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Barry Levinson
Barry Lee Levinson (born April 6, 1942) is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Levinson won the Academy Award for Best Director for '' Rain Man'' (1988). His other best-known works are ''Diner'' (1982), '' The Natural'' (1984), '' Good Morning, Vietnam'' (1987), '' Bugsy'' (1991), and '' Wag the Dog'' (1997). In 2021, he co-executive produced the Hulu miniseries '' Dopesick'' and directed the first two episodes. Early life Levinson was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Violet "Vi" (née Krichinsky) and Irvin Levinson, who worked in the furniture and appliance business. He is of Russian-Jewish descent. After growing up in Forest Park, Baltimore and graduating from Forest Park Senior High School in 1960, Levinson studied broadcast journalism at Baltimore Junior College and American University in Washington, D.C. He later moved to Los Angeles to work as an actor and writer and performed comedy routines. Levinson at one time shared an apartment with wou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baltimore
Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-largest metropolitan area in the country at 2.84 million residents. The city is also part of the Washington–Baltimore combined statistical area, which had a population of 9.97 million in 2020. Baltimore was designated as an independent city by the Constitution of Maryland in 1851. Though not located under the jurisdiction of any county in the state, it forms part of the central Maryland region together with the surrounding county that shares its name. The land that is present-day Baltimore was used as hunting ground by Paleo-Indians. In the early 1600s, the Susquehannock began to hunt there. People from the Province of Maryland established the Port of Baltimore in 1706 to support the tobacco trade with Europe and established the Town ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blow (film)
''Blow'' is a 2001 American biographical crime drama film produced and directed by Ted Demme, about an American cocaine kingpin and his international network. David McKenna and Nick Cassavetes adapted Bruce Porter's 1993 book ''Blow: How a Small Town Boy Made $100 Million with the Medellín Cocaine Cartel and Lost It All'' for the screenplay. It is based on the real-life stories of U.S. drug trafficker George Jung (played by Johnny Depp) and his connections including narcotics kings Pablo Escobar and Carlos Lehder Rivas (portrayed in the film as Diego Delgado), and the Medellín Cartel. Plot George Jung and his parents Fred and Ermine live in Weymouth, Massachusetts. When George is 10 years old, Fred files for bankruptcy but tries to make George realize that money is not important. In the late 1960s, an adult George moves to Los Angeles with his friend "Tuna"; they meet Barbara, a flight attendant, who introduces them to Derek Foreal, a marijuana dealer. With Derek's help, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tin Men
''Tin Men'' is a 1987 American comedy film written and directed by Barry Levinson, produced by Mark Johnson, and starring Richard Dreyfuss, Danny DeVito, and Barbara Hershey. It is the second of Levinson's tetralogy of films set in his hometown of Baltimore, Maryland, during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, along with ''Diner'' (1982), ''Avalon'' (1990), and '' Liberty Heights'' (1999). Plot Ernest Tilley and Bill "BB" Babowsky are rival door-to-door aluminum siding salesmen in Baltimore, Maryland in 1963, an era when "tin men," as they are called, will do almost anything, legal or illegal, to close a sale. Both have the required 'gift of the gab,' but while BB is a smooth-talking con man who scams naive young women with his sales pitches, Tilley struggles to close his sales. They first meet when BB, driving his new Cadillac automobile off the dealer's lot, backs into Tilley's own Cadillac. Though Tilley had the right of way, each man blames the other, and an escalating feud erup ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Academy Award For Best Original Screenplay
The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Award (also known as an Oscar) for the best screenplay not based upon previously published material. It was created in 1940 as a separate writing award from the Academy Award for Best Story. Beginning with the Oscars for 1957, the two categories were combined to honor only the screenplay. See also the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, a similar award for screenplays that are adaptations of pre-existing material. Eligibility Screenplays are eligible if they are not based on "previously published material". The Writer's Branch of the academy determines if a screenplay is adapted or original, based on possible sources in question, interviews given about the film and the film's publicity materials, and sometimes places screenplays in a different category than the Writers Guild of America. For the 75th Academy Awards, ''Gangs of New York'' was nominated as an original screenplay despite being based on the book Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tootsie
''Tootsie'' is a 1982 American satirical romantic comedy film directed by Sydney Pollack from a screenplay by Larry Gelbart and Murray Schisgal and a story by Gelbart and Don McGuire. It stars Dustin Hoffman, Jessica Lange, Teri Garr, Dabney Coleman, and Charles Durning. In the film, Michael Dorsey (Hoffman), a talented actor with a reputation for being professionally difficult, runs into romantic trouble after adopting a female persona to land a job. ''Tootsie'' was partly inspired from a play written by McGuire in the early 1970s, and was first made into screenplay by Dick Richards, Bob Kaufman, and Robert Evans, in 1979. Richards, who was selected as director, introduced the project to Hoffman, who obtained complete creative control after signing on: revisions to the screenplay and from Richards and his successor, Hal Ashby, being replaced by Pollack caused delays to production, which eventually began in November 1981. Principal photography took place across N ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Lee Hoffman (born August 8, 1937) is an American actor. As one of the key actors in the formation of New Hollywood, Hoffman is known for Dustin Hoffman filmography, his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and emotionally vulnerable characters. Among his List of awards and nominations received by Dustin Hoffman, numerous accolades are two Academy Awards, four British Academy Film Awards, BAFTA Awards, five Golden Globe Awards, and two Primetime Emmy Awards as well as a nomination for a Tony Award. He was honored with the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award, Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1997, the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1999, and the Kennedy Center Honors, Kennedy Center Honors Award in 2012. Hoffman studied at the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music before he decided to go into acting, for which he trained at the Pasadena Playhouse. He made his film debut with the black comedy ''The Tiger Makes Out'' (1967). He went on to receive two Academy Award for Best Actor, Academy A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
And Justice For All (film)
''...And Justice for All'' is a 1979 American legal drama film directed by Norman Jewison and starring Al Pacino, Jack Warden and John Forsythe. Lee Strasberg, Jeffrey Tambor, Christine Lahti, Craig T. Nelson, Thomas Waites and Sam Levene (in his final screen performance) appear in supporting roles. The Oscar-nominated screenplay is written by Valerie Curtin and Barry Levinson. It was filmed in Baltimore, including the courthouse area. It received two Academy Award nominations: Best Actor (Pacino) and Best Original Screenplay (Curtin and Levinson). The film includes a well-known scene in which Pacino's character yells, "''You're'' out of order! ''You're'' out of order! The ''whole trial'' is out of order!" Plot Arthur Kirkland, a Baltimore defense attorney, is in jail on a contempt-of-court charge after punching Judge Henry T. Fleming while arguing the case of Jeff McCullaugh. McCullaugh was stopped for a minor traffic offense, then mistaken for a killer of the same n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Valerie Curtin
Valerie Curtin is an American actress and screenwriter. Personal life Curtin was born in Jackson Heights, New York on March 31, 1945, the daughter of radio actor Joseph Curtin. She attended Lake Erie College. She is a paternal cousin of TV comedian/actress Jane Curtin. Career Curtin performed with comedy groups and acted in theatrical productions in New York before going to Los Angeles in 1971. There, she was a member of The Committee, a comedy group. Curtin began her writing career in the 1970s working on episodes of the television sitcom ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show''. Curtin and her then-husband Barry Levinson were nominated for an Academy Award (in the category of Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen) for '' ...And Justice for All'' (1979) starring Al Pacino. They also co-wrote the semi-autobiographical '' Best Friends'' (1982), which starred Burt Reynolds and Goldie Hawn. Curtin's acting career has run concurrently with her writing career. During the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
High Anxiety
''High Anxiety'' is a 1977 American satirical comedy mystery film produced and directed by Mel Brooks, who also plays the lead. This is Brooks' first film as a producer and first speaking lead role (his first lead role was in '' Silent Movie''). Veteran Brooks ensemble members Madeline Kahn, Cloris Leachman, and Harvey Korman are also featured. It is a parody of psychoanalysis and Alfred Hitchcock films. Plot Arriving at LAX, Dr. Richard Thorndyke has several odd encounters (such as a flasher impersonating a police officer, and a passing bus with a full orchestra playing). He is taken by his driver and photographer, Brophy, to the Psycho-Neurotic Institute for the Very, Very Nervous, where he has been hired to replace Dr. Ashley, who died mysteriously—though Brophy suspects foul play. Upon his arrival, Thorndyke is greeted by the staff, Dr. Philip Wentworth, Dr. Charles Montague, and Nurse Charlotte Diesel. Thorndyke also reunites with Professor Vicktor Lillolman, a past ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Silent Movie
''Silent Movie'' is a 1976 American satirical silent comedy film co-written, directed by and starring Mel Brooks, released by 20th Century Fox in summer 1976. The ensemble cast includes Dom DeLuise, Marty Feldman, Bernadette Peters, and Sid Caesar, with cameos by Anne Bancroft, Liza Minnelli, Burt Reynolds, James Caan, Marcel Marceau, and Paul Newman as themselves, and character cameos by Harry Ritz of the Ritz Brothers, Charlie Callas, and Henny Youngman. The film was produced in the manner of an early-20th-century silent film, with intertitles instead of spoken dialogue; the soundtrack consists almost entirely of orchestral accompaniment and sound effects. It is an affectionate parody of slapstick comedies, including those of Charlie Chaplin, Mack Sennett, and Buster Keaton. The film satirizes the film industry, presenting the story of a film producer trying to obtain studio support to make a silent film in the 1970s. Plot Mel Funn, a once-great Hollywood film direct ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mel Brooks
Melvin James Brooks (né Kaminsky; born June 28, 1926) is an American actor, comedian, filmmaker, and songwriter. With a career spanning over seven decades, he is known as a writer and director of a variety of successful broad farces and parodies. A recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Mel Brooks, numerous accolades, he is one of EGOT, 21 entertainers to win the EGOT, which includes an Emmy Awards, Emmy, a Grammy Awards, Grammy, an Academy Awards, Oscar, and a Tony Awards, Tony. He received a Kennedy Center Honor in 2009, a Hollywood Walk of Fame star in 2010, the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2013, a British Film Institute Fellowship in 2015, a National Medal of Arts in 2016, a BAFTA Fellowship in 2017, and the Honorary Academy Award in 2024. Brooks began his career as a comic and a writer for Sid Caesar's variety show ''Your Show of Shows'' (1950–1954). There he worked with Neil Simon, Woody Allen, Larry Gelbart, and Carl Reiner. With Reiner, he co-created ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Carol Burnett Show
''The Carol Burnett Show'' is an American variety/sketch comedy television show that originally ran on CBS from September 11, 1967, to March 29, 1978, for 279 episodes, and again with nine episodes in fall 1991. It starred Carol Burnett, Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, and Lyle Waggoner. In 1975, frequent guest star Tim Conway became a regular cast member after Waggoner left the series. In 1977, Dick Van Dyke replaced Korman, but it was agreed that he was not a match and he left after 10 episodes. The series originated in CBS Television City's Studio 33, and won 25 primetime Emmy Awards. In 2013, ''TV Guide'' ranked ''The Carol Burnett Show'' number 17 on its list of the 60 Greatest Shows of All Time, and in 2007 it was included on the list of ''Time''s 100 Best TV Shows of All Time. In 2023, '' Variety'' ranked ''The Carol Burnett Show'' #23 on its own list of the 100 greatest TV shows of all time. After the original run ended, material from 1972 to 1977 (seasons 6–10) w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
