title: Spyro

text: As of 2007, the "Spyro the Dragon" series has sold over 20 million units worldwide. According to the Los Angeles Times, the first "Spyro" game has sold 4.8 million units as of November 2007, making it the seventeenth best-selling PlayStation game of all time. "Ripto's Rage!" sold 3.45 million units in the U.S., while "Year of the Dragon" sold 3.28 million.


title: Mirabai

text: Meera, better known as Mirabai and venerated as Sant Meerabai, was a 16th-century Hindu mystic poet and devotee of Krishna. She is a celebrated Bhakti saint, particularly in the North Indian Hindu tradition.


title: Mirabai

text: Mirabai was born into a Rathore Rajput royal family in Kudki (modern-day Pali district of Rajasthan) and spent her childhood in Merta. She is mentioned in "Bhaktamal", confirming that she was widely known and a cherished figure in the Bhakti movement culture by about 1600 CE.


title: Mirabai

text: Most legends about Mirabai mention her fearless disregard for social and family conventions, her devotion to Krishna, her treating Krishna as her husband and being persecuted by her in-laws for her religious devotion. She has been the subject of numerous folk tales and hagiographic legends, which are inconsistent or widely different in details.


title: Mirabai

text: Millions of devotional hymns in passionate praise of Krishna are attributed to Meerabai in the Indian tradition, but just a few hundred are believed to be authentic by scholars, and the earliest written records suggest that except for two hymns, most were written down only in the 18th century. Many poems attributed to Meera were likely composed later by others who admired Meera. These hymns are a type of bhajan, and are very famous across India.


title: Mirabai

text: Hindu temples, such as in Chittorgarh fort, are dedicated to Mirabai's memory. Legends about Mirabai's life, of contested authenticity, have been the subject of movies, films, comic strips and other popular literature in modern times.


title: Mirabai

text: Authentic records about Meera are not available and scholars have attempted to establish Meera's biography from secondary literature that mentions her and wherein dates and other moments. Meera unwillingly married Bhoj Raj, the crown prince of Mewar, in 1516. Her husband was wounded in one of the ongoing wars with the Delhi Sultanate in 1518, and he died of battle wounds in 1521. Both her father and father-in-law (Rana Sanga) died a few days after their defeat in the Battle of Khanwa against first Mughal Emperor Babur.


title: Mirabai

text: After the death of her father-in-law Rana Sanga, Vikram Singh became the ruler of Mewar. According to a popular legend, her in-laws tried many times to assassinate her, such as sending Meera a glass of poison and telling her it was nectar or sending her a basket with a snake instead of flowers. According to the hagiographic legends, she was not harmed in either case, with the snake miraculously becoming a Krishna idol (or a garland of flowers depending on the version). In another version of these legends, she is asked by Vikram Singh to go drown herself, which she tries but she finds herself floating on water. Yet another legend states that the third Mughal emperor Akbar came with Tansen to visit Meera and presented a pearl necklace, but scholars doubt this ever happened because Tansen joined Akbar's court in 1562, 15 years after she died.


title: Mirabai

text: Similarly, some stories state that Guru Ravidas was her guru (teacher), but there is no corroborating historical evidence for this. Some versions suggest this could likely have happened. Others disagree.


title: Mirabai

text: The three different oldest records are known as of 2014 that mention Meera, all from the 17th century and written within 150 years of Meera's death, neither mention anything about her childhood or circumstances of her marriage to Bhojraj nor do they mention that the people who persecuted her were her in-laws or from some Rajput royal family. Nancy Martin-Kershaw states that to the extent that Meera was challenged and persecuted, religious or social conventions were unlikely to have been the cause, rather the likely cause was political chaos and military conflicts between the Rajput kingdom and the Mughal Empire.


title: Mirabai

text: Other stories state that Mira Bai left the kingdom of Mewar and went on pilgrimages. In her last years, Meera lived in Dwarka or Vrindavan, where legends state she miraculously disappeared by merging into an idol of Krishna in 1547. While miracles are contested by scholars for the lack of historical evidence, it is widely acknowledged that Meera dedicated her life to Lord Krishna, composing songs of devotion, and was one of the most important poet-saint of the Bhakti movement period.


title: Mirabai

text: A number of compositions by Meera Bai continue to be sung today in India, mostly as devotional songs ("bhajans") though nearly all of them have a philosophical connotation. One of her most popular compositions remains ""Paayoji maine Naam Ratan dhan paayo"" (पायो जी मैंने नाम रतन धन पायो।, "I have been given the richness of Lord's name blessing"). Meera's poems are lyrical "padas" (metric verses) in Rajasthani language. While thousands of verses are attributed to her, scholars are divided in their opinion as to how many of them were actually penned by Meera herself. There are no surviving manuscripts of her poetry from her time and the earliest records with two poems credited to her are from early 18th-century, more than 150 years after she immersed into the statue of Dwarkadhish at Dwarka Temple.


title: Mirabai

text: The largest collection of poems credited to her are in 19th-century manuscripts. Scholars have attempted to establish authenticity based on both the poem and Meera being mentioned in other manuscripts as well as from style, linguistics and form. John Stratton Hawley cautions, "When one speaks of the poetry of Mirabai, then, there is always an element of enigma. (...) there must always remain a question about whether there is any real relation between the poems we cite and a historical Mira."


title: Mirabai

text: In her poems, Krishna is a yogi and lover, and she herself is a yogini ready to take her place by his side into a spiritual marital bliss. Meera's style combines impassioned mood, defiance, longing, anticipation, joy and ecstasy of union, always centred on Krishna.


title: Mirabai

text: Meera speaks of a personal relationship with Krishna as her lover, lord and mountain lifter. (Sanson Ki Mala Pe Simru Main pi Ka Naam) is written by Meera Bai Shows her dedication towards Krishna.The characteristic of her poetry is complete surrender.


title: Mirabai

text: "Prem Ambodh Pothi", a text attributed to Guru Gobind Singh and completed in 1693 CE, includes poetry of Mira Bai as one of sixteen historic "bhakti saints" important to Sikhism.


title: Mirabai

text: Scholars acknowledge that Meera was one of the central poet-saints of the Bhakti movement which was during a difficult period in Indian history filled with religious conflicts. Yet, they simultaneously question the extent to which Meera was a canonical projection of social imagination that followed, where she became a symbol of people's suffering and a desire for an alternative. Dirk Wiemann, quoting Parita Mukta, states,


title: Mirabai

text: The continued influence of Meera, in part, has been her message of freedom, her resolve and right to pursue her devotion to deity Krishna and her spiritual beliefs as she felt drawn to despite her persecution. Her appeal and influence in Indian culture, writes Edwin Bryant, is from her emerging, through her legends and poems, as a person "who stands up for what is right and suffers bitterly for holding fast to her convictions, as other men and women have", yet she does so with a language of love, with words painting the "full range of emotions that mark love, whether between human beings or between human and divine".


title: Mirabai

text: Aliston and Subramanian have published selections with English translation in India. Schelling and Landes-Levi have offered anthologies in the USA. Snell has presented parallel translations in his collection "The Hindi Classical Tradition". Sethi has selected poems which Mira composed presumably after she came in contact with Saint Ravidas. and Meera Pakeerah.


title: Mirabai

text: Some bhajans of Meera have been rendered into English by Robert Bly and Jane Hirshfield as "Mirabai: Ecstatic Poems".


title: Mirabai

text: Composer John Harbison adapted Bly's translations for his "Mirabai Songs." There is a documentary film "A Few Things I Know About Her" by Indian film director Anjali Panjabi.


title: Mirabai

text: Two well-known films of her life have been made in India, "Meera" (1945), a Tamil language film starring M. S. Subbulakshmi, and "Meera" a 1979 Hindi film by Gulzar. Other Indian films about her include: "Meerabai" (1921) by Kanjibhai Rathod, "Sant Mirabai" (1929) by Dhundiraj Govind Phalke, "Rajrani Meera"/"Meerabai" (1933) by Debaki Bose, "Meerabai" (1936) by T. C. Vadivelu Naicker and A. Narayanan, "Sadhvi Meerabai" (1937) by Baburao Painter, "Bhakta Meera" (1938) by Y. V. Rao, "Meerabai" (1940) by Narasimha Rao Bhimavarapu, "Meera" (1947) by Ellis Dungan, "Matwali Meera" (1947) by Baburao Patel, "Meerabai" (1947) by W. Z. Ahmed, "Meerabai" (1947) by Nanabhai Bhatt, "Girdhar Gopal Ki Mira" (1949) by Prafulla Roy, "Raj Rani Meera" (1956) by G. P. Pawar, "Meera Shyam" (1976), "Meera Ke Girdhar" (1992) by Vijay Deep.


title: Mirabai

text: A 26 episodes popular series starring Mrinal Kulkarni was produced by UTV in 1997 based on her life called "Mirabai".


title: Mirabai

text: "Shree Krishna Bhakto Meera", a 2021 Indian Bengali mythological television series based on her life is currently airing on Star Jalsha.


title: Mirabai

text: Meera Bai's life has been interpreted as a musical story in "Meera—The Lover…", a music album based on original compositions for some well known Meera bhajans, released 11 October 2009.


title: Mirabai

text: The Meera Mahal in Merta is a museum dedicated to telling the story of Mirabai through sculptures, paintings, displays and a shaded garden.


title: Mirabai

text: Out of all serials made on Meerabai, however the 1997 serial Meerabai by Ved Rahi starring Mrinal Kulkarni was more true to life of Meera and the most popular one. It has more than 30 raag based classical bhajans composed by Mohinderjit Singh and sung by Sandhya Rao, Kavita Krishnamurthy and many others. Its title track was sung by 40 chorus singers, the highest till today.


title: Laurence Harvey

text: Laurence Harvey (born Zvi Mosheh Skikne; 1 October 192825 November 1973) was a Lithuanian-born British actor and film director. He was born to Lithuanian Jewish parents and emigrated to South Africa at an early age, before later settling in the United Kingdom after World War II. In a career that spanned a quarter of a century, Harvey appeared in stage, film and television productions primarily in the United Kingdom and the United States.


title: Laurence Harvey

text: Harvey was known for his clipped, refined accent and cool, debonair screen persona. His performance in "Room at the Top" (1959) resulted in an Academy Award nomination. That success was followed by the roles of William Barret Travis in "The Alamo" and Weston Liggett in "Butterfield 8", both films released in the autumn of 1960. He also appeared as the brainwashed Sergeant Raymond Shaw in "The Manchurian Candidate" (1962). He made his directorial debut with "The Ceremony" (1963), and continued acting into the 1970s until his early death in 1973 of cancer.


title: Laurence Harvey

text: Harvey was born in Joniškis, Lithuania, the youngest of three sons of Ella (née Zotnickaita) and Ber Skikne, Lithuanian Jewish parents. His civil birth name was Larushka Mischa Skikne. His Hebrew name was Zvi Mosheh. When he was five years old, his family travelled with the family of Riva Segal and her two sons, Louis and Charles Segal on the to South Africa, where he was known as Harry Skikne. Harvey grew up in Johannesburg. He was only fifteen when he auditioned to join the Entertainment Unit of the South African Army during the Second World War. Sid James managed the Unit and approved his audition. They become long-time friends. As the Mystery Guest on USA TV show "What's My Line?" screened 1 May 1960, he states he arrived in South Africa in 1934 and moved to the UK in 1946.


title: Laurence Harvey

text: After moving to London, he enrolled in the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, but left RADA after three months.


title: Laurence Harvey

text: Billed as Larry Skikne, he appeared in the play "Uprooted" at the Comedy Theatre in 1947. He also appeared on stage at the Library Theatre in Manchester. His performances in Manchester led to him being cast in his first film.


title: Laurence Harvey

text: Harvey made his cinema debut in the British film "House of Darkness" (1948), but its distributor British Lion thought someone named Larry Skikne was not commercially viable. Accounts vary as to how the actor acquired his stage name of Laurence Harvey. One version has it that it was the idea of talent agent Gordon Harbord who decided Laurence would be an appropriate first name. In choosing a British-sounding last name, Harbord thought of two British retail institutions, Harvey Nichols and Harrods. Another is that Skikne was travelling on a London bus with Sid James who exclaimed during their journey: "It's either Laurence Nichols or Laurence Harvey." Harvey's own account differed over time.


title: Laurence Harvey

text: Associated British Picture Corporation quickly offered him a two-year contract, which Harvey accepted. He appeared in supporting roles in several of their lower-budget films such as "Man on the Run" (1949), "Landfall" (1949) (directed by Ken Annakin) and "The Dancing Years" (1950). For International Motion Pictures he was in "The Man from Yesterday" (1949).


title: Laurence Harvey

text: Mayflower Productions, which released through Associated British, gave Harvey his first lead, appearing alongside Eric Portman in the Egypt-set police film "Cairo Road" (1950). It was a minor success.


title: Laurence Harvey

text: He had a small role in the Hollywood financed "The Black Rose" (1950), starring Tyrone Power and Orson Welles, directed by Henry Hathaway. It was Harvey's first experience in a Hollywood film. He played Cassio in a version of "Othello" for BBC TV starring Andre Morell.


title: Laurence Harvey

text: Harvey starred in leading roles for two B-pictures for director Lewis Gilbert at Nettleford Films: "Scarlet Thread" (1951) and "There Is Another Sun" (1951). For Ealing, he made "I Believe in You" (1952), directed by Basil Dearden. According to "Sight and Sound" this performance gave "an indication of Harvey's true metier. While Basil Dearden's direction focused on honest Harry Fowler, it was Harvey's Jordie who supplied an authentic glimpse of pin-table thuggery, his clothes and hairstyle on the cusp between cosh-boy and ted and his manner redolent of a languorous sexuality no amount of National Service could quell."


title: Laurence Harvey

text: He starred in the low-budget thriller "A Killer Walks" (1952). In 1951 he appeared on stage in "Hassan" at the Cambridge Theatre.


title: Laurence Harvey

text: Harvey's career gained a boost when he appeared in "Women of Twilight" (1952); this was made by Romulus Films run by brothers John and James Woolf, who signed Harvey to a long-term contract. James Woolf in particular was a big admirer of Harvey and played an important role in turning the actor into a star.


title: Laurence Harvey

text: In 1953 he played Orlando on a BBC TV version of "As You Like It", opposite Margaret Leighton, whom he would later marry.


title: Laurence Harvey

text: Romulus put him in two ensemble films: a comedy, "Innocents in Paris" (1953) and a crime thriller, "The Good Die Young" (1954). He had an especially strong role in the latter, which was directed by Lewis Gilbert, and featured Hollywood actors such as John Ireland, Richard Basehart and Gloria Grahame, along with Leighton. This has been called his "first performance of note."


title: Laurence Harvey

text: Harvey received an offer to play the juvenile male lead in the Hollywood spectacular "King Richard and the Crusaders" (1954), a medieval swashbuckler for Warner Bros starring Rex Harrison, Virginia Mayo and George Sanders. It was a box-office disappointment, although Harvey's performance was well received.


title: Laurence Harvey

text: Harvey played Romeo in Renato Castellani's adaptation of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" (1954), narrated by John Gielgud. His performance was generally not well received. According to a contemporary interview, he turned down an offer to appear in "Helen of Troy" (1955) to act at Stratford-upon-Avon, where he again performed in "Romeo and Juliet", this time on stage.


title: Laurence Harvey

text: Romulus gave Harvey another excellent chance when he was cast as the writer Christopher Isherwood in "I Am A Camera" (1955), with Julie Harris as Sally Bowles. He and Leighton starred in an adaptation of "A Month in the Country" for "ITV Play of the Week" (1955). He made his Broadway debut in 1955 in the play "Island of Goats", a flop that closed after one week, though his performance won him a 1956 Theatre World Award. While in the US he appeared on TV in an episode of "The Alcoa Hour" called "The Small Servant ", co-starring Diane Cilento.


title: Laurence Harvey

text: Zoltan Korda used him as one of the soldiers in "Storm Over the Nile" (1955), a remake of "The Four Feathers" (1939), playing the part taken by Ralph Richardson in the 1939 version. It was popular in Britain as was the comedy "Three Men in a Boat" (1956), made for Romulus under the direction of Ken Annakin.


title: Laurence Harvey

text: Harvey appeared in "The Bet" for "ITV Television Playhouse" (1956) then did another for Romulus, "After the Ball" (1957), a biopic of Vesta Tilley, in which Harvey played Walter de Frece. He followed it with "The Truth About Women" (1958), a comedy directed by Muriel Box for Beaconsfield Productions.


title: Laurence Harvey

text: Harvey returned to Broadway in 1957 to appear alongside Julie Harris, Pamela Brown and Colleen Dewhurst in William Wycherley's "The Country Wife" (a production he had originally starred in at London's Royal Court Theatre).


title: Laurence Harvey

text: For Romulus, Harvey starred in "The Silent Enemy" (1958), with his old friend Sid James, a biopic of war hero Lionel Crabb.


title: Laurence Harvey

text: Harvey's breakthrough to international stardom came after he was cast by director Jack Clayton as the social climber Joe Lampton in "Room at the Top" (1959), produced by Romulus. For his performance, Harvey received a BAFTA Award nomination and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. Simone Signoret and Heather Sears co-starred as Lampton's married lover and eventual wife respectively. It was the third most popular movie at the British box office in 1959 and a hit in the U.S.


title: Laurence Harvey

text: Harvey went to Broadway in 1958, as Shakespeare's Henry V, as part of the Old Vic company, which featured a young Judi Dench as Katherine, the daughter of the king of France.


title: Laurence Harvey

text: Harvey followed it with the musical "Expresso Bongo" (1959), a film best remembered for introducing Cliff Richard. He did "The Violent Years" for the "ITV Play of the Week" (1959).


title: Laurence Harvey

text: While in the US he appeared in "Arthur", an episode of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" directed by Hitchcock himself.


title: Laurence Harvey

text: The success of "Room at the Top" led to Hollywood offers and Harvey decided to spend the next three years focusing on films. He was in John Wayne's epic "The Alamo" (1960), being John Wayne's personal choice to play Alamo commandant William Barret Travis. He had been impressed by Harvey's talent and ability to project the aristocratic demeanor Wayne believed Travis possessed. Harvey and Wayne later expressed their mutual admiration and satisfaction at having worked together. "The Alamo" was a hit (although the enormous cost meant the film lost money).


title: Laurence Harvey

text: Even more successful was Harvey's next Hollywood film, MGM's "BUtterfield 8" (1960), which won Elizabeth Taylor her first Oscar. He was named for "The Eddie Chapman Story" but it was not made until years later, as "Triple Cross" with Christopher Plummer.


title: Laurence Harvey

text: Back in Britain, Harvey was cast in the film version of "The Long and the Short and the Tall" (1961) in a role originally performed by Peter O'Toole during the play's West End run. He clashed with Richard Todd and Richard Harris during filming but the movie was a hit in Britain. He was announced for some films that were not made ("The Disenchanted" from the novel by Budd Schulberg, "No Bail for the Judge" from Alfred Hitchcock, "The Lion", and "The Long Walk").


title: Laurence Harvey

text: In the U.S., he supported Shirley MacLaine in MGM's "Two Loves" (1961) and co-starred with Geraldine Page in the film adaptation of Tennessee Williams's "Summer and Smoke" (1961), directed by Peter Glenville. He signed to appear in the film of "Five Finger Exercise" but was not in the eventual film. His fee around this time was $300,000 a film.


title: Laurence Harvey

text: Harvey played the male lead in "Walk on the Wild Side" (1962), produced by Charles Feldman, cast alongside Barbara Stanwyck, Jane Fonda and Capucine. Fonda was not positive about the experience of working with him: "There are actors and actors – and then there are the Laurence Harveys. With them, it's like acting by yourself." The same year, he recorded an album of spoken excerpts from the book "This Is My Beloved" by Walter Benton, accompanied by original music by Herbie Mann. It was released on the Atlantic label. He narrated a TV musical, "The Flood" (1962).


title: Laurence Harvey

text: MGM cast Harvey as Wilhelm Grimm in the MGM film "The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm" (1962), produced by George Pal. Harvey's performance earned him a nomination for Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama. The fantasy movie filmed in 3-strip Cinerama was a box office disappointment.


title: Laurence Harvey

text: Harvey appeared as the brainwashed US Army Staff Sergeant Raymond Shaw in the Cold War thriller "The Manchurian Candidate" (1962), directed by John Frankenheimer and starring Frank Sinatra and Angela Lansbury. Film critic David Shipman wrote: "Harvey's role required him to act like a zombie and several critics cited it as his first convincing performance". The movie was a hit and has since become critically highly regarded, and is one of Harvey's better-remembered films.


title: Laurence Harvey

text: Harvey went to Japan to make "A Girl Named Tamiko" (1962) with France Nuyen for director John Sturges and producer Hal Wallis. "I have suddenly found the gates of Hollywood opened to me," he said at the time.


title: Laurence Harvey

text: He followed this with "The Running Man" (1963), directed by Carol Reed, with Lee Remick and Alan Bates.


title: Laurence Harvey

text: Harvey made his directorial debut with the crime drama "The Ceremony" (1963), in which he also starred. It was shot in Spain for United Artists.


title: Laurence Harvey

text: Harvey played King Arthur in the 1964 London production of the Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe musical "Camelot" at Drury Lane.


title: Laurence Harvey

text: He was the male lead in an adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham's "Of Human Bondage" (1964), co starring Kim Novak. Harvey had been connected to the project for several years. It was a troubled shoot, with Harvey and Novak clashing, and original director Henry Hathaway leaving during the shoot and being replaced by Ken Hughes. During filming, kidnap threats were made against both Harvey and Novak by student organisations.


title: Laurence Harvey

text: "The Outrage" (1964) was director Martin Ritt's remake of Akira Kurosawa's Japanese film "Rashomon" (1950). Besides Harvey, the film starred Paul Newman and Claire Bloom, but was unsuccessful critically and commercially.


title: Laurence Harvey

text: Harvey reprised his role as Joe Lampton in "Life at the Top" (1965), directed by Ted Kotcheff. This is considered one of his best later performances.


title: Laurence Harvey

text: Harvey had his first commercially successful film in a number of years with "Darling" (1965), starring Julie Christie and Dirk Bogarde. While Harvey's role in the film is short, his involvement enabled director John Schlesinger to raise financial backing for the project. Harvey starred in a version of "The Doctor and the Devils" directed by Nicholas Ray from a script by Dylan Thomas but the film was not completed.


title: Laurence Harvey

text: Harvey co-starred with Israeli actress Daliah Lavi in the comedy "The Spy with a Cold Nose" (1966), a parody of the James Bond films. Harvey did "The Winter's Tale" (1967) and then "Dial M for Murder" (1967) for American TV.


title: Laurence Harvey

text: Harvey owned the rights to the book on which John Osborne's early script for the film "The Charge of the Light Brigade" (1968) was partially based, Cecil Woodham-Smith's book "The Reason Why" (1953). He intended to make his own version. A lawsuit was filed against director Tony Richardson's company Woodfall Film Productions on behalf of the book's author. There was a monetary settlement, and Harvey insisted on being cast in a cameo role (being cast as Prince Radziwill) as part of the agreement for which he was paid £60,000. Charles Wood was brought in to re-write the script. Harvey's scenes were cut from the movie at Richardson's insistence except for a brief glimpse as an anonymous member of a theatre audience which, technically, still met the requirements of the legal settlement. John Osborne asserted in his autobiography that Richardson shot the scenes with Harvey "French", which is film jargon for a director "going-through-the-motions" because of some obligation, but with no film in the camera.


title: Laurence Harvey

text: Harvey completed direction of the spy thriller "A Dandy in Aspic" (1968) after director Anthony Mann died during production. The film co-stars Mia Farrow. This has been called "his last effective cinema role... The critics greeted it with disdain but the plot was tailor-made for Harvey, who plays a Russian spy who has adopted an English identity so he can go undercover within British Intelligence."


title: Laurence Harvey

text: Harvey co-starred with Ann-Margret in "Rebus" (1969) then appeared in "Kampf um Rom" (1970), a film set in Ancient Rome. The latter starred Orson Welles, who directed Harvey in "The Deep", a thriller that was abandoned.


title: Laurence Harvey

text: Harvey had a cameo role as himself in "The Magic Christian" (1969), a film based on the Terry Southern novel of the same name. He gives a rendition of Hamlet's soliloquy that develops unexpectedly into a campy striptease routine.


title: Laurence Harvey

text: He had a small role in "WUSA" (1970) and was guest murderer on "Columbo: The Most Dangerous Match" in 1973, portraying a chess champion who kills his opponent. For British TV he appeared in a version of "Arms and the Man" for "ITV Sunday Night Theatre" (1971). Joanna Pettet appeared with Harvey in an episode of Rod Serling's "Night Gallery" ("The Caterpillar", 1972), in which Harvey's character attempts to assassinate a romantic rival by having a burrowing insect dropped in the man's ear.


title: Laurence Harvey

text: Harvey starred in "Escape to the Sun" (1972), directed by Menahem Golan and was reunited with Elizabeth Taylor in "Night Watch" (1973). "Night Watch" was financed by Brut Productions who also financed "Welcome to Arrow Beach" (1974) which Harvey directed and starred in; the cast also included his friend Pettet, John Ireland and Stuart Whitman. The film deals with a type of war-related post-traumatic stress disorder that turns a military veteran to cannibalism.


title: Laurence Harvey

text: In August 1973, it was reported Harvey had been ill, but he assured people he was busier than ever. Just before he died, he was planning to star in and direct two films: one on Kitty Genovese, the other a Wolf Mankowitz comedy titled "Cockatrice". His death put an end to any hope that Orson Welles's "The Deep" would be completed. With Harvey and Jeanne Moreau in the leading roles, Welles worked on the film between his other projects, although the production was hampered by financial problems.


title: Laurence Harvey

text: He met Hermione Baddeley, an established actress, when they were cast in the film "There Is Another Sun" in 1950. She became his live-in partner and a lucky charm for his career. She introduced him to Basil Dean and his first part on the London stage in "Hassan", followed by a season at Stratford in 1952 with Glen Byam Shaw. Most significantly, she introduced him to James Woolf, of Romulus Films. Harvey left Baddeley in 1952 for actress Margaret Leighton, who was then married to publisher Max Reinhardt. Leighton and Reinhardt divorced in 1955, and she married Harvey in 1957 off the Rock of Gibraltar. The couple divorced in 1961.


title: Laurence Harvey

text: In 1968 he married Joan Perry, the widow of film mogul Harry Cohn. Her marriage to Harvey lasted until 1972.


title: Laurence Harvey

text: His third marriage was to British fashion model Paulene Stone. She gave birth to their daughter Domino in 1969 while he was still married to Perry. Harvey and Stone married in 1972 and soon after, he adopted her child from her previous marriage, Sophie Norris (now Sophie Harvey). The wedding took place at the home of Harold Robbins.


title: Laurence Harvey

text: In his account of being Frank Sinatra's valet, "Mr. S: My Life with Frank Sinatra" (2003), George Jacobs writes that Harvey often made passes at him while visiting Sinatra. According to Jacobs, Sinatra was aware of Harvey's sexuality. In his autobiography "Close Up" (2004), British actor John Fraser claimed Harvey was gay and that his long-term lover was Harvey's manager James Woolf, who had cast Harvey in several of the films he produced in the 1950s.


title: Laurence Harvey

text: After working in two films with her, Harvey remained friends with Elizabeth Taylor for the rest of his life. She visited him three weeks before he died. Upon his death, Taylor issued the statement: "He was one of the people I really loved in this world. He was part of the sun. For everyone who loved him, the sun is a bit dimmer." She and Peter Lawford held a memorial service for Harvey in California.


title: Laurence Harvey

text: Harvey once responded to an assertion about himself: "Someone once asked me, 'Why is it so many people hate you?' and I said, 'Do they? How super! I'm really quite pleased about it.' "


title: Laurence Harvey

text: A heavy smoker and drinker, Harvey died at the age of 45 from stomach cancer in Hampstead, north London, on 25 November 1973.


title: Laurence Harvey

text: His daughter Domino, who later became a bounty hunter, was only four years old at the time. She died at the age of 35, in 2005, after overdosing on the painkiller drug fentanyl. They are buried together in Santa Barbara Cemetery in Santa Barbara, California.


title: Laurence Harvey

text: With his clipped speech, cool smile and a cigarette dangling impudently from his lips, Laurence Harvey established himself as the screen's perfect pin-striped cad. He could project such utter boredom that willowy debutantes would shrivel in his presence. He could also exude such charm that the same young ladies would gladly lend him their hearts, which were usually returned utterly broken... The image Mr Harvey carefully fostered for himself off screen was not far removed from some of the roles he played. "I'm a flamboyant character, an extrovert who doesn't want to reveal his feelings", he once said. "To bare your soul to the world, I find unutterably boring. I think part of our profession is to have a quixotic personality."


title: Laurence Harvey

text: According to "Sight and Sound", "Any young actor who delighted in pink bathroom suites and liked to compare himself favourably to Olivier, Gielgud and Richardson – preferably in the same sentence – was clearly going to find it hard to fit the mould of New Elizabethan chappism promoted by Rank and ABPC... Harvey flaunted a cigarette holder almost as parodie as Terry Thomas' and boasted that his drainpipe trousers pre-dated the teddy boys'. His hairstyle always tended towards the baroque and quickly became a trademark "


title: Laurence Harvey

text: Note: Where British Film Institute (BFI) and American Film Institute (AFI) differed on release year, or if the Wikipedia article title had a different release year, whichever source is the country of production is the year used.


title: Dr. Death (2021 TV series)

text: Dr. Death is an American crime drama anthology streaming television series created by Patrick Macmanus, based on the podcast of the same name, focusing on the titular Christopher Duntsch, a neurosurgeon who became infamous for permanently mutilating his patients, killing two of them. It premiered on Peacock on July 15, 2021. In July 2022, the series was renewed for a second season.


title: Dr. Death (2021 TV series)

text: An arrogant, sinister doctor treats his Hippocratic Oath about the same way he treats his patients. As his malignant narcissism and psychopathy escalate, his fellow surgeons and a young assistant district attorney set out to stop him.


title: Dr. Death (2021 TV series)

text: On October 3, 2018, NBCUniversal announced that Patrick Macmanus would adapt the "Dr. Death" podcast into a limited series and produce with Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal and Steve Tisch executive produce via Escape Artists, as well as Hernan Lopez and Marshall Lewy. On September 17, 2019, NBCUniversal announced that the series would be distributed on its streaming service Peacock. In January 2020, it was announced Stephen Frears would direct the first two episodes. In September 2020, Frears was replaced by Maggie Kiley. On July 14, 2022, Peacock renewed the series for a second season with Ashley Michel Hoban promoted from a producer to an executive producer and new showrunner. The second season will focus on Paolo Macchiarini. On October 18, 2022, it was announced that Jennifer Morrison is set to direct episodes 1–4 and Laura Belsey is set to direct episodes 5–8 of the second season.


title: Dr. Death (2021 TV series)

text: On August 9, 2019, Jamie Dornan, Alec Baldwin, and Christian Slater were cast as Dr. Christopher Duntsch, Robert Henderson, and Randall Kirby, respectively. In March 2020, Grace Gummer, Molly Griggs, AnnaSophia Robb and Chris Sullivan joined the cast of the series. On October 12, 2020, Joshua Jackson and Dominic Burgess joined the cast of the series, replacing Dornan and Sullivan respectively. Later in the same month, Hubert Point-Du Jour and Maryann Plunkett were cast in undisclosed capacities and character name roles. On February 12, 2021, Carrie Preston joined the cast. In November 2022, Édgar Ramírez was cast as Paolo Macchiarini and Mandy Moore was cast as Benita Alexander for the second season.


title: Dr. Death (2021 TV series)

text: On May 17, 2021, alongside the release of an official trailer, it was announced that the series is scheduled to premiere in the summer of 2021. The series premiered on July 15, 2021 with an eight-episode release.


title: Dr. Death (2021 TV series)

text: The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 92% approval rating with an average score of 7.4/10 based on 25 critic reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Though it keeps viewers in the waiting room a little too long, "Dr. Death" remains a horrifying tale of medical malpractice centered around Joshua Jackson's sufficiently unsettling performance." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 75 out of 100 based on 12 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: Dr. Death (2021 TV series)

text: Kristen Baldwin of "Entertainment Weekly" gave the series an A- and wrote a review saying, "The what and the how are harrowing enough. "Dr. Death" succeeds by focusing on the people who fought for years to make sure Christopher Duntsch could do no more harm."


title: Molière

text: Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (, ; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, , ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in the French language and world literature. His extant works include comedies, farces, tragicomedies, comédie-ballets, and more. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed at the Comédie-Française more often than those of any other playwright today. His influence is such that the French language is often referred to as the "language of Molière".


title: Molière

text: Born into a prosperous family and having studied at the Collège de Clermont (now Lycée Louis-le-Grand), Molière was well suited to begin a life in the theatre. Thirteen years as an itinerant actor helped him polish his comedic abilities while he began writing, combining Commedia dell'arte elements with the more refined French comedy.


title: Molière

text: Through the patronage of aristocrats including Philippe I, Duke of Orléans—the brother of Louis XIV—Molière procured a command performance before the King at the Louvre. Performing a classic play by Pierre Corneille and a farce of his own, "The Doctor in Love", Molière was granted the use of salle du Petit-Bourbon near the Louvre, a spacious room appointed for theatrical performances. Later, he was granted the use of the theatre in the Palais-Royal. In both locations, Molière found success among Parisians with plays such as "The Affected Ladies", "The School for Husbands", and "The School for Wives". This royal favour brought a royal pension to his troupe and the title "Troupe du Roi" ("The King's Troupe"). Molière continued as the official author of court entertainments.


title: Molière

text: Despite the adulation of the court and Parisians, Molière's satires attracted criticism from other circles. For "Tartuffe's" impiety, the Catholic Church in France denounced this study of religious hypocrisy, which was followed by a ban by the Parlement, while "Don Juan" was withdrawn and never restaged by Molière. His hard work in so many theatrical capacities took its toll on his health and, by 1667, he was forced to take a break from the stage. In 1673, during a production of his final play, "The Imaginary Invalid", Molière, who suffered from pulmonary tuberculosis, was seized by a coughing fit and a haemorrhage while playing the hypochondriac Argan. He finished the performance but collapsed again and died a few hours later.


title: Molière

text: Molière was born in Paris shortly before his christening as Jean Poquelin on 15 January 1622. Known as Jean-Baptiste, he was the first son of Jean Poquelin and Marie Cressé, who had married on 27 April 1621. His mother was the daughter of a prosperous bourgeois family. Upon seeing him for the first time, a maid exclaimed, "Le nez!", a reference to the infant's large nose. Molière was called "Le Nez" by his family from that time. He lost his mother when he was 10, and he does not seem to have been particularly close to his father. After his mother's death, he lived with his father above the "Pavillon des Singes" on the rue Saint-Honoré, an affluent area of Paris. It is likely that his education commenced with studies at a Parisian elementary school, followed by his enrolment in the prestigious Jesuit Collège de Clermont, where he completed his studies in a strict academic environment and got a first taste of life on the stage.


title: Molière

text: In 1631, his father Jean Poquelin purchased from the court of Louis XIII the posts of "" ("valet of the King's chamber and keeper of carpets and upholstery"). His son assumed the same posts in 1641. The title required only three months' work and an initial cost of 1,200 livres; the title paid 300 livres a year and provided a number of lucrative contracts. Molière also studied as a provincial lawyer some time around 1642, probably in Orléans, but it is not documented that he ever qualified. So far he had followed his father's plans, which had served him well; he had mingled with nobility at the Collège de Clermont and seemed destined for a career in office.


title: Molière

text: In June 1643, when Molière was 21, he decided to abandon his social class and pursue a career on the stage. Taking leave of his father, he joined the actress Madeleine Béjart, with whom he had crossed paths before, and founded the Illustre Théâtre with 630 livres. They were later joined by Madeleine's brother and sister.


title: Molière

text: The theatre troupe went bankrupt in 1645. Molière had become head of the troupe, due in part, perhaps, to his acting prowess and his legal training. However, the troupe had acquired large debts, mostly for the rent of the theatre (a court for jeu de paume), for which they owed 2000 livres. Historians differ as to whether his father or the lover of a member of his troupe paid his debts; either way, after a 24-hour stint in prison he returned to the acting circuit. It was at this time that he began to use the pseudonym Molière, possibly inspired by a small village of the same name in the Midi near Le Vigan. It was likely that he changed his name to spare his father the shame of having an actor in the family (actors, although no longer vilified by the state under Louis XIV, were still not allowed to be buried in sacred ground).


title: Molière

text: After his imprisonment, he and Madeleine began a theatrical circuit of the provinces with a new theatre troupe; this life was to last about twelve years, during which he initially played in the company of Charles Dufresne, and subsequently created a company of his own, which had sufficient success and obtained the patronage of Philippe I, Duke of Orléans. Few plays survive from this period. The most noteworthy are "L'Étourdi ou les Contretemps" "(The Bungler)" and "Le Docteur Amoureux" "(The Doctor in Love)"; with these two plays, Molière moved away from the heavy influence of the Italian improvisational Commedia dell'arte, and displayed his talent for mockery. In the course of his travels he met Armand, Prince of Conti, the governor of Languedoc, who became his patron, and named his company after him. This friendship later ended when Armand, having contracted syphilis from a courtesan, turned toward religion and joined Molière's enemies in the "Parti des Dévots" and the "Compagnie de Saint Sacrement".


title: Molière

text: In Lyon, Mademoiselle Du Parc, known as Marquise, joined the company. Marquise was courted, in vain, by Pierre Corneille and later became the lover of Jean Racine. Racine offered Molière his tragedy "Théagène et Chariclée" (one of the early works he wrote after he had abandoned his theology studies), but Molière would not perform it, though he encouraged Racine to pursue his artistic career. It is said that soon thereafter Molière became angry with Racine when he was told that he had secretly presented his tragedy to the company of the Hôtel de Bourgogne as well.


title: Molière

text: Molière was forced to reach Paris in stages, staying outside for a few weeks in order to promote himself with society gentlemen and allow his reputation to feed in to Paris. Molière reached Paris in 1658 and performed in front of the King at the Louvre (then for rent as a theatre) in Corneille's tragedy "Nicomède" and in the farce "Le Docteur Amoureux" with some success. He was awarded the title of "Troupe de Monsieur" (Monsieur being the honorific for the king's brother Philippe I, Duke of Orléans). With the help of Monsieur, his company was allowed to share the theatre in the large hall of the Petit-Bourbon with the famous Italian Commedia dell'arte company of Tiberio Fiorillo, famous for his character of Scaramouche. (The two companies performed in the theatre on different nights.) The premiere of Molière's "Les Précieuses Ridicules" ("The Affected Young Ladies") took place at the Petit-Bourbon on 18 November 1659.


title: Molière

text: "Les Précieuses Ridicules" was the first of Molière's many attempts to satirize certain societal mannerisms and affectations then common in France. It is widely accepted that the plot was based on Samuel Chappuzeau's "Le Cercle des Femmes" of 1656. He primarily mocks the Académie Française, a group created by Richelieu under a royal patent to establish the rules of the fledgling French theatre. The Académie preached unity of time, action, and styles of verse. Molière is often associated with the claim that comedy "castigat ridendo mores" or "criticises customs through humour" (a phrase in fact coined by his contemporary Jean de Santeuil and sometimes mistaken for a classical Latin proverb).


title: Molière

text: Despite his own preference for tragedy, which he had tried to further with the Illustre Théâtre, Molière became famous for his farces, which were generally in one act and performed after the tragedy. Some of these farces were only partly written, and were played in the style of Commedia dell'arte with improvisation over a canovaccio (a vague plot outline). He began to write full, five-act comedies in verse ("L'Étourdi" (Lyon, 1654) and "Le dépit amoureux" (Béziers, 1656)), which although immersed in the gags of contemporary Italian troupes, were successful as part of Madeleine Béjart and Molière's plans to win aristocratic patronage and, ultimately, move the troupe to a position in a Paris theater-venue. Later Molière concentrated on writing musical comedies, in which the drama is interrupted by songs and/or dances, but for years the fundamentals of numerous comedy-traditions would remain strong, especially Italian (e.g. the semi-improvisatory style that in the 1750s writers started calling commedia dell'arte), Spanish, and French plays, all also drawing on classical models (e.g. Plautus and Terence), especially the trope of the clever slave/servant.


title: Molière

text: "Les précieuses ridicules" won Molière the attention and the criticism of many, but it was not a popular success. He then asked Fiorillo to teach him the techniques of Commedia dell'arte. His 1660 play "Sganarelle, ou Le Cocu imaginaire" ("The Imaginary Cuckold") seems to be a tribute both to Commedia dell'arte and to his teacher. Its theme of marital relationships dramatizes Molière's pessimistic views on the falsity inherent in human relationships. This view is also evident in his later works and was a source of inspiration for many later authors, including (in a different field and with different effect) Luigi Pirandello. It describes a kind of round dance where two couples believe that each of their partners has been betrayed by the other's and is the first in Molière's "Jealousy series", which includes "Dom Garcie de Navarre", "L'École des maris" and "L'École des femmes".


title: Molière

text: In 1660 the Petit-Bourbon was demolished to make way for the eastern expansion of the Louvre, but Molière's company was allowed to move into the abandoned theatre in the east wing of the Palais-Royal. After a period of refurbishment they opened there on 20 January 1661. In order to please his patron, Monsieur, who was so enthralled with entertainment and art that he was soon excluded from state affairs, Molière wrote and played "Dom Garcie de Navarre ou Le Prince jaloux" ("The Jealous Prince", 4 February 1661), a heroic comedy derived from a work of Cicognini's. Two other comedies of the same year were the successful "L'École des maris" ("The School for Husbands") and "Les Fâcheux" ("The Bores"), subtitled "Comédie faite pour les divertissements du Roi" (a comedy for the King's amusements) because it was performed during a series of parties that Nicolas Fouquet gave in honor of the sovereign. These entertainments led Jean-Baptiste Colbert to demand the arrest of Fouquet for wasting public money, and he was condemned to life imprisonment.


title: Molière

text: On 20 February 1662, Molière married Armande Béjart, whom he believed to be the sister of Madeleine. (She may have been her illegitimate daughter with the Duke of Modena.) The same year, he premiered "L'École des femmes" ("The School for Wives"), subsequently regarded as a masterpiece. It poked fun at the limited education that was given to daughters of rich families and reflected Molière's own marriage. Both this work and his marriage attracted much criticism. The play sparked the protest called the "Quarrel of L'École des femmes". On the artistic side he responded with two lesser-known works: "La Critique de "L'École des femmes"", in which he imagined the spectators of his previous work attending it. The piece mocks the people who had criticised "L'École des femmes" by showing them at dinner after watching the play; it addresses all the criticism raised about the piece by presenting the critics' arguments and then dismissing them. This was the so-called "Guerre comique" ("War of Comedy"), in which the opposite side was taken by writers like Donneau de Visé, Edmé Boursault, and Montfleury.


title: Molière

text: However, more serious opposition was brewing, focusing on Molière's politics and his personal life. A so-called "parti des Dévots" arose in French high society, who protested against Molière's excessive "realism" and irreverence, which were causing some embarrassment. These people accused Molière of having married his daughter. The Prince of Conti, once Molière's friend, joined them. Molière had other enemies, too, among them the Jansenists and some traditional authors. However, the king expressed support for the author, granting him a pension and agreeing to be the godfather of Molière's first son. Boileau also supported him through statements that he included in his "Art poétique".


title: Molière

text: Molière's friendship with Jean-Baptiste Lully influenced him towards writing his "Le Mariage forcé" and "La Princesse d'Élide" (subtitled as "Comédie galante mêlée de musique et d'entrées de ballet"), written for royal ""divertissements"" at the Palace of Versailles.


title: Molière

text: "Tartuffe, ou L'Imposteur" was also performed at Versailles, in 1664, and created the greatest scandal of Molière's artistic career. Its depiction of the hypocrisy of the dominant classes was taken as an outrage and violently contested. It also aroused the wrath of the Jansenists and the play was banned.


title: Molière

text: Molière was always careful not to attack the institution of monarchy. He earned a position as one of the king's favourites and enjoyed his protection from the attacks of the court. The king allegedly suggested that Molière suspend performances of "Tartuffe", and the author rapidly wrote "Dom Juan ou le Festin de Pierre" to replace it. It was a strange work, derived from a work by Tirso de Molina and rendered in a prose that still seems modern today. It describes the story of an atheist who becomes a religious hypocrite and, for this, is punished by God. This work too was quickly suspended. The king, demonstrating his protection once again, became the new official sponsor of Molière's troupe.


title: Molière

text: With music by Lully, Molière presented "L'Amour médecin" ("Love Doctor" or "Medical Love"). Subtitles on this occasion reported that the work was given "par ordre du Roi" (by order of the king) and this work was received much more warmly than its predecessors.


title: Molière

text: In 1666, "Le Misanthrope" was produced. It is now widely regarded as Molière's most refined masterpiece, the one with the highest moral content, but it was little appreciated at its time. It caused the "conversion" of Donneau de Visé, who became fond of his theatre. But it was a commercial flop, forcing Molière to immediately write "Le médecin malgré lui" ("The Doctor Despite Himself"), a satire against the official sciences. This was a success despite a moral treatise by the Prince of Conti, criticizing the theatre in general and Molière in particular. In several of his plays, Molière depicted the physicians of his day as pompous individuals who speak (poor) Latin to impress others with false erudition, and know only clysters and bleedings as (ineffective) remedies.


title: Molière

text: After the "Mélicerte" and the "Pastorale comique", he tried again to perform a revised "Tartuffe" in 1667, this time with the name of "Panulphe" or "L'Imposteur". As soon as the King left Paris for a tour, Lamoignon and the archbishop banned the play. The King finally imposed respect for "Tartuffe" a few years later, after he had gained more power over the clergy.


title: Molière

text: Molière, now ill, wrote less. "Le Sicilien ou L'Amour peintre" was written for festivities at the castle of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, and was followed in 1668 by "Amphitryon", inspired both by Plautus' work of the same name and Jean Rotrou's successful reconfiguration of the drama. With some conjecture, Molière's play can be seen to allude to the love affairs of Louis XIV, then king of France. "George Dandin, ou Le mari confondu" ("The Confounded Husband") was little appreciated, but success returned with "L'Avare" ("The Miser"), now very well known.


title: Molière

text: With Lully he again used music for "Monsieur de Pourceaugnac", for "Les Amants magnifiques", and finally for "Le Bourgeois gentilhomme" ("The Middle Class Gentleman"), another of his masterpieces. It is claimed to be particularly directed against Colbert, the minister who had condemned his old patron Fouquet. The collaboration with Lully ended with a "tragédie et ballet", "Psyché", written in collaboration with Pierre Corneille and Philippe Quinault.


title: Molière

text: In 1672, Madeleine Béjart died, and Molière suffered from this loss and from the worsening of his own illness. Nevertheless, he wrote a successful "Les Fourberies de Scapin" ("Scapin's Deceits"), a farce and a comedy in five acts. His following play, "La Comtesse d'Escarbagnas", is considered one of his lesser works.


title: Molière

text: "Les Femmes savantes" ("The Learned Ladies") of 1672 is considered another of Molière's masterpieces. It was born from the termination of the legal use of music in theatre, since Lully had patented the opera in France (and taken most of the best available singers for his own performances), so Molière had to go back to his traditional genre. It was a great success, and it led to his last work (see below), which is still held in high esteem.


title: Molière

text: In 1661, Molière introduced the "comédies-ballets" in conjunction with "Les Fâcheux". These ballets were a transitional form of dance performance between the court ballets of Louis XIV and the art of professional theatre which was developing in the advent of the use of the proscenium stage. The "comédies-ballets" developed accidentally when Molière was enlisted to mount both a play and a ballet in the honor of Louis XIV and found that he did not have a big enough cast to meet these demands. Molière therefore decided to combine the ballet and the play so that his goal could be met while the performers catch their breath and change costume. The risky move paid off and Molière was asked to produce twelve more "comédies-ballets" before his death. During the "comédies-ballets", Molière collaborated with Pierre Beauchamp. Beauchamp codified the five balletic positions of the feet and arms and was partly responsible for the creation of the Beauchamp-Feuillet dance notation. Molière also collaborated with Jean-Baptiste Lully. Lully was a dancer, choreographer, and composer, whose dominant reign at the Paris Opéra lasted 15 years. Under his command, ballet and opera rightly became professional arts unto themselves. The "comédies-ballets" closely integrated dance with music and the action of the play and the style of continuity distinctly separated these performances from the court ballets of the time; additionally, the "comédies-ballets" demanded that both the dancers and the actors play an important role in advancing the story. Similar to the court ballets, both professionally trained dancers and courtiers socialized together at the "comédies-ballets" - Louis XIV even played the part of an Egyptian in Molière's "Le Mariage forcé" (1664) and also appeared as Neptune and Apollo in his retirement performance of "Les Amants magnifiques" (1670).


title: Molière

text: Molière suffered from pulmonary tuberculosis, possibly contracted when he was imprisoned for debt as a young man. The circumstances of Molière's death, on 17 February 1673, became legend. He collapsed on stage in a fit of coughing and haemorrhaging while performing in the last play he had written, which had lavish ballets performed to the music of Marc-Antoine Charpentier and which ironically was titled "Le Malade imaginaire" ("The Imaginary Invalid"). Molière insisted on completing his performance. Afterwards he collapsed again with another, larger haemorrhage before being taken home, where he died a few hours later, without receiving the last rites because two priests refused to visit him while a third arrived too late. The superstition that green brings bad luck to actors is said to originate from the colour of the clothing he was wearing at the time of his death.


title: Molière

text: Under French law at the time, actors were not allowed to be buried in the sacred ground of a cemetery. However, Molière's widow, Armande, asked the King if her spouse could be granted a normal funeral at night. The King agreed and Molière's body was buried in the part of the cemetery reserved for unbaptised infants.


title: Molière

text: In 1792, his remains were brought to the museum of French monuments, and in 1817, transferred to Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, close to those of La Fontaine.


title: Molière

text: Though conventional thinkers, religious leaders and medical professionals in Molière's time criticised his work, their ideas did not really diminish his widespread success with the public. Other playwrights and companies began to emulate his dramatic style in England and in France. Molière's works continued to garner positive feedback in 18th-century England, but they were not so warmly welcomed in France at this time. However, during the French Restoration of the 19th century, Molière's comedies became popular with both the French public and the critics. Romanticists admired his plays for the unconventional individualism they portrayed. 20th-century scholars have carried on this interest in Molière and his plays and have continued to study a wide array of issues relating to this playwright. Many critics now are shifting their attention from the philosophical, religious and moral implications in his comedies to the study of his comic technique.


title: Molière

text: Molière's works were translated into English prose by John Ozell in 1714, but the first complete version in English, by Baker and Miller in 1739, remained "influential" and was long reprinted. The first to offer full translations of Molière's verse plays such as "Tartuffe" into English verse was Curtis Hidden Page, who produced blank verse versions of three of the plays in his 1908 translation. Since then, notable translations have been made by Richard Wilbur, Donald M. Frame, and many others.


title: Molière

text: In his memoir "A Terrible Liar", actor Hume Cronyn writes that, in 1962, celebrated actor Laurence Olivier criticized Molière. According to Cronyn, he mentioned to Olivier that he (Cronyn) was about to play the title role in "The Miser", and that Olivier then responded "Molière? Funny as a baby's open grave." Cronyn comments on the incident: "You may imagine how that made me feel. Fortunately, he was dead wrong."


title: Molière

text: Molière is considered the creator of modern French comedy. Many words or phrases introduced in Molière's plays are still used in current French:


title: Molière

text: Molière plays a small part in Alexandre Dumas's novel "The Vicomte of Bragelonne", in which he is seen taking inspiration from the muskeeter Porthos for his central character in "Le Bourgeois gentilhomme".


title: Molière

text: Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov wrote a semi-fictitious biography-tribute to Molière, titled "Life of Mr. de Molière". It was written in 1932–1933 and first published 1962.


title: Molière

text: The French 1978 film simply titled "Molière" directed by Ariane Mnouchkine and starring Philippe Caubère presents his complete biography. It was in competition for the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 1978.


title: Molière

text: The 2000 film "Le Roi Danse" ("The King Dances"), in which Molière is played by Tchéky Karyo, shows his collaborations with Jean-Baptiste Lully, as well as his illness and on-stage death.


title: Molière

text: The 2007 French film "Molière" was more loosely based on the life of Molière, starring Romain Duris, Fabrice Luchini and Ludivine Sagnier.


title: Molière

text: David Hirson's play "La Bête", written in the style of Molière, includes the character Elomire as an anagrammatic parody of him.


title: Kabyle people

text: The Kabyle people ( or "Leqbayel" or "Iqbayliyen", ) are a Berber ethnic group indigenous to Kabylia in the north of Algeria, spread across the Atlas Mountains, east of Algiers. They represent the largest Berber-speaking population of Algeria and the second largest in North Africa.


title: Kabyle people

text: Many of the Kabyles have emigrated from Algeria, influenced by factors such as the Algerian Civil War, cultural repression by the central Algerian government, and overall industrial decline. Their diaspora has resulted in Kabyle people living in numerous countries. Large populations of Kabyle people settled in France and, to a lesser extent, Canada (mainly Québec) and United States.


title: Kabyle people

text: The Kabyle people speak Kabyle, a Berber language. Since the Berber Spring of 1980, they have been at the forefront of the fight for the official recognition of Berber languages in Algeria.


title: Kabyle people

text: Between 902 and 909 the Fatimid state had been founded by the Kutama Berbers from Lower Kabylie whose conquest of Ifriqiya resulted in the creation of the Caliphate. After the conquest of Ifriqiya the Kutama Berbers conquered the realm of the Rustamids on the way to Sijilmasa which they also then briefly conquered and where Abdullāh al-Mahdī Billa, who at the time was imprisoned, was then freed and then accepted as the Imam of the movement and installed as the Caliph, becoming the first Caliph and the founder of the ruling dynasty. The historian Heinz Halm describes the early Fatimid state as being "a hegemony of the Kutama and Sanhaja Berbers over the eastern and central Maghrib" and Prof. Dr. Loimeier states that rebellions against the Fatimids were also expressed through protest and opposition to Kutama rule. The weakening of the Abbasids allowed Fatimid-Kutama power to quickly expand and in 959 Ziri ibn Manad, Jawhar the Sicilian and a Kutama army conquered Fez and Sijilmasa in Morocco.


title: Kabyle people

text: The Zirid Dynasty was a family of Sanhadja Berbers with origins in the Kabyle mountains. During their reign they established their rule over the entire Maghreb and also established rule in parts of Andalusia. They also had suzerainty over the Emirate of Sicily through the Kalbite emirs and later assassinated the ruler and took over the island. When the Emirate of Sicily was split into separate taifas, Ayyub Ibn Tamim entered Sicily and united all of the taifas under his rule until he left the island.


title: Kabyle people

text: The Hammadids came to power after declaring their independence from the Zirids. They managed to conquer land in all of the Maghreb region, capturing and possessing significant territories such as: Algiers, Béjaïa, Tripoli, Sfax, Susa, Fez, Ouargla and Sijilmasa. South of Tunisia, they also possessed a number of oases that were the termini of trans-Saharan trade routes.


title: Kabyle people

text: These two Kabyle Kingdoms managed to maintain their independence and participated in notable battles alongside the Regency of Algiers, such as the campaign of Tlemcen and the conquest of Fez. In the early 16th century Sultan Abdelaziz of the Beni Abbes managed to defeat the Ottomans several times, notably in the First Battle of Kalaa of the Beni Abbes.


title: Kabyle people

text: The Kabyle were relatively independent of outside control during the period of Ottoman Empire rule in North Africa. They lived primarily in three different kingdoms: the Kingdom of Kuku, the Kingdom of Ait Abbas, and the principality of Aït Jubar. Kabylia was the last part of northern Algeria to be colonised by the French during the years 1854-1857, despite vigorous resistance. Such leaders as Lalla Fatma n Sumer continued the resistance as late as Mokrani's rebellion in 1871.


title: Kabyle people

text: Kabyle villages were ruled through an indirect administration based on the preservation of Kabyle traditional political institutions such as the village’s assemblies djemaas, this institution played a central role in the Kabyle’s self-governing. The djemaas would resolve disputes between the village’s inhabitants and edict the customary law rules. French officials confiscated much land from the more recalcitrant tribes and granted it to colonists, who became known as "pieds-noirs" During this period, the French carried out many arrests and deported resisters, mainly to New Caledonia in the South Pacific. Due to French colonization, many Kabyle emigrated to other areas inside and outside Algeria. Over time, immigrant workers also began to go to France.


title: Kabyle people

text: In the 1920s, Algerian immigrant workers in France organized the first party promoting Algerians independence. Messali Hadj, Imache Amar, Si Djilani Mohammed, and Belkacem Radjef rapidly built a strong following throughout France and Algeria in the 1930s. They developed militants who became vital to the fighting for an independent Algeria. This became widespread after World War II.


title: Kabyle people

text: Since Algeria gained independence in 1962, tensions have arisen between Kabylie and the central government on several occasions. In July 1962, the FLN (National Liberation Front) was split rather than united. Indeed, many actors who contributed to independence wanted a share of power but the ALN (National Liberation Army) directed by Houari Boumédiène, joined by Ahmed Ben Bella, had the upper hand because of their military forces.


title: Kabyle people

text: In 1963 the FFS party of Hocine Aït Ahmed contested the authority of the FLN, which had promoted itself as the only party in the nation. Aït Ahmed and others considered the central government led by Ben Bella authoritarian, and on September 3, 1963, the FFS (Socialist Forces front) was created by Hocine Aït Ahmed. This party grouped opponents of the regime then in place, and a few days after its proclamation, Ben Bella sent the army into Kabylie to repress the insurrection. Colonel Mohand Oulhadj also took part in the FFS and in the Maquis () because he considered that the "mujahideen" were not treated as they should be. In the beginning, the FFS wanted to negotiate with the government but since no agreement was reached, the maquis took up arms and swore not to give them up as long as democratic principles and justice were a part of the system. But after Mohand Oulhadj's defection, Aït Ahmed could barely sustain the movement and after the FLN congress on April 16, 1964, which reinforced the government's legitimacy, he was arrested in October 1964. As a consequence, the insurrection was a failure in 1965 because it was hugely repressed by the forces of the ALN, under Houari Boumédiène. In 1965 Aït Ahmed was sentenced to death, but later pardoned by Ben Bella. Approximately 400 deaths were counted amongst the maquis.


title: Kabyle people

text: In 1980, protesters mounted several months of demonstrations in Kabylie demanding the recognition of Berber as an official language; this period has been called the Berber Spring. In 1994–1995, the Kabyle conducted a school boycott, termed the "strike of the school bag". In June and July 1998, they protested, in events that turned violent, after the assassination of singer Matoub Lounès and passage of a law requiring use of the Arabic language in all fields.


title: Kabyle people

text: In the months following April 2001 (called the Black Spring), major riots among the Kabyle took place following the killing of Masinissa Guermah, a young Kabyle, by gendarmes. At the same time, organized activism produced the "Arouch", and neo-traditional local councils. The protests gradually decreased after the Kabyle won some concessions from President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.


title: Kabyle people

text: On 6 January 2016, Tamazight was officially recognized in Algeria's constitution as a language equal to Arabic.


title: Kabyle people

text: The geography of the Kabyle region played an important role in the people's history. The difficult mountainous landscape of the Tizi Ouzou and Bejaia provinces served as a refuge, to which most of the Kabyle people retreated when under pressure or occupation. They were able to preserve their cultural heritage in such isolation from other cultural influences.


title: Kabyle people

text: The area supported local dynasties (Numidia, Fatimids in the Kutama periods, Zirids, Hammadids, and Hafsids of Bejaïa) or Algerian modern nationalism, and the war of independence. The region was repeatedly occupied by various conquerors. Romans and Byzantines controlled the main road and valley during the period of antiquity and avoided the mountains (Mont ferratus). During the spread of Islam, Arabs controlled plains but not all the countryside (they were called "el aadua": enemy by the Kabyle).


title: Kabyle people

text: The Regency of Algiers, under Ottoman influence, tried to have indirect influence over the people (makhzen tribes of Amraoua, and marabout).


title: Kabyle people

text: Algerian provinces with significant Kabyle-speaking populations include Tizi Ouzou, Béjaïa and Bouira, where they are a majority, as well as Boumerdes, Setif, Bordj Bou Arreridj, and Jijel. Algiers also has a significant Kabyle population, where they make up more than half of the capital's population.


title: Kabyle people

text: The Kabyle region is referred to as "Al Qabayel" ("tribes") by the Arabic-speaking population and as "Kabylie" in French. Its indigenous inhabitants call it "Tamurt Idurar" ("Land of Mountains") or "Tamurt n Iqbayliyen"/"Tamurt n Iqbayliyen" ("Land of the Kabyle"). It is part of the Atlas Mountains and is located at the edge of the Mediterranean.


title: Kabyle people

text: The Kabyle ethnic group speak Kabyle, a Berber language of the Afro-Asiatic family. As second and third languages, many people speak Algerian Arabic and French.


title: Kabyle people

text: During the first centuries of their history, Kabyles used the Tifinagh writing system. Since the beginning of the 19th century, and under French influence, Kabyle intellectuals began to use the Latin script. It is the basis for the modern Berber Latin alphabet.


title: Kabyle people

text: After the independence of Algeria, some Kabyle activists tried to revive the Old Tifinagh alphabet. This new version of Tifinagh has been called Neo-Tifinagh, but its use remains limited to logos. Kabyle literature has continued to be written in the Latin script.


title: Kabyle people

text: The Kabyle people are mainly Muslim, with a small Christian minority. Many "Zawaya" exist all over the region; the Rahmaniyya is the most prolific.


title: Kabyle people

text: Catholics of Kabyle background generally live in France. Recently, the Protestant community has had significant growth, particularly among Evangelical denominations.


title: Kabyle people

text: The traditional economy of the area is based on arboriculture (orchards and olive trees) and on the craft industry (tapestry or pottery). Mountain and hill farming is gradually giving way to local industry (textile and agro-alimentary). In the middle of the 20th century, with the influence and funding by the Kabyle diaspora, many industries were developed in this region. It has become the second most important industrial region in the country after Algiers.


title: Kabyle people

text: The Kabyle have been fierce activists in promoting the cause of Berber ("Amazigh") identity. The movement has three groups: those Kabyle who identify as part of a larger Berber nation (Berberists); those who identify as part of the Algerian nation (known as "Algerianists", some view Algeria as an essentially Berber nation); and those who consider the Kabyle to be a distinct nation separate from (but akin to) other Berber peoples (known as Kabylists).


title: Kabyle people

text: For historical and economic reasons, many Kabyles have emigrated to France, both for work and to escape political persecution. They now number around 1 million people. Some notable French people are of full or partial Kabyle descent.


title: Ricky Steamboat

text: Richard Henry Blood Sr. (born February 28, 1953), better known by his ring name Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat, is an American retired professional wrestler best known for his work with the American Wrestling Association (AWA), Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP), World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE).


title: Ricky Steamboat

text: In JCP and WCW, he was a one-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion, a four-time United States Heavyweight Champion, a four-time World Television Champion, a twelve-time World Tag Team Champion (eight-time under the WCW banner, one-time (though unofficial) under the NWA banner and three-time under the Mid-Atlantic banner) and a two-time Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Champion. In the WWF/E, Steamboat was a one-time Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2009.


title: Ricky Steamboat

text: Of Japanese American descent, Blood was born in West Point, New York on February 28, 1953. He went to high school in New York and graduated in 1971 from Boca Ciega High School in Gulfport, Florida, where he was on the school wrestling team. He was a two-time New York State wrestling qualifier and a Florida state champion.


title: Ricky Steamboat

text: Blood debuted in 1976 as a babyface in the American Wrestling Association (AWA) under his real name "Rick Blood".


title: Ricky Steamboat

text: He went from the AWA to Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF). Before his debut at CWF, Eddie Graham gave him the ring name "Ricky Steamboat" based on his resemblance to Hawaiian wrestler Sammy Steamboat. According to Steamboat, Graham thought "Rick Blood" was a good name for a heel, but not a face.


title: Ricky Steamboat

text: In 1977, Steamboat entered the National Wrestling Alliance-sanctioned Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP) (which ran under the concurrent brand names "Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling" and "Wide World Wrestling"—later "World Wide Wrestling"—as well as airing syndicated TV programs under those respective names), where he would remain for the next eight years of his career. Steamboat, who had been brought in by JCP booker George Scott on the recommendation of Wahoo McDaniel, was initially billed as a babyface protege of Wahoo and barely spoke above whispers in interviews. Matching him with his brash young counterpart, Ric Flair, was a natural fit. Steamboat was doing an interview on the syndicated "Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling" when Flair, then Mid-Atlantic television champion, began goading him. Steamboat knocked Flair out with a backhand chop to set up a match between the two. Steamboat's star-making performance came when he pinned Flair after a double thrust off the top rope to win the NWA Mid-Atlantic Television Championship at the WRAL-TV studios in Raleigh, North Carolina.


title: Ricky Steamboat

text: Over the next eight years in JCP, Steamboat captured the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship three times and the NWA World Tag Team Championship six times (once with Paul Jones and five times with Jay Youngblood). He also held the NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship singles crown twice and wore the NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Championship straps four times (three times with Paul Jones, once with Jay Youngblood). He also won the Television title (which by that point had been renamed NWA World Television Championship) a second time.


title: Ricky Steamboat

text: Notable moments involving Steamboat's time in the Mid-Atlantic territory include: the day Flair dragged his face around the television studio, causing facial scarring, and Steamboat retaliating the following week by ripping Flair's expensive suit to shreds (an angle that would be reworked several times involving other wrestlers in the years that followed); when longtime tag team partner Jones turned heel on Steamboat at the end of a two-ring battle royal; Steamboat and Youngblood painting yellow streaks down the backs of Paul Jones and Baron von Raschke in order to embarrass them into defending the World Tag Team titles against the two; Steamboat and Youngblood's top drawing feud with Sgt. Slaughter and Don Kernodle; Steamboat and Youngblood being turned on by their friends Jack and Jerry Brisco; Steamboat in a shocking (and emotional) feud against former mentor McDaniel; and his last great series in the territory, feuding with Tully Blanchard over the NWA TV title. After having creative differences with JCP booker Dusty Rhodes, Steamboat left the NWA.


title: Ricky Steamboat

text: In 1985, Steamboat was offered a contract by Vince McMahon and he joined the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). Shortly after his debut (where he defeated Steve Lombardi on "Championship Wrestling"), Steamboat was given the gimmick of a babyface nicknamed "the Dragon"; Steamboat's jacket-and-trunks attire was replaced by a "keikogi" and long tights. Steamboat's mother is Japanese American, hence his Asian features which were crucial for his "Dragon" gimmick. Steamboat kept the nickname and gimmick for the remainder of his career.


title: Ricky Steamboat

text: He appeared at the inaugural WrestleMania where he defeated Matt Borne in the third match on the card. On the September 14, 1985 edition of "Championship Wrestling", Steamboat defeated Mr. Fuji, but after his victory he was attacked by Fuji's protege Don Muraco, pitting Steamboat in a feud against Muraco and Fuji. During a televised episode of WWF Championship Wrestling, Steamboat and Muraco were scheduled for a match that never officially started after Muraco jumped Steamboat before the bell. Following the beat down, Muraco and Fuji then used Steamboat's karate black belt to hang him outside the ring from the top rope before Steamboat was finally saved by Tito Santana and the Junkyard Dog. On the November 2 "Saturday Night's Main Event III", he defeated Fuji in a kung fu challenge. On the January 4, 1986 "Saturday Night's Main Event IV", his intense feud with Muraco ended after he and the JYD beat Muraco and Fuji in a tag team match.


title: Ricky Steamboat

text: In the opening round at WWF The Wrestling Classic, Steamboat faced Davey Boy Smith in a rare match pitting two fan favorites against each other. The match moved back and forth until Smith landed in the ropes trying to attack Steamboat, but Steamboat sidestepped and Smith injured his groin and was unable to continue, so Steamboat was awarded the match by forfeit. He then faced off against Randy Savage in the quarterfinals. The referee was distracted by Miss Elizabeth as Savage took advantage and pulled out brass knuckles from his tights and hit Steamboat before pinning him to win the match.


title: Ricky Steamboat

text: After a victory over Hercules Hernandez at the Los Angeles portion of WrestleMania 2, Steamboat began his next feud with Jake "The Snake" Roberts. Their feud began when Roberts attacked him before their match on the May 3 "Saturday Night's Main Event VI", which did not occur due to Roberts assaulting Steamboat. Roberts was initially reluctant to deliver the DDT on the concrete floor due to his fear that Steamboat would not be able to stop his head from hitting the floor, which, on this particular occasion, was not covered with protective mats. Vince McMahon and booker George Scott were adamant that the spot take place outside the ring. Only after assurances by Steamboat that he would protect himself did Roberts agree to it. However, Roberts' fears came true and Steamboat was legitimately knocked out when his forehead hit the concrete. Roberts later described the sound as like a watermelon bursting. They later battled each other in a Snake Pit match (no DQ) in front of 74,000 fans at "The Big Event" in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, which Steamboat won with a small package despite Roberts dominating virtually the entire match to that point. Their feud finally ended on the October 4 "Saturday Night's Main Event VII", when Steamboat defeated Roberts in their Snake Pit rematch. Following the match, Roberts continued to attack Steamboat and was about to place his snake Damien on him, but Steamboat took his crocodile out of his bag and scared Roberts from the ring.


title: Ricky Steamboat

text: On the November 22, 1986 edition of "Superstars", Steamboat got a shot at the Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship against Macho Man Randy Savage. Steamboat lost the match by countout but after the match, Savage continued to assault him and injured Steamboat's larynx (kayfabe) with the ring bell, beginning an angle between the two. On the January 3, 1987 "Saturday Night's Main Event IX", Steamboat returned from his injury and prevented Savage from attacking George Steele like he had done to Steamboat six weeks prior. At WrestleMania III, Steamboat defeated Savage for the Intercontinental Championship. The highly influential match was considered an instant classic by both fans and critics and was named 1987's Match of the Year by both "Pro Wrestling Illustrated" and the "Wrestling Observer".


title: Ricky Steamboat

text: Several weeks after winning the Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship, Steamboat asked WWF owner Vince McMahon for some time off to be with his wife Bonnie, who was expecting the birth of their first son, Richard, Jr. This did not sit well with WWF management as he had been groomed to become a long-term champion. The decision was made by WWF management to punish Steamboat by having him initially drop the title to Butch Reed, but Reed did not show up that night, so he dropped to The Honky Tonk Man on the June 13 edition of "Superstars"; his son was born a month later. Steamboat came back in time for the Survivor Series in November 1987. WWF management was still bitter over his impromptu sabbatical from his first WWF run, however, and he was not pushed or given any meaningful feuds. (Steamboat himself has implied in interviews that he was being punished for one-upping the Hogan-Andre main event at WrestleMania III.) After defeating Ravishing Rick Rude by disqualification at 1988 Royal Rumble, Steamboat was entered into the tournament for the vacant WWF World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania IV in March 1988. On WWF television prior to the match, Steamboat appeared in a vignette where he stated that he hoped Randy Savage would win his first round match, thus setting up a rematch of last year's WrestleMania match and "one more classic confrontation". However, Steamboat would lose to his first round opponent Greg "The Hammer" Valentine. Although television segments were shot immediately after WrestleMania IV that made it appear that Steamboat would be facing Valentine in a series of matches, Steamboat left the WWF shortly thereafter.


title: Ricky Steamboat

text: Steamboat made his comeback to wrestling in January 1989 and returned to the NWA (specifically, NWA affiliate World Championship Wrestling) on the January 21, 1989 edition of "World Championship Wrestling" (it would later become the name of the promotion) as a surprise tag team partner of "Hot Stuff" Eddie Gilbert against NWA World Champion, Ric Flair and Barry Windham in a tag team match that saw Steamboat pin Flair. This earned him a shot at the title at Chi-Town Rumble where Steamboat defeated Flair in the main event for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. He was also the last NWA World Champion to defend the belt in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) in a match against Tiger Mask II. After Steamboat retained the NWA title against Flair in a controversial ending on the April 2 "", Flair and Steamboat would then face each other in their final rematch at WrestleWar in May, where Steamboat dropped the title to Flair. All three of Steamboat's matches with Flair were given 5 or more stars by "Wrestling Observer Newsletter" publisher Dave Meltzer.


title: Ricky Steamboat

text: After losing the title, Steamboat remained the number one contender to the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, a fact that irked fellow babyface U.S. Champion Lex Luger. This dispute culminated in Luger attacking Steamboat on the June 14 "", thus turning heel. Luger stood over the fallen Steamboat and arrogantly said, "There lays your number one contender!" Steamboat then demanded a no disqualification match against Luger at The Great American Bash for the title, but just before the bell Luger demanded the clause be dropped or there would not be a match. Steamboat lost the match by disqualification after hitting Luger with a chair. Due to a contract dispute this would be Steamboat's last match of note in WCW in 1989.


title: Ricky Steamboat

text: After leaving the NWA, Steamboat underwent surgery on his injured foot. Fully recovered, he returned to the ring in February 1990 for the North Carolina-based North American Wrestling Association (later renamed South Atlantic Pro Wrestling in July 1990), where he feuded with Robert Fuller over the NAWA/SAPW Heavyweight Championship, until leaving the promotion in October 1990.


title: Ricky Steamboat

text: In September and October 1990, he toured with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he faced high-profile stars like Hiroshi Hase and The Great Muta and teamed up with the likes of Owen Hart, Pegasus Kid, Riki Choshu, Shinya Hashimoto, and Miguel Perez, Jr.


title: Ricky Steamboat

text: In 1991, Steamboat would return to the World Wrestling Federation after signing a two-year contract. Billed simply as The Dragon, a series of vignettes began airing in February 1991 that featured him breathing fire. Despite his previous success in the WWF as a one-time Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion, Steamboat was mainly treated as a brand-new wrestler, save for the announcers occasionally making reference to his WrestleMania III match and former title reign. Steamboat's first match came on a "Superstars" taping on March 11 in Pensacola, FL when he defeated Jeff Sword. His first televised match was on the March 30 edition of "Superstars" when he defeated the Brooklyn Brawler with his signature diving crossbody. On subsequent episodes of "Superstars" and "Wrestling Challenge", Steamboat would go on to win numerous squash matches. He would also be victorious on televised Madison Square Garden events, defeating the likes of Haku, Demolition Smash, Paul Roma, Col. Mustafa, Pat Tanaka, and The Warlord.


title: Ricky Steamboat

text: Steamboat's only pay per view appearance during his second WWF tenure was at SummerSlam. Teaming with Kerry Von Erich and Davey Boy Smith against the Warlord, Hercules, and Paul Roma, Steamboat got the victory for his team by pinning Roma.


title: Ricky Steamboat

text: The Dragon was undefeated on television during his 1991 run and lost only one match, a house show bout against Skinner. The day after his dark match loss, Steamboat gave his notice to WWF management and then quit the company shortly thereafter. He had been booked for the Survivor Series, teaming with Jim Neidhart (who would be replaced by Sgt. Slaughter due to injury), Jim Duggan, and Kerry Von Erich against Col. Mustafa, Skinner, The Berzerker, and Big Bully Busick (who would be replaced by Hercules after Busick left the WWF), but he left before the event and was replaced by Tito Santana. It is rumored that Steamboat was booked to be squashed by The Undertaker on "Superstars" to build Undertaker for his impending WWF World Heavyweight Championship match against Hulk Hogan, and that Steamboat chose to quit the WWF rather than lose to Undertaker. Undertaker instead squashed Kerry Von Erich on "Wrestling Challenge" weeks prior to Survivor Series.


title: Ricky Steamboat

text: During his time in the WWF, Steamboat asked Pat Patterson to work as a heel. Steamboat proposed to fight as a masked heel until somebody would remove his mask, but Patterson said he was a consummate babyface.


title: Ricky Steamboat

text: On the November 19 "Clash of the Champions XVII", Steamboat returned to World Championship Wrestling (WCW) as the surprise tag team partner of Dustin Rhodes, substituting for an injured Barry Windham. Steamboat and Rhodes defeated the Enforcers (Arn Anderson and Larry Zbyszko) to win the World Tag Team Championship, Steamboat's first World Tag Team Title under the WCW banner. They lost the titles to Arn Anderson and his new partner Bobby Eaton at a live event in January 1992. Steamboat began feuding with the Dangerous Alliance at this point, facing them in a critically acclaimed WarGames match at WrestleWar, which received a 5-star rating from Dave Meltzer. He unsuccessfully challenged Dangerous Alliance member and United States Heavyweight Champion Rick Rude for the title at SuperBrawl II. Their rivalry culminated in a non-title Iron Man Challenge at Beach Blast, which Steamboat won.


title: Ricky Steamboat

text: On the September 2, 1992 "", Steamboat defeated "Stunning" Steve Austin to win his first Television Championship under the WCW banner. He lost the title to Scott Steiner at a television taping on September 29. He however, won both his first NWA World Tag Team Championship (unrecognized by NWA) and his second WCW World Tag Team Title with Shane Douglas (NWA and WCW titles were unified) on the November 18 "Clash of the Champions XXI" by defeating Barry Windham and Dustin Rhodes. On the March 27, 1993 edition of "Power Hour", they lost the NWA and WCW titles to The Hollywood Blonds (Brian Pillman and Steve Austin). On the August 18 "Clash of the Champions XXIV", he defeated Paul Orndorff to win his second and final WCW World Television Championship. In September 1993, at Fall Brawl, Steamboat's TV title reign was ended when he lost to Lord Steven Regal. At Starrcade, the two fought in a rematch for the title which resulted in a time-limit draw.


title: Ricky Steamboat

text: Heading into 1994, Steamboat engaged in one last feud over the WCW World Heavyweight Championship with longtime rival Ric Flair, which culminated in a match in the main event of Spring Stampede where the title was briefly held up due to both men's shoulders being pinned at the same time. On the May 14 edition of "Saturday Night", Flair defeated Steamboat to reclaim possession of the title. Their final singles match was on "Main Event" in July which ended on a disqualification when Steve Austin interfered. Steamboat and Flair's last encounter was in a tag team match on the July 31 edition of "Main Event" where Steamboat teamed with Sting against Ric Flair and Steve Austin.


title: Ricky Steamboat

text: He then feuded with US Champion "Stunning" Steve Austin and earned a US title shot at Bash at the Beach, but lost. On the August 24 "Clash of the Champions XXVIII", he got a rematch against Austin where Steamboat hurt his back, but managed to pin Austin for the United States Heavyweight Championship. However, he had to give up the belt due to the injury at Fall Brawl; he was replaced by "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, who made his WCW debut after Duggan left the WWF. The match was started, Duggan defeated Austin to become new United States Heavyweight Champion. In September 1994, Steamboat was fired by WCW President Eric Bischoff via Federal Express package (while injured), thus ending a nearly two decade relationship with the Crockett/Turner wrestling organization.


title: Ricky Steamboat

text: After an eight-year retirement, Steamboat played an important role in the genesis of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where he was the referee of the first Gauntlet for the Gold for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. He was also the referee for the four-way double-elimination match to crown the first holder of the TNA X Division Championship. He has also made appearances for Ring of Honor where he refereed the first defense of the ROH Pure Wrestling Championship. In 2004, he engaged in a series of confrontations with CM Punk over Punk's arrogance in matches Steamboat refereed and then became CM Punk's inspiration to become the better person Steamboat knew he could be. The latter part of 2004 saw Steamboat feud with Mick Foley over which style of wrestling was superior, pure wrestling or hardcore wrestling. The two of them had many confrontations and managed teams to face one another, but never had a match against each other. Steamboat's last ROH appearance was at Final Battle 2004 where he and Foley finally made peace.


title: Ricky Steamboat

text: In early 2005, Steamboat returned to WWE as a producer and was introduced as a WWE Legend on the "Homecoming" edition of "Raw" in October 2005. In early 2006, Ricky Steamboat told WWE management that he would like to come out of retirement at WrestleMania 22 and work a match with Ric Flair, but the idea was nixed. Ricky Steamboat has been the special referee in main event matches between John Cena, Triple H, and/or Edge at WWE house shows. In 2006 at the Raw SummerSlam Tour in Sydney, Australia, he was a referee for a match between Cena and Edge for the WWE Championship. He also refereed another title match in July 2007 between John Cena and Randy Orton in Anaheim, California. On April 1, 2007, he made an appearance at WrestleMania 23 while various other legends were having a small dance party in the background. He also briefly appeared at the pay-per-view, being recognized as a former Intercontinental Champion. He made another appearance on WWE television during Ric Flair's farewell on the March 31, 2008 edition of "Raw".


title: Ricky Steamboat

text: He appeared on the February 23 edition of "Raw", after being named one of the members of the 2009 WWE Hall of Fame class. However, Steamboat was attacked by Chris Jericho, who began to feud with the Hall of Famers. In his first match in nearly 15 years, Steamboat returned to the ring alongside Piper and Snuka to take on Jericho at WrestleMania 25 on April 5, 2009. While both Snuka and Piper were swiftly eliminated during the match, Steamboat held his own against Jericho, performing his legendary diving crossbody and even a plancha, although Jericho would eventually go on to win the match. After receiving good reviews for his performance, Steamboat was scheduled to face Jericho in another match at Backlash. However, he lost the match after submitting to the Walls of Jericho. From June to August 2009, Steamboat worked in house shows against Chris Jericho, Drew McIntrye, and Sheamus.


title: Ricky Steamboat

text: Steamboat's last match was teaming with his son Richie, as they defeated Trent Barretta and Caylen Croft at Florida Championship Wrestling's Father's Day Salute on June 18, 2010.


title: Ricky Steamboat

text: On June 28, 2010, he returned to "WWE Raw" to promote his new DVD only to be attacked and injured by The Nexus. On WWE's website the following day, it was announced that in storyline, Steamboat suffered injuries from the attack. However, on July 1, WWE's website announced that the prior night, Steamboat felt legitimate pain in his neck and shoulders and as a result, was now legitimately hospitalized. This caused WWE to take down any storyline information related to that attack.


title: Ricky Steamboat

text: Steamboat worked as an NXT trainer and in the talent relations department with Triple H until the developmental release of his son, Richie Steamboat, in 2013. He later moved on to being an Ambassador.


title: Ricky Steamboat

text: On the February 25, 2019 episode of "WWE Raw", Steamboat along with special guests Shawn Michaels, Kurt Angle and Sting appeared during the main event segment to celebrate the 70th birthday of Ric Flair. However, Flair would be attacked by Batista instead of appearing on screen.


title: Ricky Steamboat

text: In his first televised appearance on TBS since 1994, Steamboat was the guest timekeeper on the August 17, 2022 edition of "AEW Dynamite.


title: Ricky Steamboat

text: Steamboat returned to the ring on November 27, 2022 at age 69 for the first time since his last match in 2010. He teamed with FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood) as they defeated Nick Aldis, Jay Lethal and Brock Anderson (son of Arn Anderson) at Big Time Wrestling Return of the Dragon in Raleigh, North Carolina.


title: Ricky Steamboat

text: Steamboat appears in 14 wrestling video games, he made his video game debut in "WCW: World Championship Wrestling" in 1989. He later appeared in "WCW SuperBrawl Wrestling" in 1994 and later "Legends of Wrestling" in 2001, "Legends of Wrestling II" in 2002 and "" in 2004. He made his WWE video game debut in "WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2011" in 2010, and has since appeared in "WWE All Stars", "WWE '12", "WWE 2K14", "WWE 2K16" (two versions; one DLC), "WWE 2K17" and "WWE 2K18" as an unlockable character, "WWE 2K19" as DLC in the game's Ric Flair-themed "Wooooo!" Collector's edition and in WWE 2K20 as an unlockable character.


title: Ricky Steamboat

text: Blood is the older brother of professional wrestler Vic Steamboat. His son, Richard Jr. (born 1987), was a wrestler under the ring name Richie Steamboat.


title: Ad hoc

text: Ad hoc is a Latin phrase meaning literally 'to this'. In English, it typically signifies a solution for a specific purpose, problem, or task rather than a generalized solution adaptable to collateral instances. (Compare with "a priori".)


title: Ad hoc

text: Common examples are ad hoc committees and commissions created at the national or international level for a specific task. In other fields, the term could refer to, for example, a military unit created under special circumstances (see "task force"), a handcrafted network protocol (e.g., ad hoc network), a temporary banding together of geographically-linked franchise locations (of a given national brand) to issue advertising coupons, or a purpose-specific equation.


title: Ad hoc

text: Ad hoc can also be an adjective describing the temporary, provisional, or improvised methods to deal with a particular problem, the tendency of which has given rise to the noun "adhocism".