CLINT EASTWOOD

Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American film actor, director, producer, composer, and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide (1959–1966). He rose to fame for playing the Man with No Name in Sergio Leone's Dollars trilogy of spaghetti westerns (A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly) during the late 1960s, and as Harry Callahan in the Dirty Harry films (Dirty Harry, Magnum Force, The Enforcer, Sudden Impact, and The Dead Pool) throughout the 1970s and 1980s. These roles, among others, have made him an enduring cultural icon of a certain type of masculinity.

For his work in the films Unforgiven (1992) and Million Dollar Baby (2004), Eastwood won Academy Awards for Best Director and Producer of the Best Picture, as well as receiving nominations for Best Actor. These films in particular, as well as others including Ply Misty for Me (1971), Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974), The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), Escape from Alcatraz (1979), Tightrope (1984), Pale Rider (1985), Heartbreak Ridge (1986), In the Line of Fire (1993), The Bridges of Madison County (1995), and Gran Torino (2008), have all received commercial success and critical acclaim. Eastwood's only comedies have been Every Which Way but Loose (1978) and its sequel Any Which Way You Can (1980), which are his two most commercially successful films after adjustment for inflation.

Doug Mclure & Clint Eastwood

 

 In addition to directing many of his own star vehicles, Eastwood has also directed films in which he did not appear, such as Mystic River (2003) and Letters from Iwo Jima (2006), for which he received Academy Award nominations, and Changeling (2008). He has received considerable critical praise in France, including for several films which were not well received in the United States, and he has been awarded two of France's highest honors: in 1994 he became a recipient of the French Republic's Commandeur of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and in 2007 he was awarded the Légion d'honneur medal. In 2000, he was awarded the Italian Venice Film Festival Golden Lion for lifetime achievement.

 

Since 1967, Eastwood has run his own production company, Malpaso, which has produced all except four of his American films. He also served as the nonpartisan mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California from 1986 to 1988. Eastwood has seven children by five different women, although he has only married twice.

TONY CURTIS

Tony Curtis (born Bernard Schwartz; June 3, 1925 – September 29, 2010) was an American film actor whose career spanned six decades, but had his greatest popularity during the 1950s and early 1960s. He acted in more than 100 films in roles covering a wide range of genres, from light comedy to serious drama. In his later years, Curtis made numerous television appearances.

 

 

Although his early film roles were partly the result of his good looks, by the later half of the 1950s he became a notable and strong screen presence. He began proving himself to be a “fine dramatic actor,” having the range to act in numerous dramatic and comedy roles. In his earliest parts he acted in a string of "mediocre" films, including swashbucklers, westerns, light comedies, sports films, and a musical. However, by the time he starred in Houdini (1953) with his wife Janet Leigh, "his first clear success," notes critic David Thomson, his acting had progressed immensely.

 

 

Burt Lancaster, Gina Lolabrigida and Tony Curtis in Trapeze (1956)

Tony Curtis with Gina Lolabrigida in Trapeze (1956)

He won his first serious recognition as a skilled dramatic actor in Sweet Smell of Success (1957) with co-star Burt Lancaster. The following year he was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor in another drama, The Defiant Ones (1958).

 

Tony Curtis with Sidney Poitier in The Defiant Ones (1958)

 

Curtis then gave what many believe was his best acting, three interrelated roles in the comedy Some Like It Hot (1959). Thomson calls it an "outrageous film," and a survey carried out by the American Film Institute voted it the funniest American film ever made.  It costarred Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe, and was directed by Billy Wilder.

 

On the set of Some Like It Hot with Marilyn Monroe (1959)

 

 

Some Like It Hot was quickly followed by Blake Edwards comedy Operation Petticoat (1959) with Cary Grant. They were both “frantic comedies,” and displayed "his impeccable comic timing."

 

 

He often collaborated with Edwards on later films. In 1960, he co-starred in Spartacus, which became another major hit for him.

 

Autographed photo of Tony Curtis in Spartacus (1960)

 

His stardom and film career declined considerably after the early 1960s. His most significant serious part came in 1968 when he starred in the true-life drama The Boston Strangler, which some consider his "last major film role." The part reinforced his reputation as a serious actor with his "chilling portrayal" of serial killer Albert DeSalvo. He gained 30 pounds and had his face "rebuilt" with a false nose to look like the real DeSalvo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Curtis was the father of actresses Jamie Lee Curtis and Kelly Curtis by his first wife, actress Janet Leigh.

 

 

 

VIC SEIPKE

Vic Seipke (born 23 April 1932) is an American bodybuilder.  Vic Seipke competed for diverse titles (apart from those listed below) from 1951 to 1977 including Mr. Michigan, 1951, Junior Mr. America, 1955, and Mr. America-Masters, 1976.  His build was extraordinary even when he was forty-five. Thanks to his attractive face and well-developed body he was also much in demand as nude model by recognized American photographers such as Douglas of Detroit.

 

RUDOLF NUREYEV

Rudolf Khametovich Nureyev (17 March 1938 – 6 January 1993) was a dancer of ballet and modern dance, one of the most celebrated of the 20th century. Nureyev's artistic skills explored expressive areas of the dance, providing a new role to the male ballet dancer who once served only as support to the women.

 

 

Originally a Soviet citizen, Nureyev defected to the West in 1961, despite KGB efforts to stop him.  According to KGB archives studied by Peter Watson, Nikita Khrushchev personally signed an order to have Nureyev killed.

 

 

 

 Nude photo of Rudolph Nureyev by Richard Avedon

 

 

Nureyev and Tab Hunter

 

 

 

 

Originally a Soviet citizen, Nureyev defected to the West in 1961, despite KGB efforts to stop him. According to KGB archives studied by Peter Watson, Nikita Khrushchev personally signed an order to have Nureyev killed.