25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures, Television Permalink

Alan Menken

October 25, 2019

See the Hollywood Walk of Fame Star Ceremony announcement
 

Composer Alan Menken Honored with Star on The Hollywood Walk Of Fame

Menken Joined by Rapunzeland Flynn from Disney’s “Tangled”

Emcee:
Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, President/CEO Leron Gubler

Guest speaker:
Composer Richard Sherman
Actress Mandy Moore who voices the Rapunzel character in the film was on hand for the festivities

2,422nd Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the Category of Motion Pictures
at 6834 Hollywood Boulevard next to the El Capitan Theatre 
on Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Composer Alan Menken has composed the musical scores for the following stage productions: “God Bless You Mr. Rosewater,” “Atina: Evil Queen of the Galaxy,” “Little Shop of Horrors,” “The Dream on Royal Street,” “Kicks: The Showgirl Musical,” “The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “A Christmas Carol,” “Weird Romance,” “King David,” “Der Glöckner von Notre Dame” and “The Little Mermaid.”  He composed both music and lyrics for “Real Life Funnies” and “Patch Patch Patch.”  Musical revues he has contributed songs to include “Personals, Diamonds” and “It’s Better with a Band.”

Menken’s film musicals include “Little Shop of Horrors,” “The Little Mermaid,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “Aladdin,” “Newsies,” “Pocahontas,” “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” “Hercules,” “Home on the Range,” “A Christmas Carol” and “Enchanted.”  His film underscores include “Lincoln,” “Life with Mikey”, “Noel” and “The Shaggy Dog.”  As a songwriter, Menken’s credits include “Home Alone 2,” “Rocky V,” “Life with Mikey” and “Noel.”

His lyricists have included Howard Ashman, Tim Rice, Stephen Schwartz, Lynn Ahrens, David Zippel, Jack Feldman, Dean Pitchford, Tom Eyen, Steve Brown, David Spencer, David Roger, Marion Adler and Glenn Slater.

Menken has won more Academy Awards® than any other living individual, including four Oscars® for Best Score (“The Little Mermaid,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “Aladdin” and “Pocahontas”) and four Oscars for best song (“Under the Sea,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “A Whole New World” and “Colors of the Wind”).  In addition, he has been nominated 18 times, including Best Song nominations for “Mean Green Mother From Outer Space,” “Kiss the Girl,” “Belle,” “Be Our Guest,” “Friend Like Me,” “Go the Distance,” “Happy Working Song,” “So Close” and “That’s How You Know,” plus a Best Score nomination for “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.”  He has won 10 Grammy Awards® (including Song of the Year for “A Whole New World”), seven Golden Globes®, London’s Evening Standard Award, the Olivier Award and the Outer Critics Circle Award.

Other notable achievements include Billboard’s number one single (“A Whole New World”) and number one album (“Pocahontas”), an honorary doctorate in Fine Arts from New York University and induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.  Menken’s upcoming stage and film projects include a new stage musical of “Leap of Faith”(opening on Broadway in the fall of 2010) anda stage adaptation of “Newsies.”

ABOUT THE MOVIE

Walt Disney Pictures presents “Tangled,” one of the most hilarious, hair-raising tales ever told. When the kingdom’s most wanted—and most charming—bandit Flynn Rider (voice of Zachary Levi) hides out in a mysterious tower, he’s taken hostage by Rapunzel (voice of Mandy Moore), a beautiful and feisty tower-bound teen with 70 feet of magical, golden hair. Flynn’s curious captor, who’s looking for her ticket out of the tower where she’s been locked away for years, strikes a deal with the handsome thief and the unlikely duo sets off on an action-packed escapade, complete with a super-cop horse, an over-protective chameleon and a gruff gang of pub thugs. In theaters this holiday season in Disney Digital 3D™, “Tangled” is a story of adventure, heart, humor and hair—lots of hair. The film hit  U.S. theaters on November  2010.

For more information, visit Disney.com/Tangled,
on Facebook: facebook.com/DisneyTangled 
on Twitter: twitter.com/disneyanimation.

 

ABOUT THE HOLLYWOOD WALK OF FAME – www.WalkOfFame.com

The Hollywood Walk of Fame is an internationally-recognized Hollywood icon. With about 24 induction ceremonies annually broadcast around the world, the constant reinforcement provided to the public has made the Walk of Fame a top visitor attraction. The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce continues to administer the Walk as the representative of the City of Los Angeles. The Walk is a tribute to all of those who worked so hard to develop the concept and to maintain this world-class tourist attraction. Fans of the Hollywood Walk of Fame will be thrilled to know that The Official Hollywood Walk of Fame application is now available. The application which can be downloaded from the iPhone store, is the best resource for information and news about all of the 2,400+ stars on the Walk of Fame.  For more information, please visit www.walkoffame50.com

The Hollywood Walk of Fame and the Hollywood Sign are registered trademarks of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce.

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures, Television Permalink

ZaSu Pitts

October 25, 2019

ZaSu Pitts was an American actress who starred in many silent dramas and comedies, although later, her career digressed to comedy sound films. She overcame her looks and voice, which had served her in silent films to play dramatic roles, using them to craft her persona in talkie comedies.

ZaSu Pitts was born in Parsons, Kansas to Rulandus and Nellie Pitts; she was the third of four children. Her father, who had lost a leg while serving in the 76th New York Infantry Regiment in the Civil War, had settled the family in Kansas by the time ZaSu was born.

The names of her mother's sisters Eliza and Susan became the basis for ZaSu's unique first name, which has been spelled as Zazu Pitts or Zasu Pitts in many film credits and articles. Though the name is commonly mispronounced, , or, in her 1963 book Candy Hits, Pitts herself gives the correct pronunciation as "Say Zoo", recounting that Mary Pickford predicted, "any will mispronounce it", and adding, "How right was."

In 1903, when she was nine years old, the family moved to Santa Cruz, California, seeking a warmer climate and better job opportunities. Her childhood home at 208 Lincoln Street still stands. She attended Santa Cruz High School, where she participated in school theatricals.

25 Oct 2019
Television Permalink

Zsa Zsa Gabor

October 25, 2019

In memory of Walk of Famer Zsa Zsa Gabor, flowers were placed on her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Monday, December 19, 2016 at 11 a.m. PST. The star in category of Television is located at 6915 Hollywood Boulevard. “Zsa Zsa you were one of a kind! RIP” 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.

Zsa Zsa Gabor, also known as Sári Prinzessin von Anhalt since her marriage to Frédéric Prinz von Anhalt, is a Hungarian-American actress, socialite and former beauty queen.

Zsa Zsa Gabor was born as Sári Gábor in Budapest, the middle daughter of Vilmos Gábor, a soldier, and Jolie Gábor. Her sisters, Magda and Eva, also became actresses and socialites. The family was of Jewish descent; their mother, Jolie, was a cousin of Annette Tilleman Lantos, the wife of California Congressman and Holocaust survivor Tom Lantos. Gabor, however, is a Catholic.

Following studies at Madame Subilia's, a Swiss boarding school, Zsa Zsa Gabor was discovered by the famous tenor Richard Tauber on a trip to Vienna in 1936 and was invited to sing the soubrette role in his new operetta Der singende Traum at the Theater an der Wien, her first stage appearance. Gabor

reportedly had a romance with a composer named Willi Schmidt-Kentner, according to the 1960 "bio-autobiography" Zsa Zsa Gábor, My Story, written by Gabor with Gerold Frank. Her initial fame came from her work as an actress, and grew from her public appearances in the 1950s and 1960s.

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures Permalink

Penny Marshall

October 25, 2019

Penny Marshall is an American actress, producer and director.

After playing several small roles for television, she was cast as Laverne DeFazio in the sitcom Laverne and Shirley. A ratings success, the show ran from 1976 until 1983, and Marshall received three Golden Globe award nominations for her performance.

She progressed to directing films such as Big, the first film directed by a woman to gross in excess of $100 million at the U.S. box office, Awakenings, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture, and A League of Their Own. In more recent years, she has produced Cinderella Man and Bewitched, as well as episodes of According to Jim. She most recently directed an episode of the Showtime original series United States of Tara.

Marshall was born Carole Penny Marshall in The Bronx, New York City, the daughter of Marjorie Irene, a tap dance teacher who ran a dance school, and Anthony Wallace Marshall, a director of industrial films and later a producer. She is the sister of actor/director/TV producer Garry Marshall and Ronny Hallin, a TV producer. Her father was of Italian descent, his family having come from Abruzzo, and her mother was of English and Scottish descent; her father changed his last name from “Marsciarelli” to “Marshall” before Penny was born. In the 1950s, she grew up in an apartment on the Grand Concourse in the Bronx on a block that also spawned Neil Simon, Paddy Chayefsky, Calvin Klein, and Ralph Lauren. She is a graduate of Walton High School in New York City and attended the University of New Mexico. In 1967, she moved to Los Angeles to join her older brother Garry Marshall, a writer whose credits at the time included TV’s The Dick Van Dyke Show .

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures, Recording Permalink

Zino Francescatti

October 25, 2019

René-Charles “Zino” Francescatti was a French virtuoso violinist.

Zino Francescatti was born in Marseilles, to a musical family. Both parents were violinists. His father, who also played the cello, had studied with Camillo Sivori. Zino studied violin from age three and was quickly recognized as a child prodigy. He began performing at the age of five and made his debut at age 10, playing Beethoven’s Violin Concerto.

In 1927 he went to Paris to teach at the École Normale de Musique; he also conducted the Concerts Poulets. He made his first world tour in 1931 and his American debut with John Barbirolli and the New York Philharmonic in 1939, playing Paganini’s Violin Concerto No. 1. His recording of the concerto is still regarded as one of the best. At the end of World War II in 1945, he pursued an outstanding international career until his retirement in 1976.

A violinist of outstanding technical ability, Francescatti played all of the great concerti. His performances of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor, Saint-Saëns Violin Concerto No. 3, Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1, and others, are highly regarded.

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures, Television Permalink

Tinker Bell

October 25, 2019

Tinker Bell honored with 2,418th Star on the Walk of Fame in the Category of Motion Pictures

Emcee: Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, President/CEO Leron Gubler
Guest Speaker: Bradley Raymond, Director of Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue
Film Voice Talent: Raven-Symoné (voice of Iridessa), Pamela Adlon (voice of Vidia), Angela Bartys (voice of Fawn), Jeff Bennett (voice of Clank)
at 6834 Hollywood Boulevard in front of the Disney Soda Fountain & Studio Store just next door to the El Capitan Theatre
on Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Pixie dust was in generous supply on Hollywood's world famous "Walk of Fame" as Tinker Bell, the beloved fairy character who sprang from the pages of J.M. Barrie's literary classic, Peter Pan, to become an animated superstar and the Disney symbol for fun, enchantment and magic through films, television and theme park appearances, was honored with a star of her own. Tinker Bell's twinkling star ceremony coincides with the debut of Disney Fairies' latest feature film (from Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment), "Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue," released nationwide on September 21, 2010.

Tinker Bell made her Disney debut in the Studio's 1953 animated classic, and immediately winged her way into the hearts and imagination of moviegoers the world over. She went on to become an important part of the landmark Disney TV anthology, "The Wonderful World of Color," and got each show off to a flying start along with host Walt Disney. Tink's latest roles in a series of acclaimed movies for Blu-ray™, DVD, and movie download, have added to her worldwide acclaim and taken viewers into the enchanting world of fairies.

Tinker Bell's legacy is the inspiration for one of Disney's most popular franchises – Disney Fairies – which includes an array of consumer products and multi-media content anchored by the two previous films "Tinker Bell" and "Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure." In these imaginative feature length films created and produced by DisneyToon Studios, Tinker Bell and her colorful band of fairy friends celebrate the coming new seasons, and the adventures associated with each one. Voices for the Tinker Bell films are provided by such talented actors as Mae Whitman, Lucy Liu, Kristin Chenoweth, Raven-Symoné, Pamela Adlon, and Michael Sheen.

TINKER BELL'S CREDITS:
Peter Pan (Movie)
1953 Nominated Grand Prize of the Festival – Cannes Film Festival
2007 Nominated Best Youth DVD – Satellite Awards

The Wonderful World of Disney (TV Series)
(Disney's legendary anthology television series commonly known as The Wonderful World of Disney)
• Won – 2 Peabody Awards; 7 Emmy Awards, 1 Eddie, 1 Family Television Award and 1 Golden Globe Award
• Nominated – 11 Emmy Awards

1955 Won – Peabody Award
1955 Won Best Individual Program of the Year – Emmy Awards
1955 Won Best Television Film Editing – Emmy Awards
1955 Won Best Variety Series including Musical Variety – Emmy Awards
1955 Nominated Best Television Film Editing – Emmy Awards
1956 Won Best TV Show – Golden Globe
1956 Won Best Action or Adventure Series – Emmy Awards
1956 Won Best Producer in a Film Series (Walt Disney) – Emmy Awards 1956 Nominated Best Single Program of the Year – Emmy Awards
1962 Nominated Outstanding Program Achievement in the Field of Children's Programming – Emmy Awards
1962 Nominated Outstanding Program Achievements in the Fields of Variety and Music- Emmy Awards
1963 Won – Peabody Award
1963 Won Outstanding Program Achievement in the Field of Children's Programming – Emmy Awards
1965 Nominated Outstanding Program Achievement in Entertainment- Emmy Awards
1966 Nominated Outstanding Children's Program – Emmy Awards
1969 Nominated Outstanding Achievement in Children's Programming – Emmy Awards
1970 Nominated Outstanding Achievement in Children's Programming – Emmy Awards
1971 Won Special Classification of Outstanding Program and Individual Achievement in General Programming – Emmy Awards
1972 Nominated Special Classification of Outstanding Program and Individual Achievement in General Programming – Emmy Awards
1976 Won Best Edited Episode from a Television Series – American Cinema Editors
1977 Nominated Special Classification of Outstanding Program Achievement – Emmy Awards
1981 Nominated Outstanding Children's Program – Emmy Awards 2000 Won Lifetime Achievement Award – Family Television Award

Return to Never Land (Movie)
2003 Nominated Outstanding Music in an Animated Feature – Annie Awards
2003 Nominated Outstanding Voice Acting in an Animated Feature – Annie Awards

Tinker Bell (All-New Direct To Video Movie)
2008 Best Kidvid Title by Home Media Magazine's DVD Critics Awards
2008 Tinker Bell was one of the top 3 Direct-To-Video titles on Blu-ray & DVD
Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure (All-New Direct To Video Movie)
2009 Tinker Bell is named an Honorary United Nations "Ambassador of Green"
2009 Tinker Bell was one of the top 3 Direct-To-Video titles on Blu-ray & DVD

About Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue:
What would you do if you met a fairy? Witness the historic moment when Tinker Bell first meets a human being, and it's not who you think.

Years before meeting Wendy and the Lost Boys, Tinker Bell met Lizzy, a little girl with a steadfast belief in the power of pixie dust and the magic land of fairies. During the fairies' summer visit to the flowering meadows of England, two very different worlds unite for the first time and Tink develops a special bond with a curious child in need of a friend. As her fellow fairies launch a daring rescue, Tinker Bell takes a huge risk, putting her own safety and the future of all fairykind in jeopardy.

Experience Disney's astonishing all-new movie about the true power of faith and friendship. Bursting with excitement and imagination, Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue is magical entertainment for the whole family. You might even learn to fly.
To learn more, visit http://disney.go.com/fairies/.

ABOUT THE HOLLYWOOD WALK OF FAME – www.WalkOfFame.com
The Hollywood Walk of Fame is an internationally-recognized Hollywood icon. With about 24 induction ceremonies annually broadcast around the world, the constant reinforcement provided to the public has made the Walk of Fame a top visitor attraction. The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce continues to administer the Walk as the representative of the City of Los Angeles. The Walk is a tribute to all of those who worked so hard to develop the concept and to maintain this world-class tourist attraction. Fans of the Hollywood Walk of Fame will be thrilled to know that The Official Hollywood Walk of Fame application is now available. The application which can be downloaded from the iPhone store, is the best resource for information and news about all of the 2,400+ stars on the Walk of Fame. Hollywood Walk of Fame is also celebrating a VIP Birthday Celebration in the grand ballroom at Hollywood & Highland Center on Wednesday, November 3, 2010 which will conclude the year-long celebration of the Walk of Fame 50th Anniversary. For more information, please visit www.walkoffame50.com

The Hollywood Walk of Fame and the Hollywood Sign are registered trademarks of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce.

25 Oct 2019
Recording, Television Permalink

Joni James

October 25, 2019

Joni James is an American singer of traditional pop music.

James was born into an Italian family in Chicago. As an adolescent, she studied drama and ballet, and on graduating from high school, went with a local dance group on a tour of Canada. She then took a job as a chorus girl in the Edgewater Beach Hotel in Chicago. After doing a fill-in in Indiana, she decided to pursue a singing career. Some executives at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer spotted her in a television commercial, and she was signed by MGM in 1952. Her first hit, “Why Don’t You Believe Me?” sold over two million copies. She had a number of hits following that one, including “Your Cheatin’ Heart” and “Have You Heard?”

She was the first American to record at London’s Abbey Road Studios, and recorded five albums there. She was also very popular across parts of the Asia-Pacific region, particularly in the Philippines where she performed at Manila’s now defunct EM Club in 1957. She also scored a big hit in Manila with Filipino composer Salvador Asuncion’s work entitled “In Despair.”

James had seven Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. “Why Don’t You Believe Me?” “Have You Heard?” “Your Cheatin’ Heart” “Almost Always” “My Love, My Love” “How Important Can It Be?” and “You Are My Love” as well as sixteen other Top 40 hits from 1952 to 1961. She has sold more than 100 million records.

25 Oct 2019
Recording, Television Permalink

Yma Sumac

October 25, 2019

Yma Sumac was a noted Peruvian soprano. In the 1950s, she was one of the most famous proponents of exotica music and became an international success, based on the merits of her extreme vocal range, which was said to be “well over four octaves” and was sometimes claimed to span even five octaves at her peak.

Zoila Augusta Emperatriz Chávarri del Castillo was born on September 10, 1922, in Ichocán, Cajamarca, Peru. While one of her “official” websites says that the “official date” of her birth is September 10, the date on a different “official” website is given as September 13, 1922. Other dates mentioned in her various biographies range from 1921 to 1929. Some sources claim that she was not born in Ichocán, but in a nearby village, or possibly in Lima, and that her family owned a ranch in Ichocán where she spent most of her early life. Stories published in the 1950s claimed that she was an Incan princess, directly descended from Atahualpa. A story claiming that she was born Amy Camus?”Yma Sumac” backwards?in Brooklyn or Canada was fabricated while she was performing in New York City in the early 1950s.

Chávarri adopted the stage name of Imma Sumack before she left South America to go to the U.S. The stage name was based on her mother’s name, which was derived from Ima Shumaq, Quechua for “how beautiful!” although in interviews she claimed it meant “beautiful flower” or “beautiful girl”.

Imma Sumack first appeared on radio in 1942 and married composer and bandleader, on June 6 of the same year. She recorded at least eighteen tracks of Peruvian folk songs in Argentina in 1943. These early recordings for the Odeon label featured Moisés Vivanco’s group, Compañía Peruana de Arte, a group of forty-six Indian dancers, singers, and musicians.

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures Permalink

Yul Brynner

October 25, 2019

Yul Brynner was a Russian-born actor of stage and film. He was best known for his portrayal of Mongkut, king of Siam, in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The King and I on both stage and screen, as well as Rameses II in the 1956 Cecil B. DeMille film The Ten Commandments and Chris Adams in The Magnificent Seven. Brynner was noted for his deep, rich voice and for his shaven head, which he maintained as a personal trademark after adopting it for his role in The King and I. He was also a photographer and the author of two books.

Yul Brynner was born Yuliy Borisovich Bryner in 1920. He exaggerated his background and early life for the press, claiming that he was born Taidje Khan of part-Mongol parentage, on the Russian island of Sakhalin. In reality, he was born at home in a four-story residence at #15 Aleutskaya Street, Vladivostok, Russian Far East, Russia. He also infrequently referred to himself as Julius Briner. A biography written by his son Rock Brynner in 1989 clarified these issues.

His father, Boris Julievich Bryner, was a mining engineer whose father, Jules Bryner, was Swiss and whose mother, Natalya Iosifevna Kurkutova, was a native of Irkutsk and was partly of Buryat Mongol ancestry.

His mother, Marousia Dimitrievna, came from the intelligentsia and studied to be an actress and singer; she was the daughter of a doctor who had converted from Judaism to the Russian Orthodox Church.

25 Oct 2019
Recording, Television Permalink

Yehudi Menuhin

October 25, 2019

Yehudi Menuhin, Baron Menuhin, OM, KBE was a Jewish American violinist and conductor who spent most of his performing career in the United Kingdom. He was born to Jewish parents in the United States, but became a citizen of Switzerland in 1970, and of the United Kingdom in 1985. He is commonly considered one of the twentieth century’s greatest violin virtuosi.

Yehudi Menuhin was born in New York City, New York, to Bielorussian Jewish parents from what is now Belarus. His sisters were the concert pianist and human rights worker Hephzibah Menuhin and the pianist, painter, and poet Yaltah Menuhin. Through his father Moshe Menuhin, a former rabbinical student and anti-Zionist writer, Menuhin was descended from a distinguished rabbinical dynasty.

Menuhin began violin instruction at age four under violinist Sigmund Anker; his parents had wanted Louis Persinger to be his teacher, but Persinger refused. He displayed extraordinary talents at an early age. His first solo violin performance was at the age of seven with the San Francisco Symphony in 1923. Persinger then agreed to take Menuhin as a student. When the Menuhins went to Paris, Persinger suggested Yehudi go to his own teacher, Eugène Ysaÿe. He did have one lesson with Ysaÿe, but did not like his method or the fact that he was very old. Instead, he went to the Romanian composer and violinist George Enescu, after which he made several recordings with his sister Hephzibah. He was also a student of Adolf Busch. In 1929 he played in Berlin, under Bruno Walter’s baton, three concerti by Bach, Brahms and Beethoven. In 1932, he recorded Edward Elgar’s Violin Concerto in B minor for HMV in London, with the composer himself conducting, and between 1934 and 1936 he made the first integral recording of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin.

Yehudi Menuhin performed for allied soldiers during World War II, and went with the composer Benjamin Britten to perform for inmates of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, after its liberation in April 1945. He returned to Germany in 1947 to perform with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler as an act of reconciliation, becoming the first Jewish musician to do so following the Holocaust. He said to critics within the Jewish community that he wanted to rehabilitate Germany’s music and spirit. After building early success on richly romantic and tonally opulent performances, he experienced considerable physical and artistic difficulties caused by overwork during the war as well as unfocused and unstructured early training. Careful practice and study combined with meditation and yoga helped him overcome many of these problems. His profound and considered musical interpretations are nearly universally acclaimed. When he finally resumed recording, he was known for practising by deconstructing music phrases one note at a time.