Tuesday, June 25, 2013

06/25 Chef Rick Tarantino

Rick Tarantino or Chef Rick as he is know in the media has a diverse back ground that has helped him build a successful career as a celebrity chef. He attended the University of Massachusetts, Amherst Campus and graduated with a Bachelors' of Science from the School of Food Science and Nutrition. Then began his work experience at the prestigious chain of Sheraton Hotels and Resorts from Los Angles to New York's five star St Regis Hotel, Rick worked his way up the corporate ladder. But that was only the beginning, with years of experience in the family hotel business that he was raised in and now with corporate hospitality business under his belt, he began his entrepreneurial career and started Inn Vision a state of the art in-room movie company in hotels around the country. After successfully selling that venture he went back into his family hotel and restaurant business with his father. Emerald Hotel and Resorts International, owned and operated hotels and restaurants in New England.

Rick then returned to school and received his Masters of Science degree from Johnson & Wales University, the world leading hotel and culinary school. Wanting to give back he began teaching at the school. That lead to an opportunity to develop an alumni and development office for the Chancellor, so when his father retired, they sold the hotel company and Rick began his next career as an educator, author and fundraiser. During the ten year period at Johnson & Wales, Rick met Justin Miller a young inspiring 6 year old who loved to cook. Rick trained Justin to become the Guinness Book of Records Worlds Youngest Chef and the two travelled the world cooking and inspiring others. This launched Rick in to the Television and Media industry.

The pair appeared on almost every national television show venue from Good Morning America, David Letterman, Disney, to the Food Network. Rick also became a research chef for many national brands like Westinghouse, Rival's Crock -Pot, Cattlemen's, BBQ sauce, Kraft Foods, and VacuWare to just name a few. In addition he now appears regularly on HSN ( Home Shopping Channel ) and The Shopping Channel Canada as well as National Infomercials and Tradeshows.

Chef Rick has experience in many media outlets, live appearances, press tours, news shows, morning shows, radio, infomercials, cook books, and currently co-hosts a cable cooking show called You Won't Even Miss it. He worked with Celebrities like the late Julia Child, Emeril Lagasse, Jarred Fogle from Subway and Martin Yen. He is sought after for recipe development by food companies and supermarkets. He develops many of the free recipes you pick up at the grocery store and tours supermarkets regularly teaching customers recipes and how to enhance their meals to get out of the "Food RUT". You can see him at Hannaford's, ACME, Lowes, Sweet Bay and Shaw's. He also endorsees his own line of products called Chef Rick Spices, Chef Rick Seafood , Proware Professional Kitchen Products and Bold Chef. He does product development for companies like All-Clad , Williams Sonoma and Westinghouse.

Go to www.myrastellidirect.com/chefrick to get wonderful Chicken Breast!

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

06/18 Ron Masak

Ron Masak was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of a salesman/musician (Floyd L.), and a mother (Mildred), who was a merchandise buyer. Ron attended Chicago City College, and studied theater at both the CCC and the Drama Guild. He made his acting debut with the Drama Guild in Chicago in Stalag 17 in 1954.

During the course of his career, he has starred in 25 feature films and guest starred in some 350 television shows. Perhaps the most beloved character, and the one for which he is most famous, is that of Sheriff Mort Metzger on the hit television series, Murder, She Wrote. Given that he has also been seen and heard in hundred of television and radio commercials (he was named, "King of Commercials" by columnist James Bacon), it is no wonder that he is often introduced as one of America's most familiar faces.

Trained in the classics, Ron has proven to be equally at home on stage or screen with Shakespeare or slapstick. He has played everything from Stanley in Streetcar Named Desire and Sakini in Teahouse of the August Moon to Will Stockdale in No Time For Sergeants and Marc Antony in Julius Caesar. As more proof of his versatility, in one production of Mr. Roberts, he played Ensign Pulver and in another he portrayed Mr. Roberts himself. In his hometown of Chicago, Ron was resident leading man at The Candlelight Dinner Playhouse from 1962 to 1966, never missing a single performance. As with many performers, it was the Army that provided Ron with a platform from which to display his all-around talents for performing, writing and directing. In 1960-61, Ron toured the world doing vocal impressions in the all-Army show entitled Rolling Along. Once again, he never missed a show.

Never one to be pigeonholed, Ron continued to demonstrate his incredible range of talent in such films as Ice Station Zebra, Daddy's Gone A-Hunting, Tora! Tora! Tora!, Evel Knievel, A Time For Dying, Harper Valley PTA, Cops & Roberts and The Man From Clover Grove. It was during Clover Grove that Ron added credits as a lyric writer, as he wrote and sang the title song. He played his first big screen villain starring in No Code of Conduct. Among his many television roles, he starred as Charley Wilson in his own summer series, Love Thy Neighbor, Count Dracula on The Monkees and was submitted for an Emmy nomination for one of his ten starring roles on Police Story. He's been seen on Magnum P.I., Webster and Columbo. His movies of the week include The Neighborhood, In the Glitter Palace, Pleasure Cove, Once An Eagle, The Law and Harry McGraw and Robert Altman's Nightmare in Chicago.

Ron's variety work includes emceeing hundreds of shows for, among others, Kenny Rogers, Diahann Carroll, Alabama, Billy Crystal, The Steve Garvey Classics, Tony Orlando, The Lennon Sisters, Trini Lopez, Connie Stevens, Billy Davis and Marilyn McCoo, The Michael Landon Classics and The Beau Bridges Classics.

Ron is also considered to be the most famous salesman since Willy Loman, as he starred in the four most successful sales motivational films of all time: Second Effort with Vince Lombardi, Time Management with James Whitmore, How to Control Your Time with Burgess Meredith and Ya Gotta Believe with Tommy Lasorda, which Ron wrote and directed. He is a sought after motivational speaker. He has traveled all over the country as spokesman for a major brewing company and for 15 years was the voice of the Vlasic Pickle stork. Ron played Lou Costello in commercials for Bran News, McDonald's, and Tropicana Orange Juice.

Frequently seen on the talk and game show circuit, Ron has been a celebrity panelist on such game shows as Password, Tattletales, Crosswits, Liar's Club, Showoffs and Match Game. He was a regular panelist on To Tell the Truth.

Ron's private life is also one of varied interests and talents, devoting time and energy working with many charities. For eight years he was the LA host for the Jerry Lewis Telethon and recipient of MDA's first Humanitarian of the Year Award. He has served as field announcer for the Special Olympics in support of retarded children, and was named Man of the Year by Volunteers Assisting Cancer Stricken Families. In addition, he contributes much time to work with Multiple Sclerosis, Cystic Fibrosis, Breast Cancer Awareness, Autism and hosts charity golf tournaments for among others, Childhelp USA, for whom he is a worldwide ambassador.

Relaxation for Ron includes time spent with friends on the golf course, tennis court, baseball diamond, ski slopes or at Dodger Stadium. A fine athlete, Ron was once offered a professional baseball contract with The Chicago White Sox.

Future projects include Ron starring as Mark Twain in the feature film, Mark Twain's Greatest Adventure, which he will co-produce, and a one-man show he wrote on Twain called, At Home with Mark Twain. He wrote a book entitled, I've Met All My Heroes, From A-Z. He created the role of Sam Belsky in the world premiere of Jay Kholo's new musical My Catskills Summer. Has hosted and narrated Many concerts for Veterans with the VA Medical Musical Group.He recentley created a Concept for a new TV comedy show called Over The Hills.

Ron's favorite role remains that of husband to his lovely wife Kay, and father to their six children as well as grandfather to their 9 grandchildren. They reside in Tarzana, California, where Ron served for 35 years as, of course, its honorary sheriff.

www.ronmasak.com

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

06/11 Larry Manetti, Nancy Manetti, Will Link


 Larry Manetti started acting in his hometown of Chicago. After studying acting with the Ted List Theater Players, Larry drove to Los Angeles in 1972. Larry landed an agent and was sent to Universal Studios to audition for an opening as a contract player. Luck was on his side. Jack Webb was casting a new series for NBC called The Chase. Larry played a young detective.
 
After attending acting school at Sal Dano's at night and doing bit parts by day, he scored. Baa Baa Black Sheep was being produced and cast at Universal, and the now famous writer Stephen J. Cannell was the executive producer and the role was a natural for Larry. He was cast as a cocky, hot shot pilot named Bobby Boyle. The show was a big hit for NBC but was cancelled within two years.

Because the network was so impressed with Larry's on-screen presence, they cast him in a new series called The Duke. Bad luck! The Duke was cancelled in one year. Larry was back to playing whatever Universal told him to.

Hoping to catch lighting in a jar, along came Magnum, P.I. and the role of Rick. This was his elevator...the show became a mega-hit for 8 years. Since Magnum, P.I., Larry has done co-starring roles in 25 feature films and guest starred on many hot TV shows.
Larry is the author of a book titled Aloha Magnum.



Will Link is your weekly "Link to the Movies" on "The PM Show with Larry Manetti." He is a screenwriter who has received accolades from various film festivals most recently the Shriekfest Horror Festival. Will is also a regular contributor to the film blog "You Won Cannes." You can hear his thoughts on the world of popular culture as co-host of "Will Sean Podcast?" downloadable at the iTunes store. Follow him on twitter @TheRealWillLink

Don't forget to "Like" Larry's Facebook Page!

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

06/04 Carol Burnett


Carol Burnett started in show business as an occasional stage actress, sometimes nightclub singer, and more often a hatcheck girl. After a few years barely making ends meet, 22-year-old Burnett first appeared on television in 1955, playing the dummy's romantic interest in 13 episodes of The Paul Winchell and Jerry Mahoney Show, a kids' program that aired on Saturday mornings (Winchell was a ventriloquist, Mahoney was his dummy). At 23, she was cast as Buddy Hackett's girlfriend on Stanley, a NBC prime time sitcom set among workers at a hotel's newsstand, and written by Neil Simon and Woody Allen, among others. At 23½, she found herself unemployed when the program was cancelled, and for a time she worked as an usher at a Hollywood movie theater.
Burnett bounced back with a parody pop song, "I Made a Fool of Myself Over John Foster Dulles," confessing her love for the utterly unsexy, 68-year-old Secretary of State who is now best remembered as the namesake for Dulles Airport outside Washington DC. The song became a minor pop hit after Burnett sang it on Jack Paar's Tonight Show in 1957.
After that, she was a frequent panelist on the game show Pantomime Quiz. In 1959, she joined the ensemble cast of The Garry Moore Show, a popular comedy-variety hour, while concurrently starring on Broadway in the musical-comedy Once Upon a Mattress, based on the children's story The Princess and the Pea. In a memorable Twilight Zone, she played a klutzy but contented single woman offered a life of glamour by her guardian angel. She had a recurring role as a tough female Marine in Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C., becoming good friends with its star Jim Nabors, who was later her traditional first guest every season on her variety show. Burnett appeared in several episodes of her friend Lucille Ball's The Lucy Show, and she was a regular on the mid-1960s variety show The Entertainers with Art Buchwald and Bob Newhart. After that show ended, Ball offered to produce a sitcom for her, but Burnett declined, fearing she might feel stifled playing the same character week after week.
Instead, Burnett and her husband, producer Joe Hamilton, crafted a variety hour around her talents.

The Carol Burnett Show premiered in 1967, ran for eleven years and won 22 Emmys. Recurring sketches included the tight-skirted secretary Mrs. Wiggins, the Southern-fried bitch Eunice of Mama's Family (later spun off to its own sitcom), and the bad actress star of the soap opera parody As the Stomach Turns. There were also spoofs of classic movies, most memorably Burnett as Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind, wearing a dress made from the drapes -- complete with curtain rod (the dress was maniacally designed by Bob Mackie). For no particular reason, she would occasionally belt out a Tarzan yell, and at some point in every show Burnett would take questions from the audience, usually coming up with an answer that was either heartwarming or hilarious.
Burnett had perfect chemistry with her supporting cast, Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, and Lyle Waggoner, and through the show's first seven seasons there were no cast changes. When Waggoner left he was replaced with Tim Conway for the eighth and subsequent seasons. The show was always funny but never mean or risqué, and in an era with only three channels, audiences of all ages tuned in to see what wacky skits Burnett would perform each week. On video, The Carol Burnett Show has been repackaged as Carol Burnett & Friends, and unlike some alleged comedy classics, no-one who rents the videos could possibly be disappointed.
She worked occasionally in feature films, including Noises Off with Michael Caine, Robert Altman's A Wedding, and The Four Seasons with Alan Alda. Her best TV films include the Vietnam survivors' drama Friendly Fire,Eunice (the pilot for Mama's Family), and three separate TV adaptations of her Broadway hit Once Upon a Mattress in 1964, 1972, and 2005.
In 1986 she starred in Fresno, a six-hour mini-series spoofing Dallas and Dynasty, with Burnett as Fresno's hard-drinking raisin matriarch Charlotte Kensington. With Charles Grodin, Teri Garr, Dabney Coleman, and Gregory Harrison, it was funny to the finish, but has never been released on video in America.
In 1990 she starred in Carol & Company with Jeremy Piven and Peter Krause, an anthology series with a half-hour comedy skit each week, but it was quickly cancelled. In 1991 she revived her Carol Burnett Show in name and format but with a new supporting cast. . Later in the 1990s, she played Helen Hunt's mother on Mad About You.
Her second husband, Joe Hamilton, had been a jazz musician, but after marrying Burnett he produced most of her starring projects. Their daughter, Carrie Hamilton became an actress, starring in the TV movie Hostage with Burnett and in touring productions of Rent, before dying of lung cancer in 2002. Another daughter, Erin Hamilton, has had several hits on the dance charts, including covers of "Dream Weaver" and Cheap Trick's "The Flame."
By virtually all accounts, the good-natured wise-cracking Burnett seen on her variety show was the real Carol Burnett. Her beloved grandmother, Mae Eudora Jones White, died in 1967 at the age of 82, but Burnett never stopped tugging her ear at the end of every episode. In the show's third season, Burnett received a résumé from a 10-year-old fan who wanted a career in comedy -- Jim Carrey, who received a long, personal letter of encouragement from Burnett. When she received her star on Hollywood Boulevard, Burnett had it placed in front of the theater where she had been an usher. And in 1989, when Burnett's friend Lucille Ball died suddenly on Burnett's birthday, Burnett received a bouquet from Ball several hours after hearing the sad news -- Ball had ordered the flowers in advance for Burnett's birthday.
Hamilton, her husband, wrote the theme song for The Carol Burnett Show, which she sang at the end of every episode. "I'm so glad we had this time together, just to have a laugh or sing a song, seems we just get started and before you know it, comes the time we have to say, 'So long.'" And then Burnett would wave and shout, "Good night, everybody."