1.
The Lolly-Madonna War
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The Lolly-Madonna War is a 1969 novel by Sue Grafton. This is the fifth novel Grafton wrote but the one published. A work of fiction, this novel was published by Peter Owen Publishers when Grafton was 29 years old. This is one of only two Sue Grafton novels published before her more famous Alphabet series of mystery novels, the novel was originally published in the United Kingdom and never saw publication in the United States. The screenplay was co-written by Rodney Carr-Smith and Sue Grafton, the film stars Rod Steiger as Laban Feather, Robert Ryan as Pap Gutshall, Jeff Bridges as Zack Feather, Season Hubley as Roonie Gill, Randy Quaid as Finch Feather, and Gary Busey as Zeb
2.
Sue Grafton
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Sue Taylor Grafton is a contemporary American author of detective novels. She is best known as the author of the series featuring private investigator Kinsey Millhone in the fictional city of Santa Teresa. The daughter of detective novelist C. W. Grafton, she has said the strongest influence on her novels is author Ross Macdonald. Prior to success with series, she wrote screenplays for television movies. Born in Louisville, Kentucky, Sue Grafton is the daughter of novelist C. W. Grafton and Vivian Harnsberger, Grafton and her sister Ann were raised in Louisville. The town features in some of her novels and she is a member of Pi Beta Phi. After graduating, Grafton worked as an admissions clerk, a cashier. Grafton began writing when she was 18 and finished her first novel four years later and she continued writing and completed six more manuscripts. Two of these seven novels were published, unable to find success with her novels, Grafton turned to screenplays. Grafton worked for the next 15 years writing screenplays for movies, including Sex and the Single Parent, Mark, I Love You. Her screenplay for Walking Through the Fire earned a Christopher Award in 1979 and she is also credited with the story upon which the screenplay for the made for TV movie Svengali was based. Her experience as a screenwriter taught her the basics of structuring a story, writing dialogue, Grafton then felt ready to return to writing fiction. While going through a divorce and custody battle that lasted six long years. Her fantasies were so vivid that she decided to write them down and she had long been fascinated by mysteries that had related titles, including those by John D. MacDonald, whose titles referenced colors, and Harry Kemelman, who used days of the week. While reading Edward Goreys The Gashlycrumb Tinies, a picture book of children who die by various means. She immediately sat down and made a list of all of the words that she knew. This exercise led to her works, a chronological series of mystery novels. Known as the novels, the stories are set in and around the fictional town of Santa Teresa
3.
Jeff Bridges
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Jeffrey Leon Jeff Bridges is an American actor, singer, and producer. He comes from a prominent acting family and appeared on the television series Sea Hunt, with his father, Lloyd Bridges and brother, Beau Bridges. His other films include Tron, Jagged Edge, The Fabulous Baker Boys, The Fisher King, Fearless, The Big Lebowski, Seabiscuit, Iron Man, Tron, Legacy, jeffrey Leon Bridges was born on December 4,1949, in Los Angeles, California. He is the son of show business parents, actor Lloyd Bridges and actress and his older brother, Beau Bridges, is also an actor. He has a sister, Lucinda, and had another brother, Garrett. His maternal grandfather was an English emigrant from Liverpool, Bridges and his siblings were raised in the Holmby Hills section of Los Angeles. Growing up, Bridges shared a relationship with his brother Beau. He graduated from University High School in 1967, at age 17, Jeff toured with his father in a stage production of Anniversary Waltz. After graduating from school, Bridges moved to New York City. Also, after turning 18, Bridges joined the United States Coast Guard Reserve, Bridges made his first screen appearance at the age of almost two years in The Company She Keeps in 1951. In his youth, Bridges and brother Beau made occasional appearances on their fathers show Sea Hunt, in 1969, he played Cal Baker, a Jobs Corps crew member, in the TV series Lassie episode Success Story. In 1971, he played the lead role Mike in the TV movie In Search of America and his first major role came in the 1971 film The Last Picture Show, for which he garnered a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He co-starred in the 1972 critically acclaimed boxing film Fat City. He was nominated again for Best Supporting Actor for his performance opposite Clint Eastwood in the 1974 film Thunderbolt, in 1976, he starred as the protagonist Jack Prescott in the first remake of King Kong, opposite Jessica Lange. This film was a success, earning $90 million worldwide, more than triple its $23 million budget. One of his roles was in the 1982 science fiction film Tron, in which he played Kevin Flynn. The same year, he starred in Kiss Me Goodbye. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1984 and he was also acclaimed for his roles in the thriller Against All Odds and the crime drama Jagged Edge
4.
Rod Steiger
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Rodney Stephen Rod Steiger was an American actor, noted for his portrayal of offbeat, often volatile and crazed characters. His performance in that film won him the Academy Award for Best Actor, Steiger was born in Westhampton, New York, the son of a vaudevillian. He had a childhood, with an alcoholic mother from whom he ran away at the age of 16. He made his debut in 1946, in a production of Curse you. At the Civic Repertory Theatre of Newark, and subsequently appeared in such as An Enemy of the People, Clifford Odetss Night Music, Seagulls Over Sorrento. Steiger made his debut in Fred Zinnemanns Teresa in 1951. Across the Bridge and Al Capone, the following year, he played a serial killer of many guises in No Way to Treat a Lady. During the 1970s, Steiger increasingly turned to European productions in his search for more demanding roles and he portrayed Napoleon Bonaparte in Waterloo, a Mexican bandit in Sergio Leones Duck, You Sucker. Benito Mussolini in Last Days of Mussolini, and ended the decade playing a disturbed priest in The Amityville Horror. By the 1980s, heart problems and depression took its toll on Steigers career, One of his final roles was as judge H. Lee Sarokin in the prison drama The Hurricane, which reunited him with In the Heat of the Night director Norman Jewison. Steiger was married five times, and had a daughter, opera singer Anna Steiger, and a son, Michael Steiger. He died of pneumonia and complications from surgery for a gall bladder tumor on July 9,2002, aged 77, in Los Angeles, and was survived by his fifth wife Joan Benedict Steiger. Steiger was born on April 14,1925 in Westhampton, New York, Rod was raised as a Lutheran. Biographer Tom Hutchinson describes him as a shadowy, fugitive figure, one who haunted Rod throughout his life and was an invisible presence, Hutchinson described Steigers mother as plump, energetic and small, with long auburn hair. She had a singing voice and nearly became a Hollywood actress. As a result, she quit show business and moved away from Westhampton to raise her son and they moved through several towns, including Irvington and Bloomfield, before settling in Newark, New Jersey. Her alcoholism caused Steiger much embarrassment, and the family was frequently mocked by other children, at the age of five he was sexually abused by a pedophile who lured him in with a butterfly collection. A loving, secure childhood in a New York minute, during the last 11 years of her life, Steigers mother stayed sober and regularly attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings
5.
Robert Ryan
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Robert Bushnell Ryan was an American actor who most often portrayed hardened cops and ruthless villains. Ryan was born in Chicago, Illinois, the first child of Mable Arbutus, a secretary, and Timothy Aloysius Ryan and he was of Irish and English descent. Ryan was raised Catholic and educated at Loyola Academy and he graduated from Dartmouth College in 1932, having held the schools heavyweight boxing title all four years of his attendance. After graduation, the 6′4 Ryan found employment as a stoker on a ship, a WPA worker, Ryan attempted to make a career in show business as a playwright, but was forced to start acting in order to support himself. He studied acting in Hollywood and appeared on stage and in small parts during the early 1940s, beginning with The Ghost Breakers and Queen of the Mob. At Camp Pendleton, he befriended writer and future director Richard Brooks, whose novel, The Brick Foxhole, Ryans breakthrough film role was as an anti-Semitic killer in Crossfire, a film noir based on Brookss novel. The role won Ryan his sole career Oscar nomination, for Best Supporting Actor, from then on, Ryans specialty was tough/tender roles, finding particular expression in the films of directors such as Nicholas Ray, Jean Renoir, Robert Wise and Samuel Fuller. In Rays On Dangerous Ground he portrayed a city cop finding redemption while solving a rural murder. In Wises The Set-Up, he played a boxer who is brutally punished for refusing to take a dive. He also appeared in several war films, including The Longest Day and Battle of the Bulge. He also played John the Baptist in MGMs Technicolor epic King of Kings and was the villainous Claggart in Peter Ustinovs adaptation of Billy Budd, in his later years, Ryan continued playing significant roles in major films. Among the most notable were The Dirty Dozen, The Professionals, the Iceman Cometh and Executive Action both were released in November 1973, after Ryans death. Ryan also played the characters in Shakespeares Coriolanus and Othello. Ryan made his small screen debut in 1955 as Abraham Lincoln in the Screen Directors Playhouse adaptation of Christopher Morleys story. As he explained to reporters, despite financial considerations, Ryan preferred to steer clear of any TV series commitment, The only money in TV is in the series, and I want to stay out of those. Sure, I might make a million or so in a series, Ryan would remain true to these convictions, appearing in many television series, but always as a guest star. Notable appearances include his portrayal of Franklin Hoppy-Hopp in the 1964 episode Who Chopped Down the Cherry Tree. on the NBC medical drama about psychiatry, The Eleventh Hour. Similarly, he guest starred as Lloyd Osment in the 1964 episode Better Than a Dead Lion in the ABC psychiatric series, Breaking Point
6.
Philip H. Lathrop
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Philip H. Lathrop, A. S. C. was an American cinematographer noted for his skills with wide screen technology and detailed approach to lighting and camera placement. He spent most of his life in movie studios and he was a long-time member of the ASC Board of Directors, as well as co-chairman of the ASC Awards committee. He also participated in the affairs of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Lathrop was born in Merced, California on October 22,1912. As a child, the Universal Studios lot was his playground, Lathrop became a member there in the camera department at 18-years old. There, he watched Gilbert Warrenton, ASC, photograph the first version of Show Boat in 1928-29, on the 1936 version of the film, Lathrop loaded cameras from John Mescall, ASC. Lathrop had two marriages, to Molly Lathrop and Betty Jo Lathrop, and three sons, Larry, Bill and Clark. Lathrop began his career as a loader in Universal’s camera department in 1934 for Russell Metty, ASC, on the Irving Reis film. Lathrop becomes director of photography at Universal in 1958, in 1959, Lathrop and Edwards collaborated on the television series, Peter Gunn and Mr. Lucky. Lathrop’s particular visual style seems to epitomize the times, such as in Point Blank, directed by John Boorman in 1967, in this film, color charts were prepared for each scene—the colors were subdued and desaturated and no scene was ever too bright or showy. After Point Blank, Lathrop worked on Francis Ford Coppola’s Finian’s Rainbow and he was inducted into the ASC Hall of Fame in 1974. During the 1980’s, Lathrop worked on eight television movies-of-the-week as well as several mini-series and he died of cancer on April 12,1995 in Los Angeles, the same year he was honored with the 1992 ASC Lifetime Achievement Award. Services were held at the Forest Lawn Cemetery in Hollywood Hills where Stanley Cortez, ASC, in the 1974 disaster film Earthquake, Lathrop made director Mark Robson’s vision of the motion picture come true. Robson wanted a look for the film, without it being documentary-like. To bring the earthquake scenes to life, a mount for the camera was created. Lathrop said it “created an amazing illusion, you’d swear that the ground was going up and down and moving sideways, when, of course, it wasn’t moving at all. A five-story section of what is supposed to be a 25-story building was made in Stage 12, the highest in the studio, where every floor was used to shoot the action. Lathrop shared that “it was necessary to dig down 20 feet into the floor of the stage in order to accommodate. ”He continued, so “in order to light it, went clear up above the grids with four arcs pointed down to simulate the angle of the sun. Matched each of the arcs on the way down and didn’t overlap them, nor did use any light at all. ”To execute a film like Earthquake
7.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
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Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of feature films and television programs. Its headquarters are in Beverly Hills, California and it is one of the worlds oldest film studios. In 1971, it was announced that MGM would merge with 20th Century Fox, over the next thirty-nine years, the studio was bought and sold at various points in its history until, on November 3,2010, MGM filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. MGM Resorts International, a Las Vegas-based hotel and casino company listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol MGM, is not currently affiliated with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. In 1966, MGM was sold to Canadian investor Edgar Bronfman Sr. whose son Edgar Jr. would later buy Universal Studios, the studio continued to produce five to six films a year that were released through other studios, mostly United Artists. Kerkorian did, however, commit to increased production and a film library when he bought United Artists in 1981. MGM ramped up production, as well as keeping production going at UA. It also incurred significant amounts of debt to increase production, the studio took on additional debt as a series of owners took charge in the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1986, Ted Turner bought MGM, but a few later, sold the company back to Kerkorian to recoup massive debt. The series of deals left MGM even more heavily in debt, MGM was bought by Pathé Communications in 1990, but Parretti lost control of Pathé and defaulted on the loans used to purchase the studio. The French banking conglomerate Crédit Lyonnais, the major creditor. Even more deeply in debt, MGM was purchased by a joint venture between Kerkorian, producer Frank Mancuso, and Australias Seven Network in 1996, the debt load from these and subsequent business deals negatively affected MGMs ability to survive as an independent motion picture studio. In 1924, movie theater magnate Marcus Loew had a problem and he had bought Metro Pictures Corporation in 1919 for a steady supply of films for his large Loews Theatres chain. With Loews lackluster assortment of Metro films, Loew purchased Goldwyn Pictures in 1924 to improve the quality, however, these purchases created a need for someone to oversee his new Hollywood operations, since longtime assistant Nicholas Schenck was needed in New York headquarters to oversee the 150 theaters. Mayer, Loew addressed the situation by buying Louis B. Mayer Pictures on April 17,1924, Mayer became head of the renamed Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, with Irving Thalberg as head of production. MGM produced more than 100 feature films in its first two years, in 1925, MGM released the extravagant and successful Ben-Hur, taking a $4.7 million profit that year, its first full year. Marcus Loew died in 1927, and control of Loews passed to Nicholas Schenck, in 1929, William Fox of Fox Film Corporation bought the Loew familys holdings with Schencks assent. Mayer and Thalberg disagreed with the decision, Mayer was active in the California Republican Party and used his political connections to persuade the Justice Department to delay final approval of the deal on antitrust grounds
8.
Union County, Tennessee
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Union County is a county located in the U. S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2010 census, the population was 19,109, Union County is included in the Knoxville, TN Metropolitan Statistical Area. Union County was formed in 1850 from portions of Grainger, Claiborne, Campbell, Anderson, there are at least two theories on the source of its name. The name may commemorate the union of sections of five counties, in the 1930s, the damming of the Clinch River by Norris Dam to form Norris Lake inundated a large part of the county, including the community of Loyston, and displaced many residents. The parks recreational facilities opened in May 1934, according to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 247 square miles, of which 224 square miles is land and 24 square miles is water. The county is situated in the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians, a characterized by long. Prominent ridges in Union County include Copper Ridge, Hinds Ridge, the southern end of Clinch Mountain forms part of the countys border with Grainger County to the east. The Clinch River, Union Countys primary stream, flows through the part of the county. This section of the river is part of Norris Lake, Big Ridge Dam, a small non-generating dam, impounds an inlet of Norris Lake, creating Big Ridge Lake at Big Ridge State Park. The Loyston Sea, one of the widest sections of Norris Lake, is located in Union County just north of the state park, the population density was 80 per square mile. There were 7,916 housing units at a density of 35 per square mile. The racial makeup of the county was 98. 46% White,0. 10% Black or African American,0. 23% Native American,0. 16% Asian,0. 02% Pacific Islander,0. 17% from other races, and 0. 86% from two or more races. 0. 79% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race,19. 80% of all households were made up of individuals and 7. 40% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.62 and the family size was 2.99. 25. 70% of the population were under the age of 18,8. 90% from 18 to 24,31. 00% from 25 to 44,23. 60% from 45 to 64, the median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 98.80 males, for every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.60 males. The median household income was $27,335 and the family income was $31,843. Males had an income of $26,436 versus $18,665 for females
