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Kevin Costner

Kevin Costner

Kevin Michael Costner (born January 18, 1955) is an American film actor and director who has often produced his own films. Born in Lynwood, California to William Costner (an electrician of German and 1/4 Native American descent) and Sharon Tedrick (of Irish Baptist descent). Costner spent his teenage years and pre-actor adulthood in Orange County, California, graduating from Villa Park High School in Villa Park, California in 1973, and earning a B.A. in business from California State University, Fullerton in 1978, where he was a member of the Delta Chi Fraternity. He became interested in acting while still in college, and began taking acting lessons five nights a week. Costner later worked briefly with a California marketing firm, after a chance encounter with actor Richard Burton, who struck up a conversation with him. Burton had advised the young man that if he wanted to pursue acting, he should give everything up completely and go after it with both hands. Costner married a Portuguese-American by the name of Cindy Silva. With his wife behind him, Costner worked on fishing boats and as a truck driver, and gave tours of stars' Hollywood homes to support the two while he made the audition rounds. He booked one of his first leading roles in the softcore sex comedy Sizzle Beach U.S.A., a film which prompted the actor to swear off doing that kind of film to wait for a proper break which came years later with Silverado. Costner's most popular success was the epic Dances with Wolves. He directed and starred in the film and served as one of two producers. The film was nominated for twelve Academy Awards and won seven, including two for him personally (Best Picture and Best Director). Almost all of his subsequent film efforts have been criticized for being too long and overly serious, and for squandering financial resources. The science-fiction epics Waterworld and The Postman were both initially considered major disappointments at the box office. However, Waterworld grossed $264 million worldwide from a $175 million budget (according to [http://www.imdb.com IMDB]).

Trivia


- Costner was cast in the hit The Big Chill. He filmed several scenes which were planned as flashbacks, but they never made it to the final cut. He was the friend who committed suicide, the event around which the plot of the movie revolves. All that is seen of him are his slashed wrists as the mortician dresses his corpse in the movie's opening scenes. Costner was a friend of director Lawrence Kasdan, who later promised the actor a role in a future project, which became Silverado and included a breakout role for Costner.
- Costner's height is 6'1".
- Turned down the role of the US President in Air Force One.
- Appeared in a commercial for the Apple Lisa in 1983.

Filmography


- Stacy's Knights (1982)
- Chasing Dreams (1982)
- Night Shift (1982)
- Frances (1982)
- Table for Five (1983)
- The Big Chill (1983) (scenes deleted)
- Testament (1983)
- The Gunrunner (1984)
- Fandango (1985)
- Silverado (1985)
- American Flyers (1985)
- Sizzle Beach, U.S.A. (1986)
- Shadows Run Black (1986)
- The Untouchables (1987)
- No Way Out (1987)
- Bull Durham (1988)
- Field of Dreams (1989)
- Revenge (1990) (also executive producer)
- Dances with Wolves (1990) (also director and producer)
- Madonna: Truth or Dare (1991) (documentary)
- Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991) (also producer)
- JFK (1991)
- Oliver Stone (1992) (documentary)
- Beyond 'JFK': The Question of Conspiracy (1992) (documentary)
- The Bodyguard (1992) (also producer)
- Amazing Stories: Book One' (1992). segment:The Mission He plays the captain of the plane
- A Perfect World (1993)
- A Century of Cinema (1994) (documentary)
- Wyatt Earp (1994) (also producer)
- The War (1994)
- Waterworld (1995) (also director and producer)
- Tin Cup (1996)
- Sean Connery, an Intimate Portrait (1997) (documentary)
- The Postman (1997) (also director and producer)
- Message in a Bottle (1999) (also producer)
- For Love of the Game (1999)
- Play It to the Bone (1999) (Cameo)
- Thirteen Days (2000) (also producer)
- 3000 Miles to Graceland (2001)
- Dragonfly (2002)
- Open Range (2003) (also director and producer)
- The Upside of Anger (2005)
- Rumor Has It (2005) (currently in post-production)
- The Guardian (2006) (currently filming)
- The Tortilla Curtain (2006) (currently in pre-production) (also producer)

External links


-
- [http://www.kevincostner.com/ KevinCostner.com] Costner, Kevin Costner, Kevin Costner, Kevin Costner, Kevin Costner, Kevin Costner, Kevin Costner, Kevin Costner, Kevin Costner, Kevin Costner, Kevin Costner, Kevin ja:ケビン・コスナー

January 18

January 18 is the 18th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 347 days remaining (348 in leap years)

Events


- 336 - Saint Mark elected Catholic Pope.
- 350 - General Magnentius deposes Roman Emperor Constans, proclaims himself Emperor.
- 474 - Leo II briefly becomes Byzantine emperor
- 532 - Nika riots in Constantinople fail.
- 1307 - German king Albrecht I makes his son Rudolf king of Bohemia.
- 1479 - Louis IX, the Rich, duke of Bayern (U of Ingolstadt), dies at 61.
- 1486 - King Henry VII of England marries Elizabeth, daughter of Edward IV.
- 1520 - King Christian II of Denmark and Norway defeats the Swedes at Lake Asunde.
- 1535 - Lima, Peru founded by Francisco Pizarro.
- 1670 - Henry Morgan captures Panama.
- 1701 - Frederick I becomes King of Prussia.
- 1778 - James Cook is the first known European to discover the Hawaiian Islands, which he names the "Sandwich Islands".
- 1861 - Georgia joins the Confederacy.
- 1871 - Wilhelm I of Germany becomes the first German Emperor.
- 1884 - Dr William Price attempts to cremate the body of his infant son, Jesus Christ Price, setting a legal precedent for cremation in the UK.
- 1886 - Modern field hockey is born with the formation of The Hockey Association in England.
- 1896 - The X-ray machine is exhibited for the first time.
- 1911 - Eugene B. Ely lands on the deck of the USS Pennsylvania stationed in San Francisco harbor, marking the first time an aircraft landed on a ship
- 1915 - Japan issues the "Twenty-One Demands" to China in a bid to increase its power in east Asia.
- 1916 - A 611 gram chondrite type meteorite struck a house near the village of Baxter in Stone County, Missouri.
- 1919 - World War I: The Paris Peace Conference opens in Versailles, France.
- 1919 - Bentley Motors is founded.
- 1939 - Louis Armstrong records Jeepers Creepers.
- 1943 - World War II: Soviet officials announce they have broken the Wehrmacht's siege of Leningrad.
- 1943 - Warsaw Ghetto Uprising: The first uprising of Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto.
- 1944 - The Metropolitan Opera House in New York City for the first time hosts a jazz concert; the performers are Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, Artie Shaw, Roy Eldridge and Jack Teagarden.
- 1945 - Liberation of the Budapest ghetto by the Red Army
- 1958 - Willie O'Ree, the first African American National Hockey League player, make his NHL debut with the Boston Bruins.
- 1964 - Plans are revealed for the World Trade Center in New York City.
- 1964 - The Beatles appear on the Billboard magazine charts for the first time.
- 1967 - Albert DeSalvo, the "Boston Strangler," is convicted of numerous crimes and is sentenced to life in prison.
- 1975 - The Jeffersons debuts on CBS.
- 1977 - Scientists identify a previously unknown bacterium as the cause of the mysterious "legionnaire's disease."
- 1977 - Australia's worst rail disaster occurs at Granville, Sydney killing 83.
- 1978 - The European Court of Human Rights finds the United Kingdom government guilty of mistreating prisoners in Northern Ireland, but not guilty of torture.
- 1983 - The International Olympic Committee restores Jim Thorpe Olympic medals to his family.
- 1990 - Former preschool operators Raymond Buckey and his mother Peggy McMartin Buckey are acquitted in a Los Angeles, California court of 52 child molestation charges.
- 1990 - Washington, DC, Mayor Marion Barry is arrested for drug possession in an FBI sting.
- 1991 - Eastern Airlines shuts down after 62 years citing financial problems.
- 1993 - For the first time, Martin Luther King Jr. holiday is officially observed in all 50 United States states.
- 1995 - In southern France near Vallon-Pont-d'Arc a network of caves are discovered that contain paintings and engravings that are 17,000 to 20,000 years old.
- 1997 - In north west Rwanda, Hutu militia members kill 3 Spanish aid workers, 3 soldiers and seriously wound one other.
- 1997 - Boerge Ousland of Norway becomes the first person to cross Antarctica alone and unaided.
- 1998 - Lewinsky scandal: Matt Drudge breaks the Bill Clinton - Monica Lewinsky affair story on his website The Drudge Report.
- 2002 - A Canadian Pacific Railway train carrying anhydrous ammonia derails outside of Minot, North Dakota, killing one man and calling into question the maintenance of CP track and the policy of voice-tracking used by Clear Channel Communications.
- 2003 - Canberra firestorm, kills 4 and destroys 491 homes
- 2005 - A U.N. World Conference on Disaster Reduction in Kobe, Japan begins

Births


- 885 - Daigo, Emperor of Japan (d. 930)
- 1543 - Alfonso Ferrabosco (I), Italian composer (d. 1588)
- 1641 - François-Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois, French war minister (d. 1691)
- 1672 - Antoine Houdar de la Motte, French writer (d. 1731)
- 1688 - Lionel Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (d. 1765)
- 1689 - Montesquieu, French writer (d. 1755)
- 1779 - Peter Roget, British lexicographer (d. 1869)
- 1782 - Daniel Webster, American statesman (d. 1852)
- 1840 - Henry Austin Dobson, English poet (d. 1921)
- 1842 - Albert Alonzo Ames, Mayor of Minneapolis (d. 1911)
- 1848 - Ioan Slavici, Transylvanian writer (d. 1925)
- 1849 - Edmund Barton, first Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1920)
- 1850 - Seth Low, American politician (d. 1916)
- 1854 - Thomas Watson, American telephone pioneer (d. 1934)
- 1882 - A. A. Milne, English author (d. 1956)
- 1888 - Thomas Sopwith, British aviation pioneer (d. 1989)
- 1892 - Oliver Hardy, American comedian and actor (d. 1957)
- 1892 - Paul Rostock, German surgeon (d. 1956)
- 1904 - Cary Grant, English actor (d. 1986)
- 1905 - Joseph Bonanno, Italian-born gangster (d. 2002)
- 1908 - Jacob Bronowski, Polish-born mathematician, poet, and physicist (d. 1974)
- 1913 - Danny Kaye, American actor (d. 1987)
- 1914 - Arno Schmidt, German author (d. 1979)
- 1914 - William Stafford, American poet (d. 1993)
- 1922 - Bob Bell, American clown (d. 1997)
- 1931 - Chun Doo-hwan, President of South Korea
- 1932 - Robert Anton Wilson, American author
- 1933 - John Boorman, Irish film director
- 1934 - Raymond Briggs, English writer and illustrator
- 1937 - John Hume, Irish politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1998
- 1938 - Curt Flood, baseball player (d. 1997)
- 1941 - David Ruffin, American singer (d. 1991)
- 1941 - Doodles Weaver, Amnerican singer
- 1943 - Kay Granger, American politician
- 1944 - Paul Keating, twenty-fourth Prime Minister of Australia
- 1946 - Joseph Deiss, Swiss Federal Councilor
- 1947 - Takeshi Kitano, Japanese actor and director
- 1949 - Philippe Starck, French designer
- 1950 - Gilles Villeneuve, Canadian race car driver (d. 1982)
- 1952 - R. Stevie Moore, American singer, songwriter, and home recording pioneer
- 1953 - Brett Hudson, American actor
- 1955 - Kevin Costner, American actor
- 1956 - Sharon Mitchell, American actress
- 1961 - Mark Messier, Canadian hockey player
- 1962 - Jeff Yagher, American actor
- 1964 - Jane Horrocks, British actress
- 1965 - Dave Attell, American writer and comedian
- 1966 - David Bautista, American professional wrestler
- 1967 - Kim Perrot, American basketball player (d. 1999)
- 1969 - Jesse L. Martin, American actor
- 1970 - DJ Quik, American rapper
- 1971 - Jonathan Davis, American musician (KoЯn)
- 1971 - Christian Fittipaldi, Brazilian race car driver
- 1972 - Mike Lieberthal, baseball player
- 1973 - Crispian Mills, British musician (The Jeevas and Kula Shaker)
- 1974 - Michael Tunn, Australian television and radio
- 1979 - Paulo Ferreira, Portuguese footballer
- 1980 - Julius Peppers, American football player
- 1982 - Quinn Allman, American musician (The Used)
- 1982 - Bert McCracken, American vocalist (The Used)
- 1983 - Samantha Mumba, Irish singer and actress

Deaths


- 52 BC - Publius Clodius Pulcher (murdered)
- 474 - Leo I, Byzantine Emperor (b. 401)
- 1367 - King Peter I of Portugal (b. 1320)
- 1425 - Edmund de Mortimer, 5th Earl of March, English politician (b. 1391)
- 1471 - Emperor Go-Hanazono of Japan (b. 1419)
- 1547 - Pietro Bembo, Italian Catholic cardinal (b. 1470)
- 1583 - Margaret of Austria, regent of the Netherlands (b. 1522)
- 1677 - Jan van Riebeeck, Dutch merchant (b. 1619)
- 1862 - John Tyler, President of the United States (b. 1790)
- 1873 - Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, English author (b. 1803)
- 1927 - Empress Carlotta of Mexico (b. 1840)
- 1936 - Rudyard Kipling, British writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1865)
- 1940 - Kazimierz Tetmajer, Polish writer (b. 1865)
- 1952 - Curly Howard, American actor and comedian (b. 1903)
- 1954 - Sydney Greenstreet, English actor (b. 1879)
- 1966 - Kathleen Norris, American writer (b. 1880)
- 1967 - Goose Tatum, American basketball player
- 1969 - Hans Freyer, German sociologist (b. 1887)
- 1970 - David O. McKay, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1873)
- 1980 - Sir Cecil Beaton, English fashion designer (b. 1904)
- 1984 - Vassilis Tsitsanis, Greek singer and songwriter (b. 1915)
- 1985 - Wilfrid Brambell, Irish actor (b. 1912)
- 1995 - Adolf Butenandt, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1903)
- 1995 - Ron Luciano, baseball umpire (b. 1937)
- 1997 - Paul Tsongas, U.S. Senator from Massachusetts (b. 1941)
- 2000 - Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, Austrian architect (b. 1897)
- 2001 - Laurent-Désiré Kabila, President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (b. 1939)
- 2001 - Al Waxman, Canadian actor (b. 1935)
- 2003 - Edward "The Sheik" Farhat, American professional wrestler (b. 1924)
- 2005 - Lamont Bentley, American actor (b. 1973)

Holidays and observances


- Christian ecumenism - Week of Prayer for Christian Unity begins

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/18 BBC: On This Day] ---- January 17 - January 19 - December 18 - February 18 — listing of all days ko:1월 18일 ms:18 Januari ja:1月18日 simple:January 18 th:18 มกราคม

1955

1955 (MCMLV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar.

Events


- January 7 - Marian Anderson is the first African American singer to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.
- January 22 - Pentagon announces plan to develop ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missiles) armed with nuclear weapons
- February 8 - Nikolai Bulganin becomes Soviet Premier.
- February 12 - US President Dwight D. Eisenhower sends the first U.S. advisors to South Vietnam.
- February 22 - In Chicago's Democratic primary, Mayor Martin H. Kennelly loses to the head of the Cook County Democratic Party, Richard J. Daley, 364,839 to 264,775
- March 20 - Blackboard Jungle opens in theaters featuring the song Rock Around the Clock by Bill Haley and his Comets, thus propelling Rock and Roll as a musical genre. Teenagers jump from their seats to dance to the song.
- April 5 - Winston Churchill resigns as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
- April 5 - Richard J. Daley defeats Robert Merrian to become mayor of Chicago by a vote of 708,222 to 581,555.
- April 6 - Anthony Eden becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
- April 12 - The Salk polio vaccine is introduced.
- April 15 - Ray Kroc starts the McDonald's fast food restaurant chain.
- April 18 - Imre Nagy, premier of Hungary, ousted for being too moderate
- May 5 - West Germany becomes a sovereign state.
- May 9 - West Germany joins NATO.
- May 14 - The Warsaw Pact is formed by the communist states of Eastern Europe and the USSR.
- May 31 - The United States Supreme Court orders school integration at "all deliberate speed"
- July 17 - Disneyland opens.
- July 18 - The first atomic-generated electrical power is sold commercially.
- July 18 - Illinois's Govenor William Stratton signs Loyalty Oath Act that mandates all public employees take a loyalty oath or lose their jobs.
- July 18 - Beginning of Geneva Summit between US, USSR, England, and France.
- July 23 - Geneva Summit between US, USSR, England, and France ends.
- August 19 - Hurricane Diane hits the northeast United States, killing 200 and causing over $1 billion in damage.
- August 20 - Hundreds killed in anti-French rioting in Morocco and Algeria.
- August 25 - The last Soviet forces leave Austria.
- September 10 - Gunsmoke debuts on CBS.
- September 19 - President of Argentina Juan Peron is ousted in a military coup.
- September 19 - Hurricane Hilda kills 200 in Mexico.
- September 22 - Commercial television begins in England.
- September 24 - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower suffers coronary thrombosis while on vacation in Denver.
- September 30 - Actor James Dean killed in car accident near Cholame, California.
- October 4 - The Reverend Sun Myung Moon is released from prison in Seoul, Korea.
- October 26 - Ngo Dinh Diem proclaims Vietnam a republic with himself as president.
- November 1 - Time bomb explodes aboard a United Airlines DC-6 killing 44 above Longmont, Colorado.
- November 5 - Racial segregation is forbidden on trains and buses in interstate commerce.
- November 5 - Dr. Emmett Brown invents the Flux Capacitor.
- November 23 - The Cocos Islands are transferred from the control of the United Kingdom to Australia.
- December 1 - Montgomery, Alabama seamstress, Rosa Parks, refuses to give up her bus seat to a white man and is arrested.
- December 5 - The American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merge to become the AFL-CIO.
- December 14 - Tappan Zee Bridge in New York opens to traffic.
- December 31 - General Motors becomes the first American corporation to make over USD $1 billion in a year.
- 70 mm film is introduced with Oklahoma!.
- Düsseldorf-Mönchengladbach Airport (Flughafen Düsseldorf-Mönchengladbach) was founded.

Births

January-February


- January 2 - Tex Brashear, American voice actor
- January 6 - Rowan Atkinson, English comedian and actor
- January 12 - Rockne O'Bannon, writer and television producer
- January 13 - Jay McInerney, American writer
- January 15 - Nigel Benson, British author and illustrator
- January 17 - Steve Earle, American musician
- January 18 - Kevin Costner, American actor
- January 22 - Neil Mallon Bush, son of George Bush and Barbara Pierce Bush and brother of President George W. Bush
- January 19 - Simon Rattle, English conductor
- January 26 - Edward Van Halen, Dutch-born musician
- January 27 - John Roberts, Chief Justice of the United States
- February 3 - Stephen Euin Cobb, American novelist
- February 8 - John Grisham, American novelist
- February 10 - Chris Adams, American professional wrestler (d. 2001)
- February 10 - Greg Norman, Australian golfer
- February 12 - Arsenio Hall, American actor and talk show host
- February 15 - Christopher McDonald, American actor
- February 19 - Jeff Daniels, American actor
- February 20 - Kelsey Grammer, American actor
- February 23 - Howard Jones, English musician
- February 24 - Alain Prost, French race car driver
- February 24 - Steve Jobs, American computer pioneer

March-April


- March 5 - Penn Jillette, American magician and comedian
- March 6 - Alberta Watson, Canadian actress
- March 7 - Tommy Kramer, American football player
- March 15 - Dee Snider, American singer
- March 16 - Jiro Watanabe, Japanese boxer
- March 16 - Bruno Barreto, Brazilian film director
- March 17 - Gary Sinise, American actor
- March 19 - Bruce Willis, American actor
- March 22 - Pete Sessions, American politician
- March 23 - Moses Malone, American basketball player
- March 28 - Reba McEntire, American singer and actress
- March 29 - Earl Campbell, American football star
- March 31 - Angus Young, Scottish musician
- April 6 - Michael Rooker, American actor
- April 7 - Werner Stocker, German actor (d. 1993)
- April 8 - Kane Hodder, American actor
- April 11 - Kevin Brady, American politician
- April 15 - Dodi Al-Fayed, Egyptian businessman (d. 1997)
- April 16 - Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg
- April 23 - Tony Miles, English chess player (d. 2001)
- April 29 - Kate Mulgrew, American actress

May


- May 1 - Ray Buttigieg, Maltese composer and poet
- May 2 - Dave Winer, American software pioneer
- May 3 - David Hookes, Australian cricketer (d. 2004)
- May 3 - Steve Jones, guitarist for Sex Pistols
- May 6 - Tom Bergeron, American television host
- May 9 - Anne-Sofie von Otter, Swedish mezzo-soprano
- May 10 - Chris Berman, American sports broadcaster
- May 10 - Mark David Chapman, American assassin of John Lennon
- May 16 - Olga Korbut, Russian gymnast
- May 16 - Jack Morris, baseball player
- May 16 - Hazel O'Connor, British singer
- May 16 - Debra Winger, American actress
- May 17 - Bill Paxton, American actor
- May 18 - Chow Yun-Fat, Hong Kong actor
- May 20 - Zbigniew Preisner, Polish film composer
- May 21 - Paul Barber, British field hockey player
- May 26 - Masaharu Morimoto, Japanese chef
- May 26 - Doris Dörrie, German actress and screenplay writer
- May 28 - John McGeoch, Scottish musician (Siouxsie and the Banshees and Public Image Ltd.) (d. 2004)
- May 30 - Topper Headon, British drummer (The Clash)

June-September


- June 2 - Dana Carvey, American actor and comedian
- June 7 - Tim Richmond, American race car driver (d. 1989)
- June 8 - Tim Berners-Lee, English inventor of the World Wide Web
- June 13 - Larry Mike Garmon, American author
- June 20 - Tor Norretranders, Danish author
- June 21 - Tim Bray, Canadian computer programmer
- June 25 - Terry Chimes, British drummer (The Clash)
- June 26 - Mick Jones, British guitarist (The Clash and Big Audio Dynamite)
- June 27 - Isabelle Adjani, French actress
- July 1 - Sanma Akashiya, Japanese comedian and actor
- July 9 - Fred Norris, American radio personality
- August 4 - Billy Bob Thornton, American actor
- August 7 - Vladimir Sorokin, Russian writer
- August 19 - Peter Gallagher, American actor
- September 1 - Bruce Foxton, English musician
- September 10 - Pat Mastelotto, American musician
- September 16 - Robin Yount, baseball player

October-December


- October 7 - Yo-Yo Ma, French-born Chinese cellist
- October 10 - David Lee Roth, American rock singer
- October 15 - Kulbir Bhaura, British field hockey player
- October 17 - Mae Jemison, astronaut
- October 21 - Rich Mullins, American musician (d. 1997)
- October 28 - Bill Gates, American software entrepreneur
- November 3 - Phil Simms, American football player
- November 4 - Matti Vanhanen, Prime Minister of Finland
- November 6 - Maria Shriver, American journalist
- November 7 - Detlef Ultsch, German judoka
- November 13 - Whoopi Goldberg, American actress, comedienne, and singer
- November 21 - Kyle Gann, American composer and music critic
- November 23 - Steven Brust, American author
- November 24 - Ian Botham, British cricketer
- November 24 - Elvis Ramone, American drummer The Ramones
- November 24 - Takashi Yuasa, Japanese lawyer
- December 3 - Steven Culp, American actor
- December 4 - Maurizio Bianchi, Italian experimental musician
- December 12 - Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, Greek politician and businesswoman
- December 15 - Paul Simonon, British bassist (The Clash)
- December 17 - Brad Davis, American basketball player
- December 18 - Ray Liotta, American actor
- December 21 - Jane Kaczmarek, American actress
- December 27 - Barbara Olson, American television commentator (d. 2001)

Deaths


- January 2 - Jose Antonio Remon, President of Panama
- January 15 - Yves Tanguy, French painter (b. 1900)
- January 21 - Archie Hahn, American athlete (b. 1880)
- January 31 - John Mott, American YMCA leader, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1865)
- March 11 - Sir Alexander Fleming, Scottish scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1881)
- March 12 - Charlie Parker, American jazz saxophonist (b. 1920)
- April 7 - Theda Bara, American film actress (b. 1885)
- April 18 - Albert Einstein, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1879)
- May 4 - Georges Enescu, Romanian composer (b. 1881)
- May 10 - Tommy Burns, American boxer (b. 1881)
- May 11 - Gilbert Jessop, English cricketer (b. 1874)
- May 16 - James Agee, American writer (b. 1909)
- May 18 - Mary McLeod Bethune, American educator (b. 1875)
- May 26 - Alberto Ascari, Italian race car driver (b. 1918)
- July 23 - Cordell Hull, United States Secretary of State, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1871)
- August 2 - Wallace Stevens, American poet (b. 1879)
- August 5 - Carmen Miranda, Portuguese singer and actress (b. 1909)
- August 12 - Thomas Mann, German writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1875)
- August 12 - James B. Sumner, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1887)
- September 30 - James Dean, American actor (automobile accident) (b. 1931)
- October 1 - Charles Christie, American film studio owner (b. 1880)
- October 9 - Theodor Cardinal Innitzer, Archbishop of Vienna (b. 1875)
- November 4 - Cy Young, baseball player (b. 1867)
- November 5 - Maurice Utrillo, French artist (b. 1882)
- November 12 - Alfréd Hajós, Hungarian swimmer (b. 1878)
- November 27 - Arthur Honegger, French-born Swiss composer (b. 1982)
- December 6 - Honus Wagner, baseball player (b. 1874)
- December 13 - Egas Moniz, Portuguese physician and neurologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1874)
- December 27 - Alfred Francis Blakeney Carpenter, English soldier (b. 1881)

Nobel Prizes


- Physics - Willis Eugene Lamb, Polykarp Kusch
- Chemistry - Vincent du Vigneaud
- Physiology or Medicine- Axel Hugo Theodor Theorell
- Literature - Halldór Kiljan Laxness
- Peace - not awarded
- ko:1955년 ms:1955 ja:1955年 simple:1955 th:พ.ศ. 2498

Actor

An actor is a person who acts, or plays a role, in an artistic production. The term commonly refers to someone working in movies, television, live theatre, or radio, and can occasionally denote a street entertainer. Besides playing dramatic roles, actors may also sing or dance or work only on radio or as a voice artist. A female actor may be known as an actress, although some prefer the term "actor", using it as a gender-neutral term. An actor usually plays a fictional character. In the case of a true story (or a fictional story that portrays real people) an actor may play a real person (or a fictional version of the same). Occasionally, actors appear as themselves.

Etymology

"Actor" is directly from the masculine Latin noun actor (feminine, actrix) from the verb agere "to do, to drive, to pass time" + the suffix -or "so./st. who performs the action indicated by the stem". Alternatively from Greek (aktor), leader, from the verb (agō), to lead or carry, to convey, to bring.

History

The first recorded case of an actor performing took place in 534 B.C. (probably on 23 November, though the changes in calendar over the years make it hard to determine exactly) when the Greek performer Thespis stepped on to the stage at the Theatre Dionysus and became the first person to speak words as a character in a play. The machinations of storytelling were immediately revolutionized. Prior to Thespis' act, stories were told in song and dance and in third person narrative, but no one had assumed the role of a character in a story. In honour of Thespis, actors are commonly called Thespians. Theatrical myth to this day maintains that Thespis exists as a mischievous spirit, and disasters in the theatre are sometimes blamed on his ghostly intervention. However, this negative perception dramaticaly changed in 20th Century as acting became an honored and popular profession and art. Part of the reason is due to the rise of the popular appeal and access to dramatic film entertainment and the resulting rise of the movie star in social status and the large salaries they commanded. The combination of public presence and wealth had a profound rehabilitation to the image. In the past, only men could become actors. In the ancient and medieval world, it was considered disgraceful for a woman to go on the stage, and this belief continued right up until the 17th century, when in Venice it was broken. In the time of William Shakespeare, women's roles were played by men or boys, though there is some evidence to suggest that women disguised as men also (illegally) performed.

Actresses in male roles

Women actors sometimes play the roles of prepubescent boys, because in some regards a woman has a closer resemblance to a boy than does a man. The role of Peter Pan, for example, is traditionally played by a woman. The tradition of the principal boy in pantomime may be compared. An adult playing a child occurs more in theater than in film. The exception to this is voice actors in animated films, where boys are generally voiced by women, as heard in "The Simpsons". Opera has several 'pants roles' traditionally sung by women, usually mezzo-sopranos. Examples are Hansel in Hansel und Gretel, and Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro. Mary Pickford played the part of Little Lord Fauntleroy in the first film version of the book. Linda Hunt won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in The Year of Living Dangerously, in which she played the part of a man. Having an actor play the opposite sex for comic effect is also a long standing tradition in comic theatre and film. Most of Shakespeare's comedies include instances of cross dressing, and both Dustin Hoffman and Robin Williams appeared in hit comedy films where they were required to play most scenes dressed as women. Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon famously posed as women to escape gangsters in the Billy Wilder film Some Like It Hot.

Techniques of acting

Actors employ a variety of techniques that are learned through training and experience. Some of these are: #The rigorous use of the voice to communicate a character's lines and express emotion. This is achieved through attention to diction and projection through correct breathing and articulation. It is also achieved through the tone and emphasis that an actor puts on words #Physicalisation of a role in order to create a believable character for the audience and to use the acting space appropriately and correctly #Use of gesture to complement the voice, interact with other actors and to bring emphasis to the words in a play, as well as having symbolic meaning Shakespeare is believed to have been commenting on the acting style and techniques of his era when Hamlet gives his famous advice to the players:
Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you, trippingly on the tongue: but if you mouth it, as many of your players do, I had as lief the town-crier spoke my lines. Nor do not saw the air too much with your hand, thus, but use all gently; for in the very torrent, tempest, and, as I may say, the whirlwind of passion, you must acquire and beget a temperance that may give it smoothness. O, it offends me to the soul to hear a robustious periwig-pated fellow tear a passion to tatters, to very rags, to split the ears of the groundlings, who for the most part are capable of nothing but inexplicable dumbshows and noise: I would have such a fellow whipped for o'erdoing Termagant; it out-herods Herod: pray you, avoid it.
Be not too tame neither, but let your own discretion be your tutor: suit the action to the word, the word to the action; with this special observance: o'erstep not the modesty of nature: for any thing so overdone is from the purpose of playing, whose end, both at the first and now, was and is, to hold, as 'twere, the mirror up to nature; to show virtue her own feature, scorn her own image, and the very age and body of the time his form and pressure. Now this overdone, or come tardy off, though it make the unskilful laugh, cannot but make the judicious grieve; the censure of the which one must in your allowance o'erweigh a whole theatre of others. O, there be players that I have seen play, and heard others praise, and that highly, not to speak it profanely, that, neither having the accent of Christians nor the gait of Christian, pagan, nor man, have so strutted and bellowed that I have thought some of nature's journeymen had made men and not made them well, they imitated humanity so abominably.
O, reform it altogether. And let those that play your clowns speak no more than is set down for them; for there be of them that will themselves laugh, to set on some quantity of barren spectators to laugh too; though, in the mean time, some necessary question of the play be then to be considered: that's villanous, and shows a most pitiful ambition in the fool that uses it. Go, make you ready.

Acting awards


- Academy Awards, also known as the Oscars, for film
- Golden Globe Awards for film and television
- Emmy Awards for television
- Genie Awards for film
- Gemini Awards for television
- British Academy of Film and Television Arts Award for film and television
- Tony Awards for the theatre (specifically, Broadway theatre)
- European Theatre Awards for the theatre
- Laurence Olivier Awards for the theatre
- Screen Actors Guild Awards for film and television

See also


- Movie star
- Stunt work
- Lists of actors
- Celebrities

Suggested reading


- An Actor Prepares by Konstantin Stanislavski (Theatre Arts Books, 0878309837, 1989)
- A Dream of Passion: The Development of the Method by Lee Strasberg (Plume Books, 0452261988, 1990)
- Sanford Meisner on Acting by Sanford Meisner (Vintage, 0394750594, 1987)
- Letters to a Young Actor by Robert Brustein (Basic Books, 0465008062, 2005).
- Category:Entertainment occupations ko:배우 ms:Pelakon ja:俳優

Lynwood, California

Lynwood is a city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States of America. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 69,845. Lynwood is located near South Gate and Carson in the southern portion of the Los Angeles Basin.

Geography

Lynwood is located at 33°55'29" North, 118°12'7" West (33.924642, -118.201862). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 12.6 km² (4.8 mi²). 12.6 km² (4.8 mi²) of it is land and none of it is covered by water.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there are 69,845 people, 14,395 households, and 12,941 families residing in the city. The population density is 5,560.3/km² (14,389.2/mi²). There are 14,987 housing units at an average density of 1,193.1/km² (3,087.6/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 33.62% White, 13.53% African American, 1.20% Native American, 0.76% Asian, 0.39% Pacific Islander, 46.14% from other races, and 4.36% from two or more races. 82.33% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race. There are 14,395 households out of which 63.5% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 60.5% are married couples living together, 20.6% have a female householder with no husband present, and 10.1% are non-families. 7.7% of all households are made up of individuals and 2.6% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 4.70 and the average family size is 4.76. In the city the population is spread out with 38.0% under the age of 18, 13.1% from 18 to 24, 31.2% from 25 to 44, 13.5% from 45 to 64, and 4.2% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 24 years. For every 100 females there are 104.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 104.2 males. The median income for a household in the city is $35,888, and the median income for a family is $35,808. Males have a median income of $23,241 versus $19,149 for females. The per capita income for the city is $9,542. 23.5% of the population and 21.0% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 28.3% of those under the age of 18 and 14.3% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.

Notable natives


- Kevin Costner
- Rick Adelman
- Venus Williams, tennis player
- "Weird Al" Yankovic

Education

Lynwood is served by the Lynwood Unified School District.

External links


- [http://www.lynwood.ca.us/ Lynwood official website] Category:Cities in Los Angeles County

German peoples

The Germans (German: die Deutschen), or the German people, are a nation in the meaning an ethnos (in German: Volk), defined more by a sense of sharing a common German culture and having a German mother tongue, than by citizenship or by being subjects to any particular country. In the world today, approximately 100 million have German as their mother tongue. If a distinction is made between Germans and Ethnic Germans, the latter are distinguished by living outside of the Federal Republic of Germany and not holding German citizenship. The concept of who is a German has varied. Until the 19th century, it denoted the speakers of German, and was a much more distinct concept than that of Germany, the land of the Germans. The Dutch and the Swiss had already split off and shaped separate national identities. Swiss Germans, however, retained their cultural identity as German, albeit as a specific German subculture. In the 19th century, after the Napoleonic Wars and the fall of the Holy Roman Empire (of the German nation), Austria and Prussia would emerge as two opposite poles in Germany, trying to re-establish the divided German nation. In 1870, Prussia attracted even Bavaria in the Franco-Prussian War and the creation of the German Empire as a German nation-state, effectively excluding the multi-ethnic Austrian Habsburg monarchy. From this time on, the connotation of Germans came to shift gradually from "speakers of the German language" to "Imperial Germans." Before World War II, most Austrians considered themselves German and denied the existence of a distinct Austrian ethnic identity. It was only after the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II that this began to change. After the world war, the Austrians increasingly saw themselves as a nation distinct from the other German-speaking areas of Europe, and today, polls indicate that no more than ten percent of the German-speaking Austrians see themselves as part of a larger German nation linked by blood or language. Ethnic Germans form an important minority group in several countries in central and eastern Europe (Poland, Hungary, Romania) as well as in Namibia and in southern Brazil. Until the 1990s two million Ethnic Germans lived throughout the former Soviet Union, especially in Russia and Kazakhstan. In the United States 1990 census, 57 million people are fully or partly of German ancestry, forming the largest single ethnic group in the country. Most Americans of German descent live in the Mid-Atlantic states (especially Pennsylvania) and the northern Midwest (especially in Iowa, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin, Illinois, North Dakota, South Dakota, and eastern Missouri.)

History

The Germans are a Germanic people. Ethnographers hypothesize that all Germanic speakers originally came from Scandinavia, which includes Jutland and the southwest shores of the Baltic Sea, before the Migrations Period. Prior to that time, their Indo-European ancestors may have migrated slowly from the Black Sea region and arrived in southern Scandinavia. Assimilation with other peoples is postulated, both with the prior inhabitants of Scandinavia and with peoples encountered on their way from Asia. Celtic peoples were then either assimilated, exterminated, or driven out during the expansion southwards from the Baltic.

Background

After the Migrations Period, Slavs expanded westwards at the same time as Germans expanded eastwards. The result was German colonization as far East as Romania, and Slavic colonization as far west as present-day Lübeck, at the Baltic Sea, Hamburg (connected to the North Sea), and along the rivers Elbe and Saale further South. After Christianization, the superior organization of the Catholic Church lent the upper hand for a German expansion at the expense of the Slavs, giving the medieval Drang nach Osten as a result. At the same time, naval innovations led to a German domination of trade in the Baltic Sea and Central–Eastern Europe through the Hanseatic League. Along the trade routes, Hanseatic trade stations became centers of Germanness where German urban law (Stadtrecht) was promoted by the presence of large, relatively wealthy German populations and their influence on the worldly powers. Thus people whom we today often consider "Germans", with a common culture and worldview very different from that of the surrounding rural peoples, colonized as far north of present-day Germany as Bergen (in Norway), Stockholm (in Sweden), and Vyborg (now in Russia). At the same time, it's important to note that the Hanseatic League was not exclusively German in any ethnic sense. Many towns who joined the league were outside of the Holy Roman Empire, and some of them ought not at all be characterized as German. Also the "German" Holy Roman Empire was not in any way exclusively German, and its course became much different than that of France or Great Britain. The Thirty Years War confirmed its dissolution; the Napoleonic Wars gave it its coup de grâce.

Ethnic nationalism

The reaction evoked in the decades after the Napoleonic Wars was a strong ethnic nationalism that emphasized, and sometimes overemphasized, the cultural bond between Germans. Later alloyed with the high standing and world-wide influence of German science at the end of the 19th century, and to some degree enhanced by Bismarck's military successes and the following 40 years of almost perpetual economic boom (the Gründerzeit), it gave the Germans an impression of cultural supremacy, particularly compared to the Slavs.

The Divided Germany

The idea that Germany is a divided nation is not new and not peculiar. Compared to the neighbors France, Russia, Sweden, and Denmark it was obvious and true. Since the Peace of Westphalia, Germany has been "one nation split in many countries". The Austrian–Prussian split, confirmed when Austria remained outside of the 1871 created Imperial Germany, was only the most prominent example. Most recently, the division between East Germany and West Germany kept the idea at life. The beginnings of the divided Germany may be traced back much further; to a Roman occupied Germania in the west and to Free Germania in the east. Starkly different ideologies have many times been developed due to conquerors and occupiers of sections of Germany. Poets talked of Zwei Herzen in einer Seele (Two hearts in one soul). The thought of a weak split nation gave birth to the idea of the advantage by unification. With Prince Bismarck as the great example, the Nazis went all the way and wanted to unite "all Germans" in one realm, which met a certain resistance among the Flemish and the Austrians, and much more so among the Swiss and the Dutch, who mostly were perfectly content with their perception of separate nations established in 1648.

Religion

Protestant Reformation started in the German culture, and Germans are both Protestants and Catholics. The late 19th century saw a strong movement among the Jewry in Germany and Austria to assimilate and define themselves as à priori Germans, i.e. as Germans of Jewish faith. In Conservative circles, this was not always quite appreciated, and for the Nazis it was an anathema. After the Nazi rule led to the annihilation of almost all domestic Jews, the controversy today is over the Gastarbeiter and later arrived refugees from ex-Yugoslavia, who often are Muslims.

Minorities

In recent years, the German-speaking countries of Europe have been confronted with demographic changes due to decades of immigration. These changes have led to renewed debates (especially in the Federal Republic of Germany) about who should be considered German. Non-ethnic Germans now make up more than 8 percent of the German population, mostly the descendants of guest workers who arrived in the 1960s and 1970s. Turks, Italians, Greeks, and people from the Balkans in southeast Europe form the largest single groups of non-ethnic Germans in the country. In addition, a significant number of German citizens (close to 5%), although traditionally considered ethnic Germans, are in fact foreign-born and thus often retain the cultural identities and languages or their native countries, a fact that clearly sets them apart from those born and raised in Germany, in the eyes of the latter. Ethnic German repatriates from the former Soviet Union constitute by far the largest such group and the second largest ethno-national minority group in Germany. Unlike these ethnic German repatriates, most non-German ethnic minorities in the country, including many who were born and raised in the Federal Republic, remain non-citizens. While citizenship laws have been recently relaxed to allow such individuals to become nationalized citizens, many chose not to give up allegiance to the countries of their ethnic roots and continue to live in Germany under an ambiguous status of an alien resident or a guest worker, especially that this status, though lacking certain political rights, often does not impede one's ability to work, get free public higher education and travel abroad. As a result, close to 10 million people permanently living in the Federal Republic today distinctly differ from the majority of the population in a variety of ways such as race, ethnicity, religion, language and culture, yet often fail to be recognized as minorities in official statistical sources due to the fact that such sources traditionally survey only German citizens, and under the so called jus sanguinis system, that has been in effect in Germany since the 19th century, and has only recently been partially replaced by the alternative jus soli system, citizens are, by definition, ethnic Germans. This situation contributes to the invisibility of Germany's minorities making Germany technically one of the most ethnically homogeneous nation in the world, whereas in all practicality the Federal Republic is today the most ethnically diverse country in Europe. Since the mid 1990s, however, changes in citizenship laws and the increased visibility of ethnic minorities seems to indicate that the concept of who is a German is slowly moving away from one that centered on ethnicity and heritage (jus sanguinis) to a concept based more on nationality, citizenship, and cultural identification (jus soli). The shift can be viewed as having been caused, in part, by both the pressure from the international community and the immigrants themselves to move to a more "modern" system citizenship based on place of birth and/or permanent residence, on the one hand, and internal pressure to limit what is viewed as excessively "generous" across-the-board granting of citizenship to everybody who can prove German heritage. Overall, mainstream public opinion seems to be shifting towards a more socially and culturally defined concept of "Germanness" rather than purely racial, ethnic or hereditary.

Conclusion

Historical persons like Kafka might be called Germans, or might not. Some would hold that they belong to the German culture, which is what decides if someone is considered a German or not, at least in certain contexts. Similarly, Händel, Mozart and Beethoven - who spent most of their lives in what is Austria today - may be considered to have been central within the German culture. The Dutch and the Flemish have another standard language, so conceptually they constitute no real problem. With regard to present-day conditions, many, probably most, Germans consider Austrians and the Swiss to have nationalities of their own, although their ethnicity may be defined as German.

See also


- List of Germans
- Germans of Romania
- Germans of Paraguay
- Germans of Poland
- Organised persecution of ethnic Germans
- Names of the German people and language in other languages

Reference

http://www.radiobras.gov.br/integras/00/integra_3105_1.htm Category:Ethnic groups of Europe
- Category:Germanic peoples ko:독일인 ja:ドイツ人

Irish people

Irish ethnicity is common in many western, especially commonwealth, countries. Many people are descended from Irish emigrants.

Descent

On the island of Ireland, most people consider themselves to be descended from a mixture of three broad groups: the nameless, prehistoric indigenous people(s) of the isles; the successive waves from continental Europe who arrived in the centuries BC, particularly the Celts; and subsequent groups (Vikings, Normans, English and Lowland Scots) who either invaded or settled Ireland from the Middle Ages onwards. The names the ancient peoples of Ireland (creators of the Ceide Fields and Newgrange) used for themselves are not known, nor are their language(s). As late as the middle centuries of the first millennium AD the inhabitants of Ireland did not appear to have a collective name for themselves. Ireland itself was known by a number of different names – Banba, Fódla, Ériu by the islanders; Hibernia to the Romans; Ierne to the Greeks. Likewise, the terms for people from Ireland – all from Roman sources – in the late Roman era were varied. They included Attacotti, Scoti, and Gael. This last word, derived from the Welsh gwyddell (meaning raiders), was eventually adopted by the Irish for themselves. However as a term it is on a par with Viking, as it describes an activity (raiding, piracy) and its proponents, not their actual ethnic affiliations. The general term Briton was sometimes applied to all the indigenous inhabitants of Britannias and Britanniae (i.e. of the British Isles) by the Romans. The term Irish and Ireland is derived from the Érainn, a people who once lived in what is now central and south Munster. Possibly their proximity to overseas trade with western Britain, Gaul and Hispania led to the name of this one people to be applied to the whole island and its inhabitants. As may be perceived from the above, there was much ethnic diversity according to the historical inhabitants of Ireland. Or at the very least they perceived the situation as such. They included the Airgialla, Fir Ol nEchmacht, Delbhna, Fir Bolg, Érainn, Éoganacht, Mairtine, Conmaicne, Soghain and Ulaid. However, as the earliest Irish records demonstrate that they all shared a collective language and culture, in most cases these divisions may have been more apparent than real. Doubtless in many cases the divisions were of a purely dynastic or political dynamic. The shared language and culture of these peoples is one that can be placed within the realm of the Celtic/Indo-European peoples. Yet intriguingly, recent Y-chromosome (male descent) DNA studies have shown that most Irish people (in addition to the Welsh, some Highland Scots and to a much lesser degree, some lowland Scots and English) are close genetic relatives of the Basque people, setting them all apart from most European peoples (mtDNA, or female descent shows their maternal ancestors to be of broad north European origin). No fully satisfactory explanation for this apparent contradiction between ethnic origins on the one hand, and language/culture on the other, has yet been put forth. The Vikings were mainly Danes and Norwegians and despite their notorious reputation in Irish history, did not settle in particularly large numbers nor did they significantly alter the Irish polity. The arrival of the Normans brought Welsh, Flemish, Normans, Anglo-Saxons and Bretons, many of whom suffered the same fate as the Vikings, being assimilated in great numbers into Irish culture and polity by the 15th century. The late medieval era saw Scots gallowglass families of mixed Scots-Norse-Pict descent settle, mainly in the north; due to similarities of language and culture they too were assimilated. The Plantation of Ulster in the 17th century introduced great numbers of Scots, English as well as French Huguenots. Despite these divergent backgrounds most of their descendants consider themselves Irish first and last – even where they are aware of such ancestry – mainly due to their lengthy presence in Ireland. Historically, religion has played a more divisive role than ethnicity. It is thought that the majority of the Irish population is descended from the initial settlers who arrived after the end of the last Ice Age.

Surnames

:See also: Irish name It is common for some Irish surnames to be anglicised, meaning that they were changed to sound more English. This usually occurred with Irish immigrants arriving in the United States during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It is also very common for people of Gaelic origin to have surnames beginning with "O" or "Mc" (less frequently "Mac" and occasionally shortened to just "Ma" at the beginning of the name). "O" comes from Ua (originally hUa), which means "grandson", or "descendant" of a named person. For example, the descendants of