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From 'TBH Politoons'
Great Site!
Thanks, again, Tim!
Weekly Review
HARPER'S WEEKLY REVIEW
July 9, 2002
A judge in Manhattan ruled that the federal death penalty is
unconstitutional; the judge wrote that the number of exonerations due
to DNA evidence demonstrated that there is an "undue risk of executing
innocent people" and that capital punishment thus violates the
constitutional right to due process. The death penalty, he said, is
"tantamount to foreseeable, state-sponsored murder of innocent beings."
An American AC-130 gunship fired on a wedding party in
Afghanistan for two hours, killing up to 50 people and injuring 150;
an entire extended family of 25 was killed. The government of
Afghanistan "expressed dismay"; President Bush "expressed his
sympathies."
Two America West pilots were arrested for drunk flying.
The Transportation Security Administration revealed that inspectors
managed to smuggle fake bombs, guns, and other weapons aboard aircraft
at the nations 32 major airports about 25 percent of the time; the
success rate was 90 percent in Miami, Newark, Fort Lauderdale, and
Honolulu.
An Egyptian man named Hesham Mohamed Hadayet walked into Los
Angeles International Airport and opened fire on the El Al airlines
ticket counter and killed two people; authorities said they had no
evidence that the shooting was an act of terrorism and that it might
just be a "hate crime."
A "highly classified" Pentagon planning
document for the invasion of Iraq was leaked to the press.
A British theater director walked up to a large marble statue of former prime
minister Margaret Thatcher and decapitated it with a cricket bat.
Continued at www.harpers.org/weekly-review
--Roger D. Hodge
Faxes Surfacing
HST & Seinfeld
From Ted W
You might be interested in the story The Age just ran. (Mobylives.com ran
additional news on this in their July 9, 2002 issue). It's based on an angry
letter scheme between Jerry Seinfeld and Hunter S. Thompson that has gone
awry. I know you ran something on this before, but now more Hunter Thompson
and Jerry Seinfeld faxes are surfacing. I've attached one of the new ones.
www.mobylives.com
www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/07/05/1025667061489.html
www.jeffcrooke.com/hst.html
~~ Ted
Wow! Thanks, Ted!
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Talked with dad tonight. Between being an accountant, a WWII vet & a dem, he was at more of a loss for words than I've ever heard him.
Did the weekly Price Club/CostCo run. Bought the summer's supply of charcoal all at once.
What the hell was that piece of crap they called the 'All-Star Game'? Ran out of players? Arfing A. Used to think of big-time sports as
entertainment, but, jeez, would a play ever stop because they were out of actors? Don't pay any attention to that man behind the curtain, eh, Bud?
Tonight, Tuesday, CBS opens with '60 Minutes II', then follows with the fresh season premiere of 'Big
Brother 3' (which will air Wednesdays, Thursdays & Saturdays, with 1 'houseguest' being evicted on Thursday [live to the east coast]), followed
by '48 Hours'.
Scheduled on a fresh Dave are Robin Williams and Pat Green.
Scheduled on a fresh Craiggers is Dave Koechner.
NBC opens the night by regurgitating the so-called 'The Tonight Show With Jay Leno: 10th Anniversary', then follows with reruns of 'The West Wing' and 'Law & Order'.
Scheduled on a fresh Jay is Tom Hanks.
Scheduled on a fresh Conan are Sam Donaldson and Busta Rhymes.
Scheduled on a fresh Carson Daly are Shannon Elizabeth and Darius Rucker.
ABC starts the night with an hour-long rerun of 'My Wife & Kids' then 2 rerun 'Drew Carey''s, and wraps the evening with 'State v.'.
The WB has the movie 'Three To Tango'.
Faux has 2 reruns of 'Bernie Mac', and then a fresh 'American Idol: The Search For A Superstar'.
UPN has reruns of 'Enterprise' and 'Buffy'.
Samuel L. Jackson hosts the 'Espy Awards' on ESPN.
TBS has the start of a new series, 'Worst Scenario', where you can learn how to pop a shoulder back into place, or avoid lightning.
Anyone have any opinions?
Or reviews?
(See below for addresses)
CNN International - First Daljit...
Jon Stewart
Comedy Central wiseacre Jon Stewart is going global.
CNN's international outlet CNNi will broadcast a version of "The Daily Show" to 161 million homes starting Sept. 21. The comedian will retell the week's best yucks for his foreign viewers.
"I think he's a great fit for a latenight audience," said Rena Golden, CNNi's executive VP and general manager. "And he deals with current events."
Golden is confident Stewart's wry humor will translate abroad. "We made this decision on the merits of Jon himself," she said, adding that the network didn't pursue any other comedians for
the job. "He has a quick wit, but he's not overwhelming -- he's not the stereotype of an overpowering American."
With the majority of its viewers in the 30-49 age-range, CNNi claims a younger demo than its American cousin. The cable channel makes a consistent effort to skew younger, as it did with its
recent signing of former ITN anchor and heartthrob Daljit Dhaliwal.
Jon Stewart
Fantasy Camp for Homer
Simpsons & Stones
Homer Simpson will make his rock 'n' roll dreams come true in the fall, with some help from Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.
With scores of guest stars over the past 13 years, the cast has seen a famous face or two. Everyone from Paul McCartney to U2 to Elizabeth Taylor has lent a voice to the
animated series, but Jagger's presence at the studio caused a stir.
"That was very exciting," Yeardley Smith, the voice of Lisa Simpson, told The Associated Press. "I mean, these people are larger than life. It's peculiar to be in the
same room with them. You start to see them as people, which I think is good, but it doesn't take the gloss off it at all. It's still kind of like, 'Wow, you're Mick Jagger.' It's still pretty stunning."
Smith had no problem getting an autograph, though.
"Any guest star that comes on the show, they have to sign 80 script covers or something so that everybody who's on the show - all the writers and the producers and the
actors - all get a signed script for them. Then we the actors also sign script for them," she said.
The episode with Jagger and Richards will air in November.
Simpsons & Stones
On Wall Street
'Resignate Now'
Robert Saffer, of Brooklyn, N.Y., left, and Josephine Silia, of Fort Lee, N.J., protest President George Bush's proposed crackdown on corporate chicanery -- charging he continues to
protect big-money interests, outside his speech, Tuesday, July 9, 2002, in New York. President Bush called for stiff new penalties for corporate criminals and a crackdown on boardroom
scandals Tuesday, promising in a speech on Wall Street that his administration would ''end the days of cooking the books, shading the truth and breaking our laws.'' Saffer said the shape
of their signs refers to the pretzel Bush choked on in January.
Photo by Suzanne Plunkett
Recovering from Cancer Surgery
Sharon Osbourne
Sharon Osbourne, the wife and manager of rock star-turned-reality TV hero Ozzy Osbourne, is "in good spirits and doing well" after undergoing colon cancer surgery last week,
the couple's publicist said on Tuesday.
A statement said 49-year-old Osbourne's cancer was caught in the "very early stages," and she was expected to make a full recovery.
Details about her whereabouts and medical status were not immediately available. However, her husband of 20 years will resume his headlining slot at the annual Ozzfest rock
festival on Wednesday in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
Sharon Osbourne, the estranged daughter of veteran English showbiz promoter Don Arden, is credited with reviving her husband's career after he was fired from heavy metal
pioneers Black Sabbath in 1979. The union has been a seemingly happy one, apart from a 1989 brawl where a drunken Ozzy, the so-called "Prince of Darkness," tried to strangle
Sharon and subsequently spent three months in rehab.
Sharon Osbourne
Considers Keith Moon Film
Mike Myers
"Austin Powers" star Mike Myers is discussing the possibility of starring in a new movie about The Who drummer Keith Moon.
Myers and The Who frontman Roger Daltrey have discussed plans for a forthcoming film, and the 39-year-old comic actor said Monday he hoped it would be made.
"I have talked to Roger Daltrey about the possibility of a film. I think Keith Moon was a fascinating character," said Myers, whose new movie, "Austin Powers
in Goldmember," is scheduled for release later this month.
Daltrey has long wanted to turn Moon's life story into a Hollywood film and said Myers would be perfect for the part.
Mike Myers
On, Again
Kournikova & Iglesias
It looks as though Anna Kournikova's love match with Enrique Iglesias is on again.
Although the tennis minx from Moscow insists she is still linked to her long-term boyfriend, hockey star Sergei Fedorov, serial sightings of the two in London have
led to speculation that Kournikova and Iglesias, who met when she starred in his video last year, have reconnected.
Hours before her doubles loss to the Williams sisters at Wimbledon on Saturday, Kournikova snuggled with Iglesias in a VIP booth at the Mayfair Club in London.
One clubgoer told Britain's News of the World that "Enrique was all over her. Staff who had to serve them drinks were very embarrassed." The next night, Kournikova
sneaked backstage to watch Iglesias' concert in Hyde Park.
Kournikova & Iglesias
Handy Link
Area Code Locator
LincMad's Area Code Locator Table
To Make Bond Cameo
Madonna
Madonna will make a cameo appearance in the latest James Bond movie, her spokeswoman said Tuesday.
Liz Rosenberg said the singer, 43, who has already recorded the title track for "Die Another Day," the 20th Bond film, was on the set in London to film her brief scenes this week.
London's Evening Standard newspaper said Madonna will wield a foil in the movie as a fencing instructor. The newspaper said she had shot a sequence that will be edited
into a swashbuckling scene in which Pierce Brosnan, as Bond, duels with villain Gustav Graves, played by Toby Stephens, at a London gentlemen's club.
Madonna
Big Dog Watch Continues
Bill Clinton In Istanbul
Former President Clinton waves to the crowd surrounded by Turkish policemen in downtown Istanbul, Turkey, Tuesday, July 9, 2002. Bill Clinton is in Istanbul for a two-day private visit.
Photo by Osman Orsal
6-Pack Of Godfathers
Damian Charles
Elizabeth Hurley's son, Damian Charles, now has a six-pack of famous godfathers. Actors Hugh Grant and Denis Leary; Rocket Man Elton John and his companion, David Furnish; New York financier Teddy Forstmann
and British noble Henry Dent Brocklehurst were all on hand for Baby Bing's christening on Saturday at London's Church of the Immaculate Conception.
Mum and tot were both swathed in white. Other guests included actress Patsy Kensit, model Elle Macpherson, and former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham and her husband, soccer star David Beckham. Damian's father,
real-estate heir Steve Bing, did not attend.
6-Pack Of Godfathers
Donate Pool to City
Tabitha & Stephen King
Stephen and Tabitha King are donating $1.1 million to the city to help residents cool down — in a new pool that will be more than three times the size of the existing public pool.
The city's most famous literary couple on Monday announced they would donate the money for a 12,000-square-foot pool, a children's area, a general swim area and a four-lane lap and
exercise pool, the Bangor Daily News reported.
A separate pool will be built with water slides. The existing 3,700-square-foot pool will be closed once the work is complete.
Stephen King, the best-selling author of dozens of books, said the public pool is sometimes so crowded on hot days that all he and his wife can see are "a lot of heads bobbing up and down."
"We thought maybe there was something we could do to remedy that situation," he said.
Over the years, the Kings have donated millions of dollars to causes and projects, including the Maine Discovery Museum, the Bangor Public Library, and Cyr Family Field House at the Orono-Old Town YMCA.
Tabitha & Stephen King
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
Presidential Medal of Freedom
Aaron, Cosby, Rogers & More
Home run king Hank Aaron, comedian Bill Cosby, television's Mr. Rogers and former first lady Nancy Reagan were among a dozen people who received the Presidential
Medal of Freedom on Tuesday, the highest U.S. civilian award, for their contributions to society.
President Bush lavishly praised each of the recipients, who included management theorist Peter Drucker, public health expert D.A. Henderson, conservative thinker Irving
Kristol, Intel Corp. co-founder Gordon Moore and New York Times reporter, editor and columnist A.M. Rosenthal.
Opera star Placido Domingo, former South African President Nelson Mandela and the late Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham were also honored during the elaborate
White House East Room ceremony at which Bush personally bestowed the medals.
The Presidential Medal of Freedom was established by President Harry Truman in 1945 to recognize civilians for their service during World War II and reinstated by
President John F. Kennedy in 1963 to honor distinguished peacetime service.
Three of those honored were represented by their children at the ceremony. Makaziwe Mandela accepted the medal for her father, Alvaro Domingo for his father,
and Lally Weymouth for her mother, Katharine Graham.
Presidential Medal of Freedom
What Was Left Out Of The Vanity Fair Article?
Mike Ovitz
Tinseltown tattletales are speculating about what was left out of Vanity Fair's profile on fallen power broker Mike Ovitz. In the piece, once-omnipotent Ovitz blamed David
Geffen and the "gay mafia" for his downfall. But writer Bryan Burrough decided not to include some of Ovitz's even more scathing charges. Several of Burrough's sources say
that Ovitz claimed several journalists who attacked him in print were literally "in bed with" his business rivals who used sex for leverage. Burrough won't divulge what he
cut out. "Your instincts are right, but I'm not going to comment," he told us.
Mike Ovitz
Academy Gets Memorabilia
Douglas Fairbanks Sr
The family of silent-film star Douglas Fairbanks Sr. has turned over a personal collection of his photos and other papers to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences library.
The collection includes about 3,000 photos and 200 negatives documenting the career of Fairbanks, who was the first president of the academy, which awards the Oscars.
The materials include a scrapbook compiled after Fairbanks' death in 1939, containing condolence letters and telegrams from stars such as Cary Grant, Joan Crawford and Laurence Olivier.
Besides the photos and documents, Vera Fairbanks — widow of the actor's son, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. — pledged $25,000 to the academy to help maintain the collection.
"Of all the major silent-film stars, the library had the least amount of information on Fairbanks, which is somewhat ironic given that he was the academy's first president," library director Linda Mehr said Monday.
Douglas Fairbanks Sr
Background Link
Bu$h Family Value$
Bu$h Family Value$
Russell Simmons, Former Managers Speak Out
Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson's former managers yesterday blasted him for branding Tommy Mottola a racist, and said the Gloved One is using the Sony chief in an "absurd," "ridiculous" effort to explain why his last album flopped.
Managers Frank DiLeo and Sandy Gallin, along with music impresario Russell Simmons, were among those who rallied to support Mottola after Jackson's blistering weekend attack accused the
music mogul of making a racial slur and called him "devilish."
"Tommy Mottola is not a racist," said DiLeo, who managed Jackson during the years of his blockbuster "Thriller" and "Bad" albums. "This whole thing is about Michael looking to put the
blame for a bad record on somebody besides himself, and it's an unfortunate way to do it."
"Despite what Michael says, he has been making his own marketing and management decisions for more than 12 years. What that kid really needs to do is stand in front of a full-length
mirror and take a good hard look at the real problem," DiLeo said.
Gallin, who managed Jackson for seven years in the 1990s, also weighed in, albeit reluctantly. "I don't want to take sides, but this is really the most absurd situation," he said.
Meanwhile, Simmons, who has known Mottola 20 years, said: "There are two things I know: Tommy Mottola is not a racist, and, in black music, especially, you don't need $30 million
to make an album successful. If it's a hit record, it'll stick on its own.
Michael Jackson
BartCop TV!
Old-School Porn Stars Lament
'Viagra Boys'
"I was born for porn," said US adult movie star Kyle Stone as he prepared to shoot the latest of his 1,000 or so hard-core films.
"So if I could sue the makers of Viagra I would, because I had a great career before they brought that stuff out. They almost ruined me," said the jovial red-headed actor, who
describes himself as an "average-looking guy."
"After it came out a few years ago, all these new good looking, buff young 'Viagra Boys' rode into town and my work was instantly cut in half. My phone stopped ringing," he lamented.
Stone, 38 -- who has been making skin flicks in the world capital of pornography, Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley for almost 10 years -- was one of just 20 to 30 porn actors
who once dominated the highly lucrative industry.
In a multi-billion-dollar business which female stars earn three to four times the salaries of male actors, Stone was one of the proud cornerstone's of the industry which once
battled to find men who were able to "perform" in public.
Then came the miracle drug Viagra, introduced in 1998 by the US-based Pfizer corporation as a miracle cure to male impotence that could to resurrect marriages plagued with sexual problems.
"I'm old school. I'm a natural exhibitionist who loves women and everything about them, so stimulation happens naturally," said Stone, a former filing clerk at a Los Angeles
law firm who happened into the industry by accident.
But while many porn directors appear to have embraced the "Viagra Boys" who are able to perform instantly, the drug has ironically been less popular with the female stars,
as well as their "old-school" male counterparts.
"I don't like to work with anyone who uses Viagra because if they have to take it, you start to feel that you are not attractive enough or something," said 22-year-old
actress Renee, who has been in the business for two years.
"The bottom line is that ... if you need to take a pill then its not the job for you," said Kyle Stone.
For a bit more, 'Viagra Boys'
Found at New York Museum
Michelangelo Drawing
A Michelangelo drawing that may be worth $12 million was unearthed among sketches of Renaissance lighting fixtures in what used to be a New York maid's room, museum officials said on Tuesday.
The unsigned drawing is a design for a seven-branched candelabrum -- some call it a menorah -- done in black chalk, brush and brown wash on cream-colored paper in the mid-1500s,
according to officials at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum in New York City.
The candelabrum's arms are only inferred, but the sketch clearly shows where they should go, said Sarah Lawrence, the museum's expert on the Italian Renaissance decorative arts.
Such a discovery occurs "once in a museum's lifetime," Cooper-Hewitt Director Paul Thompson said in a telephone interview. "It's the stuff of children's story books."
The drawing was plucked from a box of sketches of lighting fixture designs by unknown artists in the museum's Drawings and Prints Department, on the fourth floor of the
building in what used to be a maid's room, Thompson said.
The museum, part of the Washington-based Smithsonian Institution, purchased the drawing within a group of five goldsmith drawings in 1942, for $60.
Museum scholars guessed the work might have been done by 16th century artist Perino del Vaga, who often followed Michelangelo's designs for decorative objects. Somehow it
got into the wrong box and was described only as being Italian, from around 1530-1540.
It was first identified as a Michelangelo in April by Sir Timothy Clifford, director of the National Galleries of Scotland, during a sabbatical visit to the Cooper-Hewitt.
For a lot more, Michelangelo Drawing
Have Separated
Bertinelli - Van Halen
Dutch-born rocker Eddie Van Halen and his actress-wife of 21 years, Valerie Bertinelli, separated several months ago but have no plans at the moment to seek a divorce, her publicist said on Tuesday.
The 47-year-old guitarist, who disclosed a year ago that he was undergoing treatment for cancer, split from Bertinelli, 42, in October 2001, according to a spokeswoman for the actress, Heidi Schaeffer.
She declined to give further details, other than to say the couple's separation was amicable and that no third party was involved.
Van Halen, who overcame a highly publicized battle with alcohol dependence in the late 1990s, has an 11-year-old son with Bertinelli.
Bertinelli - Van Halen
Gropes Buttocks to See Future
Blind Psychic
Forget palm-reading. A blind German psychic claimed Tuesday he could read people's futures by feeling their naked buttocks.
Clairvoyant Ulf Buck, 39, claims that people's backsides have lines like those on the palm of the hand, which can be read to reveal much about their character and destiny.
"The bottom is much more intense -- it has a much stronger power of expression than the hand in my experience," Buck told Reuters. "It goes on developing throughout your life."
By running his fingers along a number of lines on the surface of a client's posterior, he says he can tell them about their future monetary success, family life, health and happiness.
He says lines representing success, career and artistic ability extend inwards from the outer extremities of the buttocks, while a further five lines radiate outwards.
"I began on a circle of friends and the circle grew," Buck said. "I am not a new-age freak. I treat people with great care and conscientiousness."
"An apple-shaped, muscular bottom indicates someone who is charismatic, dynamic, very confident and often creative. A person who enjoys life," he said. "A pear-shaped bottom
suggests someone very steadfast, patient and down-to-earth."
Blind Psychic
Fun Link
certifiably religiously insane
certified insane religious sites
Week of July 1-7
TV Ratings
In probably the only time they will ever compete with one another, Rob Lowe can say he beat Peter Jennings.
Lowe was host of NBC's Fourth of July coverage of fireworks from New York City, which drew 7.9 million viewers, making it 28th for the week in the Nielsen Media Research rankings.
Meanwhile, ABC's ambitious Independence Day special with Jennings ranked a dismal 66th, with 4.6 million viewers.
For the week, CBS averaged 8.3 million viewers (5.7 rating, 11 share), NBC averaged 7.3 million (5.0, 11), Fox had 5.9 million (3.6, 7), ABC had 5.2 million (3.5, 7), UPN
had 2.2 million (1.5, 3), the WB had 2.1 million (1.4, 3) and Pax TV had 1.1 million (0.7, 1)
NBC's "Nightly News" won the evening news ratings race with 9.3 million viewers (6.7 rating, 15 share). ABC's "World News Tonight" had 9 million (6.2, 14) and the "CBS Evening
News" had 7.8 million (5.5, 12).
For the week of July 1-7, the top 10 shows, their networks and ratings: "60 Minutes," CBS, 8.6; "Everybody Loves Raymond," CBS, 7.9; Movie: "A Time to Kill," CBS, 7.7; "48 Hours-Monday,"
CBS, 7.4; "Dateline NBC-Tuesday," NBC, 7.4; "Becker," CBS, 7.3; "Law & Order," NBC, 6.6; "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," NBC, 6.6; "Crime & Punishment," NBC, 6.3; Movie: "Murder, She Wrote: South by Southwest," CBS, 6.2.
TV Ratings
Sony Hits Back
More Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson has ruined his own career with his bizarre antics and reputation as an accused child molester, a top honcho at the pop superstar's record company said yesterday.
"Charges of pedophilia have really spooked a lot of American record buyers," said the top-ranking Sony Music executive. "There are a lot of parents who don't think he's
a wholesome entertainer. It's shadowed him."
Pedophilia allegations against Jackson first surfaced in August 1993, when a then 13-year-old boy complained to a therapist that he had been fondled and sexually molested
by the entertainer. The therapist took the information to the cops, who investigated but declined to file charges because the alleged victim refused to testify.
The boy's father later filed a civil suit against Jackson, who settled the case out of court, reportedly for $15 million to $24 million.
The exec also accused the Gloved One of playing the race card against Sony chief Tommy Mottola — who has a track record of backing black artists — to wiggle out of financial
woes stemming from the flop of his latest release, "Invincible."
Music insiders are convinced Jackson is trying to force Sony to spend more cash promoting "Invincible," which has sold an anemic 2 million copies in the United States. Sony
insiders said the label has poured $55 million into the album.
Michael Jackson
In Memory
Gene Kan
Gene Kan, a pioneering developer of the music-swapping Web site Gnutella, died June 29 apparently from self-inflicted gunshot wound, a coroner's spokeswoman said Tuesday. He was 25.
While at Gnutella, Kan was a programmer who often served as the spokesman during file-swapping debates swirling around the Napster controversy.
Then in June 2000, Kan co-founded Burlingame-based InfraSearch Inc., a peer-to-peer search engine technology company. It attracted high-profile investors such as Netscape alums Marc Andreessen and Mike Homer.
Most recently, Kan worked on advanced projects at Sun Labs, pushing the envelope in distributed computing.
Sun acquired InfraSearch last year.
A memorial fund is being established in Kan's name at the University of California, Berkeley's College of Engineering, where Kan graduated in 1997 with degrees in electrical engineering and computer science.
Gene Kan
In Memory
Rod Steiger
Actor Rod Steiger has died of pneumonia and kidney failure at age 78.
Steiger won the Academy Award as best actor of 1967 for his role as the unrelenting police chief of a small Southern town in "In the Heat of the Night."
He died at a Los Angeles-area hospital at 9 a.m., said his publicist, Lori De Waal.
A devoted practitioner of method acting, Steiger prided himself in undertaking challenging roles, especially real-life persons. "My generation of actors was taught to be able to create different people; that's what an actor is supposed to do," he explained.
In movies and television, he convincingly portrayed such figures as Mussolini, Rasputin, Pope John XXIII, Rudolph Hess, Pontius Pilate, Napoleon, W.C. Fields and Al Capone.
"I'm 60 percent virgin and 40 percent whore," he claimed in a 2000 TV interview. "I've not sold out that much, and I've made my own mistakes."
He admitted that he made a big mistake in declining the lead in "Patton," believing the film would glorify war and killing. George C. Scott played the role, and it brought him an Academy Award (which he refused).
Steiger had another brush with the Oscar in his early movie career. He had been the leading contender for "Marty" in the role he had created on television. But the producer, Burt Lancaster, wanted the loveless butcher to be a gentle character, and Steiger didn't qualify. Ernest Borgnine won the Oscar in the role.
Steiger played his most famous scene with Marlon Brando in "On the Waterfront." As the two brothers ride in the rear of a taxi, Brando castigates Steiger for making him throw a boxing match: "I coulda had class! I coulda been a contender."
The director, Elia Kazan, wrote in his 1988 autobiography, "A Life," that he shot Brando's closeups first because the actor had to leave the set early. Steiger complained that Kazan was favoring Brando. Kazan wrote: "I believe what had happened hurt his self-esteem but not his performance. If Steiger has played a scene better than that one, I have yet to see it."
Rodney Stephen Steiger was born April 14, 1925, in Westhampton, on Long Island, N.Y., the only child of a struggling song-and-dance team that parted soon after his birth. His mother married again, and the boy grew up in a quarrelsome household in Newark, N.J.. "I left home at 15 because my family had been destroyed by alcoholism," he remarked in 1998. Lying about his age, he enlisted in the Navy at 16 and served on a destroyer in the South Pacific. He was discharged the day after V-J Day.
Back in New Jersey, Steiger worked at a menial job for the Veterans Administration. Hoping to meet girls, he joined a drama group of office workers. His future was determined by his first role, in an old melodrama, "Curse You, Jack Dalton." Soon he was crossing to New York City to study drama at the New School for Social Research on his $75 monthly from the G.I. Bill of Rights. As a lark he also studied opera singing.
Steiger moved on to the American Theater Wing and then was accepted into the Actors Studio, joining a class that included Eva Marie Saint, Karl Malden, Kim Stanley and Marlon Brando.
"Elia Kazan and Lee Strasberg, the school directors, taught me to act from the inside out," Steiger remarked in a 1956 interview. "I learned what it means to talk to other persons in the story instead of reading lines in a phony voice." He credited psychoanalysis as an additional aid to his acting education.
Like others of his generation of actors, Steiger earned his seasoning in live television; between 1947 and 1953, he appeared in more than 250 dramas. His film debut came with a minor role in Fred Zinnemann's "Teresa" in 1951. Three years later, Kazan, Steiger's mentor at the Actors Studio chose him to play Brando's betraying brother in "On the Waterfront." The result: an Academy Award nomination as supporting actor and the beginning of a long film career.
Next he was cast as the villainous Jud in the big-budget filming of "Oklahoma!" The director, Fred Zinnemann, expected to dub Steiger's songs with a professional singer and use an experienced dancer to portray Jud in the ballet sequence. Stressing his opera training, Steiger convinced the director that he could measure up to star Gordon MacRae in their duet, "Poor Jud Is Dead." He underwent three days of grueling ballet lessons and managed a creditable performance in the Agnes DeMille dance.
Hollywood soon learned that the new star from the Actors Studio was strong-willed. In his next film, "The Big Knife," Steiger played a studio boss obviously based on the autocratic Harry Cohn. He dyed his hair white and wore a hearing aid. In his first scene with Jack Palance, he seemed to act as if the other actor wasn't there, ranting and weeping then making an exit. Palance because so incensed at the upstaging that he threw a stack of phonograph records at Steiger, who raced off the set and left the studio. The two actors later declared a truce.
Steiger established himself as a character actor who could bring power to his often villainous roles. His career crested in 1965 with "The Pawnbroker" as a Jew living a secluded life in Harlem, haunted by memories of his life in a Nazi prison camp. His performance brought him a second Academy Award nomination, and it would remain the film of which he was most proud.
Two years later he was nominated as the redneck sheriff in "In the Heat of the Night." He joined a formidable list of nominees: Warren Beatty, "Bonnie and Clyde"; Dustin Hoffman, "The Graduate"; Paul Newman, "Cool Hand Luke"; Spencer Tracy, "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner."
When Audrey Hepburn announced his name as winner, an astonished Steiger walked to the stage and kissed her hand. He concluded his thanks with a bow to costar Sidney Poitier "for the pleasure of his friendship which gave me the knowledge and understanding of prejudice to enhance my performance."
A prolific actor, Steiger often made three or four films a year, many of them forgettable. Among the notable ones: "Al Capone," "Seven Thieves," "The Loved One," "Doctor Zhivago," "No Way to Treat a Lady," "The Illustrated Man," "Waterloo," "Happy Birthday, Wanda June," "W.C. Fields and Me," "The Amityville Horror," "The January Man," "The Ballad of the Sad Cafe," "Mars Attacks!" and "Shiloh."
A man of large appetites, Steiger repeatedly became overweight and underwent a regimen to reduce. He was subject to periods of depression, and during the 1980s he did little work for eight years because of it. "I couldn't get out of bed in the morning," he said. He recovered, and his career became busier than ever.
Steiger was married and divorced four times: to Sally Gracie, actress Claire Bloom (with who he appeared in "Rashomon" on Broadway), Sherry Nelson and Paula Ellis. He and Bloom had a daughter, Anna, now an opera singer. A son, Michael Winston (named for the actor's heroes: Michelangelo and Winston Churchill) was born to him and Ellis in 1993. In 2000, he married Joan Benedict.
An interviewer once asked Steiger how he would like to die. He replied: "I don't want to, but if it's in front of a camera I wouldn't mind." His preferred tombstone: "See you later."
Rod Steiger
'The Osbournes'
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'The Osbournes' ~ Page 1
