ProfileDonna Reed (born Donna Belle Mullenger; January 27, 1921 – January 14, 1986) was an American actress. Her career spanned more than 40 years, with performances in more than 40 films. She is well known for her role as Mary Hatch Bailey in Frank Capra's 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life. In 1953, she received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Lorene Burke in the war drama From Here to Eternity. Reed is known for her work in television, notably as Donna Stone, a middle-class American mother and housewife in the sitcom The Donna Reed Show (1958–1966), in which her character was more assertive than most other television mothers of the era. She received numerous Emmy Award nominations for this role and the Golden Globe Award for Best TV Star in 1963. BiographyReed was born Donna Belle Mullenger on a farm near Denison, Iowa, the eldest of five children. In 1936, while she was a sophomore at Denison High School, her chemistry teacher Edward Tompkins gave her the book How to Win Friends and Influence People. The book is said to have greatly influenced her life. After graduating from Denison High School, Reed decided to move to California to attend Los Angeles City College on the advice of her aunt. While attending college, she signed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer with the condition of finishing her education first. In 1941 after signing with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Reed made her film debut in The Get-Away opposite Robert Sterling. MGM soon changed her name to Donna Reed, as there was anti-German feeling during World War II. Like many starlets at MGM, she played opposite Mickey Rooney in an Andy Hardy film, in her case the hugely popular The Courtship of Andy Hardy (1942). She also had a support role in The Human Comedy (1943) with Mickey Rooney, a big film for MGM. That year, she was married to make-up artist William Tuttle, but the marriage only lasted two years. Her "girl-next-door" good looks and warm onstage personality made her a popular pin-up for many GIs during World War II. In 1945 after divorcing her first husband, Donna Reed married producer Tony Owen. They raised four children together, with the two older children being adopted. MGM lent her to RKO Pictures for the role of Mary Bailey in Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life. The film has since been named as one of the 100 best American films ever made by the American Film Institute and is regularly aired on television during the Christmas season. Reed later said it was "the most difficult film I ever did. No director ever demanded as much of me." Back at MGM she appeared in Green Dolphin Street (1947) with Lana Turner and Van Heflin, a big hit. In June 1950 Reed signed a contract with Columbia Studios. In 1953, Donna Reed played the role of Alma "Lorene" Burke, girlfriend of Montgomery Clift's character in the World War II drama From Here to Eternity (1953). The role earned Reed an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. But the qualities of her parts did not seem to improve afterwards. In 1954, she returned to MGM to act in The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954)which starred Elizabeth Taylor. From 1958 to 1966, Reed starred in The Donna Reed Show, a television series produced by her then-husband, Tony Owen. The show featured her as Donna Stone, the wife of pediatrician Alex Stone (Carl Betz) and mother of Jeff (Paul Petersen) and Mary Stone (Shelley Fabares). Reed was attracted to the idea of being in a comedy, something with which she did not have much experience. She also liked playing a wife. The show ran for eight seasons on ABC and Reed won a Golden Globe Award and earned four Emmy Award nominations for her work on the series. When The Donna Reed Show ended its run in 1966, Reed took time off from acting to concentrate on raising her children and engaging in political activism. She returned to acting in the late '70s, appearing in some TV movies. In 1971, Donna Reed and her second husband Tony Owen divorced after 26 years of marriage. Three years later, Reed married Grover W. Asmus (1926–2003), a retired United States Army colonel. They remained married until her death in 1986. Donna Reed died of pancreatic cancer in Beverly Hills, California, on January 14, 1986, 13 days shy of her 65th birthday. She had been diagnosed with the illness three months earlier and told it was at a terminal stage. Further interestArticles
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ProfilePaul Leonard Newman (January 26, 1925 – September 26, 2008) was an American actor, film director, race car driver, and entrepreneur. He was the recipient of numerous awards, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, three Golden Globe Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, the Cecil B. DeMille Award, and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. Newman won several national championships as a driver in Sports Car Club of America road racing, and his race teams won several championships in open-wheel IndyCar racing. He was also a committed philanthropist, co-founding Newman's Own, a food company from which he donated all post-tax profits and royalties to charity. As of July 2019, these donations have totaled over US$550 million. BiographyNewman was born January 26, 1925, in Shaker Heights, Ohio, the second son of Theresa Garth(1894–1982) and Arthur Sigmund Newman Sr. (1893–1950), who ran a sporting goods store where her mother worked as well. His father was Jewish, Paul's mother was a practitioner of Christian Science. Newman practised no religion as an adult, but described himself as a Jew. Newman showed an early interest in the theater; his first role was at the age of seven, playing the court jester in a school production of Robin Hood. At age 10, Newman performed at the Cleveland Play House in a production of Saint George and the Dragon. In 1943, he briefly attended Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, where he was initiated into the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity. Newman served in the United States Navy in World War II in the Pacific theater. Initially, he enrolled in the Navy V-12 pilot training program at Yale University, but was dropped when his colorblindness was discovered. After the war, Newman completed his Bachelor of Arts degree in drama and economics at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio in 1949 and later attended the Yale School of Drama for one year. In 1949, Newman married Jackie Witte. They had a son, Scott (1950–1978), and two daughters, Susan (born 1953) and Stephanie Kendall (born 1954). Scott died in November 1978 from a drug overdose. Newman started the Scott Newman Center for drug abuse prevention in memory of his son. In 1951, Newman decided to move with his family to New York City to study under Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio He made his Broadway theater debut in the original production of William Inge's Picnic with Kim Stanley in 1953. During this time Newman also started acting in television. His first credited role was in a 1952 episode of Tales of Tomorrow entitled "Ice from Space". In February 1954, Newman appeared in a screen test with James Dean for East of Eden (1955). Dean won his part, but Newman did not. After James Dean's death, Newman replaced Dean in the role of a boxer in a television adaptation of Hemingway's story "The Battler", written by A. E. Hotchner(who later would become his friend and business partner), that was broadcast live on October 18, 1955. That performance led to his breakthrough role as Rocky Graziano in the film Somebody Up There Likes Me in 1956. Newman garnered much attention and acclaim for his role. In 1957, Newman starred in The Long, Hot Summer for which he won Best Actor at the 1958 Cannes Film Festival. While filming, he reconnected with his co-star Joanne Woodward whom he met a few years ago. Newman met actress Joanne Woodward in 1953, on the production of Picnic on Broadway. It was Newman's debut; Woodward was an understudy. Shortly after filming The Long, Hot Summer in 1957, he divorced Jackie Witte and married Woodward in early 1958. They bought a home in Westport, Connecticut, one of the first Hollywood movie star couples to choose to raise their families outside California. They had three daughters: Elinor "Nell" Teresa (b. 1959), Melissa "Lissy" Stewart (b. 1961), and Claire "Clea" Olivia (b. 1965). Newman was well known for his devotion to his wife and family. After his marriage to Woodward they appeared together in movies such as From the Terrace (1960), Paris Blues (1961), A New Kind of Love (1963), Winning (1969), WUSA (1970), Harry & Son (1984), and Mr. and Mrs. Bridge (1990). He also directed four feature films starring his wife Woodward. In 1958, Newman garnered his first Academy Award nomination for his role in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)a box-office smash, opposite Elizabeth Taylor. But his major films are mostly in the 60s and 70s, such as The Hustler (1961), Hud (1963), Harper (1966), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), and leading roles in The Sting (1973), The Towering Inferno (1974), Slap Shot (1977), The Verdict (1982), etc. Twenty-five years after The Hustler, Newman reprised his role of "Fast Eddie" Felson in the Martin Scorsese–directed film The Color of Money (1986), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor after being nominated 10 times. In 2003, Newman appeared in a Broadway revival of Wilder's Our Town, receiving his first Tony Award nomination for his performance. Newman's last movie appearance was as a conflicted mob boss in the 2002 film Road to Perdition opposite Tom Hanks, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. His last onscreen appearance was in 2005 in the HBO mini-series Empire Falls for which he won a Golden Globe and a Primetime Emmy. Newman retired from acting in May 2007. Since his success in Hollywood, Paul Newman had been actively involved in philanthropy. In 1982, Newman founded Newman's Own with his friend With writer A. E. Hotchner. The brand started with salad dressing and has expanded to include pasta sauce, lemonade, popcorn, salsa, and wine, among other things. Newman established a policy that all proceeds, after taxes, would be donated to charity. He co-wrote a memoir about the subject with Hotchner, Shameless Exploitation in Pursuit of the Common Good. Since then until his death, Paul Newman kept donating generously to various charities, institutions and causes. In 1983, Newman became a Major Donor for The Mirror Theater Ltd, alongside Dustin Hoffman and Al Pacino, matching a grant from Laurence Rockefeller. Newman was inspired to invest by his connection with Lee Strasberg, as Lee's then daughter-in-law Sabra Jones was the Founder and Producing Artistic Director of The Mirror. Paul Newman remained a friend of the company until his death and discussed at numerous times possible productions in which he could star with his wife, Joanne Woodward. In June 1999, Newman donated $250,000 to Catholic Relief Services to aid refugees in Kosovo. On June 1, 2007, Kenyon College of which Newman once a student, announced that Newman had donated $10 million to the school to establish a scholarship fund as part of the college's $230 million fund-raising campaign. Newman and Woodward were honorary co-chairs of a previous campaign. Newman was named the Most Generous Celebrity of 2008 by Givingback.org. He contributed $20,857,000 for the year of 2008 to the Newman's Own Foundation, which distributes funds to a variety of charities. In June 2008, it was widely reported in the press that Newmann had been diagnosed with lung cancer and was receiving treatment for the condition at the Sloan-Kettering hospital in New York City. A. E. Hotchner, told the Associated Press in an interview in mid-2008 that Newman had told him about being afflicted with the disease about 18 months earlier. The actor was a heavy cigarette smoker until he quit in 1986. Paul Newman died on the morning of September 26, 2008, surrounded by friends and family. He was 83 years old. At the time of his death, he had been married to his wife Joanne Woodward for 50 years. Newman has attributed their relationship success to "some combination of lust and respect and patience. And determination." Paul Newman was cremated after a private funeral service near his home in Westport, Connecticut. Further interestBooks
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Profile Roger Vadim
Roger Vadim Plemiannikov (26 January 1928 – 11 February 2000) was a French screenwriter, film director and producer, as well as an author, artist and occasional actor. His best-known works are visually lavish films with erotic qualities, such as And God Created Woman (1956), Barbarella (1968), and Pretty Maids All in a Row (1971).
Roger Vadim Plémiannikov, dit Roger Vadim, né le 26 janvier 1928 dans le 5e arrondissement de Paris et mort le 11 février 2000 dans le 13e arrondissement, est un réalisateur, scénariste, acteur, romancier et poète français.
Passionné de cinéma, de littérature, de musique, mais également célèbre « homme à femmes », il a aussi écrit et réalisé des films pour mettre en scène certaines de ses compagnes et en faire des stars du grand écran, notamment Brigitte Bardot, Annette Stroyberg, Catherine Deneuve et Jane Fonda. Biography
Vadim was born Roger Vadim Plemiannikov in Paris. His father, Igor Nikolaevich Plemiannikov, a White Russian military officer and pianist, had emigrated from imperial Russia and became a naturalized French citizen. He was a vice consul of France to Egypt, stationed in Alexandria, later posting to Mersin, Turkey as a consul. Vadim's mother, Marie-Antoinette was a French actress. Although Vadim lived as a diplomat's child in Northern Africa and the Middle East in his early youth, the death of his father when Vadim was nine years old caused the family to return to France.
Vadim studied journalism and writing at the University of Paris, without graduating.
At age 19, he became assistant to film director Marc Allégret, whom he met while working at the Theatre Sarah Bernhardt, and for whom he worked on several screenplays.
It was when he worked for Marc Allégret, that he discovered Brigitte Bardot and convinced the latter to audition her. Vadim and Bardot fell in love, and they waited until 1952 when Brigitte Bardot was 18 years old to get married in Paris.
In 1956, Vadim created And God Created Woman for his young wife, which was also his first film as a director. The film was doing ok in France, but achieved huge success in the United States and around the world, establishing Bardot as a world icon.
During the filming, however, Brigitte Bardot fell in love with her co-star Jean-Louis Trintignant, and left Roger Vadim. The couple divorced in December 1957, just 5 years after their marriage. After Brigitte Bardot, Roger Vadim will repeat several times his patter of falling love with a woman and make her his protagonist in his film, although it seems the love lasts just a little big longer than the film. The first of such women was Annette Stroyberg(7 December 1936-12 December 2005), a Danish model. Roger Vadim married her in June 1958 and put her into his second most famous film Les liaisons dangereuses (1959) together with Jeanne Moreau and Gérard Philipe (in his final film). The film did not succeed, and the couple divorced in 1961, shortly after the release of the film.
Then it was Catherine Deneuve whom Roger Vadim met in 1961 when she was filming the anthology film Tales of Paris (1962), and who starred in his films like And Satan Calls the Turns (1962) and Vice and Virtue (1963), but they left each other in 1963.
Then Jane Fonda. He met the American actress in 1964 and married her in 1967. He directed her in The Game Is Over (1966), based on a book by Émile Zola, then in a science fiction sex comedy, Barbarella (1968). Both films failed, as his marriage to Jane Fonda. They divorced in 1972.
In 1976, Roger Vadim directed Une femme fidèle, a Madame Bovary sort of period drama, played by Dutch model and actress Sylvia Kristel who has already become internationally famous for starring in erotic French film Emmanuelle released in 1974. But the film did not succeed either.
In 1988, Vadim attempted to recapture his former success with a new version of And God Created Woman (1988), with Rebecca de Mornay. Very different from the original – it only really used the same title – it failed critically and commercially.
After that, Roger Vadim turned his attention to TV, and it was in the world of TV, he found his last wife, French actress Marie-Christine Barrault and serenity. Like he did with all of his previous women, he became the director of Marie-Christine Barrault as well, both in theatre and TV, including Un coup de baguette magique (1997), which was last time Vadim worked as a director.
Roger Vadim was not just a woman's man, but also a renaissance man.
In addition to his theatre and film work, Roger Vadim also wrote several books, including the memoirs "Memoires du Diable", "Le Gout du Bonheur: Souvenirs 1940–1958" and an autobiography, D'une étoile à l'autre (From One Star to the Next) as well as a tell-all about his most famous exes, Bardot, Deneuve & Fonda: My Life with the Three Most Beautiful Women in the World, published in 1986. "My attitude is that if this book makes me a little money it will be a tiny compensation for all the money I helped those actresses make", Vadim explained. He also wrote several plays and books of fiction, including L'Ange Affame.
Roger Vadim died of cancer at age 72 on 11 February 2000. Ex-wives Bardot, Fonda, Schneider and Stroyberg were all in attendance at his funeral. He is buried at St. Tropez Cemetery.
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Roger Vadim est le fils d'Igor Nicolaïevitch Plémiannikov (1904-1938), d'une famille de la noblesse russe, que la tradition familiale rattache à Gengis Khan. Engagé dans l'armée Wrangel à quatorze ans pour combattre les bolcheviques, Igor est fait prisonnier et condamné à mort ; parvenant à s'enfuir la veille de son exécution, Il arrive en France en octobre 1924 et est naturalisé français en 1928. Il est nommé vice-consul de France en Égypte, où Roger Vadim passe sa petite enfance dans un univers romanesque.
Lors de sa naissance, ses parents n'étaient pas mariés, son père étant alors toujours dans les liens d'un premier mariage avec une Russe. Fin 1938, il a 10 ans lorsque son père meurt, sa mère, lui et sa sœur Hélène s'installent en location dans une ferme des Gets, mais puis retourne s'installer à Paris.
En 1947, à 19 ans, il abandonne sa scolarité à l’Institut d'études politiques de Paris (Sciences Po) et préfère la vie d'artiste peintre ou d'acteur à Paris.
L'écrivain André Gide lui fait connaître le réalisateur Marc Allégret dont il devient l'assistant tout en étant journaliste et reporter-photographe à Paris Match jusqu'en 1956. En 1949, il remarque Brigitte Bardot, âgée alors de 15 ans, en couverture du magazine Elle, et demande à Marc Allégret de la faire auditionner pour un rôle. Le coup de foudre est immédiat et réciproque.
En 1950, le jeune couple d'amoureux (il a 22 ans, elle en a 16), se retrouve pour des vacances d'été à Cap Myrtes près de Saint-Tropez. Pour se conformer aux vœux de M. et Mme Bardot, ils doivent attendre les 18 ans de Brigitte Bardot pour pouvoir se marier. En 1952, la jeune actrice, Brigitte Bardot, fête ses 18 ans et, le 19 décembre 1952, les deux amoureux peuvent enfin se marier à la mairie puis le 21 à l'église.
Vadim s'ingénie à lancer sa jeune épouse, Bardot dans le monde du cinéma. Il obtient pour elle une participation dans Futures vedettes, réalisé par son mentor Marc Allégret.
En 1956, à 28 ans, il écrit et réalise son premier film, Et Dieu… créa la femme, pour sa femme qui a 22 ans et joue presque son propre rôle face à Jean-Louis Trintignant, complice régulier de Vadim et qui obtient grâce à ce film la reconnaissance publique. Juliette est une jeune femme ingénue totalement insouciante, au sommet de sa beauté. Elle fait exploser les cœurs et les mœurs de tous les hommes du village de pêcheurs de Saint-Tropez où elle vit. Elle ne pense qu'à s'amuser et aux plaisirs de la vie dans une communauté traditionnellement attachée aux bonnes mœurs et au travail. Le film obtient un succès relatif en France, mais triomphe aux États-Unis. Brigitte Bardot devient un mythe vivant, un modèle social et un sex-symbol international. Le film déchaîne autant de passions, et d'idolâtrie, que de scandale et de colère contre l'immoralité, et fait du petit village de pêcheurs de Saint-Tropez un endroit de légende par la seule présence de Bardot. Brigitte étant tombée amoureuse de son partenaire Jean-Louis Trintignant, le couple Bardot-Vadim divorce en décembre 1957. Vadim tournera quatre autres films avec Brigitte en 1958, 1961, 1962 et 1973, sans jamais retrouver l'éclat du premier malgré la recherche de sujets à scandales :par exemple dans Don Juan 73 où Bardot partage une scène d'amour avec Jane Birkin.
En 1959, il tourne l'adaptation du roman de Choderlos de Laclos écrite par Roger Vailland, Les Liaisons dangereuses 1960 avec Gérard Philipe, Jeanne Moreau, Jean-Louis Trintignant, et Annette Stroyberg(1936-2005), rencontrée lors du tournage des Bijoutiers du clair de lune, qu'il épouse, le 17 juin 1958, et qui lui donnera une fille.
Espérant le même succès avec Annette Stroyberg dans Les Liaisons dangereuses 1960, qu'avec Bardot, il est déçu, la critique traditionnelle ne lui pardonne pas ce nouvel écart aux bonnes mœurs. Vadim et Annette divorcent en 1960 après avoir tourné ensemble Et mourir de plaisir.
En 1961, il a 33 ans et rencontre Catherine Deneuve qui en a 17, sur le tournage du film Les Parisiennes, de Marc Allégret, film dont il a écrit le sketch Sophie.
Ils tombent amoureux en une soirée, et se mettent en ménage; un fils, Christian Vadim, naît le 18 juin 1963. Vadim offre à Deneuve son premier grand rôle sur le thème du marquis de Sade et du nazisme dans Le Vice et la Vertu, en 1963, où elle est opposée à Annie Girardot. Le film, écrit par Roger Vailland, est boudé par le public et la critique.
En 1964, à 36 ans, il éprouve un nouveau coup de foudre pour l'actrice américaine Jane Fonda, âgée de 27 ans, sur le plateau de La Ronde d'après Arthur Schnitzler. Ils se marient le 18 mai 1967 à Saint-Ouen-Marchefroy et auront une fille, Vanessa.
Le metteur en scène fait tourner sa nouvelle épouse dans La Curée en compagnie de Michel Piccoli, d'après Émile Zola - le film est un échec - et dans Barbarella, science-fiction érotique d'après la bande dessinée de Jean-Claude Forest. Ce film est le dernier succès de Vadim au cinéma.
Jane quitte Vadim pour s'engager dans une association contre la Guerre du Viêt Nam en retournant vivre aux États-Unis. Ils divorcent en 1972.
En 1972, à 44 ans, alors qu'il vient de réaliser Si tu crois fillette avec Rock Hudson et Angie Dickinson, il rencontre Catherine Schneider, fille de Charles Schneider et de Lilian Constantini, héritière de l’empire sidérurgique Schneider, avec qui il a un fils Vania. Ils se marient en 1975, mais divorcent deux ans plus tard en 1977.
Après ce quatrième divorce, Vadim débute à la télévision avec Bonheur, Impair et Passe, nouvelle adaptation de Françoise Sagan au casting trois étoiles : Danielle Darrieux, Ludmila Mikaël et Philippe Léotard.
En 1980, à 52 ans, il rencontre Ann Biderman, une scénariste américaine, âgée de 29 ans, ils se fiancent en 1984, mais se séparent en 1986.
En 1988, il réalise un remake de son plus grand succès, And God Created Woman (1988), avec Rebecca De Mornay pour succéder à Brigitte Bardot.
En 1990, à 62 ans, il trouve enfin la sérénité auprès de la comédienne Marie-Christine Barrault, qu'il rencontre au Festival du film policier de Cognac, où ils sont tous les deux membres du jury. Après avoir vécu quelque temps ensemble, ils se marient le 21 décembre 1990.
Vadim met en scène Marie-Christine Barrault pour le théâtre (Même heure l'année prochaine, Enfin seuls !) et pour la télévision dans Amour fou, La Nouvelle tribu, Mon père avait raison et dans Un coup de baguette magique, sa dernière réalisation.
Toute sa vie, il restera fidèle aux Gets où il tourne certains extérieurs de ses films Les Liaisons dangereuses, L'Amour fou et Hellé et où il vécut avec Marie-Christine Barrault. En 1992, il y a acheté une ancienne ferme au Plan-Ferraz.
En 1993, Vadim passe à l'écriture de quatre romans, dont Le Goût du bonheur, où il met en scène, comme à son habitude, ses femmes,
Gravement malade depuis plusieurs mois, il meurt le 11 février 2000 à Paris à l'hôpital, à 72 ans, des suites d'un cancer du thymus.
Il est ensuite enterré en présence de ses cinq ex-compagnes au cimetière marin du village de Saint-Tropez, à quelques mètres du rivage, face au golfe de Saint-Tropez et de « la Madrague », propriété de Brigitte Bardot. Further interestArticlesBooksVideos
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