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Kevin Tod Smith
Kevin Tod Smith (16 March 1963 – 15 February 2002) was a New Zealand actor and musician, best known for starring as the Greek god of war, Ares, in the TV series ''Hercules: The Legendary Journeys'' and in its two spin-offs – '' Xena: Warrior Princess'' and ''Young Hercules''. He died in a fall at a film studio in China. Early life Kevin Smith was born in Auckland in 1963. His mother was of Tongan and German ancestry and his father (of English descent) hailed from New Zealand. Smith's family moved to the South Island town of Timaru when he was eleven. He attended Timaru Boys' High School from 1976 to 1979. He was involved in the drama club at his high school. Smith played in rock and roll bands during high school, working out each morning at the gym and watching television in the afternoon.''New Zealand Herald'' (17 February 2003). He painted and played rugby and hoped to become a member of New Zealand's world-famous rugby team, the All Blacks. At the age of 17, Smith mov ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by population, fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region—the area governed by Auckland Council—which includes outlying rural areas and the islands of the Hauraki Gulf, and which has a total population of . While European New Zealanders, Europeans continue to make up the plurality of Auckland's population, the city became multicultural and Cosmopolitanism, cosmopolitan in the late-20th century, with Asian New Zealanders, Asians accounting for 31% of the city's population in 2018. Auckland has the fourth largest Foreign born, foreign-born population in the world, with 39% of its residents born overseas. With its large population of Pasifika New Zealanders, the city is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rugby Union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its most common form, a game is played between two teams of 15 players each, using an oval-shaped ball on a rectangular field called a pitch. The field has H-shaped goalposts at both ends. Rugby union is a popular sport around the world, played by people of all genders, ages and sizes. In 2014, there were more than 6 million people playing worldwide, of whom 2.36 million were registered players. World Rugby, previously called the International Rugby Football Board (IRFB) and the International Rugby Board (IRB), has been the governing body for rugby union since 1886, and currently has 101 countries as full members and 18 associate members. In 1845, the first laws were written by students attending Rugby School; other significant even ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billy Zane
William George Zane Jr. (born February 24, 1966) is an American actor. His breakthrough role was in the 1989 Australian film ''Dead Calm'', a performance that earned him a nomination for the Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Most Promising Actor. He has since appeared in numerous films and television series, notably playing Caledon Hockley in the epic romance disaster film ''Titanic'' (1997), for which he was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award. Zane's other film roles include Kit Walker / The Phantom in the superhero film ''The Phantom'' (1996), "Match" in the ''Back to the Future'' franchise, Lieutenant Val Kozlowski in '' Memphis Belle'' (1990), The Collector in ''Demon Knight'' (1995), Curtis Zampf in '' The Believer'' (2001), and Richard Miller in the ''Sniper'' film series. He also played the recurring role of John Justice Wheeler in the second season of the TV series ''Twin Peaks'', and provided the voice of Ansem in the video game ''Kingdom Hearts'' (2 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Phantom (1996 Film)
''The Phantom'' is a 1996 superhero film directed by Simon Wincer. Based on Lee Falk's comic strip ''The Phantom'' by King Features, the film stars Billy Zane as a seemingly immortal crimefighter and his battle against all forms of evil. ''The Phantom'' also stars Treat Williams, Kristy Swanson, Catherine Zeta-Jones, James Remar and Patrick McGoohan. The film's screenplay by Jeffrey Boam is loosely inspired by three of ''The Phantom'' stories, "The Singh Brotherhood", "The Sky Band" and "The Belt", but adds supernatural elements and several new characters. Principal photography began in October 1995 and concluded on February 13, 1996. The film was shot in California, Thailand and Australia. ''The Phantom'' was released on June 7, 1996, and received mixed reviews from film critics, who were divided over whether its pulp adventure approach was charming and authentic or vapid and dull. Despite financial failure in its theatrical release, the film has enjoyed success on VHS, DVD ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marlin Bay
''Marlin Bay'' was a New Zealand one-hour drama television series which ran for 39 episodes from 1992 to 1994. The series was set in a fictional resort and casino in the picturesque far north of New Zealand. The series dealt with issues regarding the high-flying lifestyle surrounding the hotel and casino, and the contrasting lives of the area's local residents. The cast included Ilona Rodgers, Andy Anderson, Katie Wolfe, and featured Kevin Smith and Lucy Lawless Lucille Frances Lawless (; born 29 March 1968) is a New Zealand actress and singer. She is best known for her roles as Xena in the television series '' Xena: Warrior Princess'', as D'Anna Biers on the re-imagined ''Battlestar Galactica'' seri .... It was produced by South Pacific Pictures. References External links View clips from one episode at NZ On ScreenIMDb Page New Zealand drama television series Television shows funded by NZ on Air Television series by South Pacific Pictures 1991 New Zealand tele ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Desperate Remedies (film)
''Desperate Remedies'' is a 1993 New Zealand drama film directed by Stewart Main and Peter Wells. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival. Plot Set in "Hope, New Britannia", an overwrought nineteenth century New Zealand community seemingly on the edge of destruction, Dorothea Brooke (Ward-Lealand) is a shopkeeper and dress designer with a troubled past. She strives in vain to keep her feckless, opium-addicted sister Rose out of the clutches of her former lover, Fraser (Curtis). Dorothea is in a lesbian relationship with Anne Cooper (Chappell) but tempted by newcomer and former radical Lawrence Hayes (Smith). MP and war profiteer William Poyser (Hurst) wants her business and property to shore up his tottering career, through marriage. Dorothea, Anne and Lawrence become enmeshed in a tortured triangle, resolved when Lawrence agrees to marry Rose for convenience and to get her away from Fraser. Rose dies ravaged from her opium addiction ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gloss (TV Series)
''Gloss'' is a television drama series in New Zealand that screened from 1987 to 1990. The series was about the lives of the rich, famous and fashionable people involved with a fashion magazine owned by the Redfern family. It was a starting point for many actors who went on to many productions in New Zealand, Australia and around the world including Temuera Morrison, Miranda Harcourt, Peter Elliott, Lisa Chappell, Danielle Cormack and Kevin Smith. Many of them would go on to star in Shortland Street. Produced in-house by the TVNZ drama department, the show was the brainchild of scriptwriter Rosemary McLeod and producer Janice Finn. Other writers included James Griffin, who went on to write '' Outrageous Fortune'', Ian Mune, Judy Callingham, Liddy Holloway, Judith Fyfe, Debra Daley and Ross Hastings. Directors included Chris Bailey, Aileen O'Sullivan, Murray Reece, Wayne Tourell and Peter Sharp. The show's title theme song was performed by Beaver Morrison. The show has not be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Court Jesters
The Court Jesters is a professional improv company founded in 1989 and based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It is a subsidiary of the Court Theatre professional theatre company, acting as a second company within the theatre. The group provide entertainment for corporate and private clients, run weekly community improv workshops and an annual Theatresports competition for high schools, as well as performing their own weekly or twice-weekly improv comedy show, ''Scared Scriptless''. History Origins Theatresports at The Court Theatre began in 1987 under the direction of Bryan Aitken and Judie Douglass. This was largely due to the upswing in popularity of improvised theatre internationally and the desire to introduce it to a New Zealand audience. The popularity of the style led to the formation of a permanent improvisational wing of The Court Theatre under the moniker "The Court Jesters" in late 1989. In 1990 the Court Jesters manager Michael Robinson (working alongside Jim McLar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Theatresports
Theatresports is a form of improvisational theatre, which uses the format of a competition for dramatic effect. Opposing teams can perform scenes based on audience suggestions, with ratings by the audience or by a panel of judges. Developed by director Keith Johnstone in Calgary, Alberta, in 1977, the concept of Theatresports originated in Johnstone's observations of techniques used in professional wrestling to generate heat, or audience reaction. Derivatives ComedySportz, started in 1984 in Milwaukee, WI, tends to emphasise the sports competition format more than Theatresports, for example by having a referee who awards points and administers fouls. The Australian shows ''Thank God You're Here'' and ''TheatreGames LIVE'' follow a similar format to these shows. New York City's Face Off Unlimited has also adapted the concept to numerous productions. Two similar formats, Ligue nationale d'improvisation and Canadian Improv Games both also officially debuted in 1977 in Quebec and Ont ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Streetcar Named Desire (play)
''A Streetcar Named Desire'' is a play written by Tennessee Williams and first performed on Broadway on December 3, 1947. The play dramatizes the experiences of Blanche DuBois, a former Southern belle who, after encountering a series of personal losses, leaves her once-prosperous situation to move into a shabby apartment in New Orleans rented by her younger sister and brother-in-law. Williams' most popular work, ''A Streetcar Named Desire'' is one of the most critically acclaimed plays of the twentieth century.Williams, Tennessee (1995). ''A Streetcar Named Desire''. Introduction and text. Oxford: Heinemann Educational Publishers. It still ranks among his most performed plays, and has inspired many adaptations in other forms, notably a critically acclaimed film that was released in 1951.Production notesDecember 3, 1947—December 17, 1949IBDb.com Plot After the loss of her family home to creditors, Blanche DuBois travels from Laurel, Mississippi, to the New Orleans French Q ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the three foremost playwrights of 20th-century American drama. At age 33, after years of obscurity, Williams suddenly became famous with the success of ''The Glass Menagerie'' (1944) in New York City. He introduced "plastic theatre" in this play and it closely reflected his own unhappy family background. It was the first of a string of successes, including ''A Streetcar Named Desire'' (1947), ''Cat on a Hot Tin Roof'' (1955), ''Sweet Bird of Youth'' (1959), and ''The Night of the Iguana'' (1961). With his later work, Williams attempted a new style that did not appeal as widely to audiences. His drama ''A Streetcar Named Desire'' is often numbered on short lists of the finest American plays of the 20th century alongside Eugene O'Neill's '' Long Day ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stanley Kowalski
Stanley Kowalski is a fictional character in Tennessee Williams' play ''A Streetcar Named Desire''. In the play Stanley lives in the working-class Faubourg Marigny neighborhood of New Orleans with his wife, Stella ( DuBois), and is employed as a factory parts salesman. He was an Army engineer in World War II, having served as a Master Sergeant. He is a controlling, hard-edged man, with no discernible capacity for empathy, forgiveness, or patience, and no apparent family ties of his own, although he once mentions a cousin. He also has a vicious temper and fights with his wife, sometimes leading to instances of domestic violence, which mirror those of the older married couple who live upstairs, the Hubbells. Near the beginning of the play, Stanley announces that Stella is pregnant. Stanley's life becomes more complicated when Stella's sister Blanche shows up at their door for a seemingly indefinite "visit". He resents the genteel Blanche, who derides him as an "ape", and calls ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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