Charlie Chaplin: A Short Bio

What could be said about this great and prolific actor? An article isn’t sufficient to describe the life of this immortal legend. A library of books written on him may still fall short of portraying the life of this never to be forgotten hero of Hollywood who gave innumerable memorable movies to us. Though he rose to fame mostly due to his silent movies but he conveyed so many things that many actors couldn’t do through speech. Charles Spencer Chaplin popularly known as Charlie Chaplin was born in Walworth, London, U.K. on April 16, 1889. The people had given him nick names like Charlie, Charlot and The Little Tramp.
Charlie Chaplin was born in the family of entertainers. His parents Charles and Hannah Chaplin were musical entertainers. No wonder why he took to stage so early. He was only five years old when he had to sing a song on his mother’s behalf as she became ill. There was no stopping this boy who toured in a musical called “The Eight Lancaster Lads” at the age of eight. The wonder kid continued his marvelous work appearing in “Giddy Ostende” at London’s Hippodrome. After that he worked with Fred Karno who had an English Vaudeville Troupe until the age of twenty-four.

The troupe also brought him to New York in 1921 at the age of twenty one. He got his first break in December 1913 with Mack Sennet of Keystone. He moved to Hollywood, California the every next month to begin his long carrier both as actor and director. Charlie Chaplin’s first movie was “Making a Living” which released in February 1914. He acted and directed about thirty-five films with Keytone before moving to Essanay in 1915 where he did another fourteen films. Then he signed up with Mutual in 1916 and did another 12 films. He worked with Mutual until 1917. Then again next year he joined First National, which was later, acquired by Warner Bros. After a year i.e. in the year 1919 Charlie Chaplin formed United Artists collaborating with Mary Pickford, D.W. Griffith and Douglas Fairbanks. Then he gave his first ever full-length movie “The Kid” in 1921 produced under the banner of United Artists which was directed by him.

Charles Chaplin won a special award in 1929 Oscar Awards for his excellence in Writing, Producing, Directing and Acting for the movie “The Circus” which was released in 1928. Charlie Chaplin has the premiere of his 1931 movie “City Lights” in London where he stayed until 1932 and then returned to U.S. Chaplin’s next movie was five years called “Modern Times which was released in 1936. The movie was one of the biggest all time hits. He made another movie after four years by name “The Great Dictator” in 1940 in which he portrayed as Hitler, which was criticized by many. But the film created a stir at the box office and also won many awards. He made Monsieur Verdouz in 1947 and released a talkie in 1952 called “Limelight” which is still remembered as his best talkie.

Chaplin had his share of controversies too. The U.S. Authorities accused him of spreading communism through his movies. After being devastated by these allegations he left for Switzerland. While being outside U.S. he produced two more films “A King in New York” in 1957 and his last film “A Countess from Hong Kong” in 1967. It saw a bad end to this wonderful artist’s works when it flopped on the box office, which was the only failure that the great actor had in his professional career. He tried his hands at new scores in 1969 including “The Kid” and “The Circus”. Academy Award honored him for his contribution to the film industry in 1972. Queen Elizabeth II knighted Charlie Chaplin in 1975. Charlie Chaplin ascended to peace on Christmas Day of 1977 while in his sleep leaving an era of artistic brilliance behind him and cherished memories to the avid viewers of his movies.

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Cary Grant: A Short Bio

One of the greatest actors that Hollywood has ever seen Cary Grant was born on January 18, 1904 in Horfield, Bristol, U.K. His original birth name was Archibald Alexander Leach. Cary Grant was a tall, handsome and Charismatic person. No wonder why everyone during that era wanted to be like him. The actors had an average lower middle class childhood.

It got even tougher after his mother was sent to a mental institution after she fell mentally ill when he was only 9 years old. But this fact had not been told to him until he reached his late twenties. He dropped out from school at the age of fourteen to join Bob Pender’s troupe of comedians by lying about his age and forging the signature of his father on the letter he submitted to join the troupe.

The troupe enabled him to learn many skills including pantomime and acrobatics. He toured many English counties with the Pender Troupe. The destiny beckoned him and he was selected to go to the U.S. along with seven other Pender Troupe boys. Cary performed in the show called Good Times on Broadway which ran for good 456 performances. This gave him enough opportunity to show his talent and to get used to the country. Then he left the Troupe and gave a screen test at Paramount Pictures in 1931. This is when he changed his name to Cary Grant from Archibald Alexander Leach.

Cary Grant debuted in Hollywood in “This is the Night” which was released in 1932. After this movie Cary Grant was the automatic choice for Mae West in her movies “I’m no Angel” and “She done him wrong”, both releasing in the year 1933. But the real break came to him in the movie “Sylvia Scarlett” in the year 1935 with the actress Katharine Hepburn, the actress who happened to be his co-star in many of his forthcoming movies. It is with the help of this movie that Grant proved his mettle and was looked at as an actor to look forward to and tipped as the next Hollywood star. After his contract with Paramount Pictures came to an end in 1937 he decided not to join any Studio which was standard at that time and work independently by choosing his own scripts to work for. The move resulted in Grant giving some of the finest and most memorable comedies ever. Some of his famous comedies include “Bringing up Baby” and “Holiday”, both released in the year 1938 with none other actress Katharine Hepburn; “My Favorite Wife” and “The Awful Truth” in the year 1940 with Iren Dunne; “Gunga Din in 1939 with Victor McLagen and Douglas Fairbanks Jr.; “His Girl Friday” in 1940 with Rosalind Russell and “The Philadelphia Story” in 1940 with Jimmy Stewart and Katharine Hepbum again.

Grant retired at the age of 62 from movies to take his new role of a father. Grant had a rocky married life. He was married five times. All his marriages ended in divorce except his last when he was survived by his wife after his death in 1986. He had only 1 child, a daughter from his fourth wife Dyan Cannon. He had a very close friendship with Randolph Scott for which many doubted him as a homosexual which apparently he wasn’t. According to some of the people who were close to him say that he shared a brotherly relationship with him and thus should not be doubted as something sexual. Grant was nominated twice for the best actor in Oscar but never won any award. But he was honored with a special Oscar in 1969. Though Grant died due to a stroke in November 29, 1986 he left behind a legacy of comedy movies behind for generations to come. The Empire Magazine of U.K. ranked Cary Grant the 7th most popular movie stars of all time which he truly deserves.

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Michael Jackson: A Short Bio

Born on August 29, 1958 in Gary, Indiana, Michael Jackson was the seventh child of the family of nine. They were six brothers and three sisters – Sigmund, Toriano, Jermaine, Marlon, Michael, Steven, Rebbie, Janet and La-Toya. He started his career by becoming the lead singer of the band Jackson 5, at the age of five. Jackie, Jermaine, Tito and Marlon were the other band members.

They played at local parties and clubs and also entered competitions which allowed them to grow as a band. They got their big first big break in 1968 when Bobby Taylor and The Vancouvers heard about the Jackson 5 and got them auditioned for Berry Gordy of Motown Records. They were signed immediately and they moved to California. “I want you back”, “The love you save” and “I’ll be there” were among their first few singles which became huge hits of America. They made fourteen albums with Motown till 1976 and Michael Jackson recorded four other albums. They later signed up with Epic and their group name was changed to The Jacksons, as Jackson 5 was the copyright of Motown. They made a total of six albums with Epic many of them being great hits until 1984.

Michael met Quincy Jones on the sets of “The Wiz”, which was also his film debut. He played the role of crow along with Diana Ross who played Dorothy. He made “Off The Wall” with Quincy, who was the producer. It was the first album whose all four songs were US #1 singles and was a hit all over the world. “Thriller” was the largest selling album of all time, which was released in 1982. Over fifty million copies of the album were sold worldwide and the album had seven hits.

Michael Jackson laid great emphasis on the videos. He called them as short films of his albums and chose the best producers and directors to work with. He even used special effects and the latest technologies, his hit song Billie Jean was a good example of this. Excellent choreography was combined with detailed make-up to make this fourteen minute long video. This short film boosted the sales of the album, Thriller and it became the world’s largest selling home video.

The trademark moonwalk was performed by Michael Jackson for the first time in the year 1984. He won eight Grammies in one night for the album “Thriller” and the narrative work on ET Storybook, breaking all records. He announced, on December 9, 1984 that he is splitting with The Jacksons on his last concert of The Jackson’s Victory tour. After that he released his next album in 1987 named “Bad”. Michael also wrote his autobiography in 1987 which talked in detailed about his personal life and singing career. He was given the title of the Artist of the Decade for his albums “Thriller” and “Bad”.

He released his fourth album “Dangerous” in collaboration with Sony Music in 1991. After his first solo world tour in 1987 he took off for another world tour in 1992. His song “Heal the World” was written on the pages of history and won the hearts of many. In the same year he started Heal the World Foundation for the homeless and orphan children of the world.

His marriage with Lisa Marie Presley, daughter of the legendry Elvis Presley lasted for only one and a half year and they were divorced in 1996. During that period he released his fifth album “History” in 1995. To promote that album this time he took a world tour for two years. Debbie Rowe was his second wife and also his nurse when he was getting treatment for skin disorder. They had a child named Prince Michael Joseph Jackson Jr. who was born on February 13, 1997. The next year they were gifted with a daughter Paris Michael Katherine Jackson who was born on April 3, 1998. “Blood on the Dance Floor” was his sixth solo album, which was released in 1997. He also made a thirty eight minute short film named Ghost to promote his album, in which he played five different characters. He reunited with his the Jacksons on his concert in New York to celebrate his thirteenth anniversary as a solo artist. Many other superstars shared the stage with him like Whitney Houston, Destiny’s Child, Shaggy and others. He released” Invisible” and “You Rock My World in 2001”.

Jackson had his own share of controversies in recent years when he was accused of child abuse charges. After going through years of trauma he was finally found not guilty. Jackson now lives in a Middle Eastern country called Bahrain with his brother Jermaine far away from the shadow of the public and God only knows when he will return to the music again.

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Christchurch bar owner turns to Facebook after egging

Two boys who threw a "couple hundred" eggs at a band member's car are alleged to have egged two more cars on the same night. Allen St Live owner Tarquyn Read posted CCTV footage to the bar's Facebook page after two boys egged the car of a member of covers band Unhinged about 1am on Sunday. The footage shows one of the boys pelting a parked car with eggs while the other films the egging on his phone.

The two boys are alleged to have egged two other cars.
Lone Star Manchester St's general manager, Camille Le Lievre, said two female staff members had their cars egged on the same night.

The cars were parked at Mike Greer Hills, about a five minute walk from Allen St.

"The cars were egged pretty badly - they thought it was staff playing a trick on them," Le Lievre said.

Read said the band member was "furious".

"He had to clean it straight away; it was freezing - it's not a job you want to do at the end of the night."

Read posted the footage to Facebook because he wanted the pair to be "responsible for their actions".

"I was completely pissed off, there's just no point to it, it's just stupid.

"We don't feel that it's fair that the band member's car was egged; he's actually a good guy who plays music to feed his family."

If the pair do not come forward, Read will contact police.

"We've got some jobs for them to do around Allen St, they might be picking up rubbish on a Saturday night or something like that."

Read is the latest Christchurch business owner to turn to social media to solve a crime.

In April, Cafe Valentino owner Michael Turner posted CCTV footage of a man walking through the restaurant's back door. The man spent less than a minute in the back entrance before leaving with a chef's bag, which had a wedding ring inside, among other items.

Last year, the Thai Container in Bealey Ave released footage of a vandal, who was identified in 30 minutes and later arrested.

At the time, police said it was positive to see retailers embracing "the power of social media".

In December, an east Christchurch shop owner used social media to identify a man who took off with a $900 surfboard.

Within two hours, she received 15 private messages and three phone calls identifying the man by name.

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