1.
Bruce Vilanch
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Bruce Gerald Vilanch is an American comedy writer, songwriter and actor. He is a six-time Emmy Award-winner, Vilanch is best known to the public for his four-year stint on Hollywood Squares, as a celebrity participant, behind the scenes he was head writer for the show. In 2000, he performed off-Broadway in his self-penned one-man show, Bruce Vilanch, since 2000, Vilanch has been the head writer for the Oscars, after being an Oscar program co-writer for the previous ten years. He is a writer for the Tonys, Grammys and Emmys. Vilanch was born in New York City and raised in Paterson, when he was four days old, he was adopted by Jonas Vilanch, an optometrist, and his wife Henne, a housewife. Having her own aspirations, Vilanchs mother helped launch her sons show business career by getting him signed on with Lane Bryants Charming Chub division as a chubby child model. Upon graduating from school, Vilanch attended The Ohio State University as a theater. While there, he appeared in student theater productions and wrote reviews, in 1999 Vilanch stated, I was going to be Neil Simon, batting out one Broadway show after another. Vilanch is Jewish and attended Hebrew school, was a member of United Synagogue Youth, Vilanchs career in the entertainment industry began with writing features for The Chicago Tribune. As an entertainment writer, he began spending time with as many celebrities as would let him and it was how he met then-struggling nightclub singer Bette Midler. Becoming friends, Vilanch later wrote comedy material for Midlers 1974 Broadway show Clams on the Half Shell and co-wrote Divine Madness for her in 1980. Following a move to Los Angeles, Vilanch was a co-writer for The Donny & Marie Show, 1978s negatively received Star Wars Holiday Special, for four years, Vilanch was head writer and celebrity square on Hollywood Squares, next to friend and client Whoopi Goldberg. Since 1980, Vilanch has been a reporter and columnist for The Advocate and my Adventures in the Skin Trade and Other Essays, a 2000 collection of his writings, was nominated for a Lambda Literary Award. When asking him to write material for one of her concert tours and she later asked him to write for one of her upcoming Las Vegas appearances. Vilanch co-wrote the book for the musical Platinum, which played on Broadway in 1978. He has also contributed to concert shows starring Michael Feinstein, Bette Midler, as a songwriter, Vilanch co-wrote Where Is My Man with musicians Fred Zarr and Jacques Morali. The song was popularized by singer/actress Eartha Kitt in 1983, also with Zarr and Morali, Vilanch co-wrote Sex Over the Phone, a minor hit for the Village People that later became a cult favorite. In 2008, Vilanch co-wrote The Showgirl Must Go On with Midler, the show opened at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, receiving positive reviews
Bruce Vilanch
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Vilanch at the 2009 Outfest Legacy Awards
2.
George Lucas
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George Walton Lucas Jr. is an American filmmaker and entrepreneur. He is best known as the creator of the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises, as well as the founder of Lucasfilm and he was the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Lucasfilm, before selling it to The Walt Disney Company in 2012. Upon graduating from the University of Southern California in 1967, Lucas co-founded American Zoetrope with fellow filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, Lucas wrote and directed THX1138, based on his earlier student short Electronic Labyrinth, THX1138 4EB, which was a critical success but a financial failure. His next work as a writer-director was the film, American Graffiti, inspired by his teen years in early 1960s Modesto, California, the film was critically and commercially successful, and received five Academy Award nominations including Best Picture. Following the first Star Wars film, Lucas produced and co-wrote the following installments in the trilogy, The Empire Strikes Back, along with Steven Spielberg, Lucas co-created and wrote the Indiana Jones films Raiders of the Lost Ark, Temple of Doom, and The Last Crusade. Lucas also produced and/or wrote a variety of films through Lucasfilm in the 1980s and 1990s, Lucas also returned to directing with the Star Wars prequel trilogy, consisting of The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith. He later collaborated on the story for the Indiana Jones sequel Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, five of Lucass seven features are among the 100 highest-grossing movies at the North American box office, adjusted for ticket-price inflation. Lucas is one of the American film industrys most financially successful filmmakers, Lucas is considered a significant figure in the New Hollywood era. Lucas was born and raised in Modesto, California, the son of Dorothy Ellinore Lucas and George Walton Lucas and he is of German, Swiss-German, English, Scottish, and distant Dutch and French descent. Growing up, Lucas had a passion for cars and motor racing, on June 12,1962, while driving his souped-up Autobianchi Bianchina, another driver broadsided him, flipping over his car, nearly killing him, causing him to lose interest in racing as a career. He attended Modesto Junior College, where he studied anthropology, sociology and he also began shooting with an 8 mm camera, including filming car races. At this time, Lucas and his friend John Plummer became interested in Canyon Cinema, screenings of underground, avant-garde 16 mm filmmakers like Jordan Belson, Stan Brakhage, and Bruce Conner. Lucas and Plummer also saw classic European films of the time, including Jean-Luc Godards Breathless, François Truffauts Jules et Jim, thats when George really started exploring, Plummer said. Through his interest in racing, Lucas met renowned cinematographer Haskell Wexler, another race enthusiast. Wexler, later to work with Lucas on several occasions, was impressed by Lucas talent, George had a very good eye, and he thought visually, he recalled. Lucas then transferred to the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, USC was one of the earliest universities to have a school devoted to motion picture film. During the years at USC, Lucas shared a room with Randal Kleiser. Along with classmates such as Walter Murch, Hal Barwood, and John Milius and he also became good friends with fellow acclaimed student filmmaker and future Indiana Jones collaborator, Steven Spielberg
George Lucas
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Lucas in 2009
George Lucas
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Director
Jim Henson (left) and Lucas (right) working on
Labyrinth in 1986.
George Lucas
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Lucas at the Time 100 2006 gala
3.
David Acomba
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David Acomba is a Canadian television and film producer/director whose television programmes have been featured on CBS, ABC, PBS, CBC, CTV, BBC, Channel 4, Showtime, and HBO. David Acomba was born and raised in Montreal, Quebec, in the early 1960s, he attended Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, where he majored in Film and Television. In 1967, he attended school at the University of Southern California at Los Angeles where he received a Master of Performing Arts degree. Acomba moved to Toronto in 1969 and began producing and directing specials for Canada’s national network, a musically oriented director, Acomba began in 1970 by directing a television special for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Mariposa, A Folk Festival, with Joan Baez and Joni Mitchell. He then directed the first U. S. television network rock special for PBS, Welcome To The Fillmore East, with Van Morrison, Albert King, in the autumn of 1974, he was asked to film George Harrisons North American Dark Horse Tour. Because Harrison had lost his voice prior to the tour and never regained it. In 1976, Acomba was selected to direct the Star Wars Holiday Special for CBS, George Lucas, Acombas film school classmate, could not be involved with the project on a day-to-day basis. CBS executive producers Gary Smith and Dwight Hemion hired television producers who clashed creatively with Lucas, Acomba ultimately left the production, a decision Lucas supported. In 1980, he directed the feature-length performance film Hank Williams, the movie was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival, the London Film Festival, Filmex in Los Angeles, and featured on HBO. In the early 1980s, Acomba pioneered television skating specials with Strawberry Ice for the CBC, the format, which combined personal stories with musical performances and Olympic level skating, won many awards and was shown in over 45 countries. This success led to his producing and directing the Magic Skates special for ABC. In 1985, he began to work in comedy with Four on the Floor, a series for the CBC also shown on Showtime. His other comedy programmes in the late eighties included a special for Showtime with Andrea Martin, in the early nineties, Acomba directed three seasons of the Canadian comedy series CODCO starring Andy Jones, Tommy Sexton, Mary Walsh, Cathy Jones and Greg Malone. In 2003, Acomba directed the performance documentary A Marriage In Music featuring concert pianist Anton Kuerti and cellist Kristine Boygo for CBC’s premier arts program, the Globe & Mail reported that the work was “artfully told and a joy to watch”. In 2007,33 years after filming, Acomba revisited his original director’s cut of George Harrison’s 1974 Dark Horse Tour with Billy Preston, Tom Scott. This new cut is a portrait of the first Beatle to tour North America on his own, the film captures Harrison’s prescient world music vision as he brought together the eastern music of Ravi Shankar with western rock and jazz. The movie, which has never been screened publicly, includes appearances by John Lennon. This new director’s version has been placed in the Harrison archive, in 2008, he wrote and directed the short film ANTON & the PIANO for the National Film Board of Canada
David Acomba
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David Acomba
4.
Harrison Ford
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Harrison Ford is an American actor and film producer. He gained worldwide fame for his roles as Han Solo in the Star Wars film series. Six of his films have been inducted into the National Film Registry, American Graffiti, The Conversation, Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Blade Runner. In 1997, Ford was ranked No.1 in Empires The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time list. As of 2016, the U. S. domestic box-office grosses of Fords films total over US$4.7 billion, with worldwide grosses surpassing $6 billion, Ford is married to actress Calista Flockhart. Ford was born at the Swedish Covenant Hospital in Chicago, Illinois to Christopher Ford, an executive and former actor, and Dorothy. A younger brother, Terence, was born in 1945, Fords paternal grandparents, John Fitzgerald Ford and Florence Veronica Niehaus, were of Irish Catholic and German descent, respectively. Fords maternal grandparents, Harry Nidelman and Anna Lifschutz, were Jewish immigrants from Minsk, when asked in which religion he and his brother were raised, Ford jokingly responded, Democrat, to be liberals of every stripe. Ford was active in the Boy Scouts of America, and achieved its second-highest rank and he worked at Napowan Adventure Base Scout camp as a counselor for the Reptile Study merit badge. Because of this, he and director Steven Spielberg later decided to depict the young Indiana Jones as a Life Scout in the film Indiana Jones, in 1960, Ford graduated from Maine East High School in Park Ridge, Illinois. His was the first student voice broadcast on his high schools new radio station, WMTH and he attended Ripon College in Wisconsin, where he was a philosophy major and a member of the Sigma Nu fraternity. He took a class in the final quarter of his senior year to get over his shyness. Ford, a late bloomer, became fascinated with acting. In 1964, after a season of stock with the Belfry Players in Wisconsin. He did not get it, but stayed in California and eventually signed a contract with Columbia Pictures New Talent program. His first known role was a role as a bellhop in Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round. There is little record of his roles in film. Ford was at the bottom of the hiring list, having offended producer Jerry Tokovsky after he played a bellboy in the feature
Harrison Ford
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Ford at the 2015
San Diego Comic-Con International
Harrison Ford
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Ford with
Chandran Rutnam on the set of
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom which was shot in
Kandy,
Sri Lanka in 1983
Harrison Ford
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Ford in 2007
Harrison Ford
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Ford at the
2008 Cannes Film Festival
5.
Peter Mayhew
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Peter Mayhew is an English/American actor who holds American citizenship and is best known for playing Chewbacca in the Star Wars film series. Mayhew was born on 19 May 1944 in Barnes, South West London and his height is not a product of gigantism — I dont have the big head — but of a connective tissue disorder called Marfan syndrome. His peak height was 7 feet 3 inches, when casting his first Star Wars film, producer George Lucas needed a tall actor who could fit the role of the hairy alien Chewbacca. He originally had in mind 6-foot-6-inch bodybuilder David Prowse, but instead Prowse chose to play Darth Vader. This led Lucas on a search turned up Mayhew, who was working as an orderly. Mayhew has played Chewbacca in five Star Wars films, the trilogy, Star Wars, Episode III – Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars. He played the role in the 1978 television film Star Wars Holiday Special and he also recorded dialogue for the Star Wars, The Clone Wars Season 3 finale episode Wookiee Hunt. Mayhew plays the role in commercials and in appearances for sick children and has made numerous appearances as Chewbacca outside the Star Wars films. Mayhew as Chewbacca was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the MTV Film Awards 1997 and he was additionally honoured at the release of the new PlayStation Portable where he dressed as Chewbacca and held up the new PSP slim version. He has made media appearances without the Chewbacca costume. He appeared on NBCs Identity, where his identity was based on the fact that he played Chewbacca and was a frequent guest in the days of Slice of SciFi. While Mayhew is expected to portray Chewbacca in Star Wars, The Last Jedi, joonas Suotamo, who split time with Mayhew on Star Wars, The Force Awakens, will portray Chewbacca. Outside Star Wars, Mayhew has appeared in the 1978 horror film Terror, in the English version of Dragon Ball GT, A Heros Legacy, he provided the voice for Susha. Mayhew has written two books for younger audience, Growing Up Giant which explains that being different is a strength instead of a weakness, Mayhew lives in Boyd, Texas and is a business owner. He became a citizen of the United States in 2005 at a ceremony in Arlington. Mayhew noted in an MTV interview that although Chewbacca does not get a medal in the film, he does get the last line, Mayhew underwent double knee replacement surgery in 2013. In January 2015, Mayhew was briefly hospitalized near his home in Texas, in 2013, Mayhew was crowned Emperor for Life by the Intergalactic Krewe of Chewbacchus. Peter Mayhew at the Internet Movie Database Star Wars bio Interview with Peter Mayhew on Slice of SciFi Interview with Peter Mayhew on Monster Island News
Peter Mayhew
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Mayhew at the Florida SuperCon, June 2015
Peter Mayhew
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Mayhew at the
Big Apple Con, 14 November 2008, sitting in front of an image of his most famous role as
Chewbacca
6.
Mark Hamill
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Mark Richard Hamill is an American actor, voice actor, producer and writer. He is known for playing Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars film series and his other works include Corvette Summer and The Big Red One, among other television shows and movies. Hamill has also appeared on stage in several productions, primarily during the 1980s. He currently recurs in the The CW television series The Flash as James Jesse / Trickster, Hamill is a prolific voice actor who has voiced characters in many animated television shows, movies, and video games since the 1970s. He is known for his role as DC Comics the Joker, commencing with Batman. Hamill was born in Oakland, California, to Virginia Suzanne and he is one of seven children, having two brothers, Will and Patrick, and four sisters, Terry, Jan, Jeanie, and Kim. His father has English, Scottish, Irish, and Welsh ancestry and his mother was of half Swedish and his fathers changes of station and attendant family moves led to the Hamill children changing schools often. In his elementary years, he went to Walsingham Academy and Poe Middle School, at age 11, he moved to the 5900 block of Castleton Drive in San Diego, California, where he attended Hale Junior High School. During his first year at James Madison High School, his family moved to Virginia, by his junior year, his father was stationed in Japan, where Hamill attended and was a member of the Drama Club at Nile C. Kinnick High School, from which he graduated in 1969 and he later enrolled at Los Angeles City College, majoring in drama. Hamill was raised as a Roman Catholic, and described his father as a Nixon Republican, Hamills early career included a recurring role on the soap opera General Hospital, and a starring role on the short-lived sitcom The Texas Wheelers. He portrayed the oldest son, David, in the episode of Eight Is Enough, though the role was later performed by Grant Goodeve. He also had guest appearances on The Bill Cosby Show, The Partridge Family, Room 222 and he appeared in multiple television films such as The City, and Sarah T. - Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic, Robert Englund was auditioning for a role in Apocalypse Now when he walked across the hall where auditions were taking place for George Lucass Star Wars. After watching the auditions for a while, he realized that Hamill, his friend and he suggested to Hamill that he audition for the role, Hamill did and won the role. Released in May 1977, Star Wars was an unexpected success and had a huge effect on the film industry. Hamill also appeared in the Star Wars Holiday Special in 1978 and later starred in the successful sequels The Empire Strikes Back, during the time between the first two films, Hamill was involved in a serious automobile accident, fracturing his nose and left cheekbone. The injuries required surgery on his face which made him look different during the filming of The Empire Strikes Back
Mark Hamill
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Hamill at the 2015
San Diego Comic-Con International
Mark Hamill
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Hamill in
Amsterdam in 1980
Mark Hamill
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Hamill in 2011
Mark Hamill
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Hamill at a signing for The Black Pearl at Jim Hanley's Universe in
Manhattan, October 1996
7.
Carrie Fisher
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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
Carrie Fisher
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Fisher in 2013
Carrie Fisher
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Fisher with
Wim Wenders in 1978
8.
Anthony Daniels
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Anthony Daniels is an English actor and mime artist. He is known for playing C-3PO in the Star Wars film series and he is the only actor to have appeared in all of the major films in the series. Daniels was the voice of Legolas in the Ralph Bakshi animated adaptation of The Lord of the Rings and he has appeared intermittently on British television in various dramas, including playing a pathologist in Prime Suspect starring Helen Mirren. Daniels is currently a professor at Carnegie Mellon Universitys Entertainment Technology Center. Daniels was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England, the son of a company executive. He studied law for two years at university and then dropped out to participate in amateur dramatics and attend acting school, after leaving school in 1974, Daniels worked on BBC Radio and for the National Theatre of Great Britain at The Young Vic. Whilst working in the theatre, he was invited to meet director George Lucas who was casting for Star Wars, Daniels at first turned down the interview but was persuaded by his agent to meet Lucas. However, in a 2011 interview he said that he had watched it for longer than 10 minutes, in the same interview, he said he enjoyed post-apocalyptic films such as Mad Max. Daniels has played C-3PO in all of the Star Wars feature films from the installment in the series. Kenny Baker, who played R2-D2 in the series until his death in 2016, revealed that he and Daniels did not get along. In Star Wars Episode I, The Phantom Menace, he wore a blue Spandex costume so that editing of the movie his body could be turned into many different wires. Daniels voiced C-3PO in the Star Wars radio serial based on the original trilogy and he is the only cast member of the original Star Wars trilogy to voice his character in all three parts of NPRs dramatisations of the trilogy. He voiced C-3PO for four animated series, Droids, Star Wars, Clone Wars, Star Wars, The Clone Wars and he also provided the narration and all character voices for the audio books Dark Force Rising and The Last Command. Daniels contributed the foreword to the scripts of the Return of the Jedi radio drama. Daniels controlled the puppet for 2002s Star Wars, Episode II, Attack of the Clones, in this film and 2005s Star Wars, Episode III, Revenge of the Sith, he also performed the vocal tracks for scenes that featured a computer generated C-3PO. Daniels is the actor to act in the original seven films, the 2008 Clone Wars film. Daniels hosted the Star Wars, In Concert North American tour, Daniels also makes cameo appearances as a humanoid in two scenes of the feature films. His character, Lieutenant Dannl Faytonni, is named as a tribute to his own name, Faytonni can also be seen at the Galaxies Opera House in Star Wars, Episode III – Revenge of the Sith
Anthony Daniels
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Anthony Daniels, 2005
Anthony Daniels
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Daniels with fellow Star Wars actor
Warwick Davis in 2010.
Anthony Daniels
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Daniels in May 2011.
Anthony Daniels
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Anthony Daniels in 2013.
9.
Art Carney
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Arthur William Matthew Art Carney was an American actor in film, stage, television and radio. Carney, youngest of six sons was born in Mount Vernon, New York, the son of Helen and Edward Michael Carney and his family was Irish American and Roman Catholic. He attended A. B. Davis High School, Carney was drafted into the United States Army as an infantryman and machine gun crewman during World War II. During the Battle of Normandy serving in the 28th Infantry Division, he was wounded in the leg by shrapnel, as a result of the injury, his right leg was 3/4-inch shorter than his left. Carney was a singer with the Horace Heidt orchestra, which was heard often on radio during the 1930s, notably on the hugely successful Pot o Gold. Carneys film career began with a role in Pot o Gold. Carney, a mimic, worked steadily in radio during the 1940s, playing character roles. In 1941 he was the comic on the big band remote series. One of his radio roles during the 1940s was the first Red Lantern on Land of the Lost, in 1943 he played Billy Oldham on Joe and Ethel Turp, based on Damon Runyon stories. He appeared on The Henry Morgan Show in 1946–47 and he impersonated FDR on The March of Time and Dwight D. Eisenhower on Living 1948. In 1950–51 he played Montagues father on The Magnificent Montague and he was a supporting player on Casey, Crime Photographer and Gang Busters. On both the radio and television versions of The Morey Amsterdam Show, Carneys character Charlie the doorman became known for his catchphrase, in 1950, Jackie Gleason was starring in a New York–based comedy-variety series, Cavalcade of Stars, and played many different characters. Gleasons regular characters included Charlie Bratten, a lunchroom loudmouth who insisted on spoiling a neighboring patrons meal, Carney, established in New York as a reliable actor, played Brattens mild-mannered victim, Clem Finch. Gleason and Carney developed a working chemistry, and Gleason recruited Carney to appear in other sketches. Carney gained lifelong fame for his portrayal of sewer worker Ed Norton, the success of these skits resulted in the famous filmed situation comedy The Honeymooners, and the Honeymooners revivals that followed. He was nominated for seven Emmy Awards and won six, presley introduced Carney in the audience during his dinner show on August 13,1970. Between his stints with Gleason, Carney worked steadily as a character actor and he guest-starred on NBCs Henry Morgans Great Talent Hunt, The Martha Raye Show, The Dinah Shore Chevy Show, and many others, including as a mystery guest on Whats My Line. Which he attended dressed as Ed Norton, Carney also had his own NBC television variety show from 1959 to 1960
Art Carney
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Carney in 1959
Art Carney
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Carney (middle) as Ed Norton in The Honeymooners'
Art Carney
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Carney in "The Man in the Dog Suit" from his own NBC television show in 1959. The character was a meek man until he put on the dog costume
Art Carney
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Carney as The Archer on Batman
10.
Bea Arthur
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Beatrice Bea Arthur was an American actress, comedian, singer, and animal rights activist. Arthur achieved fame as the character Maude Findlay on the 1970s sitcoms All in the Family and Maude, and as Dorothy Zbornak on the 1980s sitcom The Golden Girls, winning Emmy Awards for both roles. A stage actress both before and after her success, she won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance as Vera Charles in the original cast of Mame. Beatrice Arthur was born Bernice Frankel on May 13,1922, to Rebecca and Philip Frankel in Brooklyn, Arthur was raised in a Jewish home with sisters Gertrude and Marian Kay. In 1933, the Frankel family relocated to Cambridge, Maryland, during World War II, she worked as a truck driver and typist in the United States Marine Corps Womens Reserve, receiving an Honorable Discharge in September 1945. From 1947, Arthur studied at the Dramatic Workshop of The New School in New York with German director Erwin Piscator, Arthur began her acting career as a member of an off Broadway theater group at the Cherry Lane Theatre in New York City in the late 1940s. She reprised the role in the unsuccessful 1974 film version opposite Lucille Ball, in 1981, she appeared in Woody Allens The Floating Light Bulb. She made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 1994 portraying the Duchess of Krakenthorp, in 1971, Arthur was invited by Norman Lear to guest-star on his sitcom All in the Family, as Maude Findlay, the cousin of Edith Bunker. An outspoken liberal feminist, Maude was the role to the conservative Republican character Archie Bunker. Nearly 50, Arthurs tart turn on All in the Family impressed viewers as well as executives at CBS who, she would later recall, lets give her her own series. That series, previewed in her second All in the Family appearance, the show, debuting in 1972, found her living in the affluent community of Tuckahoe, Westchester County, New York, with her fourth husband Walter and divorced daughter Carol. Her performance in the role garnered Arthur several Emmy and Golden Globe nominations, Maude would also earn a place for Arthur in the history of the womens liberation movement. A prime example is Maudes Dilemma, an episode airing near Thanksgiving of 1972 in which Maudes character grapples with a late-life pregnancy. Even though abortion was legal in New York State, it was illegal in other regions of the country and, as such. As a result, dozens of affiliates refused to broadcast the episode when it was originally scheduled, as a result, a reported 65 million viewers watched the two episode arc either in their first run that November or during the following summer as a rerun. The episode initially aired two months before the U. S. Supreme Court legalized the procedure nationwide in the Roe v. Wade outcome in January 1973, by 1978, however, Arthur decided to move on from the series. Later the same year, she costarred in Star Wars Holiday Special, in which she had a song and dance routine in the Mos Eisley Cantina. She hosted The Beatrice Arthur Special on CBS on January 19,1980 and her other roommates included widow Rose Nylund and Dorothys Sicilian mother, Sophia Petrillo
Bea Arthur
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Bea Arthur as Maude (1973)
Bea Arthur
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1943 United States Marine Corps identification card photo
Bea Arthur
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Bea Arthur as Maude, circa 1973
Bea Arthur
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Arthur in 2005
11.
Diahann Carroll
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She is the recipient of numerous stage and screen nominations and awards, including the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress In A Television Series in 1968. Carroll was born in the Bronx, New York, to John Johnson, of Aiken, South Carolina, when Carroll was an infant, the family moved to Harlem, where she grew up. She attended Music and Art High School, and was a classmate of Billy Dee Williams, in many interviews about her childhood, Diahann Carroll recalls her parents support of her and that they enrolled her in dance, singing, and modeling classes. By the time Diahann Carroll was 15, she was modeling for Ebony and she was tall, with a lean models build. After graduating from school, Diahann Carroll attended New York University. At the age of 18, Carroll got her big break when she appeared as a contestant on the Dumont Television Network program, Chance of a Lifetime, hosted by Dennis James. On the show which aired January 8,1954, Carroll took the $1,000 top prize for her rendition of the Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein song and she went on to win the following four weeks. Engagements at Manhattans Café Society and Latin Quarter nightclubs soon followed, carrolls film debut was a supporting role in Carmen Jones as a rival to the sultry lead character, Dorothy Dandridge. That same year, she starred in the Broadway musical, House of Flowers, in 1959, she played Clara in the film version of George Gershwins Porgy and Bess, but her characters singing parts were dubbed by opera singer Loulie Jean Norman. She made a guest appearance in the series Peter Gunn, in the 1960 episode Sing a Song of Murder and she starred with Sidney Poitier, Paul Newman, and Joanne Woodward in the 1961 film Paris Blues. In 1962, she won the Tony Award for best actress for the role of Barbara Woodruff in the Samuel A. Taylor, in 1974, she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for Claudine. Some of her work included appearances on shows hosted by Jack Paar, Merv Griffin, Johnny Carson, Judy Garland, and Ed Sullivan. In 1984, Carroll joined the soap opera Dynasty as the jetsetter Dominique Deveraux. Her high-profile role on Dynasty also reunited her with schoolmate Billy Dee Williams, Carroll remained on the show until 1987, simultaneously making several appearances on its short-lived spin-off, The Colbys. She received her third Emmy nomination in 1989 for the role of Marion Gilbert in A Different World. In 1991, Carrol played the role of Eleanor Potter, the wife of Jimmy Potter, portrayed by Chuck Patterson, in The Five Heartbeats, a musical drama film in which Jimmy manages a vocal group. In this role, Carroll was a doting, concerned, and protective wife alongside actor and musician Robert Townsend, Leon Michael Wright, and others. In a reunion with Billy Dee Williams in the TV series Lonesome Dove in 1995, she played Mrs. Greyson, in 1996, Carroll starred as the crazed silent movie star Norma Desmond in the Canadian production of Andrew Lloyd Webbers musical version of the classic film Sunset Boulevard
Diahann Carroll
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Photo by
Carl Van Vechten, 1955.
Diahann Carroll
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Carroll and
Sammy Davis, Jr. on The Hollywood Palace in 1968
12.
Harvey Korman
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Harvey Herschel Korman was an American comedic actor who performed in television and film productions and was also a voice artist. Korman, who was of Russian Jewish descent, was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Ellen and Cyril Raymond Korman and he served in the United States Navy during World War II. After being discharged, he studied at the Goodman School of Drama and he was a member of the Peninsula Players summer theater program during the 1950,1957, and 1958 seasons. Kormans first television role was as a waiter in The Donna Reed Show episode. He appeared as an exasperated public relations man in a January 1961 episode of the CBS drama Route 66. He frequently appeared as a player on The Danny Kaye Show from 1963 through 1967. He was cast three times, including the role of Dr. Allison in Who Needs Glasses. on ABCs The Donna Reed Show and he also guest-starred on Dennis the Menace and on the NBC modern western series, Empire. From 1964 to 1966, he appeared three times in years on the CBS comedy The Munsters starring Fred Gwynne and Yvonne De Carlo. During the 1965–1966 season, Korman made regular appearances on ABCs The Flintstones as The Great Gazoo in its season on network television. With the 1967 debut of The Carol Burnett Show, Korman saw his greatest fame and he was nominated for six Emmy Awards for his decade of work on The Burnett Show and won four times – in 1969,1971,1972 and 1974. He was also nominated for four Golden Globes for the series, while appearing on The Carol Burnett Show, Korman gained further fame by appearing as the villainous Hedley Lamarr in the 1974 film Blazing Saddles. He also starred in High Anxiety as Dr. Charles Montague, in 1980 he played Captain Blythe in the Walt Disney comedy, Herbie Goes Bananas. In 1981 he played Count de Monet in History of the World, in later years he did voice work for the live-action film The Flintstones as well as for the animated The Secret of NIMH2, Timmy to the Rescue. He also starred in the short-lived Mel Brooks TV series The Nutt House and he also reunited with fellow Carol Burnett Show alumnus Tim Conway, making a guest appearance on Conways 1980–1981 comedy-variety series The Tim Conway Show. The two later toured the U. S. reprising skits from the show as well as performing new material, a DVD of new comedy sketches by Korman and Conway, Together Again, was released in 2006. Korman and Conway had been inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 2002. Korman was married to Donna Ehlert from 1960 to 1977, and he married Deborah Korman in 1982 and was married to her until his death in 2008. They had two daughters together, Kate and Laura Korman, Korman died at the age of 81 on May 29,2008 at UCLA Medical Center, as the result of complications from a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm he had suffered four months earlier
Harvey Korman
–
Korman in 1969
13.
Jefferson Starship
–
Jefferson Starship is an American rock band formed in the early 1970s by several members of the former Jefferson Airplane. The band has several major changes in personnel and genres through the years while retaining the same Jefferson Starship name. It is not to be confused with Starship, a spin-off of the group featuring former co-lead singer Mickey Thomas that also periodically tours, in 1970, while Jefferson Airplane was on break from touring, singer-guitarist Paul Kantner recorded Blows Against the Empire. This was an album featuring an ad hoc group of musicians credited on the LP as Paul Kantner & Jefferson Starship. This agglomeration was informally known as the Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra, on Blows Against the Empire, Kantner and Slick sang about a group of people escaping Earth in a hijacked starship. In 1971, the album was nominated for the science fiction prize, the Hugo Award. Rolling Stone calls it a sci-fi song suite that now suffers from concept-album creakiness and it was while that album was being made that Kantner sealed his love affair with Grace Slick, their daughter China Kantner was born shortly thereafter. Bassist/keyboardist/vocalist David Freiberg was given equal billing alongside Kantner and Slick on the latter album, a founding member of Quicksilver Messenger Service, Freiberg had known and played with Kantner on the folk circuit in the early 1960s and sang background vocals on Blows Against the Empire. Early in 1974, Slick released Manhole, her first solo album and it was on that album that Kantner and Slick next worked with Pete Sears. Pete was co-producing a Kathi McDonald album in the same studio, Sears wrote the music to Graces raunchy lyrics Better Lying Down, recorded the song, and also played bass on the song Epic #38. It was during this session at Wally Heider studios in San Francisco that Paul first asked Pete to play with a new band he was forming that was later christened Jefferson Starship, after leaving the group, Chaquico embarked on a successful solo career as a smooth jazz artist. Kantner, Slick, and Freiberg were charter members, Marty Balin contributed the haunting ballad Caroline to their second album Dragon Fly, but did not join the band again until January 1975. Balin stayed with the group for nearly the remainder of the decade and this line-up proved to be the bands most commercially successful so far. Balins ballad Miracles helped 1975s Red Octopus reach multiple-platinum status and No.1 in the Billboard charts, creach left the band in August 1975 to pursue a solo career. The next album, Spitfire, was released in June 1976 and while it went platinum, RCA subsequently put a reported $500,000 into the next Jefferson Starship project. Earth was released in March 1978, and included the hit songs Count on Me, tours of the U. S. and Europe would soon follow. On the first night, fans ransacked the stage when Slick, on the second night, Slick, in a drunken stupor, shocked the audience by swearing and making sexual references throughout most of her songs. She also reminded the audience that their country had lost World War II, and implied that all residents of Germany were responsible for the wartime atrocities
Jefferson Starship
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Jefferson Starship performing in 2006
Jefferson Starship
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Papa John Creach in 1974
Jefferson Starship
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Craig Chaquico in 1974
Jefferson Starship
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Jefferson Starship lineup in 1976.
14.
David Prowse
–
David Prowse, MBE is an English bodybuilder, weightlifter and character actor in British film and television. Worldwide, he is best known for physically portraying Darth Vader in the original Star Wars trilogy, Prowse played the physical form of Darth Vader in the original Star Wars trilogy. Prowse claims he was told that he would be seen. Instead, actor Sebastian Shaw was used, Prowse reprised his role of Darth Vader for the video games Monopoly Star Wars and Star Wars, The Interactive Video Board Game. Prowse continues to associate himself with his role in the Star Wars films and is involved in the convention circuit. Despite this, he has not been included in recent reunions of the original cast, such as those for the Empire of Dreams documentary and the 2005 Vanity Fair cover. In July 2007, Prowse joined many others from the Star Wars films for the first ever Star Wars Celebration event held outside the United States and it was run by Lucasfilm Ltd. and the Cards Inc. Group, at the ExCeL Exhibition Centre in London, the occasion was to mark the 30th anniversary of Star Wars. Prowse played a cameo role in Star Wars fan films Order of the Sith, Vengeance and its sequel Downfall – Order of the Sith – alongside Jeremy Bulloch. These fanfilms were made in Britain in support of the charity Save the Children, in 2008, he was one of the cast members featured on Justin Lee Collinss Bring Back. Star Wars. In the film, Prowse commented that he had a dispute with George Lucas after he allegedly leaked reports of Darth Vaders death to the press, Prowse had previously suggested that Darth Vader could be Luke Skywalker’s father in a speech he gave to UC Berkeley in 1978. However, this was shortly after the release of Star Wars, gary Kurtz, the producer of The Empire Strikes Back, said in the 2015 documentary I Am Your Father that Prowses apparent plot spoiler was simply a good guess. Due to Hollywood accounting, the profits are sent as distribution fees to the studio. In July 2010, Prowse was banned by George Lucas from attending official Star Wars fan conventions, Lucas has reportedly given Prowse no reason, other than stating that Prowse burnt too many bridges between Lucasfilm and himself. A2015 Spanish documentary, by filmmaker Marcos Cabotá, entitled I Am Your Father, details Prowses current life and his blackballing by LucasFilm, the leaks featured in the documentary originated from a technician working on the films. Since 2002 Prowse has been an Honorary Member / Honorary Leader of the 501st Legion, within the United Kingdom, Prowse is also well known as the Green Cross Code Man, a superhero invented to promote a British road safety campaign for children in 1975. As a result of his association with the campaign, which ran between 1971 and 1990, he received the MBE in 2000. He had a role as F. Alexanders bodyguard Julian in the 1971 film A Clockwork Orange and he played a circus strongman in 1972s Vampire Circus, a Minotaur in the 1972 Doctor Who serial The Time Monster, and an android named Copper in The Tomorrow People in 1973
David Prowse
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David Prowse in 2013
David Prowse
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Darth Vader (Prowse) makes his first entrance in
Star Wars
David Prowse
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David Prowse in a role from an episode of the 1968 TV series
The Champions.
David Prowse
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Dave Prowse & Jayce Lewis 2015
15.
Don Francks
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Donald Harvey Don Francks, also known as Iron Buffalo, was a Canadian actor, singer, and jazz musician. Francks was born and raised in Burnaby, British Columbia, a suburb of Vancouver and he once attributed his voice talent and career to free elocution lessons by Muriel Davis from age eight. He performed in vaudeville, worked as a foundryman and was involved in summer stock before moving to Toronto, during his time in Hollywood he lived in Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles. An avid motorcycle rider, he had a collection of 12 antique cars and he was a poet, native nations champion, author and peace activist. Having quit drinking alcohol at the age of 21, Francks was a fan of marijuana, as a spokesman for Other Voices in mid-1960s, he investigated a boys murder at Saskatchewan Red Pheasant First Nation. He married and moved there with his wife, Lili Francks. He was adopted as a Cree, and named Iron Buffalo strong like iron, like the buffalo who knows where to go, is a good provider and good for his family. Since 1979, he lived in Toronto with wife Lili and their son Rainbow Sun and his daughter, actress Cree Summer, resides and works in Hollywood. He also had two children by his first marriage, Francks composed songs, and played the trombone, drums, and flute. In New York, he recorded Lost. and Alone, in August 1962, the Don Francks Trio with Lenny Breau debuted at Torontos Purple Onion. In 2004, Art of Life Records released a four decades-old recording as Live at the Purple Onion, a National Film Board documentary called Toronto Jazz 62 includes rehearsals and performances of two other groups. In 2010, he performed on CJRT-FM and recorded a podcast for the station called Jazz Genesis, in January 2013 he completed mixing a double live CD to be released in the fall of 2013. He performed in Toronto jazz clubs seasonally, including a stint for The TD Toronto Jazz Festival. Franckss acting career began with CBC Television as a regular on Burns Chuckwagon from the Stampede Corral and Riding High, in 1957 he had a part in the American series The Adventures of Tugboat Annie, then back to Canada in 1958 for Cannonball and Long Shot. In 1959-60 he starred in the CBC-TV series R. C. M. P, in 1968 he co-starred with Fred Astaire and Petula Clark in the film version of Finians Rainbow. This Land was a CBC-TV documentary series on Canadian nature, wildlife, natural resources and he portrayed writer Grey Owl, returning fifty years after his death to be disturbed by the ecological deterioration. From 1997 to 2001, he played Walter in La Femme Nikita, early television credits include, Mission, Impossible, Wild Wild West, and several other episodic television appearances. In the 2015 six-part series Gangland Undercover on the History Channel and his film work includes The Big Town, My Bloody Valentine and Johnny Mnemonic
Don Francks
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Francks in 1966.
16.
James Earl Jones
–
James Earl Jones is an American actor. His career has spanned more than 60 years, and he has described as one of Americas most distinguished and versatile actors. Since his Broadway debut in 1957, Jones has won awards, including a Tony Award. Jones has won three Emmy Awards, including two in the year in 1991, and he also earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role in the film version of The Great White Hope. He is also known for his roles as Darth Vader in the Star Wars film series and Mufasa in Disneys The Lion King as well as many other film, stage. As a child Jones had a stutter, in his episode of Biography, he said he overcame the affliction through poetry, public speaking, and acting, although it lasted for several years. A pre-med major in college, he went on to serve in the United States Army during the Korean War before pursuing a career in acting, on November 12,2011, he received an Honorary Academy Award. On November 9,2015, Jones received the Voice Arts Icon Award, Jones and his father reconciled many years later. His parents were African-American, and Jones has learned they also had Irish, from the age of five, Jones was raised by his maternal grandparents, John Henry and Maggie Connolly, who had moved from Mississippi and had a farm in Jackson, Michigan. Jones has described his grandmother, Maggie, as the most racist person I have ever known and his grandmother was of African-American, Cherokee and Choctaw ancestry. Jones found the transition to his grandparents in Michigan traumatic, when his family moved to Brethren, Michigan, a teacher helped him overcome his stutter. He remained functionally mute for eight years, until he entered high school and he credits his English teacher, Donald Crouch, who discovered he had a gift for writing poetry, with helping him end his silence. Crouch urged him to challenge his reluctance to speak, so my first year of school was my first mute year, and then those mute years continued until I got to high school. He joined the Reserve Officer Training Corps, and excelled and he felt comfortable within the structure of the military environment, and enjoyed the camaraderie of his fellow cadets in the Pershing Rifles Drill Team and Scabbard and Blade Honor Society. During the course of his studies, Jones discovered he was not cut out to be a doctor, after four years of college, Jones graduated from the university in 1955. With the war intensifying in Korea, Jones expected to be deployed as soon as he received his commission as a second lieutenant. As he waited for his orders, he worked as a stage crew hand at the Ramsdell Theatre in Manistee, Michigan. Jones was commissioned in mid-1953 and reported to Fort Benning to attend Infantry Officers Basic Course and he then attended Ranger School and received his Ranger Tab
James Earl Jones
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Jones in 2013
17.
John Williams
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John Towner Williams is an American composer, conductor, and pianist. T. The Extra-Terrestrial, the Indiana Jones series, Jurassic Park, Schindlers List, Williams has been associated with director Steven Spielberg since 1974, composing music for all but two of his feature films. Williams has won five Academy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, seven British Academy Film Awards, with 50 Academy Award nominations, Williams is the second most-nominated individual, after Walt Disney. In 2005, the American Film Institute selected Williams score to 1977s Star Wars as the greatest American film score of all time. The soundtrack to Star Wars was additionally preserved by the Library of Congress into the National Recording Registry, for being culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant. Williams was inducted into the Hollywood Bowls Hall of Fame in 2000, and was a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors in 2004, Williams composed the score for eight movies in the Top 20 highest-grossing films at the U. S. box office. John Towner Williams was born on February 8,1932 in Floral Park, New York, the son of Esther and Johnny Williams, Williams has said of his lineage, My father was a Maine man—we were very close. My fathers parents ran a department store in Bangor, Maine, people with those roots are not inclined to be lazy. In 1948, the Williams family moved to Los Angeles where John attended North Hollywood High School graduating in 1950 and he later attended the University of California, Los Angeles, and studied privately with the Italian composer Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. Williams had originally briefly attended Los Angeles City College for one semester as the school had a Studio Jazz Band. In 1952, Williams was drafted into the U. S. Air Force, in 1955, following his Air Force service, Williams moved to New York City and entered The Juilliard School where he studied piano with Rosina Lhévinne. During this time Williams worked as a jazz pianist in the many jazz clubs. After moving to Los Angeles he began working as a session musician, Williams has two brothers, Donald and Jerry, both of whom work as percussionists in Los Angeles. After his studies at Juilliard, and the Eastman School of Music, Williams returned to Los Angeles, among other composers, Williams worked with Franz Waxman, Bernard Herrmann, and Alfred Newman, and also with his fellow orchestrators Conrad Salinger and Bob Franklyn. Williams was also a studio pianist, performing on film scores by composers such as Jerry Goldsmith, Elmer Bernstein, Williams recorded with Henry Mancini the film scores of 1959s Peter Gunn, 1962s Days of Wine and Roses, and 1963s Charade. Williamss first film composition was for the 1958 B movie Daddy-O and he soon gained notice in Hollywood for his versatility in composing jazz, piano, and symphonic music. Williams received his first Academy Award nomination for his score for 1967s Valley of the Dolls. Williams broke through to win his first Academy Award for his score in the 1971 film Fiddler on the Roof
John Williams
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Williams at the Avery Fisher Hall in 2007
John Williams
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Williams at the Boston Symphony Hall after conducting the Boston Pops, May 2006
John Williams
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John Williams conducting the score to Raiders of the Lost Ark in the Avery Fisher Hall.
John Williams
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Williams signing an autograph after a concert
18.
Star Wars
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Star Wars is an American epic space opera franchise, centered on a film series created by George Lucas. It depicts the adventures of characters a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. The franchise began in 1977 with the release of the film Star Wars and it was followed by the successful sequels The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, these three films constitute the original Star Wars trilogy. A prequel trilogy was released between 1999 and 2005, which received mixed-to-negative reactions, a sequel trilogy began in 2015 with the release of Star Wars, The Force Awakens. All seven films were nominated for Academy Awards and have been successes, with a combined box office revenue of over $7.5 billion. Spin-off films include Star Wars, The Clone Wars and Rogue One, Star Wars also holds a Guinness World Records title for the Most successful film merchandising franchise. In 2015, the value of the Star Wars franchise was estimated at USD $42 billion. In 2012, The Walt Disney Company acquired Lucasfilm for $4.06 billion and earned the rights to all subsequent Star Wars films. Walt Disney Studios owns digital distribution rights to all the Star Wars films, the events depicted in the Star Wars franchise take place in an unnamed fictional galaxy at an undetermined point in the distant past. Many species of creatures are depicted. Robotic droids are also commonplace and are built to serve their owners. Space travel is common, and many planets in the galaxy are members of a single galactic government. In the prequel trilogy, this is depicted in the form of the Galactic Republic, at the end of the trilogy and throughout the original trilogy. Preceding and during the trilogy, this government is the New Republic. One of the prominent elements of Star Wars is the Force and it is described in the first produced film as an energy field created by all living things surrounds us, penetrates us, binds the galaxy together. While the Force can be used for good, known as the side, it also has a dark side that, when pursued, imbues users with hatred, aggression. The sequel trilogy introduces the Knights of Ren, an order of practitioners of the side of the Force aligned with the First Order. The first film in the series, Star Wars, was released on May 25,1977 and this was followed by two sequels, The Empire Strikes Back, released on May 21,1980, and Return of the Jedi, released on May 25,1983
Star Wars
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A street performer in costume as
Darth Vader in
Amsterdam. Vader is one of the most iconic characters of the Star Wars franchise.
Star Wars
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The Star Wars logo as seen in all films
Star Wars
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George Lucas, the creator of Star Wars
Star Wars
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John Williams, composer of the musical
scores for all six films of the original and prequel trilogies.
19.
20th Century Fox Television
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Twentieth Century Fox Television is the television production subsidiary of 20th Century Fox, and a production arm of the Fox Television Group. 20th Television is the arm of 20th Century Fox Television. 20th Century Fox Television was formed in 1949 as other studios were branching out into production as well. At that time, the company was known as TCF Television Productions, since 1986, 20th Century Fox Television has served as the Fox television networks official production arm, producing the bulk of television series airing on the television network. TCFTV produced the first two series aired on Foxs sister network, MyNetworkTV, the telenovelas Desire and Fashion House. In 1989, 20th Century Fox Televisions functions were taken over by Twentieth Television Corporation, both companies were subsidiaries of News Corporation unit Fox Inc. the move was made to separate the television productions from the movie studio in order to increase the latters output. In 1998, MTM folded into 20th Century Fox Television, notable shows produced by 20th Century Fox Television include, M*A*S*H, Glee, How I Met Your Mother, Bones, Empire, Family Guy,24, Modern Family, This Is Us, American Dad. Sundance Fred Astaire Salutes the Fox Musicals If I Love You, Am I Trapped Forever. S. A
20th Century Fox Television
–
Twentieth Century Fox Television, Inc.
20.
Nelvana
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Nelvana Ltd. is a Canadian entertainment company founded in 1971 and known for its work in childrens animation. It was named by founders Michael Hirsh, Patrick Loubert and Clive A. Smith after a Canadian comic book created by Adrian Dingle in the 1940s. The companys production logo is a bear looking at the North Star. Corus Entertainment, a spin-off from Shaw Communications, has owned the company since September 2000, most of its films, shows and specials are based on licensed properties, mainly childrens literature, but original programming is also part of its roster. It ventured into the world of action from its establishment. Nelvana also distributes internationally six Nickelodeon shows, Oh Yeah, cartoons, Taina, The Fairly OddParents, ChalkZone, My Life as a Teenage Robot, and Danny Phantom. As of 2001, its library comprises more than 1,650 cumulative half-hours of original programming, the company has international offices in France, Ireland and Japan. Nelvana’s content has aired in over 150 countries and has received over 70 major international awards including Emmys. Nelvana started in 1971 when two graduates of York University, Michael Hirsh and Patrick Loubert, teamed up with a Vitaphone animator-designer Clive A. Smith in Toronto, Ontario. Hirsh and Loubert, who had a passion for filmmaking, had founded a small company called Laff Arts in the late 1960s. Smith, whose interest was in rock n roll music, had previously been among the crew for the Beatles animated series and their 1968 film, Yellow Submarine. Hirsh has commented on the background of Nelvanas founding, Clive is an animator, at the time, there was no production industry per se in Canada, either in animation or in television production. There were stations making local shows, but you didnt have people making programs for sale around the world, so, blissfully unaware of all it would involve, we decided to start a company in Toronto. Soon after they saw a collection of comic books from the 1940s. In turn, they made a television documentary for the CBC focusing on Canadian comics. Their two-year travelling tour of the art from the National Gallery of Canada, Comic Art Traditions in Canada, 1941-45, meanwhile, Hirsh and Loubert collaborated on a related primer from Peter Martin and Associates, The Great Canadian Comic Books. A derelict apartment in downtown Toronto served as the companys first building, to create zooms, Hirsh recalled of his early experience with this machine, we would pile up phone books under the art work. Under those conditions, Nelvana was involved in the production of documentaries, in the area of part-time animation work, they made ten C$1,500 fillers for the CBC
Nelvana
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Concept art of the planned Doctor Who animated series by Nelvana
Nelvana
–
current logo since 2004
Nelvana
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Video poster for Nelvana's 1997 film based on
Astrid Lindgren 's
Pippi Longstocking
21.
CBS
–
CBS is an American commercial broadcast television network that is a flagship property of CBS Corporation. The company is headquartered at the CBS Building in New York City with major facilities and operations in New York City. CBS is sometimes referred to as the Eye Network, in reference to the iconic logo. It has also called the Tiffany Network, alluding to the perceived high quality of CBS programming during the tenure of William S. Paley. It can also refer to some of CBSs first demonstrations of color television, the network has its origins in United Independent Broadcasters Inc. a collection of 16 radio stations that was purchased by Paley in 1928 and renamed the Columbia Broadcasting System. Under Paleys guidance, CBS would first become one of the largest radio networks in the United States, in 1974, CBS dropped its former full name and became known simply as CBS, Inc. In 2000, CBS came under the control of Viacom, which was formed as a spin-off of CBS in 1971, CBS Corporation is controlled by Sumner Redstone through National Amusements, which also controls the current Viacom. The television network has more than 240 owned-and-operated and affiliated stations throughout the United States. The origins of CBS date back to January 27,1927, Columbia Phonographic went on the air on September 18,1927, with a presentation by the Howard Barlow Orchestra from flagship station WOR in Newark, New Jersey, and fifteen affiliates. Operational costs were steep, particularly the payments to AT&T for use of its land lines, in early 1928 Judson sold the network to brothers Isaac and Leon Levy, owners of the networks Philadelphia affiliate WCAU, and their partner Jerome Louchenheim. With the record out of the picture, Paley quickly streamlined the corporate name to Columbia Broadcasting System. He believed in the power of advertising since his familys La Palina cigars had doubled their sales after young William convinced his elders to advertise on radio. By September 1928, Paley bought out the Louchenheim share of CBS, during Louchenheims brief regime, Columbia paid $410,000 to A. H. Grebes Atlantic Broadcasting Company for a small Brooklyn station, WABC, which would become the networks flagship station. WABC was quickly upgraded, and the relocated to 860 kHz. The physical plant was relocated also – to Steinway Hall on West 57th Street in Manhattan, by the turn of 1929, the network could boast to sponsors of having 47 affiliates. Paley moved right away to put his network on a financial footing. In the fall of 1928, he entered talks with Adolph Zukor of Paramount Pictures. The deal came to fruition in September 1929, Paramount acquired 49% of CBS in return for a block of its stock worth $3.8 million at the time
CBS
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Paley's management saw a twentyfold increase in gross income in his first decade.
CBS
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Wholesome
Kate Smith, Paley's choice for La Palina Hour, was unthreatening to home and hearth
CBS
–
When
Charlie Chaplin finally allowed the world to hear his voice after 20 years of mime, he chose CBS's airwaves to do it on.
CBS
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CBS west coast headquarters reflected its industry stature while hosting its top Hollywood talent.
22.
Musical film
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The musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline. The musical film was a development of the stage musical after the emergence of sound film technology. Typically, the biggest difference between film and stage musicals is the use of background scenery and locations that would be impractical in a theater. Musical films characteristically contain elements reminiscent of theater, performers often treat their song, in a sense, the viewer becomes the diegetic audience, as the performer looks directly into the camera and performs to it. The 1930s through the early 1950s are considered to be the age of the musical film. Musical short films were made by Lee de Forest in 1923–24, beginning in 1926, thousands of Vitaphone shorts were made, many featuring bands, vocalists and dancers. The Jazz Singer, released in 1927 by Warner Brothers, was the first to include a track including non-diegetic music and diegetic music. This feature-length film was also a musical, featuring Al Jolson singing Dirty Hands, Dirty Face, Toot, Toot, Tootsie, Blue Skies and My Mammy. Historian Scott Eyman wrote, As the film ended and applause grew with the houselights and she saw terror in all their faces, she said, as if they knew that the game they had been playing for years was finally over. Still, only isolated sequences featured live sound, most of the film had only a musical score. In 1928, Warner Brothers followed this up with another Jolson part-talkie, The Singing Fool, theaters scrambled to install the new sound equipment and to hire Broadway composers to write musicals for the screen. The first all-talking feature, Lights of New York, included a sequence in a night club. The enthusiasm of audiences was so great that in less than an all the major studios were making sound pictures exclusively. The Broadway Melody had a plot about two sisters competing for a charming song-and-dance man. Advertised by MGM as the first All-Talking, All-Singing, All-Dancing feature film, it was a hit, there was a rush by the studios to hire talent from the stage to star in lavishly filmed versions of Broadway hits. The Love Parade starred Maurice Chevalier and newcomer Jeanette MacDonald, written by Broadway veteran Guy Bolton, Warner Brothers produced the first screen operetta, The Desert Song in 1929. They spared no expense and photographed a large percentage of the film in Technicolor and this was followed by the first all-color, all-talking musical feature which was entitled On with the Show
Musical film
–
Film poster for
Top Hat (1935)
Musical film
–
Bollywood dances usually follow or are choreographed to
filmi songs.
23.
Science fiction film
–
Science fiction films have often been used to focus on political or social issues, and to explore philosophical issues like the human condition. The genre has existed since the years of silent cinema. The next major example in the genre was the film Metropolis - being the first feature length science fiction movie, from the 1930s to the 1950s, the genre consisted mainly of low-budget B movies. After Stanley Kubricks landmark 2001, A Space Odyssey, the fiction film genre was taken more seriously. This definition suggests a continuum between empiricism and transcendentalism, with science fiction film on the side of empiricism, and horror film, however, there are numerous well-known examples of science fiction horror films, epitomized by such pictures as Frankenstein and Alien. The visual style of fiction film can be characterized by a clash between alien and familiar images. This clash is implemented when alien images become familiar, as in A Clockwork Orange, as well, familiar images become alien, as in the films Repo Man and Liquid Sky. For example, in Dr. Strangelove, the, distortion of the make the familiar images seem more alien. Finally, alien and familiar images are juxtaposed, as in The Deadly Mantis, Science fiction films appeared early in the silent film era, typically as short films shot in black and white, sometimes with colour tinting. They usually had a theme and were often intended to be humorous. In 1902, Georges Méliès released Le Voyage dans la Lune, generally considered the first science fiction film, several early films merged the science fiction and horror genres. Examples of this are Frankenstein, a adaptation of Mary Shelleys novel. Taking a more adventurous tack,20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is a based on Jules Verne’s famous novel of a wondrous submarine. In the 1920s, European filmmakers tended to use science fiction for prediction and social commentary, as can be seen in German films such as Metropolis and Frau im Mond. In the 1930s, there were big budget science fiction films, notably Just Imagine, King Kong, Things to Come. Starting in 1936, a number of science fiction comic strips were adapted as serials, notably Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers and these serials, and the comic strips they were based on, were very popular with the general public. Other notable science fiction films of the 1930s include Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, Doctor X, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, F. P. The 1940s brought us Before I Hang, Black Friday, Dr. Cyclops, The Devil Commands, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Man Made Monster, It Happened Tomorrow, It Happens Every Spring and The Perfect Woman
Science fiction film
–
1927's
Metropolis by
Fritz Lang was one of the first feature length science fiction films in history. It was produced at
Studio Babelsberg, Germany. (Photo shows the statue of the film figure Maria at Filmpark Babelsberg)
Science fiction film
–
Science fiction films
Science fiction film
–
Peter Sellers as the title character from
Dr. Strangelove
Science fiction film
–
Transformers characters at
Universal Studios Hollywood
24.
Star Wars galaxy
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Star Wars is an American epic space opera franchise, centered on a film series created by George Lucas. It depicts the adventures of characters a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. The franchise began in 1977 with the release of the film Star Wars and it was followed by the successful sequels The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, these three films constitute the original Star Wars trilogy. A prequel trilogy was released between 1999 and 2005, which received mixed-to-negative reactions, a sequel trilogy began in 2015 with the release of Star Wars, The Force Awakens. All seven films were nominated for Academy Awards and have been successes, with a combined box office revenue of over $7.5 billion. Spin-off films include Star Wars, The Clone Wars and Rogue One, Star Wars also holds a Guinness World Records title for the Most successful film merchandising franchise. In 2015, the value of the Star Wars franchise was estimated at USD $42 billion. In 2012, The Walt Disney Company acquired Lucasfilm for $4.06 billion and earned the rights to all subsequent Star Wars films. Walt Disney Studios owns digital distribution rights to all the Star Wars films, the events depicted in the Star Wars franchise take place in an unnamed fictional galaxy at an undetermined point in the distant past. Many species of creatures are depicted. Robotic droids are also commonplace and are built to serve their owners. Space travel is common, and many planets in the galaxy are members of a single galactic government. In the prequel trilogy, this is depicted in the form of the Galactic Republic, at the end of the trilogy and throughout the original trilogy. Preceding and during the trilogy, this government is the New Republic. One of the prominent elements of Star Wars is the Force and it is described in the first produced film as an energy field created by all living things surrounds us, penetrates us, binds the galaxy together. While the Force can be used for good, known as the side, it also has a dark side that, when pursued, imbues users with hatred, aggression. The sequel trilogy introduces the Knights of Ren, an order of practitioners of the side of the Force aligned with the First Order. The first film in the series, Star Wars, was released on May 25,1977 and this was followed by two sequels, The Empire Strikes Back, released on May 21,1980, and Return of the Jedi, released on May 25,1983
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A street performer in costume as
Darth Vader in
Amsterdam. Vader is one of the most iconic characters of the Star Wars franchise.
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The Star Wars logo as seen in all films
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George Lucas, the creator of Star Wars
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John Williams, composer of the musical
scores for all six films of the original and prequel trilogies.
25.
Star Wars (film)
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Star Wars is a 1977 American epic space opera film written and directed by George Lucas. The first installment in the Star Wars film series, it stars Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Peter Cushing, David Prowse, James Earl Jones, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, and Peter Mayhew co-star in supporting roles. The plot focuses on the Rebel Alliance, led by Princess Leia, and its attempt to destroy the Galactic Empires space station and this conflict disrupts the isolated life of farmhand Luke Skywalker, who inadvertently acquires a pair of droids that possess stolen architectural plans for the Death Star. Star Wars was released theatrically in the United States on May 25,1977 and it earned $461 million in the U. S. and $314 million overseas, totaling $775 million. It surpassed Jaws to become the film of all time until the release of E. T. the Extra-Terrestrial. When adjusted for inflation, Star Wars is the film in North America. It received ten Academy Award nominations, winning seven and it was among the first films to be selected as part of the U. S. Library of Congress National Film Registry as being culturally, historically, at the time, it was the most recent film on the registry and the only one chosen from the 1970s. Its soundtrack was added to the U. S. National Recording Registry in 2004, today, it is often regarded as one of the best films of all time, as well as one of the most important films in the history of motion pictures. It launched an industry of tie-in products, including TV series spinoffs, novels, comic books, and video games, the films success led to two critically and commercially successful sequels, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. A prequel trilogy was released between 1999 and 2005, followed by a trilogy beginning in 2015. In 2016, Rogue One was released as a prequel to the original Star Wars film. The galaxy is in the midst of a civil war, spies for the Rebel Alliance have stolen plans to the Galactic Empires Death Star, a heavily armed space station capable of destroying an entire planet. Rebel leader Princess Leia has the plans, but her ship is captured by Imperial forces under the command of the evil Darth Vader, before she is captured, Leia hides the plans in the memory of an astromech droid, R2-D2, along with a holographic recording. R2-D2 flees to the surface of the desert planet Tatooine with C-3PO, the droids are captured by Jawa traders, who sell them to moisture farmers Owen and Beru Lars and their nephew Luke Skywalker. While cleaning R2-D2, Luke accidentally triggers part of Leias message, the next morning, Luke finds R2-D2 searching for Obi-Wan, and meets Ben Kenobi, an old hermit who lives in the hills and reveals himself to be Obi-Wan. Contrary to his uncles statements, Luke learns that his father, Anakin, Obi-Wan tells Luke that Vader was his former pupil who turned to the dark side of the Force and killed Anakin. Obi-Wan then presents to Luke his fathers weapon – a lightsaber, Obi-Wan views Leias complete message, in which she begs him to take the Death Star plans to her home planet of Alderaan and give them to her father for analysis
Star Wars (film)
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Theatrical release poster by
Tom Jung
Star Wars (film)
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From left: Luke Skywalker (
Mark Hamill), Princess Leia (
Carrie Fisher), and Han Solo (
Harrison Ford)
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Anthony Daniels (pictured here in 2005) was convinced to take the role of the droid C-3PO after seeing a design drawing of the character's face
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George Lucas, the director and writer of Star Wars, shown here in 2007. He was unsuccessful in
pitching his idea to several major Hollywood studios because it was "a little strange". Eventually, Lucas presented the treatment to
20th Century Fox, and the film was approved.
26.
Boba Fett
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Boba Fett is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise. In The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, he is a bounty hunter hired by Darth Vader and he was also added briefly to the original film Star Wars when the film was digitally remastered. Star Wars, Episode II – Attack of the Clones establishes his origin as a clone of the bounty hunter Jango Fett raised as his son. His aura of danger and mystery has created a following for the character. Boba Fett first appeared at the September 20,1978, San Anselmo Country Fair parade and he also appears in Marvel Comics Star Wars newspaper strip. Bobas first canon appearance was in The Empire Strikes Back as the major villain behind Darth Vader. Fett tracks the Millennium Falcon to Cloud City, where Vader captures its passengers and tortures its captain, wanting to collect a bounty on Solo, Fett confronts Vader about whether Solo will survive carbon freeze. Vader promises that the Empire will compensate Fett if Solo dies, after Solo is determined to be alive, in the digitally remastered Special Edition version of the original Star Wars, Boba Fett briefly appears outside the Millennium Falcon while Jabba confronts Han Solo. The 2002 film Star Wars, Episode II – Attack of the Clones revealed that Boba Fett is an unaltered child clone whom Jango Fett raises as his son, Boba helps Jango escape from Obi-Wan Kenobi, but later witnesses Jangos decapitation by Mace Windu. Boba Fett also appears in the CGI animated series Star Wars, Boba is featured during the second-season finale, and later the fourth season. In the 2017 novel Star Wars, Aftermath, Empires End, in November 2016, Disney announced that the contract with Josh Trank was terminated due to Josh Tranks behavior on the set of Fantastic Four. It was reported that the film was still in stage of development at Lucasfilm with the film being filmed in London, Boba appears extensively in the non-Star Wars canonical Star Wars Legends expanded universe of novels, comic books, and video games. The young adult Fett book series released after Clones depicts Fett taking his fathers ship, some Expanded Universe stories released before Attack of the Clones depict other accounts of Fetts origins. These stories include him being a stormtrooper who killed his commanding officer, a leader of the fabled Mandalorian warriors, and Jaster Mereel, karen Traviss novel Bloodlines, published four years after Clones, states that Fett seeded some of these false backstories himself. Various video games and books depict Fetts work as a bounty hunter, for which he charges famously expensive fees and that he undertakes only when the mission meets his harsh sense of justice. K. W. Jeters Bounty Hunter Wars trilogy depicts Fett as more communicative than in the films because the books plots require Fett to show an ability to convince people as well as kill them. Works such as Dark Horse Comics Dark Empire series describe Fett escaping from the Sarlacc and he would have occasional run-ins with Han Solo and his family over the years, before fighting against the Yuuzhan Vong and becoming the leader of the Mandalorians. In the Legacy of the Force series, Jaina Solo asks Fett to train her to help her defeat her corrupted brother and ends up helping fight against Jacens troops
Boba Fett
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Jeremy Bulloch as Boba Fett
27.
Chewbacca
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Chewbacca, nicknamed Chewie, is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise. He is a Wookiee, a tall, hirsute biped and intelligent species from the planet Kashyyyk, Chewbacca is the loyal friend and associate of Han Solo, and serves as co-pilot on Solos spaceship, the Millennium Falcon. The character has appeared on television, in books, comics. To repay this debt, Chewbacca protected Han for the rest of his life, standing at 8 feet tall, Chewbacca is covered with long hair, and wears only a bandolier. His weapon of choice is the Wookiee bowcaster, Chewbacca was named one of the greatest sidekicks in film history by Entertainment Weekly. In Italy the name of Chewbacca was changed to Chewbecca and his nickname is Chewbe, Chewbaccas creation as a gentle, hairy, non-English-speaking co-pilot was inspired by George Lucas seeing his own dog sitting up on the passenger seat of his car. It is said that Chewbaccas name is derived from собака, the Russian word for dog, in all five screen appearances, Chewbacca was played by Peter Mayhew, who was chosen for his height of 73. Five identical costumes were made for Mayhew, in the three films and a holiday special, the suits were made of yak hair and mohair. In Revenge of the Sith, the suit was made of more comfortable materials, only Mayhews blue eyes could be seen in his costume, but fans easily recognize him by his gestures, and his co-workers claimed the ability to tell when a stand-in was taking his place. Chewbaccas voice was created by the films sound designer, Ben Burtt, from recordings of walruses, lions, camels, bears, rabbits, tigers. The individual recordings were mixed at different ratios for Chewbaccas different utterances, one of the most prominent elements in the voice was a black bear named Tarik, from Happy Hollow Zoo in San Jose, California. The original costume was created by Stuart Freeborn and his wife Kay Freeborn, First appearing in Star Wars, Chewbacca and Han Solo accept a charter to take Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and droids C-3PO and R2-D2 to the planet Alderaan. When they find the destroyed by the Death Star, the two smugglers are drawn into the Rebel Alliance. As part of a plan to rescue Leia, Luke tries to put handcuffs on Chewbacca to make it look like hes a prisoner. Chewbacca almost attacks Luke believing him to be selling him and Solo out, after rescuing Leia and taking her to the rebel base on Yavin IV, the two smugglers are given reward money in the value of a payload lost by him to which he owes Jabba The Hutt. Somehow, Chewbacca is able to convince Han to put his debt to Jabba aside for the time being and they manage to save Luke from being killed, also allowing him to be the one to destroy the space station. In The Empire Strikes Back, Chewbacca finds a dismantled C-3PO in a pile in Cloud City. He later tries to him, but does a terrible job at it
Chewbacca
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Chewbacca in
Star Wars
28.
Han Solo
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Han Solo is a character in the Star Wars franchise. In the original trilogy, Han and his co-pilot, Chewbacca. During the course of the Star Wars story, he becomes a figure in the Alliance. Star Wars creator George Lucas described the character as a loner who realizes the importance of being part of a group and helping for the common good. Han owes crime lord Jabba the Hutt a great deal of money and has a price on his head, Han and his passengers are attacked by Imperial stormtroopers, but escape by accelerating to light speed. When they arrive at Alderaan, however, they discover that the planet has been destroyed, the Falcon is then captured and held within the Death Star, a moon-sized battle station constructed by the Empire. Han and company hide from detection inside the Falcons smuggling bays and they discover that Princess Leia Organa is a prisoner on board, and Luke convinces Han to help rescue her by promising him a huge reward. They rescue Leia and escape, though Obi-Wan is killed by Sith Lord Darth Vader, after delivering Luke, Leia, C-3PO, and R2-D2 to the Rebel Alliance, Han and Chewbacca receive a payment for their services and prepare to leave. Luke asks Han to stay and help the Rebels attack the Death Star, Han has a change of heart and returns to save Lukes life during the films climactic battle scene, ultimately enabling Luke to destroy the Death Star. For his heroics, Han is presented with a medal of honor, Han helps Chewbacca join his family on the Wookiee homeworld Kashyyyk. He faces Imperial forces on Kashyyyk, and later joins Luke, Leia, R2-D2, C-3PO, Chewbacca, Han returns with the Rebel Alliance to Echo Base on the frozen planet of Hoth. While out on patrol with Luke, they witness a meteor strike the surface, Han returns to base while Luke decides to investigate. Han informs Leia and the General of Echo Base that he must leave in order to clear his debt with Jabba, before he can depart, it is discovered that Luke has not returned from his reconnaissance. Han rides out alone into the frozen Hoth wastelands, soon finding Luke badly injured, using his friends lightsaber, Han cuts open his tauntaun, providing Luke warmth while he builds a shelter until they can be rescued the next morning. Later, Han and Chewbacca are sent out to investigate another meteor strike and they discover that the meteor is actually an Imperial Probe Droid. The two succeed in destroying the probe, but not before the Empire is alerted to the location of Echo Base, when the Empire attacks Echo Base, Han, Chewie, Leia, and C-3PO narrowly escape on board the Millennium Falcon. Han evades a squad of Imperial TIE fighters by flying through an asteroid field, Han and Leia fall in love during the long journey. They manage to hide from the Imperial fleet long enough to escape, bounty hunter Boba Fett secretly follows the Falcon during this getaway
Han Solo
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Harrison Ford as Han Solo in
Star Wars
29.
Galactic Empire (Star Wars)
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The Galactic Empire, often referred to simply as the Empire, is a fictional dictatorship featured in the Star Wars franchise. It was first introduced in the 1977 film Star Wars and also appears in its two sequels, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi and is the main antagonist faction of the original trilogy. By the time of the trilogy, which starts three decades following the events of the original trilogy, the government has collapsed and is remembered as the Old Empire. Palpatine is also secretly the Sith Lord Darth Sidious who intends to purge the Jedi, Palpatines Sith identity is only known by a small few throughout his life. Palpatine claims that the Jedi attempted to assassinate him and overthrow the Galactic Senate, the Senate that he has manipulated overwhelmingly applauds Palpatines decision. Emperor Palpatine proceeds to purge the Jedi, who had been the upholders of peace and justice in the Republic, by the time of Episode IV, A New Hope, the Empire has transformed into a fully totalitarian regime, opposed by the Rebel Alliance. The Galactic Empire was born out of the collapsing Old Republic, the crisis on Naboo allows Palpatine to be elected Chancellor. When the extent of the Separatist threat becomes clear in Episode II, the Old Republic Senate and this conflict allows Palpatine to remain in office long after his term as Chancellor officially expires. Palpatine promises to return his powers to the Senate once peace and his first order is to create an army of clone troopers resulting in the construction of a massive military. He takes advantage of the conflict to increase his political power, the Jedi begin to distrust the Chancellors motives, fearing he has come under the influence of a Dark Lord of the Sith named Darth Sidious. Palpatine insists to the Jedi that the war, and thus his emergency powers and their concerns are shared by several Senators, who suspect Palpatine may not return his emergency powers to the Senate as promised. Among them are two who had long supported Palpatine, Padmé Amidala and Bail Organa, the film eventually reveals that Palpatine and Sidious are one and the same, and that he has been manipulating the Republic and the Separatists against each other. When the Jedi apprentice Anakin Skywalker discovers Palpatine is actually the mysterious Sith lord Darth Sidious, Windu then leaves with three other Masters to arrest Palpatine, instructing Anakin to remain at the temple. Mace Windu, with a cadre of Jedi, enters Palpatines office and declares that he is under arrest, Palpatine dispenses with his false modest persona and reveals his power-hungry nature, retorting I am the Senate. Palpatine quickly produces a lightsaber and dispatches all but Windu, when Anakin arrives, Windu is standing over the disarmed Palpatine, prepared to strike. Anakin intervenes on Palpatines behalf by cutting off Windus hand, allowing Palpatine to send Windu plunging to his death with a blast of Force lightning, Anakin then submits to the dark side of the Force, becoming Palpatines third Sith apprentice, Darth Vader. Palpatine declares the Jedi to be traitors and enemies of the Republic, and issues Order 66, led by Darth Vader, the Grand Army of the Republic, who once took orders from the Jedi, all but exterminate the Jedi Order in a massive galaxy-wide slaughter. Secure in his power and position, Palpatine reorganizes the Republic into the Galactic Empire, a deleted scene in the film establishes that the two are among the main founders of the Rebel Alliance, which later arises in A New Hope
Galactic Empire (Star Wars)
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Augustus in the robes and cloak of his position as
Pontifex Maximus
Galactic Empire (Star Wars)
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Emblem of the Galactic Empire
Galactic Empire (Star Wars)
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Reichsfuhrer SS Heinrich Himmler in black SS uniform, visiting a
concentration camp. Star Wars and History published by Lucasfilm says that
Darth Vader 's relationship with
Palpatine is alike
Himmler 's relationship with
Hitler. Mary Henderson in Star Wars: The Magic of Myth contends that
Darth Vader 's all-black uniform and his devout obedience to the Emperor has allusion to
Nazi Germany 's SS.
30.
Rebel Alliance
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The Alliance to Restore the Republic is an interstellar revolutionary faction in the fictional universe of Star Wars. Their goal was to seize the Alliance forces, the Rebel Alliance was first featured as the main protagonist-faction in the 1977 film Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. The origins of the Alliance to Restore the Republic are told during the events of Revenge of the Sith, the group included Bail Organa, Padmé Amidala, and Mon Mothma, amongst others. Amidala was, at the time, the most famous and prominent of the group and she realized that this made her a target and later advised the others to go quiet in their dissent and exclude her from any future proceedings. The young senator died in premature childbirth not long after her attempt to prevent Anakin Skywalkers fall. The show focuses on a group of rebels that band together aboard a freighter starship called Ghost. By the end of the first season, it is revealed there are various cells that are resisting the Empire. Senator Bail Organa of Alderaan and former Jedi Ahsoka Tano both play a role in coordinating them, during the events of Rogue One and the original Star Wars, the Alliance learns of the construction of the Death Star, an enormous battle station intended to secure the Empires power. With the help of the Rogue One squad led by Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor, right after the battle, the Tantive IV, an Alderaanian cruiser carrying Princess Leia is captured by the Imperial fleet while attempting to deliver the Death Star Plans to Bail Organa on Alderaan. The Princess is subsequently rescued by Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Chewbacca, and Obi-Wan Kenobi and this leads directly to the Alliances victory in the Battle of Yavin and the loyalty of Luke Skywalker, the Rebellions only remaining member with training in the Force. In The Empire Strikes Back, the Alliance suffers a defeat on Hoth when one of their main command centers. The remaining forces of the Rebellion are forced to stay mobile, using Admiral Ackbars flagship, Home One, by Return of the Jedi, the Rebel Alliance has regrouped and learned that a new Death Star is being constructed, and will be completed under Emperor Palpatines personal supervision. Mon Mothma has Admiral Ackbar and Lando Calrissian command the Alliance fleet and dispatches Han Solo and Princess Leia to disable the stations defenses, the Alliance subsequently wins the Battle of Endor, in which Darth Vader, Emperor Palpatine, and much of the Imperial hierarchy are destroyed. Thus, the Empire is essentially defeated, and the Rebellion liberates most of the galaxy, by The Force Awakens, the New Republic has formed from the Rebellion. The Resistance, an army backed up by the New Republic and successor of the Alliance, is formed to stand against the First Order, a new military power formed by remnants from the Old Empire. The incident begins when an Imperial military cruiser commanded by Captain Wilhuff Tarkin is blocked by peaceful anti-Empire protesters who refuse to move off the landing pad. With implied permission from the Emperor, Tarkin lands the ship anyway, injuring and killing many, the myriad of civilizations which are fighting the Empire continue to grow in number and progressively coalesce into a ragtag organization known as the Resistance. They intend upon removing the evil Emperor, but the growing ruthlessness of the Imperial state forces them into secrecy and these Rebel starfighters were equipped with hyperdrive capability along prearranged routes which would allow this kind of harassment and escape before the Empire may react
Rebel Alliance
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Emblem of the Rebel Alliance
