Van Snowden
Van Charles Snowden (February 19, 1939 – September 22, 2010) was an American puppeteer active in the film and television industries for decades. Snowden performed as the H.R. Pufnstuf character on nearly every episode of the television series of the same name from 1969 to 1971. His other credits included the horror films ''Child's Play 2'' and ''Child's Play 3'', ''Tales from the Crypt (TV series), Tales from the Crypt'' and ''D.C. Follies''. Life and career Snowden was born in San Francisco, California, in 1939. He was raised in Branson, Missouri, on a farm. Snowden launched his professional career by performing as the title character of ''H.R. Pufnstuf'', which was created by Sid and Marty Krofft, from 1969 until 1971. He also performed as H.R. Pufnstuf in ''Pufnstuf (film), Pufnstuf'', which was a spinoff of the television series and as a segment of the Second season of the Banana Splits Adventure Hour, which premiered a year prior in 1968 by NBC & Sid & Marty Krofft. He cont ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of California cities by population, fourth most populous in California and List of United States cities by population, 17th most populous in the United States, with 815,201 residents as of 2021. It covers a land area of , at the end of the San Francisco Peninsula, making it the second most densely populated large U.S. city after New York City, and the County statistics of the United States, fifth most densely populated U.S. county, behind only four of the five New York City boroughs. Among the 91 U.S. cities proper with over 250,000 residents, San Francisco was ranked first by per capita income (at $160,749) and sixth by aggregate income as of 2021. Colloquial nicknames for San Francisco include ''SF'', ''San Fran'', ''The '', ''Frisco'', and '' ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lidsville
''Lidsville'' is Sid and Marty Krofft's third television show following ''H.R. Pufnstuf'' (1969) and ''The Bugaloos'' (1970). As did its predecessors, the series combined two types of characters: conventional actors in makeup taped alongside performers in full mascot costumes, whose voices were dubbed in post-production. Seventeen episodes aired on Saturday mornings on ABC for two seasons, 1971–1973. The show was rebroadcast on NBC Saturday mornings the following season. The opening was shot at Six Flags Over Texas. Otherwise, the show was shot at Paramount Pictures film studio in Los Angeles. Production ''Lidsville'' resembles an earlier British series, '' Hattytown Tales'', produced by Hattyland Enterprises & FilmFair Ltd. in 1969, which used an almost identical concept but different characters and was produced in stop motion animation. Like predecessors ''H.R. Pufnstuf'' and ''The Bugaloos'', ''Lidsville'' ran for only one season (1971–1972), with reruns airing the f ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Alien Resurrection
''Alien Resurrection'' is a 1997 American science fiction horror film, directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, written by Joss Whedon, and starring Sigourney Weaver and Winona Ryder. It is the fourth installment of the ''Alien'' franchise, and was filmed at the 20th Century Fox studios in Los Angeles, California. Set 200 years after the preceding installment, ''Alien 3'' (1992), Ellen Ripley is cloned, and an Alien queen is surgically removed from her body. The United Systems Military (USM) hopes to breed Aliens to study and research on the spaceship USM ''Auriga'', using human hosts abducted and delivered to them by a group of mercenaries. The Aliens escape their enclosures, and Ripley and the mercenaries attempt to escape and destroy the ''Auriga'' before it reaches Earth. Additional roles are played by Ron Perlman, Dan Hedaya, J. E. Freeman, Brad Dourif, and Michael Wincott. ''Alien Resurrection'' had its premiere in Paris on November 6, 1997, and was released to the public on N ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Dracula (1992 Film)
''Bram Stoker's Dracula'' is a 1992 American Gothic horror film directed and produced by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the 1897 novel ''Dracula'' by Bram Stoker. It stars Gary Oldman as Count Dracula, Winona Ryder as Mina Harker, Anthony Hopkins as Professor Abraham Van Helsing, and Keanu Reeves as Jonathan Harker. ''Dracula'' was theatrically released in the United States on November 13, 1992, to positive reviews, though Keanu Reeves' performance and English accent received criticism. The film opened at #1 in the United States, and grossed $215 million against a production budget of $40 million. It was nominated for four Academy Awards, of which it won three for Best Costume Design, Best Sound Editing, and Best Makeup while also being nominated for Best Art Direction. Its score was composed by Wojciech Kilar and its closing credits theme "Love Song for a Vampire", written and performed by Annie Lennox, became an international success. Plot In 1462, Vlad Dracula returns f ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey
''Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey'' is a 1991 American science fiction comedy film, and the feature directorial debut of Pete Hewitt. It is the second film in the ''Bill & Ted'' franchise, and a sequel to ''Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure'' (1989). Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter and George Carlin reprise their roles. The film, which partially spoofs ''The Seventh Seal'', received mixed reviews from critics, but has since gained a cult following like its predecessor. A sequel, ''Bill & Ted Face the Music'', was released in August 2020, with Reeves, Winter, and William Sadler reprising their roles after nearly thirty years. The film's original working title was ''Bill & Ted Go to Hell'' and the film's soundtrack featured the song "Go to Hell" by Megadeth, which Dave Mustaine wrote for the film. Plot The music of Wyld Stallyns has created a utopian future society. In 2691, former gym teacher turned terrorist Chuck De Nomolos attacks the Bill & Ted University and steals a time-traveling ph ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Beetlejuice
''Beetlejuice'' is a 1988 American fantasy horror comedy film directed by Tim Burton, written by Michael McDowell, Larry Wilson, and Warren Skaaren, produced by The Geffen Company, distributed by Warner Bros., and starring Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Jeffrey Jones, Catherine O'Hara, Winona Ryder, and Michael Keaton as the titular character. The plot revolves around a recently deceased couple who, as ghosts haunting their former home, contact Betelgeuse (pronounced and occasionally spelled Beetlejuice in the film), an obnoxious and devious " bio-exorcist" from the Netherworld, to scare away the house's new inhabitants. ''Beetlejuice'' was a critical and commercial success, grossing US$74.2 million from a budget of US$15 million. It won the Academy Award for Best Makeup and three Saturn Awards: Best Horror Film, Best Makeup, and Best Supporting Actress for Sylvia Sidney. The film's success spawned an animated television series, video games, and a 2018 stage musical. ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Horror Films
Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apocalyptic events, and religious or folk beliefs. Cinematic techniques used in horror films have been shown to provoke psychological reactions in an audience. Horror films have existed for more than a century. Early inspirations from before the development of film include folklore, religious beliefs and superstitions of different cultures, and the Gothic and horror literature of authors such as Edgar Allan Poe, Bram Stoker, and Mary Shelley. From origins in silent films and German Expressionism, horror only became a codified genre after the release of ''Dracula'' (1931). Many sub-genres emerged in subsequent decades, including body horror, comedy horror, slasher films, supernatural horror and psychological horror. The genre has been produc ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Chucky (Child's Play)
Charles Lee "Chucky" Ray is the main antagonist of the ''Child's Play (franchise), Child's Play'' slasher film Media franchise, franchise. Chucky is portrayed as a vicious serial killer who, as he bleeds out from a gunshot wound, transfers his soul into a "Good Guy" doll and continuously tries to transfer it to a human body. He later decides to transfer his soul across numerous doll bodies (each with their own memories) in an attempt to World domination, take over the world. The character has become one of the most recognizable horror icons and has been referenced numerous times in popular culture. In 1999, the Chucky character was nominated for the MTV Movie & TV Awards, MTV Movie Award for Best Villain for the film ''Bride of Chucky''. He was created by writer John Lafia for a rewrite of Don Mancini's original script for Child's Play (1988 film), Child's Play and is portrayed by Brad Dourif in both live action and voice over. For the Child's Play (2019 film), 2019 remake of the s ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Puppetry
Puppetry is a form of theatre or performance that involves the manipulation of puppets – inanimate objects, often resembling some type of human or animal figure, that are animated or manipulated by a human called a puppeteer. Such a performance is also known as a puppet production. The script for a puppet production is called a puppet play. Puppeteers use movements from hands and arms to control devices such as rods or strings to move the body, head, limbs, and in some cases the mouth and eyes of the puppet. The puppeteer sometimes speaks in the voice of the character of the puppet, while at other times they perform to a recorded soundtrack. There are many different varieties of puppets, and they are made of a wide range of materials, depending on their form and intended use. They can be extremely complex or very simple in their construction. The simplest puppets are finger puppets, which are tiny puppets that fit onto a single finger, and sock puppets, which are formed from ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular culture. The magazine debuted on February 16, 1990, in New York City. Different from celebrity-focused publications such as ''Us Weekly'', ''People'' (a sister magazine to ''EW''), and ''In Touch Weekly'', ''EW'' primarily concentrates on entertainment media news and critical reviews; unlike ''Variety'' and ''The Hollywood Reporter'', which were primarily established as trade magazines aimed at industry insiders, ''EW'' targets a more general audience. History Formed as a sister magazine to ''People'', the first issue of ''Entertainment Weekly'' was published on February 16, 1990. Created by Jeff Jarvis and founded by Michael Klingensmith, who served as publisher until October 1996, the magazine's original television advertising soliciting ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Great Performances
''Great Performances'' is a television anthology series dedicated to the performing arts; the banner has been used to televise theatrical performances such as plays, musicals, opera, ballet, concerts, as well as occasional documentaries. It is produced by the PBS member station WNET in New York City (originally in conjunction with KQED/San Francisco, WTTW/Chicago, Maryland Public Television, South Carolina ETV and KERA-TV/ Dallas/Fort Worth). The series is the longest-running performing arts anthology on television and has won 29 Primetime Emmy Awards, three Peabody Awards and an Image Award, with nods from the Directors Guild of America and the Cinema Audio Society. History ''Great Performances predecessor, ''New York Playhouse'', premiered on October 7, 1972, with a production of ''Antigone''. In 1973, Exxon and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting provided grants to create ''Theater in America'', which reran the ''New York Playhouse'' and some ''NET Playhouse'' product ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Linda Ronstadt
Linda Maria Ronstadt (born July 15, 1946) is a retired American singer who performed and recorded in diverse genres including rock, country, light opera, the Great American Songbook, and Latin. She has earned 11 Grammy Awards, three American Music Awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, an Emmy Award, and an ALMA Award. Many of her albums have been certified gold, platinum or multiplatinum in the United States and internationally. She has also earned nominations for a Tony Award and a Golden Globe award. She was awarded the Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award by the Latin Recording Academy in 2011 and also awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award by the Recording Academy in 2016. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April 2014. On July 28, 2014, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts and Humanities. In 2019, she received a star jointly with Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for their work as the group ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |