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Margaret Morgan
Biography
Margaret Morgan is an Australian screenwriter and novelist. She studied and practiced law and later science, having graduated in both at Macquarie University. After practising in criminal law, Margaret Morgan became a professional writer, working as a screenwriter and script editor in television for many well-regarded Australian drama series (including Water Rats, A Country Practice and GP). Her speculative fiction novel, The Second Cure, is published by Penguin Random House Australia and was shortlisted for a number of major literary awards.
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Jackie Coogan
Biography
John Leslie Coogan (October 26, 1914 – March 1, 1984), known professionally as Jackie Coogan, was an American actor who began his movie career as a child actor in silent films. Many years later, he became known as Uncle Fester on 1960s sitcom The Addams Family. In the interim, he sued his mother and stepfather over his squandered film earnings and provoked California to enact the first known legal protection for the earnings of child performers.
Coogan enlisted in the U.S. Army in March 1941. After the attack on Pearl Harbor that December, he requested a transfer to Army Air Forces as a glider pilot because of his civilian flying experience. Graduating the Advanced Glider School with the Glider Pilot aeronautical rating and the rank of Flight Officer, he volunteered for hazardous duty with the 1st Air Commando Group. In December 1943, the unit was sent to India. He flew British troops, the Chindits, under General Orde Wingate on March 5, 1944, landing them at night in a small jungle clearing 100 miles (160 km) behind Japanese lines in the Burma Campaign.
After the war, Coogan returned to acting, taking mostly character roles and appearing on television. From 1952 to 1953, he played Stoney Crockett on the syndicated series Cowboy G-Men. He guest-starred on NBC's The Martha Raye Show. He appeared, too, as Corbett in two episodes of NBC's The Outlaws with Barton MacLane, which aired from 1960–1962. In the 1960–1961 season, he guest-starred in the episode "The Damaged Dolls" of the syndicated crime drama The Brothers Brannagan. In 1961, he guest-starred in an episode of The Americans, an NBC series about family divisions stemming from the Civil War. He also appeared in episode 37, titled "Barney on the Rebound", of The Andy Griffith Show, which aired October 31, 1961. He had a regular role in a 1962–63 NBC series, McKeever and the Colonel. He finally found his most famous television role as Uncle Fester in ABC's The Addams Family (1964–1966). He appeared as a police officer in the Elvis Presley comedy Girl Happy in 1965.
He appeared four times on the Perry Mason series, including the role of political activist Gus Sawyer in the 1963 episode "The Case of the Witless Witness", and TV prop man Pete Desmond in the final episode, "The Case of the Final Fadeout", in 1966. He was a guest several times on The Red Skelton Show, appeared twice on The Brady Bunch ("The Fender Benders" and "Double Parked"), I Dream of Jeannie (as Jeannie's uncle, Suleiman – Maharaja of Basenji), Family Affair, Here's Lucy, and The Brian Keith Show, and continued to guest-star on television (including multiple appearances on The Partridge Family, The Wild Wild West, Hawaii Five-O, and McMillan and Wife) until his retirement in the mid 1970s.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Jackie Coogan, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Neil Simon
Biography
Marvin Neil Simon (July 4, 1927 – August 26, 2018) was an American playwright, screenwriter and author. He wrote more than 30 plays and nearly the same number of movie screenplays, mostly film adaptations of his plays. He has received three Tony Awards, and a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for four Academy Awards and four Primetime Emmy Awards. He was awarded a Special Tony Award in 1975, the Kennedy Center Honors in 1995 and the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2006.
Simon grew up in New York City during the Great Depression. His parents' financial difficulties affected their marriage, giving him a mostly unhappy and unstable childhood. He often took refuge in movie theaters, where he enjoyed watching early comedians like Charlie Chaplin. After graduating from high school and serving a few years in the Army Air Force Reserve, he began writing comedy scripts for radio programs and popular early television shows. Among the latter were Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows (where in 1950 he worked alongside other young writers including Carl Reiner, Mel Brooks, Woody Allen, Larry Gelbart and Selma Diamond), and The Phil Silvers Show, which ran from 1955 to 1959.
His first produced play was Come Blow Your Horn (1961). It took him three years to complete and ran for 678 performances on Broadway. It was followed by two more successes, Barefoot in the Park (1963) and The Odd Couple (1965). He won a Tony Award for the latter. It made him a national celebrity and "the hottest new playwright on Broadway". From the 1960s to the 1980s he wrote for stage and screen; some of his screenplays were based on his own works for the stage. His style ranged from farce to romantic comedy to more serious dramatic comedy. Overall, he garnered 17 Tony nominations and won three awards. In 1966, he had four successful productions running on Broadway at the same time, and in 1983 he became the only living playwright to have a New York theatre, the Neil Simon Theatre, named in his honor.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Neil Simon, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Sean Blakemore
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Sean Blakemore (born August 10, 1967) is an American actor who is known for his roles as Andre Armstrong on All Rise, Coach Hardwick on The Quad, and Phil on Greenleaf. He's also well known for his role as Shawn Butler on the ABC daytime drama General Hospital, for which he was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 2012 and won the award in 2016.
In 2011, he joined the cast of General Hospital in the role of Shawn Butler. In 2015, he exited the role; he later reprised the role for guest appearances in November 2015 and April 2016. He returned to the role in April 2021.
He has appeared on episodes of such series as ER, Monk, The Shield, Cold Case, NCIS, and Bones. He won Auds honors at the Hollywood Black Film Festival for his portrayal of Ric Jackson in the independent romantic drama Big Ain't Bad.
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Zelda Rubinstein
Biography
Zelda Rubinstein (May 28, 1933 – January 27, 2010) was an American actress and human rights activist, known as eccentric medium Tangina Barrons in the Poltergeist film series. Playing 'Ginny', she was a regular on David E. Kelley's Emmy Award winning television series Picket Fences for several seasons. She also made guest appearances in the TV show Poltergeist: The Legacy (1996), as seer 'Christina' and was the voice ofSkittles candies in their long-running 'Taste the Rainbow' ad campaign. Rubinstein was also known for her outspoken activism for little people and her early participation in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
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Danny Comden
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Danny Hill Comden is an American actor, director, film producer and writer. He is best known for playing Stevie Hanson in the ABC sitcom I'm with Her, Blake in Urban Legend and Roger Nicholl in Pretty Persuasion. He wrote and directed Sol Goode, in which he also starred. He also appeared in Father of Invention, Dunston Checks In, Breakin' All the Rules.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Danny Comden, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Volker Schlöndorff
Biography
Volker Schlöndorff is a Berlin-based German filmmaker. He won an Oscar as well as the Palme d'or at the 1979 Cannes Film Festival for The Tin Drum (1979), the film version of the novel by Nobel Prize-winning author Günter Grass. In 1991, he was the Head of the Jury at the 41st Berlin International Film Festival. Schlöndorff has adapted many literary works for his movies, including some critically well-received US productions, but he is also engaged in post-war German politics. He served as the chief executive for the UFA studio in Babelsberg. Schlöndorff also teaches film and literature at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland, where he conducts an Intensive Summer Seminar. He was married to fellow film director Margarethe von Trotta from 1971 to 1991. He is currently married to Angelika Schlöndorff, and the couple has one daughter.
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Frances Barber
Biography
Frances Barber (née Brookes, born 13 May 1958) is an English actress. She received Olivier Award nominations for her work in the plays Camille (1985), and Uncle Vanya (1997). Her film appearances include three collaborations with Gary Oldman in Prick Up Your Ears (1987), We Think the World of You (1988) and Dead Fish (2005); as well as Sammy and Rosie Get Laid (1987); Soft Top Hard Shoulder (1992); and latterly Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool (2017). Barber's numerous television credits include The Street (2009), Doctor Who (2011), Silk (2012–2014), and Whitstable Pearl (2021–2022).
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Donald E. Stewart
Biography
Donald E. Stewart (January 24, 1930 – April 28, 1999) was an American screenwriter, best known for his screenplay for Missing, which won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, the Writers Guild of America Award, the London Film Critics’ Circle Award, a Christopher Award, and the BAFTA Award for Best Screenplay, all shared with the film’s director, Costa-Gavras.
After his passing, the widow of credited screenwriter Donald E. Stewart discovered the Hostiles script while moving houses. Stewart had never submitted the manuscript to any studios, and she was surprised to come across it. After seeing Crazy Heart (2009) and Out of the Furnace (2013), she felt that Scott Cooper was the right person to bring it to the screen.
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Richard Pryor
Biography
Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor was an American stand-up comedian, actor, film director, social critic, satirist, writer, and MC. Pryor was known for uncompromising examinations of racism and topical contemporary issues, which employed colorful vulgarities, and profanity, as well as racial epithets. He reached a broad audience with his trenchant observations and storytelling style. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential stand-up comedians of all time: receiving praise from notable comedians such as Jerry Seinfeld, Bob Newhart, and Bill Cosby. His body of work includes the concert movies and recordings starting in the 70s and spanning three decades. He also starred in numerous films as an actor, in both comedic and dramatic roles. He collaborated on many projects with actor Gene Wilder and actor/comedian/writer Paul Mooney. Pryor won an Emmy Award (1973), and five Grammy Awards (1974, 1975, 1976, 1981, and 1982). In 1974, he also won two American Academy of Humor awards and the Writers Guild of America Award. The first ever Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor was presented to him in 1998. Pryor is listed at Number 1 on Comedy Central's list of all-time greatest stand-up comedians.
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