title: Anouk Aimée

texts:
Nicole Françoise Florence Dreyfus (born 27 April 1932), known professionally as <mask> () or <mask>, is a French film actress, who has appeared in 70 films since 1947, having begun her film career at age 14. In her early years, she studied acting and dance besides her regular education. Although the majority of her films were French, she also made films in Spain, Great Britain, Italy and Germany, along with some American productions. Among her films are Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita (1960), after which she was considered a "rising star who exploded" onto the film world. She subsequently acted in Fellini's 8½ (1963), Jacques Demy's Lola (1961), George Cukor's Justine (1969), Bernardo Bertolucci's Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man (1981) and Robert Altman's Prêt à Porter (1994). She won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama and the BAFTA Award for Best Actress and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her acting in A Man and a Woman (1966). The film "virtually reignited the lush on-screen romance in an era of skeptical modernism," and brought her international fame.She won the Award for Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival for Marco Bellocchio's film A Leap in the Dark (1980). In 2002 she received an honorary César Award, France's national film award. Aimée was known for her "striking features" and beauty, and considered "one of the hundred sexiest stars in film history," according to a 1995 poll conducted by Empire magazine. She has often portrayed a femme fatale with a melancholy aura. In the 1960s, Life magazine commented: "after each picture her enigmatic beauty lingered" in the memories of her audience, and called her "the Left Bank's most beautiful resident." Early years
Aimée was born in Paris to actor Henri Murray (born Henry Dreyfus; 30 January 1907 – 29 January 1984) and actress Geneviève Sorya (née Durand; 23 June 1912 – 23 March 2008). According to one historian, although some have speculated that her background may be related to Captain Alfred Dreyfus, this has never been confirmed.Her father was Jewish, whereas her mother was Catholic. She was raised Catholic but later converted to Judaism as an adult. Her early education took place at l'École de la rue Milton, in Paris; École de Barbezieux; Pensionnat de Bandol; and Institution de Megève. She studied dance at Marseille Opera; During WW2 she finished her schooling at Mayfield School, Mayfield in Sussex, but left before taking final exams, studied theatre in England, after which she studied dramatic art and dance with Andrée Bauer-Thérond. Career

Aimée (then still Françoise Dreyfus) made her film debut, at the age of fourteen, in the role of <mask> in La Maison sous la mer (1946), and she kept the name afterwards. Jacques Prévert, while writing Les amants de Vérone (The Lovers of Verona, 1949) specifically for her, suggested she take the symbolic last name Aimée, "that would forever associate her with the affective power of her screen roles." In French, it means "beloved."Among her films were Alexandre Astruc's Le Rideau Cramoisi (The Crimson Curtain, 1952), Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita (1960), Fellini's 8½ (1963), Jacques Demy's Lola (1961), André Delvaux's One Night... A Train (Un Soir, un Train, 1968), George Cukor's Justine (1969), Bernardo Bertolucci's Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man (1981), Robert Altman's Prêt à Porter (Ready to Wear, 1994) and, Claude Lelouch's A Man and a Woman (Un Homme et une femme, 1966) — described as a "film that virtually reignited the lush on-screen romance in an era of skeptical modernism." Words like "regal," "intelligent" and "enigmatic" are frequently associated with her, notes one author, giving Aimée "an aura of disturbing and mysterious beauty" that has earned her the status of "one of the hundred sexiest stars in film history," according to a 1995 poll conducted by Empire Magazine. Because of her "striking features" and her beauty, she has been compared to Jacqueline Kennedy. Film historian Ginette Vincendeau has commented that Aimée's films "established her as an ethereal, sensitive and fragile beauty with a tendency to tragic destinies or restrained suffering." Her abilities as an actress and the photogenic qualities of her face, its "fine lines, expression of elation and a suggestive gaze," helped her achieve success in her early films. Émile Savitry made an early portrait of her at 15, holding a kitten on the set of Carné's La Fleur de l'âge (1947). Among others of her films of this period were Pot-Bouille (1957), Les Amants de Montparnasse (Montparnasse 19) (The Lovers of Montparnasse, (1958) and La tête contre les murs (Head Against the Wall, 1958).Besides the French cinema, Aimée's career includes films made in Spain, Great Britain, Italy and Germany. She achieved worldwide attention in Fellini's La Dolce Vita (1960) and Lola (1961). She appeared again in Fellini's 8, and would remain in Italy during the first half of the 1960s, making films for a number of Italian directors. Because of her role in La Dolce Vita, biographer Dave Thompson describes Aimée as a "rising star who exploded" onto the film world. He adds that singer-songwriter Patti Smith, who in her teens saw the film, began to idolise her, and "dreamed of being an actress like Aimée." Aimée's  greatest success came with the film A Man and a Woman (Un homme et une femme, 1966) directed by Claude Lelouch. Primarily due to the excellent acting by its stars, Aimée and Jean-Louis Trintignant and the beautiful musical score, the film became an international success, winning both the Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1966 and two Oscars including Best Foreign Language Film.Tabery states that with her "subtle portrayal of the heroine—self-protective, then succumbing to a new love—Aimée seemed to create a new kind of femme fatale." Film historian Jurgen Muller adds, "whether one like the film or not, it's still hard for anyone to resist the melancholy aura of <mask> Aimée." In many of her subsequent films, she would continue to play that type of role, "a woman of sensitivity whose emotions are often kept secret." She starred in the American film production of Justine (1969), costarring Dirk Bogarde and directed by George Cukor and Joseph Strick. The film contained some nudity, with one writer observing, "Anouk is always impeccable, oozing the sexy, detached air of the elite . . . when she drops these trappings, along with her couture clothing, Anouk's naked perfection will annihilate you." While Aimee garnered some positive reviews, the film itself was a critical and box-office disaster.Photojournalist Eve Arnold, assigned to photograph and write a story about Aimée and her role, spoke to Dirk Bogarde, who had known her since she was fifteen. He said that "She is never so happy as when she is miserable between love affairs," referencing her recent love affair with Omar Sharif. Arnold photographed Aimée, who talked about her role as the character Justine. Justine was also Jewish. Arnold recalls one of their talks:

Another American film, La Brava, starring Dustin Hoffman, was set to be made in 1984 but was never completed. Hoffman at first decided it would play better if he were in love with a younger girl rather than the original story's older woman. "Where are you going to get a good-looking older woman?"he asked. He rejected Faye Dunaway, feeling she was "too obvious." A month later, after a chance meeting with Aimée in Paris, he changed his mind, telling his producer, "I can fall in love with the older woman. I met <mask> Aimée over the weekend. She looks great." He begged his producer to at least talk to her: "Come on, get on the phone, say hello to her. . . Just listen to her voice, it's great."Robert Altman, at another time, wanted to use Aimée in a film to be called Lake Lugano, about a woman who was a Holocaust survivor returning long after the war. She "loved the script," according to Altman. However, she backed out after discussing the part with him more thoroughly:

In 2002, she received an honorary César Award, France's national film award, and in 2003 received an Honorary Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. In the 1960s, Life magazine called her "the Left Bank's most beautiful resident ... after each picture her enigmatic beauty lingered" in the memories of her audience. In late 2013, the Cinemania film festival in Montreal, Canada, paid tribute to Aimée's career. Aimée reunited with director Claude Lelouch and co-star Jean-Louis Trintignant for a follow-up to Un homme et une femme and its sequel, A Man and a Woman: 20 Years Later (Un homme et une femme, 20 ans deja, 1986). The result, The Best Years of a Life (Les plus belles années d'une vie, 2019), was shown at Cannes out of competition.Personal life
<mask> has been married and divorced four times: Edouard Zimmermann (1949–1950), director Nico Papatakis (1951–1954), actor and musical producer Pierre Barouh (1966–1969) and actor Albert Finney (1970–1978). She has one child, Manuela Papatakis (born 1951), from her second marriage. Selected filmography

References

External links

 AIMÉE Anouk International Who's Who. Retrieved 1 September 2006. Sandy Flitterman-Lewis, <mask> <mask>, Jewish Women Encyclopedia
 Photographs and literature
 video

1932 births
Living people
Actresses from Paris
Best Foreign Actress BAFTA Award winners
Best Drama Actress Golden Globe (film) winners
Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress winners
César Honorary Award recipients
Honorary Golden Bear recipients
French film actresses
French people of Jewish descent
Converts to Judaism from Roman Catholicism
Jewish French actresses
People educated at St Leonards-Mayfield School
Former Roman Catholics
20th-century French actresses
21st-century French actresses
Featured in film, The Golden Salamander, with Trevor Howard, Herbert Lom and <mask> Aimee. {Paul Thomson}

masks:
Anouk Aimée
Anouk
Anouk
Anouk
Anouk
Aimée
Anouk
Aimée
Anouk


title: Dianne Pilkington

type: original

texts:
<mask> (born 7 June 1975) is an English theatre actress and singer. Personal life
Pilkington was born in Wigan. She trained at the Guildford School of Acting, graduating in 1997 with the Principal's Award. Pilkington married Claude Pelletier, on 10 October 2010. Pilkington gave birth to their son, Hugo, on 26 December 2012. The couple later divorced, and <mask> remarried in September 2020. Theatre
Pilkington has had an impressive career beginning in 1997 when she joined the West End production of Les Misérables, Pilkington understudied the role of Fantine whilst in the production.Following Les Misérables, Pilkington starred in the production of Tess, going on tour with the show prior to it appearing at the Savoy, she played the role of Marion. The production only ran for 10 weeks in the West End before closing on 8 January 2000. Pilkington joined the cast of Sweeney Todd at the Bridewell Theatre later in 2000, a production she had played the role of Mrs Lovett in whilst training at GSA. In late 2000 Pilkington was part of the original London cast of Andrew Lloyd Webber's, The Beautiful Game. She played the role of the Protestant girl as well as understudying the role of Bernadette. In 2002 Pilkington originated the role of Kim in Boy George's musical Taboo. She appeared alongside Boy George at the Royal Albert Hall alongside other members of the original London cast.It was in late 2002 that <mask> joined the UK touring production of Beauty and the Beast playing Belle. She remained with the production into 2003. Again in 2003 <mask> originated another role in the West End, this time in Rod Stewart musical Tonight's the Night, as Mary at the Victoria Palace Theatre. For the Christmas panto season of 2004–2005 <mask> starred in the leading role in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs opposite Lily Savage. In 2005 Pilkington starred in The Far Pavilions in the role of Belinda. Following this Pilkington again went on tour in the role of Grizabella in Andrew Lloyd Webber's, Cats. It was whilst on tour with the production that Pilkington met her husband.After leaving the Cats tour in early 2007, <mask> joined the West End production of Wicked at the Apollo Victoria Theatre. She replaced Helen Dallimore as Glinda on 16 July 2007, after serving as the standby from April of that year. After three years in the company, she played her final performance on 27 March 2010 and was succeeded by Louise Dearman. Immediately after leaving Wicked, <mask> joined played the parts of Annabella Schmidt, Pamela, and Margaret in the West End production of The 39 Steps. She replaced Natalie Walter on 26 April 2010. She ended her nine-month run on 29 January 2011 and was succeeded by Laura Rogers. After leaving The 39 Steps <mask> took part in the 2011 season of Cabaret in the House at Lauderdale House on 20 February 2011, performing many tracks from her album in a one-woman cabaret, her guests at the cabaret included Jean-Claude Pelletier, Shimi Goodman & television actress Nicole Faraday.She was accompanied on piano by Christopher Hamilton. In the Chichester Festival 2011 <mask> played the role of Amalia in She Loves Me, from 9 May 2011 until 18 June 2011. She starred as Sophie De Palma in the West End production of Master Class, which ran at the Vaudeville Theatre from January – April 2012. It was announced in April 2013 that <mask> would take over the role Donna Sheridan in Mamma Mia! at the Novello Theatre beginning 10 June 2013. After playing Donna for three years, <mask> departed the show on 11 June 2016 and was replaced by Linzi Hateley. The following year, she played Aunt Lily in the musical Whisper House at The Other Palace.<mask> portrayed Elizabeth Benning in the London production of Young Frankenstein, which premiered at Theatre Royal, Newcastle in August 2017 and then transferred the following month to the Garrick Theatre. <mask> has undertaken many musical workshops including: ‘Hope’ in the London workshop production of Urinetown, directed by John Rando; ‘Tonya’ in the workshop of Dr Zhivago directed by Des McAnuff; the title role in Helen of Troy – a new musical, directed by Gary Griffin; ‘Charlotte’ in Charlotte — Life or Theatre? ; 'Meg' in the workshop of Andrew Lloyd Webber's new musical Love Never Dies. <mask> took part in the workshop of a new musical based on Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen. <mask> is set to star in Disney’s musical adaptation of the 1971 film ‘Bedknobs and Broomsticks’ as Miss. Price. She will start performances on August 14, 2021 on a UK tour.Film
<mask> was due to play the role of a Blind Opera Singer in 2010's The Wolfman, opposite Benicio del Toro, but her scene had been cut from the final version of the film. However, the scene was included in the Director's Cut DVD version. In July 2012 it was announced that Pilkington would star in the new Les Misérables movie, directed by Tom Hooper. Pilkington was credited as Inn Whore 1 starring in the Master of the House scene opposite Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen. Her former Wicked co-star Kerry Ellis appears in the same scene in the ensemble. Television
Pilkington's television credits include appearing on the West End edition of  The Weakest Link, which aired 31 December 2008. Pilkington came in a respectable 4th place.She also appeared on Britain's Got Talent giving a brief tour of Wicked, on This Morning performing Popular with Alexia Khadime and on The Alan Titchmarsh Show discussing reality TV shows such as Over The Rainbow. Awards
<mask> was nominated in the "Best Takeover Role" category for her role in Wicked at the 2008 Theatregoer's Choice Awards, but lost to co-star Kerry Ellis. She and Alexia Khadime won the "Art and Culture Woman of the Future" category at the 2009 Women of the Future Awards. <mask> also won the Broadwayworld.com UK Award for Best Lead Actress in a Play for The 39 Steps. Theatre credits

Discography

Album
<mask>'s début solo album, entitled Little Stories, was released in December 2010. (*) Previously Unrecorded

All songs performed by <mask> <mask> and Accompanied on the Piano by Chris Hamilton. References

External links

1975 births
Alumni of the Guildford School of Acting
Living people
English musical theatre actresses
English women singers
People from Wigan

masks:
Dianne Lesley Pilkington
Pilkington
Pilkington
Pilkington
Pilkington
Pilkington
Pilkington
Pilkington
Pilkington
Pilkington
Pilkington
Pilkington
Pilkington
Pilkington
Pilkington
Pilkington
Pilkington
Pilkington
Pilkington
Dianne
Pilkington


title: Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark

texts:
Princess <mask> of Greece and Denmark (; 27 August 1968), later Princess <mask>, Duchess of Kent , was a Greek princess by birth and a British princess by marriage. She was a daughter of Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark and Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia, and a granddaughter of King George I and Queen Olga of Greece. Princess <mask> married Prince George, Duke of Kent, fourth son of King George V and Queen Mary, in 1934. They had three children: Prince Edward, Princess <mask>, and Prince Michael. The Princess was widowed in 1942, when her husband was killed in a plane crash on active service. In later life she carried out many royal engagements, including the independence celebrations for Ghana and Botswana. Early life

Princess <mask> was born on 13 December 1906 in Athens, Greece, during the reign of her paternal grandfather, George I of Greece.She was the third and youngest daughter of Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark, and his wife Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia. Her father was the third son of George I of Greece and Queen Olga, while her mother was the only daughter of Grand Duke <mask>ich and Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia. Her father was a grandson of Christian IX of Denmark, while her mother was a granddaughter of Emperor <mask> of Russia. Princess <mask> had two elder sisters, Princess Olga and Princess Elizabeth. Princess Olga married Prince Paul of Yugoslavia in 1923. After the assassination of his cousin, <mask> of Yugoslavia, Paul served as Prince Regent of Yugoslavia from 1934 to 1941. Princess Elizabeth married Carl Theodor, Count of Toeering-Jettenbach in 1934.One of their paternal uncles was Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark, the father of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (making <mask> and her sisters Philip's first cousins). <mask> spent her early years in Greece, and lived with her parents and paternal grandparents at Tatoi Palace. Along with her sisters, she was raised to be devout and religious, which was encouraged by her grandmother, Queen Olga of Greece. <mask>'s family travelled outside of Greece often, especially during the summer months. Her first recorded visit to Britain was in 1910 after the death of her godfather, Edward VII. She officially met her other godmother and future mother-in-law, Queen Mary, who treated <mask> and her sisters like her own children. The Greek royal family was forced into exile when <mask> was 11, following the overthrow of the Greek monarchy.They later moved to Paris, while the Princess stayed with her extended family throughout Europe. Marriage and children

Wedding ceremony

In 1932, Princess <mask> and Prince George (later the Duke of Kent), a second cousin through Christian IX of Denmark, met in London. Their betrothal was announced in August 1934. Prince George was created Duke of Kent on 9 October 1934. On 29 November 1934, they married at Westminster Abbey, London. The wedding was a grand affair, as it had been more than ten years since the last royal wedding with Prince Albert, Duke of York, and Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon. The wedding of Prince George and Princess <mask> was the first royal wedding ceremony to be broadcast by wireless, and with the use of other technology, such as microphones—the control room was located underneath the Unknown Warrior's tomb of Westminster Abbey.The service was broadcast locally and abroad to other nations, and loudspeakers allowed spectators from outside the Abbey to hear the proceedings. The wedding was followed by a Greek ceremony in the private chapel at Buckingham Palace, which was converted into an Orthodox chapel for the ceremony. The wedding was the most recent occasion on which a princess from another royal family married into the British royal family. The wedding dress was designed by Edward Molyneux, who had worked with <mask> previously. The dress was made from white silk and silver lamé brocade, with a raised English rose design. Her eight bridesmaids were her first cousins, Greek princesses Irene, Eugenie and Katherine, her maternal first cousin Grand Duchess Kira Kirillovna of Russia, her first cousin once removed Princess Juliana of the Netherlands, her husband's niece Princess Elizabeth of York, her husband's cousins the Lady Iris Mountbatten and Lady Mary Cambridge. The Royal School of Needlework made a quilt as a wedding gift for Princess <mask> and the Duke of Kent.Married life

The Duke and Duchess set up their first home at 3 Belgrave Square, close to Buckingham Palace. She became a patroness of several organizations and charities, including the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital, the Women's Hospital Fund, and the Central School of Speech and Drama. She would continue to support these charities and institutions for the rest of her life. She became very close to her mother-in-law, Queen Mary, with whom she would usually spend time while her husband was off performing his own royal duties. The couple had three children:

Prince Edward, Duke of Kent (9 October 1935): he married Katharine Worsley on 8 June 1961. They have three children. Princess <mask>, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy (25 December 1936): she married the Hon.Angus Ogilvy, son of David Ogilvy, 12th Earl of Airlie and Lady <mask>, on 24 April 1963. They had two children. Prince Michael of Kent (4 July 1942): he married Baroness Marie Christine von Reibnitz on 30 June 1978. They have two children. The Duke of Kent was killed on 25 August 1942, in an aeroplane crash at Eagles Rock, near Dunbeath, Caithness, Scotland, while on active service with the Royal Air Force. The Duchess, according to royal biographer Hugo Vickers, was "the only war widow in Britain whose estate was forced to pay
death duties". During World War II, <mask> was trained as a nurse for three months under the pseudonym "Sister Kay" and joined the civil nurse reserve.Later life and death

After her husband's death, the Duchess of Kent continued to be an active member of the British Royal Family, carrying out a wide range of royal and official engagements. She was the president of the Wimbledon All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club for 26 years. She was also the president of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution from 1943 until her death and was awarded the RNLI's gold medal in 1967 to mark this contribution. One of her first cousins was Prince Philip (later the Duke of Edinburgh), who married her niece, the future Queen Elizabeth II, in 1947. In 1947, Princess <mask> visited Greece and Italy. In June 1952 the Duchess laid the foundation stone of the new St Mark's Church in Bromley, London, which had been damaged in the war. In 1952, the Duchess also visited Sarawak (then a British Crown Colony), where she laid the foundation stone of the Cathedral of St Thomas in Kuching.She also visited the Batu Lintang camp, a Japanese internment camp during World War II which had been converted to a teacher training college, and the city of Sibu, where she opened the outpatient department of the Lau Kheng Howe Hospital. In March 1957, when the Gold Coast achieved independence from Britain as Ghana, the Duchess of Kent was appointed to represent the Queen at the celebrations. Fifty years later, at the 50th anniversary of Ghana's independence, her son, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, was appointed by the Queen to represent her. <mask> earned a place in the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame in 1960 together with the Princess of Monaco, Patricia Lopez-Willshaw and Merle Oberon. In 1964, the Princess took an extensive tour of Australia and officially opened Gladesville Bridge in Sydney. In September 1966, when the British Protectorate of Bechuanaland became the new Republic of Botswana, the Princess was appointed again to represent the Queen at the celebrations. The main public hospital in Gaborone, the new Botswana's capital, is named "Princess Marina Hospital".She was the Chancellor of the University of Kent at Canterbury from 1963 until her death from a brain tumour at Kensington Palace at 11.40 am on 27 August 1968, aged 61. Funeral service for the Princess was held at the St. George's Chapel on 30 August. She was buried in the Royal Burial Ground, Frogmore. Her funeral was the final royal ceremony attended by her brother-in-law, the former Edward VIII. Legacy

Princess <mask> gave her name to many facilities, including:
 Princess Marina College, Arborfield, Berkshire
 Princess Marina House, a facility of the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund at Rustington. Princess Marina Hospital, Upton, Northamptonshire
 Princess Marina Hospital, Gaborone, Botswana
 Princess Marina Sports Complex, Rickmansworth. Duchess of Kent Hospital, Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia
 Kent College (a teacher training college) Tuaran, Sabah, Malaysia

References in popular culture
 The Kinks recorded "She's Bought a Hat Like Princess Marina" for their 1969 album Arthur (or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire).The song was written by Ray Davies. In 2017, Clare Holman portrayed Princess <mask> in the season 2 finale of The Crown.

masks:
Marina
Marina
Marina
Alexandra
Marina
Vladimir Alexandrov
Alexander II
Marina
Alexander I
Marina
Marina
Marina
Marina
Marina
Marina
Marina
Marina
Marina
Alexandra
Alexandra Coke
Marina
Marina
Marina
Marina
Marina


title: Kurt H. Debus

texts:
<mask> (November 29, 1908 – October 10, 1983) was a German-born American rocket engineer and former Schutzstaffel member, the first director of NASA's Launch Operations Center (later renamed as the Kennedy Space Center). <mask> directed the design, development, construction and operation of NASA's Saturn launch facilities at the north end of Cape Canaveral and adjacent Merritt Island in Florida. Under him, NASA conducted 150 launches of military missiles and space vehicles, including 13 launches of the Saturn V rocket as part of the Apollo Moon landing program. Biography

Germany
Born to Melly F. (Grauchlich) and <mask>. J<mask> in Frankfurt, German Empire, in 1908, <mask> received all his academic education and credentials in Germany during the interwar period. He attended Technische Hochschule Darmstadt where he earned his initial and advanced degrees in electrical engineering. He served as a graduate assistant on the faculty for electrical engineering and high-voltage engineering while studying for his master's degree. In 1939, he obtained his engineering doctorate with a thesis on surge voltages, and was appointed assistant professor at the university.During World War II, <mask> was a member of the Nazi Party, and joined the SA in 1933 and the SS in 1940 [No 426.559]. <mask> was appointed by <mask> as the V-weapons flight test director and was actively engaged in the rocket research program at Peenemünde and the development of the V-2 rocket, <mask> led the Test Stand Group personnel at Peenemünde and was the engineer in charge at Test Stand VII. At the end of the war, <mask> and a small group of the V-2 engineers led by Wernher von Braun's brother sought out the advancing American 44th Infantry Division near Schattwald on May 2, 1945. <mask> was detained by the U.S. Army with the rest of the Peenemünde scientists at Garmisch–Partenkirchen. <mask> served as both a technical and diplomatic liaison between German rocket engineers and the British during Operation Backfire, a series of V-2 test launches from an abandoned German naval gun range near Cuxhaven, Germany, in October 1945. United States
In late 1945, <mask> was transferred to Fort Bliss, Texas, under contract as a "special employee" of the U.S. Army, as were the other German rocket specialists. He was brought to the United States as part of Operation Paperclip, a secret United States intelligence program in which more than 1,600 German scientists, engineers, and technicians were brought from former Nazi Germany to the U.S. for government employment after the end of World War II in Europe.He was deputy director at the Guidance and Control Branch through December 1948, when he was promoted to assistant technical director to von Braun at the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. The arsenal became the focal point of the Army's rocket and space projects; larger rockets were launched first from White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, and later from Cape Canaveral. The Army assigned von Braun as chairman of a Development Board, and <mask> supervised the development program of the Guided Missile Branch until November 1951. The Army Ordnance Department reorganized the team and called it the Ordnance Guided Missile Center. By November 1951, the pace had picked up and a new missile program, the Redstone, was taking shape. Von Braun named <mask> to lead a new Experimental Missiles Firing Branch. <mask>' organization also launched the first U.S. missiles carrying atomic warheads in the Pacific Ocean area during a series of tests.Starting in 1952, <mask> supervised the development and construction of rocket launch facilities at Cape Canaveral for the Redstone, Jupiter, Jupiter-C, Juno and Pershing military configurations continuing through 1960. The organization he directed was transferred from the Army to NASA. Beginning in 1961, <mask> directed the design, development and construction of NASA's Saturn launch facilities at the north end of Cape Canaveral and adjacent Merritt Island. On July 1, 1962, the Florida launch facility at Cape Canaveral was officially designated as NASA's Launch Operations Center (renamed to honor President John Kennedy after his assassination in 1963) and <mask> was officially named its first director. In October 1965, he became responsible for NASA unmanned launch operations at the Eastern and Western Ranges, assuming the additional title of Kennedy Space Center (KSC) director of launch operations until Rocco Petrone took the post in 1966. Under <mask>' leadership, NASA and its team of contractors built what was hailed as the Free World's Moonport — KSC's Launch Complex 39 — as well as tested and launched the Saturn family of rockets for the Apollo and Skylab programs. <mask> retired as KSC director in November 1974.Family
<mask> married Irmgard Brueckmann on June 30, 1937; they had two daughters while still in Germany: Siegrid and Ute. Recognition
A small lunar crater on the far side of the Moon to the east-southeast of the crater Ganskiy, past the eastern limb, is named for Debus; as is The Kurt Debus Conference Center at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. <mask> was inducted into the National Space Hall of Fame in 1969. Since 1990, the National Space Club of Florida has presented its annual Debus Award to recognize significant aerospace achievements in Florida, including individuals associated with launch vehicles, spacecraft operations, ground support services, range activities, space education and spaceport research and development. The award was conceived as an adjunct to the Goddard Award given each year by the National Space Club in Washington, D.C. to an individual in the aerospace field on a national level. Publications

Sources

References and notes

External links

Dr. <mask>. <mask>: The Father of Kennedy Space Center

1908 births
1983 deaths
Technische Universität Darmstadt alumni
Directors of the Kennedy Space Center
Early spaceflight scientists
German aerospace engineers
German emigrants to the United States
V-weapons people
Engineers from Frankfurt
German rocket scientists
Nazi Party members
SS officers
NASA people
Scientists from Frankfurt
Sturmabteilung personnel
Operation Paperclip
Technische Universität Darmstadt faculty

masks:
Kurt Heinrich Debus
Debus
Heinrich P
. Debus
Debus
Debus
Debus
Hitler
Debus
Debus
Debus
Debus
Debus
Debus
Debus
Debus
Debus
Debus
Debus
Debus
Debus
Debus
Debus
Kurt H
Debus


title: Julian Casablancas

texts:
<mask> (born August 23, 1978) is an American singer, best known as the lead vocalist and primary songwriter of rock band The Strokes, with whom he has released six studio albums since their founding in 1998. Casablancas released a solo album, Phrazes for the Young, in 2009. That same year, he founded the independent record label Cult Records, which has represented artists such as The Growlers, Rey Pila, and Karen O. Since 2013, he has been the frontman of experimental rock band The Voidz. The band has released two albums, Tyranny (2014) and Virtue (2018). Early life
<mask> was born in New York City on August 23, 1978, the son of American-Spanish businessman <mask>, the founder of Elite Model Management, and Jeanette Christiansen (née Christjansen), a Danish model and the 1965 Miss Denmark who later became an artist. When Casablancas was eight, his parents divorced.He once stated that he wanted to be closer to his father, which "translated into teenage rebelliousness". His mother later married Ghanaian painter Sam Adoquei, who helped shape Casablancas' early musical taste by exposing him to music such as The Doors, which was markedly different from the mostly Phil Collins-influenced music he listened to as a child. He has several half-siblings, including an elder sister from his father's first marriage, and three other siblings from his father's third marriage. Casablancas met future Strokes bassist Nikolai Fraiture when they were six years old, while both were attending the bilingual French school Lycée Français de New York. When he was 13, his father sent him to the Institut Le Rosey boarding school in Switzerland, where he met future Strokes guitarist Albert Hammond, Jr. He later returned to New York and attended Dwight School with two other future Strokes bandmates: guitarist Nick Valensi and drummer Fabrizio Moretti. He never finished high school, but took a GED and continued to take music classes at Five Towns College, which he later said was the first time he enjoyed himself in class.Career

The Strokes (1998–present)

Upon meeting future guitarist Nick Valensi and drummer Fab Moretti at Dwight School in Manhattan, the three began to play music together. He reconnected with guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. when the latter moved to New York. The band was formed in 1998 when Hammond was accepted into the band, with Casablancas as the lead vocalist and main songwriter and Nikolai Fraiture on bass. The band began rehearsing a fourteen-song set which included "Alone, Together", "Barely Legal", "Last Nite", "The Modern Age", "New York City Cops", "Soma", "Someday", "Take It or Leave It" and "This Life" (an early version of "Trying Your Luck"). Most of these songs now feature different lyrics. A demo sent to the newly reformed Rough Trade Records in the UK sparked interest there, leading to their first release via the website of the UK magazine, NME, who gave away a free mp3 download of "Last Nite" a week prior to the physical release as part of The Modern Age EP in 2001. The EP sparked a bidding war among record labels, the largest for a rock and roll band in years.Shortly after, The Strokes' critically acclaimed debut album Is This It was released. The band has received the highest of praise for Is This It, and it set the stage for what people expected to "save rock" in the new millennium. Though some would argue that such statements left unreasonably sized shoes to fill, The Strokes are still highly recognized as one of the most influential garage rock bands of the early 2000s, paving the way for many new alternative bands to come. Statistically, all albums released following their debut were not nearly as successful or well received by fans and critics. In an excerpt from Lizzie Goodman's Meet Me in the Bathroom: Rebirth and Rock and Roll in New York City, 2001–2011 – named after The Strokes' track – Strokes guitarist, Albert Hammond Jr., comments, "With Room on Fire [2003], people were giving us shit because they said we were sounding too much the same. With the third album [First Impressions of Earth], we were getting shit that we don't sound like Room on Fire. We got fucked by the same thing twice!"After the release of the two other albums and several major tours, the band took a five-year break, then returned with their fourth album Angles in 2011. The five-year hiatus was said to be the result of conflicting solo projects, sobriety issues, and unspoken emotions. The Strokes' drummer Fab Moretti claimed the band struggled to process such "subconscious volcanic emotions," partly because they were still "children" at the time. Although their creative processes has been critiqued by outside observers as "a democracy under a dictator", Casablancas has encouraged each band member to contribute their own ideas and collectively sort through which ones will potentially turn into something more. Commenting on the meticulous nature of <mask>'s creative process, guitarist Nick Valensi has said, "his ear is so sharp. He's the one with the ear for detail in this band. Creatively, he is a force to be reckoned with."The 2011 release, Angles, is said to reflect the beginning of the more collaborative nature of the band's creative process. The album release was followed by several headlining appearances at musical festivals, including Reading, Coachella, Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits. The band released Comedown Machine in 2013, as their last album under the contract with long-time label RCA, for which they did no promotion. The band released an EP, Future Present Past, on Casablancas' own label Cult Records in 2016. In December 2018, it was announced that the band would headline at Bilbao BBK Live in 2019, kicking off their global comeback. Numerous dates for festivals and shows have been announced afterwards, including a show at the Governors Ball Music Festival, marking the band's return to New York City. Starting May 14, 2019, The Strokes teased some of new songs, starting with "The Adults are Talking", live at The Wiltern in Los Angeles, giving remarks that there is a possibility for the Strokes to release a new album.On December 31, 2019, at Brooklyn NYE, they performed "Ode to the Mets" as an offer from Casablancas to sing live instead of singing songs from Angles as requested by fans. "I don't remember Angles. What's Angles?" Casablancas responded before suggesting that the band play the new song and later confirming the release of a new project. With the album they released in April 2020,The New Abnormal, The band, have won their first Grammy Award for Best Rock Album. And received positive reviews among critics, suggesting the band came back with a better maturity and cohesion among bandmates. The album project was started far back to 2016.Solo projects (2009–present)

As a solo artist, Casablancas set out with an intention to say what was on his mind, both musically and lyrically. Speaking on his experience as a solo artist versus releasing music with The Strokes, the singer has put it simply, "it's like touring with me or with five of me," meaning that each member has their own opinionated state of mind. While such statements raised much concern for the relations between the band members, Casablancas claims that in pursuit of a solo career, he is protecting the integrity of the [Strokes] vibe. In having a musical project separate from The Strokes, he is able to "chase down any idea [he] wants", which he would refrain from doing with the band. His first solo album, Phrazes for the Young (inspired by the Oscar Wilde book "Phrases and Philosophies for the Use of the Young"), was released on November 2 in the UK and November 3, 2009, in the United States. Recorded in Omaha, Nebraska, and New York, the album was produced by Jason Lader, with additional production from Bright Eyes' Mike Mogis. The album was strongly influenced by new wave and electronica, with Casablancas utilizing synthesizers for many songs.He discussed his new influences by saying "I would've gone weirder with the music, but I wanted to be smart. I didn't want people to say, 'Okay, this is his weird abstract thing,' and dismiss the album. I worked too hard on it for that to happen... I wanted to be crazy original and bridge the gap between traditional music and modern music." <mask> made his live solo debut for a private party for fashion brand Opening Ceremony in Tokyo, Japan. To celebrate the release of the EP, Casablancas performed a series of shows in October 2009 at The Downtown Palace Theatre in Los Angeles with his live show band, The Sick Six. Members of The Sick Six include Jeff Kite (keyboard), Nelson London (synthesizer), JP Bowersock (guitar), Danielle Haim (percussion) and Alex Carapetis (drums).Casablancas then toured with The Sick Six in Europe, United States, Australia and Japan from November 2009 until July 2010. Casablancas composed the original song "I Like the Night" as part of his endorsement deal to represent Azzaro's new men's fragrance Decibel, dB. The Azzaro Decibel television commercial featuring <mask> aired in France on September 1, 2011. Casablancas also hosted a monthly music show Culture Void on Sirius XMU between May 2016 and February 2017, where the singer curated and shared some music across genres. The Voidz (2013–present)

The Voidz, formerly known as <mask>s + The Voidz, was formed in 2013. Along with Casablancas as lead vocalist, the band consists of Jeramy "Beardo" Gritter and Amir Yaghmai on guitar, Jacob "Jake" Bercovici on bass (as well as synthesizer), Alex Carapetis on drums and percussion, and Jeff Kite on keyboard. Wanting to earn a greater sense of respect as a band, rather than be perceived as a "side-project" of <mask>'s, the band officially changed their name from "<mask>s + The Voidz" to simply "The Voidz" during an 'initiation' video on the band's YouTube page on December 8, 2017.<mask> performed with Carapetis and Kite throughout the tour for his solo album, Phrazes for the Young. Through Carapetis, Casablancas met Gritter and Bercovici. Bercovici, having played music with Yaghmai for several of years, then connected him to Casablancas, forming what is now known as The Voidz. Though the band's sound has not always been well received, The Voidz aim to "bridge the gap" between music that is both aggressive and complex. They share the goal of "representing things unseen" and "exploring [music] from the margins", as Jake [Bercovici] has said. Inspired by the complex nature of Middle Eastern music scales, Casablancas claims to be more interested in "the in between notes" than the traditional seven note scale of Western music. The band is bound by a mutual love for powerful music that does not gain much attention in mainstream media, which is embodied

masks:
Julian Fernando Casablancas
Julian Fernando Casablancas
John Casablancas
Julian
Julian Casablancas
Julian
Julian Casablanca
Julian
Julian Casablanca
Julian


title: Julian Casablancas

texts:
 in <mask>'s record company, Cult Records, as well.<mask> claims that his work with The Voidz is simply an "evolution of the same mission" [as with The Strokes], but The Voidz are more aligned with the type of music with which he would like to experiment, moving forward. Though the Voidz remain a more active musical entity, both bands are still currently represented under Cult Records. In June 2014, Casablancas announced he would be releasing the debut album Tyranny. The album was released on his own label Cult Records and coincided with his move to Upstate New York. On September 23, 2014, the album was released, followed by a tour in the United States and United Kingdom. The album features the 11-minute single "Human Sadness", a song whose demo was originally composed for the soundtrack of The Unseen Beauty, a short documentary film which profiled Casablancas' stepfather, artist Sam Adoquei. The group revealed dates for a South American tour in August 2017.On March 30, 2018, The Voidz released their second album, titled Virtue. The album takes on a more political stance, dissecting universal concepts such as the paradox between what is perceived as "truth" and "lies", when taking multiple perceptual view points into consideration. The album features track, "Pyramid of Bones", which was featured on Adult Swim in April 2018, along with their single "Coul as a Ghoul" on the Adult Swim's Singles Program. Collaborations
Casablancas, along with the Strokes, provided vocals on a cover of Marvin Gaye's "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" with Joshua Homme on drums and Eddie Vedder on backup vocals. The cover was released in 2006 as the B-side to "You Only Live Once". Casablancas also provided bass guitar and backing vocals on Albert Hammond, Jr.'s "Scared" on his solo album Yours to Keep. He subsequently played a Casio guitar and provided backing vocals on "Sick, Sick, Sick" by Queens of the Stone Age.In 2008, he recorded a song with Santigold (then known as Santogold) and Pharrell of N*E*R*D titled "My Drive Thru" for a Converse advertising campaign. During his solo phase, he recorded "Boombox" with Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone, and Akiva Schaffer of The Lonely Island for their 2009 debut album Incredibad, and was featured in an SNL Digital Short for the same song. In addition, he also recorded "I Wish It Was Christmas Today", a festive song based on a Saturday Night Live skit made popular by Jimmy Fallon, Horatio Sanz, Chris Kattan and Tracy Morgan. Casablancas performed the song live on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on December 21, 2009, together with The Roots, Horatio Sanz and Jimmy Fallon. He also appeared in the 100th Digital Short, which aired on May 12, 2012. Casablancas also collaborated with Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse on the song "Little Girl" on the 2010 album, Dark Night of the Soul, contributing the lyrics, lead and backing vocals, and guitar solo. Aside from vocal collaborations, he also contributed to the song "Forrest Gump" on Digitalism's sophomore album I Love You, Dude in 2011.The electronica duo initiated a collaboration with Casablancas through his manager, and Casablancas contributed 'a 30-second recording with him on guitar' via email. Casablancas also lent his vocals to the title track, "Rave On", on a 2011 tribute album to Buddy Holly, Rave On Buddy Holly. In 2016, Casablancas contributed three specially recorded The Velvet Underground and Lou Reed covers – Venus in Furs, Run Run Run and White Light/White Heat, under the title White Light White Heat (rock n roll animal live era version) – to the HBO television series, Vinyl. The songs were subsequently released on various soundtracks to the series by Atlantic Records. Casablancas worked with Daft Punk on their 2013 album Random Access Memories by contributing lyrics, vocals, and a guitar solo to their song "Instant Crush". The album won the 2013 Grammy Award for Album of the Year, with Casablancas as one of the co-recipients of the award. In April 2015, it was revealed that Casablancas had worked on a song with Savages' Jehnny Beth.The collaboration was later announced to be a cover of "Boy/Girl," a 1983 duet by Danish punk band Sort Sol and Lydia Lunch. The music video, directed by Warren Fu, was released on December 4, 2015. The 7" was released through both Cult Records and Pop Noire Records on December 18, 2015. Casablancas also wrote the song "Youth Without Love" for Har Mar Superstar's 2016 album Best Summer Ever, and is featured on "No One There", a song by Indian-born musician, Hammarsing Kharhmar (Exhibition). In 2015, <mask> also made an appearance on Leftöver Crack's album, Constructs of the State. His vocals can be heard on the song Vicious Constructs. The song is sang by both Casablancas and Leftöver Crack lead singer Stza Crack(Scott Sturgeon).Cult Records
In 2009, Casablancas founded Cult Records, the creative imprint for his solo album Phrazes for the Young. The label signed a partnership agreement with Kobalt Label Services in 2014, which includes representation and product management, physical distribution across multiple territories, digital distribution through AWAL, marketing and sync licensing services. Cult currently represents The Growlers, Har Mar Superstar, Songhoy Blues, Rey Pila, Karen O, Promiseland, The Strokes, The Voidz, Exhibition and Cerebral Ballzy. The label has also released works of Albert Hammond Jr., The Virgins, Reputante, INHEAVEN, Exclamation Pony and Nelson London (C O L O R). Casablancas served as a co-producer on Rey Pila's album released on Cult, The Future Sugar. In August 2016, Cult Records announced a new album with The Growlers, a Southern California-based band. It was also announced that Casablancas himself was producing the album, later known as City Club.Musical influences and legacy
Casablancas cites The Doors as one of his earliest musical influences, though he specifies that he was influenced by their musical style rather than the public image of their vocalist and frontman Jim Morrison. He has also cited Lou Reed of The Velvet Underground as a major influence on his lyrics and singing style. He stated in a Rolling Stone interview, "The way Lou Reed wrote and sang about drugs and sex, about the people around him — it was so matter-of-fact. He could be romantic in the way he portrayed these crazy situations, but he was also intensely real. It was poetry and journalism." Additionally, he has stated that Bob Marley, Nirvana, and Pearl Jam are major influences on his work, even referring to the Pearl Jam song "Yellow Ledbetter" as the reason he started making music. He also, in agreement with several of his Voidz bandmates, named Stevie Wonder as a composer with a "next level mind".Casablancas has served as inspiration for several other musicians including Alex Turner of the Arctic Monkeys and the painter Elizabeth Peyton. Courtney Love's song "But Julian, I'm a Little Bit Older Than You" from her debut solo album America's Sweetheart (2004) was written about Casablancas. Personal life
In 2005, Casablancas married Juliet Joslin, who was the assistant manager of The Strokes at the time. Their son, Cal, was born in January 2010. Their second son, Zephyr, was born on March 27, 2015. The couple divorced in 2019. Casablancas has maintained a teetotal lifestyle since 2009, stating that he was once "hungover for five years" during his drinking days.He is a lifelong fan of the New York Mets, although he claims the New York Jets' selection of Sam Darnold over Josh Allen in the 2018 NFL Draft inspired him to "quit sports". In the early 2010s, Casablancas and his family moved to Upstate New York from Greenwich Village in Manhattan. As of 2020, Casablancas lives in Los Angeles. Politics
Throughout the 2010s, Casablancas became increasingly vocal about his political interests and has said that "whoever's propaganda's the loudest" determines popularity within music and politics alike. He has overtly explored this link in his work with The Voidz, although he claims that the re-election of George W. Bush was what initially inspired his political intrigue. He named Oliver Stone, Chris Hedges, Noam Chomsky, Jesse Ventura, and Howard Zinn as political influences. He cites Martin Luther King Jr. as his favorite philosopher, and considers Paul Robeson a role model for politically engaged musicians.In 2016, he interviewed Henry Giroux, with whom he discussed whether or not the average American understands their existing struggles and unresolved conflicts. In September 2018, he appeared on Lee Camp's show Redacted Tonight. The following month, Camp opened for The Voidz at a show in Houston, Texas. Casablancas endorsed Senator Bernie Sanders for the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries, and on the eve of the 2020 New Hampshire primary, The Strokes performed in support of Sanders at the University of New Hampshire. That October, a few days before the 2020 United States elections, Rolling Stone announced and released the first episode of Casablancas's interview series, S.O.S. – Earth is a Mess. The show featured Democracy Now!host Amy Goodman and Andrew Yang as early guests, with Casablancas focusing much of his questioning on democratic reform and the influence of special interest groups on politics and the media; he interviewed Noam Chomsky in 2021 for the show. On February 10, 2020, the Strokes performed a get-out-the-vote concert rally with 2020 presidential candidate and Vermont senator Bernie Sanders at the Whittemore Center Arena in Durham, New Hampshire. The Strokes performed their song "New York City Cops" which is a critique of New York City law enforcement and contains lyrics like "New York City cops, they ain't too smart." In spring of 2021, Casablancas showed his support for the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. On June 12, 2021, The Strokes held an in-person concert at New York's Irving Plaza to support New York City mayoral candidate Maya Wiley. Discography
Solo discography

 Phrazes for the Young (2009)
With The Voidz

 Tyranny (2014)
 Virtue (2018)
With The Strokes

 Is This It (2001)
 Room on Fire (2003)
 First Impressions of Earth (2005)
 Angles (2011)
 Comedown Machine (2013)
 The New Abnormal (2020)

Awards and nominations

References

External links

1978 births
Living people
Alumni of Institut Le Rosey
American baritones
American male singer-songwriters
American rock singers
American rock songwriters
American people of Spanish descent
American people of Danish descent
American expatriates in Switzerland
Singers from New York City
The Strokes members
Lycée Français de New York alumni
Grammy Award winners
21st-century American singers
American people of Catalan descent
Cult Records artists
Singer-songwriters from New York

masks: Julian Julian Julian


title: Robert Winthrop (banker)

texts:
<mask> (April 18, 1833 – November 18, 1892) was a wealthy banker and capitalist in New York City. Family
<mask> was born on April 18, 1833. He was the son of <mask> (1797–1873) and Georgianna (Kane) <mask>. He was also the brother of Civil War General <mask>. He was a direct descendant of colonial governors <mask>, <mask>, Jr., and <mask>. Career
<mask> commenced his business career in the cotton and sugar business with J.&A. Dennistoun Wood.In 1859, he turned to banking with the firm of Read, & Drexel. He was admitted to the New York Stock Exchange in 1862. In 1863, he became a one-third owner in the firm of Drexel, Winthrop & Company. Drexel, Winthrop was a very successful firm during the 1860s. most of this time, this New York branch, combined with the Drexel’s Philadelphia branch, was profiting between $300,000 and $350,000 per year. The Drexel brothers had a desire to do more European investing, as Winthrop did not agree, Drexel, Winthrop was dissolved in 1871 and Robert Winthrop & Company was established. Over the next twenty years, this company would grow into an important family banking enterprise; <mask> multiplied his family’s fortune many times over.The Company would remain in the <mask> family’s hands for over one hundred years. In 1977, Wood, Struthers, & Winthrop, the successor firm of  Robert Winthrop & Company, was sold to Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette for one-million shares of DLJ stock. DLJ went on to become part of Credit Suisse. <mask> was considered a close associate of his father-in-law, Moses Taylor. By the late 1860s, Mr. and Mrs. <mask> were large holders of the Manhattan Gas Light Company with 240 shares. In 1873, they held 1,320 shares of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad. In 1870, <mask> was a director of The Manhattan Coal Company.The extent of the <mask> family wealth would be further revealed during the Pujo Committee investigations. In 1913, a report issued by the Taft Administration showed that Mrs. <mask> was the third largest shareholder of  National City Bank of New York, while Robert Winthrop & Company was the sixth largest shareholder in the National Bank of Commerce of New York. These were the nation’s two largest banks at the time. His son, Beekman <mask>, headed Robert Winthrop and Company from 1913 until 1939 and served as a director of National City Bank. In 1883, <mask> was an original shareholder of the Real Estate Exchange and Auction Room in New York when he purchased $10,000 of the original $115,000 subscribed. Other original shareholders included John Jacob Astor, William Astor, and Lloyd Aspinwall. Winthrop served as a trustee of the New York Life Insurance and Trust Company and the Orthopedic Hospital.Society life
Socially, <mask> belonged to the Union, Knickerbocker, Riding, and Metropolitan Clubs. <mask> was a friend, neighbor, and business associate of Theodore Roosevelt, Sr., father of  United States President Theodore Roosevelt. The <mask> and Roosevelt families would remain close through the next generation as <mask>’s son, Beekman <mask>, would serve as Governor of Puerto Rico and Assistant Secretary of the Treasury during Roosevelt's Administration. Personal life
On June 23, 1859, <mask> was married to Kate Wilson Taylor (1839–1925). She was the daughter of  Moses Taylor, who was one of the greatest railroad, iron, and coal company financiers and was president of  National City Bank for 27 years. They had six children who lived to adulthood:

 <mask> <mask> (1861–1912), a Harvard graduate and banker who did not marry. Grenville Lindall <mask> (1864–1943), who accumulated one of the largest and most valuable private art collections in the United States, which he bequeathed to the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University upon his death in 1943.Katharine <mask> (1866–1943), who married U.S. Senator Hamilton Fish Kean. Frederic Bayard <mask> (1868–1932), who married Dorothy Amory (d. 1907) in 1903. After her death, he married Sarah Barroll Thayer (1885–1938), the daughter of Nathaniel Thayer III, in 1911. Albertina <mask> (1871–1934), who married Dutch diplomat Jan Herman van Roijen. Beekman <mask> (1874–1940), who served in the Taft Administration and from 1909 to 1913, was Assistant Secretary of the Navy. He married Melza Riggs Wood (1870-1928).<mask> died on November 18, 1892 at his home, 38 East 37th Street in New York City and his funeral was held at Grace Church in Manhattan. Descendants
Through his daughter Katharine, <mask> was the grandfather of U.S. Congressman <mask> Kean (1893–1980), grandfather of Governor of New Jersey and 9/11 Commission Chairman Thomas Howard Kean Sr. (b. 1935), and 2x great-grandfather of Minority Leader of the New Jersey Senate Thomas Kean (b. 1968). It was the <mask>-Taylor fortune that kept the Kean family afloat in tough economic times. Winthrop-Taylor monies were lent to the Kean’s during the Panic of 1907, during the Great Depression to recapitalize Kean, Taylor and National State Bank of Elizabeth, and once again upon the death of Hamilton Fish Kean in 1941 to keep Kean, Taylor in existence.Among <mask>’s descendants, <mask> (1904–1999), who headed Robert Winthrop & Company, and Wood, Struthers, & Winthrop from 1939 until 1969 and was the majority partner upon its sale in 1977. <mask> (1906–1979) was a gentleman farmer who presided over his  estate in Hamilton and Ipswich, Massachusetts. <mask> was the father of five sons including Grant Forbes <mask> who is a partner at Milbank, & Winthrop, a private investment firm in New York City. Through his marriage, <mask> was the uncle of U.S. Senator John F. Kerry. The <mask> cousins also jointly own a  plantation in Allendale County, South Carolina, called Groton Plantation. The plantation is today the site of ongoing conservation efforts through game management, and the land remains a token of beautiful low country South Carolina.References

Further reading
"The Business Career of Moses Taylor" by Daniel Hodas, New York: New York University Press (1976). "An Old Merchant's Death", obituary of Moses Taylor in The New York Times, May 24, 1882. "Reared in a Greenhouse" by Dorothy B. Wexler, New York and London, Garland Publishing (1998). "Governor Tom Kean" by Alvin S. Felzenberg: RutgersUniversity Press (2006). "Fourscore Years" by <mask>. Kean, Privately Published (1974). "The New York Times," articles from the following dates: June 25, 1859; October 16, 1977; January 23, 1913; December 4, 1883;

External links
 Groton Plantation – Solomons Crossroads, Allendale & Hampton Counties
 Winthrop Family Home Movie Collection, University of Georgia

1833 births
1892 deaths
Burials at Green-Wood Cemetery
American financiers
19th-century American businesspeople
Winthrop family
American people of English descent
Businesspeople from New York City
American bankers
People from Murray Hill, Manhattan

masks:
Robert Winthrop
Winthrop
Thomas Charles Winthrop
Winthrop
Frederic Winthrop
John Winthrop
John Winthrop
Fitz John Winthrop
Robert Winthrop
Robert Winthrop
Winthrop
Robert Winthrop
Robert Winthrop
Winthrop
Robert Winthrop
Robert Winthrop
Winthrop
Robert Winthrop
Robert Winthrop
Winthrop
Winthrop
Robert Winthrop
Winthrop
Winthrop
Robert Dudley
Winthrop
Winthrop
Taylor Winthrop
Winthrop
Taylor Winthrop
Winthrop
Winthrop
Winthrop
Robert Winthrop
Winthrop
Robert Winthrop
Robert Winthrop
Frederic Winthrop
Frederic Winthrop
Winthrop
Frederic Winthrop
Winthrop
Robert W


title: Michael Lou Martin

texts:
<mask> (February 3, 1932 – May 27, 2015) was an American philosopher and former professor at Boston University. <mask> specialized in the philosophy of religion, although he also worked on the philosophies of science, law, and social science. He served with the US Marine Corps in Korea. Biography

Life and academic career
<mask> completed a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in 1956 at Arizona State University. He was awarded an MA in philosophy at the University of Arizona in 1958 and in 1962 he was awarded a Ph.D. in philosophy from Harvard University. He was appointed assistant professor at University of Colorado in 1962 and in 1965 he moved to Boston University. He was appointed Professor of Philosophy Emeritus after a lifelong career at Boston University.<mask> died on 27 May 2015, aged 83. He is the author or editor of a number of books, including Atheism: A Philosophical Justification (1989), The Case Against Christianity (1991), Atheism, Morality, and Meaning (2002), The Impossibility of God (2003), The Improbability of God (2006), and The Cambridge Companion to Atheism (2006). He sat on the editorial board of the philosophy journal Philo and wrote many reviews and articles for journals and magazines including Free Inquiry. Atheism
In his Atheism: A Philosophical Justification, <mask> cites a general absence of an atheistic response to contemporary work in philosophy of religion, and accepts the responsibility of a rigorous defense of non belief as his "cross to bear:"

The aim of this book is not to make atheism a popular belief or even to overcome its invisibility. My object is not utopian. It is merely to provide good reasons for being an atheist. … My object is to show that atheism is a rational position and that belief in God is not.I am quite aware that atheistic beliefs are not always based on reason. My claim is that they should be.<mask> used the concepts of negative and positive atheism as proposed by Antony Flew rather than the terms weak or soft atheism (negative) and strong or hard atheism (positive). Debates
<mask> took part in a number of written and internet debates with Christian philosophers. In 1991 <mask> and Keith Parsons (founder of Georgia Skeptics and teacher of philosophy at Berry College (Rome, Georgia)) provided atheistic critiques to Douglas Jones' propositions on The Futility of Non Christian Thought in  a written debate, Is Non-Christian Thought Justifiable?, originally published in Antithesis magazine. <mask> had agreed to participate in a debate with Christian reconstructionist philosopher Greg Bahnsen on October 26, 1994, at Rhodes College in Memphis, TN. <mask>, however, pulled out of the debate on October 14, less than two weeks before the event was to have taken place, due to his stated objection to having the debate recorded. He conducted a debate with John M. Frame over the internet in a series of articles and responses around <mask>'s 1996 article, "The Transcendental Argument for the Nonexistence of God".An internet debate with Christian philosopher Phil Fernandes in 1997 over the existence of God was published as a book in 2000 titled: Theism vs. Atheism: The Internet Debate. Academic Books
<mask>, M., & Augustine, K. (2015). The Myth of an Afterlife: The Case against Life After Death, Rowman & Littlefield. <mask>, M. (Ed) (2006). The Cambridge  Companion to Atheism.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (Translated into Portuguese (2007), Finnish (2011), Croatian (2011))
<mask>, M., & Monnier, R. (Eds.)(2006). The Improbability of God. Prometheus Books. <mask>, M., & Monnier, R. (Eds.) (2003). The Impossibility of God.Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books. <mask>, M. (2002). Atheism, Morality and Meaning. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books. Fernandes, P., & <mask>, M. (2000). Theism vs. Atheism: The Internet Debate (Dr. Phil Fernandes vs. Dr. <mask>), Brenerton, WA: Ibd Press. <mask>, M. (2000).Verstehen: The Uses of Understanding in the Social Sciences. New Jersey: Transaction Books. <mask>, M. (1996). Legal Realism: American and Scandinavian. New York: Peter Lang. <mask>, M., & McIntyre, L. (Eds) (1994). Readings in the Philosophy of Social Science.Cambridge: The MIT Press. <mask>, M. (1991). The Case Against Christianity. Philadelphia: Temple University. <mask>, M. (1989). Atheism: A Philosophical Justification. Philadelphia: Temple University.<mask>, M. (1987). The Legal Philosophy of H. L. A. Hart: A Critical Appraisal. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. <mask>, M. (1978). Social Science and Philosophical Analysis:  Essays on The Philosophy of The Social Sciences Washington, D.C.: University Press Of  America. <mask>, M. (1972). Concepts of Science Education: A Philosophical  Analysis.Chicago: Scott-Foresman. <mask>, M., & Foster, M. (Eds) (1966). Probability, Confirmation and Simplicity. New York: Odyssey Press. ASIN: B000H03Q86

Fiction and Plays
<mask> published The Big Domino in the Sky: And Other Atheistic Tales in 1996. This is a collection of short stories in various styles presenting philosophical arguments. . In 2011 <mask> self-published a fiction novel,  Murder In Lecture Hall B, about a murder in the classroom of a philosophy professor whose interests are Religions and Atheism.<mask> also wrote 8 short plays with moral or philosophical themes that are available on his website. See also
 Atheist's Wager
 American philosophy
 List of American philosophers
 List of atheist philosophers

References

External links

 <mask>'s homepage, Boston University
 Martin's page from infidels.org, which contains a number of his critiques of theism
 <mask>'s biography also from infidels.org, which lists his extensive collection of articles and reviews. Biography, philosophyofreligion.info. Obituary

1932 births
2015 deaths
20th-century American philosophers
American atheists
Analytic philosophers
Atheist philosophers
Boston University faculty
Christ myth theory proponents
Critics of Christianity
Harvard University alumni
Philosophers of religion
Philosophers of social science
Writers about religion and science
Atheism activists

masks:
Michael Lou Martin
Martin
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Michael Martin
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title: Madanna and Akkanna

texts:
<mask> and Akkanna were two Brahmin brothers who rose to prominence in the 17th-century in the final two decades of the Golkonda sultanate. They helped Abul Hasan Qutb Shah come to power, who appointed them as ministers in his court. He made them responsible for collecting jizya taxes from the Hindus – predominant part of the Sultanate's population. By the 1680s, according to the colonial era Dutch India archives, they controlled all the tax collection and the exchequer of the Golkonda Sultanate. According to Gijs Kruijtzer – a historian specializing in Deccan Sultanates, the <mask> and <mask> brothers can be viewed as early "nationalists" seeking the welfare of their people and the general public. They can also be viewed as "communalists" who criticized the Muslim elites as exploitative who do not care about non-Muslims, who serve the interest of their holy land in Arabia, and seek personal gain. The two brothers spent the taxes they collected in Golconda on the "welfare of the public", states Kruijtzer, which included furthering trade with the colonial Dutch, building public sarai (resting place for travelers), as well as restoring and building temples.Their remarkable rise to power and public priorities in the Golconda Sultanate, whose elite predominantly were Muslims, became a folklore among the Hindus. Muslims reached out to Aurangzeb, who in 1683 sent his army to attack Golconda Sultanate. The brothers attempted for peace with a deal to pay a large annual tribute to the Mughal empire. In 1685, Aurangzeb sent a regiment led by his son to end Golconda Sultanate, absorb it into the Mughal empire. This time the Mughal army captured and beheaded <mask> and Akkanna. The two brothers remain popular among the Hindus in the modern era Telangana, with many monuments named after them. They were also the maternal uncles of the popular Bhakti saint Bhadrachala Ramadasu.Early life
<mask> and <mask> were born to “Pengala Banooge Timayamah” or “Banoojee puntooloo” and his wife in the town of Hanamkonda in the district of
Warangal,Telangana,India. <mask> and Akkanna are popular forms of Madhava Bhan(u)ji and Akkarasu Bhan(u)ji respecively. They were Smartas, who honour both Shiva and Vishnu as well as Surya. They may have belonged to one of the branches of the Maharashtrian Brahmins, which is not to say that their family may not also have been based in the Telangana plateau for generations so that <mask> and <mask> would have spoken fluent Telugu besides Marathi. According to Aiyangar, <mask>'s formal name was Suryaprakasha Rao and he was fluent in Telugu, Sanskrit, Persian, Hindustani (Hindi, Urdu) and several other languages. Career

There are several version of Madanna and Akkanna history found in popular media and texts of India. The variation is from which of the four sources one relies on and which one ignores: the Dutch East India Company records (also called the VOC records), the Mackenzie manuscripts, the Muslim court historians, or the evolving Hindu folklore.Of these, the VOC records were contemporaneous to the events and Dutch merchants directly interacted with <mask>, <mask> and the Muslim elites of the Golconda Sultanate. The Mackenzie manuscripts date over a 100 years after the death of the brothers. The records of the Muslim historians as well as the Hindu folklores – or Brahmin perspectives – are largely hearsay and they vary in their dates as well as details, largely reflecting the bias of their authors. The Indologist A.H. Longhurst, relying on contemporaneous records from the 17th-century such as those of Dutch journalist Havart, states that <mask> and Akkanna became ministers in the reign of Abdullah Qutb Shah, the Sultan of Golconda who ruled for nearly 45 years. Their department collected Jizya religious tax from the Hindus. Qutb Shah did not have a son, only three daughters. After he died, the succession choice was between the three sons-in-law.The <mask> and <mask> brothers helped Abul Hasan Qutb Shah (Tana Shah) become the next Sultan, thereby gaining their confidence and trust. They prospered and were soon responsible for the Sultanate's entire tax collection and the spending of its exchequer. This power over the purse made them very powerful. The Muslim sources, in contrast, caricature <mask> in a different way. His career is said to have started in 1666 CE as a clerk of Sayyid Muzaffar, who was a military general and of Persian origin. When Tana Shah became the Sultan, he chose Sayyid Muzaffar as his wazir. Sayyid Muzaffar, however, abused his power and treated the new Sultan like an appendage.Upset, the Sultan quietly dismissed Muzaffar and replaced him with <mask> as his wazir and "gave him the title of Suryaprakasha Rao". <mask> then appointed <mask> as his military general over the Muslim army of Golconda, and his nephew Rustom Rao as the chief of all horses. <mask> in this version, was not a minister, just a lowly employee but suddenly appointed the prime minister by Tana Shah. He is described as the one who coopted power through guile and intrigue, whom the Muslim elites and army despised for over 10 years. This version, states Aiyangar, is unlikely to be true because "Suryaprakasha Rao" is no title in either a Sultanate or a Hindu kingdom, it is just a name. It is also unlikely that <mask>, openly a Hindu, could have run an army of Muslims for over 10 years, when they despised him. This version is also not corroborated in alternate versions.The Hindu sources, such as the records at Advaita monasteries and those in the neighboring kingdoms, present another version. The western region of India was already under the control of the Maratha kingdom under Chhatrapati Shivaji, and he wanted to extend the Hindu kingdom into the north with a war with the Mughals, into the south by removing all Sultanates, and into the east by absorbing Golconda Sultanate. He chose to focus, rather than wage war everywhere. Tana Shah was well aware of the threat he faced from the Mughal army in the north and seeking large financial tributes, versus the Maratha army from the west seeking cooperation and assistance in their southern campaign. <mask> and <mask> were already ministers in Tana Shah's court. As prime minister, <mask> assured a cooperative Hindu population in Golconda, increasing trade with new colonial powers, and an alliance with Shivaji in the west. Tana Shah pursued this approach, and these geopolitical circumstances propelled the career of <mask> and <mask>.According to Maratha records, Tana Shah entered into agreement to provide Shivaji with artillery troops for a joint campaign in exchange for lands that previously were under the control of a larger Golconda Sultanate. The common element in the different versions is that <mask> and <mask> were in seats of power in 1673, and highly influential in Golconda Sultanate till they were assassinated. According to a British record dated July 1676, and corroborated by the Hindu sources, <mask> was never a general of the Muslim army. Rather, in 1675, he was appointed a Tarafdar (governor) for the Karnataka part of the Golconda Sultanate, after Muzaffar Khan and Musa Khan were set aside. The British records criticize the Brahmin brothers to be "very exacting" and "irksome" in their demands to the colonial British agents. According to Kruijtzer, there is no evidence in any source that <mask> was officially a "Peshva" or held the same title that "Mir Jumla" did before their rise to power, something that is often assumed and repeated. Titles aside, states Kruijtzer, the primary role and power of <mask> came from being Sultan's majmu'adar shahi, or "king's collector, bookkeeper".The caption in the miniature paintings of <mask> and Akkanna created in the 17th-century Golconda court, along with those of Tana Shah, identifies the brothers as "chief bookkeepers", not wazir or a general. <mask> was an entrepreneur too, as his trade ships served the rising colonial era demand for international trade. Administration, policies
<mask> and Akkanna began their career in tax collection. As they reached their powerful position, they made this system highly efficient by civil "revenue farming". Their system of administration was different than Jagirs in use in the Mughal Empire. In the Jagir system, Muslim officers and elites were required to serve the emperor's demand for troops along with regular tributes. Instead of paying them a salary, the Mughal administration gave them a right to collect taxes and land revenue from the rural and urban population of certain area (jagir).Madanna and Akkanna placed the Golconda Sultanate officials and Muslim elites at the court on salary instead, and gave civilians the responsibility and right to collect taxes for a period of time in exchange for a lump sum upfront payment for that right. This separated those with military power from those with economic power, ensured a large upfront payments before rather than after a period. They thus created a new set of capitalist elites, often Brahmins, that held the power of the pen and the purse. At the local level, Madanna and Akkanna decoupled the policing duty from the tax and economic administrators. The police were paid directly by the Sultanate treasury, while the civil administration focussed on tax collection and public services. Once again, they thus split the responsibilities, such that Muslims continued to dominate in the police roles, while newly created civil services enabled the Brahmins and Baniyas to enter into positions of financial administration, bookkeeping and administrative power. These policies helped in delivering the priorities set by Madanna and Akkanna.The brothers used the taxes collected to further trade, build sarai (road side resthouses) and Hindu temples. They also issued gifts to matha (monasteries). According to a manuscript in the Mackenzie collection, <mask> and Akkanna were sponsors of classical Indian arts. For example, they financed a troupe of Yakshagana artists – a form of traditional South Indian theatre, who toured the Golconda Sultanate every year. Death
The details of their death vary by the source, but the common thread is that they were brutally killed in 1685 by the Mughal forces under the command of Aurangzeb's son. In one version, the financial prosperity of the brothers brought them power, as well as made them a target of the Muslim elite in Golconda Sultanate. The latter reached out to Aurangzeb, particularly Muhammad Ibrahim who defected in 1683 to the Mughal Empire after serving many years as a general in Golconda Sultanate army.Aurangzeb sent his army to attack Golconda Sultanate. After a seize and the payment of large tributes to the Mughal treasury by <mask>, soldiers led by Shah 'Alam – the son of Aurangzeb, returned to Golconda. They sought out and assassinated <mask> and <mask>. This assassination was done, by some accounts with the knowledge of Abul Hasan Tana Shah. They were beheaded, and their heads were sent as trophies back to Aurangzeb. By other accounts, Tana Shah was unaware and the heads of <mask> and <mask> were sent to Aurangzeb's son. In a third version, <mask> and <mask> were captured by the Mughal forces, dragged in the street in front of the public in November 1685, Akkanna then killed under the feet of an elephant, while <mask> was beheaded and the head sent back to Aurangzeb.According to the Dutch India company records, on the day the brothers were murdered, "many" Brahmins were hunted down in Hyderabad and other parts of the Golconda Sultanate and they were also killed, their homes plundered. Legacy
Less than two years after their death, Aurangzeb dismissed the Sultan, arrested him and placed in a prison in Daulatabad. The sultanate became a part of the Mughal empire. The period led by <mask> and Akkanna was remembered as a decade of golden age by some, already by the 18th-century. The brothers are remembered in today's Telangana as administrators and as martyrs. Visible reminders of their activities as politicians and religious benefactors are the Akkanna Madanna Temple in Hyderabad, Akkanna Madanna caves in Vijayawada, and the ruins marked as their offices in Golkonda fort. See also
Akkanna Madanna Caves
Akkanna Madanna Temple
Sita Ramachandraswamy Temple, Bhadrachalam

References

1685 deaths
People from Hyderabad State
Indian murder victims
17th-century Indian people
Year of birth unknown

masks: Madanna Madanna Akkanna Madanna Madanna Akkanna Madanna Madanna Akkanna Madanna Madanna Akkanna Madanna Madanna Akkanna Madanna Madanna Madanna Akkanna Madanna Akkanna Madanna Akkanna Madanna Madanna Akkanna Madanna Akkanna Akkanna Madanna Madanna Madanna Akkanna Madanna Madanna Madanna Akkanna Madanna Akkanna Madanna Madanna Akkanna Madanna Madanna


title: Vanity (singer)

texts:
Denise Katrina Matthews (January 4, 1959 – February 15, 2016), known professionally as <mask>, was a Canadian singer, songwriter, model, and actress. Known for her image as a sex symbol in the 1980s, she became an evangelist and renounced her career as <mask> in the 1990s. <mask> was the lead singer of the female trio Vanity 6 known for their 1982 hit song "Nasty Girl". They disbanded in 1983 when she decided to embark on a solo career. <mask> released two solo albums on the Motown Records label, Wild Animal and Skin on Skin. She had minor hit singles with "Pretty Mess", "Mechanical Emotion", "Under the Influence", and "Undress" from the 1988 film Action Jackson. <mask> also had a successful career as an actress, starring in the film The Last Dragon, 52 Pick-Up, and Action Jackson.After years of drug abuse, which caused health issues, Matthews became a born again Christian in 1992. She later devoted herself to her church in Fremont, California. Matthews died on February 15, 2016, at the age of 57, due to kidney failure. Early life
Denise Katrina Matthews was born in Niagara Falls, Ontario on January 4, 1959, the daughter of Helga Senyk and Levia James Matthews. Her mother was of German-Jewish and Polish-Jewish descent, and she was born in Germany, while her father was of African-American descent and was born in Wilmington, North Carolina. Matthews had two sisters, Patricia and Renay, and several half siblings. Her father died when she was 15 years old.Matthews revealed to Jet in 1993 that her father physically and verbally abused her for years. The abuse caused her to have a negative self-image. "For 15 years, he beat me badly... I wish I could see my father in heaven, but I won't. He's in hell," she said. Career

Early career: 1977–1981
Matthews began entering local beauty pageants before moving to Toronto, where she modeled. She won the Miss Niagara Hospitality title in 1977 and went on to compete for Miss Canada in 1978.At age 17, she moved to New York City to further her career. She signed with Zoli Model Agency. However, because she was short in stature, her modeling career was limited to commercials and photoshoots and excluded runway work. Vanity appeared in commercials for Pearl Drops toothpaste, before completing a modeling stint in Japan. Matthews had a small role in the horror movie Terror Train (1980), which was filmed in Montreal in 1979. She then went to Toronto to film the lead role in the B-movie Tanya's Island (1980). She was credited as D. D. Winters for both films.Music and acting career: 1982–1993
Matthews appeared on the cover of the funk band Cameo's album cover, Alligator Woman, released in March 1982. She had met musician Prince at the American Music Awards earlier that year. After learning that she could sing, Prince later invited her to front a girl group he had formed called the Hookers. Prince initially wanted to name her "Vagina," but she refused so they settled on Vanity, as he considered her to be the female form of himself. The group was renamed Vanity 6. The group recorded one album, and had some success internationally with the single "Nasty Girl". They wore lingerie and Vanity's image became that of an erotic and sexy "nasty girl"."Prince created the whole Vanity Six image. It bothered me at the time. I lied and said it was the image I wanted. I did it because he told me I had to do it. If I didn’t do it, I wouldn’t get paid. I got into it. I wanted the old Diana Ross image," she said.<mask> and Prince appeared on the cover of the April 28, 1983 issue of Rolling Stone magazine. In August 1983, she abruptly left the group and turned down a role in the 1984 film Purple Rain, which went to her replacement Apollonia Kotero. In 1984, <mask> signed with Motown Records as a solo artist and recorded the funk-pop album Wild Animal. She had mild success on the US pop and R&B charts with the singles "Pretty Mess" and "Mechanical Emotion". In 1985, <mask> made her film debut in The Last Dragon, which featured her song "7th Heaven." She wanted a role in the 1985 film The Color Purple, but Steven Spielberg thought she looked too young. In 1986, she released her second and last album, Skin on Skin, which produced the top 10 R&B hit "Under the Influence".That year, she also starred in Never Too Young to Die opposite John Stamos and she appeared in 52 Pick-Up . In 1987, <mask> guest-starred in an episode of Miami Vices third season. She went on to co-star in the 1988 film Action Jackson, her highest profile role, in which she starred opposite Carl Weathers, Craig T. Nelson, and Sharon Stone. She also appeared nude in the April 1988 issue of Playboy magazine. <mask> had a role on numerous TV programs. She appeared in Friday the 13th: The Series in the episode entitled "Mesmer's Bauble" in 1989. She played a villain who tortured Nancy Allen's character in the 1990 TV movie Memories of Murder and appeared in an episode of Highlander: The Series in 1992.Her last role was in the film Kiss of Death in 1993. Personal life

Relationships
Reportedly, Matthews attended the American Music Awards with Rick James where she met Prince in January 1982. Matthews and Prince then began dating shortly after. She was linked romantically to Adam Ant, who wrote the track "Vanity" about her on his 1983 Strip album, and Billy Idol. During an appearance on The Arsenio Hall show in 1987, Matthews announced that she and Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx were engaged. She often joked that she would become Vanity 6 (Sixx) again. In his memoir, The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star, Sixx detailed their volatile relationship and drug use.He stated that Vanity taught him how to freebase cocaine. On her first anniversary of sobriety, Matthews married football player Anthony Smith of the Oakland Raiders in 1995. Matthews was working as an evangelist in San Jose when she read about Smith's philanthropic activities in Los Angeles. "The Lord told me that I would go down to L.A. and minister him," she told Ebony. Three days after they met she proposed to him. They married after a one-month whirlwind romance. The wedding took place at Smith's home in Playa del Rey.Smith revealed that they often argued because of her kind nature. Matthews had a habit of inviting homeless people into their home for food and offering them showers, she would also give out her number. Smith was volatile and the marriage ended in 1996. After they separated, Smith was arrested for domestic violence involving another woman and he was later convicted of three murders. Religion
In 1992, <mask> became a born-again Christian, and in several interviews, she stated that she would not play any more sexualized roles. Simultaneously, she renounced her stage name <mask> and reverted to Denise Matthews once again. She traveled extensively throughout the South with her friend/agent Benjamin Jimerson-Phillips, giving her testimony of conversion to Jesus Christ.In 1994, Matthews was hospitalized for three months for near-fatal kidney failure from a drug overdose. She recalled later that after being rushed to the hospital, doctors said she had three days to live while on life support. Her friend Benjamin Jimerson-Phillips was by her hospital bedside. Later it was revealed, he was the one who notified Prince by Western Union Telegram that she had been hospitalized. She explained that Jesus appeared to her at this time and spoke to her, saying that if she promised to abandon her Vanity persona, he would save her. Upon her recovery, Matthews ended her performing career by cutting off all ties with Hollywood and shunning her former life in show business. She devoted herself to being a born-again Christian.In 1995, she said, "When I came to the Lord Jesus Christ, I threw out about 1,000 tapes of mine— every interview, every tape, every video, everything." Jimerson-Phillips stated: "I was there at her apartment at The Grand in Sherman Oaks, when she just started dumping things down the incinerator. I grabbed some of the items including a painting titled Tailspin, by famed artist Olivia; a cassette hand painted by Prince of unreleased music; and an assortment of other items I didn’t want to see go into the trash. I even had to go down to the office and ask them to retrieve her gold album she had thrown away." After a kidney transplant in 1997, Matthews dedicated the rest of her life full-time to Christ. She made speaking engagements at churches worldwide and she headed Pure Hearts Ministries in Fremont, California. In 2010, Matthews released her autobiography, Blame It On Vanity: Hollywood, Hell and Heaven, in which she thanks Jimerson-Phillips.Illness and death
Due to kidney problems from her 10-year crack cocaine addiction, Matthews had to undergo 20-minutes of peritoneal dialysis five times a day. Matthews underwent a kidney transplant in 1997, but her health worsened in 2015 after she was diagnosed with sclerosing encapsulating peritonitis. Matthews died in a Fremont, California, hospital on February 15, 2016, from kidney failure, aged 57. She left much of her estate to her church. A dying wish of hers was to have her ashes scattered over the coast of Hawaii, and for her loved ones to celebrate her life with festivities and "no tears". Discography

Studio albums
 Wild Animal (1984)
 Skin on Skin (1986)

Vanity 6
 Vanity 6 (1982)

Solo singles

Soundtrack appearances
 1985: The Last Dragon; "7th Heaven"
 1988: Action Jackson; "Undress", "Faraway Eyes", and "Shotgun" with David Koz and featuring vocalist Kareem

Guest vocals
 1982: 1999, Prince; "Free" (backing vocals)
 1982: What Time Is It?, The Time; "The Walk" (spoken vocals)
 1986: El DeBarge, El DeBarge; "Secrets of the Night" (backing vocals)

Music videos
 1982: "Nasty Girl", "He's So Dull", and "Drive Me Wild"
 1984: "Pretty Mess"
 1985: "7th Heaven" (video clips were from the movie The Last Dragon)
 1986: "Under the Influence"
 1988: "He Turned Me Out", a song performed by The Pointer Sisters from the soundtrack of Action Jackson. <mask>'s co-star in the movie, Carl Weathers, appears alongside her in the video.Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

Vanity Official website

 Denise "<mask>" Matthews from The Last Dragon Tribute

1959 births
2016 deaths
Actresses from Ontario
A&M Records artists
Black Canadian actresses
20th-century Black Canadian women singers
Canadian Christians
Canadian dance musicians
Canadian expatriate actresses in the United States
Female models from Ontario
Canadian film actresses
Canadian people of African-American descent
Canadian contemporary R&B singers
Canadian soul singers
Canadian television actresses
Converts to Christianity
Deaths from kidney failure
Geffen Records artists
Motown artists
Musicians from the Regional Municipality of Niagara
People from Niagara Falls, Ontario
People from Fremont, California
Vanity 6 members
Musicians from the San Francisco Bay Area
Canadian people of Polish-Jewish descent
Canadian evangelists
Canadian women pop singers
Canadian people of German-Jewish descent
Feminist musicians
Kidney transplant recipients
Warner Records artists

masks: Vanity Vanity Vanity Vanity Vanity Vanity Vanity Vanity Vanity Vanity Vanity Vanity Vanity Vanity