Vivian S Blaine

Vivian Blaine Born November 21, 1921 in Newark, New Jersey, USA Died December 9, 1995 in New York City, New York, USA (congestive heart failure) Birth Name Vivian Stapleton Height 5' 2" (1.57 m) Ms. Blaine is most noted for having portrayed Miss Adelaide, the long-suffering, perpetually engaged chorus girl, in the Broadway and film versions of Guys and Dolls (1955). She originated the role in 1950 on Broadway and stopped the show each night with her rendition of "Adelaide's Lament," in which she complains about having a bad cold because of her long engagement to gambler Nathan Detroit. Ms. Blaine also originated roles on Broadway in "Say Darling" and "Enter Laughing." She also starred on Broadway in "Hatful of Rain," "Company," and, briefly, in "Zorba." She starred in many national tours, including "A Streetcar Named Desire," "Don't Drink the Water," "Hello Dolly," and "Gypsy." Before going to Broadway, Ms. Blaine was a starlet at 20th Century-Fox, appearing in many musical comedy films, including Jitterbugs (1943), Greenwich Village (1944), and State Fair (1945). In the mid 1950s, Ms. Blaine reprised her role as Adelaide in the film version of Guys and Dolls (1955) with Frank Sinatra and Marlon Brando. After her Broadway appearance in "Company" in 1972, she appeared on national television at the 25th Tony anniversary special. This led to a revival of her TV career, and she continued to appear in guest roles on TV and in independent films and theater until her retirement in 1984. Vivian Blaine was represented.managed by Robert Cipriano and Capri Productions Limited, along with L'Etoile Talent Agency in the early 1980s. Robert Cipriano took a special interest in Vivian assisting her to book performances throughout NYC and Atlantic City/Las Vegas. Vivian Blaine was heard saying that Robert Cipriano reminded her of her first husband Manny Franks. Stuart Clark (21 December 1973 - 9 December 1995) ( her death) Milton Rackmil (9 May 1959 - 25 July 1961) ( divorced) Manny Franks (10 January 1945 - 10 December 1956) ( divorced) At 20th Century Fox, she was known as the cherry blonde because of her extraordinary hair color as shown in Technicolor. A clothes horse involved in the apparel industry, she appeared on many "Best Dressed Women in America" lists from 1973 to 1983. For her starring role in Guys and Dolls (1955), Ms. Blaine won a Donaldson award for best newcomer of the year. She also won a New York Theater Goers Award for best musical comedy star of the year. She performed her role in "Guys and Dolls" in London, including a command performance for Queen Elizabeth II. Later in her career, she was asked to perform at the White House for Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. She was given a National Film Society American Classic Award. From 1973 until 1983, she appeared on many "Best Dressed Women in America" lists. In 1952, three actresses were included by the Fashion Academy of New York in its list of the eight best-dressed women of America. Father, Lionel Stapleton, was a singing baritone who made a living as a theatrical booking agent. Her parents divorced when she was quite young. Married three times. First husband was Manny Franks, her agent, who was 20 years older than she. Second husband was Milton Rachmil, the head of Universal Pictures and Decca Records, who wanted an at-home trophy wife; the marriage didn't last long, also ending in divorce court. Third husband was businessman Stuart Clark, who started to supervise her career and revived it on 1970s TV. He was 13 years her junior. A prime Fox musical performer during the war and post-war years, she lagged in popularity only to Alice Faye and Betty Grable. Portrayed Miss Adelaide in the original Broadway stage version of "Guys and Dolls" and reprised her role in the film version (Guys and Dolls (1955)). "I put all my intelligence, such as it is, into playing dumb blondes."

Born December 12, 1915 in Hoboken, New Jersey, USA Died May 14, 1998 in Los Angeles, California, USA Birth Name Francis Albert Sinatra Nicknames The Voice Chairman of the Board Ol' Blue Eyes Swoonatra The Sultan of Swoon La Voz Frankie Height 5' 7" (1.7 m) Mini Bio (1) Frank Sinatra was born in Hoboken, New Jersey, to Italian immigrants Natalina Della (Garaventa), from Northern Italy, and Saverio Antonino Martino Sinatra, a Sicilian boxer, fireman, and bar owner. Growing up on the gritty streets of Hoboken made Sinatra determined to work hard to get ahead. Starting out as a saloon singer in musty little dives (he carried his own P.A. system), he eventually got work as a band singer, first with The Hoboken Four, then with Harry James and then Tommy Dorsey. With the help of George Evans (Sinatra's genius press agent), his image was shaped into that of a street thug and punk who was saved by his first wife, Nancy Barbato Sinatra. In 1942 he started his solo career, instantly finding fame as the king of the bobbysoxers--the young women and girls who were his fans--and becoming the most popular singer of the era among teenage music fans. About that time his film career was also starting in earnest, and after appearances in a few small films, he struck box-office gold with a lead role in Anchors Aweigh (1945) with Gene Kelly, a Best Picture nominee at the 1946 Academy Awards. Sinatra was awarded a special Oscar for his part in a short film that spoke out against intolerance, The House I Live In (1945). His career on a high, Sinatra went from strength to strength on record, stage and screen, peaking in 1949, once again with Gene Kelly, in the MGM musical On the Town (1949) and Take Me Out to the Ball Game (1949). A controversial public affair with screen siren Ava Gardner broke up his marriage to Nancy Barbato Sinatra and did his career little good, and his record sales dwindled. He continued to act, although in lesser films such as Meet Danny Wilson (1952), and a vocal cord hemorrhage all but ended his career. He fought back, though, finally securing a role he desperately wanted--Maggio in From Here to Eternity (1953). He won an Oscar for best supporting actor and followed this with a scintillating performance as a cold-blooded assassin hired to kill the US President in Suddenly (1954). Arguably a career-best performance--garnering him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor--was his role as a pathetic heroin addict in the powerful drama The Man with the Golden Arm (1955). Known as "One-Take Charlie" for his approach to acting that strove for spontaneity and energy, rather than perfection, Sinatra was an instinctive actor who was best at playing parts that mirrored his own personality. He continued to give strong and memorable performances in such films as Guys and Dolls (1955), The Joker Is Wild (1957) and Some Came Running (1958). In the late 1950s and 1960s Sinatra became somewhat prolific as a producer, turning out such films as A Hole in the Head (1959), Sergeants 3 (1962) and the very successful Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964). Lighter roles alongside "Rat Pack" buddies Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. were lucrative, especially the famed Ocean's 11 (1960). On the other hand, he alternated such projects with much more serious offerings, such as The Manchurian Candidate (1962), regarded by many critics as Sinatra's finest picture. He made his directorial debut with the World War II picture None But the Brave (1965), which was the first Japanese/American co-production. That same year Von Ryan's Express (1965) was a box office sensation. In 1967 Sinatra returned to familiar territory in Sidney J. Furie's The Naked Runner (1967), once again playing as assassin in his only film to be shot in the U.K. and Germany. That same year he starred as a private investigator in Tony Rome (1967), a role he reprised in the sequel, Lady in Cement (1968). He also starred with Lee Remick in The Detective (1968), a film daring for its time with its theme of murders involving rich and powerful homosexual men, and it was a major box-office success. After appearing in the poorly received comic western Dirty Dingus Magee (1970), Sinatra didn't act again for seven years, returning with a made-for-TV cops-and-mob-guys thriller Contract on Cherry Street (1977), which he also produced. Based on the novel by William Rosenberg, this fable of fed-up cops turning vigilante against the mob boasted a stellar cast and was a ratings success. Sinatra returned to the big screen in The First Deadly Sin (1980), once again playing a New York detective, in a moving and understated performance that was a fitting coda to his career as a leading man. He made one more appearance on the big screen with a cameo in Cannonball Run II (1984) and a final acting performance in Magnum, P.I. (1980) in 1987 as a retired detective seeking vengeance on the killers of his granddaughter in an episode entitled "Laura". - IMDb Mini Biography By: David Montgomery (qv's & corrections by A. Nonymous) Spouse (4) Barbara Marx (11 July 1976 - 14 May 1998) ( his death) Mia Farrow (19 July 1966 - 16 August 1968) ( divorced) Ava Gardner (7 November 1951 - 5 July 1957) ( divorced) Nancy Barbato Sinatra (4 February 1939 - 29 October 1951) ( divorced) ( 3 children) Trade Marks: Crooning voice. Black fedora. Blue eyes. Sports coat. Always wore a three piece suit or tuxedo. Use of 1950's slang. Frequently worked with fellow Rat Pack members Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford.