Today's Birthday: 19 January
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Today's Peoples
Parton, Dolly
Dolly Rebecca Parton was born on January 19, 1946, one of 12 children
of Robert Lee Parton, a tobacco farmer, and Avie Lee Parton (née
Owens). Dolly grew up on a run-down farm in Locust Ridge, TN. At 12 she
was appearing on Knoxville TV, and at 13 she was already recording on a
small label and appearing at the Grand Ole Opry. After graduating from
high school in Sevier County, Tennessee, in 1964, she moved to
Nashville to launch her career as a country singer. She fell in love
with Carl Dean, who ran an asphalt-paving business; they got married on
May 30, 1966 (and they are still together). The next year, Dolly's
singing caught the attention of Porter Wagoner. He hired Dolly to
appear on his program, "The Porter Wagoner Show." Dolly stayed with the
show for 7 years, their duets became famous, and she appeared with his
group at the Grand Ole Opry; she also toured and sold records. By the
time her hit "Joshua" reached #1 in 1970, her fame had overshadowed
Porter's, and she struck out on her own, though still recording duets
with him. She left him for good to become a solo artist in 1974. Dolly
gained immense popularity as a singer/songwriter. Dolly won numerous
Country Music Association awards (1968, 1970, 1971, 1975, 1976). This
petite (5'0") beauty was a natural for television, and by the mid-1970s
Dolly was appearing frequently on TV specials and talk shows. Dolly
then got her own show, aptly titled "Dolly" (1976). In 1977 Dolly got
her first Grammy award: Best Female Country Vocal Performance, for her
song "Here You Come Again." Dolly's movie debut was in 'Nine to Five (1980)' , where
she got an Oscar nomination for writing the title tune, and also Grammy
awards 2 and 3, Best Country Song, and Best Female Country Vocal
Performance for "9 to 5." Dolly got more fame for appearing in 'Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, The (1982)' ,
and in 'Rhinestone (1984)' with the song "Tennessee Homesick Blues." She is the
head of Dolly Parton Enterprises, a $100 million media empire, and in
1986 she founded Dollywood, a theme park in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee,
celebrating her Smokey Mountain upbringing. She appeared as Herself in
"Dolly" (1987) TV series. In 1988 she won another Grammy award: Best
Country Performance Duo or Group with Vocals, for "Trio." Dolly was in
the acclaimed picture 'Steel Magnolias (1989)' with 'Julia Roberts' , and went on to appear in 15
movies and TV-movies for the 1990s, and of course garnered more Country
Music Association awards. In 2000, Dolly received her 5th Grammy award:
Best Country Collaboration with Vocals. She also released a Bluegrass
Album. Dolly is known for beautiful songs such as "Coat of Many Colors"
and "Jolene" and "I Will Always Love You." Dolly said in an interview,
"My music is what took me everywhere I've been and everywhere I will
go. It's my greatest love. I can't abandon it. I'll always keep making
records." - Author: kdhaisch@aol.com
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Hedren, Tippi
Hedren owes her acting career to 'Alfred Hitchcock' who discovered the blonde
model doing a commercial on the '"Today" (1952)' show. He cast her in 'Birds, The (1963)'
and then 'Marnie (1964)' . She followed the 'Grace Kelly' mold for playing frigid
females with a vulnerable core.
From working for (Best Director) Hitchcock, to a movie written by
(Worst Director) Ed Wood: Tippi Hedren, the Minnesota girl of
Scandinavian descent, has had a fabulous career. Tippi was working as a
New York fashion model when she married her first husband, Peter
Griffith, in 1952 (married until 1961). They had a daughter, Melanie
Griffith, on August 9, 1957. Alfred Hitchcock discovered Tippi, the
pretty cover girl, while viewing a commercial on NBC's "Today Show" and
summoned her to Hollywood under personal contract; he cast her in "The
Birds." In a cover article about the movie in Look magazine (Dec. 4,
1962) Hitchcock praised her; he also told Associated Press: "Tippi
Hedren is really remarkable. She's already reaching the lows and highs
of terror." Tippi's performance in the film earned her a Golden Globe
award. Her next film was "Marnie" (1964). That year she married her
second husband, Noel Marshall (married until 1982). Tippi continued to
appear in many different movies, playing a variety of roles. "Roar"
(1981), a movie which she starred in and produced, seemed to be a
turning point in her life; she became actively involved in animal
rights, as well as a wide variety of humanitarian and environmental
causes. She married her third husband, Luis Barrenecha in 1985. Tippi
has devoted much time and effort to charitable causes: she is a
volunteer International Relief Coordinator for "Food for the Hungry."
Tippi traveled worldwide to set up relief programs following
earthquakes, hurricanes, famine and war. Tippi has received numerous
awards for her efforts, including the "Humanitarian Award" presented to
her by the B'hai Faith. As for animal causes, Tippi is founder and
President of "The Roar Foundation." Onscreen, Tippi continues to work
frequently in motion pictures, theatre and TV. She appeared in "I Woke
Up Early the Day I Died" (1998), finally bringing to the big screen the
last screenplay written by the late Ed Wood in 1974, (and featuring
Vampira and Conrad Brooks, just about the only surviving members of Ed
Wood's stock company). Tippi's contributions to world cinema have been
honored with Life Achievement awards in France at The Beauvais Film
Festival Cinemalia 1994, and in Spain by The Fundacion Municipal De
Cine in 1995. In 1999, Tippi was honored as "Woman of Vision" by Women
in Film and Video in Washington, D.C., and received the Presidential
Medal for her work in film from Hofstra University. - Author: Ray Hamel
kdhaisch@aol.com
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Madison, Guy
Mr. Madison appeared in 85 films, on radio, and television, finding his
niche in the 1940's and starring as James Butler Hickock in the
television series "The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickock", from
1951-1958. A radio version of the show aired on the Mutual network from
1951-1956. Mr. Madison portrayed the handsome James Butler Hickock in
these series. It was the beginning of his work on popular series about
historic frontier figures such as Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, and Kit
Carson.
Handsome American leading man who stumbled into a film career and
became a television star and hero to the Baby Boom generation. As a
young man, he worked as a telephone lineman, but entered the Coast
Guard at the beginning of the Second World War. While on liberty one
weekend in Hollywood, he attended a Lux Radio Theatre broadcast and was
spotted in the audience by one of 'Henry Willson' , an executive for 'David O. Selznick' .
Selznick wanted an unknown sailor to play a small but prominent part in
'Since You Went Away (1944)' , and promptly signed Robert Moseley to a contract. Selznick and
Willson concocted the screen name Guy Madison (the "guy" girls would
like to meet, and Madison from a passing Dolly Madison cake wagon).
Madison filmed his one scene on a weekend pass and returned to duty.
The film's release brought thousands of fan letters for the film's
lonely, strikingly handsome young sailor, and at war's end, Madison
returned to find himself a star-in-the-making. Despite an initial
amateurishness to his acting, Madison grew as a performer, studying and
working in theatre. He played leads in a series of programmers before
being cast as legendary lawman Wild Bill Hickock in the TV series of
the same name. He played Hickock on TV and radio for much of the 1950s,
and many of the TV episodes were strung together and released as
feature films. Madison managed to squeeze in some more adult-oriented
roles during his off-time from the series, but much of this work was
also in Westerns. After the Hickock series ended, Madison found work
scarce in the U.S. and travelled to Europe where he became a popular
star of Italian Westerns German adventure films. In the 1970s, he
returned to the U.S., but appeared mainly in cameo roles. Physical
ailments limited his work in latter years, and he died from emphysema
in 1996. His first wife was actress 'Gail Russell (I)' . - Author: Anonymous
Jim Beaver
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