25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures, Recording Permalink

Tim Robbins

October 25, 2019

Oscar winning actor Tim Robbins celebrated his 50th birthday with the 2,371st star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Leron Gubler, President and CEO of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, presided over the ceremony. Guests included Susan Sarandon, Jack Black, Eva Amurri, and Derek Luke.

6801 Hollywood Boulevard on October 10.

BIOGRAPHY

Born October 16, 1958 in West Covina, California and raised in New York City's Greenwich Village, Tim Robbins has a long list of notable credits as an actor, director, writer and producer of films and theater.

He has starred in such films as Mystic River,The Secret Life of Words, Catch a Fire, The Player and Short Cuts, The Shawshank Redemption, The Hudsucker Proxy, War of the Worlds, Arlington Road, Code 46, Human Nature, Five Corners, Jacob's Ladder and Bull Durham. Robbins will next be seen in Fox Walden's City of Ember, which opens nationwide today.

Robbins has won numerous awards for his acting including an Oscar®, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Supporting Actor for Mystic River, Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival and the Golden Globe for Best Actor for The Player. He was nominated by the Golden Globes for Best Actor for Bob Roberts and by the Screen Actors Guild for Best Actor for The Shawshank Redemption. Warner Home Video will be releasing The Shawshank Redemption, which Robbins considers one of his four all-time favorite films in a magnificent new Blu-Ray Hi-Def version on December 2.

As a director, Robbins distinguished himself with Cradle Will Rock, which he also wrote and produced, winning Best Film and Best Director at the Sitges Film Festival in Barcelona and the National Board of Review Award for Special Achievement in Filmmaking in the United States.

Dead Man Walking, which he also wrote and produced, won multiple awards including the Academy Award for Best Actress for Susan Sarandon, the Christopher Award, the Humanitas Award and four awards at the Berlin Film Festival, as well as four Oscar nominations including Best Director and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Screenplay.

His first film, Bob Roberts, won the Bronze Award at the Tokyo International Festival and Best Film, Best Director and Best Actor at the Boston Film Festival.

Robbins also serves as Artistic Director for the Actors' Gang, a theater company formed in 1982 that has over 80 productions and more than 100 awards to their credit. As a playwright he has been produced in London, Paris, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and at the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland. His latest play, Embedded, played to sold out audiences for over four months at the Public Theater in New York before playing the Riverside Studios in London and embarking on a National Tour in the U.S.

Most recently he directed the Actors Gang in their shockingly relevant and wildly successful adaptation of George Orwell's 1984 which for the past two years has toured IN over 40 states and four continents.

From 2006 until the present, Le Petit Theatre de Pain's production of Embedded has been touring France, most recently playing at the Theatre du Soleil in Paris. In the US, Embedded was revived recently in productions in Chicago and Tampa Bay.

Robbins is also very proud to sponsor educational programs with the Actors Gang that provide arts education to Elementary, Middle and High School students in the L.A. area. The Gang has also worked for the past three years providing theatrical workshops to incarcerated inmates in the L.A. prison system.

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures, Television Permalink

Tim McCoy

October 25, 2019

Timothy John Fitzgerald “Tim” McCoy was an American actor.

Born the son of an Irish Union Civil War soldier who later became police chief in Saginaw, he became a major film star most noted for his roles in Western films. He was so popular with youngsters as a cowboy star that he appeared on the cover of Wheaties cereal boxes.

He attended St. Ignatius College in Chicago and after seeing a wild west show there, left school and found work on a Wyoming ranch. He became an expert horseman and roper and developed a knowledge of the ways and languages of the Native American tribes in the area. He competed in numerous rodeos, then enlisted in the United States Army when America entered World War I.

McCoy was also a decorated soldier in the United States Army during World War I and again in World War II in Europe, rising to the rank of Colonel with the Army Air Corps. He also served the state of Wyoming as its Adjutant General between the wars with the brevet rank of Brigadier General. At 28, he was reputed to be the youngest Brigadier General in the history of the US Army. McCoy was a known expert in Indian sign language and was accepted as a ‘brother’ by the Arapahoe Tribe on the Wind River Reservation. When Hollywood needed an authentic group of Indians for a movie in Utah, his name came up and McCoy resigned from his position as Adjutant General for the State of Wyoming and recruited a group of Indians and was hired on by the production company as a sort of laision between the company and the Indians.

25 Oct 2019
Recording, Television Permalink

Tim Conway

October 25, 2019

Thomas Daniel “Tim” Conway is an American comedian and actor, primarily known for his roles in sitcoms, films and television. Conway is best-known for his role as the inept second-in-command officer, Ensign Charles Parker, to Lt. Commander Quinton McHale, in the popular 1960s WWII sitcom McHale’s Navy, and for co-starring alongside Carol Burnett on The Carol Burnett Show.

Conway was born in Willoughby, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, and grew up in nearby Chagrin Falls. He attended Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio, having majored in speech and radio. After graduating from Bowling Green State University, he joined the Army, following which he took a job answering mail for a Cleveland radio station, where he went on to become a writer in the promotional department. Conway later changed his first name to “Tim” to avoid confusion with actor Tom Conway.

Conway later moved back to Cleveland to work with the late television broadcasting legend Ernie Anderson on KYW-TV, an NBC affiliate, in 1958 and 1959 and later, from 1960 to 1962, on WJW TV, on the weekday morning movie where he also wrote material for the comedic skits shown in between movie intermissions. Conway also recorded a comedy album with Anderson.

However, WJW would dismiss Conway, in part because he misled station management into thinking he was a director, whereas they found out he really wasn’t able to do so. Because of this move, which deprived Anderson of his co-host and comic foil, the station asked Anderson if he could host a B-grade horror movie show on Friday nights instead. Conway would continue to make many appearances alongside Anderson’s massively popular alter ego Ghoulardi, alongside “Big Chuck” Schodowski, a station engineer whom Anderson tapped to assume much of Conway’s sidekick status .

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures, Recording Permalink

Tim McGraw

October 25, 2019

Samuel Timothy "Tim" McGraw is an American country singer and actor. Many of McGraw's albums and singles have topped the country music charts, leading him to achieve total album sales in excess of 40 million units. He is married to country singer Faith Hill and is the son of former baseball player Tug McGraw. His trademark hit songs include "Indian Outlaw", "Don't Take the Girl", "I Like It, I Love It", "Something Like That", "It's Your Love", and "Live Like You Were Dying".

McGraw had eleven consecutive albums debut at Number One on the Billboard albums charts. Twenty-one singles hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country 100 chart. Three singles became the No. 1 country song of the year. He has won 3 Grammys, 14 Academy of Country Music awards, 11 Country Music Association awards, 10 American Music Awards, and 3 People's Choice Awards. His Soul2Soul II Tour with Faith Hill is the highest grossing tour in country music history, and one of the top five among all genres of music.

McGraw has ventured into acting, with supporting roles in The Blind Side, Friday Night Lights, The Kingdom, and Four Christmases, and a lead role in Flicka. He was a minority owner of the Arena Football League's Nashville Kats. Taylor Swift's debut single, "Tim McGraw", refers to him and his song, "Can't Tell Me Nothin.

In a nod to his Italian-American heritage, McGraw was honored by the National Italian American Foundation in 2004, receiving the NIAF Special Achievement Award in Music during the Foundation's 29th Anniversary Gala.

25 Oct 2019
Recording Permalink

Tito Puente

October 25, 2019

Tito Puente, Sr., born Ernesto Antonio Puente, Jr., was a Latin Jazz and Mambo musician. The son of native Puerto Ricans Ernest and Ercilia Puente, of Spanish Harlem in New York City, Puente is often credited as “El Rey” of the timbales and “The King of Latin Music”. He is best known for dance-oriented mambo and Latin jazz compositions that helped keep his career going for 50 years. He and his music appear in many films such as The Mambo Kings and Fernando Trueba’s Calle 54. He guest starred on several television shows including The Cosby Show and The Simpsons.

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures, Radio Permalink

Tippi Hedren

October 25, 2019

Nathalie Kay “Tippi” Hedren is an American actress and former fashion model with a career spanning six decades. She is primarily known for her roles in two Alfred Hitchcock films, The Birds and Marnie, and her extensive efforts in animal rescue at Shambala Preserve, an wildlife habitat which she founded in 1983.

Hedren is the mother of actress Melanie Griffith, and they share credits on several productions, notably Pacific Heights. Hedren was born in New Ulm, Minnesota, the daughter of Dorothea Henrietta and Bernard Carl Hedren. Her paternal grandparents were immigrants from Sweden, and her maternal ancestry was German and Norwegian. Her father ran a small general store in the small town of Lafayette, Minnesota and gave her the nickname “Tippi.” “My father thought Nathalie was a little bit much for a brand new baby,” Hedren explained at a 2004 screening of The Birds.

As a teenager, Hedren took part in department store fashion shows. Her parents relocated to California while she was still a high school student. When she reached her 18th birthday, she bought a ticket to New York and began a professional modeling career. Within a year she made her film debut as a Petty Girl model in The Petty Girl musical comedy, although in interviews she refers to The Birds as her first film.

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

Tennessee Ernie Ford

October 25, 2019

Ernest Jennings Ford, better known as Tennessee Ernie Ford, was an American recording artist and television host who enjoyed success in the country and Western, pop, and gospel musical genres.

Born in Bristol, Tennessee, to Clarence Thomas Ford and Maud Long, Ford began his radio career as an announcer at WOPI-AM in Bristol, Tennessee. In 1939, he left the station to pursue classical music and voice at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music in Ohio. First Lieutenant Ford served in World War II as the bombardier on a B-29 Superfortress flying missions over Japan. After the war, Ford worked at radio stations in San Bernardino and Pasadena, California. In San Bernardino, Ford was hired as a radio announcer. He was assigned to host an early morning country music disc jockey program titled Bar Nothin’ Ranch Time. To differentiate himself, he created the personality of “Tennessee Ernie,” a wild, madcap exaggerated hillbilly. He became popular in the area and was soon hired away by Pasadena’s KXLA radio.

Ford also did musical tours. The Mayfield Brothers of West Texas, including Smokey Mayfield, Thomas Edd Mayfield, and Herbert Mayfield, were among Ford’s warmup bands, having played for him in concerts in Amarillo and Lubbock, Texas, during the late 1940s. At KXLA, Ford continued doing the same show and also joined the cast of Cliffie Stone’s popular live KXLA country show Dinner Bell Roundup as a vocalist while still doing the early morning broadcast. Cliffie Stone, a part-time talent scout for Capitol Records, brought him to the attention of the label. In 1949, while still doing his morning show, he signed a contract with Capitol. He also became a local TV star as the star of Stone’s popular Southern California Hometown Jamboree show. RadiOzark produced 260 15-minute episodes of The Tennessee Ernie Show on transcription disks for national radio syndication.

He released almost 50 country singles through the early 1950s, several of which made the charts. Many of his early records, including “The Shotgun Boogie”, “Blackberry Boogie,” and so on were exciting, driving boogie-woogie records featuring accompaniment by the Hometown Jamboree band which included Jimmy Bryant on lead guitar and pioneer pedal steel guitarist Speedy West. “I’ll Never Be Free,” a duet pairing Ford with Capitol Records pop singer Kay Starr, became a huge country and pop crossover hit in 1950. A duet with Ella Mae Morse, False Hearted Girl was a top seller for the Capitol Country and Hillbilly division, and has been evaluated as an early tune.

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures, Television Permalink

Toby Wing

October 25, 2019

Toby Wing was an American actress and showgirl.

Born Martha Virginia Wing, she began working onscreen at age 9; her father, Paul Wing, was an assistant director for Paramount Pictures. In 1931 she became one of the first Goldwyn Girls, and in 1932 she was seen in Mack Sennett-produced comedies made by Paramount, one starring Bing Crosby. Wing made an impression with producers and moviegoers but she seldom broke through to leading roles. Many of her roles were small and barely clothed, before the introduction of the 1934 Production Code, but she became widely recognized as a sex symbol. Since her contracted studio was mired in bankruptcy during much of her career, much of her work was done on loan, primarily at Warner Bros. and later, after her release, on extremely low budget efforts on a per-film basis. Wing enjoyed a far more successful sideline doing product endorsements and was featured in innumerable fan magazines from 1933-38. She was also well known offscreen for her romances, and was linked to Jackie Coogan, Maurice Chevalier, and Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr.

Toby Wing played a few leading roles in B features and short subjects. In 1936 and 1937 she worked opposite singer-songwriter Pinky Tomlin in two of his low budget musical features, With Love and Kisses and Sing While You’re Able. The two stars were engaged briefly during late 1937. Although the romance ended before their planned marriage, they remained close until Tomlin’s death.

Her last leading role was in The Marines Come Thru. She retired from movies after marrying the pilot Dick Merrill, more than twenty years her senior, in 1938. Wing completed her acting career on Broadway in the unsuccessful Cole Porter musical, “You Never Know” that starred Lupe Velez, Clifton Webb, Libby Holman and Harold Murray. The couple retired to DiLido, Florida, where Merrill was assigned Eastern Airlnes’ New York- Miami route for the remainder of his career. Wing became successful in real estate in California and Florida. Wing and Merrill later settled in Virginia, where they lived together until Merrill’s death in 1982.

25 Oct 2019
Recording, Television Permalink

Tina Turner

October 25, 2019

Tina Turner is an American singer and actress whose career has spanned more than 50 years. She has won numerous awards and her achievements in the rock music genre have earned her the title The Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll.

Turner started out her music career with husband Ike Turner as a member of the Ike & Tina Turner Revue. Success followed with a string of hits including “River Deep, Mountain High” and the 1971 hit “Proud Mary”. With the publication of her autobiography I, Tina, came allegations of spousal abuse against Ike Turner following their 1976 split. Turner rebuilt her career, launching a string of hits beginning in 1983 with “Let’s Stay Together” and the 1984 release of her album Private Dancer.

Her musical career led to film roles, beginning with a prominent role as The Acid Queen in the 1975 film Tommy, and an appearance in Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. She starred opposite Mel Gibson as Aunty Entity in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome for which she received the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture, and her version of the film’s theme, “We Don’t Need Another Hero”, was a hit single. She appeared in the 1993 film Last Action Hero.

One of the world’s most popular entertainers, Turner has been called the most successful female rock artist and was named “one of the greatest singers of all time” by Rolling Stone. Her records have sold nearly 200 million copies worldwide. She has sold more concert tickets than any other solo music performer in history. She is known for her energetic stage presence, powerful vocals, career longevity, and widespread appeal. In 2008, Turner left semi-retirement to embark on her . Turner’s tour became one of the highest selling ticketed shows of 2008-2009.

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures, Television Permalink

Tichi Wilkerson Kassel

October 25, 2019

Tichi Wilkerson Kassel was an American film personality and the publisher of The Hollywood Reporter. She established the “Women in Film” organization, the Key Art and Marketing Concepts awards, and several scholarships for film students.

For her achievement in motion pictures, she has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard.

Tichi Wilkerson Kassel was born Beatrice Ruby Noble in Los Angeles on May 10, 1926. She was raised in Mexico City and returned to Los Angeles as a teenager. Tichi’s mother was a maid for William Wilkerson, founder, publisher and editor of The Hollywood Reporter newspaper. Wilkerson courted Tichi and they were married on February 23, 1951 in Phoenix, AZ; he was in his 60s and she was 25. Soon after their marriage, she started to work at the trade paper. When Wilkerson died in 1962, she took over as the paper’s second editor and publisher.

After Wilkerson’s death, she married realtor William Miles. The couple divorced in 1982, and in 1983 she married Arthur Kassel.