Cleopatra - Queen of the Screen
Cleopatra ble født i 69 f. Kr. Da hennes far Ptolemaios 12 døde i 51 f. Kr., arvet hun tronen sammen med sine to yngre brødre. Som en følge av borgerkrigen i Roma forfulgte Cæsar sin motstander Pompeius til Egypt etter slaget i Farsalos. Pompeius flyktet dit for å søke støtte hos sine tidligere allierte, men ble drept ved ankomst. Cæsar kom til Aleksandria i 48 f. Kr. Riket var preget av borgerkrigen mellom Ptolemaios 13 og Cleopatra. Ptolemaios forsøkte å vinne Cæsar over på sin side ved å overrekke ham Pompeius sitt hode, men selv om de to har kjempet mot hverandre i borgerkrigen var Pompeius fortsatt en romersk borger, tidligere konsul og Caesars svigersønn, som fortjente respekt deretter. Hva Caesar egentlig mente og tenkte om dette, kan vi ikke si med sikkerhet, men beskrivelsen av Cæsars respons er ikke bare viktig i fremstillingen av ham, men også hvordan hans relasjon til Cleopatra fortelles. Caesar slo ned motstanden fra Cleopatras fiender, og sikret dermed Egypts posisjon som romersk vasallstat. De to innledet et forhold, og Cleopatra fødte Cæsarion, Ptolemaios 15, som Cæsar selv skal ha anerkjent som sin sønn. Cleopatra reiste til Roma, og innledet etter Cæsars død et forhold til Marcus Antonius. Sammen tok de opp kampen mot Octavian Cæsar, men led nederlag. Dette førte til at begikk selvmord i 30 f. Kr.
Kort oppsummert. De som har sett filmversjonen fra 1963 med Elizabeth Taylor i hovedrollen vil kjenne igjen hovedtrekkene. Det samme gjelder 1934-versjonen signert Cecil B. DeMille, eller 2005-versjonen, om noe nedkortet, slik den ble skildret i TV-serien Rome som fortsatt kan strømmes på HBO. Felles for disse, og andre skildringer av Kleopatra er at de er basert, ikke på en virkelig historie, men noen få kilder som må regnes som empiriske og litterære kilder som har blitt repetert og dermed fiksert en oppfatning av henne. Theda Bara, Claudette Colbert, Vivien Leigh, Sophia Loren, Elizabeth Taylor, Monica Belucci, Miss Piggy, er blant skuespillerne som har tolket Kleopatra, med visse nyanser, men som oftest i gjeld til William Shakespeare og George Bernhard Shaw, men også romerske historieskrivere med sans for retoriske virkemidler i sine personskildringer; Sveton, Tacitus, Plutark et al.
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Cleopatra was born in 69 BC. When her father Ptolemy 12 died in 51 BC, she inherited the throne together with her two younger brother Ptolemy 13. As a result of the civil war in Rome, Caesar pursued his opponent Pompey to Egypt after the battle of Pharsalos. Pompey fled there to seek support from his former allies, but was killed on arrival. Caesar came to Alexandria in 48 BC. The kingdom was marked by the civil war between Ptolemy 13 and Cleopatra. Ptolemy tried to win Caesar over to his side by presenting him with Pompey's head, but although the two had fought each other in the civil war, Pompey was still a Roman citizen, former consul and Caesar's son-in-law, who deserved respect thereafter. What Caesar really meant and thought about this, we cannot say with certainty, but the description of Caesar's response is not only important in the portrayal of him, but also how his relationship with Cleopatra is told. Caesar crushed the resistance of Cleopatra's enemies, thereby securing Egypt's position as a Roman vassal state. The two began a relationship, and Cleopatra gave birth to Caesarion, Ptolemy 15, whom Caesar himself is said to have recognized as his son. Cleopatra traveled to Rome, and after Caesar's death began a relationship with Marcus Antonius. Together they took up the fight against Octavian Cæsar, but suffered defeat. This led to committing suicide in 30 BC.
Briefly summarized. Those who have seen the 1963 film version starring Elizabeth Taylor will recognize the main characters. The same applies to the 1934 version signed Cecil B. DeMille, or the 2005 version, if somewhat shortened, as it was depicted in the TV series Rome which can still be streamed on HBO. What these and other depictions of Cleopatra have in common is that they are based, not on a real story, but on a few sources that must be considered empirical and literary sources that have been repeated and thus fixed a perception of her. Theda Bara, Claudette Colbert, Vivien Leigh, Sophia Loren, Elizabeth Taylor, Monica Belucci, Miss Piggy, are among the actors who have interpreted Cleopatra, with certain nuances, but mostly in debt to William Shakespeare and George Bernhard Shaw, but also Roman historians with a sense of rhetorical devices in his portrayals; Sueton, Tacitus, Plutarch et al.
Kort oppsummert. De som har sett filmversjonen fra 1963 med Elizabeth Taylor i hovedrollen vil kjenne igjen hovedtrekkene. Det samme gjelder 1934-versjonen signert Cecil B. DeMille, eller 2005-versjonen, om noe nedkortet, slik den ble skildret i TV-serien Rome som fortsatt kan strømmes på HBO. Felles for disse, og andre skildringer av Kleopatra er at de er basert, ikke på en virkelig historie, men noen få kilder som må regnes som empiriske og litterære kilder som har blitt repetert og dermed fiksert en oppfatning av henne. Theda Bara, Claudette Colbert, Vivien Leigh, Sophia Loren, Elizabeth Taylor, Monica Belucci, Miss Piggy, er blant skuespillerne som har tolket Kleopatra, med visse nyanser, men som oftest i gjeld til William Shakespeare og George Bernhard Shaw, men også romerske historieskrivere med sans for retoriske virkemidler i sine personskildringer; Sveton, Tacitus, Plutark et al.
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Cleopatra was born in 69 BC. When her father Ptolemy 12 died in 51 BC, she inherited the throne together with her two younger brother Ptolemy 13. As a result of the civil war in Rome, Caesar pursued his opponent Pompey to Egypt after the battle of Pharsalos. Pompey fled there to seek support from his former allies, but was killed on arrival. Caesar came to Alexandria in 48 BC. The kingdom was marked by the civil war between Ptolemy 13 and Cleopatra. Ptolemy tried to win Caesar over to his side by presenting him with Pompey's head, but although the two had fought each other in the civil war, Pompey was still a Roman citizen, former consul and Caesar's son-in-law, who deserved respect thereafter. What Caesar really meant and thought about this, we cannot say with certainty, but the description of Caesar's response is not only important in the portrayal of him, but also how his relationship with Cleopatra is told. Caesar crushed the resistance of Cleopatra's enemies, thereby securing Egypt's position as a Roman vassal state. The two began a relationship, and Cleopatra gave birth to Caesarion, Ptolemy 15, whom Caesar himself is said to have recognized as his son. Cleopatra traveled to Rome, and after Caesar's death began a relationship with Marcus Antonius. Together they took up the fight against Octavian Cæsar, but suffered defeat. This led to committing suicide in 30 BC.
Briefly summarized. Those who have seen the 1963 film version starring Elizabeth Taylor will recognize the main characters. The same applies to the 1934 version signed Cecil B. DeMille, or the 2005 version, if somewhat shortened, as it was depicted in the TV series Rome which can still be streamed on HBO. What these and other depictions of Cleopatra have in common is that they are based, not on a real story, but on a few sources that must be considered empirical and literary sources that have been repeated and thus fixed a perception of her. Theda Bara, Claudette Colbert, Vivien Leigh, Sophia Loren, Elizabeth Taylor, Monica Belucci, Miss Piggy, are among the actors who have interpreted Cleopatra, with certain nuances, but mostly in debt to William Shakespeare and George Bernhard Shaw, but also Roman historians with a sense of rhetorical devices in his portrayals; Sueton, Tacitus, Plutarch et al.
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Jehanne d'Alcy was born on 20 March 1865 in Vaujours, Seine-et-Oise [now Seine-Saint-Denis], France. She was an actress and costume designer, known for Haggard's She: The Pillar of Fire (1899), Bluebeard (1901) and The Conjuring of a Woman at the House of Robert Houdin (1896). She was married to Georges Méliès and Gustave Manieux. She died on 14 October 1956 in Versailles, Seine-et-Oise [now Yvelines], France.Cleopatra/The Tomb of Cleopatra (1899)- Florence Lawrence was the first film player whose name was used to promote her films and the studio (Independent Moving Pictures Company [IMP]) for which she worked. Before her, actors and actresses worked anonymously, partly out of fear that stage managers would refuse to hire them if they were found to be working in films and partly because movie executives didn't want to put much money into the production of these short, practically disposable films, and didn't want their players to become well known and start demanding higher salaries. Lawrence was on the stage from age three, appearing in musicals and plays, whistling and playing the violin. At 20 she was cast in the Edison production of Daniel Boone (1907), and that led to work at Vitagraph Studios. From there she was hired by Biograph, where she refined and perfected her craft under the direction of D.W. Griffith. In 1909 she left Biograph to seek more recognizable employment at another film company. As a result she was blacklisted by the Motion Picture Trust, headed by Thomas A. Edison, to which most motion-picture producers belonged and which held the patents on most film production equipment and would not allow any companies that did not belong to the Trust to use them. Carl Laemmle started IMP in late 1909, and refused to join the Motion Picture Trust. The Trust took action--both legal and otherwise--to discourage Laemmle from producing films on his own. Lawrence and her husband, director Harry Solter, signed on as IMP's first featured players. In 1910 Laemmle, partly out of anger over the Trust's actions--such as hiring thugs to attack his film crews and wreck his equipment--decided to advertise the fact that he had Miss Lawrence. She made the first personal appearance of a film star in St. Louis, MO, that March, and the resulting publicity made her famous (and also increased the grosses on her--and Laemmle's--films). Other film companies soon followed suit, and the names of film actors and actresses began to appear in all segments of the media. Lawrence worked for IMP for a year, then spent another year at Lubin before she began her own production company, Victor, where she worked on and off until 1914. After a stage accident in which she injured her back, she retired from films, only to be lured back in 1916 for her first feature, Elusive Isabel (1916). It was unsuccessful. She tried a comeback again in 1921; that, too, was unsuccessful. She settled into bit parts and character roles through the 1920s and 1930s. She committed suicide in 1938 after years of unhappiness and illness. She was found in her apartment on Dec. 27, 1938 and died soon afterward in hospital.Antony and Cleopatra (1908)
- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
A stage actress who was an alumni of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Helen Gardner made her film debut with Vitagraph Pictures in 1911. In that year she appeared in Vanity Fair (1911), to critical acclaim. The next year she formed her own film production company, Helen Gardner Productions--as far as is known, the first film actress to do so--to make feature films that would be directed by her husband, Charles L. Gaskill. Her best known picture during that period was Cleopatra (1912). After making films on her own for a few years, she returned to Vitagraph in 1915 only to retire shortly thereafter, although she did return in the early '20s for a few small parts.Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt (1912)- Actress
- Writer
Theda Bara was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, as Theodosia Goodman, on July 29, 1885. She was the daughter of a local tailor and his wife. As a teenager Theda was interested in the theatrical arts and once she finished high school, she dyed her blond hair black and went in pursuit of her dream. By 1908 she was in New York in search of roles. That year she appeared in "The Devil", a stage play. In 1911 she joined a touring company. After returning to New York in 1914, she began making the rounds of various casting offices in search of work, and was eventually hired to appear in The Stain (1914) as an extra, but she was placed so far in the background that she was not noticed on the screen. However, it was her ability to take direction which helped her gain the lead role as the "vampire" in A Fool There Was (1915) later that year, and "The Vamp" was born. It was a well-deserved break, because Theda was almost 30 years old, at a time when younger women were always considered for lead roles. She became the screen's first fabricated star. Publicists sent out press releases that Theda was the daughter of an artist and an Arabian princess, and that "Theda Bara" was an anagram for "Arab Death"--a far cry from her humble Jewish upbringing in Cincinnati. The public became fascinated with her--how could one resist an actress who allowed herself to be photographed with snakes and skulls? Theda's second film, later that year for the newly formed Fox Studios, was as Celia Friedlander in Kreutzer Sonata (1915). Theda was hot property now and was to make six more films in 1915, finishing up with Carmen (1915). The next year would prove to be another busy one, with theater patrons being treated to eight Theda Bara films, all of which would make a great deal of money for Fox Films, and in 1917 Fox headed west to Califoria and took Theda with them. That year she starred in a mega-hit, Cleopatra (1917). This was quickly followed by The Rose of Blood (1917). In 1918 Theda wrote the story and starred as the Priestess in The Soul of Buddha (1918). After seven films in 1919, ending with Lure of Ambition (1919), her contract was terminated by Fox, and her career never recovered. In 1921 she married director Charles Brabin and retired. In 1926 she made her last film, Madame Mystery (1926), and promptly went back into retirement, permanently, at the age of 41. She tried the stage briefly in the 1930s but nothing really set the fires burning. A movie based on her life was planned in the 1950s, but nothing ever came of it. On April 7, 1955, Theda Bara died of abdominal cancer at the age of 69 in Los Angeles, California. There has been no one like her since.Cleopatra (1917)- Actress
- Soundtrack
One of the brightest film stars to grace the screen was born Emilie Claudette Chauchoin on September 13, 1903, in Saint Mandé, France where her father owned a bakery at 57, rue de la République (now Avenue Général de Gaulle). The family moved to the United States when she was three. As Claudette grew up, she wanted nothing more than to play to Broadway audiences (in those days, any actress or actor worth their salt went for Broadway, not Hollywood). After her formal education ended, she enrolled in the Art Students League, where she paid for her dramatic training by working in a dress shop. She made her Broadway debut in 1923 in the stage production of "The Wild Wescotts". It was during this event that she adopted the name Claudette Colbert.
When the Great Depression shut down most of the theaters, Claudette decided to make a go of it in films. Her first film was called For the Love of Mike (1927). Unfortunately, it was a box-office disaster. She wasn't real keen on the film industry, but with an extreme scarcity in theatrical roles, she had no choice but to remain. In 1929 she starred as Joyce Roamer in The Lady Lies (1929). The film was a success and later that year she had another hit entitled The Hole in the Wall (1929). In 1930 she starred opposite Fredric March in Manslaughter (1930), which was a remake of the silent version of eight years earlier. A year after that Claudette was again paired in a film with March, Honor Among Lovers (1931). It fared well at the box-office, probably only because it was the kind of film that catered to women who enjoyed magazine fiction romantic stories. In 1932 Claudette played the evil Poppeia in Cecil B. DeMille's last great work, The Sign of the Cross (1932), and once again was cast with March. Later the same year she was paired with Jimmy Durante in The Phantom President (1932). By now Claudette's name symbolized good movies and she, along with March, pulled crowds into the theaters with the acclaimed Tonight Is Ours (1933).
The next year started a little on the slow side with the release of Four Frightened People (1934), where Claudette and her co-stars were at odds with the dreaded bubonic plague on board a ship. However, the next two films were real gems for this young actress. First up, Claudette was charming and radiant in Cecil B. DeMille's spectacular Cleopatra (1934). It wasn't one of DeMille's finest by any means, but it was a financial success and showcased Claudette as never before. However, it was as Ellie Andrews, in the now famous It Happened One Night (1934), that ensured she would be forever immortalized. Paired with Clark Gable, the madcap comedy was a mega-hit all across the country. It also resulted in Claudette being nominated for and winning the Oscar that year for Best Actress. IN 1935 she was nominated again for Private Worlds (1935), where she played Dr. Jane Everest, on the staff at a mental institution. The performance was exquisite. Films such as The Gilded Lily (1935), Drums Along the Mohawk (1939) and No Time for Love (1943) kept fans coming to the theaters and the movie moguls happy. Claudette was a sure drawing card for virtually any film she was in. In 1944 she starred as Anne Hilton in Since You Went Away (1944). Again, although she didn't win, Claudette picked up her third nomination for Best Actress.
By the late 1940s and early 1950s she was not only seen on the screen but the infant medium of television, where she appeared in a number of programs. However, her drawing power was fading somewhat as new stars replaced the older ones. In 1955 she filmed the western Texas Lady (1955) and wasn't seen on the screen again until Parrish (1961). It was her final silver screen performance. Her final appearance before the cameras was in a TV movie, The Two Mrs. Grenvilles (1987). She did, however, remain on the stage where she had returned in 1956, her first love. After a series of strokes, Claudette divided her time between New York and Barbados. On July 30, 1996, Claudette died in Speightstown, Barbados. She was 92.Cleopatra (1934)- Actress
- Writer
- Soundtrack
If a film were made of the life of Vivien Leigh, it would open in India just before World War I, where a successful British businessman could live like a prince. In the mountains above Calcutta, a little princess is born. Because of the outbreak of World War I, she is six years old the first time her parents take her to England. Her mother thinks she should have a proper English upbringing and insists on leaving her in a convent school - even though Vivien is two years younger than any of the other girls at the school. The only comfort for the lonely child is a cat that was in the courtyard of the school that the nuns let her take up to her dormitory. Her first and best friend at the school is an eight-year-old girl, Maureen O'Sullivan who has been transplanted from Ireland. In the bleakness of a convent school, the two girls can recreate in their imaginations the places they have left and places where they would some day like to travel. After Vivien has been at the school for 18 months, her mother comes again from India and takes her to a play in London. In the next six months Vivien will insist on seeing the same play 16 times. In India the British community entertained themselves at amateur theatricals and Vivien's father was a leading man. Pupils at the English convent school are eager to perform in school plays. It's an all-girls school, so some of the girls have to play the male roles. The male roles are so much more adventurous. Vivien's favorite actor is Leslie Howard, and at 19 she marries an English barrister who looks very much like him. The year is 1932. Vivien's best friend from that convent school has gone to California, where she's making movies. Vivien has an opportunity to play a small role in an English film, Things Are Looking Up (1935). She has only one line but the camera keeps returning to her face. The London stage is more exciting than the movies being filmed in England, and the most thrilling actor on that stage is Laurence Olivier. At a party Vivien finds out about a stage role, "The Green Sash", where the only requirement is that the leading lady be beautiful. The play has a very brief run, but now she is a real actress. An English film is going to be made about Elizabeth I. Laurence gets the role of a young favorite of the queen who is sent to Spain. Vivien gets a much smaller role as a lady-in-waiting of the queen who is in love with Laurence's character. In real life, both fall in love while making this film, Fire Over England (1937). In 1938, Hollywood wants Laurence to play Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights (1939). Vivien, who has just recently read Gone with the Wind (1939), thinks that the role of Scarlett O'Hara is the first role for an actress that would be really exciting to bring to the screen. She sails to America for a brief vacation. In New York she gets on a plane for the first time to rush to California to see Laurence. They have dinner with Myron Selznick the night that his brother, David O. Selznick, is burning Atlanta on a backlot of MGM (actually they are burning old sets that go back to the early days of silent films to make room to recreate an Atlanta of the 1860s). Vivien is 26 when Gone with the Wind (1939) makes a sweep of the Oscars in 1939. So let's show 26-year-old Vivien walking up to the stage to accept her Oscar and then as the Oscar is presented the camera focuses on Vivien's face and through the magic of digitally altering images, the 26-year-old face merges into the face of Vivien at age 38 getting her second Best Actress Oscar for portraying Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951). She wouldn't have returned to America to make that film had not Laurence been going over there to do a film, Carrie (1952) based on Theodore Dreiser's novel "Sister Carrie". Laurence tells their friends that his motive for going to Hollywood to make films is to get enough money to produce his own plays for the London stage. He even has his own theater there, the St. James. Now Sir Laurence, with a seat in the British House of Lords, is accompanied by Vivien the day the Lords are debating about whether the St James should be torn down. Breaking protocol, Vivien speaks up and is escorted from the House of Lords. The publicity helps raise the funds to save the St. James. Throughout their two-decade marriage Laurence and Vivien were acting together on the stage in London and New York. Vivien was no longer Lady Olivier when she performed her last major film role, The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1961).Caesar and Cleopatra (1945)- Actress
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A native-born Californian, Rhonda Fleming attended Beverly Hills public and private schools. Her father was Harold Cheverton Louis (1896-1951). Her mother, Effie Olivia Graham (1891-1985), was a famous model and actress in New York. She has a son (Kent Lane), two granddaughters (Kimberly and Kelly) and four great-grandchildren (Wagner, Page, Lane and Cole). She has appeared in over 40 films, including David O. Selznick's Spellbound (1945), directed by Alfred Hitchcock; Jacques Tourneur's Out of the Past (1947); and Robert Siodmak's The Spiral Staircase (1946). She later got starring roles in such classics as A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1949), Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957), Home Before Dark (1958), Pony Express (1953), Slightly Scarlet (1956), While the City Sleeps (1956) and The Big Circus (1959). While she was always a competent actress, she was more renowned for her exquisite beauty, and the camera absolutely adored her. One time a cameraman on one of her films remarked on how he was so struck by her beauty that, as a gag, he intentionally tried to photograph her badly; he was astonished to discover that no matter how deliberately he botched it, she still came out looking ravishing.
Among her co-stars over the years were Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum, Kirk Douglas, Charlton Heston, Glenn Ford, Burt Lancaster, Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Rock Hudson and Ronald Reagan (with whom she made four films). In addition to motion pictures, Fleming made her Broadway debut in Clare Boothe Luce's "The Women", essayed the role of "Lalume" in "Kismet" at the Los Angeles Music Center and toured as "Madame Dubonnet" in "The Boyfriend". She made her stage musical debut in Las Vegas at the opening of the Tropicana Hotel's showroom. Later she appeared at the Hollywood Bowl in a one-woman concert of Cole Porter and Irving Berlin compositions. She also starred in a national ten-week concert tour with Skitch Henderson, featuring the music of George Gershwin. She has guest-starred on numerous television series, including Wagon Train (1957), Police Woman (1974), The Love Boat (1977), Last Hours Before Morning (1975) and a two-hour special of McMillan & Wife (1971). Waiting for the Wind (1991) reunited her with former co-star Robert Mitchum.
In private life she resides in Century City, California, and was married for 23 years to Ted Mann, a producer and chairman of Mann Theatres, until his death in January 2001. She is a member and supporter of Childhelp USA, ARCS (Achievement Rewards For College Scientists); a Life Associate of Pepperdine University; a Lifetime Member of the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge; a Founding Member of the French Foundation For Alzheimer Research; a Benefactor of the Los Angeles Music Center: and a Member of the Center's Blue Ribbon Board of Directors. She is a Member of the Advisory Board of Olive Crest Treatment Centers for Abused Children and serves as a Board of Directors Trustee of World Opportunities International. Along with her husband she helped build the Jerusalem Film Institute in Israel. She also is a member of the Board of Trustees of The UCLA Foundation and a member of the Board of Advisors of the Revlon/UCLA Women's Health Research Program. In addition, she created at the City of Hope Hospital The Rhonda Fleming Mann Research Fellowship to further advance research and treatment associated with women's cancer.
In 1991, she and her husband established the Rhonda Fleming Mann Clinic for Women's Comprehensive Care at UCLA Medical Center. This clinic provides a full range of expert gynecologic and obstetric care to women. Since 1992, she has devoted her time to a second facility at UCLA - the Rhonda Fleming Mann Resource Center for Women with Cancer, which opened in early 1994. This Center is the fulfillment of her vision to create a safe, warm place where women cancer patients and their families might receive the highest quality psychosocial and emotional care as well as assistance with the complex practical problems that arise with cancer. In August 1997, the Center opened "Reflections", a unique retail store and consultation suite that carries wigs, head coverings, breast prostheses and other items to help men, women and children deal with the physical appearance changes brought on by cancer and its treatments. The staffs of the clinic, center and store are guided by her belief that caring, compassion, communication and commitment are essential components of the healing process.Serpent of the Nile (1953)- Actress
- Soundtrack
Sophia Loren was born as Sofia Scicolone at the Clinica Regina Margherita in Rome on September 20, 1934. Her father Riccardo was married to another woman and refused to marry her mother Romilda Villani, despite the fact that she was the mother of his two children (Sophia and her younger sister Maria Scicolone). Growing up in the slums of Pozzuoli during the second World War without any support from her father, she experienced great sadness in her childhood. Her life took an unexpected turn for the best when, at age 14, she entered into a beauty contest and placed as one of the finalists. It was here that Sophia caught the attention of film producer Carlo Ponti, some 22 years her senior, whom she later married. Perhaps he was the father figure she never experienced as a child. Under his guidance, Sophia was put under contract and appeared as an extra in ten films beginning with Le sei mogli di Barbablù (1950), before working her way up to supporting roles. In these early films, she was credited as "Sofia Lazzaro" because people joked her beauty could raise Lazzarus from the dead.
By her late teens, Sophia was playing lead roles in many Italian features such as La favorita (1952) and Aida (1953). In 1957, she embarked on a successful acting career in the United States, starring in Boy on a Dolphin (1957), Legend of the Lost (1957), and The Pride and the Passion (1957) that year. She had a short-lived but much-publicized fling with co-star Cary Grant, who was nearly 31 years her senior. She was only 22 while he was 53, and she rejected a marriage proposal from him. They were paired together a second time in the family-friendly romantic comedy Houseboat (1958). While under contract to Paramount, Sophia starred in Desire Under the Elms (1958), The Key (1958), The Black Orchid (1958), It Started in Naples (1960), Heller in Pink Tights (1960), A Breath of Scandal (1960), and The Millionairess (1960) before returning to Italy to star in Two Women (1960). The film was a period piece about a woman living in war-torn Italy who is raped while trying to protect her young daughter. Originally cast as the more glamorous child, Sophia fought against type and was re-cast as the mother, displaying a lack of vanity and proving herself as a genuine actress. This performance received international acclaim and was honored with an Academy Award for Best Actress.
Sophia remained a bona fide international movie star throughout the sixties and seventies, making films on both sides of the Atlantic, and starring opposite such leading men as Paul Newman, Marlon Brando, Gregory Peck, and Charlton Heston. Her English-language films included El Cid (1961), The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964), Arabesque (1966), Man of La Mancha (1972), and The Cassandra Crossing (1976). She gained wider respect with her Italian films, especially Marriage Italian Style (1964) and A Special Day (1977), both of which co-starred Marcello Mastroianni. During these years she received a second Oscar nomination and won five Golden Globe Awards.
From the eighties onward, Sophia's appearances on the big screen came few and far between. She preferred to spend the majority of her time raising sons Carlo Ponti Jr. (b. 1968) and Edoardo Ponti (b. 1973). Her only acting credits during the decade were five television films, beginning with Sophia Loren: Her Own Story (1980), a biopic in which she portrayed herself and her mother. She ventured into other areas of business and became the first actress to launch her own fragrance and design of eyewear. In 1982 she voluntarily spent nineteen days in jail for tax evasion.
In 1991 Sophia received an Honorary Academy Award for her body of work, and was declared "one of world cinema's greatest treasures." That same year, she experienced a terrible loss when her mother died of cancer. Her return to mainstream films in Ready to Wear (1994) was well-received, although the film as a whole was not. She followed this up with her biggest U.S. hit in years, the comedy Grumpier Old Men (1995), in which she played a sexy divorcée who seduces Walter Matthau. Over the next decade Sophia had plum roles in a few independent films like Soleil (1997), Between Strangers (2002) (directed by Edoardo), and Lives of the Saints (2004). Still beautiful at 72, she posed scantily-clad for the 2007 Pirelli Calendar. Sadly, that same year she mourned the death of her 94-year-old spouse, Carlo Ponti. In 2009, after far too much time away from film, she appeared in the musical Nine (2009) opposite Daniel Day-Lewis. These days Sophia is based in Switzerland but frequently travels to the states to spend time with her sons and their families (Eduardo is married to actress Sasha Alexander). Sophia Loren remains one of the most beloved and recognizable figures in the international film world.Two Nights with Cleopatra/Due notti con Cleopatra (1954)- Actress
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Virginia Clara Jones was born on November 30, 1920 in St. Louis, Missouri, the daughter of a newspaper reporter and his wife. The family had a rich heritage in the St. Louis area: her great-great-great-grandfather served in the American Revolution and later founded the city of East Saint Louis, Illinois, located right across the Mississippi River from its namesake. Virginia was interested in show business from an early age. Her aunt operated a dance studio and Virginia began taking lessons at the age of six. After graduating from high school in 1937, she became a member of the St. Louis Municipal Opera before she was signed to a contract by Samuel Goldwyn after being spotted by an MGM talent scout during a Broadway revue. David O. Selznick gave her a screen test, but decided she wouldn't fit into films. Goldwyn, however, believed that her talent as an actress was there and cast her in a small role in 1943's Jack London (1943). She later had a walk-on part in Follies Girl (1943) that same year. Believing there was more to her than her obvious ravishing beauty, producers thought it was time to give her bigger and better roles. In 1944 she was cast as Princess Margaret in The Princess and the Pirate (1944), with Bob Hope and a year later appeared as Ellen Shavley in Wonder Man (1945). Her popularity increasing with every appearance, Virginia was cast in two more films in 1946, The Kid from Brooklyn (1946), with Danny Kaye, and The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), with Dana Andrews, and received good notices as Andrews' avaricious, unfaithful wife. Her roles may have been coming in slow, but with each one her popularity with audiences rose. She finally struck paydirt in 1947 with a plum assignment in the well-received The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947) as Rosalind van Hoorn. That same year she married Michael O'Shea and would remain with him until his death in 1973 (the union produced a daughter, Mary Catherine, in 1953). She got some of the best reviews of her career in James Cagney's return to the gangster genre, White Heat (1949), as Verna, the scheming, cheating wife of homicidal killer Cody Jarrett (Cagney). The striking beauty had still more plum roles in the 1950s. Parts in Backfire (1950), She's Working Her Way Through College (1952) and South Sea Woman (1953) all showed she was still a force to be reckoned with. As the decade ended, Virginia's career began to slow down. She had four roles in the 1960s and four more in the following decade. Her last role was as Lucia in 1997's The Man Next Door. She died on January 17, 2005.The Story of Mankind (1957)- Argentinian leading lady Marta Victoria Moya Peggo Burges was one of three siblings, born in Buenos Aires to a French father and Italian mother. When she was five years of age, her father, a publisher, fled with his family to Montevideo, Uruguay, where they went on to live for several years in somewhat reduced circumstances. According to one of two conflicting stories, her father had gotten into "into conflict with a criminal gang". According to another, he may have fallen foul of the ruling political elite. Whatever the case, both parents died prematurely in what was possibly a suicide pact (in their car of carbon monoxide poisoning) by the time Linda was 13.
Educated at the Conservatoria Franklin in Uruguay, she studied voice and piano. A brief marriage to the Argentinian actor Tito Gómez ended in an annulment after just five days and Linda briefly toyed with the idea of entering a convent (as had several of her aunts). Fate, of course, intervened. While vacationing in Mexico with her older brother, she was 'discovered' by the film producer and director Miguel Alemán Velasco, who also happened to be the son of the country's ruling president. Signed under contract, she adopted the moniker Linda Cristal and made several Spanish language films which soon established her as one of Mexico's rising stars. Conscious of her potential and hoping to break into Hollywood, she decided to learn English as her fourth language (already fluent in Spanish, French and Italian) and subsequently made her American film debut with a small role in the Dana Andrews western Comanche (1956). A dispute over the non-payment of her wages and a car accident in 1956 then led to a brief hiatus in her career.
Fast forward three years and a bit of publicity (she was named "Motion Picture Sweater Queen" in 1958) and Linda was lured back to Hollywood by Universal to again hit the saddle in a couple of back-to-back minor westerns, The Last of the Fast Guns (1958) and The Fiend Who Walked the West (1958). In between attempts to break free from typecasting as decorative Latinas (The Pharaohs' Woman (1960), Panic in the City (1968)) -- a metamorphosis which never happened -- she at least got herself noticed by some high profile people in the business (ie. John Wayne) and was able to thus secure roles in better productions like The Alamo (1960) and Two Rode Together (1961). While her motion picture career was at an impasse, she learned of producer David Dortort casting for the part of Victoria Montoya in the upcoming TV series The High Chaparral (1967). Invited to an audition, she found the set script as too saccharine and bland. Audaciously improvising, she re-imagined her character as more tempestuous, resourceful and proud, later saying in an interview that she knew the producers "were looking for a heroine with fire and spunk". Having secured the coveted role, she made it her own for four seasons (1967-71), ultimately winning two Primetime Emmy nominations and netting her the Golden Globe Award in 1970 as Best Actress in a TV Drama.
After High Chaparral ceased production in 1971, Linda made guest appearances in a handful of TV shows and played a Mexican migrant worker and union leader in Charles Bronson's robust action film Mr. Majestyk (1974). She later worked for some time as a realtor, presided over her own import/export business and invested wisely to become financially very well-off. She made a final comeback to acting as the mistress of a mob boss in the daytime soap General Hospital (1963), eventually calling it quits in 1988. Linda spent her remaining years between residences in Beverly Hills, Palm Springs and Buenos Aires and passed away at her Beverly Hills home on June 27 2020 at the age of 89.Legions of the Nile (1959) - Actress
- Composer
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Pascale Petit hailed from Paris and was 'discovered' while working as a hairdresser in a Carita salon by Françoise Lugagne, the actress-wife of director Raymond Rouleau. Rouleau proceeded to direct Petit's screen debut as Mary Warren, erstwhile accuser at the Salem witch trials of 1692 and later confessed 'witch', in The Crucible (1957). Despite having no formal acting training, she made an indelible impression with back-to-back performances in Marcel Carné's film, Les tricheurs (1958) and in Alexandre Astruc's One Life (1958) (as the servant girl Rosalie). Her performance won her a coveted Prix Suzanne Bianchetti as Most Promising Young Actress of 1958. She followed up her success with a title role in the comedy Julie the Redhead (1959) and a co-starring role along Micheline Presle in A Mistress for the Summer (1960).
During the following decade, Petit was seen predominantly in German and Italian co-productions. She portrayed Cleopatra during the internecine struggles with her brother Ptolemy in A Queen for Caesar (1962) and helped American super spy Ray Danton foil a Soviet plot in Code Name: Jaguar (1965). In 1966 Petit married Belgian singer/songwriter and actor Giani Esposito, whom she met in 1959 and became partners. They had a son and a daughter while living in Italy. She next joined Stewart Granger, Lex Barker and Pierre Brice in the lackluster Killer's Carnival (1966) and helped American agent Darren McGavin track down a traitor in the above-average espionage thriller Berlin Affair (1970), set in Berlin at the height of the Cold War.
With fewer decent film roles coming her way in the 70s and 80's, Petit turned her attention towards acting in French television series and made-for-TV movies, but failed to recapture the success of her early career. She published her memoirs in 2022, entitled 'Une vie sans tricher' (A Life without Cheating).A Queen for Caesar (1962)- Actress
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Magali Noël was born on 27 June 1931 in Izmir, Turkey. She was an actress, known for Amarcord (1973), Rififi (1955) and Z (1969). She was married to Jean-Pierre Bernard. She died on 23 June 2015 in Châteauneuf-Grasse, Alpes-Maritimes, France.Totò e Cleopatra (1963)- Actress
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This feisty and very funny British comedienne and musical revue vet with the trademark 60s brunet page-boy haircut, pronounced jaw, and arguably the largest, Bette Davis-like eyes in London was born Shirley Anne Broadbent in Ashton-under-Lyne, Cheshire on September 14, 1935. The daughter of Hubert Howath Broadbent, an accountant, and wife Connie (Pyke) Broadbent, who greatly prodded her young daughter into becoming a performer, Amanda was named after the Depression-era child star Shirley Temple. Her grandfather was a theatre owner in Ashton-under-Lyne, and young Shirley made her very first appearance there at the age of 3 as a Christmas Tree Fairy.
Not long after this she began training earnestly in singing and in dance, particularly ballet. As a youngster she won a talent-judging contest singing "I'm Just a Little Girl Who's Looking for a Little Boy". She then went on to attend school at St. Anne's College in St. Anne's-on-Sea and later studied acting at the Cone-Ripman School.
After her parents' divorce, the teenager ran away from home and off to London where she lived at the Theatre Girls Club and subsequently found work as a chorus girl. By 1958 she had changed her marquee name to "Amanda Barrie" and made her TV debut with the comedy team of Morecambe and Wise in which her skirt accidentally fell off on live TV. She then took her first West End curtain call in a 1961 production of "Babes in the Wood". Eventually Amanada decided to set her sights beyond a dancing career, and moved more into musical revue work in the hopes for good comedy parts. Finding work as a dancer in cabaret shows and the revue "On the Brighter Side", she also trained at the Bristol Old Vic but did not perform in repertory.
Throughout the 1960s Amanda focused on her musical talents in the West End, and sparkled in a number of comedy shows. In the early part of the decade she hit solid notices with the revues "Six of One" (1963) with Dora Bryan and "See You Inside (1963)". Other stage work (which included occasional drama) came in the form of "Cabaret" (as Sally Bowles), "Private Lives", "Hobson's Choice, "Any Wednesday", "A Public Mischief", "She Loves Me" (replacing Rita Moreno in London), and "Little by Little". She also worked as the TV hostess on "Double Your Money" with Hughie Green and appeared in a number of comedy films: Operation Bullshine (1959), her debut in an unbilled bit, A Pair of Briefs (1962), Doctor in Distress (1963)and I've Gotta Horse (1965). She appeared to very good advantage in two of the slapstick "Carry On..." film series. She played a female cabbie in the Carry on Cabby (1963) and Cleopatra herself (with a sexy lisp) in Carry on Cleo (1964).
After her film peak Amanda continued to show resiliency on stage and TV. Theatre endeavors included "Absurd Person Singular", the musical "Stepping Out" with Julia McKenzie, "The Mating Game", "Blithe Spirit (as Elvira) and "Twelfth Night". Occasional movie work came in, including the addled comedy One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing (1975) with Helen Hayes. Of the countless sitcoms Amanda has been involved in, she became a soap opera favorite beginning in 1981 with her participation as Alma Sedgewick in Coronation Street (1960). Her appearances were infrequent until the character became a regular in 1989. She retired the role after 11 years in 2001 in an effort to spread her wings once again and seek other work. The producers actually killed off her popular character in quick fashion with a rapid case of cervical cancer.
In 1967 Amanda married actor and theatre director Robin Hunter and the twosome appeared occasionally on stage together, including the pantomime "Aladdin" in late 1967 and 1968 in which Amanda had the title role. The couple separated in the 1980s, however, but remained good friends and never divorced. Hunter died in 2004. In 1997 Amanda battled a serious optic disease in which she eventually lost the sight of her left eye. She has continued to perform, however, and more recent work has included the pantomimes "Jack and the Beanstalk" (2006) and "Cinderella" (2007), in which she played the Fairy Godmother. In her popular and highly candid autobiography "It's Not a Rehearsal," a best seller published in 2003, Amanda opened up for the first time about her bisexuality.Carry On Cleo (1963)- Actress
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Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor was considered one of the last, if not the last, major star to have come out of the old Hollywood studio system. She was known internationally for her beauty, especially for her violet eyes, with which she captured audiences early in her youth and kept the world hooked with ever after.
Taylor was born on February 27, 1932 in London, England. Although she was born an English subject, her parents, Sara Taylor (née Sara Viola Warmbrodt) and Francis Taylor, were Americans, art dealers from St. Louis, Missouri. Her father had moved to London to set up a gallery prior to Elizabeth's birth. Her mother had been an actress on the stage, but gave up that vocation when she married. Elizabeth lived in London until the age of seven, when the family left for the US when the clouds of war began brewing in Europe in 1939. They sailed without her father, who stayed behind to wrap up the loose ends of the art business.
The family relocated to Los Angeles, where Mrs. Taylor's own family had moved. Mr. Taylor followed not long afterward. A family friend noticed the strikingly beautiful little Elizabeth and suggested that she be taken for a screen test. Her test impressed executives at Universal Pictures enough to sign her to a contract. Her first foray onto the screen was in There's One Born Every Minute (1942), released when she was ten. Universal dropped her contract after that one film, but Elizabeth was soon picked up by MGM.
The first production she made with that studio was Lassie Come Home (1943), and on the strength of that one film, MGM signed her for a full year. She had minuscule parts in her next two films, The White Cliffs of Dover (1944) and Jane Eyre (1943) (the former made while she was on loan to 20th Century-Fox). Then came the picture that made Elizabeth a star: MGM's National Velvet (1944). She played Velvet Brown opposite Mickey Rooney. The film was a smash hit, grossing over $4 million. Elizabeth now had a long-term contract with MGM and was its top child star. She made no films in 1945, but returned in 1946 in Courage of Lassie (1946), another success. In 1947, when she was 15, she starred in Life with Father (1947) with such heavyweights as William Powell, Irene Dunne and Zasu Pitts, which was one of the biggest box office hits of the year. She also co-starred in the ensemble film Little Women (1949), which was also a box office huge success.
Throughout the 1950s, Elizabeth appeared in film after film with mostly good results, starting with her role in the George Stevens film A Place in the Sun (1951), co-starring her good friend Montgomery Clift. The following year, she co-starred in Ivanhoe (1952), one of the biggest box office hits of the year. Her busiest year was 1954. She had a supporting role in the box office flop Beau Brummell (1954), but later that year starred in the hits The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954) and Elephant Walk (1954). She was 22 now, and even at that young age was considered one of the world's great beauties. In 1955 she appeared in the hit Giant (1956) with James Dean.
Sadly, Dean never saw the release of the film, as he died in a car accident in 1955. The next year saw Elizabeth co-star with Montgomery Clift in Raintree County (1957), an overblown epic made, partially, in Kentucky. Critics called it dry as dust. In addition, Clift was seriously injured during the film, with Taylor helping save his life. Despite the film's shortcomings and off-camera tragedy, Elizabeth was nominated for an Academy Award for her portrayal of Southern belle Susanna Drake. However, on Oscar night the honor went to Joanne Woodward for The Three Faces of Eve (1957).
In 1958 Elizabeth starred as Maggie Pollitt in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958). The film received rave reviews from the critics and Elizabeth was nominated again for an Academy Award for best actress, but this time she lost to Susan Hayward in I Want to Live! (1958). She was still a hot commodity in the film world, though. In 1959 she appeared in another mega-hit and received yet another Oscar nomination for Suddenly, Last Summer (1959). Once again, however, she lost out, this time to Simone Signoret for Room at the Top (1958). Her Oscar drought ended in 1960 when she brought home the coveted statue for her performance in BUtterfield 8 (1960) as Gloria Wandrous, a call girl who is involved with a married man. Some critics blasted the movie but they couldn't ignore her performance. There were no more films for Elizabeth for three years. She left MGM after her contract ran out, but would do projects for the studio later down the road. In 1963 she starred in Cleopatra (1963), which was one of the most expensive productions up to that time--as was her salary, a whopping $1,000,000. The film took years to complete, due in part to a serious illness during which she nearly died.
This was the film where she met her future and fifth husband, Richard Burton (the previous four were Conrad Hilton, Michael Wilding, Mike Todd--who died in a plane crash--and Eddie Fisher). Her next films, The V.I.P.s (1963) and The Sandpiper (1965), were lackluster at best. Elizabeth was to return to fine form, however, with the role of Martha in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966). Her performance as the loudmouthed, shrewish, unkempt, yet still alluring Martha was easily her finest to date. For this she would win her second Oscar and one that was more than well-deserved. The following year, she and Burton co-starred in The Taming of The Shrew (1967), again giving winning performances. However, her films afterward were box office failures, including Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967), The Comedians (1967), Boom! (1968) (again co-starring with Burton), Secret Ceremony (1968), The Only Game in Town (1970), X, Y & Zee (1972), Hammersmith Is Out (1972) (with Burton again), Ash Wednesday (1973), Night Watch (1973), The Driver's Seat (1974), The Blue Bird (1976) (considered by many to be her worst), A Little Night Music (1977), and Winter Kills (1979) (a controversial film which was never given a full release and in which she only had a small role). She later appeared in some movies, both theatrical and made-for-television, and a number of television programs. In February 1997, Elizabeth entered the hospital for the removal of a brain tumor. The operation was successful. As for her private life, she divorced Burton in 1974, only to remarry him in 1975 and divorce him, permanently, in 1976. She had two more husbands, U.S. Senator John Warner and construction worker Larry Fortensky, whom she met in rehab.
In 1959, Taylor converted to Judaism, and continued to identify herself as Jewish throughout her life, being active in Jewish causes. Upon the death of her friend, actor Rock Hudson, in 1985, she began her crusade on behalf of AIDS sufferers. In the 1990s, she also developed a successful series of scents. In her later years, her acting career was relegated to the occasional TV-movie or TV guest appearance.
Elizabeth Taylor died on March 23, 2011 in Los Angeles, from congestive heart failure. Her final resting place is Forest Lawn Memorial Park, in Glendale, California.Cleopatra (1963)- Actress
- Music Department
- Producer
Chinatsu Nakayama was born on 13 July 1948 in Kumamoto, Japan. She is an actress and producer, known for Belladonna of Sadness (1973), Chie the Brat (1981) and Double Bed (1983). She was previously married to Masahiko Satô.Kureopatura (1970), voice artist.- Hildegard Neil was born on 20 May 1939 in Cape Town, South Africa. She was an actress, known for Antony and Cleopatra (1972), Macbeth (1997) and King Lear (1999). She was married to Brian Blessed, John Cartmel-Crossley and Barry Wenn. She died on 19 September 2023.Antony and Cleopatra (1972)
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This gorgeous Teutonic temptress was one of Hollywood's most captivating imports of the 1960s. Blonde and beautiful, Berlin-born Elke Sommer, with her trademark pouty lips, high cheekbones and sky-high bouffant hairdos, proved irresistible to American audiences, whether adorned in lace or leather, or donning lingerie or lederhosen . She was born in Berlin-Spandau on November 5, 1940 with the unlikely name of Else Schletz-Ho to a Lutheran minister and his wife. The family was forced to evacuate to Erlangen, during World War II in 1942, a small university town in the southern region of Germany. It was here that her parents first introduced her to water colors and her lifelong passion for painting was ignited. Her father's death in 1955, when she was only 14, interrupted her education and she relocated to Great Britain, where she learned English and made ends meet as an au pair. She eventually attended college back in Germany and entertained plans to become a diplomatic translator but, instead, decided to try modeling.
After winning a beauty title ("Miss Viareggio Turistica") while on vacation in Italy, she caught the attention of renowned film actor/director Vittorio De Sica and began performing on screen. Her debut film was in the Italian feature, Uomini e nobiluomini (1959), which starred DeSica and was directed by Giorgio Bianchi. Following a few more Italian pictures, which included her first starring role in Love, the Italian Way (1960), also directed by Bianchi, Elke began making a name for herself in German films, as well, and gradually upgraded her status to European sex symbol. A pin-up favorite, she appeared fetchingly in both dramas and comedies, with such continental features as Daniella by Night (1961), Sweet Violence (1962) and her first English-speaking picture, Why Bother to Knock (1961), to her credit.
Hollywood naturally became intrigued and she moved there in the early 1960s to try and tap into the American market. Her sexy innocence made a vivid impression in the all-star, war-themed drama, The Victors (1963), the Hitchcock-like thriller, The Prize (1963), for which she won a "Best Newcomer" Golden Globe Award, and, especially, A Shot in the Dark (1964), the classic bumbling comedy where she proved a shady and sexy foil to Peter Sellers' Inspector Clousseau. She grew in celebrity, which was certainly helped after showing off her physical assets, posing for spreads in Playboy Magazine. In the meantime, she was appearing opposite the hunkiest of Hollywood actors including Paul Newman, James Garner, Glenn Ford and Stephen Boyd.
Always a diverting attraction in spy intrigue or breezy comedy, she was too often misused and setbacks began to occur when the quality of her films began to deteriorate. The tacky Hollywood entry, The Oscar (1966), the Bob Hope misfire, Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number! (1966), the tired Dean Martin "Matt Helm" spy spoof, The Wrecking Crew (1968), and her title role in the tasteless Cold War comedy, The Wicked Dreams of Paula Schultz (1968), starring Hogan's Heroes (1965) alumnus, Bob Crane, Werner Klemperer and Leon Askin, proved her undoing.
The multilingual actress, whose career took her to scores of different countries over time and benefited from speaking seven languages fluently, resorted to a number of low-budget features in Europe, including two Italian horror movies directed by Mario Bava that have now gone on to become cult classics: Baron Blood (1972) and The Exorcist (1973) rip-off, Lisa and the Devil (1973). The latter movie actually was a guilty pleasure. "Lisa" was re-released in 1975 as "The House of Exorcism" and added more footage of a demonic Elke, Linda Blair style, spewing frogs, insects, green pea soup and a slew of cuss words! In England, she good-naturedly appeared in the "comedy" films, Percy (1971), and its equally cheeky sequel, It's Not the Size That Counts (1974), which starred Hywel Bennett (later Leigh Lawson) as the first man to have a penis transplant(!). She also showed up in one of the later "Carry On" farces, entitled Carry on Behind (1975).
Elke fared better on television, where she appeared in the television pilot, Probe (1972), opposite Hugh O'Brian, as well as the well-made 1980s miniseries, Inside the Third Reich (1982), Jenny's War (1985), Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna (1986) and Peter the Great (1986). In addition, she made a few TV guest appearances on such popular shows as "Fantasy Island," "The Love Boat" and "St. Elsewhere."
A delightful personality on the talk show circuit, the lovely Elke also made appearances as a cabaret singer and, in time, put out several albums. She found a creative outlet on stage too with such vehicles as "Irma la Douce", "Born Yesterday", "Cactus Flower", "Woman of the Year" and "Same Time, Next Year".
Dividing her time between here and in Germany in later years, she added her usual charm to films both here (Lily in Love (1984), Severed Ties (1992)), and in Germany (Himmelsheim (1988), Flashback (2000), Life Is Too Long (2010)).
The veteran actress has since focused more time on book writing and painting than she has on acting. Holding her first one-woman art show at the McKenzie Galleries in Beverly Hills in 1965, her artwork bears an exceptionally strong influence to Marc Chagall and she, at one point, hosted a mid-1980s PBS series ("Painting with Elke"), that centered on her artwork, which has now exhibited and sold for more than 40 years. Nevertheless, on occasion, she tackles an acting role, often in her native Germany. Divorced from writer and journalist Joe Hyams, whom she met when he interviewed her for a Hollywood article (he recently died in November 2008), she has been married since 1993 to hotelier Wolf Walther.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeME7bASD4w - Muppet Show ep. 319- Actress
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Miss Piggy is known for The Muppets (2011), The Muppets Thought of the Week (2017) and Peter Alexander präsentiert Spezialitäten (1969).Muppet Show ep. 409 - The pigs are excited that guest star Beverly Sills plans to perform the opera "Pigoletto" as the closing number. Miss Piggy som Cleopatra- Actress
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Gina was born in New York City and is youngest of three children in a close-knit Cuban American family. Attended New York City's High School of Music and Art She is a gifted mezzo soprano and was trained in opera and jazz and also sang in a gospel choir.Cleopatra i Xena: Warrior Princess (1999-2005)- Actress
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Leonor Varela was born on December 29, 1972 in Santiago de Chile, Chile, the daughter of Leonor Palma, a massage therapist, and Francisco Varela (Francisco Javier Varela Garcia), a biologist, neuroscientist, and philosopher. Her family fled to Costa Rica, leaving behind the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. They subsequently resided in Germany, USA, and France, where Varela studied.
In the '90s she appears in the Chilean soap Tic Tac (1997), and in other French and Europeans productions like Pony Trek (1995), Sous le soleil (1996), Shooting Stars (1997), A Legend to Ride (1997), Le juste (1996), or Bouge! (1997). Her career in Holywood began in 1998, when she joined the cast of The Man in the Iron Mask (1998) when she starred opposite Leonardo DiCaprio, and she appeared in The Bible Collection: Jeremiah (1998) opposite Patrick Dempsey. The following year (1999), she played the title character in the ABC TV movie "Cleopatra" (1999) (TV) opposite her future fiancé Billy Zane and Timothy Dalton
She appeared in The Tailor of Panama (2001) as Marta and in Texas Rangers (2001) as Perdita opposite Ashton Kutcher. In 2002 she appeared as the fanged vampire princess Nyssa in the action film Blade II (2002) opposite Wesley Snipes and Kris Kristofferson and directed by Guillermo del Toro. After that came Paraíso B (2002) as Gloria and in Pas si grave (2003) as Angela.
Varela also had a short recurring role in the Fox Television show Arrested Development (2003) as the original Marta. She was nominated for the Ariel Award in 2005 in the category of Best Actress for Innocent Voices (2004). She also had a non-recurring role in Stargate: Atlantis (2004).
In 2005 she appeared playing Adela in Americano (2005), and her following projects included Goal II: Living the Dream (2007) as the journalist Jordana Garcia, Where God Left His Shoes (2007) with John Leguizamo and the TV series produced by Jennifer Lopez Como ama una mujer (2007).
In the 2008 Sundance Film Festival she screened Sleep Dealer (2008) and the Larry Bishop's Hell Ride (2008), opposite Michael Madsen and Eric Balfour and produced by Quentin Tarantino.Cleopatra (1999) TV miniserie med Timothy Dalton som Julius Cæsar og Billy Zane som Markus Antonius.- Samuela Sardo was born on 19 November 1977 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. She is an actress, known for Caesar (2002), Chiara e gli altri (1989) and Tracce di vita amorosa (1990). She has been married to Massimo Romeo Piparo since 9 July 2011. They have one child.Julius Cæsar (2002) TV miniserie
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Monica Anna Maria Bellucci was born on September 30, 1964 in the Italian village of Città di Castello, Umbria, the only child of Brunella Briganti and Pasquale Bellucci. She originally pursued a career in the legal profession. While attending the University of Perugia, she modeled on the side to earn money for school, and this led to her modeling career. In 1988, she moved to one of Europe's fashion centers, Milan, and joined Elite Model Management. Although enjoying great success as a model, she made her acting debut on television in 1990, and her American film debut in Bram Stoker's Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992). Her role in the French thriller The Apartment (1996), shot her to stardom as she won the French equivalent of an Oscar nomination. Other credits include Malena (2000), Under Suspicion (2000) and Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001).Astérix & Obélix: Mission Cléopâtre (2002)- Actress
- Producer
Lyndsey Marshal was born on 16 June 1978 in Manchester, England, UK. She is an actress and producer, known for Rome (2005), Trespass Against Us (2016) and Hereafter (2010).Rome (2005-)- Actress
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Danielle de Niese was born on 11 April 1979 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. She is an actress, known for Kingdom of Heaven (2005), Hannibal (2001) and Julius Caesar (2006).Giulio Cesare (2006)- Actress
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Adele first discovered her passion for acting at secondary school, where she played the understudy of Mrs Casper in an all-female production of Kes, after which her mother proclaimed that she "had found her calling". Since then, Adele has passionately pursued full-time and part-time acting training over the course of her career.
In 2018 Adele established herself as a screenwriter, with her debut "Best Screenplay" award-winning short film, Last Call. She has since developed her own original TV concepts with major broadcasters and production companies, such as Channel 4.Queen Cleopatra (2023)