1.
Los Angeles
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Los Angeles, officially the City of Los Angeles and often known by its initials L. A. is the cultural, financial, and commercial center of Southern California. With a census-estimated 2015 population of 3,971,883, it is the second-most populous city in the United States, Los Angeles is also the seat of Los Angeles County, the most populated county in the United States. The citys inhabitants are referred to as Angelenos, historically home to the Chumash and Tongva, Los Angeles was claimed by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo for Spain in 1542 along with the rest of what would become Alta California. The city was founded on September 4,1781, by Spanish governor Felipe de Neve. It became a part of Mexico in 1821 following the Mexican War of Independence, in 1848, at the end of the Mexican–American War, Los Angeles and the rest of California were purchased as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, thereby becoming part of the United States. Los Angeles was incorporated as a municipality on April 4,1850, the discovery of oil in the 1890s brought rapid growth to the city. The completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913, delivering water from Eastern California, nicknamed the City of Angels, Los Angeles is known for its Mediterranean climate, ethnic diversity, and sprawling metropolis. Los Angeles also has an economy in culture, media, fashion, science, sports, technology, education, medicine. A global city, it has been ranked 6th in the Global Cities Index, the city is home to renowned institutions covering a broad range of professional and cultural fields, and is one of the most substantial economic engines within the United States. The Los Angeles combined statistical area has a gross metropolitan product of $831 billion, making it the third-largest in the world, after the Greater Tokyo and New York metropolitan areas. The city has hosted the Summer Olympic Games in 1932 and 1984 and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics and thus become the second city after London to have hosted the Games three times. The Los Angeles area also hosted the 1994 FIFA mens World Cup final match as well as the 1999 FIFA womens World Cup final match, the mens event was watched on television by over 700 million people worldwide. The Los Angeles coastal area was first settled by the Tongva, a Gabrielino settlement in the area was called iyáangẚ, meaning poison oak place. Gaspar de Portolà and Franciscan missionary Juan Crespí, reached the present site of Los Angeles on August 2,1769, in 1771, Franciscan friar Junípero Serra directed the building of the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, the first mission in the area. The Queen of the Angels is an honorific of the Virgin Mary, two-thirds of the settlers were mestizo or mulatto with a mixture of African, indigenous and European ancestry. The settlement remained a small town for decades, but by 1820. Today, the pueblo is commemorated in the district of Los Angeles Pueblo Plaza and Olvera Street. New Spain achieved its independence from the Spanish Empire in 1821, during Mexican rule, Governor Pío Pico made Los Angeles Alta Californias regional capital
2.
California
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California is the most populous state in the United States and the third most extensive by area. Located on the western coast of the U. S, California is bordered by the other U. S. states of Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona and shares an international border with the Mexican state of Baja California. Los Angeles is Californias most populous city, and the second largest after New York City. The Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nations second- and fifth-most populous urban regions, California also has the nations most populous county, Los Angeles County, and its largest county by area, San Bernardino County. The Central Valley, an agricultural area, dominates the states center. What is now California was first settled by various Native American tribes before being explored by a number of European expeditions during the 16th and 17th centuries, the Spanish Empire then claimed it as part of Alta California in their New Spain colony. The area became a part of Mexico in 1821 following its war for independence. The western portion of Alta California then was organized as the State of California, the California Gold Rush starting in 1848 led to dramatic social and demographic changes, with large-scale emigration from the east and abroad with an accompanying economic boom. If it were a country, California would be the 6th largest economy in the world, fifty-eight percent of the states economy is centered on finance, government, real estate services, technology, and professional, scientific and technical business services. Although it accounts for only 1.5 percent of the states economy, the story of Calafia is recorded in a 1510 work The Adventures of Esplandián, written as a sequel to Amadis de Gaula by Spanish adventure writer Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. The kingdom of Queen Calafia, according to Montalvo, was said to be a land inhabited by griffins and other strange beasts. This conventional wisdom that California was an island, with maps drawn to reflect this belief, shortened forms of the states name include CA, Cal. Calif. and US-CA. Settled by successive waves of arrivals during the last 10,000 years, various estimates of the native population range from 100,000 to 300,000. The Indigenous peoples of California included more than 70 distinct groups of Native Americans, ranging from large, settled populations living on the coast to groups in the interior. California groups also were diverse in their organization with bands, tribes, villages. Trade, intermarriage and military alliances fostered many social and economic relationships among the diverse groups, the first European effort to explore the coast as far north as the Russian River was a Spanish sailing expedition, led by Portuguese captain Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, in 1542. Some 37 years later English explorer Francis Drake also explored and claimed a portion of the California coast in 1579. Spanish traders made unintended visits with the Manila galleons on their trips from the Philippines beginning in 1565
3.
John McEnroe
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John Patrick McEnroe Jr. is an American former World No.1 professional tennis player, often rated among the greatest players of all time in the sport, especially for his touch on the volley. He won seven Grand Slam singles titles, nine Grand Slam mens doubles titles and he also won a record eight year-end championships,19 Grand Prix Super Series titles, and finished his career with 77 ATP-listed singles titles and 78 in doubles. In 1981,1983 and 1984 he was both the ATP player of the year and the ITF World Champion for Mens singles and his match record of 82–3 in 1984 remains the best single season win rate of the Open Era. McEnroe is a former Captain of the United States Davis Cup team and he continues to play tennis and competes in senior events on the ATP Champions Tour. He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1999, after his tennis career he became a television commentator, a game show host and a chat show host. Additionally, he has appeared in films and television shows as himself and has played music live. He has been married since 1997 to musician and former Scandal lead singer Patty Smyth, McEnroe was born in Wiesbaden, Hessen, West Germany, to American parents, John Patrick McEnroe Sr. and his wife Kay, née Tresham. His father, who is of Irish descent, was at the time stationed with the United States Air Force, in 1960, the family moved to the New York City area, where McEnroes father worked daytime as an advertising agent while attending Fordham Law School by night. He has two brothers, Mark and former professional tennis player Patrick. McEnroe grew up in Douglaston, Queens, New York City and he started playing tennis when he was eight, at the nearby Douglaston Club with his brothers. When he was nine, his parents enrolled him in the Eastern Lawn Tennis Association and he then began competing in national juniors tournaments, and at twelve—when he was ranked seven in his age group—he joined the Port Washington Tennis Academy, Long Island, New York. McEnroe attended Trinity School and graduated in 1977 and it was the best performance by a qualifier at a Grand Slam tournament and a record performance by an amateur in the open era. After Wimbledon in 1977, McEnroe entered Stanford University and won the National Collegiate Athletic Association singles, later in 1978, he joined the ATP tour and signed his first professional endorsement deal, with Sergio Tacchini. He again advanced to the semifinals at a Grand Slam, this time the US Open, following which, he proceeded to win five titles that year, including his first Masters Grand Prix, beating Arthur Ashe in straight sets. In 1979, McEnroe won the Wimbledon Doubles title, the duo later adding the 1979 US Open Doubles title to their haul as well, McEnroe won his first Grand Slam singles title at the US Open. He defeated his friend Vitas Gerulaitis in straight sets in the final to become the youngest male winner of the title at the US Open since Pancho Gonzales. He also won the prestigious season-ending WCT Finals, beating Björn Borg in four sets, McEnroe won 10 singles and 17 doubles titles that year. At Wimbledon, McEnroe reached the 1980 Wimbledon Mens Singles final—his first final at Wimbledon—where he faced Björn Borg, at the start of the final, McEnroe was booed by the crowd as he entered Centre Court following heated exchanges with officials during his semifinal victory over Jimmy Connors
4.
Academy Awards
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The various category winners are awarded a copy of a golden statuette, officially called the Academy Award of Merit, which has become commonly known by its nickname Oscar. The awards, first presented in 1929 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, are overseen by AMPAS, the awards ceremony was first broadcast on radio in 1930 and televised for the first time in 1953. It is now live in more than 200 countries and can be streamed live online. The Academy Awards ceremony is the oldest worldwide entertainment awards ceremony and its equivalents – the Emmy Awards for television, the Tony Awards for theater, and the Grammy Awards for music and recording – are modeled after the Academy Awards. The 89th Academy Awards ceremony, honoring the best films of 2016, were held on February 26,2017, at the Dolby Theatre, in Los Angeles, the ceremony was hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and was broadcast on ABC. A total of 3,048 Oscars have been awarded from the inception of the award through the 88th, the first Academy Awards presentation was held on May 16,1929, at a private dinner function at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel with an audience of about 270 people. The post-awards party was held at the Mayfair Hotel, the cost of guest tickets for that nights ceremony was $5. Fifteen statuettes were awarded, honoring artists, directors and other participants in the industry of the time. The ceremony ran for 15 minutes, winners were announced to media three months earlier, however, that was changed for the second ceremony in 1930. Since then, for the rest of the first decade, the results were given to newspapers for publication at 11,00 pm on the night of the awards. The first Best Actor awarded was Emil Jannings, for his performances in The Last Command and he had to return to Europe before the ceremony, so the Academy agreed to give him the prize earlier, this made him the first Academy Award winner in history. With the fourth ceremony, however, the system changed, for the first six ceremonies, the eligibility period spanned two calendar years. At the 29th ceremony, held on March 27,1957, until then, foreign-language films had been honored with the Special Achievement Award. The 74th Academy Awards, held in 2002, presented the first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, since 1973, all Academy Awards ceremonies always end with the Academy Award for Best Picture. The Academy also awards Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, see also § Awards of Merit categories The best known award is the Academy Award of Merit, more popularly known as the Oscar statuette. The five spokes represent the branches of the Academy, Actors, Writers, Directors, Producers. The model for the statuette is said to be Mexican actor Emilio El Indio Fernández, sculptor George Stanley sculpted Cedric Gibbons design. The statuettes presented at the ceremonies were gold-plated solid bronze
5.
Westwood, Los Angeles
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Westwood is a commercial and residential neighborhood in the northern central portion of the Westside region of Los Angeles, California. It is the home of the University of California, Los Angeles, the 2000 census found the forty-seven thousand people living in the neighborhood were generally young and moderately diverse ethnically, with a generally high level of income and education. The neighborhood was developed after 1919, with a new campus of the University of California opened in 1926, other attractions besides the UCLA campus include Westwood Village, with its historic motion picture theaters, restaurants and shopping, Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery and the Hammer Museum. Holmby Hills is considered one of the wealthiest residential areas in Los Angeles, a Mormon temple is also prominent. There are several schools and one middle school in the neighborhood. The 2010 U. S. census counted 47,916 residents in the 3. 68-square-mile Westwood neighborhood—or 13,036 people per square mile, in 2008, the city estimated that the population had increased to 52,041. The median age for residents was 27, considered young for the city, the neighborhood was considered moderately diverse ethnically, with a high percentage of Asians and of whites. The breakdown was whites,62. 9%, Asians,23. 1%, Latinos,7. 0%, blacks,2. 0%, and others,4. 9%. Iran and Taiwan were the most common places of birth for the 31. 3% of the residents who were born abroad—about the same percentage as in the city at large, the median yearly household income in 2008 dollars was $68,716, a high figure for Los Angeles. The percentages of households that earned $125,000 yearly and higher or that earned $20,000 or less were high for Los Angeles County, the average household size of two people was low for Los Angeles. Renters occupied 64. 1% of the stock and house- or apartment owners held 35. 9%. The percentages of never-married men and women were among the countys highest, in 2000 there were 309 families headed by single parents, a low percentage for the city. Five percent of the population had served in the military, a low figure for both the city and the county, the southern portion of Holmby Hills is also part of the Westwood district. Upon Arthur Letts death, his son-in-law, Harold Janss, vice president of Janss Investment Company, inherited the land and developed the area and started advertising for new homes in 1922. The tract comprises approximately 1000 residential and business lots, situated west of the Los Angeles Country Club on Santa Monica Boulevard, the selection of a new campus in the Westwood hills was announced on March 21,1925. The owners of the estate, the Janss brothers, agreed to sell the property for approximately $1 million, municipal bond measures passed by Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills and Venice provided for that amount. Proposition 10, a bond measure passed that year, provided $3 million for new campus construction. Thus the predecessor of the University of California, Los Angeles, was established in Westwood and her killer, Durrell DeWitt Collins,23, was sentenced to two concurrent terms of 27 years to life in prison
6.
Farrah Fawcett
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Farrah Fawcett was an American actress and artist. In 1996, she was ranked No.26 on TV Guides 50 Greatest TV stars of All-Time, Fawcett began her career in 1968 in commercials and guest roles on television. During the 1970s, she appeared in television series, including recurring roles on Harry O. Her breakthrough role came in 1976, when she was cast as Jill Munroe in the ABC series Charlies Angels, alongside Kate Jackson, the show propelled all three to stardom, but especially Fawcett. After appearing in only the first season, Fawcett decided to leave the show led to legal disputes. Eventually she signed a contract requiring her to make six guest appearances in the shows third, for her role in Charlies Angels she received her first Golden Globe nomination. In 1983, Fawcett received positive reviews for her performance in the Off-Broadway play Extremities and she was subsequently cast in the 1986 film version and received a Golden Globe nomination. She received two Emmy Award nominations for her roles in TV movies, as a wife in the 1984 film The Burning Bed. Her 1980s work in TV movies also earned her four additional Golden Globe nominations, in 1997, she gained some negative press for a rambling appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman, but also garnered strong reviews for her role in the film The Apostle with Robert Duvall. She continued in numerous TV series, including recurring roles in the sitcom Spin City, for the latter, she received her third Emmy nomination. Her film roles include, Love Is a Funny Thing, Myra Breckinridge, Logans Run, Sunburn, Saturn 3, The Cannonball Run, Extremities, The Apostle, and Dr. T & the Women. Fawcett was diagnosed with cancer in 2006, the 2009 NBC documentary Farrahs Story chronicled her battle with the disease. She posthumously earned her fourth Emmy nomination for her work as a producer on the documentary, Fawcett was born in Corpus Christi, Texas, the younger of two daughters. Her mother, Pauline Alice Fawcett, was a homemaker, and her father and her elder sister was Diane Fawcett Walls, a graphic artist. She was of Irish, French, English and Choctaw Native American ancestry, Fawcett once said the name Farrah was made up by her mother because it went well with their last name. Another theory is that her father, an oilman, reportedly named her Farah after the Arabic word for joy, a Roman Catholic, Fawcetts early education was at the parish school of the church her family attended, St. Patricks Roman Catholic Church in Corpus Christi. Ray High School in Corpus Christi, where she was voted most beautiful by her classmates her freshman, sophomore, junior, for three years, she attended the University of Texas at Austin, studying art. She lived at Madison House on 22nd street, west of campus, during her freshman year, she was named one of the ten most beautiful coeds on campus, the first time a freshman had been chosen
7.
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
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The Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. It is given in honor of an actress who has delivered a performance in a supporting role while working within the film industry. At the 9th Academy Awards ceremony held in 1937, Gale Sondergaard was the first winner of award for her role in Anthony Adverse. Initially, winners in both supporting acting categories were awarded instead of statuettes. Beginning with the 16th ceremony held in 1944, however, winners received full-sized statuettes, currently, nominees are determined by single transferable vote within the actors branch of AMPAS, winners are selected by a plurality vote from the entire eligible voting members of the Academy. Since its inception, the award has given to 78 actresses. Dianne Wiest and Shelley Winters have received the most awards in this category with two awards each, despite winning no awards, Thelma Ritter was nominated on six occasions, more than any other actress. As of the 2017 ceremony, Viola Davis is the most recent winner in category for her role as Rose Maxson in Fences. In the following table, the years are listed as per Academy convention, and generally correspond to the year of release in Los Angeles County. Toronto, Ontario, Canada, University of Toronto Press, inside Oscar, The Unofficial History of the Academy Awards. New York, United States, Ballantine Books, oscars. org Oscar. com The Academy Awards Database
8.
Great Depression
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The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression that took place during the 1930s. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, in most countries it started in 1929 and it was the longest, deepest, and most widespread depression of the 20th century. In the 21st century, the Great Depression is commonly used as an example of how far the economy can decline. The depression originated in the United States, after a fall in stock prices that began around September 4,1929. Between 1929 and 1932, worldwide GDP fell by an estimated 15%, by comparison, worldwide GDP fell by less than 1% from 2008 to 2009 during the Great Recession. Some economies started to recover by the mid-1930s, however, in many countries, the negative effects of the Great Depression lasted until the beginning of World War II. The Great Depression had devastating effects in both rich and poor. Personal income, tax revenue, profits and prices dropped, while international trade plunged by more than 50%, unemployment in the U. S. rose to 25% and in some countries rose as high as 33%. Cities all around the world were hit hard, especially dependent on heavy industry. Construction was virtually halted in many countries, farming communities and rural areas suffered as crop prices fell by about 60%. Facing plummeting demand with few sources of jobs, areas dependent on primary sector industries such as mining and logging suffered the most. Even after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 optimism persisted for some time, john D. Rockefeller said These are days when many are discouraged. In the 93 years of my life, depressions have come, prosperity has always returned and will again. The stock market turned upward in early 1930, returning to early 1929 levels by April and this was still almost 30% below the peak of September 1929. Together, government and business spent more in the first half of 1930 than in the period of the previous year. On the other hand, consumers, many of whom had suffered losses in the stock market the previous year. In addition, beginning in the mid-1930s, a severe drought ravaged the agricultural heartland of the U. S, by mid-1930, interest rates had dropped to low levels, but expected deflation and the continuing reluctance of people to borrow meant that consumer spending and investment were depressed. By May 1930, automobile sales had declined to below the levels of 1928, prices in general began to decline, although wages held steady in 1930
9.
Walter Matthau
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He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the 1966 Billy Wilder film The Fortune Cookie. Besides the Oscar, he was the winner of BAFTA, Golden Globe, Matthau was born Walter John Matthow on October 1,1920, in New York Citys Lower East Side. His mother, Rose, was a Lithuanian Jewish immigrant who worked in a garment sweatshop, as part of a lifelong love of practical jokes, Matthau himself created the rumors that his middle name was Foghorn and his last name was originally Matuschanskayasky. As a young boy, Matthau attended a Jewish non-profit sleepaway camp, Tranquillity Camp and he also attended Surprise Lake Camp. His high school was Seward Park High School and he worked for a short time as a concession stand cashier in the Yiddish Theatre District. He was based at RAF Old Buckenham, Norfolk during this time and he reached the rank of staff sergeant and became interested in acting. He took classes in acting at the Dramatic Workshop of The New School with German director Erwin Piscator and he often joked that his best early review came in a play where he posed as a derelict. One reviewer said, The others just looked like actors in make-up, Matthau was a respected stage actor for years in such fare as Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter. He won the 1962 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a play, Matthau appeared in the pilot of Mister Peepers with Wally Cox. For reasons unknown he used the name Leonard Elliot and his role was of the gym teacher Mr. Wall. He made his motion picture debut as a bad guy in The Kentuckian opposite Burt Lancaster. He played a villain in King Creole, in which he gets beaten up by Elvis Presley, around the same time, he made Ride a Crooked Trail with Audie Murphy, and Onionhead starring Andy Griffith, the latter was a flop. Matthau had a role opposite Griffith in the well received drama A Face in the Crowd. Matthau also directed a movie called The Gangster Story and was a sympathetic sheriff in Lonely Are the Brave. He appeared opposite Audrey Hepburn in Charade, appearances on television were common too, including two on Naked City, as well as an episode of The Eleventh Hour. He appeared eight times between 1962 and 1964 on The DuPont Show of the Week and as Franklin Gaer in an episode of Dr. Kildare, additionally he featured in the syndicated crime drama Tallahassee 7000, as a Florida-based state police investigator. Comedies were rare in Matthaus work at that time, Neil Simon cast him in the play The Odd Couple in 1965, with Matthau playing slovenly sportswriter Oscar Madison, opposite Art Carney as Felix Unger. Matthau later reprised the role in the version, with Jack Lemmon as Felix Ungar
10.
Christopher Plummer
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Arthur Christopher Orme Plummer CC is a Canadian theatre, film and television actor. After making his debut in Stage Struck, Plummer went on to a successful film career. Plummer has ventured into television projects, including the miniseries The Thorn Birds. Plummer has won awards and accolades for his work, including an Academy Award. With his win at age 82 in 2012 for Beginners, Plummer is the oldest actor ever to win an Academy Award and his fathers uncle was patent lawyer and agent F. B. Plummers parents were divorced shortly after his birth, and he was brought up at the Abbott family home in Senneville, Quebec and he is bilingual, speaking English and French fluently. Plummer is a cousin of actor Nigel Bruce, the British actor, best known as Doctor Watson to Basil Rathbones Sherlock Holmes. He had studied to be a concert pianist, but developed a love for the theatre at an early age and he began acting while he was living on Pine Avenue in Montreal and attending Montreal High. He attended McGill, at time he also took up acting. Whittaker, who was also stage director of the Montreal Repertory Theatre, cast Plummer, aged 18. Plummer made his Broadway debut in January 1953 in The Starcross Story and his next Broadway appearance, Home is the Hero, lasted 30 performances from September to October 1954. He appeared in support of Broadway legend Katharine Cornell and film legend Tyrone Power in The Dark is Light Enough, the play toured several cities, with Plummer serving as Powers understudy. Later that same year, he appeared in his first Broadway hit, Plummer appeared less frequently on Broadway in the 1960s as he moved from New York to London. From May to June 1973, he appeared on Broadway as the character in Cyrano. For that performance, Plummer won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical, later that year, he played Anton Chekhov in Neil Simons adaptation of several Chekhov short stories, The Good Doctor. In the 1980s, he appeared on Broadway in two Shakespearean tragedies, Othello, playing Iago to James Earl Jones Moor, and the role in Macbeth with Glenda Jackson playing his lady. His Iago brought him another Tony nomination and he appeared with Jason Robards in the 1994 revival of Harold Pinters No Mans Land and had great success in 1997 in Barrymore, which he also toured with after a successful Broadway run. His turn as John Barrymore brought him his second Tony Award and he was nominated for a Tony Award and a Drama Desk Award for his 2004 King Lear and for a Tony playing Henry Drummond in the 2007 revival of Inherit the Wind
11.
Anthony Hopkins
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Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins CBE, is a Welsh actor of film, stage, and television. In 1968, he got his break in film in The Lion in Winter, since 2016, he has starred in the critically acclaimed HBO television series Westworld. Along with his Academy Award, Hopkins has won three BAFTA Awards, two Emmys, and the Cecil B, in 1993, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for services to the arts. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2003, Hopkins was born on New Years Eve 1937, in Margam, a suburb of Port Talbot, Glamorgan. His parents were Annie Muriel and Richard Arthur Hopkins, a baker and his school days were unproductive, he would rather immerse himself in art, such as painting and drawing, or playing the piano, than attend to his studies. In 1949, to discipline, his parents insisted he attend Jones West Monmouth Boys School in Pontypool. He remained there for five terms and was educated at Cowbridge Grammar School in the Vale of Glamorgan. Hopkins was influenced and encouraged by Welsh compatriot Richard Burton, whom he met at the age of 15, Hopkins promptly enrolled at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in Cardiff, from which he graduated in 1957. After two years in the British Army doing his national service, he moved to London, where he trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Hopkins made his first professional appearance in the Palace Theatre, Swansea. In 1965, after years in repertory, he was spotted by Laurence Olivier. Hopkins became Oliviers understudy, and filled in when Olivier was struck with appendicitis during a production of August Strindbergs The Dance of Death, despite his success at the National, Hopkins tired of repeating the same roles nightly and yearned to be in films. He made his debut in a 1967 BBC broadcast of A Flea in Her Ear. His first starring role in a film came in 1964 in Changes, in 1968, he got his break in The Lion in Winter playing Richard I. Although Hopkins continued in theatre he gradually moved away from it to more established as a television. He portrayed Charles Dickens in the BBC television film The Great Inimitable Mr. Dickens in 1970, and Pierre Bezukhov in the BBCs mini series War and Peace. In 1972 he starred as British politician David Lloyd George in Young Winston, in 1980, he starred in The Elephant Man as the English doctor Sir Frederick Treves, who attends to Joseph Merrick, a severely deformed man in 19th century London. That year he starred opposite Shirley MacLaine in A Change of Seasons
12.
Richard Burton
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Richard Burton, CBE was a Welsh actor who was noted for his mellifluous baritone voice. Burton established himself as a formidable Shakespearean actor in the 1950s and he was called the natural successor to Olivier by critic and dramaturge Kenneth Tynan. An alcoholic, Burtons failure to live up to those expectations disappointed critics and colleagues, Burton was nominated for an Academy Award seven times, but never won an Oscar. He was a recipient of BAFTAs, Golden Globes, and Tony Awards for Best Actor, Burton remains closely associated in the public consciousness with his second wife, actress Elizabeth Taylor. The couples turbulent relationship was rarely out of the news, Burton was born Richard Walter Jenkins, Jr. on 10 November 1925 in a house at 2 Dan-y-bont in Pontrhydyfen, Neath Port Talbot. He was the twelfth of thirteen born to Richard Walter Jenkins Sr. Jenkins Sr. called Daddy Ni by the family, was a miner, while his mother worked as a bartender at a pub called the Miners Arms. He remembered his mother to be a strong woman and a religious soul with fair hair. Richard was barely two years old when his mother died on 31 October, six days after the birth of Graham, Ediths death was a result of postpartum infections, Richard believed it occurred due to hygiene neglect. According to biographer Michael Munn, Edith was fastidiously clean, following Ediths death, Richards elder sister Cecilia, whom he affectionately addressed as Cis, and her husband Elfed James, also a miner, took him under their care. I was immensely proud of her and she felt all tragedies except her own. Daddy Ni would occasionally visit the homes of his daughters but was otherwise absent. Another important figure in Richards early life was Ifor, his brother,19 years his senior, a miner and rugby union player, Ifor ruled the household with the proverbial firm hand. He was also responsible for nurturing a passion for Rugby in young Richard, although Richard also played cricket, tennis, and table tennis, biographer Bragg notes rugby union football to be his greatest interest. On rugby, Richard said he would rather have played for Wales at Cardiff Arms Park than Hamlet at The Old Vic, the Welsh rugby union centre, Bleddyn Williams believed Richard had distinct possibilities as a player. From the age of five to eight, Richard was educated at the Eastern Primary School while he attended the Boys segment of the school from eight to twelve years old. He took an exam for admission into Port Talbot Secondary School in March 1937. Biographer Hollis Alpert notes that both Daddy Ni and Ifor considered Richards education to be of paramount importance and planned to send him to the University of Oxford, Richard became the first member of his family to go to secondary school
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