The Man Who Tried to Erase Himself Completely, And Almost Succeeded In June 2009, a well-dressed man checked into a hotel in Sligo, Ireland. He paid in cash, spoke with a slight German accent, and gave his name as Peter Bergmann. Over the next three days he acted strangely. CCTV captured him making multiple trips in and out of the hotel carrying a purple bag. Each time he returned, the bag looked noticeably lighter. He was seen tearing up documents and throwing small pieces into bins around town. He bought a train ticket, visited a hospital briefly, and walked the streets as if trying to disappear. On 16 June, his body was found on a quiet beach just outside Sligo. He had no wallet, no phone, no identification. The labels had been carefully cut from all his clothes. His dental work and fingerprints didn’t match any missing person reports in Europe. The purple bag was gone. The torn pieces of paper he had thrown away were never fully recovered. Autopsy showed he had advanced prostate cancer and kidney disease. He had eaten a light meal before walking into the water. Toxicology was clean. There were no signs of foul play. Investigators pieced together what they could: he had arrived by train from Dublin, stayed only a short time, and methodically destroyed anything that could identify him. He even removed the tags from his underwear. Despite extensive international efforts, no one ever came forward to claim him. His real name, nationality, and reason for coming to that exact beach remain unknown.

When Quentin Tarantino was a child, his father abandoned him. His mother raised him, but did not believe in him. When he would write, make up movies and dream of a career as a director, she would crush those dreams… You’ll never amount to anything,” Mrs. Tarantino would say, “just stick to your studies, get a real job and leave filmmaking to the filmmakers.” Tarantino, undeterred, did NOT abandon his dreams. He went from simple moviehouse clerk in some cheap rental place, to one of Hollywood’s biggest directors of all times, accolades aplenty, beloved and admired by his peers… And he never gave her a penny. Not her, nor his deadbeat father. Because it wasn’t through their efforts that Quentin Tarantino succeeded — it was in spite of them.

Jennifer Lawrence has gone thru a bunch of bad break-ups. The last one with Director Darren Aronofsky was gut-wrenching. Aronofsky publicly ridiculed her as a mental midget for liking reality shows. Her 5 year love affair with “X-Men” co-star Nicolas Hoult ended acrimoniously. For the last 10 years she been focused on career,——“When I’m on set, I’m just thinking about the script and working. I think I’ve stayed focused on work so much I haven’t really noticed my life start to change except for I’ve gotten busier”. She took some time off to get her love life straighten out. She married Cooke Maroney, a leading figure in the art world, a director at Gladstone, a leading art gallery here in New York City. They recently bought a brand new West Village townhouse for $21+ millions. Back to work in November 2020, she is starring in “Don’t Look Up” with Leonardo DiCaprio now filming in Boston.

When asked if famous actors/actresses have been blacklisted in Hollywood and why Two actors I have met or have worked with always come to mind when people ask this or similar questions. Lionel Stander was blacklisted during the Red Scare of the 1950’s. According to what he told me and others, another actor back in the 1930’s told him that a great place to pick up girls was at a Communist Party meeting so he went to see if he could get a hookup. For that reason, he was blacklisted as a Communist 25 years later. He went to Italy and worked in foreign films, mostly Italian spaghetti westerns (which is where I met him in the early 1970’s) until Robert Wagner demanded Lionel be allowed to come back to the United States to play the role of Max the chauffeur/valet in his TV series “Hart To Hart” in 1979 Howard de Silva was also blacklisted during the Red Scare. He had dated and broken up with a woman who had been a member of the Communist Party USA before he had met her. Since he had not told the FBI of his ex-girlfriend's connection to the Communist Party USA (which he did not know about until after they split up), he was blacklisted. Like Lionel Stander, he went to Europe. In 1972, he was brought back to the United States to play Benjamin Franklin in the movie musical “1776”. Howard played Ben Franklin in stage productions of “1776” prior to his death in 1986 (I played opposite him in a production for the USO in which I played Edward Rutledge)

The actor Karl Malden was a good friend of the legendary Marlon Brando. The two men remained friends throughout their lives, with Brando keeping in touch with his old buddy through phone as he had become a recluse in later years. Born in 1912, Malden was twelve years Brando’s senior. By 2004, Marlon Brando was a shut-in, living inside his enormous mansion all by himself with no one but a maid and a dog to keep him company. He required oxygen and was morbidly obese and frequently in pain. Although Malden was already 92, Brando, 80, was in a bad state. Despite having three ex-wives, eleven acknowledged children and over thirty grandchildren… the Godfather star was all alone. He refused to let nurses or doctors see him, wanted to do everything by himself. Few of his family members visited him and he’d often refuse to answer the door altogether. One night Brando called up Karl Malden. “I keep falling over…” he said, “I keep falling over…” His elderly friend advised him to call for a doctor and was told: “It’s no use.” The next day, Marlon Brando died.

A show by Judy Garland at the Sands Hotel 1955. To help her out were old friends Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. There was one similar show where the group, who became known as The Rat Pack, hired a bus with a fully equipped bar to see a show of Judy’s. The trip from their pick-up point to the theatre was short but, because of traffic, the trip took a couple of hours. There were not known to be any complaints from the passengers. In the audience we can see David Niven with his wife Hjördis, the latter more interested in a bottle of JB whiskey. She was a heavy drinker who would become an alcoholic. At their table looking on proudly is Dean’s then-wife, Jeanne. The young lady by Frank’s leg looks to be Debbie Reynolds. The lady on the far right looks like Shirley MacLaine, but it’s hard to tell. tell.  A photo from the Sands. They might have spelled Bogart’s name properly. Notice the way he holds a cigarette. I’ve seen several photos of him doing this. Kinda makes him stand out  A photo from the Sands. They might have spelled Bogart’s name properly. Notice the way he holds a cigarette. I’ve seen several photos of him doing this. Kinda makes him stand out

A few years ago everyone was up in arms about Caitlyn Jenner. The former Olympic athlete — once famous as Bruce Jenner — was “stunning and brave” according to magazine covers, for coming out as transgender. At around the same time, she got into a horrific car accident that killed a 69-year-old woman. The victim’s family sued Jenner for “driving recklessly” and causing the old lady’s death. They also said she never apologized for the event.[1] The story was completely pushed aside, however — all everyone cared about was how “stunning and brave” Jenner was. Causing someone to die in an accident wasn’t part of the narrative, so it was swept under the rug Leave it to South Park to mention the thing no one wants to mention, anway. The satirical cartoon show made a “runnig gag” in which their version of Caitlyn Jenner repeatedly runs over old ladies with her car, while all the people watching the accident completely ignore it and mumble how she’s “stunning and brave”. It was beautiful satire, as usual.

Hugh Jackman has spent much of his life enjoying the outdoors. Beach days. Swimming. Surfing. Running under the sun. Spending time with family and friends. But in 2013, he was diagnosed with skin cancer. Since then, the cancer has returned multiple times. He has undergone several procedures, including surgeries to remove skin cancers from his nose and other parts of his body. After years of treatments and as many as six procedures, Jackman recently received reassuring news: his latest biopsies came back negative. It was an enormous relief. Now, he has a simple message for everyone: “No matter the season or weather, please always wear sunscreen.” Jackman has spoken openly about not using sunscreen consistently when he was younger. His experience is a powerful reminder that enjoying the outdoors shouldn’t come at the cost of protecting your skin. You don’t have to avoid the sun. You just have to be smarter about it. Wear sunscreen. Reapply it regularly. Protect your skin, even on cloudy days. Skin cancer doesn’t always announce itself early. Prevention matters. Take care of your skin today

You’re free to call me awful for saying this. But when Charlize Theron adopted a little boy from Africa and, when he was just three years old, declared the kid “transgender” and began to refer to it as “my daughter”, I was quite uncomfortable with that Now, mind you, I don’t mind the fact that someone could be transgender. Evidently quite a few people are, and I am fine with them doing whatever it is they desire but… why would you take the ‘gender issues’ of a TODDLER so seriously? And not just, endulge in the toddler’s wants, but also publicize it to the world? Like, I am wondering whatever happened to dealing with things from within the privacy of our own homes and just leaving the wider world none the wiser I’m all for people giving their children a degree of freedom to figure themselves out. But does the whole world have to be made aware of your child’s gender dysphoria? Do you absolutely have to broadcast their “transition journey” to the world? In a way you are backing the kid into a corner. You make them forever known as “the transgender daughter of Charlize Theron”. That’s a label that’s hard to shake off. And why, because a toddler told you that’s what she wants? No, I cannot help feel what she really is after is the headlines. “Charlize Theron Supports Trans Daughter”. On some weird and rather uncomfortable level I get a sense that she encourages the whole thing. Like it’s good for HER, as a parent, to have a child who is transgender. So the moment her little boy showed any signs of what in ‘the olden days’ would be referred to as ‘effeminate’, she ran with it. “Score! Jackpot!” It’s good PR, plain and simple. And a way to sort of brand yourself, stay ‘in the picture’. Over the back your child, who didn’t choose to have his/her struggles broadcast for all the world to see. Call me awful but I find it creepy and damn-near pathological.

In 2018, on the show “Celebrity Big Brother”, the rapper Ginuwine was talking to British transgender presenter India Willoughby. She asked him if he would ever date a transgender person. Ginuwine politely said that it was people’s personal choice but he, personally, wouldn’t want it. Willoughby wouldn’t take no for an answer, kept pushing the issue. Ginuwine continued to resist, politely. Then Willoughby tried to kiss Ginuwine… he dodged the kiss. It was super uncomfortable television. On social media, some people then claimed it was transphobic to exclude transgenders in your dating preferences… That was an incredibly stupid and unnecessary “controversy” if there ever was one… India Willoughby pushed boundaries and wasn’t respectful of a man’s personal preferences. Acted pushy, forceful and even tried to kiss someone who was clearly uncomfortable. If anything, it should have been Willoughby to catch controversy for that pushy behavior, not Ginuwine for his polite refusal. True inclusivity comes natural, is never forceful… that’s just weird, and predatory. People have the right to be into or not into whatever they want.

There are actors who often show up in TV shows as a supporting character are easily recognizable but their real names are not well-known Does this handsome gentleman look familiar to you? (First picture ) He's Chinese-American character actor James Hong, and he has amassed over 400 film and television credits since 1954, including films like Chinatown, Blade Runner, Airplane!, Mulan, and theKung Fu Panda franchise, and TV series like Bonanza, Hawaii Five-0, All in the Family, Kung Fu, The Blacklist, and The Big Bang Theory. He is presently 92 years old and still acting This guy ought to look familiar, too(second one) He's Richard Riehle, and since 1977 he has built a resume of 413 credits in film and television. His work includes films like The Fugitive, Fried Green Tomatoes, Office Space, Bridesmaids, Casino, and Glory, and television series such as Murder, She Wrote, L.A. Law, Roseanne, Star Trek: TNG, Modern Family, NCIS, andThe Middle. He is now 73 and still as prolific as ever.

The producer of the movie “Cabaret”— Cy Feuer — wanted—Joel Grey—to play the emcee, a role he originated on Broadway. Bob Fosse, the director, wanted the role for himself. He didn’t want to use anything or anyone from the Broadway show. ——“It’s either me or Joel Grey”———To his chagrin, Cy Feuer said, —-“Then it’s Joel Grey”—— Fosse was nasty to Grey. They were at each other’s throats. Fosse was a martinet. Then came the blow-up. Joel Grey embracing spontaneity, stuck his finger in the dirt and smeared a bit on his upper lip, —-“Heil Hitler”—-he yelled and saluted. ——“How dare you!”—-Bob Fosse screamed and stormed off the set. Throughout the shoot, Fosse never once gave Grey a compliment. He wouldn’t even have dinner with him. Joel Grey and Bob Fosse never took a photo together, not even a promo. Fosse reduced all of Grey’s musical numbers to snippets. His performance amounted to little more than a cameo. Grey called Cy Feuer, the producer, ——“Don’t worry”—- Feuer told Grey—-“The songs will be restored”.—- When the movie premiered, Joel Grey’s Oscar winning numbers— “Willkommen”, “Two Ladies”, “If You Could See Her Now”—-were intact.

the most talked about leaked photo was Probably the photos of Vanessa Hudgens, leaked in 2007. She was a Disney star, playing a starring role in the High School Musical series. Her co-star, Zac Efron, became her real-life boyfriend as well. They were the ultimate “It-couple” of early 2000s Disney stars Vanessa Hudgens had a wholesome Disney image. Then someone hacked into her email and leaked intimate photos she had sent to Efron. She was forced to publicly apologize for her “lapse in judgement” and explain how even taking such photos in private in the first place had been “a severe lapse of judgement”. Hell, there were even talks of her being dropped by Disney altogether, but after her apologies Disney declared they “hoped she had learned her lesson” and forgave her… It was incredibly humiliating. Made all the more worse by the fact that Vanessa Hudgens was only just 18 years old, a former child star and someone who had grown up rather sheltered. Disney treated Hudgens like a religious institution scolding a wayward believer.

In May 1995, Gwyneth Paltrow and Brad Pitt were dating and they went on a 10 day holiday to the Caribbean island, St. Barts. On one of those days, they were both naked on their balcony, enjoying the warm weather, when a paparazzo managed to access the property and when he saw both stars fully nude, he saw the perfect chance to get his best payday yet. He threw decency out the window and snapped multiple pictures of them sitting and walking around on the balcony. A few days later the pictures were published in multiple European publications, and eventually started making their way online, and everyone was talking about them. I can't imagine how violated they felt to have their privacy invaded in such a way and when they found out about the publication of the photographs, Brad stated: Some things have to remain sacred. I mean, come on. They're special moments. And they're private moments. And again, you know, common decency He then met with Bruce Paltrow, Gwyneth's father, and told him about the pictures and apologized to him for the situation and said that it wouldn't have happened if he wasn't dating her. Two years later Brad finally saw his chance to get some justice. In 1997 Playgirl magazine decided to print those pictures in their August issue: Brad sued them and the judge ordered Playgirl to stop the distribution of that issue and also ordered them to pull that issue from newsstands. The only people that managed to receive the magazines were the magazine's subscribers who had them sent directly to their homes, and have since then made quite a profit selling them: The lawsuit didn't make up for the shame that he and Gwyneth felt after the whole world saw them in such a vulnerable state, but it managed to make publishers scared of printing those photographs. Gwyneth and Brad split in 1997.

Four stars at the beginning of 1945 during Hollywood’s Golden Age. Left - Gary Cooper, the Number 2 box office draw after Bing Crosby. By then he had been a major star since 1929s The Virginian. This year he would produce and star in the successful , Along Came Jones, International’s biggest ever success before being swallowed up by Universal. Frank Sinatra was beginning his 3rd year as a solo act after a litigious departure from The Tommy Dorsey Band. He was in the middle of ‘Sinatramania’ and his best days were still ahead of him. Jack Benny. My own personal favourite of the group. In 1945 a major radio star with some successful movies, including, To Be Or Not To be, under his belt. He still had a major television success to look forward to. Danny Kaye. Of the 4 at this time probably the least well known. He had only been a star for about 4 years since his stage debut 4 years earlier in Lady In The Dark, with Gertrude Lawrence. His biggest moment in the show was his rendition of, Tchaikovsky and other Russians, where he ran off a list of Russian composers at breakneck speed. This year he would begin his own highly successful radio show. Later that year he undertook a USO tour and was the first American actor to visit post-war Tokyo. His rise to movie stardom would be spectacular.

Life. You need to know when to walk away, know when to run and when to hold steady. On July 26, 1977, in a New Orleans hotel room, Robert Plant answered a phone call that would tear his life in two He was twenty-eight years old, leading the most powerful band on the planet, living among private jets, packed stadiums, and seemingly limitless success. Then he heard the voice of his wife, Maureen. And in an instant, everything fell apart. Karac, their five-year-old son, was dead. A stomach virus, swift and merciless. No warning, no chance to intervene. While Robert sang on the other side of the ocean, his "little mountain man" was gone. The tour stopped immediately. Plant flew to England in a state of shock that no amount of fame could allay. He found his son in the quiet of the Midlands, surrounded by a grief beyond words. That day, he looked for his bandmates. John Bonham was there, as devastated as he was. Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones were not. They did not show up at the funeral. Years later, they would talk about "respecting space," but for Robert, it was an absence that left a deep scar. Something inside him cracked. He returned to his farm, stopped drinking, stopped taking drugs, stopped living like a rock star. He said he didn't want to be in Led Zeppelin anymore, that he just wanted to be with his family. He even applied for a job at a teachers' college, ready to leave music forever. The only one who managed to bring him back was Bonham. Not with pressure, but with friendship. He'd show up at the farm driving a limousine, wearing a chauffeur's hat to make him laugh, and take him out for a quiet drink. He'd remind him that they were friends first, and musicians second. So Robert agreed to give it one last try. In Through the Out Door was born, an album marked by an undisguised pain. Inside was All My Love, the most intimate tribute Plant ever wrote for his son. In 1980, they were about to go back on tour. But tragedy wasn't over. On September 24th, during rehearsals, Bonham began drinking like never before. Forty shots of vodka in twelve hours. The next morning, he was dead. He was thirty-two years old. Led Zeppelin issued a brief, almost terse statement: without Bonham, they couldn't continue. And they kept their word. No farewell tour, no replacement, no nostalgic outing. The biggest band in the world simply stopped. For the next forty years, promoters from half the planet offered Plant astronomical sums for a reunion. Hundreds of millions for a single tour. Each time, he refused. Fans accused him of selfishness, of stubbornness. But Plant knew something they didn't: the "Golden God" had died in 1977, along with Karac. Since then, he has built a new musical life. He explored folk, bluegrass, North African rhythms, sang with Alison Krauss, lowered his voice, let go of the cry that had made him immortal. He said he could no longer be that man, because that man no longer existed. His story overturns the common idea of strength. It's not about moving forward at all costs. It's about knowing when to stop, when to protect what remains of truth. Plant chose his humanity over legend, life over myth. Today he's seventy-six. He still plays, still creates, tours small venues. But he's never looked back. And perhaps this is his greatest lesson: you can buy everything except the past. And sometimes the bravest thing is to let go of what made you famous to save what made you human.

Back in 1961, Denny and Karen Vinar were just two high school lovebirds. Life, however, had other plans. They were expecting a baby, and the circumstances led them to make the heart-wrenching decision to give their newborn daughter up for adoption. This painful event drove them apart, and they lost contact. Years turned into decades, but in 2014, Denny felt a pull towards his past. He decided to look for Karen online and managed to find her. He left a message at her workplace, and when they finally met again, it was as if no time had passed at all. Karen's joyous greeting to Denny was, "babe, you're home," and she leapt into his arms. Their love for each other was still as strong as ever, and they decided to get married just a day and a half later. However, there was still a piece of their love story missing - their daughter. They yearned to find her, and with the assistance of Lutheran Social Services, they began their search. After a period of anxious waiting, they were finally able to locate their long-lost daughter. The reunion was filled with emotion - tears of joy, laughter, and the overwhelming happiness of a family reunited. Their story is a beautiful example of how love endures and the power of family ties.

The Blue Diamond Affair: The Heist That Broke Two Nations. In 1989, a Thai janitor working in a Saudi royal palace in Riyadh stole hundreds of pounds of jewelry, including a rare 50-carat blue diamond. He smuggled the loot back to Thailand inside vacuum cleaner bags sent through DHL. When Saudi Arabia demanded the jewels back, Thai police claimed they had recovered them. But when the items were returned, many of the most valuable pieces, including the famous blue diamond, were missing or replaced with fakes. The scandal turned deadly. Three Saudi diplomats investigating in Bangkok were assassinated in one night. A Saudi businessman linked to the case also disappeared. Furious at what they saw as a cover-up, Saudi Arabia cut all diplomatic ties with Thailand for more than 30 years. They banned Thai workers and imposed economic sanctions that cost Thailand billions. One man’s theft, combined with high-level corruption, created one of the strangest and most damaging diplomatic crises in modern history.

In 1955, when Kirk Douglas and Natalie Wood was 16, he reportedly sexually assaulted her. Natalie confided in her sister, Lana Wood, who has since talked about the story. First during Douglas’ life and then again, in greater detail, after his passing. According to Lana Wood, the attack on her sister Natalie was so gruesome and brutal that it left her permanently scarred. It resulted in a lifelong habit of heavy barbituate use in order to cope with the trauma… in 1949, Kirk Douglas was interviewed in the case of a missing woman, the young actress Jean Spangler. In her purse, which was found after her disappearence, she carried a note: “Kirk: Can't wait any longer, Going to see Dr. Scott. It will work best this way while mother is away.” Kirk Douglas called the police and said he didn’t know the girl, and that he had been in Palm Springs at the time of her disappearance. But it is rather odd — they recently strred in a film together, “Young Man With A Horn”. There seems to be a trail of mystery surrounding Douglas’ life. And Jean Spangler was said to resemble the victim of the Black Dahlia case of 1947 to a great degree… The real story of Kirk Douglas may never be known. And we can’t ask the man, as he died in 2020, aged 103 and Natalie Wood herself drowned under mysterious circumstances. But of all the great names of Old Hollywood, Douglas has some pretty sinister things following him around. I’m not saying he’s a serial killer but if any star was one, my money is on him.

Doug Pitt, who is three years younger than Brad, is a very successful businessman, who started his first company in 1991, when he was 24. But it's not his business savvy that makes him so cool — it's his philanthropy. Doug is a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Republic of Tanzania, where he works with the Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Water, agriculture, education and wildlife, and has also worked with both government and non-government organizations on anti-poaching projects. He's also a board member of WorldServe International, an organization that works to provide clean water in Africa, and which in Tanzania alone has brought clean drinking water to over 2,000,000 people since 2005. Here in the States, he founded Care to Learn, which funds health, hygiene, and hunger-related aid for impoverished children in his home state of Missouri, and since the mid-1990s, he has served on the boards of numerous charities, including Big Brothers Big Sisters, Easter Seals, The Make-a-Wish Foundation, and the Red Cross. That’s not even all of what Doug Pitt has done; he has also been involved in many charitable organizations and events at the community level. He might not be a movie star like his brother, but he is a hero to many people around the world.