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Orson Welles
Biography
George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio. Noted for his innovative dramatic productions as well as his distinctive voice and personality, Welles is widely acknowledged as one of the most accomplished dramatic artists of the twentieth century, especially for his significant and influential early work—despite his notoriously contentious relationship with Hollywood. His distinctive directorial style featured layered, nonlinear narrative forms, innovative uses of lighting such as chiaroscuro, unique camera angles, sound techniques borrowed from radio, deep focus shots, and long takes. Welles's long career in film is noted for his struggle for artistic control in the face of pressure from studios. Many of his films were heavily edited and others left unreleased. He has been praised as a major creative force and as "the ultimate auteur."
After directing a number of high-profile theatrical productions in his early twenties, including an innovative adaptation of Macbeth and The Cradle Will Rock, Welles found national and international fame as the director and narrator of a 1938 radio adaptation of H. G. Wells's novel The War of the Worlds performed for the radio drama anthology series Mercury Theatre on the Air. It was reported to have caused widespread panic when listeners thought that an invasion by extraterrestrial beings was occurring. Although these reports of panic were mostly false and overstated, they rocketed Welles to instant notoriety.
Citizen Kane (1941), his first film with RKO, in which he starred in the role of Charles Foster Kane, is often considered the greatest film ever made. Several of his other films, including The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), The Lady from Shanghai (1947), Touch of Evil (1958), Chimes at Midnight (1965), and F for Fake (1974), are also widely considered to be masterpieces.
In 2002, he was voted the greatest film director of all time in two separate British Film Institute polls among directors and critics, and a wide survey of critical consensus, best-of lists, and historical retrospectives calls him the most acclaimed director of all time. Andrew Sarris in his influential book of film criticism The American Cinema: Directors and Directions 1929–1968 included him in the "pantheon" of the 14 greatest film directors who had worked in the United States. Well known for his baritone voice, Welles was also an extremely well regarded actor and was voted number 16 in AFI's 100 Years... 100 Stars list of the greatest American film actors of all time. He was also a celebrated Shakespearean stage actor and an accomplished magician, starring in troop variety shows in the war years.
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Derek Drymon
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Derek Drymon (born November 19, 1968) is an American animator, writer, storyboard artist, director, comedian, and producer. He has worked on numerous animated cartoon productions.
Derek Drymon was born in New Jersey. He attended Jefferson Township and Dover public schools as a child and enjoyed drawing and making comic books. Drymon graduated from Jefferson Township High School in 1987. Drymon attended the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York, where he majored in illustration, sharpening his drawling skills and moving from still images to animation. He graduated from SVA in 1992.
Drymon obtained an internship with Disney on the strength of his life drawings.
Drymon was discovered by Nickelodeon in 1993. He moved to California to work as an animator for Nickelodeon. In 1993, Drymon also began working as a storyboard artist and writer for Rocko's Modern Life. It was here he met two of his future employers, Tim Hill, Chris Savino and Stephen Hillenburg; Hill was a writer, Hillenburg a co-producer and storyboard artist. In 1997, Hillenburg created SpongeBob SquarePants. Drymon performed many duties on SpongeBob, including being a writer on all episodes, the creative director, and, on his last season with the show, supervising producer. Drymon also worked on the Cartoon Network animated series Camp Lazlo. Drymon worked on Tim Hill's side project, the popular KaBlam! skit Action League Now!, as a storyboard artist. He also wrote the Emmy Award-nominated episode of CatDog "Doggone".
Drymon met Stephen Hillenburg on the Nickelodeon cartoon Rocko's Modern Life. Hillenburg recalled Drymon as "one of the main people in the genesis of SpongeBob". Drymon teamed up with Hillenburg, Hill, and Nick Jennings who was also a companion from Nickelodeon. Drymon was the creative director for the first three seasons and became Supervising Producer in season 3 until being replaced by Paul Tibbitt starting in season 4. Along with Stephen Hillenburg, Drymon approved the writers' ideas and outlines for episodes and controlled the creative and production process on SpongeBob.
Drymon was eventually promoted to Executive producer on television show Adventure Time, and became a lead writer and director for DreamWorks Pictures, Illumination Entertainment, Sony Pictures Animation and Rovio Animation. During the first three seasons of SpongeBob, Drymon being a creative director allowed him to work with executive story editor Merriwether Williams and the rest of the writing team.
Staff writer Kent Osborne responded to the writing process with Drymon and other writers by saying "By the third season we had done 26 half-hours. I came up with millions of ideas." Despite the issues with writing new episodes, Drymon collaborated with the writers to create episode ideas like the half-hour specials and episodes that focused on other characters, for example the season three episodes "The Algae's Always Greener" and "Plankton's Army" focused on Sheldon Plankton and "Doing Time" focused on Mrs. Puff. Drymon said in an interview "Coming up with episode ideas was always tough".
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Georgina Chapman
Biography
Georgina Rose Chapman (born 14 April 1976) is an English fashion designer and actress. Together with Keren Craig, she is a co-founder of the fashion label Marchesa.
Chapman was born in London, England, the daughter of Caroline Wonfor, a journalist, and Brian Chapman, a co-owner of the coffee company Percol. Chapman grew up in Richmond, southwest London. Chapman attended Marlborough College in Wiltshire. In her 20s, Chapman model-led in an advertisement for Head & Shoulders, a dandruff shampoo, and one for throat lozenges Soothers. Chapman met future business partner Keren Craig while they were students at Chelsea College of Art and Design. Chapman graduated from Wimbledon School of Art in 2001 and began her career as a costume designer. After graduation, Chapman appeared in various television shows and films.
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José Sancho
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia José Asunción Martínez Sancho is a Spanish actor. Over a period of fifty years he has appeared extensively in Spanish television and films. He was born in Manises, Valencia in 1944. He divorced the singer María Jiménez, with whom he has a son named Alejandro. He is currently married to the journalist Reyes Monforte. His first film role was when he was aged just four in Si te hubieses casado conmigo (If you had been married to me)(1948), directed by Viktor Tourjansky. He became popular thanks to his role as The Student, in the TVE series, Curro Jiménez (1977–1978), directed by Pilar Miró, Mario Camus, Antonio Drove, Marchent Rafael Romero, Francisco Rovira Beleta and others. Twenty years later he returned to star in another TV series, Carmen y familia (1995), together with Beatriz Carvajal and her former partner in Curro Jiménez, Álvaro de Luna. A year later, he joined up with Rocío Dúrcal Los negocios de mamá (1997), also for television. Among his many roles in film is his collaboration with Pedro Almodóvar Live Flesh along with Javier Bardem, winning the Goya Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in 1997. In 2000 he guest-starred as Don Rafael Alvarado who is murdered in the first episode causing his daughter, Tessa, to take up arms as the title character in the syndicated TV series The Queen of Swords. His involvement in several films and theatrical activity has been intense, but his role of Don Pablo, in the TVE series, Cuéntame (Tell Me!), brought him great popularity and recognition from 2001 to 2008. Description above from the Wikipedia article José Sancho, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Maurice Clavel
Biography
Maurice Clavel (1920-1979) was a French writer, journalist, and philosopher.
Maurice Clavel was born on 10 November 1920 in Frontignan, Hérault to a family headed by a father who was a pharmacist. This conservative milieu of small shopkeepers in Languedoc led him to be an activist in the French Popular Party (FPP) in his hometown of Frontignan.
A brilliant pupil, he got into the prestigious École Normale Supérieure in the Rue d'Ulm in Paris. There he became acquainted with Trotskyist Jean-Toussaint Desanti and Maurrassian Pierre Boutang. The latter, having been appointed in the Secretariat of Public Instruction, invited him to serve by his side under Marshal Philippe Pétain. Having just gotten his certificate of morale and sociology in Montpellier, Maurice Clavel accepted but was soon disillusioned. While preparing a thesis on Immanuel Kant, he then joined the Résistance (1942). As head the French Forces of the Interior of Eure-et-Loir, he took part in the liberation of Chartres where he greeted General Charles de Gaulle on the cathedral's forecourt.
At the Libération, he denounced the blind epuration and tried to save the heads of Robert Brasillach and Drieu La Rochelle. That did not prevent him from being a fervent activist in the Rally of the French People (RPF) whose acerbic criticism of communism got him to be accused by the French Communist Party (PCF) of being "Goebbels' voice". He then founded with Henri d'Astier de La Vigerie and André Figueras a newspaper called L'Essor. Meanwhile, he wrote plays directed by Jean Vilar like Les Incendiaires (The Incendiaries) in 1947 or La Terrasse de midi (The Noon Terrace) in 1949. But those failed, and as he was torn apart after breaking his relationship with the actor Silvia Monfort, Clavel accepted a professor tenure in the Carnot high school in Dijon.
Barely liked by his superiors, he soon got back to theatrical works when, in 1951, Jean Vilar appointed him as secretary-general of the Théâtre National Populaire. But his new play Malsameda (1954) as well as his first novel Une fille pour l'été (A Girl for the Summer, 1955) turned out to be failures too.
From 1955, Clavel started his career as a journalist writing in Combat. Protesting, among other things, against the invasion of Hungary by Soviet tanks in 1956, and the use of torture in Algeria, he got involved with left-wing Gaullists in the Democratic Union of Labour in 1959. Meanwhile, he went back to teaching as philosophy professor in Camille Sée and Buffon high school in Paris, from 1960 to 1963. With Emmanuel Berl, he presented a daily radio programme Qui êtes-vous? (Who are you?). But after the refusal by managers of the radio station to grant Jean Daniel a right of reply about Algeria, he resigned. The following year, after publishing Le Temps de Chartres (The Times of Chartres), he ceased his regular contribution to Combat. However he kept supporting General De Gaulle's position on Algeria, who entrusted him to engage in a dialogue with Messali Hadj. ...
Source: Article "Maurice Clavel" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
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Osmani Rodriguez
Biography
Osmani Rodriguez is one of seven siblings and was born in Camaguey, Cuba. He is of Lebanese and Italian descent, speaks Spanish fluently, and was blessed to become an American citizen.
He and his family immigrated to the Untied States in 1971 and they settled in Boston Massachusetts.
Osmani's earliest roles began in theatre where he played "Chino" in West Side Story. Later he went on to play some of his favorite roles as "Nicky Arnstien" in Funny Girl, "Mr. Fagin" in Oliver, and "Max" in Lend Me a Tenor.
He and his wife, Rena, have produced and starred opposite each other in shows such as "Michael" in I Do, I Do! And the Miracle Worker.
He began to find interest and now loves to perform in print, commercial, and film work. To date he has played Principal roles in over eight national commercials. Some of which include the Principal Role as the "Security Guard" in the national commercial for American Express and the honor of playing opposite one of his favorite directors, Mr. Martin Scorsese (a dream come true), playing the "Pharmacist" for CVS, Principal in "Jenny O", and playing the "Pepsi Worker" for Pepsi Cola's national commercial, "The Machine".
Another dream come true, was playing the featured role of "Carlos" in the film, The Maiden Heist directed by Peter Hewitt and playing opposite some of his most favorite legend veteran actors: Morgan Freeman, Christopher Walken, William H. Macey, and Marcia Gay Harden.
Among some of his TV series experience was in the CBS Series "Waterfront" playing "FBI Agent Ramirez" with Billy Baldwin and filling in, two years in a row for George Lopez and Freddie Prince Jr. to help set up the NFL Opening Kick off games with White Cherry Entertainment.
On occasions, he may still be seen hosting the nationally televised eleven minute public service announcement for paternity acknowledgment.
Osmani loves to spend his spare time with his beautiful wife Rena and his two blessings, his sons Osmani Jr. and Nathaniel. IMDb Mini Biography By: Manager
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André Hunebelle
Biography
André Hunebelle (1 September 1896 – 27 November 1985) was a French maître verrier (master glassmaker) and film director.
After attending polytechnic school for mathematics, he became a decorator, a designer, and then a master glass maker in the mid-1920s (first recorded exhibition PARIS 1927 included piece "Fruit & Foliage"). His work is known for its clean lines, which are elegant and singularly strong. He exhibited his own glass in a luxurious store located at 2 Avenue Victor-Emmanuel III, at the roundabout of the Champs Èlysées in Paris. Etienne Franckhauser, who also made molds for Lalique and Sabino, made the molds for Hunebelle's glass which was fabricated by the crystal factory in Choisy-le-Roi, France. Hunebelle's store ceased all activity in 1938 prior to World War II.
Hunebelle pieces are marked in several ways. The most common is A.HUNEBELLE-FRANCE in molded capitals either within the glass design or on the base. Other pieces are marked simply A.HUNEBELLE. There was also a paper label with A and H superimposed in a stylized manner. Since paper labels are frequently lost, many pieces may appear completely unmarked. In the author's collection there are pieces marked A.HUNEBELLE both with and without the word FRANCE, and a bowl marked MADE IN FRANCE that is identical to one shown in a Hunebelle catalogue. Hunebelle also used a more elaborate maker's mark imprinted on some glass pieces which had the word FRANCE encircled by the words MADE IN FRANCE MODELLE DEPOSE et R COGNEVILLE and with A. HUNEBELLE underneath (reflects mid 1930s partnership with COGNEVILLE).
In a short essay, he defined his stylistic aims as a glassmaker, explaining that he wanted to be "an adept of an abstract art where the geometric exactness, the poetry of line, and transparency are combined."
He also patented techniques for producing exact mouldings of items.
His glasswork displays a calculated modernism in contrast to influences derived from animals, plants and flowers which featured in the work of contemporaries such as René Lalique, Pierre D'Avesn and Marius-Ernest Sabino at the time. Hunebelle chose to focus on geometric forms, using technique and his scientific background to enhance light emission as much as possible. Surface contrasts, volume intersections, polished-non polished effects, geometry, light and poetry of line feature prominently in his work. Hunebelle employed both mold-blown and pressed-molded techniques in producing his pieces.
Hunebelle was a publisher of a French newspaper called La Fleché. During World War II, he had no job until a friend Marcel Achard found him work in films for Production Artistique Cinématographique (P.A.C.) where he acted as an art director and later began producing films beginning with Leçon de conduite (1946). He directed his first film Métier de fous in 1948.
His next three films were a film series of French film noir featuring Raymond Rouleau as a journalist character mixing with crime. All three had the titles beginning with the letter "M" in honour of author Pierre Benoît whose heroines all began with the letter "A". The films were written by Michel Audiard, a crime novelist. ...
Source: Article "André Hunebelle" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA.
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Albert Parker
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Albert Parker (11 May 1885, New York City – 10 August 1974, London) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. He directed 36 films between 1917 and 1938. In the early 1930s Parker left Hollywood for England where he continued to direct films and also opened an actors' agency office. One of his later clients in the 1960s was a young actress named Helen Mirren.
He was born in New York, New York and died in London, England.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Albert Parker(director), licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Jamy Gourmaud
Biography
Jamy Gourmaud (born 17 January 1964) is a journalist well known from the educational TV show C'est pas sorcier that he presented with Frédéric Courant and Sabine Quindou and was produced from the channel France 3 in 1993.
Jamy Gourmaud was born in Fontenay-le-Comte and graduated from the Institut Pratique de Journalisme in 1988. A year later, he traveled the countries of Eastern Europe with his camera to shoot documentaries and news reports including one on maternity wards in Romania which earned him upon his return to France in 1989, the prize of the Young Reporter Festival d'Angers. After working in print media and radio, he joined the team of "Fractales" on the channel France 3 in 1992. Since September 1993 he was author and presenter of the science magazine C'est Pas Sorcier. In 1998, he designed and presented the 26' d'arrêt.
Since September 2000 he is also a columnist on the scientific program "Pourquoi? Comment" on France 3 and decrypts the news on the show Focus. In 2008 Jamy worked with specialists on topics such as memory or sleep and co-presented programs, with Stéphane Bern leLauréat for l’Histoire of the channel France 3 and France 2 in primetime with Tania Young.
Asteroid 23877 Gourmaud is named after him.
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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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