1.
James Franco
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James Edward Franco is an American actor and filmmaker known for his work in both comedic and dramatic films and TV shows. For his role in 127 Hours, Franco was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor and he also portrayed the title character in the TV biographical film James Dean, for which he won a Golden Globe Award. He had recurring roles on the soap opera General Hospital and sitcom Angie Tribeca and he will star in the David Simon-created HBO drama The Deuce in 2017. Franco volunteers for the Art of Elysium charity, and has taught film classes at New York University, the University of Southern California, UCLA, Studio 4. Franco was born in Palo Alto, California and his mother, Betsy Lou, is a writer and occasional actress, and his father, Douglas Eugene Doug Franco, ran a Silicon Valley business. The two met as students at Stanford University, Francos father was of Portuguese and Swedish descent. Francos mother is Jewish, from a family of Russian Jewish ancestry and his maternal grandfather, Daniel, had changed the family surname from Verovitz to Verne some time after 1940. Francos paternal grandmother, Marjorie Franco, is an author of young adult books. Francos maternal grandmother, Mitzie Verne, owned the Verne Art Gallery, a prominent art gallery in Cleveland, Francos family upbringing was academic, liberal, and largely secular. He grew up in California with his two brothers, Tom and Dave, a math whiz, Franco interned at Lockheed Martin. He was often encouraged by his father to get good grades and he graduated from Palo Alto High School in 1996, where he acted in plays. This led to him attending CSSSA in 1998 for theatre, in his high school years, Franco was arrested for underage drinking, graffiti, and for being a part of a group that stole designer fragrances from department stores and sold them to classmates. These arrests led to his becoming a ward of the state. Facing the possibility of juvenile hall, Franco was given a chance by the judge. I was uncomfortable in my own skin, I changed my ways just in time to get good grades, he recalled of his troubles with the law. Although the idea of becoming a marine zoologist interested him, Franco had always wanted to become an actor. Franco instead chose to take acting lessons with Robert Carnegie at the Playhouse West, around this time, Franco took up a late-night job at McDonalds to support himself because his parents refused to do so. He was a vegetarian until working there, while working at the establishment, he would practice accents on customers, an experience he remembered nostalgically in a 2015 Washington Post editorial
2.
Academy Awards
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The various category winners are awarded a copy of a golden statuette, officially called the Academy Award of Merit, which has become commonly known by its nickname Oscar. The awards, first presented in 1929 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, are overseen by AMPAS, the awards ceremony was first broadcast on radio in 1930 and televised for the first time in 1953. It is now live in more than 200 countries and can be streamed live online. The Academy Awards ceremony is the oldest worldwide entertainment awards ceremony and its equivalents – the Emmy Awards for television, the Tony Awards for theater, and the Grammy Awards for music and recording – are modeled after the Academy Awards. The 89th Academy Awards ceremony, honoring the best films of 2016, were held on February 26,2017, at the Dolby Theatre, in Los Angeles, the ceremony was hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and was broadcast on ABC. A total of 3,048 Oscars have been awarded from the inception of the award through the 88th, the first Academy Awards presentation was held on May 16,1929, at a private dinner function at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel with an audience of about 270 people. The post-awards party was held at the Mayfair Hotel, the cost of guest tickets for that nights ceremony was $5. Fifteen statuettes were awarded, honoring artists, directors and other participants in the industry of the time. The ceremony ran for 15 minutes, winners were announced to media three months earlier, however, that was changed for the second ceremony in 1930. Since then, for the rest of the first decade, the results were given to newspapers for publication at 11,00 pm on the night of the awards. The first Best Actor awarded was Emil Jannings, for his performances in The Last Command and he had to return to Europe before the ceremony, so the Academy agreed to give him the prize earlier, this made him the first Academy Award winner in history. With the fourth ceremony, however, the system changed, for the first six ceremonies, the eligibility period spanned two calendar years. At the 29th ceremony, held on March 27,1957, until then, foreign-language films had been honored with the Special Achievement Award. The 74th Academy Awards, held in 2002, presented the first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, since 1973, all Academy Awards ceremonies always end with the Academy Award for Best Picture. The Academy also awards Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, see also § Awards of Merit categories The best known award is the Academy Award of Merit, more popularly known as the Oscar statuette. The five spokes represent the branches of the Academy, Actors, Writers, Directors, Producers. The model for the statuette is said to be Mexican actor Emilio El Indio Fernández, sculptor George Stanley sculpted Cedric Gibbons design. The statuettes presented at the ceremonies were gold-plated solid bronze
3.
Fred Astaire
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Fred Astaire was an American dancer, singer, actor, choreographer and television presenter. His stage and subsequent film and television careers spanned a total of 76 years, during which he made 31 musical films and several television specials, Astaire was ranked by the American Film Institute as the fifth greatest male star of Classic Hollywood cinema in 100 Years. Gene Kelly, another star in filmed dance, said that the history of dance on film begins with Astaire, later, he asserted that Astaire was the only one of todays dancers who will be remembered. Astaire was born in Omaha, Nebraska, the son of Johanna Ann, Astaires mother was born in the United States to Lutheran German immigrants from East Prussia and Alsace. Astaires father was born in Linz, Austria, to Jewish parents who had converted to Roman Catholicism, Astaires mother dreamed of escaping Omaha by virtue of her childrens talents, after Astaires sister, Adele Astaire, early on revealed herself to be an instinctive dancer and singer. She planned a brother and sister act, which was common in vaudeville at the time, although Astaire refused dance lessons at first, he easily mimicked his older sisters steps and took up piano, accordion, and clarinet. Despite Adele and Freds teasing rivalry, they acknowledged their individual strengths, his durability. Fred and Adeles mother suggested they change their name to Astaire, Family legend attributes the name to an uncle surnamed LAstaire. They were taught dance, speaking, and singing in preparation for developing an act and their first act was called Juvenile Artists Presenting an Electric Musical Toe-Dancing Novelty. Fred wore a top hat and tails in the first half, in an interview, Astaires daughter, Ava Astaire McKenzie, observed that they often put Fred in a top hat to make him look taller. The goofy act debuted in Keyport, New Jersey, in a tryout theater, the local paper wrote, the Astaires are the greatest child act in vaudeville. As a result of their fathers salesmanship, Fred and Adele rapidly landed a contract and played the famed Orpheum Circuit in the Midwest, Western. Soon Adele grew to at least three inches taller than Fred and the pair began to look incongruous. The family decided to take a break from show business to let time take its course and to avoid trouble from the Gerry Society. In 1912, Fred became an Episcopalian, the career of the Astaire siblings resumed with mixed fortunes, though with increasing skill and polish, as they began to incorporate tap dancing into their routines. Astaires dancing was inspired by Bill Bojangles Robinson and John Bubbles Sublett, from vaudeville dancer Aurelio Coccia, they learned the tango, waltz, and other ballroom dances popularized by Vernon and Irene Castle. Some sources state that the Astaire siblings appeared in a 1915 film titled Fanchon, the Cricket, starring Mary Pickford, by age 14, Fred had taken on the musical responsibilities for their act. He first met George Gershwin, who was working as a song plugger for Jerome H. Remicks music publishing company, Fred had already been hunting for new music and dance ideas
4.
Danny Kaye
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David Daniel Kaminsky, better known by his screen name Danny Kaye, was an American actor, singer, dancer, comedian, and musician. His performances featured physical comedy, idiosyncratic pantomimes, and rapid-fire novelty songs, Kaye starred in 17 movies, notably Wonder Man, The Kid from Brooklyn, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, The Inspector General, Hans Christian Andersen, White Christmas, and The Court Jester. His films were popular, especially his performances of songs and favorites such as Inchworm. He was the first ambassador-at-large of UNICEF in 1954 and received the French Legion of Honour in 1986 for his years of work with the organization, david Daniel Kaminsky was born to Ukrainian Jewish immigrants in Brooklyn on January 18,1911. Kaye was the youngest of three born to Jacob and Clara Nemerovsky Kaminsky. Jacob and Clara and their two sons, Larry and Mac, left Dnipropetrovsk two years before his birth, he was the son born in the United States. His mother died when he was in his early teens, not long after his mothers death, Kaye and his friend Louis ran away to Florida. Kaye sang while Louis played the guitar, the pair eked out a living for a while, when Kaye returned to New York, his father did not pressure him to return to school or work, giving his son the chance to mature and discover his own abilities. Kaye said that as a boy he had wanted to be a surgeon. He held a succession of jobs after leaving school, as a jerk, insurance investigator. Most ended with his being fired and he lost the insurance job when he made an error that cost the insurance company $40,000. The dentist who hired him to look after his office at lunch hour did the same when he found Kaye using his drill on the office woodwork and he learned his trade in his teenage years in the Catskills as a tummler in the Borscht Belt. Kayes first break came in 1933 when he joined the Three Terpsichoreans and they opened in Utica, New York, where he used the name Danny Kaye for the first time. The act toured the United States, then performed in Asia with the show La Vie Paree, the troupe left for a six-month tour of the Far East on February 8,1934. While they were in Osaka, Japan, a hit the city. The hotel where Kaye and his colleagues stayed suffered heavy damage, the strong wind hurled a piece of the hotels cornice into Kayes room, had he been hit, he might well have been killed. By performance time that evening, the city was in the grip of the storm, there was no power, and the audience was restless and nervous. To calm them, Kaye went on stage, holding a flashlight to illuminate his face, the experience of trying to entertain audiences who did not speak English inspired him to the pantomime, gestures, songs, and facial expressions that eventually made his reputation
5.
Gene Kelly
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Eugene Curran Gene Kelly was an American dancer, actor, singer, film director, producer and choreographer. He was known for his energetic and athletic dancing style, his looks. Best known today for his performances in such as An American in Paris, Anchors Aweigh. He starred in musical films throughout the 1940s, including For Me and My Gal, Du Barry Was a Lady, Thousands Cheer, The Three Musketeers. In his later career, he starred in two films outside the genre, Inherit the Wind and What a Way to Go. Throughout his career, he directed films, most notably the 1969 film Hello. His many innovations transformed the Hollywood musical and he is credited with almost single-handedly making the ballet form commercially acceptable to film audiences, Kelly received an Academy Honorary Award in 1952 for his career achievements. He later received lifetime achievement awards in the Kennedy Center Honors, in 1999, the American Film Institute also numbered him 15th in their Greatest Male Stars of Classic Hollywood cinema list. Kelly was born in the East Liberty neighborhood of Pittsburgh and he was the third son of James Patrick Joseph Kelly, a phonograph salesman, and his wife Harriet Catherine Curran. His father was born in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, to an Irish-Canadian family and his maternal grandfather was an immigrant from Derry, Ireland, and his maternal grandmother was of German ancestry. When he was eight, Kellys mother enrolled him and his brother James in dance classes and they both rebelled, as recalled by Kelly, We didnt like it much and were continually involved in fistfights with the neighborhood boys who called us sissies. I didnt dance again until I was fifteen, at one time his childhood dream was to play shortstop for the hometown Pittsburgh Pirates. By the time he decided to dance, he was an accomplished sportsman and he attended St. Raphael Elementary School in the Morningside neighborhood of Pittsburgh and graduated from Peabody High School at age sixteen. He entered Pennsylvania State College as a major, but the 1929 crash forced him to work to help his family. He created dance routines with his younger brother Fred to earn money in local talent contests. They also performed in local nightclubs, in 1931, Kelly enrolled at the University of Pittsburgh to study economics, joining the Phi Kappa Theta fraternity. He became involved in the universitys Cap and Gown Club, which staged original musical productions, after graduating in 1933, he continued to be active with the Cap and Gown Club, serving as the director from 1934 to 1938. Kelly was admitted to the University of Pittsburgh Law School and his family opened a dance studio in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh
6.
David Niven
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James David Graham Niven was an English actor and novelist. His many roles included Squadron Leader Peter Carter in A Matter of Life and Death, Phileas Fogg in Around the World in 80 Days and he won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in Separate Tables. Born in London, Niven attended Heatherdown Preparatory School and Stowe before gaining a place at the Royal Military College, after Sandhurst, he joined the British Army and was gazetted a second lieutenant in the Highland Light Infantry. Having developed an interest in acting, he left the Highland Light Infantry, travelled to Hollywood and he first appeared as an extra in the British film There Goes the Bride. From there, he hired an agent and had small parts in films from 1933 to 1935. This brought him to attention within the film industry and he was spotted by Samuel Goldwyn. Upon the outbreak of the Second World War, Niven returned to Britain and rejoined the army, Niven resumed his acting career after his demobilisation, and was voted the second-most popular British actor in the 1945 Popularity Poll of British film stars. He appeared in A Matter of Life and Death, The Bishops Wife, Niven appeared in nearly a hundred films, and many shows for television. He also began writing books, with commercial success. In 1982 he appeared in Blake Edwards final Pink Panther films Trail of the Pink Panther and Curse of the Pink Panther, James David Graham Niven was born in Belgrave Mansions, London, to William Edward Graham Niven and his wife, Henrietta Julia Niven. He was named David for his birth on St. Davids Day, Niven often claimed that he was born in Kirriemuir, in the Scottish county of Angus in 1909, but his birth certificate shows this was not the case. Henrietta was of French and British ancestry and she was born in Wales, the daughter of army officer William Degacher by his marriage to Julia Caroline Smith, the daughter of Lieutenant General James Webber Smith. Nivens grandfather William Degacher was killed in the Battle of Isandlwana, born William Hitchcock, he and his brother Henry had followed the lead of their father, Walter Henry Hitchcock, in assuming their mothers maiden name of Degacher in 1874. William Niven, Davids father, was of Scottish descent, his grandfather, David Graham Niven, was from St. Martins. William served in the Berkshire Yeomanry in the First World War and was killed during the Gallipoli Campaign on 21 August 1915 and he was buried in Green Hill Cemetery, Turkey, in the Special Memorial Section in Plot F.10. Nivens mother remarried, to Sir Thomas Comyn-Platt, in London in 1917, David Niven had three older siblings, Margaret Joyce Henry Degacher Grizel Rosemary Graham. English private schools at the time of Nivens boyhood were noted for their strict, Niven suffered many instances of corporal punishment owing to his inclination for pranks, which finally led to his expulsion from Heatherdown Preparatory School at the age of 10½. This ended his chances for Eton College, a significant blow to his family, thoughtful and kind, he addressed the boys by their first names, allowed them bicycles, and encouraged and nurtured their personal interests
7.
The Seven Year Itch
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The Seven Year Itch is a 1955 American romantic comedy film based on a three-act play with the same name by George Axelrod. The film was co-written and directed by Billy Wilder, and stars Marilyn Monroe and Tom Ewell and it contains one of the most iconic images of the 20th century – Monroe standing on a subway grate as her white dress is blown upwards by a passing train. The titular phrase, which refers to declining interest in a relationship after seven years of marriage, has been used by psychologists. Richard Sherman is a nerdy, faithful, middle-aged publishing executive with an imagination and a mid-life crisis, whose wife, Helen. That evening, he works on reading the manuscript of a book in which psychiatrist Dr. Brubaker claims that almost all men are driven to have affairs in the seventh year of marriage. A tomato plant then crashes into his chair, the woman upstairs apologizes for accidentally knocking it off the balcony. He waits for her to get dressed, including in underwear she says she keeps cool in her icebox, when she arrives, a vision in pink, they have a drink and he lies about being married. When she sees his wedding ring, he backtracks but she is unconcerned, having no designs on him and he has a fantasy that she is a femme fatale overcome by his playing of Rachmaninoffs Second Piano Concerto. In reality, she prefers Chopsticks, which play together. Richard, overcome by his fantasies, awkwardly grabs at her and he apologizes for his indiscretion but she says it happens to her all the time. Guilt-ridden, however, he asks her to leave, over the next few days, they spend more time together and Richard imagines that they are growing closer, although she is immune to his imagined charms. Helen continually calls her husband, asking him to send the paddle so Ricky can use the kayak and his waning resolve to resist temptation fuels his fear that he is succumbing to the Seven Year Itch. He seeks help from Dr. Brubaker, but to no avail, Richard imagines his wife with McKenzie on a hayride which actually takes place but into which he injects his paranoia, guilt and jealousy. The characters of Elaine, Marie, and the voices of Sherman and The Girl were dropped from the play, the characters of the Plumber, Miss Finch, the Waitress. Many lines and scenes from the play were cut or re-written because they were deemed indecent by the Hays office, Axelrod and Wilder complained that the film was being made under straitjacketed conditions. This led to a plot change, in the play, Sherman and The Girl had sex, in the movie. Footage of Walter Matthau and Ewells screen tests for Sherman is featured in the DVD of the film, nicolas Roegs film Insignificance features a character based on Monroe and a re-enactment of the subway/dress scene. The exterior shooting location of Richards apartment was 164 East 61st Street in Manhattan, saul Bass created the opening animated title sequence for the film, his only title sequence for a Wilder movie
8.
Around the World in 80 Days (1956 film)
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Around the World in 80 Days is a 1956 American epic adventure-comedy film starring David Niven and Cantinflas, produced by the Michael Todd Company and released by United Artists. The epic picture was directed by Michael Anderson and produced by Mike Todd, with Kevin McClory, the screenplay was written by James Poe, John Farrow, and S. J. Perelman based on the classic novel of the same name by Jules Verne. The music score was composed by Victor Young, and the Todd-AO70 mm cinematography was by Lionel Lindon, the films seven-minute-long animated title sequence, shown at the end of the film, was created by award-winning designer Saul Bass. The film won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, also included is the launching of an unmanned rocket and footage of the earth receding. Around 1872, an English gentleman Phileas Fogg claims he can circumnavigate the world in eighty days and he makes a £20,000 wager with four sceptical fellow members of the Reform Club, that he can arrive back within 80 days before exactly 8,45 pm. They set out on the journey from Paris by hot air balloon upon learning the mountain train tunnel is blocked, the two accidentally end up in Spain, where Passepartout engages in a comic bullfight. In India, Fogg and Passepartout rescue young widow Princess Aouda from being forced into a funeral pyre with her late husband, the three visit Hong Kong, Yokohama, San Francisco, and the Wild West. After sailing across the Atlantic, and only short of winning his wager, Fogg is arrested upon arrival at Liverpool. At the jail, the humiliated Fix informs Fogg that the culprit was caught in Brighton. Though he is now exonerated of the charges, he has no time to get to London and has thus lost everything – except the love of the winsome Aouda. Salvation is at hand when, upon returning to London, Passepartout buys a newspaper, Fogg then realizes that by traveling east towards the rising sun and by crossing the International Date Line they have gained a day. There is still time to reach the Reform Club and win the bet, Fogg unexpectedly arrives at the club just before the clocks chime at 8,45 pm. Aouda and Passepartout then arrive, surprising everyone as no woman has entered the Reform Club before, the film boasts a huge cast, with David Niven and Cantinflas in the lead roles of Fogg and Passepartout. Joining them are Shirley MacLaine as Princess Aouda and Robert Newton as the detective Fix, the role of Passepartout was greatly expanded from the novel to accommodate Cantinflas, the most famous Latin-American comedian at the time, and winds up as the focus of the film. While Passepartout describes himself as a Parisian in the novel, this is unclear in the film – he has a French name, in the Spanish version the name of his character was changed from the French Passepartout to the Spanish Juan Picaporte. There is also a comic bullfighting sequence especially created for Cantinflas that is not in the novel, indeed, when the film was released in some non-English speaking nations, Cantinflas was billed as the lead. According to the guidebook, this was done because of an obstacle Todd faced in casting Cantinflas, Todd allowed Cantinflas to appear in the film as a Latin, so, the actor said himself. to my audience in Latin America, Ill still be Cantinflas. Over 40 famous performers make cameo appearances, including Marlene Dietrich, George Raft, the film was significant as the first of the so-called Hollywood make work films, employing dozens of faded film personalities
9.
Marlon Brando
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Marlon Brando, Jr. was an American actor, film director and activist. He is credited with bringing realism to film acting and he helped to popularize the Stanislavski system of acting, studying with Stella Adler in the 1940s. Julius Caesar, The Wild One, Reflections in a Golden Eye, Last Tango in Paris, Brando was also an activist for many causes, notably the Civil Rights Movement and various Native American movements. Brando received Academy Award nominations for playing Emiliano Zapata in Viva Zapata, Mark Antony in Joseph L. Mankiewiczs 1953 film adaptation of Shakespeares Julius Caesar, and Air Force Major Lloyd Gruver in Sayonara, an adaption of James Micheners 1954 novel. Brando was included in a list of Top Ten Money Making Stars three times in the 1950s, coming in at number 10 in 1954, number 6 in 1955, the 1960s proved to be a fallow decade for Brando. The Godfather was then one of the most commercially successful films of all time, Brando took a four-year hiatus before appearing in The Missouri Breaks. After this, he was content with being a highly paid actor in cameo roles, such as in Superman and The Formula. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Brando was paid a record $3.7 million and 11. 75% of the profits for 13 days work on Superman. Brando was ranked by the American Film Institute as the fourth-greatest movie star among male movie stars whose screen debuts occurred in or before 1950. He was one of three professional actors, along with Charlie Chaplin and Marilyn Monroe, named in 1999 by Time magazine as one of its 100 Most Important People of the Century. He died of respiratory failure on July 1,2004, at age 80, Brando was born on April 3,1924, in Omaha, Nebraska, to Marlon Brando, Sr. a pesticide and chemical feed manufacturer, and Dorothy Julia. Brando had two sisters, Jocelyn Brando and Frances. His ancestry included German, Dutch, English, and Irish and his patrilineal immigrant ancestor, Johann Wilhelm Brandau, arrived in New York in the early 1700s from the Palatinate in Germany. Brando was raised a Christian Scientist, however, she was an alcoholic and often had to be brought home from Chicago bars by her husband. In his autobiography, Songs My Mother Taught Me, Brando expressed sadness when writing about his mother, dodie and Brandos father eventually joined Alcoholics Anonymous. Brando harbored far more enmity for his father, stating, I was his namesake and he enjoyed telling me I couldnt do anything right. He had a habit of telling me I would never amount to anything, Brandos parents moved to Evanston, Illinois, when his fathers work took him to Chicago, but separated when Brando was 11 years old. His mother took the three children to Santa Ana, California, where they lived with her mother, in 1937, Brandos parents reconciled and moved together to Libertyville, Illinois, a small town north of Chicago
10.
Mongkut
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During his reign, the pressure of Western expansionism was felt for the first time in Siam. Mongkut embraced Western innovations and initiated the modernization of his country, Mongkut was also known for his appointing his brother, Prince Chutamani, as Second King, crowned in 1851 as King Pinklao. Mongkut himself assured the country that Pinklao should be respected with equal honor to himself, Mongkuts reign was also the time when the power of the House of Bunnag reached its zenith and became the most powerful noble family of Siam. Mongkut was the son of Prince Isarasundhorn, son of Phutthayotfa Chulalok. Mongkut was born in the Old Palace in 1804, where the first son had died shortly after birth in 1801 and he was followed by Prince Chutamani in 1808. In 1809, Prince Isarasundhorn was crowned as Buddha Loetla Nabhalai The royal family moved to the Grand Palace. Thenceforth until their own accessions as kings, the brothers were called Chao Fa Yai, in 1824, Mongkut became a Buddhist monk, following a Siamese tradition that men aged 20 should become monks for a time. The same year, his father died, by tradition, Mongkut should have been crowned the next king, but the nobility instead chose the influential Prince Jessadabodindra, son of a royal concubine rather than a queen. Perceiving the throne was irredeemable and to political intrigues, Mongkut retained his monastic status. Vajirayan became one of the members of the family who devoted their life to religion. He travelled around the country as a monk and saw the relaxation of the rules of Pali Canon among the Siamese monks he met, in 1829, at Phetchaburi, he met a monk named Buddhawangso, who strictly followed the canon. Vajirayan admired Buddhawangso for his obedience to the canon, and was inspired to pursue religious reforms, in 1833, he began a reform movement reinforcing the canon law that evolved into the Dhammayuttika Nikaya, or Thammayut sect. In 1836, Vajirayan arrived at Wat Bowonniwet in what is now Bangkoks central district, but was then the city proper, during this time, he discovered Western knowledge, studying Latin, English, and astronomy with missionaries and sailors. Vicar Pallegoix of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bangkok lived nearby, Vajirayan admired Christian morals and achievements as presented by the vicar, but could make nothing of Christian doctrine. It was then he made the comment later attributed to him as king, What you teach people to do is admirable, but what you teach them to believe is foolish. King Mongkut would later be noted for his excellent command of English, although it is said that his brother, Vice-King Pinklao. Chulalongkorn also persuaded his fathers 47th child, Vajirañana, to enter the order, accounts vary about Nangklaos intentions regarding the succession. It is recorded that Nangklao verbally dismissed the royal princes from succession for various reasons, Prince Mongkut was dismissed for encouraging monks to dress in the Mon style
11.
Frank Sinatra
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Francis Albert Sinatra was an American singer, actor, and producer who was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century. He is one of the music artists of all time. Born in Hoboken, New Jersey, to Italian immigrants, Sinatra began his career in the swing era with bandleaders Harry James. Sinatra found success as a solo artist after he signed with Columbia Records in 1943 and he released his debut album, The Voice of Frank Sinatra, in 1946. Sinatras professional career had stalled by the early 1950s, and he turned to Las Vegas and his career was reborn in 1953 with the success of From Here to Eternity, with his performance subsequently winning an Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor. Sinatra released several critically lauded albums, including In the Wee Small Hours, Come Fly with Me, Only the Lonely and Nice n Easy. Sinatra left Capitol in 1960 to start his own label, Reprise Records. It was followed by 1968s collaboration with Duke Ellington, using his Las Vegas shows as a home base, he toured both within the United States and internationally until a short time before his death in 1998. Sinatra forged a successful career as a film actor. After winning an Academy Award for From Here to Eternity, he starred in The Man with the Golden Arm and he appeared in various musicals such as On the Town, Guys and Dolls, High Society, and Pal Joey, winning another Golden Globe for the latter. Toward the end of his career, he associated with playing detectives. Sinatra would later receive the Golden Globe Cecil B, on television, The Frank Sinatra Show began on ABC in 1950, and he continued to make appearances on television throughout the 1950s and 1960s. While Sinatra never formally learned how to read music, he had a natural, intuitive understanding of it, a perfectionist, renowned for his impeccable dress sense and cleanliness, he always insisted on recording live with his band. His bright blue eyes earned him the popular nickname Ol Blue Eyes, Sinatra led a colorful personal life, and was often involved in turbulent affairs with women, such as with his second wife Ava Gardner. He went on to marry Mia Farrow in 1966 and Barbara Marx in 1976, Sinatra had several violent confrontations, usually with journalists he felt had crossed him, or work bosses with whom he had disagreements. He was honored at the Kennedy Center Honors in 1983, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Ronald Reagan in 1985, Sinatra was also the recipient of eleven Grammy Awards, including the Grammy Trustees Award, Grammy Legend Award and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. After his death, American music critic Robert Christgau called him the greatest singer of the 20th century, Francis Albert Sinatra was born on December 12,1915, in an upstairs tenement at 415 Monroe Street in Hoboken, New Jersey. He was the child of Italian immigrants Antonino Martino Marty Sinatra
12.
Maurice Chevalier
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Maurice Auguste Chevalier was a French actor, cabaret singer and entertainer. He is perhaps best known for his songs, including Louise, Mimi, Valentine. His trademark attire was a hat, which he always wore on stage with a tuxedo. He made his name as a star of comedy, appearing in public as a singer and dancer at an early age before working in menial jobs as a teenager. In 1909, he became the partner of the biggest female star in France at the time, Fréhel. Although their relationship was brief, she secured him his first major engagement, as a mimic, in 1917, he discovered jazz and ragtime and went to London, where he found new success at the Palace Theatre. After this, he toured the United States, where he met the American composers George Gershwin and Irving Berlin and he developed an interest in acting and had success in Dédé. When talkies arrived, he went to Hollywood in 1928, where he played his first American role in Innocents of Paris, in 1957, he appeared in Love in the Afternoon, which was his first Hollywood film in more than 20 years. In 1958, he starred with Leslie Caron and Louis Jourdan in Gigi, in the early 1960s, he made eight films, including Can-Can in 1960 and Fanny the following year. In 1970, he made his contribution to the film industry where he sang the title song of the Disney film The Aristocats. He died in Paris, on January 1,1972, aged 83, Chevalier was born in Paris, France. His father was a French house painter and his mother, Joséphine van den Bosch, was French of Belgian descent. He worked a number of jobs, an apprentice, electrician, printer. He started in business in 1901. He was singing, unpaid, at a café when a member of the theatre saw him, Chevalier made a name as a mimic and a singer. His act in lAlcazar in Marseille was so successful, he made a triumphant rearrival in Paris, in 1909, he became the partner of the biggest female star in France, Fréhel. However, due to her alcoholism and drug addiction, their liaison ended in 1911, Chevalier then started a relationship with 36-year-old Mistinguett at the Folies Bergère, where he was her 23-year-old dance partner, they eventually played out a public romance. In 1917, Chevalier became a star in le Casino de Paris and played before British soldiers and he discovered jazz and ragtime and started thinking about touring the United States
