By Ligia Fernandez
To access past Entertainers columns, click on the Entertainers archive
link to the left.
May 2008
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Source:
www.museum.tv
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Angela Lansbury
(1925 - )
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Long before she was wowing audiences on the Broadway stage,
Angela Lansbury had a distinguished movie career beginning with her
Oscar-nominated roles as saucy housemaid Nancy in the drama GASLIGHT (her
first film) when she only 19 and Sybil Vane in THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY.
Her ability to project a maturity far beyond her years caused
her to be typecast in a series of "older woman" roles mostly notably as
Laurence Harvey's abusive mother in THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE.
She made her Broadway musical debut in Stephen Sondheim's
ANYONE CAN WHISTLE in 1964. Then came the role that would launch her
into musical theatre history, madcap Mame Dennis in Jerry Herman's MAME. Her
other Broadway musical roles include the Countess in DEAR WORLD (also by
Jerry Herman), Rose in the '74 revival of GYPSY and Mrs. Lovett in the
original '79 production of SWEENEY TODD.
She also starred in the TV musical MRS. SANTA CLAUS, the
Disney musical feature film BEDKNOBS AND BROOMSTICKS and lent her voice to
the character of Mrs. Potts in the animated film BEAUTY AND THE BEAST.
Television audiences also know her as Jessica Fletcher
from her long-running series MURDER SHE WROTE. |
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Source:
usatoday.com |
Howard Keel
(1919 - 2004) |
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One of MGM's brightest musical stars of the 1950s, Howard
Keel scored solidly with his very first film for the studio - the adaptation
of Irving Berlin's ANNIE GET YOUR GUN playing Frank Butler opposite Betty
Hutton as Annie. His rugged good looks and lilting
baritone voice made him a natural leading man for some of MGM's biggest
musicals of the decade -- SHOW BOAT, LOVELY TO LOOK AT, CALAMITY JANE, KISS
ME KATE, ROSE MARIE, SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS, JUPITER'S DARLING and
KISMET.
His Broadway musical roles include Billy Bigelow in the
'57 revival of CAROUSEL and the short-lived musicals SARATOGA ('59) and
AMBASSADOR ('72).
In 1978, he gained a whole new audience when he joined the
cast of the nighttime soap opera DALLAS as Clayton Farlow, the second
husband of Ewing matriarch Miss Ellie (Barbara Bel Geddes). |
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Next update to this page: Sunday, June 1, 2008 |
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