Daryl Lorette

Marilyn MonroeShe obtained an order from the City Court of the State of New York and legally changed her name to Marilyn Monroe on February 23, 1956.[http://www.marilynmonroe.com/about/facts.html Marilyn Monroe's Official Web site .::. Fast Facts] (1 June 1926 - 5 August 1962) ? born Norma Jeane Mortenson, but baptized Norma Jeane Baker ? was a celebrated American actress, singer, and model.

After spending much of her childhood in foster homes, Monroe began a career as a model, which led to a film contract in 1946. Her early roles were minor, but her performances in The Asphalt Jungle and All About Eve (both 1950) were well received. She was praised for her comedic ability in such films as Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, How to Marry a Millionaire, and The Seven Year Itch, and became one of Hollywood's most popular and glamorous performers.

The typecasting of Monroe's "dumb blonde" persona limited her career prospects, so she broadened her range. She studied at the Actors Studio and formed Marilyn Monroe Productions. Her dramatic performance in William Inge's Bus Stop was hailed by critics, and she won a Golden Globe Award for her performance in Some Like it Hot.

The final years of Monroe's life were marked by illness, personal problems, and a reputation for being unreliable and difficult to work with. The circumstances of her death, from an overdose of barbiturates, have been the subject of conjecture. Though officially classified as a "probable suicide," the possibility of an accidental overdose has not been ruled out, while conspiracy theorists argue that she was murdered.

In 1999, Monroe was ranked as the sixth greatest female star of all time by the American Film Institute.

Humphrey DeForest Bogart (December 25, 1899 - January 14, 1957)Ontario County Times birth announcement, 10 January 1900.Birthday of Reckoning. was an American actor.

After trying various jobs, Bogart began acting in 1921 and became a regular in Broadway productions in the 1920s and 1930s. When the stock market crash of 1929 reduced the demand for plays, Bogart also turned to film. His first great success was as Duke Mantee in The Petrified Forest (1936), and this led to a period of typecasting as a gangster in B-movies. His breakthrough came in 1941, with High Sierra (1941) and The Maltese Falcon (1941). The next year, his performance as Rick Blaine in Casablanca (1942) raised him to the peak of his profession and at the same time, cemented his trademark film persona, that of the hard-boiled cynic who ultimately shows his noble side. Other successes followed, including To Have and Have Not (1944), The Big Sleep (1946), and Key Largo (1948), with his wife Lauren Bacall; The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948); The African Queen (1951), for which he won his only Academy Award; and The Caine Mutiny (1954). During a film career of almost thirty years, he appeared in 75 feature films.

At the time of his death from cancer in 1957, Bogart was one of the most respected figures in American cinema. Since his death, his persona and film performances have been considered as having a lasting impact and have led to him being described as a cultural icon. In 1997, Entertainment Weekly magazine named him the number one movie legend of all time. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him the Greatest Male Star of All Time.

Elvis Aaron Presley(May 9, 2002). "Elvis Presley - the Singer". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2007-10-12."[http://www.elvis.com/elvisology/faq/faq.asp?qid=11 FAQ: Elvis' middle name, is it Aron or Aaron?]" Elvis.com. Retrieved 2007-10-22. (January 8, 1935 - August 16, 1977; middle name sometimes spelled Aron) was an American singer, actor, and musician. A cultural icon, he is commonly known simply as Elvis and is also sometimes referred to as "The King of Rock 'n' Roll" or "The King".

Presley began his career in 1953 as one of the first performers of rockabilly, an uptempo fusion of country and rhythm and blues with a strong back beat. His novel versions of existing songs, mixing "black" and "white" sounds, made him popular—and controversialSee Fensch, Thomas. The FBI Files on Elvis Presley, pp.15-17.An example of press criticism can be found at Gould, Jack (June 6, 1956). "TV: New Phenomenon" (PDF). The New York Times. Retrieved on 2007-10-14.—as did his uninhibited stage and television performances. Presley had a versatile voiceCategory: q - :Elvis Presley|WikiQuote: Elvis Presley and had unusually wide success encompassing many genres, including rock and roll, gospel, blues, country, ballads and pop. To date, he is the only entertainer that has been inducted into four music halls of fame.

In the 1960s, Presley made the majority of his 31 movies, most of which were poorly reviewed but financially successful musicals.Falk and Falk, p.52 In 1968, he returned to live performances in a television special,Hopkins 2007, p.215 and performed across the U.S., notably in Las Vegas. In 1973, Presley staged the first global live concert via satellite (Aloha from Hawaii), reaching at least one billion viewers live and an additional 500 million on delay.See "Aloha From Hawaii"http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A702839

Throughout his career, he set records for concert attendance, television ratings and recordings sales.Elvis the Biggest Selling Recording Artist? - Sorting Out Records Sales Stats & RIAA Rules. http://www.elvis.com/news/full_story.asp?id=131. Retrieved 2008-10-27. He is one of the best-selling and most influential artists in the history of music, selling over one billion records internationally. Health problems, prescription drug dependence, and other factors led to his death at age 42.

Bruce Jun Fan Lee (???, ???; pinyin: L? Zhènf?n, L? Xi?olóng; November 27, 1940 ? July 20, 1973) was an American-born Chinese Hong Kong martial artist, philosopher, instructor, martial arts actor, film director, screenwriter, and the founder of the Jeet Kune Do concept. He is considered by many as the most influential martial artist of the 20th century, and a cultural icon. He was also the father of actor Brandon Lee and of actress Shannon Lee. His younger brother Robert was a musician and member of a popular Hong Kong beat band called The Thunderbirds and was something of a heartthrob in Hong Kong in the 1960s.Web UK Online, Bruce Lee Articles In The Shadow Of A Legend - Robert Lee Remembers Bruce Lee by Steve Rubinstein

Lee was born in San Francisco, California, and raised in Hong Kong until his late teens. His Hong Kong and Hollywood-produced films elevated the traditional Hong Kong martial arts film to a new level of popularity and acclaim, and sparked the second major surge of interest in Chinese martial arts in the West. The direction and tone of his films changed and influenced martial arts and martial arts films in Hong Kong and the rest of the world as well. He is mainly noted for his roles in five feature length films, Lo Wei's The Big Boss (1971) and Fist of Fury (1972); Way of the Dragon (1972), directed and written by Bruce Lee; Warner Brothers' Enter the Dragon (1973), directed by Robert Clouse, and The Game of Death (1978).

Lee became a very iconic figure, particularly among the Chinese, as he portrayed Chinese national pride and Chinese nationalism in his movies. He primarily practiced Chinese martial arts (Kung Fu as a popular westernized term, or Gung Fu in Lee's own word, or more phonetically corrected Gong Fu), particularly Wing Chun.