Burt Lancaster

Birthday: 2 November 1913, New York City, New York, USA

Height: 6' 1" (1.85 m)

Biography

Burt Lancaster was one of five children born to a New York City postal worker. He was a tough street kid who took an early interest in gymnastics. He joined the circus as an acrobat and worked there until he was injured. It was in the Army during WW II that he was introduced to the USO and acting. His first film was The Killers (1946), and that made him a star. He was a self-taught actor who learned the business as he went along. He set up his own production company in 1948 with Harold Hecht and James Hill to direct his career. He played many different roles in pictures as varied as The Crimson Pirate (1952), From Here to Eternity (1953), Elmer Gantry (1960) and Atlantic City (1980).

His production company, Hecht-Hill-Lancaster, produced the such films as Paddy Chayefsky's Marty (1955) (Oscar winner 1955) and The Catered Affair (1956). In the 1980s he appeared as a supporting player in a number of movies, such as Local Hero (1983) and Field of Dreams (1989). However, it will be the sound of his voice, the way that he laughed, and the larger-than-life characters he played that will always be remembered 

Acting

With Ava Gardner in The Killers (1946)

Though initially unenthusiastic about acting, he returned from service, auditioned for a Broadway play, and was offered a role. Although Harry Brown's A Sound of Hunting had a run of only three weeks, Lancaster's performance drew the attention of a Hollywood agent, Harold Hecht, and through him to Hal Wallis, who cast Lancaster in The Killers (1946). (Hecht and Lancaster later formed several production companies in the 1950s to give Lancaster greater creative control.) The tall, muscular actor won significant acclaim and appeared in two more films the following year. Subsequently, he played in a variety of films, especially in dramas, thrillers, and military and adventure films. In two, The Flame and the Arrow and The Crimson Pirate, a friend from his circus years, Nick Cravat, played a key supporting role, and both actors impressed audiences with their acrobatic prowess.

With Deborah Kerr in From Here to Eternity (1953)

In 1953, Lancaster played one of his best remembered roles with Deborah Kerr in From Here to Eternity. The American Film Institute acknowledged the iconic status of the scene from that film in which he and Deborah Kerr make love on a Hawaiian beach amid the crashing waves. The organization named it one of "AFI's top 100 Most Romantic Films" of all time.

Lancaster won the 1960 Academy Award for Best Actor, a Golden Globe Award, and the New York Film Critics Award for his performance in Elmer Gantry.

In 1966, at the age of 52, Lancaster appeared nude in director Frank Perry's film, The Swimmer.

During the latter part of his career, Lancaster left adventure and acrobatic films behind and portrayed more distinguished characters. This period brought him work on several European productions, with directors such as Luchino Visconti and Bernardo Bertolucci. Lancaster sought demanding roles, and if he liked a part or a director, he was prepared to work for much lower pay than he might have earned elsewhere. He even helped to finance movies whose artistic value he believed in. He also mentored directors such as Sydney Pollack and John Frankenheimer and appeared in several television films. Lancaster's last film was Field of Dreams (1989).

For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Lancaster has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard.

Filmography and awards

Films

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1946	The Killers	'Swede' Andersen	With Ava Gardner
1947	Brute Force	Joe Collins	With Hume Cronyn
1947	Desert Fury	Tom Hanson	With Lizabeth Scott
1948	I Walk Alone	Frankie Madison	With Kirk Douglas
1948	All My Sons	Chris Keller	With Edward G. Robinson
1948	Sorry, Wrong Number	Henry Stevenson	With Barbara Stanwyck
1948	Kiss the Blood Off My Hands	William Earle 'Bill' Saunders	With Joan Fontaine
1949	Criss Cross	Steve Thompson, narrator	With Yvonne de Carlo
1949	Rope of Sand	Michael (Mike) Davis	With Paul Henreid
1950	The Flame and the Arrow	Dardo Bartoli	With Virginia Mayo
1950	Mister 880	Steve Buchanan	With Dorothy McGuire
1951	Vengeance Valley	Owen Daybright	With Robert Walker
1951	Jim Thorpe – All-American	Jim Thorpe	With Charles Bickford
1951	Ten Tall Men	Sgt Mike Kincaid	With Jody Lawrance
1952	The Crimson Pirate	Capitan Vallo	With Nick Cravat
1952	Come Back, Little Sheba	Doc Delaney	With Shirley Booth
1953	South Sea Woman	Master Gunnery Sgt. James O'Hearn	With Virginia Mayo
1953	From Here to Eternity	1st Sgt. Milton Warden	New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor
1953	Three Sailors and a Girl	Marine (uncredited)	With Jane Powell
1954	His Majesty O'Keefe	Captain David Dion O'Keefe, narrator	With Joan Rice
1954	Apache	Massai	With Jean Peters
1954	Vera Cruz	Joe Erin	With Gary Cooper
1955	The Kentuckian	Elias Wakefield (Big Eli)	Director Nominated—Golden Lion
1955	The Rose Tattoo	Alvaro Mangiacavallo	With Anna Magnani
1956	Trapeze	Mike Ribble	Silver Bear for Best Actor at Berlin[12]
1956	The Rainmaker	Bill Starbuck, aka Bill Smith, Bill Harley, Tornado Johnson	Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
1957	Gunfight at the O.K. Corral	Marshal Wyatt Earp	With Kirk Douglas
1957	Sweet Smell of Success	J.J. Hunsecker	Written by Ernest Lehman
1958	Run Silent, Run Deep	Lt. Commander Jim Bledsoe	With Clark Gable
1958	Separate Tables	John Malcolm	With David Niven
1959	The Devil's Disciple	The Rev. Anthony Anderson	With Kirk Douglas and Laurence Olivier
1960	The Unforgiven	Ben Zachary	With Audrey Hepburn
1960	Elmer Gantry	Elmer Gantry	Academy Award for Best Actor Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
1961	The Young Savages	ADA Hank Bell	With Dina Merrill
1961	Judgment at Nuremberg	Dr. Ernst Janning	With Spencer Tracy
1962	Birdman of Alcatraz	Robert Stroud	BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role Volpi Cup Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
1963	A Child Is Waiting	Dr. Ben Clark	With Judy Garland
1963	The Leopard	Prince Don Fabrizio Salina	With Claudia Cardinale
1963	The List of Adrian Messenger	Cameo	With George C. Scott
1964	Seven Days in May	Gen. James Mattoon Scott	With Kirk Douglas
1964	The Train	Paul Labiche	With Jeanne Moreau
1965	The Hallelujah Trail	Col. Thaddeus Gearhart	With Lee Remick
1966	The Professionals	Bill Dolworth	With Lee Marvin
1967	All About People	Narrator
1968	The Scalphunters	Joe Bass	With Shelley Winters
1968	The Swimmer	Ned Merrill	With Janice Rule
1969	Castle Keep	Maj. Abraham Falconer	With Peter Falk
1969	The Gypsy Moths	Mike Rettig	With Deborah Kerr
1970	Airport	Mel Bakersfeld	With Dean Martin
1971	Lawman	Bannock Town Marshal Jered Maddox	With Robert Ryan
1971	Valdez Is Coming	Marshal Bob Valdez	With Susan Clark
1972	Ulzana's Raid	U.S. Cavalry Scout McIntosh	With Bruce Davison
1973	Scorpio	Cross	With Alain Delon
1973	Executive Action	James Farrington	With Robert Ryan
1974	The Midnight Man	Jim Slade	Co-Director
1974	Gruppo di famiglia in un interno (Conversation Piece)	The Professor	David di Donatello for Best Actor
1976	Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson	Ned Buntline	With Paul Newman
1976	1900 (Novecento)	Alfredo's Grandfather	With Robert De Niro
1976	The Cassandra Crossing	Col. Stephen Mackenzie	With Sophia Loren
1977	Twilight's Last Gleaming	Gen. Lawrence Dell	With Richard Widmark
1977	The Island of Dr. Moreau	Dr. Paul Moreau	Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Actor
1978	Go Tell the Spartans	Maj. Asa Barker	With Craig Wasson
1979	Zulu Dawn	Col. Anthony Durnford	With Peter O'Toole
1980	Atlantic City	Lou Pascal	BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor David di Donatello for Best Actor Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor Nominated—Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
1981	Cattle Annie and Little Britches	Bill Doolin, the Oklahoma outlaw	With Amanda Plummer and Diane Lane
1981	La pelle	Gen. Mark Clark	With Marcello Mastroianni
1983	Local Hero	Felix Happer	Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
1983	The Osterman Weekend	CIA Director Maxwell Danforth	With Rutger Hauer
1985	Little Treasure	Delbert Teschemacher	With Margot Kidder
1986	Tough Guys	Harry Doyle	With Kirk Douglas
1987	Il Giorno prima	Dr. Herbert Monroe	With Ben Gazzara
1988	Rocket Gibraltar	Levi Rockwell	With Patricia Clarkson
1989	Field of Dreams	Dr. Archibald 'Moonlight' Graham	With Kevin Costner
1989	La Bottega dell'orefice	The Jeweller	With Olivia Hussey

TV

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1974	Moses the Lawgiver	Moses	mini-series
1976	Victory at Entebbe	Shimon Peres	with Anthony Hopkins
1978	The Unknown War	As himself, narrator	20 episode USA-USSR archival documentary series on WWII
1982	Marco Polo	Teobaldo Visconti / Pope Gregory X	mini-series
1982	Verdi	Narrator in American version	mini-series
1985	Scandal Sheet	Harold Fallen
1986	Väter und Söhne - Eine deutsche Tragödie	Geheimrat Carl Julius Deutz	mini-series
1986	On Wings of Eagles	Lieutenant Colonel Arthur D. "Bull" Simons	mini-series
1989	I Promessi sposi	Cardinal Federigo Borromeo	mini-series
1990	The Phantom of the Opera	Gerard Carriere	mini-series
1990	Voyage of Terror: The Achille Lauro Affair	Leon Klinghoffer
1991	Separate But Equal	John W. Davis

Bing Crosby

Birthday: 2 May 1903, Tacoma, Washington, USA

Height: 5' 7" (1.70 m)

Biography

Bing Crosby was the fourth of seven children of Tacoma, Washington, brewery bookkeeper Harry Lowe Crosby and Kate Harrigan Crosby. He studied law at Gonzaga University in Spokane but was more interested in playing the drums and singing with a local band. Bing and the band's piano player, Al Rinker, left Spokane for Los Angeles in 1925. In the early 1930s Bing's brother Everett sent a record of Bing singing "I Surrender, Dear" to the president of CBS. His live performances from New York were carried over the national radio network for 20 consecutive weeks in 1932. His radio success led Paramount Pictures to include him in The Big Broadcast (1932), a film featuring radio favorites. His songs about not needing a bundle of money to make life happy was the right message for the decade of the Great Depression. His relaxed, low-key style carried over into the series of "Road" comedies he made with pal Bob Hope. He won the best actor Oscar for playing an easygoing priest in Going My Way (1944). He showed that he was indeed an actor as well as a performer when he played an alcoholic actor down on his luck opposite Grace Kelly in The Country Girl (1954). Playing golf was what he liked to do best. He died at age 74 playing golf at a course outside Madrid, Spain, after completing a tour of England that had included a sold-out engagement at the London Palladium 

In 1923, Bing Crosby was invited to join a new band composed of high school students much younger than himself. Al Rinker, Miles Rinker, James Heaton, Claire Pritchard and Robert Pritchard, along with drummer Bing Crosby, formed the Musicaladers, who performed at dances both for high school students and club-goers. The group disbanded after two years.^[22]

By 1925, Crosby had formed a vocal duo with partner Al Rinker, brother of singer Mildred Bailey. Mildred introduced Al and Bing to Paul Whiteman, who was at that time America's most famous bandleader. Hired for $150 a week, they made their debut on December 6, 1926 at the Tivoli Theatre (Chicago). Their first recording was "I've Got The Girl," with Don Clark's Orchestra, but the Columbia-issued record did them no vocal favors, as it was inadvertently recorded at a speed slower than it should have been, which increased the singers' pitch when played at 78 rpm. Throughout his career, Bing Crosby often credited Mildred Bailey for getting him his first important job in the entertainment business.

Even as the Crosby and Rinker duo was increasing in popularity, Whiteman added a third member to the group. The threesome, now including pianist and aspiring songwriter Harry Barris, were dubbed "The Rhythm Boys". They joined the Whiteman touring act, performing and recording with musicians Bix Beiderbecke, Jack Teagarden, Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy Dorsey, and Eddie Lang and Hoagy Carmichael, and appeared together in a Whiteman movie.

Crosby soon became the star attraction of the Rhythm Boys, and in 1928 he had his first number one hit with the Whiteman orchestra, a jazz-influenced rendition of "Ol' Man River". However, Crosby's reported taste for alcohol and his growing dissatisfaction with Whiteman led to his quitting the Rhythm Boys to join the Gus Arnheim Orchestra. During his time with Arnheim, the other two Rhythm Boys were increasingly pushed to the background as the emphasis was on Crosby. Harry Barris wrote several of Crosby's subsequent hits including "At Your Command," "I Surrender Dear", and "Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams". But the members of the band had a falling out and split, setting the stage for Crosby's solo career.^[23]

On September 2, 1931, Crosby made his solo radio debut.^[24] Before the end of the year, he signed with both Brunswick Records and CBS Radio. Doing a weekly 15-minute radio broadcast, Crosby quickly became a huge hit.^[23] His songs "Out of Nowhere", "Just One More Chance", "At Your Command" and "I Found a Million Dollar Baby (in a Five and Ten Cent Store)" were all among the best selling songs of 1931.^[23]

As the 1930s unfolded, Crosby became the leading singer in America. Ten of the top 50 songs for 1931 featured Crosby, either solo or with others. A so-called "Battle of the Baritones" with singing star Russ Columbo proved short-lived, replaced with the slogan "Bing Was King." Crosby played the lead in a series of sound era musical comedy short films for Mack Sennett, signed witgh Paramount and starred in his first full-length feature, 1932's The Big Broadcast, the first of 55 films in which he received top billing. He would appear in 79 pictures, and signed a long-term deal with Jack Kapp's new record company Decca in late 1934,

Around this time, Crosby co-starred on radio with The Carl Fenton Orchestra on a popular CBS radio show. By 1936, he'd replaced his former boss, Paul Whiteman, as the host of NBC's Kraft Music Hall, the weekly radio program where he remained for the next ten years. "Where the Blue of the Night (Meets the Gold of the Day)", which showcased one of his then-trademark whistling interludes, became his theme song and signature tune.

Crosby's much-imitated style helped take popular singing beyond the kind of "belting" associated with boisterous performers like Al Jolson, who had been obliged to reach the back seats in New York theatres without the aid of the microphone. As Henry Pleasants noted in The Great American Popular Singers, something new had entered American music, a style that might be called "singing in American" with conversational ease. This new sound led to the popular epithet "crooner".

Crosby in Road to Singapore (1940)

Crosby made numerous live appearances before American troops fighting in the European Theater. He also learned how to pronounce German from written scripts and would read propaganda broadcasts intended for the German forces. The nickname "Der Bingle" was common among Crosby's German listeners and came to be used by his English-speaking fans. In a poll of U.S. troops at the close of World War II, Crosby topped the list as the person who had done the most for G.I. morale, ahead of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, General Dwight Eisenhower, and Bob Hope.

Compositions

Crosby wrote or co-wrote lyrics to 17 songs. His composition "At Your Command" was no.1 for three weeks on the U.S. pop singles chart beginning on August 8, 1931. "I Don't Stand a Ghost of a Chance With You" was his most successful composition, recorded by Duke Ellington, Frank Sinatra, Thelonious Monk, Billie Holiday, and Mildred Bailey, among others. Songs co-written by Crosby include:

1. "That's Grandma" (1927), with Harry Barris and James Cavanaugh
2. "From Monday On" (1928), with Harry Barris and recorded with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra featuring Bix Beiderbecke on cornet, no. 14 on US pop singles charts
3. "What Price Lyrics?" (1928), with Harry Barris and Matty Malneck
4. "At Your Command" (1931), with Harry Barris and Harry Tobias, US, no. 1 (3 weeks)
5. "Where the Blue of the Night (Meets the Gold of the Day)" (1931), with Roy Turk and Fred Ahlert, US, no. 4; US, 1940 re-recording, no. 27
6. "I Don't Stand a Ghost of a Chance with You" (1932), with Victor Young and Ned Washington, US, no. 5
7. "My Woman" (1932), with Irving Wallman and Max Wartell
8. "Love Me Tonight" (1932), with Victor Young and Ned Washington, US, no. 4
9. "Waltzing in a Dream" (1932), with Victor Young and Ned Washington, US, no.6
10. "You're Just a Beautiful Melody of Love" (1932), lyrics by Bing Crosby, music by Babe Goldberg
11. "Where Are You, Girl of My Dreams?" (1932), written by Bing Crosby, Irving Bibo, and Paul McVey, featured in the 1932 Universal film The Cohens and Kellys in Hollywood
12. "I Would If I Could But I Can't" (1933), with Mitchell Parish and Alan Grey
13. "Where the Turf Meets the Surf" (1941) with Johnny Burke and James V. Monaco.
14. "Tenderfoot" (1953) with Bob Bowen and Perry Botkin, originally issued using the pseudonym of "Bill Brill" for Bing Crosby.
15. "Domenica" (1961)
16. "That's What Life is All About" (1975), with Ken Barnes, Peter Dacre, and Les Reed, US, AC chart, no. 35; UK, no. 41
17. "Sail Away to Norway" (1977)

Grammy Hall of Fame

Bing Crosby was posthumously inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, which is a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least 25 years old and that have "qualitative or historical significance."

Bing Crosby: Grammy Hall of Fame Awards[54]
Year Recorded	Title	Genre	Label	Year Inducted	Notes
1942	"White Christmas"	Traditional Pop (single)	Decca	1974	With the Ken Darby Singers
1944	"Swinging on a Star"	Traditional Pop (single)	Decca	2002
1936	"Pennies from Heaven"	Traditional Pop (single)	Decca	2004
1944	"Don't Fence Me In"	Traditional Pop (single)	Decca	1998	With the Andrews Sisters

Filmography

Main article: Bing Crosby filmography

Discography

Main article: Bing Crosby discography

Radio

• The Radio Singers (1931, CBS), sponsored by Warner Brothers, 6 nights a week, 15 minutes.
• The Cremo Singer (1931–1932, CBS), 6 nights a week, 15 minutes.
• Unsponsored (1932, CBS), initially 3 nights a week, then twice a week, 15 minutes.
• Chesterfield's Music that Satisfies (1933, CBS), broadcast two nights, 15 minutes.
• Bing Crosby Entertains for Woodbury Soap (1933–1935, CBS), weekly, 30 minutes.
• Kraft Music Hall (1935–1946, NBC), Thursday nights, 60 minutes until January 1943, then 30 minutes.
• Armed Forces Radio (1941–1945; World War II).
• Philco Radio Time (1946–1949, ABC), 30 minutes weekly.
• The Bing Crosby Chesterfield Show (1949–1952, CBS), 30 minutes weekly.
• The Minute Maid Show (1949–1950, CBS), 15 minutes each weekday morning; Bing as disc jockey.
• The General Electric Show (1952–1954, CBS), 30 minutes weekly.
• The Bing Crosby Show (1954–1956, CBS), 15 minutes, 5 nights a week.
• A Christmas Sing with Bing (1955–1962, CBS, VOA and AFRS), 1 hour each year, sponsored by the Insurance Company of North America.
• The Ford Road Show (1957–1958, CBS), 5 minutes, 5 days a week.
• The Bing Crosby – Rosemary Clooney Show (1958–1962, CBS), 20 minutes, 5 mornings a week, with Rosemary Clooney.

RIAA certification

Album	RIAA[55]
Merry Christmas	Gold
Bing sings	2x platinum
White Christmas	4x platinium

Ben Kingsley

Birthday: 31 December 1943, Scarborough, Yorkshire, England, UK

Height: 5' 8" (1.73 m)

Biography

Ben Kingsley was born in England. His father, Rahimtulla Harji Bhanji, was of Gujrati descent. Ben began to act in stage plays during the 1960s. He soon became a successful stage actor, and also began to have roles in films and TV. His birth name was Krishna Bhanji - but he changed his name to "Ben Kingsley" soon after gaining fame as a stage actor, fearing that a foreign name could hamper his acting career.

Ben Kingsley first earned international fame for his performance in the 1982 movie, Gandhi (1982). His performance as "Mohandas Gandhi" earned him international fame. He won many awards - including an Oscar for Best Actor. He also won Golden Globe, BAFTA and London Film Critics' Circle Awards. After acting in Gandhi (1982), Ben was recognized as one of the finest British actors.

After his international fame for appearing in Gandhi (1982), Kingsley appeared in many other famous movies. His success as an actor continued. In 1993, his performance as "Itzhak Stern" in the movie, Schindler's List (1993) earned him a BAFTA nomination. Schindler's List (1993) won seven Oscars, including Best Picture. During the late 1990s, Kingsley acted in many successful movies. He played "Sweeney Todd" in the 1998 TV movie, The Tale of Sweeney Todd (1997) (TV). For his performance in this movie, he was nominated for the Screen Actors' Guild Award. His other notable role was as "Otto Frank" in the TV movie "Anne Frank: The Whole Story" (2001), for which he won a Screen Actors' Guild Award.

Ben Kingsley lives in Spelsbury, Oxfordshire, in England 

Kingsley studied at the University of Salford and at Pendleton College, which later became home to the Ben Kingsley Theatre.
Whilst at college he became involved in amateur dramatics in Manchester, making his professional stage debut on graduation, aged 23. In 1967 he made his London West End theatre debut at the Aldwych Theatre. Later spotted by music producer and manager Dick James, he offered to mould Kingsley into a pop star, but Kinglsey chose to join the Royal Shakespeare Company after an audition in front of Trevor Nunn.
Devoting himself almost exclusively to stage work for the next 15 years, he made his Broadway debut in 1971 with the RSC. Kingsley played Mosca in Peter Hall's 1977 production of Ben Jonson's Volpone for the Royal National Theatre, and in Peter Brook's acclaimed production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. At about this time, he changed his name from Krishna Pandit Bhanji to Ben Kingsley, fearing that a foreign name would hamper his career;^[13][14] he took his stage surname from his paternal grandfather's nickname, "King Clove".^[11] He also starred in the role of Willy Loman in a 1982 production of Death of a Salesman in Sydney, Australia opposite Mel Gibson.

Film and television career

Kingsley(left) with Ben Cross (centre) and Chandran Rutnam (right) at Fort Railway Station in Sri Lanka, during shooting of the Rutnam-directed film A Common Man.

Kingsley made the transition to film roles early on, with his first role coming in Fear Is the Key, released in 1972. Kingsley continued starring in bit roles in both film and television, including a role as Ron Jenkins on the soap opera Coronation Street from 1966 to 1967 and regular appearances as a defence counsel in the long-running British legal programme Crown Court. In 1975, he starred as Dante Gabriel Rossetti in the BBCs historical drama The Love School. He found fame only years later, starring as Mohandas Gandhi in the Academy Award-winning film Gandhi in 1982, his best-known role to date.^[13] The audience agreed with the critics, and Gandhi was a box-office success. Kingsley won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal.^[13]

Kingsley at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival 2012

Kingsley has since appeared in a variety of roles. His credits included the films Turtle Diary, Maurice, Pascali's Island, Without a Clue (as Dr. Watson alongside Michael Caine's Sherlock Holmes), Suspect Zero, Bugsy (nominated for Best Supporting Actor), Sneakers, Dave, Searching for Bobby Fischer, Schindler's List, Silas Marner, Death and the Maiden, Sexy Beast, for which he received another Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, and House of Sand and Fog, which led to an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. He won a Crystal Globe award for outstanding artistic contribution to world cinema at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in 2001.
In 1997, he provided voice talent for the video game Ceremony of Innocence. In 1998, he was the head of the jury at the 48th Berlin International Film Festival.^[15]
In July 2006, he received an Emmy nomination for his performance in the made-for-TV film Mrs. Harris, in which he played famed cardiologist Herman Tarnower, who was murdered by his jilted lover, Jean Harris. Later that year, Kingsley appeared in an episode of The Sopranos entitled "Luxury Lounge", playing himself. In the show, Christopher Moltisanti and Carmine Lupertazzi offer him a role in the fictional slasher film Cleaver, which he turns down. Lupertazzi offers him the role on the basis of Kingsley's real-life performance in Sexy Beast.
In 2007, Kingsley appeared as a Polish American mobster in the Mafia comedy You Kill Me, and a hitman in War, Inc. In 2010, Kingsley has worked voicing a character named Sabine in Lionhead Studios game Fable III, and starred alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in Shutter Island, directed by Martin Scorsese. He appeared in Scorsese's next film, Hugo, and has signed up to appear in the new feature by Neil Jordan and John Boorman entitled Broken Dream.^[

Anthony Hopkins

Birthday: 31 December 1937, Margam, Port Talbot, West Glamorgan, Wales, UK

Height: 5' 8½" (1.74 m)

Biography

Anthony Hopkins was born on 31 December 1937, in Margam, Wales. Influenced by Richard Burton, he decided to study at College of Music and Drama and graduated in 1957. In 1965, he moved to London and joined the National Theatre, invited by Laurence Olivier, who could see the talent in Hopkins. In 1967, he made his first film for television, A Flea in Her Ear (1967) (TV).

From this moment on, he enjoyed a successful career in cinema and television. In 1968, he worked on The Lion in Winter (1968) with Timothy Dalton. Many successes came later, and Hopkins' remarkable acting style reached the four corners of the world. In 1977, he appeared in two major films: A Bridge Too Far (1977) with James Caan, Gene Hackman, Sean Connery, Michael Caine, Elliott Gould and Laurence Olivier, and Maximilian Schell. In 1980, he worked on The Elephant Man (1980). Two good television literature adaptations followed: Othello (1981) (TV) and The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1982) (TV). In 1987 he was awarded with the Commander of the order of the British Empire. This year was also important in his cinematic life, with 84 Charing Cross Road (1987), acclaimed by specialists. In 1993, he was knighted.

In the 1990s, Hopkins made movies like Desperate Hours (1990) and Howards End (1992), The Remains of the Day (1993) (nominee for the Oscar), Legends of the Fall (1994), Nixon (1995) (nominee for the Oscar), Surviving Picasso (1996), Amistad (1997) (nominee for the Oscar), The Mask of Zorro (1998), Meet Joe Black (1998) and Instinct (1999). His most remarkable film, however, was The Silence of the Lambs (1991), for which he won the Oscar for Best Actor. He also got a BAFTA for this role 

Awards

Year	Award	Film	Result
1968	BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role	The Lion in Winter	Nominated
1970	British Academy Television Award for Best Actor	Hearts and Flowers	Nominated
1972	British Academy Television Award for Best Actor	War and Peace	Won
1976	Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie	The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case	Won
1977	Saturn Award for Best Actor	Audrey Rose	Nominated
1978	BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role	Magic	Nominated
	Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama		Nominated
1981	Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie	The Bunker	Won
1982	Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie	The Hunchback of Notre Dame	Nominated
1985	CableACE Award for Actor in a Movie or Miniseries	Mussolini and I	Won
1987	15th Moscow International Film Festival Award for Best Actor[40]	84 Charing Cross Road	Won
1988	Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film	The Tenth Man	Nominated
1990	Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor – Miniseries or a Movie	Great Expectations	Nominated
1991	Academy Award for Best Actor	The Silence of the Lambs	Won
	BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role		Won
	Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor		Won
	Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor		Won
	Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor		Won
	Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor		Won
	National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor		Won
	New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor		Won
	Saturn Award for Best Actor		Won
	Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama		Nominated
	London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor		Nominated
1992	Sant Jordi Award for Best Foreign Actor [41]		Won
	Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor	Bram Stoker's Dracula	Nominated
1993	David di Donatello for Best Actor	The Remains of the Day	Won
	Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor		Won
	London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor		Won
	Academy Award for Best Actor		Nominated
	BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role		Nominated
	Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama		Nominated
	BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role	Shadowlands	Won
	Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor	The Remains of the Day & Shadowlands	Won
	National Board of Review Award for Best Actor	The Remains of the Day & Shadowlands	Won
	Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor	The Remains of the Day & Shadowlands	Won
1994	Bronze Wrangler for Theatrical Motion Picture (with Edward Zwick, William D. Wittliff & Brad Pitt)	Legends of the Fall	Won
1995	Academy Award for Best Actor	Nixon	Nominated
	Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama		Nominated
	Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role		Nominated
	Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture		Nominated
1997	Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor	Amistad	Won
	Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor		Nominated
	Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture		Nominated
	Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor		Nominated
	Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role		Nominated
1998	Saturn Award for Best Actor	Meet Joe Black	Nominated
1999	London Film Critics Circle Award for British Actor of the Year	Titus	Nominated
2001	Saturn Award for Best Actor	Hannibal	Nominated
2003	Hollywood Film Festival Award for Outstanding Achievement in Acting – Male Performer	The Human Stain	Won
2005	New Zealand Screen Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role	The World's Fastest Indian	Won
2006	Hollywood Film Festival Award for Ensemble of the Year	Bobby	Won
	Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture		Nominated
	Cecil B. DeMille Award		Won
2008	British Academy of Film and Television Arts Academy Fellowship[42]		Won

Acting style

Isabella Rossellini and Sir Anthony Hopkins in Berlin to shoot scenes for The Innocent (1993).

Hopkins is renowned for his preparation for roles. He has indicated in interviews that once he has committed to a project, he will go over his lines as many times as is needed (sometimes upwards of 200) until the lines sound natural to him, so that he can "do it without thinking". This leads to an almost casual style of delivery that belies the amount of groundwork done beforehand. While it can allow for some careful improvisation, it has also brought him into conflict with the occasional director who departs from the script, or demands what the actor views as an excessive number of takes. Hopkins has stated that after he is finished with a scene, he simply discards the lines, not remembering them later on. This is unlike others who usually remember their lines from a film even years later.^[23] Richard Attenborough, who has directed Hopkins on five occasions, found himself going to great lengths during the filming of Shadowlands (1993) to accommodate the differing approaches of his two stars (Hopkins and Debra Winger), who shared many scenes. Whereas Hopkins, preferring the spontaneity of a fresh take, liked to keep rehearsals to a minimum, Winger rehearsed continuously. To allow for this, Attenborough stood in for Hopkins during Winger's rehearsals, only bringing him in for the last one before a take. The director praised Hopkins for "this extraordinary ability to make you believe when you hear him that it is the very first time he has ever said that line. It's an incredible gift."^[12]

Renowned for his ability to remember lines, Hopkins keeps his memory supple by learning things by heart such as poetry, and Shakespeare. In Steven Spielberg's Amistad, Hopkins astounded the crew with his memorisation of a seven-page courtroom speech, delivering it in one go. An overawed Spielberg couldn't bring himself to call him Tony, and insisted on addressing him as Sir Anthony throughout the shoot.^[10]

In addition, Hopkins is a gifted mimic, adept at turning his native Welsh accent into whatever is required by a character. He duplicated the voice of his late mentor, Laurence Olivier, for additional scenes in Spartacus in its 1991 restoration. (Around that same time, he voiced the Olivier role on Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of Spartacus.) His interview on the 1998 relaunch edition of the British TV talk show Parkinson featured an impersonation of comedian Tommy Cooper. Hopkins has said acting "like a submarine" has helped him to deliver credible performances in his thriller movies. He said, "It's very difficult for an actor to avoid, you want to show a bit. But I think the less one shows the better."^[24]

Hannibal Lecter

Perhaps Hopkins' most famous role is as the cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1991, opposite Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling, who also won for Best Actress. The film won Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. It is one of the shortest lead performances to win an Oscar, as Hopkins only appears on screen for little over 16 minutes, less than 14% of the film's running-time.^[9] Hopkins reprised his role as Lecter twice in Hannibal (2001) and Red Dragon (2002). His original portrayal of the character in The Silence of the Lambs has been labelled by the American Film Institute as the number-one film villain.^[25] At the time he was offered the role, Hopkins was making a return to the London stage, performing in M. Butterfly. He had come back to Britain after living for a number of years in Hollywood, having all but given up on a career there, saying, "Well that part of my life's over; it's a chapter closed. I suppose I'll just have to settle for being a respectable actor poncing around the West End and doing respectable BBC work for the rest of my life."^[12]

Hopkins played the iconic villain in adaptations of the first three of the Lecter novels by Thomas Harris. The author was reportedly very pleased with Hopkins' portrayal of his antagonist. However, Hopkins stated that Red Dragon would feature his final performance as the character, and that he would not reprise even a narrative role in the latest addition to the series, Hannibal Rising.

Alec Guinness

Birthday: 2 April 1914, Marylebone, London, England, UK

Height: 5' 10" (1.78 m)

Biography

Alec Guinness de Cuffe was born on April 2, 1914 in Marylebone, London, England. While working in advertising, he studied at the Fay Compton Studio of Dramatic Art, debuting on stage in 1934 and played classic theater with the Old Vic from 1936. In 1941, he entered the Royal Navy as a seaman and was commissioned the next year. Beyond an extra part in Evensong (1934), his film career began after World War II with his portrayal of Herbert Pocket in Great Expectations (1946). A string of films, mostly comedies, showed off his ability to look different in every role, eight of them, including a woman, in one movie alone, Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949). His best known recent work was as the Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars (1977) and its sequels. He earned a Best Actor Oscar and Golden Globe in The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) and an Honorary Academy Award (1980) for "advancing the art of screen acting through a host of memorable and distinguished performances". Academy nominations have included The Lavender Hill Mob (1951) (actor); The Horse's Mouth (1958) (screenplay); Star Wars (1977) (supporting) and Little Dorrit (1988) (supporting). He was awarded Knight Bachelor of the Order of the British Empire in the 1959 Queen's Honours List for his accomplishments in theater and the film industry. Sir Alec Guinness died at age 86 of liver cancer on August 5, 2000 

Film career

In films, Guinness was initially associated mainly with the Ealing Comedies, and particularly for playing eight different characters in Kind Hearts and Coronets. Other films from this period included The Lavender Hill Mob, The Ladykillers, and The Man in the White Suit. In 1952, director Ronald Neame cast Guinness in his first romantic lead role, opposite Petula Clark in The Card. In 1951, exhibitors voted him the most popular British star.^[13]

Other notable film roles of this period included The Swan (1956) with Grace Kelly, in her second to last film role; The Horse's Mouth (1958) in which Guinness played the part of drunken painter Gulley Jimson as well as contributing the screenplay, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award; the lead in Carol Reed's Our Man in Havana (1959); Marcus Aurelius in The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964); The Quiller Memorandum (1966); Marley's Ghost in Scrooge (1970); Charles I in Cromwell (1970); Pope Innocent III in Franco Zeffirelli's Brother Sun, Sister Moon (1972); and the title role in Hitler: The Last Ten Days (1973), which he considered his best film performance, though critics disagreed.^[14]

Guinness also played the role of Jamessir Bensonmum, the blind butler, in the 1976 Neil Simon film Murder by Death.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1934	Evensong	Extra (World War I soldier in audience)	uncredited
1946	Great Expectations	Herbert Pocket
1948	Oliver Twist	Fagin
1949	Kind Hearts and Coronets	The Duke, The Banker, The Parson, The General, The Admiral, Young D'Ascoyne, Young Henry, Lady Agatha	National Board of Review Award for Best Actor
1949	A Run for Your Money	Whimple
1950	Last Holiday	George Bird
1950	The Mudlark	Benjamin Disraeli
1951	The Lavender Hill Mob	Henry Holland	Silver Ribbon Award for Best Actor—Foreign Film (Migliore Attore Straniero) Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor
1951	The Man in the White Suit	Sidney Stratton
1952	The Card	Edward Henry 'Denry' Machin	released in the United States as The Promoter
1953	The Square Mile	narrator	short subject
1953	Malta Story	Flight Lt. Peter Ross
1953	The Captain's Paradise	Capt. Henry St. James
1954	Father Brown	Father Brown
1954	The Stratford Adventure	Himself	short subject
1955	Rowlandson's England	narrator	short subject
1955	To Paris with Love	Col. Sir Edgar Fraser
1955	The Prisoner	The Cardinal	Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
1955	The Ladykillers	Professor Marcus
1956	The Swan	Prince Albert
1957	The Bridge on the River Kwai	Col. Nicholson	Academy Award for Best Actor BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama National Board of Review Award for Best Actor New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor Sant Jordi Award for Best Foreign Actor (Mejor Actor Extranjero) Nominated—Golden Laurel Award for Top Male Dramatic Performance
1957	Barnacle Bill	Captain William Horatio Ambrose	released in the United States as All at Sea
1958	The Horse's Mouth	Gulley Jimson	Also writer Sant Jordi Award for Best Foreign Actor (Mejor Actor Extranjero) Volpi Cup for Best Actor Nominated—Academy Award for Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay) Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated—Golden Laurel Award for Top Male Comedy Performance
1959	Our Man in Havana	Jim Wormold
1959	The Scapegoat	John Barratt/Jacques De Gue
1960	Tunes of Glory	Maj. Jock Sinclair, D.S.O., M.M.	Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
1962	A Majority of One	Koichi Asano
1962	H.M.S. Defiant	Captain Crawford
1962	Lawrence of Arabia	Prince Faisal
1964	The Fall of the Roman Empire	Marcus Aurelius
1965	Pasternak	Himself	short subject
1965	Situation Hopeless ... But Not Serious	Wilhelm Frick
1965	Doctor Zhivago	Gen. Yevgraf Zhivago
1966	Hotel Paradiso	Benedict Boniface
1966	The Quiller Memorandum	Pol
1967	The Comedians in Africa	Himself	uncredited, short subject
1967	The Comedians	Major H.O. Jones	Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor
1970	Cromwell	King Charles I
1970	Scrooge	Jacob Marley's ghost
1972	Brother Sun, Sister Moon	Pope Innocent III
1973	Hitler: The Last Ten Days	Adolf Hitler
1976	Murder by Death	Jamesir Bensonmum
1977	Star Wars	Obi-Wan Kenobi	Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actor Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
1979	Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy	George Smiley	British Academy Television Award for Best Actor
1980	The Empire Strikes Back	Obi-Wan Kenobi
1980	Raise the Titanic	John Bigalow
1980	Little Lord Fauntleroy	Earl of Dorincourt
1982	Smiley's People	George Smiley	British Academy Television Award for Best Actor Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie
1983	Lovesick	Sigmund Freud
1983	Return of the Jedi	Obi-Wan Kenobi
1984	A Passage to India	Professor Godbole
1985	Monsignor Quixote	Monsignor Quixote
1988	Little Dorrit	William Dorrit	Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
1988	A Handful of Dust	Mr. Todd
1991	Kafka	The chief clerk
1993	A Foreign Field	Amos
1994	Mute Witness	The Reaper
1996	Eskimo Day	James

Box office ranking in Britain

For a number of years, British film exhibitors voted Guinness among the most popular stars in Britain at the box office via an annual poll in the Motion Picture Herald.

• 1951: most popular British star (5th overall)^[13]
• 1952: 3rd most popular British star^[33]
• 1953: 2nd most popular British star
• 1954: 6th most popular British star
• 1955: 10th most popular British star^[34]
• 1956: 8th most popular British star^[35]
• 1958: most popular star^[36]
• 1959: 2nd most popular British star^[37]
• 1960: 4th most popular star