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Steve Franken
Stephen Robert Franken (May 27, 1932 – August 24, 2012) was an American actor who worked in film and television for over fifty years. Career Franken, the son of a Hollywood press agent, was born in Brooklyn, New York and graduated from Cornell University in 1953. His first screen role was in 1958 as Willie in the episode "The Time of Your Life" on the anthology series ''Playhouse 90''. Another early role was as Bully in the 1961 episode "The Pit" of the series '' The Rebel'', starring Nick Adams. He played the lead guest-starring role in the 1961 episode "The Case of Willie Betterley" in '' Lock Up''. In 1962, he was cast as Dunc Tomilson in "The Yacht-Club Gang" on ''Checkmate''. He appeared as Jerry Allen in two episodes of the ''Mr. Novak''. In 1964, he appeared in ''The Time Travelers''. In 1965, he appeared in "Birth of a Salesman" on ''McHale's Navy'', and in "Tim and Tim Again" on ''My Favorite Martian''. Producer Rod Amateau saw him in a Los Angeles stage producti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Television Pilot
A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie), in United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television network or other distributor. A pilot is created to be a testing ground to gauge whether a series will be successful. It is, therefore, a test episode for the intended television series, an early step in the series development, much like pilot studies serve as precursors to the start of larger activity. A successful pilot may be used as the series premiere, the first aired episode of a new show, but sometimes a series' pilot may be aired as a later episode or never aired at all. Some series are commissioned straight-to-series without a pilot. On some occasions, pilots that were not ordered to series may also be broadcast as a standalone television film or special. A "backdoor pilot" is an episode of an existing series that heavily features supporting characters ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Lane (actor)
Charles Lane (born Charles Gerstle Levison; January 26, 1905 – July 9, 2007) was an American character actor and centenarian whose career spanned 72 years. Lane gave his last performance at the age of 101 as a narrator in 2006. Lane appeared in many Frank Capra films, including ''Mr. Deeds Goes to Town'' (1936), '' You Can't Take It with You'' (1938), '' Mr. Smith Goes to Washington'' (1939), '' Arsenic and Old Lace'' (1944), ''It's a Wonderful Life'' (1946) and '' Riding High'' (1950). Lucille Ball frequently cast Lane as a no-nonsense authority figure and comedic foe of her scatterbrained TV character on her TV series ''I Love Lucy'', ''The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour'' and ''The Lucy Show''. His first film role, of more than 250, was as a hotel clerk in '' Smart Money'' (1931) starring Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney. Early life Lane's father, an executive at the Fireman's Fund Insurance Company, was instrumental in rebuilding San Francisco after the 1906 earthquak ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Sellers
Peter Sellers (born Richard Henry Sellers; 8 September 1925 – 24 July 1980) was an English actor and comedian. He first came to prominence performing in the BBC Radio comedy series ''The Goon Show'', featured on a number of hit comic songs and became known to a worldwide audience through his many film roles, among them Chief Inspector Clouseau in '' The Pink Panther'' series. Born in Southsea, Portsmouth, Sellers made his stage debut at the Kings Theatre, Southsea, when he was two weeks old. He began accompanying his parents in a variety act that toured the provincial theatres. He first worked as a drummer and toured around England as a member of the Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA). He developed his mimicry and improvisational skills during a spell in Ralph Reader's wartime Gang Show entertainment troupe, which toured Britain and the Far East. After the war, Sellers made his radio debut in ''ShowTime'', and eventually became a regular performer on vario ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Party (1968 Film)
''The Party'' is a 1968 American comedy film directed by Blake Edwards, and starring Peter Sellers and Claudine Longet. The film has a very loose structure, and essentially serves as a series of set pieces for Sellers's improvisational comedy talents.Champlin, Charles (March 15, 1968). An open invitation to play it off the cuff. ''Time'' Based on a fish-out-of-water premise, the film is about a bungling actor from India, Hrundi V. Bakshi (portrayed by Sellers), who accidentally gets invited to a lavish Hollywood dinner party and "makes terrible mistakes based upon ignorance of Western ways". The protagonist Hrundi Bakshi was influenced by two of Sellers' earlier characters: the Indian doctor Ahmed el Kabir in ''The Millionairess'' (1960) and Inspector Clouseau in ''The Pink Panther'' series. In turn, the character Hrundi Bakshi went on to be influential, inspiring several later popular characters, including Amitabh Bachchan's character Arjun Singh in the 1982 Bollywood blockbus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blake Edwards
Blake Edwards (born William Blake Crump; July 26, 1922 – December 15, 2010) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Edwards began his career in the 1940s as an actor, but he soon began writing screenplays and radio scripts before turning to producing and directing in television and films. His best-known films include ''Breakfast at Tiffany's (film), Breakfast at Tiffany's'' (1961), ''Days of Wine and Roses (film), Days of Wine and Roses'' (1962), ''The Great Race'' (1965), ''10 (film), 10'' (1979), ''Victor/Victoria'' (1982), and the hugely successful The Pink Panther, Pink Panther film series with British actor Peter Sellers. Often thought of as primarily a director of comedies, he also directed several drama, musical, and detective films. Late in his career, he took up writing, producing and directing for theater. In 2004, he received an Honorary Academy Award in recognition of his writing, directing and producing an extraordinary body of work for t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bewitched
''Bewitched'' is an American fantasy sitcom television series that originally aired for eight seasons on ABC from September 17, 1964, to March 25, 1972. It is about a witch who marries an ordinary mortal man and vows to lead the life of a typical suburban housewife. The show was popular, finishing as the second-rated show in America during its debut season, staying in the top ten for its first three seasons, and ranking in eleventh place for both seasons four and five. The show continues to be seen throughout the world in syndication and on recorded media. ''Bewitched'' was created by Sol Saks under executive producer Harry Ackerman and starred: Elizabeth Montgomery as Samantha Stephens; Dick York (1964–1969) as Darrin Stephens, her husband (Dick Sargent replaced an ailing York for the final three seasons, 1969–1972); Agnes Moorehead as Endora, Samantha's mother; David White as Larry Tate, Darrin's boss; Irene Vernon (1964–1966) and later Kasey Rogers (1966–1972) as Lou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Follow Me, Boys!
''Follow Me, Boys!'' is a 1966 American drama film produced by Walt Disney Productions. It is an adaptation of the 1954 novel ''God and My Country'' by MacKinlay Kantor and was the final live action film produced by Walt Disney, who died two weeks later. The film stars Fred MacMurray, Vera Miles, Lillian Gish, Charles Ruggles and Kurt Russell, and is co-produced by Walt Disney and Winston Hibler, directed by Norman Tokar and written by Louis Pelletier. It is one of the few films featuring the Boy Scouts of America and is Disney's paean to the Boy Scouts. The title song "Follow Me, Boys!" was written by studio favorites Robert and Richard Sherman. After the film's production, the Boy Scouts of America considered using the song as their anthem, but efforts toward the end were dropped. The ''Boys' Life'' magazine included a teaser article of the film. ''Follow Me, Boys!'' was the first of ten Disney films in which Russell appeared over the next ten years. A DVD version was released ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fred MacMurray
Frederick Martin MacMurray (August 30, 1908 – November 5, 1991) was an American actor. He appeared in more than one hundred films and a successful television series, in a career that spanned nearly a half-century. His career as a major film leading man began in 1935, but his most renowned role was in Billy Wilder's film noir '' Double Indemnity''. During 1959–1973, MacMurray appeared in numerous Disney films, including '' The Shaggy Dog'', ''The Absent-Minded Professor'', ''Follow Me, Boys!'', and ''The Happiest Millionaire''. He played Steve Douglas in the television series ''My Three Sons''. Early life and education Frederick Martin MacMurray was born on August 30, 1908, in Kankakee, Illinois, the son of Maleta (''née'' Martin) and concert violinist Frederick Talmadge MacMurray, both natives of Wisconsin. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Rat Patrol
''The Rat Patrol'' is an American action and adventure television series that aired on ABC between 1966 and 1968. The show follows the exploits of four Allied soldiers — three Americans and one British — who are part of a long-range desert patrol group in the North African campaign during World War II. Their mission: "to attack, harass and wreak havoc on Field Marshal Rommel's vaunted Afrika Korps". Background The show was inspired by and loosely modeled on David Stirling's British Special Air Service (SAS), which used modified Jeeps armed with machine guns as their transport through the treacherous desert terrain, and Popski's Private Army. Such units did not exist as part of the American military until after the Second World War. The title of the program refers to the nicknames given to some of the British Commonwealth forces in the North African campaign (Rats of Tobruk, the primarily Australian defenders of the city of Tobruk or the British Desert Rats). At the time of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Archive Of American Television
The Interviews: An Oral History of Television (formerly titled the Archive of American Television) is a project of the nonprofit Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, that records interviews with notable people from all aspects of the television industry.New York Time"Interviews With Legends of Television Hit Web"September 13, 2009 The project has interviewed over 850 television pioneers and has posted over 500 videotaped interviews online. It is their ultimate goal to be the world's largest and most advanced oral history collection on the history of television. The archive's subjects include all professions within the television industry. Examples include: actors Fess Parker, William Shatner, Betty White, Alan Alda, James Garner, Mary Tyler Moore, Dick Van Dyke, Ossie Davis, Carol Burnett and Michael J. Fox; and producers Norman Lear, Carl Reiner, Chris Carter, Steven Bochco, Phil Rosenthal, Sherwood Schwartz, Fred Rogers and Dick Wolf; ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gene Roddenberry
Eugene Wesley Roddenberry Sr. (August 19, 1921 – October 24, 1991) was an American television screenwriter, producer, and creator of ''Star Trek: The Original Series'', its sequel spin-off series ''Star Trek: The Animated Series,'' and ''Star Trek: The Next Generation''. Born in El Paso, Texas, Roddenberry grew up in Los Angeles, where his father was a police officer. Roddenberry flew 89 combat missions in the United States Army Air Forces, Army Air Forces during World War II and worked as a commercial pilot after the war. Later, he followed in his father's footsteps and joined the Los Angeles Police Department, where he also began to write scripts for television. As a freelance writer, Roddenberry wrote scripts for ''Highway Patrol (U.S. TV series), Highway Patrol'', ''Have Gun – Will Travel'', and other series, before creating and producing his own television series, ''The Lieutenant.'' In 1964, Roddenberry created ''Star Trek'', which premiered in 1966 and ran for t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Lieutenant
''The Lieutenant'' is an American television series, the first created by Gene Roddenberry. It aired on NBC on Saturday evenings in the 1963–1964 television schedule. It was produced by Arena Productions, one of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's most successful in-house production companies of the 1960s. Situated at Camp Pendleton, Southern California, the West Coast base of the U.S. Marine Corps, ''The Lieutenant'' focuses on the men of the Corps in peacetime with a Cold War backdrop. The title character is Second Lieutenant William Tiberius Rice, a rifle platoon leader and one of the training instructors at Camp Pendleton. An hour-long drama, ''The Lieutenant'' explores the lives of enlisted Marines and officers alike. The series was known for hosting a plethora of stars and guest stars who would later appear in Roddenberry's more well known work, ''Star Trek''. Rice himself—whose middle name was also shared by the character James T. Kirk—was played by Gary Lockwood, who appear ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
