1.
Ralph Bellamy
–
Ralph Rexford Bellamy was an American actor whose career spanned 62 years on stage, screen and television. During his career, he played leading roles as well as supporting roles, garnering acclaim and awards, ralph Rexford Bellamy was born in Chicago, Illinois. He was the son of Lilla Louise, a native of Canada and he ran away from home when he was 15 and managed to get into a road show. He toured with road shows before landing in New York City. He began acting on stage there and by 1927 owned his own theater company, in 1931, he made his film debut and worked constantly throughout the decade both as a lead and as a capable supporting actor. He co-starred in five films with Fay Wray and his film career began with The Secret Six starring Wallace Beery and featuring Jean Harlow and Clark Gable. By the end of 1933, he had appeared in 22 movies, most notably Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. He played in seven films in 1934 alone, including Woman in the Dark, based on a Dashiell Hammett story, in which Bellamy played the lead. He portrayed detective Ellery Queen in a few films during the 1940s, but as his career did not progress, he returned to the stage. Bellamy appeared in movies during this time, including Dance, Girl, Dance with Maureen OHara and Lucille Ball. The lead role was taken by Frank Lovejoy in 1956, who starred in NBCs Meet McGraw detective series. Bellamy appeared on television in numerous roles over the following years and he was a regular panelist on the CBS television game show To Tell the Truth during its initial run. Bellamy starred as Willard Mitchell, along with Patricia Breslin and Paul Fix, about this same time, he also appeared on the NBC anthology series, The Barbara Stanwyck Show. In December 1961, he portrayed the part of Judge Quince in the episode Judgement at Hondo Seco on CBSs Rawhide, during the 1963–1964 television season, Bellamy co-starred with Jack Ging in the NBC medical drama The Eleventh Hour, in the role of a psychiatrist in private practice. Wendell Corey had appeared in the first season of the series, Bellamy appeared on Broadway in one of his most famous roles, as Franklin Delano Roosevelt in Sunrise at Campobello. He later starred in the 1960 film version, in the summer of 1961, Bellamy hosted nine original episodes of a CBS Western anthology series called Frontier Justice, a Dick Powell Four Star Television production. In 1950 Bellamy became a member of The Lambs, a club located in New York. Highly regarded within the industry, Bellamy served as a four-term President of Actors Equity from 1952–1964, among many roles in numerous shows, sometimes as a series regular, Bellamy portrayed Adlai Stevenson in the 1974 TV-movie The Missiles of October, a treatment of the Cuban Missile Crisis
2.
Carrie Fisher
–
Carrie Frances Fisher was an American actress, writer and humorist who first became known for playing Princess Leia in the Star Wars film series. Her other film roles included Shampoo, The Blues Brothers, Hannah and Her Sisters, The Burbs and she worked on other writers screenplays as a script doctor. In later years, she earned praise for speaking publicly about her experiences with bipolar disorder and it premiered at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. Fisher died of cardiac arrest on December 27,2016, at age 60 and her final film, Star Wars, The Last Jedi, is scheduled to be released on December 15,2017. Carrie Frances Fisher was born on October 21,1956, in Burbank, California, to actors and singers Eddie Fisher, Fishers paternal grandparents were Jewish Russian immigrants, while her mother, who was raised a Nazarene, was of Scots-Irish and English descent. Fisher was two years old when her parents divorced in 1959 and her fathers third marriage, to actress Connie Stevens, resulted in the births of Fishers two half-sisters, Joely Fisher and Tricia Leigh Fisher. In 1960, her mother married Harry Karl, owner of a chain of shoe stores, Reynolds and Karl divorced in 1973, when Fisher was 17 years old. Fisher hid in books as a child, becoming known in her family as the bookworm and she spent her earliest years reading classic literature, and writing poetry. She attended Beverly Hills High School until age 15, when she appeared as a debutante and singer in the hit Broadway revival Irene and her time on Broadway interfered with her education, resulting in Fishers dropping out of high school. In 1973, Fisher enrolled at Londons Central School of Speech and Drama, following her time there, Fisher applied to and was accepted at Sarah Lawrence College, where she planned to study the arts. In 1977, Fisher starred as Princess Leia in George Lucas science-fiction film Star Wars opposite Mark Hamill, at the time, she believed the script for Star Wars was fantastic, but did not expect many people to agree with her. Though her fellow actors were not close at the time, they bonded after the success of the film. In April 1978, Fisher appeared as the love interest in Ringo Starrs 1978 TV special Ringo, the next month, she starred alongside John Ritter in the ABC-TV film Leave Yesterday Behind. At this time, Fisher appeared with Laurence Olivier and Joanne Woodward in the anthology series Laurence Olivier Presents in a version of the William Inge play Come Back. That November, she played Princess Leia in the 1978 TV production Star Wars Holiday Special, Fisher appeared in the film The Blues Brothers as Jakes vengeful ex-lover, she is listed in the credits as Mystery Woman. While in Chicago filming the movie, Fisher choked on a Brussels sprout, Dan Aykroyd performed the Heimlich maneuver and she appeared on Broadway in Censored Scenes from King Kong in 1980. She also starred as Sister Agnes in the Broadway production of Agnes of God in 1982. In 1983, Fisher returned to the role of Princess Leia in Return of the Jedi, the costume later achieved a following of its own
3.
Steve Allen
–
Stephen Valentine Patrick William Steve Allen was an American television personality, musician, composer, actor, comedian, writer and advocate of scientific skepticism. He achieved notability as the first host of The Tonight Show, though he got his start in radio, Allen is best known for his television career. He first gained attention as a guest host on Arthur Godfreys Talent Scouts. After he hosted the The Tonight Show, he went on to host numerous game and variety shows, including his own The Steve Allen Show, Ive Got a Secret and he was a regular panel member on CBS Whats My Line. From 1977 until 1981, he wrote, produced and hosted the award-winning show Meeting of Minds, Allen was a creditable pianist and a prolific composer, having written over 8,500 songs, some of which were recorded by numerous leading singers. Allen won the 1964 Grammy Award for Best Original Jazz Composition, Allen wrote more than 50 books, including novels, childrens books, and books of opinions, including his final book, Vulgarians at the Gate, Trash TV and Raunch Radio. In 1996 Allen was presented with the Martin Gardner Lifetime Achievement Award from the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and he has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and a Hollywood theater named in his honor. Allen was born in New York City, the son of Billy and Isabelle Allen, Allen was raised on the South Side of Chicago by his mothers Irish Catholic family. Milton Berle once called Allens mother the funniest woman in vaudeville, Allens first radio job was on station KOY in Phoenix, Arizona, after he left Arizona State Teachers College in Tempe, while still a sophomore. He enlisted in the U. S. Army during World War II and was trained as an infantryman and he spent his service time at Camp Roberts, California, and did not serve overseas. Allen returned to Phoenix before deciding to back to California. During a shows segment, Allen went into the audience with the microphone to ad lib on-air for the first time and his radio show attracted a huge local following, and in 1950 it replaced Our Miss Brooks, exposing Allen to a national audience for the first time. Allens first television experience had come in 1949 when he answered an ad for a TV announcer for professional wrestling and he knew nothing about wrestling, so he watched some shows and discovered that the announcers did not have well-defined names for the holds. When he got the job, he created names for many of the holds, now the boys go into a double pretzel bend with variations on a theme by Velox and Yolanda. After CBS radio gave Allen a weekly prime time show, CBS television believed it could groom him for national small-screen stardom, the Steve Allen Show premiered at 11 am on Christmas Day,1950, and was later moved into a thirty-minute, early evening slot. This new show required him to uproot his family and move from LA to New York, the show was canceled in 1952, after which CBS tried several shows to showcase Allens talent. Allen achieved national attention when he was pressed into service at the last minute to host Arthur Godfreys Talent Scouts because Godfrey was unable to appear. Allen turned one of Godfreys live Lipton commercials upside down, preparing tea and instant soup on camera, with the audience uproariously and thoroughly entertained, Allen gained major recognition as a comedian and host
4.
B.B. King
–
Riley Benjamin King, known professionally as B. B. King, was an American blues singer, electric guitarist, songwriter, and record producer. King introduced a style of soloing based on fluid string bending and shimmering vibrato that influenced many later electric blues guitarists. King was known for performing throughout his musical career, appearing at more than 200 concerts per year on average into his 70s. In 1956, he appeared at 342 shows. King was born on a plantation in Berclair, Mississippi. He was attracted to music and the guitar in church, and began his career in juke joints. He later lived in Memphis, Tennessee, and Chicago, King died at the age of 89 in Las Vegas, Nevada, on May 14,2015, from congestive heart failure and diabetic complications. Riley Benjamin King was born on September 16,1925, on a plantation called Berclair, near the town of Itta Bena, Mississippi. He considered the city of Indianola, Mississippi to be his home. When Riley was four years old, his mother left his father for another man, so the boy was raised by his grandmother, Elnora Farr, in Kilmichael. While young, King sang in the choir at Elkhorn Baptist Church in Kilmichael. King was attracted to the Pentecostal Church of God in Christ because of its music, the local minister led worship with a Sears Roebuck Silvertone guitar. The minister taught King his first three chords and it seems that at the age of 12 he purchased his first guitar for $15.00, although another source indicates he was given his first guitar by Bukka White, his mothers first cousin. In November 1941 King Biscuit Time first aired, broadcasting on KFFA in Helena and it was a radio show featuring the Mississippi Delta blues. King listened to it while on break at a plantation, a self-taught guitarist, he then wanted to become a radio musician. In 1946, King followed Bukka White to Memphis, Tennessee, White took him in for the next ten months. However, King returned to Mississippi shortly afterward, where he decided to prepare himself better for the next visit and he performed on Sonny Boy Williamsons radio program on KWEM in West Memphis, where he began to develop an audience. Kings appearances led to engagements at the Sixteenth Avenue Grill in West Memphis
5.
Universal Pictures
–
Universal Pictures is an American film studio owned by Comcast through the Universal Filmed Entertainment Group division of its wholly owned subsidiary NBCUniversal. The company was founded in 1912 by Carl Laemmle, Mark Dintenfass, Charles O. Baumann, Adam Kessel, Pat Powers, William Swanson, David Horsley and its studios are located in Universal City, California, and its corporate offices are located in New York City. Universal Pictures is a member of the Motion Picture Association of America and is one of Hollywoods Big Six studios. Universal Studios was founded by Carl Laemmle, Mark Dintenfass, Charles O. Baumann, Adam Kessel, Pat Powers, William Swanson, David Horsley, Robert H. Cochrane, one story has Laemmle watching a box office for hours, counting patrons and calculating the days takings. Within weeks of his Chicago trip, Laemmle gave up dry goods to buy the first several nickelodeons, for Laemmle and other such entrepreneurs, the creation in 1908 of the Edison-backed Motion Picture Trust meant that exhibitors were expected to pay fees for Trust-produced films they showed. Soon, Laemmle and other disgruntled nickelodeon owners decided to avoid paying Edison by producing their own pictures, in June 1909, Laemmle started the Yankee Film Company with partners Abe Stern and Julius Stern. Laemmle broke with Edisons custom of refusing to give billing and screen credits to performers, by naming the movie stars, he attracted many of the leading players of the time, contributing to the creation of the star system. In 1910, he promoted Florence Lawrence, formerly known as The Biograph Girl, the Universal Film Manufacturing Company was incorporated in New York on April 30,1912. Laemmle, who emerged as president in July 1912, was the figure in the partnership with Dintenfass, Baumann, Kessel, Powers, Swanson, Horsley. Eventually all would be out by Laemmle. Following the westward trend of the industry, by the end of 1912 the company was focusing its efforts in the Hollywood area. On March 15,1915, Laemmle opened the worlds largest motion picture production facility, Universal City Studios, studio management became the third facet of Universals operations, with the studio incorporated as a distinct subsidiary organization. Unlike other movie moguls, Laemmle opened his studio to tourists, Universal became the largest studio in Hollywood, and remained so for a decade. However, it sought an audience mostly in towns, producing mostly inexpensive melodramas, westerns. In its early years Universal released three brands of feature films — Red Feather, low-budget programmers, Bluebird, more ambitious productions, and Jewel, their prestige motion pictures. Directors included Jack Conway, John Ford, Rex Ingram, Robert Z. Leonard, George Marshall and Lois Weber, despite Laemmles role as an innovator, he was an extremely cautious studio chief. Unlike rivals Adolph Zukor, William Fox, and Marcus Loew and he also financed all of his own films, refusing to take on debt. Character actor Lon Chaney became a card for Universal in the 1920s
6.
United States
–
Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
7.
Comedy
–
In a modern sense, comedy refers to any discourse or work generally intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, television, film, and stand-up comedy. The origins of the term are found in Ancient Greece, in the Athenian democracy, the public opinion of voters was influenced by the political satire performed by the comic poets at the theaters. The theatrical genre of Greek comedy can be described as a performance which pits two groups or societies against each other in an amusing agon or conflict. Northrop Frye depicted these two opposing sides as a Society of Youth and a Society of the Old, a revised view characterizes the essential agon of comedy as a struggle between a relatively powerless youth and the societal conventions that pose obstacles to his hopes. Satire and political satire use comedy to portray persons or social institutions as ridiculous or corrupt, parody subverts popular genres and forms, critiquing those forms without necessarily condemning them. Similarly scatological humour, sexual humour, and race humour create comedy by violating social conventions or taboos in comic ways, a comedy of manners typically takes as its subject a particular part of society and uses humor to parody or satirize the behaviour and mannerisms of its members. Romantic comedy is a genre that depicts burgeoning romance in humorous terms. The adjective comic, which means that which relates to comedy is, in modern usage. Of this, the word came into usage through the Latin comoedia and Italian commedia and has, over time. The Greeks and Romans confined their use of the comedy to descriptions of stage-plays with happy endings. Aristotle defined comedy as an imitation of men worse than the average, however, the characters portrayed in comedies were not worse than average in every way, only insofar as they are Ridiculous, which is a species of the Ugly. The Ridiculous may be defined as a mistake or deformity not productive of pain or harm to others, the mask, for instance, in the Middle Ages, the term expanded to include narrative poems with happy endings. It is in this sense that Dante used the term in the title of his poem, as time progressed, the word came more and more to be associated with any sort of performance intended to cause laughter. During the Middle Ages, the comedy became synonymous with satire. They disassociated comedy from Greek dramatic representation and instead identified it with Arabic poetic themes and forms and they viewed comedy as simply the art of reprehension, and made no reference to light and cheerful events, or to the troubling beginnings and happy endings associated with classical Greek comedy. After the Latin translations of the 12th century, the term gained a more general meaning in medieval literature. Starting from 425 BCE, Aristophanes, a playwright and satirical author of the Ancient Greek Theater wrote 40 comedies,11 of which survive. Aristophanes developed his type of comedy from the satyr plays
8.
Film
–
A film, also called a movie, motion picture, theatrical film or photoplay, is a series of still images which, when shown on a screen, creates the illusion of moving images due to the phi phenomenon. This optical illusion causes the audience to perceive continuous motion between separate objects viewed rapidly in succession, the process of filmmaking is both an art and an industry. The word cinema, short for cinematography, is used to refer to the industry of films. Films were originally recorded onto plastic film through a photochemical process, the adoption of CGI-based special effects led to the use of digital intermediates. Most contemporary films are now fully digital through the process of production, distribution. Films recorded in a form traditionally included an analogous optical soundtrack. It runs along a portion of the film exclusively reserved for it and is not projected, Films are cultural artifacts created by specific cultures. They reflect those cultures, and, in turn, affect them, Film is considered to be an important art form, a source of popular entertainment, and a powerful medium for educating—or indoctrinating—citizens. The visual basis of film gives it a power of communication. Some films have become popular worldwide attractions by using dubbing or subtitles to translate the dialog into the language of the viewer, some have criticized the film industrys glorification of violence and its potentially negative treatment of women. The individual images that make up a film are called frames, the perception of motion is due to a psychological effect called phi phenomenon. The name film originates from the fact that film has historically been the medium for recording and displaying motion pictures. Many other terms exist for a motion picture, including picture, picture show, moving picture, photoplay. The most common term in the United States is movie, while in Europe film is preferred. Terms for the field, in general, include the big screen, the screen, the movies, and cinema. In early years, the sheet was sometimes used instead of screen. Preceding film in origin by thousands of years, early plays and dances had elements common to film, scripts, sets, costumes, production, direction, actors, audiences, storyboards, much terminology later used in film theory and criticism apply, such as mise en scène. Owing to the lack of any technology for doing so, the moving images, the magic lantern, probably created by Christiaan Huygens in the 1650s, could be used to project animation, which was achieved by various types of mechanical slides
9.
Parody
–
A parody is a work created to imitate, make fun of, or comment on an original work—its subject, author, style, or some other target—by means of satiric or ironic imitation. As the literary theorist Linda Hutcheon puts it, parody … is imitation, another critic, Simon Dentith, defines parody as any cultural practice which provides a relatively polemical allusive imitation of another cultural production or practice. Parody may be found in art or culture, including literature, music, animation, gaming, the writer and critic John Gross observes in his Oxford Book of Parodies, that parody seems to flourish on territory somewhere between pastiche and burlesque. According to Aristotle, Hegemon of Thasos was the inventor of a kind of parody, in ancient Greek literature, a parodia was a narrative poem imitating the style and prosody of epics but treating light, satirical or mock-heroic subjects. Indeed, the components of the Greek word are παρά para beside, counter, against, Thus, the original Greek word παρῳδία parodia has sometimes been taken to mean counter-song, an imitation that is set against the original. The Oxford English Dictionary, for example, defines parody as imitation turned as to produce a ridiculous effect, because par- also has the non-antagonistic meaning of beside, there is nothing in parodia to necessitate the inclusion of a concept of ridicule. Old Comedy contained parody, even the gods could be made fun of, the Frogs portrays the hero-turned-god Heracles as a Glutton and the God of Drama Dionysus as cowardly and unintelligent. The traditional trip to the Underworld story is parodied as Dionysus dresses as Heracles to go to the Underworld, roman writers explained parody as an imitation of one poet by another for humorous effect. In French Neoclassical literature, parody was also a type of poem where one work imitates the style of another to produce a humorous effect, the Ancient Greeks created satyr plays which parodied tragic plays, often with performers dressed like satyrs. In classical music, as a term, parody refers to a reworking of one kind of composition into another. The term is sometimes applied to procedures common in the Baroque period. The musicological definition of the parody has now generally been supplanted by a more general meaning of the word. In its more contemporary usage, musical parody usually has humorous, even satirical intent, in which familiar musical ideas or lyrics are lifted into a different, often incongruous, context. Musical parodies may imitate or refer to the style of a composer or artist. For example, The Ritz Roll and Rock, a song and dance performed by Fred Astaire in the movie Silk Stockings, parodies the Rock. Conversely, while the work of Weird Al Yankovic is based on particular popular songs. The first usage of the parody in English cited in the Oxford English Dictionary is in Ben Jonson, in Every Man in His Humour in 1598, A Parodie. The next citation comes from John Dryden in 1693, who also appended an explanation, suggesting that the word was in common use, in the 20th century, parody has been heightened as the central and most representative artistic device, the catalysing agent of artistic creation and innovation
10.
Science fiction
–
Science fiction often explores the potential consequences of scientific and other innovations, and has been called a literature of ideas. Science fiction is difficult to define, as it includes a range of subgenres and themes. Author and editor Damon Knight summed up the difficulty, saying science fiction is what we point to when we say it, a definition echoed by author Mark C. Glassy, who argues that the definition of science fiction is like the definition of pornography, you do not know what it is, in 1970 or 1971William Atheling Jr. According to science fiction writer Robert A, rod Serlings definition is fantasy is the impossible made probable. Science fiction is the improbable made possible, Science fiction is largely based on writing rationally about alternative possible worlds or futures. Science fiction elements include, A time setting in the future, in alternative timelines, a spatial setting or scenes in outer space, on other worlds, or on subterranean earth. Characters that include aliens, mutants, androids, or humanoid robots, futuristic or plausible technology such as ray guns, teleportation machines, and humanoid computers. Scientific principles that are new or that contradict accepted physical laws, for time travel, wormholes. New and different political or social systems, e. g. utopian, dystopian, post-scarcity, paranormal abilities such as mind control, telepathy, telekinesis Other universes or dimensions and travel between them. A product of the budding Age of Reason and the development of science itself. Isaac Asimov and Carl Sagan considered Keplers work the first science fiction story and it depicts a journey to the Moon and how the Earths motion is seen from there. Later, Edgar Allan Poe wrote a story about a flight to the moon, more examples appeared throughout the 19th century. Wells The War of the Worlds describes an invasion of late Victorian England by Martians using tripod fighting machines equipped with advanced weaponry and it is a seminal depiction of an alien invasion of Earth. In the late 19th century, the scientific romance was used in Britain to describe much of this fiction. This produced additional offshoots, such as the 1884 novella Flatland, the term would continue to be used into the early 20th century for writers such as Olaf Stapledon. In the early 20th century, pulp magazines helped develop a new generation of mainly American SF writers, influenced by Hugo Gernsback, the founder of Amazing Stories magazine. In 1912 Edgar Rice Burroughs published A Princess of Mars, the first of his series of Barsoom novels, situated on Mars
11.
Zsa Zsa Gabor
–
Zsa Zsa Gabor was a Hungarian-American actress and socialite. Her sisters were actresses Eva and Magda Gabor, Gabor began her stage career in Vienna and was crowned Miss Hungary in 1936. She emigrated from Hungary to the United States in 1941, becoming a sought-after actress with European flair and style, she was considered to have a personality that exuded charm and grace. Her first film role was a role in Lovely to Look At. She later acted in Were Not Married, and played one of her few leading roles in the John Huston-directed film, Moulin Rouge. Huston would later describe her as a creditable actress, outside her acting career, Gabor was known for her extravagant Hollywood lifestyle, her glamorous personality, and her many marriages. In total, Gabor had nine husbands, including hotel magnate Conrad Hilton and she once stated, Men have always liked me and I have always liked men. But I like a man, a man who knows how to talk to. Zsa Zsa Gabor was born Sári Gábor on February 6,1917 in Budapest, Hungary, the middle of three daughters, her parents were Vilmos, a soldier, and Jolie Gabor. Her parents were both of Jewish ancestry, while her mother escaped Hungary during the same time period of the Nazi occupation of Budapest, Gabor left the country in 1941, three years prior to the takeover. Gabors elder sister, Magda, eventually became an American socialite and her sister, Eva, became an American actress. The Gabor sisters were first cousins of Annette Lantos, wife of California Congressman Tom Lantos, according to Gabor, she was discovered by operatic tenor Richard Tauber on a trip to Vienna in 1934, following her time as a student at a Swiss boarding school. Tauber invited Gabor to sing the role in his new operetta, Der singende Traum. This would mark her first stage appearance, in 1936, she was crowned Miss Hungary. In 1944, she co-wrote a novel with writer Victoria Wolf titled, according to Gabor, the fictional story was derived, in a small part, from Gabors life experiences. The book was bought by an American magazine. In 1949, Gabor declined an offer to play the role in a film version of the classic book Lady Chatterleys Lover. According to an article written the Cedar Rapids Gazette in 1949 and her more serious film acting credits include Moulin Rouge, Lovely to Look At and Were Not Married
12.
Michelle Pfeiffer
–
Michelle Marie Pfeiffer is an American actress, singer and producer. She began her career in 1978 and had her first starring film role in Grease 2. Her greatest commercial successes include Batman Returns, Dangerous Minds, What Lies Beneath and she received a third Oscar nomination for Love Field. Her other notable roles include The Witches of Eastwick, Married to the Mob, Frankie and Johnny, The Age of Innocence, Wolf. Pfeiffer was born in Santa Ana, California, the second of four children of Richard Pfeiffer, a contractor, and Donna. She has one brother, Rick, and two younger sisters, Dedee Pfeiffer, a television and film actress, and Lori Pfeiffer. Her parents were originally from North Dakota. The family moved to Midway City, where Pfeiffer spent her childhood and she attended Fountain Valley High School, graduating in 1976. She worked as a girl at Vons supermarket, and attended Golden West College where she was a member of Alpha Delta Pi sorority. After a short stint training to be a stenographer, she decided upon an acting career. She won the Miss Orange County beauty pageant in 1978, and participated in Miss California the same year, following her participation in these pageants, she acquired an acting agent and began to audition for television and films. Pfeiffers early acting appearances included roles in Fantasy Island, Delta House. In the meantime, I was playing bimbos and cashing in on my looks and she then landed her first major film role as Stephanie Zinone in Grease 2, the sequel to the smash-hit musical Grease. The film was a critical and commercial failure, and Pfeiffers single release of Cool Rider from the soundtrack on PolyGram failed to dent the music charts. Despite escaping the critical mauling, Pfeiffers agent later admitted that her association with the film meant that she couldnt get any jobs. Director Brian De Palma, having seen Grease 2, refused to audition Pfeiffer for Scarface, but relented at the insistence of Martin Bregman and she was cast as cocaine-addicted trophy wife Elvira Hancock. The film was considered violent by most critics, but became a commercial hit. Pfeiffer received positive reviews for her turn, Richard Corliss of Time Magazine wrote, most of the large cast is fine
