Jerry Lewis (March 16, 1926 - )
Jerry Lewis is an American comedian, actor, producer, writer, director and singer. He is best-known for his slapstick humor on stage, screen and television, his singing ability in a string of music album recordings and his charity fund-raising telethons for the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA).
Posted in Humor, The Big Screen, The Little Screen (Television)
Douglas Noël Adams (March 11, 1952 – May 11, 2001)
Douglas Adams was an English author, comic radio dramatist, and musician. He is best known as author of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series. Hitchhiker’s began on radio, and developed into a “trilogy” of five books (which sold more than fifteen million copies during his lifetime) as well as a television series, a towel, a live theater show, a drink, a comic book series, a computer game and a feature film that was completed after Adams’ death. He was known to some fans as Bop Ad (after his illegible signature), or by his initials “DNA”.
James Hance is a machine that manufactures awesomeness. He does so in both high quality and massive quantity. He does so by making many mashups of Star Wars, often pairing the science fiction franchise with Winnie the Pooh. But recently, he recreated a classic Norman Rockwell illustration called “Boy and Girl Gazing at the Moon.”
Edit: James has his own page now, with LOTS of art to see, and buy! Visit here.
Posted in Because I Can, The Big Screen
Philip K. Dick (December 16, 1928 – March 2, 1982)
Philip Kindred Dick was an American science fiction novelist and short story writer. He often drew upon his own life experiences and addressed the nature of drug use, paranoia and schizophrenia, and mystical experiences in novels such as A Scanner Darkly and VALIS.
In addition to his novels, Dick wrote approximately 121 short stories, many of which appeared in science fiction magazines. Although Dick spent most of his career as a writer in near-poverty, nine of his stories have been adapted into popular films since his death, including Blade Runner, Total Recall, A Scanner Darkly and Minority Report. In 2005, Time Magazine named Ubik one of the one hundred greatest English-language novels published since 1923. In 2007, Dick became the first science fiction writer to be included in The Library of America series.
Posted in Because I Can, Literary, The Big Screen
It’s a Wonderful Life is a 1946 Frank Capra film, produced by his own Liberty Films and released originally by RKO Radio Pictures. Dubbed by the American Film Institute one of the best films ever made, it placed #1 on AFI’s 100 Years… 100 Cheers, a list of the most inspirational American movies of all time. It ranks 11th on AFI’s 100 Years… 100 Movies, a list of the greatest American films. The film has also been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.
The movie is the story of the life of everyman George Bailey, as told to his guardian angel Clarence Oddbody, who has been recruited to save him in his moment of need.
The film premiered on December 20, 1946 in the New Globe Theater on Governors Island.
Dear George: — Remember no man is a failure who has friends. Thanks for the wings! Love Clarence.
Posted in Because I Can, The Big Screen
JRR Tolkien is best known as the author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. He was a professor of Anglo-Saxon language at Oxford from 1925 to 1945, and of English language and literature, also at Oxford, from 1945 to 1959.
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien CBE (January 3, 1892 – September 2, 1973)
Posted in Because I Can, Literary, The Big Screen
Philip K. Dick (December 16, 1928 – March 2, 1982)
Philip Kindred Dick was an American science fiction novelist and short story writer. He often drew upon his own life experiences and addressed the nature of drug use, paranoia and schizophrenia, and mystical experiences in novels such as A Scanner Darkly and VALIS.
In addition to his novels, Dick wrote approximately 121 short stories, many of which appeared in science fiction magazines. Although Dick spent most of his career as a writer in near-poverty, nine of his stories have been adapted into popular films since his death, including Blade Runner, Total Recall, A Scanner Darkly and Minority Report. In 2005, Time Magazine named Ubik one of the one hundred greatest English-language novels published since 1923. In 2007, Dick became the first science fiction writer to be included in The Library of America series.
Posted in Because I Can, Literary, The Big Screen
Walter Elias Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, visionary, and philanthropist. He was the son of Flora and Elias Disney, and had three brothers and one sister. As the co-founder (with his brother Roy O. Disney) of Walt Disney Productions, Walt became one of the best-known motion picture producers in the world.
Walt Disney (December 5, 1901 – December 15, 1966)
Walter Elias Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, visionary, and philanthropist. He was the son of Flora and Elias Disney, and had three brothers and one sister. As the co-founder (with his brother Roy O. Disney) of Walt Disney Productions, Walt became one of the best-known motion picture producers in the world.
Walt Disney (December 5, 1901 – December 15, 1966)
“I am serious. And don’t call me Shirley”
Leslie Nielsen (February 11, 1926 – November 28, 2010)
Leslie William Nielsen, OC was a Canadian American actor and comedian. Nielsen appeared in over one hundred films and 1,500 television programs over the span of his career, portraying over 220 characters.
Born in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, Nielsen enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force and worked as a disc jockey before receiving a scholarship to Neighborhood Playhouse. Beginning with a television role in 1948, he quickly expanded to over 50 television appearances two years later. Nielsen appeared in his first films in 1956 and began collecting roles in dramas, westerns, and romance films. Nielsen’s lead roles in the films Forbidden Planet (1956) and The Poseidon Adventure (1972) received positive reviews as a serious actor, though he is primarily known for his comedic roles.
Paul Leonard Newman ( January 26, 1925 – September 26, 2008 ) was an American actor, film director, entrepreneur, humanitarian and auto racing enthusiast. He won numerous awards, including an Academy Award, three Golden Globe Awards, a BAFTA Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Cannes Film Festival Award, an Emmy award, and many honorary awards. He also 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.
Newman was a co-founder of Newman’s Own, a food company from which Newman donated all post-tax profits and royalties to charity. As of July 2011, these donations had exceeded US $300 million.
On September 26, 2008, Newman died at his longtime home in Westport, Connecticut, of complications arising from lung cancer.
Posted in Because I Can, On This Day, The Big Screen
James Maury Henson (September 24, 1936 – May 16, 1990) was the most widely known American puppeteer in modern American television history.
He was the creator of The Muppets and the leading force behind their long creative run. Henson brought an engaging cast of characters, innovative ideas, and a sense of timing and humor to millions of people. He is also widely acknowledged for the ongoing vision of faith, friendship, magic, and love which was infused in nearly all of his work.
Statue of Jim Henson and Kermit the Frog, on display outside of Adele H. Stamp Student Union in College Park, Maryland.
George Campbell Scott (October 18, 1927 – September 22, 1999)
George Campbell Scott was an American stage and film actor, director and producer. He was best known for his stage work, as well as his portrayal of General George S. Patton in the film Patton, as General Buck Turgidson in Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove, and as Ebenezer Scrooge in a television adaptation of A Christmas Carol.
Patrick Wayne Swayze (August 18, 1952 – September 14, 2009) was an American actor, dancer and singer-songwriter. He was best-known for his roles as romantic leading men in the films Dirty Dancing and Ghost and as Orry Main in the North and South television miniseries. He was listed by People magazine as its “Sexiest Man Alive” in 1991.
Posted in Because I Can, On This Day, The Big Screen
On this day in 1966, “The Man Trap” was first released upon the world. This, the first episode of one of the most famous TV Shows in history, Star Trek.
Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born August 25, 1930) is an Oscar-winning Scottish film and stage actor who is best known as the original cinematic James Bond. His character’s catch phrase “Bond, James Bond” has become considerably famous.
Posted in Because I Can, On This Day, The Big Screen
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935–August 16, 1977)
Elvis Aaron Presley, was an American singer, musician and actor. He is a cultural icon, often known as “The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll”, or simply “The King”.
Posted in Because I Can, Music, On This Day, The Big Screen
In 1975, we learned that it was no longer “safe to go back into the water.”
Posted in Because I Can, On This Day, The Big Screen
The first motion picture theater was called a nickelodeon because admission was a nickel.
It opened in McKeesport, PA on June 19,1905.
Posted in Because I Can, On This Day, The Big Screen
Wikipedia Link