Category: people

“In 1957, Ross Bagdasarian had an idea. … The story goes that [he] was down to his last $200 when he took a chance on purchasing a fancy tape recorder — one that could change the speed of the recording — for his songs. Playing around with the settings, he stumbled upon a technique that would change his life.” And, in a way, America’s. — Tedium

“She began studying at the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in 1955 when she was just 20 years old … [but] eventually left the prestigious dance theater after six years, during many of which she was subject to continued racial discrimination.” She went on to work at the Dutch National Ballet and later New York City Opera. — Essence

“Tired of suffering defamations in state media publications such as Granma newspaper … as well as official websites from the Ministry of Culture,” said the artist-activist in a statement, “I have decided to legally act against parties who have damaged myself and my family, psychologically, socially, and professionally.” — Artnet

Her sitcom, a spinoff from Happy Days, was one of the two or three most popular series on American television in the late 1970s; with Big and A League of Their Own, she became the first woman to direct one, and then two, films that grossed more than $100 million. — Variety

David Mayer was a lieutenant in the US Army and spent decades living and teaching in Britain. Unfortunately, “David Mayer” was also an alias of one Akhmed Chatayev, a Chechen militant suspected of masterminding the 2016 attack on Istanbul’s airport. Several branches of the US government have gotten the two confused, and now the real Mayer can’t receive packages from the US and has trouble traveling. — The Observer (UK)

“Following a short but successful singing career as the lead singer and singer-songwriter with the chart-topping Paradons, Weldon turned to acting in the 1960s. … [He] joined NEC in 1970 … [and] succeeded [Douglas Turner] Ward, co-founder of NEC, as artistic director in 2005.” — Playbill

“I have worked in the performing arts for so long—presented or produced thousands of shows here, worked with thousands of artists—that I’m so preconditioned to change it’s part of my DNA. No one asked me to leave; I knew in my heart I was coming to the evolutionary end of this journey. Retirement for me is stopping here and going on to a new identity that uses everything I’ve been exposed to over thirty-five years here in Brooklyn and around the globe, finding the path to where I can make another cultural contribution that has some meaning.” – Howlround

Yael Stone, who plays Lorna on Orange Is the New Black, says the actor danced naked around her dressing room, watched her while she showered, and sent inappropriate text messages. (Rush says it was all about “the spirited enthusiasm I generally bring to my work.”) – The New York Times

Though he was already a star in the TV show Atlanta, not to mention a turn in the movie Widows, Henry is finding acclaim in Moonlight director Barry Jenkins’ new movie, If Beale Street Could Talk. “He can be agile and profound, menacing and open, composed and undone. Put more plainly, Brian Tyree Henry has the range.”  – The Atlantic

Hollander was a commercial lithographer who was also “an artist and a master printer who persuaded Willem de Kooning, Robert Motherwell and other Abstract Expressionist painters to try their hands at lithography in his East Village workshop.” – The New York Times