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Honky Tonk Freeway
''Honky Tonk Freeway'' is a 1981 American-British comedy film directed by John Schlesinger. The film, conceived and co-produced by Don Boyd, was one of the most expensive box office bombs in history, losing its British backers Thorn EMI between $11 million and $22 million dollars and profoundly affecting its fortunes and aspirations. Plot In a small Florida tourist town named Ticlaw, the mayor/preacher Kirby T. Calo (William Devane) also operates a hotel and tiny wildlife safari park. The town's major draw is a water-skiing elephant named Bubbles. When the state highway commission builds a freeway adjacent to the town, Calo slips an official $10,000 to assure an off-ramp. The ramp does not come, so the townsfolk literally paint the town pink to attract visitors. Meanwhile, tourists from various parts of the United States, shown in a series of concurrent, ongoing vignettes, are heading to Florida and will all end up in Ticlaw, one way or another. They include a pair of bank robb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Schlesinger
John Richard Schlesinger (; 16 February 1926 – 25 July 2003) was an English film and stage director. He won the Academy Award for Best Director for ''Midnight Cowboy'', and was nominated for the same award for two other films ('' Darling'' and ''Sunday Bloody Sunday''). Early life Schlesinger was born and raised in Hampstead, London, in a Jewish family, the eldest of five children of distinguished Emmanuel College, Cambridge-educated paediatrician and physician Bernard Edward Schlesinger (1896–1984), OBE, FRCP, who had also served in the Royal Army Medical Corps as a brigadier, and his wife Winifred Henrietta, daughter of Hermann Regensburg, a stockbroker from Frankfurt. She had left school at 14 to study at the Trinity College of Music, and later studied languages at the University of Oxford for three years. Bernard Schlesinger's father Richard, a stockbroker, had come to England in the 1880s from Frankfurt. After St Edmund's School, Hindhead and Uppingham School (whe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Comedy Film
A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the oldest genres in film and it is derived from the classical comedy in theatre. Some of the earliest silent films were comedies, as slapstick comedy often relies on visual depictions, without requiring sound. When sound films became more prevalent during the 1930s, comedy films took another swing, as laughter could result from burlesque situations but also dialogue. Comedy, compared with other film genres, puts much more focus on individual stars, with many former stand-up comics transitioning to the film industry due to their popularity. In '' The Screenwriters Taxonomy'' (2017), Eric R. Williams contends that film genres are fundamentally based upon a film's atmosphere, character, and story. Therefore the labels "drama" and "comedy" are t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frances Lee McCain
Frances Lee McCain (born July 28, 1943) is an American actress. Early life and education McCain was born in York, Pennsylvania and grew up in New York, Illinois and Colorado in addition to California. She graduated from Ripon College with a BA in Philosophy and then studied acting at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London, England. She completed a Master's degree in Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies in 2000. Acting career She returned to New York City where she appeared on Broadway in Woody Allen's '' Play it Again Sam'', and off-Broadway in Lanford Wilson's '' Lemon Sky'', creating the role of Carol. She joined the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco under William Ball and played a variety of roles in repertory. ''Apple's Way'' TV show (1974–1975) and other 1970s work She began her career in film and television after appearing opposite Jon Voight and Faye Dunaway in ''A Streetcar Named Desire'', eventually co-starring ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Celia Weston
Celia Weston is an American character actress. Weston received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for her performance in '' Dead Man Walking'' (1995), and also had supporting roles in more than 40 movies, including ''The Talented Mr. Ripley'' (1999), ''In the Bedroom'' (2001), ''Hulk'' (2003), and '' The Village'' (2004). On television, she is best known for her role as Jolene Hunnicutt in the CBS sitcom '' Alice'' (1981–85). Career Weston began her career on stage, making her Broadway debut in 1979. After a recurring role on the ABC daytime soap opera, ''Ryan's Hope'', she joined the cast of the CBS sitcom '' Alice'' as Jolene Hunnicutt until the series ended in 1985. Weston later said that her role in ''Alice'' hindered her film career. Although she had initially rejected the role, she admitted that "the money became so phenomenal that I just had to do it." In later years, Weston acted in independent films and stage productions. She was nominated for the Independent Spi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Jabara
Paul Jabara, also known as Paul Frederick Jabara, (January 31, 1948 – September 29, 1992) was an American actor, singer, and songwriter of Lebanese ancestry, born in Brooklyn, New York. He wrote Donna Summer's Oscar-winning " Last Dance" from '' Thank God It's Friday'' (1978) as well as "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)" her international hit duet with Barbra Streisand. He also cowrote The Weather Girls iconic hit "It's Raining Men" (with Paul Shaffer). Jabara's cousin Jad Azkoul is a Lebanese-American musician specializing in classical guitar. Actor Jabara was in the original cast of the stage musicals ''Hair'' and ''Jesus Christ Superstar''. He took over the role of Frank-N-Furter in the Los Angeles Production of ''The Rocky Horror Show'' when Tim Curry left the production to film the movie version in England. He appeared in John Schlesinger's 1969 film ''Midnight Cowboy'', as a hippie handing out pills ("Up or Down?") at the counterculture party, and in Schlesinger's 1975 f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deborah Rush
Deborah Rush (born April 10, 1954) is an American actress. She has worked in television, film and on Broadway. In 1984, she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play for Michael Frayn's comedy ''Noises Off''. She also acted in Stephen Adly Guirgis' ''The Last Days of Judas Iscariot''. In 2003 she acted in the comedy film ''American Wedding'', as Mary Flaherty, Michelle Flaherty's mom. In December 2008, she joined the cast of the Broadway revival of '' Blithe Spirit''. Rush has acted in a number of movies and television series, including the Woody Allen films ''Zelig'' and ''The Purple Rose of Cairo''. She was a regular cast member of the television series ''Strangers with Candy''. She had a recurring role on ''Spin City'' as Helen Winston, eventual ex-wife of mayor Randall Winston, and on'' Orange Is the New Black'', as Piper's mother. Family She is the wife of Walter Cronkite III (born April 22, 1957) and daughter-in-law of the late ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Billingsley
Peter Billingsley (born April 16, 1971), also known as Peter Michaelsen and Peter Billingsley-Michaelsen, is an American actor and filmmaker. His acting roles include Ralphie Parker in the 1983 movie ''A Christmas Story'' and its 2022 sequel '' A Christmas Story Christmas'', Jack Simmons in ''The Dirt Bike Kid'', Billy in ''Death Valley'', and Messy Marvin in a series of commercials for Hershey's Syrup in the 1980s. While an infant, he began acting in television commercials. Early life Peter was born in New York City. His father, Alwin Michaelsen, is a financial consultant, and his mother, Gail, was once Alwin's secretary. She is the niece of Stork Club owner Sherman Billingsley, and the cousin of Glenn Billingsley who was married to actress Barbara Billingsley. All five of the children in the family had acting careers when they were young. The older Billingsleys, Dina and Win, had the briefest acting careers working mostly in commercials, with minor guest spots on television ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Howard Hesseman
Howard Hesseman (February 27, 1940 – January 29, 2022) was an American actor known for his television roles as burned-out disc jockey Dr. Johnny Fever on ''WKRP in Cincinnati'', and the lead role of history teacher Charlie Moore on ''Head of the Class''. He appeared regularly on television and in film from the 1970s to 2010s, with other noteworthy roles including Sam Royer (the husband of lead character Ann Romano) in the last two seasons of '' One Day at a Time'', and a supporting role as Captain Pete Lassard in the film '' Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment.'' Early life Hesseman was born in Lebanon, Oregon, on February 27, 1940. His parents divorced when he was five, and he was raised by his mother and stepfather, a police officer. He graduated from Silverton High School in 1958. Hesseman attended the University of Oregon, and was later a founding member of the San Francisco-based improvisational comedy troupe The Committee with fellow actor David Ogden Stiers. Ear ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joe Grifasi
Joseph G. Grifasi (born June 14, 1944) is an American character actor of film, stage and television. Grifasi was born in Buffalo, New York, the son of Patricia (née Gaglione) and Joseph J. Grifasi, a skilled laborer. Grifasi graduated from Bishop Fallon High School, a now-defunct Roman Catholic high school in Buffalo, when he made the decision that he wanted to be, not just any old actor, but a character actor. Grifasi has played two New York Yankees elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame: Phil Rizzuto in '' 61*'', set in 1961; and Yogi Berra in '' The Bronx Is Burning'', set in 1977. Grifasi has played defense attorney, later Superior Court Judge, Hashi Horowitz on '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'' between 2005 and 2018. Filmography * '' On the Yard'' (1978) - Morris * ''The Deer Hunter'' (1978) - Bandleader * ''Something Short of Paradise'' (1979) - Barney Collins * ''Hide in Plain Sight'' (1980) - Matty Stanek * ''Honky Tonk Freeway'' (1981) - Osvaldo * '' Still of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Dzundza
George Dzundza ( ; born July 19, 1945) is an American television and film actor. Early life and education Dzundza was born in Rosenheim, Germany, to a Ukrainian-Jewish father, Roman Dzundza, originally from Kalush, Ukraine, and a Polish-Jewish mother, Maria Humenecka, originally from Lviv, Ukraine. His parents were forced into factory labour by the Nazis. He spent the first few years of his life in displaced persons camps with his parents and one brother. The family moved to Amsterdam in 1949, then moved to the US in 1956, settling in the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City. He attended Xavier High School in Manhattan. He attended St. Johns University and also studied under Stella Adler and Harold Clurman. Career Dzundza began acting in his freshman year of college at the insistence of another student. However, his professional stage debut was in a 1973 New York Shakespeare Festival production of ''King Lear''. Dzundza starred in a short-lived 1981 sitcom series ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Devane
William Joseph Devane (born September 5, 1939) is an American actor. He is known for his role as Greg Sumner on the primetime soap opera '' Knots Landing'' (1983–1993) and as James Heller on the Fox serial dramas '' 24'' (2001–2010) and '' 24: Live Another Day'' (2014). He is also known for his work in films such as '' Family Plot'' (1976), '' Marathon Man'' (1976), '' Rolling Thunder'' (1977), ''Payback'' (1999), and ''Space Cowboys'' (2000). Early life Devane was born on September 5, 1939, in Albany, New York, the son of Joseph Devane, who had been Franklin D. Roosevelt's chauffeur when he was Governor of New York. His father was of Irish descent and his mother had Dutch and German ancestry. Devane graduated from Philip Schuyler High School in Albany, and then the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City in 1962. Career Devane began his acting career with the New York Shakespeare Festival, where he performed in 15 plays. In 1966, Devane portrayed Robert F. Ke ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to the south by the Straits of Florida and Cuba; it is the only state that borders both the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. Spanning , Florida ranks 22nd in area among the 50 states, and with a population of over 21 million, it is the third-most populous. The state capital is Tallahassee, and the most populous city is Jacksonville. The Miami metropolitan area, with a population of almost 6.2 million, is the most populous urban area in Florida and the ninth-most populous in the United States; other urban conurbations with over one million people are Tampa Bay, Orlando, and Jacksonville. Various Native American groups have inhabited Florida for at least 14,000 years. In 1513, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León became the first k ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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