1957 Israel GUYS And DOLLS Hebrew MOVIE Film FLYER POSTER Film BRANDO SINATRA

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Seller: judaica-bookstore ✉️ (2,803) 100%, Location: TEL AVIV, IL, Ships to: WORLDWIDE, Item: 276099356599 1957 Israel GUYS And DOLLS Hebrew MOVIE Film FLYER POSTER Film BRANDO SINATRA. The film was made by Samuel Goldwyn Productions and distributed by MGM. It was directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who also wrote the screenplay. The garage owner will not even accept a "marker" or IOU, he insists on having the money itself. DESCRIPTION : Here for sale is an almost 60 years old EXCEPTIONALY RARE and ORIGINAL ILLUSTRATED Advertising FLYER - POSTER for the ISRAEL 1957 PREMIERE of the American musical film "GUYS and DOLLS"  . Starrig among others : FRANK SINATRA , MARLON BRANDO and JEAN SIMMONS to name only a few , in the small rural town of NATHANYA in ISRAEL.  The cinema-movie hall " CINEMA SHARON" , A legendary Israeli version of “Cinema Paradiso” was printing manualy its own posters , And thus you can be certain that this surviving copy is ONE OF ITS KIND.  Fully DATED 1957 . Text in HEBREW and ENGLISH . Please note : This is NOT a re-release flyer-poster but a PREMIERE - FIRST RELEASE projection of the film , One year after its release in 1956 in USA , Europe and worldwide . The ISRAELI distributors of the film have given it an INTERESTING and quite archaic and amusing advertising and promoting accompany text. Size around 13" x  19" ( Not accurate ) . Printed in most vivid colors . The condition is excellent . 2 almost unseen staple holes ( Pls look at scan for accurate AS IS images )  Will be sent rolled in a special protective rigid sealed tube.   AUTHENTICITY This advertising flyer-poster is guaranteed ORIGINAL from 1957 ( Fully dated )  , NOT a reprint or a recently made immitation.  , It holds a life long GUARANTEE for its AUTHENTICITY and ORIGINALITY. PAYMENTS : Payment method accepted : PAYPAL & All credit cards. SHIPPING : Shipp worldwide via registered airmail is $ 25 . Will be sent rolled in a special protective rigid sealed package. Handling around 5-10 days after payment.    Guys and Dolls is a 1955 musical film starring Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons, Frank Sinatra and Vivian Blaine. The film was made by Samuel Goldwyn Productions and distributed by MGM. It was directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who also wrote the screenplay. The film is based on the 1950 Broadway musical by composer and lyricist Frank Loesser, with a book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows based on "The Idyll Of Miss Sarah Brown" and "Blood Pressure", two short stories by Damon Runyon.[1] Upon Samuel Goldwyn's and Joseph L. Mankiewicz's requests, Frank Loesser wrote three new songs for the film: "Pet Me Poppa", "(Your Eyes Are the Eyes of) A Woman in Love", and "Adelaide", the last written specifically for Sinatra. Five songs in the stage musical were omitted from the movie: "A Bushel and a Peck" (heard instrumentally as background music), "My Time of Day", "I've Never Been In Love Before", "More I Cannot Wish You" and "Marry the Man Today". Plot Although there are detail differences between the stage and movie versions, the plot is essentially based on the activities of New York petty criminals and professional gamblers in the late 1940s. Gambler Nathan Detroit (Frank Sinatra) is under pressure from all sides: He has to organize an unlicensed crap game but the police, led by Lieutenant Brannigan (Robert Keith), are "putting on the heat". All the places where Nathan usually holds his games refuse him entry due to Brannigan's intimidating pressure. The owner of the Biltmore garage does agree to host the game provided Nathan pays him $1000 in cash in advance. The garage owner will not even accept a "marker" or IOU, he insists on having the money itself. Adding to Nathan's problems, his fiancée, Miss Adelaide (Vivian Blaine), a nightclub singer, wants to bring an end to their 14-year engagement and actually tie the knot. She also wants him to go straight, but organizing illegal gambling is the only thing he's good at. Trying to obtain the money for the garage, Nathan meets an old acquaintance, Sky Masterson (Marlon Brando), a gambler willing to bet on virtually anything and for high amounts. Nathan proposes a $1000 bet by which Sky must take a girl of Nathan's choosing to dinner in Havana, Cuba. The bet seems impossible for Sky to win when Nathan nominates Sergeant Sarah Brown (Jean Simmons), a straight-walking sister at the Save a Soul Mission (based on the Salvation Army) which opposes gambling. Sarah herself has problems. She has been in charge of the Broadway branch of the Mission for some time now and no drunks or gamblers have come in to confess or reform. To approach Sarah, Sky pretends that he is a gambler who wants to change. Sarah sees how expensively dressed he is and she is suspicious: "It's just so unusual for a successful sinner to be unhappy about sin." Seeing that the Mission is and has been empty and unsuccessful, "a store full of repentance and no customers", Sky suggests a bargain: He will get a dozen sinners into the Mission for her Thursday night meeting in return for her having dinner with him in Havana. With General Matilda Cartwright (Kathryn Givney) threatening to close the Broadway branch for lack of participation, Sarah has little choice left, and agrees to the date. Confident that he will win his bet with Sky, Nathan has gathered together all the gamblers, including a visitor that tough-guy Harry the Horse (Sheldon Leonard) has invited: Big Jule (B.S. Pully), a Chicago mobster. When Lieutenant Brannigan appears and notices this gathering of "senior delinquents", Nathan's sidekick, Benny Southstreet (Johnny Silver) covers it up by claiming that they are celebrating the fact that Nathan is getting married to Adelaide. Nathan is shocked by this, but is forced to play along. Later, when he notices the Save a Soul Mission band passing by and sees that Sarah is not among them, he collapses on the realization that he has lost his bet with Sky. He has no money and nowhere to house the crap game, and, since Adelaide was present at the "wedding announcement" Benny Southstreet dreamed up, he is now apparently committed to actually marrying Adelaide. He does love Adelaide, but is uneasy about going straight, either maritally or lawfully. Over the course of their short stay in Cuba, Sky manages to break down Sarah's social inhibitions, partly through disguised alcoholic drinks, and they begin to fall in love with one another. He even confesses that the whole date was part of a bet, but she forgives him as she realizes that his love for her is sincere. They return to Broadway at dawn and meet the Save a Soul Mission band which, on Sky's advice, has been parading all night. At that moment police sirens can be heard, and before they know it the gamblers led by Nathan Detroit are hurrying out of a back room of the Mission, where they took advantage of the empty premises to hold the crap game. The police arrive too late to make any arrests, but Lieutenant Brannigan finds the absence of Sarah and the other Save a Soul members too convenient to have been a coincidence. He implies that it was all Sky's doing: "Masterson, I had you in my big-time book. Now I suppose I'll have to reclassify you — under shills and decoys". His suspicions are passed on to Sarah, who dumps Sky there and then, refusing to accept his denials. In the meantime Sky has to make good his arrangement with Sarah to provide sinners to the Mission. Sarah would rather forget the whole thing, but Uncle Arvide Abernathy (Regis Toomey), who acts as a kind of father figure to her, warns Sky that "If you don't make that marker good, I'm going to buzz it all over town you're a welcher." Nathan has continued the crap game in a sewer. With his revolver visible in its shoulder holster, Big Jule, who has lost all his money, forces Nathan to play against him while he cheats, cleaning Nathan out. Sky enters and knocks Big Jule down and removes his pistol. Sky, who has been stung and devastated by Sarah's rejection, lies to Nathan about succeeding in the bet to take her to Havana, and pays Nathan the $1000. Nathan tells Big Jule he now has money to play him again, but Harry the Horse says that Big Jule can't play without cheating because "he cannot make a pass to save his soul". Sky overhears this, and the phrasing inspires him to make a bold bet: He will roll the dice, and if he loses he will give all the other gamblers $1000 each; if he wins they are all to attend a prayer meeting at the Mission. The Mission is near to closing when suddenly the gamblers come parading in, taking up most of the room. Sky won the roll. They grudgingly confess their sins, though they show little sign of repentance: "Well ... I was always a bad guy. I was even a bad gambler. I would like to be a good guy and a good gambler. I thank you." Even Big Jule declares: "I used to be bad when I was a kid. But ever since then I've gone straight, as I can prove by my record — 33 arrests and no convictions." Nicely-Nicely Johnson (Stubby Kaye) however, recalling a dream he had the night before, seems to have an authentic connection to the Mission's aim, and this satisfies everyone. When Nathan tells Sarah that Sky denied winning the Cuba bet, which she knows he won, she hurries off in order to make up with him. It all ends with a double wedding in the middle of Times Square, with Sky marrying Sarah, and Nathan marrying Adelaide, who is given away by Lieutenant Brannigan. Arvide Abernathy performs the dual ceremony. Nicely-Nicely has joined the Save a Soul Mission, and he and General Matilda Cartwright are sweet on each other. As the film closes, the two newlywed couples are escorted from the wedding to their respective love nests inside police cars, with lights festively flashing and sirens blaring. Notes There is a suggestion that Nathan Detroit may be Jewish, due to his frequent use of Yinglish phrases, especially in the song "Sue Me" which includes "nu" (an interjection roughly meaning well, as of expectation), and turns of phrase such as "What can you do me?" and Gesundheit. When "Angie the Ox" tells Nathan to guess who he saw having a "steak breakfast", Nathan sarcastically mutters "Hitler". Part of the sarcasm is that Hitler is widely believed to have been vegetarian. Casting the movie Robert Alda had originated the role of Sky Masterson on Broadway in 1950. For the movie, Gene Kelly, then one of the screen's greatest dancers, at first seemed a serious candidate for the part. Instead it went to Marlon Brando, one of the screen's greatest actors, partly because MGM would not loan Kelly for the production, but also because Goldwyn wanted to cast Brando, the world's biggest box office draw at that moment. The film ended up being distributed by MGM, Kelly's home studio.[2] Another contender for the part of Sky was Sinatra himself.[2] Sinatra had also been considered for the part of Terry Malloy in On the Waterfront;[3] both roles went to Brando. Marilyn Monroe and Grace Kelly were also considered for the parts of Adelaide and Sarah respectively. Mankiewicz refused to work with Monroe, probably as a result of his experiences while filming All About Eve, in which she had appeared.[2] The musical scenes for Jean Simmons and Marlon Brando were sung by the actors themselves (no dubbing).[4][5] Robert Keith plays police Lieutenant Brannigan, and one of his targets is Sky Masterson. Keith had matched wits with Brando before in the part of a sheriff facing Brando's reckless biker in The Wild One. Stubby Kaye, Vivian Blaine, B.S. Pully, and Johnny Silver all repeated their Broadway roles in the film. Cast Marlon Brando as Sky Masterson Jean Simmons as Sister Sarah Brown Frank Sinatra as Nathan Detroit Vivian Blaine as Miss Adelaide Stubby Kaye as Nicely-Nicely Johnson Robert Keith as Lieutenant Brannigan Sheldon Leonard as Harry the Horse Regis Toomey as Arvide Abernathy B.S. Pully as Big Jule Johnny Silver as Benny Southstreet The Goldwyn Girls as the Hot Box Girls (uncredited), including June Kirby, Pat Sheehan and Larri Thomas.[6] Awards and nominations Academy Awards[7] Nominated for Best Art Direction: Oliver Smith, Joseph C. Wright, Howard Bristol; Best Cinematography: Harry Stradling, Best Costume Design: Irene Sharaff; Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture: Jay Blackton and Cyril J. Mockridge. BAFTA Awards Nominated for Best Film from any Source Nominated for Best Foreign Actress: Jean Simmons Golden Globe Awards Best Motion Picture - Musical/Comedy Best Motion Picture Actress - Musical/Comedy: Jean Simmon In 2004, the AFI ranked the song Luck Be a Lady at #42 on their list of the 100 greatest film songs, AFI's 100 Years... 100 Songs. In 2006 Guys and Dolls ranked #23 on the American Film Institute's list of best musicals. Critical reception and commercial success Guys and Dolls opened on November 3, 1955 to mostly good reviews. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 86% of critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 6.9/10. Casting Marlon Brando has long been somewhat controversial, although Variety wrote "The casting is good all the way." This was the only Samuel Goldwyn film released through MGM. With an estimated budget of over $5 million, it went on to gross in excess of $13 million. Variety ranked it as the #1 moneymaking film of 1956, netting a profit of $9,000,000.[8] Guys and Dolls went on to gross $1.1 million in the UK, $1 million in Japan, and over $20 million dollars globally. However, the film has been criticized by some critics and by the surviving family of Frank Loesser, who wrote the music and lyrics. Loesser had a very public disagreement with Sinatra, considering him totally wrong for the role of Nathan Detroit, who, in the stage version, was played by the gruff-voiced Sam Levene, who was not really a singer. Loesser felt that Sinatra was too slick for the role of Nathan and strongly disliked the way he "crooned" Nathan's songs. This resulted in Loesser and Sinatra never speaking to each other again after the film was finished. Others have criticized the smooth, mellow-voiced gambler Sky Masterson being played by the non-singer Brando, who, according to a biography of Samuel Goldwyn by Arthur Marx, was cast simply because he was then the hottest rising star in Hollywood. Nevertheless, Brando sings in the film and received praise for his vocal performance. ***** Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra (pronounced /sɨˈnɑːtrə/; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998[6]) was an American singer and actor. Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became a successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, being the idol of the "bobby soxers". His professional career had stalled by the 1950s, but it was reborn in 1954 after he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor (for his performance in From Here to Eternity). He signed with Capitol Records and released several critically lauded albums (such as In the Wee Small Hours, Songs for Swingin' Lovers, Come Fly with Me, Only the Lonely and Nice 'n' Easy). Sinatra left Capitol to found his own record label, Reprise Records (finding success with albums such as Ring-A-Ding-Ding, Sinatra at the Sands and Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim), toured internationally, was a founding member of the Rat Pack and fraternized with celebrities and statesmen, including John F. Kennedy. Sinatra turned 50 in 1965, recorded the retrospective September of My Years, starred in the Emmy-winning television special Frank Sinatra: A Man and His Music, and scored hits with "Strangers in the Night" and "My Way". With sales of his music dwindling and after appearing in several poorly received films, Sinatra retired for the first time in 1971. Two years later, however, he came out of retirement and in 1973 recorded several albums, scoring a Top 40 hit with "(Theme From) New York, New York" in 1980. Using his Las Vegas shows as a home base, he toured both within the United States and internationally, until a short time before his death in 1998. Sinatra also forged a successful career as a film actor, winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in From Here to Eternity, a nomination for Best Actor for The Man with the Golden Arm, and critical acclaim for his performance in The Manchurian Candidate. He also starred in such musicals as High Society, Pal Joey, Guys and Dolls and On the Town. Sinatra was honored at the Kennedy Center Honors in 1983 and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Ronald Reagan in 1985 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 1997. Sinatra was also the recipient of eleven Grammy Awards, including the Grammy Trustees Award, Grammy Legend Award and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award Early life Main article: Biography of Frank Sinatra Born December 12, 1915 in Hoboken, New Jersey,[7] Sinatra was the only child of Italian immigrants Natalie Della Garaventa and Antonino Martino Sinatra[8] and was raised Catholic.[9] He left high school without graduating,[10] having attended only 47 days before being expelled because of his rowdy conduct. Sinatra's father, often referred to as Marty, served with the Hoboken Fire Department as a Captain. His mother, known as Dolly, was influential in the neighborhood and in local Democratic Party circles, but also ran an illegal abortion business from her home; she was arrested several times and convicted twice for this offense.[11] During the Great Depression, Dolly nevertheless provided money to their son for outings with friends and expensive clothes.[12] Sinatra was arrested for carrying on with a married woman, a criminal offense at the time.[13] He worked as a delivery boy at the Jersey Observer newspaper,[14] and as a riveter at the Tietjan and Lang shipyard,[15] but music was Sinatra's main interest, and he carefully listened to big band jazz.[16] He began singing for tips at the age of eight, standing on top of the bar at a local nightclub in Hoboken. Sinatra began singing professionally as a teenager in the 1930s,[17] although he learned music by ear and never learned how to read music.[16] Career 1935–40: Start of career, work with James and Dorsey Sinatra got his first break in 1935 when his mother persuaded a local singing group, The Three Flashes, to let him join. With Sinatra, the group became known as the Hoboken Four,[5] and they sufficiently impressed Edward Bowes. After appearing on his show, Major Bowes Amateur Hour, they attracted 40,000 votes and won the first prize – a six month contract to perform on stage and radio across the United States. Sinatra left the Hoboken Four and returned home in late 1935. His mother secured him a job as a singing waiter and MC at the Rustic Cabin in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, for which he was paid $15 a week.[18] On March 18, 1939, Sinatra made a demo recording of a song called "Our Love", with the Frank Mane band. The record has "Frank Sinatra" signed on the front. The bandleader kept the original record in a safe for nearly 60 years.[19] In June, Harry James hired Sinatra on a one year contract of $75 a week.[20] It was with the James band that Sinatra released his first commercial record "From the Bottom of My Heart" in July, 1939[21]- US Brunswick #8443 and UK Columbia #DB2150.[22] Fewer than 8,000 copies of "From the Bottom of My Heart" (Brunswick #8443) were sold, making the record a very rare find that is sought after by record collectors worldwide. Sinatra released ten commercial tracks with James through 1939, including "All or Nothing At All" which had weak sales on its initial release but then sold millions of copies when re-released by Columbia at the height of Sinatra's popularity a few years later.[23] In November 1939, in a meeting at the Palmer House in Chicago, Sinatra was asked by bandleader Tommy Dorsey to join his band as a replacement for Jack Leonard, who had recently left to launch a solo career. This meeting was a turning point in Sinatra's career. By signing with Dorsey's band, one of the hottest at the time, he greatly increased his visibility with the American public. Though Sinatra was still under contract with James, James recognized the opportunity Dorsey offered and graciously released Sinatra from his contract. Sinatra recognized his debt to James throughout his life and upon hearing of James' death in 1983, stated: "he [James] is the one that made it all possible."[24] On January 26, 1940, Sinatra made his first public appearance with the Dorsey band at the Coronado Theater in Rockford, Illinois.[25] In his first year with Dorsey, Sinatra released more than forty songs, with "I'll Never Smile Again" topping the charts for twelve weeks beginning in mid-July.[26] Sinatra's relationship with Tommy Dorsey was troubled, because of their contract, which awarded Dorsey one-third of Sinatra's lifetime earnings in the entertainment industry. In January 1942, Sinatra recorded his first solo sessions without the Dorsey band (but with Dorsey's arranger Axel Stordahl and with Dorsey's approval). These sessions were released commercially on the Bluebird label. Sinatra left the Dorsey band late in 1942 in an incident that started rumors of Sinatra's involvement with the Mafia. A story appeared in the Hearst newspapers that mobster Sam Giancana coerced Dorsey to let Sinatra out of his contract for a few thousand dollars, and was fictionalized in the movie The Godfather.[16] According to Nancy Sinatra's biography, the Hearst rumors were started because of Frank's Democratic politics. In fact, the contract was bought out by MCA founder Jules Stein for $75,000.[24] 1940–50: Sinatramania and decline of career In May 1941, Sinatra was at the top of the male singer polls in the Billboard and Down Beat magazines.[27] His appeal to bobby soxers, as teenage girls of that time were called, revealed a whole new audience for popular music, which had been recorded mainly for adults up to that time. On December 31, 1942, Sinatra made a "legendary opening" at the Paramount Theater in New York. Jack Benny later said, "I thought the goddamned building was going to cave in. I never heard such a commotion...All this for a fellow I never heard of." When Sinatra returned to the Paramount in October 1944, 35,000 fans caused a near riot outside the venue because they were not allowed in.[16] During the musicians' strike of 1942–44, Columbia re-released Harry James and Sinatra's version of "All or Nothing at All" (music by Arthur Altman and lyrics by Jack Lawrence), recorded in August 1939 and released before Sinatra had made a name for himself. The original release did not even mention the vocalist's name. When the recording was re–released in 1943 with Sinatra's name prominently displayed, the record was on the best–selling list for 18 weeks and reached number 2 on June 2, 1943.[28] Sinatra signed with Columbia on June 1, 1943, as a solo artist, and he initially had great success, particularly during the 1942-43 musicians' strike. Although no new records had been issued during the strike, he had been performing on the radio (on Your Hit Parade), and on stage. Columbia wanted to get new recordings of their growing star as fast as possible, so Sinatra convinced them to hire Alec Wilder as arranger and conductor for several sessions with a vocal group called the Bobby Tucker Singers. These first sessions were on June 7, June 22, August 5, and November 10, 1943. Of the nine songs recorded during these sessions, seven charted on the best–selling list.[29] Sinatra did not serve in the military during World War II. On December 11, 1943, he was classified 4-F ("Registrant not acceptable for military service") for a perforated eardrum by his draft board. Additionally, an FBI report on Sinatra, released in 1998, showed that the doctors had also written that he was a "neurotic" and "not acceptable material from a psychiatric standpoint". This was omitted from his record to avoid "undue unpleasantness for both the selectee and the induction service".[30][31] Active-duty servicemen, like journalist William Manchester, said of Sinatra, "I think Frank Sinatra was the most hated man of World War II, much more than Hitler", because Sinatra was back home making all of that money and being shown in photographs surrounded by beautiful women.[32] His deferment would resurface throughout his life and cause him grief when he had to defend himself.[30][33] There were accusations, including some from noted columnist Walter Winchell,[34] that Sinatra paid $40,000 to avoid the service – but the FBI found no evidence of this.[31][35] In 1945, Sinatra co-starred with Gene Kelly in Anchors Aweigh. That same year, he was loaned out to RKO to star in a short film titled The House I Live In. Directed by Mervyn LeRoy, this film on tolerance and racial equality earned a special Academy Award shared among Sinatra and those who brought the film to the screen, along with a special Golden Globe for "Promoting Good Will". 1946 saw the release of his first album, The Voice of Frank Sinatra, and the debut of his own weekly radio show. By the end of 1948, Sinatra felt that his career was stalling, something that was confirmed when he slipped to No. 4 on Down Beat's annual poll of most popular singers (behind Billy Eckstine, Frankie Laine, and Bing Crosby).[36] The year 1949 saw an upswing, as Frank co-starred with Gene Kelly in Take Me Out to the Ball Game. It was well received critically and became a major commercial success. That same year, Sinatra teamed up with Kelly for a third time in On the Town. 1950–60: Rebirth of career, Capitol concept albums After two years' absence, Sinatra returned to the concert stage on January 12, 1950, in Hartford, Connecticut. His voice suffered and he experienced hemorrhaging of his vocal cords on stage at the Copacabana on April 26, 1950.[12] Sinatra's career and appeal to new teen audiences declined as he moved into his mid-30s. This was a period of serious self-doubt about the trajectory of his career. In February 1951, he was walking through Times Square, past the Paramount theatre, keystone venue of his earlier phenomenal success. The Paramount marquee glowed in announcement of Eddie Fisher in concert. Swarms of teen-age girls had gathered in frenzy, swooning over the current singing idol. For Sinatra this public display of enthusiasm for Fisher validated a fear he had harbored in his own mind for a long time. The Sinatra star had fallen; the shouts of "Frankieee" were echoes of the past. Agitated and disconsolate he rushed home, closed his kitchen door, turned on the gas and laid his head on the top of the stove. A friend returned to the apartment not long after to find Sinatra lying on the floor sobbing out the melodrama of his life, proclaiming his failure was so complete he could not even commit suicide.[37] In September 1951, Sinatra made his Las Vegas debut at the Desert Inn. A month later, a second series of the Frank Sinatra Show aired on CBS. Ultimately, Sinatra did not find the success on television for which he had hoped. The persona he presented to the TV audience was not that of a performer easily welcomed into homes. He projected an arrogance not compatible with the type of cozy congeniality that played well on the small screen.[38] Columbia and MCA dropped him in 1952. The rebirth of Sinatra's career began with the eve-of-Pearl Harbor drama From Here to Eternity (1953), for which he won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. This role and performance marked a turnaround in Sinatra's career: after several years of critical and commercial decline, becoming an Oscar-winning actor helped him regain his position as the top recording artist in the world.[39] Also in 1953, Sinatra starred in the NBC radio program Rocky Fortune. His character, Rocko Fortunato (aka Rocky Fortune) was a temp worker for the Gridley Employment Agency who stumbled into crime-solving by way of the odd jobs to which he was dispatched. The series aired on NBC radio Tuesday nights from October 1953 to March 1954, following the network's crime drama hit Dragnet. During the final months of the show, just before the 1954 Oscars, it became a running gag that Sinatra would manage to work the phrase "from here to eternity" into each episode, a reference to his Oscar-nominated performance.[40] In 1953, Sinatra signed with Capitol Records, where he worked with many of the finest musical arrangers of the era, most notably Nelson Riddle,[21] Gordon Jenkins, and Billy May. With a series of albums featuring darker emotional material, Sinatra reinvented himself, including In the Wee Small Hours (1955)—Sinatra's first 12" LP and his second collaboration with Nelson Riddle—Where Are You? (1957) and Frank Sinatra Sings For Only The Lonely (1958). He also incorporated a hipper, "swinging" persona into some of his music, as heard on Swing Easy! (1954), Songs For Swingin' Lovers (1956), and Come Fly With Me (1957). By the end of the year, Billboard had named "Young at Heart" Song of the Year; Swing Easy!, with Nelson Riddle at the helm (his second album for Capitol), was named Album of the Year; and Sinatra was named "Top Male Vocalist" by Billboard, Down Beat and Metronome. A third collaboration with Nelson Riddle, Songs For Swingin' Lovers, was both a critical and financial success, featuring a recording of "I've Got You Under My Skin". Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely, a stark collection of introspective saloon songs and blues-tinged ballads, was a mammoth commercial success, spending 120 weeks on Billboard's album chart and peaking at #1. Cuts from this LP, such as "Angel Eyes" and "One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)", would remain staples of Sinatra's concerts throughout his life. Through the late fifties, Sinatra frequently criticized rock and roll music, much of it being his reaction to rhythms and attitudes he found alien. In 1958 he lambasted it as "sung, played, and written for the most part by cretinous goons. It manages to be the martial music of every sideburned delinquent on the face of the earth."[41] 1960–70: Ring-A-Ding-Ding, Reprise records, Basie, Jobim, "My Way" Sinatra started the 1960s as he ended the 1950s. His first album of the decade, Nice 'n' Easy, topped Billboard's chart and won critical plaudits. Sinatra grew discontented at Capitol and decided to form his own label, Reprise Records. His first album on the label, Ring-A-Ding-Ding (1961), was a major success, peaking at No.4 on Billboard and No.8 in the UK. His fourth and final Timex TV special was broadcast in March 1960, and earned massive viewing figures. Titled It's Nice to Go Travelling, the show is more commonly known as Welcome Home Elvis. Elvis Presley's appearance after his army discharge was somewhat ironic; Sinatra had been scathing about him in the mid fifties, saying: "His kind of music is deplorable, a rancid smelling aphrodisiac. It fosters almost totally negative and destructive reactions in young people."[42] Presley had responded: "... [Sinatra] is a great success and a fine actor, but I think he shouldn't have said it... [rock and roll] is a trend, just the same as he faced when he started years ago."[43] Later, in efforts to maintain his commercial viability, Sinatra recorded Presley's hit "Love Me Tender" as well as works by Paul Simon ("Mrs. Robinson"), The Beatles ("Something", "Yesterday"), and Joni Mitchell ("Both Sides Now").[44] Following on the heels of the film Can Can was Ocean's 11, the movie that became the definitive on-screen outing for "The Rat Pack". From his youth, Sinatra displayed sympathy for African Americans and worked both publicly and privately all his life to help them win equal rights. He played a major role in the desegregation of Nevada hotels and casinos in the 1960s. On January 27, 1961, Sinatra played a benefit show at Carnegie Hall for Martin Luther King, Jr. and led his fellow Rat Pack members and Reprise label mates in boycotting hotels and casinos that refused entry to black patrons and performers. He often spoke from the stage on desegregation and repeatedly played benefits on behalf of Dr. King and his movement. According to his son, Frank Sinatra, Jr., King sat weeping in the audience at a concert in 1963 as Sinatra sang Ol' Man River, a song from the musical Show Boat that is sung by an African-American stevedore. On September 11 and 12, 1961, Sinatra recorded his final songs for Capitol. In 1962, he starred with Janet Leigh and Laurence Harvey in the political thriller, The Manchurian Candidate, playing Bennett Marco. That same year, Sinatra and Count Basie collaborated for the album Sinatra-Basie. This popular and successful release prompted them to rejoin two years later for the follow-up It Might as Well Be Swing, which was arranged by Quincy Jones. One of Sinatra's more ambitious albums from the mid-1960s, The Concert Sinatra, was recorded with a 73-piece symphony orchestra on 35mm tape. Sinatra's first live album, Sinatra at the Sands, was recorded during January and February 1966 at the Sands Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. In June, 1965, Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Dean Martin played live in Saint Louis to benefit Dismas House. The concert was broadcast live via satellite to numerous movie theaters across America. Released in August, 1965, was the Grammy Award–winning album of the year, September of My Years, with a career anthology, A Man and His Music, following in November, itself winning Album of the Year at the Grammys in 1966. The TV special, Frank Sinatra: A Man and His Music, garnered both an Emmy award and a Peabody Award. In the spring, That's Life appeared, with both the single and album becoming Top Ten hits in the US on Billboard's pop charts. Strangers in the Night went on to top the Billboard and UK pop singles charts, winning the award for Record of the Year at the Grammys. The album of the same name also topped the Billboard chart and reached number 4 in the UK. Sinatra started 1967 with a series of important recording sessions with Antônio Carlos Jobim. Later in the year, a duet with daughter Nancy, "Somethin' Stupid", topped the Billboard pop and UK singles charts. In December, Sinatra collaborated with Duke Ellington on the album Francis A. & Edward K.. During the late 1960s, press agent Lee Solters would invite columnists and their spouses into Sinatra's dressing room just before he was about to go on stage. The New Yorker recounted that "the first columnist they tried this on was Larry Fields of the Philadelphia Daily News, whose wife fainted when Sinatra kissed her cheek. 'Take care of it, Lee,' Sinatra said, and he was off." The professional relationship Sinatra shared with Solters focused on projects on the west coast while those focused on the east coast were handled by Solters' partner, Sheldon Roskin of Solters/Roskin/Friedman, a well-known firm at the time.[45] Back on the small-screen, Sinatra once again worked with Jobim and Ella Fitzgerald on the TV special, A Man and His Music + Ella + Jobim. Watertown (1970) was one of Sinatra's most acclaimed concept albums[46] but was all but ignored by the public. Selling a mere 30,000 copies and reaching a peak chart position of 101, its failure put an end to plans for a television special based on the album. With Sinatra in mind, singer-songwriter Paul Anka wrote the song "My Way", inspired from the French "Comme d'habitude" ("As Usual"), composed by Claude François and Jacques Revaux. (The song had been previously commissioned to David Bowie, whose lyrics did not please the involved agents.) "My Way" would, ironically, become more closely identified with him than any other song over his seven decades as a singer even though he reputedly did not care for it. 1970–80: Retirement and comeback On June 13, 1971 – at a concert in Hollywood to raise money for the Motion Picture and TV Relief Fund – at the age of 55, Sinatra announced that he was retiring, bringing to an end his 36-year career in show business. In 1973, Sinatra came out of retirement with a television special and album, both entitled Ol' Blue Eyes Is Back. The album, arranged by Gordon Jenkins and Don Costa, was a great success, reaching number 13 on Billboard and number 12 in the UK. The TV special was highlighted by a dramatic reading of "Send in the Clowns" and a song and dance sequence with former co-star Gene Kelly. In January, 1974, Sinatra returned to Las Vegas, performing at Caesars Palace despite vowing in 1970 never to play there again after the manager of the resort, Sanford Waterman, pulled a gun on him during a heated argument.[47] With Waterman recently shot, the door was open for Sinatra to return. In Australia, he caused an uproar by describing journalists there – who were aggressively pursuing his every move and pushing for a press conference – as "fags", "pimps", and "whores". Australian unions representing transport workers, waiters, and journalists went on strike, demanding that Sinatra apologize for his remarks.[48] Sinatra instead insisted that the journalists apologize for "fifteen years of abuse I have taken from the world press".[48] The future Prime Minister of Australia, Bob Hawke, then the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) leader, also insisted that Sinatra apologize, and a settlement was eventually reached to the apparent satisfaction of both parties,[48] Sinatra's final show of his Australian tour was televised to the nation. In October 1974, Sinatra appeared at New York City's Madison Square Garden in a televised concert that was later released as an album under the title The Main Event – Live. Backing him was bandleader Woody Herman and the Young Thundering Herd, who accompanied Sinatra on a European tour later that month. The TV special garnered mostly positive reviews while the album – actually culled from various shows during his comeback tour – was only a moderate success, peaking at No.37 on Billboard and No.30 in the UK. In August, 1975, Sinatra held several back-to-back concerts together with the newly-risen singer, John Denver. Soon they became friends with each other. John Denver later appeared as a guest in the Sinatra and friends TV Special, singing "September Song" together with Sinatra. Sinatra covered the John Denver hits "My Sweet Lady" and "Leaving on a Jet Plane". And, according to Denver, his song "A Baby Just Like You" was written at Sinatra's request. In 1979, in front of the Egyptian pyramids, Sinatra performed for Anwar Sadat. Back in Las Vegas, while celebrating 40 years in show business and his 64th birthday, he was awarded the Grammy Trustees Award during a party at Caesars Palace. 1980–90: Trilogy, She Shot Me Down, L.A. Is My Lady In 1980, Sinatra's first album in six years was released, Trilogy: Past Present Future, a highly ambitious triple album that found Sinatra recording songs from the past (pre-rock era) and present (rock era and contemporary) that he had overlooked during his career, while 'The Future' was a free-form suite of new songs linked à la musical theater by a theme, in this case, Sinatra pondering over the future. The album garnered six Grammy nominations – winning for best liner notes – and peaked at number 17 on Billboard's album chart, while spawning yet another song that would become a signature tune, "Theme from New York, New York", as well as Sinatra's much lauded (second) recording of George Harrison's "Something" (the first was not officially released on an album until 1972's Frank Sinatra's Greatest Hits, Vol. 2). The following year, Sinatra built on the success of Trilogy with She Shot Me Down, an album that revisited the dark tone of his Capitol years, and was praised by critics as a vintage late-period Sinatra. Sinatra would comment that it was "A complete saloon album... tear-jerkers and cry-in-your-beer kind of things".[49] Also in 1981, Sinatra was embroiled in controversy when he worked a ten-day engagement for $2 million in Sun City, South Africa, breaking a cultural boycott against apartheid-era South Africa. See Artists United Against Apartheid He was selected as one of the five recipients of the 1983 Kennedy Center Honors, alongside Katharine Dunham, James Stewart, Elia Kazan, and Virgil Thomson. Quoting Henry James in honoring his old friend, President Ronald Reagan said that "art was the shadow of humanity" and that Sinatra had "spent his life casting a magnificent and powerful shadow".[50] In 1984, Sinatra worked with Quincy Jones for the first time in nearly two decades on the album, L.A. Is My Lady, which was well received critically. The album was a substitute for another Jones project, an album of duets with Lena Horne, which had to be abandoned. (Horne developed vocal problems and Sinatra, committed to other engagements, could not wait to record.) 1990s: Duets, final performances In 1990, Sinatra celebrated his 75th birthday with a national tour,[51] and was awarded the second "Ella Award" by the Los Angeles–based Society of Singers. At the award ceremony, he performed for the final time with Ella Fitzgerald.[52] In December, as part of Sinatra's birthday celebrations, Patrick Pasculli, the Mayor of Hoboken, made a proclamation in his honor, declaring that "no other vocalist in history has sung, swung, crooned, and serenaded into the hearts of the young and old ... as this consummate artist from Hoboken."[53] The same month Sinatra gave the first show of his Diamond Jubilee Tour at the Brendan Byrne Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey. In 1993 Sinatra made a surprise return to Capitol and the recording studio for Duets, which was released in November. The other artists who added their vocals to the album worked for free, and a follow-up album (Duets II) was released in 1994 that reached No.9 on the Billboard charts. Still touring despite various health problems, Sinatra remained a top concert attraction on a global scale during the first half of the 1990s. At times during concerts his memory failed him and a fall onstage in Richmond, Virginia, in March, 1994, signaled further problems. Sinatra's final public concerts were held in Japan's Fukuoka Dome in December, 1994. The following year, on February 25, 1995, at a private party for 1200 select guests on the closing night of the Frank Sinatra Desert Classic golf tournament, Sinatra sang before a live audience for the very last time. Esquire reported of the show that Sinatra was "clear, tough, on the money" and "in absolute control". His closing song was "The Best is Yet to Come". Sinatra was awarded the Legend Award at the 1994 Grammy Awards, where he was introduced by Bono, who said of him, "Frank's the chairman of the bad attitude... Rock 'n roll plays at being tough, but this guy is the boss—the chairman of boss... I'm not going to mess with him, are you?"[54] Sinatra called it "the best welcome...I ever had", though he may have been referring to the long standing ovation he received.[55] But his acceptance speech ran too long and was abruptly cut off, leaving him looking confused and talking into a dead microphone. In 1995, to mark Sinatra's 80th birthday, the Empire State Building glowed blue. A star-studded birthday tribute, Sinatra: 80 Years My Way, was held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. At the end of the program Sinatra graced the stage for the last time to sing the final notes of "New York, New York" with an ensemble. It was Sinatra's last televised appearance. In recognition of his many years of association with Las Vegas, Frank Sinatra was elected to the Gaming Hall of Fame in 1997.[56] Personal life See also: Relationships of Frank Sinatra Sinatra had three children, Nancy, Frank Jr., and Tina, all with his first wife, Nancy Barbato (married 1939–1951). He was married three more times, to actresses Ava Gardner (1951–1957) and Mia Farrow (1966–1968) and finally to Barbara Marx (married 1976), to whom he was still married at his death. Throughout his life, Sinatra had mood swings and bouts of depression. Solitude and unglamorous surroundings were to be avoided at all cost. He struggled with the conflicting need "to get away from it all, but not too far away."[57] He acknowledged this, telling an interviewer in the 1950s: "Being an 18-karat manic depressive, and having lived a life of violent emotional contradictions, I have an over-acute capacity for sadness as well as elation."[58] In her memoirs My Father's Daughter, his daughter Tina wrote about the "eighteen-karat" remark: "As flippant as Dad could be about his mental state, I believe that a Zoloft a day might have kept his demons away. But that kind of medicine was decades off."[59] Alleged organized crime links Main article: Alleged organized crime links Sinatra garnered considerable attention due to his alleged personal and professional links with organized crime,[60] including figures such as Carlo Gambino,[61] Sam Giancana,[61] Lucky Luciano,[61] and Joseph Fischetti.[61] The Federal Bureau of Investigation kept records amounting to 2,403 pages on Sinatra. With his alleged Mafia ties, his ardent New Deal politics and his friendship with John F. Kennedy, he was a natural target for J. Edgar Hoover's FBI.[62] The FBI kept Sinatra under surveillance for almost five decades beginning in the 1940s. The documents include accounts of Sinatra as the target of death threats and extortion schemes. They also portray rampant paranoia and strange obsessions at the FBI and reveal nearly every celebrated Sinatra foible and peccadillo.[63] For a year Hoover investigated Sinatra's alleged Communist affiliations, but found no evidence. The files include his rendezvous with prostitutes, and his extramarital affair with Ava Gardner, which preceded their marriage. Celebrities mentioned in the files are Dean Martin, Marilyn Monroe, Peter Lawford, and Giancana's girlfriend, singer Phyllis McGuire. The FBI's secret dossier on Sinatra was released in 1998 in response to Freedom of Information Act requests. The released FBI files reveal some tantalizing insights into Sinatra’s lifetime consistency in pursuing and embracing seemingly conflicting affiliations. But Sinatra’s alliances had a practical aspect. They were adaptive mechanisms for behavior motivated by self-interest and inner anxieties. In September 1950 Sinatra felt particularly vulnerable. He was in a panic over his moribund career and haunted by the continual speculations and innuendos in circulation regarding his draft status in World War II. Sinatra “was scared, his career had sprung a leak.” In a letter dated September 17, 1950 to Clyde Tolson, Sinatra offered to be of service to the FBI as an informer. An excerpted passage from a memo in FBI files states that Sinatra “... feels he can be of help as a result of going anywhere the Bureau desires and contacting any people from whom he might be able to obtain information. Sinatra feels as a result of his publicity he can operate without suspicion…he is willing to go the whole way.” The FBI declined his assistance.[64] Political views Sinatra held differing political views throughout his life. Sinatra's parents had immigrated to the United States in 1895 and 1897 respectively. His mother, Dolly Sinatra (1896–1977), was a Democratic Party ward boss.[65] Sinatra remained a supporter of the Democratic Party until the early 1970s when he switched his allegiance to the Republican Party. Political activities 1944–1968 In 1944, after sending a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Sinatra was invited to meet Roosevelt at the White House, where he agreed to become part of the Democratic party's voter registration drives.[66] He donated $5,000 to the Democrats for the 1944 presidential election and by the end of the campaign was appearing at two or three political events every day.[67] After World War II, Sinatra's politics grew steadily more left wing,[68] and he became more publicly associated with the Popular Front. He started reading liberal literature and supported many organizations that were later identified as front organizations of the Communist Party by the House Un-American Activities Committee in the 1950s, though Sinatra was never brought before the committee. Sinatra spoke at a number of New Jersey high schools in 1945, where students had gone on strike in opposition to racial integration. Later that year Sinatra would appear in The House I Live In, a short film that stood against racism. The film was scripted by Albert Maltz, with the title song written by Earl Robinson and Abel Meeropol (under the pseudonym of Lewis Allen). In 1948, Sinatra actively campaigned for President Harry S. Truman.[69] In 1952 and 1956, he also campaigned for Adlai Stevenson.[69] In 1956 and 1960, Sinatra sang the National Anthem at the Democratic National Convention[69] However, Sinatra's closest friendship with a president came with John F Kennedy.[69] In 1960, Sinatra and his friends Peter Lawford, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis Jr. actively campaigned for Kennedy throughout the United States;[69] On the campaign trail, Sinatra's voice was heard even if he wasn't physically present.[69] the campaign’s theme song, played before every appearance, was a newly recorded version of “High Hopes,” specially recorded by Sinatra with new lyrics saluting JFK.[69] In January 1961, Sinatra and Peter Lawford organized the Inaugural Gala in Washington, D.C., held on the evening before new President John F. Kennedy was sworn into office.[69] The event, featuring many big show business stars, was an enormous success, raising a large amount of money for the Democratic Party. Sinatra also organized an Inaugural Gala in California in 1962 to welcome second term Democratic Governor Pat Brown.[12] Sinatra's move toward the Republicans seems to have begun when he was snubbed by President Kennedy in favor of Bing Crosby,[70] a rival singer and a Republican, for Kennedy's visit to Palm Springs, in 1962. Kennedy had planned to stay at Sinatra's home over the Easter holiday weekend, but decided against doing so because of Sinatra's alleged connections to organized crime,.[70] Kennedy stayed at Bing Crosby's house instead.[70] Sinatra had invested a lot of his own money in upgrading the facilities at his home in anticipation of the President's visit.[71] At the time, President Kennedy's brother, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, was intensifying his own investigations into organized crime figures such as Chicago mob boss Sam Giancana, who had earlier stayed at Sinatra's home. Despite his break with Kennedy, however, he still mourned over Kennedy after he learned he was assassinated.[69] According to his daughter Nancy, he learned of Kennedy's assassination while filming a scene of Robin and the Seven Hoods in Burbank.[69] After he learned of the assassination, Sinatra quickly finished filming the scene, returned to his Palm Springs home, and sobbed in his bedroom for three days.[69] The 1968 election illustrated changes in the once solidly pro-JFK Rat Pack: Peter Lawford, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Shirley MacLaine all endorsed Robert Kennedy in the spring primaries; Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Joey Bishop backed Vice-President Hubert Humphrey. In the fall election, Sinatra appeared for Humphrey in Texas at the Houston Astrodome with President Lyndon Johnson and in a television commercial soliciting campaign contributions.[72] He also re-stated his support for Humphrey on a live election-eve national telethon. Political activities 1970–1984 In 1970, the first sign of Sinatra's break from the Democratic Party came when he endorsed Ronald Reagan for a second term as Governor of California;[52][69] Sinatra, however, remained a registered Democrat and encouraged Reagan to become more moderate.[69] In July 1972, after a lifetime of supporting Democratic presidential candidates, Sinatra announced he would support Republican U.S. President Richard Nixon for re-election in the 1972 presidential election. His switch to the Republican Party was now official;[69] he even told his daughter Tina, who had actively campaigned for Nixon's Democrat opponent George McGovern,[69] "the more older you get, the more conservative you get."[69] Sinatra said he agreed with the Republican Party on most positions, except that of abortion.[66] During Nixon's Presidency, Sinatra visited the White House on several occasions.[69] Sinatra also became good friends with Vice President Spiro Agnew. In 1973, Agnew was charged with corruption and resigned as Vice President; Sinatra helped Agnew pay some of his legal bills.[73] In the 1980 presidential election, Sinatra supported Ronald Reagan, and donated $4 million to Reagan's campaign. Sinatra said he supported Reagan as he was "the proper man to be the President of the United States... it's so screwed up now, we need someone to straighten it out."[74] Reagan's victory gave Sinatra his closest relationship with the White House since the early 1960s.[69] Sinatra arranged Reagan's Presidential gala,[53] as he had done for Kennedy 20 years previously. In 1984, Sinatra returned to his birthplace in Hoboken, bringing with him President Reagan, who was in the midst of campaigning for the 1984 presidential election. Reagan had made Sinatra a fund-raising ambassador as part of the Republican National Committee's "Victory '84 Get-Out-The-Vote" (GOTV) drive .[75] Death Sinatra began to show signs of senility in his last years and after a heart attack in February 1997, he made no further public appearances. After suffering another heart attack,[7] he died at 10:50 pm on May 14, 1998 at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, with his wife Barbara by his side.[7] He was 82 years old.[7] Sinatra's final words, spoken after Barbara encouraged him to "fight" as attempts were made to stabilize him, were "I'm losing."[76] The official cause of death was listed as complications from senility, heart and kidney disease, and bladder cancer.[77] His death was confirmed by the Sinatra family on their website with a statement accompanied by a recording of the singer's version of "Softly As I Leave You". The next night the lights on the Las Vegas Strip were dimmed for 10 minutes in his honor. President Bill Clinton, as an amateur saxophonist and musician, led the world's tributes to Sinatra, saying that after meeting and getting to know the singer as President, he had "come to appreciate on a personal level what millions of people had appreciated from afar".[78] Elton John stated that Sinatra, "was simply the best – no one else even comes close".[78] In a concert live in Ephesus, John tells the audience of an experience which he explains as "one of the most special moments for me as a songwriter", when he went to the Royal Albert Hall in London and seeing Frank Sinatra who sang John's 1976 hit, "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word".[citation needed] On May 20, 1998 at the Roman Catholic Church of the Good Shepherd (Beverly Hills) in Beverly Hills, Sinatra's funeral was held, with 400[79] mourners in attendance and hundreds of fans outside.[79] Gregory Peck,[79] Tony Bennett,[79] and Frank, Jr., addressed the mourners, among whom were Jill St. John, Tom Selleck,[79] Joey Bishop, Faye Dunaway,[79] Tony Curtis,[79] Liza Minnelli,[79] Kirk Douglas,[79] Robert Wagner,[79] Bob Dylan, Don Rickles,[79] Nancy Reagan,[79] Angie Dickinson, Sophia Loren,[79] Bob Newhart,[79] Mia Farrow,[79] and Jack Nicholson.[76][79] A private ceremony was held later that day at St. Theresa's Catholic Church in Palm Springs. Sinatra was buried following the ceremony next to his parents in section B-8 of Desert Memorial Park[6] in Cathedral City, a quiet cemetery on Ramon Road where Cathedral City meets Rancho Mirage and near his compound, located on Rancho Mirage's tree-lined Frank Sinatra Drive.[76] His close friends, Jilly Rizzo and Jimmy Van Heusen, are buried nearby in the same cemetery. The words "The Best Is Yet to Come" are imprinted on Sinatra's grave marker.[80] Legacy The U.S. Postal Service issued a 42-cent postage stamp in honor of Sinatra on May 13, 2008.[81] The design of the stamp was unveiled Wednesday, December 12, 2007 – on what would have been his 92nd birthday – in Beverly Hills, California, with Sinatra family members on hand.[82] The design shows a 1950s-vintage image of Sinatra, wearing a hat. The design also includes his signature, with his last name alone.[82] The Hoboken Post Office was renamed in his honor in 2002.[82] The Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in Astoria, Queens and the Frank Sinatra Park in Hoboken were named in his honor. The U.S. Congress passed a resolution on May 20, 2008 designating May 13 as Frank Sinatra Day to honor his contribution to American culture. The resolution was introduced by Representative Mary Bono Mack.[83] To commemorate the anniversary of Sinatra's death, Patsy's Restaurant in New York City, which Sinatra frequented, exhibited in May 2009 fifteen previously unseen photographs of Sinatra taken by Bobby Bank.[84] The photos are of his recording "Everybody Ought to Be in Love" at a nearby recording studio.[84] Stephen Holden wrote for the 1983 Rolling Stone Record Guide: Frank Sinatra's voice is pop music history. [...] Like Presley and Dylan – the only other white male American singers since 1940 whose popularity, influence, and mythic force have been comparable – Sinatra will last indefinitely. He virtually invented modern pop song phrasing. Wynn Resorts dedicated a signature restaurant to Sinatra inside Encore Las Vegas on December 22, 2008.[85] Memorabilia in the restaurant includes his Oscar for "From Here to Eternity", his Emmy for "Frank Sinatra: A Man and His Music", his Grammy for "Strangers in the Night", photographs and a gold album he received for "Classic Sinatra". There is a residence hall at Montclair State University named for him in recognition of his status as an iconic New Jersey native.[86] The Frank Sinatra International Student Center at Israel's Hebrew University, Mt. Scopus campus, was dedicated in 1978 in recognition of Sinatra's charitable and advocacy activities on behalf of the State of Israel Film portrayals In 1992, CBS aired a TV mini-series about the entertainer's life called Sinatra, directed by James Steven Sadwith and starred Philip Casnoff as Sinatra. Opening with his childhood in Hoboken, New Jersey, the film follows Sinatra's rise to the top in the 1940s, through the dark days of the early 1950s and his triumphant re-emergence in the mid-1950s, to his status as pop culture icon in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. In between, the film hits all of the main events, including his three marriages, his connections with the Mafia and his notorious friendship with the Rat Pack. Tina Sinatra was executive producer. Casnoff received a Golden Globe nomination for his performance. In 1998, Ray Liotta portrayed Sinatra in the HBO movie The Rat Pack, alongside Joe Mantegna as Dean Martin and Don Cheadle as Sammy Davis, Jr. It depicted their contribution to John F. Kennedy's election as U.S. president in 1960. In 2003, Sinatra was portrayed by James Russo in "Stealing Sinatra", which revolved around the kidnapping of Frank Sinatra Jr. in 1963 Also in 2003, he was portrayed by Dennis Hopper in "The Night we Called it a Day", based upon events that occurred during a tour of Australia where Frank had called a member of the news media a "two-bit hooker" and all the unions in the country came crashing down on him. Sinatra was also portrayed by Sebastian Anzaldo in the film Tears of a King, who also impersonated Sinatra in a TV episode of The Next Best Thing. Brett Ratner is currently developing a film adaptation of George Jacobs' memoir Mr. S: My Life With Frank Sinatra.[87] Jacobs, who was Sinatra's valet, will be portrayed by Chris Tucker.[88] Martin Scorsese is developing a biopic of Sinatra's life to be scripted by Phil Alden Robinson and produced by Scott Rudin.[89] When the film as first announced, three actors were said to be in contention for the part: Leonardo DiCaprio was Scorsese's preference, Johnny Depp was the studio's, and the Sinatra estate preferred George Clooney.[90] Scorsese later mentioned that he wanted Al Pacino for Sinatra and Robert DeNiro as Dean Martin.[91] The film covers his whole life, so three or more actors will be playing him at different ages.[92] ******* Marlon Brando, Jr. (April 3, 1924 – July 1, 2004) was an American actor whose body of work spanned over half a century. As a young sex symbol, he is best known for his roles as Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire and his Academy Award-winning performance as Terry Malloy in On the Waterfront, both directed by Elia Kazan in the early 1950s. In middle age, his well-known roles include his Academy Award-winning performance as Vito Corleone in The Godfather, Colonel Walter Kurtz in Apocalypse Now, both directed by Francis Ford Coppola and an Academy Award-nominated performance as Paul in Last Tango in Paris. Brando's impact on film acting was seismic. He became known as the foremost example of the "method" acting style, and was initially much parodied for his "mumbling" diction[1], but his mercurial, often uncategorizable performances were held in the highest regard among his peers. Director Martin Scorsese said, "He is the marker. There's 'before Brando' and 'after Brando'.'"[2] Actor Jack Nicholson once said, "When Marlon dies, everybody moves up one."[3] Brando was an activist, lending his presence to many issues, including the American Civil Rights and American Indian Movements Early life Brando was born in Omaha, Nebraska on April 3, 1924, the son of Dorothy Julia Pennebaker Brando (1897 – 1954), an actress, and Marlon Brando, Sr. (1895 – 1965), a pesticide and chemical feed manufacturer.[4][5] The family moved to Evanston, Illinois and in 1935, when he was eleven years old, his parents separated. His mother briefly took her three children Marlon, Jocelyn Brando (1919 – 2005) and Frances Brando (1922 – 1994) to live with her mother in Santa Ana, California until 1937, when the parents reconciled and moved to Libertyville, Illinois, a village north of Chicago. The family was of mixed Dutch, Irish, German, and English descent. Brando's ancestor, Johann Wilhelm Brandau, immigrated to New Amsterdam, NY from Pfalz, Germany. Brando was raised a Christian Scientist.[6] Contrary to what is stated in some biographies, Brando's grandfather Eugene E. Brando was not French but was born in New York state.[7] Brando's grandmother Marie Holloway abandoned Eugene and their son Marlon Brando Sr. when he was five years old and used the money she received from Eugene to support her gambling and constant drinking.[8] Brando's mother, Dodie, was an unconventional and talented woman. She smoked, wore trousers and drove automobiles at a time when it was unusual for women to do so. However, she suffered from alcoholism and often had to be retrieved from Chicago bars by Brando's father. She later became a member of Alcoholics Anonymous. Dodie was an actress and administrator in local theater and the Omaha newspapers wrote about her for her theatrical work. She helped a young Henry Fonda to begin his own acting career, and fueled Brando's interest in stage acting. His father, Marlon Sr., was a gifted amateur photographer. Brando's maternal grandmother, Bessie Gahan Pennebaker Meyers, to whom Brando was perhaps closer than his own mother, was also unconventional. Widowed at a young age, she worked to support herself as a secretary and later as a Christian Science healer, and was well known in Omaha. Her father, Myles Gahan, was a doctor from Ireland and her mother, Julia Watts, was from England. Brando was a gifted mimic from early childhood and developed a rare ability to absorb the tics and mannerisms of people he played and to display those traits dramatically while staying in character. His sister, Jocelyn Brando, however, was the first to pursue a career in acting, going to New York to study at the American Academy of Dramatic Art. She later appeared on Broadway, in movies and on television. Next, Brando's sister Frannie left college in California to study art in New York. Brando followed. Brando had a tumultuous youth. He was held back a year in school and was later expelled from Libertyville High School for riding his motorcycle through the school. At the age of sixteen years, he was sent to Shattuck Military Academy in Faribault, Minnesota, where his father had gone before him. At Shattuck, he excelled at theatre and got along well within the structure of the school. In his final year (1943), he was put on probation for talking back to an officer during maneuvers. A part of his probation was that he be confined to the school campus, but he eventually tried sneaking off campus into town and was caught. The faculty voted to expel him. He received support from his fellow students who thought the punishment too harsh. He was later invited back for the next year, but decided not to finish school. Brando worked as a ditch-digger in his home town as a summer job arranged by his father, but had decided to follow his sisters to New York. One sister was trying to be a painter and the other had already appeared on Broadway. He visited his sister Frances in New York at Christmas 1942 and liked the experience. Brando was given six months of support from his father, after which his father offered to help him get a job as a salesman. Brando left Illinois for New York City, where he studied at the American Theatre Wing Professional School, at the Dramatic Workshop of The New School with the influential German director Erwin Piscator and at the Actors' Studio. It was at the New School's Dramatic Workshop that he studied with Stella Adler and learned the techniques of the Stanislavski System. There is a story in which Adler spoke about teaching Brando, saying that she had instructed the class to act like chickens, then adding that a bomb was about to fall on them. Most of the class clucked and ran around wildly, but Brando sat calmly and pretended to lay an egg. When Adler asked Brando to explain his action, he replied, "I'm a chicken — What do I know about bombs?"[cite this quote] Career Early work Brando used his Stanislavski System skills for his first summer-stock roles in Sayville, New York on Long Island. His behavior got him kicked out of the cast of the New School's production in Sayville, but he was discovered in a locally produced play there and then made it to Broadway in the bittersweet drama I Remember Mama in 1944. Critics voted him "Broadway's Most Promising Actor" for his role as an anguished veteran in Truckline Café, although the play was a commercial failure. In 1946 he appeared on Broadway as the young hero in the political drama A Flag is Born, refusing to accept wages above the Actor's Equity rate because of his commitment to the cause of Israeli independence.[9][10] Brando achieved stardom, however, as Stanley Kowalski in Tennessee Williams's 1947 play A Streetcar Named Desire, directed by Elia Kazan. Brando sought out that role,[11] driving out to Provincetown, Massachusetts, where Williams was spending the summer, to audition for the part. Williams recalled that he opened the screen door and knew, instantly, that he had his Stanley Kowalski. Brando's performance revolutionized acting technique and set the model for the American form of method acting. Afterward, Brando was asked to do a screen test for Warner Brother s studio for the film Rebel Without A Cause,[12] which James Dean was later cast in. The screen test appears as an extra in the 2006 DVD release of A Streetcar Named Desire. Brando's first screen role was as the bitter paraplegic veteran in The Men in 1950. True to his method, Brando spent a month in bed at a veterans' hospital to prepare for the role. Rise to fame Brando made a strong impression in 1951 when he brought his performance as Stanley Kowalski to the screen in Kazan's adaptation of Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for that role, and again in each of the next three years for his roles in Viva Zapata! in 1952, Julius Caesar in 1953 as Mark Antony, and On the Waterfront in 1954. These first five films of his career established Brando as perhaps the premier acting talent in the world, as evidenced in his winning the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in three consecutive years, 1951 to 1953. In 1953, Brando also starred in The Wild One riding his own Triumph Thunderbird 6T motorcycle which caused consternation to Triumph's importers, as the subject matter was rowdy motorcycle gangs taking over a small town. But the images of Brando posing with his Triumph motorcycle became iconic, even forming the basis of his wax dummy at Madame Tussauds. Ironically, Brando's Wild One image is now used by Triumph to advertise their motorcycles. Later that same year, Brando starred in Lee Falk's production of George Bernard Shaw's Arms and the Man in Boston. Falk was proud to tell people that Marlon Brando turned down an offer of $10,000 per week on Broadway, in favor of working on Falk's play in Boston. His Boston contract was less than $500 per week. It would be the last time he ever acted in a stage play. Director Nicholas Ray took the gang image from the movie The Wild One and brought it to his movie, Rebel Without A Cause, and thus emphasized Brando's effect on youth. Aspects of the rebel culture that included motorcycles, leather jackets, jeans and the rebel image, which inspired generations of rebels, came thanks to that film and Brando's own unique image and character. The sales of motorcycle-related paraphernalia, leather jackets, jeans, boots and t-shirts skyrocketed throughout the country.[13] The film had a similar effect on overseas audiences. Local authorities and religious figures lamented the effect it was having on the youth of their respective countries. Under Kazan's direction, and with a talented ensemble around him, Brando won the Oscar for his role of Terry Malloy in On the Waterfront. For the famous I coulda' been a contender scene, Brando convinced Kazan that the scripted scene was unrealistic, and with Rod Steiger, improvised the final product. Brando followed that triumph by a variety of roles in the 1950s that defied expectations: as Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls, where he managed to carry off a singing role; as Sakini, a Japanese interpreter for the U.S. Army in postwar Japan in The Teahouse of the August Moon; as an Air Force officer in Sayonara, and a Nazi officer in The Young Lions. Although he won an Oscar nomination for his acting in Sayonara, his acting had lost much of its energy and direction by the end of the 1950s. In the 1960s, Brando starred in films such as Mutiny on the Bounty (1962); One-Eyed Jacks (1961), a western that would be the only film Brando would ever direct; a star-studded but unsuccessful potboiler The Chase (1966), in which he played an uncorrupted Texas sheriff; and Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967), portraying a repressed gay army officer. It was the type of performance that later led critic Stanley Crouch to write, "Brando's main achievement was to portray the taciturn but stoic gloom of those pulverized by circumstances."[14] Burn! (1969), which Brando would later claim as his personal favorite, was a commercial failure. His career had gone into almost complete eclipse by the end of the decade, thanks to his reputation as a difficult star and his record in over-budget or marginal movies. The Godfather Brando's performance as Vito Corleone in 1972's The Godfather was a mid-career turning point. Director Francis Ford Coppola convinced Brando to submit to a "make-up" test, in which Brando did his own makeup (he used cotton balls to simulate the puffed-cheek look). Coppola was electrified by Brando's characterization as the head of a crime family, but had to fight the studio in order to cast the temperamental Brando, whose reputation for difficult behavior and demands was the stuff of backlot legend. Mario Puzo always imagined Brando as Corleone.[15] However, Paramount studio heads wanted to give the role to Danny Thomas in the hope that Thomas would have his own production company throw in its lot with Paramount. Thomas declined the role and actually urged the studio to cast Brando at the behest of Coppola and others who had witnessed the screen test. Eventually, Charles Bluhdorn, the president of Paramount parent Gulf + Western, was won over to letting Brando have the role; when he saw the screen test, he asked in amazement, "What are we watching? Who is this old guinea?" Brando won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance, but turned down the Oscar, becoming the second actor to refuse a Best Actor award (the first being George C. Scott for Patton). Brando boycotted the award ceremony, sending instead American Indian Rights activist Sacheen Littlefeather, who appeared in full Apache dress, to state Brando's reasons, which were based on his objection to the depiction of American Indians[16] by Hollywood and television. The actor followed with one of his greatest performances in Bernardo Bertolucci's 1973 film, Last Tango in Paris, but the performance was overshadowed by an uproar over the erotic nature of the film. Despite the controversy which attended both the film and the man, the Academy once again nominated Brando for the Best Actor. Brando's career afterward was uneven. He was paid one million dollars a week to play the iconic Colonel Kurtz in 1979's Apocalypse Now. He was supposed to show up slim, fit, and having read the novel Heart of Darkness, but instead arrived weighing around 220 pounds (100 kg) and had not read the book. As a result, his character was shot mostly in the shadows and most of his dialogue was improvised. After his week was over, director Francis Ford Coppola asked him to stay an extra hour so that he could shoot a close up of Brando saying, "The horror, the horror." Brando agreed for an extra $75,000. After this film his weight began to limit the roles he could play. Later career Brando then portrayed Superman's father Jor-El in the 1978 Superman: The Movie. He agreed to the role only on assurance that he would be paid a large sum for what amounted to a small part, that he would not have to read the script beforehand and his lines would be displayed somewhere off-camera. It was revealed in a documentary contained in the 2001 DVD release of Superman, that he was paid $3.7 million for just two weeks of work. Brando also filmed scenes for the movie's sequel, Superman II, but after producers refused to pay him the same percentage he received for the first movie, he denied them permission to use the footage. However, after Brando's death the footage was reincorporated into the 2006 re-cut of the film, Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut. Two years after Brando's death, he "reprised" the role of Jor-El in the 2006 "loose sequel" Superman Returns, in which both used and unused archive footage of Brando as Jor-El from the first two Superman films was remastered for a scene in the Fortress of Solitude, as well as Brando's voice-overs being used throughout the film. Despite announcing his retirement from acting in 1980, he subsequently gave interesting supporting performances in movies such as A Dry White Season (for which he was again nominated for an Oscar in 1989), The Freshman in 1990 and Don Juan DeMarco in 1995. In his last film, The Score (2001), he starred with fellow method actor Robert De Niro. Some later performances, such as The Island of Dr Moreau (1996), earned Brando some of the most uncomplimentary reviews of his career. Brando conceived the idea of a novel called Fan-Tan with director Donald Cammell in 1979, which was not released until 2005.[17] Personal life Brando became well known for his crusades for civil rights, Native American rights, and other political causes. He also earned a "bad boy" reputation for his public outbursts and antics. On June 12, 1973, Brando broke paparazzo Ron Galella's jaw. Galella had followed Brando, who was accompanied by talk show host Dick Cavett, after a taping of the Dick Cavett Show in New York City. He reportedly paid a $40,000 out-of-court settlement and suffered an infected hand as a result. Galella wore a football helmet the next time he photographed Brando at a gala benefiting the American Indians Development Association. In Songs My Mother Taught Me, Brando claimed he met Marilyn Monroe at a party as she played piano, unnoticed by anybody else there, and they started an affair that lasted many years until her death, receiving a telephone call from her several days before she died. He also claimed numerous other romances, although he did not discuss his marriages, his wives, or his children in his autobiography. Brando married actress Anna Kashfi in 1957. Kashfi was born in Calcutta and moved to Wales at the end of British rule in India in 1947. She is said to have been the daughter of a Welsh steel worker of Irish descent, William O'Callaghan, who had been superintendent on the Indian State railways. However, in her book, Brando for Breakfast, she claimed that she really is half Indian and that the press incorrectly thought that her stepfather, O'Callaghan, was her real father. She said her real father was Indian and that she was the result of an "unregistered alliance" between her parents. In 1959, Brando and Kashfi divorced after the birth of their son, Christian Brando, on May 11, 1958. In 1960, Brando married Movita Castaneda, a Mexican actress seven years his senior; they were divorced in 1962. Castaneda had appeared in the first Mutiny on the Bounty film in 1935, some 27 years before the 1962 remake with Brando as Fletcher Christian. Brando's behavior during the filming of Bounty seemed to bolster his reputation as a difficult star. He was blamed for a change in director and a runaway budget, though he disclaimed responsibility for either. The Bounty experience affected Brando's life in a profound way. He fell in love with Tahiti and its people. He bought a twelve-island atoll, Tetiaroa, which he intended to make partly an environmental laboratory and partly a resort. Tahitian beauty Tarita Teriipia, who played Fletcher Christian's love interest, became Brando's third wife on August 10, 1962. She was 20 years old, 18 years younger than Brando. A 1961 article on Teriipia in the fan magazine Motion Picture described Brando's delight at how naïve and unsophisticated she was. Because Teriipia was a native French speaker, Brando became fluent in the language and gave numerous interviews in French.[18][19] Teriipia became the mother of two of his children. They divorced in July 1972. Brando eventually had a hotel built on Tetiaroa. It went through many redesigns due to changes demanded by Brando over the years. It is now closed. A new hotel, consisting of thirty deluxe villas, was due to open in 2008.[20] In an interview with Gary Carey, for his 1976 biography The Only Contender, Brando said, "Homosexuality is so much in fashion it no longer makes news. Like a large number of men, I, too, have had homosexual experiences and I am not ashamed. I have never paid much attention to what people think about me. But if there is someone who is convinced that Jack Nicholson and I are lovers, may they continue to do so. I find it amusing." On his death in 2004, the ashes of his childhood friend Wally Cox, which Brando had kept with him since 1973, were mingled and scattered together with Brando's own ashes in Tahiti and Death Valley.[21] Children by Anna Kashfi: Christian Devi Brando (aka Gary Brown; born May 11, 1958 - died January 26, 2008 of pneumonia) by Tarita Teriipia: Simon Teihotu Brando (b. 1963) - the only inhabitant of Tetiaroa Tarita Cheyenne Brando (b. 1970 - d. 1995), committed suicide by unknown mother Stefano Brando (AKA) Stephen Blackehart (b. 1967) by his long-time housekeeper, Maria Christina Ruiz: Ninna Priscilla Brando (born May 13, 1989) Myles Jonathan Brando (born January 16, 1992) Timothy Gahan Brando (born January 6, 1994) by adoption: Movita Castaneda:Mother Miko Castaneda Brando (b. 1961) Rebecca Brando Kotlizky (b. 1966) Petra Brando-Corval (b. 1972), daughter of Brando's assistant Caroline Barrett and novelist James Clavell (aka Charles Edmund DuMaresq de Clavell) Maimiti Brando (b. 1977) Raiatua Brando (b. 1982) Shooting involving Brando's son, Christian In May 1990, Dag Drollet, the Tahitian lover of Brando's daughter Cheyenne, died of a gunshot wound after a confrontation with Cheyenne's half-brother Christian at the family's hilltop home above Beverly Hills. Christian, then 31 years old, claimed he was drunk and the shooting was accidental. After heavily publicized pre-trial proceedings, Christian pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and use of a gun. He was sentenced to ten years in prison. Before the sentence, Brando delivered an hour of testimony, in which he said he and his former wife had failed Christian. He commented softly to members of the Drollet family: "I'm sorry... If I could trade places with Dag, I would. I'm prepared for the consequences." Afterward, Drollet's father said he thought Brando was acting and his son was "getting away with murder". The tragedy was compounded in 1995, when Cheyenne, suffering from lingering effects of a serious car accident and said to still be depressed over Drollet's death, committed suicide by hanging herself in Tahiti. Christian Brando died of pneumonia at age 49, on January 26, 2008. Final years and death Brando's notoriety, his troubled family life, and his obesity attracted more attention than his late acting career. He gained a great deal of weight in the 1980s and by the mid 1990s he weighed over 300 lbs. (136 kg) and suffered from diabetes. Not unlike Orson Welles or Elvis Presley, his weight fluctuated throughout his career, attributed to his years of stress-related overeating. He also earned a reputation for being difficult on the set, often unwilling or unable to memorize his lines and less interested in taking direction than in confronting the film director with odd and childish demands. On the other hand, most other actors found him generous, funny, and supportive. Brando also dabbled with some innovation in his last years. Brando had several patents issued in his name from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, all of which involve a method of tensing drum heads, in June 2002 – November 2004. For example, see U.S. Patent 6,812,392 and its equivalents. The actor was a longtime close friend of entertainer Michael Jackson and paid regular visits to his Neverland Ranch, resting there for weeks at a time. Brando also participated in the singer's two-day solo career thirtieth-anniversary celebration concerts in 2001, and starred in his 15-minute-long music video, "You Rock My World", in the same year. The actor's son, Miko, was Jackson's bodyguard and assistant for several years, and was a friend of the singer. He stated "The last time my father left his house to go anywhere, to spend any kind of time... was with Michael Jackson. He loved it... He had a 24-hour chef, 24-hour security, 24-hour help, 24-hour kitchen, 24-hour maid service."[24] On Jackson's 30th anniversary concert, Brando gave a speech to the audience on humanitarian work which received a poor reaction from the audience and was unaired. On July 1, 2004, Brando died, aged 80. The cause of death was intentionally withheld, his lawyer citing privacy concerns. It was later revealed that he had died at UCLA Medical Center of respiratory failure brought on by pulmonary fibrosis. He also suffered from congestive heart failure,[25] failing eyesight due to diabetes, and liver cancer.[26] Karl Malden, Brando's fellow actor in A Streetcar Named Desire, On The Waterfront, and One Eyed Jacks (the only film directed by Brando), talks in a documentary accompanying the DVD of A Streetcar Named Desire about a phone call he received from Brando shortly before Brando's death. A distressed Brando told Malden he kept falling over. Malden wanted to come over, but Brando put him off telling him there was no point. Three weeks later, Brando was dead. Shortly before his death, Brando had apparently refused permission for tubes carrying oxygen to be inserted into his lungs, which, he was told, was the only way to prolong his life. Brando was cremated, and his ashes, after being mingled together with those of Wally Cox, were scattered partly in Tahiti and partly in Death Valley. In 2007, a 165-minute biopic of Brando, Brando: The Documentary, produced by Mike Medavoy (the executor of Brando's will) for Turner Classic Movies, was released.[27] Politics Civil rights In 1946, Brando showed his dedication to the Jewish desire for a homeland by performing in Ben Hecht's Zionist play "A Flag is Born". Brando's involvement had an impact on three of the most contentious issues of the early postwar period: the fight to establish a Jewish state, the smuggling of Holocaust survivors to Palestine, and the battle against racial segregation in the United States. Brando attended some fundraisers for John F. Kennedy in the 1960 presidential election. In August 1963, Brando participated in the March on Washington along with fellow celebrities Harry Belafonte, James Garner, Charlton Heston, Burt Lancaster, and Sidney Poitier.[28] Brando also, along with Paul Newman, participated in the freedom rides. In the aftermath of the 1968 slaying of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Brando made one of the strongest commitments to furthering Dr. King's work. Shortly after Dr. King's death, Brando announced that he was bowing out of the lead role of a major film (The Arrangement) which was about to begin production, in order to devote himself to the civil rights movement. "I felt I’d better go find out where it is; what it is to be black in this country; what this rage is all about", Brando said on the late night ABC-TV Joey Bishop Show. The actor's participation in the African-American civil rights movement actually began well before King's death. In the early 1960s Brando contributed thousands of dollars to both the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (S.C.L.C.) and to a scholarship fund established for the children of slain Mississippi N.A.A.C.P. leader Medgar Evers. By this time, Brando was already involved in films that carried messages about human rights: "Sayonara", which addressed interracial romance, and the "The Ugly American", depicting the conduct of US officials abroad and its deleterious effect on the citizens of foreign countries. For a time Brando was also donating money to the Black Panther Party and considered himself a friend of founder Bobby Seale. However, Brando ended his financial support for the group over his perception of its increasing radicalization, specifically a passage in a Panther pamphlet put out by Eldridge Cleaver advocating indiscriminate violence, "for the Revolution". At the 1973 Academy Awards ceremony, Brando refused to accept the Oscar for his performance in The Godfather. Sacheen Littlefeather represented Mr. Brando at the ceremony. She appeared in full Apache clothing. She stated that owing to the "poor treatment of Native Americans in the film industry" Mr. Brando would not accept the award.[29] At this time the 1973 standoff at Wounded Knee occurred, causing rising tensions between the government and Native American activists. The event grabbed the attention of the US and the world media. This was considered a major event and victory for the movement by its supporters and participants. Outside of his film work, Brando not only appeared before the California Assembly in support of a fair housing law, but personally joined picket lines in demonstrations protesting discrimination in housing developments. Comments on Jews and Hollywood In an interview in Playboy magazine in January 1979, Brando said: "You've seen every single race besmirched, but you never saw an [unfavorable] image of the kike because the Jews were ever so watchful for that—and rightly so. They never allowed it to be shown on screen. The Jews have done so much for the world that, I suppose, you get extra disappointed because they didn't pay attention to that."[30] Brando made a similar allegation on Larry King Live in April 1996, saying "Hollywood is run by Jews; it is owned by Jews, and they should have a greater sensitivity about the issue of — of people who are suffering. Because they've exploited — we have seen the — we have seen the Nigger and Greaseball, we've seen the Chink, we've seen the slit-eyed dangerous Jap, we have seen the wily Filipino, we've seen everything but we never saw the Kike. Because they knew perfectly well, that that is where you draw the wagons around." King replied, "When you say — when you say something like that you are playing right in, though, to anti-Semitic people who say the Jews are — " at which point Brando interrupted, "No, no, because I will be the first one who will appraise the Jews honestly and say 'Thank God for the Jews.'" Jay Kanter, Brando's agent, producer and friend told Daily Variety, "Marlon has spoken to me for hours about his fondness for the Jewish people, and he is a well-known supporter of Israel."[31] The Godfather (2006) (VG) (voice) (also archive footage) .... Don Vito Corleone .. aka The Godfather: The Game (USA: alternative title) The Score (2001) .... Max ... aka The Score (Germany) Free Money (1998) .... Warden Sven 'The Swede' Sorenson ... aka Fric d'enfer (Canada: French title) The Brave (1997) .... McCarthy The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996) .... Dr. Moreau Don Juan DeMarco (1994) .... Dr. Jack Mickler Christopher Columbus: The Discovery (1992) .... Tomas de Torquemada ... aka Cristóbal Colón: el descubrimiento (Spain) The Freshman (1990) .... Carmine Sabatini A Dry White Season (1989) .... Ian McKenzie The Formula (1980) .... Adam Steiffel, Chairman Titan Oil ... aka Die Formel (West Germany) Apocalypse Now (1979) .... Colonel Walter E. Kurtz ... aka Apocalypse Now Redux (International: English title: longer version) "Roots: The Next Generations" (1979) TV mini-series .... George Lincoln Rockwell Superman (1978) .... Jor-El ... aka Superman - Le film (Canada: French title) ... aka Superman: The Movie "The Godfather: A Novel for Television" .... Don Vito Corleone (4 episodes, 1977) ... aka Mario Puzo's The Godfather: A Novel for Television (USA: complete title) ... aka The Godfather 1902-1959: The Complete Epic (USA: video title) ... aka The Godfather Novella (USA: alternative title) ... aka The Godfather Saga (USA: alternative title) ... aka The Godfather: The Complete Novel for Television (USA: alternative title) - Episode #1.4 (1977) TV episode .... Don Vito Corleone - Episode #1.3 (1977) TV episode .... Don Vito Corleone - Episode #1.2 (1977) TV episode .... Don Vito Corleone - Episode #1.1 (1977) TV episode .... Don Vito Corleone The Missouri Breaks (1976) .... Lee Clayton Ultimo tango a Parigi (1972) .... Paul ... aka Last Tango in Paris (UK) ... aka Le dernier Tango à Paris (France) ... aka Ultimo tango a Parigi (Italy: dubbed version) The Godfather (1972) .... Don Vito Corleone ... aka Mario Puzo's The Godfather (USA: complete title) The Nightcomers (1971) .... Peter Quint Queimada (1969) .... Sir William Walker ... aka Burn! (USA) ... aka The Mercenary (Canada: English title) The Night of the Following Day (1968) .... Chauffeur Candy (1968) .... Grindl ... aka Candy (France) ... aka Candy e il suo pazzo mondo (Italy) ... aka Good Grief It's Candy (International: English title) Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967) .... Maj. Weldon Penderton A Countess from Hong Kong (1967) .... Ogden Mears The Appaloosa (1966) .... Matt Fletcher ... aka Southwest to Sonora (UK) The Chase (1966) .... Sheriff Calder Morituri (1965) .... Robert Crain Bedtime Story (1964) .... Freddy Benson The Ugly American (1963) .... Ambassador Harrison Carter MacWhite Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) .... 1st Lt. Fletcher Christian One-Eyed Jacks (1961) .... Rio The Fugitive Kind (1959) .... Valentine 'Snakeskin' Xavier The Young Lions (1958) .... Lt. Christian Diestl Sayonara (1957) .... Maj. Lloyd 'Ace' Gruver - USAF The Teahouse of the August Moon (1956) .... Sakini Guys and Dolls (1955/I) .... Sky Masterson "Omnibus" .... Stanley Kowalski (1 episode, 1955) - A Streetcar Named Desire (1955) TV episode .... Stanley Kowalski Desirée (1954) .... Napoleon Bonaparte On the Waterfront (1954) .... Terry Malloy The Wild One (1953) .... Johnny Strabler / Narrator Julius Caesar (1953) .... Mark Antony ... aka William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar Viva Zapata! (1952) .... Emiliano Zapata A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) .... Stanley Kowalski The Men (1950) .... Ken ... aka Battle Stripe (USA: reissue title) "Actor's Studio" (1 episode, 1949) ... aka The Play's the Thing (USA: last season title) - I'm No Hero (1949) TV episode      ebay3003
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