25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures Permalink

Tyrone Power

October 25, 2019

Tyrone Edmund Power, Jr., usually credited as Tyrone Power and known sometimes as Ty Power, was an American film and stage actor who appeared in dozens of films from the 1930s to the 1950s, often in swashbuckler roles or romantic leads such as in The Mark of Zorro, Blood and Sand, The Black Swan, Prince of Foxes, The Black Rose, and Captain from Castile.

Though renowned for his dark, classically handsome looks that made him a matinee idol from his first film appearance, Power played a wide range of roles, from film noir to light romantic comedy. In the 1950s, he began placing limits on the number of movies he would make in order to have time for the stage. He received his biggest accolades as a stage actor in John Brown’s Body and Mister Roberts. Power died from a heart attack at the age of 44.

Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1914, the only son of the English-born American stage and screen actor Tyrone Power, Sr., and Helen Emma “Patia” Reaume, Power was descended from a long theatrical line going back to his great-grandfather, the Irish-born actor and comedian Tyrone Power. He had French blood from both his parents, being descended from Catholic French Canadians through his mother’s Reaume family, and from Protestant Huguenots through his paternal grandmother’s Lavenu and Blossett ancestors. Through his paternal great grandmother, Anne Gilbert, Power was related to the actor Lord Laurence Olivier; through his paternal grandmother, Ethel Lavenu, he was related by marriage to author Evelyn Waugh and through his father’s first cousin, Norah Emily Gorman Power, he was related to the theatrical director Sir Tyrone Guthrie, founder of the Stratford Theatre in Canada and the Tyrone Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

During the first year of Power’s life, he lived in Cincinnati. His father was absent for long periods due to his stage commitments in New York. Young Power was a sickly child, and his doctor advised his family that the climate in California might be better for his health. The family moved there in 1915, and Power’s sister Anne was born there on August 26, 1915. The parents appeared together on stage and, in 1917, their movie, The Planter, was released. Tyrone Power, Sr., as he later became known, found himself away from home more frequently, as his stage career took him to New York. The Powers drifted apart, and they divorced around 1920.

25 Oct 2019
Recording, Television Permalink

Tyne Daly

October 25, 2019

Tyne Daly is an American stage and screen actress, widely known for her work as Detective Lacey in the television series Cagney & Lacey. She has won six Emmy Awards for her television work, and the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical in ‘ in 1989.

Daly was born Ellen Tyne Daly‘ in Madison, Wisconsin, into a creative family; she is the daughter of actor James Daly. Her younger brother is actor Timothy Daly. Her sister-in-law, Amy Van Nostrand, is also an actress. She was raised in Westchester County, New York, where she started her career by performing in summer stock with her family; she earned her Equity Card at age 15. She studied at Brandeis University and The American Musical and Dramatic Academy.

Daly was married to actor/director Georg Stanford Brown from 1966 to 1990.

She appeared as social worker Maxine Gray, who was also the mother to the show’s title character on the CBS drama Judging Amy”, which ran from 1999 to 2005. Addressing a conference of the National Association of Social Workers in 2000, Daly said that she had learned from social workers and social work texts to improve her portrayal of her character. She added: “I take from you because you are the ones dealing with all the bad institutions of our society: institutionalized poverty, institutionalized racism, institutionalized cynicism.”

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures, Radio, Recording, Television Permalink

Tony Martin

October 25, 2019

Tony Martin is an American actor and traditional pop singer.

Tony Martin was born as Alvin Morris in San Francisco, California to Jewish immigrant parents. He received a saxophone as a gift from his grandmother at the age of ten. In his grammar school glee club, he became an instrumentalist and a boy soprano singer. He formed his first band, named "The Red Peppers", when he was at Oakland Technical High School, eventually joining the band of a local orchestra leader, Tom Gerun, as a reed instrument specialist, sitting alongside the future bandleader Woody Herman. He attended Saint Mary's College of California during the mid-1930s.

After college, he left Gerun's band to go to Hollywood to try his luck in films. It was at that time that he adopted the stage name, Tony Martin.

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures, Television Permalink

Tommy Lee Jones

October 25, 2019

Tommy Lee Jones is an American actor and director.

His film roles include federal marshal Samuel Gerard in The Fugitive and U.S. Marshals, the villain “Two-Face” in Batman Forever, terrorist William Strannix in Under Siege, Agent K in the Men in Black films, Western police officers Woodrow F. Call in Lonesome Dove, Ed Tom Bell in No Country for Old Men, a Texas ranger in Man of the House and Pete Perkins in The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada. Jones has also portrayed real-life figures such as businessman Howard Hughes, executed murderer Gary Gilmore, Doolittle Lynn in Coal Miner’s Daughter and baseball great Ty Cobb.

Jones was born in San Saba, Texas, the son of Lucille Marie, a police officer, school teacher, and beauty shop owner, and Clyde C. Jones, an oil field worker; the two were married and divorced twice. Jones, an eighth-generation Texan, had a Cherokee grandparent. He was a resident of Midland, Texas and attended Robert E. Lee High School.

Jones graduated from the St. Mark’s School of Texas, where he attended on scholarship and is now on the board of directors, and attended Harvard College on a need-based scholarship, staying in Mower B-12 as a freshman, across the hall from future Vice President Al Gore. As an upperclassman, he was roommates with Gore and Bob Somerby, who later became editor of the media criticism site the Daily Howler. Jones played offensive tackle on Harvard’s undefeated 1968 varsity football team, was nominated as a first-team All-Ivy League selection, and played in the memorable and literal last-minute Harvard sixteen-point comeback to tie Yale in the 1968 Game. Jones graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in English in 1969.

25 Oct 2019
Live Performance Permalink

Tommy Tune

October 25, 2019

Thomas James “Tommy” Tune is an American actor, dancer, singer, theatre director, -producer, and choreographer. Over the course of his career, he has won nine Tony Awards and the National Medal of Arts.

Tune was born in Wichita Falls, Texas to oil rig worker, horse trainer, and restaurateur, Jim Tune, and Eva Mae Clark. He attended Lamar High School in Houston and the Methodist-affiliated Lon Morris College in Jacksonville, Texas, and went on to earn his Bachelors degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 1962, and take graduate courses at the University of Houston. Tune later moved to New York to start his career.

In 1965, Tune made his Broadway debut as a performer in the musical Baker Street. His first Broadway directing and choreography credits were for the original production of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas in 1978. He has gone on to direct or choreograph, or both, some eight Broadway musicals. He directed a new musical titled Turn of the Century, which premiered at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago on September 19, 2008 and closed on November 2, 2008.

Off-Broadway, Tune has directed The Club and Cloud Nine. Tune toured the United States in the Sherman Brothers musical Busker Alley in 1994-1995 and in the stage adaptation of the film Dr. Doolittle in 2006.

25 Oct 2019
Recording, Television Permalink

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers

October 25, 2019

In memory of entertainer and Walk of Famer Tom Petty, flowers were placed on his star on the 

Hollywood Walk of Fame on Tuesday, October, 3, 2017 at 11:00 a.m. PDT. The star in category of Recording is located at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard . “Rest in peace Tom Petty. You will be missed!” 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.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers are a rock band, most of whose members are from the United States. They were formed in 1976 by Tom Petty, Mike Campbell, and Benmont Tench, all of whom had been members of Mudcrutch. Petty and the Heartbreakers are known for hit singles such as "American Girl", "Breakdown", "The Waiting", "Learning to Fly", "Refugee" and "Mary Jane's Last Dance". The Heartbreakers still tour regularly and continue to record albums.

Petty has fought against his record company on more than one occasion, first in 1978/79 over transference to another label and then again in 1981 over the price of his record, which was considered expensive. He is also outspoken on the current state of the music industry and modern radio stations. On his 2002 album, The Last DJ, Petty sang about that and other issues and talked about them on the bonus DVD that came with the limited edition album.

Although most of their material is produced and performed under the name "The Heartbreakers", they have also participated in outside projects, with Petty himself releasing solo albums, the most successful being 1989's Full Moon Fever.

The three founding members, along with Randall Marsh and Tom Leadon, recorded an album by Mudcrutch. This was the band's first album, made more significant by the fact that they had not recorded together since 1974. Additionally, as of June 2010, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers will begin a tour following the release of their new studio album titled Mojo on June 15th 2010.

25 Oct 2019
Recording Permalink

Tommy Sands

October 25, 2019

Tommy Sands is an American pop music singer and actor.

Born into a musical family in Chicago, his father was a pianist and his mother a big-band singer. While still young, he moved with his family to Shreveport, Louisiana. Sands began playing the guitar at age eight and within a year had a job performing twice weekly on a local radio station. He was only 15 when Colonel Tom Parker heard about him and signed him to RCA Records.

His initial recordings achieved little in the way of sales but in early 1957 he was given the opportunity to star in an episode of Kraft Television Theatre. He played the part of a singer who was very similar to Elvis Presley, with guitar, bouffant hair, and excitable teenage fans. On the show, his song presentation of a Joe Allison composition called “Teen-Age Crush” went over big with the young audience and, released as a 45 rpm single by Capitol Records, it went to No.3 on the Billboard Hot 100 record chart.

Sands’ sudden fame brought an offer to sing at the Academy Awards show and his teen idol looks landed him a motion-picture contract to star in a 1958 musical drama called Sing, Boy, Sing.

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures, Television Permalink

Tom Selleck

October 25, 2019

Thomas William “Tom” Selleck is an American actor and film producer, best known for his starring role as Hawaii-based private investigator Thomas Magnum on the 1980s television show Magnum, P.I. He also plays Jesse Stone in a series of made-for-TV movies based on the Robert B. Parker novels. In 2010, he appears as Chief Frank Reagan in the drama Blue Bloods on CBS.

He has appeared extensively on television in roles such as Dr. Richard Burke on Friends and A.J. Cooper on Las Vegas. In addition to his series work, Selleck has appeared in more than fifty made for TV and general release movies, including Mr. Baseball, Quigley Down Under, and Lassiter.

Selleck was born in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Martha S., a homemaker, and Robert D. Selleck, an executive and real estate investor. The family moved to Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, California, when Selleck was growing up. His siblings include brothers Robert and Daniel, and sister Martha. Selleck graduated from Grant High School in 1962.

Along with modeling, Selleck attended the University of Southern California on a basketball scholarship where he played for the Trojans. He is 6 feet 4

25 Oct 2019
Recording, Television Permalink

Tommy Dorsey

October 25, 2019

Thomas Francis Dorsey was an American jazz trombonist, trumpeter, composer, and bandleader of the Big Band era. He was known as “The Sentimental Gentleman of Swing”, due to his smooth-toned trombone playing. He was the younger brother of bandleader Jimmy Dorsey. After Dorsey broke with his brother in the mid thirties, he led an extremely popular band from the late thirties into the nineteen fifties. Dorsey had a reputation for being a perfectionist. He was volatile and also known to hire and fire musicians based on his mood.

Thomas Francis Dorsey, Jr. was a native of Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, the second of four children born to Thomas Francis Dorsey, Sr. and Theresa Dorsey. The Dorsey brothers’ two younger siblings were Mary and Edward. At age 15, Jimmy Dorsey recommended his brother Tommy as the replacement for Russ Morgan in the germane 1920s territory band “The Scranton Sirens.” Tommy and Jimmy worked in several bands, including those of Tal Henry, Rudy Vallee, Vincent Lopez, Nathaniel Shilkret, and especially Paul Whiteman. In 1928, the Dorsey Brothers had their first hit with “Coquette” for OKeh records. The Dorsey Brothers band signed with Decca records in 1934, having a hit with “I Believe In Miracles”. Future bandleader Glenn Miller was a member of the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra in 1934 and 1935, composing “Annie’s Cousin Fanny” and “Dese Dem Dose” both recorded for Decca for the band. Ongoing acrimony between the brothers, however, led to Tommy Dorsey’s walking out to form his own band in 1935, just as the orchestra was having a hit with “Every Little Moment.”

Tommy Dorsey’s first band was formed out of the remains of the Joe Haymes band. The new band was popular from almost the moment it signed with RCA Victor with “On Treasure Island”, the first of four hits for the new band in 1935. The Dorsey band had a national radio presence in 1936 first from Dallas and then from Los Angeles. Tommy Dorsey and his Orchestra took over comedian Jack Pearl’s radio show in 1937.

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures, Recording Permalink

Tony Bennett

October 25, 2019

Tony Bennett is an American singer of popular music, standards, show tunes, and jazz.

Raised in New York City, Bennett began singing at an early age. He fought in the final stages of World War II as an infantryman with the U.S. Army in the European Theatre. Afterwards, he developed his singing technique, signed with Columbia Records, and had his first number one popular song with “Because of You” in 1951. Several top hits such as “Rags to Riches” followed in the early 1950s. Bennett then further refined his approach to encompass jazz singing. He reached an artistic peak in the late 1950s with albums such as The Beat of My Heart and Basie Swings, Bennett Sings. In 1962, Bennett recorded his signature song, “I Left My Heart in San Francisco”. His career and his personal life then suffered an extended downturn during the height of the rock music era.

Bennett staged a remarkable comeback in the late 1980s and 1990s, putting out gold record albums again and expanding his audience to the MTV Generation while keeping his musical style intact. He remains a popular and critically praised recording artist and concert performer in the 2000s. Bennett has won fifteen Grammy Awards, two Emmy Awards, been named an NEA Jazz Master and a Kennedy Center Honoree. He has sold over 50 million records worldwide. Bennett is also a serious and accomplished painter, creating works under the name Benedetto that are on permanent public display in several institutions.

Anthony Benedetto was born in Astoria, Queens, New York City, the son of Ann and John Benedetto. His father was a grocer who had emigrated from Podàrgoni, a rural eastern district of the southern Italian city of Reggio Calabria, and his mother was a seamstress. With two other children and a father who was ailing and unable to work, the siblings grew up in poverty. John Benedetto died when Anthony was 10 years old.