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1-29 of 29
- Actor
- Composer
- Writer
Dusty Hill was born Joseph Michael Hill in Dallas, Texas and grew up in Lakewood, East Dallas. With his brother Rocky Hill and future fellow member Frank Beard, he began his career playing with local bands from Texas like the Warlocks, the Cellar Dwellers, and American Blues. Dusty then moved to Houston with Frank Beard and joined Billy Gibbons to form ZZ Top in 1969. Since then, Dusty has been the bassist and also the vocalist of a small number of their songs, Billy Gibbons performed the lead vocals of almost all of them. In addition, Dusty has also appeared in films and television series including Back to the Future Part III (1990) and as himself in an episode of the eleventh season of King of the Hill (1997), in which Hank Hill is said to be Dusty's cousin.- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Saginaw is the Hereditary Chief and a respected member of the Sac and Fox, Iowa and Otoe-Missouria Nations.
In 1936, Saginaw Morgan Grant was born to Sarah and Austin Grant Sr. at Pawnee Indian Hospital in Pawnee, Oklahoma. He was raised on a farm in Cushing, Oklahoma with two brothers and one sister. Having a traditional upbringing by both parents, Saginaw was especially influenced by his grandparents. His grandfather Kirvin was a strong medicine man and his other grandfather Saginaw (whom he is named after) was also a very spiritual man. They taught Saginaw their customs, culture, and traditions and the importance of their way of life. As a result, Saginaw witnessed many special ceremonies and events taught to very few.
As a young adult, Saginaw experienced all situations, both good and bad, which every young person faces in today's society, yet he overcame the obstacles that challenged him, and with that he found the courage to become the man he is today.
During his life in Oklahoma he took on employment in various industries such as dry cleaning, also gaining a better understanding of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and other vocations in which he enjoyed interacting with people. This gave him the opportunity to learn about different philosophies, beliefs and religions.
He resides in the Southern California area. Where he is called upon for counseling, lectures, and family events, while also pursuing his acting career.
He adopted Actress and Activist Mariana Tosca to be his daughter and a member of the Sac and Fox, Iowa and Otoe-Missouria tribes.- Sarah Grazebrook was born on 12 August 1947 in Guildford, Surrey, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Cranford (1972), The Onedin Line (1971) and The Professionals (1977). She was married to David Donachie. She died on 28 July 2021.
- Ron Popeil is a famed American inventor, pitchman, television star, and the creator of the television "infomercial".
Born Ronald Martin Popeil in New York City on May 3, 1935, Ron had the quintessential rags to riches tale. His parents Samuel J. (Sam Popeil, a kitchen gadget inventor) and Julia (Schwartz) Popeil, divorced, and placed both Ron and his older brother, Jerry, in a boarding school at age three. Ron remained in a virtual orphanage until he was eight when his grandparents removed him to raise him in Miami, Florida. When he was thirteen Ron moved to Chicago to work in a factory managed by his father. At sixteen, Ron began to sell the very products his father's factory produced in the flea markets on Maxwell street in Chicago. Storing his goods and table in the back of grimy fish store. Ron would start his day there at 5 AM to set up and would gross as much as $500 per day; a huge success for a kid in the 1950's.
By age 17, Popeil had amassed enough of a savings to move out on his own and setup a stand at the flagship Woolworth store in Chicago. He hawked his gadgets six days a week, twelve hours each day. Popeil's stand became an attraction with hundreds of people spending their lunch hours every day watching Ron's pitch. During the state fair seasons, Ron took his show on the road becoming a staple of every major state fair.
In the early 1950s, after discovering the reach and power of the televised airwaves and their ability to beam his pitch into America's living rooms, Ron created the first infomercial and commercials. Along with his partner at the time, Mel Korey, he produced the first minute long, black and white commercial for slightly over $500. The first television infomercial was for the Ronco Chop-o-Matic. It quickly spread nationally and made millions turning Popeil into a household name. This led to several generations of parodies by everyone from "I Love Lucy" to "Saturday Night Live". By the 1960's television became the exclusive venue for Ron's pitching and selling and continued to be for the following 5 decades.
Some of Ron's products included: The Chop-O-Matic, Mr. Microphone (the first Karaoke machine), the Popeil Pocket Fisherman, the Veg-o-Matic, the Buttoneer, the Smokeless Ashtray, Popeil's Electric Food Dehydrator, the Inside-the-Egg Scrambler, GLH-9 (Great Looking Hair Formula #9) Hair in a Can Spray, Rhinestone stud setter (Later called the Bedazzler), the Cap Snaffler, the Popeil Automatic Pasta Maker, the Ronco Electric Food Dehydrator, the Ronco 6 Star Plus Knives, and the Showtime Rotisserie and BBQ. His product sales grossed in the billions and his media buys saturated American television for the better part of a century. Ron's products are even featured in the Smithsonian Museum.
Ron Popeil was also a pioneer in the recording business. Ronco Records was one of the first in the recording industry to build compilations of well-known artists' works and to package them for direct to consumer sales on television. This practice was later adopted by others and is still in use by Time Life and other music purveyors.
Popeil has been on more television channels for more hours in more markets for more years than virtually all other celebrities in American television history. Popeil's sales format, pitch style, and catch phrases were almost immediately duplicated by dozens of other pitchmen. Most of the marketing sales on television today, and the "countdown pricing methods" are direct derivatives of Popeil's works. The expression and branding "As Seen on TV" was first coined to describe Ron's legendary success.
Many of the phrases and pitches Ron has used in his infomercials have become an inseparable part of America's household and entertainment vernacular including: "Set it and Forget it", "But wait, there's more", "Now how much would you pay?" and of course "Less Shipping and Handling".
Parodies and acknowledgments of Popeil's huge successes are still omnipresent in today's media. SNL's "Bass-O-Matic" (starring Dan Aykroyd) , "Popeil Galactic Prophylactic" (starring Eddie Murphy), were just the beginning. Since then, Popeil has been a part of countless variety & comedy acts, and has appeared as himself in both live action and animated television and films including "The X-Files", "Sneakers", "King of the Hill", "The Simpsons," "Old School", "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and many others. He is a perennial on late night entertainment shows including "The Tonight Show", "The Late Show with David Letterman", and Conan O'Brien. His infomercials still remain a staple of late-night television.
A&E Biography, CNBC, History Channel, Discovery Networks, "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" and, "Larry King Live", among others, have devoted entire 1 hour broadcasts to interviewing and covering Popeil's legacy as an inventor, television star, and pop culture icon. Popeil has appeared on the cover of and has been featured in America's top nationally circulated periodicals and newspapers (Including but not limited to: People Magazine, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today). Hundreds of hours of network news reports have been spent covering him, and numerous documentaries and books have been published covering the Popeil phenomenon. Long-form network news reports have featured Popeil on NBC News, ABC News, CBS News, Fox, and all of the cable news outlets. He has also been the recipient of numerous honors and awards for achievements in marketing, design, and entertainment including the Electronic Retailing Association's Lifetime Achievement Award and the IG Nobel Prize.
Popeil also helped build the brand QVC with exclusive packaging and airings, Popeil's appearances consistently established new benchmarks for success in direct marketing on television. In 2000, Popeil broke worldwide sales records by selling over $1 million worth of his Showtime Rotisseries during a one-hour live airing on QVC television (selling approximately 150 units each minute to viewers). - Producer
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Johnny Ventura was born on 8 March 1940 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. He was a producer and actor, known for Blood Simple (1984), The Believers (1987) and Miami Blues (1990). He was married to Nelly Josefina Flores. He died on 28 July 2021 in Santiago, Dominican Republic.- Barbara Polomska was born on 9 January 1934 in Bydgoszcz, Kujawsko-Pomorskie, Poland. She was an actress, known for Cien (1956), Skarb kapitana Martensa (1957) and The Eighth Day of the Week (1958). She was married to Feridun Erol. She died on 28 July 2021 in Poland.
- Writer
- Director
- Actor
Jonathan Rinzler was a best-selling author of both reference books and novels, notably associated with the Star Wars franchise. An alumnus of the Parson's School of Design in Lower Manhattan, he graduated with a master's degree in comparative literature from New York University. Between 2001 and 2014, he served as executive editor of Lucasbooks, the publishing subsidiary of Lucasfilm. He penned more than 20 books, including definitive histories of the making of the original Star Wars movie as well as Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980). He also wrote the scripts for two season six episodes of Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008). Rinzler left Lucasfim in 2016. Outside of Star Wars, he published books about the making of Indiana Jones, Planet of the Apes (1968), Alien (1979) and The Shining (1980). A 2018 novel, All Up, is a blend of history and speculative fiction dealing with the cloak-and-dagger world of astrodynamics during and after the Second World War and the space race, leading up to the Apollo 11 moon mission. Rinzler passed away at the premature age of 58 from pancreatic cancer on July 28 2021.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Tzvi Shissel was born on 15 July 1946 in Israel. He was an actor and director, known for Kvalim (1992), Crazy Camera (1989) and Lemon Popsicle: The Party Goes On (2001). He died on 28 July 2021 in Tel Aviv, Israel.- Maureen Crow was born on 14 February 1933 in the USA. She was an actress, known for Daniel Boone (1964) and Perry Mason (1957). She died on 28 July 2021 in Lake Forest. California, USA.
- Albert Dyrlund Jensen was born on 10 October 1998. He was an actor, known for Escaping the Dead (2017), Team Albert (2018) and GG Horsens (2019). He died on 28 July 2021 in Italy.
- Clive Scott was born on 4 July 1937 in Johannesburg, South Africa. He was an actor, known for Doctor Who (1963), Beat the Drum (2003) and Killer Instinct (1990). He died on 28 July 2021.
- Actor
- Stunts
Yamson Domingo was born on 1 January 1963 in Beijing, China. He was an actor, known for Police Story (1985), The Killer (1989) and Burning Paradise (1994). He died on 28 July 2021.- Bill Robbins Sr. was born on 5 January 1955 in Gardner, Kansas, USA. He was married to Barbara Robbins. He died on 28 July 2021.
- Actor
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Shahram Kashani was born on 7 July 1974. He was an actor, known for Circumstance (2011), Shahrum Kashani: Kheyli Vaghteh (2011) and Manoto Plus (2021). He died on 28 July 2021 in Istanbul, Turkey.- Additional Crew
Kathy Landing was born on 15 August 1950 in South Bend, Indiana, USA. She is known for Thief (1981) and Beaches (1988). She died on 28 July 2021 in Rochester, Indiana, USA.- Camilo Mariano died on 28 July 2021 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
- Giuseppe Giacomini was born on 7 September 1940 in Veggiano, Veneto, Italy. He was an actor, known for Turandot (1981), The Metropolitan Opera Presents (1977) and The Metropolitan Opera: Centennial Gala (1983). He died on 28 July 2021 in Veggiano, Veneto, Italy.
- Krzysztof Tuchalski was an actor, known for Television Theater (1953). He died on 28 July 2021 in Poland.
- Paul Eastwood was born in November 1974 in the UK. He was married to Corea ?. He died on 28 July 2021 in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England, UK.
- Glen Ford was born on 5 November 1949 in Jersey City, New Jersey, USA. He died on 28 July 2021 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA.
- Ben Wagin was born on 25 March 1930 in Jastrow, Posen-West Prussia, Germany. He was an actor, known for Wir - zwei (1970), Chapeau claque (1974) and Leute (1983). He died on 28 July 2021 in Berlin, Germany.
- Bolat Atabaev was born in 1952 in Kazakhstan. He was married to Madina Yeraliyeva. He died on 28 July 2021 in Kazakhstan.
- István Csom was born on 2 June 1940 in Sátoraljaújhely, Hungary. He died on 28 July 2021.
- Bent Melchior was born on 24 June 1929 in Bytom, Slaskie, Poland. He was married to Lilian Weisdorff. He died on 28 July 2021 in Denmark.
- Actor
- Additional Crew
Gisli Alfredsson was born on 24 January 1933. He was an actor, known for Die Nibelungen, Teil 1 - Siegfried (1966), The Red Mantle (1967) and Ørnen: En krimi-odyssé (2004). He died on 28 July 2021 in Reykjavík, Iceland.- Director
- Writer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Adam Kuczynski was born on 16 May 1948 in Kraków, Malopolskie, Poland. He was a director and writer, known for Mgla (1985), Ze snu sen (1998) and Przed matura (1981). He died on 28 July 2021 in Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland.- Wade Cook was born on 9 October 1949 in Tacoma, Washington, USA. He died on 28 July 2021 in Maple Valley, Washington, District of Columbia, USA.
- Roberto Calasso was born on 30 May 1941 in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. He was married to Fleur Jaeggy. He died on 28 July 2021 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy.
- Art Department
Gerald Kammerer is known for Kate & Leopold (2001). He died on 28 July 2021 in Hoboken, New Jersey, USA.