25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures, Television Permalink

Ann Harding

October 25, 2019

Ann Harding was an American theatre, motion picture, radio, and television actress.

Born Dorothy Walton Gatley at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas, to George G. Gatley and Elizabeth “Bessie” Crabb. The daughter of a career army officer, she traveled often during her early life. Her father was born in Maine and served in the American Expeditionary Force in World War I. He died in San Francisco, California in 1931. The family finally settled in New York; Harding attended Bryn Mawr College in Bryn Mawr, PA, on the Pennsylvania Main Line outside Philadelphia.

Following school, she found employment as a script reader. She began acting and made her Broadway debut in 1921. She soon became a leading lady, who kept in shape by using the services of Sylvia of Hollywood. In 1929, she made her film debut in Paris Bound, opposite Fredric March. In 1931, she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for Holiday.

First under contract to Pathé, which was subsequently absorbed by RKO studio, Harding, co-starred with Ronald Colman, Myrna Loy, Herbert Marshall, Leslie Howard, Richard Dix, and Gary Cooper, often on loan out to other studios, such as MGM and Paramount. At RKO, Harding, along with Helen Twelvetrees and Constance Bennett, comprised a trio who specialized in the “women’s pictures” genre.

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures Permalink

Ann Miller

October 25, 2019

Johnnie Lucille Collier, better known as Ann Miller was an American singer, dancer and actress.

Miller was born in Chireno, Texas to Clara Emma and John Alfred Collier, a criminal lawyer who represented the Barrow Gang, Machine Gun Kelly, and Baby Face Nelson, among others. Miller’s maternal grandmother was Cherokee. Miller’s father insisted on the name Johnnie because he had wanted a boy, but she was often called Annie. She took up dancing to exercise her legs to help her rickets. She was considered a child dance prodigy. In an interview featured in a “behind the scenes” documentary on the making of the compilation That’s Entertainment III, she said that Eleanor Powell was an early inspiration.

At the age of 13 Miller had been hired as a dancer in the “Black Cat Club” in San Francisco. It was there she was discovered by Lucille Ball and talent scout/comic Benny Rubin. This led Miller to be given a contract with RKO in 1936 at the age of 13 and she remained there until 1940. The following year, Miller was offered a contract at Columbia Pictures. She finally hit her mark in her roles in MGM musicals such as Kiss Me Kate, Easter Parade, and On the Town.

Miller popularized pantyhose in the 1940s as a solution to the problem of continual torn stockings during the filming of dance production numbers. The common practice had been to sew hosiery to briefs worn by Miller. If torn, the entire garment had to be removed and resewn with a new pair. At Miller’s request, hosiery was manufactured for her as a single pantyhose.

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures, Recording Permalink

Andrea Bocelli

October 25, 2019

See the Hollywood Walk of Fame Star Ceremony announcement

Andrea Bocelli was honored with the 2,402nd star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Leron Gubler, President and CEO of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, presided over the ceremony. Guests included David Foster and Pascal Vicedomini. The Adderley School for the Performing Arts, under the direction of Janet Adderley, performed at the ceremony.

7000 Hollywood Boulevard on March 2, at 2009.

BIOGRAPHY

Andrea Bocelli was born on September 22, 1958 and grew up at the family farm in Lajatico. His parents are credited for having encouraged young Andrea’s musical talent, allowing him to start studying the piano from the age of six. Later his musical passion would extend to the flute and the saxophone but it was in his voice that Andrea discovered the ideal instrument and this was the beginning of the formative process which would produce Bocelli, the star, “a modern but old fashioned tenor” (as he likes to describe himself). At the age of 14 he won his first song competition. After he finished secondary school, he studied law at the University of Pisa and graduated as a Doctor of Laws.

In 1996, Bocelli was invited to sing a duet with English soprano Sarah Brightman. Changing the title lyric of the song “Con te Partiro” to “Time to Say Goodbye”, they re-recorded it as a duet with members of the London Symphony Orchestra. The single debuted atop the German charts, where it stayed for fourteen weeks. He topped the Spanish singles chart in 1996 with the “Vivo Por Ella” duet with Marta Sanchez. The same year, Bocelli recorded “Je vis pour elle” as a duet with French singer Helene Segara. Released in 1997, the song became a hit in Belgium and France, where it reached #1 on the charts. To date, it is the best-selling single for Segara, and the second for Bocelli, after “Time to Say Goodbye.”

Bocelli made his debut in a major operatic role in 1998 when he played Rodolfo in a production of “La Boheme” in Cagliari. That same year he toured North and South America. His final concert of the tour at Madison Square Garden was sold out. Bocelli appeared as a guest on Celine Dion’s television special in which he joined Dion with their hit “The Prayer” from Dion’s album “These are Special Times.” The prayer won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song and was performed by Bocelli and Dion at the ceremony. When he toured the West Coast of North America with a final performance before 18,000 spectators at the Hollywood Bowl, actress Elizabeth Taylor stood by his side on stage while he sang “The Prayer.”

2000 marked a new milestone in Andrea Bocelli’s recording career: He starred in Puccini’s La Bohème, and also celebrated the release of the Verdi album. Bocelli combined his energies with those of Lorin Maazel, with whom he undertook a very special recording project: Sentimento, a collection of romantic pieces by composers such as Tosti, Denza and Gastaldon. The project was an enormous success earning Andrea a double nomination at the 2003 “Classical Brit Awards”, where he won both “Album of the Year” and “Best Selling Classical Album of the Year”.

Bocelli’s more recent projects include the demanding role of Andrea Chénier by Giordano and finally the most audacious and bewitching love story of all time, Bizet’s Carmen. In 2008, while his new album Incanto was a sell-out success, Andrea performed in Carmen at the Rome Opera, followed by Puccini’s Messa di Gloria in Padova, and then La Petite Messe Solennelle in the United States, directed by Placido Domingo.

In 2009, “My Christmas,” Bocelli’s first Holiday album was released and went on to become the best-selling Holiday album of the year. Bocelli also sang “White Christmas” in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and sang “Jingle Bells” on the Jay Leno Show with the Muppets. His rendition of “Silent Night” was chosen as the Starbucks iTunes Pick of the Week for December 1, 2009. The Dr. Phil Show also aired a Christmas special featuring Bocelli singing with Natalie Cole.

Bocelli’s resume of awards and honors is too extensive to mention, but includes ECHO music awards for Best Single of the Year for Time to Say Goodbye, Best Seller of the Year for his album, Viaggio Italiano, Best Selling Classical Album for Ario – The Opera Album and Best Seller of the Year for Sacred Arias. He also garnered two World Music Awards for World Best Selling Classical Artist and for Best Selling Italian Artist and received Classical BRIT Awards for his “Outstanding Contribution to Music” and for “Best Selling Classical Album” and “Album of the Year” for Sentimento.

The Andrea Bocelli website www.andreabocelli.com has achieved over a million hits in one year.

25 Oct 2019
Recording, Television Permalink

Andrea King

October 25, 2019

Andrea King was an American film and stage actress. She was sometimes billed as Georgette McKee.

Andrea King was born Georgette André Barry in Paris, France. At two months old, she moved with her mother to the United States and was raised in Forest Hills, Queens in New York City, and Palm Beach, Florida.

Andrea King appeared in Broadway plays and other theater work before appearing in The March of Time’s first feature-length film entitled The Ramparts We Watch. In 1944, she signed with Warner Bros. and changed her stage name to King. King appeared uncredited in the Bette Davis film, Mr. Skeffington and went on to do another ten movies in the next three years. King was originally cast to play Dr. Lilith Ritter in Edmund Goulding’s film noir classic Nightmare Alley, but she choose instead a memorable role as sophisticated Marjorie Lundeen in Ride the Pink Horse. The Warner Bros. studio photographers voted Andrea the most photogenic actress for the year 1945.

25 Oct 2019
Live Performance Permalink

Andrew Lloyd Webber

October 25, 2019

Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre. He started composing at the age of six, and published his first piece at the age of nine.

Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success, and has been referred to as “the most commercially successful composer in history.” Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of variations, two film scores, and a Latin Requiem Mass. He has also gained a number of honours, including a knighthood in 1992, followed by a peerage from the British Government for services to Music, seven Tony Awards, three Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, fourteen Ivor Novello Awards, seven Olivier Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and the Kennedy Center Honors in 2006. Several of his songs, notably “The Music of the Night” from The Phantom of the Opera, “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” from Jesus Christ Superstar, “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina” from Evita, “Any Dream Will Do” from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and “Memory” from Cats have been widely recorded and were hits outside of their parent musicals.

His company, the Really Useful Group, is one of the largest theatre operators in London. Producers in several parts of the UK have staged productions, including national tours, of Lloyd Webber’s musicals under license from the Really Useful Group.

Andrew Lloyd Webber was born in Kensington, London, England, the son of Jean Hermione, a violinist and pianist, and William Lloyd Webber, a composer. His younger brother, Julian Lloyd Webber, is a renowned solo cellist.

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures, Television Permalink

Andy Clyde

October 25, 2019

Andrew “Andy” Clyde was a Scottish movie and TV actor whose career spanned more than four decades. He broke into silent films in 1925 as a Mack Sennett comic. Clyde came from a family that had been prominently identified with the theatre for generations; his brother David Clyde and sister Jean Clyde also became screen actors.

Andy Clyde’s mastery of makeup allowed him tremendous versatility; he could play everything from grubby young guttersnipes to old crackpot scientists. Clyde hit upon an “old man” characterization in his short comedies, which were immediately successful. Adopting a gray wig and mustache, he used this makeup for the rest of his short-subject career, and the character was so durable that he literally grew into it.

He remained with Mack Sennett and made a successful transition to sound films. In 1932, when the Sennett studio was facing financial problems, Sennett cut Clyde’s salary. Clyde objected and Sennett put the “old man” costume on character actor Irving Bacon. Audiences saw through it and Sennett abandoned the character. Sennett’s distributor, Educational Pictures, took over the Andy Clyde series, which continued for two more years.

Columbia Pictures launched its short subject department in 1934 and Andy Clyde was one of the first comedy stars signed by producer Jules White. Unlike many of the Columbia short-subject comedians who indulged in broad facial and physical gestures, Clyde was subtler and more economical: his comic timing was so good that he could merely lift an eyebrow, shudder slightly, or mutter “My, my, my” for humorous effect. Clyde was such an audience favorite that he continued to star in Columbia shorts through 1956. He outlasted every comedian on the Columbia payroll except The Three Stooges.

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures, Radio, Television Permalink

Andy Devine

October 25, 2019

Andrew Vabre “Andy” Devine was an American character actor and comic cowboy sidekick known for his distinctive raspy voice.

Born in Flagstaff, Arizona on October 7, 1905, Andy Devine grew up in nearby Kingman, where his family moved when he was a year old. His father was Thomas Devine Jr., born in 1869 in Kalamazoo County, Michigan. Andy’s grandfather, Thomas Devine Sr., was born in 1842 in County Tipperary, Ireland, and emigrated to the United States in 1852. Andy’s mother was Amy Ward, the granddaughter of Commander James H. Ward, the first officer of the United States Navy killed during the Civil War.

He attended St. Mary and St. Benedict’s College, Northern Arizona State Teacher’s College, and was a star football player at Santa Clara University. He also played semi-professional football under the pseudonym “Jeremiah Schwartz” — it was not his birth name as has been erroneously reported elsewhere. His football experience led to his first sizable film role, in the 1931 The Spirit of Notre Dame.

He had acting ambitions, so after college, he went to Hollywood, where he marked time working as a lifeguard at Venice Beach, within easy distance of the studios. It was in 1933 on a film, Doctor Bull, directed by John Ford at Universal Studios, that Andy met his wife-to-be, Dorothy House. They were married on October 28, 1933, in Las Vegas, Nevada, and remained united until his death on February 18, 1977.

25 Oct 2019
Radio, Recording Permalink

Andy Williams

October 25, 2019

In memory of singer Andy Williams, flowers were placed on his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Wednesday, September 26, 2012. The star is located at 6667 Hollywood Boulevard. Andy Williams was honored with $1,755th star in Recording on November 3, 1982. “Rest in Peace, Mr. Williams!” Ana Martinez, producer of the Hollywood Walk of Fame signed the card on behalf of the Hollywood Historic Trust and the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce.

 

See the Hollywood Walk of Fame Star Ceremony announcement
 

Howard Andrew "Andy" Williams is an American pop singer. Andy Williams has recorded 18 Gold and three Platinum certified albums. He had his own TV variety show from 1962?71 in which he performed with Michael Jackson, Bobby Darin, Ray Charles, Elton John, Ella Fitzgerald, Simon & Garfunkel, Mama Cass, Shirley Bassey, Bing Crosby, The Osmonds, Dusty Springfield, Perry Como, Frank Sinatra, Aretha Franklin, The Carpenters, Jack Benny, Bette Davis, Dean Martin, Bob Hope, Ronald Reagan and many other superstars. He also owns his own theater, the Moon River Theatre in Branson, Missouri.

Williams was born in Wall Lake, Iowa, the son of Jay Emerson and Florence Williams. He first performed in a children's choir at the local Presbyterian church. Williams and his three older brothers Bob, Don, and Dick formed the Williams Brothers quartet in the late 1930s, and they performed on radio in the Midwest, first at WHO in Des Moines, Iowa, and later at WLS in Chicago and WLW in Cincinnati. Williams graduated from Western Hills High School in Cincinnati and his brother was engaged to Gene Ingram's car-pool partner, Peggy. The Williams Brothers appeared with Bing Crosby on the hit record "Swinging on a Star". This led to a nightclub act with entertainer Kay Thompson from 1947 to 1951.

Williams' solo career began in 1953. He recorded six sides for RCA Victor's label "X," but none of them were popular hits.

After finally landing a spot as a regular on Steve Allen's Tonight Show in 1954, he was signed to a recording contract with Cadence Records, a small label in New York run by conductor Archie Bleyer. His third single, "Canadian Sunset" reached #7 in the Top Ten in August 1956, and was soon followed by his only Billboard #1 hit, "Butterfly" in February 1957. More hits followed, including "The Hawaiian Wedding Song", "Are You Sincere", "The Village of St. Bernadette", "Lonely Street", and "I Like Your Kind Of Love" with Peggy Powers before Williams moved to Columbia Records in 1961, having moved from New York to Los Angeles and gaining another hit with "Can't Get Used to Losing You". In terms of chart popularity, the Cadence era was Williams' peak although songs he introduced on Columbia became much bigger standards. Two top ten hits from the Cadence era, "Butterfly" and "I Like Your Kind of Love" were apparently believed to not suit Williams' later style; they were not included on a Columbia reissue of his Cadence greatest hits in the 1960s.

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures, Television Permalink

Angela Bassett

October 25, 2019

See the Hollywood Walk of Fame Star Ceremony announcement
Angela Evelyn Bassett is an American actress. She has become well-known for her biographical film roles portraying real life women in African American culture, perhaps most prominently as singer Tina Turner in the motion picture What’s Love Got to Do with It, as well as her portrayal of Betty Shabazz in the films Malcolm X and Panther, Rosa Parks in the The Rosa Parks Story, Katherine Jackson in the miniseries The Jacksons: An American Dream and Voletta Wallace in the film Notorious.

Bassett was born in Harlem and relocated to St. Petersburg, Florida as a child. She and her sister D’nette were raised by their social worker/civil servant mother, Betty. As her interest in entertainment developed, she and her sister would often put on shows, reading poems or performing popular music for their family. At Boca Ciega High School, Bassett was a cheerleader and a member of the debate team, student government, drama club and choir.

Bassett attended Yale University and received her B.A. degree in African-American studies in 1980. In 1983, she earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Yale School of Drama. At Yale, Bassett met her future husband Courtney B. Vance, a 1986 graduate of the drama school. After graduation, Bassett worked as a receptionist for a beauty salon and as a photo researcher.

Bassett soon looked for acting work in the New York theater. One of her first New York performances came in 1985 when she appeared in J. E. Franklin’s Black Girl at Second Stage Theatre. She appeared in two August Wilson plays at the Yale Repertory Theatre under the direction of her long-time instructor Lloyd Richards. The Wilson plays featuring Bassett were Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Joe Turner’s Come and Gone. In 2006, she had the opportunity to work on the Wilson canon again, starring in Fences alongside longtime collaborator Laurence Fishburne at the Pasadena Playhouse in California.