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Marianne Hoppe
Biography
Born in Rostock, Hoppe became a leading lady of stage and films in Germany. She was born into a wealthy landowning family and was initially privately educated on her father's private estate. Later she attended school in Berlin and in Weimar, where she began to attend theatre.[1]
Hoppe first performed at 17 as a member of Berlin's Deutsches Theater under director Max Reinhardt. In 1935 she was hired by the controversial German actor and Director of the Prussian State Theatre under the Third Reich, Gustav Gründgens. They were married from 1936-46, until their divorce. Speaking years after the marriage had ended Hoppe stated, "He was my love, but never my great love, that was work."[1]
One of the characters in the film Mephisto was reportedly based on her. Hoppe made no secret of her contacts with the Nazi elite in the 1930s/40s, including being invited to dinner by Hitler.[2] Her role in Der Schimmelreiter (The Rider of the White Horse, 1934) made her famous almost overnight, while her "Aryan" face made her a darling of the Nazi elite.[1] Later Hoppe would label this period of her life as "the black page in my golden book".[1]
During her time acting at the home of the Prussian State Theatre, the Schauspielhaus, Hoppe developed her analytical approach to acting, which she stated consisted in her "taking apart every sentence" and giving the use of language a brilliance. This method was to be associated with Hoppe throughout her working life.[1] In 1946 her only child, Benedikt Johann Percy Gründgens, was born.
Four years later after her divorce from Gründgens, Hoppe had a great success as Blanche Dubois in Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire, and increasingly played avant-garde roles, written by authors such as Heiner Muller (Quartett, 1994) and Thomas Bernhard, who became her partner in private life as well. She became a favourite of the young and iconoclastic directors Claus Peymann, Robert Wilson and Frank Castorf.
Hoppe died in Siegsdorf, Bavaria, in 2002 from natural causes, aged 93. "German theater has lost its queen", said Claus Peymann of the Berliner Ensemble, whose theatre featured Hoppe's last performance, in Bertolt Brecht's Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, in December 1997.[2] In one of her last interviews Hoppe stated, "I have a go at happiness every day. That takes discipline, a virtue every halfway decent actor should have."
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Tore Svennberg
Biography
Olof Teodor "Tore" Svennberg (28 February 1858 – 8 May 1941) was a Swedish actor and theatre director whose career spanned more than five decades.
Born in Stockholm, Tore Svennberg made his stage debut at the Folkan Theatre in his hometown in 1877. From 1878 to 1891 he was engaged with various national touring theatre companies with actress Julia Håkansson and was from time to time cast by Swedish stage director Albert Ranft. At the Swedish Theatre, he played in several August Strindberg dramas: Gustav Vasa, starred in Erik XIV in 1899, A Dream Play in 1907 and The Dance of Death in 1919. He also appeared in many roles by Henrik Ibsen: as Helmer in A Doll's House in 1889, as Hjalmar Ekdahl in The Wild Duck in 1891 and as Borkman in John Gabriel Borkman in 1897.
In 1920, Svennberg was engaged at the Swedish Royal Dramatic Theatre, where he later became director from 1922 to 1928. He managed to attract audiences by focusing on classics and foreign plays.
Svennberg also appeared in a number of films, beginning in the Victor Sjöström-directed 1919 drama Sons of Ingmar, based on the novel Jerusalem by Selma Lagerlöf, and performed in his last film role at the age of 82 in Per Lindberg's 1940 drama Stål. He is possibly best recalled internationally for his role as Magnus Barring in the 1938 film A Woman's Face opposite actress Ingrid Bergman.
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Alessia Cecchet
Biography
Alessia Lupo Cecchet is a maker of moving images, interdisciplinary artist, and writer who grew up in the Dolomite Mountains of Northern Italy and is now based in Los Angeles, CA. Her practice is situated at the intersection of studio and media arts; Alessia constructs sculptural objects that she then activates through animation, film, and video. Grounded in historical and archival research, her work is invested in human and non-human histories of displacement, loss, and suffering.
In June 2022, Alessia completed her Ph.D. in Film and Digital Media at the University of California, Santa Cruz, defending her dissertation “Eating and Resurrecting the Goats: Animal Bodies, Death, and Western Culture.” Alessia also holds an MFA in Film from Syracuse University as well as a MA in Film Studies from the University of Bologna, Italy. Her thesis about American Propaganda Animation during WWII won the Franco La Polla prize (Future Film Festival) which awarded its publication as a book.
In 2023 Alessia Lupo was awarded a residency at the John Michael Kohler Art Center in Kohler, WI, and her film balaena won Best Experimental Film at the 2023 New Jersey International Film Festival. Her work has been exhibited internationally at numerous film festivals and art venues, including Uppsala Short Film Festival (Sweden), Slamdance Film Festival, Nashville Film Festival, Encounters Film Festival (UK), Seattle International Film Festival, Cork International Film Festival (Ireland), Athens International Film and Video Festival, and Torino Film Festival (Italy).
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Daniel Balavoine
Biography
Daniel Xavier-Marie Balavoine (5 February 1952 – 14 January 1986) was a French singer and songwriter. He was hugely popular in the French-speaking world in the early 1980s; he inspired many singers of his generation such as Jean-Jacques Goldman, Michel Berger, who was his closest friend, as well as the Japanese pop-rock group Crystal King. Balavoine was a part of the original cast of the rock opera Starmania in 1978, which was written by Berger.
Balavoine also took part in motorsports and French political life; he is known for a 1980 televised verbal confrontation with then-Socialist presidential candidate François Mitterrand. In the French music business, he earned his place with his powerful voice, wide range and recognisable lyrics, which were full of sadness and revolt. His songs dealt in themes of despair, pain and death, although hope was present as well.
Balavoine was born on 5 February 1952 in Alençon, France. He was the youngest in a family of six children. He had two sisters and three brothers. His father, Emile, was an urban engineer and worked for the Reconstruction Ministry. His mother was an antiques wholesaler. In 1959, his father relocated to Algeria, while Daniel moved to southern city of Pau and attended a boarding school, an experience he clearly didn't appreciate. When he was eleven, he heard "She Loves You" by The Beatles which sparked his taste in music. In 1968, while attending high school, he was one of the many youth who supported the nationwide strikes.
Having fully decided to make a living in music, he began to perform as a ballroom singer in Pau, covering Bob Dylan songs. In 1971, he moved to Paris but was disappointed and returned to Pau. Soon afterwards, he answered an audition in Paris to join a hard rock band, Présence, whose singer had just left. Another future singer, Laurent Voulzy, was his main competition for that position. Ultimately, Balavoine was chosen and went into the studio. The band soon released an album which wasn't a big success. Despite that, they toured all over France. In 1972, the band signed a contract with Warner Music Group but Balavoine quit the group.
In 1973, while he was working as a record dealer, The Vogue studios, which produced Présence, contacted him and offered to support him in a solo career. His first Vogue record "Viens vite" was released, but suffered poor sales. Balavoine then became a background vocalist alongside his brother, Guy. Soon afterwards, they starred in a pop musical La Révolution Française.
In 1974, Patrick Juvet, one of the biggest performers in France at the time, offered him the opportunity to be the opening act on his next tour. Balavoine wrote a song for him, "Couleurs d'Automne", which appeared on Juvet's following album.
While attending a show, Léo Missir, vice president of Barclay Records, was impressed by Balavoine's aura and signed him immediately to a 3-year deal which ended up lasting far longer. His first record, "De vous à elle en passant par moi", was released in 1975, but again resulted in disappointing sales. ...
Source: Article "Daniel Balavoine" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA.
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Pete Duel
Biography
Pete Duel was born in Rochester, New York, the eldest of three children born to Dr. Ellsworth and Lillian Deuel (née Ellstrom). He had a younger brother, Geoffrey, who also became an actor, and a sister, Pamela.
He attended Penfield High School, where he worked on the yearbook staff, campaigned for student government, and was a member of the National Thespians Society.
Moving to New York, Deuel landed a role in a touring production of the comedy Take Her, She's Mine. To find work in the movies, Deuel and his mother drove across the country to Hollywood, California in 1963, with only a tent to house them each night.
In Hollywood, he found work in television. Deuel was quickly offered the starring role of Dave Willis, a newlywed apprentice architect, in a romantic comedy called Love on a Rooftop. Although the show earned good ratings, ABC decided not to bring it back after its first season. Deuel wished to move from sitcoms to more serious roles. Around 1970, he also changed his name, dropping the "r" from Peter and the first "e" from "Deuel".
In 1970, Deuel was cast as the outlaw Hannibal Heyes, alias Joshua Smith, opposite Ben Murphy, in Alias Smith and Jones, a light-hearted western about the exploits of two outlaws trying to earn an amnesty. During the hiatus between the first and second seasons, he starred in the television production of Percy MacKaye’s 1908 play, The Scarecrow.
Deuel became involved in politics during the primaries for the 1968 presidential election, campaigning for Eugene McCarthy, in opposition to the Vietnam War. He attended the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago and witnessed the violence that erupted.
In the early hours of December 31, 1971, Deuel died at his Hollywood Hills home of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Deuel's girlfriend, Dianne Ray, was at his home at the time of his death and discovered his body. Ray later told police the two had watched Deuel's series Alias Smith and Jones the previous evening. She later went to sleep in another room while Deuel stayed up. Sometime after midnight, Deuel entered the bedroom, retrieved his revolver and told Ray, "I'll see you later." Ray then said she heard a gunshot from another room and discovered Deuel's body.
According to police, Deuel's friends and family said he was depressed about his drinking problem. He had been arrested and pleaded guilty to a DUI accident that injured two people the previous June. Deuel's death was later ruled a suicide.
Deuel's funeral was held at the Self-Realization Fellowship Temple on January 2, 1972, in Pacific Palisades. At the service, Deuel's girlfriend read a poem he wrote, titled "Love". An estimated 1,000 friends and fans attended. His body was flown to Penfield, New York, where he was buried in Oakwood Cemetery.
After his death, his role in Alias Smith and Jones was taken over by Roger Davis who was previously the narrator over the opening theme of the show. The loss of Deuel proved too great for the series to be sustained; fans were slow to accept Davis, who looked too much like fellow actor Ben Murphy, and the series was cancelled in 1973.
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Caitlyn Taylor Love
Biography
Caitlyn Taylor Love was born on June 16, 1994, in Corpus Christi, Texas, and raised in Harlingen, Texas. She began pursuing an interest in entertainment at age 10, by competing in the Miss Texas Pageant Talent Division. She would end up winning that division in 2004. She was then invited in July 2005 to compete at IMTA New York where she won Miss Jr. Actress of the Year along with several other acting and singing awards. Love then moved to Los Angeles, California where she was briefly a cast member of MTV's Punk'd. She would achieve more notability by competing on NBC's America's Got Talent appearing as semi-finalist in the show's first season. In 2009, Love became a cast member of the Disney XD sitcom I'm in the Band. Love has signed with Genuine Music Group and is preparing a master demo. It will be called Bad Case Of Love Disease which is a song on the album written by JakeAce Rivers. In 2012, Love joined the recurring cast of Ultimate Spider-Man as White Tiger/Ava Alaya. She has not acted since 2017.
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Zhandos Aibassov
Biography
Zhandos Aibassov (Жандос Айбасов) is a Kazakhstani actor, director, producer, and stuntman born on June 30, 1989 in Almaty. He first studied to be a jeweler at the Almaty College of Decorative and Applied Arts. He then majored majoring in Directing at the Kazakh National Academy of Arts. He began his film career in 2013 with a role in He and She. Since then, he has starred in several Kazakhstani films, including Kazakh-style Robbery (2014), Districts (2016), and The Lift (2018). Apart from acting, Aibassov is also involved in stunt coordination and film production.
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Ramsey Avery
Biography
Ramsey Avery is a production designer. Ramsey's interest in the creation of worlds began when he was a University of Wyoming astronomy major. He learned that there were several worlds he could create here, on this one, and that he could travel anyplace on stage and in movies while working as an actor in the theatre at night and organising differential equations by day.
He has worked on a wide range of those worlds throughout the many years that have passed. His first project was to art-direct Roseanne, a tiny town in the Midwest. More recently, he created and animated the Second Age settings for The Lord of the Rings. Since then, he has contributed to Marvel's bold visual direction as the PD of Captain America: Brave New World, developed an eerie gaming firm for Matt Shakman's The Consultant, and built the snug nest that Kaitlyn Dever must protect from invaders in No One Will Save You Now.
He has worked as an art director on projects that span time and space, including Team America, Star Trek: Into Darkness, Mirror, Mirror, Tomorrowland, and Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2. He has also contributed to the future worlds of Minority Report and A.I.
Ramsey is a production designer who worked on the films Peppermint, Hotel Artemis, 10 Cloverfield Lane, and the Sundance Choices Waitress and Right At Your Door. He has also created national ads for brands including Budweiser, Microsoft, Capri Sun, and Dodge for the Super Bowl. Because of his work on the live-action trailer for The Bee Movie, he received a nomination for an Art Department Guild Award.
Ramsey recently created the Webslingers multimedia interactive attraction as well as the Avenger's Campus for Disney's California Adventure. His earlier design, the Animation Pavilion at DCA, was recognised with a THEA award, which is the Oscar of themed entertainment. His contributions to several global attractions and events include the first winterlit cityscape in Santa Monica, the Don Quixote attraction in Japan, and the Royal Saudi Wedding in Riyadh. He has continued to be involved in theatre throughout the years, having designed national tours of Martina McBride's Christmas in addition to award-winning regional theatre sets from California to New York.
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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.
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Gary Piland
Biography
Gary Piland's the kid the other kids' parent wouldn't let play with them - too much imagination, zero common sense.
He fell in love with scary movies at an early age, helped found a popular regional hard rock band, Limousine in 1976 and eventually discovered the Macintosh in 1984. From there he moved to the Internet, web design, copywriting and opened his design and web development firm, Umbrella, in 2003.
Gary always wanted to write, direct and produce horror flicks, so in 2010 he founded Roaring Rat Films, his indie horror film company based in Topeka, Kansas. (Yes, *that* Topeka, Kansas.)
With the able assistance of his production partner, Klik Kreative Studios - and the incredible actors, musicians and production talent right here in the midwest - he has written, directed, shot, edited and produced five movies so far.
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