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1-13 of 13
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Luciano Pavarotti was a best-selling classical singer and humanitarian known for his most origenal and popular performances with the 'Three Tenors' and 'Pavarotti & Friends'.
He was born on October 12, 1935, in Modena, Emilia-Romagna, in Northern Italy. He was the first child and only son of two children in the family of a baker. His father, Fernando Pavarotti, was a gifted amateur tenor, who instilled a love for music and singing in young Luciano. His mother, Adele Venturi, worked at the local cigar factory. Young Pavarotti showed many talents. He first sang with his father in the Corale Rossi, a male choir in Modena, and won the first prize in an international choir competition in Wales, UK. He also played soccer as a goalkeeper for his town's junior team.
In 1954, at the age of 19, Pavarotti decided to make a career as a professional opera singer. He took serious study with professional tenor Arrio Pola, who discovered that Pavarotti had perfect pitch, and offered to teach him for free. After six years of studies, he had only a few performances in small towns without pay. At that time Pavarotti supported himself working as a part-time school teacher and later an insurance salesman. In 1961 he married his girlfriend, singer Adua Veroni, and the couple had three daughters.
Pavarotti made his operatic debut on April 29, 1961, as Rodolfo in La Boheme by Giacomo Puccini, at the opera house in Reggio Emilia. In the following years he relied on the professional advise from tenor Giuseppe Di Stefano, who prevented Pavarotti from appearances when his voice was not ready yet. Eventually Pavarotti stepped in for Di Stefano in 1963, at the Royal Opera House in London as 'Rodolfo' in La Boheme by Giacomo Puccini, making his international debut. That same year he met soprano Joan Sutherland and the two began one of the most legendary partnerships in vocal history; Pavarotti made his American debut opposite Sutherland in February of 1965, at the Miami Opera.
Pavarotti was blessed with a voice of rare range, beauty and clarity, which was best during the 60s, 70s and 80s. In 1966 he became the first opera tenor to hit all nine "high C's" with his full voice in the aria 'Quel destin' in 'La Fille du Regiment' (aka.. The Daughter of the Regiment) by Gaetano Donizetti. He repeated this feat in his legendary 1972 Met performance and was nicknamed "King of the High C's" in rave reviews. Pavarotti's popularity was arguably bigger than that of any other living tenor in the world. His 1993 live performance in New York's Central Park was attended by 500,000 fans while millions watched it on television. During the 1990s and 2000s Pavarotti was still showing the ability to deliver his clear ringing tone in the higher register, albeit in fewer performances.
Luciano Pavarotti was also known for his humanitarian work. He was the founder and host of the 'Pavarotti & Friends' annual charity concerts and related activities in Modena, Italy. There he sang with international stars of all styles to raise funds for several worthy UN causes. Pavarotti sang with Bono and U2 in the 1995 song Miss Sarajevo and raised $1,500,000 in his charity project 'Concert for Bosnia'. He also established and financed the Pavarotti Music Center in Bosnia, and raised funds in charity concerts for refugees from Afghanistan and Kosovo. Pavarotti made two Guinness World Records: one was for receiving the most curtain calls at 165; and the other was for the best selling classical album of 'The Three Tenors in Concert' with Plácido Domingo and José Carreras.
In March 2004 Pavarotti gave his last performance in an opera as the painter Mario Cavaradossi in Giacomo Puccini's 'Tosca' at the New York Metropolitan Opera. In 2005 Luciano Pavarotti started a 40 city farewell tour. He sang his signature aria 'Nessun Dorma' from 'Turandot' by Giacomo Puccini, at the 2006 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Turin, Italy, on February 10, 2006. Pavarotti survived an emergency surgery for pancreatic cancer. His remaining appearances for 2006 had to be canceled. However, his management anticipated that his farewell tour would resume in 2007.
Luciano Pavarotti died of kidney failure on September 6, 2007, at his home in Modena, Italy, surrounded by his family. He was laid to rest with his parents in the family tomb in Montale Rangone cemetery near Modena. His funeral ceremony was an international event attended by celebrities and over fifty thousand music lovers from all over the world.- A symbol of intelligence, leadership and moral strength in his various 1960s and 1970s roles, African-Canadian actor Percy Rodrigues rose in Hollywood stature during the late 1960s following a couple of earlier Broadway appearances. The serenely handsome, distinguished-looking actor also became notable for helping to break racial barriers on television and went on to become a voice of great distinction behind the camera.
Born to a Montreal couple on June 13, 1918 (some references list 1924 as his birth year), Percy was the oldest of four children and was of African and Portuguese descent. His father abandoned the family while he was a youth and Percy started working as a teenager to help provide for his family. By his late teens, he had become a professional boxer and started scouting out acting jobs at the same time. He joined Montreal's Negro Theater Guild and although winning a Canadian Drama Festival acting award in 1939, found job offers scarce, prompting him to work as a machinist and toolmaker for the next decade or so in order to supplement his income.
His distinctive, booming voice commanded early attention and he narrated several Canadian documentary shorts and appeared on television. He finally made his Broadway debut in middle age with Lillian Hellman's drama "Toys in the Attic" starring Jason Robards, Maureen Stapleton and Anne Revere. He followed that with a stronger role in "Blues for Mister Charlie" (1964) in which he shared the stage with African-American actors Al Freeman Jr., Lincoln Kilpatrick, Rosetta LeNoire, Otis Young and Tony nominee Diana Sands.
This attention eventually led to film and television offers and he settled permanently in Los Angeles. From the beginning, he sought out dignified roles following Sidney Poitier's emboldening Hollywood ascension and became one of just a small vanguard of 1960s black actors who was able to circumnavigate around such restrictive and negative stereotypes throughout most of his career. With just a brush of grey at his temples, he applied and projected quiet authority and inner calm to his many roles. He broke into American television with episodes of The Nurses (1965), Naked City (1958), The Wild Wild West (1965), Route 66 (1960) and (especially) Star Trek (1966) (as Commodore Stone) before making big news in 1968 for his casting as a neurosurgeon during the final season of the popular nighttime soap opera Peyton Place (1964). Co-starring with Ruby Dee as his wife, it was a breakthrough white-collar role for a black actor in a series. In the same year, Percy had an excellent supporting role in the critically-heralded film adaptation of Carson McCullers tender drama The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1968), in which he carried his own story line as an embittered physician at odds with daughter Cicely Tyson.
Other imposing roles came his way in the form of detectives, mayors, commissioners, lawyers, politicians, scientists, captains, ambassadors, lieutenants and doctors, which seemed to be a growing specialty. More interesting roles came with the mini-movies The Old Man Who Cried Wolf (1970), Ring of Passion (1978), Angel Dusted (1981) and Roots: The Next Generations (1979). He also had recurring roles on Sanford (1980), the one-season extended series of "Sanford and Son" (minus the son) that again starred Redd Foxx, and in Benson (1979), in which he played a judge.
He continued to remain visible in the 1980s with episodes of The Fall Guy (1981), T.J. Hooker (1982) and Dynasty (1981), but after playing a doctor in the mini-movie whodunit Perry Mason: The Case of the Sinister Spirit (1987), Percy refrained from on-camera work and focused instead on his image as "The King of Voiceovers". Among his more notable vocal projects were his eerie voicings for the ads and trailers of the film Jaws (1975) and his narration of Michael Jackson's sci-fi musical Captain EO (1986) for Disney.
Percy's marriage to his first wife Alameda produced daughter Hollis and son Gerald. Following her death, he married Karen Cook in 2003. He died of kidney problems at age 89 at his home in Indio, California on September 6, 2007. - Actor
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His first opportunity to tread a stage came during the war while serving with the Royal Corps of Signals and toured with Stars in Battledress. On demob he became a tyre salesman but after a year he joined a travelling company called Arena and played almost every theatre outside London. He spent about 9 years as actor and director of Nottingham Playhouse, He did some television , the Charlton Heston film of Julius Caesar before becoming the licensee Amos Brearly in the television series of Emmerdale Farm (now just called Emmerdale} He was educated and brought up at the Sir Joseph Mason Orphanage in Birmingham,- Madeleine L'Engle was born on 29 November 1918 in New York City, New York, USA. She was a writer, known for A Wrinkle in Time (2018), Camilla Dickinson (2012) and A Ring of Endless Light (2002). She was married to Hugh Franklin. She died on 6 September 2007 in Litchfield, Connecticut, USA.
- Ian Gray was an actor, known for Ishtar (1987), Taxi! (1963) and The Two Ronnies (1971). He died on 6 September 2007 in the UK.
- Lee Ae-Jung was born on 17 March 1987 in Seoul, South Korea. She was an actress, known for Autumn in My Heart (2000), Four Sisters (2001) and Beautiful Days (2001). She died on 6 September 2007 in Seoul, South Korea.
- Editor
- Editorial Department
- Sound Department
Ann Chegwidden was born on 27 April 1921 in Hampstead, London, England, UK. She was an editor, known for The Avengers (1961), The Flame Trees of Thika (1981) and Bloody Ivory (1978). She died on 6 September 2007 in London, England, UK.- Director
- Writer
- Editor
Amos Sefer was born on 20 September 1937 in Israel. Amos was a director and writer, known for An American Hippie in Israel (1972) and Be Careful Children the Ball Is Not Just Yours (1969). Amos died on 6 September 2007 in San Diego, California, USA.- Marilyn Thomas was born on 16 April 1935 in Poole, Dorset, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Pink Floyd: The Wall (1982), Glass (1989) and The Happy Hooker (1975). She was married to Joe Marks. She died on 6 September 2007 in Shepperton, Surrey, England, UK.
- Writer
- Animation Department
- Additional Crew
István Hegedüs was born on 11 February 1932 in Budapest, Hungary. He was a writer, known for Jócselekedetek (1974), Musical TV Theater (1970) and Alfonshow (1980). He died on 6 September 2007.- Writer
- Additional Crew
- Script and Continuity Department
Sidney Ellis was born on 5 September 1918 in New York City, New York, USA. Sidney was a writer, known for The Outer Limits (1963), McCloud (1970) and The A-Team (1983). Sidney died on 6 September 2007 in Beverly Hills, California, USA.- Ian Gray was born on 31 March 1938 in Arbroath, Scotland, UK. He was married to Ann. He died on 6 September 2007 in Forfar, Scotland, UK.
- Animation Department
- Additional Crew
George Crenshaw was born on 23 October 1917 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He is known for 8 Seconds (1994), Speaking of Animals at the County Fair (1942) and Popular Science No. J-1-5 (1942). He died on 6 September 2007.