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Summertree
''Summertree'' is a 1971 American drama film directed by Anthony Newley, about a young man who drops out of university, falls in love with an older married woman, and contemplates dodging the draft to avoid serving in the Vietnam War. The screenplay was written by Edward Hume and Stephen Yafa, based on the 1967 play of the same name by Ron Cowen. Plot In 1970, 20-year-old Jerry (Michael Douglas) visits his parents Herb ( Jack Warden) and Ruth (Barbara Bel Geddes) to tell them he is considering dropping out of university to find himself. His parents are worried, not only because they have wasted expensive tuition on Jerry, but also because the Vietnam War is raging and by dropping out, Jerry will lose his student draft deferral. Inspired by a television advertisement, Jerry becomes a Big Brother to a black child named Marvis (Kirk Calloway). When Marvis is slightly injured in a fall, they visit a hospital where Jerry meets a nurse named Vanetta (Brenda Vaccaro). Jerry and Va ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Bryna Company
Bryna Productions (later renamed The Bryna Company) is an American independent film and television production company established by actor Kirk Douglas in 1949. The company also produced a handful of films through its subsidiaries, Michael Productions, Joel Productions and Douglas and Lewis Productions, and outside the United States through Brynaprod. Other subsidiaries included Eric Productions, which produced stage plays, Peter Vincent Music, a Music publisher, music publishing company, Bryna International, a photographic service company, and Public Relations Consultants, which supervised the publicity of its early films. Douglas named the main company after his mother, Bryna Demsky, while its primary subsidiaries were named after his sons: Michael Douglas, Joel Douglas, Peter Douglas and Eric Douglas. In 1970, Bryna Productions was renamed The Bryna Company, when Douglas welcomed his children and second wife into the firm. Nevertheless, Michael, Joel and Peter, wanting to establ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stephen Yafa
Stephen Yafa is an American screenwriter, author, and speaker. He was noted for his 1968 screenplay, ''Paxton Quigley's Had the Course'', which was also a Writers Guild of America award-winning novel. The film was renamed "Three in the Attic." Reviews were not good, and '' Variety'' noted that Yafa disowned the picture. Yafa co-wrote the screenplay for the 1971 film, Summertree, with Edward Hume, based on the successful Ron Cowen play. Yafa is also known for his first non-fiction book, ''Big Cotton'', published by Viking in 2005, and republished as ''Cotton: The Biography of a Revolutionary Fiber'' by Penguin in 2006. He was interviewed about the book on Illinois Public Radio. His most recent book is ''Grain of Truth: Why Eating Wheat Can Improve Your Health''. Education Yafa is a graduate of Dartmouth College, with an MFA from Carnegie-Mellon. Career and reception Other writing by Yafa includes articles on wine, a book chapter on wine's origin, and an article on child traff ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anthony Newley
Anthony Newley (24 September 1931 – 14 April 1999) was an English actor, singer, songwriter, and filmmaker. A "latter-day British Al Jolson", he achieved widespread success in song, and on stage and screen. "One of Broadway's greatest leading men", from 1959 to 1962 he scored a dozen entries on the UK Top 40 chart, including two number one hits. Newley won the 1963 Grammy Award for Song of the Year for "What Kind of Fool Am I", sung by Sammy Davis Jr., and wrote "Feeling Good", which became a signature hit for Nina Simone. His songs have been performed by a wide variety of artists including Fiona Apple, Tony Bennett, Barbara Streisand, Michael Bublé and Mariah Carey. With songwriting partner Leslie Bricusse, Newley won an Academy Award for the film score of ''Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory'' (1971), featuring "Pure Imagination", which has been covered by dozens of artists. He collaborated with John Barry on the title song for the James Bond film '' Goldfinger'' (19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Douglas
Michael Kirk Douglas (born September 25, 1944) is an American actor and film producer. He has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, five Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, the Cecil B. DeMille Award, and the AFI Life Achievement Award. The elder son of Kirk Douglas and Diana Dill, Douglas received his Bachelor of Arts in drama from the University of California, Santa Barbara. His early acting roles included film, stage, and television productions. Douglas first achieved prominence for his performance in the ABC police procedural television series ''The Streets of San Francisco'', for which he received three consecutive Emmy Award nominations. In 1975, Douglas produced ''One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'', having acquired the rights to the Ken Kesey novel from his father. The film received critical and popular acclaim, and won the Academy Award for Best Picture, earning Douglas his first Oscar as one of the film's producers. After leaving ''Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Smith (actor)
William Emmett Smith (March 24, 1933 – July 5, 2021) was an American actor. In a Hollywood career spanning more than 79 years, he appeared in almost three hundred feature films and television productions in a wide variety of character roles, accumulating over 980 total credits, with his best known role being the menacing Anthony Falconetti in the 1970s television mini-series '' Rich Man, Poor Man''. Smith is also known for films like '' Any Which Way You Can'' (1980), ''Conan The Barbarian'' (1982), '' Rumble Fish'' (1983), and '' Red Dawn'' (1984), as well as lead roles in several exploitation films during the 1990s. Early life and career Smith was born on March 24, 1933, in Columbia, Missouri Columbia is a city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It is the county seat of Boone County and home to the University of Missouri. Founded in 1821, it is the principal city of the five-county Columbia metropolitan area. It is Missouri's fourt ..., to William Emmett Smith and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Garry Goodrow
Garry Goodrow (November 4, 1933 – July 22, 2014) was an American actor known for his role in the original stage production of the Obie Award-winning play ''The Connection'' (1959) and its 1961 film version, and as one of the original members of The Committee improvisational group. In ''The Connection'', Goodrow played the young, intense, morose, would-be jazz musician Ernie, a heroin addict whose horn is more often than not at the pawn shop. Career The Malone, New York-born Goodrow was a member of the Living Theater and appeared in the stage and film productions of '' The Connection''. He was a founding member of San Francisco's satirical improvisational group The Committee (improv group) and went on to over 50 screen appearances, including film roles in ''Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice'' (1969), ''Gold'' (1972), ''Steelyard Blues'' (1973), ''Stay Hungry'' (1976), '' American Hot Wax'' (1978), ''Invasion of the Body Snatchers'' (1978), '' Escape from Alcatraz'' (1979), ''Cardi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dennis Fimple
Dennis Clarke Fimple (November 11, 1940 – August 23, 2002) was an American actor. Biography Fimple was born in Ventura, California, the son of Dolly and Elmer Fimple. He graduated from Taft Union High School in 1958 and received a teaching certificate from San Jose State University, where he majored in Drama. He appeared in a variety of TV shows including ''Here Come the Brides'', ''Petticoat Junction'', ''Matt Houston'', ''M*A*S*H'', ''Centennial'', ''Simon & Simon'', ''Highway to Heaven'', '' Sledge Hammer!'', '' Knight Rider'', ''Quantum Leap'' and '' ER''. He also had roles in films such as ''Truck Stop Women'' (1974), '' The Apple Dumpling Gang'' (1975), '' Mackintosh and T.J.'' (1975), '' Stay Hungry'' (1976), ''King Kong'' (1976), '' The Shadow of Chikara'' (1977), '' Goin' South'' (1978), ''The Wild Women of Chastity Gulch'' (1982) and ''Maverick'' (1994), and shared the lead in ''Bootleggers'' (1974) and ''Creature from Black Lake'' (1976). His most popular role was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Birney
David Edwin Birney (April 23, 1939 – April 27, 2022) was an American actor and director whose career included performances in both contemporary and classical roles in theatre, film, and television. He is noted for having played the title role in the television series ''Serpico''. He also starred in ''Bridget Loves Bernie'', an early 1970s TV series about an interfaith marriage that also starred Meredith Baxter (whom he married after the series ended). He also portrayed Dr. Ben Samuels in '' St. Elsewhere'' from 1982 until 1983. Early life Birney was born in Washington, D.C., on April 23, 1939. His father, Edwin, worked as a special agent for the FBI; his mother, Jeanne (McGee), was a housewife before becoming a real estate agent. Birney attended schools in Brooklyn, Ohio, and graduated from West High School in Cleveland. Named to the National Honor Society, he lettered in basketball, football, and track. He held a B.A. degree from Dartmouth College with "High Distinction" in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Shire
David Lee Shire (born July 3, 1937) is an American songwriter and composer of stage musicals, film and television scores. The soundtracks to the 1976 film '' The Big Bus'', '' The Taking of Pelham One Two Three'', ''The Conversation'' and ''All the President's Men'', and parts of the ''Saturday Night Fever'' soundtrack such as "Manhattan Skyline", are some of his best-known works. His other work includes the score of the 1985 film ''Return to Oz'' (the "sequel-in-part" of '' The Wizard of Oz''), and the stage musical scores of ''Baby'', '' Big'', '' Closer Than Ever'', and ''Starting Here, Starting Now''. Shire is married to actress Didi Conn. Education and early career Shire was born in Buffalo, New York, to Esther Miriam (née Sheinberg) and Buffalo society band leader and piano teacher Irving Daniel Shire. His family was Jewish. His secondary education was at the Nichols School. He met his long-time theater collaborator lyricist/director Richard Maltby, Jr. at Yale Univers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jack Warden
Jack Warden (born John Warden Lebzelter Jr.; September 18, 1920July 19, 2006) was an American character actor of film and television. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for ''Shampoo'' (1975) and '' Heaven Can Wait'' (1978). He received a BAFTA nomination for the former, and won an Emmy for his performance in '' Brian's Song'' (1971). Early life Warden was born in Newark, New Jersey, the son of Laura M. (''née'' Costello) and John Warden Lebzelter, who was an engineer and technician. He was of Pennsylvania Dutch (German) and Irish ancestry. Raised in Louisville, Kentucky, he was expelled from high school for fighting and eventually fought as a professional boxer under the name Johnny Costello. He fought in 13 bouts as a welterweight, but earned little money. World War II Warden worked as a nightclub bouncer, tugboat deckhand, and lifeguard, before joining the United States Navy in 1938. He was stationed for three years in China with the Yangtze ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barbara Bel Geddes
Barbara Bel Geddes (October 31, 1922 – August 8, 2005) was an American stage and screen actress, artist, and children's author whose career spanned almost five decades. She was best known for her starring role as Miss Ellie Ewing in the television series ''Dallas''. Bel Geddes also starred as Maggie in the original Broadway production of ''Cat on a Hot Tin Roof'' in 1955. Her notable films included '' I Remember Mama'' (1948) and '' Vertigo'' (1958). Throughout her career, she was the recipient of several acting awards and nominations. Early and personal life Bel Geddes was born on October 31, 1922, in New York City, the daughter of Helen Belle (née Schneider; 1891–1938) and stage and industrial designer Norman Bel Geddes (1893–1958). She married theatrical manager Carl Sawyer (né Schreuer) in 1944; they had one daughter, Susan. They divorced in 1951. Later that year, she married stage director Windsor Lewis, with whom she had a daughter, Betsy. When Lewis became ill ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ron Cowen
Ron Cowen is an American writer and producer. He is a partner with Daniel Lipman in the television production company Cowlip Productions. Filmography As a writer * ''Queer as Folk'' (2000–2005) TV Series (developed by, writer) with Daniel Lipman * ''Sisters'' (1991) TV Series (created by, writer) with Daniel Lipman * ''The Love She Sought'' (1990) (TV film) with Daniel Lipman * '' An Early Frost'' (1985) (TV film) with Daniel Lipman * ''Knots Landing'' (1984) with Daniel Lipman * ''Emerald Point N.A.S.'' with Daniel Lipman * '' Paul's Case'' (1980) (TV film) * ''Family'' (1976/III) (TV Series, writer) with Daniel Lipman * '' I'm a Fool'' (1976) (TV film) * '' Saturday Adoption'' (1968) (original play for TV) As a producer * ''Queer as Folk'' (2000–2005) TV Series (executive producer) with Daniel Lipman * ''Sisters'' (1991) TV Series (executive producer) with Daniel Lipman * ''The Love She Sought'' (1990) (TV) (co-producer) with Daniel Lipman * ''An Early Frost'' (1985) (TV ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
