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1-50 of 4,869
- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Dame Helen Mirren was born in Queen Charlotte's Hospital in West London. Her mother, Kathleen Alexandrina Eva Matilda (Rogers), was from a working-class English family, and her father, Vasiliy Petrovich Mironov, was a Russian-born civil servant, from Kuryanovo, whose own father was a diplomat. Mirren attended St. Bernards High School for girls, where she would act in school productions. After high school, she began her acting career in theatre working in many productions including in the West End and Broadway.- Producer
- Writer
- Director
George Miller is an Australian film director, screenwriter, producer, and former medical doctor. He is best known for his Mad Max franchise, with Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981) and Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) being hailed as amongst the greatest action films of all time. Aside from the Mad Max films, Miller has been involved in a wide range of projects. These include the Academy Award-winning Babe (1995) and Happy Feet (2006) film series.
Miller is co-founder of the production houses Kennedy Miller Mitchell, formerly known as Kennedy Miller, and Dr. D Studios. His younger brother Bill Miller and Doug Mitchell have been producers on almost all the films in Miller's later career, since the death of his original producing partner Byron Kennedy.
In 2006, Miller won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature for Happy Feet (2006). He has been nominated for five other Academy Awards: Best Original Screenplay in 1992 for Lorenzo's Oil (1992), Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay in 1995 for Babe (1995), and Best Picture and Best Director for Mad Max: Fury Road (2015).- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Thomas William Selleck is an American actor and film producer, best known for his starring role as Hawaii-based private investigator "Thomas Magnum" on the 1980s television series, Magnum, P.I. (1980).
Selleck was born in Detroit, Michigan, to Martha (Jagger), a homemaker, and Robert Dean Selleck, a real estate investor and executive. He is of mostly English descent, including recent immigrant ancestors. Selleck has appeared extensively on television in roles such as "Dr. Richard Burke" on Friends (1994) and "A.J. Cooper" on Las Vegas (2003). In addition to his series work, Selleck has appeared in more than fifty made-for-TV and general release movies, including Mr. Baseball (1992), Quigley Down Under (1990), Lassiter (1984) and, his most successful movie release, Three Men and a Baby (1987), which was the highest grossing movie in 1987.
Selleck also plays "Jesse Stone" in a series of made-for-TV movies, based on the Robert B. Parker novels. In 2010, he appears as "Commissioner Frank Reagan" in the drama series, Blue Bloods (2010) on CBS.- Writer
- Actor
- Producer
Steve Martin was born on August 14, 1945 in Waco, Texas, USA as Stephen Glenn Martin to Mary Lee (née Stewart; 1913-2002) and Glenn Vernon Martin (1914-1997), a real estate salesman and aspiring actor. He was raised in Inglewood and Garden Grove in California. In 1960, he got a job at the Magic shop of Disney's Fantasyland, and while there he learned magic, juggling, and creating balloon animals. At Santa Ana College, he took classes in drama and English poetry. He also took part in comedies and other productions at the Bird Cage Theatre, and joined a comedy troupe at Knott's Berry Farm. He attended California State University as a philosophy major, but in 1967 transferred to UCLA as a theatre major.
His writing career began on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (1967), winning him an Emmy Award. Between 1967 and 1973, he also wrote for many other shows, including The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour (1969) and The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour (1971). He also appeared on talk shows and comedy shows in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In 1972, he first appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962), doing stand-up several times each year, and even guest hosting a few years later. In 1976, he served for the first time as guest-host on Saturday Night Live (1975). By 2016, he has guest-hosted 15 times, which is one less than Alec Baldwin's record, and also appeared 12 other times on SNL.
In 1977, he released his first comedy album, a platinum selling "Let's Get Small". He followed it with "A Wild and Crazy Guy" (1978), which sold more than a million copies. Both albums went on to win Grammys for Best Comedy Recording. This is when he performed in arenas in front of tens of thousands of people, and begun his movie career, which was always his goal. His first major role was in the short film, The Absent-Minded Waiter (1977), which he also wrote. His star value was established in The Jerk (1979), which was co-written by Martin, and directed by Carl Reiner. The film earned more than $100 million on a $4 million budget. He also starred in Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982), The Man with Two Brains (1983), and All of Me (1984), all directed by Reiner. To avoid being typecast as a comedian, he wanted do more dramatic roles, starring in Pennies from Heaven (1981), a film remake of Dennis Potter's 1978 series. Unfortunately, it was a financial failure.
He also starred in John Landis's Three Amigos! (1986), co-written by himself, opposite Martin Short and Chevy Chase. That year, he also appeared in the musical horror comedy, Little Shop of Horrors (1986) opposite Rick Moranis. Next year, he starred in Roxanne (1987), co-written by himself, and in John Hughes' Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987), opposite John Candy. His other films include Parenthood (1989) and My Blue Heaven (1990), both opposite Moranis. In 1991, he wrote and starred in L.A. Story (1991), about a weatherman who searches meaning in his life and love in Los Angeles. It also starred his then-wife, Victoria Tennant. Same year, Father of the Bride (1991) was so successful that a 1995 sequel followed.
During the 1990s, he continued to play more dramatic roles, in Grand Canyon (1991), playing a traumatized movie producer, in Leap of Faith (1992), playing a fake faith healer, in A Simple Twist of Fate (1994), playing a betrayed man adopting a baby, and in David Mamet's thriller The Spanish Prisoner (1997). Other, more comedic roles include in HouseSitter (1992) and The Out-of-Towners (1999), opposite Goldie Hawn, in Nora Ephron's Mixed Nuts (1994), and in Bowfinger (1999), written by himself and co-starring Eddie Murphy. After Bowfinger, he starred in Bringing Down the House (2003) and Cheaper by the Dozen (2003), both earning more than $130 million. He wrote and starred in Shopgirl (2005), and appeared in the sequel of Cheaper by the Dozen. After them, he appeared in The Pink Panther (2006) and The Pink Panther 2 (2009), which he both co-wrote, as Inspector Clouseau.
He continues to do movies, more recently appearing in The Big Year (2011), Home (2015), and Love the Coopers (2015). Besides aforementioned, he has been an avid art collector since 1968, written plays, written for The New Yorker, written a well-received memoir (Born Standing Up), written a novel (An Object of Beauty; 2010), hosted the Academy Awards three times, released a Grammy award winning music album (The Crow: New Songs for the 5-String Banjo; 2009), and another album (Love Has Come For You; 2013) with Edie Brickell. Since 2007, he has been married to Anne Stringfield, with whom he has a daughter.- Actor
- Visual Effects
- Soundtrack
From Caped Crusader to Canine Crusader
Little did aspiring actor Burt Ward know that learning martial arts in addition to his mental and athletic prowess would change his life forever. As a teen-age, Burt had all the makings of a true boy wonder. As an all around athlete, strong in martial arts, wrestling, track, tennis and golf, combined with a sharp intellect, playing "first board" in chess for Beverly Hills High School, achieving the top 3% in the U.S. in math and science tests at UCLA, and becoming the world's fastest reader - Burt tested before the American Medical Society in Beverly Hills, California and was clocked at 30,000 words per minute with 90% comprehension (the average reader reads 240 words per minute with 40% comprehension). Burt was featured in an article entitled, "Will the Real Boy Wonder Please Stand Up" and subsequently appeared on the national television educational show "Read Right." With the help of his father, a prominent real estate broker in Beverly Hills, CA, Burt became one of the youngest real estate agents in California, and met producer, Saul David, who arranged for him to sign with a Hollywood agent. His first interview was set up at 20th Century Fox Studios, and a few weeks later, Burt was called back for a screen test with Adam West. Holder of a brown belt in karate at the time, Burt showed off his athletic ability for the producers by demonstrating some falls and tumbles, and even broke a one-inch pine board with his hand. Later, Burt attained his black belt from his instructor, All Korean champion, Young Ik Suh. Burt was friends with Bruce Lee. A special piece of movie trivia is that Bruce Lee's first filmed fight scene of his career was fighting Burt Ward. In October 2015, Burt was inducted into the International Karate and Kickboxing Hall of Fame. Executive Producer William Dozier commented about Ward's tall size in comparison to Adam West, and the new Boy Wonder prospect replied, "I promise you, sir, I won't grow anymore." Dozier laughed and told Burt that he would hold him to that. 2 It wasn't until six weeks after the screen test that Burt learned that he had won the coveted role of Robin, the Boy Wonder in the new "Batman" TV series for ABC-TV. He was everything they wanted. All he had to do was just be himself. Batman Was an Overnight Sensation!
Biff, Bam, Boom! The Ratings Soared! Burt and Adam West made hundreds of personal appearances together and were featured in dozens of magazine articles, including the cover of Life magazine. Years later, when accepting Harvard's "Man of the Year" award, Burt brought one of his original Robin costumes, even then valued at six figures. Some students came up to him dressed as security guards and told him they would keep the costume safe. Then, in the middle of Burt's speech, one student stood up and asked, "When is a costume not a costume? When it's stolen." The lights dimmed and the students grabbed the costume and made off. After snapping photos with one another in the cape, they later called Ward and gave the costume back. The ringleader of the gang? Harvard Lampoon editor, Conan O'Brien.
From "Caped Crusader" to "Canine Crusader" In 1994, Burt and his wife, Tracy Posner Ward, philanthropist and daughter of former corporate raider and billionaire, Victor Posner, rescued a Great Dane in distress. From this experience, they learned about dozens of other Great Danes also needing homes. When they called weeks later to see what had happened to the others, they was horrified to hear that they had all been destroyed. Both Burt and Tracy have a huge love for animals. They made a decision, and created a rescue for Great Danes and other giant dog breeds. Located 50 miles east of Los Angeles, Gentle Giants Rescue and Adoptions is a nonprofit charity created by Burt and Tracy. Gentle Giants has rescued and adopted more than 15,500 giant breed and small breed dogs during their 22 years of operation. All of their dogs are socialized and behaviorally trained, and live communally together in their home. Gentle Giants is now the largest giant breed dog rescue in the world and rescues and finds homes for 45 different dog breeds, ranging from 2 lbs. to 300 lbs.
Traditionally, giant breed dogs usually have short lifespans, living 6-8 years or 7-9 years, depending upon the breed. Spending millions of dollars of their own money and more than a decade of research and testing, and combining their special care and feeding program with their own all natural Gentle Giants dog food, Burt and Tracy have successfully doubled the average lifespan of their rescued giant breed dogs, and significantly lengthened the average lifespan of their rescued small and medium breed dogs as well, with dogs living as long as 27 active, healthy years.
Gentle Giants Products manufacturers all natural Gentle Giants dog food which is sold in more than 1,250 stores in California, and in 339 Walmart Supercenters in Oregon, 3 Arizona, Colorado, Texas, Louisiana, North Carolina and Florida. Gentle Giants dog food is sold nationally through mail order on Chewy.com, Walmart.com, and Amazon.com. In California, Gentle Giants is sold in Walmart Supercenters, Stater Bros. Ralphs, and Gelson's.
Gentle Giants has a spectacular new line of wet (canned) dog food, with 90% Beef, 90% Chicken, and 90% Salmon. Gentle Giants Products also has a new line of super premium dog supplements and super premium dog treats.
The Caped Crusader has truly evolved into the Canine Crusader.- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
If "born to the theater" has meaning in determining a person's life path, then John Lithgow is a prime example of this truth. He was born in Rochester, New York, to Sarah Jane (Price), an actress, and Arthur Washington Lithgow III, who was both a theatrical producer and director. John's father was born in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, where the Anglo-American Lithgow family had lived for several generations.
John moved frequently as a child, while his father founded and managed local and college theaters and Shakespeare festivals throughout the Midwest of the United States. Not until he was 16, and his father became head of the McCarter Theater in Princeton New Jersey, did the family settle down. But for John, the theater was still not a career. He won a scholarship to Harvard University, where he finally caught the acting bug (as well as found a wife). Harvard was followed by a Fulbright scholarship to study at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. Returning from London, his rigorous dramatic training stood him in good stead, and a distinguished career on Broadway gave him one Tony Award for "The Changing Room", a second nomination in 1985 for "Requiem For a Heavyweight", and a third in 1988 for "M. Butterfly". But with critical acclaim came personal confusion, and in the mid 1970s, he and his wife divorced. He entered therapy, and in 1982, his life started in a new direction, the movies - he received an Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of Roberta Muldoon in The World According to Garp (1982). A second Oscar nomination followed for Terms of Endearment (1983), and he met a UCLA economics professor who became his second wife. As the decade of the 1990s came around, he found that he was spending too much time on location, and another career move brought him to television in the hugely successful series 3rd Rock from the Sun (1996).
This production also played a role in bringing him back together with the son from his first marriage, Ian Lithgow, who has a regular role in the series as a dimwitted student.- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Henry Franklin Winkler was born on October 30, 1945, in Manhattan, New York. His parents, Ilse Anna Maria (Hadra) and Harry Irving Winkler, were German Jewish immigrants who escaped the Holocaust by moving to the US in 1939. His father was the president of an international lumber company while his mother worked alongside his father. Winkler is a cousin of Richard Belzer.
Winkler grew up with "a high level of low self-esteem." Throughout elementary school and high school, he struggled with academics. This was due to what he would later identify as dyslexia. His parents expected him to eventually work with them at the lumber company. However, he had other plans as he saw roles on stage as the key to his happiness. Winkler's acting debut came in the eighth grade when he played the role of Billy Budd in the school play of the same name. Following his graduation from McBurney High School, Winkler was able to incorporate his learning disability and succeed in higher education. He received a Bachelor's degree from Emerson College in 1967 and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Yale School of Drama in 1970. He later received an honorary PhD in Hebrew Literature in 1978 from Emerson College.
Following college, his top priority was to become an actor. However, if this was unsuccessful, he wanted to become a child psychologist because of his deep interest in working with children. Like many other actors, he began his career by appearing in 30 commercials. His first major film role was in The Lords of Flatbush (1974) in which he played a member of a Brooklyn gang. After that, he was cast on a new ABC series which was set in the 1950s, Happy Days (1974). He was given the role of high school dropout and greaser Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli. The character was seldom seen during the first few episodes as ABC initially feared he would be perceived as a hoodlum. However, the character became extremely popular with viewers, and the show's producers decided to give Fonzie a more prominent role in the series.
Following this, the show's ratings began to soar, and Fonzie became a 1970s icon and the epitome of cool. His motorcycle, leather jacket, thumbs-up gesture, and uttering of the phrase "Aayyyy!" became television trademarks. Unlike many other 1970s stars who rose to fame in a short period of time and developed "big heads", Winkler managed to stay well-grounded and avoided falling into this trap. He was said to be more polite and agreeable even after his popularity soared. He remained on the series until its cancellation in 1984.
In the mid-1980s, with his Happy Days (1974) now behind him, Winkler decided to change his focus toward producing and directing. He produced and directed several television shows and movies, most notably MacGyver (1985) and Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996). In the mid-1990s and early 2000s, he was able to re-establish himself with a younger generation of moviegoers and TV viewers, appearing in the popular films, Scream (1996) and The Waterboy (1998) and on shows such as The Practice (1997) and Arrested Development (2003).
In 2018 after over 45 years in the entertainment industry, he won his first-ever Prime Time Emmy Award: Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his role on the HBO series Barry (2018). In addition to his movie and film credits, Winkler is a well-accomplished author. Between 2003 and 2007, he co-authored 12 children's novels with Lin Oliver. The series is called "Hank Zipzer, the World's Greatest Underachiever." The books are based on his early struggles with dyslexia, and they sold more than two million books in that time.
Winkler has been married since 1978 to Stacey Winkler (nee Weitzman) with whom he has three children. Together, they are actively involved with various children's charities. In 1990, they co-founded the Children's Action Network (CAN), which provides free immunization to over 200,000 children. Winkler is also involved with the Annual Cerebral Palsy Telethon, the Epilepsy Foundation of America, the annual Toys for Tots campaign, the National Committee for Arts for the Handicapped, and the Special Olympics.
In September 2003, Winkler suffered a personal setback when John Ritter unexpectedly passed away. Winkler was on the set of 8 Simple Rules (2002) that day for a guest appearance and was one of the last people to talk to Ritter.- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Goldie Jeanne Hawn was born November 21, 1945 in Washington, D.C. to Laura Hawn, who owned a dance school, and Rut Hawn, a band musician. She has one sister, entertainment publicist Patti Hawn; a brother, Edward, died in infancy before her birth. She was raised in the Jewish religion. Her mother was Jewish and the daughter of Hungarian immigrants. Her father was Presbyterian. At the age of three, Goldie began taking ballet and tap dance lessons, and at the age of ten she danced in the chorus of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo production of "The Nutcracker". At the age of 19 she ran and instructed a ballet school, having dropped out of college where she was majoring in drama. Before going into the film business she worked as a professional dancer.
Hawn made her feature film debut in The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band (1968), with a small role as a giggling dancer. Her first big role came in 1969, where she played opposite Walter Matthau and Ingrid Bergman in Cactus Flower (1969), a role which earned her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. After the Oscar win her career took off and she followed with roles in successful comedies such as There's a Girl in My Soup (1970) and Shampoo (1975), and more dramatic roles in The Girl from Petrovka (1974) and The Sugarland Express (1974). In 1978, she starred alongside Chevy Chase in the box office hit, Foul Play (1978). In 1980 she starred in another box office hit, Private Benjamin (1980), where she also served as producer. During the 1980s she starred in hit movies such as Best Friends (1982), Protocol (1984) and Wildcats (1986). In 1987, she appeared with her boyfriend Kurt Russell in Overboard (1987), which became both a critical and box office disappointment. Her career slowed down after that until 1990 when she starred alongside Mel Gibson in Bird on a Wire (1990). In 1992 she starred in the successful film, Death Becomes Her (1992), with Meryl Streep and Bruce Willis, which was followed by another successful film HouseSitter (1992), which co-starred Steve Martin. In 1996 she played the role of an aging alcoholic actress in the comedy, The First Wives Club (1996), with Diane Keaton and Bette Midler; it became a critical and financial success. She also starred in the Woody Allen film Everyone Says I Love You (1996) and The Out-of-Towners (1999), which reunited her with Martin. In 2001 and 2002 she starred in Town & Country (2001) with Warren Beatty, and The Banger Sisters (2002) with Susan Sarandon.
Goldie has been married twice. First to dancer/director Gus Trikonis from 1969 to 1973. In 1976 she married musician Bill Hudson and became a mother for the first time that year, when she gave birth to their son Oliver Hudson. In 1979, she had her second child with Hudson, daughter Kate Hudson. The marriage ended in divorce in 1980. Since 1983, she has been having a relationship with actor Kurt Russell. Their son Wyatt Russell was born in 1986. Goldie is also a de-facto stepmother to Kurt's son Boston Russell. She has eight grandchildren.- Actress
- Soundtrack
- Writer
Adrienne Jo Barbeau is an American actress and author best known for her roles on the sitcom Maude (1972) and in horror films, especially those directed by John Carpenter, with whom she was once married. She was born on June 11, 1945 in Sacramento, California, the daughter of an executive for Mobil Oil Company. Early on in her career, she starred in Someone's Watching Me! (1978), The Fog (1980) and Escape from New York (1981), all John Carpenter-related projects. She has collaborated with George A. Romero on occasion, such as Stephen King's anthology Creepshow (1982) and Two Evil Eyes (1990). Her work with other horror directors includes Wes Craven's superhero monster movie Swamp Thing (1982). During the 1990s, she became best known for providing the voice of Catwoman on Batman: The Animated Series (1992). She was the original tough-girl Betty Rizzo in the first Broadway production of "Grease". She is the author of the memoir "There Are Worse Things I Can Do" (2006), and the comedy romance vampire novels "Vampyres of Hollywood" (2008), "Love Bites" (2010) and "Make Me Dead" (2015).- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
As a child growing up in Benton Harbor, Michigan, Ernie Hudson wrote short stories, poems and songs, always thinking that his words might one day come to life on stage. After a short stint in the Marine Corps, he moved to Detroit where he became the resident playwright at Concept East, the oldest black theatre in the country. In addition, he enrolled at Wayne State University to further develop his writing and acting skills and found time to establish the Actors' Emsemble Theatre, where he and other talented young black writers directed and appeared in their own works. After graduating with a B.A. from Wayne State, he was rewarded a full scholarship to the M.F.A. program at the prestigious Yale School of Drama. While performing with the school's repertory company, he was asked to appear in the Los Angeles production of Lonne Elder III's musical "Daddy Goodness," which led to his meeting Gordon Parks, who gave Hudson the costarring role in his first feature film, Leadbelly (1976). Unfortunately, all that followed "Leadbelly" was a year of "bit parts and some harsh lessons about Hollywood," which led Hudson to enroll in another academic doctorate program at the University of Minnesota. He did not complete the program. Through his experience, he learned another vital lesson: "There are those who spend their lives studying it and those who spend their lives doing it." Hudson definitely wanted to be in the second group. Keeping in mind this self-revelation, Hudson accepted the starring role of Jack Jefferson in the Minneapolis Theatre In The Round's production of "The Great White Hope," a role that he put "everything he had into," including shaving his head. A series of starring and guest roles followed on such television shows as Fantasy Island (1977), The Incredible Hulk (1978), Little House on the Prairie (1974), Diff'rent Strokes (1978), Taxi (1978), One Day at a Time (1975), Gimme a Break! (1981), The A-Team (1983) and Webster (1983), as well as costarring roles in the TV movies White Mama (1980) with Bette Davis, Roots: The Next Generations (1979), Women of San Quentin (1983), California Girls (1985), Mad Bull (1977) and Love on the Run (1985). Other feature film credits include The Jazz Singer (1980), The Main Event (1979), Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone (1983), Penitentiary II (1982), Going Berserk (1983), Joy of Sex (1984) and, of course, the mega-hit Ghostbusters (1984).- Actress
- Director
- Producer
A native of Berlin, Maryland, Linda Harrison was Miss Berlin at 16, then a model in New York's Garment Center. Homesickness brought her back to Maryland, where she entered and won the state beauty pageant. During the finals in the Miss International contest (held in Long Beach, California), she was "spotted" by talent scout Mike Medavoy and presented at 20th Century-Fox. Throughout her acting years at Fox, and amidst movie roles in Planet of the Apes (1968), Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970) and others, she dated studio boss Richard D. Zanuck and married him in 1968. They were divorced in 1978, but she's appeared in three of his movies since then.- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Multi Grammy Award-winning singer/comedienne/author Bette Midler has also proven herself to be a very capable actress in a string of both dramatic and comedic roles. Midler was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, on December 1, 1945. She is the daughter of Ruth (Schindel), a seamstress, and Fred Midler, a painter. Her parents, originally from New Jersey, were both from Jewish families (from Russia, Poland, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire).
Midler studied drama at the University of Hawaii and got her musical career started by performing in gay bathhouses with piano accompaniment from Barry Manilow. Her first album was "The Divine Miss M" released in November 1972, followed by the self-titled "Bette Midler" released in November 1973, both of which took off up the music charts, and Bette's popularity swiftly escalated from there.
After minor roles in several film/TV productions, she surprised all with her knockout performance of a hard-living rock-and-roll singer (loosely based on the life of Janis Joplin) in The Rose (1979), for which she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. In 1986, director Paul Mazursky cast Midler opposite Nick Nolte and Richard Dreyfuss in the hilarious Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986), and so began a string of very funny comedic film roles. She played an obnoxious wife who was the victim of a kidnap plot by her scoundrel husband, played by Danny DeVito, in Ruthless People (1986), was pursued by CIA and KGB spies in Outrageous Fortune (1987), played mismatched twins with Lily Tomlin in Big Business (1988) and shone in the tear-jerker Beaches (1988).
Bette matched feisty James Caan in the WWII drama For the Boys (1991), made a dynamic trio with Goldie Hawn and Diane Keaton in The First Wives Club (1996), was back on screen with DeVito for the tepid comedy Drowning Mona (2000) and turned up in the glossy remake of The Stepford Wives (2004). Apart from her four Grammy awards, Bette Midler has also won four Golden Globes, one Tony Award, and three Emmy Awards, plus she has sold in excess of 15 million albums worldwide. Most recently, she toured with her sassy "Kiss My Brass" show, and is promoting her album "Bette Midler Sings the Rosemary Clooney Songbook".- Actress
- Soundtrack
Linda Hunt is a veteran character actress who had only just begun acting in motion pictures when director Peter Weir required her peculiarities to animate one of cinema's most esoteric characters, Billy Kwan, the intellectual and virtuous Chinese-Australian dwarf and photographer, in the Australian romantic drama, The Year of Living Dangerously (1982). Hunt's work in the film earned an Oscar, among many critic awards, all for Best Supporting Actress.- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Bob Balaban was born on 16 August 1945 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He is an actor and director, known for Gosford Park (2001), A Mighty Wind (2003) and Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). He has been married to Lynn Grossman since 1 April 1977. They have two children.- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Wim Wenders is an Oscar-nominated German filmmaker who was born Ernst Wilhelm Wenders on August 14, 1945 in Düsseldorf, which then was located in the British Occupation Zone of what became the Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Federal Republic of Germany, known colloquially as West Germany until reunification). At university, Wenders originally studied to become a physician before switching to philosophy before terminating his studies in 1965. Moving to Paris, he intended to become a painter.
He fell in love with the cinema but failed to gain admission to the French national film school. He supported himself as an engraver while attending movie houses. Upon his return to West Germany in 1967, he was employed by United Artists at its Düsseldorf office before he was accepted by the University of Television and Film Munich school for its autumn 1967 semester, where he remained until 1970. While attending film school, he worked as a newspaper film critic. In addition to shorts, he made a feature film as part of his studies, Summer in the City (1971).
Wenders gained recognition as part of the German New Wave of the 1970s. Other directors that were part of the New German Cinema were Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Werner Herzog. His second feature, a film made from Peter Handke's novel The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick (1972), brought him acclaim, as did Alice in the Cities (1974) and Kings of the Road (1976). It was his 1977 feature The American Friend (1977) ("The American Friend"), starring Dennis Hopper as Patricia Highsmith's anti-hero Tom Ripley, that represented his international breakthrough. He was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 1977 Cannes Film Festival for "The American Friend", which was cited as Best Foreign Film by the National Board of Review in the United States.
Francis Ford Coppola, as producer, gave Wenders the chance to direct in America, but Hammett (1982) (1982) was a critical and commercial failure. However, his American-made Paris, Texas (1984) (1984) received critical hosannas, winning three awards at Cannes, including the Palme d'Or, and Wenders won a BAFTA for best director. "Paris, Texas" was a prelude to his greatest success, 1987's Wings of Desire (1987) ("Wings of Desire"), which he made back in Germany. The film brought him the best director award at Cannes and was a solid hit, even spawning an egregious Hollywood remake.
Wenders followed it up with a critical and commercial flop in 1991, Until the End of the World (1991) ("Until the End of the World"), though Faraway, So Close! (1993) won the Grand Prize of the Jury at Cannes. Still, is reputation as a feature film director never quite recovered in the United States after the bomb that was "Until the End of the World." Since the mid-1990s, Wenders has distinguished himself as a non-fiction filmmaker, directing several highly acclaimed documentaries, most notably Buena Vista Social Club (1999) and Pina (2011), both of which brought him Oscar nominations.- Actress
- Director
Stunning Swedish born ex-model who broke into film in 1970, and quickly appeared in several high profile films including playing the ex-wife of James Caan in the futuristic Rollerball (1975) and the ill-fated lover of super-assassin Francisco Scaramanga played by Christopher Lee in The Man with the Golden Gun (1974). To date, the beautiful Maud Adams has appeared in three James Bond films... the other two performances were as one of the lead villains in Octopussy (1983) and as an extra in A View to a Kill (1985). She has appeared in numerous television specials on the Bond series of films, and also played the love interest of crazy Bruce Dern in Tattoo (1981). In the late 1990s, Adams had a regular role on a Swedish soap opera; however, she has not been seen on cinema screens since late 1996.- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Priscilla Presley's stepfather was an Air Force officer stationed in West Germany when as a teenager she met Elvis Presley in 1959, then four years into his meteoric career in rock and roll and serving with the U.S. Armed Forces. After an eight year courtship, she married him on 1 May 1967. As their marriage was winding down, she began studying karate and acting. After his death she went into business and began work in movies and TV, notably playing the part of Jenna Wade (1983-88) in the very successful series Dallas (1978). She more recently established herself as Jane Spencer in the "Naked Gun" (The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988)) movies.- English actress Francesca Annis, who has enjoyed a career spanning seven decades in movies, television and the theater, was born in London six days after V-E Day, on May 14, 1945. Her father, Lester, was English, but her mother, Mariquita (aka Mara Purcell), was of Brazilian-French heritage. From the time she was a year old to the age of seven, the family lived in Brazil. The young Francesca spoke Portuguese, that country's language, as a child. Educated at a convent school, she dreamed of becoming a nun but trained as a ballet dancer before studying drama at the Corona Theatre School. She began acting in bit parts in the 1950s, working her way up to better roles. In addition to appearing on the big and little screens, she was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Her most famous roles are as Lady Macbeth in Roman Polanski's version of Macbeth (1971), in which she had a notorious nude sleepwalking scene, and as Kyle MacLachlan (Paul Atreides)' mother Lady Jessica in David Lynch's adaptation of Frank Herbert's Dune (1984). A highly respected performer, in 1979, she won the British Academy Television Award for Best Actress, playing Lily Langtry in the miniseries Lillie (1978). She appeared with James Warwick as husband and wife sleuths Tommy and Tuppence Beresford in the television series Partners in Crime (1983). She also appeared as Jacqueline Kennedy in the television movie Onassis: The Richest Man in the World (1988). - Actor
- Soundtrack
Bob Gunton is an American actor, primarily known for portraying strict and authoritarian characters in popular films. His better known roles include Chief George Earle in Demolition Man (1993), Prison Warden Samuel Norton in The Shawshank Redemption (1994), medical school dean Dr. Walcott in Patch Adams (1998), and politician Cyrus Vance in Argo (2012).
Gunton was born to labor union executive Robert Patrick Gunton Sr. and his wife Rose Marie Banovetz in Santa Monica, California where he was the oldest of five siblings. He was raised in California and attended Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, California. His college years were spent in the Paulist Seminary St Peter's College, in Baltimore, Maryland, and the University of California, Irvine.
He was drafted into the United States Army in 1969 and served until 1971. He was a radio telephone operator (RTO) with the 2nd Battalion, 501st Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division and was assigned to the Fire Support Base Ripcord during the Vietnam War. When the base was evacuated during a siege by North Vietnamese Army (NVA), Gunton manage to retrieve important radios that were in danger of falling in enemy hands. He was awarded with a Bronze Star commendation for his deed.
Gunton was primarily known for theatrical roles in the late 1970s and 1980s. He played Raoul in the Broadway musical "King of Hearts" (1978). For this role he was nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical. The award was instead won by rival actor Ken Jennings.
From 1979 to 1983, Gunton played the role of President of Argentina Juan Domingo Perón in "Evita". He won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical, and was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical.
In 1980, Gunton acted in the play How I Got That Story. He won both the Clarence Derwent Award for Most Promising Male Performer and the Obie Award for Distinguished Performance by an Actor. He was also nominated Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play.
In 1985, Gunton played the King in the musical "Big River". The musical was an adaptation of the novel "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" (1884) by Mark Twain. For this role Gunton was again nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical.
From 1987 to 1990, Gunton played protagonist Sweeney Todd in "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street". He was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical, a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical, and an Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical. While critically acclaimed for this role, Gunton won none of these awards.
In the 1990s, Gunton started focusing more on film roles. More often playing antagonists than heroes or supporting characters,. In 2007, Gunton joined the main cast of the popular action drama television series 24 (2001), playing politician Ethan Kanin. He played the role until the end of the series in 2010. In 2015, Gunton joined the main cast of the superhero series Daredevil (2015). He played the super-villain Leland Owlsley (codenamed "the Owl in the comics).
By 2024 Gunton was 78-years-old. He has never retired, and continues to appear regularly in film and television.- Actor
- Producer
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Tall (6' 4"), agile, energetic, and ever-so-confident as both actor and singer, especially on the award-winning Broadway stage, Barry Bostwick possesses that certain narcissistic poise, charm and élan that reminds one instantly (and humorously) of a Kevin Kline -- both were quite brilliant in their respective interpretations of The Pirate King in "The Pirates of Penzance". Yet, for all his diverse talents (he is a Golden Globe winner and was nominated for the Tony Award three times, winning once), Barry is indelibly caught in a time warp. Even today, 35 years after the fact, he is indelibly associated with the role of nerdy hero Brad Majors in the midnight movie phenomena The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975). While it is extremely flattering to be a part of such a cult institution, Barry's acting legacy deserves much more than this.
He was born Barry Knapp Bostwick on February 24, 1945, in San Mateo, California, one of two sons of Elizabeth "Betty" (Defendorf) and Bud Bostwick (Henry Bostwick), a city planner and actor. A student at San Mateo High School, he and his elder brother Peter use to put on musicals and puppet shows for the neighborhood kids. Barry attended San Diego's United States International University's School for the Performing Arts in 1967, and switched from music to drama during the course of his studies. He also worked occasionally as a circus performer, which would come in handy on the musical stage down the line. He subsequently moved to New York and attended the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at New York University.
Making his stage debut at age 22 in a production of "Take Her, She's Mine," Barry performed in a number of non-musical roles in such productions of "War and Peace" (1968) and "The Misanthrope (1968). Making his 1969 Broadway debut in "Cock-a-Doodle Dandy", which ran in tandem with "Hamlet" in which he was featured as Osric, it was his portrayal of the swaggering, leather jacket-wearing 50s "bad boy" Danny Zuko in the 1972 Broadway high-school musical smash "Grease" that put Barry's name prominently and permanently on the marquee signs. Originating the role, he was nominated for a Tony but lost out that year to the older generation (Phil Silvers for "A Funny Thing Happened...").
In the midst of all this star-making hoopla, Barry was also breaking into films with a minor role in Jennifer on My Mind (1971) and leading parts in the comedy spoofs Road Movie (1973) and The Wrong Damn Film (1975). It all paled after winning the role as Susan Sarandon's simp of a boyfriend in the The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), which featured a delicious Tim Curry camping it up as a transvestite monster-maker. The movie, based on the macabre 1973 British stage musical "The Rocky Horror Show," packed the midnight movie houses with costumed fans replicating every move and, word and offering puns and props aplenty in recapturing the insanity of the show.
While the "Rocky" association hit like a tornado, Barry ventured on and tried to distance himself. He created sparks again on Broadway, garnering a second Tony nomination for the comedy revival "They Knew What They Wanted" in 1976. He finally took home the trophy the following year for the musical "The Robber Bridegroom" (1977), which relied again on his patented bluff and bravado as a Robin Hood-like hero. Following top roles in the musicals "She Loves Me" and "The Pirates of Penzance", Barry turned rewardingly to film and TV.
The two-part feature Movie Movie (1978), which played like an old-style double feature, was a great success, performing alongside esteemed actor George C. Scott. Barry excelled in both features, but especially the musical parody. He fared just as well on the smaller screen in TV movies, playing everything from historical icons (George Washington) to preening matinée idols (John Gilbert), and winning a Golden Globe for his role as a military officer in the epic miniseries War and Remembrance (1988). A variety of interesting roles followed in glossy, soap-styled fare, farcical comedies and period drama.
A welcomed return to Broadway musicals in the form of "Nick & Nora" (he as sleuth Nick "The Thin Man" Charles) was marred when the glitzy production folded after only nine perfs. Instead, the prematurely grey-haired actor found steadier success in sitcoms as a smug comedy foil to Michael J. Fox playing Mayor Randall Winston for six seasons in Spin City (1996). He later enjoyed a recurring role as a dauntless attorney on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999). Then again, Barry could be spotted pitching items in commercials or hamming it up in family-oriented Disneyesque entertainment in the "Parent Trap" and "101 Dalmatian" mold.
In 1997, Bostwick was diagnosed with prostate cancer, and 10 days later had his prostate removed. The operation was successful and in 2004, he won the Gilda Radner Courage Award from the Roswell Park Cancer Institute. Just a year earlier he appeared on an episode of "Scrubs" as a patient also having prostate cancer. Barry married somewhat late in life. For a brief time he was wed to actress Stacey Nelkin (1987-1991), but has since become a father of two, Brian and Chelsea, with second wife Sherri Jensen Bostwick, an actress who appeared with Barry in the TV movie Praying Mantis (1993).- Actress
- Soundtrack
Mia Farrow is the daughter of the director John Farrow and the actress and Tarzan-girl Maureen O'Sullivan. She debuted at the movies in 1959 in very small roles. She was noticed for the first time in the film Rosemary's Baby (1968) by Roman Polanski. She showed her talent also on TV and at the theatre, but her final breakthrough was when she met Woody Allen and became his Muse after the film A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy (1982). After that, Woody Allen wrote many other roles for her.- Michael Nouri was born on 9 December 1945 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA. He is an actor, known for The Watcher (2022), Yellowstone (2018) and Devils (2020). He was previously married to Vicki Light and Lynn Goldsmith.
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Jaclyn Smith was born Jacquelyn Ellen Smith on October 26, 1945 in Houston, Texas. She graduated from high school and originally aspired to be a famous ballerina. In 1973, she landed a job as a Breck shampoo model. In 1976, she was offered a chance to star in a new pilot for a planned television series, entitled Charlie's Angels (1976). The pilot was slick and the show was an instant hit when it debuted on September 22, 1976 on ABC.
Smith is the only original "Angel" to stay with the show through its entire five-season run (1976-81). She is also the only "Angel" from the television series to make an appearance in either of the movie adaptations. (She had an uncredited cameo in Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003) as "Kelly Garrett", offering advice to the new generation of angels.)
After Charlie's Angels (1976), she went the TV-movie route and starred in such TV films as Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy (1981) for which she received a Golden Globe nomination, and such miniseries as The Bourne Identity (1988), Rage of Angels (1983) and Windmills of the Gods (1988). She has had her own extremely successful clothing line at Kmart since 1985, and is often a spokesperson.
Her first two marriages to actors Roger Davis and Dennis Cole ended in divorce. She has two children from her third marriage to cinematographer Anthony B. Richmond (they divorced in 1989). Her fourth marriage is to physician Dr. Brad Allen. She married him in 1997; the two created the skincare line which Smith promotes.- Bruce Spence was born on September 17, 1945 in New Zealand. When he was growing up in Henderson, just out of Auckland, the last thing he ever expected to be was an actor. Bruce's family were winemakers, and he worked in the family winery from a very tender age, later attending Henderson High School then Massey University, where he studied horticulture. From this background he retained a passion for growing things, and has created a succession of beautiful gardens for himself and friends. At 20, Bruce moved to Australia, where to his surprise he was accepted into the National Gallery of Victoria Art School. Bruce's mother, Olga, was a painter and potter. In 1969 Bruce joined a ragtag group working at the tiny La Mama theatre in Melbourne. The group became the revolutionary Australian Performing Group, and Bruce's talent for acting was discovered. Forced to choose between art and acting, he decided to try his luck at the latter. He went on to perform in numerous plays with the group, then the Melbourne Theatre Company, the Sydney Theatre Company, the South Australian Theatre Company and several other companies, even the National Arts Centre of Canada where he played the lead in the award-winning "The Floating World" by John Romeril. He now lives in Sydney, where his recent acting credits with the Sydney Theatre Company include "The Secret River", "The Harp in the South", "Endgame" and "Rules for Living". Bruce has appeared in close to 100 films, including Mad Max 2 ("The Road Warrior") and 3 ("Beyond Thunderdome"), "Ace Ventura" Part II, "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King", "Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith", "Finding Nemo", "The Matrix Revolutions" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell no Tales". He has also appeared in numerous television roles. When starring as the wizard Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander in the cult series "Legend of the Seeker", which was filmed in New Zealand, Bruce found he had come full circle, working directly opposite his old high school in Henderson. At home in Sydney he lives quietly with his wife, Jenny and an adoring tabby cat. They have two children and four grandchildren. Between jobs Bruce works on his own burgeoning garden and as a volunteer at the Royal Botanic Garden, where he and his group propagate plants. He is also currently chair of the NSW Actors' Benevolent Fund.
- After a substantial career in the advertising industry, John Doman came to acting relatively late. In fact, he made his screen debut at the age of 46. When the acting bug eventually bit, it was upon his return from Vietnam in 1969, where he had served as a Second Lieutenant with the 3rd Marine Division. Watching Midnight Cowboy (1969) and The Graduate (1967) consecutively at a cinema in San Francisco, he became inspired by Dustin Hoffman's performances and determined to give acting a try. In an interview, he explained "It took me 20 years to actually get around to doing it". For those intervening decades, Doman worked in advertising, eventually moving up to the position of Executive Vice President, Head of Business Development at TBWA. His academic credentials include a Master of Business Administration degree in marketing from Pennsylvania State University.
Having read books and taking "some classes here and there", Doman landed a spot on a commercial for the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) in 1991.This led to further work on television, commencing the following year with a small role on the soap As the World Turns (1956). The brawny, deep-voiced actor (an ex-football player for the Penn Quakers) has since specialised in tough, no-nonsense authority figures, frequently in crime dramas. Doman has played no less than eleven distinct characters in the Law & Order (1990) franchise. His breakout role was as the uncompromising Maryland State Police Deputy Commissioner of Operations (eventually Superintendant) William Rawls in five seasons of HBO's The Wire (2002). Doman has also guest-starred as a Bajoran militia colonel in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993) episode "Shakaar". He played the corrupt Pope Alexander VI (aka Rodrigo Borgia) in Borgia (2011), Bishop Charles Eddis in House of Cards (2013), morally ambiguous Senator Ross Garrison in the compelling CBS drama Person of Interest (2011), mob bosses Don Carmine Falcone and Patrick "Paddy" Doyle, respectively, in DC's Gotham (2014) and in Rizzoli & Isles (2010), Katee Sackhoff's overprotective Police Chief father in Longmire (2012) and the micro-managing American Ambassador to Germany, Richard Hanes, in Berlin Station (2016). More recently, he appeared as Boston District Attorney Guy Dan in the Kevin Bacon starrer City on a Hill (2019).
Doman has also lent his commanding presence to the stage, notably off-Broadway and in productions for the New York Shakespeare Festival.