title: Angela Lansbury

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 description of the character; in this she created a precursor to her later role of Jessica Fletcher. She was signed to appear in two sequels as Miss Marple, but these never were made. <mask>'s next film was the animated The Last Unicorn (1982), for which she provided the voice of the witch Mommy Fortuna. Beauty and the Beast and other roles (1990–2000)
Throughout the run of Murder, She Wrote, Lansbury had continued making appearances in other television films, miniseries and cinema.In 1986, she co-hosted the New York Philharmonic's televised tribute to the centenary of the Statue of Liberty with Kirk Douglas. She appeared as the protagonist's mother in Rage of Angels: The Story Continues (1986)  and portrayed Nan Moore – the mother of a victim of the real-life Korean Air Lines Flight 007 plane crash – in Shootdown (1988); being a mother herself, she had been "enormously touched by the incident". She was featured in The Shell Seekers (1989) as an Englishwoman recuperating from a heart attack, and starred in The Love She Sought (1990) as an American school teacher who falls in love with a Catholic priest while visiting Ireland; Lansbury thought it "a marvelous woman's story". She next starred as the Cockney Mrs Harris in a film adaptation of the novel Mrs 'Arris Goes to Paris (1992), which was directed by her son and executive produced by her stepson. Her highest profile cinematic role since The Manchurian Candidate was as the voice of the motherly teapot Mrs. Potts in the Disney animation Beauty and the Beast (1991), an appearance that she considered to be a gift to her three grandchildren. Lansbury performed the title song to the film, which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song and Grammy Award for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media. In 2021, <mask> made a surprise appearance referencing her role as Mrs. Potts on the audio guide of "Inspiring Walt Disney: The Animation of French Decorative Arts", The Metropolitan Museum of Art's first ever exhibition about Walt Disney and his Studios.Return to film (2005–19)
She starred in the film Nanny McPhee (2005) as Aunt Adelaide, later informing an interviewer that working on Nanny McPhee "pulled me out of the abyss" after the loss of her husband. She then appeared in the film Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), opposite Jim Carrey. In 2012, it was announced that <mask> was set to star in Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel; however, she had to back out of the project (with Tilda Swinton replacing her) due to prior scheduling conflicts with the Australian production of Driving Miss Daisy, in which she co-starred alongside James Earl Jones. In November 2013, she received an Academy Honorary Award for her lifetime achievement at the Governors Awards which was presented to her by Robert Osborne of Turner Classic Movies. Emma Thompson and Geoffrey Rush also offered tributes. She also appeared in a supporting role in Mary Poppins Returns (2018), a sequel to the 1964 original film, set 20 years later in Depression-era London which features Emily Blunt as the title character. Filming began at Shepperton Studios in February 2017, and the film was released in December 2018 to positive reviews.In January 2019, Lansbury was invited to the American Film Institute's luncheon to give the annual benediction where she talked about her experiences at MGM, the craft of acting and the importance of a film community. The appearance was a surprise to the group of film and television stars who gave her a standing ovation. Lansbury concluded her remarks by giving advice to the possible Oscar, and Golden Globe contenders about the awards season stating "As you leave here today and are invited to endure a seemingly endless parade of programs that label you a 'winner' or a 'loser' – I've been there, I've done that, remember this room, when we are all together as one." Theatre

Career beginnings and breakthrough (1957–61)
In April 1957, she debuted on Broadway at the Henry Miller Theatre in Hotel Paradiso, a French burlesque set in Paris, directed by Peter Glenville. The play only ran for 15 weeks, although she earned good reviews for her role as "Marcel Cat". She later stated that had she not appeared in the play, her "whole career would have fizzled out"/ She followed this with an appearance in 1960s Broadway performance of A Taste of Honey at the Lyceum Theatre, directed by Tony Richardson and George Devine. Lansbury played Helen, the boorish, verbally abusive, otherwise absentee mother of Josephine (played by Joan Plowright, only four years Lansbury's junior), remarking that she gained "a great deal of satisfaction" from the role.During the show's run, <mask> developed a friendship with Plowright, as well as with Plowright's lover and future husband, Laurence Olivier. It was from <mask>'s rented flat on East 97th Street that Plowright and Olivier eloped to be married. After a well-reviewed appearance in Summer of the Seventeenth Doll (1959) – for which she had filmed in Sydney, Australia – and a minor role in A Breath of Scandal (1960), she appeared in 1961's Blue Hawaii as an overbearing mother, whose son was played by Elvis Presley, despite his being her junior by only nine years. Acknowledging that the film was of poor quality, she commented that she agreed to appear in it because "I was desperate." Her first appearance in a theatrical musical was the short-lived Anyone Can Whistle, written by Arthur Laurents and Stephen Sondheim. An experimental work, it opened at the Majestic Theatre on Broadway in April 1964, but was critically panned and closed after nine performances. <mask> had played the role of crooked mayoress Cora Hoover Hooper, and although she loved Sondheim's score she faced personal differences with Laurents and was glad when the show closed.In 1965, she appeared in a second-season episode of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. as a flamboyant and wealthy actress. She appeared in The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), a cinematic biopic of Jesus, but was cut almost entirely from the final edit. She followed this with an appearance as Mama Jean Bello in Harlow (1965), as Lady Blystone in The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders (1965), and as Gloria in Mister Buddwing (1966). Despite her well-received performances in a number of films, "celluloid superstardom" evaded her, and she became increasingly dissatisfied with these minor roles, feeling that none allowed her to explore her potential as an actress. Returning to musical cinema, she starred as Ruth in The Pirates of Penzance (1983), a film based on Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera of the same name, and while filming it in London sang on a recording of The Beggar's Opera as a mezzo-soprano. This was followed by an appearance as the grandmother in the gothic fantasy film The Company of Wolves (1984).Lansbury had also begun work for television, appearing in a television film with Bette Davis titled Little Gloria... Happy at Last (1982). She followed this with an appearance in The Gift of Love: A Christmas Story (1983), later describing it as "the most unsophisticated thing you can imagine". In the television film A Talent for Murder (1984), she played a wheelchair using mystery writer; although describing it as "a rush job", she agreed to do it in order to work with co-star Laurence Olivier. Two further miniseries featuring Lansbury appeared in 1984: Lace and The First Olympics: Athens 1896. Broadway stardom (1966–80)

In 1966, Lansbury took on the title role of Mame Dennis in the musical Mame, Jerry Herman's musical adaptation of the novel Auntie Mame. The director's first choice for the role had been Rosalind Russell, who played Mame in the non-musical film adaptation Auntie Mame, but she had declined.Lansbury actively sought the role in the hope that it would mark a change in her career. When she was chosen, it came as a surprise to theatre critics, who believed that it would go to a better-known actress; Lansbury was forty-one years old, and it was her first starring role. Mame Dennis was a glamorous character, with over twenty costume changes throughout the play, and Lansbury's role involved ten songs and dance routines which she trained extensively for. First appearing in Philadelphia and then Boston, Mame opened at the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway in May 1966. Auntie Mame was already popular among the gay community, and Mame gained Lansbury a cult gay following, something that she later attributed to the fact that Mame Dennis was "every gay person's idea of glamour ... Everything about Mame coincided with every young man's idea of beauty and glory and it was lovely." Reviews of Lansbury's performance were overwhelmingly positive. In The New York Times, Stanley Kauffmann wrote: "Miss Lansbury is a singing-dancing actress, not a singer or dancer who also acts ...In this marathon role she has wit, poise, warmth and a very taking coolth." The role resulted in <mask> receiving her first Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical. Lansbury's later biographer Margaret Bonanno claimed that Mame made <mask> a "superstar", with the actress herself commenting on her success by stating that "Everyone loves you, everyone loves the success, and enjoys it as much as you do. And it lasts as long as you are on that stage and as long as you keep coming out of that stage door." The stardom achieved through Mame allowed <mask> to make further appearances on television, such as on Perry Como's Thanksgiving special in November 1966. Her fame also allowed her to engage in a variety of high-profile charitable endeavors, for instance appearing as the guest of honor at the 1967 March of Dimes annual benefit luncheon. She was invited to star in a musical performance for the 1968 Academy Awards ceremony, and co-hosted that year's Tony Awards with former brother-in-law Peter Ustinov.That year, Harvard University's Hasty Pudding Club elected her "Woman of the Year". When the film adaptation of Mame was put into production, <mask> hoped to be offered the part, but it instead went to Lucille Ball, an established box-office success. <mask> considered this to be "one of my bitterest disappointments". Her personal life was complicated when she learned that both of her children had become involved with the counterculture of the 1960s and had been using recreational drugs; as a result, Anthony had become addicted to cocaine and heroin. <mask> followed the success of Mame with a performance as Countess Aurelia, the 75-year-old Parisian eccentric in Dear World, a musical adaptation of Jean Giraudoux's The Madwoman of Chaillot. The show opened at Broadway's Mark Hellinger Theatre in February 1969, but <mask> found it a "pretty depressing" experience. Reviews of her performance were positive, and she was awarded her second Tony Award on the basis of it.Reviews of the show more generally were critical, however, and it ended after 132 performances. She followed this with an appearance in the title role of the musical Prettybelle, which was based upon Jean Arnold's The Rape of Prettybelle. Set in the Deep South, it dealt with issues of racism, with <mask> as a wealthy alcoholic who seeks sexual encounters with black men. A controversial play, it opened in Boston but received poor reviews, being cancelled before it reached Broadway. <mask> later described the play as "a complete and utter fiasco", admitting that in her opinion, her "performance was awful". The year 1970 was traumatic for the <mask> family, as Peter underwent a hip replacement, Anthony suffered a heroin overdose and entered a coma, and in September, the family's Malibu home was destroyed in a brush fire. They then purchased Knockmourne Glebe, a farmhouse constructed in the 1820s which was located near the village of Conna in rural County Cork, and, after Anthony quit using cocaine and heroin, took him there to recover from his drug addiction.To help her children out, the family had moved to Ireland. <mask> didn't work for a whole year so she could be there for Anthony and Deidre while they were recovering from their addiction. He enrolled in the Webber-Douglas School, his mother's alma mater, and became a professional actor, then moved into television directing. <mask> and her husband did not return to California, instead dividing their time between County Cork and New York City. In 1972, <mask> returned to London's West End to perform in the Royal Shakespeare Company's theatrical production of Edward Albee's All Over at the Aldwych Theatre. She portrayed the mistress of a dying New England millionaire, and although the play's reviews were mixed, Lansbury's acting was widely praised. This was followed by her reluctant involvement in a revival of Mame, which was then touring the United States, after which she returned to the West End to play the character of Rose in the musical Gypsy.She had initially turned down the role, not wishing to be in the shadow of Ethel Merman, who had portrayed the character in the original Broadway production, but eventually accepted it; when the show started in May 1973, she earned a standing ovation and rave reviews. Settling into a Belgravia flat, she was soon in demand among London society, having dinners held in her honour. Following the culmination of the London run, in 1974 Gypsy went on a tour of the U.S., and in Chicago <mask> was awarded the Sarah Siddons Award for her performance. The show eventually reached Broadway, where it ran until January 1975; a critical success, it earned <mask> her third Tony Award. After several months' break, Gypsy then toured throughout the country again in the summer of 1975. Desiring to move on from musicals, Lansbury decided that she wanted to appear in a production of one of William Shakespeare's plays. She obtained the role of Gertrude in the National Theatre Company's production of Hamlet, staged at the Old Vic.Directed by Peter Hall, the production ran from December 1975 to May 1976, receiving mixed reviews; <mask> later commented that she "hated" the role, believing it too restrained. Her mood was worsened by the news that in November 1975 her mother had died in California; <mask> had her mother's body cremated and the ashes scattered near her own County Cork home. Her next theatrical appearance was in two one-act plays by Edward Albee, Counting the Ways and Listening, performed side by side at the Hartford Stage Company in Connecticut. Reviews of the production were mixed, but <mask> was again singled out for praise. This was followed by another revival tour of Gypsy. In April 1978, <mask> appeared in 24 performances of a revival of The King and I musical staged at Broadway's Uris Theatre; <mask> played the role of Mrs Anna, replacing Constance Towers, who was on a short break. Her first cinematic role in seven years was as novelist and murder victim Salome Otterbourne in  Death on the Nile (1978), an adaptation of Agatha Christie's 1937 novel of the same name that was filmed in both London and Egypt.In the film, <mask> starred alongside Peter Ustinov and Bette Davis, who became a close friend. The role earned <mask> the National Board of Review award for Best Supporting Actress of 1978. In March 1979, Lansbury first appeared as Nellie Lovett in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, a Stephen Sondheim musical directed by Harold Prince. Opening at the Uris Theatre on Broadway, she starred alongside Len Cariou as Sweeney Todd, the murderous barber in 19th century London. After being offered the role, she jumped on the opportunity due to the involvement of Sondheim in the project; she commented that she loved "the extraordinary wit and intelligence of his lyrics". She remained in the role for fourteen months before being replaced by Dorothy Loudon; the musical received mixed critical reviews, although it earned <mask> her fourth Tony Award and After Dark magazine's Ruby Award for Broadway Performer of the Year. She returned to the role in October 1980 for a ten-month tour of six U.S. cities, with George Hearn playing the title character; the production was also filmed and broadcast on the Entertainment Channel.In 1982, she took on the role of an upper middle class housewife who champions workers' rights in A Little Family Business, a farce set in Baltimore in which her son Anthony also starred. It debuted at Los Angeles' Ahmanson Theatre before heading on to Broadway's Martin Beck Theatre. It was critically panned and induced accusations of racism from the Japanese-American community. That year, <mask> was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame, and the following year appeared in a Mame revival at Broadway's Gershwin Theatre. Although <mask> was praised, the show was a commercial flop, with <mask> noting that "I realised that it's not a show of today. It's a period piece." Return to Broadway (2001–09)

Following the end of Murder, She Wrote, <mask> returned to the theatre.Although cast in the lead role in the 2001 Kander and Ebb musical The Visit, she withdrew before it opened due to her husband's deteriorating health. Peter died in January 2003 of congestive heart failure at the couple's home in Brentwood, California. <mask> felt that after this event she would not take on any more major acting roles, and that instead might make a few cameos but nothing more. Wanting to spend more time in New York City, in 2006 she purchased a $2 million condominium in Manhattan. <mask> returned to Broadway after

masks: Lansbury Lansbury Lansbury Lansbury Lansbury Lansbury Lansbury Lansbury Lansbury Lansbury Lansbury Lansbury Lansbury Lansbury Lansbury Lansbury Lansbury Lansbury Lansbury Lansbury Lansbury Lansbury Lansbury Lansbury Lansbury Lansbury Lansbury Lansbury Lansbury Lansbury Lansbury Lansbury Lansbury Lansbury Lansbury


title: Angela Lansbury

type: original

texts:
 a 23-year absence in Deuce, a play by Terrence McNally that opened at the Music Box Theatre in May 2007 for a limited run of eighteen weeks. <mask> received a Tony Award nomination for Best Leading Actress in a Play for her role. In March 2009 she returned to Broadway for a revival of Blithe Spirit at the Shubert Theatre, where she took on the role of Madame Arcati.This appearance earned her the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play; this was her fifth Tony Award, tying her with the previous record holder for the number of Tony Awards, Julie Harris, albeit all of Harris' Tonys were for Best Leading Actress. From December 2009 to June 2010, Lansbury then starred as Madame Armfeldt alongside Catherine Zeta-Jones in the first Broadway revival of A Little Night Music, held at the Walter Kerr Theatre. The role earned her a seventh Tony Award nomination, while in May 2010, she was awarded an honorary doctoral degree from Manhattan School of Music. Return to the West End (2012–19)

From April to July 2012, <mask> starred as women's rights advocate Sue-Ellen Gamadge in the Broadway revival of Gore Vidal's The Best Man at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre. From February to June 2013, Lansbury starred alongside James Earl Jones in an Australian tour of Driving Miss Daisy. From March to June 2014, Lansbury reprised her performance as Madame Arcati in Blithe Spirit at the Gielgud Theatre in London's West End, her first London stage appearance in nearly 40 years. While in London, she made an appearance at the Angela Lansbury Film Festival in Poplar, a screening of some of her best known films organised by Poplar Film.From December 2014 to March 2015, she joined the tour of Blithe Spirit across North America. In April 2015, aged 89, she received her first Olivier Award as Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Arcati, and in November 2015 was awarded the Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement in Musical Theatre. On June 2, 2016, it was officially announced that <mask> would return to Broadway in the 2017–2018 season in a revival of Enid Bagnold's 1955 play The Chalk Garden. The play was produced by Scott Rudin at a theatre to-be-announced. However, in an interview published on September 20, 2016, Lansbury stated that she will not be performing in The Chalk Garden, saying: "At my time of life, I've decided that I want to be with family more and being alone in New York doing a play requires an extraordinary amount of time left alone." On November 18, 2019, <mask> returned to Broadway portraying Lady Bracknell in a one-night benefit staging of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest for Roundabout Theatre Company's American Airlines Theatre. In October 2020, Variety magazine considered her career to "defy all logic" and continued "Though powerful women were sometimes maligned, it was thought you needed to be heartless to survive in showbiz, Lansbury has created a 77-year career and nobody has a bad word to say about her."Television

Murder, She Wrote (1984–96)

In 1983, <mask> was offered two main television roles, one in a Norman Lear sitcom opposite Charles Durning and the other in a detective series by co-creators William Link and Richard Levinson of Columbo fame. Unable to do both, she chose to do the detective series despite the fact her agents had advised her to accept the sitcom. The series Murder, She Wrote centered on the character of Jessica Fletcher, a retired school teacher from the fictional town of Cabot Cove, Maine, who became a successful detective novelist after her husband's death, also solving murders encountered during her travels. <mask> described the character as "an American Miss Marple". The series was created by Peter S. Fischer, Richard Levinson and William Link, who had earlier had success with Columbo and the role of Jessica Fletcher had been first offered to Jean Stapleton, who declined the role, as did Doris Day. The pilot episode "The Murder of Sherlock Holmes" premiered on on September 30, 1984, with the rest of the first season airing on Sundays from 8 to 9 p.m. Although critical reviews were mixed, it proved highly popular, with the pilot having a Nielsen rating of 18.9 and the first season being rated top in its time slot.Designed as inoffensive family viewing, despite its topic the show eschewed depicting violence or gore, following the "whodunit" format rather than those of most contemporary U.S. crime shows; <mask> herself commented that "best of all, there's no violence. I hate violence." <mask> was protective of Jessica Fletcher, having creative input over the character's costumes, makeup and hair and rejecting pressure from network executives to put her in a relationship, believing that the character should remain a strong single female. When she believed that a scriptwriter had made Jessica do or say things that did not fit with the character's personality, <mask> ensured that the script was changed. She saw Jessica as a role model for older female viewers, praising her "enormous, universal appeal – that was an accomplishment I never expected in my entire life." Lansbury biographers Rob Edelman and Audrey E. Kupferberg described the series as "a television landmark" in the U.S. for having an older female character as the protagonist, thereby paving the way for later series like The Golden Girls. Lansbury herself noted that "I think it's the first time a show has really been aimed at the middle aged audience," and although it was most popular among senior citizens, it gradually gained a younger audience.By 1991, one third of viewers were under age 50. It gained continually high ratings throughout most of its run, outdoing rivals in its time slot such as Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories. In February 1987, a spin-off was produced, The Law & Harry McGraw, although it was short-lived. As the show's run continued, Lansbury assumed a larger role behind the scenes. In 1989, her company Corymore Productions began co-producing the show with Universal. Nevertheless, she began to tire of the series and in particular the long working hours, stating that the 1990–91 season would be the show's last. She changed her mind after being appointed executive producer for the 1992–93 season, something that she felt "made it far more interesting to me".For the 8th season, the show's setting moved to New York City, where Jessica had taken a job teaching criminology at Manhattan University. The move was an attempt to attract younger viewers and was encouraged by <mask>. Having become a "Sunday-night institution" in the U.S., the show's ratings improved during the early 1990s, becoming a Top Five programme. However, CBS executives, hoping to gain a larger audience, moved it to Thursdays at 8pm, opposite NBC's sitcom Friends. <mask> was angry at the move, believing that it ignored the show's core audience. The final episode of the series aired in May 1996, and ended with <mask> voicing a "Goodbye from Jessica" message at the end. Tom Shales wrote in The Washington Post: "The title of the show's last episode, "Death by Demographics", is in itself something of a protest.Murder, She Wrote is partly a victim of commercial television's mad youth mania." At the time, it tied the original Hawaii Five-O as the longest-running detective series in television history, and the role would prove to be the most successful and prominent of <mask>'s career. <mask> initially had plans for a Murder, She Wrote television film that would be a musical with a score composed by Jerry Herman. While this project did not materialise, it was transformed into Mrs Santa Claus – in which <mask> played Santa Claus' wife – which proved to be a ratings hit. <mask>'s higher profile gained from Murder, She Wrote resulted in her being employed to appear in advertisements and infomercials for Bufferin, MasterCard and the Beatrix Potter Company. In 1988, she released a video titled <mask>'s Positive Moves: My Personal Plan for Fitness and Well-Being, in which she outlined her personal exercise routine, and in 1990 published a book with the same title co-written with Mimi Avins, which she dedicated to her mother. As a result of her work, she was appointed a CBE, awarded to her in a ceremony by the Prince of Wales at the British consulate in Los Angeles.While living most of the year in California, <mask> spent Christmases and summers at Corymore House, her farmhouse overlooking the Atlantic Ocean at Ballywilliam, near Churchtown South, Cloyne, County Cork, which she had specially built as a family home in 1991. Law & Order and other guest roles (2005–17)
She made an appearance in a Season 6 episode of the television show Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, for which she was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series in 2005. In December 2017, <mask> played Aunt March on the BBC miniseries Little Women. <mask> received acclaim for her performance with Variety film critic Jaqueline Cutler writing, "That's Aunt March, played with magnificent imperiousness by <mask>, wielding power by lording her wealth over all." Daniel Feinberg at The Hollywood Reporter praised <mask> declaring, "<mask> towers over a solid cast...rests on no laurels and steals her every scene." Personal life

Off-screen, Lansbury has spoken throughout her life with an English accent. She holds Irish citizenship.Biographer Martin Gottfried characterized her as "Meticulous. Cautious. Self-editing. Deliberate. It is what the British call reserved," adding that she was "as concerned, as sensitive, and as sympathetic as anyone might want in a friend". Also noting that she had "a profound sense of privacy", he added that she disliked attempts at flattery. Lansbury has been married twice, first to the actor Richard Cromwell, when she was 19 and Cromwell was 35.Cromwell and <mask> eloped and were married in a small civil ceremony on September 27, 1945. The marriage ended in divorce in 1946, but they remained friends until his death in 1960. In 1949, she married actor and producer Peter Shaw, and they remained together for 54 years until his death in 2003. She acquired a step-son, David, from Shaw's first marriage. They had two children of their own, Anthony Peter (b. 1952) and Deirdre Ann (b. 1953).While Lansbury repeatedly stated that she wanted to put her children before her career, she admitted that she often had to leave them in California for long periods when she was working elsewhere. She brought up her children to be Episcopalian, although they were not members of a congregation. She has stated that "I believe that God is within all of us, that we are perfect, precious beings, and that we have to put our faith and trust in that." In the latter part of the 1960s, Anthony and Deirdre became involved in the growing counterculture movement and started using recreational drugs. Deirdre developed an acquaintance with the Manson family, while Anthony became addicted to cocaine and heroin, giving it up in 1971. After recovering, Anthony became a television director and directed 68 episodes of Murder, She Wrote; he also married and had three children. Deirdre married a chef, and together they opened a restaurant in West Los Angeles.Lansbury is a cousin of the Postgate family, including the animator, writer and social activist Oliver Postgate. She is also a cousin of the academic and novelist <mask>, whose son is former Prime Minister of Australia Malcolm Turnbull. As a young actress, Lansbury was a self-professed homebody, who commented that she loved housekeeping. She preferred spending quiet evenings inside with friends to the Hollywood night life. Her hobbies at the time included reading, horse riding, playing tennis, cooking, and playing the piano; she also had a keen interest in gardening. She has cited F. Scott Fitzgerald as her favorite author, and cited Roseanne and Seinfeld as being among her favorite television shows. Lansbury was an avid letter writer who wrote letters by hand and made copies of all of them.At Howard Gotlieb's request, <mask>'s papers are housed at the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University. <mask> is a supporter of the United States Democratic Party (describing herself as "Democrat from the ground up") and the British Labour Party. Throughout her career, <mask> supported a variety of charities, particularly those such as Abused Wives in Crisis that combated domestic abuse and those who worked toward rehabilitating drug users. In the 1980s, she began to support a number of charities engaged in the fight against HIV/AIDS. In early life, <mask> was a chain smoker. She gave up the addiction in the mid-1960s. In 1976 and 1987, she had cosmetic surgery on her neck to prevent it from broadening with age.During the 1990s, she began to suffer from arthritis. Lansbury underwent hip replacement surgery in May 1994 and knee replacement surgery in 2005. Acting credits

<mask> has had a prolific career in film, theatre and television. She is one of the last film stars of the golden age of Hollywood, having been a contract player with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in the 1940s. She acted alongside actors such as Ingrid Bergman, Katharine Hepburn, Judy Garland, Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Sinatra, Paul Newman, Orson Welles, Bette Davis and Maggie Smith in such classic films as Gaslight (1944), National Velvet (1944), The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945), The Harvey Girls (1946), State of the Union (1948), The Court Jester (1956), The Long, Hot Summer (1958), The Manchurian Candidate (1962) and Death on the Nile (1978). She is also known for her roles in classic children's films as Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971), The Last Unicorn  (1982), Beauty and the Beast (1991), Anastasia (1997), Fantasia 2000 (2000), Nanny McPhee (2005), The Grinch (2018) and Mary Poppins Returns (2018). Lansbury is also known for her iconic work in Broadway musicals working Stephen Sondheim's Anyone Can Whistle (1964), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1978), Gypsy (1973), and A Little Night Music (2009–2010).She also starred in Jerry Herman's Mame (1966), and Rodgers and Hammerstein's The King and I (1978). She is also known for her performances in plays such as the Terrence McNally play Deuce (2007), the Noël Coward comedy Blithe Spirit (2014), the Gore Vidal political drama The Best Man (2012). She gained international fame for her role as mystery writer turned sleuth Jessica Fletcher in the CBS crime series Murder, She Wrote (1984–1996). Honours and legacy

In the 1960s, The New York Times referred to <mask> as the "First Lady of Musical Theatre". Lansbury described herself as an actress who also could sing, with Sondheim stating that she had a strong voice, albeit with a limited range. Lansbury's authorised biographer Martin Gottfried described her as "an American icon", with a "practically saintly" public image. A 2007 interviewer for The New York Times described her as "one of the few actors it makes sense to call beloved", noting that a 1994 article in People magazine awarded her a perfect score on its "lovability index".The New Statesman commented that she "has the kind of pulling power many younger and more ubiquitous actors can only dream of, while an article in The Independent has suggested that she could be considered Britain's most successful actress. She is a gay icon, and has asserted that she is "very proud of the fact", attributing her popularity among the LGBT community to her performance in Mame, while Murder, She Wrote broadened that appeal. She has been recognized for her achievements in Britain on multiple occasions. In 2002, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) gave <mask> a Lifetime Achievement Award. <mask> was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1994 Birthday Honours, and promoted to a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2014 New Year Honours for services to drama, charitable work, and philanthropy. On being made a dame by Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle, <mask> stated: "I'm joining a marvellous group of women I greatly admire like Judi Dench and Maggie Smith. It's a lovely thing to be given that nod of approval by your own country and I really cherish it."Lansbury has never won an Emmy Award despite 18 nominations (17 of them Primetime Emmy Awards) for which she was nominated over a 33-year period. As of 2009, she held the record for the most Emmy losses by a performer. She has been nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress but has never won; reflecting on this in 2007, she stated that she was at first "terribly disappointed, but subsequently very glad that [she] did not win" because she believes that she would have otherwise had a less successful career. However, she has received Golden Globe and People's Choice Awards for her television and film work. In 2013, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Board of Governors voted to bestow upon her an Honorary Academy Award for her lifetime achievements in the industry. Emma Thompson and Geoffrey Rush offered tributes at the Governors Awards where the ceremony was held, and Robert Osborne of Turner Classic Movies presented her with the Oscar saying in part "<mask> has been adding class, talent, beauty, and intelligence to the movies ever since" her film debut in 1944. The Oscar statue is inscribed "To <mask>, an icon who has created some of cinema's most memorable characters inspiring generations of

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title: Z. Vanessa Helder

texts:
Z<mask> (May 30, 1904 – May 1, 1968) was an American watercolor painter who gained national attention in the 1930s and 40s, mainly for her paintings of scenes in Eastern Washington. She painted with a bold, Precisionist style not commonly associated with watercolor, rendering landscapes, industrial scenes, and houses with a Magic Realist touch that gave them a forlorn, isolated quality, somewhat in the manner of Charles Sheeler and Edward Hopper. She spent most of her career in the Pacific Northwest (later moving to California), but was popular in New York art galleries, was a member of the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors, and, in 1943, was included in a major exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art. She continued painting and exhibiting after moving to Los Angeles with her husband, architect Jack Paterson, but her career was slowed by the post-war rise of Abstract Expressionism, and later by the health problems of both her and her husband. They died a few days apart, in 1968. For many years Helder's work was out of vogue and largely forgotten by the public, but the power of her art has gradually been rediscovered, particularly in the Pacific Northwest. The Tacoma Art Museum held an exhibition of her work in 2013, and the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture in Spokane has her twenty-two piece series relating to the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam – generally considered her masterwork – in its permanent collection.Early life
Zama <mask> was born May 30, 1904, in the town of Lynden, near Bellingham, in Whatcom County, Washington. The name "Zama" (which Helder disliked) was taken from the ancient Carthaginian battle site where Hannibal was defeated by the Romans, reputed to be a place of spiritual energy, making it significant to her parents, who were interested in Theosophism and Spiritualism. Her father, Rynard, was a businessman; her mother, Anna, was a music and art lover who gave young <mask> her first painting lessons. She had a brother, R. Wright <mask>, who became a professional photographer. <mask> became proficient in landscape painting with watercolor at an early age. She graduated from Whatcom High School and studied at the University of Washington before winning, in 1934, a scholarship to the Art Students League of New York. There, she studied under well-known artists such as Robert Brackman,  Frank DuMond, and George Picken.Career
In New York, Helder quickly attracted notice. She gained membership in both the Association of Women Painters and Sculptors and the American Watercolor Society, which led to inclusion in group shows at prominent galleries, and eventually representation by the Grant Studio, and later the Macbeth Gallery. Although she painted a variety of subjects in a variety of locations, her realist yet unearthly Northwest landscapes proved popular in New York, and she regularly traveled back to Washington to go on painting trips with friends such as Ebba Rapp and Blanche Losey, who were fellow members of the Women Painters of Washington association. In 1937, Helder moved to Seattle to take up a Works Progress Administration (WPA) job offered by Bruce Inverarity, the Federal Art Project director for Washington. This included painting murals at the Washington State Capitol in Olympia and at Sand Point Naval Air Station in Seattle (both now lost). She entered several paintings in the Northwest Annuals, and had a solo exhibition at the Seattle Art Museum. In 1939, at Inverarity's request, she began teaching classes in watercolor, oil painting, and lithography at the Spokane Art Center, working alongside avant-gardists such as Margaret Tomkins, Carl Morris, and Guy Anderson.As an established professional working in a more traditional style, she was somewhat out of place on the faculty, but was able to spend a great deal of time roaming about Eastern Washington, painting landscapes. It was in this period, from 1939 to 1941, that she painted the Grand Coulee series, often cited of as her best work. Wrote Seattle Times art critic Michael  Upchurch in 2013:

"The contrast in these, between geometric structures (the dam in progress, the outbuildings arrayed around it) and the more organic flow of the dam's natural surroundings (scalloped desert hills, plunging watercourses), continually draws the eye. 'Sand and Gravel Works', for instance, is a whole symphony of interconnected inclines, angles, slopes and shadows. 'Jackhammer Crew' makes the most of the interplay between standing human forms, their drills and coiling drill hoses and the craggy rock beneath them. [...] There's a thrilling dynamism to the way she mixes stone outcrop, flowing water and sky reflection in these paintings." After moving back to Seattle in 1941, Helder married industrial architect Robert J.S."Jack" Paterson. Following the Pearl Harbor attack, she joined the Washington State Artists Council for Defense. She continued exhibiting locally and nationally, and in 1943 reached a high point in her career when works of hers were selected for inclusion in American Realists and Magic Realists, a major exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. A dozen of her paintings were hung alongside works by John James Audubon, Winslow Homer, Edward Hopper, Charles Sheeler, and Andrew Wyeth. Following the triumph of the MoMA show, Helder moved to Los Angeles to be with her husband, who had moved there for work reasons. With her typical energy and sense of professionalism, she joined the California Watercolor Society, did volunteer work with wounded soldiers, lectured on art, continued to exhibit in New York, and, in 1945, had a solo show at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. From 1952 to 1955 she taught at the Los Angeles Art Institute.Later years
Helder made some attempt to keep pace with post-war changes in artistic taste, but was eventually squeezed out of the New York galleries by the popularity of Abstract Expressionism. In the Pacific Northwest she came to be overshadowed by Mark Tobey, Morris Graves, Guy Anderson, and other artists of the "Northwest School". Nevertheless, she remained a well-respected "WPA artist" and master of watercolor. Aware of its artistic and cultural value, Helder had resisted selling pieces of the Grand Coulee series individually, finally selling the complete collection to the Eastern Washington State Historical Society (now the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture) in 1954. Both <mask> and her husband suffered from poor health, and she spent much of her energy in her last years caring for him. She died on May 1, 1968, a week after her husband, in Los Angeles. Legacy
Works by <mask>er have been exhibited at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York; the Oakland Museum, the Denver Art Museum, and the Seattle Art Museum; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Cascadia Art Museum in Edmonds, WA and Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA; and numerous other museums and galleries.In 2013 the Tacoma Art Museum presented a major retrospective of her work, and the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture in Spokane, WA has displayed her Grand Coulee series on several occasions. Her work is in the permanent collections of the Seattle Art Museum, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Newark Museum, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, GA, the Portland Art Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the St. Louis Art Museum, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, N.Y., IBM Corporation, and the Northwest Museum of Art and Culture in Spokane. Her art has been documented in the books Austere Beauty: The Art of Z. <mask>er by Margaret Bullock and David F. Martin and An Enduring Legacy: Women Painters of Washington, by Martin. References

1904 births
1968 deaths
American watercolorists
American women painters
Painters from Washington (state)
Federal Art Project artists
Women watercolorists
People from Lynden, Washington
20th-century American painters
20th-century American women artists

masks:
. Vanessa Helder
Vanessa Helder
Vanessa
Helder
Vanessa
Helder
Vanessa Held
Vanessa Held


title: Eric Bischoff

texts:
<mask> (born May 27, 1955) is an American entrepreneur, television producer, professional wrestling booker, podcast host, and on-screen personality. He is best known for serving as Executive Producer and later Senior Vice President of World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and subsequently, the on-screen General Manager of WWE's Raw brand. <mask> has also worked with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) where he served as Executive Producer of Impact Wrestling. With an amateur background in martial arts, <mask> also sporadically performed as an in-ring competitor, becoming a one-time WCW Hardcore Champion and headlining the 1998 Road Wild pay-per-view event, teaming with "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan against Diamond Dallas Page and Jay Leno. He wrote an autobiography, titled Controversy Creates Cash, which was released in 2006 under WWE Books. Professional wrestling career

American Wrestling Association (1986–1991)
<mask> started in wrestling working for the Minneapolis, Minnesota based American Wrestling Association (AWA) in 1986 under the ownership of Verne Gagne. In 1989, Bischoff would become an on-air interviewer and host of the AWA until the company folded in 1991.<mask> at first worked in the sales department on the AWA's syndicated programming, and became an on-air personality virtually by accident and at the last minute. Larry Nelson, whom at the time was employed by the AWA as an announcer, was arrested under suspicion of a DUI. Because of Nelson's sudden unavailability, Verne Gagne and his son, Greg opted to recruit <mask> (who initially had no desire to be in front of the camera) to fill-in on the interviews. <mask> believed they thought he would be a good replacement due to his immediate availability in the television studio, and the fact that he was already wearing a suit and tie. During the gradual demise of the AWA, the company was unable to meet payroll, and <mask> auditioned for an announcer's position with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1990, but was not hired. World Championship Wrestling (1991–2001)

Arrival and ascent to power (1991–1996)
In 1991, <mask> joined World Championship Wrestling (WCW) as a C-show announcer, debuting at The Great American Bash. As an  announcer, <mask> reported to producer Tony Schiavone and WCW's Vice President of Broadcasting, Jim Ross.In 1993, after WCW Vice President of Wrestling Operations Bill Watts resigned from the company, <mask> went to TBS executive and WCW President Bill Shaw and WCW Executive Vice President Bob Dhue to apply for the job of Executive Producer. Ross and Schiavone seemed to be the two top candidates, however, <mask> was hired in Watts' place. Schiavone remained a producer and commentator until the company's demise, but Ross was granted his release from WCW and went to work for the WWF. Initially, <mask> and Dhue worked together as partners, but frequently clashed over the direction of the company. In 1994, <mask> was promoted from Executive Producer to Senior Vice President, putting him in charge of everything WCW. Dhue resigned, as did event manager Don Sandefeur and junior vice president Jim Barnett. Bischoff convinced Turner executives to better finance WCW in order to compete with the WWF.He moved WCW production to Disney-MGM Studios in Orlando, Florida. Hulk Hogan, who was filming a show called Thunder in Paradise at Disney-MGM Studios, was approached by <mask> and Ric Flair and signed to a contract with WCW. He also invested money in production values and increased the number of WCW pay-per-views (first seven a year, then 10, and then once a month). He also started a weekly live program, WCW Monday Nitro, that went directly against WWF's flagship Monday Night Raw. <mask> remained an announcer on Nitro, regularly spoiling Raw results (as the latter show was not always aired live) to boost ratings. This created what became known amongst fans as the Monday Night Wars, as both WCW and WWF fought for viewers and in the process kick-started a new level of mainstream popularity for pro wrestling. The changes paid off, and in 1995, WCW turned a profit for the first time in the company's history.By 1997, <mask>'s official job title was President of World Championship Wrestling. The New World Order (1996–1998)

In 1996, Bischoff signed WWF superstar Scott Hall, better known at the time as "Razor Ramon". Two weeks later on Nitro, Hall was joined by Kevin Nash, most previously known as "Diesel" in the WWF, to become "The Outsiders". Bischoff intentionally depicted the duo as WWF rebels who were not under contract to WCW. To avoid legal action by the WWF, <mask> in a worked interview at The Great American Bash, asked point blank if they worked for the WWF, which both Hall and Nash denied. The Outsiders expanded and became the New World Order (nWo) when perennial fan-favorite Hulk Hogan aligned himself with the Outsiders in July 1996. The nWo was depicted as a rival company engaging in a "hostile takeover" of WCW.Week to week, the angle grew more complex, with a mixture of main-eventers, mid-carders, executives, referees, managers, and announcers involved in various subplots related to the onscreen "WCW vs nWo" power-struggle. Led by the nWo storyline, WCW overtook the WWF as the number one wrestling promotion in America with Nitro defeating Raw in the ratings by a wide margin for 84 consecutive weeks. During this era, Bischoff moved from his role as commentator and joined the nWo as a manager. His television character, dubbed "Eazy E" by Hall ("Sleazy E" by the WCW commentators), became a dictator and egomaniac as the nWo boss. In the summer of 1998, Bischoff hosted a Tonight Show like segment on WCW programming with Miss Elizabeth. Ted DiBiase has said in shoot interviews that Bischoff originally hired DiBiase to be the spokesperson and financial backer for the nWo, but when the nWo was getting to be a more prominent storyline, Bischoff replaced DiBiase as nWo spokesperson. Bischoff also enjoyed some mainstream exposure at the time, appearing on the HBO series Arli$$ as well as The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.Downfall of WCW (1998–1999)
When the WWF rebranded their product as "WWF Attitude" and began to focus on new superstars such as Stone Cold Steve Austin, Mick Foley, and The Rock, and made owner/longtime announcer Vince McMahon into a character, this eventually resulted in a ratings turnaround for WWF. On April 13, 1998, WWF ended WCW's year and a half run on top of the ratings war. Despite losing in the ratings to WWF, WCW continued to post strong ratings, attendance, and PPV buyrates throughout 1998. In 1998 WCW built one of its first homegrown superstars in Bill Goldberg, and gave him the WCW World Heavyweight Championship on July 6, 1998 at the Georgia Dome in front of 39,919 people on Nitro. In early 1999, Bischoff promoted Kevin Nash to head booker. Despite Goldberg drawing at the box office and doing three shows in December and January that did nearly a $1 million gate, the decision was made to end Goldberg's undefeated streak and put the belt on Nash. On the January 4 Nitro, at the Georgia Dome, Nash dropped the title to Hogan in a match that became known as the Fingerpoke of Doom, and the nWo was rebranded.By March ratings began dropping, and WCW began experiencing an endless streak of ratings losses. Throughout 1999, Bischoff reverted to focusing on aging WCW stars such as Hogan, Diamond Dallas Page, Randy Savage, Sting, Rowdy Roddy Piper, Nash, Ric Flair, and Sid Vicious. In an effort to improve ratings, WCW also began to focus heavily on several celebrities such as Master P., Chad Brock, Megadeth, Dennis Rodman, and Kiss. One of the last deals Bischoff structured was a deal with the members of the rock band Kiss to have their own wrestling character known as The Kiss Demon. By late 1999, WCW began losing around $5 million a month. Attendance, PPV buys and ratings were down significantly. On September 10, 1999, the decision was made to relieve Bischoff of power.Replacement (1999–2000)
On September 10, 1999, <mask> was relieved of his management position with WCW by Turner Sports chief Harvey Schiller. The job title "President of WCW" was eliminated. He was replaced with WCW Vice President of Strategic Planning Bill Busch, who was named Senior Vice President (handling the creative of the company with Brad Siegel handling the day to day operations). One of Busch's first acts in charge was the additions of former WWF head writer Vince Russo and his colleague Ed Ferrara (both of whom had worked on Raw when the show began to overtake Nitro in the ratings) to head up WCW's creative direction. In April 2000, <mask> returned as an on-air character alongside Vince Russo to lead the heel faction The New Blood; <mask> also worked on writing the shows with Russo during this time. <mask>'s last on-camera role in WCW was in July 2000 at the Bash at the Beach 2000 pay-per-view when Russo did a worked-shoot promo on Hulk Hogan. Attempted purchase of WCW (2001)
On January 11, 2001 with WCW facing major financial woes, Siegel accepted <mask>'s offer to purchase the company.Bischoff and Fusient briefly withdrew their offer when the WWF made an inquiry on WCW (due to the terms of a settlement, WWF had a right to bid on WCW's properties, should they ever be up for liquidation). When then-WWF broadcaster Viacom objected (fearing a WWF-owned show on a competing network), the Bischoff-Fusient consortium signed a new letter of intent. However, the new head of Turner Broadcasting, Jamie Kellner then canceled all WCW programming from its television networks. Kellner believed that wrestling did not fit the demographics of either TBS or TNT and would not be favorable enough to get the "right" advertisers to buy airtime (even though Thunder was the highest-rated show on TBS at the time). In the book NITRO: The Incredible Rise and Inevitable Collapse of Ted Turner's WCW by Guy Evans, it is said that a key condition in WCW's purchase deal with Fusient was that Fusient wanted control over time slots on TNT and TBS networks, regardless of whether these slots would show WCW programming or not. This influenced Kellner's decision to ultimately cancel WCW programming. With no network on which to air its programming, WCW was of little value to Fusient, whose offer depended on being able to continue to air WCW programming on the Turner networks.<mask> stated that "it made absolutely no sense for us to do the deal under those circumstances." With WCW programming canceled (and Viacom subsequently no longer objecting), the company's key assets (tape library, trademarks, and selected contracts) were purchased by the WWF in March 2001 for a substantially lower price (approximately US$3.5 million) than what had been offered. Post-WCW endeavors (2001–2002)
<mask> briefly served as President of Matrats, a youth-based wrestling company. World Wrestling Entertainment (2002–2007)

General Manager of Raw (2002–2005)

In 2002, <mask> was hired by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE, formerly WWF) to be the general manager of Raw. Although primarily an on-screen role, <mask> had a wide range of contacts within WWE to whom he could pitch creative ideas. He debuted as the first Raw general manager on the July 15 episode of Raw. He resurrected his characteristic brand of smarminess with the general manager position, again playing the arrogant heel character he had employed as the nWo boss in WCW.During his debut on Raw he told the audience about how he was president of WCW, creator of the nWo and how he forced Vince McMahon to change the ways he does business. <mask> is in second place of the longest reigns as general manager in WWE history, with three years in total. Former rival and former general manager of SmackDown Theodore Long surpassed <mask>'s record with a combined number of six years. <mask>'s wrestling innovations in WWE included the "Raw Roulette" and the Elimination Chamber, as well as feuds with Stone Cold Steve Austin, Shane McMahon, John Cena, SmackDown! General Manager Stephanie McMahon, and former Extreme Championship Wrestling owner Paul Heyman. At Taboo Tuesday <mask> had his head shaved after failing to beat his (kayfabe) nephew Eugene. Bischoff then began a face turn after his head got shaved.He favored face wrestlers such as Randy Orton, Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho. Bischoff subsequently took a vacation after allowing Randy Orton's team to become General Managers for up to four weeks with every member being the general manager once a week. Bischoff began favoring heels again after then-WWE Champion John Cena, who was drafted to Raw in June 2005, refused to participate in <mask>'s vendetta against an impending ECW revival. As a result, Bischoff "declared war" on Cena (citing disdain for Cena's rapping and "thug nature") and made wrestlers such as Chris Jericho and Christian try to take away the WWE Championship from Cena. In November, Bischoff aligned himself with Kurt Angle. Following several months of Raw and SmackDown! invasions, Bischoff lost to SmackDown!general manager Theodore Long at Survivor Series after The Boogeyman helped Long beat <mask>. On the December 5 episode of Raw, <mask> was (kayfabe) "fired" as general manager, when Cena body slammed him and Vince McMahon tossed him into a garbage truck - following a "trial" where his history of unscrupulous actions were listed - and had him driven out of the arena. <mask> then sat out the remainder of the year and spent the start of 2006 writing a book that would become Controversy Creates Cash. <mask> was against writing a wrestling book initially, as he believes "most are bitter, self-serving revisionist history at best—and monuments to bullshit at their worst." Sporadic appearances and departure (2006–2007)
On September 25, 2006, <mask> appeared on WWE television for the first time in close to a year, and after being brought into the ring by Jonathan Coachman, he proceeded to promote his recently finished book Controversy Creates Ca$h (), giving a worked shoot on McMahon and WWE. During his segment, <mask> stated, "Without Monday Nitro there would be no Monday Night Raw...without the nWo there would be no DX...and without <mask> there would be no Mr. McMahon". After this statement, <mask>'s microphone was immediately cut off, Jonathon Coachman’s music played and he was escorted from the arena by security.A few days later John "Bradshaw" Layfield conducted a four-part interview with Bischoff, further discussing his book on WWE.com. During the interview, Bischoff discussed various topics, such as his true feelings towards Lex Luger, his thoughts on ECW promoter Paul Heyman, his decision of giving Kevin Nash booking power, and his overall reaction to the Monday Night Wars. The book was released on October 17, 2006 and became a New York Times best seller. <mask> was chosen as the special guest referee for the D-Generation X versus Rated-RKO match at Cyber Sunday on November 5, with 60% of the vote. He then cheated DX out of the win, leaving Randy Orton and Edge the victors. The next night on Raw, <mask> was reinstated as General Manager for one night only. During his time as the General Manager on Raw, he restarted matches if he did not like the outcome.He also got revenge on Maria for her statement made in his trial the year before by making her face Umaga, forced John Cena to "take the night off," and banned DX from the building. He restarted the match between Jeff Hardy and Johnny Nitro for the WWE Intercontinental Championship after Hardy won by disqualification. <mask> restarted that match as a No Disqualification match, and Nitro took advantage of that using Melina to distract Hardy and striking him with the title belt. At the end of the show, DX interfered in the main event when Bischoff tried to help Edge and Randy Orton win the World Tag Team Championship, and forced him to be humiliated by "Big Dick Johnson"

masks:
Eric Aaron Bischoff
Bischoff
Bischoff
Bischoff
Bischoff
Bischoff
Bischoff
Bischoff
Bischoff
Bischoff
Bischoff
Bischoff
Bischoff
Bischoff
Bischoff
Bischoff
Bischoff
Bischoff
Bischoff
Bischoff
Bischoff
Bischoff
Bischoff
Bischoff
Bischoff
Bischoff
Bischoff
Bischoff
Bischoff
Bischoff
Bischoff
Bischoff
Bischoff
Bischoff
Bischoff
Bischoff
Bischoff
Bischoff
Eric Bischoff
Bischoff
Bischoff
Bischoff
Bischoff


title: Eric Bischoff

texts:
 as revenge for costing them their match the night before. On March 5, 2007, <mask> made a brief appearance on Raw in Phoenix, Arizona to give Vince McMahon his thoughts on the WrestleMania 23 match against Donald Trump. In August 2007, Bischoff's WWE contract expired. On December 10, 2007, Bischoff appeared on Raw for its 15th Anniversary Special, and was confronted by Chris Jericho, the man whom he fired on Raw on August 22, 2005.Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2010–2014)

Immortal (2010–2012)

In October 2009, <mask> helped negotiate a deal among Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), Hulk Hogan, and himself. He premiered alongside Hogan on the January 4, 2010, episode of TNA Impact! as part of an alliance to take over and rebuild the franchise. Behind the scenes, he was also appointed TNA executive producer. Despite being a heel when dealing with the likes of Jeff Jarrett, Mick Foley and Abyss, Bischoff refereed his first TNA match at Against All Odds, favoring the face challenger Samoa Joe over the heel champion A.J. Styles in a match for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. During the match, as part of the storyline, <mask> punched out Styles' manager Ric Flair, after he interfered in the match, but the distraction led to Styles retaining his belt.On the March 15 episode of Impact! Bischoff attempted to shave Mick Foley bald as a punishment for trying to help Jeff Jarrett in a handicap match the previous week, but was shaved bald himself, when Foley turned the tables on him. At Lockdown <mask> turned face by helping Team Hogan defeat Team Flair in the Lethal Lockdown match. The next months Bischoff worked with Hogan, Jeff Jarrett and Samoa Joe against Sting and Kevin Nash, who claimed that they knew that Bischoff and Hogan were up to something. During this time Abyss turned on Hogan and went on a rampage, which included attacking the TNA World Heavyweight Champion Rob Van Dam to the point that he was forced to vacate the title, all the while claiming that he was controlled by some entity, that was coming to TNA. After he manhandled TNA president Dixie Carter on the October 7 episode of Impact!, Bischoff presented Carter with the paperwork that would have Abyss fired after his match with Rob Van Dam at Bound for Glory, which she then proceeded to sign. At Bound for Glory Bischoff turned heel with Hogan, as the two of them helped Jeff Hardy win the vacant TNA World Heavyweight Championship.<mask>, Hogan and Hardy then aligned themselves with Abyss and Jeff Jarrett. On the following episode of Impact! it was revealed that Bischoff had tricked Carter and the paperwork she had signed a week earlier, were not to release Abyss, but to turn the company over to him and Hogan. Meanwhile, <mask>'s and Hogan's new stable, now known as Immortal, formed an alliance with Ric Flair's Fortune. On the November 4 episode of Impact!, <mask> took part in his first match in TNA, challenging the concussed Mr. Anderson to earn his shot at the TNA World Heavyweight Championship, only for Matt Morgan to take his spot and beat Bischoff to become the number one contender. Dixie Carter returned on the November 25 episode of Reaction, informing Hogan and <mask> that a judge had filed an injunction against the two on her behalf over not having signatory authority, indefinitely suspending Hogan from TNA. On January 31, 2011, at the tapings of the February 3 episode of Impact!, Fortune turned on Immortal, explaining that they were not going to let TNA suffer the same fate as WCW.Hogan, having won the court battle against Dixie Carter, returned to TNA on the March 3 episode of Impact!, declaring himself as the new owner of the promotion. However, on the May 12 episode of the newly renamed Impact Wrestling, Immortal lost control of the program to Mick Foley, who revealed himself as the Network consultant, who had been causing problems for Immortal ever since Bischoff and Hogan took over the company, however, this angle was aborted just three weeks later, when Foley left the promotion. Also in May, <mask> declared war on the X Division, after the legitimate firing of Jay Lethal, and on the May 19 episode of Impact Wrestling, wrestled his second TNA match, when he teamed with Matt Hardy in a tag team match, where they defeated Generation Me (Jeremy and Max Buck). The storyline concluded on August 11, when the Network gave the division back to the original X Division wrestlers, after the success of Destination X, which saw Immortal's Abyss lose the X Division Championship to Brian Kendrick. On October 6, it was reported that <mask> had signed a contract extension with TNA. On October 16 at Bound for Glory, after losing control of TNA back to Dixie Carter, Hogan turned on the rest of Immortal by saving Sting from a beatdown at the hands of its members. Sting had won the match when referee Jackson James, who had earlier in the event been revealed as <mask>'s real-life son Garett <mask>, reluctantly called the ring bell for a submission, which led to <mask> hitting his son with a steel chair following the match, starting a rivalry between the two.On April 15, 2012 at Lockdown, <mask> and Garett captained opposing teams in the annual Lethal Lockdown match. Garett won the match for his team by pinning <mask>, forcing his father out of TNA in the process. Backstage roles, lawsuit and departure (2012–2014)
After Lockdown, <mask> did not appear on Impact Wrestling and focused on his backstage roles. In October 2013, <mask> was sent home by TNA to sit out the remainder of his contract, which expired in early 2014. In May 2015, <mask>, his son Garett, and his business partner Jason Hervey sued TNA for unpaid salary. During an interview in August 2016, when <mask> was asked what went wrong with the company he said: "I try to put them both out of my mind so I couldn’t tell you. No comment.I’m in the middle of a lawsuit with them so I can’t really comment." When asked about positive memories during his time with TNA he stated that he did not have any. In 2019, <mask> said of his TNA run, "For the most part, it is very regrettable" and "looking back, I wished I wouldn't have done it, with one or two exceptions." Sporadic WWE appearances (2016–present)
<mask> inducted Diamond Dallas Page into the WWE Hall of Fame. On the 25th Anniversary of Raw on January 22, 2018, <mask> made a guest appearance on the show, during a segment with other former Raw general managers and on July 22, 2019 on the Raw Reunion. In June 2019, WWE announced that <mask> would be the executive director of SmackDown, and part of <mask>'s role is to act as an intermediary between WWE and Fox executives due to his background in the television industry, but he was replaced on October 15 by Bruce Prichard, and with immediate effect he had left the company. Bryan Alvarez reported that he heard "zero good things" about Bischoff and that <mask> did not know the product nor the wrestlers.According to Fox, <mask> was released since "[s]ignificant promises were made that we don't feel were upheld". In March 2020, <mask> reflected his WWE departure, stating "I knew about six weeks in, eight weeks in, it just wasn’t going to work out. [...] I knew I wasn’t fitting and it wasn’t a secret. [...] It just wasn’t right. [...] I had to fit in the system and I wasn’t able to do it in the timeline it needed to be done". In June 2020, <mask> further reflected his departure by saying "it was on me" and backs his profession by blaming his failure to adapt to the new job for why his tenure was so short and described the problem as being more of a "chemistry issue" than anything else. <mask> also pointed out that he had little creative control over SmackDown but was more of an overseer for Vince, who has the most say in the company's creative direction.On April 6, 2021, he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. He also appeared on the December 27 episode of Raw, as the officiator for the renewal of The Miz and Maryse's vows, and on the January 21, 2022 episode of SmackDown, during a backstage segment with Adam Pearce and Sonya Deville. All Elite Wrestling (2020–2021)
<mask> appeared on TNT for the first time since 2000 on August 5, 2020 when he appeared on AEW Dynamite to moderate a debate between Chris Jericho and Orange Cassidy. He referred to his appearance as a cameo and he has not signed with the promotion. However, <mask> would later return to Dynamite on October 28, 2020 to ask Jericho and MJF questions during a "town hall meeting," provoking the two wrestlers and setting up a match at Full Gear. He again appeared on Dynamite on March 3, 2021 as part of an Inner Circle press conference. On May 28, 2021, Bischoff returned to Dynamite to host a party for the Inner Circle.During the event, members of the Inner Circle were ambushed by MJF and others in The Pinnacle. Television production career
<mask>, with actor Jason Hervey, ran his own production company, Bischoff-Hervey Entertainment, which primarily produced reality TV shows, through 2017. They produced a live Girls Gone Wild pay-per-view event from Florida in 2003 with WWE and another pay-per-view about the Sturgis, South Dakota motorcycle rally in 2004. They also executive produced the VH1 reality shows Scott Baio Is 45...and Single, Scott Baio Is 46...and Pregnant, I Want To Be a Hilton, and Confessions of a Teen Idol, along with the CMT show Billy Ray Cyrus...Home At Last. Bischoff-Hervey Productions also produced a wrestling reality show called Hulk Hogan's Celebrity Championship Wrestling in which ten celebrities were trained to wrestle and one celebrity is voted off weekly. Bischoff also appeared as one of the "judges" on the show. In November 2009, Bischoff helped produce Hulk Hogan's Hulkamania: Let The Battle Begin tour to Australia.<mask>, also had a show in development with Food Network called "Food Fight" where pro wrestlers take on celebrity chefs in cooking and then tag-team with them in a wrestling match. In January 2013, Bischoff and Hervey produced the television series Hardcore Pawn: Chicago. Video game production career
In 2013, along with partners Jason Hervey and Ike McFadden, <mask> formed the online gaming company MX Digital. The company develops and distributes online and mobile celebrity-themed games in Europe and North America. Among the company's first released games were Hulk Hogan's Hulkamania, which debuted on SkyVegas in November 2012. Their next game, The Hoff, featuring actor-singer David Hasselhoff, was released widely in Europe in February 2013. In early 2014, his online-gaming company announced a deal with actor Dan Aykroyd to launch a Blues Brothers online casino game in Europe.Later that year, MX Digital launched their games on Facebook, under the moniker "MX Casino". Slot-machine-style games playable upon launch as a Facebook app included "socialized" versions of Hulk Hogan's Hulkamania, as well as a similarly Facebook-friendly version of The Hoff. Also debuting in October of that year were a batch of new celebrity-themed games, this time starring the likes of Dennis Rodman, James Dean and Chuck Norris. Personal life
Before getting into professional wrestling, Bischoff had a number of occupations. He acted in a training video for bank employees regarding fair lending practices, owned a successful landscape construction company, worked as a veterinary assistant, competed as a professional kickboxer, and ran a butcher shop, where he sold meat via van delivery. Hulk Hogan would famously refer to this time in his life during his heel promo at the end of the 1996 WCW pay-per-view event Bash at the Beach in Daytona Beach, Florida, saying, "If it wasn't for Hulk Hogan, <mask> would still be selling meat from a truck in Minneapolis." Bischoff has homes in Cody, Wyoming; Scottsdale, Arizona; Stamford, Connecticut; and Los Angeles, California with his wife, Loree (married since 1984).He has two children: son Garett (born April 20, 1984); and daughter Montanna (born November 7, 1985). Garett, under the ring name Jackson James, made his debut for TNA Wrestling on November 7, 2010, as a referee at Turning Point, before later becoming a wrestler under his real name. On May 5, 2011, <mask> announced that he was starting a brewing company in Cody, Wyoming. Their first beverage, called Buffalo Bill Cody Beer, featured the tag line "The Spirit of the Wild West". On July 27, 2016, <mask> premiered his first podcast show, Bischoff on Wrestling, on MLW Radio. After October 17, 2017, he quit the show due to being shortchanged on money. In April 2018, <mask> returned to podcasting with 83 Weeks with <mask> alongside co-host, Conrad Thompson.<mask> is a longtime fan of Vermont-based jamband Phish and collects live recordings of their concerts. <mask> is one of the most polarizing and controversial figures in professional wrestling history. Bischoff was instrumental in the creation of the New World Order (nWo), which played a major role in WCW's success and peak during the Monday Night Wars. Mike Johnson of Pro Wrestling Insider wrote: "His place in history is this and it will always be this - he's the only person to come along and kick Vince McMahon hard enough that he forced WWF's product to evolve and get better. No matter whether he won the ratings for 83 weeks or one week, his legacy is that he made pro wrestling change for the better in the mid-1990s." However, R.D. Reynolds and Bryan Alvarez, the authors of the book titled The Death of WCW, were critical of many of the decisions Bischoff made as head of WCW and believe that he contributed to the decline of the company.Professional wrestling creative writer Vince Russo, who worked with <mask> in WCW and TNA, was critical of the time they spent working together, stating: "<mask> likes to be the boss. <mask> likes to be in charge. <mask> likes to do as little work, physical work as possible". Russo was also critical of Bischoff, stating, “I don’t think the chemistry was ever there, but, I think, when we worked together, I mean, I think that we respected each other and we both tried to make it work, but, I just think that because we are two totally separate people, it was just difficult". However, Russo also said Bischoff has "contributed [to professional wrestling] in a tremendous way ... Dating all the way back to his early days at the AWA". AEW promoter Tony Khan credits Bischoff with paving the way for his promotion, stating: "I wouldn’t be here and there would not be an AEW without [Bischoff] and there would not be wrestling on TNT right now without [him]."WWE describes Bischoff as a "pioneer behind the scenes in sports-entertainment, as well as an incredibly entertaining performer in front of the camera", further stating that he achieved "success everywhere he went in the business". Filmography

Television

Championships and accomplishments
Pro Wrestling Illustrated
Feud of the Year (1996) vs. Vince McMahon
Feud of the Year (2002) vs. Stephanie McMahon
World Championship Wrestling
WCW Hardcore Championship (1 time)
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
 Best Gimmick (1996) – nWo
 Feud of the Year (1996) New World Order vs. World Championship Wrestling
Best Non-Wrestler (2005)
 '''WWE
WWE Hall of Fame (Class of 2021)

References

External links

83 Weeks with <mask> on Westwood One Podcast Network

1955 births
American color commentators
American male professional wrestlers
American men podcasters
American podcasters
American television producers
Impact Wrestling executives
Living people
People from Cody, Wyoming
Professional wrestlers from Wyoming
Professional wrestling authority figures
Professional wrestling announcers
Professional wrestlers from Michigan
Professional wrestling managers and valets
Professional wrestling podcasters
The New World Order (professional wrestling) members
University of Minnesota alumni
World Championship Wrestling executives
WWE executives
WWE Hall of Fame

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title: Andrus Kivirähk

texts:
<mask> (born 17 August 1970) is an Estonian writer, a playwright, topical satirist, and screenwriter. As of 2004, 25,000 copies of his novel Rehepapp ehk November (Old Barny or November) had been sold, making him the most popular 21st century Estonian writer. His book Mees, kes teadis ussisõnu (The Man Who Spoke Snakish) (2007) has been one of the top selling books in Estonia. He has been a member of the Estonian Writers' Union (in Estonian: Eesti Kirjanike Liit) since 1996. Radio work
<mask> and Mart Juur host a humorous and satirical weekly radio show, Rahva Oma Kaitse (People's Own Defense), on the Raadio 2 channel of Estonian public broadcaster ERR. Every time the Eurovision Song Contest takes place, it is also aired on Raadio 2, and Juur and Kivirähk air a 'special' on top of the live broadcast. 1999, 9th ed.(A Frog Kiss, Varrak 2014)
 Весна и какашка (Poo and Spring, Tallinn: Varrak 2010)
 Лимпа и пираты (Limpa and the Pirates, Varrak 2009)
 Лотте из Деревни Изобретателей (Lotte from Gadgetville, Eesti Päevaleht 2009)
 Жираф (Giraffe, КПД 2008)
 Сирли, Сийм и секреты (Sirli, Siim and the Secrets, КПД 2008)

Slovenian

 Sara, Simon in skrivnosti (Sirli, Siim and the Secrets, KUD Sodobnost International 2015)

References

Estonian Literature Information Centre

External links
 A Brave Woman by <mask> Kivirähk

Living people
1970 births
People from Tallinn
Estonian male novelists
Estonian humorists
21st-century Estonian novelists
Recipients of the Order of the White Star, 5th Class

masks:
Andrus Kivirähk
Andrus Kiviräk
Andrus


title: Nguyễn Ngọc Loan

texts:
Major General <mask> (; 11 December 193014 July 1998) was a South Vietnamese general and  chief of the South Vietnamese National Police. Loan gained international attention when he summarily executed handcuffed prisoner Nguyễn Văn Lém, on February 1, 1968 in Saigon, Vietnam during the Tet Offensive. <mask>m was a Viet Cong (VC) member. The event was witnessed and recorded by Võ Sửu, a cameraman for NBC, and Eddie Adams, an Associated Press photographer. The photo and film became two famous images in contemporary American journalism. Early life
<mask> was born in 1930 to a middle-class family in Huế, and was one of eleven children. He studied pharmacy at Huế University before joining the Vietnamese National Army in 1951.He soon studied at an officer training school, where he befriended classmate Nguyễn Cao Kỳ. Loan received pilot training in Morocco before returning to Vietnam in 1955, serving with the Republic of Vietnam Air Force (RVNAF) for the next decade. He received additional training in the United States at some point during this period, enabling him to speak English fluently by the time he rose to prominence in the late 1960s. Despite gradually taking on administrative tasks involving intelligence and security, Loan flew as wingman to Kỳ, now commander of the RVNAF, during the February 1965 Operation Flaming Dart airstrikes targeting North Vietnam. Career
In June 1965, when Kỳ became prime minister of South Vietnam, he promoted Loan to colonel and appointed him director of the Military Security Service. This was followed within a few months by an appointment to director of the Central Intelligence Organization, giving Loan simultaneous control of both military intelligence and security. He was further made director general of the Republic of Vietnam National Police in April 1966.Holding these positions enabled <mask> to wield immense power, and he supervised the suppression of the early 1966 uprising of Kỳ's rival General Nguyễn Chánh Thi and dissident Buddhists. When Kỳ agreed to become vice president to Nguyễn Văn Thiệu in 1967, the former relied on the support Loan provided for him in order to retain power. Loan was a staunch South Vietnamese nationalist, refusing to give Americans special treatment in his jurisdiction. For example, in December 1966 he rejected the arrest of Saigon mayor Van Van Cua by American military police and insisted that only South Vietnamese authorities could arrest and detain South Vietnamese citizens. He also insisted that U.S. civilians, including journalists, fell under South Vietnamese jurisdiction while in Saigon. Loan's uncompromising stand caused him to be regarded as a troublemaker by the Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson. Loan was also skeptical of the U.S. CIA-backed Phoenix Program to attack and neutralize the clandestine VC infrastructure.<mask>'s men were also involved in the arrest of two VC operatives on 15 August 1967 who had been engaged in sending out peace feelers to U.S. officials behind the back of the South Vietnamese in an initiative code-named Buttercup. His stand against such "backdoor" dealing, and his opposition to releasing one of the communist negotiators, reportedly angered the Americans, and forced them to keep both him and the South Vietnamese better informed of diplomatic dealings involving their country. <mask> was an accomplished pilot—he led an airstrike on VC forces at Bù Đốp in 1967, shortly before he was promoted to permanent brigadier general rank. The Americans were displeased at his promotion, and <mask> submitted his resignation shortly thereafter. The South Vietnamese cabinet subsequently rejected <mask>'s resignation. Execution of Nguyễn Văn Lém

Nguyễn Văn Lém (also known as Bảy Lốp), was a VC member. On 1 February 1968, during the Tet Offensive, he was captured in a building in the Cho Lon quarter of Saigon, near the Ấn Quang pagoda.Lém wore civilian clothing at the time of his capture. Max Hastings, writing in 2018, noted that Lém was in civilian clothes and had personally executed South Vietnamese Lt. Col. Nguyen Tuan, his wife, five of their six children and the officer’s 80-year-old mother less than 36 hours prior to the execution. He was brought to Loan, who then summarily executed him on the street using his sidearm, a .38 Special Smith & Wesson Bodyguard, Model 49 revolver. The execution was captured on photo by Associated Press photographer Eddie Adams and on video by NBC News television cameraman Võ Sửu. After the execution, <mask> told Adams: "They killed many of our people and many of yours." Võ Sửu reported that after the shooting Loan went to a reporter and said ''These guys kill a lot of our people, and I think Buddha will forgive me.'' Interviewed by Oriana Fallaci in May 1968 for her book Nothing, and So be it, he stated that he was aware of the indignation he caused and that he understood Fallaci's point of view when she regarded him as a cold-blooded killer.However, he stated that he killed Lém because he felt enraged since the VC was wearing civilian clothes. Speaking to Fallaci, he said: "He wasn't wearing a uniform and I can't respect a man who shoots without wearing a uniform. Because it's too easy: you kill and you're not recognized. I respect a North Vietnamese because he's dressed as a soldier, like myself, and so he takes the same risks as I do. But a Vietcong in civilian clothes - I was filled with rage." The photograph and footage were broadcast worldwide, galvanizing the anti-war movement. Eddie Adams' photo  won Adams the 1969 Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography.Adams later stated he regretted he was unable to get a picture "of that Viet Cong [Lém] blowing away the [Tuan] family". A few months after the execution picture was taken, <mask> was seriously wounded near Saigon by machine gun fire that led to the amputation of his leg. Again his picture hit the world press, this time as Australian war correspondent Pat Burgess carried him back to his lines. He was evacuated to Australia and then to the United States. Afterwards, <mask> remained in the United States for an extended period as Thiệu consolidated his power by replacing Kỳ supporters. Upon his return to Saigon, he was appointed to a position that involved long-range planning, but lacked actual power. Later life
In 1975, during the fall of Saigon, <mask> fled South Vietnam to the United States.There he moved to Dale City, Virginia. He then opened a restaurant called "Les Trois Continents" in the Washington, D.C. suburb of Burke, Virginia at Rolling Valley Mall. The restaurant served hamburgers, Vietnamese cuisine, and pizza, but was described as more of a pizzeria. Loan also worked as a secretary in a Washington firm at this time. When interviewed, Loan stated "All we want to do is to forget and to be left alone." Adams later apologized in person to General Nguyễn and his family for the damage his photograph did to his reputation. House of Representatives member Elizabeth Holtzman forwarded a list of Vietnamese officials who may have committed crimes (including Loan) to Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS).House of Representatives member Harold S. Sawyer later requested the Library of Congress investigate Loan. In 1978, the INS contended that Loan had committed a war crime, following a report by the Library of Congress which concluded that the summary execution of Nguyễn Văn Lém had been illegal under Vietnamese law, in an attempt to revoke his permanent resident status to ensure that he could not become a United States citizen. They approached Adams to testify against Loan, but Adams instead testified in his favor and Loan was allowed to stay. The deportation was halted by the intervention of United States President Jimmy Carter, who stated that "such historical revisionism was folly". Loan visited the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and praised it. In 1991, he closed his restaurant and retired. Adams recalled that on his last visit to the pizza parlor shortly before it closed, he had seen written on a toilet wall, "We know who you are, you fucker".Death
<mask> <mask> Loan died of cancer on 14 July 1998, aged 67, in Burke, Virginia. After his death, Adams praised him: "The guy was a hero. America should be crying. I just hate to see him go this way, without people knowing anything about him." Eddie Adams wrote a eulogy to Loan in Time:The general killed the Viet Cong; I killed the general with my camera. Still photographs are the most powerful weapon in the world. People believe them, but photographs do lie, even without manipulation.They are only half-truths. What the photograph didn't say was, "What would you do if you were the general at that time and place on that hot day, and you caught the so-called bad guy after he blew away one, two or three American soldiers?" Personal life
Loan was married to Chinh Mai, with whom he raised five children. References

External links

  Collection of photos of the Lém execution. The exact location of this event happened on the west section of "Lý Thái Tổ" street, right  in the center of this satellite map, and looking East as shown in the execution picture. 1930 births
1998 deaths
Vietnamese amputees
Generals of South Vietnam
Deaths from cancer in Virginia
Chiefs of police
People notable for being the subject of a specific photograph
Vietnam War photographs
Vietnamese anti-communists
Vietnamese emigrants to the United States
People from Burke, Virginia

masks:
Nguyễn Ngọc Loan
Nguyễn Văn Lé
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title: Anthony Powers

texts:
<mask> (born 13 March 1953) is a British composer of classical music. He has received a number of commissions, including the BBC and the Three Choirs Festival Society and a number of individuals, while his works have been performed both in Great Britain and abroad. He was shortlisted for a British Composer Award in 2003. Life
Born in London, England, <mask> took private tuition from Elisabeth Lutyens and Harrison Birtwistle between 1969 and 1971, and also with Nadia Boulanger in Paris from 1972 to 1973. From 1973 to 1976 he studied at the University of York for a DPhil in Composition under David Blake and Bernard Rands. Following the completion of his studies, <mask> taught at Dartington College of Arts for two years and was composer-in-residence at Southern Arts. In 1987 he moved to a position at Cardiff University, where he became composer-in-residence in 1990 and Professor of Composition from 2004 until 2010.He was Chairman of the Association of Professional Composers between 1995 and 1997. <mask> has written over sixty works, including four string quartets, two symphonies, a cello concerto, a horn concerto, as well as many choral and chamber works. He has also done settings of texts by Wordsworth, Lawrence Durrell, Shelley, Baudelaire and Philip Larkin. Summary of key works

Orchestral

Stone, Water, Stars (1987), commissioned for the BBC Symphony Orchestra, is the third part of a trilogy inspired by the ambiance and architecture of Venice. The other two works that belong to this trilogy are the Chamber Concerto (1983/4) and Venexiana (1985), which <mask> both references in this piece, thus linking them thematically. The Concerto for Cello (1990) was commissioned for the King's Lynn Festival, specifically written for the cellist Stephen Isserlis and dedicated to the artistic adviser of the festival, Meirion Bowen. The concerto is in three movements with a prominent piano piece in the opening passage of the work.Although some of the writing for the soloist and orchestra is at times quite turbulent, a number of critics have commented on the "reflective" nature of the piece. The Concerto for Horn (1989) was written for the horn player Michael Thompson and included two movements; 'Madrigals of Love and War' and 'Winter Journeys'. The theme was similar to his previous work, and was described by John Warnaby as, 'an element of conflict [that] is gradually superseded by affirmative lyricism'. It was influenced by <mask>' visits to Czechoslovakia in 1986 and 1988 <mask> explains that; ‘The concerto seemed to be, on one level at least, a history, in music, of Czechoslovakia from 1968 to 1989'. <mask>' Symphony was written between 1994 and 1996, although he did not necessarily set out to write one. As it was appearing to become a full orchestral work, <mask> received assistance from the David James Music Trust to complete it. It was dedicated to his parents while Andrew Burn noted how it demonstrated 'mastery of extended large-scale structures', and Nicholas Jones commented on the 'evident assuredness of <mask>'s handling of the symphonic genre'.Between 1998-99 the composer completed his Symphony No. 2 which was first performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra in 2002. Vocal/Choral

A Picture of the World (2001) was commissioned by the BBC and is a setting of Ludwig Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, following in the footsteps of his mentor Elisabeth Lutyens. <mask> explained the use of a counter-tenor as 'Wittgenstein had an unusually high speaking voice' with the vocal and clarinet acting as the voice of the philosopher. The piece was premiered at Warsaw Autumn Festival and broadcast on Radio 3, while in the Guardian, Harry Eyres commented on the unusual instrumentation of the piece. Airs and Angels (2003) was commissioned for the Three Choirs Festival held in Hereford in 2003 and was a interpretation of seven of John Donne’s (1572–1631) poems. At the work’s centre lies the ‘dark and intense’ setting of 'A Nocturnal Upon St. Lucy's Day', while the Guardian described the work as a'striking setting of [the] love poems by John Donne, conceived in seven sections that merge imperceptibly into a continuous arching sequence'.From Station Island (2003) is an abridged interpretation of a poetry collection of the same name by Seamus Heaney, where the composer reworked and edited nine poems into an narrative that included a male speaker, baritone and a small ensemble where the former has the role of the poet and the baritone acts out numerous characters. At the West Cork Music Festival in Ireland in June 2005, the work received its Irish premiere and the male speaker role was performed by Seamus Heaney himself. Others include Lullaby (1991), Lullo by Lollo (1993) and O Magnum Mysterium (1995). Chamber music

Another Part of the Island (1980, revised in 1994) is a chamber work in four movements that as premiered at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London in May 1982 and conducted by John Carewe. The piece refers to the imaginary island from Shakespeare's The Tempest, where the instruments can be seen as playing characters from the play. His chamber works include a number of solo works, for example:
 Nocturnes: book 2 (1984) - cello
 Barcarola (1987) - viola
 In Two Minds (1991) - oboe
 Nature Studies (1992) - guitar
Other chamber works include: four string quartets (1987, 1991, 1999, 2005), Nymphéas (1983), Capricci; In Shadow (1989), In Sunlight (1993) and Fast Colours (1997). Piano

<mask> has written a number of works for piano, including Flyer (2004), Piano Sonata No.1 (1983), Piano Sonata No. 2 (1986) and Sensing (2003). However, the best known of his piano works is The Memory Room (1990/1) written for and dedicated to William Howard, who premiered the piece at the Lichfield Festival on 10 July 1992. In contrast to previous work, it consists of sixteen short pieces. Nicholas Jones pointed out that <mask> integrates these keyboard styles into his own style so effectively that 'they are mere ghosts or shadows of their former selves'. In 2003, <mask> wrote a second piece for Howard, entitled Vista, and <mask> explains that Vista was the first piece in a planned sequence of pieces all reflecting on or interpreting 'aspects of Italian renaissance and baroque gardens.' References

External links
 Oxford University Press profile

1953 births
Living people
20th-century classical composers
21st-century classical composers
English classical composers
Alumni of the University of York
Musicians from London
Academics of Cardiff University
English male classical composers
20th-century English composers
20th-century British male musicians
21st-century British male musicians

masks:
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