Home Alone 2: Lost in New York 1992 premiere
Sunday November 15th, Century Plaza Cinemas 2040 Avenue of the Stars, Los Angeles, CA 90067
List activity
275 views
• 0 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
85 people
- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Macaulay Culkin, one of the most famous American child stars, was born on August 26, 1980 in New York City, New York, USA, as the third of seven children of his father Kit Culkin (a former stage and child actor and also Macaulay's former manager) and mother Patricia Brentrup. He is the brother of Shane Culkin, Dakota Culkin, Kieran Culkin, Quinn Culkin, Christian Culkin, and Rory Culkin, most of whom have also acted. Macaulay's mother, who is from North Dakota, is of German and Norwegian descent. Macaulay's father, from Manhattan, has Irish, German, English, Swiss-German, and French ancestry.
"Mack", as he's known to his close friends and family, first came into showbiz at the age of 4, appearing in a string of Off-Broadway shows such as the New York City Ballet's The Nutcracker and, by 8 years-old, the films Rocket Gibraltar (1988) and See You in the Morning (1989), which included him in the rare company of kids who have received rave reviews from The New Yorker and The New York Times.
By the age of 9, the young actor had nearly upstaged star John Candy in Uncle Buck (1989) (his deadpan interrogation of Candy was Buck's funniest scene). Then, in 1990, writer John Hughes turned his finished Home Alone (1990) script over to director Chris Columbus with a suggestion to consider Culkin for the lead. Though Macaulay was the first kid Columbus saw, he was skeptical about having him in the lead and saw over 200 other possible actors and he admitted that no one came as close to being as good as Culkin. By the callback interview, Mack had memorized two scenes, and Columbus was sure he found his "Kevin McCallister". The movie grossed more than $285 million in the US alone, becoming one of the highest grossing movies of all time and making Macaulay Culkin one of the biggest movie stars of the time.
His next big project was My Girl (1991) in which he played "Thomas J. Sennett", a boy who seems to be allergic to everything. Despite some controversy over the ending, the film was released anyway and proved to be another hit film for Mack (and featured his very first kiss). In 1992 came Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), which grossed more than $172 million in the US alone. In 1993 came The Good Son (1993), which was the first role to depart from his cute kid comedies. He played a murderous little demon named Henry. He got the role when his powerhouse negotiator/manager/father Kit Culkin said that he would pull Mack out of Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) unless he was given the psychotic boy lead in The Good Son (1993). He was also given a salary of $5 million for the film.
In 1994, at the age of 14, came a string of duds, The Pagemaster (1994), Getting Even with Dad (1994) and Richie Rich (1994). He was paid $8 million for the last two, the highest salary ever paid for a child star. Many people believed Mack had lost his touch, though, because he was no longer that cute tiny kid they saw in Home Alone (1990). In 1995 his parents, who were never married, separated and started a greedy legal battle over the custody of their kids and Mack's fortune. In 1996, the young actor had reportedly said he wouldn't accept any roles until his parents settled their custody dispute. That case would not be resolved until April 1997 when Kit Culkin relinquished control to Brentrup.
In 1998, Macaulay married actress Rachel Miner, but separated in 2000 because Rachel wanted to start a family and Mack wanted to get back into acting. There has been a gap of eight years since 1994's Richie Rich (1994), and although he made a 'comeback' on stage in 2001, appearing in a London production of "Madame Melville", and also portrayed Michael Alig in Party Monster (2003); with an estimated fortune of $17 million he clearly never has to work again - if the roles don't appeal to him.- Kieran Kyle Culkin was born September 30, 1982 in New York City, New York. He is the son of Kit Culkin, a former stage and child actor, and Patricia Brentrup. He is the brother of Shane Culkin, Dakota Culkin, Macaulay Culkin, Quinn Culkin, Christian Culkin, and Rory Culkin. His mother, who is from North Dakota, is of German and Norwegian descent. His father, from Manhattan, has Irish, German, English, Swiss-German, and French ancestry.
Culkin started working in 1990. He worked with his brother, Mac several times. His debut was playing Mac's cousin, Fuller, in Home Alone (1990). He went on to do lots of films on his own. He starred in Father of the Bride (1991) playing Steve Martin's young son. Then a few years later they offered him a special role in The Mighty (1998). After his wonderful performance, he went on to bigger movies like The Cider House Rules (1999) and Music of the Heart (1999). - Actor
- Soundtrack
Matt Lattanzi was born on 1 February 1959 in Portland, Oregon, USA. He is an actor, known for Roxanne (1987), Xanadu (1980) and Grease 2 (1982). He was previously married to Olivia Newton-John.- Actress
- Composer
- Music Department
Chloe Lattanzi was born on 17 January 1986 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She is an actress and composer, known for Sharknado 5: Global Swarming (2017), The Wilde Girls (2001) and Dirty Step Upstage (2009). She is married to James Driskill. They have one child.- Actress
- Additional Crew
- Writer
In a six-decade-plus career (she started out as a radio performer at age 14), there are very few facets of entertainment that lovely singer/actress Polly Bergen has not conquered or, at the very least, touched upon. A nightclub and Columbia recording artist of the 50s and 60s, she is just as well known for her film and Emmy-winning dramatic performances as she is for her wry comedic gifts. In the leaner times, she has maintained quite well with her various businesses. Truly one for the ages, Polly has, at age 70+, nabbed a Tony nomination for her gutsy "I'm Still Here" entertainer Carlotta in Stephen Sondheim's "Follies", and was still dishing out the barbs as she recently demonstrated as Felicity Huffman's earthy mom on Desperate Housewives (2004).
Born in Knoxville, Tennessee as Nellie Burgin on July 14, 1930, her family, which included father William, mother Lucy and sister Barbra, eventually moved to Los Angeles. By the time she was 14, Polly was singing professionally on radio and managed to scrape up singing gigs with smaller bands around and about the Southern California area. She attended Compton Junior College before Paramount mogul Hal B. Wallis caught sight of her and signed her up with his studio. Having made an isolated film debut (as Polly Burgin) a year earlier in the Monogram western Across the Rio Grande (1949), Wallis showcased her as a decorative love interest in the slapstick vehicles of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, the (then) hottest comedy team in Hollywood. But At War with the Army (1950), That's My Boy (1951) and The Stooge (1951) did little for Polly although she presented herself well. MGM and Universal had the idea to cast her in a more serious vein with co-starring roles in their dramas Escape from Fort Bravo (1953), Arena (1953) and Cry of the Hunted (1953), but again she was overlooked. Disasppointed, she decided to abandon her lucrative film contract and seek work elsewhere.
That "elsewhere" came in the form of 1950s TV. Focusing on her singing, she promoted her many albums for Columbia by guest-starring on all the top variety shows of the times. This culminated in her own variety program, The Polly Bergen Show (1957). The song "The Party's Over" became her traditional show-closer and signature tune. Polly also showed some marquee mettle on the cabaret and nightclub circuits, performing at many of the top hotels and showrooms throughout the country. She made her Broadway debut along with Harry Belafonte in "John Murray Anderson's Almanac" in 1953, and went on to appear in such stage shows as "Top Man" and "Champagne Complex". A delightfully engaging game show panelist to boot, she took a regular seat on the To Tell the Truth (1956) panel for five seasons.
Polly tended to display a looser, down-to-earth personality to induce laughs but she was also was formidable dramatic player and fashion plate quite capable of radiating great charm, poise and elegance. For her role as alcoholic torch singer Helen Morgan in the special TV showcase The Helen Morgan Story (1957) , she took home the Emmy award. Unfortunately for Polly, Ann Blyth took on the role of the tragic singer in the film version (with Gogi Grant providing the vocals), in what could have been a significant return to films for her.
Instead, Polly had to wait another five years for that to happen. As the wife of Gregory Peck and designated victim of revengeful psychopath Robert Mitchum in the taut movie thriller Cape Fear (1962), her film career reignited. Other opportunities came in the form of her distraught mental patient in The Caretakers (1963), which found her at odds with nurse Joan Crawford and doctor Robert Stack; the sparkling comedy Move Over, Darling (1963), which placed her in a comedy triangle with "other wife" Doris Day and husband James Garner; and as the first woman Chief Executive of the White House in the frothy comedy tidbit Kisses for My President (1964) opposite bemused "First Gentleman" Fred MacMurray. In what was to be a tinge of deja vu, Polly again saw her movie career dissipate after only a couple of vehicles. True to form, the indomitable Polly rebounded on TV.
A mild string of TV-movies came her way as she matured into the 1970s and 1980s, most notably the acclaimed miniseries The Winds of War (1983), which reunited her with Robert Mitchum, this time as his unhappy, alcoholic wife. This, along with her participation in the sequel, War and Remembrance (1988), earned Polly supporting Emmy nominations. In the years to come, she would find herself still in demand displaying her trademark comic grit in such shows as The Sopranos (1999), Commander in Chief (2005) and Desperate Housewives (2004).
Polly returned to singing in 1999 after nearly a three-decade absence (due to health and vocal issues). Quite huskier in tone, she went on to delight the New York musical stage with stand-out performances in "Follies" (2001), "Cabaret" (2002) and "Camille Claudel" (2007). Polly still made nightly appearances and had even put together singing concert tours on occasion.
Polly has authored three best-selling beauty books outside the acting arena and has demonstrated a marked level of acumen in the business world. Founding a mail-order cosmetics business in 1965, she sold it to Faberge eight years later. She also developed her own shoe and jewelry lines.
Married (1950-1955) to MGM actor Jerome Courtland during her first movie career peak, she later wed topflight agent/producer Freddie Fields in 1957, a union that lasted 18 years and produced two adopted children, Pamela and Peter. A third marriage in the 1980s also ended in divorce. An assertive voice when it comes to women's rights and issues, her memoir "Polly's Principles" came out in 1974.
Polly played a grandmother in her last film, the dramedy Struck by Lightning (2012), and died two years later on September 20, 2013, at the age of 84.- Actress
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Alisan Porter was born on 20 June 1981 in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Curly Sue (1991), Parenthood (1989) and Meet Dave (2008). She was previously married to Brian Autenrieth.- Actress
- Soundtrack
In America, the early performing arts accomplishments of young Maureen FitzSimons (who we know as Maureen O'Hara) would definitely have put her in the child prodigy category. However, for a child of Irish heritage surrounded by gifted parents and family, these were very natural traits. Maureen made her entrance into this caring haven on August 17, 1920, in Ranelagh (a suburb of Dublin), Ireland. Her mother, Marguerita Lilburn FitzSimons, was an accomplished contralto. Her father, Charles FitzSimons, managed a business in Dublin and also owned part of the renowned Irish soccer team "The Shamrock Rovers." Maureen was the second of six FitzSimons children - Peggy, Florrie, Charles B. Fitzsimons, Margot Fitzsimons and James O'Hara completed this beautiful family.
Maureen loved playing rough athletic games as a child and excelled in sports. She combined this interest with an equally natural gift for performing. This was demonstrated by her winning pretty much every Feis award for drama and theatrical performing her country offered. By age 14 she was accepted to the prestigious Abbey Theater and pursued her dream of classical theater and operatic singing. This course was to be altered, however, when Charles Laughton, after seeing a screen test of Maureen, became mesmerized by her hauntingly beautiful eyes. Before casting her to star in Jamaica Inn (1939), Laughton and his partner, Erich Pommer, changed her name from Maureen FitzSimons to "Maureen O'Hara" - a bit shorter last name for the marquee.
Under contract to Laughton, Maureen's next picture was to be filmed in America (The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939)) at RKO Pictures. The epic film was an extraordinary success and Maureen's contract was eventually bought from Laughton by RKO. At 19, Maureen had already starred in two major motion pictures with Laughton. Unlike most stars of her era, she started at the top, and remained there - with her skills and talents only getting better and better with the passing years.
Maureen has an enviable string of all-time classics to her credit that include the aforementioned "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," How Green Was My Valley (1941), Miracle on 34th Street (1947), Sitting Pretty (1948), The Quiet Man (1952), and The Parent Trap (1961). Add to this the distinction of being voted one of the five most beautiful women in the world and you have a film star who was as gorgeous as she was talented.
Although at times early in her career Hollywood didn't seem to notice, there was much more to Maureen O'Hara than her dynamic beauty. She not only had a wonderful lyric soprano voice, but she could use her inherent athletic ability to perform physical feats that most actresses couldn't begin to attempt, from fencing to fisticuffs. She was a natural athlete.
In her career Maureen starred with some of Hollywood's most dashing leading men, including Tyrone Power, John Payne, Rex Harrison, James Stewart, Henry Fonda, Brian Keith, Sir Alec Guinness and, of course, her famed pairings with "The Duke" himself, John Wayne. She starred in five films with Wayne, the most beloved being The Quiet Man (1952).
In addition to famed director John Ford, Maureen was also fortunate to have worked for some other great directors in the business: Alfred Hitchcock, William Dieterle, Henry Hathaway, Henry King, Jean Renoir, John M. Stahl, William A. Wellman, Frank Borzage, Walter Lang, George Seaton, George Sherman, Carol Reed, Delmer Daves, David Swift, Andrew V. McLaglen and Chris Columbus.
In 1968 Maureen found much deserved personal happiness when she married Charles Blair. Gen. Blair was a famous aviator whom she had known as a friend of her family for many years. A new career began for Maureen, that of a full-time wife. Her marriage to Blair, however, was again far from typical. Blair was the real-life version of what John Wayne had been on the screen. He had been a Brigadier General in the Air Force, a Senior Pilot with Pan American, and held many incredible record-breaking aeronautic achievements. Maureen happily retired from films in 1973 after making the TV movie The Red Pony (1973) (which on the prestigious Peabody Award for Excellence) with Henry Fonda. With Blair, Maureen managed Antilles Airboats, a commuter sea plane service in the Caribbean. She not only made trips around the world with her pilot husband, but owned and published a magazine, "The Virgin Islander," writing a monthly column called "Maureen O'Hara Says."
Tragically, Charles Blair died in a plane crash in 1978. Though completely devastated, Maureen pulled herself together and, with memories of ten of the happiest years of her life, continued on. She was elected President and CEO of Antilles Airboats, which brought her the distinction of being the first woman president of a scheduled airline in the United States.
Fortunately, she was coaxed out of retirement several times - once in 1991 to star with John Candy in Only the Lonely (1991) and again, in 1995, in a made-for-TV movie, The Christmas Box (1995) on CBS. In the spring of 1998, Maureen accepted the second of what would be three projects for Polson Productions and CBS: Cab to Canada (1998) - and, in October, 2000, The Last Dance (2000).
On St. Patrick's Day in 2004, she published her New York Times bestselling memoir, 'Tis Herself, co-authored with her longtime biographer and manager Johnny Nicoletti.
On November 4, 2014 Maureen was honored by a long overdue Oscar for "Lifetime Achievement" at the annual Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Governors Awards.
Maureen O'Hara was absolutely stunning, with that trademark red hair, dazzling smile and those huge, expressive eyes. She has fans from all over the world of all ages who are utterly devoted to her legacy of films and her persona as a strong, courageous and intelligent woman.- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Jason Hervey was born April 6th, 1972 in Los Angeles, California. He is the son of Alan & Marsha Hervey, brother of Scott. At the age 4, Jason began his career appearing in over 250 commercials for some of Americas favorite brands. Before long, his visibility from the various commercials lead him to several appearances in some of televisions most notable shows. He also appeared in cameo roles in such feature films as Back to The Future, Pee Wee's Big Adventure, Back To School, Monster Squad, Police Academy 2, Meatballs 2, Tim Burtons Franken-weenie and more. After appearing for two seasons in Different Strokes, Jason landed the role of Wayne Arnold in the Emmy Award-winning hit series "The Wonder Years". From this platform and experience Jason was able to leverage opportunities behind the camera as he began a career in producing. His first project was at the age of 17 whereby Jason created, starred in and produced 26 episodes of the Saturday morning series "Wide World of Kids". After 6 seasons and 29 Emmy Nominations for "The Wonder Years", Jason partnered with former Sony of America CEO Peter Guber in Mandalay Sports Action Entertainment,(MSAE). While at Mandalay Jason spearheaded a partnership with Time Warner's "World Championship Wrestling" (WCW) which yielded 17 original productions in television, home video and Pay Per View, an original soundtrack with Tommy Boy records and 4 television movies for TBS and TNT including one of the highest rated TV movies in the history of basic cable in which Jason was the original creator. After more than 5 years at Mandalay and growing that division, Jason had a short lived stint as a Chief Marketing Officer at a Fortune 500 company. Jason then returned to his roots in the entertainment business by partnering with long time friend, colleague and former President of Time Warners "World Championship Wrestling" (WCW) Eric Bischoff to form Bischoff Hervey Entertainment (BHE TV, LLC) Bischoff Hervey Entertainment specializes in content creation and production for various broadcast outlets, licensing and merchandising and innovative brand integration solutions. Jason and his family currently reside in Scottsdale, Arizona and Los Angeles, California.- Actress
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Ami Dolenz was born on 8 January 1969 in Burbank, California, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Can't Buy Me Love (1987), Rescue Me (1992) and Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings (1993). She has been married to Jerry Trimble since 10 August 2002.- Kelly Lynch was born in 1959 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She started her acting career with a small job at the Guthrie Theater. She studied under acting teacher Sanford Meisner and became a model for the famous Elite Modeling Agency. She first gained acclaim for acting in the Gus Van Sant film Drugstore Cowboy (1989). Lynch earned an Independent Spirit Award nomination for her role in The Beans of Egypt, Maine (1994). She stars in the 20th-Century Fox film Homegrown (1998), co-starring Hank Azaria and Billy Bob Thornton.
- Writer
- Producer
- Director
Mitch Glazer was born in 1953. He is a writer and producer, known for The Recruit (2003), Great Expectations (1998) and Scrooged (1988). He has been married to Kelly Lynch since 6 December 1992. He was previously married to Wendie Malick.- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
As one of Hollywood's leading men, Bruce Boxleitner has starred in a major motion picture franchise, numerous feature films, and several popular television series, produced a major network film and TV series, performed on Broadway, and authored two science fiction novels.
Boxleitner received his formal acting training on stage. A native mid-westerner, he is an alumnus of Chicago's prestigious Goodman Theatre. In 1972, he starred in the Broadway production of Status Quo Vadis with Ted Danson. He then relocated to Los Angeles and quickly landed a guest spot on the legendary TV series The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970) as well as numerous guest roles on series, including Hawaii Five-O (1968), Baretta (1975), Police Woman (1974), and Gunsmoke (1955).
Boxleitner's big break occurred when he was cast opposite James Arness in the pilot for the epic TV series How the West Was Won (1976). He went on to star in the CBS series Bring 'Em Back Alive (1982); mini-series East of Eden (1981); and TV movie The Last Convertible (1979).
In 1982, Boxleitner was cast as the title role in Disney's cult film Tron (1982) which garnered him science fiction fans worldwide. However, it was in Boxleitner's four-year run for CBS's Scarecrow and Mrs. King (1983), starring opposite Kate Jackson, which endeared him to fans everywhere and made him a household name. In 1994, Boxleitner joined the cast of the popular TV series Babylon 5 (1993) as John Sheridan, President of the Interstellar Alliance, a war hero-turned-diplomat at the helm of Earth Alliance Space Station in the year 2259. The show aired for five seasons.
Boxleitner most recently starred with Jeff Bridges in Tron: Legacy (2010), the popular motion picture sequel to TRON. The cast includes Garrett Hedlund and Olivia Wilde. In addition, Boxleitner reprised his role in Tron: Uprising (2012) on Disney's XD TV network, his first animated TV series. The multi-talented cast includes Elijah Wood, Mandy Moore, Lance Henriksen, and Paul Reubens. The original TRON recently celebrated its 30th anniversary.
Several motion pictures include Gods and Generals (2003) with Robert Duvall, Jeff Daniels, Stephen Lang and Mira Sorvino; The Babe (1992) with John Goodman and Kelly McGillis; Kuffs (1992) with Christian Slater; and The Baltimore Bullet (1980) with James Coburn.
Numerous TV movie credits include The Secret (1992) with Kirk Douglas; Perfect Family (1992) with Jennifer O'Neill and Joanna Cassidy; Double Jeopardy (1992) with Rachel Ward, Sally Kirkland and Sela Ward; Passion Flower (1986) with Barbara Hershey and Nicol Williamson; and Hallmark Channel movies, Love's Everlasting Courage (2011) and Falling in Love with the Girl Next Door (2006); among many others. The veteran actor has appeared in numerous recurring roles on TV series including GCB (2012) and Heroes (2006), and has guest-starred on NCIS (2003) and Chuck (2007), among others.
A skilled horseman, Boxleitner utilized his talents in numerous western TV series and films including The Gambler television movie series that aired on CBS and NBC, starring opposite Kenny Rogers; Gunsmoke: One Man's Justice (1994) with James Arness (Arness' final film); CBS' remake of Red River with Gregory Harrison, James Arness and Laura Johnson; Wyatt Earp: Return to Tombstone (1994) with Hugh O'Brian; and Louis L'Amour's Down the Long Hills (1986), based on legendary western author Louis L'Amour's novel of the same name.
Boxleitner was inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City in April 2012 honoring him for his illustrious career in western films. He is a two-time recipient of the Wrangler Award.
In 2013, Boxleitner co-starred with Andie MacDowell and Dylan Neal in Hallmark Channel's first-ever prime-time series, Debbie Macomber's Cedar Cove (2013) to rave reviews and an average of 2 million viewers. The #1 rated cable program was renewed for a third season and is scheduled to premiere in the summer of 2015.
In 1999, Boxleitner authored "Frontier Earth" and in 2001, its sequel "Frontier Earth: Searcher", published by The Berkley Publishing Group. Boxleitner resides in Los Angeles with his wife, publicist Verena King, and has three sons: Sam, Lee and Michael.- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Lee Boxleitner was born into an entertainment family and has had the opportunity to visit film sets his entire life. His parents are actors Bruce Boxleitner and Kathryn Holcomb Ogilvy.
In 2006, Lee studied at the Los Angeles Film School to learn the technical aspects of writing, directing and editing. Upon graduation, he quickly landed a job as a set production assistant. Since, he has worked on more than 30 feature films in various departments.
In 2004, Lee and his brother Sam Boxleitner formed the independent production company, Blue House Productions. Since it's inception, Blue House has produced a slew of short films and music videos, several of which have been official selections in major film festivals. Their first feature film is due for release in October of 2016.- Actor
- Composer
- Writer
Sam Boxleitner was born in Los Angeles, California, into a show business family. He had dreams of following the family trade from an early age. His parents are actors Bruce Boxleitner and Kathryn Holcomb Ogilvy, and actor Ian Ogilvy is his step-father. His brother Lee Boxleitner, half-brother Michael Boxleitner, and step-brother Dakota Brinkman are actors as well.
Sam attended Chaminade College Preparatory in Los Angeles where he excelled in the arts, especially drama and music. After starring in several plays and small film roles, Sam made the decision to put acting on hold to focus on music. He attended Musicians Institute in Hollywood, California where he attained a commercial certificate for contemporary composition and guitar. Sam spent the better half of a decade composing music and touring with various bands locally and nationally. After a long and tumultuous tour, Sam took a job as a runner that eventually landed him a job as a set production assistant. After approximately fifteen minutes of being on set, Sam was bitten by "the bug" and made the decision he would stop at nothing to be in front of the camera. He has not looked back since.
In 2014, Sam and his brother Lee Boxleitner produced the short film, "Downstairs" which earned them much praise along the horror film festival circuit including screenings at the largest and longest running film festival in the United States, Screamfest Horror Film Festival, the United Kingdom's Dark Scream Film Festival and Eliot Brodsky's Monsterpalooza.
Sam Boxleitner also composes, produces, and performs original music under the moniker, Analog Is Dead. Analog Is Dead can be found on all major streaming sites and online music stores.- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Emilio Estevez was born on May 12, 1962, in New York City. He is the eldest son of actor Martin Sheen, who at the time was just breaking into the business. His mother, Janet Sheen (née Templeton), was a former New York art student who had met Emilio's father right after he had moved to Manhattan. Martin and Janet had three other children, Charlie Sheen, Renée Estevez, and Ramon Estevez, all of whom became actors. His father is of half Spanish and half Irish descent, and his mother, whose family is from Kentucky, has English and Scottish ancestry.
He lived on Manhattan's Upper West Side until his family relocated to Malibu in 1968. Before graduating from Santa Monica High School in 1980, Estevez had already had a small role as a messenger boy in Apocalypse Now (1979), that was ultimately cut from the film.
Though his father had opted to use the stage name "Sheen" over his more ethnic birth name "Estevez," Emilio chose to retain the family name, hoping to avoid riding his father's coattails. He also thought the double "E" set of initials was "pretty."
He appeared in a few TV movies, the first of which was 17 Going on Nowhere (1980), before making his big-screen debut opposite Matt Dillon in 1982's Tex (1982). A part in The Outsiders (1983) followed, and Estevez made his first big splash as the punk rocker Otto in the cult classic Repo Man (1984).
Originally cast as Bender (The Criminal) in the seminal John Hughes flick The Breakfast Club (1985), Estevez took the part of Andrew (The Athlete) instead after Hughes could find no one else to fill the role. Another ensemble film, St. Elmo's Fire (1985) came next. Then Estevez made his screen-writing debut with That Was Then... This Is Now (1985), a film in which he also starred.
He then starred in the Stephen King thriller and cult hit Maximum Overdrive (1986), . The ambitious young actor added directing to his palette with Wisdom (1986) in 1986. Estevez went on to write, direct and star in the film Men at Work , Men at Work (1990) alongside his brother Charlie Sheen in 1989 . Originally written as an environmental comedy that follows two slacker garbage men who find a dead politician in a trash barrel,''Men at Work'' went on to be a moderate success and enjoys a "cult" status.
Estevez jumped back into making studio films with hits like Stakeout (1987) and Young Guns (1988), as well as their subsequent sequels.
In 1992, Emilio took on one of his most iconic and famous roles as Coach Gordon Bombay in The Mighty Ducks (1992). The enormously popular Disney film spawned two sequels and an NHL hockey team of the same name, but Estevez was interested in making more dramatic films.
In 1995, he agreed to make a brief appearance in D3: The Mighty Ducks (1996) in exchange for Disney helping him finance and distribute another effort as actor-director, The War at Home (1996). Though smiled on by critics, The War at Home (1996) received a very limited distribution by Disney and thus went largely unseen. The War at Home, filmed in Austin, Texas, is an exploration of the effects of PTSD on a Vietnam veteran who has returned to his Texas family's home in 1972. The film co-stars Oscar winner, Kathy Bates, Estevez ' s father Martin Sheen and Kimberly Williams . The film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in 1996 as an Official Selection. Estevez continued to work in films, both behind and in front of the camera, including a fourth effort as director and star, Rated X (2000), which co-starred brother Charlie Sheen and was a selection at the Sundance Film Festival in 2000.
In 2006, Emilio made the motion picture Bobby. Bobby (2006), a "day in the life" film. Robert F. Kennedy Estevez wrote, directed, and acted in the picture, which, follows 22 characters in the Ambassador Hotel on June 4th, 1968 on the day Senator Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated following his win in the California primary. The film remains one of the starriest ensemble cast ever assembled with Anthony Hopkins, Sharon Stone, William H. Macy, Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher, Laurence Fishburne, Harry Belafonte, Lindsay Lohan, Helen Hunt, Martin Sheen and many others in the cast. Distributed by The Weinstein Company, "Bobby" went on to be nominated for two Golden Globes, Best Original Song and Best Picture (Drama), as well as a Screen Actors Guild Best Ensemble nomination in 2006. He won a Hollywood Film Best Ensemble Award and received a 7-minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival following his nomination for the prestigious Golden Lion for directing the film . The film had its North American premiere at the Toronto Film Festival where it was an Official Selection.
In 2009 Estevez filmed a new project which he wrote, produced and directed called, The Way, in Spain starring his father, Martin Sheen, in a story about a man who decides to make the Camino de Santiago after the death of his son in the French Pyrénées. It was released in the United States on October 7, 2011, following the premiere at the Toronto Film Festival in 2010.
In 2019, Estevez released another feature film, The Public, starring Alec Baldwin, Christian Slater, Jena Malone, Jeffrey Wright, Taylor Shilling, Michael K. Williams and Estevez himself, which he also wrote, directed and produced. The movie was shot entirely inside the downtown Cincinnati Public Library during the winter of 2017. Once again, The Public enjoyed it's world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival in 2018. The film was released in 2019 by Greenwich Entertainment and Universal Pictures.
In 2021, Emilio returns as Coach Gordon Bombay in the new Disney + series, The Mighty Ducks: Gamechangers.- Actress
- Additional Crew
- Producer
Paula Abdul grew up in the San Fernando Valley, California. She began taking dance lessons when she was eight. She attended Van Nuys High School, where she was senior class president and head cheerleader. After graduating in 1980, she started college at Cal State-Northridge, majoring in TV and radio. After joining the L.A. Lakers cheerleaders, she became head cheerleader/choreographer after only a few months, eventually dropping out of college to dance and choreograph full-time. She was recruited by The Jacksons to choreograph their 1984 "Torture" video, the first in a long list of videos and movies she would choreograph. She branched out into singing with her first CD, "Forever Your Girl", which had lackluster sales until the single "Straight Up" exploded onto the charts in December 1988 and she has been a popular singer/dancer ever since, enhanced by her stint as a judge on the hit series American Idol (2002).- Composer
- Music Department
- Actress
Paloma Estevez was born on 15 February 1986 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She is a composer and actress, known for The Way (2010), Shadow Stalkers and MegaRace: DeathMatch.- Additional Crew
Cassandra Jade Estevez was born on 12 December 1984 in Los Angeles, California, USA. Cassandra Jade is known for CBS Schoolbreak Special (1984).- Actor
- Producer
- Executive
Rupert Murdoch is Executive Chairman of News Corp and Co-Chairman of Fox Corporation, two of the most recognized and influential media companies in the world.
Mr. Murdoch has been Executive Chairman of News Corp since 2013, when News Corporation separated into two distinct, publicly traded companies, News Corp and 21st Century Fox. He was Executive Chairman of 21st Century Fox from 2015 until the closing of the merger of 21st Century Fox and The Walt Disney Company in March 2019.
In 1954, Mr. Murdoch took control of News Limited, an Australian-based public corporation whose only key asset at the time was a majority interest in the number-two daily newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia. Since News Corporation's inception in 1979, Mr. Murdoch served as CEO and Chairman, and oversaw the expansion and development of the Company into an international media business.
In 1960, News Corporation acquired the Daily Mirror in Sydney and, in 1964, launched a national newspaper, The Australian. In 1969, the Company ventured into the United Kingdom and later purchased The Sun newspaper.
In the 1980s, News Corporation purchased the UK newspapers The Times and The Sunday Times, and HarperCollins Publishers, today one of the world's largest and most digitally advanced book publishers. In 2007, the Company acquired Dow Jones & Company, including The Wall Street Journal.
News Corporation purchased Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation in 1985 and the studio subsequently produced many award-winning films, including the two top-grossing films of all time: Titanic and Avatar. The following year, the Company created the Fox Television Stations group, which was the foundation for the launch of FOX Broadcasting Company and FOX Sports.
FOX was the leading television network in the U.S. for a record eight consecutive years. In October 1996, News Corporation launched the FOX News Channel - the undisputed leader in 24-hour news service. The Company also successfully established some of the U.S. and the world's most popular cable networks, including Fox Sports Network, FX and the National Geographic Channels.
In 2012, News Corporation further expanded its footprint in Australia through its acquisition of media investment company Consolidated Media Holdings. News Corp Australia is now a majority shareholder of Foxtel/FOX SPORTS Australia, the largest pay-TV provider in Australia, and owns and operates Sky News Australia, a 24-hour multi-channel, multi-platform news service.
Also in Australia, News Corp owns the majority interest in digital real estate company REA Group, operator of the country's leading property websites, and of iProperty Group, which owns a number of leading property portals in Asia. In 2014, News Corp completed acquisition of Move, Inc., operator of realtor.com®, a leading provider of online real estate services.
Mr. Murdoch has been awarded the Companion of the Order of Australia (A.C.) for services to the media and to newspaper publishing in particular. He and his family have been closely involved with, and made generous contributions to, various educational, cultural, and medical charitable organizations throughout the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Asia and Israel.- Anna Murdoch was born on 30 June 1944 in Glasgow, Scotland, UK. She has been married to William Mann since October 1999. She was previously married to Rupert Murdoch.
- Actor
- Producer
- Executive
Pierce Brendan Brosnan was born in Drogheda, County Louth, Ireland, to May (Smith), a nurse, and Thomas Brosnan, a carpenter. He lived in Navan, County Meath, until he moved to England, UK, at an early age (thus explaining his ability to play men from both backgrounds convincingly). His father left the household when Pierce was a child and although reunited later in life, the two have never had a close relationship. His most popular role is that of British secret agent James Bond. The death, in 1991, of Cassandra Harris, his wife of eleven years, left him with three children - Christopher and Charlotte from Cassandra's first marriage and Sean from their marriage. Since her death, he has had two children with his second wife, Keely Shaye Brosnan.
Brosnan is most famous for starring in the TV series Remington Steele (1982) as the title character, as well as portraying famous movie character James Bond in GoldenEye (1995), Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), The World Is Not Enough (1999) and Die Another Day (2002).- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Sean Brosnan is the son of Cassandra Harris (d. 1991) and Pierce Brosnan, who was married to Cassandra from 1977 until her death on 28 December, 1991. He has a half/adopted sister and half/adopted brother, Charlotte Brosnan and Christopher Brosnan (daughter and son of Cassandra and Dermot Harris, who were adopted by Pierce after Dermot died in 1986) from his father's first marriage; as well as two half-brothers, Dylan and Paris (sons of Pierce and Keely Shaye Brosnan) from his father's second marriage.- Producer
- Writer
- Director
Born in Pennsylvania and raised in Ohio, Chris Columbus was first inspired to make movies after seeing "The Godfather" at age 15. After enrolling at NYU film school, he sold his first screenplay (never produced) while a sophomore there. After graduation Columbus tried to sell his fourth script, "Gremlins", with no success, until Steven Spielberg optioned it; Columbus moved to Los Angeles for a year during rewrites on the project in Spielberg's bungalow at Universal. After writing two more scripts for Spielberg, "The Goonies" and "Young Sherlock Holmes", Columbus' own directing career was launched a few years later with "Adventures in Babysitting". He is best known to audiences as the director of the runaway hit "Home Alone", written and produced by John Hughes its sequel "Home Alone 2", and most recently "Mrs. Doubtfire".- Additional Crew
- Actress
Monica Devereux was born on 9 June 1959 in the USA. She is an actress, known for Adventures in Babysitting (1987), Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) and Backdraft (1991). She has been married to Chris Columbus since 6 August 1983. They have four children.- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Multiple Emmy- and Golden Globe-winner Martin Sheen is one of America's most celebrated, colorful, and accomplished actors. Moving flawlessly between artistic mediums, Sheen's acting range is striking.
Sheen was born Ramón Antonio Gerard Estevez in Dayton, Ohio, to Mary-Ann (Phelan), an Irish immigrant (from Borrisokane, County Tipperary), and Francisco Estevez, a Spanish-born factory worker and machinery inspector (from Parderrubias, Galicia). On the big screen, Sheen has appeared in more than 65 feature films including a star turn as Army Captain Benjamin L. Willard in Francis Ford Coppola's landmark film Apocalypse Now (1979), which brought Sheen worldwide recognition. The film also starred Marlon Brando, Dennis Hopper and Robert Duvall. Other notable credits include Wall Street (1987) (with son Charlie Sheen and Michael Douglas), Academy Award-winning film Gandhi (1982) (with Sir Ben Kingsley), Catch Me If You Can (2002) (with Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks), The American President (1995) (with Michael Douglas and Annette Bening) and a Golden Globe nominated breakthrough performance as Timmy Cleary in The Subject Was Roses (1968), a role he originated on Broadway and for which he received a Tony Award nomination as Best Featured Actor.
In 2006, the actor played ill-fated cop Oliver Queenan in Martin Scorsese's Academy Award-winning film The Departed (2006) opposite Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg and Alec Baldwin.
The same year, Sheen joined another all-star ensemble cast for the highly acclaimed feature Bobby (2006), written and directed by his son, Emilio Estevez. Bobby was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and a SAG Award; and starred Anthony Hopkins, Harry Belafonte, Laurence Fishburne, Sharon Stone, William H. Macy, Elijah Wood, Demi Moore and Heather Graham.
For television audiences, Sheen is best recognized for his six-time Emmy nominated performance as President Josiah Bartlet in The West Wing (1999). Sheen won six of his eight Golden Globe nominations as well as an ALMA Award; and two individual SAG Awards; for the White House series. He won the Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor TV Series Drama in 2001.
Of his ten Primetime Emmy nominations, Sheen won for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series on the long-running sitcom Murphy Brown (1988) (starring Candice Bergen) in 1994. In addition, he has garnered a Daytime Emmy Award for directing and another for performance.
In 2006, Sheen was again nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series; this time for the CBS hit comedy Two and a Half Men (2003), starring his son Charlie Sheen.
In addition to series television, Sheen has appeared in several important made-for-television movies and mini-series including playing President John F. Kennedy in the television mini-series Kennedy (1983) for which he received a Golden Globe nomination.- Actress
- Writer
Dree Louise Hemingway Crisman was born in Sun Valley, Idaho. She is the daughter of actress Mariel Hemingway and Stephen Crisman, as well as the niece of the late model and actress Margaux Hemingway. Author Ernest Hemingway is her maternal great-grandfather. She has a younger sister named Langley Fox Hemingway Crisman (known as Langley Fox).
She grew up in Ketchum, Idaho and attended Ernest Hemingway Elementary School. She later moved to California and lived in the Westlake Village. She attended Oaks Christian High School for two and a half years and then dropped out to pursue her modeling career. She was presented as a debutante at the Bal des débutantes in Paris, France in 2003.
Hemingway has represented major companies in print advertising as well as in fashion shows. In March 2009, she debuted at the fall/winter 09-10 catwalk show for Givenchy in Paris. In June 2009, she walked in the Calvin Klein resort show in New York. In September 2009, she opened the Topshop spring/summer 2010 show in London. In January 2010, she became the new face of the Gianfranco Ferré advertising campaign. Later that year, she fronted a new advertising campaign for the Salvatore Ferragamo perfume Attimo. She was photographed by Bryan Adams for the spring 2011 issue of Zoo Magazine.
Hemingway has also walked for Shiatzy Chen, House of Holland, Karl Lagerfeld, Giles, Chanel, and Rue du Mail shows. She has also done campaigns for Gucci, Jean Paul Gaultier, Valentino, H&M, Chanel, Paco Rabanne, and A.Y. Not Dead. She has also done editorials for Harper's Bazaar, i-D, V, W, Numéro, and multiple national editions of Vogue.
Hemingway starred in the U.S. independent film Starlet (2012), directed by Sean Baker. She, along with the rest of the cast, was awarded the Robert Altman Award for the film at the 2012 Independent Spirit Awards. She has since had supporting roles in films such as Listen Up Philip (2014) and While We're Young (2014). She appeared in the music video for "I Always Knew", a single from The Vaccines' album, "Come of Age".- Actress
- Producer
- Executive
Mariel Hemingway was born on 22 November 1961 in Mill Valley, California, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Manhattan (1979), Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987) and The Sex Monster (1999). She was previously married to Stephen Crisman.- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Beau Bridges was born in Hollywood, and is the son of actor Lloyd Bridges and his wife, who was his college sweetheart, Dorothy Dean Bridges. Born just two days after the attack on Pearl Harbour, he was delivered by candlelight because of a power blackout. Named Lloyd Vernet Bridges III, his parents immediately started calling him Beau after Ashley Wilkes' son in Gone with the Wind (1939), a book they were reading at the time. His younger brother, actor Jeff Bridges, was born in 1949 and a sister, Cindy Bridges, the following year.
Although only 5'10", Beau played basketball for UCLA his freshman year. The following year he transferred to the University of Hawaii, but dropped out to pursue acting and got his first major role in 1967. During his first marriage to Julie Landifield, they adopted Casey Bridges and then had Jordan Bridges. He and his second wife, Wendy Treece Bridges, have three children from this marriage: Dylan Bridges (born 1985); Emily Bridges, (born 1987) and Ezekiel Jeffry Bridges.
Beau likes to play guitar and collects Native American percussion instruments. He also loves the ocean, including swimming and surfing. He is also active in environmental causes and handgun control.- Actor
- Director
- Soundtrack
The star of many land and underwater adventures, Lloyd Vernet Bridges, Jr. was born on January 15, 1913 in San Leandro, California, to Harriet Evelyn (Brown) and Lloyd Vernet Bridges, Sr., who owned a movie theater and also worked in the hotel business. He grew up in various Northern California towns. His father wanted him to become a lawyer, but young Lloyd's interests turned to acting while at the University of California at Los Angeles. (Dorothy Dean Bridges, Bridges' wife of more than 50 years, was one of his UCLA classmates, and appeared opposite him in a romantic play called "March Hares.") He later worked on the Broadway stage, helped to found an off-Broadway theater, and acted, produced and directed at Green Mans ions, a theater in the Catskills. Bridges made his first films in 1936, and went under contract to Columbia in 1941. Allegations that Bridges had been involved with the Communist Party threatened to derail his career in the early 1950s, but he resumed work after testifying as a cooperative witness before the House Un-American Activities, admitting his past party membership and recanting. Making the transition to television, Bridges became a small screen star of giant proportions by starring in Sea Hunt (1958), the country's most successful syndicated series. Trouper Bridges worked right to the end, winning even more new fans with his spoofy portrayals in the movies Airplane! (1980) and Hot Shots! (1991), and their respective sequels. Lloyd Bridges died at age 85 of natural causes on March 10, 1998.- Wendy Treece has been married to Beau Bridges since 10 April 1984. They have three children.
- Dorothy Dean Bridges was born on 19 September 1915 in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA. She was an actress, known for Finders Keepers (1921), Sea Hunt (1958) and See You in the Morning (1989). She was married to Lloyd Bridges. She died on 16 February 2009 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Dylan Bridges was born on 25 October 1984 in Los Angeles County, California, USA. He is an actor, known for The Wild Pair (1987), The Outer Limits (1995) and A Stranger to Love (1996).
- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Emily Bridges was born on 2 July 1986 in Los Angeles County, California, USA. She is an actress and director, known for Acting: The First Six Lessons (2021), From Up on Poppy Hill (2011) and The Tale of The Princess Kaguya (2013).- Actress
- Director
- Soundtrack
Christine Lahti was born April 4, 1950 in Birmingham, Michigan, to Elizabeth Margaret (Tabar), a painter and nurse, and Paul Theodore Lahti, a surgeon. She is of half Finnish and half Austro-Hungarian descent. She studied fine arts at Florida State University and received a bachelors degree in drama from the University of Michigan. In New York, Christine worked as a waitress and did commercials before she found her breakthrough role in And Justice for All (1979) with Al Pacino. She received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Swing Shift (1984) and won an Academy Award for Best Short Film, Live Action for Lieberman in Love (1995) in which she starred and directed. Throughout her acting career, Christine primarily focused on television, with performances in Chicago Hope (1994), and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999).- Producer
- Director
- Additional Crew
Thomas Schlamme was born on 22 May 1950 in Houston, Texas, USA. He is a producer and director, known for The West Wing (1999), Sports Night (1998) and Tracey Takes On... (1996). He has been married to Christine Lahti since 4 September 1983. They have three children.- Cynthia Cristina Ferrare, the TV personality and former wife of auto executive John DeLorean, was born on February 8, 1950 in Cleveland, Ohio, to Italian-American Catholic parents, Renata Velia (Torinesi) and Tavio C. Ferrare, a butcher. Her family relocated to Los Angeles when she was 14 years old. Because of her beauty, she was offered work as a teenage model while she was still 14, and eventually was hired as a model by the makeup company Max Factor when she was 16. As a 20-year-old, she signed with Eileen Ford, one of the top modeling agencies in New York, and became a cover girl on the major fashion magazines. This exposure led to acting offers, and she signed a contract with the film studio 20th Century. She continued as the face of Max Factor, "The Max Factor Girl", until she was 26 years old.
In 1973, she married National Alliance of Businessmen President John DeLorean, the former vice president of car and truck production at General Motors, who was 25 years her senior. DeLorean, who had been the youngest man to ever head a division at General Motors when he was promoted head of the Pontiac Div. in 1965 at the age of 40, was a non-conformist with a flair for self-promotion who moved in show business circles. He had left G.M. in 1973 with the idea of starting his own automobile company, which eventually would become a reality in the 1980s, but would lead to his professional downfall and the collapse of his marriage.
The same year Ferrare married DeLorean, she had her sole leading role in motion pictures, the B-horror movie Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary (1975). Shot in Mexico and featuring the beautiful Ferrare as a bisexual vampire, the movie was released and sank without a trace despite her erotic nude scenes. She was a finalist to appear in Charlie's Angels (1976), losing out to Jaclyn Smith, but her acting career never gained traction. As an actress, she mostly did guest spots on series TV like The Love Boat (1977), but Ferrare did establish a career as a TV host. She served as the co-host on ABC's The Home Show (1988) as co-host of the "Home & Family" show with Michael Burger, and as co-host of "AM Los Angeles", which during her five-year stint, was was the highest rated morning show in its market, the second-largest in the country.
As Ferrare's career as a TV personality rose, DeLorean's business fortunes crashed. The car company that bore his name went bankrupt. In 1982, John DeLorean was trapped in a sting operated by the F.B.I. and charged with trafficking in cocaine, to raise money to refinance his car company. Both Ferrare and DeLorean became born-again Christians after the arrest, and in the two-year legal ordeal that followed, Ferrare stood by her husband. DeLorean was acquitted in August 1984, due to entrapment.
Ferrare realized her marriage to DeLorean had been shallow and unfulfilling. Since she was a girl in Cleveland, she had dreamed of having a fairy tale life. Life with media darling DeLorean, however, eventually came to feel make-believe, and she knew their marriage was over long before it was officially ended. Her turning to Christianity helped her to brave the ordeal of her husband's arrest and trial, but after DeLorean's acquittal, Ferrare sought a divorce.
Her divorce was granted in 1985, and that same year, she married entertainment industry executive Tony Thomopoulos, whom she had first met in 1979 when he was the head of the ABC Television Network and she was auditioning for a sport on "Good Morning America". They had met again years later, and Ferrare knew she would marry him on their first date. They have been happily married for 22 years and have two daughters.
In addition to her TV appearances, she has written books, including "Cristina Ferrare's Family Entertaining", "Okay, So I Don't Have a Headache", and "Realistically Ever After". Ferrare also works for Creative Brands Group, designing jewelry, home accessories and furniture. - Actress
- Producer
- Director
Zuniga was born in San Francisco, California to Agnes A. Zuniga (née Janawicz) and Joaquin Alberto Zuniga Mazariegos. Her mother is a Unitarian minister, of Polish and Finnish descent, and her father, originally from Guatemala, was an emeritus professor of philosophy at California State University, East Bay. Zuniga has two sisters: Jennifer Zuniga and Rosario Zúñiga.
In her early teens, Zuniga expressed interest in acting, and attended the Young Conservatory program of the American Conservatory Theater of San Francisco. After her parents divorced, Zuniga moved with her mother and sister from Berkeley, California to Reading, Vermont, where she spent the remainder of her teenage years. Zuniga graduated from Woodstock Union High School in Woodstock, Vermont, in 1980, after which she returned to California and enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles to study theater arts. After leaving college, Zuniga was close friends and roommates with fellow actress Meg Ryan.
Zuniga made her film debut in a supporting part in the slasher film The Dorm That Dripped Blood (1982), while a student at the University of California, Los Angeles. She was then cast in the 1984 horror film The Initiation (1984), opposite Vera Miles and Clu Gulager. This was followed by a lead role, opposite John Cusack, in Rob Reiner's film, The Sure Thing (1985).
In 1986, she starred as Princess Vespa in Mel Brooks' memorable cult comedy Spaceballs (1987), followed by a supporting part in the science fiction horror sequel, The Fly II (1989). From 1992 to 1996, Zuniga portrayed Jo Reynolds on the wildly popular soap opera Melrose Place (1992), which garnered Zuniga wider mainstream exposure. Her role on the series would be followed by numerous appearances on television series, including a lead role as Shelly Pierce on American Dreams (2004) from 2004 to 2005, and a recurring on the popular CW series, One Tree Hill (2003), as Victoria Davis, a role which she played from 2008 until 2012.- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Dean Cain was born Dean George Tanaka in Mount Clemens, Michigan, to actress Sharon Thomas Cain and Roger Tanaka. His mother married his adoptive father, director Christopher Cain, when Dean was three. Though he grew up in Malibu and attended Santa Monica High School, his career plans favored professional football over acting. While at Princeton, he completed a history major, dated Brooke Shields for two years, and set a Princeton record for interceptions in a season (12). After signing with the Buffalo Bills, a knee injury ended his pro career before it began. Though he had already played a part in his father's The Stone Boy (1984), he went through the usual route of commercials and tv-parts (notably, Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990) in 1990) before landing his break-through role as Superman/Clark Kent in the series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (1993).- Actor
- Director
- Producer
New York City-bred actor Glynn Russell Turman, born on January 31, 1947, who enjoyed his first taste of success as a young teenager, originating the role of "Travis Younger" on Broadway in Lorraine Hansberry's landmark play "A Raisin in the Sun" in 1959 opposite Sidney Poitier, Ruby Dee, Claudia McNeil and Diana Sands as his various family members. While he did not play the role when it transferred to film in 1961, he intensified his studies at Manhattan's renowned High School of Performing Arts.
Upon graduation, Glynn apprenticed in regional companies throughout the country including Tyrone Guthrie's Repertory Theatre in which he performed in late 60s productions of "Good Boys," "Harper's Ferry," "The Visit" and "The House of Atreus." He made his Los Angeles stage debut in Vinnette Carroll's "Slow Dance on the Killing Ground" and earned TV marks for appearances in "Daktari," "Julia," "Room 222," a featured part in the TV movie Carter's Army (1970), and a regular role on the prime-time soap opera Peyton Place (1964). An impressive 1974 performance in "The Wine Sellers" earned him a Los Angeles Critics Award nomination and a Dramalogue Award. The play was entitled "What The Wine Sellers Buy" when he played it earlier on Broadway. He won his first NAACP Image Award for his work in the play "Eyes of the American."
A writer and stage director as well, Glynn received his second NAACP Image award for his directing of "Deadwood Dick" at the Inner City Cultural Center. He segued these directing talents to TV where he helmed several episodes of "The Parenthood," "Hanging with Mr. Cooper" and "The Wayans Bros," among others. He also directed during his seasons of steady employment on A Different World (1987), in which he played the role of Colonel Taylor for five seasons (1988-1993). The show's theme song was sung by his late ex-wife, legendary "Queen of Soul" artist Aretha Franklin. They divorced in 1984 after six years.
Glynn began his film career in the 1970s with such "blaxploitation" flicks as Honky (1971), Five on the Black Hand Side (1973), Together Brothers (1974) and Thomasine & Bushrod (1974), then advanced to the cult classic Cooley High (1975), plus The River Niger (1976) and A Hero Ain't Nothin' But a Sandwich (1977). TV-movies included the prestigious Centennial (1978), Attica (1980) and Minstrel Man (1977), for which he won his third NAACP Image Award, Race to Freedom: The Underground Railroad (1994), Buffalo Soldiers (1997) and Freedom Song (2000). In the midst of these early movie roles, he was once considered to play "Han Solo" in the original "Star Wars" film.
A regular fixture on the smaller screen, Glynn appeared in a host of guest appearances during this time included "The Mod Squad," "The Rookies," "The Blue Knight," "The Paper Chase," "The Greatest American Hero," "Fame," "T.J. Hooker," "Hail to the Chief," "The Redd Foxx Show," "Matlock," "Murder, She Wrote" and "Touched by an Angel."
The actor has also participated in such mainstream, audience-favorite, adrenalin-packed movies as Gremlins (1984), Out of Bounds (1986), Deep Cover (1992), How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998), Subterfuge (1996), Sahara (2005), Burlesque (2010), Super 8 (2011) and Bumblebee (2018) along with the more critically acclaimed films Kings of the Evening (2008), Race (2016) and Windows on the World (2019) have also come across his path. Adept at professional roles, Glynn has enjoyed recurring roles into the millennium on such TV series as The Wire (2002) (as a mayor); Episode #1.422 (as a judge); and Mr. Mercedes (2017) (as another judge).
Glynn has returned from time to time to the theatre (2013, "Joe Turner's Come and Gone"). The father of four children from his first and present third marriages (between singer Franklin).- Writer
- Producer
- Director
John Hughes was an American film director, film producer, and screenwriter. He was credited for creating some of the most memorable comedy films of the 1980s and the 1990s, when he was at the height of his career. He had a talent for writing coming-of-age stories, and for depicting fairly realistic adolescent characters.
In 1950, Hughes was born in Lansing, Michigan. The city's main employers for much of the 20th century were manufacturing plants for automobiles. Lansing housed the headquarters of companies such as Oldsmobile and the REO Motor Car Company. Hughes' father John Hughes Sr. was a salesman, while Hughes' mother Marion Crawford worked as a volunteer for charity organizations.
Hughes had three sisters and no brothers. His family moved often. For most of his childhood, the Hughes family lived in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, a commuter suburb of Metro Detroit. According to an interview of Hughes, he was the only boy in his neighborhood while growing up. He was surrounded by girls and "old people," and there was no boys around for him to befriend. He spend a lot of time alone, and used his active imagination to keep himself entertained.
In 1963, the Hughes family moved to Northbrook, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. Hughes attended first the Grove Middle School, and then the Glenbrook North High School. His high school experiences reportedly provided inspiration for his teen-themed films of his career. According to interviews with Hughes' friends, Hughes had a poor relationship with his parents who often criticized him.
As an adolescent, Hughes felt the need to escape his problems. He became an avid film fan, as he found that films satisfied his need for escapism. He was a fan of both the Rat Pack (an informal group of actors and singers), and the music group The Beatles.
After graduating high school, Hughes enrolled in the University of Arizona. He eventually dropped out of the University, and tried to make a living as a comedy writer. He wrote jokes for professional comedians, such as Rodney Dangerfield (1921 - 2004) and Joan Rivers (1933 - 2014).
In 1970, Hughes was hired by the advertising company Needham Harper & Steers (1925-1986). That same year, Hughes married his former high school classmate Nancy Ludwig. Hughes worked in the advertising industry for several years. In 1974, Hughes was hired by the advertising agency Leo Burnett Worldwide. This company's most notable clients included the Pillsbury Company, StarKist, Heinz, Green Giant, and Philip Morris.
As a marketing agent, Hughes was assigned to handle Virginia Slims, a brand of cigarettes produced by Philip Morris. The assignment required him to regularly travel to New York City, where Philip Morris' headquarters were located. Hughes took the opportunity to visit the offices of the popular humor magazine "National Lampoon" (1970-1998) in New York City. He successfully negotiated a new position as a regular contributor to the magazine.
Hughes reportedly impressed the magazine's editors by producing quality work at a fast pace. Among his first short stories was "Vacation '58," based on his recollections of his family's vacations during his childhood. The story was eventually adapted into the road comedy film "National Lampoon's Vacation" (1983).
"National Lampoon" co-produced films written by their staff writers. Hughes provided the script for the black comedy "National Lampoon's Class Reunion" (1982), depicting a serial killer who targets his former classmates. The film was poorly received and under-performed at the box office, but it inspired Hughes to try to make a career as a screenwriter.
Hughes subsequently wrote the scripts for both "National Lampoon's Vacation" (1983) and "Mr. Mom" (1983), comedy films which were box office hits. He then signed a contract for three films with the studio Universal Pictures. He made his directing debut in the coming-of-age comedy film "Sixteen Candles" (1984). The film depicted the misadventures of high school sophomore Samantha "Sam" Baker (played by Molly Ringwald). It performed well at the box office, and was well-received by critics.
Hughes quickly established himself as a leading director of teen films. His films "The Breakfast Club" (1985), "Weird Science" (1985), and "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" (1986) are considered classics of the genre. To cover new ground, he then directed "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" (1987), featuring a duo of adult protagonists. The stars of the film were experienced comic actors Steve Martin and John Candy. The film was a hit. More importantly, Hughes and Candy became close friends. They would often work together in subsequent films.
Hughes' next film as a director was "She's Having a Baby" (1988), about the life of a newlywed couple. The film fared poorly financially and was considered rather "blasé" by critics. Hughes made a comeback with "Uncle Buck" (1989), about a lifelong bachelor who has to take care of his two nieces and a nephew. The film was a box office hit, earning about 80 million dollars at the box office.
Hughes' final film as a director was the comedy-drama "Curly Sue" (1991), about homeless con artist Bill Dancer (played by Jim Belushi) who desperately tries to keep the custody of his surrogate daughter. While moderately successful at the box office at the box office, the film was widely ridiculed for being overly sentimental.
In the 1990s, Hughes found success as a screenwriter, scripting several box office hits. Among his most notable films in this period were "Home Alone" (1990) and "Beethoven" (1992), with both films starting lucrative media franchises. Hughes also wrote the scripts of the sequels "Home Alone 2: Lost in New York" (1992) and "Home Alone 3" (1997). He also scripted a notable comic strip adaptation, "Dennis the Menace" (1993). It was based on the long-running comic strip "Dennis the Menace" (1951-) by Hank Ketcham (1920-2001).
In 1994, Hughes moved to the Chicago metropolitan area. At about that time, he started actively avoiding publicity. He rarely gave any interviews until the end of his life. In 1995, Hughes co-founded the production company Great Oaks Entertainment, which mainly handled co-production of Disney produced films. Hughes handled the scripting of two of the company's films: "101 Dalmatians" (1996) and "Flubber" (1997). Both were remakes of older films.
In 1997, Hughes severed his partnership with Ricardo Mestres. A year later, their final co-production, "Reach the Rock," was released. The film was scripted by Hughes, though it was uncharacteristically dramatic for a Hughes film. The film depicted the conflict between an alienated young man and a police chief.
In the 2000s, Hughes only scripted three more films. The most notable among them the romantic drama "Maid in Manhattan" (2002), a hit for protagonist Jennifer Lopez. It earned about 164 million dollars.
In August 2009, Hughes visited New York City with his wife. He wanted to visit one of his sons who lived there, and to meet his new grandson. On August 6, Hughes suffered a heart attack while walking in Manhattan. He was transported to Roosevelt Hospital, but died shortly after. He was fifty-nine years old.
Hughes was buried in Lake Forest Cemetery, a rural cemetery located in Lake Forest, Illinois. He was survived by his wife, their two children, and several grandchildren.- Producer
- Director
- Actor
John Landis began his career in the mail room of 20th Century-Fox. A high-school dropout, 18-year-old Landis made his way to Yugoslavia to work as a production assistant on Kelly's Heroes (1970). Remaining in Europe, Landis found work as an actor, extra and stuntman in many of the Spanish/Italian "spaghetti" westerns. Returning to the US, he made his feature debut as a writer-director at age 21 with Schlock (1973), an affectionate tribute to monster movies. Clad in a Rick Baker-designed gorilla suit, Landis starred as "Schlockthropus", the missing link. After working as a writer, actor and production assistant, Landis made his second film, The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977), in collaboration with the Zucker brothers and Jim Abrahams. Landis rose to international recognition as director of the wildly successful National Lampoon's Animal House (1978). With blockbusters such as The Blues Brothers (1980), Trading Places (1983), Spies Like Us (1985), Three Amigos! (1986) and Coming to America (1988), Landis has directed some of the most popular film comedies of all time. Other feature credits include Into the Night (1985), Innocent Blood (1992) and the comedy/horror genre classic An American Werewolf in London (1981), which he also wrote. In 1986, Landis and four others were acquitted of responsibility for the tragic accident that occurred in Landis' segment of Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) in which actor Vic Morrow and two child actors were killed. The film also included segments directed by Joe Dante, George Miller and Steven Spielberg. In 1983 Landis wrote and directed the groundbreaking music video of Michael Jackson's Michael Jackson: Thriller (1983), created originally to play as a theatrical short. "Thriller" forever changed MTV and the concept of music videos, garnering multiple accolades including the MTV Video Music Awards for Best Overall Video, Viewer's Choice, and the Video Vanguard Award - The Greatest Video in the History of the World. In 1991 "Thriller" was inducted into the MVPA's Hall of Fame. In 1991, Landis collaborated again with Jackson (I) on Michael Jackson: Black or White (1991), which premiered simultaneously in 27 countries with an estimated audience of 500 million. Although it was not the first motion picture or music video to do so, "Black or White" popularized the use of "digital morphing", where one object appears to seamlessly metamorphoses into another; the project raised the standard for state-of-the-art special effects in music videos. Landis has also been active in television as the executive producer (and often director) of the Ace- and Emmy Award-winning HBO series Dream On (1990). Other TV shows produced by his company, St. Clare Entertainment (St. Clare is the patron saint of television), include Weird Science (1994), Sliders (1995), Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show (1997), Campus Cops (1995) and The Lost World (1998). In 2004 the Independent Film Channel broadcast his feature-length documentary about a used-car salesman, Slasher (2004). Deer Woman, an original one-hour episode written by Landis and his son Max Landis, inaugurated the Masters of Horror (2005) series in the fall of 2005 on Showtime. "Masters of Horror" also features one-hour episodes by John Carpenter, Roger Corman, Tobe Hooper, Don Coscarelli, Mick Garris, Dario Argento and Larry Cohen.
A sought-after commercial director, Landis has worked for a variety of companies including Direct TV, Taco Bell, Coca Cola, Pepsi, Kellogg's and Disney. He was made a Chevalier dans l'ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government in 1985, awarded the Federico Fellini Prize by Rimini Cinema Festival in Italy and was named a George Eastman Scholar by The Eastman House in Rochester, New York. Both the Edinburgh Film Festival and the Torino Film Festival have held career retrospectives of his films. In 2004 Landis received the Time Machine Career Achievement Award at the Sitges Film Festival in Spain. Sent as a filmmaker/scholar by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences, Landis has lectured at many film schools and universities including Yale, Harvard, NYU, UCLA, UCSB, USC, Texas A&M, The North Carolina School of the Arts, University of Miami and Indiana University. He has also acted as a teacher and advisor to aspiring filmmakers at the Sundance Institute in Utah. Additionally, he edited Best American Movie Writing 2001 (Thunder's Mouth Press, NY, 2001). Born in Chicago, Illinois, Landis moved to Los Angeles soon after his birth. He is married to Deborah Nadoolman, an Oscar-nominated costume designer, and President of the Costume Designers Guild, with whom he has two children.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Page Hannah was born on 13 April 1964 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. She is an actress, known for Creepshow 2 (1987), Shag (1988) and Fame (1982). She has been married to Lou Adler since 28 March 1992. They have four children.- Producer
- Actor
- Additional Crew
Ted Field was born on 1 June 1953 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He is a producer and actor, known for Cocktail (1988), Mr. Holland's Opus (1995) and The Chronicles of Riddick (2004).- Tracy Tweed was born on 10 May 1965 in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. She is an actress, known for Johnny Mnemonic (1995), Night Rhythms (1992) and Night Eyes Three (1993).
- Chantelle Fields is known for 54 Days (2014).
- Actress
- Music Department
- Producer
Holly Robinson Peete was born on 18 September 1964 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for 21 Jump Street (1987), For Your Love (1998) and 21 Jump Street (2012). She has been married to Rodney Peete since 10 June 1995. They have four children.- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Philip Casnoff was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. He is an actor and director, known for Strong Medicine (2000), Sinatra (1992) and The Post (2017). He has been married to Roxanne Hart since 7 August 1983. They have two children.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Compact Italian-American actor Joe Pesci was born February 9, 1943 in Newark, New Jersey, to Mary (Mesce), a part-time barber, and Angelo Pesci, a bartender and forklift driver. Pesci first broke into entertainment as a child actor, and by the mid-1950s, was starring on the series "Star Time Kids". In the mid-1960s, he released a record under the stage name Joe Ritchie titled "Little Joe Sure Can Sing", and was also playing guitar with several bands, including Joey Dee and The Starliters. He even joined with his friend Frank Vincent to start a vaudeville-style comedy act, but met with limited success (interestingly, Pesci and Vincent would later go on to co-star in several gangster films together, including Goodfellas (1990) and Casino (1995).
Pesci's first film role was as an uncredited dancer in Hey, Let's Twist! (1961) and then he had to wait another 15 years for a minor role in The Death Collector (1976). His work in the second film was seen by Robert De Niro, who convinced director Martin Scorsese to cast him as Joey LaMotta in the epic boxing film Raging Bull (1980), which really got him noticed in Hollywood. He played opposite Rodney Dangerfield in Easy Money (1983), was with buddy DeNiro again in Once Upon a Time in America (1984), nearly stole the show as con man Leo Getz in Lethal Weapon 2 (1989) and scored a Best Supporting Actor Oscar playing the psychotic Tommy DeVito in Goodfellas (1990).
His comedic talents shone again in the mega-popular Home Alone (1990), and he put in a terrific performance as co-conspirator David Ferrie in JFK (1991). Pesci was back again as Leo Getz for Lethal Weapon 3 (1992), and was still a bumbling crook in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), and had a minor role in the Robert De Niro-directed A Bronx Tale (1993). He was lured back by Scorsese to play another deranged gangster named Nicky (based on real-life hood Tony Spilotro [aka "The Ant"]) in the violent Casino (1995), and starred in the comedies 8 Heads in a Duffel Bag (1997) and Gone Fishin' (1997), although both failed to fire at the box office.
Pesci returned again as fast-talking con man Leo Getz in Lethal Weapon 4 (1998). In 1999, he announced his retirement from acting and since then, he appeared only occasionally in films, including a cameo appearance in The Good Shepherd (2006). He also appeared in the music documentary I Go Back Home: Jimmy Scott (2016).- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Daniel Stern was born in Bethesda, Maryland, to a social worker father and a day care manager mother. He has been acting professionally since the age of seventeen. Following his high school graduation, he auditioned for the Washington Shakespeare Festival seeking a job as a lighting engineer but ended up as "a strolling player with a lute" in their production of "As You Like It." Shortly thereafter, he made his way to New York where he "took a couple of acting lessons" and began to assemble an impressive portfolio of such off-Broadway credits as "Split," "Frankie and Annie," "The Mandrake," and "The Old Glory." In addition, director Peter Yates cast him as one of the four Indiana teenagers in the highly acclaimed film Breaking Away (1979). Variety in acting roles appeals to Stern. Following "Breaking Away," he appeared in Woody Allen's Stardust Memories (1980), Claudia Weill's It's My Turn (1980) and John Schlesinger's Honky Tonk Freeway (1981) before returning to New York to appear off-Broadway in the two character play "How I Got That Story," which led to critical acclaim and a starring role in Barry Levinson's Diner (1982). Other film credits include I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can (1982), Blue Thunder (1983), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), The Boss' Wife (1986), The Milagro Beanfield War (1988), Born in East L.A. (1987) and D.O.A. (1988) In addition to his voice-over work on the series, Stern directed several episodes of the popular and critically acclaimed television comedy, The Wonder Years (1988).- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
John Heard was a very talented actor who established himself as a respected thespian in the late 1970s and early '80s, though he is perhaps better known for his turn as Peter McCallister, Kevin McCallister's (Macaulay Culkin) father in the Home Alone (1990) movies.
John was born in Washington, D.C., to Helen (Sperling), who acted in community theatre, and John Heard, who worked for the U.S. government. John established himself with roles in the movies Between the Lines (1977), Chilly Scenes of Winter (1979) (a.k.a. "Head Over Heels"), and Heart Beat (1981) (in which he played Jack Kerouac to Nick Nolte's Neal Cassady and Sissy Spacek's Carolyn Cassady), before giving a tour de force performance as a hideously wounded (both physically and psychologically) Vietnam veteran in Cutter's Way (1981) (a.k.a. "Cutter and Bone") opposite Jeff Bridges. He also shined as Reverend Dimmesdale (one of America's first religious hypocrites) in the 1979 PBS version of Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter (1979).
Both "Chilly Scenes of Winter" and "Cutter's Way" (originally released as "Head Over Heels" and "Cutter and Bone", respectively) had been re-released under new titles after failing in their first go-rounds, such was the quality of the films. The two re-releases helped redefine the practice by which major studios handled smaller, art house quality pictures by releasing them carefully to select theaters with bespoke marketing campaigns so they reached the proper audience. (Studios would later develop their own art film-independent film subsidiaries to handle such pictures, so they didn't "fall through the cracks" like the first releases of the two Heard films.)
By the early 1980s, Heard seemed on his way to establishing himself as a major American actor, if not on the path to movie stardom. At the time, there was a joke that involved confusing Heard with John Hurt and William Hurt because of the similarity of their last names. At the time these contemporaries were considered equal in terms of their star power.
In the early '80s, it would not have been unreasonable to predict that Heard would become an Oscar winner or a multiple nominee. He continued to work on A-List projects, playing the not-so-sympathetic son to Geraldine Page in The Trip to Bountiful (1985) (for which Page won her own Oscar) and Tom Hanks's adult rival in Big (1988), but by the latter part of the decade he had failed to establish himself as a leading man and was playing supporting roles. Also appearing on television, he was nominated for an Emmy for his turn as a corrupt police detective on The Sopranos (1999).
John Heard died on July 21, 2017, in Palo Alto, California.- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Timothy James Curry was born on April 19, 1946 in Grappenhall, Cheshire, England. His mother, Maura Patricia (Langmead), was a school secretary, and his father, James Curry, was a Methodist Royal Navy chaplain. Curry studied Drama and English at Birmingham University, from which he graduated with Combined Honors. His first professional success was in the London production of "Hair", followed by more work in the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Glasgow Citizens Repertory Company, and the Royal Court Theatre where he created the role of Dr. Frank-N-Furter in "The Rocky Horror Show". He recreated the role in the Los Angeles and Broadway productions and starred in the screen version entitled The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975). Curry continued his career on the New York and London stages with starring roles in "Travesties", "Amadeus", "The Pirates of Penzance", "The Rivals", "Love for Love", "Dalliance", "The Threepenny Opera", "The Art of Success" and "My Favorite Year". He also starred in the United States tour of "Me and My Girl". He has received two Tony Award nominations for best actor and won the Royal Variety Club Award as "Stage Actor of the Year".
A composer and a singer, Tim Curry toured the United States and Europe with his own band and released four albums on A&M Records. In addition to an active movie and television career, he is a sought-after actor for CD-ROM productions. His distinctive voice can be heard on more than a dozen audio books, and in countless animated television series and videos. He lives in Los Angeles, California.- Irish character actress Brenda Fricker was born in Dublin, and gained experience in Irish theatre and with the National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company, and the Court Theatre Company in Great Britain. Brenda received great acclaim for her Oscar-winning supporting performance as the determined mother of a son afflicted with cerebral palsy in My Left Foot (1989). Venturing to Hollywood in the 1990s, she played a homeless woman befriended by kid-on-the-loose Macaulay Culkin in the sequel Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) and followed up with a more zany mother role in the little-seen So I Married an Axe Murderer (1993). Having acted on English TV on the BBC series Casualty (1986), Fricker began conquering US TV with roles in the American Playhouse (1980) presentation Lethal Innocence (1991) and the miniseries Alexander Graham Bell: The Sound and the Silence (1991). Fricker offered memorable support as Albert Finney's exasperated sister in A Man of No Importance (1994) (1994) and appeared in support of Robin Wright in Pen Densham's Moll Flanders (1996) and as Matthew McConaughey's secretary in Joel Schumacher's A Time to Kill (1996) (both 1996).
- Actress
- Writer
- Producer
Canadian actress, writer, and comedian, Catherine O'Hara gained recognition as one of the original cast members on the Canadian television sketch comedy show SCTV (1976). On the series, she impersonated the likes of Lucille Ball, Tammy Faye Bakker, Gilda Radner, Katharine Hepburn, and Brooke Shields. O'Hara stayed with the show for its entirety (1976-1984). She went on to devote her talents to several films directed by Tim Burton, including Beetlejuice (1988), The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) and later, Frankenweenie (2012). O'Hara also frequently collaborated with director and writer, Christopher Guest, appearing in his mockumentary films, three of which earned her awards and nominations; Waiting for Guffman (1996), Best in Show (2000), A Mighty Wind (2003), and For Your Consideration (2006). Recently, O'Hara can be seen on the Canadian television comedy series Schitt's Creek (2015). Her work in the series earned two Canadian Screen Awards for Best Lead Actress (2016 and 2017).- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Devin Ratray was born on 11 January 1977 in New York City, New York, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for Nebraska (2013), R.I.P.D. (2013) and Masterminds (2015).- Hillary Wolf was born on 7 February 1977 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. She is an actress, known for Home Alone (1990), Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) and Big Girls Don't Cry... They Get Even (1991). She has been married to Chris Saba since 2002. They have two children.
- Maureen Elisabeth Shay was born on 6 May 1978 in Rochester, Minnesota, USA. She is an actress, known for Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992).
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Michael C. Maronna was born in Brooklyn, New York, the oldest of three children, and began acting at the tender age of five. He attended public schools in Brooklyn and Queens while working on commercials, soap operas, and eventually on Broadway. After beginning 7th grade at Hunter College High School in Manhattan, Michael was cast in the Nickelodeon TV show The Adventures of Pete & Pete (1992) in 1989 for what began as a 60-second show between cartoons. He also appeared in Home Alone (1990) and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) as Jeff McCallister, Kevin's mean brother.
"Pete & Pete" began full production as a series in 1993, with Maronna in the title role, which appeared on Nickelodeon for three seasons. After graduating from Manhattan's City-as-School, Michael began working with lights as an electrician on films. His first job in that position was on the film Six Ways to Sunday (1997), which was directed by "Pete & Pete" alumnus Adam Bernstein, for which Maronna also auditioned for the lead role of Harry.
Michael was attended SUNY Purchase in Westchester County and studied documentary filmmaking in the Theater Arts and Film Conservatory from 1997-2001. He also appeared in several popular Ameritrade commercials in 1998 and 1999, which lead to an appearance with President Adam Bernstein in a White House Correspondents' Dinner video in the year 2000.
While attending SUNY Purchase, he played Jeff in Slackers (2002). Michael also did a memorable turn appearing as the Bagel Guy in the 2002 feature film 40 Days and 40 Nights (2002). He also appeared in several independent films, which include What Alice Found (2003), directed by A. Dean Bell, and Le New Yorker (1998), directed by Benoît Graffin. Maronna joined Local 52 IATSE in 2007 as an electrician and has since been working on films and TV in the NYC area, as always. He still lives in Brooklyn.- Gerry Bamman was born on 18 September 1941 in Independence, Kansas, USA. He is an actor, known for Home Alone (1990), Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) and The Secret of My Success (1987).
- Manager
- Actress
Terrie Snell was born on 10 January 1944 in the USA. She is a manager and actress.- Jedidiah Cohen was born on 30 November 1975 in Michigan, USA. He is an actor, known for Home Alone (1990), Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) and No Vladimir (2000). He has been married to Kate Dawson since 25 February 2007.
- Actress
- Writer
- Producer
Senta has been in show business since she was six months old. She kicked off her career in Chicago with a diaper commercial showcasing her naked bottom. Senta must have done something right, as she has since appeared in more than one hundred national commercials...thankfully clothed. At the age of seven, she landed the role of "Molly" in the National Touring Company of Annie and racked up a whopping four hundred and eighty-seven performances all over the country. While pursuing her high school diploma at the Chicago Academy for the Arts, Senta co-starred in the blockbuster films, Home Alone and Home Alone 2, as "Tracy McCallister". After graduation at the age of sixteen, she migrated to LA to attend USC's School of Theatre, where she got her bachelors degree. Her most recent television credits include large recurring roles on MTV's Faking It and Nickelodeon's Bella & The Bulldogs. Senta has guest starred on numerous network and cable shows including Jane The Virgin, NCIS, Greek, Castle, The Mentalist, Rizzoli & Isles, The Ghost Whisperer, and Everybody Loves Raymond. She's incredibly proud of her work on the Emmy award-winning Beakman's World, as "Phoebe" the lab assistant, which is still in syndication all over the world. You can see her dubbed into Portuguese, it's true. Senta has appeared in the feature films Ten Years Later, Can't Hardly Wait, D.C. Cab, Boiler Maker, and Tequila Body Shots, just to name a few. Despite her continuous work in the entertainment industry, most of Senta's fans know her best from the ABC drama, My So-Called Life, in which she played Brian Krakow's love interest, "Delia". She is an alumna of The Second City and you can check her out on twitter: @sentammoses.- Actress
- Writer
- Composer
Diana Rein was born in Bucharest, Romania. She began her career in Chicago as an actress in Home Alone (1990), Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) and Dennis the Menace (1993). She moved to Los Angeles and continued acting in short films, TV, commercials and also wrote/produced and acted in her film Gypsy Gift. As of 2007 Diana began her songwriting/guitarist/recording artist career and has released 4 albums and multiple singles.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Anna Slotky was born on 30 June 1981 in Buffalo Grove, Illinois, USA. She is an actress, known for Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), Home Alone (1990) and The Torkelsons (1991). She has been married to James Reitano since 30 April 2011. They have one child.- Actor
- Soundtrack
This owl-faced comic actor enjoyed his first featured film role in the RKO production Too Many Girls (1940), in which he reprised the role of "JoJo Jordan" that he had played in the Broadway stage version of that musical. (Into the pantheon of pop-music standards came one that Bracken had introduced in "Too Many Girls", the melancholy "I Didn't Know What Time It Was"). But the then 20-year-old Eddie Bracken was by no means new to show business in general or Hollywood in particular. He had played in vaudeville and performed in nightclubs by the time he was 9, and had just later appeared on screen in four of the Hal Roach "Our Gang" comedy two-reeler film shorts. It was on account of his appearances in musicals and comedies as a shy, giggling, clumsy, stammering, sentimental, self-effacing, would-be hero that Bracken achieved popularity, not to say star status, among movie audiences of the 1940s. The director Preston Sturges served up those attributes of Eddie Bracken particularly well in two of Sturges's more memorable comedies. As "Norval Jones" in The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1943) (filmed in 1942; released 1944), Bracken portrays a man whose destiny others have foisted upon him. A certain "Trudy Kockenlocker" (played by Betty Hutton), having attended a party for military servicemen, later finds herself to be pregnant but has no recollection of who the father might be. So she persuades the always-befuddled Norval to take credit for the child and marry her. Somehow, Norval emerges a true hero in the end, but you'll have to see the film to discover why. As Norval Jones was physically unfit for military service, so also was "Woodrow Lafayette Pershing Truesmith", with Eddie Bracken in the role, in Preston Sturges's Hail the Conquering Hero (1944). Solely on the basis of his father's reputation as a World War I U.S. Marine hero, a group of saloon-hopping World War II-era U.S. Marines, led by a crusty senior-level sergeant (played to a tee by William Demarest), elevate the physical reject Truesmith into a modern, combat-decorated veteran, and then usher him into an election campaign for Truesmith's hometown mayoralty. The complications, including a love interest (in the person of actress Ella Raines, are by now well under way. As Eddie Bracken's age increased his popularity -- or perhaps that of the genre of film vehicles that was his forte -- decreased, and in 1953 he essentially retired from the screen, moving on to pursue theatrical ventures. But he would return to Hollywood eventually, and we have been fortunate to see him in character roles in theatrical and TV films through the 80's and 90's.- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Robert Michael "Rob" Schneider (born October 31, 1963) is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and director. A stand-up comic and veteran of the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live (1975), Schneider has gone on to a successful career in feature films, including starring roles in the comedy films Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo (1999), The Hot Chick (2002), and Grown Ups (2010).- Actress
- Soundtrack
Dana Ivey was born in Atlanta, Georgia. She decided at age six that she wanted to act, and throughout school she pursued it. She majored in theatre at Rollins College in Florida. She received a grant to study drama in England at the London Academy of Music and Art. She has received critical acclaim on the stage, winning many honors, such as a Tony Nomination, an Outer Critics award, a Drama Desk Award. She has appeared on such television shows as Law & Order (1990) and Frasier (1993). She currently lives in New York City.- Fred Krause was born on 6 May 1923 in Connellsville, Pennsylvania, USA. He was an actor, known for Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992). He was married to Audrey Elaine Ritenour. He died on 23 June 2015 in Connellsville, Pennsylvania, USA.
- James Cole was born on 7 August 1925 in Porum, Oklahoma, USA. He was an actor, known for Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), R.O.T.O.R. (1987) and Escape to Paradise (1995). He died on 24 January 2010 in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA.
- Ralph Foody was born on 13 November 1928 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was an actor, known for The Blues Brothers (1980), Home Alone (1990) and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992). He died on 21 November 1999 in Lexington, Kentucky, USA.
- Actress
- Additional Crew
Clare Hoak was born on 16 April 1965 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. She is an actress, known for Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), Tales from the Crypt (1989) and Cool World (1992).- Producer
- Actor
Bob Eubanks was born on 8 January 1938 in Flint, Michigan, USA. He is a producer and actor, known for Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), Payback (1990) and Roger & Me (1989). He has been married to Debbie James since 2004. They have one child. He was previously married to Irma Brown.- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
The nicknames, "The Prince of Pandemonium", "The Master of Mayhem" and "King of Camp and Confetti", are but a few valid applications that were thrust upon zany comedian Rip Taylor, whose flamboyant blend of burlesque and self-deprecating humor entertained audiences for over four decades. He headlined the top showrooms of Las Vegas, appeared on scores of television shows, starred in various musical stage slapstick comedies and even toyed with dramatic material over the years.
He was born Charles Elmer Taylor, Jr. in Washington, D.C., on January 13, 1931 to Charles Elmer Taylor Sr. and Elizabeth Evans Taylor. He began his career by tossing out one-liners in nightclubs and had his first big break on Ed Sullivan's The Ed Sullivan Show (1948) TV show in 1964. The tacky costumes, ridiculous props, handlebar mustache, wacky wigs and manic confetti-tossing didn't take long to follow as professional trademarks, and they soon made their way into the 1970s pop culture.
Frequently appearing on television, he appeared in everything from variety shows to talk shows (Merv Griffin and David Letterman) to sitcoms like The Monkees (1965). He was the gag man who delightfully wrangled out of every groan-inducing one-liner there was, eventually finding the perfect avenue for his brand of insanity via producer Chuck Barris and his syndicated TV shows of the 1970s and 1980s. Rip became a favorite panelist judge, along with Jaye P. Morgan, on Barris' The Gong Show (1976), and later served as host of the equally tacky The $1.98 Beauty Show (1978).
A mainstay in Las Vegas, whether as ringleader of a topless chorus line or opening act to a major entertainer, Rip also slayed 'em on Broadway ("Sugar Babies") and has demonstrated a fine singing instrument in musicals including "Anything Goes", "Oliver!" (as "Fagan"), "Peter Pan" (as "Captain Hook") and in a 1999 production of "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" (as "Pseudolus").
On a more serious side, he played Demi Moore's crusty boss in Indecent Proposal (1993) and showed up sans confetti as Kate Hudson's father in the Rob Reiner feature, Alex & Emma (2003).
For the most part, he continued merrily in such campy films as Barris' The Gong Show Movie (1980); the "Exorcist" spoof, Repossessed (1990), with Linda Blair and Leslie Nielsen; the foreign-made The Silence of the Hams (1994)and Jackass: The Movie (2002). Beginning in the early 1960s, when he first provided additional voices for The Jetsons (1962), Rip continued making voice-over work a viable means of income. His voice can be heard in such animated films as DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp (1990), Tom and Jerry: The Movie (1992) and Scooby-Doo and the Monster of Mexico (2003), and animated TV series as Whatever Happened to... Robot Jones? (2002) and The Emperor's New School (2006). He was nominated for an Emmy award for voicing "Uncle Fester" in the TV cartoon program, The Addams Family (1992).
Having suffered an epileptic seizure the week prior, 88-year-old Rip died of congestive heart failure on October 6, 2019, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Once briefly married to Las Vegas showgirl Rusty Rowe, whom he divorced in the early 1960s, Rip was involved in a long-term relationship with Robert Fortney at the time of his death.- Actress
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Sassy, dusky-voiced entertainer Jaye P. Morgan was not always so sassy, but today this is for which she is fondly remembered. She was born Mary Margaret Morgan in 1931 and began performing at an early age for family and friends. She eagerly entertained at school assemblies and, when she graduated from Verdugo Hills High School (California) in 1949, left to seek her fame and fortune on the cabaret circuit. She quickly got a regular singing gig with the Frank De Vol Orchestra and was soon charting her recordings. She first hit big with "Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries" in 1951. Other hits to follow were "The Longest Walk" and "That's All I Want from You". The now-popular song stylist soon took to TV, making her debut as a regular vocalist on Stop the Music (1949). She was a consistent guest performer on all the best variety showcases, including Perry Como and Ed Sullivan's shows, and in 1956 even managed to hostess her own variety program, The Jaye P. Morgan Show (1956), accompanied by her singing siblings "The Morgan Brothers (Duke, Bob, Charlie and Dick). She maintained a very proper, wholesome image, as expected, during these vital years. In the 60s, Jaye P. took a long sabbatical from the industry to regroup, with only occasional night club appearances to show for it. But, she came back swinging in the next decade, reinventing herself to a whole new generation. The new package was hipper, fresher, saucier, sexier, funnier and definitely crazier. She focused this time as an actress and comedienne. Wild-and-crazy producer Chuck Barris took a huge liking to this racy new package and made her household name all over again with his cult TV program The Gong Show (1976) and their zany offshoots. Jaye P. let it all hang out this time and Barris' shows were the perfect formats for her to pull out all the stops. Now 92 (2023), she has lost little of her zing. Her last appearance was a cameo in George Clooney's film Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002), an off-centered semi-biopic about Barris. Jaye P. Morgan...one of a kind and one heck of a dame. She definitely did it her way.- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
He symbolized the 70s American dream of success -- the former kid from the ghetto who rose to wisecracking TV superstardom. While in his element as the broadly strutting, gleamy-toothed J.J. Evans of the popular urban-styled sitcom Good Times (1974), Jimmie Walker lived the extremely good life. Following the series' demise, however, reality again checked in. Still and all, he has not self-destructed as others before him have and continues to enjoy a comedy career now approaching four decades.
Jimmie was born on June 25, 1947, in New York's tough South Bronx neighborhood. His ambitions were not originally to entertain. Basketball was his prime interest but the idea that a gawky, stringbean-framed teenager could become a hoop star did not seem realistic. Instead he abruptly quit school and worked an odd assortment of jobs until wisely returning to night classes at Theodore Roosevelt High School and redeeming himself with a diploma. The federally-funded Search for Education, Evaluation and Knowledge (SEEK) next came through for Jimmie as he was able to learn a trade: radio engineering/announcing. Within a year he was hired as an engineer for a small radio station, but gained a minor reputation on the sly as a funny guy and good writer. This side interest is what motivated Jimmie to try comedy performance.
He made his stand-up debut as an opening act on New Year's Eve in 1967 for "The Last Poets," a militant poetry group, and was such a hit that he stayed with the group for a year and a half building and polishing his jive-styled act. At one point Jimmie was seen at a Manhattan club by comedian David Brenner who referred him and others (such as Freddie Prinze) to Budd Friedman and his Improv stage in New York. Jimmie eventually became a regular. His debut shot on TV variety came with Jack Paar's show and his successful 1972 appearance propelled him to main attraction billing.
He was quickly checked out by the Norman Lear team and practically handed stardom on a silver platter with Good Times (1974), a spin-off of Esther Rolle's domestic character on the popular Maude (1972) series. Skinny, energetic and youthful-looking with plenty of harmless sass and attitude, Jimmie and the show were instant cross-over hits despite the fact that he was a 27-year-old playing the teenage son of Rolle. His catchphrase "Dyn-o-mite!" became a popular item in the American vernacular. Jimmie became such a major celebrity that Time Magazine named him "Comedian of the Decade." Clothing, belts, and even a talking doll that blurted out his familiar phrase were soon on the open market. To the dismay of other actors on the show, his exaggerated character stole prime focus and shifted the well-intentioned direction of a positive black family image into a much broader and stereotyped caricature. This caused dissension in the troops and both adult leads, Ms. Rolle and John Amos, departed the series (Rolle came back later). Nevertheless, the series managed to last six seasons.
During that time Jimmie made use of his ever-surging popularity with lightweight appearances elsewhere on primetime ("The Love Boat," "Fantasy Island") and on game shows ("The Match Game," "Tattletales"). He became a hot item in Las Vegas and even churned out a best-selling comedy album entitled, of course, "Dyn-o-mite!" His attempt at film stardom came with a top supporting role in Let's Do It Again (1975) starring Sidney Poitier and Bill Cosby, a comedy that also featured his TV dad John Amos. Jimmie was featured as a highly unlikely, scrawny-framed boxer promoted by Poitier and Cosby. As enjoyable as he was, it did not lead to other major film offers. Most of his later movies have been self-mocking guest parts or cameo bits in spoofs such as in Airplane! (1980), the Frankenstein take-off Monster Mash: The Movie (1995) and the slasher movie parody Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the Thirteenth (2000).
Upon the series' demise in 1979, Jimmie returned to the stand-up stage while looking for a sophomore TV hit. Unable to capitalize on his TV stardom, he instead found himself extremely pigeon-holed by the J.J. character. The short-lived B.A.D. Cats (1980), which had him playing a support role as a comic car thief-cum-repossessor, lasted only a month. The military comedy At Ease (1983) had Jimmie starring as a Sergeant Bilko-like conman. It too came and went quickly. Hoping the third time would be a charm, Jimmie was a bust again in the syndicated show Bustin' Loose (1987), based loosely on Richard Pryor's 1981 movie, with the comedian playing another of his genial con artists.
Jimmie's main focus has remained the stand-up circuit, touring an average of 25-30 weeks a year. The rubbery-faced, tunnel-mouthed comic continues to pop up occasionally on the late night talk show forum. In his spare time he writes scripts for TV and films.- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Ally Sheedy was born in New York City, to Charlotte (Baum), a press agent and writer, and John J. Sheedy, Jr., an advertising executive. She is of Russian Jewish (mother) and Irish and German (father) descent. While at New York's Bank Street School, twelve-year-old Ally Sheedy wrote about a mythical encounter between Queen Elizabeth I and an inquisitive mouse. The result, "She Was Nice to Mice", was published by McGraw-Hill and became an instant bestseller. Although it proved a springboard to an acting career, Sheedy's strongest memories of childhood remain those of "dancing and doing plays". From six until fourteen, she danced with the American Ballet Theatre and, during summers at Fire Island, she'd "get a bunch of kids together and stage shows on back lawns and porches". When she discovered that to stay with dancing meant staying with starvation diets, she shifted her focus to acting for good. Meanwhile, her book brought her requests from several publications. The Village Voice asked her to review movies and the New York Times wanted her to review children's books. The assignment she accepted was from Ms. Magazine, which requested an article about her mother and herself. It was an appearance on "The Mike Douglas Show (1961) to promote her book, however, that brought Sheedy work as a performer.
Signed by an agent who caught the show, she was sent out on television commercials, immediately. Only 15 at the time, she also performed off-Broadway and on a series of after-school specials. The day she turned 18, Sheedy packed her bags and headed for Los Angeles, where she enrolled in the drama department at USC, and soon landed roles in the television drama The Best Little Girl in the World (1981), The Day the Loving Stopped (1981), Splendor in the Grass (1981) and Homeroom (1981) and played a recurring character on Hill Street Blues (1981). The strength of her performances led directly to her film debut as Sean Penn's naive-but-knowing girlfriend, "J.C.", in Bad Boys (1983). That same year (1983), she starred as Matthew Broderick's zany partner in WarGames (1983). After starring as Rob Lowe's would-be romantic interest in Oxford Blues (1984), the withdrawn adolescent of The Breakfast Club (1985) and Gene Hackman's adoring daughter in Twice in a Lifetime (1985), Sheedy played her first fully-adult role in St. Elmo's Fire (1985), the 1985 hit about college friends.- Actress
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Leigh Zimmerman was born on 28 March 1969 in Madison, Wisconsin, USA. She is an actress, known for Proof (2005), United 93 (2006) and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992). She is married to Domenick Allen. They have one child.- Rod Sell is known for Groundhog Day (1993), Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) and Dillinger (1991).
- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Producer
Ron Canada's acting career spans over 40 years of work in Theater, Film and Television. From Adventures in Babysitting (1987), Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), National Treasure (2004), The American President (1995), Cinderella Man (2005), Wedding Crashers (2005), and Ted 2 (2015), Ron has memorably performed in many of the country's most popular films. He received the Dallas Film Critics Award for Lone Star (1996) (direcby John Sayles) and has performed memorably in films such as The Human Stain (2003), The United States of Leland (2003), The Hunted (2003), Man of the House (1995), Above Suspicion (1995), and The Last of the Finest (1990). Recent films include The Discovery (2017) (with Robert Redford), Crown Heights (2017), and The Empty Man (2020).
Television audiences have appreciated the wide range and variety of work he has done over the years in everything from Star Trek series including Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987), Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993), and Star Trek: Voyager (1995), to the more recent The Affair (2014) and Madam Secretary (2014). A partial list of television performances includes: The Orville (2017), The West Wing (1999), The Good Fight (2017), NYPD Blue (1993), Blue Bloods (2010), and The Strain (2014), just to name an additional few.
Ron's career began in the Theater and he returns to the stage whenever he can, as an actor, a director, and a producer. He has performed all over the country in classical and contemporary theater.
Prior to finding his passion as an actor, Ron was a professional Broadcast journalist working in Washington, D.C. for ABC Hearst Broadcasting, Maryland Public Broadcasting and Voice of America. He received both the 1977 Emmy Award and the 1978 Associated Press Broadcasters Award in that field. He began his acting career at Washington, D.C.'s famous Arena Stage after training in D.C. at The Folger Theatre.- Music Department
- Composer
- Actor
As one of the best known, awarded, and financially successful composers in US history, John Williams is as easy to recall as John Philip Sousa, Aaron Copland or Leonard Bernstein, illustrating why he is "America's composer" time and again. With a massive list of awards that includes over 52 Oscar nominations (five wins), twenty-odd Gold and Platinum Records, and a slew of Emmy (two wins), Golden Globe (three wins), Grammy (25 wins), National Board of Review (including a Career Achievement Award), Saturn (six wins), American Film Institute (including a Lifetime Achievement Award) and BAFTA (seven wins) citations, along with honorary doctorate degrees numbering in the teens, Williams is undoubtedly one of the most respected composers for Cinema. He's led countless national and international orchestras, most notably as the nineteenth conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra from 1980-1993, helming three Pops tours of the US and Japan during his tenure. He currently serves as the Pop's Conductor Laureate. Also to his credit is a parallel career as an author of serious, and some not-so-serious, concert works - performed by the likes of Mstislav Rostropovich, André Previn, Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, Gil Shaham, Leonard Slatkin, James Ingram, Dale Clevenger, and Joshua Bell. Of particular interests are his Essay for Strings, a jazzy Prelude & Fugue, the multimedia presentation American Journey (aka The Unfinished Journey (1999)), a Sinfonietta for Winds, a song cycle featuring poems by Rita Dove, concerti for flute, violin, clarinet, trumpet, tuba, cello, bassoon and horn, fanfares for the 1984, 1988 and 1996 Summer Olympics, the 2002 Winter Olympics, and a song co-written with Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman for the Special Olympics! But such a list probably warrants a more detailed background...
Born in Flushing, New York on February 8, 1932, John Towner Williams discovered music almost immediately, due in no small measure to being the son of a percussionist for CBS Radio and the Raymond Scott Quintet. After moving to Los Angeles in 1948, the young pianist and leader of his own jazz band started experimenting with arranging tunes; at age 15, he determined he was going to become a concert pianist; at 19, he premiered his first original composition, a piano sonata.
He attended both UCLA and the Los Angeles City College, studying orchestration under MGM musical associate Robert Van Eps and being privately tutored by composer Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, until conducting for the first time during three years with the U.S. Air Force. His return to the states brought him to Julliard, where renowned piano pedagogue Madame Rosina Lhevinne helped Williams hone his performance skills. He played in jazz clubs to pay his way; still, she encouraged him to focus on composing. So it was back to L.A., with the future maestro ready to break into the Hollywood scene.
Williams found work with the Hollywood studios as a piano player, eventually accompanying such fare such as the TV series Peter Gunn (1958), South Pacific (1958), Some Like It Hot (1959), The Apartment (1960), and To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), as well as forming a surprising friendship with Bernard Herrmann. At age 24, "Johnny Williams" became a staff arranger at Columbia and then at 20th Century-Fox, orchestrating for Alfred Newman and Lionel Newman, Dimitri Tiomkin, Franz Waxman, and other Golden Age notables. In the field of popular music, he performed and arranged for the likes of Vic Damone, Doris Day, and Mahalia Jackson... all while courting actress/singer Barbara Ruick, who became his wife until her death in 1974. John & Barbara had three children; their daughter is now a doctor, and their two sons, Joseph Williams and Mark Towner Williams, are rock musicians.
The orchestrating gigs led to serious composing jobs for television, notably Alcoa Premiere (1961), Checkmate (1960), Gilligan's Island (1964), Lost in Space (1965), Land of the Giants (1968), and his Emmy-winning scores for Heidi (1968) and Jane Eyre (1970). Daddy-O (1958) and Because They're Young (1960) brought his original music to the big theatres, but he was soon typecast doing comedies. His efforts in the genre helped guarantee his work on William Wyler's How to Steal a Million (1966), however, a major picture that immediately led to larger projects. Of course, his arrangements continued to garner attention, and he won his first Oscar for adapting Fiddler on the Roof (1971).
During the '70s, he was King of Disaster Scores with The Poseidon Adventure (1972), Earthquake (1974) and The Towering Inferno (1974). His psychological score for Images (1972) remains one of the most innovative works in soundtrack history. But his Americana - particularly The Reivers (1969) - is what caught the ear of director Steven Spielberg, then preparing for his first feature, The Sugarland Express (1974). When Spielberg reunited with Williams on Jaws (1975), they established themselves as a blockbuster team, the composer gained his first Academy Award for Original Score, and Spielberg promptly recommended Williams to a friend, George Lucas. In 1977, John Williams re-popularized the epic cinema sound of Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Franz Waxman and other composers from the Hollywood Golden Age: Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) became the best selling score-only soundtrack of all time, and spawned countless musical imitators. For the next five years, though the music in Hollywood changed, John Williams wrote big, brassy scores for big, brassy films - The Fury (1978), Superman (1978), 1941 (1979), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) ... An experiment during this period, Heartbeeps (1981), flopped. There was a long-term change of pace, nonetheless, as Williams fell in love with an interior designer and married once more.
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) brought about his third Oscar, and The River (1984), Empire of the Sun (1987), The Accidental Tourist (1988) and Born on the Fourth of July (1989) added variety to the 1980s, as he returned to television with work on Amazing Stories (1985) and themes for NBC, including NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt (1970). The '80s also brought the only exceptions to the composer's collaboration with Steven Spielberg - others scored both Spielberg's segment of Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) and The Color Purple (1985).
Intending to retire, the composer's output became sporadic during the 1990s, particularly after the exciting Jurassic Park (1993) and the masterful, Oscar-winning Schindler's List (1993). This lighter workload, coupled with a number of hilarious references on The Simpsons (1989) actually seemed to renew interest in his music. Two Home Alone films (1990, 1992), JFK (1991), Nixon (1995), Sleepers (1996), Seven Years in Tibet (1997), Saving Private Ryan (1998), Angela's Ashes (1999), and a return to familiar territory with Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) recalled his creative diversity of the '70s.
In this millennium, the artist shows no interest in slowing down. His relationships with Spielberg and Lucas continue in A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), the remaining Star Wars prequels (2002, 2005), Minority Report (2002), Catch Me If You Can (2002), and a promised fourth Indiana Jones film. There is a more focused effort on concert works, as well, including a theme for the new Walt Disney Concert Hall and a rumored light opera. But one certain highlight is his musical magic for the world of Harry Potter (2001, 2002, 2004, etc.), which he also arranged into a concert suite geared toward teaching children about the symphony orchestra. His music remains on the whistling lips of people around the globe, in the concert halls, on the promenades, in album collections, sports arenas, and parades, and, this writer hopes, touching some place in ourselves. So keep those ears ready wherever you go, 'cause you will likely hear a bit of John Williams on your way.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Actor
Julio Macat was born in Rosario, Argentina, on June 20, 1957, and moved to Los Angeles, California in 1971, at the age of 14. Macat attended Beverly Hills High School and UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television.
Macat began his career at the age of 19 working as a camera technician at Filmart. In 1981, he worked with cinematographer Mario Tosi for five years, and later John Alcott, before working becoming cinematographer for four films under the direction of Russian director Andrey Konchalovskiy, such as Runaway Train (1985) and Tango & Cash (1989).- Editor
- Director
- Editorial Department
Raja Gosnell started his film career as an assistant editor in the late 1970s. His first credit as a film's main editor was the romantic comedy "The Lonely Guy" (1984), for director Arthur Hiller. During the 1980s, Gosnell served as editor in films directed by Tom Laughlin, David Worth, Bob Dahlin, Bert Convy, Christopher Leitch, Annabel Jankel, Rocky Morton, Phillip Schuman, and Chris Columbus.
For Columbus he edited the comedy film "Heartbreak Hotel" (1988), which features a 1970s teenager kidnapping singer Elvis Presley, to bring home as a gift for his mother. During the 1990s, Gosnell would serve as editor in several more film by Columbus.
The 1990s started with Gosnell working as editor in two high-profile projects: "Pretty Woman" (1990) by Garry Marshall, and "Home Alone" (1990) by Chris Columbus. Both turned out to be among the major hits of the year 1990. He then worked in the Columbus' films "Only the Lonely" (1991), "Home Alone 2: Lost in New York" (1992), "Mrs. Doubtfire" (1993), and "Nine Months" (1995). Gosnell had few other editing credits during the 1990s and retired as an editor in 1995.
Gosnell resurfaced as a film director in his own right, hired to direct "Home Alone 3" (1997). The film was intended to continue the "Home Alone" franchise with a new set of characters and no connection to the events of the previous films. The film was a minor box office hit, and the series next continued with a television film. Gosnell was not asked to direct further "Home Alone" films.
His next directorial credit was the romantic comedy film "Never Been Kissed" (1999). The premise of the film is that a 25-year-old female newspaper editor poses as high school student to get a story. She ends up revisiting traumas from her teenage years and finding new love interests. The film was another minor box office hit.
Gosnell's next film was the action comedy "Big Momma's House" (2000). The premise is that a young, male FBI agent impersonates the elderly grandmother of a suspect, in order to investigate a case. The film was an unexpected box office hit (earning about 174 million at the worldwide box office), and received two sequels of its own. Gosnell had nothing to do with the sequels, but the film cemented his reputation as a commercially successful director.
Gosnell was next hired to direct "Scooby-Doo" (2002), an adventure comedy-film, combining live action with computer animation. The film earned about 275 million at the worldwide box office, and became one of the most commercially successful films released in 2002. It was the biggest hit yet in Gosnell's career.
Gosnell was next assigned to direct the sequel film "Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed" (2004), which also combined live action with computer animation. The film performed decently at the box office, but failed to match the commercial success of the original. Gosnell was not asked to direct further "Scooby-Doo films", and no further live-action "Scooby-Doo" productions were released for several years.
Gosnell's next film was the family comedy "Yours, Mine & Ours" (2005). The premise was the difficulties faced by a newlywed couple, whose children from previous relationships stand opposed to their marriage. The film stood out for an unusually large cast of child actors, as the premise was that the couple has 18 kids from previous relationships. Its box office performance was unremarkable.
Gosnell returned with a relatively low-budget film. the comedy "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" (2008). The premise of the film is that the pet dog of a wealthy American heiress is dog-napped and ends up wandering in Mexico. The film features live-action dogs with voice actors providing their dialogue. The film was an unexpected box office hit, and received two sequels. Gosnell was not involved with the sequels.
Gosnell's next film was more high-profile: the comic book adaptation "The Smurfs" (2011), combining live-action with animation. The premise was that a small group of Smurfs and their opponents were accidentally transported to modern day New York City, resulting in a culture clash. The film earned about 564 million dollars at the worldwide box office, the greatest hit yet in Gosnell's career.
Gosnell was next assigned to direct the sequel "The Smurfs 2" (2013). which has the Smurfs be confronted by the Naughties, evil counterparts of them created by magic. While the film earned about 347 million dollars at the worldwide box office, it failed to match the success of the original and performed bellow expectations at most markets. The live-action Smurf films were discontinued and Gosnell was left with no ongoing projects for a while.
Gosnell is supposed to make a comeback in 2018 with new comedy films. Most of his films as a director have been comedy films and he is strongly associated with the genre.- Actor
- Music Department
- Writer
Steven Van Zandt (né Lento; born November 22, 1950), also known as Little Steven or Miami Steve, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, producer, actor, activist and author. He is best known as a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, in which he plays guitar and mandolin. He is also known for his roles in several television drama series, including as Silvio Dante in The Sopranos (1999-2007) and as Frank Tagliano in Lilyhammer (2012-2014). Van Zandt has his own solo band called Little Steven and The Disciples of Soul, intermittently active since the 1980s. In 2014, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the E Street Band. Van Zandt has produced music, written songs, and had his own songs covered by Bruce Springsteen, Meat Loaf, Nancy Sinatra, Pearl Jam, Artists United Against Apartheid, and the Iron City Houserockers, among others.- Music Artist
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Born Darlene Wright in Los Angeles in 1938, she began her career as lead singer with the vocal trio, The Blossoms. After a spell as regulars on ABC TV's variety show Shindig! (1964) in the early 60s, the trio went on to sing backup on a variety of Elvis Presley recordings, and even backed him on his 1968 NBC-TV special Elvis: The Comeback Special (1968). For a while, they backed Tom Jones during some of his Las Vegas shows. The Blossoms have the rare distinction of recording a number one hit without ever receiving any credit. Years before the advent of Milli Vanilli, Darlene Love, Fanita James and Gracie Nitzsche sang vocals on the Gene Pitney-penned song "He's a Rebel" that was championed as The Crystals' first (and only) No. 1 US hit. Because of confounding logistics, record producer Phil Spector had to use The Blossoms because The Crystals were on the wrong coast of the US at the time. And since he was up against the clock in L.A. attempting to get his production on the airwaves before the Vikki Carr version, he had no choice. Love also sang vocals on the Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans top twenty hit "Zip-a-Dee Doo Dah".- 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".- Music Department
- Writer
- Composer
Leslie Bricusse was born on 29 January 1931 in Southfields, London, England, UK. He was a writer and composer, known for Doctor Dolittle (1967), Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) and Scrooge (1970). He was married to Yvonne Romain. He died on 19 October 2021 in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Alpes-Maritime, France.