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Sal Viviano

Biography

Born in Grosse Pointe, Michigan; the youngest of five Children of Santina (Cossa) and Salvatore Viviano. Graduated from Schaumburg (Illinois) High School; Eastern Illinois University. Began his career in Chicago, in commercials and Theatre, before moving to New York City for a Broadway debut in THE THREE MUSKETEERS (1984). Continued a Theatrical career on Broadway in such shows as ROMANCE / ROMANCE; CITY OF ANGELS; FALSETTOS; THE LIFE; THE FULL MONTY. Off-Broadway in BEAU JEST; CATHER COUNTY; WEIRD ROMANCE; CATCH ME IF I FALL; BROADWAY JUKEBOX; HAMLET, THE OPERA; etc... Nominated for a Helen Hayes Award (1998) for his portrayal of the title character in SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE. For director/writer John Fasano he starred in two genre films Black Roses (1988), and The Jitters (1989). He has recorded on over two dozen CD's of Theatrical and Old Standard songs. Married to actress 'Liz Larsen'.
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Ann Miller

Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Johnnie Lucille Collier (April 12, 1923 – January 22, 2004), known professionally as Ann Miller, was an American dancer, singer and actress. She is best remembered for her work in the Classical Hollywood musical films of the 1940s and 1950s. At age 13 in 1936, Miller became a showgirl at the Bal Tabarin. She was hired as a dancer in the "Black Cat Club" in San Francisco (she reportedly told them she was 18). It was there that she was discovered by Lucille Ball and talent scout/comic Benny Rubin (although some sources say this occurred at Bal Tabarin). This led Miller to be given a contract with RKO in 1936 at the age of 13 (she had also told them she was 18, and apparently provided a fake birth certificate, procured by her father - with the name "Lucy Ann Collier") and she remained there until 1940. In 1941, she signed with Columbia Pictures, where, starting with Time Out for Rhythm, she starred in 11 B movie musicals from 1941 to 1945. In July 1945, with World War II still raging in the Pacific, she posed in a bathing suit as a Yank magazine pin-up girl. She ended her contract in 1946 with one "A" film, The Thrill of Brazil. The ad in Life magazine featured Miller's leg in a large, red, bow-tied stocking as the "T" in "Thrill". She finally hit her mark in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musicals such as Easter Parade (1948), On the Town (1949) and Kiss Me Kate (1953). Miller was famed for her speed in tap dance. Studio publicists concocted press releases claiming she could tap 500 times per minute, but in truth, the sound of ultra-fast "500" taps was looped in later. Because the stage floors were waxed and too slick for regular tap shoes, she had to dance in shoes with rubber treads on the sole. Later she would loop the sound of the taps while watching the film and actually dancing on a "tap board" to match her steps in the film. Her film career effectively ended in 1956 as the studio system lost steam to television, but she remained active in the theater and on television. She starred on Broadway in the musical Mame in 1969, in which she wowed the audience in a tap number created just for her. In 1979 she astounded audiences in the Broadway show Sugar Babies with fellow MGM veteran Mickey Rooney, which toured the United States extensively after its Broadway run. In 1983, she won the Sarah Siddons Award for her work in Chicago theatre. She appeared in a special 1982 episode of The Love Boat, joined by fellow showbiz legends Ethel Merman, Carol Channing, Della Reese, Van Johnson and Cab Calloway in a storyline that cast them as older relatives of the show's regular characters. Her last stage performance was a 1998 production of Stephen Sondheim's Follies, in which she played hardboiled Carlotta Campion and received rave reviews for her rendition of the song "I'm Still Here". For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Miller has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6914 Hollywood Blvd. In 1998, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California, Walk of Stars was dedicated to her. To honor Miller's contribution to dance, the Smithsonian Institution displays her favorite pair of tap shoes, which she playfully nicknamed "Moe and Joe".
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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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Amma Asante

Biography

Amma Asante (born 13 September 1969) is a Ghanian-British filmmaker, screenwriter, former actress, and Chancellor at Norwich University of the Arts, who was born in London to parents from Ghana. She has received numerous accolades from festivals around the world for her directorial work on her feature films, which typically explore social issues like cultural conflict and gender/racial roles. Asante attended the Barbara Speake Stage School in Acton, where she trained in dance and drama. It was there that she drafted her first script. Later, Asante became a child actress, performing in Grange Hill and other British series. She appeared in the "Just Say No" anti-drugs campaign of the 1980s and was one of nine Grange Hill child actors to travel to the White House for a meeting with then-First Lady Nancy Reagan. In her late teens, Asante left acting and worked in screenwriting. She founded a production company, Tantrum Films, where she wrote and produced two series of the drama Brothers and Sisters in the late 1990s. In 2004, Asante used the company to make her directorial debut with the feature film A Way of Life, which then received multiple awards and honours from around the world. Accolades in her home country included London Film Festival's inaugural Alfred Dunhill UK Film Talent Award, a BAFTA Film Award, and nominations for Best Newcomer from both the Evening Standard and the London Film Critics. Her second feature film, a 2013 period drama titled Belle, was also critically acclaimed and became one of the most successful independent releases of the year. It garnered eight awards and eighteen other nominations at various festivals, including a British Independent Film Award and two NAACP Image Awards. In January 2014, Asante won the Palm Springs International Film Festival's Directors to Watch Award. The following month, a special screening of the film took place at the United Nations headquarters, as well as in both Los Angeles and New York to honor BAFTA's naming of Asante as a "Brit to Watch." A United Kingdom, Asante's third feature film, was screened at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival and opened the 60th London Film Festival. Like her other works, it received several nominations at film festivals. For this piece, Asante herself won the 2018 Black Reel for Outstanding World Cinema Motion Picture and was nominated for the Women Film Critics Circle's Courage in Filmmaking Award. In 2018, her feature film Where Hands Touch released to mixed-to-negative reviews. She directed two episodes each of The Handmaid's Tale in 2019 and Mrs. America in 2020. The London Film School made Asante an Honorary Associate in 2014. She has previously served as an elected member of BAFTA Council and as a BAFTA Film committee member. In 2017, Asante was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for her service to film. The following year, she became the first female recipient of the British Urban Film Festival's honorary award for outstanding contribution to film and television, the highest honour at the festival. In 2020, Norwich University of the Arts appointed Asante as their new chancellor. Powerlist listed Asante in its 2020 and 2021 lists of the top 100 most influential people in the UK of African/African-Caribbean descent.
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John P. Navin, Jr.

Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. John P. Navin Jr. (born July 24, 1968) is an American film and television actor from Philadelphia. He is well known for his roles in the 1981 drama film Taps and the 1983 movie Losin' It, in both of which he co-starred with Tom Cruise. He also starred in National Lampoon's Vacation as Cousin Dale. Navin starred in the short-lived 1983 television series Jennifer Slept Here with Ann Jillian. He has made guest appearances on the television shows The Facts of Life, Gimme a Break!, Silver Spoons, Cheers, and Double Trouble. He has the honor for being the first patron on Cheers, appearing as a teenager who presents a fake I.D. to try to get a drink. Description above from the Wikipedia article John P. Navin Jr., licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Josh Server

Biography

Josh Server is a Chicago born actor who is known for his work on Nickelodeon's hit sketch series, All That, which was deemed the first of its kind and considered the SNL for younger audiences. Server is the longest running cast member of All That, having starred in over 100 episodes from 1994 to 2000. Other Nickelodeon credits include the cult classic film Good Burger, The Secret World of Alex Mack, Figure It Out, Kenan & Kel, The Amanda Show, Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide, Drake & Josh and Sam & Cat. Server appeared in 2016 alongside Anna Camp and Jim Belushi in the Amazon Prime series, Good Girls Revolt. You can catch Josh starring in the feature films April's Flowers and Await the Dawn, both slated for late 2019 release.
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Alfonso Bedoya

Biography

Alfonso Bedoya (April 16, 1904 – December 15, 1957) was a Mexican actor who frequently appeared in U.S. films. Bedoya was born in the small town of Vicam, Sonora, Mexico, of Yaqui Indian heritage. He had a nomadic childhood upbringing in Mexico, though he was educated in Houston, Texas. Bedoya found work as a character actor in the US and Mexican film industries in the 1930s to 1940s. During that time, he worked in over 175 Mexican films. His last movie, The Big Country, was released in 1958 after his death.
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Bobby Slayton

Biography

Robert Michael Slayton is an American actor and stand-up comedian. He is probably best known for a supporting role in the 2001 film Bandits, and as a frequent guest on The Adam Carolla Show. Slayton, often referred to as “The Pitbull of Comedy,” has been performing his own intense style of comedy for well over 30 years, becoming one of the best known, respected, and energetic comics working today. He had scene-stealing roles in the movies Get Shorty, Ed Wood, Dreamgirls, and Bandits. He’s been seen on dozens of television shows, including The Tonight Show, Politically Incorrect, Home Improvement, and in Woody Allen's Amazon TV project, Crisis in Six Scenes. His many appearances on HBO have included “Comic Relief” and his own Showtime special, "Born to be Bobby". He was a series regular on the HBO series Mind of a Married Man, and played Joey Bishop opposite Ray Liotta and Joe Mantegna in the critically acclaimed film “The Rat Pack” His distinctive gravelly voice has often been heard on animated shows, including Dr. Katz and Family Guy, as well as many popular radio shows across the country including Howard Stern and regular appearances on SiriusXM.
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John Glen

Biography

John Glen (born 15 May 1932) is a British film director. He was born in Sunbury-on-Thames, England. He is best known for his work as a film editor, and director of five James Bond movies, he also worked as film editor and second unit director on three previous Bond movies: On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), Moonraker (1979). Glen's other films as second unit director include Superman and The Wild Geese, both in 1978.  He also directed the feature films Christopher Columbus: The Discovery (1992) and The Point Men (2001) and directed the TV series Space Precinct. In 2001, he published his memoir "For My Eyes Only."
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Peter Cambor

Biography

Peter was born in Houston, TX. He attended college at Wesleyan University in Connecticut where he received a B.A. in English. Peter then moved to New York to pursue a career in acting. After two years in New York, he was accepted by The American Repertory Theatre's Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University and the Moscow Art Theatre, where he received an M.F.A in Acting. Shortly after receiving his M.F.A., Peter was cast in the Mark Taper Forum's production of The Cherry Orchard starring Annette Bening and Alfred Molina in 2006. During the production, a producer asked him to come and audition for the pilot of ABC's Notes from the Underbelly, in which he was cast starring opposite Jennifer Westfeldt. The series was picked up that summer, and ran on ABC for two seasons. Peter was next cast in CBS's drama NCIS:Los Angeles as Operations Psychologist Nate Getz. He still appears as Nate as a recurring cast member. Peter recently starred in the TBS comedy Wedding Band which aired in the fall of 2012. He just wrapped up shooting the NBC pilot Assistance starring Krysten Ritter, Alfred Molina, Zach Cregger, and Vinette Robinson.
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