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Polly Draper

Biography

Polly Carey Draper (born June 15, 1955) is an American actress, writer, producer, and director. She has received several awards, including a Writers Guild of America Award (WGA), and is noted for speaking in a "trademark throaty voice." She is best known for her starring role as Ellyn Warren on ABC's drama Thirtysomething (1987–91), her directing debut is The Naked Brothers Band: The Movie, as well as the Nickelodeon musical comedy series The Naked Brothers Band (2007–09).
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Alfred Hitchcock

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Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980), was an English director and producer. Labeled as the "Master of Suspense", he became known for thrillers, often combined with a dark sense of humor. After a successful career in his native country, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood in 1939. Over a career spanning more than half a century, Hitchcock fashioned for himself a distinctive and recognizable directorial style. He pioneered the use of a camera made to move in a way that mimics a person's gaze, forcing viewers to engage in a form of voyeurism. He framed shots to maximize anxiety, fear, or empathy, and used innovative film editing. His stories frequently feature fugitives on the run from the law alongside icy blonde female characters. Many of Hitchcock's films have twist endings and thrilling plots featuring depictions of violence, murder, and crime, although many of the mysteries function as decoys —or MacGuffins— meant only to serve thematic elements in the film and the extremely complex psychological examinations of the characters. Hitchcock's films also borrow many themes from psychoanalysis and feature strong sexual undertones. Through his cameo appearances in his own films, interviews, film trailers, and the television program Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955-1965), he became a cultural icon. Hitchcock is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In 2002, Hitchcock was ranked 2nd behind Orson Welles in the critics' top ten poll in the list of The Greatest Directors of All Time compiled by the Sight & Sound magazine. 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. Hitchcock's critically most acclaimed film is the psychological thriller film Vertigo (1958). Although being a mild failure upon its release, it has risen in popularity over the decades. In 2012 it even replaced Orson Welles' Citizen Kane as the greatest film ever made in the Sight & Sound critics' poll. Regarding visual style, Vertigo is often declared as Hitchcock's most perfect film. The use of color symbolism, meticulously composed shots, and the famous "Vertigo effect" (dolly zoom) continue to be studied and admired. Hitchcock's most commercially successful and most famous film is Psycho (1960), which had a significant impact on the horror genre, especially the slasher film. Hitchcock was able to prove his skills with the mystery thriller film Rear Window (1954), to create suspense within a confined setting - primarily the protagonist's apartment. In this film, voyeurism, one of Hitchcock's favorite subjects, is an essential aspect. Many of Hitchcock's spy films, most notably North by Northwest (1959) and Notorious (1946), had a major impact on the Mission: Impossible and James Bond series.
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Ivete Sangalo

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Ivete Maria Dias de Sangalo Cady (Brazilian Portuguese: [iˈvɛtʃi sɐ̃ˈɡaɫu], born May 27, 1972) is a Brazilian singer, songwriter, and occasional actress and television show host. She is one of the most popular and best-selling Brazilian female singers, with six albums released with Banda Eva, and seven more albums in a solo career. Sangalo is most often recognized by her powerful voice, charisma and live performances. Her music is also very popular in Portugal. She has sold 15 million copies of her albums.
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Olga N. Bogdanova

Biography

Olga N. Bogdanova is a Russian-born actress, dancer and model with a passion for ballet and car racing. She was born in Moscow, Russia shortly before the collapse of USSR, and witnessed country's challenges and struggles to transition into a new era. Olga's parents, Nicolay and Natalia, have realized very early on her love for the performing arts. At the age of 4 she joined the ballet studio and never stopped dancing ever since; over the course of her life, Olga continues to challenge herself with learning and perfecting new dance styles (modern, contemporary, jazz, Latin ballroom, Argentine tango, Russian and Irish folk dancing, and more).
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Samuel L. Jackson

Biography

Samuel Leroy Jackson (born December 21, 1948) is an American actor and producer. One of the most widely recognized actors of his generation, the films in which he has appeared have collectively grossed over $27 billion worldwide, making him the second highest-grossing actor of all time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gave him an Academy Honorary Award in 2022 as "A cultural icon whose dynamic work has resonated across genres and generations and audiences worldwide". Jackson started his career on stage making his professional theatre debut in Mother Courage and her Children in 1980 at The Public Theatre. From 1981 to 1983 he originated the role of Private Louis Henderson in A Soldier's Play Off-Broadway. He also originated the role of Boy Willie in August Wilson's The Piano Lesson in 1987 at the Yale Repertory Theatre. He returned to the play in the 2022 Broadway revival playing Doaker Charles. Jackson early film roles include Coming to America (1988), Goodfellas (1990), Patriot Games (1992), Juice (1992), True Romance (1993), and Jurassic Park (1993), Menace II Society (1993), and Fresh (1994). His collaborations with Spike Lee led to greater prominence with films such as School Daze (1988), Do the Right Thing (1989), Mo' Better Blues (1990), Jungle Fever (1991), Oldboy (2013), and Chi-Raq (2015). Jackson's breakout role was in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction (1994) which earned him a BAFTA Award win and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He further collaborated with Tarantino, acting in Jackie Brown (1997), Django Unchained (2012), and The Hateful Eight (2015). He's known for having appeared in a number of big-budget films, including Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995), A Time to Kill (1996), The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996), The Negotiator (1997), Deep Blue Sea (1999), Unbreakable (2000), Shaft (2000) and its reboot (2019), XXX (2002), S.W.A.T. (2003), Coach Carter (2005), Snakes on a Plane (2006), Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014), Kong: Skull Island (2017), and Glass (2019). He also gained widespread recognition as the Jedi Mace Windu in the Star Wars prequel trilogy (1999–2005), later voicing the role in the animated film Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) and the video game Lego Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2011). With his permission, his likeness was used for the Ultimate version of the Marvel Comics character Nick Fury; he subsequently played Fury in 11 Marvel Cinematic Universe films, beginning with a cameo appearance in Iron Man (2008), as well as guest-starring in the television series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. He will reprise this role in the upcoming Disney+ series Secret Invasion, which is set to premiere on June 21, 2023. Jackson has provided his voice for several animated films, documentaries, television series, and video games, including Lucius Best / Frozone in the Pixar films The Incredibles (2004) and Incredibles 2 (2018).
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C.C. Adcock

Biography

C. C. Adcock (born Charles Clinton Adcock) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and blues rock musician, noted for his cajun, zydeco, electric blues and swamp pop-influenced sound and for his efforts to preserve and promote swamp pop music. He's also a Grammy-nominated music and film producer and film and TV composer. Adcock was first signed to Island Records at the age of 22 by noted record producer and A&R man Denny Cordell, who also produced Adcock's debut album. The two met when they were both working at a Hollywood soundstage in Lafayette, Louisiana. Adcock has worked with Academy-Award-winning composer and record producer Jack Nitzsche, and he has produced his own recordings as well as the work of artists including Robert Plant, Florence + The Machine, Nick Cave and Neko Case, Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys and Doyle Bramhall. He has also worked as a composer and music supervisor for television shows and motion pictures including X Factor, 30 Beats and Academy-Award-winning director William Friedkin's Killer Joe. He writes, records and tours with his band The Lafayette Marquis as well as swamp pop supergroup Lil' Band O' Gold. He has performed and toured with Bo Diddley, Buckwheat Zydeco, as well as alongside his mentor, Lafayette, Louisiana guitarist Paul "Lil' Buck" Sinegal in Cowboy Stew Blues Revue. His music and productions have also been prominently featured in the HBO television shows True Blood and Treme. Adcock has recorded two solo albums: the self-titled C. C. Adcock (produced by Tarka Cordell), issued in 1994 on the Island label, mixed at Chris Blackwell's Compass Point Studios by Terry Manning, and reissued in 2000 on the Evangeline label under the title House Rocker; and Lafayette Marquis, issued in 2004 on the Yep Roc label. Adcock is also a co-founder of the south Louisiana supergroup Lil' Band O' Gold, which also includes swamp pop pioneer Warren Storm on drums, accordionist Steve Riley, pianist David Egan and saxophonist Dickie Landry. Together, they have released three albums: their eponymous debut on Shanachie Records; The Promised Land (2010, Dust Devil Music, and 2011, Room 609 Records); and Plays Fats, which features Lil' Band O' Gold performing the music of Fats Domino with guests including Robert Plant and Lucinda Williams, and which was released in 2012 on the Dust Devil Music record label. Adcock has also made guest appearances on other artists' albums, including several by Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys, Ani DiFranco and Doyle Bramhall. In addition to his solo recordings and work with Lil' Band O' Gold, Adcock has also produced the Grammy-nominated albums Grand Isle by Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys and Is It News by Doyle Bramhall. In 2011, Adcock produced Florence + The Machine’s version of Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away" for the tribute compilation Rave On. Adcock has also produced Neko Case, Nick Cave and Jace Everett for soundtrack albums for the HBO television series True Blood.
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Dickie Landry

Biography

Saxophonist and flutist Dickie Landry's story is about as far-flung as one can imagine, moving from white R&B in the American South to improvised and contemporary minimal / process music in New York during the 1970s, all the while hanging around with the primary figures in New York's post-minimal and concept art scene. Though less visible from the 1980s onward, Landry has recently returned to his Louisiana homeland and splits his time between playing in a popular swamp-pop band and reinvestigating what made his playing so desirable to people like Philip Glass and Laurie Anderson.
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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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Tommy McLain

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Tommy McLain is perhaps the last great artist from rock ‘n’ roll’s pioneering first generation awaiting rediscovery. The signature swamp pop sound that he helped create spawned multiple national hits in the 1960s and inspired artists like Creedence Clearwater Revival, Little Feat, and Tony Joe White, among others. His best known songs - “Sweet Dreams,” “Before I Grow Too Old” and “Try To Find Another Man” - are to this day considered cornerstones of the genre. He’s been inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame (twice!), earned a gold record for writing “If You Don't Love Me (Why Don't You Just Leave Me Alone)” for Freddy Fender, and even appeared - as himself - in the 1975 Paul Newman thriller The Drowning Pool.
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Steve Riley

Biography

Steve Riley, of Mamou, Louisiana, is a widely acknowledged master of the Cajun accordion and its singularly powerful sound. There has never been an official competition among Cajun accordionists. Whenever a contest does arise, Steve Riley usually wins it, or judges it. Despite the lack of official metrics or quantifying factors, it remains true that most people think Steve is the best there is, and very few would argue the point. His playing is a standard by which timing, phrasing and ingenuity are measured on the royal instrument of South Louisiana. That, combined with his searing, emotional vocals, songwriting, soulful fiddling and onstage front man charisma have led many to refer to the band simply as “Steve Riley.” For many, that would be enough, but for this band, and its devoted fans, there’s much, much more.
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