25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures, Television Permalink

Donald Trump

October 25, 2019

Donald John Trump is the 45th President of USA, an American business magnate, socialite, author and television personality. He is the Chairman and CEO of the Trump Organization, a US-based real-estate developer. Trump is also the founder of Trump Entertainment Resorts, which operates numerous casinos and hotels across the world. Trump's extravagant lifestyle and outspoken manner have made him a celebrity for years, a status amplified by the success of the shows he produced,  the Miss Universe Pageants and the NBC show The Apprentice. Donald was the fourth of five children of Fred Trump, a wealthy real estate developer based in New York City. Donald was strongly influenced by his father in his eventual goals to make a career in real estate development, and upon his graduation from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1968, Donald Trump joined his father's company, The Trump Organization.

Starting with the renovation of the Commodore Hotel into the Grand Hyatt with the Pritzker family, he continued with Trump Tower in New York City and several other residential projects. Trump would later expand into the airline industry, and Atlantic City casino business, including buying the Taj Mahal Casino from the Crosby family, then taking it into bankruptcy. This expansion, both personal and business, led to mounting debt. Much of the news about him in the early 1990s involved his much publicized financial problems, creditor-led bailout, extramarital affair with Marla Maples, and the resulting divorce from his first wife, Ivana Trump.

The late 1990s saw a resurgence in his financial situation and fame. In 2001, he completed Trump World Tower, a 72-story residential tower across from the United Nations Headquarters. Also, he began construction on Trump Place, a multi-building development along the Hudson River. Trump owns commercial space in Trump International Hotel and Tower, a 44-story mixed-use tower on Columbus Circle. Trump currently owns several million square feet of prime Manhattan real estate, and remains a major figure in the field of real estate in the United States and a celebrity for his prominent media exposures.

25 Oct 2019
Television Permalink

Donald Woods

October 25, 2019

Donald Woods was a Canadian-born American film and television actor whose career spanned six decades.

Born Ralph L. Zink in Brandon, Manitoba, Woods moved with his family to California and was raised in Burbank. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley and made his film debut in 1928. His screen career was spent mostly in B movies, although he occasionally scored a role in a prestige feature film like Anthony Adverse, Watch on the Rhine, and The Bridge of San Luis Rey. In the early days of television, Woods appeared in Craig Kennedy, Criminologist, and such anthology series as The Philco Television Playhouse, Armstrong Circle Theatre, Robert Montgomery Presents, The United States Steel Hour, and General Electric Theater. He later was a regular on the short-lived series Tammy and made guest appearances on Bat Masterson, Wagon Train, Ben Casey, 77 Sunset Strip, Hawaiian Eye, Stoney Burke, Bonanza, Coronet Blue, Ironside, Alias Smith and Jones, and Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law, among many others.

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures Permalink

Donna Reed

October 25, 2019

Donna Reed was an American film and television actress.

She received the 1953 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Lorene, a prostitute, in From Here to Eternity, and received the 1963 Golden Globe Award for Best TV Star – Female for her performance as Donna Stone, an American middle class wife and mother, in The Donna Reed Show. In 1984, she replaced Barbara Bel Geddes as Miss Ellie in the television melodrama, Dallas, and sued the production company for breach of contract when she was abruptly fired upon Bel Geddes’s decision to return to the show.

Reed was married three times and the mother of four children. She died of pancreatic cancer.

Reed was born Donna Belle Mullenger on a farm near Denison, Iowa, the daughter of Hazel Jane Shives and William Richard Mullenger. The eldest of five children, she was raised as a Methodist. After graduating from Denison High School, Reed planned to become a teacher, but was unable to pay for college. She decided to move to California to attend Los Angeles City College on the advice of her aunt. While attending college, she performed in various stage productions but had no plans to become an actress. After receiving several offers to screen test for studios, Reed eventually signed with MGM, but insisted on finishing her education first.

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures, Recording Permalink

Donna Summer

October 25, 2019

LaDonna Adrian Gaines, known by her stage name, Donna Summer is an American singer who gained prominence and notoriety during the “disco” era of the seventies with the majority of her early work produced by the team of Giorgio Moroder and Pete Belotte.

Summer’s number of hits, in the late seventies included “Love to Love You Baby”, “I Feel Love”, “Last Dance”, “Hot Stuff” and “Bad Girls”. These hits helped the singer earn the title “The Queen of Disco”. Following her split from Casablanca Records in the early 1980s and following a backlash against disco, Summer continued to have hits in various genres including “She Works Hard for the Money” and “This Time I Know It’s for Real”.

Summer was the first artist to have three consecutive double albums hit number one on the US Billboard chart and was also the first female artist to have four number-one singles in a thirteen-month period. Summer has sold more than 130 million records worldwide.

Born on New Year’s Eve 1948 in the multi-racial Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, Summer was one of seven children raised by devout Christian parents. Influenced by Mahalia Jackson, Summer began singing in the church at a young age. While singing her first solo at church, Summer said she received an epiphany from God to use this voice to become a star and to not ever misuse her voice. In her teens, Summer formed several groups, including one with her sister and a cousin, imitating Motown girl groups such as The Supremes and Martha and the Vandellas.

25 Oct 2019
Radio, Television Permalink

Don Johnson

October 25, 2019

Donald Wayne “Don” Johnson is an American actor known for his work in television and film. He played the lead role of Sonny Crockett in the 1980s TV cop series, Miami Vice, which led him to huge success and fame. He also played the lead role in the 1990s cop series, Nash Bridges. Johnson is a Golden Globe winning actor for his role in Miami Vice, a winner of the APBA Offshore World Cup, and has received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He is also a singer, songwriter, producer, and director.

Johnson was born in Flat Creek, Missouri. His father, Wayne, was a farmer, and his mother, Nell, was a beautician; they were 19 and 17 at the time of his birth, respectively. At age six, he moved from Missouri to Wichita, Kansas. A 1967 graduate of South High School, he was involved in the high school’s theatre program. As a senior, he played the lead role of Tony in “West Side Story.” His biography noted that he had previously appeared in “Burnt Cork and Melody” and “The Hullabaloo.” He also attended the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas.

In the late 1960s, Johnson was in a psychedelic rock band called Horses. Also in the band were future members of the band Kingfish, which featured Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir. The band put out one self-titled record on the White Whale label in 1969, later re-issued on the Gear Fab label in 2004 and then on the Rev-Ola label in 2005. Johnson, as several noteworthy news sources have mentioned over the years, was relieved of his military obligation due to a high lottery number. In a 1970 newspaper article, Johnson claimed he would not have done so even if called due to his beliefs at the time.

Johnson is quoted in a 1970 newspaper article, mentioning his draft-exempt status and his dislike for war.

25 Oct 2019
Television Permalink

Don Knotts

October 25, 2019

Jesse Donald "Don" Knotts was an American comedic actor best known for his portrayal of Barney Fife on the 1960s television sitcom The Andy Griffith Show, a role which earned him five Emmy Awards. He also played landlord Ralph Furley on the 1970s television sitcom Three's Company.

Knotts was born in Morgantown, West Virginia, a son of William Jesse Knotts and his wife, the former Elsie L. Moore. Knotts' paternal ancestors had emigrated from England to America in the 17th century, originally settling in Queen Anne's County, Maryland. Knotts's father was a farmer, but suffered a nervous breakdown and lost his land. Afflicted with both schizophrenia and alcoholism, he died when Knotts was thirteen years old. Knotts and his three brothers were then raised by their mother, who ran a boarding house in Morgantown. Knotts is a sixth cousin of Ron Howard, a co-actor on the Andy Griffith Show.

An urban legend claims that Knotts served in the United States Marine Corps during World War II, serving as a drill instructor at Parris Island. In reality, Knotts enlisted in the United States Army after graduating from Morgantown High School and spent most of his service entertaining troops.

After performing in many venues, Knotts got his first major break on television in the soap opera Search for Tomorrow where he appeared from 1953 to 1955. He came to fame in 1956 on Steve Allen's variety show, as part of Allen's repertory company, most notably in Allen's mock "Man in the Street" interviews, always as an extremely nervous man. The laughs grew when Knotts stated his occupation?always one that wouldn?t be appropriate for such a shaky person, such as a surgeon or explosives expert.

25 Oct 2019
Radio Permalink

Don McNeill

October 25, 2019

Don McNeill was an American radio personality, best known as the creator and host of The Breakfast Club, which ran for more than 30 years.

McNeill was born in Galena, Illinois, but the family soon moved to Wisconsin, where McNeill graduated from Marquette University in Milwaukee. He was a first cousin of United States Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, for their mothers were sisters. McNeill began his radio career in Milwaukee in 1928, first as a script editor and announcer at station WISN, and later working for the station owned by The Milwaukee Journal. McNeill moved on to Kentucky, working for the Louisville Courier-Journal‘s station, WHAS then a stint in San Francisco as a comedy act with singer Van Fleming, called “The Two Professors,” and finally, following a failed career move to New York City, McNeill wound up back in Illinois in 1933.

McNeill had applied for a job at NBC, and sent to Chicago to audition. He was assigned to take over an unsponsored early morning variety show called The Pepper Pot, with an 8 AM time slot on the NBC Blue Network. McNeill quickly re-organized the hour show as The Breakfast Club, dividing it into four segments, or as McNeill called them, “the four calls to breakfast.”

The show premiered on June 23, 1933, with informal talk and jokes often based on topical events, initially scripted by McNeill, but later performed off the cuff, often with audience interviews. In its final form, this was surrounded by piano music, various vocal groups and soloists, sentimental verse, and recurring comedy performers. The series would eventually gain a sponsor, Swift and Company. McNeill was also credited as the first performer to make morning talk and variety a viable format in radio. .

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures Permalink

Don Murray

October 25, 2019

Donald Patrick “Don” Murray is an American actor.

Murray was born in Hollywood, California. He attended East Rockaway High School in East Rockaway, New York where he played football and track, was a member of the student government and glee club and joined the Alpha Phi Chapter of the Omega Gamma Delta Fraternity. From high school he went on to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

Murray had a long and varied career in films and television, including his role as Sid Fairgate in the long-running prime-time soap opera Knots Landing from 1979 to 1981. He was nominated for an Academy Award as best supporting actor in Bus Stop in which he co-starred with Marilyn Monroe.

He starred as a blackmailed United States senator in Advise and Consent, a film version of a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Allen Drury that was directed by Otto Preminger and cast Murray opposite Henry Fonda and Charles Laughton. He also co-starred with Steve McQueen in the film Baby the Rain Must Fall and played the ape-hating Governor Breck in Conquest of the Planet of the Apes .

25 Oct 2019
Live Performance Permalink

Don Rickles

October 25, 2019

In memory of Walk of Famer Don Rickles, flowers were placed on his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Thursday, April 6, 2017, at 1 p.m. PDT. The star in category of Live Performance is located at 6834 Hollywood Boulevard. “Rest in Peace Mr. Warmth, Don Rickles!” 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.

Donald Jay "Don" Rickles is an American stand-up comedian and actor. A frequent guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Rickles has acted in comedic and dramatic roles, but is best known as an insult comic. However, unlike many insult comics who only find short-lived success, Rickles has enjoyed a sustained career, thanks to a distinct sense of humor, a very sharp wit and impeccable timing.

Rickles was born in the New York City borough of Queens to Max Rickles, who had emigrated in 1902 with his parents Joseph and Frances Rickles from Kaunas, Lithuania, and Etta Rickles, born in New York to immigrant parents from the Austrian Empire. His family was Jewish and spoke Yiddish at home. Rickles grew up in the Jackson Heights area.

After graduating from Newtown High School, Rickles enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served during World War II on the USS Cyrene as a seaman first class. He was honorably discharged in 1946. Two years later, he studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and then played bit parts on television. Frustrated by a lack of acting work, Rickles began doing stand-up comedy. He became known as an insult comedian by responding to his hecklers. The audience enjoyed these insults more than his prepared material, and he incorporated them into his act. When he began his career in the early 1950s, he started calling ill-mannered members of the audience a Hockey Puck. His style was similar to an older insult comic, Nickname "Mr. Warmth" Jack E. Leonard, though Rickles denies that Leonard influenced his style.

While working in a Miami Beach nightclub known as "Murray Franklin's" early in his career, he spotted Frank Sinatra and remarked to him, "I just saw your movie, The Pride and the Passion and I want to tell you, the cannon's acting was great." He added, "Make yourself at home, Frank. Hit somebody!" Sinatra, whose pet name for Rickles was "bullet-head", enjoyed Rickles so much that he encouraged other celebrities to see Rickles' act and be insulted by him. Sinatra's support helped Rickles become a popular headline performer in Las Vegas.

25 Oct 2019
Radio, Television Permalink

Don Wilson

October 25, 2019

Don Wilson was an American announcer and occasional actor in radio and television, with a Falstaffian vocal presence, remembered best as the rotund announcer and comic foil to the star of The Jack Benny Program.

Wilson began his radio career as a singer over Denver radio station KFEL in 1923. By 1929, he was working at KFI in Los Angeles.

Though best known for his comedy work with Benny, Wilson had a background as a sportscaster, covering the opening of the 1932 Summer Olympics. Wilson first worked with Benny on the broadcast of April 6, 1934, concurrent with a short stint as announcer on George Gershwin’s series, Music by Gershwin. At and over, Wilson possessed a resonant voice, a deep belly laugh, and a plump figure, all of which would become important parts of his character with Benny. Though Wilson’s primary function as announcer was to read the opening and the commercial pitches — notably for Jell-O, Grape-Nuts, and Lucky Strikes — his importance to the program was as both feed and foil to Jack and other cast members. A recurring goal was his effort to get the Sportsman’s Quartet singing commercial approved by Benny.

On radio in particular, Wilson’s girth could be exploited, both in jokes by Benny and in audio gags, such as the amount of time it took an railroad porter to brush the soot off of Don following a train trip, or to measure charging him by the pound.