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Jean René Lacoste(2 juillet 1904-12 octobre 1996)

14/7/2020

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Jean Rene Lacoste, the man who invented polo shirt
Jean René Lacoste (dit Le Crocodile, ou L'Alligator), né le 2 juillet 1904 à Paris et décédé à Saint-Jean-de-Luz au Pays basque le 12 octobre 1996, est un champion de tennis, industriel, ingénieur et designer français, fondateur de la marque Lacoste.

Membre des « Quatre Mousquetaires » avec Henri Cochet, Jean Borotra et Jacques Brugnon, il a remporté sept tournois majeurs en simple et a fait partie de l'équipe de Coupe Davis victorieuse en 1927 et 1928.
Jean René Lacoste(2 juillet 1904-12 octobre 1996)
René Lacoste est né à Paris dans le 10e arrondissement, au 38 rue Albouy, fils de Jean-Jules qui devint dirigeant (administrateur délégué) de la firme automobile Hispano-Suiza, et fut décoré Chevalier (1917) puis officier (1925) et enfin commandeur (1932) de la Légion d'Honneur. Il fut aussi finaliste du premier championnat de France d'aviron à Mâcon, en 1890, et vainqueur du Championnat régional du Sud-Ouest. Il était le Président de la Société Nautique de la Basse Seine.

Promis à de brillantes études et devant préparer Polytechnique, René Lacoste décide finalement en 1922 d'y renoncer afin de se consacrer entièrement au tennis.
Rene Lacoste en 1922.
Rene Lacoste en 1922.
L'origine de son surnom, « le crocodile » varie selon les sources. L'explication la plus cohérente, tant du point de vue des personnes impliquées que du lieu et de l'année, est que ce surnom lui fut attribué par la presse américaine, à la suite d'un pari qu'il aurait fait en 1923 avec Allan Muhr, alors capitaine de l'équipe de Coupe Davis, à Boston. Une autre version, plus répandue, reprend l'histoire du pari, mais avec le capitaine Pierre Gilou. Sauf que ce même Pierre Gilou ne devint capitaine de l'équipe de France que quelques années plus tard, et surtout pas à Boston. L'histoire du pari est ainsi racontée : René Lacoste regardait dans une vitrine une valise en peau de crocodile; Pierre Gilou lui fit le pari de la lui acheter si Lacoste gagnait un match décisif. Le match fut perdu, mais l'image du crocodile perdura. D'autant plus que le tempérament de Lacoste correspondait bien à celui d'un crocodile: il ne lâchait jamais sa proie.

Il a été l'un des « Quatre Mousquetaires » du tennis français avec Henri Cochet, Jean Borotra et Jacques Brugnon, et a remporté la Coupe Davis pour la France en 1927 et 1928. Sur le plan individuel, il a remporté à trois reprises les Internationaux de France de tennis (1925, 1927, 1929), deux fois le tournoi de Wimbledon (1925, 1928) et deux fois l'US Open (1926, 1927). Il fut désigné meilleur joueur du monde en 1926 et 1927. Associé à Jean Borotra, il compte également deux Internationaux de France en double en 1925 et 1929 et un Wimbledon en 1925.

Il arrête le tennis en 1929 à seulement 25 ans en raison de problèmes de santé récurrents. En effet, depuis la Guerre, il est régulièrement victime d'insuffisance respiratoire.
René & Simone Lacoste in 1936 at Chantaco. From the Lacoste S.A. Archives. © All Rights Reserved.
René & Simone Lacoste in 1936 at Chantaco. From the Lacoste S.A. Archives. © All Rights Reserved.
Il se marie le 30 juin 1930 à la golfeuse Simone Thion de La Chaume.

Avant son mariage, René Lacoste résidait avec sa famille rue Armand-Silvestre à Courbevoie. Il fut par la suite propriétaire d'un logement dans les Immeubles Walter.

En 1932, le capitaine Pierre Gillou le rappelle pour renforcer l'équipe de France de Coupe Davis contre les américains. Lacoste se remet à l'entraînement et atteint même les huitièmes de finale à Wimbledon. À quelques jours de la rencontre, il est cependant contraint de déclarer forfait en raison d'une angine.

René Lacoste crée en 1933 la marque avec le logo issu de son surnom (crocodile) et vend l'année suivante des chemises de haute qualité au grand public. La production est arrêtée entre 1940 et 1946 à cause de la Seconde Guerre mondiale. 

Sont lancés en 1960 les polos rayés, puis l'eau de toilette en collaboration avec Jean Patou en 1968.

René Lacoste débute ses activités d'industriel en fondant une marque de textile portant son nom dont le logo est un crocodile. Le produit est vendu en France dès l'année suivante, puis sera exporté en Europe et dans le monde entier à partir des années 1950. Lacoste était également un inventeur. Parmi ses inventions, on compte notamment une machine à lancer les balles en 1928, la pastille anti-vibration en 1960 (puis l'anti-vibrateur Damper en 1974) et la première raquette de tennis en acier en 1963 qui causa une révolution dans le domaine du tennis qui a mis en cause la suprématie de la raquette en bois et ouvert la voie aux modèles d'aujourd'hui. ​
Lacoste (à droite) et Otto Froitzheim.
Lacoste (à droite) et Otto Froitzheim.
Il a été nommé officier de la Légion d'honneur en 1977, et président d'honneur de la FFT. Il est également membre du International Tennis Hall of Fame depuis 1976.

René Lacoste meurt le 12 octobre 1996 à l'âge de 92 ans, un mois avant la victoire française de la coupe Davis 1996.
Jean Rene Lacoste, the man who invented polo shirt

English Biography

Jean René Lacoste(2 juillet 1904-12 octobre 1996)
Jean René Lacoste ( 2 July 1904 – 12 October 1996) was a French tennis player and businessman. He was nicknamed "the Crocodile" because of how he dealt with his opponents; he is also known worldwide as the creator of the Lacoste tennis shirt, which he introduced in 1929.

​Lacoste started playing tennis at age 15 when he accompanied his father on a trip to England. His first participation in a Grand Slam tournament was the 1922 Wimbledon Championships in which he lost in the first round to Pat O'Hara Wood. 

Lacoste was one of The Four Musketeers with Jean Borotra, Jacques Brugnon, and Henri Cochet, French tennis stars who dominated the game in the late 1920s and early 1930s.

His breakthrough came in 1925 when he won the singles title at the French Championships and at Wimbledon, in both cases after a victory in the final against compatriot Jean Borotra. And he was ranked No.1 for 1926 and 1927.

He won seven Grand Slam singles titles at the French, American, and British championships and was an eminent baseline player and tactician of the pre-war period. In 1929 he won his seventh, and last, Grand Slam singles title in France and then withdrew from competitive tennis due to failing health, including respiratory disease.
Simone de la Chaume, golf champion and wife of Rene Lacoste
Simone de la Chaume
On 30 June 1930 Rene Lacoste married golfing champion Simone de la Chaume. Their daughter Catherine Lacoste was a champion golfer and president of the Golf Club Chantaco, founded by her mother, at a few kilometres from St. Jean-de-Luz.
Jean Rene Lacoste, the man who invented polo shirt
In 1933, Lacoste founded La Société Chemise Lacoste with André Gillier. The company produced the tennis shirt, also known as a "polo shirt," which Lacoste often wore when he was playing; this had a crocodile (often thought to be an alligator) embroidered on the chest. In 1963, Lacoste's son Bernard took over the management of the company.
Jean René Lacoste(2 juillet 1904-12 octobre 1996)
In 1961, Lacoste created an innovation in racket technology by unveiling and patenting the first tubular steel tennis racket. 

When Lacoste died, the French Advertising agency Publicis, which had been managing his company's account for decades, published a print ad with the Lacoste logo and the English words "See you later...," reinforcing the idea that the animal was perhaps an alligator.
Jean René Lacoste(2 juillet 1904-12 octobre 1996)

Further interest

Lacoste official website
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Robert de Montesquiou(7 March 1855 – 11 December 1921)

7/3/2020

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Le comte Robert de Montesquiou, né à Paris le 19 mars 1855 et mort à Menton (Alpes-Maritimes) le 11 décembre 1921, est un poète, homme de lettres, dandy et critique d'art et de littérature.

« Poète et dandy insolent », il aurait servi de modèle à des Esseintes dans À Rebours (1884) de Huysmans et à Monsieur de Phocas de Jean Lorrain. Il fournit aussi à Marcel Proust l'un des modèles du baron de Charlus dans À la recherche du temps perdu, ce qui le rendit furieux malgré les dénégations de Proust. La postérité l'a malmené sans tenir compte de la diversité de ses activités et de la qualité de ses écrits.
Giovanni Boldini (1842-1931) Le comte Robert de Montesquiou 1897 Huile sur toile H. 116 ; L. 82,5 cm
Portrait of Count Robert de Montesquiou by Giovanni Boldini (1842-1931), 1897 Oil on canvas
En 1897, Boldini est chargé, par l'intermédiaire d'une amie commune, Madame Veil-Picard, de faire le portrait du comte Robert de Montesquiou. Le peintre ne peut qu'être attiré par la personnalité de cet homme de lettres, emblème de l'esthète contemporain et nouvelle incarnation du dandy baudelairien.

L'oeuvre reflète à la fois la complexité de la relation peintre-modèle et les théories sur le "portrait moderne" énoncées par Montesquiou dans un article consacré, justement, à Boldini ("Les peintres de la femme, Boldini", Les Modes, janvier 1901). Il y écrit que l'art du portrait ne réside pas dans la vérité photographique mais dans le mélange sur la toile de l'identité du peintre et de celle du modèle. Boldini serait donc un portraitiste moderne par excellence puisqu'il révèle dans ses peintures les caractéristiques les plus profondes du modèle tout en exprimant son propre jugement.

Dans ce tableau, l'artiste ne se contente pas de souligner l'élégance aristocratique, la désinvolture ou le raffinement de Montesquiou. La canne tenue par ce dernier prend l'allure d'un sceptre, se transforme en signe de royauté. Boldini semble illustrer le vers introductif de l'une des poésies des Chauves souris de Montesquiou : "Je suis le souverain des choses transitoires". En superposant une attitude puisée dans la grande tradition des portraits des XVIe et XVIIe siècles et la représentation de la modernité, Boldini a-t-il voulu introduire une légère ironie vis à vis de l'esthétisme forcené de Montesquiou ? C'est ainsi que nombre de commentateurs contemporains ont interprété ce portrait.

--
Musée d’Orsay
Comte Robert de Montesquiou-Fézensac (1855-1921) par Lucien Doucet, 1879
Comte Robert de Montesquiou-Fézensac (1855-1921) par Lucien Doucet, 1879
Marie Joseph Robert Anatole, Comte de Montesquiou-Fézensac (7 March 1855, Paris – 11 December 1921, Menton), was a French aesthete, Symbolist poet, art collector and dandy. He is reputed to have been the inspiration both for Jean des Esseintes in Joris-Karl Huysmans' À rebours (1884) and, most famously, for the Baron de Charlus in Marcel Proust's À la recherche du temps perdu (1913–1927). He also won a bronze medal in the hacks and hunter combined event at the 1900 Summer Olympics.

Biography

Robert Montesquiou with his Persian cat
Robert Montesquiou with his Persian cat
Robert de Montesquiou was a scion of the French Montesquiou-Fézensac family. His paternal grandfather was Count Anatole de Montesquiou-Fézensac (1788–1878), aide-de-camp to Napoleon and grand officer of the Légion d'honneur; his father Thierry bought a Charnizay manor with his wife's dowry, built a mansion in Paris, and was elected Vice-President of the Jockey Club. He was a successful stockbroker who left a substantial fortune.

Robert was the last of his parents' children. His cousin, Élisabeth, Countess Greffulhe (1860–1952), was one of Marcel Proust's models for the Duchess of Guermantes in À la recherche du temps perdu.

Montesquiou had a strong influence on Émile Gallé (1846–1904), a glass artist he collaborated with and commissioned major works from, and from whom he received hundreds of adulatory letters. He also wrote the verses found in the optional choral parts of Gabriel Fauré's Pavane.
Arrangement in Black and Gold: Comte Robert de Montesquiou-Fezensac by Whistler, 1891-92
Arrangement in Black and Gold: Comte Robert de Montesquiou-Fezensac by Whistler, 1891–92
The portrait Arrangement in Black and Gold: Comte Robert de Montesquiou-Fezensac was painted in 1891–92 by Montesquiou's close friend, and model for many of his eccentric mannerisms, James Whistler.

​The French artist Antonio de La Gandara (1861–1917) produced several portraits of Montesquiou.

Comte Robert de Montesquiou (1855-1921), photo par Nadar, 1895
Comte Robert de Montesquiou (1855-1921), photo par Nadar, 1895
Tall, black-haired, Kaiser-moustached, he cackled and screamed in weird attitudes, giggling in high soprano, hiding his black teeth behind an exquisitely gloved hand—the poseur absolute. Montesquiou's homosexual tendencies were patently obvious, but he may in fact have lived a chaste life. He had no affairs with women, although in 1876 he reportedly once slept with the great actress Sarah Bernhardt, after which he vomited for twenty-four hours. (She remained a great friend.)"

--An author
La comédienne Sarah Bernhardt dans «Frou-Frou»
Sarah Bernhardt(1844-1923) in Frou-Frou, 1882
Montesquiou had social relationships and collaborations with many celebrities of the fin de siècle period, including Alphonse Daudet (1840–1897), Edmond de Goncourt (1822–1896), Eleonora Duse (1858–1924), Sarah Bernhardt (1844–1923), Gabriele d'Annunzio (1863–1938), Anna de Noailles (1876–1933), Marthe Bibesco (1886–1973), Luisa Casati (1881–1957), Maurice Barrès (1862–1923), and Franca Florio.

While Montesquiou had many aristocratic women friends, he much preferred the company of bright and attractive young men. In 1885, he began a close long-term relationship with Gabriel Yturri (March 12, 1860 – July 6, 1905), a handsome South American immigrant from Tucuman, Argentina, who became his secretary, companion, and lover. 
Robert de Montesquiou(7 March 1855 – 11 December 1921)
Robert de Montesquiou(7 March 1855 – 11 December 1921)
After Yturri died of diabetes, Henri Pinard replaced him as secretary in 1908 and eventually inherited Montesquiou's much reduced fortune.

​Montesquiou and Yturri are buried alongside each other at Cimetière des Gonards in Versailles, Île-de-France, France.
Robert de Montesquiou et Gabriel Yturri par Sem, graveur (1863-1934)
Robert de Montesquiou et Gabriel Yturri par Sem, graveur (1863-1934)
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Rudolf Nureyev (Rudolf Noureev, 17 March 1938-1993)

27/1/2020

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Russian ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev 1966 in rehearsals for ballet The Young Man and Death 1966
Russian ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev 1966 in rehearsals for ballet The Young Man and Death 1966

Biography of Rudolf Nureyev

English
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Rudolf Nureyev is a Russian ballet and contemporary dancer, choreographer and director of ballet.

Endowed with an extraordinary technique, Rudolf Nureyev was considered as the greatest male ballet dander of his generation and one of the greatest choreographers, and was nicknamed "The lord of dance". Nureyev was one of the best interpreters of classic Russian ballet as well as of contemporary dances.
Rudolf Nureyev in 1958, age 20
Rudolf Nureyev in 1958, age 20
Soon after his defection, Dame Ninette de Valois, director of The Royal Ballet in London offered Rudolf Nureyev a contract to join The Royal Ballet as Principal Dancer, and it was here he met Margot Fonteyn, the Prima Ballerina of The Royal Ballet, and danced with her for the first time in Giselle, a ballet matinée on 21 February 1962. Thus the most legendary partnership in the 20th century dance world was formed.
Rudolf Nureyev rehearsing with Margot Fonteyn for Giselle
Rudolf Nureyev rehearsing with Margot Fonteyn for Giselle
Nureyev stayed with the Royal Ballet until 1970, when he was promoted to Principal Guest Artist, enabling him to concentrate on his increasing schedule of international guest appearances and tours. But he continued to perform regularly with The Royal Ballet until committing his future to the Paris Opera Ballet in the 1980s.
Rudolf Nureyev with Danish ballet dancer Erik Bruhn
Rudolf Nureyev with Danish ballet dancer Erik Bruhn
Rudolf Nureyev served as director of the Paris Opera Ballet 1983 to 1989. In addition to his technical prowess, Rudolf Nureyev was an accomplished choreographer serving as the chief choreographer of the Paris Opera Ballet. He produced his own interpretations of numerous classical works, including Swan Lake, Giselle, Sleeping Beauty and La Bayadère.
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He also served as mentor of many young dancers working in Paris Opera Ballet,  such as  Sylvie Guillem, Isabelle Guérin, Manuel Legris, Elisabeth Maurin, Élisabeth Platel, Charles Jude, and Monique Loudières,etc.
French ballerina Sylvie Guillem photo by Richard Avedon
French ballerina Sylvie Guillem photo by Richard Avedon
In 1984, Rudolf Nureyev tested positive for HIV, but he continued to work relentlessly as dancer, choreographer and director of Paris Opera Ballet, not leaving the post until 1989.\

On 8 October 1992, Nureyev danced at the premiere at Palais Garnier of a new production of La Bayadère that he choreographed after Marius Petipa for the Paris Opera Ballet.  

The ballet was a personal triumph although the gravity of his condition was evident. The French Culture Minister, Jack Lang, presented him that evening on stage with France's highest cultural award, the Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. That would be Rudolf Nureyev's last public appearance.
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On 6 January 1993, Rudolf Nureyev died from AIDS complications at hospital Notre Dame du Perpétuel Secours in Levallois-Perretat, age 54. His funeral was held in the marble foyer of the Paris Garnier Opera House.

After so many years of having been denied a place in the Mariinsky Ballet history, Nureyev's reputation was restored. His name was reentered in the history of the Mariinsky and some of his personal effects were placed on display at the theatre museum in St. Petersburg. At the famed Vaganova Academy a rehearsal room was named in his honour. And At the Paris Opera there is a tradition to organize a dance night as homage to Rudolf Nureyev every ten years after he died in 1993.
Rudolf Nureyev in 1965 photo by David Bailey
Rudolf Nureyev in 1965 photo by David Bailey

Biogaphe

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Rudolf Noureevn  est un danseur classique, chorégraphe et directeur de ballet d'origine tatare né le 17 mars 1938 à Irkoutsk (Union soviétique) et mort le 6 janvier 1993 à Levallois-Perret (Hauts-de-Seine).

Doué d'une technique exemplaire, Rudolf Noureev est considéré comme le plus grand danseur classique et comme l'un des plus grands chorégraphesn. Il est surnommé le « seigneur de la danse ».

Rudolf Noureev fut l'un des meilleurs interprètes du répertoire classique, mais il affirma aussi son talent dans la danse contemporaine et fut l'un des premiers danseurs à s'intéresser de nouveau au répertoire baroque

Further reading

  • www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-6710819/Daring-leap-freedom.htmlDaring leap to freedom!
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Rita Hayworth (born Margarita Carmen Cansino; October 17, 1918 – May 14, 1987)

22/1/2020

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Rita Hayworth 1942

Profile of Rita Hayworth

Rita Hayworth (born Margarita Carmen Cansino; October 17, 1918 – May 14, 1987) was an American actress and dancer. She achieved fame during the 1940s as one of the era's top stars, appearing in 61 films over 37 years. The press coined the term "The Love Goddess" to describe Hayworth after she had become the most glamorous screen idol of the 1940s. She was the top pin-up girl for GIs during World War II.

Hayworth is perhaps best known for her performance in the 1946 film noir Gilda, opposite Glenn Ford, in which she played the femme fatale in her first major dramatic role. Fred Astaire, with whom she made two films, once called her his favorite dance partner. Her greatest success was in the Technicolor musical Cover Girl (1944), with Gene Kelly. She is listed as one of the top 25 female motion picture stars of all time in the American Film Institute's survey, AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars.

In 1980, Hayworth was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, which contributed to her death at age 68. The public disclosure and discussion of her illness drew attention to Alzheimer's, which was largely unknown by most people at the time, and helped to increase public and private funding for Alzheimer's research.​
Rita Hayworth dans Gilda

Biography of Rita Hayworth

​Hayworth was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1918 as Margarita Carmen Cansino into a family of dancers. Her father, Eduardo Cansino, was from Castilleja de la Cuesta, a little town near Seville, Spain and her paternal grandfather, Antonio Cansino, was renowned as a classical Spanish dancer who popularized the bolero, with a world-famous dancing school in Madrid.

Her mother, Volga Hayworth, was an American of Irish and English descent who had performed with the Ziegfeld Follies. 

Margarita's father and mother married in 1917. As she grew up, her father wanted her to become a professional dancer, while her mother hoped she would become an actress. 

She attended dance classes every day for a few years in a Carnegie Hall complex, where she was taught by her uncle Angel Cansino. Before her fifth birthday she was one of the Four Cansinos featured in the Broadway production of The Greenwich Village Follies at the Winter Garden Theatre. In 1926 at the age of eight, she was featured in La Fiesta, a short film for Warner Bros.

In 1927, her father took the family to Hollywood and established his own dance studio, where he taught such stars as James Cagney and Jean Harlow.

In 1931, Eduardo Cansino partnered with his 12-year-old daughter to form an act called the Dancing Cansinos,  and took her with him to work across the border in Tijuana, Mexico, a popular tourist spot for people from Los Angeles.
Margarita(Rita Hayworth), at age 15, with her father and dancing partner, 1933
Margarita(Rita Hayworth), at age 15, with her father and dancing partner, 1933
While dancing with her father in the Caliente clubs. Winfield Sheehan, the head of the Fox Film Corporation, saw her and quickly arranged for Hayworth to do a screen test a week later. Impressed by her screen persona, Sheehan signed her for a short-term, six-month contract at Fox, under the name Rita Cansino, the first of two name changes during her film career.

Rita took a bit part in the film Cruz Diablo (1934) at age 16, and another film In Caliente (1935) with the Mexican actress Dolores del Río.

During her time at Fox, Hayworth was billed as Rita Cansino and appeared in unremarkable roles, often cast as the exotic foreigner.
Fox publicity photograph of Rita Cansino, 1935
Fox publicity photograph of Rita Cansino, 1935
By the end of her six-month contract, Fox had merged into 20th Century Fox which did not renew her contract, and she was signed by Columbia Picture for a seven-year contract, but the studio head Harry Cohn thought her last name Cansino sounded too Spanish and Rita's then lover and later first husband Edward C. Judson suggested that she she adopt her mother's maiden name, thus Margarita Cansino became Rita Hayworth. She also changed her appearance: Her hair color became dark red, her hairline raised and her forehead broadened.
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For the next few years, Rita Hayworth appeared in some minor Columbia Pictures and success did not come to her until the 40s. In 1940, she was featured in Life Magazine story, and in 1941, she was cast opposite Fred Astaire in one of the highest-budgeted films Columbia had ever made, the musical You'll Never Get Rich, it was so successful that the studio produced and released another Astaire-Hayworth picture the following year in 1942, You Were Never Lovelier.
Rita Hayworth Fred Astaire You'll never get rich 1942
Rita Hayworth and Fred Astaire in film You'll never get rich 1942
And in 1943, Rita Hayworth married Orson Wells, the genius and golden boy of Hollywood at the time. 

Starting in 1944, for three consecutive years Hayworth was named one of the top movie box-office attractions in the world. She was adept in ballet, tap, ballroom, and Spanish routines.

​But it was in 1946, Rita Hayworth a cultural icon as a femme fatale after playing Gilda in Charles Vidor's film noir Gilda with Glenn Ford.
Rita Hayworth in Gilda 1946
Rita Hayworth in Gilda 1946
​In 1948, at the height of her fame, Hayworth traveled to Cannes and was introduced to Prince Aly Khan. They began a year-long courtship, and were married on May 27, 1949. Hayworth left Hollywood and sailed for France, breaking her contract with Columbia.

Their wedding marked the first time a Hollywood actress became a princess. On December 28, 1949, Hayworth gave birth to the couple's only daughter, Princess Yasmin Aga Khan.
Rita Hayworth and Aly Khan on their wedding day
Rita Hayworth and Aly Khan on their wedding day
​Though Hayworth was anxious to start a new life abroad, away from Hollywood, Aly Khan's flamboyant lifestyle and duties proved too difficult for Hayworth. She struggled to fit in with his friends, and found it difficult to learn French. 

In 1951, Hayworth set sail with her two daughters for New York. Although the couple did reconcile for a short time, they divorced in 1953.
Rita Hayworth, 1953
Rita Hayworth, 1953
​After the collapse of her marriage to Khan, Rita Hayworth was forced to return to Hollywood to star in her "comeback" picture, Affair in Trinidad (1952) which ended up grossing $1 million more than her previous blockbuster, Gilda, and she continued to star in a string of successful pictures. By 1957, however, Kim Novak had become Columbia's top female star and Hayworth left Columbia for good but continued to act in films until the early 1970s and her last film was The Wrath of God (1972), a western.
Rita Hayworth in her last film Wrath of God, 1972
Rita Hayworth in her last film Wrath of God, 1972
In 1980, Rita Hayworth was diagnosed as having Alzheimer's. In July 1981, Hayworth's health had deteriorated to the point that a judge in Los Angeles Superior Court ruled that she should be placed under the care of her daughter, Princess Yasmin Aga Khan who arranged for her mother's care during her final years.

In February 1987 Rita Hayworth lapsed into a semicoma and she died three months later on May 14, 1987 at her home in Manhattan from complications associated with Alzheimer's disease.​
Rita Hayworth's grave at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California
Rita Hayworth's grave at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California
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Roger Moore (14 October 1927 – 23 May 2017)

22/1/2020

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Profile of Roger Moore

​Sir Roger George Moore KBE (14 October 1927 – 23 May 2017) was an English actor best known for playing British secret agent James Bond in seven feature films from 1973 to 1985, beginning with Live and Let Die. He also played the main character, Simon Templar, in the British television series The Saint from 1962-1969 and had significant roles in some American television shows and films in the late 1950s and early 1960s, including replacing James Garner and portraying Beau Maverick in the Maverick series in 1960-61. Moore starred with Tony Curtis in The Persuaders television series in 1971-1972, and had roles in numerous theatrical films in the 1970s and 1980s. He was appointed a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in 1991 and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2003 for services to charity. In 2007, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work in television and film. In 2008, the French government appointed him a Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
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Biography of Roger Moore

Roger Moore was born on 14 October 1927 in Stockwell, London, the only child of a policeman of Scottish descent. 

When his father investigated a robbery at the home of film director Brian Desmond Hurst, Moore was introduced to the director and hired as an extra for the 1945 film Caesar and Cleopatra, and Hurst would pay for Moore to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.  During this time there, he developed the Mid-Atlantic accent and relaxed demeanour that became his screen persona.

At 18, shortly after the end of the Second World War, Moore was conscripted for national service.

On 21 September 1946, he was commissioned into the Royal Army Service Corps as a second lieutenant and eventually becoming a captain commanding a small depot in West Germany where he looked after entertainers for the armed forces passing through Hamburg.
Roger Moore as a knitwear model in the 50s
Roger Moore as a knitwear model in the 50s
1950s-1970s Early Career
Roger Moore as a knitwear model in the 50s
Roger Moore as a knitwear model in the 50s
Roger Moore as a knitwear model in the 50s
Roger Moore as a knitwear model in the 50s
In the early 1950s Moore worked as a model, appearing in print advertisements for knitwear (earning him the nickname "The Big Knit") and a wide range of other products such as toothpaste—work that many critics have used to underscore his lightweight credentials as an actor.

In his book Last Man Standing: Tales from Tinseltown, Moore states that his first television appearance was on 27 March 1949 in The Governess by Patrick Hamilton, a live broadcast (as usual in that era), in which he played the minor part of Bob Drew. ​
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​1973-1985: James Bond
Roger Moore as James Bond
In 1971, Sean Connery played in his last James Bond movie Diamond is forever, and the next year Roger Moore was approached to play for the next Bond movie Live and let die. For the next decade, Roger Moore appeared in another 6 Bond movies including The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), Moon Raker (1979), For Your Eyes Only (1981), Octopussy (1983), A View to a Kill (1985).
Roger Moore as James Bond
Roger Moore while shooting his last James Bond movie A View to a Kill in Chantilly, north of Paris, 1984
Roger Moore while shooting his last James Bond movie A View to a Kill in Chantilly, north of Paris, 1984
​1991 onwards charity and humantiarian work
Roger Moore with his friend Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck
Roger Moore with his friend Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck

In 1991, Roger Moore became a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador inspired by his friend Audrey Hepburn, and continued working closely with the organization as a special ambassador until his death.

In 1999, Roger Moore was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the New Year Honours and was promoted to Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in the 2003 Birthday Honours for charitable services, especially UNICEF and latterly Kiwanis International, which had dominated his public life for more than a decade. 

In the same year, He was also Honored with the Humanitarian of the Year Award for his services to UNICEF. ​
Roger Moore with his fourth wife Kristina
Roger Moore with his fourth wife Kristina "Kiki" Tholstrup
Roger Moore married altogether 4 times. “I’ve been married four times and caused a great deal of hurt and upset around me,” as he himself said to The Guardian in 2012.

After 3 marriages that ended in unhappy divorce, Roger Moore married Swedish-born Danish socialite, Kristina "Kiki" Tholstrup in 2002, who would be his last wife. Moore said that he loved Tholstrup as she was "organised", "serene", "loving", and "calm", saying, "I have a difficult life. I rely on Kristina totally. When we are travelling for my job, she is the one who packs. Kristina takes care of all that".Moore also said that his marriage to Tholstrup was "a tranquil relationship, there are no arguments".​

On 11 October 2007, three days before he turned 80, Moore was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work on television and in film. 

On 28 October 2008, the French government appointed Moore a Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. 

On 21 November 2012, Moore was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Hertfordshire for his outstanding contributions to the UK film and television industry for over 50 years, in particular film and television productions in Hertfordshire.

In 2015, Moore was named one of GQ´s 50 best-dressed British men.

On 23 May 2017, 
 Roger Moore died of Prostate cancer in his chalet in Crans-Montana, Switzerland.After his final Bond movie in 1985, Roger Moore stopped acting for 5 years, and although he resumed acting in 1990, he would never play anything as important as his James Bond role, and dedicated himself increasingly to charity and humanitarian work.
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Roger Federer (8 August 1981, Basel, Switzerland)

22/1/2020

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Roger Federer Australian Open 2020

Profile of Roger Federer

Roger Federer is a Swiss professional tennis player. He is currently ranked world No. 3 in men's singles tennis by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and has won 20 Grand Slam singles titles—the most in history for a male player—and has held the world No. 1 spot in the ATP rankings for a record total of 310 weeks, including a record 237 consecutive weeks.

​After turning professional in 1998, he was continuously ranked in the top ten from October 2002 to November 2016 and re-entered the top ten following his victory at the 2017 Australian Open.

In majors, Federer has won a record eight Wimbledon titles, six Australian Open titles, five US Open titles (all consecutive, a record), and one French Open title. He is one of eight men to have achieved a Career Grand Slam. ​​​
Roger Federer 8 time Wimbledon champions

​Biography of Roger Federer

Roger Federer was born in Besel, Switzerland, and grew up in nearby Birsfelden, Riehen, and then Münchenstein, close to the French and German borders, and he speaks Swiss German, Standard German, English, and French fluently, as well as functional Italian and Swedish, with Swiss German and English his native languages.
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​At the 2000 Sydney Olympics Federer met former Women's Tennis Association player Miroslava Federer (usually called Mirka) while they were both competing for Switzerland. Mirka retired from the tour in 2002 because of a foot injury. 
In 2009, They married near Basel on 11 April 2009 in a small and intimate ceremony, and Mirka gave birth to identical twin girls that same year. Then in 2014, she gave birth to  two twin boys.
Roger Federer's wife and their two twins at Wimbledon
Roger Federer's wife and their two twins at Wimbledon
In 2003, Roger Federer established the Roger Federer Foundation to help disadvantaged children and to promote their access to education and sports, and was particularly supportive for the children in South Africa as his mother is from there.

Since then, he has also tried helping people in different countries and regions affected by natural disasters through fund raising, such as India  tsunami and  Haiti earthquake, as well as Queensland flood in Australia.

Federer was also appointed a Goodwill Ambassador by UNICEF in April 2006 and has appeared in UNICEF public messages to raise public awareness of AIDS.
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Ralph Waldo Emerson (25 May 1805-27 April 1882)

18/6/2019

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“Live no longer to the expectation of these deceived and deceiving people with whom we converse. Say to them, O father, O mother, O wife, O brother, O friend, I have lived with you after appearances hitherto. Henceforward I am the truth's. Be it known unto you that henceforward I obey no law less than the eternal law. I will have no covenants but proximities. I shall endeavor to nourish my parents, to nourish my family, to be the chaste husband of one wife, - but these relations I must fill after a new and unprecedented way. I appeal from your customs. I must be myself. I cannot break myself any longer for you, or you. If you can love me for what I am, we shall be the happier. If you cannot, I will still seek to deserve that you should. I will not hide my tastes or aversions. I will so trust that what is deep is holy, that I will strongly believe before the sun and moon whatever inly rejoices me, and the heart appoints. If you are noble, I will love you; if you are not, I will not hurt you and myself by hypocritical attentions. If you are true, but not in the same truth with me, cleave to your companions; I will seek my own. I do this not selfishly, but humbly and truly. It is alike your interest, and mine, and all men's, however long we have dwelt in lies, to live in truth. Does this sound harsh to-day? You will soon love what is dictated by your nature as well as mine, and, if we follow the truth, it will bring us out safe at last. --- But so you may give these friends pain. Yes, but I cannot sell my liberty and my power, to save their sensibility.”


"But are you sure you love me?"


...Nay, if they tell you their whole thought, they will own that love seems the last and highest gift of nature; there are persons whom in their hearts they daily thank for their existence--persons whose faces are perhaps unknown to them, but whose fame and spirit have penetrated their solitude--and for whose sake they wish to exist.

To behold the beauty of another character, which inspires a new interest in our own; to behold beauty lodged in a human being, with such vivacity of apprehension that I am instantly forced home to think if I am not deformity itself; to behold in another the expression of a love so high that it assures itself--assures itself also to me against every possible casualty except my unworthiness; these are degrees on the scale of human happiness to which they have ascended; and it is a fidelity to this sentiment which has made common association distasteful to them.

​They wish a even and justful fellowship, or none.They can not gossip with you, and they do not wish, as they are sincere and religious, to gratify any curiosity which you may entertain. 

Like fairies, they do not wish to be spoken of. Love me, they say, but do not ask who is my cousin and my uncle. If you do not need to hear my thought, because you can read it in my face and my behaviour, then I will tell it to you from sunrise to sunset. If you can not divine it, you would not understand what I say. I will not molest myself for you. I do not wish to be profaned.

-The Transcendentalist, by Waldo Ralph Emerson

​People who influenced Ralph Waldo Emerson

 Emmanuel Swedenborg portrait
Emmanuel Swedenborg portrait
“A colossal soul, he lies vast abroad on his times, uncomprehended by them, and requires a long focal distance to be seen.”  

​--Ralph Waldo Emerson on Emmanuel Swedenborg
Emanuel Swedenborg born Emanuel Swedberg; 29 January 1688– 29 March 1772) was a Swedish Lutheran theologian, scientist, philosopher and mystic. He is best known for his book on the afterlife, Heaven and Hell (1758).

Swedenborg had a prolific career as an inventor and scientist. In 1741, at 53, he entered into a spiritual phase in which he began to experience dreams and visions, beginning on Easter Weekend, on 6 April 1744. It culminated in a 'spiritual awakening' in which he received a revelation that he was appointed by the Lord Jesus Christ to write The Heavenly Doctrine to reform Christianity. According to The Heavenly Doctrine, the Lord had opened Swedenborg's spiritual eyes so that from then on, he could freely visit heaven and hell to converse with angels, demons and other spirits and the Last Judgment had already occurred the year before, in 1757.
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