Michael Kermoyan

Michael Kermoyan was born as Kalem Michael Kermoyan but was legally known as Michael Kermoyan, a greatly admired and respected actor , MICHAEL KERMOYAN. Michael Kermoyan was of Armenian descent and toured the United States with ther Armenian Americans to raise money for Armenian Earthquake Relief. This quote is taken from a Playbill of the Poetry Recitals. "JULY 22, 2012 * ARMENIAN POETRY IN CELEBRATION. Two famous Armenian opera stars, Victoria Avetisyan and Yeghishe Manucharyan, will join poet Diana Der-Hovanessian at the Longfellow National Historic Site in Cambridge, Mass., to celebrate the publication of her 25th book of poetry, Armenian Poetry of Our Time, from the Press at California State University. Many of the poems will be sung and then read in English by Der-Hovanessian and several poets from the New England Poetry Club. Singing many of the poems will be two of the most sought after soloists in this country, tenor Yeghishe Manucharyan and mezzo soprano Victoria Avetisyan who won the Young Artist Award at her Kennedy Center debut. Both artists were born in Yerevan, Armenia. Avetisyan graduated with a master’s degree in vocal performance from Komitas State University and began her career at the National Opera. She made her American debut with the Boston Lyric Opera, where she appears frequently. Manucharyan made his debut at Carnegie Hall followed by joining the Metropolitan Opera Company. New York’s NewsDay has praised the “purity, power and flexibility of his voice”. He graduated from the Tchaikovsky Central Music School and Komitas State Conservatory of Music. In a review of Der-Hovanessian’s first volume of translations in 1980, The London Times Literary Supplement called her “a brilliant poet who has opened up the book of her people to the English speaking world.” She has gone on to translate 13 other books of Armenian poetry, including The Other Voice, poems by Armenian women, and volumes by Yeghishe Charents, Sayat Nova, Gevorg Emin, Vahan Tekeyan, and Vahan Derian. For her own poetry she has won the Paterson Prize and awards from American Scholar, Prairie Schooner, NEA, PSA, and Columbia University. During the post-earthquake years she and singer/actor MICHAEL KERMOYAN (my emphasis), and later tenor Vahan Khanzadian toured universities with a musical play—The Secret Of Survival—she wrote for earthquake relief. The reading and concert begins at 4 p.m. at 105 Brattle St. in Cambridge, Mass. The Friends of Longfellow and New England Poetry Club are making the program possible. It is free and open to the public, and will be followed by a book signing.

Angela Brigid Lansbury was born in Regents Park London to Edgar Isaac Lansbury (1887-1935) and Charlotte Lillian Mclldowie (1895-1975). She had younger twin brothers William Bruce Lansbury (1930-2017) and Edgar George Lansbury and an older half-sister, Isolde, from her mother's first marriage. The daughter of an Irish actress and a successful English timber merchant who had ancestral ties to politics, Angela made her own way in show business for nearly 75 years. On Broadway, film, and television, she created an indelible impression on audiences with her over 100 roles. As a person, dozens of co-workers praised her kindness and grace. Leaving Liverpool, England in August of 1940, Angela arrived in Quebec Canada at the end of the same month. She travelled on to Buffalo New York and, on October 9th, 1944, she declared her intent to become a naturalized citizen of the United States. On August 1st, 1951, Angela filed her naturalization petition in Los Angeles. She lived in the Los Angeles/Beverley Hills area for the rest of her life. Angela married Peter P. Shaw (1918-2003) on August 12th, 1949, in St. Columbia's Church in Chelsea Middlesex England and they remained married until his death on January 29th, 2003. Peter had a son from his first marriage, David, who Angela helped raise, and Peter and Angela had two other children, Anthony Pullen Shaw and Deidre Angela (Shaw) Battarra. Most people remember Angela as being one of the most loved stage, film, and television actors of her time. She performed for nearly 75 years, making her Hollywood debut as Nancy Oliver, Ingrid Bergman's maid, in MGM's Gaslight (1944). See Angela Lansbury: Professions for more details. On October 11th 2022, Angela passed away at her home in Los Angeles. She is survived by three children, Anthony Pullen Shaw, Deidre Angela (Shaw) Battarra, and David; three grandchildren, Peter, Katherine and Ian; five great grandchildren; and one brother, producer Edgar Lansbury.