1.
Peter Falk
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He was twice nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, first for Murder, Inc. and again for Pocketful of Miracles. Director William Friedkin said of Falks role in his film The Brinks Job and he could break your heart or he could make you laugh. Falk was the first actor to be nominated for an Academy Award, in 1968, Falk starred with Gene Barry in a ninety-minute television movie about a highly skilled, laid-back detective. Columbo eventually became part of a series titled The NBC Mystery Movie, along with McCloud, McMillan & Wife. The detective series stayed on NBC from 1971 to 1978, took a respite, Falk was everyones favorite rumpled television detective, wrote historian David Fantle. In 1996, TV Guide ranked Falk number 21 on its 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time list. Born in New York City, Falk was the son of Michael Peter Falk, owner of a clothing and dry goods store, and his wife, Madeline, an accountant and buyer. Both of his parents were Jewish, coming from Poland and Russia on his fathers side, and from Hungary, Falks right eye was surgically removed when he was three because of a retinoblastoma, he wore an artificial eye for most of his life. The artificial eye was the cause of his trademark squint, despite this limitation, as a boy he participated in team sports, mainly baseball and basketball. In a 1997 interview in Cigar Aficionado magazine with Arthur Marx, Falk said, I got so mad I took out my glass eye, handed it to him and said, Try this. I got such a laugh you wouldnt believe, Falks first stage appearance was at the age of 12 in The Pirates of Penzance at Camp High Point in upstate New York, where one of his camp counselors was Ross Martin. Falk attended Ossining High School in Westchester County, New York, after graduating from high school in 1945, Falk briefly attended Hamilton College in Clinton, New York, and then tried to join the armed services as World War II was drawing to a close. Rejected because of his eye, he joined the United States Merchant Marine. Falk said of the experience in 1997, There they dont care if youre blind or not, the only one on a ship who has to see is the captain. And in the case of the Titanic, he couldnt see very well, Falk recalls this period in his autobiography, A year on the water was enough for me, so I returned to college. After a year and a half in the Merchant Marine, Falk returned to Hamilton College and he transferred to the New School for Social Research in New York City, which awarded him a bachelors degree in literature and political science in 1951. He then traveled in Europe and worked on a railroad in Yugoslavia for six months, Falk obtained a Master of Public Administration degree at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University in 1953. The program was designed to civil servants for the federal government
2.
Laurene Landon
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Laurene Landon is an American film and television actress. Laurene first began appearing in movies in the 1980s and she is best known for her roles in Maniac Cop and Maniac Cop 2, Hundra, Airplane II, The Sequel, and. All the Marbles with Peter Falk. She is half Irish and half Polish and describes herself as being bi-Polish, Landon was born on March 17,1957, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and moved to California with her parents at the age of four. So she decided to try her hand at acting and began her career as an extra in films, Landon began acting in a bit part in 1979s Bitter Heritage, also released as Naked in My Grave. She was cast as a skater in Roller Boogie in that same year. She gained a role in 1981s Full Moon High, her first of many collaborations with director Larry Cohen. Landon had spent part of her career as a model and in 1980 was a runner-up in the Miss Black Velvet pageant in Las Vegas. While there, a casting director told her to go see another casting director in Los Angeles, as she found modeling boring and was unable to sit still for hours at a time, she took his suggestion. She starred as Molly in. All the Marbles, a film starring Peter Falk that had an alternate title and she described this as her most satisfying role. She was chosen as one of the four women for the role and was required to undergo rigorous training at a professional wrestling school. The successful film was the last directing effort by Robert Aldrich, Landon went on to play Velda, right-hand woman to private eye Mike Hammer, in the 1982 film I, the Jury. She appeared as a stewardess in Airplane II, The Sequel and she is also known for appearing in science fiction and fantasy films such as Hundra, Yellow Hair and the Fortress of Gold, and Maniac Cop. She has been offered subsequent roles in two film projects for Monolith, including Alien Vampz 2, the sequel to the first film. She also just completed Sky, starring opposite Diane Kruger and Norman Reedus and she is currently filming Future Punks, along with a starring role in Syndicate Smashers opposite Mel Novak. Landon is single and never married, citing Never met a man who wanted to me around with a mop. She also enjoys writing screenplays in her spare time, official website Laurene Landon at the Internet Movie Database Laurene Landon at Moviefone
3.
Burt Young
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Gerald Tommaso DeLouise, better known by his stage name Burt Young, is an American actor, painter and author. He is best known for his Academy Award–nominated role as Sylvester Stallones characters brother-in-law and he also had praised roles in The Gambler, Chinatown, Uncle Joe Shannon, Back to School, Once Upon a Time in America, and Convoy. Young was born in Queens, New York, the son of Josephine and Michael and he was trained by Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio. Young is a widower and has one daughter, Anne Morea and he lives in Port Washington, New York. Young served a tour of duty in the United States Marine Corps from 1957 to 1959 and he is one of four actors who have appeared in all of the first six Rocky films. Young did not reprise his role in the 2015 film Creed, during this era, Young was considered one of Hollywoods top male actors. After appearing in the films Convoy, and Once Upon a Time in America, Young is a painter whose art has been displayed in galleries throughout the world. As an artist, he has collaborated with the writer Gabriele Tinti, for whom he designed the cover for the poetry collection All over, Young is also a published author whose works include two filmed screenplays and a 400-page historically based novel called Endings. He has written two plays, SOS and A Letter to Alicia and the New York City Government from a Man With a Bullet in His Head. In 2017, Burt Young will return to the stage as a mob boss in The Last Vig. The show is scheduled to run from January 14 to February 19,2017, Young participated in the 1984 New York City Marathon. Official website Burt Young at the Internet Movie Database
4.
Tracy Reed (American actress)
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Tracy Reed is an African-American actress. Reed was born in Fort Benning, Georgia and she starred in the 1970 TV series Barefoot in the Park and played Virginia Tyndall in the 1979 TV miniseries Women in White. Her most memorable roles include No Way Back, Car Wash, A Piece of the Action. All the Marbles. She was also a blackout gag player in the TV series Love, tracy Reed at the Internet Movie Database
5.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
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Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of feature films and television programs. Its headquarters are in Beverly Hills, California and it is one of the worlds oldest film studios. In 1971, it was announced that MGM would merge with 20th Century Fox, over the next thirty-nine years, the studio was bought and sold at various points in its history until, on November 3,2010, MGM filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. MGM Resorts International, a Las Vegas-based hotel and casino company listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol MGM, is not currently affiliated with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. In 1966, MGM was sold to Canadian investor Edgar Bronfman Sr. whose son Edgar Jr. would later buy Universal Studios, the studio continued to produce five to six films a year that were released through other studios, mostly United Artists. Kerkorian did, however, commit to increased production and a film library when he bought United Artists in 1981. MGM ramped up production, as well as keeping production going at UA. It also incurred significant amounts of debt to increase production, the studio took on additional debt as a series of owners took charge in the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1986, Ted Turner bought MGM, but a few later, sold the company back to Kerkorian to recoup massive debt. The series of deals left MGM even more heavily in debt, MGM was bought by Pathé Communications in 1990, but Parretti lost control of Pathé and defaulted on the loans used to purchase the studio. The French banking conglomerate Crédit Lyonnais, the major creditor. Even more deeply in debt, MGM was purchased by a joint venture between Kerkorian, producer Frank Mancuso, and Australias Seven Network in 1996, the debt load from these and subsequent business deals negatively affected MGMs ability to survive as an independent motion picture studio. In 1924, movie theater magnate Marcus Loew had a problem and he had bought Metro Pictures Corporation in 1919 for a steady supply of films for his large Loews Theatres chain. With Loews lackluster assortment of Metro films, Loew purchased Goldwyn Pictures in 1924 to improve the quality, however, these purchases created a need for someone to oversee his new Hollywood operations, since longtime assistant Nicholas Schenck was needed in New York headquarters to oversee the 150 theaters. Mayer, Loew addressed the situation by buying Louis B. Mayer Pictures on April 17,1924, Mayer became head of the renamed Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, with Irving Thalberg as head of production. MGM produced more than 100 feature films in its first two years, in 1925, MGM released the extravagant and successful Ben-Hur, taking a $4.7 million profit that year, its first full year. Marcus Loew died in 1927, and control of Loews passed to Nicholas Schenck, in 1929, William Fox of Fox Film Corporation bought the Loew familys holdings with Schencks assent. Mayer and Thalberg disagreed with the decision, Mayer was active in the California Republican Party and used his political connections to persuade the Justice Department to delay final approval of the deal on antitrust grounds
