Advanced search
- TITLES
- NAMES
- COLLABORATIONS
Search filters
Enter full date
to
or just enter yyyy, or yyyy-mm below
to
Only includes names with the selected topics
to
or just enter yyyy, or yyyy-mm below
to
1-14 of 14
- Actress
- Music Department
- Executive
Ja'Net DuBois was a multi-talented and diverse performer. She grew up in Brooklyn, New York and began her career on Broadway. She has appeared in various plays, including "Golden Boy" with Sammy Davis Jr. and Louis Gossett Jr., and "A Raisin in the Sun". She moved onto TV roles, receiving a Peabody Award for a 1969 CBS children's movie J.T. (1969). She then appeared in a daytime serial, Love of Life (1951); she is the first African American actress to have a regular serial role.
She was best known for her role as the sexy, confident, gossipy "Willona Woods" on Good Times (1974). She composed and sang the theme song, "Movin' On Up", for another Norman Lear series, The Jeffersons (1975). She appeared in many films, including the blaxploitation parody, I'm Gonna Git You Sucka (1988), as a tough and loving mother. She also did voice-over work, for which she received two Emmys.
She co-founded the "Pan African Film & Arts Festival", which showcases global films about people of African descent and fine arts. She is a community activist whose DuBois Care Foundation's mission is to empower youth by supporting after-school programs. She was also a painter who regularly exhibited her work. She released a CD in 2008, "Hidden Treasures", which includes the well-known TV theme song, "Movin' On Up".- Actress
- Soundtrack
New trends in post-war German cinema saw a shift away from the glamorous divas or idealised motherhood figures of the 1930s and 40s towards uncomplicated, wholesome, vivacious, perhaps tomboyish girl-next-door types. Germanic features were no longer strictly required. Dimple-cheeked, dark-haired Sonja Ziemann with her grey/green eyes and Bardot mouth became the paragon of the new fun-loving heroine for undemanding romantic fare or the ever popular 'Heimatfilm'.
Sonja Alice Selma Toni Ziemann was born in Eichenwalde, near Berlin, the daughter of a tax advisor. She learned ballet under Hilde Altmann-Vogt and Tatjana Gsovsky and began her career as a showgirl in revues and operettas, singing and dancing at the Metropol Theater. There, the director Peter Paul Brauer 'discovered' her for the screen. Sonia made her movie debut in a 1942 musical comedy and was thereafter groomed by Germany's pre-eminent film company Ufa (headquartered in Babelsberg) as an up-and-coming starlet. She appeared in a few undemanding supporting roles and made a brief return to the stage in the immediate aftermath of World War II. After toiling for several more years in assorted musicals and comedies without making too much of a ripple, she hit the big time with The Black Forest Girl (1950). The first motion picture to be shot in colour after the war, it ended up topping the popular charts and became the highest grossing picture of the year. Sonja garnered the first of two Bambi Awards but found herself effectively typecast. Further Heimatfilms and operettas followed which built on her pairing with Austrian matinee idol Rudolf Prack , lauded as Germany's most popular screen couple. Grün ist die Heide (1951) was the biggest of the Ziemann-Prack blockbusters, scoring an audience of 16 million viewers nationwide.
"All my roles were kitsch" she declared in a 1961 American interview. Indeed, many of those roles had relied on her camera-proof looks and patented profile. Eventually, Sonja took steps to shed her "snow white and marzipan" image and moved on to dramatic character roles. Her first was a Polish-West German co-production, The Eighth Day of the Week (1958), based on a story and screenplay by Polish author Marek Hlasko (who became her second husband in 1962). The rest of the decade completed her breakout from typecasting through a variety of roles and genres, some filmed at home, others in England or the U.S.. She now had leading roles in realistic wartime dramas based on factual events (Stalingrad: Dogs, Do You Want to Live Forever? (1959), Strafbataillon 999 (1960), The Bridge at Remagen (1969)), thrillers (Rebel Flight to Cuba (1959), Journey Into Nowhere (1962), Frühstück mit dem Tod (1964)) and crime dramas (Das Messer (1971)). There was even a comedy (of sorts) with Sonja billed second in the cast behind Terry-Thomas (as a 'germ detective') in A Matter of WHO (1961), shot by MGM at Elstree.
Sonja's screen acting took a backseat during the 70s with a return to the stage at theatres in Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich. Having moved to Switzerland, she became an honorary member of the Zurich Schauspielhaus in 1981. Three years after the death of Hlasko in 1969 she married the actor Charles Regnier. Sonja Ziemann died on February 17 2020 in Munich at the age of 94.- Charles Portis was born on 28 December 1933 in El Dorado, Arkansas, USA. He was a writer, known for True Grit (2010), True Grit (1969) and Gringos. He died on 17 February 2020 in Little Rock, Arkansas, USA.
- Director
- Writer
- Actor
Giorgi Shengelaia was born on 11 May 1937 in Moscow, RSFSR, USSR [now Russia]. He was a director and writer, known for Pirosmani (1969), Veris ubnis melodiebi (1973) and Voyage of the Young Composer (1985). He was married to Nina Ketevan and Sofiko Chiaureli. He died on 17 February 2020 in Georgia.- Composer
- Actor
- Music Department
Andrew Weatherall was born on 6 April 1963 in Windsor, Berkshire, England. He was a composer and actor, known for Only You (2018), Janice Beard (1999) and Loved Up (1995). He died on 17 February 2020 in London, England, UK.- María Moreno was a producer, known for Dream of Light (1992). She died on 17 February 2020 in Madrid, Spain.
- Actor
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Freddie Santos was born on 29 February 1956 in Cebu City, Cebu, Philippines. He was an actor, known for A Dangerous Life (1988), The Clash (2018) and Miss World Philippines 2011 (2011). He died on 17 February 2020 in the Philippines.- Ror Wolf was born on 29 June 1932 in Saalfeld, Thuringia, Germany. He was a writer, known for Jakob von Gunten (1971) and Druckfrisch (2003). He died on 17 February 2020 in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Born in 1925 in Kenner, LA, blues piano player Henry Gray made his name as a session player in Chicago in the 1950s and 1960s, and can be heard on the records of such icons as Bo Diddley, Little Walter and Jimmy Reed. His greatest claim to fame, however, is probably the fact that he was Howlin' Wolf's pianist for 12 years, in performances and on records.
A self-taught pianist, Gray played at church services and house parties before being drafted into the army during World War II. When he left the service in 1946 he headed for Chicago and was soon playing piano in a local outfit called Little Hudson's Red Devil Trio. It wasn't long before he was in demand as a sideman in clubs all over Chicago, and that exposure paved his way into lucrative session work in the many recording studios in Chicago at the time, and he worked steadily at such institutions as Chess Records and Vee-Jay Records.
In 1968 he left Chicago and Howlin Wolf's band behind and headed back to Louisiana. He lived and performed in the Baton Rouge area, and eventually formed his own band, The Henry Gray Cats. In 1977 he had a very successful tour in Germany and even recorded some albums there. In the 1980s he secured a contract with Blind Pig Records and issued his album, "Lucky Man", in 1988. He has stayed busy playing in festivals and jazz clubs, both in the US and abroad.- Sound Department
Mickey Wright was born on 14 February 1935 in San Diego, California, USA. He is known for Trainyard Dogs: Part I (2018), Plotagon Adventures (2018) and Gary Come Home (2019). He died on 17 February 2020 in Florida, USA.- Rita Walters was born on 14 August 1930 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. She was married to Wilbur E. Walters. She died on 17 February 2020 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Andrzej Popiel was born on 24 January 1936 in Kraków, Malopolskie, Poland. He was an actor, known for Outlanders (2007), Na klopoty... Bednarski (1986) and Smazalnia story (1985). He died on 17 February 2020 in Gdynia, Pomorskie, Poland.
- Cinematographer
- Director
- Writer
Jens Bjerre was born on 16 March 1921 in Maribo, Lolland, Denmark. He was a cinematographer and director, known for From Cairo to Capetown (1949), The Last Cannibals (1954) and Himalayas - Rooftop of the World (1951). He was married to Lone Høy and Ketty Marie Larsen. He died on 17 February 2020 in Denmark.- Feridon Berberi was born on 12 July 1935 in Pogradec, Albania. He was an actor, known for Mëngjeze lufte (1971) and Zonja nga qyteti (1976). He died on 17 February 2020 in Pogradec, Albania.