Ephedra
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Type | Public (NYSE: DIS) Dow Jones Industrial Average Component |
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Industry | Conglomerate |
Founded | Los Angeles, California, U.S..[1] (October 16, 1923) |
Founder(s) | Walt and Roy Disney |
Headquarters | Burbank, California, U.S. |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Robert Iger (President & CEO) John E. Pepper, Jr. (Chairman) Steve Jobs (Shareholder & Board Member) Anne Sweeney (President, Disney-ABC Television Group; Co-Chair, Disney Media Networks) |
Revenue | ▲ US$36.1 Billion (FY 2009)[2] |
Operating income | ▲ US$5.78 Billion (FY 2009)[2] |
Net income | ▲ US$3.31 Billion (FY 2009)[2] |
Total assets | ▲ US$63.1 Billion (FY 2009)[3] |
Total equity | ▲ US$33.7 Billion (FY 2009)[3] |
Employees | 150,000 (2008)[4] |
Divisions | Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group Disney Music Group Disney-ABC Television Group Walt Disney Theatrical Radio Disney ESPN Inc. (majority owner) Disney Interactive Media Group Disney Consumer Products Walt Disney Parks and Resorts |
Website | Disney.com |
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This section requires expansion. |
Posted in Entertainment, Florida, Orlando, The Walt Disney Company, victims
Bewitched | |
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Series title screen |
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Genre | Sitcom |
Created by | Sol Saks |
Starring | Elizabeth Montgomery Dick York Dick Sargent Agnes Moorehead David White |
Theme music composer | Howard Greenfield Jack Keller |
Composer(s) | Warren Barker |
Country of origin | United States |
Language(s) | English |
No. of seasons | 8 |
No. of episodes | 254 (List of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producer(s) | Harry Ackerman |
Producer(s) | Danny Arnold Jerry Davis William Froug William Asher |
Camera setup | Single-camera |
Running time | approx. 25 minutes |
Production company(s) | Screen Gems Ashmont Productions (1971–72) |
Distributor | Columbia Pictures Television (1974-1984), Colex Enterprises (1984-1988), The Program Exchange (1980-1990, 2010-present), Columbia TriStar Domestic Television (1994-2002), Sony Pictures Television (2002-present) |
Broadcast | |
Original channel | ABC |
Picture format | Black-and-white (1964–66) Color (1966–72) |
Audio format | Monaural |
Original run | September 17, 1964 | – July 1, 1972
Chronology | |
Followed by | Tabitha |
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Thanks to witchcraft, a number of interesting characters were seen, including Benjamin Franklin, Franklin Pierce, George and Martha Washington, Paul Revere, Sigmund Freud, Julius Caesar, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, Leonardo da Vinci, Napoleon, King Henry VIII, Cleopatra, Santa Claus, Jack of Jack and the Beanstalk, Mother Goose, The Artful Dodger, Hansel and Gretel, The Tooth Fairy, the Loch Ness Monster, a Leprechaun, Prince Charming, Sleeping Beauty, Willie Mays (playing himself), and Boyce and Hart (playing themselves).
Character | Actor(s) | No. of episodes |
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Main Characters | ||
Samantha Stephens | Elizabeth Montgomery | 254 |
Darrin Stephens | Dick York (1964–1969) Dick Sargent (1969–1972) |
156 (York) 84 (Sargent) |
Endora | Agnes Moorehead | 147 |
Larry Tate | David White | 166 |
Recurring Characters | ||
Tabitha Stephens | Cynthia Black (1966) Heidi and Laura Gentry (1966) Tamar and Julie Young (1966) Diane Murphy (1966–1968) Erin Murphy (1966–1972) |
116 |
Gladys Kravitz | Alice Pearce (1964–1966) Sandra Gould (1966–1971) |
57 |
Abner Kravitz | George Tobias (1964–1971) | 55 |
Louise Tate | Irene Vernon (1964–1966) Kasey Rogers (1966–1972) |
46 |
Aunt Clara | Marion Lorne (1964–1968) | 28 |
Serena | Elizabeth Montgomery (1966–1972) (as “Pandora Spocks“) |
24 |
Adam Stephens | unknown (1969–1970) Greg and David Lawrence (1970–1972) |
24 |
Phyllis Stephens | Mabel Albertson (1964–1971) | 19 |
Dr. Bombay | Bernard Fox (1967–1972) | 18 |
Esmeralda | Alice Ghostley (1969–1972) | 15 |
Frank Stephens | Robert F. Simon (1964–67, 1971) Roy Roberts (1967–1970) |
13 |
Maurice | Maurice Evans | 12 |
Uncle Arthur | Paul Lynde (1965–1971) | 10 |
The series is noted for having a number of major cast changes, often due to illness or death of the actors. Most notably, the actor playing Darrin was quietly replaced mid-series. The only surviving members of the regular cast are Bernard Fox and the actors who played the Stephens children. The various changes during the series and untimely deaths of several of the regular actors in the decades following its cancellation produced a mythology that the series was cursed. However, a study of the average age of death of the actors, many of whom were already past middle aged during the show’s production, reveals no unusual pattern.[4]
Dick York was unable to continue his role as Darrin due to a severe back condition (the result of an accident during the filming of They Came To Cordura in 1959). York’s disability caused ongoing shooting delays and script rewrites. After collapsing on the set and being rushed to the hospital in January 1969, York left the show and the role went to Dick Sargent that same month.[5]
Season | Rank (rating) |
1) 1964–65 | # 2 (31.0) |
2) 1965–66 | # 7 (25.9) |
3) 1966–67 | # 8 (23.4) |
4) 1967–68 | # 11 (23.5) |
5) 1968–69 | # 12 (23.3) |
6) 1969–70 | # 25 (20.6) |
7) 1970–71 | # 34 (15.0) |
8) 1971–72 | # 72 (10.0) |
Inspirations for this series in which many similarities can be seen were the 1942 film I Married a Witch (from Thorne Smith‘s unfinished novel The Passionate Witch and Me), and the John Van Druten Broadway play Bell, Book and Candle that was adapted into a 1958 movie.
Sol Saks, who received credit as the creator of the show, wrote the pilot of Bewitched, although he was not involved with the show after the pilot. Initially, Danny Arnold, who helped develop the style and tone of the series as well as some of the supporting characters who did not appear in the pilot, like Larry Tate and the Kravitzes, produced and headed writing of the series. Arnold, who wrote on McHale’s Navy and other shows, thought of Bewitched essentially as a romantic comedy about a mixed marriage; his episodes kept the magic element to a minimum. One or two magical acts drove the plot, but Samantha often solved problems without magic. Many of the first season’s episodes were allegorical, using supernatural situations as metaphors for the problems any young couple would face. Arnold stated that the two main themes of the series were the conflict between a powerful woman and a husband who cannot deal with that power, and the anger of a bride’s mother at seeing her daughter marry beneath her. Though the show was a hit right from the beginning, finishing its first year as the number 2 show in the United States, ABC wanted more magic and more farcical plots, causing battles between Arnold and the network.
Arnold left the show after the first season, leaving producing duties to his friend Jerry Davis, who had already produced some of the first season’s episodes (though Arnold was still supervising the writing). The second season was produced by Davis and with Bernard Slade as head writer, with mistaken identity and farce becoming a more prevalent element, but still included a number of more low-key episodes where the magic element was not front and center.
Posted in Bewitched, Entertainment, victims
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This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2007) (Find sources: The Magnificent Seven – news, books, scholar) |
The Magnificent Seven | |
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Original film poster |
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Directed by | John Sturges |
Produced by | John Sturges |
Written by | William Roberts Walter Newman (uncredited) Walter Bernstein (uncredited) |
Starring | Yul Brynner Eli Wallach Steve McQueen Charles Bronson Robert Vaughn James Coburn Horst Buchholz Brad Dexter |
Music by | Elmer Bernstein |
Cinematography | Charles Lang |
Editing by | Ferris Webster |
Studio | The Mirisch Company |
Distributed by | United Artists |
Release date(s) | United States: October 23, 1960 |
Running time | 128 min. |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $3,000,000 |
Followed by | Return of the Seven (1966) |
The Magnificent Seven is a 1960 American western film directed by John Sturges about a group of hired gunmen protecting a Mexican village from bandits.
It is a remake of Akira Kurosawa‘s 1954 film, Seven Samurai.
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//
A Mexican village is periodically raided by bandits led by Calvera (Eli Wallach). As he and his men ride away from their latest visit, Calvera promises to return.
Desperate, the village leaders travel to a border town to buy guns to defend themselves. They approach a veteran gunslinger, Chris (Yul Brynner). He tells them guns alone will not do them any good; they are farmers, not fighters. They ask him to lead them but Chris rejects them, telling them a single man is not enough. They keep asking and he eventually gives in. He manages to recruit men even though the pay is a pittance.
First to answer the call is the hotheaded, inexperienced Chico (Horst Buchholz), but he is rejected. Harry Luck (Brad Dexter), an old friend of Chris, joins because he believes Chris is looking for treasure. Vin (Steve McQueen) signs on after going broke from gambling. Other recruits include Bernardo O’Reilly (Charles Bronson), a powerful gunfighter of Irish–Mexican descent[1] who is also broke, Britt (James Coburn), fast and deadly with his switchblade, and Lee (Robert Vaughn), who is on the run and needs someplace to lie low until things cool down. Chico trails the group as they ride south and is eventually allowed to join them.
Even with seven, the group knows they will be vastly outnumbered by the bandits. However, their expectation is that once the bandits know they will have to fight they will decide to move on to some other unprotected village, rather than bother with an all-out battle. Upon reaching the village the group begins training the residents. As they work together the gunmen and villagers begin to bond. The gunfighters enjoy a feast prepared by some of the women but they realize that the villagers are starving themselves so that the gunfighters will have enough to eat. They then stop eating and share the food with the village children. Chico finds a woman he is attracted to, Petra (Rosenda Monteros), and Bernardo befriends the children of the village, although he can never imagine himself as one of the villagers themselves.[2]. Although these paternal tendencies will have fatal consequences, the villagers come to respect and even admire him.[3] Lee, meanwhile, struggles with nightmares and fears the loss of his gunfighting skills.
Calvera comes back and is disappointed to find the villagers have hired gunmen. After a brief exchange, the bandits are chased away. Later, Chico, who is Mexican himself, and thus blends in, infiltrates the bandits’ camp and returns with the news that Calvera and his men will not simply be moving on, as had been expected. They are planning to return in full force, as the bandits are also broke and starving, and need the crops from the village to survive.
The seven debate whether they should leave. Not having expected a full-scale war, some of the seven as well as some of the villagers are in favor of the group’s departure but Chris adamantly insists that they will stay. They decide to make a surprise raid on the bandit camp but find it empty. Upon return to the village they are captured by Calvera’s men who have been let into the village by those villagers fearful of the impending fight. Calvera spares the gunfighters’ lives because he believes that they have learned that the farmers are not worth fighting for and because he fears American reprisals if they are killed.
Calvera has them escorted out of town and then contemptuously returns their guns and gun belts.
Despite the odds against them, and despite their betrayal by the villagers, all of Chris’ group except Harry decide to return and finish the job the next morning (Harry refuses to go back when he learns there is no monetary reward). During the ensuing battle Harry returns in the nick of time to rescue Chris from certain death but is shot and fatally wounded. Bernardo is shot and killed protecting children he had befriended; Lee overcomes his fear of death and kills several men before he is shot dead. Britt is also slain but not before sticking his switchblade into the ground where he falls. Seeing the gunmen’s bravery the villagers overcome their own fear, grab whatever they can as weapons, and join the battle. The bandits are routed and Calvera is shot by Chris. Puzzled, he asks why a man like Chris came back but dies without an answer.
As the three survivors leave Chico decides to stay with Petra. Chris and Vin ride away, pausing briefly at the graves of their fallen comrades. Chris observes, “Only the farmers won. We lost. We always lose.”
Posted in The Magnificent Seven, victims
Elvis Presley | |
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Publicity photo for Jailhouse Rock (1957)
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Background information | |
Birth name | Elvis Aaron Presley |
Born | January 8, 1935 Tupelo, Mississippi, United States |
Died | August 16, 1977 (aged 42) Memphis, Tennessee, United States |
Genres | Rock and roll, pop, rockabilly, country, blues, gospel, R&B |
Occupations | Musician, actor |
Instruments | Vocals, guitar, piano |
Years active | 1954–77 |
Labels | Sun, RCA Victor |
Associated acts | The Blue Moon Boys, The Jordanaires, The Imperials |
Website | www.elvis.com |
[show]
Posted in 1977, Elvis Presley, Entertainment, Graceland, Never Never Land, victims
Bob Crane | |
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Bob Crane with future wife Sigrid Valdis on Hogan’s Heroes |
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Born | Robert Edward Crane July 13, 1928 Waterbury, Connecticut, United States |
Died | June 29, 1978 (aged 49) Scottsdale, Arizona , United States |
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1950–1978 |
Spouse | Anne Terzian (1949-1970) Sigrid Valdis (1970-1978) |
Website | |
http://www.bobcrane.com |
Robert Edward “Bob” Crane (July 13, 1928 – June 29, 1978) was an American actor and disc jockey, best known for his performance as Colonel Robert E. Hogan in the television sitcom Hogan’s Heroes from 1965 to 1971, and for his unsolved death.
Crane was born in Waterbury, Connecticut. He dropped out of high school[1] in 1946 and became a drummer, performing with dance bands and a symphony orchestra. That same year he also enlisted in the Army Reserve, where he was assigned the job of a clerk and given an honorable discharge a few years later.[2] In 1949, he married high school sweetheart Anne Terzian; they had two children, Deborah Ann and Karen Leslie. Anne and Bob were briefly separated and living in different towns in the mid-1950s; after a few months they were reconciled and Anne later gave birth to their son, Robert David Crane. Bob later divorced Anne and married Patricia Olsen, an actress whose stage name was Sigrid Valdis. They had one son, Robert Scott Crane, and adopted a daughter, Ana Marie.
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In 1950, Crane started his broadcasting career at WLEA in Hornell, New York. He soon moved to WBIS in Bristol, Connecticut, followed by WICC in Bridgeport, Connecticut. This was a 500-watt operation where he remained until 1956, when the CBS radio network plucked Crane out to help stop his huge popularity from affecting their own station’s ratings. Crane moved his family to California to host the morning show at KNX radio in Hollywood. He filled the broadcast with sly wit, drumming, and guests such as Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, and Bob Hope. It quickly became the number-one rated morning show in the LA area, with Crane known as “The King of the Los Angeles Airwaves.”
Crane’s acting ambitions led to his subbing for Johnny Carson on the daytime game show Who Do You Trust? and appearances on The Twilight Zone, Channing, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and General Electric Theater. When Carl Reiner appeared on his show, Crane persuaded him to book him for a guest shot on The Dick Van Dyke Show, where he was noticed by Donna Reed, who suggested him for the role of neighbor Dr. Dave Kelsey in her eponymous sitcom from 1963 through 1965.
In 1965, Crane was offered the starring role in a television comedy pilot about a German P.O.W. camp. Hogan’s Heroes became a hit and finished in the Top Ten in its first year on the air. The series lasted six seasons, and Crane was nominated for an Emmy Award twice, in 1966 and 1967. During its run, he met Patricia Olsen who played Hilda under the stage name Sigrid Valdis. He divorced his wife of twenty years and married Olsen on the set of the show in 1970. They had a son, Scotty (Robert Scott), and adopted a daughter named Ana Marie.
In addition to playing the drums on the theme song, Crane’s ability can be seen in the sixth season episode, “Look at the Pretty Snowflakes,” where he has an extended drum solo during the prisoners’ performance of the jazz standard“Cherokee”.
In 1968, during the run of Hogan’s Heroes, Crane and series costars Werner Klemperer, Leon Askin, and John Banner appeared, with Elke Sommer, in a feature film called The Wicked Dreams of Paula Schultz. The setting was the divided city of Berlin inside East Germany. Paula Schultz was being tempted to defect to the West, with Crane encouraging her to do so. Klemperer and Banner were involved as East German officials trying to keep Paula in the East.
Following the cancellation of Hogan’s Heroes in 1971, Crane was frustrated that he was offered few quality roles. He appeared in two Disney films, 1973’s Superdad with the title role and Gus from 1976 in a cameo.
In 1973, Crane purchased the rights to Beginner’s Luck, a play that he starred in and directed. The production toured for five years, predominantly at dinner theatres from Florida to California to Texas, Hawaii and Arizona in 1978.[3] During breaks, he guest starred in a number of TV shows, including Police Woman, Quincy, M.E., and The Love Boat. A second series of his own, 1975’s The Bob Crane Show, was canceled by NBC after three months.
During the run of Hogan’s Heroes, sitcom costar Richard Dawson introduced Crane (a photography enthusiast) to John Henry Carpenter, who worked with the video department at Sony Electronics and had access to early video cassette recorder/VCRs. In later years, Carpenter photographed some of Crane’s sexual escapades with various women.
On the night of June 28, 1978, Crane is alleged to have called Carpenter to tell him that their friendship was over. The following day, Crane was discovered bludgeoned to death with a weapon that was never found (but was believed to be a camera tripod) at the Winfield Place Apartments in Scottsdale, Arizona. In Robert Graysmith‘s book The Murder of Bob Crane, he said investigators found semen on Crane’s dead body, indicating the murderer may have ejaculated on him after killing him.[4] Crane had been appearing in Scottsdale in his Beginner’s Luck production at the Windmill Dinner Theatre (now Buzz, located at the southeast corner of Shea Boulevard and Scottsdale Road).
According to an episode of A&E‘s Cold Case Files, police officers who arrived at the scene of the crime noted that Carpenter called the apartment several times and did not seem surprised that the police were there. This raised suspicion, and the car Carpenter had rented the previous day was impounded. In it, several blood smears were found that matched Crane’s blood type. At that time, DNA testing did not exist to confirm whether it was Crane’s or not. Due to insufficient evidence, Maricopa County Attorney Charles F. Hyder declined to file charges.
In 1990, 12 years after the murder, the case was reopened. A 1978 attempt to test the blood found in the car Carpenter had rented resulted in a match to Bob Crane’s blood type, but it failed to produce any additional results. DNA testing in 1990 could not be completed due to an insufficient remaining sample. The detectives in charge, Barry Vassall and Jim Raines, instead hoped that additional witnesses and a picture of a possible piece of brain tissue found in the rental car[5] (which had been lost since the original investigation) would incriminate Carpenter. He was arrested and held for trial after a preliminary hearing before a Superior Court Judge finding that evidence presented justified a trial by jury.
During Carpenter’s 1994 trial, defense attorneys attacked the prosecution case as circumstantial and inconclusive. They disputed the claim that the rediscovered photo showed brain tissue, and they noted that authorities did not have the tissue itself. Pointing out that Crane had been videotaped and photographed in compromising sexual positions with numerous women, the defense implied that a jealous person or someone fearing blackmail might have been the killer.
Carpenter was found not guilty. He maintained his innocence until his death on September 4, 1998, and the murder remains officially unsolved. However, authorities continue to believe he was the killer, and no other serious suspect has ever been mentioned in the case.
In July 1978, Bob Crane was interred in Oakwood Memorial Park in Chatsworth, California. More than 20 years later, Crane’s family had the actor’s remains exhumed and transported about 25 miles southeast, to another cemetery, Westwood Village Memorial Park, located in Westwood.
Posted in Bob Crane, Entertainment, Hogan, Hogan's Heroes, victims
Rock Hudson | |
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An image from the trailer for Giant (1956) |
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Born | Roy Harold Scherer, Jr. November 17, 1925 Winnetka, Illinois, U.S. |
Died | October 2, 1985 (aged 59)[1] Beverly Hills, California , U.S. |
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1948–1985 |
Height | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) |
Spouse | Phyllis Gates (1955–1958) |
Contents[hide] |
Posted in 1984, Rock Hudson, victims
Jim Morrison
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
For other persons named James or Jim Morrison, see James Morrison.
Jim Morrison
Performing with The Doors, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 1968
Background information
Birth name
James Douglas MorrisonBorn
December 8, 1943(1943-12-08)
Melbourne, Florida, U.S.Died
July 3, 1971 (aged 27)
Paris, FranceGenres
Psychedelic rock, acid rock, blues-rock, hard rockOccupations
Musician, Songwriter, Poet, FilmmakerYears active
1963—1971Associated acts
The Doors, Rick & the RavensWebsite
http://www.thedoors.com/James Douglas "Jim" Morrison (December 8, 1943 – July 3, 1971) was an American singer, songwriter, poet, writer and filmmaker. He was best known as the lead singer and lyricist of The Doors and is widely considered to be one of the most charismatic frontmen in rock music history.[1] He was also the author of several books of poetry[1] and the director of a documentary and short film. Although Morrison was known for his baritone vocals, many fans, scholars, and journalists have discussed his theatrical stage persona, his self-destructiveness, and his work as a poet.[2] He was ranked number 47 on Rolling Stone’s "100 Greatest Singers of All Time".[3]
Contents
[hide]
- 1 Early years
- 2 The Doors
- 3 Solo: poetry and film
- 4 Personal life
- 5 Artistic roots
- 6 Influence
- 7 Books
- 8 Films
- 9 Footnotes
- 10 References
- 11 External links
[edit] Early years
Morrison was born in Melbourne, Florida, to future Admiral George Stephen Morrison and Clara Clarke Morrison. Morrison had a sister, Anne Robin, who was born in 1947 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and a brother, Andrew Lee Morrison, who was born in 1948 in Los Altos, California. He was of Irish, Scottish, and English descent.[4] He reportedly had an I.Q. of 149.[5][6]
In 1947, Morrison, then four years old, allegedly witnessed a car accident in the desert, where a family of Native Americans were injured and possibly killed. He referred to this incident in a spoken word performance on the song "Dawn’s Highway" from the album An American Prayer, and again in the songs "Peace Frog" and "Ghost Song".
Morrison believed the incident to be the most formative event in his life[citation needed] and made repeated references to it in the imagery in his songs, poems, and interviews. Interestingly, his family does not recall this incident happening in the way he told it. According to the Morrison biography No One Here Gets Out Alive, Morrison’s family did drive past a car accident on an Indian reservation when he was a child, and he was very upset by it. However, the book The Doors written by the remaining members of The Doors, explains how different Morrison’s account of the incident was from the account of his father. This book quotes his father as saying, "We went by several Indians. It did make an impression on him [the young James]. He always thought about that crying Indian." This is contrasted sharply with Morrison’s tale of "Indians scattered all over the highway, bleeding to death". In the same book, his sister is quoted as saying, "He enjoyed telling that story and exaggerating it. He said he saw a dead Indian by the side of the road, and I don’t even know if that’s true."
With his father in the United States Navy, Morrison’s family moved often. He spent part of his childhood in San Diego, California. In 1958, Morrison attended Alameda High School in Alameda, California. However, he graduated from George Washington High School (now George Washington Middle School) in Alexandria, Virginia in June 1961. His father was also stationed at Mayport Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, Florida.
Morrison went to live with his paternal grandparents in Clearwater, Florida where he attended classes at St. Petersburg Junior College. In 1962, he transferred to Florida State University (FSU) in Tallahassee where he appeared in a school recruitment film.[7] While attending FSU Morrison was arrested for a prank, following a home football game.[8]
In January 1964, Morrison moved to Los Angeles, California. He completed his undergraduate degree in UCLA‘s film school, the Theater Arts department of the College of Fine Arts in 1965. He made two films while attending UCLA. First Love, the first of these films, was released to the public when it appeared in a documentary about the film Obscura. During these years, while living in Venice Beach, he became friends with writers at the Los Angeles Free Press. Morrison was an advocate of the underground newspaper until his death in 1971.[9]
[edit] The Doors
Main article: The Doors
In 1965, after graduating from UCLA, Morrison led a Bohemian lifestyle in Venice Beach. Morrison and fellow UCLA student Ray Manzarek were the first two members of The Doors. Shortly thereafter, drummer John Densmore and guitarist Robby Krieger joined. Krieger auditioned at Densmore’s recommendation and was then added to the lineup.
The Doors took their name from the title of Aldous Huxley‘s The Doors of Perception (a reference to the ‘unlocking’ of ‘doors’ of perception through psychedelic drug use), Huxley’s own title was a quotation from William Blake‘s The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, in which Blake wrote that "If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite."
Although Morrison is known as the lyricist for the group, Krieger also made significant lyrical contributions, writing or co-writing some of the group’s biggest hits, including "Light My Fire", "Love Me Two Times", "Love Her Madly" and "Touch Me".[10]
In June 1966, Morrison and The Doors were the opening act at the Whisky a Go Go on the last week of the residency of Van Morrison‘s band Them.[11] Van’s influence on Jim’s developing stage performance was later noted by John Densmore in his book Riders On The Storm: "Jim Morrison learned quickly from his near-namesake’s stagecraft, his apparent recklessness, his air of subdued menace, the way he would improvise poetry to a rock beat, even his habit of crouching down by the bass drum during instrumental breaks."[12] On the final night, the two Morrisons and the two bands jammed together on "Gloria".[13][14][15]
The Doors achieved national recognition after signing with Elektra Records in 1967.[16] The single "Light My Fire" eventually reached number one on the Billboard Pop Singles chart.[17] Later, The Doors appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, a popular Sunday night variety series that had introduced The Beatles and a young, wriggling Elvis Presley to the nation. Ed Sullivan requested two songs from The Doors for the show, "People Are Strange", and "Light My Fire". The censors insisted that they change the lyrics of "Light My Fire" from "Girl we couldn’t get much higher" to "Girl we couldn’t get much better". This was reportedly due to what could be perceived as a reference to drugs in the original lyric. Giving assurances of compliance to Sullivan, Morrison then proceeded to sing the song with the original lyrics anyway. He later said that he had simply forgotten to make the change. This so infuriated Sullivan that he refused to shake their hands after their performance. They were never invited back.[18]
In 1967, Morrison and The Doors produced a promotional film for "Break On Through (To the Other Side)", which was their first single release. The video featured the four members of the group playing the song on a darkened set with alternating views and close-ups of the performers while Morrison lip-synched the lyrics. Morrison and The Doors continued to make music videos, including "The Unknown Soldier", "Moonlight Drive", and "People Are Strange".
By the release of their second album, Strange Days, The Doors had become one of the most popular rock bands in the United States. Their blend of blues and rock tinged with psychedelia included a number of original songs and distinctive cover versions, such as the memorable rendition of "Alabama Song", from Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill‘s operetta, Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny. The band also performed a number of extended concept works, including the songs "The End", "When the Music’s Over", and "Celebration of the Lizard".
In 1967, photographer Joel Brodsky took a series of black-and-white photos of Morrison, in a photo shoot known as "The Young Lion" photo session. These photographs are considered among the most iconic images of Jim Morrison and are frequently used as covers for compilation albums, books, and other memorabilia of the Doors and Morrison.[19] In 1968, The Doors released their third studio LP, Waiting for the Sun. Their fourth LP, The Soft Parade, was released in 1969. It was the first album where the individual band members were given credit on the inner sleeve for the songs they had written.
After this, Morrison started to show up for recording sessions inebriated. He was also frequently late for live performances. As a result, the band would play instrumental music or force Manzarek to take on the singing duties.
By 1969, the formerly svelte singer gained weight, grew a beard, and began dressing more casually – abandoning the leather pants and concho belts for slacks, jeans and T-shirts.
During a 1969 concert at the Dinner Key Auditorium in Miami, Morrison attempted to spark a riot in the audience. He failed, but a warrant for his arrest was issued by the Dade County Police department three days later for indecent exposure. Consequently, many of The Doors’ scheduled concerts were canceled.[20] In the years following the incident, Morrison has been exonerated. In 2007 Florida Governor Charlie Crist suggested the possibility of a posthumous pardon for Morrison.[21][dead link]
Following The Soft Parade, The Doors released the Morrison Hotel LP. After a lengthy break the group reconvened in October 1970 to record their last LP with Morrison, L.A. Woman. Shortly after the recording sessions for the album began, producer Paul A. Rothchild — who had overseen all their previous recordings — left the project. Engineer Bruce Botnick took over as producer.
[edit] Solo: poetry and film
Morrison began writing in adolescence. In college, he studied the related fields of theater, film, and cinematography.[22]
He self-published two volumes of his poetry in 1969, The Lords / Notes on Vision and The New Creatures. The Lords consists primarily of brief descriptions of places, people, events and Morrison’s thoughts on cinema. The New Creatures verses are more poetic in structure, feel and appearance. These two books were later combined into a single volume titled The Lords and The New Creatures. These were the only writings published during Morrison’s lifetime.
Morrison befriended Beat Poet Michael McClure, who wrote the afterword for Danny Sugerman‘s biography of Morrison, No One Here Gets Out Alive. McClure and Morrison reportedly collaborated on a number of unmade film projects to include a film version of McClure’s infamous play The Beard in which Morrison would have played Billy the Kid.[23]
After his death, two volumes of Morrison’s poetry were published. The contents of the books were selected and arranged by Morrison’s friend, photographer Frank Lisciandro, and girlfriend Pamela Courson‘s parents, who owned the rights to his poetry. The Lost Writings of Jim Morrison Volume 1 is titled Wilderness, and, upon its release in 1988, became an instant New York Times best seller. Volume 2, The American Night, released in 1990, was also a success.
Morrison recorded his own poetry in a professional sound studio on two separate occasions. The first was in March 1969 in Los Angeles and the second was on December 8, 1970. The latter recording session was attended by Morrison’s personal friends and included a variety of sketch pieces. Some of the segments from the 1969 session were issued on the bootleg album The Lost Paris Tapes and were later used as part of the Doors’ An American Prayer album, released in 1978. The album reached number 54 on the music charts. The poetry recorded from the December 1970 session remains unreleased to this day and is in the possession of the Courson family.
Morrison’s best-known but seldom seen cinematic endeavor is HWY: An American Pastoral, a project he started in 1969. Morrison financed the venture and formed his own production company in order to maintain complete control of the project. Paul Ferrara, Frank Lisciandro and Babe Hill assisted with the project. Morrison played the main character, a hitchhiker turned killer/car thief. Morrison asked his friend, composer/pianist Fred Myrow, to select the soundtrack for the film.[24][25]
[edit] Personal life
[edit] Morrison’s family
Morrison’s early life was a nomadic existence typical of military families.[26] Jerry Hopkins recorded Morrison’s brother, Andy, explaining that his parents had determined never to use corporal punishment on their children. They instead instilled discipline and levied punishment by the military tradition known as "dressing down". This consisted of yelling at and berating the children until they were reduced to tears and acknowledged their failings.
Once Morrison graduated from UCLA, he broke off most of his family contact. By the time Morrison’s music ascended to the top of the charts in 1967 he had not been in communication with his family for more than a year and falsely claimed that his parents and siblings were dead (or claiming, as it has been widely misreported, that he was an only child). This misinformation was published as part of the materials distributed with The Doors’ self-titled debut album.
In a letter to the Florida Probation and Parole Commission District Office dated October 2, 1970, Morrison’s father acknowledged the breakdown in family communications as the result of an argument over his assessment of his son’s musical talents. He said he could not blame his son for being reluctant to initiate contact and that he was proud of him nonetheless.[27]
[edit] Women in his life
Morrison met his long-term companion,[28] Pamela Courson, well before he gained any fame or fortune,[29] and she encouraged him to develop his poetry. At times, Courson used the surname "Morrison" with his apparent consent or at least lack of concern. After Courson’s death in 1974 the probate court in California decided that she and Morrison had what qualified as a common law marriage (see below, under "Estate Controversy").
Courson and Morrison’s relationship was a stormy one, however, with frequent loud arguments and periods of separation. Biographer Danny Sugerman surmised that part of their difficulties may have stemmed from a conflict between their respective commitments to an open relationship and the consequences of living in such a relationship.
In 1970, Morrison participated in a Celtic Pagan handfasting ceremony with rock critic and science fiction/fantasy author Patricia Kennealy. Before witnesses, one of them a Presbyterian minister,[30] the couple signed a document declaring themselves wedded;[31] however, none of the necessary paperwork for a legal marriage was filed with the state. Kennealy discussed her experiences with Morrison in her autobiography Strange Days: My Life With and Without Jim Morrison and in an interview reported in the book Rock Wives.
Morrison also regularly had sex with fans and had numerous short flings with women who were celebrities, including Nico, the singer associated with The Velvet Underground, a one night stand with singer Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane, an on-again-off-again relationship with 16 Magazine‘s editor in chief Gloria Stavers and an alleged alcohol-fueled encounter with Janis Joplin. Judy Huddleston also recalls her relationship with Morrison in Living and Dying with Jim Morrison. At the time of his death there were reportedly as many as 20 paternity actions pending against him, although no claims were made against his estate by any of the putative paternity claimants, and the only person making a public claim to being Morrison’s son was shown to be a fraud.
[edit] Death
Morrison flew to Paris in March 1971, took up residence in a rented apartment, and went for long walks through the city,[32] admiring the city’s architecture. During that time, Morrison grew a beard.[33]
It was in Paris that Morrison made his last studio recording with two American street musicians — a session dismissed by Manzarek as "drunken gibberish".[34] The session included a version of a song-in-progress, "Orange County Suite", which can be heard on the bootleg The Lost Paris Tapes.
Morrison died on July 3, 1971. In the official account of his death, he was found in a Paris apartment bathtub by Courson. Pursuant to French law, no autopsy was performed because the medical examiner claimed to have found no evidence of foul play. The absence of an official autopsy has left many questions regarding Morrison’s cause of death.
In Wonderland Avenue, Danny Sugerman discussed his encounter with Courson after she returned to the U.S. According to Sugerman’s account, Courson stated that Morrison had died of a heroin overdose, having insufflated what Morrison believed to be cocaine. Sugerman added that Courson had given numerous contradictory versions of Morrison’s death, at times saying that she had killed Morrison, or that his death was her fault. Courson’s story of Morrison’s unintentional ingestion of heroin, followed by accidental overdose, is supported by the confession of Alain Ronay, who has written that Morrison died of a hemorrhage after snorting Courson’s heroin, and that Courson nodded off, leaving Morrison bleeding to death instead of phoning for medical help.[35]
Ronay confessed in an article in Paris-Match that he then helped cover up the circumstances of Morrison’s death.[36] In the epilogue of No One Here Gets Out Alive, Hopkins and Sugerman write that Ronay and Agnès Varda say Courson lied to the police who responded at the death scene, and later in her deposition, telling them Morrison never took drugs.
In the epilogue to No One Here Gets Out Alive, Hopkins says that 20 years after Morrison’s death Ronay and Varda broke silence and gave this account: They arrived at the house shortly after Morrison’s death and Courson said that she and Morrison had taken heroin after a night of drinking in bars. Morrison had been coughing badly, had gone to take a bath, and vomited blood. Courson said that he appeared to recover and that she then went to sleep. When she awoke sometime later Morrison was unresponsive and so she called for medical assistance.
Courson herself died of a heroin overdose three years later. Like Morrison, she was 27 years old at the time of her death.
However, in the epilogue of No One Here Gets Out Alive, Hopkins and Sugerman also claim that Morrison had asthma and was suffering from a respiratory condition involving a chronic cough and throwing up blood on the night of his death. This theory is partially supported in The Doors (written by the remaining members of the band) in which they claim Morrison had been coughing up blood for nearly two months in Paris. However, none of the members of the Doors were in Paris with Morrison in the months before his death.
In the first version of No One Here Gets Out Alive published in 1980, Sugerman and Hopkins gave some credence to the rumour that Morrison may not have died at all, calling the fake death theory “not as far-fetched as it might seem”.[37] This theory led to considerable distress for Morrison’s loved ones over the years, notably when fans would stalk them, searching for evidence of Morrison’s whereabouts.[38][39] In 1995 a new epilogue was added to Sugerman and Hopkins’ book, giving new facts about Morrison’s death and discounting the fake death theory, saying “As time passed, some of Jim and Pamela [Courson]’s friends began to talk about what they knew, and although everything they said pointed irrefutably to Jim’s demise, there remained and probably always will be those who refuse to believe that Jim is dead and those who will not allow him to rest in peace.”[40]
Jim Morrison’s grave at Père-Lachaise.
In a July 2007 newspaper interview, a self-described close friend of Morrison’s, Sam Bernett, resurrected an old rumor and announced that Morrison actually died of a heroin overdose in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Circus nightclub, on the Left Bank in Paris. Bernett claims that Morrison came to the club to buy heroin for Courson then did some himself and died in the bathroom. Bernett alleges that Morrison was then moved back to the rue Beautreillis apartment and dumped in the bathtub by the same two drug dealers from whom Morrison had purchased the heroin. Bernett says those who saw Morrison that night were sworn to secrecy in order to prevent a scandal for the famous club,[41] and that some of the witnesses immediately left the country. However, this is just the latest of many in a long line of old rumours and conspiracy theories surrounding the death of Morrison[42][43] and is less supported by witnesses than are the accounts of Ronay and Courson (cited above).[44]
[edit] Grave site
Morrison is buried in the Père Lachaise Cemetery in eastern Paris, one of the city’s most visited tourist attractions. The grave had no official marker until French officials placed a shield over it, which was stolen in 1973. In 1981, Croatian sculptor Mladen Mikulin placed a bust of Morrison and the new gravestone with Morrison’s name at the grave to commemorate the 10th anniversary of his death;[45] the bust was defaced through the years by cemetery vandals and later stolen in 1988.[46] In the 1990s Morrison’s father, George Stephen Morrison, placed a flat stone on the grave. The stone bears the Greek inscription: ΚΑΤΑ ΤΟΝ ΔΑΙΜΟΝΑ ΕΑΥΤΟΥ, literally meaning "according to his own daimōn" and usually interpreted as "true to his own spirit".[47][48][49] Mikulin later made two more Morrison portraits in bronze but is awaiting the license to place a new sculpture on the tomb.
[edit] Estate controversy
In his will, made in Los Angeles County on February 12, 1969, Morrison (who described himself as "an unmarried person") bequeathed his entire estate to Courson, also naming her co-executor with his attorney, Max Fink; she thus inherited everything upon Morrison’s death in 1971.
When Courson died in 1974, a battle ensued between Morrison’s and Courson’s parents over who had legal claim to Morrison’s estate. Since Morrison left a will, the question was effectively moot. Upon his death, his property became Courson’s, and on her death her property passed to her next heirs at law, her parents. Morrison’s parents contested the will under which Courson and now her parents had inherited their son’s property.
To bolster their position, Courson’s parents presented a document they claimed she had acquired in Colorado, apparently an application for a declaration that she and Morrison had contracted a common-law marriage under the laws of that state. The ability to contract a common-law marriage was abolished in California in 1896, but the state’s conflict of laws rules provided for recognition of common-law marriages lawfully contracted in foreign jurisdictions — and Colorado was one of the eleven U.S. jurisdictions that still recognized common-law marriage.
[edit] Artistic roots
As a naval family the Morrisons relocated frequently. Consequently Morrison’s early education was routinely disrupted as he moved from school to school. Nonetheless he proved to be an intelligent and capable student drawn to the study of literature, poetry, religion, philosophy and psychology, among other fields.
Biographers have consistently pointed to a number of writers and philosophers who influenced Morrison’s thinking and, perhaps, behavior. While still in his teens Morrison discovered the works of philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. He was also drawn to the poetry of William Blake, Charles Baudelaire and Arthur Rimbaud. Beat Generation writers such as Jack Kerouac also had a strong influence on Morrison’s outlook and manner of expression; Morrison was eager to experience the life described in Kerouac’s On the Road. He was similarly drawn to the works of the French writer Louis-Ferdinand Céline. Céline’s book, Voyage au Bout de la Nuit (Journey to the End of the Night) and Blake’s Auguries of Innocence both echo through one of Morrison’s early songs, "End of the Night". Morrison later met and befriended Michael McClure, a well known beat poet. McClure had enjoyed Morrison’s lyrics but was even more impressed by his poetry and encouraged him to further develop his craft.
Morrison’s vision of performance was colored by the works of 20th century French playwright Antonin Artaud (author of Theater and its Double) and by Julian Beck‘s Living Theater.
Other works relating to religion, mysticism, ancient myth and symbolism were of lasting interest, particularly Joseph Campbell‘s The Hero with a Thousand Faces. James Frazer‘s The Golden Bough also became a source of inspiration and is reflected in the title and lyrics of the song "Not to Touch the Earth".
Morrison was particularly attracted to the myths and religions of Native American cultures.[50] While he was still in school, his family moved to New Mexico where he got to see some of the places and artifacts important to the Southwest Indigenous cultures. These interests appear to be the source of many references to creatures and places such as lizards, snakes, deserts and "ancient lakes" that appear in his songs and poetry. His interpretation of the practices of a Native American "shaman" were worked into parts of Morrison’s stage routine, notably in his interpretation of the Ghost Dance, and a song on his later poetry album, The Ghost Song.
[edit] Influence
Morrison remains one of the most popular and influential singers/writers in rock history as The Doors’ catalog has become a staple of classic rock radio stations. To this day he is widely regarded as the prototypical rock star: surly, sexy, scandalous and mysterious. The leather pants he was fond of wearing both on stage and off have since become stereotyped as rock star apparel.
Iggy and the Stooges are said to have formed after lead singer Iggy Pop was inspired by Morrison while attending a Doors concert in Ann Arbor, Michigan.[51] One of Pop’s most popular songs, "The Passenger", is said to be based on one of Morrison’s poems.[52] After Morrison’s death, Pop was considered as a replacement lead singer for The Doors; the surviving Doors gave him some of Morrison’s belongings and hired him as a vocalist for a series of shows.
Wallace Fowlie, professor emeritus of French literature at Duke University, wrote Rimbaud and Jim Morrison, subtitled "The Rebel as Poet – A Memoir". In this book, Fowlie recounts his surprise at receiving a fan letter from Morrison who, in 1968, thanked him for his latest translation of Arthur Rimbaud‘s verse into English. "I don’t read French easily", he wrote, "…your book travels around with me." Fowlie went on to give lectures on numerous campuses comparing the lives, philosophies and poetry of Morrison and Rimbaud.
Eddie Vedder, lead singer of Pearl Jam[1], Scott Weiland, the vocalist of Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver, as well as Scott Stapp of Creed, claim Morrison to be their biggest influence and inspiration. Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver have both covered "Roadhouse Blues" by the Doors. Weiland also filled in for Morrison to perform "Break On Through" with the rest of the Doors. Stapp filled in for Morrison for "Light My Fire", "Riders on the Storm" and "Roadhouse Blues" on VH1 Storytellers. Creed performed their version of "Riders on the Storm" with Robbie Krieger for the 1999 Woodstock Festival.
The book The Doors by the remaining Doors quotes Morrison’s close friend Frank Lisciandro as saying that too many people took a remark of Morrison’s that he was interested in revolt, disorder, and chaos “to mean that he was an anarchist, a revolutionary, or, worse yet, a nihilist. Hardly anyone noticed that Jim was restating Rimbaud and the Surreal poets.”[53]
[edit] Books
[edit] By Jim Morrison
- The Lords and the New Creatures (1969). 1985 edition: ISBN 0-7119-0552-5
- An American Prayer (1970) privately printed by Western Lithographers. (Unauthorized edition also published in 1983, Zeppelin Publishing Company, ISBN 0-915628-46-5. The authenticity of the unauthorized edition has been disputed.)
- Wilderness: The Lost Writings Of Jim Morrison (1988). 1990 edition: ISBN 0-14-011910-8
- The American Night: The Writings of Jim Morrison (1990). 1991 edition: ISBN 0-670-83772-5
[edit] About Jim Morrison
- Linda Ashcroft, Wild Child: Life with Jim Morrison, (1997) ISBN 1-56025-249-9
- Lester Bangs, "Jim Morrison: Bozo Dionysus a Decade Later" in Main Lines, Blood Feasts, and Bad Taste: A Lester Bangs Reader, John Morthland, ed. Anchor Press (2003) ISBN 0-375-71367-0
- Patricia Butler, Angels Dance and Angels Die: The Tragic Romance of Pamela and Jim Morrison, (1998) ISBN 0-8256-7341-0
- Stephen Davis, Jim Morrison: Life, Death, Legend, (2004) ISBN 1-59240-064-7
- John Densmore, Riders on the Storm: My Life With Jim Morrison and the Doors (1991) ISBN 0-385-30447-1
- Dave DiMartino, Moonlight Drive (1995) ISBN 1-886894-21-3
- Wallace Fowlie, Rimbaud and Jim Morrison (1994) ISBN 0-8223-1442-8
- Jerry Hopkins, The Lizard King: The Essential Jim Morrison (1995) ISBN 0-684-81866-3
- Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugerman, No One Here Gets Out Alive (1980) ISBN 0-85965-138-X
- Patricia Kennealy, Strange Days: My Life With and Without Jim Morrison (1992) ISBN 0-525-93419-7
- Frank Lisciandro, Morrison — A Feast of Friends (1991) ISBN 0-446-39276-6
- Frank Lisciandro, Jim Morrison — An Hour For Magic (A Photojournal) ISBN 0-85965-246-7
- Ray Manzarek, Light My Fire (1998) ISBN 0-446-60228-0L. First by Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugerman (1981)
- Peter Jan Margry, The Pilgrimage to Jim Morrison’s Grave at Père Lachaise Cemetery: The Social Construction of Sacred Space. In idem (ed.), Shrines and Pilgrimage in the Modern World. New Itineraries into the Sacred. Amsterdam University Press, 2008, p. 145-173.
- Thanasis Michos, The Poetry of James Douglas Morrison (2001) ISBN 960-7748-23-9 (Greek)
- Mark Opsasnick, The Lizard King Was Here: The Life and Times of Jim Morrison in Alexandria, Virginia (2006) ISBN 1-4257-1330-0
- James Riordan & Jerry Prochnicky, Break on through : The Life and Death of Jim Morrison (1991) ISBN 0-688-11915-8
- Adriana Rubio, Jim Morrison: Ceremony…Exploring the Shaman Possession (2005) ISBN 0-9766590-0-X
- The Doors (remaining members Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger, John Densmore) with Ben Fong-Torres, The Doors (2006) ISBN 1-4013-0303-X
[edit] Films
[edit] By Jim Morrison
[edit] Documentaries featuring Jim Morrison
- The Doors Are Open (1968)
- Live in Europe (1968)
- Live at the Hollywood Bowl (1968)
- Feast of Friends (1969)
- The Doors: A Tribute to Jim Morrison (1981)
- The Doors: Dance on Fire (1985)
- The Soft Parade, a Retrospective (1991)
- Final 24: Jim Morrison (2007), The Biography Channel[54]
- When You’re Strange (2009)
[edit] Films about Jim Morrison
- The Doors (1991), A fiction film by director Oliver Stone, starring Val Kilmer as Morrison and with cameos by Krieger and Densmore. Kilmer’s performance was praised by some critics. Members of the group, however, criticized Stone’s portrayal of Morrison, and noted that numerous events depicted in the movie were pure fiction.[55]
[edit] Footnotes
Posted in Conspiracy hypothesis, victims