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Dolby Theatre
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Since its opening on November 9,2001, the theater has hosted the Academy Awards ceremonies, initially held there in March 2002. The theater was designed by David Rockwell of the Rockwell Group, with Theatre Projects Consultants, the result of astute planning and technical design, the auditorium is particularly successful as a venue for televised theatrical performance. Power is also substantial and accessible, the theater has a unique, Rockwell-designed cockpit in the orchestra seating area for camera, sound, and stage management. Currently the columns are set for Best Picture up to 2071, the theater is rented to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for weeks before Oscar night. Having hosted the awards annually since 2002, the theater is best known for this event, during the rest of the year, it hosts numerous live concerts, awards shows, symphony performances, and other events. It has provided the stage for musicals, dance shows, symphony performances, the theater was sponsored, until February 2012, by the Eastman Kodak Company, which paid $75 million for naming rights to the building. In early 2012, Eastman Kodak filed for protection. Then, the name was temporarily changed to The Hollywood and Highland Center. On May 1,2012, it was announced that the venue would be renamed the Dolby Theatre, Dolby updated the sound system first by installing Dolby Atmos. The company plans to continue updating the auditorium with newer technologies as they become available, the show made significant changes to the theater, including adding lifts deep under the original floor. It was announced on November 29,2012 that Iris would close on January 19,2013 after only two seasons, due to lack of profit, after hosting the Academy Awards on February 24,2013, the theater reopened for touring acts and headliners. The theater has hosted the annual AFI Life Achievement Award, the ESPY Awards for excellence in sports performance, in April 2006, it was home to the 33rd Daytime Emmy Awards and hosted the 34th Daytime Emmy Awards on June 15,2007. It also hosted the Miss USA pageant twice, in 2004 and 2007, while the Dolby Theatre has most often hosted public cultural events, such as concerts and other performances, it has also occasionally served private purposes, such as weddings. Live Official Website of the Dolby Theatre
2.
Hollywood
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Hollywood is an ethnically diverse, densely populated neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. It is notable as the home of the U. S. film industry, including several of its studios, and its name has come to be a shorthand reference for the industry. Hollywood was a community in 1870 and was incorporated as a municipality in 1903. It was consolidated with the city of Los Angeles in 1910, in 1853, one adobe hut stood in Nopalera, named for the Mexican Nopal cactus indigenous to the area. By 1870, an agricultural community flourished, the area was known as the Cahuenga Valley, after the pass in the Santa Monica Mountains immediately to the north. According to the diary of H. J. Whitley, known as the Father of Hollywood, along came a Chinese man in a wagon carrying wood. The man got out of the wagon and bowed, the Chinese man was asked what he was doing and replied, I holly-wood, meaning hauling wood. H. J. Whitley had an epiphany and decided to name his new town Hollywood, Holly would represent England and wood would represent his Scottish heritage. Whitley had already started over 100 towns across the western United States, Whitley arranged to buy the 500-acre E. C. Hurd ranch and disclosed to him his plans for the land. They agreed on a price and Hurd agreed to sell at a later date, before Whitley got off the ground with Hollywood, plans for the new town had spread to General Harrison Gray Otis, Hurds wife, eastern adjacent ranch co-owner Daeida Wilcox, and others. Daeida Wilcox may have learned of the name Hollywood from Ivar Weid, her neighbor in Holly Canyon and she recommended the same name to her husband, Harvey. In August 1887, Wilcox filed with the Los Angeles County Recorders office a deed and parcel map of property he had sold named Hollywood, Wilcox wanted to be the first to record it on a deed. The early real-estate boom busted that year, yet Hollywood began its slow growth. By 1900, the region had a post office, newspaper, hotel, Los Angeles, with a population of 102,479 lay 10 miles east through the vineyards, barley fields, and citrus groves. A single-track streetcar line ran down the middle of Prospect Avenue from it, but service was infrequent, the old citrus fruit-packing house was converted into a livery stable, improving transportation for the inhabitants of Hollywood. The Hollywood Hotel was opened in 1902 by H. J. Whitley who was a president of the Los Pacific Boulevard, having finally acquired the Hurd ranch and subdivided it, Whitley built the hotel to attract land buyers. Flanking the west side of Highland Avenue, the structure fronted on Prospect Avenue, the hotel was to become internationally known and was the center of the civic and social life and home of the stars for many years. Whitleys company developed and sold one of the residential areas
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Los Angeles
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Los Angeles, officially the City of Los Angeles and often known by its initials L. A. is the cultural, financial, and commercial center of Southern California. With a census-estimated 2015 population of 3,971,883, it is the second-most populous city in the United States, Los Angeles is also the seat of Los Angeles County, the most populated county in the United States. The citys inhabitants are referred to as Angelenos, historically home to the Chumash and Tongva, Los Angeles was claimed by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo for Spain in 1542 along with the rest of what would become Alta California. The city was founded on September 4,1781, by Spanish governor Felipe de Neve. It became a part of Mexico in 1821 following the Mexican War of Independence, in 1848, at the end of the Mexican–American War, Los Angeles and the rest of California were purchased as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, thereby becoming part of the United States. Los Angeles was incorporated as a municipality on April 4,1850, the discovery of oil in the 1890s brought rapid growth to the city. The completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913, delivering water from Eastern California, nicknamed the City of Angels, Los Angeles is known for its Mediterranean climate, ethnic diversity, and sprawling metropolis. Los Angeles also has an economy in culture, media, fashion, science, sports, technology, education, medicine. A global city, it has been ranked 6th in the Global Cities Index, the city is home to renowned institutions covering a broad range of professional and cultural fields, and is one of the most substantial economic engines within the United States. The Los Angeles combined statistical area has a gross metropolitan product of $831 billion, making it the third-largest in the world, after the Greater Tokyo and New York metropolitan areas. The city has hosted the Summer Olympic Games in 1932 and 1984 and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics and thus become the second city after London to have hosted the Games three times. The Los Angeles area also hosted the 1994 FIFA mens World Cup final match as well as the 1999 FIFA womens World Cup final match, the mens event was watched on television by over 700 million people worldwide. The Los Angeles coastal area was first settled by the Tongva, a Gabrielino settlement in the area was called iyáangẚ, meaning poison oak place. Gaspar de Portolà and Franciscan missionary Juan Crespí, reached the present site of Los Angeles on August 2,1769, in 1771, Franciscan friar Junípero Serra directed the building of the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, the first mission in the area. The Queen of the Angels is an honorific of the Virgin Mary, two-thirds of the settlers were mestizo or mulatto with a mixture of African, indigenous and European ancestry. The settlement remained a small town for decades, but by 1820. Today, the pueblo is commemorated in the district of Los Angeles Pueblo Plaza and Olvera Street. New Spain achieved its independence from the Spanish Empire in 1821, during Mexican rule, Governor Pío Pico made Los Angeles Alta Californias regional capital
4.
California
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California is the most populous state in the United States and the third most extensive by area. Located on the western coast of the U. S, California is bordered by the other U. S. states of Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona and shares an international border with the Mexican state of Baja California. Los Angeles is Californias most populous city, and the second largest after New York City. The Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nations second- and fifth-most populous urban regions, California also has the nations most populous county, Los Angeles County, and its largest county by area, San Bernardino County. The Central Valley, an agricultural area, dominates the states center. What is now California was first settled by various Native American tribes before being explored by a number of European expeditions during the 16th and 17th centuries, the Spanish Empire then claimed it as part of Alta California in their New Spain colony. The area became a part of Mexico in 1821 following its war for independence. The western portion of Alta California then was organized as the State of California, the California Gold Rush starting in 1848 led to dramatic social and demographic changes, with large-scale emigration from the east and abroad with an accompanying economic boom. If it were a country, California would be the 6th largest economy in the world, fifty-eight percent of the states economy is centered on finance, government, real estate services, technology, and professional, scientific and technical business services. Although it accounts for only 1.5 percent of the states economy, the story of Calafia is recorded in a 1510 work The Adventures of Esplandián, written as a sequel to Amadis de Gaula by Spanish adventure writer Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. The kingdom of Queen Calafia, according to Montalvo, was said to be a land inhabited by griffins and other strange beasts. This conventional wisdom that California was an island, with maps drawn to reflect this belief, shortened forms of the states name include CA, Cal. Calif. and US-CA. Settled by successive waves of arrivals during the last 10,000 years, various estimates of the native population range from 100,000 to 300,000. The Indigenous peoples of California included more than 70 distinct groups of Native Americans, ranging from large, settled populations living on the coast to groups in the interior. California groups also were diverse in their organization with bands, tribes, villages. Trade, intermarriage and military alliances fostered many social and economic relationships among the diverse groups, the first European effort to explore the coast as far north as the Russian River was a Spanish sailing expedition, led by Portuguese captain Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, in 1542. Some 37 years later English explorer Francis Drake also explored and claimed a portion of the California coast in 1579. Spanish traders made unintended visits with the Manila galleons on their trips from the Philippines beginning in 1565
5.
Hugh Jackman
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Hugh Michael Jackman is an Australian actor, singer, and producer. Jackman has won recognition for his roles in a variety of film genres. His work in Les Misérables earned him his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, in Broadway theatre, Jackman won a Tony Award for his role in The Boy from Oz. A four-time host of the Tony Awards themselves, he won an Emmy Award for one of these appearances, Jackman also hosted the 81st Academy Awards on 22 February 2009. Jackman was born in Sydney, New South Wales, to Grace McNeil and Christopher John Jackman and his parents were English and had come to Australia in 1967 as part of the Ten Pound Poms immigration. One of his paternal great-grandfathers, Nicholas Isidor Bellas, was Greek and his parents were devout Christians, having been converted by Evangelist Billy Graham after their marriage. Jackman has four siblings, and was the second of his parents children to be born in Australia. He also has a younger half-sister, from his mothers remarriage and his parents divorced when he was eight, and Jackman remained in Australia with his father and Jackmans two brothers, while his mother moved back to England with Jackmans two sisters. As a child, Jackman liked the outdoors, spending a lot of time at the beach and on camping trips and he wanted to see the world, I used to spend nights looking at atlases. I decided I wanted to be a chef on a plane, because Id been on a plane and there was food on board, I presumed there was a chef. I thought that would be an ideal job, following graduation, he spent a gap year working at Uppingham School in England. On his return, he studied at the University of Technology, Sydney, in his final year of university, he took a drama course to make up additional credits. The class did Václav Havels The Memorandum with Jackman as the lead and he later commented, In that week I felt more at home with those people than I did in the entire three years. After obtaining his BA, Jackman completed the one-year course The Journey at the Actors Centre in Sydney, about studying acting full-time, he stated, It wasnt until I was 22 that I ever thought about my hobby being something I could make a living out of. As a boy, Id always had an interest in theatre, but the idea at my school was that drama and music were to round out the man. It wasnt what one did for a living, I found the courage to stand up and say, I want to do it. Jackman has said he always loved acting but when I started at drama school I was like the dunce of the class and it just wasnt coming right to me. Everyone was cooler, everyone seemed more likely to succeed, everyone seemed more natural at it, I think it is good to come from behind as an actor
6.
Tim Gunn
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Timothy MacKenzie Tim Gunn is an American fashion consultant, television personality, actor and author. Over 15 seasons Gunn has become known as the on-air mentor to designers on the reality television program Project Runway. Gunns popularity on Project Runway led to two shows, Bravos Tim Gunns Guide to Style and Lifetimes Under the Gunn, as well as five books. In addition to being a producer, Gunn has served as mentor for the teen designers on Project Runway. He also provides the voice of Baileywick, the steward in the Disney Junior television show Sofia the First. Gunn was born and raised in Washington, D. C and he is the son of Nancy and George William Gunn, an FBI agent during the administration of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. Gunn was a champion swimmer throughout high school, and later attended the Corcoran College of Art and Design, Gunn, who identifies as gay, was raised in an intensely homophobic household and viewed homosexuals as predators. According to a video Gunn created for the It Gets Better Project and he denied his sexual orientation until his early 20s, and did not share it with his family until he came out to his sister when he was 29. He was credited with retooling and invigorating the curriculum for the 21st century, Gunn began appearing on Project Runway during its first season in 2004, and is known for his catchphrase Make it work. Gunn received a Primetime Emmy Award in 2013 for Outstanding Host For A Reality Or Reality-Competition Program, Tim Gunns Guide to Style, a reality show in which Gunn gives advice to the fashion-challenged, debuted in September 2007 on the Bravo television network. This show ran for a total of 16 episodes over two seasons, then starting in January 2014 Tim was the host on a single 13 episode season of Lifetimes Under the Gunn. Gunn is a producer for Project Runway, Junior. He is also the teen designers mentor, Gunn left Parsons in 2007 and joined Liz Claiborne, Inc. as the companys chief creative officer in March of that year. In April 2007, Abrams Image Publishers released Gunns book A Guide to Quality, Taste and Style, co-written with Kate Moloney, cover photo by Markus Klinko & Indrani. While on tour in Palm Springs, California, the city of Palm Desert honored him with an official resolution declaring April 27,2007 Timothy M. Gunn Day. He was also presented with a certificate by the city of Palm Springs, from 2010 to 2015 Gunn published four additional books. In May 2009, Gunn served as commencement speaker at the Corcoran College of Art and Design and he made sporadic appearances on The Late Late Show with Craig Fergusons Dear Aquaman segments, helping or standing in for Aquaman, answering letters and dispensing advice. He guest starred as Barneys personal tailor on several episodes of How I Met Your Mother, Gunn guest starred as himself on the 6th episode of CWs fourth season of Gossip Girl, Easy J
7.
Robin Roberts (newscaster)
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Robin René Roberts is an American television broadcaster. Roberts is the anchor of ABCs Good Morning America, after growing up in Mississippi and attending Southeastern Louisiana University, Roberts was a sports anchor for local TV and radio stations. Roberts was a sportscaster on ESPN for 15 years and she became co-anchor on Good Morning America in 2005. She has been treated for breast cancer and for myelodysplastic syndrome, though born in Tuskegee, Alabama, Robin Roberts grew up in Pass Christian, Mississippi, where she played basketball and tennis, among other sports. She attended Pass Christian High School and graduated as the class of 1979 salutatorian and she is the daughter of Lucimarian and Colonel Lawrence E. Roberts. In a 2006 presentation to the student body at Abilene Christian University. She is the youngest of four, following siblings Sally-Ann, Lawrence, Jr. and her father was a pilot with the Tuskegee Airmen. Roberts attended Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, Louisiana, graduating cum laude in 1983 with a degree in communication and she followed in the footsteps of her older sister Sally-Ann Roberts, an anchor at the CBS affiliate WWL-TV in New Orleans. On her way back to Pass Christian from that visit, she saw a sign for Southeastern Louisiana University, stopped to visit. The only scholarship left was a scholarship, and she was promised that there would be a journalism scholarship by the time she would graduate. She went on to become a performer on the womens basketball team. Roberts is one of only three Lady Lions to score 1,000 career points and grab 1,000 career rebounds, during her senior season, she averaged a career-high 27.6 points per game. On February 5,2011, Southeastern hosted a ceremony to retire Roberts jersey, Roberts began her career in 1983 as a sports anchor and reporter for WDAM-TV in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. In 1984, she moved to WLOX-TV in Biloxi, Mississippi, in 1986, she was sports anchor and reporter for WSMV-TV in Nashville, Tennessee. She was also an anchor and reporter at WAGA-TV in Atlanta, Georgia. She was also a radio host for radio station V-103 while in Atlanta and she joined ESPN as a sportscaster in February 1990, where she stayed until 2005. On SportsCenter, she used the catchphrase, Go on with your bad self, Roberts began to work for ABC News, specifically as a featured reporter for Good Morning America in June 1995. In 2001, Roberts received the Mel Greenberg Media Award, presented by the WBCA, for many years, Roberts worked at both ESPN and Good Morning America, contributing to both programs
8.
Laurence Mark
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Laurence Mark is an Academy Award-nominated, Emmy-nominated, Golden Globe-winning producer of such acclaimed hit films as Julie & Julia, Dreamgirls, I, Robot, As Good as It Gets and Jerry Maguire. He is also an Executive Producer of The Art Of More starring Dennis Quaid, Kate Bosworth, Cary Elwes, with Bill Condon, Mr. Mark served as producer of the well-received Hugh Jackman-hosted 81st Annual Academy Awards which earned him an Emmy nomination. The show itself received ten Emmy nominations, a record for this annual telecast, before that, Mark produced Dreamgirls, starring Jamie Foxx, Beyoncé and Eddie Murphy and written and directed by Bill Condon. The film won three Golden Globe Awards, including one for Best Picture and it also received eight Academy Award nominations, the most of any movie in its year, and won two of them, including one for Jennifer Hudson as Best Supporting Actress. The show received four Emmy nominations, winning one for Ellen Burstyn as Best Supporting Actress, Mark has also produced I, Robot, Romy and Micheles High School Reunion, Last Holiday, and The Lookout, which won the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature. In addition to films, Mr. Mark produced Finding Forrester, The Object of My Affection, Anywhere But Here, The Adventures of Huck Finn, Black Widow. Laurence Mark Productions is headquartered at Sony Pictures Entertainment where the company has a tong-term production arrangement with Columbia Pictures. Marks other producing credits include Sister Act 2, True Colors, Bicentennial Man, Simon Birch, Riding in Cars with Boys, How Do You Know, and the legendary Glitter starring Mariah Carey. Prior to producing, Mark held several key publicity and marketing posts at Paramount Pictures, Mark was born in New York City and educated at Eaglebrook School, The Hotchkiss School, and Wesleyan University, from which he graduated in 1971. He holds a Masters of Arts degree in Film from New York University and he currently resides in Los Angeles and New York. 1987, Black Widow 1988, My Stepmother Is an Alien 1988, Working Girl 1989, Cookie 1989, Sweet Bird of Youth 1990, Mr. com biography at Archive. is
9.
Slumdog Millionaire
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Slumdog Millionaire is a 2008 British drama film directed by Danny Boyle, written by Simon Beaufoy, and produced by Christian Colson. Set and filmed in India, it is a adaptation of the novel Q & A by Indian author and diplomat Vikas Swarup, telling the story of Jamal Malik, age 18. As a contestant on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, who is able to answer every stage correctly, he is accused of cheating. Jamal recounts his history, illustrating how he is able to each question. Regarded as a hit, Slumdog Millionaire was widely acclaimed, being praised for its plot, soundtrack. It was nominated for ten Academy Awards in 2009 and won eight—the most for any 2008 film—including Best Picture, Best Director and it won seven BAFTA Awards including Best Film, five Critics Choice Awards and four Golden Globes. 18-year-old Jamal Malik, an Indian Muslim from the Juhu slum, is a contestant on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. and is one question away from the grand prize. Jamal recounts, through flashbacks, the incidents in his life which provided him with each answer, as they flee the riot, they meet Latika, a girl from their slum. Salim is reluctant to take her in, but Jamal suggests that she could be the third musketeer, the three are found by Maman—a gangster who tricks and then trains street children into becoming beggars. When Salim discovers Maman is blinding the children in order to them more effective beggars, he flees with Jamal. Latika fails to board the train as Salim purposefully lets go of her hand and this resulted in her being recaptured by Maman. At Jamals insistence, they return to Mumbai to find Latika, discovering that she is being raised by Maman to be a prostitute, to him soon a high price. The brothers rescue her, and while escaping Maman they shoot him to death, Salim then manages to get a job with Javed—Mamans rival crime lord. Back at their room, Salim orders Jamal to leave him, when Jamal refuses, Salim draws a gun on him, whereas Latika persuades Jamal to obey his brother and go away. Years later, Jamal, now a tea-boy in an Indian call centre, searches the database for Salim. He fails in finding Latika, while succeeding in finding Salim, Jamal reproaches Salim, who then pleads for forgiveness, and offers him to stay in his luxurious apartment. Jamal later bluffs his way into Javeds residence to reunite with Latika but as he professes his love for her, Jamal nevertheless promises to wait for her every day at five oclock at the VT station. Latika attempts to him there, but is recaptured by Javeds men, led by Salim, and once Javed moves to another house, outside Mumbai
10.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (film)
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The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a 2008 American romantic fantasy drama film directed by David Fincher. The storyline by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord is loosely based on the 1922 short story of the name by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The film stars Brad Pitt as a man who ages in reverse, the film was released in North America on December 25,2008 to positive reviews. In August 2005, elderly Daisy Fuller is on her deathbed in a New Orleans hospital as Hurricane Katrina approaches, she asks her daughter, Caroline, to read aloud from the diary of Benjamin Button. From the reading, it is revealed that on the evening of November 11,1918, the babys mother died after giving birth, and the father, Thomas Button, abandons the infant on the porch of a nursing home. Queenie and Mr. Tizzy Weathers, workers at the home, find the baby. Benjamin learns to walk in 1925, he declares it a miracle, on Thanksgiving 1930, Benjamin meets seven-year-old Daisy, whose grandmother lives in the nursing home. He and Daisy become good friends, later, he accepts work on a tugboat captained by Mike Clark. Benjamin also meets Thomas Button, who does not reveal that he is Benjamins father, in Autumn 1936, Benjamin leaves New Orleans for a long-term work engagement with the tugboat crew, Daisy later is accepted into a dance company in New York City under choreographer George Balanchine. In 1941, Benjamin is in Murmansk, where he begins having an affair with Elizabeth Abbott and that December, Japan attacks Pearl Harbor, thrusting the United States into World War II. Mike volunteers the boat for the U. S. Navy, during a patrol, the tugboat finds a sunken U. S. transport and the bodies of many American troops. A German submarine surfaces, Mike steers the tugboat full speed towards it while a German gunner fires on the tugboat, killing most of the crew, the tugboat rams the submarine, causing it to explode, sinking both vessels. Benjamin and another crewman are rescued by U. S. Navy ships the next day, in May 1945, Benjamin returns to New Orleans and reunites with Queenie. A few weeks later, he reunites with Daisy, they go out for dinner, upon failing to seduce him afterward, she departs. Benjamin later reunites with Thomas Button, who, terminally ill, reveals he is Benjamins father and wills Benjamin his button company, in 1947, Benjamin visits Daisy in New York unannounced but departs upon seeing that she has fallen in love with someone else. In 1954, Daisys dancing career ends when her leg is crushed in an accident in Paris. When Benjamin visits her, Daisy is amazed by his youthful appearance, in spring 1962, Daisy returns to New Orleans and reunites with Benjamin. Now of comparable physical age, they fall in love and go sailing together and they return to learn that Queenie has died, then move in together
11.
American Broadcasting Company
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The network is headquartered on Columbus Avenue and West 66th Street in Manhattan, New York City. There are additional offices and production facilities elsewhere in New York City, as well as in Los Angeles and Burbank. Since 2007, when ABC Radio was sold to Citadel Broadcasting, ABC originally launched on October 12,1943, as a radio network, separated from and serving as the successor to the NBC Blue Network, which had been purchased by Edward J. Noble. It extended its operations to television in 1948, following in the footsteps of established broadcast networks CBS, in the mid-1950s, ABC merged with United Paramount Theatres, a chain of movie theaters that formerly operated as a subsidiary of Paramount Pictures. Leonard Goldenson, who had been the head of UPT, made the new television network profitable by helping develop, in 1996, most of Capital Cities/ABCs assets were purchased by The Walt Disney Company. The television network has eight owned-and-operated and over 232 affiliated television stations throughout the United States, most Canadians have access to at least one U. S. ABC News provides news and features content for radio stations owned by Citadel Broadcasting. In the 1930s, radio in the United States was dominated by three companies, the Columbia Broadcasting System, the Mutual Broadcasting System and the National Broadcasting Company. The last was owned by electronics manufacturer Radio Corporation of America, in 1938, the FCC began a series of investigations into the practices of radio networks and published its report on the broadcasting of network radio programs in 1940. The report recommended that RCA give up control of either NBC Red or NBC Blue, at that time, the NBC Red Network was the principal radio network in the United States and, according to the FCC, RCA was using NBC Blue to eliminate any hint of competition. Once Mutuals appeals against the FCC were rejected, RCA decided to sell NBC Blue in 1941, the newly separated NBC Red and NBC Blue divided their respective corporate assets. Investment firm Dillon, Read & Co. offered $7.5 million to purchase the network, Edward John Noble, the owner of Life Savers candy, drugstore chain Rexall and New York City radio station WMCA, purchased the network for $8 million. Due to FCC ownership rules, the transaction, which was to include the purchase of three RCA stations by Noble, would require him to resell his station with the FCCs approval, the Commission authorized the transaction on October 12,1943. Soon afterward, the Blue Network was purchased by the new company Noble founded, Noble subsequently acquired the rights to the American Broadcasting Company name from George B. Meanwhile, in August 1944, the West Coast division of the Blue Network, both stations were then managed by Don Searle, the vice-president of the Blue Networks West Coast division. The ABC Radio Network created its audience slowly, the network also became known for such suspenseful dramas as Sherlock Holmes, Gang Busters and Counterspy, as well as several mid-afternoon youth-oriented programs. S. From Nazi Germany after its conquest, to pre-record its programming, while its radio network was undergoing reconstruction, ABC found it difficult to avoid falling behind on the new medium of television. To ensure a space, in 1947, ABC submitted five applications for television station licenses, the ABC television network made its debut on April 19,1948, with WFIL-TV in Philadelphia becoming its first primary affiliate
12.
80th Academy Awards
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During the ceremony, AMPAS presented Academy Awards in 24 categories. The ceremony was televised in the United States by ABC, and produced by Gil Cates and directed by Louis J, Actor Jon Stewart hosted the show for the second time, having previously presided over the 78th ceremony held in 2006. Two weeks earlier in a gala at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, California held on February 9, No Country for Old Men won the most awards of the ceremony with four including Best Picture. The telecast garnered under 32 million viewers, making it the least watched Oscar broadcast since 1974, the nominations were announced on January 22,2008, at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, California by Sid Ganis, president of the Academy, and actress Kathy Bates. No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood tied for the most nominations with eight each, the winners were announced during the award ceremony of February 24,2008. Best Director winners Ethan and Joel Coen became the pair of directors to win the award for the same film. Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise first accomplished this feat for co-directing 1961s West Side Story, for only the second time in Oscar history, all four acting winners were born outside the United States. Daniel Day-Lewis became the person to win Best Actor twice. Cate Blanchett became the performer to receive double acting nominations in the same year. At age 82, Best Supporting Actor nominee Hal Holbrook was the oldest male acting nominee in Oscar history, Robert F. Boyle became the oldest recipient of the Academy Honorary award at the age of 98. Winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface, and indicated with a double dagger, Robert F. Boyle — In recognition of one of cinemas great careers in art direction. The following individuals presented awards or performed musical numbers, in September 2007, the Academy hired Gil Cates to oversee production of the telecast for a record 14th time. Ganis explained his decision to hire Cates as producer stating, Hes so talented…so creative and inventive, all of that will again translate into a night that people cant wait to experience. Immediately, Cates selected actor, comedian, and talk-show host Jon Stewart as host of the 2008 ceremony, Jon was a terrific host for the 78th Awards, Cates said about Stewart in a press release. He is smart, quick, funny, loves movies and is a great guy, what else could one ask for. Furthermore, the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike affected the telecast, the material could have been used, as the denial only affected the conditions under which the clips are shown. Previously, the 60th ceremony held in 1988 occurred 37 days after that years writers strike began, at the time, material was already completed in anticipation for the strike, and actors were in full attendance of the ceremony. In anticipation that the strike would continue through Oscar night, AMPAS developed a Plan B show that would not have included actors accepting their awards
13.
Academy Awards
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The various category winners are awarded a copy of a golden statuette, officially called the Academy Award of Merit, which has become commonly known by its nickname Oscar. The awards, first presented in 1929 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, are overseen by AMPAS, the awards ceremony was first broadcast on radio in 1930 and televised for the first time in 1953. It is now live in more than 200 countries and can be streamed live online. The Academy Awards ceremony is the oldest worldwide entertainment awards ceremony and its equivalents – the Emmy Awards for television, the Tony Awards for theater, and the Grammy Awards for music and recording – are modeled after the Academy Awards. The 89th Academy Awards ceremony, honoring the best films of 2016, were held on February 26,2017, at the Dolby Theatre, in Los Angeles, the ceremony was hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and was broadcast on ABC. A total of 3,048 Oscars have been awarded from the inception of the award through the 88th, the first Academy Awards presentation was held on May 16,1929, at a private dinner function at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel with an audience of about 270 people. The post-awards party was held at the Mayfair Hotel, the cost of guest tickets for that nights ceremony was $5. Fifteen statuettes were awarded, honoring artists, directors and other participants in the industry of the time. The ceremony ran for 15 minutes, winners were announced to media three months earlier, however, that was changed for the second ceremony in 1930. Since then, for the rest of the first decade, the results were given to newspapers for publication at 11,00 pm on the night of the awards. The first Best Actor awarded was Emil Jannings, for his performances in The Last Command and he had to return to Europe before the ceremony, so the Academy agreed to give him the prize earlier, this made him the first Academy Award winner in history. With the fourth ceremony, however, the system changed, for the first six ceremonies, the eligibility period spanned two calendar years. At the 29th ceremony, held on March 27,1957, until then, foreign-language films had been honored with the Special Achievement Award. The 74th Academy Awards, held in 2002, presented the first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, since 1973, all Academy Awards ceremonies always end with the Academy Award for Best Picture. The Academy also awards Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, see also § Awards of Merit categories The best known award is the Academy Award of Merit, more popularly known as the Oscar statuette. The five spokes represent the branches of the Academy, Actors, Writers, Directors, Producers. The model for the statuette is said to be Mexican actor Emilio El Indio Fernández, sculptor George Stanley sculpted Cedric Gibbons design. The statuettes presented at the ceremonies were gold-plated solid bronze
14.
82nd Academy Awards
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The ceremony was scheduled well after its usual late-February date to avoid conflicting with the 2010 Winter Olympics. During the ceremony, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented Academy Awards in 24 categories, the ceremony was televised in the United States by ABC, and was produced by Bill Mechanic and Adam Shankman and directed by Hamish Hamilton. Actors Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin hosted the show, Martin hosted for the third time, he first presided over the 73rd ceremony held in 2001 and last hosted the 75th ceremony held in 2003. Meanwhile, this was Baldwins first Oscars hosting stint and this was also the first telecast to have multiple hosts since the 59th ceremony held in 1987. On February 20,2010, in a ceremony at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, the Hurt Locker won six awards, including Best Picture and Best Director for Kathryn Bigelow, the first woman to win an Academy Award for Best Director. The telecast garnered nearly 42 million viewers in the United States, the nominees for the 82nd Academy Awards were announced on February 2,2010, at 5,38 a. m. PST at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, California, by Tom Sherak, president of the Academy, Avatar and The Hurt Locker led the nominations with nine each. The winners were announced during the ceremony on March 7,2010. Kathryn Bigelow made history as the first female to win the Oscar for Best Director, up became only the second animated film to earn a Best Picture nomination. 1991s Beauty and the Beast was the first such film to achieve this feat, Best Adapted Screenplay winner Geoffrey Fletcher was the first African American winner of a screenwriting Oscar. Winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface and indicated with a double dagger, the Academy held its 1st Annual Governors Awards ceremony on November 14,2009, during which the following awards were presented. Lauren Bacall — In recognition of her place in the golden age of motion pictures. Roger Corman — For his rich engendering of films and filmmakers, gordon Willis — For unsurpassed mastery of light, shadow, color and motion. John Calley The following individuals, listed in order of appearance, because of the declining viewership of recent Academy Awards ceremonies, the Academy sought ideas to revamp the show while renewing interest with the nominated films. After the previous years telecast, which saw a 13% increase in viewership, AMPAS then-president Sid Ganis announced that the ceremony would feature ten Best Picture nominees, rather than traditional five. The expansion was a throwback to the Academys early years in the 1930s and 1940s, I cant wait to see what that list of ten looks like when the nominees are announced in February. Ganis also said that became difficult to get a clear winner, a cause of this was required a change in the voting system from first-past-the-post to alternative vote. Choreographer Adam Shankman and Bill Mechanic were hired as producers for the ceremony, many of the previous years well-received elements returned
15.
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
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The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a professional honorary organization with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motion pictures. The Academys corporate management and general policies are overseen by a Board of Governors, the roster of the Academys approximately 6,000 motion picture professionals is a closely guarded secret. While the great majority of its members are based in the United States, the Academy is known around the world for its annual Academy Awards, now officially known as The Oscars. The Academy plans to open the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles in 2017, the notion of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences began with Louis B. He said he wanted to create an organization that would mediate labor disputes without unions and he met with actor Conrad Nagel, director Fred Niblo, and the head of the Association of Motion Picture Producers, Fred Beetsonto to discuss these matters. The idea of this elite club having a banquet was discussed. They also established that membership into the organization would only be open to people involved in one of the five branches of the industry, actors, directors, writers, technicians, and producers. That evening Mayer presented to those guests what he called the International Academy of Motion Picture Arts, everyone in the room that evening became a founder of the Academy. Several organizational meetings were held prior to the first official meeting held on May 6,1927 and their first organizational meeting was held on May 11. At that meeting Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. was elected as the first president of the Academy, while Fred Niblo was the first vice-president and that night, the Academy also bestowed its first honorary membership, to Thomas Edison. Initially, the Academy was broken down into five groups, or branches. The original five were, Producers, Actors, Directors, Writers, the initial concerns of the group had to do with labor. However, as went on, the organization moved further away from involvement in labor-management arbitrations and negotiations. By July 1928 the board of directors had approved a list of 12 awards to be presented, during July the voting system for the Awards was established, and the nomination and selection process began. This award of merit for distinctive achievement is what we know now as the Academy Award, the initial location of the organization was 6912 Hollywood Boulevard. In May 1928, the Academy authorized the construction of a state of the art screening room, the screening room was not completed until April 1929. With the publication of Report on Incandescent Illumination in 1928, the Academy began a history of publishing books to assist its members. Another early initiative concerned training Army Signal Corps officers, in 1929 Academy members in a joint venture with the University of Southern California created Americas first film school to further the art and science of moving pictures
16.
Pacific Time Zone
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The Pacific Time Zone observes standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time. During daylight saving time, its time offset is UTC−7 and is based on the mean solar time of the 105th meridian west of the Greenwich Observatory. In the United States and Canada, this zone is generically called the Pacific Time Zone. Specifically, it uses Pacific Standard Time when observing standard time, most of Canada uses daylight saving time. In Mexico, the UTC−8 time zone is known as the Northwest Zone, the largest city in the Pacific Time Zone is Los Angeles, the citys metropolitan area is the largest in the zone. The following states or areas are part of the Pacific Time Zone, California Washington Oregon – all, except for most of Malheur County, nevada Idaho Panhandle – the northern half of Idaho, north of the Salmon River. The town of Hyder, Alaska, is officially in the Alaska Time Zone, however, most of the town observes the Pacific Time because of strong connections with nearby Stewart, British Columbia, which is in the Pacific Time Zone. The United States Post Office in Hyder strictly adheres to Alaska Time, in Canada, the Pacific Time Zone includes most of British Columbia, all of Yukon, and the townsite of Tungsten. In Mexico, the state of Baja California lies completely within the Pacific Time Zone and this does not include the state of Baja California Sur, which is south of Baja California. Through 2006, the time changed to daylight time at 02,00 LST to 03,00 LDT on the first Sunday in April. The Canadian provinces and territories that use daylight time each adopted these dates between October 2005 and February 2007, in Mexico, beginning in 2010, the portion of the country in this time zone uses the extended dates, as do some other parts. The vast majority of Mexico, however, still uses the old dates
17.
Eastern Time Zone
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Places that use Eastern Standard Time when observing standard time are 5 hours behind Coordinated Universal Time. Eastern Daylight Time, when observing daylight saving time DST is 4 hours behind Coordinated Universal Time, in the northern parts of the time zone, on the second Sunday in March, at 2,00 a. m. EST, clocks are advanced to 3,00 a. m. EDT leaving a one-hour gap, on the first Sunday in November, at 2,00 a. m. EDT, clocks are moved back to 1,00 a. m, southern parts of the zone do not observe daylight saving time. The Uniform Time Act of 1966 ruled that daylight saving time would run from the last Sunday of April until the last Sunday in October in the United States, the act was amended to make the first Sunday in April the beginning of daylight saving time as of 1987. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 extended daylight saving time in the United States beginning in 2007. So local times change at 2,00 a. m. EST to 3,00 a. m. EDT on the second Sunday in March, in Canada, the time changes as it does in the United States. However, a handful of communities unofficially observe Eastern Time because they are part of the Columbus, Georgia metropolitan area – Phenix City, Smiths Station, Lanett, and Valley. Florida, All of Florida is in the Eastern Time zone except for the portion of the Florida Panhandle west of the Apalachicola River, as the Eastern–Central zone boundary approaches the Gulf of Mexico, it follows the Bay/Gulf county line. Indiana, All of Indiana observes Eastern Time except for six counties in the Chicago metropolitan area. Kentucky, Roughly, the half of the state, including all of metropolitan Louisville, is in the Eastern Time Zone. Historically the entire state observed Central Time, when daylight saving time was first introduced, the Lower Peninsula remained on DST after it formally ended, effectively re-aligning itself into the Eastern Time Zone. The Upper Peninsula continued to observe Central Time until 1972, when all, Tennessee, Most of the eastern third of Tennessee is legally on Eastern Time. Eastern Time is also used somewhat as a de facto official time for all of the United States, since it includes the capital and the largest city. Major professional sports leagues also post all game times in Eastern time, for example, a game time between two teams from Pacific Time Zone will still be posted in Eastern time. Most cable television and national broadcast networks advertise airing times in Eastern time, national broadcast networks generally have two primary feeds, an eastern feed for Eastern and Central time zones, and a tape-delayed western feed for the Pacific Time Zone. The prime time is set on Eastern and Pacific at 8,00 p. m. with the Central time zone stations receiving the eastern feed at 7,00 p. m. local time. Mountain Time Zone stations receive a separate feed at 7,00 p. m. local time, as Arizona does not observe daylight saving time, during the summer months, it has its own feed at 7,00 p. m. local time
18.
Beverly Wilshire Hotel
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The Beverly Wilshire Hotel is a historic luxury hotel in Beverly Hills, California. Located at the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and Rodeo Drive, it was completed in 1928 and it has been used as a shooting location for films and television series. Guests have included US presidents and celebrities, the hotel is located at 9500 Wilshire Boulevard on the east side of South Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, California. The hotel was constructed by real estate developer Walter G. McCarty on the site of the former Beverly Hills Speedway and it was completed in 1928, and was then known as the Beverly Wilshire Apartment Hotel. The E-shaped structure is built of a Tuscan stone and Carrara marble in the Italian Renaissance architecture style, renamed the Beverly Wilshire Hotel by new owners, it was renovated with a ballroom in the 1940s to accommodate the popular big bands of the day. An Olympic-sized swimming pool was built and championship tennis courts were added, the hotel changed hands in 1958 and again in 1961, when it was purchased by a group of investors headed by Hernando Courtright. The singer Elvis Presley and later the actor Warren Beatty lived several years in the hotel and it was also the home of John Lennon, when he was separated for several months from his wife Yoko Ono. The American socialite and Woolworth department store heiress Barbara Hutton spent her last years in poverty and poor health in the hotel. Acquired by Regent International Hotels in 1985, the 395-room luxury hotel has been managed by the Four Seasons Hotel since 1992, famous guests have included, among many others, U. S. The Beverly Wilshire was a filming location for HBOs Entourage television series, with cast. Since 2006, Wolfgang Puck has operated a restaurant, Cut, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts Official website
19.
Beverly Hills, California
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Beverly Hills is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, surrounded by the cities of Los Angeles and West Hollywood. By 2013, its population had grown to 34,658, sometimes referred to as 90210, one of its primary ZIP codes, it was home to many actors and celebrities throughout the 20th century. The city includes the Rodeo Drive shopping district and the Beverly Hills Oil Field, gaspar de Portolá arrived in the area that would later become Beverly Hills on August 3,1769, travelling along native trails which followed the present-day route of Wilshire Boulevard. The area was settled by Maria Rita Quinteros de Valdez and her husband in 1828 and they called their 4,500 acres of property the Rancho Rodeo de las Aguas. in 1854, she sold the ranch to Benjamin Davis Wilson and Henry Hancock. By the 1880s, the ranch had been subdivided into parcels of 75 acres and was being bought up by anglos from Los Angeles. Henry Hammel and Andrew H. Denker acquired most of it, at this point, the area was known as the Hammel and Denker Ranch. By 1888, Denker and Hammel were planning to build a town called Morocco on their holdings and they did not find enough to exploit commercially by the standards of the time, though. In 1906, therefore, they reorganized as the Rodeo Land and Water Company, renamed the property Beverly Hills, subdivided it, the development was named Beverly Hills after Beverly Farms in Beverly, Massachusetts and because of the hills in the area. The first house in the subdivision was built in 1907, although sales remained slow, Beverly Hills was one of many all-white planned communities started in the Los Angeles area around this time. Restrictive covenants prohibited non-whites from owning or renting property unless they were employed as servants by white residents and it was also forbidden to sell or rent property to Jews in Beverly Hills. Burton Green began construction on The Beverly Hills Hotel in 1911, the hotel was finished in 1912. The visitors drawn by the hotel were inclined to purchase land in Beverly Hills and that same year, the Rodeo Land and Water Company decided to separate its water business from its real estate business. The Beverly Hills Utility Commission was split off from the company and incorporated in September 1914, buying all of the utilities-related assets from the Rodeo Land. In 1919, Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford bought land on Summit Drive and built a mansion, finished in 1921, the glamor associated with Fairbanks and Pickford as well as other movie stars who built mansions in the city contributed to its growing appeal. By the early 1920s the population of Beverly Hills had grown enough to make the water supply a political issue, in 1923 the usual solution, annexation to the city of Los Angeles, was proposed. There was considerable opposition to annexation among such famous residents as Pickford, Fairbanks, Will Rogers, the Beverly Hills Utility Commission, opposed to annexation as well, managed to force the city into a special election and the plan was defeated 337 to 507. In 1925, Beverly Hills approved an issue to buy 385 acres for a new campus for UCLA. The cities of Los Angeles, Santa Monica and Venice also issued bonds to pay for the new campus
20.
Jessica Biel
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Jessica Claire Timberlake is an American actress. Biel began her career as a vocalist appearing in productions until she was cast as Mary Camden in the family-drama series 7th Heaven. The series is the series that ever aired on The WB channel and is the longest-running family drama in television history. In 1997, she won the Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Feature Film – Supporting Young Actress for her role in Ulees Gold and she is known for her role as Erin Hardesty in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Biel has since starred in films, including The Rules of Attraction, Blade, Trinity, Stealth, I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry, The A-Team. Biel was born on March 3,1982, in Ely, Minnesota, to Kimberly, a homemaker and spiritual healer, and Jonathan Biel and her Biel paternal great-grandfather was the son of Hungarian Jewish immigrants, which Jessica discovered on the show Who Do You Think You Are. She also has German, French, English, and Irish ancestry and her younger brother, Justin, launched and runs the eco-accessory line BARE. Biels family moved frequently during her childhood, living in Texas, Connecticut, and Woodstock, Illinois, before settling in Boulder, Colorado. While growing up, Biel played soccer and also trained as a gymnast, from 2000 to 2002, she attended Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts. Biel initially trained to be a vocalist, at the age of nine, she appeared in several musical productions in her hometown, playing lead roles in productions such as The Sound of Music and Beauty and the Beast. At the age of 11, Biel participated in a competition sponsored by The International Modeling and Talent Association in Los Angeles where she acquired an agent and she began modeling for print advertisements, and appeared in commercials for products such as Dulux Paint and Pringles. In her film debut, Biel played the character Regrettal, a role in the ambitious musical film titled Its a Digital World. At the age of fourteen, after auditioning for television pilots, Biel was cast as Mary Camden. Biel landed her first feature film role as Peter Fondas granddaughter in the acclaimed drama Ulees Gold. Her performance earned her a Young Artist Award, in spring 1998, during a break from filming 7th Heaven, she co-starred in Ill Be Home for Christmas with Jonathan Taylor Thomas as the girlfriend of Thomas character. When she was 17 years old she posed for a photo shoot that appeared in the March 2000 issue of Gear. Producers of 7th Heaven were outraged, and brought legal action against Gear and she later expressed regret for doing it, claiming she had been used and that she had been shown different pictures than what were published. In 2001, Biel played the love interest of Freddie Prinze, in 2002, she starred as promiscuous college student, Lara, in the ensemble film The Rules of Attraction, an adaptation of the Bret Easton Ellis novel
21.
Academy Award for Best Director
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The Academy Award for Best Director is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. It is given in honor of a director who has exhibited outstanding directing while working in the film industry. However, these categories were merged for all subsequent ceremonies, nominees are determined by single transferable vote within the directors branch of AMPAS, winners are selected by a plurality vote from the entire eligible voting members of the Academy. For the first eleven years of the Academy Awards, directors were allowed to be nominated for multiple films in the same year, the Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Picture have been very closely linked throughout their history. Of the 89 films that have been awarded Best Picture,63 have also been awarded Best Director, since its inception, the award has been given to 69 directors or directing teams. John Ford has received the most awards in this category with four, william Wyler was nominated on twelve occasions, more than any other individual. As of the 2017 ceremony, Damien Chazelle is the most recent winner in category for his work on La La Land. Chazelle also became the youngest director in history to receive this award, two directing teams have shared the award, Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins for West Side Story in 1961 and Joel and Ethan Coen for No Country for Old Men in 2007. The Coen brothers are the siblings to have won the award. For the first five ceremonies, the eligibility period spanned twelve months from August 1 to July 31, for the 6th ceremony held in 1934, the eligibility period lasted from August 1,1932 to December 31,1933. Since the 7th ceremony held in 1935, the period of eligibility became the full calendar year from January 1 to December 31. org The Academy Awards Database Oscar. com
22.
Danny Boyle
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His debut film Shallow Grave won the BAFTA Award for Best British Film. Boyles 2008 film Slumdog Millionaire was nominated for ten Academy Awards and won eight and he also won the Golden Globe and BAFTA Award for Best Director. Boyle was presented with the Extraordinary Contribution to Filmmaking Award at the 2008 Austin Film Festival, in 2012, Boyle was the Artistic Director for Isles of Wonder, the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games. He was subsequently offered a knighthood as part of the New Year Honours, in 2014, it was announced that Boyle would become a patron of HOME in Manchester. Danny Boyle was born on 20 October 1956 in Radcliffe, Lancashire, although he now describes himself as a spiritual atheist, he was brought up in a working class Catholic family. Boyle was a boy for eight years and his mother had the priesthood in mind for him. Whether he was saving me from the priesthood or the priesthood from me, but quite soon after, I started doing drama. And theres a connection, I think. All these directors — Martin Scorsese, John Woo, M. Night Shyamalan — they were all meant to be priests, Theres something very theatrical about it. It’s basically the same job — poncing around, telling people what to think and he later studied at Thornleigh Salesian College in Bolton, and studied English and Drama at Bangor University. While at university, Boyle dated the actress Frances Barber, Boyle is the patron of North West-based young peoples substance misuse charity, Early Break, which was founded and based in his home town of Radcliffe. Boyle is also a trustee of the UK-based African arts charity Dramatic Need, upon leaving school he began his career at the Joint Stock Theatre Company, before moving onto the Royal Court Theatre in 1982 where he directed The Genius by Howard Brenton and Saved by Edward Bond. He also directed five productions for the Royal Shakespeare Company, in 2011 he directed Frankenstein for the National Theatre. This production was broadcast to cinemas as a part of National Theatre Live on 17 March 2011, Boyle was Artistic Director for the 2012 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony in London. The ceremony, entitled Isles of Wonder, charted aspects of British culture, including the Industrial Revolution and British contributions to literature, music, film, reception to the ceremony was generally positive, both nationally in the United Kingdom and internationally. In December 2012 it was reported that Boyle turned down a knighthood in the New Year Honours list. He told BBC Radio 4 Im very proud to be an equal citizen, in 2014, it was announced that Boyle would become a patron of HOME in Manchester. These were Masonic Mysteries and Cherubim and Seraphim and he was also responsible for the BBC2 series Mr. Wroes Virgins
23.
The Dark Knight (film)
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The Dark Knight is a 2008 superhero film directed, produced, and co-written by Christopher Nolan. Nolans inspiration for the film was the Jokers comic book debut in 1940, the 1988 graphic novel The Killing Joke, and the 1996 series The Long Halloween, the nickname the Dark Knight was first applied to Batman in Batman #1, in a story written by Bill Finger. The Dark Knight was filmed primarily in Chicago, as well as in other locations in the United States, the United Kingdom. Nolan used IMAX70 mm film cameras to film some sequences, Warner Bros. initially created a viral marketing campaign for The Dark Knight, developing promotional websites and trailers highlighting screenshots of Ledger as the Joker. With over $1 billion in worldwide, it is the 26th-highest-grossing film of all time. The film received eight Academy Award nominations, it won the award for Best Sound Editing, the Dark Knight Rises, the final film in the trilogy, was released on July 20,2012. A gang of criminals rob a Gotham City mob bank, double-crossing and murdering each other there is only one left, The Joker. Batman, District Attorney Harvey Dent and Lieutenant Jim Gordon form an alliance to rid Gotham of organized crime, Mob bosses Sal Maroni, Gambol and the Chechen hold a videoconference with corrupt accountant Lau, who has taken their funds and fled to Hong Kong. The Joker interrupts, warns them that Batman is unhindered by the law, and offers to him in exchange for half of their money. After escaping and smuggling himself as a corpse, the Joker kills Gambol, the mob ultimately decides to take the Joker up on his offer. Dent arrests the mob, while Batman finds Lau in Hong Kong. The Joker threatens to keep killing people unless Batman reveals his identity, and starts by murdering Police Commissioner Gillian B. Loeb, the Joker also tries to kill Mayor Anthony Garcia, but Gordon sacrifices himself to stop the assassination. Dent learns that Rachel is the next target, Bruce decides to reveal his secret identity. Before he can, however, Dent announces that he is Batman, Dent is taken into protective custody, but the Joker appears and attacks the convoy. Batman comes to Dents rescue and Gordon, who faked his death, Rachel and Dent are escorted away by Michael Wuertz and Anna Ramirez, detectives on Maronis payroll. Batman interrogates the Joker, who reveals that Rachel and Dent have been trapped in separate locations rigged with explosives, Batman races to save Rachel, while Gordon goes to save Dent. Batman arrives at the building, realizing that the Joker sent him to Dents location instead, both buildings explode, killing Rachel and disfiguring half of Dents face. The Joker escapes the jail with Lau. Coleman Reese, an accountant at Wayne Enterprises, deduces that Bruce is Batman, after observing the unpredictability of the Joker, Maroni informs the Jokers location to Commissioner Gordon
24.
Milk (film)
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Directed by Gus Van Sant and written by Dustin Lance Black, the film stars Sean Penn as Milk and Josh Brolin as Dan White, a city supervisor who assassinated Milk and Mayor George Moscone. The film was released to acclaim and earned numerous accolades from film critics. Ultimately, it received eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, various scripts were considered in the early 1990s, but projects fell through for different reasons, until 2007. Much of Milk was filmed on Castro Street and other locations in San Francisco, including Milks former storefront, Milk begins on Harvey Milks 40th birthday, when he was living in New York City and had not yet settled in San Francisco. The films release was tied to the 2008 California voter referendum on gay marriage, Proposition 8, Milk is seen recording his will throughout the film, nine days before the assassinations. The film then back to New York City in 1970. Dissatisfied with his life and in need of a change, Milk and they open Castro Camera in the heart of Eureka Valley, a working-class neighborhood in the process of evolving into a predominantly gay neighborhood known as The Castro. Early on, Smith serves as Milks campaign manager, but he grows frustrated with Milks devotion to politics, Milk later meets Jack Lira, a sweet-natured but unbalanced young man. As with Smith, Lira cannot tolerate Milks devotion to political activism, Milk clashes with the local gay establishment which he feels to be too cautious and risk-averse. His victory makes him the first openly gay man to be voted into major office in California. Milk subsequently meets fellow Supervisor Dan White, a Vietnam veteran, White, who is politically and socially conservative, has a difficult relationship with Milk, and develops a growing resentment for Milk when he opposes projects that White proposes. Milk and White forge a working relationship. When Milk fails to support White because of the effect it will have on troubled youth, White feels betrayed. Milk also launches an effort to defeat Proposition 6, an initiative on the California state ballot in November 1978, sponsored by John Briggs, a conservative state legislator from Orange County, Proposition 6 seeks to ban gays and lesbians from working in Californias public schools. On November 7,1978, after working tirelessly against Proposition 6, Milk, a desperate White favors a supervisor pay raise, but does not get much support, and shortly after supporting the proposition, resigns from the Board. He later changes his mind and asks to be reinstated, Mayor Moscone denies his request, after being lobbied by Milk. On the morning of November 27,1978, White enters City Hall through a basement window to conceal a gun from metal detectors and he requests another meeting with Moscone, who rebuffs his request for appointment to his former seat. Enraged, White shoots Moscone in his office and then goes to meet Milk, the film suggests that Milk believed that White might be a closeted gay man
25.
Departures (2008 film)
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Departures is a 2008 Japanese drama film directed by Yōjirō Takita and starring Masahiro Motoki, Ryōko Hirosue, and Tsutomu Yamazaki. He is subjected to prejudice from those around him, including from his wife, eventually he earns their respect and learns the importance of interpersonal connections through the beauty and dignity of his work. The idea for Departures arose after Motoki, affected by having seen a funeral ceremony along the Ganges when travelling in India, read widely on the subject of death and he felt that the story would adapt well to film, and Departures was finished a decade later. Because of Japanese prejudices against those who handle the dead, distributors were reluctant to release it—until a surprise grand prize win at the Montreal World Film Festival in August 2008. The following month the film opened in Japan, where it went on to win the Academy Prize for Picture of the Year and this success was topped in 2009, when it became the first Japanese production to win the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Departures received mixed to positive reviews, with aggregator Rotten Tomatoes indicating an 81% approval rating from 103 reviews, critics praised the films humour, the beauty of the encoffining ceremony, and the quality of the acting, but took issue with its predictability and overt sentimentality. Reviewers highlighted a variety of themes, but focused mainly on the humanity which death brings to the surface, Daigo Kobayashi loses his job as a cellist when his orchestra is disbanded. He and his wife Mika move from Tokyo to his hometown in Yamagata and it is fronted by a coffee shop that Daigos father had operated before he ran off with a waitress when Daigo was six, since then the two have had no contact. Daigo feels hatred towards his father and guilt for not taking care of his mother. He still keeps a letter-stone—a stone which is said to convey meaning through its texture—which his father had given him years before. Daigo finds an advertisement for a job assisting departures, though reluctant, Daigo is hired on the spot and receives a cash advance from his new boss, Sasaki. Daigo is furtive about his duties and hides the true nature of the job from Mika and his first assignment is to assist with the encoffinment of a woman who died at home and remained undiscovered for two weeks. He is beset with nausea and later humiliated when strangers on a bus detect a scent on him. To clean himself, he visits a public bath which he had frequented as a child and it is owned by Tsuyako Yamashita, the mother of one of Daigos former classmates. Over time, Daigo becomes comfortable with his profession as he completes a number of assignments and experiences the gratitude of the families of the deceased. Though he faces social ostracism, Daigo refuses to quit, even after Mika discovers a training DVD in which he plays a corpse, Daigos former classmate Yamashita insists that the mortician find a more respectable line of work and, until then, avoids him and his family. After a few months, Mika returns and announces that she is pregnant and she expresses hope that Daigo will find a job of which their child can be proud. During the ensuing argument, Daigo receives a call for an encoffinment for Mrs Yamashita, Daigo prepares her body in front of both the Yamashita family and Mika, who had known the public bath owner
26.
The Duchess (film)
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The Duchess is a 2008 British drama film directed by Saul Dibb. It is based on Amanda Foremans biography of the 18th-century English aristocrat Georgiana Cavendish and it was released in September 2008 in the UK. Set in the late 18th century, the story follows the life of Georgiana Cavendish, well known for her beauty and fashion sense, she is also remembered for her extravagance and gambling habits. In befriending Lady Bess Foster, Georgiana is crushed when Bess, despite Georgianas anger, the Duke wants Bess to remain living with them. Bess later explains to Georgiana that the reason she began the affair with the Duke was so that she could get her children back, the Duke wants a male heir, which the Duchess has not yet provided. The idea is that Bess can, since she already has three sons, of whom the Duke is very fond, treating them as if they were his own, in response to the betrayal she experiences at home, Georgiana allows herself to develop feelings for Charles Grey. However, when she asks the Duke permission to have him as a lover, the rape leads to a pregnancy and a son, William Cavendish, is born. After producing an heir, Georgiana begins a love affair with Charles Grey. The Duke threatens not only to end Charles political career but also to forbid Georgiana from seeing her again if she does not end the relationship. For the sake of her children, Georgiana reluctantly stops seeing Charles and she is then sent to the countryside where she secretly gives birth to their daughter, Eliza Courtney. However, she is forced to give the child over to Charles family, for most of her married life, Georgiana, the Duke, and Bess live together. However, after the birth of Eliza, Lady Georgiana no longer seems to be bothered by the arrangement, towards the end of her life, the Duchess gives her blessing to the marriage of her husband and her best friend, who marry after Georgianas death. At the end of the film, we are told that Georgiana frequently visited her daughter Eliza, Eliza named her own daughter Georgiana. In fact, her children did grow up with a mother, Charles also became Prime Minister, leading the country in a way that Georgiana would have approved. Regarding lead actress Keira Knightley, director Saul Dibb said The Duchess was a chance to take a character from late childhood – shes married at 17 – into full adulthood,10 years later, but I didnt for one second feel that she wasnt up to the task. Originally the film was to be directed by Susanne Bier, studio executives wanted to use digitally altered images of Keira Knightley in promotional materials. The alterations were specifically aimed at enlarging her breasts, Knightley objected to the alterations, and they were not used. The marketing campaign drew criticism for its use of Diana, Princess of Wales
27.
The Reader (2008 film)
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The Reader is a 2008 German-American romantic drama film directed by Stephen Daldry and written by David Hare, based on the 1995 German novel of the same name by Bernhard Schlink. Ralph Fiennes and Kate Winslet star along with the young actor David Kross and it was the last film for producers Anthony Minghella and Sydney Pollack, both of whom had died prior to release. Production began in Germany in September 2007, and the film opened in limited release on December 10,2008. Michael realizes that Hanna is keeping a secret she believes is worse than her Nazi past – a secret which, if revealed. Winslet and Kross, who plays the young Michael, received acclaim for their performances, Winslet won a number of awards for her role, the film itself was nominated for several other major awards, including the Academy Award for Best Picture. Michael Berg watches an U-Bahn pass by—then flashing back to a tram in 1958 Neustadt, a 15-year-old Michael gets off because he feels sick and wanders the streets, pausing in the entryway of a nearby apartment building where he vomits. Hanna Schmitz, a conductor, comes in and helps him return home. Michael, diagnosed with scarlet fever, rests at home for the three months. After he recovers, he visits Hanna with flowers to thank her, the 36-year-old Hanna seduces him and they begin an affair. They spend much of their time together having sex in her apartment after she has had Michael read to her literary works he is studying. After a bicycling trip, Hanna learns she is being promoted to a job at the tram company. She abruptly moves without telling Michael, in 1966 Michael is at Heidelberg University law school. Michael is stunned that Hanna is one of the defendants, in the trial the key evidence is the testimony of Ilana Mather, author of a memoir of how she and her mother, who also testifies, survived. She describes how Hanna had women from the read to her in the evenings. Hanna, unlike her co-defendants, admits that Auschwitz was an extermination camp and she denies authorship of a report on the church fire, despite pressure from the other defendants, but then admits it rather than complying with a demand to provide a handwriting sample. Michael realizes Hannas secret, she is illiterate and has concealed it her whole life, the other guards who claim she wrote the report are lying to place responsibility on Hanna. Michael informs the professor that he has information favourable to one of the defendants but is not sure what to do since the defendant herself chose not to disclose the information, Michael arranges a visit with Hanna in prison, but once there he leaves without seeing her. Hanna receives a sentence for her admitted leadership role in the church deaths while the other defendants are sentenced to four years
28.
Smile Pinki
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Smile Pinki is a 39-minute documentary directed by Megan Mylan. The film shows the story of a girl in rural India whose life is transformed when she receives free surgery to correct her cleft lip. The documentary was made in Hindi and Bhojpuri, and won the 81st Academy Award for Best Documentary, Pinki Sonkar is a five-year-old girl who is living with a severe cleft lip in one of the poorest areas of India. Not allowed to attend school at her native Rampur Dahaba village in Mirzapur, near Varanasi, the successful surgery was performed at G. S. Memorial Hospital, by plastic surgeon Dr. Subodh Kumar Singh, who along with Pinki attended the 81st Academy Award ceremony. She was invited to toss up the coin in Wimbledon Final,2013 in London, Smile Pinki at the Internet Movie Database Smile Train Website
29.
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
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Vicky Cristina Barcelona is a 2008 romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Woody Allen. The film was shot in Spain in Barcelona, Avilés and Oviedo, Cruz won both the Academy Award and BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Altogether, the film won 25 out of 56 nominations, Vicky and Cristina visit Barcelona for the summer, staying with Vickys distant relative Judy and her husband Mark. At an art exhibition, Cristina is intrigued by artist Juan Antonio, Cristina is won over by the offer almost at once, but Vicky is unimpressed and reluctant, she however eventually decides to accompany her friend anyway, mainly to watch over her. At the end of their first day, Vicky refuses to join Juan Antonio in his room, citing her fidelity to Doug. Before the love-making starts, Cristina suddenly falls ill with digestive complaints, Vicky and Juan Antonio proceed to spend the weekend together alone while they wait for Cristina to recuperate. Vicky gradually changes her opinion of Juan Antonio as he tells her about his tumultuous relationship with his former wife, Vicky accompanies him to visit his father, an old poet, and then becomes deeply moved by a Spanish guitar performance later that evening. She finally succumbs to Juan Antonios advances as they walk through a grove of trees in the dark, the next day, with Cristina recovered, the three of them fly back to Barcelona. Feeling guilty, Vicky does not mention the incident to Cristina, Vicky starts throwing herself into her studies while Cristina and Juan Antonio take up a relationship. Cristina then moves in with Juan Antonio and begins to more about his past. After learning that María Elena attempted to kill herself, Juan Antonio brings her to his home, after some defiance, the two women grow fond of each other. Cristina realizes that the ex-spouses are still in love, and María Elena suggests that Cristina may be the element that can give balance, all three become romantically involved with one another. In the meantime, Vicky is joined in Spain by an enthusiastic Doug, learning that Judy is similarly unhappy in her marriage, she confides to her, and Judy, who sees her younger self in Vicky, decides to bring Juan Antonio and Vicky together. Meanwhile, Cristina becomes restless and at some point decides to leave Juan Antonio and María Elena, without her, as the summer winds to a close, Judy arranges for Juan Antonio and Vicky to meet at a party. Juan Antonio begs Vicky to meet him again privately before leaving Spain, at his home, Juan Antonio seduces and wins Vicky over again, but they are interrupted by María Elena who bursts in with a gun, firing wildly as Juan Antonio tries to calm her. Vicky gets shot in the hand in the process, and leaves, shouting they are insane and she confesses the entire story to Cristina, who never realized how Vicky felt about Juan Antonio, and wishes she could have helped her. This was the third time Johansson and Allen worked together, following Match Point and this film also marked the second time Johansson and Hall worked together, the first time being in The Prestige. The movie featured several paintings by the Catalan artist Agustí Puig, as of July 2009, the film grossed $96 million worldwide, in relation to its $15 million budget, it is one of Allens most profitable films
30.
WALL-E
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WALL-E is a 2008 American computer-animated dystopian comic science fiction comedy film directed and co-written by Andrew Stanton, produced by Jim Morris, and co-written by Jim Reardon. It stars the voices of Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, Jeff Garlin, Fred Willard, John Ratzenberger, Kathy Najimy, Sigourney Weaver and it was produced by Pixar Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures, and was the overall ninth feature film produced by the company. After directing Finding Nemo, Stanton felt Pixar had created believable simulations of underwater physics and was willing to direct a film set largely in space. WALL-E has minimal dialogue in its early sequences, many of the characters do not have voices, the film criticizes consumerism, corporatism, nostalgia, waste management, human environmental impact and concerns, obesity, and global catastrophic risk. It is also Pixars first animated film with segments featuring live-action characters, following Pixar tradition, WALL-E was paired with a short film titled Presto for its theatrical release. WALL-E was released in the United States and Canada on June 27,2008 and it was an instant blockbuster, grossing $533. The film also topped Times Best Movies of the Decade, in 2805, Earth is abandoned and largely contaminated with garbage, with its people evacuated by megacorporation Buy-N-Large on giant starliners. One day, WALL-E discovers a healthy seedling, which he returns to his home, later, an unmanned spaceship lands and deploys an EVE probe to scan the planet. WALL-E is infatuated with EVE, who is hostile but gradually befriends him. When WALL-E brings EVE to his trailer and shows her the plant, however, she takes the plant. WALL-E, confused, unsuccessfully tries to reactivate her, the ship then returns to collect EVE, and with WALL-E clinging on, returns to its mothership, the starliner Axiom. EVE is taken to the bridge, with WALL-E tagging along, however, AUTO orders his robotic assistant GO-4 to steal the plant to prevent this from happening. With the plant missing, EVE is deemed faulty and taken to Diagnostics, WALL-E mistakes the procedure as torture, and in intervening accidentally frees a group of malfunctioning robots and causes both EVE and himself to be designated as rogue. WALL-E escapes, saving the plant, and he and EVE reconcile, EVE brings the plant back to McCrea, who watches EVEs recordings of Earth and concludes that they must return. However, AUTO refuses, revealing his own secret no-return directive A113 and he mutinies, electrocuting WALL-E and deactivating EVE and throwing them both down the garbage chute, then detaining the captain. Having arrived back on Earth, EVE repairs and reactivates WALL-E, heartbroken, EVE gives WALL-E a farewell kiss, which sparks his memory back to life. WALL-E and EVE reunite as the humans and robots of the Axiom begin to restore Earth, Ben Burtt as WALL-E, the title character. WALL-E, a robot who has developed sentience, is the robot of his kind shown to be still functioning on Earth
31.
Universal Time Coordinated
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Coordinated Universal Time, abbreviated to UTC, is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is within about 1 second of mean time at 0° longitude. It is one of closely related successors to Greenwich Mean Time. For most purposes, UTC is considered interchangeable with GMT, the first Coordinated Universal Time was informally adopted on 1 January 1960. This change also adopted leap seconds to simplify future adjustments, a number of proposals have been made to replace UTC with a new system that would eliminate leap seconds, but no consensus has yet been reached. Leap seconds are inserted as necessary to keep UTC within 0.9 seconds of universal time, see the Current number of leap seconds section for the number of leap seconds inserted to date. The official abbreviation for Coordinated Universal Time is UTC and this abbreviation arose from a desire by the International Telecommunication Union and the International Astronomical Union to use the same abbreviation in all languages. English speakers originally proposed CUT, while French speakers proposed TUC, the compromise that emerged was UTC, which conforms to the pattern for the abbreviations of the variants of Universal Time. Time zones around the world are expressed using positive or negative offsets from UTC, the westernmost time zone uses UTC−12, being twelve hours behind UTC, the easternmost time zone, theoretically, uses UTC+12, being twelve hours ahead of UTC. In 1995, the nation of Kiribati moved those of its atolls in the Line Islands from UTC-10 to UTC+14 so that the country would all be on the same day. UTC is used in internet and World Wide Web standards. The Network Time Protocol, designed to synchronise the clocks of computers over the internet, computer servers, online services and other entities that rely on having a universally accepted time use UTC as it is more specific than GMT. If only limited precision is needed, clients can obtain the current UTC from a number of official internet UTC servers, for sub-microsecond precision, clients can obtain the time from satellite signals. UTC is also the standard used in aviation, e. g. for flight plans. Weather forecasts and maps all use UTC to avoid confusion about time zones, the International Space Station also uses UTC as a time standard. Amateur radio operators often schedule their radio contacts in UTC, because transmissions on some frequencies can be picked up by many time zones, UTC is also used in digital tachographs used on large goods vehicles under EU and AETR rules. UTC divides time into days, hours, minutes and seconds, days are conventionally identified using the Gregorian calendar, but Julian day numbers can also be used. Each day contains 24 hours and each hour contains 60 minutes, the number of seconds in a minute is usually 60, but with an occasional leap second, it may be 61 or 59 instead
32.
Forest Whitaker
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Forest Steven Whitaker III is an American actor, producer, and director. According to DNA tests, his father was of Igbo descent, when Whitaker was four, his family moved to Carson, California. Whitaker has two brothers, Kenn Whitaker, an actor, and Damon, and an older sister. Whitakers first role as an actor was the lead in Dylan Thomas play Under Milk Wood, Whitaker attended California State Polytechnic University, Pomona on a football scholarship, but a back injury made him change his major to music. He toured England with the Cal Poly Chamber Singers in 1980, while still at Cal Poly, he briefly changed his major to drama. He was accepted to the Music Conservatory at the University of Southern California to study opera as a tenor and he graduated from USC in 1982. He also earned a scholarship to the Berkeley, California branch of the Drama Studio London, Whitaker was pursuing a degree in The Core of Conflict, Studies in Peace and Reconciliation at New York Universitys Gallatin School of Individualized Study in 2004. In 1986, he appeared in Martin Scorseses The Color of Money, the following year, he co-starred in the comedy Good Morning, Vietnam. In 1988, Whitaker appeared in the film Bloodsport and had his first lead role starring as musician Charlie Bird Parker in Clint Eastwoods Bird. To prepare himself for the part, he sequestered himself in a loft with only a bed, couch and his performance, which has been called transcendent, earned him the Best Actor award at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival and a Golden Globe nomination. Whitaker continued to work with a number of directors throughout the 1990s. He starred in the 1990 film Downtown and was cast in the role of Jody. Todd McCarthy of Variety described Whitakers performance as big-hearted, hugely emotional, in 1994, he was a member of the cast that won the first ever National Board of Review Award for Best Acting by an Ensemble for Robert Altmans film, Prêt-à-Porter. He gave an emotional performance in Wayne Wang and Paul Austers 1995 film. Whitaker played a serene, pigeon-raising, bushido-following, mob hit man in Ghost Dog, The Way of the Samurai, many consider this to have been a definitive role for Whitaker. In a manner similar to his preparation for Bird, he immersed himself in his characters world—he studied Eastern philosophy. Whitaker next appeared in what has called one of the worst films ever made. The film was criticized as a notorious commercial and critical disaster
33.
Sean Penn
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Sean Justin Penn is an American actor, filmmaker, and political activist. He has won two Academy Awards, for his roles in the mystery drama Mystic River and the biopic Milk, Penn began his acting career in television with a brief appearance in episode 112 of Little House on the Prairie, directed by his father Leo Penn. He became known as a prominent leading actor with the drama Dead Man Walking, for which he earned his first Academy Award nomination, Penn made his feature film directorial debut with The Indian Runner, followed by the drama film The Crossing Guard and the mystery film The Pledge. Penn directed one of the 11 segments of 110901 September 11 and his fourth feature film, the biographical drama survival movie Into the Wild, garnered critical acclaim and two Academy Award nominations. In January 2016, Penn published an interview with Mexican drug lord Joaquín El Chapo Guzmán in Rolling Stone, Penn was born in Los Angeles County, California, to actor and director Leo Penn, and actress Eileen Ryan. His older brother is musician Michael Penn and his younger brother, actor Chris Penn, died in 2006. His paternal grandparents were Ashkenazi Jewish emigrants from Lithuania and Russia, while his mother is a Catholic of Irish, Penn was raised in a secular home and attended Santa Monica High School. He began making films with some of his childhood friends, including actors Emilio Estevez and Charlie Sheen. Penn appeared in a 1974 episode of the Little House on the Prairie television series as an extra when his father, Leo, Penn launched his film career with the action-drama Taps, where he played a military high school cadet. A year later, he appeared in the hit comedy Fast Times at Ridgemont High, in the role of surfer-stoner Jeff Spicoli, next, Penn appeared as Mick OBrien, a troubled youth, in the drama Bad Boys. The role earned Penn favorable reviews and jump-started his career as a serious actor, Penn played Andrew Daulton Lee in the film The Falcon and the Snowman, which closely followed an actual criminal case. Lee was a drug dealer by trade, convicted of espionage for the Soviet Union and originally sentenced to life in prison. Penn starred in the drama At Close Range which received critical acclaim and he stopped acting for a few years in the early 1990s, having been dissatisfied with the industry, and focused on making his directing debut. The Academy Awards first recognized his work in nominating him for playing a racist murderer on death row in the drama film Dead Man Walking and he was nominated again for his comedic performance as an egotistical jazz guitarist in the film Sweet and Lowdown. He received his nomination after portraying a mentally handicapped father in I am Sam. Penn finally won for his role in the Boston crime-drama Mystic River, in 2004, Penn played Samuel Bicke, a character based on Samuel Byck, who in 1974 attempted and failed to assassinate President Richard Nixon, in The Assassination of Richard Nixon. The same year, he was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts, next, Penn portrayed governor Willie Stark in an adaptation of Robert Penn Warrens classic 1946 American novel All the Kings Men. The film was a critical and commercial failure, named by a 2010 Forbes article as the biggest flop in the last five years, the film also earned Penn his fifth nomination and second win for the Academy Award for Best Actor
34.
Heath Ledger
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Heathcliff Andrew Heath Ledger was an Australian actor and director. After performing roles in several Australian television and film productions during the 1990s and he also produced and directed music videos and aspired to be a film director. In the film, Ledger portrayed an actor named Robbie Clark, one of six characters embodying aspects of Dylans life. Ledger died on 22 January 2008 from an accidental intoxication from prescription drugs, a few months before his death, Ledger had finished filming his performance as the Joker in The Dark Knight. His death occurred during editing of The Dark Knight and in the midst of filming his last role as Tony in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus and his untimely death cast a shadow over the subsequent promotion of the $185 million Batman production. The Sir Frank Ledger Charitable Trust is named after his great-grandfather and he had English, Irish, and Scottish ancestry. Ledger attended Marys Mount Primary School in Gooseberry Hill, and later Guildford Grammar School and his parents separated when he was 10 and divorced when he was 11. After sitting for early graduation exams at age 17, Ledger left school to pursue an acting career, in 1999, he starred in the teen comedy 10 Things I Hate About You and in the acclaimed Australian crime film Two Hands, directed by Gregor Jordan. In 2001, he won a ShoWest Award as Male Star of Tomorrow, in The New York Times review of the film, critic Stephen Holden writes, Both Mr. Ledger and Mr. Gyllenhaal make this anguished love story physically palpable. Mr. Ledger magically and mysteriously disappears beneath the skin of his lean and it is a great screen performance, as good as the best of Marlon Brando and Sean Penn. In a review in Rolling Stone, Peter Travers states, Ledgers magnificent performance is an acting miracle and he seems to tear it from his insides. Ledger doesnt just know how Ennis moves, speaks and listens, to see him inhale the scent of a shirt hanging in Jacks closet is to take measure of the pain of love lost. Shortly after the release of Candy, Ledger was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts, posthumously, on 23 February 2008, he shared the 2007 Independent Spirit Robert Altman Award with the rest of the films ensemble cast, its director, and its casting director. In his penultimate film performance, Ledger played the Joker in Christopher Nolans 2008 film The Dark Knight, released nearly six months after his death. At the time of his death on 22 January 2008, Ledger had completed half of the work for his final film performance as Tony in Terry Gilliams The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. In 2006, Ledger directed music videos for the track on Australian hip hop artist Nfas CD debut solo album Cause An Effect. Later that year, Ledger inaugurated a new label, Masses Music, with singer Ben Harper. After Ledgers death, his video for Black Eyed Dog was shown on the Internet
35.
Peter Finch
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Frederick George Peter Ingle Finch was an English-born Australian actor. He was the first of two persons to win a posthumous Academy Award in a category, and coincidentally also the first of the two Australian actors to have done so, the other being Heath Ledger. Finch was born as Frederick George Peter Ingle Finch in London to Alicia Gladys Fisher, at the time, Alicia was married to George Finch. George Finch was born in New South Wales, Australia, but was educated in Paris and he was a research chemist when he moved to Britain in 1912 and later served during the First World War with the Royal Army Ordnance Depot and the Royal Field Artillery. In 1915, at Portsmouth, Hampshire, George married Alicia Fisher, however, George Finch was not Peter Finchs biological father. Alicia Finch married Jock Campbell in 1922, George gained custody of Peter and he was taken from his mother and brought up by his paternal grandmother Laura Finch in Vaucresson, France. In 1925 Laura took Peter with her to Adyar, a community near Madras, India, for a number of months. Undoubtedly as a result of his contact with Buddhism Finch always claimed to be a Buddhist. He is reported to have said, I think a man dying on a cross is a symbol for a religion. And I think a man sitting under a bo tree and becoming enlightened is a beautiful one, in 1926 he was sent to Australia to live with his great-uncle Edward Herbert Finch at Greenwich Point in Sydney. He attended the school until 1929, then North Sydney Intermediate High School for three years. A school friend was RAF pilot and author Paul Brickhill, after graduating, Finch went to work as a copy boy for the Sydney Sun and began writing. However he was interested in acting, and in late 1933 appeared in a play, Caprice. In 1934-35 he appeared in a number of productions for Doris Fitton at the Savoy Theatre and he also worked as a sideshow spruiker at the Sydney Royal Easter Show, in vaudeville with Joe Cody and as a foil to American comedian Bert le Blanc. At age 19 Finch toured Australia with George Sorlies travelling troupe and he did radio acting work with Hugh Denisons BSA Players. He came to the attention of Australian Broadcasting Commission radio drama producer Lawrence H. Cecil and he was Chris in the Childrens Session and the first Muddle-Headed Wombat. He later starred with Neva Carr Glyn in a popular series by Max Afford as husband-and-wife detectives Jeffery. Finchs first screen performance was in the film, The Magic Shoes, an adaptation of the Cinderella fairy tale
36.
Network (1976 film)
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Network is a 1976 American satirical film written by Paddy Chayefsky and directed by Sidney Lumet, about a fictional television network, UBS, and its struggle with poor ratings. The film stars Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Peter Finch, and Robert Duvall and features Wesley Addy, Ned Beatty, the film won four Academy Awards, in the categories of Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Original Screenplay. In 2000, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant. In 2002, it was inducted into the Producers Guild of America Hall of Fame as a film that has set a standard for U. S. In 2005, the two Writers Guilds of America voted Chayefskys script one of the 10 greatest screenplays in the history of cinema. In 2007, the film was 64th among the 100 greatest American films as chosen by the American Film Institute, the two get drunk and lament the state of their industry. The following night, Beale announces on television that he will commit suicide on next Tuesdays broadcast. UBS fires him after this incident, but Schumacher intervenes so that Beale can have a dignified farewell, Beale promises he will apologize for his outburst, but once on the air, he launches back into a rant claiming that life is bullshit. Beales outburst causes the newscasts ratings to spike, and much to Schumachers dismay, in one impassioned diatribe, Beale galvanizes the nation, persuading his viewers to shout out of their windows Im as mad as hell, and Im not going to take this anymore. When Beales ratings seem to have topped out, Christensen approaches Schumacher and he says no to the professional offer, but not to the personal one, and the two begin an affair. When Schumacher decides to end Beale as the angry man format, Christensen convinces her boss, Frank Hackett, Hackett agrees, bullying the UBS executives to consent and fire Schumacher. Soon afterward, Beale is hosting a new program called The Howard Beale Show and you are television incarnate, Diana, he tells her, indifferent to suffering, insensitive to joy. All of life is reduced to the rubble of banality. This throws the top brass into a state of panic because the companys debt load has made the merger essential for its survival. Jensen persuades Beale to abandon the populist messages and preach his new evangel, however, television audiences find his new sermons on the dehumanization of society depressing, and ratings begin to slide, yet Jensen will not allow UBS executives to fire Beale. The assassination succeeds, putting an end to The Howard Beale Show, cast notes Kathy Cronkite appears as kidnapped heiress Mary Ann Gifford. Lance Henriksen has an uncredited role as a network lawyer at the meetings in Diana Christensens Los Angeles office. Ken Kercheval makes an appearance as a lawyer in the negotiation scene, part of the inspiration for Chayefskys script allegedly came from the on-air suicide of television news reporter Christine Chubbuck in Sarasota, Florida two years earlier
37.
Beauty and the Beast (1991 film)
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Beauty and the Beast is a 1991 American animated musical romantic fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. To become a prince again, Beast must win her love in return, otherwise, he will remain a monster forever. The film also features the voices of Richard White, Jerry Orbach, David Ogden Stiers, Walt Disney first attempted unsuccessfully to adapt Beauty and the Beast into an animated film during the 1930s and 1950s. Following the success of The Little Mermaid, Walt Disney Pictures decided to adapt the fairy tale, Disney chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg eventually dismissed Purdums idea and ordered that the film be a musical similar to The Little Mermaid instead. The film was directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, with a screenplay by Linda Woolverton story first credited to Roger Allers, lyricist Howard Ashman and composer Alan Menken wrote the films songs. Ashman, who served as the films executive producer, died of AIDS-related complications eight months before the films release. The film was a box office success, grossing $425 million worldwide and it won the Academy Award for Best Original Score and Best Original Song for its title song. In April 1994, Beauty and the Beast became Disneys first animated film to be adapted into a Broadway musical, the success of the film spawned two direct-to-video follow-ups, Beauty and the Beast, The Enchanted Christmas and Belles Magical World. This was followed by a television series, Sing Me a Story with Belle. An IMAX version was released in 2002 that included Human Again, after the success of the 3D re-release of The Lion King, the film was reissued in 3D in 2012. In 2002, the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being culturally, historically, a live-action remake of the film was released on March 17,2017. Somewhere in France, an enchantress, disguised as an old beggar, offers an enchanted rose to a prince in exchange for shelter in his castle from the bitter cold. For his callousness, the enchantress transforms him into a beast to match his character and she gives him a magic mirror that enables him to view faraway events, along with the rose. To break the spell, the prince must learn to love another, if he fails, he will remain a beast forever. Ten years later, a woman, Belle, is bored of her village life. Because of her nonconformist ideals, she is ridiculed by everyone except her father Maurice, the bookseller. Despite being popular with the townsfolk, Gaston is determined to marry Belle, Maurice and his horse Phillipe get lost in the forest while traveling to a fair to present his newest invention, a wood-chopping machine. When Phillipe abandons Maurice, he comes across the Beasts castle, inside, he meets Lumière the candlestick, Cogsworth the clock, Mrs. Potts the teapot, and her son Chip the teacup
38.
Kate Winslet
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Kate Elizabeth Winslet, CBE, is an English actress and singer. Winslet is the recipient of an Academy Award, an AACTA Award, three BAFTA Awards, a BIFA Award, four Golden Globe Awards, a Grammy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and three Screen Actors Guild Awards. She is the youngest person to receive six Academy Award nominations, with seven nominations in total, in addition, she has won awards from the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts and European Film Academy, among others, and the Honorary César Award in 2012. Brought up in Berkshire, Winslet studied drama from childhood and began her career in British television in 1991 and she made her film debut in Heavenly Creatures, for which she received praise. She garnered recognition for her role in Sense and Sensibility before achieving global stardom with the epic romance Titanic. Winslets performances in Iris, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Finding Neverland, Little Children, Revolutionary Road, The Dressmaker, in 2008, film critic David Edelstein described her as the best English-speaking film actress of her generation. Winslets greatest commercial successes since Titanic include the romantic comedy The Holiday, the animated film Flushed Away, in addition to acting, Winslet has narrated documentaries and childrens books. She was awarded the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children in 2000 for narrating Listen to the Storyteller and she has also provided her vocals to soundtracks of her films, including the single What If from Christmas Carol, The Movie. Divorced from two directors, Jim Threapleton and Sam Mendes, Winslet is currently married to businessman Ned Rocknroll. Kate Elizabeth Winslet was born in Reading, Berkshire, England to Sally Anne, a barmaid, and Roger John Winslet and she has two sisters, Beth and Anna, and one brother, Joss Winslet. Winslet began studying drama at the age of 11 at the Redroofs Theatre School, a independent school in Maidenhead, Berkshire. At the age of 12, Winslet appeared in an advertisement directed by filmmaker Tim Pope for Sugar Puffs cereal. Pope said her naturalism was there from the start, Winslet made her television debut with a co-starring role in the BBC childrens science fiction serial Dark Season. This role was followed by appearances in the made-for-TV film Anglo-Saxon Attitudes in 1992, the sitcom Get Back, in 1992, Winslet attended a casting call for Peter Jacksons Heavenly Creatures in London. Winslet auditioned for the role of Juliet Hulme, a teenager who assists in the murder of the mother of her best friend, Pauline Parker. The film included Winslets singing debut, and her a version of Sono Andati. The film was released to reviews in 1994 and won Jackson. Winslet was awarded the Empire Award and London Film Critics Circle Award for British Actress of the Year for her performance, the Washington Post writer Desson Thomson commented, As Juliet, Winslet is a bright-eyed ball of fire, lighting up every scene she’s in
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