25 Oct 2019
Recording, Television Permalink

Steve Edwards

October 25, 2019

Steve Edwards is an icon of Los Angeles television with thirty years of hosting such high visibility shows as AM Los Angeles, Two on The Town and for the past 15 years, Good Day LA. From 2001-2005, he hosted GDLA’s nationally-syndicated companion show, Good Day Live, which aired on many Fox-owned and affiliated stations. Edwards is known for hosting many different shows with varied formats in Los Angeles with a sense of humor and encyclopedic knowledge.

Edwards began his broadcasting career after graduating from the University of Miami and attending the University of Houston. His first broadcasting job was in the late 1960s with KMSC radio station in Clear Lake City. He quickly moved up to Houston radio station KTRH, where he hosted a popular night call-in show. While in Houston, he also worked at CBS television affiliate KHOU-TV, where he was a news anchor and hosted talk popular shows on the station. He had a three run in Chicago for a time in the mid 1970 as the host of the highly successful AM Chicago and Friday Night with Steve Edwards. In 1978, Edwards finally came to Los Angeles, where he worked at CBS-owned KNXT, in which he hosted infotainment programs such as Two On The Town with Connie Chung and later Melody Rogers and his own self-titled talk show. While at the station, he served as their entertainment editor, reviewing movies, television, and the arts and as a weatherman. He also worked on The Baxters, an experimental sitcom produced by Norman Lear and was lead host on the variety show ON Stage America.

He did Entertainment Tonight for one season, and moved to KABC-TV in 1984. At KABC, he hosted the top rated A.M. Los Angeles along with Hollywood Closeup and an afternoon show 3:30 which gave way to the Oprah Winfrey show.

Through these years he was a talk radio host for KABC with both the issues driven Steve Edwards Show and Sports Talk.

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures Permalink

Steve Cochran

October 25, 2019

Steve Cochran was an American film, television, and stage actor, the son of a California lumberman. He graduated from the University of Wyoming in 1939. After a stint working as a cowpuncher, Cochran developed his acting skills in local theatre and gradually progressed onto Broadway, film, and television.

From 1949 to 1952, he worked for Warner Brothers and appeared in many films including The Chase, The Best Years of Our Lives, Copacabana, A Song Is Born, Highway 301, The Damned Don’t Cry!, and Inside the Walls of Folsom Prison, which inspired Johnny Cash to write his song “Folsom Prison Blues”.

One of his most memorable roles was as psychotic mobster James Cagney?s deceitful, power-hungry henchman, Big Ed Somers, in the gangster classic White Heat. In 1953, Cochran formed his own production company, Robert Alexander Productions, where he won critical acclaim for two of his performances in his company’s films. Cochran was a disgraced, alcoholic itinerant farmer struggling to regain the love of his family in Come Next Spring, and was a troubled drifter in Michelangelo Antonioni?s Il Grido, produced in Italy. Cochran’s company attempted to produce some television series and other films such as The Tom Mix Story, but they were never produced with the exception of a television pilot where he played John C. Fremont in Fremont the Trailblazer.

Cochran starred in a string of B-movies throughout the 1950s, including Carnival Story. He also frequently appeared in episodes of the most popular television series of the era, including guest spots on Bonanza, The Untouchables, Route 66, Bus Stop, and The Twilight Zone.

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures, Radio, Television Permalink

Steve Allen

October 25, 2019

Stephen Valentine Patrick William “Steve” Allen was an American television personality, musician, actor, comedian, and writer. Though he got his start in radio, Allen is best-known for his television career. He first gained national attention as a guest host on Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts. He graduated to become the first host of The Tonight Show, where he was instrumental in innovating the concept of the television talk show. Thereafter, he hosted numerous game and variety shows, including The Steve Allen Show, I’ve Got a Secret, The New Steve Allen Show, and was a regular panel member on CBS’ What’s My Line?

Allen was a “creditable” pianist, and a prolific composer, having penned over 14,000 songs, one of which was recorded by Perry Como and Margaret Whiting, others by Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme, Les Brown, and Gloria Lynne. Allen won a Grammy award in 1963 for best jazz composition, with his song The Gravy Waltz. Allen wrote more than 50 books and has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Allen was born in New York City, the son of Isabelle Allen, a vaudeville comedienne who performed under the name Belle Montrose, and Carroll Allen, a vaudeville performer who used the stage name Billy Allen. Allen was raised on the south side of Chicago by his mother’s Irish Catholic family. Milton Berle once called Allen’s mother “the funniest woman in vaudeville.”

Allen’s first radio job was on station KOY in Phoenix, Arizona, after he left Arizona State Teachers College in Tempe, while still a sophomore. He enlisted in the U.S. Army during World War II and was trained as an infantryman. He spent his service time at Camp Roberts, near Monterey, California and did not serve overseas. Allen returned to Phoenix before deciding to move back to California.

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures, Recording Permalink

Stevie Wonder

October 25, 2019

Stevland Hardaway Judkins, name later changed to Stevland Hardaway Morris, known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist. Blind from shortly after birth, Wonder signed with Motown Records’ Tamla label at the age of eleven, and continues to perform and record for Motown to this day.

Some of Wonder’s best known works include singles such as “Superstition”, “Sir Duke”, “I Wish” and “I Just Called to Say I Love You”. Well known albums also include Talking Book, Innervisions and Songs in the Key of Life. He has recorded more than thirty U.S. top ten hits and received twenty-two Grammy Awards, the most ever awarded to a male solo artist. Wonder is also noted for his work as an activist for political causes, including his 1980 campaign to make Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday a holiday in the United States. In 2009, Wonder was named a United Nations Messenger of Peace. In 2008, Billboard magazine released a list of the Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists to celebrate the US singles chart’s fiftieth anniversary, with Wonder at number five.

Stevie Wonder was born in Saginaw, Michigan in 1950, being the third of six children to Calvin Judkins and Lula Mae Hardaway. Owing to his being born six weeks premature, the blood vessels at the back of his eyes had not yet reached the front and their aborted growth caused the retinas to detach. The medical term for this condition is retinopathy of prematurity, or ROP, and while it may have been exacerbated by the oxygen pumped into his incubator, this was not the primary cause of his blindness.

When Stevie Wonder was four, his mother left his father and moved herself and her children to Detroit. She changed her name back to Lula Hardaway and later changed her son’s surname to Morris, partly because of relatives. Morris has remained Stevie Wonder’s legal name ever since. He began playing instruments at an early age, including piano, harmonica, drums and bass. During childhood he was active in his church choir.

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures Permalink

Steven Spielberg

October 25, 2019

Steven Allan Spielberg, is an American film director, screenwriter, film producer and video game designer. In a career spanning over forty years, Spielberg’s films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg’s early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an archetype of modern Hollywood blockbuster filmmaking. In later years, his films began addressing such issues as the Holocaust, slavery, war and terrorism. He is considered one of the most influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. He is also one of the founders of DreamWorks.

Spielberg won the Academy Award for Best Director for Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan. Three of Spielberg’s films; Jaws, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and Jurassic Park, achieved box office records, each becoming the highest-grossing film made at the time. To date, the unadjusted gross of all Spielberg-directed films exceeds $8.5

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures, Recording Permalink

Steve Tisch

October 25, 2019

Steven "Steve" Tisch is an American businessman. He is the Chairman and Executive Vice President of the New York Giants, the NFL team co-owned by his family, as well as a film and television producer. He is the son of former Giants co-owner Bob Tisch.

Tisch was born in Lakewood, New Jersey. He attended Tufts University, during which he began his filmmaking career. During his youth, Tisch created a number of small movies with backing by Columbia Pictures. In 1976, he left Columbia and created his first feature film, Outlaw Blues. He followed this up in 1983 with Risky Business, which saw Tom Cruise's first lead role.

In 1984, Tisch produced a made-for-TV movie entitled The Burning Bed, which caused controversy but also received eleven Emmy nominations for Farrah Fawcett's depiction of a battered wife. Tisch launched his own production company in 1986, which has since specialized in small screen films. However, he also produced several critically acclaimed films including Forrest Gump, American History X, and Snatch. Tisch received a Best Motion Picture Academy Award and a Golden Globe for "Forrest Gump", which was nominated for 13 Academy Awards and won nine, and remains one of the 20 highest domestic box office grossing films in history.

He is currently a partner in Escape Artists, an independently financed film production company based at Sony Pictures Entertainment. Escape Artists released "The Weather Man", starring Nicolas Cage, in the fall of 2005 and "The Pursuit of Happyness", starring Will Smith, was released by Columbia Pictures December of 2006. Other projects include "Seven Pounds" starring Will Smith, "Knowing", starring Nicolas Cage and "The Taking of Pelham 123" starring Denzel Washington and John Travolta.

25 Oct 2019
Recording Permalink

Stan Kenton

October 25, 2019

Stanley Newcomb Kenton was a pianist, composer, and arranger who led a highly innovative, influential, and often controversial American jazz orchestra. In later years he was widely active as an educator.

Stan Kenton was born in Wichita, Kansas, and raised first in Colorado, then in California. He learned piano as a child, and while still a teenager toured with various bands. He attended Bell High School, in Bell, California, where he graduated in 1930. In June 1941 he formed his own band, which developed into one of the best-known West Coast ensembles of the 1940s. In the mid-1940s, Kenton’s band and style became known as “The Wall of Sound”, a tag later used by Phil Spector.

Kenton played in the 1930s in the dance bands of Vido Musso and Gus Arnheim, but his natural inclination was as a band leader. In 1941 he formed his first orchestra, which later was named after his theme song “Artistry in Rhythm”. A competent pianist, influenced by Earl Hines, Kenton was much more important in the early days as an arranger and inspiration for his loyal sidemen. Although there were no major names in his first band, Kenton spent the summer of 1941 playing regularly before a very appreciative audience at the Rendezvous Ballroom in Balboa Beach, CA. Influenced by Jimmie Lunceford, the Stan Kenton Orchestra struggled a bit after its initial success. Its Decca recordings were not big sellers and a stint as Bob Hope’s backup radio band was an unhappy experience; Les Brown permanently took Kenton’s place.

By late 1943 with a Capitol Records contract, a popular record in “Eager Beaver”, and growing recognition, the Stan Kenton Orchestra was gradually catching on. Its soloists during the war years included Art Pepper, briefly Stan Getz, altoist Boots Mussulli, and singer Anita O’Day. By 1945 the band had evolved quite a bit. Pete Rugolo became the chief arranger, Bob Cooper and Vido Musso offered very different tenor styles, and June Christy was Kenton’s new singer; her hits made it possible for Kenton to finance his more ambitious projects. A popular recording of “Laura” was made, the theme song from the film Laura, and featured the voices of the band.

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures, Television 4 Comments Permalink

Stanley Kramer

October 25, 2019 4 Comments

Stanley Earl Kramer was an American film director and producer responsible for some of Hollywood’s most famous “message” movies. His notable films include The Defiant Ones, On the Beach, Inherit the Wind, Judgment at Nuremberg, Ship of Fools and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. His work was recognized with the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award in 1961, and over the course of his career he received nine Academy Award nominations.

Director Steven Spielberg once described him as “one of our great filmmakers, not just for the art and passion he put on screen, but for the impact he has made on the conscience of the world.” Film critic David Thomson described Kramer as a “hero of the 1950s” and an “enterprising producer,” but also wrote of his later films that “commercialism, of the most crass and confusing kind, has devitalised all his projects”.

Kramer lived with his grandmother in the neighborhood of Manhattan known as Hell’s Kitchen. From an early age, Kramer had connections with the film industry; his uncle, Earl Kramer, worked in distribution at Universal Pictures and then as an agent in Hollywood. Kramer’s mother also worked in a secretarial position at Paramount Pictures. Kramer attended DeWitt Clinton High School in The Bronx and New York University where he was a member of the Pi Lambda Phi fraternity ; in his final year at the university, he was offered a paid internship in the writing department of 20th Century Fox. Kramer took the job although he had originally planned on attending law school.

In 1941 he worked as a production assistant on the film version of The Moon and Sixpence and So Ends Our Night. Two years later, in 1943, Kramer was drafted, but avoided going to war by working for an army film unit in New York. In 1948 Kramer organized an independent production company, Screen Plays Inc. His partners in the company were with the writer Herbie Baker, publicist George Glass and producer Carl Foreman, whom he had met previously during his time with the army film unit. It was during Kramer’s career as a producer that he began to receive recognition for his talent.

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures, Television Permalink

Stan Laurel

October 25, 2019

Arthur Stanley Jefferson, better known as Stan Laurel, was an English comic actor, writer and film director, famous as the first half of the comedy double-act Laurel and Hardy. His career stretched from the silent films of the early 20th century until after World War II.

Stan Laurel was born in his grandparents’ house on 16 June 1890 at 3 Argyle Street, Ulverston in the Furness region of Lancashire, England. His parents, Arthur and Madge Jefferson, were both active in the theatre and always very busy. But Stan’s home life in Bishop Auckland, County Durham was still a happy one. In his early years, he spent much time living with his grandmother Sarah Metcalfe. He attended school at the King James I Grammar School, Bishop Auckland and The King’s School, Tynemouth, for a while he attended Rutherglen Academy. His father managed a number of different theatres ? one of which being the long demolished Eden Theatre in Bishop Auckland. Stan had a natural affinity for the theatre, with his first professional performance on stage being at the Britannia Panopticon in Glasgow, Scotland, at the age of 16.

In 1910, he joined Fred Karno’s troupe of actors, which also included a young Charlie Chaplin. For some time, Stan acted as Chaplin’s understudy. The Karno troupe toured America, and brought both Chaplin and Laurel to the United States for the first time. From 1916 to 1918, he teamed up with Alice and Baldwin Cooke, who became lifelong friends. Amongst other performers, Laurel worked briefly alongside Oliver Hardy in a silent film short The Lucky Dog. This was before the two became a team.

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures, Recording 1 Comment Permalink

Stan Winston

October 25, 2019 1 Comment

Stanley Winston was an American visual effects supervisor, makeup artist, and film director. He was best known for his work in the Terminator series, the Jurassic Park series, Aliens, the Predator series, Iron Man and Edward Scissorhands. He won four Academy Awards for his work.

Winston, a frequent collaborator with director James Cameron, owned more than one effects studio, including Stan Winston Digital. The established areas of expertise for Winston were in makeup, puppets and practical effects, but he had recently expanded his studio to encompass digital effects as well.

Stan Winston was born on April 7, 1946, in Arlington, Virginia, where he graduated from Washington-Lee High School in 1964. He studied painting and sculpture at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville from which he graduated in 1968. In 1969, after attending California State University, Long Beach, Winston moved to Hollywood to pursue a career as an actor. Struggling to find an acting job, he began a makeup apprenticeship at Walt Disney Studios.

In 1972, Winston established his own company, Stan Winston Studio, and won an Emmy Award for his effects work on the telefilm Gargoyles. Over the next seven years, Winston continued to receive Emmy nominations for work on projects and won another for 1974's The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman. Winston also created the Wookiee costumes for the 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special.