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1-18 of 18
- Actor
- Producer
- Music Department
Trini Lopez was an American singer and actor who had 16 Top 40 songs on the charts from 1963 through 1968. He was born Trinidad López III in the Little Mexico neighborhood of Dallas, Texas on May 15, 1937. He started performing with his own band when he was 15 years old and caught the eye of rock and roll legend Buddy Holly, who recommended him to a music producer who signed Lopez and his band, "The Big Beats," to Columbia Records.
Lopez eventually quit "The Big Beats" to go solo, but none of the singles he cut made the charts. He moved to Los Angeles to audition as a vocalist for Buddy Holly's old band "The Crickets," but didn't get the job. Performing in night clubs, he was discovered by Frank Sinatra, who signed Lopez to his label, Reprise Records.
His cover of "If I Had a Hammer" from his first album, which was released in 1963, made it to #3 on the charts, eventually earning a gold disc with sales exceeding one million copies. His other big hits were "Lemon Tree" and "I'm Comin' Home, Cindy", both of which made it to #2 on the Easy Listening chart, and "Michael", "Gonna Get Along Without Ya Now" and "The Bramble Bush", which made it to $7, #6 and #4, respectively.
Lopez's acting career was essentially still-born when he walked off the set of The Dirty Dozen (1967) at the urging of Sinatra (who supposedly thought his music career would stall if he continued to work on the movie, which had gone over its scheduled shooting date) or was fired by director Robert Aldrich for being disagreeable. He appeared infrequently as an actor over the next 10 years, mostly on television. In addition to singing and acting, Lopez designed two guitars for the Gibson Guitar Corporation, the Trini Lopez Standard and the Lopez Deluxe.
Trini Lopez was inducted into the International Latin Music Hall of Fame in 2003.- Viacom Chairman Sumner Murray Redstone was the multi-billionaire who was the leading shareholder of media conglomerate Viacom and CBS Corp.
He was born Sumner Murray Rothstein on May 27, 1923, in Boston, Massachusetts. His father, Michael Rothstein, created National Amusements, a chain of three drive-in theaters, in 1936, after starting out with one drive-in in Valley Stream, New York. In 1940, his family changed their surname to "Redstone," the English translation ("red stone") of the Yiddish Rothstein. Sumner attended Harvard College after graduating at the top of his class from the elite Boston Latin School, completing his bachelor of arts degree in three years during World War II, when college years were accelerated so that graduates could serve in the military. Redstone served in the army during World War II, working at the Pentagon decoding Japanese messages. After being demobilized, he remained in Washington and matriculated at Georgetown University Law School before transferring to Harvard Law. After graduating from Harvard Law with an LL.B, he returned to Washington, DC.
After working for the U.S. Department of Justice in San Francisco, Redstone went into private practice for several years before eventually returning to his father's National Amusements, which he turned into a major motion picture exhibitor in New England. He first made National Amusements one of the premier drive-in circuits in the country before turning to indoor exhibition. In 1964 National Amusements started building multi-screen theaters, originally called "twin theaters." These developed into the "multiplexes" and "megaplexes" that made National Amusements one of the top indoor exhibitors in the country, a great repositioning of the company, and a fortuitous one as the drive-in circuit faded away.
Redstone branched out of exhibition, as he believed that controlling the content was the way of the future--though distribution channels constantly change (from movie theaters, to TV, to cable, to videotape, to DVD), content remains constant. With this philosophy he began investing in motion picture production companies, turning a profit on buying, holding and selling shares.
In 1987 Redstone engineered a hostile takeover of Viacom International by National Amusements. Viacom began as a subsidiary of CBS, syndicating programs for the network. However, when the FCC in 1971 established its now rescinded "fin-syn" rule (that television networks could not syndicate programs they produced), Viacom was spun off from CBS. As a separate company Viacom continued to syndicate most of CBS' TV programs but was free to syndicate programs for others. After syndicating programs for cable TV channels, Viacom itself moved into cable and acquired MTV Networks in 1985. It represented a good platform from which to develop a content-distribution behemoth.
After winning voting control of Viacom, Redstone engaged in a series of acquisitions to make Viacom one of the top players in the modern media industry. During the 1990s Viacom eventually would own Columbia Pictures, Twentieth-Century Fox, Orion Pictures and Paramount Pictures, making huge profits from the sale of all but Paramount, which would become the motion picture arm of the conglomerate.
Paramount Communications, parent of Paramount Pictures, was acquired in 1993. Although criticized initially for paying too much for the company, Redstone helped pay for the acquisition by selling off some of its assets, including Madison Square Garden and its cable TV properties, and Simon & Schuster's educational publishing units. The sale of Paramount Communications' assets made the acquisition substantially profitable.
Redstone then acquired Blockbuster Entertainment, which gave Viacom Aaron Spelling's TV production company and a huge library of films, most of which were absorbed into Paramount Pictures' own library. Blockbuster eventually was spun off into its own independent entity. In 2000 Viacom pulled off arguably its most important acquisition when it acquired its former corporate parent, CBS Corp. In December of 2005 Paramount acquired Dreamworks SKG for an estimated $1.6 billion.
Under Redstone's management, Viacom has assembled one of the largest and most diversified media conglomerates, covering TV broadcasting, cable TV, radio broadcasting (Infinity Broadcasting), outdoor advertising, music publishing, motion pictures, television production, and its original business of TV syndication (King World Productions, which syndicates The Oprah Winfrey Show (1986)).
In 2005 Viacom International was split into two companies, Viacom and CBS Corp. Redstone was chairman of both the new Viacom and of CBS, controlling a majority of both firms. At one point, controlled over 70% of the voting stock of Viacom, which is a subsidiary of National Amusements, his private family-owned company.
National Amusements, whose president is Sumner's daughter (and probable successor) Shari E. Redstone, also owns a controlling interest (70%) of video-game maker Midway Games. In addition to its controlling interests in Viacom and CBS Corp., National Amusements is an international chain of movie theaters with 1,500 screens operated by the chains Showcase Cinemas, Multiplex Cinemas, KinoStar and Cinema de Lux banners in the U.S., the U.K., South America and Russia. It additionally operates IMAX theaters in the U.S. and Argentina. The firm is also a partner with AMC Theatres in the on-line ticketing firm "movietickets.com."
Redstone's autobiography, "A Passion To Win" (co-written by Peter Knobler), was published in 2001 by Viacom's Simon & Schuster subsidiary. In 2006, he was ranked #63 on Forbes magazine's list of the 100 richest people in the world, with an estimated worth of $7.7 billion.
He died on August 11, 2020, in Los Angeles, at the age of 97. - George Christy was born on 14 May 1927 in Monessen, Pennsylvania, USA. He was an actor, known for Die Hard (1988), Predator 2 (1990) and Se7en (1995). He died on 11 August 2020 in Santa Monica, California, USA.
- Louise Dunn was born on 22 September 1938 in Cairo, Egypt. She was an actress, known for Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960), The Liquidator (1965) and The War Lover (1962). She was married to David Jordan and Alistair Donald Cameron. She died on 11 August 2020 in the UK.
- Music Department
- Writer
- Actor
Rahat Indori was born in 1950 in India. He was a writer and actor, known for Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. (2003), Meenaxi: Tale of 3 Cities (2004) and Ishq (1997). He died on 11 August 2020 in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India.- Maria Koscialkowska was born on 2 February 1922 in Wilno, Wilenskie, Poland [now Vilnius, Lithuania]. She was an actress, known for Passenger (1963), The Decalogue (1989) and Romans prowincjonalny (1977). She died on 11 August 2020.
- Kiraz was born on 25 August 1923 in Cairo, Egypt. Kiraz was a writer, known for Les Parisiennes de Kiraz (1969). Kiraz died on 11 August 2020 in Paris, France.
- Born in Liverpool, his first taste of show business was at 7 when he was helping his father, the comedian Sandy Frank. On leaving school he became a stable boy for Lord Derry at Knowsley Hall. He then spent 5 years doing his National Service as a commando frogman with the Royal Marines. After leaving the service he worked as a semi pro vocalist around Liverpool clubs where he started making use of his ability to do impressions. His professional debut was as one of the Bill Shepherd Four in the Michael Holiday Show at the North Pier Blackpool. Later he appeared with the group in the Harry Secombe Show at the London Palladium.
- Actress
- Music Department
Belle du Berry was born on 8 April 1966 in Bourges, Cher, France. She was an actress, known for Lautrec (1998), Raoul et Jocelyne (2000) and Vivement dimanche (1998). She died on 11 August 2020 in Kremlin-Bicêtre, Val-de-Marne, France.- Don Edmunds was born on 23 September 1930 in the USA. He died on 11 August 2020 in the USA.
- Pierre Decazes was born on 12 July 1932 in Le Blanc-Mesnil, Seine-Saint-Denis, France. He was an actor, known for The Confession (1970), The Wing or The Thigh? (1976) and Léon Blum à l'échelle humaine (1986). He died on 11 August 2020 in Salviac, Lot, France.
- Geoffrey Nunberg was born on 1 June 1945 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA. He died on 11 August 2020 in San Francisco, California, USA.
- Editor
- Editorial Department
Adina Georgescu was born on 18 November 1931 in Olten, Switzerland. She was an editor, known for Unde la soare e frig (1991), Oaspeti de seara (1976) and The Thistles of the Baragan (1957). She died on 11 August 2020 in Bucuresti, Romania.- Ron Bartron was born on 22 November 1942 in Portland, Oregon, USA. He died on 11 August 2020 in Seattle, Washington, USA.
- Jo Pestum was born on 29 December 1936 in Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. He was a writer, known for Brausepulver (1989), Siebenstein (1988) and Neues aus Uhlenbusch (1977). He was married to ???. He died on 11 August 2020 in Billerbeck, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
- Peter Tytell was born on 13 August 1945 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA. He died on 11 August 2020 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA.
- Actor
- Cinematographer
Jacob Hacker was born on 15 August 1985 in the USA. He was an actor and cinematographer, known for The Monstor (2004). He died on 11 August 2020 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA.- Anneliese Kaplan was born on 12 March 1933 in Hamburg, Germany. She was an actress, known for The Last Waltz (1953), Der Fischer vom Heiligensee (1955) and Captain Bay-Bay (1953). She was married to Martin Böttcher. She died on 11 August 2020 in Westerrönfeld, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.