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Strange Invaders
''Strange Invaders'' is a 1983 American science fiction film directed and co-written by Michael Laughlin, and stars Paul Le Mat, Nancy Allen and Diana Scarwid. Produced as a tribute to the sci-fi films of the 1950s, notably ''The Invasion of the Body Snatchers'', it was intended to be the second installment of the aborted ''Strange Trilogy'' with '' Strange Behavior'' (1981), another 1950s spoof by Laughlin, but the idea was abandoned after ''Invaders'' failed to attract a large audience. Scarwid's performance earned her a Razzie Award nomination for Worst Supporting Actress. Plot In 1958, the town of (fictionalized) Centreville, Illinois is invaded by a race of aliens. The invaders fire lasers from their eyes and hands and reduce humans to "crystallized" glowing blue orbs. They took over the form of the humans who were either captured or killed. Twenty-five years later, Columbia University lecturer Charles Bigelow learns that his ex-wife, Margaret, has disappeared while at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Laughlin
Michael Stoddard Laughlin (November 28, 1938 – October 20, 2021) was an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Life Laughlin was raised in Minonk, Illinois, where his father Donald M. Laughlin had extensive farms. He played basketball and studied law at college. During his first few days in California, he met the Dean Martin family and other movie stars, which had a lasting effect on him. His mother Hazel Stoddard Laughlin died in 1965. During the late 1960s, he lived in London, where he produced ''The Whisperers'' starring Dame Edith Evans, directed by Bryan Forbes. It was in London that he met and married Leslie Caron who had two children from her previous marriage to Sir Peter Hall. They moved to Los Angeles where they settled in Cuesta Way, Bel Air, and over the next few years, Laughlin produced a series of groundbreaking films including the cult hit ''Two-Lane Blacktop'' starring James Taylor and Laurie Bird. He also worked with writers and directors Floyd M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hybrid (mythology)
Hybrid beasts are creatures composed of parts from different animals, including humans, appearing in the folklore of a variety of cultures as legendary creatures. In burial sites Remains similar to those of mythological hybrids have been found in burial sites discovered by archaeologists. Known combinations include horse-cows, sheep-cows, and a six-legged sheep. The skeletons were formed by ancient peoples who joined together body parts from animal carcasses of different species. The practice is believed to have been done as an offering to their gods. Description These forms' motifs appear across cultures in many mythologies around the world. Such hybrids can be classified as partly human hybrids (such as mermaids or centaurs) or non-human hybrids combining two or more non-human animal species (such as the griffin or the chimera). Hybrids often originate as zoomorphic deities who, over time, are given an anthropomorphic aspect. Paleolithic Partly human hybrids appear in petro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joel McCrea
Joel Albert McCrea (November 5, 1905 – October 20, 1990) was an American actor whose career spanned a wide variety of genres over almost five decades, including comedy, drama, romance, thrillers, adventures, and Westerns, for which he became best known. He appeared in over one hundred films, starring in over eighty, among them Alfred Hitchcock's espionage thriller ''Foreign Correspondent'' (1940), Preston Sturges' comedy classics ''Sullivan's Travels'' (1941), and ''The Palm Beach Story'' (1942), the romance film '' Bird of Paradise'' (1932), the adventure classic ''The Most Dangerous Game'' (1932), Gregory La Cava's bawdy comedy ''Bed of Roses'' (1933), George Stevens' six-time Academy Award nominated romantic comedy ''The More the Merrier'' (1943), William Wyler's ''These Three'', '' Come and Get It'' (both 1936) and ''Dead End'' (1937), Howard Hawks' '' Barbary Coast'' (1935), and a number of western films, including '' Wichita'' (1955) as Wyatt Earp and Sam Peckinpah's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Powers Boothe
Powers Allen Boothe (June 1, 1948 – May 14, 2017) was an American actor. He won an Emmy in 1980 for his portrayal of Jim Jones in '' Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones''. He also played saloon owner Cy Tolliver on '' Deadwood'', "Curly Bill" Brocius in '' Tombstone'', President Noah Daniels on '' 24'', and Lamar Wyatt in ''Nashville''. He was also the voice of Gorilla Grodd in the DC Animated Universe shows ''Justice League'' and ''Justice League Unlimited''. Early life Boothe, the youngest of three boys, was born June 1, 1948, at home on a cotton farm in Snyder, Texas, to Merrill Vestal Boothe (1924–1985), a rancher, and his wife Emily (née Reeves) Boothe (1924–1999). His father named him after his best friend, who had been killed in the Second World War. Boothe attended Snyder High School, where he played football and appeared in school plays. He was the first in his family to go beyond high school, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Southwes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mel Gibson
Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson (born January 3, 1956) is an American actor, film director, and producer. He is best known for his action hero roles, particularly his breakout role as Max Rockatansky in the first three films of the post-apocalyptic action series ''Mad Max'' and as Martin Riggs in the buddy cop action-comedy film series ''Lethal Weapon''. Born in Peekskill, New York, Gibson moved with his parents to Sydney, Australia, when he was 12 years old. He studied acting at the National Institute of Dramatic Art, where he starred opposite Judy Davis in a production of ''Romeo and Juliet''. During the 1980s, he founded Icon Entertainment, a production company, which independent film director Atom Egoyan has called "an alternative to the studio system". Director Peter Weir cast him as one of the leads in the World War I drama ''Gallipoli'' (1981), which earned Gibson a Best Actor Award from the Australian Film Institute,The Australian Film InstitutPast Winners as well as a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Murphy (actor)
Michael George Murphy (born May 5, 1938) is an American film, television and stage actor. He often plays unethical or morally ambiguous characters in positions of authority, including politicians, executives, and lawyers. He is also known for his frequent collaborations with director Robert Altman, having appeared in twelve films, TV series and miniseries directed by Altman from 1963 to 2004, including the title role in the miniseries ''Tanner '88''. He had roles in the films ''Manhattan'', ''An Unmarried Woman'', ''Nashville'', '' The Year of Living Dangerously'', '' Phase IV'', ''The Front'', '' Shocker'', ''Magnolia'', ''M*A*S*H'' and ''Batman Returns'', among others. Early life Murphy was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Georgia Arlyn (née Money), a teacher, and Bearl Branton Murphy, a salesman. After serving in the United States Marine Corps, Murphy attended the University of Arizona and the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). He taught English and d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Two-Lane Blacktop
''Two-Lane Blacktop'' is a 1971 American road movie directed by Monte Hellman, written by Rudy Wurlitzer and starring songwriter James Taylor, the Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson, Warren Oates, and Laurie Bird. Plot Two street racers, the Driver and the Mechanic live on the road in their highly modified, primer-gray, 1955 Chevrolet 150 two-door sedan drag car, and drift from town to town making their income by challenging local residents to impromptu drag races. ("Blacktop" means an asphalt road.) As they drive east on Route 66 from Needles, California, they pick up the Girl, a female hitchhiker, in Flagstaff, Arizona, when she gets into their car at a diner. Although the Driver develops a crush on the Girl, she sleeps with the Mechanic when the Driver goes out drinking one night. In New Mexico they begin to encounter another car driver, GTO, on the highways. An atmosphere of hostility develops between the two parties. Although GTO is not an overt street racer and seems to k ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Starlog
''Starlog'' was a monthly science fiction magazine that was created in 1976 and focused primarily on '' Star Trek'' at its inception. Kerry O'Quinn and Norman Jacobs were its creators and it was published by Starlog Group, Inc. in August 1976. ''Starlog'' was one of the first publications to report on the development of the first '' Star Wars'' movie, and it followed the development of what was to eventually become '' Star Trek: The Motion Picture'' (1979). ''Starlog'' was born out of the ''Star Trek'' fandom craze, but also was inspired by the success of the magazine ''Cinefantastique'' which was the model of ''Star Trek'' and '' Star Wars'' coverage. ''Starlog'', though it called itself a science fiction magazine, actually contained no fiction. The primary focus of the magazine, besides the fact that it was mostly based on ''Star Trek'' fandom, was the making of science fiction media - books, films, and television series - and the work that went into these creations. The magaz ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lulu Sylbert
Susanna Moore (born December 9, 1945) is an American writer and teacher. Born in Pennsylvania but raised in Hawaii, Moore worked as a model and script reader in Los Angeles and New York City before beginning her career as a writer. Her first novel, ''My Old Sweetheart'', published in 1982, earned a PEN Hemingway nomination, and won the Prize for First Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She followed this with ''The Whiteness of Bones'' in 1989, and her third novel, ''Sleeping Beauties'', in 1993. All three of these novels were set in Hawaii and charted dysfunctional family relationships. Moore gained particular critical notice for her fourth novel, ''In the Cut'' (1995), which marked a departure from her previous works in both setting and content, concerning a New York City teacher who has a sexual affair with a detective investigating violent murders and dismemberments in her neighborhood. It was adapted into a 2003 feature film of the same name by director J ... [...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] |
June Lockhart
June Lockhart (born June 25, 1925) is an American actress, beginning a film career in 1930s & 1940s in such films at ''A Christmas Carol'' and ''Meet Me in St. Louis''. She primarily acted in 1950s and 1960s television, and with performances on stage and in film. On two television series, '' Lassie'' and ''Lost in Space'', she played mother roles. She also portrayed Dr. Janet Craig on the CBS television sitcom ''Petticoat Junction'' (1968–70). She is a two-time Emmy Award nominee and a Tony Award winner. With a career spanning over 80 years, she is one of the last surviving actors from the Golden Age of Hollywood. Early life June Lockhart was born on June 25, 1925, in New York City, New York. She is the daughter of Canadian-American actor Gene Lockhart, who came to prominence on Broadway in 1933 in ''Ah, Wilderness!'', and English-born actress Kathleen Lockhart ((née Arthur). Her grandfather was John Coates Lockhart, "a concert-singer". Lockhart attended the Westlake Schoo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kenneth Tobey
Kenneth Jesse Tobey (March 23, 1917 – December 22, 2002) was an extremely prolific American actor who performed in hundreds of productions during a career that spanned more than half a century, including his role as the star of the 1957-1960 Desilu Productions TV series ''Whirlybirds''. Early years Tobey was born in 1917 in Oakland, California. Following his graduation from high school in 1935, he entered the University of California, Berkeley, with intentions to pursue a career in law, until he began to dabble in acting at the school's theater. His stage experience there led to a drama scholarship, a year-and-a-half of study at New York City's Neighborhood Playhouse, where his classmates included fellow actors Gregory Peck, Eli Wallach, and Tony Randall."Kenneth Tobey Probably Has Redde ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
