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Often credited as the greatest comedian of all time, Peter Sellers was born to a well-off English acting family on Sept 8, 1925. His mother and father worked in an acting company run by his grandmother. As a child, Sellers was spoiled, as his parents' first child had died at birth. He enlisted in the army and fought during World War II, where he met Spike Milligan, Harry Secombe and Michael Bentine, who would become his future workmates. After the war he set up a review in London, which was a combination of music (he played the drums) and impressions. Then, all of a sudden, he burst into prominence as the voices of numerous favorites on "The Goon Show" (1951-1960), making his debut in films in Penny Points to Paradise (1951) and Down Among the Z Men (1952), before making it big as one of the criminals in The Ladykillers (1955). These small but showy roles continued throughout the 1950s, but he got his first big break playing the dogmatic union man, Fred Kite, in I'm All Right Jack (1959). The film's success led to starring vehicles into the 1960s that showed off his extreme comic ability to its fullest, but after the relative failure of What's New, Pussycat (1965), which was Woody Allen's first film, Sellers embarked on a rapid downfall to "Grade Z" movies in the 1970s, all of which he claimed to have made only because he needed the money. In 1972 he read the book "Being There" and decided to make it into a film. It took him seven years to finally bring it to the screen, but it earned him a Best Actor Oscar nomination (he lost to Dustin Hoffman's portrayal of "Superdad" in Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)). Being There (1979) proved to be somewhat of a last hurray for Sellers, as he died the following year. His last movie, The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu (1980), completed just before his death, proved to be another flop. Director Blake Edwards' attempt at reviving the Pink Panther series after Sellers' death resulted in two panned 1980s comedies, the first of which, Trail of the Pink Panther (1982), deals with Inspector Clouseau's disappearance and was made from material cut from previous Pink Panther films and includes interviews with the original casts playing their original characters.
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peter
sellers
the
pink
panther
british
comedy
films
Added: 8th September 2007
Views: 668
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Posted By: Sophia |
 
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I saw this advertised and thought this would be right up everyone's alley! Anyone considering seeing it? The reviews have been really good, looks like the wife and I will have a date this weekend!
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Across
the
Universe
Trailer
Added: 19th September 2007
Views: 268
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Posted By: Steve |
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Rita Hayworth was born Margarita Carmen Cansino in Brooklyn NY, on October 17, 1918. She found fame as an American actress during the 1940's as the era's leading sex symbol. Although there was prejudice against Hispanic actors at the time, she is now widely regarded to be one of the first Hispanic-American "sex goddess" of "Golden Age" Hollywood with leading roles in film.
Rita left her film career in 1948 to marry Prince Aly Khan, the son of the Aga Khan, the leader of the Ismaili sect of Shia Islam.
After the marriage collapsed in 1951, Rita returned to America to star in a string of hit films, Affair in Trinidad, Salome, and Miss Sadie Thompson. Then she was off the big screen for another four years, due mainly to a tumultuous marriage to singer Dick Haymes. In 1957 she starred in Fire Down Below. Her last musical was Pal Joey. She got good reviews for her acting in such films as Separate Tables, and The Story on Page One, and continued working throughout the 1960s. It was during that time that she suffered an early onset of Alzheimer's disease, which was not diagnosed until 1980. In 1964 she appeared with John Wayne in Circus World and in 1972 she made her last film, The Wrath of God. She died of complications from Alzheimer's disease in 1987 at age 68.
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rita
hayworth
hollywood
sex
goddesses
Added: 12th October 2007
Views: 575
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Posted By: Babs64 |
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If you didn't watch The Gong Show in the seventies you missed out on some fabulous acts--like this one! Miss Dolly struts her considerable stuff in this 1977 episode. For some puzzling reason she was gonged. In case you're wondering about the sign that says It's Harold Schindler Night and the allusion to him after Miss Dolly's act, he was a critic who gave The Gong Show a terrible review. Chuck Barris responded by dedicating a show to him.
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Gong
Show
Miss
Dolly
Added: 16th October 2007
Views: 964
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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Video for the Honky Tonk Angels, featuring kd lang, Loretta Lyn, Kitty Wells and Brenda Lee, and produced by Owen Bradley for kd's album Shadowland. kd lang, who was born in Edmonton Alberta Canada, was first drawn to country music when she attended college. Soon, she became fascinated with the life and music of Patsy Cline and ultimately determined to pursue a career as a professional singer. Lang formed a Patsy Cline tribute band called the Reclines in 1983, and they recorded a debut album, Friday Dance Promenade. A follow-up album, A Truly Western Experience, was released in 1984 and received strong reviews which led to national attention in Canada. Singing at country and western venues in Canada, she made several recordings that earned a 1985 Canadian Juno Award for Most Promising Female Vocalist. Her career received a huge boost when Roy Orbison chose her to record a duet of his standard, "Crying". Instead of being overwhelmed by the power of Orbison's voice, the two blended their vocal ranges into a collaboration that won them the Grammy Award for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals.
1988 marked the release of Shadowland, an album of torch country produced by the legendary Owen Bradley.
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kd
lang
kitty
wells
brenda
lee
loretta
lynn
country
music
Added: 2nd November 2007
Views: 659
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Posted By: Sophia |
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This is one of the funniest sketches I've ever seen. It's about as close to the mother-child relationship as you can get. Mike Nichols and Elaine May created perfectly improvised scenes that were outrageously funny, yet simply understated. Their dry wit and wry satire allowed them to lampoon faceless bureaucracy and such previously sacrosanct institutions as hospitals, politics, funeral homes, and even motherhood. Like other great comedy duos, Nichols and May perfectly complemented each other. They seemed so attuned and at ease with each other that the mis-communication they often based their skits on were all the funnier. Within a short while of arriving in New York, they were the talk of the town, appearing on The Steve Allen Show, introducing a nationwide audience to a humor unlike any on television. Nichols and May spent much of the next three years traveling the country performing together on stage, radio, and television. In 1960, "An Evening with Mike Nichols and Elaine May" had opened on Broadway to rave reviews, but by 1961, Nichols and May would announce the end of their partnership. Interested in pursuing individual careers, the two left behind one of the most popular and imitated comedy acts of its time. Mike Nichols has directed and produced a variety of hit films, such as The Graduate, Silkwood, The Birdcage, Primary Colors, and The Remains of the Day. Elaine May is a two-time Academy Award nominated director, screenwriter, and actress.
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mike
nichols
elaine
may
improvisational
comedy
Added: 6th November 2007
Views: 624
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Posted By: Naomi |
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Danny was born David Daniel Kaminsky in Brooklyn in 1913, the son of an immigrant Russian tailor. After dropping out of high school he worked for a radio station and later as a comedian in the Catskills. After his solo success in the Catskills, he joined the dancing act of Harvey and Young in 1933. On opening night he lost his balance and the audience broke into a roar of laughter. He would later incorporate this into his act. Enjoying growing popularity in 1939, Danny won over the Broadway crowd that same year with his show-stopping comic singing in "Lady in the Dark," in which he rattled off the names of more than fifty polysyllabic Russian composers in 39 seconds in a song called "Tchaikovsky." Throughout the early 1940's he performed night club acts, on Broadway, and to support the troops overseas during WWII. Though he appeared in his first film in 1937, it wasn’t until almost 10 years later that his film career hit its stride. Throughout his career he starred in seventeen movies, including THE KID FROM BROADWAY (1946), THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY (1947), THE INSPECTOR GENERAL (1949), HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN (1952), and the incomparable THE COURT JESTER (1956). In one of his final performances, he proved the versatility of his talent and earned rave reviews for his impassioned portrayal of a Holocaust survivor in the 1981 television movie SKOKIE. In 1987 Danny died of a heart attack in Los Angeles. An amazing actor, singer, dancer, comic, and all-around entertainer, he was a Renaissance man off the stage as well as on, where he was a celebrated chef, a baseball team owner, and an airplane pilot, flying everything from Piper Cubs to Boeing 747’s. His deep and continued commitment to the betterment of the people of the world was an inspiration, and his intelligent humor created a style all his own that made him one of the most beloved entertainers of his time. In a clip from the 1952 film "Hans Christian Andersen", Danny shows off his incredible style with "Inchworm.
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danny
kaye
actors
singers
comedians
Added: 7th November 2007
Views: 342
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Posted By: Sophia |
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One of my heroes! In 1948 Alfred Mosher Butts, an unemployed architect, invented the greatest word game in the history of the world: Scrabble Brand Crossword Game. He named it Criss-Cross Words and didn't make much money from it. He sold the rights to a family called the Brunots who renamed the game Scrabble and marketed it from their home. It got plenty of rave reviews in the early 1950s. Demand for Scrabble became so great that the Brunots could not keep pace with the orders. They in turn sold the rights to Scrabble to a manufacturer. Over the years Scrabble's ownership has passed through several companies. Hasbro presently owns the North American trademark name of Scrabble. Each year millions of games are sold and hundreds of tournaments are held under the aegis of the National Scrabble Association. (Yours truly is an expert ranked player who directs an official NSA club in Canada. I can often be spotted officiating major Scrabble events. Look for me at the 2008 U.S. Nationals in Orlando in July!)
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Scrabble
Alfred
Butts
Added: 17th November 2007
Views: 303
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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