Today's Birthday: 20 January
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Denton, Jamie (I)
Hailing from Nashville, Tennessee, Jamie Denton graduated with honors
from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. His theatrical career
began with his role as "George Gibbs" in a production of "Our Town".
Afterwards, Jamie headed to Chicago, where his first role was as
"Stanley" in "A Streetcar Named Desire" and his last was as the
terrorist "Bebert" in the French farce "Lapin Lapin". In the 5 years
that came between the two, Denton was a company member at The Griffin
Theater and at Strawdog Theater Ensemble. He added a steady string of
roles and accolades to his list of achievements, including one of the
leads in the world premiere of "Flesh and Blood", (which received an
After Dark award for best ensemble) performing in and composing the
music for the "Night Hank Williams Died", and his portrayal of Kentucky
preacher "C.C. Showers" in "The Diviners" - which gained him a
nomination for a Best Actor - "Joseph Jefferson Award" (Chicago's
primary theater awards). A small part in "The Untouchables" (the
series, not the movie) was followed by guest starring roles on "JAG",
"Sliders" and "Dark Skies". A spot on "Moloney", a pilot for ABC
entitled "L.A. Med" and a stint on the silver screen in 'That Old Feeling (1997)' , were
preludes to his first appearance as "Mr. Lyle" on '"Pretender, The" (1996)' . Immediately
afterwards, JD made another pilot, this time for his own series, "The
Hanleys". When ABC shelved the sitcom at the last minute, Denton
continued producing chilling portrayals as "Mr. Lyle" in NBC's "The
Pretender", this time as a series regular. Summer of 1999 found Jamie
heading back to the theater, starring in the world premiere of "In
Walked Monk", a play written by Mike Petty. During the 4th season of
"The Pretender", Jamie added three more guest starring roles to his
credits - the first on "Two Guys and a Girl", another on "Ally McBeal",
and the last on the hugely popular "West Wing". That summer, he
co-starred in the dark comedy, "Asylum", at The Court Theatre and at
the end of the year, headed for Canada to film two MOWs for TNT-
'Pretender 2001, The (2001) (TV)' (qvb) and 'Pretender: Island of the Haunted, The (2001) (TV)' . In the summer of
2001, Jamie opened in another Mike Petty play, "Locked Up Down
Shorty's", playing the role of "Danny". In December, 2001, Jamie began
appearing in a recurring role as "Judge Augustus Ripley" on 'Steven Bochco' 's
'"Philly" (2001)' . Less than 3 months later, he was signed on as a regular cast
member for that series, where he can currently be seen. - Author: Sandra Vickers-Keefe
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Lynch, David
Born in precisely the kind of small-town American setting so familiar
from his films, David Lynch spent his childhood being shunted from one
state to another as his research scientist father kept getting
relocated. He attended various art schools, married, and fathered
future director 'Jennifer Chambers Lynch' shortly after he turned 21. That experience,
plus attending art school in a particularly violent and run-down area
of Philadelphia, inspired 'Eraserhead (1977)' , a film that he began in the early
1970s (after a couple of shorts) and which he would work on obsessively
for five years. The final film was initially judged to be almost
unreleasably weird, but thanks to the efforts of distributor 'Ben Barenholtz' ,
it secured a cult following and enabled Lynch to make his first
mainstream film (in an unlikely alliance with 'Mel Brooks' ), though 'Elephant Man, The (1980)'
was shot through with his unique sensibility. Its enormous critical and
commercial success led to 'Dune (1984)' , a hugely expensive commercial
disaster, but Lynch redeemed himself with 'Blue Velvet (1986)' , his most personal
and original work since his debut. He subsequently won the top prize at
the Cannes Film Festival with the dark, violent road movie 'Wild at Heart (1990)' , and
achieved a huge cult following with his surreal TV series '"Twin Peaks" (1990)' ,
which he adapted for the big screen, though his comedy series '"On the Air" (1992)'
was less successful. He also draws comic strips and has devised
multimedia stage events with regular composer 'Angelo Badalamenti' . He had a
much-publicised affair with 'Isabella Rossellini' in the late 1980s. - Author: Michael Brooke
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Fellini, Federico
Life -- the women who both attracted and frightened him and an Italy
dominated in his youth by Mussolini and Pope Pius XII -- inspired the
dreams that Fellini started recording in notebooks in the 1960s. Life
and dreams were raw material for his films. His native Rimini and
characters like Saraghina (the devil herself said the priests who ran
his school) -- and the Gambettola farmhouse of his paternal grandmother
would be remembered in several films. His traveling salesman father
Urbano Fellini showed up in 'Dolce vita, La (1960)' and '8 1/2 (1963)' . His mother Ida
Barbiani was from Rome and accompanied him there in 1939. He enrolled
in the University of Rome. Intrigued by the image of reporters in
American films, he tried out the real life role of journalist and
caught the attention of several editors with his caricatures and
cartoons and then started submitting articles. Several articles were
recycled into a radio series about newlyweds "Cico and Pallina".
Pallina was played by acting student Giulietta Masina, who became his
real life wife from October 30, 1943, until his death half a century
later. The young Fellini loved vaudeville and was befriended in 1940 by
leading comedian Aldo Fabrizi. Roberto Rossellini wanted Fabrizi to
play Don Pietro in 'Roma, cittą aperta (1946)' and made the contact through Fellini.
Fellini worked on that film's script and is on the credits for
Rosselini's 'Paisą (1946)' . On that film he wandered into the editing room,
started observing how Italian films were made (a lot like the old
silent films with an emphasis on visual effects, dialogue dubbed in
later). Fellini in his mid-20s had found his life's work. - Author: Dale O'Connor
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