My Life , My Blog

  Een balletgezelschap uit  Los Angeles  , bestaande uit eerste soliste Bones, de verwende societyfiguur Princess, de diepgelovige Grace, de goedhartige Zoe en haar  slechthorende  zus Chloe, wordt samen met hun lerares, Thorna Devonport, uitgenodigd voor een prestigieuze internationale wedstrijd in  Boedapest  . Door een reeks misverstanden op het vliegveld moet het gezelschap een gammele bus nemen naar de wedstrijd; wanneer die ook pech krijgt, gaan ze te voet op zoek naar een taxi. Een lokale man nodigt hen uit om de herberg Teremok binnen te gaan, die wordt gerund door Devora Kasimer, een voormalig  prima ballerina  en hoofd van een kleine criminele familie. Op aanraden van Devora verwisselen de meisjes hun doorweekte kleren voor hun  tutu's  . Terwijl Thorna Chloe naar het damestoilet brengt, ziet ze Devora een man martelen in haar kantoor. Ze probeert de meisjes bij elkaar te roepen zodat ze kunnen vertrekken, maar Pasha Marco...

  De film is gebaseerd op het leven van de Britse zanger en pianist Elton John. De hoofdrollen worden vertolkt door Taron Egerton, Jamie Bell, Richard Madden en Bryce Dallas Howard. "Based on a True Fantasy" 'Rocketman' vertelt het waargebeurde verhaal van Elton John. Elton besluit als jonge jongen naar het beroemde conservatorium Royal Academy of Music te gaan, waarna hij vervolgens een muzikale samenwerking met Bernie Taupin aangaat. Uiteindelijk zal hij uitgroeien tot een wereldberoemde superster. Reginald Dwight is een talentvolle zanger en pianist. Onder de artiestennaam Elton John groeit hij uit tot een flamboyante wereldster. Ondanks zijn succes en faam worstelt hij ook met depressies, druggebruik en het aanvaarden van zijn seksuele geaardheid. ___________________ Review : Hoewel ik best wel van musicals en biografische films over muzikanten houd, had ik "Rocketman" nog nooit gezien voordat ik deze vond op het internet, bij toeval...

  De officiële synopsis zoals vrijgegeven door  Apple TV+  luidt: "Na jaren in de schijnwerpers bereikt Selena Gomez een ongekende sterrenstatus. Maar net wanneer ze een nieuw hoogtepunt bereikt, trekt een onverwachte wending haar de duisternis in. Deze unieke, rauwe en intieme documentaire volgt haar zesjarige reis naar een nieuw licht." ________________ Review: Ik had geen idee van Selena's verhaal voordat ik deze documentaire zag. Ik wist ook niet veel over haar jeugd, haar carrière in de muziekwereld – ik kende haar alleen van de serie Only Murders In the Building en wat muziek nummers. Selena is open, kwetsbaar en deelt de goede en slechte kanten van het leven, inclusief de worstelingen met mentale en fysieke problemen. Selena heeft een prachtige ziel en dat blijkt uit deze documentaire. Ze worstelt met veel demonen, maar bestrijdt ze met liefde en vriendelijkheid. Ze helpt anderen ook hetzelfde te doen. Dat is universeel, want in ieder van ons schuilt zowel licht al...

  Stella Stevens, born Estelle Eggleston (October 1, 1938 – February 17, 2023) She began her acting career in 1959 and starred in such popular films as Girls! Girls! Girls! (1962), The Nutty Professor (1963), The Courtship of Eddie's Father (1963), The Silencers (1966), Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows (1968), The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970), and The Poseidon Adventure (1972). Stevens also appeared in numerous television series, miniseries, and movies, including Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1960, 1988), Bonanza (1960), The Love Boat (1977, 1983), Hart to Hart (1979), Newhart (1983), Murder, She Wrote (1985), Magnum, P.I. (1986), Highlander: The Series (1995), and Twenty Good Years (2006). In 1960, she won a Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress. In addition, Stevens appeared in three Playboy pictorials, and was Playmate of the Month for January 1960. Stevens also appeared in several stage productions, including a touring production of an all-female version of Neil Si...

  Andrew Neiman is een beloftevol en ambitieus jazzdrummer die gecoacht wordt door zijn mentor Terence Fletcher. De veeleisende Fletcher drijft zijn pupil tot het uiterste om zijn doorbraak te forceren. Fletcher wordt enkele malen erg boos op Neiman maar daar weet Neiman bovenop te komen om uiteindelijk een succesvolle solo te spelen op het grote podium. ____________ Review: Miles Teller levert een rauwe en fysieke prestatie. Je voelt bijna elke drumslag, elke spanning die op hem wordt opgebouwd. Tegenover hem is JK Simmons angstaanjagend goed en creëert hij een van de meest memorabele en verontrustende mentorfiguren in de filmgeschiedenis. Wat Whiplash zo bijzonder maakt, is hoe strak alles in elkaar zit. Er is geen tijdverspilling, geen overbodige scènes. Het tempo is scherp, de montage is nauwkeurig en de slotscène is een van de meest bevredigende hoogtepunten die ik ooit heb gezien. Het gaat niet alleen om muziek, maar ook om opoffering, ambitie en hoe ver iemand bere...

Julie Adams, born Betty May Adams (October 17, 1926 – February 3, 2019) Adams was an actress, primarily in television. She starred in a number of films in the 1950s, including Bend of the River and Creature from the Black Lagoon. She was also known for her roles as Paula Denning on Capitol and as Eve Simpson on Murder, She Wrote. In 1946, at the age of 19, she was crowned "Miss Little Rock" and then moved to Hollywood, California to pursue her acting career. Her first movie role was a minor part in Red, Hot and Blue (1949), followed by a leading role in the Lippert western The Dalton Gang (1949). Adams was featured as the bathing beauty Kay Lawrence in the science-fiction film Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954). Adams co-starred in 1950s films opposite some of Hollywood's top leading men, including with James Stewart in 1952's Bend of the River, with Rock Hudson in The Lawless Breed (1953) and One Desire (1955), with Tyrone Power in The Mississippi Gambler (1953), ...

  Countrymuziek-superster Lorna Davis (Dolly Parton) is overweldigd en gedesillusioneerd door haar carrière en eenzaamheid. Ze plant een reis naar een blokhut van een vriendin in de  Smoky Mountains  van  Tennessee  om aan  Los Angeles  te ontsnappen en tijdens de kerstperiode tot rust te komen. Bij aankomst ontdekt Lorna dat het de geïmproviseerde thuisbasis is geworden van zeven weeskinderen die zich schuilhouden voor het weeshuis in de stad. Ze vinden haar zelfs slapend in een van de bedden (een verwijzing naar de zeven dwergen die  Sneeuwwitje  vinden ), waarop de jongste uitroept: "Ik weet wie ze is. Ze is de Engel." Omdat ze allebei geheimen te bewaren hebben - de kinderen willen niet ontdekt worden door het weeshuis en Lorna wil niet ontdekt worden door iemand uit Los Angeles - spreken ze af elkaars aanwezigheid in de blokhut geheim te houden. Ze bouwt al snel hechte vriendschappen met hen op, hoewel het even duurt voordat ze de voorzi...

  Beverley Owen (May 13, 1937 – February 21, 2019) She was a television actress, best known for having played the original role of Marilyn Munster on the sitcom The Munsters before the role was taken over by Pat Priest. In 1956, Owen appeared in her first TV role in As the World Turns. Owen appeared on the shows The Doctors, Kraft Mystery Theatre, The Virginian, Wagon Train, and Another World, and in the feature film Bullet for a Badman, starring Audie Murphy, after which she got the role of Marilyn Munster on The Munsters. Owen left The Munsters after 13 episodes to marry Sesame Street writer and producer Jon Stone. They were married for eight years, and had two children. After her divorce in 1974 she continued to pursue her studies in early American history and earned a master's degree in 1989. In 1972, she played Dr. Paula McCrea for nine months in the soap opera Another World. Owen's daughter Polly confirmed that the actress died of ovarian cancer on February 21, 2019, at t...

  Michael  is een Amerikaanse biografische muzikale dramafilm uit 2026, geregisseerd door Antoine Fuqua, geschreven door John Logan en geproduceerd door Graham King, over het leven van zanger, danser en componist Michael Jackson. De hoofdrol wordt gespeeld door Jaafar Jackson, een neef van Michael, samen met Colman Domingo, Nia Long en Miles Teller in de hoofdrollen. "Discover the making of a king." De film vertelt het verhaal van Michael Jacksons leven buiten de muziek om, en volgt zijn reis vanaf de ontdekking van zijn buitengewone talent als frontman van de Jackson Five tot de visionaire artiest die met zijn creatieve ambitie vastberaden was om de grootste entertainer van de wereld te worden. Zijn leven naast het podium komt aan bod, maar ook iconische optredens uit het begin van zijn solocarrière, waardoor de kijker zich op de eerste rij bij Michael Jackson waant. Zijn ...

  Thomas Morgan Woodward (September 16, 1925 – February 22, 2019) Woodward was an actor who is best known for his recurring role as Marvin "Punk" Anderson on the television soap opera Dallas and for his portrayal of Boss Godfrey, the sunglasses-wearing "man with no eyes", in the 1967 film Cool Hand Luke. On another television series, Gunsmoke, he can be seen in 19 episodes, the most guest appearances of any actor on that long-running Western. He served in the Korean War as a lieutenant in special services . His acting debut came in the 1956 film "The Great Locomotive Chase". Besides "Cool Hand Luke", he went on to appear in other such films as "Gunpoint" (1966), "Firecreek" (1968), "The Sword of Ali Baba" (1968), "Final Chapter: Walking Tall" (1977), "Battle Beyond the Stars" (1980), and "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" (1985). He also made his television debut in 1956 on the series "Z...

  Diana Serra Cary, born Peggy-Jean Montgomery, known as Baby Peggy (October 29, 1918 – February 24, 2020) She was a child film actress, vaudevillian, author and silent film historian. Baby Peggy was one of the three major American child stars of the Hollywood silent film era along with Jackie Coogan and Baby Marie. Between 1921 and 1923, she made over 150 short films for the Century Film Corporation. In 1922, she received over 1.2 million fan letters and by 1924, she had been dubbed The Million Dollar Baby for her $1.5 million annual salary ($22 million in 2018). Despite her childhood fame and wealth, she found herself poor and working as an extra by the 1930's. Eventually, after years of emotional struggle and ridicule from Hollywood insiders and the media, Cary made peace with her Baby Peggy past. Having an interest in both writing and history since her youth, Montgomery found a second career as an author and silent film historian in her later years under the name Diana Serra Ca...

  Nathaniel Taylor (March 31, 1938- February 27, 2019) Taylor was a television actor, best known for his recurring role as Rollo Lawson in the 1970s sitcom Sanford and Son, a role he later reprised on its short-lived 1980-1981 spin-off Sanford. He later played the first version of Jim-Jam with Redd Foxx on the 1986 series The Redd Foxx Show. Later, he played Rerun's (Fred Berry) brother-in-law Ike in the sitcom What's Happening!!. Taylor also appeared in the films Trouble Man (1972), Willie Dynamite (1974), and Passing Through (1977). Taylor was married twice, and had seven children. According to his friend, entertainer/promoter Alonzo Williams, Taylor suffered a heart attack and was hospitalized on Saturday, and died at UCLA Medical Center on February 27th, 2019, age 80. He is interred at Riverside National Cemetery in Riverside, California.  

  Gerald Norman Springer (February 13, 1944 – April 27, 2023) Born in London, England, during World War II to refugees escaping the Holocaust, Springer was raised in Queens, New York City. He attended Northwestern University School of Law, qualified as a lawyer, and first became actively involved in politics working for the campaign of Robert Kennedy in 1968. A Cincinnati City Council member, Springer served as the 56th Mayor of Cincinnati from 1977 to 1978. He then worked as a local news anchor in Cincinnati where he won several Regional Emmy Awards for commentary. Springer was best known for hosting the tabloid talk show Jerry Springer from 1991 to 2018. He also debuted the Jerry Springer Podcast in 2015. From 2007 to 2008, he hosted America's Got Talent, and from 2019 until 2022, Springer hosted the courtroom show Judge Jerry. Springer appeared in an episode of Married... with Children as the host of a talk show called The Masculine Feminist, in which he advocated for women gett...

  Doris Day, born Doris Mary Ann Kappelhoff (April 3, 1922 – May 13, 2019) After she began her career as a big band singer in 1939, her popularity increased with her first hit recording "Sentimental Journey" (1945). After leaving Les Brown & His Band of Renown to embark on a solo career, she recorded more than 650 songs from 1947 to 1967, which made her one of the most popular and acclaimed singers of the 20th century. Day's film career began during the latter part of the Classical Hollywood Film era with the 1948 film Romance on the High Seas, and its success sparked her twenty-year career as a motion picture actress. She starred in a series of successful films, including musicals, comedies, and dramas. She played the title role in Calamity Jane (1953), and starred in Alfred Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) with James Stewart. Her most successful films were the ones she made co-starring Rock Hudson and James Garner, such as Pillow Talk (1959) and Move...

Gavin MacLeod, born Allan George See (February 28, 1931 – May 29, 2021) MacLeod's career began in films in 1957. In 1965, he played opposite Peter Mann in The Sword of Ali Baba. He went on to play alongside Anthony Franciosa in A Man Called Gannon (1968), with Christopher George in The Thousand Plane Raid, and opposite Clint Eastwood, Telly Savalas, and Carroll O'Connor in Kelly's Heroes (1970). MacLeod achieved continuing television success co-starring opposite Ernest Borgnine on McHale's Navy (1962–1964) as Joseph "Happy" Haines, and on The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970–1977) as Murray Slaughter. He also starred on ABC's The Love Boat (1977–1986), in which he was cast as Merrill Stubing, the ship’s captain. MacLeod and his second wife were hosts on the Trinity Broadcasting Network for 17 years, primarily hosting a show about marriage called Back on Course. In the 2000s MacLeod guested on several TV series, including "Oz", “The King of Queens,” “J...

Eli Wallach, on acting with a Cinerama camera in "How the West Was Won" (1962): "I thought it was a regular movie. I arrived, I saw these, these- this monster with three magazines and three lenses... and then I was told, 'If you're gonna play a scene with someone, don't look directly at them, look off to the side. It'll look like you're looking at them.' Which gave the actor a strange sensation." "I must say, though, for telling a story as vast as the West, the process they used at Cinerama gave you a feeling of what the undiscovered country was like." For decades, Wallach won fans by bringing humanity and humor to roles that pitted him as a villain against titans such as Clint Eastwood and Steve McQueen. In 2010, Wallach received an honorary Oscar for a 60-year career. "As an actor I've played more bandits, thieves, warlords, molesters, and Mafioso than you could shake a stick at," the actor said as he accepted the aw...

  Dame Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg, DBE (July 20, 1938 – September 10, 2020) She played Emma Peel in the TV series The Avengers (1965–68); Countess Teresa di Vicenzo, wife of James Bond, in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969); and Olenna Tyrell in Game of Thrones (2013–17). She also enjoyed a career in theatre, including playing the title role in Medea, both in London and New York, for which she won the 1994 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play. She was made a CBE in 1988 and a Dame in 1994 for services to drama. Rigg made her professional stage debut in 1957 in The Caucasian Chalk Circle, and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1959. She made her Broadway debut in the 1971 production of Abelard & Heloise. Her film roles include Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1968); Lady Holiday in The Great Muppet Caper (1981); and Arlena Marshall in Evil Under the Sun (1982). She won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress for the BBC miniseries Mother Love (1989), and an Emmy Awa...

  Jodie Foster was interested in playing the role of Clarice Starling in 1991's "The Silence of the Lambs" immediately after reading Thomas Harris' novel, and even tried buying the rights to the novel herself. However, in spite of the fact that Foster had just won an Academy Award for her performance in "The Accused" (1988), Demme was not convinced that she was right for the role. Having just collaborated on "Married to the Mob" (1988), Demme's first choice for the role of Starling was Michelle Pfeiffer, who turned it down, later saying, "It was a difficult decision, but I got nervous about the subject matter." He then approached Meg Ryan, who turned it down as well for its gruesome themes, and then Laura Dern, of whom the studio was skeptical as not being a bankable choice. As a result, Foster was awarded the role due to her passion towards the character. Part of Foster's deal for doing this movie was that Orion Pictures would al...

  John Saxon, born Carmine Orrico (August 5, 1935-July 25, 2020) He was an actor and martial artist who has worked on more than 200 projects during a span of 60 years. Saxon is known for his work in westerns and horror movies, often playing police officers and detectives. Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Saxon studied acting with Stella Adler before beginning his career as a contract actor for Universal Pictures, playing in such movies as Rock, Pretty Baby (1956) and Portrait in Black (1961). During the 1970's and 1980's, he would establish himself as a character actor, frequently portraying law enforcement officials in horror movies such as Black Christmas (1974), Dario Argento's Tenebrae (1982), and A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). In addition to his roles in horror movies, Saxon co-starred with Bruce Lee in the martial arts movie Enter the Dragon (1973), and has supporting roles in the westerns Death of a Gunfighter (1969) and Joe Kidd (1972), as well as the adven...

  Janis Paige, born Donna Mae Tjaden (September 16, 1922 – June 2, 2024) With a career spanning nearly 60 years, she was one of the last surviving stars from Hollywood's Golden Age. Born in Tacoma, Washington, Paige began singing in local amateur shows at the age of five. After high school, she moved to Los Angeles, where she became a singer at the Hollywood Canteen during World War II, as well as posing as a pin-up model. This led to a film contract with Warner Bros., although she later left the studio to pursue live theatre work. She continued to alternate between film and theatre work for much of her career. Beginning in the mid-1950s, she also made numerous television appearances, as well as starring in her own sitcom It's Always Jan. Paige appeared on Broadway, and she was a huge hit in a 1951 comedy-mystery play Remains to Be Seen. She also toured successfully as a cabaret singer. Stardom came in 1954 with her role as Babe in the Broadway musical The Pajama Game. After si...