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Jim Bridwell

Biography

Jim Bridwell (born 1944) is an American rock climber and mountaineer, active since 1965 especially in Yosemite Valley, but also in Patagonia and Alaska. He is noted for pushing the standards of both free climbing and big-wall climbing, and later alpine climbing. He has written numerous articles on climbing for leading sport publications. Bridwell is credited with over 100 First Ascents in Yosemite Valley, in addition to conducting the first one-day ascent of The Nose of El Capitan on May 26, 1975 with John Long and Billy Westbay.[1] He founded Yosemite National Park's Search and Rescue Team (YOSAR), and spearheaded many rescues that became textbook for Search and Rescue operations. He was a leading force in the changing techniques of climbing and an innovator/inventor of widely used and copied climbing gear, including copperheads and bird beaks.
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Cesare Maestri

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Cesare Maestri, born October 2, 1929 in Trento and died January 19, 2021 in Tione di Trento in Trentino-Alto Adige, was a contemporary Italian mountaineer and writer. Cesare Maestri first studied theater and art history in Rome but returned to Trento to work as a guide and ski instructor. It begins to climb in the Brenta massif and then opens many routes, often solo, in this massif and in the Dolomites. Maestri was quickly nicknamed “the Spider of the Dolomites” (in Italian: Il Ragno delle Dolomiti). A disciple of Paul Preuss as far as “solo” and uninsured climbing is concerned, he was the first to climb a listed route in sixth degree alone and the first to descend to the same degree. But, after the controversial ascent of Cerro Torre in 1959, Cesare Maestri's alpine career continued on the mode of open artificial routes using a large number of expansion pitons. For Cesare Maestri, the challenge represented by Cerro Torre embodies the possibility of revenge on the past. Him, the young and talented climber of the Dolomites who lost his mother at the age of 6. Him, the rebellious communist militant who in post-war Italy supported Coppi rather than Bartali. He, stocky, muscular, cheeky, believes he is up to such a challenge. He is presented by his ascents as master of the 6th degree (highest rating of the time). “This successful guide needs recognition, like a drug addict,” said Reinhold Messner in Cerro Torre. The Impossible Mountain. Maestri's obsession with Cerro Torre grew stronger in 1954, when his candidacy for the Italian expedition to K2, the second highest peak in the world that no one had yet climbed at the time, was refused. His form is however Olympic and his pride – reinforced by recent solo and ropeless openings in the Dolomites – in good shape. He does not understand this refusal, especially since the young mountaineering prodigy Walter Bonatti, one year his junior, is accepted. This disappointment has the effect of strengthening his bellicose character. Bonatti becomes his main rival. In 1958, both find themselves at the same time at the foot of the impossible mountain. They launch, each on their side, an attempt on the granite wall and both fail. Maestri sees it as an opportunity to become better than the best. He will return there the following year to realize his dream. According to the words of Cesare Maestri, January 31, 1959 would therefore have been the day when with Toni Egger, his Austrian companion, he would have reached the summit of the coveted mountain. But if we look closer, everything suggests that the two men would never have reached its peak. Died on the descent, Toni Egger took in his fall the camera that would have contained the pictures of the summit. Without witnesses or proof of success, only Maestri's words are authentic. In an environment where loyalty is the golden rule, being accused of a liar corresponds to being ostracized. But by the force of his conviction, Cesare Maestri remained in the middle. Better: he even managed to mark the history of mountaineering. His lie being proven, his stubbornness makes him a fragile being. Almost endearing. "Dying, he stopped suffering," concludes Charlie Buffet.
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Tara Strong

Biography

Tara Lyn Charendoff-Strong (born February 12, 1973) is a Canadian-American actress, voice-over artist, comedian, musician, singer, and businesswoman, who is best known for her roles as Timmy Turner in the The Fairly OddParents, Bubbles in The Powerpuff Girls, Ben Tennyson in Ben 10 and Ben 10: Ultimate Alien, Dil Pickles in Rugrats and All Grown Up, and her recurring role as Miss Collins in Big Time Rush. Description above from the Wikipedia article Tara Strong, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Sean Connery

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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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Margaret Mitchell

Biography

Margaret Munnerlyn Mitchell (1900–1949) was an American novelist and journalist best known for her only novel published during her lifetime, the American Civil War-era novel Gone with the Wind, for which she won the National Book Award for Most Distinguished Novel of 1936 and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1937. In recent years, a collection of Mitchell's girlhood writings and a novella she wrote as a teenager, titled Lost Laysen, have been published. A collection of newspaper articles written by Mitchell for The Atlanta Journal was republished in book form. Gone with the Wind was adapted into the 1939 film of the same name, which has been considered to be one of the greatest movies ever made and also received the Academy Award for Best Picture during the 12th annual Academy Awards ceremony.
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Donald Sutherland

Biography

Donald McNichol Sutherland (born July 17, 1935) is a Canadian actor whose film career spans over 6 decades. He has been nominated for eight Golden Globe Awards, winning two for his performances in the television films Citizen X (1995) and Path to War (2002); the former also earned him a Primetime Emmy Award. An inductee of the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Canadian Walk of Fame, he also received a Canadian Academy Award for the drama film Threshold (1981). Multiple film critics and media outlets have cited him as one of the best actors never to have received an Academy Award nomination. In 2017, he received an Academy Honorary Award for his contributions to cinema. In 2021, he won the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Movie/Miniseries for his work in the HBO miniseries The Undoing (2020). Sutherland rose to fame after starring in films including The Dirty Dozen (1967), M*A*S*H (1970), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Klute (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), Fellini's Casanova (1976), 1900 (1976), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Animal House (1978), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), Ordinary People (1980), and Eye of the Needle (1981). He later went on to star in many other films where he appeared either in leading or supporting roles such as A Dry White Season (1989), JFK (1991), Outbreak (1995), A Time to Kill (1996), The Assignment (1997), Without Limits (1998), Big Shot's Funeral (2001), The Italian Job (2003), Cold Mountain (2003), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Aurora Borealis (2006) and The Hunger Games franchise (2012–2015). He is the father of actors Kiefer Sutherland, Rossif Sutherland, and Angus Sutherland.
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Caroline Ciavaldini

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Caroline grew on the tiny island of La Reunion, a dot on the map in the South Indian Ocean. Caro discovered climbing aged 12, at school, and quickly became obsessed by the competition world.  For 10 years she focused on the Lead World Cup Circuit, training hard, traveling the world, but climbing mostly indoor. After realising her dreams of competition, she has redirected her motivation towards outdoor climbing, and now loves to give herself challenges in Trad, Sport, Multi-pitch. Outdoor climbing is , as she often says, her “second life “as a climber.
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James Pearson

Biography

Having grown up in the Peak District, it is no surprise that James made a name for himself on “Gods own rock”.  Aged 15 he donned his first pair of rock shoes and quickly started climbing some of Gritstones hardest and boldest routes, with unswerving enthusiasm and an innate ability of moving on rock. Having succeeded some of the worlds hardest traditional routes, James shifted his focus to include bouldering, sport, and multi-pitch, and currently continues his quest to climb hard rock, all over the world!
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Tom McCarthy

Biography

Thomas Joseph McCarthy (born 1966) is an American actor, writer, and film director who has appeared in several movies, including Meet the Parents and Good Night, and Good Luck, and television shows such as The Wire, Boston Public, Law & Order, and the Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation of Saint Maybe. McCarthy has received critical acclaim for his writing/direction work for the independent films The Station Agent, The Visitor, and Win Win. He currently resides in Manhattan. He is the silent partner in a chain of successful Papaya Dogs throughout the greater metropolitan area. Description above from the Wikipedia article Thomas McCarthy (actor), licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Piccola Pupa

Biography

Piccola Pupa, which means "Little Doll," is an enthusiastic, high-spirited singing sensation, dancer and actress. Born in Genoa, Italy, in 1951,as Giuliana Crimilde Coverlizza, she was destined for stardom. Piccola won a rock-and-roll contest when she was 4-1/2 years old, was a headliner at the Meuretto D'Alassio (a Ligurian Riviera showplace) at age 6, and was on BBC television in London, "This Is Your Life" (1961), at age 10. (It was at this time that Piccola started learning English; she would be fluent in English by the time she was 13.) Danny Thomas saw Piccola's appearance on BBC TV in 1961, and it made a lasting impression on him; 2 years later he wired Piccola and her mother in Genoa, and asked Piccola to do a show with him when he would be in Venice. Danny Thomas later brought Piccola to the USA several times, to be on his TV series; Piccola also did an engagement at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas. Piccola also worked the Hollywood Palace with Dean Martin, and appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show"; she also sang with the Nelson Riddle orchestra in San Diego. It had been alleged that when someone had asked Piccola, when she was 13, if she wanted to study dramatics, she answered, "No, I am an actress already." But Piccola denied ever having said this, in a 1965 interview with Dick Clark on "American Bandstand." Piccola got more national exposure in the beach movie "The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini" (1966) where she sings and dances "Stand Up and Fight" for what you think is right; that popular movie is still being shown often on cable-TV nowadays, and new generations of fans are discovering and appreciating Piccola. Eventually, Piccola left show business voluntarily, and got married; her son Max was born in 1973. - IMDb Mini Biography By: April Nyree Dawn
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