Tennis Player Steffi Graf 1969

(born June 14, 1969, Brühl, W.Ger.) German tennis player. At age 13 she became the second youngest player ever to earn an international ranking. In 1987 she won her first grand-slam event (the French Open), and in 1988 she won all four grand-slam events (French, Australian, U.S., and Wimbledon) and an Olympic gold medal. Sidetracked by knee surgery in 1997, she played her way back to the top, winning the French Open in 1999 for her 22nd grand-slam title (including seven Wimbledon championships).

Olympian Coach Athlet LeRoy Walker 1918

Coach and educator. Born June 14, 1918, in Atlanta, Georgia. The grandson of slaves and the youngest of Willie and Mary Walker's 13 children, Dr. LeRoy Walker, a well regarded athlete himself, went on to become one of the most successful track coaches in history, steering the career of 40 national champions and 12 Olympians.

Born into a family whose finances were not always certain, Walker spent a portion of his youth in New York City's Harlem neighborhood, where he moved to live with his older brother Joe following the death of their father. To a large degree Joe, who owned a window washing business and a small chain of barbeque restaurants, filled the father figure role left after Willie Walker's death. He employed his younger brother, and pften pushed him to excel.

In the 1930s, LeRoy Walker returned to the South to attend Benedict College in Columbia, South Carolina. There, Walker, an honor student and the first of his family to attend college, shined as an athlete. He played basketball and earned national attention as a sprinter—despite the fact that the school didn't have a formal track team. Equally impressive was what he did on the football field. Having never played the sport in high school, Walker tried out for the team on a dare his junior year. When the team's starting quarterback went down, Walker filled in, leading the club to a conference championship on route to All-America honors, the college's first player ever to receive that recognition.

Walker graduated from Benedict in 1940, and from there moved back north to earn a master's from Columbia University in 1941. Next up for Walker, a return to Benedict, where the school's president coaxed him back to head up the college's new Physical Education department.

In 1945 Walker made the move again, this time to take over as track coach at North Carolina Central University (NCCU). There, Walker started to gain recognition for his coaching talents, working closely with athletes like hurler and Olympian Lee Calhoun. Walker's presence at the school was so revered that he would later serve as chancellor of the college.

In 1957, Walker completed his doctorate in Exercise Physiology and Biomechanics at New York University, sparking an incredible professional run for the famed coach. Between 1960 and 1972, Dr. Walker served as a coach or consultant for a number of foreign Olympic teams, before moving on to a three-year stint as chairman of the AAU men's track and field committee.

At the 1976 summer Olympics in Montreal, Dr. Walker made history as the first African-American head coach of the men's track and field team. At the games, Walker's team medaled in 19 different events, collecting a total of six golds.

His work at NCCU not only included churning out top-shelf athletes, but bringing the world of track and field to the school. He helped steer the Olympic Festival to the school one year, and added an unmatched level of prominence to North Carolina Central University with his Olympic successes and books.

In 1992 Dr. Walker, who was inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame in 1987, was named president of the United States Olympic Committee, the first African-American ever named to the post. The position was capped off four years later with the summer Olympics in Atlanta, where he led the 645-member U.S. delegation into the Centennial Olympic Stadium as part of the opening festivities. Three years after Atlanta, Walker presided over the 1999 Special Olympic World Games in North Carolina.

Walker received the Olympic Order, the highest honor handed out by the International Olympic Committee, for his work with the Olympic Games. He has also earned 15 honorary degrees. Yet Walker maintains an air of modesty when the subject turns to his importance as an African-American pioneer. "It's not wrong to be mentioned I would be the first black," he said following his appointment as president of the U.S.O.C. "But Churchill once said it's not enough to prepare yourself to do your best. You must prepare yourself to do what's required. I want people to know this can happen. On the other hand, if they look at my record, you wouldn't think I've achieved this because I am black."

Bangali Actress Debashree Roy 1964

Debashree Roy (Bengali: দেবশ্রী রায় Debosri Rae) is a Bengali cinema actress. She acted in more than 100 films and has 40 awards, including a National Film Award for Best Actress for the film Unishe April in 1995. She was also known by the name 'Chintamani' in Tamil Nadu, when she acted in a few Tamil movies.

She was born and brought up in Calcutta 13 Jun 1964 . Her first film was as a 4 year old alongside her sister in the film "Kuheli" (inspired by Rebecca), the Bengali pre-cursor to the later Hindi hit "Kohra".

Roy was very successful in Bengali films landing important lead roles in commercial as well as parallel cinema. The high point of her career was her National Award winning role of a young doctor from a dysfunctional family in the Rituparno Ghosh film Unishe April. In the televised version of the Indian epic Mahabharata, directed by B.R.Chopra, she portrayed the role of Satyavati, second wife of King Shantanu of Hastinapur, stepmother of Gangaputra Bheeshma played by Mukesh Khanna, and mother of Chitrangada and Vichitravirya.

Politics

Debashree , currently a Trinamool Congress MLA , successfully contested the West Bengal assembly elections 2011 against heavyweight CPI(M) candidate and former minister Kanti Ganguly , from the Raidighi (Vidhan Sabha constituency)

Personal life

She was married to Bengali actor Prasenjit Chatterjee (son of Biswajit, Bengali and Hindi film hero of the 60's & 70's) for a brief period. Debashree Roy is the maternal aunt of Bollywood actress Rani Mukherjee.

Filmography

• Jibon Rang Berang (2011)
• Sukhno Lonka (2010)
• Abaidha (2002)

... aka The Demolition Man (International: English title)

• Antarghaat (2002) (as Debasree Roy)
• Dekha (2001) .... Sarama
• Ek Je Aachhe Kanya (2000) .... Rupa

... aka The Girl (International: English title)

• Asukh (1999) .... Rohini

... aka Malaise (International: English title)

• Unishe April (1994) .... Aditi

... aka 19 April (India: English title)

• Aparanher Alo (1989)... aka Twilight
• Mahabharat TV Series ... Satyavati.
• Manaivi Ready (1986) ...Chinthamani (Tamil Movie)
• Kabhi Ajnabi The (1985)
• Phulwari (1984) .... Lali Chowdhury
• Bishabriksha (1983) .... Kunda
• 36 Chowringhee Lane (1981) .... Nandita Roy
• Jiyo To Aise Jiyo (1981) .... Vidya Sharma
• Dadar Kirti (1980)

Catholic Parents Tim Russert 1950 - 2008

Timothy John Russert, Jr., was born in Buffalo, New York on May 7, 1950, to Irish-American Catholic parents, Elizabeth and Timothy Joseph Russert.

After graduating from Canisius High School in Buffalo, he went to John Carroll University in University Heights, Ohio. He also earned a law degree from the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in Cleveland.

Russert was chief of staff to Democratic U.S. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan from 1977 to 1982. He also served as counselor for New York Governor Mario Cuomo from 1983 to 1984.

Russert was hired in 1984 by NBC in its Washington bureau. He became bureau chief four years later and took over as anchor of Meet the Press on December 8, 1991. It became the most-watched Sunday morning interview program in the United States .

Memorable moments at NBC included a first of its kind appearance by Pope John Paul II on U.S. television in April 1985. His use of a white dry eraser board on election night 2000 was one of TV Guide's "100 Most Memorable TV Moments."

The Washington Post also credited Russert with first using "red state" and "blue state" to discuss the differences between Republican and Democratic states.

Russert was also a best-selling author. His books included Big Russ and Me (2004), which described his childhood in Buffalo, New York, and his relationship with his father, who worked as a garbage collector. The sequel Wisdom of Our Fathers (2006) was inspired by letters he received from children talking about their relationship with their fathers.

Russert provided key testimony at the 2007 CIA leak trial of Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the former Chief of Staff for Vice President Dick Cheney. Russert denied Libby's claim that he learned the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame, whose husband the White House was seeking to discredit, from Russert. Libby was ultimately convicted of perjury.

Russert moderated several presidential debates during the recent presidential primary season. In 2008, Time Magazine named him one of the world's 100 most influential people.

He married journalist Maureen Orth, a writer for Vanity Fair magazine in 1983. Their son, Luke, graduated from Boston College and earned an NBC News post as a "youth correspondent" for the 2008 elections.

On June 13, 2008, Russert suffered a massive heart attack while at work and died.

Tom Brokaw, the former anchor of NBC Nightly News, made the official announcement during a special report that interrupted regular programming on NBC.

"This news division will not be the same without his strong, clear voice," Brokaw. "He will be missed as he was loved, greatly."

Magician Robert Houdin 1805 – 1871

Magician. Born Jean Eugène Robert on December 6, 1805 in Blois, France and died june 13, 1871. The son of a clockmaker, Robert-Houdin attended France's University of Orleans and worked as a watchmaker before pursuing a career as a magician.

Robert-Houdin succeeded in elevating magic from a street show to a performance art that drew audiences to large theaters, including Palais Royal, and lavish Parisian homes. With his background in clocks, Robert-Houdin brought electricity to the magic stage for the first time, and his inventiveness awarded him the title of the Father of Modern Magic. For his performances, he dressed formally in top hats and coattails to lend authority to his work, a costume that magicians still wear today.

Famous for making orange trees grow before an audience's eyes and suspending bodies in air, Robert-Houdin was forced to reveal his tricks to authorities to avoid prosecution for witchcraft. In fact, He became so renowned as an illusionist that Napoleon III sent him to Algiers in 1856 to outdo the "miracles" performed by religious leaders there. His magic tricks left the Arabs awestruck and thus kept France's influence strong.

Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin's hyphenated name derives from his marriage to his wife, Josephe Cecile Houdin. American escape artist Harry Houdini adopted his stage name in honor of Robert-Houdin. He published his autobiography, The Memoirs of Robert-Houdin, in 1859.

Actress Geraldine Page 1924 – 1987

Actress. Born Geraldine Sue Page on November 22, 1924 in Kirksville, Missouri. After attending Chicago's Goodman Theatre Dramatic School, Page moved to New York City to study acting with Uta Hagen. Primarily a stage actress, she received her first Tony nomination for her performance opposite Paul Newman in Tennessee Williams' Sweet Bird of Youth. She also received an Academy Award® nod for the film adaptation. Other notable theater credits include The Three Sisters, Black Comedy/White Lies, Absurd Person Singular and Agnes of God. The Broadway production of Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit was her final performance before her death.

Page made her film debut in Out of the Night in 1947. Despite the fact that she appeared in relatively few films, she received eight Academy Award® nominations throughout her career. She won the coveted Oscar® in 1986 for her performance in The Trip to Bountiful. Other notable screen roles include 1961's Summer and Smoke, 1975's The Day of the Locust and 1978's Interiors.

Page was married to violinist Alexander Schneider from 1954 to 1957. She wed Texan actor Rip Torn in 1963; they had three children.

Singer Jimmy Dean 1928 – 2010

Singer, entrepreneur. Born on August 10, 1928, in Olton, Texas, to working class parents. Raised in Plainview, Texas, Dean's Depression-era upbringing saw him experience abject poverty. His father floated in and out of Jimmy's early life, once slaughtering the young boy's pet goat in order to put food on the table. His mother sewed clothes for Dean and his siblings using sugar sacks—clothes that brought Dean heavy ridicule from his peers. Dean later credited this hard-knock upbringing with giving him his entrepreneurial spirit, and burning desire to succeed. "I think the kids in school that laughed at the clothes that we wore and the house that we lived in and then my mother had to cut hair ... I think that was a good motivator," Dean later told reporters. "Every time they laughed at me, they just built a fire and there was only one way to put it out - to try and show 'em I was as good as they were."

Dean's only refuge from his difficult life was music. Strict Southern Baptists, Dean's family attended church every week, where Jimmy began singing in the choir. His mother also taught him to play piano at the age of 10, and Dean picked up other instruments along the way, including accordion, guitar and harmonica.

In 1946, when he was only in ninth grade, Dean dropped out of school to help provide for the family. He joined the Merchant Marines at age 16, and two years later he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force. During his time as a serviceman, Dean also continued to perform music in Washington, D.C., nightclubs. He first performed publicly with a band called the Tennessee Haymakers and, after his discharge from the military in 1948, remained in the area to form the band the Texas Wildcats. He eventually scored a record deal with Four Star records and, in 1953, his first single, "Bummin' Around," became a Top 10 hit. His charming, folksy personality and business-savvy then helped him land his own radio show on WARL, in Arlington, Virginia, where he performed music and interviewed music stars.

Dean turned his successful radio hour into a CBS television show in 1957. Called The Jimmy Dean Show, Dean helped give exposure to then-unknown country stars including Patsy Cline and Roy Clark. Dean continued to experience his own musical successes as well. In 1961, he released the single "Big Bad John," a song about a brave coal miner who saves his fellow workers during a mine tragedy. The single hit No. 1 on both the country and pop charts, earned Dean a Grammy award, and put the singer firmly into the mainstream music business.

In 1963, after the cancelation of his CBS show, Dean struck a deal with ABC to launch a new variety show— also called The Jimmy Dean Show. During its three years on the air, the Jimmy Dean show launched the career of musician Roger Miller, and was also credited with introducing Jim Henson's Muppets to mainstream audiences. In particular, Dean loved the character of Rowlf, a piano-playing canine that often accompanied Jimmy. During this time, Dean had the opportunity to buy a large stake in what would become a multi-million dollar Muppets fortune, but the star turned it down for moral reasons, saying that he hadn't "earned it."

After Dean's second variety show ended in 1966, Dean became a co-star in several film and TV vehicles, including a role as Daniel Boone's friend in the popular Daniel Boone series (1967–70), and a role in the James Bond movie Diamonds are Forever (1971), starring Sean Connery.

Dean continued to pursue his music career as well. In 1976, Dean achieved another hit with his single "I.O.U.", a tribute to his mother. The song, which was released a few weeks before Mother's Day, quickly reached the Top 10 on the country charts.

But Dean, a heavy critic of his own performances, believed he was a terrible actor and musician, and began pursuing other ventures. In the late 1960s, Dean started a hog butchering company with his brother, Don, in his hometown of Plainview. The brothers ground the meat, while their mother seasoned it. Within six months, The Jimmy Dean Meat Co. was already a profitable business. By the late 80s, the Deans were making more than $75 million in profits. Dean sold his company to Sara Lee Foods in 1984, remaining its spokesperson until 2003.

In 2004, while living in semi-retirement, Dean released his autobiography, 30 Years of Sausage, 50 Years of Ham. In February of 2010, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Dean resided in Richmond, Virginia, with his wife, singer/songwriter Donna Meade Dean, until their house was destroyed in a fire. Many of Dean's legendary artifacts, including pieces of Elvis and Jim Henson memorabilia, were burned in the tragedy. The couple rebuilt their house on their 200-acre estate shortly before Dean's death on June 13, 2010. Dean, who suffered health problems in the last few years of his life, died while eating dinner in front of the television. He was 81.

Dean is survived by his wife, Donna, as well as three children and two grandchildren.

Politician Eleanor Holmes Norton 1938

Civil rights activist, politician. Born June 13, 1937 in Washington, D.C. A graduate of Antioch College, Yale University and Yale University Law School, Norton worked in private practice before becoming assistant director of the American Civil Liberties Union (1965–70) where she defended both Julian Bond's and George Wallace's freedom-of-speech rights.

As Chairman of the New York Human Rights Commission (1970–7), Norton championed women's rights and anti-block-busting legislation. She then went to Washington to chair the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (1977–83), and in 1982 became a law professor at Georgetown University.

In 1990, Norton was elected as a Democratic non-voting delegate to the House from the District of Columbia. Currently under scrutiny, the DC Fair and Equal House Voting Rights Act (or DC Vote) would give one vote to the District of Columbia in the House of Representatives, but not the Senate. Norton is a regular panelist on the PBS women's news program To the Contrary.

Actress Ashley Olsen 1986

Actress. Born June 13, 1986 in Sherman Oaks, California. The daughter of mortgage banker David Olsen and manager Jarnie Olsen, Ashley and her twin sister, Mary-Kate, have become among the most popular—and bankable—female personalities in America. They made their acting debut in 1987 at nine months old, sharing the role of the youngest daughter, Michelle Tanner, on the ABC family sitcom Full House. The series ran for eight years, during which the Olsen twins’ career took off.

By the age of twelve, the girls had starred in home videos, feature films, multi-media entertainment and another TV series, Two of a Kind. Under the name Dualstar Entertainment, they produced several straight-to-video movies, a line of musical detective videos entitled The Adventures of Mary-Kate & Ashley, and the enormously successful You’re Invited to Mary-Kate and Ashley's party tapes. They have also introduced a series of companion books to accompany the videos. In 1993, Our First Video went to the top of the Billboard video music chart, and was followed shortly by I Am The Cute One and Brother for Sale. The twins made their big screen debut in 1995 in It Takes Two.

In addition to acting, the Olsens have become a huge force in girl marketing. Products bearing their names, including computer games, dolls, and an enormously popular clothing line for Wal-Mart, are estimated to generate about $1 billion in retail sales alone per year.

Mary-Kate and Ashley announced plans to attend New York University in the fall of 2004. That same year, the released their second feature film, New York Minute,and became full owners of Dualstar after they bought the minority shares of the company.

The next year, the sisters began appearing together in the Badgley Mischka ad campaign. They also made their foray into the world of high-end fashion by launching a line of their own called The Row. In 2007, they announced another line of more contemporary clothing, Elizabeth and James, which is named after their brother and sister.

Two years later, in 2007, Forbes magazine ranked Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen as the eleventh-richest women in entertainment. Their estimated net worth sits at nearly $100 million.

In October of 2008, the twins released the book Influence, a work introducing readers to the artists and designers who have influenced the Olsens over the last decade. Released through a division of the Penguin Young Readers Group, the work features figures such as Christian Louboutin, Lauren Hutton and Bob Colacello. It became an instant best seller, and the twins are currently wrapping up a promotional tour for the book.

After her split from long-time beau Matt Kaplan, Ashley Olsen has been romantically linked to several big names including actor/singer Jared Leto and cyclist Lance Armstrong.

Comedian Tim Allen 1953

Actor, comedian. Born Tim Allen Dick on June 13, 1953, in Denver, Colorado. Allen is the son of Gerald and Martha Dick, and one of six children. Allen discovered his penchant for comedy early on — as his last name became fodder for childhood jeers, he often used his wit to deflect insults. In his formative years, Allen had an especially strong connection with his father, who instilled a love of all things automotive in his son. "I loved my father more than anything," Allen remembers. "He was a tall, strong, funny, really engaging guy. I so enjoyed his company, his smell, sensibility, discipline, sense of humor — all the fun stuff we did together. I couldn't wait for him to come home."

In 1964, on his way home from a football game, Gerald was killed by drunk driver. Allen was 11 years old. In the wake of the tragedy, Allen's mother moved the family to Detroit, Michigan. Several years later, she married her high school sweetheart, a successful businessman with strong Episcopalian values. The pair raised Allen and his siblings.

Teenaged Allen was an indifferent student with a passion for shop class. After receiving his high school diploma, he attended Central Michigan University. He later transferred to Western Michigan University to earn a bachelor's degree in television and radio production. It was there that he met long-term girlfriend, Laura Deibel, and began making money on the side as a narcotics dealer.

Following his college graduation in 1976, Allen took a position at a sporting goods store, where he was quickly offered a job at the company's in-house advertising agency. Despite his accomplishments in the ad business, and his happy marriage to Deibel in 1978, Allen continued to deal drugs. His criminal activity caught up with him in October 2, 1978, when Allen and an accomplice were arrested at the Kalamazoo, Michigan, airport for possession of nearly a pound-and-a-half of cocaine. He was released on bail, and a trial was scheduled for November of that year.

In the time before his sentencing, Allen tried his hand at stand-up comedy. He made his successful debut at Detroit's Comedy Castle and a month later, on November 26, 1979, Allen made his court appearance. The comic received a reduced sentence after agreeing to testify against his partner, and was given eight years in federal prison. He ultimately served only 28 months at Sandstone Federal Correctional Institution. The time in prison seemed to whet his sense of humor, and Allen became known for his ability to wrench laughs from the toughest guards and prisoners alike.

After his parole in 1981, Allen returned to Detroit. Working at an ad agency by day, he became a regular at the Comedy Castle in the evenings. It was there that he started honing his hyper-masculine persona. He also discovered his trademark call: three ape-like, staccato grunts. As his stand-up career gained momentum, he successfully ventured into the world of commercial acting, including appearances in several ads for Mr. Goodwrench. In the midst of this burgeoning acting career, Allen became a father; his daughter, Katherine, was born in 1989.

By 1990, Allen's "Men Are Pigs" routine, which focused on the male love for hardware, was made into a Showtime television special. The segment caught the attention of Disney Studios chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg and Walt Disney CEO Michael Eisner, who offered Allen leading roles in upcoming small-screen adaptations of Turner & Hooch (1989) and The Dead Poets Society (1989). Allen turned down the roles and tenaciously fought for his own material. He eventually persuaded the studio to use his routine as the basis for a new sitcom called Home Improvement.

Shortly before the show's 1991 debut, Allen made headlines when he revealed that he had served time in prison. His controversial admittance did not manage to affect the popularity of Home Improvement, which made the Nielsen top-ten list during its first season. By 1992, Allen had earned his first Peoples' Choice Award for Favorite Male Television Performer — a distinction he held for eight consecutive years. By the time the 1993 season made it to the air, Allen had an Emmy nomination under his belt and Home Improvement was a steadfast ratings darling.

The year 1994 was an important one for Allen. In the same week, Allen had the number one book (Don't Stand Too Close to a Naked Man), the number one television show (Home Improvement), and a number one box office hit (The Santa Clause), thus proving he could make a successful jump from the small screen to film. Over the next few years, his accomplishments seemed to snowball. Allen was highly praised for his voice performance as Buzz Lightyear in Pixar's smash success Toy Story (1995), and the same year he was honored with a Golden Globe Award for his work on Home Improvement. In 1996, he earned even more commercial success with the book, I'm Not Really Here.

Allen faced another bump in the road in 1997, when was brought up on drunk driving charges. The arrest led to a stint in rehab the following year, and Allen s subsequent commitment to sobriety. But he continued to face success in 1998, when Home Improvement had another successful run, and Allen was earning an estimated $1.25 million per episode. By 1999, however, the show had run its course and the cast bid a tearful farewell. Although saddened by the loss of his regular sitcom gig, Allen was working non-stop. That year he reprised the role of Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story 2, and earned the distinctive title of "Disney Legend." Additionally, his role in 1999's big-screen sci-fi comedy, Galaxy Quest, became a cult hit. But while his career soared, his personal life suffered. Laura filed for divorce later that year.

Since then, Allen has been a frequent presence on the big screen, and has even reclaimed some romantic harmony. In 2006, shortly before the debut of his third addition to The Santa Clause franchise, he wed long-term girlfriend Jane Hajduk. The following year, Allen starred alongside John Travolta, Ray Liotta, Martin Lawrence and William H. Macy in Wild Hogs (2007). His recent film projects include the David Mamet-helmed Redbelt (2008), The Six Wives of Henry Lefay (2008), and a third addition to the Toy Story series. Additionally, the 2008 comedy Crazy on the Outside marks Allen's feature film directing debut. In the meantime, Allen continues to run his production house, Boxing Cat Films, and helm his design studio, Tim Allen Designs.

Actor Writer Steve-O 1974

Television personality, actor, and writer. Born Stephen Glover on June 13, 1974, in London, England. Steve-O became well known for his over-the-top stunts on such television shows as Jackass and Wildboyz. And he continues to push his limits on the big screen and on stage these days.

The son of a business executive, Steve-O moved around a lot as a kid. He lived in England, Brazil and the United States before he reached high school. Having to start over in new schools frequently led Steve-O to become a class joker of sorts to get attention and win acceptance. Before long, he started chronicling some of his activities.

Using his father's video camera, Steve-O filmed his skateboarding antics. "Soon it dawned on me I wasn't that great at skateboarding. So I put down the skateboard and just kept going with the camera." He continued to record his efforts throughout his school years. After graduating from high school, Steve-O spent a year at University of Miami. He wasn't interested in what the university had to offer, and he decided to drop out. Steve-O then enrolled at the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Clown College.

In 1997, Steve-O graduated from clown college and ended up working for a flea-market circus. He filmed some of his stunts during this time and sent out videos of his work. One video ended up in the hands of producer and director Jeff Tremaine. Tremaine added Steve-O to a stunt-based reality show he was developing with Johnny Knoxville. The show, known as Jackass, debuted on MTV in 2000 and featured a group of young men accomplishing outrageous, and often painful, feats. Steve-O was shown stapling parts of his body together in one show, and sticking his head in a fish tank to bob for jellyfish in another act.

Steve-O took his wild stunts on the road in 2002 for his Don't Try This at Home tour. That same year, he appeared in the first of several Jackass films. Steve-O had developed enough of a following at this point to star in his own Jackass spin-off. He and fellow Jackass cohort Chris Pontius teamed up for the animal-themed stunt show Wildboyz. The series lasted for four seasons.

By 2006, however, Steve-O seemed to be struggling both personally and professionally. He starred in the short-lived reality show Dr. Steve-O, but it proved to be a dud with critics and viewers. Off-screen, Steve-O seemed to be unraveling. He had a serious substance abuse problem and ended up getting arrested in 2008 for cocaine possession. After pleading guilty to the charge, Steve-O avoided a jail sentence by entering rehabilitation. He also had such extreme psychological issues that his friends conducted an intervention to get him into treatment. Steve-O spent time at a mental health facility.

By the following year, Steve-O had pulled himself together. He took on a new kind of challenge by appearing on the hit celebrity program Dancing with the Stars. Despite having no prior dancing experience, Steve-O managed to stay in the competition for six weeks. He also shared the dark days of his addiction and his struggle for sobriety in the MTV documentary Steve-O: Demise and Rise, which aired in 2009.

Steve-O joined Johnny Knoxville and other merry pranksters for Jackass 3D (2010), the latest installment in the popular film series. In addition to making film and television appearances, he has started performing stand-up comedy. Steve-O has taken his act around the world. In June 2011, Steve-O opened up about his life experiences in the book Professional Idiot: A Memoir.

Actress Mary-Kate Olsen 1986

Actress. Born June 13, 1986 in Sherman Oaks, California. The daughter of mortgage banker David Olsen and manager Jarnie Olsen, Mary-Kate and her twin sister, Ashley, have become among the most popular—and bankable—female personalities in America. They made their acting debut in 1987 at nine months old, sharing the role of the youngest daughter, Michelle Tanner, on the ABC family sitcom Full House. The series ran for eight years, during which the Olsen twins' career took off.

By the age of twelve, the girls had starred in home videos, feature films, multi-media entertainment and another ABC TV series, Two of a Kind. Under the name Dualstar Entertainment, they produced several straight-to-video movies, a line of musical detective videos entitled The Adventures of Mary-Kate & Ashley, and the hugely successful You're Invited to Mary-Kate and Ashley's party tapes. They have also introduced a series of companion books to accompany the videos. In 1993, Our First Video went to the top of the Billboard video music chart, and was followed shortly by I Am The Cute One and Brother for Sale. The twins made their big screen debut in 1995 in It Takes Two.

In addition to acting, the Olsens have become a huge force in girl marketing. Products bearing their names, including computer games, dolls, and an enormously popular clothing line for Wal-Mart, are estimated to generate about $1 billion in retail sales alone per year.

Mary-Kate and Ashley announced their plans to attend New York University in the fall of 2004. Shortly after the news, Mary-Kate checked herself into a rehabilitation facility for the eating disorder, anorexia. In the wake of rumors about Mary-Kate's health, the twins released their next feature film, New York Minute.

In 2005, Mary-Kate and her sister purchased the minority shares of Dualstar, taking full control of the company. During this time, Mary-Kate also ended her relationship with Greek shipping heir Stavros Niarchos III. The break-up, combined with the changes at Dualstar, led Mary-Kate quit school and return to California to focus on business ventures with her company.

The next year, the sisters began appearing together in the Badgley Mischka ad campaign. They also made their foray into the world of high-end fashion by launching a line of their own called The Row. In 2007, they announced another line of more contemporary clothing, Elizabeth and James, which is named after their brother and sister.

In January of 2008, Mary-Kate made headlines when her close friend, actor Heath Ledger, died of a prescription drug overdose. Olsen remains silent on the matter, but sources say Ledger's staff contacted Mary-Kate through a speed-dial function on Ledger's cell phone. Olsen then called her security staff in New York to investigate the matter. Ledger was pronounced dead later that day.

In October of that same year, the twins released the book Influence, a work introducing readers to the artists and designers who have influenced the Olsens over the last decade. Released through a division of the Penguin Young Readers Group, the work features figures such as Christian Louboutin, Lauren Hutton and Bob Colacello. It became an instant best seller, and the twins are currently wrapping up a promotional tour for the book.

Mary-Kate recently returned to acting, making regular appearances on the HBO television drama Weeds throughout 2007, a cameo on the show Samantha Who?, and a co-starring role in the film The Wackness (2008).

In addition, Mary-Kate has embarked on a solo fashion project with celebrity stylists Jane Magnitude and Fred Holston. The line is currently in development.

Football Player Red Grange 1903 – 1991

(born June 13, 1903, Forksville, Pa., U.S.—died Jan. 28, 1991, Lake Wales, Fla.) U.S. gridiron football player. He had an outstanding collegiate career at the University of Illinois, where in 1924 he ran for five touchdowns in a single game against the University of Michigan and earned the nickname “the Galloping Ghost.” In 1925 he joined the Chicago Bears and embarked on a barnstorming tour that stimulated public interest in professional football. After suffering a knee injury in 1927, he was never again an effective runner. He retired in 1934 and subsequently worked as a sportscaster.

Poet Novelist William Butler Yeats 1865 – 1939

(born June 13, 1865, Sandymount, Dublin, Ire.—died Jan. 28, 1939, Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, Fr.) Irish poet, dramatist, and prose writer, one of the greatest English-language poets of the 20th century. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923.

Yeats's father, John Butler Yeats, was a barrister who eventually became a portrait painter. His mother, formerly Susan Pollexfen, was the daughter of a prosperous merchant in Sligo, in western Ireland. Through both parents Yeats claimed kinship with various Anglo-Irish Protestant families who are mentioned in his work. Normally, Yeats would have been expected to identify with his Protestant tradition—which represented a powerful minority among Ireland's predominantly Roman Catholic population—but he did not. Indeed, he was separated from both historical traditions available to him in Ireland—from the Roman Catholics, because he could not share their faith, and from the Protestants, because he felt repelled by their concern for material success. Yeats's best hope, he felt, was to cultivate a tradition more profound than either the Catholic or the Protestant—the tradition of a hidden Ireland that existed largely in the anthropological evidence of its surviving customs, beliefs, and holy places, more pagan than Christian.

In 1867, when Yeats was only two, his family moved to London, but he spent much of his boyhood and school holidays in Sligo with his grandparents. This country—its scenery, folklore, and supernatural legend—would colour Yeats's work and form the setting of many of his poems. In 1880 his family moved back to Dublin, where he attended the high school. In 1883 he attended the Metropolitan School of Art in Dublin, where the most important part of his education was in meeting other poets and artists.

Meanwhile, Yeats was beginning to write: his first publication, two brief lyrics, appeared in the Dublin University Review in 1885. When the family moved back to London in 1887, Yeats took up the life of a professional writer. He joined the Theosophical Society, whose mysticism appealed to him because it was a form of imaginative life far removed from the workaday world. The age of science was repellent to Yeats; he was a visionary, and he insisted upon surrounding himself with poetic images. He began a study of the prophetic books of William Blake, and this enterprise brought him into contact with other visionary traditions, such as the Platonic, the Neoplatonic, the Swedenborgian, and the alchemical.

Yeats was already a proud young man, and his pride required him to rely on his own taste and his sense of artistic style. He was not boastful, but spiritual arrogance came easily to him. His early poems, collected in The Wanderings of Oisin, and Other Poems (1889), are the work of an aesthete, often beautiful but always rarefied, a soul's cry for release from circumstance.

Yeats quickly became involved in the literary life of London. He became friends with William Morris and W.E. Henley, and he was a cofounder of the Rhymers' Club, whose members included his friends Lionel Johnson and Arthur Symons. In 1889 Yeats met Maud Gonne, an Irish beauty, ardent and brilliant. From that moment, as he wrote, “the troubling of my life began.” He fell in love with her, but his love was hopeless. Maud Gonne liked and admired him, but she was not in love with him. Her passion was lavished upon Ireland; she was an Irish patriot, a rebel, and a rhetorician, commanding in voice and in person. When Yeats joined in the Irish nationalist cause, he did so partly from conviction, but mostly for love of Maud. When Yeats's play Cathleen ni Houlihan was first performed in Dublin in 1902, she played the title role. It was during this period that Yeats came under the influence of John O'Leary, a charismatic leader of the Fenians, a secret society of Irish nationalists.

After the rapid decline and death of the controversial Irish leader Charles Stewart Parnell in 1891, Yeats felt that Irish political life lost its significance. The vacuum left by politics might be filled, he felt, by literature, art, poetry, drama, and legend. The Celtic Twilight (1893), a volume of essays, was Yeats's first effort toward this end, but progress was slow until 1898, when he met Augusta Lady Gregory, an aristocrat who was to become a playwright and his close friend. She was already collecting old stories, the lore of the west of Ireland. Yeats found that this lore chimed with his feeling for ancient ritual, for pagan beliefs never entirely destroyed by Christianity. He felt that if he could treat it in a strict and high style, he would create a genuine poetry while, in personal terms, moving toward his own identity. From 1898, Yeats spent his summers at Lady Gregory's home, Coole Park, County Galway, and he eventually purchased a ruined Norman castle called Thoor Ballylee in the neighbourhood. Under the name of the Tower, this structure would become a dominant symbol in many of his latest and best poems.

In 1899 Yeats asked Maud Gonne to marry him, but she declined. Four years later she married Major John MacBride, an Irish soldier who shared her feeling for Ireland and her hatred of English oppression: he was one of the rebels later executed by the British government for their part in the Easter Rising of 1916. Meanwhile, Yeats devoted himself to literature and drama, believing that poems and plays would engender a national unity capable of transfiguring the Irish nation. He (along with Lady Gregory and others) was one of the originators of the Irish Literary Theatre, which gave its first performance in Dublin in 1899 with Yeats's play The Countess Cathleen. To the end of his life Yeats remained a director of this theatre, which became the Abbey Theatre in 1904. In the crucial period from 1899 to 1907, he managed the theatre's affairs, encouraged its playwrights (notably John Millington Synge), and contributed many of his own plays. Among the latter that became part of the Abbey Theatre's repertoire are The Land of Heart's Desire (1894), Cathleen ni Houlihan (1902), The Hour Glass (1903), The King's Threshold (1904), On Baile's Strand (1905), and Deirdre (1907).

Yeats published several volumes of poetry during this period, notably Poems (1895) and The Wind Among the Reeds (1899), which are typical of his early verse in their dreamlike atmosphere and their use of Irish folklore and legend. But in the collections In the Seven Woods (1903) and The Green Helmet (1910), Yeats slowly discarded the Pre-Raphaelite colours and rhythms of his early verse and purged it of certain Celtic and esoteric influences. The years from 1909 to 1914 mark a decisive change in his poetry. The otherworldly, ecstatic atmosphere of the early lyrics has cleared, and the poems in Responsibilities: Poems and a Play (1914) show a tightening and hardening of his verse line, a more sparse and resonant imagery, and a new directness with which Yeats confronts reality and its imperfections.

In 1917 Yeats published The Wild Swans at Coole. From then onward he reached and maintained the height of his achievement—a renewal of inspiration and a perfecting of technique that are almost without parallel in the history of English poetry. The Tower (1928), named after the castle he owned and had restored, is the work of a fully accomplished artist; in it, the experience of a lifetime is brought to perfection of form. Still, some of Yeats's greatest verse was written subsequently, appearing in The Winding Stair (1929). The poems in both of these works use, as their dominant subjects and symbols, the Easter Rising and the Irish civil war; Yeats's own tower; the Byzantine Empire and its mosaics; Plato, Plotinus, and Porphyry; and the author's interest in contemporary psychical research. Yeats explained his own philosophy in the prose work A Vision (1925, revised version 1937); this meditation upon the relation between imagination, history, and the occult remains indispensable to serious students of Yeats despite its obscurities.

In 1913 Yeats spent some months at Stone Cottage, Sussex, with the American poet Ezra Pound acting as his secretary. Pound was then editing translations of the n plays of Japan, and Yeats was greatly excited by them. The n drama provided a framework of drama designed for a small audience of initiates, a stylized, intimate drama capable of fully using the resources offered by masks, mime, dance, and song and conveying—in contrast to the public theatre—Yeats's own recondite symbolism. Yeats devised what he considered an equivalent of the n drama in such plays as Four Plays for Dancers (1921), At the Hawk's Well (first performed 1916), and several others.

In 1917 Yeats asked Iseult Gonne, Maud Gonne's daughter, to marry him. She refused. Some weeks later he proposed to Miss George Hyde-Lees and was accepted; they were married in 1917. A daughter, Anne Butler Yeats, was born in 1919, and a son, William Michael Yeats, in 1921.

In 1922, on the foundation of the Irish Free State, Yeats accepted an invitation to become a member of the new Irish Senate: he served for six years. In 1923 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Now a celebrated figure, he was indisputably one of the most significant modern poets. In 1936 his Oxford Book of Modern Verse, 1892–1935, a gathering of the poems he loved, was published. Still working on his last plays, he completed The Herne's Egg, his most raucous work, in 1938. Yeats's last two verse collections, New Poems and Last Poems and Two Plays, appeared in 1938 and 1939 respectively. In these books many of his previous themes are gathered up and rehandled, with an immense technical range; the aged poet was using ballad rhythms and dialogue structure with undiminished energy as he approached his 75th year.

Yeats died in January 1939 while abroad. Final arrangements for his burial in Ireland could not be made, so he was buried at Roquebrune, France. The intention of having his body buried in Sligo was thwarted when World War II began in the autumn of 1939. In 1948 his body was finally taken back to Sligo and buried in a little Protestant churchyard at Drumcliffe, as he specified in “Under Ben Bulben,” in his Last Poems, under his own epitaph: “Cast a cold eye/On life, on death./Horseman, pass by!”

Had Yeats ceased to write at age 40, he would probably now be valued as a minor poet writing in a dying Pre-Raphaelite tradition that had drawn renewed beauty and poignancy for a time from the Celtic revival. There is no precedent in literary history for a poet who produces his greatest work between the ages of 50 and 75. Yeats's work of this period takes its strength from his long and dedicated apprenticeship to poetry; from his experiments in a wide range of forms of poetry, drama, and prose; and from his spiritual growth and his gradual acquisition of personal wisdom, which he incorporated into the framework of his own mythology.

Yeats's mythology, from which arises the distilled symbolism of his great period, is not always easy to understand, nor did Yeats intend its full meaning to be immediately apparent to those unfamiliar with his thought and the tradition in which he worked. His own cyclic view of history suggested to him a recurrence and convergence of images, so that they become multiplied and enriched; and this progressive enrichment may be traced throughout his work. Among Yeats's dominant images are Leda and the Swan; Helen and the burning of Troy; the Tower in its many forms; the sun and moon; the burning house; cave, thorn tree, and well; eagle, heron, sea gull, and hawk; blind man, lame man, and beggar; unicorn and phoenix; and horse, hound, and boar. Yet these traditional images are continually validated by their alignment with Yeats's own personal experience, and it is this that gives them their peculiarly vital quality. In Yeats's verse they are often shaped into a strong and proud rhetoric and into the many poetic tones of which he was the master. All are informed by the two qualities which Yeats valued and which he retained into old age—passion and joy.

Biography of Christo and Jeanne-Claude

Christo (born Christo Vladimirov Javacheff, Bulgarian: Христо Явашев, June 13, 1935) and Jeanne-Claude (born Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon, June 13, 1935 – November 18, 2009) were a married couple who created environmental works of art. Their works include the wrapping of the Reichstag in Berlin and the Pont-Neuf bridge in Paris, the 24-mile (39 km)-long artwork called Running Fence in Sonoma and Marin counties in California, and The Gates in New York City's Central Park.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude were born on the same date. They first met in Paris in October 1958. Their works were credited to just "Christo" until 1994 when the outdoor works and large indoor installations were retroactively credited to "Christo and Jeanne-Claude". They flew in separate planes: in case one crashed, the other could continue their work.

Jeanne-Claude died, aged 74, on November 18, 2009, from complications of a brain aneurysm.

Although their work is visually impressive and often controversial as a result of its scale, the artists have repeatedly denied that their projects contain any deeper meaning than their immediate aesthetic impact. The purpose of their art, they contend, is simply to create works of art or joy and beauty and to create new ways of seeing familiar landscapes. Art critic David Bourdon has described Christo's wrappings as a "revelation through concealment." To his critics Christo replies, "I am an artist, and I have to have courage ... Do you know that I don't have any artworks that exist? They all go away when they're finished. Only the preparatory drawings, and collages are left, giving my works an almost legendary character. I think it takes much greater courage to create things to be gone than to create things that will remain."

Christo

Christo was born in Gabrovo, Bulgaria. His father, Vladimir Yavachev, was a scientist, and his mother, Tsveta Dimitrova, born in Macedonia, was the secretary at the Academy of Fine Arts in Sofia. Professors from the Academy who visited his family observed Christo's artistic talent while he was still of a very young age.

Christo studied art at the Sofia Academy from 1953 to 1956, and went to Prague, Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic) until 1957, when he left for West by bribing a railway official and stowing away with several other individuals onboard a train transporting medicine and medical supplies to Austria.

Christo quickly settled in Vienna, and enrolled at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts. After only one semester there, he traveled to Geneva and moved to Paris in 1958. As a result of his flight, he lost his Bulgarian citizenship and became a stateless person. His life in Paris was characterized by financial hardship and social isolation, which was worsened by his difficulty learning the French language. He earned money by painting portraits, which he likened to prostitution and signed with his family name "Javachef" while his early works were signed "Christo".

Jeanne-Claude

Jeanne-Claude was born in Casablanca, Morocco where her French military father was stationed. Her mother, Précilda, was 17 when she married Jeanne-Claude's father, Major Léon Denat. Précilda and Léon Denat divorced shortly after Jeanne-Claude was born, and Précilda remarried three times. Jeanne-Claude earned a baccalaureate in Latin and philosophy in 1952 from the University of Tunis.

During World War II, Jeanne-Claude lived with her father's family while her mother fought in the French Resistance. In 1946, Précilda married the influential General Jacques de Guillebon. The family lived in Berne from 1948 to 1951 then in Tunisia from 1952 to 1957, when they returned to Paris.

She was described as "extroverted" and with natural organizational abilities. Her hair was dyed red and she smoked cigarettes, and tried to quit many times until her weight would balloon. She did not enjoy cooking. She took responsibility for overseeing work crews and for raising funds. She said she became an artist out of love for Christo (if he'd been a dentist, she said she'd have become a dentist).

Jeanne-Claude died in New York City on November 18, 2009, from complications due to a brain aneurysm. Her body was to be donated to science, one of her wishes.

Mayor of New York Michael Bloomberg described The Gates as “one of the most exciting public art projects ever put on anywhere in the world — and it would never have happened without Jeanne-Claude.” Jeanne-Claude said, "Our art has absolutely no purpose, except to be a work of art. We do not give messages." She also said, "Artists don't retire. They die. That's all. When they stop being able to create art, they die."

When she died, she and Christo were at work on Over the River, fabric panels over the Arkansas River in Colorado and begun in 1992, and The Mastaba, a stack of 410,000 oil barrels configured as a mastaba, a truncated rectangular pyramid, in the United Arab Emirates.

The couple

Christo and Jeanne-Claude met in October 1958, when he was commissioned to paint a portrait of her mother, Précilda de Guillebon. Initially, Christo was attracted to Jeanne-Claude's half-sister, Joyce. Jeanne-Claude was engaged to Philippe Planchon. Shortly before her wedding, Jeanne-Claude became pregnant by Christo. Although she married Planchon, Jeanne-Claude left him immediately after their honeymoon. Christo and Jeanne-Claude's son, Cyril, was born 11 May 1960. Jeanne-Claude's parents were displeased with the relationship, particularly because of Christo's refugee status, and temporarily estranged themselves from their daughter.

In 1961, Christo and Jeanne-Claude covered barrels at the port of Cologne, their first collaboration. In 1962, the couple tackled their first monumental project, Rideau de Fer (Iron Curtain). Without consent of authorities and as a statement against the Berlin Wall, they blocked off Rue Visconti, a small street near the River Seine, with oil barrels. Jeanne-Claude stalled approaching police, convincing them to allow the piece to stand for a few hours. Although he was simultaneously holding his first exhibition at a gallery, it was the Visconti project that made Christo and Jeanne-Claude known in Paris.

In February 1964, Christo and Jeanne-Claude arrived in New York City. After a brief return to Europe, they settled in the United States in September of that year. Although poor and lacking fluency in the English language, Christo displayed his work in several galleries, including the well-known Castelli Gallery in New York and Gallery Schmela in Düsseldorf, Germany. Christo began to create Store Fronts which he built to scale. Sale of the Store Fronts helped finance larger projects.

Major works

On all their projects since 1972 they worked exclusively with photographer Wolfgang Volz. At least five of their major projects were subjects of documentary films by Albert and David Maysles.

Documenta 4

In 1968, Christo and Jeanne-Claude had the chance to participate at the Documenta 4 in Kassel. In addition to the sculpture, Corridor Storefronts, the couple wanted to build an air package with a volume of 5,600 m³, which would be lifted by cranes and visible from a distance of 25 km. On 24 June 1968 their first attempt to fully inflate the air package failed, as the polyethylene skin tore as it was being raised. After two more attempts and repeated repairs, and using two of the largest cranes in Europe, the project became a reality on 3 August 1968. The package rose to its maximum height of 280 feet (85 m) tall for a total of 10 hours (from 4:00 am through 2:00 pm on 4 August), becoming the largest inflatable structure with no skeleton ever constructed. Of the $70,000 (USD) cost of this project, Christo and Jeanne-Claude had financed all but $3,000 (USD) from the sale of preparatory drawings, collages and a Store Front.

Wrapped Coast

At the end of 1969 Jeanne-Claude and Christo wrapped the coast of Little Bay in Sydney, Australia on invitation by Australian Collector John Kaldor, and as part of the Alcorso-Sekers Travelling Scholarship. With the support of John Kaldor, this became the first visit to Australia for international artists to make new work and the first in the series of Kaldor Public Art Projects.

100 workers and 11 volunteers devoted 17,000 work hours to the project. Christo wrapped Two-and-a-half kilometres of coast and Cliffs up to 26 metres high. The project required 9,5600 m² of synthetic fabric and 56 km of rope and was the largest single artwork ever made at this time. The artwork was larger than Mount Rushmore, and visitors took an hour to walk from one end of the work to the other. After initial resistance from the authorities and the public, reactions were largely positive, and had an enormous impact on art in Australia.

Valley Curtain

At the end of 1970 Christo and Jeanne-Claude began the preparations for the Valley Curtain project. A 400-meter long cloth was to be stretched across Rifle Gap, a valley in the Rocky Mountains near Rifle, Colorado. The project required 14,000 m² of cloth to be hung on four steel cables, fastened with iron bars fixed in concrete on each slope, and 200 tons of concrete. The budget increased to $400,000 causing Christo and Jeanne-Claude additional problems with the financing. Finally enough works of art were sold to raise the money and, on 10 October 1971, the orange-coloured curtain was ready for hanging, but was torn to shreds by wind and rock. While a second curtain was being manufactured, Christo received a message from a Berlin art historian to wrap the Reichstag in response to the 1961 "Project for Wrapping a Public Building". On 10 August 1972 the second attempt to hang the cloth succeeded, but only 28 hours later it had to be taken down because of an approaching storm.

The project was shown in the documentary film, Christo's Valley Curtain by David and Albert Maysles, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short.

Running Fence

Main article: Running Fence

In 1973, after 17 stateless years, Christo became a United States citizen. In 1972, Christo and Jeanne-Claude began preparations for Running Fence: a fabric fence, supported by steel posts and steel cables, running through the landscape and leading into the sea. The fence was to be 5.5 meters high and 40 kilometers long and constructed in Sonoma and Marin Counties, California. For the project, 59 families of ranchers needed to be convinced and the permission of the authorities had to be obtained, so Christo and Jeanne-Claude hired nine lawyers. At the end of 1973 Christo and Jeanne-Claude marked the path of the fence with wooden stakes. On 29 April 1976 the work finally began after a long struggle against bureaucracy. Approximately 200,000 m² of nylon fabric, 2050 steel posts and 145 km of steel cable were needed. On 10 September 1976 the work was completed. However, Christo and Jeanne-Claude had to pay a $60,000 fine, because they lacked permission for the coastal region.

Wrapped Walk Ways

In 1977, Christo and Jeanne-Claude were mostly paying bank loans and trying to save money. In addition, however, they continued to plan their future projects, like wrapping the Reichstag, the Pont-Neuf in Paris, as well as "Wrapped Walk Ways", a covering of footpaths in a Kansas City park. In November, Christo met his parents, seeing his mother for the first time in 20 years.

With "Wrapped Walk Ways" Christo and Jeanne-Claude covered 4.5 km of footpaths in Loose Park, a park in Kansas City, Missouri. Altogether it required 12,500 m² of orange-yellow coloured shiny nylon fabric. Pedestrians enjoyed the artwork for two weeks in October. The cost of this project amounted to $130,000.

Surrounded Islands

Christo and Jeanne-Claude planned a project based on Jeanne-Claude's idea to surround eleven islands in Miami's Biscayne Bay with 603,850 m² of pink polypropylene floating fabric. It was completed on 4 May 1983 with the aid of 430 workers and could be admired for two weeks.

On May 7, 1983 the installation of Surrounded Islands was completed. In Biscayne Bay, between the city of Miami, North Miami, the Village of Miami Shores and Miami Beach, 11 of the islands situated in the area of Bakers Haulover Cut, Broad Causeway, 79th Street Causeway, Julia Tuttle Causeway, and Venetian Causeway were surrounded with 603,850 square meters (6.5 million square feet) of pink woven polypropylene fabric covering the surface of the water, floating and extending out 61 meters (200 ft) from each island into the Bay. The fabric was sewn into 79 patterns to follow the contours of the 11 islands.

For 2 weeks Surrounded Islands spreading over 11.3 kilometers (7 miles) was seen, approached and enjoyed by the public, from the causeways, the land, the water and the air. The luminous pink color of the shiny fabric was in harmony with the tropical vegetation of the uninhabited verdant island, the light of the Miami sky and the colors of the shallow waters of Biscayne Bay.

Since April 1981, attorneys Joseph Z. Fleming, Joseph W. Landers, marine biologist Dr. Anitra Thorhaug, ornithologists Dr. Oscar Owre and Meri Cummings, mammal expert Dr. Daniel Odell, marine engineer John Michel, 4 consulting engineers, and builder-contractor, Ted Dougherty of A & H Builders, Inc., had been working on the preparation of the Surrounded Islands. The marine and land crews picked up debris from the eleven islands, putting refuse in bags and carting it away after they had removed some forty tons of varied garbage: refrigerator doors, tires,kitchen sinks, mattresses and an abandoned boat.

Permits were obtained from the following governmental agencies: The Governor of Florida and the Cabinet; the Dade County Commission; the Department of Environmental Regulation; the City of Miami Commission; the City of North Miami; the Village of Miami Shores; the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; the Dade County Department of Environmental Resources Management.

From November 1982 until April 1983, 6,500,000 square feet (604,000 m²) of woven polypropylene fabric were sewn at the rented Hialeah factory, into 79 different patterns to follow the contours of the 11 islands. A flotation strip was sewn in each seam. At the Opa Locka Blimp Hangar, the sewn sections were accordion folded to ease the unfurling on the water.

The outer edge of the floating fabric was attached to a 30.5 centimeter (12 inch) diameter octagonal boom, in sections, of the same color as the fabric. The boom was connected to the radial anchor lines which extended from the anchors at the island to the 610 specially made anchors, spaced at 15.3 meter (50 ft) intervals, 76 meters (250 ft) beyond the perimeter of each island, driven into the limestone at the bottom of the Bay. Earth anchors were driven into the land, near the foot of the trees, to secure the inland edge of the fabric, covering the surface of the beach and disappearing under the vegetation.

The floating rafts of fabric and booms, varying from 3.7 to 6.7 meters (12 to 22 feet) in width and from 122 to 183 meters (400 to 600 feet) in length were towed through the Bay to each island. There were 11 islands, but on two occasions, two islands were surrounded together as one configuration.

As with Christo and Jeanne-Claude's previous art projects, Surrounded Islands was entirely financed by the artists through the sale by C.V.J. Corporation (Jeanne-Claude Christo-Javacheff, President) of the preparatory pastel and charcoal drawings, collages, lithographs and early works.

On May 4, 1983, out of a total work force of 430, the unfurling crew began to blossom the pink fabric. Surrounded Islands was tended day and night by 120 monitors in inflatable boats.

Surrounded Islands was a work of art which underlined the various elements and ways in which the people of Miami live, between land and water.

Pont Neuf

On 14 March 1984, Jeanne-Claude became a U.S. citizen; she held dual U.S. and French citizenship. In August the couple received permission to wrap the Pont-Neuf after nine years of negotiations with the mayor of Paris, Jacques Chirac, and preparations for the project began. For the wrapping of the oldest bridge in Paris, 40,000 m² of sand-colored polyamide fabric was needed. The wrapping began on 25 August 1985 and was completed on 22 September. In the next two weeks over three million people visited the project.

The Umbrellas - Japan-USA, 1984-91

Umbrellas 1991(Japan)

Christo and Jeanne-Claude prepared for their next project, "The Umbrellas". The plan was to have yellow umbrellas set up in California and blue umbrellas in Japan at the same time. In December 1990, after much preparation, the first steel bases for the umbrellas were installed. At the bases 80 cm long anchors were fastened to the ground to withstand tensions of 1,500 kgf (15 kN). In September 1991 the umbrellas were brought to their places by 2,000 workers. In California, some of the bases were transported to the site by helicopter. The final cost of the project totaled $26 US million. By 7 September, 1,340 blue umbrellas in Ibaraki and 1,760 yellow umbrellas at the Tejon Ranch in southern California had been set up; the exhibition opened on 9 October 1991. In total, 3 million people saw the umbrellas, each measuring 6 meters in height and 8.66 meters in diameter. The umbrellas became a huge tourist attraction, finding use as everything from picnic spots to wedding altars. On 26 October 1991, one of the umbrellas in California was toppled by high winds, killing one woman and injuring several others. The exhibit was ordered closed immediately.

Wrapped Reichstag

After the project "The Umbrellas" Christo and Jeanne-Claude concerned themselves again, with wrapping the Reichstag in Berlin. With the support of the President of the Parliament, Rita Süssmuth, Christo and Jeanne-Claude worked to convince the elected Members of Parliament, going from office to office, writing explanatory letters to each of the 662 delegates and innumerable telephone calls and negotiations. On 25 February 1995 after a 70 minute debate at the Parliament and a Roll Call vote, the Bundestag allowed the project to go ahead.

More than 100,000 m² of fireproof polypropylene fabric, covered by an aluminum layer, and 15 km of rope were needed. The wrapping began on 17 June 1995 and was finished on 24 June. The spectacle was seen by five million visitors before the unveiling began on 7 July.

Verhüllte Bäume (Wrapped Trees)

After 32 years, Christo and Jeanne-Claude wrapped 178 trees in Berower Park / Beyeler Foundation north-east of Basel between 13 November and 14 December 1998. To wrap the trees, the couple used 55,000 m² of silver-grey shiny polyester fabric and 23 km of rope. A pattern had to be made for each individual tree and so the natural shape of the branches pushed the fabric outwards, creating individual shapes in the sky. The trees varied in height from 2 to 25 meters and in width from 1 to nearly 15 meters. As with their other projects, this was financed by the sale of original works. All materials used in this project were recycled when it was taken down.

Wrapped Snoopy House

In 1978, Charles M. Schulz drew an episode of his comic strip Peanuts in which Snoopy's doghouse is wrapped in fabric by Christo. In response, Christo constructed a wrapped doghouse and presented it to the Charles M. Schulz Museum in 2003.

The Gates

On 3 January 2005, work began on the installation of the couple's most protracted project, The Gates, in Central Park in New York City. The title is "The Gates, Central Park, New York, 1979-2005" in reference to the time that passed from their initial proposal until they were able to go ahead with it: only with the permission of the new mayor of New York, Michael R. Bloomberg, were they able to proceed. "The Gates" was open to the public from 12 February until 27 February 2005. A total of 7,503 gates made of saffron color fabric were placed on paths in Central Park. They were five meters high and had a combined length of 37 km. Bloomberg, a fan of Christo and Jeanne-Claude, presented them with the "Doris C. Freedman Award for Public Art" for the work of art. Christo and Jeanne-Claude often expressed satisfaction that their concept for their home town of over 30 years was finally realized.

The cost of the project was $21 million US dollars which was raised entirely by Christo and Jeanne-Claude selling studies, drawings, collages, works from the 1950s and 1960s. They do not accept any sponsorship, nor did the city of New York have to provide any money for the project. Christo and Jeanne-Claude donated all the money raised from the sale of souvenirs such as postcards, t-shirts and posters to "Nurture New York's Nature, Inc." While the engineering, manufacturing and set-up took over a year, about 750 paid employees erected the project in five days and then deployed the fabric of all the gates in half an hour. Around 600 more ("Gate-keepers") distributed 1 million free samples of the fabric to visitors. The uniformed Gate-keepers also provided information to visitors about the project, and were responsible for unrolling the gates that had rolled over their crossbars in the high wind. More workers uninstalled the project in one week, leaving almost no trace and shipping all the materials for recycling.

The artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude were referenced in an AT&T commercial that aired in 2010, which freed the telephone company from liability of trademark infringement by stating that they were not affiliated with the artists in any way. The commercial showed massive orange sheets rolled out in various places across the country (which resembled The Gates). The commercial was supposed to delineate the extent of AT&T's cellphone coverage.

Future works

Over The River:

Christo and Jeanne-Claude announced plans for a future project, entitled Over The River, to be constructed on the Arkansas River near Cañon City, Colorado on the eastern slope of the Rocky mountains. Plans for the project call for horizontally suspending 6.7 miles (10.8 km) of reflective, translucent fabric panels high above the water, on steel cables anchored into the river's banks. Project plans call for its installation for two weeks during the summer of 2014, at the earliest, and for the river to remain open to recreation during the installation.

Reaction among area residents has been intense with supporters hoping for a tourist boom and opponents fearing that the project would ruin the visual appeal of the landscape and inflict damage on the river ecosystem. One local rafting guide compared the project to "hanging pornography in a church." The Bureau of Land Management is expected to approve or reject the project in February 2011.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude's inspiration for "Over the River" came in 1985 as they were wrapping the Pont-Neuf and a fabric panel was being elevated over the Seine. The artists began a three-year search for appropriate locations in 1992, considering some eighty-nine river locations. They chose the Arkansas River because its banks were high enough that recreational rafters could enjoy the river at the same time.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude have already spent more than $6 million on environmental studies, design engineering, and wind-tunnel testing of fabrics. As with past projects, Over The River would be financed entirely by Christo and Jeanne-Claude, through the sale of Christo’s preparatory drawings, collages, scale models, and early works of the 1950s/1960s. On July 16, 2010, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management released its four-volume Draft Environmental Impact Statement, which reported many potentially serious types of adverse impact but also many proposed "mitigation" options.

Environment Workers Christo Javacheff 1935 - 2009

(born June 13, 1935, Gabrovo, Bulg.(born June 13, 1935, Casablanca, Mor.) —died Nov. 18, 2009, New York City, N.Y., U.S.) environmental sculptors, noted for their controversial outdoor sculptures and displays of fabrics and plastics.

Christo attended the Fine Arts Academy in Sofia, Bulg., and had begun working with the Burian Theatre in Prague when the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 broke out. He fled to Vienna, where he studied for a semester, and then, after a brief stay in Switzerland, moved to Paris and began exhibiting his works with the nouveaux réalistes. While working there as a portrait artist, Christo met Jeanne-Claude de Guillebon, whom he married in 1959. Jeanne-Claude was once described as her husband's publicist and business manager, but she later received equal billing with him in all creative and administrative aspects of their work. In 1964 the pair relocated to New York City, where their art was seen as a form of Art Povera.

Christo's earliest sculptures were composed of cans and bottles—some as found and some painted or wrapped in paper, plastic, or fabric. Christo and Jeanne-Claude's first collaborative works included Dockside Packages (1961; Cologne), Iron Curtain—Wall of Oil Drums (1962; Paris), and Corridor Store Front (1968; New York City). In 1968 they also completed a suspended 18,375-foot (5,600-metre) “air package” over Minneapolis, Minn., and “wrapped buildings” in Bern, Switz.; Chicago, Ill.; and Spoleto, Italy. Their monumental later projects included Valley Curtain (1972; Rifle Gap, Colo.), Running Fence (1976; Marin and Sonoma counties, Calif.), and Surrounded Islands (1983; Biscayne Bay, Fla.). In 1985 in Paris, they wrapped the Pont Neuf (bridge) in beige cloth. In a 1991 project, the couple installed 1,340 giant blue umbrellas across the Sato River valley in Japan and 1,760 giant yellow ones in Tejon Pass, California. Four years later they wrapped the Reichstag in Berlin in metallic silver fabric. The Gates, Central Park, New York City, 1979–2005 was unveiled in 2005. Stretching across 23 miles (37 km) of walkway in Central Park, the work featured 7,503 steel gates that were 16 feet (5 metres) high and decorated with saffron-coloured cloth panels. The Gates was on display for 16 days and attracted more than four million visitors.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude's huge, usually outdoor sculptures are temporary and involve hundreds of assistants in their construction. Seen as they are by all manner of passersby, including those who would not necessarily visit museums, these works force observers to confront questions regarding the nature of art. As the scope of the projects widened, increased time was needed for planning and construction phases, the securing of permits, and environmental- impact research. For each project, they formed a corporation, which secured financing and sold the primary models and sketches. Most installations were documented in print and on film, and the materials that created them were sold or given away after the projects were dismantled.

Actor Paul Lynde 1926 – 1982

Actor. Born June 13, 1926, in Mount Vernon, Ohio. Lynde attended Northwestern University, where he studied drama with classmates Charlotte Rae, Patricia O'Neal, and Charlton Heston. In 1948, upon his graduation, he moved to New York and honed his comedic skills by performing stand-up routines.

In the early 1950s, Lynde landed a role in a Broadway revue New Faces of 1952. Featuring the now-classic monologue "The Trip of the Month Club," Lynde was singled out for his manic portrayal of a hapless but determinedly upbeat survivor of a tourist trip to Africa. Despite an auspicious Broadway debut, Lynde did not return to stage work for quite some time. Over the next eight years, he made guest appearances on variety and radio shows.

In 1960, Lynde was cast as the father of a star-struck teenager in the Broadway production Bye, Bye Birdiea role that he reprised in the 1963 film adaptation, which starred Dick Van Dyke and Ann-Margaret. For Lynde, the success of Bye, Bye Birdie led to the recording of a comedy album and regular spots on The Red Buttons Show and The Perry Como Show.

Over the next few years, Lynde appeared in supporting roles in lighthearted films like Under the Yum-Yum Tree (1963), Beach Blanket Bingo (1965), and The Glass Bottom Boat (1966). Lynde forged a lucrative career as a character actor with parts on the popular TV series The Munsters, I Dream of Jeanie, and Bewitched. In 1967, he debuted on the fledgling game show Hollywood Squares, where, as the permanent center square, he found an outlet to showcase his comedic talents for the next 15 years.

In 1972, playing an uptight attorney and father at odds with his liberal-minded son, Lynde starred in the short-lived sitcom The Paul Lynde Show. The series' failure exacerbated Lynde's pre-existing drinking problem, which led to numerous run-ins with the law and frequent arrests for public intoxication.

On January 10, 1982, at the age of 55, Paul Lynde died of a massive heart attack brought on by years of substance abuse.