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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 31 October 2020, it was announced that Connery had died at the age of 90.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Sean Connery, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia
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Shafik Noureddin
Biography
An Egyptian actor, he joined Al-Sanayeh School but left it in 1931 to join the theater auditorium in Cairo. He began his artistic career as a preacher in the theater, but in a short period he started playing small roles after Salama Hijazi presented him on the stage. The role of the priest in the play (Tutankhamun) in 1942, and led the role successfully and from here began to follow theatrical roles, and the most important of what the theater was plays (apartment for rent) and (King Cotton) and (Sekkah safety), worked in Radio and cinema, one of his most important films (Matti General Manager, take care of love). He died in 1981 at the age of 70 years.
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Berlanti Abdelhamid
Biography
Nafeessa Abdul Hameed Hawwaas (1935 – 2010) was born in al-Sayyeda Zainab - Cairo. After finishing her embroidery diploma, she joined the High Institute of Dramatic Arts to study drama and theater criticism. However, actor and producer Zaky Tolaymaat soon persuaded her to join the drama department, and so she did.
Upon joining the Modern Egyptian Theatre, Abdul Hamid’s first role was in the play “Al-so’louk i.e. Tramp”. She was well recognized by the producer Zarpanely, who gave her the first silver screen debut in the film “Shamm al-nesseem i.e. Easter (1952),” after which she played a lead role in Salaah Abu-Seif’s “Rayya and Sekeena.”
Berlanty married Field-Marshal Abdul Hakeem ‘Aamer and gave birth to ‘Amr (1967). In 1993, she wrote her book “Al-mosheer wa ana i.e. The Marshal & I” followed by a more documented one “Al-tareek ila kadary..Ila ‘Aaamer i.e. The road to my destiny..To ‘Aamer (2002).”
Abdul Hamid died in 2010 inside the Armed Forces Hospital after suffering a stroke.
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Darren Aronofsky
Biography
Darren Aronofsky (born February 12, 1969) is an American filmmaker. His films are noted for their surreal, melodramatic, and often disturbing elements, frequently in the form of psychological fiction.
Aronofsky studied film and social anthropology at Harvard University before studying directing at the AFI Conservatory. He won several film awards after completing his senior thesis film, Supermarket Sweep, which became a National Student Academy Award finalist. In 1997, he founded the film and TV production company Protozoa Pictures. His feature film debut, the surrealist psychological thriller Pi (1998), was produced for $60,000 and grossed over $3 million; it won Aronofsky the Directing Award at the Sundance Film Festival and an Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay. Aronofsky's follow-up, the psychological drama Requiem for a Dream (2000), received favorable reviews and an Academy Award nomination for Ellen Burstyn's performance.
After writing the World War II horror film Below (2002), Aronofsky released his third film, the romantic fantasy sci-fi drama The Fountain (2006). It received mixed reviews and performed poorly at the box office, but has since garnered a cult following. His fourth film, the sports drama The Wrestler (2008), was released to critical acclaim. Aronofsky won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, and the film's lead actors, Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei, received Academy Award nominations. His next film, the psychological horror Black Swan (2010), received further acclaim and many accolades, with five Academy Award nominations including Best Picture and Best Director, and a Best Actress win for Natalie Portman. His sixth feature film, the biblically inspired epic Noah (2014), became his first film to open at No. 1 at the box office despite its mixed reception from critics and audiences. His seventh and eighth films, Mother! (2017) and The Whale (2022), sparked controversy and received both widespread praise and criticism. Aronofsky's film titled Postcard from Earth (2023), was produced and filmed exclusively for the Sphere in the Las Vegas Valley on its 16K resolution screen.
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Amr Adib
Biography
An Egyptian TV presenter, who graduated from the Faculty of Mass Communication at Cairo University. He participated in many films, most notably The Night of the Baby Doll. He is known for raising important issues in his program Cairo Today, which made him one of the most famous talk show hosts in Egypt and the Arab world. He is the Executive Director of Nogoum FM Radio, and he also served as the editor-in-chief of the newspaper Al-Alam Al-Youm. He is the son of the late scriptwriter Abdel-Hay Adib, the brother of the prominent journalist Imad al-Din Adib, and director Adel Adib, and the husband of the TV presenter Lamis al-Hadidi.
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Christiane Eda-Pierre
Biography
Christiane Eda-Pierre (24 March 1932 – 6 September 2020) was a French coloratura soprano of Martinican origin, who sang in a wide variety of roles, from baroque to contemporary works.
Eda-Pierre was born in Fort-de-France, Martinique, in a family of intellectuals. She is the daughter of journalist William Eda-Pierre and music teacher Alice Nardal, and the niece of Paulette Nardal. From a young age, she learnt piano from her mother. In September 1950, she left for Paris, studying at the École Normale de Musique de Paris for two years. After the lessons from Charles Panzéra, she switched from piano to singing. In 1954, she attended the Conservatoire de Paris, where she learnt singing from Louis Noguéra and diction from Gabrielle Fontan. She graduated with honours in 1957. The same year, she made her professional debut in Nice, as Leïla in Les pêcheurs de perles.
She made her debut at the Opéra-Comique in 1958, as Lakmé, at the Aix-en-Provence Festival in 1959, as Papagena in The Magic Flute, and at the Palais Garnier in 1960, as Lucia di Lammermoor. She sang there the standard lyric coloratura roles of the French and Italian repertoire. She also won great acclaim in Mozart roles, especially as Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, as well as the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro, Donna Anna and Elvira in Don Giovanni, The Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte
Eda-Pierre was much appreciated in French baroque opera, particularly in the works of Jean-Philippe Rameau, including Les Indes Galantes, Zoroastre, Les Boréades (taking part in the first modern performance in September 1964), and Dardanus. She was also very active on French Radio where she sang in little performed works, such as Rossini's Le siège de Corinthe, Bellini's Il pirata, Bizet's La jolie fille de Perth, as well as Berlioz's Béatrice et Bénédict and Benvenuto Cellini.
She created many contemporary works, such as Capdeville's Les amants captifs (1973), Chaynes's Pour un monde noir (1979), and Erszebet (1983). In 1983 she also created the role of the Angel in Olivier Messiaen's Saint François d'Assise, at the Opéra de Paris.
Eda-Pierre also appeared to great acclaim internationally, including Lisbon, London, Wexford, Berlin, Hamburg, Vienna, Salzburg, Moscow, Chicago, and New York. She made her Metropolitan Opera debut in 1980 as Konstanze, and went on to sing other roles the next two years: Gilda in Rigoletto (with Luciano Pavarotti) and Antonia in Les contes d'Hoffmann (with Plácido Domingo).
She became a teacher at the Conservatoire de Paris in 1977, while continuing her career in opera and in concert.
The possessor of a beautiful, rich and agile voice, which enabled her to succeed in a wide variety of roles, Eda-Pierre can be heard on several recordings, her three most famous being on the Philips label, as Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Teresa in Benvenuto Cellini, both under Sir Colin Davis, and an album of arias from the French opéra-comiques of Grétry and Philidor, under Sir Neville Marriner. For the Bizet centenary in 1975 she participated in BBC studio recordings of La Jolie Fille de Perth and Le Docteur Miracle. ...
Source: Article "Christiane Eda-Pierre" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
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Alexandr Gordon
Biography
Director of fiction and documentary cinema, TV presenter. Recipient of five TEFI awards (for the programmes “Closed Screening” and “Gordon Quixote”), prize-winner and participant of domestic and international film festivals. Born in 1964 in Obninsk. In 1987 graduated from the actor’s and director’s faculty of Shchukin Theatre Institute. From 1989–1997 presenter of popular programmes on Russian- language TV and radio in the USA. Since 1997 works at Russian television. In 2002 made his debut feature “The Shepherd of His Cows” (prize of the 9th Russian film festival “Literature and cinema” for best debut). “Brothel Lights” (2011) received the audience sympathy award at the IFF Pacific Meridian, a diploma at Kinotavr, and was nominated for the Golden Eagle and NIKA awards. Author of documentary films “End of the Century”, “Collection of Delusions”, “LDPR. 20 Years Facing Russia”.
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Hugh Aynesworth
Biography
Hugh Grant Aynesworth (August 2, 1931 – December 23, 2023) was an American journalist, investigative reporter, author, and teacher. Aynesworth was reported to have witnessed the assassination of John F. Kennedy in Dealey Plaza, the capture and arrest of Lee Harvey Oswald at the Texas Theatre, and the shooting of Oswald by Jack Ruby in the basement of the Dallas Police Headquarters. In a 1976 Texas Monthly article, William Broyles Jr. described Aynesworth as "one of the most respected authorities on the assassination of John F. Kennedy".
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Jenn Pinto
Biography
Jenn Pinto is a Latina Actress, Writer, Director known for her runner up position on VH1's Viva Hollywood "The Search for the Next Telenovela Star". Born and raised in East New York, Brooklyn, Jenn Pinto began her acting career at age of 13 starring as an Angel in the Broadway Show "A Christmas Carol" at The Paramount in Madison Square Garden. In 2003 she was casted in the Independent feature film "Take No Prisoners" produced by executive producer of Def Poetry Jam, Deborah Pointer which won Best Urban Feature Award in 2004. That same year she opened up her own production company Ay Mama Films. In 2005 Jenn Pinto took the stage of the infamous NYC Laugh Factory performing as the only female in an all male sketch comedy troupe. She made the big move to Los Angeles, CA in 2012 and has shot over 8 movies since then rotating as an Actress, Writer, Producer, Director.
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Viola Brothers Shore
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Viola Brothers Shore (May 26, 1890 – March 27, 1970) was an American author who worked in a variety of mediums from the 1910s through the 1930s. Married three times, she began her writing career as a poet and a writer of short stories and articles or magazines. Towards the end of the silent film era, she began writing screenplays, and eventually expanded into theatrical plays and novels. Her daughter, Wilma Shore, was also a successful writer. Shore was named during the hearings of the House Committee on Un-American Activities, along with her third husband, Haskoll Gleichman, and her daughter. In her later years she taught at New York University (NYU).
While at NYU she began her writing career, publishing poetry, articles and short stories in magazines. In 1921 she would publish her first short story collection, The Heritage, and other stories. She expanded into the film industry in 1925 when one of her short stories, "On the Shelf", which had been published in the Saturday Evening Post in 1922 was made into a film, Let Women Alone. She had another one of her short stories, "The Prince of Headwaiters", (co-written with Garrett Fort) made into a film of the same name in 1927, before working on her first screen writing credit in 1927, when she wrote the titles (dialogue) for Night Life, a silent film directed by George Archainbaud. Shore worked on another dozen screenplays for silent films over the next two years, as well as having another one of her short stories, "Notices", turned into a screenplay for the film Hit of the Show in 1928. Shore worked on the scripts for another fourteen screenplays for sound films from 1929 through 1939, the first one being Dangerous Curves in 1929, starring Clara Bow and Richard Arlen. Other notable films on which Shore worked on the script include: 1933's comedy Sailor Be Good, which she co-wrote with Ethel Doherty and Ralph Spence, and starring Jack Oakie; Breakfast for Two, a 1937 screwball comedy starring Barbara Stanwyck and Herbert Marshall, which she co-wrote with Charles Kaufman and Paul Yawitz; and Blond Cheat (1938), another comedy also co-authored with Kaufman and Yawitz, as well as Harry Segall. Shore's final screenplay was an adaptation of the Barry Benefield novel, The Chicken-Wagon Family, for the 1939 film Chicken Wagon Family, which stars Jane Withers.
In the 1930s Shore also wrote several mystery novels, including The Beauty Mask Murder in 1930 and Murder on the Glass Floor two years later. During this time she would also be involved in several Broadway productions. Shore, along with Nancy Hamilton and June Sillman, wrote the lyrics to the 1934 musical revue, New Faces of 1934, which ran for almost 150 performances at the Fulton Theatre, and had a cast which included Henry Fonda and Imogene Coca; Later that year, on Christmas Day, she would have two plays open simultaneously on Broadway. Her drama, Piper Paid, written with Sarah B. Smith, opened at the Ritz Theatre, and the musical Fools Rush In opened at the Playhouse Theatre. Both plays had very short runs of 15 and 14 performances, respectively.
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