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1-9 of 9
- Christine Dupree is an eternally aspiring actress. She is also the author of a self-help book for couples called Hot Romantic Escapades for Lovers. She now writes scripts with inspiration from her adventures as a stripper and professional boxer and draws from the colorful batch of characters she's encountered in life who take shortcuts, steal from the rich and learn lessons, or about those who do extraordinary outrageous things for love.
- Composer
- Actor
- Writer
Louis Davis, Jr. was born into a family of musicians in rural Ohio and began his musical training at age 4, with his grandmother as his first piano teacher. He composed his first piece, a four-part chorale about his dog Stormy at age 6. By the time Davis entered the University of Michigan music school, he had found his true musical loves the bassoon and percussion. He graduated in 1969 as a classically trained bassoonist who also played percussion in the famous University of Michigan Marching Band. After touring with the renowned Norman Luboff Choir, and teaching young people to love music, Davis took a new career path that would change his life forever. He began writing advertising jingles for an Omaha ad agency, including a series of spots about fictional truck driver C.W. McCall and his waitress girlfriend Mavis at the Old Home Filler Up and Keep On Truckin' Cafe. What began as just another jingle for a bread company became a national phenomenon radio listeners called stations to request the commercials be played as if they were pop tunes, and the TV spots were listed in TV Guide. With fellow ad executive Bill Fries, Davis accepted a recording contract, and went on to produce blockbusters such as the 1975 hit "Convoy", which sold more than a million copies within 2 months, and eventually sold 10 million copies.
In the meantime, Davis explored new ways of expressing music and discovered a style he calls "18th Century classical rock." He says "I don't believe in all-acoustic or all-electronic, all-digital or all-analog. My place is where they meet." He called his band Mannheim Steamroller, which is the name of an 18th-Century musical technique that we know today as the crescendo.
This exploration resulted in an album called Fresh Aire, which Davis tried and failed to sell to mainstream record companies. So innovative was this musical style that it did not fit into any of the standard industry categories. Innovative music demanded innovative marketing, so Davis founded his own record label, American Gramophone, and distributed the albums not to record stores but to audio showrooms. Used to demonstrate home stereo equipment, Fresh Aire became an audiophile hit when listeners said "I like this turntable, but I really want the music playing on it." Orders flooded in and records sold from the U.S. to Japan to Germany. Since that time Davis has produced seven more Fresh Aire albums, each inspired by the themes of nature, science and ancient mythology. Fresh Aire VII was awarded the Grammy for Best New Age Recording in 1990. Davis released the final album in the series in August 2000, titled Fresh Aire 8, on the theme of infinity.
In 1984 Davis once again called conventional music industry wisdom into question. He announced that his next project would be a Christmas album and was told that he would certainly fail. Infusing new life into traditional Christmas music "Mannheim Steamroller Christmas" has sold more than six million copies and was nominated for a Grammy Award. With subsequent albums "A Fresh Aire Christmas," "Christmas in the Aire" and "Christmas Live", Mannheim Steamroller has sold more than 18 million Christmas albums. Davis doesn't put much stock in conventional wisdom. He and his wife Trisha live outside Omaha, Nebraska with their three children, Kelly, Evan and Elyse. In the living room is the piano his grandmother first taught him to play.- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Chris Krauser was born Christopher Allan Krauser on September 8, 1977 in Sylvania, Ohio. His father, Christopher Paul Krauser, is of Polish and German descent. He previously owned a business and raced cars with Porsche. His mother, Jeanne, is half Italian and grew up in Southern California, and attended Hollywood High School. His paternal great-grandfather was from Warsaw, Poland, and his maternal grandmother was from Rome. A great-great uncle was reportedly a WWI fighter pilot back in Germany. Chris spent time in Ohio and California but mostly stayed in Ohio until August 2002.
He attended Ladyfield Catholic School in Toledo, Ohio. During this time he got into some trouble at school and received bad grades. Growing up at an early age he started lifting weights after his father gave him his first barbell set. As a youth and a teen he won a few small powerlifting tournaments in the middleweight and light heavyweight class of 160-176 and 177-189 lbs. He became an avid weightlifter sometimes exercising most of the day. From an early age he dreamed of becoming a bodybuilder up until around age 19. Around that time, while academically struggling at St. Francis de Sales Catholic High School, he thought about becoming a model or actor. During his Freshman and Sophomore years he wrestled but won only 1 match. He wrestled briefly during his junior year after struggling to maintain the 112 lbs weight class.
He dropped out of the University of Toledo with around 70 credits and tried acting at the University of Bowling Green. However, after a year, he left. He got his first credited acting role in Ice Cold Fear (2006), playing a beach bum. The film was not released until several years later. He played guitar and, later, piano, and wrote a few pieces of music. At the same time he started writing his first screenplay and briefly modeled some clothes for Dillard's, where he worked at age 21. He went to New York and tried out for Next Model Management. During the summers of 2000-01, he traveled to Canada to be an extra in a film and auditioned for two agencies. During 2001 he signed up with TVI Actors Studio Showcase and flew to Los Angeles for two weeks. He came home at the end of 2001. He decided to move to California. He saved up some money and sold some of his belongings. He packed up his stuff and drove 55 hours with a friend to Altadena, California. Shortly after arriving rent prices went up and he couldn't afford his place. So he lived anywhere he could. He worked different jobs in LA as a server, bus boy, putting together electrical components at a warehouse, a doorman at Club Lotus and a dishwasher at local restaurant chain which went out of business. He slept mostly in his car for almost three years starting in late 2002.
While sleeping in his vehicle outside a Car Max for 3 months people would shout and throw things at his car to make him leave the lot but he never did and a few times he found his tires flat. To keep his circulation going or get exercise he would run around his car for an hour and do push ups during the night time after work. A number of times was arrested but let go after he explained to local police officers his situation some of whom reportedly checked up on him to make sure he was okay. He would take showers at a nearby gym and clean himself up. In late 2005, a family member helped him get an apartment in Van Nuys.
In early 2004, he signed up with Central Casting as well as a few other extra casting agencies to earn some extra money while also working a regular day job. He worked almost everyday 5 to 6 days a week for the next few years on the film sets willing to do almost anything to get a job. He got a few small roles between 2004-08. He appeared on seven episodes of CSI: Miami (2002) and as F.B.I. Special Agent Eddie Velasco in Dexter (2006). In 2009, he played a detective in Jeffery Manchester (2009). In Surviving Terror (2008), he played "Shivago". He signed a few contracts with some agencies but dropped out due to financial constraints and decided he needed steadier employment.
He quit his regular day job and took a vendor job which took him all over southern California. A year later after quitting that job he returned to the Home Depot branch on Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood for half a year during 2006. He then started writing a few screenplays and at the same time got hired as a car salesman at Universal City Nissan near Universal Studios. After, he started a program at a nursing school, graduating in 2011 as a Licensed Practical Nurse. He reportedly later was studying to advance to become a Registered Nurse.- Dick Beach was born on 5 September 1928 in Sylvania, Ohio, USA. He was an actor, known for The Adventures of Salty and Friends (1960) and Fun Farm (1958). He was married to Patricia Ann Waite. He died on 18 December 2018 in Bardstown, Kentucky, USA.
- Sierah Joughin was born on 11 February 1996 in Sylvania, Ohio, USA. She died on 22 July 2016 in Delta, Ohio, USA.
- Alissa Czisny was born on 25 June 1987 in Sylvania, Ohio, USA. She is an actress, known for Ice: The Movie (2018), Ice Diaries (2006) and Brian Boitano Skating Spectacular (2010).
- Paul M. Bryan was born on 13 December 1872 in Sylvania, Georgia, USA. He was a writer, known for The Fast Express (1924), The Steel Trail (1923) and The Hound of Silver Creek (1928). He was married to Ethel. He died on 4 August 1944 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Sam Abell was born on 19 February 1945 in Sylvania, Ohio, USA.
- Jim Osborne was born on 7 September 1949 in Sylvania, Georgia, USA.