1.
Raoul Walsh
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Raoul A. Walsh was an American film director, actor, founding member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the brother of the silent screen actor George Walsh. His directed his last film in 1964, Walsh was born in New York as Albert Edward Walsh to Elizabeth T. Bruff, the daughter of Irish Catholic immigrants, and Thomas W. Walsh, an Englishman. Like his younger brother, he was part of Omega Gamma Delta in high school, growing up in New York, Walsh was also a friend of the Barrymore family. Later in life he lived in Palm Springs, California and he was buried at Assumption Catholic Cemetery, Simi Valley, Ventura County, California. Walsh was educated at Seton Hall College and he began acting in 1909, first as a stage actor in New York City and later as a film actor. In 1914 he became an assistant to D. W. Walsh played John Wilkes Booth in Griffiths epic The Birth of a Nation and this was followed by the critically acclaimed Regeneration in 1915, possibly the earliest feature gangster film, shot on location in Manhattans Bowery district. Walsh served as an officer in the United States Army during World War I and he later directed The Thief of Bagdad, starring Douglas Fairbanks and Anna May Wong, and What Price Glory. starring Victor McLaglen and Dolores del Río. In Sadie Thompson, starring Gloria Swanson as a prostitute seeking a new life in Samoa, Walsh starred as Swansons boyfriend in his first acting role since 1915, he also directed the film. He was then hired to direct and star in In Old Arizona, while on location for that film Walsh was in a car crash when a jackrabbit jumped through the windshield as he was driving through the desert, he lost his right eye as a result. He gave up the part and never acted again, warner Baxter won an Oscar for the role Walsh was originally slated to play. Walsh would wear an eyepatch for the rest of his life, in the early days of sound with Fox, Walsh directed the first widescreen spectacle, The Big Trail, an epic wagon train western shot on location across the West. Robinson, Marlene Dietrich and George Raft, and White Heat, Walshs contract at Warners expired in 1953. He directed several films afterwards, including three with Clark Gable, The Tall Men, The King and Four Queens and Band of Angels. Some of Walshs film-related material and personal papers are contained in the Wesleyan University Cinema Archives, to which scholars, Walsh replaced director Bretaigne Windust, who fell severely ill, on The Enforcer and shot over half the film, but refused to take screen credit. The Conqueror The Big Trail Captain Horatio Hornblower R. N, the Lawless Breed Esther and the King The Men Who Made the Movies, Raoul Walsh Himself Moss. Raoul Walsh, The True Adventures of Hollywoods Legendary Director, the Films of Raoul Walsh, A Critical Approach excerpt and text search Paolo Bachmann. Turin, Quaderni del Movie Club di Torino, Raoul Walsh o dellavventura singolare, Rome, Bulzoni. Http, //www. lafuriaumana. it Raoul Walsh at the Internet Movie Database Raoul Walsh at AllMovie Senses of Cinema, Great Directors Critical Database Raoul Walsh at Virtual History
2.
Mario Bava
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Mario Bava was an Italian director, screenwriter, special effects artist, and cinematographer from the golden age of Italian horror films. His work kick-started the giallo genre and the modern slasher film. His son Lamberto Bava later went on to become a horror film director in his own right. Mario Bava was born in San Remo, Liguria on 31 July 1914 and he was the son of Eugenio Bava, a sculptor who also worked as a special effects photographer and cameraman in the Italian silent movie industry. Mario Bavas first ambition was to become a painter, unable to turn out paintings at a profitable rate, he went into his fathers business, working as an assistant to other Italian cinematographers like Massimo Terzano. He also helped his father at the effects department at Benito Mussolinis film factory. Bava became a cinematographer in his own right in 1939, shooting two films with Roberto Rossellini. He made his debut in the early 1940s. Bavas camerawork was a factor in developing the screen personas of such stars of the period as Gina Lollobrigida, Steve Reeves. Bava completed filming I vampiri for director Riccardo Freda in 1956, Bava co-directed The Day the Sky Exploded in 1958, the first Italian science fiction film, predating even the sci-fi films of Antonio Margheriti. Because he had no earlier credited experience as a director, the film was credited solely to Paolo Heusch, in 1960, Bava directed the gothic horror classic Black Sunday, his first solo directorial effort, which made a genre star out of Barbara Steele. His use of light and dark in black-and-white films is widely acclaimed along with his use of color in films such as Black Sabbath, Kill. Blood and Black Lace and The Whip and the Body and his work has proved very influential. Bava directed what is now regarded as the earliest of the Italian giallo films, The Girl Who Knew Too Much and Blood and his 1965 sci-fi/ horror film Planet of the Vampires was a thematic precursor to Alien. Although comic books had served as the basis for countless serials and childrens films in Hollywood, Bavas Danger, many elements of his 1966 film Kill, Baby. Regarded by Martin Scorsese as Bavas masterpiece, also appear in the Asian strain of terror film known as J-horror, 1971s A Bay of Blood is considered one of the earliest slasher films, and was explicitly imitated in Friday the 13th Part 2. Mario Bava was very disappointed with the distribution of some of his later films. His Lisa and the Devil was never picked up by a distributor, in 1977, Bava directed his last horror film, Shock, which was co-directed with his son Lamberto Bava who did the work uncredited
3.
Michael Elkins
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Michael Elkins was an American broadcaster and journalist who worked for the American network, CBS, for the magazine Newsweek and then for 17 years with the BBC. He was the first to report Israels destruction of Arab air forces on the day of the Six-Day War in 1967. CBS did not trust his report and he left, Elkins was the youngest of three sons of East European Jewish immigrants who made clothes in the sweatshops of the Lower East Side. He was embarrassed that his parents spoke Yiddish and that his father walked ahead of his mother in the street and he excelled at school and educated himself in libraries. He fell in with hoodlums in New York, then moved to the American West Coast as a union organiser before joining his brother Saul to write scripts in Hollywood. He worked in Europe in the Office of Strategic Services, the forerunner of the CIA during the world war. In 1947 Elkins met Teddy Kollek in New York, Kollek was later mayor of Jerusalem. In 1947 he was organising illegal shipments of arms to the Jewish Haganah in Palestine, the FBI discovered his involvement and he and his wife, Martha, fled to Israel. They lived on a kibbutz, then moved a year later to Jerusalem, Elkins began broadcasting with CBS in the USA in September 1956. He became the correspondent in Israel. The previous correspondent said he was returning to the United States because nothing ever happens in Israel, a month later Britain and France invaded Suez as Israeli tanks moved into Sinai. Elkins was the first to report Israels destruction of Arab air forces on the first day of the Six Day War and he telephoned CBS but it hesitated to broadcast his story. Elkins had come across a politician he knew, the politician directed him to the war-room. Elkins wrote the story but Israeli military censors delayed it and he would hold back the story if the censors gave him permission to be the first to broadcast when it was cleared. CBS sent him a one-liner, You alone with Israeli victory, Elkins visited New York in the autumn and called on CBS. He was congratulated for his scoop and he said he didnt want the job if they didnt trust him. The journalist David Sells said, He told me once that CBS had then offered him the earth to stay as their correspondent, well done, I enthused, praising his probity. I have to tell you something, David, he said, if Newsweek had not already given me the earth, I would have been sorely tempted
4.
Joan Collins
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Dame Joan Henrietta Collins, DBE is an English actress, author, and columnist. Born in Paddington, west London, and brought up in Maida Vale, after making her stage debut in the Henrik Ibsen play A Dolls House at the age of nine, she trained as an actress at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. She then signed a contract with the Rank Organisation and appeared in various British films. In 1955, at the age of 22, Collins headed to Hollywood and landed roles in several popular films, including The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing and Rally Round the Flag. While she continued to make films in the US and the UK throughout the 1960s, she also guest-starred in an episode of Star Trek in 1967 named The City on the Edge of Forever, as Edith Keeler. Her career languished in the 1970s, when she appeared in a number of horror flicks, near the end of the decade, she starred in two softcore pornographic films based on best-selling novels by her younger sister Jackie Collins, The Stud and its sequel The Bitch. She began appearing on stage, playing the role in the 1980 British revival of The Last of Mrs. Cheyney. Collins also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1983 for career achievement, in 2015, Collins was made a Dame by Queen Elizabeth II for services to charity. Since the late 1970s, Collins has written several books, in 1988, she published her first novel, Prime Time, and she has continued to publish various kinds of writing. A member of the Conservative Party, Collins was one of the handful of guests to be invited to the funeral of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in April 2013 and her father, a native of South Africa, was Jewish, and her British mother was Anglican. She has two siblings, Jackie and Bill, a property agent. She was educated at the Francis Holland School, an independent day school for girls in London, at the age of 17, Collins was signed to the J. Arthur Rank Film Company, a British film studio. Collins made her debut as a beauty contest entrant in Lady Godiva Rides Again followed by The Womans Angle in a minor role as a Greek maid. Next was a significant role as a gangsters moll in Judgment Deferred. Her big break came when the Rank Organisation signed her for a role in I Believe in You. Other roles to follow included Cosh Boy, Decameron Nights, Turn the Key Softly, The Square Ring and she was chosen by director Howard Hawks to star in his lavish production of Land of the Pharaohs as the scheming Princess Nellifer opposite Jack Hawkins. She finished her Fox contract with the crime caper Seven Thieves and the biblical epic Esther, One notable film release in the 1960s was The Road to Hong Kong, the last road picture of Bing Crosby and Bob Hope. She took a hiatus from her career to concentrate on having a family after marrying Anthony Newley
5.
Richard Egan (actor)
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Richard Egan was an American actor. In some films he is credited as Richard Eagan, born and raised in San Francisco, California, Egan graduated from St. Ignatius College Preparatory. He served in the United States Army as an instructor during World War II. A graduate of the University of San Francisco and Stanford University, he studied and taught at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, having studied theatre, he took a bit role in the 1949 Hollywood film The Story of Molly X. This start would lead to his signing of a contract with 20th Century Fox where his talent, rugged physique, and good looks made him a favorite and respected leading man. In 1956, he starred as Elvis Presleys older brother in Presleys first film, Love Me Tender and he co-starred with Jane Russell in two of her last films, Underwater. and The Revolt of Mamie Stover. In 1960, Egan appeared with Jane Wyman and Hayley Mills in Disneys Pollyanna and he also starred as Ahasuerus in Esther and the King. Egan was Rod Serlings first choice to narrate The Twilight Zone, however, contractual issues got in the way, and Serling narrated instead, rather than select any other actor than his first choice. During the decade of the 1960s, Egan worked extensively in television, starring in the NBC western dramatic series, Empire, in the shortened second season, the program was renamed Redigo after Egans character, ranch manager Jim Redigo. After his series ended, he made guest appearances on television shows. In 1982 he joined the cast for the new daytime television political drama Capitol, Egan met his wife, the former Patricia Hardy, in 1956. The couple married in June 1958 and remained together for almost thirty years until his death and they had five children, including son Rich Egan, the founder of Vagrant Records, daughter Maureen Egan, a writer and director, as well as Patricia, Kathleen, and Colleen. Egan was respected within the community for having helped a number of young actors get their first break in the film industry. One of these actors was Ryan ONeal. He worked out at the gym as Egan, who got him credited work in four episodes of Empire. Richard Egan died in Los Angeles, California, on July 20,1987, of prostate cancer and he is interred at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California
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20th Century Fox
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Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation is an American film studio currently owned by 21st Century Fox. It is one of the Big Six major American film studios and is located in the Century City area of Los Angeles, the studio was formerly owned by News Corporation. 20th Century Fox is a member of the Motion Picture Association of America, in 2015, 20th Century Fox celebrated its 80th anniversary as a studio. Spyros Skouras, then manager of the Fox West Coast Theaters, the studios biggest star, Will Rogers, died in a plane crash weeks after the merger. Its leading female star, Janet Gaynor, was fading in popularity and promising leading men James Dunn, at first, it was expected that the new company was originally to be called Fox-20th Century, even though 20th Century was the senior partner in the merger. However, 20th Century brought more to the bargaining table besides Schenck and Zanuck, the new company, 20th Century-Fox Film Corporation, began trading on May 31,1935, the hyphen was dropped in 1985. Schenck became Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, while Kent remained as President, Zanuck became Vice President in Charge of Production, replacing Foxs longtime production chief Winfield Sheehan. The company established a training school. The contracts included an option for renewal for as long as seven years. For many years, 20th Century Fox claimed to have founded in 1915. For instance, it marked 1945 as its 30th anniversary, however, in recent years it has claimed the 1935 merger as its founding, even though most film historians agree it was founded in 1915. The companys films retained the 20th Century Pictures searchlight logo on their credits as well as its opening fanfare. Also on the Fox payroll he found two players who he built up into the studios leading assets, Alice Faye and seven-year-old Shirley Temple, favoring popular biographies and musicals, Zanuck built Fox back to profitability. Thanks to record attendance during World War II, Fox overtook RKO, while Zanuck went off for eighteen months war service, junior partner William Goetz kept profits high by going for light entertainment. The studios—indeed the industrys—biggest star was creamy blonde Betty Grable, in 1942, Spyros Skouras succeeded Kent as president of the studio. Together with Zanuck, who returned in 1943, they intended to make Foxs output more serious-minded. During the next few years, with pictures like The Razors Edge, Wilson, Gentlemans Agreement, The Snake Pit, Boomerang, and Pinky, Zanuck established a reputation for provocative, adult films. Fox also specialized in adaptations of best-selling books such as Ben Ames Williams Leave Her to Heaven, starring Gene Tierney and they also made the 1958 film version of South Pacific
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Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
8.
United States
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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
