Tuesday, January 17, 2012

01/17 Robert Wagner

Robert Wagner was born in Detroit, and his family moved to Los Angeles when he was seven. Always wanting to be an actor, he held a variety of jobs (including one as a caddy for Clark Gable while pursuing his goal, but it was while dining with his parents at a restaurant in Beverly Hils that he was "discovered" by a talent scout. He had a bit part in The Happy Years (1950) but it was a small part as a crippled soldier in the Susan Hayward film With a Song in My Heart (1952) that got him attention. His fresh, all-American looks landed him a contract with 20th Century-Fox, which put him in a succession of undemanding roles in Technicolor pictures where his looks were more important than his talent (Beneath the 12-Mile Reef (1953), Prince Valiant (1954)), but he did manage to show that he was indeed an actor of talent in several showy roles in smaller pictures (A Kiss Before Dying (1956), Between Heaven and Hell (1956)). As he became one of Fox's rising young stars, the studio, as was customary back then, set him up with a host of nubile young actresses, among them Debbie Reynolds. While the pairing didn't lead to any romance, it did lead to a lifelong friendship.

In 1957 Wagner fell in love with 18 year old actress Natalie Wood and they married later that year on December 28. However, the marriage was short-lived, lasting just three years. Wagner had a supporting role in The War Lover (1962), and went to Europe to make the movie The Longest Day (1962). In Europe he met with his old friend Marion Marshall. They began a romance, and married on July 22, 1963. He helped raise her two sons by director Stanley Donen. On May 11, 1964, the couple had a daughter, Katie Wagner. For the first several years, R.J. and Marion seemed to be very happy, but Wagner's lagging career put stress on the marriage. In 1968 he reluctantly went into television to star in "It Takes a Thief" (1968) (later he would say it was the right move). The series lasted two years before ending in 1970. Wagner briefly returned to the big screen opposite Paul Newman in Winning (1969). Wagner's career seemed to be thriving, but his personal life wasn't. He and Marion went their separate ways and divorced in 1971 after nearly a decade together.

Over the next two years Wagner struggled to find work. In 1971 he became engaged to Tina Sinatra, but they ended their engagement in January 1972. Just six months later, on July 16, 1972, he remarried Natalie Wood after a brief reunion. On March 9, 1974, they had a daughter, Courtney Wagner. Wagner went on to appear in the blockbuster "disaster film" The Towering Inferno (1974), starring Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, and Faye Dunaway. He also starred in two successful television series. The first was the police show "Switch" (1975) with Eddie Albert, and the series lasted three years before its cancellation in 1978. The second was playing Stefanie Powers' husband in the hit "Hart to Hart" (1979)), which would run for five years. His professional and personal lives seemed to be right on track. Then on November 29, 1981, Natalie drowned in a freak boating accident. Shortly after, at the beginning of 1982, Wagner began a relationship with actress Jill St. John, whom he had first met in the 1950s when he was an up-and-coming actor and she (like Wood) was a teenage starlet. Wagner starred in Curse of the Pink Panther (1983), and had another TV series, "Lime Street" (1985), which was short-lived. He and Jill finally married on May 26, 1990 after eight years together.

Wagner has since revived his career as the eye-patch-wearing henchman Number Two to Mike Myers' sinister Dr. Evil in the spy spoofs Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997), Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999), and Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002). He also became the hose of Fox Movie Channel's "Hour of Stars" (1955), which shows recently discovered and restored episodes of the old TV anthology series "The 20th Century-Fox Hour" (1955), some of which Wagner himself had starred in. In 2008 he began a recurring role on the hit sitcom "Two and a Half Men" (2003). Later that year he published his autobiography "Pieces of My Heart."

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

01/10 Dirk Benedict, Battlestar Galactica

It's a long way from the vastness of Montana's Big Sky country to the vastness of outer space, but Dirk Benedict is taking the transition in stride. The actor's hometown of White Sulphur Springs, Montana, was so small and remote that it lacked either a motion picture theatre or television station. Benedict became the co-star in MCA TV's "Battlestar Galactica" (1978) as a skirt-chasing, fun-loving combat pilot aboard an embattled spaceship in a far-off galaxy.

It was at Whitman College, in Walla Walla, Washington, that Dirk became interested in acting. During his freshman year, he accepted a dare to audition for the Spring musical and won the lead role of "Gaylord Ravenal" in "Showboat". The next three years were filled with many more musical productions. Upon graduation, Benedict began a two-year training program under John Fernald, who had headed London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London for fifteen years. He then played repertory theatre in Seattle and in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he played such roles as "Edmund" in "King Lear", "Tarleton" in "Misalliance", "Ensign Pulver" in "Mister Roberts" and the lead in Neil Simon's "Star-Spangled Girl".

Meanwhile, Benedict maintained an active interest in music and formed a Dixieland Jazz Band in Seattle. Prior to their debut, he visited New York to meet an agent recommended by his college professor. Benedict never made it back to Seattle. The agent sent him to an audition which resulted in a co-starring role with Diana Rigg and Keith Michell in "Abelard and Heloise", first on Broadway, then in Los Angeles. Two weeks after the show closed on Broadway, he was winging across the Atlantic to Sweden for his first movie, Georgia, Georgia (1972) in which he co-starred with the late Diana Sands. This film about draft resisters, shot entirely in Sweden, was written by the well known writer Maya Angelou. In Sweden, Benedict lost his heart to Miss Sweden, discovered Akvavit and began a new way of eating based on whole grains and vegetables. On his return to New York, he replaced Keir Dullea in "Butterflies Are Free" on Broadway where he worked with the ever-young Gloria Swanson, as his mother. When the New York run ended, he received an offer to repeat his performance in Hawaii, opposite Barbara Rush. While there, he appeared as a guest on "Hawaii Five-O" (1968). The producers of a psycho-thriller called Sssssss (1973) saw Benedict's performance in "Hawaii Five-O" (1968) and promptly cast him as the lead in that movie. He next played the psychotic wife-beating husband of Twiggy in her American film debut, W (1974). Benedict starred in the television series, "Chopper One" (1974) then retreated to his cabin in the mountains of Montana where he spent nearly a year writing. Two of the scripts he wrote during that "sabbatical" were optioned for motion picture production and he is at work on his first novel, which will be set in Montana.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

01/03 Fred Dryer, Hunter


John Frederick "Fred" Dryer (born July 6, 1946 in Hawthorne, California) is an American actor and former football defensive end in the National Football League (NFL). Dryer played 13 years in the NFL, playing 176 games, starting 166, and recording 104 career sacks with the New York Giants and Los Angeles Rams. Dryer is the only NFL player to score two safeties in one game.

Following his retirement from football, Dryer had a successful career as a film and television actor, notably starring in the series Hunter. His height (6'6" or 1.98 m) and physique was useful for his action roles.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

12/27 David Hedison

Hedison decided he wanted to be an actor after he saw Tyrone Power in the film Blood and Sand. He began his acting career with the Sock and Buskin Players at Brown University before moving to New York to study with Sanford Meisner and Martha Graham at the Neighborhood Playhouse and with Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio.

His work on the New York stage includes the off-Broadway production of A Month in the Country, directed by Michael Redgrave, which starred Uta Hagen, for which role Hedison won a Theater World Award. Hedison toured with Anita Gillette in Neil Simon's Chapter Two and appeared in the West Coast premiere of Forty Deuce. He toured with Elizabeth Ashley in Come into My Parlour, and was in the world premiere run of Bernard Slade's Return Engagements. He appeared at the Cape Playhouse in 1998 in Alone Together with Anita Gillette. He also starred in he New York City premiere of First Love with Lois Nettleton. He returned to the Cape Playhouse to appear in Tale of the Allergist's Wife (2002), and his most recent theatrical appearance was at Monmouth University's Pollak Theatre, in Love Letters with Nancy Dussault.

After his role in A Month in the Country, Hedison signed a film contract with 20th Century-Fox. His first movie with them was the classic war film The Enemy Below, which also starred Robert Mitchum. He followed that up with the 1958 horror classic The Fly. Other films in which he appeared include The Son of Robin Hood, Marines, Let's Go!, The Lost World, The Greatest Story Ever Told; ffolkes and The Naked Face. Hedison was the first actor to play James Bond's ally Felix Leiter in more than one film (Live and Let Die and Licence to Kill). Hedison as Evan Robley in the TV series Wonder Woman

Much of Hedison's acting career has been on television. In 1961, he appeared with Geraldine Brooks (1925–1977) in an episode of ABC's Bus Stop with Marilyn Maxwell, for which Brooks was nominated for an Emmy Award. He was cast as a counter espionage agent who traveled the world as a Hollywood talent agent in the 16-episode series Five Fingers. He followed that up with a starring role as Captain Lee Crane in the ABC television version of Irwin Allen's Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea with Richard Basehart. The show ran for four years. He also had a semi-regular role on ABC's The Colbys.

In 1990, he was the series host for Phenomenal World. He appeared in the television movie A.D. as well as The Saint Family, The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, The Bob Newhart Show, Charlie's Angels, The A-Team, Knight Rider, and Wonder Woman, among many others. He played Spencer Harrison on the American soap opera Another World from 1991 to 1996. He followed that up in 2004 with a role on The Young and the Restless as Arthur Hendricks. His most recent role was in 2005's The Reality Trap. Also appeared in the 2001 movie "Mach 2". In 2010 he fell victim in prankster Kayvan Novak's Facejacker.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

12/20 Barry Corbin, No Country For Old Men, MoonShot

Corbin began his career as a Shakespearean actor in the 1960s, but today he is more likely to be seen in the role of the local sheriff, military leader, or some other authority figure, though on occasion, he has effectively portrayed murderous villains as well. To moviegoers he is well remembered as General Beringer in WarGames, John Travolta's uncle in Urban Cowboy, co-starring with Clint Eastwood in Any Which Way You Can, or Roscoe Brown, who was July Johnson's bumbling deputy, in the acclaimed western Lonesome Dove.

He also had a role in 2008's Oscar-winning film No Country for Old Men.

From 1979 until 1984 he appeared in several episodes of "Dallas (TV series)" as Sheriff Fenton Washburn. In 1983, Corbin co-starred in the famed television mini-series The Thorn Birds. Corbin played Mary Carson's stockman "Pete", who teaches the Cleary's sons how to shear sheep on their aunt's gigantic sheep station Drogheda, in Australia. In 1983-1984, Corbin played Merit Sawyer in the NBC television series Boone. Corbin's role was that of a stern father to the young actor Tom Byrd, who played Boone Sawyer, an aspiring singer. The program was set in rural Tennessee during the 1950s and was created by Earl Hamner, who had great success earlier with CBS's The Waltons. From 1990 to 1995, Corbin portrayed former astronaut Maurice Minnifield on CBS's Northern Exposure, for which he received an Emmy nomination.

In 1994, Corbin narrated the acclaimed TBS documentary MoonShot, telling the story of the 1960s space race from the first-person viewpoint of Mercury Seven astronaut Deke Slayton. In 2007, He played the character Clay Johnson, father of Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson on The Closer series.

From 2003-2008, Corbin was a cast member of the teenage drama series One Tree Hill, where he portrayed a basketball coach for the Tree Hill Ravens. Corbin lost most of his hair in the 1990s due to alopecia areata. Since then, he has played various roles with a shaved head, wearing a cowboy hat, or occasionally wearing a full toupee. Corbin is the signature voice of radio station KPLX in Fort Worth, Texas, and has also voiced trailers and promos for CMT and various other country radio stations.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

12/13 John Larroquette, Mastro's Steakhouse

John Edgar Bernard Larroquette, Jr. (born November 25, 1947) is an American film, television and Broadway actor. His roles include Dan Fielding on the series Night Court, Mike McBride in the Hallmark Channel series McBride, John Hemingway on The John Larroquette Show, and Carl Sack in Boston Legal.

Larroquette was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, the son of: Berthalla Oramous Larroquette (née Helmstetter), a department store clerk; and John Edgar Bernard Larroquette, Sr,[1] who was in the U.S. Navy. He grew up in the Ninth ward of New Orleans not far from the French Quarter. He played clarinet and saxophone through childhood but quit when he discovered acting after seeing some actors rehearse the Tennessee Williams play Vieux Carré in 1973.[3] He moved to Hollywood in 1973 after working in radio and the record business.

Larroquette met his wife Elizabeth Ann Cookson in 1974 while working in a play called Enter Laughing.[4] They have three children; one of his sons, Jonathan Larroquette, co-hosts a popular comedy podcast called Uhh Yeah Dude.





Dennis Mastro joins the show, informing us of the unparelleled dining experience Mastro's Steakhouse has to offer. Consistently hailed by diners and critics alike as "masterful" (Los Angeles Daily News), "high end" ( Los Angeles Times), one of the "top 10 steakhouse in the U.S. (Gayot) and "the preferred steakhouse of celebs and locals" (944), Mastro`s Restaurants, LLC is a collection of sophisticated, classic steakhouses and sumptuous fish houses.





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Tuesday, December 6, 2011

12/06 Roger E. Mosley, Magnum P.I.


Roger Earl Mosley (born December 18, 1938) is an American actor best known for his role as the helicopter pilot Theodore "T.C." Calvin on the long running television series, Magnum, P.I., which starred Tom Selleck as the title character.

Mosley was born in Los Angeles, California. He grew up in the Imperial Courts project with his mother Eloise Harris in Watts, one of the most dangerous parts of the inner city. In 1974, he founded the Watts Repertory Company.

Mosley's most prominent film role to date was his 1976 starring turn as the title character in Leadbelly, directed by Gordon Parks. He has guest starred on shows such as Night Court, Starsky and Hutch, Kojak, The Rockford Files, Baretta, and Sanford and Son; he also had a role in Roots: The Next Generation. He also made a memorable appearance in the 1973 film The Mack, as the militant brother of the main character Goldie, and played officer Roy Cole alongside Kurt Russell and Ray Liotta in Unlawful Entry (1992).

Most recently he appeared in season five of Las Vegas as the billionaire friend of Montecito owner AJ Cooper (Tom Selleck). There is a vague homage to his Magnum P.I. days as his character 'Roger' is worth more than $2bn and owns a fleet of jets having started with a single helicopter in Hawaii.