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Today's Birthday: 21 November Pick Another Birthday Date |
a2zpeople @ Friday, 21 November 2008 Today's PeoplesVoltaireFuture proponent for victims of injustice and tyranny during the years
prior to the French Revolution, Voltaire (born François Marie Arouet on
November 21, 1694 in Paris) was educated in Paris by the Jesuits. For a
time, he studied law, then decided to become a writer. Witty,
thought-provoking, and socially critical, his unique writings inspired
the common people but angered the French royalty. In 1717, Voltaire was
imprisoned in the Bastille for 11 months for ridiculing Duc d'Orléans.
While in prison, he rewrote his tragedy "Oedipe." Upon its publication,
"Oedipe" brought the young author and philosopher enormous fame and
ominous notoriety; in 1726, he was forced to go into exile in England.
Here, he became fascinated with the plays of William Shakespeare, and
while shocked by their "barbaric" nature (calling Shakespeare "a
drunken savage"), he was deeply affected by their genius, energy, and
human drama. He felt that France had much to learn from England's
literature. Three years later, Voltaire returned to France, writing
plays and poetry, as well as historical and scientific treatises -- his
brilliant 1734 "Lettres philosophiques" was published. Scandal followed
this work that harshly criticized the religious and political
institutions. A warrant for his arrest was issued in 1734, and Voltaire
fled, taking refuge at Cirey in Champagne, in the home of Gabrielle
Emilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil Marquise du Châtelet, the 28-year-old
wife of the Marquis Florent du Châtelet. Here he began his professional
liaison with the young, intelligent woman. Gabrielle worked with him on
many philosophical and scientific topics. Her one major work was a
translation of Newton's "Principia." Voltaire lived with her in the
château he had renovated at his own expense. After 15 years as his
guide and supporter, tragedy struck when Gabrielle died in childbirth
on September 10, 1749. The baby was the presumed child of her lover,
poet Jean-François de Saint-Lambert. Her husband, Voltaire, and
Saint-Lambert were present at her death bed. Voltaire was overwhelmed
with grief, often waking in the middle of the night calling her name.
He eventually regained favor at the French court and was appointed its
royal historiographer. In 1755, he lived near Geneva and wrote his most
famous work, the satirical "Candide," in 1759. Voltaire later produced
many anti-religious writings and his 1764 "Dictionnaire philosophique."
His fame became worldwide. He was called "Innkeeper of Europe," and he
entertained chic philosophers of the day and such literary figures as
James Boswell, Giovanni Casanova, and Edward Gibbon. Always impassioned
about injustice, he took a keen interest in the case of Jean Calas,
whose innocence he helped to establish. In 1761, Calas was accused, on
trivial evidence, of murdering his eldest son to prevent him becoming a
Roman Catholic. Calas was found guilty and was executed by being broken
on the wheel. Voltaire, in his late 60s, spearheaded a fervent
campaign, resulting in a revision of the trial. It was determined that
the son had committed suicide, and the Parisian parliament declared
Calas innocent in 1765. Voltaire finally returned to Paris in 1778, 28
years after leaving. He had become a beloved national celebrity, and
it's believed that the frenzied excitement of such adoration from the
French people aggravated his precarious health. Reportedly, more than
300 people called on him the day after his arrival. He died a painful
death on May 30 of uremia, only a few months after his celebrated
arrival, at age 83. His nephew, the Abbé Mignot, had his body, clothed
as it was the day he died, quickly transported to the Abbey of
Scellières where Voltaire was given a Christian burial; the prohibition
of such a burial came after the ceremony. Because of his life-long
criticism of the church, Voltaire was denied burial in church ground.
He was finally buried at an abbey in Champagne. His heart was removed
from his body, and now lays in the Bibliotheque nationale in Paris. His
brain was also removed, but after a series of moves during the next
hundred years, it disappeared following an auction. Voltaire's remains
were moved to the Panthéon in Paris during the Revolution in July 1791.
In 1814, a group of right-wing religious "ultras" stole Voltaire's
remains from his enormous sarcophagus and dumped them in a garbage
heap. The theft went undetected for about 50 years. - Author: Vicki McClure Davidson Luft, LornaThe daughter of Judy Garland and producer Sidney Luft, and the
half-sister of Liza Minnelli, Lorna Luft was born in 1952 in Santa
Monica, California. According to her autobiography, 'Me and My Shadows'
(1998), she and her younger brother Joey Luft lived an iddylic
childhood in Bel Air, oblivious to any problems that may have arisen
regarding her mother's ongoing drug addiction and her parents'
marriage. By the time she was 12, however, her parents were divorced,
and she was forced to face her mother's serious drug problem head-on.
But she stuck with her mother, because she knew that Garland truly
loved her children when not under the infleuence of the drugs. She
became her mother's care-giver, administering the medication she needed
to function, carefully monitoring the amout she took, and dealing with
her whenever her behavior got out of control. Eventually, however, she
couldn't take it anymore and had a mental breakdown. As painful as it
was for her, she and her brother left her mother and went to live with
their father. Several months later, Garland overdosed and died. Lorna
was crushed and guilty, having a hard time coming to terms with the
fact that her mother's death was inevitable, and would have happened
had she been there or not. Lorna soon followed in her mother and
sister's footsteps to a show buisiness career. She became a
professional singer, though never quite reachinf the success her mother
and sister had in that field. She also appeared on Broadway in
"Promises, Promises" and "Snoopy", in a summer stock production of
"Grease, " and in a national tour of "Guys and Dolls". She hasn't made
many films. The ones she has made include Grease 2 (1982), the
disastrous sequel to the film version of Grease, and the beach party
film Where the Boys Are (1984), as well as small appearences in Studio
54 (1998) and My Giant (1998) In 1985, she took a supporting role in
the sitcom "Trapper John, M.D." (1979) as a nurse, but a year and a
half later the show ended its seven-year run. In the 70's and 80's, she
also experienced a drug addiction, to cocaine, but is now drug-free.
She claims she has had to face her sister Liza's drug addictions, as
well, and helped to get her into the Betty Ford Center once. She was
married to rocker Jake Hooker, who later became her manager, but
despite two children, the marriage was not happy. They are now
divorced, and she lives in California with her children and her second
husband, musician Colin Freeman. Currently (1999), plans are in full
swing for a miniseries to be made from her book. She will serve as
executive producer on the project.
Lorna has followed in the footsteps of her mother and sister to a show
business career. Her first professional screen appearance was on "The
Judy Garland Show" on television in 1963, and she later appeared with
her mother at the Palace Theatre in the famed 1967 engagement. Lorna
went on to star on Broadway in her own right in the shows "Promises,
Promises" and "Snoopy" in the 1970s, appeared in a production of
"Grease", and in the acclaimed national tour of "Guys and Dolls" in the
early 1990s -- as well as recording the CD soundtrack for the show. As
a solo artist, Lorna has apppeared on most of the major stages in the
US, Canada, and United Kingdom. Her show critically acclaimed show,
"Songs My Mother Taught Me", has toured throughout North America. In
addition, Lorna is the author of the autobiographical "Me and My
Shadows: A Family Memoir" and Executive Producer of the subsequent
miniseries starring Judy Davis, "Life With Judy Garland: Me and My
Shadows". - Author: Anonymous Hawn, GoldieGoldie Hawn was born in Silver Spring, Maryland, on November 21, 1945, to Laura (Stienhoff) Hawn, a dance school owner and jewelry wholesaler, and Edward Rutledge Hawn, a professional musician. Hawn was raised Jewish although, she notes, "not in a strictly religious atmosphere," and describes a happy home life. She began dancing at age three, and danced in the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo's Nutcracker chorus at age ten. Hawn recalls being asked to dance on point for a friend's bar mitzvah. The music started, and she slipped and fell-twice. Succeeding on her third attempt, "I realized I was probably the little girl who was going to make it." After graduating high school, Hawn attended American University while running her own ballet school. Two years later, she moved to New York City to pursue acting and dance seriously. To support herself, she danced in the Texas Pavilion at the 1964 World's Fair, at numerous clubs, and in the chorus of touring Broadway musicals. Producers from '”Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In” (1968)' spotted her dancing on an ‘Andy Griffith’ television special in 1967 and hired her as a regular. Hawn's endearing giggles and improvisational ability on Laugh-In (1968-1970) earned her an Emmy and, less welcome, comments about her "dumb-blonde routine." Her character, Hawn clarifies, "was a deeply joyful blonde. I never thought of her as dumb." In 1969, Hawn won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar and a Golden Globe
Award for the film 'Cactus Flower (1969)' . She went on to a critically acclaimed
dramatic role in Steven Spielberg's first film, 'Sugarland Express, The (1974)' . With the 1980s
highly successful comedy 'Private Benjamin (1980)' , she added the role of executive
producer to that of star. In perhaps her most accomplished performance,
Hawn shows Benjamin's metamorphosis from selfish, stereotypical Jewish
American Princess to self-aware, empowered woman in charge. Behind the
camera, Hawn faced the challenges common to women filmmakers in the
traditionally male-dominated industry. "Women's power in Hollywood is
not an easy thing to come by," she says. "A woman is constantly
tempering her own point of view, her own passion." But, Hawn remembers,
"I just stuck to my guns . . .and this was hard because I didn't want
people too see me as a bitch."
Hawn is one of the most successful women in Hollywood. She has acted in
over thirty films; in 1996 she was seen in 'First Wives Club, The (1996)' , which quickly made
over $100 million at the box office, and in ‘Woody Allen’ 's
musical film 'Everyone Says I Love You (1996)' . She continues to produce, including the 1995
blockbuster 'Something to Talk About (1995)' , and runs Cherry Alley Productions with Teri
Schwartz. Hawn has made eight trips to India since her first in 1980,
most recently to film In the Wild, a 1996 PBS documentary on saving the
elephants. - Author: anonymous |
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