1.
Sydney Pollack
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Sydney Irwin Pollack was an American film director, producer and actor. Pollack directed more than 20 films and 10 television shows, acted in over 30 films or shows, some of his other best known works include Jeremiah Johnson, The Way We Were, Three Days of the Condor and Absence of Malice. His subsequent films included Havana, The Firm, The Interpreter, Sydney Pollack was born in Lafayette, Indiana, to a family of Jewish immigrants from Ukraine, the son of Rebecca and David Pollack, a semi-professional boxer and pharmacist. The family relocated to South Bend and his parents divorced when he was young and his mother, an alcoholic with emotional problems, died at the age of 37 while Pollack was a student. Despite earlier plans to attend college and then school, Pollack left Indiana for New York City soon after finishing high school at age 17. Pollack studied acting with Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse from 1952–54, after two years army service, ending in 1958, he returned to the Playhouse at Meisner’s invitation to become his assistant. In 1960, John Frankenheimer, a friend of Pollack, asked him to come to Los Angeles in order to work as a coach for the child actors on Frankenheimers first big picture. It was during this time that Pollack met Burt Lancaster who encouraged the actor to try directing. Pollack played a director in The Twilight Zone episode The Trouble with Templeton in 1961, but he found his real success in television in the 1960s by directing episodes of series, such as The Fugitive and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. After doing TV he made the jump into film with a string of movies that drew public attention and his film-directing debut was The Slender Thread. Over time, Pollacks films received a total of 48 Academy Award nominations and his first Oscar nomination was for his 1969 film They Shoot Horses, Dont They. and his second in 1982 for Tootsie. For his 1985 film Out of Africa starring Meryl Streep and Robert Redford, only Young and Lange won Oscars for their performances in one of Pollacks films. His disputes with Hoffman during the filming of Tootsie became well known, eventually Hoffman began pushing the idea that Pollack play the role of his agent, and Pollack reluctantly agreed despite not having had any film roles in 20 years. Their off-screen relationship added authenticity to their scenes in the movie, Pollack subsequently took on more acting roles in addition to producing and directing. He appeared as himself in the documentary One Six Right, describing his joy in owning and piloting his Cessna Citation X jet aircraft. As a character actor, Pollack appeared in such as A Civil Action. He also appeared in Woody Allens Husbands and Wives as a New York lawyer undergoing a midlife crisis and his last role was as Patrick Dempseys father in the 2008 romantic comedy Made of Honor, which was playing in theaters at the time of his death. He was a recurring guest star on the NBC sitcom Will & Grace, playing Will Trumans unfaithful but loving father, George Truman
2.
Paul Schrader
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Paul Joseph Schrader is an American screenwriter, film director, and film critic. Schrader wrote or co-wrote screenplays for four Martin Scorsese films, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, The Last Temptation of Christ, Schrader was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the son of Joan and Charles A. Schrader, an executive. Schraders family attended the Calvinist Christian Reformed Church and his early life was based upon the religions strict principles and parental education. He did not see a film until, when he was seventeen years old, in an interview he stated that The Absent-Minded Professor was the first film he saw. In his own words, he was unimpressed by it, while Wild in the Country. Schrader attributes his intellectual rather than emotional approach towards movies and movie-making to his having no adolescent movie memories, Schrader earned his B. A. from Calvin College, with a minor in theology. He then earned an M. A. in Film Studies at the UCLA Film School upon the recommendation of Pauline Kael, with Kael as his mentor, he became a film critic, writing for the Los Angeles Free Press and later for Cinema magazine. His book Transcendental Style in Film, Ozu, Bresson, Dreyer, the endings of his films American Gigolo and Light Sleeper bear obvious resemblance to that of Bressons 1959 film Pickpocket. His essay Notes on Film Noir from the year has become a much-cited source in literature on film. The September–October 2006 issue of Film Comment magazine published his essay Canon Fodder, other film-makers who made a lasting impression on Schrader are John Ford, Jean Renoir, Roberto Rossellini, Alfred Hitchcock, and Sam Peckinpah. Renoirs The Rules of the Game he called the movie which represents all of the cinema. In 1974 Schrader and his brother Leonard co-wrote The Yakuza, a set in the Japanese crime world. The script became the subject of a war, eventually selling for $325,000. The film was directed by Sydney Pollack and starred Robert Mitchum, Robert Towne, best known for Chinatown, also received a credit for his rewrite. Although The Yakuza failed commercially, it brought Schrader to the attention of the new generation of Hollywood directors, in 1975 he wrote the script for Obsession for Brian De Palma. Schrader wrote a draft of Steven Spielbergs Close Encounters of the Third Kind, but Spielberg disliked the script, calling it terribly guilt-ridden. He also wrote a draft of Rolling Thunder, which the films producers had reworked without his participation. He disapproved of the final film, besides Taxi Driver Scorsese also drew on scripts by Schrader for the boxing tale Raging Bull, co-written with Mardik Martin, The Last Temptation of Christ, and Bringing Out the Dead
3.
Robert Towne
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Robert Towne is an American screenwriter, producer, director and actor. He was part of the New Hollywood wave of filmmaking and he is best-known for his Academy Award-winning original screenplay for Roman Polanskis Chinatown, which is widely considered one of the greatest screenplays ever written. He also wrote its sequel The Two Jakes in 1990, and wrote the Hal Ashby comedy-dramas The Last Detail, and Shampoo, as well as the first two Mission Impossible films. Towne has also directed films such as the sports dramas Personal Best, and Without Limits, the crime thriller Tequila Sunrise. After working for years on a script of Greystoke, The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes, he grew dissatisfied with the production and credited his dog, vazak became the first dog nominated for an Oscar for screenwriting, but he did not fetch the award. Towne co-wrote the film 8 Million Ways to Die using the alias David Lee Henry, Towne also wrote and directed Personal Best, a fictional drama of female track-and-field athletes, and Without Limits, a biopic based on the life of distance runner Steve Prefontaine. His crime story Tequila Sunrise co-starred Mel Gibson as a cocaine dealer and Kurt Russell as a detective. Towne told The New York Times that Tequila Sunrise is a movie about the use and abuse of friendship, Towne had found the novel while researching Chinatown, looking for material that would honestly describe that particular era of Los Angeles. He became so entranced by the book that he arranged to meet with its author—himself a screenwriter—in person, I was an unknown, Towne said. I hadnt written anything of note, but Fante greeted the young fan with accusations like What makes you think youre any kind of judge of my work. Ask the Dust received mixed reviews and failed at the box office, the film was entered into the 28th Moscow International Film Festival. Towne has framed several of his films as elaborate melodramas. He told The New York Times I think melodrama is always a splendid occasion to entertain an audience and say things you want to say without rubbing their noses in it, he says. With melodrama, as in dreams, youre always flirting with the disparity between appearance and reality, which is a deal of fun. And thats also not unrelated to my perception of my working in Hollywood. In 2006, Towne was the subject of artist Sarah Morriss film, Morris describes him as an “elliptical figure” whose career exemplifies a certain characteristic mode of working in the film industry, marked by collaboration, shared or changing roles. Morriss 19, 744-square-foot painting installation in the lobby of the Lever House in Manhattan, Robert Towne expressed his disappointment in The Two Jakes in many interviews. But, we’re all still friends, and that’s what matters most, in a November 5,2007 interview with MTV, Jack Nicholson claimed that Towne had written the part of Gittes specifically for him
4.
Robert Mitchum
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Robert Charles Durman Mitchum was an American film actor, director, author, poet, composer, and singer. Mitchum rose to prominence for his roles in several classic films noir. His best-known films include Out of the Past, The Night of the Hunter, Mitchum is rated number 23 on the American Film Institutes list of the greatest male stars of Classic American Cinema. Mitchum was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut into a Methodist family, a sister, Annette, was born in 1914. James Mitchum was crushed to death in a accident in Charleston, South Carolina, in February 1919. After his fathers death, his mother was awarded a government pension, and soon realized she was pregnant with her son, John. She remarried to a former Royal Naval Reserve officer, Major Hugh Cunningham Morris, Ann and the Major had a daughter, Carol Morris, who was born July 1927 on the family farm in Delaware. When all of the children were old enough to attend school, throughout Mitchums childhood, he was known as a prankster, often involved in fistfights and mischief. When he was 12, his mother sent Mitchum to live with his grandparents in Felton, Delaware, a year later, in 1930, he moved in with his older sister, to New Yorks Hells Kitchen. He experienced numerous adventures during his years as one of the Depression eras wild boys of the road, at age 14 in Savannah, Georgia, he was arrested for vagrancy and put on a local chain gang. By Mitchums own account, he escaped and returned to his family in Delaware, during this time, while recovering from injuries that nearly cost him a leg, he met the woman he would marry, a teenaged Dorothy Spence. He soon went back on the road, eventually riding the rails to California, Mitchum arrived in Long Beach, California, in 1936, staying again with his sister Julie. Soon, the rest of the Mitchum family joined them in Long Beach, during this time, he worked as a ghostwriter for astrologer Carroll Righter. His sister Julie convinced him to join the local theater guild with her, in his years with the Players Guild of Long Beach, he made a living as a stagehand and occasional bit-player in company productions. He also wrote short pieces which were performed by the guild. According to Lee Servers biography, Mitchum put his talent for poetry to work writing song lyrics, in 1940, he returned East to marry Dorothy Spence, taking her back to California. He remained a character until the birth of their first child, James. Mitchum then got a job as a machine operator with the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation
5.
Ken Takakura
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Ken Takakura, born Goichi Oda, was a Japanese actor best known for his brooding style and the stoic presence he brought to his roles. He won the Japan Academy Prize four times, more than any other actor, Takakura was born in Nakama, Fukuoka in 1931. He attended Tochiku High School in nearby Yahata City where he was a member of the boxing team and it was around this time that he gained his streetwise swagger and tough-guy persona watching yakuza movies. This subject was covered in one of his most famous movies, Showa Zankyo-den, after graduating from Meiji University in Tokyo, Takakura attended an audition on impulse in 1955 at the Toei Film Company while applying for a managerial position. Toei found a natural in Takakura as he debuted with Denko Karate Uchi in 1956, in 1959 he married singer Chiemi Eri, but divorced in 1971. His breakout role would be in the 1965 film Abashiri Prison, by the time Takakura left Toei in 1976, he had appeared in over 180 films. He again appeared to Western audiences with the 1992 Fred Schepisi comedy Mr. Baseball starring Tom Selleck and he died of lymphoma on November 10,2014. Shintaro Ishihara described him as the last big star, a huge number of Chinese internet users expressed their sympathies and condolences, including many celebrities in the Chinese movie industry. The spokesman of Chinas Ministry of Foreign Affairs Hong Lei said that Takakura made significant contributions to the exchange between China and Japan. A documentary based on Takakuras life entitled Ken San premiered at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival and was released in Japanese theaters on August 20,2016. It was directed by photographer Yuichi Hibi and features interviews with filmmakers and actors such as Martin Scorsese, Paul Schrader, Michael Douglas, John Woo, and Yoji Yamada
6.
Keiko Kishi
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Keiko Kishi is a Japanese actress, writer, and UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador. She made her debut in 1951. Kishi married the French director Yves Ciampi in 1957, and commuted for a while between Paris and Japan to continue her acting career, in 1963 a daughter, Delphine Ciampi, a musician and composer, was born. She divorced her husband in 1975, since 1996 she has been a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Population Fund. In 2002, she won the Japan Academy Prize for best actress for her role in the film Kah-chan
7.
Richard Jordan
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Richard Jordan was an American stage, screen, and television actor. A long-time member of the New York Shakespeare Festival, he performed in many Off Broadway and Broadway plays, Jordan was born in New York City, to Robert Anson Jordan, Sr. from Boston, Massachusetts, and Constance, from New York. His maternal grandfather was Learned Hand, judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, in 1942, when Jordan was five years old, his parents divorced. His mother married Newbold Morris, president of the New York City Council, the marriage was performed by Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia at Gracie Mansion, and was the first marriage to be performed there, following his graduation from Harvard University in 1958, Jordan began his acting career in earnest. In 1961, he appeared on Broadway with Art Carney and Elizabeth Ashley in Take Her and he also began working in television productions, appearing in episodes of The Defenders, Naked City, Empire and The Wide Country. He performed with Joseph Papps Public Theater in productions of Shakespeares plays, such as The Tempest, The Merchant of Venice, in 1966, Jordan returned to Broadway, appearing in Generation with Henry Fonda. Beginning in 1970, Jordan turned from television to film work. He played a host of villains and mixed good guy-villains in films such as the western Rooster Cogburn, sci-fi adventure Logans Run, there was also the occasional good guy, as in Old Boyfriends, in which he played the father of his own daughter, Nina. Jordan also continued on the stage, joining Ralph Waite in the L. A. Actors Theatre and he wrote, directed and performed in plays such as Venus of Menschen Falls. In 1976, he starred as Joseph Armagh, an Irish immigrant who fights his way to power and wealth but loses his soul along the way, in the television miniseries Captains, Jordan earned a Golden Globe award, and an Emmy nomination for the production. In the 1980s, Jordan performed in films including Raise the Titanic, Flash of Green, Dune, The Mean Season and he co-starred in an acclaimed television production of The Bunker, playing Albert Speer to Anthony Hopkinss Hitler. In ten episodes of the television series The Equalizer, he helped fill in while the star, Edward Woodward. On stage, he won an Obie award for his appearance in New York in the Czech playwright Václav Havels A Private View, in Romero, Jordan played Romeros friend, Father Rutilio Grande. In 1990, Jordan directed a production of Macbeth in New York City and he played U. S. National Security Advisor Jeffrey Pelt in The Hunt for Red October. He starred in a production of Three Hotels and the 1991 Deadline episode of Tales from the Crypt. In Posse, Jordan portrays Bates, a racist sheriff with his own plans for land on which the Negro town of Freemanville stands, Jordans last film to be released was Gettysburg, which was filmed during the summer of 1992. He portrayed Brig. Gen. Lewis Lo Armistead, who was one of the Confederate officers in the doomed Picketts Charge at the battle of Gettysburg
8.
Dave Grusin
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Robert David Dave Grusin is an American composer, arranger, producer, and pianist. He has composed scores for feature films and television, and has won numerous awards for his soundtrack and record work, including an Academy Award. He has had a recording career as an artist, arranger, producer. He is the co-founder of GRP Records, born in Littleton, Colorado, he studied music at the University of Colorado at Boulder and was awarded his degree in 1956. He produced his first single, Subways Are for Sleeping, in 1962, other scores followed, including Winning, The Friends of Eddie Coyle, The Midnight Man, and Three Days of the Condor. In the late 1970s, he started GRP Records with his business partner, Larry Rosen and he was the composer for The Graduate, On Golden Pond, Tootsie and The Goonies. In 1988, he won the Oscar for best original score for The Milagro Beanfield War, from 2000 through 2011, Grusin concentrated on composing classical and jazz compositions, touring and recording with collaborators, including guitarist Lee Ritenour. Their album Harlequin won a Grammy Award in 1985 and their classical crossover albums, Two Worlds and Amparo, were nominated for Grammys. Grusin was born in Littleton, Colorado, the son of Rosabelle, a pianist, and Henri Grusin, an alumnus of the University of Colorado at Boulder, College of Music, he was awarded his bachelors degree in 1956. Among his teachers there were Cecil Effinger and Wayne Scott, longtime pianist, arranger, Grusin has a filmography of about 100 titles. He also received a Best Original Song nomination for It Might Be You from the film Tootsie, six of the fourteen cuts on the soundtrack from The Graduate are his. Other film scores he has composed include Where Were You When the Lights Went Out, Three Days of the Condor, The Goonies, Tequila Sunrise, Hope Floats, Random Hearts, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter and The Firm. In addition, he composed the original opening fanfare for film studio TriStar Pictures. Elsewhere, and, for Televisa in Mexico, Tres Generaciones and he also composed music for individual episodes of each of those shows. His other TV credits include The Wild Wild West, The Girl from U. N. C. L. E. and Columbo, Prescription and he also did the theme song for One Life to Live from 1984–1992. Since its beginning in 1984, the Minneapolis-St. Paul regional weekly news, Grusin assisted in 1966 as musical director and arranger also for two years the Catarina Valente TV show and lived longer times in Amsterdam. About 35 Grusin CD titles are available including soundtracks, originals, collections, and homages to jazz greats George Gershwin, Duke Ellington. Recently he has turned his attention to his own compositions, as in much of his career, these defy easy classification
9.
Warner Bros.
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Entertainment Inc. – colloquially known as Warner Bros. or Warner Bros. It is one of the Big Six major American film studios, Warner Bros. is a member of the Motion Picture Association of America. The companys name originated from the four founding Warner brothers, Harry, Albert, Sam, Jack, the youngest, was born in London, Ontario. The three elder brothers began in the theater business, having acquired a movie projector with which they showed films in the mining towns of Pennsylvania. In the beginning, Sam and Albert Warner invested $150 to present Life of an American Fireman and they opened their first theater, the Cascade, in New Castle, Pennsylvania, in 1903. When the original building was in danger of being demolished, the modern Warner Bros. called the current building owners, the owners noted people across the country had asked them to protect it for its historical significance. In 1904, the Warners founded the Pittsburgh-based Duquesne Amusement & Supply Company, in 1912, Harry Warner hired an auditor named Paul Ashley Chase. By the time of World War I they had begun producing films, in 1918 they opened the first Warner Bros. studio on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. Sam and Jack produced the pictures, while Harry and Albert, along with their auditor and now controller Chase, handled finance and distribution in New York City. During World War I their first nationally syndicated film, My Four Years in Germany, on April 4,1923, with help from money loaned to Harry by his banker Motley Flint, they formally incorporated as Warner Brothers Pictures, Incorporated. The first important deal was the acquisition of the rights to Avery Hopwoods 1919 Broadway play, The Gold Diggers, however, Rin Tin Tin, a dog brought from France after World War I by an American soldier, established their reputation. Rin Tin Tin debuted in the feature Where the North Begins, the movie was so successful that Jack signed the dog to star in more films for $1,000 per week. Rin Tin Tin became the top star. Jack nicknamed him The Mortgage Lifter and the success boosted Darryl F. Zanucks career, Zanuck eventually became a top producer and between 1928 and 1933 served as Jacks right-hand man and executive producer, with responsibilities including day-to-day film production. More success came after Ernst Lubitsch was hired as head director, lubitschs film The Marriage Circle was the studios most successful film of 1924, and was on The New York Times best list for that year. Despite the success of Rin Tin Tin and Lubitsch, Warners remained a lesser studio, Sam and Jack decided to offer Broadway actor John Barrymore the lead role in Beau Brummel. The film was so successful that Harry signed Barrymore to a contract, like The Marriage Circle. By the end of 1924, Warner Bros. was arguably Hollywoods most successful independent studio, as the studio prospered, it gained backing from Wall Street, and in 1924 Goldman Sachs arranged a major loan
10.
Japanese language
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Japanese is an East Asian language spoken by about 125 million speakers, primarily in Japan, where it is the national language. It is a member of the Japonic language family, whose relation to language groups, particularly to Korean. Little is known of the prehistory, or when it first appeared in Japan. Chinese documents from the 3rd century recorded a few Japanese words, during the Heian period, Chinese had considerable influence on the vocabulary and phonology of Old Japanese. Late Middle Japanese saw changes in features that brought it closer to the modern language, the standard dialect moved from the Kansai region to the Edo region in the Early Modern Japanese period. Following the end in 1853 of Japans self-imposed isolation, the flow of loanwords from European languages increased significantly, English loanwords in particular have become frequent, and Japanese words from English roots have proliferated. Japanese is an agglutinative, mora-timed language with simple phonotactics, a vowel system, phonemic vowel and consonant length. Word order is normally subject–object–verb with particles marking the grammatical function of words, sentence-final particles are used to add emotional or emphatic impact, or make questions. Nouns have no number or gender, and there are no articles. Verbs are conjugated, primarily for tense and voice, but not person, Japanese equivalents of adjectives are also conjugated. Japanese has a system of honorifics with verb forms and vocabulary to indicate the relative status of the speaker, the listener. Japanese has no relationship with Chinese, but it makes extensive use of Chinese characters, or kanji, in its writing system. Along with kanji, the Japanese writing system uses two syllabic scripts, hiragana and katakana. Latin script is used in a fashion, such as for imported acronyms. Very little is known about the Japanese of this period, Old Japanese is the oldest attested stage of the Japanese language. Through the spread of Buddhism, the Chinese writing system was imported to Japan, the earliest texts found in Japan are written in Classical Chinese, but they may have been meant to be read as Japanese by the kanbun method. Some of these Chinese texts show the influences of Japanese grammar, in these hybrid texts, Chinese characters are also occasionally used phonetically to represent Japanese particles. The earliest text, the Kojiki, dates to the early 8th century, the end of Old Japanese coincides with the end of the Nara period in 794
11.
Gangster
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A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Some gangs are considered to be part of organized crime, gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from mob and the suffix -ster. Gangs provide a level of organization and resources that support much larger, gangsters have been active for many years in countries around the world. Some gangsters, such as Al Capone have become infamous, gangsters are the subject of many novels and films, particularly from the period between 1920 and 1990. Some contemporary criminals refer to themselves as gangsta in reference to non-rhotic Black American pronunciation, in todays usage, the term gang is generally used for a criminal organization, and the term gangster invariably describes a criminal. Much has been written on the subject of gangs, although there is no consensus about what constitutes a gang or what situations lead to gang formation and evolution. For example, the view that illegal drug distribution in the United States is largely controlled by gangs has been questioned. A gang may be a small group of people who cooperate in criminal acts, as with the Jesse James gang. But a gang may be a group with a formal organization that survives the death of its leader. The Chicago Outfit created by Al Capone outlasted its founders imprisonment and death, the term organized crime is associated with gangs and gangsters, but is not synonymous. A small street gang that engages in sporadic low-level crime would not be seen as organized, an organization that coordinates gangs in different countries involved in the international trade in drugs or prostitutes may not be considered a gang. The Sicilian Mafia, or Cosa Nostra is a syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is an association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure. The origins lie in the upheaval of Sicilys transition out of feudalism in 1812, under feudalism, the nobility owned most of the land and enforced law and order through their private armies. After 1812, the feudal barons steadily sold off or rented their lands to private citizens, primogeniture was abolished, land could no longer be seized to settle debts, and one fifth of the land was to become private property of the peasants. Organized crime has existed in Russia since the days of Imperial Russia in the form of banditry and thievery, in the Soviet period Vory v Zakone emerged, a class of criminals that had to abide by certain rules in the prison system. One such rule was that cooperation with the authorities of any kind was forbidden, in 1988 the Soviet Union legalized private enterprise but did not provide regulations to ensure the security of market economy. Crude markets emerged, the most notorious being the Rizhsky market where prostitution rings were run next to the Rizhsky Railway Station in Moscow, as the Soviet Union headed for collapse many former government workers turned to crime, while others moved overseas
12.
Brian Keith
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He also starred in the The Brian Keith Show, which aired on NBC from 1972 to 1974, where he portrayed a pediatrician who operated a free clinic on Oahu, as well as in the CBS comedy series Heartland. Keith was born Robert Alba Keith in Bayonne, New Jersey, on November 14,1921, to actor Robert Keith and stage actress Helena Shipman, some sources also list his full name as Brian Robert Keith. Keiths parents divorced, and he moved to Hollywood and started his career at the age of two. He made his debut in the silent film Pied Piper Malone. His mother continued to perform on stage and radio, while his grandmother Apker helped to raise him on Long Island, New York and she taught young Keith to read books over his age level. Prior to learning to read, he spent a lot of time backstage while his parents performed, Helena fondly recalled keeping her little son in the dressing room in one of her dressing room drawers. He remained calm and quiet, and would sleep through the entire show, from 1927 through 1929, Keiths stepmother was Peg Entwistle, a well-known Broadway actress who committed suicide by jumping from the H of the famous Hollywood Sign in 1932. After graduating from East Rockaway High School in 1939, in East Rockaway, New York and he served during World War II as an air gunner and received an Air Medal. After the war, Keith became an actor, branching out into films. In 1955, Keith starred in his own series, Crusader, as the fictional journalist Matt Anders, during the 1950s and 1960s, Keith also had guest roles on The Ford Television Theatre, Wire Service, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Climax. Zane Grey Theater, Rawhide, Laramie, The Untouchables, The Americans, Outlaws, The Virginian, The Fugitive, in 1960, he won acclaim for his starring role in Sam Peckinpahs extremely hard-bitten, adult, and short-lived series The Westerner. The following year, Keith appeared as the father of twins in the film The Parent Trap, costarring Hayley Mills, in 1966, Keith costarred with Steve McQueen as traveling gunsmith Jonas Cord in the western film Nevada Smith. In 1968, as widower Jake Iverson, he costarred with Doris Day in the comedy, in 1966, Keith landed the role of Uncle Bill Davis on CBSs popular television situation comedy Family Affair. This role earned him three Emmy Award nominations for Best Actor in a Comedy Series, the show made him a household name. During its first season in 1966, Family Affair was an immediate hit, by the end of its fifth season, in 1971, Family Affair still had high ratings but was canceled after 138 episodes. Kathy Garver, who co-starred as Keiths teenaged niece, Cissy, on Family Affair, indicated that Keith said, Im a cultural Irishman, dont you know, Garver explained, But he went through many manifestations and changes of character, during the five years that we shot. Let me see the scene, uh-huh, uh-huh, lets go, so he was very improvisational, motion of the moment. And those two different styles really worked out each other, very well, Keith went on to star as the pediatrician Dr. Sean Jamison in the NBC sitcom The Brian Keith Show, filmed on an estate at the foot of Diamond Head, Hawaii
13.
Yakuza
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Yakuza, also known as gokudō, are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police, and media by request of the police, call them bōryokudan, the yakuza are notorious for their strict codes of conduct and organized fiefdom-nature. They have a presence in the Japanese media and operate internationally with an estimated 102,000 members. Tekiya were considered one of the lowest social groups in Edo, as they began to form organizations of their own, they took over some administrative duties relating to commerce, such as stall allocation and protection of their commercial activities. During Shinto festivals, these peddlers opened stalls and some members were hired to act as security, each peddler paid rent in exchange for a stall assignment and protection during the fair. The Edo government eventually formally recognized such tekiya organizations and granted the oyabun of tekiya a surname as well as permission to carry a sword—the wakizashi and this was a major step forward for the traders, as formerly only samurai and noblemen were allowed to carry swords. Bakuto had a lower social standing even than traders, as gambling was illegal. Many small gambling houses cropped up in abandoned temples or shrines at the edge of towns, most of these gambling houses ran loan sharking businesses for clients, and they usually maintained their own security personnel. The roots of the yakuza can still be today in initiation ceremonies. During the formation of the yakuza, they adopted the traditional Japanese hierarchical structure of oyabun-kobun where kobun owe their allegiance to the oyabun, in a much later period, the code of jingi was developed where loyalty and respect are a way of life. The oyabun-kobun relationship is formalized by ceremonial sharing of sake from a single cup and this ritual is not exclusive to the yakuza—it is also commonly performed in traditional Japanese Shinto weddings, and may have been a part of sworn brotherhood relationships. However, after the war, the yakuza adapted again, prospective yakuza come from all walks of life. The most romantic tales tell how yakuza accept sons who have been abandoned or exiled by their parents, many yakuza start out in junior high school or high school as common street thugs or members of bōsōzoku gangs. Perhaps because of its lower status, numerous yakuza members come from Burakumin. Yakuza groups are headed by an oyabun or kumichō who gives orders to his subordinates, in this respect, the organization is a variation of the traditional Japanese senpai-kōhai model. Members of yakuza gangs cut their ties and transfer their loyalty to the gang boss. They refer to other as family members - fathers and elder and younger brothers. The yakuza is populated almost entirely by men, and there are few women involved who are called ane-san
14.
Tokyo
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Tokyo, officially Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan and one of its 47 prefectures. The Greater Tokyo Area is the most populous area in the world. It is the seat of the Emperor of Japan and the Japanese government, Tokyo is in the Kantō region on the southeastern side of the main island Honshu and includes the Izu Islands and Ogasawara Islands. Formerly known as Edo, it has been the de facto seat of government since 1603 when Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu made the city his headquarters. It officially became the capital after Emperor Meiji moved his seat to the city from the old capital of Kyoto in 1868, Tokyo Metropolis was formed in 1943 from the merger of the former Tokyo Prefecture and the city of Tokyo. The Tokyo metropolitan government administers the 23 Special Wards of Tokyo, the metropolitan government also administers 39 municipalities in the western part of the prefecture and the two outlying island chains. The population of the wards is over 9 million people. The prefecture is part of the worlds most populous metropolitan area with upwards of 37.8 million people, the city hosts 51 of the Fortune Global 500 companies, the highest number of any city in the world. Tokyo ranked third in the International Financial Centres Development IndexEdit, the city is also home to various television networks such as Fuji TV, Tokyo MX, TV Tokyo, TV Asahi, Nippon Television, NHK and the Tokyo Broadcasting System. Tokyo ranked first in the Global Economic Power Index and fourth in the Global Cities Index. The city is considered a world city – as listed by the GaWCs 2008 inventory – and in 2014. In 2015, Tokyo was named the Most Liveable City in the world by the magazine Monocle, the Michelin Guide has awarded Tokyo by far the most Michelin stars of any city in the world. Tokyo ranked first in the world in the Safe Cities Index, the 2016 edition of QS Best Student Cities ranked Tokyo as the 3rd-best city in the world to be a university student. Tokyo hosted the 1964 Summer Olympics, the 1979 G-7 summit, the 1986 G-7 summit, and the 1993 G-7 summit, and will host the 2020 Summer Olympics, Tokyo was originally known as Edo, which means estuary. During the early Meiji period, the city was also called Tōkei, some surviving official English documents use the spelling Tokei. However, this pronunciation is now obsolete, the name Tokyo was first suggested in 1813 in the book Kondō Hisaku, written by Satō Nobuhiro. When Ōkubo Toshimichi proposed the renaming to the government during the Meiji Restoration, according to Oda Kanshi, Tokyo was originally a small fishing village named Edo, in what was formerly part of the old Musashi Province. Edo was first fortified by the Edo clan, in the twelfth century
15.
Occupation of Japan
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The Allied occupation of Japan at the end of World War II was led by General Douglas MacArthur, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers, with support from the British Commonwealth. Unlike in the occupation of Germany, the Soviet Union was allowed little to no influence over Japan and this foreign presence marked the only time in Japans history that it had been occupied by a foreign power. It transformed the country into a democracy that recalled New Deal priorities of the 1930s politics by Roosevelt. Japan surrendered to the Allies on August 14,1945, when the Japanese government notified the Allies that it had accepted the Potsdam Declaration. At Yalta, Stalin made sure Roosevelt was clear on the promise he had made that urged assistance from the USSR on intervening in the war in Japan with the U. S, (On the following day, Emperor Hirohito announced Japans unconditional surrender on the radio. The announcement was the emperors first ever planned radio broadcast and the first time most citizens of Japan ever heard their sovereigns voice. This date is known as Victory over Japan, or V-J Day, and marked the end of World War II, Japanese officials left for Manila, Philippines on August 19 to meet MacArthur and to be briefed on his plans for the occupation. On August 28,1945,150 US personnel flew to Atsugi and they were followed by USS Missouri, whose accompanying vessels landed the 4th Marine Division on the southern coast of Kanagawa. MacArthur arrived in Tokyo on August 30, and immediately decreed several laws, No Allied personnel were to assault Japanese people. No Allied personnel were to eat the scarce Japanese food, flying the Hinomaru or Rising Sun flag was initially severely restricted. This restriction was lifted in 1948 and completely lifted the following year. On September 2,1945, Japan formally surrendered with the signing of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender, on September 6, US President Truman approved a document titled US Initial Post-Surrender Policy for Japan. The document set two main objectives for the occupation, eliminating Japans war potential and turning Japan into a nation with pro-United Nations orientation. At the head of the Occupation administration was General MacArthur, who was supposed to defer to an advisory council set up by the Allied powers. Looking back to his work in Japan, MacArthur described the Japanese reactions as acting similar to a boy of twelve and were at odds of putting away their troubled past. On V-J Day, US President Harry Truman appointed General Douglas MacArthur as Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, during the war, the Allied Powers had planned to divide Japan amongst themselves for the purposes of occupation, as was done for the occupation of Germany. The Soviet Union had some intentions of occupying Hokkaidō, had this occurred, there might have eventually been a communist state in the Soviet zone of occupation. However, unlike the Soviet occupations of East Germany and North Korea, even with these measures, millions of people were still on the brink of starvation for several years after the surrender
16.
Herb Edelman
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Herbert Herb Edelman was an American actor of stage, film and television. He was twice nominated for an Emmy Award for his television work, one of his best remembered roles was as Stanley Zbornak, the ex-husband of Dorothy Zbornak on the long-running situation comedy The Golden Girls. He also had a role on the 1980s medical drama St. Elsewhere. Edelman was born in Brooklyn, New York, before becoming an actor, Edelman studied to become a veterinarian at Cornell University, but left during his first year. After serving in the US Army as an announcer for Armed Forces Radio, he enrolled in Brooklyn College as a Theater student and he later worked as a hotel manager and as a taxicab driver. One of his fares was director Mike Nichols, who in 1963 cast Edelman in his breakthrough Broadway role, Edelman reprised his role in the 1967 film version. He appeared in the versions of Simons The Odd Couple. He also appeared in an installment of the Japanese movie series Otoko wa Tsurai yo in 1979 and he starred in the 1976 childrens series Big John, Little John, as well as The Good Guys with Bob Denver, from 1968 to 1970. He also appeared with Bill Bixby and Valerie Perrine in Bruce Jay Friedmans Steambath, from 1984 to 1988, he had a recurring role on St. Elsewhere. Edelman also appeared in ten episodes of Murder, She Wrote between 1984 and 1995, most frequently appearing as New York Police Department Lieutenant Artie Gelber and his last role was on an episode of Burkes Law. Edelman was married to soap opera actress Louise Sorel from 1964 to 1970 and he was romantically linked with actress Christina Pickles from the mid-1980s until his death. Edelman is survived by his two children, Briana and Jacy Edelman, Edelman died at age 62 of emphysema and was interred at Montefiore Cemetery in Springfield Gardens, Queens. Herb Edelman at the Internet Broadway Database Herb Edelman at the Internet Movie Database Herb Edelman at Find a Grave Classic Television Archive, Quinn Martins Tales of the Unexpected
17.
Kendo
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Kendo is a modern Japanese martial art, which descended from swordsmanship and uses bamboo swords and protective armour. Today, it is practiced within Japan and many other nations across the world. Kendo is an activity that combines martial arts practices and values with strenuous sport-like physical activity, swordsmen in Japan established schools of kenjutsu, which continued for centuries and which form the basis of kendo practice today. The formal kendo exercises known as kata were developed centuries ago as kenjutsu practice for warriors. They are still studied today, in a modified form, the introduction of bamboo practice swords and armour to sword training is attributed to Naganuma Shirōzaemon Kunisato during the Shotoku Era. Naganuma developed the use of bōgu and established a method using the shinai. Kunisato inherited the tradition from his father Heizaemon in 1708, Chiba Shusaku Narimasa, founder of the Hokushin Ittō-ryū Hyōhō, introduced Gekiken to the curriculum of this koryū in the 1820s. Also there are many waza like Suriage-Men, Oikomi-Men etc. in modern Kendo which were originally Hokushin Ittō-ryū techniques, after the Meiji Restoration in the late 1800s Sakakibara Kenkichi popularised public gekiken for commercial gain, but also generated an increased interest in kendo and kenjutsu as a result. The DNBK changed the name of the form of swordsmanship, called gekiken. Kendo was banned in Japan in 1946 by the occupying powers and this was part of the removal and exclusion from public life of militaristic and ultra nationalistic persons in response to the wartime militarisation of martial arts instruction in Japan. Kendo was allowed to return to the curriculum in 1950, the All Japan Kendo Federation was founded in 1952, immediately after Japans independence was restored and the ban on martial arts in Japan was lifted. It was formed on the principle of not as a martial art but as educational sport. The International Kendo Federation was founded in April 1970, it is a federation of national and regional kendo federations. The FIK is an organisation, and its aim is to promote. The International Martial Arts Federation, established in Kyoto 1952, was the first international organisation after WWII to promote the development of martial arts worldwide, today, IMAF includes kendo as one of the Japanese disciplines. Practitioners of kendo are called kendōka, meaning someone who practices kendo, or occasionally kenshi, the old term of kendoists is sometimes used. The Kodansha Meibo shows that as of September 2007, there were 1.48 million registered dan graded kendōka in Japan. According to the survey conducted by the All Japan Kendo Federation, in 1975, the All Japan Kendo Federation developed then published The Concept and Purpose of Kendo which is reproduced below
18.
Kyoto
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Kyoto is a city located in the central part of the island of Honshu, Japan. It has a close to 1.5 million. Kyoto is also known as the thousand-year capital, in Japanese, the city has been called Kyō, Miyako, or Kyō no Miyako. In the 11th century, the city was renamed Kyoto, after the Chinese word for capital city, after the city of Edo was renamed Tokyo in 1868, and the seat of the Emperor was transferred there, Kyoto was known for a short time as Saikyō. Obsolete spellings for the name include Kioto, Miaco and Meaco. Another term commonly used to refer to the city in the period was Keishi. His last choice for the site was the village of Uda, the new city, Heian-kyō, a scaled replica of the then Tang capital Changan, became the seat of Japans imperial court in 794, beginning the Heian period of Japanese history. The city suffered destruction in the Ōnin War of 1467–1477. Battles between samurai factions spilled into the streets, and came to involve the court nobility and religious factions as well, nobles mansions were transformed into fortresses, deep trenches dug throughout the city for defense and as firebreaks, and numerous buildings burned. The city has not seen such widespread destruction since, Hideyoshi also built earthwork walls called odoi encircling the city. Teramachi Street in central Kyoto is a Buddhist temple quarter where Hideyoshi gathered temples in the city, throughout the Edo period, the economy of the city flourished as one of three major cities in Japan, the others being Osaka and Edo. The Hamaguri rebellion of 1864 burnt down 28,000 houses in the city, the modern city of Kyoto was formed on April 1,1889. The construction of Lake Biwa Canal in 1890 is one taken to revive the city. The population of the city exceeded one million in 1932, stimson, Secretary of War in the Roosevelt and Truman administrations, the city was removed from the list of targets and replaced by Nagasaki. The city was spared from conventional bombing as well, although small-scale air raids did result in casualties. As a result, the Imperial City of Kyoto is one of the few Japanese cities that still have an abundance of prewar buildings, however, modernization is continually breaking down the traditional Kyoto in favor of newer architecture, such as the Kyōto Station complex. Kyoto became a city designated by government ordinance on September 1,1956, in 1997, Kyoto hosted the conference that resulted in the protocol on greenhouse gas emissions that bears the citys name. Kyoto is located in a valley, part of the Yamashiro Basin, in the part of the mountainous region known as the Tamba highlands
19.
James Shigeta
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James Saburo Shigeta was an American film and television actor. He was also a singer, musical theatre and nightclub performer. He was a Sansei, a third-generation American of Japanese ancestry and he was noted for his roles in The Crimson Kimono, Walk Like a Dragon, Flower Drum Song, Bridge to the Sun, Die Hard, and Mulan. In 1960, he won the Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer – Male, Shigeta often in his early career played romantic male lead roles, which as an actor of Asian descent during his time was almost non-existent. His most successful lead roles were in the films The Crimson Kimono. Before his Hollywood career he found success as a singer and performer abroad, especially in Japan, born in the Territory of Hawaii of Japanese ancestry in 1929, Shigeta studied drama at New York University. Shigeta entered and won first prize on Ted Macks television talent show, embarking on a singing career, his agent at the time gave him the non-ethnic sounding stage name of Guy Brion alluding to Shigeta as a cultured European. Under his new name he developed a supper club musical career in the United States, singing at venues such as the Mocambo, despite that success, breaking into the movies eluded him. During the Korean War Shigeta enlisted in the United States Marine Corps, en route to Korea, the ceasefire led Shigeta to Japan, where he was discharged from the Marines and hired by the theatrical division of Toho Studios. Shigeta did not speak the Japanese language until Toho Studios in Tokyo invited him to be a star under his real name in Japan. He spent years in country, becoming a success in all media aspects — radio, television, stage, supper clubs, movies. In 1958 the Nichigeki Theatre in Tokyo exported their extravaganza Cherry Blossom Show to Australia with Shigeta as the male lead, the show was performed at the Empire Theatre in Sydney, Her Majestys Theatre in Brisbane, the Theatre Royal in Adelaide, and Her Majestys Theatre in Melbourne. Shigeta returned to the United States to sing on The Dinah Shore Show, by 1959 he was the star of the Shirley MacLaine-Steve Parker production of Holiday in Japan at the New Frontier Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. In 1969 Shigeta toured the United States in the role of The King and I, with Melva Niles. When movies began to open up for him, Shigeta took acting lessons from seasoned dialogue coach Leon Charles. Shigeta first came on screen in the U. S. in 1959 as Detective Joe Kojaku in The Crimson Kimono, when filming began, Shigeta was still starring in Holiday in Japan in Las Vegas. An arrangement was made to him after his last show to the Paramount studio by ambulance to make sure he arrived on time. The technical advisor to Shigeta on the film was Benson Fong, jack Lord has first billing in this movie, which pits Shigeta against Lord for the affections of Kim Sung, played by Nobu McCarthy
20.
Gaijin
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Gaijin is a Japanese word for foreigners and non-Japanese. The word is composed of two kanji, gai and jin, similarly composed words that refer to foreign things include gaikoku and gaisha. The word can refer to nationality, race, or ethnicity, some feel the word has come to have a negative or pejorative connotation, while other observers maintain it is neutral or even positive. Gaikokujin is a neutral and somewhat more formal term widely used in the Japanese government. The word gaijin can be traced in writing to the 13th-century Heike Monogatari, 外人もなき所に兵具をとゝのへ Assembling arms where there are no gaijin Here, gaijin refers to outsiders and potential enemies. Another early reference is in Renri Hishō by Nijō Yoshimoto, where it is used to refer to a Japanese person who is a stranger, Here, gaijin also means an outsider or unfamiliar person. The word gaikokujin is composed of gaikoku and jin, the Meiji government introduced and popularized the term, which came to replace ijin, ikokujin and ihōjin. As the Empire of Japan extended to Korea and to Taiwan, while other terms fell out of use after World War II, gaikokujin remained the official term for non-Japanese people. Some hold that the modern gaijin is a contraction of gaikokujin, while all forms of the word mean foreigner or outsider, in practice gaikokujin and gaijin are commonly used to refer to racially non-Japanese groups, principally Caucasians. However the term is sometimes applied to ethnic Japanese born. Gaijin is also used within Japanese events such as baseball. Japanese speakers commonly refer to people as gaijin even while they are overseas. Also, people of Japanese descent native to other countries might also call non-descendants gaijin, historically, some usage of the word gaijin referred respectfully to the prestige and wealth of Caucasians or the power of western businesses. This interpretation of the term as positive or neutral in tone continues for some, however, though the term may be used without negative intent by many Japanese speakers, it is seen as derogatory by some and reflective of exclusionary attitudes. While the term itself has no meaning, it emphasizes the exclusiveness of Japanese attitude and has therefore picked up pejorative connotations that many Westerners resent. Mayumi Itoh Now that gaijin has become politically incorrect, it is common to refer to non-Japanese as gaikokujin. The uncontroversial, if slightly formal gaikokujin, is used instead. Gaijin appears frequently in Western literature and pop culture and it forms the title of such novels as Marc Oldens Gaijin, James Melvilles Go gently, gaijin, James Kirkups Gaijin on the Ginza and James Clavells Gai-Jin, as well as a song by Nick Lowe
21.
Katana
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Historically, katana were one of the traditionally made Japanese swords that were used by the samurai of ancient and feudal Japan. The katana is characterized by its appearance, a curved, single-edged blade with a circular or squared guard. These references to uchigatana and tsubagatana seem to indicate a different style of sword, the Mongol invasions of Japan faciliated a change in the designs of Japanese swords. Thin tachi and chokuto style blades were often unable to cut through the boiled leather armour of the Mongols, the evolution of the tachi into what would become the katana seems to have continued during the early Muromachi period. Starting around the year 1400, long swords signed with the signature were made. This was in response to samurai wearing their tachi in what is now called katana style, Japanese swords are traditionally worn with the signature facing away from the wearer. When a tachi was worn in the style of a katana, with the cutting edge up, the fact that swordsmiths started signing swords with a katana signature shows that some samurai of that time period had started wearing their swords in a different manner. The rise in popularity of katana amongst samurai came about due to the nature of close-combat warfare. The quicker draw of the sword was well suited to combat where victory depended heavily on short response times, the katana further facilitated this by being worn thrust through a belt-like sash with the sharpened edge facing up. Ideally, samurai could draw the sword and strike the enemy in a single motion, previously, the curved tachi had been worn with the edge of the blade facing down and suspended from a belt. The length of the katana blade varied considerably during the course of its history, in the late 14th and early 15th centuries, katana blades tended to have lengths between 70 and 73 centimetres. During the early 16th century, the average length dropped about 10 centimetres, by the late 16th century, the average length had increased again by about 13 centimetres, returning to approximately 73 centimetres. The katana was often paired with a smaller companion sword, such as a wakizashi, or it could also be worn with the tantō. The pairing of a katana with a sword is called the daishō. Only samurai could wear the daisho, it represented the social power, during the Meiji period, the samurai class was gradually disbanded, and the special privileges granted to them were taken away including the right to carry swords in public. The Haitōrei Edict in 1876 forbade the carrying of swords in public except for individuals, such as former samurai lords, the military. Skilled swordsmiths had trouble making a living during this period as Japan modernized its military, and many swordsmiths started making other items, such as equipment, tools. Military action by Japan in China and Russia during the Meiji period helped revive interest in swords, Japanese military swords produced between 1875 and 1945 are referred to as guntō
22.
Seppuku
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Seppuku, sometimes metathesized as harakiri which is a native Japanese kun reading, is a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment. It was originally reserved for samurai, if the cut, done with a movement, is done deep enough, it sections, cuts, the descending Aorta, inducing a massive blood loss inside the abdomen, with very fast death. A Japanese form of suicide, the term seppuku derives from the two Sino-Japanese roots setsu 切 and puku 腹. It is also known as harakiri, a more widely familiar outside Japan, and which is written with the same kanji as seppuku. In Japanese, the more formal seppuku, a Chinese onyomi reading, is used in writing, while harakiri. Ross notes, It is commonly pointed out that hara-kiri is a vulgarism, hara-kiri is a Japanese reading or Kun-yomi of the characters, as it became customary to prefer Chinese readings in official announcements, only the term seppuku was ever used in writing. So hara-kiri is a term, but only to commoners and seppuku a written term. The practice of committing seppuku at the death of ones master, known as oibara or tsuifuku, the word jigai means suicide in Japanese. The usual modern word for suicide is jisatsu, in some popular western texts, such as martial arts magazines, the term is associated with suicide of samurai wives. The term was introduced into English by Lafcadio Hearn in his Japan, An Attempt at Interpretation, joshua S. Mostow notes that Hearn misunderstood the term jigai to be the female equivalent of seppuku. The first recorded act of seppuku was performed by Minamoto no Yorimasa during the Battle of Uji in the year 1180. Seppuku eventually became a key part of bushido, the code of the warriors, it was used by warriors to avoid falling into enemy hands. Samurai could also be ordered by their daimyo to carry out seppuku, later, disgraced warriors were sometimes allowed to carry out seppuku rather than be executed in the normal manner. This way the head could, both metaphorically and literally, rest in its owners hands and those who did not belong to the samurai caste were never ordered or expected to carry out seppuku. Samurai generally could carry out the act only with permission, sometimes a daimyo was called upon to perform seppuku as the basis of a peace agreement. This would weaken the defeated clan so that resistance would effectively cease, toyotomi Hideyoshi used an enemys suicide in this way on several occasions, the most dramatic of which effectively ended a dynasty of daimyo. Until this practice became more standardized during the 17th century, the ritual of seppuku was less formalized. In the 12th and 13th centuries, such as with the seppuku of Minamoto no Yorimasa, seppukus defining characteristic was plunging either the Tachi, Wakizashi or Tanto into the gut and slicing the abdomen horizontally
23.
United States dollar
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The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States and its insular territories per the United States Constitution. It is divided into 100 smaller cent units, the circulating paper money consists of Federal Reserve Notes that are denominated in United States dollars. The U. S. dollar was originally commodity money of silver as enacted by the Coinage Act of 1792 which determined the dollar to be 371 4/16 grain pure or 416 grain standard silver, the currency most used in international transactions, it is the worlds primary reserve currency. Several countries use it as their currency, and in many others it is the de facto currency. Besides the United States, it is used as the sole currency in two British Overseas Territories in the Caribbean, the British Virgin Islands and Turks and Caicos Islands. A few countries use the Federal Reserve Notes for paper money, while the country mints its own coins, or also accepts U. S. coins that can be used as payment in U. S. dollars. After Nixon shock of 1971, USD became fiat currency, Article I, Section 8 of the U. S. Constitution provides that the Congress has the power To coin money, laws implementing this power are currently codified at 31 U. S. C. Section 5112 prescribes the forms in which the United States dollars should be issued and these coins are both designated in Section 5112 as legal tender in payment of debts. The Sacagawea dollar is one example of the copper alloy dollar, the pure silver dollar is known as the American Silver Eagle. Section 5112 also provides for the minting and issuance of other coins and these other coins are more fully described in Coins of the United States dollar. The Constitution provides that a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and that provision of the Constitution is made specific by Section 331 of Title 31 of the United States Code. The sums of money reported in the Statements are currently being expressed in U. S. dollars, the U. S. dollar may therefore be described as the unit of account of the United States. The word dollar is one of the words in the first paragraph of Section 9 of Article I of the Constitution, there, dollars is a reference to the Spanish milled dollar, a coin that had a monetary value of 8 Spanish units of currency, or reales. In 1792 the U. S. Congress passed a Coinage Act, Section 20 of the act provided, That the money of account of the United States shall be expressed in dollars, or units. And that all accounts in the offices and all proceedings in the courts of the United States shall be kept and had in conformity to this regulation. In other words, this act designated the United States dollar as the unit of currency of the United States, unlike the Spanish milled dollar the U. S. dollar is based upon a decimal system of values. Both one-dollar coins and notes are produced today, although the form is significantly more common
24.
Cinema of the United States
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The cinema of the United States, often metonymously referred to as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. The dominant style of American cinema is Classical Hollywood Cinema, which developed from 1917-1960, while the French Lumière Brothers are generally credited with the birth of modern cinema, it is American cinema that soon became the most dominant force in an emerging industry. Since the 1920s, the American film industry has grossed more money every year than that of any other country, in 1878, Eadweard Muybridge demonstrated the power of photography to capture motion. In 1894, the worlds first commercial motion picture exhibition was given in New York City, the United States was in the forefront of sound film development in the following decades. Since the early 20th century, the U. S. film industry has largely been based in and around Hollywood, Los Angeles, director D. W. Griffith was central to the development of film grammar. Orson Welless Citizen Kane is frequently cited in critics polls as the greatest film of all time. T, the Extra-Terrestrial, Jurassic Park, Titanic, Avatar, The Avengers, Furious 7, Jurassic World, and Star Wars, The Force Awakens. Today, American film studios collectively generate several hundred movies every year, muybridges accomplishment led inventors everywhere to attempt to make similar devices that would capture such motion. In the United States, Thomas Edison was among the first to produce such a device, the history of cinema in the United States can trace its roots to the East Coast where, at one time, Fort Lee, New Jersey was the motion picture capital of America. The industry got its start at the end of the 19th century with the construction of Thomas Edisons Black Maria, in 1909, a forerunner of Universal Studios, the Champion Film Company, built the first studio. They were quickly followed by others who either built new studios or who leased facilities in Fort Lee, such notables as Mary Pickford got their start at Biograph Studios. In New York, the Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens, was built during the silent film era, was used by the Marx Brothers, the Edison Studios were located in the Bronx. Chelsea, Manhattan was also frequently used, other major centers of film production also included Chicago, Florida, Texas, California, and Cuba. The film patents wars of the early 20th century led to the spread of film companies across the U. S and they started filming on a vacant lot near Georgia Street in downtown Los Angeles. While there, the decided to explore new territories, traveling several miles north to Hollywood. Griffith then filmed the first movie shot in Hollywood, In Old California, a Biograph melodrama about California in the 19th century. Griffith stayed there for months and made several films before returning to New York, after hearing about Griffiths success in Hollywood, in 1913, many movie-makers headed west to avoid the fees imposed by Thomas Edison, who owned patents on the movie-making process. Nestor Studios of Bayonne, New Jersey, built the first studio in Hollywood in 1911, Californias more hospitable and cost-effective climate led to the eventual shift of virtually all filmmaking to the West Coast by the 1930s. In Los Angeles, the studios and Hollywood grew, before World War I, movies were made in several U. S. cities, but filmmakers gravitated to southern California as the industry developed
25.
Martin Scorsese
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Martin Charles Scorsese is an American director, producer, screenwriter, and film historian, whose career spans more than 50 years. Scorseses body of work addresses such themes as Sicilian-American identity, Roman Catholic concepts of guilt and redemption, faith, machismo, modern crime, many of his films are also known for their depiction of violence and liberal use of profanity. Part of the New Hollywood wave of filmmaking, he is regarded as one of the most significant. In 1990, he founded The Film Foundation, an organization dedicated to film preservation. Their third film together, The Departed, won Scorsese the Academy Award for Best Director in addition to the winning the award for Best Picture. Their collaborations have resulted in numerous Academy Award nominations for both as well as winning several other prestigious awards. His work in television includes the episode of the HBO series Boardwalk Empire and Vinyl. He won the Academy Award for Best Director for the crime drama The Departed, with eight Best Director nominations, he is the most nominated living director and is tied with Billy Wilder for the second most nominations overall. Scorsese was born in Queens, New York and his family moved to Little Italy, Manhattan before he started school. His father, Charles Scorsese, and mother, Catherine Scorsese and his father was a clothes presser and an actor, and his mother was a seamstress and an actress. His fathers parents emigrated from Polizzi Generosa, in the province of Palermo, Sicily, Scorsese was raised in a devoutly Catholic environment. As a teenager in the Bronx, Scorsese frequently rented Powell, Scorsese was one of only two people who regularly rented that reel. The other was future Night Of The Living Dead director George A. Romero, Scorsese has cited Sabu and Victor Mature as his favorite actors during his youth. He has also spoken of the influence of the 1947 Powell and Pressburger film Black Narcissus, whose innovative techniques later impacted his filmmaking. Enamored of historical epics in his adolescence, at least two films of the genre, Land of the Pharaohs and El Cid, appear to have had a deep, Scorsese also developed an admiration for neorealist cinema at this time. He acknowledges owing a debt to the French New Wave and has stated that the French New Wave has influenced all filmmakers who have worked since. He has also cited filmmakers including Satyajit Ray, Ingmar Bergman, Michelangelo Antonioni and he went on to earn his M. F. A. from NYUs School of the Arts in 1966, a year after the school was founded. Scorsese attended New York Universitys Tisch School of the Arts making the short films Whats a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This. and Its Not Just You, Murray
26.
Taxi Driver
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Taxi Driver is a 1976 American vigilante film with neo-noir and psychological thriller elements, directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Paul Schrader. Set in New York City following the Vietnam War, the film stars Robert De Niro, and features Jodie Foster, Harvey Keitel, Cybill Shepherd, Peter Boyle, and Albert Brooks. Nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Taxi Driver won the Palme dOr at the 1976 Cannes Film Festival and it is regularly cited by critics, film directors, and audiences alike as one of the greatest films of all time. In 2012, Sight & Sound named it the 31st-best film ever in its critics poll, ranked with The Godfather Part II. The film was considered culturally, historically or aesthetically significant by the US Library of Congress and was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 1994. Travis Bickle, a 26-year-old honorably discharged U. S. Marine, is a lonely and he becomes a taxi driver to cope with his chronic insomnia, driving passengers every night around the citys boroughs. He also spends time in seedy porn theaters and keeps a diary, Travis becomes infatuated with Betsy, a campaign volunteer for Senator and presidential candidate Charles Palantine. After watching her interact with fellow worker Tom through her window, Travis enters to volunteer as a pretext to talk to her, on a later date, he takes her to see a Swedish sex education film, which offends her, and she goes home alone. His attempts at reconciliation by sending flowers are rebuffed, so he berates her at the campaign office, before being kicked out by Tom. Travis confides in fellow taxi driver Wizard about his thoughts, which are beginning to turn violent, a fellow taxi driver refers Travis to illegal gun dealer Easy Andy, from whom he buys a number of handguns. At home, Travis practices drawing his weapons and constructs a sleeve gun to hide, one night, Travis enters a convenience store moments before an attempted armed robbery and he shoots and kills the robber. The shop owner takes responsibility for the shooting, taking Travis handgun, earlier, child prostitute Iris had entered Traviss cab, attempting to escape her pimp Matthew Sport Higgins. Sport dragged Iris from the cab and threw Travis a crumpled twenty-dollar bill, which reminds him of her. Some time later, Travis hires Iris, but instead of having sex with her and he fails to completely turn her from her course, but she does agree to meet with him for breakfast the next day. Travis leaves a letter to Iris at his apartment saying he will soon be dead, with money for her to return home. After shaving his head into a mohawk, Travis attends a rally, where he plans to assassinate Senator Palantine. He flees and later goes to the East Village to invade Sports brothel, a violent gunfight ensues and Travis kills Sport, a bouncer, and a mafioso. Travis is severely injured with gunshot wounds
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Raging Bull
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Also featured in the film are Joe Pesci as Joey, LaMottas well-intentioned brother and manager who tries to help Jake battle his inner demons, and Cathy Moriarty as his wife. The film features supporting roles from Nicholas Colasanto, Theresa Saldana, Scorsese was initially reluctant to develop the project, though he eventually came to relate to LaMottas story. Schrader re-wrote Martins first screenplay, and Scorsese and De Niro together made uncredited contributions thereafter, Pesci was an unknown actor prior to the film, as was Moriarty, who was suggested for her role by Pesci. During principal photography, each of the scenes was choreographed for a specific visual style. Scorsese was exacting in the process of editing and mixing the film, despite receiving mixed initial reviews, it went on to garner a high critical reputation, and is now often regarded as among Scorseses best works and the greatest films ever made. In 1990, it became the first film to be selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in its first year of eligibility, in a brief scene in 1964, an aging, overweight Italian American, Jake LaMotta, practices a comedy routine. In 1941, LaMotta is in a boxing match against Jimmy Reeves. Jakes brother Joey LaMotta discusses a potential shot for the title with one of his Mafia connections. Some time thereafter, Jake spots a 15-year-old girl named Vikki at a swimming pool in his Bronx neighborhood. He eventually pursues a relationship with her, even though he is already married, in 1943, Jake defeats Sugar Ray Robinson, and has a rematch three weeks later. Jake constantly worries about Vikki having feelings for men, particularly when she makes an off-hand comment about Tony Janiro. His jealousy is evident when he brutally defeats Janiro in front of the local Mob boss, Tommy Como, as Joey discusses the victory with journalists at the Copacabana, he is distracted by seeing Vikki approach a table with Salvy and his crew. Joey speaks with Vikki, who says she is giving up on his brother, blaming Salvy, Joey viciously attacks him in a fight that spills outside of the club. Como later orders them to apologize, and has Joey tell Jake that if he wants a chance at the championship title, in a match against Billy Fox, after briefly pummeling his opponent, Jake does not even bother to put up a fight. He is suspended shortly thereafter from the board on suspicion of throwing the fight and he is eventually reinstated, and in 1949, wins the middleweight championship title against Marcel Cerdan. A year later, Jake asks Joey if he fought with Salvy at the Copacabana because of Vikki, Jake then asks if Joey had an affair with her, Joey refuses to answer, insults Jake, and leaves. Jake directly asks Vikki about the affair, and when she hides him in the bathroom, he breaks down the door. Jake angrily walks to Joeys house, with Vikki following him, estranged from Joey, Jakes career begins to decline slowly and he eventually loses his title to Sugar Ray Robinson in their final encounter in 1951
28.
Blue Collar (film)
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Blue Collar is a 1978 American crime drama film directed by Paul Schrader, in his directorial debut. It was written by Schrader and his brother Leonard and stars Richard Pryor, Harvey Keitel, the film is both a critique of union practices and an examination of life in a working-class Rust Belt enclave. Although it has minimal comic elements provided by Pryor, it is mostly dramatic, a trio of Detroit auto workers, two black—Zeke Brown and Smokey James —and one white—Jerry Bartowski —are fed up with mistreatment at the hands of both management and union brass. Coupled with the hardships on each mans end, the trio hatch a plan to rob a safe at union headquarters. They commit the caper but find only a few scant bills in the process, more importantly, they also come away with a ledger which contains evidence of the unions illegal loan operation and ties to organized crime syndicates. They attempt to blackmail the union with the information but the union retaliates strongly, a suspicious accident at the plant results in Smokeys death. A federal agent attempts to coerce Jerry into informing on the unions corruption, at the same time, corrupt union bosses try to get Zeke to work for them. By the end, once friends, Jerry and Zeke turn against each another. Richard Pryor as Zeke Brown Harvey Keitel as Jerry Bartowski Yaphet Kotto as Smokey James Ed Begley, the three main actors didnt get along and were constantly fighting throughout the shoot. Blue Collar was universally praised by critics, the film holds a rare 100% Fresh rating on the review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes. Both Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel especially lauded the film, Ebert awarded the film four stars and Siskel placed the film fourth on his list of the ten best of 1978. Filmmaker Spike Lee included the film on his essential film list entitled List of Films All Aspiring Filmmakers Must See, in his autobiography Born to Run, Bruce Springsteen names Blue Collar and Taxi Driver as two of his favorite films from the 1970s. Blue Collar at the Internet Movie Database Blue Collar at Rotten Tomatoes
29.
Hardcore (1979 film)
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Hardcore is a 1979 American crime drama film written and directed by Paul Schrader and starring George C. Scott, Peter Boyle and Season Hubley, the story concerns a father searching for his daughter, who has vanished only to appear in a pornographic film. Writer-director Schrader had previously written the screenplay for Martin Scorseses Taxi Driver, jake Van Dorn is a prosperous local businessman in Grand Rapids, Michigan who has strong Calvinist convictions. A single parent, Van Dorn is the father of a quiet, conservative teenage girl, Kristen. Andy Mast, a private investigator from Los Angeles, is then hired to find her. Van Dorn then suspects that his daughter was kidnapped and forced to join Californias porno underworld and his quest to rescue her takes him on an odyssey through this sleazy adult subculture. A scraggly actor named Jism Jim, who was in the film with Kristen, knows where she might be, Van Dorn hires Niki to accompany him on the search for Kristen. The unlikely pair ends in San Francisco where Van Dorn finds that Kristen may be in the hands of Ratan, yet when Niki refuses to give the address of a porn industry player to Van Dorn, he loses his temper and strikes her. He immediately regrets his action, but the rapport between Van Dorn and Niki is clearly damaged, Van Dorn finds the player, Tod, in a bondage house and forces Tod to tell him where Ratan hangs out. Van Dorn and Mast track Ratan to a nightclub where he, when Van Dorn confronts Ratan, Kristen flees and Ratan slashes Van Dorn with a knife. Van Dorn tells Kristen hell take her home from the people he believes forced her into pornography, despondent and tearful, Van Dorn promises to leave her alone if she truly prefers, but she relents and says she wants him to stay. And in his version, it would have been his wife, not his daughter, I turned down a very large sum of money. I went after Scott and I got him, one of the greatest actors in the world. ”Hardcore earned mostly positive reviews, with an 84% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. In 2004 the film received a DVD release from Sony, in August 2016 the film received a U. S. Release on Blu-ray from Twilight Time in a limited edition, the disc featured a commentary track from Writer/Director Paul Schrader as well as one featuring critics Eddy Friedfeld, Lee Pfeiffer and Paul Scrabo. It is also available on streaming video and digital download through Amazon. com, Apple iTunes Store, Vudu, 29th Berlin International Film Festival Golden Berlin Bear, Paul Schrader 8mm Hardcore at the Internet Movie Database
30.
American Gigolo
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American Gigolo is a 1980 American romantic crime-drama film starring Richard Gere, Lauren Hutton, Hector Elizondo, Nina Van Pallandt and Bill Duke, written and directed by Paul Schrader. The film is notable for establishing Gere as a leading man and it is also notable for its accompanying soundtrack, composed by Giorgio Moroder and featuring the number-one hit single Call Me by Blondie. Schrader considers it one of four films, which he calls double bookends, Taxi Driver, bookended by Light Sleeper. Julian Kaye is an escort in Los Angeles whose job supports his expensive taste in cars and clothes. He is blatantly materialistic, narcissistic and superficial, however, he claims to take pleasure in his work from being able to sexually satisfy women. Julians procuress, Anne, sends him on an assignment with an old widow, Mrs. Dobrun. Afterwards, he goes to the bar and meets Michelle Stratton, a senators beautiful but unhappy wife. Meanwhile, Julians other pimp, Leon, sends him to Palm Springs on an assignment to the house of Mr. Rheiman, Rheiman asks Julian to have rough, sado-masochistic sex with his wife Judy while he watches them. The next day, Julian berates Leon for sending him to a rough trick, as Julian begins to get to know Michelle, he learns that Judy Rheiman has been murdered. Los Angeles Police Department Detective Sunday investigates Julian as a primary suspect, though he was with another client, Lisa Williams, on the night of the murder, she refuses to give Julian an alibi in order to protect her and her husbands reputations. As Julians relationship with Michelle deepens, evidence connecting him with the murder mounts and he soon realizes that he is being framed and grows increasingly desperate. Julian finally concludes that Leon and Rheiman himself are the ones trying to frame him, and he goes to confront Leon, telling him he knows everything, but Leon refuses to help him. Julian pleads with Leon to clear his name, even offering to work exclusively for him and do kink and gay assignments, during a brief scuffle, Julian accidentally pushes Leon over the apartment balcony and he falls to his death. With no one to him, Julian ends up in jail. However, when all seems lost, Michelle risks her reputation, Gere said in 2012 that he was drawn to the role because of its gay subtext. I read it and I thought, This is a character I dont know very well and he speaks languages, I dont speak any languages. Theres kind of a gay thing thats flirting through it and I didnt know the gay community at all, I wanted to immerse myself in all of that and I had literally two weeks. John Travolta became interested in the part and briefly acted in it before getting cold feet, Paul Schrader had threatened to sue Travolta if Richard Gere wasnt cast in the film knowing full well that Travolta had his eye on the script of another Paramount production Urban Cowboy
31.
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters
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Mishima, A Life in Four Chapters is a 1985 American film co-written and directed by Paul Schrader. It was executive produced by Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas, the film sets in on November 251970, the last day in Mishimas life. He is shown finishing a manuscript, then, he puts on a uniform he designed for himself and meets with four of his most loyal followers from his private army. In flashbacks highlighting episodes from his past life, the viewer sees Mishimas progression from a young boy to one of Japans most acclaimed writers of the post-war era. His loathing for the materialism of modern Japan has him turn towards an extremist traditionalism and he sets up his own private army and proclaims the reinstating of the emperor as head of state. Kyokos House depicts the relationship between an elderly woman and her young lover, who is in her financial debt. In Runaway Horses, a group of young fanatic nationalists fails to overthrow the government, frame story, flashbacks and dramatizations are segmented into the four chapters of the films title, named Beauty, Art, Action, and Harmony of Pen and Sword. The film culminates in Mishima and his followers taking hostage a General of the Japan Self-Defense Forces and he addresses the garrisons soldiers, asking them to join him in his struggle to reinstate the Emperor as the nations sovereign. His speech is largely ignored and ridiculed, Mishima then returns to the Generals office and commits seppuku. At least two scenes, showing the young Mishima being aroused by a painting of the Christian martyr Sebastian, the use of one further Mishima novel, Forbidden Colors, which describes the marriage of a homosexual man to a woman, was denied by Mishimas widow. As Schrader wanted to visualize a book illustrating Mishimas narcissism and sexual ambiguity, Kyokos House contains four equally ranking storylines, featuring four different protagonists, but Schrader picked out only the one which he considered convenient. Roy Scheider was the narrator in the movie version and on the early VHS release. On the 2001 DVD release, Scheiders voice-over was substituted with a narration by an uncredited actor, the 2008 DVD re-release contains both Scheiders and the alternate narration. In a commentary on Amazon. com, Schrader explained this was an error in 2001. The film closes with Mishimas suicide and his confidant Morita, unable to behead Mishima, also failed in killing himself according to the ritual. A third group member beheaded both, then the conspirators surrendered without resistance, Roger Ebert approved of Schraders decision not to show the suicide in bloody detail, which he thought would have destroyed the films mood. The title role was intended for Ken Takakura, who indeed proposed this to Paul Schrader. In an interview with Kevin Jackson, Schrader commented on the fact that his film has not been shown in Japan, is too much of a scandal
32.
Kiss of the Spider Woman (film)
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William Hurt, Raúl Juliá, Sônia Braga, José Lewgoy, and Milton Gonçalves star in the leading roles. Molina passes the time by recounting memories from one of his favorite films and he weaves the characters into a narrative meant to comfort Arregui and distract him from the harsh realities of political imprisonment and the separation from his lover, Marta. Arregui allows Molina to penetrate some of his self and opens up. Despite Arregui occasionally snapping at Molina over his rather shallow views of political cinema, Molina has namely been promised a parole if he succeeds in obtaining information that will allow the secret police to find the revolutionary groups members. Molina falls in love with Arregui, and Arregui responds after a fashion, Molina is granted parole in the hopes Arregui will reveal information about his contacts when he knows Molina will be out of prison. Arregui provides Molina with a number and message for his comrades. Molina at first refuses to take the number, fearing the consequences of treason, but he relents, in the final scenes, Molina calls the telephone number, and a meeting is arranged with the revolutionary group. But the secret police have had Molina under surveillance, and a gun battle ensues, with the revolutionaries, assuming Molina has betrayed them, shooting him. On the orders of the chief, the policemen dump Molinas body in a rubbish pit and fabricate a story about his death. Meanwhile, back in the prison Arregui is being treated after being tortured once again, as the doctor administers him morphine to help him sleep, risking his job in the process, Arregui escapes into a dream where he is on a tropical island with Marta. The film is based on the 1976 novel El beso de la mujer araña by Manuel Puig, the Argentinian author was the first to adapt his own novel as a stage play. A Broadway musical of the name also based on the same story, was produced in 1993. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives it a rating of 88% based on reviews from 24 critics, roger Ebert gave the film three and a half stars out of four, calling it a film of insights and surprises and remarking that the performances are wonderful. James Berardinelli gave Kiss of the Spider Woman three stars out of four, calling it a character study. Reviewing the film in 2009, Berardinelli claimed that it has lost none of its power over the years, william Hurt won the Academy Award for Best Actor. The film was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director. Hurt also won Best Actor at the BAFTA Awards, the 1985 Cannes Film Festival and several other festivals, the film was awarded the inaugural Golden Space Needle award from the Seattle International Film Festival. Kiss of the Spider Woman at the Internet Movie Database Kiss of the Spider Woman at Box Office Mojo Kiss of the Spider Woman at Rotten Tomatoes Kiss of the Spider Woman at Metacritic
33.
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
