Celebrity Name : Maria Callas

Celebrity Real Name : Maria Kalogeropoulos

Date of Birth : December 3,1923

Birth Location : New York City

Biography of Maria Kalogeropoulos :
Maria Callas (December 3, 1923 – September 16, 1977) was an American-born Greek soprano and perhaps the best-known opera singer of the post-World War II period. She combined an impeccable bel canto technique with great dramatic gifts, making her the most famous opera singer of the era. An extremely versatile singer, her repertoire ranged from classical opera seria, to the bel canto operas of Donizetti, Bellini, and Rossini, to Verdi, Puccini, and in her early career, the music dramas of Wagner.
She was born Maria Anna Sofia Cecilia Kalogeropoulos to Greek parents in New York City, on 2nd December, 1923. At the age of 13 in 1937, she moved with her mother Evangelia to Athens, Greece.

Education :
Maria received her musical education in Athens. Initially her mother tried to enroll her at the prestigious Athens Conservatoire, without success. At the audition her voice, still untrained, failed to impress, while the conservatoire’s director Filoktitis Oikonomidis refused to accept her without her satisfying the theoretic prerequisites (solfege). Therefore, in the summer of 1937, her mother visited Maria Trivella at the younger Greek National Conservatoire, asking her to take Maria as a student for a modest fee. After listening to her voice Trivella agreed to tutor her completely, waiving her tuition fees. In April 11, 1938 Maria ended the show of Trivella’s class at the Parnassos music hall with a duet from Tosca. This was her first official public appearance. Callas’s progress in the first six months was impressive, and this allowed her mother to secure another audition at the Athens Conservatoire with the well-known soprano Elvira de Hidalgo, who immediately agreed to take her as a pupil. However, because Maria would be graduating in a year from the National Conservatoire and could begin working, her mother asked de Hidalgo to wait for a year. In April 2, 1939 Maria made her debut at the Olympia theater, as Santuzza in Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana, and in the fall of the same year she enrolled at the Athens Conservatoire in Elvira de Hidalgo’s class. Naturally, Trivella was embittered by Evangelia’s and Maria’s conduct and Maria also felt guilty. One of the first things Maria did in 1957 when she returned to Greece was to call her old teacher.

Operatic career :
After a few appearances as a student and in secondary roles, Callas made her professional debut at the Athens Opera on July 4, 1941, as Tosca, going on to sing in Tiefland and Leonore in Fidelio.
After returning to the United States and reuniting with her father, she was soon engaged to re-open the opera house in Chicago as Turandot, but the company folded before opening. The renowned basso Nicola Rossi-Lemeni, aware that Tullio Serafin was looking for a dramatic soprano to cast as La Gioconda at the Arena di Verona, recommended Callas to impresario and retired tenor Giovanni Zenatello, who auditioned Callas. Upon hearing her, Zenatello was so excited that he jumped up and joined her in the duet. It was in this opera that Callas made her Italian debut.
After La Gioconda, Callas had no further offers. However, Serafin was looking for someone to sing Tristan und Isolde, and he remembered his Gioconda from Verona. He called on Callas, who out of desperation, told him that she already knew the score, even though she had looked at only the first act out of curiosity while at the consevatoire. She sight-read the first two acts of the opera for Serafin, who was very impressed and praised her for knowing the role so well. She then admitted that she had bluffed and had sight-read the music. Serafin was even more impressed and immediately cast her in the role. Serafin proceeded to become Callas’s greatest mentor and supporter, and she performed and recorded many of her greatest triumphs with him.
Callas created a sensation in Venice in 1949 by immediately following a series of performances of Brunnhilde in Die Walkure with performances as Elvira in I Puritani (learning the role in five days in order to step in for an indisposed Margherita Carosio). Her performance in I Puritani immediately passed into legend. The critics were amazed and ecstatic that a huge dramatic soprano voice so well suited to Brunnhilde could handle Elvira’s coloratura with such ease and grace. Her performance also awakened the public’s mind to the dramatic possibilities of the bel canto repertoire, which had become the property of canary-type singers such as Lily Pons.
Franco Zeffirelli likened the scale of Callas’ achievement in Venice to asking Birgit Nilsson to subsitute overnight for Beverly Sills. An even more apt description would be asking a champion heavy weightlifter to enter a gymnastics competition on five days’ notice and then having him win the gold medal.
Callas repeated this amazing test of her learning ability and memory by learning and performing Cherubini’s Medea and Rossini’s Armida on very short notice. She also demonstrated her vocal versatility in 1952 in an RAI recital in which she opened with Lady Macbeth’s “letter scene,” followed by the Mad Scene from Lucia di Lammermoor, followed by Abigaile’s treacherous recitative and aria from Nabucco, and she finished with the “Bell Song” form Lakme capped by a ringing high E in alt.
Throughout the 1950s, Callas made numerous appearances at the world’s great houses: La Scala, the Opera Garnier, the Metropolitan Opera, the Dallas Opera, the Royal Opera House in London, Mexico’s Palacio de las Bellas Artes, and the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires.
During her initial performances in Médée in May of 1953, Callas decided that she needed a leaner face and figure to do dramatic justice to this as well as the other roles she was undertaking. During 1953 and early 1954, she lost almost 80 pounds and transformed herself into the glamorous figure most remember. It is thought by some that the loss of body mass made it more difficult for her to support her voice, triggering the vocal strain which became apparent later in the decade. Her later stereo recordings evidence masterly musical interpretations with an increasingly unstable higher register that wobbled uncontrollably at times. In 1960, she made her final appearance in a new production at La Scala in a new production of a Donizetti’s Poliuto, a role chosen to accommodate her vocal capacities. Her final performances at La Scala were as Medea, in the legendary 1958 Dallas production.[wikiapedia]

Celebrity Name : Madonna

Celebrity Real Name : Madonna Louisse Ciccone

Date of Birth : August 16 1958

Birth Location : Bay City, Michigan.

Biography of Madonna Louisse Ciccone :
Madonna Louise Ciccone (born August 16 1958), better known worldwide by only her first name, is an iconic American pop singer, songwriter, musician, record and film producer, dancer, actress, author, and peace advocate whose level of fame and success has earned her superstar status for over two decades. She is usually noted for her innovative music videos, elaborately mounted stage performances, and use of political, sexual, and religious themes and imagery in her body of work. She’s commonly referred to as the ‘Queen of pop’.
In 2000, The Guinness Book of Records credited Madonna as the most successful female recording artist of all time, with estimated worldwide sales of 120 million albums. Her record label, Warner Bros. Records, reported in 2005 that she had achieved international sales in excess of 200 million albums. Madonna is the highest earning female singer of all time, according to the 2007 Guinness Book of Records. Madonna has sold over 100 million singles to date. According to Billboard Magazine, Madonna’s 2006 Confessions Tour was the most successful concert tour of a female artist in history.

Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone Ritchie was born in Bay City, Michigan. The third of six children born to Silvio “Tony” P. Ciccone, a Chrysler engineer of Italian-American extraction, whose parents originated from Pacentro, in the region of Abruzzo, Italy, and Madonna Louise Fortin, a French Canadian. She was raised in a Catholic family in the Detroit suburbs of Pontiac and Avon Township (now Rochester Hills). Madonna’s mother died of breast cancer at age thirty on December 1, 1963, and Madonna has frequently discussed the impact her mother’s death had on her life and career, calling it “one of the hardest things I’ve faced in my life.” Her father later married the family housekeeper, Joan Gustafson, and they had two children together. Thus, Madonna has two big brothers, Anthony and Martin, a little brother, Christopher, two little sisters, Paula and Melanie and two half-siblings, Jennifer and Mario.
Tony Ciccone required his children to take music lessons; however, after a few months of piano lessons, Madonna convinced him to allow her to take ballet classes instead. Madonna’s ballet teacher, Christopher Flynn, mentored her in dance and provided Madonna with her first exposure to gay discotheques (especially Menjo’s and The Escape/Backstreet, both in Detroit), a scene that would later have an impact on her music and style. She attended Rochester Adams High School, where she was a straight-A student, excelled at sports, and was a member of the cheerleading squad. After graduating high school in 1975, she received a dance scholarship to the University of Michigan. In 1977, with Flynn’s encouragement, Madonna left college at the end of her second year and moved to New York City in November 1980 to pursue a dance career. Looking back at her arrival in New York, Madonna has said: “When I came to New York it was the first time I’d ever taken a plane, the first time I’d ever gotten a taxi-cab, the first time for everything. And I came here with $35 dollars in my pocket. It was the bravest thing I’d ever done.”
Madonna experienced financial difficulties,she moved to New York with 35 dollars in her pocket, and for some time lived in squalor and worked a series of low-paying jobs, including a stint at Dunkin’ Donuts. She also worked as a nude model on occasion. She studied with Martha Graham and Pearl Lang, and later performed with several modern dance companies, including Alvin Ailey and the Walter Nicks dancers. While performing as a dancer for the French disco artist, Patrick Hernandez, on his 1979 world tour, Madonna met and became romantically involved with the musician Dan Gilroy, with whom she later formed her first rock band, the Breakfast Club, in New York. In addition to providing vocals, she played drums and guitar before forming the band Emmy in 1980 with drummer and former boyfriend Stephen Bray. She and Bray wrote and produced a number of solo disco and dance songs that brought her local attention in New York dance clubs. DJ and record producer Mark Kamins was sufficiently impressed by her demo recordings to bring them to the attention of Sire Records’ founder Seymour Stein.

Documentaries Film :
In 1991, Madonna released her first documentary, Truth or Dare (known as In Bed with Madonna outside the U.S.). The film, directed by Alek Keshishian, followed Madonna on her Blond Ambition world tour in support of her successful 1989 album Like a Prayer. The film featured black and white backstage scenes and live performances filmed in color. Truth or Dare was released in theatres worldwide, and became a box office hit, grossing more than $15 million in the U.S. alone.
Her second documentary, I’m Going to Tell You a Secret (2005), followed Madonna and her family on the Re-Invention World Tour in 2004. Directed by long-time collaborator Jonas Åkerlund, it premiered commercial free on MTV in the U.S. on October 21, 2005. Like her previous effort, the film includes behind the scenes footage as well as live performances, and was released on DVD June 20, 2006 with a bonus audio CD

Books of Madonna :
Madonna has authored and co-authored a number of books, beginning in 1992 with Sex (ISBN 0446517321), which contained sexually explicit photographs of Madonna taken by noted photographer Steven Meisel. More recently, she has published several children’s books, including Mr. Peabody’s Apples (ISBN 0670058831), The English Roses (ISBN 0670036781), Lotsa de Casha (ISBN 0670058882)and The English Roses Too Good To Be True (ISBN 0670061476).

Film Stars :
During her childhood, Madonna became fascinated by films and film stars, later saying, “I loved Carole Lombard and Judy Holliday and Marilyn Monroe. They were all incredibly funny…and I saw myself in them…my girlishness, my knowingness and my innocence”. Her “Material Girl” music video recreated Monroe’s “Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend” number from the film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and she later studied the screwball comedies of the 1930s, particularly those of Lombard, in preparation for the Who’s That Girl? film. The video for “Express Yourself” placed a femme fatale character alongside an androgynous figure in male attire, which was compared to Marlene Dietrich. The video for “Vogue” recreated the style of Hollywood glamour photographers, in particular Horst P. Horst, and imitated the poses of Marlene Dietrich, Carole Lombard and Rita Hayworth, while the lyrics referenced many of the stars who had inspired her. Among those mentioned was Bette Davis, described by Madonna in a Rolling Stone interview as an idol, along with Louise Brooks and Dita Parlo. [wikipedia]

Celebrity Name : Lou Costello

Celebrity Real Name : Louis Cristillo

Date of Birth : March 6, 1906

Birth Location : New Jersey

Biography of Louis Cristillo :
Louis Francis Cristillo, also known as Lou Costello (March 6, 1906 - March 3, 1959), was an American actor and comedian best known as half of the comedy team of Abbott and Costello, with Bud Abbott.
Lou Costello was born Louis Francis Cristillo in Paterson, New Jersey to an Italian father and a mother of French and Irish descent; the family was Catholic. A gifted athlete, he excelled in basketball and reportedly was once the New Jersey State Foul Shot champion. In 1927 he went to Hollywood to become an actor, but could only find work as a laborer or extra at MGM and Warner Brothers. His athletic skill led him to occasional work as a stunt man, notably in The Trail of ‘98, (1927). He can also be spotted sitting ringside in the Laurel and Hardy film The Battle of the Century (1927). On his trip back home a year later, he was stranded in the midwest and, out of necessity, became a burlesque comedian.

Hollywood :
In 1938 they received national exposure for the first time by performing on The Kate Smith Hour, which ultimately led to the duo signing with Universal in 1940. They filled supporting roles in their first film, One Night in the Tropics (1940), but stole the film with their classic routines, including “Who’s On First?”. (Abbott and Costello are not, as some urban legends have it, members of the Baseball Hall of Fame.)
The team’s breakout picture, however, was Buck Privates which was released early in 1941. They immediately became the top-ranking comedy stars in Hollywood and fans looked forward to each of their pictures as a major event. Most movie-goers had never seen the duo’s burlesque routines, and so their dated but hilarious material seemed fresh. Many of their films cast them as bumbling servicemen such as In The Navy and Keep ‘Em Flying. An amusing footnote to this is that the Japanese military showed these films to Japanese soldiers to demonstrate how inept American soldiers were.
The duo made over 30 films between 1940 and 1956, and were among the most popular and highest-paid entertainers in the world during World War II. Among their most popular films are Hold That Ghost, Who Done It?, Pardon My Sarong, The Time of Their Lives, Buck Privates Come Home, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein and Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man.
The team also appeared on radio throughout the 1940s. On October 8, 1942 the team launched their own weekly show on NBC sponsored by Camel cigarettes. They moved to ABC (the former NBC Blue Network) from 1947-49.
In 1951, the twosome became one of the rotating hosts of The Colgate Comedy Hour (Eddie Cantor and Bob Hope were among the others) and then, the following year, inaugurated their own situation comedy, The Abbott and Costello Show. Costello owned the half-hour series, with Abbott working on salary. The show, which was loosely adapted from their radio program, ran two seasons, from 1952 to 1954, but found a new life in syndicated rerun broadcast. [wikipedia]

Celebrity Name : Lil Romeo

Celebrity Real Name : Percy Romeo Miller Jr.

Date of Birth : on August 19, 1989

Birth Location : New Orleans Louisiana

Biography of Percy Romeo Miller Jr. :
Percy Romeo Miller, Jr. (born in New Orleans, Louisiana on August 19, 1989) is a rapper and actor. The son of multi-millionaire rapper, producer and powerful entertainment mogul Master P, he records teen-friendly hip-hop music on his father’s Guttar Music label. He is best known by his stage name, Romeo, formely Lil’ Romeo.
He has so far released three studio albums and one compilation album. His fourth album “God’s Gift” has not yet set an exact release date. It has been pushed back over 10 times due to unsuccessful single sales.
He also stars in his own Nickelodeon television show, Romeo!. Romeo also played a small role in the movie Max Keeble’s Big Move and the 2004 movie Honey. He was recently invited to the Reebok-sponsored ABCD, considered the premiere basketball camp in the United States. The Teaneck, New Jersey-based ABCD camp is an invitation-only basketball showcase that has produced a host of high-profile players, including Tracy McGrady, Kobe Bryant, Stephon Marbury, Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James. Romeo plans to go to college.

Television/Film :
* Uncle P (2004) - Film     * Decisions (2004) - Film     * Still ‘Bout It (2004) - Film
* One on One (2003) - TV     * Honey (2003) - Film     * Crashing with Master P (2003) - TV     * Romeo! (2003-) - TV      * Raising Dad (2002) - TV     * Oh Drama! (2001) - TV     * Max Keeble’s Big Move (2001) - Film     * The Brothers Garcia (2001)TV

Awards :
* YOUNG ARTIST AWARD: Young Artist Award (2005) - Nominated
* KIDS’ CHOICE AWARD: Favorite TV Actor for “Romeo!” (2005) - Won
* KIDS’ CHOICE AWARD: Favorite TV Actor for “Romeo!” (2004) - Nominated
* BLACK REEL AWARD: Best Breakthrough Performance for “Romeo!” (2004) - Nominated
* TEEN CHOICE AWARD: Choice Breakthrough Movie Star - Male (2004) - Nominated
* BILLBOARD MUSIC AWARD: Rap Single of the Year (2001) - Won
* BILLBOARD MUSIC AWARD: Best Rap Artist (2001) - Won [wikipedia]

Celebrity Name : Lee J. Cobb

Celebrity Real Name : Leo Jacoby

Date of Birth : December 8, 1911

Birth Location : New York

Biography of Leo Jacoby :
He was born Leo Joachim Jacoby IV to a Jewish family in New York City. Cobb had studied at New York University when he joined the left wing Group Theatre in 1935 and appeared in its production of Clifford Odets’ play Waiting for Lefty.

Early Career :
In 1934 he made his movie debut in The Vanishing Shadow. He was rather oddly cast[citation needed] as the Kralahome in the 1946 non-musical film Anna and the King of Siam. He also played the sympathetic doctor in The Song of Bernadette. He is probably best known for creating the role of Willy Loman in Arthur Miller’s stage play Death of a Salesman directed by Elia Kazan. It is widely considered his best performance, and one of the greatest performances ever on the American stage.
He also played James Coburn’s supervisor in the psychedelic flicks In Like Flint and Our Man Flint. He reprised his role of Willy Loman in the 1966 CBS TV adaptation of the play Death of a Salesman, which included then unknown actors like Gene Wilder, Bernie Kopell, and George Segal. Cobb was nominated for an Emmy Award for the performance. Mildred Dunnock, who had co-starred in both the original stage version and the 1951 film version, again repeated her role as Linda, Willy’s devoted wife.
Cobb was named as a possible Communist in testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee because of his involvement in the Group Theatre. He was called to testify before HUAC but refused to do so for two years until, with his career threatened by the blacklist, he relented in 1953 and gave testimony in which he named twenty people as former members of the Communist Party USA.
Later, Cobb explained why he “named names” saying:
“When the facilities of the government of the United States are drawn on an individual it can be terrifying. The blacklist is just the opening gambit - being deprived of work. Your passport is confiscated. That’s minor. But not being able to move without being tailed is something else. After a certain point it grows to implied as well as articulated threats, and people succumb. My wife did, and she was institutionalized. The HUAC did a deal with me. I was pretty much worn down. I had no money. I couldn’t borrow. I had the expenses of taking care of the children. Why am I subjecting my loved ones to this? If it’s worth dying for, and I am just as idealistic as the next fellow. But I decided it wasn’t worth dying for, and if this gesture was the way of getting out of the penitentiary I’d do it. I had to be employable again.” (Inteview with Victor Navasky for the 1982 book Naming Names.)
Following the hearing he resumed his career and worked with Kazan and Budd Schulberg, two other HUAC “friendly witnesses” on the 1954 film On the Waterfront which is widely seen as an allegory and apologia for testifying.
Cobb also appeared as ranch owner Judge Garth in the television series The Virginian.
Lee J. Cobb died of a heart attack in 1976 in Woodland Hills, California and was buried in Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.

Filmography :

* The Vanishing Shadow (1934) * North of the Rio Grande (1937)
* Rustlers’ Valley (1937) * Ali Baba Goes to Town (1937)
* Danger on the Air (1938) * The Phantom Creeps (1939)
* Golden Boy (1939) * This Thing Called Love (1940)
* Men of Boys Town (1941) * Paris Calling (1941)
* Down Rio Grande Way (1942) * The Moon Is Down (1943)
* Tonight We Raid Calais (1943) * Buckskin Frontier (1943)
* The Song of Bernadette (1943) * Winged Victory (1944)
* Anna and the King of Siam (1946) * Johnny O’Clock (1947)
* Boomerang! (1947) * Captain from Castile (1947)
* Call Northside 777 (1948) * The Miracle of the Bells (1948)
* The Luck of the Irish (1948) * The Dark Past (1948)
* Thieves’ Highway (1949) * The Man Who Cheated Himself (1950)
* Sirocco (1951) * The Family Secret (1951)
* The Fighter (1952) * The Tall Texan (1953)
* Yankee Pasha (1954) * Gorilla at Large (1954)
* On the Waterfront (1954) * Day of Triumph (1954)
* The Racers (1955) * The Road to Denver (1955)
* The Left Hand of God (1955) * The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956)
* Miami Expose (1956) * 12 Angry Men (1957)
* The Garment Jungle (1957) * The Three Faces of Eve (1957)
* The Brothers Karamazov (1958) * Man of the West (1958)
* Party Girl (1958) * The Trap (1959)
* Green Mansions (1959) * But Not for Me (1959)
* Exodus (1960) * The Final Hour (1962)
* FourHorsemenof the Apocalypse(1962) * The Brazen Bell (1962)
* How the West Was Won (1962) * Come Blow Your Horn (1963)
* Our Man Flint (1966) * In Like Flint (1967)
* The Day of the Owl (1968) * Coogan’s Bluff (1968)
* They Came to Rob Las Vegas (1968) * Mackenna’s Gold (1969)
* The Liberation of L.B. Jones (1970) * Macho Callahan (1970)
* Lawman (1971) * The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing (1973)
* Ultimatum (1973) * Ransom! Police Is Watching (1973)
* The Exorcist (1973) * The Balloon Vendor (1974)
* Mark of the Cop (1975) * That Lucky Touch (1975)
* Cross Shot (1976) * Nick the Sting (1976)
[wikipedia]

Celebrity Name : Lauren Bacall

Celebrity Real Name : Betty Joan Perske

Date of Birth : September 16, 1924

Birth Location : New York City

Biography of Betty Joan Perske :
Lauren Bacall (born Betty Joan Perske on September 16, 1924) is an American film and stage actress. Known for her husky voice and sultry looks, she has become a fashion icon and role model for modern-day women. Today, she is considered a legendary actress, partly due to the longevity of her career.
She is best known for being a film noir leading lady in films such as The Big Sleep (1946) and Dark Passage (1947), as well as a sassy comedienne, as seen in 1953’s How to Marry a Millionaire. She also made a name for herself as a Broadway musical star thanks to her two major vehicles, Applause and Woman of the Year.

Early Stages :
Born in New York City as Betty Joan Perske, Bacall was the only child of Jewish immigrants, William Perske (a relative of former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres) and Natalie Weinstein-Bacal.[1] Her father was a salesman and her mother was a secretary and they divorced when she was only six years old. As a result, Bacall no longer saw her father, and she formed a strong bond with her mother whom she took with her to California once she had become a movie star.
Bacall studied dancing for 13 years. She then took acting lessons at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. During this time, she became a theater usher and worked as a fashion model. As Betty Bacall, she made her acting debut on Broadway in 1942, in Johnny Two by Four. At that time her idol was Bette Davis. According to her autobiography, she got the chance to meet Davis at her hotel. Years later, Davis would visit Bacall backstage to congratulate her on her performance of Margo Channing in Applause, a musical based on Davis’s turn in All About Eve.
Bacall began fashion modeling part-time. This was when she experienced anti-Semitism for the first time. This made her nervous of revealing her identity and she did not let Hawks know that she was Jewish. Bacall had envisaged a career on stage for herself, but by chance, she entered the world of movies. Howard Hawks’ wife Slim spotted Bacall on the cover of Harper’s Bazaar, showed the photo to her husband, and he then made a phone call to New York to bring her to Hollywood for a screen test. Hawks would use the nickname “Slim” for Bacall’s character in her first movie.

Trivia :
* Contrary to some reports, Bacall does not have a vocal disorder. However, a type of one has been named after her and Humphrey Bogart. Bogart-Bacall Syndrome (or BBS) is a form of muscle tension dysphonia most common in professional voice users (actors, singers, TV/radio presenters, etc) who habitually use a very low speaking pitch. BBS is more common among women than men and has been blamed on the social pressure that professional women feel to compete with men in the business and professional arenas. The syndrome got its name from the low-pitch speaking tones that both actors used in their performances.
* According to her autobiography, she refused to press her hand- and footprints in the cemented forecourt of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre at the Los Angeles premiere of the 1953 film How to Marry a Millionaire.
* Actress Kathleen Turner has often been compared to Bacall. When Turner and Bacall met, Turner reportedly introduced herself to Bacall by saying “Hi, I’m the young you.”
* Bacall appears in an episode of The Sopranos. After she is introduced to Christopher Moltisanti and Little Carmine Lupertazzi by Sir Ben Kingsley, Christopher punches her and steals a gift basket she has received in exchange for presenting at an awards show.
* Bacall served as the voice-over for the PBS idents from 1996-2002.
* Bacall served as the spokesperson for the Fortunoff chain of retail stores in 1980. Petra Nemcova is the current “Face of Fortunoff”.[wikipedia]

Celebrity Name : Kirk Douglas

Celebrity Real Name : Issur Danielovitch

Date of Birth : December 9th 1916

Birth Location : Amsterdam, New York, USA

Biography of Kid Rock :
Kirk Douglas born (December 9th 1916) is an American actor and film producer known for his gravelly voice and his recurring roles as the kinds of characters Douglas himself once described as “sons of bitches”. He is also father to Hollywood actor and producer Michael Douglas.

Early life :
Douglas was born Issur Danielovitch Demsky in Amsterdam, New York to Herschel Danielovitch and Bryna Sanglel, poor Belarusian Jewish parents who immigrated from Homel (also known as Gomel). He was on the wrestling team at St. Lawrence University. To help make his way through college, he thought getting an acting scholarship might work. His talents got him noticed at the acclaimed American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City, where he soon received a scholarship, alongside classmate Betty Joan Perske (soon to be better known as Lauren Bacall). He then served in the U.S. Navy from the entry of the US into World War II in 1941 until it ended in 1945. After the war, he returned to New York City and started doing radio theater and commercials, while trying to break in on Broadway.
Douglas was helped by actress Lauren Bacall in obtaining his first screen role in the Hal B. Wallis movie The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946), starring Barbara Stanwyck. Wallis was on his way to New York to look for new talent when Bacall suggested he look up her old drama school classmate, who was working in an off-Broadway play at the time.

Career :
Kirk Douglas received three Academy Award nominations for his work in Champion, The Bad and the Beautiful and Lust for Life (as Vincent Van Gogh). Douglas did not win any competitive Oscars, but received a special Oscar in 1996 for “50 years as a moral and creative force in the motion picture community”.
He also played an important role in breaking the Hollywood blacklist by publicly opposing Stanley Kubrick’s intention to take credit for the screenplay of Spartacus, which had been adapted from Howard Fast’s novel by the blacklisted Dalton Trumbo. Douglas had collaborated closely with Kubrick in Paths of Glory, where Douglas played one of his most memorable roles, as Colonel Dax, the commander of a French regiment during World War I ordered to make a suicidal attack.
For his contributions to the motion picture industry, Kirk Douglas has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6263 Hollywood Blvd. In 1984, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
In October 2004, the avenue “Kirk Douglas Way” in Palm Springs, California was named in his honor by the Palm Springs International Film Society and International Film Festival.
Popular at home and around the world, Kirk Douglas received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1981, the French Legion of Honor in 1985, and the National Medal of the Arts in 2001.
In 1996, he suffered a stroke, partially impairing his ability to speak.

Bibliography:
* Wisdom of the Elders (1986)
* The Ragman’s Son (1988)
* Dance With the Devil (1991)
* The Gift (1992)
* Last Tango in Brooklyn (1994)
* The Broken Mirror (1997)
* Young Heroes of the Bible (1999)
* Climbing The Mountain: My Search For Meaning (2000)
* Rabbis : Observations of 100 Leading and Influential Rabbis of the 21st Century (introduction) (2002)
* My Stroke of Luck (2003)[wikipedia]

Celebrity Name : Kid Rock

Celebrity Real Name : Robert James Ritchie

Date of Birth : 17 January, 1971

Birth Location : Rome,Michigan

Biography of Robert James Ritchie :
Robert James Ritchie (born January 17, 1971), best known as Kid Rock, is an American rapper, singer, and rock musician.

Early years :
Robert James Ritchie was born in Romeo, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. His mother is Susan Elizabeth Ritchie. In addition he has several relatives in the Michigan area, including: Carol Ann (Shaheen), William Joseph, and Jill Suzanne. Growing up, Ritchie and his father, a well-to-do car dealer in the area, frequently disagreed over young Ritchie’s lifestyle choices. Following a lawn mower accident that resulted in his brother, Billy, losing a leg, his father shifted the burden of holding down the house and all the reponsibilty of his brother on to young Robert (as related by the song “My Oedipus Complex”). This led to increased friction between the two.
Ritchie eventually left home and moved to the housing projects in Mount Clemens, Michigan, where he took his turntables to basement parties hoping for a chance to play. Bo Wisdom, of Groove Time Production, offered him an opportunity to spin for the crowd; and their enthusiasm for the young DJ led Wisdom to dub him with a moniker after watching “that kid rock.”

Mainstream success :
In 1997, Kid Rock added Jason Krause and Stefanie Eulinberg a.k.a.Trucker Brown to his band, joining Kenny Olson, Jimmie Bones, Uncle Kracker, Mike Bradford, and Joe C. In August of 1998, he released Devil Without a Cause behind the single “Welcome 2 The Party” and went on the Vans Warped Tour.
“Welcome 2 The Party” was ignored by audiences and “Devil” sat on the shelves collecting dust for eight months. A chance meeting at a New York nightclub with MTV VJ Carson Daly led to a video of “I Am The Bullgod” to MTV and with Carson’s support, it became a moderate hit.
After two notable live performances at MTV’s “Fashionably Loud” and “Wanna B A VJ”, Kid released the single “Bawitdaba” to renewed interest and sales. He performed with Aerosmith and Run DMC at MTV’s 1999 VMA’s, as well as at Woodstock 1999 and the Grammy Awards. He released three more singles from the album: “Cowboy”; “Only God Knows Why”; and “Wasting Time”. Devil Without A Cause eventually sold 11 million copies.

Kid Rock today :
Kid Rock’s talent can be illustrated by the fact he is credited on his albums for not only vocals, but guitar (steel, rhythm, electric and acoustic), bass, percussion, mixing, mellotron, keyboard, backing vocals, slide guitar, scratching, programming, producer, and even banjo. He is famous for his high-energy personality on and off stage. Kid Rock’s music has changed and evolved considerably over time, which has caused him to lose and gain millions of fans.
Kid Rock And Twisted Brown Trucker will release a live DVD of their performance at the Palace of Auburn Hills on May 12 and May 13, 2006 by the end of 2006.
A new studio album from Kid Rock is in the works and is set for release in early 2007.[citation needed] In a recent interview with Real Detroit Weekly, Rock said he is attempting to create “a timeless rock-n-roll record” so there will be no rap or country on it; Rock also said the record will be produced by Rick Rubin and will feature the J. Geils Band’s Peter Wolf.
Kid Rock appeared in an episode of CSI: NY called All Access as himself, which aired on CBS on April 26, 2006. In the episode, Kid Rock is questioned by investigators as the last person to see his limo driver alive. [wikipedia]

Celebrity Name : Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Celebrity Real Name : Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor, Jr.

Date of Birth : 16 April, 1947

Birth Location : New York City,  New  York

Biography of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar :
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor, Jr. on April 16, 1947 in New York City, New York, United States; typically referred to as Lew Alcindor) is a former professional basketball player.
Considered one of the greatest players of all time, the 7ft-2in (2.18 m) Abdul-Jabbar played center for UCLA from 1965–69. Later, he played professionally for the Milwaukee Bucks (1969–75) and the Los Angeles Lakers (1975–89), accumulating 38,387 points, the NBA’s highest career total. He was famous for his “Skyhook” shot which defenders found virtually impossible to block. His on-court success was superlative, as he won a record six NBA Most Valuable Player Awards, while playing on six NBA championship teams; at UCLA, he played on three NCAA championship teams. His high-school team won 71 consecutive games and his UCLA teams were an unmatched 88-2. After a then-record 20 professional seasons in the NBA, Abdul-Jabbar retired from the game in 1989, leaving a legacy of professionalism, class, and success. Following his success as a professional athlete, Abdul-Jabbar has become known as a successful basketball coach, author, and part-time actor.

Early years :
He was born to Cora and Ferdinand Lewis “Al” Alcindor in Harlem, New York City, in 1947, and was 12 pounds, 11 ounces, and was twenty-two and a half inches. [1] He was raised as a Catholic. From an early age he began his record-breaking basketball accomplishments. In high school, he led Power Memorial Academy to three straight New York City Catholic championships, a 71-game winning streak, and a 96–6 overall record.

College :
Heavily sought by collegiate basketball programs, he played for the UCLA Bruins from 1966 to 1969 under coach John Wooden, contributing to the team’s three-year record of 88 wins and only two losses (it must be noted that in his day, freshmen were not eligible for varsity athletics). During his college career, he was twice named Player of the Year (1967, 1969), was a three-time First Team All-American (1967-69), played on three NCAA Basketball champion teams (1967, 1968, 1969), was honored as the Most Outstanding Player in the NCAA Tournament (1967, 1968, 1969), and became the first-ever Naismith College Player of the Year in 1969.
Lew Alcindor graduated with a B.A. in History from UCLA in 1969. While playing for UCLA, he suffered a scratched left cornea. This would occur again during his pro career and he would then wear goggles for protection.
Also during his studies at UCLA he converted to Islam and took his current name, which translates to “noble, powerful servant”. He converted after meeting Khalifah Hamaas Abdul Khaalis, a former Nation of Islam leader and founder of a Washington, D.C.-based mosque of the Hanafi Madhhab. In 1973, he traveled to Libya and Saudi Arabia, making pilgrimage. He details this conversion in his autobiography “Giant Steps”.

Professional athletics :
The Harlem Globetrotters offered him $1 million to play for them, but he declined, and he was picked first in the 1969 NBA Draft by the Milwaukee Bucks, only in their second season, who won the coin-toss for first pick over the Phoenix Suns.
Lew Alcindor’s entry into the NBA was timely, as center Bill Russell had just left the Boston Celtics, and Wilt Chamberlain, though still effective, was aging, at almost 35 years. Alcindor’s presence enabled the 1969-70 Bucks to claim second place in the NBA’s Eastern Division with a 56-26 record (up from 27-55 the previous year), and he was an instant star, ranking second in the league in scoring (28.8 ppg) and third in rebounding (14.5 rpg), for which he was awarded the title of NBA Rookie of the Year.
With the addition of Oscar Robertson, Milwaukee went on to record a league-best 66 victories in 1970-71, including a then-record of 20 straight wins. Alcindor was awarded his first of six NBA Most Valuable Player Awards, along with his first scoring title (31.7 ppg). In the playoffs, the Bucks went 12-2 (including a four-game sweep of the Baltimore Bullets in the NBA Finals) and Alcindor was named Finals MVP. On May 1, 1971, the day after the Bucks won the NBA championship, he adopted the Arabic name Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, meaning “noble, servant of the powerful one [i.e. of Allah].”

Film career :
Playing in Los Angeles facilitated Abdul-Jabbar’s trying his hand at acting. Kareem made his movie debut in Bruce Lee’s 1978 film Game of Death, in which his character Hakim fought Billy Lo (played by Lee). However, due to Lee’s death during production, the film was never finished, and much of the footage has been lost[citation needed].
In 1980, he played co-pilot Roger Murdock in David Zucker’s comedy, Airplane!. In this acclaimed movie, Abdul-Jabbar has a notable scene in which a little boy looks at him and remarks that he is in fact Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Staying in his role, he asserts he is merely Roger Murdock, but the boy continues that he thinks he is “the greatest”, but that his dad thinks he does not “work hard on defense” and “never really tries, except during the playoffs”. This causes Kareem to blow a fuse, grab the boy and snarl he has heard “that crap since UCLA”, he “busts his buns every night” and he should tell his father to “drag Bill Walton and Bob Lanier up and down the court for 48 minutes”. When Murdock passes out later in the film, he is carried out wearing Abdul-Jabbar’s goggles and yellow Lakers’ shorts.
He had numerous other TV and film roles, often playing himself, such as in the hit Chevy Chase movie Fletch, the ABC sitcom Full House, and Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air, and Scrubs. He also appeared in the telemovie version of Stephen King’s The Stand. He played himself in Slam Dunk Ernest starring Jim Varney and made a brief non-speaking cameo appearance in another David Zucker comedy, 1998’s BASEketball. In addition, Abdul-Jabbar was co-executive producer of the 1994 TV movie, The Vernon Johns Story.

Trivia :

* Abdul-Jabbar has a prescription to smoke marijuana in the state of California, the result of nausea-inducing migraine headaches [5].
* Abdul-Jabbar was successful in suing Miami Dolphins running back Karim Abdul-Jabbar because he felt Karim was sponging off of the name he made famous by having the Abdul-Jabbar moniker and number 33 on Dolphins jerseys. As a result the younger Abdul-Jabbar had to change his jersey nameplate to simply ‘Abdul’ while playing for the Dolphins[6]. The football player had also been an athlete at UCLA.
* Abdul-Jabbar has twice appeared on Celebrity Jeopardy!, coasting to dominant victories each time. His first appearance was against Larry King and Alexandra Paul in 1994; his second was against Martina Navratilova and Reggie Jackson in a special “athletes” edition in 1998.
* In The Simpsons episode The Way We Weren’t, Homer Simpson, as a child growing up and in an attempt to become more popular, says his name is “Elvis Jagger Abdul-Jabbar” when asked what his name is; a referrence to Abdul-Jabbar’s status as a pop icon in the 1970s.
* The rock band the Red Hot Chili Peppers honour him in their instrumental song “Salute to Kareem” and is an “all time great super super star” in their song “Magic Johnson”.
* Jeff Ament of Pearl Jam wrote a song about Abdul-Jabbar based on the urban myth that he lost all of his money investing in hotels for tall people. The song, entitled “Sweet Lew”, appears on the band’s album of B-sides, Lost Dogs. The liner notes explain that Ament was inspired to write the song after being brushed off by his boyhood idol after meeting him at a celebrity basketball game.
* Abdul-Jabbar also played Hakim in the film Game of Death. His character was the last and most dangerous guardian that Bruce Lee’s character had to face. In the extended footage of the final fight scenes of the film, which last about half an hour, Abdul-Jabbar and Bruce Lee fight on the highest level of a pagoda which Bruce’s character had to fight his way up. From Bruce’s viewpoint, the highest level on the pagoda is where Jeet Kune Do, represented by Abdul-Jabbar himself, is found. Through the entire fight, both men not only fight with an ease hard to obtain, but they both make it known neither of them fear death.[wikipedia]

Celebrity Name : Kane (WWE)

Celebrity Real Name : Glen Jacobs

Date of Birth : April 26, 1967

Birth Location : Madrid

Biography of Glen Jacobs :
Glen Thomas Jacobs (born April 26, 1967) is a Spanish-born American professional wrestler. He is better known by his ring name, Kane. Jacobs is currently wrestling on the Smackdown! brand of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).

College :
Jacobs attended Quincy College, where he played basketball, before joining Northeast Missouri State University on a basketball scholarship. In the 1988-1989 season he was an NCAA all-star and the single-season and career field goal percentage leader for the basketball team. However, despite his success, Jacobs opted to switch to playing on the college football team. He eventually graduated with a degree in English.

Early career :
Jacobs has portrayed several characters throughout his career since his professional wrestling debut in 1992. He was first known as Angus King when he debuted in the St. Louis, Missouri area. Jacobs later moved south and began wrestling as Unabomb, appearing in the United States Wrestling Association, Smoky Mountain Wrestling (where held the SMW Tag Team Championship with Al Snow) and the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). He also competed in the Japanese shoot style promotion Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi.

World Wrestling Federation :
Jacobs is believed to have debuted in the World Wrestling Federation as the masked Black Knight at the 1993 Survivor Series, though the Black Knight has also been said to have been Jeff Gaylord. He later appeared as the evil dentist of Jerry Lawler, Isaac Yankem, DDS, in 1995 after Bret Hart damaged Lawler’s teeth by forcing his foot into his mouth, and as Diesel in 1996, replacing the original wrestler to have portrayed the Diesel character, Kevin Nash.

World Wrestling Entertainment :
Kane returned to a rebranded WWE in the summer of 2002, winning the World Tag Team Championship with The Hurricane. On October 7, 2002, Kane successfully single-handedly defended the World Tag Team Championship in a four team Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match (TLC) (The Hurricane had been attacked earlier that evening and was thus unable to compete).
In October 2002, Kane began feuding with Triple H, leading to a match at No Mercy 2002 on October 20, 2002 in which both Kane’s WWE Intercontinental Championship and Triple H’s World Heavyweight Championship were at stake. In the weeks preceding the match, Triple H claimed that, several years earlier, Kane had had an unrequited relationship with a woman named Katie Vick. He went on to claim that, after Vick was killed in a car crash, Kane (the driver) raped her corpse. Triple H later threatened to show video footage of Kane committing the act in question; however, the footage that finally aired showed Triple H (dressed as Kane) simulating necrophilia with a mannequin in a casket. The storyline was very unpopular with fans, and was de-emphasised before the title match. Triple H went on to defeat Kane at No Mercy, unifying the two titles.[wikipedia]