Ned Thomas Beatty (July 6, 1937 – June 13, 2021) was an American actor. In a career that spanned five decades, he appeared in more than 160 films. Throughout his career, Beatty gained a reputation for being “the busiest actor in Hollywood”.^[1][2] His film appearances included Deliverance (1972), White Lightning (1973), All the President’s Men (1976), Network (1976), Superman (1978), Superman II (1980), Back to School (1986), Rudy (1993), Shooter (2007), Toy Story 3 (2010), and Rango (2011). He also had the series regular role of Stanley Bolander in the first three seasons of the hit NBC TV drama Homicide: Life on the Street.

Beatty was nominated for an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, an MTV Movie Award for Best Villain, and a Golden Globe Award; he also won a Drama Desk Award.

Early life[edit]

Beatty was born on July 6, 1937, in Louisville, Kentucky,^[3] to Margaret (née Fortney) and Charles William Beatty.^[4][5] He had an older sister, Mary.^[6] In 1947, Beatty began singing in gospel and barbershop quartets in St. Matthews, Kentucky, and at his local church. He graduated from Eastern High School and subsequently received a scholarship to sing in the a cappella choir at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky; he attended but did not graduate.^[4]

In 1956, Beatty made his stage debut at age 19, appearing in Wilderness Road, an outdoor-historical pageant located in Berea, Kentucky. During his first ten years of theater, he worked at Barter Theatre in Abingdon, Virginia, the State Theatre of Virginia. Returning to Kentucky, Beatty worked in the Louisville area through the mid-1960s, at the Clarksville Little Theater (Indiana) and the newly founded Actors Theater of Louisville. His time at the latter included a run as Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman in 1966.

Harry Dean Stanton (July 14, 1926 – September 15, 2017) was an American actor, musician, and singer.^[1] In a career that spanned more than six decades, Stanton played supporting roles in films including Cool Hand Luke (1967), Kelly’s Heroes (1970), Dillinger (1973), The Godfather Part II (1974), Alien (1979), Escape from New York (1981), Christine (1983), Repo Man (1984), One Magic Christmas (1985), Pretty in Pink (1986), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), Wild at Heart (1990), The Straight Story (1999), The Green Mile (1999), The Man Who Cried (2000), Alpha Dog (2006) and Inland Empire (2006). He had rare lead roles in Wim Wenders‘ Paris, Texas (1984) and in Lucky (2017).

Early life[edit]

Stanton was born in West Irvine, Kentucky, to Sheridan Harry Stanton, a tobacco farmer and barber, and Ersel (née Moberly), a cook.^[2] His parents divorced when Stanton was in high school; both later remarried.^[3]

Stanton had two younger brothers and a younger half-brother. His family had a musical background. Stanton attended Lafayette High School^[3] and the University of Kentucky in Lexington where he performed at the Guignol Theatre under the direction of theater director Wallace Briggs,^[4] and studied journalism and radio arts. “I could have been a writer,” he told an interviewer for a 2011 documentary, Harry Dean Stanton: Crossing Mulholland, in which he sings and plays the harmonica.^[5] “I had to decide if I wanted to be a singer or an actor. I was always singing. I thought if I could be an actor, I could do all of it.” Briggs encouraged him to leave the university and become an actor. He studied at the Pasadena Playhouse in Pasadena, California, where his classmates included his friends Tyler MacDuff and Dana Andrews.^[6]

During World War II, Stanton served in the United States Navy, including a stint as a cook aboard the USS LST-970, a tank landing ship, during the Battle of Okinawa.^[7][8]

Career[edit]

Stanton appeared in indie and cult films (Two-Lane Blacktop, Cockfighter, Escape from New York, Repo Man) as well as mainstream Hollywood productions, including Cool Hand Luke, The Godfather Part II, Alien, Red Dawn, Alpha Dog, Pretty in Pink, Stephen King’s Christine, and The Green Mile. He was a favorite actor of the directors Sam Peckinpah, John Milius, David Lynch, and Monte Hellman, and was also close friends with Francis Ford Coppola and Jack Nicholson. He was best man at Nicholson’s wedding in 1962.^[9]

He made his first television appearance in 1954 in Inner Sanctum. He played Stoneman in the Have Gun – Will Travel 1959 episode “Treasure Trail”, credited under Dean Stanton. He made his film debut in 1957 in the Western Tomahawk Trail.^[2] He appeared (uncredited) as a complaining BAR man at the beginning of the 1959 film Pork Chop Hill starring Gregory Peck. Then in 1962, he had a very small part in How the West Was Won, portraying one of Charlie Gant’s (Eli Wallach) gang. The following year he had a minor role as a poetry-reciting beatnik in The Man from the Diner’s Club. Early in his career, he took the name Dean Stanton to avoid confusion with the actor Harry Stanton.^[2]

His breakthrough part^[10] came with the lead role in Wim Wenders‘ Paris, Texas. Playwright Sam Shepard, who wrote the film’s script, had spotted Stanton at a bar in Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1983 while both were attending a film festival in that city. The two fell into conversation. “I was telling him I was sick of the roles I was playing,” Stanton recalled in a 1986 interview. “I told him I wanted to play something of some beauty or sensitivity. I had no inkling he was considering me for the lead in his movie.”^[10] Not long afterward, Shepard phoned him in Los Angeles to offer Stanton the part of the protagonist, Travis,^[10] “a role that called for the actor to remain largely silent … as a lost, broken soul trying to put his life back together and reunite with his estranged family after having vanished years earlier.”^[11]

Stanton was a favorite of film critic Roger Ebert, who said that “no movie featuring either Harry Dean Stanton or M. Emmet Walsh in a supporting role can be altogether bad.” However, Ebert later admitted that Dream a Little Dream (1989), in which Stanton appeared, was a “clear violation” of this rule.^[12]

He had eight appearances between 1958 and 1968 on Gunsmoke, four on the network’s Rawhide, three on The Untouchables, two on Bonanza, and an episode of The Rifleman. He later had a cameo in Two and a Half Men (having previously appeared with Jon Cryer in Pretty in Pink and with Charlie Sheen in Red Dawn). Beginning in 2006, Stanton featured as Roman Grant, the manipulative leader/prophet of a polygamous sect on the HBO television series Big Love.^[9]

Stanton also occasionally toured nightclubs as a singer and guitarist, playing mostly country-inflected cover tunes.^[8] He appeared in the Dwight Yoakam music video for “Sorry You Asked”,^[13] portrayed a cantina owner in a Ry Cooder video for “Get Rhythm”,^[13] and participated in the video for Bob Dylan‘s “Dreamin’ of You“.^[13] He worked with a number of musical artists, Dylan, Art Garfunkel, and Kris Kristofferson^[14] among them, and played harmonica on The Call’s 1989 album Let the Day Begin.^[15]

In 2010, Stanton appeared in an episode of the TV series Chuck, reprising his role in the 1984 film Repo Man. In 2011, the Lexington Film League created an annual festival, the Harry Dean Stanton Fest, to honor Stanton in the city where he spent much of his adolescence.^{[3][nb 1]} In 2012, he had a brief cameo in The Avengers and a key role in the action-comedy Seven Psychopaths. He also appeared in the Arnold Schwarzenegger action film The Last Stand (2013). Stanton was the subject of a 2013 documentary, Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction, directed by Sophie Huber and featuring film clips, interviews with collaborators (including Wenders, Shepard, Kris Kristofferson, and David Lynch), and Stanton’s singing.

In 2017, he appeared in Twin Peaks: The Return, a continuation of David Lynch’s 1990–91 television series.^[2] Stanton reprised his role as Carl Rodd from Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me.^[2] His last on-screen appearances are as a sheriff in Frank & Ava and a starring role as a 90-year-old man nicknamed “Lucky” and his struggles against encroaching old age in Lucky.

Death[edit]

Stanton died aged 91 on September 15, 2017 from heart failure, at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California.^[20][2][9] His cremated remains were scattered in a cemetery in Nicholasville, Kentucky.^{[citation needed]}

In popular culture[edit]

Stanton was celebrated in “I Want That Man“, a 1989 song recorded by Deborah Harry which begins with the line “I want to dance with Harry Dean”.^[21] In her memoir, Harry writes that Stanton heard the song and arranged to meet her at a club in London.

Pop Will Eat Itself released a track titled “Harry Dean Stanton” on their album The Looks or the Lifestyle? His lead role in the film Paris, Texas, was memorialized in Hayes Carll‘s 2019 song “American Dream” with the lyrics, “like Harry Dean Stanton on a drive-in screen, a tumbleweed blowing through Paris, Texas, he fell down into the American dream.”^[22]

Ian McNabb recorded the song “Harry Dean Stanton” on his album Utopian, released in January 2021. McNabb noted the following about the track: “I didn’t know too much about him and didn’t really want to because I knew I had to write a song using his name as the title, so I wrote these lyrics for and around him – I imagined what it must be like to be him – while dropping some of my own experiences into the narrative. I was lurking around Dylan’s Blind Willie McTell and Lenny Bruce – I wanted that atmosphere. I’ve never claimed to be original.”^[23]

Selected filmography[edit]

Stephen Lang (born July 11, 1952) is an American actor. He is known for roles in films such as Manhunter (1986), Gettysburg, Tombstone (both 1993), Gods and Generals (2003), Public Enemies, The Men Who Stare at Goats (both 2009), Conan the Barbarian (2011) and Don’t Breathe (2016). Outside of these roles, he has had an extensive career on Broadway, and has received a Tony Award nomination for his role in the 1992 production of The Speed of Darkness. He won the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in James Cameron‘s Avatar (2009). From 2004 to 2006, he was co–artistic director of the Actors Studio.

Early life[edit]

Lang was born in New York City, the youngest child of Theresa (née Volmar, d. 2008) and Eugene Lang (1919–2017), a prominent entrepreneur and philanthropist.^[1] Lang’s mother was Catholic of German and Irish descent, while his father was Jewish. Lang’s paternal grandparents were Jewish emigrants from Hungary and Russia.^[2][3] He has two elder siblings—Jane, an attorney and activist, and David, who served as an executive at REFAC, the company their father founded in 1952.^[2] Lang’s father donated much of his net worth (in excess of $150 million) to charity and did not leave an inheritance to his children, believing they each needed to learn to become self-sufficient.^[4]

Lang attended elementary school in Jamaica Estates, Queens.^{[5][6][failed verification]} His middle school was a New York City public school, George Ryan Junior High School, in nearby Fresh Meadows.^[7] For high school, he attended George School, a Quaker boarding school in Newtown, PA and graduated from there a year early (1969). He graduated from Swarthmore College in 1973 with a degree in English Literature.

Television[edit]

Edmund Lincoln Anderson (September 18, 1905 – February 28, 1977) was an American comedian and actor. To a generation of early radio and television comedy he was known as “Rochester“.

Anderson entered show business as a teenager on the vaudeville circuit. In the early 1930s, he transitioned into films and radio. In 1937, he began his role of Rochester van Jones, usually known simply as “Rochester”, the valet of Jack Benny, on his NBC radio show The Jack Benny Program. Anderson became the first African American to have a regular role on a nationwide radio program. When the series moved to CBS television in 1950, Anderson continued in the role until the series ended in 1965.

After the series ended, Anderson remained active with guest starring roles on television and voice work in animated series. He was also an avid horse-racing fan who owned several race horses and worked as a horse trainer at the Hollywood Park Racetrack. He was married twice and had four children. He died of heart disease in February 1977 at the age of 71.

Early life[edit]

Anderson was born in Oakland, California. His father, “Big Ed” Anderson, was a minstrel performer, while his mother, Ella Mae, had been a tightrope walker until her career was ended by a fall.^[1][2] He described himself as being a descendant of slaves who were able to leave the South during the Civil War through the Underground Railroad.^[3] At the age of ten, Anderson and his family moved from Oakland to San Francisco. He left school when he was 14 to work as an errand boy to help his family.^[4]

Stage-struck at an early age, he spent much of his free time waiting at stage doors and cutting up on street corners with his friend and brother, Cornelius.^[4] Anderson briefly tried being a jockey, but had to give it up when he became too heavy.^[5] Anderson started in show business as part of an all African American revue at age 14; he had previously won an amateur contest at a vaudeville theater in San Francisco.^[5] Anderson joined the cast of Struttin’ Along in 1923 and was part of Steppin’ High both as a dancer and as one of the “Three Black Aces” with his brother, Cornelius, in 1924.^[5] He later worked in vaudeville with Cornelius.^[1][2] Anderson began adding comedy to his song and dance act in 1926. During one of his vaudeville tours to the East Coast, Anderson first met Jack Benny; the men only exchanged greetings and shook hands.^[5]

Anderson’s vocal cords were ruptured when he was a youngster selling newspapers in San Francisco. The newsboys believed those who were able to shout the loudest sold the most papers. The permanent damage to his vocal cords left him with the gravelly voice later familiar to both radio listeners and television viewers.^[6] Anderson was also a dancer and gained his show business start in this way, but it was his uniquely recognizable voice that brought him to stardom.^[7][8]

Career[edit]

The Jack Benny Program[edit]

Anderson’s first appearance on The Jack Benny Program was on March 28, 1937.^[9][10] He was originally hired to play the one-time role of a redcap on the Benny program for a storyline of the show traveling from Chicago to California by train, which coincided with the radio show’s actual return to NBC’s Radio City West in Hollywood after a brief stint in New York.^[3] As Jack Benny and his show staff were traveling to California by train, Benny and his writers had an idea for a comedy sketch that took place on a train with a train porter getting the better of Benny on a fictional trip from Chicago to Los Angeles. Benny liked the idea of the sketch enough to wire California to find someone for the role of the train porter before the show script was actually finished. Benny’s first choice for the role was Oscar, the shoeshine man on the Paramount studios lot. Oscar’s agent told the Benny show his client would take the job for $300. Benny thought this was too much money and the role went to Eddie Anderson.^[9] Anderson, who was working as a comedian in the Los Angeles Central Avenue district at the time, won the role after an audition.^[4]

When Benny and cast were preparing to board the train, Anderson and Benny had their first lines together, with the following exchange: Benny: “Hey Redcap, carry my grips a little higher; there are some things hanging out.” Anderson: “Yes, sir.” Benny: “Just drop the grips down here until I get my crowd together.” Anderson: “Yes, Mr. Bunny.” Benny: “The name’s Benny.” Anderson: “Well, this is Easter.” There was a recurring gag wherein Benny’s inquiries about their arrival in Albuquerque were met with skepticism by Anderson that such a place existed.^[11][12]

Five weeks after Anderson’s first appearance on the Benny program, he was called for another radio role on the show, this time as a waiter in a restaurant serving the cast.^[9] In the sketch, Benny complimented Anderson on his extensive knowledge, to which Anderson replied, “I don’t know where Albuquerque is”. During this appearance, Anderson made himself at home on the program, joining in the Jell-O commercial with the regulars of the cast. A few weeks later, Anderson was called back once more, now for the part of a “colored fellow” who had a financial disagreement with Benny.^[13]

The Benny show received a large amount of mail about Anderson’s appearances on the radio program. Benny decided to make him part of the cast as his butler and valet, Rochester van Jones.^[9][13] Neither Benny nor Anderson could recall how they came up with the name of Rochester for Anderson’s character.^[1][3] Anderson always credited Benny for the invention of the Rochester van Jones name, saying that the name was copyrighted and that Benny later sold the rights to him for a dollar.^[14] When Anderson became a regular member of the Benny show cast, he became the first African American to have a regular role on a nationwide radio program.^[15] Anderson first appeared as “Rochester” on the Benny program of June 20, 1937.^[16]

Subsequent episodes gave different “origin stories” for Rochester. One radio show guest starred Amos ‘n’ Andy, where the skit showed that Rochester used to work for them as a taxi cab driver. Benny and Rochester collide their cars, in which Benny is clearly at fault (as Rochester’s car was way up on a grease rack). Benny claimed it was Rochester’s fault and threatens to sue. The racial inequality of the respective parties is explicitly referenced, and Amos ‘n’ Andy essentially give Rochester to Benny to settle the matter out of court.^[17] (This same episode included Mary Livingstone‘s infamous blooper at the very end of the show – mispronouncing “grease rack” as “grass reek”.) A later television show explained that Benny met Rochester when the latter was a porter on a railroad train; Benny is responsible for Rochester being fired and then hires him as a valet to make it up to him.^[18]

Benny’s chief problem with Anderson was his frequently being late for the show. Benny attempted to instill punctuality in Anderson by fining him $50 each time he arrived late at the studio.^[19] Anderson had a habit of losing track of time, especially when he was talking with someone. Benny enlisted some of the cast members to drop in on him just before travel dates to make sure he would be ready to go on time. Most of the time he was not, and there were times the other cast members would need to leave without Anderson with them.^[20]

On one occasion when the entire Benny show was scheduled to appear in New York, Anderson, who had been out late the night before departure day, could not be roused by Mamie on time. The Andersons arrived at the Los Angeles train station just as the Super Chief pulled out with the rest of the radio program’s cast on it. Breaking the speed limit with an LAPD motorcycle squad escort, Anderson arrived at the Pasadena train station in time to catch his train from there.^[19]

Popularity

Bill Pullman

William Pullman (born December 17, 1953) is an American actor. After graduating with a Master of Fine Arts degree in theater, he was an adjunct professor at Montana State University before deciding to pursue acting. He made his film debut in Ruthless People (1986), and starred in Spaceballs (1987), The Accidental Tourist (1988), Sleepless in Seattle (1993), While You Were Sleeping (1995), Casper (1995), Independence Day (1996), Lost Highway (1997), and Lake Placid (1999). He has appeared frequently on television, usually in TV films. Starting in the 2000s he has also acted in miniseries and regular series, such as Torchwood (2011), starring roles in 1600 Penn (2012–13) and The Sinner (2017–2021). In 2021, he had a recurring role in the miniseries Halston.

Pullman has also had a long stage acting career. He has appeared on Broadway several times, including in Edward Albee‘s The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? in 2002.

Early life[edit]

Pullman was born in Hornell, New York, the son of James Pullman, a physician, and Johanna (née Blaas), a nurse.^[1]

After graduating from Hornell High School in 1971, he attended the State University of New York at Delhi (SUNY Delhi)^[2] and the State University of New York at Oneonta (SUNY Oneonta) in the 1970s. He eventually received his Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He taught theater at SUNY Delhi^[2] and was an adjunct professor at Montana State University‘s School of Film and Photography in Bozeman, Montana, where his students persuaded him to pursue film roles.^[3]

Career[edit]

During the 1980s, Pullman worked primarily with theater companies around New York and Los Angeles. His first prominent film role was in Ruthless People, starring Danny DeVito and Bette Midler. Other notable films included the lead in Spaceballs (1987), The Serpent and the Rainbow (with Zakes Mokae), and While You Were Sleeping (1995). In 1996, he played the President of the United States in the sci-fi film Independence Day. A year later he had a major role in Lost Highway (1997) and voiced Korso in the animated post-apocalyptic film Titan A.E. His more recent films have included The Grudge and Scary Movie 4. He also starred alongside Christian Bale in the musical Newsies.

From February 2002 until September 2002, Pullman starred with Mercedes Ruehl in Edward Albee‘s play The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? on Broadway. It won the 2002 Tony Award for Best Play, the 2002 Drama Desk Award Outstanding New Play, and the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Pullman was nominated for the 2002 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Actor in a Play.

He starred as Dr. Richard Massey in the miniseries Revelations and in Albee’s play Peter and Jerry at off-Broadway‘s Second Stage Theatre in New York for which he received a second Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Actor in a Play in 2008.

Pullman is also a creative writer. His first play, Expedition 6, is about the International Space Station mission Expedition 6, in orbit at the time the Space Shuttle Columbia was destroyed on reentry, grounding the U.S. space shuttle program and requiring the ISS crew to remain in orbit an additional two months. The play opened at San Francisco‘s Magic Theater in September 2007.^[4]

He also appeared in the Broadway production of David Mamet‘s Oleanna, co-starring Julia Stiles.^[5] It opened at the John Golden Theatre October 11, 2009 and closed on December 6, 2009 after 65 performances.^[6]

He is a jury member for the digital studio Filmaka, a platform for undiscovered filmmakers to show their work to industry professionals.^[7]

Pullman played Oswald Danes, a pedophile and child killer, in Torchwood: Miracle Day, the fourth series of the BBC/Starz Entertainment television show Torchwood (a spinoff to the BBC series Doctor Who),^[8] the former of which began airing in July 2011. For his performance as Danes, he received a Saturn Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor on Television.^[9]

From 2012 to 2013, Pullman portrayed the president of the United States in the television comedy series 1600 Penn. He played detective Harry Ambrose in the USA Network mystery series The Sinner, which premiered in 2017 and has aired for four seasons.

Personal life[edit]

Pullman is married to Tamara Hurwitz, a modern dancer.^[10][11][12] Their three children are actor Lewis Pullman,^[13] singer-songwriter Maesa Pullman,^[14] and Jack Pullman.^[15][16]

At the age of 21, Pullman suffered a head injury when he fell while rehearsing a play, and lost his sense of smell and the feeling in his left elbow.^[17] He is an avid Buffalo Bills fan. He co-owns a cattle ranch with his brother in Montana, near the town of Whitehall, where he lives part-time.^[18] He also serves on the board of trustees at Alfred University^[19] and was awarded an honorary doctorate there on May 14, 2011.^[10] In 2018, he received an honorary doctorate from Montana State University, where he was formerly employed.^[3]

Paul Edward Valentine Giamatti (/ˌdʒiːəˈmɑːti/ JEE-ə-MAH-tee; born June 6, 1967) is an American actor, comedian, and film producer. He first garnered attention for his breakout role in Private Parts (1997) as Kenny “Pig Vomit” Rushton, leading to supporting roles in Saving Private Ryan (1998), Man on the Moon (1999), Big Momma’s House (2000), and Big Fat Liar (2002).

He won acclaim for his leading roles as Harvey Pekar in American Splendor (2003), Miles Raymond in Sideways (2004), Mike Flaherty in Win Win (2011), and Richard in Private Life (2018), while continuing to play supporting roles such as Joe Gould in Cinderella Man (2005), which earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, Chief Inspector Uhl in The Illusionist (2006), Karl Hertz in Shoot ‘Em Up (2007), Nicholas “Nick” Claus in Fred Claus (2007), Tom Duffy in The Ides of March (2011), Theophilus Freeman in 12 Years a Slave (2013), Ralph in Saving Mr. Banks (2013), Eugene Landy in Love & Mercy (2014), Dr. Lawrence Hayes in San Andreas (2015) and Jerry Heller in Straight Outta Compton (2015).

He played the titular character in the HBO miniseries John Adams (2008), which earned him a Golden Globe Award, a Primetime Emmy Award and Screen Actors Guild Award. He stars as U.S. Attorney Chuck Rhoades Jr. in the Showtime television series Billions (2016–present).

Early life[edit]

Paul Edward Valentine Giamatti was born June 6, 1967, in New Haven, Connecticut, the youngest of three children. His father, Angelo Bartlett Giamatti, was a Yale University professor who later became president of the university and commissioner of Major League Baseball. His mother, Toni Marilyn Giamatti (née Smith), was a homemaker and English teacher who taught at Hopkins School and had also previously acted.^[2][3]

His paternal grandfather’s family were Italian emigrants from Telese Terme; the family surname was originally spelled “Giammattei” (Italian pronunciation: [dʒammatˈtɛi]) before immigrating to the United States.^[4] Giamatti’s other ancestries are German, Dutch, English, French, Irish, and Scottish.^[5] His paternal grandmother had deep roots in New England, dating back to the colonial era.^[6] Giamatti’s brother, Marcus, is also an actor, and his sister, Elena, is a jewelry designer.

Giamatti was first educated at The Foote School and later graduated from Choate Rosemary Hall in 1985. He attended Yale, where he was active in the undergraduate theater scene and working with fellow actors and Yale students Ron Livingston and Edward Norton. He graduated in 1989 with a bachelor’s degree in English, and went on to earn a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Yale School of Drama, where he studied with Earle R. Gister. He performed in numerous theatrical productions, including on Broadway and a stint from 1989 to 1992 with Seattle’s Annex Theater,^[7] before appearing in some small television and film roles in the early 1990s. In 2023, Giamatti was awarded an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from Yale.^[8]

Beverly D’Angelo

Beverly Heather D’Angelo (born November 15, 1951) is an American actress who starred as Ellen Griswold in the National Lampoon’s Vacation films (1983–2015).^[1] She has appeared in over 60 films and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for her role as Patsy Cline in Coal Miner’s Daughter (1980), and for an Emmy Award for her role as Stella Kowalski in the TV film A Streetcar Named Desire (1984). D’Angelo’s other film roles include Sheila Franklin in Hair (1979) and Doris Vinyard in American History X (1998).

Early life[edit]

D’Angelo was born in Columbus, Ohio, the daughter of Priscilla Ruth (née Smith), a violinist, and Eugene Constantino “Gene” D’Angelo, a bass player and television station manager at WBNS-TV in Columbus.^[2][3] Her father was of Italian descent. Her paternal grandparents, Eugenio and Rosina D’Angelo were from Introdacqua in the Abruzzo region of Italy.^[4] She has three brothers, Jeff, Tim and Tony.^[5] Their maternal grandfather, Howard Dwight Smith, was an architect who designed the Ohio Stadium, nicknamed “the Horseshoe” at Ohio State University.^[6][7]

D’Angelo attended Upper Arlington High School in Upper Arlington, Ohio, a northwest Columbus suburb. In 2009, she was awarded the Upper Arlington Alumni Association (UAAA) Distinguished Alumnus Award for achievement in her career.^{[citation needed]}

D’Angelo worked as an illustrator at Hanna-Barbera Studios and as a singer before pursuing an interest in acting. While living for a period in Canada, she was a backup singer for American-born rockabilly singer Rompin’ Ronnie Hawkins‘ band The Hawks. After going out on their own they became The Band, a group that is considered legendary.^[8][9]

Career[edit]

D’Angelo began acting in the theatre, appearing on Broadway in 1976 in Rockabye Hamlet (also known as Kronborg: 1582), a musical based on Shakespeare’s Hamlet.^[2] She made her television debut in the first three episodes of the TV mini-series Captains and the Kings in 1976.

After gaining a minor role in Annie Hall in 1977, D’Angelo appeared in a string of hit movies in the late 1970s including Every Which Way But Loose, Hair, and Coal Miner’s Daughter, the last earning her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Patsy Cline.^[10] She won a Country Music Association award for Album of the Year.^[11]

Her biggest break came in 1983 starring with Chevy Chase in National Lampoon’s Vacation in the role of Ellen Griswold. She reprised this role in four Vacation sequels and a short film between 1985 and 2015. In the 1980s she starred in many other major comedy films; in the mid-1990s she acted primarily in independent movies. In 1994 D’Angelo returned to the stage and won a Theatre World Award for her performance in the Off-Broadway play Simpatico.^[12]

She received an Emmy Award nomination for her performance as Stella Kowalski in the 1984 TV movie version of A Streetcar Named Desire.^[13] She later had main roles in a number of made-for-television dramatic films, including Slow Burn, Judgment Day: The John List Story, and Sweet Temptation.^[14] In the 2000s D’Angelo had a recurring role on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as defense attorney Rebecca Balthus.^[2] She also worked as a voice actress. In 1992 she had a guest appearance in the third season of The Simpsons as Lurleen Lumpkin, a Southern country singer and waitress in the “Colonel Homer” episode. Sixteen years later in 2008, she appeared in the nineteenth season as the same character in the episode “Papa Don’t Leech“.

From 2005 to 2011, D’Angelo appeared in the HBO series Entourage playing the role of agent Barbara “Babs” Miller.^[1] In 2006 she starred in the independent film Gamers: The Movie. In 2008 D’Angelo had a role in the film Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay as Sally. She played the housemother in the film The House Bunny, and also appeared in the Tony Kaye film Black Water Transit.

In 2014, D’Angelo was cast alongside Chevy Chase in an ABC comedy pilot called Chev & Bev, about a retired couple having to raise their grandchildren. ABC opted against making a series.^[15] D’Angelo appeared alongside Chevy Chase in the comedy Vacation, a continuation of the original film, which was released on July 29, 2015.^[16]

D’Angelo narrates a short biographical film about Patsy Cline, which is shown to visitors of The Patsy Cline Museum in Nashville, Tennessee. The museum opened to the public on April 7, 2017.

Personal life[edit]

D’Angelo was romantically involved with Milos Forman, who directed her in Hair (1979).^[17] In 1981, she married Italian Don Lorenzo Salviati, the only son and heir of Don Forese Salviati, 5th Duke Salviati, Marchese di Montieri and Boccheggiano, Nobile Romano Coscritto, and his wife, the former Maria Grazia Gawronska.^[18][19]

Later, she began a relationship with Anton Furst, an Academy Award-winning production designer, who died by suicide in 1991. She was in a relationship with actor Al Pacino from 1997 until 2003. The couple has twins conceived through IVF, a son and daughter born January 25, 2001.^[20][21]

Filmography[edit]

Film[edit]

Benjamin Sherman Crothers (May 23, 1910 – November 22, 1986),^[1] known professionally as Scatman Crothers, was an American actor and musician. He is known for playing Louie the Garbage Man on the TV show Chico and the Man, and Dick Hallorann in Stanley Kubrick‘s The Shining (1980). He was also a prolific voice-over actor who provided the voices of Meadowlark Lemon in the Harlem Globetrotters animated TV series, Jazz the Autobot in The Transformers and The Transformers: The Movie (1986), the title character in Hong Kong Phooey, and Scat Cat in the animated film The Aristocats (1970).

Music career[edit]

Crothers began his musical career as a teenager. He sang and was self-educated on guitar and drums. He was in a band that played in speakeasies in Terre Haute.^[2][3] During the 1930s, Crothers formed a band, spending eight years living in Akron, Ohio, and performing five days a week on a radio show in Dayton, Ohio. The station manager thought he needed a catchier name, so Crothers suggested “Scatman” for his scat singing. He married Helen, a native of Steubenville, Ohio, in 1937. In the 1940s, the couple moved to California.^[4]

He performed in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York City.^{[citation needed]} Capitol released several of his singles: “I’d Rather Be a Hummingbird”, “Blue-eyed Sally”, and “Television Blues”. High Fidelity Records released his album Rock and Roll with Scatman Crothers. He went on USO tours with Bob Hope.^[5] Crothers also performed with bandleader Slim Gaillard. According to the jacket notes of the Let Freedom Sing CD set, Crothers was part of the music group The Ramparts, who sang “The Death of Emmett Till” (1955), a song by A. C. Bilbrew.^[6][7][8]

Film and television career[edit]

Crothers made his film debut in the movie Meet Me at the Fair (1953).^[3] He had roles in the film musical Hello Dolly! (1969) and The Great White Hope (1970) before providing the voice of Scat Cat in the animated film The Aristocats (1970).^[5] Crothers appeared in four films with Jack Nicholson: The King of Marvin Gardens (1972), The Fortune (1975), One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975), and The Shining (1980). He had the part of a fable-telling convict in the animated film Coonskin (1975), a train porter in Silver Streak (1976), a liveryman in The Shootist (1976), Mingo in Roots^[5] (1977), Tinker the piano player in Neil Simon’s The Cheap Detective (1978), a ringmaster in Bronco Billy (1980), a baseball coach in Zapped! (1982), and angels in Two of a Kind (1983) and Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983).

Crothers became the first Black person to appear regularly in a Los Angeles television show when he joined Dixie Showboat.^[3] After The Aristocats in the 1970s, Crothers found voice acting jobs as Meadowlark Lemon in the Harlem Globetrotters cartoon series and as the title character in Hong Kong Phooey. For four years, he played the role of Louie the garbage man on Chico and the Man. During his appearance on Sanford and Son Crothers joined Redd Foxx for two musical numbers. One was a version of the standard “All of Me“, in which he accompanied Foxx on tenor guitar. In 1966, Hanna-Barbera aired an animated special called The New Alice in Wonderland (or What’s a Nice Kid like You Doing in a Place like This?), an updated version of the Lewis Carroll story featuring Sammy Davis Jr. as the Cheshire Cat. The special was followed by an audio adaptation for HB Records, but since Davis was signed to Reprise, Crothers provided the cat’s voice for the album.

Crothers had guest roles on Alfred Hitchcock Presents in 1958, Dragnet in 1967, Bewitched and McMillan & Wife in 1971, Adam-12 in 1972 (as “George Strothers”), Kojak and Ironside in 1973, Kolchak: The Night Stalker and Sanford and Son in 1974, Starsky & Hutch in 1977, Charlie’s Angels and The Love Boat in 1978, Magnum, P.I. in 1980, Benson in 1982, and Taxi in 1983. Also in 1980, he was on two episodes of Laverne & Shirley as a porter. In the 1980s, he provided the voice of the Autobot Jazz on the television series The Transformers. He starred in three short-lived 1980s television series: One of the Boys (1982), Casablanca (1983), and Morningstar/Eveningstar (1986).

Death[edit]

On November 22, 1986, Crothers died at the age of 76 at his home in Van Nuys, California, after struggling with lung cancer for nearly four years.^[3] He is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.^[9]

Awards and honors[edit]

• Best Supporting Actor, Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror, for The Shining (1980)^[5]
• Star on Hollywood Walk of Fame, 1981^[5][10]
• NAACP Image Award^[5]
• Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame, 1987 (posthumous)^[5]

Filmography[edit]