Trending

Popular people

Louis Quilico

Biography

Louis Quilico, CC (January 14, 1925 – July 15, 2000) was a Canadian opera singer. One of the leading dramatic baritones of his day, he was an ideal interpreter of the great Italian and French composers, especially Giuseppe Verdi. He was often referred to as "Mr Rigoletto" in reference to the Verdi opera. During his 45-year-long career he shared performing credits with opera's greatest stars. He spent 25 consecutive years at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. After his retirement from the stage in 1998 he continued to perform and record, most often with his second wife, pianist Christina Petrowska Quilico, CM OOnt FRSC, with whom he made four CDs. The couple also toured together extensively in concerts until Quilico's death in 2000. Quilico received the Governor General's Performing Arts Award, Canada's highest honour in the performing arts, in November 1999 for his lifetime contribution to classical music. Louis Quilico was born in Montreal, Quebec, of an Italian father and a French-Canadian mother. He studied singing as a youth with Frank H. Rowe in his native Montreal while singing as a solo chorister in a church choir. After winning a prize in 1947, at the urging of the pianist and vocal coach Lina Pizzolongo, he continued his studies in Italy, studying at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome with Teresa Pediconi and baritone Riccardo Stracciari. With the aid of a scholarship he also studied at Mannes College, New York, with Martial Singher (voice), Ralph Herbert (staging) and Emil Cooper (repertoire), and at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal where he worked with Singher. Quilico won the Nos futures étoiles competition on CBC Radio in 1953. He made his professional debut in 1954 as Rangoni in Boris Godunov with the Opera Guild of Montréal. He won the Metropolitan Opera Auditions of the Air in 1955 and made his New York debut with the New York City Opera, singing Germont in La traviata on October 10, 1955. Years later, in 1970, he sang the role of Nottingham in the Tito Capobianco production of Roberto Devereux opposite Beverly Sills, Plácido Domingo and Susanne Marsee. On the international scene, Quilico made his debut in 1959 at the Spoleto Festival in the title role of Donizetti's "Il duca d'Alba." He made his debut at Covent Garden in London in La traviata opposite Dame Joan Sutherland in 1960, and remained a member of that company until 1963. He sang Rigoletto in his debut at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, in 1962. In 1963 Quilico made his Paris Opéra debut as Rodrigue in Don Carlos. He was a member of the cast for the premiere of the opera La Mère coupable by Milhaud, in Geneva in 1966. He also appeared regularly at the Vienna State Opera and the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. In Canada, Quilico performed regularly with the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto, debut as Iago in Otello in 1960; later roles were Rigoletto, Macbeth, Simon Boccanegra, Germont, Amonasro in Aïda, Scarpia in Tosca, Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor, etc. He also made several appearances on CBC notably as Macbeth (opposite Marisa Galvany) in 1973. Quilico also sang at the Stratford Festival, the Vancouver Opera, and the Opéra du Québec. He sang his last Rigoletto at the Opéra de Montréal in 1991. ... Source: Article "Louis Quilico" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Read more

Sean Connery

Biography

Sir Thomas Sean Connery (August 25, 1930 – October 31, 2020) was a Scottish actor and producer. He 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 October 31, 2020, Connery died at the age of 90.
Read more

Max Kellerman

Biography

Max Kellerman is an American sports television personality and boxing commentator. Until his departure from ESPN in June 2023, he was the host of This Just In with Max Kellerman and the co-host of Keyshawn, JWill and Max on ESPN Radio. He previously was a co-host of ESPN talk show First Take alongside Stephen A. Smith and Molly Qerim. He also previously was the co-host of the sports radio talk show Max & Marcellus, with Marcellus Wiley, on ESPNLA. Kellerman hosted the ESPN panel talk show Around the Horn from the show's inception in 2002 until 2004 and co-hosted the sports comedy talk show SportsNation, alongside Wiley and Michelle Beadle, from 2013 until 2016. He was also a studio commentator with Brian Kenny on Friday Night Fights and a color commentator for HBO World Championship Boxing and Boxing After Dark.
Read more

Kenichi Matsuyama

Biography

Kenichi Matsuyama (松山 ケンイチ, Matsuyama Ken'ichi, born March 5, 1985) is a Japanese actor. He is known for his affinity for strange character roles, and he is best known internationally for playing L in the 2006 films Death Note, Death Note 2: The Last Name and L: Change the World in 2008, as well as voicing Gelus in the Death Note animated adaptation. He was cast to play lead character Toru Watanabe in the film adaptation of Haruki Murakami's novel Norwegian Wood, which was released in December 2010.
Read more

Marcelo Gomes

Biography

Marcelo Ferreira de Oliveira Gomes is a renowned Brazilian filmmaker, widely praised for directing the film "Cinema, Aspirins and Vultures" In 2018, Marcelo directed a fictional film inspired by the historical figure Tiradentes. Throughout his career, he has built a diverse and influential filmography. In 1995, he directed the short film "Maracatu, Maracatus" followed by the short "Clandestina Felicidade" in 1998 and "Punk Rock Hardcore: Alto José do Pinho É do Caralho!" in 1999. In 2000, he released "The Brazilians." His recognition increased in 2005 with "Cinema, Aspirins and Vultures." In 2009, he released "I Travel Because I Have to, I Come Back Because I Love You" and, in 2012, "Once Upon a Time Veronica." He continued his work with "The Man of the Crowd" in 2013, "Joaquim" in 2017, "Waiting for the Carnival" in 2019, and, more recently, "Paloma" in 2022. Marcelo Gomes is recognized for his unique style and narratives that explore profound aspects of Brazilian culture and society.
Read more

Warrel Dane

Biography

Warrel Dane (born March 7, 1961) is the lead singer of the American power metal band Sanctuary. He is also known as the former lead singer of currently inactive progressive metal band Nevermore. He is a natural baritone, though he was known for his high-pitched vocals with Serpent's Knight and on the first two Sanctuary albums. Later in his career, Dane became more notable for his distinctively deep, dramatic voice. Dane was trained for five years as an opera singer and utilizes a very broad vocal range, spanning from notes as low as the G♯ below low C, or G♯1, to notes as high as the B♭ below soprano C, or B♭5. While his high head voice style vocals were much more prominent in the older Sanctuary albums, there were instances where he utilizes it in Nevermore as well. Sanctuary's 2014 comeback album The Year the Sun Died includes these higher passages on three songs. He cites Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Jefferson Airplane, Simon & Garfunkel, The Beatles, The Doors as his musical influences and Ronnie James Dio, Rob Halford, Bruce Dickinson as his main vocal inspirations. Dane, along with bassist Jim Sheppard, is a certified chef and formerly owned a restaurant in Seattle. As reflected in his songwriting, Warrel is critical of religion and government and has expressed mixed feelings toward the advancement of technology. Dane provided the voice of Candynose Twinskins in the musical comedy Metalocalypse on Adult Swim. Dane's first ever solo record, Praises to the War Machine was released May 13, 2008 on Century Media Records.
Read more

Nicolai Cleve Broch

Biography

Nicolai Cleve Broch (born 14 November 1975) is a Norwegian actor of theatre and film. He rose to national fame playing one of the leading roles in the 2002 drama series Lekestue, which aired on NRK in 2002. He is also known for playing the protagonist in Buddy, a romantic comedy from 2003. Other major film credits include Uno, Uro and Den siste revejakta. More recently, Cleve Broch was nominated for an Amanda Award for his portrayal of World War II resistance fighter Gregers Gram in Max Manus. Often appearing alongside Aksel Hennie, the two have been referred to as "Norway's Ben Affleck and Matt Damon".
Read more

Jac Williams

Biography

Jac Williams completed his studies in film in 2005 where after he freelanced on international commercials, mini series & feature films. He started Man Makes a Picture Productions in 2008. He has directed and produced numerous projects through the years. In 2012 he has worked as both producer and director on “It’s Africa’s Time”, one of CNBC Africa’s flagship documentary series. The show documents socio-economic upliftment & sustainable development through inclusive business in Africa. Jac wrapped Ferdinand van Zyl’s military drama feature film, The Recce, (2016) & Harold Holscher’s “8” (Horror) in 2018. The Recce was selected at 7 International film festivals and was nominated with DOP Jacques van Tonder for debut feature film cinematography at Camerimage (2018) in Poland. The Recce won best foreign feature film at Idyllwild International Film Festival in California (2019) and was awarded a Silver Remi award at the 52th Annual Worldfest in Houston (2019). 8 had a World Premiere in Montreal at Fantasia International Film Festival and is currently being distributed in 11 World Territories including the USA, UK, Germany, Australia & Russia and on Netflix for Africa. 8 has won 23 International awards so far including best feature film at the British Horror Film festival and best horror at the Seattle International Film Festival. He co-produced Agulhas Shortfilm for Jacques Naude in 2017 and produced Juweeldiewe (2014), Jan Umkwetha (2015) & Benjamin (2018) shortfilms for the Silwerskerm Festival in South Africa. He also co-produced two game shows for the legendary TV Gameshow brand Atari in 2017 named “Player Up” & “Codebreaker”. He produced a 10 episode reality show in 2019 called “Model”, currently showing on Showmax and SABC2. He is currently in development of a new feature films & second season of “Model
Read more

Marion Byron

Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Marion Byron (born Miriam Bilenkin; March 16, 1911, Dayton, Ohio – July 5, 1985, Santa Monica, California) was an American movie comedian. After following her sister into a short stage career as a singer/dancer, she was given her first movie role as Buster Keaton's leading lady in the film Steamboat Bill, Jr. in 1928. From there she was hired by Hal Roach to co-star in short subjects with Max Davidson, Edgar Kennedy, and Charley Chase, but most significantly with Anita Garvin, where tiny (4'11" in high heels) Marion was teamed with the 6' Anita for a brief three-film series as a "female Laurel & Hardy" in 1928–1929. She left Roach before they made talkies, but she went on working, now in musical features, like the Vitaphone film Broadway Babies (1929) with Alice White, and the early Technicolor feature, Golden Dawn (1930). Her parts slowly got smaller until they were unbilled walk-ons in films like Meet the Baron (1933), starring Jack Pearl and Hips Hips Hooray (1934) with Wheeler & Woolsey. Her final screen appearance was as a baby nurse to the Dionne Quintuplets in their film, Five of a Kind (1938).
Read more

James Hansen

Biography

James Hansen is an American adjunct professor directing the Program on Climate Science, Awareness and Solutions of the Earth Institute at Columbia University. He is best known for his research in climatology, his 1988 Congressional testimony on climate change that helped raise broad awareness of global warming, and his advocacy of action to avoid dangerous climate change. In recent years he has become a climate activist to mitigate the effects of climate change, on a few occasions leading to his arrest.
Read more