When Harry Met Sally... 1989 premiere
Thursday July 13th, Samuel Goldwyn Theater 8949 Wilshire Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA 90211
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- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Robert Reiner was born in New York City, to Estelle Reiner (née Lebost) and Emmy-winning actor, comedian, writer, and producer Carl Reiner.
As a child, his father was his role model, as Carl Reiner created and starred in The Dick Van Dyke Show. Estelle was also an inspiration for him to become a director; her experience as a singer helped him understand how music was used in a scene. Rob often felt pressured about measuring up to his father's successful streak, with twelve Emmys and other prestigious awards.
When Rob graduated high school, his parents advised him to participate in Summer Theatre. Reiner got a job as an apprentice in the Bucks County Playhouse in Pennsylvania. He went on to UCLA Film School to further his education. Reiner felt he still wasn't successful even having a recurring role on one of the biggest shows in the country, All in the Family. He began his directing career with the Oscar-nominated films This Is Spinal Tap, Stand By Me, and The Princess Bride.
In 1987, with these successful box-office movies under his belt, Reiner founded his own production company, Castle Rock Entertainment; along with Martin Shafer, Andrew Scheinman, Glenn Padnick, and Alan Horn. Under Castle Rock Entertainment, he went to direct Oscar-nominated films When Harry Met Sally, Misery, and A Few Good Men. Reiner has credited former co-star Carroll O'Connor in helping him get into the directing business, showing Reiner the ropes.
Reiner is known as a political activist, co-founding the American Foundation For Equal Rights, a group that was an advisory for same-sex-marriage. He has spoken at several rallies on several topics, an advocate for social change regarding such issues as domestic violence and tobacco use.
Reiner made cameo appearances on television shows 30 Rock, The Simpsons, and Hannah Montana, and in films The First Wives Club, Bullets Over Broadway, Primary Colors, and Throw Momma From The Train, among many others.- Actor
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Billy Crystal was born on March 14, 1948 in Manhattan, New York, and was raised on Long Island. He is the youngest of three sons born to Helen (Gabler) and Jack Crystal. His father was a well-known concert promoter who co-founded Commodore Records and his mother was a homemaker. His family were Jewish emigrants from Russia, Austria, and Lithuania. With his father in the music business, Billy was no stranger to some of the top performers of the time. Legends such as Billie Holiday, Pee Wee Russell, and Eddie Condon regularly stopped by the Crystal household. At age 15, Billy faced a personal tragedy when his father died of a heart attack at the relatively young age of 54. This gave Billy a real appreciation of what his dad was able to accomplish while alive and what his mother did to keep the family together. Despite this tragedy, Billy was very upbeat and likable as a kid. He had a unique talent for making people laugh.
With television becoming a new medium, Billy got his influence from shows like The Honeymooners (1955), and "The Ed Sullivan Show" and performers like Alan King, Ernie Kovacs and Jonathan Winters. He started doing stand-up comedy at the age of 16. However, his real dream was to be a professional baseball player. His idol growing up was Yankees outfielder Mickey Mantle. He spent long hours in the summers playing softball in the middle of Park Avenue with his brothers and his father, a former pitcher at St. John's University . At Long Beach High, Billy played second base and was varsity captain in his senior year. This earned him a baseball scholarship from Marshall University in West Virginia which he accepted. However, he would never end up playing a game as the baseball program was suspended during his freshman year. This would lead him to leave the university and move back to New York. He then enrolled at nearby Nassau Community College, majoring in theater. It was there that he met and fell in love with a dancer named Janice Goldfinger. They would get married in 1970 and have two daughters. Shortly after, Billy got accepted in New York University, where he majored in Film and TV Direction. While at NYU, he studied under legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese. He also worked as house manager and usher on a production of "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown."
After receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts from NYU in 1970, Billy temporarily worked as a substitute teacher until he was able to get gigs as a stand-up comic. He formed his own improv group, 3's Company, and opened for musicians like Barry Manilow. His impression of Howard Cosell interviewing Muhammad Ali became a huge hit with the audience. He left Long Beach for Hollywood in August of 1976 in the hopes of trying to land a role on a television series. It only took a year before he got his big break when he was chosen for the role of gay character Jodie Dallas on the controversial ABC sitcom Soap (1977). This would be the first time that an American TV show would feature an openly gay character as a regular. The show ran successfully for four seasons and helped to jump-start Billy's previously stagnant career. After Soap (1977) ended in 1981, Billy continued to do his stand-up routine, which was now attracting a larger audience with his growing celebrity status. During this time, he made many TV guest appearances and even hosted his own short-lived variety show, The Billy Crystal Comedy Hour (1982).
He became a regular on Saturday Night Live (1975) in 1984 where his Fernando Lamas impression with the catchphrase "You Look Mahvellous" was a huge hit with viewers. This would lead to appearances in feature-length films such as Running Scared (1986) and Throw Momma from the Train (1987). In 1986, along with Whoopi Goldberg and Robin Williams, he started Comic Relief, an annual stand-up comedy show which helped to raise money for housing and medical care for the homeless. The show has since grown substantially with the continued support of all three comics. Billy's career would peak in the late 1980s and early 1990s. His roles in the blockbuster movies When Harry Met Sally... (1989) and City Slickers (1991) helped to establish himself as one of Hollwood's top movie stars. This star status was further validated when he was chosen to host the annual Oscars in 1990, an honor in which he would repeat seven more times. He made his big screen directorial debut in the 1992 film Mr. Saturday Night (1992), which was about a washed-up stand-up comic who refuses to retire. He also wrote, produced and starred in the film. Although the film was not a huge hit, it proved that Billy was much more than an actor and comedian. In the following years, Billy continued to act in, produce, and direct several films.
He had his share of hits (Analyze This (1999), America's Sweethearts (2001)) and some flops (Fathers' Day (1997), My Giant (1998)). His role in as a therapist to mobster Robert De Niro in Analyze This (1999) earned him critical praise. In 2001, Billy parlayed his childhood love of baseball and Mickey Mantle into a feature film. The movie, 61* (2001), which premiered on HBO, centered on the relationship between Mantle and Roger Maris and their 1961 pursuit of Babe Ruth's home run record. The film for which Billy served as director and executive producer, garnered 12 Emmy nominations in all.
Offscreen, Billy remains married to Janice Crystal and they have homes in California and New York. Both of his daughters are involved in the film business. Jennifer Crystal Foley is an aspiring actress, appearing in 61* (2001), while Lindsay Crystal is an aspiring filmmaker, creating and directing the documentary My Uncle Berns (2003).- Writer
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Nora Ephron was educated at Wellesley College, Massachusetts. She was an acclaimed essayist (Crazy Salad 1975), novelist (Heartburn 1983), and had written screenplays for several popular films, all featuring strong female characters, such as anti-nuclear activist Karen Silkwood (Silkwood (1983), co-written with Alice Arlen) and a mobster's feisty independent daughter Cookie Voltecki (Cookie (1989), also co-written with Arlen). Ephron's hard-headed sensibilities helped make Rob Reiner's When Harry Met Sally... (1989) a clear-eyed view of modern romance, and she earned an Oscar nomination for her original screenplay.
Ephron made her directorial debut with the comedy This Is My Life (1992), co-scripted by her sister Delia Ephron, which starred Julie Kavner as a single mother who struggles to establish herself as a stand-up comedienne. Ephron followed up by helming and co-writing Sleepless in Seattle (1993), a romantic comedy in which lovers Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan are separated for most of the film. Less about love than about love in the movies, the film drew inspiration from the beloved shipboard romance An Affair to Remember (1957), starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr.
Ephron was born in New York City, the daughter of stage and screen writing team Henry Ephron and Phoebe Ephron, who used her infancy as the subject of their play "Three's a Family" and based their comedy Take Her, She's Mine (1963) on letters their daughter wrote them from college. Their screenplays include There's No Business Like Show Business (1954), Carousel (1956) and Desk Set (1957). Formerly married to novelist Dan Greenburg and investigative journalist Carl Bernstein, Ephron was wed to crime journalist and screenwriter Nicholas Pileggi, at the time of her passing, who wrote such films as Goodfellas (1990). She was of Russian Jewish descent.- Actor
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Actor and musician Bruce Willis is well known for playing wisecracking or hard-edged characters, often in spectacular action films. Collectively, he has appeared in films that have grossed in excess of $2.5 billion USD.
Walter Bruce Willis was born on March 19, 1955, in Idar-Oberstein, West Germany, to a German mother, Marlene Kassel, and an American father, David Andrew Willis (from Carneys Point, New Jersey), who were then living on a United States military base. His family moved to the U.S. shortly after he was born, and he was raised in Penns Grove, New Jersey, where his mother worked at a bank and his father was a welder and factory worker. Willis picked up an interest for the dramatic arts in high school, and was allegedly "discovered" whilst working in a café in New York City and then appeared in a couple of off-Broadway productions. While bartending one night, he was seen by a casting director who liked his personality and needed a bartender for a small movie role.
After countless auditions, Willis contributed minor film appearances, usually uncredited, before landing the role of private eye "David Addison" alongside sultry Cybill Shepherd in the hit romantic comedy television series Moonlighting (1985). His sarcastic and wisecracking P.I. is seen by some as a dry run for the role of hard-boiled NYC detective "John McClane" in the monster hit Die Hard (1988), in which Willis' character single-handedly battled a gang of ruthless international thieves in a Los Angeles skyscraper. He reprised the role of McClane in the sequel, Die Hard 2 (1990), set at a snowbound Washington's Dulles International Airport as a group of renegade Special Forces soldiers seek to repatriate a corrupt South American general. Excellent box office returns demanded a further sequel Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995), this time co-starring Samuel L. Jackson as a cynical Harlem shop owner unwittingly thrust into assisting McClane during a terrorist bombing campaign on a sweltering day in New York.
Willis found time out from all the action mayhem to provide the voice of "Mikey" the baby in the very popular family comedies Look Who's Talking (1989), and its sequel Look Who's Talking Too (1990) also starring John Travolta and Kirstie Alley. Over the next decade, Willis starred in some very successful films, some very offbeat films and some unfortunate box office flops. The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990) and Hudson Hawk (1991) were both large scale financial disasters that were savaged by the critics, and both are arguably best left off the CVs of all the actors involved, however Willis was still popular with movie audiences and selling plenty of theatre tickets with the hyper-violent The Last Boy Scout (1991), the darkly humored Death Becomes Her (1992) and the mediocre police thriller Striking Distance (1993).
During the 1990s, Willis also appeared in several independent and low budget productions that won him new fans and praise from the critics for his intriguing performances working with some very diverse film directors. He appeared in the oddly appealing North (1994), as a cagey prizefighter in the Quentin Tarantino directed mega-hit Pulp Fiction (1994), the Terry Gilliam directed apocalyptic thriller 12 Monkeys (1995), the Luc Besson directed sci-fi opus The Fifth Element (1997) and the M. Night Shyamalan directed spine-tingling epic The Sixth Sense (1999).
Willis next starred in the gangster comedy The Whole Nine Yards (2000), worked again with "hot" director M. Night Shyamalan in the less than gripping Unbreakable (2000), and in two military dramas, Hart's War (2002) and Tears of the Sun (2003) that both failed to really fire with movie audiences or critics alike. However, Willis bounced back into the spotlight in the critically applauded Frank Miller graphic novel turned movie Sin City (2005), the voice of "RJ" the scheming raccoon in the animated hit Over the Hedge (2006) and "Die Hard" fans rejoiced to see "John McClane" return to the big screen in the high tech Live Free or Die Hard (2007) aka "Die Hard 4.0".
Willis was married to actress Demi Moore for approximately thirteen years and they share custody to their three daughters.- Actress
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Demi Moore was born 1962 in Roswell, New Mexico. Her father Charles Harmon left her mother Virginia Guynes (née King) before Demi was born. Her stepfather Danny Guynes didn't add much stability to her life either. He frequently changed jobs and made the family move a total of 40 times. The parents kept on drinking, arguing and beating, until Guynes finally committed suicide. Demi quit school at the age of 16 to work as a pin-up girl. At 18 she married rock musician Freddy Moore; the marriage lasted four years. At 19 she became a regular on the soap opera General Hospital (1963). From the first salaries she started partying and sniffing cocaine. That lasted more than 3 years, until director Joel Schumacher threatened to fire her from the set of St. Elmo's Fire (1985) when she turned up high. She got a withdrawal treatment and returned clean after a week, and stayed clean. With determination and a skill for publicity stunts, like the nude appearance on cover of Vanity Fair while pregnant, she made her way to fame. Since the huge commercial success of Ghost (1990) and the controversial pictures Indecent Proposal (1993) and Disclosure (1994) she's one of Hollywood's most sought-after and most expensive actresses.- Actor
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Richard Philip Lewis was born on June 29, 1947 in Brooklyn, New York and raised in Englewood, New Jersey. He went to Dwight Morrow High School and Ohio State University, graduating in 1969 with a degree in marketing and communications. Lewis wrote ad copy in New Jersey while also writing jokes for comedians such as Morty Gunty. He finally got the nerve to perform his own jokes in 1971 at New York's Improvisation and Pips.
After appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962) in 1974, he continued to tour and hone his act with help from David Brenner and Robert Klein. His film Diary of a Young Comic (1979) aired in the Saturday Night Live (1975) time-slot. His work on cable "I'm in Pain" for Showtime in 1988, The I'm Exhausted Concert (1988) earned a nomination from American Comedy Awards for Funniest Male Performer in a Television Special (for HBO); Richard Lewis: I'm Doomed (1990) (HBO) won him a second Ace Nomination for Best Stand-Up Comedy Special. His Richard Lewis: The Magical Misery Tour (1996) was filmed at New York's "Bottom Line" in December 1996. In December 1989, he performed to an SRO crowd at Carnegie Hall.- Actor
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With features chiseled in stone, and renowned for playing a long list of historical figures, particularly in Biblical epics, the tall, well-built and ruggedly handsome Charlton Heston was one of Hollywood's top leading men of his prime and remained active in front of movie cameras for over sixty years. As a Hollywood star, he appeared in 100 films over the course of 60 years. He played Moses in the epic film, The Ten Commandments (1956) , for which he received his first Golden Globe Award nomination. He also starred in Touch of Evil (1958) with Orson Welles; Ben-Hur, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor (1959); El Cid (1961); and Planet of the Apes (1968). He also starred in the films The Greatest Show on Earth (1952); Secret of the Incas (1954); The Big Country (1958); and The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965). A supporter of Democratic politicians and civil rights in the 1960s, Heston later became a Republican, founding a conservative political action committee and supporting Ronald Reagan. Heston's most famous role in politics came as the five-term president of the National Rifle Association, from 1998 to 2003.
Heston was born John Charles Carter on October 4, 1923, in No Man's Land, Illinois, to Lila (Charlton) and Russell Whitford Carter, who operated a sawmill. He had English and Scottish ancestry, with recent Canadianforebears.
Heston made his feature film debut as the lead character in a 16mm production of Peer Gynt (1941), based on the Henrik Ibsen play. In 1944, Heston enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces. He served for two years as a radio operator and aerial gunner aboard a B-25 Mitchell stationed in the Alaskan Aleutian Islands with the 77th Bombardment Squadron of the Eleventh Air Force. He reached the rank of Staff Sergeant. Heston married Northwestern University student Lydia Marie Clarke, who was six months his senior. That same year he joined the military.
Heston played 'Marc Antony' in Julius Caesar (1950), and firmly stamped himself as genuine leading man material with his performance as circus manager 'Brad Braden' in the Cecil B. DeMille spectacular The Greatest Show on Earth (1952), also starring James Stewart and Cornel Wilde. The now very popular actor remained perpetually busy during the 1950s, both on TV and on the silver screen with audience pleasing performances in the steamy thriller The Naked Jungle (1954), as a treasure hunter in Secret of the Incas (1954) and another barn storming performance for Cecil B. DeMille as "Moses" in the blockbuster The Ten Commandments (1956).
Heston delivered further dynamic performances in the oily film noir thriller Touch of Evil (1958), and then alongside Gregory Peck in the western The Big Country (1958) before scoring the role for which he is arguably best known, that of the wronged Jewish prince who seeks his freedom and revenge in the William Wyler directed Ben-Hur (1959). This mammoth Biblical epic running in excess of three and a half hours became the standard by which other large scale productions would be judged, and its superb cast also including Stephen Boyd as the villainous "Massala", English actor Jack Hawkins as the Roman officer "Quintus Arrius", and Australian actor Frank Thring as "Pontius Pilate", all contributed wonderful performances. Never one to rest on his laurels, steely Heston remained the preferred choice of directors to lead the cast in major historical productions and during the 1960s he starred as Spanish legend "Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar" in El Cid (1961), as a US soldier battling hostile Chinese boxers during 55 Days at Peking (1963),played the ill-fated "John the Baptist" in The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), the masterful painter "Michelangelo" battling Pope Julius II in The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965), and an English general in Khartoum (1966). In 1968, Heston filmed the unusual western Will Penny (1967) about an aging and lonely cowboy befriending a lost woman and her son, which Heston has often referred to as his favorite piece of work on screen. Interestingly, Heston was on the verge of acquiring an entirely new league of fans due to his appearance in four very topical science fiction films (all based on popular novels) painting bleak futures for mankind.
In 1968, Heston starred as time-traveling astronaut "George Taylor", in the terrific Planet of the Apes (1968) with its now legendary conclusion as Heston realizes the true horror of his destination. He returned to reprise the role, albeit primarily as a cameo, alongside fellow astronaut James Franciscus in the slightly inferior sequel Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970). Next up, Heston again found himself facing the apocalypse in The Omega Man (1971) as the survivor of a germ plague that has wiped out humanity leaving only bands of psychotic lunatics roaming the cities who seek to kill the uninfected Heston. And fourthly, taking its inspiration from the Harry Harrison novel "Make Room!, Make Room!", Heston starred alongside screen legend Edward G. Robinson and Chuck Connors in Soylent Green (1973). During the remainder of the 1970s, Heston appeared in two very popular "disaster movies" contributing lead roles in the far-fetched Airport 1975 (1974), plus in the star-laden Earthquake (1974), filmed in "Sensoround" (low-bass speakers were installed in selected theaters to simulate the earthquake rumblings on screen to movie audiences). He played an evil Cardinal in the lively The Four Musketeers: Milady's Revenge (1974), a mythical US naval officer in the recreation of Midway (1976), also filmed in "Sensoround", an LA cop trying to stop a sniper in Two-Minute Warning (1976) and another US naval officer in the submarine thriller Gray Lady Down (1978). Heston appeared in numerous episodes of the high-rating TV series Dynasty (1981) and The Colbys (1985), before moving onto a mixed bag of projects including TV adaptations of Treasure Island (1990) and A Man for All Seasons (1988), hosting two episodes of the comedy show, Saturday Night Live (1975), starring as the "Good Actor" bringing love struck Mike Myers to tears in Wayne's World 2 (1993), and as the eye patch-wearing boss of intelligence agent Arnold Schwarzenegger in True Lies (1994). He also narrated numerous TV specials and lent his vocal talents to the animated movie Hercules (1997), the family comedy Cats & Dogs (2001) and an animated version of Ben Hur (2003). Heston made an uncredited appearance in the inferior remake of Planet of the Apes (2001), and his last film appearance to date was in the Holocaust-themed drama of My Father (2003).
Heston narrated for highly classified military and Department of Energy instructional films, particularly relating to nuclear weapons, and "for six years Heston [held] the nation's highest security clearance" or Q clearance. The Q clearance is similar to a DoD or Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) clearance of Top Secret.
Heston was married to Lydia Marie Clark Heston since March 1944, and they have two children. His highly entertaining autobiography was released in 1995, titled appropriately enough "Into The Arena". Although often criticized for his strong conservative beliefs and involvement with the NRA, Heston was a strong advocate for civil right many years before it became fashionable, and was a recipient of the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, plus the Kennedy Center Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2002, he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, and did appear in a film or TV production after 2003. He died in April 2008, a memorable figure in the history of US cinema.- Director
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Robert Townsend transcends any medium he touches whether he's performing stand up, acting, writing, directing, producing, or running a television network. A Chicago native, Townsend is often referred to as one of the "Godfathers" of the Independent Film World." With over 30 years in the business, he has made an indelible mark in Hollywood with an extensive list of credits. Robert's genius first revealed itself in elementary school. As a kid Robert was always fascinated with television, watching and studying it tirelessly, he began to practice acting out scenes and impersonating famous characters. At his school during a reading of Shakespeare's Oedipus Rex he dazzled the class with his ability to transform effortlessly into character, as a result Robert's remarkable versatile talent as a young actor was born and caught the attention of Chicago's Experimental Bag Theatre. Robert made an unforgettable mark in his hometown of Chicago, where he went onto New York's renowned comedy club the Improvisation that initiated his career as a stand-up comedian. Then for Robert it was on to Hollywood, where he dabbled in a mixture of industries and found that with his versatile talent, he was able to adapt easily from being a comedian to a full-screen actor. Robert's first film appearance was (uncredited) in popular urban classic, Cooley High (1975). His break came while performing on various television comedy specials including Rodney Dangerfield: It's Not Easy Bein' Me (1986) and Uptown Comedy Express (1987). Although comedy had been his forte during the early part of his career, he knew he was destined to be on the big screen. He landed the role of a lifetime co-starring opposite Denzel Washington in A Soldier's Story (1984), and appeared with Diane Lane in Streets of Fire (1984) and Kevin Costner in American Flyers (1985).
Once in Hollywood, seeing the difficulty Black Actors had and the lack of good work available in the film industry, left a burning desire for Robert to step behind the camera. With his acting career in high gear, Robert's career took a turn for the best when Robert Townsend the "independent filmmaker" was born. He wanted to do something to fill this void and without formal film education or outside funding (he used his own credit cards to finance), Robert wrote, directed, produced and starred in his own first film. The result was the critically acclaimed Hollywood Shuffle (1987), a satire, depicting the trials and tribulations of Black Actors in Hollywood. The success of this film forced "Hollywood" to recognize and appreciate the visionary versatile talent of "Robert Townsend", Tinseltown's newest, talented actor and filmmaker.
Following the success of "Hollywood Shuffle," film projects continued to pour in. He was soon directing Eddie Murphy in Eddie Murphy: Raw (1987). His next film endeavor was the popular tearjerker classic The Five Heartbeats (1991)," a semi-autobiographical piece; reminiscent of the 60s R & B male groups and the ups and downs of the music industry. This classic continues to be a favorite amongst audiences and one of the most talked about films in the industry. The Meteor Man (1993) that he also wrote, directed and starred in included a stellar cast: James Earl Jones, Bill Cosby and Eddie Griffin.
In between features, Robert created and produced his ground breaking Cable Ace award-winning Partners in Crime (2005) variety specials for HBO and highly praised Townsend Television (1993) for FOX television. He also created and starred in the WB Network hit series The Parent 'Hood (1995).
Townsend has made history by being nominated for over 30 NAACP Image Awards for film and television. At the 2001 NAACP Image Awards he directed three performers nominated in the best actor/actress category in three different films: Leon, for his role in NBC's Little Richard (2000); Alfre Woodard in the Showtime Movie Holiday Heart (2000) (which also garnered her a Golden Globe nomination) and Natalie Cole for her gripping self-portrayal in Livin' for Love: The Natalie Cole Story (2000) (for which she won the coveted Image Award for best actress). Townsend continued to helm films for the small screen: Carmen: A Hip Hopera (2001) for MTV Films, starring Beyoncé (one of the highest rated shows for MTV) and Image Award winner, 10,000 Black Men Named George (2002) for Showtime, a highly acclaimed period piece about the Pullman porter strike, starring Andre Braugher and Charles S. Dutton.
Robert has worked with some of the top talent in Hollywood including: Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Denzel Washington, Halle Berry, Morgan Freeman, Alfre Woodard, Louis Gossett Jr., Keenen Ivory Wayans and Chris Tucker, just to name a few and is responsible for discovering many of Hollywood's A-List talent before they became household names. He is the mastermind behind many of Hollywood's favorite and best-remembered movies and hit series. Robert's body of work has been seen on MGM, Disney, Fox, NBC, HBO, WB and MTV.
While busy as a performer and filmmaker, Robert always makes time to participate in humanitarian efforts and speak to various organizations. As a longtime speaker for the United Negro College Fund and the NAACP, his concern for inner city youth takes him through out the country to inspire young people to follow their dreams. In addition, Robert shares his business expertise with various Fortune 500 companies. Townsend is also a spokesman for the Milken Family Fund an organization created to recognize outstanding educators in the country, and stress to children the importance of education and respect for teachers. He has traveled with The Milken Family Fund to Chicago, Boston, Sacramento, Philadelphia, Washington, DC and Los Angeles to recognize deserving teachers and inspire and motive students around the country.
Although he has many accolades, but none are more important than his family. His four children are the center of his heart. Following in his footsteps, his 3 daughters; Grace, Sierra and Skylar aka "The T Unit". They have received their first TV credit for the "B5 Christmas Special" aired on the BFC, a concept they came up with and pitched to their father. Despite his demanding schedule, Robert makes sure he spends quality time with his son, Max and his three daughters.
Always a pioneer, Townsend took the helm as President and CEO of Production for The Black Family Channel (BFC) creating and spearheading production for BFC's top rated shows. Where he ran the cable network for four years before it was sold to the Gospel Music Channel in the Spring of 2007. During his reign, he created unprecedented original programming for the network. Showing his unstoppable genius, in his short time as a television executive Townsend reached several milestones; he created over 15 new shows for the network with limited financing; of which two shows were nominated for a prestigious NAIMC Vision Award (National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications), The Thou$and Dollar Bee and Lisa Knight and the Round Table), and he was voted one of the Most Influential Minorities in Cable by Cable World Magazine.
Townsend has recently returned in front of the camera to star opposite Angela Bassett in the faith based film Of Boys and Men (2008). He has also directed Golden Globe winner Ving Rhames in a biopic about the troubled boxing legend Sonny Liston entitled Phantom Punch (2008). Townsend also directed Why We Laugh: Black Comedians on Black Comedy (2009), a comedy documentary on the history of African America Comedians from slavery to present, with interviews including such legends as Bill Cosby, Dick Gregory, Chris Rock and the Wayans. As a Hollywood Icon and humanitarian, Townsend's mission is to create quality programming for everyone to enjoy and to create a classic body of work that would be timeless.- Actor
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Once an overweight comic from Canada, Rick Ducommun slimmed down in the late 1980s and went on to tackle solid co-starring roles in feature films and TV, as well as headline several HBO and other pay-cable specials.
Ducommun grew up on a farm, the son of an entrepreneur father with whom he did not get along. Running away from home at age 14, he hitchhiked around the northern U.S., often living in communes, until returning to Canada at age 17, this time to Vancouver.
On a dare, Ducommun tried to do stand-up comedy at a Vancouver club. He was not only asked back, but bitten by the show business bug. He began playing clubs in Canada, hosted his own children's show, "ZigZag," and was put on TV by Alan Thicke, who was then hosting a talk show out of Vancouver.
When Thicke made his deal to do Thicke of the Night (1983), a late-night talk show from L.A., he brought Ducommun down to be announcer and a performer. When the show flopped, Ducommun began performing at L.A. clubs and acting in sitcoms. He was one of the zany cops on The Last Precinct (1986) -- a short-lived NBC show, and Mahler on Max Headroom (1987). Ducommun also played small parts in films, beginning with No Small Affair (1984) but found himself limited by a frame carrying 426 lb. He slimmed down more than 200 lb., and won the role of Art Weingartner, the dumb lug nosy neighbor to Tom Hanks in The 'Burbs (1989).
Despite good reaction to his work, the film was not a success, and Ducommun found himself mixing live performances in with his occasional film work, including an appearance in Blank Check (1994).
HBO did a special with Ducommun in 1989 called Rick Ducommun: Piece of Mind (1989), which was well received, as was the follow-up, "Hit and Run" in 1992. Ducommun frequently hosted pay and cable programs featuring stand-up comedy and was an regular performer on the Comedy Channel, later renamed, Comedy Central.- Orenthal James Simpson, was an American former football running back, broadcaster, actor, advertising spokesman.
Simpson attended the University of Southern California, where he played football for the USC Trojans and won the Heisman Trophy in 1968. He played professionally as a running back in the NFL for 11 seasons, primarily with the Buffalo Bills from 1969 to 1977. He also played for the San Francisco 49ers from 1978 to 1979. In 1973, he became the first NFL player to rush for more than 2,000 yards in a season. He holds the record for the single season yards-per-game average, which stands at 143.1. He was the only player to ever rush for over 2,000 yards in the 14-game regular season NFL format.
Simpson was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1983 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1985. After retiring from football, he began new careers in acting and football broadcasting. - Actor
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Scott Vincent James Baio was born on September 22, 1960 in Brooklyn, New York. He was the third child of Mario and Rose Baio, who had emigrated from Italy. At the young age of nine, Scott decided that he wanted to be an actor. Soon after, his parents took him on interviews and he was able to land in small roles in commercials. His first real taste of success occurred in 1976 when he beat out 2,000 other child actors for the starring role in the child gangster film Bugsy Malone (1976). The following year, Scott's popularity soared after he was chosen for the role of Chachi Arcola, The Fonz's cousin, on the ABC sitcom Happy Days (1974). Soon after, Scott's parents moved him to Hollywood to help him keep up with the demands of his acting career. Throughout his stint on Happy Days (1974) from 1977 to 1984, Scott still managed to appear in several films, including Skatetown U.S.A. (1979), Foxes (1980) and Zapped! (1982) and even starred in three other short-lived sitcoms (Blansky's Beauties (1977), Who's Watching the Kids (1978), and the "Happy Days" spin-off Joanie Loves Chachi (1982)). This exposure helped him become a major teen idol in the early 1980s.
After Happy Days (1974) went off the air in 1984, Scott moved to CBS where he was given the starring role on the sitcom Charles in Charge (1984). He played a college student who was hired to watch over three children. After one season on CBS, the series was retooled and moved to first-run syndication where it ran successfully from 1987 to 1990. Since Charles in Charge (1984) ended, Scott has been able to stay busy, albeit with a relatively lower profile. He has had starring roles on Baby Talk (1991) and Diagnosis Murder (1993) and guest starring roles on Veronica's Closet (1997) and Arrested Development (2003). He has even tried his hand behind the camera, directing episodes of The Wayans Bros. (1995) and Unhappily Ever After (1995).
Offscreen, Scott has made a few headlines as well. In 1997, he was rumored to have died in a car accident, but this was quickly declared as false. He has gained a reputation for dating several high-profile (mostly blonde) actresses, most notably Pamela Anderson, Heather Locklear and former co-star Nicole Eggert. In 2007, VH1 played this reputation into a reality series called Scott Baio Is 45... And Single (2007). On the show, he meets with a life coach to try and find reasons why he is still single. In order to accomplish this, he must revisit his ex-girlfriends (including Erin Moran and Julie McCullough) to find out what went right and what went wrong in the relationships. Follwing the completion of the first season, he announced that his girlfriend, Renee Baio, was pregnant with his first child. On November 2, 2007, she gave birth to a baby girl, Bailey Deluca.- Actress
- Producer
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Entrancing, gorgeous Lesley Ann Warren started gearing towards a life in show business right off the bat as a young ballerina who trained at the School of American Ballet at the age of 14. Little did she know that Hollywood stardom would arrive on her doorstep in the form of a "Cinderella" story.
The New York-born actress (August 16, 1946) is the daughter of a night club singer, Margot Warren (née Verblow), and real estate agent, William Warren. Her mother had earlier given up her own entertainment career for marriage and family. Growing up, Lesley attended the Professional Children's School at the age of 6 and High School of Music & Art as a young teenager. At age 17, she studied under Lee Strasberg at his Actors Studio, the youngest student to ever be accepted at the time.
Looking for on-camera work, the teenager appeared unbilled as Shelley Winters's young daughter in the melodrama The Chapman Report (1962) and was given a bit in the daytime TV show "The Doctors." The slender, young hopeful gathered early musical stage experience in such shows as "Bye Bye Birdie" (as swooning teen Kim McAfee), then made an auspicious Broadway debut in "110 in the Shade", the 1963 musical version of "The Rainmaker," and won Broadway's "Most Promising Newcomer" Award. She subsequently received the Theatre World Award for her lead work as a "cat burglar" opposite Elliott Gould in the very short-lived (8 performances) musical "Drat! The Cat!" in 1965.
The attention Lesley received from this brief stage venture, however, led to her capturing the beguiling title role in the Richard Rodgers/Oscar Hammerstein II TV musical production of Cinderella (1965) with Stuart Damon as her Prince and a glittering, all-star cast in support. The Walt Disney people immediate signed the exquisite "Cinderella" to a fresh-faced ingénue contract. Co-starring in the moderately-received musical showcases The Happiest Millionaire (1967) and The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band (1968), Lesley became convinced that she needed to quickly nip the saccharine stereotype in the bud if she was to grow and sustain as an adult actress.
Rebelling against her studio-imposed image, Lesley left Disney determined to pursue roles with more depth, drama and character. Changing her name temporarily to "Lesley Warren" to reinforce her more mature goal, she was hired in 1970 to replace Barbara Bain in the long-running espionage series Mission: Impossible (1966) when Bain left over contractual issues. Audiences were quite cool in their reception to the "new and improved" Lesley and didn't buy her as a femme-fatale replacement for the cool and aloof Ms. Bain.
After only one season, Lesley realized her mission to grow was impossible (in spite of an encouraging Golden Globe nomination) and left the show, seeking greener pastures in the TV mini-movie market. She displayed a wide range of vulnerable neurotics as well as sexier ladies that began to alter her pristine image. Such 1970s material included the plane crash adventure Seven in Darkness (1969) as one of several blind survivors; the love drama Love Hate Love (1971) co-starring Ryan O'Neal; a failed pilot in the title role of Cat Ballou (1971); a mild western as one of The Daughters of Joshua Cabe (1972); the exotic "silent star" biopic The Legend of Valentino (1975); the rags-to-riches story Harold Robbins' 79 Park Avenue (1977), for which she won a Golden Globe award; the epic WWII story Pearl (1978); and the social melodramas Betrayal (1978) and Portrait of a Stripper (1979). Lesley also impressed with her starring roles in the Civil War miniseries Beulah Land (1980) and as a Polish-Jewish immigrant in Evergreen (1985). On stage, she ambitiously attempted to recreate Scarlett O'Hara opposite Pernell Roberts's Rhett Butler in a 1973 Broadway-bound musical version of "Gone with the Wind: The Musical." The show quickly died on the West Coast before ever reaching New York.
In the early 1980s, Lesley's movie career resurrected itself with a priceless performance as kingpin James Garner's whiny-voiced, peroxide-blonde spitfire Norma Cassidy in the slapstick musical Victor/Victoria (1982). Earning both Oscar and Golden Globe nominations, this delightful, scene-stealing turn was followed by a couple of other quality offbeat films that were directed by Alan Rudolph -- Choose Me (1984) and Songwriter (1984). Warren went on to receive a Golden Globe nomination supporting Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson in the former, and a People's Choice Award for the latter. She continued to attempt to spread her wings as a worldly "cougar" type opposite young blond and boyish Christopher Atkins in the critically-panned drama A Night in Heaven (1983). She also played Miss Scarlet in the movie version of the board game Clue (1985).
Award-worthy TV roles for Lesley with a Golden Globe performance as a successful madam in the miniseries Harold Robbins' 79 Park Avenue (1977). She also received Emmy and Golden Globe noms as the conflicted wife of a naval officer turned Russian double agent (Powers Boothe) in Family of Spies (1990), as well as for her Cable Ace nom for her work as a barmaid who aspires to be a country-western singer in Baja Oklahoma (1988). In 1997, she returned to Broadway with the musical revue "Dream" co-starring Margaret Whiting, which focused on classic "Golden Age" standards.
Entering her sixth decade of acting, Lesley remains highly active well into the millennium with often high-maintenance roles in such films as the Losing Grace (2001), Secretary (2002), My Tiny Universe (2004), When Do We Eat? (2005), The Shore (2006), Stiffs (2010), I Am Michael (2015), The Sphere and the Labyrinth (2015) and 3 Days with Dad (2019). Among her later TV credits are "Touched by an Angel," "The Practice," "Less Than Perfect," "American Princess," and a recurring role as an overly dependent mom named Jinx in the mystery crime series In Plain Sight (2008). Her dim, riotous Norma Cassady role had TV often pitching her as a scatter-brained comedienne, as in her recurring TV guest parts on Will & Grace (1998) and Desperate Housewives (2004).
Lesley has a son, actor/producer Christopher Peters, from her 1967-'73 marriage to makeup artist/hair stylist-cum-film producer Jon Peters. Since 2000, she has been married to advertising exec and sometime actor Ron Taft, a former vice-president at Columbia.- Actress
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Shelley Lee Long was born at 7:15 am on Tuesday, August 23, 1949 in Indian Village, Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA, the only child of Ivadine (Williams), a schoolteacher, and Leland Long, a teacher who had previously worked in the rubber industry. Shelley attended school at Kekionga Junior High for grades 6-9 and at South Side High School for grades 10-12. She enrolled at Northwestern University in 1967 as an undergraduate studying drama. Her first job was at the university as a meal plan checker. She left Northwestern to pursue a dual career in acting and modeling. She also had a brief marriage to her first husband that ended in divorce. In Chicago, she became a member of the celebrated Second City troupe, in addition to writing, producing and co-hosting a popular Chicago magazine program called "Sorting It Out" in 1975. The show ran for three years on a local NBC station and won three Emmy Awards for Best Entertainment Show.
She met her second husband, Bruce Tyson (a securities broker), on a blind date in 1979. They were married in October, 1981. In 1982, she played the character Diane Chambers in the new NBC comedy series, Cheers (1982). She played the part for five years, winning an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in 1983, winning Golden Globe Awards for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 1983, for Best Actress in a Comedy Series in 1985 and a Quality TV Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 1986. She gave birth to a daughter, Juliana, on March 27, 1985. On her summer hiatus from "Cheers", Long made feature films, receiving a Golden Globe nomination as Best Actress for Irreconcilable Differences (1984). In 1987, she starred in the hit comedy Outrageous Fortune (1987) with Bette Midler. Soon after, she left "Cheers" after five years to embark on a film career. However, her films Hello Again (1987) and Troop Beverly Hills (1989) were not hits, and she returned to television appearing in the final episode of Cheers in 1993. That same year, she appeared in her own television series "Good Advice" (1993) which was canceled. She returned to feature films playing Carol Brady in the The Brady Bunch Movie (1995). The film became a hit and spawned a sequel, A Very Brady Sequel (1996), which wasn't a hit. She returned to television playing the title role in "Kelly Kelly" (1998), which was canceled after a few episodes. She also played Diane Chambers a few times on "Frasier", the spinoff of Cheers. Her personal life took a huge blow when her husband divorced her in 2004 after more than 20 years of marriage. She recovered and continued on with her career, appearing in guest-starring roles on television, including a recurring role on Modern Family (2009). She supported her daughter Juliana Long Tyson's decision to follow in her footsteps as an actress. She also encouraged Juliana to get married, which she did in 2015, to management consultant Ryan Kissick. Shelley herself never remarried after her two divorces but continues to work in television.- Actor
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Bud Cort, American actor/comedian, was born Walter Edward Cox in New Rochelle, New York. The second of five children, he grew up in Rye, New York, the son of Joseph P. Cox, an orchestra leader, pianist, and owner of a successful men's clothing store in Rye, and Alma M. Court a former newspaper and Life magazine reporter and an executive asst. at M.G.M. in New York City. From early childhood on, Bud displayed a remarkable acting ability and appeared in countless school plays and community theatre. Also a talented painter, he earned extra money doing portraits at art fairs and by commission to the people in Rye. However, he knew acting was his real dream and began riding trains into New York City at the age of 14 to begin studying with his first teacher Bill Hickey at the HB Studios in Greenwich Village.
Upon graduation from Iona Prep School run by the Christian Brothers of Ireland, Bud applied to the NYU School of the Arts, now known as Tisch. Unfortunately, the acting department was full but after seeing Bud's art portfolio he was admitted as a scenic design major in 1967. Bud continued to study with Bill Hickey and secretly began to work in commercials, - off Broadway Theater, and the soap opera, "The Doctors."
He formed a comedy team with actress Jeannie Berlin, and later with Judy Engles, performing Bud's original comedy material all over Manhattan's burgeoning nightclub scene. Bud and Judy won first place during amateur night at the famed Village Gate and were signed to a management contract with the club's owner. Soon after, while appearing at the famed Upstairs at the Downstairs in the musical revue "Free Fall," Bud was spotted by Robert Altman who was in New York looking for actors for his film "M. A. S. H." Bud was hired and from that went on to play the title role in Altman's next film "Brewster McCloud."
A quirky May-Dec. love story, "Harold and Maude," next saw Cort opposite Ruth Gordon in arguably his most famous role. After a confused reception, the film went on to become not only one of the most successful cult movies in history, but eventually was crowned an American Film Classic. Bud was also awarded the French equivalent of the Oscar, the Crystal Star, for Best Actor of the Year. He was also nominated for a Golden Globe and a British Academy Award.
Resisting type casting, Bud turned down the role of Billy Bibbit in Milos Forman's "One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest" and returned to the theater. He made his Broadway debut opposite Donald Pleasance in Simon Gray's "Wise Child" at the Helen Hayes Theatre in 1971. Again he resisted being type cast by Hollywood and finally made his first film five years after "Harold and Maude," in the political thriller "Darkness of the Brain" or "Flash" opposite Marcel Bozzuffi (The Conformist).
Title roles in "Why Shoot the Teacher?" (one of the most successful films in Canadian history), "The Secret Diary of Sigmund Freud," (a comedy with Klaus Kinski and Carol Kane), and "She Dances Alone" (a documentary/fantasy about the real life daughter of Vaslav Nijinski, with Max Von Sydow) followed and led to countless more films. His latest films being the Wes Anderson comedy "The Life Aquatic" (with Bill Murray and Cate Blanchett) as well as "The Number 23" (with Jim Carrey). Besides his film and theater work, Bud has sung all over the world from Carnegie Hall in New York, to the Alcazar in Paris. He was the youngest actor ever given an homage at the Cinematheque in Paris in an evening hosted by the great comedic actor, Jacques Tati.
Bud lived as a house guest for many years with his dear friend Groucho Marx. In 1979 Bud survived a near fatal car crash on the Hollywood Freeway. He continued working in film and theater and co-founded the LA Classic Theatre Works with, among others, Richard Dreyfuss and Rene Auberjonois. Bud performed the entire J. D. Salinger novel "The Catcher in the Rye" live in-studio, as well as the one man show, "An Evening with Truman Capote" for the radio station KCRW. He appeared with Tom Waits in the L.A. Premiere of Thomas Babe's "Demon Wine" and was nominated for the LA Theatre Critics Best Actor award for his performance in Samuel Beckett's "ENDGAME," which he first played in New York at the Cherry Lane Theatre. For his performance as Clov, Bud was awarded the Dramalogue Award as Best Actor.
Recent films include Kevin Smith's "Dogma", Ed Harris' "Pollock", and his own controversial film, "Ted and Venus" (Col. Tri Star Home Video) which Bud directed, co-wrote, and starred in with Woody Harrelson and Gena Rowlands and which initially, like "Harold and Maude" disturbed some critics and yet was hailed as a "tiny masterpiece," and "a courageous film, Bud Cort's finest performance."
Bud is a member of the Director's Unit of the Actor's Studio. Besides Bill Hickey, he has studied extensively with Stella Adler, Joan Darling, David Craig, and Del Close of 2nd City. Bud recently starred in televisions "Arrested Development," "Funny or Die Presents", the highly regarded "Mosley Lane" episode of "Criminal Minds and Chris Elliot's "Eagleheart" ("Exit Wound the Gift Shop).- Actress
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American stage, screen and television actress, and comedian Carol Kane (b. Carolyn Laurie Kane, June 18, 1952, in Cleveland, Ohio), was born to Elaine Joy (née Fetterman), a jazz singer and pianist, and Michael Myron Kane, an architect. Her family is Jewish (from Russia, Poland, and Austria). Due to her parents' divorce, Carol spent most of her childhood in boarding schools until 1965. She also attended Professional Children's School in Upper West Side New York, and made her professional theater debut in a 1966 production of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969) starring Tammy Grimes. Kane, just 14 years old.
At 20 years old, Kane landed the lead role in William Fruets World War II film, Wedding in White (1972). Kane starred as Jeannie Dougall, a teenager whom after is raped is left with a moral dilemma when she discovers that the incident has left her pregnant. The actress received a surprise Academy Award nomination for her performance in the 1974 independent film, Hester Street (1975); Times of Israel describes Kane's character, Gitl, as "a straight-from-the-shtetl immigrant who, with her young son, joins her husband (Steven Keats) who is already halfway assimilated in New York's Lower East Side; the push and the pull between tradition and change drive the story to its bittersweet conclusion."
The following decade, from 1980-1983, she appeared on the television series Taxi (1978). Kane portrayed Simka Dahblitz-Gravas, wife of Latka Gravas (Andy Kaufman). She received two Emmy Awards, and a Golden Globe nomination for her work in the series. Over the years, Kane racked up tons of credits from Taxi and The Princess Bride (1987), to Scrooged (1988), and more recently, the Netflix series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (2015); the actress is making audiences laugh by playing Lillian Kaushtupper, in a recent interview, Kane described Lillian as "a hardworking landlady in Harlem who is very attached to the life in New York as she's known it."- Actor
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John Bernard Larroquette, is an all-around American actor known for his roles in both drama and comedy. He became well-known as Deputy District Attorney Dan Fielding in the NBC sitcom "Night Court" (1984-1992; 2023-present), a role that earned him four straight Emmy Awards for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy. This remarkable achievement showed off his talent, demonstrating his knack for mixing serious drama with comedic flair. Larroquette's performance of Dan Fielding evolved from conservative to more humorous, reflecting his own sense of humor, which was a hit with viewers.
Apart from "Night Court," Larroquette's career is filled with impressive roles in various TV series. He won an Emmy for a guest role in "The Practice" and appeared in "The Good Fight," "The Librarians," "Boston Legal," and "Happy Family." His return to "Night Court" in the reboot sees him play again his role as Dan Fielding. However, the character has become gentler over time, suggesting personal growth and struggles, including a reference to a past marriage and a shift from practicing law to working as a process server. This comeback in the reboot adds a new layer to his famous role, mixing fond memories with fresh storytelling.- Actor
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Alan Rachins was born on 3 October 1942 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for Showgirls (1995), L.A. Law (1986) and Dharma & Greg (1997). He has been married to Joanna Frank since 11 March 1978. They have one child.- Joanna Frank was born on 7 March 1941 in New York City, New York, USA. She is an actress, known for Say Anything (1989), L.A. Law (1986) and The Outer Limits (1963). She has been married to Alan Rachins since 11 March 1978. They have one child.
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Judd Asher Nelson was born on November 28, 1959 in Portland, Maine to attorney Leonard Nelson and his wife, Merle Nelson (attorney and state assemblywoman). Judd attended St. Paul's preparatory school in Concord, New Hampshire before majoring in philosophy at the prestigious Haverford College in Haverford, Pennsylvania. The acting bug bit when he went to watch a friend's audition and was obliged to audition in order to stay. He won the role.
After graduation, Judd headed for New York City and the Stella Adler Conservatory where he was believable in the role as the street-smart Eddie Keaton in the comedy Making the Grade (1984). Judd's next film role was as the stodgy ROTC cadet, Phil Hicks, in the ensemble comedy Fandango (1985). Important and diverse roles in the brat-pack films The Breakfast Club (1985) and St. Elmo's Fire (1985) quickly followed. With his privileged upbringing, Judd could have brought the right degree of preppy-smarmyness, (ala James Spader), to any number of vapid roles, but his intense stare and dark smoldering looks gave him a hint of danger which added to his credibility in films like Billionaire Boys Club (1987), From the Hip (1987) and New Jack City (1991).
While Judd's career has been peppered with under-promoted films and poorly-written television appearances, critics have not been overly kind to this misunderstood actor.- Actress
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Shari Belafonte was born on 22 September 1954 in New York City, New York, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Hotel (1983), Plastic Daydream (2018) and Primrose Lane (2015). She has been married to Sam Behrens since 31 December 1989. She was previously married to Robert Harper.- Actor
- Additional Crew
Gary Owens was an American voice actor, radio announcer and narrator who was known for being the original voice actor of Hanna-Barbera's Space Ghost, Powdered Toast Man from The Ren & Stimpy Show and Blue Falcon from Dynomutt, Dog Wonder. George Lowe became Owens' successor as the voice of Space Ghost since 1994. He passed away from diabetes complications in February 2015.- Producer
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Fred Silverman was born in 1937, and quickly grew up into the television business. After starting out in the mail-room of ABC-TV in the late 1950s, he rose to director of program development at WGN-TV, Chicago in the early '60s. One day, he abandoned his car during a snowstorm and boarded a plane for New York, where he gained a position as head of Daytime Programming at CBS-TV. In 1970, he became the programming head of CBS, where he programmed such hits as The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970), All in the Family (1971), M*A*S*H (1972), The Jeffersons (1975), Kojak (1973) and The Sonny and Cher Show (1976). In 1975, he left for ABC-TV, where he worked closely with Michael Eisner and Brandon Tartikoff. He developed such new hits as Laverne & Shirley (1976), The Love Boat (1977), Donny and Marie (1975) and Soap (1977). By the end of the 1977-8 season, ABC was number one, Daytime and Nigttime. In 1978, he joined NBC as President and CEO. His presence helped stem the audience erosion of the prior 5 years with new programs such as Diff'rent Strokes (1978), Real People (1979) and Hill Street Blues (1981). During his tenure, he made program commitments that led to St. Elsewhere (1982) and Cheers (1982), promoted Brandon Tartikoff to President of Entertainment and laid the groundwork for NBC's turnaround in the 80s. Management changes at parent RCA led to Silverman's departure in June, 1981 and his replacement by Grant Tinker. Silverman formed "The Fred Silverman Company" and became an independent producer. Among his successes were "Perry Mason Movies", Matlock (1986), In the Heat of the Night (1988), Jake and the Fatman (1987) and Diagnosis Murder (1993). Silverman remains in the independent production business and also does program consulting.- Writer
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Garry Kent Marshall (November 13, 1934 - July 19, 2016) was an American actor and filmmaker. He started his career in the 1960s writing for The Lucy Show and The Dick Van Dyke Show before he developed Neil Simon's 1965 play The Odd Couple for television in 1970. He gained fame for creating Happy Days (1974-1984), Laverne and Shirley (1976-1983), and Mork and Mindy (1978-1982). He is also known for directing Overboard (1987), Beaches (1988), Pretty Woman (1990), Runaway Bride (1999), and the family films The Princess Diaries (2001) and The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004). He also directed the romantic comedy ensemble films Valentine's Day (2010), New Year's Eve (2011), and Mother's Day (2016).- Actor
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Ron Perlman is a classically-trained actor who has appeared in countless stage plays, feature films and television productions.
Ronald N. Perlman was born April 13, 1950 in Washington Heights, Manhattan, New York. His mother, Dorothy (Rosen), is retired from the City Clerk's Office. His father, Bertram "Bert" Perlman, now deceased, was a repairman and a drummer. His parents were both from Jewish families (from Hungary, Germany and Poland).
With a career spanning over three decades, Perlman has worked alongside such diverse actors as Marlon Brando, Sean Connery, Dominique Pinon, Brad Dourif, Ed Harris, John Hurt, Jude Law, Christina Ricci, Federico Luppi, Sigourney Weaver, Michael Wincott and Elijah Wood to name a few.
While he has never been a bankable star, Perlman has always had a large fan-base. He started out strong as Amoukar, one of the tribesmen in Jean-Jacques Annaud's Academy Award-winning film Quest for Fire (1981), for which he earned a Genie Award nomination. Perlman teamed up with Annaud again, this time as a hunchback named Salvatore in The Name of the Rose (1986). His first real breakthrough came later when he landed the role of the noble lion-man Vincent, opposite Linda Hamilton on the fantasy series Beauty and the Beast (1987). His work in this role earned him not only a Golden Globe Award but an underground fan following. Sadly the series was canceled in its third season shortly after Hamilton's character's death.
After that, he spent time doing supporting work on television and independent films such as Guillermo del Toro's debut Cronos (1992) (where a lifelong friendship and collaboration between the director and Perlman would blossom) as Angel and his first lead role as One in Jean-Pierre Jeunet's surreal The City of Lost Children (1995). His first real big role in a mainstream film came when Jeunet wanted him for the brutish Johner in his first Hollywood outing Alien: Resurrection (1997). Perlman has also used his distinctive voice to his advantage, appearing in many animated films/series, commercials and he is a video game fan favorite because of his work on such games as the Fallout series.
It was not until much later he received worldwide fame when his good friend Guillermo del Toro helped him land the title role in the big-budget comic book movie Hellboy (2004). Del Toro fought the studio for four years because they wanted a more secure name, but he stood his ground and in 2004, after almost 25 years in and out of obscurity, Perlman became a household name and a sought out actor. Perlman has had one of the most offbeat careers in film, playing everything from a prehistoric ape-man to an aging transsexual and will always be a rarity in Hollywood.
Other notable roles include the cunning Norman Arbuthnot in The Last Supper (1995), sniper expert Koulikov in Enemy at the Gates (2001), vampire leader Reinhardt in Blade II (2002), his reprisal of Hellboy in Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008) and biker chief Clarence Morrow on the popular series Sons of Anarchy (2008).
He currently resides in Los Angeles, California with his wife, Opal, and their two children, Blake and Brandon.