Succes 2011: Dean Yeagle, the father of 'Mandy'. He served four years in the Navy during the Vietnam era before becoming a famous animator

Dean Yeagle is an accomplished animator, known for his character 'Mandy', who has frequented the pages of Playboy Magazine.

As a young Disney fan, Yeagle set his sights on becoming an animator for Disney around the age of 10. During this time he often drew Disney characters, but later began to develop his own.

After graduating from High School, Yeagle went to art school, leaving after a year. He began his animation career in a small studio in Philadelphia, PA with a summer job, giving him his first taste of the industry. He served four years in the Navy during the Vietnam era, and later worked for Jack Zander (who once animated Tom and Jerry cartoons for MGM) in Zander's Animation Parlour, New York.

Seven years after starting at Zander's Animation Parlour, Yeagle began freelancing, working for most of the New York animation studios before starting his own - Caged Beagle Productions - in 1986 with Nancy Beiman. Caged Beagle produces TV commercials, CD-ROMs, sub-contracts or consults on features and character design.

Yeagle has worked as a designer, animator and director, and he was nominated by the National Cartoonist Society (NCS) for the 2003 Gag Award for his work in Playboy Magazine. His official website also states that he was awarded the Animator of the Year Award by the NCS.

Clients have included Animus Productions, The Biondo Group, Blue Sky Studios, Brand X Design, Brøderbund, The Coleman Group, Dannon, Grey Advertising, Hahnfilm, Hanna-Barbera, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, ImaginEngine, Jim Henson Associates, JuniorNet, Kraft, Marvel Comics, MGM, Muppet Magazine, Nestle, Playboy Enterprises, Procter & Gamble, Random House, Rick Reinert Productions, Saatchi & Saatchi, Swan Studios, Video Gaming Technologies, Walt Disney Productions, Wallace/Church, Warner Bros. and Western Publishing.

Succes 2011: Anni-Frid Lyngstad (ABBA). Her Serene Highness Princess Anni-Frid Synni Reuss of Plauen

Anni-Frid Prinzessin Reuss von Plauen (born Anni-Frid Synni Lyngstad, 15 November 1945 in Bjørkåsen, Ballangen, Norway), also known as "Frida" Lyngstad, is a Norwegian/Swedish singer of Norwegian/German origin. She was one of the four members of Swedish pop group ABBA.

She is formally styled Her Serene Highness Princess Anni-Frid Synni Reuss of Plauen following her marriage to a German prince of the former sovereign House of Reuss in 1992.

Her first album, Frida, produced by her then-fiancé Andersson, was released in 1971. The album received unanimously generous praise from the critics and the press, who especially noted the precision and versatility of Lyngstad's voice. For example Swedens biggest morningpaper "Dagens Nyheter" (Daily News) wrote: "Professional, sure and certain LP-debut...low-key but self-assured personality with sprinkles of temperament, humor and tenderness. And she sings in such a way that you understand that she´s got something between her ears - she sings, in other words, in a very intelligent way".She now scored her first Swedish No.1 hit with "Min Egen Stad" ("My Own Town"). All four future members of ABBA sang back-up vocals on this song. The album is now included in the EMI compilation Frida 1967-1972.

Anni-Frid continued to play in cabarets, and tour and regularly perform on TV and radio. Subsequently, her relationship with Andersson, and friendship with Björn Ulvaeus and Agnetha Fältskog led to the formation of ABBA. In 1972, after five years at EMI Sweden, Lyngstad changed record companies and moved to the Polar Music label. She recorded the single "Man Vill Ju Leva Lite Dessemellan", which became her second No. 1 hit on the Swedish charts.
Her next solo album in Swedish, was Frida ensam (Frida Alone), produced by Benny Andersson. By now, she was already involved in ABBA. This album includes her successful Swedish version of "Fernando", which became a huge hit in Sweden. In Sweden, Frida's "Fernando" stayed at the no. 1 spot in the Svensktoppen radio charts for 9 weeks, but was never released as a single. The album was recorded between sessions of the ABBA albums "Waterloo" and "ABBA". Due to the rising popularity of the group, the album took 18 months to record. It became an enormous commercial and critical success in Sweden, topping the Swedish album charts for six weeks and remaining in the charts for 38. The album was mostly a collection of covers of songs by artists like the Beach Boys, 10cc and David Bowie, receiving positive reviews from Melody Maker: "The album portrays Frida as a very strong and emotive singer and shows the true value of the music, that if sung properly and with enough feeling it transcends all language barriers". This album was such a big success, it eventually went platinum.


At first, Lyngstad was hesitant to perform with her boyfriend Benny Andersson, his best friend Björn Ulvaeus and his girlfriend, Agnetha Fältskog.Their first project together was the cabaret act Festfolk, which flopped in the winter of 1970–1971. The following year, 'Frida' toured on her own while the other three future ABBA members started performing together on a regular basis. Eventually, she rejoined them. Andersson and Ulvaeus were busy producing other artists, but soon discovered the qualities of Lyngstad's and Fältskog's voices combined: ABBA came to life. With her warm mezzo-soprano voice, Frida contributed lead vocals to some of ABBA's biggest hits like "Fernando", "Money, Money, Money", "Super Trouper", "I Have a Dream", "Knowing Me, Knowing You" and shared lead vocals with Agnetha Fältskog on "Mamma Mia", "Waterloo", "Dancing Queen", "The Name of the Game", "Voulez-Vous", "Summer Night City" and others. She became known as 'the brunette' or 'the redhead' of the girls, always surrounded by an air of elegance and beauty. Lyngstad clearly enjoyed the spotlight more than the other three members of ABBA. She truly liked to tour and to meet audience members one-on-one. She took an active part in co-designing the famed ABBA costumes for their tours and TV performances. Since the members of ABBA went their separate ways, Anni-Frid Lyngstad has been the only one who openly regrets there never have been a reunion to date.

Succes 2011: Roger Federer, deținător al recordului pentru cele mai multe victorii în turneele de Mare Șlem

Roger Federer este jucător elvețian de tenis de câmp, în prezent clasat pe locul 2 ATP. Este deținător al recordului pentru cele mai multe victorii în turneele de Mare șlem, cu 16 astfel de succese, și în Turneul Campionilor, cu cinci trofee. A fost pentru mai mult de cinci ani lider al clasamentului mondial al tenismenilor profesioniști.

Recorduri

* Clasament ATP
o A ocupat primul loc în clasamentul mondial masculin pentru un număr record în istoria tenisului de 237 săptămâni consecutive, între 2 februarie 2004 și 17 august 2008, detronându-l pe americanul Jimmy Connors (160 săptămâni) și ulterior a mai condus ierarhia timp de un an, între iunie 2009 și iunie 2010, oprindu-se la un total de 285 de săptămâni, cu o săptămână mai puțin decât recordul absolut deținut de Pete Sampras.
o Cele mai multe puncte deținute la sfârșitul anului - singur

* Mare Șlem
o Victorie în 16 turnee de Mare Șlem. Precedentul record era deținut de americanul Pete Sampras, cu 14 succese
o A jucat în 22 finale de Mare Șlem - Precedentul record era deținut de cehul Ivan Lendl, cu 19 prezențe în finală
o Este primul jucător din toate timpurile care a câștigat cel puțin 50 de meciuri de simplu la trei turnee de Mare Șlem, cu un record impresionant de 54-7 la Australian Open, 55-6 la Wimbledon și 56-6 US Open
o A jucat 23 de semifinale consecutive în turneele de Mare Șlem, de la Wimbledon 2004 până în prezent. Precedentul record, de 10 semifinale consecutive, era deținut de Ivan Lendl și Rod Laver
o De la Wimbledon 2005 până la Australian Open 2008, a jucat 10 finale consecutive în Marele Șlem. Precedentul record îi aparținea lui Rod Laver, 6 finale consecutive
o A câștigat toate cele 4 turnee diferite de Mare Șlem - record pe care îl deține împreună cu:Perry,Budge,Laver,Emerson,Agassi,Nadal
o A câștigat primele șapte turnee de Mare Șlem la care a participat - împreună cu Sears [21]
o A disputat toate cele patru finale de Mare Șlem doi ani consecutiv - singur
o Trei turnee de Mare Șlem câștigate pe an, în trei ani diferiți (2004,2006,2007) - singur [21]
o Cinci titluri consecutive la două turnee de Mare Șlem (Wimbledon,U.S. Open) - singur
o Opt ani consecutiv (2003-2010) în care a câștigat cel puțin un Mare Șlem - împreună cu Borg și Sampras
o Este primul jucător din istoria tenisului care a câștigat minim 4 finale la 3 dintre cele 4 turnee de Mare Șlem: Australian Open 4(5), Roland Garros 1(4), Wimbledon 6(7), U.S. Open 5(6) fiind în același timp și singurul care a jucat minim 4 finale la fiecare dintre cele patru turnee.
o Cele mai multe seturi câștigate consecutiv la turnee de Mare Șlem: 36 - singur
o Pe 8 iulie 2007 a câștigat turneul de tenis de la Wimbledon pentru a cincea oară consecutiv egalând recordul lui Bjorn Borg
o A disputat 4 finale consecutive la Roland Garros - împreună cu Borg și Nadal
o A disputat 7 finale consecutive la Wimbledon - singur
o A ajuns cel puțin în faza semifinalelor la toate cele patru turnee de Mare Șlem în 5 ani consecutivi 2005-2009 - singur

* Turneul Campionilor
o În data de 28 noiembrie 2010, în sala O2 din Londra, a câștigat finala Turneului Campionilor pentru a cincea oară în carieră, învingăndu-l pe Rafael Nadal și egalând astfel recordul de cinci trofee în această competiție, deținut de Pete Sampras și Ivan Lendl.

* Masters 1000
o A disputat 29 finale de Master Series 1000 - singur
o A câștigat 4 turnee Master 1000 pe an de două ori - singur



* Diverse
o A câștigat 24 de finale ATP consecutiv - singur
o A disputat 16 finale din 17 turnee la care a participat într-un singur sezon (2006) - singur
o Cel mai mare număr de victorii consecutive pe iarbă - 65 - singur
o Cel mai mare număr de victorii consecutive pe ciment - 56 - singur
o Minim 10 turnee ATP câștigate pe sezon timp de 3 ani consecutiv - singur
o A câștigat 12 turnee ATP într-un singur sezon (2006) - împreună cu Muster
o Deține cele mai multe titluri pe iarbă în Open Era :11 - singur
o În cele 16 finale de Mare Șlem câștigate a învins 11 oponenți diferiți.(1. Philippoussis, 2. Safin, 3. Roddick, 4. Hewitt, 5. Agassi, 6. Baghdatis, 7. Nadal, 8. Gonzalez, 9. Djokovic, 10. Murray, 11. Soderling). -singur
o Pe 19 august 2007 a câștigat al 50-lea titlu al carierei cu o victorie în fața americanului James Blake, totodată devenind al 5-lea cel mai tânăr jucător (26 de ani și 11 zile) care câștigă cel puțin 50 de titluri în carieră.
o Prin calificarea în turul secund la US Open 2009, a devenit primul tenismen din istorie care depășește 50 de milioane de dolari bani câștigați exclusiv din tenis, iar la sfârșitul anului 2010, după câștigarea Turneului Campionilor, a depășit suma de 60 de milioane de dolari

Succes 2011: Claire Martin, english jazz singer. Winner of British Jazz Awards and BBC Jazz Awards for Best Vocalist

Claire Martin is an English jazz singer, born in Wimbledon, South London, England.
Claire Martin grew up in a house "full of music", and claims to have learned all of Judy Garland´s songs by the time she was 12. She cites Ella Fitzgerald´s Song Books as being the life changing influence which inspired her to attend Stage School and later to study singing in both New York and London. Her professional career started with her first engagement, aboard the QE2, where she sang in the Theater Bar for two years.

In 1991, at the age of 21, Martin formed her own jazz quartet, and was signed by the Scottish jazz label Linn Records. Her debut album, The Waiting Game, was extremely well reviewed and was selected by The Times as one of their "Albums of the Year". Later that year, she opened for Tony Bennett at the Glasgow International Jazz Festival.

Martin continued performing and recording, garnering numerous awards and rave reviews, throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, including awards from the British Jazz Awards and BBC Jazz Awards for Best Vocalist. She recorded a total of 11 albums (all on the Linn label). Apart from touring Europe, she also works as a co-presenter for Jazz Line Up on BBC Radio 3.

She has collaborated with the jazz composer and performer Sir Richard Rodney Bennett.
Discography

* 1992 The Waiting Game
* 1993 Devil May Care
* 1994 Old Boyfriends
* 1995 Off Beat
* 1997 Make This City Ours
* 1999 Take My Heart
* 2000 Perfect Alibi
* 2001 The Very Best of Claire Martin: Every Now and Then
* 2002 Too Darn Hot
* 2004 Secret Love
* 2005 When Lights Are Low
* 2007 He Never Mentioned Love
* 2009 A Modern Art

Succes 2011: Béla Lugosi Jr, fiul celebrului "vampir" hollywoodian născut la Lugoj

Bela George Lugosi also known as Bela Lugosi, Jr. is the son of Béla Lugosi. A California attorney, his legal actions in Lugosi v. Universal Pictures, led to the creation of the California Celebrities Rights Act. He was an executive at Comedy III Productions, which owned the licensing rights to the Three Stooges.

Béla Lugosi, Jr. has been among those who felt notorious filmmaker Edward D. Wood, Jr. exploited his father's stardom, taking advantage of the fading actor when he could not refuse any work.
Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó (20 October 1882 – 16 August 1956) commonly known as Béla Lugosi, was an actor of stage and screen. He was best known for playing Count Dracula in the Broadway play and subsequent film version. In the last years of his career he was featured in several of Ed Wood's low budget films.
Through his association with Dracula (in which he appeared with minimal makeup, using his natural, heavily accented voice), Lugosi found himself typecast as a horror villain in such movies as Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Raven, and Son of Frankenstein for Universal, and the independent White Zombie. His accent, while a part of his image, limited the roles he could play.

Lugosi did attempt to break type by auditioning for other roles. He lost out to Lionel Barrymore for the role of Rasputin in Rasputin and the Empress; C. Henry Gordon for the role of Surat Khan in Charge of the Light Brigade; Basil Rathbone for the role of Commissar Dimitri Gorotchenko in Tovarich (a role Lugosi had played on stage). He did play the elegant, somewhat hot-tempered Gen. Nicholas Strenovsky-Petronovich in International House.

It is an erroneous popular belief that Lugosi declined the offer to appear in Frankenstein due to make-up (other roles he desired which also required make-up were Cyrano de Bergerac and Quasimodo the bell ringing hunchback). Lugosi may not have been happy with the onerous makeup job and lack of dialogue.


Regardless of controversy, five films at Universal — The Black Cat, The Raven, The Invisible Ray, Son of Frankenstein, Black Friday (plus minor cameo performances in 1934's Gift of Gab) and one at RKO Pictures, The Body Snatcher — paired Lugosi with Boris Karloff. Despite the relative size of their roles, Lugosi inevitably got second billing, below Karloff. Lugosi's attitude toward Karloff is the subject of contradictory reports, some claiming that he was openly resentful of Karloff's long-term success and ability to get good roles beyond the horror arena, while others suggested the two actors were — for a time, at least — good friends. Karloff himself in interviews suggested that Lugosi was initially mistrustful of him when they acted together, believing that the Englishman would attempt to upstage him. When this proved not to be the case, according to Karloff, Lugosi settled down and they worked together amicably (though some have further commented that Karloff's on-set demand to break from filming for mid-afternoon tea annoyed Lugosi).

Universal tried to give Lugosi more heroic roles, as in The Black Cat, The Invisible Ray, and a romantic role in the adventure serial The Return of Chandu, but his typecasting problem was too entrenched for those roles to help.


Lugosi addressed his plea to be cast in non-horror roles directly to casting directors through his listing in the 1937 Players Directory, published by the Motion Picture Academy, in which he (or his agent) calls the idea that he is only fit for horror films "an error."


Mr Bela Lugosi, Jr was kind enough to send me a photo of his father in the role of Dracula, signed by him.

Johnny Depp, un excentric premiat cu Golden Globe şi Screen Actors Guild Award

John Christopher "Johnny" Depp II (born June 9, 1963) is an American actor and musician known for his portrayals of offbeat, eccentric characters in a wide variety of dramas and fantasy films. He has won the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild award for major roles in recent films.

Depp rose to prominence on the 1980s television series 21 Jump Street, quickly becoming a teen idol. Turning to film, he was notable as the title character of Edward Scissorhands (1990), and later found box office success in films such as Sleepy Hollow (1999), Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), and Rango (2011).

He has collaborated with director and close friend Tim Burton in seven films, the most recent of which are Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) and Alice in Wonderland (2010). Depp has gained acclaim for his portrayals of people such as Edward D. Wood, Jr., in Ed Wood, Joseph D. Pistone in Donnie Brasco, Hunter S. Thompson in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and George Jung in Blow. More recently, he portrayed the bank robber John Dillinger in Michael Mann's 2009 film Public Enemies.

Films featuring Depp have grossed over $2.6 billion at the United States box office and over $6 billion worldwide. He has been nominated for top awards numerous times; he won the Best Actor Awards from the Golden Globes for his role in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and from the Screen Actors Guild for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.

Depp's first major role was in the 1984 horror film A Nightmare on Elm Street, playing the heroine's boyfriend and one of Freddy Krueger's victims. In 1986, he appeared in a secondary role as a Vietnamese-speaking private in Oliver Stone's Platoon. In 1990 he undertook the quirky title role of the Tim Burton film, Edward Scissorhands. The film's success began his long association with Burton.


Depp, a fan and long-time friend of writer Hunter S. Thompson, played a version of Thompson (named Raoul Duke) in 1998's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, based on the writer's pseudobiographical novel of the same name. Depp accompanied Thompson as his road manager on one of the author's last book tours. In 2006, Depp contributed a foreword to Gonzo: Photographs by Hunter S. Thompson, a posthumous biography published by ammobooks.com. Depp paid for most of Thompson's memorial event, complete with fireworks and the shooting of Thompson's ashes by a cannon, in Aspen, Colorado, where Thompson lived.

Critics have described Depp's roles as characters who are "iconic loners." Depp has noted this period of his career was full of "studio defined failures" and films that were "box office poison," but he thought the studios never understood the films and did not do a good job of marketing.Depp has chosen roles which he found interesting, rather than those he thought would succeed at the box office.


The 2003 Walt Disney Pictures film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl was a major success, in which Depp's performance as the suave pirate Captain Jack Sparrow was highly praised. Studio bosses were more ambivalent at first, but the character became popular with the movie-going public. According to a survey taken by Fandango, Depp was a major draw for audiences. The film's director, Gore Verbinski, has said that Depp's character closely resembles the actor's personality, but Depp said he modelled the character after Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards. Depp was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for the role.

In 2004, he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor, for playing Scottish author J. M. Barrie in the film Finding Neverland. Depp next starred as Willy Wonka in the 2005 film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, a major success at the box office and earning him a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy.

Depp returned to the role of Jack Sparrow for the sequel Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, which opened on July 7, 2006 and grossed $135.5 million in the first three days of its U.S. release, breaking a box office record of the highest weekend tally. The next sequel to Pirates of the Caribbean, At World's End, was released May 24, 2007. Depp has said that Sparrow is "definitely a big part of me", and he wants to play the role in further sequels. Depp voiced Sparrow in the video game, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow. Johnny Depp's swashbuckling sword talents as developed for the character of Jack Sparrow, were highlighted in the documentary film Reclaiming the Blade. Within the film, Swordmaster Bob Anderson shared his experiences working with Depp on the choreography for The Curse of the Black Pearl. Anderson, who also trained Errol Flynn, another famous Hollywood pirate, described in the film Depp's ability as an actor to pick up the sword to be "about as good as you can get."


Depp and Gore Verbinski were executive producers of the album Rogues Gallery, Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs and Chanteys. Depp played the title role of Sweeney Todd in Tim Burton's film adaptation of the musical, for which he won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. Depp thanked the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and praised Tim Burton for his "unwavering trust and support."




Depp played the former Heath Ledger character in the 2009 film, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus along with Jude Law and Colin Farrell. All three actors gave their salaries from the film to Ledger's daughter, Matilda. He portrayed the Mad Hatter in Burton's Alice in Wonderland, and the titular character in Rango.

Liz Hurley: Sensuous, Intuition and Pleasures

Elizabeth Jane Hurley (born 10 June 1965) is an English model and actress who became known as a girlfriend of Hugh Grant in the 1990s. In 1994, as Grant became the focus of worldwide media attention due to the global box office success of his film Four Weddings and a Funeral, Hurley accompanied him to the film's Los Angeles premiere in a plunging black Versace dress held together with gold safety pins, which gained her instant media attention.

Hurley has been associated with the cosmetics company Estée Lauder for over fifteen years since the company awarded Hurley her first modelling job at the age of 29. They have featured her as a representative and model for its products, especially perfumes such as Sensuous, Intuition, and Pleasures, since 1995. As an actress, her best known cinematic works to date have been as Vanessa Kensington in Mike Myers' hit spy comedies, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997) and as the Devil in Bedazzled (2000).

Hurley started working as an actress in the late 1980s and became a model in 1995.


Hurley made her first film appearance in Aria (1987). She has since appeared in the movies Passenger 57, EDtv, Bedazzled, and Serving Sara. In 1997, she received her first and only acting award, the ShoWest Supporting Actress of the Year, for her performance in the spy spoof Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. When Hugh Grant founded and became the director of Simian Films in 1994, Hurley was credited as one of the producers for the company's two Grant vehicles, Extreme Measures (1996) and Mickey Blue Eyes (1999). In 2000, she was publicly criticised for breaking a five-month acting strike to film an Estée Lauder advertisement, for which she was fined $100,000 (£70,000 in 2000) by the Screen Actors Guild and labeled "Elizabeth Scably" by protesters.

Hurley is godmother to Patsy Kensit's son Lennon and two of David Beckham and Victoria Beckham's sons.