David Bret
David Bret (born 8 November 1954) is a British author of show business biographies. He chiefly writes on the private life of film stars and singers. Biographies Bret has written a number of biographies for several publishers. Many of these have focused on the private or intimate lives of entertainment celebrities. Lewis Jones, in the ''Telegraph'' wrote that Bret "for decades has churned out sensationalist biographies of such figures as Diana Dors, Barbra Streisand and Tallulah Bankhead." Clark Gable In ''Clark Gable: Tormented Star'' Bret deals at length with Gable's sex life and particularly his sex with other men. In the '' New York Times Sunday Book Review'', Ada Calhoun wrote "How does Bret, the author of numerous celebrity biographies, know so much about Hollywood stars’ sex lives? Judging by this new book's convoluted wording, he really doesn't." She also wrote: "For all its smut, the book is painfully unsexy. ... And yet Bret undermines his own arguments. ... 'Clark ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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David Bret3
David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Damascus in the late 9th/early 8th centuries BCE to commemorate a victory over two enemy kings, contains the phrase (), which is translated as "House of David" by most scholars. The Mesha Stele, erected by King Mesha of Moab in the 9th century BCE, may also refer to the "House of David", although this is disputed. According to Jewish works such as the ''Seder Olam Rabbah'', ''Seder Olam Zutta'', and ''Sefer ha-Qabbalah'' (all written over a thousand years later), David ascended the throne as the king of Judah in 885 BCE. Apart from this, all that is known of David comes from biblical literature, the historicity of which has been extensively challenged,Writing and Rewriting the Story of Solomon in Ancient Israel; by Isaac Kalimi; page 32; Cambr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Valentino Garavani
Valentino Clemente Ludovico Garavani (; born 11 May 1932), known mononymously as Valentino, is an Italian fashion designer, the founder of the Valentino (fashion house), Valentino brand and company. His main lines include Valentino, Valentino Garavani, Valentino Roma, and R.E.D. Valentino. Career Early life and 1950s Paris years Valentino was born in Voghera, in the Italian province of Pavia, on the 11th of May 1932. His mother named him after Matinée idol, screen idol Rudolph Valentino. He became interested in fashion while in primary school in his native Voghera, when he apprenticed under his aunt Rosa and local designer Ernestina Salvadeo, an aunt of noted artist Aldo Giorgini. Valentino then moved to Paris to pursue this interest with the help of his mother Teresa de Biaggi and his father Mauro Garavani. There Valentino studied at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, École des Beaux-Arts and at the Chambre syndicale du prêt-à-porter des couturiers et des ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Living People
Purpose: Because living persons may suffer personal harm from inappropriate information, we should watch their articles carefully. By adding an article to this category, it marks them with a notice about sources whenever someone tries to edit them, to remind them of WP:BLP (biographies of living persons) policy that these articles must maintain a neutral point of view, maintain factual accuracy, and be properly sourced. Recent changes to these articles are listed on Special:RecentChangesLinked/Living people. Organization: This category should not be sub-categorized. Entries are generally sorted by family name In many societies, a surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full name of a person, although several give .... Maintenance: Individuals of advanced age (over 90), for whom there has been no new documentation in the last ten ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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1954 Births
Events January * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head office of IBM. * January 10 – BOAC Flight 781, a de Havilland Comet jet plane, disintegrates in mid-air due to metal fatigue, and crashes in the Mediterranean near Elba; all 35 people on board are killed. * January 12 – 1954 Blons avalanches, Avalanches in Austria kill more than 200. * January 15 – Mau Mau rebellion, Mau Mau leader Waruhiu Itote is captured in Kenya. * January 17 – In Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Yugoslavia, Milovan Đilas, one of the leading members of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, is relieved of his duties. * January 20 – The US-based National Negro Network is established, with 46 member radio stations. * January 21 – The first nuclear-powered submarine, the , is ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Kenneth Anger
Kenneth Anger (born Kenneth Wilbur Anglemyer, February 3, 1927 – May 11, 2023) was an American Underground film, underground experimental filmmaker, actor, and writer. Working exclusively in short films, he produced almost 40 works beginning in 1937, nine of which have been grouped together as the "Magick Lantern Cycle". Anger's films variously merge surrealism with homoeroticism and the occult, and have been described as containing "elements of erotica, documentary, psychodrama, and spectacle".The Kinsey Institute''Spotlight on the Collections: Filmmaker Kenneth Anger'' 2004. Retrieved June 1, 2010. He has been called "one of America's first openly gay filmmakers", with several films released before LGBT rights in the United States, homosexuality was legalized in the U.S. Anger also explored occult themes in many of his films; he was fascinated by the English occultist Aleister Crowley and an adherent of Thelema, the religion Crowley founded. Anger was born into a middle-class ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Charles Higham (biographer)
Charles Higham (pronounced ''HYE-um''; 18 February 1931 – 21 April 2012)Elaine Wo"Charles Higham dies at 81; controversial celebrity biographer" ''Los Angeles Times'', 4 May 2012Fox, Margali ''The New York Times'', 3 May 2012; "A cloying vulgarity and coarseness suffuse this book", Carolyn See wrote in the ''Los Angeles Times'' in 1986, reviewing his ''Lucy: The Life of Lucille Ball''. "But the author is either so cunning – or so closely allied in emotional terms with the subject of this biography – that the reader can’t tell if the vulgarity comes from Charles Higham or from Lucille Ball herself." was an English author, editor and poet. After moving to Australia in 1954, Higham began a career in journalism, before moving to the United States in 1969. In the United States, he became known as a celebrity biographer, mainly of film stars, such as Katharine Hepburn and Errol Flynn. The latter book, among several during Higham's career, was criticized for fabrications. Clos ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Presley's sexually provocative performance style, combined with a mix of influences across color lines during a civil rights movement, transformative era in race relations, brought both great success and Cultural impact of Elvis Presley#Danger to American culture, initial controversy. Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi; his family relocated to Memphis, Tennessee, when he was 13. He began his music career in 1954 at Sun Records with producer Sam Phillips, who wanted to bring the sound of African-American music to a wider audience. Presley, on guitar and accompanied by lead guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black, was a pioneer of rockabilly, an uptempo, Backbeat (music), backbeat-driven fusion of country music and ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Marlene Dietrich
Marie Magdalene "Marlene" DietrichBorn as Maria Magdalena, not Marie Magdalene, according to Dietrich's biography by her daughter, Maria Riva ; however, Dietrich's biography by Charlotte Chandler cites "Marie Magdalene" as her birth name . (, ; 27 December 1901 – 6 May 1992) was a German and American actress and singer whose career spanned nearly seven decades. In 1920s Berlin, Dietrich performed on the stage and in silent films. Her performance as Lola Lola in Josef von Sternberg's ''The Blue Angel'' (1930) brought her international acclaim and a contract with Paramount Pictures. She starred in many Hollywood (film industry), Hollywood films, including six iconic roles directed by Sternberg: ''Morocco (film), Morocco'' (1930) (her only Academy Award for Best Actress, Academy Award nomination), ''Dishonored (film), Dishonored'' (1931), ''Shanghai Express (film), Shanghai Express'' and ''Blonde Venus'' (both 1932), ''The Scarlet Empress'' (1934), ''The Devil Is a Woman (1935 fi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Morrissey
Steven Patrick Morrissey ( ; born 22 May 1959), known :wikt:mononym, mononymously as Morrissey, is an English singer and songwriter. He came to prominence as the frontman and lyricist of rock band the Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 1987. Since then, he has pursued a successful solo career. Morrissey's music is characterised by his baritone voice and distinctive lyrics with recurring themes of emotional isolation, sexual longing, self-deprecating and dark humour, and anti-establishment stances. Morrissey was born to working-class Irish immigrants in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Lancashire, England; the family lived in Queen's Court near the Loreto convent in Hulme and his mother worked nearby at the Hulme Hippodrome bingo hall. They moved due to the 1960s demolitions of almost all the Victorian-era houses in Hulme, known as 'Slum clearance in the United Kingdom, slum clearance', and he grew up in nearby Stretford. As a child, he developed a love of literature, kitc ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Maurice Chevalier
Maurice Auguste Chevalier (; 12 September 1888 – 1 January 1972) was a French singer, actor, and entertainer. He is best known for his signature songs, including " Livin' In The Sunlight", " Valentine", " Louise", " Mimi", and " Thank Heaven for Little Girls", and for his films, including '' The Love Parade'', '' The Big Pond'', '' The Smiling Lieutenant'', '' One Hour with You'', and '' Love Me Tonight''. His trademark attire was a boater hat and tuxedo. Chevalier was born in Paris. He made his name as a star of musical comedy, appearing in public as a singer and dancer at an early age before working in menial jobs as a teenager. In 1909, he became the partner of the biggest female star in France at the time, Fréhel. Although their relationship was brief, she secured him his first major engagement, as a mimic and a singer in ''l'Alcazar'' in Marseille, for which he received critical acclaim by French theatre critics. In 1917, he discovered jazz and ragtime and went to Londo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Edith Piaf
Edith is a feminine given name derived from the Old English word , meaning ''wealth'' or ''prosperity'', in combination with the Old English , meaning '' strife'', and is in common usage in this form in English, German, many Scandinavian languages and Dutch. Its French form is Édith. Contractions and variations of this name include Ditte, Dita, and Edie. It was a common first name prior to the 16th century, when it fell out of favour. It became popular again at the beginning of the 19th century and has remained in steady use. It has been among the top hundred most popular names for newborn girls in England and Wales since 2017. It has been among the top 1,000 names for girls in the United States since 1880 and was among the top 50 names for American girls between 1880 and 1927, the height of its popularity. It was ranked as the 513th most popular name for American newborn girls in 2022, according to the Social Security online database. It was the 518th most popular name for ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Gracie Fields
Dame Gracie Fields (born Grace Stansfield; 9 January 189827 September 1979) was a British actress, singer and comedian. A star of cinema and music hall, she was one of the top ten film stars in Britain during the 1930s and was considered the highest paid film star in the world in 1937. Fields was known affectionately as ''Our Gracie'' and ''the Lancashire Lass'' and for never losing her strong, native Lancashire accent. She was appointed a Order of the British Empire, Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) and an Venerable Order of Saint John, Officer of the Venerable Order of St John (OStJ) in 1938, and a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 1979. Life and work Early life Fields was born Grace Stansfield, a daughter of Frederick Stansfield (1874–1956) and his wife Sarah Jane 'Jenny' Stansfield née Bamford (1879–1953), over a Fish and chips, fish and chip shop owned by her grandmother, Sar ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |