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Sextette
''Sextette'' is a 1978 American musical comedy film directed by Ken Hughes and released by Crown International Pictures. It stars Mae West, alongside an ensemble cast including Timothy Dalton, Dom DeLuise, Tony Curtis, Ringo Starr, Keith Moon, George Hamilton, Alice Cooper and Walter Pidgeon. Produced by Daniel Briggs, Robert Sullivan and Harry Weiss for the production company Briggs and Sullivan, the screenplay was dramatized for the screen by Herbert Baker, from West's final stage performance play of the same title, later renamed ''Sextet'', which West herself had written (based on a story idea by Charlotte Francis) and originally performed in 1961. Costumes were designed by Edith Head. Filmed at Paramount Studios, ''Sextette'' was West's final film, as well as that of Pidgeon and Moon. Featured were cameos by Rona Barrett, Regis Philbin and George Raft, all of whom appeared as themselves. The film was a major box office bomb, grossing just $50,000 against an estimated ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mae West
Mae West (born Mary Jane West; August 17, 1893 – November 22, 1980) was an American stage and film actress, playwright, screenwriter, singer, and sex symbol whose entertainment career spanned over seven decades. She was known for her breezy sexual independence, and her lighthearted bawdy double entendres, often delivered in a husky contralto voice. She was active in vaudeville and on stage in New York City before moving to Los Angeles to begin a career in the film industry. West was one of the most controversial movie stars of her day; she encountered problems especially with censorship. She once quipped, "I believe in censorship. I made a fortune out of it." She bucked the system by making comedy out of conventional mores, and the Depression-era audience admired her for it. When her film career ended, she wrote books and plays, and continued to perform in Las Vegas and the United Kingdom, on radio and television, and recorded rock 'n roll albums. In 1999, the American Film ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rona Barrett
Rona Barrett (born Rona Burstein, October 8, 1936) is an American gossip columnist and businesswoman. She runs the Rona Barrett Foundation, a non-profit organization in Santa Ynez, California, dedicated to the aid and support of senior citizens in need. Early life and career Barrett was born on October 8, 1936 in New York City. As a teenager, she overcame a degenerative hip condition that made walking extremely difficult, and organized fan clubs for popular singers she admired, such as Eddie Fisher and Steve Lawrence. She became a gossip columnist for the Bell-McClure Syndicate in 1957, and soon went to work for Bob Marcucci, the manager for teen idols Frankie Avalon and Fabian. In 1966, she began broadcasting Hollywood gossip on the Los Angeles television station KABC-TV. She could be seen on TV regularly, appearing on ABC's five owned and operated stations around the country. WABC-TV in New York put her pre-recorded gossip segment into its nightly local news, but anchor Rog ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Raft
George Raft (born George Ranft; September 26, 1901 – November 24, 1980) was an American film actor and dancer identified with portrayals of gangsters in crime melodramas of the 1930s and 1940s. A stylish leading man in dozens of movies, Raft is remembered for his gangster roles in '' Quick Millions'' (1931) with Spencer Tracy, '' Scarface'' (1932) with Paul Muni, ''Each Dawn I Die'' (1939) with James Cagney, '' Invisible Stripes'' (1939) with Humphrey Bogart, Billy Wilder's comedy ''Some Like It Hot'' (1959) with Marilyn Monroe and Jack Lemmon, and as a dancer in ''Bolero'' (1934) with Carole Lombard and a truck driver in '' They Drive by Night'' (1940) with Ann Sheridan, Ida Lupino and Bogart. Raft said he never regarded himself as an actor. "I wanted to be me," he said. Early life and career George Raft was born in Hell's Kitchen, New York City, to a family of German descent, the son of Eva (''née'' Glockner), a German immigrant, and Conrad Ranft, who was born in Massachus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tony Curtis
Tony Curtis (born Bernard Schwartz; June 3, 1925September 29, 2010) was an American actor whose career spanned six decades, achieving the height of his popularity in the 1950s (Kansas Raiders, 1950) and early 1960s. He acted in more than 100 films, in roles covering a wide range of genres. In his later years, Curtis made numerous television appearances. He achieved his first major recognition as a dramatic actor in ''Sweet Smell of Success'' (1957) with co-star Burt Lancaster. The following year he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for '' The Defiant Ones'' (1958) alongside Sidney Poitier (who was also nominated in the same category). This was followed by the comedies ''Some Like It Hot'' and ''Operation Petticoat'' in 1959. In 1960, Curtis played a supporting role in the epic historical drama ''Spartacus''. His stardom and film career declined considerably after 1960. His most significant dramatic part came in 1968 when he starred in the true-life drama '' Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crown International Pictures
Crown International Pictures (CIP) was an independent film studio and distribution company formed in 1959 by Newton P. Jacobs. History Jacobs was a branch head of RKO Pictures until 1947, when he formed Favorite Films, an organization which released films acquired from the studios which had originally produced them, long after their first run release. CIP became one of the first franchise distributors for American International Pictures (AIP) product. Like AIP, Crown International is primarily known for low-budget genre films, including; grindhouse cinema, biker films, exploitation films, and B-movie drive-in fare. Crown International began releasing both low-budget films as ''Bloodlust!'' and ''The Seventh Commandment'', by American producers, as well as foreign films such as ''First Spaceship on Venus'' and ''Varan the Unbelievable'' (released as a double feature in 1962) which Crown was able to acquire inexpensively, due to the US dollar's strength. Crown began producing its ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Hamilton (actor)
George Stevens Hamilton (born August 12, 1939) is an American actor. His notable films include '' Home from the Hill'' (1960), '' By Love Possessed'' (1961), '' Light in the Piazza'' (1962), ''Your Cheatin' Heart'' (1964), '' Once Is Not Enough'' (1975), '' Love at First Bite'' (1979), ''Zorro, The Gay Blade'' (1981), '' The Godfather Part III'' (1990), ''Doc Hollywood'' (1991), '' 8 Heads in a Duffel Bag'' (1997), '' Hollywood Ending'' (2002) and '' The Congressman'' (2016). For his debut performance in '' Crime and Punishment U.S.A.'' (1959), Hamilton won a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for a BAFTA Award. He has received one additional BAFTA nomination and two additional Golden Globe nominations. Hamilton began his film career in 1958, and although he has a substantial body of work in film and television, he is perhaps most famous for his debonair style, perpetual suntan, and Ritz Crackers commercials. Bo Derek wrote in her autobiography that "there was an ongoing cont ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edith Head
Edith Head (October 28, 1897 – October 24, 1981) was an American costume designer who won a record eight Academy Awards for Best Costume Design between 1949 and 1973, making her the most awarded woman in the Academy's history. Head is considered to be one of the greatest and most influential costume designers in film history. Born and raised in California, Head started her career as a Spanish teacher, but was interested in design. After studying at the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles, Head was hired as a costume sketch artist at Paramount Pictures in 1923. She won acclaim for her design of Dorothy Lamour’s trademark sarong in the 1936 film ''The Jungle Princess'', and became a household name after the Academy Award for Best Costume Design was created in 1948. Head was considered exceptional for her close working relationships with her subjects, with whom she consulted extensively; these included virtually every top female star in Hollywood. Head worked at Paramou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Van McCoy
Van Allen Clinton McCoy (January 6, 1940 – July 6, 1979) was an American musician, record producer, arranger, songwriter, singer and orchestra conductor. He is known for his 1975 internationally successful song " The Hustle". He has approximately 700 song copyrights to his credit, and produced songs by such recording artists as Gladys Knight & the Pips, The Stylistics, Aretha Franklin, Brenda & the Tabulations, David Ruffin, Peaches & Herb, Lesley Gore and Stacy Lattisaw. Biography Early life Van McCoy was born in Washington, D.C., the second child of Norman S. McCoy, Sr. and Lillian Ray. He learned to play piano at a young age and sang with the Metropolitan Baptist Church choir as a youngster. By the age of 12, he had begun writing his own songs, in addition to performing in local amateur shows alongside his older brother, Norman Jr. The two brothers formed a doo-wop combo named the Starlighters with two friends while in Theodore Roosevelt High School. In 1956, they rec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Artie Butler
Arthur Butler (born December 2, 1942) is an American composer, arranger, songwriter, and session musician. In a long career, he has been involved in numerous hit records and other recordings, and has been awarded over 60 gold and platinum albums. Life and career Butler was born in Brooklyn, New York, and learned to play various instruments including piano, clarinet and drums as a child. He attended Erasmus Hall High School. At the age of 13, he auditioned for Henry Glover of King Records, who offered him a contract as a result. His single, "Lock, Stock and Barrel", credited to Arthur Butler, was issued on the DeLuxe label in 1957, but was not successful. Biography by Jason Ankeny at Allmusic.com Retrieved 12 May 2013 By the early 1960s he was working as an assistant at [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walter Pidgeon
Walter Davis Pidgeon (September 23, 1897 – September 25, 1984) was a Canadian-American actor. He earned two Academy Award for Best Actor nominations for his roles in '' Mrs. Miniver'' (1942) and ''Madame Curie'' (1943). Pidgeon also starred in many films such as ''How Green Was My Valley'' (1941), '' The Bad and the Beautiful'' (1952), '' Forbidden Planet'' (1956), ''Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea'' (1961), ''Advise & Consent'' (1962), '' Funny Girl'' (1968), and ''Harry in Your Pocket'' (1973). He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960 and a Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 1975. Early life Born in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, Pidgeon was the son of Hannah (née Sanborn), a housewife, and Caleb Burpee Pidgeon, a haberdasher. Pidgeon received his formal education in local schools and the University of New Brunswick, where he studied law and drama. His university education was interrupted by World War I when he volunteered with the 65th B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier, February 4, 1948) is an American rock singer whose career spans over five decades. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusions, including pyrotechnics, guillotines, electric chairs, fake blood, reptiles, baby dolls, and dueling swords, Cooper is considered by many music journalists and peers to be "The Godfather of Shock Rock". He has drawn equally from horror films, vaudeville, and garage rock to pioneer a macabre and theatrical brand of rock designed to shock audiences. Originating in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1964, "Alice Cooper" was originally a band with roots extending back to a band called the Earwigs, consisting of Furnier on vocals and harmonica, Glen Buxton on lead guitar, and Dennis Dunaway on bass guitar and backing vocals. By 1966, Michael Bruce on rhythm guitar joined the three and Neal Smith was added on drums in 1967. The five named the band "Alice Cooper", and Furnier eventual ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Keith Moon
Keith John Moon (23 August 19467 September 1978) was an English drummer for the rock band the Who. He was noted for his unique style of playing and his eccentric, often self-destructive behaviour and addiction to drugs and alcohol. Moon grew up in Alperton, a suburb of Wembley, in Middlesex, and took up the drums during the early 1960s. After playing with a local band, the Beachcombers, he joined the Who in 1964 before they recorded their first single. Moon was recognised for his drumming style, which emphasised tom-toms, cymbal crashes, and drum fills. Throughout Moon's tenure with the Who, his drum kit steadily grew in size, and (along with Ginger Baker) he has been credited as one of the earliest rock drummers to regularly employ double bass drums in his setup. Moon occasionally collaborated with other musicians and later appeared in films, but considered playing in the Who his primary occupation, and remained a member of the band until his death. In addition to his ta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
