Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed
Lady Day by her loyal friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday was a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing. Her
vocal style, strongly inspired by jazz instrumentalists, pioneered a new way of manipulating phrasing and tempo. Above all,
she was admired for her deeply personal and intimate approach to singing.
Richard Tiffany Gere is an American actor. He began acting in the 1970s, and came to prominence in 1980 for his role in the
film American Gigolo, which established him as a leading man and a sex symbol. He went on to star in several hit films including
An Officer and a Gentleman, Pretty Woman, Primal Fear, and Chicago, for which he won a Golden Globe Award as Best Actor, as
well as a Screen Actors Guild Award as part of the Best Cast.
Sidney Lumet (loo-MET; born June 25, 1924) is an American film director, with over 50 films to his name, including 12 Angry
Men (1957), Serpico (1973), Dog Day Afternoon (1975), Network (1976) and The Verdict (1982), all of which, except for Serpico
(1973), earned him Academy Award nominations for Best Director.
W. C. Fields (January 29, 1880 – December 25, 1946) was an American comedian, actor and juggler. Fields created one of the
great American comic personas of the first half of the 20th century: a misanthropic and hard-drinking egotist who remained
a sympathetic character despite his snarling contempt for dogs, children, and women. The characterization that he portrayed
in films and radio was so strong it became generally identified with Fields himself.
Lionel Barrymore (April 12, 1878 – November 15, 1954) was an American actor of stage, radio and film. He won an Academy Award
for Best Actor for his performance in A Free Soul (1931).
John Sidney Blyth Barrymore (February 15, 1882 – May 29, 1942) was an American actor, frequently called the greatest of his
generation. He first gained fame as a stage actor, lauded for his portrayals of Hamlet and Richard III. His success continued
with motion pictures in both the silent and sound eras. A member of a multi-generation theatrical dynasty, he was the brother
of Lionel Barrymore and Ethel Barrymore, and is the paternal grandfather of Drew Barrymore.
