Larry Flynt



Publisher, civil liberties advocate. Born Larry Claxton Flynt, on November 1, 1942, in the isolated Appalachian village of Lakeville, Kentucky. He was the eldest of three children born into a poverty-stricken family, where his life was a struggle from the start. In 1951, tragedy struck when his four-year-old sister died of leukemia. A year later, the Flynt family unit began to disintegrate. Larry’s parents, Claxton and Edith, separated; his brother, Jimmy, stayed with his maternal grandparents; and Larry moved with his mother to Hamlet, Indiana.
In his early teens (under a false age), Flynt spent a year in the U.S. Army until he was discharged because of low test scores. He then joined his mother in Dayton, Ohio, where he held various jobs, including one at a General Motors Assembly Plant. Flynt soon grew frustrated with his job, and sought the familiar discipline of the military. This time he enlisted in the Navy, where he outshined first time recruits because of his previous experience. He eventually landed an esteemed position aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise. With a renewed confidence, Flynt took correspondence courses and received his high school equivalency.
After a five-year stint in the Navy, Flynt returned to Dayton, where he bought a local bar and transformed it into a successful strip club. Within a year he expanded business, opening similar clubs in Columbus, Toledo, Akron, and Cleveland. The establishments quickly gained loyal customers, which influenced Flynt to send out a short newsletter about upcoming events to his growing clientele.
During the next few years, Flynt’s life became a whirlwind of flashy clubs, cars, and women. He had fathered four children (all by different mothers) by 1974. Around this time, he also met a 17-year-old dancer named Althea Leasure, who became his most trusted advisor, eventually managing his 300 dancers. The couple married in 1976.
Fueled by his vision that the artsy layouts of Penthouse and the unattainable models of Playboy alienated the average man, Flynt set out to launch his own men’s magazine. Using his newsletter as a template, he nationally released the first issue of Hustler magazine in 1974. Geared toward working-class men, Hustler’s contents were implicitly anti-establishment and class antagonistic. The publication prided itself on hard core depictions of raw sex, which often included graphic nude photos of disabled, pregnant, and elderly women. One issue featured nude pictures of former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, while another depicted a woman being feed into a meat grinder. As expected, the magazine outraged anti-porn advocates and feminists.
From the first day Hustler hit the newsstands, Flynt challenged America’s interpretation of the First Amendment. Over the next few years, his brash style was showcased in a series of closely watched lawsuits that pitted freedom of speech against pornography. In May of 1976, Flynt was indicted on several counts of pandering obscenity and organized crime. The case was significant because it suggested that individual communities had the right to define obscenity. Initially, he was convicted and sentenced to 7-25 years in prison. However, the ruling was later overturned.



In 1977, a 60 Minutes producer introduced Flynt to Ruth Carter Stapleton, the evangelist sister of President Jimmy Carter. The two formed a fast friendship, which resulted in Flynt’s surprising and publicized conversion to Christianity. Under the guidance of Stapleton, Flynt altered his mindset about Hustler’s objective, vowing to no longer portray women in such a vulgar manner.
In March 1978, alleged gunman and white supremacist Joseph Paul Franklin shot Flynt and his lawyer, Gene Reeves, outside a Georgia courthouse. Flynt’s injuries included permanent paralysis of his legs, as well as a minor speech impediment. Shortly after, he renounced his enlightened Christian thinking. Althea and Flynt retreated to a lavish Bel Air estate where, over the next few years, the couple lived in their bedroom behind a steel door. In constant pain, Flynt grew dependent on painkillers, while Althea developed an addiction to heroin.
In the fall of 1983, Flynt again challenged the U.S. government when he threatened to publicize surveillance tapes that were potentially embarrassing to the FBI. When he refused to reveal the source of the tapes the courts fined him $10,000 a day. In a display of defiance, Flynt delivered his fine wearing a diaper made out of the American flag. He was tried and convicted for desecration of the flag, and spent six months (from February to July 1984) in a federal prison.
Flynt was once again thrust into the national spotlight in November 1983, when Reverend Jerry Falwell sued him for publishing a satirical cartoon, which implied that Falwell had an incestuous affair with his mother. The televangelist filed a libel suit for $45 million with the additional charge of intent to inflict emotional distress. Six months later, a jury found Flynt innocent of libel but awarded Falwell $200,000.
In the mid 1980s, Althea was diagnosed with AIDS. She spiraled into a severe depression, which culminated in her death by drowning. She was 34 years old. A devastated Flynt refocused his attention on his First Amendment crusade. Unsatisfied with the Falwell decision, he appealed the ruling, which was unanimously overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1988. The verdict was considered a landmark decision because it constitutionally protected offensive speech aimed at public figures (as long as it did not claim to be fact). The victory seemed to mark a turning point in Flynt’s life. Once again, he began to focus on his publishing empire, which had miraculously continued to thrive.
In 1996, Flynt re-emerged as the subject of a major motion picture, The People vs. Larry Flynt, starring Woody Harrelson (Flynt), Courtney Love (Althea), and Edward Norton (Reeves). Directed by Milos Foreman, the feature focused on Flynt’s career-long battle against censorship, portraying him as a charismatic champion of free speech who fought for his right to offend. That same year, he wrote an autobiography, An Unseemly Man: My Life as a Pornographer, Pundit, and Social Outcast, which candidly documented how he built a publishing enterprise out of the most violent and shockingly graphic mass circulation magazine in America.
To date, Larry Flynt Publications, Inc. consists of over 30 magazines, including Chic, and Barely Legal. Most recently, he released Rage magazine, which is geared toward Generation X-ers. Flynt currently lives in Beverly Hills with his current wife, Liz Berrios, whom he married in 1998.


Read more »

Jimmy Carter



Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter shouted his way back into the news Wednesday (Oct. 3, 2007), confronting Sudanese security officials who tried to block him from meeting with ethnic African refugees in a town in Darfur. The former president made it to a school in the town before the local security chief yelled that he couldn't go any farther.

"You can't go. It's not on the program!" the local security chief yelled. An angry Carter shot back, “We're going anyway! You don't have the power to stop me."

U.N. officials told Carter's entourage the Sudanese state police could block his way and his Secret Service detail urged him to get into a car and leave.

"I'll tell President Bashir about this," Carter said, referring to Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. Carter agreed to a plan to meet tribal representatives at another location later Wednesday. But the delegates never showed up.

Carter was in Darfur as part of a delegation of respected international figures known as "The Elders, " which also includes billionaire businessman Richard Branson and Graca Machel, the wife of former South African President Nelson Mandela.

The Darfur conflict began when ethnic African rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated Sudanese government four years ago. More than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced.

James Earl Carter, the 39th president (1977–81), was born in Plains, Georgia, USA. He trained at the US Naval Academy (1946) and served in the navy until 1953, during which time he worked under Admiral Hyman Rickover on the naval nuclear reactor project.


He left the navy to take over the family's peanut business, which he expanded. He served two terms as a Democrat in the Georgia legislature (1963–67), and after serving as a liberal governor of Georgia (1970–75), began campaigning for the presidency and won the Democratic nomination of 1976, narrowly beating President Gerald Ford.

In contrast to recent administrations, he had promised an open and progressive government responsive to the public, but despite a Democratic Congress, his presidency was notable more for good intentions than achievements. He did effect the Panama Treaty and the historic Camp David agreements between Israel and Egypt (1979), but his initial popularity waned during 1979–80 as a result of mounting economic difficulties and the seizure of US hostages in Iran, and he lost the 1980 election to Ronald Reagan.

Back in private life, he was active in national and international social concerns, taking a hands-on approach to everything from building homes for poor Americans to mediating between hostile parties, notably in the 1994 crisis in Haiti. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2002 for his efforts to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.

He is the first U.S. president to write a novel, The Hornet's Nest (2004).


Read more »

Jerry Garcia



Band leader, guitarist, and songwriter. Born on August 1, 1942, in San Francisco, California. Garcia was the son of a Spanish immigrant who grew up to become a bandleader popular in the San Francisco area. He studied piano as a boy but turned to the guitar in his teens. He dropped out of school at age 17 and served nine months in the U.S. Army before being discharged for poor conduct. He began to play folk and blues guitar, alone or with pickup groups, in clubs in the San Francisco area while working as a salesman and music teacher in a music store.
In 1965 he formed a band, the Warlocks, but on discovering another group with that name, it was changed to the Grateful Dead (1966). Closely involved with the San Francisco hippie movement and the use of drugs such as LSD, the band first played "psychedelic" rock but moved on to a more diverse repertory of rock styles in the 1970s. From around 1974 the band's members began to go their own ways, and Garcia made solo appearances and albums. In the 1980s he became heavily addicted to drugs, and after being arrested in 1985 was sent to a treatment center. After emerging from a diabetic coma, he decided to turn his life around, and the band made a comeback (1987) with a hit single, "Touch of Gray" and an album, In the Dark.
Garcia and the rest of the band enjoyed this new wave of success and continued to tour, drawing legions of fans—new and old—to their shows. The Grateful Dead had built quite a following over the years and their loyal fans, sometimes called "Deadheads," were known to travel around the country to catch their concerts. Unfortunately, the show could not go on forever. Despite Garcia's efforts to improve his lifestyle, all of the years of hard living caught up with him. He died of heart failure on August 9, 1995, in Forest Knolls, California.


Read more »

Judy Collins


Singer. Born Judith Marjorie Collins on May 1, 1939, in Seattle, Washington. As a child, Collins was considered a piano prodigy, but she soon switched to guitar to pursue her love of folk music. She moved to New York City where she played in bars and coffeehouses until she signed with Elektra Records, releasing her first album in 1961 at age 22.
Her first gold album, 1967’s Wildflowers, included her own compositions as well as a cover of Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now,” for which she won a Grammy Award for Best Folk Performance. Subsequent albums, including 1968's Who Knows Where the Time Goes produced by then-boyfriend Stephen Stills, established her reputation as a folksinger. In 1975, she won her second Grammy, this time for Song of the Year for her rendition of “Send in the Clowns.” She continues to record and tour.
Collins is the author of a memoir, Trust Your Heart and two novels. She also directed the 1974 documentary Antonia: A Portrait of the Woman about her piano instructor, which was nominated for an Academy Award.


Read more »

Debbie Reynolds



Actress, singer. Born Mary Frances Reynolds, on April 1, 1932, in El Paso, Texas. Reynolds, who got her start in beauty pageants before being discovered by a Warner Bros. film scout, made her cinematic debut in a modest part in 1948's June Bride, followed by a more noticeable role in musical The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady (1950). Signing with MGM later that year, she showcased her flair for impersonation in Three Little Words, in which she portrayed 1920s vocalist Helen Kane.
Known for her boundless energy and pert demeanor, Reynolds' most memorable turn was in Singin' in the Rain (1952), in which she offered a spirited performance opposite Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor. Parts in lighthearted fare followed, including The Affairs of Dobie Gillis (1953), Athena (1954), and The Catered Affair (1956). The following year, Reynolds secured a place at No. 1 on the pop charts with the sentimental ballad "Tammy" from the popular romantic film Tammy and the Bachelor, in which she starred opposite Leslie Nielsen.
In 1964, Reynolds won the respect of her peers with her title role in The Unsinkable Molly Brown, for which she received an Academy Award nomination. After starring in the short-lived television sitcom The Debbie Reynolds Show (1969) and the campy feature What's the Matter with Helen? (1971), Reynolds did not act in films for the next two decades. Instead, she turned toward stage work, spending the next few years performing in Las Vegas nightclubs and on Broadway, where she received a Tony Award nomination for the 1973 revival of Irene. After a recurring role on the TV sitcom Alice, Reynolds returned to Broadway, where she replaced Lauren Bacall in the lead role of the musical version of Woman of the Year (1983). In 1989, Reynolds began to tour nationally with a stage production of The Unsinkable Molly Brown.
Reynolds returned to feature films in 1992, with a cameo appearance in The Bodyguard followed by a supporting role in Oliver Stone's Heaven and Earth (1993). In 1996, she headlined her first film in 25 years, when she was cast in the title role of Albert Brooks' endearing comedy Mother. Currently, Reynolds has a recurring role on the hit NBC sitcom Will & Grace.
Reynold's sunny film persona belied a life behind the scenes that was filled with stress and unhappiness. In 1955, she wed singer Eddie Fisher, but was embroiled in a media scandal when it was revealed that he was having an affair with actress Elizabeth Taylor. The couple had two children, Todd and Carrie (an accomplished actress and writer), before divorcing in 1959. The following year, Reynolds married shoe mogul Harry Karl, who funded his gambling habit with most of her money. Burdened with his debt, Reynolds filed for divorce in 1973. In 1985, she wed real estate developer Richard Hamlett; they divorced in 1996.


Read more »

Ron(ald William) Howard



Actor, director, producer. Born March 1, 1954 in Duncan, Oklahoma. Born into a show business family, Ron Howard began appearing regularly on stage, television, and in films from an early age. Among his best-known TV roles are Opie Taylor from The Andy Griffith Show (1960–8) and Richie Cunningham from Happy Days (1973–80). He also made several notable performances in films, including The Music Man, The Courtship of Eddie’s Father, American Graffiti and The Shootist.
In the 1980s, Ron Howard gave up acting to pursue a career as a movie director and producer, making his directorial debut with Grand Theft Auto in 1977. He has had a prolific career making movies that span genres, experiment ambitiously with the medium, and appeal to mainstream audiences. Successes include Splash (1984), Cocoon (1985), Parenthood (1991), Apollo 13 (1995), A Beautiful Mind (2002, Oscar Best Director; Golden Globe Best Film), and Cinderella Man (2005). His next film, 2008’s Frost/Nixon, covers the post-Watergate TV interviews between British talk-show host David Frost and former president Richard Nixon.
In 1985, Howard started a production company, Imagine Films Entertainment, with Brian Grazer. The company is responsible for such hit TV shows as Felicity, 24 and Arrested Development. Howard lives in Connecticut with his wife, Cheryl, and their four children.


Read more »

Lisa Marie Presley



In The News: Singer Lisa Marie Presley and her husband Michael Lockwood welcomed twin girls on Tuesday (October 7, 2008).

"The babies and mom are happy and healthy and resting at home," Presley spokeswoman Cindy Guagenti announced Saturday (October 11, 2008).

The infant girls, named Finley and Harper, were delivered by C-section at 2:46 p.m. and weighed in at 5 lbs., 15 oz. and 5 lbs., 2 oz.

Presley lives in Los Angeles, but Guagenti would only say the births took place somewhere on the West Coast.

The girls are the first children together for Presley, the daughter of Elvis Presley, the "King of Rock 'n' Roll," and Lockwood, who is a music producer.

Presley also has a daughter (Riley, 19, a model) and a son (Benjamin, 15) with ex-husband Danny Keough. Presley was also formerly married to pop singer Michael Jackson and actor Nicolas Cage.


Biography: Lisa Marie Presley was born on February 1, 1968, the only child of Elvis Presley and his wife, actress Priscilla Beaulieu Presley. Her parents divorced on October 11, 1973, and Priscilla received custody of Lisa Marie, although her father saw her as often as he could and lavished her with gifts.

When Elvis died on August 16, 1977, Lisa Marie was his sole heir and inherited Graceland, his legendary estate in Memphis, Tennessee.

As a teenager, Lisa Marie became a member of the Church of Scientology, where she met her first husband, Danny Keough. The couple married in 1988, and had two children, Danielle and Benjamin, before divorcing in 1994.

On May 26, 1994, Lisa Marie married pop-music superstar Michael Jackson in a private ceremony in the Dominican Republic. Lisa Marie first met Jackson when she was a child and her father took her to a Jackson Five concert in Las Vegas, where Michael was performing with his brothers.


The Presley-Jackson marriage received intense media scrutiny: some viewed it as a public relations ploy to improve Jackson’s poor image, which had been tarnished by charges of child abuse, while others thought it fitting that the “King of Pop” had married the daughter of the “King of Rock ‘n’ Roll.”

The couple went on national television to defend their marriage and shared a memorable on-air kiss at the MTV Music Awards. Presley also appeared in Jackson’s video “You Are Not Alone.” Despite these efforts, the marriage ended in divorce in January 1996.

After her second divorce, Presley has had modeling jobs, signed a record deal, and been involved in projects with the Graceland estate. Her debut album, To Whom It May Concern, is due out in 2003.

In late 1999, Presley became engaged to John Oszajca, a Hawaiian-born singer-songwriter, but the couple broke their engagement in the spring of 2001.

In August 2002, she married actor Nicolas Cage; they divorced three months later. She married for a fourth time in February 2006 to guitarist and music producer Michael Lockwood.


Read more »

Mel Gibson



In the News: Los Angeles Superior Court Judge, Gregory Alarcon, says Oscar-winner Mel Gibson will have to sit for a deposition over the planning and filming of The Passion of the Christ. Screenwriter Benedict Fitzgerald is suing Gibson after he says he was underpaid for the script.
Fitzgerald's attorneys claimed Tuesday (November 25, 2008) that the writer took a reduced fee to complete the script with the understanding that the movie was a low-budget production. He also says that Gibson promised he would refrain from taking any revenue until he had properly compensated his crew.
Gibson's spending habits during filming included what Fitzgerald says were "tens of thousands" of dollars on his children's tuition and a $78,000 chiropractor bill.
Alarcon ordered Gibson to appear for a deposition by mid-January, even after the star’s attorneys had successfully convinced the judge to keep his money matters out of public record. In a court declaration, Gibson claims he was unaware of negotiations on the project, insisting his company's accountant handled all financial transactions.
Biography: Actor, director, producer. Born on January 3, 1956, in Peekskill, New York. Gibson was the sixth of 11 children born to Hutton and Ann Gibson, who were Roman Catholics of Irish descent. Shortly after the onset of the Vietnam War, Hutton Gibson relocated his family to Australia for fear that his sons would be drafted into battle. Mel spent the remainder of his childhood in Sydney, where he attended an all-boys Catholic high school.
After Gibson's high school graduation, he considered becoming a chef or journalist. However, when his sister submitted an application on his behalf to The National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney, he decided to audition. Without any prior acting experience, he was accepted and enrolled in the drama school. While there, he made his stage debut in a production of Romeo and Juliet, and his screen debut in the low-budget film Summer City (1977). Upon his graduation that year, Gibson joined the Southern Australian Theater Company, where he appeared in the title roles of classical productions, such as Oedipus and Henry IV.
After conquering the stage, Gibson tried his hand at television, landing his first role on the Australian series The Sullivans. In 1979, Gibson graduated to mainstream cinema with his role as a futuristic warrior in Mad Max, and as a mentally retarded man in love with Piper Laurie in Tim, for which he earned his first Australian Film Institute (AFI) Award for Best Actor. Furthermore, Mad Max became the biggest commercial success of any Australian film, grossing over $100 million worldwide.
Gibson received his second AFI Award for Best Actor for his performance as a patriotic idealist in Peter Weir’s World War I drama Gallipoli (1981). Later that year, he reprised his role as the leather-clad hero in Mad Max 2 (1981). The film was released in the U.S. as The Road Warrior in 1982, and its success established Gibson as an international star. His second collaboration with Weir, The Year of Living Dangerously (1982), featured the actor in his first romantic lead alongside Sigourney Weaver.

Gibson’s American film debut in The River (1984) was considered a success. The film earned four Oscar nominations, including a Best Actress nod for Sissy Spacek. In 1985, he returned to Australia to complete the Mad Max trilogy in the less impressive Mad Max: Beyond the Thunderdome, which co-starred singer Tina Turner. Later that year, Gibson's popularity was confirmed when he was featured on the cover of People magazine as the first ever "Sexiest Man Alive."
After a brief hiatus, Gibson returned to the screen with the blockbuster hit Lethal Weapon (1987), playing volatile cop, Martin Riggs, opposite Danny Glover's by-the-book character, Roger Murtaugh. The success of Lethal Weapon inspired three sequels - Lethal Weapon 2 (1989), Lethal Weapon 3 (1992), and Lethal Weapon 4 (1998), all of which featured Glover and Gibson in their respective roles as good cop and bad cop.
In Franco Zeffirelli's Hamlet (1990), Gibson gave a notable performance as the tormented prince. In addition, Hamlet was the first film produced by Gibson's newly formed production company, Icon productions. Other productions by Icon included the Beethoven biopic Immortal Beloved (1994), and the 1997 remake of Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenia.
In the early '90s, Gibson appeared in a few poorly received films, including Air America (1990) and the sappy Forever Young (1992). He made his feature directorial debut with the 1993 tearjerker The Man Without a Face, in which he also played a severely disfigured burn victim.
In 1995, Gibson released his most passionate project to date, directing and starring as the 13th century Scottish nobleman, Sir William Wallace, in the medieval epic Braveheart. The film triumphed at the Oscars, winning top honors in five categories, including Best Picture and Best Director. Gibson diversified his range of characters later the same year, when he provided the voice of John Smith in Disney's Pocahontas (1995).
In the late '90s, Gibson starred in a handful of crime thrillers, including 1996's Ransom (with Renee Russo and Gary Sinise), 1997's Conspiracy Theory (with Julia Roberts), and the independent film Payback (1999). In 2000, he headlined the highly anticipated war saga The Patriot, in which he played a reluctant hero during the American Revolution. Also that year, he starred in the romantic comedy What Women Want, costarring Helen Hunt, Lauren Holly, and Bette Midler. In 2002, Gibson headlined another box-office hit, M. Night Shyamalan's Signs, where he plays a rural Pennsylvania farmer whose life takes a drastic turn when 500-foot crop circles appear in his cornfields.
Mel Gibson's next project put him back in the director's chair in an ambitious film about the final 12 hours of Jesus' life entitled The Passion of the Christ. Released in 2004, the unlikely blockbuster made headlines for its controversial adaptation of a biblical story. A devout Catholic, Gibson said that the Holy Spirit was making the film through him, "I was just directing traffic." His next historical epic, Apocalypto, focused on the decline of the Mayan civilization and was released in December 2006.


In recent years, Mel Gibson has been accused of being anti-Semitic and racist. He has also openly acknowledged his battle with alcohol addiction. In 2006, he pled no contest to a drunk-driving charge and admitted to making anti-Semitic remarks during his arrest. He was sentenced to three years of probation, including mandatory AA meetings.
Gibson has kept a relatively low profile since this incident. He served as a producer on the 2008 PBS documentary Another Day in Paradise and as an executive producer for the related PBS miniseries Carrier.
After years of directing and producing, Gibson has stepped back in front of the cameras for the upcoming thriller Edge of Darkness. He stars as a police detective who investigates his daughter’s death.
In 1980, Gibson married Robyn Moore; they have seven children. His eldest daughter, Hannah, married musician Kenny Wayne Shepherd in 2006.


Read more »

J.D. Salinger


Writer, born on January 1, 1919 in New York City, New York, USA. Jerome David Salinger graduated from Valley Forge Military Academy (1936) and studied at New York University, Ursinus College, and Columbia University. He began to write when young, worked as an entertainer on a cruise ship (1941), served in the army (1942–6), and began to publish short stories. The Catcher in the Rye (1951), his first and only novel, was an immediate success, generating a cult-like dedication among many readers. His subsequent collections of short stories, many of which first appeared in the New Yorker, such as Franny and Zooey (1961) and Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction (1963), raised more speculation about the elusive writer. Critics have been puzzled by his work - he is considered to be either too intellectual or too sentimental, a supreme stylist or a didactic practitioner of self-absorbed musings. He also became something of a media preoccupation by virtue of his becoming a recluse for most of his adult life. About all that has ever been known of his personal life is that he lived and wrote in Cornish, NH. He allowed publication of Hapworth 16, 1924 (first published in 1965) as a novella in 1997.


Read more »

Brenda Lee



Born Brenda Mae Tarpley on December 11, 1944 in Atlanta GA., Brenda Lee's recording career has spanned an unbelievable five decades. Brenda's parents, Grayce and Reuben, were poor but managed to support their children through carpentry and long hours in the Georgia cotton mills. Brenda sang from the time she was a baby. When her sister entered her into a talent contest when she was three, Brenda won. She continued to sing at local halls and baseball games. When she was only eight years old, Brenda's loving father was tragically killed in a construction accident. Brenda's singing jobs became necessary to the financial survival of her family. Brenda and her mother Grayce worked tirelessly getting Brenda singing jobs. A local DJ named Peanuts Fairclough shortened her name from Brenda Mae Tarpley to Brenda Lee saying that it would be easier to remember when she was famous. Brenda's mother remarried a man named Jay Rainwater who opened a record store where Brenda sang on weekends. Her first break came in 1955 when she was only ten. She turned down a performing gig in order to meet Country & Western star Red Foley. He was blown away by the little girl's incredibly powerful voice. Foley put her on his television show, "The Junior Jamboree," and Brenda was a sensation when she sang songs like "Jambalya" and the explosive, "Dynamite." From that day on, Brenda was nicknamed, Little Miss Dynamite.In 1957, the family eventually moved to Nashville where Brenda was taken under the wing of manger Dub Allbritten and the legendary producer Owen Bradley. These two men were both very loving father figures in her life. Young Brenda toured the country with stars like Patsy Cline, Mel Tillis, and George Jones. By 12, she starred at the Grand Ole Opry and in Vegas. In September of 1959, Brenda rocketed to number one on the Rock and Roll charts with, "Sweet Nothings." Although Brenda was making good money, most of it was held in trust until she was 21 due to the Jackie Coogan Law. In 1959, Brenda's stepfather deserted the family leaving them broke. Even though 15-year-old Brenda was touring the world and singing her heart out, Brenda, her mother, her brother and two sisters were forced to live in a trailer park on 75 dollars a month. In 1960, Brenda hit the top of the charts with "I'm Sorry." It was her biggest hit to date and won her both a Grammy nomination and a gold record. She petitioned the court to let her have a little more money and get her family out of the trailer park. She won and bought her mom a house, which subsequently burned down.Brenda with her huge singing voice and her diminutive stature (she was only 4'9" tall) was confusing for the foreign press who had not seen her in person. A rumor began circulating in France that she was a "32- year-old midget." Her tour in France at the tender age of 15 led to over-engagements. The normally blas? French press compared her to the legendary Judy Garland. She had fans all over the world. At the age of 18, she met and fell in love with Ronnie Shacklett (6'4" tall). Against the wishes of her manager and her mother, they were married. They had two daughters, Julie and Jolie. Julie's birth was very traumatic. She was born with a Hyalin Membrane disease and was not expected to live. Her life was saved by the brilliance of Dr. Mildred Stalman -- the same doctor who had attended the births of the Kennedy Children.It was the mid 1960's, and the Beatles had taken over the North American music scene. Her longtime manager and father figure Dub Allbritten died. Brenda became depressed and could not find a place for herself in the music industry that she loved so much. And the years on the road caught up with her. In 1974, Brenda was rushed to hospital with life threatening blood clots. Emergency surgery saved her life. Eventually, Brenda returned to her country and western roots. In late 1974, she recorded songwriter Kris Kristopherson's first song, "Nobody Wins." It hit the top ten on the Country Charts, and Brenda was back on top with a string of C&W hits. She received awards and accolades from The Georgia Music Hall of Fame and The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Brenda continued to perform and tour at a relentless pace. Her 1989 appearance on K.D. Lang's album "Shadowland" gave her yet another Grammy nomination. In 1998, Owen Bradley died, and Brenda was completely devastated. She mustered every fiber in her being to sing "There Will Be Peace In the Valley" at his funeral. In 1999, Brenda was diagnosed with cysts on her vocal chords. Facing surgery that may permanently damage her vocal chords, Brenda chose instead to take time off and rest. Although not cured, the damage has been halted. Still married to her loving Ronnie and with her children close by, Brenda continues to sing her heart out for audiences all over the world. She is still "Little Miss Dynamite."


Read more »

Pramod Mahajan


Mahajan was born to Venkatesh Devidas and Prabhavati Mahajan in Mahbubnagar, Andhra Pradesh, India in a Deshastha Brahmin family. The Mahajan family had migrated from their home in Mahajan gully in Osmanabad to Ambajogai and was staying in a rented house in Mangalwar Peth. Mahajan spent his childhood in Ambejogai. He was the second child of his parents, with two brothers Prakash and Pravin, and two sisters Pratibha and Pradnya. His father died when he was 21. He attended Yogeshwari Vidyalaya and Mahavidyalaya in Beed district of Maharashtra and studied at the Ranade Institute for Journalism, Pune. He obtained bachelor's degrees in Physics and Journalism and a post graduate degree in Political Science.


His love for theatre brought him close to Rekha Hamine, whom he courted and married on 11 March 1972. They have two children, daughter Poonam and son Rahul. Both his children are trained pilots. His daughter is married to Anand Rao Vajendla, an industrialist from Hyderabad. He worked as an English teacher at the Kholeshwar college in Ambejogai between 1971 and 1974 before joining active politics during the emergency.


Mahajan was a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) since childhood, but he actively got involved when he worked as a sub-editor of its Marathi magazine, Tarun Bharat in 1970 and 71. He took part in the agitation against the state of emergency imposed by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and was incarcerated in the Nashik central jail till it was lifted. He was one of the select batch of RSS workers co-opted into the BJP and was the general secretary of the party's state unit till 1985. Between 1983 and 1985, he was also the All India Secretary of his party. After unsuccessfully contesting the 1984 Lok Sabha elections, he became the president of the All India Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha in 1986, a position he held again between 1990 and 1992. By virtue of his organizational skills and hard work, he rose to a prominent position, first in the Maharashtra state BJP and then at the national level.


Mahajan's aspirations were always national, but he also did a significant amount of work in building up his party's fortunes in his home state of Maharashtra. In this, he was partnered with his childhood friend-turned brother-in-law Gopinath Munde (who is married to his sister Pradnya). Mahajan was responsible for his party's alliance with the Shiv Sena. He had to overcome the reluctance of seniors, both in the BJP and the RSS, who considered the Shiv Sena to be a party of the lumpen. However, all indications are that the alliance for him was entirely pragmatic, and he did not share the extremist beliefs of the Shiv Sena. The alliance went on to win the state assembly elections in 1995 and ruled till 1999. Munde was the deputy chief minister in that government.


Though in recent years the alliance has come under strain because the Sena's fortunes have been in a decline, Mahajan was reportedly one of the few who advised caution before breaking off, primarily because he wanted the BJP to gain more strength before taking such a step.Mahajan came to play a vital role during the coalition era of the late 1980s. He rose to national prominence when he helped organize BJP President Lal Krishna Advani's Rath Yatra in 1990. Despite being credited with responsibility for his party's numerous election victories, Mahajan rarely contested or won popular elections himself. He had been elected to Parliament many times, but mostly through the Rajya Sabha, the indirectly elected upper house. He served on the Rajya Sabha in 1986-87, 1992-96, 1998-99 and for the last time in 2004. He was elected to the Lok Sabha once in 1996, but lost in 1998.


The Lok Sabha elections of 1996 brought the BJP to power and Mahajan was appointed Defence Minister in Vajpayee's 13 day ministry. When the BJP returned to power in 1998, he was first appointed as advisor to the Prime Minister. He resigned from that post and stood for Rajya Sabha elections in July 1998. He won and in December 1998, he was appointed the Minister for Information and Broadcasting, and Food Processing. A year later, in October 1999, he was moved to Parliamentary Affairs and Water Resources. He relinquished Water Resources a month later in November and took charge of Information Technology (in addition to Parliamentary Affairs).


In 2001, he was appointed to the Communications ministry under controversial circumstances. The earlier telecom policy of the government, formulated in 1994, had allowed private participation in cellular telephony after open bidding, on payment of a license fee determined through the bidding. However, after winning the contracts the telecom companies found themselves unable to pay the fixed license fees, supposedly because the victors fell victim to the Winner's curse. The then Minister for Communications, Jagmohan attempted tough action against the defaulting companies, but was sacked. After this, Prime Minister Vajpayee himself took over the cabinet portfolio (with Ram Vilas Paswan as minister of state) and oversaw the formulation of the New Telecom Policy of 1999. The policy replaced fixed license fees with a revenue sharing agreement, a move that was widely criticized for changing rules midway and causing loss of revenue to the government. Mahajan, who succeeded to the post in August 2001, after a cabinet reshuffle (that also merged the department of Information technology with the Telecommunications portfolio) had the task of implementing this policy.


During his tenure, the number of new telephone connections enjoyed unprecedented growth and rentals fell by a large amount. However, he was also accused of favouring Reliance Infocomm by allowing it to offer full nationwide mobility through WLL without payment of the required license fees.


He was also involved in a dispute with the then Disinvestment minister Arun Shourie over the privatization of VSNL. These controversies may have been the reason why he was dropped from the cabinet in the reshuffle of 2003. There was also speculation that he was a casualty of the silent intra-party battle between Vajpayee and Advani. Shourie succeeded him to the Communications portfolio. Mahajan was appointed the General Secretary of the BJP . He contested media speculation that this was a demotion, saying that there were no differences between him and the party and that he had just changed positions from chariot rider to charioteer.


Mahajan was accused of orchestrating the murder of former Indian Express journalist Shivani Bhatnagar by Madhu Sharma, the wife of IPS officer Ravi Kant Sharma who was an accused in the murder and in police custody. Bhatnagar had been murdered on January 23, 1999. The investigation had gone on for three years and was out of the media spotlight till Sharma's arrest. His motive for the murder, according to the Delhi Police, was that he had fathered Bhatnagar's child and was under pressure from her to marry him. Madhu made statements in the press claiming that it was in fact Mahajan who had the affair and was the actual father. She challenged him for a DNA test. Mahajan agreed to take the test but eventually did not as the Delhi Police dismissed Sharma's claim as an emotional outburst as she was unable to provide any concrete evidence in support of her charges.


Assembly elections were held in four Indian states in December 2003 - Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. Mahajan was put in charge of Rajasthan. The BJP consciously chose to play down the Hindutva platform. Nonetheless, the elections turned out to be a resounding victory for the BJP, which won in all four states. Emboldened by this success, Vajpayee called early elections in 2004 and Mahajan was given charge of the campaign. However, the BJP performed unexpectedly poorly in them, losing power to the Indian National Congress. Mahajan personally accepted responsibility for this defeat.


On the morning of 22 April 2006, Mahajan's estranged younger brother, Pravin shot him four times with his licensed .32 Browning pistol inside the former's apartment in Mumbai following a dispute. Four bullets were fired. The first missed Mahajan, but the other three were lodged in his liver and pancreas, damaging several internal organs. Mahajan was taken to the Hinduja hospital where he was operated upon. One of the world's foremost liver specialists, Dr. Mohamed Rela flew in from London to treat him. After struggling for his life for 13 days, Mahajan suffered from a cardiac arrest and died on 3 May 2006 at 4:10 pm IST. He was given a state funeral at the Shivaji Park crematorium in Dadar, Mumbai on May 4, 2006.


Pravin surrendered at the Worli Police Station in Mumbai after the shooting. The police claimed that it was a premeditated attack born out of resentment built up over a long time. Pravin accused his brother of "ignoring and humiliating him, and not giving him his due". He also felt neglected and suffered from an inferiority complex because he was the poorer younger brother of a much famous elder brother. Pravin was charged with murder under Sec. 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). A Hindi movie is being planned to depict the life of Pramod Mahajan; "Hum Mahajan Bol Rahe Hai" (I am Mahajan Speaking) with Ashutosh Rana playing lead role.


Read more »

Sonia Gandhi

The story should have had a fairy-tale ending: a beautiful young girl meets her handsome Prince Charming, has two children, and lives happily every after. In 1968, however, when Sonia Maino married Rajiv Gandhi of India, the fairy tale was only half realized. She snagged a handsome prince, but she also inherited the troubled history of his country. Rajiv Gandhi was a member of a family that had ruled India since the 1940s. His grandfather, Jawaharlal Nehru, was India's first prime minister, and his mother, Indira Gandhi, held that office throughout the 1970s. Rajiv himself briefly served as prime minister in the 1980s, but was assassinated in 1991 as he attempted to reclaim the post. Almost a decade after her husband's death, Sonia Gandhi reluctantly followed in her famous family's footsteps by entering politics. In 2004, after serving as president of India's Congress Party, she was called upon by members of Parliament to take up the reins of prime minister. Gandhi shocked the nation, and the world, when she declined. Members of the opposition breathed a sigh of relief, but others feared that the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty had come to an end.


Love at first sight


Sonia Gandhi was born Sonia Maino on December 9, 1947, in the small village of Orbassano, just outside Turin, Italy. She was raised in a traditional Roman Catholic household, and her parents, Stefano and Paolo, were working class people. Stefano was a building contractor who owned his own medium-sized construction business; Paolo took care of the family's three daughters. When Sonia was eighteen years old, her father sent her to Cambridge, England, to study English. He did not know that his oldest daughter's life was about to change forever.


In 1965, just a year after arriving in England, Sonia met a young Indian student named Rajiv Gandhi (1944–1991), who was studying mechanical engineering at Cambridge University. According to Sonia Gandhi, it was love at first sight. The courtship, however, lasted three years, perhaps because Rajiv was from one of the most famous families in India, if not the world. Sonia's parents were reluctant to have her become involved in such a different culture, and Sonia herself was nervous about meeting Rajiv's famous mother, Indira Gandhi (1917–1984), who was considered to be the "first lady" of India. Indira Gandhi's father, Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964), became the country's first prime minister after India claimed its independence from Great Britain in 1947, and Gandhi worked closely with him until his death. In 1965 Indira Gandhi was poised to fill Nehru's shoes.


"Power in itself has never attracted me, nor has position been my goal."


Sonia's fears were quickly overcome as she and Indira became fast friends. In 1968, Sonia and Rajiv were married in a simple ceremony in New Delhi, India; Sonia wore the same pink sari her mother-in-law had worn at her own wedding many years before. A sari is a traditional dress that consists of several yards of cloth draped around the waist and shoulders. Following the wedding Sonia and Rajiv moved in with Indira Gandhi, who by this time had become prime minister. Sonia's relationship with Indira deepened, and ultimately she became the faithful and obedient daughter-in-law, in charge of running the household. This meant that although Gandhi came into the marriage a modern woman of the West, she soon traded her miniskirts for saris and steeped herself in Indian culture. She even learned to speak Hindi, the official language of India.


Rajiv reluctantly enters politics


While Sonia Gandhi served as hostess at state functions and received visiting dignitaries along with her mother-in-law, Rajiv Gandhi remained relatively removed from politics. After leaving Cambridge, he did not go into engineering; instead he pursued his passion for flying and became a commercial airline pilot for Indian Airlines. The heir to the political throne was expected to be Rajiv's younger brother, Sanjay (1946–1980). As a result, the Gandhis lived in relative peace and quiet, while raising their two children, Rahul and Priyanka, away from the glare of the media.


India's Parliament Explained


India's government is based on the British parliamentary system. The Parliament, or ruling legislative body, is divided into two houses: the upper house, called the Rajya Sabha, consists of a maximum of 250 members; the lower house, known as the Lok Sabha, is composed of no more than 545 members. As in the United States, members of each house are elected to office, and they represent constituents who reside in a particular state. There are fourteen states in India. Legislative elections are held every five years. Following the election, if one party receives a majority of votes, one member is voted in by the party as prime minister. If one party does not achieve a majority of votes, members negotiate with other parties in order to form what is known as a coalition government.


In the meantime, the 1970s became the Indira Gandhi decade in India. The Indian public revered her, calling her Mataji, meaning revered mother. Her political opponents, however, viewed her as a sometimes ruthless leader who seemed determined to form a dictatorship. She even caused dissension within her own political party, the Congress Party (CP). The CP was particularly popular in India, because its early members were major figures in the fight for independence from Great Britain. As a result, the party controlled India's government for most of the twentieth century. In 1969, however, Gandhi split the CP; her splinter group was eventually called the Congress-I Party, the "I" standing for Indira.


By the late 1970s Sanjay had become Gandhi's primary policy adviser, and in 1980 he officially entered politics by winning a seat in Parliament. Before Sanjay had a chance to fulfill his destiny, however, he was killed in a flying accident. A stunned Indira Gandhi begged her older son to join the family's political ranks. Sonia Gandhi was vehemently opposed to the idea, fearing that her husband might be injured or killed, given the explosive nature of Indian politics. After several long discussions, however, the couple jointly agreed that Rajiv should quit his job with the airlines. Although Sonia Gandhi was not pleased, she was a dutiful wife and supported her husband's decision. In 1981 Rajiv ran successfully for Parliament and took over the seat vacated by his brother. He served as the representative from the Amethi district of Uttar Pradesh, a state in northern India populated by approximately 160 million inhabitants.


A grieving widow


In 1984 the Gandhi family, and India, was shaken to its very core when Indira Gandhi was assassinated by two of her own bodyguards. Tensions had been escalating for some time between various Indian religious sects, including Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs. Earlier in the year, Sikh militants had stockpiled weapons in their sacred Golden Temple, assuming that the government would not dare to enter their holy sanctuary. Gandhi, however, sent troops to storm the temple, which resulted in the deaths of many militants. In retaliation, Gandhi's bodyguards, who were Sikhs, shot and killed the prime minister in her own home. Just hours after the shootings, Rajiv Gandhi was sworn in as his mother's replacement.


Sonia Gandhi, resigned to the fact that her husband must lead his country, became his vigilant supporter and submerged herself in the role of a prime minister's wife. She became an art historian and worked with a team at the National Gallery in New Delhi to restore Indian landscapes. She also collected and edited letters that had been sent between Indira Gandhi and her father, Jawaharlal Nehru, which were ultimately published in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Despite Sonia Gandhi's successes, however, her husband Rajiv was a less-than-successful ruler. He was never able to match the popularity of his famous mother, and his administration was plagued by one problem after another, including charges of illegal arms dealings. As a result, in 1989 Rajiv Gandhi was voted out of office.



Manmohan Singh: India's Newest Prime Minister


India's newest prime minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, was born into a family of very modest means on September 26, 1932, in Gah, West Punjab (now Pakistan). After earning degrees in economics from Cambridge University in England and from Punjab University, he spent the next thirty years working as a quiet but very key player in Indian politics. In the 1980s Singh served as the head of the Reserve Bank of India, and in 1991 he became the country's finance minister in the Congress Party-led government of Narasimha Rao (1921–), which was in power until 1996.


When he took the post, India was in disastrous financial straits, but during his tenure Singh became the mastermind behind the country's economic reform movement. He opened up the country to outside investors for the first time, and ended regulations that had kept India tied to the past. For example, Singh dissolved the "license Raj," which required private businesses to seek government approval before making almost any decision. By the end of the 1990s, with Singh's help, India was well on its way to economic recovery.


Perhaps more remarkable, however, was that throughout the decades of scandal that rocked the Indian government, Singh retained an incredibly "squeaky clean" reputation. In fact, in 2002 he was awarded the Outstanding Parliamentarian Award. And in May of 2004, when it was announced that he would be taking on the post of prime minister, Singh was given support across the board from representatives of the various Indian parties.


Singh has been married since 1958 and has three daughters. In addition to playing an active role in government, he is also a respected professor of economics and a published author. He is a member of the Sikh faith; when he became prime minister, he became the first Sikh to hold the country's top government position.


In the 1991 elections, Rajiv hit the campaign trail determined to reclaim his family's title. In an uncharacteristic move, security was light. Following his mother's death, Rajiv had taken to wearing a bulletproof vest and had surrounded himself with bodyguards. On this trip, however, his goal was to reconnect with the masses. Unfortunately, the lack of security would prove to be his undoing. On May 22, 1991, while swinging through Tamil Nadu, a key state in south India, he was killed by a young female assassin. The woman was a member of the Tamil Tigers, a band of militants who were fighting for a separate state in northeast Sri Lanka (a country just south of India).


After her husband's assassination, Sonia Gandhi was devastated. She became a virtual recluse for the next six years, spending most of her time with her children and rarely leaving her home. She did break her silence twice. In 1992 Gandhi published a book called Rajiv, which offered an unexpected glimpse into the life she shared with her husband. In 1994 she went into more detail when she published Rajiv's World. She also preserved her husband's legacy by traveling throughout the world and establishing trust funds in his name. Remembering him in such ways provided at least some degree of healing.


Savior of the Congress Party


Throughout her seclusion, representatives from the Congress Party (CP) sent appeal after appeal to Gandhi asking her to be their leader. The CP, once the strongest party in India, had never recovered from Indira Gandhi's death, and by the 1990s it was in serious decline. At the same time, one of the opposition parties, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was fast gaining ground. Since most of India still revered the Gandhi name, representatives believed that Sonia Gandhi would offer the best hope of infusing new life into their party. Time and again Gandhi refused their offers. In 1997, however, realizing that the CP was in dire need, she agreed to formally join their ranks.


Although she had no political experience, Gandhi threw herself into the 1998 legislative campaign. She made more than 140 stops throughout the country, delivering speeches to packed audiences. And, even though she spoke in a very soft voice and in heavily accented Hindi, she touched the people of India. It may have been partly because she was seen as a grieving widow, or because voters saw her as a reminder of the party's past glory, but the CP was re-energized and Gandhi emerged as a political power in her own right. As one CP representative told CNN in December of 1998, "She gave the party again a nucleus around which it could get united."
Gandhi gained so much popularity that members of opposing parties, especially the BJP, saw her as a very real threat. In an attempt to undermine her credibility, they attacked her verbally and in the press, focusing on a single issue: Gandhi had no right to be involved in politics because, having been born in Italy, she was a foreigner. It did not seem to matter than Gandhi had become an Indian citizen in 1984. Such attacks did little harm, however, since most of the voting public did not consider Gandhi to be an outsider. As one male supporter told CNN in 1998, "Ever since she married Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia has lived in India. She has learned all about India and made herself an Indian. In fact, she is a good example of a good Indian woman."
Although the CP made a good showing in the 1998 elections, gaining twenty-eight seats in Parliament, the Bharatiya Janata Party came out the ultimate winner when it formed a coalition government with seventeen other lesser parties. Therefore, in March of 1998, BJP leader Atal Behari Vajpayee (1926–) was named prime minister. It was, however, a short-lived victory. Shaky to begin with, Vajpayee's government remained intact only until April of 1999, which meant that elections had to be held again in the fall of the year. In the meantime Gandhi was elected president of the CP, and it seemed possible that another Gandhi would soon be in the country's top position. Once again the question of Gandhi's right to be involved in politics came into play, although this time the outcry came from several top members of her own party. Not wishing to divide the group, Gandhi resigned. The CP refused to accept her resignation, however, and instead fired the members who had dared to oppose her.


When the October elections rolled around, it was still not clear whether Gandhi was the favored CP contender for prime minister. As it turned out, the point was not an issue, since the CP had a poor showing, capturing only 112 seats. The BJP claimed victory, with 182 seats, and Vajpayee once again formed a coalition government. Known as the National Democratic Alliance, the BJP-led government controlled almost three hundred of the 545 seats in the lower house of Parliament, the Lok Sabha. This time, Vajpayee managed to install a relatively stable coalition, and the BJP would remain in control for the next five years.
Took husband's seat in Parliament


In the same election Gandhi ran for two parliamentary positions, including the seat in Uttar Pradesh which Rajiv Gandhi had once held.




Candidates in India are allowed to run for two seats simultaneously; if they win both, they must choose which post to take. Gandhi ultimately won both seats, but chose the district her husband had represented.


Under BJP rule the country seemed to prosper, and by 2004 Vajpayee was claiming credit for turning the economy around. True, big business was booming and India was advancing technologically, but millions of rural Indians living in poverty were not benefiting from BJP reforms. According to statistics reported by CNN in 2004, half of the Indian population was living on less than two dollars a day. However, Vajpayee was so confident that voters were behind him that, although national elections were slated for October of 2004, he called for polls to open six months early.


Gandhi again hit the campaign trail, covering approximately forty thousand miles in the months prior to the elections, and spending long days speaking in sweltering heat that soared over one hundred degrees Fahrenheit. For most of her appearances she dressed in a simple white sari, which is the symbol of widowhood in India. She also spoke simply and plainly, and made a direct appeal to the nation's poor. In direct contrast to Vajpayee, who touted big business, Gandhi's campaign, according to Egbert Bhatty of the Washington Dispatch, focused on "unity, tolerance, and love among all men." As they had in 1998, millions of her countrymen embraced the soft-spoken Gandhi, calling her desh ki bahu, our daughter-in-law.


When elections began in April, voters turned out in droves. Almost four hundred million people went to the polls, and after all the ballots were counted in May, there was a surprise upset. The CP, along with its coalition allies, captured 279 seats, a slim majority, but a majority nonetheless, in the Lok Sabha. Since it had won a majority, the CP needed to elect a new prime minister, and the frontrunner seemed to be Sonia Gandhi. Although Gandhi remained tight-lipped about whether or not she wanted the position, political analysts predicted that her victory was assured, and CP members were vocal in their support. Elizabeth Roche of The Age quoted senior official Ambika Soni as saying, "Sonia Gandhi is the leader of the Congress party. We want that our party chief should become the prime minister."


The fairy tale ends?


On Tuesday, May 17, during a meeting of the CP, Gandhi made a declaration that stunned her party, the people of India, and the rest of the world. "I was always certain," she said, "that if ever I found myself in the position that I am in today, I would follow my inner voice. Today, that voice tells me that I must humbly decline this post." Gandhi's supporters pleaded with her to reconsider, but she remained firm in her decision to decline the position. Some claimed that she was bullied into her decision by the BJP opposition, who once again berated Gandhi because of her foreign birth. Others felt that she and her children feared for her safety. But the public Gandhi indicated that she was stepping aside for the good of her party and the good of India.
The day after her announcement, Gandhi nominated longtime friend and government official Manmohan Singh (1932–) to take the reigns as prime minister. On May 19, 2004, his appointment became official. Although Gandhi did not accept the country's top post, she remained at the helm of the CP, and those around her still considered her to be very much in the forefront of Indian politics. As Mani Shankar Aiyar of the CP told Bill Schneider of CNN.com, "She is the queen. She is appointing a regent to run some of the business of government for her. But it is she who will be in charge and who will continue to direct the fortunes of the Congress Party." In addition, after the 2004 elections, it seemed that the Gandhi dynasty would continue at least for another generation, since Sonia and Rajiv's son, Rahul, was successfully elected to the Indian Parliament.




For More Information
Periodicals
Omestad, Thomas. "The Ghandis Return." U.S. News & World Report (May 24, 2004): p. 14.
Walsh, James. "India: Death's Return Visit." Time (June 3, 1991).


Web Sites


Bhatty, Egbert F. "Sonia Gandhi: The Once and Future Prime Minister of India." Washington Dispatch (May 21, 2004). http://www.washingtondispatch.com/printer_9110.shtml (accessed on July 5, 2004).


Bindra, Satinder. "Gandhi Dynasty Poised for Power." CNN.com: World (May 14, 2004). http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/05/14/india.vote1155/index.html (accessed on June 30, 2004).


Gandhi, Sonia. Speech, Congress Parliamentary Party meeting (New Delhi, India, May 17, 2004). rediff.com. http://in.rediff.com/election/2004/may/18sonia2.htm (accessed on July 5, 2004).


Haidar, Suhasini, and Ram Ramgopal. "Singh: Poster Boy of Change." CNN.com: World (May 20, 2004). http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/05/20/india.singh/index.html (accessed on July 5, 2004).


Pratap, Anita. "An Enigmatic Sonia Gandhi Transforms Indian Politics." CNN.com: World (December 12, 1998). http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/asiapcf/9812/12/india.sonia.gandhi/index.html (accessed on June 29, 2004).


"Profile: Sonia Gandhi." BBC News: World Edition (May 14, 2004). http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3546851.stm (accessed on June 29, 2004).


Roche, Elizabeth. "Sonia Gandhi Tightens Grip on Presidency." The Age.com (May 15, 2004). http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/05/15/1084570991729.html?from=storylhs&oneclick=true# (accessed on June 30, 2004).


Schneider, Bill. "Gandhi Has Power, but Declines Post." CNN.com: Inside Politics (May 21, 2004). http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/05/21/gandhi/index.html (accessed on July 5, 2004).






Read more »

Jon(athan) Voight



Actor. Born Jonathan Vincent Voight on December 29, 1933 in Yonkers, New York. The son of a Czechoslovakian-American golf pro, Jon Voight discovered his love for acting as a teenager. Following a stint on Broadway, he appeared in his first film, Fearless Frank, in 1965. However, it was his 1969 role as country boy-turned-hustler Joe Buck in the groundbreaking film Midnight Cowboy that earned him an Oscar nomination and launched his career into the big time.

For the next two decades, Voight's film career was a mix of incredible highs and forgettable misses. His many memorable projects from this period include 1972's Deliverance and 1978's Coming Home for which he won a Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of a quadriplegic Vietnam War veteran opposite Jane Fonda. In 1985, he ended a five-year dry spell with an Academy Award nod for his performance in Japanese director Akira Kurosawa's thriller Runaway Train. A "spiritual reawakening" then led Voight to work on a number of intellectually related and doomed film projects.

After playing Robert De Niro's underworld contact in Michael Mann's 1995 drama Heat, Voight once again began to star in big budget offerings, including 1996's Mission: Impossible, 1997's The Rainmaker and 1998's Enemy of the State. In 2001, he delivered well-received performances as President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in Pearl Harbor and as the patriarch in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, a film that starred his estranged daughter, actress Angelina Jolie. That year he also brilliantly channeled sportscaster Howard Cosell in the biopic Ali, capturing his fourth Oscar nomination.



In recent years, Voight has enjoyed a resurgence as one of Hollywood's most sought-after character actors. He received an Emmy nomination in 2002 for his performance in the acclaimed NBC miniseries Uprising. He also found great success with the 2004 sleeper hit Holes and Jonathan Demme's 2004 remake of The Manchurian Candidate. Voight next co-stars with Edward Norton and Colin Farrell in Pride and Glory, a story of familial corruption among New York City police officers, due out in 2009.

Jon Voight was married to Lauri Peters from 1962 to 1967 and to Marcheline Bertrand from 1971 to 1978. He has two children, actor James Haven and actress Angelina Jolie, with Bertrand.


Read more »

Angelina Jolie




In the News: Actress Angelina Jolie told the BBC in an interview on Thursday (November 13, 2008) that she plans to take a break from the big screen to spend time with her family. The 33-year-old star of the Clint Eastwood film, The Changeling (2008) said that she's ready to "fade away" from acting and "get ready to be a grandma one day."
Jolie, who is raising six children with actor Brad Pitt, told reporters today that after her current project wraps in February, she's taking at least a year hiatus to focus on parenting. "I have a lot of children and I have a big responsibility to make sure they're growing right and that they've got us there for them," the Oscar-winner said. "I like being home a lot these days."
When asked if she thought she'd never return to acting, Jolie said she wouldn't permanently rule it out. "I don't think I'll ever say I'm never ever going to work...because maybe there's that interesting project where I'll feel creative," Jolie said.
Jolie's announcement comes on the heels of 34-year-old actor, Joaquin Phoenix's, recent retirement from show biz.


Biography: She was born Angelina Jolie Voight on June 4, 1975 in Los Angeles, California, to actor Jon Voight and French actress Marcheline Bertrand. She rose to stardom in the 1990s. She began acting at a young age, studying at the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute while in her early teens. Jolie later attended New York University.
In the 1990s, Angelina Jolie became a popular actress. She gave a star-making performance in the 1998 television film Gia based on the short, tragic life of model Gia Marie Carangi, which won her a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress.
Another great dramatic role in Girl, Interrrupted (1999) brought Jolie her first Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She has continued to take on a variety of interesting roles, such as an adventurer in the Lara Croft films, a FBI profiler in Taking Lives (2004), an assassin in Mr. and Mrs. Smith (2005), and a neglected, troubled socialite wife in The Good Shepherd (2006).
In 2007, Jolie gave a brillant performance as Mariane Pearl, the pregnant widow of Wall Street Journal reporter Danny Pearl, in A Mighty Heart. The film was based on Mariane Pearl's account of her husband's abduction and murder.
Jolie has drawn Oscar buzz for Clint Eastwood's missing-child drama Changeling, due for release October 24, 2008.
A devoted humanitarian, Angelina Jolie was made a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency in 2001. She has made headlines for her work to obtain aid for refugees in Cambodia, Darfur and Jordan, to name just a few.


In 2005, Jolie received the Global Humanitarian Action Award from the United Nations Association of the USA for her activism on behalf of refugee rights. She continues to travel the world to drawing attention to global issues.
Famous for her off-screen romances, Angelina Jolie has been married twice. She married Hackers co-star Jonny Lee Miller in 1995. The couple divorced in 1999. The next year Jolie married Academy Award-winning actor Billy Bob Thornton. That union lasted until 2003.
In 2002, Angelina Jolie adopted a son from Cambodia and named him Maddox. Three years later, she adopted a daughter, Zahara, and later in 2005, actor Brad Pitt filed paperwork to adopt both of Jolie’s children.
Jolie and Pitt met during the making of Mr. and Mrs. Smith in 2004. The couple’s first biological daughter, Shiloh, was born in the African country of Namibia in 2006. Jolie, Pitt, and their children had traveled there to avoid the media frenzy that seemed to follow them wherever they went.
After the joy of welcoming her third child to the world came great sadness for Jolie. She experienced a great personal loss in the beginning of 2007—her mother died of cancer after fighting the disease for many years.
In March 2007, Angelina Jolie added a new member to her family. She adopted a three-year-old boy from a Vietnamese orphanage. Her son is named Pax Thien.
Jolie gave birth to twins, Knox Leon and Vivienne Marcheline, on July 12, 2008, in a seaside hospital in southern France. The rights for the first images of the twins were sold to People and Hello! magazines for $14 million. The photos are the most expensive celebrity pictures ever taken.






Read more »

Meg Ryan



Actress. Born Margaret Hyra on November 19, 1961, in Fairfield, Connecticut. Ryan’s first substantial role was as Betsy Stewart Montgomery Andropoulos on the soap opera As the World Turns from 1982 to 1984. In the mid-1980s, her film career began to heat up with a part in the wildly successful 1986 military action drama Top Gun with Tom Cruise and Anthony Edwards. She then went on to co-star with Dennis Quaid in Innerspace (1987) and D.O.A. (1988). Ryan later married Quaid in 1991.
It was her portrayal of cute, funny Sally Albright in When Harry Met Sally (1989) that took her career to a new level. The box office hit led to a string of other successful romantic comedies, such as Sleepless in Seattle (1993), French Kiss (1995), and You’ve Got Mail (1998).
Most of her more dramatic efforts, such as Proof of Life (2000), In the Cut (2003), and Against the Ropes (2004), have failed to register with film audiences. In 2001, Ryan ended her ten-year marriage to Dennis Quaid. The couple has one child together—a son named Jack. While some reports indicated that her relationship led to the split, Ryan has said that the marriage was in trouble before then. She told talk show host Oprah Winfrey on her television show in 2006 that “I should have left sooner.”
After taking a break from the spotlight, Ryan re-emerged in 2006 with the announcement of her adoption of a little girl from China. At first she named her daughter Charlotte, but soon changed it to Daisy to better fit the child’s personality. During her time away from Hollywood, Ryan has been working with CARE, a charitable organization dedicated to ending poverty by helping women work together.
Ryan is expected to return to the big screen in 2007 with In the Land of Women, a dramatic comedy.


Read more »

Ellen Burstyn


Actress. Born Edna Rae Gillooly, on December 7, 1932, in Detroit, Michigan. Burstyn left home at the age of 18 to work as a model. In the late 1950s, she landed her first regular acting gig, as a dancer on television’s The Jackie Gleason Show, billed as Erica Dean. She made her Broadway debut in 1957 in Fair Game, using the stage name Ellen McRae. She would keep that name for the next 10 years, while working steadily on television (the daytime drama The Doctors in 1964 and the western-themed series The Iron Horse from 1966-68) and in minor film roles (1964’s Goodbye, Charlie).
After changing her name yet again, this time to Ellen Burstyn, she landed what would become her breakthrough role, that of Lois Farrow in The Last Picture Show (1971), costarring Jeff Bridges and Cybill Shepherd. Her performance earned Burstyn her first Academy Award nomination, for Best Supporting Actress. She earned a second Oscar nod this time for Best Actress, two years later, for her role as the middle-aged actress whose daughter (Linda Blair) is possessed by demonic forces in The Exorcist, directed by William Friedkin.
In 1974, Burstyn produced and starred in Martin Scorsese’s emotional drama Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, winning an Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of a single mother struggling to support herself and her young son. In addition to her triumphs on screen, Burstyn took home a Tony Award in 1975 for her performance opposite Charles Grodin in Same Time, Next Year. She later reprised her role in the 1978 film version, costarring Alan Alda, and garnered another Oscar nomination in the lead actress category. Her fourth Best Actress nod came just two years later, for Resurrection (1980).
A respected member of both the film and theater community, Burstyn served as the first female president of the Actor’s Equity Association from 1982 to 1985. Also in 1982, she succeeded Lee Strasberg as the co-artistic director (with Al Pacino) of the Actors Studio. Burstyn would serve in the Actors Studio post for the next six years (Pacino stepped down in 1984). Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, she also built up a considerable resume of acclaimed television features and series, beginning in 1981 with her Emmy-nominated performance in the fact-based miniseries The People vs. Jean Harris. In addition to such dramatic TV movies as Surviving (1985), Into Thin Air (1985), and the Emmy-nominated Pack of Lies (1987), Burstyn tried her hand at comedy with her own series, The Ellen Burstyn Show (1986-87).
Burstyn turned in a number of small, if memorable, performances in a variety of more recent films, including How to Make an American Quilt (1995), starring Winona Ryder, and The Spitfire Grill (1996). In 1998, she was featured as part of the impressive ensemble cast of Playing By Heart, also featuring Sean Connery, Gena Rowlands, and Angelina Jolie, playing a woman dealing with her grown son’s battle with AIDS.



In 2000, Burstyn played to a decidedly younger audience with her costarring role opposite teen heartthrob Jonathan Taylor Thomas in the little-seen Walking Across Egypt. She was also featured in a small role in the crime drama The Yards, starring Mark Wahlberg, James Caan, and Joaquin Phoenix. On the small screen, she was a regular on the new comedy series That’s Life, playing the busybody mother of a grown woman who decides to go back to college to get her degree. By far her crowning achievement of that year, however, was her harrowing portrayal of a woman addicted to diet pills in the edgy, disturbing drama Requiem for a Dream, directed by Darren Aronofsky. The performance earned Burstyn a sixth overall Academy Award nomination, her fifth for Best Actress.
Burstyn has been married and divorced three times--to poet William C. Alexander (1950-55), director Paul Roberts (1957-59), and actor Neil Burstyn (1960-1971). She and Neil Burstyn adopted a son, Jefferson. In 2000, Burstyn became president of the Actors Studio.


Read more »

Oprah Winfrey




In The News:Harpo Productions confirmed Thursday (December 5th, 2008) that Oprah Winfrey will host a live episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show on January 19th, 2009. The show will air the day before president-elect Barack Obama takes his oath of office.
A Harpo spokesman said at least two shows are planned in Washington that week. The show is looking for people who'll be traveling to the inauguration, and want to hear what Americans are doing to get to D.C. and witness history.
Information about ticketing will be available next week on Oprah.com.


Biography: Oprah Gail Winfrey was born January 29, 1954, in Kosciusko, Mississippi. After a troubled adolescence in a small farming community, where she was sexually abused by a number of male relatives and friends of her mother, Vernita, she moved to Nashville to live with her father, Vernon, a barber and businessman. She entered Tennessee State University in 1971 and began working in radio and television broadcasting in Nashville.
In 1976, Winfrey moved to Baltimore, where she hosted the TV chat show, People Are Talking. The show became a hit and Winfrey stayed with it for eight years, after which she was recruited by a Chicago TV station to host her own morning show, A.M. Chicago. Her major competitor in the time slot was Phil Donahue. Within several months, Winfrey's open, warm-hearted personal style had won her 100,000 more viewers than Donahue and had taken her show from last place to first in the ratings. Her success led to nationwide fame and a role in Steven Spielberg's 1985 film, The Color Purple, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.



Winfrey launched the Oprah Winfrey Show in 1986 as a nationally syndicated program. With its placement on 120 channels and an audience of 10 million people, the show grossed $125 million by the end of its first year, of which Winfrey received $30 million. She soon gained ownership of the program from ABC, drawing it under the control of her new production company, Harpo Productions ('Oprah' spelled backwards) and making more and more money from syndication.
In 1994, with talk shows becoming increasingly trashy and exploitative, Winfrey pledged to keep her show free of tabloid topics. Although ratings initially fell, she earned the respect of her viewers and was soon rewarded with an upsurge in popularity. Her projects with Harpo have included the highly rated 1989 TV miniseries, The Women of Brewster Place, which she also starred in. Winfrey also signed a multi-picture contract with Disney. The initial project, 1998's Beloved, based on Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Toni Morrison and starring Winfrey and Danny Glover, got mixed reviews and generally failed to live up to expectations.
Winfrey, who became almost as well-known for her weight loss efforts as for her talk show, lost an estimated 90 pounds (dropping to her ideal weight of around 150 pounds) and competed in the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, DC, in 1995. In the wake of her highly publicized success, Winfrey's personal chef, Rosie Daley, and trainer, Bob Greene, both published best-selling books.
The media giant contributed immensely to the publishing world by launching her "Oprah's Book Club," as part of her talk show. The program propelled many unknown authors to the top of the bestseller lists and gave pleasure reading a new kind of popular prominence.
With the debut in 1999 of Oxygen Media, a company she co-founded that is dedicated to producing cable and Internet programming for women, Winfrey ensured her place in the forefront of the media industry and as one of the most powerful and wealthy people in show business. In 2002, she concluded a deal with the network to air a prime-time complement to her syndicated talk show. Her highly successful monthly, O: The Oprah Magazine debuted in 2000, and in 2004, she signed a new contract to continue The Oprah Winfrey Show through the 2010-11 season. The show is seen on 212 U.S. stations and in more than 100 countries worldwide.



According to Forbes magazine, Oprah was the richest African American of the 20th century and the world's only Black billionaire for three years running. Life magazine hailed her as the most influential woman of her generation. In 2005, Business Week named her the greatest Black philanthropist in American history. Oprah's Angel Network has raised more than $51,000,000 for charitable programs, including girls' education in South Africa and relief to the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Winfrey is a dedicated activist for children's rights; in 1994, President Clinton signed a bill into law that Winfrey had proposed to Congress, creating a nationwide database of convicted child abusers. She founded the Family for Better Lives foundation and also contributes to her alma mater, Tennessee State University. In September, 2002, Oprah was named the first recipient of The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Bob Hope Humanitarian Award.
Winfrey campaigned for Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama in December 2007, attracting the largest crowds of the primary season to that point. Winfrey joined Obama for a series of rallies in the early primary/caucus states of Iowa,
New Hampshire, and South Carolina. It was the first time Winfrey had ever campaigned for a political candidate.
The biggest event was at the University of South Carolina football stadium, where 29,000 supporters attended a rally that had been switched from an 18,000-seat basketball arena to satisfy public demand.
"Dr. (Martin Luther) King dreamed the dream. But we don't have to just dream the dream any more," Oprah told the crowd. "We get to vote that dream into reality by supporting a man who knows not just who we are, but who we can be."



Winfrey also confronted Obama's chief perceived weakness: his lack of experience.
"Experience in the hallways of government isn't as important to me as the experience on the pathway of life," Winfrey said, citing the Illinois senator's achievements outside Washington.
The power of Winfrey's political endorsement was unclear (Obama won Iowa and South Carolina, but lost New Hampshire). But she has a clear track record of turning unknown authors into blockbuster best-sellers when she mentions their books on her program.
For Oprah, the campaign swing provided a much-welcomed respite from some controversies that put her in the news.
Recently, she was criticized by the victim of a vicious sexual attack in Central Park. Trisha Meili, then a 28-year-old investment banker, nearly died in the April 19, 1989, attack. She suffered a traumatic brain injury and spent five months at a rehabilitation hospital.
Meili broke her silence 13 years later and published a book, I Am the Central Park Jogger: A Story of Hope and Possibility. But while still concealing her identity, she was interviewed by Winfrey for the April 2002 edition of O, the talk show host’s magazine. Winfrey asked Meili why she was running alone in the park at night (shortly before 10 p.m.). Meili told Winfrey she realized it was “not a smart thing to do,” but that didn't justify the attack in which she was raped and severely beaten.

Fast forward five years.



Meili told New York1 Nov. 14, 2007, that if she were asked the question again, she would say “If that isn't a blame the victim question, I don't know what is.”
“It's like, ‘Okay, so it's my fault that I was out there?'” said Meili, who has become an advocate for victims of sexual violence. “I think that's still one of the most difficult battles that sexual assault survivors and those who support them need to fight.”
Five men convicted in the assault served prison time before DNA evidence confirmed the confession of another man, Matias Reyes, in 2002. He was already serving a life sentence on unrelated convictions.
A representative for Winfrey said the magazine was sorry to hear Meili's sentiments about the interview, saying that Winfrey “is and has always been an advocate for victims of sexual abuse of any kind.”
Meili’s criticism immediately followed “one of the most devastating, if not the most devastating,” experience of Oprah’s life. Winfrey told reporters on Nov. 5, 2007, that she cried when she heard allegations that a dormitory matron was abusing students at the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa.
The matron, 27-year-old Virginia Makopo, was freed Nov. 5 on $450 bail. She faces 14 charges of indecent assault, assault and criminal injury committed against at least six students aged 13-15 and a 23-year-old at the school.



Winfrey said the woman's contract with the school wouldn’t be renewed, and that the academy's screening process will be revised. Though she wasn't directly in charge of the screening process, Oprah said “the buck always stops” with her.
Winfrey had recently flown to South Africa for an emergency meeting with parents and school administrators at the campus near Johannesburg. A tearful Winfrey asked parents to forgive her for letting them down.
"I've disappointed you. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," she said, according to numerous South African media reports.
The $40 million academy has been dogged by controversy since it opened in January 2007 with a star-studded launch attended by actor Sydney Poitier, singers Mariah Carey, Tina Turner and Mary J. Blige, comedian Chris Rock and filmmaker Spike Lee.
In March 2007, some parents complained the school was too strict and access was comparable to prison rules. Two months later, some parents complained that when they visited the school they had to go through a security gate.
Winfrey hand-selected the first class of 152 poor, mostly black pupils to attend the posh school, where tuition and board is free. The academy also provides its 450 students with textbooks, uniforms and meals.
Since 1992, Winfrey has been engaged to Stedman Graham, a public relations executive. The couple lives in Chicago, and Winfrey also has homes in Montecito, California, Rolling Prairie, Indiana, and Telluride, Colorado.




Read more »

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)