Category: people

“His career began at the Sadler’s Wells School of Ballet in London, dancing on stage with greats Margot Fonteyn, Robert Helpmann and Moira Shearer. He then came to Chicago with his wife, ballerina Christine Du Boulay, and ran the Ellis-Du Boulay School of Ballet for 40 years, training scores of dancers who went on to global fame.”

He was a Russian Jew settled in France who became a hotheaded war hero, a well-traveled diplomat, a best-selling novelist in French and English, and Jean Seberg’s husband. He won the Prix Goncourt twice, the second time under an assumed name – in a hoax that spun out of control.

That would be William S. Burroughs. As John Waters says admiringly, “He was the first person who was famous for things you were supposed to hide. He was gay. He was a junkie. He didn’t look handsome. He shot his wife.”

“Such philanthropic advising has existed in Hollywood for decades but the number of consultants working with celebrities is rising as younger and less established figures, such as television personality Nicole Richie and pop singer Avril Lavigne, call upon their services.”

“He was best known for his Symphony of Sorrowful Songs, which was composed in 1976 and sold more than a million copies following a 1992 re-release. The symphony, re-issued to commemorate those who died in the Holocaust, featured vocals from US soprano Dawn Upshaw.”

“Professor Lal’s business was publishing Indian writers in English. Of the great old works he made masterly translations; new writers he encouraged.” (He published the early works of, among others, Vikram Seth, Dilip Hiro and Anita Desai.) “No secretary, assistant or copy editor helped him; he did all the nitty gritty of correcting and editing himself.” His other great project was translating the entire 100,000-verse Mahabharata into readable English.

“There has long been speculation about Brecht’s sudden 1956 death, officially attributed to a heart attack. Rheumatic fever was a little understood condition in the early 1900s. As a result, the future poet and theatre director was simply labelled a nervous child with an enlarged heart.”

“‘Anna,’ said [one purchaser], ‘with two n’s. I’m from Denmark.’ ‘Denmark,’ said Mr. Zizek. ‘I like Denmark because secretly I am a fascist. Keep the trains running on time. It’s the only way to stop Hitler!’ … ‘Do you like the show Lost?’ asked the next in line. ‘No,’ said Mr. Zizek, ‘it’s too intellectual. I like 24‘.”

“A noted classical pianist, composer and Latin music producer found himself drawn into an elaborate years-long extortion scheme that cost him between $6 and $20 million after he brought his laptop into a computer repairman to help rid it of a virus.”

The University of Texas professor, author of several respected books, is best known for his ubiquitous 1968 college textbook History of the Theatre, which has been translated into dozens of languages and is now in its tenth edition.