1.
James Garner
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James Garner was an American actor, producer, and voice artist. Garner was born in Norman, Oklahoma on April 7,1928 and he was the youngest of three sons of Weldon Warren Bumgarner and Mildred Scott. His older brothers were Jack Garner and Charles Bumgarner, an administrator who died in 1984. His mother died when he was 5 years old, after their mothers death, Garner and his brothers were sent to live with relatives. Garner was reunited with his family in 1934, when Weldon remarried, Garner came to hate one of his stepmothers, Wilma, who beat all three boys. He said that his stepmother also punished him by forcing him to wear a dress in public, when he was 14 years old, he fought with her, knocking her down and choking her to keep her from killing him in retaliation. She left the family and never returned and his brother Jack later commented, She was a damn no-good woman. Garners last stepmother was Grace, whom he said he loved and called Mama Grace, after the war, Garner joined his father in Los Angeles and enrolled at Hollywood High School, where he was voted the most popular student. A high school gym teacher recommended him for a job modeling Jantzen bathing suits and it paid well, but in his first interview for the Archives of American Television, he said he hated modeling, he soon quit and returned to Norman. He played football and basketball at Norman High School), and competed on the track, however, he dropped out in his senior year. In a 1976 Good Housekeeping magazine interview, he admitted, I was a student and I never actually graduated from high school. Shortly after his fathers marriage to Wilma broke up, his father moved to Los Angeles, leaving Garner, after working at several jobs he disliked, Garner joined the United States Merchant Marine at age 16 near the end of World War II. He liked the work and his shipmates, but he suffered from chronic seasickness, Garner enlisted in the California Army National Guard, serving his first 7 months in California. He then went to Korea for 14 months, as a rifleman in the 5th Regimental Combat Team during the Korean War, Garner received the Purple Heart in Korea for the first wound. He qualified for a second Purple Heart, but he did not actually receive it until 1983,32 years after the event, Garner was a self-described scrounger for his company in Korea, a role he later played in The Great Escape and The Americanization of Emily. During the week of Garners death, TCM broadcast most of his movies, introduced by Robert Osborne, Garner subsequently moved to television commercials and eventually to television roles. His first film appearances were in The Girl He Left Behind, Boyne, a librarian from 1997, and involved a 1997 Almanac that was mistakenly left in the past by Boyne and found by Johnny in a bookstore. He changed his last name from Bumgarner to Garner after the studio had credited him as James Garner without permission and he then legally changed it upon the birth of his first child, when he decided she had too many names
2.
Mario Andretti
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Mario Gabriele Andretti is an Italian-born American former racing driver, one of the most successful Americans in the history of the sport. He is one of two drivers to have won races in Formula One, IndyCar, World Sportscar Championship and NASCAR. He also won races in cars, and sprint cars. During his career, Andretti won the 1978 Formula One World Championship, four IndyCar titles, No American has won a Formula One race since Andrettis victory at the 1978 Dutch Grand Prix. Andretti had 109 career wins on major circuits, Andretti had a long career in racing. He was the person to be named United States Driver of the Year in three decades. He was also one of three drivers to have won major races on road courses, paved ovals, and dirt tracks in one season. With his final IndyCar win in April 1993, Andretti became the first driver to have won IndyCar races in four different decades and the first to win automobile races of any kind in five. In American popular culture, his name has become synonymous with speed, as with Barney Oldfield in the twentieth century. Mario Andretti and his twin brother Aldo were born to Alvise Andretti, a farm administrator, Istria was then part of the Kingdom of Italy, but it was annexed by Yugoslavia at the end of World War II, as confirmed by the Treaty of Paris. The Andretti family left Montona in 1948, during the Istrian exodus, ending up in a camp in Lucca. They emigrated to the United States of America in 1955, settling in Nazareth in Pennsylvanias Lehigh Valley with just $125 to their name, Andretti became a naturalized United States citizen in 1964. In 1945, at the age of five, he and Aldo were racing their hand-crafted wooden cars through the streets of their hometown. It was a feeling I cant describe, I still get it every time I get into a race car. Andrettis first racing experience was in a new youth racing league called Formula Junior in Ancona, however, the Formula Junior story is likely apocryphal. In an interview during an RRDC Evening with Mario Andretti, Mr. Mario, the twins worked on a 1948 Hudson Commodore modified funded by money that they earned in their uncles garage in 1959. They took turns racing the old Hudson on oval dirt tracks near Nazareth in 1959 and they did not tell their parents that they were racing. The twins each had two wins after their first four races, Aldo was seriously hurt near the end of the season, and their parents were unhappy to find out that the twins were racing
3.
Bob Bondurant
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Robert Bob Bondurant is an American former racecar driver who raced for the Shelby American, Ferrari and Eagle teams. During his teens, Bondurant raced an Indian motorcycle on dirt ovals, in 1956 he switched to sports car racing with a Morgan and started to attract attention when he won the West Coast B production Championship, in a Chevrolet Corvette winning 18 out of 20 races. Santa Barbara Chevrolet dealer Shelly Washburn hired Bondurant in 1961 to drive his #6141959 Corvette, some of the best Corvette racing duels were between him and David McDonald on the West Coast during the early 1960s. Times Grand Prix in October 1962, Bondurant drove Washburns new 1963 Corvette Z06 Stingray, between 1961 and 1963, he won 30 out of 32 races in Washburns Corvettes. For the 1964 FIA season after finishing 2nd in GT at Sebring, Bondurant was in Europe racing the new 289 FIA Cobras at the Targa Florio, Spa and Nurburgring. His best-known victory was winning the GT class at Le Mans 24 Hours in 1964 in Shelbys new Cobra Daytona Coupe with Dan Gurney co-driving. In 1965 Bondurant won the FIA Manufacturers World Championship for Shelby American and Ford, in the same year he drove a works Ferrari Formula 1 car during the United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen, and handled a Lotus 33 for Reg Parnell at the following Mexican race. In 1966 Bondurant served as a consultant for John Frankenheimers film Grand Prix. Bondurant also drove BRMs in five Grands Prix for Team Chamaco Collect and he finished the Formula One season in North America in two races, driving an Eagle for Dan Gurneys Anglo American Racers. For 1967 he drove in the CanAm series and in a Corvette L88 Coupe at Le Mans, later that month while driving a McLaren, at Watkins Glen, the steering arm broke at 150 mph approaching the Loop-Chute section of Watkins Glen. Bondurant sustained serious rib, leg, foot and, most seriously, doctors told him he would likely never walk again, but through courage and hard work he overcame his injuries. While recuperating, Bondurant drafted an idea for a performance driving school borrowing from the experiences he had while training James Garner for Grand Prix. Nissan Motor Company was Bondurants sponsoring partner in his school from its beginning at, Bondurant had four NASCAR starts, all at Riverside International Raceway, with his highest finish of 18th in 1981. Following the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake he moved the school to Phoenix, Arizona. Bondurant was an instructor to actors James Garner, Paul Newman, Clint Eastwood, Robert Wagner and Tim Allen as well as to Tom Cruise. Bondurant was inducted in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2003
4.
Astral Media
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Astral Media was a Canadian media corporation. TV, Séries+, Ztélé and more. Astral also had numerous billboards for outdoor advertising through its Astral Out-of-Home division, as a result, the acquisition was blocked by the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission in October 2012. A revised merger, which saw the divesture of several Astral-owned television properties, the company was dissolved in July 2013 as a result of Astrals assets being officially acquired by Bell. The Astral brand survives solely through its use by the Astral Out-of-Home division, Astral Media Radio G. P. remained the licensee for most of the Astral radio stations acquired by Bell until July 2014, when it was renamed Bell Media Radio G. P. Astral Medias roots lie with Angreen Photo, a Canadian company founded in 1961 and it was created when Montreals Greenberg brothers, led by Harold Greenberg, founded it to operate the photography concession in Miracle Mart, a department store chain. The store grew quickly into motion picture processing after acquiring the Pathé-Humphries motion picture lab in 1968, the Greenbergs took Astra Photo public as Astral Communications Limited on July 26,1971. Astral, was constituted in 1973 under the name Astral Bellevue Pathé Limited, Astral eventually undertook videocassette duplication and video wholesaling. Astral also produced or executive produced over 100 feature films and television programs, the company would later expand its television operations by launching new specialty networks. Later, it became involved with the home video market. In February 2000, Astral Communications changed its name to Astral Media, a formal agreement was later announced, with the proposed transaction being approved by the CRTC on September 28, and completed on October 29 of the same year. The transaction gave Astral Media a significant foothold in English-language radio, in May 2010, Astral Media remodeled its image with the introduction of a new logo. The company then began trading simply as Astral and all references to the Media part were removed from the logo, however, the companys official name remained Astral Media. Following this change, Astral relocated its headquarters to a building that was renamed after itself, on March 16,2012, Astral Media announced that it accepted an estimated $3.38 billion takeover bid by Bell Canada to merge with the companys Bell Media division. The Bell/Astral merger was opposed by several competing media companies. Cogeco, Vidéotron, and Eastlink formed a coalition and awareness campaign known as Say No To Bell in August 2012 to publicize their concerns surrounding the deal, on October 18,2012, the CRTC announced that it had rejected BCEs proposal to acquire Astral Media. Following the rejection of the deal by the CRTC, Bell Canada CEO George A, Bell attempted to ask the Cabinet to overturn the CRTCs decision, but was told that they did not have the ability to do so. Bell also reportedly considered going to the Federal Court of Appeal, Rogers Media expressed interest in acquiring some of Astrals channels if such a sale were to occur. The CRTC made the takeover proposal public on March 6,2013
5.
Stacey (film)
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Stacey is a 1973 exploitation film directed by Andy Sidaris. Half the budget was provided by Roger Corman for his New World Pictures the rest was raised by Sidaris and it was re-released in 1975 as Stacy and Her Gangbusters. The film features an empowered babe in an action role. She is a private detective in a crime-fighting film. This was the first attempt of Sidaris to produce a film with a female protagonist facing crime, the film thus serves as a precursor to many 1980s films, including those produced by Sidaris himself. In these films soft women adopt hard personae and it is also a precursor to 1990s softcore films where gender has little to do with a heroines career, as by that point womens advance into the workplace was no longer an exploitable hot topic. The protagonist is Stacey Hanson, an eye and race car driver. She is hired by aging heiress Florence Chambers to investigate the close members of her family who live in her mansion, Stacey is to determine whether the members of Florences family are worthy to be included in her will. They are three, Florences nephew John, his wife Tish, and Florences grand-niece Pamela, as it happens, all three potential heirs have something to hide. John is a homosexual, Tish is having an affair with the houseboy. Stacey uncovers some family secrets but a scandal is about to begin. The scheming houseboy Frank is murdered, Stacey now has to find the identity of the murderer before he/she can kill again. Frank was sleeping with and/or blackmailing nearly all members of the family, Staceys investigation leads to a helicopter and car chase and gunplay. The murdered turns out to be Pamela who is a member of a reminiscent of the Manson family. She was planning to frame John and stand as the last viable heir to the family fortune, the material from the film was reworked into another Sidaris film, Malibu Express. The role of Stacey Hanson was divided into two new characters, private detective protagonist Cody Abilene and his girlfriend June Khnockers, the openings of both films depict their respective female race car drivers in the finish of a practice race. Both films then have them getting out of uniform, but Stacey is the protagonist while June serves mostly as the source of a recurring joke in her film, Knockers with an h. June can still drive a high-performance race car
6.
Seven (1979 film)
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Seven is a 1979 action film directed by Andy Sidaris and starring William Smith. Seven was filmed at Oahu and Kauai in Hawaii, robert Baird, who is credited along with William Driskill as screenwriter, is a pseudonym for writer and photographer William Edgar. The Hollywood Reporter budgeted the film at $2 million and noted that the film had just completed in their February 7,1979 article, Seven was released in the United States on September 21,1979 where it premiered in Los Angeles. The film distributed by American International, variety stated that Seven is filled with stock Hawaiian footage, and not very good stuff at that. Pic lags continually, which wont pacify the action audience, the review also noted that product plugs are also heavy -handed, and enumerated again with a final credit. The Monthly Film Bulletin stated that the film was rendered thoroughly mechanical by the business of pairing off its seven hit men with their seven underworld targets. The films trite efforts to make an impression with its methods of execution-by hang-glider, lasergun. Seven at TCMDB Seven at the Internet Movie Database
7.
Malibu Express
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Malibu Express is a 1985 American action/adventure film starring Darby Hinton, Sybil Danning, Lori Sutton, and Art Metrano. It was directed, written, and produced by Andy Sidaris, the film features 1980s Playboy Playmates Kimberly McArthur, Barbara Edwards, Lorraine Michaels, and Lynda Wiesmeier in its cast, as well. In it, Danning cinched her image as B-budget bad girl, regis and Joy Philbin cameo as talk show hosts. A wealthy playboy/private-investigator named Cody Abilene is hired by a government intelligence operative to investigate a lead into who is selling computer technology to the Russians. The scope of the conspiracy is revealed after Cody and Beverly make love at a suspects beachhouse, gunplay, car chases, and races ensue. L. Buffington Busty OShea as Doreen Buffington Randy Rudy as Bobo Buffington Michael A. Andrews as Stuart Chamberlain Richard Brose as Mark John Brown as Luke Suzanne M. The Video Movie Guide 2001 rated the movie with a turkey, amazed that the movie got an R rating. TV Guide gave the two stars. Barbara Edwards appearance in the shower is cited as one of the hottest topless lesbian shower scenes in the long. Beverly Hills Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles Willow Springs Raceway Mojave Desert The film was first released in March 1985 and it then appeared in two DVD collections, Andy Sidaris Collection, Vol.1 in 2003, and Triple B Collection, Vol.1 in 2005. The material from the film was reworked from a previous Sidaris film, the role of Stacey Hanson was divided into two new characters, private detective protagonist Cody Abilene and his girlfriend June Khnockers. The openings of both films depict their respective female race car drivers in the finish of a practice race, both films then have them getting out of uniform. Stacey is the protagonist, though, while June serves mostly as the source of a joke in her film. June can still drive a high-performance race car, but Cody performs most of Staceys functions in the film. The discreet homosexual nephew John turns into Stuart, a drag queen, in both films, the detective follows the character into a gay bar. The difference is that in the first film, John wears regular clothes, while in the second, Cody laughs while dictating notes in a recorder, but still admits that Stuart has great legs. Stuart is more of a gay stereotype than John. The youthful niece Pamela turns into the bit older niece Liza in the second film, Liza has her own sex scene with the houseboy Shane
