Résultats Éditeur "Charles River Editors" dans Divertissement et célébrités

"TV had much more impact back in the '70s than it does today. Charlie's Angels got huge numbers every week - nothing really dominates the television landscape like that today. Now there are so many channels and so many more shows it's hard for anything to get the audience, or amount of attention, that Charlie's Angels got. Farrah was a major TV star when the medium was clearly dominant." - Larry King

In 1956 Duke Ellington was featured on the cover of Time magazine after a bravura performance at the Newport Jazz Festival that summer. This remains one of his most iconic achievements and a landmark for jazz music as a whole; only four jazz musicians were ever displayed on the cover of Time. At the same time, however, this recognition stands as one of the prevailing ironies of Ellington's career, as he was deep into the latter stages of his performing life by this point.

Among the many stars gathered by Berry Gordy's Motown Records during the latter half of the 20th century, one of the most famous and successful was Marvin Gaye, even though the rigidity of the studio's operating procedures constantly collided with his capacity for stubbornness and insistence that he be given the independence to pursue his own artistic vision.

In 1994 the American Film Institute gave a Lifetime Achievement Award to Jack Nicholson, who became one of the youngest actors ever to receive the award. Such tributes typically come as a capstone to a star's career, not when the actor is still in his 50s. In fact Nicholson would go on to win the Oscar for Best Actor just a few years after receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award as a result of As Good As It Gets (1997), and he would earn another Academy Award nomination for About Schmidt (2002).

Americans have always loved movie stars, and there have been no shortage of Hollywood icons, but one man has long been considered the greatest male star. From the time he first became a leading man, Humphrey Bogart's screen image has resonated with viewers more than perhaps any other actor.

In the 1920s, the burgeoning movie industry was starting to come into its own. Alongside actor and director Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton was at the peak of Hollywood. It’s no surprise that Keaton was so effective in silent films. He had been practicing comedy in his family’s vaudeville acts as “The Little Boy Who Can’t Be Damaged”, and became a popular performer by the age of 5.

If Lon Chaney will forever be recognized as The Man with 1,000 Faces, Jackie Gleason holds a legitimate claim to being The Man with 1,000 Personas. Indeed, during his time hosting The Jackie Gleason Show on television, he developed numerous alter egos, including tough guy Rudy the Repairman, the energetic Joe the Bartender, and the alcoholic Rum Dum.

America has always celebrated its star entertainers, but Frank Sinatra remains a unique American legend. A pop culture fixture for over half a century, Sinatra's music is still cherished, and his persona remains its own archetype of the quintessential American star. Sinatra transcended genres to the extent that his music stands alone as its own kind of American music, with songs like "New York, New York," "Chicago," and "Come Fly With Me" instantly recognizable among all Americans.

In the space of just a few years, Bob Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, rose from the obscurity of a small Minnesota town to a position of royalty atop the folk music landscape. Not content to remain for long within that niche, however, he went on to conquer rock with elements of blues, jazz, pop, country, gospel, rockabilly, and ethnic music of the British Isles, not to mention authoring several books, working in film soundtracks, acting, and holding international art exhibits of his work along the way.

Everything about Rudolph Valentino, from his body to the characters he played, was exotic. His career may have been abbreviated by his premature death at the age of 31, but Valentino popularized the (somewhat racist) stereotype of the "Latin lover" in Hollywood, and even his name was markedly more out of the ordinary than those of other actors.

In the mid-1960s, an era on the cusp of change from the musical and social norms of the previous decade, the emergence of Jim Morrison, the charismatic poet/musician of The Doors, helped to transform the subgenre of rock n' roll as a stylistic flavor to the full-fledged institution of rock music. Morrison accomplished this transformation by avoiding membership in any of the known categories of modern rock music during the age of protest, but at the same time, he became the general symbol of anti-authoritarianism for his generation and the next.

From a young girl growing up in the slums of Missouri who hired herself out as a maid at 12 to the lead dancer in the Folies Bergere idolized by Parisians, Josephine Baker danced to the beat of her own drum. She was ahead of her time in many ways, which is probably why she still resonates so strongly with many people today. As a multi-dimensional woman who lived a life with hardly a dull moment, Josephine Baker steps out of the pages of history and continues to capture people's interest.

Ironically, one of America's most famous comedy duos, and the performers of the country's most famous skit, came together in part because Lou Costello had already failed to cut it in the film industry. In fact, Costello had appeared in a Laurel and Hardy film in 1927 before meeting his partner, Bud Abbott, on the burlesque circuit in New York City. In fact, the two first performed together in 1935 only because Abbott filled in for Costello's usual partner, who happened to be ill one fateful day.

Few actresses have ever gotten the kind of career start that Natalie Wood did during the 1950s. After appearing in film and on TV as a child, Wood broke out by appearing in the classic Rebel Without a Cause alongside James Dean in 1955, despite the fact she was still just 15 years old. She earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for that role, one of three Academy Award nominations she would rack up before the age of 25. Altogether, she was in over 50 films.

Among the most recognizable and iconic vocal artists known to American society from the mid-20th to the 21st century, baritone Nat King Cole is indelible in the nation's consciousness for such hits as "Mona Lisa" and "Ramblin' Rose" as well as for his rendition of Mel Tormé's famous "Christmas Song", with the opening line known to millions of American households: "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire."

The life and career of Jack Palance reveals the essence of the man with greater clarity. Palance's childhood played an inestimable role in shaping his values, and he always maintained properties in Pennsylvania where he grew up. Ironically, the connection felt to his roots was countered by the tortuous turns that characterized his career trajectory, which may be one of the most unusual of all time.

"Getting ahead in a difficult profession requires avid faith in yourself. That is why some people with mediocre talent, but with great inner drive, go so much further than people with vastly superior talent." - Sophia Loren Among all the stars in Hollywood, there are few alive who have achieved as iconic a status as Sophia Loren. A stunning beauty whose career started because of an appearance in a beauty pageant in Italy Sophia quickly ascended to the top of the profession.

A lot of ink has been spilled covering the lives of history's most influential figures, but how much of the forest is lost for the trees? In Charles River Editors' American Legends series, listeners can get caught up to speed on the lives of America's most important men and women in the time it takes to finish a commute, while learning interesting facts long forgotten or never known.

Beatlemania had struck North America, creating a musical and pop culture phenomenon unlike anything the world had ever seen. At the center of it all was John Lennon and Paul McCartney, the principal songwriting duo who were instrumental in creating the soundtrack of the 1960s, while producing some of the world's most timeless classics. Together with George Harrison and Ringo Starr, Lennon and McCartney propelled The Beatles to unprecedented heights, experimenting with their sound in ways that revolutionized rock and inspired bands across various musical genres.

In the early 20th century, Westerns were one of the most popular genres in Hollywood. One of the young stars at the forefront was Gene Autry, a Texan whose life story made him a natural to be the country's most famous "singing cowboy". Autry came of age at a time when the "singing cowboy" was at the apex of his popularity, and like his most famous successor, Roy Rogers, Autry actually got his start in show business as a singer. Of course, the popularity of Autry's music and country music in general was bolstered by the fact that he became one of the biggest stars in Hollywood.