Trending

Popular people

Haroun Tazieff

Biography

Haroun Tazieff (Warsaw, 11 May 1914 – Paris, 2 February 1998) was a Tatar, Belgian and French volcanologist and geologist. He was a famous cinematographer of volcanic eruptions and lava flows, and the author of several books on volcanoes. He was also a government adviser and French cabinet minister. He also served in the Belgian resistance during world war 2. His parents met and married in 1906 while they were both students in Brussels. They later returned to Warsaw, Russian Partition, where their first son, Salvator, died at two months and where Haroun was born. His father, Sabir, was a Muslim medical doctor, of Tatar descent and his mother, Zenita Iliyasovna Klupta, was a Tatar[dubious – discuss] chemist and doctor of natural science and holder of a bachelor's degree in political science. His father was conscripted into the Russian Army and died during the First world war, a fact that did not reach the family until 1919. In 1917 Haroun emigrated to Brussels with his widowed mother. Haroun received a degree in agronomy in Gembloux in 1938, and another degree in geology at the University of Liège in 1944. He was later a Secretary of state in France, in charge of protection against major risks. Haroun Tazieff participated in the first detailed exploration of the "Saint-Martin" La Verna cave system in the French Pyrenees. In 1952, while he was filming Marcel Loubens' ascent of the Pierre-Saint-Martin rock face, the cable of the hoist broke and Loubens fell over 80 meters. Loubens died 36 hours later but his body could only be recovered from the cave in 1954. He became famous in France after publishing a book entitled, "Le Gouffre de la Pierre Saint-Martin" in 1952. He directed the documentary movie Le volcan interdit (1966) about the Nyiragongo Mountain in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which he was the first to climb in 1948. The National Geographic film, The Violent Earth, was based on Tazieff's expeditions to the volcanoes Mount Etna on Sicily in 1971 and Mount Nyiragongo in 1972. In these expeditions he attempted, unsuccessfully, to descend into the active lava lake in order to collect samples — something he had managed to achieve on a previous expedition in 1959. Tazieff died in 1998 and was buried in the Passy Cemetery in Paris. Source: Article "Haroun Tazieff" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Read more

Tom Gerhardt

Biography

After completing his *Abitur*, Gerhardt performed his compulsory military service as an anti-tank gunner in the 5th Company of the 123rd Anti-Tank Battalion. Subsequently, he studied German Studies and Philosophy, writing his thesis on *The Philosophy of Language of Nicholas of Cusa*. As a freelance contributor to the Cologne-based tabloid *Express*, he also wrote reports on the city's cultural scene. After embarking on a career as an entertainer, he ceased his work for *Express* in the 1990s. He rose to fame in 1988 with his program *Dackel mit Sekt*, having been discovered by Jürgen von der Lippe. He achieved great success with the films *Voll normaaal* and *Ballermann 6*. The most recent installment in the series followed in 2011 with *Die Superbullen*. Another successful project was the comedy series *Hausmeister Krause – Ordnung muss sein*. On January 5, 2011, he was named an honorary citizen of Cologne-Kalk. Gerhardt speaks Spanish and lived in Seville for one year.
Read more

Lotte Lenya

Biography

Lotte Lenya (born Karoline Wilhelmine Charlotte Blamauer; 18 October 1898 – 27 November 1981) was an Austrian-American singer, diseuse, and actress, long based in the United States. In the German-speaking and classical music world, she is best remembered for her performances of the songs of her first husband, Kurt Weill. In English-language cinema, she was nominated for an Academy Award for her role as a jaded aristocrat in The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1961). She also played the murderous and sadistic Rosa Klebb in the James Bond movie From Russia with Love (1963). Description above from the Wikipedia article Lotte Lenya, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Read more

Kate Katzman

Biography

Kate Katzman is an Irish-American actress, who was born in Philadelphia, PA and raised in Bucks County. Growing up, Kate didn't dream of becoming an actress. In fact, this animal lover wanted to be a veterinarian. Kate made her movie debut in 2015 in the indie film, "Walt Before Mickey," playing Walt Disney's (Thomas Ian Nicholas) wife, Lillian. Her other credits include "This is the Year," "Santa in Training," and the neo-noir drama, "Adverse," opposite Mickey Rourke, Sean Austin, Penelope Ann Miller and Lou Diamond Phillips, which will be released in January 2021.
Read more

Miley Cyrus

Biography

Miley Ray Cyrus (born Destiny Hope Cyrus, November 23, 1992) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Dubbed the "Pop Chameleon", she has been recognized for her musical versatility and continual artistic reinventions. Cyrus has been referred to as the "Teen Queen" of the 2000s pop culture and regarded as one of the few examples of a child star who went on to have a successful career as an adult. One of six siblings, Cyrus is the second daughter of country singer Billy Ray Cyrus. She emerged as a teen idol while portraying the titular character of the Disney Channel television series Hannah Montana (2006–2011). As Hannah Montana, she attained two number-one and three top-five soundtracks on the Billboard 200, and the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 top-ten single "He Could Be the One". Cyrus's initial solo career consisted of the teen-friendly pop rock U.S. number-one albums Meet Miley Cyrus (2007) and Breakout (2008); these releases contained the US top-ten singles "See You Again" and "7 Things". The extended play The Time of Our Lives (2009), peaked at number two in the U.S; its lead single "Party in the U.S.A." became one of the best-selling singles in the United States and was certified diamond by the RIAA. Cyrus also released the country pop ballad "The Climb", which peaked at number four. Trying to reinvent her image, she explored dance-pop in her third album, Can't Be Tamed (2010). The record received mixed reviews; however, its title track reached the top ten in the U.S. Following a hiatus, she underwent a mature and provocative musical shift with the R&B and hip hop-infused Bangerz (2013). Featuring the top-five single "We Can't Stop" and Cyrus's first U.S. number-one "Wrecking Ball", it became her fifth number-one album and earned Cyrus her first Grammy Award nomination. She experimented with psychedelic music on her follow-up, the free album Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz (2015), embraced country pop on Younger Now (2017), which yielded the U.S. top-ten single "Malibu", and incorporated trap on the EP She Is Coming (2019). Cyrus explored rock on Plastic Hearts (2020), which topped the Billboard Top Rock Albums chart. Her next, Endless Summer Vacation (2023), was preceded by the lead single "Flowers", which set several streaming records and became her second U.S. number-one single. Outside of her music, Cyrus starred in the films Bolt (2008), Hannah Montana: The Movie (2009), The Last Song (2010), LOL (2012), and So Undercover (2013), and appeared in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017). On television, she led and produced the documentary, Miley: The Movement (2013), served as a coach on the singing competition series The Voice (2016–2017), starred in the "Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too" episode from the Netflix series Black Mirror (2019), hosts the yearly NBC holiday special Miley's New Year's Eve Party (2021–present), and starred in and executive produced the Disney+ documentary concert special, Endless Summer Vacation (Backyard Sessions) (2023). In 2014, she founded the non-profit organization Happy Hippie Foundation, which was supported by the web video series Backyard Sessions (2012–2023). Description above from the Wikipedia article Miley Cyrus, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Read more

Sean Connery

Biography

Sir Thomas Sean Connery (August 25, 1930 – October 31, 2020) was a Scottish actor and producer. He 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, Connery died at the age of 90.
Read more

Sergio Leone

Biography

Sergio Leone (January 3, 1929 – April 30, 1989) was an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter most associated with the "Spaghetti Western" genre. Leone's film-making style includes juxtaposing extreme close-up shots with lengthy long shots. His movies include The Colossus of Rhodes, the Dollars Trilogy (A Fistful of Dollars; For a Few Dollars More; and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly), Once Upon a Time in the West; Duck, You Sucker!; and Once Upon a Time in America. Description above from the Wikipedia article Sergio Leone,  licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Read more

Marie Ault

Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Marie Ault (2 September 1870 – 9 May 1951) was a British character actress of stage and film. She was a star in many British films of the silent era, but is most remembered for her role as Daisy Bunting's mother in The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927) directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Other notable film work includes the role of Rummy Mitchens in the film of Bernard Shaw's Major Barbara (1941). On stage from 1891, Ault's theatre work included the original production of Love on the Dole in 1935, as well as the 1941 film version.
Read more

Guy Drut

Biography

Guy Drut (born 6 December 1950) is an Olympic champion and politician who won gold at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal in the 110 m hurdles. In 1996, he became a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Born in Oignies, Pas-de-Calais, France, Drut captured the silver medal in the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, finishing behind the American Rod Milburn. In the European Championship of 1974 Drut came a comfortable first. It was at the next Olympics that Guy was to realise his dream, winning the 110 m hurdles in a time of 13.30 ahead of Cuba's Alejandro Casañas and the American Willie Davenport. After retirement Guy became active in business and politics, with one of his roles being Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports in the conservative government of Alain Juppé from 1995 to 1997. He has been convicted by French courts (a 15-month suspended prison sentence) at the end of 2005 for accepting fictitious employment as political patronage; as a consequence suspended by the IOC. In 2006, president Jacques Chirac amnestied Drut, using a rarely used clause in a 2002 amnesty law authorizing the president to grant amnesty for certain categories of crimes to people who had made great contributions to France in certain fields. The move caused great controversy, including within the majority members of Parliament: president of the National Assembly Jean-Louis Debré commented that it gave an unpleasant impression of "self-washing machine" but said it was a "courageous" move that he would not have made; Nicolas Sarkozy, president of the majority party UMP, disapproved such uses of amnesty. Chirac justified it by France's regaining a seat at IOC. Drut is serving on the IOC's Evaluation Commission for the 2016 Summer Olympics. Source: Article "Guy Drut" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Read more

Cristina Fernández de Kirchner

Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Cristina Elisabet Fernández de Kirchner (born 19 February 1953), commonly known as Cristina Fernández or Cristina Kirchner, is the 55th and current President of Argentina and the widow of former President Néstor Kirchner. She is Argentina's first elected female President, and the second female President ever to serve (after Isabel Martínez de Perón, 1974–1976). A Justicialist, Fernández served one term as National Deputy and three terms as National Senator for both Santa Cruz and Buenos Aires Provinces. A native of La Plata, Buenos Aires, Fernández is a graduate of the National University of La Plata. She met her husband during her studies, and they moved to Santa Cruz to work as lawyers. In May 1991, she was elected to the provincial legislature. Between 1995 and 2007, she was repeatedly elected to the Argentine National Congress, both as a National Deputy and National Senator. During Kirchner's presidency (2003–2007) she acted as First Lady. Fernández was chosen the Front for Victory presidential candidate in 2007. In the October 2007 general election she obtained 45.3% of the vote and a 22% lead over her nearest rival, avoiding the need for a runoff. She was inaugurated on December 10, 2007. As a First Lady, and later President, she has become a fashion icon for women, and a notable advocate for human rights, poverty awareness and health improvement. Description above from the Wikipedia article Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Read more