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1-50 of 2,148
- Actor
'Lefty' Weisman was born in 1895 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He was an actor. He died on 4 November 1949 in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, USA.- Actor
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
'Screamin' Scott' Simon was born on 2 December 1948 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He is an actor, known for Grease (1978), Grunt! The Wrestling Movie (1985) and The Fall Guy (1981).- Writer
- Actor
A.L. Alexander was born in 1906 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He was a writer and actor, known for War Is a Racket (1934), Animal Cunning (1936) and Children Must Laugh (1938). He died on 24 February 1967.- Aaron Feuerstein was born on 11 December 1925 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He was a producer, known for The American Question and 60 Minutes (1968). He was married to Louise and Merika. He died on 4 November 2021 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
- Producer
- Editor
- Director
Aaron Howland was born in 1976 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He is a producer and editor, known for The Commitment (2012), Interrogation (2006) and Once Again (2012).- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Aaron K. Wilson was born in Boston, Massachusetts and is the second oldest of 5 children. He is a graduate of Bryant University in Smithfield, Rhode Island, and has a Bachelor's in Business Administration with a focus in Management and minor in Communication. He now lives in Los Angeles pursuing his acting and music.
Aaron began showing interest in singing and acting in elementary school. His first acting job was a background artist in a major motion picture. He then started to land roles on small pilots, student films, music videos, and public access stations. Aaron latest film is "Life As Such" a short comedy that will be preparing in 2020.
He has a huge abundance of love for his family, friends, and life. He also enjoys such activities as hanging out with friends and helping the community any way he can.- Actor
- Casting Director
Aaron Paternoster was born on 22 June 1984 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He is an actor and casting director, known for Law & Order (1990), Keys (2007) and Ed (2000).- Actor
- Location Management
- Music Department
Abe began acting at the age of 8 in a school plays but later gravitated to violin. He has been in many musical productions beginning with My Fair Lady and then Amahl and the Night Visitors, Anything Goes, Jekyll & Hyde, Guys & Dolls, and Wizard of Oz and operas such as Rigoletto and Tosca as a member of the pit orchestra.
He decided to try his hand on screen and in production rather than providing the music. Several roles in student shorts such as 'Cast of A Thousands' and a Location Manager stint with future writer and director, Peter Sullivan that solidified his passion for filmmaking.
As an actor and producer, Abe has two full-length films to his credit. God of Vampires gained a limited theatrical run in the summer of 2010 and premiered on cable television in April 2011. Both God of Vampires and School of Horror are in wide distribution on DVD.
He most recently appeared as Roberti, the Cardinal and a police agent in a Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra production of Tosca.- Abraham Paul Sarkis was born on 23 October 1967 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He is an actor, known for Leaving Scars (1997), Diamond Run (1996) and Right of the Meridian (2004).
- Abraham Rogatnick was born on 27 November 1923 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He died on 28 December 2009 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
- Ada Gilman was born on 6 October 1854 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. She was an actress, known for In Again, Out Again (1917) and Little Red Riding Hood (1911). She died on 18 December 1921 in Holmesburg, Pennsylvania, USA.
- Writer
- Director
- Actor
Adam Alleca was born on 16 February 1983 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He is a writer and director, known for Cell (2016), The Last House on the Left (2009) and Standoff (2016). He is married to Ashley Christine Beyer.- Camera and Electrical Department
- Actor
- Producer
Adam Barth was born on 30 April 1964 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for The X-Files (1993), Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003) and Apocalypto (2006). He has been married to Cheryl Barth since 1 June 1996. They have three children.- Additional Crew
- Editor
- Sound Department
Raised in the small white trash suburb of Malden, Ma. of Feta-Mozarella decent. Catino got an early start with clay, lego and silly putty animation on a VHS video camera borrowed from his father's boss. After the camera was taken back by his father's boss, so his son could start his white rap group and make horrible videos, Catino suffered from a creative lull. He attended Catholic school for 13 years, which in the long run left him extremely cynical about religion in general. Studying the arts of stage crew, lighting and sound in his high school theatre program, Catino rekindled his love affair with performance and technical arts. With his school unable to provide him with a creative outlet in film or video, Catino got a video camera and wasted most of his time making bad videos and taping stupid stuff like drinking and getting high. It was anything but his creative highpoint. After a recomendation by his half-baked Guidance Counselor, Catino went to Suffolk University to study film. As a student at Suffolk University, Catino realized that there were no more than 5 film classes and that his high school Guidance Counselor was of no help. He wasted a year and a half at that institution, met some great friends, and decided to take some time off. After a 3 month stint at Fleet Bank Check Fraud Department, Catino, with friend Adam Krauss, decided to travel the great nation for 3 months. During that period, he tranferred into Emerson College and began his film career pursuit. Now, after two and a half years at Emerson, Catino resides in the great state of Claifornia. He also boasts a semi somewhat redeemable resume, but would never say that in public.- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Adam Deyoe graduated from Emerson College with a B.F.A. in film production. He has directed numerous features including the cult films "Psycho Sleepover" and "Yeti: A Love Story" for Troma Entertainment, the horror action-thriller "Dead Season" for the SyFy Network, and the teen dance drama, "1 Chance 2 Dance" for MarVista Entertainment. He has since gone on to direct, produce, and create visual effects for animated content including the Streamy nominated "Oishi High School Battle" for Defy Media and "Laurie the Lousy Fairy" and "Dinglesworth" for DreamworksTV. His latest directorial works have been the zombie-thriller "Decade of the Dead" shot in Hawaii and the stop motion short film "Davey's Lullaby".- Production Manager
- Additional Crew
- Producer
Adam Donnelly was born on 13 August 1981 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Adam is a production manager and producer, known for Draft Day (2014), The Night Before (2015) and Helpsters (2019).- Camera and Electrical Department
- Cinematographer
As a kid Adam loved to play with his Dad's Canon Ae-1 and pretend that he was a National Geographic photographer. He would wait several seconds, minutes even, laying belly down in the grass hoping some big predator would suddenly appear in the suburbs of Boston. The lions never came and photography was a hobby.
That all changed when a teenage Adam saw the documentary film Baraka for the first time. He experienced how visual storytelling can so elegantly capture the beautiful complexity of the world. The film was the proverbial slingshot for young Adam's creativity and drive. Almost 15 years, 40 countries, and dozens of camera's later, Adam is truly, madly, hopelessly addicted to filmmaking. He is never settled until the pieces of the puzzle are in place and the story has been told. With all aspects of his creative life, he embraces change, growth, and truly wants to "ride it til the wheels fall off".- Adam Karofsky was born on 28 August 1998 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He is an actor, known for Sexually Frank (2012) and How to Convey Emotion in your Writing (2022).
- Additional Crew
- Producer
Adam Kosberg was born on 21 March 1977 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He is a producer, known for Advice from a Caterpillar (1999), The Fog of War (2003) and AFI's 100 Years... 100 Thrills: America's Most Heart-Pounding Movies (2001).- With a model for a grandmother, who posed for Chanel No. 5 and Guinness in Ireland, Adam Prout had the spotlight in his blood. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, he began his career in the arts at age 19 in New York City. He was originally going to train to draw comic books for a living but decided on a career in film. After graduating from The New York Film Academy in 1998 with a certificate in directing, he was moved out of his house and spent the following decade moving around many cities trying to start a band as a front man, while working mainly as a retail make-up artist. He got his first taste of fame on the Internet under an alter ego, along with a few others, who found a way to get notoriety after the birth of social networking sites. He ended up in Los Angeles by June 2007, and was soon discovered by his agent while doing background work as an extra in commercials, television, and films. Independent, student, and short films followed with his first lead in a short film where he played a challenging initial role, as a psychotic, murderous ex boyfriend. Within 6 months of deciding on an acting career, Prout landed two speaking roles in the feature films Busted and Once Fallen. Quickly establishing himself as a natural talent on the immediate rise, he decided to enhance his craft and enroll in The Joanne Baron/D.W. Brown Studio in Santa Monica as well as various other training studios. In August of 2009 he booked his first commercial for Guitar Center. As of October 2010 he is a full time student in Orange County, CA.
- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Adam graduated from the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts.
Robitel's latest film, Escape Room: Tournament of Champions, has recently been released to the delight of Escape Room fans. His three last films have been theatrical releases and have grossed 370 million dollars worldwide. Robitel is in pre-production on his forthcoming Netflix Series The Craving, produced by Darren Aronofsky, and Protozoa Pictures, for which he will serve as Co-creator / Show Runner and director.
Robitel made a big splash in the genre world as a horror auteur having co-written, directed and produced The Taking of Deborah Logan (2014) (2014) a found-footage horror thriller. The Taking of Deborah Logan was named a "Netflix Horror Gem" by The Wrap and won an iHorror Award for best direct release of 2014. Paramount Studios then hired Robitel to do some rewrites on Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension (2015) (2015).
Robitel made headlines after being tapped to direct Blumhouse's creep-fest franchise Insidious: The Last Key (2018) (2017). The Last Key opened on January 5th, to fantastic domestic box office, grossing 30 million dollars on its opening weekend and more than 167 million dollars worldwide, making it the most lucrative Insidious to date.
Robitel's latest film, Escape Room (2019) which he developed and directed for Original Films and Sony Pictures Studios, opened at number 2 in the domestic box office with a stellar haul of 18 million dollars, twice its production budget. Escape Room has now grossed 156 million dollars world wide.
Robitel's original supernatural thriller idea Liminal sparked a bidding war and sold to Fox2000 with Nina Jacobson producing. Robitel will serve as executive producer with Chris Landon writing the screenplay and directing. The scribe has also written a gritty reinvention of the slasher genre with Cropsey based on the infamous maniac who has haunted the imaginations of campers for over a hundred years for Peter Facinelli A7SLE Seven films.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
A writer and director living in Los Angeles, Adam is co-host of "The Cutting Room Movie Podcast." In addition, he is developing several projects with his writing partner, Benedick Bates. Adam co-created the web series "Starland P.C." with his wife, Vanessa Lapato, an Emmy Award-winning ADR Supervisor and Dialogue editor. Adam, Vanessa, and Benedick are the founding members of Bunfight Entertainment.- Actor
- Additional Crew
Adam Zalt was born on 27 January 1988 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He is an actor, known for The Maiden Heist (2009) and Super-Townie (2012).- Adolf A. Berle was born on 29 January 1895 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He died in 1971.
- Actor
- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
Adrian Atwood was born on 29 October 1985 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He is an actor and cinematographer, known for Polypore (2013), Honeysuckle (2012) and Stuck on Someday (2017).- Additional Crew
- Actor
- Executive
Adrian Lamo is a Boston-born threat analyst and security enthusiast. His former high-profile computer intrusions and involvement with the Wikileaks investigation have been cited in thousands of news articles, numerous television segments, several films, an opera, a theatrical play, and scores of books.
After pleading guilty to hacking The New York Times and Microsoft Lamo embarked on a career using his talents for good in critical infrastructure and national security areas.
In 2010, Lamo informed the authorities about the alleged plot of an online acquaintance to carry out the largest classified material breach in the history of U.S. espionage, by identifying accused wiki-spy Bradley Manning and triggering Manning's arrest. The material was successfully released by Wikileaks months later, but authorities had time to mitigate the damage it would go on to cause.
Lamo's opinion is often sought when events take a hacker-related turn. He was a serial guest on erstwhile TechTV's The Screen Savers (and later on The New Screen Savers), and the featured prominently in the documentary film "Hackers Wanted" narrated by Kevin Spacey . He also featured heavily in Alex Gibney's "We Steal Secrets" and various other documentaries. His work has been cited in scores of books and magazines, been the subject of a theatrical production and an opera, and he has consulted on various book & film productions. He has been on Good Morning America, CNN, Al-Jazeera, Univision, TechTV with Leo Laporte and Kevin Rose, The New TechTV, NHK, BBC, CBS, Fox, and other visual media. He takes a limited number of public speaking engagements.
He began writing for The American River Current, his college paper, and has also been published in Network World, Mobile Magazine, PenTest Magazine, 2600 Magazine, PandoDaily, Forbes, Newsweek, The Guardian, Huffington Post, and other publications. His writing on Quora.com often receives millions of views per month.
Critics have derided Lamo as publicity-motivated and have ascribed him a variety of ulterior motives, charges which he has consistently declined to "dignify".
Lamo has publicly stated that his criminal career is behind him, and assists ProjectVIGILANT & other entities in fighting netcentric (cyber) crime and state-sponsored hacking.- Actress
Adrienne Matzenauer was born on 20 January 1914 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. She was an actress. She died on 10 June 2010 in Santa Monica, California, USA.- Actor
- Writer
- Editor
Adrian Burke is a Peruvian-American SAG Eligible actor, comedian, and writer based in New York City. He has worked with TVLand, BET, VH1, Broadway Video, and on many indie film projects. He is the creator and host of the podcast La Mezcla: Conversations With Mixed-Race Americans. His short film Mi Unico is hitting the festival circuit soon. Adrian tours internationally with his musical improv team Night Captain and with his duo improv show Bound. He is an advanced level improviser at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater and a teacher at Katie Capiello Studio in Manhattan. You can catch Adrian performing in theaters and bars all over NYC doing material about his immigrant mom.
Adrian is an alumn of the Acting Apprenticeship program at The Barrow Group Theater Company. Training includes the Boston University College of Fine Arts, The Atlantic Theater Company, Terry Schreiber Studio, and The Barrow Group Theater Company. He received his undergraduate degree in film production from Boston University.- Ady Barkan was born on 18 December 1983 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He was married to Racheal King. He died on 1 November 2023 in Santa Barbara, California, USA.
- Ahmad Maksoud was born on 18 February 1987 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He is an actor, known for Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999), The Blacklist (2013) and The Equalizer (2021).
- Ahvi Spindell was born on 26 June 1954 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He is an actor, known for Crocodile Dundee II (1988) and Café Babel (1995).
- Producer
- Actress
- Writer
Aida Rodriguez is a writer/performer, comedian and actor. Lauded by Esquire Magazine as "raucously funny," she has become a favorite with fans and critics alike. With her first hour stand-up special set to premiere and her own TV series in development, both at HBOMax, Aida is bound for the comedy stratosphere.
In November 2021, Aida's first hour stand-up special Fighting Words premiered on HBOMax. In the special, the comedian takes to the stage to address today's audiences about the social issues of the day, not just because they're ripped from the headlines, but because they are in the pages torn out of her personal life. Additionally, Rodriguez is developing her own half hour comedy series with HBOMax based on her own incredible life story, which. Co-written and Executive Produced by Rodriguez, Chris Case (Showtime's Flatbush Misdemeanors) and Nastaran Dibai (Netflix's Dear White People), the project examines the struggle of a comedian (Rodriguez) who is trying to kick start a career while raising two very different teenagers on her own over multiple time zones. It is an uplifting story of survival and triumph in the face of a darkly funny Miami inner-city upbringing, where she learned skills that allowed her to thrive and endure.- Aidan was born near Boston, MA on October 4, 1993 to an American mom and an Irish dad. He spent his first 3 1/2 years in Hull, MA. In June of 1997, he moved with his family to Galway, Ireland (his dad's birthplace) where he lived for the next seven years. It was in Galway where he made his stage debut as Bill Sykes in OLIVER at the Town Hall Theatre. In the summer of '04, Aidan and his family moved back to the U.S. to San Diego, CA. Spring '05 found him in Hollywood working with a dialect coach while pursuing an acting career. A few months later he landed his first movie role playing a British boy for THE TV SET, followed quickly by a lead role in the feature film SIMPLE THINGS. Aidan was born an actor, but he was never a ham. Even at the age of six he took his performances seriously. At eight he was adding lines to his characters in order to get more stage time. He also began writing his own scripts and rounded up friends and family to perform with him for his home movie camera. Aidan has an older sister, Aisling, and a younger brother, Cillian.
- Actress
- Additional Crew
Ainsley Winter was born on 27 April 1990 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. She is an actress, known for Ted (2012), Joy (2015) and Clear History (2013).- Actor
- Director
Al Avalon was born on 10 August 1932 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He is an actor and director, known for Divorce Court (1957), Experiment in Terror (1962) and Brushfire (1962). He was previously married to Marilyn Harvey.- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Al Avola was born on 27 January 1914 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He is known for Dancing Co-Ed (1939). He died on 20 January 2000 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actor
- Composer
- Music Department
Al B. Sure!, is an American singer, songwriter, actor, record producer, social activist, radio host and former Motown Records executive. Born in Boston, MA and raised in $ Earnin' Mount Vernon, New York. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Brown was one of new jack swing's pioneers and most popular romantic singers, songwriters and record producers on the UpTown Records label.... To be cont.- Stunts
- Actor
Al Carmichael, USC halfback who scored first touchdown in AFL history, set an NFL record with a 106-yard kick return in 1956 and was elected to the Packers Hall of Fame in 1974, also worked as a Hollywood stuntman and double in dozens of movies. Carmichael, a halfback, played for Denver in 1960 and '61 after a six-year stint in Green Bay, which selected him in the first round (seventh overall) after he served in the U.S. Marine Corps following his college career at USC.- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Al Del Bene was born on 12 August 1972 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for Millennium Crisis (2007), Show Interrupted (2012) and Babble on! TV (2001). He has been married to Clare Stevenson since 18 August 2001.- Al Hirshberg was born on 10 May 1909 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He was a writer, known for Fear Strikes Out (1957) and Climax! (1954). He died on 11 April 1973 in Pocasset, Massachusetts, USA.
- Alan A. Stone was born on 15 August 1929 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He was married to Sue Smart. He died on 23 January 2022 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
- Alan D. Solomont was born in 1949 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
- Producer
- Music Department
- Sound Department
Alan Douglas was born on 20 July 1931 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He was a producer, known for Flash Gordon (1980), Sunnyside (1979) and Dance of the Cookoos (1982). He was married to Lucia Solazzi Rubenstein. He died on 7 June 2014 in Paris, France.- Alan Rich was born on 17 June 1924 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He was an actor, known for Rocky King, Detective (1950), Dark of Night (1952) and Camera Three (1955). He died on 23 April 2010 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Casting Department
- Casting Director
- Actor
Alan Shayne was born on 21 November 1925 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He is a casting director and actor, known for All the President's Men (1976), The Bourne Identity (1988) and Hallmark Hall of Fame (1951). He has been married to Norman Sunshine since 2004. He was previously married to Jacqueline Babbin.- Alan Stevenson was born on 13 April 1918 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He was an actor, known for Lights Out (1946), Murder by Phone (1982) and Man Against Crime (1949). He died on 24 October 2007 in New York City, New York, USA.
- Writer
- Producer
Alan Trustman was born in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He is a lawyer, writer and producer, best known for the original screenplay of The Thomas Crown Affair (1968) and subsequent Steve McQueen movies. . In 2008 he married the love of his life, physiologist Dr. Barbara Buchwald. They live on Fisher Island.- Soundtrack
- Composer
- Music Department
Alan Christie Wilson was born to John Wilson and Shirley Brigham in the Boston suburb of Arlington, MA on July 4 1943. Wilson was highly sensitive, introverted, and intelligent, which set him apart from his peers. He became engrossed in music as a child after his step mother bought him a jazz record. Some of Wilson's first efforts at performing music publicly came during his teen years when he learned trombone, teaching himself the instrumental parts from the aforementioned jazz record. Later he formed a jazz ensemble with other musically oriented friends from school called Crescent City Hot Five. At this time, Wilson was into traditional New Orleans music, and later, Classical European and Indian music. Wilson developed a fascination with blues music after a friend played a Muddy Waters record for him, The Best of Muddy Waters. Inspired by Little Walker, he took up harmonica, and soon after, the acoustic guitar after hearing a John Lee Hooker record. After graduating from Arlington High School in 1961, he majored in music at Boston University. His academics earned him a National Merit Scholarship and the F.E. Thompson Scholarship Fund from the Town of Arlington. Wilson developed into a dedicated student of early blues, writing a number of articles for the Broadside of Boston newspaper and the folk-revival magazine Little Sandy Review, including a piece on bluesman Robert Pete Williams.
Wilson met Harvard student and fellow blues enthusiast David Evans in a record store, and the two began playing as a team around the Cambridge coffeehouse folk-blues circuit. With Evans on vocals and guitar, Wilson on harmonica and occasionally second guitar. The two played a repertoire of mostly classic-era blues covers. The early 1960's saw a "rediscovery" of pre-war blues artists by young, white blues enthusiasts, including Mississippi John Hurt, Booker White, Skip James and Son House. After Son House's "rediscovery" in 1964, it was evident that House had forgotten his songs due to his long absence from music. Wilson showed him how to play again the songs House had recorded in 1930 and 1942. Wilson played House's old recordings for him and demonstrated them on guitar to revive House's memory. House recorded Father of Folk Blues for Columbia Records in 1965. Two of the selections on the set featured Wilson on harmonica and guitar. In a letter to Jazz Journal published in the September 1965 issue, Son House's manager Dick Waterman remarked the following about the project and Wilson: "It is a solo album, except for backing on two cuts by a 21-year-old White boy from Cambridge by the name of Al Wilson. Al plays second guitar on Empire State Express and harp on Levee Camp Moan."
Due to Wilson's extreme near sidedness, and scholarly nature, his friend, John Fahey, "Father of the American Fingerstyle Guitar" gave him the nickname "The Blind Owl." After moving to California, Wilson met fellow blues enthusiast Bob Hite at a record store and together founded Canned Heat in 1965. Named after Tommy Johnson's 1928 song "Canned Heat Blues," about an alcoholic who turned to drinking the cooking fuel Sterno. Originally beginning as a jug band, Canned Heat initially comprised of Hite on vocals and Wilson on bottleneck guitar. The band started recording for Liberty Records in 1967, releasing their first album Canned Heat featuring reworkings of older blues songs. Their first big live performance was at the Monterey Pop Festival on June 17, 1967 where they performed renditions of "Rollin and Tumblin," "Bullfrog Blues," and "Dust My Broom."
Heavily influenced by Skip James, Wilson began singing similar to James' high pitch. Some of his first singing attempts took place behind a closed bedroom door; and when a family member overheard him, he was embarrassed. Wilson eventually perfected the high tenor for which he would become known. Wilson wrote and sang the band's break out hit "On the Road Again,' an updated version of a 1950's composition by Floyd Jones, on the band's second release, Boogie With Canned Heat. In an interview with Down Beat magazine he remarked, "... on 'On The Road Again' I appear in six different capacities - three tamboura parts, harmonica, vocal, and guitar, all recorded at different times." "On The Road Again" peaked at number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100, and at number 8 on the UK singles charts earning the band immense popularity in Europe.
Canned Heat's third album included the band's best-known song, also sung by Wilson, "Going Up the Country." The song, an incarnation of Henry Thomas' "Bull-Doze Blues" was rewritten by Wilson and caught the "back to nature" attitude of the late 1960's. The tune was a hit in numerous countries around the world, peaking at number 11 in the US. The "rural hippie anthem" became the unofficial theme song for the Woodstock Festival where Canned Heat performed at sunset on August 16, 1969.
In May 1970, Canned Heat teamed up with John Lee Hooker, fulfilling a dream for Wilson of recording with one of his musical idols. It would be his last recording. The resulting double album "Hooker 'N' Heat" was the first in Hooker's career to make the charts. On the album, Hooker is heard wondering how Wilson was capable of following his guitar playing so well. Hooker was known to be a difficult performer to accompany, partly because of his disregard of song form, yet Wilson seemed to have no trouble at all following him on this album. Hooker states that "you [Wilson] musta been listenin' to my records all your life" and also stated that Wilson was the "greatest harmonica player ever."
On September 3, 1970, Wilson was found dead in his sleeping bag on the hillside behind Bob Hite's Topanga Canyon home where he often slept. He was 27 years old. An autopsy identified his manner and cause of death as accidental acute barbiturate intoxication. Wilson's death came just two weeks before the death of Jimi Hendrix, four weeks before the death of Janis Joplin, and ten months before the death of Jim Morrison, three artists who also died at the same age.
Besides being a gifted musician, Wilson was a passionate conservationist who loved reading books on botany and ecology. He often slept outdoors to be closer to nature, and amassed a large collection of pinecones, leaves and soil samples. Wilson communicated with trees and plants better than he did with people. In 1970 Wilson established a conservation fund called Music Mountain in the Skunk Cabbage Creek area of California to purchase a grove to be added to Redwood National Park. The purpose of this organization was to raise money for the preservation of the coastal redwood, which Wilson saw increasingly endangered by pollution, and urban sprawl. He wrote an essay called 'Grim Harvest', expressing his concern for the logging of redwoods, which was printed as the liner notes to Canned Heat's 1969 album Future Blues. It begins, "The redwoods of California are the tallest living things on Earth, nearly the oldest, and among the most beautiful to boot." In order to support his dream, Wilson's family purchased a "grove naming" in his memory through the Save the Redwoods League of California. The money donated to create this memorial will be used by the League to support redwood reforestation, research, education, and land acquisition of both new and old growth redwoods. Wilson was cremated and his ashes were later scattered in Sequoia National Park amongst the giant redwoods he passionately loved.- Cinematographer
- Director
- Producer
Albert Maysles was born on 26 November 1926 in Dorchester, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He was a cinematographer and director, known for Grey Gardens (1975), Salesman (1969) and Gimme Shelter (1970). He was married to Gillian Walker. He died on 5 March 2015 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA.- Director
- Writer
- Cinematographer
Albert Plummer was born on 17 November 1878 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He was a director and writer, known for Darkness and Daylight (1923) and The Isle of Destiny (1920). He died on 1 July 1961 in Los Angeles, California, USA.