Austrian-American celebrities
Celebrities with Austrian ancestry.
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Fred Astaire was born in Omaha, Nebraska, to Johanna (Geilus) and Fritz Austerlitz, a brewer. Fred entered show business at age 5. He was successful both in vaudeville and on Broadway in partnership with his sister, Adele Astaire. After Adele retired to marry in 1932, Astaire headed to Hollywood. Signed to RKO, he was loaned to MGM to appear in Dancing Lady (1933) before starting work on RKO's Flying Down to Rio (1933). In the latter film, he began his highly successful partnership with Ginger Rogers, with whom he danced in 9 RKO pictures. During these years, he was also active in recording and radio. On film, Astaire later appeared opposite a number of partners through various studios. After a temporary retirement in 1945-7, during which he opened Fred Astaire Dance Studios, Astaire returned to film to star in more musicals through 1957. He subsequently performed a number of straight dramatic roles in film and TV.- Actress
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Barbara Goldbach was born to Howard and Marjorie Goldbach in Queens, New York. Her father was a policeman. She met her first husband Augusto Gregorini in New York while she worked as a model and he was visiting from Italy for business tourism in 1966. Barbara followed him to Italy to be with him and they married in 1968. They had two children, Francesca Gregorini and Gianni Gregorini. During Gianni's birth, he had the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck, nearly choking him, and was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, although a later operation improved his condition.
In 1975, Barbara and Augusto Gregorini separated when she moved to Los Angeles, California. The couple separated in 1978, sharing custody of their two children. Barbara met Ringo Starr on the set of the comedy Caveman (1981), and they became a couple during the filming. Ringo and Barbara were on a holiday in December 1980 when her daughter called to inform them that John Lennon had been shot. Ringo and Barbara went to New York City to console Yoko Ono and Sean Lennon. Ringo and Barbara married on April 27, 1981.
Her acting career began in Italy, where she played Nausicaa in Odissea (1968), a television adaptation of Homer's epic poem "The Odyssey", directed by Franco Rossi and produced by Dino De Laurentiis. Bach co-starred with two other "Bond Girls", Claudine Auger and Barbara Bouchet in the mystery Black Belly of the Tarantula (1971) and had small roles in other Italian films. In 1977, she played Russian secret agent Anya Amasova in the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me (1977). The following year, she appeared in the war film Force 10 from Navarone (1978), which also starred Robert Shaw and Harrison Ford.- Producer
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Bret Baier was born on 4 August 1970 in Rumson, New Jersey, USA. He is a producer and writer, known for Moms (2017), House of Cards (2013) and Special Report with Bret Baier (1998). He has been married to Amy Baier since 9 October 2004. They have two children.- Actor
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Brian Baumgartner was born in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Brian is an actor and producer, known for The Office (2005), License to Wed (2007) and Four Christmases (2008). Brian has been married to Celeste Ackelson since 26 April 2014.- Christine Baumgartner was born on 4 March 1974. She was previously married to Kevin Costner.
- Nick Benedict was born on 14 July 1946 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was an actor, known for All My Children (1970), The Dukes of Hazzard (1979) and The Pistol: The Birth of a Legend (1991). He was married to Michelle Marie Dow and Ginger. He died on 14 July 2023 in Tehachapi, California, USA.
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Helmut Berger - Austrian born film actor, mostly known for starring in Luchino Visconti's films, which are now considered modern classics. Born Helmut Steinberger in Salzburg in 1944, he turned down a prospect of running a family hotel business and went to London where he worked as waiter to pay his way through drama school. Later he attended the University of Perugia in Italy and spent some time in France. His acting career began with French and Italian commercials and showed no signs of progress until he was picked up by Luchino Visconti out of pool of "extras" during the shooting of Sandra (1965) in 1964. Berger's relationships with Visconti, whose partner he remained for 12 years, brought him to the attention of press and allowed him to act in some Visconti's films such as The Damned (1969), Ludwig (1973) and Conversation Piece (1974). Visconti is said to view Berger as the very image of his idea of a "demonic, insane and sexually perverted" man. As a matter of fact Berger often portrayed anguished souls and sinister villains. His acting career continued throughout the 1970s but was temporarily broken up in the early 80s when he battled alcohol problem. He appeared in numerous French, Italian, German films and spent one season on American soap Dynasty (1981) but few directors used his gifts with the same skill as Visconti. His autobiography "Ich" (Me), in which he famously referred to his relationships with Visconti as "marriage" and claimed to be the director's widow, appeared in 1998. Berger is still very active appearing in TV series regularly. He also very modestly attributed his acting achievements to Visconti's directing.- Writer
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Todd Berger was born on 5 April 1979 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. He is a writer and director, known for It's a Disaster (2012), The Curse of Bridge Hollow (2022) and Cover Versions (2018).- Producer
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Academy Award, eight-time Emmy nominated, and Peabody, DGA, and Sundance winning filmmaker Joe Berlinger has been a pioneering force in nonfiction filmmaking for over three decades. In a recent Bloomberg profile, Berlinger was described as a "true crime hit factory" for Netflix, whose work has "redefined crime documentaries as a vehicle for social justice." The article quoted Adam Del Deo, VP for original documentary series at Netflix: "He's the gold standard in true crime. The moral compass that he has, the sense of responsibility he has for victims and for getting the story right and shining a light on it, that is something that is very unique." Berlinger is the creator of landmark documentaries such as Sundance winner BROTHER'S KEEPER, which influenced a generation of documentarians and the PARADISE LOST Trilogy, which helped lead to the release of the wrongfully-convicted West Memphis Three, and METALLICA: SOME KIND OF MONSTER, a film that redefined the rockumentary genre. CRUDE, which examined the dire issue of oil pollution in the ancestral homeland of thousands of Ecuadorians in the Amazon Rainforest, won 22 human rights, environmental and film festival awards and triggered a high profile First Amendment battle with the Chevron Corporation. Eight of Berlinger's films, including his Emmy-nominated 2012 Paul Simon documentary, UNDER AFRICAN SKIES, have premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and have earned three Grand Jury Prize nominations. He has also received multiple awards from the Directors Guild of America, the National Board of Review, the Independent Spirit Awards and the Critics Choice awards.
Berlinger holds a streak of chart-topping series on Netflix, attracting enormous audiences and igniting global conversation by becoming the first filmmaker to simultaneously cover the same subject in scripted and unscripted forms with CONVERSATIONS WITH A KILLER: THE TED BUNDY TAPES and EXTREMELY WICKED, SHOCKINGLY EVIL, AND VILE, which starred Zac Efron, Lilly Collins, and John Malkovich and sold to Netflix in a Sundance bidding war for almost $10 million. The recently released film GHISLAINE MAXWELL: FILTHY RICH and doc series BERNIE MADOFF: THE MONSTER OF WALL STREET also both debuted as the #1 documentaries upon their release.- Writer
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Mike Binder was born in 1958 in Detroit, Michigan, USA. He is a writer and actor, known for The Comedy Store (2020), Reign Over Me (2007) and The Upside of Anger (2005). He is married to Diane Murphy. They have two children.- Actor
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Zach Braff was born and raised in South Orange, New Jersey, to Anne Hutchinson (Maynard), a clinical psychologist, and Harold Irwin Braff, a trial attorney. His father is from Russia and Austria, while Zach's mother is from a family with deep roots in New England. Zach attended Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey, and also graduated from Northwestern University with a BA in film. Zach is known for playing Dr. John 'J.D.' Dorian on the television series Scrubs (2001), for writing, directing, and starring in the films Garden State (2004) and Wish I Was Here (2014), and for starring in the movies Chicken Little (2005), The Last Kiss (2006), and The Ex (1996).
He just completed directing the New Line/ Warner Bros. feature "Going In Style" starring Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine and Alan Arkin.- Actor
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David Brenner was born on 4 February 1936 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Worth Winning (1989), Theory of a Deadman: Not Meant to Be (2009) and Modern Family (2009). He was married to Ruth Davey, Elizabeth Slater and Geraldine (Geri) Judith Leno. He died on 15 March 2014 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA.- Bill Brown was born on 3 December 1952 in Fort Worth, Texas, USA. He was married to Ami Brown and Brenda Faye Britt. He died on 7 February 2021 in Alaska, USA.
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Julie Caitlin Brown was born on 27 January 1961 in San Francisco, California, USA. She is an actress and talent agent, known for Babylon 5 (1993), Thoughts of Suicide on an Otherwise Lovely Day (2010) and Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987).- Actor
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Reb Brown was born on 29 April 1948 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He is an actor, known for Space Mutiny (1988), Uncommon Valor (1983) and Yor: The Hunter from the Future (1983). He has been married to Cisse Cameron since 8 September 1979.- The attractive daughter of Austrian-Jewish émigrés who fled their homeland to Paris in 1937 before coming to the United States, "B" actress Vanessa Brown grew up exceptionally fluent in German, French, Italian and English. She developed an early interest in acting.
Auditioning for Lillian Hellman at age 13 sporting a perfect Teutonic accent, she then earned the chance to understudy Ann Blyth on Broadway in the classic stage drama "Watch on the Rhine" in 1941. Vanessa was eventually given a featured role and followed that with a tour of the play using the stage name of Tessa Brind.
A gifted student who also wrote and directed plays at her New York high school, she was a pure natural when she appeared on the radio quiz show "Quiz Kid." Hollywood and David O. Selznick took notice of her charms and transferred her to Hollywood High. She quickly made her film debut in Youth Runs Wild (1944) and continued in secondary teen roles with The Girl of the Limberlost (1945), I've Always Loved You (1946), Margie (1946), and The Late George Apley (1947), the last being her best and showiest of her career.
Following high school graduation, the now-billed "Vanessa Brown" progressed to young adult roles. She received lots of attention when she won the role of Jane opposite Lex Barker's loin-clothed swinger in Tarzan and the Slave Girl (1950), but abruptly left the series after only one attempt.
In the 1950s, Vanessa moved to TV where she became a perky panelist in such quiz shows as "Leave It to the Girls" (1949) and "Pantomime Quiz," in addition to regular dramatic programming. After a small part in the classic film The Bad and the Beautiful (1952), Vanessa found renewed attention on Broadway co-starring as the girl who lives upstairs in the phenomenal hit "The Seven Year Itch" opposite Tom Ewell. Of course, she wasn't given the chance to repeat her sexy role in Hollywood. The meteoric Marilyn Monroe was an absolute sensation in Vanessa's part opposite Ewell in the 1955 movie version.
On TV, Vanessa replaced Joan Caulfield on the sitcom My Favorite Husband (1953) with Barry Nelson, enjoying a couple of seasons of steady paychecks. Politics overrode all other interests in 1956 when she actively served as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention. Acting took a further back seat in the early 60s when she married her second husband, TV director Mark Sandrich Jr., and gave birth to two children. From then on she was glimpsed here and there in small, matronly roles in such films as Rosie! (1967) and Bless the Beasts & Children (1971). In addition she had some running parts on a couple of daytime and nighttime TV programs.
Vanessa's last years were marred by a second divorce (from Sandrich) and ill health. Diagnosed with breast cancer in 1988, she had successful surgery, but the cancer returned and the 71-year-old actress died on May 21, 1999 at the Motion Picture Country Home in Woodland Hills, California. - Writer
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James Bruner is an Award-Winning screen and television writer/producer known for writing everything from #1 Feature Films to Television romantic dramas. His credits include the iconic hit Chuck Norris films Missing in Action (1984), Invasion U.S.A. (1985) and The Delta Force (1986), and Ice Dreams (2009), a Hallmark Channel romantic drama.
Freedom, an original screenplay by James and his wife and partner, Elizabeth Stevens, won the Best American Screenplay Award at the 8 & Halfilm Awards in Rome in 2022 and won an Honorable Mention from the Paris Film Awards in 2022. It is also an Official Seelection of the 2022 Malta Film Awards, Milan Gold Awards and Hamburg Film Awards. Freedom also won Screenplay - Feature Award at the 2021 Prague International Film Festival and the 2021 World Film Carnival - Singapore Competition. Freedom was also a Selection or Finalist in 5 additional Film Festivals in 2021, as well as a Second Rounder in the Script Competition of the 2020 Austin Film Festival. Freedom is an epic story inspired by the exhilarating, romantic and tragic events of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. After reading the script, several Freedom Fighters, including Academy Award winning Cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond, commented "I felt like I was there."
James and Elizabeth are Co-Executive Producers on Montford: The Chickasaw Rancher (2021), an epic biographical Western feature film produced by The Chickasaw Nation in Oklahoma, which premiered on Netflix in November, 2021.
Ice Dreams, an original Hallmark Channel romantic drama, written by James and Elizabeth, was nominated for the $100,000 Epiphany Prize at the 19th Annual MovieGuide(c) Awards. They are also Executive Producers on Looking for Mr. Right (2014), a Hallmark Channel romantic comedy.
They were hired by legendary producer Richard D. Zanuck and Lili Fini Zanuck to write and Executive Produce Pretty Boy Floyd, a feature film about the infamous Depression-era outlaw, based on their original research.
James and Elizabeth also wrote, produced and directed the independent comedy feature Hollywood Dot Com (2007). They Co-Produced/Line-Produced the action/thriller feature Going Rogue in South Texas.
The duo worked with Columbia Tri-Star Television as writers and producers on developing the one-hour drama series Delta Force 2000.
His first book, written in collaboration with Elizabeth, Beeswing Makes Friends, is available from Archway Publishing in all formats. The entertaining and enlightening children's picture book helps children deal with major changes in their lives with the aid of Beeswing, the little magical golden dragon, and his friends, both human and fantastical.
James has prospected for gold in the Yukon Territory, taught advanced screenwriting at the Red Sea Institute of Cinematic Arts (RSICA) in Aqaba, Jordan, to graduate students from across the Middle East and North Africa, plus, wrestled a bear and lived to tell about it.- Director
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Peter Brunner, born in 1983, is a filmmaker and musician (Cardiochaos) based in Vienna. As the son of a psychoanalyst and a painting therapist, he was a former student of Michael Haneke at the Vienna Film Academy. His debut feature film, "My Blind Heart," premiered at Park City (Slamdance) and in the Tiger Competition at IFF Rotterdam in 2014, receiving multiple awards at international film festivals, including a nomination for the Golden Frog at the Camerimage Film Festival. His second feature film, "Those Who Fall Have Wings," won the Special Jury Prize at the 50th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in 2015. Brunner made his English-language debut with "To the Night" (2018), starring Caleb Landry Jones, which was described as "a psychological acid trip of a movie" by THR and premiered in competition at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. In 2021, his latest feature film, "Luzifer," starring Franz Rogowski, premiered in competition at Locarno and won the critics' prize.- Actress
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Susan Buckner was born on 28 January 1952 in Seattle, Washington, USA. She was an actress, known for Grease (1978), Deadly Blessing (1981) and The Brady Bunch Variety Hour (1976). She was married to Michael Robert Josephs. She died on 2 May 2024 in Miami, Florida, USA.- Actor
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Hans Conried was born in Baltimore and raised both there and in New York City. He studied acting at Columbia University, and played many major classical roles onstage. After having been a member of Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre Company, he was heard as Prof. Kropotkin on the radio show "My Friend Irma" and had various roles on the "Edgar Bergen - Charlie McCarthy Show". He was in the original cast of Cole Porter's 1953 Broadway hit "Can-Can" and stayed with the show for more than a year. Known for his sharp wit, Conried was in demand as an actor, panelist and narrator, appearing frequently in television series and movies throughout the 1960s and 1970s.- Actor
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Mark Ebner was born on 2 September 1959 in Providence, Rhode Island, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for The Supernaturals (1986), Rich and Acquitted (2016) and We Have Your Husband (2011). He has been married to Michelle Biscotti since 10 August 2014.- Actress
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Linda Eder was born in Tucson, Arizona on February 3, 1961 to Georg (from Austria) and Leila (from Norway). She grew up in Brainerd, Minnesota. When she was 16, she started her professional singing career, singing at Holiday Inns with a high school friend. She was later a contestant on Star Search and won 12 weeks in a row. A tape of her voice was sent to composer Frank Wildhorn who was beginning to create a Broadway musical of the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. When he heard her voice he knew he had found his leading lady. After about 10 years, "Jekyll and Hyde" was finally ready for Broadway. In April of 1997 it opened on Broadway and ran for about 3 years. Linda played Lucy Harris for all of J&H's touring and for a year on Broadway. She and Frank were married and Linda continued to record albums and go on tour. On August 23, 1999, Linda gave birth to a son named Jake Ryan Wildhorn. She can be seen on "My Favorite Broadway: The Leading Ladies" and "My Favorite Broadway: The Love Songs". She can be heard on her 6 solo albums: "Linda Eder", "And So Much More", "It's Time", "It's No Secret Anymore", "Christmas Stays the Same" and the recently released "By Myself: the Songs of Judy Garland". She can also be heard on every recording of "Jekyll and Hyde", as well as "The Civil War" and the concept recording of "The Scarlet Pimpernel", and "The Scarlet Pimpernel: Encore".- Actor
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Billy Eichner was born on September 18, 1978 and raised in New York City. He graduated from Stuyvesant High School (NY) in 1996. He is a graduate of Northwestern University, where he majored in Theater.
He is the star, executive producer and creator of Billy on the Street (2011), a comedy game show that airs on Fuse TV.
Billy will be a voiceover guest star on a season two episode of the animated series, Bob's Burgers (2011). He has been a regular performer at New York's Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. He is also a commentator on pop culture, via his Twitter account.- Producer
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For four decades, Michael Eisner has been a leader in the American entertainment industry. He began his career at ABC, overseeing shows including Happy Days, Barney Miller, and Roots. He became president of Paramount Pictures in 1976, turning out hit films including Raiders of the Lost Ark, Saturday Night Fever, and Grease. IN 1984 Michael assumed the position of Chairman and CEO of The Walt Disney Company and, in the ensuing 21 years, transformed it from a film and theme park company worth $1.8 billion into a global media empire now valued at over $170 billion. In 2005, Michael founded The Tornante Company, a privately held media & entertainment holding company. Today Tornante owns Topps, Inc., Portsmouth Football Club in England, and has a large and growing television division, including ownership of BoJack Horseman and Tucca and Bertie for Netflix, as well as Undone for Amazon. He and his wife, Jane, founded The Eisner Foundation in 1996 and recently focused the foundation on inter-generational solutions. He was born on March 7, 1942 in New York and later attended Lawrenceville School and Denison University. He and Jane have three sons, Breck, Eric and Anders and three daughters-in-law, plus nine grandchildren.- Actor
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Mike Faist, is a Tony Nominated actor from Columbus, Ohio. He moved to New York at 17 to pursue acting. Mike dropped out of the conservatory he was attending after two semester and was selling tickets for Off Broadway plays. Now he is a working actor in the Broadway show Dear Evan Hansen.- Producer
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Mike Fleiss was born on 14 April 1964 in Fullerton, California, USA. He is a producer and writer, known for Poseidon (2006), Shark Night (2011) and Hostel (2005). He has been married to Laura Kaeppeler since 6 April 2014. They have one child. He was previously married to Daphne Alexandra Vorbeck.- Art Fleming was born on 1 May 1924 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Airplane II: The Sequel (1982), MacArthur (1977) and International Detective (1959). He was married to Rebecca Lynn, Peggy Ann Ellis and Mildred Lauretta Goodrich. He died on 25 April 1995 in Crystal River, Florida, USA.
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Ken Fuchs is known for The Bachelor (2002), Celebrity Family Feud (2008) and The Bachelorette (2003).- A versatile actress, Annabeth Gish weathered the transition from child actor to adult, with a variety of dramatic and comedic roles on film and television.
Anne Elizabeth Gish was born on March 13, 1971 in Albuquerque, New Mexico and moved with her family to Cedar Falls, at the age of two. Her parents were both teachers; her father, Robert Gish, was an English professor at the University of Northern Iowa, her mother, Judy, taught at Malcolm Price Laboratory School. Performing in community theater productions throughout her childhood, Gish began her professional acting career, at the age of eight, by appearing in a number of commercials. She made her screen debut, at the age of 13, in the teen film, Desert Bloom (1986), opposite Jon Voight, and, in following years, has found success in film and television. Gish starred in the films, Hiding Out (1987), with Jon Cryer, Mystic Pizza (1988), with Julia Roberts, and on Shag (1988), opposite Phoebe Cates and Bridget Fonda. She also played the lead role, as rape victim "Lyn McKenna", in the TV movie, When He's Not a Stranger (1989). Gish went on to graduate from Cedar Falls' Northern University High School in 1989. In addition to acting, Gish took time to focus on her academic career and attended Duke University. Studying English as well as theater, she graduated with honors, in 1993, with a BA in English.
Gish returned to screens in the mid-1990s, with appearances in supporting roles, in films Wyatt Earp (1994), The Last Supper (1995) and critical praise biopic, Nixon (1995). The next year, Gish appeared in the ensemble cast movie, Beautiful Girls (1996). On television, Gish played the younger sister of Dana Delany's character in True Women (1997), a epic miniseries, based on the best seller novel by Janice Woods Windle. Her other credits include the miniseries, Scarlett (1994), the short-lived Patricia Wettig's drama series Courthouse (1995), the box office bomb superhero film, Steel (1997), a supporting role on Ashley Judd's success thriller, Double Jeopardy (1999), and several other independent films.
Most recently, Gish played "Special Agent Monica Reyes" on the cult series, The X-Files (1993) (2001-2002), for which she was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress on Television. She also starred in the Showtime drama, Brotherhood (2006) (2006-2008) and appeared in recurring roles on The West Wing (1999) (2003-2006), Flashforward (2009) (2010), Pretty Little Liars (2010) (2011-2012) and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000) (2011-2012). In 2012, she starred on the ABC drama series, Americana (2012), as Ashley Greene's character's mother. - Actor
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Squat, easygoing, crew-cut blond George Gobel was born George Leslie Goebel in Chicago, on May 20, 1919. Of Austrian/Scottish descent, his immigrant father, Hermann Goebel, was a butcher and grocer. Following graduating from Chicago's Theodore Roosevelt High School in 1937, the young man won initial Midwest attention singing (billed as "Little Georgie Gobel") on radio. He also toured with country music bands while billed as "The Littlest Cowboy."
George's career was interrupted by WWII, in which he served with the Army Air Force as a pilot instructor. While serving, he began doing stand-up for his fellow servicemen and later took to the nightclub, hotel and county fair circuit. His mild-mannered comic delivery, coupled with a cracker-barrel warmness, finally caught fire when the 33-year-old humorist hit the TV waves in 1952. From then on, he focused on comedy rather than singing.
George moved into the new TV medium in 1950 as a guest on "The Bill Slater Show," and continued on the talk/musical variety circuit appearing on the self-titled shows of Garry Moore, Spike Jones, and Dinah Shore. Increasing in popularity, he was given a show on his own The George Gobel Show (1954), winning an Emmy award for his efforts. His alter-ego was this hapless, unassuming, hen-pecked husband who tried to breeze through life the best he could. "Lonesome" George's folksy, non-threatening 'little man' appeal, while working so well on TV, did not extend itself on the large screen, although given a couple of chances. Two lightweight comedy showcases offered him as put-upon protagonists in The Birds and the Bees (1956) and I Married a Woman (1958) had a lukewarm reception.
After the cancellation of his TV series, Gobel lost severe momentum. From 1958 to 1961, he returned to the clubs and headlined in Las Vegas at the El Rancho Vegas and in Reno at the Mapes Hotel. In 1961, George co-starred with Sam Levene in the Broadway musical "Let It Ride, based on the 1935 original Broadway play "Three Men on a Horse." It had a fairly short run. He was also spotted on such TV shows as "Wagon Train," "Death Valley Days," "Daniel Boone," "F Troop," "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In," "The Red Skelton Show," "Love, American Style," "Chico and the Man" and "The Love Boat."
George made a resurgence on the late 1960's talk show circuit, notably trading off with Johnny Carson on his popular night time show. In 1974, George became a household name again after replacing the late Cliff Arquette (aka "Charley Weaver") as the bottom left square star on the popular game show The Hollywood Squares (Primetime/Nighttime) (1968). He also appeared as an actor in several TV movies, often cameos, including Benny and Barney: Las Vegas Undercover (1977), A Guide for the Married Woman (1978), Better Late Than Never (1979), The Invisible Woman (1983) and Alice in Wonderland (1985). He returned to film only twice -- in the comedy satire Rabbit Test (1978) (as the President) and the backwoods comedy Ellie (1984) (as a preacher).
George won a role on the short-lived series Harper Valley P.T.A. (1981) as a tipsy mayor. The comedian died in Encino, California, on February 24, 1991, at age 71 following bypass surgery. He was survived by his wife of nearly 50 years, Alice, and their three children.- Producer
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Desiree Gruber was born in 1969 in the USA. She is a producer and executive, known for Project Runway (2004), Seriously Funny Kids (2011) and Stylista (2008). She has been married to Kyle MacLachlan since 20 April 2002. They have one child.- Martin Gruber was born on 16 May 1970 in Munich, Bavaria, West Germany. He is an actor, known for Die Bergretter (2009), Frau Pfarrer & Herr Priester (2016) and Nackt. Das Netz vergisst nie. (2017). He has been married to Corinna Gruber since July 2010. They have one child.
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Brooklyn-born Buddy Hackett was known mainly as a nightclub comic, especially in Las Vegas, where he first performed in 1952 and wound up being one of the biggest headliners in that city's history. Hackett always referred to himself as a "saloon comic" and preferred the intimacy of his stage act--where he would often bring members of the audience up on stage with him--to films and television. He, along with Lenny Bruce, pioneered "blue" comedy, although Hackett's career did not suffer nearly as much as Bruce's did because of it. Hackett's act was noted for its, at the time, "adult" content, and at one point he was sued by a woman who attended one of his shows and said she was "shocked and offended" at the language (she lost the suit). However, contrary to his nightclub image, Hackett's appearances in films were mostly of the family type, such as his roles in the "Herbie" series of comedies for Disney about a Volkswagen Bug with a mind of its own and as Robert Preston's sidekick in The Music Man (1962). In 1954, Hackett was paired by Universal Pictures with Hugh O'Brian as a potential comedy team to replace the studio's reigning team of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, They actually did replace the famous team in the film Fireman Save My Child (1954), due to Costello's illness (Bud and Lou can still be glimpsed in long shots). Hackett took the part that Costello was playing (an eerie coincidence considering that more than 20 years later he would actually play Costello in the movie Bud and Lou (1978)) and O'Brian took Abbott's place, but the film was not successful and Universal dropped its plans to make a team out of the two. Hackett also had a showy part in the ensemble comedy It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963), partnered with Mickey Rooney. However, despite his success in movies, he still preferred his nightclub work and played Las Vegas and clubs in other cities whenever possible. He had a reputation among his fellow comics as a brilliant ad-libber and someone who knew exactly how far to take a joke before it ran its course, something not all comedians managed to do.
Buddy Hackett died at age 78 of natural causes at his beach house in Malibu, CA, on June 30, 2003.- Actor
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Thomas Mark Harmon was born on September 2, 1951, in Burbank, California, to football player and broadcaster Tom Harmon and actress and artist Elyse Knox (née Kornbrath). Harmon played college football and found success as one of TV's hunkiest actors. While many of his roles have relied on good looks, Harmon was impressive on St. Elsewhere (1982) as the suave doctor who contracted AIDS.
His sisters are Kelly Harmon, the Tic Tac model; and Kristin Harmon, a painter and ex-wife of musician Ricky Nelson. He is the uncle of musicians Matthew Nelson and Gunnar Nelson of the band Nelson, and actress Tracy Nelson. In 1987, Harmon and his wife, actress Pam Dawber, sued his sister Kristin Harmon, for custody of her youngest son, Sam.- Winsor Harmon is an American actor and former model forever known for his role as "Thorne Forrester" on The Bold and the Beautiful.
Harmon currently has two feature films coming out where he plays the leading man: "Sarogeto" as Michael Stanton, and "Cult Cartel".
Before assuming the role of "Thorne", Harmon portrayed "Del Henry" on the long-time daytime drama, All My Children. Prior to his AMC stint, he landed an international modeling contract that allowed him to travel extensively throughout Europe. He also filmed numerous commercials, including an infamous stint as The Marlboro Man. Harmon has guest starred on numerous hit television shows such as Baywatch Nights and Acapulco H.E.A.T. Most recently, Harmon starred in the independent film, Cathedral Canyon.
Born in and raised in Crowley, Louisiana, Harmon was transplanted in Rockwall, Texas as a teenager. As one of the country's top rated high school running backs, he was recruited by top colleges across the country. He decided to attend Texas A&M (Agricultural and Mechanical University) on a football scholarship.
Harmon is an avid athlete and enjoys all sports including cycling, motorcycles and triathlons. He is a die-hard college and professional football fan.
"Philanthropist" is a word that can also be attributed to Harmon. After Hurricane Katrina in 2008, Harmon, whose hometown was devastated, worked tirelessly with the Red Cross in helping those who had lost their homes due to the treacherous storm. He continues his efforts to help Katrina victims to this day.
Harmon celebrates his birthday on November 22. He stands 6' 0" and has blond hair and hazel eyes. - Producer
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Sam Haskell was born on 24 June 1955 in Mobile, Alabama, USA. He is a producer, known for Dolly Parton's Heartstrings (2019), Dolly Parton's Christmas of Many Colors: Circle of Love (2016) and Dolly Parton's Coat of Many Colors (2015). He has been married to Mary Donnelly Haskell since 28 December 1982. They have two children.- Actress
- Additional Crew
- Art Department
Jane Henson was born on 16 June 1934 in Queens, New York City, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for Run, Run (1965), Great Performances (1971) and Sam and Friends (1955). She was married to Jim Henson. She died on 2 April 2013 in Greenwich, Connecticut, USA.- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Pat Hingle (real name: Martin Patterson Hingle) was born in Miami, Florida, the son of a building contractor. His parents divorced when Hingle was still in his infancy (he never knew his father) and his mother supported the family by teaching school in Denver. She then began to travel (with her son in tow) in search of more lucrative work; by age 13 Hingle had lived in a dozen cities. The future Tony Award nominee made his "acting debut" in the third grade, playing a carrot in a school play ("At that time it didn't seem like much of a way to make a living!", he recalled). Hingle attended high school in Texas and in 1941 entered the University of Texas, majoring in advertising. After serving in the Navy during WW II, he went back to the university and got involved with the drama department as a way to meet girls. With his wife Alyce (whom he first met at the university), Hingle moved to New York and began to get jobs on the stage and on TV. The apex of his stage career was "J.B." by poet Archibald Macleish, with Hingle in the title role as a 20th-century Job. It was during the run of "J.B." that Hingle took an accidental plunge down the elevator shaft of his New York apartment building, sustaining near-fatal injuries in the 54-foot fall. He was near death for two weeks (and lost the little finger of his left hand); his recovery took more than a year. In more recent years, Hingle has played Commissioner Gordon in the "Batman" movies.
Just prior to his death, he resided in Carolina Beach, North Carolina, with his wife, Julia.- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Chuck Huber was born on 8 May 1971 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods (2013), Dragon Ball Z (1996) and Arbor Day: The Musical (2014). He has been married to Jessica Von Braun since 25 November 2016. He was previously married to Kirsten Fischer.- Karina Huber was born on 31 December 1972 in Morrisville, Vermont, USA. She is an actress, known for The Witness Files (1999), Relic Hunter (1999) and Police Call 110 (1971).
- Actor
- Director
- Cinematographer
Billy Jayne was born in Queens, New York City, New York, USA. He is an actor and director, known for Just One of the Guys (1985), Cujo (1983) and The 'Burbs (1989). He was previously married to April Jayne.- Actress
- Producer
Catherine Kellner was born on 2 October 1970 in New York City, New York, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Pearl Harbor (2001), 200 Cigarettes (1999) and After.Life (2009). She has been married to Reuben Avery since 22 September 2012. They have two children.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Minka Kelly was born in Los Angeles, California and she is the only child of former Aerosmith guitarist, Rick Dufay, and Maureen Kelly, an exotic dancer and single mother, who often moved with her daughter to different communities before settling in Albuquerque, New Mexico, by the time Minka was in junior high school.
Her paternal grandfather was actor Richard Ney. Minka's ancestry includes Austrian, German, French, Irish, English, Scottish, and Dutch.- Camera and Electrical Department
- Cinematographer
- Producer
Doug Knapp is a graduate of University Southern California school of Cinematic Arts (1972). Member of International Cinematograpers Guild, ICG Local 600 (1977 - 2011) as Camera Operator and Director of Photography on hundreds of television shows and feature films. Doug has been filming since the early 70s, including over 500 episodes for television, most notably the Star Trek and Murphy Brown series, and 15 feature films including, National Lampoons Christmas Vacation, Frankenweenie, The Green Hornet, Coming to America and Beetlejuice. He has worked along side some of film's most revered directors such as John Landis, Tim Burton and John Carpenter.
Knapp was Consultant and Director of Photography for Cinerama in 2011, working as Co-DP with John Hora,ASC on the first film to be shot in the original Cinerama process in over 50 years. "In The Picture" featured Debbie Reynolds and premiered at the Cinerama Film Festival held at the Arclight Dome theater Sept 29th 2012.
He was member of the board of Governors of the Society of Camera Opertors (SOC), Publications Manager for The Camera Operator Magazine for 24 years. Recipient of the Presidents Award CAMMY (1994).
As member of Board of Directors for VES - Visual Effects Society, Knapp worked on the nominating committee in many categories for "Best Of in Visual Effects" since 2004, part of a global organization of over 3,000 members world wide.
Knapp is also a member of the Academy of Television Arts and Science (ATAS), serving on Cinematography Pier Group. He served on the nominating committee for the EMMY Awards in Cinematography each year.
He was Instructor for Camera, West Los Angeles College, 2012 for 8 years. WLAC offers their Hollywood CPR program to students desiring entry level employment in the professional Motion Picture and Television Industry.- Actor
- Director
- Music Department
Peter Kraus was born on 18 March 1939 in Munich, Germany. He is an actor and director, known for Flying Classroom (1954), John Icks, der singende Astronaut (1967) and The Magical World of Disney (1954). He has been married to Ingrid Kraus since 1969. They have one child.- Actor
- Director
- Additional Crew
A producer, director, two-time Daytime Entertainment Emmy® Awards-honored voice actor, voice match specialist, songwriter, music producer, entrepreneur, poet and philanthropist, Lex Lang is one of Hollywood's most versatile creative personalities.
During college, Lex performed stand-up comedy and did impersonations across the country at famous venues such as The Comedy Store, Dr. Giggles, The NFL Cub, Anderson's Fifth Estate and The Improv, where he performed regularly with comedians Jim Carrey, Richard Belzer, and David Spade.
Lex also performed with the Royal London Shakespeare Theatre Company in the Summer stock performance of "Two Gentlemen of Verona" under the direction of John Houseman.
Lex eventually moved back to Hollywood, California to study music at The Musician's Institute and to continue his acting career. He is proficient at playing the guitar, bass, piano, and has written over 200 songs in multiple genres. Lex loves to play poker and enjoys spending time with his wife Sandy Fox, and their four dogs and one cat.
As a voice director for live action, animation, and video games, Lex has directed voice actors on numerous productions for clients including Cartoon Network, EWAM, Sony, Codemasters, Bang Zoom Entertainment, Technicolor, PCB productions, HBO and Warner Brothers.
As a voice actor he can be heard on networks across the country doing promos, trailers, announcing major live specials, and doing sound a-likes for celebrities. He also plays a variety of voices on the animated shows The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes (2010), Batman: The Brave and the Bold (2008), Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005), Regular Show (2010), Curious George (2006), Naruto (2002), and more.
In 2013, he was made the voice of The Guy's Choice Awards on Spike TV and is the voice for UFC promos on Fox.
He is the co-founder of The Love Planet Foundation since 1999. He is an advocate for the environment and promotes green living, positive thinking, children's education and planet preservation. He is also an animal lover, he has 4 dogs and one cat, and he is an avid Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) fan. Over 150 viewings of Episode IV alone!
Lex and his wife Sandy Fox are founders of H2Om Water with Intention (since 2006), an award-winning natural spring in an eco-friendly container, which encourages you to harness the power of your positive thoughts! Just "think it while you drink it"®.
Favorite Color: Blue
Favorite Movie: Star Wars
Favorite Food: Mom's
Favorite Quote: When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.
-Jimi Hendrix
Awards:
John F. Kennedy Center For Performing Arts Excellence In Acting Award
Outstanding Actor Award from The American College Theatre Festival
Two-time Daytime Entertainment Emmy® Awards-honored voice actor- Allison Joy Langer was born in Columbus, Ohio. At age 5, her family moved to the San Fernando Valley, just outside of Los Angeles, where she attended Granada Hills High School. She first began using her initials to join an all-boys baseball team, and the nickname stuck. She was introduced to Ernie Lively, who became her acting coach.
After roles on television shows, including Drexell's Class (1991) (which starred a then-unknown Brittany Murphy), Coach (1989), and The Wonder Years (1988), she gained international fame on the series My So-Called Life (1994) as Rayanne Graff. Though a critical hit, the series was canceled after only 19 episodes, and Langer moved on to several more short-run series. She married Charles Peregrine Courtenay, a practicing attorney and British peer, son of the 18th Earl of Devon. When her husband became the 19th Earl of Devon, she became the Countess of Devon. She had taken several years off to raise the couple's two children, but, in 2011, she returned to acting and joined the cast of Private Practice (2007).
In January 2014, she permanently relocated to London with her husband and children. - David Langer, MD, is the chair of neurosurgery at Lenox Hill Hospital and Vice President of neurosurgery for Northwell Health's Western Region. He is Professor of Neurosurgery and Radiology at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell. Internationally recognized as an expert in cerebral revascularization and cerebral aneurysms, his work focuses on diseases of the brain vessels. Dr. Langer's work has been featured in numerous peer-reviewed publications and he has spoken nationally and internationally on vascular disorders such as aneurysms and arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) of the brain. He is one of the few cerebral bypass surgeons in the country.
A third-generation physician, Dr. Langer attended the University of Pennsylvania for undergraduate and medical school. He stayed on at Penn and completed his neurosurgical residency under the direction of Eugene Flamm, MD. He later joined Dr. Flamm at a new neurosurgical institute in New York City in 1998. Dr. Langer also completed a mid-career fellowship at the University at Buffalo in cerebrovascular disease treatment including aneurysms, AVMs, and carotid disease.
Dr. Langer worked at the Continuum Health System at Mount Sinai in New York until 2010, when he joined the neurosurgery department at Northwell Health. Dr. Langer established the Moyamoya Center of Neuroscience Institute and developed a project focused on the use of social networking technology and video to enhance the patient experience and improve the medical record which has become Playback Health - a Snapchat and Instagram for healthcare. This project has grown into the health system, supported Cirrus Health, which continues to creatively disrupt the status quo in patient communication and the current electronic medical record. In 2013 Dr. Langer was recruited as director of neurosurgery at Lenox Hill and subsequently went on to help establish the first Department of Neurosurgery at Lenox Hill Hospital. He is currently Chairman of this new department. His goal is to further expand this program by creating an environment emphasizing collaboration, communication and world-class clinical care. He is currently involved in the study, development and adoption of the use of 3 dimensional exoscopic surgery in spine and cranial surgery.
Dr. Langer has been recognized as a Top Doctor and Best Doctor by numerous publications. He is currently a peer reviewer for the journals Neurosurgery and American Association of Neurological Surgeons' Neurosurgeon. He is on the medical advisory boards of Box Inc. and Cisco Systems. He is also a founding member of the board of the Brain Technology Institute and an active member of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and the Congress of Neurological Surgeons, as well as the cerebrovascular subsection of these organizations. In addition, Dr. Langer serves on the editorial board for Operative Neurosurgery's digital platforms in the journal's Surgical Video section. In 2015, Dr. Langer received North Shore-LIJ Health System's President's Award. In 2018, Dr. Langer received The Sally Harrington Goldwater Memorial Visiting Professor Award from the Barrow Neurological Foundation.
He has appeared on CNN, FOX, ABC, and CBS as well as the Dr. Oz Show. He has also frequently quoted in The New York Times and numerous other print news sources. In November 2015, Dr. Langer was featured in The Wall Street Journal article "What Patients Need to Remember After Leaving the Hospital" for his innovative technology to record crucial steps of patient's experience in the hospital. - Helga Lehner was born on 5 January 1944 in Vienna, Austria. She is an actress, known for Code Name: Jaguar (1965), 24 Hours to Kill (1965) and Das Haus in Montevideo (1963).
- Actress
- Producer
- Executive
Camryn grew up in Peoria, Illinois before moving to Long Beach California for middle school. She went on to receive a B.F.A. from U.C. Santa Cruz and then went on to earn a M.F.A from New York University in 1987. Her mother, Sylvia (Nuchow), was a schoolteacher, and her father, Jerry, was a math professor.
She developed an interest in acting at an early age. While studying at New York University, Camryn learned sign language and worked as an interpreter and job coach while pursuing her acting career. In her early years in New York City she met and worked with Tony Kushner, Michael Mayer, and long list of theater luminaries. Her first play in New York was Hydriotaphia, written and directed by Tony Kushner. She went on to work at such renowned theaters as The New York Shakespeare Festival, Lincoln Center, Yale Repertory, New York Theater Workshop, The Atlantic Theater, Classic Stage Company, & Second Stage.
In 1994 she won an OBIE Award for her portrayal of Gemma in Craig Lucas' Missing Persons, directed by Michael Mayer. In 1995 she wrote and starred in her one-woman show, Wake Up, I'm Fat!, which played to sold out audiences at The Public Theater. She played the "Nurse" in Romeo and Juliet, directed by Michael Greif at the New York Shakespeare Festival and just completed a spectacular run of the Tony nominated rock musical, Spring Awakening on Broadway.
Manheim spent eight years playing defense attorney "Ellenor Frutt" on the Emmy Award winning drama, The Practice. Her portrayal of the feisty attorney garnered her an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, Manheim was nominated once again for an Emmy and Golden Globe for her portrayal of "Gladys Presley" in the CBS miniseries Elvis.
In 1999 Manheim fulfilled a lifelong dream and became a New York Times best-selling author when her book Wake Up, I'm Fat! was published by Broadway Books. Camryn teaches and lectures all over the United States and abroad.- Actor
- Producer
- Camera and Electrical Department
Peter is a comic, writer and producer in Los Angeles with a background in cinematography and construction. He can drop spot-on voice impressions like Easter eggs throughout a set, has a general B contractors license and the ability to teach log gamma curves and bit-depth to anyone. Laugh. Build. Shoot. Enjoy.- Actress
- Additional Crew
Debra Mayer was born on 8 July 1968 in Hollywood, California, USA. She was an actress, known for Half Past Twelve at Night (2013), Blood Dolls (1999) and Speck (2002). She died on 5 May 2015 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Ken Mayer was born on 25 June 1918 in San Francisco, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Little Big Man (1970), Space Patrol (1950) and Jack the Giant Killer (1962). He died on 30 January 1985 in North Hollywood, California, USA.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Tammy Faye Bakker was born on 7 March 1942 in International Falls, Minnesota, USA. She was an actress, known for The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2000), Roseanne (1988) and The Drew Carey Show (1995). She was married to Roe Messner and Jim Bakker. She died on 20 July 2007 in Loch Lloyd, Missouri, USA.- Kevin Moser is an American actor in film, television, voiceover and theater. A character chameleon who is equally skilled at drama and comedy. Kevin is known for his extensive dialect work. Born in Southern California and raised in a military family, Kevin has a Bachelor of Theatre Arts from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Los Angeles. He has trained extensively both on camera and theatrically at LA On Camera Training Center and Warner Loughlin Studios. Kevin is a proud Angelino and drops too many film references in conversations than he probably should.
- Actress
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Lindsey Moser was born on 7 June 1984 in Matthews, North Carolina, USA. She is an actress and assistant director, known for Magic Mike XXL (2015) and The Leisure Seeker (2017).- Heidi Mueller was born on 29 January 1982 in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. She is an actress, known for Passions (1999), Vile (2011) and Funny or Die Presents... (2007). She has been married to DeMarco Murray since 20 June 2015. They have one child.
- Actor
- Director
- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Craig T. Nelson was born on 4 April 1944 in Spokane, Washington, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Coach (1989), The Incredibles (2004) and The Family Stone (2005). He has been married to Doria Cook-Nelson since 1987. He was previously married to Robin McCarthy.- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Haley Joel Osment is an American actor who has proven himself as one of the best young actors of his generation. He is the first millennial male to have received an Academy Award nomination for acting.
Osment was born in Los Angeles, California, to Theresa (Seifert), a teacher, and actor Eugene Osment. His sister is actress Emily Osment. His ancestry includes Irish, along with German and English/Scottish. Haley began acting at the age of four, when he tried out for a Pizza Hut commercial in a shopping mall. The commercial launched his career, and he landed his first television role later that year. As a young child, his first film role was as Forrest Gump (1994)'s son, also named Forrest Gump, in the 1994 film of the same name as well as making a small appearance in Mixed Nuts (1994). He had roles in numerous TV series, including Thunder Alley (1994), The Jeff Foxworthy Show (1995), and, most notably, the final season of Murphy Brown (1988), in which he replaced Dyllan Christopher as Murphy's son Avery. Osment also made numerous guest appearances in various TV series, including The Larry Sanders Show (1992), Walker, Texas Ranger (1993) (as a child dying from AIDS), Touched by an Angel (1994), Chicago Hope (1994), The Pretender (1996), and as a child dying from leukemia in the emotional episode 'Angels and Blimps' (1999) of the series Ally McBeal (1997). Osment starred in Bogus (1996) with Whoopi Goldberg and Gérard Depardieu, and appeared in the 1998 made-for-TV movie The Lake (1998) with Yasmine Bleeth, as well as I'll Remember April (1999) with future The Sixth Sense (1999) co-star Trevor Morgan.
He first achieved stardom in 1999 when he appeared in the blockbuster The Sixth Sense (1999), co-starring Bruce Willis. For this role, Osment won the Saturn Award for best young actor. He was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, but lost to Michael Caine, with whom he would later star in Secondhand Lions (2003). Osment (voice) also made three minor guest appearances on Family Guy (1999) in 2000. One of Osment's lines in The Sixth Sense (1999), "I see dead people," is often repeated or parodied on television programs and in other media. The 2000 Academy Awards ceremony honored another of Osment's future co-stars, BestActor Kevin Spacey, who, along with Helen Hunt, appeared in Osment's next film, Pay It Forward (2000). The following year, Osment appeared in Steven Spielberg's A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), cementing his stature as one of the leading young actors in Hollywood. This role earned him his second Saturn Award. Also in 2001, Osment starred in a Polish film, Edges of the Lord (2001), as Romek. The movie was never released theatrically in the United States. Osment has since provided voices for The Country Bears (2002) and The Jungle Book 2 (2003). More recently, Osment was the voice of Sora, the main protagonist of the Walt Disney Company and Square-Enix's Kingdom Hearts (2002) video-game series, which was extremely financially successful as well and generally well-received critically. He was also the voice of Takeshi Jinno in the "Time to Shine" episode of the IGPX: Immortal Grand Prix (2005) anime TV series.
Osment also worked in Home of the Giants (2007), playing a high school journalist opposite Ryan Merriman and Danielle Panabaker. He also played Helmuth Hübener in the film Truth & Treason (????). On July 20, 2006, Osment was injured in a one-car accident. His blood-alcohol content was measured at 0.16%, twice the legal limit in California. On August 18, he was charged with four misdemeanors, including driving under the influence of alcohol and possession of marijuana while driving. He pleaded no contest on October 19 and was sentenced to three years' probation, 60 hours in an alcohol-rehabilitation and education program, a fine of $1,500, and a minimum requirement of 26 Alcoholics Anonymous meetings over a six-month period.
In 2006, Osment took a hiatus from Hollywood and studied acting at the Experimental Theatre Wing at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, graduating with Honors and a Bachelor's Degree of Fine Arts in 2011. He also appeared on Broadway in a 2008 production of David Mamet's American Buffalo, and in John Logan's Red at the Philadelphia Theater Company in 2011.
Osment returned to the screen in 2012 with I'll Follow You Down (2013), co-starring with Gillian Anderson, Rufus Sewell, and Victor Garber, Sassy Pants (2012) with Anna Gunn and Diedrich Bader, then appeared in two seasons of Amazon Studios' comedy series Alpha House (2013), written by Pulitzer Prize winner Garry Trudeau and starring John Goodman. His many additional credits include Comedy Bang! Bang!, Kevin Smith's horror comedies Tusk (2014) and Yoga Hosers (2016), Entourage (2015) (Warner Bros.' silver screen extension of the award-winning HBO dramedy), the award-winning independent comedy Sex Ed (2014), the hit FX series What We Do in the Shadows (2019), the Hulu science fiction comedy Future Man (2017), and the true crime thriller and 2019 Sundance Film Festival Selection Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (2019) starring Zac Efron as Ted Bundy, and featuring Lily Collins, Kaya Scodelario, Jim Parsons, and John Malkovich.- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Kellie Pickler was born in Albemarle, North Carolina to Cynthia Morton and Clyde "Bo" Raymond Pickler, Jr. Cynthia left when Kellie was 2 but was then granted custody for two years. Kellie was returned to her grandparents at age 12. Her father was in and out of jail throughout her childhood and she was raised in Albemarle, North Carolina by her grandparents, who were big influences in her life. She has a half-sister named Courtney and two half-brothers, Eric and Michael; she has never met Michael. Kellie and Eric continued to live with their grandfather after their grandmother died of lung cancer in 2002. At North Stanly High School in New London, North Carolina, from which she graduated in 2004, she was a cheerleader and a beauty queen. In 2005 she tried out for American Idol (2002) and was sent to Hollywood. She sang many famous songs, including "Since U Been Gone" by Kelly Clarkson, "A Broken Wing" by Martina McBride, and "Blame it on the Sun" by Stevie Wonder. She was one of Simon's favorites, but was eliminated in the Final 6. Back in North Carolina she was given a key to the city on "Kellie Pickler Day", May 6, 2006. She then headed to Nashville, Tennessee to pursue her dreams. She was signed to 19 Recordings/BNA Records and wrote and sang many chart-toppers, including "Red High Heels", "I Wonder", "Things That Never Cross a Man's Mind", "Don't You Know You're Beautiful", "You Didn't Know How Much I Loved You", and "The Best Days of Your Life".- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Amy Pietz (born March 6, 1969) is an American actress, known for her roles on television. She received a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series nomination for her role as "Annie Spadaro" in the NBC sitcom, Caroline in the City (1995) (1995-1999). She later had starring roles in the short-lived sitcoms, The Weber Show (2000) (NBC, 2000-01), Rodney (2004) (ABC, 2004-06), and Aliens in America (2007) (The CW, 2007-08).- Director
- Actor
- Producer
Noam Pitlik was born on 4 November 1932 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. He was a director and actor, known for Barney Miller (1975), Taxi (1978) and Fitzwilly (1967). He was married to Susan Whittaker, Linda Hirsch and Jesse Blostein. He died on 18 February 1999 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Forever and fondly remembered as Don Adams' foil on the popular Mel Brooks/Buck Henry spy series Get Smart (1965), character actor Ed Platt (also billed as Edward C. Platt) had been around for two decades prior to copping that rare comedy role. Born in Staten Island, New York, on Valentine's Day, 1916, he inherited an appreciation of music on his mother's side. He spent a part of his childhood in Kentucky and in upstate New York where he attended Northwood, a private school in Lake Placid, and was a member of the ski jump team. He majored in romantic languages at Princeton University but left a year later to study at the Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati after his thoughts turned to a possible operatic career. He later was accepted into Juilliard.
Instead of opera, however, Ed first became a band vocalist with Paul Whiteman and Orchestra. He then sang bass as part of the Mozart Opera Company in New York. With the Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company in 1942, he appeared in the operettas "The Mikado," "The Gondoliers" and "The Pirates of Penzance".
WWII interrupted his early career. Ed served as a radio operator with the army and would find himself on radio again in the post-war years where his deep, resonant voice proved ideal. A number of musical comedy roles also came his way again. In 1947, he made it to Broadway with the musical "Allegro." Star José Ferrer took an interest in Ed while they both were appearing in "The Shrike" on Broadway in 1952.
Around 1953, Edward moved to Texas to be near his brother and began anchoring the local news and kiddie birthday party show called "Uncle Eddie's Kiddie Party." Ferrer remembered Platt and invited him to Hollywood where Ferrer was starring in the film version of The Shrike (1955). Ed recreated his stage role. He also earned fine notices as James Dean's understanding juvenile officer in the classic film Rebel Without a Cause (1955).
This led to a plethora of film and TV support offers where the balding actor made fine use of his dark, rich voice, stern intensity and pragmatic air, portraying a slew of professional and shady types in crime yarns, soap dramas and war pictures -- everything from principals and prosecutors to mobsters and murderers.
After years of playing it serious, which included stints on the daytime drama General Hospital (1963), Ed finally was able to focus on comedy as "The Chief" to Don Adams klutzy secret agent on Get Smart (1965), a show that inevitably found a cult audience. Picking up a few occasional guest spots in its aftermath, he later tried producing.
Twice married and the father of four, Platt died on March 19, 1974. Death was attributed to a massive heart attack at the time. Years later his son revealed that his father, suffering from acute depression and undergoing severe financial pressures, committed suicide at his Santa Monica, California apartment.- Actor
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John started the improvisational duo group, "Sal's Meat Market", in Bridgeport, Connecticut with fellow actor and friend Ray Hassett. He was later affiliated with the ensemble group, "The Downtown Cabaret". Coincidentally, he was a friend of Susan Ryan, the mother of Meg Ryan. A mutual friend, also associated with "The Downtown Cabaret", was the daughter-in-law of actress Mabel Albertson, the sister of actor Jack Albertson.- Writer
- Producer
- Actor
Carl Reiner is a legend of American comedy, who achieved great success as a comic actor, a director, producer and recording artist. He won nine Emmy Awards, three as an actor, four as a writer and two as a producer. He also won a Grammy Award for his album "The 2,000 Year Old Man", based on his comedy routine with Mel Brooks.
Reiner was born in The Bronx, to Bessie (Mathias) and Irving Reiner, a watchmaker. His father was an Austrian Jewish immigrant and his mother was a Romanian Jewish immigrant. At the age of sixteen, while working as a sewing machine repairman, he attended a dramatic workshop sponsored by the Works Progress Administration. The direction of his life was set.
In the 1970s, some sources claimed that Reiner made his movie debut in New Faces of 1937 (1937), but that is unlikely as he would have only been fifteen years old at the time. (the movie shares the same plot as his erstwhile partner Mel Brooks' classic The Producers (1967), with a crooked producer planning to fleece his "angels" by producing a flop and absconding with the money). He didn't appear on screen, silver or small, until he made his television debut in 1948 in the short-lived television series, The Fashion Story (1948), then became a regular, the following year, on The Fifty-Fourth Street Revue (1949), another television series with a brief life.
Reiner made his Broadway debut in 1949 in the musical "Inside U.S.A.", a hit that ran for 399 performances. His next Broadway show, the musical revue "Alive and Kicking" (1950) was a flop, lasting just 43 performances. Max Liebman, the producer/director/writer/composer, had been called in to provide additional material after the show's troubled six week out-of-town preview in Boston. It didn't help -- the show closed after six weeks on Broadway -- but an important contact had been made.
Leibman was a producer-director on Your Show of Shows (1950), one of the great television series, and he hired Reiner to appear on the show in the middle of its first season. Reiner's first gig on the revue-like show was interviewing The Professor, a character played by Sid Caesar. He became central to the comedy portions of the show and, in 1953, he racked up the first of six Emmy Award nominations for acting. (In all, he was nominated for an Emmy Award a total of 13 times). When, in 1954, "Your Show of Shows" was split up by the network into its constituent parts, Reiner continued on with Sid in Caesar's Hour (1954). (Imogene Coca was given her own show, which lasted one season, and Leibman was allowed to produce specials).
"Your Show or Shows" had been a Broadway-style revue, featuring skits such as dancing (including a young Bob Fosse) whereas "Caesar's Hour" was pure comedy. "Your Show of Shows" had had a great cast, another other than Coca, most of the cast, including Reiner, Howard Morris, and Nanette Fabray (who went on to win an Emmy Award) moved over to "Caesar's Hour". In his three seasons on the show, he was nominated three more times for an Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actor, winning twice in 1957 and 1958. But it was its stable of comedy writers that was essential to the great success of both "Your Show of Shows" and "Caesar's Hour". In addition to Mel Brooks, the writing staff included Neil Simon, his brother Danny Simon, Larry Gelbart and Mel Tolkin. (There are rumors that the young Woody Allen served as the writing staff's typist).
Reiner had sat in informally with the writers during "Your Show of Shows", but he began writing formally for "Caesar's Hour", having learned his craft from all of the other writers. As a self-described uncredited "writer without portfolio", he was able to leave writers' meetings at 6 P.M., if he wanted to. This gave him the time to work on a semi-autobiographical novel. Published in 1958, Enter Laughing (1967) is about a young man in 1930s New York trying to make it in show business. It was transformed into a play and, eventually, adapted into a movie in 1967, and a musical, many years later.
In 1959, he created the pilot for a television series, "Man of the House", in which he would play a writer, Rob Petrie, who balanced his family life with the demands of working as a writer for a comedy show headlined by an egotistical comedic genius modeled after Sid Caesar (a "benign despot" who lacked social skills, according to Reiner). The series was rooted in his experience on "Your Show of Shows" and "Caesar's Hour". The network didn't pick up the pilot at first, as CBS executives claimed the main character, which was clearly autobiographical on Reiner's part, was too New York, too Jewish and too intellectual. In 1960, Reiner teamed up with Mel Brooks on The Steve Allen Plymouth Show (1956), and their routine "The 2000 Year Old Man" was a huge success. Reiner played the straight man to Brooks in the routine, which was spun-off into five comedy albums, bringing them a Grammy Award. They also made an animated television special based on their shtick in 1975.
Though CBS turned down "Man of the House", with the two-time Emmy Award-winning comedian Reiner as the lead, it was still interested in the series. However, they wanted a different actor in the lead role, and the casting of the protagonist came down to Johnny Carson and Dick Van Dyke. Carson was a game show host of no great note at the time, but Van Dyke was in the smash Broadway musical Bye Bye Birdie (1963), for which he won a Tony Award. He got the role and another chapter of television history was made, when Mary Tyler Moore, Rose Marie and Morey Amsterdam all were cast in leading roles. Reiner, himself, would eventually play the role of Alan Brady, the abrasive Sid Caesar-like comic convinced of his own genius, in the last few seasons of the series' five-year run.
Another milestone in television comedy, The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961), brought Reiner five more Emmy Awards, three for writing and two as the producer of the series. In 1966, Reiner and the other principals, including executive producer Sheldon Leonard and Dick Van Dyke, decided to end the series at the height of its popularity and critical acclaim. (The show won Emmy Awards as best show and best comedy in 1965 and 1966, respectively). Twenty-nine years after the show was ended, Reiner reprised the role of Alan Brady on Mad About You (1992), winning his eighth (and so far, last) Emmy Award, this time as Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series.
It was on "The Dick Van Dyke Show" that Reiner first became a director. His feature film debut, as a director, was with the film adaptation of the play Joseph Stein had adapted from his 1958 novel, Enter Laughing (1967). His work as a writer-director, with Dick Van Dyke, in creating a Stan Laurel-type character in The Comic (1969) was not a success, but Where's Poppa? (1970) became a cult classic and Oh, God! (1977), with George Burns, and The Jerk (1979), with Steve Martin, were smash hits. The last film he directed was the romantic comedy That Old Feeling (1997).
Reiner's career continued into the 21st century, when most of his contemporaries had retired or passed. He was awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2000 and acted in the remake of Ocean's Eleven (2001) and its two sequels. He also appeared as a voice artist in the film Good Boy (2003), and the animated series The Cleveland Show (2009) (he even wrote an episode for the series rooted in his "Your Show of Shows" experience). He was also a regular on the series Hot in Cleveland (2010) (with fellow nonagenarian Betty White), and appeared on an episode of Parks and Recreation (2009) in 2012. His last film role was as the voice of Carl Reineroceros in Toy Story 4 (2019), opposite his old compatriot Mel Brooks.
Carl Reiner died at age 98 of natural causes on June 29, 2020, in Beverly Hills, California.Creator of “The Dick Van Dyke Show”- Actor
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Robert Reiner was born in New York City, to Estelle Reiner (née Lebost) and Emmy-winning actor, comedian, writer, and producer Carl Reiner.
As a child, his father was his role model, as Carl Reiner created and starred in The Dick Van Dyke Show. Estelle was also an inspiration for him to become a director; her experience as a singer helped him understand how music was used in a scene. Rob often felt pressured about measuring up to his father's successful streak, with twelve Emmys and other prestigious awards.
When Rob graduated high school, his parents advised him to participate in Summer Theatre. Reiner got a job as an apprentice in the Bucks County Playhouse in Pennsylvania. He went on to UCLA Film School to further his education. Reiner felt he still wasn't successful even having a recurring role on one of the biggest shows in the country, All in the Family. He began his directing career with the Oscar-nominated films This Is Spinal Tap, Stand By Me, and The Princess Bride.
In 1987, with these successful box-office movies under his belt, Reiner founded his own production company, Castle Rock Entertainment; along with Martin Shafer, Andrew Scheinman, Glenn Padnick, and Alan Horn. Under Castle Rock Entertainment, he went to direct Oscar-nominated films When Harry Met Sally, Misery, and A Few Good Men. Reiner has credited former co-star Carroll O'Connor in helping him get into the directing business, showing Reiner the ropes.
Reiner is known as a political activist, co-founding the American Foundation For Equal Rights, a group that was an advisory for same-sex-marriage. He has spoken at several rallies on several topics, an advocate for social change regarding such issues as domestic violence and tobacco use.
Reiner made cameo appearances on television shows 30 Rock, The Simpsons, and Hannah Montana, and in films The First Wives Club, Bullets Over Broadway, Primary Colors, and Throw Momma From The Train, among many others.- Actor
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Comedian, actor and United States Marine Corps Reserve Lieutenant Colonel Robert Allen Riggle, Jr. was born April 21, 1970 in Louisville, Kentucky, to Sandra (Shrout) and Robert Allen Riggle, who worked in insurance. Riggle has amassed notable television credits and has also earned roles in many feature films, including The Lorax (2012) and 21 Jump Street (2012). After graduating from the University of Kansas with a B.A. in Theater and Film, Riggle joined the Marines and earned a Master's degree from Webster University in Public Administration. Riggle had intentions of becoming a Marine Corps pilot, but eventually left the military to pursue a career in comedy. A featured cast member on Saturday Night Live (1975) during the 2004/2005 season, Riggle then joined Comedy Central's The Daily Show (1996) in 2006 as a correspondent. Riggle's numerous television appearances, including credits on Arrested Development (2003), Chappelle's Show (2003), 30 Rock (2006) and The Office (2005) would lead to big-screen roles in Step Brothers (2008), The Hangover (2009) and The Other Guys (2010). When he is not on set or traveling across the United States performing stand-up comedy, Rob Riggle lives in Los Angeles.- Actress
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Catherine Ann Sadler is an Emmy-winning journalist who was recently named by the Los Angeles Times as One of the Top 10 Next Broadcasters of Our Generation. She can be seen on E! News and hosting a number of E! specials and high-caliber red carpet events.
A graduate of Indiana University as a journalism major, Catt got her start as the entertainment reporter for KBWB/KNTV in San Francisco, where for more than four years, she hosted a nightly lifestyle segment called "The Bay Beat" and traveled frequently to Los Angeles and New York to conduct celebrity interviews.
Later, Catt returned to her home state to host the Indiana Lottery's Hoosier Millionaire, which became the longest-running syndicated lottery game show in the country. During this time, she also served as the official emcee for the NBA's Indiana Pacers for the 2003-04 season. In 2006, Catt moved to Los Angeles and spearheaded the launch of the cult favorite, The Daily 10, for E! She hosted the D10 for almost five years.
This Midwestern girl was bit by the acting bug at age 11 after appearing in the film Hoosiers. In the years that followed, she acted in a number of school plays and musicals and also sang in an all-girl band. Catt has since appeared on various soap operas including General Hospital as well as starred in the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus music video "You Better Pray."
Catt focuses the majority of her charitable efforts on the Women Like Us Foundation, serving as both President of the Hollywood Chapter and International Spokesperson for the organization. In 2010, Catt became the brand champion for Own Products, a clean, natural skincare line promoting health and beauty. A producer at the core, Catt launched Love Bug Entertainment, Inc.
Catt is the proud mother of two handsome boys, Austin and Arion. They share their Los Angeles home with their three cats and chameleon.- Tom Schmid is known for Scrubs (2001), Days of Our Lives (1965) and The Bold and the Beautiful (1987).
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With an almost unpronounceable surname and a thick Austrian accent, who would have ever believed that a brash, quick talking bodybuilder from a small European village would become one of Hollywood's biggest stars, marry into the prestigious Kennedy family, amass a fortune via shrewd investments and one day be the Governor of California!?
The amazing story of megastar Arnold Schwarzenegger is a true "rags to riches" tale of a penniless immigrant making it in the land of opportunity, the United States of America. Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger was born July 30, 1947, in the town of Thal, Styria, Austria, to Aurelia Schwarzenegger (born Jadrny) and Gustav Schwarzenegger, the local police chief. From a young age, he took a keen interest in physical fitness and bodybuilding, going on to compete in several minor contests in Europe. However, it was when he emigrated to the United States in 1968 at the tender age of 21 that his star began to rise.
Up until the early 1970s, bodybuilding had been viewed as a rather oddball sport, or even a mis-understood "freak show" by the general public, however two entrepreneurial Canadian brothers Ben Weider and Joe Weider set about broadening the appeal of "pumping iron" and getting the sport respect, and what better poster boy could they have to lead the charge, then the incredible "Austrian Oak", Arnold Schwarzenegger. Over roughly the next decade, beginning in 1970, Schwarzenegger dominated the sport of competitive bodybuilding winning five Mr. Universe titles and seven Mr. Olympia titles and, with it, he made himself a major sports icon, he generated a new international audience for bodybuilding, gym memberships worldwide swelled by the tens of thousands and the Weider sports business empire flourished beyond belief and reached out to all corners of the globe. However, Schwarzenegger's horizons were bigger than just the landscape of bodybuilding and he debuted on screen as "Arnold Strong" in the low budget Hercules in New York (1970), then director Bob Rafelson cast Arnold in Stay Hungry (1976) alongside Jeff Bridges and Sally Field, for which Arnold won a Golden Globe Award for "Best Acting Debut in a Motion Picture". The mesmerizing Pumping Iron (1977) covering the 1975 Mr Olympia contest in South Africa has since gone on to become one of the key sports documentaries of the 20th century, plus Arnold landed other acting roles in the comedy The Villain (1979) opposite Kirk Douglas, and he portrayed Mickey Hargitay in the well- received TV movie The Jayne Mansfield Story (1980).
What Arnold really needed was a super hero / warrior style role in a lavish production that utilized his chiseled physique, and gave him room to show off his growing acting talents and quirky humor. Conan the Barbarian (1982) was just that role. Inspired by the Robert E. Howard short stories of the "Hyborean Age" and directed by gung ho director John Milius, and with a largely unknown cast, save Max von Sydow and James Earl Jones, "Conan" was a smash hit worldwide and an inferior, although still enjoyable sequel titled Conan the Destroyer (1984) quickly followed. If "Conan" was the kick start to Arnold's movie career, then his next role was to put the pedal to the floor and accelerate his star status into overdrive. Director James Cameron had until that time only previously directed one earlier feature film titled Piranha II: The Spawning (1982), which stank of rotten fish from start to finish. However, Cameron had penned a fast paced, science fiction themed film script that called for an actor to play an unstoppable, ruthless predator - The Terminator (1984). Made on a relatively modest budget, the high voltage action / science fiction thriller The Terminator (1984) was incredibly successful worldwide, and began one of the most profitable film franchises in history. The dead pan phrase "I'll be back" quickly became part of popular culture across the globe. Schwarzenegger was in vogue with action movie fans, and the next few years were to see Arnold reap box office gold in roles portraying tough, no-nonsense individuals who used their fists, guns and witty one-liners to get the job done. The testosterone laden Commando (1985), Raw Deal (1986), Predator (1987), The Running Man (1987) and Red Heat (1988) were all box office hits and Arnold could seemingly could no wrong when it came to picking winning scripts. The tongue-in-cheek comedy Twins (1988) with co-star Danny DeVito was a smash and won Arnold new fans who saw a more comedic side to the muscle- bound actor once described by Australian author / TV host Clive James as "a condom stuffed with walnuts". The spectacular Total Recall (1990) and "feel good" Kindergarten Cop (1990) were both solid box office performers for Arnold, plus he was about to return to familiar territory with director James Cameron in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). The second time around for the futuristic robot, the production budget had grown from the initial film's $6.5 million to an alleged $100 million for the sequel, and it clearly showed as the stunning sequel bristled with amazing special effects, bone-crunching chases & stunt sequences, plus state of the art computer-generated imagery. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) was arguably the zenith of Arnold's film career to date and he was voted "International Star of the Decade" by the National Association of Theatre Owners.
Remarkably, his next film Last Action Hero (1993) brought Arnold back to Earth with a hard thud as the self-satirizing, but confusing plot line of a young boy entering into a mythical Hollywood action film confused movie fans even more and they stayed away in droves making the film an initial financial disaster. Arnold turned back to good friend, director James Cameron and the chemistry was definitely still there as the "James Bond" style spy thriller True Lies (1994) co-starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Tom Arnold was the surprise hit of 1994! Following the broad audience appeal of True Lies (1994), Schwarzenegger decided to lean towards more family-themed entertainment with Junior (1994) and Jingle All the Way (1996), but he still found time to satisfy his hard-core fan base with Eraser (1996), as the chilling "Mr. Freeze" in Batman & Robin (1997) and battling dark forces in the supernatural action of End of Days (1999). The science fiction / conspiracy tale The 6th Day (2000) played to only mediocre fan interest, and Collateral Damage (2002) had its theatrical release held over for nearly a year after the tragic events of Sept 11th 2001, but it still only received a lukewarm reception.
It was time again to resurrect Arnold's most successful franchise and, in 2003, Schwarzenegger pulled on the biker leathers for the third time for Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003). Unfortunately, directorial duties passed from James Cameron to Jonathan Mostow and the deletion of the character of "Sarah Connor" aka Linda Hamilton and a change in the actor playing "John Connor" - Nick Stahl took over from Edward Furlong - making the third entry in the "Terminator" series the weakest to date.
Schwarzenegger married TV journalist Maria Shriver in April, 1986 and the couple have four children.
In October of 2003 Schwarzenegger, running as a Republican, was elected Governor of California in a special recall election of then governor Gray Davis. The "Governator," as Schwarzenegger came to be called, held the office until 2011. Upon leaving the Governor's mansion it was revealed that he had fathered a child with the family's live-in maid and Shriver filed for divorce.
Schwarzenegger contributed cameo roles to The Rundown (2003), Around the World in 80 Days (2004) and The Kid & I (2005). Recently, he starred in The Expendables 2 (2012), The Last Stand (2013), Escape Plan (2013), The Expendables 3 (2014), and Terminator Genisys (2015).- Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt was born on December 13, 1989 at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, California as Katherine Eunice Schwarzenegger. She's an American author who has written 3 self-help books on subjects like self-image, forgiveness & finding direction after college. She has also written a children's book about adopting her dog.
She's the oldest child of Maria Shriver & Arnold Schwarzenegger. Through her mom, she's a member of the Kennedy family. She's a grandniece of U.S. President John F. Kennedy as well as U.S. senators & former presidential candidates Robert F. Kennedy & Ted Kennedy. - Patrick Schwarzenegger was born September 18, 1993, at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, California. He graduated USC with a degree in Business and a minor in cinematic arts. Patrick started studying acting with Nancy Banks while at college. He is known for being GoldenBoy in GenV (2023), as well as starring opposite Collin Firth in HBO highly acclaimed "The Staircase" (2022).
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Born in New York and raised in Los Angeles, Schwimmer was encouraged by a high school instructor to attend a summer program in acting at Northwestern University. Inspired by that experience, he returned to Northwestern where he received a bachelor's degree in speech/theater. In 1988, along with seven other Northwestern graduates, he co-founded Chicago's Lookingglass Theatre Company.- Actor
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This tall, blond, thin British character actor portrayed some of the most memorable villains of Italian cinema during the 1970s and 1980s. Born in Cheshire, England in 1941, Steiner got his start in films after school with small parts in British productions. Among them was 'The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade' (1966), Bedazzled (1967), and Work is a 4-Letter Word (1968).
His big break came in portraying the sly-eyed, manipulative property tycoon Beauty Smith in Lucio Fulci's White Fang in 1973, a role he reprised in the sequel, Challenge to White Fang (1974) in 1974. Steiner worked for Fulci again in playing the comical vampire Count Dragalescu in Dracula in the Provinces (1975), in which he was both horrifying and hilarious as a homosexual Count Dracula vamp.
Steiner continued working in Italy through the 1970s, dabbling in some of the country's most controversial entertainment. He demonstrated an entirely un-British willingness to embrace the wild side of acting life by accepting a role as a Nazi officer in Rino Di Silvestro's Deported Women of the SS Special Section (1976). This set the sage for a series of roles as Nazi prison camp officers filmed in West Germany. Steiner made a similar themed role in Tinto Brass's Madam Kitty (1976) and later signed up for a role in Caligula (1979), in which he was a standout, playing the balding, gauntly hideous-looking treasurer and financial advisor, Longinus, to the mad Roman Emperor Caligula (Malcom McDowell). After a commendable performance in Paolo Cavara's 1976 thriller 'Plot of Fear', came Shock (1977), the last theatrical film directed by Mario Bava. Steiner's rare starring role in Shock was a nice change of pace for him as he played a sympathetic airline pilot and family man appearing alongside Daria Nicolodi. After that, he went back to tall and menacing looking villainous roles one of which occurred when Dario Argento hired him to appear as the eccentric Italian film journalist Cristiano Berti in Tenebrae (1982) which remains Steiner's most celebrated film credit in which he meets with a most memorable end with an ax to his head midway through.
As the business of Italian cinema diminished during the 1980s, Steiner's roles in Italian and West German productions were nothing more than brief cameos. One notable role was playing Simon the Magnes in the TV mini-series A.D. (1985). By the early 1990s Steiner had quit the acting industry and moved to Los Angeles, California, USA with his wife and teenage son where he became a successful real estate agent working out of Beverly Hills.- Costume Designer
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Has worked as an actress since the age of 3, until she attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1995. She graduated in May 1999 and went back to acting with a role in COME ON GET HAPPY: The Partridge Family Story.- Music Department
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Richard Wagner was a German composer best known for his operas, primarily the monumental four-opera cycle "Der Ring des Nibelungen". He was born Wilhelm Richard Wagner on May 22, 1813, in Leipzig, Germany. He was the ninth child in the family of Carl Wagner, a police clerk. Richard was only six months old when his father died, and he was brought up by his mother Johanna and stepfather Ludwig Geyer, an actor and playwright. Young Wagner studied piano from the age of 7 and soon developed ability to play by ear and improvise. At age 15 he wrote piano transcriptions of Ludwig van Beethoven's "9th Symphony" and orchestral overtures. He studied at the University of Leipzig, and also took composition and conducting lessons with the cantor of St. Thomas in Leipzig.
Wagner's early operas did not meet with success, leaving him in serious financial difficulties. From 1836-1839 he was a music director in Riga Opera, where his wife, Minna Planer, was a singer, and her extramarital escapades were the talk of the town. The Wagners amassed such significant debts that they had to escape from creditors and fled Riga. They spent 1840 and 1841 in London and Paris, where Richard worked as an arranger for other composers.
Giacomo Meyerbeer promoted Wagner's third opera, "Rienzi", to performance by the Dresden Court Theatre, where the opera was staged to considerable acclaim. In 1842 the Wagners moved to Dresden and lived there for six years. Eventually Richard was appointed the Royal Saxon Court Conductor. At that time he completed and staged "Der fliegende Hollander" (aka "The Flying Dutchman") and "Tannhauser".
Wagner was exposed to many conflicting political influences, ranging from Marxism and liberalism on the left to German nationalism on the right to the anarchism of Mikhail Bakunin. After the revolution of 1848-49, Wagner fled from Germany to Paris, then to Zurich, and found himself penniless, unemployed and depressed (he had also suffered from a severe skin infection for many years). At that time Wagner was unable to compose or perform music, and he expressed himself in writing essays: "The Art-Work of the Future", describing "Gesamtkunstwerk," or "total artwork" uniting opera, ballet, visual arts and stagecraft.
Wagner's four "Ring" operas gradually evolved, and he completed the libretto by 1852. Another year of suffering went by, until he began composing "Das Rheingold" (aka "The Rhine Gold") in November 1853, following it with "Die Walkure" (aka "The Valkyrie") in 1854. In 1856 he began work on "Siegfried", but put the unfinished opera aside and focused on his new idea: "Tristan und Isolde" (aka "Tristan and Isolde"), which was composed between 1857 and 1859. In 1861 Germany ended the political ban on Wagner, and in 1862 he ended his troubled marriage to Minna.
"Tristan and Isolde" was initially accepted for production in Vienna. The opera had over 70 rehearsals between 1861 and 1864, but remained unperformed and gained a reputation for being unplayable. The young Bavarian King Ludwig II, an admirer of Wagner's operas since his childhood, had settled the composer's debts and financed his opera productions. Finally "Tristan and Isolde" was produced in Munich, and premiered under the baton of Hans von Bulow in June 1865. It was the first Wagner premiere in 15 years.
Cosima von Bulow, the wife of the conductor, Hans von Bulow, and the eldest daughter of pianist/composer Franz Liszt, had an indiscreet affair with Wagner, and their illegitimate daughter, Isolde, was born in 1865. The affair scandalized Munich, and Wagner fell into disfavor among members of the court who were jealous of his friendship with the king. Ludwig was pressured to ask Wagner to leave Munich. However, from 1866 to 1872 the king placed Wagner and his family at Tribshen villa on Lake Luzern, Switzerland. There Richard married Cosime in August 1870. Inspired composer created one of his most beloved works, the "Siegfried Idyll" for 15 players, written as a gift to Cosima, and premiered on Christmas day, 1870.
In 1872 Wagner moved to Bayreuth with a plan that his "Ring" cycle to be performed in a new, specially designed opera house. King Ludwig supported the composer with another large grant in 1874, and the Wagners bought Villa Wahnfried and made permanent home in Bayreuth. In August 1876 the new opera "Festspielhaus" opened with the premiere of "The Ring" and has been the site of the Bayreuth Festival ever since.
Richard Wagner died of a heart attack on February 13, 1883, while wintering in Venice. He was laid to rest in the garden of his Villa Wahnfried in Bayreuth. The Wagner Museum in Lucerne, Switzerland, is now a museum of period musical instruments and art collection of the Wagner family. One room is dedicated to the history of the Wagner Festivals in Lucerne. The Wagner Museum allows visitors to take photos of the documents about the Wagner family's help to the Jewish musicians and intellectuals who fled the Nazi regime in the 1930s.
Documents reveal that the Wagner family were assisting Jewish musicians and intellectuals who fled the Nazi regime in finding employment in Switzerland and other lands, such as the USA and Palestine. Documents, photographs and letters illustrate the bold activity of Arturo Toscanini with Vladimir Horowitz and the Wagner family members in getting funds from the government of Benito Mussolini and using those funds to accommodate Jewish musicians and intellectuals under the umbrella of the annual Wagner Festival in Lucerne. The Wagner Festival Symphony Orchestra employed many Jewish musicians who later joined the Israel Philarmonic Orchestra (then known as the "Palestine Orchestra").- Peggy Webber started her career at age two and a half, performing during intermissions in silent movie theaters. She started working in radio at age 11; by 18, she was writing, producing and directing early television shows; at 21, she won the award that was later known as the Emmy for her drama anthology series Treasures of Literature. Among her many thousands of radio credits, workhorse Webber appeared in over 100 Dragnet programs, playing Ma Friday and many other characters.
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Rod Webber was born in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He is known for I Thought You Finally Completely Lost It (2008), My America (2011) and Milkweed (2013). He is married to Lauren Pespisa.- Actress
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Amy Marie Weber is an American actress, model, film producer, singer, real estate broker and former professional wrestling valet. She is best known for her time in WWE as a WWE Diva on the show Smackdown. Amy was also a star on the hit F/X show "Son of the Beach" produced by Howard Stern. She released an album, Let it Rain, the first single off of the album stayed in the U.S. Billboard Chart for over a month. It was also released internationally via Dauman Music and Republic Digital and climbed to number 6 in the UK Singles Chart. Weber has been the face of a Shiseido cosmetic campaign and has been featured in ad campaigns for such brands as Coors Light, Sony, Wrigleys, and many more.- Actor
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Ben is known for his work as an actor in film (Kissing Jessica Stein, The Broken Hearts Club, Gunshy, Twister) and television (Six Feet Under, Miss Match, Sex & the City, Law & Order). He currently appears on the WB's "Everwood" as guidance counselor Chris Beels. Ben is also a writer and director; his first short film, "Little Red Light," in which he also co-starred with Jean Louisa Kelly, played at film festivals in 2003, winning an audience award at the Santa Monica Film Festival. Upcoming projects include roles in the independent feature "Pursuit of Happiness" and in the short "Fast Cars & Babies."Ben graduated from NYU in 1994 with a degree in English, and got his start in the business through work as a stand-up comic in New York in the mid-1990s. He is married and spends as much time as possible surfing and hanging out with his rescued dog, Bella.- Actor
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Dewey Weber was born on 30 December 1971 in San Francisco, California, USA. He is an actor, known for Showgirls (1995), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze (1991) and Melrose Place (1992).- Actor
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This Queens-born actor has certainly proven himself adept at everything from quirky comedy to flat-out melodrama earning TV stardom in the early 1990's and maintaining a strong foothold on stage, film and TV in its aftermath.
Steven Robert Weber was born on March 4, 1961, to Fran (Frankel), a nightclub singer, and Stuart Weber, a nightclub performer, and Borscht Belt comic and manager. He was already appearing in television commercials by elementary school age. He later studied at the High School of the Performing Arts in New York and graduated from New York State University. The fair-haired, fair-skinned actor worked a series of menial jobs during his salad days as a struggling thespian (custodian, elevator operator, singing waiter) until earning his break on TV in a presentation of one of Mark Twain's stories. Quickly making his film debut in the popular comedy The Flamingo Kid (1984), he nabbed a running role on the soap opera As the World Turns (1956) a year later. On the set he met first wife Finn Carter, another co-star on the daytime drama. Steven stayed put for a year then went on to gain recognition in more offbeat and/or prestigious productions on film and prime-time TV. He played a rock star in the thoroughly offbeat foreign-made film Angels (1990) and showed real command as John F. Kennedy in the epic miniseries The Kennedys of Massachusetts (1990).
That same year TV stardom came his way with the sitcom Wings (1990). Co-starring with Tim Daly as Brian Hackett, the looser, goofier more aimless half of the brotherly team who co-owned a one-plane, Nantucket-based airline, the actors' chemistry, not to mention a terrifically eclectic supporting cast, kept the show on a steady course for seven seasons. Easily typed now as a genial, lovable loser type, Weber faced the prospect of severe pigeon-holing. So during the show's off season, he started showing up in more serious roles. He suffered at the hands of the deranged Jennifer Jason Leigh in Single White Female (1992); appeared in a second chiller with The Temp (1993); and made a cameo in the highly depressing, award-winning Leaving Las Vegas (1995). His flair for comedy shone in is straight-man role as Johathan Harker in the critically acclaimed horror spoof, Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995) He truly impressed both critics and audiences alike as the complex title character in Jeffrey (1995), a gay romantic film comedy, and then completely defied all odds by starring in an epic TV-movie version of Stephen King's horror classic The Shining (1997), seizing the role inherited from Jack Nicholson and brilliantly making it his own while earning a Saturn award for his chilling efforts.
By the time "Wings" came to an end in 1997, Weber had divorced his actress/wife Finn Carter (they had no children) and married actress/TV executive Juliette Hohnen on July 9, 1995. They have two children, Jack and Alfie. He and Laura Linney were selected to play the TV-movie leads in the popular A.R. Gurney theater piece Love Letters (1999). While other TV series comebacks have fared less well, including the short runs of The Weber Show (2000) (which he produced), The D.A. (2004), Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (2006), Happy Town (2010) and Chasing Life (2014).
Steven bounced around solidly in other venues. In 2002, he joined the cast of the smash Broadway musical "The Producers," taking over the nebbish Matthew Broderick role. In 2004, he went to London to appear on stage with Kevin Spacey and Mary Stuart Masterson in "National Anthems." Other plays over the years have included "Throwing Your Voice," "Something in the Air" and "Design for Living."
Steven has remained quite productive into the millennium with recent film outings in Sexual Life (2004), The Amateurs (2005), Inside Out (2005), the title role in Choose Connor (2007), Farm House (2008), My One and Only (2009), A Little Bit of Heaven (2011), Son of Morning (2011), the comedy Being Bin Laden (2011) in which he played Osama Bin Laden, Crawlspace (2012), Kiss Me (2014), Amateur Night (2016), A Thousand Junkies (2017), The Perfection (2018) and Allan the Dog (2020). Seen even more prolifically on TV, he has graced such popular shows as "The D.A.," "Will & Grace" (as Will's brother Sam), "Monk," "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," "Desperate Housewives," "Hot in Cleveland," "Parenthood," "Curb Your Enthusiasm," "Sleepy Hollow" and "This Close."
The actor continues to play a stream of comedic and dramatic recurring roles on such TV programs as Without a Trace (2002), Brothers & Sisters (2006), Dallas (2012) (the New Generation), Murder in the First (2014), Helix (2014), iZombie (2015), House of Lies (2012), NCIS: New Orleans (2014), Ballers (2015) and Get Shorty (2017) and more recently appeared as a regular on the mystery series 13 Reasons Why (2017) and comedy series Indebted (2020). In addition, he has given voice to a few animated programs including Ultimate Spider-Man (2012), Avengers Assemble (2012) The Bravest Knight (2019) and Puppy Dog Pals (2017).- Ned Wertimer was born on 27 October 1923 in Buffalo, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007), Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964) and Bad Company (1972). He was married to Skyne Uku. He died on 2 January 2013 in Valley Village, Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Director
Two-time Academy Award-winning cinematographer Haskell Wexler was adjudged one of the ten most influential cinematographers in movie history, according to an International Cinematographers Guild survey of its membership. He won his Oscars in both black & white and color, for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) (1966) and Bound for Glory (1976) (1976). He also shot part of Days of Heaven (1978) (1978), for which credited director of photography Nestor Almendros -- won a Best Cinematography Oscar that Wexler initially felt should have been jointly shared by both. Later he admitted he was just finishing the work of Almendros and when Bert Schneider offer him more credit in the Criterion Dvd release of the film, he turned down the offer. In 1993, Wexler was awarded a Lifetime Achivement award by the cinematographer's guild, the American Society of Cinematographers. He received five Oscar nominations for his cinematography, in total, plus one Emmy Award in a career that has spanned six decades.
In addition to his masterful cinematography, Wexler directed the seminal late Sixties film Medium Cool (1969) and has directed and/or shot many documentaries that display his progressive political views. He was the subject of a 2004 documentary shot by his son Mark Wexler, Tell Them Who You Are (2004).- Actor
- Soundtrack
Robert Wightman was born on 29 December 1952 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He is an actor, known for American Gigolo (1980), Stepfather 3 (1992) and The Waltons (1972).- Actor
- Director
- Additional Crew
Brian Wimmer was born on 1 October 1959 in Orem, Utah, USA. He is an actor and director, known for A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985), Tank Girl (1995) and Flipper (1995).- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
John Barrymore was born John Sidney Blyth on February 15, 1882 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. An American stage and screen actor whose rise to superstardom and subsequent decline is one of the legendary tragedies of Hollywood. A member of the most famous generation of the most famous theatrical family in America, he was also its most acclaimed star. His father was Maurice Blyth (or Blythe; family spellings vary), a stage success under the name Maurice Barrymore. His mother, Georgie Drew, was the daughter of actor John Drew. Although well known in the theatre, Maurice and Georgie were eclipsed by their three children, John, Lionel Barrymore, and Ethel Barrymore, each of whom became legendary stars. John was handsome and roguish. He made his stage debut at age 18 in one of his father's productions, but was much more interested in becoming an artist.
Briefly educated at King's College, Wimbledon, and at New York's Art Students League, Barrymore worked as a freelance artist and for a while sketched for the New York Evening Journal. Gradually, though, the draw of his family's profession ensnared him, and by 1905, he had given up professional drawing and was touring the country in plays. He survived the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, and in 1909, became a major Broadway star in "The Fortune Hunter". In 1922, Barrymore became his generation's most acclaimed "Hamlet", in New York and London. But by this time, he had become a frequent player in motion pictures. His screen debut supposedly came in An American Citizen (1914), though records of several lost films indicate he may have made appearances as far back as 1912. He became every bit the star of films that he was on stage, eclipsing his siblings in both arenas.
Though his striking matinee-idol looks had garnered him the nickname "The Great Profile", he often buried them under makeup or distortion in order to create memorable characters of degradation or horror. He was a romantic leading man into the early days of sound films, but his heavy drinking (since boyhood) began to take a toll, and he degenerated quickly into a man old before his time. He made a number of memorable appearances in character roles, but these became over time more memorable for the humiliation of a once-great star than for his gifts. His last few films were broad and distasteful caricatures of himself, though in even the worst, such as Playmates (1941), he could rouse himself to a moving soliloquy from "Hamlet". He died on May 29, 1942, mourned as much for the loss of his life as for the loss of grace, wit, and brilliance which had characterized his career at its height.- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Shelley Berman began studying acting shortly after he was honorably discharged from the US navy. He enrolled as a drama student at Chicago's Goodman Theater, where he met Sarah Herman, another aspiring thespian. They fell in love and were married in 1947. After graduating from the Goodman Theater, Shelley joined the Woodstock Players, a stock theater company in Woodstock, IL. It was here that he had the opportunity to really develop and polish his acting skills, with the support and encouragement of fellow players Geraldine Page, Betsy Palmer and Tom Bosley. Leaving Woodstock in 1949, Shelley and Sarah made their way across the country, with Shelley in search of acting work. When those jobs were scarce, he worked as a social director, a cab driver, a speech teacher, an assistant manager at a drug store and an instructor at Arthur Murray Dance Studios. While in New York Shelley found work as a sketch writer for The Steve Allen Plymouth Show (1956), and was doing well when he received an invitation to join an improvisational troupe known as The Compass Players, which took him back home to Chicago. With Compass (which later evolved into Second City) Shelley worked with soon-to-be famous performers Mike Nichols, Elaine May, Severn Darden and Barbara Harris, among others. While performing improvised sketches with the Compass Players, Shelley began developing solo pieces, employing an imaginary telephone to take the place of an onstage partner. While watching Mort Sahl perform at Mr. Kelly's in Chicago in 1957, Shelley realized he didn't necessarily have to tell traditional jokes, as other comedians of the day did, in order to work in nightclubs and went on to audition at the club, performing his one-man monologues and telephone routines with great success. Those first dates at Mr. Kelly's led to other nightclub engagements around the country, appearances on national television and a recording contract with Verve Records. "Inside Shelley Berman", released in early 1959, became the first comedy album to be awarded a gold record--for selling one million copies--and the first non-musical recording to win a Grammy Award. Shelley would eventually record a total of six albums for Verve, including "Outside Shelley Berman" and "The Edge of Shelley Berman", both of which also went gold. Shelley would go on to appear on numerous TV specials, and all of the major variety shows, including those of Ed Sullivan, Steve Allen, Jack Paar, Dinah Shore, Perry Como, Andy Williams and Dean Martin. Shelley's great success as a comedian enabled him to continue with his first love, acting. He starred on Broadway in "A Family Affair" and would continue to do stage work in productions of "The Odd Couple", "Damn Yankees", "Where's Charley?", "Fiddler On the Roof", "Two by Two", "I'm Not Rappaport", "La Cage aux Folles", "Prisoner of Second Avenue" and "Guys & Dolls", among others. Comedic and dramatic acting roles in what came to be known as "The Golden Age of Television" began to come his way, including memorable appearances on episodes of Peter Gunn (1958), The Twilight Zone (1959), Rawhide (1959), Bewitched (1964), The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964), The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970), Adam-12 (1968), Emergency! (1972), CHiPs (1977), St. Elsewhere (1982), Night Court (1984), MacGyver (1985), L.A. Law (1986), Friends (1994), Arli$$ (1996), Lizzie McGuire (2001), Providence (1999), Walker, Texas Ranger (1993), The King of Queens (1998), "The Bernie Mac Show" (2001)_, "Grey's Anatomy" (2005)_ Entourage (2004) Hannah Montana (2006), CSI: NY (2004) and Boston Legal (2004), the latter of which he made numerous recurring guest -tar appearances as the hilariously semi-senile Judge Robert Sanders. Since 2002 Shelley has appeared as Nat David (Larry David's father) on HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000), a role for which he received a 2008 Emmy Award nomination. With dialogue entirely improvised by its cast, "Curb" has given Shelley the opportunity to return to his improv roots, introduced him to a new generation of TV viewers and brought him acclaim from critics and fans alike. Among Shelley's film credits are The Best Man (1964) with Henry Fonda; Divorce American Style (1967) with Dick Van Dyke and Debbie Reynolds; Every Home Should Have One (1970) with Marty Feldman; '80s cult favorite Teen Witch (1989); with 'Burt Reynolds' in The Last Producer (2000); Meet the Fockers (2004) with Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller; The Aristocrats (2005); The Holiday (2006) with Cameron Diaz, and You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008) (with Adam Sandler). Shelley continues to do film and television work and make personal appearances across the country year-round. He has authored three books, two plays, several TV pilot scripts and numerous poems. For over 20 years he taught humor writing in the Master of Professional Writing program at USC, where he is now a Lecturer Emeritus. Shelley spends his (precious little) free time volunteering for various charitable organizations and indulging in his favorite hobby, knife collecting.- After becoming immersed in the 60s high life of drugs and sex, Denberg left show business and returned to Austria. News interviews at the time show a depressed Denberg in the company of her mother, at home in Klagenfurt. These news items, repeated in fan periodicals for years, gave the impression Denberg was suicidal or had already died. Actually, she is still alive.
- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Melissa Ellen Gilbert is an American actress, television director, producer, politician, and former president of the Screen Actors Guild. Gilbert began her career as a child actress in the late 1960s, appearing in numerous commercials and guest starring roles on television. From 1974 to 1983, she starred as Laura Ingalls Wilder, the second oldest daughter of Charles Ingalls (played by Michael Landon) on the NBC series Little House on the Prairie. During the run of Little House, Gilbert appeared in several television films, including The Diary of Anne Frank and The Miracle Worker.- Producer
- Actress
- Writer
Sara Gilbert was born on January 29, 1975, as Sara Rebecca Abeles at St. John's Hospital and Health Center in Santa Monica, California, to Barbara Cowan and Harold Abeles. Barbara was previously married to the late Paul Gilbert. At the age of six, when Sara saw her sister Melissa Gilbert get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, she told her mother that she wanted to be an actress, too. A string of commercials and, in 1984, an appearance in the CBS TV movie Calamity Jane (1984), led her to adopt the Gilbert family name. After failing to get the new The Facts of Life (1979) show, she eventually found success with Roseanne (1988). Sara spent a total of nine years on that show and was given time to be able to study at Yale University, graduating with honors in 1997. Aside from Roseanne (1988), she has provided the voice of Laura Powers on The Simpsons (1989), and starred in several movies including Sudie and Simpson (1990), Poison Ivy (1992) and Light It Up (1999).- Actor
- Writer
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Former stage actor and playwright - he wrote over 150 plays and vaudeville sketches - Hugh Herbert went, in the early 1930s to Hollywood, as a comedian. In the 1930s he worked mostly for Warner Bros., impersonating often eccentric millionaires, tycoons and dimwitted professors. In a few movies he collaborated on the screenplays, e.g. on "Gold Diggers of 1935" and "Hit Parade of 1941".- Director
- Producer
- Actor
Arthur Hiller was born on 22 November 1923 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He was a director and producer, known for Love Story (1970), The Hospital (1971) and See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989). He was married to Gwen Hiller. He died on 17 August 2016 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Perry King was born on 30 April 1948 in Alliance, Ohio, USA. He is an actor and director, known for The Day After Tomorrow (2004), Mandingo (1975) and Class of 1984 (1982).- Actress
- Soundtrack
Sylvia Miles was an American actress, born and raised in Greenwich Village, New York City. She was twice nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, without ever winning the Award.
Miles was born under the name "Sylvia Scheinwald". Her parents were furniture maker Reuben Scheinwald and his wife Belle Feldman. Miles attended Washington Irving High School, located in the Gramercy Park neighborhood of Manhattan. She received her acting education at the Actors Studio, located the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan.
Miles made her theatrical debut in 1947, at the age of 23. She started appearing on television in 1954. Her film debut was the gangster film "Murder, Inc." (1960), dramatizing the career of an organized crime group active from c. 1930 to 1940. The real-life group were enforcers for the National Crime Syndicate, a loose confederation of American crime organizations.
Subsequent film appearances for Miles included the generation-gap themed drama "Parrish" (1961), the serial-killed themed horror film "Violent Midnight" (1963), and the child-labor themed drama "Pie in the Sky" (1964), Meanwhile, Miles lost a chance at television fame, when playing the character of comedy writer Sally Rogers in the 1960 pilot episode "Head of the Family". The pilot was the basis of the popular television show "The Dick Van Dyke Show" (1961-1966), and Sally Rogers was part of the main cast. But in the regular series, Miles was replaced by fellow actress Rose Marie (1923-2017).
Miles had a scene-stealing performance in her next film project, "Midnight Cowboy" (1969). She played Cass, an aging kept woman, who invites Joe Buck (played by Jon Voight) to her apartment for sex. The role allowed Miles to Show off her "voluptuous figure" and overall sex-appeal. For this role, she received her first nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. The award was instead won by Goldie Hawn (1945-).
Miles subsequent films included the meta-fictional drama "The Last Movie" (1971), the mystery film "Who Killed Mary What's 'Er Name?" (1971), and the seduction-themed comedy-drama "Heat" (1972). Her most notable role at the time was that of Jessie Halstead Florian in the crime thriller "Farewell, My Lovely". The film was the second film adaptation of Raymond Chandler's 1940 novel, and depicted private detective Philip Marlowe working in a missing-person case. For her role in the film Miles received her second nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. The award was instead won by Lee Grant (c. 1925-).
Miles subsequent films films included the rivalry-themed drama "92 in the Shade" (1975), the period comedy "The Great Scout & Cathouse Thursday" (1976), the supernatural horror film "The Sentinel" (1977), the repossession-themed comedy "Zero to Sixty" (1978), and the heist film "Shalimar".
The 1980s opened with Miles playing murdered prostitute Madame Zena in the horror film "The Funhouse" (1981), with the murder setting off the film's main plot. She next played theatrical producer Myra Gardener in the mystery film "Evil Under the Sun" (1982). The film was an adaptation of the 1941 novel by Agatha Christie, and featured Myra as one on the film's murder suspects.
Miles' next few films included hospital-themed comedy "Critical Condition" (1987), the fairy-tale themed fantasy film "Sleeping Beauty" (1987), the romantic comedy "Crossing Delancey" (1988), the mafia-themed comedy-drama "Spike of Bensonhurst" (1988), and the revenge-themed black comedy "She-Devil" (1989). Her most notable role in this period was that of Dolores the Realtor in the corporate-raider themed drama "Wall Street" (1987), a box office hit of the time.
Miles' career slowed down in the 1990s, in part due to her increasingly poor health. She was suffering from anemia and respiratory issues. Her next few films included the friendship-themed comedy "Denise Calls Up" (1995), the marijuana-themed comedy "High Times' Potluck" (2002), and the strip-club themed comedy "Go Go Tales" (2007).
Miles returned to the role Dolores the Realtor in the sequel film "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" (2010). It was her last notable film role. She spend the last months of her life in a nursing home, and died during her transportation to a hospital in 2019. She was 94 years old, one of the oldest living actresses at the time.