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- Alan Berg was born in Chicago in January of 1934, the son of Dr. Joseph Berg and Ruth Berg. Alan had one older sister, Norma. At 17, he attended college at the University of Colorado in Denver. After two years, he transferred to the University of Denver. He graduated in 1957, and became one of the youngest people to pass the bar exam in the history of Illinois (at 22). He first met his wife, Judith Halpern in 1951, and the two were married in 1958. Berg began his career as a law clerk before finally becoming a lawyer. Because he was overworked (and because he was suffering from seizures), he became an alcoholic. The pressure finally became too great, and he left his law practice in Chicago and moved to Denver with his wife. He entered St. Joseph's Hospital to quit drinking, and never took another in his life. He then became a shoe salesman. He later opened his own clothing store, The Shirt Broker. It was there that he met Laurence Gross, a Talk Show host with KGMC. He admired the fact that Berg could talk spontaneously on any subject, and invited him to be on his show several times. After Gross moved to San Diego, Berg was given his show. he soon began to hang up on people, insult them over the air, and generally be outrageous. In 1976, he suffered a seizure that he was unable to come out of. It was discovered that he had a large brain tumor. He had surgery to remove it, and soon recovered and was back on the radio. He left KGMC (now called KWBZ), and got a job at KHOW, where he reached the apex of hanging up. He and Judith were divorced in 1978. While at KHOW, Berg became both the most popular (and most disliked) radio personality in Denver. After refusing to conform to the station, he was fired from KHOW in August of 1979. He returned to KWBZ. After they changed their format to music, Berg was again out of a job. KTOK, an Oklahoma City based station, became interested in Berg. before he accepted the job, he was offered to fill in at Denver's most powerful station, KOA. About half the callers wanted him hired, and the other half did not. He signed a contract with Detroit's WXYZ, but later dropped out of it when KOA offered him a show. He began on February 23, 1981. He than began to change, his rudeness waning. After receiving a flap from former Secretary of State Ellen Kaplan, he invited her on the show and berated her. KOA, fearing a lawsuit, gave Berg a few days vacation. Berg was never blatantly abusive to another guest. After criticizing Roderick Elliot and Frank "Bud" Farell, who wrote "The Death of the White Race" and "Open Letter to the Gentiles," the white supremacist group known as "The Order" began to view him as a threat. After harassing Colonel Jack Mohr, a member of the Christian Patriots Defense League, Berg became a target. While most of his friends and associates said he was mellowing out, sadly we will never know. Alan Berg was shot 12 times in the face and body while exiting his Volkswagen. He was officially pronounced dead at 9:45 p.m. on June 18th, 1984.
- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Herbert Lom was born on September 11, 1917 as Herbert Charles Angelo Kuchacevich ze Schluderpacheru into an aristocratic family living in genteel poverty. His incredibly long surnames led him to select the shortest surname he could find extant ("Lom") and adopt it as his own, professionally. He made his film debut in the Czech film Woman Below the Cross (1937) and played supporting and, occasionally, lead roles. His career picked up in the 1940s and he played, among other roles, Napoleon Bonaparte in The Young Mr. Pitt (1942) and in War and Peace (1956). In a rare starring role, Lom played twin trapeze artists in Dual Alibi (1947). He continued into the 1950s with roles opposite Alec Guinness and Peter Sellers in The Ladykillers (1955), and Robert Mitchum, Jack Lemmon and Rita Hayworth in Fire Down Below (1957). His career really took off in the 1960s and he got the title role in Hammer Films' production of The Phantom of the Opera (1962). He also played "Captain Nemo" in Mysterious Island (1961) and landed supporting parts in El Cid (1961) and an especially showy role in Spartacus (1960) as a pirate chieftain contracted to transport Spartacus' army away from Italy.
The 1960s was also the decade in which Lom secured the role for which he will always be remembered: Clouseau/Peter Sellers' long-suffering boss, Commissioner Charles Dreyfus, in the "Pink Panther" films, in which he pulled off the not-inconsiderable feat of stealing almost every scene he and Sellers were in--a real accomplishment, considering what a veteran scene-stealer Sellers was. However, Lom did not concentrate solely on feature films. He became a familiar face to British television viewers when he starred as Dr. Roger Corder in The Human Jungle (1963). He moved into horror films in the 1970s, with parts in Asylum (1972) and And Now the Screaming Starts! (1973). He played Prof. Abraham Van Helsing opposite Christopher Lee in Count Dracula (1970), matching wits against the sinister vampire himself.
Lom appeared as one of the victims in Ten Little Indians (1974), the drunken Dr. Edward Armstrong. His career continued into the 1980s, a standout role being that of Christopher Walken's sympathetic doctor in The Dead Zone (1983). He also played opposite Walter Matthau in Hopscotch (1980) and returned to the murder mystery Ten Little Indians (1989), this time playing The General. Lom has been taking it easy since then, though he returned to his familiar role of Dreyfus in Son of the Pink Panther (1993). He was always a reliable and eminently watchable actor, and unfortunately did not receive the stardom he should have.
Herbert Lom died in his sleep at age 95 on September 27, 2012, in London, England.- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Producer
A talented character actor known for his military roles, Ronald Lee Ermey was in the United States Marine Corps for 11 years. He rose to the rank of Staff Sergeant, and later was bestowed the honorary rank of Gunnery Sergeant by the Marine Corps, after he served 14 months in Vietnam and later did two tours in Okinawa, Japan. After injuries forced him to retire from the Corps, he moved to the Phillipines, enrolling in the University of Manila, where he studied Criminology and Drama. He appeared in several Filipino films before being cast as a helicopter pilot in Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now (1979). Due to his Vietnam experiences, Coppola also utilized him as a technical adviser. He got a featured role in Sidney J. Furie's The Boys in Company C (1978), playing a drill instructor. Ermey worked with Furie again in Purple Hearts (1984).
However, his most famous (or infamous) role came as Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket (1987), for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe. He did win the best supporting actor award from The Boston Society of Film Critics. Since then, he has appeared in numerous character roles in such films as Leaving Las Vegas (1995), Se7en (1995) and Dead Man Walking (1995). However, Ermey prefers comedy to drama, and has a comedic role in Saving Silverman (2001).