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Awakenings
''Awakenings'' is a 1990 American biographical drama film written by Steven Zaillian, directed by Penny Marshall, and starring Robert De Niro, Robin Williams, Julie Kavner, Ruth Nelson, John Heard, Penelope Ann Miller, Peter Stormare and Max von Sydow. It is based on Oliver Sacks's 1973 nonfiction memoir ''Awakenings''. The film tells the story of the fictional neurologist Dr. Malcolm Sayer (Williams), whose character is based on Sacks. In 1969, Sayer discovers the beneficial effects of the drug L-DOPA and administers the drug to catatonic patients who survived the 1919–1930 epidemic of encephalitis lethargica. The patients—among them the focal character Leonard Lowe (De Niro)—are awakened after decades and must therefore try to acclimate to life in a new and unfamiliar time. The film is produced by Walter Parkes and Lawrence Lasker, who first encountered Sacks's book as undergraduates at Yale University. Released on December 12, 1990, ''Awakenings'' was a criti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oliver Sacks
Oliver Wolf Sacks (9 July 1933 – 30 August 2015) was a British neurology, neurologist, Natural history, naturalist, historian of science, and writer. Born in London, Sacks received his medical degree in 1958 from The Queen's College, Oxford, before moving to the United States, where he spent most of his career. He interned at UCSF Medical Center, Mount Zion Hospital in San Francisco and completed his residency in neurology and neuropathology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Later, he served as neurologist at Beth Abraham Hospital's chronic-care facility in the Bronx, where he worked with a group of survivors of the 1920s sleeping sickness encephalitis lethargica epidemic, who had been unable to move on their own for decades. His treatment of those patients became the basis of his 1973 book ''Awakenings (book), Awakenings'', which was adapted into an Academy Award-nominated Awakenings, feature film, in 1990, starring Robin Williams and Robert De Niro. His ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Awakenings (book)
''Awakenings'' is a 1973 Non-fiction, non-fiction book by Oliver Sacks. It recounts the life histories of those who had been victims of the 1920s encephalitis lethargica epidemic. Sacks chronicles his efforts in the late 1960s to help these patients at the Beth Abraham Hospital (now Beth Abraham Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing) in the Bronx, New York City, New York. The treatment used the new drug L-DOPA, L-DOPA, with the observed effects on the patients' symptoms being generally dramatic but temporary. In 1982, Sacks wrote: The 1976 edition of the book is dedicated to the memory of Sacks's close friend the poet W. H. Auden, and bears an extract from Auden's 1969 poem ''The Art of Healing'': Auden himself called ''Awakenings'' a masterpiece. In 1974 the book won the Hawthornden Prize. In popular culture The book inspired a play, two films, a ballet and an opera: * 1974: the documentary film ''Awakenings'', produced by Duncan Dallas for Yorkshire Television as the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ruth Nelson (actress)
Ruth Gloria Nelson (August 2, 1905 – September 12, 1992) was an American stage and film actress. She is known for her roles in films such as '' Wilson'', '' A Tree Grows in Brooklyn'', '' Humoresque'', ''3 Women'', '' The Late Show'' and '' Awakenings''. She was the wife of John Cromwell, with whom she acted on multiple occasions. Early life Born in Saginaw, Michigan, Nelson was the daughter of Sanford Leroy Nelson and vaudeville actress Eva Mudge. She attended Immaculate Heart Convent School in Los Angeles, studying first with Daniel Frohman and then with Richard Boleslawski at the American Laboratory Theatre in New York City during the early 1920s. Career Nelson made her stage debut in New York on April 4, 1928, at the Laboratory Theatre under Boleslawski's direction, portraying the title character in Jean-Jacques Bernard's ''Martine''. Over the next two seasons, Nelson made two more appearances—in Checkhov's ''The Seagull'' and Vladimir Kirshon's ''Red Rust''—p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Encephalitis Lethargica
Encephalitis lethargica (EL) is an atypical form of encephalitis. Also known as "von Economo Encephalitis", "sleeping sickness" or "sleepy sickness" (distinct from tsetse fly–transmitted sleeping sickness), it was first described in 1917 by neurologist Constantin von Economo and pathologist Jean-René Cruchet. The disease attacks the brain, leaving some victims in a statue-like condition, speechless and motionless. Between 1915 and 1926, an epidemic of encephalitis lethargica spread around the world. The exact number of people infected is unknown, but it is estimated that more than one million people contracted the disease during the epidemic, which directly caused more than 500,000 deaths. Most of those who survived never recovered their pre-morbid vigour. Signs and symptoms Encephalitis lethargica is characterized by high fever, sore throat, headache, lethargy, double vision, delayed physical and mental response, sleep inversion and catatonia. In severe cases, patients ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Penny Marshall
Carole Penny MarshallBorn Carole Penny Marshall in 1943, as per ''My Mother Was Nuts, a Memoir'', p. 10; . Copyright 2012 (October 15, 1943 – December 17, 2018) was an American actress, film director, and producer. She is best known for her role as Laverne DeFazio on the television sitcom ''Laverne & Shirley'' (1976–1983), receiving three nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy for her portrayal. Marshall made her directorial debut with ''Jumpin' Jack Flash (film), Jumpin' Jack Flash'' (1986) before directing ''Big (film), Big'' (1988), which became the first film directed by a woman to gross more than $100 million at the U.S. box office. Her subsequent directing credits included ''Awakenings'' (1990), which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, ''A League of Their Own'' (1992), ''Renaissance Man (film), Renaissance Man'' (1994), ''The Preacher's Wife'' (1996), and ''Riding in Cars with Boys'' (2001 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Julie Kavner
Julie Deborah Kavner (born September 7, 1950) is an American actress. Before becoming well known for her voice role as Marge Simpson on the animated television series ''The Simpsons'', Kavner attracted notice for her role as Brenda Morgenstern, the younger sister of Valerie Harper's title character in the sitcom ''Rhoda'', for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress - Comedy Series, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. She also voices other characters for ''The Simpsons'', including Marge's mother, Simpson family#Jacqueline Bouvier, Jacqueline Bouvier, sisters Patty and Selma, Patty and Selma Bouvier, and half-step-great-aunt Eunice Bouvier. Known for her improvisation and distinctive "honeyed gravel voice", Kavner was cast in her first professional acting role as Brenda Morgenstern in ''Rhoda'' in 1974. Starting in 1987, Kavner appeared on ''The Tracey Ullman Show''. ''The Tracey Ullman Show'' included a seri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steven Zaillian
Steven Ernest Bernard Zaillian (born January 30, 1953) is an Armenian-American screenwriter, film director and producer. He won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award and a BAFTA Award for his screenplay '' Schindler's List'' (1993) and has earned Oscar nominations for the films '' Awakenings'', '' Gangs of New York'', '' Moneyball'' and '' The Irishman''. He was presented with the Distinguished Screenwriter Award at the 2009 Austin Film Festival and the Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement from the Writers Guild of America in 2011. Zaillian is the founder of Film Rites, a film production company. He also created, wrote and directed the limited series '' The Night Of'' (2016) and '' Ripley'' (2024), the latter for which he won a Primetime Emmy Award and a Peabody Award. Early life Steven Zaillian was born in Fresno, California, the son of Jim Zaillian, a radio news reporter. Zaillian is of Armenian descent. He attended Sonoma State University, graduated from San Francis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert De Niro
Robert Anthony De Niro ( , ; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor, director, and film producer. He is considered to be one of the greatest and most influential actors of his generation. De Niro is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Robert De Niro, various accolades, including two Academy Awards and a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for eight BAFTA Awards and four Emmy Awards. He was honored with the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2003, the Kennedy Center Honors in 2009, the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award, Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2011, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2019, and the Honorary Palme d'Or in 2025. De Niro studied acting at HB Studio, Stella Adler Conservatory, and Lee Strasberg's Actors Studio. He went on to earn two Academy Awards, his first for Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actor for his role as Vito Corleone in the crime drama ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Randy Newman
Randall Stuart Newman (born November 28, 1943) is an American singer, songwriter, arranger, pianist, composer, conductor and orchestrator. He is known for his non-rhotic Southern American English, Southern-accented singing style, early Americana (music), Americana-influenced songs (often with mordant or satirical lyrics), and various film scores. His hits as a recording artist include "Short People" (1977), "I Love L.A." (1983), and "You've Got a Friend in Me" (1995), and has written songs such as "Mama Told Me Not to Come" (1966), "I Think It's Going to Rain Today" (1968), and "You Can Leave Your Hat On" (1972). Born in Los Angeles to an extended family of Hollywood film composers, Newman began his songwriting career at the age of 17, penning hits for acts such as the Fleetwoods, Cilla Black, Gene Pitney, and the Alan Price Set. In 1968, he made his formal debut as a solo artist with the album ''Randy Newman (album), Randy Newman'', produced by Lenny Waronker and Van Dyke Park ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walter Parkes
Walter F. Parkes (born April 15, 1951) is an American producer, screenwriter, and media executive. The producer of more than 50 films, including the ''Men in Black'' series and '' Minority Report,'' he is the co-founder and co-chairman of Dreamscape Immersive. Parkes and his wife and business partner, producer Laurie MacDonald, helped to build DreamWorks, with Parkes the head of its motion picture division, and the two later moved to Amblin Entertainment, where Parkes served as president. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards, receiving his first nomination as the director/ producer of the 1975 documentary '' The California Reich''; his second for co-writing the original screenplay for '' WarGames''; and his third as a producer of '' Awakenings''. Parkes and MacDonald created the Parkes + Macdonald production company (P+M, P+M Image Nation) in 2010, collaborating on the productions of a number of films, including films that Amblin has released. Life and career Pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Penelope Ann Miller
Penelope Ann Miller (born Penelope Andrea Miller; January 13, 1964), sometimes credited as Penelope Miller, is an American actress. She began her career on Broadway in the original run of '' Biloxi Blues'' (1985–1986), later appearing in the 1988 film adaptation of the same name. After playing small roles in the comedies '' Adventures in Babysitting'' (1987) and '' Big Top Pee-wee'' (1988), and receiving a Tony Award nomination for her leading role in the Broadway revival of '' Our Town'' (1988–1989), Miller came to prominence with a succession of major parts in films such as '' The Freshman'', '' Awakenings'', '' Kindergarten Cop'' (all 1990), '' Other People's Money'' (1991), ''Chaplin'' (1992), ''The Shadow'' (1994), and '' The Relic'' (1997). For her portrayal of exotic dancer Gail in '' Carlito's Way'' (1993), she was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress. Other film credits include '' Along Came a Spider'' (2001), '' The Messengers'' (2007 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Heard (actor)
John Heard Jr. (March 7, 1946 – July 21, 2017) was an American actor. Heard made his debut appearance in film with the ensemble '' Between the Lines'' (1977). He appeared in a number of successful films, including ''Heart Beat'' (1980), '' Cutter's Way'' (1981), ''Cat People'' (1982), ''Beaches'' (1988), and '' Deceived'' (1991). He was nominated for an Emmy Award in 1999 for guest-starring as Vin Makazian on ''The Sopranos'' (1999–2004). Other films include '' The Trip to Bountiful'' (1985), ''Big'' (1988), '' Awakenings'' (1990), ''The Pelican Brief'' (1993), '' White Chicks'' (2004), and his role as Peter McCallister in '' Home Alone'' (1990) and '' Home Alone 2: Lost in New York'' (1992). From 1995 to 1996, he played the role of Roy Foltrigg in the television series ''The Client''. From 2005 to 2006, Heard played the role of Governor Frank Tancredi in ''Prison Break''. Early life and education Heard was born on March 7, 1946, in Washington, D.C. a son of Helen ( S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
