100 % Ethnically Jewish and Beautiful !
List activity
43K views
• 2 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
78 people
- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Jennifer Jason Leigh was born Jennifer Lee Morrow in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of writer Barbara Turner and actor Vic Morrow. Her father was of Russian Jewish descent and her mother was of Austrian Jewish ancestry. She is the sister of Carrie Ann Morrow and half-sister of actress Mina Badie.
Jennifer's parents divorced when she was two. Jennifer worked in her first film at the age of nine, in a nonspeaking role for the film Death of a Stranger (1973). At 14 she attended summer acting workshops given by Lee Strasberg and later landed a role in the Disney TV movie The Young Runaways (1978). She received her Screen Actors Guild membership for an episode of the TV series Baretta (1975) when she was 16. Jennifer performed in several TV movies and dropped out of Pacific Palisades High School six weeks short of graduation for her major role in the film Eyes of a Stranger (1981). Her first major success came as the female lead in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982).
Jennifer was married to writer/director Noah Baumbach from 2005 to 2013, and the two have a son.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Kitty Carlisle Hart wore a cloak of many professional and elegant colors. Actress, opera singer, Broadway performer, TV celebrity, game show panelist, patron of the arts, and, at age 95, this vital woman continued her six-decade musical odyssey with songs and reminisces in her one-woman show: "Kitty Carlisle Hart: An American Icon," which toured from her beloved New York to Los Angeles. She developed pneumonia soon after her tour folded toward the end of 2006 and passed away of congestive heart failure in April of 2007.
Kitty Carlisle Hart was born Catherine Conn (pronounced "Cohen") on September 3, 1910 in New Orleans, Louisiana, to a family of German Jewish ancestry. Her father, Dr. Joseph Conn, was a gynecologist who died when she was only ten. Her very ambitious mother, Hortense (Holzman), escorted Kitty to Europe in 1921 with the intentions of marrying her off, Grace Kelly-style, into European royalty. When that plan didn't pan out, they stayed in Europe where Kitty received her adult education in Switzerland, London, Paris and Rome. She finally zeroed in on her acting career after being accepted into London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and also went on to train at the Theatre de l'Atelier in Paris.
She and her mother eventually returned to New York in 1932 wherein she first apprenticed with the Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope, Pennsylvania. She attracted notice quite early in her career. Billed as Kitty Carlisle, she found radio work and made her first appearance on the musical stage in the title role of "Rio Rita." The legitimately-trained singer went on to appear in a number of operettas, including 1933's "Champagne Sec" (as Prince Orlofsky), as well as the musical comedies "White Horse Inn" (1936) and "Three Waltzes" (1937).
Her early ingénue movie career included warbling in the musical mystery Murder at the Vanities (1934), and alongside Allan Jones amidst the zany goings-on of the Marx Brothers in the classic farce A Night at the Opera (1935). She also played a love interest to Bing Crosby's in two of his lesser known musical outings Here Is My Heart (1934) and She Loves Me Not (1934).
Films were not her strong suit, however, and she returned to her theatre roots. Appearing in her first dramatic productions "French Without Tears" and "The Night of January 16th" in 1938, she went on to grace a number of chic and stylish plays and musicals throughout the 40s, including "Walk with Music (1940), "The Merry Widow" (1943, "Design for Living (1943) and "There's Always Juliet" (1944). She subsequently performed in Benjamin Britten's 1948 American premiere of "The Rape of Lucretia." In 1946, she married Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Moss Hart and appeared in a number of his works including his classic "The Man Who Came to Dinner" (1949) and the witty Broadway comedy "Anniversary Waltz" (1954). The couple had two children. He died in 1961 and she never remarried, spending much of her existing time keeping his name alive to future generations.
It was the small screen that would make Kitty a welcome household commodity. The steadfast panelist of several quiz shows in the 1950s, it was the popular game show To Tell the Truth (1956) that anointed her game show doyenne and icon. A regular panelist for some 20 years, she appeared on each and every revamped format from its 1956 inception to its 2002 syndicated version. Known for her stately presence, infectious laugh, pouffy dark Prince Valiant hairstyle, and sweeping couture gowns on the show, audiences reveled at her effortless class to these simple parlor games. She also was a substitute panelist for other popular game shows such as "What's My Line?" and "I've Got a Secret."
In later years, she became an important society maven of New York City, an avid patron and zealous supporter of the performing arts. Appointed to various state-wide councils, she was chairman of the New York State Council of the Arts in 1976 and served in that capacity for 20 years, also serving on the boards of various New York City cultural institutions. A noted lecturer, the civic-minded Carlisle Hart was active in administrative capacities as well, notably as Chairman of Governor Rockefeller's Conference on Woman (1966) and as special consultant to the Governor on women's opportunities. At one time she wrote the column "Kitty's Calendar" for Women's Unit News.
Kitty never stopped entertaining. Making her Metropolitan debut on New Year's Eve 1966 as Prince Orlovsky in "Die Fledermaus," she joined the touring production the following year. She appeared in concert with the Philadelphia Orchestra and appeared with the Boston Opera Company at one point. She added stature to a number of summer stock plays including "Kiss Me Kate," "The Marriage-Go-Round" and her husband's "Light Up the Sky." Returning to Broadway as a replacement for Dina Merrill in the 1983 revival of "On Your Toes," she was later spotted in Woody Allen's Radio Days (1987) and Six Degrees of Separation (1993).
Carlisle penned her autobiography, Kitty, in 1988. In the millennium, she appeared in a number of documentary films and TV movies. She died on April 17, 2007, at age 96, in Manhattan.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Lauren Bacall was born Betty Joan Perske on September 16, 1924, in New York City. She was the daughter of Natalie Weinstein-Bacal, a Romanian Jewish immigrant, and William Perske, who was born in New Jersey, to Polish Jewish parents. Her family was middle-class, with her father working as a salesman and her mother as a secretary. They divorced when she was five and she rarely saw her father after that.
As a school girl, she originally wanted to be a dancer, but later switched gears to head into acting. She studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, after attending She was educated at Highland Manor, a private boarding school in Tarrytown, New York (through the generosity of wealthy uncles), and then at Julia Richman High School, which enabled her to get her feet wet in some off-Broadway productions.
Out of school, she entered modeling and, because of her beauty, appeared on the cover of Harper's Bazaar, one of the most popular magazines in the US. The wife of famed director Howard Hawks spotted the picture in the publication and arranged with her husband to have Lauren take a screen test. As a result, which was entirely positive, she was given the part of Marie Browning in To Have and Have Not (1944), a thriller opposite Humphrey Bogart, when she was just 19 years old. This not only set the tone for a fabulous career but also one of Hollywood's greatest love stories (she married Bogart in 1945). It was also the first of several Bogie-Bacall films.
After 1945's Confidential Agent (1945), Lauren received second billing in The Big Sleep (1946) with Bogart. The mystery, in the role of Vivian Sternwood Rutledge, was a resounding success. Although she was making one film a year, each production would be eagerly awaited by the public. In 1947, again with her husband, Lauren starred in the thriller Dark Passage (1947). The film kept movie patrons on the edge of their seats. The following year, she starred with Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, and Lionel Barrymore in Key Largo (1948). The crime drama was even more of a nail biter than her previous film.
In 1950, Lauren starred in Bright Leaf (1950), a drama set in 1894. It was a film of note because she appeared without her husband - her co-star was Gary Cooper. In 1953, Lauren appeared in her first comedy as Schatze Page in How to Marry a Millionaire (1953). The film, with co-stars Marilyn Monroe and Betty Grable, was a smash hit all across the theaters of America.
After filming Designing Woman (1957), which was released in 1957, Humphrey Bogart died on January 14 from throat cancer. Devastated at being a widow, Lauren returned to the silver screen with The Gift of Love (1958) in 1958 opposite Robert Stack. The production turned out to be a big disappointment. Undaunted, Lauren moved back to New York City and appeared in several Broadway plays to huge critical acclaim. She was enjoying acting before live audiences and the audiences in turn enjoyed her fine performances.
Lauren was away from the big screen for five years, but she returned in 1964 to appear in Shock Treatment (1964) and Sex and the Single Girl (1964). The latter film was a comedy starring Henry Fonda and Tony Curtis. In 1966, Lauren starred in Harper (1966) with Paul Newman and Julie Harris, which was one of former's signature films.
Alternating her time between films and the stage, Lauren returned in 1974's Murder on the Orient Express (1974). The film, based on Agatha Christie's best-selling book was a huge hit. It also garnered Ingrid Bergman her third Oscar. Actually, the huge star-studded cast helped to ensure its success. Two years later, in 1976, Lauren co-starred with John Wayne in The Shootist (1976). The film was Wayne's last - he died from cancer in 1979. In late 1979, Lauren appeared with her good friend, James Garner, in a double episode, Lions, Tigers, Monkeys and Dogs (1979), of his Rockford Files series.
For Lauren's next film role, she appeared in a large ensemble film, HealtH (1980), which again paired her with James Garner, and in 1981, she played an actress being stalked by a crazed admirer in The Fan (1981). The thriller was absolutely fascinating with Lauren in the lead role, again playing opposite her good friend James Garner, making three straight screen roles with Lauren opposite James Garner. After that production, Lauren was away from films again, this time for seven years. In the interim, she again appeared on the stages of Broadway. When she returned, it was for the filming of 1988's Appointment with Death (1988) and Mr. North (1988). After 1990's Misery (1990) and several made for television films, Lauren appeared in 1996's My Fellow Americans (1996), a comedy romp with Jack Lemmon and James Garner as two ex-presidents and their escapades. In 1997, Lauren appeared in The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996), in one of the best roles of her later career, opposite Barbra Streisand, where Lauren was nominated as Best Actress in a Supporting Role by both the Academy and the Golden Globes, winning the Golden Globe for the role.
Despite her age and failing health, she made a small-scale comeback in the English-language dub of Hayao Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle (2004) ("Howl's Moving Castle," based on the young-adult novel by Diana Wynne Jones) as the Witch of the Waste, and several other roles through 2008, but thereafter acting endeavors for the beloved actress became increasingly rare. Lauren Bacall died on 12 August 2014, five weeks short of her 90th birthday.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Barbara Bain was born in Chicago, graduating from the University of Illinois with a Bachelor's Degree in Sociology. She then relocated to New York City where she gained work as a dancer and high-fashion model. Ms. Bain studied with Martha Graham, permanently cementing her love of dance; however, it was with Lee Strasberg at the prestigious Actors Studio that she discovered her true first love - acting. She is probably best known for her work in the landmark television series Mission: Impossible (1966), created by Bruce Geller, where she created the pivotal role of Impossible Missions Force Agent "Cinnamon Carter", and, in the process, became the first actress in the history of television to receive three consecutive Emmy Awards for Best Dramatic Actress. Ms. Bain followed with the role of "Dr. Helena Russell" in the now classic British syndicated science fiction television series Space: 1999 (1975), created by Gerry Anderson and Sylvia Anderson. Her stage work has garnered her Los Angeles Critic's Circle and DramaLogue Awards for her work on Arthur Kopit's "Wings", Samuel Beckett's "Happy Days" and Eugène Ionesco's "The Chairs". Ms. Bain has worked on behalf of numerous charitable causes and is the founder of the Screen Actors Guild's "BookPals" Program which currently has some 300 of her colleagues reading to children in Los Angeles schools. Following the success of the program there, she helped the program to develop in other major cities throughout North America.- Actress
- Soundtrack
She was a groovy and sexy icon of the late hippie era. To millions of TV viewers she became familiar as the reformed juvenile delinquent, turned undercover cop, Julie Barnes. With her expressive brown eyes and trademark long blonde hair, sylphlike Peggy Lipton was one third of a streetwise urban trio who - at least to baby boomers in the 60s - represented a more anti-authoritarian point of view. As a police drama with a difference, Mod Squad (1968) was a counterculture trend-setter which addressed previously neglected (or taboo) issues such as the Vietnam War, child abuse, police brutality, racism and drugs. Along with Star Trek (1966), I Spy (1965), Mannix (1967) and Mission: Impossible (1966), it was also among the first shows to feature an interracial cast.
Peggy Lipton was born into a well-to-do upper middle-class family of Russian-Jewish ancestry. Her father was a corporate lawyer, her mother an artist. Her upbringing was strict, her childhood lonely. According to her co-authored autobiography "Breathing Out", she was abused by an uncle. An introverted child of self-confessed 'morbid and gloomy' disposition, she became prone to a debilitating nervous stutter which began to disappear when she left home and struck out on her own at the age of 15. With her dad's assistance she obtained her first job as a model for the Eileen Ford agency in New York. Her mother then prompted her to take drama classes with Uta Hagen at the Herbert Berghof studio in Greenwich Village, Manhattan. At age 19, Lipton got her first gigs on TV, mostly small guest spots, albeit in popular cult shows like Bewitched (1964), The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1962) and The Invaders (1967). She also co-starred (opposite a very young Kurt Russell) in Disney's Mosby's Marauders (1967), set during the Civil War. In between acting, Lipton enjoyed a brief, but moderately successful, singing career. Three of her singles made it to the Billboard charts. At the same time, her private life was punctuated by unhappy or abusive romantic dalliances and experimentation with drugs, including cocaine and peyote.
In 1968, Lipton's career as a TV star was properly inaugurated with Mod Squad. Success led to four Emmy nominations and a Golden Globe Award in 1971. Four years into the show she was asked by an interviewer whether she was bored with her character. She replied: "Creatively I'm bored, yes, but I'm certainly not bored with the success of it, not at all. I know what I'm doing isn't 'Medea,' or even necessarily very good TV, but it's exciting to be famous".
Fame might have been exciting, but there was a flipside. After five years of Mod Squad ("we were always working"), she was burnt out. Uncomfortable with attention from the press, Lipton became more and more withdrawn and insecure. Her subsequent marriage to music legend Quincy Jones (1974-1989) settled her down to raising a family but also led to a lengthy hiatus from acting. However, in 1988, somewhat rehabilitated from a miasma of personal problems, she made her screen comeback and a year later co-starred opposite Charles Bronson in the tough action thriller Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects (1989). Her most high profile role during the following years was that of Norma Jennings, proprietor of the Double R Diner, in David Lynch's bizarre supernatural drama Twin Peaks (1990) (a role she reprised in a later cinematic prequel, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992), as well as in the 2017 re-launch). Other sporadic appearances included a role as an antagonist in J.J. Abrams's spy series Alias (2001).
Peggy Lipton was diagnosed with cancer in 2004. The disease eventually claimed her life on May 11 2019 at the age of 72. She left two daughters from her marriage to Quincy Jones, Rashida and Kidada, who have also become actresses.- Mia Kirshner was born in Toronto, Ontario, to Etti, a teacher, and Sheldon Kirshner, a journalist. Her father is of Polish Jewish descent and her mother is a Bulgarian Jewish immigrant. Mia had a middle class upbringing and graduated from McGill University with a degree in English Literature. She had a love for acting from her school days at the Jarvis Institute, and her parents helped find her a talent agent at the age of 12, then began acting in several Canadian television series.
By the age of 14, Mia was acting professionally and made her film debut in 1993 in Denys Arcand's Love and Human Remains (1993). Kirshner won a Genie nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a supporting role for her part in the film. Mia's performance also brought her to the attention of Atom Egoyan, who cast her as the female lead in the 1994 film Exotica (1994). Mia's depiction of a sexy stripper in the film, won her critical acclaim, and by 1996 she established herself with an equally inspiring performance in The Crow: City of Angels (1996).
Having established herself in Hollywood as a leading and versatile performer, Mia also appeared in the first three episodes of 24 (2001) as the assassin Mandy in 2001. She would later reprise the role for the second season's finale and in the latter half of the show's fourth season. Also in 2001, Kirshner played Catherine Wyler, The Cruelest Girl in School, in Not Another Teen Movie (2001). The character is primarily a spoof of Kathryn Merteuil (played by Sarah Michelle Gellar) in Cruel Intentions (1999), and was partially based on Mackenzie Siler (played by Anna Paquin) from She's All That (1999). In the music video for Marilyn Manson: Tainted Love (2001), which was featured on the movie's soundtrack, she made a cameo appearance as her character Catherine Wyler.
In 2004, Kirshner was cast as author Jenny Schecter, a main character in the drama series The L Word (2004). She remained with the show for all of the show's six seasons through 2009. She won several awards for her role as Jenny Schecter, and a world-wide fan base which followed her character throughout the seasons of the L Word.
In 2006, Mia starred in Brian De Palma's The Black Dahlia (2006) in which she plays the young aspiring actress, Elizabeth Short, who was mysteriously mutilated and murdered in 1947. While the film itself was critically panned, many reviews singled out her performance for acclaim. In 2010, Kirshner co-starred in the film 30 Days of Night: Dark Days (2010) which began filming in the fall of 2009. In 2010, she was cast as Isobel Fleming, a guest role on The Vampire Diaries (2009).
In 2011, she voiced the title character in Bear 71 (2012), a National Film Board of Canada web documentary that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.
On April 20, 2012, it was announced that Kirshner would join the new Syfy series Defiance (2013).
Kirshner was ranked #43 on the Maxim Hot 100 Women of 2002. She and Beverly Polcyn were nominated for Best Kiss at the 2002 MTV Movie Awards (2002) for Not Another Teen Movie (2001). In 2012 it was announced that Kirshner would be the face of Monica Rich Kosann's jewelry collection.
Already established as Canada's most decorated female performer, Mia is also a decorated writer, winning acclaim for her 2007 book I Live Here. - Actress
- Producer
- Director
Natalie Portman is the first person born in the 1980s to have won the Academy Award for Best Actress (for Black Swan (2010)).
Natalie was born Natalie Hershlag on June 9, 1981, in Jerusalem, Israel. She is the only child of Avner Hershlag, an Israeli-born doctor, and Shelley Stevens, an American-born artist (from Cincinnati, Ohio), who also acts as Natalie's agent. Her parents are both of Ashkenazi Jewish descent. Natalie's family left Israel for Washington, D.C., when she was still very young. After a few more moves, her family finally settled in New York, where she still lives to this day. She graduated with honors, and her academic achievements allowed her to attend Harvard University. She was discovered by an agent in a pizza parlor at the age of 11. She was pushed towards a career in modeling but she decided that she would rather pursue a career in acting. She was featured in many live performances, but she made her powerful film debut in the movie Léon: The Professional (1994) (aka "Léon"). Following this role Natalie won roles in such films as Heat (1995), Beautiful Girls (1996), and Mars Attacks! (1996).
It was not until 1999 that Natalie received worldwide fame as Queen Amidala in the highly anticipated US$431 million-grossing prequel Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999). She then she starred in two critically acclaimed comedy dramas, Anywhere But Here (1999) and Where the Heart Is (2000), followed by Closer (2004), for which she received an Oscar nomination. She reprised her role as Padme Amidala in the last two episodes of the Star Wars prequel trilogy: Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) and Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005). She received an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in Black Swan (2010).
She received a second nomination for Best Actress, for playing Jacqueline Kennedy in Jackie (2016).- Producer
- Actress
Suze Orman was born on 5 June 1951 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. She is a producer and actress, known for The Suze Orman Show (2002), 30 Rock (2006) and The Simpsons (1989). She has been married to Kathy Travis since September 2010.- Producer
- Writer
- Actress
Barbara Walters was born on 25 September 1929 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. She was a producer and writer, known for The Barbara Walters Summer Special (1976), The View (1997) and 20/20 (1978). She was married to Merv Adelson, Lee Guber and Robert Henry Katz. She died on 30 December 2022 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA.- Actress
- Writer
- Producer
Shari Lewis was born on 17 January 1934 in New York City, New York, USA. She was an actress and writer, known for Lamb Chop's Play-Along (1992), The Charlie Horse Music Pizza (1998) and Star Trek (1966). She was married to Jeremy Tarcher and Stanley Harry Lipschitz (Lewis). She died on 2 August 1998 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Elizabeth Berkley was born in Farmington Hills, Michigan, to Jere, a gift basket business owner and Fred Berkley, a lawyer. She has an older brother, Jason (b. 1969). Her family is Jewish. By five, she was taking tap and jazz classes with Barbara Fink and ballet classes at Detroit Dance Company. She danced "Swan Lake" with principals from the American Ballet Theatre and for five years she performed in the NYC Ballet's holiday production of "The Nutcracker" in Detroit. Roles in community theatre followed in such plays as "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown", "Gypsy" and "Eleemosynary". She placed as a finalist at the "Look of the Year" contest promoted by Elite Agency. At 13 she began modeling for Elite's New York division and that led to print work and TV commercials.
Her first on-screen job was a small part in Gimme a Break! (1981), followed by a leading role in the critically acclaimed short Platinum Blonde (1988) and a supporting part in the TV movie Frog (1988). In 1988 her family eventually relocated to California to let Elizabeth pursuing a career in Hollywood. After guest roles in series like TV 101 (1988) and Day by Day (1988), she landed a regular role in Saved by the Bell (1989). After four seasons and a TV movie, she left the show to try to break into features films. In 1994, after several roles in television and straight-to-video films, she booked the coveted role of Nomi Malone in Showgirls (1995). Unexpectedly, the much-anticipated film bombed at the box office and was destroyed by critics. After leaving CAA, she signed with United Talent Agency and began rebuilding her film career with some small roles in major films (The First Wives Club (1996) and Oliver Stone's Any Given Sunday (1999)) and leading parts in quality indies (including Taxman (1998) and The Real Blonde (1997)).
In 1999 she played Lenny Bruce's wife in the acclaimed West End production of "Lenny", directed by Sir Peter Hall and starring Eddie Izzard. Her performance in Dylan Kidd's Roger Dodger (2002), released in 2002 after a successful festival tour, impressed the critics. The box-office hit "Sly Fox" marked her Broadway debut in 2004 but it was her performance in the Off-Broadway production "Hurlyburly" (directed by Scott Elliott and co-starring Ethan Hawke, Parker Posey and Wallace Shawn) that earned her the best reviews of her career and a public apology from The New York Times.
She appeared for several seasons in the hit series CSI: Miami (2002) as Julia Winston, and in the final season of Showtime's The L Word (2004). Thanks to television syndication of Saved by the Bell (1989), Elizabeth is a favorite among a whole new generation of teen girls. Elizabeth has been making life-changing connections with these girls over the past seven years through Ask Elizabeth, her not-for-profit organization that includes self-esteem workshops she facilitates as a volunteer in schools and for youth organizations, a thriving website (ask-elizabeth.com) that hosts digital content as a way to be of continued service to girls and, most recently, her book "Ask Elizabeth" (published by Penguin), which made The New York Times' best-seller list. This nationwide movement has affected the lives of over 100,000 girls and counting. She was also a featured contributor on Oprah.com, bridging the communication gap between mothers and daughters.
Berkley is married to artist Greg Lauren and the couple has one son, Sky Cole Lauren, born in 2012. She is 5'10", and she has been a vegetarian her entire life. She enjoys yoga, dancing and singing. She attended UCLA where she studied English Literature. Berkley is active in numerous outreach programs including dance classes for young teens and physically and mentally challenged youth; volunteer work with the elderly at the Motion Pictures Home for the Aging; Women's Cancer Research Fund, the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary and the Humane Society.- Writer
- Actress
- Producer
Francine Joy "Fran" Drescher was born on September 30, 1957 in Queens, New York City, New York to Sylvia Drescher, a bridal consultant & Mort Drescher, a naval systems analyst. Fran attended Hillcrest High School in New York with another now-famous name, Ray Romano. She was a studious girl and was quite popular. In fact, at age fifteen, she'd met the man she thought she'd spend the rest of her life with. That man was Peter Marc Jacobson. Her first break was in the unforgettable movie, Saturday Night Fever (1977) with John Travolta. She continued to play small roles in movies, until she came up with the idea for The Nanny (1993). She was visiting a friend in England and came up with the plot line. The Nanny (1993) became an instant success, and so did Fran. Since then, she has been in films such as The Beautician and the Beast (1997) (which she also produced) and Picking Up the Pieces (2000) co-starring Woody Allen. Fran has since divorced her husband Jacobson. She is a cancer survivor and an inspiration to women everywhere.- A flashy, aggressive, cold and calculating villainess and eternally hopeless meddler on a number of daytime soap operas, Louise Sorel has given her opulent, show-stopping characters major doses of humor and grit that have allowed her to become one of daytime's more popular figures for over six decades.
Of Jewish heritage, Louise, whose roots are in theatre, was born on August 6, 1940 in Los Angeles to entertainment professionals. Studying at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York, she made her Broadway debut playing a teenager in the 1961 comedy "Take Her, She's Mine" starring Art Carney and also had subsequent roles in "Lorenzo" (1963) and "Man and Boy" (1963). Her initial interest obviously was sparked by her actress/concert pianist mother Jeanne Sorel, and father Albert J. Cohen, who produced films in the 1940s and 1950s. Louise went on to co-star on Broadway with Rita Moreno in "The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window" in 1964 and appeared with George C. Scott and Colleen Dewhurst as Princess Alais in the 1967 Bucks County Playhouse production of "The Lion in Winter."
Given a bit part (billed as Jacqueline Sorel) in the exploitation teen film Eighteen and Anxious (1957), Louise, in 1964, married comic actor Herb Edelman, best known for his recurring role of Bea Arthur's ex husband Stan in The Golden Girls (1985). Around this time, she began setting her sights on TV drama, appearing on various dramatic shows including "Dr. Kildare," "The Defenders," "The Trials of O'Brien," "Route 66," "The Rat Patrol," "The Virginian," "Run for Your Life," "Star Trek," "The Big Valley," "The Fugitive," "Night Gallery," "The Bold Ones," "Banacek," "Hawaii Five-0," "Owen Marshall," "Kojak," "Hart to Hart," "The Incredible Hulk," "Ironside" and several episodes of "Medical Center," as well as a recurring part on the short-lived nighttime soap opera The Survivors (1969) starring Lana Turner and George Hamilton. In a change of pace, Louise turned to comedy as Don Rickles' wife on his poorly-received series The Don Rickles Show (1972).
Though she divorced Edelman in 1972, Louise nevertheless co-starred with him again in the failed sitcom Ladies' Man (1980). She met second husband actor Ken Howard in 1972 while appearing with him in a Philadelphia stage production of "Volpone." They married a year later but divorced a couple of years later in 1975.
Appearing in support in the films Plaza Suite (1971), Every Little Crook and Nanny (1972), Airplane II: The Sequel (1982), Where the Boys Are (1984), and Crimes of Passion (1984), Louise moved quite steadily ahead not only with a regular role in the short-lived comedy series Ladies' Man (1980), but with co-star/featured roles in the TV movies The Girl Who Came Gift-Wrapped (1974), The Mark of Zorro (1974), When Every Day Was the Fourth of July (1978), Mazes and Monsters (1982), Sunset Limousine (1983) and A Masterpiece of Murder (1986).
Various daytime soap operas reinvigorated Louise's career tenfold in the late 1980s. She began her road to sudsy infamy in 1984 as the eccentric archvillainess Augusta Lockridge for the entire run of Santa Barbara (1984). From there she was given recurring roles as Judith Sanders on One Life to Live (1968) and as Donatella Stewart Port Charles (1997). In 1992, Louise joined the cast of Days of Our Lives (1965) as the manipulative Vivian Alamain. By the time she left in 2000, she had won five Soap Opera Digest Awards.
More recently, Louise has had devilish fun in the quirky soap Passions (1999) and in a recurring role on the political drama Beacon Hill (2014). - Actress
- Director
- Producer
The daughter of a premier makeup artist and the sister of a United States District Attorney, Michele Lee was born Michele Lee Dusick on June 24, 1942 in Los Angeles, California. Her childhood was consumed by the Hollywood entertainment industry. Lee was outgoing and had taken every chance to do plays in front of her family and friends. In junior high school, she continued acting in school plays. When she was in the 10th grade at Los Angeles' Alexander Hamilton High School, she tried out for the band and was the lead singer for that. Prior to her graduation from Hamilton, she landed her first role in the Broadway revue, "Vintage '60" and her career was launched. A small role in "Bravo Giovanni" and the lead role as Rosemary in "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" followed. Her musical talent was brought to the attention of Columbia Records (now Sony) and she signed to the label in a hurry.
Shortly after she appeared in Broadway shows and became a singer, she began making a number of guest appearances on television doing dancing, singing and performing comedy routines on most live-action segments, most notably The Danny Kaye Show (1963). She was only 22 and her career was off to a firing start. She continued making guest appearances on a number of television specials and live-action series. However, the silver screen took precedence as she made her movie debut with the film How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1967), followed by The Comic (1969), co-starring Dick Van Dyke. A year that, after her first child was born and soon after, she was back at work, starring as Secretary Carole Bennett on The Love Bug (1969), that it was the best movie of 1970 and it made it to the top of the box office all across the country.
While her laughter was brought unto the world and after giving birth to David Farentino, several months later her father passed away of a severe heart attack in 1970 at age 54. Michele was devastated by the loss of her father but she quickly directed herself to head back to work. She accepted a role on Broadway in "Seesaw", where her work gave her a 1974 Tony nomination for Best Actress in a Musical. However, tragedy haunted Michele when she was unable to spring back for a long time after her mother died in 1974. Near the end of 1979, after being on vacation with her husband and only child, she accepted the leading role of the feisty-yet-friendly neighbor Karen Fairgate MacKenzie in the prime-time soap opera Knots Landing (1979), which spun-off the immensely popular serial Dallas (1978) on CBS. For 14 of those years, Michele was the big asset of the series and by the very first year that it debuted, it had low ratings and producers, at times, wanted to send "Dallas" stars to the cul-de-sac, including that of Larry Hagman, who met Lee after the pilot episode.
By the Fall of 1980, Lee and the producers of "Knots Landing" always wanted to do something better in order to boost up the ratings and in September of that same year, after refusing to accept "no" for an answer, former dancer and movie starlet Donna Mills came to the series by playing Lee's manipulative, nasty and least popular sister-in-law Abby Fairgate Cunningham Ewing Sumner, and the series became #1 for the next 13 seasons, among other 1980s soaps that stood the test of time. By 1982, she was nominated for one Emmy Award, but had won the Soap Opera Digest Award, three times. The triumph of the series was splendid but in real-life, her marriage to James Farentino was a burden and the couple was divorced in 1983. In 1989, while going on strong with her role on "Knots Landing", she also became the series' director, starting to direct several episodes of the series and just before Donna Mills left, making Lee the big star of the series.
By the 14th and the final season, most of her co-stars of "Knots Landing" were asked to be absent (except co-star Joan Van Ark, who left in 1992) a number of times on the series, but for Lee, she had declined to be absent and wanted to show up without pay. In 1993, "Knots Landing" was cancelled when her second family came to a close and due to high salary amongst her co-stars. When the series was dropped away from its schedule on CBS, she was open to new opportunities. She began to produce and develop her own television movies through her own production company. She has had an incredible career that spans almost 40 years in television, film and on stage and in 1999, she earned her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, which is located not far from the site of her very first audition for "Vintage '60".
In 1995, after learning a great deal from her idol Dottie West, she appeared in the CBS-TV movie Big Dreams & Broken Hearts: The Dottie West Story (1995), playing the character of the same name doing all the singing and knowing what it was like to be Dottie West. Before she came back to do a reunion movie called Knots Landing: Back to the Cul-de-Sac (1997), she played a retarded woman named Dina Blake on Lifetime's Color Me Perfect (1996) and was the first lady to star, write and produce a movie for Cable Television and, like The Love Bug, it was the best movie on Cable Television in 1996. In 2000, she starred opposite Valerie Harper in the Broadway play "Tale of the Allergist's Wife" in New York and almost four years later after a 35-year-absence, she returned to the big screen to play Ben Stiller's mother in Along Came Polly (2004).- Actress
- Soundtrack
Madeline Kahn was born Madeline Gail Wolfson of Russian Jewish descent on September 29, 1942 in Boston, Massachusetts, to Freda Goldberg (later known as Paula Kahn), who was still in her teens, and Bernard B. Wolfson, a garment manufacturer. She began her acting career in high school and went on to university where she trained as an opera singer and starred in several campus productions, ultimately earning a doctorate in her chosen field.
Kahn's best-known work came in Paper Moon (1973) with Ryan O'Neal, which was followed the next year by Mel Brooks's outrageous Blazing Saddles (1974) as Lili Von Shtupp, a cabaret singer who was obviously based on Marlene Dietrich's performance in Destry Rides Again (1939). Kahn was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in both movies. In 1998, she lent her voice to the character of "Gypsy" in A Bug's Life (1998).
On December 3, 1999, Madeline Kahn died of ovarian cancer in New York City, after a yearlong or so battle, during part of which time she was a cast member of Cosby (1996), aged 57.- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Jamie Michelle Luner was born on Wednesday, May 12, 1971 to Stuart and Susan Luner in Palo Alto, California. She grew up with her older brother, David Luner, and her mom Susan in California. Before landing her roles on Just the Ten of Us (1987) as dizzy "Cindy Lubbock", Jamie began her career in front of the cameras at the tender age of three doing TV commercials. At 15 she won the L.A. Shakespeare Festival in the category of monologues. She was still working on Just the Ten of Us (1987), while attending Beverly Hills High School, from which she graduated in 1989. She took a break from acting, attended culinary school, and was a chef at French restaurant Drai's after Just the Ten of Us (1987) was canceled in 1991.
She returned to TV in Moment of Truth: Why My Daughter? (1993) in 1993 with a few small parts in shows such as Married... with Children (1987), Diagnosis Murder (1993). Then, she got her first break as Southern seductress "Peyton Richards" in Savannah (1996). After the prime-time soap was canceled, Jamie and her then-boyfriend Johnny Braz traveled around the US in an Airstream motor home before she landed the role of "Lexi" in Melrose Place (1992). After the Fox soap ended in 1999, so did her four-year-romance. Then after Ally Walker left, Jamie joined the cast of Profiler (1996) as "Rachel Burke".
Later she was in ABC's short-lived 10-8: Officers on Duty (2003). Then, in 2005, she had lead roles in Lifetime's, Blind Injustice (2005), Stranger in My Bed (2005) and, in 2006, The Suspect (2006), The Perfect Marriage (2006) and a guest spot on The War at Home (2005).
Jamie has also done theater work in Santa Monica in "Black & Bluestein", Other Space, Santa Monica and The Young Playwrites Festival in Los Angeles.- Actress
- Writer
- Producer
Linda Cohn grew up in New York and played ice hockey in high school and college. She graduated from SUNY at Oswego in 1981, and for the next decade, was a sports anchor at various radio stations. In 1992, Cohn was hired by ESPN to be an anchor for SportsCenter (1979), and the show helped make her nationally famous. She has continued to anchor "SportsCenter" into the 21st century.- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Jaime Ray Newman will next be seen in a recurring role on the new Apple TV series created by Don Cheadle, THE BIG CIGAR, as well as guest starring in BEL AIR on Peacock. She recently appeared as a recurring character on the critically-acclaimed Hulu series DOPESICK, opposite Michael Keaton, as well as on THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE for HBO. Newman held prominent recurring roles in both DEPUTY on FOX and LITTLE FIRES EVERYWHERE, opposite Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington. Previously, Jaime has recurred on VERONICA MARS, THE MAGICIANS, THE IMPOSTERS, MAJOR CRIMES, SATISFACTION, CSI, DROP DEAD DIVA, and NIP/TUCK. Jaime also starred in NBC's MIDNIGHT TEXAS and season one of Marvel's THE PUNISHER on Netflix. Her other credits include A&E's BATES MOTEL, ABC's WICKED CITY, and ABC's EASTWICK.
Jaime will next be seen in the independent feature film, JUDO, directed by Guy Nattiv. Her other film work includes appearing in CATCH ME IF YOU CAN, RUBBERNECK, the independent movie RED ROBIN, as well as the remake of the animated film TARZAN. She can also be seen in the feature VALLEY OF THE GODS, opposite Josh Hartnett and John Malkovich. Jaime received an Academy Award for best short in 2018 for SKIN. She will next be seen in the short film KINSHIP, directed by Daniel Ramirez and produced by Lawrence Bender and Kevin Brown. She is currently developing projects alongside her husband, Guy Nattiv, for their production company, New Native Pictures.- Bonnie Bernstein was born on 16 August 1970 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. She is an actress, known for Nick Takes Over the Superbowl (2004), The NFL on CBS (1956) and NFL Monday Night Football (1970).
- Actress
- Writer
- Director
Elayne Boosler was born on 18 August 1952 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. She is an actress and writer, known for Cinemax Comedy Experiment (1985), Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme (1990) and CBS Summer Playhouse (1987). She has been married to Bill Siddons since 7 March 2007.- Actress
- Writer
- Producer
Arleen Sorkin was born on 14 October 1955 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA. She was an actress and writer, known for Days of Our Lives (1965), Batman: Arkham Asylum (2009) and Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (2000). She was married to Christopher Lloyd. She died on 24 August 2023 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actress
- Producer
- Editorial Department
Emmy Award-winning Sarah Michelle Gellar was born on April 14, 1977 in New York City, the daughter of Rosellen (Greenfield), who taught at a nursery school, and Arthur Gellar, who worked in the garment industry. She is of Russian Jewish and Hungarian Jewish descent.
Eating in a local restaurant, Sarah was discovered by an agent when she was four years old. Soon after, she was making her first movie An Invasion of Privacy (1983). Besides a long list of movies, she has also appeared in many TV commercials and on the stage. Her breakthrough came with the television series Swans Crossing (1992). In 1997, she became known to the cinema audience when she appeared in two movies: I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) and Scream 2 (1997). But she is most commonly known for her title role in the long-running television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997). She also won an Emmy Award for her performance as Kendall Hart on the soap opera All My Children (1970).
Sarah has since starred in many films, including Simply Irresistible (1999), Cruel Intentions (1999), and the live-action Scooby-Doo (2002) movies as the lovable Daphne Blake. She also provided her voice to several movies, including Small Soldiers (1998), Happily N'Ever After (2006) and TMNT (2007), starred in the box office hit The Grudge (2004), and co-starred with Robin Williams and James Wolk in the television series The Crazy Ones (2013).
She resides in Los Angeles, California, with her husband, Freddie Prinze Jr.. They have been married since 2002, and have two children.- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Jane Badler, the American and Australian actress best known for her role as the evil reptilian Visitor leader "Diana" in the NBC mini-series V (1983), its sequel V: The Final Battle (1984), the subsequent TV series V (1984), and the last season of the latest series V (2009), was born on the last day of 1953 in Brooklyn, New York. She spent her teen years in Manchester, New Hampshire, where she attended Central High School. Jane won the Miss New Hampshire title and competed at the 1972 Miss America Pageant before going on to study drama at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.
In 1977, Jane gained her first major role on the TV soap opera One Life to Live (1968), where she played "Melinda Cramer Janssen" until 1981, returning briefly to reprise the role in 1983. She also starred on the venerable soap opera The Doctors (1963). Jane's other TV roles included a stint on Falcon Crest (1981) as "Meredith Braxton" from 1986 to 1987 and as "Agent Shannon Reed" for the revival of the series Mission: Impossible (1988), which was shot in Australia. She also guest-starred on many TV series.
Jane relocated to Australia after filming Mission: Impossible (1988) Down Under, marrying businessman Stephen Haines. They have two sons, Sam and Harry. Her Australian TV roles include Cluedo (1992) (the British and Australian name of the board game known as "Clue" in the United States). She also had a guest-starring role in Snowy River: The McGregor Saga (1994). In the 1990s, she launched a stage career and cabaret act, including the one-woman show "The Love Goddess: Rita Hayworth".- Actress
- Soundtrack
Acclaimed actress Jessica Walter was born on January 31, 1941 in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of Esther (Groisser), a teacher, and David Walter (his original surname was Warshawsky), a musician who was a member of the NBC Symphony Orchestra and the NYC Ballet Orchestra. She was of Russian Jewish descent, the sister of screenwriter and Chairman of the UCLA Screenwriting program Richard Walter. Their uncle was stage and screen actor Jerry Jarrett. Raised in Queens, Walter was a graduate of New York's High School of the Performing Arts and the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre. She first acted in summer stock and her extensive subsequent career on the stage included productions both on- and off-Broadway.
On Broadway, Walter appeared in Peter Ustinov's "Photo Finish" (which earned her the Clarence Derwent Award as Most Promising Newcomer), "A Severed Head", "Advise and Consent", "Night Life" and Neil Simon's "Rumors". Off-Broadway, she acted in a 1986 Los Angeles Theater Center production of "Tartuffe" opposite Ron Leibman (to whom she was married from 1983 until his death in 2019).
After guesting on several TV series in the early and mid-1960s, Walter made her move to feature films where she attracted attention for her role as the brash Libby in Sidney Lumet's The Group (1966). This seemed to set the tone for her next screen personae as bitchy, difficult or dangerously vindictive women, the most memorable of which was Evelyn in Clint Eastwood's directorial debut film, Play Misty for Me (1971). This earned Walter a richly deserved Golden Globe nomination. Another stand-out role was Pat, the bored ex-glamour model wife of one racing driver (Brian Bedford) and troublesome girlfriend of another (James Garner) in Grand Prix (1966). Walter's numerous TV roles included the enchantress Morgan LeFay in the rarely seen telemovie Dr. Strange (1978). Of her many screen villainesses she later said: "those are the fun roles. They're juicy, much better than playing the vanilla ingénues".
By the 1980s, Walter had turned increasingly towards comedy, both on the big screen (The Flamingo Kid (1984)) and the small (Three's a Crowd (1984)). However, she never shied away from other genres, whether playing an EarthGov senator on the cult sci-fi series Babylon 5 (1993) or providing the voice for the leading female character in the animated sitcom Dinosaurs (1991). Walter received an Emmy Award for Best Dramatic Actress in the Ironside (1967) spin-off Amy Prentiss (1974) and was nominated for guest-starring roles in episodes of Trapper John, M.D. (1979) and The Streets of San Francisco (1972). She found a new audience among younger viewers as the devious matriarch Lucille Bluth in Arrested Development (2003).
Jessica Walter died in her sleep on March 24, 2021 from undisclosed causes at the age of 80. Riverside Memorial Chapel and Funeral Home in New York City completed her final arrangements. She was cremated and her ashes are with her daughter.- Actress
- Soundtrack
An incredible piece of 1960s eye candy, Jill St. John absolutely smoldered on the big screen, a trendy presence in lightweight comedy, spirited adventure and spy intrigue who appeared alongside some of Hollywood's most handsome male specimens. Although she was seldom called upon to do much more than frolic in the sun and playfully taunt and tempt as needed, this tangerine-topped stunner managed to do her job very, very well. A remarkably bright woman in real life, she was smart enough to play the Hollywood game to her advantage and did so for nearly two decades before looking elsewhere for fun and contentment.
Jill St. John was actually born Jill Oppenheim in 1940 in Los Angeles. On stage and radio from age five, she was pretty much prodded by a typical stage mother. Making her TV debut in The Christmas Carol (1949), Jill began blossoming and attracting the right kind of attention in her late teens. She signed with Universal Pictures at age 16 and made her film debut as a perky support in Summer Love (1958) starring then-hot John Saxon. Moving ahead, she filled the bill as a slightly dingy love interest in such innocuous fun as The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker (1959), Holiday for Lovers (1959), Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? (1963), Who's Minding the Store? (1963) and Honeymoon Hotel (1964).
Whether the extremely photogenic Jill had talent (and she did!) or not never seemed to be a fundamental issue with casting agents. By the late '60s she had matured into a classy, ravishing redhead who not only came equipped with a knockout figure but some sly, suggestive one-liners as well that had her male co-stars (and audiences) more than interested. She skillfully traded sexy quips with Anthony Franciosa in the engaging TV pilot to the hit series The Name of the Game (1968) and scored a major coup as the ever-tantalizing Tiffany Case, a ripe and ready Bond girl, in Diamonds Are Forever (1971) opposite Sean Connery's popular "007" character. She also co-starred with Bob Hope in the dismal Eight on the Lam (1967), but the connection allowed her to be included in a number of the comedian's NBC specials over the years. A part of Frank Sinatra's "in" crowd, she worked with him on both Come Blow Your Horn (1963) and Tony Rome (1967).
On camera, Jill's glossy femme fatales had a delightfully brazen, tongue-in-cheek quality to them. Off-camera, she lived the life of a jet-setter and was known for her romantic excursions with such eligibles as Jack Nicholson, David Frost, Joe Namath, Bill Hudson, Roman Polanski and even Henry Kissinger. Of her four marriages, which included laundry heir Neil Dubin, the late sports car racer Lance Reventlow, son of Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton, and easy-listening crooner Jack Jones, she seems to have found her soulmate in present husband Robert Wagner, whom she married in 1990 after an eight-year courtship. Jill first met Wagner when they were both just beginning their careers as contract players at 20th Century Fox. The couple share credits on several productions, notably Banning (1967) as well as the top-tier TV movies How I Spent My Summer Vacation (1967) and Around the World in 80 Days (1989).
Abandoning acting out of boredom, she has returned only on rare occasions. She played against type as a crazed warden in the prison drama The Concrete Jungle (1982) and has had some fun cameos alongside Wagner both on film (The Player (1992)) and even TV (Seinfeld (1989)). In the late 1990s they started touring together in A.R. Gurney's popular two-person stage reading of "Love Letters." Jill's lifelong passion for cooking (her parents were restaurateurs) has turned profitable over the years. She has written a cookbook and appeared as a TV chef and "in-house" cooking expert on Good Morning America (1975). She also served as a food columnist for the USA Weekend newspaper. On the philanthropic front, she is founder of the Aunts Club, a Rancho Mirage-based group of special women who contribute at least $1,000 per year to provide financial support for a child.
She was glimpsed more recently in the films The Calling (2002) and The Trip (2002) and she and Wagner had small roles as Santa and Mrs. Claus in the TV movie Northpole (2014). The Wagners make their home in Aspen.- Rena was born in Arcadia, California, to Susan (Franzblau), a psychology professor, and Martin Sofer, who was a Conservative Jewish Rabbi. She moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania when her parents divorced. She was discovered at age 15 by a New York talent agent and started modeling before turning to acting. She appeared on Another World (1964) for a short time and then went to Loving (1983), where she played Rockie McKenzie for 3 years. She made her first mark on television when she joined fellow ABC-soap General Hospital (1963) as savvy record promoter Lois Cerullo. Not only did her portrayal win her a vast amount of fans, she also won a 'Best Supporting Actress' Daytime Emmy and network executives considered creating a spin-off series based on Lois and her on-screen husband Ned. It was on General Hospital she met Wally Kurth, her on-screen spouse who became her real-life husband and father to her daughter Rosabel Rosalind Kurth. In the mid-'90s, Sofer made the leap to primetime, guest starring in a number of series before appropriately landing a regular part on primetime soap Melrose Place (1992) which turned to be the series' final season. Starring and recurring roles on the sitcom Just Shoot Me! (1997) and the dramedy Ed (2000) widened her exposure. A string of flop series followed (Oh, Grow Up (1999); The Chronicle (2001); Coupling (2003) and Blind Justice (2005), but Sofer proved she had staying power and scored roles on the big screen in movies with Ben Stiller (Keeping the Faith (2000)) and Steven Soderbergh's Traffic (2000). After taking a brief hiatus to give birth to a daughter with her second husband, TV director Sanford Bookstaver, she returned to the small screen in 2006 with recurring roles in two hit shows 24 (2001) and Heroes (2006), as the long-suffering wife to two shady characters, a power broker and an aspiring politician, respectively. In 2010, she tackled a season-long story arc as Margaret Allison Hart, an attorney with a hidden agenda on NCIS (2003). In 2013 she returned to her daytime roots, taking on the role of enigmatic jewelry designer Quinn Fuller on The Bold and the Beautiful (1987) receiving rave reviews.
- Director
- Actress
- Producer
Melanie Mayron was born on 20 October 1952 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. She is a director and actress, known for Thirtysomething (1987), Girlfriends (1978) and Snapshots (2018).- Solemn-looking Middle Eastern-looking Zohra Lampert, with the prominent cheek bones and soothing voicer, had a touching, understated quality to her talent that should have gone further in the film business than it did. Somehow she never got the breaks necessary for top-flight stardom. Still and all, this comely actress with soft, vulnerable features managed to contribute a number of genuinely affecting performances, particularly on TV.
Born in New York City on May 13, 1931, Zohra was the daughter of Russian-born hardware store owners. She attended Manhattan's High School of Music and Art and later graduated from the University of Chicago. A one-time member of Chicago's Second City comedy troupe, she had a stint with the Lincoln Center Repertory Theatre before turning to Broadway and making her 1958 debut in the play "Maybe Tuesday." She was quickly nominated for two consecutive Tony awards for her superb work in "Look: We've Come Through" (1961) and "Mother Courage and Her Children" (1963), then continued with poignant performances in such productions as "After the Fall" (1964), "Lovers and Other Strangers" (1968) and "The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window" (1972).
Following occasional TV guest parts on such programs as "Ford Star Jubilee" and "Decoy," Zohra made a minor film debut in Odds Against Tomorrow (1959). She received much more attention with her humble, deeply stirring performance as Ernest Borgnine's Italian wife in the minor crime story Pay or Die! (1960), then quietly stole a touching scene towards the end of the film Splendor in the Grass (1961) from both Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty as Beatty's careworn spouse. Those two performances alone should have lifted her to the heights, but they didn't.
A chameleon-like actress who didn't quite fit into the Hollywood structure as a star personality, Lampert, perhaps because of her ethnic looks, was passed over in such films as Posse from Hell (1961) and Hey, Let's Twist! (1961), A Fine Madness (1966), Bye Bye Braverman (1968) and Some Kind of a Nut (1969). She did score with a neurotic title lead in the low-budgeted cult chiller Let's Scare Jessica to Death (1971).
She seemed to favor the small screen for the most part in the 60's and 70's. She was performing primarily on the small screen in offbeat lead or character roles on such popular programs as "Route 66," "The Defenders," "United States Steel Hour," "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour," "Dr. Kildare," "Naked City," "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.," "I Spy," "Then Came Bronson," "Love, American Style," "The Bob Newhart Show," "Quincy" and an Emmy-winning guest performance as a gypsy in "Kojak." She also was a part of two short-lived series: The Girl with Something Extra (1973) starring Sally Field and Doctors' Hospital (1975).
Lampert graced several TV movies as a second lead or support player including Lady Oscar (1979), The Suicide's Wife (1979), The Girl, the Gold Watch & Everything (1980), The Girl, the Gold Watch & Dynamite (1981) and Izzy & Moe (1985). In later years, she was reduced to featured status in films and found some earthy, quirky ladies to inhabit in such films as Alphabet City (1984), Teachers (1984), American Blue Note (1989), Stanley & Iris (1990), The Exorcist III (1990), Alan & Naomi (1992), Last Supper (1992) and The Eden Myth (1999).
Better remembered for her spokeswoman for the Goya Beans commercials in the 1980's, she left the screen willfully in the late 1990's for nearly a decade, but returned for only three films - The Hungry Ghosts (2009), Zenith (2010) and the barely seen Sexual Secrets (2014). She was married twice, divorcing "Second City" comedy co-founder Bill Alton and later marrying radio host and singer Jonathan Schwartz in 2010. - Actress
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Stella Adler was born on February 10, 1901, in New York, the youngest daughter of the Yiddish theater actors, Jacob P. Adler and Sarah Adler, who founded an acting dynasty. In addition to her parents, Stella's family included her siblings Charles Adler, Jay Adler, Julia and Luther Adler, all of whom appeared on Broadway. Stella made her debut at the age of four in the family-owned theater in the play "Broken Hearts". At the age of 18, she made her London debut as "Naomi" in "Elisa Ben Avia", in which she appeared for a year before returning to New York. Stella then spent the next 10 years treading the boards in vaudeville and Yiddish language theaters throughout North and South America and Europe. In all, she appeared in 100 plays.
Adler was widely acclaimed in the Yiddish theater, but she wanted to break out of that theatrical ghetto and play a wider variety of roles on the legitimate stage and in Hollywood. What was constant in Adler's 83-year-long career was her intense dedication to broadening the level of artistry in the theater.
She made her Broadway debut as a replacement in Carl Kapek's "The World We Live In". (Her official debut as a member of the original company was in "The Straw Hat" on Oct 14, 1926). After its run played out, she joined the acting school run by Richard Boleslawski and Maria Ouspenskaya, the American Laboratory. Both Boleslavsky and Maria Ouspenskaya were former members of the famous Moscow Art Theatre.
While married to Horace Eleaschreff, Adler met Harold Clurman, who would become her second husband and one of the co-founders of The Group Theatre, in 1924 (They would marry 19 years later). In this period, she met another future Group Theatre co-founder, Lee Strasberg, at the Actor's Laboratory when she participated in classes there in 1928. Along with Cheryl Crawford, Clurman and Strasberg founded the Group Theatre in 1931. It became arguably the most influential theater group in 20th century America, at least in terms of its influence on acting by introducing the teaching of Konstantin Stanislavski's System to the American stage. Its aim was the championing of realism and it is credited with bringing naturalism into the American theater. Clurman and Strasberg invited Adler to become a founding member of the Group Theatre. The Utopian political ideals that were central to the idea of the Group Theatre did not appeal to Adler, nor did the cooperative focus of the company, but she did join after being promised leading roles and because she supported Clurman's vision of the theater as an art form. It was with the Group Theatre that Stella played some of her more acclaimed roles, including "Sarah Glassman" in "Success Story", "Bessie Berger" in "Awake and Sing" and "Clara" in "Paradise Lost".
In 1934, she took a leave of absence from the Group Theatre and traveled to Russia to study for five weeks in Moscow Art Theatre, and in private sessions with the great man himself, Konstantin Stanislavski, whose motto was "Think of your own experiences and use them truthfully." Adler was among few American actors, such as Michael Chekhov and Richard Boleslawski to study privately with Stanislavsky. In August 1934, she returned from Russia, and made a presentation of what she learned from Stanislavski, then she began teaching acting classes to members of The Group Theatre troupe, including the actors Elia Kazan, Sanford Meisner and Robert Lewis. Meisner and Lewis would go on to be the most influential acting teachers in America after Adler herself and Strasberg. Kazan, who would go on to become the greatest theatrical director in 20th century American theater, also had a huge impact on American acting by championing what became known in the vernacular as "The Method", which was closely related to Adler's teaching. Kazan's exposure to Konstantin Stanislavski's System via Adler was highly influential in his work.
Stella Adler, being the most experienced of the Group Theatre actors, had not accepted Lee Strasberg's idiosyncratic version of Stanislavski's System, which Strasberg interpreted as "method" and shifted its goals to memory exercises. "The (memory) emphasis was the sick one" in Strasberg's "method", said Stella Adler, as it made acting under Strasberg increasingly painful for her. Feeling uncomfortable with the Group Theatre members, many of whom were also Communist Party members, Adler left the company in 1937 to conquer Hollywood. According to her later student and friend, Marlon Brando, she had a bad nose job to camouflage her looks, so hell-bent was she on conquering the movies as she had the stage. She was not to succeed.Adler spent six years as an associate producer at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio, at which she acted in movies under the name "Stella Ardler."
She did not achieve the quality of roles or the acclaim that she had in the theater, and she eventually returned to the stage in the early 1940s, acting and directing on Broadway and in London. Adler also began to teach at German émigré Erwin Piscator's acting workshop at the New School for Social Research, where she mentored the young Marlon Brando. She married Clurman in 1943. At its core, the theatrical experience is rooted in the willing suspension of disbelief, with an audience willingly ignoring the fact that it is watching a synthetic entertainment in a highly unrealistic venue. Such is the power of good theater to draw the audience into the world created upon the stage that this suspension of disbelief not only occurs, but that it, as an art form, provides an immediacy that other more "realistic" forms such as movies or television cannot provide. Adler believed that "the theater exists 99% in the imagination" and it was this belief that was the foundation of her philosophy and instruction.
Drawing on Stanislavski's System, Adler made it the bedrock of her technique that an actor's primary concern was with the emotional origins of the script. An actor (and acting student) must search between the lines of the script for the playwright's important, but unspoken, messages. To tap into this vein and bring forth the real meaning in a character, an actor needed both imagination and the ability to open oneself up emotionally. Essentially, Adler's method emphasized that authenticity in acting is achieved by drawing on inner reality to expose deep emotional experience. Konstantin Stanislavski taught her that "the source of acting is imagination and the key to its problems is truth, truth in the circumstances of the play."
It was a fortuitous occasion when Brando enrolled in Erwin Piscator's Dramatic Workshop at New York's New School and came into Stella Adler's orbit. The results of this meeting between an actor and the teacher preparing him for a life in the theater would mark a watershed in American acting and culture as it was through Brando that "The Method" was introduced into the American theater and movies. It would dominate American acting for more than half-a-century and is still the dominant paradigm now, over sixty years since Adler tutored Brando.
"The Method" as taught by Adler and other Group Theater alumni was a more naturalistic style of performing, as it engendered a close identification of the actor with the character's emotions. The extraordinarily sensitive and intelligent Brando was the ideal student due to the prodigious talent he could yoke to the harness of technique that was "The Method". Adler took pride of place among Brando's acting teachers, and socially she helped turn him from a fairly ignorant Midwestern farm boy into a knowledgeable and cosmopolitan artist who one day would socialize with presidents.
Aside from acting, Adler directed two plays on Broadway, "Manhattan Nocturne" during the 1943-44 season, and "Sunday Breakfast" in 1952. Her last appearance as an actress on the Broadway stage was in the revival of "He Who Gets Slapped" in 1946.
Stella Adler left the faculty of the New School in 1949 to establish her own acting school, the Stella Adler Theatre Studio (which would be renamed the Stella Adler Conservatory of Acting before taking its final name, the Stella Adler Studio of Acting). She developed a curriculum from her wide knowledge and experience, combining her understanding of Konstantin Stanislavski's System with the techniques and traditions of the Yiddish theater, The Group Theatre, Broadway and Hollywood. In addition to acting technique, the school offered workshops in play analysis, character, and scene preparation; the students gleaned on-stage experience by performing scenes and plays before invited audiences. Among the alumni of her school were Marlon Brando (chairman of the board of the school until his death), Warren Beatty (who has taken over the position), Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel.
Adler taught script analysis at Yale for a year and half. Courses for advanced students and professionals were added to the curriculum of her own school, including rehearsal technique and script analysis. Due to her reputation and connections, the school was able to attract distinguished lecturers, including Sir John Gielgud and Arthur Laurents.
Stella Adler was a major inspiration to her students. Her mantra was, "You act with your soul. That's why you all want to be actors - because your souls are not used up by life". Adler is still, more than a decade after her death, viewed as one of the foremost influences on contemporary acting.
Adler divorced Clurman in 1960, after 17 years of marriage. Subsequently, she married Mitchell Wilson, whom she remained married to until his death in 1973. She did not remarry.
Stella Adler died on December 21, 1992 in Los Angeles, California. She was 91 years old.- Actress
- Composer
- Music Department
Taylor Dayne was born on 7 March 1962 in Baldwin, Long Island, New York, USA. She is an actress and composer, known for Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! (2004), Fried Green Tomatoes (1991) and The Lizzie McGuire Movie (2003).- Actress
- Producer
- Executive
Gabrielle Carteris was born on 2 January 1961 in Scottsdale, Arizona, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990), Raising Cain (1992) and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (2006). She has been married to Charles Isaacs since 3 May 1992. They have two children.- Robin Vee Strasser was born on May 7, 1945 in New York City. the daughter of Martin and Anne Strasser. She attended and graduated from the High School of Performing Arts, and later attended the Yale School of Drama on a full scholarship. She is a founding member of the American Conservatory Theatre, and began her extensive daytime career in 1967. She is best known for her role as Dorian Lord on the soap opera One Life to Live (1968), and as 300-year-old witch Hecuba on the soap opera Passions (1999). She announced in late 1999 that she will leave her Emmy-winning role of Dorian Lord in January 2000, in order to devote her energies to promoting women's health issues, namely menopause awareness.
- A seasoned entertainment news journalist and two-time Emmy-nominated TV personality, Samantha Harris is currently seen on the world's #1 entertainment news program, Entertainment Tonight (1981), as a correspondent. In just her first months with the show, she covered the Cannes Film Festival, traveled to two film sets in Hawaii (for interviews with Jennifer Aniston and Nicole Kidman), and also interviewed stars such as Jake Gyllenhaal, Russell Crowe, Sting, Cate Blanchett, Michael Douglas and more!
Samantha is best-known for her eight seasons co-hosting the live ABC hit, Dancing with the Stars (2005), which averaged more than 30 million viewers weekly and was the #2 most-watched show in the U.S. in each of those years. In Season 2, she even kicked up her heals on the ballroom floor to perform a Jive routine with World Smooth Champion and DWTS professional dancer, Jonathan Roberts.
Simultaneously with her time on DWTS, Samantha pulled double hosting duty as she passionately shared her opinion nightly as a panelist and correspondent on the entertainment news program, CBS Television Distribution's The Insider (2004).
In her first year with the program, she covered President Barack Obama's inauguration in Washington, D.C.; surfed the North Coast of Oahu during an interview with 19-year-old surfing champion Bethany Hamilton - who lost her arm to a shark attack at age 13; interviewed Oprah Winfrey in Chicago and Olympic skater Nancy Kerrigan in LA, in the days following her father's death; as well as interviewed Hollywood's A-list on the red carpet at the Emmys, SAG Awards, Golden Globes and Oscars.
Additionally, Samantha made her Broadway debut in summer 2009 in New York City, singing and dancing for sold-out audiences, playing the iconic role of "Roxie Hart" in the long-running musical, "Chicago".
Samantha has been seen on a myriad of TV shows, including: filling in for Meredith Vieira as a guest host for a week on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (2002); multiple times as a guest host on ABC's The View (1997); contributing as a special correspondent on ABC's Good Morning America (1975).
One of her greatest honors was hosting, alongside Regis Philbin, the live official red carpet pre-show for ABC's 80th Annual Academy Awards: Oscar's Red Carpet 2008 with Regis Philbin (2008), which garnered nearly one billion viewers, worldwide.
Beginning in January 2005 and continuing for four years, Harris was seen in over 130 countries in 600 million homes on E! Entertainment Television. In addition to writing, producing and reporting daily for E! News, she co-hosted the network's live award-show coverage for the Oscars, Golden Globes and Emmys. Samantha has also found herself reporting from inside San Quentin Penitentiary as host for E!'s "THS Investigates", a spin-off series from the producers of E! True Hollywood Story (1996).
Prior to her work on The Insider (2004) and E!, Samantha served as the weekend co-host and full-time correspondent for the nationally syndicated entertainment news magazine, Extra (1994), which she joined in 2003. As a correspondent who sought out unique stories, Samantha took to the stage performing with Cirque du Soleil, sang a duet with Wayne Newton during his live show in Las Vegas, as well as dancing her way into the arms of the late beloved Patrick Swayze backstage, while he was starring in the LA tour-stop of "Chicago".
Samantha's other hosting credits include FOX's The Next Joe Millionaire (2003), "AMC Access" (a show produced by NBC's Access Hollywood (1996) for the AMC network).
Harris' triple-threat talents were noticed within her first years living in Los Angeles. Hot off the North American musical tour Eric Idle: Exploits Monty Python (2002) (where Samantha's comedic, vocal, and dance performance electrified audiences at Carnegie Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, and other prestigious venues), CBS cast her as America's sweetheart, "Dawn Wells aka Mary Ann", in its made-for-TV movie Surviving Gilligan's Island: The Incredibly True Story of the Longest Three Hour Tour in History (2001). Samantha's other acting credits include the multi-award winning "Reefer Madness!: The New "Hit" Musical (original cast) as well as multiple feature films and television shows.
In addition to gracing the cover of Muscle & Fitness HERS magazine a record four times, Samantha has also been seen on the covers of a variety of other magazine including USA Today magazine, FIRST, Fit Parent. She has been featured in many magazines including Shape, People, Health, Self, and others. As a fitness enthusiast, she loves dancing, cardio-sculpting, Bikram yoga but will also confess... she's a dessert fanatic!
Samantha is actively involved in various charities. She is on the Entertainment Council of Feeding America and has actively supported the Revlon Run/Walk and What A Pair for cancer research, Operation Smile, P.S. Arts, the Crohns and Colitis Foundation of America and others.
In 2009, Samantha was given the honor of making her Wall Street debut by "Ringing The Bell" to open trading at the New York Stock Exchange in front of a television audience of more than 120 million.
Born and raised in Hopkins, MN by a rock concert promoter father and dancer mother - who together created and produced one of the country's first Renaissance festivals, King Richard's Faire - Samantha went on to graduate with honors from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism in Evanston, IL. She currently resides in Los Angeles, CA, with her husband, Michael Hess, and their two daughters, Josselyn Hess and Hillary Hess. - Bar Refaeli is an Israeli model, television host, actress, and entrepreneur. She is considered among the most internationally successful models to come from Israel, appearing on the cover of the 2009 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, and being voted No. 1 on Maxim magazine's Hot 100 list of 2012. As a television host, Refaeli has hosted The X Factor Israel (2013) since 2013 and co-hosted the Eurovision Song Contest Tel Aviv 2019 (2019) in Tel Aviv.
As a result of her modeling and investment careers, her net worth was estimated at US $20 million in 2015. She was the highest-paid model in Israel according to Forbes Israel in 2013 - Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Alona Tal, an Israeli-American singer and actress, was born in Herzliya, Israel. She began her career after serving in the Israeli Defense Forces. Her big break came in 2003 starring in an Israeli film. At the time she also starred in two television series in the country, and also dabbled in music, recording several songs with the Israeli rapper Subliminal. Tal moved in with her sister in New York to take a break from her career. There, she collaborated with Haitian artist Wyclef Jean in the song "Party to Damascus". She also managed to establish herself on American television, beginning with a recurring role in the series Veronica Mars: She originally auditioned for the lead role, but creator Rob Thomas wrote a new character just for her. Tal later snagged a regular role in the short-lived CBS series.- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Academy Award-winner Lee Grant was born Lyova Haskell Rosenthal on October 31, 1925 in Manhattan, New York City, to Witia (Haskell), a teacher and model, and Abraham Rosenthal, an educator and realtor. Her father was of Romanian Jewish descent, and her mother was a Russian Jewish immigrant. Lee made her stage debut at age 4 at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, playing the abducted princess in "L'Orocolo". After graduating from high school, she won a scholarship to the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre, where she studied acting with Sanford Meisner. When she was a teenager Grant established herself as a formidable Broadway talent when she won The Critics' Circle Award for her portrayal of the shoplifter in "Detective Story". She reprised the role in the film version (Detective Story (1951), a performance that garnered her the Cannes Film Festival Citation for Best Actress as well as her first Academy Award Nomination. Immediately following her screen debut, however, Lee became a victim of the McCarthy-era blacklists in which actors, writers, directors, etc., were persecuted for supposedly "Communist" or "progressive" political beliefs, whether they had them or not. Except for an occasional role, she did not work in film or television for 12 years. In 1965 Lee re-started her acting career in the TV series Peyton Place (1964), for which she won an Emmy Award as Stella Chernak, and she later garnered her first Academy Award for Shampoo (1975), also receiving Academy Award nominations for The Landlord (1970) and Voyage of the Damned (1976). Since 1980 Lee has been concentrating on her directorial career, which began as part of the Women's Project at The Americal Film Institute (AFI); her adaptation of August Strindberg's, "Stronger, The" was consequently selected as one of the 10 best films ever produced for AFI. In 1987 she received an Academy Award for the HBO documentary, Down and Out in America (1985) and directed Nobody's Child (1986) for CBS, for which she received the Directors Guild Award. In 1983 she received the Congressional Arts Caucus Award for Outstanding Achievement in Acting and Independent Filmmaking. Subsequently, Women in Film paid tribute to her in 1989, with its first-ever Lifetime Achievement Award. Both the New York City Council and the County of Los Angeles Board of Supervisors have recognized Ms. Grant for the contribution her films have made to the fight against domestic violence.- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Dinah Manoff was born in New York City, New York, to screenwriter Arnold Manoff and actress, director, and writer Lee Grant. She began her professional career in the PBS production of "The Great Cherub Knitwear Strike". After subsequent guest appearances on various television series, she received a Tony Award in 1980 for her performance in the Broadway production of Neil Simon's "I Ought To Be In Pictures", a role she reprised in the film version, starring opposite Walter Matthau. Additional theater credits include Broadway's "Leader of the Pack", "Alfred and Victoria", "Kingdom on Earth" and the Los Angeles stage production of "Love Letters", opposite Patrick Cassidy. On television, Manoff was a regular on Witt-Thomas-Harris' Soap (1977) and also appeared in the television movies The Cover Girl and the Cop (1989) (aka "Beauty & Denise"), Raid on Entebbe (1976), For Ladies Only (1981), The Seduction of Gina (1984), A Matter of Sex (1984), Flight 90: Disaster on the Potomac (1984), the miniseries Celebrity (1984) and the NBC movie-of-the-week Babies (1990), with Lindsay Wagner. Manoff's feature film credits include Ordinary People (1980), Grease (1978), Bloodhounds of Broadway (1989), Child's Play (1988), _Backfire (1988).- Actress
- Writer
- Director
Elaine May (born under the name Elaine Iva Berlin) is an American actress, comedian, film director, playwright, and screenwriter from Philadelphia. Her professional career started in the 1950s and is still ongoing. She has twice been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. She is best remembered for directing the Cold War-themed action comedy "Ishtar" (1987). She won the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Director, but the film has had a vocal minority of critics who defend its quality.
In 1932, May was born to a Jewish-American family. Both her parents were theatrical actors. Her father Jack Berlin was also a theater director and led his own traveling Yiddish theater company. Her mother was actress Ida Aaron. May made her stage debut c. 1935, at the age of 3. Her father had decided to include her in his performances. As a a child actress, she was reportedly cast in the roles of boys.
The theater company toured extensively, and May was part of their tours. She kept changing schools, enrolling for a few weeks and then moving to another city. May reputedly hated school, but loved reading books on her own. Her favorite topics were fairy tales and mythology.
Jack Berlin died c. 1942, and May's career as a child actress consequently ended. She was left in the custody of her mother. The duo settled in Los Angeles, and May eventually enrolled in Hollywood High School. In 1946, May dropped out of school. In 1948, she married her her first husband, the toy inventor Marvin May. She was only 16-years-old at the time of her marriage. She would later keep her husband's surname as her professional name.
In 1949, May had her only child, Jeannie Brette May. Jeannie would later become a professional actress in her own right, under the name Jeannie Berlin. May and her husband separated c. 1950, and she received a divorce in 1960. She started supporting herself through a series of odd jobs.
In 1950, May was interested in attending college, but most colleges in California required applicants to have high school diplomas. As a high school dropout, she did not have the necessary diploma. Learning that the University of Chicago did not use this requirement, she hitch-hiked her way to Chicago, At the time her personal fortune consisted of 7 dollars.
Once she arrived in Chicago, May started informally taking classes at the university by auditing, sitting in without enrolling. She habitually engaged in discussions with her instructors. She once had a fight with a philosophy instructor because of their different interpretations of the motives behind Socrates' apology. May was introduced to aspiring actor Mike Nichols (1931-2014),who was also attending the University. They bonded over their shared passion for the theater.
In 1955, May became one of the charter members of the Compass Players, a Chicago-based improvisational theater group. Nichols joined the group shortly after. The two of them formed a working partnership, jointly developing improvised comedy sketches. May helped the Compass Players to become a highly popular comedy troupe, due to her talent for satire. She helped in the training of novice members of the group.
In 1957, Nichols was asked to leave the Compass Players. His popularity had outshone most members of the group, and had caused internal conflicts. May left the group with him. They then decided to form their own stand-up comedy team, "Nichols and May". Their improvisational skills, and ability to come up with fresh material allowed them to impress their audience.
In 1960, the comedy duo made their Broadway debut, with the show "An Evening with Mike Nichols and Elaine May". A recording of the show won the 1962 "Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album". "Nichols and May" became very popular in New York City, performing in sold-out shows. They also started making appearances in radio and television, and even recorded commercials.
May was reportedly surprised with her own success. She had spend much of her adult life in near-poverty, but she was now earning a regular income from show business. She joked in an interview that she was practically barefoot when she arrived in New York, and now had to get used to wearing high heels.
In 1961, the duo was at the height of their fame. But they decided to dissolve their partnership in order to pursue solo careers. Nichols started working as a Broadway stage director, while May started her new career as a playwright. Her most successful play was "Adaptation" (1969), which she also directed. For her work as a theatrical director, she won the 1969 "Outer Critics Circle Award, Best Director".
May made her debut as a film director with the black comedy "A New Leaf" (1971). It was an adaptation of a short story by Jack Ritchie (1922-1983), depicting the story of an impoverished patrician who marries a wealthy heiress for her money. The main character initially considers murdering his wife to inherit her wealth, but first he has to protect her from other predators who were after her money.
Her first film found little success at the box office, but was praised by critics and was nominated for the "Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy". It later earned a reputation as a cult classic, and in 2019 it was selected for preservation by the National Film Registry.
Her second film was the romantic comedy "The Heartbreak Kid" (1972). It concerns a newlywed man who falls madly in love with a younger woman while on his honeymoon. He pursues his romantic interest obsessively despite all signs that his love is unrequited, and despite the disapproval of the woman's protective father. The film was critically acclaimed, and has at times been listed in retrospectives concerning the funniest American films.
In an unusual career move, her third film was not a comedy. It was the rather bleak gangster film "Mikey and Nicky" (1976). It depicts a small-time mobster whose life is in danger, resorting to asking for help from his childhood friend. While creating this film, May got involved in a legal dispute with the film studio Paramount Pictures. The studio eventually decided to only allow a limited release for the film. The film found a niche audience in the home video market, but May's career as a director suffered from this dispute. She was effectively blacklisted.
May decided to focus on her screenwriting career. She found success with the script to the fantasy-comedy "Heaven Can Wait" (1978), about the afterlife of a man who died prematurely. The film was based on a 1938 play by Harry Segall (1892-1975), and also served as a remake to the classic film "Here Comes Mr. Jordan" (1941) which was based on the same play. The film earned about 99 million dollars at the worldwide box office, and was a critical hit. May was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, but the award was instead won by rival screenwriter Oliver Stone (1946-).
During the early 1980s, May mainly worked as an uncredited script doctor. She "polished" scripts by other screenwriters. Her greatest success in this role was the romantic comedy "Tootsie" (1982), for which she wrote several additional scenes. She attempted her comeback as a director with the action comedy "Ishtar" (1987), which became a box office flop for the film studio Columbia Pictures. The film's failure reportedly convinced Columbia's parent company Coca-Cola to sell the under-performing studio to Sony.
"Ishtar" was derided at the time as the worst film of its era by many critics, but was also defended by a vocal minority of critics. It has since attracted a cult audience, who consider this to be a great film. However the film's failure ended May's career as a film director and damaged her reputation. She also ceased working as a screenwriter for several years, reduced to working as an actress again.
May made her comeback as a screenwriter with the comedy film "The Birdcage" (1996), a remake of the European comedy "La Cage aux Folles" (The Cage of Madwomen, 1978). In the film, the openly gay parents to a young man have to pretend to be straight in an attempt to impress their son's prospective in-laws. The film earned about 185 million dollars at the worldwide box office, the greatest hit in May's career up to that point. She was nominated for the "Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay", but the award was instead won by rival screenwriter Billy Bob Thornton (1955-).
May found more critical success with her next screenplay, for the political film "Primary Colors" (1998). It was an adaptation of the roman à clef novel "Primary Colors: A Novel of Politics" (1996) by Joe Klein (1946-). The novel itself was a fictionalized version of Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign, and depicts an idealistic campaign worker's disillusionment with the politician. The film's cast were nominated for several awards. May herself received her second nomination for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, but the award was instead won by rival screenwriter Bill Condon (1955-).
May largely retired from screenwriting since the end of the 1990s. As an actress, she had a supporting role in the crime-comedy "Small Time Crooks" (2000). The film concerned nouveau riche criminals, who attempt to socialize with the American upper class. For this role, she won the "Best Supporting Actress Award" at the National Society of Film Critics Awards.
May lived in retirement until joining the cast of the television mini-series "Crisis in Six Scenes" (2016), her first television role in several decades. The series was created by Woody Allen (1935-), who happened to be an old friend of May.
In 2018, May made a theatrical comeback in Broadway. She played the elderly gallery owner Gladys Green in a revival of the play "The Waverly Gallery" (2000) by Kenneth Lonergan (1962-). In the play, Gladys shows early signs of Alzheimer's disease, and her family has to deal with her mental decline. May received critical acclaim for this role. For this role, she won the 2019 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play. At age 87, she was the second-oldest winner of a Tony Award for acting.
As of 2021, May is 89-years-old. She is no longer very active, but she reportedly has plans to direct another film. She remains a popular actress.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Suzanne Pleshette achieved television immortality in her role as Bob Newhart's wife in the 1970s classic situation comedy, The Bob Newhart Show (1972). For her role as "Emily Hartley," wife of psychologist "Bob Hartley" (played by Bob Newhart), Pleshette was nominated for the Emmy Award twice, in 1977 and 1978. She was also nominated for an Emmy in 1962 for a guest appearance on the TV series, Dr. Kildare (1961) and, in 1991, for playing the title role in Leona Helmsley: The Queen of Mean (1990) in a 1990 TV movie. Her acting career lasted almost 50 years.
Suzanne Pleshette was born on January 31, 1937, in New York, New York, to Gene Pleshette, a TV network executive who had managed the Paramount Theaters in Manhattan and Brooklyn during the Big Band era, and the former Geraldine Kaplan, a dancer who performed under the pseudonym Geraldine Rivers. Pleshette claims that she was not an acting natural, but just "found" herself attending New York City's High School of the Performing Arts. After graduating high school, she attended Syracuse University for a semester before returning to NYC to go to Finch College, an elite finishing school for well-to-do young ladies. After a semester at Finch, Pleshette dropped out of college to take lessons from famed acting teacher Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse.
She made her Broadway debut in 1957 as part of the supporting cast for the play Compulsion (1959). Initially cast as "The Fourth Girl," she eventually took over the ingénue role during the play's run.
Blessed with beauty, a fine figure, and a husky voice that made her seem older than her years, she quickly achieved success on both the small and big screens. She made her TV debut, at age 20, in Harbourmaster (1957), then was chosen as the female lead opposite superstar Jerry Lewis in his 1958 comedy, The Geisha Boy (1958). On Broadway, she replaced Anne Bancroft in the Broadway hit The Miracle Worker (1962).
Once Pleshette started acting, her career never lagged until she was afflicted with cancer.
Her most famous cinematic role was in Alfred Hitchcock's classic, The Birds (1963), as the brunette schoolteacher jilted by the hero of the film, "Mitch Brenner" (played by Rod Taylor). Pleshette's warm, earthy character was a perfect contrast to the icy blonde beauty, "Melanie Daniels" (Tippi Hedren).
Frankly, it is hard to understand how Taylor's Mitch would jilt Pleshette's Annie, other than to work out Hitchcock's dark vision of society and psychosexual relations between the sexes, in which amoral blondes triumph for aesthetic rather than moral reasons.
Still, it is for Emily Hartley she will always be remembered, for both the original show and her part in another show that had the most clever sign-off episode in TV series history. Bob Newhart had enjoyed a second success during the 1980s with his TV sitcom Newhart (1982), and when he decided to end that series, he asked Suzanne Pleshette to come back. She did, reprising her tole of Emily in a final episode of Newhart, where Newhart woke up as Bob Hartley from "The Bob Newhart Show" in the bedroom of the Hartley's Chicago apartment, Pleshette's Emily at his side. Bob Hartley then told his wife Emily of a crazy dream he'd just had, where he was the proprietor of a Vermont inn overrun with eccentrics, the premise of the second show.
After "The Bob Newhart Show" ceased production, Suzanne Pleshette worked regularly on television, mostly in TV movies. Although she was a talented dramatic actress, she had a flair for comedy and, in 1984, she headlined her own series at CBS. She helped develop the half-hour sitcom, and even had the rare honor of having her name in the title. Suzanne Pleshette Is Maggie Briggs (1984), however, was not a success. She co-starred with Hal Linden in another short-lived CBS TV series, The Boys Are Back (1994), in the 1994-95 season, then had recurring roles in the TV series Good Morning, Miami (2002) and 8 Simple Rules (2002).
Pleshette was married three times: In 1964, she wed teen idol Troy Donahue, her co-star in the 1962 film Rome Adventure (1962) and in 1964's A Distant Trumpet (1964), but the marriage lasted less than a year. She was far more successful in her 1968 nuptials to Texas oil millionaire Tommy Gallagher, whom she remained married to until his death in 2000. After becoming a widow, she and widower Tom Poston (a Newhart regular) rekindled an old romance they had enjoyed when appearing together in "The Golden Fleecing," a 1959 Broadway comedy. They were married from 2001 until Poston's death, in April 2007.
Pleshette was diagnosed with lung cancer and underwent chemotherapy in the summer of 2006; she rallied, but in late 2007, she barely survived a bout of pneumonia. She died of respiratory failure on January 19, 2008, a few days shy of her 71st birthday.
Suzanne Pleshette was remembered as a gregarious, down-to-earth person who loved to talk and often would regale her co-stars with a naughty story. Newhart and his producers had picked her for the role of Emily in "The Bob Newhart Show" after watching her appearances with Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962), where she showed herself to be a first-rate raconteuse. Because she could hold her own with Newhart's friend Carson, it was felt she would be a perfect foil as Newhart's TV wife.
She accepted the part, and TV history was made.- Actress
- Producer
- Executive
Jami Gertz was born on 28 October 1965 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Twister (1996), The Lost Boys (1987) and Still Standing (2002). She has been married to Antony Ressler since 16 June 1989. They have three children.- Actress
- Additional Crew
- Producer
Claudia Lee Black was born and raised in Sydney, Australia. Her parents Jules and Judy Black are both Australian Medical Academics Doctors. She has lived in Australia, New Zealand, England and the US. Throughout her career Black has played in many Australian and New Zealand films and guested on such Australian series as Police Rescue (1989) and Water Rats (1996), the American and New Zealand series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (1995) and Xena: Warrior Princess (1995), and a leading role in the New Zealand soap opera City Life (1996). Since then she has mostly played in science-fiction and fantastic series. She is probably best known for her roles as Aeryn Sun in the Australian series Farscape (1999) and Vala Mal Doran in the American series Stargate SG-1 (1997), in which she co-starred with Ben Browder.- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Since making her uncredited debut as a dancer in Beatlemania (1981), Gina Gershon has established herself as a character actress and one of the leading icons of American camp. For it was fourteen years after her movie debut that Gina made movie history as the predatory bisexual who was the leading light of a Las Vegas leg-line in director Paul Verhoeven's kitsch classic Showgirls (1995). Exploding out of a plaster-of-Paris volcano clad in nothing but body makeup and a G-string, Gina Gershon obtained cinema immortality. After Showgirls (1995), she solidified her reputation, playing a lesbian sexpot in the Wachowskis' neo-noir Bound (1996).
Gina Gershon was born in the Los Angeles suburb of Woodland Hills, the last in a brood of three kids. Her mother, Mickey (Koppel), worked as an interior decorator, and her father, Stanley Gershon, was a salesman and worked in the import/export business. Her paternal grandparents were from Russian Jewish families, and her maternal grandparents were born in Holland and Belgium, both of them to Jewish families from Poland. Gina was raised in the San Fernando Valley, and got the acting bug early, appearing at the age of seven in a school production of Bye Bye Birdie (1963). Because of her acting ambitions, her parents moved to Beverly Hills so Gina could attend Beverly Hills High, where she indulged her acting jones by appearing in a student production of The Music Man (1962). Her first love, she says, is singing.
After graduating from high school in 1980, she attended Emerson College in Boston, but took a part in the musical "Runaways". She transferred to New York University, where her official biography says she studied philosophy and psychology, but she graduated from the Tisch School of the Arts, taking a bachelor of fine arts degree in drama in 1983. In New York City, while perfecting her craft, she co-founded the theater company Naked Angels with Helen Slater.
Her big-screen breakthrough came with a part in the 1986 "Brat Pack" teenage hit Pretty in Pink (1986). She also had parts in the Tom Cruise vehicle Cocktail (1988) and Arnold Schwarzenegger's Red Heat (1988). Of this period, she says, "One of my first gigs, a movie called Cocktail (1988), I found myself at 8 in the morning, in bed, practically naked, having to make out with Tom Cruise; hmmmm... movie business - so far, so good".
Citing Frank Sinatra's song "My Way" as an inspiration, she says that following Cocktail (1988), "I was fortunate enough to play many diversified roles in film, television and stage. Not always to the liking of my managers and agents, but I always did what I wanted...." She played Nancy Barbato Sinatra, Frank's first wife, in the TV miniseries Sinatra (1992).
Gina Gershon became a celebrity in Showgirls (1995). The following year, Gershon solidified her claim on second-tier stardom playing the calculating lesbian "Corky" in the crime movie Bound (1995). She never did capitalize on her mid-1990s breakthrough, but Gershon is established as a character actress and is never out of work, unlike most of her female peers who started out in the industry at the same time. Though no classic beauty, the talented thespian remains gainfully employed while many actresses of her vintage are out of work as she is possessed of a unique look and smoldering sex appeal that comes across on camera.
Gershon is versatile, too, as at home on stage as she is in front of the camera. After appearing in off-Broadway and regional theater productions, she made her Broadway debut as a replacement in Sam Mendes' revival of Cabaret (1972) in January 2001. For six months, she played the key role of "Sally Bowles", returning that October to reprise the role for another month. In 2008, she once again appeared on Broadway in the revival of the farce "Boeing Boeing" on Broadway, which won the Tony award for Best Revival.
Gina Gershon also is a children's book writer. In 2008, Putmam Juvenile published her "Camp Creepy Time", a tale of a boy who discovers aliens at his summer camp, which she co-wrote with her brother, Dann Gershon. "Camp Creepy Time" recently was optioned by DreamWorks, which plans to turn it into a movie. In 2008, she also released "In Search Of Cleo", a CD featuring nine songs which she wrote or co-wrote.- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Tony Award and Emmy Award winner Judith Light made her professional stage debut in 1970 and made her Broadway debut in the 1975 revival of A Doll's House starring Liv Ullmann and Sam Waterston. She made her television breakthrough in the daytime soap opera One Life to Live (1968). She assumed the role of Karen Woleck (originated by Kathryn Breech (1976-77), and for a brief period, replaced by Julia Duffy (1977)). Light's extensive theater experience added multidimensional facets to the character, and the performance earned the actress two consecutive Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. Light departed from her character in 1983 - to star in ABC's new prime-time sitcom Who's the Boss? (1984) - the role of Karen Woleck was not recast, instead, she departs for an off-screen life in Canada, coinciding with Light's departure from the series. After Light's success on daytime, she landed the leading role of assertive advertising executive Angela Bower on the ABC sitcom Who's the Boss? (1984). The actress co-starred with Tony Danza, who played her housekeeper (and eventual lover). Also featured were Alyssa Milano, Danny Pintauro and Katherine Helmond. The series ran for eight seasons and had constant success. Light also lent her craft to the short lived sitcoms Phenom (1993) and The Simple Life (2003), and several made-for-TV productions, including the biographical drama The Ryan White Story (1989) (in which she portrayed Jeanne White, the mother of HIV/AIDS positive teenager Ryan White); the actress also portrayed Alabama murderer Audrey Marie Hilley in Wife, Mother, Murderer (1991).
In 1999, Light returned to her theater roots for the off-Broadway production of Pulitzer Prize-winning play Wit (2001); the actress received rave reviews as a college professor battling ovarian cancer-and reprised the role for the national tour. Light returned to television in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999); the actress assumed the recurring role of Judge Elizabeth Connelly, making her first appearance during the third season episode Guilt (2002), which was broadcast on March 29, 2009. The character appeared in 25 more episodes of the series, making her last appearance in season 12 episode Behave (2010). Light also appeared in the ABC comedy-drama Ugly Betty (2006), in which Light's performance as the recurring Claire Meade resulted in a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series. In 2014, she began starring as Shelly Pfefferman in the critically acclaimed Amazon Studios dark comedy-drama series Transparent (2014), for which she received Golden Globe, Primetime Emmy, and Critics' Choice Television Award nominations.- Producer
- Actress
- Production Manager
Sherry was born in Chicago and pursued an acting career after graduating from Northwestern University. After appearing in two films, Loving (1970) and Rio Lobo (1970), Sherry decided to leave the acting field. In 1974, Sherry joined Talent Associates, as an executive in charge of development. In 1975 she joined MGM as an executive story editor. Three years later, she was appointed vice president in charge of production at Columbia. With the success that she achieved with a number of profitable movies, she was hired as President of 20th Century-Fox. In 1984, she joined Stanley R. Jaffe to form the independent production company, named Jaffe-Lansing. When Jaffe was appointed president of Paramount Communications in 1990, Sherry became Chairman of Paramount Pictures' Motion Picture Group.- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Debra Messing was born in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, the daughter of Jewish American parents, Sandra (née Simons), who has worked as a professional singer, banker, travel and real estate agent, and Brian Messing, a sales executive for a jewelry manufacturer. When Messing was three, she moved with her parents and her older brother, Brett, to East Greenwich, a small town outside Providence, Rhode Island.
During her high school years, she acted (and sang) in a number of high school productions, including the starring role in the musical "Annie" and "Fiddler On the Roof." Messing took lessons in dance, singing, and acting. In 1986, she was Rhode Island's Junior Miss and competed in Mobile, Alabama in the America's Junior Miss scholarship program. While her parents encouraged her dream of becoming an actress, they also urged her to complete a liberal arts education before deciding on acting as a career. Following their advice, she attended Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts.
In 1990, after graduating summa cum laude from Brandeis with a bachelor's degree in theater arts, Messing gained admission to the elite Graduate Acting Program (which accepts only about 15 new students annually) at New York University, where she earned a master's degree in fine arts after three years.
In 1998, Messing played a lead role as the bio-anthropologist Sloan Parker on ABC's dramatic science fiction television series Prey. During this time her agent approached her with the pilot script for the television show Will & Grace. Messing was inclined to take some time off, but the script intrigued her, and she auditioned for the role of Grace Adler, beating out Nicollette Sheridan, who later guest-starred on the show as a romantic rival of Grace's. Will & Grace became a ratings success, and Messing gained renown.
In 2002, she was named one of the "50 Most Beautiful People in the World" by People Magazine. TV Guide picked her as its "Best Dressed Woman" in 2003. Messing met her husband, Daniel Zelman (an actor and screenwriter), on their first day as graduate students at NYU. The two were married on September 3, 2000, and live in New York City. On April 7, 2004, Messing gave birth to their son, Roman Walker Zelman.- Actress
- Music Department
- Additional Crew
Laraine Newman is a founding member of The Groundlings. After seeing her in The Groundlings, Lorne Michaels cast her in a Lily Tomlin Special and later as an original cast member of Saturday Night Live (1975). She has worked from directors ranging from Woody Allen to Guillermo del Toro. She has a thriving animation career and has written for the food magazine One For The Table, McSweeney's, The Believer, The Jewish Journal, Huffington Post and Esquire. She in on the board of San Francisco's long running alternative comedy festival Sketchiest and has appeared there since 2012. She appears regularly in the Drama Desk Award winning show Celebrity Autobiography. She has two daughters and lives in her home town of Los Angeles.- Pretty, demure-looking Janet Margolin was born in New York City in 1943 and educated at the New York High School of Performing Arts. The long-haired brunette was discovered for films by director Frank Perry as she was making great strides as a teen on Broadway. He saw her in the play "Daughter of Silence," for which she earned a Tony nomination, and took her immediately to Hollywood, casting her as the schizophrenic lass in David and Lisa (1962) opposite Keir Dullea. She bowled over the critics. The movie, which was praised for its handling of delicate, mature subject matter, should have paved the way to stardom for Janet but strangely didn't. She churned out uneventful second leads in such notable fare as Bus Riley's Back in Town (1965), The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), and Nevada Smith (1966). Though she had better luck with her ingenue roles in Enter Laughing (1967) and Woody Allen's Take the Money and Run (1969), the offers starting drying up by decade's end and she turned to TV work. Woody used her again, albeit briefly, in Annie Hall (1977). After a brief first marriage, Janet met and married actor Ted Wass of TV's Soap (1977) and Blossom (1990) fame. Janet was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and died at age 50.
- Actress
- Music Department
- Writer
Melissa Manchester attended the Manhattan School of Music and Arts, where she learned to play the piano and the harpsichord. Her father is a bassoon player in the New York Metropolitan Opera orchestra. In the early 1970s, Melissa studied songwriting at New York University School of the Arts in New York City, under the direction of Paul Simon, and at 15 she started recording commercial jingles. She was only one of nine applicants accepted at Simon's class out of more than 100 applicants. She also sang with Bette Midler and sang backup for her before going solo. In 1982 she won the Best Female Vocalist of the Year award. She is married to Kevin De Remer.- Actress
- Composer
- Music Department
Lesley Gore was born Lesley Sue Goldstein in Brooklyn, New York City, to Ronny and Leo Goldstein, a manufacturer of children's clothes and swimwear. Her family was Jewish. She grew up in Tenafly, New Jersey. Gore hit the music scene at 17 years of age in 1963 with the teen anthem "It's My Party". Born in Brooklyn (Kings County), New York, she was discovered at a party by legendary producer Quincy Jones, who signed her to Mercury Records and produced "It's My Party". More hits followed: "Judy's Turn to Cry", "She's a Fool", "That's the Way Boys Are", and the surprisingly (for the times) feminist-oriented "You Don't Own Me". She branched out from recording and began appearing on stage in summer stock, and putting in appearances in movies and television shows (including one on the TV series Batman (1966), which just happened to be produced by her uncle Howie Horwitz). In 1981, she was nominated for an Academy Award with her brother Michael Gore, for Best Song for the film Fame (1980). "Out Here on My Own" was bested for the award by another song from the same film - the theme song, written by her brother and Dean Pitchford In her later life, she toured and recorded in addition to appearing in summer stock productions. Gore died at the age of 68.- Chesty Morgan was born on 15 October 1937 in Poland. She is an actress, known for Double Agent 73 (1974), Deadly Weapons (1974) and The Old Stripper (2018). She was previously married to Dick Stello and Joseph Wilczkowski.
- Actress
- Composer
- Soundtrack
Barbi Benton was born on 28 January 1950 in New York City, New York, USA. She is an actress and composer, known for How Did a Nice Girl Like You... (1970), X-Ray (1981) and Fantasy Island (1977). She has been married to George Gradow since 14 October 1979. They have two children.- Pamela Gail Hensley was born on October 3, 1950 in Glendale, California, and is one of those rare screen stars who grew up in the heart of Los Angeles. Her father still maintains a thriving veterinary practice on Coldwater Canyon, where his patients include Pamela's Persian cats, "Hot Tin" and "Roof". She attended the Argyle Academy, then won an audition with the world-famous Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. After three years of intensive theatrical training, she felt she was at last ready to challenge her hometown. Universal signed her to a seven-year contract, followed by choice roles in such leading dramatic television series as Columbo (1971), McMillan & Wife (1971), McCloud (1970) and The Rockford Files (1974). Producer Norman Jewison joined the growing list of Hensley admirers and starred her as James Caan's live-in lover in the sci-fi action film Rollerball (1975). Next came Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze (1975) in which she was an exotic Indian maiden who saved the title hero's life.
Hensley is best known for her roles as Princess Ardala on Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979) and C.J. Parsons on Matt Houston (1982), then retired from acting in 1985.
She re-emerged in the literary world in 2004 with the publication of a small cookbook called "The Jewish-Sicilian Cookbook" authored under the name Pamela Hensley Vincent. She has been married to television executive producer, E. Duke Vincent, since the early 1980s. - Actress
- Writer
Theda Bara was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, as Theodosia Goodman, on July 29, 1885. She was the daughter of a local tailor and his wife. As a teenager Theda was interested in the theatrical arts and once she finished high school, she dyed her blond hair black and went in pursuit of her dream. By 1908 she was in New York in search of roles. That year she appeared in "The Devil", a stage play. In 1911 she joined a touring company. After returning to New York in 1914, she began making the rounds of various casting offices in search of work, and was eventually hired to appear in The Stain (1914) as an extra, but she was placed so far in the background that she was not noticed on the screen. However, it was her ability to take direction which helped her gain the lead role as the "vampire" in A Fool There Was (1915) later that year, and "The Vamp" was born. It was a well-deserved break, because Theda was almost 30 years old, at a time when younger women were always considered for lead roles. She became the screen's first fabricated star. Publicists sent out press releases that Theda was the daughter of an artist and an Arabian princess, and that "Theda Bara" was an anagram for "Arab Death"--a far cry from her humble Jewish upbringing in Cincinnati. The public became fascinated with her--how could one resist an actress who allowed herself to be photographed with snakes and skulls? Theda's second film, later that year for the newly formed Fox Studios, was as Celia Friedlander in Kreutzer Sonata (1915). Theda was hot property now and was to make six more films in 1915, finishing up with Carmen (1915). The next year would prove to be another busy one, with theater patrons being treated to eight Theda Bara films, all of which would make a great deal of money for Fox Films, and in 1917 Fox headed west to Califoria and took Theda with them. That year she starred in a mega-hit, Cleopatra (1917). This was quickly followed by The Rose of Blood (1917). In 1918 Theda wrote the story and starred as the Priestess in The Soul of Buddha (1918). After seven films in 1919, ending with Lure of Ambition (1919), her contract was terminated by Fox, and her career never recovered. In 1921 she married director Charles Brabin and retired. In 1926 she made her last film, Madame Mystery (1926), and promptly went back into retirement, permanently, at the age of 41. She tried the stage briefly in the 1930s but nothing really set the fires burning. A movie based on her life was planned in the 1950s, but nothing ever came of it. On April 7, 1955, Theda Bara died of abdominal cancer at the age of 69 in Los Angeles, California. There has been no one like her since.- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
The grand, highly flamboyant Russian star Alla Nazimova of Hollywood silent films lived an equally grand, flamboyant life off-camera, though her legendary status has not held up as firmly as that of a Rudolph Valentino today.
Alla Nazimova was born Miriam Edez Adelaida Leventon in 1879, in Yalta, Crimea, in the Russian Empire, to Jewish parents, Sonya Horowitz and Yakov Leventon. She was the third child in an abusive, contentious household. Most of her sad childhood was spent in foster homes or in the care of other relatives and she showed a strong penchant for outrageous behavior to cope. Nazimova also showed a great aptitude for music at a young age and began violin lessons at age seven. She changed her name to Alla Nazimova when she began appearing on stage--her father insisted on it, as "performing" was not considered respectable at the time.
She began acting lessons at age 17 and joined Konstantin Stanislavski's company of actors as a pupil of his "method style" at the Moscow Art Theatre. During that time she supported herself by being kept by rich, older men. A failed love affair led to her only marriage, to an acting student named Sergei Golovin, but they separated quickly. She grew discontented with Stanislavsky and later performed in repertory. She met the legendary Pavel Orlenev, a close friend of Anton Chekhov and Maxim Gorky, and entered into both a personal and professional relationship with him. They toured internationally throughout Europe with great success and came to New York in 1905, where Nazimova was saluted on Broadway for her definitive interpretations of Henrik Ibsen's "Hedda Gabler" and "A Doll's House." Orlenev returned to Russia but Nazimova stayed.
She made her screen debut with War Brides (1916), which was initially a 35-minute play. By 1918 she was a box-office star for Metro Pictures and completed 11 films for the studio over a three-year period. A torrid, stylish and rather outré tragedienne who played exotic, liberal women confronted by great personal anguish, she earned personal successes as a reformed prostitute in Revelation (1918), a suicide in Toys of Fate (1918) and dual roles as half-sisters during the Boxer Rebellion in The Red Lantern (1919), not to mention the title role of Camille (1921) with Rudolph Valentino. At the same time she maintained a strong Broadway theatrical career.
In accordance with her rise in the film industry, she began producing her own efforts, which were bold and experimental--and monumental failures, although they are hailed as great artistic efforts today. Her Salomé (1922) was quite scandalous and deemed a failure at the time. The monetary losses she suffered as producer were astronomical. The Hays Code, which led to severe censorship in pictures, also led to her downfall, as did her outmoded acting style. She was forced to abandon films for the theater, scoring exceptionally well in Anton Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard." She did return to films briefly in the 1940s in a variety of supporting roles, but she made these solely for the money.
Nazimova's private life has long been the subject of industry gossip. As a Hollywood cover to her well-known bisexual lifestyle, she coexisted in a "marriage" with gay actor Charles Bryant for well over a decade. Her "Garden of Allah" home was the centerpiece for many glamorous private parties. She died in 1945.- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Mélanie Laurent was born in Paris, France. She is the daughter of Annick, a ballet teacher, and Pierre, a voice actor, who is most recognized for the French version of The Simpsons (1989). She has a younger brother, Mathieu, and has both Sephardi Jewish (from Tunisia) and Ashkenazi Jewish (from Poland) ancestry. In 1998, Laurent was visiting the set of Asterix and Obelix vs. Caesar (1999) with a friend when she caught the attention of Gérard Depardieu. He offered her a role in his next film The Bridge (1999). She only played a small role, but it was enough to further Mélanie's interest in acting.- Actress
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Shirly Brener was born on 24 September 1974 in Haifa, Israel. She is an actress and producer, known for Employee of the Month (2006), The Chicago 8 (2011) and G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013). She has been married to Bruce Rubenstein since 2004. They have two children.- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Kat Dennings was born Katherine Victoria Litwack in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia, to Ellen (Schatz), a speech therapist and poet, and Gerald Litwack, a molecular pharmacologist. She is the youngest of five children. Her family is of Russian Jewish descent. Kat was predominantly home-schooled, graduating at the age of fourteen. Her family subsequently moved to Los Angeles, California to support Kat acting full-time.
After work doing commercials, she began work in television, starting with a role on HBO's Sex and the City (1998), following up with roles on Raising Dad (2001), The Scream Team (2002), Everwood (2002), Without a Trace (2002) and ER (1994), among others.
Kat made the move to the big screen with supporting roles in Raise Your Voice (2004), The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005) and Big Momma's House 2 (2006). She later achieved a level of fame with roles in The House Bunny (2008) and Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (2008).
Kat continues to act in feature films and is an avid video blogger. Since 2011, she has starred with Beth Behrs in the CBS television series 2 Broke Girls (2011).- Actress
- Additional Crew
- Music Department
Perhaps best known for her six seasons on camera as tomboy Samantha on NBC's hit sitcom Gimme A Break!, Lara Jill began her career on tour and Broadway in The Music Man with Dick Van Dyke. Lara Jill graduated Phi Beta Kappa and Magna Cum Laude from New York University and then Fordham School of Law. She passed the Bar Exam in three states (all on the first try) and then was a practicing attorney in NYC.
She returned to the biz in recurring and guest roles on television (The Amanda Show, Chicken Soup for the Soul, General Hospital) and went on to star as the title roles in many award winning animated series like Clifford's Puppy Days, Henry Hugglemonster, The Life and Times of Juniper Lee, SciGirls. You have heard her voice starring as Lambie in Doc McStuffins, Lisa Loud in The Loud House, Allie in Curious George, Fink in OKKO, Libby in The Ghost and Molly McGee, and many others for nearly two decades. Also an accomplished singer, you've heard her voice on sound recordings like Disney Jr's Doc McStuffins and Henry Hugglemonster soundtracks, The Children's Museum of Los Angeles' Readers' Theatre, Adiboo's Discovery Series, and NPR's acclaimed The Wizard of Oz, along with many popular toys and video games.- Mary Louise Weller was born September 1, 1946, and raised in Los Angeles. The onetime top New York model made her film debut with a small uncredited role in Serpico (1973).
Weller was especially memorable as a beautiful marine biologist in the made-for-TV picture Hunters of the Reef (1978) and, likewise, solid as professor Andrew Prine's college student lover in the superior haunted house horror winner The Evil (1978). But she achieved almost cultural-icon status with her excellent performance as sorority girl Mandy Pepperidge in the uproarious hit comedy National Lampoon's Animal House (1978). After "Animal House", Weller went on to play many notable roles in both comedy and drama.Positively 100% Jewish - Actress
- Producer
- Writer
From her role as Dr. Lisa Cuddy on the hit Fox series "House" to her starring role as Abby McCarthy in Bravo's first scripted series "Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce," Lisa Edelstein's range of roles are as diverse as her talent. Set for a Summer 2018 Season 5 premiere, "Girlfriends' Guide" is a dramedy following a best-selling author of a self-help series who separates from her husband and must navigate big career changes and the dating world as a newly single mother. Created by Marti Noxon, the show not only gave Edelstein the opportunity to be the series lead playing everything from heartfelt drama to physical comedy, she also had the chance to expand creatively by being a writer, producer and director on the show.
Edelstein is developing a dramedy pilot with Universal Cable based on the book Confessions of a Sociopath by M.E. Thomas. She is co-writing the script with Carol Barbee, will star in the lead role and executive produce along with Phoenix Pictures. She is also shooting a recurring role in the new Netflix series "The Kominsky Method," starring Michael Douglas and Alan Arkin and created by Chuck Lorre. Edelstein plays Phoebe, the drug-addled hot mess daughter of Arkin's character. The show will premiere later this year. In addition, she took the helm this year by writing, directing, and starring in the short film "Unzipping." Based on the short story by Etgar Keret, Edelstein produced the film with Jane Hollen and Kate Cohen of Straight Up Films. James Le Gros and Jason Lewis co-star.
No stranger to fearless and even some iconic television roles, Edelstein was the risotto-loving Karen on "Seinfeld," Rob Lowe's call-girl girlfriend Laurie on "West Wing," the transsexual Cindy on "Ally McBeal," and Rhonda Roth, the first out-lesbian on network TV in Jason Katim's "Relativity." Other guest and recurring appearances include "Scandal," "The Good Wife," and "House of Lies." She co-starred for seven seasons on the medical drama "House," which became the most watched show in the world and garnered Edelstein the People's Choice Award for Favorite TV Actress.
Edelstein's feature credits include "Keeping The Faith," starring Ben Stiller and directed by Edward Norton, Mel Gibson's "What Women Want," "Daddy Day Care" with Eddie Murphy, "As Good As It Gets," the dramatic Showtime feature "Fathers and Sons," "Joshy," and "Dr. Bird's Advice to Sad Poets." She also works in the realm of animation voiceover in such shows as "American Dad," "King of the Hill," "Airbender: Legend of Korra," as well as the character Mercy Graves in the "Superman" and "Justice League" series.
While honing her craft at the prestigious NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Edelstein appeared in numerous off-Broadway productions and then authored, composed and performed the AIDS-related musical "Positive Me" at Ellen Stuart's La Mama in Manhattan. It was one of the first productions in any medium about the crisis and New York's Common Ground bestowed to her a Humanitarian Award for her efforts to further awareness.
Edelstein resides in Los Angeles in a century old home with her husband artist Robert Russell, two step-sons, and several rescue dogs. She volunteers her time with a variety of charity organizations including Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, The Anti-Defamation League, Planned Parenthood and The Center for Reproductive Rights.- Writer
- Producer
- Actress
Nigella Lawson was born on 6 January 1960 in Wandsworth, London, England, UK. She is a writer and producer, known for Modern Family (2009), Nigella Express (2007) and Nigella's Amsterdam Christmas (2023). She was previously married to Charles Saatchi and John Diamond.- Actress
- Producer
- Executive
Julianna Margulies was born on June 8, 1966 in Spring Valley (near New York City), as the youngest of three daughters of Francesca (Goldberg), a teacher and dancer in American Ballet, and Paul Margulies, an advertising writer and philosopher. She is of Ashkenazi Jewish heritage (from Romania, Austria, Hungary, and Russia). Until beginning high school in New Hampshire at age 14, she lived several years with her family in Paris and in England. She obtained a B.A. degree in liberal arts from Sarah Lawrence College, where she appeared in several plays on campus. She jobbed as a waitress until her first role as a prostitute looking to go straight in Out for Justice (1991). It took more than a year to find another role; during that time, she managed to support herself from several regional theater productions and national TV ads. Until she became a regular in ER (1994), she guest starred in several television series and a pilot. Since then, she has starred in several films, including Ghost Ship (2002), Evelyn (2002), and Snakes on a Plane (2006), and headlines the CBS drama The Good Wife (2009), for which she has won both an Emmy and a Golden Globe.- Actress
- Director
- Producer
Julie grew up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Her father, Neil Warner, was a musical arranger, who wrote jingles for products such as Tic-Tacs and Fig Newtons. Her mother, Naomi, is a freelance book agent. A 10-years younger brother, James, works for the New York City Parks Department. At 12, she attended the exclusive Dalton School, where she became friends with Mary Stuart Masterson. While there, an agent urged her to try out for a role in the movie Pretty Baby (1978). She didn't get it, but it did lead to a role on the soap Guiding Light (1952). She majored in theatre arts at Brown University and graduated in 1987. She worked as a waitress in Los Angeles, while seeking her acting break. In 1995, she married writer-director Jonathan Prince.- Actress
- Writer
- Producer
Brooklyn-native actress Ina Balin (née Rosenberg) was born on November 12, 1937, into a Jewish family of entertainers. Her parents were Betty (nee Friedman) and Sam Rosenberg, who divorced when she was 9 years old. Her father was a dancer/singer/comedian who worked the Borscht Belt. He later quit show business to join his family's furrier business. Her mother was a Hungarian-born professional dancer who escaped a troubled family life by marrying at age 15. Sam was her third husband at age 21. They divorced when Ina and her brother, Richard Balin, were still quite young and the children were placed in boarding schools (she at the Montessori Children's Village in Bucks County, Pennsylvania) until their mother married a fourth time to wealthy shoe magnate Harold Balin, who later adopted Betty's two children, who took his surname.
Ina always wanted to be an actress and her mother encouraged her to take ballet lessons while young. Her first big break occurred in NewvYork at age 15 when she appeared on Perry Como's 1950s TV show. She went on to attend New York University majoring in theater and also studied with Actors Studio exponents Lonny Chapman and Curt Conway while gathering additional experience on the summer stock stage. She made an auspicious Broadway debut in a female lead with "Compulsion" in 1957. Two years later, the dark-haired, olive-skinned beauty won a Theatre World Award for her outstanding performance in the Broadway comedy, "A Majority of One", starring Gertrude Berg. Producer Carlo Ponti saw her Broadway performance in "Compulsion" and requested her for a prime role in his film The Black Orchid (1958).
Starring Ponti's wife, Sophia Loren, and Anthony Quinn, Ina received impressive notices as Quinn's sensitive, grown daughter. Considered one of 20th Century Fox's most promising new talents, she received a special "International Star of Tomorrow" Golden Globe for this early work. A major career disappointment occurred when the film version of Compulsion (1959) was made and Ina's ethnic role of "Ruth Goldenberg" was transformed into a non-ethnic part (Ruth Evans) that wound up starring Diane Varsi. Ina was given an unbilled part in the movie. The sting of that studio transgression was somewhat softened when she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for "Best Supporting Actress" for her intensive performance in the Paul Newman/Joanne Woodward soaper, From the Terrace (1960), as Newman's love interest. She found herself typecast by the studio and eventually felt compelled to leave.
A soft, slender, but intent-looking actress who could play various types of ethnicities (Jewish, Italian, Mexican, Spanish, Greek, et al.), she had a lovely, quiet glow but could easily display the fiery temperament of an Anna Magnani when called upon. In the 1960s, however, she was overshadowed by a number of her leading men in their respective showcases. She appeared in many Westerns, often as the girlfriend or love interest of the hero. There was little room for any actor to generate interest upon themselves when playing opposite the likes of an Elvis Presley, Jerry Lewis and/or John Wayne. In other situations, her roles were merely decorative, less showy, or proved less integral to the main plot, such as her secondary role as "Martha" in The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965). While Ina maintained a fine balance of TV roles ranging from the dramatic (Bonanza (1959), Mannix (1967), Quincy M.E. (1976), Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964)) to the humorous (The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961), Get Smart (1965)), the one big acting role which could have set her apart from the others never materialized.
Subsequent pictures such as the cult film The Projectionist (1970) and The Don Is Dead (1973) and her assorted appearances in several TV-movies failed to advance her status in Hollywood. And then her life changed...dramatically. As the first woman to ever participate in a handshake tour of a South Vietnam military hospital in the late 1960s, Ina toured Vietnam with the USO in 1970 and was greatly affected by the entire experience. It also triggered a series of trips back to the war-torn region. As a Board Member of the An Lac orphanage in Saigon, she courageously took part in the full-scale evacuation of nearly 400 orphans in 1975 during the fall of the city to the Communists. She eventually adopted three of the 219 children who managed to be flown out of the country. In 1980, the dramatic rescue was replayed via a TV film in which Balin portrayed herself. The well-received The Children of an Lac (1980) also starred Shirley Jones (as fellow rescuer "Betty Tisdale") and Beulah Quo (as the concerned Vietnamese woman who ran the orphanage).
From this point on, Ina's professional career took a back seat to the raising of her children and her ongoing interest in foreign relief. She appeared throughout the 1980s with a sprinkling of guest shots on TV's Battlestar Galactica (1978), Murder, She Wrote (1984) and As the World Turns (1956), among others. As for film, her last movies (The Comeback Trail (1982), Vasectomy: A Delicate Matter (1986) and That's Adequate (1989)) were unworthy of her talents.
Ina never managed to fulfill her promising, Golden Globe-winning potential for she was diagnosed and eventually succumbed, at the age of 52 from pulmonary hypertension. A single parent, she was survived by her three children.- Actress
- Producer
A true entertainment veteran with an illustrious career spanning over 35 years. Originally from London and now a resident of LA for more than two decades, Dani's journey began remarkably early-she recorded her debut album for Warner's WEA label at the tender age of 14. By 16, she had already become a household name as a TV host, catapulting to fame with "The Word," a groundbreaking late-night show that earned her cult status in the UK. Dani's versatility shines through, she's hosted and produced shows in all genres for most of the renowned networks in the UK & US plus Canada, such as ABC, NBC, FOX, BBC, C4, ITV to name a few. Her distinct voice earned her the title of 'Queen of Voice Over 'and 'One Take Behr' recording for countless commercials, cartoons, ebooks, narration etc and has left an imprint on brands like BBC, Virgin Atlantic and the popular video game Lara Croft. She was also the drive-time host for KISS FM. Beyond her presence on screen, Dani ventured into acting, sharing credits on stage and film with acclaimed names like Joseph Fiennes, Kate Winslet, Ray Ifans, Cate Blanchett and Oprah Winfrey. Now at the helm of DBI Entertainment as President/Founder and previously the co-founder/co-president of DANTAR Productions with a first look deal at LIONSGATE, she continues to create and executive produce both unscripted and scripted projects for the global marketplace.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Singer and actress Abbe Lane made a splash in the 50s and 60s with revealing costumes and a seductive style of dancing. Far removed from her sultry Latin image, she was born Abigail Francine Lassman in Brooklyn, of Jewish parentage. Abbe began performing on radio from the age of four and first appeared on screen two years later (under her birth name) in the Vitaphone featurette Toyland Casino (1938), warbling "Five and Ten Cent Soldiers on Parade". Billed as Abbe Marshall --probably in deference to her father's first name 'Abbey'-- she became a hoofer on Broadway by her mid-teens (having lied about her age to get into musicals), before finagling a gig on television as a vocalist for bandleader Vincent Lopez. While performing a calypso number in the 1948 Broadway musical As Girls Go, she was spotted by the charismatic Spanish maestro Xavier Cugat and hired on the spot. For the next few years, she became 'Cugie's' featured vocalist and the 'Rumba King's' star attraction.
Despite a considerable difference in their respective ages (he was thirty-two years her senior), Lane and Cugat married in 1952. During their twelve years together, Lane sang on several Cugat LP's and was featured --with her hair dyed blonde-- on the cover of "The Best of Cugat", a compendium of hits released by Mercury Records. In 1958, Abbe co-starred on Broadway opposite Tony Randall in Oh, Captain, a musical comedy based on the English motion picture The Captain's Paradise (1953). She also sidelined as a nightclub singer, recorded a popular album with Tito Puente's orchestra, entitled "Be Mine Tonight" and appeared in a handful of Hollywood pictures.
Frustrated with being typecast in American films merely as "a decorative accessory", Lane joined Cugat in Italy in 1956 and enjoyed almost immediate screen success. Her first motion picture lead was in I girovaghi (1956), as a fiery dancer who enchants Peter Ustinov's itinerant puppeteer. The following year, she partnered Gabriele Ferzetti (as a suave jewel thief) in the caper comedy Parola di ladro (1957) and starred alongside Totò and Vittorio De Sica in another comedy, The Lady Doctor (1957). Aside from romances and musicals, Lane also featured in peplum (Caesar Against the Pirates (1962)) and as the tempestuous ex-flame of daredevil fire fighter Cornel Wilde (who also directed) in the Paramount love-triangle melodrama Maracaibo (1958), which was filmed on location in Venezuela.
In 1956, Cugat returned to New York while his spouse opted to remain in Italy. The bandleader had no intention of raising a family and this ultimately led to the couple's divorce in June 1964. Lane did not stay single for long. By November, she had moved back to America and married Harvard graduate and Hollywood theatrical agent Perry Leff. The union produced two sons and endured until Leff's death in 2020.
Though unable to reignite her career as an actress, Lane went on to appear as panelist or singer on numerous TV variety shows throughout the 60s and 70s, hosted by the era's most prominent emcees, including Ed Sullivan, Steve Allen, David Frost, Jack Paar, Merv Griffin and Johnny Carson. In her later years, Lane tended to distance herself from her previous sensual image. In January 1993, she published a semi-autobiographical novel, entitled But Where is Love?, a thinly-veiled account of her early career and turbulent marriage to Cugat.
Abbe Lane has a star on the Walk of Fame on Hollywood Boulevard.- Actress
- Director
- Soundtrack
Melanie Chartoff began her career on Broadway in "Scapino" and "Via Galactica," and Off-Broadway in "the Proposition" (an entirely improvised musical revue with Jane Curtin, Fred Grande, and Josh Mostel), played Jennifer in a revival of "Do I Hear a Waltz;" and meanwhile performed a stand-up and comedy song act at the Improv Clubs in NY, and later in LA.
She came to prominence as cast and contributor on "Fridays," with Larry David and Michael Richards; co-starred with George Segal on "Take Five," recurred opposite Jonathan Banks on "Wiseguy," recurred as Peter Scolari, Tom Poston, and Bob Newhart's shrink on "Newhart;" recurred as the mom on "Weird Science," played the principal from hell, Grace Musso, on "Parker Lewis Can't Lose," recurred as Jason Alexander's girlfriend on "Seinfeld," and appeared in the final episode; she played Didi Pickles and Minka on Nickelodeon's long running Emmy-winning "Rugrats" and "All Grown Up," its films and video games and in its action figures; she played Aunt Nora in the animated "Jumanji," and played Sunshine on "OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes" on the Cartoon Network.
Melanie played the mature Mary Pickford at the time when she was president of United Artists in a new play called "The Counsel, the Tramp and American's Sweetheart" at Theatre 40, and played Ruth Bader Ginsberg in Rupert Holmes' play "All Things Equal". She appears in several roles in "The Pack Plays" on the Actors Fund website.
Her first book, "Odd Woman Out: Exposure in Essays and Stories," about the risks of becoming an actor before becoming a real human, is rated five stars on Barnes and Noble, Amazon and many other sites. Her narration of the audio book is also rated five stars.
She's been published in McSweeney's, Medium, Entropy, Crows Feet, The Jewish Journal, Funny Times, Five on the Fifth, Purple Clover, Glint, Entropy, Verdad, Bluestem, Evening Street Press, Mused, Jewlarious, Defenestration, Better after 50, Living the Second Act, Avenue, Goats Milk Magazine, Borrowed Solace, Avalon Literary Review, Eat Darling Eat, The Literate Ape, Lowestoft Chronicle, Lothlorien Poetry Journal, Wry Times, and five editions of Chicken Soup for the Soul (Simon and Schuster). She lives with her husband in Los Angeles and coaches performers and non-performers, introverts and extroverts, in being more charismatic in their public and private encounters, directing voice-over reels, speeches, and recording first date videos.- Producer
- Writer
- Actress
Claudia Lonow started her career as an actress, playing Michele Lee's chubby, loud-mouthed teenage daughter on Knots Landing (1979). Favorite episodes include: the one where she has kidney failure and is saved by Donna Mills's kidney; the one where she runs away with the town murderer, "Chip," and drives her mother to drugs; and the one where she almost loses her virginity, but instead winds up donning clown make up and singing "Put On A Happy Face" with her mom.
Lonow's next career was waitressing. She did stand up comedy for a while, working across the country and doing some television. When she gave her best joke to Sarah Silverman, and Silverman killed with it, a writer was born.
Her television-writing career took off when she wrote a semi-autobiographical spec pilot about a former nighttime soap opera television actress who gets sent to rehab, called "Rude Awakening." Showtime bought the show, which ran for 55 episodes. Lonow has been creating and writing television ever since: "Good Girls Don't" for Oxygen; "Accidentally On Purpose" for CBS and "How To Live With Your Parents (For The Rest Of Your Life)" for ABC. Lonow completed directing her first short film, (which she also co-wrote) entitled, "Bummed."- Music Artist
- Actress
- Music Department
Lisa Loeb was born on 11 March 1968 in Bethesda, Maryland, USA. She is a music artist and actress, known for House on Haunted Hill (1999), Legally Blonde (2001) and Twister (1996). She has been married to Roey Hershkovitz since 31 January 2009. They have two children.- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Audrey Landers is an accomplished actor, singer, writer, director, composer, producer, and business woman. She majored in Psychology at Columbia University/ Barnard College, and studied music theory at Juilliard School of Music. However, she is best known to fans all over the world for her memorable role as "Afton Cooper" for eight years in the iconic television series "Dallas." Afton was the sultry songstress, singing all the songs that Audrey wrote. She also appeared in the Dallas series revival on TNT, reprising her role. She starred as Val in A Chorus Line: The Movie, and countless guest starring roles and films. Ms. Landers stars in Hallmark Channel's, Love At Sea, Lifetime's Engaged to a Psycho (2020) and in Murder at the Mansion. She will costar in a 2 hour Showtime movie pilot in 2022. Audrey wrote and recorded her first hit record at age 14 on Epic Records. She has an ongoing 3 decade career as a multi-gold and platinum recording artist and songwriter, earning 10 gold singles, 4 gold albums and 2 platinum albums. Many of her European hits have become Evergreens, including Manuel Goodbye and Playa Blanca, and have been re-recorded by artists in many countries. She's had concerts in Europe, Las Vegas and Atlantic City, headlining with Billy Crystal, Glen Campbell, Bob Hope, Rich Little, Tom Jones, and many more. Recently Ms. Landers performed songs from The Great American Songbook with the 64 piece Pops Orchestra. Behind the scenes, Ms. Landers has been writing, producing and/or directing films, TV series and music videos since the 1980's. She and her business partner, mother Ruth Landers, coproduced feature films released by MGM and Paramount, such as Ghost Writer, Club Fed, California Casanova, and Circus Island (which Audrey also wrote and directed.) The Huggabug Club is the award-winning musical educational children's television series that Audrey created. She wrote the 47 half hour episodes, as well as the 250+ original songs in the series. Ruth Landers donated the tv series to Public Television for 5 years, and the show has been an invaluable learning tool for preschoolers. Ms. Landers produced The Huggabug Club Live! stage production which toured the United States, delighting audiences of all ages. Audrey continues to produce and direct music videos for a variety of up and coming recording artists. Continuing their long-standing business partnership, Ruth and Audrey created Landers STAR Collection®, a women's clothing and accessories company, offering affordable glamorous fashion to women across the globe, from HSE Munich, QVC UK, Italy and France. The Landers fashion philosophy is, "Every woman is a star and she deserves to shine ®." The Florida Motion Picture & Television Association, Inc. voted unanimously to bestow its Lifetime Achievement Award upon Audrey Landers at their 22nd Annual Crystal Reel Awards. Audrey's son, Daniel Landers is continuing the family tradition as the 3rd generation in the Entertainment Industry. Daniel is an accomplished composer, songwriter, musician, actor, performer, and social media influencer. Together they are collaborating on a cutting edge, dark pop musical for film and stage, a half hour comedy series, and a high concept drama series.- Actress
- Producer
- Make-Up Department
Milena Markovna "Mila" Kunis is a Ukrainian-American actress born to a Jewish family in Chernivtsi, Ukraine.
Her mother, Elvira, is a physics teacher, her father, Mark Kunis, is a mechanical engineer, and she has an older brother named Michael. Her family moved to Los Angeles, California, in 1991. After attending one semester of college between gigs, she realized that she wanted to act for the rest of her life. She started acting when she was nine years old, when her father heard about an acting class on the radio and decided to enroll Mila in it. There, she met her future agent. Her first gig was when she played a character named Melinda in Make a Wish, Molly (1995). From there, her career skyrocketed into big-budget films.
Although she is mostly known for playing Jackie Burkhart on That '70s Show (1998), she has shown the world that she can do so much more. Since 1999, she provided the voice of self-conscious daughter Meg Griffin on the animated sitcom Family Guy (1999). Her breakthrough film was Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008), in which she played a free-spirited character named Rachel Jansen. She has since starred or co-starred in the films Max Payne (2008), The Book of Eli (2010), Black Swan (2010), Friends with Benefits (2011), Ted (2012) and Oz the Great and Powerful (2013).
Mila Kunis is married to actor Ashton Kutcher, with whom she has two children.- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Hardly the dumb blonde of Romy and Michele's High School Reunion (1997), Lisa was born in Encino, California on July 30, 1963. Her mother, Nedra S. (Stern), worked as a travel agent, and her father, Lee N. Kudrow, is a physician. Her parents are both from Jewish families (from Belarus, Russia, and Hungary). Lisa was raised in Tarzana and played varsity-level tennis in high school and college, and is a pool shark who has mastered some of the more difficult trick shots (so beware). She graduated from Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychobiology. At first, she wanted to pursue a career in research, so she returned to Los Angeles to begin working with her father. However, Lisa got inspired to perform by one of her brother's friends, comedian Jon Lovitz, and so the tall (5' 8") blonde-haired, green-eyed beauty entered show biz. Lisa auditioned for the improv theater group, The Groundlings, based in Los Angeles. Cynthia Szigeti, a well-known improv teacher, took Lisa under her wing. In that class, Lisa became a friend of Conan O'Brien. Graduating with honors in 1989, Lisa became a full-fledged member of The Groundlings. Breaking into TV, she got a recurring role as Ursula, the ditsy waitress on Mad About You (1992). This led to her starring role on Friends (1994). In the debut season (1994-95) of Friends (1994), Lisa earned an Emmy nomination as Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series; in 1998, she won that award for her role as Phoebe, the ditsy but lovable folk singer. Lisa has also been nominated for Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild and American Comedy Awards for her performances.
Lisa made the transition to the big screen with a lot of success. In 1997, she starred opposite Oscar winner Mira Sorvino in the above-mentioned Romy and Michele's High School Reunion (1997). Lisa garnered more praise for her film work when she got the New York Film Critics Award for her starring role in The Opposite of Sex (1998).
Lisa married Michel Stern, an advertising executive, on May 27, 1995. On May 7, 1998, they were blessed with a son, Julian Murray; they live in Los Angeles.- Actress
- Composer
- Music Department
Susanna Hoffs is a singer, songwriter, guitarist, actress, novelist and co-founder of the multi-platinum selling group, The Bangles. Her voice is instantly recognizable on such hit singles as, "Eternal Flame", "In Your Room" (both co-written by Hoffs), and "Manic Monday".
Her first novel, "This Bird Has Flown" was released in 2023 and received rave reviews in the New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, and NPR, among others. Universal Pictures purchased the rights to the novel for a screen adaptation.
She played the role of Gillian Shagwell, in the fictional band, "Ming Tea" in all three "Austin Powers" films.
In 1990, she began a solo music career and has released five studio albums; "When You're a Boy" (1991), "Susanna Hoffs" (1996), "Someday" (2014), "Bright Lights" (2021), and "The Deep End" (2023). The albums yielded hit songs such as, "My Side of the Bed", "Unconditional Love", and "All I Want". She collaborated with Matthew Sweet on "Under the Covers" volumes 1, 2, and 3. She has toured with the Bangles and as a solo artist with such artists as Don Henley, Aimee Mann, and Matthew Sweet.
Notable solo artist performances include the Lilith Fair, the Academy Awards (duet with Randy Newman), Grammy Salute to Prince (duet with Chris Martin), and Grammy Salute to Paul Simon.
Entertainment Weekly wrote about her performance with Chris Martin saying, "This was the night's tenderest moment and certainly one of the most still, particularly in a catalog full of uptempo delights. Hoffs and Martin intertwined their voices, stripping the sweet lament to a gorgeously elegiac place".
In 2019, Hoffs inducted the Zombies into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Hoffs vocals and songs have been featured in films (and on the soundtracks for), "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery", "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me", "Austin Powers in Goldmember", "Meet the Parents", "Bombshell", and numerous others. Her single, "Eternal Flame", which she performed lead vocals on with The Bangles, has been used in over 60 films and TV shows.
In addition to co-writing songs for the Bangles, Hoffs has co-written songs for the Go-Go's, Belinda Carlisle, and Bette Midler as well as contributing vocals on albums by such artists as the Talking Heads, Rufus Wainwright, Travis, and :The Lilith Fair: Celebration of Music" compilation album (featuring Sarah McLachlin, Shawn Colvin, Emmylou Harris, and others).- Actress
- Writer
- Soundtrack
A charming, elegant, and exceedingly popular international film star with a gentle, understated beauty, actress Lilli Palmer was born as Lilli Marie Peiser on May 24, 1914, in Posen, Prussia. She was the daughter of Rose Lissman, an Austrian Jewish actress, and Alfred Peiser, a German Jewish surgeon. In addition to her native German, she grew up becoming fluent in French and English as well. Of her two sisters, older sister Irene Prador became an actress and singer in her own right. Lilli studied drama in Berlin and made her theatrical debut there in 1932 at age 18. Within a short time, however, the family was forced to flee their native homeland with the rise of Hitler and settled in Paris. Eventually Lilli moved to England to rebuild the career she had started on stage and film.
She made her British movie debut co-starring in the "B" mystery drama Crime Unlimited (1935), playing the distaff member of a syndicate of jewel thieves who becomes a romantic pawn for a policeman (Esmond Knight) who has infiltrated the crime ring as a plant. Throughout the rest of the decade she upped the value of her name in both "A" and "B" material, notably Alfred Hitchcock's Secret Agent (1936), Silent Barriers (1937) and The Man with 100 Faces (1938) where she provided the usual element of feminine mystery.
Lilli's career took a major upswing during the early to mid 1940s. Several of her pictures centered around the omnipresent war, particularly Thunder Rock (1942), her film career-maker), which starred Michael Redgrave as an anti-fascist journalist who retreats to Canada, and Notorious Gentleman (1945), with Rex Harrison as a idle bounder who sees the error of his ways and becomes a war sacrifice. This was Lilli's first movie with husband Harrison; they married in 1943 and she bore him a son, Carey Harrison, the following year. Carey grew up to became a writer and director.
The family moved to America in 1945 to further their careers. Rex and Lilli became a prominent acting couple, appearing together on the early 50s Broadway stage with "Bell, Book and Candle" (1950), "Venus Observed" (1952) and "The Love of Four Colonels" (1953), the last mentioned directed by Harrison. In movies, they co-starred in the murky crimer The Long Dark Hall (1951) and the vastly superior The Four Poster (1952), which later gave rise to the musical adaptation "I Do! I Do!". Lilli was award the Venice Film Festival Award for this performance and represented herself well with other handsome male acting partners, notably Gary Cooper in her debut American film Cloak and Dagger (1946) and John Garfield in the classic boxing film Body and Soul (1947), leaving audiences enthralled with one of its newer foreign imports. At one point, she was given her own own (short-lived) TV show to host, The Lilli Palmer Show (1951).
Somewhat typecast by this time as heartless cads and opportunists on film, "Sexy Rexy", as husband Harrison was known in the tabloids, developed quite a reputation off-camera as well. A particularly disastrous romance with actress Carole Landis led to that actress's tragic suicide in 1948. Lilli took the high road and came off the better for it in the public's eye. She eventually called it quits, however, with both Harrison and Hollywood and returned to Europe in 1954. In 1956 Lilli filmed Between Time and Eternity (1956) [Between Time and Eternity] and fell in love with handsome Argentine co-star Carlos Thompson, who had developed matinée idol status in Germany. They married in September of 1957, several months after her divorce from Harrison became final. This marriage endured.
Lilli matured gracefully in films, the epitome of poise and class, but she lost any potential for top stardom after leaving Hollywood. She made international productions for the rest of her career, primarily German and French, but they did not live up to her early successes and were not seen all that much outside of Europe. She managed to work, however, opposite a "Who's Who" of European male stars of the time, including Curd Jürgens, James Mason, Louis Jourdan, Jean Gabin, Jean Marais, Jean Sorel, Gérard Philipe and Klaus Kinski. Of those few movies she made in Hollywood, she played the prickly wife of Clark Gable, who has a May-December affair with young Carroll Baker in But Not for Me (1959); was a sparkling and witty standout in the ensemble cast of The Pleasure of His Company (1961); and proved quite moving in the William Holden spy thriller The Counterfeit Traitor (1962). On TV here, she was touchingly effective as Mrs. Frank in a production of The Diary of Anne Frank (1967) with Max von Sydow, and enjoyed one of her last roles in the acclaimed miniseries Peter the Great (1986).
The final decade and a half played out rather routinely with supporting roles in such films as diverse as Oedipus the King (1968), De Sade (1969), and The Boys from Brazil (1978). She demonstrated her writing talents with her popular bestselling biography "Change Lobsters and Dance" in 1975, and later published a novel "The Red Raven" in 1978. Dying of cancer in 1986 at age 71 in Los Angeles, Lilli's surviving second husband Thompson, who had abandoned acting in the late 60s and turned to turned TV writing/producing, committed suicide four years later back in his native Argentina.- Pola Illéry was an exotic silent film star in France and Romania during the 1920s and made a modest transition to sound films in the 1930s. She was known for portraying sexually liberated women and was considered the most glamorous film star in Romania. After she left films feeling she achieved her time in the spotlight she fled to America in 1939 with the rise of Nazism. After moving between New York and Maryland she settled in Pennsylvania and spent her life living modestly with the family she had created and raised until her death from old age.
- Actress
- Writer
- Director
Judy Landers' pleasing personality and physical attributes have made this former Juilliard music student one of the popular character actresses in both action series like B.J. and the Bear (1978) and Vega$ (1978), as well as in a multitude of situation comedies during the 1980s. Although a student of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, her ability to play naive, innocent or sometimes even dimwitted characters, the blonde bombshell seems to have excelled more in comedies. She has appeared in series such as Night Court (1984) and The Love Boat (1977), and in films such as Stewardess School (1986) and Dr. Alien (1989). She is married to baseball player Tom Niedenfuer and they have two daughters, Lindsey and Kristy. Judy and her older sister Audrey Landers have appeared together in many projects, but one of the projects nearest and dearest to them seems to have been The Huggabug Club (1995), a children's series which they produced for Public Broadcasting. The duo not only starred in the series, they (along with their mother Ruth Landers) produced the series, and contributed most of the music to it, as well.- Actress
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Natalie Schafer got her start doing Broadway plays then making the move to the big screen. Even before Gilligan's Island (1964), she was typecast in roles as society women, or elegant, fashionable ladies. It was her role as "Eunice 'Lovey' Wentworth Howell" wife of multi-millionaire Thurston Howell III, that she was best known for. After the show ended its run in 1967, Schafer did a few guest appearances on shows, most notably The Brady Bunch (1969).