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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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Joe Pass
Biography
Joe Pass (born Joseph Anthony Jacobi Passalaqua; January 13, 1929 – May 23, 1994) was an American jazz guitarist. Pass is well known for his work stemming from numerous collaborations with pianist Oscar Peterson and vocalist Ella Fitzgerald, and is often heralded as one of the most unique and notable jazz guitarists of the 20th century.
Pass was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, on January 13, 1929. His father, Mariano Passalaqua, was born in Sicily.
Pass found work as a performer as early as age 14. He played with bands led by Tony Pastor and Charlie Barnet, honing his guitar skills while learning the ropes in the music industry. He began traveling with small jazz groups and moved from Pennsylvania to New York City. Within a few years, Pass developed an addiction to heroin. He moved to New Orleans for a year and played bebop at strip clubs. Pass revealed to Robert Palmer of Rolling Stone that he had suffered a "nervous breakdown" in New Orleans "because [he] had access to every kind of drug there and was up for days [...] [he] would come to New York a lot, then get strung out and leave."
Pass spent much of the 1950s in and out of prison for drug-related convictions. In the same Rolling Stone interview, Pass said, "staying high was my first priority; playing was second; girls were third. But the first thing really took all my energy." He recovered after a two-and-a-half-year stay in the Synanon rehabilitation program. Pass largely put music on hiatus during his prison sentence.
Pass recorded a series of albums during the 1960s for Pacific Jazz Records, including Catch Me, 12-String Guitar, For Django, and Simplicity. In 1963, he received DownBeat magazine's New Star Award. He also played on Pacific Jazz recordings by Gerald Wilson, Bud Shank, and Les McCann. He toured with George Shearing in 1965. During the 1960s, he did mostly TV and recording session work in Los Angeles. Norman Granz, the producer of Jazz at the Philharmonic and the founder of Verve Records, signed Pass to Pablo Records in December 1973. In 1974, Pass released his solo album Virtuoso on Pablo. Also in 1974, Pablo released the album The Trio with Pass, Oscar Peterson, and Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen. He performed with them on many occasions throughout the 1970s and 1980s. At the Grammy Awards of 1975, The Trio won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Performance by a Group. As part of the Pablo roster, Pass recorded with Benny Carter, Milt Jackson, Herb Ellis, Zoot Sims, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, and Count Basie.
Pass and Ella Fitzgerald recorded six albums together on Pablo toward the end of Fitzgerald's career: Take Love Easy (1973), Fitzgerald and Pass... Again (1976), Hamburg Duets - 1976 (1976), Sophisticated Lady (1975, 1983), Speak Love (1983), and Easy Living (1986). ...
Source: Article "Joe Pass" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
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Bobby Durham
Biography
Bobby Durham (February 3, 1937 – July 6, 2008) was an American jazz drummer.
Durham was born in Philadelphia and learned to play drums while a child. He played with The Orioles at age 16, and was in a military band between 1956 and 1959. After his discharge, he played with King James and Stan Hunter. In 1960, he moved to New York City, where he played with Lloyd Price, Wild Bill Davis, Lionel Hampton, Count Basie, Slide Hampton, Grant Green, Sweets Edison, Tommy Flanagan, Jimmy Rowles, and the Duke Ellington Orchestra, in which he played for five months. While working with Basie, he met Al Grey, and was a member of several of Grey's small ensembles. He accompanied Ella Fitzgerald for more than a decade, and worked with Oscar Peterson in a trio setting.
Durham also played in trios with organists such as Charles Earland and Shirley Scott, and there was a resurgence in interest in Durham's work during the acid jazz upswing in the 1990s. Many of Durham's projects, both as sideman and as leader, came about because of his association with producer Norman Granz, who used him in performances with Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, Harry Edison, Tommy Flanagan, and Joe Pass. Durham led his own combos as well; he is noted for scat singing along with his drum solos. Durham has also performed often with pop and soul musicians such as Frank Sinatra, James Brown, Ray Charles, and Marvin Gaye.
He died of lung cancer in Genoa, Italy, aged 71.
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Lily Rose Smith
Biography
She is best known for her work on HBO's DC Comic series Watchmen as well as playing Josie Saltzman on seasons 7 & 8 of the CW's hit series The Vampire Diaries. Lily Rose is a fraternal triplet with Tierney & Miley and started her career as an infant doing print and commercial work. She is one of 7 children. There are her sisters, Tierney & Miley as well as a younger brother named Jaxon, and 2 step-brothers and an older step-sister. Her sister, Tierney, is also an actress who played her sister Lizzie Saltzman on The Vampire Diaries.
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Edith Margarita Massola Mederos
Biography
Edith Margarita Massola Mederos nació el 7 de septiembre de 1967. Es de Centro Habana. Ha tenido una amplia carrera artística que comenzó un 7 de septiembre a la edad de 14 años cuando ingresó en estudios de danza.
Debutó en “Una novia para David” con el personaje de Olga, para después consolidar su carrera en los predios del teatro musical y la televisión.
Su versatilidad puede constatarse en series dramatizadas como “El año que viene” o “Al compás del son” y películas de reciente producción, entre ellas “Nada” y “La noche de los inocentes”.
Conduce desde 1998 el popular programa 23 y M de la Televisión Cubana, durante varios años bajo la dirección de Julio César Leal. Actualmente ella es la Directora del programa.
Massola es una de las artistas cubanas más carismáticas en la actualidad. Tiene el don de desdoblarse magistralmente para realizar cualquier caracterización o actividad. Prueba de todo ello ha sido su debut en el cine con el papel de Olga en el filme Una novia para David, además de las interpretaciones en las películas “Nada” de Juan Carlos Cremata en el 2001 y “La noche de los inocentes”.
Ha trabajado en novelas cubanas y series dramatizadas como “El año que viene” donde popularizó la frase “Dime algo, Fernández”, “ Al compás del son”, Maritere en “Salir de noche”.
En teatro en obras como “Las viejas putas” de Juan Carlos Cremata, en personajes humorísticos como Maritrini, personaje del programa musical “Sabadazo”, la simpática secretaria de Albertico Pujols en “Su respuesta, Doctor”, en un teleplay con Rigoberto Ferrera, entre otros.
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Joe Anderson
Biography
Joe Anderson grew up in East Lansing, Michigan and is a graduate of Western Michigan University's competitive theatre program.
He is an award-winning director, writer and comedian who spent two years touring with the famed Second City improv comedy theater.
He co-founded the critically acclaimed sketch comedy group "The Don't We Boys!".
Anderson wrote and starred in the play "Shoot Faster, Dear Brother, I'm Dying!" Lawrence Bommer, reviewer for the Chicago Reader and ChicagoTheatreBlog.com called the play, "A remarkable feat - worthy of Mark Twain" and "Two hours of pitch perfect parody."
In 2013, he co-wrote and co-starred in the paranormal comedy America's Most Haunted (2013) which received distribution through Echo Bridge Entertainment. The movie has been described as "Scarier than Ghostubusters and funnier than Poltergeist."
In 2014 he co-wrote and directed the movie Pilot Error (2014). A drama based on the true story of an ill-fated plane traveling to France.
When home in Michigan, he works with a wide variety of film/commercial groups on commercials and TV/film projects. He is also a board member of the all-volunteer, non-profit Dog Story Theater where he helped produce nearly 100 improv and sketch comedy shows.
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Bruno Nuytten
Biography
Bruno Nuytten (born 28 August 1945 in Melun, Seine-et-Marne, Île-de-France) is a French cinematographer turned director.
Camille Claudel which was Nuytten's first directorial and screenwriting effort, won the César Award for Best film in 1989. The film starred and was co-produced by Isabelle Adjani, with whom he had a son, Barnabé. Adjani won the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the 39th Berlin International Film Festival for her role in the film.
His sophomore directorial effort, Albert Souffre, though also a heavily emotional movie, was set in contemporary times.
His 2000 film, Passionnément, starred Charlotte Gainsbourg.
His films as cinematographer include Les Valseuses, Barocco, La Meilleure façon de marcher, The Bronte Sisters, Brubaker, Garde à vue, Possession, Fort Saganne, So Long, Stooge (Tchao Pantin), Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources (US title: Manon of the Spring). He won the César Award for Best Cinematography in 1977 and 1984, and was nominated in 1980, 1982, 1985 and 1987.
He is currently a professor at France's national film school La Fémis.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Bruno Nuytten, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Johan Lundgren
Biography
From the Swedish forests of Karlskoga comes producer Johan Lundgren.
His debut EP YSTER showcases his incredible production skills with a progressive sound that will set the tone for electronic music in 2018. Though he had half a lifetime of producing and songwriting behind him, a solo debut was never a topic of discussion until he completely changed his lifestyle by leaving Sweden for living in different parts of the world a few years ago. The change of environment and the limited musical equipment he could bring with him became a way to challenge himself. “I only had my laptop, a cheap microphone, and a keyboard to come with me, but as it turns out, it was all I needed.”
YSTER is a dark 5-track collection of songs pushing boundaries between dance, electronica, and chillwave. Johan explains the sound progression during his travels and his current residency in London. “As I’ve been a stranger visiting for a while now, I soon realised that the feeling of something foreign would evolve into a calm sense of home wherever I settled down. I think you can hear these transitions on my EP.”
Johan Lundgren has also been a frequent live collaborator in the audiovisual project iamamiwhoami. This is also how he came to be introduced to ionnalee’s label, To whom it may concern. “They have formed an inspiring environment with their music, label, and the world surrounding it, keeping total control of the creative process and the production, without some man in a suit intervening.”
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Jack LaLanne
Biography
LaLanne was addicted to sugar as a child, causing him to commit acts of violence, including setting his parents' house on fire and attacking his brother with an axe. He was so weak his family physician recommended he be removed from school to rest and regain his strength. Around this time, he and his mother attended a lecture by Paul C. Bragg, a nutritionist who told LaLanne he was a human garbage can. LaLanne turned his life around with a strict diet and exercise. By the age of 18, he was running a home bakery selling healthy breads and a home gym where he trained policemen and firemen in exercise and weightlifting. LaLanne's reputation as a physical fitness guru eventually led to his 34-year stint as the host of TV's "The Jack LaLanne Show (1951)". There he taught exercise aimed principally at homemakers, using items found around the home. Even as he exceeded 95 years of age, LaLanne continued to boast a fine physique, and encourage fans with health and fitness tips through videos and writing. LaLanne died of pneumonia at his home in Morro Bay, California, in January 2011, with his wife Elaine, family and friends surrounding him. Mr. LaLanne had been ill prior to his death.
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Masa Lizdek
Biography
Masa (Masha) Lizdek was born in Vienna, raised in former Yugoslavia and immigrated to Canada with her family as refugees during the Yugoslav War.
Masa is best known for her guest star appearances on The Detail (2018), Man Seeking Woman (2015) and Murdoch Mysteries (2013). Lizdek also starred in The Waiting Room (2015) as Sanja (supporting lead), performing in her mother tongue (Serbo-Croatian). The film was nominated and featured in Toronto International Film Festival, Locarno International Film Festival and several more.
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