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1-12 of 12
- Composer
- Director
- Actor
Tom O'Horgan was named Theatrical Director of the Year in 1968 by "Newsweek" magazine. That watershed year was the apogee of his fame, when he brought "Hair" to Broadway after scoring with two other plays, "Tom Paine" (about the writer of the Revolutionary War-era tome "The Rights of Man") and "Futz!" (1969).
O'Horgan had made his name Off-Off Broadway directing plays at the experimental La Mama Café (to skirt New York City's cabaret licensing laws, the theatrical company called itself a café and accepted only donations) when he was called in to overhaul "Hair," the tribal-rock musical that had bowed at Joseph Papp's Public Theater and had moved from there into a disco. O'Horgan threw out most of the narrative (the play ostensibly was about a young man facing the draft) and replaced some of the songs (he himself was a composer) and added what was then a revolutionary ingredient - nudity.
"Hair," which premiered on Broadway on 1968, was the first production to hit the Great White Way to have actors sashaying around in the buff. Granted, showgirls had dropped their petticoats and starred in static tableaux vivant in the first part of the American Century, and the Minsky Brothers and Mike Todd had even brought burlesque to Broadway, but this was something else--it went beyond the stylized peekaboo bare-assedness of the Follies or a burly-cue show. This was shameless, frank, full-frontal nudity for the burghers who patronized Broadway to enjoy in the guise of being a subversion of the very bourgeoisie the audience epitomized. (Young people then as now were not dedicated theater-goers, not at Broadway prices!)
O'Horgan's directorial method was to encourage improvisation, and to create a sparse structure in which improvisation, or what passed for improvisation due to its spontaneous-seeming nature (due to a general overall sloppiness), could be encouraged. No one was forced to "drop trou" (in fact, one performer, Diane Keaton, refused to kick off her duds during her run of the play), but they were encouraged to express themselves, preferably without any recourse to that bourgeoisie mask that was clothing.
O'Horgan's critics derided his technique as a lack of craft and a kind of professional anarchy. Anarchy was "in" in 1968, and "Hair" was a huge success. The critic John Simon pinpointed the very popularity of O'Horgan as lying in his willingness to give the people what they wanted.
At the time the films Easy Rider (1969) and Midnight Cowboy (1969) were racking up big bucks at the box office and laying waste to the old Hollywood paradigm, no one in motion pictures knew what the hell to expect of the coming decade. O'Horgan was signed up to transfer "Futz" to film (Futz (1969)), and contemporaneous accounts forecasted a new kind of film culture in which the Tom O'Horgans of the world would take over from the Alfred Hitchcocks, the George Cukors and the William Wylers. Besides generating publicity with a black-and-white photo of a totally naked Sally Kirkland astride a Brobdingnagian-sized sow in Al Goldstein's "Screw" magazine, "Futz!" flopped. The era of Tom O'Horogan was through. Suddenly, the paragon of hip theater was as old-fashioned as button-down shoes. Nothing goes out of style faster than the fashionable.
O'Horgan had one last success up his sleeve in the mid-'70s, a can't-miss Broadway production based on The Beatles' iconic "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album. O'Horgan gave the public want it wanted, and it came. The show was later made into an egregious movie Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978)) starring Peter Frampton and The Bee Gees, but the closest O'Horgan came to it was a title card noting his contribution to creating the original show.- Eileen Winters was born on 3 November 1924 in Dayton, Ohio, USA. She was married to Jonathan Winters. She died on 11 January 2009 in Montecito, California, USA.
- Sound Department
- Actor
- Camera and Electrical Department
Jean Clark was born on 18 October 1945 in Decatur, Illinois, USA. He was an actor, known for Volcano (1997), Fake-Out (1982) and The Hot Spot (1990). He died on 11 January 2009 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Music Department
- Composer
- Soundtrack
Hervé Roy was born on 5 December 1943 in Herblay, Val-d'Oise, France. He was a composer, known for Celeste & Jesse Forever (2012), Love, Rosie (2014) and Emmanuelle (1974). He died on 11 January 2009 in Rueil-Malmaison, Hauts-de-Seine, France.- David Vine was a multi-purpose sports presenter and commentator for the BBC for 35 years, long associated with snooker and Ski Sunday. Known for his distinctive West Country tones, he always had the assured self-confidence to weather jokes about his middle-of-the-road spectacles and jumpers.
In the 1970s, so often was he targeted that he began to seem like a resident character in Clive James's Observer television column. Once, commenting on the return of one programme with which Vine was instantly identifiable, James wrote: "Back came Ski Sunday, bringing David Vine with it. 'Just watch the way this man has the rhythm through the gates ... ooh, and he's gone! Stenmark has gone!' By now even David must be falling prey to the suspicion that he has the evil eye. All he has to do is start praising a skier for his rhythm and you know the stretcher-bearers are already moving in."
Vine's star status was confirmed when a puppet of the snooker player Steve Davis was seen on Spitting Image boasting: "I'm a mate of David Vine." Later, his popularity led to cameo appearances in French and Saunders (1987) and as a skating commentator alongside the bungling sleuths played by Jasper Carrott and Robert Powell in The Detectives (1993).
Born in Newton Abbot, Devon, Vine was brought up in Barnstaple, where he attended the local grammar school before becoming a reporter on the North Devon Journal Herald. A keen rugby player, he played for South Molton and often covered matches in which he was taking part. After national service in the army's Intelligence Corps, he joined the Western Morning News in Plymouth and rose to be sports editor. Moving to the ITV regional company Westward Television (1962-66), he set up its sports department and was seen on screen as a reporter.
In 1966, the BBC hired Vine as a presenter of the national magazine show Sportscene and he was soon a familiar face in sports coverage on both BBC1 and BBC2. He was a stand-in presenter on the Saturday afternoon programme Grandstand, became a reporter on Rugby Special and hosted the first colour broadcasts from Wimbledon in 1967, remaining presenter of the tennis tournament's highlights programmes until 1982. Any viewers who thought of him as bland had to revise their opinions when he confronted John McEnroe following the US player's "you're the pits" jibe to a Wimbledon umpire in 1981. "What right have you got to call anyone an incompetent fool?" Vine asked McEnroe. "He told me he'd never talk to me again after that," the presenter recalled, "but he did, the following day."
Vine's face was also synonymous with snooker and skiing. Snooker had already built up a television following with Pot Black, which featured the BBC's own knockout snooker competition, when, in 1977, Vine started presenting its coverage of all the major tournaments. Eight years later, 18 million viewers saw Dennis Taylor take the World Championship title with the final black ball of the final frame against the then world No 1, Steve Davis.
"I have been delighted to have been part of one of the most successful and most watched sports on television and to have seen 'unknowns' like Steve Davis, Jimmy White, Stephen Hendry and many others become some of the most famous names in the sport," said Vine after presenting his final tournament in 2000.
Ski Sunday was launched in 1978 after public interest in Franz Klammer's dramatic downhill win at the 1976 Innsbruck Winter Olympic Games, and Vine continued with it for 18 years.
Throughout his time at the BBC, Vine proved adept at hosting sports entertainment programmes. He was a presenter and commentator for the first few years of It's a Knockout (1967-71), whose absurd games between amateur athletics teams in crazy costumes were described by one critic as "a competition to perform the pointless in the quickest possible time".
He will also be remembered by many as the first presenter (1970-78) of the quiz show A Question of Sport, in which two panels of stars - originally captained by the boxer Henry Cooper and the former Welsh rugby international Cliff Morgan - had their sports knowledge put to the test. The busy Vine was succeeded by David Coleman in the chair.
Then came The Superstars (1974-84), in which Vine and Ron Pickering challenged sportsmen and women, past and present, to compete against each other in running, swimming, shooting, canoeing and cycling events, as well as showing their strengths in the gym.
Vine also hosted showjumping events, including The Horse of the Year Show, commentated on bowls and gymnastics, and covered the return to Britain of the round-the-world yachtsman Robin Knox-Johnston. Away from sport, he commentated on the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest and, a year later, presented Miss World.
He underwent triple heart bypass surgery in 2001, the year after he retired from the BBC following his final Olympics, in Sydney, as a weightlifting commentator - a specialism he had developed over many games.
Vine's first wife, Shirley May Thorpe, died in 1970; he was survived by his second wife, Mandy (born Joan C Silver), along with their son, Christian, and the son and two daughters of his first marriage, Martin, Kim and Katherine. - Producer
- Actor
Dr. James Hunter Jr. was a specialist in Internal Medicine in Decatur, Alabama. During his life he produced two motion pictures, but never achieved or desired a career in film. He was married twice and fathered four children.
Dr. Hunter attended Vanderbilt University's School of Medicine in 1958, and graduated with honors in 1961. He then served a 2 year residency at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and also served in the U.S. Public Health Service during the Vietnam War. Being a respected and trusted servant to his community as a doctor, his brief involvement in film went unnoticed.
He retired in April 2007, ending a forty year legacy.- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Yeo-song Moon was born in 1932 in Jeju Island, South Korea. Yeo-song was a director and writer, known for Jabchodeului bom (1989), Jeongmal ggumi itdagu (1976) and Buin haenjga (1969). Yeo-song died on 11 January 2009.- Jeannine Lockett was born in 1925 in France. She was an actress, known for Crossing to Freedom (1989). She died on 11 January 2009 in Suffolk, England, UK.
- Additional Crew
Shigeo Fukuda was born on 4 February 1932 in Tokyo, Japan. Shigeo is known for Shikaku bijutsukan (1986). Shigeo died on 11 January 2009 in Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan.- Jane Graham was born on 5 August 1930 in Carleton, Ontario, Canada. She was an actress, known for First Person (1960), Playbill (1953) and Encounter (1952). She died on 11 January 2009 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
- Additional Crew
Sidney Marcus was born on 12 January 1908 in Des Moines, Iowa, USA. Sidney is known for White Zombie (1932). Sidney was married to Esther Culbertson. Sidney died on 11 January 2009 in Dallas, Texas, USA.- Godert Van Colmjon was born on 17 October 1943 in Amersfoort, Utrecht, Netherlands. He was an actor, known for Een zomer lang (1959) and Zo'n rustige straat (1961). He died on 11 January 2009 in Heerlen, Limburg, Netherlands.