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1-50 of 987
- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Nicol Williamson was an enormously talented actor who was considered by some critics to be the finest actor of his generation in the late 1960s and the 1970s, rivaled only by Albert Finney, whom Williamson bested in the classics. Williamson's 1969 "Hamlet" at the Roundhouse Theatre was a sensation in London, considered by many to be the best limning of The Dane since the definitive 20th-century portrayal by John Gielgud, a performance in that period, rivaled in kudos only by Richard Burton's 1964 Broadway performance. In a sense, Williamson and Burton were the last two great Hamlets of the century. Finney's Hamlet was a failure, and while Derek Jacobi's turn as The Dane was widely hailed by English critics, he lacked the charisma and magnetism -- the star power -- of a Williamson or Burton.
Playwright John Osborne, whose play "Inadmissible Evidence" was a star vehicle for Williamson in London's West End and on Broadway, called him "the greatest actor since Marlon Brando." While it was unlikely that Williamson could ever achieved the film reputation of Brando (who but Brando did?) or the superstar status that Burton obtained and then lost, his inability to maintain a consistent film career most likely is a result of his own well-noted eccentricities than it is from any deficiency in acting skills.
The great critic and raconteur Kenneth Tynan (Laurence Olivier's first dramaturg at the National Theatre) wrote a 1971 profile of Williamson that elucidated the problem with this potentially great performer. Williamson's Hamlet had wowed Prime Minister Harold Wilson, and Wilson in turn raved about his performance to President Richard Nixon. Nixon invited Williamson to stage a one-man show at the White House, which was a success. However, in the same time period, Williamson's reputation was tarred by his erratic behavior during the North American tour of "Hamlet". In Boston he stopped during a performance and berated the audience, which led one cast member to publicly apologize to the Boston audience. Williamson would be involved in an even more famous incident on Broadway a generation later.
Even before the Boston incident, Williamson had made headlines when, during the Philadelphia tryout of "Inadmissible Evidence," he struck producer David Merrick whilst defending Anthony Page. In 1976 he slapped a fellow actor during the curtain call for the Broadway musical "Rex." Fifteen years later, his co-star in the Broadway production of "I Hate Hamlet" was terrified of him after Williamson whacked the actor on his buttocks with a sword, after the actor had abandoned the choreography.
A great stage actor, who also did a memorable "Macbeth" in London and on Broadway, Williamson was twice nominated for Tony Awards as Best Actor (Dramatic), in 1966 for Osborne's "Inadmissible Evidence" (a performance he recreated in the film version) and in 1974 for a revival of "Uncle Vanya." On film, Williamson was superb in many roles, such as the suicidal Irish soldier in The Bofors Gun (1968) and Tony Richardson's Hamlet (1969). He got his chance playing leads, such as Sherlock Holmes in The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (1976) and Castle in Otto Preminger's The Human Factor (1979), and was competent if not spectacular, likely diminished by deficiencies in the scripts rather than his own talent. Richardson also replaced Williamson's rival as Hamlet, Burton, in his adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov's Laughter in the Dark (1969).
It was in supporting work that he excelled in film in the 1970s and 1980s. He was quite effective as a supporting actor, such as his Little John to Sean Connery's Robin Hood in Richard Lester's Robin and Marian (1976), was brilliant in I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can (1982) and gave a performance for the ages (albeit in the scenery-chewing category as Merlin) in Excalibur (1981). His Merlin lives on as one of the most enjoyable performances ever caught on film.
Then it was over. While the film work didn't dry up, it didn't reach the heights anymore. He failed to harness that enormous talent and convert it into memorable film performances. He did good work as Louis Mountbatten in a 1986 TV-movie, but the roles became more sporadic, and after 1997 this great actor no longer appeared in motion pictures.
Williamson's eccentricities showed themselves again in the early 1990s. When appearing as the ghost of John Barrymore in the 1991 Broadway production of Paul Rudnick's "I Hate Hamlet" on Broadway in 1991, Williamson's co-star quit the play after being thumped on the buttocks with a sword during a stage fight. Although critics hailed the performances of the understudy as a "vast improvement" it caused a sensation in the press. Despite good reviews, the play lasted only 100 performances.
Surprisingly, Williamson never won an Oscar nomination, yet that never was a game he seemed to play. In 1970, after his Hamlet triumph, he turned down a six-figure salary to appear as Enobarbus in Charlton Heston's film of Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra (1972)_. The role was played by Eric Porter, but his choice was justified in that the film was derided as a vanity production and savaged by critics).
Williamson had been a staple on Broadway, even using his fine singing voice to appear as Henry VIII in the Broadway musical "Rex" In 1976. He has not appeared on the Great White Way since his own one-man show about John Barrymore that he himself crafted, "Jack: A Night on the Town with John Barrymore," which had enormously successful runs, both at the Criterion Theater in London, and The Geffen Theater in Los Angeles playing to packed houses, before closing on Broadway after only 12 performances in 1996.
The "I Hate Hamlet" and "Jack" shows are still talked about on Broadway. Williamson has joined the ranks of Barrymore, Burton, and Brando, in that they have become phantoms who haunt the theater and film that they they served so admirably on the one hand but failed on the other. All enormously gifted artists, perhaps possessed of genius, they were discombobulated by that gift that became their curse, the burden of dreams -- the dreams of their audiences, their collaborators, their critics. While there is a wistfulness over the loss of such greatness, there is a relief offered, not so much from a moral tale, but as a release from guilt for the run-of-the-mill artists lacking such genius. One can be comforted by the fact that while one lacks the pearl of such a talent, they also lack the irritating genius that engenders that pearl.- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Winner was an only child, born in Hampstead, London, England, to Helen (née Zlota) and George Joseph Winner (1910-1975), a company director. His family was Jewish; his mother was Polish and his father of Russian extraction. Following his father's death, Winner's mother gambled recklessly and sold art and furniture worth around £10m at the time, bequeathed to her not only for her life but to Michael thereafter. She died aged 78 in 1984.
He was educated at St Christopher School, Letchworth, and Downing College, Cambridge, where he read law and economics. He also edited the university's student newspaper, Varsity (he was the youngest ever editor up to that time, both in age and in terms of his university career, being only in the second term of his second year). Winner had earlier written a newspaper column, 'Michael Winner's Showbiz Gossip,' in the Kensington Post from the age of 14. The first issue of Showgirl Glamour Revue in 1955 has him writing another film and showbusiness gossip column, "Winner's World". Such jobs allowed him to meet and interview several leading film personalities, including James Stewart and Marlene Dietrich. He also wrote for the New Musical Express.
He began his screen career as an assistant director of BBC television programmes, cinema shorts, and full-length "B" productions, occasionally writing screenplays. In 1957 he directed his first travelogue, This is Belgium, shot largely on location in East Grinstead. His first on-screen credit was earned as a writer for the crime film Man with a Gun (1958) directed by Montgomery Tully. Winner's first credit on a cinema short was Associate Producer on the film Floating Fortress (1959) produced by Harold Baim. Winner's first project as a lead director involved another story he wrote, Shoot to Kill (1960). He would regularly edit his own movies, using the pseudonym "Arnold Crust". He graduated to first features with Play It Cool (1962), a pop musical starring Billy Fury.
Winner's first significant film was West 11 (1963), a sympathetic study of rootless drifters in the then seedy Notting Hill area of London. Filmed on location (always Winner's preference), with a script by Willis Hall and Keith Waterhouse, the film remains an interesting contribution to the working-class realism wave of the early 1960s. Following differences with his producer, Daniel Angel, Winner (who had wanted to cast Julie Christie in the main female role) resolved to produce as well as direct his films and set up his own company, Scimitar. The Girl-Getters (1964) and the hectic, dystopian I'll Never Forget What's'isname (1967) were paired pieces starring Oliver Reed that continued Winner's exploration of alienated youth adrift in a rising tide of affluence, dreaming of an alternative life they can never achieve. These films and the exuberant 'Swinging London' comedy The Jokers (1967), also starring Reed, were well-suited to Winner's restless, intrusive camera style and staccato editing. They were followed by Hannibal Brooks (1969), a witty Second World War comedy written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, which attracted attention in America and led to Winner pursuing a Hollywood career in the 1970s.
Winner now developed a new reputation as an efficient maker of violent action thrillers, often starring Charles Bronson. The most successful and controversial was Death Wish (1974), with Bronson cast as a liberal architect who embraces vengeance after the murder of his wife and daughter. An intelligent analysis of the deep roots of vigilantism in American society, Death Wish is restrained in its depiction of violence. With his obsessive need to work, Winner accepted many inferior projects, including two weak Death Wish sequels, though occasionally he tried to make more prestigious films, notably The Nightcomers (1971), a prequel to Henry James' The Turn of the Screw, made in Britain with Marlon Brando; and A Chorus of Disapproval (1989), a satisfying version of Alan Ayckbourn's bittersweet comedy.
By the 1990s Winner had become less prolific, and reaped no benefit from the Lottery-prompted rise in genre film-making, which favoured the young and inexperienced. Dirty Weekend (1993), a rape-revenge movie with a female vigilante, aroused considerable controversy, but hardly enhanced Winner's reputation; Parting Shots (1998), a comedy revenge thriller suffused with allusions to Death Wish and restaurant scenes invoking Winner's current incarnation as a food critic, is perhaps his swan song.
In an interview with The Times newspaper, Winner said liver specialists had told him in summer 2012 that he had between 18 months and two years to live. He said he had researched assisted suicide offered at the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland, but found the bureaucracy of the process off-putting. Winner died at his home, Woodland House in Holland Park, on 21 January 2013, aged 77. Winner was buried following a traditional Jewish funeral at Willesden Jewish Cemetery.- Director
- Producer
- Writer
George Sluizer was born on 25 June 1932 in Paris, France. He was a director and producer, known for The Vanishing (1988), La balsa de piedra (2002) and Dying to Go Home (1996). He was married to Anne Sluizer. He died on 20 September 2014 in Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Actor
Robby Müller was born on 4 April 1940 in Willemstad, Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles. He was a cinematographer and actor, known for Breaking the Waves (1996), Paris, Texas (1984) and Repo Man (1984). He died on 3 July 2018 in Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands.- Music Department
- Composer
- Actor
Chet Baker started his career in the late forties. He became famous with the Gerry Mulligan Quartet in 1952. His solo in "My funny valentine" is a classic of the west coast jazz in the fifties. When Mulligan was arrested in 1953, Chet led the group until 1955, when he went to Europe. He also sang on many records. In Europe he recorded with many musicians in different countries. His career was interrupted many times for personal problems with drugs and he was arrested many times for his addiction. In 1974 he come back to music after three years in obscurity, playing in a concert in Carnegie Hall with his old friend, Gerry Mulligan. After this he started a "new career", but his problems with drugs were continuous. His death today is a mystery, one possibility is suicide but another says he was killed by trafficants in Amsterdam, Holland.- Director
- Writer
- Actor
Theo van Gogh was born on 23 July 1957 in Wassenaar, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands. He was a director and writer, known for Blind Date (1996), May 6th (2004) and 1-900 (1994). He died on 2 November 2004 in Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Jeroen Willems was born on 15 November 1962 in Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands. He was an actor, known for Ocean's Twelve (2004), Majesteit (2010) and Die Patin - Kein Weg zurück (2008). He died on 3 December 2012 in Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands.- Actress
- Soundtrack
"She's got it," Mariska Veres sang in the enormously popular Shocking Blue song "Venus." Mariska most certainly had it--a sensuous and charismatic stage presence that could transfix an audience with an absolute minimum of effort.
A striking brunette beauty with long, jet-black hair, sparkling eyes, a sweetly comely face and a voluptuous figure, Veres was further blessed with an exceptionally captivating strong and sultry voice. She was born on October 1, 1947, in the Hague, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands. Her father was gypsy Hungarian violinist Lajos Veres and her mother was born in Germany to French and Russian parents. Mariska often accompanied her father on piano. She began her music career in 1963 as a singer with the guitar band Les Mysteres. She was a member of the groups The Blues Fighters, The Bumble Bees, Danny and His Favorites, General Four and The Motowns prior to becoming the lead singer for the Dutch rock band Shocking Blue in 1968 (she replaced original lead singer Fred de Wilde). Shocking Blue scored a massive international success with the song "Venus," enjoyed a steady succession of Dutch radio hits for four years straight, and recorded several albums before splitting up in 1974. Veres went on to a less successful solo career (her lone hit song was "Take Me High" in 1975). Shocking Blue reunited in 1984 for a back-to-the-60's rock concert festival. Mariska was the lead singer for the jazz outfit the Shocking Jazz Quintet in the early 1990s and fronted a new version of Shocking Blue from 1993 to 2006.
Mariska Veres died from cancer at the tragically young age of 59 on December 2, 2006; she is much loved and missed by her many fans all over the world.- Actor
- Additional Crew
Antonie Kamerling was born on 25 August 1966 in Arnhem, Gelderland, Netherlands. He was an actor, known for Exorcist: The Beginning (2004), Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist (2005) and Goede tijden, slechte tijden (1990). He was married to Isa Hoes. He died on 6 October 2010 in Zevenhoven, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands.- Writer
- Additional Crew
Miep Gies was born on 15 February 1909 in Vienna, Austria. She was a writer, known for Anne Frank: The Whole Story (2001), The Attic: The Hiding of Anne Frank (1988) and Anne Frank Remembered (1995). She was married to Jan Gies. She died on 11 January 2010 in Abbekerk, Noord-Holland, Netherlands.- Actress
- Additional Crew
Anna Pavlovna Pavlova was born on February 12, 1881, in Ligovo, near St. Petersburg, Russia. She was an illegitimate daughter to parents of a Russian-Jewish background. Her real father was a wealthy businessman named Lazar Polyakov. Her mother, Lyubov Fedorovna Pavlova, was a poor peasant. Her mother's husband, Mathwey (Mathew) Pavlov, was a retired soldier, who died when Anna was only two years old. Although she was registered under the name of Pavlova, her father Lazar Polyakov took good care of young Anna and also paid for her tuition at the Imperial Ballet School in St. Petersburg.
Young Anna Pavlova was raised by her grandmother at her villa in Ligovo, an upscale suburb of St. Petersburg. There she became acquainted with aristocratic society and attended ballet performances at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre. From a young age, Pavlova had a dream of becoming a ballerina but she was rejected at the age of eight and practiced at home for two years. At the age of 10 she auditioned again and was admitted by Marius Petipa to the ballet class at the Imperial Ballet school in St. Petersburg. There she practiced ballet routines for eight hours daily and also studied music, having perfect pitch. As a ballet student, Pavlova adopted a strict diet with emphasis on fish and vegetables and followed that diet throughout her life. She lived at the boarding school of the Imperial Ballet until her graduation at the age of 18. Tamara Karsavina and 'Matilda Kshesinskaya' were among her classmates. Pavlova made her debut on September 19, 1899 and worked with the Mariinsky Ballet from 1899 to 1907. She shared the role of Gizelle with 'Matilda Kshesinskaya'. Her partner and choreographer was Mikhail Fokin. He choreographed Pavlova's best known showpiece "The Dying Swan" on the music of Camille Saint-Saëns. In 1908, Sergei Diaghilev hired Pavlova and Mikhail Fokin for his "Ballets Russes" (Russian Seasons) in Paris and London.
In 1904, Anna Pavlova met Victor D'Andre, a French-Russian aristocrat, who loved her at once. D'Andre was a businessman in St. Petersburg. At one time he was accused of embezzlement and imprisoned. Pavlova bailed him out of prison, then paid all his debts and legal expenses. D'Andre and Pavlova privately married in 1911. Victor D'Andre became her impresario and they formed a touring ballet troupe. In 1912 Pavlova and D'Andre bought Ivy House, Golders Green in Hampstead, London, which was their home for the rest of her life. On her expensive estate Pavlova kept a pond with swans, alluding to her favourite role. At her home Pavlova established a dance school which catered to her touring troupe. Initially her troupe had only eight Russian dancers. Later, with the growing success and popularity of Anna Pavlova, her troupe grew to sixty dancers and staff, all managed by D'Andre.
Pavlova made her Metropolitan Opera House debut in 1910, and toured America and Europe before her brief final return to Russia. She made her last appearance in St. Petersburg in 1913 and spent the rest of her life on tour. Pavlova toured all over the world including Europe, Asia, North and Central America, and Australia. Pavlova was able to make eight to nine performances per week and had a great interest in performing for inexperienced audiences in remote rural areas around the world. Her performances in Mexico, India, Japan and Australia were legendary. She was overworked and exhausted by her late 40s, but still danced vigorously. She gave over four thousand ballet performances during the years between 1913-1930. In January of 1931, Pavlova contracted double pneumonia on a train to Haage and her condition deteriorated rapidly. Dying, she looked at her swan costume. She died on January 23, 1931, in Haage, Netherlands. Her remains were buried in the Novodevichy Convent Cemetery in Moscow, Russia.
Pavlova's infinite finesse, delicacy and emotional dimension were captured by artist Valentin Serov, who painted her famous 1909 life-size portrait. Pavlova is depicted in her favorite role as a white swan on a blue background.- Actor
- Composer
- Soundtrack
Solomon Burke was born on 21 March 1940 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. He was an actor and composer, known for Unbreakable (2000), '71 (2014) and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015). He died on 10 October 2010 in Schiphol Airport, Haarlemmermeer, Noord-Holland, Netherlands.- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Rijk de Gooyer was born on 17 December 1925 in Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands. He was an actor and writer, known for In voor- en tegenspoed (1991), Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979) and Beppie (1989). He was married to Tonny Domburg. He died on 2 November 2011 in Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands.- Director
- Writer
- Editor
Bert Haanstra was born on 31 May 1916 in Holten, Overijssel, Netherlands. He was a director and writer, known for Zoo (1961), Glass (1958) and Spiegel van Holland (1950). He was married to Angenieta Barendiena Wijtmans. He died on 23 October 1997 in Hilversum, Noord-Holland, Netherlands.- Louis Borel was born on 6 October 1905 in The Hague, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands. He was an actor, known for Swiebertje (1955), Head Over Heels in Love (1937) and Over the Moon (1939). He died on 24 April 1973 in Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands.
- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Piet Römer was born on 2 April 1928 in Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands. He was an actor and producer, known for Baantjer (1995), 't Schaep Met De 5 Pooten (1969) and Citroentje met suiker (1972). He was married to Penina Siebers. He died on 17 January 2012 in Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands.- Robert W. Castle was born on 29 August 1929 in Jersey City, New Jersey, USA. He was an actor, known for Sleepers (1996), Philadelphia (1993) and The Manchurian Candidate (2004). He was married to Kate Castle and Nancy Castle. He died on 27 October 2012 in Holland, Vermont, USA.
- Studied Dutch Modern Literature, Philosophy and Dramaturgy at the Amsterdam University [1990]. That same year he started to study at the Amsterdam Dramaschool, and finished it in 1994. From then on he has been working in both the theatre and film & television. After three years playing in one of Holland's most famous police-series "Grijpstra & de Gier", he decided to go back to the theatre, and to spend more time on other film- and tv-projects.
- Hans van Tongeren was born on 18 January 1955 in Breda, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands. He was an actor, known for Spetters (1980), Summer Lovers (1982) and De smaak van water (1982). He died on 25 August 1982 in Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands.
- Hero Muller was born on 9 June 1938 in Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands. He was an actor, known for Onderweg naar morgen (1994), Het huis Anubis (2006) and Soldier of Orange (1977). He died on 26 July 2021 in Blaricum, Noord-Holland, Netherlands.
- Rufus Collins was born on 11 August 1935 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for The Hunger (1983), The Professionals (1977) and Shock Treatment (1981). He died on 4 November 1996 in Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands.
- Pieter Lutz was born on 13 August 1927 in Delft, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands. He was an actor, known for Laat maar zitten (1988), Kant aan m'n broek! (1978) and The Family (1973). He was married to Yvonne Lutz-Van Elburg. He died on 20 August 2009 in Rotterdam, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands.
- Actor
- Director
- Script and Continuity Department
Kees Brusse was born on 26 February 1925 in Rotterdam, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands. He was an actor and director, known for Dagboek van een herdershond (1978), Mensen zoals jij en ik (1981) and Ciske de Rat (1955). He was married to Sonja Boerrigter, Marlou Peters, Mieke Verstraete, Pam Ingenegeren and Joan st. Clair. He died on 9 December 2013 in Laren, Noord-Holland, Netherlands.- Slobodan Milosevic (20 August 1941 - 11 March 2006) was a Yugoslav and Serbian politician who served as the president of Serbia within Yugoslavia from 1989 to 1997 (originally the Socialist Republic of Serbia, a constituent republic of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, from 1989 to 1992) and president of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1997 to 2000. Formerly a high-ranking member of the League of Communists of Serbia (SKS) during the 1980s, he led the Socialist Party of Serbia from its foundation in 1990 until 2003.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Bea Meulman was born on 1 February 1949 in Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands. She was an actress, known for Vrouwenvleugel (1993), Sam Sam (1994) and Medisch Centrum West (1988). She was married to Arthur Boni. She died on 6 July 2015 in Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands.