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James Earl Jones
Biography
James Earl Jones (born January 17, 1931) is a multi-award-winning American actor of theater and film, well known for his distinctive bass voice and for his portrayal of characters of substance, gravitas and leadership. He is known for providing the voice of Darth Vader in the Star Wars franchise and the tagline for CNN. James Earl Jones was born in Arkabutla, Mississippi, the son of Ruth (née Connolly) and Robert Earl Jones. At the age of five, he moved to Jackson, Michigan, to be raised by his maternal grandparents, but the adoption was traumatic and he developed a stutter so severe he refused to speak aloud. When he moved to Brethren, Michigan in later years a teacher at the Brethren schools started to help him with his stutter. He remained functionally mute for eight years until he reached high school. He credits his high school teacher, Donald Crouch, who discovered he had a gift for writing poetry, with helping him out of his silence. Jones attended the University of Michigan where he was a pre-med major. While there, he joined the Reserve Officer Training Corps, and excelled. During the course of his studies, Jones discovered he was not cut out to be a doctor. Instead he focused himself on drama, with the thought of doing something he enjoyed, before, he assumed, he would have to go off to fight in the Korean War. After four years of college, Jones left without his degree. In 1953 he found a part-time stage crew job at the Ramsdell Theatre in Manistee, Michigan, which marked the beginning of his acting career. During the 1955–1957 seasons he was an actor and stage manager. He performed his first portrayal of Shakespeare’s Othello in this theater in 1955. After his discharge from the Military, Jones moved to New York, where he attended the American Theatre Wing to further his training and worked as a janitor to earn a living. His first film role was as a young and trim Lt. Lothar Zogg, the B-52 bombardier in Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb in 1964. His first big role came with his portrayal of boxer Jack Jefferson in the film version of the Broadway play The Great White Hope, which was based on the life of boxer Jack Johnson. For his role, Jones was nominated Best Actor by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, making him the second African-American male performer (following Sidney Poitier) to receive a nomination. In 1969, Jones participated in making test films for a proposed children's television series; these shorts, combined with animated segments were the beginnings of the Sesame Street format. The next year, in the early 1970s, James appeared with Diahann Carroll in the film called Claudine. While he has appeared in many roles, he is well known as the voice of Darth Vader in the original Star Wars trilogy. Darth Vader was portrayed in costume by David Prowse in the original trilogy, with Jones dubbing Vader's dialogue in postproduction due to Prowse's strong West Country accent being unsuitable for the role. At his own request, he was originally uncredited for the release of the first two films (he would later be credited for the two in the 1997 re-release). His other voice roles include Mufasa in the 1994 film Disney animated blockbuster The Lion King, and its direct-to-video sequel, The Lion King II: Simba's Pride. He also has done the CNN tagline, "This is CNN", as well as "This is CNN International", and the Bell Atlantic tagline, "Bell Atlantic: The heart of communication". When Bell Atlantic became Verizon, Jones used the tagline greeting of "Welcome to Verizon" or "Verizon 411" right before a phone call would go through. The opening for NBC's coverage of the 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics; "the Big PI in the Sky" (God) in the computer game Under a Killing Moon; a Claymation film about The Creation; and several guest spots on The Simpsons. In addition to his film and voice over work, Jones is an accomplished stage actor as well; he has won Tony awards in 1969 for The Great White Hope and in 1987 for Fences. Othello, King Lear, Oberon in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Abhorson in Measure for Measure, and Claudius in Hamlet are Shakespearean roles he has played. He received Kennedy Center Honors in 2002. Jones has been married to actress Cecilia Hart since 1982. They have one child, Flynn Earl Jones. He was previously married to American actress/singer Julienne Marie (born March 21, 1933, Toledo, Ohio); they had no children. Jones is a registered Republican.
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Paddy Bush
Biography
Paddy Bush is an English musician, instrument maker, music critic, producer, and artist. He is also the older brother of Kate Bush.
His best-known works are his collaborations with her on all of her studio albums up to the 2005 release Aerial.
Bush often plays standard instruments such as the guitar, mandolin, and harmonica, along with more exotic and unusual instruments, such as the balalaika, sitar, koto, and digeridoo. Bush is the sole European musician who has mastered playing - and making of - the Marovany, a traditional Malagasy instrument related to the Valiha. He undertook a number of extensive trips to Madagascar for filming and radio recording purposes. On one of these, Bush presented the widely screened television documentary 'Like A God When He Plays' which also features popular Malagasy musician Justin Vali.
Bush was an original member of the KT Bush Band.
In 1993, Bush collaborated with Colin Lloyd-Tucker to form the band Bushtucker.
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Lin Yun
Biography
Lin Yun, also known by her English name Jelly Lin, is a Chinese actress. She is known for her role as the female lead in the 2016 film The Mermaid.
Lin was born Fei Xia (费霞) in Huzhou, Zhejiang, on April 16, 1996. Her father, Fei Jianhua (费建华), is a porter, and her mother is a housewife. She studied at the Huzhou No. 12 Middle School, and then attended a performing arts school in Beijing.
At the age of 18 and with little acting experience, Lin was cast as the female protagonist in the 2016 film The Mermaid directed by Stephen Chow. The Mermaid was the highest-grossing film in China and launched Lin to fame. The same year, Lin featured in the fantasy epic film L.O.R.D: Legend of Ravaging Dynasties, directed and written by Guo Jingming.
Lin starred in another Stephen Chow film, Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons 2 (2017) where she played the White Bone Spirit. She was also cast in the Disney-made romantic comedy The Dreaming Man, as well as historical epic Genghis Khan.
In 2018, Lin starred in her first television series Battle Through the Heavens, a fantasy wuxia drama based on the novel of the same name. She also starred in Beautiful Reborn Flower, a romance melodrama based on the novel of the same name by Anni Baobei; and music-themed romance drama Cantabile Youth, based on the Japanese manga Nodame Cantabile.
In 2019, Lin starred as the female lead in the romance film Fall in Love at First Kiss, a remake of the Taiwanese series of the same name. She also reprised her role in the second installment of the film, The Mermaid.
In 2017, Yun briefly dated Song Weilong, her co-star in Beautiful Reborn Flower.
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John Ireland
Biography
John Benjamin Ireland (January 30, 1914 – March 21, 1992) was a Canadian-American actor and film director. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in All the King's Men (1949), making him the first Vancouver-born actor to receive an Academy Award nomination.
Ireland was a supporting actor in several famous Western films such as My Darling Clementine (1946), Red River (1948), Vengeance Valley (1951), and Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957). His other notable film roles were in 55 Days at Peking (1963), The Adventurers (1970), and Farewell, My Lovely (1975).
Ireland also appeared in many television series, notably The Cheaters (1960–1962). He was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contribution to the television industry.
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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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Sharon Farrell
Biography
Sharon Farrell (born Sharon Forsmoe; December 24, 1940 – May 15, 2023) was an American television and film actress, and dancer. Originally beginning her career as a ballerina with the American Ballet Theatre company, Farrell made her film debut in 1959 in Kiss Her Goodbye, followed by roles in 40 Pounds of Trouble (1962), A Lovely Way to Die (1968), and the neo-noir Marlowe (1969). She worked prolifically in television, including recurring parts in the series Saints and Sinners (1962), Dr. Kildare (1965), and Hawaii Five-O (1980).
Farrell was born in Sioux City, Iowa, to Hazel Ruth (née Huffman) and Darrel LaValle Forsmoe. She was of Norwegian descent, and was raised with sister, Dale Candice, in a Lutheran family. During her childhood, Farrell studied ballet and was involved in the theater department during high school. Farrell toured with the American Ballet Theatre Company as a dancer, which brought her to New York City.
In New York, Farrell began her acting career in the theater, appearing in productions of "The Crucible" and "A View from the Bridge". She made her film debut in 1959 in Kiss Her Goodbye, and went on to appear in a number of films in the 1960s, including 40 Pounds of Trouble, A Lovely Way to Die, and Marlowe.
Farrell's television career began in the early 1960s, with appearances in such series as The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Gunsmoke, and Dr. Kildare. She had a recurring role on the soap opera Saints and Sinners from 1962 to 1963, and starred in the short-lived series The Last Ride of the Dalton Gang in 1967. In 1980, she joined the cast of Hawaii Five-O, playing the role of Lori Wilson for two seasons.
Farrell was also active in the horror genre, appearing in the films It's Alive (1974) and Night of the Comet (1984). She continued to work in television and film throughout the 1980s and 1990s, and her final film appearance was in the 2000 comedy Can't Buy Me Love.
In addition to her acting career, Farrell was also a dancer and choreographer. She taught dance at the University of California, Los Angeles, and was a member of the board of directors of the American Ballet Theatre.
Farrell was married five times, to Andrew Prine, Ron DeBlasio, Steve Salkin, and Dale Trevillion. She had one son, Chance Boyer, from her marriage to Prine.
Farrell died on May 15, 2023, at the age of 82, from natural causes. She was buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills, California.
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Suzanne Whang
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Suzanne Whang (September 28, 1962 – September 17, 2019) was an American television host, actress, comedian, radio host, published author, minister, writer, producer, and political activist. She was best known as the host of the HGTV series House Hunters for nine years (1999-2007), and for her recurring role as manicurist Polly Chae on Las Vegas for four seasons. Suzanne also starred as Divina the maid / wannabe actress in the Here TV sitcom From Here on OUT.
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Lara Fabian
Biography
Lara Sophie Katy Crokaert (born January 9, 1970), better known as Lara Fabian, is a Belgian-Canadian pop singer and songwriter. She has sold over 20 million records worldwide as of 2021 and is one of the best-selling Belgian artists of all time.
She was born in Etterbeek, Brussels, to a Belgian father and a Sicilian mother. She lived the first part of her childhood in Sicily, Catania, speaking Italian as her first language. She moved to Quebec in 1991 and since 1995, she has held Canadian citizenship alongside her Belgian one. In 2003, she returned to Brussels to be close to her parents in Belgium and in 2015 lived in Walloon Brabant province in Belgium just outside Brussels. In 2017, she returned permanently to Montreal, Quebec, to be with her family.
Fabian is the only child of Pierre Crokaert, who is Flemish, and Maria Luisa Serio, a Sicilian. Fabian's parents recognized her talent early on and enrolled her in the Royal Conservatory of Brussels when she was eight years old; she studied there for 10 years.
During the 1980s, Fabian entered a number of European competitions and won several prizes. She released her first single, "L'Aziza est en pleurs" / "Il y avait" in 1986.
In 1988, the RTL TV channel in Luxembourg invited Fabian to represent the country at the 33rd Eurovision Song Contest, held that year in Dublin, Ireland. The song was a composition by Jacques Cardona and Alain Garcia entitled Croire (Belief) which reached a respectable fourth place (while Celine Dion won the contest representing Switzerland). The single became a hit in Europe, selling nearly 500,000 copies.
In 1990, Fabian and musical collaborator Rick Allison moved to Montreal, Quebec, Canada to embark on a career in North America. They started their own music label and publishing company, Productions Clandestines.
In August 1991, her self-titled French-language debut album, Lara Fabian, was released in Canada and sold over 100,000 copies. The album went gold in 1993, and platinum the following year. The success of upbeat dance-pop singles such as "Le jour où tu partira", "Les murs", and "Qui pense à l'amour" gave Fabian radio exposure. She received several nominations at the 1993 ADISQ awards, and a poll published around that time voted her Québec's most promising singer.
Constant touring in Québec helped Fabian's 1994 album Carpe diem become her breakthrough album. The album went Gold three weeks after its release, and spawned three hit singles: "Tu t'en vas", "Si tu m'aimes", and "Leïla". The following year, the album went triple platinum.
Fabian received two Félix awards at the 1995 ADISQ gala: Best Show Of The Year and Best Female Singer Of The Year (a category that is voted for by the public).
In 1996, Walt Disney Studios hired Fabian as the voice of the character of Esmeralda in the Canadian French version of the animated feature The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Disney also included "Que Dieu aide les exclus", Fabian's French version of the song "God Help The Outcasts", on the film's English soundtrack album alongside Bette Midler's version.
Since 1996 Lara Fabian has also held Canadian citizenship alongside her original Belgian passport. ...
Source: Article "Lara Fabian" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
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Marshal Royal
Biography
Marshal Walton Royal Jr. (December 5, 1912 – May 8, 1995) was an American jazz alto saxophonist and clarinetist best known for his work with Count Basie, with whose band he played for nearly twenty years.
Marshal Royal Jr. was born into a musical family in Sapulpa, Oklahoma.
Royal's first professional gig was with Lawrence Brown's band at Danceland in Los Angeles, and he soon had a regular gig at the Apex, working for Curtis Mosby in Mosby's Blue Blowers, a 10-piece band. He then began an eight-year (1931–1939) stint with the Les Hite orchestra at Sebastian's Cotton Club, which was near the MGM studios in Los Angeles. He spent 1940 to 1942 with Lionel Hampton, until the war interrupted his career.
With his brother, Ernie, he served in the U.S. Navy in the 45-piece regimental band that was attached to the Navy's preflight training school for pilots at St. Mary's College in Moraga, California. The band played for bond rallies, regimental reviews, at football games, and in concerts for the cadets and the community. Two swing bands were organized from the larger regimental band, and they played for smokers and dances at USOs and officers clubs. Royal was leader of the Bombardiers, one of those bands, which also included his brother, Ernie, Jackie Kelson (later known as Jackie Kelso), Buddy Collette, Jerome Richardson, and Vernon Alley.
When he left Basie in 1970, Royal settled permanently in Los Angeles, continuing to play and record, working with Bill Berry's big band, Frank Capp and Nat Pierce, Earl Hines, and Duke Ellington. Royal recorded as a soloist with Dave Frishberg in 1977, and with Warren Vache in 1978. He co-led a band with Snooky Young in the 1970s and 1980s, recording with it in 1978.
Marshal died in Culver City, California on May 8, 1995, aged 82.
Source: Article "Marshal Royal" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
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Ljuba Tadić
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Ljubomir "Ljuba" Tadić (Serbian Cyrillic: Љубомир Тадић Љуба) (31 May 1929 — 28 October 2005) was a Serbian actor who enjoyed a reputation as one of the greatest names in the history of former Yugoslav cinema. He made his screen debut in 1953, but his first truly memorable role was in the 1957 film Nije bilo uzalud. In this film, like in many others, he played the villain, but he turned out to be the most memorable character. Later he built on this reputation and continued to play important historical and larger-than-life characters. He also made history by uttering an obscenity in one of the final scenes of 1964 World War I epic Marš na Drinu, which was the first such instance in the history of former Yugoslav cinema. Description above from the Wikipedia article Ljuba Tadić, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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