Trending

Popular people

Doye O'Dell

Biography

Allen Doye O'Dell was born in Gustine, Texas in 1912 to Joe and Carrie O'Dell. His Dad was a cotton farmer and later moved the family to the far west Texas town of Plainview. Doye's uncle Tom Gregory, a fiddle player, would visit and taught Doye how to play the fiddle, sparking a love of music that would last a lifetime. Doye started playing at radio station WDAG in Amarillo and eventually got his own radio show with NBC. After many years on radio and as a prolific recording artist and even becoming a member of the Sons of the Pioneers, Doye ended up in southern California on KTLA, one of the country's pioneer TV stations. Doye's 'Western Varieties' TV show was a Friday night staple for many years. Doye was also an actor and besides appearing with Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers in some of their late 1940s movies like Under California Stars, Doye appeared in many movies with such names as Ronald Reagan, Jack Lemmon, Ava Gardner and many more. He appeared in many late 50s and early 60s TV series like Maverick, Sugarfoot and Empire. He had parts in two Billy Wilder movies, The Days of Wine and Roses and Irma La Douce. Doye continued playing music and making personal appearances into his 80s until a stroke forced him into retirement. Doye passed away in 2001 at the age of 88. His vast music library is still popular all over the world and his records are collector's items.
Read more

Phill Lewis

Biography

Phillip David "Phill" Lewis (born February 14, 1968) is a Ugandan-born American actor, comedian and director who is best known for his role as hotel manager Mr. Moseby on the Disney Channel series The Suite Life of Zack & Cody and its spin-off, The Suite Life on Deck. Lewis has also appeared in series such as Lizzie McGuire, Friends, The Wayans Bros., Yes Dear, Scrubs and How I Met Your Mother. Description above from the Wikipedia article Phill Lewis, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Read more

Uri Zohar

Biography

Uri Zohar was a prominent Israeli film director, actor, and comedian who later became an Orthodox rabbi. Born in Tel Aviv, he began his career in the entertainment industry in the 1950s, gaining fame for his work in Israeli cinema and television. Zohar directed and starred in several influential films, including Hole in the Moon (1964), Three Days and a Child (1967), and Big Eyes (1974). His films often explored social issues and the complexities of Israeli society. In the late 1970s, Zohar experienced a significant personal transformation, embracing Orthodox Judaism and leaving the entertainment industry to become a rabbi. He dedicated the latter part of his life to religious study and community work, becoming a prominent figure in the Orthodox Jewish community. Zohar passed away in Jerusalem at the age of 86.
Read more

Lee Van Cleef

Biography

Clarence LeRoy "Lee" Van Cleef Jr. (January 9, 1925 – December 16, 1989) was an American actor best known for his roles in Spaghetti Westerns such as For A Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Hatchet-faced with piercing eyes, he had declined to have his nose altered to play a sympathetic character in his film debut, High Noon, and was relegated to a non-speaking outlaw as a result. For a decade he was typecast as a minor villain, his sinister features overshadowing his acting skills. After suffering serious injuries in a car crash, Van Cleef began to lose interest in his apparently waning career by the time Sergio Leone gave him a major role in For a Few Dollars More. The film made him a box-office draw, especially in Europe. Despite suffering from heart disease from the late 1970s and having a pacemaker installed in the early 1980s, Van Cleef continued to work in films until his death on December 16, 1989, at age 64. He was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery, Hollywood Hills, California, with an inscription on his grave marker referring to his many acting performances as a villain: "BEST OF THE BAD".
Read more

Estelle Parsons

Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Estelle Margaret Parsons (born November 20, 1927) is an American theatre, film and television actress and occasional theatrical director. After studying law, Parsons became a singer before deciding to pursue a career in acting. She worked for the television program Today and made her stage debut in 1961. During the 1960s, Parsons established her career on Broadway before progressing to film. She received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Blanche Barrow in Bonnie and Clyde (1967), and was also nominated for her work in Rachel, Rachel (1968). Parsons worked extensively in film and theatre during the 1970s and later directed several Broadway productions. More recently her television work included a role in the sitcom Roseanne. Nominated on four occasions for a Tony Award, in 2004 Parsons was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame. Description above from the Wikipedia article Estelle Parsons, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Read more

Vishal Krishna

Biography

Vishal Krishna is an Indian film actor and producer who appears primarily in Tamil cinema. Often starring in his home productions, he became an actor after a stint as an assistant director in films. His first role was in the romantic thriller Chellamae, before going on to secure a run of three consecutive successes with roles as action hero in the 2005 film, Sandakozhi, and with Thimiru in 2006. After appearing in two further successful films, the failure of his hyped home production, Sathyam halted his streak. Following further commercial failures, he enjoyed success again with Avan Ivan (2011), which became a significant film in his career.
Read more

Iva Hasperger

Biography

Iva Hasperger is a graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and has performed in theater productions from Shakespeare to Tennessee Williams. Strong roots in a classical and European background often inform Iva's work-perhaps most notably in her performance as "Ilona" in the feature "Vlad" starring Billy Zane and Francesco Quinn. Hasperger plays a 15th century girl who only speaks middle English. In preparation for the shoot, the actress consulted Professor Edward Condron of UCLA to ensure accuracy with the complex ancient tongue. Hasperger fulfilled a childhood dream when she came to the US to train as an actress. An avid student of the American cinematic tradition and its history she has repeatedly delivered nuanced and eye catching performances in film, television and theater. Hasperger readily admits that her favorite actress of all time is Meryl Streep, and makes no bones about a desire to emulate her heroine. From a Southern belle in "Cloud Seven" to a Czech communist in "Cold Case" she has consistently delivered depth and range. As the projects get larger the approach remains the same-remain true to the character and serve the writing. So-no distraction by the bright lights for this terrific talent!
Read more

Riz Ahmed

Biography

Rizwan "Riz" Ahmed (Urdu pronunciation: [ɾɪzˌwɑːnˈɛɦˌməd̪]; born 1 December 1982) is a British actor and rapper. He has received several awards, including an Academy Award and a Primetime Emmy Award, with nominations for two Golden Globe Awards and two British Academy Film Awards. In 2017, he was named in the Time Listing of the most influential people in the world. After studying acting at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, Ahmed began his acting career with independent films such as The Road to Guantanamo (2006), Shifty (2008), Four Lions (2010), Trishna (2011), and The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2012). He had his break-out role in Nightcrawler (2014), which led to roles in the 2016 big-budget films Jason Bourne and Rogue One. For starring as a young man accused of murder in the HBO miniseries The Night Of (2016), Ahmed won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series. He received another Emmy nomination in the same year for his guest role in Girls. He went on to play Carlton Drake in the superhero film Venom (2018) and a drummer who loses his hearing in the drama film Sound of Metal (2019). The latter earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. He produced, co-wrote, and starred in Mogul Mowgli (2020), which earned a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Outstanding British Film. As a rapper, Ahmed is a member of the Swet Shop Boys and has earned critical acclaim with the hip hop albums Microscope and Cashmere and commercial success featuring in the Billboard 200 chart-topping Hamilton Mixtape, with his song "Immigrants (We Get the Job Done)" winning an MTV Video Music Award. His second studio album, The Long Goodbye, was accompanied by a short film of the same name, which won him the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film. As an activist, Ahmed is known for his political rap music, has been involved in raising awareness and funds for Rohingya and Syrian refugee children, and has advocated 'BAME' representation at the House of Commons. Description above from the Wikipedia article Riz Ahmed, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Read more

Brewster Kahle

Biography

Brewster Lurton Kahle, born in New York City, USA, is an American digital librarian, computer engineer, and Internet entrepreneur, renowned for pioneering web archiving and digital information access. He is the founder of the Internet Archive, co-founder of Alexa Internet, and a key developer of WAIS (Wide Area Information Servers), receiving 16 awards from 2004 to 2024. Raised in Scarsdale, New York, he is the son of Margaret Mary (Lurton) and Robert Vinton Kahle. Kahle studied at Scarsdale High School and earned a B.Sc. in Computer Science and Engineering from MIT in 1982, learning artificial intelligence under Marvin Minsky and W. Daniel Hillis. After graduation, he worked at Thinking Machines Corporation as Lead engineer on the Connection Machine project and co-developed WAIS, an early distributed search and document retrieval system. In 1992, he co-founded WAIS, Inc., later sold to AOL in 1995. In 1996, he and Bruce Gilliat co-founded Alexa Internet, acquired by Amazon in 1999. That same year, Kahle founded the Internet Archive, a non-profit digital library, and launched the Wayback Machine in 2001, providing access to archived web pages dating back to 1996. A strong advocate for universal access to information, library digitization, and preservation of media, Kahle and his wife Mary Austin run the Kahle/Austin Foundation, supporting open access, free software, and long-term preservation of books and documents in climate-controlled facilities. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the Internet Hall of Fame, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and holds an honorary doctorate from Simmons University. Throughout his career, Kahle has emphasized preserving digital information with proper metadata and creating affordable digital libraries to make knowledge widely accessible. TMDB mini biography by: Ashvin Borad
Read more

Blake Edwards

Biography

Blake Edwards was an American film director, screenwriter and producer. Edwards' career began in the 1940s as an actor but he soon turned to writing radio scripts at Columbia Pictures. He used his writing skills to begin producing and directing, with some of his best films including: Experiment in Terror, The Great Race, and the hugely successful Pink Panther film series with the British comedian Peter Sellers. Often thought of as primarily a director of comedies, he was also renowned for his dramatic work, Breakfast at Tiffany's and Days of Wine and Roses. His greatest successes, however, were his comedies, and most of his films were either musicals, melodramas, slapstick comedies, and thrillers. In 2004, he received an Honorary Academy Award in recognition of his writing, directing and producing an extraordinary body of work for the screen.
Read more