: he was retiring. Many thought that Letterman would be the natural choice as Carson's replacement, but many at NBC were leaning toward current "Tonight Show" substitute host Jay Leno. The battle was very public and very vicious, but in the end Leno won out, and Letterman continued hosting the post-"Tonight Show" slot. But, in 1993, Letterman made his own big announcement: he was leaving NBC for a lucrative contract with CBS to star in the Late Show with David Letterman (1993). The battle intensified even more. NBC claimed that many of Letterman's gimmicks and jokes, including throwing the pencil at the camera, the Top Ten List, and Larry "Bud" Melman, among many others, were NBC's "intellectual property." NBC lost, but Larry "Bud" Melman would now be called by his real name, Calvert DeForest, on the CBS show. Competing in the late night wars with not only Leno but also Chevy Chase, Arsenio Hall and Ted Koppel, Letterman consistently won over all of his competition until the summer of 1995, when Leno had guest Hugh Grant on his show to discuss his highly publicized arrest for being caught with prostitute Divine Brown and Grant cried on screen. The ratings were tremendous, and Leno has consistently beaten Letterman ever since.
In recent years, Letterman has toned down his act. He dresses more conservatively and tends to go the more traditional route of talk shows. It can be said that every talk show since, including Craig Kilborn and especially 'Conan O'Brien', has been influenced a great deal by Letterman's unconventional, irreverent, off-the-wall style. It was thought that Letterman was going to retire in the mid-'90s, but an impressive 14 million-per-year deal has kept Letterman with CBS. Near-tragedy struck, however, in January of 2000 when Letterman was diagnosed with coronary arterial blockage and underwent quintuple bypass surgery. The operation was successful, however, and Letterman received countless get-well cards and a great deal of publicity. Among David's better-known incidents in recent years have been Drew Barrymore's infamous table dance, an interview with a bizarre and ditzy Farrah Fawcett, his appearance in the movie, Cabin Boy (1994) (written by and starring his former "Late Night" writer and performer Chris Elliott), his stint as host of The 67th Annual Academy Awards (1995), and his appearance in the Andy Kaufman biopic, Man on the Moon (1999). When Politically Incorrect (1993) was canceled in 2002, Letterman was sought after to leave CBS for ABC, but he declined to do so and stayed with CBS, where he remained until his retirement in May 2015.
Aside from being a talk show host, Letterman is an active producer. His production company is called Worldwide Pants. Over the years he has been executive producer of his original show, his new show, Everybody Loves Raymond (1996), The Building (1993), Bonnie (1995), The High Life (1996), The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn (1999), and Ed (2000).- Actor
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If "born to the theater" has meaning in determining a person's life path, then John Lithgow is a prime example of this truth. He was born in Rochester, New York, to Sarah Jane (Price), an actress, and Arthur Washington Lithgow III, who was both a theatrical producer and director. John's father was born in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, where the Anglo-American Lithgow family had lived for several generations.
John moved frequently as a child, while his father founded and managed local and college theaters and Shakespeare festivals throughout the Midwest of the United States. Not until he was 16, and his father became head of the McCarter Theater in Princeton New Jersey, did the family settle down. But for John, the theater was still not a career. He won a scholarship to Harvard University, where he finally caught the acting bug (as well as found a wife). Harvard was followed by a Fulbright scholarship to study at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. Returning from London, his rigorous dramatic training stood him in good stead, and a distinguished career on Broadway gave him one Tony Award for "The Changing Room", a second nomination in 1985 for "Requiem For a Heavyweight", and a third in 1988 for "M. Butterfly". But with critical acclaim came personal confusion, and in the mid 1970s, he and his wife divorced. He entered therapy, and in 1982, his life started in a new direction, the movies - he received an Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of Roberta Muldoon in The World According to Garp (1982). A second Oscar nomination followed for Terms of Endearment (1983), and he met a UCLA economics professor who became his second wife. As the decade of the 1990s came around, he found that he was spending too much time on location, and another career move brought him to television in the hugely successful series 3rd Rock from the Sun (1996).
This production also played a role in bringing him back together with the son from his first marriage, Ian Lithgow, who has a regular role in the series as a dimwitted student.- Actress
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Heather Locklear was born on 25 September 1961 in Westwood, California, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Melrose Place (1992), The Perfect Man (2005) and The Return of Swamp Thing (1989). She was previously married to Richie Sambora and Tommy Lee.- Actress
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Julia Louis-Dreyfus was born on January 13, 1961, in the New York City borough of Manhattan, to Judith (LeFever), a special needs tutor and author, and Gérard Louis-Dreyfus, a billionaire businessman. Her parents divorced when she was young, and she spent her childhood in Washington, D.C., and New York. She met her husband, Brad Hall, while in college, and made her feature movie debut in the Woody Allen film Hannah and Her Sisters (1986). She lives in Los Angeles with Brad and their two children. Her father was born in France, and her grandfather Pierre Louis-Dreyfus was in the French Resistance against the Nazis.- Director
- Producer
- Script and Continuity Department
Paul Marcus was born on 30 May 1955 in London, England, UK. He was a director and producer, known for Prime Suspect 2 (1992), Prime Suspect 3 (1993) and Prime Suspect: The Lost Child (1995). He was married to Viviana Maranzano. He died on 13 February 2011 in London, England, UK.- Actor
- Director
- Producer
For seven seasons, acclaimed stage, screen and television actor James McDaniel portrayed Lt. Arthur Fancy on legendary television series NYPD Blue (1993). McDaniel recently completed shooting The Battle for Bunker Hill (2008), with director Kevin Willmott (CSA: Confederate States of America). McDaniel stars alongside Saeed Jaffrey (Gandhi), and is also executive producer. Other recent films include War Eagle, Arkansas (2007), Living Hell (2008) and El Cortez (2006).
McDaniel received an Emmy and a Peabody Award for his performance in Edge of America (2004) and an Emmy Award nomination for Public Television's Storytime (1992). An accomplished stage actor, he won the prestigious Obie Award and was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for his portrayal of Wendall in the New York stage production of Before It Hits Home. He also received the Clarence Derwent Award for the Tony Award-winning Broadway play Six Degrees of Separation.
His additional feature films include John Sayles's Sunshine State (2002), Spike Lee's Malcolm X (1992), Strictly Business (1991), El Cortez (2006), Woody Allen's Alice (1990), Rocket Gibraltar (1988), Truth or Consequences, N.M. (1997) with Kiefer Sutherland, Crack in the Mirror and Banzaï (1983). On television, McDaniel has appeared on Hill Street Blues (1981), Law & Order (1990), Taken (2002), "Las Vegas" (2003)_, "L.A. Law" (1986)_; television movies such as Love Kills with Kristin Davis and The Road to Galveston (1996) opposite Cicely Tyson; and mini-series including Common Ground, The Old Man and the Sea (1990), and Internal Affairs (1988) (TV)_. He co-hosted the ABC special More Secrets Revealed (1995).
Born and raised in Washington, D.C., McDaniel attended the University of Pennsylvania, majoring in veterinary medicine. McDaniel lives in New York City with his wife Hannelore. They have two sons.- Actor
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- Producer
Widely regarded as one of greatest stage and screen actors both in his native Great Britain and internationally, twice nominated for the Oscar and recipient of every major theatrical award in the UK and US, Ian Murray McKellen was born on May 25, 1939 in Burnley, Lancashire, England, to Margery Lois (Sutcliffe) and Denis Murray McKellen, a civil engineer and lay preacher. He is of Scottish, Northern Irish, and English descent. During his early childhood, his parents moved with Ian and his older sister, Jean, to the mill town of Wigan. It was in this small town that young Ian rode out World War II. He soon developed a fascination with acting and the theatre, which was encouraged by his parents. They would take him to plays, those by William Shakespeare, in particular. The amateur school productions fostered Ian's growing passion for theatre.
When Ian was of age to begin attending school, he made sure to get roles in all of the productions. At Bolton School in particular, he developed his skills early on. Indeed, his first role in a Shakespearian play was at Bolton, as Malvolio in "Twelfth Night". Ian soon began attending Stratford-upon-Avon theatre festivals, where he saw the greats perform: Laurence Olivier, Wendy Hiller, John Gielgud, Ralph Richardson and Paul Robeson. He continued his education in English Drama, but soon it fell by the wayside as he concentrated more and more on performing. He eventually obtained his Bachelor of Arts in 1961, and began his career in earnest.
McKellen began working in theatre over the next few years. Very few people knew of Ian's homosexuality; he saw no reason to go public, nor had he told his family. They did not seem interested in the subject and so he saw no reason to bring it up. In 1988, Ian publicly came out of the closet on the BBC Radio 4 program, while discussing Margaret Thatcher's "Section 28" legislation, which made the promotion of homosexuality as a family relationship by local authorities an offense. It was reason enough for McKellen to take a stand. He has been active in the gay rights movement ever since.
Ian resides in Limehouse, where he has also lived with his former long-time partner Sean Mathias. The two men have also worked together on the film Bent (1997) as well as in exquisite stage productions. To this day, McKellen works mostly in theatre, and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1990 for his efforts in the arts. However, he has managed to make several quite successful forays into film. He has appeared in several productions of Shakespeare's works including his well received Richard III (1995), and in a variety of other movies. However, it has only been recently that his star has finally begun to shine in the eyes of North American audiences. Roles in various films, Cold Comfort Farm (1995), Apt Pupil (1998) and Gods and Monsters (1998), riveted audiences. The latter, in particular, created a sensation in Hollywood, and McKellen's role garnered him several of awards and nominations, including a Golden Globe and an Oscar nod. McKellen, as he continues to work extensively on stage, he always keeps in 'solidifying' his 'role' as Laurence Olivier's worthy 'successor' in the best sense too, such as King Lear (2008) / King Lear (2008) directed by Trevor Nunn and in a range of other staggering performances full of generously euphoric delight that have included "Peter Pan" and Noël Coward's "Present Laughter", as well as Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot" and Harold Pinter's "No Man's Land" (National Theatre Live: No Man's Land (2016)), both in acclaimed productions brilliantly directed by Sean Mathias.
McKellen found mainstream success with his performance as Magneto in X-Men (2000) and its sequels. His largest mark on the big screen may be as Gandalf in "The Lord of the Rings" film trilogy directed by Peter Jackson, which he reprised in "The Hobbit" trilogy. He also reprised the role of 'King Lear' with new artistic perspectives in National Theatre Live: King Lear (2018) offering an invaluable mesmerizing experience as a natural force of stage - and screen - of infinite generosity through his unsurpassable interpretation of the titanically vulnerable king.- Actress
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Laurie Metcalf was born June 16, 1955 in Carbondale, Illinois, the oldest of three children of Libby (Mars), a librarian, and James Metcalf, a budget director. She was raised in Edwardsville, Illinois. Laurie attended Illinois State University, where she obtained her bachelor of arts in theater in 1977. In her class were the immeasurable talents of John Malkovich, Glenne Headly, and Joan Allen. Laurie began acting at Steppenwolf Theatre Company. Her acting career in film and television began with a minor and uncredited role in Robert Altman's A Wedding (1978). In 1988, Laurie found her most memorable and successful role to date, Jacqueline "Jackie" Harris in the television series Roseanne (1988). For her performance in the series, she was nominated for two Golden Globes and won three Primetime Emmy awards.- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Multi Grammy Award-winning singer/comedienne/author Bette Midler has also proven herself to be a very capable actress in a string of both dramatic and comedic roles. Midler was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, on December 1, 1945. She is the daughter of Ruth (Schindel), a seamstress, and Fred Midler, a painter. Her parents, originally from New Jersey, were both from Jewish families (from Russia, Poland, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire).
Midler studied drama at the University of Hawaii and got her musical career started by performing in gay bathhouses with piano accompaniment from Barry Manilow. Her first album was "The Divine Miss M" released in November 1972, followed by the self-titled "Bette Midler" released in November 1973, both of which took off up the music charts, and Bette's popularity swiftly escalated from there.
After minor roles in several film/TV productions, she surprised all with her knockout performance of a hard-living rock-and-roll singer (loosely based on the life of Janis Joplin) in The Rose (1979), for which she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. In 1986, director Paul Mazursky cast Midler opposite Nick Nolte and Richard Dreyfuss in the hilarious Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986), and so began a string of very funny comedic film roles. She played an obnoxious wife who was the victim of a kidnap plot by her scoundrel husband, played by Danny DeVito, in Ruthless People (1986), was pursued by CIA and KGB spies in Outrageous Fortune (1987), played mismatched twins with Lily Tomlin in Big Business (1988) and shone in the tear-jerker Beaches (1988).
Bette matched feisty James Caan in the WWII drama For the Boys (1991), made a dynamic trio with Goldie Hawn and Diane Keaton in The First Wives Club (1996), was back on screen with DeVito for the tepid comedy Drowning Mona (2000) and turned up in the glossy remake of The Stepford Wives (2004). Apart from her four Grammy awards, Bette Midler has also won four Golden Globes, one Tony Award, and three Emmy Awards, plus she has sold in excess of 15 million albums worldwide. Most recently, she toured with her sassy "Kiss My Brass" show, and is promoting her album "Bette Midler Sings the Rosemary Clooney Songbook".- Writer
- Producer
- Actor
Dennis Miller was born on 3 November 1953 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for The Net (1995), Joe Dirt (2001) and Murder at 1600 (1997). He has been married to Ali Espley since 10 April 1988. They have two children.- Actress
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- Director
Dame Helen Mirren was born in Queen Charlotte's Hospital in West London. Her mother, Kathleen Alexandrina Eva Matilda (Rogers), was from a working-class English family, and her father, Vasiliy Petrovich Mironov, was a Russian-born civil servant, from Kuryanovo, whose own father was a diplomat. Mirren attended St. Bernards High School for girls, where she would act in school productions. After high school, she began her acting career in theatre working in many productions including in the West End and Broadway.- Producer
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Don Mischer has been honored with fifteen Emmy Awards, a record ten Directors Guild of America Awards for Outstanding Directorial Achievement, two NAACP Image Awards, a Peabody Award for excellence in broadcasting, and the 2012 Norman Lear Achievement Award in Television from the Producers Guild of America and the 2019 Director's Guild of America Lifetime Achievement Award for Television".[4]
As a producer/director, his credits include The Oscars, We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial, the Kennedy Center Honors, the 100th Anniversary of Carnegie Hall, Motown 25, the Super Bowl Halftime Shows (Michael Jackson, Prince, The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Tom Petty, and Bruce Springsteen), the Democratic National Convention, and the Opening Ceremonies of the 1996 Summer Olympics and 2002 Winter Olympics. Mischer has also produced specials with Beyoncé, Bono, Prince, Rihanna, Britney Spears, Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, Taylor Swift, Stevie Wonder, Sting, Garth Brooks, Mary J. Blige, Elton John, Justin Timberlake, Barbra Streisand, Cher, Yo Yo Ma, and Morgan Freeman, among others.
He has received the Governors Award from the National Association of Choreographers and is a member of the Event Industry Hall of Fame, the Producers Guild of America, the Directors Guild of America, and the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, where he has served two terms on the Board of Governors. As a member of the Directors Guild of America, he has served three terms on the National Board, and in 2019 received the DGA's Lifetime Achievement Award for Television. Only the fourth such award ever given for television.[5] On December 11, 2014, Mischer received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.- Actor
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The youngest of seven, Matthew was born in Loma Linda, Ca, to Dolores (Warner), a bookkeeper, and Mark Alexander Modine, a drive-in theater manager. After graduating high school in Imperial Beach, Ca. Modine moved to NYC (1979). Matthew studied with Stella Adler at her Conservatory of Acting. While still a student of hers, he began landing starring roles in film, and later theatre and television. Matthew has worked with many of the most highly regarded directors including, Christopher Nolan, Oliver Stone, Sir Alan Parker, Stanley Kubrick, Robert Altman, Abel Ferrara, Alan J. Pakula, John Schlesinger, Tony Richardson, Robert Falls, Sir Peter Hall, Spike Lee, Tom DiCillo, Mike Figgis, Jonathan Demme and John Sayles. A partial list of his films include: The Dark Knight Rises (2012), Birdy (1984), Vision Quest (1985), Full Metal Jacket (1987), Married to the Mob (1988), Gross Anatomy (1989), Memphis Belle (1990), Pacific Heights (1990), Short Cuts (1993), The Browning Version (1994) and Any Given Sunday (1999).
Matthew is the recipient of a Golden Globe Award, Venice Film Festival Volpi Cup and Golden Lion. Mary (2005), directed by Abel Ferrara, co-starring Juliette Binoche and Forest Whitaker, won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival. Birdy won the Cannes Film Festival Gran Prix. Equinox (1992), directed by Alan Rudolph, received four Independent Spirit Award nominations including Best Actor and Best Film. For his work in television, Matthew was part of the Emmy winning Showtime series Weeds (2005). He has received Golden Globe and Emmy Award nominations for the M.O.W. What the Deaf Man Heard (1997) and HBO's Emmy winning And the Band Played On (1993). Modine has directed several distinguished short films: When I Was a Boy (1993), Smoking (1994), Ecce Pirate (1997), I Think I Thought (2008) and To Kill an American (2008).- Actor
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Michael John Myers was born in 1963 in Scarborough, Ontario, to Alice E. (Hind), an officer supervisor, and Eric Myers, an insurance agent. His parents were both English, and had served in the Royal Air Force and British Army, respectively.
Myers' television career really started in 1988, when he joined Saturday Night Live (1975), where he spent six seasons. He brought to life many memorable characters, such as Dieter and Wayne Cambell. His major movies include Wayne's World (1992), Wayne's World 2 (1993), So I Married an Axe Murderer (1993), the Austin Powers movies and The Cat in the Hat (2003).- Actress
- Producer
Gail Ann O'Grady an American actress and producer, is best known for her roles on television. Her roles include Donna Abandando in the ABC police drama NYPD Blue, and Helen Pryor in the NBC drama series American Dreams. O'Grady is also well known for her lead roles in a number of television movies. She has been nominated for a Primetime Emmy Awards three times.- Julianne Phillips was born on 6 May 1960 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. She is an actress, known for Fletch Lives (1989), Big Bully (1996) and Skin Deep (1989). She was previously married to Bruce Springsteen.
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Minnesotan Sarah Pillsbury attended Yale University and studied film and African history in the late 1960s. She once took a break from her studies to live in Africa to learn about it first thand. After graduation, she moved to Los Angeles in the mid-1970s to continue her film studies at UCLA, work on student film projects and help produce documentaries. One of the student projects she worked on became the feature film Eraserhead (1977) directed by AFI student 'David Lynch'. She co-produced a short film, Board and Care (1980) that delivered Pillsbury an Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film. In 1981, she teamed up with Midge Sanford to form Sanford/Pillsbury Productions. They have produced many feature film projects including Desperately Seeking Susan (1985), River's Edge (1986) and the HBO telefilm, And the Band Played On (1993) - the latter two projects earning the team an Independent Spirit Award and an Emmy. She is the mother of a daughter and a son.- Actress
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Annie Potts is an American film, television, and stage actress. She is known for her roles in popular 1980s films such as Ghostbusters (1984) and Pretty in Pink (1986). She made her debut on the big screen in 1978 in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer comedy film Corvette Summer (1978), with Mark Hamill, for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe. In 2017 she was cast to portray Meemaw in Young Sheldon (2017), a spin-off of the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory (2007). Potts also voiced voiced Bo Peep in the animated films Toy Story (1995), Toy Story 2 (1999) and Toy Story 4 (2019).
Interested in stage and film at an early age, Annie Potts attended Stephens College in Missouri, enrolling in the theater studies course, followed by graduate work in California. At the age of 20, she married her college sweetheart, Steven Hartley. Only a short time later, she and her husband were in serious automobile accident in Sumner, Washington -- their Volkswagen bus was demolished by two drivers who were drag racing. Steve lost a leg, and Annie had multiple fractures (resulting in a traumatic arthritis that still persists). Early roles were primarily in television, such as Black Market Baby (1977), but her presence moved up with an appearance in the mega-hit Ghostbusters (1984), and then she hit the big time with a seven-year stint as one of the stars of Designing Women (1986). A brief period in Love & War (1992) ended with the cancellation of the show, about which she remains resentful.- Producer
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Award-winning director/producer Michael Pressman has, by design, worked across most entertainment genres and mediums, including comedies, dramas, social commentaries, short films, feature length studio and indie films, series television and movies, Broadway stage productions, and regional theater.
The projects he has been privileged to choose have, notably, tended toward socially relevant subjects, a direction to which he gravitated naturally in light of his young family life with two dynamic parents impacted directly by the notorious McCarthy Blacklist.
A native of Manhattan, Pressman was born into a theatrical family. His mother, Sasha, a modern dancer, was an original member of Martha Graham's renowned first dance troupe. His father, David Pressman, was a well-known theatrical and television director who helped launch Boston University's distinguished school of theater and helmed Broadway plays, including The Disenchanted, Jason Robards' first Broadway appearance; and the original Actor's Studio Anthology Series in the late 1940's, for which he discovered and cast an unknown Grace Kelly. David Pressman's pioneer career in live television in the early 1950's was suddenly derailed when he was targeted by Senator Joseph McCarthy during his blacklisting of alleged communist sympathizers. Unable to work in television for close to 15 years, he survived the blacklist by teaching. When the Blacklist itself derailed in the early 1960's, he began working regularly in television directing soap operas. He directed the popular One Life to Live for twenty-eight years, and for which he was nominated for a Primetime Emmy and ten Daytime Emmys, winning three times.
Michael Pressman graduated from Manhattan's famed high school of Music and Art. He then went on to study drama at Carnegie-Mellon University (with classmates of the likes of Ted Danson). He subsequently moved to Los Angeles where he received his B.F.A. in film from the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) and studied with the acclaimed British film director, Alexander Mackendrick.
Pressman's interest in filmmaking was directly motivated, if not provoked, by his family's persecution for their early political sympathies, not unlike others of his era, including those in entertainment (Dalton Trumbo, et al) and in sciences (Robert Oppenheimer). It led him to pursue projects, when professionally and financially viable to do so, that were politically, socially and racially compatible with his personal perspectives.
Of course, young filmmakers must make a living, and Pressman knew he needed to establish his bona fides first. His first feature film as a director was the raucous indie comedy The Great Texas Dynamite Chase, made in collaboration with producers and fellow film school students Sean Daniel and David Kirkpatrick, both who went on to forge successful producing careers of their own. With that modest success, Pressman was categorized as a comedy director, and was offered films like the Bad News Bears in Breaking Training, the sequel to the immensely popular original starring Walter Matthau, the Dan Aykroyd comedy Doctor Detroit, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze. These films, though successful, represented but one side of his ambition and talent.
Pressman was able to break this cycle the studios had seemingly mapped out for him, and very early in his career directed the ground-breaking dramatic cult hit Boulevard Nights, the first Latino gang movie of the era which was recently selected for preservation by the Library of Congress. He followed that with Those Lips, Those Eyes, a love letter to the theater about the life of the actor in summer stock, with a lead star-making performance by Frank Langella.
With these successes behind him, Pressman chose to follow up not with another feature, which he had been offered, but with a 1985 short film entitled And The Children Shall Lead, which, for its time, was a racially progressive story starring Danny Glover, Beah Richards and LeVar Burton. He was next courted to direct a resurgent Richard Pryor in post Vietnam War drama, Some Kind of Hero, co-starring the then top box office grossing actress Margot Kidder. However, the studio had other ideas about the film being a drama, not to mention its explicit love scene between the interracial leads, and took the film away from the filmmakers and recut it. It was a lesson Pressman learned the hard way: studios at that time were not interested in taking any kind of progressive posture with its movie stars.
It was time for a change. Television at that time was offering young directors a variety of dramatic content, and Pressman gravitated to directing more than a dozen films for television in quick succession during that medium's heyday. His most successful television movie was To Heal a Nation, about the building of the Vietnam memorial starring Eric Roberts. He also directed the famed Anne Tyler novel Saint Maybe, starring a young Tom McCarthy, Blythe Danner and Mary-Louise Parker for Hallmark Hall of Fame. His notoriety as a top director of dramatic content earned him an offer from David Kelley to co-executive produce and direct a much-anticipated new TV series called Picket Fences, which lasted four seasons and won him two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Drama Series. He next went on to launch Kelley's next show, Chicago Hope, which earned him another Emmy nomination for Outstanding Drama Series.
Since then, Pressman has produced and directed numerous network series, including multiple episodes of the Emmy Award-winning series Law & Order SVU, and two seasons of the then new series Blue Bloods. Pressman also directed the final two hours of the Emmy-nominated TV mini-series Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders, starring Edie Falco and Heather Graham. Most recently, Pressman executive produced the fifth and sixth season of NBC's Chicago Med, earning that show its highest ratings to date. He left the series after the first year of the pandemic.
Pressman's stage work includes directing the Los Angeles premiere of To Gillian on her 37th Birthday, which he then directed as a feature film starring Claire Danes, Michelle Pfeifer, and Peter Gallagher and a Los Angeles equity waiver production of Frankie and Johnny in the Claire De Lune, which he also later adapted into the independent film Frankie and Johnny are Married. He also directed the 2008 Broadway revival of Come Back, Little Sheba, for which he cast the indomitable S. Epatha Merkerson, in the role of the lead character Lola, which had previously been played by only white actresses, and depicted an interracial relationship on stage. Merkerson went on to be Tony nominated for her performance in this role, which the New York Times called, "a performance that stops the heart." Pressman won Best Director that year by the NAACP Artist Awards.
In between series projects, Pressman also directed the play Finks in Los Angeles. It was a very personal story for him as it is about the blacklisting of comic actor Jack Gilford during the McCarthy witch-hunt. Joe Gilford, the author of the play, was a childhood friend and they were able to share and embrace their pasts as children of the Blacklist and how it affected both of their creative lives.
Pressman recently married Maia Danziger, an Emmy Winning actress of television and Broadway theater and feature films, and is also a creator of Relax and Write, a meditative writing program that she teaches around the world. They knew each other as children, having grown up in the same building on the upper west side of Manhattan. They re-connected six years ago, and married four years ago.- Actress
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Prime-Time Emmy-nominated actress Lee Purcell produces, directs and performs in Two Fat Dogs Entertainment's (co-owned by Lee and her producing partner) anthology series of classic radio plays starring today's Hollywood Radio Players in these innovative virtual shows, Radio You Can See.
Lee is the recipient of two Prime-Time Emmy nominations, the first being for LONG ROAD HOME starring opposite Mark Harmon, the second for SECRET SINS OF THE FATHERS starring opposite Beau Bridges.
She was also seen in the film CAROL OF THE BELLS with RJ Mitte, JL RANCH with Jon Voight, KIDS VS. MONSTERS with Malcolm McDowell and LOVE AT FIRST GLANCE with Amy Smart.
In her extensive career, this acclaimed actress has earned numerous film, television and stage credits, including her role as "Louise St. Laurent" on the international TV series favorite DUE SOUTH and as the sultry step-mom in the iconic film VALLEY GIRL with Nicholas Cage. Lee was also seen as "Eleanor Sullivan" in the NBC-TV Prime-Time series PERSONS UNKNOWN with Chadwick Boseman, created by Oscar winner Christopher McQuarrie. Fans around the world also frequently reach out to Lee for her role as "Peggy" in the cult favorite film BIG WEDNESDAY.
As a young actress, Lee's film career began when she was personally selected and mentored by legendary movie star Steve McQueen to star in McQueen's Solar Productions' film ADAM AT 6 A.M. opposite Michael Douglas. She will always be grateful to McQueen for his casting and mentoring her and cherishes the time spent with him.
At only three years old, Lee was chosen by the iconic Neiman Marcus flagship store in Dallas to be a child model and began modeling professionally. She later modeled in Los Angeles for the Nina Blanchard Agency and in London for Lumley's Agency.
As a dancer, Lee was performing in a traveling troupe by the age of 13, and later danced in such films as ALMOST SUMMER and television shows such as McGYVER.
As a producer, Lee also co-owned a niche market video production company, which won the Silver Medal in the New York Film and TV Festival. After the sale of the video company, Lee focused on the production and financing of independent features, and the creation of film, TV and theatre projects.
Lee has been active in directing and producing live theatre. She was co-producer, co-director and performer of a critically acclaimed troupe of well-known actors and musicians who performed Western Heritage literature and music from the 1800's. Many noted guest artists, including the late Sam Shepard, performed with the Green River Players.
Having the unique background of being an American who trained and lived in London, Lee has returned to Europe many times to direct, perform and teach. She has enjoyed directing and performing there in such plays as LOVE LETTERS, BLITHE SPIRIT, RICHARD III, MACBETH and others.
Lee is a voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (OSCARS) and has served on various committees there. She is also a voting member of The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (EMMYS) and currently serves on its Performers Peer Group Executive Committee.
She is also a dedicated activist for SAG-AFTRA members, serving and chairing many committees at the union and has been elected to several leadership positions.
Lee has been involved with many charitable organizations throughout her career, and some of her charity work includes the Motion Picture and Television Fund, Heart of a Horse, Veterans Entertainment Team, Big Brothers, Special Olympics, and Paralyzed Veterans of America.
She was born on the Cherrypoint Marine Base in North Carolina to Major Frank Williams and Olivia McKnight Williams.- Actor
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As a seasoned actor, writer, producer, and stand-up comedian, Paul Reiser continues to add to his list of accomplishments. In addition to co-creating and starring on the critically acclaimed NBC series, Mad About You (1992), which garnered him Emmy, Golden Globe, American Comedy Award and Screen Actors Guild nominations for Best Actor in a Comedy Series, his successes also include his book, "Couplehood", which sold over two million copies and reached the number one spot on "The New York Times" best-seller list, and "Babyhood", his follow-up book, which features his trademark humorous take on the adventures of being a first-time father, which also made "The New York Times" best-seller list. He also wrote follow-up bestseller Familyhood.
Born and raised in New York City, Reiser was drawn to Greenwich Village clubs, which featured, among others, George Carlin, Robert Klein and David Steinberg. He subsequently attended college at the State University of New York at Binghamton, where he majored in music (piano and composition) and participated in drama classes. During his university years, he was active in student theater productions at the Hinman Little Theater, an on-campus community theater organization located in Hinman College, his dorm community. Reiser later began performing as a comedian at the Improv and Comic Strip during university summer breaks.
Remembered for notable performances in films, such as Diner (1982), Aliens (1986), Beverly Hills Cop (1984) and Beverly Hills Cop II (1987), The Marrying Man (1991), Bye Bye Love (1995) and One Night at McCool's (2001). More recently, he starred in two original movies for Showtime - Strange Relations (2001) opposite Julie Walters, Chazz Palminteri's Women vs. Men (2002), opposite Joe Mantegna and Christine Lahti. His first original screenplay also became his next film The Thing About My Folks (2005), also starring Peter Falk, Olympia Dukakis and Elizabeth Perkins.
Reiser's development company, "Nuance Productions", has produced several projects for NBC television including, My 11:30 (2004), starring Jeff Goldblum and Donna Murphy - which Reiser co-wrote with Steven Sater. Also in the works - for the Showtime cable network - is a mock-documentary about "The Smothers Brothers" and their battles with television network censorship in the late 1960s. Since then, he has maintained a lower profile, working more as an executive producer and writer than as an actor.
In 2003, Reiser made his stage debut in Woody Allen's directorial play debut Writer's Block. He also paired with Steven Soderbergh to star in the Amazon Original Series Red Oaks.
Reiser tours the country performing to sold-out venues and was recently voted one of Comedy Central's "Top 100 Comedians of All Time."- Actor
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Immortalized as Cosmo Kramer on the classic sitcom Seinfeld (1989), West Coast comedy star Michael Richards was born on July 24, 1949, and raised in South Los Angeles, California, to Phyllis (Nardozzi), an Italian-American medical records librarian, and William Richards, an electrical engineer. Michael displayed an early talent for performance as a top Forensic League competitor during grade school. He went on to star in multiple high school and college productions while working as an ambulance attendant and hospital orderly. Michael trained as a medic in the US Army during the Vietnam War, was appointed writer and director of plays on drug abuse and race relations for the Army's V-Corp Training Roadshow. He attended the California Institute of the Arts and was mentored by famed performance art guru Allan Kaprow. He graduated from Evergreen State College in Washington with his BFA in drama.
After first performing with the San Diego Repertory Company, he subsequently returned to L.A. where he was discovered by Budd Friedman, founder of the Improv comedy club and talent manager Charles H. Joffe. Also a trained theater actor under the tutelage of Stella Adler, Michael starred in regional productions, Off-Broadway, and in London's West End. In addition to his comedic roles, Michael performed regularly in comedy clubs during the late 1970s and 1980s while driving a school bus by day.
Inspired by the physical comedy of such legends as Charles Chaplin and Jacques Tati, he paid his dues on the comedy circuit until comedian Billy Crystal noticed him and gave him a break on one of his comedy specials. Michael earned a regular spot on the sketch comedy series Fridays (1980), where he created the character of Battle Boy who liked to blow up army soldiers. He also appeared in such minor slapstick films such as Young Doctors in Love (1982) and Transylvania 6-5000 (1985).
Michael worked regularly as a dramatic "heavy" in television throughout the 1980s in shows such as "Miami Vice," "St. Elsewhere," and "Hill Street Blues." Following a recurring role on the offbeat comedy series Marblehead Manor (1987), everything finally came together for the elastic-faced comedian in 1989, after being cast as Cosmo Kramer, Jerry Seinfeld's wired, convulsive, frizzy-mopped neighbor and pal on Seinfeld (1989). The frenzied character earned him three Emmy awards, SAG awards, and instant cult status. He followed this success with his own short-lived series, the comedy mystery as a private investigator in The Michael Richards Show (2000) and the role of Micawber in a TV version of David Copperfield (2000).
Subsequent film credits include the cult classic UHF (1989), Problem Child (1990), Airheads (1994), Unstrung Heroes (1995) and Trial and Error (1996), a top-billed comedy role. TV work into the millennium has been very sporadic; however, he appeared as himself in several episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000), and played a regular role in Kirstie Alley's brief comedy series Kirstie (2013) with fellow TV comedy veteran and Rhea Perlman. He also made an isolated film appearance in the romantic comedy Faith, Hope & Love (2019).- Actress
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Whiskey-voiced Patricia Richardson is best known as Jill Taylor on Home Improvement (1991). For her work, she was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards and four Emmy Awards. She also starred in two other comedies: Eisenhower & Lutz (1988) with Scott Bakula, and FM (1989) with Robert Hays. After pregnancy with twins and Home Improvement she took off a few years to be with her children. Offered a shorter contract that worked around her parenting, she joined Lifetime's Strong Medicine as Dr. Andy Campbell, introduced after Janine Turner's departure from the show. (2002-2004) She was nominated for her work twice by the Prism Awards. She was a recurring guest star on The West Wing during the show's last two years as Alan Alda's Chief of Staff. Patricia co-hosted The 46th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (1994) with Ellen DeGeneres, and was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for her first starring role in a movie opposite Peter Fonda in Ulee's Gold. (1997). Patricia has served 8 years on the National and Los Angeles Local Boards of SAGAFTRA, previously served as First Vice President, then 2019-2021 as President of the largest local in the union, the LA Local , or the "Los Angeles Local Union Performers" (on Facebook), which Membership First created for LA members in the pandemic along with popularly attended Town Halls. She's continuing to serve on both boards and remains a proud member of Membership First, which has been running the largest, ( 80,000 ), most employed ( members earn 57% of all earnings), and informed local in the union for some years.- Producer
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- Midge Sanford began her professional career as a teacher. She entered show business as a film story analyst, eventually teaming up with Sarah Pillsbury in 1981 to form Sanford/Pillsbury Productions. She and her partner have overcome the usual obstacles in working in a male dominated field, including having to deny over and over that she and Pillsbury are gay. The company has produced many character driven projects, including the Independent Spirit Award winning River's Edge (1986) and the Emmy winning And the Band Played On (1993). Their production company has been successful for over twenty years.
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Arnold Schulman was born on 11 August 1925 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for Goodbye, Columbus (1969), Love with the Proper Stranger (1963) and And the Band Played On (1993). He was married to Diana Solomon. He died on 4 February 2023 in Santa Monica, California, USA.- Producer
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Jerry Seinfeld was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Betty (Hesney) and Kalman Seinfeld. His father was of Hungarian Jewish descent, while Jerry's maternal grandparents, Salha and Selim Hosni, were Syrian Jewish immigrants (from Aleppo). He moved with his family, including sister Carolyn, to suburban Massepequa, Long Island, at a young age. Jerry's dad, who had a terrific sense of humor, was a commercial sign maker.
Jerry attended Oswego College in upstate New York however transferred to Queens College back in New York City. Developed an interest in stand-up comedy after brief stints in college productions. Went straight from college graduation to amateur night tryout at New York's Catch a Rising Star, 1976.
Continued to perform in local clubs and Catskill Mountain resorts until his career was boosted by an appearance on a Rodney Dangerfield HBO special, 1976. Career took off after first successful spot on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962), May 1981, at age 27. Appearances on [error] and The Merv Griffin Show (1962) followed. Also appeared four times as Frankie on Benson (1979) sitcom. After he was abruptly fired from the show, he swore never to do another sitcom unless he had greater control. This opportunity emerged when he was invited to create a sitcom for NBC in 1989 and teamed with one-time stand-up colleague Larry David.
Progression of "The Seinfeld Chronicles" into the long-running Seinfeld (1989) series phenomenon was ended by its co-creator and co-executive producer, Larry David. Still unmarried, he moved back to New York City into a new multimillion-dollar, multilevel apartment on Central Park West just down the street from his small bachelor studio on West 81st.- Actress
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Jane Seymour was born as Joyce Penelope Wilhelmina Frankenberg in 1951 in Middlesex, England, to a nurse mother and gynaecologist/obstetrician father. She is of Polish Jewish (father) and Dutch (mother) descent. She adopted the acting name of "Jane Seymour" when she entered show business as it was easier for people to remember (and the name of one of King Henry VIII's wives). She attracted the attention of the James Bond film producers when they saw her on British television. She was cast as the main Bond girl, "Solitaire", in Live and Let Die (1973). The role gained her international recognition but she was in danger of losing it all like the previous Bond girls, so she came to the U.S.
A casting director advised her to lose her English accent and acquire an American accent to land roles on American television. She did and started getting roles, earning five Emmy nominations, resulting in one win for Onassis: The Richest Man in the World (1988) for playing Maria Callas. She won Golden Globe awards for both East of Eden (1981) and the American television series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman (1993), where she played the title role for 5 years. She occasionally appeared in feature films, memorably in Somewhere in Time (1980) and in Wedding Crashers (2005).
Married and divorced four times, she gave birth to four children and is a stepmother to two. They have children of their own, making her a grandmother. As of 2018, she has been acting in television movies and making guest-appearances.- Director
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B.A. magna cum laude Lawrence University - English Lit M.A. Theatre History - U. of Wisconsin East Asian Languages Fellow - U. of Michigan M.A. Education - U. of Wisconsin M.F.A. Acting - University of Washington Professional Actor Training Program Actor: Seattle Rep, ACT Seattle, Empty Space Theatre, South Coast Rep. Resident Director and Conservatory Director South Cast Repertory 1975-1984 Director: Mark Taper Forum, ACT Seattle, Empty Space, Seattle, Trinity Rep (Providence), Alley Theatre (Houston) Grove Shakespeare Festival, Matrix Theatre (Actors for Themselves) TV director 1983-present
Los Angeles native Married to David Chemel since 1987 Daughter Lizzy Chemel b. 1995 Bard College Son Tucker Chemel b. 1995 Bucknell College- Writer
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Garry Shandling was born on 29 November 1949 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was a writer and actor, known for The Larry Sanders Show (1992), It's Garry Shandling's Show. (1986) and Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014). He died on 24 March 2016 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actor
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Lean, ruggedly handsome leading man and supporting actor whose "outdoor" looks have improved with age, Tom Skerritt attended Wayne State University and UCLA. He was first noticed in a UCLA production of "The Rainmaker" before making his movie debut in War Hunt (1962). However, he spent most of the next decade in television, regularly appearing in Combat! (1962), The Virginian (1962), Gunsmoke (1955) and 12 O'Clock High (1964). Skerritt's next big break was appearing alongside Donald Sutherland and Elliott Gould in Robert Altman's biting satire M*A*S*H (1970). Several other film roles quickly followed, before he landed the plum role of Capt. Dallas of the ill-fated commercial towing vehicle Nostromo in the creepy sci-fi epic Alien (1979).
Skerritt turned up again in another thriller playing a cop hunting a serial killer in the eerie The Dead Zone (1983), as a Navy Officer Flight instructor in Top Gun (1986) , in the six-chick flick Steel Magnolias (1989), and then as the poster boy for a "Guess" Jeans ad campaign utilizing his mature, weather-beaten features. Skerritt didn't neglect his TV background and reappeared on the small screen in Cheers (1982), The China Lake Murders (1990) and picked up an Emmy in 1994 for his performance as Sheriff Brock in the superb series Picket Fences (1992).
Skerritt has remained continually busy for the past decade, contributing natural, entertaining and reliable performances in TV series, made-for-TV movies and major theatrical releases. He recreated the role of Will Kane in the TV production of High Noon (2000), and appeared alongside Bruce Willis in the mercenary war drama Tears of the Sun (2003).- Born to a Puerto Rican family in Brooklyn, Talisa was raised there and in Massachusetts. She started modeling at age 15 and has appeared on the covers of "Vogue," "Mademoiselle," "Glamour," and "Self," as well as in a "Sports Illustrated" swimsuit issue. She has been making film appearances since 1988, beginning with Spike of Bensonhurst (1988).
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Aaron Spelling graduated from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, with a Bachelor of Arts Degree. Before that, he attended Forest Avenue High. He started as a writer and sold his first script to Jane Wyman Presents the Fireside Theatre (1955). He wrote for various television shows, including Playhouse 90 (1956). After he wrote his first pilot he became a producer for Four Star Productions. He partnered with Danny Thomas and formed Thomas-Spelling Productions. In 1972 he formed Aaron Spelling Productions, and then joined with Leonard Goldberg for Spelling-Goldberg Productions. In 1986 his company went public and formed Spelling Entertainment, Inc. In 1995, he became vice-chairman of Spelling Entertainment, Inc., and chairman of Spelling Television, a subsidiary. Spelling Entertainment owns World Vision (syndication), Hamilton Projects and Republic Pictures. It also owns a software company called Virgin Interactive. Hamilton Projects handles merchandising for Spelling's shows. The main office is located at 5700 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, California.- Director
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Roger Spottiswoode was born on 5 January 1945 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. He is a director and producer, known for 48 Hrs. (1982), The 6th Day (2000) and Shoot to Kill (1988). He was previously married to Holly Palance.- Producer
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George Stevens Jr. was born on 3 April 1932 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He is a producer and writer, known for Separate But Equal (1991), George Stevens: A Filmmaker's Journey (1984) and The 35th Annual Kennedy Center Honors (2012). He has been married to Elizabeth Polk Guest since 5 July 1965. They have two children.- Entrancing Leigh Taylor-Young was born on January 25, 1945, in Washington, D,C,. to a diplomat father and raised in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, the older sister of future actress Dey Young and writer/director Lance Young. She studied classical ballet and, following high school, attended Northwestern University where she initially majored in economics. She switched gears after developing an interest in theater, however, and studied under drama teacher Alvina Krause, and would apprentice as the youngest member of the Eaglesmere Summer Repertory Theatre.
Leigh eventually moved to New York with designs on a professional career and studied under acting guru Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse. Her major break came when she was cast in the already firmly established prime-time TV soap Peyton Place (1964). She played the mysterious Rachael Welles, whose character was brought in to provide clues to the disappearance of Allison MacKenzie (played by Mia Farrow who shocked ardent viewers by abruptly leaving the series). A mysterious girl herself, Leigh proved to be a fetching figure with her slightly off-kiltered beauty and unsympathetic countenance.
Like Farrow, Leigh developed a bit of bad publicity when she too walked off the weekly series after only one season. She also fell into the arms of the very popular -- and very married -- series star Ryan O'Neal. The couple would marry in 1967 following his divorce from actress Joanna Moore. By then, Leigh was already pregnant with their child Patrick O'Neal, who would later become an actor before turning to sportscasting.
Leigh started off in films auspiciously as a "flower child" of the psychedelic (late) 1960s. She earned a Golden Globe nomination for "Best Newcomer," when she played opposite Peter Sellers, in the eccentric comedy, I Love You, Alice B. Toklas! (1968), but then appeared opposite her husband in The Big Bounce (1969), a kinky misfire. She went on to appear in a cameo in her husband's British-made movie, The Games (1970), but her career sputtered again with a series of misguided features, including the star-heavy epic, The Adventurers (1970); another kinky British film, The Buttercup Chain (1970), which dealt with kissing cousins who don't quite stop at kissing; the beautifully photographed but rather hollow action-adventure The Horsemen (1971) co-starring Omar Sharif; and the mild romp, The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight (1971) which is best remembered for starting Robert De Niro off and running in films. Arguably, Leigh's best remembered role during that period came alongside Charlton Heston in the controversial film Soylent Green (1973), although she was a bit overshadowed by the grisly topic material and showier performances of co-stars Heston and Edward G. Robinson.
Following her separation from O'Neal in 1971 (they didn't actually divorce until '74), the actress made herself somewhat scarce while raising her young son. In 1978, she married agent/director Guy McElwaine, but that marriage would also end in divorce. In the 1980s, she made a comeback of sorts as a mature -- but still spicy -- presence. Taking a back seat to Albert Finney in the film thriller Looker (1981) and to Glenn Close and Jeff Bridges in the whodunnit Jagged Edge (1985), she found her best results back on TV.
Leigh would nab a supporting Emmy award in 1994 for her portrayal of vixen Rachel Harris on the acclaimed series drama Picket Fences (1992). In addition, she performed in several plays, in the US, England and Scotland, including "The Beckett Plays", "Knives" and "Sleeping Dogs". More recently, she appeared in her writer/director brother Lance Young's film Bliss (1997). Leigh also would play a regular role on the daytime soap, Passions (1999) as wealthy Katherine Crane.
A few movie roles have come her way into the millennium, including the film comedy Slackers (2002); a cameo role (as Mrs. Leigh Taylor Young) in (then) husband Craig Sheffer's film Ritual (2002); the comedy crimer Klepto (2003); the comedy A-List (2006); as a psychiatrist in the sci-fi adventure Spiritual Warriors (2007) and, more recently, the drama The Wayshower (2011).
Finding a fulfilling life off-camera, Leigh became an ordained minister in the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness, and her voice can be heard in the Search of Serenity series of audio meditations from The Course in Miracles trainings. She is also a grandmother of two granddaughters from son Patrick's relationship with the older Rebecca De Mornay. - Actress
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Betty Thomas was born July 27, 1947 in St. Louis, Missouri, graduating from Ohio University with a BA in fine arts. Initially sidetracked, Betty first taught school in Chicago but found herself restricted and needing more of an open forum for self-expression than a classroom. She found herself drawn inextricably to comedy. After toiling as a waitress, she became part of the Second City improvisational troupe where she made use of her towering (6' 1") imposing features in aggressive routines and sketches. True to form, she made her film debut in the sketch satire Tunnel Vision (1976) which parodied TV programming. The movie is lesser known today for its satirical bite and more for its exceptional cast of up-and-coming comedy artists at the time including Chevy Chase, Laraine Newman, John Candy, Joe Flaherty, Gerrit Graham, Howard Hesseman, and the team of Al Franken and Tom Davis. Other innocuous comedies/spoofs followed such as Chesty Anderson U.S. Navy (1976), Used Cars (1980), and Coming Attractions (1978) which, at the very least, helped to bulk up her comedy resume. She also appeared as a regular on The Fun Factory (1976), which was three parts quiz show, silly sketches, and audience participation.
Ironically, Betty achieved her stardom not in comedy but in hard-hitting drama. Doing a complete about face as tough-talking Officer Lucille Bates on the hit police series Hill Street Blues (1981), she displayed both grit and vulnerability as she stood nose-to-nose alongside the rest of the male-oriented precinct. She was nominated for six Emmys in all and won the "Best Supporting Actress" trophy in 1985. Some equally compelling mini-movie roles came along with this success. In the late 1980s, Betty made an abrupt and concentrated move into TV and film directing, one of her last acting roles being that of the butch, underhanded scoutmaster (and Shelley Long's misery-inducing nemesis) in the obvious comedy film Troop Beverly Hills (1989).
Betty received her bookend Emmy award while directing the cable sitcom Dream On (1990). She never lost her taste for comedy satire, however. One of her major box office successes would come with the spot-on parody The Brady Bunch Movie (1995). She has continued in this lighter vein of late, guiding the one-man promotion machine Howard Stern to a surprisingly entertaining critical hit with Private Parts (1997), which was based on his memoirs, the Jennifer Love Hewitt film Can't Hardly Wait (1998), I Spy (2002), an updated remake of the 1960s TV series, and Surviving Christmas (2004). In recent years she has directed TV movies and episodes of such series as "Audrey" and "Grace and Frankie."- Actress
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Many well known and highly identifiable actresses have tried and failed to make the arduous crossover from fizzy TV sitcom star to mature, dramatic artist. Usually it was their hardcore fans who refused to accept them in any other light. Sally Field and Elizabeth Montgomery come first to mind as two strong actresses, with even stronger TV comedy character personas to contend with, who managed to make the none-too-easy leap to serious dramatic stardom after the fact. And then there's THAT girl ... lovely, glowing brunette Marlo Thomas ... another prime example.
Born in Detroit, Michigan on November 21, 1937, Marlo was christened Margaret Julia Thomas. Raised within the mad Beverly Hills whirl of the entertainment business as the daughter of show business legend Danny Thomas, she was initially dissuaded from an acting career and began a half-hearted adult life as a school teacher.
Quickly switching to acting, however, Marlo began with early TV appearances in the late 1950's on such series as "Dobie Gillis," "77 Sunset Strip," "Thriller" and "Zane Grey Theatre" (an appearance with her father). Her first break came when she was cast as Joey Bishop's sister and aspiring actress on the sitcom The Bob Newhart Show (1961) for one season, and she continued to build up her small screen resumé with assorted guest shots on "Bonanza," "My Favorite Martian," "McHale's Navy," "The Donna Reed Show" and "Ben Casey."
Following her delightful work on the London stage as Corey in "Barefoot in the Park" in 1965, Marlo appeared in a failed TV pilot. The pilot was seen by ABC, and they had her tested for another sitcom lead and passed with flying colors. This one stuck did not fail. Audiences adored "That Girl" with the romantic entanglements and struggling ambition of Ann Marie, a single, independent and very trendy young lady in the real world as an actress wannabe. Marlo became an instant household name (as did co-star Ted Bessell) and earned a Golden Globe ("Best TV Star") and four Emmy nominations during the five-year run of the groundbreaking show.
Cancelling the show on her own terms in 1971, the smoky-voiced actress was faced with a huge task of breaking a stereotype as a perky, fresh-faced, wide-eyed innocent. Capitalizing on her TV fame, she immediately pursued serious film roles. Playing the title dramatic role of Jenny (1970) opposite Alan Alda, she portrayed an unwed, naïve, pregnant girl who marries a filmmaker for convenience sake and earned a Golden Globe nom for "Most Promising Newcomer" in the process. Still, the box office take was mild and the public needed more convincing. When she made her Broadway debut successfully in the Herb Gardner play "Thieves" opposite Richard Mulligan in 1975, she made another stab at films by recreating her stage role. The reviews for Thieves (1977) co-starring Charles Grodin this time (who directed her in the Broadway version) were underwhelming. She would meet talk show icon Phil Donahue on his daytime TV program while a guest promoting the Thieves (1977) movie. They wed in 1980.
During this time Marlo broadened her focus and combined her deep love for children and education with her show business career. She took home bookend Emmy Awards for producing the "Outstanding Children's Specials" Free to Be... You & Me (1974) and, later, Free to Be... a Family (1988). She would also win a Grammy for her children's album "Marlo Thomas & Friends." As for TV, she earned wonderful reviews starring in the ABC holiday mini-movie comedy It Happened One Christmas (1977) playing a troubled female version of James Stewart's protagonist in It's a Wonderful Life (1946) but it was her dramatic work in the TV movies The Lost Honor of Kathryn Beck (1984) Consenting Adult (1985) (Golden Globe nomination), Nobody's Child (1986) (Emmy Award, Golden Globe nomination), and Held Hostage: The Sis and Jerry Levin Story (1991), Ultimate Betrayal (1994) and Reunion (1994) that forever erased her pristine stereotype image and saw her as a dramatic force to be reckoned with.
Marlo's subsequent return visits to Broadway with the plays "Social Security" (1986) and "The Shadow Box" (1994) added to her list of successes and continued with demanding theater roles such as Beatrice in "The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigold" (1990), Martha in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" (1992) and Ouisa in "Sex Degrees of Separation" (1992).
Marlo remained actively involved on TV in everything from classic comedy (as Jennifer Aniston's mom in Friends (1994) to adult drama as a lawyer/mentor in the highly-rated crime drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999), with other TV guest appearances including "Roseanne," "Ally McBeal," "Ugly Betty," "The New Normal" and an additional recurring role on Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later (2017).
Sporadic filming into the millennium included the "Odd Couple"-styled comedy In the Spirit (1990) co-starring Elaine May and featuring May's daughter Jeannie Berlin who also co-wrote, and featured roles in the romantic comedy The Real Blonde (1997), the drama Starstruck (1998), the social comedy Playing Mona Lisa (2000), the Miley Cyrus romantic dramedy LOL (2012), the witty comedy The Female Brain (2017) and the action comedy Ocean's Eight (2018) headed by Sandra Bullock.
Younger brother/producer Tony Thomas and actress/sister Terre Thomas also involved themselves in show business careers. On a more personal level, Marlo is an accomplished author, humanitarian and social activist. She has also continued the tradition of her late father as National Outreach Director for St. Jude's Children Hospital for cancer research.- Actress
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Lily Tomlin was born September 1, 1939 in Detroit, Michigan, to Lillie Mae (Ford) and Guy Tomlin, who moved to Michigan from Paducah, Kentucky, during the Great Depression. Her mother was a nurse's aide and her father was a factory worker. She graduated from Cass Technical High School in 1957, and later enrolled at Wayne State University. She began career by doing stand-up comedy in nightclubs in Detroit and New York City. Her first television appearance was on "The Merv Griffin Show". She went on to have astronomical success with several characters, notably Ernestine, a nosy, condescending telephone operator who generally treated customers with little sympathy and regard, on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (1967). Other notable characters are in film include Linnea Reese, a gospel-singing mother of two deaf children who has an affair with a womanizing country singer (played by (Keith Carradine) in Robert Altman's Nashville (1975), a performance for which she was nominated for an Academy Award. Violet Newstead who joins her on-screen coworkers (played by Jane Fonda and Dolly Parton) in seeking revenge on their monstrous and sexist boss, Franklin M. Hart Jr., (played by Dabney Coleman) in the comedy 9 to 5 (1980), The Incredible Shrinking Woman (1981), Doreen Piggot in Robert Altman's Short Cuts (1993), Cher's best-friend and American compatriot Georgie Rockwell in Tea with Mussolini (1999), deadpan private investigator, and existentialist Vivian Jaffe in I Heart Huckabees (2004), and Country-Western singer Rhonda Johnson in Robert Altman's final film A Prairie Home Companion (2006).- Actor
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Rip Torn was born Elmore Rual Torn Jr. on February 6, 1931 in Temple, Texas, the son of Thelma Mary (Spacek) and Elmore Rudolph Torn, who was an agriculturalist and economist, credited with popularizing the custom of eating black-eyed peas on New Year's Day. "Rip" is a family name, taken by generations of Torn men and bestowed on Elmore by his father, who was also called "Rip." He was of German, Austrian, Bohemian, and Moravian descent. His mother was an elder sister of actress Sissy Spacek's father, Edwin Spacek.
Torn attended Texas A&M and the University of Texas, where he joined Sigma Chi Fraternity. He majored in animal husbandry. Extremely naïve when he was young, Torn hitchhiked to Hollywood with the idea of becoming a movie star; he wanted to make enough money in order to buy a ranch. Success did not come overnight, as he had hoped, and Torn had to work many odd jobs while occasionally being cast in television roles. He made his feature film debut in Elia Kazan's Baby Doll (1956) in a small part.
Serious about learning his craft, he moved to New York City where he studied under Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio. Torn also studied dance with Martha Graham. His serious acting career began on the small screen, where he made a name for himself in the Golden Age of Television; between 1957 and 1960, he appeared regularly on such prestigious live shows as Omnibus (1952) and Playhouse 90 (1956).
Torn made his Broadway debut in Kazan's staging of Tennessee Williams' "Sweet Bird of Youth" on March 10, 1959, in support of Paul Newman, Sidney Blackmer and Geraldine Page, who would become his second wife. The play was a hit, closing on January 30, 1960 after 375 performances. He won a 1960 Tony Award nomination as Best Featured Actor in a Play and a Theater World award for his role as "Tom, Jr.", a role he recreated in the 1962 film. (Torn also starred as "Boss Finley" in a later television adaptation of the play).
Torn earned a reputation as an actor's actor on stage, both Broadway and off-Broadway, as well as on screen. He continued to work in the New York theater despite his demanding TV and movie schedule as both an actor and director. He won two Obie awards for his work off-Broadway, for Distinguished Performance in Norman Mailer's "The Deer Park" (for the 1966-67 season), and for Distinguished Direction for "The Beard" (1967-68). He had his own stage company, and directed his daughter Angelica Page (by Geraldine Page) in John Paul Alexander's "Strangers in the Land of Canaan" at the Actors Studio. Torn made his feature film directorial debut with The Telephone (1988).
He was constantly in demand as a character actor, in supporting, second lead and occasional lead roles. Arguably his best performance on film came in Payday (1973), and he was nominated for a best supporting actor Oscar for Cross Creek (1983). Most of Torn's roles were in drama, though he was adept at comedy. His role in Albert Brooks' comedy Defending Your Life (1991) led to his being cast in The Larry Sanders Show (1992), on which he played talk show producer "Artie." Torn won six consecutive Emmy nominations for the role, winning once for Best Supporting Actor in a comedy series in 1996.
Torn was married to actress Ann Wedgeworth from 1956-61, whom he divorced to marry Geraldine Page. They remained married until her death in 1987. He was married to Amy Wright until his death. Torn helped his first cousin, Oscar-winner Sissy Spacek, to make her way as an actress, seeing to it that she was accepted by the Lee Strasberg's Actors Studio and then the Lee Strasberg Institute.
Rip Torn died in on July 9, 2019 in Lakeville, Connecticut, aged 88.- Actress
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Spunky actress, singer and comedienne all rolled up into one, Puerto Rican-American Liz Torres was born on September 27, 1947, a native of the Bronx. She began her stand-up/singing career as a regular performing in various small NYC niteries. It wasn't until she received an invite to appear on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962) that her comic career started blooming on TV and in film.
Liz has been a broadly familiar ethnic face on the sitcom circuit, having had regular or recurring parts in numerous series. In addition to regular roles on 70s TV variety shows for Melba Moore, Clifton Davis and Ben Vereen, she replaced the late Barbara Colby in the Mary Tyler Moore spinoff Phyllis (1975) starring Cloris Leachman following Colby's tragic murder. A year later she joined the All in the Family (1971) cast for a season. Liz co-starred in a number of short-lived series such as Checking In (1981), The New Odd Couple (1982) and City (1990) before hitting paydirt and scoring multiple Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for her prime role of Mahalia on The John Larroquette Show (1993). She has continued to make the guest rounds on such popular series as Ally McBeal (1997), The Nanny (1993), Quantum Leap (1989), The Wonder Years (1988) and L.A. Law (1986), often providing some necessary comedy relief amid the drama, and she is a veteran of many mini-movies, both comedic and dramatic.
On Broadway, Torres replaced Tony-winning Rita Moreno as men's bathhouse entertainer Googie Gomez in the wacky comedy "The Ritz" and portrayed the bizarre character of Bunny in "House of Blue Leaves." The musical part of her has recorded for RCA and appeared in a number of stage roles that have ranged from Aldonza/Dulcinea in "Man of La Mancha" to lightweight roles in "Bye Bye Birdie" and "See Saw."
She has provided amusing vignettes in such film comedies as The Odd Couple II (1998) starring the late Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, Sunset (1988) with Bruce Willis and Permanent Midnight (1998) showcasing Ben Stiller. She was nominated for her the
Although comedy has been Liz's primary career outlet, her millennium film credits have leaned toward heavier material with featured parts in the romantic drama Gabriela (2001), the urban drama King Rikki (2002), the social drama Taylor (2005) and the dramedy West of Brooklyn (2008). Outside the recurring roles on the law series First Monday (2002) and the Latino family drama American Family (2002), TV has proven a different story where she is best remembered for her series role as "Miss Patty" in the long-running sitcom Gilmore Girls (2000), and made numerous amusing appearances on such regular comedies as "The Fighting Fitzgeralds," "The Brothers Garcia," "Ugly Betty," "Desperate Housewives," "Devious Maids" and the Cuban-American sitcom "One Day at a Time."
Long married to producer Peter Locke, the couple resides in Los Angeles.- Actor
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The whole Turturro clan and their extended family seem to have gotten into the show biz act at one time or another. The youngest of three boys, including famous older brother (by five years) John Turturro, Nicholas Turturro was born on January 29, 1962, in Queens, New York, and grew up in its Rosedale section. He is the son of Italian-American parents, Katherine (Incerella), a jazz singer, and Nicholas Turturro, a construction worker and carpenter, who was born in Giovinazzo.
After attending various Catholic schools, he graduated and majored in theater at Adelphi University for two years, but left to marry Jami Biunno and help raise their child, Erica. The couple later divorced. While working as a doorman at the St. Moritz Hotel in New York City, Nick managed to find a job as both an extra and voice-over artist in Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing (1989) after brother John introduced Nick to Spike. Spike took an immediate interest in the rough-edged Nick and wrote a featured role for him in his next film Mo' Better Blues (1990) in which John and Nick played repugnant Jewish brothers and co-owners of a club. Both the brothers went on to appear together again in Lee's Jungle Fever (1991) and Nick also appeared in Lee's Malcolm X (1992).
Nick branched out on his own after this and earned parts in the movies Federal Hill (1994) and Excess Baggage (1997), and garnered serious TV attention as rookie detective "James Martinez" on NYPD Blue (1993) earning a couple of Emmy nominations in the process. His character was originally created as a foil to David Caruso star character, but he lost momentum after Caruso's early departure from the show. Still, he managed to hang around for seven seasons.
Very dark in tone and complexion, the compact-framed Nick certainly has had a wealth of experience in mob drama, playing a young Al Capone in one guest appearance, and assorted mobster types in other TV-movies. Plenty of guest-starring roles have also come his way with episodes of Law & Order (1990), L.A. Law (1986) and The Twilight Zone (1985) and a recurring role on Third Watch (1999). He has lightened up on a rare occasion in such comedies as The Drew Carey Show (1995) and in a couple of failed pilots.
Into the millennium, Nicholas continues to work steadily including the comedies The Shipment (2001) and The Biz (2002); played the title role of Angelo Buono in the crime drama The Hillside Strangler (2004) and then turned around to play a good guy officer in First Sunday (2008); appeared in the sports comedy remake of The Longest Yard (2005) starring Adam Sandler; starred as the title TV producer nobody recalls in Remembering Phil (2008); co-starred in the gangster movie Street Boss (2009); as well as the low level comedy The Deported (2009); supported comic actor Kevin James in both Zookeeper (2011) and Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 (2015); appeared as part of the kidnapped ensemble in the crime comedy The Wretched (2020); had parts in a couple of biographical dramas including A Chance in the World (2017) and the Oscar-winning BlacKkKlansman (2018); as well as the action thrillers Las Vegas Vietnam: The Movie (2019) and Shooting Heroin (2020).
On stage, Nick has appeared in "Wild Goose", "The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui" (with John) "Lusting After Popino's Wife" and "Siddown: Conversations With the Mob". Nick's never strayed too far from the family fold. He's appeared in a number of John's projects over the years that have also occasionally featured cousin Aida Turturro (from The Sopranos (1999) fame). His mother has also appeared in a few films, as has John's wife and sons. Nick remarried a number of years ago.