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René Clair

Biography

René Clair was a French filmmaker and writer. He first established his reputation in the 1920s as a director of silent films in which comedy was often mingled with fantasy. He went on to make some of the most innovative early sound films in France, before going abroad to work in the UK and USA for more than a decade. Returning to France after World War II, he continued to make films that were characterised by their elegance and wit, often presenting a nostalgic view of French life in earlier years. He was elected to the Académie française in 1960. Clair's best known films include The Italian Straw Hat (1928), Under the Roofs of Paris (1930), Le Million (1931), À nous la liberté (1931), I Married a Witch (1942), and And Then There Were None (1945). In 1924, while Clair was working on Ciné-sketch for the theatre with France Picabia, he first met a young actress, Bronja Perlmutter, who subsequently appeared in his film Le Voyage imaginaire (1926) premiered at the newly opened Studio des Ursulines. They married in 1926, and their son, Jean-François, was born in 1927. René Clair died at home on 15 March 1981, and he was buried privately at Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois. Clair's reputation as a film-maker underwent a considerable reevaluation during the course of his own lifetime: in the 1930s he was widely seen as one of France's greatest directors, alongside Renoir and Carné, but thereafter his work's artifice and detachment from the realities of life fell increasingly from favour. The avant-gardism of his first films, and especially Entr'acte, had given him a temporary notoriety, and a grounding in surrealism continued to underlie much of his comedy work. It was however the imaginative manner in which he overcame his initial scepticism about the arrival of sound which established his originality, and his first four sound films brought him international fame. Clair's years of working in the UK and USA made him still more widely known but did not show any marked development in his style or thematic concerns. It was in the post-war films that he made on his return to France that some critics have observed a new maturity and emotional depth, accompanied by a prevailing sense of melancholy but still framed by the elegance and wit that characterised his earlier work. However, in the 1950s the critics who heralded the arrival of the French New Wave, especially those associated with Cahiers du Cinéma, found Clair's work old-fashioned and academic. The paradox of Clair's reputation has been further heightened by those commentators who have seen François Truffaut as the French cinema's true successor to Clair, notwithstanding the occasions of their mutual disdain.
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Jim Ward

Biography

James Kevin Ward (May 19, 1959 – December 10, 2025) was an American voice actor, radio personality, and camera operator. From 2004 to 2014, and again from 2015 to 2017, Ward was the co-host of The Stephanie Miller Show, a nationally syndicated liberal radio talk show that features a number of his impersonations of political figures and other celebrities and news makers. Ward played several roles in animation and video games, most notably Captain Qwark in the Ratchet & Clank franchise. In 2006, Ward played Eyemore, Crusher, and Stoker in Biker Mice from Mars, a remake of the 1990s series of the same name. Ward inherited the role of Stoker from Peter Strauss. In 2009, for his roles on the show, he was nominated and won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program.
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Robert Duvall

Biography

Robert Selden Duvall (born January 5, 1931) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the recipient of an Academy Award, four Golden Globe Awards, a BAFTA Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards and a Screen Actors Guild Award. Duvall began appearing in theater in the late 1950s, moving into television and film roles during the early 1960s, playing Boo Radley in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) and appearing in Captain Newman, M.D. (1963), as Major Frank Burns in the blockbuster comedy M*A*S*H (1970) and the lead role in THX 1138 (1971), as well as Horton Foote's adaptation of William Faulkner's Tomorrow (1972), which was developed at The Actors Studio and is his personal favorite. This was followed by a series of critically lauded performances in commercially successful films. He has starred in numerous films and television series, including The Twilight Zone (1963), The Outer Limits (1964), The F.B.I. (1966), Bullitt (1968), True Grit (1969), Joe Kidd (1972), The Godfather (1972), The Godfather Part II (1974), The Conversation (1974), Network (1976), Apocalypse Now (1979), The Great Santini (1979), Tender Mercies (1983) (which earned him the Academy Award for Best Actor), The Natural (1984), Colors (1988), Lonesome Dove (1989), The Handmaid's Tale (1990), Days of Thunder (1990), Rambling Rose (1991), Falling Down (1993), Secondhand Lions (2003), The Judge (2014), and Widows (2018).
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Denys Arcand

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Georges-Henri Denys Arcand CC GOQ (born June 25, 1941) is a French-Canadian film director, screenwriter and producer based in Montreal, who crafts deeply personal and thought-provoking films, earning international acclaim. His career began with features like "Une Maudite Galette" (1972) and "Gina" (1975), exploring diverse narratives. "The Decline of the American Empire" (1986) depicted Quebecois intellectuals tackling issues of sexuality, success, and intimacy, winning critical acclaim, nine Genies, and a Cannes Fipresci prize. "Jesus of Montreal" delved into the lives of Montreal artists portraying biblical figures, blending day-to-day struggles with religious performances. Arcand's film "Stardom" satirized fame, closing Cannes 2000 and opening TIFF, a rare honour for Canadian cinema. "The Barbarian Invasions," a sequel to his earlier work, earned Arcand an Oscar, Cannes prizes, French Cesars, and Quebec Jutra awards, solidifying his cinematic legacy.
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Fernand Ledoux

Biography

Fernand Ledoux (born Jacques Joseph Félix Fernand Ledoux, 24 January 1897, Tirlemont – 21 September 1993, Villerville) was a French film and theatre actor of Belgian origin. He studied with Raphaël Duflos at the CNSAD, and began his career with small roles at the Comédie-Française. He appeared in close to eighty films, with his best remembered role being the stationmaster Roubaud in Jean Renoir's La Bête humaine (1938), but he remained primarily a theatrical actor for the duration of his career. Married to Fernande Thabuy, with whom he had four children, Ledoux was an amateur painter, and lived for many years at Pennedepie in Normandy. Later he moved to Villerville, where he died and where he is buried. Source: Article "Fernand Ledoux" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA.
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Kappei Yamaguchi

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Mitsuo Yamaguchi (山口 光雄, Yamaguchi Mitsuo), better known by his stage name of Kappei Yamaguchi (山口 勝平, Yamaguchi Kappei) is a Japanese voice actor and actor from Fukuoka, affiliated with Gokū and 21st Century Fox. He is best known for the roles of Ranma Saotome (Ranma ½), Jackson Neil (Miracle Girls), Tombo (Kiki's Delivery Service), Yattaro (Kyattou Ninden Teyandee), InuYasha (InuYasha), Ryuichi Sakuma (Gravitation), L (Death Note), Usopp (One Piece), Hideyoshi (Law of Ueki), and Kaito Kid and Shinichi Kudo (Case Closed). His current starring roles include that of Raimon "Monta" Taro, the Deimon Devil Bats' ace receiver in Eyeshield 21. Yamaguchi has appeared in eroge as Kyōya Ushihisa (牛久 京也, Ushihisa Kyōya).  He made his first public appearance in North America at Otakon 2008;  and was also a guest at Sakura-Con 2009.  Yamaguchi's third appearance to date has been at Animazement in 2010. He is married and has a daughter, Akane Yamaguchi (山口 茜), and a son, Ryunosuke Yamaguchi (山口 竜之介), who also are voice actors. Description above from the Wikipedia article Kappei Yamaguchi, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Stanislav Yanevski

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Stanislav Ianevski (born Stanislav Rumenov Yanevski, Bulgarian: Станислав Руменов Яневски; on 16 May 1985), is a Bulgarian actor best known for playing Viktor Krum in the 2005 fantasy film Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Ianevski was born in Sofia. He lived in England for five years, as well as in Israel. While attending Mill Hill School in the United Kingdom with fellow Harry Potter actor Harry Melling, Ianevski had no particular acting aspirations and was not a drama student. He had only auditioned for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire after being spotted by Fiona Weir, a casting director who prompted him to attend an acting workshop, which resulted in his casting as Viktor Krum, a Bulgarian character in the Harry Potter series. He was selected from 650 others, most of whom had auditioned in Sofia. He also starred in Hostel: Part II, the sequel to Eli Roth's film Hostel.
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Arthur Housman

Biography

From Wikipedia Arthur Housman (October 10, 1889 – April 8, 1942) was an American actor in films during both the silent film era and the Golden Age of Hollywood. Initially as a leading man, Housman later became known as Hollywood's most familiar comic drunkard in films of the 1930s, usually playing cameo parts in features but with better opportunities in short films. His best remembered roles were in several Laurel and Hardy films, notably Scram!, Our Relations and (in the title role) The Live Ghost. He also played a frustrated timekeeper in the Three Stooges' film Punch Drunks. Housman died of pneumonia at age 52. He was married to Ellen Grubley (31 July 1893 - 21 May 1960) from 1919 until his death in 1942.
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Sean Connery

Biography

Sir Thomas Sean Connery (August 25, 1930 - October 31, 2020) was a Scottish actor and producer who won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards (one being a BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award), and three Golden Globes, including the Cecil B. DeMille Award and a Henrietta Award. Connery was the first actor to portray the character James Bond in film, starring in seven Bond films (every film from Dr. No to You Only Live Twice, plus Diamonds Are Forever and Never Say Never Again), between 1962 and 1983. In 1988, Connery won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Untouchables. His films also include Marnie (1964), Murder on the Orient Express (1974), The Man Who Would Be King (1975), A Bridge Too Far (1977), Highlander (1986), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), The Hunt for Red October (1990), Dragonheart (1996), The Rock (1996), and Finding Forrester (2000). Connery was polled in a 2004 The Sunday Herald as "The Greatest Living Scot" and in a 2011 EuroMillions survey as "Scotland's Greatest Living National Treasure". He was voted by People magazine as both the “Sexiest Man Alive" in 1989 and the "Sexiest Man of the Century” in 1999. He received a lifetime achievement award in the United States with a Kennedy Center Honor in 1999. Connery was knighted in the 2000 New Year Honours for services to film drama. On October 31, 2020, it was announced that Connery had died at the age of 90.
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Clara Bernadeth

Biography

Clara Josephine Bernadeth (born on August 30, 1994, in Jakarta) is an Indonesian actress and model. She is the second of three siblings, with an older sister named Caron Toshiko and a younger sister named Caitlin Dimitri Shaquina. On November 6, 2021, Clara married Palma Putra. Clara began her career in the entertainment industry as a music video model in 2016. She then ventured into acting, starring in the film Tersanjung the Movie, which significantly boosted her popularity. Additionally, Clara is known for her roles in the film Agen Dunia (2021) as Citra, as well as in web series such as Turn On (2021), Pertaruhan the Series (2022), and Roy & Marten: Sahabat Sehidup Semati (2023). With her talent and dedication, Clara Bernadeth continues to grow as one of the most promising young actresses in the Indonesian entertainment industry.
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